Achievements are certainly useful - victory over fever, harmless - pentaquarks are found, amusing - psychology is still not quite a science, and such that make you think hard

Another year is coming to an end on our way to the future, frightening and alluring. The main engine of this movement is science, but where exactly does it lead civilization? The answer becomes clearer if we sum up, highlight the most important scientific breakthroughs of the outgoing year, the prospects for their development and their authors - "progressors" in our terminology .

1. Defeated Ebola

Breakthrough: The Ebola vaccine has proven to work, and the vaccination campaign has been effective.

Progressors: Public Health Agency of Canada and pharmaceutical company Merck.

Details: Where did Ebola go? Russian (and possibly not only Russian) TV viewers began to ask this question around the middle of 2015, when the main “horror story” of the last few months stopped appearing in news stories. Some even spoke in the spirit of conspiracy theories: they said that they frightened us with information about the epidemic in order to distract us from something more important and terrible, and when they distracted us, they stopped frightening us. In fact, everything is simpler: it was by mid-summer that the outbreaks began to decline - the vaccine developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada and improved by the pharmaceutical company Merck began to work.

The epidemic, which began in March 2014 in Guinea and became the largest since the discovery of the Ebola virus, spurred researchers on, and work that could otherwise take a decade was done in 10 months. The vaccine has been created. In April 2015, doctors gave the first vaccinations to people. Within three months, 100 people infected with Ebola were selected for the experiment, and more than 2,000 relatives and fellow tribesmen of the infected were vaccinated. Later it turned out that out of the number of people who received the vaccine, only 16 people fell ill. Vaccination began to be carried out on a systematic basis: as soon as a person who has caught Ebola is detected, all of his immediate circle is immediately sent for an injection.

Before the start of the vaccination campaign, doctors constantly recorded new cases of the disease. After the introduction of the vaccine, the Ebola epidemic began to gradually subside.

Outlook: The World Health Organization estimates that the effectiveness of the new vaccine will be in the range of 75 to 100 percent. If the drug had been developed at least a year and a half earlier, thousands of people would have been saved: the 2014-2015 epidemic killed 11,315 people, more than 28,000 fell ill, but could survive. In the first two weeks of December 2015, Ebola did not manifest itself even once. It is impossible to count how many lives a vaccine will help save in the future, but WHO representatives are already saying that for the first time in 40 years, the rules of the game are changing: now the advantage is on the side of the person, not the virus.

2. Flew to Pluto

Breakthrough: The New Horizons probe reached Pluto and collected a lot of data about the dwarf planet and its moon Charon.

Progressors: NASA, although we owe no less to Percival Lowell, who predicted the existence of Pluto, and Cloud Tombaugh, who discovered it.

Details: The New Horizons mission started back in 2006, when Pluto was still considered a full-fledged planet, and no one had heard of facebook, for example. For nine long years spacecraft stubbornly approached Pluto, for the most part being in hibernation mode and only waking up from time to time to correct the course and photograph space objects that came to hand. Objects, I must say, come across what you need: some clouds of Jupiter are worth something. And flying past Io, New Horizons took a series of pictures that revealed volcanic bursts on its surface, which they then even glued together into a full-fledged video (the first video of a volcano erupting outside the Earth!). But all this was just preparation for the grand success that awaited the probe in 2015. Color images of Pluto and its faithful satellite Charon were obtained. Even people who are far from astronomy started talking about photographs with the “heart of Pluto” (nitrogen sea).

Outlook: In general, the apparatus carried out observations of Pluto for 9 days, during which it collected about 50 gigabits of information. Now he is slowly transmitting the collected data to Earth. According to NASA, the transmission will continue until the end of 2016, because its speed does not exceed 2000 bits per second. The information obtained will allow us to test some hypotheses, for example, about the presence of water under the ocean ice, or about the composition of the atmosphere of a dwarf planet. But the mission will not end there: on January 1, 2019, a flyby of asteroid 2014 MU69, a typical representative of the Kuiper belt, is planned. Perhaps it will be possible to find some more worthy targets to which the probe will head. But New Horizons has already achieved a lot. V last time humanity received pictures of an uncharted planet in 1989 - then it was Neptune. And more unexplored planets in solar system not left.

3. Edited human genes

Breakthrough: The CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing method has been tested on human genes and improved.

Progressors : Genetic engineers from China and the USA.

Details: Last year, breakthrough experiments continued with the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing method, revolutionary in its simplicity, which allows us to use special enzymes to find the desired DNA section and change it by cutting or adding lines of the genetic program code. The most scandalous was the experiment of Chinese bioengineers who tested the method on initially non-viable human embryos. The result disappointed even the scientists themselves: out of 86 embryos, only in 28 the replacement complex managed to contact the desired DNA region. The experiment was criticized, including by the journal Nature. In a critical article, scientists urged not to use the method in humans due to the large number of unwanted mutations and unpredictable consequences, and drew attention to the fact that experimental failures cast a shadow on successful attempts to treat individual organs using this system. However, very soon, American scientists managed to increase the efficiency of the CRISPR / Cas9 method by an order of magnitude, reducing the number of errors to almost zero. We have come close to the technical possibility of editing the human genome.

Outlook: At a summit dedicated to editing the human genome, scientists decided that it was not yet time to edit before the birth of a child's genes that are inherited. This temporary ban does not apply to treatments whose results are not hereditary. They did not finally prohibit the “correction” of the human genome, reasoning that there will always be those who dare to violate the ban. Genetic engineering will need to perfect the techniques to get the key to editing hereditary genes. At the first stage, this will make it possible to cure some diseases that are caused by changes in individual genes, and in the long term, perhaps to the emergence of different variants of “posthumans” experimenting with their genome.

4. Dug out the "transitional link"

Breakthrough: analyzed the remains of the most ancient people, called Homo naledi - judging by the anatomical structure, these are the earliest representatives of the human genus, who lived 2-3 million years ago and claim to be a "transitional link" between Australopithecus monkeys and humans.

Progressors: Lee Berger and paleoanthropologists working with him.

Details: In 2013, two speleologists discovered in a narrow tunnel of the Rising Star cave system a passage into a small chamber, at the bottom of which sensational bones rested. Paleontologist Lee Berger organized a large-scale expedition to the cave, which is now called Dinaledi. Only the most slender researchers had a chance to see wealth unprecedented for a paleontologist: in the cave they found one almost complete skeleton, a well-preserved hand and foot, and in general more than one and a half thousand fragments of skeletons of 15 people of different sex and age. A touch of mystery added to the sensationalism of this find. Only one tunnel led into the cave, long and extremely narrow, and geologists claimed that there had never been another way. Scientists have not found any traces of human activity: the transfer of water, the manufacture of tools, fire, which could have allowed ancient people to navigate in the cave. But how and, most importantly, why did they get through the “skin maker” into this cell? Did they grope their way in search of shelter or a place to die in peace, or did their tribesmen organize something like a primitive cemetery in the cave, dragging bodies there? The dating of the fossils could help answer this question. To do this, scientists had to study the sediment on the bones, the composition of flora and fauna, volcanic tuff or sand. But there was nothing of this in the closed cave, except for stone dust from the walls and ceiling, which covered the discovered bones with a layer 15 centimeters thick. And the main news was that the researchers found not already known to science ancestors like Australopithecus, whose remains have often been found in this area.

As a result of the research, a group of anthropologists described a new species of our ancestors - Homo naledi, or "star man" ("naledi" is translated as "star" from the South African Sesotho language). The two articles published so far detail the characteristics of the hands and feet. ancient man. The structure of the hand indicates that Homo naledi were tool-makers, skillful tree-climbers, and for some unknown reason had very developed thumbs. The legs of the “star man”, as it turned out, were long, and the feet were not much different from modern ones, so he was adapted for long runs.

Outlook: The exact place on the family tree for Homo naledi has not yet been found, nor has the age of the fossils been established. To do this, scientists will need to radiocarbon dating the bones and further study of the Rising Star cave system.

5. Caught a Pentaquark

Breakthrough: In July, physicists announced the discovery of a new class of particles, the existence of which scientists predicted half a century ago, but could not prove - pentaquarks.

Progressors: The article about the discovery of the pentaquark has about 700 authors, and in general the honor of the discoveries made at the Large Hadron Collider is shared by thousands of people who created it and work there now.

Details: Quarks are fundamental particles that form two classes constituent particles: baryons (these are protons and neutrons that make up the nucleus of an atom) and mesons. Baryons are made up of three quarks, while mesons are made up of two: a quark and an antiquark. Usually quarks do not form complex structures- if you collect several quarks together, they do not combine, but immediately decay into mesons and baryons. Modern physics is not yet able to explain why this happens, since theoretically nothing prevents quarks from combining into groups of 4 or 5 particles: into tetra- or pentaquarks.

The possibility of such associations was justified in 1964, and since then physicists have carried out dozens of experiments in an attempt to find particles consisting of two quarks and two antiquarks (tetraquarks) and four quarks and one antiquark (pentaquarks). By the end of the first decade of the 2000s, more than 10 teams of scientists from different countries. But none of these results were confirmed in larger experiments. The search for the pentaquark began to be considered a thankless task and doomed to failure.

The discovery at the Large Hadron Collider was made almost by accident: physicists were studying the decay of the lambda baryon and suddenly saw a pentaquark. Given the bad reputation of the pentaquark, physicists approached the study of the discovered particle very seriously, for a long time measuring the mass, parameters and quantum numbers, and rechecking the results. In the end, data of very high statistical significance were obtained - the existence of a new class of particles was officially proven.

Outlook: The pentaquark is not just a new particle, but a way of combining quarks into a multicomponent ordered structure, about the properties of which we still know little. The Large Hadron Collider detected two pentaquarks at once, close in mass, and now physicists will try to explain how this is possible. Probably, it will be possible to detect various types of pentaquarks.

6. Showed the unreliability of most psychological research

Breakthrough: It turned out that out of 100 psychological experiments, only 39 can be reproduced. The results obtained should lead to a change in the process of obtaining scientific knowledge.

Progressors: Open Science Collaboration led by Brian Nosek.

Details: Reproducibility of results is one of the main properties of science. What's the point in saying that you succeeded in carrying out a controlled thermonuclear reaction in which the energy produced exceeded the energy expended, if no one can then repeat your success? After all, this will actually mean that humanity has not received anything new, even if you are right. The results of psychological research often promise quite a lot and sound loud enough. Everyone is wondering if, for example, the reaction of fear in children and adults is different. However, it turned out that it is not so easy to confirm the results of such experiments. Psychologists from the Collaboration for Open Science during four years engaged in reproducing experiments published in leading psychological journals, and the results of this study were disappointing. According to scientists, they managed to reproduce only 39 works out of 100, and this despite the fact that 97% of the original publications declared the statistical significance of their result. Well... it could be worse, right?

Outlook: Of course, at first glance, this result does not at all look like a breakthrough in science. After all, it means that psychological experiments are most often carried out incorrectly, or the reliability of their results is incorrectly assessed. But it's much better if the problem is recognized and corrected than when everyone diligently pretends that it does not exist. This is where the Collaboration for Open Science study comes in handy. Scientists, realizing that the statistical significance of the results does not always allow us to judge the importance of the discovery, will try to make the research process more transparent, and the results more reliable. Perhaps a whole scientific revolution awaits us soon, which will fundamentally change the way we obtain knowledge in psychology. And at the same time, you see, psychological experiments will be more trusted.

7. They isolated a new type of antibiotic

Breakthrough: In July, Nature published an article about the discovery of a new class of antibiotics, teixobactin, for the first time in 30 years.

Progressors: The antibiotic was "grown" by a team of biologists from the US, Germany and the UK.

Details: Most of the antibiotics in use today were created in the 1960s, and since then many bacteria have developed resistance to them. Some pathogens of dangerous diseases, such as tuberculosis, were once suppressed by ordinary penicillin. But now, tuberculosis and other half-forgotten infections may again become mass killers.

The paradox is that, partly because of the rapidity with which any new antibiotics lose their effectiveness, pharmaceutical companies have stopped investing in modifying existing drugs and finding new forms. Hands down, you might say. The problem of bacterial resistance to antibiotics is called one of the main threats to humanity in the near future.

Researchers at NovoBiotics Pharmaceuticals have used completely new way receiving antibiotics. They did not turn to known strains that can be grown in the laboratory, but decided to look for a new antibiotic in the main source of bacteria - in the soil. Scientists have developed a device that can be lowered into the ground and allowed bacteria to grow in their natural environment. Substances that were isolated by these bacteria in the process of life were then tested on mice infected with dangerous diseases. One of these substances had pronounced antibiotic properties and was very effective against most gram-positive bacteria that are resistant to all other antibiotics. This is a new type of antibiotic.

Usually, antibiotics “spoil” the proteins of bacteria, and those in response adapt to its attacks, changing the structure of the protein in such a way that it becomes insensitive to the antibiotic. But the found substance damages such important enzymes responsible for building the bacterial cell wall that any change in them is fatal to the bacterium. Provided that the new antibiotic will be used with great care - only in cases where other drugs are powerless, bacteria will be able to develop resistance to it no earlier than in 30-40 years.

Outlook: The company plans to bring the new drug to market within five years, and it will be a lifesaver for those who currently cannot be cured. However, this is not the main achievement of scientists: the way they discovered new antibiotics may open a new era in the creation of antibiotics and we will have something to counter the threat of global epidemics caused by mutated bacteria.

8. Decided to cool the planet

Breakthrough: Strictly speaking, this is not a scientific achievement, but a diplomatic and public one, but on a scientific basis and very important. In December, UN countries adopted a new climate agreement - the Paris Agreement. According to him, until the end of the century the planet should not get warmer by more than two degrees Celsius. Countries are committed to doing everything possible to lower this threshold even to one and a half degrees.

Progressors: Representatives of all mankind - the Paris Agreement was accepted by 195 countries of the world.

Outlook: Over the past 5000 years, the Earth has warmed by only 4-5°C, but from 1980 to 2020, the temperature on the planet's surface increases by 0.25°C every decade. In the pessimistic scenario of the UN, in the 21st century the planet will warm up by 2.6-4.8°C, this warming will affect the lives of billions of people. Melting glaciers, which will lead to sea level rise and flooding of islands and coasts of continents, droughts and global cataclysms, are just some of the predicted consequences.

Industry and energy in most countries around the world depend on the burning of fossil fuels. It is this process that is most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, which, according to most scientists, provoke global warming. Abandoning fossil fuels is now impossible, but as part of the agreement, the UN countries agreed to work towards a gradual transition to a carbon-free economy. Energy will be spent more efficiently, countries will introduce new, environmentally friendly technologies, use renewable energy sources and diversify the economy when it is too dependent on the production and consumption of hydrocarbon fuels. Each country independently determines how much it will be able to reduce emissions.

The participants of the conference in Paris were aware that such serious transformations could cause difficulties in the economy of many countries, both suppliers and active consumers of hydrocarbon fuel. The most vulnerable countries will receive annual financial support from other states, various international organizations and the commercial sector. Governments will create an emissions market, introduce a new tax, and encourage investment in new energy and industries.

Outlook: The Paris Agreement is legally binding, but it has not yet been signed. For it to enter into force, it must be ratified by at least 55 countries. This process will begin in April 2016 and will continue throughout the year. If the agreement is signed, and the countries adhere to the obligations fixed in it, humanity will increase the chance to save the planet as it has been for the last 5,000 years.

Source 9We Connected Animal Brains into a Working Network

Breakthrough: Neuroscientists at Duke University connected the brains of several rats into a network and forced this network to solve problems.

Progressors: Miguel Nicolesis and his laboratory staff.

Details: Scientists approached the problem of mutual understanding radically. Neurophysiologists from Duke University combined the brains of four adult rats, and the resulting "brainet" ("brainet" - brain network) solved completely life tasks such as image processing, information storage and retrieval, and even weather forecasting. In some way, a kind of organic computer was obtained, the performance of which exceeded the performance of a single brain. What the test rats thought about this, unfortunately, is not reported. But it would be interesting to know what it is like to have a common brain for four ...

Outlook: Nicolesis's research contributes to the development of neurocomputer interfaces and methods of rehabilitation of people with impaired motor functions, but the main thing here is rather that a precedent has been created for the practical implementation of the "brainet". Moreover, four unfortunate rats connected with electrodes are being transferred from the category of science fiction to the category of promising technological projects of the "neuronet" - the future analogue of the Internet, in which the interaction of people, animals and machines is carried out using neurocommunications. It is hard to even imagine what kind of life it will bring to people. Perhaps a person connected by a nervous network with the world will not have a separate “I” at all, only “We” will remain, approximately like in the well-known dystopia of Yevgeny Zamyatin.

10. Reverse the aging process

Breakthrough: A method has been developed that makes it possible to lengthen human telomeres by as much as a thousand nucleotides - the end sections of chromosomes, the length of which largely determines the aging process of our body.

Progressors: A group of researchers from Stanford University led by Helen Blau.

Details: Reproduction of healthy cells in the body occurs through their division. During each division, the ends of the telomeres shorten. In young people, telomeres have a length equivalent to 8-10 thousand nucleotides. As we grow older and aging, these "caps" decrease and at some point reach the point of "no return" - the cell stops dividing and finally dies. And the gradual death of cells, which carries the “littering” of the body, is, according to many scientists, the main cause of aging.

The dependence of the body's aging processes on the state of telomeres was known before, as well as the fact that healthy lifestyle life is slowed down by their shortening, but the Stanford staff proposed a fundamentally different way: they proved that it is possible to use medical intervention from the outside to directly increase the terminal sections of chromosomes.

The main tool of the new technology was a modified RNA carrying the telomerase reverse transcriptase gene. After the introduction of such RNA, the cells begin to behave like young ones and actively divide. True, the elongated ends of telomeres begin to shorten again with each new division.

Outlook: People have always been looking for the answer to the question "How to live happily ever after." And if happiness is not so simple, then thanks to the results of completed studies, we have a good chance to significantly extend our days. Continued research promises success in the creation of drugs, the regular use of which will increase the active life of the cells that make up our body, which means that we will get a few useful years to find the answer to the second part of the question - about happiness.

fruits of progress

10 technologies that entered people's lives in 2015

1.Hyroscooter instead of hoverboard

For a generation, 2015 was, among other things, the year of Marty McFly's "back to the future" arrival. Unlike the movie, hoverboards (that is, flying skateboards) are not yet in sight in today's reality. But gyroscooters are rapidly becoming fashionable. According to the developers, the device, which consists of a horizontal platform for feet and two wheels controlled by two electric motors, works like a human vestibular apparatus: gyroscopic sensors signal the electric motors to rotate forward or backward while shifting the center of gravity. forward) respectively. So far, more and more celebrities and fans of advanced gadgets are using hoverboards, but it is possible that these devices will soon replace scooters and roller skates. The only thing left for hoverboards is to become safer.

2. Genetically modified animals

The past year has brought several important developments in the distribution of lab-created animals. Genetically modified mosquitoes, developed by the British company Oxitec, have been released in the Brazilian city of Piracicaba as a means to combat fever. An artificial mutation in the genes of male mosquitoes gives females a gene that kills their offspring before puberty. This measure should drastically reduce the population of fever-carrying mosquitoes.

Another big news was the approval for the production and consumption of the first GM animal in the United States. They became AquAdvantage salmon with embedded DNA that affects the growth of fish. Salmon was considered equally safe for both human health and the environment.

3.Small, fast, cheap courier

It's not about gnomes, but about small drones aircraft With remote control. The number of drones used for commercial purposes in 2015 grew like an avalanche. Already, they deliver goods to customers, monitor the situation on the roads and are used for many other purposes, the range of which will only expand: for example, drones will soon transmit the Internet signal in the most remote corners of the Earth. The largest American online store Amazon promises in the near future with the help of a new service to deliver goods weighing up to 2.3 kg within half an hour and for only $1. And in Japan, drones equipped with networks are launched into the sky by the police: there are so many drones that there is a need to catch potentially dangerous ones.

4.Personalized reality

In 2015, Facebook gave the user the ability to flag posts by people they wanted or didn't want to see in their news feed. Up to this point, the user's news feed was filled completely automatically: the computer analyzed the history of his likes, comments and views in order to identify preferences and fill the feed with information that might be of interest to him. Now the machine also analyzes which posts you deliberately prioritize or exclude from your feed so that you have to do it as little as possible. However, the ability to independently participate in the formation of the news feed has finally changed the function social network. Now it's not just a site that you go to to find out what's new in the lives of your acquaintances, and not even to find out the news. This is an information space where you will learn exactly and only what you want to know.

5.Internet for light bulbs

In the world of artificial lighting, as elsewhere in life, the digital revolution and the general "internetization" are unfolding - only lamps are connected to the network instead of people. Lighting technologies merge with information technology thanks to LEDs (in English - LED) is semiconductor device, emitting light when a current is passed through it. LEDs are much more economical than other light bulbs, but their most attractive ability is that their parameters can be controlled. A model example for the rapidly growing market of smart lamps is Philips Hue, which is easy to control from a smartphone, changing color, color temperature and brightness, or setting various program modes - for example, in the early morning the program sets a cold light that stimulates people to work, and in the evening - warm, pleasant and soothing. And external sensors allow, for example, to automatically adjust the level of illumination depending on the weather and time of day. Changes in lighting due to LEDs are important not only in everyday life - in the past year they began to be used in agriculture, which is becoming less and less "rural" - crops are grown in rooms with artificially controlled light, where for each type, for example, lettuce, the optimal parameters of light radiation are selected.

6. Assembling robots at home

Microcomputers and kits for building your own electronic devices were booming in 2015. The community of makers was also gaining popularity - this is how they now call "home-made", who love to make "smart" devices at home, for themselves. Anyone can now assemble their own robot based on a programmable mini-computer like Galileo or Edison, several sensors and with a connection to the global network - the range of designers is expanding, the cost of components is decreasing, it is becoming easier to connect and combine them, and educational materials available online for free. In 2015, giants such as Intel, IBM, Microsoft and Amazon offered users a "cloud" infrastructure for managing homemade devices, storing and processing the data they create. By the way, the processing of data coming from such crafts around the world can open a new era in the "digitization of the world" and the formation of various databases.

7.Breaking down language barriers

Interaction between people who speak different languages has always been a huge problem. It is difficult to even imagine a global world order and culture without language barriers, but it seems that the people of the planet will begin to understand each other without an interpreter very soon. In 2015, Skype launched a simultaneous translation service for interlocutors speaking English, German and French(and the translation of SMS messages - from 50 languages ​​of the world). This is clearly only the beginning of a revolution in the world of automated simultaneous translation - it seems that the time has finally come to finish building the Tower of Babel.

8. Supercomputer as a doctor

IBM Corporation, which created the Watson supercomputer, launched the IBM Watson Health cloud platform in the spring. Simply put, Watson's artificial intelligence now lives in the cloud and is used to analyze medical data. In particular, it helps doctors make more accurate diagnoses and select treatment. IBM has already entered into several agreements with major global brands operating in the field of medical services. Watson has been trained to work with large datasets of medical data so that this artificial intelligence can use the experience of researchers from around the world. Watson is constantly improving, receiving new data, helps to individualize recommendations for the patient and less often bipedal doctors make mistakes.

9. Children from three parents

The UK government in February approved amendments to the law allowing mitochondrial donation, making the United Kingdom the first country in which children can have the genes of not two, but three parents. Mitochondria are tiny, but having their own genome, the “accumulators” of a living cell. Approximately 6,500 children a year around the world are born with mitochondrial DNA damage, fatal or leading to severe brain damage. Mitochondrial DNA in humans is transmitted only through the maternal line - and scientists have figured out how to get rid of breakdowns by transplanting mitochondria from a healthy woman at the stage of "in vitro conception". Before voting in the House of Commons, there were more than two hours of debate, and the position of the supporters of the amendment, headed by the Minister of Health, turned out to be more convincing for the majority of parliamentarians than the position of the church and other opponents of the amendment.

10. Computers got sight

Capturing an image in a photograph or video is not the same as “seeing”, that is, “understanding” what exactly is depicted there. To teach machines to see means to teach them to name objects, to recognize people, to understand relationships, emotions, actions and intentions. In the outgoing year, an important step was taken in this direction - thanks to the neural network methods of the so-called "deep learning", programs began to appear that can recognize objects, sometimes even better people and even describe in sentences what you see in the photo. Of course, this is not yet a full-fledged vision - for example, a computer cannot appreciate the beauty of a picture. But gradually machines gain sight. In the very near future there will be a mechanism for searching for information by keywords in countless photographs and videos on the Internet. Step by step, and we will not notice how we will perceive the world through not only our own, but also computer eyes.

It's dangerous to overestimate human achievement. Especially when no one needs them

From time to time I have to meet very smart people.

They easily use Difficult words(including in ancient Greek), like to refer to great thinkers and, at any opportunity, emphasize their own rightness.

It may seem that the achievements of these people created them good reputation. However, they forgot a simple truth:

It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice

“To be important” is not in the sense of being important, but in the sense of being useful or in demand. And this is possible with certain and appropriate.

The real achievements of man

Somersaults on the bed, bungee jumping upside down, climbing without insurance, and even extreme driving are difficult to regard as real human achievements.

Even the masterful solving of scanwords can hardly be called a real achievement for me. In this regard, I remembered a little joke-question. What do Russian guards dream about? Retire and do puzzles and watch TV without distractions 🙂

That's not how a good reputation is built. Moreover, today such human achievements are popular that can destroy a good reputation. the whole organization. But this is not about today.

Come on, friends, let's talk about the positive.

Achievements that form a good reputation

Do you know the name Billy Ray Harris? In a matter of seconds, the life of an American homeless man changed his

On that day, a platinum engagement ring with a diamond was found in a mug for collecting alms. Mr. Harris almost immediately realized that the expensive jewelry turned into charity by accident, and therefore it would be necessary to return it to its owner.

This story was published in the online edition Lenta.ru. People, having learned about the noble deed, within the next week helped Bill fix the bike and restore the roof over his head. And a few months later, with a tidy sum in the account, Billy was able to reunite with his family.

What do you think, dear friends, is it a good reputation to be honest under any circumstances? Maybe this is how real human achievements should be?

A good name is preferable to great wealth, favor is better than silver and gold

King Solomon

Good Relationships as Achievements

Against the backdrop of general commercialism, cultivated daily by the system, noble relations take on the appearance of a rarity.

Becoming (or remaining) the custodian of such relationships is a great achievement. And that's why

They just love each other
Just cooking dinner together
Just fate, sliding along the arcs,
They are inscribed in the same circle.

It's more convenient to live by the hand,
It's just more comfortable to sleep on your shoulder,
Just if the palm in the palm,
Happiness - once and in the palm of your hand will whirl!

It's just that if one gets hurt,
You can immediately blow on the wound,
Just tenderness is stronger than plaster
And more useful, oddly enough.

It's amazing how similar
Very different looking people.
Otherwise, it cannot be!
It will be the same with you...

S. Makaryina

If such relationships developed by themselves, then they would not have been achievements. But you have to work hard for them. AND significant role skill plays into this. Do you have a desire to succeed in this?

7 Ways to Build a Good Reputation as a Pleasant Interlocutor

1. Understanding when to speak

Pleasant conversationalists understand the power of words and use it carefully and consciously. They understand that in most conversations it is better not to dominate. A person who crushes with emotions pushes others away from him, and those involved in the dialogue switch to defensive mode.

Ultimately, it is the person who rarely asks for something or proves something emotionally who seeks attention at the right time.

2. Listen, listen, listen

People who know how to conduct a dialogue also understand that it is not enough just to voice your idea, even if it is succinctly formulated. This is only half the battle.

Listen first to gauge how receptive the other party is to your point of view. Listen to specific objections that you may need to respond to. Listen for moments that express the opponent's agreement - you can rely on them later, striving for consensus.

The most pleasant interlocutors constantly listen to others, not themselves.

Do not rush to talk about yourself. The conversation about you will start as soon as you leave

3. Create emotional connections

We try to brush aside people who are trying to convince us of something if we do not feel an emotional connection with them, if their arguments are not close to us.

Pleasant interlocutors understand this and therefore they win over and look for common ground in order to achieve emotional intimacy and unity of purpose.

Empathize with someone else's position, make it clear that you are on the same side. Control your impatience and wait until you are allowed to present your vision.

You will achieve your goals if the opponents are open to conversation, and your desires do not seem alien to them.

4. Show your trust in people

Pleasant conversationalists understand that there is no need to waste time arguing about facts. There are many important facets in just one healthy diet. Someone advocates vegetarianism, someone for a starch-free diet, someone for a separate diet. In conversations, we need to show that the world is not mostly black and white.

Such people value strong opinions and recognize the interlocutor's right to them. Recognize the power of other people's arguments in which there is at least some sense.

When you need to convince a person, confirm that you trust his informed opinion - in no case brush it off right away. Then you become more likely that everyone involved in the conversation will respect your words to the same extent, assuming that there are pluses in your position.

5. Yield Where Possible

Wise people, who are also pleasant conversationalists, understand that in order to win a war, it is not at all necessary to win all the small battles. They are quite ready to sacrifice something if it brings them closer to the main thing, especially if the main thing is the achievements of a person.

Look for a path to harmony. And often it consists in giving the interlocutor what he wants, whenever possible. Give in when you can, and stand your ground only when the issue is critical.

6. Determine the end point of the conversation

Good conversationalists know when to shut up. Let your listeners see that you are in that category. At the next meeting with you, they will not worry about the possible endless flurry of words from your side.

Reassure them that you are not going to wear them down endlessly with your reasoning.

It's better to be a pleasant memory than to be an annoying presence

Attempting to resolve the issue urgently and immediately is often harmful negotiation process. Important ideas and decisions take time and thought.

Pleasant conversationalists allow others to think at their own pace, they give both time and space so that they can calmly and carefully comprehend everything.

It is rare that a person admits the fallacy of his views in a matter of minutes. And even less often it happens in the presence of the other side.

Well, friends, we are coming to the end point of this post. If you want to master this important art of communication, read on.

In any case, choose which human achievement priority for you: honesty in small things, skillful communication or something else. Which one will help you create good reputation? Everything (well, almost everything) is in your hands.

In order to successfully create new inventions, or at least keep track of them, it is simply necessary to know what our modernity is based on, that is, science, technology and infrastructure. These are the most important inventions and discoveries, the significance of which cannot be overestimated.

Fire

It is not known exactly when exactly people began to use fire, when they learned to store or produce it, but scientists suggest that all this happened from 600 to 200 thousand years ago.

Language

The first oral speech with semantic and phonetic structures appeared about ten thousand years ago.

Trade (barter)

The first case of barter exchange was tracked in the Papua New Guinea region about 19 thousand years ago. By the third millennium BC. e. trade routes appeared in Asia and the Middle East.

Agriculture and farming

About 17 thousand years ago, people first began to domesticate animals, and in the tenth millennium BC. e. began to grow plants, which led to the formation of permanent settlements and the end of the nomadic lifestyle.

Ship

Around the fourth millennium BC. e. v ancient egypt began to use wooden rafts and boats, and in the XII century BC. e. the Phoenicians and Greeks began to build ships that allowed not only to expand the world of that time, but also to develop trade, science, geography and cartography.

Wheel

The wheel has become one of the simplest and most important inventions in human history. They began to use it about five thousand years ago.

Money

A new step in the development of trade was the use of money. They were first used by the Sumerians in the third millennium BC. e.

Iron

Metallurgy began its development with the use of copper, silver and tin. Bronze followed. In the third millennium BC. e. people began to use stronger iron.

Written speech

Despite the fact that oral speech has existed for thousands of years, writing first appeared among the Sumerians only five thousand years ago.

Legislation

In the XVIII century BC. e. Hammurabi, the sixth Babylonian king, wrote his famous code, or collection of laws, according to which it was necessary to live in society. Other examples of ancient legislative texts are the Book of the Dead, the Ten Commandments, and the Book of Leviticus.

Alphabet

The first alphabet containing both vowels and consonants appeared among the Phoenicians in 1050 BC. e.

Steel

Steel alloys are rightfully considered the strongest. Steel was first used in Asia about four thousand years ago. The Greeks began to use these alloys in the 7th century BC. e., 250 years before China and Rome.

hydropower

The energy of flowing or falling water began to be used in the Mesopotamia region in the 2nd century BC. e.

Paper

Paper was first used by the Chinese around 105 AD. e., it was fabric. Paper made from wood appeared only in the 16th century.

Manual dialing with movable type

Although Gutenberg (1436) invented the printing press, the technology on which it is based comes from China. Movable type was invented by Bi Shen in 1040.

Microscope

In 1592, the Dutch optical masters Zacharias and Hans first saw that objects could be seen much closer through certain lenses. It was these special lenses that made it into the first microscope.

Electricity

In 1600, the Englishman William Gilbert first used the term "electricity". In 1752, Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning is electricity.

Telescope

In 1608, Hans Lippershey created a converging lens, which he inserted into a telescope. This became the prototype of the telescope, which Galileo improved a year later.

Engine

The invention of the steam engine by Thomas Newcomen in 1712 was the next giant step in technology. The internal combustion engine was invented by Etienne Lenoir in 1858.

incandescent lamp

The incandescent lamp, invented in 1800 by Humphrey Davy and later perfected by Thomas Edison, helped turn night into day.

Telegraph

The first simple telegraph was invented by the Bavarian Samuel Semmering in 1809. However, the author of the first commercially successful version of the telegraph is Samuel Morse, the creator of Morse code.

Electromagnet

William Sturgeon invented the first electromagnet in 1825. His invention consisted of an ordinary iron horseshoe around which a copper wire was wound.

Oil and gas

This natural fuel was first discovered in 1859. The first gas well was discovered in Ohio, and the first oil well was discovered in Pennsylvania.

Telephone

The first device capable of transmitting distinguishable sounds was invented in 1860 by the German Philip Reis. After 16 years, Alexander Bell patented and demonstrated to the public an improved model.

Electric lamp

This vacuum electronic device is based on the fact that the flow of electricity does not need a wire and can pass through both air and vacuum. The first such device was created by Lee de Forest in 1893.

Semiconductors

The first semiconductors were discovered in 1896. Silicon is the main semiconductor today. It was first used commercially by Jagadish Chandra Bose.

Penicillin

Everyone has heard of the accidental discovery of the antibiotic penicillin in 1928. However, long before Fleming, these properties were noticed by the French medical student Ernest Duchen in 1896, but his research went unnoticed.

Radio

Among the inventors of radio, such names as Heinrich Hertz (1888), Thomas Edison (1885) and even Nikola Tesla, who patented his invention in 1897, rumble.

Electron

This negatively charged elementary particle discovered by Joseph Thomson in 1897. The electron is the main carrier of electric charge.

The quantum physics

real start quantum physics 1900 and Planck's hypothesis are considered to be. On its basis, Einstein built his theory about the particles of light, which were later dubbed photons.

Airplane

The famous invention of the Wright brothers dates back to 1903. The first successful manned flight took place on 17 December.

The television

Television is based on a number of inventions and discoveries, but the first full-fledged television was created in 1926 by John Logie Baird.

Transistor

Switching and amplification of the electronic signal is carried out using a transistor - an invention that was created by Bill Shankly in 1947 and which first thought about the possibility of creating a global telecommunications network.

DNA

The main secret of life on earth was discovered by a team of scientists from the University of Cambridge in 1953. Watson and Creek got Nobel Prize for this discovery.

Integrated circuit

In 1959, through the efforts of several developers, inventors and corporations, the first integrated circuit was created - an arbitrary set of electronic components combined into one crystal or on one circuit. It was this invention that made it possible to create microchips and microprocessors.

Internet

The ARPANET, or DARPA project, developed in 1969, became the progenitor of the Internet. However, modern data transfer protocols and the Internet itself were created in 1991 by Briton Tim Berners-Lee.

Microprocessor

In 1971, the developer of the Intel company created an innovative integrated circuit, the size of which was ten times smaller. It was she who became the first microprocessor.

Mobile phone

In 1973, Motorola launched the first portable telephone on the market, weighing just over a kilogram. Its battery has been charging for more than ten hours, and the talk time has not exceeded 30 minutes.

Smartphone

In January 2007, Apple first launched a phone capable of recognizing multiple touch points. The multi-touch system paved the way for smartphones, tablets and hybrid computers.

quantum computer

In 2011, D-wave introduced a radically new invention - a quantum computer - a computing machine based on the phenomena of superposition and entanglement, which makes it thousands of times faster than conventional mechanical computers.

Business partners are sometimes interested in each other's achievements. Anyone who has acted purposefully at his workplace at least once will always have something to say. The main thing is to understand what an achievement is. Here we will answer a number of questions that the specialist most often faces. What are significant achievements? How to identify and formulate the main, main, higher or outstanding achievements? Personal and professional achievements - what to write in a resume? What are the best achievements to list? We answer in order.

Can you talk about your goals? professional activity? We hope you can - all site materials help you. Goals tell you what results a person wants to achieve. This is information about the future. The Achievements question asks about what results have been achieved. This is information about the past, what has happened, what has already been achieved to the present moment. If at least once you set clear, precise goals for yourself and at least once successfully achieved them, getting the result that you originally planned, then you know the main thing. In general, an achievement is a previously planned and successfully achieved result to date.

There is a lot in common between goals at work and achievements at work. The big difference is time. Goals reflect the figures and facts that need to be obtained for a certain period (or by a certain date), and are usually stated in the future tense. Achievements reflect the figures and facts that were obtained by a specialist in a certain period of his activity, and are declared, as a rule, in the past tense. The principles for formulating goal and achievement messages are very similar. Do you want an example? Let's take two sentences as an example. Task: try not to guess where the planned result is declared, and where the result is.

• by the third quarter of the current (2006) year, develop a technical warning system for concentrations in the air ... above the maximum allowable standards;
• in the second quarter of the current (2006) year, a technical warning system was developed for concentrations in the air ... above the maximum allowable standards.

Did you complete the task? Not? Fine. Probably, you are well aware of the information on how to correctly formulate information about the result achieved. And now we will note the main thing.

When a question about achievements arises in a resume or at an interview, it means that they are asked to talk about the results that you received in your work in a certain period of time. For example, at the previous workplace or in the previous position, while working on a specific topic or as a result of solving certain problems and tasks - depending on what specific period is being asked. Sometimes in the question of achievements, such a period is not explicitly indicated. This means that the requested period is your entire work activity.

Preparing a preliminary list of achievements

To understand what achievements you have today, you can do a simple thing. Take a list of previous goals that you set for yourself during the requested periods of professional activity. Select from them achieved. Rewrite their wording in the past tense. The first part of the material is ready.

Now remember, have you ever, on the way to a planned result, received results that were unplanned, but unexpectedly important, of significant importance for someone or something? - for whom or what exactly is still indifferent. Happened? Then write them down too. The second part of the material is ready.

In fact, you have a list of results obtained in different periods of your professional activity. What are these lists for? Your business partner is interested in how you can be useful for him, the organization, target groups. What internal wealth and active resources do you own? It is the active ones that have already allowed you to achieve certain results. Passive resources - which "theoretically" seem to exist, but are not actually used - are not always of interest to real business partners. Why?

From the fact that you possess, for example, some knowledge and skills, to your colleagues, clients, etc. neither hot nor cold. You own it and it's great. Your knowledge and skills become interesting when you can achieve the desired result with their help. Then you demonstrate the presence, quality and usefulness of your resource - a resource that really exists, which you enjoy using and which is constantly honed in experience. Then we are talking about the special knowledge and key skills that allowed you to get what you are talking about. Information about achievements says much more than it might seem at first glance.

Having a list of your achievements and talking about them in a resume or interview, you inform a real or potential business partner of two things. About what results you could achieve yourself or helped others achieve (what hopes can be placed on you, in which you can be especially useful). about how activeresources (abilities, capabilities, knowledge, skills) you have in order to achieve similar or other results necessary for the company.

Choosing significant

So, we have compiled a preliminary list of the results of professional activity. Now among them we will look for real achievements. Ready?..

What is and what are significant achievements? People differently evaluate the significance of a particular result in their work. Therefore, each specialist independently decides which of them is worth talking about. However, when talking about achievement, there are two things to keep in mind.

1) . This should be the result which turned out to be useful for someone - important, necessary, having a certain meaning for a particular person, group of people or the company as a whole.

Depending on who exactly the result of the work you are talking about brought more benefit (turned out to be more important), it can be classified into one of two categories:

• personal achievement;
• professional achievement.

2. Results that may but have not yet benefited other people. Even if it is a unique discovery, knowledge, invention or creation of something that gives you a sense of professional pride and potentially has great importance for others, but not yet in demand by them, has not yet brought them concrete benefit, such a result at this point in time should be called a personal achievement in professional activity. Remember that the question of achievement is about what has already been achieved. Here it is important not to fall into illusions, but to objectively assess what you really have today. In this case, today you have something that can help someone tomorrow. Key phrases: "you have" and "can help someone." Despite the fact that such results of work are classified as personal achievements, they can be an important competitive advantage for your potential partners.

We will be glad to see information about your professional achievements in the comments.

Man's Greatest Achievements

When a child is born, his sense organs come into contact with outside world. Sound, heat and light waves beat against his weak body, his sensitive nerve fibers tremble, muscles obediently contract and relax: inhale, exhale, and with this act an amazing little machine of incomprehensible sensitivity and constructive complexity, unlike anything else on Earth, turns on. in the cycle of the universe.

A small mechanism works and grows, performs more and more complex actions, begins to feel more and more subtle influences, and now a developed rational being declares itself - Man, a mysterious creature with an incomprehensible and irresistible desire to work miracles in his environment.

Inspired by this task, he explores, discovers and invents, designs and builds, and perfects the star of his birth with monuments of beauty, moral greatness and reverence.

He descends into the depths the globe in order to extract the treasures hidden there and release the vast energies that are imprisoned and use them.

He invades the dark depths of the ocean and the azure heights of the skies.

He peers into the most intimate places and secluded corners of the molecular structure and opens to his gaze the worlds that go to infinity. He conquers and puts at his service the violent, devastating fire of Prometheus, the colossal forces of the waterfall, wind and tide.

He tames Jupiter's formidable arrows and abolishes time and space. He makes the great Sun itself his obedient worker-servant.

His strength and power are such that the heavens melt, and the whole Earth trembles at the mere sound of his voice.

What has the future prepared for this amazing creature, born with a corruptible body, yet immortal, with its terrible and divine possibilities? What magic will he summon at the end? What should be his greatest feat crowning his achievement?

He realized long ago that all perceived matter comes from the primary substance, incomprehensibly subtle, filling all space, Akasha, or luminiferous ether, which is affected by the life-giving Prana, or creative force, calling to life in endless cycles all objects and phenomena.

Primary matter plunged into infinitely small whirlwinds of great speed becomes dense matter, with the weakening of the force, the movement stops, and matter disappears, returning to its former state of primary matter.

Can Man control this most grandiose of all processes in nature, inspiring awe? Can he harness her inexhaustible energies so that they perform all their functions at his command? Moreover, can he so perfect the means of control as to put them into action by his own effort of will?

If this could be achieved, he would have almost unlimited and supernatural powers. At his command, with just a slight effort on his part, the old worlds would vanish and the new ones planned by him would be born.

He could fix, condense and preserve the ethereal images of his imagination, the fleeting visions of his dreams. He could express all the creations of his consciousness on any scale in concrete and eternal forms.

He could change the volume of our planet, control the seasons on it, direct it along any trajectory that he invents, in the depths of the universe.

He could make the planets collide and create their suns and stars, their warmth and light. He could generate and develop life in all its infinite forms.

To create and destroy a material substance, to force it to gather into forms in accordance with his desire, would be the highest manifestation of the power of Man's consciousness, his complete triumph over the physical world, the crown of his exploits, which would give him a place next to the Creator and fulfill his original destiny.

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