Major science events that define 2017 (part 3)

U.S. WITHDRAWS FROM PARIS AGREEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate change has become a global challenge that requires action from all countries across the world. But to the regret of almost all, Trump Administration announced in June that his country would withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change, which is regarded by many as the "best chance we have to save the planet."

"All nations much cut their emissions sooner and deeper than called for in the Paris agreement for the world to have any realistic chance of limiting global warming to no more than two degrees Celsius," John Sterman, professor at the Sloan School of Management of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Xinhua at that time in responding to the withdrawal.

"U.S. withdrawal makes the greater ambition needed to avoid the worst risks of climate change more difficult."

The Paris Agreement, agreed on by almost every country in the world in 2015, aims to tackle climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions and sets a global target of keeping the average temperature rise no higher than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

In the face of the U.S. change of heart over the landmark deal, other major players including the European Union, China and India have reiterated their willingness to step up efforts to tackle the climate change.

NEW CANCER DRUG DEFEATS MULTIPLE TUMORS

In May, the U.S. FDA granted accelerated approval to a treatment for patients whose cancers have a specific genetic feature. This is the first time the agency has approved a cancer treatment based on its DNA rather than the location in the body where the tumor originated.

The drug, called Keytruda, which has previously been approved to treat metastatic melanoma and a handful of other tumor types, can now be prescribed for any advanced solid tumor that carry a common genetic defect referred to as microsatellite instability-high or mismatch repair deficient.

"This is an important first for the cancer community," said Richard Pazdur, acting director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and director of the FDA's Oncology Center of Excellence.

"Until now, the FDA has approved cancer treatments based on where in the body the cancer started -- for example, lung or breast cancers. We have now approved a drug based on a tumor's biomarker without regard to the tumor's original location," Pazdur said.

FIRST GENETICALY-MODIFIED ANIMAL HITS SHELVES IN CANADA

AquaBounty Technologies, a U.S.-based biotechnology company, announced in August that it has sold approximately five tons of fresh genetically-modified (GM) salmon fillets at "market price" to unnamed customers in Canada.

"Our salmon is only approved for production, sale and consumption in the United States and Canada," Dave Conley, a company spokesman, told Xinhua at that time. "It will not be sold in China until it is approved by your national biotechnology regulatory authority."

"This is an important step for the company and for the technology as a whole," William Muir, genetics professor at the Purdue University, commented in an email to Xinhua. "This will be the first GM animal approved for human consumption and now the next step is consumer acceptance... I see no scientific reason to be concerned about the sale or consumption of AquaBounty GM salmon."

7 EARTH-SIZED EXOPLANETS DISCOVERED AROUND NEARBY STAR

NASA announced on Feb. 22. that a compact analogue of our innersolar system about 40 light years away from the Earth has been discovered.

"The discovery gives us a hint that finding a second earth is not just a matter of if but when," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate said.

An international team of astronomers using powerful space telescopes and ground-based observatories have discovered the first known system of actually seven Earth-sized planets orbiting the nearby TRAPPIST-1, which is relatively close to us, in the constellation Aquarius.

And three of these planets are firmly located in the habitable zone, the area around the parent star where a rocky planet is most likely to have liquid water.

The discovery sets a new record for greatest number of habitable-zone planets found around a single star outside our solar system, according to NASA. Enditem