“A breakthrough event in the history of Polish science”, remains of the first Slavs and animals from millions of years ago

One of the most interesting scientific reports last year occurred in January and concerned the discovery of a rare Renaissance coin of Albrecht Hohenzollern in Kamień Pomorski. Silver 3 groszy coins were found during cleaning works at the war cemetery in Kamień Pomorski. This is a very rare find in the northern part of Pomerania.

In February, the imagination of science lovers was captured by the results of the work of paleontologists. First, the media reported that Polish scientists had discovered an unusual fish dating back 365 million years. Over two meters long, a predatory armored fish with an extremely elongated lower jaw, named Alienacanthus malkowskiiwas found in rock deposits in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains.

Shortly thereafter, the discovery of the bone lake and the results of analyzes of bones and numerous objects from the Bronze Age were reported. In the village of Papowo Biskupie, in the Chełmno region, they were tracked down by the Kujawsko-Pomorska Group of History Seekers. According to anthropologists from the University of Łódź, DNA testing of remains from around 1000-450 BC may shake the current theory that the Slavs arrived in today's Polish lands only at the beginning of the second half of the first millennium AD.

In March, the Polish Press Agency reported that Polish engineers from Astronika had developed a mechanism for the lunar jumper's leg. The robot, commissioned by the European Space Agency (ESA), is intended to be an alternative to rovers that cannot always cope with the difficult terrain of the Moon. The jumper will be able to move freely in the lunar mountains, which are often an insurmountable barrier for rovers.

Also in March, it turned out that the common belief that algorithms and artificial intelligence are objective is wrong. Technology has always reflected the prejudices and stereotypes existing in societies, because the databases on which it is based and learned are optimized and implemented by people – emphasized scientists from the Kozminski University (KU) in Warsaw.

Another interesting report from the field of archeology came in May. Archaeologists from the Institute of Archeology of the University of Wrocław, working in Berenike on the Red Sea in Egypt, found papyri with lists of Roman centurions stationed in Egypt. The documents were found, among others, along with ceramics from Italy, Roman coins and a specific coat clasp in a place that could have been the remains of the centurion's office. Around the same time, another team analyzing two-thousand-year-old rock art reported new interpretations of petroglyphs from Peru's Toro Muerto. The geometric patterns, lines and zigzags that accompany the images of dancers (danzantes), carved in the local rock blocks, are not snakes or lightning bolts, but a record of songs – suggested the authors of the analyses. Toro Muerto is one of the richest places in South America for rock art. There are rock carvings, i.e. petroglyphs, which were created at different times, preserved on thousands of volcanic boulders.

Also in May, scientists announced that – due to its physicochemical composition – Polish smog is particularly dangerous for the circulatory system: it increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. As said by cardiologist Dr. Hab. Łukasz Kuźma is our “new, infamous regional product”. This was confirmed by research conducted by the team from the Invasive Cardiology Clinic of the Medical University of Warsaw Białystok under his direction.

The naming of two aroused great interest asteroids in honor of Polish scientists. The celestial bodies discovered by Lithuanian astronomers were named honoring Władysław Dziewulski and Marcin Poczobutt-Odlanicki. Information about research by scientists from the University of Warsaw regarding an extinct reptile with extremely elongated cervical vertebrae circulated in the media in June. The extremely long neck of tanystrophus, half the length of its body, consisted of only 13 vertebrae, but extremely elongated. Tanystrophus lived in the Triassic period about 240 million years ago, also in modern Poland (fossils were found, among others, in Miedary in the Silesian Voivodeship).

In July, during tests, the Polish suborbital rocket ILR-33 BURSZTYN 2K reached an altitude of 101 kilometers. “This is a breakthrough event in the history of Polish science and the achievements of Polish engineers in the field of space technologies” was noted in the announcement of the Polish Space Agency POLSA and the Institute of Aviation of the Łukasiewicz Research Network. AMBER is the first rocket in the world to use hydrogen peroxide at a concentration of 98 percent as an oxidant.

Also in July, Polish divers reported discovering a wreck full of bottles at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The wreck of a 19th-century sailing ship was filled with about a hundred bottles of champagne and mineral water. The head of the expedition estimated that the unit could have sunk near Sweden between 1850 and 1876.

In August, the SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket carried the Polish EagleEye satellite into orbit. The largest and most advanced domestic orbiter began transmitting telemetry data almost immediately, but a few days later it fell silent. According to Jacek Kośiec, vice president of Creotech Instruments, where the satellite was created, EagleEye worked great for a week, and then operators lost two-way communication with it.

One of the most interesting post-holiday reports concerned the discovery of about 300 artefacts at the “Łysa Góra” site in Masovia, including: iron axes, scissors and a unique helmet from the 4th century BC. Dr. Bartłomiej Kaczyński, who led the research, said that the helmet is an example of advanced Celtic metallurgy. The discovery changes the current perception of the scale of contacts with the Celtic world in the older pre-Roman period.

At a similar time, researchers working in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park reported the discovery of over 30 valuable archaeological sites there and the identification of previously unknown rock paintings, fragments of pottery and stone tools. The research is carried out there by a team led by Dr. Hab. Marta Osypińska from the Institute of Archeology of the University of Wrocław.

However, in Kazimierz Wielka in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, the remains of 160 archaeological objects related to Neolithic settlements and the Early Bronze Age were discovered. Krakow archaeologists mentioned the cemetery, dating back to the younger pre-Roman and early Roman periods (1st century BC – 2nd century AD), as particularly interesting.

October was marked by a unique collection of oriental fashion, presented by the Louvre in Paris. These were the costumes of kings, royal mothers and a bishop from medieval Nubia, reconstructed by Polish scientists from the University of Warsaw and designers from SWPS University on the basis of paintings that once decorated the walls of the cathedral in Faras.

A team of Krakow researchers, in cooperation with foreign partners, examined the adaptation mechanisms of bacteria collected from the International Space Station (ISS). The findings indicate that microorganisms isolated from inside the ISS have adapted to life in space. The research on microorganisms that traveled to the ISS with astronauts and settled on the space station was conducted by a team of researchers from Krakow research units: the Małopolska Center of Biotechnology of the Jagiellonian University and the Sano Center for Computational Medicine in close cooperation with partners from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA and Acibadem University in Istanbul.

One of the most interesting reports in October concerned the scale and mechanisms of people leaving science. This phenomenon was studied in various countries by prof. Marek Kwiek and Dr. Łukasz Szymula from the University of Adam Mickiewicz w Poznań. As they found, only half of people are still active scientists 10 years after the publication of their first scientific publication, while after 20 years only one third of people remain in science. Dropout patterns are similar across countries.

In November, scientists published a way to fight the dangerous Staphylococcus aureus. Thanks to the use of viruses that attack bacteria and small proteins called bacteriocins, it is possible to deal with dangerous strains of this bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. This is indicated by research conducted by scientists from the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

In December, four scientists: Dr. hab. Sebastian Glatt, prof. Janusz Lewiński, prof. Krzysztof Sacha and prof. Marcin Wodziński received the Foundation for Polish Science Awards. The awards were granted for the 33rd time.

The end of the year in science was dominated by the topic of space missions. Just in December cosmos the Proba-3 double satellite hit. Two spacecraft were launched into orbit by a rocket from India's Satish Dhawan Space Center. The formation created by the coronagraph, i.e. a telescope for observing the solar corona, and the so-called oculter – an element with an oculograph disk covering the disk of the Sun – will create an artificial solar eclipse every 20 hours for two years. All this to, among other things, enable scientists from the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences to observe the solar corona.

The official name of the first Polish mission to the International Space Station was also announced. As part of Ignis (Latin for fire) – as this project was called – astronaut Sławosz Uznański will conduct 13 experiments in orbit in the field of technology, biology, medicine and psychology, prepared by Polish scientists and engineers. Uznański will fly into orbit in spring 2025.