A landmark clinical trial that showed HIV drugs can be as effective as condoms in preventing transmission of the virus that causes AIDS was declared Science magazine’s breakthrough of the year on Thursday. Other top achievements of 2011 included a Japanese spacecraft’s return to Earth with dust from an asteroid, progress toward a malaria vaccine and discoveries about modern humans’ gene links to cavemen. The annual top 10 list by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which publishes the journal Science, appear in the magazine’s December 23 issue. The lead story of the year was an international trial, coined HPTN 052, which showed that people taking anti-retroviral drugs reduced the risk of heterosexual transmission to partners by 96 percent. (NYDailyNews.com)

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Sam Schmid was walking and speaking Friday at a Phoenix hospital. Dressed in a T-shirt, shorts and sneakers, he was able to use a walker and talk in brief sentences. “Right now, I’m feeling all right … except for the rehabilitation, I’m feeling pretty good,” Schmid said. Doctors at Barrow Neurological Institute say Schmid has a long recovery ahead of him to regain full speech, balance and memory abilities. Schmid, who is a business major and was coaching basketball at a University of Arizona recreation center, is holding onto the belief that he can get back to what his life was like before the accident. “I see myself leaving the house, going to school, work, basic things like that,” Schmid said. “I just want my life to be what it used to be.” (MSN.com)

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An Egyptian court on Tuesday ordered the country’s military rulers to stop the use of “virginity tests” on female detainees, a practice that has caused an uproar among activists and rights groups. The virginity test allegations first surfaced after a March 9 rally in Cairo’s Tahrir Square that turned violent when men in plainclothes attacked protesters, and the army cleared the square by force. The rights group Human Rights Watch said seven women were subjected to the tests. (ABCNews.com)

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There’s a golden retriever, an English springer spaniel, a Doberman and a handful of mixed breeds. But several times a year, they all become blood hounds. The dogs are part of a program that gives the gift of life to an injured or sick animal. They are blood donors. As often as every seven weeks, the area dogs arrive at the Animal Health Clinic of Funkstown, roll up their paws and provide between 8 and 16 ounces of blood. Over a year’s time, the dogs will produce enough samples to save the lives of more than 40 dogs. They are volunteers in the Canine Blood Donor Program, organized by the Blue Ridge Veterinary Blood Bank, based in Purcellville, Va. The blood bank has been in existence since 1993 and ships to more than 600 animal hospitals in the United States and Canada. (MSN.com)

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A technique borrowed from the 1970s uses a weak electrical current to charge underwater metal structures. The electrolysis provokes a fast build-up of limestone, helping corals flourish. In the turquoise waters of Pemuteran off the north coast of Bali where the project was launched in 2000, a metal frame known as “the crab” is covered with huge corals in shimmering colors where hundreds of fish have made their homes.”Corals grow 2-6 times faster. We are able to grow back reefs in a few years,” Thomas J. Goreau, a Jamaican marine biologist and biogeochemist, told AFP.Today there are around sixty of these “cages” in Pemuteran bay, across a surface of two hectares, and the reef has not only been saved from near-death, it is flourishing better than ever before.”Biorock is the only method known that protects corals from dying from high temperatures. We get from 16 to 50 times higher survival of corals from severe bleaching,” Goreau said. (DiscoveryNews.com)

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A little girl thought to be killed in the tsunami that struck Indonesia in 2004 is reportedly alive, well and back with her parents. Then only 8-years-old, the child, identified as Wati, was with her mother and siblings when the massive wave slammed into their village in Ujong Baroh on the island of Sumatra, the Indonesian state news agency Antara reported Thursday. Her mother, Yusniar, was racing to safety with Wati and two other siblings when she lost her grip on the girl, according to the report. The child was then swept away by the rushing water. On Wednesday, the girl’s grandfather met an acquaintance who was accompanied by a teenage girl, the report said. She had no memory of her family. The grandfather, Ibrahim, suspected the teen could be Wati. He contacted Yusinar and her husband, and they arrived to meet the girl. (NYDailyNews.com)

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The math is miraculous: Two sets of families divided by two healthy kidneys equals two lives saved. Four people involved in an extraordinary kidney swap met for the first time at a New York hospital Thursday, exchanging hugs, laughs and heartfelt expressions of gratitude. It wasn’t easy. As part of a carefully choreographed procedure two weeks ago, Theresa donated a kidney to Michael Mullen, an investment manager from Greenwich, Conn. — and Theresa’s brother, Yonkers detective Vincent Tilson, received a kidney from Mullen’s homemaker wife, Tracy. Each of the four surgeries took about 3 1/2 hours. (NYDailyNews.com)

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Pigeons may be ubiquitous, but they’re also brainy, according to a new study that found these birds are on par with primates when it comes to numerical competence. The study, published in the latest issue of the journal Science, discovered that pigeons can discriminate against different amounts of number-like objects, order pairs, and learn abstract mathematical rules. Aside from humans, only rhesus monkeys have exhibited equivalent skills. Pigeons have just tied with non-human primates in terms of math competence. Pigeons can not only discriminate quantities, they can also learn abstract mathematical concepts. (DiscoveryNews.com)

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He may be only a month old, but one baby polar bear is a YouTube star. Siku, who was born last month at the Scandinavian Wildlife Park, is being hand-raised at the Danish zoo because his mother doesn’t make enough milk to feed him, according to reports. He’s captured admirers around the world. One video posted of him shows the cub napping, stretching out his arms and looking content with a rub from one of the zookeepers. (NYDailyNews.com)

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Aisha Khan, the 19-year-old Kansas college student missing for nearly a week has been found safe and unharmed, according to ABC News’ Kansas City affiliate KMBC. Overland Park Police Officer Brian Schnavel said that Khan was not abducted or held against her will, according to KMBC. Schnavel said no criminal act occurred. Police said they made contact with Khan by phone on Wednesday night and that she was no in danger. (ABCNews.com)

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Days before Christmas, a tiny town of 2,000 in cash-strapped Spain found itself richer by euro720 million ($940 million) Thursday after scooping the top prize in the nation’s famed Christmas lottery. Billed as the world’s richest, the lottery dishes out some euro2.52 billion ($3.29 billion) to winners across the nation. The top prize — dubbed “El Gordo” (The Fat One) — was split among the holders of tickets bearing the number 58268. The number appeared on 1,800 tickets, giving winners euro400,000 for their euro20 ticket. The state lottery agency said all 1,800 tickets with that number were sold in the town of Granen, located in the arid and barren northeastern Los Monegros area. The news brought the town’s residents out onto the street to dance, sing, hug each other and spray sparkling wine all over. (ABCNews.com)

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The Federal Chancellor, Dr. Angela Merkel, and the Federal Minister of Building, Dr Peter Ramsauer, today jointly opened the “Efficiency House Plus” in Berlin. The Federal Building Ministry’s showhouse combines energy efficiency and electric mobility. The house produces energy, which is then used to power its occupants’ electric vehicles. Next year, this scheme is to be tested for one year by a family in real-life conditions.As part of research into building and electric mobility, the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development has had a single-family house constructed at Fasanenstrasse 87 in Berlin-Charlottenburg which produces twice as much energy as it consumes. This electricity is to be directly fed into electric vehicles on the premises. This inhabitable prototype will demonstrate how energy-efficient building and electric mobility can be combined in real-life conditions. The real-life trials will be conducted by a family of four for one year, with Audi, BMW, Daimler, Opel and VW providing electric vehicles for three months each. (BMVBS.de)

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Camera trap photo stills and video footage suggest that anti-poaching efforts in the forests of Thailand are paying off, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society.The cameras, set up at several locations across Thailand’s Western Forest Complex over the last year, have captured tigers, Asian elephants, gaurs, sun bears, and many other species in off guard moments. Video footage shows a tigress and her cubs feeding on an animal carcass, leopards marking their territory with scent, wild pigs nursing their young, and even Asian elephants mating.The evidence indicates tiger and prey populations have stabilized in this Thai forest region, which is larger than the state of Connecticut and consists of 17 contiguous protected areas. Recent estimates have found that the area is home to as many as 175 tigers. It also contains one of the largest and most important elephant populations in Southeast Asia, according to the WCS. (DiscoveryNews.com)

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A man has praised surgeons after his missing thumb was replaced with one of his toes. Fisherman Donald Gunn lost his right thumb while at sea when his hand got caught in rope. Surgeons at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary used the second toe from the Caithness man’s left foot. He said: “The difference it has made to me already is unbelievable. I am delighted with the result and cannot thank the team enough.” (BBC.co.uk)

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The future of farming lies not with genetically engineered seeds or super-fertilizers, instead it may come in new ways to plant, grow and harvest crops using robots instead of tractors. That’s according to an Iowa-based inventor who is basing his new bio-inspired autonomous robo-farmer on the swarming skills of insects, birds and fish. By integrating swarm technology with game theory and robotic cooperation through infrared communications, David Dourhout has built several bug-like robo-farmers called Prospero that can plant individual seeds and remember where they are. The small six-legged robots successfully planted an Iowa cornfield in a test run, and Dourhout hopes the next step will be to create more advanced robots that can weed, fertilize and harvest the crop. (DiscoveryNews.com)

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