2005: The Year In Biology And Medicine

2005 is a year that opened and closed with controversy, amid a feverish anticipation of a global bird flu pandemic.
It began with continued trouble over serious side-effects of certain COX-II inhibitor arthritis drugs, including Vioxx, allegations of a cover-up, and the award of a multi-million dollar payout against a drug company. The close of 2005 saw a storm of allegations over the veracity of landmark stem cell papers.
Major breakthroughs in 2005 included the publishing of several complete genomes, including a dog called Tasha, the chimpanzee, three human parasites, ancient cave bears, as well as a map of genetic variations called SNPs in the human genome.
The year also saw the world's first human face transplant by French surgeons - one of several international teams vying to achieve this high-profile goal.
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