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, a growing fear of bird flu, fabricated claims of cloned human stem cells, and a robot to carry out breast examinations.