From a vaccine decades in the making to a gecko that defies cancer, these are some of the biggest scientific discoveries of 2021.

Over 130 years after the world discovered the Plasmodium parasites responsible for malaria, the world had its first approved vaccine against the disease. In early October this year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) approved the RTS,S – known more commonly by its brand name, Mosquirix –with WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus lauding the feat as one that “changes the course of public health history.”