A killer disease teeters on the brink of eradication, a comet heads for a spectacular smash, and Earth's climate hangs in the balance. New Scientist gives you a sneak preview of 2005's biggest science stories 2005 is a make-or-break year in the campaign to eradicate polio. Only once before has humankind eradicated an infectious disease, and that was smallpox. If things go to plan, the last remaining reservoirs of wild poliovirus will be eliminated by the end of the year. But if these pockets are not stamped out very soon, the paralysing disease is likely to slip through the net, undoing 17 years of work and $3 billion of investment. "This year is critical," says World Health Organization spokeswoman Melissa Corkum in Abuja, Nigeria.
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