An engineer from the
University of Missouri announces his ambition to create a flexible
solar sheet of small nano-antennas, capable of capturing solar energy with 90% efficiency; this would mark a significant improvement over contemporary commercial solar panels, which have an average efficiency of around 20%.[7]
21 January – An article in Science reveals the discovery of a Darwinopteruspterosaur in
China with an unhatched egg, thereby allowing the genders to be differentiated.[29][30]
Scientists and students have built a
3D printer that makes edible food.[35]
27 January
Under pressure from industry and governments, the
European Commission is putting the final touches on a strategy to reduce
Europe's dependence on
Chinese-supplied
rare-earth metals, which are essential in export products like cars and electronics.[36]
30 January –
Molybdenite is revealed to be up to 100,000 times more efficient than
silicon transistors, and to have better electrical properties than
graphene.[38]
A blood test to detect
vCJD is developed by British scientists, who say it could identify healthy people who are carriers of the disease.[40][41]
Further data from the
Kepler space telescope published in Nature reveals that the star
Kepler-11, located 2,000
light years from Earth, has a planetary system including six planets, which range between two and four-and-a-half times the radius of Earth, and between two and thirteen times its mass. Five orbit the star closer than
Mercury orbits the Sun, and all are likely to have atmospheres made of light gases, and to be too hot to support life. The data also includes details of more than 1,000 additional exoplanet candidates.[42][43]
4 February – Scientists reveal a tiny artificial
brain, derived from
ratneurons, that exhibits 12 seconds of short-term memory.[44][45]
7 February – Scientists at
Oxford University successfully test a universal
flu vaccine, which should work against all known strains of the illness.[46][47]
9 February – Using 25 years of evidence from over 470,000 participants, researchers show that
sleep deprivation and disrupted sleep patterns can have long-term, serious health implications.[48]
10 February – Scientists identify the root molecular cause of a variety of illnesses brought on by advanced age, including waning energy, failure of the
heart and other organs, and metabolic disorders such as
diabetes.[49]
11 February – Scientists show that
stem cells delivered via a
nasal spray lead to an improvement of motor functions in rats with
Parkinson's disease-like symptoms.[50][51]
Scientists report stimulation of
mouse muscle fibers in a way similar to the regeneration of severed limbs in
newts and
salamanders.[53][54]
16 February – Researchers find a way of manipulating tiny swimming robots, just 1.3 millimetres long, using electric currents in water.[55][56]
17 February
Scientists build the world's first anti-laser, capable of absorbing an incoming
laser beam entirely.[57][58]
A
hummingbird-like "Nano Air Vehicle" is demonstrated for the first time, in an attempt to secure a
DARPA contract to create small surveillance aircraft.[59]
20 February –
Stanford University researchers create new stretchable
solar cells that could power artificial electronic 'super skin', capable of detecting chemicals and biological molecules. The potential applications include clothing, robotics, prosthetic limbs and more.[60][61]
21 February – New research indicates that
bilingual speakers are better at
multitasking, because they are better at editing out irrelevant information; this overturns previous assumptions of
bilingualism causing confusion, especially in children.[62][63]
22 February
The first complete
millimeter-scale computing system is developed.[64]
Scientists at
Yale University demonstrate that
bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) can be blow-molded into shapes that would be impossible with normal metals without loss in strength or durability.[69]
UK researchers demonstrate an optical
microscope with one of the highest resolutions yet achieved, capable of imaging objects as little as 50
nanometres across.[71][72]
Scientists have determined how to generate a backward-pulling force from a forward-propagating beam, effectively creating a form of "
tractor beam".[73][74]
Researchers transform a human
embryonic stem cell into a critical type of
neuron that dies early in
Alzheimer's disease and is a major cause of memory loss; the discovery may have major implications in the treatment of the disease.[76][77]
12 March – Surgeons in
Houston,
Texas, successfully implant the world's first continuous-flow
artificial heart in a human patient. The
turbine-based device is efficient and long-lived, and may herald the mass production of smaller and more durable alternatives to conventional artificial hearts.[82]
14 March – Archeologists believe that they have found the lost city of
Atlantis in mud swamps near
Cadiz, Spain. They theorize that a
tsunami struck the ancient settlement; a television special on the
National Geographic Channel later investigates their findings.[83][84]
16 March – Scientists report the first successful use of
microcarriers to bring anti-
cancer drugs to the targeted area in the
liver of a living rabbit.[85]
18 March –
NASA's
MESSENGER spacecraft successfully enters orbit around the planet
Mercury – the first probe to do so.[86]
20 March
A new way of delivering drugs to the brain, using the body's own
exosomes, is developed by scientists, overcoming a major barrier to the delivery of potential new drugs for many neurological diseases, including
Alzheimer's.[87][88]
Researchers announce the development of a three-dimensional nanostructure for battery
cathodes that allows for dramatically faster charging, without sacrificing energy storage capacity. This could lead to
cellphones that charge in seconds, and
electric cars that charge in minutes.[89]
A new way of making battery
electrodes, based on nanostructured metal foams, can be used to make a
lithium-ion battery that recharge by 90% in under two minutes.[90][91]
Scientists demonstrate how
SHANK3, a brain
protein, may trigger
autism-like behavior in
mice by stopping effective communication between brain cells.[92][93]
22 March – A 6 cm-by-6 cm chip holding nine quantum devices, among them four "quantum bits", is demonstrated at the
American Physical Society meeting in
Dallas,
Texas. It is hoped that further scaling up to 10 qubits should be possible later this year.[94][95]
24 March
A landmark study indicates that
pioglitazone prevents the development of
type 2 diabetes in 72% of pre-diabetic subject participants, the largest such decrease yet demonstrated by any intervention.[96][97]
27 March –
Harvard University scientists demonstrate use of an electric field to extinguish an open flame more than 1 foot tall, a development they say could yield
fire-suppression alternatives to water and chemical retardants.[100][101]
31 March – Scientists announce the successful controlled
entanglement of 14 quantum bits (qubits), realizing the largest quantum register yet produced—nearly double the previous record for the number of entangled quantum bits realized.[102][103]
Five more
genes which increase the risk of developing
Alzheimer's have been identified, taking the number of genes linked to the disease to 10.
(BBC)(Nat. Genet.)
American scientists discover that
light can demonstrate strong
magnetic effects when travelling through certain materials at certain intensities. This finding, which overturns a century-old scientific assumption that light's magnetic effects are too weak to be tangible, may lead to the development of
solar panels capable of storing energy magnetically.
(Michigan Today)
14 April
More than 1,000 UK patients with advanced
pancreatic cancer have joined a trial using a new
vaccine to treat the disease.
(BBC)
The world's first
human brain map is unveiled, providing an interactive research tool that will help scientists to understand how the brain works. The map is hoped to aid new discoveries in disease and treatments; one thousand anatomical sites in the brain can be searched, supported by more than 100 million data points that indicate the
gene expression and
biochemistry of each site.
(New Scientist)
17 April – Researchers have injected biodegradable nanofiber spheres carrying cells into wounds to grow tissue.
(Nat. Mater.)
18 April
Scientists demonstrate mathematically that asymmetrical materials should be possible; such material would allow most light or sound waves through in one direction, while preventing them from doing so in the opposite direction; such materials would allow the construction of true one-way mirrors, soundproof rooms, or even
quantum computers that use light to perform calculations.
(Phys. Rev. Lett.)
A new design for thin-film
solar cells has been developed that requires significantly less
silicon than standard models, and may be more efficient at capturing solar energy.
(Appl. Phys. Lett.)
19 April – An international research team publishes a new method to produce belts of
graphene, called nanoribbons. By using hydrogen, they have managed to transform single-walled
carbon nanotubes into ribbons.
(ACS Nano)
20 April – Scientists describe a Chinese spider they say is the biggest fossilised
arachnid yet found; Nephila jurassica, as they have called their specimen, would have had a leg span of some 15 cm.
(BBC)(Biol. Lett.)
Researchers have built a
carbon nanotubesynapse circuit whose behavior in tests reproduces the function of a
neuron, the building block of the human
brain.
(LiSSA)
Some microbes can survive
gravity more than 400,000 times that felt on Earth, a new study says. By contrast, most humans can tolerate three to five times Earth's surface gravity before losing consciousness.
(National Geographic)(PNAS)
The
European Commission has approved plans to build a trio of
lasers that will each dwarf the power of any previous laser. The project, called the
Extreme Light Infrastructure, will lay the groundwork for building an even more powerful laser that could try to pull "virtual" particles out of the vacuum of
space-time.
(New Scientist)
Researchers successfully store a
qubit in a single
atom by writing the quantum state of single
photons into a
rubidium atom and reading it out again later.
(Nature)
A
Detroit entrepreneur has invented a heat-treatment that makes
steel 7 percent stronger than any steel on record in less than 10 seconds.
(Mater. Sci. Technol.)
3 May
Middle-aged people who are overweight but not
obese are 71% more likely to develop
dementia than those with a normal weight, according to new research; links between obesity and dementia had previously been found.
(BBC)(Neurology)
CERN scientists have confined
antihydrogen atoms for 1,000 seconds, four orders of magnitude longer than has ever been achieved before in capturing and maintaining
antimatter atoms.
(arXiv)
Researchers have identified a group of
mitochondrialproteins, the absence of which allows other protein groups to stabilise the
genome. This could delay the onset of age-related diseases and increase lifespan.
(Economic Times)(Mol. Cell)
9 May –
Smog-eating
aluminium panels which clean themselves and the air around them are unveiled; their
titanium dioxide coating, when combined with sunlight, acts as a catalyst to break down pollutants into harmless matter that
rain washes away.
(Alcoa)(USA Today)(Forbes via MSNBC)
A new vaccine can protect
macaques against the monkey equivalent of
HIV, and could provide a fresh approach to an HIV vaccine, a study suggests.
(BBC)(Nature)
12 May – The
exoplanetGliese 581d can be considered the first confirmed exoplanet that could potentially support Earth-like life, according to a team of French scientists.
(Astrophys. J. Lett.)
The discovery of a new physical phenomenon could yield
transistors with greatly enhanced
capacitance – a measure of the voltage required to move a charge. This, in turn, could lead to the revival of
clock speed as the measure of a computer's power.
(Science)
Contaminated water can be cleaned much more effectively using a novel, cheap material, which could offer a low-cost way to purify water in the developing world.
(BBC)(ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces)
Rogue planets lacking parent stars may outnumber "normal"
exoplanets by at least 50 percent, and are nearly twice as common in our galaxy as main-sequence stars, according to a new study.
(Space.com)(arXiv)(Nature)
19 May
By using electrical stimulation of the
spinal cord, a man from
Oregon who became paralyzed after being hit by a car can stand and move his legs on his own.
(BBC)(The Lancet)
Scientists have developed an
open-source desktop
genome analyzer. It works in conjunction with a browser that allows biologists to rapidly and easily analyze and process their high-throughput information.
(TG Daily)Archived 2011-06-11 at the
Wayback Machine(Bioinformatics)
Researchers believe they have made the first experimental observation of the dynamical
Casimir effect, using a rapidly moving mirror that turns virtual
photons into real ones.
(Technology Review)(arXiv)
A team of
Chinese physicists successfully
entangles eight
photons simultaneously and observes them in action; the previous record was six.
(arXiv)
Researchers have demonstrated the first true nanoscale waveguides for next generation on-chip optical communication systems; this holds potential for nanoscale photonic applications such as intra-chip optical communication, signal modulation, nanoscale lasers and bio-medical sensing.
(Nat. Commun.)
A NASA-led research team unveils the most precise map ever produced of the
carbon stored in Earth's tropical forests; the data is expected to provide a baseline for ongoing carbon monitoring and research.
(PNAS)
Scientists have discovered a worm that is the deepest-living animal known, surviving in 48-degree-
Celsius (118
Fahrenheit) water at depths of 1.3 kilometres (0.81 mi).
(BBC)(Nature)
2 June – A team of students at the
University of California is developing a first-of-its kind, phase-change memory
solid-state storage device that provides performance thousands of times faster than a conventional
hard drive, and up to seven times faster than current state-of-the-art solid-state drives.
(Jacobs School of Engineering)
3 June
Researchers have bent one of the most basic rules of
quantum mechanics by succeeding in observing light behaving as both a wave and a particle.
(BBC)(Science)
Six men in the
MARS-500 facility near Moscow have now been in isolation for exactly 365 days, simulating a human mission to
Mars.
(New Scientist)(ESA)
6 June – A team of
Virginia Commonwealth University scientists has discovered a new class of 'superatoms' – a stable cluster of
atoms that can mimic different elements of the periodic table – with unusual magnetic characteristics.
(PNAS)
7 June – Fragranced clothing, triggered by scent molecules that are stable in the dark and only release their aroma when exposed to light, has been described in a thesis written by scientist Dr. Olga Hinze of
Cologne University.
(Henkel)
8 June – China's
carbon dioxide emissions rose 10.4 percent in 2010 compared with the previous year, as global emissions rose at their fastest rate for more than four decades, according to data released by
BP.
(Reuters)(BP)
9 June
Researchers have achieved a breakthrough in anti-
bacterial science, identifying natural ingredients capable of eradicating bacteria that have developed resistance to
antibiotics.
(TNO)
Type 2 diabetes, previously regarded as inevitably progressive, is successfully reversed in a group of newly diagnosed patients by an extreme eight-week diet of 600 calories a day.
(BBC)(Diabetologia)
13 June – A study suggests that
protostars may be seeding the universe with water. These stellar embryos shoot jets of material from their north and south poles as their growth is fed by infalling dust, which circles the bodies in vast disks.
(National Geographic)(Astron. Astrophys.)
14 June
A study reveals that, on average, three to five days of global human activity produces the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide that volcanoes produce globally each year.
(US Geological Survey)
Ten new planets outside our Solar System have been spotted by the French-led
COROT satellite, bringing the total number of known
exoplanets to 561.
(BBC)
A Japanese experiment sees hints that
neutrino particles can oscillate between all three types, opening new lines of research to test why matter became more prevalent than
antimatter in the
Big Bang.
(BBC)(arXiv)Phys. Rev. Lett.
15 June – A central
lunar eclipse takes place, with a totality of 1 hour and 40 minutes. (Herald Sun)
16 June – Researchers have developed a scalable approach to fabricating high-speed
graphene transistors.
Nano Lett.
Scientists have developed a nano-device that powers itself by harvesting energy from vibrations, while at the same time transmitting data wirelessly with a range of up to 10 metres (33 ft).
(PopSci)(Nano Lett.)
The brains of people living in cities operate differently from those in rural areas, according to a brain-scanning study.
(The Guardian)(Nature)
Scientists demonstrate an acoustic "
cloaking device" that makes objects invisible to
sound waves; such acoustic cloaking was proposed theoretically in
2008, but has only this year been put into practice.
(BBC)(Phys. Rev. Lett.)
Stanford University researchers have developed a new method of attaching
nanowire electronics to the surface of virtually any object, regardless of its shape or composition. The method could be used in making everything from wearable electronics and flexible computer displays to high-efficiency
solar cells and ultrasensitive biosensors.
(Nano Lett.)
23 June – Single-celled
yeast has been observed to evolve into a multicellular organism, complete with division of labour between cells. This suggests that the evolutionary leap to multicellularity may be a surprisingly small hurdle.
(New Scientist)(PNAS)
Biologists publish the explanation for
yeast cells reversing aging.
(Science)
25 June – Stanford researchers have developed a microphone that can be used at any depth in the ocean, even under crushing pressure, and is sensitive to a wide range of sounds, from a whisper in a library to an explosion of
TNT. They modeled their device after the extraordinarily acute hearing of
orcas.
(J. Acoust. Soc. Am.)
27 June – A new bacterium is reported to have been produced from an engineered
DNA sequence, in which
thymine was replaced by the synthetic building block 5-chlorouracil – a substance "toxic to other organisms".
(Angew. Chem.)
28 June – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization holds a ceremony in
Rome, declaring the once-widespread cattle disease
rinderpest to be globally eradicated.
(The New York Times)(FAO)
30 June – Computer corporation
IBM develops a form of 'instantaneous' memory, 100 times faster than
flash memory.
(Engadget)
China's monopoly over
rare-earth metals could be challenged by the discovery of massive deposits of these widely used minerals on the floor of the
Pacific Ocean, a new study suggests.
(Nat. Geosci.)
Warming oceans will melt
glaciers quicker than expected, according to a new study. As oceans heat up, they could erode ice sheets much faster than warmer air alone.
(LiveScience)(Nat. Geosci.)
Global investment in
renewable energy sources grew by 32% during 2010 to reach a record level of US$211 billion, according to a UN study. Reportedly, the main drivers of investment growth were
wind farms in China and rooftop
solar panels in Europe.
(BBC)(UNEP)
10 July – An international team of scientists based in
Scotland have decoded the full
DNA sequence of the
potato, one of the world's most important staple crops, for the first time.
(BBC)(Nature)
12 July
A computer has learned language by playing
strategy games, inferring the meaning of words without human supervision.
(MIT)(ACL)
14 July – A "fountain of youth" that sustains the production of new
neurons in the brains of rodents may also be present in the human brain, researchers have found.
(Neuron)
The world's most powerful "
split magnet" – one that is made in two halves with holes in the middle to observe experiments – has been built in the US. It operates at 25
Tesla, equivalent to 500,000 times the strength of Earth's
magnetic field.
(BBC)
A 120-million-year-old fossil is the oldest pregnant
lizard ever discovered, according to scientists. The fossil, found in
China, is a very complete 30-cm (12-in)-long specimen with more than a dozen embryos in its body.
(BBC)(Naturwissenschaften)
28 July – A
Chinese fossil of a previously unknown
bird-like dinosaur is estimated by scientists to be about 155 million years old – five million years older than
Archaeopteryx, which for 150 years has been assumed to be the world's earliest bird.
(Daily Telegraph)(Nature)
29 July – A major clinical trial will investigate whether
stem cells can be safely used to stop or even reverse the damage caused by
multiple sclerosis.
(BBC)
August
3 August – Researchers suggest that
Earth once had a small second
Moon that was destroyed in a slow-motion collision with the far side of its larger companion.
(BBC)(Nature)
Artificial
sperm are created using
stem cells for the first time, in a scientific breakthrough that could lead to new treatments for infertile men.
(Daily Telegraph)(Cell)
Scientists have developed a new class of molecules that target cells' entry systems to ensure harmful organisms do not gain access. The molecules, nicknamed pitstops, could lead to new therapeutic approaches to prevent the spread of viral and bacterial infections.
(ABC Science)(Cell)
6 August – A study postulates that the demise of the world's forests
250 million years ago was likely accelerated by aggressive tree-killing
fungi, who flourished in conditions brought about by global
climate change.
(Geology)
Researchers say they have created the first-ever animal with artificial information in its genetic code. The technique, they say, could give biologists "atom-by-atom control" over the molecules in living organisms.
(BBC)(J. Am. Chem. Soc.)
Arctic ice might be thinning four times faster than predicted by the
IPCC, according to a new study by
MIT's Department of Earth, Atmosphere, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS).
(MIT)(J. Geophys. Res.)
Scientists have shown how an
enzyme from a
microbe can quickly and cheaply produce
hydrogen from water. Hydrogen is seen as vital to future energy systems, but its production has previously been too costly and time-consuming to be viable on a large scale.
(BBC)(Science)
Private donors, including actress
Jodie Foster, raise enough money to re-open the mothballed
SETI radio telescope array, allowing SETI to continue its search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
(BBC)
A study of fossilised plants suggests that
woody plants first appeared on the Earth about 10 million years earlier than previously thought.
(BBC)(Science)
DARPA is offering $500,000 to study what it would take—organizationally, technically, sociologically and ethically—to
send humans to another star, a challenge of such magnitude that the study alone could take a hundred years.
(The New York Times)
IBM has developed a microprocessor which it claims comes closer than ever to replicating the human brain. The system is capable of "rewiring" its connections as it encounters new information, similar to the way biological synapses work.
(BBC)Comm. ACM
19 August – The US
Office of Naval Research says that it has successfully tested a new type of explosive material that can dramatically increase weapons' impacts. Missiles made from the high-density substance can explode with up to five times the energy of existing explosives.
(BBC)
22 August – American researchers prototype a basic form of bulletproof skin, based on genetically modified
silkworm threads.
(Police One)
23 August
The natural world contains about 8.7 million
species, according to a new estimate described by scientists as the most accurate ever. However, the vast majority of these species have not been identified – cataloguing them all could take more than 1,000 years.
(BBC)(PLoS Biol.)
Computer simulations suggest that violent
asteroid impacts flinging life from Earth to other planets is more likely than previously thought.
(BBC)(ArXiv)
24 August –
Antibiotics' impact on
gut bacteria is permanent—and so serious in its long-term consequences that medicine should consider whether to restrict the prescription of antibiotics to pregnant women and young children, according to a new study.
(Wired)(Nature)
25 August – A
monkey sporting a ginger beard and matching fiery red tail, discovered in a threatened region of the
BrazilianAmazon, is believed to be a species new to science.
(The Guardian)
An engineered
virus, injected into the blood, can selectively target and destroy
cancer cells throughout the body, in what researchers have labelled a medical first.
(BBC)(Nature)
A pill to prevent
sunburn is being developed, using
coral's natural defence against the sun's harmful
ultraviolet rays.
(BBC)
Graphene, the strongest known material on Earth, could help boost
broadband internet speed, say researchers.
(BBC)
Yale University researchers have discovered the source of signals that trigger
hair growth, an insight that may lead to new treatments for
baldness.
(Cell)
Scientists map the taste
cortex in
mice, pinpointing the brain regions that detect certain flavors.
(PopSci)(Science)
Researchers suggest that dry desert planets might be the most common type of habitable planet in the galaxy, rather than watery planets such as
Earth.
(Astrobiology)
University of Glasgow scientists have taken their first tentative steps towards creating "life" from inorganic chemical cells, potentially defining the new area of "inorganic biology."
(New Scientist)(Angew. Chem.)
Astronomers using the
European Southern Observatory's
HARPS instrument announce the discovery of more than 50 new
exoplanets – including 16
super-Earths – with one planet reportedly orbiting at the edge of the
habitable zone of its star. By studying the properties of all the HARPS planets found so far, the team has found that about 40% of stars similar to the
Sun have at least one planet lighter than
Saturn.
(ESO)
Scientists' predictions about the formation and characteristics of
dark matter have been shaken by research into
dwarf galaxies surrounding the
Milky Way.
(BBC)
19 September – People with
schizophrenia are six times more likely to develop
epilepsy, reports a
Taiwanese study, which found a strong relationship between the two diseases.
(BBC)(Epilepsia)
Scientists have created a nanostructure which can multiply
stem cells used in therapies – a first step towards developing large-scale stem cell culture factories.
(Labmate online)(Nat. Mater.)
Boston Dynamics unveils its AlphaDog military transport robot, a larger, faster and quieter version of its
BigDog prototype. The legged robot can carry up to 400 pounds (180 kg) of cargo, and is designed to support infantry in rough terrain.
(TechCrunch)
6 October – A "smart pill" has been developed that is able to record accurate information about internal conditions in the
gut, such as acidity, pressure and temperature.
(The Yorkshire Post)
Exercise is equally effective at preventing
migraines as drugs, a Swedish study suggests.
(Cephalalgia)
12 October
The genetic code of the germ that caused the 14th-century
Black Death has been reconstructed by scientists for the first time. The British researchers extracted
DNA fragments of the ancient bacterium from the teeth of medieval corpses found in
London.
(BBC)(Nature)
Seven vehicle manufacturers in Europe and the US have agreed to adopt a standardised, universal charging system for
electric vehicles.
(New Scientist)(Ford)
16 October – For the first time, researchers have found a way to inject a precise dose of a
gene therapy agent directly into a single living cell without using a needle. The technique uses electricity to fire therapeutic biomolecules through a tiny channel and into a cell in a fraction of a second.
(Nat. Nanotechnol.)
The
World Health Organization reports that global
malaria deaths have fallen by 20% since 2001, claiming that over 30 countries are on course to eradicate the
mosquito-borne disease by 2020. The fall in deaths is believed to be the result of improved diagnostic technologies and wider use of
malaria vaccines.
(BBC)(WHO)
A
malaria vaccine has shown promising results in a clinical trial in Africa.
(BBC)(NEJM)
Further research has been published suggesting there is no link between
mobile phones and
brain cancer. The latest study looked at more than 350,000 mobile phone users over an 18-year period.
(BBC)(BMJ)
24 October –
India's
Minister of Health,
Ghulam Nabi Azad, reports that the country has almost entirely eradicated
polio through a
vaccination program which immunises over 170 million children every year. No new polio cases have been reported in India for over nine months.
(BBC)
Space telescope observations indicate that the
supernovaRCW 86, first seen by
Chinese astronomers in 185 AD, expanded at an unprecedented rate due to the formation of a
vacuum-like "cavity" around it in the early stages of the death of its
star. The expansion of the supernova, which was visible even in daylight when first discovered, has remained a mystery for nearly 2,000 years.
(BBC)(Astrophys. J.)
New measurements reveal that the
dwarf planetEris is almost identical in size to
Pluto, which was deemed to be a dwarf planet in 2006.
(Wired)(ESO)
28 October
British scientists report that a daily dose of
aspirin can reduce the incidence of
bowel cancer in people at high risk of the disease.
(BBC)(The Lancet)
Human-caused climate change is already a major factor in more frequent Mediterranean droughts, according to a new study, which shows that the magnitude and frequency of drying is too great to be explained by natural variability alone.
(NOAA)(J. Clim.)
NASA launches the
NPOESS Preparatory Project – the first of its next generation of polar-orbiting satellites dedicated to gathering weather and climate data.
(BBC)(NASA)
An investigation into social-psychology research papers uncovered massive amount of academic fraud at Dutch Universities. At least 30 papers by psychologist
Diederik Stapel are found to have been faked.[110]
Scientists have transformed age-worn cells in people over 90 – including a
centenarian – into rejuvenated stem cells that are "indistinguishable" from those found in
embryos.
(Medical Xpress)(Genes Dev.)
American researchers delay, and in some cases even eliminate, the onset of age-related symptoms such as wrinkles, muscle wasting and
cataracts in mice. The development may have significant implications for the study and treatment of such symptoms in humans.
(BBC)(Nature)
Morocco is chosen as the first location for
Desertec – a German-led, €400bn project to build a vast network of
solar and
windfarms across North Africa and the Middle East, with the aim of providing 15% of Europe's electricity supply by 2050.
(The Guardian)
4 November
Six men emerge from the 520-day
MARS-500 isolation experiment, which aimed to simulate a
human mission to Mars. The experiment, undertaken at a
Moscow scientific institute, was intended to investigate the isolation of long-duration spaceflight and its effects on the human body and mind.
(BBC)
An American doctor claims that
brown eyes can safely and permanently be turned
blue by using short
laser pulses to destroy pigment in the
iris.
(BBC)
An official
White House report states that "The
U.S. government has no evidence that any
life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race." It furthermore asserts that there is "no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public's eye." Although odds are "pretty high" that there may be life on other planets, "the odds of us making contact with any of them—especially any
intelligent ones—are extremely small, given the distances involved."
(UniverseToday)(White House)
6 November –
Dopamine-producing brain cells that are killed off by
Parkinson's disease have been grown from stem cells and grafted into monkeys' brains by American researchers, in a major step towards new treatments for the condition.
(The Guardian)(Nature)
8 November
The
asteroidYU55 makes a close Earth flyby, passing within 0.85
lunar distances (about 201,700 miles) of the Earth. YU55 is approximately 400 metres (1,300 ft) across, and is the largest asteroid to make a close pass since 1976. Another comparable flyby will not occur until 2028.
(BBC)
Russia launches the
Fobos-Grunt probe, marking the nation's first attempt at an interplanetary mission since 1996. The mission's goal is to obtain samples from
Phobos' surface and return them to Earth in 2014. The Chinese
Yinghuo-1 probe, China's first
Mars-exploration spacecraft, is also launched. However, despite reaching orbit successfully, the two spacecraft are left unable to begin their journey to Mars, due to the failure of a secondary engine to ignite.
(Space.com)(BBC)
A Scottish-designed
bionic leg exoskeleton, designed to allow disabled people to walk, is approved for sale in the United Kingdom.
(BBC)
9 November
Dutch scientists build a
nanoscopic "
electric car" made of a single complex
molecule, capable of travelling small distances when an electric current is applied to it. Though currently at a rudimentary level of development, the invention may have applications in the fields of
nanorobotics and
molecular machinery.
(BBC)(Nature)
If current trends continue, Earth will almost certainly suffer a mass extinction of species, according to a major new survey of 583 conservation scientists published in Conservation Biology.
(Conserv. Biol.)
10 November
No wild
black rhinos remain in West Africa, according to the latest global assessment of threatened species.
(BBC)(IUCN)
British computer chip designer
ARM unveils its latest graphics processing unit (GPU) for mobile devices. The Mali-T658 offers up to ten times the performance of its predecessor, and may start to appear in devices towards the end of 2013.
(BBC)(ARM)
A study of
heart failure patients treated with their own stem cells has achieved striking results and could result in the biggest breakthrough in a generation.
(Daily Telegraph)(The Lancet)
Scientists have used brain scan images to create the world's first movie of the female brain as it approaches, experiences and recovers from an
orgasm.
(The Guardian)(Neuroscience 2011)
British doctors report that they have cured a baby boy of a life-threatening
liver disease using implanted cells which acted like a temporary liver, allowing the damaged organ to recover. The cell implant technique, developed by researchers at
King's College Hospital, London, is described as a world first.
(BBC)
American researchers report that the recharge speed of
lithium-ion batteries can be significantly enhanced by making millions of tiny holes in them. The discovery could lead to laptop and cellphone batteries which recharge ten times faster and hold a charge ten times larger than current technology allows.
(BBC)(Adv. Energy Mater.)
16 November
Police in
Northern Ireland consider the use of airborne
surveillance drones to combat crime, following the adoption of such technology by other UK police forces. Canadian drone manufacturer
Aeryon Labs is cited as a potential supplier.
(BBC)
China's uncrewed
Shenzhou 8 spacecraft returns to Earth after successfully docking with the orbiting
Tiangong-1 laboratory module. The crewed
Shenzhou 9 and
10 follow-up missions are expected to visit Tiangong-1 in 2012.
(BBC)
For the first time, astronomers have produced a complete description of a
black hole. The American team conducted precise measurements using ground- and orbit-based telescopes, allowing them to reconstruct the complete history of the
Cygnus X-1 object from its birth some six million years ago.
(Astrophys. J.)
18 November
A team of American engineers claims to have created the world's lightest material – a
microlattice of metallic tubes 100 times lighter than
Styrofoam, with "extraordinary" energy absorption properties. The new material may have applications in the development of next-generation batteries and
shock absorbers.
(BBC)(Science)
American scientists develop an ultra-thin, ultra-flexible brain implant with resolution fifty times greater than was previously possible, designed to monitor
epileptic seizures. The device could revolutionize
epilepsy treatment and lead to a deeper understanding of brain function.
(Technology Review)(Nat. Neurosci.)
22 November –
University of Washington scientists successfully trial a new generation of
contact lenses capable of projecting images in front of the eyes. Human trials are expected to follow the successful animal trials.[111]
23 November – A study published in Nature shows that recent melting of Arctic sea ice is unprecedented on a historic timescale and cannot be explained by natural processes alone.[112]
Swiss researchers are developing magnetic nanoparticles that could be used to remove harmful substances from the bloodstream.
(Technology Review)
30 November
Researchers at
Washington State University develop an artificial bone "scaffold" which can be produced using
3D printers, potentially allowing doctors to quickly print replacement bone tissue for injured patients.
(BBC)
As the
Arctic warms, thawing
permafrost will release
greenhouse gases faster and at significantly higher levels than previous estimates, according to survey results from 41 international scientists.
(Nature)
NASA's
exoplanet-hunting Kepler mission confirms its first extrasolar planet in the
habitable zone of a Sun-like star. The planet,
Kepler-22b, is around 2.5 times the size of Earth, and may have a surface temperature of 22 degrees Celsius, making it potentially suitable for terrestrial life.
(BBC)(NASA)
New research suggests that at least three-quarters of the rise in average global temperatures since the 1950s is due to human activity.
(The Age)(Nat. Geosci.)
American scientists report the discovery of the two largest
supermassive black holes known to science. The two black holes each have a mass nearly 10 billion times greater than the Sun.
(BBC)(Nature)
Spanish researchers unveil a process which allows highly complex shapes to be "carved" into
nanoparticles, potentially revolutionising medical tests and drugs treatments.
(BBC)(Science)
9 December – Biologists at
Tufts University coax tissue to grow a new organ by simply altering the membrane voltage gradients of cells. In the experiment,
tadpoles were made to grow new eyes outside of their head areas.
(Development)
MIT scientists develop an imaging system capable of capturing images at one trillion
frames per second – fast enough to image individual light waves travelling through space.
(MSNBC)
Microsoft co-founder
Paul Allen and aerospace engineer
Burt Rutan announce plans to develop a
commercial spaceflight venture, dubbed Stratolaunch Systems, using a giant carrier aircraft to launch rockets from the upper atmosphere. The first uncrewed test flights of the system are expected to begin in 2016.
(Huffington Post)
15 December
American researchers extend the lifespan of
fruit flies by up to 50% by tweaking genes in the flies' intestines.
(GizMag)(Cell Metab.)
The
Energy Saving Trust (EFT) reports the results of a trial of
LED light fittings in social housing in the United Kingdom. The LED fittings offered significant improvements in efficiency over traditional light fittings, and also proved more popular with residents. The EFT predicts a substantial market share for LED lighting by 2015.
(BBC)(EST)Archived 2012-04-03 at the
Wayback Machine
Brown University engineers reveal a system that can efficiently remove traces of toxic
heavy metals from water. The technique is reportedly scalable and commercially viable.
(Chem. Eng. J.)
17 December – American researchers report advances in
solar cell efficiency, using
quantum dot technology to capture additional electrons from photons striking solar panels.
(CNET)(Science)
A potential new
malaria vaccine has shown promise in animal studies, according to
Oxford University researchers. The team plans to start safety trials in human volunteers, following lab tests which showed the vaccine to be effective against all known strains of malaria.
(BBC)(Nat. Commun.)
Canadian scientists win approval to start human trials of an experimental
HIV vaccine.
(The Star)
University of Texas researchers report that solar cells can be made to yield more energy by exploiting a so-called "shadow state" of
photons, doubling the number of
electrons that may be harvested in the process. The discovery could allow the theoretical maximum
efficiency of silicon solar cells to be increased from 31% to 44%.
(GizMag)(Science)
American researchers unveil self-repairing electronic chips that can repair broken circuits by releasing microcapsules of conductive liquid metal.
(BBC)(Adv. Mater.)
Researchers at
CERN's
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) report the discovery of a new particle, dubbed
Chib(3P). The discovery marks the LHC's first clear observation of a new particle since it became operational in 2009.
(BBC)(arXiv)
China unveils a prototype
high-speed train capable of reaching speeds of over 310 mph (500 km/h), the first ultra-high-speed train developed by China without the aid of international partnerships.
(Financial Times)
29 December
South Korean researchers begin the development of microscopic robots capable of entering human
blood vessels to treat illnesses. The microbots, which measure just 1 millimeter in diameter, are steered and propelled by externally induced magnetic fields.
(Innovation News Daily)Archived 2012-01-17 at the
Wayback Machine
The
wildlife trade monitor group Traffic reports that more
ivory was seized in 2011 than in any year since 1989. Around 23 tonnes (51,000 lb) of ivory – representing at least 2,500 dead
elephants – were intercepted in 13 operations, mostly in shipments intended for the Asian market.
(BBC)(Traffic)
31 December –
NASA's
GRAIL-A satellite enters lunar orbit, to be joined the following day by its twin, GRAIL-B. The two spacecraft will map the Moon's gravitational field in unprecedented detail, with the aim of improving scientists' understanding of how the Moon formed.
(NASA)
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^Jung, Da-Woon; et al. (2011-02-28). "Novel Chemically Defined Approach To Produce Multipotent Cells from Terminally Differentiated Tissue Syncytia". ACS Chemical Biology. 6 (6). American Chemical Society: 553–562.
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^Sutcliffe, J. Gregor; Hedlund, Peter B.; Thomas, Elizabeth A.; Bloom, Floyd E.; Hilbush, Brian S. (2011). "Peripheral reduction of β-amyloid is sufficient to reduce brain β-amyloid: Implications for Alzheimer's disease". Journal of Neuroscience Research. 89 (6): 808–814.
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^Pouponneau, Pierre; Leroux, Jean-Christophe; Soulez, Gilles; Gaboury, Louis; Martel, Sylvain (2011). "Co-encapsulation of magnetic nanoparticles and doxorubicin into biodegradable microcarriers for deep tissue targeting by vascular MRI navigation". Biomaterials. 32 (13): 3481–3486.
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^DeFronzo, Ralph A.; et al. (2011-03-24). "Pioglitazone for Diabetes Prevention in Impaired Glucose Tolerance". New England Journal of Medicine. 364 (12): 1104–1115.
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^Kinnard, Christophe; Zdanowicz, Christian M.; Fisher, David A.; Isaksson, Elisabeth; De Vernal, Anne; Thompson, Lonnie G. (23 November 2011). "Reconstructed changes in Arctic sea ice over the past 1,450 years". Nature. 479 (7374): 509–512.
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An engineer from the
University of Missouri announces his ambition to create a flexible
solar sheet of small nano-antennas, capable of capturing solar energy with 90% efficiency; this would mark a significant improvement over contemporary commercial solar panels, which have an average efficiency of around 20%.[7]
21 January – An article in Science reveals the discovery of a Darwinopteruspterosaur in
China with an unhatched egg, thereby allowing the genders to be differentiated.[29][30]
Scientists and students have built a
3D printer that makes edible food.[35]
27 January
Under pressure from industry and governments, the
European Commission is putting the final touches on a strategy to reduce
Europe's dependence on
Chinese-supplied
rare-earth metals, which are essential in export products like cars and electronics.[36]
30 January –
Molybdenite is revealed to be up to 100,000 times more efficient than
silicon transistors, and to have better electrical properties than
graphene.[38]
A blood test to detect
vCJD is developed by British scientists, who say it could identify healthy people who are carriers of the disease.[40][41]
Further data from the
Kepler space telescope published in Nature reveals that the star
Kepler-11, located 2,000
light years from Earth, has a planetary system including six planets, which range between two and four-and-a-half times the radius of Earth, and between two and thirteen times its mass. Five orbit the star closer than
Mercury orbits the Sun, and all are likely to have atmospheres made of light gases, and to be too hot to support life. The data also includes details of more than 1,000 additional exoplanet candidates.[42][43]
4 February – Scientists reveal a tiny artificial
brain, derived from
ratneurons, that exhibits 12 seconds of short-term memory.[44][45]
7 February – Scientists at
Oxford University successfully test a universal
flu vaccine, which should work against all known strains of the illness.[46][47]
9 February – Using 25 years of evidence from over 470,000 participants, researchers show that
sleep deprivation and disrupted sleep patterns can have long-term, serious health implications.[48]
10 February – Scientists identify the root molecular cause of a variety of illnesses brought on by advanced age, including waning energy, failure of the
heart and other organs, and metabolic disorders such as
diabetes.[49]
11 February – Scientists show that
stem cells delivered via a
nasal spray lead to an improvement of motor functions in rats with
Parkinson's disease-like symptoms.[50][51]
Scientists report stimulation of
mouse muscle fibers in a way similar to the regeneration of severed limbs in
newts and
salamanders.[53][54]
16 February – Researchers find a way of manipulating tiny swimming robots, just 1.3 millimetres long, using electric currents in water.[55][56]
17 February
Scientists build the world's first anti-laser, capable of absorbing an incoming
laser beam entirely.[57][58]
A
hummingbird-like "Nano Air Vehicle" is demonstrated for the first time, in an attempt to secure a
DARPA contract to create small surveillance aircraft.[59]
20 February –
Stanford University researchers create new stretchable
solar cells that could power artificial electronic 'super skin', capable of detecting chemicals and biological molecules. The potential applications include clothing, robotics, prosthetic limbs and more.[60][61]
21 February – New research indicates that
bilingual speakers are better at
multitasking, because they are better at editing out irrelevant information; this overturns previous assumptions of
bilingualism causing confusion, especially in children.[62][63]
22 February
The first complete
millimeter-scale computing system is developed.[64]
Scientists at
Yale University demonstrate that
bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) can be blow-molded into shapes that would be impossible with normal metals without loss in strength or durability.[69]
UK researchers demonstrate an optical
microscope with one of the highest resolutions yet achieved, capable of imaging objects as little as 50
nanometres across.[71][72]
Scientists have determined how to generate a backward-pulling force from a forward-propagating beam, effectively creating a form of "
tractor beam".[73][74]
Researchers transform a human
embryonic stem cell into a critical type of
neuron that dies early in
Alzheimer's disease and is a major cause of memory loss; the discovery may have major implications in the treatment of the disease.[76][77]
12 March – Surgeons in
Houston,
Texas, successfully implant the world's first continuous-flow
artificial heart in a human patient. The
turbine-based device is efficient and long-lived, and may herald the mass production of smaller and more durable alternatives to conventional artificial hearts.[82]
14 March – Archeologists believe that they have found the lost city of
Atlantis in mud swamps near
Cadiz, Spain. They theorize that a
tsunami struck the ancient settlement; a television special on the
National Geographic Channel later investigates their findings.[83][84]
16 March – Scientists report the first successful use of
microcarriers to bring anti-
cancer drugs to the targeted area in the
liver of a living rabbit.[85]
18 March –
NASA's
MESSENGER spacecraft successfully enters orbit around the planet
Mercury – the first probe to do so.[86]
20 March
A new way of delivering drugs to the brain, using the body's own
exosomes, is developed by scientists, overcoming a major barrier to the delivery of potential new drugs for many neurological diseases, including
Alzheimer's.[87][88]
Researchers announce the development of a three-dimensional nanostructure for battery
cathodes that allows for dramatically faster charging, without sacrificing energy storage capacity. This could lead to
cellphones that charge in seconds, and
electric cars that charge in minutes.[89]
A new way of making battery
electrodes, based on nanostructured metal foams, can be used to make a
lithium-ion battery that recharge by 90% in under two minutes.[90][91]
Scientists demonstrate how
SHANK3, a brain
protein, may trigger
autism-like behavior in
mice by stopping effective communication between brain cells.[92][93]
22 March – A 6 cm-by-6 cm chip holding nine quantum devices, among them four "quantum bits", is demonstrated at the
American Physical Society meeting in
Dallas,
Texas. It is hoped that further scaling up to 10 qubits should be possible later this year.[94][95]
24 March
A landmark study indicates that
pioglitazone prevents the development of
type 2 diabetes in 72% of pre-diabetic subject participants, the largest such decrease yet demonstrated by any intervention.[96][97]
27 March –
Harvard University scientists demonstrate use of an electric field to extinguish an open flame more than 1 foot tall, a development they say could yield
fire-suppression alternatives to water and chemical retardants.[100][101]
31 March – Scientists announce the successful controlled
entanglement of 14 quantum bits (qubits), realizing the largest quantum register yet produced—nearly double the previous record for the number of entangled quantum bits realized.[102][103]
Five more
genes which increase the risk of developing
Alzheimer's have been identified, taking the number of genes linked to the disease to 10.
(BBC)(Nat. Genet.)
American scientists discover that
light can demonstrate strong
magnetic effects when travelling through certain materials at certain intensities. This finding, which overturns a century-old scientific assumption that light's magnetic effects are too weak to be tangible, may lead to the development of
solar panels capable of storing energy magnetically.
(Michigan Today)
14 April
More than 1,000 UK patients with advanced
pancreatic cancer have joined a trial using a new
vaccine to treat the disease.
(BBC)
The world's first
human brain map is unveiled, providing an interactive research tool that will help scientists to understand how the brain works. The map is hoped to aid new discoveries in disease and treatments; one thousand anatomical sites in the brain can be searched, supported by more than 100 million data points that indicate the
gene expression and
biochemistry of each site.
(New Scientist)
17 April – Researchers have injected biodegradable nanofiber spheres carrying cells into wounds to grow tissue.
(Nat. Mater.)
18 April
Scientists demonstrate mathematically that asymmetrical materials should be possible; such material would allow most light or sound waves through in one direction, while preventing them from doing so in the opposite direction; such materials would allow the construction of true one-way mirrors, soundproof rooms, or even
quantum computers that use light to perform calculations.
(Phys. Rev. Lett.)
A new design for thin-film
solar cells has been developed that requires significantly less
silicon than standard models, and may be more efficient at capturing solar energy.
(Appl. Phys. Lett.)
19 April – An international research team publishes a new method to produce belts of
graphene, called nanoribbons. By using hydrogen, they have managed to transform single-walled
carbon nanotubes into ribbons.
(ACS Nano)
20 April – Scientists describe a Chinese spider they say is the biggest fossilised
arachnid yet found; Nephila jurassica, as they have called their specimen, would have had a leg span of some 15 cm.
(BBC)(Biol. Lett.)
Researchers have built a
carbon nanotubesynapse circuit whose behavior in tests reproduces the function of a
neuron, the building block of the human
brain.
(LiSSA)
Some microbes can survive
gravity more than 400,000 times that felt on Earth, a new study says. By contrast, most humans can tolerate three to five times Earth's surface gravity before losing consciousness.
(National Geographic)(PNAS)
The
European Commission has approved plans to build a trio of
lasers that will each dwarf the power of any previous laser. The project, called the
Extreme Light Infrastructure, will lay the groundwork for building an even more powerful laser that could try to pull "virtual" particles out of the vacuum of
space-time.
(New Scientist)
Researchers successfully store a
qubit in a single
atom by writing the quantum state of single
photons into a
rubidium atom and reading it out again later.
(Nature)
A
Detroit entrepreneur has invented a heat-treatment that makes
steel 7 percent stronger than any steel on record in less than 10 seconds.
(Mater. Sci. Technol.)
3 May
Middle-aged people who are overweight but not
obese are 71% more likely to develop
dementia than those with a normal weight, according to new research; links between obesity and dementia had previously been found.
(BBC)(Neurology)
CERN scientists have confined
antihydrogen atoms for 1,000 seconds, four orders of magnitude longer than has ever been achieved before in capturing and maintaining
antimatter atoms.
(arXiv)
Researchers have identified a group of
mitochondrialproteins, the absence of which allows other protein groups to stabilise the
genome. This could delay the onset of age-related diseases and increase lifespan.
(Economic Times)(Mol. Cell)
9 May –
Smog-eating
aluminium panels which clean themselves and the air around them are unveiled; their
titanium dioxide coating, when combined with sunlight, acts as a catalyst to break down pollutants into harmless matter that
rain washes away.
(Alcoa)(USA Today)(Forbes via MSNBC)
A new vaccine can protect
macaques against the monkey equivalent of
HIV, and could provide a fresh approach to an HIV vaccine, a study suggests.
(BBC)(Nature)
12 May – The
exoplanetGliese 581d can be considered the first confirmed exoplanet that could potentially support Earth-like life, according to a team of French scientists.
(Astrophys. J. Lett.)
The discovery of a new physical phenomenon could yield
transistors with greatly enhanced
capacitance – a measure of the voltage required to move a charge. This, in turn, could lead to the revival of
clock speed as the measure of a computer's power.
(Science)
Contaminated water can be cleaned much more effectively using a novel, cheap material, which could offer a low-cost way to purify water in the developing world.
(BBC)(ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces)
Rogue planets lacking parent stars may outnumber "normal"
exoplanets by at least 50 percent, and are nearly twice as common in our galaxy as main-sequence stars, according to a new study.
(Space.com)(arXiv)(Nature)
19 May
By using electrical stimulation of the
spinal cord, a man from
Oregon who became paralyzed after being hit by a car can stand and move his legs on his own.
(BBC)(The Lancet)
Scientists have developed an
open-source desktop
genome analyzer. It works in conjunction with a browser that allows biologists to rapidly and easily analyze and process their high-throughput information.
(TG Daily)Archived 2011-06-11 at the
Wayback Machine(Bioinformatics)
Researchers believe they have made the first experimental observation of the dynamical
Casimir effect, using a rapidly moving mirror that turns virtual
photons into real ones.
(Technology Review)(arXiv)
A team of
Chinese physicists successfully
entangles eight
photons simultaneously and observes them in action; the previous record was six.
(arXiv)
Researchers have demonstrated the first true nanoscale waveguides for next generation on-chip optical communication systems; this holds potential for nanoscale photonic applications such as intra-chip optical communication, signal modulation, nanoscale lasers and bio-medical sensing.
(Nat. Commun.)
A NASA-led research team unveils the most precise map ever produced of the
carbon stored in Earth's tropical forests; the data is expected to provide a baseline for ongoing carbon monitoring and research.
(PNAS)
Scientists have discovered a worm that is the deepest-living animal known, surviving in 48-degree-
Celsius (118
Fahrenheit) water at depths of 1.3 kilometres (0.81 mi).
(BBC)(Nature)
2 June – A team of students at the
University of California is developing a first-of-its kind, phase-change memory
solid-state storage device that provides performance thousands of times faster than a conventional
hard drive, and up to seven times faster than current state-of-the-art solid-state drives.
(Jacobs School of Engineering)
3 June
Researchers have bent one of the most basic rules of
quantum mechanics by succeeding in observing light behaving as both a wave and a particle.
(BBC)(Science)
Six men in the
MARS-500 facility near Moscow have now been in isolation for exactly 365 days, simulating a human mission to
Mars.
(New Scientist)(ESA)
6 June – A team of
Virginia Commonwealth University scientists has discovered a new class of 'superatoms' – a stable cluster of
atoms that can mimic different elements of the periodic table – with unusual magnetic characteristics.
(PNAS)
7 June – Fragranced clothing, triggered by scent molecules that are stable in the dark and only release their aroma when exposed to light, has been described in a thesis written by scientist Dr. Olga Hinze of
Cologne University.
(Henkel)
8 June – China's
carbon dioxide emissions rose 10.4 percent in 2010 compared with the previous year, as global emissions rose at their fastest rate for more than four decades, according to data released by
BP.
(Reuters)(BP)
9 June
Researchers have achieved a breakthrough in anti-
bacterial science, identifying natural ingredients capable of eradicating bacteria that have developed resistance to
antibiotics.
(TNO)
Type 2 diabetes, previously regarded as inevitably progressive, is successfully reversed in a group of newly diagnosed patients by an extreme eight-week diet of 600 calories a day.
(BBC)(Diabetologia)
13 June – A study suggests that
protostars may be seeding the universe with water. These stellar embryos shoot jets of material from their north and south poles as their growth is fed by infalling dust, which circles the bodies in vast disks.
(National Geographic)(Astron. Astrophys.)
14 June
A study reveals that, on average, three to five days of global human activity produces the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide that volcanoes produce globally each year.
(US Geological Survey)
Ten new planets outside our Solar System have been spotted by the French-led
COROT satellite, bringing the total number of known
exoplanets to 561.
(BBC)
A Japanese experiment sees hints that
neutrino particles can oscillate between all three types, opening new lines of research to test why matter became more prevalent than
antimatter in the
Big Bang.
(BBC)(arXiv)Phys. Rev. Lett.
15 June – A central
lunar eclipse takes place, with a totality of 1 hour and 40 minutes. (Herald Sun)
16 June – Researchers have developed a scalable approach to fabricating high-speed
graphene transistors.
Nano Lett.
Scientists have developed a nano-device that powers itself by harvesting energy from vibrations, while at the same time transmitting data wirelessly with a range of up to 10 metres (33 ft).
(PopSci)(Nano Lett.)
The brains of people living in cities operate differently from those in rural areas, according to a brain-scanning study.
(The Guardian)(Nature)
Scientists demonstrate an acoustic "
cloaking device" that makes objects invisible to
sound waves; such acoustic cloaking was proposed theoretically in
2008, but has only this year been put into practice.
(BBC)(Phys. Rev. Lett.)
Stanford University researchers have developed a new method of attaching
nanowire electronics to the surface of virtually any object, regardless of its shape or composition. The method could be used in making everything from wearable electronics and flexible computer displays to high-efficiency
solar cells and ultrasensitive biosensors.
(Nano Lett.)
23 June – Single-celled
yeast has been observed to evolve into a multicellular organism, complete with division of labour between cells. This suggests that the evolutionary leap to multicellularity may be a surprisingly small hurdle.
(New Scientist)(PNAS)
Biologists publish the explanation for
yeast cells reversing aging.
(Science)
25 June – Stanford researchers have developed a microphone that can be used at any depth in the ocean, even under crushing pressure, and is sensitive to a wide range of sounds, from a whisper in a library to an explosion of
TNT. They modeled their device after the extraordinarily acute hearing of
orcas.
(J. Acoust. Soc. Am.)
27 June – A new bacterium is reported to have been produced from an engineered
DNA sequence, in which
thymine was replaced by the synthetic building block 5-chlorouracil – a substance "toxic to other organisms".
(Angew. Chem.)
28 June – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization holds a ceremony in
Rome, declaring the once-widespread cattle disease
rinderpest to be globally eradicated.
(The New York Times)(FAO)
30 June – Computer corporation
IBM develops a form of 'instantaneous' memory, 100 times faster than
flash memory.
(Engadget)
China's monopoly over
rare-earth metals could be challenged by the discovery of massive deposits of these widely used minerals on the floor of the
Pacific Ocean, a new study suggests.
(Nat. Geosci.)
Warming oceans will melt
glaciers quicker than expected, according to a new study. As oceans heat up, they could erode ice sheets much faster than warmer air alone.
(LiveScience)(Nat. Geosci.)
Global investment in
renewable energy sources grew by 32% during 2010 to reach a record level of US$211 billion, according to a UN study. Reportedly, the main drivers of investment growth were
wind farms in China and rooftop
solar panels in Europe.
(BBC)(UNEP)
10 July – An international team of scientists based in
Scotland have decoded the full
DNA sequence of the
potato, one of the world's most important staple crops, for the first time.
(BBC)(Nature)
12 July
A computer has learned language by playing
strategy games, inferring the meaning of words without human supervision.
(MIT)(ACL)
14 July – A "fountain of youth" that sustains the production of new
neurons in the brains of rodents may also be present in the human brain, researchers have found.
(Neuron)
The world's most powerful "
split magnet" – one that is made in two halves with holes in the middle to observe experiments – has been built in the US. It operates at 25
Tesla, equivalent to 500,000 times the strength of Earth's
magnetic field.
(BBC)
A 120-million-year-old fossil is the oldest pregnant
lizard ever discovered, according to scientists. The fossil, found in
China, is a very complete 30-cm (12-in)-long specimen with more than a dozen embryos in its body.
(BBC)(Naturwissenschaften)
28 July – A
Chinese fossil of a previously unknown
bird-like dinosaur is estimated by scientists to be about 155 million years old – five million years older than
Archaeopteryx, which for 150 years has been assumed to be the world's earliest bird.
(Daily Telegraph)(Nature)
29 July – A major clinical trial will investigate whether
stem cells can be safely used to stop or even reverse the damage caused by
multiple sclerosis.
(BBC)
August
3 August – Researchers suggest that
Earth once had a small second
Moon that was destroyed in a slow-motion collision with the far side of its larger companion.
(BBC)(Nature)
Artificial
sperm are created using
stem cells for the first time, in a scientific breakthrough that could lead to new treatments for infertile men.
(Daily Telegraph)(Cell)
Scientists have developed a new class of molecules that target cells' entry systems to ensure harmful organisms do not gain access. The molecules, nicknamed pitstops, could lead to new therapeutic approaches to prevent the spread of viral and bacterial infections.
(ABC Science)(Cell)
6 August – A study postulates that the demise of the world's forests
250 million years ago was likely accelerated by aggressive tree-killing
fungi, who flourished in conditions brought about by global
climate change.
(Geology)
Researchers say they have created the first-ever animal with artificial information in its genetic code. The technique, they say, could give biologists "atom-by-atom control" over the molecules in living organisms.
(BBC)(J. Am. Chem. Soc.)
Arctic ice might be thinning four times faster than predicted by the
IPCC, according to a new study by
MIT's Department of Earth, Atmosphere, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS).
(MIT)(J. Geophys. Res.)
Scientists have shown how an
enzyme from a
microbe can quickly and cheaply produce
hydrogen from water. Hydrogen is seen as vital to future energy systems, but its production has previously been too costly and time-consuming to be viable on a large scale.
(BBC)(Science)
Private donors, including actress
Jodie Foster, raise enough money to re-open the mothballed
SETI radio telescope array, allowing SETI to continue its search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
(BBC)
A study of fossilised plants suggests that
woody plants first appeared on the Earth about 10 million years earlier than previously thought.
(BBC)(Science)
DARPA is offering $500,000 to study what it would take—organizationally, technically, sociologically and ethically—to
send humans to another star, a challenge of such magnitude that the study alone could take a hundred years.
(The New York Times)
IBM has developed a microprocessor which it claims comes closer than ever to replicating the human brain. The system is capable of "rewiring" its connections as it encounters new information, similar to the way biological synapses work.
(BBC)Comm. ACM
19 August – The US
Office of Naval Research says that it has successfully tested a new type of explosive material that can dramatically increase weapons' impacts. Missiles made from the high-density substance can explode with up to five times the energy of existing explosives.
(BBC)
22 August – American researchers prototype a basic form of bulletproof skin, based on genetically modified
silkworm threads.
(Police One)
23 August
The natural world contains about 8.7 million
species, according to a new estimate described by scientists as the most accurate ever. However, the vast majority of these species have not been identified – cataloguing them all could take more than 1,000 years.
(BBC)(PLoS Biol.)
Computer simulations suggest that violent
asteroid impacts flinging life from Earth to other planets is more likely than previously thought.
(BBC)(ArXiv)
24 August –
Antibiotics' impact on
gut bacteria is permanent—and so serious in its long-term consequences that medicine should consider whether to restrict the prescription of antibiotics to pregnant women and young children, according to a new study.
(Wired)(Nature)
25 August – A
monkey sporting a ginger beard and matching fiery red tail, discovered in a threatened region of the
BrazilianAmazon, is believed to be a species new to science.
(The Guardian)
An engineered
virus, injected into the blood, can selectively target and destroy
cancer cells throughout the body, in what researchers have labelled a medical first.
(BBC)(Nature)
A pill to prevent
sunburn is being developed, using
coral's natural defence against the sun's harmful
ultraviolet rays.
(BBC)
Graphene, the strongest known material on Earth, could help boost
broadband internet speed, say researchers.
(BBC)
Yale University researchers have discovered the source of signals that trigger
hair growth, an insight that may lead to new treatments for
baldness.
(Cell)
Scientists map the taste
cortex in
mice, pinpointing the brain regions that detect certain flavors.
(PopSci)(Science)
Researchers suggest that dry desert planets might be the most common type of habitable planet in the galaxy, rather than watery planets such as
Earth.
(Astrobiology)
University of Glasgow scientists have taken their first tentative steps towards creating "life" from inorganic chemical cells, potentially defining the new area of "inorganic biology."
(New Scientist)(Angew. Chem.)
Astronomers using the
European Southern Observatory's
HARPS instrument announce the discovery of more than 50 new
exoplanets – including 16
super-Earths – with one planet reportedly orbiting at the edge of the
habitable zone of its star. By studying the properties of all the HARPS planets found so far, the team has found that about 40% of stars similar to the
Sun have at least one planet lighter than
Saturn.
(ESO)
Scientists' predictions about the formation and characteristics of
dark matter have been shaken by research into
dwarf galaxies surrounding the
Milky Way.
(BBC)
19 September – People with
schizophrenia are six times more likely to develop
epilepsy, reports a
Taiwanese study, which found a strong relationship between the two diseases.
(BBC)(Epilepsia)
Scientists have created a nanostructure which can multiply
stem cells used in therapies – a first step towards developing large-scale stem cell culture factories.
(Labmate online)(Nat. Mater.)
Boston Dynamics unveils its AlphaDog military transport robot, a larger, faster and quieter version of its
BigDog prototype. The legged robot can carry up to 400 pounds (180 kg) of cargo, and is designed to support infantry in rough terrain.
(TechCrunch)
6 October – A "smart pill" has been developed that is able to record accurate information about internal conditions in the
gut, such as acidity, pressure and temperature.
(The Yorkshire Post)
Exercise is equally effective at preventing
migraines as drugs, a Swedish study suggests.
(Cephalalgia)
12 October
The genetic code of the germ that caused the 14th-century
Black Death has been reconstructed by scientists for the first time. The British researchers extracted
DNA fragments of the ancient bacterium from the teeth of medieval corpses found in
London.
(BBC)(Nature)
Seven vehicle manufacturers in Europe and the US have agreed to adopt a standardised, universal charging system for
electric vehicles.
(New Scientist)(Ford)
16 October – For the first time, researchers have found a way to inject a precise dose of a
gene therapy agent directly into a single living cell without using a needle. The technique uses electricity to fire therapeutic biomolecules through a tiny channel and into a cell in a fraction of a second.
(Nat. Nanotechnol.)
The
World Health Organization reports that global
malaria deaths have fallen by 20% since 2001, claiming that over 30 countries are on course to eradicate the
mosquito-borne disease by 2020. The fall in deaths is believed to be the result of improved diagnostic technologies and wider use of
malaria vaccines.
(BBC)(WHO)
A
malaria vaccine has shown promising results in a clinical trial in Africa.
(BBC)(NEJM)
Further research has been published suggesting there is no link between
mobile phones and
brain cancer. The latest study looked at more than 350,000 mobile phone users over an 18-year period.
(BBC)(BMJ)
24 October –
India's
Minister of Health,
Ghulam Nabi Azad, reports that the country has almost entirely eradicated
polio through a
vaccination program which immunises over 170 million children every year. No new polio cases have been reported in India for over nine months.
(BBC)
Space telescope observations indicate that the
supernovaRCW 86, first seen by
Chinese astronomers in 185 AD, expanded at an unprecedented rate due to the formation of a
vacuum-like "cavity" around it in the early stages of the death of its
star. The expansion of the supernova, which was visible even in daylight when first discovered, has remained a mystery for nearly 2,000 years.
(BBC)(Astrophys. J.)
New measurements reveal that the
dwarf planetEris is almost identical in size to
Pluto, which was deemed to be a dwarf planet in 2006.
(Wired)(ESO)
28 October
British scientists report that a daily dose of
aspirin can reduce the incidence of
bowel cancer in people at high risk of the disease.
(BBC)(The Lancet)
Human-caused climate change is already a major factor in more frequent Mediterranean droughts, according to a new study, which shows that the magnitude and frequency of drying is too great to be explained by natural variability alone.
(NOAA)(J. Clim.)
NASA launches the
NPOESS Preparatory Project – the first of its next generation of polar-orbiting satellites dedicated to gathering weather and climate data.
(BBC)(NASA)
An investigation into social-psychology research papers uncovered massive amount of academic fraud at Dutch Universities. At least 30 papers by psychologist
Diederik Stapel are found to have been faked.[110]
Scientists have transformed age-worn cells in people over 90 – including a
centenarian – into rejuvenated stem cells that are "indistinguishable" from those found in
embryos.
(Medical Xpress)(Genes Dev.)
American researchers delay, and in some cases even eliminate, the onset of age-related symptoms such as wrinkles, muscle wasting and
cataracts in mice. The development may have significant implications for the study and treatment of such symptoms in humans.
(BBC)(Nature)
Morocco is chosen as the first location for
Desertec – a German-led, €400bn project to build a vast network of
solar and
windfarms across North Africa and the Middle East, with the aim of providing 15% of Europe's electricity supply by 2050.
(The Guardian)
4 November
Six men emerge from the 520-day
MARS-500 isolation experiment, which aimed to simulate a
human mission to Mars. The experiment, undertaken at a
Moscow scientific institute, was intended to investigate the isolation of long-duration spaceflight and its effects on the human body and mind.
(BBC)
An American doctor claims that
brown eyes can safely and permanently be turned
blue by using short
laser pulses to destroy pigment in the
iris.
(BBC)
An official
White House report states that "The
U.S. government has no evidence that any
life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race." It furthermore asserts that there is "no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public's eye." Although odds are "pretty high" that there may be life on other planets, "the odds of us making contact with any of them—especially any
intelligent ones—are extremely small, given the distances involved."
(UniverseToday)(White House)
6 November –
Dopamine-producing brain cells that are killed off by
Parkinson's disease have been grown from stem cells and grafted into monkeys' brains by American researchers, in a major step towards new treatments for the condition.
(The Guardian)(Nature)
8 November
The
asteroidYU55 makes a close Earth flyby, passing within 0.85
lunar distances (about 201,700 miles) of the Earth. YU55 is approximately 400 metres (1,300 ft) across, and is the largest asteroid to make a close pass since 1976. Another comparable flyby will not occur until 2028.
(BBC)
Russia launches the
Fobos-Grunt probe, marking the nation's first attempt at an interplanetary mission since 1996. The mission's goal is to obtain samples from
Phobos' surface and return them to Earth in 2014. The Chinese
Yinghuo-1 probe, China's first
Mars-exploration spacecraft, is also launched. However, despite reaching orbit successfully, the two spacecraft are left unable to begin their journey to Mars, due to the failure of a secondary engine to ignite.
(Space.com)(BBC)
A Scottish-designed
bionic leg exoskeleton, designed to allow disabled people to walk, is approved for sale in the United Kingdom.
(BBC)
9 November
Dutch scientists build a
nanoscopic "
electric car" made of a single complex
molecule, capable of travelling small distances when an electric current is applied to it. Though currently at a rudimentary level of development, the invention may have applications in the fields of
nanorobotics and
molecular machinery.
(BBC)(Nature)
If current trends continue, Earth will almost certainly suffer a mass extinction of species, according to a major new survey of 583 conservation scientists published in Conservation Biology.
(Conserv. Biol.)
10 November
No wild
black rhinos remain in West Africa, according to the latest global assessment of threatened species.
(BBC)(IUCN)
British computer chip designer
ARM unveils its latest graphics processing unit (GPU) for mobile devices. The Mali-T658 offers up to ten times the performance of its predecessor, and may start to appear in devices towards the end of 2013.
(BBC)(ARM)
A study of
heart failure patients treated with their own stem cells has achieved striking results and could result in the biggest breakthrough in a generation.
(Daily Telegraph)(The Lancet)
Scientists have used brain scan images to create the world's first movie of the female brain as it approaches, experiences and recovers from an
orgasm.
(The Guardian)(Neuroscience 2011)
British doctors report that they have cured a baby boy of a life-threatening
liver disease using implanted cells which acted like a temporary liver, allowing the damaged organ to recover. The cell implant technique, developed by researchers at
King's College Hospital, London, is described as a world first.
(BBC)
American researchers report that the recharge speed of
lithium-ion batteries can be significantly enhanced by making millions of tiny holes in them. The discovery could lead to laptop and cellphone batteries which recharge ten times faster and hold a charge ten times larger than current technology allows.
(BBC)(Adv. Energy Mater.)
16 November
Police in
Northern Ireland consider the use of airborne
surveillance drones to combat crime, following the adoption of such technology by other UK police forces. Canadian drone manufacturer
Aeryon Labs is cited as a potential supplier.
(BBC)
China's uncrewed
Shenzhou 8 spacecraft returns to Earth after successfully docking with the orbiting
Tiangong-1 laboratory module. The crewed
Shenzhou 9 and
10 follow-up missions are expected to visit Tiangong-1 in 2012.
(BBC)
For the first time, astronomers have produced a complete description of a
black hole. The American team conducted precise measurements using ground- and orbit-based telescopes, allowing them to reconstruct the complete history of the
Cygnus X-1 object from its birth some six million years ago.
(Astrophys. J.)
18 November
A team of American engineers claims to have created the world's lightest material – a
microlattice of metallic tubes 100 times lighter than
Styrofoam, with "extraordinary" energy absorption properties. The new material may have applications in the development of next-generation batteries and
shock absorbers.
(BBC)(Science)
American scientists develop an ultra-thin, ultra-flexible brain implant with resolution fifty times greater than was previously possible, designed to monitor
epileptic seizures. The device could revolutionize
epilepsy treatment and lead to a deeper understanding of brain function.
(Technology Review)(Nat. Neurosci.)
22 November –
University of Washington scientists successfully trial a new generation of
contact lenses capable of projecting images in front of the eyes. Human trials are expected to follow the successful animal trials.[111]
23 November – A study published in Nature shows that recent melting of Arctic sea ice is unprecedented on a historic timescale and cannot be explained by natural processes alone.[112]
Swiss researchers are developing magnetic nanoparticles that could be used to remove harmful substances from the bloodstream.
(Technology Review)
30 November
Researchers at
Washington State University develop an artificial bone "scaffold" which can be produced using
3D printers, potentially allowing doctors to quickly print replacement bone tissue for injured patients.
(BBC)
As the
Arctic warms, thawing
permafrost will release
greenhouse gases faster and at significantly higher levels than previous estimates, according to survey results from 41 international scientists.
(Nature)
NASA's
exoplanet-hunting Kepler mission confirms its first extrasolar planet in the
habitable zone of a Sun-like star. The planet,
Kepler-22b, is around 2.5 times the size of Earth, and may have a surface temperature of 22 degrees Celsius, making it potentially suitable for terrestrial life.
(BBC)(NASA)
New research suggests that at least three-quarters of the rise in average global temperatures since the 1950s is due to human activity.
(The Age)(Nat. Geosci.)
American scientists report the discovery of the two largest
supermassive black holes known to science. The two black holes each have a mass nearly 10 billion times greater than the Sun.
(BBC)(Nature)
Spanish researchers unveil a process which allows highly complex shapes to be "carved" into
nanoparticles, potentially revolutionising medical tests and drugs treatments.
(BBC)(Science)
9 December – Biologists at
Tufts University coax tissue to grow a new organ by simply altering the membrane voltage gradients of cells. In the experiment,
tadpoles were made to grow new eyes outside of their head areas.
(Development)
MIT scientists develop an imaging system capable of capturing images at one trillion
frames per second – fast enough to image individual light waves travelling through space.
(MSNBC)
Microsoft co-founder
Paul Allen and aerospace engineer
Burt Rutan announce plans to develop a
commercial spaceflight venture, dubbed Stratolaunch Systems, using a giant carrier aircraft to launch rockets from the upper atmosphere. The first uncrewed test flights of the system are expected to begin in 2016.
(Huffington Post)
15 December
American researchers extend the lifespan of
fruit flies by up to 50% by tweaking genes in the flies' intestines.
(GizMag)(Cell Metab.)
The
Energy Saving Trust (EFT) reports the results of a trial of
LED light fittings in social housing in the United Kingdom. The LED fittings offered significant improvements in efficiency over traditional light fittings, and also proved more popular with residents. The EFT predicts a substantial market share for LED lighting by 2015.
(BBC)(EST)Archived 2012-04-03 at the
Wayback Machine
Brown University engineers reveal a system that can efficiently remove traces of toxic
heavy metals from water. The technique is reportedly scalable and commercially viable.
(Chem. Eng. J.)
17 December – American researchers report advances in
solar cell efficiency, using
quantum dot technology to capture additional electrons from photons striking solar panels.
(CNET)(Science)
A potential new
malaria vaccine has shown promise in animal studies, according to
Oxford University researchers. The team plans to start safety trials in human volunteers, following lab tests which showed the vaccine to be effective against all known strains of malaria.
(BBC)(Nat. Commun.)
Canadian scientists win approval to start human trials of an experimental
HIV vaccine.
(The Star)
University of Texas researchers report that solar cells can be made to yield more energy by exploiting a so-called "shadow state" of
photons, doubling the number of
electrons that may be harvested in the process. The discovery could allow the theoretical maximum
efficiency of silicon solar cells to be increased from 31% to 44%.
(GizMag)(Science)
American researchers unveil self-repairing electronic chips that can repair broken circuits by releasing microcapsules of conductive liquid metal.
(BBC)(Adv. Mater.)
Researchers at
CERN's
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) report the discovery of a new particle, dubbed
Chib(3P). The discovery marks the LHC's first clear observation of a new particle since it became operational in 2009.
(BBC)(arXiv)
China unveils a prototype
high-speed train capable of reaching speeds of over 310 mph (500 km/h), the first ultra-high-speed train developed by China without the aid of international partnerships.
(Financial Times)
29 December
South Korean researchers begin the development of microscopic robots capable of entering human
blood vessels to treat illnesses. The microbots, which measure just 1 millimeter in diameter, are steered and propelled by externally induced magnetic fields.
(Innovation News Daily)Archived 2012-01-17 at the
Wayback Machine
The
wildlife trade monitor group Traffic reports that more
ivory was seized in 2011 than in any year since 1989. Around 23 tonnes (51,000 lb) of ivory – representing at least 2,500 dead
elephants – were intercepted in 13 operations, mostly in shipments intended for the Asian market.
(BBC)(Traffic)
31 December –
NASA's
GRAIL-A satellite enters lunar orbit, to be joined the following day by its twin, GRAIL-B. The two spacecraft will map the Moon's gravitational field in unprecedented detail, with the aim of improving scientists' understanding of how the Moon formed.
(NASA)
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