The following
scientific events occurred or are scheduled to occur in
2024.
Events
January
2 January – The
Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) publishes its JRA-55 dataset, confirming 2023 as the warmest year on record globally, at 1.43 °C (2.57 °F) above the 1850–1900 baseline. This is 0.14 °C (0.25 °F) above the previous record set in 2016.[1][full citation needed]
Researchers have discovered a new phase of matter, named a "light-matter hybrid", which may reshape understanding of how
light interacts with
matter.[14]
Scientists report the
extinction of Gigantopithecus blacki, the largest
primate to ever inhabit the Earth, that lived between 2 million and 350,000 years ago, was largely due to the inability of the ape to adapt to a diet better suited to a significantly changed environment.[20][21]
11 January
Biologists report the discovery of the oldest known
skin, fossilized about 289 million years ago, and possibly the skin from an ancient reptile.[22][23]
A
graphene-based implant on the surface of mouse brains, in combination with a two-photon microscope, is shown to capture high-resolution information on neural activity at depths of 250 micrometers.[27][28]
A review of genetic data from 21 studies with nearly one million participants finds more than 50 new genetic loci and 205 novel
genes associated with
depression, opening potential targets for drugs to treat depression.[29][30]
The
Upano Valley sites are reported as the oldest
Amazonian cities built over 2500 years ago, with a unique "garden urbanism" city design.[31][32]
A study presents results of a
Riyadh-based trial of eight
urban heat
mitigation scenarios, finding large cooling effects with combinations that include reflective
rooftop materials, irrigated greenery, and
retrofitting.[33][34]
12 January
Global warming: 2023 is confirmed as the hottest year on record by several science agencies.[35]
NASA reports a figure of 1.4 degrees Celsius above the late 19th century average, when modern record-keeping began.[36]
NOAA reports a figure of 1.35 degrees Celsius.[37]
17 January – A study in Nature finds that the
Greenland ice sheet is melting 20% faster than previous estimates, due to the effects of calving-front retreat. The current loss of 30m tonnes of ice an hour is "sufficient to affect ocean circulation and the distribution of heat energy around the globe."[45][46]
18 January
NASA reports the end of the Ingenuity helicopter's operation, after 72 successful flights on
Mars, due to a broken rotor blade.[47][48]
A potential candidate for the first known radio
pulsar-
black hole binary is reported by astronomers. The heavier of the two lies in the "mass gap" between neutron stars and black holes. The pair are located in the
globular clusterNGC 1851.[49][50]
Two
insect-like robots, a mini-bug and a water strider, are reported as being the smallest, lightest, and fastest fully-functional micro-robots ever created.[51][52]
23 January – A viable and sustainable approach for gold
recovery from
e-waste is demonstrated.[59][60]
24 January
The discovery of 85
exoplanet candidates based on data from the
TESS observatory is reported. All have orbital periods of between 20 and 700 days, with temperatures similar to those of our own
Solar System planets.[61]
A global analysis of
groundwater levels reports rapid declines of over 0.5 meters per year are widespread and that declines have accelerated over the past four decades in 30% of the world's regional
aquifers. The study also shows cases in which depletion trends have reversed following interventions such as
policy changes.[62][63]
A robotic sensor able to read
braille with 87.5% accuracy and at twice the speed of a human is demonstrated.[69]
31 January – NASA reports the discovery of a
super-Earth called TOI-715 b, located in the
habitable zone of a red dwarf star about 137 light-years away.[70][71]
Promising
innovations relating to
global challenges are reported: a self-powered solar panel cleaning system using an electrodynamic screen, removing contaminants through high-voltage electric fields, is demonstrated (4 Jan),[72][73] an
atmospheric water generator (WaterCube) for humidity levels above 40% is released (9 Jan).[74]
Hazard research is published: ~240.000 particles of
microplastic and
nanoplastics (~90%) per liter are found in samples of
plastic-
bottled water (8 Jan),[86][87] a study estimates harmful chemicals used in plastic materials have caused $249 U.S. healthcare system costs in 2018 (11 Jan),[88][89] a study indicates fungal infections may be causing millions more deaths annually than thought (12 Jan),[90][91] a study of European
plasticwaste exports to Vietnam finds a large fraction is dumped in nature and suggests air pollution from melting plastics and untreated wastewater have significant impact on health (18 Jan).[92][93]
A study based on 300-years-long temperature records preserved in Caribbean
sclerosponge carbonate skeletons shows
industrial-era warming already began in the mid-1860s and that by 2020, global warming was already 1.7±0.1 °C above pre-industrial levels. However, their reference period is not used by the
IPCC and the
1.5 °C climate goal and the study's authors suggest their results show a better baseline.[100][101]
A battery based on
calcium, able to charge and discharge fully 700 times at room temperature, is presented. It is described as a potential alternative to
lithium, being 2,500 times more abundant on Earth.[109][110]
17 February – A global review of
harms from personal car automobility finds cars have killed 60–80 million people since
their invention, with automobility causing roughly
every 34th death, and summarises interventions that are ready for implementation to reduce the, largely crash-linked or pollution-mediated, deaths from automobility-centrism and
dependency.[124][125]
19 February
Astronomers announce the most luminous object ever discovered, quasar
QSO J0529-4351, located 12 billion light-years away in the constellation
Pictor.[126][127]
The first
neuroimaging study that shows
flow state-related brain activity during a creative production task,
jazz improvisation, is published. Its results support a theory that creative flow represents optimized specialized processing enabled by extensive experience, relaxing conscious control.[131][132]
Hazard research is published: several dietary habits and products including
teabags are linked to
PFAS intake (4 Feb),[173][174] an additional three billion people may face
water scarcity by 2050 when
river pollution is considered, an aspect neglected by prior assessments (6 Feb),[175][176]HPV infection linked to higher cardiovascular mortality (7 Feb),[177] researchers use simulations to develop an early-warning signal for a
potential collapse of the atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and suggest it indicates the AMOC is "on route to tipping" (9 Feb),[178][179] researchers report the
H5N1 bird flu virus may be changing and adapting to infect more mammals (12 Feb),[180][181] researchers report how compounding disturbances could trigger unexpected ecosystem transitions in the
Amazon rainforest (14 Feb),[182][183] harmful
chlormequat is found in ~80% of U.S. adult urine samples, rising during 2023, and in
oat-based
foods widely thought to be healthy (15 Feb),[184][185] excess amounts of widely-supplemented
niacin (B3) are
linked to cardiovascular risk (19 Feb),[186][187] a
review concludes available evidence on the use of
puberty blockers and
cross-sex hormones in minors with
gender dysphoria is very limited and based on only a few studies with small numbers which have problematic methodology and quality, warning about their use outside of clinical studies or research projects after careful risk-benefit evaluation (27 Feb).[188][189]
March
4 March
Astronomers report that the surface of
Europa, a moon of the planet
Jupiter, may have much less
oxygen than previously inferred, suggesting that the moon has a less hospitable environment for the existence of
lifeforms than may have been considered earlier.[190][191]
Biochemists report making an
RNA molecule that was able to make accurate copies of a different type of RNA molecule, moving closer to an RNA that could make accurate copies of itself, and, as a result, providing support for an
RNA world that may have been an essential way of starting the
origin of life.[192][193]
12 March – Geologists identify a 2.4-million-year cycle in deep-sea sedimentary data, caused by an orbital interaction between Earth and Mars.[195][196][197]
The largest inventory of
methane emissions from U.S. oil and gas production finds them to be largely concentrated and around three times the national government inventory estimate.[199][200] On 28 March, methane emissions from U.S.
landfills are quantified, with super-emitting point-sources accounting for almost 90% thereof.[201][202]
14 March –
SpaceX successfully launches the
Starship spacecraft, but loses the rocket upon re-entering the atmosphere.[203]
19 March
Scientists demonstrate a wireless network of 78 tiny sensors able to gather data from the brain, with potential to be scaled up to thousands of such devices.[204][205]
Researchers with the
National Severe Storms Laboratory,
Storm Prediction Center,
CIWRO, and the
University of Oklahoma's School of Meteorology publish a paper where they state, ">20% of supercell
tornadoes may be capable of producing
EF4–EF5 damage" and that "the legacy
F-scale wind speed ranges may ultimately provide a better estimate of peak tornado wind speeds at 10–15 m AGL for strong–violent tornadoes and a better damage-based intensity rating for all tornadoes" and also put the general 0–5 ranking scale in question.[206]
20 March – The removal of
HIV from infected cells using
CRISPR gene-editing technology is reported.[207]
1 April – An entirely new class of
antibiotics with potent activity against multi-
drug resistant bacteria is discovered. These compounds target a protein called LpxH, and are shown to cure bloodstream infections in mice.[228][229]
9 April – A rare genetic variation in a gene that makes
fibronectin is shown to reduce the odds of developing
Alzheimer's disease by over 70%.[233]
12 April
Biologists report that
bonobos behave more aggressively than thought earlier.[234][235]
Scientists report studies suggesting that
tardigrades are protected from massive radiation exposure and damage by unique biochemicals, particularly, the
Dsup protein.[236][237]
16 April – Scientists at the
Riken institute demonstrate "advanced dual-chirped optical parametric amplification", which provides a 50-fold increase in the energy of single-cycle
laser pulses. This new technique may advance the development of
attosecond lasers.[240]
23 April – The world's largest
3D printer, dubbed Factory of the Future 1.0 (FoF 1.0), is presented by the
University of Maine. Using
thermoplastic polymers, the machine can print objects as large as 96 feet (29 m) long by 32 feet (9.8 m) wide by 18 feet (5.5 m) high, at a rate of 500 pounds (230 kg) per hour.[241][242]
24 April – Demonstration of
synthetic diamond created at 1 atmosphere of pressure in around 150 minutes without needing seeds.[243][244]
A new theory states that
Venus may have lost its water so quickly due to HCO+ dissociative recombination.[252][253]
People aged over 65 with two copies of the APOE4 gene variant are found to have a 95% chance of developing
Alzheimer's disease.[254][255]
8 May
Google introduces
AlphaFold 3, a new AI model for accurately predicting the structure of
proteins,
DNA,
RNA,
ligands and more, and how they interact.[256]
Atmospheric gases surrounding
55 Cancri e, a hot rocky exoplanet 41 light-years from Earth, are detected by researchers using the
James Webb Space Telescope. NASA reports this as "the best evidence to date for the existence of any rocky planet
atmosphere outside our solar system."[257]
9 May
A record annual increase in
atmospheric CO2 is reported from the
Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, with a jump of 4.7 parts per million (ppm) compared to a year earlier.[258]
A cubic millimetre of the
human brain is mapped at nanoscale resolution by a team at Google. This contains roughly 57,000 cells and 150 million synapses, incorporating 1.4 petabytes of data.[259][260]
13 May –
OpenAI reveals
GPT-4o, its latest AI model, featuring improved multimodal capabilities in real time.[264][265]
15 May
Astronomers report an overview of preliminary analytical studies on returned samples of
asteroid101955 Bennu by the
OSIRIS-REx mission.[266]
SPECULOOS-3 b, an exoplanet nearly identical in size to Earth, is discovered orbiting an
ultracool dwarf star as small as Jupiter and located 55 light-years from Earth.[267]
Solar energy is combined with synthetic quartz to generate temperatures of more than 1,000°C. This proof-of-concept method shows the potential of clean energy to replace fossil fuels in heavy manufacturing, according to a research team at
ETH Zurich.[268]
16 May – A
multimodal algorithm for improved
sarcasm detection is revealed by the
University of Groningen. Trained on a database known as MUStARD, it can examine multiple aspects of audio recordings and has 75% accuracy.[269][270]
17 May – The world's smallest quantum light detector on a silicon chip is demonstrated by a team at the
University of Bristol, 50 times smaller than their previous version.[271]
20 May – The first measurements of an exoplanet's core mass are obtained by the
James Webb Space Telescope. This reveals a surprisingly low amount of methane and a super-sized core within the super-Neptune
WASP-107b.[272]
23 May
New images from the Euclid space telescope are published, including a view of the
Messier 78 star nursery.[273]
Astronomers using
TESS report the discovery of
Gliese 12 b, a Venus-sized exoplanet located 40 light-years away, with an equilibrium temperature of 315 K (42 °C; 107 °F). This makes it the nearest, transiting, temperate, Earth-sized world located to date.[274]
1 June – China successfully lands
Chang'e 6 on the
lunar far side. The robotic probe will begin sample collection before returning its 2 kg (4.4 lb) cargo on 4 June.[279]
5 June – Astronomers identify
ASKAP J1935+2148, the slowest-spinning
neutron star ever recorded, which completes a rotation just once every 54 minutes.[280]
The apparent gap in
life expectancy between male and female organisms is explained by a team at Osaka University, Japan, who find that reproductive cells drive sex-dependent differences in lifespan and reveal a role for
vitamin D in improving longevity.[283][284]
The Economist reports that China has become a "scientific superpower", citing numerous examples of its rapid development across a wide range of fields.[285]
US: Various requested changes to budgets of science-related US institutions have been described with some information about the respective planned research programs.[291][292]
^Nolen, Stephanie (11 April 2024).
"The Push for a Better Dengue Vaccine Grows More Urgent". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 May 2024. And it won't necessarily be of help to the rest of Latin America: Butantan will only make the vaccine for Brazil. The multinational drug company Merck & Co., which also licensed the NIH technology, is developing a related vaccine […] the data released so far shows it tested against only the two types that were circulating during the first part of the trial; more results are expected in June
^Kallás, Esper G.; Cintra, Monica A.T.; Moreira, José A.; Patiño, Elizabeth G.; Braga, Patricia Emilia; Tenório, Juliana C.V.; Infante, Vanessa; Palacios, Ricardo; de Lacerda, Marcus Vínicius Guimarães; Batista Pereira, Dhelio; da Fonseca, Allex Jardim; Gurgel, Ricardo Queiroz; Coelho, Ivo Castelo-Branco; Fontes, Cor Jesus Fernandes; Marques, Ernesto T.A.; Romero, Gustavo Adolfo Sierra; Teixeira, Mauro Martins; Siqueira, André M.; Barral, Aldina Maria Prado; Boaventura, Viviane Sampaio; Ramos, Fabiano; Elias Júnior, Erivaldo; Cassio de Moraes, José; Covas, Dimas T.; Kalil, Jorge; Precioso, Alexander Roberto; Whitehead, Stephen S.; Esteves-Jaramillo, Alejandra; Shekar, Tulin; Lee, Jung-Jin; Macey, Julieta; Kelner, Sabrina Gozlan; Coller, Beth-Ann G.; Boulos, Fernanda Castro; Nogueira, Mauricio L. (February 2024). "Live, Attenuated, Tetravalent Butantan–Dengue Vaccine in Children and Adults". New England Journal of Medicine. 390 (5): 397–408.
doi:
10.1056/NEJMoa2301790.
ISSN0028-4793.
PMID38294972.
^Osmanov, Z.N. (7 February 2024). "The possibility of panspermia in the deep cosmos by means of the planetary dust grains".
arXiv:2402.04990 [
astro-ph.EP].
^Wolf, Christian; Lai, Samuel; Onken, Christopher A.; Amrutha, Neelesh; Bian, Fuyan; Hon, Wei Jeat; Tisserand, Patrick; Webster, Rachel L. (April 2024). "The accretion of a solar mass per day by a 17-billion solar mass black hole". Nature Astronomy. 8 (4): 520–529.
arXiv:2402.15101.
Bibcode:
2024NatAs...8..520W.
doi:
10.1038/s41550-024-02195-x.
ISSN2397-3366.
^Zepf, Florian D.; König, Laura; Kaiser, Anna; Ligges, Carolin; Ligges, Marc; Roessner, Veit; Banaschewski, Tobias; Holtmann, Martin (May 2024). "Beyond NICE: Aktualisierte systematische Übersicht zur Evidenzlage der Pubertätsblockade und Hormongabe bei Minderjährigen mit Geschlechtsdysphorie". Zeitschrift für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie und Psychotherapie (in German). 52 (3): 167–187.
doi:
10.1024/1422-4917/a000972.
ISSN1422-4917.
PMID38410090.
^Grist, Sachi Mulkey.
"Landfills Leak More Planet-Baking Methane Than We Thought". Scientific American. Retrieved 11 May 2024. The researchers found these super-emitting points can persist for months or even years, and account for almost 90 percent of all measured methane from the landfills. Tackling these hotspots could be a huge stride toward lowering emission rates, but blindspots in current monitoring protocols mean they often evade detection.
^Chung, Daniel C.; Gray, Darrell M.; Singh, Harminder; Issaka, Rachel B.; Raymond, Victoria M.; Eagle, Craig; Hu, Sylvia; Chudova, Darya I.; Talasaz, AmirAli; Greenson, Joel K.; Sinicrope, Frank A.; Gupta, Samir; Grady, William M. (14 March 2024). "A Cell-free DNA Blood-Based Test for Colorectal Cancer Screening". New England Journal of Medicine. 390 (11): 973–983.
doi:
10.1056/NEJMoa2304714.
ISSN0028-4793.
PMID38477985.
^Salvi, Francesco; Manoel Horta Ribeiro; Gallotti, Riccardo; West, Robert (2024). "On the Conversational Persuasiveness of Large Language Models: A Randomized Controlled Trial".
arXiv:2403.14380 [
cs.CY].
^M. S. Chaffin; E. M. Cangi; B. S. Gregory; R. V. Yelle; J. Deighan; R. D. Elliott; H. Gröller (6 May 2024). "Venus water loss is dominated by HCO+ dissociative recombination". Nature. 629 (8011): 307–310.
doi:
10.1038/s41586-024-07261-y.
PMID38710931.
The following
scientific events occurred or are scheduled to occur in
2024.
Events
January
2 January – The
Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) publishes its JRA-55 dataset, confirming 2023 as the warmest year on record globally, at 1.43 °C (2.57 °F) above the 1850–1900 baseline. This is 0.14 °C (0.25 °F) above the previous record set in 2016.[1][full citation needed]
Researchers have discovered a new phase of matter, named a "light-matter hybrid", which may reshape understanding of how
light interacts with
matter.[14]
Scientists report the
extinction of Gigantopithecus blacki, the largest
primate to ever inhabit the Earth, that lived between 2 million and 350,000 years ago, was largely due to the inability of the ape to adapt to a diet better suited to a significantly changed environment.[20][21]
11 January
Biologists report the discovery of the oldest known
skin, fossilized about 289 million years ago, and possibly the skin from an ancient reptile.[22][23]
A
graphene-based implant on the surface of mouse brains, in combination with a two-photon microscope, is shown to capture high-resolution information on neural activity at depths of 250 micrometers.[27][28]
A review of genetic data from 21 studies with nearly one million participants finds more than 50 new genetic loci and 205 novel
genes associated with
depression, opening potential targets for drugs to treat depression.[29][30]
The
Upano Valley sites are reported as the oldest
Amazonian cities built over 2500 years ago, with a unique "garden urbanism" city design.[31][32]
A study presents results of a
Riyadh-based trial of eight
urban heat
mitigation scenarios, finding large cooling effects with combinations that include reflective
rooftop materials, irrigated greenery, and
retrofitting.[33][34]
12 January
Global warming: 2023 is confirmed as the hottest year on record by several science agencies.[35]
NASA reports a figure of 1.4 degrees Celsius above the late 19th century average, when modern record-keeping began.[36]
NOAA reports a figure of 1.35 degrees Celsius.[37]
17 January – A study in Nature finds that the
Greenland ice sheet is melting 20% faster than previous estimates, due to the effects of calving-front retreat. The current loss of 30m tonnes of ice an hour is "sufficient to affect ocean circulation and the distribution of heat energy around the globe."[45][46]
18 January
NASA reports the end of the Ingenuity helicopter's operation, after 72 successful flights on
Mars, due to a broken rotor blade.[47][48]
A potential candidate for the first known radio
pulsar-
black hole binary is reported by astronomers. The heavier of the two lies in the "mass gap" between neutron stars and black holes. The pair are located in the
globular clusterNGC 1851.[49][50]
Two
insect-like robots, a mini-bug and a water strider, are reported as being the smallest, lightest, and fastest fully-functional micro-robots ever created.[51][52]
23 January – A viable and sustainable approach for gold
recovery from
e-waste is demonstrated.[59][60]
24 January
The discovery of 85
exoplanet candidates based on data from the
TESS observatory is reported. All have orbital periods of between 20 and 700 days, with temperatures similar to those of our own
Solar System planets.[61]
A global analysis of
groundwater levels reports rapid declines of over 0.5 meters per year are widespread and that declines have accelerated over the past four decades in 30% of the world's regional
aquifers. The study also shows cases in which depletion trends have reversed following interventions such as
policy changes.[62][63]
A robotic sensor able to read
braille with 87.5% accuracy and at twice the speed of a human is demonstrated.[69]
31 January – NASA reports the discovery of a
super-Earth called TOI-715 b, located in the
habitable zone of a red dwarf star about 137 light-years away.[70][71]
Promising
innovations relating to
global challenges are reported: a self-powered solar panel cleaning system using an electrodynamic screen, removing contaminants through high-voltage electric fields, is demonstrated (4 Jan),[72][73] an
atmospheric water generator (WaterCube) for humidity levels above 40% is released (9 Jan).[74]
Hazard research is published: ~240.000 particles of
microplastic and
nanoplastics (~90%) per liter are found in samples of
plastic-
bottled water (8 Jan),[86][87] a study estimates harmful chemicals used in plastic materials have caused $249 U.S. healthcare system costs in 2018 (11 Jan),[88][89] a study indicates fungal infections may be causing millions more deaths annually than thought (12 Jan),[90][91] a study of European
plasticwaste exports to Vietnam finds a large fraction is dumped in nature and suggests air pollution from melting plastics and untreated wastewater have significant impact on health (18 Jan).[92][93]
A study based on 300-years-long temperature records preserved in Caribbean
sclerosponge carbonate skeletons shows
industrial-era warming already began in the mid-1860s and that by 2020, global warming was already 1.7±0.1 °C above pre-industrial levels. However, their reference period is not used by the
IPCC and the
1.5 °C climate goal and the study's authors suggest their results show a better baseline.[100][101]
A battery based on
calcium, able to charge and discharge fully 700 times at room temperature, is presented. It is described as a potential alternative to
lithium, being 2,500 times more abundant on Earth.[109][110]
17 February – A global review of
harms from personal car automobility finds cars have killed 60–80 million people since
their invention, with automobility causing roughly
every 34th death, and summarises interventions that are ready for implementation to reduce the, largely crash-linked or pollution-mediated, deaths from automobility-centrism and
dependency.[124][125]
19 February
Astronomers announce the most luminous object ever discovered, quasar
QSO J0529-4351, located 12 billion light-years away in the constellation
Pictor.[126][127]
The first
neuroimaging study that shows
flow state-related brain activity during a creative production task,
jazz improvisation, is published. Its results support a theory that creative flow represents optimized specialized processing enabled by extensive experience, relaxing conscious control.[131][132]
Hazard research is published: several dietary habits and products including
teabags are linked to
PFAS intake (4 Feb),[173][174] an additional three billion people may face
water scarcity by 2050 when
river pollution is considered, an aspect neglected by prior assessments (6 Feb),[175][176]HPV infection linked to higher cardiovascular mortality (7 Feb),[177] researchers use simulations to develop an early-warning signal for a
potential collapse of the atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and suggest it indicates the AMOC is "on route to tipping" (9 Feb),[178][179] researchers report the
H5N1 bird flu virus may be changing and adapting to infect more mammals (12 Feb),[180][181] researchers report how compounding disturbances could trigger unexpected ecosystem transitions in the
Amazon rainforest (14 Feb),[182][183] harmful
chlormequat is found in ~80% of U.S. adult urine samples, rising during 2023, and in
oat-based
foods widely thought to be healthy (15 Feb),[184][185] excess amounts of widely-supplemented
niacin (B3) are
linked to cardiovascular risk (19 Feb),[186][187] a
review concludes available evidence on the use of
puberty blockers and
cross-sex hormones in minors with
gender dysphoria is very limited and based on only a few studies with small numbers which have problematic methodology and quality, warning about their use outside of clinical studies or research projects after careful risk-benefit evaluation (27 Feb).[188][189]
March
4 March
Astronomers report that the surface of
Europa, a moon of the planet
Jupiter, may have much less
oxygen than previously inferred, suggesting that the moon has a less hospitable environment for the existence of
lifeforms than may have been considered earlier.[190][191]
Biochemists report making an
RNA molecule that was able to make accurate copies of a different type of RNA molecule, moving closer to an RNA that could make accurate copies of itself, and, as a result, providing support for an
RNA world that may have been an essential way of starting the
origin of life.[192][193]
12 March – Geologists identify a 2.4-million-year cycle in deep-sea sedimentary data, caused by an orbital interaction between Earth and Mars.[195][196][197]
The largest inventory of
methane emissions from U.S. oil and gas production finds them to be largely concentrated and around three times the national government inventory estimate.[199][200] On 28 March, methane emissions from U.S.
landfills are quantified, with super-emitting point-sources accounting for almost 90% thereof.[201][202]
14 March –
SpaceX successfully launches the
Starship spacecraft, but loses the rocket upon re-entering the atmosphere.[203]
19 March
Scientists demonstrate a wireless network of 78 tiny sensors able to gather data from the brain, with potential to be scaled up to thousands of such devices.[204][205]
Researchers with the
National Severe Storms Laboratory,
Storm Prediction Center,
CIWRO, and the
University of Oklahoma's School of Meteorology publish a paper where they state, ">20% of supercell
tornadoes may be capable of producing
EF4–EF5 damage" and that "the legacy
F-scale wind speed ranges may ultimately provide a better estimate of peak tornado wind speeds at 10–15 m AGL for strong–violent tornadoes and a better damage-based intensity rating for all tornadoes" and also put the general 0–5 ranking scale in question.[206]
20 March – The removal of
HIV from infected cells using
CRISPR gene-editing technology is reported.[207]
1 April – An entirely new class of
antibiotics with potent activity against multi-
drug resistant bacteria is discovered. These compounds target a protein called LpxH, and are shown to cure bloodstream infections in mice.[228][229]
9 April – A rare genetic variation in a gene that makes
fibronectin is shown to reduce the odds of developing
Alzheimer's disease by over 70%.[233]
12 April
Biologists report that
bonobos behave more aggressively than thought earlier.[234][235]
Scientists report studies suggesting that
tardigrades are protected from massive radiation exposure and damage by unique biochemicals, particularly, the
Dsup protein.[236][237]
16 April – Scientists at the
Riken institute demonstrate "advanced dual-chirped optical parametric amplification", which provides a 50-fold increase in the energy of single-cycle
laser pulses. This new technique may advance the development of
attosecond lasers.[240]
23 April – The world's largest
3D printer, dubbed Factory of the Future 1.0 (FoF 1.0), is presented by the
University of Maine. Using
thermoplastic polymers, the machine can print objects as large as 96 feet (29 m) long by 32 feet (9.8 m) wide by 18 feet (5.5 m) high, at a rate of 500 pounds (230 kg) per hour.[241][242]
24 April – Demonstration of
synthetic diamond created at 1 atmosphere of pressure in around 150 minutes without needing seeds.[243][244]
A new theory states that
Venus may have lost its water so quickly due to HCO+ dissociative recombination.[252][253]
People aged over 65 with two copies of the APOE4 gene variant are found to have a 95% chance of developing
Alzheimer's disease.[254][255]
8 May
Google introduces
AlphaFold 3, a new AI model for accurately predicting the structure of
proteins,
DNA,
RNA,
ligands and more, and how they interact.[256]
Atmospheric gases surrounding
55 Cancri e, a hot rocky exoplanet 41 light-years from Earth, are detected by researchers using the
James Webb Space Telescope. NASA reports this as "the best evidence to date for the existence of any rocky planet
atmosphere outside our solar system."[257]
9 May
A record annual increase in
atmospheric CO2 is reported from the
Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, with a jump of 4.7 parts per million (ppm) compared to a year earlier.[258]
A cubic millimetre of the
human brain is mapped at nanoscale resolution by a team at Google. This contains roughly 57,000 cells and 150 million synapses, incorporating 1.4 petabytes of data.[259][260]
13 May –
OpenAI reveals
GPT-4o, its latest AI model, featuring improved multimodal capabilities in real time.[264][265]
15 May
Astronomers report an overview of preliminary analytical studies on returned samples of
asteroid101955 Bennu by the
OSIRIS-REx mission.[266]
SPECULOOS-3 b, an exoplanet nearly identical in size to Earth, is discovered orbiting an
ultracool dwarf star as small as Jupiter and located 55 light-years from Earth.[267]
Solar energy is combined with synthetic quartz to generate temperatures of more than 1,000°C. This proof-of-concept method shows the potential of clean energy to replace fossil fuels in heavy manufacturing, according to a research team at
ETH Zurich.[268]
16 May – A
multimodal algorithm for improved
sarcasm detection is revealed by the
University of Groningen. Trained on a database known as MUStARD, it can examine multiple aspects of audio recordings and has 75% accuracy.[269][270]
17 May – The world's smallest quantum light detector on a silicon chip is demonstrated by a team at the
University of Bristol, 50 times smaller than their previous version.[271]
20 May – The first measurements of an exoplanet's core mass are obtained by the
James Webb Space Telescope. This reveals a surprisingly low amount of methane and a super-sized core within the super-Neptune
WASP-107b.[272]
23 May
New images from the Euclid space telescope are published, including a view of the
Messier 78 star nursery.[273]
Astronomers using
TESS report the discovery of
Gliese 12 b, a Venus-sized exoplanet located 40 light-years away, with an equilibrium temperature of 315 K (42 °C; 107 °F). This makes it the nearest, transiting, temperate, Earth-sized world located to date.[274]
1 June – China successfully lands
Chang'e 6 on the
lunar far side. The robotic probe will begin sample collection before returning its 2 kg (4.4 lb) cargo on 4 June.[279]
5 June – Astronomers identify
ASKAP J1935+2148, the slowest-spinning
neutron star ever recorded, which completes a rotation just once every 54 minutes.[280]
The apparent gap in
life expectancy between male and female organisms is explained by a team at Osaka University, Japan, who find that reproductive cells drive sex-dependent differences in lifespan and reveal a role for
vitamin D in improving longevity.[283][284]
The Economist reports that China has become a "scientific superpower", citing numerous examples of its rapid development across a wide range of fields.[285]
US: Various requested changes to budgets of science-related US institutions have been described with some information about the respective planned research programs.[291][292]
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