Top 10 scientific discoveries in 2010
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By Alex He | January 1, 2011 3:19 PM HKT
The year of 2010 is full of excitement as the world has witnessed many technological wonders and scientific breakthroughs.Below are the top 10 scientific discoveries of the year.
Top 1: Creation of first self-replicating synthetic life
The Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues has called for enhanced federal oversight in the emerging field of synthetic biology, which involves the design and construction of laboratory-made biological parts.
In May, researchers from the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit, genomic-focused basic research organization, reported the successful construction of a first self-replicating, synthetic bacterial cell. They copied and modified an entire genome of a small bacterial cell, inserted it into a living cell of another species, and by doing so created a new, synthetic organism.
"This is the first self-replicating species that we've had on the planet whose parent is a computer," U.S. scientist Craig Venter who led the team said. "It also is the first species to have its own website encoded in its genetic code."
Scientists hope to patent the organism called Mycoplasma laboratorium and engineer it to manufacture cheap biofuels, medicines and other useful compounds.
However, critics argue the move will stifle future science relying on an artificial microbes. U.S. President Obama has asked the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues to study the implications of synthetic biology after proponent, however, no federal regulations has been issued yet.
Top 2: Scientists found life built with toxic chemical
transmission electron micrograph of the bacterium strain GFAJ-1+As/-P GFAJ-1 shows internal vacuole-like structures in an undated photograph released byNASA, the journal Science and the American Association for the Advancement of Science on December 2, 2010. A strange, salty lake in California has yielded the equally strange bacterium that thrives on arsenic and redefines life as we know it, researchers reported on Thursday. The finding shows just how little scientists know about the variety of life forms on Earth, and may greatly expand where they should be looking for life on other planets and moons, theNASA-funded team said.
An astrobiology research has found the first known microorganism able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic, which has changed the fundamental knowledge about what comprises all known life on Earth.
This finding of an alternative biochemistry makeup will alter biology textbooks and expand the scope of the search for life beyond Earth. The research is published in this week's edition of Science Express.
This finding of an alternative biochemistry makeup will alter biology textbooks and expand the scope of the search for life beyond Earth. The research is published in this week's edition of Science Express.
Phosphorus is a central component of the energy-carrying molecule in all cells (adenosine triphosphate) and also the phospholipids that form all cell membranes. Arsenic, which is chemically similar to phosphorus, is poisonous for most life on Earth. Arsenic disrupts metabolic pathways because chemically it behaves similarly to phosphate.
Top 3: Antimatter made & trapped in lab for the first time
In Dan Brown's Angels & Demons book, scientists have solved one of the most complicated scientific problems: the capture and storage of antimatter. In the real life, capturing atomic antimatter is yet to be achieved.
Antimatter Have you read Dan Brown's Angels & Demons book or watched the movie, in which symbologist Robert Langdon tries to stop a legendary secret society Illuminati from destroying Vatican City with the newly discovered power of antimatter stored in a canister?
According to the book, antimatter is an extremely dangerous substance with immense destructive potential, which is unleashed upon contact with any form of normal matter, and is comparable to a small nuclear weapon. In the story, scientists have solved one of the most complicated scientific problems: the capture and storage of antimatter.
Now the story is coming true in real life as researchers at CERN's Geneva labs have recently managed to trap a sizeable amount of antihydrogenhave managed to trap a sizeable amount of antihydrogen.
The development opens the path to new ways of making detailed measurements of antihydrogen. This will in turn allow scientists to compare matter and antimatter, which remains one of the biggest mysteries of science.
Top 4: Scientists Solve Mystery Of Mass In Variable Stars
Astronomers have found the first double star in which a pulsating variable and another star pass in front of one another, solving a a decades-old mystery in the process.
"By using the HARPS instrument on the 3.6-metre telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile, along with other telescopes, we have measured the mass of a Cepheid with an accuracy far greater than any earlier estimates," said Grzegorz Pietrzyski, of the Universidad de Concepción in Chile and the Warsaw University Observatory in Poland. "This new result allows us to immediately see which of the two competing theories predicting the masses of Cepheids is correct."
Top 5: Astronomers Discover 'Rosetta Stone' For T-dwarf Stars
An international team of astronomers has discovered a unique star system comprised of a very cool, methane-rich dwarf star and a white dwarf star in orbit around each other, the the European Southern Observatory (ESO) said on November 22.
The system, which is the first of its type to be found, is a "Rosetta Stone" for such dwarf stars and gives scientists a way of finding the mass and age of the methane dwarf, known as a T-dwarf star.
Top 6: Mysterious Giant bubbles discovered in Milky Way
Scientists have discovered two massive gamma-ray emitting bubbles in the center of Milky Way galaxy.
Astronomers say the bubbles, which may be millions of years old, span more than half of the visible sky, from the constellation Virgo to the constellation Grus.
Astronomers say the bubbles, which may be millions of years old, span more than half of the visible sky, from the constellation Virgo to the constellation Grus.
Scientists are now conducting more analyses to better understand the nature those bubbles, which appear to have well-defined edges and emit high energy gamma-ray fog not seen elsewhere in the Milky Way.
Scientists believe that the bubbles could have been formed as a result of gas outflows from a burst of star formation, perhaps the one that produced many massive star clusters in the Milky Way's center several million years ago.
Scientists believe that the bubbles could have been formed as a result of gas outflows from a burst of star formation, perhaps the one that produced many massive star clusters in the Milky Way's center several million years ago.
Top 7: Possible Ice Volcanoes Spotted On Moon Of Saturn
Scientists have found possible ice volcanoes on Saturn's moon Titan, similar to those on Earth that spew molten rock.
Topography and surface composition data from NASA's Cassini Spacecraft have enabled scientists to make the best case yet for an Earth-like volcanic landform that erupts with ice instead of lava.
Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere. Titan is also the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found.
Top 8: Wobble May Keep Water Liquid On Moon Of Saturn
The surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus averages a very cold -198 degrees Celsius, which is enough to keep nitrogen liquid. So there shouldn't be any liquid water.
But that view changed when in 2005 the Cassini spacecraft got a picture of a plume of water rising from the surface. Recently scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have theorized that Enceladus rotates unevenly, giving rise to tidal forces that create heat, which keeps the water below the surface liquid.
Astronomers discover another Earth-like planet outside solar system.
Astronomers discover another Earth-like planet outside solar system.
Astronomers have discovered a habitable rocky planet in another solar system for the first time that could be another Earth-like discovery with basic and essential conditions needed to support extraterrestrial life after a decade long hunt ending human race's cosmic loneliness.
They said life does not necessarily exist on the planet but that the basic conditions are present to allow it to begin and keep it going. According to them, the planet is large enough to have the gravitational force to hold an atmosphere surrounding it and data tell scientists that any water on the new planet will be in liquid form.
However, scientists say there is no evidence that Gliese 581G holds oxygenated landscapes of green and blue that would support microbes, dinosaurs or some alien-looking pre-human. For life, there must be water, and there's no proof of that as yet.
Top 9: Planetary collisons in double star-systems leave no room for life to emerge
Since double star-systems make planets collide, any chances of life emerging on these planets is impossible, says a NASA report.
"This is real-life science fiction," said Jeremy Drake of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass said in news release from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "Our data tells us that planets in these systems might not be so lucky -- collisions could be common. It's theoretically possible that habitable planets could exist around these types of stars, so if there happened to be any life there, it could be doomed."
Top 10: Super-volcano erupts in outer galaxy, similar to Icelandic volcano on Earth
A galactic super-volcano is erupting in massive galaxy M87 and blasting gas outwards, and NASA scientists view that the huge volcano in M87 is very similar to the recent Icelandic volcano that caused heavy air traffic disruptions across Europe.
According to NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, M87 is relatively close to the Earth at a distance of about 50 million light years and lies at the center of the Virgo cluster, which contains thousands of galaxies.
Signs of life on Titan?
Signs of life on Titan?
An analysis of data from NASA's Cassini probe shows depletions of certain chemicals on the surface. Back in 2005, Chris McKay, an astrobiologist at NASA, said one line of evidence for life would be unusual depletions of acetylene, ethane and hydrogen at the surface.
While the findings aren't conclusive, some suggest the hydrogen and acetylene could be disappearing because they are being used by methane-based life in the same way life on Earth uses oxygen and other chemicals.
