2016 was a busy year in science
but before we get to our breakthrough of the year
here are the runners-up.
Proteins are nature's most powerful
and versatile molecules.
Now chemists have learned to design
novel proteins never before seen in nature.
Among the first fruits:
a potential vaccine against all strains of the flu
and tiny molecular cages that
could ferry drugs around the body.
A decade ago many experts thought a computer
could never defeat the world's best
human players of Go.
it is one of the most computationally
demanding games.
But this year artificial intelligence researchers
shocked the experts.
Their program, AlphaGo
soundly beat a human Go champion.
For the first time scientists have turned
mouse stem cells into fertile eggs that
yielded healthy mouse pups.
If the technique works in people it could revolutionize
fertility treatments.
Astronomers have found an earth-sized planet orbiting
Proxima Centauri— a red dwarf star just
over four light-years away.
The planet may be just the right temperature
for water to be a liquid at its surface.
Scientists have long argued about how
and when Homo sapiens left Africa.
This year three teams of scientists
looked carefully at the genomes of people living
all over the world and they published
three studies that basically agree.
Most of the ancestors of people living
outside of Africa today
left Africa in one great single wave of migration.
These pocket-sized DNA sequencers read the DNA
molecule as it is pulled base by base
through a tiny pore.
That enables scientists to do quick on-the-spot
sequencing of pathogens and ecosystems
even in space.
Using techniques that cut patterns into computer chips
researchers etched a forest of tiny pillars into a
transparent material.
That enabled them to create a meta lens.
It does everything that a traditional glass lens does
but is thinner than a sheet of paper
and far lighter than glass.
Get set for even sleeker smartphone cameras and
better virtual reality headsets.
In several studies researchers show that
eliminating worn-out cells could make
mice less prone to some diseases of aging.
And it could extend their lives by twenty percent.
Now human trials are taking aim
at the role of senescent cells in arthritis.
In a clever experiment that involved
video and a man in an ape suit,
researchers showed that
chimps, orangutans and bonobos understand
when another ape holds a false belief.
That shows they have theory of mind
which some researchers had thought was
unique to humans.
Early this year scientists at LIGO
confirmed one of Albert Einstein's
boldest predictions.
That whirling masses can shake
the very fabric of space-time
generating tiny ripples.
Using instruments in Louisiana and Washington State
they detected gravitational waves.
The discovery opens the door to new ways
of listening to our universe and
thinking about how it works.