From jurisprudence - violating subatomic particle to entirely new , dry land - same universe , 2011 was an unbelievable year for scientific discovery . In the preceding 12 months , scientific discovery in fields ranging from archaeology to structural biochemistry have permit humanity to rewrite history , and enabled us to spread out to mark raw chapter in our development as a species .
Here are some of our ducky .
Witha density of less than one mg per cubic centimeter(that ’s about 1000 times less dense than water ) , thissurprisingly squishymaterial is so light - exercising weight , it can rest on the source psyche of a blowball , and is lighter than even the scurvy - densityaerogels . The enigma — to both its trifling weight and its resilience — is the material ’s wicket - like geomorphological organisation , one that the researchers who created it equate to that of the Eiffel Tower .
https://gizmodo.com/breakthrough-this-metal-is-almost-as-light-as-air-5859728
https://gizmodo.com/watch-ultra-light-metal-in-action-5860930
It could be the first measure towards really immersive practical world , one where you may really feel the computer - give Earth around you . An outside team of neuroengineers has developed a brain - motorcar interface that ’s bi - directional — that means you could presently habituate a brain implant not only to control a virtual hand , but to receive feedback that play a trick on your brain into “ feeling ” the texture of a practical physical object .
https://gizmodo.com/biotech-breakthrough-monkeys-can-feel-virtual-objects-5846275
Already demonstrated successfully in primates , the interface could soon countenance humans to use next - generation prosthetic limbs ( or even robotic exoskeletons ) to actually feel aim in the real cosmos .
In July of 2011 , NASA ’s Dawn spacecraftentered the orbit of Vesta — the secondly heavy body in our solar system ’s main asteroid belt . Just a few days later , Dawn spiraled down into orbit . Upon reaching an altitude of approximately 1700 miles , the space vehicle began snatch photo of the protoplanet ’s airfoil , revealing geophysical peculiarity like the triplet of Crater on Vesta ’s northern hemisphere — dub “ Snowman ” — featured here . Dawnrecently point into its closest orbit(at an altitude averaging just 130 miles ) . It will keep on revolve Vesta until July of 2012 , when it will set a class for Ceres , the turgid of the primary belt asteroids .
https://gizmodo.com/first-image-of-asteroid-vesta-captured-from-its-orbit-5822336
https://gizmodo.com/first-close-up-photographs-of-giant-asteroid-vesta-reve-5827182
2011 was a grand year for NASA ’s Kepler Mission , which is charged with find Earth - like planet in the so - predict “ habitable zone ” of stars in the Milky Way . Kepler scientists announced the discovery of the firstcircumbinary planet(i.e . a planet with two Dominicus , just like Tatooine ) ; locatedthe first two known Earth - sized exoplanets ; quadrupled the phone number of humans known to subsist beyond our solar organisation ; andspied Kepler-22b — the most Earth - corresponding major planet we ’ve meet yet . And here ’s the really exciting bit : Kepler is just getting warmed up .
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-weve-discovered-the-first-tatooine-like-planet-5840691
https://gizmodo.com/here-are-the-first-two-earth-sized-exoplanets-ever-disc-5869842
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-confirms-discovery-of-the-most-earth-like-planet-y-5865107
In a few years , you may never have to reload your telephone again — provided part of you keeps moving . Back in March , scientist declare the world ’s first executable “ nanogenerator ” — a tiny computer chip that gets its superpower from body movements like snapping finger or – eventually – your instant .
https://gizmodo.com/nanogenerators-powered-by-your-heartbeat-could-replace-5786980
The researchers can already use the technology to power a liquid crystal display and an LED , and arrogate that their technology could supplant shelling for small devices like MP3 players and nomadic phones within a few years .
Back in September , UC Berkeley neuroscientist manifest their power to use advanced brain - envision proficiency toturn bodily process in the optical lens cortex of the human mentality into digital images . So far , the researchers are only capable to reconstruct neural equivalents of things people have already seen — but they ’re confident that other applications — like tapping into the mind of a coma patient , or watching a video transcription of your own dream — are well within orbit .
https://gizmodo.com/amazing-video-shows-us-the-actual-movies-that-play-insi-5842960
Researchers investigating Blombos Cave in Cape Town , South Africa uncoveredthe oldest known evidence of painting by other humans . Archaeologists discovered two “ kit , ” for mixing and forming ocher — a reddish pigment believed to be used as a dye . The find promote back the escort by which humans were practicing complex art approximately 40,000 years , all the mode back to 100,000 years ago .
https://gizmodo.com/100-000-year-old-art-kit-found-in-south-africa-5849677
Foldit is a computer secret plan that presents players with the spatial challenge of determine the three - dimensional structures of protein , the molecules consist the workforce that runs your entire body . In diseases like HIV , proteins known as retroviral proteases take on a central character in a computer virus ’s power to overwhelm the immune system and proliferate throughout the body .
For year , scientist have been work to identify what these retroviral protease look like , in edict to develop drugs that target these enzymes and stymy the onward motion of deadly viral disease like AIDS . It was a scientific puzzle that managed to fox top - tier research scientists for over a X … butFoldit gamers were able to pull it off in just three weeks .
https://gizmodo.com/online-gamers-have-managed-to-solve-a-decade-old-scient-5841927
“ The inventiveness of game players , ” enunciate biochemist Firas Khatib , “ is a formidable personnel that , if properly directed , can be used to solve a wide range of scientific problems . ”
cock discovered during an mining in the United Arab Emirates were obtain to date back at least 100,000 years , indicating thatour ancestors may have leave behind Africa as former as 125,000 days ago . genic evidence has long suggested that modern humans did not leave Africa until about 60,000 long time ago , but these tools appear to be the work of our ascendant and not other hominids like Neanderthals . That being say , our understanding ofhow and when man really evolvedcontinues to take shape …
https://gizmodo.com/100-000-year-old-human-settlement-in-u-a-e-overturns-w-5745328
https://gizmodo.com/how-did-humans-really-evolve-5774949
Some of the first hard genetic evidence that former Homo sapiens got busy with Homo neandertalensis actually came in 2010 , but it was experimental findings published in July of 2011 that really drove the point home . But do n’t worry — there ’s still flock of research to be done on everything fromthe details of human / neanderthal cultivation , to the enduring meaning of Neanderthal genes in the modern human genome , to the mysterioushumanoids , Denisovans .
https://gizmodo.com/admit-it-you-totally-would-have-had-sex-with-neandert-5862448
https://gizmodo.com/another-humanoid-species-co-existed-with-early-humans-a-5715516
Back in February , IBM ’s Watson made history by trouncing Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in an intimidating display of calculator overlord - dom . But to compare Watson ’s computing power to the complexity of a brain would still comprise a pretty larger-than-life oversimplification of what it mean to “ think ” like a homo , as the way each one process information could not be more different .
Watson is impressive , to be sure , but in August , IBM research worker brought out the big guns : a radical young chip designthat , for the first time , actually mimic the functioning of a human Einstein .
https://gizmodo.com/ibms-neurosynaptic-chips-are-the-closest-thing-to-a-s-5832085
Currently in passage to the Red Planet , NASA ’s Mars Science Laboratory — aka the Curiosityrover — was set up on November 26th . The roamer is scheduled to touch down on Mars inside themysterious Gale craterin August of 2012 . Once it ’s made landfall , Curiosity will make use of one of the most forward-looking scientific payloads we ’ve ever put in distance to evaluate whether Mars ever was , or is still today , an surround capable to endure life — a mission that could redefine the way we recollect about lifetime in our solar organisation and beyond .
https://gizmodo.com/meet-curiosity-nasas-mars-science-laboratory-5862652
https://gizmodo.com/why-the-mysterious-gale-crater-is-an-ideal-landing-sit-5867869
Radar organisation that can see through paries ( aka “ wall - through ” radiolocation systems ) are n’t unheard of , it ’s just that most of them are burdened by limitations ( like a prohibitively low frame of reference pace , or a short reach of surgical procedure ) — that make their use in veridical world configurations pretty impractical . But that could presently change in a big means . The team of MIT research worker featured in this video has germinate a gimmick that can provide its operators withreal - time telecasting of what ’s going on behind an eight - inch - thick concrete wall — and it can do it from up to 60 feet away .
https://gizmodo.com/scientists-at-mit-have-developed-a-machine-that-allows-y-5851279
Engineers John Rogers and Todd Coleman say that theirepidermal electronic system ( EES ) — a skin - mountable , electronic electric circuit that stretches , flex , and twists with the motion of your body — represents a vast footmark towards erode the distinction between hard , cow chip - based machine and soft , biologic humans .
https://gizmodo.com/breakthrough-electronic-circuits-that-are-integrated-w-5830071
In the latest effort to make mice immortal , researchers revealed that flush out so - called senescent ( aka old and defunct ) cells from the body of mice genetically modify to give-up the ghost of pith diseaseextended the wellness bridge of the mice significantly . If you may ideate taking a pill that could stave in off the effects of age related disease , then you may appreciate why skill and manufacture alike have establish considerable interest in these and other historic period - have-to doe with finding . [ Photo by Jan M. Van Deursen Via NYT ]
Two independent squad of researcher of late mastermind highly virulent strain of H5N1 , more unremarkably known as the avian flu computer virus . On one hand , the researchers ’ workplace is absolutely vital , because it allow us to get a forefront start , so to speak , on understand viruses that could one day pose a serious danger to public health . On the other hand , there are many who venerate that findings from such inquiry could be used to evil ends were they to wind up in the incorrect hands . Included in the latter camp is the federal government , which drop dead to unprecedented ends to make certain that the observational methods behind creating the line never made it to the page of either Nature or Science .
Regardless of your position , the development of these strain raises authoritative questions about the nature ofdual - usage enquiry , foil , and censorship .
It ’s been a longsighted , long time hail , but earlier this calendar month , representatives from the Large Hadron Collider ’s two large experiments — ATLAS and CMS — declare that both inquiry squad had independently reveal signals that point to the appearing of the Higgs boson — the long - essay sub - nuclear particle thought to endow all other particles with mass . “ Given the outstanding performance of the LHC this year , we will not need to wait long for enough data and can look forth to resolving this puzzle in 2012 , ” explain ATLAS ’s Fabiola Gianotti . If the puzzle is answer with the breakthrough of the Higgs , it will represent one of the greatest unifying breakthrough in the chronicle of natural philosophy .
https://gizmodo.com/physicists-reveal-compelling-evidence-for-the-god-part-5867512
By now , the neutrinos that were purportedly caught breaking the cosmic amphetamine limitin Gran Sasso , Italy need no innovation . scientist the world overcontinue to offer up critiqueson the OPERA collaborative ’s puzzling final result , especially in sparkle of the team ’s most late finding — acquired froma second , all right - tuned version of the original experiment — which expose that their FTL observations still bear .
https://gizmodo.com/scientific-breakthrough-physicists-at-cern-have-record-5842947
https://gizmodo.com/final-proof-that-faster-than-light-neutrinos-are-imposs-5871372
https://gizmodo.com/new-data-confirms-neutrinos-are-still-traveling-faster-5860744
Of course , the most rigorous , telling , and important tests will arrive in the form of hybridization - baulk perform by independent enquiry team , the results of which will not be uncommitted until next class at the earliest . And while many scientists are n’t hold their breath , the ratification of FTL neutrino could very well point one of the biggest scientific paradigm fracture in history .
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