Looking back on history, there are a few scientific breakthroughs that tend to catch our immediate attention. Perhaps it's the publishing of Newton's Principa or Euclid's Elements or Einstein's miracle year, 1905, in which he changed our understanding of space, time, and the quantum world.
Although these examples are certainly worthy of our attention, it's important to remember that science is an ongoing process…and I mean it's happening right now! Even this year, we've had quite a few advances in various fields of science that may just have planted the seeds to future revolutions. Here's a look at some of the most significant discoveries or advances of 2014:
January
- Successful Production of Artificial Cells
Right at the dawn of the new year, for the first time in history, chemists were able to successfully produce the first artificial cell, containing organelles. Mimicking our very own biological cells that we are familiar with, this discovery was a huge breakthrough in the field of biological engineering and should be critical as scientists continue to push the boundaries of chemistry: some potential future projects may even involve the creation of complex, artificial life and an inspection into the origin of life on earth! Another interesting question is whether it may be possible to produce cells that will capable of producing their own energy.
- Lighter Skin May Have Evolved Later Than Expected
Genetic analysis of the wisdom tooth of a 7000-year old caveman tooth revealed that this particular specimen had blue eyes and dark skin. The interesting part? His fossil was discovered in Spain, indicating that dark skinned humans may have been native to Europe up until very recently. This means that light skin may not have evolved until just a few thousand years ago - something we didn't expect!
February
- The Largest Stem Cell Trail In History Begins
In an attempt to fight heart disease, one of the leading causes of death across the world, stem cells have been proposed as a potential saviour; with therapy, they may be able to successfully repair damaged tissue in the heart. This possibility moved closer to reality as scientists and doctors in London began the largest stem cell trial in history (it'll span thousands of human patients and cover 11 European countries). The goal? To see if stem cells may be a viable treatment for this deadly disease.
March
- The "Foldoscope": $1 Paper Microscopes!
Along with his research group, Manu Prakash of Stanford University was able to produce a paper microscope that costs less than a U.S. dollar! The crazy part - this simple microscope is capable of magnifications up to 2000x! These are all of the parts necessary: a cardstock, an LED, a battery and a spherical lens…that's it! The plan is to get cheaper research resources (such as this microscope) out to students and people in poorer countries.
- Inflation and Big Bang Confirmed…?
This was possibly the most exciting discovery of the year and potentially the most significant in terms of our understanding of the universe. The detection of primordial gravitation waves (a prediction of the theory of inflation) seemed to confirm what we had previously thought about the Big Bang and the very beginnings of our universe…of course, you'll notice the question mark in the title above, which is there to signify the doubt that has been thrown onto the discovery since then by the Planck satellite's data. Nothing is official yet, so we'll have to wait and see what becomes of this "discovery"!
April
- Water On One of Saturn's Moons!
Here's another exciting discovery of the year: NASA's probe, Cassini, reported strong evidence of an underground ocean on the surface of Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. This makes this ball of rock one of the most likely spots in the solar system to harbour some sort of life. A huge step forward would be drilling into the ice to investigate further or (fingers crossed!) actually having humans visit Enceladus! Could we conceivable get humans that far in the solar system? I don't know, but they did it in 2001...
- First Habitable "Earth-Like" Planet Discovered
Another space related discovery! This one's pretty cool too - graced with the name Kepler-186f, a planet that is Earth-sized and lays within it's sun's "habitable zone" (the area around that sun in which life would be possible) was identified by NASA. Sure, it might be 500 light years away…but this is the definitive proof we've been seeking that there are planets in other solar systems where life is certainly possible (Read: One step closer to ALIENS!!!)
- Microchip Based On Human Brain Is 9000x Faster Than PC
A team of Stanford bioengineers made a huge breakthrough in their field with the advent of a fantastic new microchip (modelled after the human brain) that is energy efficient and thousands of times faster than the chips you would normally find in a PC. This will be not only significant in the field of computing and robotics but may also provide new insight into the mysterious workings of our brains.
May
- The Largest Known Dinosaur Discovered in Argentina
We've seen big dinosaurs in pictures and movies…but in May of this year, paleontoligsts uncovered the fossil of literally the largest dinosaur known to humankind! Standing at a whopping 65 feet in height, measuring at 130 feet in length and weighing in at 77 tonnes, this unnamed dinosaur is absolutely massive! To give you a visualization, this dinosaur would be the height of a 7-story building, just short of half a football field in length and would weigh, well…a lot!
- Reliable Quantum Teleportation
In reference to quantum entanglement, Einstein once dismissed the new discovery as "spooky action at a distance". Since then, experiments have shown that quantum entanglement, and by extension, quantum teleportation, is absolutely a real phenomenon. Earlier this year, a group of researchers were able to invent a method of transporting quantum data that, in principle, is "100 per cent secure" - quite the advancement in the field. Now, does this mean that human teleportation is next? Well, maybe…it sounds ridiculous, but the researchers behind this discovery say that that is something they "would not rule out". So…you're saying there's a chance!
May
- Martian History - Mars' Environment Was Favourable to Life in Past
This has always been a suspicion of many people in sic-fi (eve heard of the idea that human life originated on mars but was transported to earth somehow when the Red Planet began to die?), but now we have confirmation from NASA's Curiosity rover! Just after completing its first Martian year on the planet (687 Earth days long), the rover found evidence that, though the planet may be dead now, life was very much a possibility on Mars once upon a time!
August
- Self-Organizing Robot Swarm Achieved
This one's pretty crazy - at Harvard University, a group of researchers were able to create a swarm of robots, 1000 in number, that are able to self-organize. Basically, through a few simple programmed rules, this robot swarm was able to organize themselves (that is, without any human assistance) into a variety of complex shapes….that's pretty nuts and kind of terrifying! Here's a video:
- Microbial Organisms Found 2500 Feet Under Antarctic Ice Sheet
I guess life, uh, finds a way! Time and time again, we are finding life turn up in the least likely places and now, we have the depths of Antarctica to add to that list! Located 2600 feet under the frozen surface of Lake Whillans, these organisms are purportedly alive…and somehow functioning! If life is possible in such horrible conditions, might micro-organisms be more likely than previously thought on other, seemingly inhospitable planets in the universe?!
September
- Possible Breakthrough In Converting Water Into Hydrogen Fuel
Although the progression of renewable energy has seemed to be moving at a snail's pace in the eyes of many, it is clear that methods of efficiently producing clean energy are imperative to our survival and well being. That's why apparent breakthroughs like this are so massive - just a few months ago, researchers at Glasgow claimed to have created a process of converting water into hydrogen fuel that is 30 times faster than any known procedure!
- NASA Ends Reliance on Russia: Award Contracts to Boeing & SpaceX
This one was big news for two reasons: first, NASA no longer has to rely on Russia's space agency for transportation to the International Space Agency. That is quite the news in terms of international relations between the two countries and in terms of NASA's future plans and finances. Secondly, SpaceX's role in this news is important as well; the growth of private space flight provided by innovative companies like Elon Musk's SpaceX and others is only good news for our future in space.
October
- New Fluorescence Microscopy Peers Into the Nanoscale
This one was actually awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the year! Eric Betzig, William Moerner and Stefan Hell put forth a new type of microscope that apparently broke the theoretical limits of optical microscopes! The new device is capable of accurately viewing organisms and objects at the scale of billionths of a meter. The breakthrough has inspired other researchers as well, as there no longer seems to be a limit on just how small of a scale we can view.
November
- Philae Safely Lands on a Comet
This was possibly the greatest technical achievement of the year and perhaps, in the view of many, of all time! The European Space Agency's spacecraft Rosetta had been orbiting the comet for months up until this point and now, its probe (riding along side it the whole time) was able to land on the surface of the comet. All of these objects are hurtling through the empty void of space at thousands of kilometres per hour - it's hard to appreciate just how impressive such a feat is. Here's a detailed .gif of the mission's journey from the very beginning.
Oh, and by the way, Philae also found organic molecules on the surface of the comet, so that's cool!
- DNA Can Survive Flying Through Space Re-Entering Atmosphere
A 2014 study showed that DNA was able to survive being launched into space and a re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. This indicates that the building blocks of life can survive journeys through space…meaning that it is technically possible that life may have started elsewhere in the universe and landed on earth via a comet or asteroid.
December
- NASA's New Spacecraft Orion Successfully Launches
The Orion spacecraft has recently been touted as the future of both NASA itself and space flight in general - and to be honest, that title seems to be warranted! In the future, NASA hopes that Orion will be the spacecraft that will take humans to asteroids, Mars, and beyond. The spaceship is designed to host a crew of four and it should be very exciting to see how this project progresses. This launch is really the first step in NASA's proposed mission to Mars that intends to land humans on the planet sometime in the 2030s! I can wait!
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