With only a handful of days left in this weird year-old beast that’s sure to go down in the history books, we thought it would be fun to reflect on the amazing things scientists are still delivering, despite everything.
Of course, scientific achievements are usually years in the making. Nonetheless, here’s a summary of some of the exciting science news we reported in 2020. To remember that it wasn’t all terrible.
1. We found the first known alien protein in a meteorite
Could life originate elsewhere in the solar system? As curious and intelligent creatures, humans are naturally interested in discovering whether living things thrive beyond the confines of our tiny blue space rock. One way to find out is to go to meteorites.
Earlier this year, scientists revealed they had found the very first alien protein hidden in a meteorite that fell to Earth 30 years ago.
“We’re pretty sure there are likely proteins in space,” astronomer Chenoa Tremblay told ScienceAlert in March. “But if we can actually start to find evidence of their existence, and what some of the structures and the common structures could be, then I find that really interesting and exciting.”
2. We avoided some disturbing changes in the atmosphere
A new study revealed that the famous Montreal Protocol – the 1987 agreement to stop producing ozone-depleting compounds – could be responsible for interrupting or even reversing some disturbing changes in the air currents around our planet’s southern hemisphere.
The healing of the protective ozone layer around the Earth appears to have halted the migration of an air current known as the southern jet stream, a phenomenon that eventually pushed parts of Australia into prolonged drought.
“When the ozone layer recovers and circulation moves north, that’s good news on two fronts,” explains University of Melbourne chemist Ian Rae.
3. An AI solved a 50-year-old biology challenge decades before anyone expected it
Earlier this month, scientists at British artificial intelligence company DeepMind announced that a new AI system had effectively solved a long-standing and incredibly complex scientific problem related to the structure and behavior of proteins.
For about 50 years, researchers have been trying to predict how proteins achieve their three-dimensional structure. The astronomical number of possible configurations has made this task – known as the protein folding problem – incredibly difficult.
DeepMind’s success represents a huge step forward in a range of research efforts, from disease modeling and drug discovery to applications that go far beyond health research.
4. Scientists used rapid radio bursts to find the universe’s missing matter
In an enchanting tale of mystery within mystery, a really clever application of fast radio burst (FRB) tracking earlier this year gave astronomers an answer to a baffling question: Where is the missing matter in the Universe?
We’re not talking about dark matter here, but about the baryonic (normal) matter that should be there because of all our calculations, but just couldn’t be detected until now. The universe is huge, and the pieces between galaxies are huge. But lonely atoms are still kicking around in that seemingly empty space.
In searching for the source of the powerful interstellar signals known as FRBs, researchers found that extremely diffuse gas can account for all the missing ‘normal’ matter in the Universe. Relief.
5. We have also confirmed the very first detection of an FRB in our own galaxy
That’s right. On April 28, 2020, a Milky Way magnetar called SGR 1935 + 2154 flared up in a single millisecond burst so incredibly bright that it could be detected from another galaxy.
This landmark detection had a huge and immediate impact on the study of mysterious FRBs, which until now had only been detected from outside our galaxy, making their precise source difficult to pinpoint.
“This kind, in most people’s minds, makes the origin of FRBs come from magnetars,” Caltech astronomer Shrinivas Kulkarni told ScienceAlert.
Astronomers had a great time doing follow-up work on this detection, and in November we also had confirmation that this intra-galactic FRB is a repeater. We can certainly expect even more excitement next year.
6. SpaceX and NASA made history with the first manned launch
Space enthusiasts really had a lot of cause for excitement this year as several launches and space missions continued despite the global pandemic. On May 30, 2020, SpaceX became the first private space company to deliver NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.
We have taken off. History was made as @NASA_Astronauts start from @NASAKennedy for the first time in nine years on the @SpaceX Crew Dragon: pic.twitter.com/alX1t1JBAt
– NASA (@NASA) May 30, 2020
Not only did they bring them home safely a few months later, another manned launch went off without a hitch in November, bringing four astronauts to the space station – the first in what will likely be many routine missions in 2021 and beyond.
7. NASA hit an asteroid and JAXA brought a sample
After a long journey of more than 320 million kilometers (200 million miles), NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft finally landed the asteroid Bennu in October and collected a sample of the debris at the surface, its efforts captured for posterity in beautiful images captured by space were provided agency. We can expect the probe to return with its precious payload in 2023.
Last year, the Japanese space agency JAXA achieved a similar feat with the Hayabusa2 probe, collecting a sample from asteroid Ryugu. In December of this year, we witnessed that monster’s safe return, and we’ve already been treated to a first glimpse of some of the black dust the team picked up. We can’t wait to learn more about what these asteroid missions will discover.
Ryugu dust on the outer chamber of the collection capsule. (JAXA)
8. Scientists have found the first animal that does not need oxygen to survive
Here in our own world, biologists were in for a surprise when they found the first multicellular organism without a mitochondrial genome – meaning an organism that doesn’t breathe. In fact, it lives without oxygen at all.
While some unicellular organisms are known to thrive in anaerobic conditions, the fact is that this common salmon parasite, a jellyfish-like creature Henneguya salminicolaDoes not require oxygen to survive is quite remarkable, and has left researchers with many new questions to answer.
H. salminicola under the microscope. (Stephen Douglas Atkinson)
9. We got spectacular images of a “long string stingy thing” off the coast of Australia
In April, a trailing ribbon of pooled tentacle clones caused quite a stir among a bunch of biologists exploring a little-studied part of the ocean off the coast of Western Australia. This strange entity was a very long siphonophore, a floating series of thousands of individual zooids. In fact, it could be one of the longest such strings ever recorded.
Check out this beautiful * giant * siphonophore Apolemia recorded on #NingalooCanyons expedition. It seems likely that this specimen is the largest ever recorded, and in a strange UFO-like feeding position. Thanks @BuienRadarNL For information @wamuseum @GeoscienceAus @CurtinUni @RTLnews pic.twitter.com/QirkIWDu6S
– Schmidt Ocean (@SchmidtOcean) April 6, 2020
“Everyone was overwhelmed when it came into view,” biologists Nerida Wilson and Lisa Kirkendale of the Western Australian Museum told ScienceAlert.
There was a lot of excitement. People poured into the control room from all over the ship. Siphonophores are often seen, but this one was both large and unusual. ‘
10. A physicist invented the mathematics that makes time travel ‘paradox-free’ plausible
Wouldn’t it be great to dive into a time machine and fix an accident you’ve committed in your past, all without accidentally killing your grandfather in the process?
Well, 2020 also turned out to be the year we learned about a mathematically sound time travel solution that doesn’t spoil everything. Physics student Germain Tobar from the University of Queensland in Australia figured out how to “square” the numbers to make time travel feasible without the paradoxes.
While it hasn’t immediately brought us closer to having a working time machine, his calculations show that space-time may be able to adapt to avoid paradoxes. And according to Tobar’s supervisor, the math is correct. Fantastic.
11. The first COVID-19 vaccines are already being administered outside of clinical trials
The biggest challenge the world faced this year was the global COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare professionals and key workers have borne much of the burden of keeping society going, and we can never thank them enough. Meanwhile, researchers from countless relevant fields – from immunology to genetics – have also worked tirelessly throughout the year to better understand the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
That work will continue into the New Year, but in late November, we finally got the first taste of what it means to accelerate scientific research and funding beyond the normal pace. The very first vaccines intended to protect humans against COVID-19 have already completed all necessary phases of clinical trials and are being rolled out in the UK, US and parts of Europe.
There is a lot more to be done before we can put this devastating pandemic behind us and protect the world’s most vulnerable communities, but having effective vaccines is a truly fantastic achievement and without a doubt the biggest reason to celebrate science this year . One to hopefully enter 2021.