This year was full of excitement in the science. A lot of new facts came out in the various field of science, such as physics, health, environment, astronomy etc. Here is the top list of science discoveries in 2016.
Gravitational Waves
They are real! In February 2016 scientist manage to detect gravitational waves. This is perhaps the biggest physicists discovery in this century. A new era of physics might be born. And yes – Einstein was right.
Life Without The Heart
Thanks to the ‘artificial heart’ in a backpack, that 25-year old man wore for 555 days, scientists manage to keep him alive more than a year without heart in his body. This success will courage doctors for further research in the heart transplantation procedures.
Life Without 90% Of Brain
There is a French man who lives relatively normal and healthy life even though he don’t have a 90% of his brain. Doctors think he suffers from a condition called hydrocephalus. The man identity is confidential, but what is known is that he work as a civil servant, he is married and father of 2 kids.
Revolutionary Nuclear Fusion Machine
The goal of achieving clean, limitless energy through nuclear fusion was never closer. Physicists in Germany constructed nuclear fusion device – the 16-metre-wide machine is the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) called stellarator. The machine really works.
New Earth-like Planet
In our closest neighboring star system Alpha Centauri new exoplanet has been discovered and called Proxima b. This was very important founding, as Proxima is only 4.2 light years from us. Scientists are already planning a mission to visit it.
Earth’s quasi-satellite
Astronomers discovered “mini-moon” called 2016 HO3 that is orbiting together with the moon. It is a small asteroid and it is a constant companion of Earth.
The Moving of North Pole
The North Pole isn’t stable as it looks on the map, but scientist discovered that it change the course and moving towards the London. NASA team revealed that the cause of this changes are humans. Our influence on the Earth water content is related to the North Pole motion.
Two Liquid States Of Water
Physicists discovered that somewhere between the temperatures of 40 and 60 degrees Celsius liquid water switch between two different states of liquid. This discovery is extremely important in nanometric and biological systems.
Floppy Dinosaurs
Scientists found perfect preserved dinosaurs feathers, which gives us a lot more information than we have about this magnificent creatures.
Milky Way Visibility
Due to the light pollution, 1/3 of humanity are not able to see the Milky Way anymore. This fact influences our health as we have endogenous circadian rhythmicity – built-in cycle for sleep and wake patterns. The natural darkness is important to keep that cycle up.
Discovery Of Pear-Shaped Nucleus
If you ever dream about time traveling, the discovery of pear-shaped nucleus will make it definitely impossible. Yet, the good thing is that this new form of atomic nuclei can help us with biggest and more pressured question – dark matter.
As we can see, so many things were discovered and make this year quite excited. But what is the best about the science – there are always more and more, that waiting for us in the future.