El año 2011 involucró muchos eventos científicos importantes, incluido el primer trasplante de órganos artificiales , el lanzamiento de la primera estación espacial de China y el crecimiento de la población mundial a siete mil millones. El año vio un total de 78 vuelos espaciales orbitales exitosos , así como numerosos avances en campos como la electrónica , la medicina , la genética , la climatología y la robótica .
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2011 fue declarado Año Internacional de los Bosques y la Química por las Naciones Unidas . [1] [2]
Eventos, descubrimientos e invenciones
enero
- 3 de enero: la compañía farmacéutica estadounidense Johnson & Johnson anuncia una asociación para el desarrollo de una prueba para la detección de cáncer metastásico en el torrente sanguíneo. ( Belfast Telegraph ) ( The Independent )
- 5 de enero
- Investigadores de la Universidad de Pensilvania han descubierto que una de las principales causas de la calvicie puede estar relacionada con la incapacidad de algunas células madre para convertirse en folículos pilosos de tamaño completo . (Noticias FOX) ( J. Clin. Invest. )
- Un ingeniero de la Universidad de Missouri anuncia su ambición de crear una lámina solar flexible de pequeñas nano antenas, capaz de capturar energía solar con un 90% de eficiencia; esto marcaría una mejora significativa con respecto a los paneles solares comerciales contemporáneos, que tienen una eficiencia promedio de alrededor del 20%. ( J. Sol. Ing. Energía )
- 6 de enero: The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , una revista revisada por pares de la Asociación Estadounidense de Psicología , anuncia que pronto publicará un artículo que presenta una fuerte evidencia de ESP , la capacidad de detectar eventos futuros. [3] (CBS) (ABC) ( J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. )
- 11 Enero - Kepler-10b , el pequeño rocosa primera confirmada exoplaneta , es descubierto en la constelación de Draco usando la NASA 's telescopio espacial Kepler . (BBC) (NASA) ( Astrophys. J. )
- 12 de enero: los investigadores anuncian que la comida chatarra salada puede dañar las arterias en tan solo treinta minutos después de ser ingerida. (MSNBC) ( Am. J. Clin. Nutr. )
- 14 de enero: un estudio realizado en la Universidad Médica de Innsbruck en Austria revela que los piercings de lengua de acero inoxidable o titanio albergan más bacterias que los de plástico. ( Noticias científicas ) ( J. Adolesc. Salud )
- 15 de enero: en un estudio financiado por el Instituto Nacional del Cáncer de EE. UU. , Los investigadores revelan que fumar cigarrillos puede causar daños en el cuerpo en minutos en lugar de años. (BBC) ( Chem. Res. Toxicol. )
- 18 de enero - Investigadores en Australia anuncian que los tiburones son daltónicos , después de examinar los ojos de 17 especies distintas de tiburones. (BBC) ( Naturwissenschaften )
- 19 de enero: una revisión de la Cochrane Library sugiere que los antioxidantes pueden mejorar la fertilidad masculina. (BBC) ( Base de datos Cochrane de revisiones sistemáticas )
- 20 de enero
- Un estudio histórico revela una técnica médica que hace que las células T sean resistentes al VIH . ( Tecnología diaria ) ( Hum Gene Ther. )
- La Organización Meteorológica Mundial concluye que 2010 fue el año más caluroso jamás registrado . (OMM)
- Los científicos logran 10 mil millones de bits de entrelazamiento cuántico en silicio , un paso significativo en la computación cuántica . ( Naturaleza )
- 21 de enero - Un artículo en Science revela el descubrimiento de un pterosaurio Darwinopterus en China con un huevo sin eclosionar, lo que permite diferenciar los géneros. (BBC) ( Ciencia )
- 24 de enero
- Los investigadores publican evidencia directa de que las erupciones volcánicas masivas tuvieron lugar hace 250 millones de años, probablemente causando el evento de extinción del Pérmico-Triásico , el evento de extinción más grande en la historia de la Tierra. ( World.edu ) ( Nat. Geosci. )
- Un artículo en Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revela el descubrimiento de Linhenykus monodactylus , un dinosaurio terópodo alvarezsaurid , en Mongolia Interior ; aunque es un primo del gigante Tyrannosaurus rex , no es más grande que un loro moderno y solo posee una garra en cada miembro anterior. (BBC) ( PNAS )
- Los científicos y los estudiantes han construido una impresora 3D que produce alimentos comestibles. (Dinero CNN)
- 27 de enero - Bajo la presión de la industria y los gobiernos, la Comisión Europea está dando los toques finales a una estrategia para reducir la dependencia de Europa de los metales de tierras raras suministrados por China , que son esenciales en productos de exportación como automóviles y electrónicos. (New York Times)
- 30 de enero: se revela que la molibdenita es hasta 100.000 veces más eficiente que los transistores de silicio y tiene mejores propiedades eléctricas que el grafeno . ( Nat. Nanotecnología ) .
febrero
- 2 de febrero: la fuente de luz coherente Linac , una fuente de rayos X mil millones de veces más brillante que las fuentes anteriores, entra en funcionamiento en la Universidad de Stanford . El dispositivo podría revolucionar potencialmente las técnicas de bioanálisis 3D , especialmente en el análisis de proteínas y virus . (Stanford)
- 3 de febrero
- Un análisis de sangre para detectar vCJD es desarrollado por científicos británicos, quienes dicen que podría identificar a personas sanas que son portadoras de la enfermedad. (BBC) ( The Lancet )
- Más datos del telescopio espacial Kepler publicados en Nature revelan que la estrella Kepler-11 , ubicada a 2.000 años luz de la Tierra, tiene un sistema solar que incluye seis planetas, que oscilan entre dos y cuatro veces y media el radio de la Tierra. , y entre dos y trece veces su masa. Cinco orbitan la estrella más cerca de lo que Mercurio orbita nuestro Sol, y es probable que todas tengan atmósferas hechas de gases ligeros y sean demasiado calientes para albergar vida. Los datos también incluyen detalles de más de 1,000 candidatos a exoplanetas adicionales. (BBC) ( Naturaleza )
- 4 de febrero: los científicos revelan un diminuto cerebro artificial , derivado de neuronas de rata , que exhibe 12 segundos de memoria a corto plazo. ( PopSci ) ( Laboratorio en un chip )
- 7 de febrero: científicos de la Universidad de Oxford prueban con éxito una vacuna universal contra la gripe , que debería funcionar contra todas las cepas conocidas de la enfermedad. ( El guardián ) ( Clin. Infect. Dis. )
- 9 de febrero: utilizando pruebas de 25 años de más de 470.000 participantes, los investigadores muestran que la falta de sueño y los patrones de sueño alterados pueden tener graves consecuencias para la salud a largo plazo. ( Eur. Corazón J. )
- 10 de febrero: los científicos identifican la causa molecular de raíz de una variedad de enfermedades provocadas por la edad avanzada, incluida la disminución de la energía, la insuficiencia cardíaca y otros órganos y trastornos metabólicos como la diabetes . ( Naturaleza )
- 11 de febrero: los científicos demuestran que las células madre administradas a través de un aerosol nasal mejoran las funciones motoras en ratas con síntomas similares a los de la enfermedad de Parkinson . ( Noticias de neurociencia ) ( Rejuven. Res. )
- 15 de febrero
- En una primicia mundial para la inteligencia artificial , IBM 's Watson superordenador derrota a dos seres humanos en el Jeopardy! programa de preguntas . ( Cableado )
- Los científicos informan sobre la estimulación de las fibras musculares de los ratones de forma similar a la regeneración de las extremidades cortadas en tritones y salamandras . ( Diario médico ) ( ACS Chem. Biol. )
- 16 de febrero: los investigadores encuentran una forma de manipular pequeños robots nadadores, de solo 1,3 milímetros de largo, utilizando corrientes eléctricas en el agua. ( Nuevo científico ) (Sociedad Estadounidense de Física)
- 17 de febrero
- Los científicos construyen el primer anti-láser del mundo, capaz de absorber por completo un rayo láser entrante . (BBC) ( Ciencia )
- Un "Vehículo Nano Aéreo" parecido a un colibrí se demuestra por primera vez, en un intento de asegurar un contrato DARPA para crear pequeños aviones de vigilancia. (Aeroambiente)
- 20 de febrero - Investigadores de la Universidad de Stanford crean nuevas células solares extensibles que podrían alimentar una "super piel" electrónica artificial, capaz de detectar sustancias químicas y moléculas biológicas. Las aplicaciones potenciales incluyen ropa, robótica, prótesis y más. (Stanford) (AAAS)
- 21 de febrero - Una nueva investigación indica que los hablantes bilingües son mejores en la multitarea , porque son mejores para editar información irrelevante; esto anula los supuestos previos de bilingüismo que causan confusión, especialmente en los niños. (PennState) (AAAS)
- 22 de febrero
- Se desarrolla el primer sistema informático completo en escala milimétrica . (ISSCC)
- Los científicos chinos calculan una ley cuántica de plegamiento de proteínas que explica el impacto de la temperatura en el plegado. ( Revisión técnica ) (arXiv)
- Samsung presenta el primer prototipo de pantalla de puntos cuánticos a todo color . ( Revisión técnica ) ( Fotónica nacional )
- 28 de febrero
- Los científicos de la Universidad de Yale demuestran que los vidrios metálicos a granel (BMG) se pueden moldear por soplado en formas que serían imposibles con metales normales sin pérdida de resistencia o durabilidad. ( Mater. Hoy )
- Medtronic anuncia un marcapasos del tamaño de un Tic Tac . ( Revisión técnica )
marcha
- 1 de marzo
- Investigadores del Reino Unido demuestran un microscopio óptico con una de las resoluciones más altas hasta la fecha, capaz de obtener imágenes de objetos de tan solo 50 nanómetros de diámetro. (BBC) ( Comun. Nat. )
- Los científicos han determinado cómo generar una fuerza de tracción hacia atrás a partir de un rayo que se propaga hacia adelante, creando efectivamente una forma de " rayo tractor ". ( Revisión técnica ) (arXiv)
- Investigadores suizos descubren un gen en las avispas que les permite reproducirse asexualmente . ( Curr. Biol. )
- 4 de marzo
- Los investigadores transforman una célula madre embrionaria humana en un tipo crítico de neurona que muere temprano en la enfermedad de Alzheimer y es una de las principales causas de pérdida de memoria; el descubrimiento puede tener importantes implicaciones en el tratamiento de la enfermedad. ( Máquinas como nosotros ) ( Células madre )
- Un estudio pionero en ratones indica que el hígado , no el cerebro , podría ser la fuente de placas cerebrales amiloides asociadas con la enfermedad de Alzheimer . [ ( J. Neurosci. Res. )
- 5 de marzo - La Fuerza Aérea de los Estados Unidos lanza su avión espacial robótico Boeing X-37 en su segundo vuelo espacial de larga duración ; el avión espacial finalmente permanece en órbita durante 469 días. (Bloomberg)
- 8 de marzo: se utilizan con éxito las primeras uretras fabricadas con tejidos del mundo . (BBC) ( The Lancet )
- 12 de marzo: cirujanos de Houston , Texas , implantan con éxito el primer corazón artificial de flujo continuo del mundo en un paciente humano. El dispositivo basado en turbina es eficiente y de larga duración, y puede presagiar la producción en masa de alternativas más pequeñas y duraderas a los corazones artificiales convencionales. ( Crónica de Houston )
- 14 de marzo - Los arqueólogos creen que han encontrado la ciudad perdida de Atlántida en pantanos de barro cerca de Cádiz, España . Teorizan que un tsunami azotó el antiguo asentamiento; un especial de televisión del National Geographic Channel luego investiga sus hallazgos. (MSNBC) (FOX News)
- 16 de marzo: los científicos informan del primer uso exitoso de microvehículos para llevar medicamentos contra el cáncer al área objetivo en el hígado de un conejo vivo. ( Biomateriales )
- 18 de Marzo - NASA 's MESSENGER nave espacial entra con éxito en órbita alrededor del planeta Mercurio - la primera sonda para hacerlo. (BBC)
- 20 de marzo
- Los científicos desarrollan una nueva forma de administrar medicamentos al cerebro, utilizando los propios exosomas del cuerpo , superando una barrera importante para el suministro de nuevos medicamentos potenciales para muchas enfermedades neurológicas, incluida la enfermedad de Alzheimer . (BBC) ( Nat. Biotechnol. )
- Los investigadores anuncian el desarrollo de una nanoestructura tridimensional para cátodos de batería que permite una carga dramáticamente más rápida, sin sacrificar la capacidad de almacenamiento de energía. Esto podría llevar a que los teléfonos celulares se carguen en segundos y los autos eléctricos se carguen en minutos. ( Nat. Nanotecnología ) .
- Una nueva forma de fabricar electrodos de batería , basada en espumas metálicas nanoestructuradas, se puede utilizar para fabricar una batería de iones de litio que se recarga en un 90% en menos de dos minutos. ( Revisión técnica ) ( Nat. Nanotechnol. )
- Los científicos demuestran cómo SHANK3 , una proteína cerebral , puede desencadenar un comportamiento similar al autismo en ratones al detener la comunicación efectiva entre las células cerebrales. (BBC) ( Naturaleza )
- 22 de marzo - Un chip de 6 cm por 6 cm que contiene nueve dispositivos cuánticos, entre ellos cuatro "bits cuánticos", se muestra en la reunión de la Sociedad Estadounidense de Física en Dallas , Texas . Se espera que a finales de este año sea posible una mayor escala hasta 10 qubits. (BBC) (Sociedad Estadounidense de Física)
- 24 de marzo
- Un estudio histórico indica que la pioglitazona previene el desarrollo de diabetes tipo 2 en el 72% de los participantes prediabéticos, la mayor disminución hasta ahora demostrada por cualquier intervención. ( Tecnología diaria ) ( NEJM )
- Los primeros espermatozoides se cultivan en un laboratorio. ( The Independent ) ( Naturaleza )
- 27 de marzo - Científicos de la Universidad de Harvard demuestran el uso de un campo eléctrico para extinguir una llama abierta de más de 1 pie de altura, un desarrollo que dicen podría producir alternativas de extinción de incendios al agua y los retardantes químicos. (CNN) (Sociedad Química Estadounidense)
- 31 de marzo - Los científicos anuncian el exitoso entrelazamiento controlado de 14 bits cuánticos (qubits), obteniendo el registro cuántico más grande producido hasta ahora, casi el doble del récord anterior para el número de bits cuánticos entrelazados realizados. ( ZDnet ) ( Phys. Rev. Lett. )
abril
- 4 de abril
- Un corazón humano se cultiva en un laboratorio a partir de células madre , lo que marca un gran avance en la medicina personalizada .
- Se han identificado cinco genes más que aumentan el riesgo de desarrollar Alzheimer, lo que eleva a diez el número de genes relacionados con la enfermedad (BBC) ( Nat. Genet. )
- Un metaestudio indica que las personas con autismo procesan la información visual de manera diferente a las personas neurotípicas . (CBC) ( Medical News Today ) ( Hum. Brain Mapp. )
- Un acelerador de partículas en los Estados Unidos muestra indicios convincentes de una partícula nunca antes vista; los investigadores dicen que podría ser "el descubrimiento más significativo en física en medio siglo". ( PopSci ) (BBC) (arXiv) ( Phys. Rev. Lett. )
- 5 de abril
- Los científicos desarrollan un enfoque novedoso para inhibir la angiogénesis para el tratamiento del cáncer . ( Clin. Cancer Res. )
- La Agencia Espacial Federal Rusa anuncia un plan conjunto con la NASA para desarrollar un futuro cohete de propulsión nuclear . (Empresa rápida)
- 6 de abril: científicos japoneses anuncian que han creado retinas funcionales a partir de células madre de ratón . (BBC) ( Nature News )
- 11 de abril: se publica ZRTP , un protocolo de transporte en tiempo real de acuerdo de claves criptográficas ideado por Phil Zimmermann . [4]
- 12 de abril
- Según un estudio controvertido, el proceso de envejecimiento se puede reducir aumentando la longitud de los telómeros sin riesgo de cáncer . ( The Daily Beast ) ( Célula de envejecimiento )
- Los científicos realizan el primer análisis exhaustivo de la huella de gases de efecto invernadero del gas de esquisto y concluyen que su impacto ambiental es peor que el del carbón . (BBC) ( Clim. Change )
- 13 de abril
- Los teléfonos móviles pueden estar contribuyendo a una disminución global de las poblaciones de abejas , según los investigadores. ( Estrella de Toronto ) ( Apidología )
- Los científicos estadounidenses descubren que la luz puede demostrar fuertes efectos magnéticos cuando viaja a través de ciertos materiales a ciertas intensidades. Este hallazgo, que anula una suposición científica centenaria de que los efectos magnéticos de la luz son demasiado débiles para ser tangibles, puede conducir al desarrollo de paneles solares capaces de almacenar energía magnéticamente. ( Michigan hoy )
- 14 de abril
- Más de 1.000 pacientes del Reino Unido con cáncer de páncreas avanzado se han unido a un ensayo que utiliza una nueva vacuna para tratar la enfermedad. (BBC)
- La contracción en partes del cerebro de algunos enfermos de Alzheimer se puede detectar hasta una década antes de que aparezcan los síntomas. (BBC) ( Neurología )
- 15 de abril
- Se presenta el primer mapa del cerebro humano del mundo , que proporciona una herramienta de investigación interactiva que ayudará a los científicos a comprender cómo funciona el cerebro. Se espera que el mapa ayude a nuevos descubrimientos en enfermedades y tratamientos; Se pueden buscar mil sitios anatómicos en el cerebro, respaldados por más de 100 millones de puntos de datos que indican la expresión génica y la bioquímica de cada sitio. ( Nuevo científico )
- 16 de abril : se lanza Sci-Hub , un sitio web de biblioteca en la sombra de acceso abierto que brinda acceso gratuito a la mayoría de los artículos de investigación y libros con pago , sin importar los derechos de autor . [5] [6]
- 17 de abril: los investigadores han inyectado esferas de nanofibras biodegradables que transportan células en las heridas para hacer crecer el tejido. ( Nat. Mater. )
- 18 de abril
- Los científicos demuestran matemáticamente que los materiales asimétricos deberían ser posibles; dicho material permitiría que la mayoría de las ondas de luz o sonido pasen en una dirección, mientras que evitaría que lo hicieran en la dirección opuesta; tales materiales permitirían la construcción de verdaderos espejos unidireccionales, habitaciones insonorizadas o incluso computadoras cuánticas que utilizan la luz para realizar cálculos. ( Rev. Médico Lett. )
- Se ha desarrollado un nuevo diseño para células solares de película delgada que requiere significativamente menos silicio que los modelos estándar y puede ser más eficiente en la captura de energía solar. ( Appl. Phys. Lett. )
- 19 de abril: un equipo de investigación internacional publica un nuevo método para producir cinturones de grafeno , llamados nanocintas. Mediante el uso de hidrógeno, han logrado transformar nanotubos de carbono de pared simple en cintas. ( ACS Nano )
- 20 de abril - Los científicos describen una araña china que dicen que es el arácnido fosilizado más grande encontrado hasta ahora; Nephila jurassica , como han llamado a su espécimen, habría tenido una envergadura de unos 15 cm. (BBC) ( Biol. Lett. )
- 21 de abril
- Los científicos lograron que un gen antipalúdico modificado se propagara entre una población de mosquitos . (BBC) ( Naturaleza )
- Los investigadores han construido un circuito de sinapsis de nanotubos de carbono cuyo comportamiento en las pruebas reproduce la función de una neurona , el componente básico del cerebro humano . (LiSSA)
- Los ingenieros israelíes han construido un dispositivo artificial capaz de detectar cánceres de cabeza y cuello analizando el aliento. ( Medical Xpress ) ( Br. J. Cancer )
- 22 de abril: se observa la transcripción genética en tiempo real en una célula viva. ( US News and World Repor ) ( Techno-science.net ) ( Ciencia )
- 24 de abril: los láseres pequeños capaces de encender una mezcla de combustible / aire de manera más eficiente, lo que resulta en menos contaminación, pueden reemplazar las bujías en los motores de gasolina . (BBC) (CLEO) ( Opt. Express ) [7]
- 25 de abril
- Algunos microbios pueden sobrevivir a la gravedad más de 400.000 veces lo que se siente en la Tierra, según un nuevo estudio. Por el contrario, la mayoría de los humanos pueden tolerar de tres a cinco veces la gravedad de la superficie de la Tierra antes de perder el conocimiento. ( National Geographic ) ( PNAS )
- La Comisión Europea ha aprobado planes para construir un trío de láseres que empequeñecerán la potencia de cualquier láser anterior. El proyecto, llamado Extreme Light Infrastructure , sentará las bases para la construcción de un láser aún más poderoso que podría intentar extraer partículas "virtuales" del vacío del espacio-tiempo . ( Nuevo científico )
- 28 de abril
- Los investigadores publican hallazgos de tres genes más relacionados con la forma más común de cáncer de mama , que podrían proporcionar objetivos para nuevos tratamientos. ( Daily Telegraph ) ( PLoS Genet. )
- Según un informe de la Sociedad Estadounidense de Física , es poco probable que las tecnologías para eliminar el dióxido de carbono de la atmósfera ofrezcan una forma económicamente viable de frenar el cambio climático provocado por el ser humano durante varias décadas. ( The New York Times ) (APS)
Mayo
- 1 de mayo
- Los investigadores almacenan con éxito un qubit en un solo átomo escribiendo el estado cuántico de fotones individuales en un átomo de rubidio y leyéndolo de nuevo más tarde. ( Naturaleza )
- Un empresario de Detroit ha inventado un tratamiento térmico que hace que el acero sea un 7 por ciento más resistente que cualquier acero registrado en menos de 10 segundos. ( Mater. Sci. Technol. )
- 3 de mayo
- Las personas de mediana edad que tienen sobrepeso pero no son obesas tienen un 71% más de probabilidades de desarrollar demencia que las que tienen un peso normal, según una nueva investigación; Anteriormente se habían encontrado vínculos entre la obesidad y la demencia. (BBC) ( Neurología )
- Los científicos han utilizado cápsulas a nanoescala para liberar una proteína estimulante del sistema inmunológico directamente en los tumores de cáncer de pulmón . ( PLoS ONE )
- Investigadores australianos dicen que están un paso más cerca de encontrar una vacuna para el VIH y esperan poder ofrecer una inyección preventiva para 2020. ( Sydney Morning Herald ) ( PNAS )
- 4 de mayo
- Los fósiles de Yukon pueden representar los primeros rastros de biomineralización en eucariotas . ( Cableado ) ( Geología )
- Los datos experimentales recopilados por el satélite Gravity Probe B confirman dos aspectos de la teoría general de la relatividad , que fue publicada por Albert Einstein en 1916. (BBC) (arXiv) ( Phys. Rev. Lett. )
- Los científicos del CERN han confinado átomos de antihidrógeno durante 1.000 segundos, cuatro órdenes de magnitud más de lo que se ha logrado antes en la captura y mantenimiento de átomos de antimateria . (arXiv)
- Intel presenta su próxima generación de tecnología de microprocesadores , cuyo nombre en código es Ivy Bridge . Los próximos chips serán los primeros en utilizar un proceso de fabricación de 22 nanómetros , que empaqueta transistores de manera más densa que el sistema actual de 32 nm , lo que proporciona una mayor eficiencia. (BBC) (Intel)
- 6 de mayo
- Un nuevo estudio sugiere que la caída en la producción de neuronas en la vejez se debe a la reducción de la reserva de células madre adultas en nuestro cerebro. ( Times of India ) ( Célula madre celular )
- Una máquina usada para medir impurezas en semiconductores puede usarse para analizar células inmunes con mucho más detalle de lo que era posible anteriormente, han demostrado investigadores de la Universidad de Stanford . ( Mundo de la química ) ( Ciencia )
- Los investigadores han identificado un grupo de proteínas mitocondriales , cuya ausencia permite que otros grupos de proteínas estabilicen el genoma . Esto podría retrasar la aparición de enfermedades relacionadas con la edad y aumentar la esperanza de vida. ( Tiempos económicos ) ( Mol. Cell )
- 9 de mayo - Se revelan los paneles de aluminio que comen smog que se limpian a sí mismos y al aire que los rodea; su recubrimiento de dióxido de titanio , cuando se combina con la luz solar, actúa como un catalizador para descomponer los contaminantes en materia inofensiva que la lluvia arrastra. (Alcoa) ( USA Today ) ( Forbes a través de MSNBC)
- 11 de mayo
- Se anuncia un nuevo filo de hongos , llamado Cryptomycota ("hongos ocultos"). (BBC) ( Naturaleza )
- Una nueva vacuna puede proteger a los macacos contra el equivalente en mono del VIH y podría proporcionar un nuevo enfoque a una vacuna contra el VIH, sugiere un estudio. (BBC) ( Naturaleza )
- D-Wave Systems , después de unos 12 años de investigación, la acumulación de 60 patentes y la presentación de 100 más, ha lanzado la primera computadora cuántica comercial del mundo , con un precio de $ 10 millones. ( Forbes ) ( ExtremeTech ) (D-Wave)
- 12 de mayo: el exoplaneta Gliese 581d puede considerarse el primer exoplaneta confirmado que podría albergar vida similar a la Tierra, según un equipo de científicos franceses. ( Astrophys. J. Lett. )
- 13 de mayo
- Los nuevos resultados de los ratones ponen en duda las esperanzas de autotrasplantes generados a partir de las células madre del receptor , ya que el sistema inmunológico puede rechazar dichos trasplantes. ( Nuevo científico ) ( Naturaleza )
- Según una nueva investigación, un pequeño conjunto de genes ubicados dentro de las mitocondrias de las células es crucial para desentrañar los secretos de la infertilidad masculina . ( Medical Xpress ) ( Ciencia )
- El descubrimiento de un nuevo fenómeno físico podría producir transistores con una capacitancia muy mejorada , una medida del voltaje requerido para mover una carga. Esto, a su vez, podría conducir a la reactivación de la velocidad del reloj como medida de la potencia de una computadora. ( Ciencia )
- El agua contaminada se puede limpiar de manera mucho más eficaz utilizando un material novedoso y barato, que podría ofrecer una forma económica de purificar el agua en el mundo en desarrollo. (BBC) ( Interfaces de ACS Appl. Mater. )
- 15 de mayo: los investigadores han descubierto que KLF14 , un gen relacionado con la diabetes tipo 2 y los niveles de colesterol , es de hecho un gen "regulador maestro", que controla el comportamiento de otros genes que se encuentran en la grasa del cuerpo. ( Medical Xpress ) ( Nat. Genet. )
- 16 may - NASA 's del transbordador espacial Endeavour lanzamientos en su misión final. (BBC)
- 18 de mayo
- Los científicos han logrado la invisibilidad en el rango de luz visible del espectro . ( Opc. Lett. )
- Los planetas rebeldes que carecen de estrellas madre pueden superar en número a los exoplanetas "normales" en al menos un 50 por ciento, y son casi el doble de comunes en nuestra galaxia que las estrellas de la secuencia principal, según un nuevo estudio. ( Space.com ) (arXiv) ( Naturaleza )
- 19 de mayo
- Mediante el uso de estimulación eléctrica de la médula espinal , un hombre de Oregón que quedó paralizado después de ser atropellado por un automóvil puede pararse y mover las piernas por sí mismo. (BBC) ( The Lancet )
- Los científicos han desarrollado un analizador de genoma de escritorio de código abierto . Funciona junto con un navegador que permite a los biólogos analizar y procesar rápida y fácilmente su información de alto rendimiento. ( TG Daily ) ( Bioinformática )
- 20 de mayo: un sentido del olfato altamente desarrollado inició la evolución de los grandes cerebros de los mamíferos, según una nueva investigación. (BBC) ( Nature News ) ( Ciencia )
- 23 de mayo
- Los investigadores han establecido un nuevo récord en la tasa de transferencia de datos con un solo láser : 26 terabits por segundo. (BBC) ( Fotónica nativa )
- Las bacterias responsables de las úlceras de estómago se han relacionado con la enfermedad de Parkinson , según investigadores estadounidenses. (BBC) (ASM)
- 24 de mayo: una sustancia supercaliente creada recientemente en el Gran Colisionador de Hadrones es la forma de materia más densa jamás observada, anunciaron los científicos. ( National Geographic )
- 25 de mayo
- El reexamen de los datos indica que la ráfaga de rayos gamma GRB 090423 puede ser el objeto individual más distante detectado hasta ahora; Los científicos creen que la explosión, que fue detectada por el Observatorio Swift de la NASA , ocurrió apenas 520 millones de años después del Big Bang . (BBC) (arXiv) Astrophys. J.
- La NASA finaliza sus actividades de planificación operativa para el veterano rover Spirit de Marte ; ahora hará la transición del Mars Exploration Rover Project a una operación de un solo rover centrada en el gemelo aún activo de Spirit, Opportunity . ( Los Angeles Times ) (NASA)
- Los científicos suecos presentan una técnica que hace que el cerebro malinterprete el tamaño del cuerpo humano. (MSNBC) ( PLoS ONE )
- 26 de mayo
- Los investigadores de la Universidad de Stanford han logrado convertir las células de la piel humana directamente en neuronas , sin convertirlas primero en células madre pluripotentes . ( Descubrir ) ( Naturaleza )
- Los investigadores creen que han hecho la primera observación experimental del efecto Casimir dinámico , utilizando un espejo que se mueve rápidamente que convierte los fotones virtuales en reales. ( Revisión de tecnología ) (arXiv)
- 29 de mayo - Los órganos humanos podrían cultivarse dentro de los cerdos para su uso en operaciones de trasplante, tras una investigación con células madre . ( El telégrafo ) (EHGC 2001)
- 31 de mayo
- Un equipo de físicos chinos entrelaza con éxito ocho fotones simultáneamente y los observa en acción; el récord anterior era de seis. (arXiv)
- Los investigadores han demostrado las primeras guías de ondas a nanoescala verdaderas para los sistemas de comunicación óptica en chip de próxima generación; esto tiene potencial para aplicaciones fotónicas a nanoescala, como la comunicación óptica dentro del chip, la modulación de señales, los láseres a nanoescala y la detección biomédica. ( Comun. Nat. )
- Un equipo de investigación dirigido por la NASA revela el mapa más preciso jamás producido del carbono almacenado en los bosques tropicales de la Tierra; Se espera que los datos proporcionen una línea de base para la investigación y el monitoreo continuo del carbono. ( PNAS )
junio
- Junio: se descubre una anomalía en el mar Báltico . [8]
- 1 de junio
- Los elementos 114 y 116 se agregan oficialmente a la tabla periódica , convirtiéndose en sus miembros más pesados hasta el momento. ( Nuevo científico ) (IUPAC) ( Pure Appl. Chem. )
- Los científicos han descubierto un gusano que es el animal de vida más profunda que se conoce, que sobrevive en agua a 48 grados Celsius (118 Fahrenheit ) a profundidades de 1,3 kilómetros (0,81 millas). (BBC) ( Naturaleza )
- 2 de junio: un equipo de estudiantes de la Universidad de California está desarrollando un dispositivo de almacenamiento de estado sólido con memoria de cambio de fase, el primero en su tipo, que proporciona un rendimiento miles de veces más rápido que un disco duro convencional y hasta siete veces más rápido. que las unidades de estado sólido de última generación. (Escuela de Ingeniería Jacobs)
- 3 de junio
- Los investigadores han doblado una de las reglas más básicas de la mecánica cuántica al lograr observar que la luz se comporta como una onda y una partícula. (BBC) ( Ciencia )
- Seis hombres en la instalación MARS-500 cerca de Moscú han estado aislados durante exactamente 365 días, simulando una misión humana a Marte . ( Nuevo científico ) (ESA)
- Aproximadamente uno de cada 10 planetas rocosos alrededor de estrellas como el Sol puede albergar una luna proporcionalmente tan grande como la de la Tierra . (BBC) (arXiv) ( Ícaro )
- 6 de junio: un equipo de científicos de la Virginia Commonwealth University ha descubierto una nueva clase de 'supeátomos', un grupo estable de átomos que puede imitar diferentes elementos de la tabla periódica, con características magnéticas inusuales. ( PNAS )
- 7 de junio - La ropa perfumada, provocada por moléculas aromáticas que son estables en la oscuridad y solo liberan su aroma cuando se exponen a la luz, ha sido descrita en una tesis escrita por la científica Dra. Olga Hinze de la Universidad de Colonia . (Henkel)
- 8 de junio - Las emisiones de dióxido de carbono de China aumentaron un 10,4 por ciento en 2010 en comparación con el año anterior, ya que las emisiones globales aumentaron a su ritmo más rápido en más de cuatro décadas, según datos publicados por BP . (Reuters) (BP)
- 9 de junio
- Los investigadores han logrado un gran avance en la ciencia antibacteriana , identificando ingredientes naturales capaces de erradicar las bacterias que han desarrollado resistencia a los antibióticos . (TNO)
- La diabetes tipo 2 , que antes se consideraba inevitablemente progresiva, se revierte con éxito en un grupo de pacientes recién diagnosticados mediante una dieta extrema de ocho semanas de 600 calorías al día. (BBC) ( Diabetología )
- 10 de junio
- Las verificaciones cruzadas de los datos que insinuaban el descubrimiento de una nueva partícula subatómica no han podido encontrar apoyo para la observación. (BBC) (arXiv) Phys. Rev. Lett.
- Científicos estadounidenses publican datos sobre cómo la nicotina actúa como supresor del apetito, un hallazgo que podría ayudar a combatir la obesidad. ( Sunday Morning Herald ) ( Ciencia )
- 12 de junio - El volcán Nabro comienza a entrar en erupción , liberando la mayor cantidad de dióxido de azufre jamás observada por satélite. (Earthquake-Report.com)
- 13 de junio: un estudio sugiere que las protoestrellas pueden estar sembrando agua en el universo. Estos embriones estelares disparan chorros de material desde sus polos norte y sur a medida que su crecimiento es alimentado por el polvo que cae, que rodea los cuerpos en vastos discos. ( National Geographic ) ( Astron. Astrophys. )
- 14 June
- A study reveals that, on average, three to five days of global human activity produces the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide that volcanoes produce globally each year. (US Geological Survey)
- Ten new planets outside our Solar System have been spotted by the French-led COROT satellite, bringing the total number of known exoplanets to 561. (BBC)
- A Japanese experiment sees hints that neutrino particles can oscillate between all three types, opening new lines of research to test why matter became more prevalent than antimatter in the Big Bang. (BBC) (arXiv) Phys. Rev. Lett.
- 15 June – A central lunar eclipse takes place, with a totality of 1 hour and 40 minutes. (Herald Sun)
- 16 June – Researchers have developed a scalable approach to fabricating high-speed graphene transistors. Nano Lett.
- 17 June
- The United States Department of Energy reports that it will invest $150 million in a private company that has developed a silicon-wafer solar cell that can be manufactured twice as cheaply as standard solar cells. (Huffington Post)
- Thousands of insects are being lined up to have their genomes sequenced. The five-year project will help researchers pinpoint vulnerable regions of insects' genomes, which could be targeted with pesticides. (BBC) (Entomological Society of America)
- Scientists have developed a nano-device that powers itself by harvesting energy from vibrations, while at the same time transmitting data wirelessly with a range of up to 10 metres (33 ft). (PopSci) (Nano Lett.)
- 19 June
- Researchers have used a human vaccine to cure prostate cancer in mice. (Medical Xpress) (Nat. Med.)
- The oceans are in a worse state than previously suspected, with a mass extinction of marine species looming, according to a new report. (BBC) (IPSO)
- 20 June – A Japanese computer has taken first place on the Top 500 supercomputer list, ending China's reign at the top after just six months. Capable of operating at 8.16 petaflops (quadrillion floating-point calculations per second), the K computer is more powerful than the next five systems combined. (ComputerWorld)
- 22 June
- A newly developed multiferroic composite of nickel, cobalt, manganese and tin can be either non-magnetic or highly magnetic, depending on its temperature, making it capable of converting heat into electricity. (PopSci) (Adv. Energy Mat.)
- The brains of people living in cities operate differently from those in rural areas, according to a brain-scanning study. (The Guardian) (Nature)
- Scientists demonstrate an acoustic "cloaking device" that makes objects invisible to sound waves; such acoustic cloaking was proposed theoretically in 2008, but has only this year been put into practice. (BBC) (Phys. Rev. Lett.)
- Stanford University researchers have developed a new method of attaching nanowire electronics to the surface of virtually any object, regardless of its shape or composition. The method could be used in making everything from wearable electronics and flexible computer displays to high-efficiency solar cells and ultrasensitive biosensors.(Nano Lett.)
- 23 June – Single-celled yeast has been observed to evolve into a multicellular organism, complete with division of labour between cells. This suggests that the evolutionary leap to multicellularity may be a surprisingly small hurdle.(New Scientist) (PNAS)
- 24 June
- A tiny biological fuel cell powered by bacteria, with a capacity of just 0.3 microliters, has been built by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). The new device, the size of a single strand of human hair, generates energy from the metabolism of bacteria on thin gold plates in micro-manufactured channels. (Engadget) (Biotechnol. Bioeng.)
- Biologists publish the explanation for yeast cells reversing aging. (Science)
- 25 June – Stanford researchers have developed a microphone that can be used at any depth in the ocean, even under crushing pressure, and is sensitive to a wide range of sounds, from a whisper in a library to an explosion of TNT. They modeled their device after the extraordinarily acute hearing of orcas. (J. Acoust. Soc. Am.)
26 June
- A new gene-editing technique provides the first published successful healing of a genetic condition in a live animal, by curing mice of haemophilia B. (The Guardian) (Nature News) (Nature)
- Österplana 065 meteorite is found in Sweden. (Meteoritical Bulletin)
- 27 June – A new bacterium is reported to have been produced from an engineered DNA sequence, in which thymine was replaced by the synthetic building block 5-chlorouracil – a substance "toxic to other organisms". (Angew. Chem.)
- 28 June – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization holds a ceremony in Rome, declaring the once-widespread cattle disease rinderpest to be globally eradicated.(The New York Times) (FAO)
- 30 June – Computer corporation IBM develops a form of 'instantaneous' memory, 100 times faster than flash memory. (Engadget)
July
- 1 July – Based on results from the Tevatron particle accelerator, scientists have reported stronger evidence that a small excess of matter over antimatter was present during the Big Bang as particles decayed. (BBC) (Phys. Rev. D)
- 3 July
- China's monopoly over rare-earth metals could be challenged by the discovery of massive deposits of these widely used minerals on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, a new study suggests. (Nat. Geosci.)
- Warming oceans will melt glaciers quicker than expected, according to a new study. As oceans heat up, they could erode ice sheets much faster than warmer air alone. (LiveScience) (Nat. Geosci.)
- 7 July
- Surgeons in Sweden have carried out the world's first synthetic organ transplant, using an artificial windpipe coated in stem cells. (BBC) (Karolinska Hospital)
- Global investment in renewable energy sources grew by 32% during 2010 to reach a record level of US$211 billion, according to a UN study. Reportedly, the main drivers of investment growth were wind farms in China and rooftop solar panels in Europe. (BBC) (UNEP)
- The molecular basis for the breakage of DNA, an important process in the development of cancer, has been identified by Hebrew University of Jerusalem scientists. (The Jerusalem Post) (Mol. Cell)
- 9 July – Researchers have reprogrammed brain cells to become heart cells. (PNAS)
- 10 July – An international team of scientists based in Scotland have decoded the full DNA sequence of the potato, one of the world's most important staple crops, for the first time. (BBC) (Nature)
- 12 July
- A computer has learned language by playing strategy games, inferring the meaning of words without human supervision. (MIT) (ACL)
- Researchers at the University of Cambridge have identified a part of the brain associated with empathy which may be a 'biomarker' for a familial risk of autism. (Transl. Psychiatry)
- The planet Neptune completes its first orbit since it was discovered in 1846.[9]
- 13 July
- A string of a dozen underwater volcanoes, several of them active, has been found near Antarctica, the first such discovery in that region. (Yahoo!)
- Technicians from Kagawa University demonstrate a bionic mouth that replicates almost all the human organs that are required for singing. (IEEE Spectrum)
- 14 July – A "fountain of youth" that sustains the production of new neurons in the brains of rodents may also be present in the human brain, researchers have found. (Neuron)
- 16 July
- NASA's Dawn probe enters orbit around the asteroid 4 Vesta. (BBC) (NASA)
- Japanese company Sumitomo Electric Industries develops a new material which they believe can improve the range of electric vehicles by 300%. (Inhabitat) (Suitomo Electric)
- 19 July
- Russia's RadioAstron, the largest orbital radio telescope yet constructed, is successfully launched into Earth orbit. (BBC)
- It is announced the Herschel Space Observatory has discovered a dense ribbon of gas and dust more than 600 light years across at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. (Herschel)
- 20 July
- The Hubble Space Telescope discovers another moon orbiting Pluto. (IAU)
- An experiment at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory has revealed a heavy relative of the neutron. (LiveScience) (FermiLab) (Phys. Rev. Lett.)
- The world's most powerful "split magnet" – one that is made in two halves with holes in the middle to observe experiments – has been built in the US. It operates at 25 Tesla, equivalent to 500,000 times the strength of Earth's magnetic field. (BBC)
- 21 July
- Space Shuttle Atlantis completes STS-135, the 135th and final mission of the Space Shuttle program. (Spaceflight Now)
- A 120-million-year-old fossil is the oldest pregnant lizard ever discovered, according to scientists. The fossil, found in China, is a very complete 30-cm (12-in)-long specimen with more than a dozen embryos in its body. (BBC) (Naturwissenschaften)
- Researchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered a gene required to maintain male gender throughout life. (Medical Xpress) (Nature)
- 26 July
- Using silicon lithography, liquid silicone, and electrodes that are fashioned into patterns invisible to the naked eye, researchers at Stanford University have created transparent electric batteries. (Technology Review) (PNAS)
- DNA circuits have been used to make a neural network and to store memories. (Ars Technica) (Nature)
- 28 July – A Chinese fossil of a previously unknown bird-like dinosaur is estimated by scientists to be about 155 million years old – five million years older than Archaeopteryx, which for 150 years has been assumed to be the world's earliest bird. (Daily Telegraph) (Nature)
- 29 July – A major clinical trial will investigate whether stem cells can be safely used to stop or even reverse the damage caused by multiple sclerosis. (BBC)
August
- 3 August – Researchers suggest that Earth once had a small second Moon that was destroyed in a slow-motion collision with the far side of its larger companion. (BBC) (Nature)
- 4 August
- New images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter appear to show evidence of flowing, liquid water on Mars. (BBC) (Science)
- A ring of antiprotons is detected around the Earth. (New Scientist) (Next Big Future) (Astrophys. J. Lett.)
- Artificial sperm are created using stem cells for the first time, in a scientific breakthrough that could lead to new treatments for infertile men. (Daily Telegraph) (Cell)
- 5 August
- The solar-powered probe Juno is launched from Kennedy Space Center on a five-year mission to Jupiter. (BBC) (NASA)
- Bypassing stem cells, scientists have made neurons directly from human skin. (Cell)
- Scientists have developed a new class of molecules that target cells' entry systems to ensure harmful organisms do not gain access. The molecules, nicknamed pitstops, could lead to new therapeutic approaches to prevent the spread of viral and bacterial infections. (ABC Science) (Cell)
- 6 August – A study postulates that the demise of the world's forests 250 million years ago was likely accelerated by aggressive tree-killing fungi, who flourished in conditions brought about by global climate change. (Geology)
- 8 August – A report, based on NASA analysis of meteorites found on Earth, suggests that the building blocks of DNA (adenine, guanine and related organic molecules) may have been formed in outer space. (PNAS)
- 10 August – A new gene therapy that has successfully neutralized advanced cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in 3 patients is published. (Fox News) (NEJM) (Scientific American)
- 11 August
- Researchers say they have created the first-ever animal with artificial information in its genetic code. The technique, they say, could give biologists "atom-by-atom control" over the molecules in living organisms. (BBC) (J. Am. Chem. Soc.)
- Arctic ice might be thinning four times faster than predicted by the IPCC, according to a new study by MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmosphere, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS). (MIT) (J. Geophys. Res.)
- Scientists have shown how an enzyme from a microbe can quickly and cheaply produce hydrogen from water. Hydrogen is seen as vital to future energy systems, but its production has previously been too costly and time-consuming to be viable on a large scale. (BBC) (Science)
- 12 August – An ultra-thin, flexible electronic circuit that can be stuck to the skin like a temporary tattoo is developed, with possible applications in cellphone and mobile computing technology. (The Independent) (Science)
- 16 August
- Private donors, including actress Jodie Foster, raise enough money to re-open the mothballed SETI radio telescope array, allowing SETI to continue its search for extraterrestrial intelligence. (BBC)
- A study of fossilised plants suggests that woody plants first appeared on the Earth about 10 million years earlier than previously thought. (BBC) (Science)
- Taiwanese researchers report that 15 minutes of exercise a day can boost life expectancy by three years and cut death risk by 14%. (BBC) (The Lancet)
- 17 August
- DARPA is offering $500,000 to study what it would take—organizationally, technically, sociologically and ethically—to send humans to another star, a challenge of such magnitude that the study alone could take a hundred years. (The New York Times)
- Researchers at the University of Edinburgh state that near-death experiences are the work of neural pathway disturbances caused by a disruption of the oxygen supply to the brain, and are not supernatural events. (Scientific American) (Trends Cogn. Sci.)
- 18 August
- IBM has developed a microprocessor which it claims comes closer than ever to replicating the human brain. The system is capable of "rewiring" its connections as it encounters new information, similar to the way biological synapses work. (BBC) Comm. ACM
- Within decades, solar storms are likely to become more disruptive to planes and spacecraft, say researchers at Reading University. (BBC) (Geophys. Res. Lett.)
- 19 August – The US Office of Naval Research says that it has successfully tested a new type of explosive material that can dramatically increase weapons' impacts. Missiles made from the high-density substance can explode with up to five times the energy of existing explosives. (BBC)
- 22 August – American researchers prototype a basic form of bulletproof skin, based on genetically modified silkworm threads. (Police One)
- 23 August
- The natural world contains about 8.7 million species, according to a new estimate described by scientists as the most accurate ever. However, the vast majority of these species have not been identified – cataloguing them all could take more than 1,000 years. (BBC) (PLoS Biol.)
- Computer simulations suggest that violent asteroid impacts flinging life from Earth to other planets is more likely than previously thought. (BBC) (ArXiv)
- 24 August – Antibiotics' impact on gut bacteria is permanent—and so serious in its long-term consequences that medicine should consider whether to restrict the prescription of antibiotics to pregnant women and young children, according to a new study. (Wired) (Nature)
- 25 August – A monkey sporting a ginger beard and matching fiery red tail, discovered in a threatened region of the Brazilian Amazon, is believed to be a species new to science. (The Guardian)
- 26 August – An atomic clock at the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has the best long-term accuracy of any clock in the world, researchers from NPL and Penn State University have found. (BBC) (Metrologia)
- 29 August – Japanese scientists announce an innovation in wind turbine technology, the wind lens, which could triple the energy output of wind turbines, making wind energy affectively cheaper than nuclear energy. (Mother Nature Network) (Kyushu University)
- 31 August
- An engineered virus, injected into the blood, can selectively target and destroy cancer cells throughout the body, in what researchers have labelled a medical first. (BBC) (Nature)
- A pill to prevent sunburn is being developed, using coral's natural defence against the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. (BBC)
- Graphene, the strongest known material on Earth, could help boost broadband internet speed, say researchers. (BBC)
- AMD has broken the world overclocking speed record, thanks to the use of liquid nitrogen and liquid helium coolant. The company achieved an overclocked frequency of 8.429 GHz on a near-production, eight-core AMD FX 8150 Bulldozer processor sample. (eweek europe)
September
- 2 September
- Researchers create the smallest electric motor yet devised, made from a single molecule around a nanometre across. The invention could have applications in both nanotechnology and medicine. (BBC) (Nat. Nanotechnol.)
- Researchers report two major breakthroughs in quantum computing—a quantum system built on the familiar von Neumann processor-memory architecture, and a working digital quantum simulator built on a quantum-computer platform. (PopSci) (Science-1) (Science-2)
- Yale University researchers have discovered the source of signals that trigger hair growth, an insight that may lead to new treatments for baldness. (Cell)
- Scientists map the taste cortex in mice, pinpointing the brain regions that detect certain flavors. (PopSci) (Science)
- Researchers suggest that dry desert planets might be the most common type of habitable planet in the galaxy, rather than watery planets such as Earth. (Astrobiology)
- Challacombe scale for a clinical oral dryness score introduced. (Br. Dent. J.)
- 8 September
- Cuban medical authorities release CimaVax-EGF, the first therapeutic vaccine for lung cancer. The vaccine was the result of a 25-year research project at Havana’s Center of Molecular Immunology. (Xinhua)
- University of Glasgow scientists have taken their first tentative steps towards creating "life" from inorganic chemical cells (iCHELLS), potentially defining the new area of "inorganic biology." (New Scientist) (Angew. Chem.)
- 9 September – Feeding a supercomputer with news stories could help predict major world events, according to US researchers. (BBC) (First Monday)
- 12 September
- Arctic sea ice has melted to a historic low, researchers from the University of Bremen in Germany report. (CNN) (AMSR-E)
- Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s HARPS instrument announce the discovery of more than 50 new exoplanets – including 16 super-Earths – with one planet reportedly orbiting at the edge of the habitable zone of its star. By studying the properties of all the HARPS planets found so far, the team has found that about 40% of stars similar to our Sun have at least one planet lighter than Saturn. (ESO)
- 13 September
- The relative risks to the supply of some of Earth's rarest elements have been detailed in a new list published by the British Geological Survey (BGS). (BBC) (BGS)
- Researchers have developed a sophisticated camera system able to detect lies by watching facial movements during speech. (BBC)
- 14 September
- NASA unveils the design for a new heavy-lift rocket to take humans to Mars and the asteroids. (BBC)
- Researchers may have discovered how to safely open and close the blood–brain barrier, offering a new way to safely deliver therapies to treat Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and cancers of the central nervous system directly to the brain. (Medical Xpress) (J. Neurosci.)
- 15 September – A piece of amber discovered in Alberta, Canada, contains an 80-million-year-old feather that could provide clues to the relationship between dinosaurs and modern avian species. (CBC) (Science)
- 16 September
- Scientists’ predictions about the formation and characteristics of dark matter have been shaken by research into dwarf galaxies surrounding the Milky Way. (BBC)
- Artificial blood vessels made on a 3D printer may soon be used for transplants of lab-created organs. (BBC)
- 19 September – People with schizophrenia are six times more likely to develop epilepsy, reports a Taiwanese study, which found a strong relationship between the two diseases. (BBC) (Epilepsia)
- 20 September – US researchers say they have demonstrated how fuel cells powered by bacteria can be "self-powered" and produce a limitless supply of hydrogen for hydrogen cars. (BBC) (PNAS)
- 22 September
- An international team of scientists at CERN records neutrino particles apparently traveling faster than the speed of light. If confirmed, the discovery would overturn Albert Einstein's 1905 special theory of relativity, which says that nothing can travel faster than light. (BBC) (ArXiv)
- A non-disease-causing virus kills human breast cancer cells in the laboratory, creating opportunities for potential new cancer therapies, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers who tested the virus on three different breast cancer types. (Pennsylvania State University)
- 24 September – NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) deorbits and impacts the Pacific Ocean, having been decommissioned in 2005. UARS, which was launched in 1991, was designed for the study of Earth's atmosphere, particularly the ozone layer. (NASA)
- 26 September – Researchers have demonstrated that electrons can move freely in layers of linked semiconductor nanoparticles under the influence of light. This discovery may assist the development of cheap and efficient quantum dot solar cells. (Nat. Nanotechnol.)
- 27 September
- Scientists have successfully replaced an injured part of a rat’s brain with a synthetic substitute. (New Scientist) (SENS Foundation)
- Scientists have created a nanostructure which can multiply stem cells used in therapies – a first step towards developing large-scale stem cell culture factories. (Labmate online) (Nat. Mater.)
- 29 September
- A rocket carrying China's first space laboratory module, Tiangong-1, is successfully launched, marking the start of the Tiangong program to create a modular space station. (BBC)
- A new method for self-healing materials is presented, inspired by mammalian vasculature. (BBC) (J. R. Soc. Interface)
- Geothermal power plants could help produce lithium for electric cars, by way of a new process which extracts lithium from the brines used to generate electricity in a geothermal power plant. (Scientific American)
- 30 September
- Scientists release the most accurate simulation of the structure of the universe to date. (YouTube) (Astrophys. J.)
- Boston Dynamics unveils its AlphaDog military transport robot, a larger, faster and quieter version of its BigDog prototype. The legged robot can carry up to 400 pounds (180 kg) of cargo, and is designed to support infantry in rough terrain. (TechCrunch)
October
- 3 October
- The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is shared by Bruce Beutler of the United States, Jules A. Hoffmann of France and Ralph M. Steinman of Canada (posthumously), for their research into the human immune system. (AP via New Zealand Herald) (BBC)
- The Atacama Large Millimeter Array in Chile – the largest and most complex radio telescope ever built – begins operations. (BBC)
- 4 October – The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics is shared by Drs Adam Riess, Saul Perlmutter and Brian Schmidt for their discoveries relating to dark energy. (The New York Times)
- 5 October
- The 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Professor Dan Shechtman of Iowa State University for the discovery of quasicrystals. (The New York Times)
- A form of cloning has been used to create personalised embryonic stem cells in humans, according to American researchers. (BBC) (Nature)
- 6 October – A "smart pill" has been developed that is able to record accurate information about internal conditions in the gut, such as acidity, pressure and temperature. (The Yorkshire Post)
- 7 October – Data from the ESA's Venus Express probe reveals that the planet Venus has an ozone layer in its upper atmosphere. (BBC)
- 10 October
- UK doctors report that the antibiotic normally used to treat gonorrhoea is no longer effective, because the sexually transmitted disease is now largely resistant to it. (BBC) (HPA)
- Exercise is equally effective at preventing migraines as drugs, a Swedish study suggests.(Cephalalgia)
- 12 October
- The genetic code of the germ that caused the 14th-century Black Death has been reconstructed by scientists for the first time. The British researchers extracted DNA fragments of the ancient bacterium from the teeth of medieval corpses found in London. (BBC) (Nature)
- Ginger supplements may boost digestive and colon health, according to a new study. (Los Angeles Times) (Cancer Prev. Res.)
- 13 October – Silencing a protein known as BCL11A can reactivate fetal hemoglobin production in adult mice and effectively reverse sickle cell disease, according to a new study. (MedicalXpress) (Science)
- 14 October
- Seven vehicle manufacturers in Europe and the US have agreed to adopt a standardised, universal charging system for electric vehicles. (New Scientist) (Ford)
- Using carbon nanotubes, researchers have created artificial muscles that can twist 1,000 times more than any similar material made in the past—a development that could prove useful in robotics and prosthetic limbs. (Technology Review) (Science)
- 16 October – For the first time, researchers have found a way to inject a precise dose of a gene therapy agent directly into a single living cell without using a needle. The technique uses electricity to fire therapeutic biomolecules through a tiny channel and into a cell in a fraction of a second. (Nat. Nanotechnol.)
- 17 October – The world's first commercial spaceport, Spaceport America, is opened by Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The SpaceShipTwo spaceplane is expected to begin commercial flights from the spaceport by 2013. (BBC)
- 18 October
- The World Health Organization reports that global malaria deaths have fallen by 20% since 2001, claiming that over 30 countries are on course to eradicate the mosquito-borne disease by 2020. The fall in deaths is believed to be the result of improved diagnostic technologies and wider use of malaria vaccines. (BBC) (WHO)
- A malaria vaccine has shown promising results in a clinical trial in Africa. (BBC) (NEJM)
- Europe's highest court, the European Court of Justice, has ruled that stem cells from human embryos cannot be patented, in a case that could have major implications for stem cell research and regenerative medicine. (BBC)
- Spanish engineers have developed a machine that uses artificial vision and UV rays to scan through citrus fruits and detect rotten ones. (BBC) (Food Bioprocess Technol.)
- Joseph Fourier University have developed a biofuel cell that can generate electricity from glucose and oxygen. This could allow patients to power their own medical implants. (BBC)
- 19 October
- British computer chip designer ARM unveils the Cortex A7 processor, which should allow manufacturers to make cheaper and more efficient smartphones. (BBC)
- Imperial College London researchers have shown logic gates can be built out of E. coli bacteria and DNA. This could be used to make sophisticated diagnostic cells that assess and treat illness in the body. ] (Nat. Commun.)
- 21 October
- The Earth's surface is undeniably warming, according to a detailed new analysis by an American scientific group. (BBC) (Berkeley Earth Project)
- Further research has been published suggesting there is no link between mobile phones and brain cancer. The latest study looked at more than 350,000 mobile phone users over an 18-year period. (BBC) (BMJ)
- The first two satellites of the Galileo satellite navigation system are launched from Guiana Space Center by the European Space Agency. The Galileo system is intended to reduce Europe's reliance on America's dominant Global Positioning System (GPS). (Bloomberg) (ESA)
- 24 October – India's Minister of Health, Ghulam Nabi Azad, reports that the country has almost entirely eradicated polio through a vaccination program which immunises over 170 million children every year. No new polio cases have been reported in India for over nine months. (BBC)
- 25 October
- Human DNA may carry a ‘memory’ of living conditions in childhood, according to a new study. (Science Blog) (Int. J. Epidemiol.)
- Space telescope observations indicate that the supernova RCW 86, first seen by Chinese astronomers in 185 AD, expanded at an unprecedented rate due to the formation of a vacuum-like "cavity" around it in the early stages of the death of its star. The expansion of the supernova, which was visible even in daylight when first discovered, has remained a mystery for nearly 2,000 years. (BBC) (Astrophys. J.)
- The last of the United States' B53 nuclear warheads is disassembled near Amarillo, Texas. The nine-megaton bomb, which first entered service in 1962, was formerly the most powerful nuclear weapon in the country's nuclear arsenal, possessing nearly 600 times the yield of the Little Boy atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945. (New York Daily News)
- 26 October
- The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a composite-based airliner with up to 20% greater fuel efficiency than previous models, completes its first commercial flight for All Nippon Airways, after a three-year production delay. (BBC)
- American scientists confirm that an infectious fungus, Geomyces destructans, is responsible for the incurable white-nose syndrome that has decimated bat populations across North America since 2006. (BBC) (Nature)
- Scientists at the University of Hong Kong have found that the cosmic dust permeating the universe contains complex organic matter, described as "amorphous organic solids with a mixed aromatic-aliphatic structure". Such organic matter could be created naturally, and rapidly, by stars. (Space.com) (Nature)
- 27 October
- Researchers in Oxford, England, begin human trials of a pioneering gene therapy technique, which is hoped to provide a cure for crippling ocular defects such as retinal choroideremia. (BBC)
- New measurements reveal that the dwarf planet Eris is almost identical in size to Pluto, which was deemed to be a dwarf planet in 2006. (Wired) (ESO)
- 28 October
- British scientists report that a daily dose of aspirin can reduce the incidence of bowel cancer in people at high risk of the disease. (BBC) (The Lancet)
- Human-caused climate change is already a major factor in more frequent Mediterranean droughts, according to a new study, which shows that the magnitude and frequency of drying is too great to be explained by natural variability alone. (NOAA) (J. Clim.)
- NASA launches the NPOESS Preparatory Project – the first of its next generation of polar-orbiting satellites dedicated to gathering weather and climate data. (BBC) (NASA)
- 29 October – CERN researchers attempt to repeat a recent experiment that apparently yielded faster-than-light neutrinos, using a more efficient system of measurement to validate their results. (The Guardian)
- 31 October
- An investigation into social-psychology research papers uncovered massive amount of academic fraud at Dutch Universities. At least 30 papers by psychologist Diederik Stapel are found to have been faked.[10]
- The world population reaches seven billion, according to the United Nations. (The Guardian)
November
- 1 November
- India announces plans for a prototype nuclear power plant that uses thorium – an innovative, potentially safer nuclear fuel. (The Guardian)
- Scientists have transformed age-worn cells in people over 90 – including a centenarian – into rejuvenated stem cells that are "indistinguishable" from those found in embryos. (Medical Xpress) (Genes Dev.)
- 2 November
- China's uncrewed Shenzhou 8 spacecraft robotically docks with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space station module, marking China's first orbital docking, and a major milestone in its efforts to construct a full-scale space station by 2020. (BBC)
- American researchers delay, and in some cases even eliminate, the onset of age-related symptoms such as wrinkles, muscle wasting and cataracts in mice. The development may have significant implications for the study and treatment of such symptoms in humans. (BBC) (Nature)
- Morocco is chosen as the first location for Desertec – a German-led, €400bn project to build a vast network of solar and windfarms across North Africa and the Middle East, with the aim of providing 15% of Europe's electricity supply by 2050. (The Guardian)
- 4 November
- Six men emerge from the 520-day MARS-500 isolation experiment, which aimed to simulate a human mission to Mars. The experiment, undertaken at a Moscow scientific institute, was intended to investigate the isolation of long-duration spaceflight and its effects on the human body and mind. (BBC)
- A 20-year-old alternative solar cell design using dye-sensitized nanocrystal cells (DSC) could lead to cheap, printable cells, revolutionising solar power use worldwide, according to a new study. (KurzweilAI) (J. Am. Chem. Soc.)
- 5 November
- An American doctor claims that brown eyes can safely and permanently be turned blue by using short laser pulses to destroy pigment in the iris. (BBC)
- An official White House report states that "The U.S. government has no evidence that any life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race." It furthermore asserts that there is "no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public's eye." Although odds are "pretty high" that there may be life on other planets, "the odds of us making contact with any of them—especially any intelligent ones—are extremely small, given the distances involved." (UniverseToday) (White House)
- 6 November – Dopamine-producing brain cells that are killed off by Parkinson's disease have been grown from stem cells and grafted into monkeys' brains by American researchers, in a major step towards new treatments for the condition. (The Guardian) (Nature)
- 8 November
- The asteroid YU55 makes a close Earth flyby, passing within 0.85 lunar distances (about 201,700 miles) of the Earth. YU55 is approximately 400 metres (1,300 ft) across, and is the largest asteroid to make a close pass since 1976. Another comparable flyby will not occur until 2028. (BBC)
- Russia launches the Fobos-Grunt probe, marking the nation's first attempt at an interplanetary mission since 1996. The mission's goal is to obtain samples from Phobos' surface and return them to Earth in 2014. The Chinese Yinghuo-1 probe, China's first Mars-exploration spacecraft, is also launched. However, despite reaching orbit successfully, the two spacecraft are left unable to begin their journey to Mars, due to the failure of a secondary engine to ignite. (Space.com) (BBC)
- Honda revamps its humanoid robot, Asimo, giving it enhanced artificial intelligence, the ability to move without being controlled by an operator, and a greater capability to cope with different situations. (USA Today)
- A Scottish-designed bionic leg exoskeleton, designed to allow handicapped people to walk, is approved for sale in the United Kingdom. (BBC)
- 9 November
- Dutch scientists build a nanoscopic "electric car" made of a single complex molecule, capable of travelling small distances when an electric current is applied to it. Though currently at a rudimentary level of development, the invention may have applications in the fields of nanorobotics and molecular machinery. (BBC) (Nature)
- A team of scientists in Japan synthesize the world's first stem-cell-derived pituitary gland. (Technology Review) (Nature)
- If current trends continue, Earth will almost certainly suffer a mass extinction of species, according to a major new survey of 583 conservation scientists published in Conservation Biology. (Conserv. Biol.)
- 10 November
- No wild black rhinos remain in West Africa, according to the latest global assessment of threatened species. (BBC) (IUCN)
- British computer chip designer ARM unveils its latest graphics processing unit (GPU) for mobile devices. The Mali-T658 offers up to ten times the performance of its predecessor, and may start to appear in devices towards the end of 2013. (BBC) (ARM)
- A method of communicating with brain-damaged patients who appear to be in a vegetative state is discovered by scientists in the UK and Belgium. (BBC) (The Lancet)
- 14 November
- A study of heart failure patients treated with their own stem cells has achieved striking results and could result in the biggest breakthrough in a generation. (Daily Telegraph) (The Lancet)
- Scientists have used brain scan images to create the world's first movie of the female brain as it approaches, experiences and recovers from an orgasm. (The Guardian) (Neuroscience 2011)
- 15 November
- 95% of adults worldwide now own cellphones, according to a new study. (Market Watch)
- British doctors report that they have cured a baby boy of a life-threatening liver disease using implanted cells which acted like a temporary liver, allowing the damaged organ to recover. The cell implant technique, developed by researchers at King's College Hospital, London, is described as a world first. (BBC)
- American researchers report that the recharge speed of lithium-ion batteries can be significantly enhanced by making millions of tiny holes in them. The discovery could lead to laptop and cellphone batteries which recharge ten times faster and hold a charge ten times larger than current technology allows. (BBC) (Adv. Energy Mater.)
- 16 November
- Police in Northern Ireland consider the use of airborne surveillance drones to combat crime, following the adoption of such technology by other UK police forces. Canadian drone manufacturer Aeryon Labs is cited as a potential supplier. (BBC)
- Intel debuts an accelerator chip capable of running at speeds of one teraflop at a supercomputing conference in Seattle. The device, dubbed Knights Corner, combines 50 individual processor cores into a single chip. (BBC) (Intel)
- A report commissioned by the State of New York warns that future Hurricane Irene-like storms could put a third of New York City under water and flood many of the tunnels leading into Manhattan in under an hour, due to the effects of climate change. (The Guardian) (NYSERDA)
- Scientists report that estimates of the rate of amphibian population decline are too optimistic, and that populations could decline even faster than previously thought. (The Guardian) (Nature)
- 17 November
- Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology design a computer chip that mimics the way that the human brain's neurons adapt in response to new information. (BBC) (MIT) (PNAS)
- China's uncrewed Shenzhou 8 spacecraft returns to Earth after successfully docking with the orbiting Tiangong-1 laboratory module. The crewed Shenzhou 9 and 10 follow-up missions are expected to visit Tiangong-1 in 2012. (BBC)
- For the first time, astronomers have produced a complete description of a black hole. The American team conducted precise measurements using ground- and orbit-based telescopes, allowing them to reconstruct the complete history of the Cygnus X-1 object from its birth some six million years ago. (Astrophys. J.)
- 18 November
- A team of American engineers claims to have created the world's lightest material – a microlattice of metallic tubes 100 times lighter than Styrofoam, with "extraordinary" energy absorption properties. The new material may have applications in the development of next-generation batteries and shock absorbers. (BBC) (Science)
- OPERA physicists conduct a follow-up experiment which confirms their earlier observations, first reported on 22 September 2011, of neutrinos apparently exceeding the speed of light. (The New York Times) (arXiv)
- The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command successfully tests a new hypersonic weapon system, capable of striking targets 3,700 kilometres (2,300 mi) away in under 30 minutes. The weapon was developed as part of the Prompt Global Strike program. (BBC)
- American scientists develop an ultra-thin, ultra-flexible brain implant with resolution fifty times greater than was previously possible, designed to monitor epileptic seizures. The device could revolutionize epilepsy treatment and lead to a deeper understanding of brain function. (Technology Review) (Nat. Neurosci.)
- 19 November – A computer system able to read scientific papers in a similar way to humans promises breakthroughs in cancer research, according to scientists at Cambridge University. Called CRAB, the system is able to trawl through millions of peer-reviewed articles for clues to the causes of tumours. (The Telegraph)
- 22 November – Washington University scientists successfully trial a new generation of contact lenses capable of projecting images in front of the eyes. Human trials are expected to follow the successful animal trials. (BBC)
- 23 November – A study published in Nature shows that recent melting of Arctic sea ice is unprecedented on a historic timescale and cannot be explained by natural processes alone.[11]
- 24 November – Japanese researchers have developed a way to illuminate tiny, hidden tumors with a fluorescent spray. Within minutes, doctors can track down residual cancer that has spread and scattered throughout the body, helping to ensure that no tumors are left behind during surgery. (Smart Planet) (Sci. Transl. Med.)
- 26 November – NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission successfully launches for Mars. The mission landed the robotic Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars in August 2012,[12] whereupon the rover began its search for evidence of past or present life on Mars. (Chicago Tribune) (Launch Video – 04:00)
- 28 November
- An American carbon capture and storage (CCS) project begins a three-year trial to pump one million tonnes of CO2 underground. (Click Green) (MGSC)
- Swiss researchers are developing magnetic nanoparticles that could be used to remove harmful substances from the bloodstream. (Technology Review)
- 30 November
- Researchers at Washington State University develop an artificial bone "scaffold" which can be produced using 3D printers, potentially allowing doctors to quickly print replacement bone tissue for injured patients. (BBC)
- As the Arctic warms, thawing permafrost will release greenhouse gases faster and at significantly higher levels than previous estimates, according to survey results from 41 international scientists. (Nature)
December
- 1 December – Oxford University researchers successfully entangle two millimeter-scale diamonds using controlled laser pulses. This represents the first known instance of quantum entanglement in objects large enough to see with the naked eye. (Nature News) (Science)
- 2 December
- Scientists suggest "flerovium" and "livermorium" as names for the newest additions to the periodic table. (BBC)
- Researchers have created an advanced fuel cell which could give electric cars greater range, while keeping CO2 emissions low. (Technology Review)
- Researchers from the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) discover a property of graphene that could widen its applications in nanotechnology. The team of scientists observed the surface of graphene sheets and found a series of ridges on the material, which could improve understanding of superconductivity. (The Engineer)
- 5 December
- NASA's exoplanet-hunting Kepler mission confirms its first extrasolar planet in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. The planet, Kepler-22b, is around 2.5 times the size of Earth, and may have a surface temperature of 22 degrees Celsius, making it potentially suitable for terrestrial life. (BBC) (NASA)
- New research suggests that at least three-quarters of the rise in average global temperatures since the 1950s is due to human activity. (The Age) (Nat. Geosci.)
- American scientists report the discovery of the two largest supermassive black holes known to science. The two black holes each have a mass nearly 10 billion times greater than the Sun. (BBC) (Nature)
- German researchers have demonstrated a graphene-based transistor array that is compatible with living biological cells and capable of recording the electrical signals they generate. (The Engineer) (Adv. Mater.)
- 6 December – When climate data is adjusted to remove the impact of short-term factors such as El Niño-Southern Oscillation, volcanic aerosols and solar variability, the global warming signal becomes even more evident, according to a new study. (Environ. Res. Lett.)
- 8 December
- NASA's Opportunity Mars rover finds veins of gypsum on the surface of Mars, strongly implying the presence of liquid water on the planet. (BBC)
- Spanish researchers unveil a process which allows highly complex shapes to be "carved" into nanoparticles, potentially revolutionising medical tests and drugs treatments. (BBC) (Science)
- 9 December – Biologists at Tufts University coax tissue to grow a new organ by simply altering the membrane voltage gradients of cells. In the experiment, tadpoles were made to grow new eyes outside of their head areas. (Development)
- 13 December
- Plumes of methane – a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide – are observed bubbling to the surface of the Arctic Ocean by scientists surveying the region. (The Independent)
- Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider report that the elusive Higgs boson may have been glimpsed during particle collisions. (BBC)
- 14 December
- MIT scientists develop an imaging system capable of capturing images at one trillion frames per second – fast enough to image individual light waves travelling through space. (MSNBC)
- Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and aerospace engineer Burt Rutan announce plans to develop a commercial spaceflight venture, dubbed Stratolaunch Systems, using a giant carrier aircraft to launch rockets from the upper atmosphere. The first uncrewed test flights of the system are expected to begin in 2016. (Huffington Post)
- 15 December
- American researchers extend the lifespan of fruit flies by up to 50% by tweaking genes in the flies' intestines. (GizMag) (Cell Metab.)
- Columbia University researchers publish a survey, began in 2003, revealing that same-sex marriage improves the health of gay men overall. The study recorded a reduction in depression, blood-pressure issues, and stress-related disorders. The reaction of lesbians was not studied. (BBC) (Am. J. Public Health)
- 16 December
- Chinese engineers demonstrate a chemical coating, based on titanium dioxide, which allows cotton clothes to clean themselves of stains when exposed to sunlight. (ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces)
- The Energy Saving Trust (EFT) reports the results of a trial of LED light fittings in social housing in the United Kingdom. The LED fittings offered significant improvements in efficiency over traditional light fittings, and also proved more popular with residents. The EFT predicts a substantial market share for LED lighting by 2015. (BBC) (EST)
- Brown University engineers reveal a system that can efficiently remove traces of toxic heavy metals from water. The technique is reportedly scalable and commercially viable. (Chem. Eng. J.)
- 17 December – American researchers report advances in solar cell efficiency, using quantum dot technology to capture additional electrons from photons striking solar panels. (CNET) (Science)
- 19 December – Scientists at the University of California report a major breakthrough in the cultivation of drought-tolerant crops. (PNAS)
- 20 December
- Scientists operating the Kepler Space Telescope report the discovery of the first truly Earth-sized extrasolar planets, Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, orbiting a Sun-like star, Kepler-20. (NASA) (Nature)
- A potential new malaria vaccine has shown promise in animal studies, according to Oxford University researchers. The team plans to start safety trials in human volunteers, following lab tests which showed the vaccine to be effective against all known strains of malaria. (BBC) (Nat. Commun.)
- Canadian scientists win approval to start human trials of an experimental HIV vaccine. (The Star)
- 21 December
- Researchers at the University of Notre Dame reveal an inexpensive "solar paint" that uses semiconducting nanoparticles to capture solar energy. (ACS Nano)
- According to a study published in PNAS, the introduction of non-native snakes into southern Florida swamps has devastated the population of small mammals in the region, with sightings of species such as raccoons declining by 99% since 2000. (Davidson Herpetology Laboratory) (ACS Nano)
- 22 December
- China conducts its 18th successful orbital launch of 2011, marking the first year that more Chinese than American spacecraft were launched. (Wired)
- University of Texas researchers report that solar cells can be made to yield more energy by exploiting a so-called "shadow state" of photons, doubling the number of electrons that may be harvested in the process. The discovery could allow the theoretical maximum efficiency of silicon solar cells to be increased from 31% to 44%. (GizMag) (Science)
- American researchers unveil self-repairing electronic chips that can repair broken circuits by releasing microcapsules of conductive liquid metal. (BBC) (Adv. Mater.)
- Harvard University researchers develop a method of supercooling that could generate the lowest temperatures yet achieved on Earth, potentially aiding the creation of quantum computers. (BBC) (Nature)
- Researchers at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) report the discovery of a new particle, dubbed Chib(3P). The discovery marks the LHC's first clear observation of a new particle since it became operational in 2009. (BBC) (arXiv)
- 27 December
- China activates its Compass satellite navigation system, a rival to the American Global Positioning System (GPS), offering navigation services on the Chinese mainland. The system, also known as Beidou-2, is expected to offer global coverage by 2020. (BBC)
- China unveils a prototype high-speed train capable of reaching speeds of over 310 mph (500 km/h), the first ultra-high-speed train developed by China without the aid of international partnerships. (Financial Times)
- 29 December
- South Korean researchers begin the development of microscopic robots capable of entering human blood vessels to treat illnesses. The microbots, which measure just 1 millimeter in diameter, are steered and propelled by externally induced magnetic fields. (Innovation News Daily)
- The wildlife trade monitor group Traffic reports that more ivory was seized in 2011 than in any year since 1989. Around 23 tonnes (51,000 lb) of ivory – representing at least 2,500 dead elephants – were intercepted in 13 operations, mostly in shipments intended for the Asian market. (BBC) (Traffic)
- Chemists at Harvard University report the creation of a self-assembling artificial cell membrane, formed from an oil/detergent emulsion mixed with copper ions.[13][14]
- 31 December – NASA's GRAIL-A satellite enters lunar orbit, to be joined the following day by its twin, GRAIL-B. The two spacecraft will map the Moon's gravitational field in unprecedented detail, with the aim of improving scientists' understanding of how the Moon formed. (NASA)
Premios
Abel Prize
- 2011 Abel Prize: John Milnor
Nobel Prize
- 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: Bruce Beutler, Jules A. Hoffmann and Ralph M. Steinman
- 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics: Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess
- 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Dan Shechtman
Fallecidos
January
- 1 January – Louise Reiss, American physician, co-ordinated the Baby Tooth Survey (b. 1920).
- 3 January – Anatoliy Skorokhod, Ukrainian mathematician (b. 1930).
- 4 January – Jack Richardson, British chemical engineer (b. 1920).
- 5 January – Jack Ertle Oliver, American scientist, provided seismic evidence supporting plate tectonics (b. 1923).
- 8 January – Willi Dansgaard, Danish paleoclimatologist and geophysicist (b. 1922).
- 17 January
- Shinichiro Sakurai, Japanese automotive engineer (b. 1929).
- Bernard Crossland, British engineer (b. 1923).
- 18 January – John Herivel, British historian of science and former cryptanalyst (b. 1918).
- 9 January – Ernest McCulloch, Canadian haematologist, pioneer of stem cell science (b. 1926).
- 25 January – Daniel Bell, American sociologist (b. 1919).
- 31 January – Charles Kaman, American aeronautical engineer (b. 1919).
February
- 2 February – Rodney Hill, British mathematician, pioneer of plasticity theory (b. 1921).
- 6 February – Ken Olsen, American engineer, Digital Equipment Corporation founder (b. 1926).
- 8 February – Bradley C. Livezey, American ornithologist (b. 1954).
- 10 February – Oleg Lavrentiev, Soviet physicist (b. 1926).
- 11 February – Christian J. Lambertsen, American physician and engineer, developer of the first SCUBA device (b. 1917).
- 13 February
- Nobutoshi Kihara, Japanese engineer, lead worker on the Sony Walkman (b. 1926).
- Shi Yafeng, Chinese geographer and glaciology expert (b. 1919).
- 15 February – Charles Epstein, American geneticist and Unabomber victim (b. 1933).
- 17 February – Richard F. Daines, American physician and health official (b. 1951).
- 19 February – Anson Rainey, American scholar of Near East history and Linguistics (b. 1930).
- 20 February – Frank A. McClintock, American mechanical engineer (b. 1921).
- 21 February – Edwin D. Kilbourne, American research scientist and influenza vaccine expert (b. 1920).
- 26 February – Zhu Guangya, Chinese nuclear physicist, helped develop China's first atomic bomb (b. 1924).
March
- 1 March – John M. Lounge, American astronaut (b. 1946).
- 3 March
- Venkatraman Radhakrishnan, Indian astronomer (b. 1929).
- James L. Elliot, American astronomer, discoverer of the rings of Uranus (b. 1943).
- 4 March
- Simon van der Meer, Dutch Nobel physicist (b. 1925).
- Chester Kahapea, American soil scientist, known as the "face of Hawaiian statehood" (b. 1945).
- Alenush Terian Armenian-Iranian astronomer and physicist (b. 1920).
- 5 March – Alberto Granado, Argentine founder of the Santiago School of Medicine (b. 1922).
- 6 March – Marie-Andrée Bertrand, Canadian criminologist (b. 1925).
- 8 March
- Victor Manuel Blanco, Puerto Rican astronomer (b. 1918).
- Iraj Afshar, Iranian scholar and bibliographer (b. 1925).
- 11 March – Donny George Youkhanna, Iraqi archaeologist and anthropologist (b. 1950).
- 13 March – David Rumelhart, American applied psychologist (b. 1942).
- 14 March
- Leslie Collier, British virologist (b. 1921).
- G. Alan Marlatt, American addiction medicine pioneer (b. 1941).
- 17 March – Murdoch Mitchison, British biologist (b. 1917).
- 19 March – Robert Ross, American physician and educator, founder of the Ross University School of Medicine and the University of Medicine and Health Sciences (b. 1918).
- 21 March – Bohumil Fišer, Czech cardiologist and health minister (b. 1943).
- 23 March
- Teodor Negoiţă, Romanian polar explorer and scientist (b. 1947).
- Jean Bartik, American mathematician and ENIAC programmer (b. 1924).
- 25 March – Thomas Eisner, German-American entomologist and pioneer of chemical ecology (b. 1929).
- 26 March
- Paul Baran, Polish Internet pioneer (b. 1926).
- Harry Coover, American superglue inventor (b. 1917).
April
- 2 April – John C. Haas, American chemical engineer (b. 1918).
- 3 April – William Prusoff, American pharmacologist and early AIDS drug pioneer (b. 1920).
- 5 April – Baruch Samuel Blumberg, American Nobel physician (b. 1925).
- 6 April – F. Gordon A. Stone, American chemist (b. 1925).
- 9 April – Jerry Lawson (engineer), American video game pioneer (b. 1940).
- 12 April – Jānis Polis, Latvian pharmacologist (b. 1938).
- 14 April – William Lipscomb, American Nobel chemist (b. 1919).
- 21 April
- Harold Garfinkel, American sociologist and pioneer of ethnomethodology (b. 1917).
- Max Mathews, American electrical engineer who arranged the synthesized musical accompaniment for "Daisy Bell" (b. 1926).
- 22 April – Merle Greene Robertson, American archaeologist whose drawings were used to crack the Maya script (b. 1913).
- 30 April – Daniel Quillen, American mathematician (b. 1940).
May
- 1 May
- Steven A. Orszag, American mathematician (b. 1943).
- J. Ernest Wilkins, Jr., American nuclear physicist (b. 1923).
- 2 May – David Sencer, American physician and former director of the CDC (b. 1924).
- 3 May – Robert Brout, American-born Belgian physicist (b. 1928).
- 5 May
- Leslie Audus, British botanist (b. 1911).
- Salomón Hakim, Colombian physician (b. 1929).
- 6 May – Horace Freeland Judson, American science historian (b. 1931).
- 7 May – Willard Boyle, Canadian Nobel physicist (b. 1924).
- 8 May – Corwin Hansch, American chemist (b. 1918).
- 9 May – Henry Feffer, American surgeon (b. 1918).
- 11 May – Maurice Goldhaber, Austrian-born American physicist (b. 1911).
- 12 May
- Noreen Murray, British molecular geneticist (b. 1935).
- Jack Keil Wolf, American electrical engineer (b. 1935).
- 19 May
- David H. Kelley, American-born Canadian archaeologist (b. 1924).
- Tom West, American computer engineer (b. 1939).
- 20 May – Steve Rutt, American engineer and early pioneer of video animation (b. 1945).
- 26 May – Irwin D. Mandel, American dentist (b. 1922).
- 28 May
- Leo Rangell, American psychiatrist (b. 1913).
- John H. Sinfelt, American chemical engineer in unleaded gasoline (b. 1931).
- 30 May – Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, American physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine (b. 1921).
June
- 3 June – Jack Kevorkian, American pathologist, advocate of euthanasia (b. 1928).
- 8 June – Anatole Abragam, Russian-born French physicist (b. 1914).
- 11 June – James Rahal, Jr., American physician, West Nile virus expert (b. 1933).[15]
- 16 June – Östen Mäkitalo, Swedish electrical engineer, cell phone inventor (b. 1938).
- 17 June – Nathan Sharon, Israeli biochemist (b. 1925).
- 18 June – Bob Pease, American electrical engineer (b. 1940).
- 20 June
- Robert H. Widmer, American aeronautical engineer (b. 1916).
- He Zehui, Chinese nuclear physicist (b. 1914).
- 23 June – Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, French Egyptologist (b. 1913).
- 26 June – Robert Morris, American cryptographer (b. 1932).
July
- 7 July – Ricardo Alegría, Puerto Rican anthropologist and archeologist (b. 1921).
- 8 July – William R. Corliss, American physicist (b. 1926).
- 11 July – Tom Gehrels, Dutch-born American astronomer (b. 1925).
- 15 July – John S. Toll, American physicist and university chancellor (b. 1923).
- 16 July – John Crook, British ethologist (b. 1930).
- 18 July – Rudiger D. Haugwitz, German-born American chemist (b. 1932).[16]
- 21 July
- Franz Alt, Austrian-born American mathematician (b. 1910).
- Harold J. Kosasky, Canadian-born American physician (b. c. 1928).[17]
- 23 July
- Robert Ettinger, American academic, known as "the father of cryonics" and a pioneer of transhumanism (b. 1918).
- Richard Pike, British chemist (b. 1950).
- 27 July – John Rawlins, British Surgeon Vice-Admiral (b. 1922).
- 28 July – Max Harry Weil, Swiss-born American physician (b. 1927).[18]
- 30 July – Daniel D. McCracken, American computer scientist (b. 1930).
August
- 2 August – Baruj Benacerraf, Venezuelan-born American Nobel immunologist (b. 1920).
- 6 August – Bernadine Healy, American physician (b. 1944).
- 7 August
- Charles C. Edwards, American physician (b. 1923).[19]
- Paul Meier, American mathematician (b. 1924).
- 11 August – George Devol, American inventor of the first industrial robot. (b. 1912).
- 14 August – Fritz H. Bach, Austrian-born American physician (b. 1934).[20]
- 18 August – Maurice M. Rapport, American neuroscience biochemist (b. 1919).
- 20 August
- William B. Kannel, American physician (b. 1923).[21][22]
- William I. Wolff, American physician and colonoscopy co-developer (b. 1916).[23]
- 26 August – Patrick C. Fischer, American computer scientist and Unabomber target (b. 1935).
- 27 August – Keith Tantlinger, American mechanical engineer (b. 1919).
- 28 August – Tony Sale, British computer museum curator (b. 1931).
- 29 August – Pauline Morrow Austin, American meteorologist (b. 1916).
September
- 5 September – Angioletta Coradini, Italian astrophysicist (b. 1946).
- 6 September – Bruce B. Dan, American physician (b. 1946).[24]
- 9 September – Valentino Braitenberg, Italian neuroscientist and cyberneticist (b. 1926).
- 14 September – Rudolf Mössbauer, German Nobel physicist (b. 1929).
- 16 September – William Hawthorne, British aeronautical engineer (b. 1913).
- 17 September – Julius Blank, American mechanical engineer (b. 1925).
- 20 September – Oscar Handlin, American historian (b. 1915).
- 21 September – Michael Julian Drake, American astronomer (b. 1946).
- 22 September – Margaret Ogola, Kenyan physician (b. 1958).
- 23 September – Carl Wood, Australian physician (b. 1929).
- 24 September – Richard Koch, American physician, advocate for phenylketonuria neonate screening (b. 1921).[25]
- 25 September – Wangari Maathai, Kenyan veterinary anatomist and Nobel Peace Prize winner (b. 1940).
- 26 September – Robert Blinc, Slovene physicist (b. 1933).
- 27 September – Wilson Greatbatch, American electrical engineer and the inventor of the implantable cardiac pacemaker (b. 1919).
- 28 September – Pierre Dansereau, Canadian biologist (b. 1911).
- 30 September
- Lee Davenport, American physicist (b. 1915).
- Ralph M. Steinman, Canadian Nobel immunologist (b. 1943).
October
- 1 October – J. Willis Hurst, American physician (b. 1920).[26]
- 3 October – Aden Meinel, American astronomer (b. 1922).
- 5 October – Steve Jobs, American computer engineer and technology entrepreneur, co-founder of Apple Inc. (b. 1955).
- 8 October – Milan Puskar, American pharmaceutical executive (b. 1934).
- 11 October – Bob Galvin, American electronics executive (b. 1922).
- 12 October – Dennis Ritchie, American computer scientist (b. 1941).
- 14 October – Morris Chafetz, American psychiatrist (b. 1924).[27]
- 23 October – Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematical biophysicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1917).
- 24 October – John McCarthy, American computer scientist and cognitive scientist (b. 1927).
- 30 October – David Utz, American surgeon (b. 1923).
November
- 2 November – John F. Burke, American physician (b. 1922).[28]
- 4 November – Norman Foster Ramsey, Jr., American Nobel physicist, key contributor to the atomic clock (b. 1915).
- 22 November – Lynn Margulis, American evolutionary biologist (b. 1938).
- 25 November – T. Franklin Williams, American physician and specialist in geriatrics (b. 1921).[29]
- 28 November – Lloyd J. Old, American physician (b. 1933).
December
- 5 December – Paul M. Doty, American biochemist (b. 1920).
- 14 December – Boris Chertok, Russian rocket scientist (b. 1912).
Ver también
- List of emerging technologies
- List of years in science
- 2011 in spaceflight
Referencias
- ^ International Year of Forests 2011 – Celebrating Forests for People. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
- ^ International Year of Chemistry 2011 – About IYC Archived 2011-10-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
- ^ The article was published in the March 3 issue of the journal.
- ^ RFC 6189. Zimmermann, Phil (2010-06-17). "Internet-Draft. ZRTP: Media Path Key Agreement for Unicast Secure RTP". Retrieved 2010-06-17.
- ^ Himmelstein, Daniel S; Romero, Ariel Rodriguez; Levernier, Jacob G; Munro, Thomas Anthony; McLaughlin, Stephen Reid; Greshake Tzovaras, Bastian; Greene, Casey S (2018). "Sci-Hub provides access to nearly all scholarly literature". eLife. 7. doi:10.7554/eLife.32822. ISSN 2050-084X. PMC 5832410. PMID 29424689.
- ^ Bohannon, John (28 April 2016). "Who's downloading pirated papers? Everyone". Science. 352 (6285): 508–512. doi:10.1126/science.aaf5664. PMID 27126020.
- ^ The paper was presented at the CLEO conference on 2 May, and published on 9 May.
- ^ Wolchover, Natalie (2012-08-30). "'Mysterious' Baltic Sea Object Is a Glacial Deposit". Live Science. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
- ^ "Neptune Completes First Orbit Since Its Discovery in 1846". Space.com.
- ^ https://www.nature.com/news/2011/111101/full/479015a.html
- ^ Kinnard, Christophe; Zdanowicz, Christian M.; Fisher, David A.; Isaksson, Elisabeth; De Vernal, Anne; Thompson, Lonnie G. (23 November 2011). "Reconstructed changes in Arctic sea ice over the past 1,450 years". Nature. 479 (7374): 509–512. Bibcode:2011Natur.479..509K. doi:10.1038/nature10581. PMID 22113692.
- ^ a b "Nasa's Curiosity rover successfully lands on Mars". BBC. 6 August 2012.
- ^ Budin, Itay; Devaraj, Neal K. (December 29, 2011). "Membrane Assembly Driven by a Biomimetic Coupling Reaction". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 134 (2): 751–753. doi:10.1021/ja2076873. PMC 3262119. PMID 22239722.
- ^ Staff (January 26, 2012). "Chemists create artificial cell membrane". kurzweilai.net. Archived from the original on February 26, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
- ^ Dr. James J. Rahal, 77, Virus Expert, Dies
- ^ Rudiger ‘Roger’ Haugwitz, chemist who used science to create art, dies at 79. Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-10.
- ^ Harold Kosasky, 83, pioneer in treatment of infertility. Boston Globe, 26 September 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-19.
- ^ Dr. Max Harry Weil dies at 84: pioneer in critical care. Articles.latimes.com (2011-08-06). Retrieved on 2011-10-10.
- ^ Dr. Charles C. Edwards, Influential F.D.A. Commissioner, Dies at 87
- ^ Fritz Bach, Who Aided Transplant Survival, Dies at 77
- ^ William Kannel, 87; force behind pioneering Framingham Heart Study. Boston.com (2011-09-18). Retrieved on 2011-10-10.
- ^ W. B. Kannel, Who Led Historic Heart Study, Dies at 87. Nytimes.com (2011-08-23). Retrieved on 2011-10-10.
- ^ Dr. William Wolff, Colonoscopy Co-Developer, Dies at 94
- ^ Bruce Dan, Who Helped Link Toxic Shock and Tampons, Is Dead at 64. The New York Times, 10 September 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ Dr. Richard Koch dies at 89; medical pioneer. Los Angeles Times, 8 October 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ Dr. J. Willis Hurst, Cardiologist to Lyndon B. Johnson, Dies at 90
- ^ Morris Chafetz, 87, Dies; Altered View of Alcoholism
- ^ Dr. John F. Burke, Dies at 89; Created Synthetic Skin
- ^ "T. Franklin Williams, Early Geriatric Specialist, Dies at 90". The New York Times, 3 December 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
enlaces externos
- "365 days: Nature's 10 – Ten people who mattered this year". Nature. 21 December 2011.
- "The Top 10 Science Stories of 2011". Scientific American. 22 December 2011.
- "Top Scientific Discoveries of 2011". Wired. 27 December 2011.