'Nature' Journal Unveils Its Science Breakthroughs Of 2014
These Were 2014's Biggest Stories In Science According To 'Nature'
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The Rosetta space mission and its dramatic landing on a comet 300 million miles from Earth tops this year's list of breakthrough achievements selected by the prestigious American journal Science.
Marking the high point of the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission, the Philae probe bounced onto the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last month.
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Data from both the mothership orbiter and Philae are already starting to shed new light on the formation and evolution of comets.
Science news editor Tim Appenzeller said: "Philae's landing was an amazing feat and got the world's attention. But the whole Rosetta mission is the breakthrough. It's giving scientists a ringside seat as a comet warms up, breathes and evolves."
Rosetta has already detected water, methane and hydrogen in the gas surrounding the comet.
The journal's list of nine other 2014 breakthroughs was as follows - check theirs out, then read ours here.
'Nature' Top Science 2014
The Dinosaur-Bird Transition(01 of08)
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A series of papers that compared the fossils of early birds and dinosaurs to modern birds revealed how certain dinosaur lineages developed small, lightweight body plans. This allowed them to evolve into many types of birds and survive the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs around 66 million years ago. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Neuromorphic Chips(02 of08)
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Mimicking the architecture of a human brain, computer engineers at IBM and elsewhere rolled out the first large-scale "neuromorphic" chips this year. The chips are designed to process information in ways that are more akin to living brains.
Young Blood Fixes Old(03 of08)
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Scientists demonstrated that blood from a young mouse can rejuvenate the muscles and brains of older mice. The findings have led to a clinical trial in which Alzheimer's patients are receiving plasma from young donors. (credit:Sebastian Kaulitzki via Getty Images)
Expanding the Genetic Alphabet(04 of08)
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Researchers have engineered an E. coli bug that harbours two additional "letters" - X and Y - in addition to the normal G, T, C, and A that make up the standard building blocks of DNA. Such synthetic bacteria cannot reproduce outside the laboratory, but they may be used to create designer proteins with "unnatural" amino acids.
Getting Robots to Cooperate(05 of08)
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New software and interactive robots that, for example, instruct swarms of termite-inspired bots to build a simple structure or prompt a thousand quarter-sized machines to form squares, letters, and other two-dimensional shapes are proving that robots can work together without human supervision. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Manipulating Memory(06 of08)
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Using optogenetics - a technique that manipulates neuronal activity with beams of light - scientists showed they could manipulate specific memories in mice. Deleting existing memories and implanting false ones, they went so far as to switch the emotional content of a mouse memory from good to bad, and vice versa. (credit:HENNING DALHOFF via Getty Images)
Beta Cells(07 of08)
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Two groups pioneered two different methods for growing cells that closely resemble beta cells - the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas - in the laboratory, giving researchers an unprecedented opportunity to study diabetes.
CubeSats(08 of08)
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Although they've been blasted into space for more than a decade now, cheap satellites with sides just 10 centimetres square, called CubeSats, really took off in 2014. Once considered educational tools for college students, these miniature satellites have now started to do some real science. (credit:thebadastronomer/Flickr)