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Science 2011
From the last blank shuttlecock missionary post and spot Earth - size of it planet revolve another star to the potential detection of the elusive Higgs boson particle and some extreme ( and very costly ) weather , 2011 was filled with skill , albeit sometimes fateful . Here are 11 of the most compelling and significant science stories to split up this year .
Tough Times
The U.S. may have exited the receding this year , but the amount of metre Americans go without work has accomplish a disc grade . And psychologists saythis does n’t bode wellfor our aroused health . Census information also showsincreases in the nation ’s impoverishment ratein late year . Americans feel theirfinancial state of affairs was getting worse , not good , and even their petsare suffering . The Great niche of 2007 to 2009 hit all children firmly , but seems to have caused the largest increase in puerility poverty amongLatino kids .
Killer Contaminated Cantaloupes
An outbreak of listeriosis , an infection have by the bacteriumListeria monocytogenes , spread by contaminated cantaloupe infected 146 people and killed 30 this fall , the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in December . wellness officials recommendwashing melon particularly cantaloupesbefore slice them to take out any bacteria clinging to the rind .
The Last Space Shuttle
Thirty years after launching its first blank shuttle , Columbia , NASAended its space bird program in July witha net mission by the shuttle Atlantis . NASA has no prompt plans to replace the shuttles , but is instead focusing on manned voyages beyond blue orbit , such as to the moon and Mars . In the contiguous future tense , a combining of commercial-grade ventures , whose craft are still being developed , and other nation ’s wiliness , such as the Russian Soyuz and Progress , are anticipate to take over the project of ferry American astronauts and experimentation back and forth to the International Space Station ( ISS ) .
Mutant Flu Virus Created in Lab
Bird flu , also known as H5N1 , seldom infect people , but when it does the results are often pestilent : Of the 600 cases reported since 2003 , about 60 per centum have been fatal . To well understand how the computer virus might change into a form that could well spread between the great unwashed , two groups of scientists falsify the virus in their labs , create the sort of pathogen that could start apandemic .
Biosecurity functionary have call for crucial item of their piece of work to be keep under wrapper — to prevent it from falling into the incorrect hands — and some have questionedwhether the work should have been done at all .
Japan’s Earthquake, Tsunami & Nuclear Crisis
On March 11 , an earthquake , measure a magnitude of 8.9 , struck off the glide of Japan . The earthquake was the most powerful to ever hit the state , and it was follow by the walls of water – stimulate by the subsequent tsunami – which wreaked havoc . These disasters correct off the worst atomic exigency since Chernobyl when monumental amounts of radiation were released from nuclear power plants . Reactors at the Fukushima atomic power plantmelted down , and the surrounding area evacuate .
Alarming Firsts in the Arctic
The ozone hole over the Antarctic is nothing new , although scientists expect it to go away later this C . But this yr , an Arctic counterpartemerged for the first time , thanks to unusually inhuman temperature in the stratosphere plus footle ozone - destroy pollutants . Arctic sea methamphetamine hydrochloride also melted — either toits lowest summer extenton record , orits second low , depending on who did the measuring .
Exceeding the Speed of Light?
Reports that physicist had accelerated subatomic particles , called neutrinos , quicker than the speed of lightappeared to upset modern physics and even the nature of causality . Einstein ’s Theory of Special Relativity givesa special status to the pep pill of lightas a cosmic speed limit . Anything outgo the speed of igniter would journey backwards time , interfere with the basic normal that cause precedes effect , called causality . However , this all may have been a false alarm . More recent evidenceindicates the neurtrinos never journey that quickly , though the jury is still out .
Planets Like Ours
uranologist fall a step nearer to place a habitable , worldly concern - like satellite , when they foundtwo , about Earth - sized planetsorbiting a star 950 tripping - days away . These are the smallest , most Earth - size alien world known . Their near proximity to their Lord’s Day entail they are too raging to be habitable , however .
Our Ancestors' Secrets
It seems our ancestors not only mated with Neanderthals , they also got it on with another , even more cryptical archaic hominin species . Calledthe Denisovans , these hoi polloi live about 40,000 age ago and are known to us only from a few off-white fragment and teeth . Research has uncover Denisovan genes inmodern East Asianand Pacific Island universe .
Closing in on the Higgs Particle
physicist say they areclosing in on an baffling subatomic particle , called the Higgs boson , that could confirm their hypothesis on where mass comes from . The Higgs boson is thought to be tie to a discipline ( the Higgs field ) , which is responsible for give all other particles their mass .
The annual round of climate talks is underway in Durban, South Africa, where negotiators are attempting to forge a deal that will reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and so mitigate the effects of climate change.
The center of circulation of Tropical Storm Lee, as seen from a WC-130J aircraft.
A homeless man sits on the street.
Space shuttle Atlantis (STS-135) touches down at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), completing its 13-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program, early Thursday morning, 20 December 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
How does Bird Flu spread? Airborne? Food-borne?
Portions of houses and an overturned boat afloat in the Pacific.
A baby polar bear follows its mother across Arctic ice.
If subatomic particles called neutrinos can go faster than the speed of light, as scientists reported Sept.22, it would require a rethinking of the basics of physics, including the possibility of time travel.
The Kepler space telescope has spied evidence of two Earth-sized worlds in a star system 950 light-years away.
A molar tooth belonging to a Denisovan, thought to be a new branch of ancient humans.
This track is an example of simulated data modelled for the ATLAS detector on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The Higgs boson is produced in the collision of two protons at 14 TeV and quickly decays into four muons, a type of heavy electron that is not absorbed by the detector. The tracks of the muons are shown in yellow.
