It has been a strange, dramatic, intriguing and sometimes alarming year in science. Some of the most interesting positive stories of the year are here. The editors of Scientific American wrote in an August editorial that exploration is science in its most basic form and that they hope to use the answers for the betterment of everything on Earth.
The key functions of the human body are performed by the proteins. For many years, researchers have been trying to figure out the structure of individual proteins. The artificial intelligence program AlphaFold predicted the 3-D structures of 200 million proteins. The CEO of DeepMind, the company that developed AlphaFold, spoke with Scientific American about the program and its future.
There is a growing trend of wildlife enthusiasts on social media promoting accurate information and shooting down myths about animals. Locals are learning which snakes are dangerous and which can be removed from the premises. People are learning to be less afraid of their neighbors by engaging with such groups.
The first image of Sagittarius A* was released this year. It was first proposed in the 1960's. It took a global network of observational facilities working as one virtual unit, called the event horizon telescope, to pierce the 26,000 light years of gas and dust, distorted space and destroyed matter that shrouded its form. Nothing can return from the doughnutlike halo of microwaves streaming from just outside the black hole's event horizon.
Researchers are getting closer to understanding stretches of ocean that are shrouded in white light. While these "milky seas" were considered tall tales for more than a century, researchers eventually learned to discern the phenomenon using night-vision satellites and are ready to dispatch divers to explore when a long- lasting one comes along. The bioluminescence illuminates what we don't know about the ocean.
A failing river near Seattle was revived thanks to researchers. They restored its underresearched "gut", which is a layer of stones and silt between a riverbed and the ground. A deep dive into the process shows how a relatively minor addition to restoration can have a big impact on the environment.
A record-setting boost in renewable energy use helped keep global carbon dioxide emissions from spiking this year despite a rise in natural gas prices. 600 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions could have been avoided by energy sources. Coal generated less power in the U.S. this year than these sources do.
Researchers at the museum are working with Indigenous groups to protect artifacts from harm. Thanks to close collaboration with tribal officials, such models can be used for preservation and education, as well as the production of physical replicas for display.
After decades of ballooning costs and production delays, the most powerful space observatory ever built was launched on Christmas 2021. The James Webb Space Telescope released its first full set of images this summer, showing awe-inspiring vistas of the universe we call home.
This year we learned that dogs eyes are well up with tears when they are returned to their owners, a reaction that seems to spark humans' care for them.
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