Image: Ryan Reid
Many more than 10 events took place during 2012 that reveal how science and technology play integral roles in our lives. As a broad topic, climate change took center stage, offering many possible choices, including efforts to combat it head-on with a rogue geoengineering experiment meant to suck carbon dioxide out of the air as well as efforts to develop clean energy, such as the creation of microbes that convert seaweed into ethanol.
The Internet and other communications technology still creates challenges for policymakers, companies and individuals. Among the most notable controversies was the one centered on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which led to a blackout protest by some well-trafficked sites, such as Wikipedia.
And research in basic science continues to assault conventional thinking, such as the reported discovery of ovarian stem cells. If confirmed, the finding would overturn the long-held notion that women are born with all the eggs they will ever have.
Alas, cultural norms and conventions dictate that we stick to 10 items; channeling Spinal Tap and dialing it up to 11 would hardly help. Feel free to discuss your own picks in the comments section below.
» Begin the Countdown of the Top 10 Science Stories of 2012
| The Top 10 Science Stories of 2012 |
Next » 10. Daredevils Reach New Highs and Lows |
See what we're tweeting about
7 Comments
Add CommentSome of these choices seem odd.. Hard to believe Hurricane Sandy, despite being a big news story, is the top Science news of 2012.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisReading these kind of feels like "sensational" was more important than "news" in the choices.
FYI: The comment about ovarian stem cells (" If confirmed, the finding would overturn the long-held notion that women are not born with all the eggs they will ever have.") should be corrected. The long-held notion is that women ARE born with all the eggs they will ever have.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSharp eyes! Thanks for catching that--it is now fixed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSincerely,
Philip Yam
Managing Editor, Online
A big storm is not science. Neither is a guy jumping out of an airplane. Unless, of course, the guy predicted that he would cause the big storm by jumping out of the plane. There was plenty of real science this year; why demean it by implying that newsworthiness is somehow comparable.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLooks like we've got some grumpy-pants saying these stories aren't science. If you think Baumgardner just jumped out of a balloon from that altitude without doing some physics beforehand, you are dead wrong (and he would be dead-dead) and I think any meteorologist would say there is plenty of science behind the weather. Just because the stories didn't go into great detail doesn't mean there isn't science there. Take a chill pill.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSorry but to put a huricane over the discovery of the Higgs Boson is laughable at best. It doesn't even mention CERN for 'gods' sake.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBesides it was the European weather center that first predicted superstorm Sandy would hit New York. While the main US forecasting model GFS had it going for the Atlantic untill days later. Such an early prediction by ECMWF is what is really impressive science here. Only in things like Star Trek did we imagine humans one day being able to so accurately being able to predict a storm. Certain US forecasters have called for a noble prize for the European Weather Center for this breakthough of early predictions.
And what about the discovery of a planet at Alpha Centaury by ESO the European Southern Observatory for big science of the year. A planet at the closest star system to earth. Even NASA labeled this the greatest astronomical discovory in a decade. Not to mention all the other planets confirmed with HARPS this year even in the habitable zone of some stars.
The biggest science story of 2012 has yet to happen.That is of course that the World is coming to an end on 12-21-12 is a hoax.Hopefully all the writers and scientist predicting this will be out of a job.Publishing the 10 top stories of 2012 before the end of the year is jumping the gun a bit isn't it.As for the Sandy hurricane,the statement that it the first to do so coming from the south and then turning west and hitting the eastern shoreline is a untrue.Although it was a big storm,it was still only a Category 1 hurricane when it came ashore.The reason there was so much damage was because there were so many buildings built directly on or nearby the shore that weren't designed to survive a hurricane.There have been many other storms with a much greater loss of life.In fact the tornadoes that hit earlier in year the took many more lives.Don't get me wrong the loss of life anywhere is terrible.I feel for the families that lost kin,friends,and property.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this