2011 in science

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The year 2011 in science involves some significant events.

Discoveries

January

• 5 January – A study from University of Pennsylvania searchers finds that a major cause of baldness may be related to an inability for stem cells to grow into fully-sized hair follicles. (FOX News) (J. Clin. Invest.)
• 6 January – The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, a peer reviewed journal of the American Psychological Association, announces that it will publish a paper featuring strong evidence of ESP, the ability to sense future events, in an upcoming issue. (CBS) (ABC) (J. Pers. Soc. Psychol.)
• 10 January – Kepler-10b, the first confirmed small rocky exoplanet, is discovered in the Draco constellation using NASA's Kepler space telescope. (BBC) (NASA)
• 12 January – Researchers publish results according to which salty snacks can affect the arteries in as little time as thirty minutes (MSNBC) (Am. J. Clin. Nutr.)
• 14 January – A study conducted at the Innsbruck Medical University in Austria reveals that stainless steel or titanium tongue piercings harbor more bacteria than plastic piercings. (Science News) (J. Adolesc. Health)
• 15 January – In a study funded by the US National Cancer Institute, researchers publish that smoking cigarettes damages the body in minutes rather than years. (BBC) (Chem. Res. Toxicol.)
• 18 January – Researchers in Australia announce that sharks are colourblind after examining the eyes of 17 separate shark species. (BBC) (Naturwissenschaften)
• 19 January – A Cochrane Library review suggests that antioxidants may improve male fertility. (BBC) (Cochrane Datb. Syst. Rev.)
• 20 January –
  • The World Meteorological Organization concludes that 2010 was the joint hottest year on record. (WMO)
  • Scientists achieve 10 billion bits of entanglement in silicon, a significant step in quantum computing. (PhysOrg) (Nature)
• 21 January – An article in Science reveals the discovery of a Darwinopterus pterosaur in China, "Mrs T", with an egg, thereby allowing the genders to be differentiated. (BBC) (Science)
• 24 January –
  • Researchers publish direct evidence that massive volcanic eruptions took place 250 million years ago, likely causing the biggest extinction event in Earth's history. (World.edu) (Nat. Geosci.)
  • An article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals the discovery of Linhenykus monodactylus, an alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur, in Inner Mongolia; a cousin to T. Rex, it is no bigger than a modern parrot and possesses only one claw on each forelimb. (BBC) (PNAS)
• 26 January – The number of Internet users worldwide reaches 2 billion. (PhysOrg)
• 30 January – Molybdenite could be 100,000 times more efficient than silicon transistors, and has better electrical properties than graphene. (Eurekalert) (Nat. Nanotechnol.)

February

• 2 February – A billion times brighter than previous X-ray sources, the Linac Coherent Light Source at Stanford University can revolutionize existing techniques in 3D analysis of biology, especially proteins and viruses. (Stanford)
• 3 February –
  • A blood test to detect vCJD is developed by British scientists, who say it could identify healthy people who are carriers of the disease. (BBC) (The Lancet)
  • Further data from the Kepler space telescope published in Nature reveal that the star Kepler-11, 2,000 light years from Earth, has a solar system including six planets which range between two and four-and-a-half times the radius of Earth, and between two and thirteen times its mass. Five orbit the star closer than Mercury orbits our Sun and all are likely to have atmospheres made of light gases and to be too hot to support life. The data also includes details of more than 1,000 additional exoplanet candidates. (BBC) (Nature)
• 7 February – Scientists at Oxford University successfully test a universal flu vaccine that could work against all known strains of the illness. (The Guardian) (Clin. Infect. Dis.)
• 9 February – Using 25 years of evidence, from over 470,000 participants, researchers show that sleep deprivation and disrupted sleep patterns can have long-term, serious health implications. (EurekAlert) ( Eur. Heart J.)
• 10 February – Scientists identify the root molecular cause of a variety of ills brought on by advanced age, including waning energy, failure of the heart and other organs, and metabolic disorders such as diabetes. (PhysOrg) (Nature)
• 11 February – Scientists show that stem cells delivered to rats via a nasal spray lead to an improvement of motor functions in rats with Parkinson's disease-like symptoms. (Neuroscience News) (Rejuven. Res.)
• 15 February – A significant milestone in artificial intelligence is reached, as the Watson IBM supercomputer defeats two humans on the Jeopardy! quiz show. (Wired)
• 16 February – Researchers find a way of manipulating tiny swimming robots, just 1.3 millimetres long, using electric currents in water. (New Scientist) (American Physical Society)
• 17 February – Scientists build the world's first anti-laser, capable of absorbing an incoming laser beam entirely. (BBC) (Science)
• 17 February – A hummingbird like Nano Air Vehicle is demonstrated for the first time for a DARPA contract to create small surveillance aircraft. (AeroVironment)
• 19 February – Scientists reveal the results of a cosmic census, which suggest there are at least 50 billion planets in the Milky Way, at least 500 million of which are in the Goldilocks zone where life could exist. (PhysOrg)
• 21 February – New research indicates bilingual speakers are better at multitasking because they are better at editing out irrelevant information; this overturns previous assumptions of bilingualism causing confusion especially in children. (PennState) (AAAS)
• 22 February –
  • The first complete millimeter-scale computing system is developed. (EurekAlert) (ISSCC)
  • Chinese scientists calculate quantum law of protein folding that explains the impact of temperature on folding. (TechReview) (arXiv)
  • The first full color quantum dot prototype display is unveiled by Samsung. (TechReview) (Nat. Photon.)
  • Stanford researchers create new stretchable solar cells that could power artificial electronic 'super skin', capable of detecting chemicals and biological molecules. The potential applications include clothing, robotics, prosthetic limbs and more. (Stanford University)
• 28 February –
  • Scientists at Yale University demonstrate that bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) can be blow-molded into shapes that would be impossible with normal metals without loss in strength, resistance to impact or durability. (Science Daily) (Mater. Today)
  • A pacemaker the size of a Tic Tac is announced by Medtronic. (TechReview)

March

• 1 March –
  • UK researchers demonstrate the highest-resolution optical microscope ever - capable of imaging objects down to just 50 nanometres (50 billionths of a metre). (BBC) (Nat. Commun.)
  • Scientists have determined how to generate a backward-pulling force from a forward-propagating beam, effectively creating a form of 'tractor beam'. (TechReview) (arXiv)
  • Swiss researchers discover a gene in wasps that allow them to reproduce asexually. (PhysOrg) (Curr. Biol.)
• 4 March – A groundbreaking mouse study indicates the liver not the brain could be the source of "amyloid" brain plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease. (EurekAlert) (J. Neurosci. Res.)
• 8 March – The world's first tissue-engineered urethras are successfully used. (BBC)
• 14 March – Archeologists believe that they have found the lost city of Atlantis in mud swamps near Cadiz, Spain. They theorize that a tsunami struck the settlement, and a television special on the National Geographic channel will investigate their findings. (MSNBC) (FOX News)
• 16 March – Scientists report the first successful use of microcarriers to bring anti-cancer drug up to the targeted area in the liver of a living rabbit. (EurekAlert) (Biomaterials)
• 18 March – Nasa's MESSENGER spacecraft successfully enters into orbit around the planet Mercury - the first probe to do so. (BBC)
• 20 March – A new way of delivering drugs to the brain, using the body's own exosomes, is developed by scientists - overcoming a major barrier to the delivery of potential new drugs for many neurological diseases including Alzheimer's. (BBC) (Nat. Biotechnol.)

Deaths

• 26 February - Zhu Guangya (b.1924), Chinese nuclear physicist, helped develop nation's first atomic bomb. [1]

See also

• List of years in science