2017 in news: The science events that shaped the year

This year marked the start of a new era in astronomy: one in which scientists can study celestial phenomena through the radiation they emit and the ripples they create in space-time. On 16 October, researchers revealed the first observations of the collision of two neutron stars. This confirmed detailed …

Dr. Zi Yang Jiang, a head and neck surgeon at University of Texas Health ScienceCenter at Houston, said he sees one or two cases arising from repressed sneezes each year, making them an “exceedingly rare” occurrence. Jiang said it was bizarre that a single sneeze could generate enough force to …

Eugenics has been science’s toxic brand since the end of World War II. The point was driven home yet again recently when Toby Young, appointee to the UK’s newly established Office of Students, was denounced in the House of Commons for having written favourably of “progressive eugenics”. Young …

Scientists hope to narrow down estimates of when and how people expanded into the region beginning around 15,000 years ago, and to clarify the timing and routes of subsequent migrations. The work might also help to explain the genetic diversity seen in today’s Native American populations.

The spectacular total solar eclipse that swept the United States dominated headlines as it delighted scientists and the public alike in August 2017 (the above image of the Moon transiting across the Sun was taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft in the extreme ultraviolet spectrum).

“You could read articles 20 and 30 years ago about the promise of gene therapy, but there was no real delivery on that promise until we could work out the practical problems of delivering a gene therapy in a living human being instead of a test tube,” Grupp said. “The field is really gathering amazing …

One of the most popular science articles during 2017 looked into nuclear fusion – the ideal of low cost, clean energy. In a significant development a collaboration between Rice University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Chile scientists reported on how atoms can be …

The main culprits are in social science and medical research. Both fields came under questioning when reviews of published studies showed that fewer than half were readily reproducible. The source of the problem doesn’t seem to be that scientistsare making up data, but that too many are making big …

The much-hyped technology behind Bitcoin, known as blockchain, has intoxicated investors around the world and is now making tentative inroads into science, spurred by broad promises that it can transform key elements of the research enterprise. Supporters say that it could enhance reproducibility and …

In this photo taken Nov. 23, 2015, a student leans on a table in the cafeteria during first period at Roosevelt High School in Seattle. More school districts around the U.S. are heeding the advice of scientists who have long said that pushing back school start times can improve student health or academic …