This article lists a number of significant events in science that have occurred in the first quarter of 2012.
Events
January
1 January –
GRAIL-B satellite successfully enters lunar orbit, joining its twin spacecraft GRAIL-A. The two satellites will study the Moon's gravitational field, generating a detailed map of its fluctuations to help scientists understand how the Moon formed.[1]
stem cells, according to findings published in Nature Communications.[4][5]
4 January
American scientists report that a
parasitic species of fly which compels honey bees to abandon their hives may be responsible for a global honey bee die-off that has decimated hives around the world. Honey bees are crucial pollinators, and their rapidly diminishing population may have severe effects on human agriculture.[6]
tensile strength than steel. If available in bulk quantities, the silk could be used to produce high-strength medical sutures and lightweight forms of body armor.[7]
Oxford University report promising results in human trials of a prototype hepatitis C vaccine.[9]
Scientists at Cornell University use a specialised lens to entirely cloak an object from view for 40 trillionths of a second by altering the speed of light.[10]
Classified documents are leaked detailing a range of advanced
SCUBA divers and a heat-based weapon designed to compel crowds to disperse.[11]
5 January
African-American astronaut, is selected to head the DARPA- and NASA-sponsored 100-Year Starship project, which aims to conduct research into the technological and human elements needed for crewed interstellar travel.[12]
American scientists report that they have bred the first-ever monkeys grown from cells taken from different embryos. Such "chimeric" hybrids could give valuable insights into the development of human embryos.[13]
A team of American, French and Italian researchers demonstrate working transistors made from cotton fibers, doped with gold nanoparticles and a conductive polymer. The invention could permit the creation of a range of electronic-fabric devices, including clothing capable of measuring pollutants, T-shirts that display dynamic information, and carpets that sense how many people are crossing them.[15]
6 January
The human brain's ability to function can start to deteriorate as early as
Researchers in California develop a cheap plastic capable of removing large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air. The new material could enable the development of "artificial trees" that lower atmospheric concentrations of CO2 in an effort to lessen the effects of climate change.[19]
Climate change, in the form of reduced snowfall in mountains, is having a major impact on mountainous plant and bird communities, through the increased ability of elk to stay at high elevations over winter and consume plants, according to a study in Nature Climate Change.[21][22]
11 January
An international team of astronomers report that each star in the
gravitational microlensing to discover the gravitational effects of planets orbiting distant stars.[23][24][25]
American astronomers discover three rocky exoplanets smaller than Earth, the smallest such worlds yet found, orbiting a red dwarf star 130 light-years from Earth.[26]
Researchers report the discovery of a natural hormone that has a similar effect to exercise on muscle tissue – burning calories, improving insulin processing, and perhaps boosting strength.[27][28]
German scientists convert a gold sphere just 60 nanometres in diameter into an ultra-sensitive
listening device, potentially allowing the sounds of bacteria and other single-celled organisms to be recorded.[34][35]
14 January – Researchers at the
myelin sheath damage in ageing mice with multiple sclerosis by injecting the blood of younger mice into them, reactivating the older mice's regenerative stem cells.[36][37]
15 January – Russia's
sample return spacecraft, which became stranded in orbit after a post-launch malfunction in November 2011, re-enters Earth's atmosphere.[38]
18 January
Astronomers report the discovery of the most distant dwarf galaxy yet found, approximately 10 billion light-years away.[39][40]
A British amateur astronomer discovers a new Neptune-sized exoplanet, just days after the BBC's Stargazing Live program makes a public appeal for volunteers to assist scientists in the search for potential exoplanets. Over 100,000 volunteers are reportedly taking part in the ongoing search.[41]
Archaeologists find a novel tulip-shaped fossil, formally named Siphusauctum gregarium, in the
quantum computer capable of performing calculations without revealing any of the data involved, using encoded strings of photons designed to appear random. This method of "blind quantum cryptography" may permit sensitive data to be processed and transferred without any danger of interception or decryption, leading to ultra-secure cloud computing.[46][47]
NASA data shows that in 2011, temperatures in the Arctic rose beyond the record established in 2010 – setting a new record.[48]
nanoparticles can be successfully engineered to mimic part of the body's immune system, improving its response to vaccines.[51][52]
An international team of scientists concludes that anthropogenic
CO2 emissions over the last 100 to 200 years have already raised ocean acidity far beyond the range of natural variations.[53][54]
23 January
South Korean scientists develop touchscreens that can recognise the existence and concentration of DNA molecules placed on them. The invention could allow the development of smartphones with the ability to diagnose users' medical conditions.[55][56]
blindness in two volunteers, and showed no signs of any adverse effects.[57][58]
A study in Japan finds that green tea can significantly reduce disability in the elderly, likely due to its antioxidant content.[70][71]
26 January – American researchers successfully "cloak" a three-dimensional object, making it invisible from all angles, for the first time. However, the demonstration works only for waves in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum.[72][73]
27 January
An international team of scientists reports that graphene, already widely known for its conductive properties, is also able to selectively filter gases and liquids. The material could thus potentially find use in industrial distillation and water purification.[74][75][76]
A study published in the journal Carcinogenesis shows that in both cell lines and mouse models, grape seed extract (GSE) kills head and neck cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells unharmed.[77][78]
Using an airborne
LIDAR system, scientists produce the most detailed 3D image of the Amazon rainforest yet recorded, allowing the accurate measurement of the rainforest's ecosystem and rate of deforestation.[79]
2012 BX34, an asteroid between 8 and 11 metres (26 and 36 ft) across, passes within 60,000 kilometres of the Earth, performing one of the closest asteroid flybys yet recorded.[80][81]
British animators develop a new algorithmic method of creating highly realistic CGI trees, allowing films and video games to easily display realistic 3D foliage.[82][83]
29 January – Using
neurones with brain tissue genetically identical to the person's brain. The breakthrough could allow new treatments for mental illnesses to be accurately tested without endangering patients.[84]
30 January
A United Nations report warns that time is running out to ensure there is enough food, water and energy for a rapidly rising world population. By 2030, the world will need at least 50 percent more food, 45 percent more energy and 30 percent more water, according to estimates.[85]
The British
supersonic missiles within an area of 500 square miles (1,300 km2). The system is likely to enter service by 2017.[86]
Ozone from anthropogenic air pollution in North America leads to the annual loss of 1.2 million tonnes of wheat in Europe alone, according to a study published by British universities.[89][90]
A NASA study reports that changes in
global warming. The sun's total solar irradiance has in recent years dipped to the lowest levels recorded during the satellite era.[91][92]
American scientists successfully demonstrate a method of decoding thoughts by studying activity in the human brain's superior temporal gyrus, which is involved in linguistic processing. Using this method, a device which reads and transmits the thoughts of brain-damaged patients could become a reality in the future.[95][96][97]
Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake, has almost completely dried up due to a combination of severe drought and the impact of the recently built Three Gorges Dam.[99]
February
1 February – Researchers report that the eruption of supervolcanoes could be predicted several decades before the event by detecting the seismic and chemical signs of a massive magma buildup.[100][101]
Astronomers report the discovery of a large exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of a star 22 light-years distant. This is the fourth potentially life-supporting exoplanet discovered since May 2011.[103]
Researchers reportedly create the world's thinnest pane of glass, a sheet of silicon and oxygen just three atoms wide. The glass formed in an accidental reaction when the scientists were synthesizing graphene on copper-covered quartz.[104][105]
3 February
The European Southern Observatory successfully activates its Very Large Telescope (VLT) by linking four existing optical telescopes to operate as a single device. The linked VLT is the largest optical telescope yet built, with a combined mirror diameter of 130 metres (430 ft).[106]
Physicists at Germany's
Max Planck Institute unveil a microscope that can image living brain cells as they function inside a living animal.[107][108]
American scientists demonstrate a medical procedure that may allow patients with nerve damage to recover within weeks, rather than months or years. The procedure makes use of a cellular mechanism similar to that which repairs nerve axons in invertebrates.[109][110]
MIT researchers develop high-temperature photonic crystals capable of efficiently converting heat to electricity, potentially allowing the creation of pocket-sized microreactors with ten times the efficiency and lifespan of current commercial batteries. As photonic crystals are already a relatively mature technology, the new invention could be commercialised in as little as two years.[111]
A Lancet study reports that global malaria deaths may be badly underestimated, giving a revised 2010 malaria death toll of 1.24 million. By contrast, the World Health Organization estimated that 655,000 people died of malaria in 2010.[112][113]
4 February – Dutch doctors successfully fit an 83-year-old woman with an artificial jaw made using a 3D printer. This operation, the first of its kind, could herald a new era of accurate, patient-tailored artificial transplants.[114]
6 February
After nearly 20 years of intermittent drilling, Russian scientists reportedly break through to the surface of the subterranean Lake Vostok, buried 2.5 miles (4.0 km) under the Antarctic ice. The lake, which has not been uncovered for over 15 million years, may harbour a unique prehistoric ecosystem.[115][116]
Scientists report that rapid declines in some British and European
ladybird species are being caused by the spread of the invasive harlequin species.[119][120]
The entire
Denisova hominin – has been decoded from a fossil.[121]
8 February – NASA data reveals that the total land ice lost from Greenland, Antarctica and Earth's glaciers and ice caps between 2003 and 2010 totalled about 4.3 trillion tons (1,000 cubic miles), adding about 0.5 inches (13 millimeters) to global sea levels. Such a quantity of ice would be sufficient to cover the entire United States to a depth of 1.5 feet (0.46 meters).[122]
9 February – Researchers at
amyloid plaque from the brain within 72 hours.[123][124]
10 February – Scientists at the
optical computers and ultra-high-resolution imaging systems.[125][126]
13 February
A new UN report warns that 24 percent of global land area has declined in productivity over the past 25 years due to unsustainable land-use, and soil erosion rates are about 100 times greater than nature can replenish.[127][128]
carbon-fiber-based structural battery capable of being integrated into a device's framework, reducing weight while maintaining structural strength and power capacity.[130]
14 February – In a groundbreaking human trial, American scientists report that damaged heart tissue in
heart attack patients can be repaired with infusions of the patient's own stem cells. The treatment halved the amount of extant scar tissue within a year.[131][132]
16 February – The speed at which someone walks may predict their likelihood of developing dementia later in life, according to researchers in the US.[134][135]
20 February – Scientists report regenerating Silene stenophylla from 32,000-year-old remains. This surpasses the previous record of 2,000 years for the oldest material used to regenerate a plant.[136][137]
22 February
Scientists have extended the life of male mice by 15%, using an enzyme called SIRT6.[138][139]
Engineers at Stanford University reveal a wirelessly powered, self-propelled medical device that can travel through the bloodstream to deliver drugs, perform diagnostics or microsurgeries.[140][141]
Researchers show that sirtuin, a class of proteins, is directly linked to longevity in mammals.[144][145]
24 February – British-Italian researchers demonstrate a giant 3D printer capable of constructing a full-sized house in a single 24-hour session. The machine, which uses sand and a chemical binder as its working material, prints structures from the ground up, including stairs, partition walls and even piping cavities.[146]
26 February
Researchers publish the first images of the charge distribution in a single molecule, precisely showing the motion of
electrons. The observed distribution apparently corresponds closely with predictive models.[147][148]
It may be possible to one day create an "unlimited" supply of
Kairuku waitaki. Standing nearly 5 feet (1.5 m) tall, Kairuku grebneffi is the largest penguin ever discovered.[151][152]
28 February
IBM announces a breakthrough in quantum computing, demonstrating a qubit microchip that can preserve its quantum states up to four times longer than previous designs.[153][154]
1 March – New research concludes that the Earth's oceans may be growing more acidic at a faster rate than at any time in the past 300 million years.[158][159]
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory report data suggesting that the elusive hypothesized Higgs boson ("God particle", with a mass of 115 to 135 GeV/c2) may have been detected.[165][166]
9 March – US researchers announce a breakthrough in treating
AIDS, using a cancer drug to attack HIV inside certain immune-system cells, which were previously difficult to reach with treatments.[173][174]
12 March
Researchers at the
3D printer that can print at the nano-scale and is orders of magnitude faster than previous devices.[175]
A diet high in red meat can shorten life expectancy by increasing the risk of death from cancer and heart problems, according to a study of more than 120,000 people by researchers at Harvard Medical School. Substituting red meat with fish, chicken or nuts lowered the risks, the study found.[176][177]
13 March
A California-based company has developed solar panels that are half the price of today's cheapest cells, and therefore cheap enough to challenge fossil fuels.[178]
Scientists have identified a potential drug that speeds up trash removal from the cell's recycling center, the
A fly species, kept in complete darkness for 57 years (1,400 generations), showed genetic alterations that occurred as a result of environmental conditions, offering clear evidence of evolution.[181][182]
A pill which doubles the length of time that patients with advanced skin cancer can survive has gone on sale in Britain for the first time.[183]
America's coastlines are even more vulnerable to sea level rise than previously thought, according to a pair of new studies. Up to 32% more real estate could be affected by a 1-meter rise in sea level, while the population exposed to rising water is 87% higher than previously estimated.[184][185][186]
A process to "unprint" toner ink from paper has been developed by engineers at the University of Cambridge, using short laser pulses to erase words and images.[187][188]
15 March – American scientists use a particle accelerator to send a coherent neutrino message through 780 feet of rock. This marks the first use of neutrinos for communication, and future research may permit binary neutrino messages to be sent immense distances through even the densest materials, such as the Earth's core.[189][190]
16 March – Physicists found no discernible difference between the speed of a neutrino and the
solar panels installed in the US more than doubled from 2010 to 2011, according to a report by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research.[200]
Seagate claims it has paved the way for 3.5-inch hard drives with 60 TB capacities, after breaking the 1 TB/square inch density threshold.[201]
20 March
Astronomers have discovered the first known rectangular-shaped
24 March – Humans hunted Australia's giant vertebrates to extinction about 40,000 years ago, the latest research published in Science has concluded.[206][207]
25 March
Global temperatures could rise by 3.0 °C (37.4 °F) by 2050, a new computer simulation has suggested.[208][209]
"Solar tornadoes" several times as wide as the Earth have been observed in the Sun's atmosphere by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly telescope on board NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite.[217]
Scientists have revealed the most detailed picture of the
Milky Way galaxy ever produced, with over a billion stars visible in a mosaic combined from thousands of individual images.[218][219]
New scanning technology has revealed that the human brain possesses an astonishingly simple 3D grid structure, with sheets of parallel neuronal fibers crossing one another at right angles.[220][221]
Deaths
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