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Discover's Guide to the Top 100 Science Stories of 2003

published online January 14, 2004


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1. SPACE: Columbia and the Year of Flight

2. PHYSICS: Probe Reveals Age, Composition, and Shape of the Cosmos

3. MEDICINE: SARS Storm Spurs Surprising Strategies

4. MEDICINE: Motherless Eggs Created in Lab

5. POLITICS: Bush vs. Science: Is the White House Credible?


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6. ENVIRONMENT: The Great Apes Edge Toward Extinction

7. HUMAN ORIGINS: Our Genes May Prove It: We Are Family

8. MATHEMATICS: 2003: Mathematicians Face Uncertainty

9. PHYSICS: New Matter Detected at Japanese Accelerator

10. MEDICINE: Aspirin May Prevent Some Cancers

11. ASTRONOMY: Good News for Space Aliens

12. GENETICS: Y Chromosome Exposed

13. NEUROSCIENCE: Scientists See Yet Another Reason to Go to the Gym

14. GENETICS: How Babies Can Have Three Parents

15. PHYSICS: Sparks Fly From Fusion Reactor

16. GENETICS: Yeast Give Clues to Cancer Clock

17. ASTRONOMY: Gamma-Ray Burst Source Located

18. GENETICS: Genome Sequences Riddled With Errors

19. PHYSICS: Gravity Measured, or Not

20. MEDICINE: Stem Cells Reverse Paralysis in Rats

21. BIOLOGY: Veterinarian Finds Evolutionary Link Between Humans and Bacteria

22. ZOOLOGY: Oooh! That Hook Hurts

23. MEDICINE: Smoking: The News Just Gets Grimmer

24. ANTHROPOLOGY: Humans Find Chimp Eden

25. PHYSICS: Quantum Computing Makes a Giant Leap

26. MEDICINE: Mad Cow Disease Surfaces in Canada

27. POLITICS: Ties With Drug Companies Bias Biomedical Research

28. ENVIRONMENT: Bizarre Bacterium Dines on Toxic Waste

29. ASTRONOMY: Signs of Primordial Star Ignition Detected

30. ENVIRONMENT: Deadly Extremes: The Weather Outside Was Frightful

31. ENVIRONMENT: Global Warming Triggers Genetic Change in Red Squirrels

32. BIOLOGY: Scientists Play God, Creating New Life

33. POLITICS: Physicists Question Feasibility of an American Missile Shield

34. ENVIRONMENT: Extent of Great Whale Slaughter Worse Than Previously Thought

35. MEDICINE: Ovulation Parsed

36. MEDICINE: Estimates of Dioxin Use in Vietnam Doubled

37. TECHNOLOGY: Nanoparticles Pop Up Everywhere

38. ENVIRONMENT: Ocean Fish Populations Plummet

39. ANTHROPOLOGY: Baboon Surprise: Father Knows Best

40. ZOOLOGY: Dieting Mothers May Have Premature Babies

41. GENETICS: Human Embryo Experimentation Sparks Outcry

42. POLITICS: Terror Threats Prompt Scientists to Mull Self-Censorship

43. MEDICINE: Fast-Acting Ebola Vaccine Tested

44. ENVIRONMENT: China’s Three Gorges Dam Yokes the Unruly Yangtze

45. CHEMISTRY: Flame Retardants Show Up in Fish and Breast Milk

46. PSYCHOLOGY: Antidepressants Linked to Suicidal Thoughts in Kids

47. BIOLOGY: Bioloigists Reverse History

48. ARCHAEOLOGY: Alas, Babylon’s Ancient Treasures Disappear

49. PHYSICS: Physicists Find Suspected Flaw in Cosmic Symmetry

50. SPACE: China Joins the Man-in-Space Club

51. GEOLOGY: Ocean-Bottom Vents Hint That Life Began in Hot Water

52. ASTRONOMY: Presto! Space-Time Blurriness Vanishes

53. PHYSICS: Particles and Theory Collide

54. NEUROSCIENCE: Autism Linked to Excessive Early Brain Growth

55. POLITICS: Science Establishment Gives Belated Recognition to Women Researchers

56. ASTRONOMY: We Can See Clearly Now

57. MEDICINE: New Risks Emerge From Hormone Replacement Therapy

58. ANTHROPOLOGY: Orangutans Show Signs of Cultured Behavior

59. MEDICINE: Hormone Treatments May Prevent Premature Births

60. ASTRONOMY: Neptune Rocks Early Solar System

61. MEDICINE: Safety of Medical X-Rays Reassessed

62. GENETICS: Zoologists Announce Aging Surprise

63. ENVIRONMENT: Land Development Eyed as a Cause of Global Warming

64. TECHNOLOGY: Cell Phones Rival Alcohol as Driving Hazard

65. ZOOLOGY: The Lobster’s Compass

66. ASTRONOMY: Neutron Star Fizzles

67. GENETICS: Depression Gene Leads to Questions About Prozac

68. GEOLOGY: Periodic Table, 2.0

69. GENETICS: Biologists Reexamine Cause of the Black Death

70. ENVIRONMENT: Coral Killer Hitches a Ride in a Firestorm

71. NEUROSCIENCE: Meditation Apparently Activates Positive Areas Within the Brain

72. MEDICINE: Long-Life Compound Found in Red Wines

73. GENETICS: Bygone Bull Birthed From Frozen DNA

74. ZOOLOGY: Songbirds Use More Energy at Rest Than Aloft

75. HUMAN ORIGINS: This Very Old American House Sheltered Prehistoric Nomads

76. GENETICS: Good Runners Have Good Proteins

77. GENETICS: Horse Racing May Never Be the Same

78. ZOOLOGY: Monarch Butterflies Bounce Back From Winter Disaster in 2002

79. ENVIRONMENT: Condors Die, Condors Fly

80. MEDICINE: Tea Jump-Starts Immune System

81. GEOLOGY: How Everest Came Out on Top

82. ASTRONOMY: Plasma Devils Brighten the Sun

83. PALEONTOLOGY: Prehistoric Guinea Pig Weighed Nearly a Ton

84. ARCHAE0LOGY: Knotted Strings Hold Incan Secrets

85. GEOLOGY: Earthquake Alert: Buying a Few Precious Seconds

86. ENVIRONMENT: Global Warming Disrupts Life Near the Equator

87. BOTANY: Foresters Find World’s Largest Organism, a Humongous Fungus

88. HUMAN ORIGINS: Land Bridge Theory Tested

89. MEDICINE: Too Much Water Can Prove Fatal to Athletes

90. MEDICINE: First Tongue Transplant Patient Regains Ability to Eat and Speak

91. ENVIRONMENT: Revival Project Launched in Desiccated Aral Sea

92. GENETICS: Decaffing Bean Genes

93. PALEONTOLOGY: Regal Kin of T. rex Turns Up in India

94. ARCHAEOLOGY: Ancient Aboriginal Art Discovered in Secret Cave

95. ARCHAEOLOGY: Cold War Spy Photos Reveal Bronze Age Roads

96. ARCHAEOLOGY: Donner Party Cannibalism Site Unearthed

97. MEDICINE: First U.S. Monkeypox Cases Crop Up in the Midwest

98. ARCHAEOLOGY: Ice Age Cave Art Unveiled in Britain

99. NEUROSCIENCE: Chronic Stress Triggers Overeating

100. HUMAN ORIGINS: Ötzi’s Boots Were Made for Walking

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