41. Black Hole Feasts At Milky Way’s Center
A blaze of X-rays from the center of our galaxy is the burp following a gargantuan (and rather messy) cosmic feast, astronomers reported in February: A massive black hole there devoured something the size of the planet Mercury, and in the process, let loose an outburst so intense that we still see the echoes six decades later.

42. California Bans Phthalates In Plastic Toys
In October, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill prohibiting phthalates in products intended for young children.

43. Human Genome Reveals Signs Of Recent Evolution
New genetic evidencesuggests that evolution has continued to shape our species powerfully over the past 100,000 years.

44. Ebola Outbreak In Congo Downsized
From April to September 2007, the largest outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever since 2003 unfolded in the Kasaï Occidental province of the Democratic Republic of Congo

45. Astronauts’ Image Tarnished
Maybe someone spiked the Tang? In 2007, NASA’s astronaut corps made headlines more for sex, violence, and booze than for space exploration.

46. E. coli Outbreak Prompts Massive Meat Recall
In September, the Topps Meat Company of Elizabeth, New Jersey, issued the second largest beef recall in U.S. history...

47. 248-Dimensional Math Problem Solved
One hundred twenty years after it was first discovered, mathematicians have successfully mapped out a 248-dimensional object called E8.

48. Robotic Ankle Takes First Step
Although they provide mobility to thousands of people, conventional prosthetic ankle-foot combinations cannot match the spring in a natural step.

49. Chilies Domesticated 6,000 Years Ago in the Americas
Some prehistoric people in the Americas were cooking up spicy meals even before they could make the pottery to serve them in.

50. Created: A Glass That Bends
Chinese researchers announced in March that they had created glass that can be bent into right angles without shattering.

51. Wastewater Decimates Minnows

Birth control pills work wonders in preventing human reproduction. Unfortunately, they’re also effective on an unintended target...

52. Amazing Battery Made of . . . Paper
Imagine a battery as flexible as paper—because it is made of paper.

53. High-Intensity MRI Could Catch Alzheimer’s, MS
Combining a megapowerful magnet, multiple detectors, and carefully tweaked contrast, a new MRI technique developed at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides an unprecedented look at the fine structure of the brain.

54. High Altitude Determines Who Survives in Tibet
Darwinian natural selection is at work among the communities living in the Tibetan mountains...

55. New Technique Nails Down the Amp
If there’s one thing physicists can’t abide, it’s ambiguity

56. Calculus Was Developed in Medieval India
Two British researchers challenged the conventional history of mathematics...

57. Distinctive Dinosaur Death Throes
When the dinosaurs died out some 65 million years ago, many perished in the exact same iconic pose...

58. Superlens to Zoom In On Living Cells
Scientists longing to sneak a peek at the molecular machinery of living cells came one step closer to that goal in March with the creation of lenses that break the limits of current light microscopy.

59. Medieval Mosque Shows Amazing Math Discovery
The mosques of the medieval Islamic world are artistic wonders and perhaps mathematical wonders as well.

60. Diamonds From Outer Space
Pumicelike, dark, and exotic, carbonado diamonds don’t look like the gemstones on engagement rings