Top 100 Stories of 2011

#32: Where’s the Higgs?

The Large Hadron Collider is supposed to solve the top mysteries in physics. That has not happened yet. Joseph Lykken explains why not, and what to do next. 01.09.2012

#62: Star Birth Seen in Action


Astronomers glimpse stellar creation. 01.09.2012

#65: America’s Atom Smasher, 1983–2011

The Illinois-based Tevatron closes after an auspicious--but all too short--career. 01.09.2012

#82: Could Random Airplane Boarding Speed Your Trip?


The quickest way to climb aboard a plane may be the least ordered. 01.09.2012

#83: Gravity Probe B Gives Einstein an A


Satellite measures how much Earth warps space-time. 01.09.2012

#93: Super-
Rocket Tested


NASA has begun testing its high-powered new engine. 01.09.2012

#95: Computer Builds 
A Perfect Galaxy


Nature did it in 13 billion years. Computer does it in 9 months. 01.09.2012

#38: Killing Cancer From The Inside 



Three new studies suggest ways to home in on cancer cells during treatment, leaving surrounding healthy tissue unharmed. 01.05.2012

#28: Hepatitis B
 Boosts Malaria Vaccine

Fragments of hepatitis B, which put the immune system on high alert, make a new malaria vaccine the most successful yet. 01.05.2012

#27: Babesia Parasite Taints the Blood Supply


Blood transfusions have infected 159 patients with the malaria-like parasite. 01.05.2012

#22: Y. Pestis, Mother of the Black Plague: Unknown–1353


The bacterial strain that wiped out half of 14th century Europe, scientists found, soon died out itself. 01.05.2012

#81: Inflammation
 Might Help Defeat Diabetes

Scientists have long tied diabetes to inflammtion—but a new study shows that an inflammatory protein can cure the disease in mice. 01.05.2012

#99: Study Deepens the Mystery of Chronic Fatigue


A new study suggests that the XMRV virus may not be behind chronic fatigue syndrome, after all. 01.05.2012

#98: Brain
 Signal For 
Awareness

Minimally conscious and vegetative patients show different patterns of neural activity. 01.05.2012

#94: HPV Vaccine—Now for Boys


The CDC recommended that preteen boys, as well as girls, get the HPV vaccine. 01.05.2012

#90: Chronic Lyme Patients Validated


A new study uncovered biomarkers for Lyme disease symptoms that persist even after treatment. 01.05.2012

#87: First Posthumous 
Nobel Awarded


Immunologist Ralph Steinman won the Nobel Prize in Medicine days after his death. 01.05.2012

#78: Napping Neurons Explain Sleep-Deprived Blunders


Tiny clumps of neurons doze off, even while the brain as a whole is awake. 01.05.2012

#76: Environment Gets More Blame for Autism


A new study suggests that environment accounts for more than half of autism risk, while genes are responsible for about 40 percent. 01.05.2012

#70: Safer Prenatal Tests for Genetic Diseases


Simple maternal blood tests can detect Down syndrome five weeks earlier than existing tests, with no risk to the fetus. 01.05.2012

#69: Cell Phones Alter Brain 
Metabolism


A 50-minute phone call boosts metabolism in the brain regions closest to the antenna, including areas involved in language, decision making, and emotional processing. 01.05.2012

#64: Stem Cell Research Hits More Painful Setbacks

Scientists had high hopes for reprogrammed stem cells, which could be derived from a patient's own tissue and grown into any type of cell in the body. But two studies this year highlighted major issues with reprogrammed cells, making their path to the clinic look longer than ever. 01.05.2012

#60: New Treatments Slow Deadly Skin Cancer

Two treatments that boost the immune system improve survival rates and slow cancer growth in late-stage melanoma patients. 01.05.2012

#58: Sperm Gene Points to 
Infertility Cure

Researchers have pinpointed a surprisingly common gene that may cause infertility, offering new avenues for treatment. 01.05.2012

#56: Private DNA Companies Tap Crowds to Speed 
Disease Research


Drawing on its large consumer base, 23andMe identifies two genetic variants associated with Parkinson's Disease in just 18 months, a fraction of the time disease studies usually require. 01.05.2012

#55: Coffee Vs. Cancer


Drinking one extra cup of coffee a day is linked to a 3 percent reduction in cancer risk. 01.05.2012

#54: Attack of the Salad Sprouts


Sprouts contaminated with <i>E. coli</i> killed 50 people and sickened more than 4,000. 01.05.2012

#47: Ending Dengue

Injecting mosquitos with harmless bacteria keeps them from spreading the dengue-causing virus. 01.05.2012

#13: Can Gut Bacteria Stop the Spread of Malaria?


Feeding mosquitos probiotic-infused nectar could make them resistant to the disease. 01.05.2012

#10: Immune 
Supercells Purge Leukemia

A new therapy turns leukemia patients’ own cells into cancer 
assassins. It may one day help fight other cancers, too. 01.05.2012

#2: Altered Immune Cells Block HIV

Lab-made proteins are revolutionizing AIDS therapy 
by retrofitting the immune system so it 
resists HIV. Human trials are already under way. 01.05.2012

#5: Social Media Stoke Unrest and Ignite 
Web-Rights Debate

When the explosion in social networking helped topple 
repressive regimes last year, governments worldwide took 
notice, stepping up efforts to limit public Internet access. 01.03.2012

#11: Scientist of the 
Arab Spring

At Caltech, Ahmed Zewail is a world-class chemist. In Egypt, he is a national hero. 01.03.2012

#44: New Pentagon Rules Blur Line Between Digital and Physical Warfare


Under the US's new strategy, the military can prepare for cyber warfare just as it prepares for wars on land. 01.03.2012

#59: The Mismeasure of Stephen Jay Gould

Looking deeper into Stephen Jay Gould's claims has revealed he was guilty of the same sins he decried in others. 01.03.2012

#73: Quake Science on Trial in Italy 


Can scientists be held accountable for deaths in a quake they didn't predict? 01.03.2012

#97: CIA Said to Exploit Vaccine Drive in Pakistan

To get DNA in their hunt for Osama bin Laden, the CIA may have gone too far. 01.03.2012

#3: A Supercomputer Wins Jeopardy!

When IBM’s game-playing computer trounced two trivia experts, its victory was hailed as a landmark for intelligent machines. 
A Jeopardy! champ explains why the real winners were humans. 12.29.2011

#8: The Man Who Gave Us Less for More

Impatient Futurist columnist David H. Freedman 
examines the crushing success of Steve Jobs. 12.29.2011

#31: First Stealth 
Helicopter Crashes Into Public View


New secret weapon emerges: A chopper with quiet rotors and radar-absorbing skin. 12.29.2011

#34: World’s Smallest Electric Motor


Single-molecule motor is 60,000 times thinner than a human hair. 12.29.2011

#40: Computer Model 
Mimics Infant Cognition 


Babies may be able to help teach computers common sense. 12.29.2011

#42: The Too-Sure Thing

Overconfidence can help explain wars, financial disasters, and collapsed 
civilizations. Social scientist James Fowler explores how such a destructive social 
trait manages to thrive. 12.29.2011

#50: The Net Watchman

Think of him as a cop with the world’s biggest beat: Security guru Jeff Moss is in charge of keeping the entire Internet stable, resilient, and safe. 12.29.2011

#57: XXL Invisibility Cloak


Two advances usher the age of the invisible within sight. 12.29.2011

#71: Presenting the No-Focus Camera

New start-up's advance allows you to go from fuzzy to focused AFTER snapping a photo. 12.29.2011

#72: The Bird Watcher

Peter Vesterbacka on the secret to making the most popular, ridiculously addictive video game in history. 12.29.2011

#86: Silicon’s Next Wave


A re-worked form of silicon may be the next smallest, fastest thing in computer chip design. 12.29.2011

#92: 3-D Chips Make Computers Faster


New waffle-like construction of chips does more with less. 12.29.2011

#96: NASA’s Scrappy Successors


Private spaceflight companies draw ever closer to putting people into space their own way. 12.27.2011

#88: Visualizing the Violent Cosmos

A new map shows the hotspots of energetic activity in our galaxy and beyond. 12.27.2011

#79: Untethered Planets May Outnumber Stars


The hunt for exoplanets takes another turn for the surprising. 12.27.2011

#75: Is That Water Flowing on Mars?

There may be water—and even life—in them there hills. 12.27.2011

#66: Found: Stars Cool Enough to Touch


But if you were close enough to touch, you'd be entirely squished by the gravity. 12.27.2011

#53: Did Earth’s Gold Come From Outer Space?


Money never grows on trees, but precious metals do sometimes fall from the sky. 12.27.2011

#52: Superstorm Sweeps Across Saturn


It made even the biggest storms on Earth look puny. 12.27.2011

#41: The Ozone Satellite, 1991–2011


It proved the damage caused by CFCs, helped predict climate changes, and saw the beginning of the recovery of the ozone layer. 12.27.2011

#37: Today’s Forecast: Cloudy, 
80 Percent Chance of a Sunspot

The next time the Sun releases a destructive magnetic belch, we may have some warning to protect the electric grid. 12.27.2011

#33: New Survey Softens 
Fears of Asteroid Impacts


Reports of our impending collective death have been somewhat exaggerated. 12.27.2011

#25: Mercury’s New Face

NASA's Messenger probe delivers impressive new views of the inner-most planet, which is in some respects harder to reach than distant Pluto. 12.27.2011

#23: The Moon Had a Long-Lost Twin


Computer simulations show the “big splat” from an ancient collision would have created “a pretty interesting spectacle for about 24 hours,” says researcher Erik Asphaug. 12.27.2011

#16: Astronomers Get First Look at Giant Asteroid

“Seeing the surface up close for the first time, in its true glory, is amazing,” says Dawn project lead scientist Christopher Russell. “We’re in awe.” 12.27.2011

#12: China Launches Its First Space Laboratory


The would-be superpower advertises its technical and economic prowess with a giant flying billboard. 12.27.2011

#6: In Memoriam

With great ambivalence we note the passing of 
the first and only reusable spaceship, the space shuttle, 
on July 21, 2011. Our prayers are with NASA. 12.27.2011

#4: New-planet Boom Faces a Budget Bust

You might expect think NASA would race to build on the success of the Kepler telescope. Instead, it is coming dangerously close to abandoning the search for other worlds. 12.27.2011

#35: Fossil Stirs Debate Over 
Dinosaurs’ Last Days

When exactly did the dinosaurs depart? 12.22.2011

#30: New Fossil Casts Doubt on Oldest Bird


A new Cornish hen–sized creature, discovered by Chinese paleontologists, throws the traditional chronology into question. 12.22.2011

#24: Gut Microbes Establish 
Your Identity


Your gut population falls into one of three groups. 12.22.2011

#91: Unmasking Earth’s First Life


Paleontologists discover what may be the oldest fossilized bacteria ever found, but questions remain. 12.22.2011

#85: Meet the Grazing Hominid


Researchers discover the so-called "Nutcracker man" ate mostly plants, diverging from fellow primates. 12.22.2011

#80: Neanderthal DNA Boosts Your Immune System 


Did early matings with Neanderthals increase our ability to fight disease? 12.22.2011

#77: Amber Reveals Origins of Feathers


Stunning feathers show up in fossil-rich rocks. 12.22.2011

#74: Meet the Megavirus


Scientists find the world's largest virus. 12.22.2011

#68: Tools Imply Early African Exodus


A newly discovered cache of stone tools in the United Arab Emirates suggests that early humans left Africa earlier than we'd thought. 12.22.2011

#67: Gamers Solve HIV Riddle


Computer geeks figure out the shape of AIDS-related virus in 10 days. 12.22.2011

#63: How Many Species Inhabit the Earth?


It's a tough question, but we now have the best answer yet. 12.22.2011

#61: Aging Effects 
Reversed in Mice


Eliminating dying cells keeps a mouse healthy, wealthy, and wise. 12.22.2011

#51: Stone Age 
Art Studio Unearthed

Early humans were able to plan and knew more about chemistry than we'd thought. 12.22.2011

#49: Arsenic-Based Life Shakes Up Science (Again)

Rosie Redfield takes scientific controversy out into the open. 12.22.2011

#48: Strongest Repellent Found


A new compound is 100,000 times stronger than DEET. 12.22.2011

#45: Have Humans Left 
a Permanent Scar on the 
Geologic Record

The Anthropocene is a man-made era, an increasingly vocal group of scientists holds. 12.22.2011

#43: Skin Cells Could Help Revive Rare Species

Turning them into eggs and sperm, courtesy of stem cell techniques, could make all the difference. 12.22.2011

#19: Killer Chimps Overhunt Monkeys


Humans are not the only primates that hunt other primate species to the edge of extinction. 12.22.2011

#18: Genome of Vegetables Remains Active After You Eat Them


microRNAs from rice survive digestion and alter human gene expression. 12.22.2011

#39: Ocean Microbes Clean Up Gulf Mess


Natural bacteria help eliminate methane from the Deepwater Horizon blowout, but more bad stuff remains behind. 12.20.2011

#36: Forests Stage A Comeback


Some forests have rebounded... but the news isn't all good. 12.20.2011

#29: Yellowstone’s Oil Spill

ExxonMobil pipeline bursts beneath the Yellowstone River in Montana, spilling 40,000 gallons of oil into the pristine area. 12.20.2011

#21: New Fracking Worries: 
Methane Leaks, Radioactive Water

Yes, hydraulic fracturing can actually contaminate water, study confirms. 12.20.2011

#100: Arctic Ice Hits 
Record Lows


Study records lowest measurement of ice yet; environmentalists (and polar bears) not pleased. 12.20.2011

#89: Weather Moves Continents


Accelerated monsoons in Himalayas have weathered rock, increasing speed of India's tectonic plate. 12.20.2011

#84: Wild Weather, 1; Sports, 0

Extreme weather events have helped diminish many sporting events. 12.20.2011

#46: Solar Power in Peril


Solar in trouble after a recent mini-boom. 12.20.2011

#15: Lessons From the Great Japanese Quake

12.20.2011

#9: The Year’s Worst Natural Disasters

In 2011, at least 10 major weather disasters struck the United States alone, inflicting more than $45 billion in damages. Here, a survey of the epic floods, droughts, and other natural calamities that terrorized the planet. 12.20.2011

#7: Japan Quakes; Nuke Power Stays Steady

This year enthusiasm for nuclear power in some developed nations 
seemed to vanish after Japan’s nuclear disaster. But while those countries 
recoil from atomic energy, others are committing to a nuclear future. 12.20.2011