The Top 10 Scientific inventions of 2018

The Top 10 Scientific inventions of 2018

In 2018, we saw just how much power science has to make a real impact. The top stories of the year include a literal impact — the hidden contours of what appears to be a massive crater created when a meteorite slammed into Greenland long ago.

1. Half a degree stole the climate spotlight

    This the year we learned that the 2015 Paris Agreement on global warming won’t be enough to forestall significant impacts of climate change. And a new field of research explicitly attributed some extreme weather events to human-caused climate change. This one-two punch made it clear that climate change isn’t just something to worry about in the coming decades. It’s already here.                                                                                                                                                             

2. Gene-edited babies

A Chinese scientist surprised the world in late November by claiming he had created the first gene-edited babies. Many researchers and ethicists say implanting gene-edited embryos to create babies is premature and exposes the children to unnecessary health risks. Critics also fear the creation of “designer babies.”

3. Genealogy solves crimes

In 2018, criminal investigators in the United States embraced genetic genealogy, a forensic technique for tracking down suspects through their family trees, to solve decades-old cold cases and some fresh crimes. But this new type of DNA-based detective work has raised questions about genetic privacy and police procedures.

4. A neutrino's distant source

Mysterious particles called neutrinos constantly barrel down on Earth from space. No one has known where, exactly, the highest-energy neutrinos come from. This year, scientists finally put a finger on one likely source: a brilliant cosmic beacon called a blazar. The discovery could kick-start a new field of astronomy that combines information gleaned from neutrinos and light.

5. Impact crater unearthed

For three years, a team of scientists kept a big secret: They had discovered a giant crater-shaped depression buried beneath about a kilometer of ice in northwestern Greenland. In November, the researchers revealed their find to the world. The crater may have reignited a debate over a controversial hypothesis about a mysterious cold snap known as the Younger Dryas

6. The end of mosquitoes?

For the first time, humans have built a set of pushy, destructive genes that infiltrated small populations of mosquitoes and drove them to extinction. This test and other news from 2018 feed one of humankind’s most persistent dreams: wiping mosquitoes off the face of the Earth.

7. Health risks of alcohol

For people who enjoy an occasional cocktail, 2018 was a sobering year. Headlines delivered the news with stone-cold certainty: Alcohol — in any amount — is bad for your health. “The safest level of drinking is none,” a group of scientists concluded

8. Mars' ice-covered lake

Researchers reported this year that they found a wide lake of standing liquid near the Red Planet’s South Pole, buried beneath 1.5 kilometers of ice. The purported polar pool is the largest volume of liquid water ever claimed to currently exist on Mars, and has probably been around for a long time. Both of those features raise hopes that life could survive on Mars today

9. Progress against paralysis

Intensive rehabilitation paired with electric stimulation of the spinal cord allowed six paralyzed people to walk or take steps years after their injuries, three small studies published this year showed. More importantly, they show that the spinal cord can make a comeback.

10. Origin of human Smarts

                                                       
Archaeological discoveries reported this year broadened the scope of what scientists know about Stone Age ingenuity. These finds move the roots of innovative behavior ever closer to the origins of the human genus.