10 outstanding scientific events in 2017

2017 marked many breakthrough discoveries in the fields of physics, archeology, astronomy and biology, creating remarkable scientific achievements.

 

Scientists at the Ligo Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) announced on October 16 the discovery of gravitational ripples generated by the merger of two neutron stars and spread across the universe. According to the team, large amounts of gold and many other heavy metals such as platinum and uranium are produced in the nuclear furnace when two neutron stars merge, confirming the hypothesis of the origin of the elements in the universe.

Two neutron stars, each about 19 km in diameter, stretch and distort the space field - the time when they rotate around each other and eventually collide. Gravitational waves generated from cosmic collisions at the speed of light are identified by two sensitive pole detectors in Washington and Louisiana operated by the Laser Wave Observatory (Ligo) Observatory.

The collision with the neutron star took place 130 million light-years from Earth in a relatively old galaxy called NGC 4993. The gravitational wave signal called GW170817 was identified on August 17.

Experts say the discovery will open a new chapter in the history of astrophysics, helping to better understand the mechanism of internal activity and the emission of neutron stars, while reinforcing mechanical physics theories. copies like relativism and the expansion of the universe.

2.

US scientists in January used CRISPR gene editing technology to create hybrid embryos between pigs and humans. Some types of human stem cells are introduced and persist in pig embryos, but they play little role in embryonic development.

CRISPR technology, such as "the scissors god", can cut off a piece of DNA and replace it with the desired DNA sequence, which helps treat genetic diseases.

By July, the research team at Oregon University of Science and Health announced the successful application of CRISPR technology to intervene in human embryos, overcome the embryonic mutation created from the sperm of an infected man. Genetic heart disease.

New achievements open up the ability to apply gene editing technology to reduce the number of embryos that carry dangerous mutations. The researchers also hope to be able to create organs that work in animals with nearly identical human organs for use in medical transplants. However, research also raises many ethical and legal questions.

3.

On July 12, massive volcanic A68 has an area of ​​about 5,800 km2 and weighs 1,000 billion tons separated from the ice shelf Larsen C, Antarctica. This is one of the largest icebergs ever recorded. According to scientists, the glacier itself does not affect the sea level when it floats on the water, but it can cause a major impact on the glacier's flow rate into the sea.

The separation of icebergs caused Larsen C ice shelf to drop by more than 12% and the Southern Peninsula peninsula changed forever. Although the remaining ice shelf will continue to recreate over time, the new ice is likely to be less stable.

It is difficult to determine whether climate change is the factor that makes A68 glaciers separate because ice sheets break from the ice shelf is a completely normal process.

On September 23, another iceberg has an area of ​​about 267 km2 broken off the Pine Island glacier in the west of Antarctica. This is the second time these glaciers lost a large block of ice in just two years. Pine Island is the fastest melting glacier in Antarctica and the biggest contributor to rising sea levels.

 

In November, the ScanPyramids project team spotted a large room of at least 30 m above the Grand Gallery, a steep corridor connecting "King's Room" and "Queen's Room" in the Great Pyramid of Giza. They found the secret room with many advanced tools, including the use of muon seeds originating from cosmic rays to penetrate the layers of rock.

The team did not know the exact structure and function of the room, but the new discovery helped them better understand the pyramid and structure. Some argue that the room is a royal burial place or a place where formal ceremonies take place. Others think this may be a ramp to transport rocks up high because the location of the room is deep inside the pyramid. If so, the room will help clarify the mystery of how to build the pyramid.

Researchers are building a balloon-like exploration robot that can penetrate ancient buildings through a 3.5-cm-wide borehole. After entering the room in the pyramid and bulging, it will fly around to explore the hard-to-reach points and minimize the damage to hidden artifacts or structures.

 

On February 22, NASA announced the discovery of the Trappist-1 star system with 7 planets of similar size to Earth and most likely to have a stone structure.

Trappist-1 is a super-cold dwarf, smaller and dimmer than the Sun with 80 times the mass of Jupiter, first discovered in 2016. The planets around it are numbered from 1b to 1h, respectively. has a surface temperature of 0-100 ° C, can contain ocean and liquid water, atmospheric conditions necessary to form biological life forms.

The discovery of the Trappist-1 star system opens up the hope of finding alien life for astronomers. Photo: NASA.

The discovery of the Trappist-1 star system is an important piece in the quest to find new life outside of Earth and is more ambitious than seeking a new habitat for humankind. In the near future, scientists will focus on studying the climatic conditions on the planets of the Trappist-1 system and hope to conclude about the viability of these planets' survival. within the next decade.

6.

In mid-September, Cassini, the first spacecraft to carry out NASA's Saturn discovery mission, officially closed its journey of nearly 20 years of space operation by plunging into the planet's atmosphere and igniting. .

Cassini was launched on October 15, 1997, in the Cassini-Huygens space mission, a partnership between NASA and the European Aeronautics Agency (ESA). It took 7 years of traveling in the universe, the new ship approached orbiting around Saturn to carry out its mission.

During the remaining 13 years, Cassini ships invaluable images and data. However, the ship gradually ran out of fuel and was able to crash into two moons that could survive Saturn's life as Titan and Enceladus, carrying Earth's bacteria.

To prevent this, NASA was forced to use the last volume of the Cassini vessel to ignite the propulsion engine, stepping the ship into the top atmosphere of Saturn. On September 15, NASA confirmed loss of signal with Cassini, the ship officially ended its mission.

 

On October 19, an interstellar travel asteroid was discovered by NASA scientists with Pan-STARS telescope in Hawaii. This is the first asteroid to travel through the solar system, called 1I / 2017 U1, also known as Oumuamua, meaning "the first messenger from far away" in Hawaiian.

Oumuamua has the same color as the objects in the solar system. However, its shape and size are different from any other asteroids or comets that have been observed in the solar system so far. This body is about 400 meters long, but only 40 meters wide.

Another unusual point is that Oumuamua flies very neatly, not dragging the cloud of cosmic dust when approaching the Sun. This indicates that the object is made of solid material, which can be stone or metal.

Asteroids move at lightning speed, about 26 km / s and are flying away from Earth and the solar system. Oumuamua flew over Earth's orbit on October 14 at a distance of 24,180,000 km and crossed Mars's orbit on November 1. Scientists predict Oumuamua will fly through Jupiter orbit in May 2018, and surpass the orbit of Neptune in 2022.

For asteroids researchers, this is a historical discovery that is equally important to detect gravitational waves. The Oumuamua asteroid's "visit" gave astronomers an opportunity to explore the remnants of the formation of an extraterrestrial planet, and open a new door to studying systems. Sun outside the universe.

 

Earlier this year, AlphaGo software using Google's DeepMind technology marked a new milestone when winning the world - famous legend Lee Se-dol (South Korea). AlphaGo has drawn thousands of years of human knowledge about the game and invented new moves in just three days.

AlphaGo's victory marks the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). Stephen Hawking, British professor of theoretical physics and cosmology, warned in mid-October that AI could become the biggest catastrophe in human history if it is out of control.

AI technology promises to bring great benefits to people, such as reducing illness and poverty, and bringing comfort in life. But it "also has the risk of creating new destructive weapons or new ways for some people to suppress the majority, destroying the economy," said the physicist.

On October 19, Microsoft announced that it had developed a "human-like" voice recognition system with a error rate of only 5.9% and affirmed it was a breakthrough achievement in history. develop AI.

 

The private rocket company SpaceX of billionaire Elon Musk successfully launched the Falcon 9 missile at the launch site of Cape Canaveral base, Florida, USA on March 31. This is considered a revolutionary launch, marking the first time a rocket was successfully reused to bring communication satellites to orbit 35,000 km from Earth. Falcon 9 missiles in this launch have been used and landed on April 8, 2016.

The construction of the first floor of a rocket usually costs tens of millions of dollars. They are all designed to burn in the atmosphere, sink into the ocean or fall to the ground after putting satellites into orbit. But the lower floor of the Falcon 9 boosters can land on the ground or on the ship itself. SpaceX executive director Gwynne Shotwell said the reuse of push floors could save about 30% of the $ 63 million Falcon 9 launch cost.

On December 15, for the first time in history, SpaceX successfully launched a re-used spacecraft on a reused rocket. Falcon 9 missiles carrying Dragon spacecraft leave the launch pad at Cape Canaveral base, carrying nearly 2,200 kg of goods and materials to the International Space Station.

 

NASA announces discovery of Kepler star system 90 has 8 planets like the solar system on December 15. Kepler 90 star system 2,545 light-years from Earth in the constellation Draco was discovered in 2013. Although the new Kepler 90 star system, the eighth planet Kepler 90i was discovered using artificial intelligence software (AI ) by Google and NASA. The new planet is estimated to be about 30% larger than Earth, with a surface temperature of about 430 degrees Celsius.

Although significant, the Kepler 90 star system is not a promising candidate to contain life, because all planets in the system are too close to the host star. All eight planets in the Kepler 90 system are located closer to the host star than the distance from the Earth to the Sun.

Kepler 90i is hot as Mercury while the planet is the farthest Kepler 90h is a giant gas giant like Jupiter.

Satellite hunting planet Kepler is searching for distant star systems with the help of the AI ​​system from Google, using machine learning technology to find planets in Kepler's data with up to 96% accuracy.