2017 in science

Events

January

• 4 January
• * A study published in the journal Science Advances casts further doubt on the existence of a recent "pause" in global warming, with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated.
• * After 60 wins and 0 losses over 7 days, Google reveals that a mysterious player of Go, named "Master", is actually an improved version of its AlphaGo AI.
• * Researchers at Michigan State University demonstrate a chemical compound and potential new drug able to stop the spread of melanoma by 90%.
• * NASA announces its two choices for the next Discovery Program missions – the Lucy mission, to visit several asteroids, including six Jupiter Trojans; and the Psyche mission, to visit the large metallic asteroid 16 Psyche.
• 5 January – A Japanese insurance firm, Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance, announces that 34 of its office workers will be replaced with IBM's Watson AI.
• 6 January
• * A large portion of the Larsen C ice shelf is reported to be on the verge of breaking away from Antarctica. It is expected to become one of the top 10 biggest icebergs ever recorded, leaving the whole shelf vulnerable to future collapse, which would raise global sea levels by 10cm.
• * Researchers at MIT design one of the strongest lightweight materials known, by compressing and fusing flakes of graphene. The new material is highly porous. Computer simulations predict it is possible to make materials with a density of just 5 percent of steel, but 10 times stronger.
• * NASA scientists release an image of the Earth and Moon as viewed 127 million miles away from the planet Mars by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

• 9 January – Researchers at King's College London report a way of using an Alzheimer's drug to stimulate the renewal of living stem cells in tooth pulp.
• 10 January – Researchers discover that glia, not neurons, are most affected by brain aging.
• 11 January
• * A new species of gibbon, named Hoolock tianxing, is identified in southwest China.
• * Carnegie Mellon University announces "Libratus", an artificial intelligence program designed to beat humans at poker.
• 12 January – Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute report the discovery of TZAP, a protein that binds the ends of chromosomes and determines how long telomeres can be.
• 14 January
• * Researchers at the University of Sydney use big data to predict how a quantum system will change and to prevent its breakdown from occurring.
• * SpaceX resumes flights, following a launch pad explosion in September 2016. A reusable Falcon 9 rocket successfully delivers 10 satellites into orbit for a client, Iridium, before returning to a landing pad in the ocean.
• 16 January
• * Astronomers working on the Japanese Akatsuki space probe mission report detecting a possible gravity wave that occurred on the planet Venus in December 2015.
• * Researchers publish evidence that humans first entered North America in around 24,000 BP, during the height of the last ice age. This is 10,000 years earlier than previously thought.
• 17 January – The Chinese government announces plans for the first prototype exascale supercomputer by the end of the year.
• 18 January
• * Researchers at Harvard develop a customisable "soft robot" that fits around a heart and helps it beat, potentially offering a new treatment option for patients with heart failure.
• * Independent analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that 2016 was the hottest year on record, at 0.99 °C above the mid-20th century global mean average. This follows record warmth in the two preceding years 2015 and 2014.
• 19 January
• * A study published in Nature warns that some of the most important crops in the U.S. are at risk of "abrupt and substantial yield losses" from rising temperatures later this century, with harvests potentially declining by 20% for wheat, 40% for soybean and almost 50% for maize.
• * Researchers at Northwestern University develop an AI system that performs at human levels on a standard visual intelligence test.
• 23 January
• * Researchers demonstrate a prototype 3D printer that can print fully functional human skin.
• * Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute create the first stable semisynthetic organism. This can hold two synthetic bases, called X and Y, in its genetic code indefinitely. The team says it could lead to entirely new life forms using synthetic DNA, with many potential uses in medicine.
• 26 January
• * Researchers at the Salk Institute create the first human-pig hybrid embryo, containing genetic information from both species.
• * Scientists at Harvard report creating a small amount of metallic hydrogen for the first time, a century after it was theorised. The claim is disputed.
• 27 January – A report from the EU's Joint Research Centre concludes that if global temperatures rise by 4 °C, the flood risk in countries representing more than 70% of the global population and of the global GDP will increase by more than 500%.
• 30 January – News reports that a new safe battery has been invented. It is based on solid lithium, and is claimed to have twice the storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries. It is featured on a newly released PBS NOVA TV program entitled Search for the Super Battery.

  February

• 1 February
• * Researchers led by the University of Sussex publish the first practical blueprint for how to build a quantum computer.
• * Researchers develop a new blue-phase liquid crystal that could triple the sharpness of TVs, computer screens, and other displays while also reducing the power needed to run the device.

• 6 February – The first stable helium compound is synthesized, Na₂He. Helium is the most unreactive element.
• 7 February
• * A mysterious "white dwarf pulsar" is announced, the first known star of its kind, located 380 light years from Earth.
• * Asteroid 2017 BQ6 passed within 6.6 lunar distances of Earth at 6:36 UT.
• 8 February
• * The genome of the quinoa food crop is decoded by researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.
• * NASA publishes a report outlining the mission goals of an uncrewed Europa surface lander and which instruments the probe may need.
• 9 February – Researchers at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology demonstrate a robotic drone bee able to pollinate flowers.
• 10 February
• * A study in the journal Anthropocene Review concludes that human activity is changing the climate 170 times faster than natural processes.
• * A study by the University of Buffalo, using four decades of evidence, finds no link between immigration and higher rates of crime.
• 14 February – A committee from the US National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine gives cautious backing to gene editing of human embryos.

• 15 February – A study published in Nature finds that oxygen levels in the oceans have declined by 2% globally in the last 50 years, due to warming and stratification.
• 16 February
• * NASA's Dawn mission finds evidence of organic material on Ceres, the first clear detection of organic molecules from orbit on a main belt body.
• * Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin develop ultra-flexible, nanoelectronic thread brain probes, designed to achieve more reliable long-term neural recording than existing probes and without causing scar formation when implanted.
• 21 February – Scientists describe a technique to grow large quantities of inner ear progenitor cells that convert into hair cells, which could potentially treat hearing loss.
• 22 February – Astronomers announce the discovery of seven Earth-sized exoplanets, which may all be in the habitable zone, orbiting TRAPPIST-1, an ultra-cool dwarf star, slightly larger than the planet Jupiter, located about 40 light-years from Earth.

  March

• 1 March – Researchers report evidence of possibly the oldest forms of life on Earth. Putative fossilized microorganisms were discovered in hydrothermal vent precipitates in the Nuvvuagittuq belt of Quebec, Canada, that may have lived as early as 4.280 billion years ago, not long after the oceans formed 4.4 billion years ago, and not long after the formation of the Earth 4.54 billion years ago.

• 2 March – The University of Alberta announces details of DeepStack, a new artificial intelligence program able to beat professional human players at poker for the first time.
• 6 March – IBM announces "IBM Q", an initiative to build commercially available universal quantum computing systems.
• 7 March
• * The Sentinel-2B satellite is launched as part of the European Space Agency's Copernicus programme.
• * NASA's Cassini mission reveals new images of Pan, a small moon of Saturn, which is now shown to have a bizarre 'flying saucer' shape.
• 8 March – Scientists at the University of Texas report a new phase of matter, dubbed a time crystal, in which atoms move in a pattern that repeats in time rather than in space.
• 9 March
• * Researchers at the Institute for Basic Science publish details of a single atom memory storage system.
• * The CDH2 gene is found to be implicated in sudden death among young people and athletes.
• * A study by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics suggests that fast radio bursts in distant galaxies could be evidence of advanced alien technology.
• 10 March
• * Scientists report that extraterrestrial dust particles have been identified to be all over planet Earth. According to one of the researchers, "Once I knew what to look for, I found them everywhere."
• * A study published in Science Advances concludes that the world's oceans are warming 13% faster than previously thought, and accelerating.
• 16 March – Scientists report that a potential drug candidate, trodusquemine, can restore some heart muscle function after a heart attack. As of 2017, no drug exists that is able to do this.

• 17 March
• * A new drug, evolocumab, is shown to prevent heart attacks and strokes by dramatically cutting bad cholesterol.
• * A report by the International Energy Agency finds that CO₂ emissions have remained flat for the third year in a row, despite continued global economic growth.
• 22 March
• * Scientists report a new way of classifying the dinosaur family tree, based on newer and more evidence than available earlier. According to the new classification, the original dinosaurs, arising 200 million years ago, were small, two-footed omnivorous animals with large grasping hands. Descendants lasted until 66 million years ago.
• * NASA reports that sea ice extent has reached record lows at both the Arctic and Antarctic.
• 23 March – Dutch scientists report a drug that can reverse aspects of ageing in old mice – restoring their stamina, coat of fur and even some organ function – by flushing out "senescent" cells in the body that have stopped dividing. Human trials are planned.
• 24 March – Scientists at the University of New South Wales publish details of experiments on mice that suggest a treatment is possible for DNA damage from aging and radiation, based on the metabolite NAD+.
• 27 March – Scientists in Australia announce the discovery of the world's largest dinosaur footprint, measuring long. The previous record-holder was about long.
• 30 March – SpaceX conducts the world's first reflight of an orbital class rocket.