2024 in science

Events

January

• – The Japan Meteorological Agency publishes its JRA-55 dataset, confirming 2023 as the warmest year on record globally, at above the 1850–1900 baseline. This is above the previous record set in 2016.
• – The first functional semiconductor made from graphene is created.
• – A review indicates digital rectal examination is an outdated routine medical practice, with a lower cancer detection rate compared to prostate-specific antigen testing and no benefit from combining DRE and PSA.
• *Scientists report that newborn galaxies in the very early universe were "banana"-shaped, much to the surprise of researchers.
• *An analysis of sugar-sweetened beverage taxes concludes scaling them could yield substantial public health benefits.
• *Scientists report studies that seem to support the hypothesis that life may have begun in a shallow lake rather than otherwise – perhaps somewhat like a "warm little pond" originally proposed by Charles Darwin.
• *A group of scientists from around the globe have charted paradigm-shifting restorative pathways to mitigate the worst effects of climate change and biodiversity loss with a strong emphasis on environmental sustainability, human wellbeing and reducing social and economic inequality.
• *Researchers have discovered a new phase of matter, named a "light-matter hybrid", which may reshape understanding of how light interacts with matter.
• *A study of proteins in cerebrospinal fluid indicates there are five subtypes of Alzheimer's disease, suggesting it to be likely that subtype-specific treatments are required.
• *A study finds seaweed farming could be set up as a resilient food solution within roughly a year in abrupt sunlight reduction scenarios such as after a nuclear war or a large volcano eruption.
• *Chemists report studies finding that long-chain fatty acids were produced in ancient hydrothermal vents. Such fatty acids may have contributed to the formation of the first cell membranes that are fundamental to protocells and the origin of life.
• *Scientists report the extinction of Gigantopithecus blacki, the largest primate to ever inhabit the Earth, that lived between 2 million and 350,000 years ago, was largely due to the inability of the ape to adapt to a diet better suited to a significantly changed environment.
• *Biologists report the discovery of the oldest known skin, fossilized about 289 million years ago, and possibly the skin from an ancient reptile.
• *Scientists report the discovery of Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis, an older species of Tyrannosaurus that lived 5-7 million years before Tyrannosaurus rex, and which may be fundamentally important to the evolution of the species.
• *A study of the Caatinga region in Brazil finds that its semi-arid biome could lose over 90% of mammal species by 2060, even in a best-case scenario of climate change.
• *A graphene-based implant on the surface of mouse brains, in combination with a two-photon microscope, is shown to capture high-resolution information on neural activity at depths of 250 micrometers.
• *A review of genetic data from 21 studies with nearly one million participants finds more than 50 new genetic loci and 205 novel genes associated with depression, opening potential targets for drugs to treat depression.
• *The Upano Valley sites are reported as the oldest Amazonian cities built over 2500 years ago, with a unique "garden urbanism" city design.
• *A study presents results of a Riyadh-based trial of eight urban heat mitigation scenarios, finding large cooling effects with combinations that include reflective rooftop materials, irrigated greenery, and retrofitting.
• *Global warming: 2023 is confirmed as the hottest year on record by several science agencies.
• **NASA reports a figure of 1.4 degrees Celsius above the late 19th century average, when modern record-keeping began.
• **NOAA reports a figure of 1.35 degrees Celsius.
• **Berkeley Earth reports a figure of 1.54 degrees Celsius.
• * An AI-based study shows for the first time that fingerprints from different fingers of the same person share strong detectable similarities.
• – NASA fully opens the recovered container with samples from the Bennu asteroid, after three months of failed attempts.
• – The first successful cloning of a rhesus monkey is reported by scientists in China.
• – A study in Nature finds that the Greenland ice sheet is melting 20% faster than previously estimated, due to the effects of calving-front retreat. The loss of 30m tonnes of ice an hour is "sufficient to affect ocean circulation and the distribution of heat energy around the globe."
• *NASA reports the end of the Ingenuity helicopter's operation, after 72 successful flights on Mars, due to a broken rotor blade.
• *A potential candidate for the first known radio pulsar-black hole binary is reported by astronomers. The heavier of the two lies in the "mass gap" between neutron stars and black holes. The pair are located in the globular cluster NGC 1851.
• *Two insect-like robots, a mini-bug and a water strider, are reported as being the smallest, lightest, and fastest fully-functional micro-robots ever created.
• *Bottom trawling is found to release 340 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, nearly 1 percent of all global CO₂ emissions in addition to acidifying oceans.
• – Japan becomes the fifth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, with its SLIM mission.
• – Biologists report the discovery of "obelisks", a new class of viroid-like elements, and "oblins", their related group of proteins, in the human microbiome.
• – A viable and sustainable approach for gold recovery from e-waste is demonstrated.

• *The discovery of 85 exoplanet candidates based on data from the TESS observatory is reported. All have orbital periods of between 20 and 700 days, with temperatures similar to those of Solar System planets.
• * A global analysis of groundwater levels reports rapid declines of over 0.5 meters per year are widespread and that declines have accelerated over the past four decades in 30% of the world's regional aquifers. The study also shows cases in which depletion trends have reversed following interventions such as policy changes.
• – The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna is given the go-ahead by the European Space Agency. It will launch in 2035.
• – Astronomers report the detection of water vapor in the atmosphere of GJ 9827 d, an exoplanet about twice the size of Earth.
• *Elon Musk's startup Neuralink implants their first microchip into a human brain.
• *A robotic sensor able to read braille with 87.5% accuracy and at twice the speed of a human is demonstrated.
• – NASA reports the discovery of a super-Earth called TOI-715 b, located in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star about 137 light-years away.
• : a self-powered solar panel cleaning system using an electrodynamic screen, removing contaminants through high-voltage electric fields, is demonstrated, an atmospheric water generator for humidity levels above 40% is released.
• : mouse-tested novel antibiotics class against A. baumannii, small-trialed focused ultrasound for blood–brain barrier opening for better medication entry against Alzheimer's disease, a review supports the of exercise against depression, an available blood test to detect Alzheimer's disease with high accuracy using p-tau217, one of two small-trialed gene therapies against DFNB9-deafness, phase 3-trialed dengue vaccine effective against at least two of four dengue types
• : ~240.000 particles of microplastic and nanoplastics per liter are found in samples of plastic-bottled water, a study estimates harmful chemicals used in plastic materials have caused $249 billion U.S. healthcare system costs in 2018, a study indicates fungal infections may be causing millions more deaths annually than thought, a study of European plastic waste exports to Vietnam finds a large fraction is dumped in nature and suggests air pollution from melting plastics and untreated wastewater have significant impact on health.

  February

• * Scientists report a possible way of solving the three-body problem; a notable problem of particular importance to physics and classical mechanics.
• * Apple releases the Vision Pro as a virtual reality tool with visionOS.
• *The proposed name Zoozve for Venus' quasi-moon 2002 VE is approved and announced by the International Astronomical Union's Working Group Small Bodies Nomenclature.
• *A study based on 300-years-long temperature records preserved in Caribbean sclerosponge carbonate skeletons shows industrial-era warming already began in the mid-1860s and that by 2020, global warming was already 1.7±0.1 °C above pre-industrial levels. However, their reference period is not used by the IPCC and the 1.5 °C climate goal and the study's authors suggest their results show a better baseline.
• *A study reports high life satisfaction in people with low incomes among small-scale societies outside mainstream societies, in contrast with conclusions of a 2023 adversarial collaboration.
• *Scientists report a new species of mussel named Vadumodiolus teredinicola.
• *Biologists report a new species of jellyfish named Santjordia pagesi.
• *Reported science studies suggest that cosmic dust particles may have spread, in a process termed panspermia, life to Earth and elsewhere in the Universe.
• *A battery based on calcium, able to charge and discharge fully 700 times at room temperature, is presented. It is described as a potential alternative to lithium, being 2,500 times more abundant on Earth.
• *Saturn's moon Mimas is reported to have a subsurface ocean which formed recently.
• – Google renames AI chatbot Bard to Gemini, and makes it available on mobile.

• – An analysis of Outer London's Mini-Hollands active transport infrastructures indicates Low Traffic Neighbourhoods are highly effective and cost-efficient measures in terms of health economic benefits.
• – The first detection of water molecules on the surface of asteroids is announced, following spectral analysis of 7 Iris and 20 Massalia, two large main-belt objects.

• – A study reviews educational content of 18,400 universities worldwide, finding higher education is not transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy curricula, to meet the growing demand for a clean energy workforce. On 26 February, a study analyzing funding sources and activities of two prominent academic centers delineates animal agriculture industry entrenchment in academia through support of industry-supported research and policy advocacy amid potential unfavorable policies.

• – A global review of harms from personal car automobility finds cars have killed 60–80 million people since their invention, with automobility causing roughly every 34th death, and summarises interventions that are ready for implementation to reduce the, largely crash-linked or pollution-mediated, deaths from automobility-centrism and dependency.
• *Astronomers announce the most luminous object ever discovered, quasar QSO J0529-4351, located 12 billion light-years away in the constellation Pictor.
• *Researchers with the University of Tennessee and University of Missouri publish an academic study about how survivors from the 2011 Joplin tornado recover from "Tornado Brain", a new term for the PTSD of tornado survivors.
• – The northern green anaconda, a new species of the giant snake, is described for the first time.
• *Researchers use artificial intelligence to forecast plasma instabilities in fusion reactors up to 300 milliseconds in advance.
• *The first neuroimaging study that shows flow state-related brain activity during a creative production task, jazz improvisation, is published. Its results support a theory that creative flow represents optimized specialized processing enabled by extensive experience, relaxing conscious control.

• – American company Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lander, named Odysseus, becomes the first commercial vehicle to land on the Moon in the IM-1 mission. The lander includes a Lunar Library that contains a version of the English Wikipedia, artworks, selections from the Internet Archive, portions of the Project Gutenberg, and more. It is projected to reside on the Moon in a readable state for billions of years.
• *Researchers report studies that, for the first time, measured gravity at microscopic levels.
• *Three new moons of the Solar System are discovered, one around Uranus and two around Neptune, bringing their total known satellites to 28 and 16, respectively.
• – A small trial suggests prebiotic resistant starch, contained in many foods, can help in weight loss.
• *A study links ultra-processed foods to 32 negative health impacts, including a higher risk of heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, adverse mental health, and early death.
• *A study reconstructs the genetic event of tail-loss in human ancestors around 25 million years ago.
• : LAION releases a first version of BUD-E, a fully open source voice assistant, Minesto's Dragon 12 underwater tidal kite turbines are demonstrated successfully, connected to the Faroe Island's power grid, rice grains as scaffolds containing cultured animal cells are demonstrated, an automatic waste sorting system that can distinguish between over 500 waste categories is released, researchers describe an AI ecosystem interface of foundation models connected to many APIs as specialized subtask-solvers, precision fermentation-derived beta-lactoglobulin is released as a substitute for whey protein amid growth of a nascent animal-free dairy industry, researchers describe an approach for an optical disk with petabit capacity.
• : phase 3-trialed R21/Matrix-M vaccine against Malaria, phase 3-trialed resmetirom as first medication against nonalcoholic steatohepatitis of the liver, a blood test against heart attacks, the top cause of human deaths, a low-cost saliva test against breast cancer, pigs-tested patient repositioning method for magnetic microbot navigation against liver cancer, antibiotic cresomycin against multiple drug-resistant bacterial strains, small-trialed 15 min exposure to 670 nm red light against blood glucose spikes following meals, small-trialed Omalizumab against food allergies, a donor heart is transplanted after 12 hours of preservation and transport using an airplane, small-trialed headgear for gamma stimulation to recruit the glymphatic system to remove brain amyloid against Alzheimer's disease.
• : several dietary habits and products including teabags are linked to PFAS intake, an additional three billion people may face water scarcity by 2050 when river pollution is considered, an aspect neglected by prior assessments, HPV infection linked to higher cardiovascular mortality, researchers use simulations to develop an early-warning signal for a potential collapse of the atlantic meridional overturning circulation and suggest it indicates the AMOC is "on route to tipping", researchers report the H5N1 bird flu virus may be changing and adapting to infect more mammals, researchers report how compounding disturbances could trigger unexpected ecosystem transitions in the Amazon rainforest, harmful chlormequat is found in ~80% of U.S. adult urine samples, rising during 2023, and in oat-based foods widely thought to be healthy, excess amounts of widely-supplemented niacin are linked to cardiovascular risk, a review concludes available evidence on the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in minors with gender dysphoria is very limited and based on only a few studies with small numbers which have problematic methodology and quality, warning about their use outside of clinical studies or research projects after careful risk-benefit evaluation.