Most Important Science Stories of 2006

Humans controlled computers with the power of thought, built an invisibility cloak, cracked the mystery of a 3,000-year-old computer, discovered a new element, unearthed a missing link and kicked Pluto out of the planet club--and those are just the highlights.















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Overfishing Could Take Seafood off the Menu by 2048

It's hard to imagine a world without seafood, but regional fishing stocks have collapsed before, so what's to stop global fishing stocks from doing the same?

Martian Gullies Show Traces of Flowing Water within the Past Decade

It's long been known that water flowed across the surface of Mars in the past, but scientists were shocked to discover that liquid water exists on Mars today. Whether or not that means life has ever existed on Mars is still up for debate--but if Mars's oceans were as acidic as scientists currently believe, all signs point to no.

Radiation-Fueled Microbe Has Thrived Deep Underground for Past 20 Million Years

As if that weren't enough, extremophiles were also discovered in an ultraheated environment as acidic as vinegar, caught in the act of repairing chromosomes after massive doses of radiation, and found use as models of extraterrestrial life for NASA.

Existence of Dark Matter Proved

There's been more than a little debate about whether or not dark matter actually exists, but the collision of two clusters--known as the Bullet cluster--revealed the existence of the mythical stuff via a measure of its gravitational lensing.

Six Volunteers in Serious Condition after Receiving a Trial Antibody from Pharmaceutical Company TeGenero

The attempt to test a "superantibody" on human volunteers highlighted the pitfalls of human testing, even after extensive animal tests.

Fewer Breast Cancers Linked to Less Hormone Therapy

In a late-breaking end-of-year development, it appears that eliminating hormone therapy has led to a 7 percent drop in the rate of breast cancer, after decades of increases. Researchers debated for years whether hormone therapy would have a measurable effect on rates of breast cancer--if this finding holds, we can consider that debate settled.

Invisibility Cloak Proposed and Unveiled

Mere months after making headlines for proposing a technologically feasible way of rendering objects invisible, a research team demonstrated a rudimentary example of an invisibility cloak. Harry Potter's invisibility cloak it ain't--this one is constructed from metamaterials, and only works in the microwave range of the electromagnetic spectrum.



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