The National Ignition Facility On May 29, the world's largest laser system was officially dedicated. Located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the stadium-size National Ignition Facility (NIF) required $3.5 billion and 12 years to build... LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL SECURITY, LLC
Water on the Moon Forty years after Apollo 11 first delivered humankind to the moon's surface, NASA again made headlines with a lunar mission, finally confirming the long-suspected presence of water ice deposits on the moon... JPL/NASA
Hubble Servicing Mission The Hubble Space Telescope, one of the most productive astronomical observatories ever built, passed its 19th anniversary of reaching orbit in April, and the next month received a makeover that left the telescope looking sprightlier than ever... NASA
Copenhagen Climate Conference Leaders from 193 nations gathered in the Danish capital this month to haggle over strategies to slow the warming of the planet. Despite a pre-conference release of stolen e-mails that seemed to be an attempt to derail negotiations, delegates agreed to a nonbinding accord developed by a core group of nations—including the U.S., China, India and South Africa—that, for the first time, extracts commitments from both developed and developing countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases... Copenhagen (& climategate emails)
Ardipithecus, Our Last Common Link with Chimps After some 4.4 million years in the ground—and another 15 years sequestered for close scientific scrutiny—the early human relative Ardipithecus ramidus was formally unveiled to the public and outside researchers in October... J. H. MATTERNES
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The H1N1 Pandemic In April news about a novel "swine flu" that was killing people by the dozens in Mexico swept around the globe, sparking anxious debate about the 1918 pandemic, the 1976 swine flu vaccine fiasco, and possible antiviral shortages... CDC
![The Top 10 Science Stories of 2009 [Slide Show]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/6C3A1671-6FC6-438F-8CB4168514CED3E6.jpg?w=590&h=393)
