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Every year, scientific breakthroughs abound, and 2010 was no exception. Today, we take a look at what happened last year and what it all might mean.
1. Directed self assembly of molecules. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have used custom nanoparticles to create very efficient, self-assembling and self-healing solar cells.
Phospholipids, light sensitive molecules and a carbon nanotube combine to create tiny little solar cells - tiny little generators that convert solar energy into electricity at 40 percent efficiency. Millions of these solar cells can be formed in a small solution.
With surfactants, like the chemicals that were used to break up the oil from the BP spill, scientists can break up these structures and pass them through a membrane to separate out the surfactant. On the other side of the membrane, all the components re-assemble themselves again. This discovery is significant not just for solar cells. Self-assembly is the way of the future for nano-materials.
2. Bubbles in the center of the galaxy. Scientists operating NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have observed two huge bubbles emanating north and south of the galactic center. The bubbles are not only huge in size, they are emitting gamma rays, the most energetic electromagnetic emanation known to man.
The source of the energy and the bubbles is not yet known, but the amount of energy being released is equivalent to hundreds of thousands of stars exploding at once.
Several possible sources of this energy have been hypothesized. This could be evidence of black holes feeding on stars. The bubbles could be the accumulated energy of millions of years of star formation. They could even be a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, much like the jets we see from black holes from ordinary collapsed stars.
3. Antimatter stored for the first time. We have been told that the composition of matter is just three particles: a proton, neutron and electron. In recent years, scientists have been able to create another form of matter called antimatter, but they've never been able to store it for enough time to study it — until now. Scientists can now create and store small quantities of anti-hydrogen: one antiproton, one positron.
We have been able to create small quantities of anti-hydrogen for about eight years, but when we tried to store it, the particles touched the container, annihilating any atoms they touched. Stable storage of antimatter will allow scientists to study the symmetries of the universe in more detail and answer questions like, "Why do we have more matter than antimatter?" and "How does antimatter respond to the forces of nature?"
4. Water on the moon. Scientists have found water on the moon, despite the long-held belief that water could not exist on the moon without an atmosphere to keep it in a liquid state. According to the LCROSS team at NASA, when they sent a spent rocket stage into a shadowed crater on the moon, they found 341 pounds of water.
Subsequent radar surveys have detected millions of tons of water. This new evidence suggests that there is enough water there to be useful for human colonies. No word yet on how long the water has been there, though.
5. The human microbiome — 90 percent of what is in us, really isn't us. Scientists have had some clues about this for years, but last year, it was confirmed: Nine of 10 cells in our bodies are not related to our own cells. That means that only about 10 percent of you is really you. The rest? Freeloaders — symbiotic bacteria and parasites.
Scientists have also found that human skin contains on average 182 different species of bacteria, and no two people have exactly the same set of bacteria. No amount of washing is ever going to get rid of them since they often live deep within the skin. Fortunately, our immune system is keeping all these microbes in check in what is now known as the human microbiome.
Scott Dunn is an IT professional, teacher and writer living in Salt Lake City. He is also a passionate Linux enthusiast.
