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January/February

Table of Contents January/February 2017

Discover's 100 top stories of 2016 is jam-packed with the best in science from the past year. From space exploration to medicine, technology, paleontology and environment, we've got every field covered. Highlights include the first gravitational wave detection, next-gen spaceflight, detecting Alzheimer's earlier and more Hobbitses!

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The Top 10

#1

Found: Einstein’s Ripples in Space-Time

by Eric Betz

The first gravitational wave detection ushers in a new era of astronomy.

#2

Earth’s Surprise Neighbor Hints at Exoplanet Abundance

by Eric Betz

An Earth-size exoplanet orbits within the habitable zone of the red dwarf.

#3

Zika Bursts Onto the Scene

by Linda Marsa

A new enemy emerges.

#4

Oldest Human DNA Revises Our Family Tree

by Bridget Alex

Researchers extracted DNA from a 430,000-year-old tooth.

#5

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Biologists Create Organism With Smallest Genome

by Jonathon Keats

Stripping life to the bare essentials.

#6

The Pace—and Problems—of Climate Change Accelerate

by Eric Betz

A roundup of life past 400 ppm.

#7

Can America Avoid Another Flint?

by Nathaniel Scharping

The high costs of cleaning up our water.

#8

Looking for Planet Nine

by Korey Haynes

An unusual set of orbits in the solar system hints at a new planet.

#9

New Particle Fizzles, Leaving Physicists to Soul Search

by Nathaniel Scharping

The Standard Model may be incomplete, but how to fix it?

#10

lucy-great-fall

Did Lucy Fall and Not Get Up?

by Gemma Tarlach

CT scans of Lucy's bones found evidence of a great fall.

THE REST OF THE BEST

#11

Bangladesh Sits Atop Potential Major Quake Zone

by Gemma Tarlach

Lax building codes make Bangladeshi cities particularly vulnerable.

#12

Big Data May Lead to Earlier Alzheimer’s Diagnosis

by Linda Marsa

A new algorithm charts a 30-year trajectory for biological risk factors.

#13

Persistent Heat Decimates Coral Reefs

by Douglas Fox

A major bleaching event started in 2014, and has since affected 67 percent of coral reefs around the world.

#14

The Ozone Hole Is Finally Healing

by Nathaniel Scharping

Susan Solomon first identified the hole in the ozone layer in 1986.

#15

More Hobbitses, Precious!

by Gemma Tarlach

The evolutionary history of H. floresiensis gets deeper.

#16

We Are All Africans

by Bridget Alex

Researchers sequence the genomes from more isolated populations.

#17

The Falcon Has Landed

by Eric Betz

Now SpaceX is eyeing Mars.

#18

Electrons ‘Split’ in New Form of Matter

by Shannon Palus

Quasiparticles, called Majorana fermions, have been observed.

#20

Ceres Hosts an Ice Volcano

by Liz Kruesi

New insights brought to you by the Dawn spacecraft.

#21

Regulating the Brave New World of Human Gene Editing

by Paul Smaglik

Ethics in a post-CRISPR-Cas9 society.

#22

NIH Proposes Lifting 'Chimera' Research Ban

by Paul Smaglik

The move paves the way for animal-human hybrid research.

#23

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by Julie Rehmeyer

A discovery that shocked mathematicians.

#24

Finding China’s Great Flood

by Bridget Alex

New study finds truth in an ancient myth.

#25

The End of the Periodic Table?

by Eric Betz

Nuclear chemist Dawn Shaughnessy pushes against the limits of matter.

#26

Drug Couriers for Brain Injuries

by Teal Burrell

A small protein could lead to a cure for traumatic brain injuries.

#27

The Battle for Access

by Eric Betz

Should government-funded research sit behind a paywall?

#28

A Bone to Pick About Philistines

by Bridget Alex

New evidence suggests the Philistines were cosmopolitan.

#29

by Carl Engelking

Google DeepMind researchers conquer the '"white whale" of artificial intelligence.

#30

Crowdsourced Study Pinpoints Depression Genes

by Steven Potter

The data came from personal genomics company 23andMe.

#31

Pushing the Limits of Life in the Lab

by Lacy Schley

Scientists and policymakers navigate ethically dubious waters.

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