Breakthrough of the Year

Molecule of the Year

• 1989 PCR and DNA polymerase
• 1990 the manufacture of synthetic diamonds
• 1991 buckminsterfullerene
• 1992 nitric oxide
• 1993 p53
• 1994 DNA repair enzyme

  Breakthrough of the Year

• 1996: Understanding HIV
• *Original mysteries
• *Prions hit the press
• *Cyber crush
• *Lasers in the limelight
• *T-cell tales
• *Earthly revolutions
• *Yeast on the rise
• *Early orientation
• *Divining the death wish
• 1997: Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from adult cells
• *Pathfinder's Triumphal Mars Landing
• *Synchrotrons Shine New Light
• *Keeping Time
• *Violence at a Distance
• *A Glimpse of Neandertal DNA
• *Nanotubes on a Roll
• *The Other Ocean
• *Genomes Galore
• *Neurons in the News
• 1998: Accelerating universe
• 1999: Capturing the promise of youth with stem cells
• *Genomics Speeds Ahead
• *How the Other Half Cools
• *Rally for Ribosomes
• *Plentiful Planets
• *Making Memories
• *Flat and Happy
• *New Light on Photonics
• *Tracking Distant Ancestors
• *Mystery Flashes Unveiled
• 2000: Full genome sequencing
• *Ribosome Revelations
• *Fossil Find
• *One Word--Organics
• *New Cells for Old
• *Water, Water, Everywhere
• *Cosmic BOOMERANG
• *Good Reception
• *NEAR spacecraft
• *Quantum Curiosities
• 2001: Nanocircuits or Molecular circuit
• *RNA Ascending
• *So What's Neu?
• *Genomes Take Off
• *Superconductor Surprises
• *Guide Me Home
• *Climatic Confidence
• *Cancer in the Crosshairs
• *Banner Year for Bose-Einstein
• *Carbon Consensus
• 2002: RNA interference
• *Neutrino insights
• *Genome progress
• *CMB structure and polarization
• *Attosecond physics
• *TRP channels
• *Cryoelectron tomography
• *Adaptive optics
• *Retina receptors
• *The Toumaï fossil
• 2003: Dark energy
• *Genes for mental illness
• *Climate change impacts
• *RNA's many roles
• *Single-molecule techniques
• *Gamma ray bursts
• *Sex cells from stem cells
• *“Left-handed” materials
• *Y chromosome sequence
• *Anti-angiogenesis treatments
• 2004: Spirit rover landed on Mars
• *The Littlest Human
• *Clone Wars
• *Bose–Einstein Condensate
• *Hidden DNA Treasures
• *Prized Pulsar Pair
• *Documenting Diversity Declines
• *Splish, Splash
• *Healthy Partnerships
• *Genes, Genes Everywhere
• 2005: Evolution in action
• *Planetary probes
• *Plant development
• *Violent neutron stars
• *Genetics of brain disease
• *Earth's differentiation
• *Potassium channels
• *Climate change
• *Systems biology
• *ITER nuclear fusion experiment
• 2006: Proof of the Poincaré conjecture
• *Paleogenomics
• *Shrinking ice
• *Tiktaalik fossil fish
• *Cloaking technology
• *Anti-VEGF for age-related macular degeneration patients
• *Biodiversity and speciation
• *Sub-diffraction-limit microscopy
• *LTP process for record new memories
• *Small piRNA molecules
• 2007: Human genetic variation
• *Reprogramming cells
• *High-energy cosmic rays
• *Receptor visions
• *Beyond silicon: oxide interfaces
• *Quantum spin Hall effect
• *T cell division
• *Direct chemistry efficient
• *Memory and imagination
• *Computer solving checkers
• 2008: Cellular reprogramming
• *Seeing Exoplanets
• *Cancer Genes
• *New High-Temperature Superconductors
• *Watching Proteins at Work
• *Water to Burn
• *The Video Embryo
• *Fat of a Different Color
• *Proton's Mass "Predicted"
• *Sequencing Bonanza
• 2009: Ardipithecus ramidus
• *Opening Up the Gamma Ray Sky
• *ABA Receptors
• *Mock Monopoles Spotted
• *Live Long and Prosper
• *An Icy Moon Revealed
• *Gene Therapy Returns
• *Graphene Takes Off
• *Hubble Reborn
• *First X-ray Laser Shines
• 2010: The first quantum machine
• *Synthetic biology
• *Neandertal genome
• *HIV prophylaxis
• *Exome Sequencing/Rare disease genes
• *Molecular dynamics simulations
• *Quantum simulator
• *Next-generation genomics
• *RNA reprogramming
• *The return of the rat
• Insights of the Decade: Science survey that looked at the 10 insights that have changed science since the dawn of the new millennium.
• *The dark genome
• *Precision cosmology
• *Ancient DNA
• *Water on Mars
• *Reprogramming cells
• *The micobiome
• *Exoplanets
• *Inflammation
• *Metamaterials
• *Climate change research
• 2011: HIV treatment as prevention
• *Hayabusa satellite
• *Ancient interbreeding
• *Photosystem II
• *Pristine gas
• *Microbiome
• *Malaria vaccine
• *Exoplanets
• *Designer Zeolites
• *Senescent cells
• 2012: Discovery of the Higgs boson
• *Denisovan genome
• *Genome engineering
• *Neutrino mixing angle
• *ENCODE research project
• *Curiosity landing
• *X-ray laser advances
• *Controlling bionics
• *Majorana fermions
• *Eggs from stem cells
• 2013: Cancer immunotherapy
• *Genetic microsurgery for the masses
• *CLARITY makes it perfectly clear
• *Human Cloning at last
• *Dishing up mini-organs
• *Cosmic particle accelerators identified
• *Newcomer juices up the race to harness sunlight
• *To sleep, perchance to clean
• *Your microbes, your health
• *In vaccine design, looks do matter
• 2014: Rosetta comet mission
• *The birth of birds
• *Using young blood to fight old age
• *Robots that cooperate
• *Chips that mimic the brain
• *The world's oldest cave art
• *Cells that might cure diabetes
• *Manipulating memories
• *Rise of the CubeSat
• *Giving life a bigger genetic alphabet
• 2015: CRISPR genome-editing method
• *Homo naledi
• *Ebola vaccine
• *Psychology replication
• *Pluto
• *Paleo-indians DNA
• *Mantle plumes
• *Opiate pathway in yeast
• *Lymphatic system in the central nervous system
• *Bell's theorem experiment
• 2016: Ripples in spacetime: First observation of gravitational waves
• *Proxima b: The exoplanet next door
• *AI beat Go champ: Artificial Intelligence ups its game
• *The purge that refreshes: Killing old cells to stay young
• *Mind-reading great apes: Humans aren't the only great apes that can 'read minds'
• *Custom proteins: Proteins by design
• *Making eggs: Mouse eggs made in the lab
• *Great migration: A single wave of migration from Africa peopled the globe
• *Pocket-size sequencer: Genome sequencing in the hand and bush
• *Super lenses: Metalenses, megapromise
• 2017: Cosmic convergence: Neutron star merger
• * A cancer drug's broad swipe: FDA's approval pembrolizumab for using in cancer immunotherapy
• * Gene therapy: Adeno-associated virus
• * Oldest ice core: The Antarctic ice cores that froze 2.7 million years ago
• * Biological preprints: bioRxiv
• * Human origins: The 300,000-year-old Homo sapiens fossils
• * Neutrino detector: COHERENT collaboration's 14.6 kg portable detector
• * A new great ape species: Pongo tapanuliensis
• * Life at the atomic level: Cryo-electron microscopy
• * Cassini's grand finale: Cassini retirement
• * Pinpoint gene editing: CRISPR tool for DNA and RNA base editing.
• 2018: Development cell by cell: How a single cell develops into an adult animal with multiple organs and billions of cells.
• *Messengers from a far-off galaxy
• *Molecular structures made simple
• *Ice age impact
• *An archaic human ‘hybrid’
• *Forensic genealogy comes of age
• *Gene-silencing drug approved
• *Molecular windows into primeval worlds
• *How cells marshal their contents
• 2019: A black hole made visible.
• * An effective cystic fibrosis drug
• * Mysterious archaic humans come into focus
• * A keystone microbe cultured
• * Ebola drugs show promise
• * A quantum milestone
• * AI masters multiplayer poker
• * Close-up of a far-out object
• * New fossil shakes our family tree
• * Detailed portrait of a killer impact
• * Malnutrition and gut microbes
• * A long-acting HIV treatment