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Science

14 science and tech breakthroughs we're thankful for this year

2016 has been a rough year, but it's not all doom and gloom

November 23, 2016

Panda — In September, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature moved panda bears from their "endangered" list to merely "vulnerable." And pandas aren't the only ones. The fuzzy creatures that inspired teddy bears got de-red-listed, and monarch butterfly populations seem to be bouncing back as well. Keep up the good work, guys.George Lu/Flickr

SpaceX sticks the landing — Remember that time, back in April, when SpaceX made history by landing its rocket on a drone ship in the middle of the ocean? That was pretty cool. It was also kind of a big deal. Landing on a moving platform makes it easier for the company to recover and (hopefully one day) reuse their rocket boosters, which could cut the costs of going to space by 30 percent.SpaceX

sony vr — While most high-quality VR experiences require powerful (read: pricey) computers, Sony's headset works via the PlayStation 4. It also doesn't require an engineering degree to set it up. For its plug-and-play ease of use and relative affordability, Popular Science thinks this is the virtual reality headset that will finally take America by storm.Sam Kaplan

That time we found gravitational waves — The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected gravitational waves from a pair of black holes that collided 1.3 billion years ago. It's the first time we've ever been able to sense these ripples through space-time, which will give scientists a whole new way to study the cosmos.R. Hurt - Caltech/JPL

2015 — The world is heating up, and the next generation is going to have to bear the brunt of the melting ice caps, drying farmlands, wildfires, and more severe storms. But thanks to Oregon judge Ann Aiken, a group of 21 youths has won the right to sue the government for failing to curb climate change. This strategy worked last year in the Netherlands, when a court ruled that the government "has to ensure that the Dutch emissions in the year 2020 will be at least 25 percent lower than those in 1990."Scientific Visualization Studio/Goddard Space Flight Center

IMLYGIC — Scientists have long known that viruses could trigger the immune system to attack cancer, but modifying the viruses without affecting our resistance to them has taken time. In late 2015, IMLYGIC became the first FDA-approved viral cancer drug. Green-lit to treat melanoma, the modified herpes virus is injected into a tumor, where it may ignite an immune response to the cancer.Amgen

planet edge of solar system — Scientists turned up evidence that a giant, Neptune-sized planet may dwell at the edge of our solar system, 10 to 20 times further out than Pluto. Although the planet's existence is still being confirmed, evidence is mounting that it's out there. If so, our 9-planet solar system may be restored.Arist illustration of Planet X, Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A smartphone with WhatsApp encryption on a table. — Starting in April, WhatsApp enabled end-to-end encryption for voice calls and texting, making it much harder for the NSA or third-parties to snoop on our conversations.Open Whisper Systems

Ross Sea — Thanks, Obama! No, really, thank you for setting up marine preserves in Antarctica and the Atlantic Ocean. The penguins, orcas, and octopi that live there would probably thank you, too, if they could.Christopher Michel

A vaccine for dengue — Every year, 400 million people contract dengue, a mosquito-transmitted disease that causes high fever, severe headaches, vomiting, and sometimes death. This year, the World Health Organization started recommending the first vaccine to prevent dengue, and inoculations have begun in hot zones like Brazil and the Philippines.Michael Schnaidt

Proxima b — The star closest to our Sun is home to a roughly Earth-sized, rocky planet in the habitable zone. Proxima b is the nearest neighboring exoplanet to Earth, and although we don't know if it's exactly Earth 2.0 (chances are it's not), it's fun to dream about escaping our solar system to visit it someday. We just have to wait for some genius to invent the warp drive—here's looking at you, Elon Musk.Artist's impression of Proxima b, Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

Solar Impulse — Pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg landed the Solar Impulse 2 in Abu Dhabi, marking the end of an epic, 26,000-mile solar-powered flight around the world. The team hopes the journey will inspire more environmentally friendly aircraft.Solar Impulse | Revillard | Rezo.ch

Ozone Hole — The giant hole in the ozone layer that protects Earth from UV radiation has shrunk by 1.5 million square miles since its peak in 2000, thanks to a combination of a reduction in CFCs and changing weather patterns.NASA

tasmanian devil — The devil may actually care. As bacteria grow increasingly resistant to humankind's antibiotics, antimicrobial peptides found in the milk of Tasmanian devils could provide a new weapon against bacterial disease.Australian Reptile Park/Devil Ark

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