The year 2011 involved many significant scientific events, including the first artificial organ transplant, the launch of China's first space station and the growth of the world population to seven billion. The year saw a total of 78 successful orbital spaceflights, as well as numerous advances in fields such as electronics, medicine, genetics, climatology and robotics.
2011 was declared the International Year of Forests and Chemistry by the United Nations.International Year of Chemistry 2011 – About IYC . Retrieved 1 November 2011.
Events, discoveries and inventions
January
3 January – American pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson announces a partnership for the development of a test for the detection of metastatic cancer in the bloodstream. 5 January Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania find that a major cause of baldness may be related to the inability of some stem cells to grow into full-sized hair follicles. An engineer from the University of Missouri announces his ambition to create a flexible solar sheet of small nano-antennas, capable of capturing solar energy with 90% efficiency; this would mark a significant improvement over contemporary commercial solar panels, which have an average efficiency of around 20%. 6 January – The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Psychological Association, announces that it will shortly publish a paper presenting strong evidence of ESP, the ability to sense future events.The article was published in the March 3 issue of the journal. 11 January – Kepler-10b, the first confirmed small rocky exoplanet, is discovered in the Draco constellation using NASA's Kepler space telescope. 12 January – Researchers announce that salty junk food can damage arteries in as little as thirty minutes after being eaten. 14 January – A study conducted at the Innsbruck Medical University in Austria reveals that stainless steel or titanium tongue piercings harbor more bacteria than plastic piercings. 15 January – In a study funded by the U.S. National Cancer Institute, researchers reveal that smoking cigarettes can cause damages in the body in minutes rather than years. 18 January – Researchers in Australia announce that sharks are colorblind, after examining the eyes of 17 separate shark species. 19 January – A Cochrane Library review suggests that antioxidants may improve male fertility. This work was updated in 2019 and noted that only low quality evidence from small randomized controlled trials supports this association and higher quality larger studies are needed to understand more about the association between antioxidants and male fertility.
20 January A landmark study unveils a medical technique that renders T-cells resistant to HIV. The World Meteorological Organization concludes that 2010 was the joint-hottest year on record. Scientists achieve 10 billion bits of quantum entanglement in silicon, a significant step in quantum computing. 21 January – An article in Science reveals the discovery of a Darwinopterus pterosaur in China with an unhatched egg, thereby allowing the genders to be differentiated. 24 January Researchers publish direct evidence that massive volcanic eruptions took place 250 million years ago, likely causing the Permian–Triassic extinction event, the biggest single extinction event in Earth's history. An article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals the discovery of Linhenykus monodactylus, an alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur, in Inner Mongolia; though a cousin to the giant Tyrannosaurus rex, it is no bigger than a modern parrot, and possesses only one claw on each forelimb. Scientists and students have built a 3D printer that makes edible food. 27 January Under pressure from industry and governments, the European Commission is putting the final touches on a strategy to reduce Europe's dependence on Chinese-supplied rare-earth metals, which are essential in export products like cars and electronics. Astronomers document H1504+65, a white dwarf in Ursa Minor with the hottest surface temperature known at this time, at 200,000 K. 30 January – Molybdenite is revealed to be up to 100,000 times more efficient than silicon transistors, and to have better electrical properties than graphene.
February
2 February – The Linac Coherent Light Source, an X-ray source a billion times brighter than previous sources, becomes operational at Stanford University. The device could potentially revolutionize 3D bioanalysis techniques, especially in the analysis of proteins and viruses. 3 February A blood test to detect vCJD is developed by British scientists, who say it could identify healthy people who are carriers of the disease. Further data from the Kepler space telescope published in Nature reveals that the star Kepler-11, located 2,000 light years from Earth, has a planetary system including six planets, which range between two and four-and-a-half times the radius of Earth, and between two and thirteen times its mass. Five orbit the star closer than Mercury orbits the Sun, and all are likely to have atmospheres made of light gases, and to be too hot to support life. The data also includes details of more than 1,000 additional exoplanet candidates. 4 February – Scientists reveal a tiny artificial brain, derived from rat neurons, that exhibits 12 seconds of short-term memory. 7 February – Scientists at Oxford University successfully test a universal flu vaccine, which should work against all known strains of the illness. 9 February – Using 25 years of evidence from over 470,000 participants, researchers show that sleep deprivation and disrupted sleep patterns can have long-term, serious health implications. 10 February – Scientists identify the root molecular cause of a variety of illnesses brought on by advanced age, including waning energy, failure of the heart and other organs, and metabolic disorders such as diabetes. 11 February – Scientists show that stem cells delivered via a nasal spray lead to an improvement of motor functions in rats with Parkinson's disease-like symptoms. 15 February In a world first for artificial intelligence, IBM's Watson supercomputer defeats two humans on the Jeopardy! quiz show. Scientists report stimulation of mouse muscle fibers in a way similar to the regeneration of severed limbs in newts and salamanders. 16 February – Researchers find a way of manipulating tiny swimming robots, just 1.3 millimetres long, using electric currents in water. 17 February Scientists build the world's first anti-laser, capable of absorbing an incoming laser beam entirely. A hummingbird-like "Nano Air Vehicle" is demonstrated for the first time, in an attempt to secure a DARPA contract to create small surveillance aircraft. 20 February – Stanford University researchers create new stretchable solar cells that could power artificial electronic 'super skin', capable of detecting chemicals and biological molecules. The potential applications include clothing, robotics, prosthetic limbs and more. 21 February – New research indicates that bilingual speakers are better at multitasking, because they are better at editing out irrelevant information; this overturns previous assumptions of bilingualism causing confusion, especially in children. 22 February The first complete millimeter-scale computing system is developed. Chinese scientists calculate a quantum law of protein folding that explains the impact of temperature on folding. The first full-color quantum dot display prototype is unveiled by Samsung. 28 February Scientists at Yale University demonstrate that bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) can be blow-molded into shapes that would be impossible with normal metals without loss in strength or durability. A pacemaker the size of a Tic Tac is announced by Medtronic.
March
1 March UK researchers demonstrate an optical microscope with one of the highest resolutions yet achieved, capable of imaging objects as little as 50 nanometres across. Scientists have determined how to generate a backward-pulling force from a forward-propagating beam, effectively creating a form of "tractor beam". Swiss researchers discover a gene in wasps that allow them to reproduce asexually. 4 March Researchers transform a human embryonic stem cell into a critical type of neuron that dies early in Alzheimer's disease and is a major cause of memory loss; the discovery may have major implications in the treatment of the disease. A groundbreaking study of mice indicates the liver, not the brain, could be the source of amyloid brain plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease. 5 March – The United States Air Force launches its robotic Boeing X-37 spaceplane on its second long-duration spaceflight; the spaceplane ultimately remains in orbit for 469 days. 8 March – The world's first tissue-engineered urethras are successfully used. 12 March – Surgeons in Houston, Texas, successfully implant the world's first continuous-flow artificial heart in a human patient. The turbine-based device is efficient and long-lived, and may herald the mass production of smaller and more durable alternatives to conventional artificial hearts. 14 March – Archeologists believe that they have found the lost city of Atlantis in mud swamps near Cadiz, Spain. They theorize that a tsunami struck the ancient settlement; a television special on the National Geographic Channel later investigates their findings. 16 March – Scientists report the first successful use of microcarriers to bring anti-cancer drugs to the targeted area in the liver of a living rabbit. 18 March – NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft successfully enters orbit around the planet Mercury – the first probe to do so. 20 March A new way of delivering drugs to the brain, using the body's own exosomes, is developed by scientists, overcoming a major barrier to the delivery of potential new drugs for many neurological diseases, including Alzheimer's. Researchers announce the development of a three-dimensional nanostructure for battery cathodes that allows for dramatically faster charging, without sacrificing energy storage capacity. This could lead to cellphones that charge in seconds, and electric cars that charge in minutes. A new way of making battery electrodes, based on nanostructured metal foams, can be used to make a lithium-ion battery that recharge by 90% in under two minutes. Scientists demonstrate how SHANK3, a brain protein, may trigger autism-like behavior in mice by stopping effective communication between brain cells. 22 March – A 6 cm-by-6 cm chip holding nine quantum devices, among them four "quantum bits", is demonstrated at the American Physical Society meeting in Dallas, Texas. It is hoped that further scaling up to 10 qubits should be possible later this year.
24 March A landmark study indicates that pioglitazone prevents the development of type 2 diabetes in 72% of pre-diabetic subject participants, the largest such decrease yet demonstrated by any intervention. The first sperm cells are grown in a lab. 27 March – Harvard University scientists demonstrate use of an electric field to extinguish an open flame more than 1 foot tall, a development they say could yield fire-suppression alternatives to water and chemical retardants. 31 March – Scientists announce the successful controlled entanglement of 14 quantum bits (qubits), realizing the largest quantum register yet produced—nearly double the previous record for the number of entangled quantum bits realized.
April 4 April A human heart is grown in a laboratory from stem cells, marking a major advance in personalized medicine. Five more genes which increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's have been identified, taking the number of genes linked to the disease to 10. A meta-study indicates that people with autism process visual information differently from non-autistic people.