A number of significant scientific events occurred in 2015. Gene editing based on CRISPR significantly improved. A new human-like species, Homo naledi, was first described. Gravitational waves were observed for the first time (announced publicly in 2016), and dwarf planets Pluto and Ceres were visited by spacecraft for the first time. The United Nations declared 2015 the International Year of Soils and Light-based Technologies.
Events
January 2 January – A study published in Science shows evidence that a protein partially assembles another protein without genetic instructions. Defying textbook science, amino acids (the building blocks of a protein) can be assembled by another protein and without genetic instructions.
3 January – Iranian chemists from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad created biodiesel fuel from soya oil to decrease pollutions caused by fossil fuels.Iranian Scientists Synthesize Biodiesel Fuel from Soya Oil Using Nanocatalysts nanotech-now.com _ Iranian Scientists Synthesize Biodiesel Fuel from Soya Oil Using Nanocatalysts Tehran, Iran | Posted on January 3rd, 2015 5 January Scientists from the US and UK have mapped the genome of the bowhead whale and identified genes responsible for its 200-year lifespan, the longest of any mammal. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) declares 2014 as the hottest year on record globally, surpassing the previous record of 1998. Researchers have developed a compound that causes the metabolism of mice to respond as if a meal has been eaten, so they burn fat to make room for new calories. Human trials could follow within two years. An earthquake felt by Ohio residents in March 2014 was caused by fracking, a study has found. NASA reports observing an X-ray flare 400 times brighter than usual, a record-breaker, from the supermassive black hole, named Sagittarius A*, in the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The unusual event may have been caused by the breaking apart of an asteroid falling into the black hole or by the entanglement of magnetic field lines within gas flowing into Sagittarius A*. 6 January Astronomers have developed a method of accurately telling a star's age from how fast it spins. NASA announces the 1000th confirmed exoplanet discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope. Three of the newly confirmed exoplanets were found to orbit within habitable zones of their related stars: two of the three, Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b, are near-Earth-size and likely rocky; the third, Kepler-440b, is a super-Earth. 7 January Humans are eroding soil a hundred times faster than natural processes, according to a new study. If global warming is to be kept below 2 °C this century, then over 80% of coal, 50% of gas and 30% of oil reserves are "unburnable" a new study concludes. A review article published in the journal Neuron describes a number of recent studies showing that brain imaging can help predict a person's future learning, criminality, health-related behaviors, and response to drug or behavioral treatments. In a world first, researchers from New Zealand have observed mitochondrial DNA moving between cells in mice and triggering cancer growth. Tarbiat Modarres University researchers produce ceramic nonporous membrane with high thermal firmness.Tarbiat Modarres University researchers have developed ceramic nonporous membrane with high thermal stability. mehrnews.com, Date: 1/7/2015 10:03:08 PM 8 January NASA reports determining, with a high degree of accuracy, the precise center of the planet Saturn and its family of moons – to within . Astronomers have observed and measured a neutron star slipping out of view because of the warp in space-time its orbit creates. The star is expected to reappear in about 160 years. 9 January A new species of ichthyosaur resembling a dolphin merged with a crocodile has been discovered in Scotland. Dearcmhara shawcrossi lived in the early to mid-Jurassic about 170 million years ago. Iranian and Argentinean researchers made a biosensor by using graphene sheets.Iranian, Argentine Scientists Produce Biosensor from Graphene nanotech-now.com __ Iranian, Argentine Scientists Produce Biosensor from Graphene Tehran, Iran | Posted on January 9th, 2015 Iranian researchers from University of Tehran applied nanocomposite covering to enhance the strength and lifetime of concrete compositions.Iranian Researchers Prolong Life of Steel Armatures in Concrete Structures nanotech-now.com __ Iranian Researchers Prolong Life of Steel Armatures in Concrete Structures Tehran, Iran | Posted on January 9th, 2015 13 January – The first lab-grown, contracting human muscle is announced by Duke University. 14 January NASA and ESA celebrate 10 years since the Cassini-Huygens probe landed on Titan, largest moon of the planet Saturn. (related image). By the year 2050, almost nobody under the age of 80 will die of cancer, according to a study by University College London. The acceleration in global sea level rise during recent decades has been significantly underestimated, according to a new Harvard study.
15 January Researchers have extended the lifespan of fruit flies by 60 percent, using a method that could one day lead to anti-aging treatments for humans. A series of 24 global indicators, published in the journal Anthropocene Review, show how the impact of humans is now the primary driver of the Earth system. Iranian scientists from University of Tehran produced a sensor that calculates the amount of blood sugar of Diabetics by measuring acetone concentration in their expiration.Iranian Scientists Measure Blood Sugar through Patient's Expiration nanotech-now.com _ Iranian Scientists Measure Blood Sugar through Patient's Expiration Tehran, Iran | Posted on January 15th, 2015 16 January NASA reports the Beagle 2, built by the United Kingdom, thought to be lost on the planet Mars since 2003, has been found on the surface in Isidis Planitia (location is about ) High-resolution images captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter identify the lost probe, which appears to be intact. (see discovery images here) NASA and NOAA confirm that 2014 was the hottest year on record globally. 19 January NASA presents an animated view of the dwarf planet Ceres by the approaching Dawn spacecraft. (animated images: 20150113 & 20150204) By observing the gravitational effects on extreme trans-Neptunian objects (ETNOs), astronomers have theorised that a pair of Earth-sized objects may be hidden at the edge of the Solar System. 20 January – Long-term carbon sequestration as a way of mitigating climate change may be harder to achieve than previously thought, due to difficulties in converting the gas to a solid state, MIT reports. 22 January By recreating the conditions on Earth during the Chicxulub impact, researchers have concluded that the heat pulse nearer the crater was too short-lived (less than a minute) to ignite significant amounts of plant matter. By contrast, regions much further away would have experienced less intense, but longer-lived heat levels (up to seven minutes), long enough to ignite plant matter. This challenges previous theories about global firestorms in the aftermath of the event.
As part of the Open Worm Project, scientists have mapped the brain of a roundworm (C. elegans), created software to mimic its nervous system and uploaded it to a lego robot, which seeks food and avoids obstacles. 23 January Scientists have slowed the speed of light by using a special mask to change the shape of photons. With a successful new method, Iranian scientists managed to create a graphene-based gas sensor, which has uses in many industries to detect oxygen.Iranian Scientists Produce Graphene-Based Oxygen Sensor nanotech-now.com __ Iranian Scientists Produce Graphene-Based Oxygen Sensor Tehran, Iran | Posted on January 23rd, 2015 25 January – A new owl species in the Middle East, the desert tawny owl (Strix hadorami), is described. 26 January Chemists determine that alkali metals explode on contact with water due to a Coulomb explosion at the water-metal interface driving the reaction, instead of merely due to Hydrogen gas formation and its subsequent ignition. This overturns what was previously considered to be a well understood phenomenon, and has the potential to increase safety when handling reactive metals. Iranian nanotechnologists drafted and constructed solar cells for transforming solar energy into electricity.Iranian Researchers Boost Solar Cells Efficiency Using Anti-Aggregates nanotech-now.com __ Iranian Researchers Boost Solar Cells Efficiency Using Anti-Aggregates Tehran, Iran | Posted on January 26th, 2015 27 January Astronomers have discovered an exoplanet with a gigantic ring system that is 200 times larger than that around Saturn. NASA reports that the Kepler space telescope confirmed five sub-Earth-sized rocky exoplanets, all smaller than the planet Venus (but bigger than the planet Mercury), in orbit around the 11.2 billion year old star Kepler-444, making this planetary system, at more than 80% of the age of the universe, the oldest yet discovered. According to NASA, no life as we know it could exist on these hot exoplanets, due to their close orbital distances to the host star. 28 January – An ingredient found in green tea may protect against oral cancer, according to Penn State University researchers. 29 January – Global warming will result in large storms becoming larger, rather than an increase in the number of storms, concludes a study by the University of Toronto. 30 January – A joint study of data from the Planck space mission and the ground-based experiment BICEP2 casts doubt on earlier findings of gravitational waves from the Big Bang. 31 January – NASA launches the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory. It will provide the most accurate, highest-resolution global measurements of soil moisture ever obtained from space.
February
2 February – A study about penta-graphene, a proposed carbon allotrope, is published. 3 February The British government votes to allow a controversial new technique involving babies created from three people. If passed by the House of Lords, the UK will become the first country in the world to offer this medical procedure, which can be used to treat mitochondrial diseases. For the first time, researchers have used biodegradable nanoparticles to kill brain cancer cells in animals and lengthen their survival. The FDA approves a new drug, Ibrance (palbociclib), for treating advanced breast cancer. The first transistors made from silicene, a one atom-thick version of silicon, are reported. 4 February Scientists have genetically reprogrammed plants to be drought tolerant in response to an already existing agrochemical, circumventing the need for a new chemical that would otherwise have required many years of testing. E-cigarettes cause many of the same harmful effects as normal cigarettes, according to a new study on mice. 5 February – The first generation of stars is now thought to have emerged 560 million years after the Big Bang, according to scientists working on the European Planck satellite. This is 140 million years later than the previous estimate of 420 million years. 6 February – Iranian nanotechnologists discovered key to measure species in liquids. In this study, the aim was to withdraw and measure vitamin B12 from liquid models.Iranian Scientists Find Solution to Measure Species Existing in Liquids nanotech-now.com __ Iranian Scientists Find Solution to Measure Species Existing in Liquids Tehran, Iran | Posted on February 6th, 2015 9 February – Researchers have extracted isopropanol fuel from genetically engineered bacteria and solar-powered catalysts, achieving the same efficiency as photosynthesis. 10 February NASA releases a "smiley" image of galaxy cluster (SDSS J1038+4849) and gravitational lensing (an Einstein ring) taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.