2008 in science

The year 2008 involved numerous significant scientific events and discoveries, some of which are listed below.

List of years in science (table)

Events, discoveries and inventions

January
  • 2 January – Researchers report that just four months of hormonal therapy before and with standard external beam radiation therapy can slow cancer growth by as much as eight years – especially the development of bone metastases – and increase survival rates in older men with potentially aggressive prostate cancer.[1]
  • 3 January – Gene therapy can reduce long-term drinking among rodents “An ‘experiment of nature’ is observed in some individuals of East Asian origin, who are 66 to 99 percent protected against alcoholism,” explained Yedy Israel, professor of pharmacological and toxicological chemistry.[2]
  • 4 January – The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) jointly achieve a new milestone in scientific ballooning in Antarctica, by launching and operating three long-duration suborbital flights within a single southern hemisphere summer.[3]
  • 5 January – Designer Avery Holleman develops the concept of a Napkin PC, a device that uses e-paper and radio frequency (RF) technology to enable creative groups to collaborate more effectively.[4]
  • 7 January
    • Researchers identify a gene linked to cerebral venous thrombosis, a condition that causes blood clots in the veins of the brain that can lead to stroke. The condition is more common in young and middle-aged women.[5]
    • New research reveals that Pleistocene cave bears, a species which became extinct 20,000 years ago, ate both plants and animals and competed for food with the other contemporary animals, instead of being vegetarian as previously assumed.[6]
  • 8 January – SanDisk Corporation begins to sample 12-gigabyte (GB) microSDHC flash memory cards to major phone manufacturers for testing and evaluation.[7]
  • 10 January
    • NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope detects massive black holes in anomalously small galaxies.[8]
    • Overweight people who lose a moderate amount of weight get an immediate benefit in the form of better heart health, according to a study conducted at Washington University School of Medicine.[9]
  • 11 January – Biologists create baker's yeast capable of living to 800 in yeast years – a tenfold increase in longevity – without apparent side effects.[10]
  • 13 January
  • 14 January
    • An American scientist creates the darkest known material, around four times darker than the previous record holder.[14]
    • Scientists find that dinosaurs' growth and sexual maturation were surprisingly similar to that of mammals, even encompassing teenage pregnancy.[15]
  • 15 January
    • NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes the first of its three flybys of Mercury at an altitude of 200 kilometres (120 mi), decreasing its velocity for its 2011 orbital insertion.
    • University of Pennsylvania engineers and physicians develop a carbon nanopipette thousands of times thinner than a human hair that can measure electric currents and deliver fluids into cells.[16]
  • 16 January – NASA begins a collaboration with charities and universities to investigate the potential of carbon nanotubes to diagnose and treat brain tumors.[17]
  • 17 January – Duke University scientists use the brain activity of a monkey to control the real-time walking patterns of a robot halfway around the world.[18]
  • 19 January – The first evidence of a volcanic eruption from beneath Antarctica’s most rapidly changing ice sheet is published in the journal Nature Geosciences.[19]
  • 20 January – British space experts begin constructing an ion drive for a Mercury-bound spacecraft.[20]
  • 23 January – NASA's S-3 Viking aircraft returns to the agency's Glenn Research Center after extensive modifications to transform it from a carrier-based military aircraft to a state-of-the-art icing research aircraft.[21]
  • 24 January – Scientists develop a pill-sized medical camera that can be safely swallowed by patients, allowing illnesses to be diagnosed more quickly.[22]
  • 25 January
    • Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics and Leibniz University of Hanover produce a laser beam of especially high quality.[23]
    • European researchers develop a breakthrough interface that allows users to touch, stretch and pull virtual fabrics that feel like the real thing.[24]
  • 28 January
    • Researchers confirm a genetic alteration that triggers prostate cancer in both mice and humans.[25]
    • Scientists build the world’s first all-nanotube transistor radios.[26]

February
  • 1 February – Research from Vanderbilt University proves that the brain processes aggression as a reward, offering insights into the human preoccupation with violence.[27]
  • 4 February – American researchers demonstrate microneedles that can be used to efficiently transfer medicines into the bloodstream without the use of conventional syringes.[28]
  • 5 February – Two proteins studied by a University at Buffalo immunologist appear to have the potential to enhance the production of antibodies against a multitude of infectious agents.[29]
  • 7 February – An annular solar eclipse takes place.
  • Encyclopedia of Life website launched.[30]

March
  • 5 March – Scientists solve a 40-year-old puzzle by identifying the origin of the intense radio waves in the Earth's upper atmosphere that control the dynamics of the Van Allen radiation belts.[31]
  • 12 March – The Cassini spacecraft orbits within 100 kilometres (62 mi) of Enceladus, its closest encounter yet with the sixth-largest moon of Saturn.
  • 19 March – The gamma-ray burst GRB 080319B, the farthest object that could be seen by the naked eye, is observed.
  • 20 March – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves a new medical adhesive – a fibrin sealant called Artiss – for use in attaching skin grafts to burn patients.[32]

April

May

June

August

September

October
  • 6 October – NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes the second of its three flybys of Mercury.
  • 7 October – 2008 TC3 becomes the first Earth-impacting meteoroid spotted and tracked prior to impact.

November

Prizes

Abel Prize
Main article: Abel Prize

Nobel Prize
Main articles: List of Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine, List of Nobel laureates in Physics, and List of Nobel laureates in Chemistry

Deaths
19 March 2008: Arthur C. Clarke, a British futurist and science fiction author, dies aged 90.

See also

References
  1. "Just 4 months of hormone therapy can delay prostate cancer growth by up to 8 years". medicalxpress.com.
  2. "Gene therapy can reduce long-term drinking among rodents". phys.org. 2008-01-03.
  3. "Scientific Balloons Achieve Antarctic Flight Record". phys.org. 2008-01-04.
  4. Zyga, Lisa (2008-01-05). "Napkin PC Enables High-Tech Doodling". Phys.org.
  5. "New gene identified for condition that causes blood clots in brain". medicalxpress.com. 2008-01-07.
  6. "Cave bears from the Carpathians as omnivorous as modern bears". Phys.org. 2008-01-07.
  7. "SanDisk Announces the 12-Gigabyte microSDHC Card". 2008-01-08.
  8. "Even Thin Galaxies Can Grow Fat Black Holes". Phys.org. 2008-01-10.
  9. "Eat less or exercise more? Either way leads to more youthful hearts". medicalxpress.com. 2008-01-10.
  10. "10-fold life span extension reported in simple organism". Phys.org. 2008-01-11.
  11. "Study locates cholesterol genes; finds surprises about good, bad cholesterol". medicalxpress.com. 2008-01-13. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  12. "Researchers uncover new piece to the puzzle of human height". medicalxpress.com. 2008-01-13.
  13. "Researchers create beating heart in laboratory". medicalxpress.com. 2008-01-13. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  14. "Scientists create darkest material". phys.org. 2008-01-14.
  15. "T. rex had teen pregnancies". phys.org. 2008-01-14.
  16. "Penn engineers create carbon nanopipettes that are smaller than cells and measure electric current". phys.org. 2008-01-15.
  17. "Nanotubes Help Advance Brain Tumor Research". phys.org. 2008-01-16.
  18. "Monkey's Thoughts Make Robot Walk from Across the Globe". medicalxpress.com. 2008-01-17.
  19. "First evidence of under-ice volcanic eruption in Antarctica". phys.org. 2008-01-20.
  20. "Ion engine to propel spacecraft to Mercury". phys.org. 2008-01-20.
  21. "Modifications Completed on NASA's New Research Aircraft". phys.org. 2008-01-23.
  22. "Camera in a pill offers cheaper, easier window on your insides". phys.org. 2008-01-24.
  23. "The world's lowest noise laser: Researchers outsmart quantum physics". phys.org. 2008-01-25.
  24. "Haptics: just reach out and touch, virtually". phys.org. 2008-01-25.
  25. "Researchers confirm genetic alteration that triggers prostate cancer in mice and man". medicalxpress.com. 2008-01-28.
  26. "New kind of transistor radios shows capability of nanotube technology". phys.org. 2008-01-28.
  27. "Brain rewards aggression much like it does sex, food, drugs". medicalxpress.com. 2008-02-01.
  28. "Microneedles enhance drug administration through skin". phys.org. 2008-02-04.
  29. "Novel molecules can boost vaccine potency". phys.org. 2008-02-05.
  30. "Guide to Digitized Natural History Collections", New York Times, October 2015
  31. "Scientists identify origin of hiss in upper atmosphere". Phys.org. 2008-03-05.
  32. "FDA OKs new adhesive to treat burn victims". medicalxpress.com. 2008-03-20.
  33. "3-D images – cordless and any time". Phys.org. 2008-04-01.
  34. (News.com.au) Archived April 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  35. "Cameron urges aid drops for Burma". BBC News. UK. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  36. "Sichuan 2008: A disaster on an immense scale". BBC News. 2013-05-09. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  37. Roberts, Michelle (19 November 2008). "Windpipe transplant breakthrough". BBC News. Retrieved 2011-07-07.
  38. Kampf, Anthony R.; Steele, Ian M. (June 2008). "Magnesiopascoite, a new member of the pascoite group: description and crystal structure". Canadian Mineralogist. 46 (3): 679–686. doi:10.3749/canmin.46.3.679.
  39. "CERN - LHC First Beam". lhc-first-beam.web.cern.ch.
  40. "First commercial wave farm". 24 September 2008 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  41. Clark, Stephen (2008-09-28). "Sweet Success at Last for Falcon 1 Rocket". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 2015-01-01. the first privately developed liquid-fueled rocket to successfully reach orbit.
  42. "The DIY Flier". Popsci. Archived from the original on 2011-11-08. Retrieved 2011-07-07.
  43. Bowden, Mark (June 2010). "The Enemy Within". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
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