17 major scientific discoveries of 2013.

In 2013, there was a lot of important scientific discoveries - from the intergalactic neutrinos and invisible brain to create a tiny "organelles". Before you - the 17 most important scientific discoveries of just the past year.

1. "Voyager 1" has gone beyond the solar system

The output of the solar system can not be considered an ordinary achievement. Within 36 years spacecraft NASA "Voyager-1" increases the distance between them and the sun, moving away from it at a speed of 17 km / s. Scientists knew that sooner or later, "Voyager 1" reaches the periphery of the heliosphere that surrounds the solar system and defines its boundaries, but when he crosses this barrier, do know it was not.

After months of uncertainty, NASA made an official statement in September this year, "Voyager 1" was the first object created by a man who went out into interstellar space. "

So, we are already there.

2. Open short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) in the DNA of

The bacteria have their own version of the adaptive immune system, but how CRISPR system is not aimed at the hostile your immune system protein antigens. Instead CRISPR grasps and removes specific DNA sequences using appropriate RNA strands.

System CRISPR easily manipulated in January, scientists first reported about the removal, addition, activation and repression of target genes in human cells, mouse, rat, zebrafish, bacteria, fruit flies, yeast, nematodes and crops, demonstrating the tremendous opportunities for the application of the opening.

For those seeking new instruments scientists are often the most important is the flexibility and ease of use. CRISPR is convenient to both parties, and many scientists believe that the discovery has the potential to revolutionize molecular biology.

3. The Milky Way is full of habitable worlds

In November, the astronomers said that 22% of stars similar to our Sun, the Milky Way have potentially habitable planets around their orbits. Dimensions distant planets comparable to Earth. This remarkable finding suggests that our galaxy may be more than two billion habitable planets, and the nearest such a planet could be just 12 light years from Earth.

Perhaps there - a twin of the Earth? It is still unknown, but thanks to the telescope "Kepler" we have all the data to find out, it remains only to analyze them. Perhaps his second home we have already found.

4. Interface brain-to-brain

Back in February, researchers announced that they have successfully established a link between the brain of two rats: signals from the brain of one rat helped the second rat to solve complex problems in real time, with the animals were kept at a distance of thousands of kilometers from each other.

A few months later, it was established such a connection between the human brain and rats, but only a month later, scientists published the results of the first successful experiment of establishing communication between the brains of two people. The era of unification of minds, it seems, is not far off.

5. Is there life on the edge of the world

The lake Uillans is life. Millions of years tiny lake of liquid water hidden at a depth of hundreds of meters beneath the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, isolated from the outside world, and scientists, and to explore its depths there was no way.

This year, a team of researchers led by glaciologist John Prisca from Montana State University was able to drill a tunnel to the lake Uillans and find life - as Prisca and his colleagues were the first people in history to have found living organisms in the lake at the edge of the world.

6. The doctors cured of HIV child born to patients

In March, doctors announced the grand event in medicine - the child could be cured of HIV. Dr. Deborah Persaud presented a report on this at the 20th Annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.

7. Newly discovered the skull can reduce the evolutionary tree of humanity

Well-preserved skull age of 1, 8 million years old, found in Dmanisi, Georgia, may be evidence that the evolutionary tree creatures of the genus Homo may have far fewer branches than previously thought. In a report published in October, it said that a team of researchers led by Georgian anthropologist David Lordkipanidze found first in the history of well-preserved skull of a hominid.

If you compare the skull with four other skulls found nearby, it becomes clear that the earliest known members of Homo branch (Homo habilis, Homo Rudolfensis and Homo erectus), probably nothing from each other do not differ. It is likely that they were all part of the same emerging branches, eventually led to modern humans.

8. Neuroscientists have made invisible brain

New technologies allow scientists to make fully transparent medulla. It has become one of the most important achievements in the field of neuroanatomy in recent decades and it is easy to see why.

9. The rover "Curiosity" has confirmed that Mars could once be life

In March, NASA scientists have published perhaps the most compelling evidence to date that the Red Planet could be home to life. Earlier this year, "Curiosity" drill several sediment samples near the old riverbed in the crater Gale. In this area, there is a series of lines, similar to the dry river bed, which may testify in favor of the fact that the planet once had water. Using the on-board computers rover NASA researchers have analyzed the samples for some critical elements necessary for life, including sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon.

Currently, the rover is moving towards its main scientific objective - Mount Aeolis (aka Mount Sharp) five kilometers high, located in the center of Gale Crater. There he will try to find other proofs of the existence of life.

10. The death of the genome of anonymity

Few things in the world can be more personal than your DNA. For this reason, in such projects as the basis of human genome data, always with respect for the privacy of participants. By studying the individual characteristics of individuals donated their DNA samples, the researchers maintain standards "genomic anonymity." Those days are now officially over.

In January, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have shown that the similarity of the volunteers who sacrifice personal data - its genome - can only be determined at the public access to information. Lead researcher of the project Yaniv Erlich told how this method works, explained the implications of his discovery, and why it can change our attitude to genetic data.

11. The researchers found neutrinos from another galaxy

Physics Observatory "Ice Cube" at the South Pole in the Antarctic glacier drilled hole depth of 2, 5 km this year and captured there 28 neutrinos - those mysterious and extremely powerful subatomic particles that pass right through solid matter.

These particles may have been born outside of our solar system, it is possible that outside of our galaxy. Perhaps for this discovery, researchers will receive the Nobel Prize.

12. The 400,000-year-old DNA changes known history of mankind

The DNA extracted from the well-preserved 400,000 year old femur complicates our understanding of human evolution. First anatomists thought that the bone belonged to the Neanderthal, but further study led to the assumption that the bone belonged to even his predecessor, as the representative of a separate branch of hominids, known under the name denisovan.

Conclusions leading anthropologists are redefining the past few hundred thousand years of human evolution. It is possible that there are many extinct human populations that may interbreed and thus exchange of DNA.

13. Rassvet mini-organs

miniature organs grown in the laboratory give scientists new ways of studying the disease and how they develop in human tissues. The so-called "organelles" created from pluripotent stem cells. This results in different tissues, which can be grown, for example, "minipochki" or tiny human brain no larger than apple seed.

14. The long-lost continent discovered on the bottom of the Indian Ocean

For centuries, Maurice was hidden from the eyes: a small continent once stood between India and Madagascar, but a few million years ago, disappeared beneath the ocean waves due to tectonic faults.

This year, thanks to the volcanic activity of the remnants of a long-lost continent reached the Earth's surface. After millions of years of geological research and incredible Maurice seems to have been found.

15. A giant virus "Pandoravirus" can cause us to rethink our ideas about life

In July, scientists announced the discovery of the virus pair defies classification. These viruses, called "Pandoravirus", a genetically complex of all other viruses known to science, and can ignite long-standing debate about the classification of life itself.

16. NASA discovered "previously unknown surprise surrounding the Earth"

NASA Satellites "Van Allen probes" - a pair of robotic spacecraft, launched in 2012, the year of the study couples Earth's radiation belts. In February this year, the satellites have found something interesting - an ephemeral third ring of radiation surrounding the planet.

17. Human cloning becomes a reality

In May, the researchers got stem cells from cloned human embryos. This new controversial technology can lead to new treatments for diseases such as Parkinson's disease or diabetes - as well as a step bringing us closer to reproductive human cloning.