China Media Group (CMG) on Monday released the top 10 scientific news stories around the world for 2024.
1. The European Space Agency's Euclid space mission revealed the first piece of its great map of the universe.
Mosaic of Euclid observations /European Space Agency
2. The epoch-making discoveries achieved via studies of lunar rock samples retrieved by China's Chang'e-6 spacecraft were published in the world's leading scientific journals in November, revealing that the volcanic activities of the moon's lesser-known far side, which is distinct from its near side, have lasted for at least 1.4 billion years.
The returner of China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe is opened during a ceremony in Beijing, June 26, 2024. /CFP
3. An international research team from the Quantum Nanoscience Center (QNS) at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in South Korea and the Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany developed the world's first atomic-level quantum sensor capable of detecting tiny magnetic fields at the atomic scale. The related paper was published in Nature Nanotechnology on July 25.
4. Microsoft-backed OpenAI announced in February that it's developing software capable of generating minute-long videos based on text prompts. The software, named "Sora" after the Japanese word for "sky," is currently available for red teaming, which helps identify flaws in the AI system.
Footage generated by Sora: a stylish woman walks down a Tokyo street filled with warm glowing neon and animated city signage. /OpenAI
5. An international consortium of researchers led by the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto and the University of Zurich built the first-ever molecular atlas of the human brain vasculature at single-cell resolution, spanning from early development to adulthood and through disease stages such as brain tumors and brain vascular malformations. The research was published July 10 in Nature.
6. An international consortium comprising nearly 50 institutions worldwide, including the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in the United States, created the first global soil virus atlas. The atlas provides a comprehensive description of the global soil virome, explores the potential impact of soil viruses on global biogeochemical processes, and reveals key areas where further research in soil virus ecology may be conducted. The related paper was published in June in Nature Microbiology.
7. Astronomers identified the most massive stellar black hole yet discovered in the Milky Way galaxy. The black hole was spotted in data from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission because it imposes an odd "wobbling" motion on the companion star orbiting it. Data from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) and other ground-based observatories were used to verify the mass of the black hole, putting it at an impressive 33 times that of the sun.
An artist's impression of the system with the most massive stellar black hole in our galaxy. /ESO
8. Canadian scientists developed the fastest camera known to date. It can capture images at 156 trillion frames per second.
9. Scientists from multiple research institutions, including Radboud University, used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)to observe "dangling" ice structures (dangling OH ice) in the universe for the first time.
10. A deep-diving robot that chiseled into the rocky Pacific seabed at a spot where two of the immense plates comprising Earth's outer shell meet unearthed a previously unknown realm of animal life thriving underground near hydrothermal vents.
Giant tubeworms – the world's heftiest worms – and other marine invertebrates, such as snails and bristle worms, were found using the remotely operated underwater vehicle SuBastian. They live inside cavities within the Earth's crust at an ocean-floor site where the Pacific is 1.56 miles (2,515 meters) deep. All the species were previously known to have lived near such vents but never underground.