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2021 in science

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2021 in science
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This is a list of several significant scientific events that occurred or were scheduled to occur in 2021.

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Events

January

February

March

More information March 2021 in science ...

April

More information April 2021 in science ...

May

More information May 2021 in science ...

June

More information June 2021 in science ...

July

Science Summary podcast based on this section
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10 July: Scientists report the discovery of long extrachromosomal DNA structures, they call "borgs", which appear to incorporate genes from organisms they encounter in or near archaea in mud.[332]
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22 July: DeepMind's AlphaFold AI predicts the 3D structures of ~350,000 proteins.[357]
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28 July: The first direct observation of light from behind a black hole.[363]
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28 July: Scientists publish an update to the World Scientists' Warning to Humanity.[370]

August

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9 August: The IPCC begins releasing its latest major report on climate change.
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Researchers present a bioprinting method to produce steak-like cultured meat.

September

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2 September: The WHO adjusts its air quality guidelines after studies found that i.a. air pollution is associated with substantially increased mortality even below current WHO guideline values.
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22 September: Astronomers report the discovery of the Per-Tau Shell, a giant star-forming spherical shell.
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24 September: Projecting effects of greenhouse gas emissions only for up to 2100 is found to be short-sighted. New models for climate change scenarios for up to 2500 are published.
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24 September: The first CRISPR-edited food, tomatoes, goes on public sale.
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28 September: Researchers develop machine learning models for genome-based early detection and prioritization of high-risk potential zoonotic viruses.

October

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11 October: Scientists project public health impacts of an imminent Red Sea oil spill from the FSO Safer.
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20 October: Scientists report that, according to their genetic analysis, today's domestic horses descend from the lower Volga-Don region, Russia.
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27 October: Researchers release a "policy sequencing" framework, in particular for policies of polycentric governance for completely halting and preventing deforestation.

November

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2 November: A study concludes that PM2.5 air pollution caused by the trade and consumption by the 19 G20 nations causes two million premature deaths annually.[634]
  • 2 November A study concludes that PM2.5 air pollution induced by contemporary forms of free trade and consumption by the 19 G20 nations (the EU as a whole is not included) causes two million premature deaths annually, suggesting that the average lifetime consumption of about ~28 people in these countries causes at least one premature death (average age ~67) while developing countries "cannot be expected" to implement or be able to implement countermeasures without external support or internationally coordinated efforts.[635][634]
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3 November: Scientists report that many wild deer in the U.S. got infected with SARS-CoV-2.
  • 3 November
    • Astronomers using the ALMA report the presence of water in SPT0311-58, a galaxy nearly 12.9 billion light-years from Earth. This is the most distant detection of a required element for life in a regular star-forming galaxy.[636][637]
    • Scientists report that large shares of wild deer in the U.S. have been infected with SARS-CoV-2. The test results showed one "mismatch" for 2019, low inhibition values in 2020 and 152 positive samples (40%) in 2021.[638] A preprint published on 1 November found that ~80% of samples between late November 2020 and January were positive.[639][640] Such spillovers may cause reservoirs for mutating variants that spill back to humans – a possible source for variants of concern other than immunocompromised people.[639]
    • A review outlines research and data about COVID-19 vaccinations for children – recommended in the U.S. a day previously (for 5–11 years olds) by the CDC[641] – including about populations-levels factors.[642]
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24 November: Launch of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)
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26 November: The WHO reports the Omicron variant as a SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern.[682]
The image shows one Nextstrain-based visualization of genetic distance of several such variants.
  • 17 November
  • 19 November
  • 21 November Sri Lanka announces that it will lift its import ban on pesticides and herbicides, explained by both a lack of sudden changes to widely applied practices or education systems and contemporary economics and, by extension, food security, protests and high food costs. The effort to become the world's first completely organic farming nation was challenged by effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.[696][697]
  • 22 November
    • Scientists detect a quantum effect that blocks atoms from scattering light.[698]
    • A study using data on ~30,000 patients, for the first time, indicates that aspirin may be associated with an increased (26%) risk for heart failure in persons with at least one cardiovascular risk factor.[699][700] An author notes that the findings require confirmation and the link with heart failure to be clarified.[701]
  • 24 November NASA launches the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the first attempt to deflect an asteroid for the purpose of learning how to protect Earth.[702]
  • 25 November Researchers systematically assess impacts of climate change mitigation options on 18 constituents of well-being, finding largely beneficial effects of demand-side solutions based on inputs from 604 studies.[703][704]
  • 26 November The WHO announces the classification of the Omicron variant as a SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern. The variant, that became dominant (74% of samples) in South Africa in November, was detected by the NGS-SA genomic surveillance on 8 November[705][706] and reported to the WHO on 24 November.[682] It has a large number of mutations that, according to early preliminary evidence, appear to increase risk of reinfection,[682] may increase transmissibility compared to Delta and may affect vaccines' efficacies with a key question being whether it causes less severe prognoses.[707][708]
  • 29 November A team of scientists reports a new form of biological reproduction in xenobots that are made up of and are emersed in frog cells.[709][710]

December

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7 December: Results from the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology suggest most studies of the cancer research sector may not be replicable and may contain wrong results.
  • 7 December
    • A study suggests that when two people wear surgical masks, while the infectious one is speaking, the risk of COVID-19 infection at a distance of 1.5 m remains below 30% after one hour, but when both wear a well-fitting FFP2 mask, it is 0.4%.[728]
    • Researchers investigating sources of urban PAHs air pollution in Athens report that wood-burning could be causing a third (31%) of such urban air pollution, like diesel and oil combined or gasoline, and, especially during winter days, is responsible for nearly half of PAH cancer-risk.[729][730]
    • A study suggests that mutations that promote breakthrough infections or antibody-resistance could be a new mechanism for viral evolution success of SARS-CoV-2 and that such may become a dominating mechanism of its evolution.[731] On 27 December, a preprint finds that "the rapid spread of the Omicron VOC primarily can be ascribed to the immune evasiveness rather than an inherent increase in the basic transmissibility".[732][733] Studies also showed the variant to escape the majority of existing SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies, including of sera from vaccinated and convalescent individuals.[734][735][736][737]
    • A scientific review summarizes research and data about telemedicine. Its results indicate that, in general, outcomes of such ICT-use are as good as in-person care with health care use staying similar.[738][739]
    • The Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology shows that of 193 experiments from 53 top papers about cancer published between 2010 and 2012, only 50 replication experiments from 23 papers could be completed with effect sizes of that fraction being 85% smaller on average than the original findings. None of the papers had its experimental protocols fully described and 70% of experiments required asking for key reagents.[740][741]
  • 8 December
    • Researchers report the development of face masks that glow under ultraviolet light if they contain SARS-CoV-2 when the filter is taken out and sprayed with a fluorescent dye that contains antibodies from ostrich eggs.[742]
    • Studies, some of which using large nationwide datasets from either Israel and Denmark, find that vaccine effectiveness of multiple common two-dosed COVID-19 vaccines is substantially lower against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant than for other common variants including the Delta variant, and that a new (often a third) dose – a booster dose – is needed and effective, with it i.a. substantially reducing deaths from the disease compared to cohorts who received two doses.[743][744][745][746][747][748]
    • Applied behavioural scientists demonstrate a novel type of intervention studies, a "megastudy", and investigate the efficacy of 54 different designed by separate teams interventions to increase weekly gym-visits of ~60,000 members of a fitness chain, such as digital feedback in the form of redeemable points that are rewarded for returning to the gym after a missed workout.[749][750]
  • 9 December
    • The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, a collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency, is launched by SpaceX. It is the first satellite capable of measuring the polarisation of X-rays that come from cosmic sources, such as black holes and neutron stars.[751]
    • The Log4Shell security vulnerability in a Java logging framework is publicly disclosed two weeks after its discovery. Because of the ubiquity of the affected software, experts have described it as a most serious computer vulnerability.[752] In a high-level meeting, the importance of security maintenance of open-source software – often also carried out largely by few volunteers – to national security was clarified.[753][754]
    • A study reviews modern analytic procedures, including mass spectrometry techniques, for characterization, analysis, and identification of unknown materials and how such were applied to study materials that, according to witnesses, dropped from hovering unknown aerial objects (or UFOs). It suggests that the full range of current capabilities of materials analysis have not been applied so far and, after reviewing a range of proposed explanations, that these materials' purposes and characteristics, such as their isotope ratios,[755] are very odd and remain unexplained.[756]
    • Scientists report the development of a genome editing system, called "twin prime editing", which surpasses the original prime editing system reported in 2019 in that it allows editing large sequences of DNA, addressing the method's key drawback.[757][758]
    • An mRNA vaccine against HIV with promising results in tests with mice and primates is reported.[759][760]
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25 December: The James Webb Space Telescope, the long-awaited successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, is launched.
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Predicted and scheduled events

Date unknown

Awards

Deaths

  • 4 January – Martinus J. G. Veltman, Dutch theoretical physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1931)
  • 28 January – Paul J. Crutzen, Dutch meteorologist and atmospheric chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1933)
  • 16 February – Bernard Lown, Lithuanian-born American inventor and cardiologist (b. 1921)[814]
  • 1 April – Isamu Akasaki, Japanese engineer and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1929)
  • 4 April – Robert Mundell, Canadian economist (b. 1932)
  • 4 June – Richard R. Ernst, Swiss physical chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1933)
  • 6 June – Ei-ichi Negishi, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1935)
  • 23 July – Toshihide Maskawa, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1940)
  • 23 July – Steven Weinberg, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1933)
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See also

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References

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