22 mind-blowing science facts we didn't know at the start of 2017
Did you know that scientists created a brand-new state of matter known as time crystals? Or that the cute faces of pugs are the result of a genetic mutation?
Here are some of the most amazing science facts we discovered in 2017:
1. A previously unknown human organ has been hiding in plain sight all this time. It connects the intestine to the abdomen and is thought to perform important functions for the body ranging from assisting the heart to assisting the immune system.
2. Zealandia, a new underground continent, appears to exist on Earth. The discovery itself is not novel; some geologists have been debating its existence for many years. However, in 2017, a team of scientists concluded that Zealandia meets all of the criteria for being classified as a drowned continent.
3. The adorable little flat faces of pugs are the result of a genetic mutation. Their characteristics have been strongly linked to a gene variant known as SMOC2.
4. For the first time in human history, gene editing was used to correct a mutation that causes an inherited disease in embryos. Scientists successfully altered the DNA in defective embryos using a powerful tool called Crispr-Cas9, so they were no longer programmed to develop congenital heart failure.
5. It's possible that your appendix isn't such a useless organ after all. According to research, it may function as a secondary defensive organ in the immune system, acting as a "safe house" for beneficial gut bacteria.
6. About 59 million years ago, giant penguins the size of a grown man waddled around New Zealand.
7. The world's tiniest fidget spinner measures 100 microns across. It is barely visible to the naked eye and is smaller than the width of human hair.
8. Lungs do more than just help us breathe; a surprising discovery has revealed that they also produce blood. The organ, which is only found in mammals, is thought to produce more than 10 million platelets (tiny blood cells) per hour.
9. Time crystals are a new state of matter that exists alongside solid, liquid, and gaseous states. The outrageously difficult-to-understand time crystals were created in the lab and are structures that repeat periodically in time rather than space, potentially defying physics laws
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10. Great apes, such as chimps and orangutans, have no appreciation for music at all. According to research, they can't tell the difference between Beethoven and Justin Bieber, and music is all just meaningless sounds to them.
11. For the first time in 130 years, the dinosaur family tree may have to be redrawn. New evidence suggests that the two types of dinosaurs – lizard-hipped meat-eaters (like the T. Rex) and plant-loving bird-hipped beasts (like the stegosaurus) – should be classified together, calling into question everything you thought you knew about these extinct animals in school.
12. Humans unintentionally formed a protective bubble around the Earth. Decades of use of very low frequency (VLF) radio communications have resulted in the formation of an artificial cocoon that may aid in the protection of the planet from solar flares and radiation particles.
13. Earth's precious metals, such as gold and platinum, may have originated in the stars. Scientists confirmed this after detecting a massive collision between two super-dense neutron stars 130 million light-years away.
14. The Kepler-90 star system has the same number of planets as our own solar system, tying us for the most planets known to revolve around a single star. Using data from the Kepler Space Telescope and Google's artificial intelligence system, Nasa discovered an eighth planet, Kepler-90i, that astronomers had missed in previous analyses.
15. According to a study published in Behavioral Ecology, pandas' black and white patterns serve as a combination of communication and camouflage.
16. The moon used to have an atmosphere. Recent tests on lunar samples collected by the Apollo astronauts reveal that four billion years ago, volcanic eruptions released trillions of tonnes of gas. An atmosphere formed because the gases were being produced faster than they could escape into space. The gases were eventually lost to space.
17. Scientists may have discovered why eggs come in different shapes, and it appears to be due to the bird's ability to fly. The best fliers appear to lay more "pointy" or elliptical-shaped eggs, while the others appear to lay rounded or oval-shaped eggs.
18. In theory, it is possible to travel back and forth in time. Two physicists created a mathematical model for a time machine based on Einstein's theory of relativity, which states that gravitational fields are caused by distortions in the fabric of space and time (which was proven in 2015). What is holding us back is the lack of technology capable of physically bending this space-time fabric.
19. Using the Crispr-Cas9 tool, Harvard scientists stored a GIF animation of a galloping horse in the DNA of bacteria.
20. It has been demonstrated that bees understand the concept of zero. Following previous research that revealed the insects can count to four, scientists discovered this after training them to count shapes.
21. Humans are still in the process of evolving. Researchers studying eight million mutations discovered that a number of genes, including one that predisposes you to Alzheimer's disease, are gradually being filtered out of human DNA.
22. Extraterrestrial dust particles have been discovered on your rooftop. They are 400 microns in size and are known as micrometeorites. Each year, it is estimated that more than 100 billion micrometeorites fall to Earth.
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