Every year, reporters and editors at Science choose nine runners up and one breakthrough of the year-- they look for the most significant scientific discoveries, developments and trends.
But before we get to the breakthrough, here are the runners up In a detector beneath the South Pole, a ghostly particle called a neutrino left a telltale track researchers traced it back to its likely source:a bright galaxy called a blazar, far away.
The finding suggests blazars may also be the source of mysterious ultra–high-energy cosmic rays.
Deep beneath the Greenland ice sheet, scientists have discovered a massive crater, it was created by the impact of a mountain sized asteroid The impact is relatively recent and hasn't yet been firmly dated, but the event may help explain some puzzling climate changes.
This ancient fossil is more than half a billion years old.
But was it an animal?
An intriguing find suggest it was.
Scientists discovered traces of cholesterol, a signature of animal life, associated with these fossils The feat indicates the fossils, which belong to a mysterious class called Ediacara were some of Earth's earliest animals The first drug based on a gene-silencing reaction called RNA interference (RNAi), won approval this year for use in the United States and Europe.
Researchers discovered RNAi, which blocks messenger RNA, 20 years ago The drug, which targets a rare hereditary disease, could be the first of many.
Until recently, sexual harassment in science has been underreported and largely ignored But 2018 brought signs of change.
