366 DAYS OF SCIENCE

It so happened that 2012 was a year of expectations in many areas of science - the scientific experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, where scientists were working to prove the existence of the Higgs boson, were nearing completion, while the largest ever and most complete NASA rover Curiosity was to reach the surface of Mars after an eight-month journey from Earth. And what was especially remarkable is that not only scientists, but many people who are far from science expected news about these events. Now it is safe to say that the leap year lived up to our expectations and 2012 really saw a lot of interesting things in science.

Let's begin with the fact that summing up the scientific results of the year, the famous academic journal Science described the discovery of the Higgs boson as a breakthrough of 2012. Almost half a century ago, theorists, including Peter Higgs suggested that the quantum field that fills the universe gives mass to some particles. This previously elusive particle is responsible for the mass of other sub-atomic elements such as protons and electrons. And on 4 July last year, physicists at the Large Hadron Collider completed the fifty-year search with one sensational announcement: the Higgs boson has been found.

The Large Hadron Collider of the European Organization for Nuclear Research can be rightfully considered the most complex scientific instrument ever created by man. It consists of hundreds of individual interacting systems, elements of the accelerator, detector components and service systems - and this project can be considered international, as experts from around the world worked on the creation of each such unit for years. In the early years when the Large Hadron Collider was only gaining momentum and there were multiple emergencies that often stopped the work, no special discoveries were expected from it. Now, after the discovery of the long-awaited Higgs boson, the search is being replaced with a comprehensive study of this mysterious particle. It is no accident that it is called the last puzzle in the so-called Standard Model, which describes the interaction of all known particles and forces. Of course, the story does not end here, and scientists need to conduct new research and analysis in order to obtain additional data. One thing is certain - this discovery of the last year can be called a breakthrough in science and the beginning of a new era of fundamental physics research.

Another sensational scientific event that befell the Year of the Dragon was the landing of the automatic spacecraft Curiosity on the red planet on 6 August. It was launched towards Mars in November 2011, but the project itself - Mars Science Laboratory, whose total cost was $ 2.5 billion - was launched in 2004. The Curiosity rover has a mission that interests all humans - to conduct detailed studies of the surface of Mars to determine conditions for the existence of primitive life on it in the present or in the past, although scientists formulate the main task set to Curiosity in a more modest manner: to find potential areas that could be suitable for life in the past and learn how Mars, almost a twin of the Earth in the past, turned into a desert.

The Gale crater was not chosen as its landing area by chance - according to scientists' assumptions, it was a Martian sea in the distant past and minerals that formed during the life of this reservoir accumulated at its bottom. Water is the most favourable environment for the emergence of life and its evolution, so the study of layered sediments at the bottom of the Gale crater will help answer the question about the existence of life on Mars. Millions of people were waiting with excitement for the news of the successful landing of the NASA rover on Mars. Uncertainty and anxiety did not leave the scientists to the last minute until the rover made a historic landing, including the fully automated "seven minutes of horror" (the last seven minutes of the landing, during which the speed of the rover dramatically falls from 21,000 to 2.7 km/hour. With such differences, the device might have turned over and put an end to the long and expensive project) and the "Sky Crane" manoeuvre that had never been used before. The scientists' anxiety and concern could easily be understood: according to statistics, 70 per cent of all missions to Mars ended in disaster in several decades. Half of the devices simply did not reach the orbit of Mars, while the rest were destroyed during landing.

"Curiosity - the most complex rover ever built - now stands on the surface of the red planet. It will be looking for an answer to the old question of whether there was ever life on Mars and whether this planet will be able to sustain life in the future. This is a remarkable achievement that was made possible thanks to a team of scientists and engineers from around the world ... There has not been anything more difficult, more complicated technically and riskier in the history of planetary exploration with robotic devices," NASA chief Charles Bolden said at a press conference after the landing. Perhaps, many have read "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury. With the successful landing of the rover, new equally interesting Martian Chronicles began, but they are now based not on fiction and fantasy, and from the moment of the landing, Curiosity became the favourite of the public - news from Mars, photos, official and unofficial reports are at times reminiscent of passages from the books of science fiction writers. This is not surprising, as this is the only place in the solar system where scientists do not exclude the existence of life. We all secretly hope to hear a sensation: "We have found extraterrestrial life, and we are not alone in the universe!" Curiosity has been working on the surface of the red planet for more than five months, slowly climbing Mount Sharp and sending amazing images and data analysis of the Martian surface and atmosphere to the Earth. This is the first time that such detailed studies have been conducted on Mars and a foundation has been laid for future manned flights to this neighboring planet.

In the Olympic year, science also had its own records. Science journal recognized the ENCODE project, which ended after 10 years and which geneticists call a human DNA encyclopedia, as one of the greatest achievements in the past year. For another success, the year is indebted to Japanese experts who managed to create an artificial ovum of the embryonic stem cells of mice. Scientists believe that in the near future, this discovery may help return missing organs to patients, replacing them with artificially created ones. Another long-term study ended in the Year of the Dragon - after ten years of drilling in the extreme conditions of the Antarctic continent, a Russian polar expedition drilled through 3.5 km thick ice and finally reached the Lake Vostok - a 14-million-year-old Antarctic lake buried under many kilometers of ice. Much to the dismay of the researchers, the preliminary analysis of the ice did not reveal the presence of microbial life in the icy darkness. But the lake itself can store life, and two teams from the US and UK are in Antarctica to continue the research.

Unfortunately, 2012 also saw records with a minus. The disappointing forecasts about global warming were confirmed. The melting of ice in the Arctic surpassed all predictions by climate models, while the United States faced the strongest drought in half a century. Nature seems to have moved from small warnings about global warming to real tests of the "climate bomb" and at the end of October, the west and the east coast of North America witnessed the unprecedented and lengthy Hurricane Sandy, which caused damage worth $ 50 billion in the USA. The earth seems to be in anticipation of radical decisions to protect the environment, which has slowed down even more due to the economic crisis in the world. The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June in fact failed - developing countries opposed decisions preventing their development, and the main producers of greenhouse gases were not willing to invest in a "green economy" at the time of the crisis. Similar political inertia stalled climate negotiations in Doha in December, although it proved possible to come to an agreement to extend the weaker version of the Kyoto Protocol until 2020.

Despite everything, 2012 will be remembered as a year of great achievements in science. But 2013 does not have bright prospects in this regard as many countries cut government spending and research funding because of the economic crisis in the world. At the end of the year, the EU budget negotiations for 2014-2020, which include proposals for research funding in the amount of 80 billion euros as part of the Horizon 2020 programme, ended unsuccessfully. Canada reduced spending on environmental protection and closed a number of research programmes, including the famous research station Experimental Lakes Area, which had been studying contaminants in 58 remote fresh water lakes in Ontario for more than 40 years. The US also decided to reduce spending on science, although some cuts, despite the presidential elections, were made in 2012. Even NASA scientists, despite the great advances in planetary research, faced a threat of cuts in many projects due to the lack of funding and held an original campaign to sell cakes in order to draw attention to the cut in funding for their sphere of scientific activity. Thus, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget, in 2013, NASA will lose 417 million for research and development, 346 million for the organization of space flights as such, 309 million for research missions (new interplanetary stations and satellites) and another 246 million for "interaction with other agencies".

After ten years of drilling at the South Pole the Russian polar expedition has finally reached Lake Vostok