Mind-Blowing Science

The last decade was undeniably one of the richest periods of scientific discovery. Researchers across all disciplines tested hypotheses, found proofs, and visited places that have made us rethink our understanding of not only our own planet but of the entire universe. It was the decade when we finally began to understand one of the greatest challenges humankind has ever faced, and we've learned far more than ever before about some of the most destructive objects in existence. Let's take a look at five of the most amazing scientific discoveries of the 2010s.

5. Pluto's Surprising Features

Despite being downgraded from a fully-fledged planet in 2006, Pluto still captured our imagination. That same year, the New Horizons spacecraft was launched to study the dwarf planet, reaching its destination in July 2015. The images and data sent back were astonishing. Far from being a boring frozen rock, Pluto was found to have moving glaciers, floating ice mountains, and a huge frozen sea made of solid nitrogen. The ice is constantly moving, albeit at slow rates, because it is warmed by the pressure above it, causing it to rise. This constant replenishment of the top layer of ice creates surface structures that no one had expected, giving us new insights into what happens on mysterious dwarf planets at the edge of our solar system.

4. The Higgs Boson

It took the construction of the world's largest machine at a cost of just under five billion dollars, but in 2012, it was finally announced that the mysterious Higgs boson, also known as the "God particle," had been discovered at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in CERN, Switzerland. The article was first theorized in 1964 and is one of the most influential pieces of the subatomic world. The reason it's so important is that the Standard Model of physics, which includes familiar particles like electrons and protons, doesn't explain why objects have mass. The answer is the elusive Higgs boson particle, which exists in the Higgs field. Its interaction with other particles is the reason why mass exists. The discovery of the Higgs boson confirmed the last unknown part of the Standard Model of physics, allowing researchers to repurpose the LHC to investigate even stranger phenomena.

3. The Kepler Mission and Exoplanet Discovery

For thousands of years, humans have looked to the skies, wondering what lies beyond. As astronomical devices improved, we learned about countless stars and other planets in our solar system. However, it was impossible to learn how common it is for planets to orbit stars until the launch of the first Kepler probe in 2009. Kepler studied distant stars and measured their light emissions, with fluctuations indicating the presence of orbiting objects. By the end of the decade, more than 4,055 exoplanets had been discovered, including a few potentially habitable ones. This number is only expected to increase as we enter a new decade. The more we look, the more common our own solar system seems, hinting at countless other worlds waiting to be found.

2. Understanding Climate Change

Throughout Earth's history, the climate has changed drastically, with periods of extreme heat and cold. However, the changes we observe today are largely due to human activity, a fact that has become clearer than ever in the last decade. In 2012, Greenland lost 400 billion tons of ice, and Antarctica lost more than 252 billion tons annually throughout the decade—an increase of almost six times the amount lost thirty years earlier. At the current rate, sea levels are expected to rise by 3 feet by 2100, directly affecting the homes and lives of at least 630 million people. Additionally, human activity has led to the endangerment of 40% of all amphibian species, over 33% of marine mammals, and 10% of insect species. While the last decade was a time for realizing the extent of these problems, the hope is that the next decade will bring solutions.

1. Black Hole Discoveries

Black holes have long been some of the most mysterious objects in the universe. Thanks to dedicated researchers, we've uncovered much more about them. Black holes typically form when large stars collapse, creating unbelievably dense structures with intense gravity. In 2016, the collision of two black holes was detected, confirming Einstein's 1916 prediction by creating ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves. However, the biggest black hole revelation came from the Event Horizon Telescope team, who captured the first-ever image of a black hole at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy, about 54 million light-years away. This black hole's mass is equivalent to 6.5 billion suns. Such black holes are thought to be at the center of every galaxy, with their gravitational pull responsible for the orbit of billions of stars.

The 2010s were an incredible time for scientific discoveries, significantly enhancing our understanding of the world and universe around us. As we look forward to the future, the possibilities for further groundbreaking discoveries are limitless.