5 Most AMAZING Scientific Discoveries of the Decade

The last decade has undoubtedly been one of the most prolific periods for scientific discovery. Researchers across all fields tested hypotheses, found proofs, and explored places that have reshaped our understanding of not just our own planet but the entire universe. This was the decade when we began to grasp one of humanity's greatest challenges and learned more than ever about some of the most destructive objects in existence. Here are five of the most remarkable scientific discoveries of the 2010s.

5. Pluto

Despite being downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet in 2006, Pluto captured significant attention with the launch of the New Horizons spacecraft that same year. The spacecraft reached Pluto in July 2015, and the data sent back was astonishing. Contrary to expectations of a boring frozen rock, Pluto was found to have moving glaciers, floating ice mountains, and a vast frozen sea made of solid nitrogen. The ice on Pluto is constantly moving, albeit slowly, due to being warmed by the pressure above it, causing it to rise. This continuous replenishment of the ice layer creates unique surface structures, offering new insights into the mysterious dwarf planets at the edge of our solar system.

4. The Higgs Boson

The discovery of the Higgs boson, also known as the "God particle," was announced in 2012 at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, after nearly five decades of theorizing and a $5 billion investment. First proposed in 1964, the Higgs boson is crucial to the Standard Model of physics, which includes particles like electrons and protons. The particle explains why objects have mass through its interaction with the Higgs field. Its discovery confirmed the last unknown part of the Standard Model, enabling researchers to repurpose the LHC to explore even stranger phenomena.

3. Kepler’s Discoveries

For millennia, humans have gazed at the stars, wondering about the universe. The launch of the first Kepler probe in 2009 revolutionized this quest by studying distant stars and measuring their light. Fluctuations in brightness indicated orbiting objects, leading to the discovery of over 4,055 exoplanets by the end of the decade, some potentially habitable. This number is expected to grow, suggesting that planetary systems like our own are more common than previously thought.

2. The World's Climate

Earth’s climate has always fluctuated, but the past decade highlighted the significant impact of human activity on these changes. In 2012 alone, Greenland lost 400 billion tons of ice, and Antarctica lost more than 252 billion tons annually throughout the decade—an increase of nearly six times the loss from thirty years prior. At this rate, sea levels are expected to rise by 3 feet by 2100, affecting at least 630 million people. Human activities have endangered 40% of amphibian species, over 33% of marine mammals, and 10% of insect species. While the last decade was crucial in recognizing the extent of the problem, the hope is that the next decade will bring solutions.

1. Black Holes

Black holes have long intrigued scientists, and the last decade brought significant advancements in our understanding. Typically formed from collapsing stars, black holes create incredibly dense structures with intense gravity. In 2016, the collision of two black holes confirmed Einstein’s 1916 prediction by creating gravitational waves. The most significant discovery came with the Event Horizon Telescope's first-ever image of a black hole at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy, 54 million light-years away. This black hole has a mass equivalent to 6.5 billion Suns and likely lies at the center of every galaxy, influencing the orbit of billions of stars.

The 2010s were an incredible time for scientific discovery, providing profound insights into our world and the universe. The future holds even more promise for what we might uncover next.

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