WIRED's Top Science Stories of 2016

(upbeat pop music)

So, it's been a year, hasn't it?

This guy exists,

we lost this guy,

and don't forget that Harambe is gone.

But I'm being negative.

2016 was actually a momentous year for science.

So may we present to you,

Wired's top five science stories of the year.

First up, saving the world,

one signature at a time.

This year, the historic Paris climate accord,

officially went into effect.

The agreement aims to keep global temperatures to

two degrees Celsius above pre-Industrial Revolution levels.

That means some serious cutting of omissions.

But with well over

a hundred countries having ratified the agreement so far,

it just might work.

Next up, leaving the world,

one robotic landing at a time.

[SpaceX Engineer] Four, three, two

On April eighth, SpaceX fired a rocket into space.

Pretty typical stuff,

I mean, it's only rocket science.

But instead of burning up and crashing into the ocean,

or landing on terra firma,

this rocket landed itself on a drone barge.

That's a big deal

because being able to reuse rockets,

means cheaper spaceflight,

and cheaper spaceflight means more space-science

and more rocketing to other planets.

Speaking of space, in January, scientists announced

that they had detected gravitational waves for

the first time.

You see, whenever black holes collide or supernovas pop off,

they send ripples though space.

These gravitational waves eventually hit Earth,

specifically a big, fancy detector called LIGO.

That's giving scientists a better understanding of

the vastness of space and a reason to

spend lots of money on other fancy machines.

In more pressing news,

2016 was the year that the Zika virus gripped South America.

Officials had a hunch the virus was responsible for

abnormally small heads in children, known as microcephaly,

and in April, the CDC confirmed it.

Terrible news on the surface, but in fact,

the more scientists learn about Zika,

the better they can fight it.

Also in health, 2016 was the year of CRISPR,

a powerful tool for scientists to edit genes.

Think of mosquitoes, genetically engineered to

fight off the parasite that causes malaria,

but more and more, scientists are trying to

edit human embryos.

That is positively loaded with ethical issues,

as you might imagine, so expect a debate to rage in 2017,

which will be a much better year, right?

Right?