2011 In Science

The year 2011 involved many significant scientific events, including the first artificial organ transplant, the launch of China's first space station and the growth of the world population to seven billion. The year saw a total of 78 successful orbital spaceflights, as well as numerous advances in fields such as electronics, medicine, genetics, climatology and robotics.

2011 was declared the International Year of Forests and Chemistry by the United Nations.

Events, discoveries and inventions

January

* 3 January – American pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson announces a partnership for the development of a test for the detection of metastatic cancer in the bloodstream
(''Belfast Telegraph'')
* 5 January
** Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania find that a major cause of baldness may be related to the inability of some stem cells to grow into full-sized hair follicles
(FOX News)

** An engineer from the University of Missouri announces his ambition to create a flexible solar sheet of small nano-antennas, capable of capturing solar energy with 90% efficiency; this would mark a significant improvement over contemporary commercial solar panels, which have an average efficiency of around 20%.
* 6 January – The '' Journal of Personality and Social Psychology'', a peer-reviewed journal of the American Psychological Association, announces that it will shortly publish a paper presenting strong evidence of ESP, the ability to sense future events
(CBS)(ABC)

* 11 January – Kepler-10b, the first confirmed small rocky exoplanet, is discovered in the Draco constellation using NASA's Kepler space telescope
(BBC)

* 12 January – Researchers announce that salty junk food can damage arteries in as little as thirty minutes after being eaten
(MSNBC)

* 14 January – A study conducted at the Innsbruck Medical University in Austria reveals that stainless steel or titanium tongue piercings harbor more bacteria than plastic piercings
(''Science News'')

* 15 January – In a study funded by the U.S. National Cancer Institute, researchers reveal that smoking cigarettes can cause damages in the body in minutes rather than years
(BBC)

* 18 January – Researchers in Australia announce that sharks are colorblind, after examining the eyes of 17 separate shark species
(BBC)

* 19 January – A Cochrane Library review suggests that antioxidants may improve male fertility
(BBC)


* 20 January
** A landmark study unveils a medical technique that renders T-cells resistant to HIV
(''Daily Tech'')

** The World Meteorological Organization concludes that 2010 was the joint- hottest year on record
(WMO)
** Scientists achieve 10 billion bits of quantum entanglement in silicon, a significant step in quantum computing.
* 21 January – An article in ''Science'' reveals the discovery of a '' Darwinopterus'' pterosaur in China with an unhatched egg, thereby allowing the genders to be differentiated
(BBC)

* 24 January
** Researchers publish direct evidence that massive volcanic eruptions took place 250 million years ago, likely causing the Permian–Triassic extinction event, the biggest single extinction event in Earth's history
(''World.edu'')

** An article in '' Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'' reveals the discovery of '' Linhenykus monodactylus'', an alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur, in Inner Mongolia; though a cousin to the giant Tyrannosaurus rex, it is no bigger than a modern parrot, and possesses only one claw on each forelimb
(BBC)

** Scientists and students have built a 3D printer that makes edible food
(CNN Money)
* 27 January – Under pressure from industry and governments, the European Commission is putting the final touches on a strategy to reduce Europe's dependence on Chinese-supplied rare-earth metals, which are essential in export products like cars and electronics
(New York Times)
* 30 January – Molybdenite is revealed to be up to 100,000 times more efficient than silicon transistors, and to have better electrical properties than graphene.

February

* 2 February – The Linac Coherent Light Source, an X-ray source a billion times brighter than previous sources, becomes operational at Stanford University. The device could potentially revolutionize 3D bioanalysis techniques, especially in the analysis of proteins and viruses
(Stanford)
* 3 February
** A blood test to detect vCJD is developed by British scientists, who say it could identify healthy people who are carriers of the disease
(BBC)

** Further data from the Kepler space telescope published in ''Nature'' reveals that the star Kepler-11, located 2,000 light years from Earth, has a solar system including six planets, which range between two and four-and-a-half times the radius of Earth, and between two and thirteen times its mass. Five orbit the star closer than Mercury orbits our Sun, and all are likely to have atmospheres made of light gases, and to be too hot to support life. The data also includes details of more than 1,000 additional exoplanet candidates
(BBC)

* 4 February – Scientists reveal a tiny artificial brain, derived from rat neurons, that exhibits 12 seconds of short-term memory
(''PopSci'')

* 7 February – Scientists at Oxford University successfully test a universal flu vaccine, which should work against all known strains of the illness
(''The Guardian'')

* 9 February – Using 25 years of evidence from over 470,000 participants, researchers show that sleep deprivation and disrupted sleep patterns can have long-term, serious health implications.
* 10 February – Scientists identify the root molecular cause of a variety of illnesses brought on by advanced age, including waning energy, failure of the heart and other organs, and metabolic disorders such as diabetes.
* 11 February – Scientists show that stem cells delivered via a nasal spray lead to an improvement of motor functions in rats with Parkinson's disease-like symptoms
(''Neuroscience News'')

* 15 February
** In a world first for artificial intelligence, IBM's Watson supercomputer defeats two humans on the '' Jeopardy!'' quiz show
(''Wired'')
** Scientists report stimulation of mouse muscle fibers in a way similar to the regeneration of severed limbs in newts and salamanders
(''Medical Daily'')

* 16 February – Researchers find a way of manipulating tiny swimming robots, just 1.3 millimetres long, using electric currents in water
(American Physical Society)
* 17 February
** Scientists build the world's first anti-laser, capable of absorbing an incoming laser beam entirely
(BBC)

** A hummingbird-like "Nano Air Vehicle" is demonstrated for the first time, in an attempt to secure a DARPA contract to create small surveillance aircraft
(AeroVironment)
* 20 February – Stanford University researchers create new stretchable solar cell