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Science
Friday > Archives
> 1999
> January
> January 1, 1999:
Hour One: The Year in Review
It's been another busy year in science ... but what year isn't?
| On the biological front, mice have been cloned, as have cows. Just a few weeks ago scientists in Korea announced that they had cloned a few human cells. But that's not the huge biology story this year... we say that honor should go to the sequencing of the entire genome of C. elegans, a roundworm (SciFri Broadcast 12/18/98). |  
Cloned mice image courtesy ForBio. C. elegans image courtesy Genetics. | Physics also took a few interesting turns this year. The neutrino, long thought to be massless, was found to have mass after all. And scientists discovered that instead of gradually slowing its expansion as it ages, the universe is expanding at ever-increasing rates. Their discovery, which some people called "antigravity," suggests that there might be other forces in the vacuum of space helping to drive its expansion (SciFri Broadcast 3/6/98) (5/1/98)
| In space exploration news, several probes have been lost and found again. NASA scientists lost track of the SOHO solar observatory earlier this year, regaining contact with it several weeks later. More recently, the NEAR probe, en route to a rendezvous with an asteroid, broke contact with its ground controllers. A few days later, NASA reestablished contact with the probe. And the first pieces of the International Space Station were bolted into place this year as well. | 
Space Station Image courtesy NASA | Of course, there have been other important science stories this year.... John Glenn. Viagra. Microsoft. There's an asteroid coming! (Well, maybe not.) And El Nino, El Nino, El Nino...What do you think the most important story was? Which story do you think was over-hyped? Dust the confetti off the phone, join guest host Joe Palca for this hour of Science Friday, and let us know what you think.
Guests:
Robert Bazell
Author, "Her-2: The Making of Herceptin a Revolutionary Treatment for Breast Cancer" (Random House)
Chief Science Correspondent, NBC News
New York, NY
Laura Garwin
North American Editor
Nature
Washington, DC
Paul Raeburn
Author, "Mars: Uncovering the Secrets of the Red Planet" (National Geographic Society)
Senior Editor, Science and Technology
Business Week
New York, NY
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
C. elegans sequencing info
International Space Station
Asteroid Impact Hazards
Expanding Universe - Supernova Cosmology Project
This segment produced by:
Karin Vergoth
Web producer:
Charles Bergquist
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