2019 in science

A number of significant scientific events occurred in 2019.

1 January: The New Horizons space probe flies by 486958 Arrokoth , a remote Kuiper belt object ( 3D version ). [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ]
17 January: Australopithecus sediba found to be distinct from, but similar to, both the older Australopithecus africanus and the younger Homo habilis . [ 18 ]
23 January: Five identical cloned gene-edited monkeys (similar to the one pictured above) created, in order to study several medical diseases. [ 32 ] [ 33 ] [ 34 ]
3 February: Medical scientists announce that iridium (image above) attached to albumin produces a photosensitized molecule able to penetrate and, via photodynamic therapy , destroy cancer cells . [ 50 ] [ 51 ]
13 February: Mars Opportunity rover mission ends; last image (see above) of 228,771 total over nearly 15 years. [ 63 ] [ 64 ]
21 February: Report of Hachimoji DNA , an 8- base DNA, that has a similar structure (above) as the 4-base natural DNA . [ 75 ] [ 76 ]
11 March: Scientists report that cell nuclei from woolly mammoth remains showed biological activity when transplanted into mouse cells. [ 91 ]
20 March: First fossil bird , named Avimaia schweitzerae , found with an unlaid egg , [ 105 ] [ 106 ]
10 April: Astronomers release the first-ever image of a black hole ( M87 galaxy ). [ 128 ] [ 129 ] [ 130 ] [ 131 ]
30 April: Scientists confirm the detection of buckminsterfullerene (C 60 ) (also known as "buckyballs") in the interstellar medium spaces between the stars . [ 144 ] [ 145 ]
6 May: The IPBES warns that extinction of the natural living world is accelerating, largely a result of human activity – passenger pigeons are now extinct. [ 162 ] [ 163 ] [ 164 ]
15 May: Creation of a new synthetic form of viable life , a variant of the bacteria Escherichia coli , reported by researchers. [ 182 ]
22 May: Fossilized fungus , Ourasphaira giraldae (not pictured), found that may have grown on land a billion years ago, well before plants were on land. [ 195 ] [ 196 ] [ 197 ]
10 June: Scientists report that Ahuna Mons , a very high mountain on Ceres , may have been formed from a plume of mud ejected from deep inside the dwarf planet . [ 210 ]
21 June: Scientists release 1st video appearance of a giant squid in United States waters. [ 228 ]
3 July: Substantial amounts of "lost tropical rainforest " can be restored, based on studies. [ 246 ] [ 247 ]
11 July: Detection, for the first time, of a moon -forming circumplanetary disk around a distant planet , PDS 70c . [ 257 ] [ 258 ]
22 July: Chandrayaan-2 is launched, an ISRO lunar exploration mission that includes an orbiter , lander and rover . [ 276 ]
5 August: Tardigrades may have survived crash landing on the Moon . [ 297 ] [ 298 ]
8 August: The Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) makes the first high-resolution measurements of an interplanetary shock wave from the sun . [ 305 ]
23 August: First teleportation of three-dimensional quantum states, or "qutrits"
6 September: Exploit of wormable BlueKeep security vulnerability , affecting all unpatched Windows NT-based versions of Microsoft Windows , including Windows 2000 and Windows 7 , has been released publicly. [ 337 ]
16 September: The most massive neutron star ever discovered, with 2.17 solar masses placing it on the boundary of the theoretical maximum.
25 September: Largest iceberg in 50 years breaks off from the Amery Ice Shelf in Antarctica . [ 370 ]
8 October: Researchers find human cartilage repair mechanism which may allow entire limbs to regenerate . [ 378 ]
23 October: Google notes its 53-qubit 'Sycamore' processor has achieved quantum supremacy . [ 396 ]
26 October: Botswana in south central Africa found to be the birthplace of all modern humans 200,000 years ago, based on genetic studies . [ 412 ] [ 413 ]
4 November: Scientists officially confirm that the Voyager 2 space probe left the Solar System and entered interstellar space on 5 November 2018. [ 429 ] [ 430 ]
15 November: 143 new Nazca geoglyphs are reported by researchers. [ 440 ]
23 November: Last known Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia passes on. [ 455 ]
2 December: Molecule, PJ34, found that promotes the self-destruction of up to 90% of the pancreatic cancer cells in laboratory mouse studies. [ 469 ] [ 470 ]
10 December: Substantial amounts of water ice detected just below the surface in certain areas on the planet Mars . [ 483 ]