2021 in science

This is a list of several significant scientific events that occurred or were scheduled to occur in 2021.

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1 March: A review classifies SETI technosignatures . [ 1 ]
9 March: Erik Lentz describes a way warp drives sourced from known and familiar purely positive energy could exist. [ 28 ]
11 March: A review finds that the Amazon basin currently emits more greenhouse gases than it absorbs overall. [ 48 ]
24 March: A view of the M87* supermassive black hole in polarised light
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2 April: Scientists describe how the dinosaur-killing impact is an origin of neotropical rainforests like the Amazonia and replaced its species composition. [ 87 ]
6 April: A study finds that carbon emissions from Bitcoin mining within China are about to exceed the total annual carbon emissions of countries like Italy (within an estimated ~3 years). [ 89 ]
12 April: The construction of the first (eco-)house 3D printed from clay , Tecla , is completed. [ 93 ]
19 April: The semi-autonomous Ingenuity performs the first powered aircraft flight on another planet in human history. [ 130 ]
29 April: The first, core module of the Chinese Tiangong space station is put into orbit. [ 131 ]
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7 June: Astronomers report detecting substantial amounts of methane , a possible sign of microbial life , on Enceladus . [ 242 ]
10 June: Researchers report the development of a plant proteins-based biodegradable packaging alternative to plastic molecularly similar to high-strength spider silk . [ 257 ]
11 June: Biologists report that DNA polymerases , long thought to only transcribe DNA into DNA or RNA, can also write RNA segments into DNA . [ 265 ]
15 June: Scientists complement extensive evidence that cosmetics are widely designed with formulations and disposals that are known to be harmful to human health and ecosystems, often containing PFAS . [ 270 ]
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10 July: Scientists report the discovery of long extrachromosomal DNA structures, they call " borgs ", which appear to incorporate genes from organisms they encounter in or near archaea in mud. [ 332 ]
22 July: DeepMind 's AlphaFold AI predicts the 3D structures of ~350,000 proteins. [ 357 ]
28 July: The first direct observation of light from behind a black hole . [ 363 ]
28 July: Scientists publish an update to the World Scientists' Warning to Humanity . [ 370 ]
9 August: The IPCC begins releasing its latest major report on climate change .
Researchers present a bioprinting method to produce steak-like cultured meat .
2 September: The WHO adjusts its air quality guidelines after studies found that i.a. air pollution is associated with substantially increased mortality even below current WHO guideline values.
22 September: Astronomers report the discovery of the Per-Tau Shell, a giant star-forming spherical shell.
24 September: Projecting effects of greenhouse gas emissions only for up to 2100 is found to be short-sighted. New models for climate change scenarios for up to 2500 are published.
24 September: The first CRISPR-edited food, tomatoes, goes on public sale.
28 September: Researchers develop machine learning models for genome-based early detection and prioritization of high-risk potential zoonotic viruses.
11 October: Scientists project public health impacts of an imminent Red Sea oil spill from the FSO Safer .
20 October: Scientists report that, according to their genetic analysis, today's domestic horses descend from the lower Volga-Don region , Russia.
27 October: Researchers release a " policy sequencing" framework, in particular for policies of polycentric governance for completely halting and preventing deforestation .
2 November: A study concludes that PM 2.5 air pollution caused by the trade and consumption by the 19 G20 nations causes two million premature deaths annually. [ 634 ]
3 November: Scientists report that many wild deer in the U.S. got infected with SARS-CoV-2 .
24 November: Launch of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)
26 November: The WHO reports the Omicron variant as a SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern . [ 682 ]
The image shows one Nextstrain -based visualization of genetic distance of several such variants.
7 December: Results from the Reproducibility Project : Cancer Biology suggest most studies of the cancer research sector may not be replicable and may contain wrong results .
25 December: The James Webb Space Telescope , the long-awaited successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, is launched.