0Dramatic disappointmen
these pages. A faulty conn8 ts in physics have dotted
ection at the world’s largest
particle accelerator shut it down just after it turned
on. The Hubble Space Telescope went silent just
before a final servicing mission was about to launch.
And, for those who value nostalgia, Pluto still isn’t a
planet. Glancing back, 2008 could be seen as a year
of setbacks. Luckily, one step forward and two steps
back is still progress — as long as the first step is
bigger than the second two. (The LHC did turn
on, after all.) Science rarely advances in leaps and
bounds. Progress demands patience, but in the end
success smooths out a rocky road. This year, the
Phoenix Mars Lander tasted ice and recorded falling
snow after initial delays, and astronomers imaged an
exoplanet trifecta after years of attempts. What’s
true for physics and astronomy holds for other fields.
Researchers are moving ahead with efforts to make
stem cells safe for medical therapies and are gradually
piecing together the complex puzzle of longer life. It
is in this spirit that the writers and editors at Science
News offer a look back at this year. We focus on forward movement — incremental as it may be. Because
small steps add up. — Elizabeth Quill, News Editor
Tasting ice After struggling
to deliver a soil sample to
its ovens, the Phoenix Mars
Lander confirms the presence of water ice on Mars
(SN: 8/30/08, p. 11).
unit. Though Hubble comes
back online in October, the
problem delays a final shuttle mission until 2009 (SN
Online: 10/30/08).
Family for Pluto Pluto and
its dwarf planet neighbors
in the outer solar system are
rechristened “plutoids” by
the International Astronomical Union (SN: 7/5/08, p. 7).
On the move A newly discovered “dark flow” appears to
carry galaxy clusters toward
a point in the southern sky,
researchers suggest (SN:
10/25/08, p. 12).
On the Web
For the complete year-end recap with links to the original articles, visit
www.sciencenews.org/2008
Wake up Hubble NASA’s
Hubble Space Telescope falls
silent in September after
failure of its data-formatting
Titan’s ethane pool
Scientists confirm that Saturn’s
hydrocarbon-shrouded
moon has at least one ethane
lake (SN Online: 7/30/08).
