1984 | Brown dwarf
Astronomers for the first
time think they have evidence of a brown d warf — a
celestial object too big to be
a planet but insufficiently
massive to become a star
(12/15/84, p. 373).
meltdown at the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant (below)
in Ukraine (5/3/86, p. 276;
5/10/86, p. 292 ; 5/17/86,
p. 308; 5/24/86, p. 326;
8/30/86, p. 135).
1980 | Mount St. Helens
Mount St. Helens (above)
erupts, killing nearly 60 and
destroying 150 square miles
of the surrounding landscape
(4/5/80, p. 213; 4/12/80,
p. 229; 5/3/80, p. 277; 5/24/80,
p. 324; 6/7/80, p. 355; 7/26/80,
p. 58; 8/16/80, p. 101).
the synthesis of proteins
(11/27/82, p. 342). N
1982 | Artificial heart
Surgeons successfully
implant the first permanent
artificial heart into a
human (12/11/82, p. 372;
12/18–25/82, p. 388).
1985 | GMOs
U. S. federal agencies approve
the first two experimental
releases of genetically modified organisms: antifrost
bacteria for strawberries
and tumor-resistant tobacco
plants ( 11/23/85, p. 324).
1980 | Toxic shock
Federal scientists suspect
that staph bacteria linked to
tampon use are causing a puz-
zling increase in toxic shock
syndrome ( 9/27/80,
p. 198; 10/18/80, p. 247).
1983 | Exodisk
Astronomers detect evidence for solid material
around the star Vega, a
sign of possible exoplanets
(8/13/83, p. 100; 8/20/83,
1985 | Buckyballs
Chemists identify a soccer-
ball–shaped configuration
of carbon atoms, nicknamed
a buckyball (11/23/85,
p. 325). N
1986 | Shuttle explosion
The space shuttle Challenger
explodes, killing all seven
crew members, including a
high school teacher (2/1/86,
p. 68; 2/8/86, p. 85).
1986 | Chernobyl
An explosion triggers a
1987 | Ozone protection
The Montreal Protocol to
phase out stratospheric
1981 | Ozone hole
NASA reports satellite evidence that the stratospheric
ozone layer is being depleted
globally (8/22/81, p. 116).
1981 | AIDS detected
An outbreak of two rare
and serious diseases among
homosexual men — Kaposi’s
sarcoma and Pneumocystis
pneumonia — mark the
discovery of what would
come to be known as AIDS
(11/14/81, p. 309).
1982 | Ribozyme
Thomas Cech and colleagues
report that RNA can function like an enzyme to trigger
Chasing the AIDS virus
in 1981 a short story in Science News noted an uptick in a rare form of cancer and pneu-
monia in gay men (11/14/81, p. 309). the cause of what the story called a “puzzling out-
break,” the human immunodeficiency virus (below, reproducing inside a cell), wouldn’t be
named for another five years (4/26/86, p. 265). in the meantime, the scientific community
struggled to link this virus to aids, facing “a grim picture of a disease that remains one
step ahead of the researchers seeking
ways to stop it” (4/27/85, p. 260). as
the outbreak became an epidemic,
Science News reported on the first copy-
ing of the virus’s genetic blueprints and
the first screening tests (1/19/85, p. 36).
a breakthrough came in 1986 with the
use of azidothymidine, or aZt. the drug,
which promised to “prolong the lives of
an estimated 600,000 people in the
United states” (8/26/89, p. 135), helped
make aids a treatable disease instead
of a death sentence. — Devin Powell
clockwise from top left: ZoltaN Gaal/photo researchers, iNc.; © iGor kostiN/syGma/corbis;
haNs Gelderblom/Getty imaGes
