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Science in society

Top 10 science facts we liked in 2016

22 December 2016
by Elizabeth Boorman
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As 2016 comes to an end, we take a look back on what we learned in Horizon magazine this year.
As 2016 comes to an end, we take a look back on what we learned in Horizon magazine this year.

From meditation visibly changing your brainwaves to gold coming from colliding stars, Horizon learned a few things in 2016. Here are our top 10 favourite science facts from this year.

 

1. Life could exist on Mars today, bacteria tests show.

Image credit: Flickr/ Marc Van Norden

 

2. Russian speakers are more sensitive to differences in the colour blue.

Image credit: Pixabay/ pmaigler

 

3. Chemotherapy could work twice as well if given at the right time.

Image credit: ‘Infuuszakjes’ is in the public domain

 

 4. Meditation visibly changes your brainwaves. 

Image credit: Flickr/ wearesocial

 

5. Dragonflies from millions of years ago had 60 centimetre wingspans. 

Image credit: 'Dragonfly in flight 4' by Magnus Manske is licensed under CC BY 2.0

 

6.  Hypersonic aeroplanes could go from Brussels to Tokyo in two hours.   

Image credits (L-R): ‘Brussels Plaza in Belgium’ is in the public domain; Flickr/ Moyan Brenn

 

7. Gold on earth may have come from colliding stars.

Image credit: ‘Gold on quartz’ by James St John is licensed under CC BY 2.0)

 

 

8. Even though 67 % of e-cigarette users start vaping to stop or reduce smoking, 45 % did not reduce smoking at all.

Image credit: Flickr/ Vaping360

 

9. Our brains adjust the signals it receives from our external environments to make our experiences more plausible than it really is. 

Image credit: unsplash/ @cant89

 

10. Marathon runners produce proteins that are linked to heart attacks.

Image credit: Flickr/ Josiah Mackenzie