2016最震撼的6个科学事件

FIRST SPACE-TIME RIPPLES DETECTED

发现第一个时空波

A hundred years after Einstein predicted their existence, faint ripples in the fabric of the cosmos finally made their debut. Called gravitational waves, these ripples are created by some of the most violent events in the universe. Despite their extreme origins, gravitational waves remained elusive for so long because their effects on the observable universe are very small.

100年前爱因斯坦就预言了时空波的存在，宇宙结构中的虚弱波动终于登场了。这些波被称为引力波，是由宇宙中一些威力最大的碰撞造成的。尽管引力波的来源巨大，但它却沉寂如此之久，因为它对我们察觉到的宇宙的影响微乎其微。

But with the help of highly sensitive detectors in Louisiana and Washington State, scientists at last managed to sense gravitational waves passing through Earth in February. Even better, the labs detected a second round of ripples a few months later, confirming that the signal was no fluke. Astronomers are overjoyed at the achievement, because gravitational waves can act as a new way of seeing otherwise invisible objects in the universe, such as directly measuring the properties of enigmatic black holes.

但在路易斯安那州和华盛顿州高灵敏度的探测器的帮助下，科学家最终在二月份成功探测到了引力波波及地球。还有更好的消息，几个月后实验室又探测到了第二轮引力波，证明了波动信号并非偶然。天文学家能取得这个成就特别兴奋，因为引力波能成为观察此前宇宙中无法看到的物体的一种新方式，比如直接探测神秘莫测的黑洞中的物质。

DINOSAUR TAIL TRAPPED IN AMBER

琥珀里的恐龙尾巴

It came dangerously close to becoming jewelry, but a small lump of amber found at a market in Burma luckily landed in the hands of paleontologists, who announced in December that it contained the first known piece of a dinosaur’s tail. Dating back 99 million years, the tail was originally mistaken as a bit of plant material. But closer inspection showed that it was actually bone and soft tissue covered with delicate feathers. Careful analysis revealed that the tail once belonged to a young coelurosaur, a dinosaur family that includes tyrannosaurs and modern birds.

这块琥珀侥幸逃脱了成为首饰的命运，它在缅甸市场上幸运地落入了生物学者的手里，他们在12月宣布这块琥珀里有首个恐龙尾巴标本。这块尾巴有9900万年历史，最初被误以为是一块植物。但更进一步的检查表明这其实是骨骼和软组织，上面覆盖着精美的羽毛。细致的分析揭示了这块尾巴曾经属于一只年轻的虚骨龙，这一科恐龙包括霸王龙和现代鸟类。

POSSIBLY HABITABLE PLANET NEXT DOOR

附近还有适宜居住的星球

Astronomers unveiled evidence for a world orbiting the closest star to the sun. At just 4.24 light-years away, Proxima Centauri has long fascinated astronomers and fiction writers alike. The newfound planet, dubbed Proxima b, is about as massive as Earth, and it orbits near enough to its small, red star for water to stay liquid on its surface. While it may be a while until we have the technology to properly probe Proxima b for signs of life, simply knowing it exists is a boon to astrobiologists.

天文学家公布了离太阳最近的恒星的一个卫星的相关信息。比邻星（Proxima Centauri）只有4.24光年远，一直吸引着天文学家和科幻小说家。这颗新发现的行星被命名为Proxima b，大小与地球相近，绕行轨道离小的红色恒星足够近能使水在其表面呈液态存在。虽然我们还需要些时间才能拥有先进技术探测到Proxima b星球上是否有生命迹象，但是仅仅知道它的存在对天体生物学家来说就已经是一个重大发现了。

TREASURE TROVES OF ANCIENT HUMAN FOOTPRINTS

古人类脚印的宝库

Tanzania has been an invaluable source of information about the earliest days of our existence, yielding bones, tools, and other trappings from multiple species of human relatives. In October, scientists were dancing with joy when hundreds of ancient human footprints were unveiled at a site there known as Engare Sero. Dated somewhere between 5,000 and 19,000 years old, these prints show signs of early humans jogging and traveling in distinct groups near a towering volcano.

坦桑尼亚一直是无价的信息来源，为我们提供关于人类早期存在、柔韧的骨头、工具和各种早期人类的其他陷阱的信息。10月份当数百个古人类的脚印在被称为Engare Sero的地方被发现的时候科学家们都高兴得手舞足蹈。这些脚印有5,000年至19,000年左右的历史，是早期人类在一座高耸的火山附近分组蹒跚前行和前进的痕迹。

GIANT MARINE CROCODILE UNVEILED

发现大型海鳄

In January, scientists stunned the world with news that the largest marine crocodile ever found had been unearthed in an African desert. Based on a fossil skull and other bones discovered in Tunisia, it seems the fantastic beast could grow to be more than 30 feet long and weighed around three tons. Dubbed Machimosaurus rex, the 120-million-year-old animal offers crucial clues to a possible mass extinction event at the end of the Jurassic period, about 145 million years ago.

1月份，科学家发布了一个震惊世界的消息，迄今发现的最大海鳄在非洲沙漠中重见天日。根据在突尼斯发现的头骨化石和其他骨骼，科学家推测这种神奇的野兽能长到30多英尺，体重可达3吨左右。这种动物被称为君王马奇莫鳄，拥有1亿2千万年历史，为约1亿4500万年前侏罗纪末期动物大规模灭绝提供了重要线索。

NASA SPACECRAFT ARRIVES AT JUPITER

NASA的航天器抵达木星

It only took five years and 1.7 billion miles, but in July NASA’s Juno spacecraft completed a daredevil maneuver to get into orbit around the largest planet in our solar system. Launched in August 2011, Juno is the first human-made object to orbit Jupiter since the end of the Galileo mission in 2003. The solar-powered spacecraft is designed to study the giant planet’s structure and intense magnetic field.

NASA的“朱诺”号航天器仅耗时5年，走行17亿英里，在7月份完成了一次英勇的行动进入了围绕太阳系中最大行星运行的轨道。“朱诺”号于2011年8月发射，是2003年“伽利略”号任务结束后第一个绕木星运行的人造物体，它由太阳能提供动力，被设计用来研究木星结构和强磁场。

But first, Juno had to survive its long cruise through space and then a harrowing trip through the planet’s punishing radiation belts. On July 4, the pinwheel-like spacecraft began spinning faster, tumbling into position for a successful orbit. In the following weeks, it sent back stunning new images and fresh reams of data.

但“朱诺”号首先要经历穿越太空的长期航行，然后完成穿越木星强辐射带的艰难旅程。7月4日，这个像纸风车的航天器旋转速度开始加快，进入指定位置成功开始绕行。在接下来的几周，它发回了令人惊叹的新图像和大量新数据。