A year to remember

摘要

The year began with news that a beech marten (not, as initially reported, a weasel) had shut down the Large Hadron Collider, just after it reported a mysterious blip (not, as initially reported, a new particle). More satisfyingly, astronomers revealed the "chirp" of two black holes colliding, as overheard by the most sensitive instrument on Earth. Thinning ice is letting daylight pass deep into the polar oceans. Bridges built in Bermuda have radically altered the genitalia of mosquitofish. And a computer program that writes "Hello World" was inserted into the DNA of a tobacco plant.