This Years Top Stories
2017 in news: The science events that shaped the year A giant iceberg, a quantum-entanglement experiment and the death of a spacecraft are among the year’s top stories. -Earth link in China’s quantum entanglement experiment. Credit: Jin Liwang/Xinhua/eyevine From political chaos to cases of sexual harassment, scientists have had a tough year. But there were also bright spots, including approval of a new type of cancer treatment and the detection of gravitational waves from a neutron-star collision. When stars collide This year marked the start of a new era in astronomy: one in which scientists can study celestial phenomena through the radiation they emit and the ripples they create in space-time. On 16 October, researchers revealed the first observations of the collision of two neutron stars. This confirmed detailed predictions of how such clashes created some mysterious γ-ray bursts and also most of the Universe’s heavier elements, including gold and uranium. P