Without getting into the issue of whether this year is the end of the decade, Alan Boyle has a list of science stories of the ten years of the double goose egg, of which this is definitely the last. I have a couple nits, though.
First, SpaceShipOne and the X-Prize had nothing to do with science really — they were engineering achievements. Spaceflight is not synonymous with science, and the notion that it is is one of the things that holds us back from doing more of it, and more cost effectively.
And if the 2007 Nobel prize to which he is referring was Al Gore’s, it had nothing to do with science either, unless it was bogus science, as his “documentary” was (for which the Oscar should also be revoked). It was a Peace Prize, not a science prize.
The politicization of science fronted by Al Gore is certainly one of the biggest science-related stories of the decade, if not the biggest. It’s not science, but something done to science.
Oh, come on. The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was the world thanking Algore for getting rid of Manbearpig.
The science vs. engineering issue irks me every time i spot it .. Most news outlets lump them always together, even worse, “Sci & Tech” is the usual categorization, which usually gets everything from the next upcoming cellphones to cancer research.
I suspect, from inside sources, that the greatest discovery (proof of extra planetary life) will be confirmed within 2010; and as such that these other stories will pale in comparison.
As the research that proves this is currently being verified before a press announcement will be made by scientists associated with NASA is currently ongoing, I believe that this qualifies as the Number one story; although we will have to wait for next year for the story to be announced I fear.
If my sources prove to be hyperbolic, I will stand corrected; however I do not believe this to be the case.