Written by By Lillian Mongeau, CNN Stuttgart, Germany
To recognize this year’s “advancements in astronomy and space sciences” — from phenomena like super-Earth exoplanets to contributions to science fiction — Zooniverse , an interactive science collaboration platform, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have partnered on a list of the top ten research topics for each year since 2006. Here, we picked some of the highlights for the coming year.
1. Ancient worlds
Interstellar and comets? Planet creation in the universe? The Yampa Basin in northeastern Colorado could hold many of the answers to all of this, researchers say.
The geological remains of a 7.5-billion-year-old volcanic ocean was recently discovered, the largest underwater volcanic formation ever found.
1 / 7 – Carbon dioxide isotopes
Octopuses and squid have a problem: There are too many of them and not enough oxygen in the ocean. They become irritated and actively shun other sea life. Only humans have been able to adapt this dynamic to survive. The same could happen if we fail to manage carbon dioxide and change the carbon cycle. Carbon dioxide has jumped 60% since 1950. Reuters