Top 10 Scientific Advances of 2004

TarrVetus writes "Science Magazine's The Top Ten Science Breakthroughs of 2004 have been announced. The winner: The NASA Rovers and their evidence of water on Mars. The runner up was the Hobbit species found in Indonesia. Other breakthroughs include cloned human embryos and the first discovered pulsar pair."

Comments

Re:How many get debunked later?

[sonamchauhan]

I think a few 'Best-of-2004' articles are better off published in January -- it lets them report on the full year and mitigates year-end marketing pressures. Hmmm...

This article reports about the "hobbit":

While acknowledging the small brain size (380 cc, less than that of a chimp) and obvious differences with typical modern humans, he apparently stated that the remains were those of a member of the "Australomelanesid race, which had dwelled across almost all of the Indonesian islands."
...
An article in Britain's Observer quotes Dr. Jacob as suggesting the abnormality known as microcephaly (in which a human is born with a lower brain size) was responsible for Flores man's small brain/skull size.
...
Dr. Soejono was quoted as saying, "...we were able to find soft tissue so that we could carry out a DNA test. We couldn't do that if it was already a fossil." Interestingly, a media release posted by Australia's Southern Cross University, on 8 November 2004, suggests that the Flores (or Liang Bua, as the site is also known) people may have inhabited the island up to about "500 years ago."