The Breakthroughs of the year

2009 is coming to its end... and it is time to review the most important scientific contributions of the year.
For this reason the magazine Science has published a special issue with the top 10 breakthroughs of the year (according to Science). And the winners are...

1.- Ardipithecus ramidus. Ardi was an Ethiopian woman, 1.20 m tall... and who lived 4,4 million years ago! It is the most ancient hominid fossil ever found.
2.- Pulsars. Gamma rays Fermi NASA telescope has allowed to detect pulsars. The telescope was put in orbit in 2008, and providing a measurement that was a proof of the relativity theory has been its most important success so far.
3.- ABA receptors. Major advances in the knowledge of the structure of the drought hormone have been achieved during 2009.
4.- Monopoles. Two research group have achieved magnetic pertubations of monopoles from spin ices.
5.- Rapamycin. Rapamycin (a medicine used to prevent transplant rejection) can prolong mammal's life. The experiment was carried out in rats, that prolong their lives between 9% and 14%.
6.- Water in the moon. NASA announced on the 13th November that the Lcross spacecraft sensors had detected water vapour and ice in the moon.
7.- Genetic therapy. Advances in genetic therapy to treat blindness.
8.- Graphene. Latest research about the graphene properties has revealed that this material could replace silicon in chips.
9.- Hubble repair. Hubble repair mission prolonged its life and improved some features.
10.- X-ray laser. Since we reported in a post some months ago, SLAC laboratory started running the first X-ray laser.

And what is the most important discovery for you? Fill in the survey you can find on your right!

Also, you can also find a really interesting and comprehensive podcast about the 10 most popular stories of Science in 2009 (the transcript can be downloaded here).