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With 2024 now behind us, we reflect on another remarkable year of progress in science and technology.
These were our 20 most viewed blogs of 2024. Here's to an even brighter future in 2025!
Almost 20 years after his famous book, The Singularity is Near - in which he predicted a technological singularity by 2045 - world-renowned futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil launched a sequel: The Singularity is Nearer. We gave away three copies to our readers.
In February, Boston Dynamics released a new video of the Atlas bipedal robot, showing its latest abilities.
Researchers successfully generated 69 megajoules (MJ) of energy using the Joint European Torus (JET) - the largest amount ever in a fusion experiment and a new world record.
Humanoid robot can do chores and hold conversations
In March, AI startup company Figure unveiled the latest upgrades to its Figure 01 humanoid robot.
One of world's rarest cats is no longer endangered
The conservation status of the Iberian lynx, until recently the world's rarest cat, was upgraded from endangered to vulnerable, after a surge in their numbers.
World's first trillionaire predicted within a decade
The world's first trillionaire was predicted by UK charity Oxfam to happen within the next 10 years. Meanwhile, the global eradication of poverty is now expected to take until the mid-23rd century to achieve.
In August, scientists published research on the simulation of gravitational waves from a failing warp drive.
Credit: Dr Katy Clough / Queen Mary University of London
In February, the Internet was abuzz with talk about Sora, a new AI model bringing text-to-video generation to a whole new level.
A gigantic new solar farm, the first to reach 5 gigawatts (GW), was connected to the grid in Xinjiang, China. This desert megaproject covers a land area of 200,000 acres.
New humanoid robot impresses with lifelike gait
SE01, revealed by Chinese company EngineAI, features a more natural-looking walk than previous humanoid robots.
Researchers announced the discovery of a protein that has the never-before-seen ability to halt DNA damage. This finding could provide the foundation for developing everything from vaccines against cancer, to crops that can withstand climate change.
First functional semiconductor made from graphene
The first functional semiconductor made from graphene was created at the Georgia Institute of Technology. This could enable smaller and faster electronic devices and may have applications for quantum computing.
In a study published by Stanford University, old mice developed more youthful immune systems after treatment with an antibody targeting abnormal stem cells.
The exoplanet LHS 1140 b was found to be a top candidate for habitability, thanks to new and improved data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Two possible versions of LHS 1140 b: with and without an ocean. Credit: B. Gougeon/Université de Montréal
A report by CVL Economics predicted widespread disruption in the creative and entertainment industries due to generative AI over the coming three years.
In June, the gap in life expectancy between male and female organisms was scientifically explained for the first time.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, in partnership with Energy Vault, unveiled a series of energy storage concepts, including structures that could reach up to a kilometre in height.
In March, chip giant NVIDIA launched its Blackwell family of processors, providing yet another leap in scale and speed for AI.
The capacity of data storage reached another new level with Seagate launching the Mozaic 3+, offering areal densities of 3 TB per platter, with 10 platters allowing a total of 30 TB per drive. This came just three years after the 20 TB milestone.
Our most-viewed blog of 2024 was the news of AI startup Anthropic's launch of Claude 3 - a new family of large language models. The most powerful of these was shown to match or outperform OpenAI's GPT-4 and seemed to hint at self-awareness during tests.
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