2019 in science

A number of significant scientific events occurred in 2019.

Events

January

1 January: The New Horizons space probe flies by 486958 Arrokoth, a remote Kuiper belt object (3D version).

• 1 January – The New Horizons space probe flies by Kuiper belt object 486958 Arrokoth (nicknamed Ultima Thule), the outermost close encounter of any Solar System object.
• 2 January – A study finds that tons of methane, a greenhouse gas, are released into the atmosphere by melting ice sheets in Greenland.
• 3 January
  • China's National Space Administration (CNSA) achieves the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon with its Chang'e 4 mission.
  • Scientists report the engineering of crops with a photorespiratory "shortcut" to boost plant growth by 40% in real-world agronomic conditions.
• 4 January
  • Researchers at Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) report a way to control properties of excitons and change the polarisation of light they generate, which could lead to transistors that undergo less energy loss and heat dissipation.
  • Researchers design an inhalable form of messenger RNA aerosol that could be administered directly to the lungs to help treat diseases such as cystic fibrosis.
• 6 January
  • A partial solar eclipse occurred.
• 8 January
  • Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) report a new way to stabilise the "tearing modes" in fusion reactors, using radio waves to create small changes in the temperature of the plasma, allowing it to be controlled more easily.
  • IBM unveils IBM Q System One, its first integrated quantum computing system for commercial use.
• 9 January
  • Astronomers announce the discovery of a second repeating fast radio burst (FRB) source, named FRB 180814.
  • The first SD card with a storage capacity of 1 terabyte (TB) is announced by Lexar.
  • Astronomers at the University of Warwick present the first direct evidence of white dwarf stars solidifying into crystals.

17 January: Australopithecus sediba found to be distinct from, but similar to, both the older Australopithecus africanus and the younger Homo habilis.

• 10 January – Astronomers propose that AT2018cow, a very powerful astronomical explosion, 10–100 times brighter than a normal supernova, may have been a white dwarf being pulled apart by a black hole; or, a supernova leaving behind a black hole or a neutron star, the creation of a compact body being observed for the first time.
• 11 January – Researchers at the University of Michigan demonstrate a new approach to 3D printing, based on the lifting of shapes from a vat of liquid, which is up to 100 times faster than conventional processes.
• 14 January – A study in the journal PNAS finds that Antarctica experienced a sixfold increase in yearly ice mass loss between 1979 and 2017.
• 16 January – A study in Ecological Monographs suggests there may be sustained foraging specialization, fasting and omnivory in the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), the world's largest fish.
• 17 January
  • Scientists report that Australopithecus sediba is distinct from, but shares anatomical similarities to, both the older Australopithecus africanus, and the younger Homo habilis.
  • Astronomers report that a day on the planet Saturn has been determined to be 10^h 33^m 38^{s + 1m 52s}
    _{− 1^m 19^s} , based on studies of the planet's C Ring.
• 21 January
  • Scientists report that the Greenland ice sheet is melting four times faster than in 2003, with its largest sustained ice loss coming from the southwest region.
  • Lunar eclipse
• 22 January – Alphabet's Waymo subsidiary announces that it will later in 2019 begin construction in the US State of Michigan on the World's first factory for mass-producing autonomous vehicles.
• 23 January
  • Scientists in China report the creation of five identical cloned gene-edited monkeys, using the same cloning technique that was used with Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua – the first-ever cloned monkeys – and Dolly the sheep, and the same gene-editing CRISPR-Cas9 technique allegedly used by He Jiankui in creating the first-ever gene-modified human babies Lulu and Nana. The genetically modified monkey clones were made in order to study several medical diseases.
  • Astronomers report the first-ever detection of