The dazzling scientific stories that caught attention in 2024

A total solar eclipse seen by millions, a lost jungle city discovered by chance, and the hope of the existence of the nearly extinct northern white rhino – science has given us a lot to be excited about this year.

One of the biggest news stories has been about making space travel cheaper and easier, with Elon Musk's spaceship taking a giant step forward for humanity by having a reusable rocket.

Of course it wasn't all positive. For example, in bad news for the planet, it is now certain that 2024 will be the world's hottest year on record.

But there was a lot to celebrate. Here are seven of our favorite great science stories of the year.

In October, Elon Musk's Starship rocket completed a world-first after part of it was seized while returning to the launch pad.

SpaceX's lower booster rocket returned to the launch tower, instead of falling into the sea. She was captured in a massive pair of mechanical arms, or “chopsticks” as part of her fifth test flight.

SpaceX's ambition to develop a fully reusable, quickly deployable rocket to go to the Moon and perhaps even Mars has brought it a big step closer.

“A day in the history books,” SpaceX engineers announced as the rocket landed safely.

You can Read more about the “Chopsticks” moment here.

They can walk and fly and males can even sing love songs to attract mates – all with a mind smaller than the head of a pin.

But it wasn't until October that scientists studying the fruit fly brain mapped the position, shape and connections of each of its 130,000 cells and 50 million connections.

It was the most detailed analysis of the brain of an adult animal has ever been produced, and one leading brain specialist described the breakthrough as a “huge leap” in our understanding of our brains.

One of the leaders of the research said it would shed new light on the “mechanism of thought.” Read more about the story here.

Imagine you Googled something, got to page 16 of results and asked, “Wait, is this a lost Mayan city?”

Well, that's what happened to Luke Old Thomas, a doctoral student at Tulane University in the US, who came across a laser scan conducted by a Mexican environmental monitoring organization.

When he processed the data with the methods archaeologists use, he saw what others had missed – Huge ancient city Which may have been home to 30-50,000 people at its peak from 750 to 850 AD.

In the city, which disappeared under the jungle canopy in Mexico, archaeologists found pyramids, sports fields and amphitheatres.

The complex – which the researchers named Valeriana – was detected using lidar technology, a type of laser scanning that maps structures buried under vegetation.

There are only two species of northern white rhino left in the world, but we have reported a fertility breakthrough that has given hope of saving the species.

Scientists investigated The world's first rhinoceros pregnancy via artificial inseminationShe successfully transferred a laboratory-created rhinoceros embryo to a surrogate mother.

This procedure was performed with southern white rhinos, a closely related subspecies of northern white rhinos that still number in the thousands, and took 13 attempts.

The mother eventually died due to infection, but a post-mortem revealed that the 6.5 cm long male fetus was developing well and had a 95% chance of being born alive, showing that a viable pregnancy through artificial insemination for rhinos is possible.

There are 30 precious northern white rhino embryos, and the next step is to try artificial insemination using these embryos.

With human activity driving what the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), a conservation charity, calls a “catastrophic” loss of species, it can sometimes feel like we're not hearing much good news about nature.

But a decade-long study has shown that conservation measures are effective in reducing global biodiversity loss.

Scientists from dozens of research institutes reviewed 665 trials of conservation measures in different countries and oceans and found that they had a positive impact in two out of three cases.

Actions ranged from hatching Chinook salmon to eliminating invasive algae, and the study authors said their findings provided a “beam of light” for those working to protect threatened animals and plants.

Read more about the story here.

The heads of tens of millions of people across Mexico, the United States and Canada have been turned, literally, by A Total solar eclipse.

Here the moon moves between the earth and the sun, extinguishing its light.

A total solar eclipse occurs somewhere on Earth about every 18 months, but it's often in unpopulated areas, while this one includes major cities including Dallas in its path.

The path of totality – the area where people can see the moon completely blocking the sun – was much wider this year than it was during the stunning total solar eclipse in 2017.

For more about the story, read here.

Millions once visited Sycamore Gap, the famous sycamore tree nestled in a gap in Hadrian's Wall.

So when it was Reduced in 2023Naturally, a national outpouring of shock and dismay ensued.

But in March, new life emerged from the seeds and branches of the rescued tree, giving hope that the iconic tree had a future.

BBC News viewed the new footage On a rare visit to the secret National Trust center that protects seedlings.

Small branches and seeds that were thrown to the ground when the tree fell were rescued by the National Trust, which cares for the site with the Northumberland National Park Authority.

The seedlings are now being delivered to charitable organizationsand groups and individuals as “trees of hope.”