This article lists a number of significant events in science that have occurred in the second quarter of 2020.
Events
April
1 April: Researchers report to have discovered evidence that rainforests existed near the South Pole ca. 90 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, suggesting that the climate was exceptionally warm at the time.[1] The Image shows Earth ca. 120 Ma.
1 April
A scientific review finds that substantial recovery for most components of marine ecosystems within two to three decades can be achieved if climate change is addressed adequately and efficient interventions are deployed at large scale. It documents the recovery of marine populations, habitats and ecosystems following past conservation interventions, identifies nine components integral to conservation and recovery and recommend actions along with opportunities, benefits, possible roadblocks and remedial actions. The researchers caution about a narrow window of opportunity in which decisions can choose between "a legacy of a resilient and vibrant ocean or an irreversibly disrupted ocean". They assess the goal 14 of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations to be a "doable Grand Challenge for humanity, an ethical obligation and a smart economic objective to achieve a sustainable future".[2][3][4][5]
Researchers report to have discovered and analysed fossil roots embedded in a mudstone matrix containing diverse pollen and spores which indicate that rainforests existed near the South Pole ca. 90 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. Their findings suggest that the climate was exceptionally warm at the time and that the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were substantially higher than expected during the mid-Cretaceous period, 115-80 million years ago.[6][1][7][8]
Researchers report that stretching cells alone can activate genes without intermediates, enzymes or signaling molecules in the cell being necessary. They applied cyclic forces of frequencies which cells experience due to common activities such as breathing, exercising or vocalizing and found that the induced transcription up-regulation does not follow the weak power law with force frequency. They also describe why some genes can be activated by mechanical force and some cannot.[9][10]
Scientists report that for the first time they have retrieved genetic information from the fossils of H. antecessor as old as 772,000–949,000 years and Homo erectus as old as 1.77 million years via dental enamel proteomes . They show that H. antecessor is a closely related sister-lineage to subsequent Middle and Late Pleistocene hominins, including modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans.[11][12]
Scientists report finding large communities of microbes living under the seafloor in solid rocks determined to be up to 104 million years old. According to the study the results may have implications for the possibility of life on Mars and other planetary bodies due to potentially similar conditions and rocks or minerals.[19][20]
Astronomers report further evidence of the possible fragmentation of the interstellar comet2I/Borisov.[21][22][23] A follow-up study, reported on 6 April 2020, observed only a single object, and noted that the fragment component had now disappeared.[24][25]
Scientists report the discovery of metabolic genes in the genomes of 501 widespread Nucleocytoviricota even though viruses don't have metabolism. Some of their findings suggest that these large viruses can reprogram fundamental aspects of their host's carbon metabolism and that they are drivers of evolutionary innovation in metabolic genes.[29][30]
Scientists report the results of a survey of the Great Barrier Reef. For the first time, all its three regions experienced severe bleaching.[38] On March 25 – day three of the nine-day survey – they reported its third mass bleaching event within five years.[39]
Astronomers publish a study which includes the first photograph of a relativistic jet from an ongoing galaxy merger. The young jet from one of the two galaxies active galactic nuclei with a direction pointed near Earth and proves that such merge events can trigger such jets.[40][41]
Astronomers publish a study which includes the highest resolution images of the Sun from NASA's FOXSI Sounding Rocket. The images show coronal loops – magnetic threads filled with million-degree hot plasma – of narrower widths than the ones previously seen.[42][43]
8 April
In two research papers scientists show that microbes can actively colonize high-pH environments of radioactive waste storage sites. Their findings have implications for the safety, design and operation of such sites and the knowledge about extremophile microbial life.[44][45][46]
In a preprint to be published by a journal online in April and in its issue in May 2020 scientists show the glycan structures which coat SARS-CoV-2's spike protein. With these coatings the virus disguises itself to enter human cells. Their study may have implications in viral pathobiology and vaccine design and shows that the protein's coating is relatively weak and that the spike protein may be relatively vulnerable to antibodies.[56][57]
Scientists report fossil evidence which suggests an extinct parapithecidrafted across the Atlantic in the Paleogene and at least briefly colonized South America next to the African-origin mammals New World monkeys and caviomorph rodents. The Ucayalipithecus perdita remains dating from the Early Oligocene of Amazonian Peru are deeply nested within the Parapithecidae, and have dental features markedly different from those of platyrrhines. Qatrania wingi of lower Oligocene Fayum deposits is considered the closest known relative of Ucayalipithecus.[58][59][60] Models of winds and ocean currents indicate that such crossings would have taken only 11–15 days at the time.[61] The absence of later finds from this group in South America indicates they were outcompeted by platyrrhines, which descend from a parallel anthropoid colonization of South America.[citation needed]
Scientists report the discovery of six novel coronaviruses, and one known alphacoronavirus previously identified in other southeast Asian countries were detected for the first time in bats in Myanmar where ongoing land use change is a prominent driver of zoonotic diseaseemergence. Future studies have been said to evaluate the potential for transmission across species.[62][63] The study was conducted as part of the United States' PREDICT program which was ended by March 2020 by the nation's Trump administration but extended on 1 April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[64][65]
10 April
Medical scientists report the possible reinfection of COVID-19 patients who have recovered from COVID-19. Experts note that false test results or "reactivation" of the virus could also have caused these results.[66][67][68] In May 2020 the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that patients who tested positive a second time were not infectious, were immune to the disease, showed symptoms and likely test positive again due to dead fragments of the virus.[69]
Researchers show that a new type of X-ray detector, based on a thin film of the low-cost semiconductor mineral perovskite, is 100 times more sensitive than a conventional silicon-based device. The technology could reduce unhealthy radiation exposure and improve the resolution and applications of security scanners and research tools.[70][71][72][73]
Scientists report to have achieved wireless control of adrenal hormone secretion in genetically unmodified rats through the use of injectable, magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and remotely applied alternating magnetic fields heats them up. Their findings may aid research of physiological and psychological impacts of stress and related treatments and present an alternative strategy for modulating peripheral organ function than problematic implantable devices.[74][75]
13 April: Astronomers suggest the first comprehensive possible natural way that ʻOumuamua, the first known interstellar object detected passing through the Solar System, may have been formed.[76]
13 April
Astronomers suggest the first comprehensive possible natural way that ʻOumuamua, the first known interstellar object detected passing through the Solar System, may have been formed. It may have been produced through extensive tidal fragmentation and ejected during close encounters of their parent bodies with their host star or stars.[76][77]
Astronomers report to have recorded the most energetic supernova so far: SN 2016aps. The supernova also caused an unusually large amount of the energy to be released in the form of radiation, probably due to the interaction of the supernova ejecta and a previously lost gas shell.[78] The scientists believe that the supernova could be an example of a pair-instability supernova or a pulsational pair-instability supernova, possibly formed from two massive stars that merged before the explosion.[79][78] The event was discovered on 22 February 2016 by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) in Hawaii,[80] with follow-up observations by the Hubble Space Telescope.
A study which included aircraft measurements of methane emissions from offshore oil and gas platforms collected over the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in January 2018 indicates that the United States via the Environmental Protection Agency Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHGI) underestimated methane emissions at the time from these sites by a factor of 2. They attribute the discrepancy between regional airborne estimates and their data as well as their estimations for total methane emissions from these sites and the GHGI estimations adjusted for 2018 to incomplete platform counts and emission factors that underestimate emissions for shallow water platforms and don't account for disproportionately high emissions from large shallow water facilities.[81][82][83][84][85]
14 April
News outlets report that U.S. State Department cables indicate that, although there may be no conclusive proof at the moment, the COVID-19virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic may, possibly, have accidentally come from a Wuhan (China) laboratory, studying batcoronaviruses that included modifying virusgenomes to enter human cells,[86][87] and determined to be unsafe by U.S. scientists in 2018, rather than from a natural source.[88][89][90] US intelligence and national security officials say that the U.S. government is looking into the possibility.[89] As of 18 May 2020, an official UN investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 virus, supported by over 120 countries, was being considered.[91] As of 5 May, assessments and internal sources from the Five Eyes nations indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic being the result of a laboratory accident was "highly unlikely", since the human infection was "highly likely" a result of natural human and animal interaction.[92] Virologist Peter Daszak states that an estimated 1–7 million people in Southeast Asia who live or work in proximity to bats are infected each year with bat coronaviruses.[93]
A new study shows that the duration of anoxia approximately 444 million years ago was longer than 3 million years and affirms that the prolonged lack of oxygen in the oceans contributed to the Ordovician–Silurian mass extinction events at the time.[94][95][96]
Stephen Wolfram announces the launch of the "Wolfram Physics Project" which seeks to collaboratively develop a new approach to the theory of everything by modelling physics based on minimal rules out of which complexities of physics may emerge.[99][100][101]
15 April: Kepler-1649c, the most Earth-like planet yet found in data from the Kepler space telescope.[102]
15 April
NASA reports the discovery of Kepler-1649c, an exoplanet that, according to Jeff Coughlin, the director of SETI's K2 Science Office, is closer to Earth in size and likely temperature than any other world yet found in data from the Kepler Space Telescope. The planet was originally deemed a false positive by Kepler's robovetter algorithm, highlighting the value of human inspection of planet candidates even as automated techniques improve.[102][103][104]
Researchers demonstrate a proof-of-concept silicon quantum processor unit cell which works at 1.5 Kelvin – many times warmer than common quantum processors that are being developed. It may enable integrating classical control electronics with the qubit array and reduce costs substantially. The cooling requirements necessary for quantum computing have been called one of the toughest roadblocks in the field.[105][106][107][108][109]
Scientists report that the Greenland ice sheet lost around 600 billion tonnes of water in 2019, which would raise sea levels by about 1.5 millimetres and make up ca. 40% of the year's total sea level rise. The runoff ranked second only after the exceptional year 2012. The study affirms the exceptional nature of the 2019 season and shows that high-pressure atmospheric conditions over Greenland due to changing atmospheric circulation patterns – which have become more frequent due to climate change – were a cause of the melting next to the warmer temperatures. This suggests that scientists may be underestimating the melting of Greenland's ice – likely by a factor of two according to co-author Xavier Fettweis.[110][111][112]
Scientists describe and visualize the atomical structure and mechanical action of the bacteria-killing bacteriocin R2 pyocin and construct engineered versions with different behaviours than the naturally occurring version. Their findings may aid the engineering of nanomachines such as for targeted antibiotics.[113][114]
Australia's Morrison government announces the launch of the research and development phase of its Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program after a two-year feasibility study. The selected 43 strategies of the program include climate engineering concepts such as brightening clouds with salt crystals, technologies to increase survival rate of coral larvae, coral seeding strategies and methods to facilitate faster recovery of coral reefs.[118][119] The Australian Marine Conservation Society welcomed the work but remarked that policies which address global warming – the main cause of increasingly severe and frequent mass coral bleaching events – should be prioritised, that the projects could take years or decades to develop and that solutions to climate change – such as renewable energies – are already available.[120]
Scientists prove the existence of the Rashba effect in bulk perovskites. Previously researchers have hypothesized that the materials' extraordinary electronic, magnetic and optical properties – which make it a commonly used material for solar cells and quantum electronics – are related to this effect which to date hasn't been proven to be present in the material.[121][122]
Scientists report that during their breeding season male ring-tailed lemurs exude three compounds at higher levels in their wrist glandular odor. The study suggests that these may be pheromones which are involved in the attractiveness of the males to females as the females seem to be attracted to the smell during their breeding season. The amounts of dodecanal, 12-methyltridecanal, and tetradecanal increase in a testosterone-dependent manner.[123][117][124]
17 April: A study indicates that local food crop production alone cannot meet the demand for most food crops' "current production and consumption patterns" and the current locations of food production[clarification needed] for 72–89% of the global population and 100–km radiuses as of early 2020.[125] The image shows a map of global wheat production.
A study indicates that local food crop production alone cannot meet the demand for most food crops "current production and consumption patterns" – which include the share of meat in local diets – and the current locations of food production[clarification needed] for 72–89% of the global population and 100–km radiuses as of early 2020. While local production may be more sustainable and decrease risks of disrupted global food supply chains due to crises like the COVID-19 pandemic it cannot be relied on solely.[130][125][131]
Researchers report to have traced the origins of shark fins of endangered hammerhead sharks from a retail market in Hong Kong back to their source populations and therefore the approximate locations where the sharks were first caught using DNA analysis.[132][133]
Scientists report that the coma of interstellar comet 2I/Borisov contains more than three times more carbon monoxide gas than water vapor than previously measured for any comet in the inner (<2.5 au) Solar System. In two studies they publish data collected via the Hubble Space Telescope which, according to the authors, provide a "first glimpse into the ice content and chemical composition of the protoplanetary disk of another star that is substantially different from our own" and likely formed in a CO-rich environment of the cold, outer regions of a distant protoplanetary accretion disk.[141][142][143][144]
Researchers demonstrate a method to direct self-assembly – in terms of size, position and geometry – of a multitude of materials made out of components of more than four orders of magnitude different in size and mass using femtosecond laser pulses.[145][146]
An unusual plant collected by a team of botanists in early 2010 while exploring the remote deserts of Karas, Namibia was found to represent not only a new genus, but a completely new family. Tiganophytaceae is described as the newest member of the order Brassicales, and is the newest botanical family to be described since Kewaceae in 2014.[158]
Scientists report ferroelectricity in a material structure with functional features down to a thickness of one nanometre, making it a candidate for powering very small devices and for other electronics.[163][164]
Researchers report that a mass DNA analysis of over 27,000 Icelanders shows that the Neanderthal population that mixed with modern Icelanders was more similar to a Neanderthal found in Croatia than to Neanderthals found in Russia, that Icelanders carry more traces of Denisovan DNA than expected, that on average these Neanderthal children had older mothers and younger fathers compared to modern humans and that Neanderthal DNA has a relatively minor effect on human health and appearance today.[165][166]
A study using satellite data shows that oil and gas operations in the United States' Permian Basin are releasing the greenhouse gas methane at twice the average rate found in earlier studies of 11 other major oil and gas regions of the United States. According to the authors insufficient infrastructure to process and transport natural gas may be one cause of the high rate.[167][168]
23 April
NASA reports building, in 37 days, a successful COVID-19 ventilator (named
