geeky- Chemistry: Daniel Shechtman who discovered quasicrystals, the theoretically impossible (as any crystallography textbook would tell you) crystal structures with five-fold symmetry.
- Physics: Saul Perlmutter and Adam Reiss and Brian Schmidt who discovered and measured the rate of the accelerated expansion of the Universe.
- Medicine: Ralph Steinman who discovered dendritic cells (he died 3 days before the announcement, becoming the first posthumous Nobel Prize winner) with Beutler and Hoffman who discovered Toll-like receptors that comprise our innate immune system.
But besides that..
For the first time, skin cells were taken from a person with a genetic disease (of the liver), converted to stem cells, the genetic defect was corrected, and healthy liver-like cells were produced (getting an exact lookalike of any cell type from an iPS is the last bit that hasn't been done yet).
Speaking of medical sci-fi turning real a medical implant power source was made that can run on both blood glucose and mechanical motion.
First evidence found for seasonal migrations among non-avian dinosaurs -- I guess they were migratory before they were birds?
More details on what exactly is the job of adult-generated neurons (I hope you all know by now that brain cells regenerate)
The way to turn off the annoying side-effect of morphine, itchiness, was discovered (did you know it had that side-effect?)
The secret of how the giant pandas are able to digest and sustain themselves on bamboo (their digestive system is carnivorous!), was identified. They still digest less of it than a human would.
Hydrogen isotope ratio of water in Kuiper belt comets suggests that they may have been the source of water on Earth.
The "probiotic" yoghurts loaded with live bacteria have no noticable effect on gut bacteria in twin studies and only a subtle effect in force-fed mice.
Also in debunking news, the independent climate research, curated, monitored, and endorsed by some global warming denialists, turned up identical to the previous analyses, upsetting the deniers.
Commercial quantum cryprography systems, considered to be impossible to break due to laws of physics, were successfully broken using fake quantum entanglement. Can we say laws of physics, hacked? (also, I love the "Plug-and-play Eve" from that article)
