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There have been many scientific discoveries which have shown a new way in which science can be given that clear cut edge of finesse. In some of the cases, the reasons behind the inventions have also been quite amusing ones.

One can take the example of the discovery of the laws of gravitation by Issac Newton. He had his inspiration from a falling apple. Hence, a quaint little apple led the path to a whole new science of gravitation.

For the year 2008, here are the top five discoveries

The Arctic Melts

According to the national snow and ice data centre of the university of Colorado, the month of September in the year 2008, recorded the second lowest level of Arctic ice ever since the first satellite was launched into orbit.

This discovery is certainly not a good piece of news for polar bears who are now expected to lose about two-thirds of their existing population by the year 2050 as a result of the above quoted event. The polar bear was included in the list of threatened species in the month of may by the interior department.

The first ever filming of an electron

A new technology that generates laser light pulses having an extremely short duration had been used for illuminating the electron and this had resulted in the first ever capturing on film of the movement of the electron.
This filming entails the moving of an electron while leaving an atom after being excited off its natural orbit by light having the ultraviolet frequency. The movement in real time was lasted for less than a second and, therefore, the happening of the sequence was slowed down in order for humans to be capable of viewing it. Therefore, the time period after the slowing down process was about three seconds.

Discovery of a never before seen population of gorillas

the western lowland gorilla is an endangered species with their number having been estimated to about 50,000 by scientists and the reasons for the decline in their overall population have been deemed to be hunting and mass deforestation.

However, a whole new picture emerged in the month of August, with the discovery of about 125,000 gorillas present in the republic of Congo. This discovery has been termed to be an encouraging one for scientists who now feel that their hard work in keeping the race of the western lowland gorilla capable of seeing the morning sun every day.

The Ebola virus,still looms large over this imperial animal and has been one of the major reasons behind its decimation in the past. The danger is ,therefore, quite a real one and is also quite a healthy one.

The limit of remembering has now been found out.

The short term memory of a human being has been for a long time now, the subject of many hot and time taking debates. The major reason has been the thirst to know as to how many things can an individual remember in terms of his short term memory. There have been many speculations with some estimates having quoted the figure of 7 to be the the number of things that a person is able to remember.

However, the limit was found out in the month of April and it is nowhere near the number seven. According to the results of the research that was undertaken by a group of psychologists, the exact number of things that a person can remember (in terms of their short term memory) is not more than three or four.

The research that was conducted entailed the activity of presenting subject with an array of coloured squares. The subjects were then each shown a square of a particular colour and were asked to determine its position in relation to the original array that was presented to them. The study was conducted using a mathematical model and the result was that individuals managed to find out correctly the position of only three or four squares.

However, the research is not meant to show that phone numbers are now to be reduced to a total of only 4 digits. The world today has many memory tricks that can be used in order to remember things.

However, this discovery is quite a wonderful find and is certainly one of the most amazing eye openers of 2008.

Birds and dinosaurs are related

The relationship between the bird and the dinosaur is one that is a feasible one and this fact has been globally accepted. However, one thing that was a mystery until now was that how did the big dinosaurs in the Jurassic and the pre Cambrian era were reduced to little birds that were nothing but epitomes of beauty.

However, links were established in the year 2008, and these findings led the way to the finding out of the relation between the bird and the 'dino'.

The month of November, proved that dinosaurs laid eggs with scientists uncovering a fossilized dinosaur nest. This proved that these big mammals also formed nests and hatched eggs much like the birds of today.

A dinosaur was discovered with tail feathers in the month of October. However, the anatomy of this creature proved it to be incapable of flight and, hence, it was thought that the feathers were present for being balanced

However, the relationship was finally deemed a real one with the discovery of the Aerosteon. The Aerosteon was a carnivorous dinosaur and has a breathing system bearing a remarkable level of affinity to the breathing system belonging to the birds that dwell in the skies of today.