VOA常速英语2007年-Global Warming Tops Science Stories of 2007

2007 was a year notable for further evidence about global warming, terrestrial and extraterrestrial discovery and scientific breakthroughs. VOA's Paul Sisco takes a look back at some of the top science stories of the year.

Global warming tops our list of science stories in 2007. Scientists say there is new evidence that the polar ice caps are melting at a faster pace. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says it is 90 percent certain that human activity is linked to rising temperatures.

Panel Chairman Rajendra Pachauri explains, "...what you have is solid scientific evidence."

Pachauri's U.N. panel shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice¹ President Al Gore², who said, "I'm going to speak an inconvenient³ truth, My own country is principally responsible for obstructing⁴ progress here in Bali. We all know that."

Gore's Academy Awarding winning film, An Inconvenient Truth, documents the effects of climate change.

In other news, scientists uncovered a previously⁵ unknown, human settlement around Stonehenge, announced a new theory on the building of the Pyramids, and put King Tut on public display for the first time in 3,000 years.

Scientists also had a remarkable⁶ discovery in Kenya - a 10 million year old jaw⁷ bone that may link mankind to the great apes.

And in the fossil of a T-Rex, American researchers decoded⁸ soft tissue proteins linking the monstrous⁹ reptile¹⁰ to birds.

Japan and China jumped into the space race in 2007, both launching their first lunar probes. NASA shared 3-D (three dimensional) images of the sun, and with three shuttle missions, stepped up construction of the International Space Station. Mechanical problems halted a fourth shuttle launch in December, but station construction resumes in 2008.