This was the decade of the first face transplant, the first extinct species brought back from the dead, and printable human tissue; a decade that brought us closer to synthetic life forms and the invisibility cloak. But we've whittled it down to ten of the decade's biggest science stories, with discoveries, advances, and topics that are sure to change our lives in the next ten years.

It's Full of Planets: This was a big decade for planets, and not just because Pluto got a downgrade. In 2005, astronomers discovered Eris, a dwarf planet larger Pluto (as well as smaller dwarf planets Haumea and Makemake). Eris' discovery prompted the International Astronomical Union to actually define the term planet, leading to Pluto's demotion to dwarf planet. But the discovery of Eris after all this time suggests there is still a lot to learn about our solar system.

We also got our first direct look at exoplanets, worlds outside our solar system, thanks to the Hubble Telescope. In 2008, astronomers at the Keck and Gemini captured the first images of planets orbiting distant stars. And the planetary discoveries just keep getting more exciting; just this week, astronomers announced that they had observed a super-Earth that might be made largely of liquid water.

Water, Water Everywhere: The world watched on as the Phoenix Lander dug through the Martian terrain for signs of water on the Red Planet. In the summer of 2008, NASA announced it had found definitive proof of water ice on Mars. More recently, scientists discovered that large deposits of water ice exist beneath the planet's surface. This fall, the moon became the center of our watery attention when astronomers found evidence of water throughout the moon's surface. Although the supervillainous plot to bomb the moon didn't seem as initially impressive as we had hoped, the probe did confirm researchers' suspicions that the moon does, in fact, contain a significant amount of frozen water. These discoveries not only reveal more about our solar system, they indicate that, should humans try to colonize Mars or the moon, there will be resources to make survival a little easier.

Shaking Up the Human Family Tree: Humanity got a new great-great-grandmother (or perhaps she's our great-great-great-aunt) in Ardi, a fossilized hominid skeleton found in Ethiopia. Granted, Ardipithecus ramidus was discovered in 1992, but it wasn't until 2009 that she was revealed as a significant addition to our family tree. Although there's technically no "missing link" because humans didn't evolve from chimpanzees, Ardi is, so far, our closest link to chimps, and brings us closer to the common human-chimp ancestor than ever before. Analysis of Ardi's skeleton and probably anatomy reveals just how unlike either chimps that common ancestor is bound to be. One of the Ardi researchers even quipped that when we find that common ancestor, it might look less like we evolved from a chimp-like creature and more like chimps evolved from creatures more like us.

The Book of Life Recorded: Our understanding of human genetics reached a new milestone with the mapping of the human genome. The Human Genome Project announced a rough draft of the human genome in 2000, followed by a more complete version in 2003; the sequence of the last chromosome was published in 2006. Though the genome hasn't been 100 percent mapped, the Human Genome Project has completed its mapping goals. We still have to interpret the sequences we have recorded, but hopefully as we translate the book of our genetic lives, we will get a better understand of how our genes interact and improve our treatment of genetic diseases. Plus, the project has paved the way for sequencing other critters and plants, and, just this week, the lung cancer and melanoma genomes were sequenced.

Changing Your Genes: The promises of genetic engineering have really begun to bear fruit in the last few years, in ways far beyond Alba, the glowing transgenic bunny that grabbed headlines in 2000. In 1999, an 18-year-old with a, inherited liver disease died during a gene therapy trial, after suffering an unanticipated immune reaction to a viral vector. But in more recent years, gene therapy and genetic engineering have shown their promise. In 2000, scientists reported the first gene therapy success, having provided a patient with severe combine immunodeficiency (commonly known as "Bubble Boy" syndrome), though SCID gene therapy treatments were halted when patients developed leukemia. This year, gene therapy successfully treated children with a congenital form of blindness, giving them the ability to see for the first time in their lives. Meanwhile, genetic engineering experiments on animals have cured color blindness in monkeys, created super-strong monkeys, created drug-producing rats, and enabled animals to pass their altered genes to their offspring.

Stem Cells Grow Up: Embryonic stem cells have been a source of contention for years, but in 2007, Shinya Yamanaka helped sidestep that issue when he found a way to reprogram adult skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. Stem cells themselves have continued to aid important medical advances. In 2008, researchers generated motor neurons from elderly patients with ALS, an advance that could help researchers better understand the disease. A newly released study has suggested that a mini stem cell transplant could reverse sickle cell disease, and stem cell research has lead to advances in HIV research and the treatment of heart disease.

Climate Change Takes Center Stage: One of the biggest science stories of the decade has been less about scientific advances than about how the public responds to scientific research. Reports that the glaciers are melting faster than expected, a decade of record warmth, and Al Gore's Nobel Prize have all been part of the conversation on climate change and to what extent humans are responsible.

Commercial Spacecrafts Prepare to Take Flight: Amidst NASA budget cuts, commercial spaceflight has come to the forefront. The Ansari X Prize, first offered in 1996 for the first private enterprise that could fly a three-passenger vehicle 100 kilopmeters into space twice in one week. In 2004, the prize was finally won by Mojave Aerospace Ventures' SpaceShipOne. That same year, Virgin Galactic was founded to further space tourism. The company recently unveiled SpaceShipTwo, the first commercial spacecraft. 2004 also saw the certification of the Mojave Air and Space Port, the first licensed facility for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft in the US. In anticipation of the spaceflight business, one company claims it's readying a space hotel.

Our Cyborg Present: In the last decade, humans and machines have gotten closer than ever. We have machines that can read our memories, computers that let us type with our brains, and robotic arms controlled by monkey minds. Perhaps the most impressive cyborg advances have come in the last few months, with researchers hooking amputees up to robotic arms that not only respond to electrical signals from the human brain, but also provide tactile feedback.

The LHC Comes Online: The Large Hadron Collider has just begun colliding proton beams, but its construction represents one of the most ambitious scientific undertakings ever. The immense particle accelerator will hopefully give us first-hand observations of aspects of the universe that have been, thus far, the realm of theoretical physics. Despite fears from doomsayers that the LHC would destroy the world and a series of mishaps that led to claims that the device was being sabotaged from the future, the LHC came online this year and quickly got to smashing protons at record-breaking speeds.

While the creationist groups did not manage to get the bulk of their agenda included in the State Board of Education's legislation, they did pass a few amendments casting doubt on the theory of evolution. Some tricky language, like an amendment requiring students to "analyze and evaluate scientific explanations concerning any data on sudden appearance and stasis and the sequential groups in the fossil record," is more insidious than it seems. When new textbooks come up for review in 2012, the board can reject books that they feel do not adequately address the issue, a key creationist talking point. And as Texas is a major buyer, textbook publishers may be forced to alter their products so as to avoid conflict with the self-proclaimed creationists on the Texas Board of Education, which could affect the rest of the country as well.

It remains to be seen if these new amendments will indeed affect science textbooks, and hopefully they'll make no difference at all. Check out Salon's article for more information from a decidedly pro-science point of view. [Salon]

As you can see, it's still not entirely done. This photo timeline shows how the ISS has evolved since assembly started in November 20, 1998.

But there's still a lot to be done, as you can see in the following list of modules that have to go up there.

• Multi-Purpose Logistics Module — Delivered by the space shuttle.
• Kibo Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility (JEM-EF); Kibo Japanese Experiment Logistics Module - Exposed Section (ELM-ES); and Spacelab Pallet - Deployable 2 (SLP-D2) — Delivered by the space shuttle.
• Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) with European Robotic Arm (ERA) - docked to Zarya nadir port — Delivered by Russian Proton rocket.
• Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM); Lightweight Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure Carrier (LMC); three crew quarters; galley; second Treadmill Vibration Isolation System (TVIS); Crew Health Care System 2 (CHeCS 2). — Delivered by shuttle
• HTV1, Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle. — Delivered by the space shuttle.
• EXPRESS Logistics Carrier 1 (ELC1) and EXPRESS Logistics Carrier 2 (ELC2). — Delivered by the space shuttle.
• Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) and Lightweight Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure Carrier (LMC). — Delivered by the space shuttle.
• EXPRESS Logistics Carrier-3 (ELC-3) and EXPRESS Logistics Carrier-4 (ELC-4). Micrometeoroid Debris panels are installed on Zvezda Service Module and the Zvezda solar arrays are feathered. — Delivered by the space shuttle.
• Node 3 with Cupola (also called the The Colbert). Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3) is relocated from Unity node nadir to Node 2 nadir beforehand. The Cupola is relocated to the forward port of Node 3 after the flight; and PMA- 3 is relocated to the axial port of Node 3 after the flight. — Delivered by the space shuttle.
• EXPRESS Logistics Carrier-5 (ELC-5). Pirs Docking Compartment moves to zenith (top) port of Zvezda Service Module. — Delivered by the space shuttle.
• Research Module which docks to Zvezda Service Module nadir port. — Delivered by Russian Proton rocket.

[NASA]

To see each reason we're doomed, just click on the little thumbnail. We've got a bonus reason as a recession special.

Well, at least according to British genetics expert Steve Jones. "In a modern world of central heating and plenty of food, the same mutation is far less likely to give a child any advantage. A baby born today can expect to live a long and healthy life, which in turn works against the evolutionary tool of natural selection."

Basically, living in this technologically-advanced era "greatly reduces the influence of mutation, random change and natural selection, the three major forces of evolution." That means it's no longer survivor of the fittest, instead just survival of everyone. Which means we won't be seeing as many changes in the species as we've seen in the last few millennia. Instead we may have hit a plateau, a plateau where everyone gets to add their seeds to the gene pool no matter how dumb and slow they are.

Dammit, and I was hoping my grandkids would have super hearing and be 8 feet tall. [Times of India via PSFK]

See, there's the legendary scroll wheel right there on the side of the Inter@ctive Pager 950, for instance, which is basically a shrunken version of the same piece we've been seeing for the last 10 years. This could be a sign of getting things right the first time, or perhaps the Pearl trackball vs. clickable scroll wheel debate may still be raging harder than anyone realizes, somewhere in the bowels of BBerry fandom. With the release of the Bold imminent, it's a good time to remember the old days for a minute. Anybody here from the monochrome display, "two-way pager" days? [CRN via CrackBerry]

The hosting site, Darwin Online, went live 18 months ago, but largely held just the final product publications of Darwin's lifelong research interests. With the addition of the new material, people will now be able to read his notes, his notes on reference reading he'd done, interesting press clippings he kept and private communications with others.

There're some gems in there too: his first scribblings doubting the "stability" of the species, made on his voyage aboard Beagle; his first pencil outline of the species theory, all 61 pages of it (about half crossed-out as his writing progressed). There's even a memo written by his wife Emma, concerned about Charles' religious doubts.

Apparently the archive, stored as images of the texts, will be most useful to Darwin scholars, due to his notoriously scribbly handwriting. But if you're into cooking, then there's also some recipes for muffin pudding and other dishes from Emma, and instructions on how to boil rice from Charles himself. [Darwin Online, New Scientist and BBC News]

SCARAB Aviation Lab spokesman Gregory Omelchenko told us that the Sirius and the Iris are "still in the design phase," but they are planes that "will be manufactured in the future." The company says they work with the Federal Space Agency, the Moscow Aviation Institute and Sukhoi, the third largest manufacturer of fighter airplanes in the world, including the mighty SU-3X series. Hopefully, that means that they will be able to make them into a commercial reality instead of just being some dream designs out of a Star Wars movie.

The two-seat Evolution DT model, however, is just "a few weeks from being completed and readied for commercial production," so if you are looking for a low-cost pod to fly with a co-pilot, get $11,500 ready. Like the one-seat Evolution ST, these are also hand-made with and get shipped "60 days after payment," according to Gregory. [Scarab via Sense4Fun]