The previous year has forced us to confront difficult science questions: Was processing patents Einstein’s real strength? Are there any other planets out there like Earth? Why is the universe composed of matter instead of antimatter? 2011 had a bumper crop of fascinating science and technology stories, so many that it’s impossible to call ten stories "the top” but the audience expects it.  So, courtesy of Ysabel Yates at Txchnologist, here are ten notable events from a long list, in no particular order and slightly edited.

Faster Than Light Neutrinos?
Albert Einstein taught us that nothing travels faster than light, right? Not so fast. A group of scientists in a group known as Opera reported in November that neutrinos can travel faster than light. The finding came out of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, and challenged the most fundamental rule of modern physics. Since the discovery, the group maintains they have been able to replicate the findings, but many remain skeptical.

Image: Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Image by Wikimedia User Julian Herzog.

What’s Hot in 2011? The Planet
The year brought some breakthroughs in climate science, including an independent study concluding that global warming is real - but they also schooled science media for being part of a global warming cult rather than trusted guides and showing facts and inconsistencies like they would if they were real journalists. Also, according to the International Energy Agency, 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide were released into the atmosphere last year, making 2010 the year with the highest carbon output in history. This also means that nothing good came from the global recession, which many expected would at least help lower emissions - and it did, in countries that were bound by Kyoto or larger producers like the United States.  Brazil, India and China, all exempt from climate treaties, more than made up for the decline in the developed world.  The United States was back at 1995 levels, like people thought they wanted - but as predicted, it made us an economic ghost town.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner
After years of delays and budget overruns in the billions, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner finally debuted this year. Industry watchers say the aircraft was well worth the wait, and the investment. It’s the first commercial airliner to be made primarily of carbon composites, which makes it lighter, and 20% more fuel efficient than other conventional airliners. It also has higher ceilings, bigger windows, increased cabin pressure, and softer LED lighting in the cabin. Boeing can barely keep pace with the orders for aircraft across its fleet.

Definitely, Maybe: The Search for the Higgs-boson
Scientists say they are closer than ever to finding the elusive Higgs-boson. This particle is the missing link to understanding why particles have mass. Unfortunately, there was no grand discovery of the “god particle” this year, but it might be making this list again next year, as researchers found “tantalizing hints” of its existence in 2011. If discovered, the Higgs-boson would be one of the greatest triumphs of science since sliced bread the structure of DNA was discovered.  The particle would also justify the construction of the world’s most complicated machine, the Large Hadron Collider, ensuring its name won’t get changed to “Large Money Waster”.

Final Space Shuttle Flight
On July 19th, the space shuttle Atlantis became the last of its kind to leave Earth. This flight marked NASA’s 135th and final space shuttle mission during a 30-year long program. Critics said the program’s expense, limited ambitions of low-Earth orbit and repeated disasters actually held space exploration back. Program defenders note that many of the great cosmic discoveries of recent years  have come from satellites, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, hauled into space by the shuttle and astronauts learned how to perform complex operations in space from the repeated flights.

Final space shuttle flight taking off. Courtesy NASA.

Earth-like Planets Found
This year we got one step closer to finding Earth’s twin. A new planet was discovered that, for the first time ever, lies in the habitable zone of its sunlike star, where temperatures are adequate to support life (as we know it). Named Kepler-22b, the planet is 2.4 times the size of Earth, but its composition has yet to be determined. It is 600 light years away from Earth. Just last week, physicists discovered two smaller planets, Kepler 20e and Kepler 20f, that orbit too close to their sun to be habitable but portend the discovery of yet more Earth-sized planets.

Advances in Human Genome Sequencing
The cost of sequencing a genome is down from the $8.9 million it cost in July 2007, to $10,500 this past July, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute. Experts predict a $1,000 human genome within the next year or two. But hurdles remain: it now costs more money to analyze a genome than to sequence one.

SOPA and Protect IP
The Stop Online Piracy and PROTECT IP acts proposed this year were, and continue to be, controversial measures. If passed, these bills would expand the ability of law enforcement and copyright holders to shut down any site that hosts pirated content. Critics believe the bills go much further and, if passed, would result in the end of free speech on the Internet and even somebody like Justin Bieber might face jail time for uploading copyrighted material to sites like YouTube.

Japan Earthquake, Tsunami&Fukushima Disaster
The worst earthquake in Japan’s recorded history led to a ferocious tsunami that killed 15,000-20,000 people and crippled the nuclear power plant at Fukushima. The meltdown of several reactors has, to this point, had limited impact on human health but will likely leave the greatest legacy. It took workers months to bring the reactors under control and it will take decades to disassemble the plant and remove the radioactive material. The meltdown also prompted many countries, notably Germany, to accelerate plans to shutter their nuclear plants, which could effect carbon mitigation efforts.

Images Sequenced from Brain Activity
In 2011, we came one step closer to being able to record our dreams, thoughts and memories. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, successfully developed an algorithm that can be used in functional magnetic resonance imaging to generate the moving image a person is seeing. Also in this same vein, the first brain image of a dream was created.

Screen Shot of Image Reconstruction. Courtesy GallantLab's YouTube Video