page_title: 2011 in science
section_title: March
hierarchical_section_title: 2011 in science / Events, discoveries and inventions / March
caption_attribution_description: English: Large Bonfire
context_page_description: The year 2011 involved many significant scientific events, including the first artificial organ transplant, the launch of China's first space station and the growth of the world population to seven billion. The year saw a total of 78 successful orbital spaceflights, as well as numerous advances in fields such as electronics, medicine, genetics, climatology and robotics.
  2011 was declared the International Year of Forests and Chemistry by the United Nations.
context_section_description: 1 March
  UK researchers demonstrate an optical microscope with one of the highest resolutions yet achieved, capable of imaging objects as little as 50 nanometres across. (BBC) (Nat. Commun.)
  Scientists have determined how to generate a backward-pulling force from a forward-propagating beam, effectively creating a form of "tractor beam". (TechReview) (arXiv)
  Swiss researchers discover a gene in wasps that allow them to reproduce asexually. (Curr. Biol.)
  4 March
  Researchers transform a human embryonic stem cell into a critical type of neuron that dies early in Alzheimer's disease and is a major cause of memory loss; the discovery may have major implications in the treatment of the disease. (Machines Like Us) (Stem Cells)
  A groundbreaking study of mice indicates the liver, not the brain, could be the source of amyloid brain plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease. [ (J. Neurosci. Res.)
  5 March – The United States Air Force launches its robotic Boeing X-37 spaceplane on its second long-duration spaceflight; the spaceplane ultimately remains in orbit for 469 days. (Bloomberg)
  8 March – The world's first tissue-engineered urethras are successfully used. (BBC) (The Lancet)
  12 March – Surgeons in Houston, Texas, successfully implant the world's first continuous-flow artificial heart in a human patient. The turbine-based device is efficient and long-lived, and may herald the mass production of smaller and more durable alternatives to conventional artificial hearts. (Houston Chronicle)
  14 March – Archeologists believe that they have found the lost city of Atlantis in mud swamps near Cadiz, Spain. They theorize that a tsunami struck the ancient settlement; a television special on the National Geographic Channel later investigates their findings. (MSNBC) (FOX News)
  16 March – Scientists report the first successful use of microcarriers to bring anti-cancer drugs to the targeted area in the liver of a living rabbit.  (Biomaterials)
  18 March – NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft successfully enters orbit around the planet Mercury – the first probe to do so. (BBC)
  20 March
  A new way of delivering drugs to the brain, using the body's own exosomes, is developed by scientists, overcoming a major barrier to the delivery of potential new drugs for many neurological diseases, including Alzheimer's. (BBC) (Nat. Biotechnol.)
  Researchers announce the development of a three-dimensional nanostructure for battery cathodes that allows for dramatically faster charging, without sacrificing energy storage capacity. This could lead to cellphones that charge in seconds, and electric cars that charge in minutes. (Nat. Nanotechnol.)
  A new way of making battery electrodes, based on nanostructured metal foams, can be used to make a lithium-ion battery that recharge by 90% in under two minutes. (TechReview) (Nat. Nanotechnol.)
  Scientists demonstrate how SHANK3, a brain protein, may trigger autism-like behavior in mice by stopping effective communication between brain cells. (BBC) (Nature)
  22 March – A 6 cm-by-6 cm chip holding nine quantum devices, among them four "quantum bits", is demonstrated at the American Physical Society meeting in Dallas, Texas. It is hoped that further scaling up to 10 qubits should be possible later this year. (BBC) (American Physical Society)
  24 March
  A landmark study indicates that pioglitazone prevents the development of type 2 diabetes in 72% of pre-diabetic subject participants, the largest such decrease yet demonstrated by any intervention. (Daily Tech) (NEJM)
  The first sperm cells are grown in a lab. (The Independent) (Nature)
  27 March – Harvard University scientists demonstrate use of an electric field to extinguish an open flame more than 1 foot tall, a development they say could yield fire-suppression alternatives to water and chemical retardants. (CNN) (American Chemical Society)
  31 March – Scientists announce the successful controlled entanglement of 14 quantum bits (qubits), realizing the largest quantum register yet produced—nearly double the previous record for the number of entangled quantum bits realized. (ZDnet) (Phys. 
caption: 27 March 2011: American scientists successfully demonstrate a fire-suppression system which uses electric fields to extinguish open flames.
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