page_title: 2014 in science
section_title: May
hierarchical_section_title: 2014 in science / Events, discoveries and inventions / May
caption_attribution_description: English: May 15, 2014 RELEASE 14-135 http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/may/nasas-hubble-shows-jupiters-great-red-spot-is-smaller-than-ever-measured/ NASA's Hubble Shows Jupiter's Great Red Spot is Smaller than Ever Measured Jupiter's Great Red Spot is Smaller than Ever Images of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope over a span of 20 years, shows how the planet's trademark spot has decreased in size over the years Jupiter's trademark Great Red Spot -- a swirling anti-cyclonic storm larger than Earth -- has shrunk to its smallest size ever measured. According to Amy Simon of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, recent NASA Hubble Space Telescope observations confirm the Great Red Spot now is approximately 10,250 miles across. Astronomers have followed this downsizing since the 1930s. Historic observations as far back as the late 1800s gauged the storm to be as large as 25,500 miles on its long axis. NASA Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flybys of Jupiter in 1979 measured it to be 14,500 miles across. In 1995, a Hubble photo showed the long axis of the spot at an estimated 13,020 miles across. And in a 2009 photo, it was measured at 11,130 miles across. Beginning in 2012, amateur observations revealed a noticeable increase in the rate at which the spot is shrinking -- by 580 miles per year -- changing its shape from an oval to a circle. "In our new observations it is apparent very small eddies are feeding into the storm," said Simon. "We hypothesized these may be responsible for the accelerated change by altering the internal dynamics and energy of the Great Red Spot." Simon's team plans to study the motions of the small eddies and the internal dynamics of the storm to determine whether these eddies can feed or sap momentum entering the upwelling vortex, resulting in this yet unexplained shrinkage. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington. For images and more information about Hubble, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/hubble
context_page_description: A number of significant scientific events occurred in 2014, including the first robotic landing on a comet and the first complete stem-cell-assisted recovery from paraplegia. The year also saw a significant expansion in the worldwide use and sophistication of technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles and wearable electronics.
  The United Nations declared 2014 the International Year of Family Farming and Crystallography.
context_section_description: 1 May – Cancer researchers report that e-cigarettes "get so hot that they, too, can produce a handful of the carcinogens found in cigarettes and at similar levels".
  5 May - The World Health Organization (WHO) announces that the spread of polio is a world health emergency - outbreaks of the disease in Asia, Africa and the Middle East are considered "extraordinary".
  6 May – The third National Climate Assessment is released by the US government.
  7 May
  The first realistic "virtual universe" is created, simulating 13 billion years of cosmic evolution in a cube with 350 million light year long sides and unprecedented resolution.
  Researchers announce that they successfully introduced two artificial nucleotides, Unnatural Base Pairs (UBRs), into bacterial DNA, and by including the individual artificial nucleotides in the culture media, were able to passage the bacteria 24 times; they did not create mRNA or proteins able to use the artificial nucleotides. The artificial nucleotides featured two fused aromatic rings which formed a complex mimicking the natural (dG–dC) base pair.
  For the first time, researchers sequence the genome of the spider.
  Global scientific output doubles every nine years, according to a new analysis going back to the year 1650.
  8 May – Scientists publish a comprehensive study of Comet ISON and its disintegration, reported to have occurred on 2 December 2013, suggesting that the comet fully disintegrated hours before perihelion.
  9 May
  The maximum theoretical limit of energy needed to control the magnetisation of a single atom is demonstrated, a finding that could improve nanotechnology devices and quantum computers.
  After eight years of development, a new hi-tech bionic arm becomes the first of its kind to gain FDA approval for mass production.
  13 May – New research shows unlimited heat potential in graphene.
  14 May
  Even the multiverse will come to an end, according to a new view of quantum theory.
  A new device is developed that can sort, store and retrieve individual cells for study, using components similar to those that control electrons in microchips.
  15 May
  The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decides to consider two options regarding internet services: first, permit fast and slow broadband lanes, thereby compromising net neutrality; and second, reclassify broadband as a telecommunication service, thereby preserving net neutrality.
  Jupiter's red spot continues to shrink, as shown in new images.
  16 May
  NASA extends the Kepler mission to the K2 mission, a reduced two reaction wheel operation mode necessitated by faults in the originally designed four wheel mode used to accurately aim the telescope, to continue exoplanet discovery as well as new scientific observation opportunities.
  In a report published in the journal Science, genetic testing of the skeleton dubbed "Naia" indicates that Paleoamericans and modern Native Americans have the same descendants.
  Genetic mutations that drive cancer are tracked back to cancer stem cells in patients for the first time.
  17 May – Paleontologists in Argentina discover what appears to be the largest dinosaur yet found. Based on its gigantic thigh bones, it was 40 m (130 ft) long and 20 m (65 ft) tall, weighing 77 tonnes. The as yet unnamed species of Titanosaur lived in the forests of Patagonia between 95 and 100 million years ago.
  19 May
  Scientists announce that numerous microbes, like Tersicoccus phoenicis, may be resistant to methods usually used in spacecraft assembly clean rooms, and as a consequence, may have unintentionally contaminated spacecraft. However, it's not currently known if such resistant microbes could have withstood space travel and are present on the Curiosity rover now on the planet Mars.
  NASA begins construction of the 2016 Mars Lander, InSight.
  Antarctica is now losing about 160 billion tonnes of ice a year to the ocean - twice as much as when the continent was last surveyed.
  21 May – The International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) announces its annual list of the "Top 10 New Species" and includes the microbe Tersicoccus phoenic
caption: Jupiter - Great Red Spot is decreasing in size (May 15, 2014).[201]
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