page_title: 2015 in science
section_title: October
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 in science / Events / October
caption_attribution_description: English&#58; Display of red meat and poultry on a cutting board.日本語&#58; 各種肉の写真。(牛、豚、鶏) よりパブリックドメインで提供されています
context_page_description: A number of significant scientific events occurred in 2015. Gene editing based on CRISPR got significantly improved. A new human-like species, Homo naledi, was first described. Gravitational waves were observed for the first time, and dwarf planets Pluto and Ceres were visited by spacecrafts for the first time. The United Nations declared 2015 the International Year of Soils and Light-based Technologies.
context_section_description: 1 October – IBM announces a breakthrough that could accelerate the replacement of silicon transistors with carbon nanotubes and work down to 1.8 nm node sizes.
  2 October
  A new study adds to previous findings that dinosaurs were driven to extinction by a combination of increased volcanism at the Deccan Traps and the Chicxulub asteroid impact.
  Fusion reactors could be economically viable within a few decades, and policy makers should start planning to build them as a replacement for conventional nuclear power stations, according to research by Durham University.
  5 October
  Nearly one-third of cacti species face extinction, according to the first comprehensive global assessment, largely due to illegal trade and other human activity.
  NASA reports recurrent slope lineae, wet brine flows, may have been detected on Mount Sharp near the Curiosity rover. In addition, an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 heat-resistant bacterial spores were on the Curiosity rover at launch. As many as 1,000 times more than that may not have been counted.
  6 October
  Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald win the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass."
  Researchers build a quantum logic gate in silicon for the first time, making calculations between two qubits of information possible – and thereby clearing the final hurdle to making silicon quantum computers a reality.
  7 October – Tomas Lindahl, Paul L. Modrich and Aziz Sancar win the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for explaining "the basic mechanisms that help to guard the integrity of our genomes.”
  8 October
  NASA releases details of its long-term plan for human exploration of Mars.
  NASA confirms, based on results from the Curiosity rover (and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter), that lakes and streams existed in Gale crater on Mars 3.3 – 3.8 billion years ago delivering sediments to build up the lower layers of Mount Sharp.
  NASA announces that the New Horizons spacecraft has detected blue skies and water ice on Pluto.
  Scientists confirm that a third global coral bleaching event is underway that is likely to be the most intense ever recorded.
  Up to 1 billion people are at risk of blindness by 2050, according to researchers at the Brien Holden Vision Institute.
  Following a comprehensive, 10-year effort, researchers identify 238 genes that affect aging in yeast cells.
  13 October
  Astronomers discover V774104, an object which initially appeared to have a 103 AU distance from the Sun, which would have made it the furthest known object from the sun. Upon public release of the object in March 2018, it was only 90 AU from the Sun, making it only the third furthest known object.
  Scientists achieve a breakthrough in finding a general cure for cancer by attaching malaria proteins to cancer cells, which appears effective on 90% of cancer types. Human trials are expected to begin within four years.
  Forensic scientists report a chemical procedure that can identify gender from a fingerprint. The fingerprint test is based on the much higher levels of certain amino acids in the perspiration of women than in men.
  14 October – Scientists report finding fossil evidence of life on the very young Earth 4.1 billion years ago, 300 million years older than known earlier. According to one of the researchers, "If life arose relatively quickly on Earth ... then it could be common in the universe.
  15 October
  Researchers at Stockholm University develop a material for capturing CO2 in the presence of water.
  Chattanooga announces that a public utility will offer the world's first 10 gigabit broadband service across a large community-wide territory.
  20 October
  Sulfur-limonene polysulphide is used to synthesise a new material able to cheaply and efficiently absorb mercury pollution from soils and water.
  Researchers in California use big data to identify over 100 novel cancer driver genes.
  Sunscreen chemicals such as oxybenzone may be contributing to the decline of coral reefs popular with tourists, according to a study by the University of Central Florida.
  21 October
  The first d
caption: 26 October: Eating processed or red meat linked to some cancers by WHO.
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