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2008 has been quite an astounding year for scientific discovery, especially in the realms of physics and space exploration, including possibly the most ambitious research of all time which people feared could cause some sort of Armageddon. Science has certainly come a long way since Copernicus told us that the sun is at the centre of our solar system and Ingenhousz worked out that plants react to sunlight, giving birth to photosynthesis. It is certainly a worthwhile exercise the take heed and look at some of the amazing achievements of scientists in 2008.

The best news and most significant science discovery, or at least attempt at one, of the year must be that of the Large Hadron Collider, a massive particle accelerator on the Swiss-Franco border which thankfully didn't destroy the world. In fact, in the end the contraption didn't actually work but what it was designed to achieve is quite unbelievable. This was quite fortunate too bearing in mind that Bruce Willis was unavailable to save the world that day.

Back in September, the Large Hadron Collider was switched on for the first time amidst fears that it would create an artificial black hole which would effectively swallow us all up and give some people a pretty lousy day. I, for one, was never really expecting this to happen but suppose it was necessary to inform the public of potential consequences. It's hard to imagine what it would have felt like to gradually get pulled toward Switzerland but in all honesty I'd rather not know.

The idea of the Large Hadron Collider, if it would have operated as advertised, was to recreate conditions that hadn't been witnessed since the Big Bang, giving science an amazing peak into those long since vanished moments. After just two weeks, a helium leak caused the Collider to be closed down much to the disappointment of the world. However, repairs are now underway and it is expected to start up again around June 2009 for another attempt at making history (or science I should say).

Another of the most impressive moments in science came in September as China became the third nation to successfully carry out a spacewalk in the Earth orbit. Although the US has been doing this since 1962, bearing in mind that the Chinese only launched their first mission in 2003 and has astronauts in orbit by 2008, this is a huge achievement. The mission has paved the way for an eventual mission to The Moon within the decade.

Despite some early controversy with recorded spaceship transmissions before

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