Some of our best science stories from 2014. Comet landings, Ebola outbreaks, retracted stem cell studies, faecal transplant capsules and more!

Climate Change and Australian science policy

• 2013 was Australia’s hottest year, warm for much of the world
• January 2014 southeastern Australia heat wave
• Coal 'good for humanity', Prime Minister Tony Abbott says at $3.9b Queensland mine opening
• Abbott brings back Science minister in cabinet reshuffle
• Polar Vortex - Why the Arctic Is Drunk Right Now
• Climate Change / Sinking Ship tweet
• Stephen Colbert tweet about global warming

Microbiology

• Early Antibiotics Change Gut Microbes, Fuel Obesity
• A capsule containing poo can treat chronic intestinal infections
• The Quantified Microbiome Self

Retracted STAP study

• How Japan’s most promising young stem-cell scientist duped the scientific journal Nature — and destroyed her career
• STAP retracted
• Setting the Record Straight

Comet landing

• Scientific riches await Philae comet lander, if it wakes up
• Philae’s Wild Comet Landing: Crater Grazing, Spinning And Landing In Parts Unknown

Viruses

• Polio Declared An International Health Emergency
• Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa
• SoT 167: Sticky Feet - Featuring our interview with Dr. Grant Hill-Cawthorne about the Ebola epidemic

Other

• Centipede venom could lead to new class of pain drug

Rosetta has analysed the water found on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko and found significant differences compared to water on Earth. This may weaken the theory that comets brought water to an early Earth.
One of the most common minerals on our planet finally has a name. We've known Brigmanite exists for a long time, but it was a surprising source that gave scientists the opportunity to study it up close.
The New Horizons spacecraft has just been successfully woken up, and is on track to giving us our first up-close look at Dwarf Planet Pluto next year.
And the Dawn space probe has just taken its first low quality photo of minor planet Ceres, the largest object in the main asteroid belt. Dawn is expected to arrive at Ceres in early 2015.
Traditional forensic DNA tests can't tell the difference between identical twins, but a new test may change that. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for early next year to determine whether evidence from the test is admissible in US Courts.
A three-year-old child died and several young children fell ill in Victoria, Australia after drinking raw milk. We discuss why unpasteurised milk is legally sold in Australia as 'bath milk' and why some people choose to drink it.

Is HIV evolving in to a milder, less deadly virus? A new study suggests it's taking longer for HIV infections to cause AIDS and that this is the result of mutations in the virus.
NASA's test launch and flight of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle was a success. This was an important step in an ambitious plan to send astronauts to an asteroid and then perhaps send astronauts to Mars.
Biologists at Santa Fe College in Florida have found that our desire to drink alcohol, and our ability to break down the ethanol, dates back about 10 million years.
Blood plasma from Ebola survivors contains antibodies that might trigger an immune system response in patients, a bit like a vaccine. This week the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced that early next year it plans to begin clinical trials in Guinea to test if such blood transfusions are effective.
Researchers from North Dakota State University have used Fructose to make a new type of plastic that breaks down completely after just three hours of UV light exposure. It can then be fully recycled.

Professor Rob Morrison and Dr Deane Hutton are Australian science communication heroes. Together they hosted the children's science TV show Curiosity Show, which ran for 18 consecutive years from 1972 to 1990. Ed and Lucas caught up with them at TEDxCanberra to talk about the show and its recent new episode, what they've done since then, and their views on science communication and education.

Rob mentions Duck Quacks Don't Echo (UK) as an example of good current science television.