After 13 years of exploration around Saturn, the Cassini mission ran out of fuel and left us on September 15 , sinking into the thick clouds of the ringed planet, and emitting the last images towards Earth before its sad end. It was a ‘controlled suicide’ of the ship, ensuring that it did not rush over the moons Titan or Enceladus, to enter the thick atomosphere of the planet.
The month of September left other sad news for science, and they are the terrible consequences of natural phenomena, which have devastated regions and caused serious human and material losses. The 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Mexico affected some 40 buildings and caused more than two hundred deaths and dozens missing.
Likewise, Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 storm that passed through the Caribbean islands on its way to Florida, has left bare beaches along the Bahamian coast. In addition, the winds left more than 2.6 million homes without electricity.
Another impressive phenomenon of nature has also caused damage to the Earth, although the force comes from outside it. The Sun emitted the two most powerful radiation waves in the last 12 years, with effects that were noted on our planet: failures in high-frequency radios were recorded; in addition, the GPS signals lowered their intensity for an hour.
The human brain holds fewer and fewer secrets to science
At the end of September, however, we found positive and very promising news; specifically, in the field of Medicine. After 15 years in a vegetative state, scientists manage to ‘wake up’ a man for the first time. How was such a feat accomplished? Stimulation of the vagus nerve has made the patient respond to some stimuli from his environment.
In addition, artificial intelligence never ceases to amaze us. Scientists were able to connect a human brain to the internet for the first time; a dream for many that, until now, belonged only to the field of science fiction.
And finally; Despite advances in science and technology, nature itself continues to amaze us day after day. In September, the best nature photographs of the year were released. This is the Wildlife Photo of the Year, this time with more than 50,000 photos from 92 countries around the world.
