Read more: 鈥�Smart Guide 2012: 10 ideas you鈥檒l want to understand鈥�
JANUARY
鈥� Egypt cuts its people off from the internet as the 鈥淎rab Spring鈥� begins. In Syria, Tunisia and elsewhere citizens use social media to organise street protests
FEBRUARY
鈥� IBM鈥檚 supercomputer Watson takes on, and beats, two former winners of the US gameshow Jeopardy! Despite a few mistakes it easily wins the $1 million prize
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MARCH
鈥� Magnitude 9.0 earthquake rocks Japan, followed by a tsunami that devastates towns and leaves 20,000 dead or missing. Explosions at Fukushima nuclear plant lead to meltdown when the cooling system fails
APRIL
鈥� A software bot called LIDA shows the first hints of consciousness by reacting just like a human when carrying out simple tasks
鈥� Personal details of 77 million users are stolen after Sony鈥檚 PlayStation Network is hacked 鈥� forcing the firm to take it offline
MAY
鈥� Author Kayt Sukel stimulates herself to climax in an fMRI scanner to learn more about the female orgasm, brains and the control of pain
JUNE
鈥� Physicists at CERN manage to bottle atoms of anti-hydrogen for 1000 seconds 鈥� about 10,000 times longer than before
鈥� Infamous 鈥渉acktivist鈥� group LulzSec announces it is disbanding after 鈥�50 days of lulz鈥�, during which it attacked a number of corporate targets, including Fox News
JULY
鈥� Space shuttle Atlantis lands at NASA鈥檚 Kennedy Space Center for the last time, bringing the curtain down on the shuttle era after 135 missions
鈥� Antiretroviral drugs shown to not only help those with HIV stay alive but also greatly reduce transmission of the virus to others
AUGUST
鈥� World鈥檚 first 3D-printed aircraft makes its maiden flight in the UK. The parts took just two days to design and five to print
SEPTEMBER
鈥� Shock at claims that neutrinos have travelled faster than the speed of light 鈥� apparently breaking the existing laws of physics
OCTOBER
鈥� First analysis of network of 43,000 companies shows a minority 鈥� mainly banks 鈥� hold a disproportionate amount of power over the global economy
NOVEMBER
鈥� Breakthrough in Alzheimer鈥檚 research as cognitive decline is reduced in two people 鈥� by jolting brain tissue with electrical impulses
鈥� Launch of NASA鈥檚 Martian rover, Curiosity, as part of the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft. It is due to arrive at the Red Planet in August 2012
DECEMBER
鈥� Two teams at the Large Hadron Collider announce they have found hints of a lightweight Higgs boson
鈥� Climate change conference in Durban, South Africa, ends with agreement to accept targets on emissions in 2020
