Asteroid Fly-By On January 31, the 20-mile-long asteroid Eros makes its closest pass by Earth in 37 years. It will miss us by 16.5 million miles, but that's still close enough for amateur astronomers to see it with a small telescope. Wikimedia Commons
The coming year is going to be a big one in all kinds of areas, from space to supercomputing, research done both above and below the ocean, examinations into our distant past and into our future. And salmon. Expect to hear lots about salmon.
Click to launch our guide to the upcoming year in science.