Scientists break into Discover's top 100 list Findings of two research projects involving UNL scientists were named among the 100 most important discoveries and developments in science in 2004 by Discover magazine. Each year, Discover selects the 100 top science stories of the year to feature in its Year in Science issue. Global warming topped the 2004 list, which is featured in the January 2005 issue. Research involving UNL physicists Greg Snow and Dan Claes and agronomist Ken Cassman made the list. Snow and Claes were part of an international team at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago that established the mass of the top quark, a discovery that ranked as Discover's No. 57 story. Already known to be the heaviest of the fundamental particles that make up the nuclei of atoms, the top quark nevertheless came in at a surprisingly massive 178 billion electron volts (physicists use energy measurements to express the mass of subatomic particles). Claes said that's about as heavy as the nucleus of a gold atom. Research by Cassman and agricultural scientists at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines provided some of the first evidence that global warming could hurt food production. Their findings were Discover's No. 68 story. This 11-year field study found that rice yields decrease 10 percent for every 1.8-degree Fahrenheit increase in nighttime temperatures when solar radiation and temperature are the only factors limiting yields, Cassman said.
