but obviously it's a big honour. happy with that, nice way to finish or start the new year. at least 28 people have been killed by two explosions at a crowded market in baghdad. the so—called islamic state group in iraq said it carried out the attack. rebecca morelle looks back on the year in science — from british astronaut tim peake‘s adventures in space, to a discovery that will transform our understanding of the universe. that's review 2016: the year in science. from the mission of a lifetime, this was the year british astronaut tim peake spent six months in space. to a colossal feat of engineering. in 2016, the world's largest radio telescope was unveiled.

we also learned about the secret life of seals and what they get up to under water. and saw advances in a controversial new genetic technique. human organs are growing inside these pigs. this was also the year a global climate deal came into force but the election of donald trump placed a question mark over its future. and after decades of searching, scientists have detected gravitational waves. it's been called the discovery of the century, making 2016 a truly momentous year for science. i'm here at thejodrell bank observatory in the north of england. for more than half a century, scientists have been using this vast telescope to gaze up into the heavens, transforming our understanding of the universe. some people have been lucky enough to experience the wonders of space first—hand.

this year it was the turn of british astronaut tim peake. blasting off, the start of a remarkable mission. tim peake was on his way. he was heading for the space station tojoin its international crew for the next six months. the first british astronaut now on board the international space station. in his first live broadcast, he said the experience was out of this world. we always talk about seeing the view of planet earth and how beautiful it is. but, when you look the opposite direction and you see how dark space is, the blackest black, and you realise how small the earth is in that blackness. his space moves, though, still needed a bit of work.

practice makes perfect. but before long, tim got a chance to put on his space suit and head outside, joining nasa astronaut tim kopra for a spacewalk. tim, it's really cool seeing the unionjack going outside. it's explored all over the world and now it's explored space. thanks, scott. it's great to be wearing it. the task was to carry out essential repairs. at 400 kilometres above the earth, what better place to take a selfie! science was also key for this european space agency mission. tim became a human guinea pig, seeing how the body changes in this weightless environment. he even found time to squeeze in the london marathon, and, of course, perfected his somersault. but, after six months, it was time to say goodbye and head home. undocking confirmed.

strapped into the soyuz capsule, tim and his crew mates began their descent. awaiting them, a support team circling above the grassy plains of kazakhstan. then, suddenly, above the clouds, the capsule appeared. and, with a firing of its thrusters, it finally touched down. tim was back. weak after six months in space, but happy to be home. just truly elated. just the smells of earth. they're so strong. and it's wonderful to be back in the fresh air. really good. hey, guys. since his return, tim's been meeting schoolchildren around the uk. welcome for tim peake. it's been pea ke—mania. he hopes his mission mightjust inspire the next generation to reach for the stars.

jodrell bank was built back in the 19505 and this dish is nearly 80 metres wide. at the time, the biggest ever built. but in china, the government is investing heavily in science and they've decided it's time for their own record—breaker, a radio telescope that's half a kilometre across. hidden in the remote mountains of south—west china, a new giant of science. this is the largest radio telescope ever built. earlier this year, as it neared completion, i was given rare access and a chance for a view unlike any other. it's only when you get up close that you really get a sense of this things scale. it's simply colossal. but bigger is better

when it comes to astronomy. the larger the dish, the more signals can be collected from space, helping us to see deeper into the universe than ever before. in china, astronomy, we are far behind the world. but i think it's time for us to build something in china and used by a lot of chinese users, and also welcome the international users. the telescope works by listening to radio waves emitted from the cosmos. the dish is so big it will reveal the first stars and galaxies and even hunt for signs of extraterrestrial life. building it has taken the chinese just five years. and at a cost of $180 million, it is part of the country's unprecedented investment in science, that's on the verge of outstripping even the us. by september, the final pieces were slotted into place. and the telescope was switched on.

china is now hoping its super—sized project will transform it into a world science leader. for the medical world it's also been a year of breakthroughs. these are miniature brains. called organoids, they‘ re grown from a single cell, donated by patients. and they're helping scientists to understand the origins of mental illness. we can actually compare the organoids to the patient and see if we can see some of the features of the disorder and try to understand what caused those features. i think it's a really huge step toward some hopefully really amazing breakthroughs in what has been a desert in the field of biomedicine. and in poland, this man was completely paralysed from the chest down. now he is relearning

how to use his legs. two years ago he had a cell transplant to repair his spinal cord. now scientists want to see if these astounding results can be repeated in others. and, in america, the technology called gene editing is pushing the boundaries. here, human stem cells are being injected into a pig embryo. scientists are attempting to grow a human pancreas inside a pig. our hope is that this pig embryo will develop normally. but the pancreas will be made up almost exclusively out of human cells. so that then that pancreas could be compatible with a patient for transplantation. these pigs are pregnant with the embryos. they won't reach full term — they will be removed after a month and carefully analysed. with every organ we try to make — be it kidney, liver or lung, we will look at what's happening

in the brain. if we find it's too human—like, we won't let those foetuses be born. the hope is this technology could eventually solve organ shortages, but it also raises profound ethical questions. in 2016, we've also been learning about the inhabitants of our oceans. these incredible animals were found in the mariana trench, as scientists explored the deepest place on the planet. and an animal that's a record—brea ker. scientists believe the greenland shark can reach 400 years old, making it the world's longest—living vertebrate. and this year, we learned about the secret lives of seals.

beneath the waves, these animals are a mystery. they spend two thirds of their time in the water. but down here, they have been little studied. we travelled to their home in the north of england, the farne islands. it's a grey seal haven. can you see them up on the land? yeah. all the pups. baby seals! yeah. it was a chance to join these animals in the freezing north sea. the animals seemed as interested in us as we were in them. it is cold but if you want to study these incredible animals up close, you do have to get into the water. around the coast of the uk, nearly 40% of the world's grey seals live here. there are 5000 here in the farne islands. this is ben burville, who has been diving with seals for years.

now he is capturing them on camera. recording behaviour that surprisingly has never been seen before. what we are seeing is a lot of mating behaviour under water, down to depths of nearly eight metres. a lot of bull seal activity where they will wrestle each other, pushing each other and turning each other. by having these competitions underwater, whether that reduces that conflict on the land and they remember that behaviour. we are getting an intriguing glimpse of a hidden world. understanding these animals could be the key to keeping their population thriving. with this beautiful and intricate model, you can see our solar system at a glance and explore how the planets move around the sun. but there's one world that dominates all others, and that'sjupiter. it's the biggest planet in our solar system and this year it had a new visitor.

beneath its swirling clouds, jupiter is a world shrouded in mystery. these images, though spectacular, were taken from afar. nasa wanted to see this giant up close. three, two, one. ignition, and lift off. in 2011, the mission blasted off. the spacecraft called juno embarking on an epicjourney. but as it neared its destination, it faced its biggest challenge. to get into orbit, it had to slam on its brakes and survive everything jupiter could throw at it, including its deadly radiation. whenjuno goes into orbit around jupiter, we're going to go through a really nasty, hazardous region, radiation belts that are very close to the planet.

they are nasty and can destroy and attack all the electronics. so, we have to be careful. scientists faced a tense wait at mission control in california to learn the fate of their billion—dollar spacecraft. then, a signal. cheering and applause. the mood is pure elation here. after more than a decade of work and a 2.8 billion kilometre journey through space, juno is the closest we have ever been to jupiter. we prepared a contingency procedure. guess what? we don't need that any more. and then came the pictures. for the first time, its south pole was revealed. covered in storms, many even bigger than the earth. in the north, it's blanketed by a thick atmosphere. and in this infrared view,

at the top you can see jupiter's northern lights. and the sound was captured as the spacecraft flew through the spectacular light show. the team's reaction was just amazement. look at these images! they are coming from jupiter. we're flying over the pole for the first time. it isjustjaw—dropping. we're expecting more images like this over the course of the mission. scientists sayjupiter is like nothing they've ever seen before. but mars was the destination for the european space agency. the mission had two aims. firstly to get a spacecraft into orbit, which went exactly as planned. scientists also wanted to set down a lander on the planet's surface. but a signal was never sent back to earth.

days later, these images revealed a crash site. the spacecraft had failed in the final moments of its descent. this year while we have been pushing the boundaries of space exploration, our focus has also been very much on our own planet. 2016 has been declared the hottest year on record, putting climate change and how to tackle it in the spotlight once again. this year, our planet united, at least for a while. for the world's countries, a plan to cut greenhouse gases became international law. the groundwork was laid at a climate summit in paris last year. after years of negotiations, an historic global agreement had been reached. countries must now move away

from fossil fuels and instead adopt a green energy approach. butjust as the paris deal came into force, donald trump was elected as the us president. he once called climate change a hoax. in 2012, he tweeted it was invented by the chinese to harm us businesses. and during his campaign, he said this is what he would do. we're going to cancel the paris climate agreement and stop all payments of the united states tax dollars to un global warming programmes. island nations affected by rising sea levels pleaded with him to change his mind. president—elect trump, i formally invite you to fiji and promise you the warmest of welcomes. we will show you how we are already having to move entire communities out of the way of the rising seas.

with its reliance on fossil fuels like coal, the united states is the second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. its participation in the global climate deal was seen as vital. no—one knows what trump will do. he has recently appointed a climate sceptic to lead on the environment. some fear the future of the paris deal now looks uncertain. in 2016, protection for the animals living in the icy wilderness of antarctica was also a focus. in october, a great swathe of its ocean was declared a marine protected area, the largest in the world. it's hoped even for tiny creatures like krill, the foundation of the food chain, the future of this unique and fragile environment will be preserved. and this will be vital for the continent's most

charismatic animals. these penguins started nesting here just ten years ago. it's thought they may have moved because of climate change. so now scientists have set up a network of cameras to monitor them. it shows how the colony is changing, hour by hour, over the course of a year. at another site, scientists are counting the birds, but numbers are down. we're here in a colony of chinstrap penguins. this particular region, this particular species, has seen a decline in the past few decades. those delcines are likely associatd with climate change and there may also be a link with competition from fisheries, as in humans obtaining the same food, krill, as these penguins would normally eat. scientists say only by tracking these birds will we see how they fare in this changing world. and coming soon to antarctica,

boaty mcboatface. well, almost. while the polar research ship was under constrction, the british public overwhelmingly voted for boaty to be its name. but the government overruled them. instead, opting to dedicate the vessel to sir david attenborough, a more fitting title, they said. but the public‘s choice will live on. boaty mcboatface is now the name of the ship's robotic submersible. in the world of tech, there was a battle between man and machine. a champion player of the ancient game of go went up against an artificial intelligence programme developed by google‘s deep mind. after four hours, the human resigned. the computer had won. advances in al are also enabling

developments in driverless cars. this vehicle was made by tesla, a company owned by tech entrepreneur, elon musk. owning a car that is not self—driving in the long—term will be like owning a horse. you would own and use it for sentimental reasons, but not for daily use, really. but the burgeoning industry came under the spotlight earlier this year. joshua brown was a huge fan of tesla cars and their autopilot feature. it takes all the stress out of it. but his vehicle collided with a lorry and he was killed. it seems his car failed to recognise the truck crossing in front of it on a florida highway. the vehicle's safety features have been upgraded, and elon musk maintains they're still safer than cars with a human in control.

in 2016, it was time to take a last look at this comet, as we said farewell to the european space agency's rosetta mission. it had given us these stunning images, revealing an alien world in incredible detail. two years before, scientists attempted something that many thought was impossible. landing a robot on the comet's surface. it was a moment of space history in the making. fantastic! the robot stopped working after a few days, but it did manage to collect vital data. and continuing the mission was the rosetta mothership, which remained in orbit

around the comet. this year, though, its power began to fade and it was time to bring the mission to a close. but the spacecraft would go out with a crash landing. the rosetta spacecraft was designed to fly to the comet, around the comet, but not to land on it. and there's no doubt that as soon as it touches down, it's going to be destroyed. but it gives scientists the chance to squeeze every last drop of science out of this mission. all the way down it will be taking close—up photos and collecting data. we'll be listening for the signal from rosetta. this time the mood was emotional, as scientists waited for rosetta to descend, the signal vanishing forever. and so, this is the end of the rosetta mission. thank you and goodbye. it's like rip rosetta. it's really sad, really, really sad. but the legacy lives on. you just know when you do these

things it comes to an end. but, you know, it is the end in a long, long mission. but with more than 100,000 photos and countless science observations, the work for the team isn't over. it's a mission that captured the world's imagination, and we may well be hearing about its discoveries for years to come. for researchers at this observatory, and around the world, 2016 is a year that will go down in history. after decades of searching, scientists finally discovered gravitational waves — invisible ripples that pass through our cosmos. it is a breakthrough of simply astronomical proportions. and it all started with albert einstein. this is the equation behind his theory of general relativity, conceived 100 years ago.

a pillar of modern science. it told us everything from the motion of the planets to the presence of black holes. but this year, the final piece of einstein's puzzle was found. we have detected gravitational waves. we did it. the idea is that as any object moves through the fabric of the universe, it gives off waves of gravitational energy, much like the ripples that emanate across the surface of the water as you throw a stone into a pond. and the ones we've spotted emanated from this cataclysmic event that took place 1.3 billion light years away. two black holes moving ever closer together. eventually they smashed into one another, merging. the collision generated a surge of gravitational ripples that eventually reached earth.

and they were spotted by this vast experiment in america. tunnels carrying laser beams, sensitive enough to pick up the minute disturbances caused by the oscillations. these black holes actually spiralled in over a billion years ago. and the signal has been travelling to us since then, and we turned on our detectors at just the right time to detect it arriving. it's a discovery that not only provides another feather in einstein's cap. he's been proved right once again. it also heralds in a new era in science. gravitational waves provide a completely new way of looking at the universe. the ability to detect them has the potential to revolutionise astronomy. until now, even our most advanced telescopes could show us only a fraction of the cosmos. the rest was dark, unseen. now we can detect gravitational waves, we'll be able to look deeper

into space and further back in time than ever before, perhaps all the way to the big bang. we end the year with a brand—new perspective of the universe, one that will usher in new discoveries for decades to come. hello there. the final day of 2016 looks like a cloudy one for most of us. looks like a cloudy one for most of us. it's remained damp and cloudy with a few glimmers of brightness, particularly in the north—east and across southern counties as well. we've been having a wet day across scotland, northern ireland, a rain band sinking southwards. wintriness over higher ground as well. it sinks

southwards this evening. zooming into the northern half of the country. for new year's eve, store scotla nd country. for new year's eve, store scotland and northern ireland, the far north of england, you can see the rain band slip into northern england and into north wales. we should see clearance for northern ireland, for much of scotland as well. it will be cold and wintry showers piling into northern areas. there will be a nice risk as well. at least, it should turn drier. now across the south, though, it's looking the opposite. the clouds tend to thicken again. we could see drizzle here and there. hopefully not low enough to spoil any fireworks displays. for the north of wales and into northern england here, the rain is more persistent. a divide in temperatures. behind that weather front cold with that ice risk that i mentioned. to the south relatively mild with seven to nine celsius. the cold air sinks southwards into the first day of 2017. it means across the south, the weather front will be through the midlands, a lot of rain for much of

wales, southern england into the midlands, across into east anglia and the wash as well. damp in the south—east. drier interludes here to begin the day. it turns wetter as the day wears on. across north wales, northern england, skies brighten up. the cold air there too. for scotland and northern ireland it's a dry and bright start with frost, ice around and wintry showers across the north of scotland with some snow falling over higher ground. maybe even doub to lower levels. this rain band is slow to move southwards. it will get into the south—east as well. heavy bursts around, maybe wints rinse over the —— wintriness over higher ground too. the northern half of the uk will be cold. four or five degrees. with the wind it feels bitterly cold. across the south seven to nine celsius. that weather front clears on monday and we start the morning on monday and we start the morning ona on monday and we start the morning on a frosty note, maybe ice too. lots of sunshine. looks like into tuesday the best of the sunshine

across central, southern parts of the uk. we start to see cloudy skies pushing into the north with a bit of rain and turning less cold here as well. nvment —— as well. this is bbc news. the headlines: australia welcomes in the new year in style with a spectacular display of fireworks over the sydney harbour bridge. and 2017 has arrived in tokyo. this is the scene live in tokyo. security is stepped up in major cities around the world and in the ukfor cities around the world and in the uk for new year celebrations after the deadly lorry attacks in germany and france. hundreds of ordinary people are honoured in the queen's new year's honours list along with many of britain's 0lympic honours list along with many of britain's olympic and paralympic stars, including mo farah, jessica

ennis hill and andy murray.