1. Scientific Advances Of 2010

2. Three-Parent Embryos
By taking chromosomes from one zygote — the single cell formed when sperm and egg fuse — and putting them into a zygote stripped of chromosomes but still containing mitochondria, British researchers produced an embryo with genetic contributions from three parents. Other scientists had managed versions of the trick before, but not in human cells, with such sophistication. The technique hasn't been approved for use in human reproduction, but could conceivably be used to prevent hereditary, often-fatal mitochondrial disease. It also opens up a new ethical question: If mitochondrial DNA — just a small fraction of a cell's DNA, but integral to its function — comes from someone who isn't mom or dad, are they a parent, too?

3. HIV Microbicide Discovered
At long last, there’s an HIV drug that seems to work. In a study of 889 South African women, those who used a vaginal gel with the antiretroviral microbicide tenofovir in it were 39 percent less likely to contract HIV. Women who used it most often saw a 54 percent drop in risk of infection. It's no foolproof vaccine, but the researchers who conducted the 2.5-year trial contend it's the first-ever hope of thwarting the spread of HIV and AIDS. They're anxious to test the drug's safety and effectiveness more widely to see if it's safe to release to the public.

4. Water on the Moon
Last year, NASA smacked a spent Centaur rocket into a shadowed lunar crater and blew out the first definite signs that the moon is chock-full of water. Although technically the LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) mission sent back the first whiffs of water at the end of 2009, the final numbers weren't in until October. The crater that LCROSS carved out contained 341 pounds of water, and an estimated 5.6 percent of the soils there could be moist. That's enough water to be useful to future lunar colonists, scientists say. All that water was near the moon's south pole, but in March a radar instrument on India's Chandrayaan-I orbiter found millions of tons of water at the North Pole, too.

5. A Habitable Exoplanet (Maybe)
An extrasolar planet that could support liquid water finally showed itself in September. Exoplanet hunters announced a new world orbiting in its dim star's habitable zone, the not-too-hot, not-too-cold region where liquid water is stable and life could potentially find a foothold. The planet's existence was quickly called into question when a second team of astronomers failed to find it in their data. But the find bolstered astronomers' hopes that dozens of habitable worlds will show up as more and more exoplanets are discovered.

6. Self-Replicating Life With Synthetic DNA Created
Treating genetic code as software, bioengineers at the J. Craig Venter Institute created the first self-replicating, synthetically designed life in May. The organization's researchers created a genome entirely on computers, even adding special watermarks such as the DNA-ified names of 46 researchers who worked on the project and a web URL. They then printed the DNA in chunks, allowed the pieces to self-assemble in a yeast cell and witnessed an organism "boot up" after a few hours. Venter and his colleagues hope to patent Mycoplasma laboratorium, as they call it, and engineer it to manufacture cheap biofuels, medicines and other useful compounds. Patenting the organism isn't without its critics, however, who argue the move will stifle future science relying on an artificial microbes. The Obama administration has also called for oversight to the emerging field, but hasn't issued any federal regulations governing it — yet.