Science Breakthrough of the year (and runners up)

Winner: Landing on a Comet

Runners up:

    The birth of birds
    Young blood fixes old
    Robots that cooperate
    Chips that mimic the brain
    Europe's cave art has a rival
    Cells that might cure diabetes
    Manipulating memories
    Rise of the CubeSat
    Giving life a bigger genetic alphabet

see the articles on each item at:

article and links