Dec 30, 2016 11:16 AM EST By Chris Brandt, UniversityHerald Reporter

Science has given man different inventions and discoveries that have made us smarter and improve our way of life. On the other hand, it is also filled with the weird and the strange but nonetheless interesting discoveries. Here are six of the weirdest scientific discoveries in 2016.

Earth has a neighbor

Last August, scientists have detected some sort of a disturbance in the light of the Proxima Centauri, the next closest star to Earth after the sun. It turned out that the disturbance was caused by a planet within the habitable zone of the Proxima. This means that there is a possibility that life exists in that planet and that it is habitable.

Pluto's mysterious red spot solved

When the New Horizons spacecraft passed by Pluto in 2015, scientists discovered a very obvious red spot on the planet's surface. The scientists thought that it could be the result of Pluto's moon capturing the planet's gravitational pull. It turned out they were wrong because the red spot came from Pluto's atmosphere itself. What's more surprising is that the red spot was actually Pluto's winter season, which lasts 100 years with -459.67 degrees Fahrenheit.

It's getting hotter in the Arctic region

Scientists have discovered that the Arctic region lost a huge chunk of ice as big as Mexico. Thanks to the unprecedented heat in the region which was 20 degrees Celsius above normal. Scientists predict that if the temperature persists, the Arctic region would be ice-free before this century ends.

The deep-sea noise

Two mysterious sounds were detected from the seafloor in two different areas. The first was a 'ping' sound in the Nunavut region of Canada while the other was an otherworldly sound at the Mariana Trench. Until now, no one knows where the 'ping' sound was coming but the sound from the Mariana Trench was identified as the mating sound of minke whales, a rare type of baleen whale. However, the scientists still have no idea why they are making the sound all-year round.

Glowworm traps are made of pee

Scientists from the University of Vienna collected more than 4,000 glowworm sticky traps from the caves of North Island, New Zealand. They studied these sticky traps and found that they are partly made of crystals and urea.

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