Keeping up with the news is a mind blowing challenge—so much happens every day that you can barely keep pace. That’s why we’ve rounded up the ten most mind blowing events that defined April 2017, spanning space breakthroughs, health milestones, political upheavals and heartbreaking tragedies.
10 We Found The Building Blocks For Life On One Of Saturn’s Moons
Why This Discovery Is So Mind Blowing
Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus, roughly the size of England, spent years in the shadow of its larger sibling Titan. That changed in 2005 when NASA’s Cassini‑Huygens spacecraft captured spectacular jets of water spewing from the moon’s south pole. Subsequent missions uncovered a hidden ocean, organic compounds and tidal forces, but the crowning achievement arrived in April 2017.
During Cassini’s final plunge through Enceladus’s plumes, scientists detected hydrogen – a potential energy source and the missing ingredient for life as we know it. The discovery was bittersweet: Cassini was slated for a deliberate plunge into Saturn, and NASA has no immediate follow‑up mission, meaning we won’t return to probe Enceladus for another two decades.
9 World Trials For A Malaria Vaccine
Malaria, the mosquito‑borne parasite that claims nearly half a million lives each year, finally got a shot at real‑world testing in April 2017. The World Health Organization launched field trials in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi, enrolling about 750,000 children who will receive either the experimental vaccine or a placebo.
While the actual inoculations won’t start until 2018, this pilot marks a pivotal step toward reducing the disease’s deadly toll. If successful, hundreds of thousands of youngsters could be spared a painful early death.
8 We Lost Our Last Living Link To The 19th Century
Italian pensioner Emma Morano, born on 29 November 1899, was the final person alive who entered this world before the turn of the century. Her lifespan witnessed 90 Italian governments, two world wars, the birth of aviation and the collapse of empires.
When she passed away on 16 April 2017 in Verbania, we lost the last living bridge to a time when Queen Victoria still reigned, penicillin was unknown, and the Austro‑Hungarian and Ottoman Empires were still intact. Her death represents a profound severing of our direct connection to the 19th century.
7 Colombia Was Hit By A Devastating Landslide
In the early hours of 1 April, torrential rains triggered a massive landslide in the Colombian town of Mocoa. The mud‑filled torrent swept through homes while residents slept, crushing buildings and drowning children in their own beds.
By sunrise, more than 300 people were confirmed dead, with another 300 still missing—many of them likely buried beneath the earth. The tragedy was compounded by illegal construction that had destabilised the hillside, meaning that stricter enforcement could have saved at least a hundred children.
6 Turkey’s President Became A De Facto Dictator
On 16 April 2017, a razor‑thin referendum (51.4 % to 48.6 %) granted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sweeping powers that effectively turned him into a de facto dictator. The new constitution allows him to rule by decree, meddle with the judiciary and extend his tenure for additional five‑year terms.
Previously, Erdogan had already served as either prime minister or president since 2003, and the 2016 coup attempt had led to a purge of tens of thousands of officials. The referendum sealed the fate of Turkish democracy, consolidating power in a single office.
5 The US Attacked Syria
On 7 April 2017, President Donald Trump ordered a strike on a Syrian airbase after witnessing harrowing footage of a chemical attack that killed 70 civilians in Idlib. The U.S. launched cruise missiles that disabled the airfield and killed seven Syrian soldiers.
The operation marked the first direct U.S. attack on Syrian soil and effectively ended any hope of a thaw between Washington and Moscow. While subsequent strikes have been limited, the incident signalled a new willingness to intervene when chemical weapons are used.
4 Chechnya Began Torturing Gay Men
Although homosexuality is legal throughout the Russian Federation, a shocking report in early April revealed that Chechen security forces were rounding up gay men, herding them into makeshift camps and subjecting them to extreme torture.
Victims endured beatings, starvation, electric shocks and, in three cases, murder. Some were lured by “honey‑trap” operations where officers posed as gay men online. At least 100 men have been detained, and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov boasted of eliminating all gay men within a month—a chilling indication of state‑sanctioned persecution.
3 We Majorly Rewrote the History of Humans In America
A controversial study published in Nature claimed that Homo sapiens first set foot in the Americas around 130,000 years ago—far earlier than the accepted 15,000‑20,000‑year timeline. If validated, this would push back human migration by roughly 100,000 years.
Researchers employed a disputed dating technique on ancient samples, sparking fierce debate. While the authors are reputable and the paper passed Nature’s rigorous review, many scientists remain skeptical. Confirmation would represent one of the biggest archaeological paradigm shifts in recent decades.
2 Terror In Russia And Sweden And Fake Terror In Germany
April began with a suicide vest detonating on the Saint Petersburg metro, killing 14 and injuring 50. Al‑Qaeda claimed responsibility nearly three weeks later. A week after that tragedy, a truck driven by an ISIS‑inspired Uzbek asylum‑seeker rammed a Stockholm department store, killing four; a bomb on the truck failed to explode.
Later in the month, a bomb exploded beside the Borussia Dortmund team bus in Germany. Initial suspicion fell on Islamist militants, but investigators uncovered a financial motive: a Russian‑born German had fabricated the attack to drive down the club’s share price, aiming for a $4 million profit. He now faces a lengthy prison term.
1 Doomsday Ticked Closer On The Korean Peninsula
Former President Barack Obama once warned that North Korea would become the gravest foreign‑policy threat for his successor. In April 2017, the DPRK accelerated its nuclear and cruise‑missile programs, prompting the Trump administration to issue stern warnings of war.
Pyongyang’s artillery is trained on Seoul, capable of firing up to 500,000 shells within an hour. Worst‑case estimates predict 100,000 civilian deaths in the early days of a conflict, with the potential for a simultaneous strike on Tokyo. While the world hopes cooler heads will prevail, the situation brought the world perilously close to a doomsday scenario.