1. Loss of the shuttle Columbia

Fifteen minutes before scheduled to land in Cape Canaveral, space shuttle Columbia broke apart over Texas in February 2003. One Israeli, the first in space, and six Americans on board were killed due to foam debris that reached the wing orbiter and created a puncture that allowed super-heated gases in as they re-entered the atmosphere at 200,000 feet. As most expected the routine landing to be a breeze, the catastrophe ignited the largest worldwide grief related to space travel since Challenger went down.

2. The rapid spread of SARS

Killing over 750 people and infecting more than 8,000 citizens from 25 countries, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) damaged more lives than health authorities originally speculated. Although this pneumonia-like disease killed hundreds in the southern province of Guandong by February 2003, officials did not predict its quick spread around Asia, North America and Europe. The World Health Organization declared the end of this outbreak in July, but is now aware of the possibility of comebacks.

3. Enormous Aug. 14 blackout

One of the largest blackouts in U.S. History occurred on Aug. 14. After much debate and speculation as to the cause, officials declared that the shutdown was due to three power-line failures in Ohio. At least 60 million Americans and Canadians from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New York, Michigan and Ontario gathered during this two-day blackout. Fortunately, mild temperatures and temperaments allowed for generosity and kindness in these areas during the power loss.

4. Rise of the Atkins Diet

Reports put the health risks involved with the preventable problem of obesity in the limelight. Although several dietary elite consider the Atkins diet dangerous and inadequate health advice, an overwhelming number of overweight Americans devoted themselves to it when 2003 research revealed its surprising results. While consuming more calories than regularly recommended health plans and avoiding the never-ending starving feeling, Atkin dieters tend to lose twice as much weight and often improve certain health problems including high cholesterol and blood pressure. Cutting out mainstream carbohydrates such as pastas, grains and starchy vegetables unexpectedly did not increase the chance of heart attacks because saturated fats only act harmfully when eaten with carbohydrates. Robert C. Atkins, who published the diet in the 1970s, only got to see a glimmer of his diet's effects since he passed away on April 7, 2003. However, its effects carry on as fast food chains such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, Subway and McDonald's implement foods acceptable to Atkins dieters.

5. First U.S. reports of mad cow

In December 2003, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as mad cow disease, was found in the United States for the first time. As news of a cow in Washington testing positive spread, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Mexico all halted U.S. meat imports. Restaurant chains and meatpackers suffered a loss in stock value as McDonald's plummeted 5.4 percent and Wendy's 3.8 percent. Although this fatal brain-wasting disease sparked Americans to stay away from beef, some economists believe that the overall economic effects are scarce.

6. Super flu season

Since flu season hit extra early in 2003, with cases reported in September instead of the regular October start, researchers worried that the number of deaths from this illness would increase over the normal 36,000 Americans killed annually. Pennsylvania was among the first states to call in outbreaks to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Several towns took actions such as closing down school districts, and the number of people receiving the flu vaccination increased greatly. Although manufacturers have produced 83.4 million doses this flu season, more than ever before, they are still running low.

7. Conjoined twin operations

After a 34-hour surgery, medical technology overcame yet another predicted impossibility by successfully separating Egyptian toddlers Mohamed and Ahmed Ibrahim. While surgeons have triumphed several times in disconnecting twins joined at the abdomen, nearly 34 percent of the 70,000-100,000 conjoining births, this operation involved the careful dividing of brain and blood vessels. Unfortunately, not all surgeries went as smoothly this year. Ladan and Laleh Bijani were buried in Iran on July 12, 2003 after Johns Hopkins surgeons failed to correctly separate the 29-year-olds. The surgeons thought the operation in Singapore had only a slight chance, but the women insisted on its completion.

8. Fight against file sharing

The ever-growing popularity of peer-to-peer file sharing over the Internet and a 31 percent drop in compact disc sales since 2000 prompted the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to file 261 lawsuits in November 2003 against individual file sharers. They added 41 lawsuits in December and announced the Clean Slate Program, an opportunity for file sharers to turn themselves in. However, nearly 2.6 billion people continue to illegally download over the Internet.

9. War on spam

As threats to injure spamming company employees, referred to as "spam rage," entered the news in 2003, the government and Bill Gates implemented programs to stop the spam. In November, Congress and the U.S. Senate passed an anti-spam legislation allowing for a future law. However, controversy lead the House to include in the anti-spam bill that the Federal Trade Commission does not have the resources to create an anti-spam registry. In the same month, Gates pledged an anti-spam program called Smart Screen.

10. Angioplasty effectiveness

Angioplasty, surgery that opens up blocked heart vessels, proves to work better than thrombolytic therapy. According to Tufts-New England Medical Center, patients who are identified early as high-risk can benefit from angioplasty without immense restructuring of cardiac services. Although several hospitals are against elective angioplasty operations, the new 2003 research has brought Maryland and other states' hospitals the permission to perform them freely.