In March, NASA's Dawn probe will arrive at protoplanet Ceres, the most massive body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Ceres is thought to have water ice beneath its crust.

And after travelling five billion km, NASA's New Horizons craft will finally reach Pluto, making its closest approach July 14.

The encounter promises the first intimate look at that rocky world and its moons, and new data on Pluto's atmosphere.

Drug companies are racing to bring a new class of cholesterol drug to market, and some may cross the finish line this year.

The therapies, which reduce levels of low-density lipo-protein (LDL) cholesterol by targeting the protein PCSK9, have shown promise in clinical trials.

Palaeogeneticists hope to sequence the complete genome from the 400,000-year-old Sima de Los Huesos human, found in a deep cave in northern Spain.

Germany also gets a new research vessel, which shares its name with its predecessor: Sonne. Elsewhere on the seas, the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a US push to monitor the seas in real time, will be completed in late May.

Japan is also likely to restart "scientific" whaling in Antarctic waters after a hiatus imposed by the International Court of Justice.

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