The Rosetta space mission which has for the first time put a spacecraft in orbit around a comet and landed a robotic probe on its surface has been voted the most important scientific breakthrough of 2014 by the editors of the journal Science.

Rosetta was voted top out of a list of 10 scientific breakthroughs which included major advances in medicine, robotics, synthetic biology and palaeontology – with the discovery that cave art in Indonesia thought to be 10,000 years old is actually between 35,000 and 40,000 years old.

The European Space Agency mission began in earnest 10 years ago when the Rosetta spacecraft was launched but this year saw it catch up with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and complete a complex serious of manoeuvres to put it into orbit.

However, the highlight of the mission so far was the successful soft landing of its Philae probe onto the surface of the icy object – not once but three times as it gently bounced twice from its intended landing site.

The most important scientific breakthroughs of 2014 Show all 10 1 /10 The most important scientific breakthroughs of 2014 The most important scientific breakthroughs of 2014 Rosetta space mission The Rosetta space mission which has for the first time put a spacecraft in orbit around a comet and landed a robotic probe on its surface has been voted the most important scientific breakthrough of 2014 by the editors of the journal Science The most important scientific breakthroughs of 2014 Cooperative robots Robots are generally getting better at working with humans, but this year several teams demonstrated that these machines can also work together, without human supervision PA The most important scientific breakthroughs of 2014 The birth of birds This year, evolutionary biologists figured out the mode and tempo of the spectacular evolutionary transition from dinosaurs to birds The most important scientific breakthroughs of 2014 Youth serum This year, in work with profound implications for aging, researchers showed that blood or blood components from a young mouse can rejuvenate an old mouse's muscles and brain. If the results hold up in people—an idea already in testing—factors in young blood could offer the antidote to aging Getty Images The most important scientific breakthroughs of 2014 Neuromorphic chips This year, computer engineers at IBM and other companies rolled out a promising alternative: the first large-scale “neuromorphic” chips, designed to process information in ways more akin to living brains Heidelberg University The most important scientific breakthroughs of 2014 Cells that might cure diabetes This year, researchers came closer than ever to that goal of finding a cure foe diabetes, when two groups published methods for growing cells that resemble human β cells. One approach works with both ES cells and so-called induced pluripotent stem cells—reprogrammed cells that can be made from a patient's skin cells The most important scientific breakthroughs of 2014 Cave art in Indonesia older than initially thought This year scientists discovered that the prehistoric graffiti in the Maros caves on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia (hand stencils outlined in mouth-blown red paint, mixed with pictures of rare "pig-deer" in red and mulberry hues), thought to be about 10,000 years old, are actually four times older Creative Commons The most important scientific breakthroughs of 2014 Manipulating memory Last year, in work evocative of films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Inception, researchers discovered ways to manipulate specific memories in mice using optogenetics, a powerful technique that can trigger nerve cells in animals' brains by zapping them with beams of laser light. This year, researchers went even further - switching the emotional content of a memory in mice from bad to good and vice versa Getty The most important scientific breakthroughs of 2014 Expanded genetic alphabet Researchers this year engineered the bacteria to incorporate two additional letters into their genetic alphabet. In addition to the natural nucleotides, in which G pairs with C and A pairs with T, the bacterial DNA includes a novel pair: X and Y The most important scientific breakthroughs of 2014 The rise of the CubeSat A decade ago, CubeSats were just educational tools, a way for university students to place a simple Sputnik in space. Now these 10-centimeter boxes, built with off-the-shelf technology and costing hundreds of thousands of dollars rather than hundreds of millions, have taken off. More than 75 were launched this year, a record. What's more, the little boxes are starting to do real science Creative Commons

“Philae's landing was an amazing feat and got the world's attention. But the whole Rosetta mission is the breakthrough. It’s giving scientists a ringside seat as a comet warms up, breathes, and evolves,” said Tim Appenzeller, news editor of Science.

An instrument on Rosetta has already detected water, methane and hydrogen as well as rarer molecules such as formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide, findings that could indicate whether comets delivered the vital ingredients of life to the early Earth.