After last year brought a number of scientific breakthroughs, 2016 is already shaping up to be another great year for science.
It all starts on Jan. 17, when the Comet Catalina will reach its closest point to Earth -- roughly 68 million miles away -- and will even be visible to the naked eye.
Then, in March, astronauts Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko will return from the longest continuous stay on board the International Space Station. NASA scientists plan to test how space flight affects the human body and compare Kelly's body to that of his genetically identical twin brother.
Near the end of the year, the Sierra Nevada Corporation is scheduled to launch the privately funded Dream Chaser in November. The spacecraft will be launched on the back of a rocket into suborbital space before coming back to Earth and landing horizontally on a runway.
To learn more about what 2016 has in store for science, check out the clip above and watch the full HuffPost Live conversation about this week's science news here.
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