As the ball dropped on Jan. 31, 2020, people across the nation and globe celebrated the end of a monumental year. From the COVID-19 outbreak to Presidential and Senate elections, 2020 was one for the books. However, with so many events and experiences that occurred during 2020, there may have been things that were overlooked and forgotten. From the U.S. Navy confirming UFOs to wildfires and Locust swarms, here are five things that you may have missed in 2020. 

1. Pop Culture Icons Kobe Bryant, Chadwick Boseman and Alex Trebek Passed Away

During the year 2020, three celebrity icons passed away. Former professional basketball player Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant passed away on Jan. 21 in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California on their way to Gianna’s AAU basketball game; Chadwick Boseman passed away on Aug. 28 from Stage Four Colon Cancer; Alex Trebek passed away on Nov. 8 from Stage Four Pancreatic Cancer. While their deaths shocked and saddened the nation, they all left their own mark and legacy in the world. Bryant was a positive role model in and out of the court as he showed the importance of hard work and determination to reach and maintain goals; Boseman remains an icon for both the black community and the Marvel Universe as he showed strength and humility throughout the entirety of his illness; Trebek was the well-loved “Jeopardy” host that provided wit, humor and personality into the show.

2. E.T Go Home: The Department of Defense Confirms UFOs

Previously, in September of 2019, the U.S Navy acknowledged the objects in the video as “unidentified aerial phenomena” according to CNN. Since then, the Navy has released guidelines for pilots that may have sighted UFOs. In April of 2020, the Pentagon officially released the videos, confirming that they were real. 

3. Mother Nature’s Disasters: Wildfires, Locust Swarms and Murder Hornets

Starting in late 2019, Australia was face-to-face with their “fire season,” which started in September of 2019 and ended in February of 2020. These raging bushfires, with record-breaking temperatures, high winds and drought, would consume 47 million acres of terrain during the season. In addition to that, in the fall of 2020, California would have record-breaking wildfires, exceeding 4 million acres according to an Oct. 4 article from NBC. 

In addition to the fires, 2020 also brought along Locust swarms and Murder Hornets. Locust, a relative of the common Grasshopper, swarms arrived, with a record-breaking number of Locusts, around the Horn of Africa, East Africa and some countries in the Middle East in early January of 2020. With the giant number of Locusts swarming in these countries, they threaten the crops and food supply. According to NPR, the Locusts “can consume as much food as… 35,000 people could.” With the increase of Locusts during 2020, that could’ve caused devastation and food shortages in those countries. In the United States, Murder Hornets were first spotted in Washington state in December of 2019 but became active, once again, in April of 2020. Native from Asia, these hornets have a venomous sting and could be potentially deadly.

4. “Woke Up, Feeling Like I Might Just Run for President:” Kanye West’s and Michael Bloomberg’s Presidential Campaign

In November of 2019, Michael Bloomberg announced that he would be the democratic candidate running against President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. According to CNBC, Bloomberg’s platform consisted of increased gun safety and more affordable healthcare. Bloomberg ended his presidential campaign on March 4, 2020, after an unsuccessful Super Tuesday on March 3.  Bloomberg would fully endorse Joe Biden as the democratic presidential candidate for the 2020 election. 

On July 4, 2020, Kanye West announced that he would be running for president through his social media accounts. According to CNN, West declared he was running as an independent party member under the “Birthday Party” since “it’s everybody’s birthday” when he wins the election. West’s platform consisted of restoring prayer in school classrooms and reforming the police system according to the New York Post. However as the election rolled closer, West would only show up on the ballot in nine states. With that, it made it impossible for West to receive 270 electoral college votes, which is needed to win the 2020 presidential election. 

5. NASA Launches the Mars 2020 mission and Discovers Water on the Moon

In July of 2020, NASA launched the Mars 2020 mission, which searched for signs of microbial life on Mars. Through the Perseverance Rover, NASA will study and explore the idea of past habitability on Mars, through soil and rock samples. In addition to that, NASA has discovered water on the sunlit surface of the moon using the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). In October of 2020, SOFIA detected water molecules in “the Clavius Crater, one of the largest craters visible to the Earth” (NASA). With this scientists have theorized the idea that water may be across the entire lunar surface, and NASA has launched a new program called the “Artemis program,” which will send one man and woman to the moon’s surface to search and discover water on the lunar surface in 2024. NASA hopes to establish a “sustainable human presence [on the moon] by the end of the decade” (NASA).