In the past year, his team has produced...DNA

[GoodTaste]

NEWS FEATURE 09 December 2020How the first life on Earth survived its biggest threat — water
.......The researchers suggest that these reactions might have taken place if water containing cyanide salts was dried out by the Sun, leaving a layer of dry, cyanide-related chemicals that was then heated by, say, geothermal activity. In the past year, his team has produced the building blocks of DNA — something previously thought implausible — using energy from sunlight and some of the same chemicals at high concentrations.
Source: Nature

What year is the year in the phrase "In the past year, his team has produced...DNA"? The news feature was written in 2020, so I guess the year was 2019 (that is "in the past year" = "in the last year"). Am I on the right track?

 

[tedmc]

I think the past year refers to the year prior to the date the article was written, not necessarily the preceding year in the calendar. If the article was written at the end of the year, it refers to the period through the same year.

 

[GoodTaste]

I think the past year refers to the year prior to the date the article was written, not necessarily the preceding year in the calendar. If the article was written at the end of the year, it refers to the period through the same year.

The team produced the building blocks of DNA in 2020?

 

[GoesStation]

The team produced the building blocks of DNA in 2020?

The story is dated December 9th, 2020. Strictly speaking, his team has produced the building blocks of DNA over the year from December 2019 until December 2020. The expression is really referring to a more approximate period of time, though.