Year in Review
- Health & Medicine
Why it matters that health agencies finally said the coronavirus is airborne
Recognizing that the coronavirus spreads through the air reinforced the importance of wearing masks and altered public health recommendations.
- Health & Medicine
Why the coronavirus’s delta variant dominated 2021
Mapping delta’s unique group of mutations and how they enhance the virus’s life cycle show why the variant spread so easily and caused so much havoc.
- Health & Medicine
In 2021, COVID-19 vaccines were put to the test. Here’s what we learned
Vaccines can’t single-handedly end the pandemic, but they are still essential in the fight against the coronavirus.
- Animals
Cicada science heats up when Brood X emerges. 2021 was no exception
Mating mobs of big, hapless, 17-year-old cicadas made for a memorable spring in the Eastern United States
- Anthropology
2021 research reinforced that mating across groups drove human evolution
Fossils and DNA point to mixing and mingling among Homo groups across vast areas.
- Science & Society
2020’s science superlatives include the oldest, highest and grossest discoveries
From the earliest modern bird to the highest-temperature superconductor, science set plenty of records in 2020.
- Health & Medicine
Against all odds, 2020 featured some good health news
Good health news in 2020 included a first treatment for peanut allergies, a rare self-cure for HIV, and an Ebola outbreak ends.
- Space
Here are the highlights from a busy year in space launches
Satellites, Mars rovers and astronauts launched into space in 2020.
- Science & Society
The science stories that defined 2020: coronavirus, diversity movements and more
While this year was all about the coronavirus pandemic, climate change effects continued, diversity movements were born and research carried on.
- Science & Society
These science claims from 2020 could be big news if confirmed
Scientific findings reported this year that still need more proof include potential signs of life on Venus and Earth’s oldest parasites.
- Animals
Rumors of a ‘murder hornet’ apocalypse may have been exaggerated
Murder hornets sightings in the Pacific northwest inspired a mix of concern and delight.
- Climate
Wildfires, heat waves and hurricanes broke all kinds of records in 2020
Climate change did not take a break during the pandemic.
