Over the course of this month, DISCOVER will be unveiling its list of the top 100 science stories of the year, from #100 (the animal with the strongest bite on Earth) to… Well, you’ll just have to check back to see.

Or click here to sign up for a daily newsletter that will present a few more of the top 100 each day.

The Year in Environment News

Vegetation retreating uphill, bringing dead zones back to life, the global agriculture reboot, and the #1 story of the year…
12.30.2008

The Year in Health & Medicine

The fitness pill, tainted drugs, why you should lick your wounds, and more.
12.29.2008

The Year in Human Origins

Ancient computers, evolving the perfect canoe, the “hobbit” smackdown, and more.
12.28.2008

The Year in Genetics

Musical genes, the platypus as animal grab-bag, cracking the anthrax case, and more.
12.27.2008

The Year in Physics

Hunting the “God particle,” seeking invisibility, instant communication, and more.
12.25.2008

The Year in Earth Science

Life from space, killer hail, bacterial weather, and more
12.24.2008

#2: The LHC Begins Its Search for the “God Particle”

After many years and billions of dollars, the LHC had its fateful first test run.
12.22.2008

#3: The FDA Tackles Tainted Drugs From China

The realities of globalization hit the U.S. drug industry.
12.22.2008

#4: Slime Is Turning the Seas Into Dead Zones

Pollution, overfishing, and the rise of microbes spell doom for many bodies of water.
12.22.2008

#5: Nations Stake Their Claims to a Melting Arctic

Undiscovered oil and gas reserves below the ice set off a polar gold rush.
12.22.2008

#6: Phoenix Lander Strikes Ice on Mars

Finally, positive confirmation of what we long thought and hoped for
12.21.2008

#7: Invisibility Becomes More than Just a Fantasy

Researchers are cloaking materials from light, sound, and even matter itself.
12.21.2008

#8: Cavemen: They’re Just Like Us

Neanderthals were a sophisticated bunch, according to new research.
12.21.2008

#9: Your Genome, Now Available for a (Relative) Discount

The first cost around $1 million; now, it’s more like $200,000.
12.21.2008

#10: Coming to the Americas

Several studies sharpen the picture of life and migration through the Arctic and into the New World.
12.21.2008

#11: Effective Kidney Transplants Without a Lifetime of Powerful Drugs

A new technique help transplant patients live, even with mismatched organs.
12.20.2008

#12: Plastics Come Under Fire

The BPA debate rages on as the public demands action.
12.20.2008

#13: China Takes Its First Space Walk

A nation delights in its pioneering venture.
12.20.2008

#14: All Flus Lead to Asia

The Far East is the incubator of every strain—and the key to treating the disease.
12.20.2008

#15: The Lost Cities of the Amazon

What is now sparsely populated jungle held large urban settlements hundreds of years ago.
12.20.2008

#16: Researchers Produce Human Blood from Stem Cells

It’s not quite the same, but lab-generated blood gets the job done.
12.19.2008

#17: Cell Reprogramming Could Help Cure Diabetes—and Other Diseases

Stem-cell guru says reprogramming adult cells might actually work better.
12.19.2008

#18: Two Alzheimer’s Drugs Show Promise

The new drugs use a totally different mechanism than most would-be treatments.
12.19.2008

#19: Salmonella Outbreak Shines Light on Food Safety

Two deaths and countless dollars later, the chinks in the food system are exposed.
12.19.2008

#20: The “Doomsday Vault” Stores Seeds for a Global Agriculture Reboot

Humanity’s chances to survive global warming and nuclear attacks just increased.
12.19.2008

#21: Plants Inspire a Better Way to Store Solar Energy

Using the principles of photosynthesis, scientists create more efficient storage for solar power.
12.18.2008

#22: Mercury Reveals Its Secrets

The planet comes into focus during NASA’s first visit in 33 years.
12.18.2008

#23: Black Holes Birth Baby Stars

Computer simulations reveal the source of mystery constellations.
12.18.2008

#24: Gene Therapy Returns (Some) Sight to (Some) Blind People

Genetic tinkering helps repair one rare form of congenital blindness.


12.17.2008

#25: EPA Searches Soul, Tries to Figure out If It’s a Climate Cop

The agency moves toward acting on greenhouse gases, but change will probably wait for Obama.
12.17.2008

#26: Sun Catcher Promises Cheaper Solar Power

Using laser technology, scientists build a low-cost solar concentrator.
12.17.2008

#27: Astronomers Spy the Youngest Planet Ever Found

The latest, newest protoplanet is a “dusty, rocky, gaseous lump.”
12.17.2008

#28: Lithium May Be the Answer for Lou Gehrig’s Disease

A new study brings some hope that the disease can be treated.
12.17.2008

#29: A New Law Bans Genetic Discrimination

After over a decade, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act becomes law.
12.17.2008

#30: Magpies Recognize Themselves in the Mirror

The birds pass the test for “rudimentary sense of self.”
12.17.2008

#31: Fish Farming Threatens Wild Salmon

Lice, interbreeding, and contaminants are killing off the species.
12.16.2008

#32: DNA Sleuthing Cracks the Anthrax Case

Microbial forensics seems to have solved an infamous whodunnit.
12.16.2008

#33: The First Known Case of Virus-Attacks-Virus

Sputnik virus seems to have influenced evolution of the Mamavirus.
12.16.2008

#34: Anti-Malaria Gene Boosts HIV Vulnerability

An adaptation against tropical disease makes people of African descent more prone to AIDS.
12.16.2008

#35: Scientists Find the Key to Bringing Dead Zones Back to Life

Phosphorus levels can make or break a lake, it turns out.
12.16.2008

#36: Creationism Lurks in Public High Schools

One in six teachers say they believe the earth is 6,000 years old.
12.15.2008

#37: Shorebird Population Is in Rapid Decline

Australian and Asian birds are a clear example of population collapse.
12.15.2008

#38: Cholesterol Drugs Are Prescribed for High-Risk Kids

8-year-olds can now take statins to reduce the chances of heart disease.
12.15.2008

#39: Amazonian Tribe Doesn’t Have Words for Numbers

The Pirahã people overturned scientists’ belief about human cognition.
12.15.2008

#40: The First Known Binary Black Hole System

One of the most massive things in the universe turns out to have a little buddy.
12.15.2008

#41: A Synthetic Genome Is Built From Scratch

The art of recreating an entire bacterial genome.
12.14.2008

#42: Geneticists Uncover the Origin of Blue Eyes

A single genetic mutation gives life to baby blues.
12.14.2008

#43: Next-Level Quantum Spookiness

Photons instantaneously send signals over 11 miles. Einstein remains perplexed.
12.14.2008

#44: The Baffling Bee Die-Off Continues

Colony Collapse Disorder continues its relentless march.
12.14.2008

#45: Huge Population of Lowland Gorillas Found

For once, researchers come up with good news for an endangered species.
12.14.2008

#46: FDA Approves Food From Cloned Animals

Meat and milk products from cloned livestock may soon hit the shelves.
12.13.2008

#47: Biologists Watch HIV Replicate in Real Time

Using fluorescent proteins, researchers observer the virus forming.
12.13.2008

#48: Cyber Attacks May Be Connected With Real War

As tensions with Russia mounted, Georgia got slammed by hackers.
12.13.2008

#49: Plant Migration Tied to Climate Change

When the going gets hot, vegetation runs for the hills.
12.13.2008

#50: Confirmed: 1969 Meteorite Brought Genetic Building Blocks From Space

More evidence that asteroids may have led to the emergence of life on earth.
12.13.2008

#51: Physicists Build the World’s Smallest Transistor

The tiny device measures an astonishing 10 atoms by 1 atom.
12.12.2008

#52: Musical Ability Seems to Be 50 Percent Genetic

Beethovens of the world may have innate advantages like better signaling from inner-ear hair cells.
12.12.2008

#53: Bizarre Aquatic Creatures Are Secretly “Lesbian Necrophiliacs”

Asexual bdelloids aren’t really asexual after all.
12.12.2008

#54: An “Elite” Immune System Can Prevent AIDS

A select few infected with HIV never become ill.
12.12.2008

#55: Polar Bears (Finally) Make the Endangered Species List

At long last, the government acknowledges the species is threatened.
12.12.2008

#56: Memory Training Can Make You Smarter

Your intelligence isn’t just what you’re born with.
12.11.2008

#57: Schizophrenia Linked to Large Genetic Alterations

Some sufferers of the disease have entirely unique DNA duplications or deletions.
12.11.2008

#58: Smart People Are Better Able to Keep a Beat

Good neural functioning is good neural functioning.
12.11.2008

#59: Low-Fat Is Officially Inferior to Low-Carb

A comprehensive study gives a big piece of ammunition to the Atkins crowd.
12.11.2008

#60: Mars Became Lopsided After Massive Asteroid Collision

After 30 years, the debate over the red planet’s shape may be over.
12.11.2008

#61: A New Drug Delivers “Fitness” Without the Workout

Take a pill and simulate the effects of exercise.
12.10.2008

#62: Researchers Discover Why Wound-Licking Works

Compounds in saliva actually do speed healing.
12.10.2008

#63: Lizardlike Tuatara Sets a Speed Record for DNA Change

The reptile undergoes rapid molecular evolution but is largely unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs.
12.10.2008

#64: Spain Gives Great Apes Legal Rights

The animals have the right to life and protection from harmful research practices.
12.10.2008

#65: Long-Prophesied Circuit Element Could Revolutionize Computing

Instant booting and decreased power consumption may soon be realities with the new “memristor.”
12.10.2008

#66: Natural Selection Helped Indonesians Find the Perfect Canoe

Darwinian-style evolution pushes cultural change, a new paper argues.
12.10.2008

#67: Drilling, Not Earthquake, Caused Giant Hot Mud Volcano

Some claim an earthquake caused this mud river, but new research says otherwise.
12.10.2008

#68: Solved: The Mystery of Gravity-Defying Sap

One synthetic tree accomplishes what loads of scientists never could.
12.10.2008

#69: Physicists Create a Perfect Place to Store Electricity

New “superinsulator” can hold a charge forever without leakage
12.10.2008

#70: A Single Electron Is Caught on Film

Scientists make one of the world’s most remarkable movies.
12.10.2008

#71: Slime Molds Show Surprising Degree of Intelligence

A creature with no brain can learn from and even anticipate events.
12.09.2008

#72: Prozac Cures Lazy Eye

The antidepressent might be the answer to wiping out amblyopia for good.
12.09.2008

#73: Giant Ice Meteors Fall From Clear Skies

20-pound chunks of ice falling on a sunny day? It’s no urban myth.
12.09.2008

#74: Viruses Are Put to Work Building Superbatteries

Engineers turn viruses into little engineers.
12.09.2008

#75: Chilies’ Fire Is Self-Defense Against a Surprising Foe

Capsaicin keeps fungus from chomping on pepper plants but does nothing to dissuade hungry bugs.
12.09.2008

#76: Europe’s Oldest Hominid Makes Its Debut

Archaeologists in Spain uncover the remains of a 1.2-million-year-old human.
12.09.2008

#77: X-Rays Reveal Ship-Wreckage to Be 2,000-Year-Old Astronomy Computer

The Antikythera Mechanism tracked heavenly movements like clockwork.
12.09.2008

#78: The Galaxy that Spins a Giant Magnetic Web

This “fiery spiderweb” uses magnetic fields to survive tough storms.
12.09.2008

#79: The Ancient Rat as Big as a Bull

This giant rodent weighed as much as a compact car.
12.09.2008

#80: Invented: Self-Healing Rubber Made From Vegetable Oil and Pee Ingredient

Hydrogen bonds let ripped material re-form.
12.09.2008

#81: Smart-Matter Robots Reassemble Themselves

Like the Terminator T-1000, these robots can fix themselves after being scattered.
12.08.2008

#82: The New Immune System Weapon: A DNA Catapult in Your Gut

Triggered by harmful bacteria, cells fling killer webs of DNA to ensnare the intruder.
12.08.2008

#83: Bulletproof Paper Is Stronger Than Kevlar

New nanopaper is not only super-strong, but made from renewable materials.
12.08.2008

#84: 9,000-Year-Old Milk Cartons Found

A new study examines the world’s oldest cattle ranchers.
12.08.2008

#85: Smackdown Over Ancient “Hobbit” Continues

A mysterious skeleton puzzles scientists who wonder if it was human.
12.08.2008

#86: You, Too, Have a Photographic Memory

When put to the test, your brain remembers images with astonishing accuracy.
12.07.2008

#87: Speedy Sperm Explains Flower Power

The quickest out of the gate, angiosperms dominate the plant world.
12.07.2008

#88: Bacteria Can Control the Weather

The tiny organisms may play a big role in causing precipitation.
12.07.2008

#89: Archaeologists Find the World’s Oldest Arrowheads

While others were still hurling spears, these ancient people were felling prey with arrows.
12.07.2008

#90: The Platypus Genome Is a Mash-Up of Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals

One animal, three completely different ancestors.
12.07.2008

#91: Humans Have 5 Universal Facial Muscles—and 10 Optional Ones

For the first time, psychologists mapped muscle variation in the face.
12.05.2008

#92: A 380-Million-Year-Old Fish Gives Birth

Paleontologists unearth a prehistoric pregnant skeleton.
12.05.2008

#93: Physicists Discover the Source of Earth’s “Mystery Hiss”

A strange electromagnetic wave follows the path of sound waves through water.
12.05.2008

#94: Seaweed Creates Its Own Sunscreen

The soggy brown kelp protects itself with iodides.
12.05.2008

#95: Organic Matter Found in Saturn’s Mystery Moon

Icy Jets from the planet’s sixth-largest moon contain primitive components of life.
12.05.2008

#96: Ancient Traders Sailed the South American Seas

Using no more than sail-bearing rafts, these travelers carried goods almost 4,000 miles.
12.04.2008

#97: All-Powerful Astronomers Turn “Dwarf Planets” Into “Plutoids”

Faced with an outcry over ungainly titles, the IAU comes up with a better alternative.
12.04.2008

#98: You’re More Like a Sponge Than a Comb Jelly

A gelatinous zooplankton can now trace its roots back to the world’s first life.
12.04.2008

#99: Jupiter Grows (and Loses) a New Spot

The massive planet passed behind the sun and arrived with a brand new decoration.
12.04.2008

#100: This Animal Has the Strongest Bite on Earth

A bite from the biggest great white sharks leaves nearly every other species—both alive and extinct—in the dust.
12.04.2008