Science News reviews the year in science with a compilation and analysis of the most fascinating stories reported in the magazine. Also highlighted are reader favorites, debunked science and the year's weirdest stories. (p. 16)

Long-sought boson completes standard model of physics. (p. 16)

NASA’s rover looks for life-friendly environments. (p. 18)

But research freeze holds. (p. 19)

Prosthetics and new therapies restore abilities to move, see, walk. (p. 20)

Some recent weird weather tied to warming. (p. 20)

Nerve cells notice mistakes and learn from others’ desires. (p. 21)

Social media comes into its own as a tool and a subject for study. (p. 22)

If true, finding could lead to new fertility treatments. (p. 23)

Planet discovered in Alpha Centauri, just a few light-years away. (p. 23)

Similarity found with destructive protein behind mad cow. (p. 24)

XNA molecules join DNA and RNA in the genetic catalog. (p. 24)

A little closer to teleportation and new computers. (p. 24)

Two genetic studies extend the Arctic icon’s lineage way back. (p. 25)

DNA paints a contested picture of Stone Age interbreeding. (p. 26)

Eventual collision with Andromeda to shake up the solar system. (p. 26)

Fossils suggest early bipedal hominids still climbed. (p. 27)

Brain stays busy during lights-out. (p. 28)

Findings are filling out the story behind the fat. (p. 28)

Surprise result questions heart protection from HDL. (p. 28)

Paintings and animation date way back. (p. 29)

More creatures, less Latin used to describe them. (p. 30)

Transit events happen in pairs separated by more than a century. (p. 30)

25-year experiment sees real-time natural selection. (p. 31)

Overuse of freshwater supplies poses risks. (p. 32)

World doesn’t end, ancient astronomy gets a boost. (p. 32)

A gravity survey by twin orbiters reveals how much the lunar surface was pummeled by meteorite impacts early in its history. (p. 5)

Plumbing systems operate on a razor’s edge, making even moist forests highly vulnerable to drought. (p. 8)

Warming might force animals’ food source, bamboo, to higher elevations. (p. 8)

BOSS project looks at acceleration rate before dark energy hit the gas. (p. 9)

The large exoplanet lies just 42 light-years away. (p. 9)

Comprehensive analysis quantifies ice sheet loss in Greenland and Antarctica. (p. 10)

Simple models have overestimated drying over past 60 years. (p. 10)

Meltwaters off the northwestern part of Canada’s ice sheet would have shut down the ocean’s heat circulation 13,000 years ago. (p. 11)

Layered nanomaterial shows how bulletproof polymers wrap around penetrating particles. (p. 12)

A new chemical setup creates clean-burning gas by mimicking plant photosynthesis. (p. 12)

Among hundreds of thousands of DNA variants identified in a study, a large majority arose in the past 5,000 years. (p. 13)

Short telomeres are tied to higher mortality in Indian Ocean warblers. (p. 13)

New models offer contrasting views of monkeys’ ability to identify frequently seen letter pairs. (p. 14)

Summaries from the conference held November 15-18 in Minneapolis. (p. 14)

Review by Sid Perkins (p. 34)

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