Back in August, when we first began planning this issue’s compilation of the top science stories of 2013 (SN: 12/28/13, p. 18), there was no shoo-in for the No. 1 spot.
One contender was the creation of functional artificial kidneys and livers in the lab, as well as a kind of simple minibrain, all grown from scratch (SN: 12/28/13, p. 20). These were also among the most-read stories for the year on the sciencenews.org website (SN: 12/28/13, p. 38).