Here are our favorite cool, funny and bizarre science stories of 2021

From potty training cows, to xenobots, to a star that ate another star, then exploded

gif of a swarm of xenobots moving particles around

A swarm of xenobots (bright spots) swims around and pushes small particles.

Douglas Blackiston

A range of cool discoveries, technological milestones and downright bizarre scientific feats — cows can be potty trained? — gave us a chance to gab about something other than the pandemic.