Watch our most-viewed videos of 2017

Research on the biophysics of frog tongue adhesiveness provided fodder for one of our most popular video stories of 2017. (Watch the video below.)

A. Noel, M. Mandica, D.L. Hu/Georgia Tech

By Helen Thompson

December 29, 2017 at 8:00 am

No story on the Science News website is complete without visuals. And when it comes to videos, those visuals have lives of their own on other platforms. In addition to incorporating videos into some of our articles, we also post videos to the Science News YouTube channel and the Science News magazine Facebook page, where thousands of people watch them each year.

We tackled all manner of subjects in video form in 2017— from popular events like the eclipse to significant discoveries like the detection of gravitational waves from colliding neutron stars to basic scientific questions like how tuna steer. Our most-viewed videos reflect this variety.

Here are the top five video stories from our YouTube channel in 2017:

1. How do mosquitoes dine and dash? (SN: 11/11/17, p. 13)

2. Light and gravitational waves reveal a neutron star crash (SN: 11/11/17, p. 6)

3. A star explodes: the story of supernova 1987A (SN: 2/18/17, p. 20)

4. How are frog tongues so sticky? (SN: 3/4/17, p. 11)

5. Wild male cuttlefish duke it out over a female (SN Online: 5/12/17)

Facebook viewers also liked our video about gravitational waves. But after that, the most popular video stories of 2017 were a different lineup:

1. Light and gravitational waves reveal a neutron star crash (SN Online: 10/16/17)

Light and gravitational waves revealed a neutron star crash | …
Gravitational waves from colliding neutron stars have been detected. Here’s why that’s such a huge deal. (Full story: http://ow.ly/JjMn30fUmMJ)
Posted by Science News Magazine on Monday, October 16, 2017

2. Cassini’s timeline to destruction (SN Online: 9/11/17)

The timeline to Cassini’s destruction
On September 15, the Cassini spacecraft will plunge into Saturn and burn up in the atmosphere. Here’s what its final moments will look like, as narrated by lead propulsion engineer Todd Barber.
Posted by Science News Magazine on Tuesday, September 12, 2017

3. How to pack wings like a ladybug (SN Online: 6/13/17)

Watch ladybugs fold their wings like origami masters
Ladybugs are probably better at packing than you are. Here’s how they fold up their wings into tiny spaces. (Full story: http://ow.ly/eZpw30cyS0T)
Posted by Science News Magazine on Saturday, December 2, 2017

4. Seven times Curiosity proved how awesome Mars used to be (SN Online: 8/4/17)

7 times Curiosity proved how awesome Mars used to be | Science…
On August 5, 2012, Curiosity landed on Mars. Since then, it’s taught us a lot about the Red Planet. Here are some highlights. (Read the full story here: http://ow.ly/T1sS30ebhKx)
Posted by Science News Magazine on Monday, September 25, 2017

5. Gecko grippers work in low gravity (SN Online: 6/28/17)

These gecko-inspired grippers could grab hold of space junk in…
Space junk can be dangerous. But most adhesives don’t work in space. So NASA looked to gecko toes for the answer. (Read more: http://ow.ly/9Mn430dbPAb)
Posted by Science News Magazine on Tuesday, August 29, 2017