In 2019, Massive Science covered some ground. We wrote about climate change killing off biodiversity, galaxies eating one another, parakeet mate selection, and on and on. We polled the Massive staff for their favorite stories of the year, both in what we worked on and in the outside world. But first, our top five most popular articles of the year:

#5

After another devastating intergovernmental report on wildlife loss, Cassie Freund wrote this urgent call for action. It's the very real end of the world, why isn't anyone acting?

#4

Neuroscience is Massive's bread-and-butter, so Claudia Lopez-Lloreda's story on fish giving up and the brain cells responsible checked a lot of boxes. Next time you quit on something, you'll know who's at fault.

#3

"Unexpected science" is another angle our writers have gotten serious mileage out of, and Darcy Shapiro's article on gorilla teeth, snacks, and how that changes human history is a classic of the genre.

#2

Definitely another "unexpected science" entry, Molly Sargen's story combined math, bridge building, and breakfast food. Now we know our audience likes that and more breakfast food science will be coming in 2020.

#1

It's got it all: space and a vague sex angle. What more could you want? You might say that Mackenzie Thornbury's article went viral. We won't though.

Sometimes though, what we think is cool and what you all think is cool doesn't match up. We're not mad about though, we know disagreement is natural. Not mad at all. Here are our personal faves that we think you should give a second shot. No pressure though!

Or, as it was more affectionately known in the Slack channel: Babies...in...SPAAAAAAACE.

Another Cassie Freund work on the actual human effort to get around conservation efforts that other humans are employing to save the planet.

"Connecting brains" is a sub-genre of our normal neuroscience work and Jordan Harrod wrote one of the best ones we've ever seen.

Yeah, the science is cool, the writing is great, but you know what really spiced up Luyi Cheng's debut article? The gifs.

We love all Our Science Heroes equally, but there's something about du Chtelet. If a man had had her adventurous, influential life that included standing on Newton's shoulders and having Voltaire as a kept man, there'd be movies made about that man's life. This is our pitch for a du Chtelet biopic. Hollywood, please call us.

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I chased lemurs around Madagascar to help stave off their extinction - Massive Science