December 19, 2024: The most expensive dino fossil ever, eye-popping space photos, and why you shouldn't gift DNA test kits. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | Alvaro Keding & Daniel Kim/© AMNH | | | • Will the world's first nuclear fusion power plant be built in Virginia? Here's why we're skeptical. | 3 min read | | | Are you enjoying this newsletter? If you want to dive deeper into the articles I link to, consider a subscription to Scientific American. We have special discounts for Today in Science readers! | | | It was a great year to look into the sky. A total solar eclipse, supermoons, meteor showers, auroras from solar flares–what a year for cosmic wonder. We've rounded up the best space images of the year, all of which you can see here. But we'll start with my personal favorite, April's eclipse–not only did it make for great photos, but I loved hearing from all of you about your viewing experiences! Totality: North Americans were treated to an incredible spectacle this April when a total solar eclipse crossed parts of Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. Most of the rest of North America also enjoyed a partial solar eclipse. | A composite image shows the sun eclipsed to a maximum of 87 percent, as seen from Washington, D.C., on April 8, 2024.Allison Bailey/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images |
Auroras: The sun is in its solar maximum, the peak of the 11-year cycle during which it ejects jets of plasma and radiation that careen toward Earth. Those flares slam into our planet's magnetic field and create dramatic light shows in the night sky. Usually, auroras are limited to higher latitudes, but this year skies lit up as far south as Florida and India. | A stunning aurora seen outside of Las Vegas on May 11, 2024.David Becker/ZUMA Press Wire/Alamy Stock Photo |
Young stars: The Near-Infrared Camera on the James Webb Space Telescope captured a star-forming region known as NGC 604, which is part of the Triangulum galaxy about 2.73 million light-years away from Earth. Carbon-rich polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons appear in bright orange and cooler molecular hydrogen, which feeds star formation, appears in deeper red, while ionized hydrogen appears in white and blue. | A James Webb Space Telescope image of the star-forming region NGC 604.NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI | | | • We science journalists love reading about science, of course, but we also love romance, historical fiction, poetry and science fiction. We pulled together a whopping list of 78 of our favorite reads from 2024 and beyond, plus some great new books by contributors we've worked with this year. Dig in and fill up your 2025 to-be-read book list. | 34 min read | | | • Some people are able to navigate the complexities of direct-to-consumer genetic testing kits (and understand their significant limitations). "But making the decision to reveal our genes, through any method, requires that we reflect, deeply, on how we are likely to deal with uncertainty, the weight of foreknowledge and, potentially, bad news," writes Adina Wise, a neurologist and writer. For this reason, genetic testing kits shouldn't be given as holiday presents to friends and loved ones, she says. "This deeply personal choice should never be made on someone else's behalf." | 5 min read | | | Revisiting the editors' favorite science stories of 2024 | | | • The latest research is showing how addiction and trauma are entwined in the brain. Both experiences change the brain's reward systems, which motivate people to seek evolutionary essentials such as food, water, sex and safety. Childhood trauma is linked with unusual activity in regions overlapping with the brain's reward system--particularly the dopamine pathway--and several of these regions are involved in addiction. This one's a heavy read, but incorporating trauma-healing into addiction treatments is revolutionizing care. | 16 min read | | | This year, you, my dear readers, sent in hundreds of wonderful photos of Northern Lights (some from not-so-nothern places) and the eclipsed sun from South America to Maine. You've shared with me your favorite apple varieties, sci-fi books and music; trees that hold special meaning to you; and even your fondest memories of science from childhood. You've caught my typos and occasional error (hey, I AM human). It has been my joy and honor to share in your experiences and learn from your ideas and feedback. Thank you for being on this journey of discovery and awe with me! | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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