Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew, consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors maggiejean, wader, Man Oh Man, side pocket, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir, Bentliberal, Oke, jlms qkw, Interceptor7, and ScottyUrb, guest editors annetteboardman and Doctor RJ, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, health, energy, and the environment.
This week, Science Saturday takes a look back at the year in science.
This week's featured story comes from Science Magazine on YouTube.
Science's Breakthrough of the Year 2014!
Each year, Science chooses a singular scientific development as Breakthrough of the Year. This year, the Rosetta mission took the crown! Meet this yearâs Breakthrough and check out our nine amazing runners-up!
More stories after the jump.
Recent Science Diaries and Stories
Spotlight on green news & views: Transforming Medellin, ending the divine right of Big Energy
by Meteor Blades
2014 was a big year for scientific breakthroughs
by Joan McCarter
This week in science: potpourri 2014
by DarkSyde
32 environmental law professors say Revise the Draft Second SEIS by BOEM for Lease Sale 193
by e2247
'The Pale Blue Dot'
by jamess
29 Comments / 29 New on Sat Dec 27, 2014 at 12:24 AM EST with 35 Recommends
Slideshows/Videos
io9: The Most Amazing Science Images Of 2014
Robbie Gonzalez
12/16/14 12:25pm
How better to kick off io9's Year In Review than with fifty of our favorite photos and videos from 2014?
Let us introduce this collection by stating the obvious: This is not a comprehensive list. What you'll find here are photos that engaged our minds, and videos that set our pulses racing -- a carefully curated collection of the weird, the wonderful, and the truly awesome. Here you'll find imagery that moved us, inspired us, and shook us to our core, and a few that made us laugh in sheer amazement.
The Scientist: 2014's Most 'Liked' Images of the Day
The best of The Scientists popular daily image posts
By Bob Grant
December 24, 2014
This year was chock-full of more brilliant Image of the Day posts, which were popular as ever on our Facebook page. Here the #IODs that our Facebook friends showed the most love for among more than 1.5 million total likes.
Wired: The Best Science Visualizations of the Year
By Brandon Keim
12.23.14
Here at WIRED Science, we're big fans of science graphics. And not just the fancy, big-budget ones, but charts and figures and visualizations: the folk art of scientific imagery.
In this gallery are our favorite graphics of the year. They're in no particular order (though we did save a treat for last). Each tells a story with elegant simplicity, and sometimes even beauty. Enjoy!
Wired: NASA's Best Images of Earth From Space in 2014
By Betsy Mason
12.25.14
There are many great Earth-observing satellites circling the planet these days. Digital Globe's new WorldView 3 has incredible 30-centimeter resolution, and Planet Labâ's flock of minisatellites may someday soon be able to image every spot on Earth, every single day. But taken together, NASA has by far the best collection of satellites designed to monitor the planet.
Two recent additions to NASAâ's fleet are star performers: Landsat 8, the latest in a mission to continuously monitor the Earthâ's surface for more than four decades; and Suomi NPP, which has unprecedented capabilities including incredible nighttime sensing. Astronauts on the International Space Station are also capturing some great shots of Earth, and veteran satellites like Aqua and Terra continue to return top-quality data and awesome images.
Here are some of our favorite shots that NASA's satellites captured of Earth this year, including shots of a volcano erupting on a newly born island, tornado tracks across the Great Plains, the aurora borealis above Russia and dust from the Sahara spreading across the globe. Many thanks to the super team at NASA's Earth Observatory that finds, processes and researches hundreds of images each year, plucking beautiful scenes out of the incredible amounts of data collected by the satellite fleet, sometimes doing it all in just hours to capture a timely event.
Weather Underground: Top 10 Weather Videos of 2014
By Dr. Jeff Masters
December 26, 2014
The year 2014 had many spectacular extreme weather events caught on video; the most remarkable were of flash flooding in Serbia and a tornado in Russia. Two artistic videos that were favorites of mine included beautiful time-lapse pieces set to music taken of monsoon thunderstorms in Arizona and the sunset/aurora on top of Mt. Washington, New Hampshire. Here, then, are my choices for 2014's top 10 weather videos:
National Geographic News: Best Space Pictures of 2014: A Year's Delights Courtesy of Starry Nights
December 13, 2014
Each week our photo editors hand-pick breathtaking photos of space. Of the 350 space photos published in 2014, we bring you our picks for the 12 best of the year.
NASA: 2014 What Happened This Year @NASA
In 2014, NASA took significant steps on the agency's journey to Mars -- testing cutting-edge technologies and making scientific discoveries while studying our changing Earth and the infinite universe as the agency made progress on the next generation of air travel. Here's a look at some of the top NASA stories of the year!
NASA: NASA 2014
As 2014 comes to a close we look back on a few of the events that took place this year at NASA.
The Year in Science 2014
The Advertiser (Australia): Australian Science Media Centre presents the top 10 science stories of 2014
TO celebrate the season of lists, the Australian Science Media Centre has compiled the top ten science stories of 2014. Doctor Joe Milton from the SMC said the list is a great way to offer people bite-sized pieces of information covering all they may have forgotten or missed in science this year.
3 News (New Zealand):
Best science, technology news 2014
By Dan Satherley
Online Reporter
Hacking was the name of the game in 2014, with barely a week passing by without news of another cyber security fail.
Sony, Hollywood celebrities and blogger Cameron Slater all had their private communications made public, rightly or wrongly.
And some might have felt U2 had hacked their phones when Apple "gifted" hundreds and millions of people the band's new album, whether they asked for it or not.
Meanwhile scientists continued uncovering some of the universe's most tightly guarded secrets, doubling the number of known exoplanets and inching ever closer to understanding the mystery wrapped in a riddle that is dark matter.
Here are 10 the best science and tech stories 3 News covered in 2014.
USA Today via the Guam Pacific Daily News: Science took a step back in 2014
In 2012, scientists finally cornered the elusive Higgs particle, essential to explaining the most fundamental forces of nature. In 2013, we learned the Voyager spacecraft had reached the space between stars. As for 2014 - well, some years are best forgotten.
The year now winding down has seen its share of trailblazing scientific developments. But it has also had more than its fair share of disappointments and goofs, led by the retraction of two ballyhooed stem-cell papers from the top journal Nature and backtracking on a spectacular astrophysics finding announced at a press conference in March.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Scientific American: Scientific American's Top 10 Science Stories of 2014
A deadly infection, a comet success, a climate-change breakthroughâthese and other events highlight the year in science and technology as selected by SA's editors
By The Editors
December 12, 2014
The year saw many developments that will have far-reaching and long-lasting implications, both practically and intellectually. Start the countdown below and go to the end to see some of the other important stories that didnât quite make the cut.
io9: Biggest Scientific Breakthroughs Of 2014
Robbie Gonzalez, Levi Gadye, and Mika McKinnon
December 19, 2014
This year, humanity landed on its first comet, a child was born to a woman with a transplanted womb, and a fossilized sea shell forced us to reconsider our conceptions of human culture. Those are just a taste of the 20 achievements, innovations, and advances we've selected for our roundup of 2014's biggest scientific breakthroughs.
Wired: The Best and Worst in a Tumultuous Year for Science
By WIRED Science Staff
12.22.14
Itâs been a roller-coaster year for science. It started with what looked like a remarkable breakthrough in stem cell science, which was soon followed by a stunning announcement by cosmologists: the first detection of gravitational waves, direct evidence for a popular theory of how the universe began. But as the year draws to a close, the first of these discoveries has been thoroughly discredited, and the second appears to be on the ropes.
Thatâs not to say it was all bad. In October, scientists landed a spacecraft on a comet for the first time ever. And the year saw other interesting breakthroughs in everything from synthetic biology to anthropology. Here are our picks for the best and worst of science in 2014. If nothing else, they remind us that while science often moves in fits and starts, and sometimes stumbles, it keeps pushing forward.
The Scientist: 2014âs Big Advances in Science
From artificial chromosomes to mind-controlled gene expression, scientists pushed the boundaries of manipulating biology this year.
By Kerry Grens
December 25, 2014
Some of the big breakthroughs of 2013, including genome-editing techniquesâCRISPR in particularâand methods to reprogram stem cells, were built upon in 2014. But this year also saw spectacular achievements in synthetic biology, imaging approaches, and space exploration.
The Scientist: Top Scientists of 2014
By Tracy Vence
December 23, 2014
The Scientist commemorates prize-winning life scientists and remembers notable researchers who died this year.
Astronomy/Space
Wired: 13 of the Most Amazing Things Discovered in Space This Year
By Marcus Woo
12.24.14
Scientists discovered some pretty amazing things in space this year. There were yet more planets, including the first Earth-like one in a starâs habitable zone. Astronomers found what might be a black-hole triplet, stars in the midst of merging into one giant one, and a star made of diamond.
But some of the most exciting things were found right in our own solar system. These discoveries include the first rings ever seen around an asteroid, plumes of water vapor spewing out from the dwarf planet Ceres, a disintegrating asteroid, and what appears to be a new dwarf planet billions of miles away. Oh, and we landed on a comet for the first time. Here are some of the most fantastic astronomical finds of the year, reminding us that space is a truly awesome place.
Gizmag: 2014: A space odyssey
By David Szondy
December 23, 2014
It's been a busy year in space. In a mixture of triumph and tragedy, space exploration reached new horizons, tested new technologies, and pushed the limits of the possible in 2014. So as the old year draws to close, Gizmag looks back on the space highlights of the past twelve months.
Climate/Environment
EcoWatch: 10 Most Important Environmental Stories of 2014
Jason Mark, Earth Island Journal
December 23, 2014
The calendar is about to flip over once again, meaning itâs time for the obligatory roundup of the most important environmental stories of the past year.
This list is mostly subjectiveâmy own personal picks, filtered through my own lens. But I did reach out to a several dozen environmental activists and thinkers to tap into the wisdom of the crowd. I asked folks to give me their suggestions not necessarily for the âbiggestâ news as measured by headlines or page views or likes, but for the most important stories. That is, happenings likely to have an impact on ecosystems, politics, economy and culture beyond 2014.
Not surprisingly, climate change and energy once again dominate the list. But there was also some important news in wildlife conservation and loss, forest protection and politics. Without further ado, hereâs my list of the top 10 most important environmentally related stories of 2014.
Harvard Business Review: The 10 Most Important Sustainable Business Stories from 2014
by Andrew Winston
December 19, 2014
Itâs been an amazing 12 months in the world of sustainable business. From climate change to inequality, the scope of humanityâs biggest environmental and social challenges came into much sharper focus this year â as did the scale and range of opportunities to do something about them. And citizens, using new social media tools and old-fashioned marches, rose up to drive change. Both in response and pre-emptively, the worldâs leading companies continued to aggressively pivot their businesses toward more sustainable and innovative ways of operating.
To make sense of all of this activity, I made a list of the yearâs big themes, looking for the bigger story across multiple examples. But I also ran across a few specific company stories that were just really compelling or cool. So here is my admittedly subjective look at the top 10 sustainability stories and themes of the year, with sustainability broadly defined as encompassing people, planet, and profits:
Weather Underground: Top Ten Weather Stories of 2014
by Dr. Jeff Masters
December 23, 2014
#1: Earth Likely Had Its Warmest Year on Record
The year 2014 has made it very apparent that global warming has not stopped, as the year-to-date-period January - November 2014 was Earth's warmest such period since record keeping began in 1880, according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). If December is at least 0.42°C (0.76°F) higher than its 20th century average, 2014 will surpass 2005 and 2010 as the warmest year on record; the departure of temperature from average during the first three weeks of December has exceeded that mark, making it likely that 2014 will end up as the warmest year on record in NOAA's reckoning. The average global sea surface temperature was the highest for January - November in the 135-year period of record, due in large part to seven consecutive months (May - November) of record warmth. Remarkably, the record-warm global temperatures of 2014 occurred in the absence of El Niño, a large-scale warming of the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean that historically has been present whenever an extended period of record-warm global temperatures have occurred.
National Geographic: My Top Ten U.S. Ocean Stories of 2014
By David Helvarg
December 20, 2014
Given the cascading disasters the ocean faces from industrial overfishing, pollution, coastal sprawl and climate change thereâs been some surprisingly good news in the United States this year. Here are ten stories â both good and bad â that impacted the blue in our red, white and blue.
Biodiversity
The Scientist: New Species Galore
A look back at the latest microbes, plants, and animals to have secured a spot in scienceâs known tree of life in 2014
By Jef Akst
December 27, 2014
In addition to theTop 10 new species chosen by the International Institute for Species Exploration this year (which included a penicillium fungus, a large dragon tree, and a new carnivorous mammal), dozens of other organisms were recognized by science for the first time this year. These discoveries proffer a welcome break from stories of threatened populations and impending extinctions. Hereâs a selection of notable new species identified in 2014:
The Scientist: Top 10 New Species
The International Institute for Species Exploration announces its picks of novel species discovered in the past year, including a carnivorous mammal, a tiny shrimp, and a fungus.
By Jef Akst
May 23, 2014
Each year, the International Institute for Species Exploration chooses its favorite new species of the year. This year, the Top 10 includes species from all walks of life, from a penicillium fungus and an amoeboid protist to the large dragon tree and a new carnivorous mammal. Others on the list include a shrimp, a snail, a gecko, an anemone, and a fairyfly.
National Geographic News: Top 10 Weirdest Animal Stories of 2014: Editors' Picks
December 23, 2014
This was a banner year for the bizarre, with a snake virgin birth, an extremely rare black sea devil, and a real-life unicorn making headlines in Weird & Wild.
Luckily for our fans, we've rounded up our editors' picks of the ten best weird stories of 2014.
Scientific American: The Best (or Worst) of 2014
By John R. Platt
December 27, 2014
I wrote more than 150 articles about endangered species in 2014. Very few of them could be considered âgood news.â But be they good news or bad, here are some of the best âExtinction Countdownâ articles of the past year.
Biotechnology/Health
Salon: 2014: Our year in trendy diets
From top-secret military nutritionists to butter coffee, Americans proved we have no idea how to eat
Erin Keane
When Google released its top trending search terms for 2014, the search engine invited us to peer into the abyss and ponder a terrifying question: âwhat do these searches say about us?â If the trending calorie searches tell us anything, itâs that Americans canât be trusted to feed ourselves. The list is split almost evenly between fruits/vegetables and junk food (âhow many calories in a Big Mac?â alongside âhow many calories in an apple?â) suggesting a binge-and-restrict approach that canât be good for our national health. But itâs the diet searches that reveal Americaâs love for a good lifestyle hack. While some old chestnuts wonât dieâthe cheeseburger-no-bun Atkins Diet, the sensible and slightly romantic Mediterranean Dietâmany of 2014?s trendiest diets prove Americans love junk science almost as much as they love junk food.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Tech Times: Best Health Stories of 2014: Outbreaks, Research Scandal and Milestones
By Rhodi Lee, Tech Times
December 27, 2014
The year 2014 was marked by gloomy health stories that elicited fear, sadness and even anger, but there were also stories that gave readers a reason to celebrate and remain hopeful. Here are the top health stories of the year:
Psychology/Behavior
The Guardian (UK): The best psychology books of 2014
From moving accounts of how we deal with dying and suffering to two brilliant takes on Freud
Lisa Appignanesi
Monday 15 December 2014 08.30 EST
The neuroscientific inflation of recent years may have peaked. Not a single image of a scanned brain figures in the best of this yearâs psychology books. Perhaps in a period of austerity, we need broader and deeper understandings of the human.
Archeology/Anthropology
Haaretz (Israel): The most intriguing archaeological discoveries in 2014
By Ruth Schuster
What did Noahâs ark look like? When did man tame fire? Was Davidâs Citadel really found and who fixed that wrestling match 2.000 years ago? All this and so much more in these choice picks from the Haaretz archaeology section in 2014.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Paleontology/Evolution
Red Orbit: Fossilized urination prints reveal how dinosaurs peed
John Hopton for redOrbit.com â Your Universe Online
How did dinosaurs pee? There are many things that we will sadly never know about the magnificent prehistoric creatures, but thankfully their toilet habits may not be one of them. And fear not, we can tell how they pooped too; in fact, Brazilian palaeontologists have been looking at whether they did both in one go or took an as-and-when approach. If we can find this out, then we can see how closely related they were to living creatures in this respect, as well as adding some colorful detail to future Hollywood movies.
Dinosaur droppings fossilize, giving us âhardâ evidence of some of their toilet habits. Dinosaur pee did not get preserved as such, but we can see preserved evidence of it from impressions it left when it hit a soft surface such as sand. These impressions are known as urolites, while fossilized feces are called coprolites.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
NBC News: Dinosaur Researchers Say They're in a 'Golden Age' of Discovery
By Keith Wagstaff
December 26, 2014
This was a great year for dinosaurs. Dreadnoughtus, "Jar Jar Binks," and a swimming Spinosaurus all made headlines â and 2015 could hold even more surprises.
It wasn't always like this. From 1984 to 1994, there were about 15 new dinosaur species named per year. This year, nearly one species was discovered every week.
"We're absolutely in a golden age of dinosaur discovery," David Evans, who oversees dinosaur research at the Royal Ontario Museum, told NBC News. "It is probably a better time to be a dinosaur paleontologist now than any other time in the last century."
Geology
Scientific American: Six Top Geology Stories Of 2014
Volcanic eruptions, killer quakes, giant waves, and how the ground shaped famous battles were among the most compelling stories of the year.
By Josh Fischman
December 24, 2014
Geology stories can shake the world--it is in their nature--and 2014 was true to form. There were notable jolts and rumbles, and some surprising shakeups above the ground as well. Here are six areas where Earth made big news, as reported in Scientific American during the past 12 months.
Energy
Forbes: The Top 5 Energy and Climate Stories of 2014
Manish Bapna
December 18, 2014
2014 was a remarkable year for energy and climate issues. Oil prices are plummeting, the United States and China made a major joint climate announcement, and renewable energy reached price parity with coal in a growing number of markets. Iconic tech companiesâincluding Google and Appleâare playing a larger role in both renewable energy and home energy efficiency.
Against this backdrop, 2014 is on track to go down as the worldâs hottest year ever recorded. Already the first 10 months of 2014 have been the hottest on record globally. And, notably nine of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 2000. This is a troubling trend.
Before we turn the page to 2015, letâs look at some of the major energy and climate stories from the past year.
Scientific American: The Year in Energy and Environment: It Wasnât All Apocalyptic
By David Biello
December 22, 2014
âTis the season for year end lists. The problem is: news keeps happening. One of the members of this list only happened just last week.
National Geographic News: Four 2015 Energy Ideas 'Back to the Future' Got (Almost) Right
Hoverboards, flying cars, and auto-fueling are closer than you think, and garbage energy is here.
By Marianne Lavelle
for National Geographic
Published December 23, 2014
Energy is so cheap and easy in 2015 that we all have flying cars and robot gas attendants. That's not the reality as of New Year's Day, of course, but rather the "future" depicted in the hit 1989 movie Back to the Future Part II.
It's easy to feel bitter that we're still stuck in traffic on the ground, pumping our own gas, and now worrying about climate change, to boot.
Director Robert Zemeckis never intended to paint a realistic forecast, but it's amazing how much of his vision of energy is taking shape. Science is trying to deliver not only skyward transport and renewable fuel, but also efficiency and solutions to lower greenhouse gases.
Physics
Physics World: Comet landing named Physics World 2014 Breakthrough of the Year
December 12, 2014
The Physics World 2014 Breakthrough of the Year goes to ESA's Rosetta mission for being the first to land a spacecraft on a comet. Nine other achievements are highly commended and cover topics ranging from nuclear physics to acoustics.
Scientific American: The Top Ten Space and Physics Stories of 2014
By Lee Billings
December 22, 2014
From humanityâs first, flawed foray to the surface of a comet to the celebrated discovery of (and less celebrated skepticism about) primordial gravitational waves, 2014 has brought some historic successes and failures in space science and physics. Here are my selections for the top ten stories from this year, with a look forward at what might happen next.
Chemistry
Red Orbit: Bye, bye bedbugs: New traps will help put infestations to rest
Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com â Your Universe Online
It has taken her several years and over 180,000 bites, but Simon Fraser University biologist Regine Gries has discovered a group of chemical attractants that could help end the global bedbug epidemic.
Gries, her husband and fellow biology professor Gerhard Gries, SFU chemist Robert Britton and a group of students discovered a set of pheromones that can lure the nighttime pests into traps and keep them there. Following a series of successful trials, they published their findings earlier this week in the international chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Scientific American: 5 Top Chemistry Stories of 2014
By Josh Fischman
December 22, 2014
Chemistry likes to call itself âthe central scienceâ because very little research, from astronomy to zoology, can be done without it. This year, Scientific American has chronicled this central role in many compelling stories.
Here is my list of 5 of the most interesting stories.
Science Crime Scenes
The Scientist: Top Science Scandals of 2014
The stem cell that never was; post-publication peer review website faces legal trouble; biosecurity breaches at federal labs
By Jef Akst
December 25, 2014
As always, in addition to the scientific breakthroughs that make headlines throughout the year, there is also a dark side to science. From misconduct to human error, there is always the possibility for something to go wrong. This year saw the announcement and retraction of a new method of cellular reprogramming; a lawsuit against users of an anonymous post-publication peer review website; and multiple biosecurity breakdowns at federal facilities.
Science, Space, Health, Environment, and Energy Policy
The Scientist: Science Setbacks: 2014
This year in life science was marked by paltry federal funding increases, revelations of sequence contamination, and onerous regulations.
By Molly Sharlach
December 25, 2014
This yearâs federal budgets for scientific research were marked by small increases after last yearâs sequestration-related cuts. Biomedical research advocates expressed frustration upon the passage of the omnibus spending bill in January. âThe proposed package wonât adequately reverse the damage done by last yearâs budget sequester and ensure the nationâs biomedical research enterprise makes continued progress in lifesaving research and development,â said Carrie Wolinetz, president of United for Medical Research, in a statement.
Congress recently agreed on a spending bill for 2015, again with meager increases in science funding. The bill includes a 0.5 percent increase to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget, a 2.4 percent increase for the National Science Foundation (NSF), and $25 million in special emergency funding for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to oversee the testing of Ebola vaccines and treatments. Other bright spots include allocations for the BRAIN Initiative, new pediatric research, and the National Institute on Aging. The bill also contains policy riders that place specific restrictions on the activities of the NIH, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Agriculture, and other science-related agencies, Scientific American reported.
Even for scientists who succeed in securing federal research dollars, keeping up with regulation and oversight can present an undue burden. A National Science Board report on NSF-funded research issued in May found that scientists spend excessive amounts of time and resources handling finances, grant proposals, personnel, and regulatory compliance issues. The board recommended overhauling and streamlining requirements.
Science Education
Mother Jones: This Is the Stupidest Anti-Science Bullshit of 2014
A catalogue of shame.
By Tim McDonnell
Mon Dec. 22, 2014
2014 had its fair share of landmark scientific accomplishments: dramatic cuts to the cost of sequencing a genome; sweeping investigations of climate change impacts in the US; advances in private-sector space travel, and plenty more. But there was also no shortage of high-profile figures eager to publicly and shamelessly denounce well-established scienceâsometimes with serious consequences for public policy. So without further ado, the most egregious science denial of 2014:
Science Writing and Reporting
The Scientist: The Top 10 Retractions of 2014
A look at this yearâs most memorable retractions
By Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky | December 23, 2014
This year, stories about scientific retractions were dominated by big numbersâ60 at once in one case, 120 in one fell swoop in anotherâas well as the eyebrow-raising practice of researchers submitting fake peer reviews, often ones they themselves had written. Here are our picks for the top 10 stories, in no particular order.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Time Magazine: The Ebola Fighters
The ones who answered the call
By David von Drehle, with Aryn Baker / Liberia
Dec. 10, 2014
On the outskirts of Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, on grassy land among palm trees and tropical hardwoods, stands a cluster of one-story bungalows painted cheerful yellow with blue trim. This is the campus of Eternal Love Winning Africa, a nondenominational Christian mission, comprising a school, a radio station and a hospital. It was here that Dr. Jerry Brown, the hospitalâs medical director, first heard in March that the fearsome Ebola virus had gained a toehold in his country. Patients with the rare and deadly disease were turning up at a clinic in Lofa Countyâpart of the West African borderlands where Liberia meets Guinea and Sierra Leone. âIt was then that we really started panicking,â says Brown.
Even in ordinary circumstances, the doctorâs workday was a constant buzz of people seeking answers: Can you help with this diagnosis? Would you have a look at this X-ray? What do you make of this rash? Inevitably, Brown would raise his eyebrows and crease his forehead as if surprised that anyone would think he might know the answer. Just as inevitably, he would have one.
Ebola was different. On this subject, Brown had more questions than answers. He knew the virus was contagious and highly lethalâfatal in up to 90% of cases. But why was it in Liberia? Previous Ebola outbreaks had been primarily in remote Central Africa. Could the disease be contained in the rural north? The membrane between countryside and city in Liberia was highly porous; people flowed into Monrovia in pursuit of jobs or trade and flowed back to their villages, families and friends. âSooner or later,â Brown remembers thinking, âit might reach us.â And what then? A poor nation still shaky after years of civil war, Liberiaâpopulation 4 million-plusâhad just a handful of ambulances in operation. How could Liberia possibly deal with Ebola?
Politifact: 2014 Lie of the Year: Exaggerations about Ebola
By Angie Drobnic Holan, Aaron Sharockman on Monday, December 15th, 2014 at 3:08 p.m
Thomas Eric Duncan left Monrovia, Liberia, on Sept. 19, for Dallas. Eleven days later, doctors diagnosed Duncan with Ebola.
Eight days after that, he was dead.
Duncanâs case is just one of two Ebola-related fatalities in the United States, and since Duncan traveled to Dallas, more Americans -- at least nine, and likely many more -- have died from the flu.
Yet fear of the disease stretched to every corner of America this fall, stoked by exaggerated claims from politicians and pundits. They said Ebola was easy to catch, that illegal immigrants may be carrying the virus across the southern border, that it was all part of a government or corporate conspiracy.
The claims -- all wrong -- distorted the debate about a serious public health issue. Together, they earn our Lie of the Year for 2014.
Media Matters for America: Misinformer Of The Year: George Will
HANNAH GROCH-BEGLEY
December 22, 2014 1:31 PM EST
When PolitiFact awarded its 2014 Lie of Year to "exaggerations about Ebola," they cited Will as a prime example. Will used his Fox News platform to spread lies about the disease, falsely claiming that it could be "spread through the air." As PolitiFact noted:
Will's claim that Ebola could spread through the air via a cough or sneeze shows how solid science got misconstrued. The conservative commentator suggested a thought shift about how the virus could spread. In reality, Will simply misunderstood scientists' consistent, albeit technical explanation.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids such as blood, vomit and diarrhea. Coughing and sneezing are not symptoms.
Will has a long history of pushing misinformation, but it finally caught up with him in 2014, tarnishing the reputation as a public intellectual he had spent decades cultivating. He started the year one of the most respected members of the conservative media elite, and ended it with hundreds protesting his speeches. For this reason, Media Matters recognizes George Will as the 2014 Misinformer of the Year.
The above three stories are included in Ebola best and worst for 2014 at Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
Science is Cool
IT World: Top 10 tech stories of 2014
Backlash! Disrupting the disruptors
By Marc Ferranti, ITworld
Blowing up entrenched business models and picking up the profits that spill onto the floor is a time-honored tradition in tech, these days known by the cliche of the moment, "disruption." This year everyone was trying to push back against those upstarts, whether by buying them like Facebook did, reorganizing to compete with them like HP and Microsoft have done, or just plain going out against them guns blazing, as it seemed that every city and taxi company did with Uber.
Associated Press via PhysOrg: Scientists target mess from Christmas tree needles
By Malcolm Ritter
Dec 26, 2014
Consumers consistently cite messiness as one of the most common reasons they don't have a real tree, says the National Christmas Tree Association.
Keeping a tree well-watered goes a long way toward minimizing the needle problem. But beyond that, scientists are trying to find ways to make trees less messy and keep them fresh through the holidays.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Wired: The Craziest Sci-Fi Fantasies That Got Closer to Reality This Year
By Nick Stockton
12.26.14
In 1964, Isaac Asimov wrote that in 50 years weâd be living in a science fiction reality. Among his prophesies that have now arrived are instant coffee, driverless cars, and robots to vacuum our homes.
But Asimov wasnât the only sci-fi visionary, and his predictions seem quaint against some of 2014âs actual advances, such as robotic arm transplants, cloned pets, and quantum teleportation. Here is a gallery of the technologies that brought us closer toâor in a few cases fulfilled completelyâthe promises made in our favorite works of science fiction.
Wired: WIREDâs 10 Most Hardcore Tech Stories of the Year
By Davey Alba
12.26.14
The rise of deep learning. The fall of bitcoin. The moxie of Satya Nadella.
Here at WIRED Enterprise, we chronicle the people and the ideas and the technology that sit at the heart of the computer world, and weâre happy to say that it was a year of constant changeâas usual. Sure, some things stayed the sameâmachines still canât beat humans at Goâbut mostly, the hardcore-tech universe is in serious flux.
The tech we use to build techâthe stuff that programmers use, the stuff in the massive data centers that drive our online services, the stuff that provides the very foundation of the internetâis moving towards the future. And itâs moving faster than ever before. Just look at what Mr. Nadella is doing over at Microsoft.
Nadella realizes that if Microsoft is going to keep up with all these changes, it must change just as quickly. Yes, the new Microsoft is still the old Microsoft in some waysâwitness its takedown of a tiny company called No-IPâbut in so many other ways, itâs not.
Our Nadella profile is our top story of the year. But there are nine others close behind.
Gizmag: New frontiers: Drones deliver a raft of surprises in 2014
By Nick Lavars
December 24, 2014
2014 wasnât the year that drones first entered the consumer lexicon, but it did see the notion of using these unmanned vehicles to our advantage become much more palatable. Package deliveries and carrying out conventional robotic tasks are some concepts that have defined the progress of drones in the past 12 months, but, as is typical of emerging technologies, the more their potential is realized the more they find uses in unexpected new applications. Letâs have a look over some of the yearâs more surprising, yet significant, drone projects that promise to shake things up in exciting new ways.
Scientific American: Scientific American Editorâs Picks for the Top Tech Stories of 2014
By Larry Greenmeier
December 24, 2014
Wallets, wreckage and digital coin. Before the new year appears, letâs look at some of the most important technology stories Scientific American covered over the past 12 months.
New York Magazine: Googleâs Top Searches of 2014 Are a Great Reminder of How Terrible This Year Was
Spend enough time on Twitter or trapped inside the hellish 24-hour news cycle and each year will start to seem like the worst year yet. But between Ebola and ISIS and high-profile celebrity suicide and all the airplane disasters, 2014 does seem like a particularly awful year. Now we have data confirmation! Google released its top searches of the year this morning, and the results appear to only corroborate that feeling: 2014 is officially the worst.