Tonight, we usher in a brand new year and say farewell to 2012. The first full year here at Scientific American Blogs. The year of the Higgs Boson. The year Curiosity landed on Mars. The year the world was ending, but didn't. It's been a good year here at Science Sushi. In the past year... ...I have posted 60 posts ...with
several hundred thousand views ...from more than 25 countries ...with 269 commentsMost popular posts of the year? Well, controversy swirled around my posts related to organic farming, including why the failure of Prop 37 was a good thing, how bad reporting turns to fearmongering, and pesticides might not be as scary as we think, with added attention to my 2011posts. Sharks were a hot topic, too, with my posts on the myth of bull shark testosterone and how shark populations are dwindling drawing in a lot of readers. Brain boosts from music and damages from Toxoplasmosa also ranked high on the list. My readers were intrigued by medical topics, from jellyfish sting treatments to reprogrammed heart muscle and the part played by scientists in bad reporting. Not surprisingly, sex was popular, from posts on big butts, Wild Sex (definitely worth watching!) and sex-deprived flies making the short list. I was most happy to see that some of my more creative posts also fared well; my heartfelt weavings of personal experience, science, and music, Taking Einstein's Advice, Biochemically, All Is Fair and my 2011 post Time—And Brain Chemistry—Heal All Wounds were also among the most-read posts of 2012. I'm thankful for the wonderful year that I have had here at Scientific American, and am excited to start 2013 on such a high note. Thank you to all of you who read this blog: let's keep this bio-nerdy party going all through 2013!
