The world was rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic this year, but researchers rose to all manner of challenges.

This year yielded stunning images of transparent human organs, apex predators, and the world’s response to the ongoing pandemic.

The pandemic spurred innovation in a variety of ways, from CRISPR-based diagnostics to cell biology benchwork at home.

The scientific community bid farewell to researchers who furthered the fields of molecular biology, virology, sleep science, and immunology, among others.

The Retraction Watch team takes a look at the most important publishing mistakes this year.

This year’s most captivating illustrations tell stories from the micro scale—such as newborn neurons in the adult brain and bacteria in the infant gut—to the scale of entire ecosystems, including reintroduced predators and rising seas.

We all deserve something nice this year.

Publishers’ efforts to reduce “leakage,” funder-driven open-access schemes, the growth of academic publishing in China, and more.

The scientific community said goodbye to Sydney Brenner, Paul Greengard, Patricia Bath, and a number of other leading researchers this year.

Licensing negotiations between libraries and publishers continued, a radical open-access plan made changes, and the flaws of some publishing tools and techniques came to light.

From bubbling plants to endangered whales, here are some amazing images from The Scientist in 2019.

Scientists speak up about landmark drug approvals, political and environmental activism, and the redefinition of death.

A T cell discovery, “hachimoji” DNA, a new species of human, and mounting fears of espionage rounded off the list this year.

For the past 10 years, life science has moved us closer to a complete understanding of what makes us human—our similarities, our differences, and our shared history.

The Scientist’s reporters tracked the development of CAR T cell therapies, explored the Neanderthal DNA in our genomes, and dove into a CRISPR controversy.

This year’s most beautiful illustrations covered topics including the molecular underpinnings of Parkinson’s disease and strategies for tracking marine organisms around the world’s oceans.

A journal is forced to remove a record-breaking number of papers—and all in one go.

Wishing you a sciency season’s greetings!

From the effects of political upheaval on research to claims of gene-edited babies, the year has been a tumultuous one for the scientific community.