Science’s online news site has been reporting breaking research news for more than 2 decades, and every year we bring you a list of some of our favorites. Now, for the first time, we’ve compiled some of our best from the past 10 years. As with our yearly lists, these weren’t necessarily the most important stories of the year—just some of our personal favorites, most popular stories, and articles that have stood the test of time. Here they are, listed from earliest to most recent.
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Superaccurate clocks confirm your hair is aging faster than your toenails
If your hair is going gray before its time, you can pin a tiny bit of the blame on relativity. That’s the conclusion of one our favorite physics stories of the decade, which relies on Albert Einstein’s famous theory. An object closer to the ground should experience time slightly more slowly than one higher up, the thinking goes, because the lower one is closer to Earth’s gravitational field. The same is true for your hair versus your feet, physicists have demonstrated, thanks to the help of two superaccurate clocks.
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Old termites blow themselves up to protect the nest
Certainly our most explosive animal story of the past 10 years. Neocapritermes taracua harbor blue crystals on their back, which they detonate when something invades their nest. Older insects are more likely to carry out these suicide missions, which can save the entire colony.
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Microbes survive, and maybe thrive, high in the atmosphere
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As of this year, we have yet to find life on other planets. But we have found it quite far from terra firma. Such is the revelation of this 2013 story, which uncovers that billions of microbes live high in our atmosphere, forming an active ecosystem high above Earth’s surface. They may even affect the weather.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY/Science Source
How to survive a nuclear explosion
And here’s some news you’ll hopefully never have to use. Assuming you survive the initial blast, the official recommendations for staying alive after a nuclear explosion may not do you much good. Here are some better approaches, including how far—and fast—you should run to a fallout shelter.