We’ve had quite the 2011 here at the Wellcome Trust. This year the blog has seen more articles, guest authors and page views than ever before. We’d like to thank you all for taking the time to read, comment and share our articles. We’ve more grand plans for 2012 so watch this space.
Now that the serious bit is out of the way, rather than me being the ‘Ghost of Blog Posts Yet to Come’, why don’t I be the ‘Ghost of Blog Posts Past’ for a bit? These are our Top 10 most popular blog posts of 2011 (by number of views).
Professor Sophie Scott explains the extent to which the language functions in our brains are found mainly in one hemisphere, and why this might be, in the first of our series from established scientist-bloggers.
09. Awakening stem cells in the brain – glia sound the alarm
Stem cells are often hailed for their medical potential, but the cells surrounding them can be just as important and may offer an alterative therapeutic strategy. Professor Andrea Brand and Dr James Chell write about their discoveries of the roles that glial cells play in controlling stem cell division in the brain.
08. How new DNA sequencing technologies are unravelling rare genetic diseases
Genetics blogger Daniel MacArthur discusses exome sequencing and how this exciting technique could rapidly advance our understanding of rare genetic diseases.
07. One cartwheel to rule them all (and in 9-fold symmetry bind them!)
What a title. I’d wager it’s the best Lord of the Rings/subcellular organelle pun of all time. Dr John Vakonakis explains what centrioles are, why they’re vital for cell division and how new research has shed light on how they duplicate.
06. eLife: a journal run by scientists, for scientists
Sir Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust, explains the ethos behind the new top-tier, open access journal to be launched next year, and how it aims to revolutionise science publishing.
05. How I write about science – Alok Jha
This year saw the launch of the Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize in association with the Guardian and The Observer. Alok Jha, Science Correspondent at The Guardian, introduced the competition in the first of our series of tips for aspiring science writers.
04. Getting to the root of the Tree of Life
In June, I had the opportunity to interview Dr Steve Kelly, who’s research may well have uncovered the group of organisms from which all eukaryotic cells (such as those who make up you or I) evolved. Elegant science and well worth a read (I’m not just saying that because I wrote it).
03. Fly poo never looked so beautiful…
This article describes how studying fly faeces can help us learn about human metabolism. It contains some of the most beautiful images you will see this year. No, really.
02. Crysis and the biological singularity of life
Crashing in at number two is a post written by Tomas Rawlings, our video games consultant. He describes the biomedical ideas behind the hit game Crysis 2. Amazingly, we only posted this article in early December, yet within three weeks it’s become one of our most popular articles ever!
01. The man who can taste sounds
The number 1 spot (by some distance) is this outstanding interview between Trust writer Chrissie Giles and James Wannerton, who has lexical-guastatory synaethesia. Every time James hears or sees a word he gets a specific taste associated with that word – even if he’s not eating something.
All fascinating reads, so do check out any you may have missed.
Image credit: Flickr/Jenn and Tony Bot
Filed under: Games and science, Uncategorized
