From black hole debates to comet landings to bird genetics, here is our mostly chronological outline of the top scientific discoveries, disputes and disgraces of 2014: January: Hawking’s Black Hole Bombshell Science hit the ground running at the beginning of 2014, when Stephen Hawking declared in a paper that “there are no black holes”—or, rather, that our current conception of black holes as things with event horizon boundaries is incompatible with quantum mechanics. What Hawking was saying in 2014 was an attempt at slicing a tricky Gordian knot that he himself had tied 40 years previously, when he formulated the theory of Hawking radiation. Hawking radiation—the light predicted to be radiated by black holes—solved the problem of black holes seeming to violate the laws of thermodynamics (without radiating light, a black hole’s temperature would be absolute zero, which can’t happen). But it sparked a new frustration with black holes called the “firewall paradox”; analyses of black holes that took into account quantum mechanics said that a black hole’s event horizon, instead of being an invisible boundary, would be an incredibly energetic region or “firewall.” But this model, in turn, didn’t jibe with Einstein’s theory of general relativity. To solve the …

Seven days; lots of science in the news. Here’s our roundup of this week’s most notable and quotable items: Mathematicians made a major breakthrough in understanding prime numbers. The sedentary modern lifestyle engendered 12,000 years ago by newfangled agricultural technology made our skeletons weaker. A NASA space telescope snapped the most detailed X-ray portrait of the sun ever. Seals may have natural GPS -style capabilities. Global warming will significantly slash wheat production. Scientists pinpointed the mutation that allows bubonic plague bacteria to persist in fleas—a relatively recent adaptation that enabled it to wreak havoc on rats and humans worldwide. Boredom is bad for our health, but being bored can be a spur for curiosity and innovation. A chemical cocktail that mimics pheromones may be the key to a better bedbug trap. Citing scientific evidence, the FDA recommended easing the ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. Global warming appears to be kickstarting a massive coral bleaching event. The rainbow springs of Yellowstone National Park were once bright blue—that is, until human tourists started throwing in pennies and trash with bacteria on them. Survival rates for high-risk heart patients at a teaching hospital jumped when cardiologists were out of …

To the uninitiated, birding might seem like a bunch of nerds standing around with lists and binoculars. Okay, it is that, but it’s also about attuning all of your senses to nature. It’s about learning to identify a white-breasted nuthatch not by straining to see the flash of its markings, but by spotting the telltale head-first movement as it sidles down a branch in search of insects. It’s about intently studying the trunk of a pine tree to see if there are streaks of fresh owl poop, indicating a current visitor, or just old streaks left from last year. And every December, birders become part of the biggest flock of citizen scientists to grace the Earth, uncovering warnings of impending threats from invasive species, pollution, and climate change—and also some signs of hope.

Seven days; lots of science in the news. Here’s our roundup of this week’s most notable and quotable items: NASA’s Curiosity rover detected a burp of methane on Mars lasting for several months—possibly stemming from a geologic process called serpentinization, or possibly the signature of microscopic Martian life. American military researchers are testing bullets that can change direction mid-flight. Some birds may be able to hear tornadoes and massive storms approaching days ahead of time. Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider—scheduled to switch on again in 2015 after two years of rest and retooling—might explain why our universe has so much more matter than antimatter. The ESA’s Venus Express probe is about to end its 8-and-a-half year mission with a fiery plunge into the planet’s sulfuric atmosphere. Vegans eat an average of 6 million microbes a day. Geologists are hoping a rock stuffed with 30,000 tiny diamonds will yield new insights about chemical processes below the Earth’s surface. Humankind probably began using fire about 350,000 years ago, based on burnt flint tools found in an Israeli cave. There’s no evidence that “paleo” diets actually reflect what Paleolithic humans ate. The Arctic is now warming twice as fast as the rest …

Evolution has two histories—the story of the Earth and its species, and our discovery and exploration of the concept itself. We recently had the pleasure of speaking with the original Science Guy, Bill Nye, about his book Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation, which seeks to spread awareness of evolution and how it shapes our ecosystem and ourselves.