These are the 5 most popular Science News stories of 2024

Scientific news attracted millions of visitors to our website this year. Here’s a look back at the most read and viewed news stories on the Internet in 2024.

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5. Psilocybin temporarily disrupts brain networks

The psychedelic drug psilocybin briefly erases people’s neural fingerprints, the basic brain activity unique to an individual. Some of the biggest changes occur in an area called the default mode network, which may play a role in creating a sense of self. Most of the drug’s effects usually disappear within a day. A better understanding of psilocybin may lead to better mental health treatments (SN: 8/10/24, p. 12).

4. Social media damages teens’ mental health, growing evidence shows. What now?

As evidence mounts for the harmful effects of social media on adolescent mental health, more rigorous research is needed to examine the mechanisms behind this potential causal link and why certain groups are more at risk of harm. Only then can policy makers, health professionals, parents and other adults help protect young people online (SN: 3/9/24, p. 14).

Most teenagers use social media, often for hours on end. Some social scientists are convinced that such use is damaging their mental health. Now they want to determine what explains the connection.Carol Yepes/Getty Images

3. Why the 2024 total solar eclipse will be so big

The April 8 solar eclipse visible over North America was remarkable, even by solar eclipse standards. The Moon was at a point in its orbit that brought it quite close to Earth. The sun was also near the peak of its activity, known as solar maximum. This confluence of factors gave spectators a particularly dark and long eclipse and scientists an exciting opportunity to study the sun (SN: 3/9/24, p. 24).

White emissions in the solar corona frame a moon with many shadows during a solar eclipse — The sun’s corona is on full display in this composite of 161 photos taken from Mitchell, Ore., during the Aug. 21, 2017, solar eclipse. Miloslav Druckmüller, Peter Aniol, Shadia Habbal/NASA Goddard, Joy Ng

2. Geoscientists found the most dangerous part of a famous West Coast fault

Seismic data show that the Cascadia megathrust, a massive fault in the Pacific Northwest, is not a single, continuous fault, but rather composed of at least four segments. The most dangerous segment appears to extend from the coast of southern Vancouver Island through Washington state (SN: 7/13/24 & 7/27/24, p. 6).

A bunch of logs emerge from the waves on a beach. — The Neskowin Ghost Forest logs in Oregon are the remains of an ancient spruce forest that was suddenly brought down and buried by a Cascadia mega-earthquake. The ghost forest stumps, shown sticking out of the sand here, are estimated to be more than 2,000 years old.Rob DeGraff/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

1. DNA from old hair helps confirm gruesome diet of two 19th-century lions

Genetic analysis of old hairs stuck in the mouths of two famous lions reveals the animals’ diet. Dubbed the “man-eaters of Tsavo,” lions roamed Kenya more than a century ago, eating giraffes, oryx, zebra, waterbuck, wild bees and, yes, humans. The analysis method could help scientists recreate the eating habits of other long-dead predators (SN: 10/11/24).

A museum diorama of two infamous 19th century lions. One is crouched in the foreground in what appears to be a hunting pose, while the other appears to be running towards the scene. — Taxidermied Tsavo lions (shown) are on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The two male lions were responsible for many deaths during the late 1890s.Jeffrey Jung (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Top TikTok

Not only was news about the psychedelic drug psilocybin among our most read stories of the year, but it also topped TikTok. In our most popular video, Science News explores assistant editor Maria Temming explains that a high dose of the drug can temporarily inhibit a person’s unique default brain activity.

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