Top Node posts of 2015
Posted by the Node, on 4 January 2016
Happy New Year everyone! The past year presented us with the usual mix of quirky and interesting developmental biology, and we’ve had posts about new meetings, research, resources and more. Now it’s time to review the most popular posts of 2015!
Most viewed 2015 posts
1- The (developmental) biologists reading list– Cat asked about the books that every biologists should read, and you had plenty of suggestions to offer!
2- Woods Hole images 2014 round 3- vote for a Development cover– We shared some beautiful images from the MBL Embryology course at Wood Hole and you voted for the one you wanted to see in the cover of Development.
3- EmbryoMaker: a general modeling framework to simulate developing systems and perform experiments in silico– Miquel wrote about his paper implementing a new modeling framework to simulate development and morphogenesis.
4- A day in the life of an Axolotl lab– Annie told us what it’s like to work in a lab that uses axolotls as a model system, with plenty of photos and a couple of videos to illustrate!
5. An interview with Mike Levine– A lively chat with the winner of the 2015 SDB Edwin Grant Conklin Medal, including an audio of the famous ring of fire story!
Best rated 2015 posts
1- From the lab to the peak district– Héctor told us about his visit to the Rivolta lab at the University of Sheffield, sponsored by a Development Travelling Fellowship.
2- A day in the life of an Axolotl lab– Not only one of the most viewed, but also the second most rated post of the year!
3- The importance of indifference in scientific research– Martin Schwartz discusses the importance of non-attachment to one’s own experiments in the quest for the right answers.
4- A day in the life of an MBL Embryology Student– Shun, Elena and Joe gave us an inside look into the intense and ultimately rewarding life of the MBL Embryology course students.
5- An interview with Lewis Wolpert and A day in the life of a skate lab– Tied in fifth place were an interview with the winner of the 2015 Waddington Medal and and Kate’s account of what it is like to work with skates.
Other highlights
2015 was a year of records. We featured more posts than ever before- an incredible 418 posts (more than one per day!) We can also boast an average of over 6,000 visitors every month. Thank you all for making the Node so successful!
In 2015 we also celebrated the Node’s fifth anniversary. Our birthday gift was a new, more modern, look which made the site less busy and more functional. Your feedback was really important in deciding how to revamp the Node, so thank you all for completing our survey. We hope that you had a chance to come to our stall at the SDB meeting for some birthday cake!
As you can see from the list above, our A day in the life series is still going strong (and we have a little surprise for you to collect at conferences this year!), and there were also new additions to the outreach series. We also kicked off a new type of post this year, which we hope will give you more opportunities to discuss interesting and topical issues. Check out our Question of the Month posts to see what topics have featured already, and you can get in touch if you have any suggestions for future discussions.
The Node is your community blog, and it could not exist without your participation. A big thank you to all of you who wrote, commented, rated and read the Node posts in 2015. We are looking forward to another exciting year of developmental biology in 2016!
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