I know you’re supposed to look forward at the beginning of the new year, but having done that the other day, I thought I would take this opportunity to have a quick glance back at the last 12 months of 2020 Science. And just to keep your attention – I know how tedious these retrospectives can be – I’m throwing in a chance to win some “fabulous” prizes at the end of the post; so don’t go away just yet!
2020 Science was never going to be a mainstream blog – aside from it being written by me (in the main) in my spare time, the broader opportunities and implications of emerging technologies is something of a niche subject. But with the help of Ruth Seeley at No Spin PR, 2020 Science grew up in 2009 – what started as little more than a hobby blog began to have some serious impact!
Over the past 12 months, 134 blogs have been posted, covering subjects as diverse as nanotechnology to pneumatic toilet seats, and geoengineering to on-line games. Four specific blog series have been run, and posts from eleven guest contributes published. The blog has received over 76,000 visits, with over 120,000 pageviews. Monthly pageviews have grown from ~6300 in February (January was an incomplete month for the stats), to over 20,000 in December.
I’ll be posting more specific stats on the 2020 Science Facebook page (please sign up – it’s a great way to get the inside track on the blog, and interact with other readers). But for the rest of this retrospective, I wanted to highlight some of the key posts of the year:
Top Ten Viewed Posts
With the highest viewed posts first, these were:
- Synthetic biology, ethics and the hacker culture (June 13)
- Is nanotechnology poised for the ride of its life? (August 18)
- Nanotechnology on Twit TV’s Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour (July 2)
- Ten emerging technology trends to watch over the next decade (December 25)
- Texas Instruments – transforming the world, one calculator at a time (or, What Went Wrong with my Life?) (September 13)
- Roll over nanotechnology, synthetic biology is coming! (May 18)
- Geoengineering the climate: A clear perspective from the Royal Society (September 1)
- Nanotechnology: From nano-novice to nano-genius in 13 steps (May 26)
- Deconstructing the “Fry Event Horizon” (March 6)
- Industry critics give nanotechnology sunscreens the thumbs up (July 3)
Ten Personal Favorites
As always, the blogs I felt particularly good about didn’t always coincide with the ones others enjoyed reading. Here are ten of my favorite blogs from 2009:
- Geoengineering: Does it need a dose of geoethics? (January 28)
- In space, no one can hear you scream – unless you’re in a sci-flick! (February 16)
- Darwin, evolution, and the genesis of intelligent design (February 11)
- Science, society and the Second Enlightenment (February 23)
- Blogging the demise of science journalism (March 20)
- Cultural smokescreens (May 6)
- The long shout (May 13)
- Roll over nanotechnology, synthetic biology is coming! (May 18)
- Sunscreens and Alzheimer’s – solid science or scare-mongering speculation? (August 25)
- Hooked on science – ten things that inspired me to become a scientist (September 3)
Five “orphaned” posts
And for a final list, here are five “orphaned” blogs – posts I thought should get way more views than they did 
- Confessions of a “media hog” (March 26)
- Nanotechnology in motion: the good, the bad and the.. just plain weird? (April 25)
- Celebrity scientists – it takes more than stardust (June 27)
- Yodeling Cowboys at 3 o’clock (September 24)
- “Nano” from the 1970’s. Don Eigler, eat your heart out! (October 1)
And that competition?
To kick off 2010, I’d like to know what you would like to see on 2020 Science – what works, what doesn’t, what I should do more of, what I should drop as fast as possible! I’m also hoping to get more people involved on the 2020 Science Facebook page. So to kill two birds with one stone, I’m offering the chance to win one of two rather nifty 2020 Science mugs (see below) in return for a bit of Facebook-feedback. To find out how you could be the proud owner of a 2020 Science “blog on a mug,” simply follow the link.
Happy New Year!
Your chance to win a 2020 Science Blog on a Mug!
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Yodeling Cowboys was one of my personal favourite posts in 2009 – wasn’t that the one that included the admission that you weren’t an outdoorsy kinda guy (know your limitations, I always say – at least when I’m not saying, aim high – higher, that’ll do nicely).
I think what I liked about the Colorado trip posts (and I think I said this at the time) is that jetsetting about the country (or world) seems so glamourous – until you actually have to do it. But when the reality of having to pack clothes for three different climate zones within the limitations of airline luggage restrictions, having to be somewhat presentable in order to get a cup of tea with milk rather than white aluminium powder crystals, and my particular travelling pet peeve – dealing with hotel pillows that are either made for Little People or so huge you wonder if they’re made for folks with chronic bronchitis who have to sleep sitting up – hits, you realize all the benefits of home sweet home, no matter how humble it may be. I know as a Sagittarian I’m supposed to love to travel. In fact, unless it’s a road trip, I can barely bring myself to go anywhere and disdain frequent flyer points because frankly, Scarlet, by the time I’m about to board a plane these days (muttering nastily about how I might as well not have bothered to either get dressed OR pack before going through security since you have to get undressed and let people rummage through your carry-on items), I have to fight with myself not to just turn around and go back home.
Enough about me though. Your reaction to the country music being piped through the hotel corridors till 3AM made me laugh heartily (although sympathetically), and when you wrote about the campfire singsong it was very easy to imagine your struggle for self control. In fact, it was a lot like watching a movie that hadn’t actually been filmed. I have a couple of bandanas for your next trip to cowboy country – would you prefer red or green?
Glad you enjoyed the Colorado trip posts. This was something of an experiment that I wasn’t sure had worked! Certainly the discipline needed to write blogs on the fly was a real eye-opener, and one that I enjoyed, but found exhausting. But the number of views the posts got suggested that this isn’t what my readers were looking for!