As we bid adieu to 2018 and welcome 2019, here is a snapshot of India’s year in science. From remarkable satellite launches, scientific breakthroughs and a cocktail of controversies, the year that went by was eventful for various reasons. Here is an attempt to travel down the memory line, reflecting on what we saw and what we could learn. While this is not an extensive list and in no way ranked, it is an attempt to highlight India’s year in science.

The year 2018 was marked by exciting discoveries and inventions in the field of medical sciences, life sciences, archeology, physical sciences, and planetary sciences. While some are headline-hitting, most are crucial in cementing our understanding of various tenets in these areas. As we come close to bidding goodbye to 2018, here is a sneak-peek into the trendsetters in science in this year, in no particular order.

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Over 8.7 million species are known to be found on Earth today, and many scientists believe that we have only scratched the surface.

You asked it and here we have! Wondering what was popular on Research Matters in 2018? Following are our top-ten stories that gained traction by readers like you. Thank you for your support and hope to see it continue in the years to come.

Researchers at the World Animal Protection and University of Oxford, UK, have analysed why some rural tribes in Assam hunt pangolins, the motivation behind this and possible interventions to stop hunting.

Researchers from two Spanish institutes—the University of Barcelona and the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, and CCMB in Hyderabad, have identified some genes and regulatory elements involved in damage-response of the Drosophila regeneration process.

Researchers discover eight new species of bent-toed geckos in the Northeast states of India.

If you are a budding researcher with a keen interest in evolution and biology, the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) has some good news for you. The multidisciplinary research institute in Bengaluru is all set to host the first-ever 15-day school in Evolutionary Biology. It is planned to be held from 12–26 March 2019 and is sponsored by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB).

A team of Irish and Indian biologists from the University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland, the Natural History Museum (NHM), UK, and the University of Delhi (DU), India, have provided detailed descriptions of these newly discovered frogs.