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.

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.

In a novel study, researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, test how oxidative stress induced by a combination of drugs can help fight drug resistant strains of Tuberculosis.

As the curtain falls on 2018, here is a tribute to those great Indian scientists and innovators who died in the year. These eminent people contributed to various fields of science and helped put India in the frontiers of global scientific advancements. This is in no way an exhaustive list, but it is an effort to bring to the fore the achievers who have left an indelible mark behind. 

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.

Study from IIT Bombay finds that airborne pollutants affect the water available for agriculture.

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

Researchers from the CSIR-National Physical Laboratory looked at the possibility of having two time zones for India. They propose to introduce a new time zone, called IST-II, for states on the east of West Bengal and also have suggested a feasible way to implement it.

Experimental evidence from IIT Bombay supports new theory to explain how liquid sheets turn to mist