Among the illustrious list of Padma awardees for 2020 on the eve of Republic Day, the Government of India has announced Padma Shri to Prof. Kattungal Subramaniam Manilal under Science and Engineering category. He is among the eight of 118 Padma Shri awardees under the Science and Engineering category.

In a recent study, researchers from Pune's Agharkar Research Institute and Savitribai Phule University, and China's Zhejiang University have turned their attention towards Xyrids to gain a holistic understanding of the evolution of pipeworts.

As Newton’s famous quote, “standing on the shoulders of giants”, this year, science has made considerable advances, building on many feats achieved in the past years. New discoveries, insights and inventions in the areas of astronomy, biology, medicine, paleontology and physics marked the year. Here is a selected pick of ten such breakthroughs in science witnessed in 2019.

While looking forward to 2020, the editorial team at Research Matters looks back on some of the interesting stories that we published during 2019. There were many interesting ones ranging from the first photograph of a black hole to air pollution in Delhi to using vibrations for painless injections. Here is a list to highlight India's year in science during 2019. This is in no way ranked and the order is just incidental.

2019 was an exciting year for science as ever. We have collated the top ten stories that was popular on Research Matters in 2019. These were the ones that garnered most views because of readers like you. We would like to thank you for patronage and look forward to your support in the years to come.

In a recent study, published in the journal Ecosphere, researchers from Columbia University, USA, and Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore, have assessed the effects of active restoration in fragmented rainforests of the Western Ghats.

In a first effort, researchers at the Zoological Survey of India have mapped the habitat of the Indian Grey Wolves in eastern India, particularly in the Lower Gangetic Plains and Chotta Nagpur Plateau to identify suitable habitats and minimize human-wolf conflicts.

Study shows how a species of Indian ants choose the shortest path when they relocate their nest.

Delhi’s winter haze is infamous for disrupting the air, railway and road traffic. With visibility dropping to near zero on a few days, life-threatening accidents spike during this season. Animals, on the other hand, seem to have a trick up their sleeves—they use sounds or visual cues to help them ‘see’ through low-visibility conditions. But what about fish? Can they navigate through turbid waters? Indeed, says a study by researchers at two Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs), Mohali and Kolkata. The researchers have shown, for the first time, how zebrafish find food in turbid waters.

The Centre for Human Genetics, Bengaluru, is hosting the second edition of the Indo-Swiss Meeting Meeting on Evolutionary Biology, held in India this year. The meeting is jointly organised by the Indian Society of Evolutionary Biologists, Centre for Human Genetics, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) and Swissnex India. The gathering brings together faculty and students from India and Switzerland. The three day meeting begins on the 12th of December and continues until the 14th.