Scientists discovered a blazar spewing neutrinos directly at the Earth, solving a long-standing mystery. President Trump discussed implementing an independent military space force, but decided to pursue other options. Elon Musk sent a Tesla to space. A scientist gave MDMA to octopuses. This year taught us more about distant planets and our own world, about the ways we’re influencing our environment and the ways we’re changing ourselves. A whole lot of stuff happened, and last January seems like it was, well, a year ago. 

Scientists publish incrementally—sometimes a new paper shatters our understanding of a topic, and other times it merely adds a bit to what we know. Science is the pursuit of understanding, performing more tests and building more advanced tools in order to reveal the truths inherent to our universe. It’s worth taking a step back, then, and thinking about what grander stories have emerged from all of these smaller steps and new results.