World events left many marks and losses in 2014, but Scientific American readers kept calm and carried on for the most part, as your top picks among the stories we published this year reveal. We added in behind-the-scenes information for some of your favorites, listed below:

1. Time Travel Simulation Resolves “Grandfather Paradox”—Our online managing editor Philip Yam developed the idea for this story and assigned it to Lee Billings, who threw himself at it, thereby sealing the deal for hiring him as our newest space and physics editor. It’s a pleasure to have him on board.

Image: Entering a closed timelike curve tomorrow means you could end up at today. Credit: Dmitry Schidlovsky 

Get ready to never leave your pet home alone again.

Curious about the antics his dog gets into after he leaves the house, YouTube user Mike the Intern strapped a GoPro onto his pet to capture his dog's reaction.

Unfortunately, Mike's overly attached dog doesn't handle separation very well.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Leo Tolstoy, the Russian novelist, famously wrote, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

Tolstoy’s dictum is a useful starting point for any executive engaged in organizational change. After years of collaborating in efforts to advance the practice of leadership and cultural transformation, we’ve become convinced that organizational change is inseparable from individual change. Simply put, change efforts often falter because individuals overlook the need to make fundamental changes in themselves.1

Often during the holidays we have some extra time on our hands. Without work, college, or other distractions, we can take the time to catch up on our year and look ahead to next year.

For me, the most important goals for the coming year are always career oriented. I find when I’m happy with my career, personal development, and overall professional growth, everything else seems to come into place. I see more friends, have more time to exercise and focus on hobbies, and am just happier.

A slip of the tongue? A foot in your mouth? We’ve all had those moments when we wish we could take back something we’ve said.

While many of us recognize these communication faux-pas, communication expert Dr. Loretta Malandro, author of the new book Speak Up, Show Up, and Stand Out says our vocabulary contains many word traps that can negatively affect the way we’re perceived by others and destroy our leadership credibility.

In 2014 the American workforce valued short-term perks, like free lunches, work-life benefits like flexible work hours, and remote work opportunities, and long-term benefits, like working with intelligent people, having a clear path for career advancement and a strong mentorship culture.

It should then come as no surprise that this year’s top ranked place to work in America—according to anonymous feedback provided by employees via Glassdoor.com on more than 325,000 workplaces— was the company that best embodied both characteristics.

A word that many young professionals don’t like or want to hear.

What do we want?

We want immediate gratification. Immediate results.

While we ultimately have to take responsibility for this mentality, there’s no denying that advances in technology have played a significant role in conditioning our minds to think like this.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

German cities emit several times less light per capita than comparably sized American cities, according to a recent publication in the journal Remote Sensing. The size of the gap grew with city size, as light per capita increased with city size in the USA but decreased with city size in Germany. The study also examined regional differences, and surprisingly found that light emission per capita was higher in cities in the former East of Germany than from those in the former West.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Sometimes the only consolation I can drag myself towards–lying awake at night as I wonder at the financial and vocational vacuum that is a doctorate in the history of science—is that someday the questionably useful bits of knowledge I have accrued over the last ten years will provide a guide to the post-apocalyptic, raggedy remains of the human species starting from scratch after some unforeseeable Armageddon. My secret wish is thus that, somehow, the ghostly corpse of this website will be found amid the ruined digital landscape of the internet should some cataclysm befall human civilization and society need to hit the reset button.

Image: http://scienceblog.com/ 

In 2014, the hottest theme in mobile technology was the introduction of wearable gadgets that can track everything from seizures to how much sunlight you soak up. Device makers large and small attempted to make wearables that are both functional and fashionable.

Activity trackers like the Fitbit and Jawbone Up still make up the vast majority of devices worn on the body, but companies increasingly pushed smart watches in 2014. LG and Samsung were among those that released watches running Android Wear, a new version of Google’s Android mobile software tailored for wearable electronics. Meanwhile, companies like Pinterest, Airbnb, and Groupon designed apps for the small screens.

The final communique of the 2014 G20 Leaders’ Summit called for enhanced economic growth that could be achieved by the “promotion of competition, entrepreneurship and innovation”. There was also a call for strategies to reduce unemployment, particularly amongst youth, through the “encouragement of entrepreneurship”.

Image: http://theconversation.com/ 

2014. It's been quite a year, filled with news both bad and good. For this look back, we sifted through hundreds of photos to come up with our favorites. From portrait photos of notable people like Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian to an exclusive look inside the Pixar brain trust, we hope you enjoy this slideshow as much as we did putting it together.

Image: YouTube's favorite viral eagle, A 6-year-old named Fletcher, wears his GoPro at 10,600 feet above the French Alps. PHOTO: NICK MEEK 

What do you want to achieve in 2015?

While setting New Year’s resolutions is routine for many of us, research from the University of Scranton shows while 45% of Americans usually make New Year’s resolutions, only 8% actually stick to them. So, why are resolutions so quickly discarded? The easy answer is because most resolutions require a change in habit.

Just about a year ago at this time, I read a report that made me ask myself whether I was doing enough—and the right kind of “enough”—to encourage diversity in our technology startup community and innovation ecosystem here in Boston/Cambridge. Fortunately, when I looked at the startups in my portfolio of seed investments, I found a surprising number of women founders and founding team members.

As the economy recovers from some tough economic times, more and more people seem to be turning to entrepreneurship as an alternative to traditional employment. I applaud this trend, but caution all of you thinking this direction to approach entrepreneurship with your eyes wide open. It is not for everyone, as the entrepreneur’s path is fraught with challenges.

The Cicret Bracelet may turn out to be the latest evolution in a rapidly growing wearable market — if the device ever sees the light of day. And what’s most interesting about this new gadget in particular, is that you already own half of it. Cicret is a bracelet that projects a fully-functioning Android tablet on your skin. That’s right: on your skin. So, if you’re sporting the Cicret bracelet on your wrist, a small light beam on the device will project your standard, everyday Android home page right there on your forearm.

Image: http://smallbiztrends.com/ 

Mobile payments and Elon Musk are among several trends and innovators poised for a breakout year in 2015, according to one expert.

In an interview on CNBC, Walter Isaacson, author of the best-selling Steve Jobs biography, predicts people who are "unbanked" in society will soon be able to make Internet purchases more easily. Isaacson, chief executive of the Aspen Institute, said the lack of banking options available to some will prompt electronic payment systems to rise to the challenge.

Image: http://www.cnbc.com/ 

China’s State Council recently kicked off work to update to their five-year plan that targets “strategic” industries. Narendra Modi has called for India to become “self-reliant” in electronics. Meanwhile, other major emerging markets have designated their own business sectors for preferential treatment. All of these schemes aim to promote domestic innovation, which policy makers believe can drive prosperity.

Image: FREE THINKERS: Intel’s original three: Andy Grove, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore. INTEL 

In the 1980s, the future was Japanese. In the 1990s, it was going to be shaped by the Asian Tigers. In the 2000s, it was to be China in collaboration with the other letters of the BRICS.  

Predictions about the American decline are not new. Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger observed: “The US cannot afford another decline like that which has characterised the past decade and a half… Only self-delusion can keep us from admitting our decline to ourselves.” That was in 1961. Like the demise of Mark Twain, the news of the end of the American century has been greatly exaggerated.

Image: Image: Chaitanaya Dinesh Surpur 

The holy grail of artificial intelligence—creating software that comes close to mimicking human intelligence—remains far off. But 2014 saw major strides in machine learning software that can gain abilities from experience. Companies in sectors from biotech to computing turned to these new techniques to solve tough problems or develop new products.

The most striking research results in AI came from the field of deep learning, which involves using crude simulated neurons to process data.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net