Scientific American's Most-Read Stories of 2015

Which of our posts did readers flock to this year? Stories about Lenin’s embalming, war in space and more!

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It’s near impossible to predict which stories will draw the most eyes, and this year was no different. The top 10 stories published in 2015—ranked by the number of overall page views—both confirmed our intuitions and surprised us, too.

#10 Lenin's Body Improves with Age

For thousands of years humans have used embalming methods to preserve dead bodies. But nothing compares with Russia's 90-year experiment to preserve the body of Vladimir Lenin, communist revolutionary and founder of the Soviet Union

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#9 Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think

Three recent studies suggest we have no idea how unequal our society has become

#8 Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2015

From autonomous drones to emergent AI to digital genomes, this year’s list from the World Economic Forum offers its latest glimpse of our fast-approaching technological future

#7 Descendants of Holocaust Survivors Have Altered Stress Hormones

Parents' traumatic experience may hamper their offspring's ability to bounce back from trauma

#6 War in Space May Be Closer Than Ever

China, Russia and the U.S. are developing and testing controversial new capabilities to wage war in space despite their denial of such work

#5 Why Almost Everything Dean Ornish Says about Nutrition Is Wrong. UPDATED: With Dean Ornish's Response

For 37 years Dean Ornish has been touting the benefits of low-fat, high-carbohydrate, vegetarian diets for preventing and reversing heart disease. But the research he cites to back up his claims is tenuous at best

#4 The Problem with Female Superheroes

From helpless damsel to powerful heroine, women are still hypersexualized

#3 Your Facial Bone Structure Has a Big Influence on How People See You

New research shows that although we perceive character traits like trustworthiness based on a person’s facial expressions, our perceptions of abilities like strength are influenced by facial structure

#2 Chemists Confirm the Existence of New Type of Bond

A “vibrational” chemical bond predicted in the 1980s is demonstrated experimentally

#1 The Secret to Raising Smart Kids

HINT: Don't tell your kids they’re smart. More than three decades of research shows that a focus on “process”—not on intelligence or ability—is key to success in school and in life

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