: Early 2021 issues highlighted "spintronics," an approach to computer architecture inspired by the human brain to create more efficient systems .
: The landing of NASA’s Perseverance rover was a dominant story throughout the year .
: The use of artificial intelligence to predict protein structures (like AlphaFold and RoseTTAFold) revolutionized how we understand diseases .
: Scientists made headlines by extracting human DNA directly from soil sediments, allowing us to study our ancestors without needing fossils .