CENtral Science

2011: The year in blog numbers

Well, we’re right about at the end of 2011 and it’s time to thank you find readers for checking in with us throughout the year. We’re slowly rebuilding our momentum here at CENtral Science since moving from ScienceBlogs and were just shy of 90,000 visits for the year. Many of our colleagues get that many each month or week, and a few even each day. Still, we’re very happy that you take time to read here – we consider our readers to be top-quality – brilliant, creative, good-looking, and they even smell good, too! I’ll take 90,000 of you folks any day over millions of other less desirable readers.

I can’t resist the temptation to put up our year-end traffic report since I have the data available and I just love data sets. In addition, I find it interesting to see what topics garnered the greatest traffic. Below, I’ve put up the list of posts that received 100 or more views. The homepage is obviously the first because of those who have us saved as a browser bookmark. But, no surprise, our major topic of interest overall was synthetic marijuana and other until-recently-legal high such as “bath salts.” But ranking quite highly were our posts on dietary supplements containing aromatase inhibitors for bodybuilding and the newly-approved natural product analog for multiple sclerosis, fingolimod (Gilenya).

Title		Views
Home page		18,563
DEA already admits defeat on synthetic marijuana ban?		10,400
Flurry of FDA action against aromatase inhibitor supplements		5,970
What’s the buzz?: Synthetic marijuana, K2, Spice, JWH-018		5,373
“Synthetic marijuana” chemist John W. Huffman interviewed on regional NPR program		2,856
iAroma synthetic marijuana and the loss of Max Dobner		2,456
K2 Synthetic Marijuana: Heart Attacks, Suicides, and Surveillance		1,853
Fingolimod (Gilenya; Novartis) for Multiple Sclerosis		1,775
NC legislators aim to clean up “bath salt” omission		1,737
David Nichols, legal highs, and the social responsibilities of the scientist		1,611
Compilation of synthetic marijuana posts		1,510
Mephedrone in the U.S.		1,465
NIH biosketch change as “Kick Me” sign?		1,150
Strong chemistry in NC bills banning legal highs		1,121
Ch-ch-ch-ch, Changes		1,093
Skin-bleaching: got mercury?		909
Who decides what’s an analog of a controlled substance?		843
About David		753
Poppy seed tea can kill you (repost)		752
Mike Kastan to lead Duke Cancer Institute		741
GSK to sell iconic Elion-Hitchings building		675
The Future of Chemistry Jobs – Keep Reading and Commenting		670
Real-life NCIS: USNA midshipmen expelled for K2 Spice distribution ring		617
Synthetic marijuana for pharmacists		587
Racism charged in DePaul chemistry tenure denial		540
#icanhazpdf: Civil disobedience?		533
Norman R. Farnsworth, grandaddy of medicinal plant research, passes at 81		521
Intravenous Milk Thistle for Mushroom Poisoning		520
Quintiles’ Dennis Gillings Profiled in Forbes		487
Amy Winehouse found dead in London		484
On being a teenager with high-powered science & medicine parents		483
Apixaban trial halted, eight others continue		471
Winners in The Henrietta Lacks Foundation design contest		454
Herbal supplement interactions with prescription meds for “heart problems”		444
Vicks VapoRub PR Fail		442
Capitalization guide for academic degrees		441
Quinetta Shelby “exhibiting the utmost class” in finishing at DePaul		423
Kitchen Chemistry: Rose Jelly. Sweet!		414
Open-access: ACS honors African American chemists for Black History Month		410
Amy Harmon’s “Navigating Love and Autism”		390
Welcome Scientific American Blog Network!		373
What does Jonathan Sweedler think of bloggers? #scio12		371
IYC launch: All in all, I’d rather be in Philadelphia		368
Top 10 most-read posts of July		368
SciAm blog network follow-up		361
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2010: Remembering Mizoroki		358
CENtral Science, represent!		357
Molecular Target for Thunder God Vine		351
David Nichols with chemist blogger Andrea Sella on BBC4 IYC programme		350
Why Terra Sigillata?		343
Thoughts are with Shaw University		329
Call For Social Media Success Stories in Academia		327
Twitter for Scientific Meetings		326
Naturally Toxic Crowdsourcing		315
DrugMonkey in New York Times profile of NIDA director, Nora Volkow		300
On journalists copy-checking with scientist sources		298
Blood Clotting and Benzamidine		289
Graduate training: Choosing a n00b vs. a greybeard		281
Bummer SNP doesn’t mix with beer for gastric cancer risk		275
“The current phenomenon of ‘bloggers’ should be of serious concern to scientists”		268
Eating Dirt and Terra Sigillata		264
DEA acts on naphthoylindoles and 3-phenylcyclohexanols in synthetic marijuana		262
Great scientists: biochembelle on the Haber-Bosch process		258
“Pick A Powder” RIP?		246
LGBT in the Chemical Sciences: Outstanding Feature by Linda Wang		243
“Alex, I’ll take ‘Public Chemistry Literacy’ for $1,000″		238
Reddit AMA with Neil deGrasse Tyson		235
The Wacky World of Drug Discovery		208
HeLa T-shirt and button design contest		206
FDA Withdraws Avastin Approval for Breast Cancer		204
Post-publication peer review in public: poison or progress?		203
The Right Chemistry		203
Bryostatins: Panacea?		200
Most important lessons learned from a teacher		182
Terra what?		175
1st Anniversary at CENtral Science!		173
NCCU Dinner with Discoverers: Chemist, Dr. Mansukh Wani		161
Synthetic marijuana interview by Dirk Hanson, The Chemical Carousel		158
Terra Sig In the News (Hi, Mom!)		155
News & Observer tweet-up: my newspaper groks it		150
Arsenic-permissive bacteria – implications for arsenical cancer chemotherapy		148
Radiochem query in the school parking lot		148
An apology to my readers		138
More on LGBT in the workplace		136
NIGMS proud of support for chemistry		132
Drugs of Abuse Tag-Team at Skeptically Speaking		130
BMJ meta-analysis: Reboxetine “an ineffective and potentially harmful antidepressant”		130
Remembering Challenger…		129
Joint ACS/AACR meeting on biological chemistry of inflammation in cancer		129
If you can’t attract a bear with honey, use watermelon		128
Elegant defense of the humanities by noted structural biologist		116
Not Miley Cyrus: A small human trial of salvinorin A		116
Go. Dream. Read.		113
Ooooh, shiny! The new C&EN Mobile iPhone/iPad app		102
Minority Student Success with NOBCChE		101
Good news in University of Colorado chemical accident		100

It’s funny to see the list, including a few posts I forgot I had written. Some surprise me that they were so highly read, such as the post announcing that physician-scientist Mike Kastan was joining Duke as their cancer institute director.

Others, such as the discussion of the FDA withdrawal of approval for Avastin in breast cancer, was a post I thought rank more highly. You never can tell I guess.

What’s also cool to see is the list of search terms that brought readers here who aren’t our regular crowd – again, search terms that brought 100 or more visits during 2011:

Well, enough numbers for now.

Thank you for reading throughout 2011. We hope to bring you some more interesting topics in 2012!