After a two and a half year slumber, we brought Southern Fried Science back into the blogging world in a big way. Last year, we published 96 posts, ranging from weird rants about epoxy river tables to long reflections on my reality TV past, to dressing up as a shark and going to a birthday party. Over a quarter million people stopped by to read our sometimes serious, often irreverent explorations into the ocean, how its changing, and how the sea shapes everything around us. 2024 was our best year since 2019 and the first year that we’ve gained audience since 2014.
People are hungry for blogs. People want to read articles, written by humans, about their specific niche expertise and passions. No ads. No filters. No LLM-generated filler.
So, what did you read on Southern Fried Science in 2024? Here are our top ten articles published this year:
10. This is not an article about epoxy river tables.
This was not a post about epoxy river tables, but it was, and sort of wasn’t. Sometimes I write about trends in woodworking and sometimes those trends are a metaphor for everything.
9. Donald Trump and Sharks: An Annotated Timeline
David digs into Donald Trump’s long and confusing relationship with the thing in this world that he fears the most: sharks.
On March 26, a cargo ship crashed into Baltimore’s Key Bridge, causing it to completely collapse. With conspiracy theories begin to run wild, we dug into what we do best: explaining how this weird little corner of our weird little world works to folks who thing things look a little weird.
7. Giant tube worms dwell in the deep places beneath the ocean floor.
In retrospect, of course the article about giant worms borrowing beneath the sea floor that came out the same month as Dune II was destined for greatness. I personally loved the little science art coda in this piece.
6. Here’s what I teach my students about finding jobs in marine biology and conservation
David’s advice to aspiring Marine Biologists is certain to become a perennial classic on this blog.
5. Bluesky is now open. Science Twitter, here’s how to use it!
Bluesky is open for business and scientists flocked to it. David breaks down what it is and why you should use it over the now non-existent Twitter.
Man, this was a weird year for sharks and politics. But, then again, I guess most years are weird years for sharks and politics.
3. Reflecting on my favorite chicken coops.
I don’t know why you were all so into this post, but a lot of folks really enjoyed seeing the evolution of my chicken coop designs over the years. We’ll keep on putting the Southern in Southern Fried Science.
2. A quick and dirty guide to making custom feeds on Bluesky
With Bluesky booming, I put together a set of simple instructions to build a custom feed so that you can find the posts you’re interested in on this new social platform.
And the undisputed heavyweight champion, which clocked more pageviews than the next four articles combined:
1. No, a shark did not get a stingray pregnant. But what really happened is pretty cool!
David tackled the strange case of a pregnant stingray with no mate. In the end, there was no mystery and the stingray wasn’t pregnant.
Seriously, though, I still don’t know what was up with the chicken coop article. I guess in 2025 you want more chickens.