Prime Minister Boris Johnson surprised the United Kingdom this weekend by announcing tough new coronavirus restrictions in some areas just days after saying such measures would be “inhuman.” But at the close of an unpredictable and unprecedented year, the British leader’s U-turn on holiday season travel and gatherings was just one more in a series of rosy predictions and failed promises. Here’s a short review:

Why did humans’ brains surpass chimps’? A tiny foe might help explain it
Eating too much sugar on antibiotics could squash helpful gut bacteria
Electric stoves could help people with asthma breathe easier
A nanoparticle revealed the tiny impact of a single gas atom
Was van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’ a flight of fancy or a real sky?
This ‘living drug’ could change the course of autoimmune disease
Yemen: Deepening concerns for Taiz City as aid is blocked from entering
‘Burden and loss’ builds in DR Congo, as Kenya strengthens Ebola containment