In September, the Trump administration quietly banned scientists employed by the National Institutes of Health from acquiring new human fetal tissue for research. As effects of the ban began to reach research labs later in the year, outraged critics claimed the restraint would impede necessary medical research, such as studies to find a cure for HIV and the Zika virus. But pro-life advocates greeted the measure as a much-needed move to protect the unborn: Fetal tissue for research is usually obtained from aborted fetuses.

These past 12 months, bioengineers produced reams of research studies that continue to show the most efficient designs are those created by God. And researchers steeped in Darwinian evolution continued to make discoveries that pointed away from that theory and toward our great Creator.

Medical discoveries over the past year held the hope of new and better treatments for our ailments, but also brought new ethical challenges. And archaeological studies unearthed artifacts that uphold the truth of Biblical accounts.

The average reindeer may not possess the ability to fly through the air pulling a sleigh full of presents and a jolly man in a red suit, but God gave it, and other species of deer, a unique and impressive ability to rapidly regrow antlers every season. In a study published in October in the Journal of Stem Cell Research and Therapy, scientists reported they discovered two genes that work in concert to make speedy antler regeneration possible.

A recent global warming study shows there’s still a place for skeptics in the world of science.

After a team of climate scientists announced its newly published research showing that the oceans were warming much faster than previously thought, mainstream news outlets ran with the story.

But there was a problem: The study’s math was wrong.

Two researchers who published a groundbreaking study on evolution in May are still pushing back against a creationist interpretation of their work.

In the study, published in Human Evolution, the researchers analyzed gene sequences in 5 million humans and animals from 100,000 different species and concluded that all modern species, including humans, originated from very small groups of ancestors—maybe as few as a single pair. It also showed that all species on earth were about the same age and emerged about 100,000 years ago.

Scientists worldwide are still reeling from the announcement last week that Chinese researcher He Jiankui and his team produced the first genetically edited babies. Within a few days, the Chinese government called a halt to He’s research, and the scientist is now under investigation by various ethical and regulatory bodies in the country.

George Herbert Walker Bush, war hero, Republican statesman, and 41st president of the United States, died Friday night at his Houston home. He was 94 and suffered from a form of Parkinson’s disease that had confined him to a wheelchair since 2012.

Bush began his presidency on Jan. 20, 1989, and led the country during an era of tumultuous foreign politics in a fragile, rapidly changing world. He was a man of traditional values who spoke unashamedly about his faith, loved country music, and sparked a collective national gasp when he admitted he hated broccoli.