We're nearing the end of another news-filled year. Take an entertaining and informative look back at 2014 as we benefit from the wisdom of the WNPR audience: below are ten most-viewed stories you shouldn't miss from our newsroom.
10. Listen: How the Internet Works
Have you ever wondered how your favorite cat video reaches your computer? Some questions stump even the most techno-savvy adults.
9. Jimmy Greene Mourns Daughter’s Tragic Death While Celebrating Her Beautiful Life
The great jazz saxophonist, whose life was shattered by the murder of his beloved six-year-old daughter, created a triumphant new album titled Beautiful Life.
8. How One Connecticut School Went From Funeral Parlor to Top Arts School in the Nation
Now approaching its 30th year, the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts has gracefully evolved.
7. Hartford Student, Born in a Nepali Refugee Camp, Prepares for College
Bishnu Khatiwada was born to a world of bamboo huts, food rations, and dirt roads. Now a senior at Hartford's Journalism and Media Academy Magnet School, she was once kicked out of Bhutan and lived in the confines of Nepal's refugee camps.
6. Why a Banker is Re-opening a Textile Mill in Connecticut
Investment banker Jacob Harrison Long bought the American Woolen Company, and located in one of just two available mills in the country that manufacture woolen and worsted fabrics: historic Warren Mills in Stafford Springs.
5. Physics 101: Why Did the Universe Blow Up?
Why did the universe balloon by 100 trillion trillion times, in less than the blink of an eye, 13.8 billion years ago?
4. Why Everyone Who Loves Public Radio Should Thank Tom Magliozzi
Car Talk completely flipped upside-down the idea of what public radio was supposed to sound like. In doing so, it gave us our one true, top-of-the-charts hit.
3. Why Half of Connecticut’s Residents Want to Move to Another State
About half of Connecticut's residents would move to a different state if given the chance, according to a Gallup poll conducted in all 50 states last year.
2. For Sale: Abandoned Connecticut Village
For 20 years, Johnsonville has been abandoned. The village went up for auction, and eventually sold for $1.9 million.
1. Listen Closely: There’s Something Hidden in This Hummingbird’s Chirp
When Alejandro Rico-Guevara wanted to capture male hummingbirds fighting over potential mates, he recorded them with a high-speed camera, and then slowed the tape way down. That's when he discovered something mysterious inside each chirp.