Like the canary in the coal mine, lakes in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York are harbingers of peril.

Lake "browning" - when dissolved organic matter from forests turns water the color of tea - combined with a warming climate is making the bottoms of many lakes in the Adirondacks inhospitable in summer for cold-water fish such as trout, salmon and whitefish, according to a Jan. 2 Cornell Chronicle storythat became our most viewed story of 2024. The research was from the lab of Peter McIntyre, Ph.D. '06, associate professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Stories about groundbreaking research, such as exoplanets potentially harboring life and mushroom-controlled biohybrid robots, shared space on the Chronicle's most-viewed list with stories about Cornell, including the retirement of President Martha E. Pollack.

Here is a rundown of the most popular of the roughly 800 stories posted since Jan. 1.