Thanks to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, another extraordinary year of news is coming to an end. Much like in 2020, the EL PAÍS newsroom has worked hard to keep the public up to date with all the latest developments in the health crisis, and the English edition has worked just as hard to bring all this news to its readers too.

It should come as no surprise, then, that numerous reports on Covid-19 are among our most read articles of the year, accompanied, of course, by coverage of the spectacular eruption of a new volcano on the Canary Island of La Palma.

But far from the news, the English edition also brought its readers a steady diet of feature articles, on topics ranging from a Brazilian model with Down’s syndrome making her appearance on the catwalk to how the existence of ‘a new planetary body could explain the peculiar motions of celestial objects orbiting beyond Neptune

This is part two of our curated list of the most read feature articles of the year, you can read part one here.

Thank you all for reading, and hope for the good of all that there will be a little less new in 2022 …

10. ‘Money Heist’ star Úrsula Corberó dazzles Jimmy Fallon on his late-night US debut

The Spanish TV show “Money Heist” took the world by storm when it was picked up by Netflix, and the final episodes of its broadcast recently landed on the streaming service. One of the biggest stars to emerge from the phenomenon is Úrsula Corberó, who made a spectacular debut on American late-night talk shows with Jimmy Fallon.

9. I just took a two week trip between Spain and the UK with my family – this is what it looked like and how much it cost

Forgive him autobombo, as the Spaniards would say, but it’s understandable that there has been huge interest in travel restrictions since the coronavirus pandemic hit – in particular, for our readers, between the UK and Spain. In this post from our Trans-Siberian blog, this reporter recounted a family trip to England over Easter, detailing the cost of the Covid testing involved as well as the bizarre post-apocalyptic scenes at Gatwick Airport.

8. The Basque “genetic singularity” confirmed in the largest study ever carried out

An article which examines the largest study ever carried out on nearly 2,000 DNA samples carried out by researchers at the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) in Barcelona, ​​and which has confirmed the “genetic singularity” of the Basques in Europe. Interestingly, this story found most readers in the United States.

7. Gone with the Wind star’s Spanish fan Vivien Leigh to auction rare memorabilia

Elvira Clara Bonet, of Barcelona, ​​maintained a ten-year correspondence with Hollywood legend Vivien Leigh and amassed a collection of personal items that were to go under the hammer earlier this year.

6. The submarine “hot spot” feeding the volcano of La Palma will create new islands

Our stories about the eruption of the new La Palma volcano have been hugely popular with readers around the world, but neither has this one, which examines how the Canary Islands formed and what is likely to happen to them there. ‘to come up.

5. The British WWI spy who lived on an ancient treasure on a Spanish islet

Hugh Borthwick, the Scotsman who owned the Fraile outcrop in the 1910s, was unaware of the Roman and Islamic remains at his feet: he was too busy watching passing German warships. This is his story.

4. Planet X: a new member of the Solar System club?

Astronomers are studying “strange” movements that led in 2016 to the theory of the existence of an additional planet beyond the orbit of Neptune which has not yet been detected. This potential planet has become colloquially known as Planet 9 or Planet X. As with many of our science stories, this one turned out to be a viral hit.

3. Maju de Araújo, the Brazilian model with Down’s syndrome who walks on the catwalk

19-year-old Maria Julia de Araújo is a model who measures less than five feet, well below the usual height required for the catwalks. She doesn’t have a slender body like the top models who cover magazines all over the world. She has long, straight hair, brown almond eyes and an easy smile. Despite everything, Maju, as she is called, has become a model of international renown.

2. “We will die of bacterial infections resistant to antibiotics within a decade”

“If we do nothing, 20 years from now the antibiotics that exist today will not be able to treat the infections that we have. It will be the next pandemic. This is what Edith Heard, director of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, explained in this interview with EL PAÍS.

1. A room, a bar and a classroom: how the coronavirus is spread in the air

Unsurprisingly, our Most Read Story of 2020 is also our Most Read Story of 2021. This groundbreaking article has been viewed over 20 million times in its original Spanish version, has been translated from Spanish into six different languages ​​and has crossed borders with his concise and visual way of explaining how the coronavirus is transmitted through aerosols. He has also won a number of awards, including the Kavli Science Award, considered the Pulitzer of science journalism.