I've just recently started a new job which took up most of my thinking space, I didn't really think about any Christmassy posts on my blogs. So come December, Compound Interest started his Christmas 2015 advent calendar which is amazing and a really great way to integrate Christmas into chemistry (go check it out now!) and it also encouraged me to start my own mini-Christmas series. So, I'm starting a countdown till Christmas. For the 12 days till Christmas, I will be choosing something related to Christmas and providing a little interesting scientific story on each Christmas-related thing. The first post in the countdown is on how scientists have found a way to keep Christmas tree needles from falling off. Researchers at Université Laval, in collaboration with Nova Scotia Agricultural College, have discovered what causes Christmas tree needles to drop off, and how to double the lifespan of Christmas trees in homes. The authors reported their findings in a prev