Spiral galaxy M51 seen with the James Webb Space Telescope

ESA/Webb, NASA, and CSA, A. Adamo (Stockholm University)/FEAST JWST Team

From extreme heat to stunning space footage, new scientist covers a wide range of the biggest developments, discoveries and events in science, technology, health and the environment in 2023. Here we summarize some of the best news of the year.

Environment

In July 2023, a forest fire broke out on the Greek island of Rhodes. Angelos Tsolzinis/AFP via Getty Images

The number of heat records broken in 2023 is staggering. We won’t know for sure until next month’s official statistics are released, but there is little doubt that this year was the hottest on record. As a sign that abnormal temperatures continue, new scientist We already reported on this possibility in mid-June, long before summer in the northern hemisphere was in full swing. A few weeks later, a particularly surreal series of events occurred. The average global temperature, which is recorded 2 meters above the Earth’s surface and is basically a way to measure global temperatures, hit an all-time high on July 3rd, which was 7. It was quickly broken on the 4th of May, and then the record was broken on the 5th. July came and the next day it broke again. By the end of August, it was the hottest three months on record, followed by the hottest September on record. In November, researchers announced the hottest 12 months on record. Against this backdrop, negotiations at the COP28 climate change summit held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, were extremely difficult. A key point of disagreement was whether the world would finally take action against fossil fuels, and at one point it looked like the summit might collapse. Ultimately, the world agreed to begin a “transition” away from fossil fuels, but this was the first time fossil fuels were mentioned in a COP document, although what that actually meant was unclear. Many questions remain.

Health

Demand for weight loss drug Wegoby will surge in 2023 Carsten Snejbjerg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

This year’s demand for Wigovy, a weight-loss formulation of semaglutide, has been like no other drug in history. In addition to being incredibly effective for weight loss, early trials this year showed it may reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes and may even help treat addiction. Despite some moralizing about “quick cures” for obesity, and despite drug shortages and difficulty in obtaining them, it is clear that a health revolution has begun. This past year also marked the first time since 2019 that Covid-19 was not on everyone’s mind. The World Health Organization’s announcement on May 5 that the viral disease is no longer a public health emergency means, in a sense, the coronavirus pandemic is over, at least for some people. Millions of people are still experiencing long-term symptoms of COVID-19, which are still poorly understood.

Artificial Intelligence

London writers hold rally in solidarity with striking US screenwriters to protect their jobs from AI Vuk Valcic / Alamy Stock Photo

Roughly counting, new scientist has published around 150 articles on artificial intelligence this year. Tech companies were competing against each other, with OpenAI claiming “human-level performance” for its GPT-4 large-scale language model and Google claiming its Gemini model was even better. There have been concerns about the rise of misinformation through AI, from images of the Pope in a down jacket to the risk of bias feedback loops to attempts to detect AI-generated text. AI has also been the subject of high-level discussions across politics and business. This led to a major stalemate in the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strike, but in November world leaders, researchers and businessmen gathered at Bletchley Park in the UK to sign a declaration on the risks of new technologies. Indeed, this year was the year that AI became mainstream.

Space

The dense center of the Milky Way seen with the James Webb Space Telescope NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Samuel Crow (UVA)

This year’s biggest space mission is also the cheapest, with India’s low-budget Chandrayaan-3 moon landing costing just £60 million. India’s success makes it the fourth country to safely land on the moon, after the United States, the Soviet Union, and China. It also happened just days after a Russian spacecraft crash-landed on the moon in a bid to restore it to its Soviet-era glory. Further out in space, the James Webb Space Telescope continues to shine, providing stunning images and advancing our understanding of the universe, from the fastest-growing galaxies to the most distant black holes ever seen.

Source: www.newscientist.com