2022 in science

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The following scientific events occurred or are scheduled to occur in 2022.

Events

January

Main article: January–March 2022 in science § January

February

Main article: January–March 2022 in science § February

March

March 2022 in science

1 March Researchers report the development of a solar panel integrated system that, using a hydrogel, cools the panel or produces fresh water to irrigate enclosed crops beneath. Atmospheric scientists report that the 2022 volcano eruption in Tonga, Pacific Ocean – the largest recorded volcanic eruption since 1991 which eruption reportedly cooled global climate by ~0.6°C during 15 months – did not have a cooling effect (volcanic winter) of significance to global climate change (i.e. a cooling of ~0.004°C during the first year). 2 March – Researchers report the development of a system that combines the MOST solar thermal energy storage system with a chip-sized thermoelectric generator to generate electricity from it. 4 March – A study using brain-scans of 36,678 UK Biobank participants shows that negative associations between alcohol intake and brain macrostructure and microstructure are apparent in individuals consuming an average of "one to two daily alcohol units" that some may consider light or moderate consumption. A study of 371,463 UK Biobank participants' cardiovascular health published on 25 March shows that while "light to moderate alcohol consumption was associated with healthier lifestyle factors" than in alcohol-abstainers, adjustment for such factors suggests that in principle minimizing alcohol intake could lower risks for (or negative effects towards) hypertension and coronary artery disease for everybody. 7 March Pig calls are decoded into positive or negative emotions, using an algorithm based on ~7,000 audio recordings classified by an artificial neural network for potential use in farms. A new cellular rejuvenation therapy of bursts of iPSC reprogramming is reported, which can reverse aspects of aging in mice, without causing cancer or other health problems. Researchers report that more than three-quarters of the Amazon rainforest has been losing resilience due to deforestation and climate change since the early 2000s as measured by recovery-time from short-term perturbations ("critical slowing down" (CSD)), reinforcing the theory that it is approaching a critical transition. On March 11, INPE reports satellite data that show record-high levels of Amazon deforestation in Brazil for a February (199 km²). Scientists report how COVID-19 impacts the brain at least temporarily based on brain-scans and cognitive tests of 785 UK Biobank participants (401 positive cases), including grey matter thickness- and brain size-reductions. Researchers report the first artificial parthenogenesis in mammals (viable mice offspring born from unfertilized eggs). A study suggests that half of the US population has been exposed to substantially detrimental lead levels in early childhood – mainly from car exhaust whose lead pollution peaked in the 1970s. Researchers report the development of 3D-printed nano-"skyscraper" electrodes that house cyanobacteria for extracting substantially more sustainable bioenergy from their photosynthesis than before. Researchers report that the widely used supplements glycine and NAC when combined as "GlyNAC", which previously showed various beneficial effects in humans i.a. in a small trial by the authors, can extend lifespan by 24% in mice when taken at old age. Progress in biomarkers-based cancer screening is reported: researchers estimate risks for prostate cancer based on age, PSA and hK2 (7 Mar). Researchers achieve high prediction accuracy for pancreatic cancer using faecal microbiota biomarkers (8 Mar). A cancer test that checks for more mutations than ever before in one tissue sample is launched by a biotech-company (15 Mar). The first clinical test of a technology to detect early-stage cancer via novel biomarkers of extracellular vesicles concludes with promising results, possibly reaching screening-relevant sensitivities at high specificity at least for pancreatic cancer (17 Mar). Using drug discovery artificial intelligence algorithms, researchers generate 40,000 potential chemical weapon candidates, which may be relevant to timely regulation of chemicals and related products that can be used to manufacture the fraction of viable candidates and either illustrates or proves that such software is dual-use technology. 8 March – Researchers report SARS-CoV-2 variant recombinant viruses that contain elements of Delta and Omicron – Deltacron (also called "Deltamicron"). Recombination occurs when a virus combines parts from a related virus with its genetic sequence as it assembles copies of itself. It is unclear whether Deltacron – which is not to be confused with "Deltacron" reported in January – will be able to compete with Omicron and whether that would be detrimental to health. 9 March Researchers in the Antarctic announce they have found Endurance, one of the greatest ever undiscovered shipwrecks, which sank in 1915 during Ernest Shackleton's exploration. Doctors report that an antiseptic drug reduced recurring urinary tract infections in a trial as effectively as antibiotics whose prevalent use is implicated in antimicrobial resistance. Researchers report that, on average, the elderly played "a leading role in driving up GHG emissions in the past decade and are on the way to becoming the largest contributor" due to factors such as demographic transition, low informed concern about climate change and high expenditures on carbon-intensive products like energy which is used i.a. for heating rooms and private transport. Results from a study imply "that all living cells probably possess a common mechanism of [methane] formation". This universal mechanism is based on interactions among ROS, iron and methyl donors. Scientists demonstrate limits and the scale of challenge of genetic-editing-based de-extinction, suggesting resources spent on more comprehensive de-extinction such as of the woolly mammoth may currently not be well allocated and substantially limited. Using graphene and molybdenum disulfide, Chinese scientists create a transistor gate with a length of 0.34 nm, equivalent to just one carbon atom, by exploiting the vertical aspect of the device. 10 March A study estimates that "relocating current croplands to [environmentally] optimal locations, whilst allowing ecosystems in then-abandoned areas to regenerate, could simultaneously decrease the current carbon, biodiversity, and irrigation water footprint of global crop production by 71%, 87%, and 100%", with relocation only within national borders also having substantial potential. A study reports that excess mortality data suggests that between Jan 1, 2020, and Dec 31, 2021, ~18.2 million people died worldwide because of the COVID-19 pandemic (compared to 5.94 million reported deaths). It notes that further research could help distinguish the proportions directly caused by COVID-19 from those caused by indirect consequences of the pandemic. 11 March – Researchers demonstrate electrostatic dust removal from solar panels. 12 March – Biomedical gerontologists demonstrate a mechanism of anti-aging senolytics, in particular of Dasatinib plus Quercetin (D+Q) – an increase of α-Klotho as shown in mice, human cells and in a human trial. 14 March – Impact and reactions to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine in science: at least one journal enacts a immediate publishing boycotts against Russia-located researchers or institutions (before 14 Mar). Researchers caution that a surge of various diseases is to be expected due to the war (15 Mar). Scientists warn that policy-makers should not abandon sustainable farming practices to increase grain production in response to resulting food insecurity, but change "the demand side which can lead to both a more resilient and more sustainable global food system" (18 Mar) – such as limiting the import of animal feed (10 Mar) – and e.g. expanding wheat production in high-productivity areas (22 Mar). Scientists explain why the Ukraine biolabs conspiracy theory is disinformation (11 Mar). Scientists describe dangers of nuclear energy facilities within war-zones and bombing/shelling of or near them – as well as of waste-sites – by Russia. 15 March – Neuroscientists report that mutations that enable people to naturally sleep as short as five hours reduce Alzheimer's pathology in mice. On 17 March, a study reports that longer and more frequent daytime naps appears to be associated with higher risk of Alzheimer's dementia. 16 March Researchers report that over 80% of the growth of methane emissions during 2010–2019 was caused by tropical terrestrial emissions. Results of a study suggest that many earlier brain–phenotype studies ("BWAS") produced invalid conclusions as reproducibility of such studies requires samples from thousands of individuals due to small effect sizes. 18 March Neuroscientists report that in mice suppression of claustrum appears to attenuate anxiety/stress and increase chronic stress-resistance. Scientists report evolution experiments of self-replicating RNA showing a segment of how life may have emerged on Earth (abiogenesis) e.g. from RNA world conditions – from the long self-replicating RNA chemicals to diverse complex molecules. 21 March The number of confirmed exoplanets exceeds 5,000. Before formal publication of the 'Global Carbon Budget 2021' preprint, scientists report, based on Carbon Monitor data, that after COVID-19-pandemic-caused record-level declines in 2020, global CO2 emissions rebounded sharply by 4.8% in 2021, indicating that at the current trajectory, the 1.5 °C carbon budget would be used up within 9.5 years with a ⅔ likelihood. 24 March: Scientists describe and quantify the biophysical mechanisms by which forests influence climate. 23 March – A far-UVC (ultraviolet light) air purification system is demonstrated by scientists, which can reduce levels of an airborne pathogen by 98% within minutes. This is equivalent to 184 air changes per hour – better than HEPA air cleaners – and is proposed as a solution for COVID-19 and other future pandemics. On 9 March, a study reports promising results of tests of durably biocide treated air filters for preventing the spread of airborne pathogens like SARS-CoV-2, including of field trials onboard public rail transport. 24 March A physical speed limit for electronic computers, optoelectronics, of approximately one petahertz (1015 Hz) is reported. This theoretical maximum is about 100,000 times faster than modern transistors. Scientists review the biophysical mechanisms by which forests influence climate, showing that beyond 50°N large scale deforestation leads to a net global cooling, that tropical deforestation leads to substantial warming from non-CO2-impacts, and that as well as how standing tropical forests help cool the average global temperature by more than 1 °C. Researchers report the development of the first prototype, photonic, quantum memristive device for neuromorphic (quantum-)computers/artificial neural networks. 25 March – Genetic engineers report field test results that show CRISPR-based gene knockout of KRN2 in maize and OsKRN2 in rice increased grain yields by ~10% and ~8% and did not find any negative effects. 30 March – WHL0137-LS, also known as Earendel, is reported as the farthest individual star ever discovered, its light having taken 12.9 billion years to reach Earth. 31 March Astronomers report the discovery of K2-2016-BLG-0005Lb as the most distant exoplanet found by Kepler to date, at 17,000 light years. Depletion of ozone in the stratosphere and, more importantly (60%), ozone increase in the troposphere is shown to be responsible for ~30% of upper Southern Ocean interior warming between 1955 and 2000.

April

• 1 April
  • Biochemists report finishing the complete sequence of the human genome.
  • A study shows that, contrary to widespread belief, body sizes of mammal extinction survivors of the dinosaur-times extinction event were the first to evolutionarily increase, with brain sizes increasing later in the Eocene.
• 4 April
  • The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) releases the third and final part of its Sixth Assessment Report on climate change, warning that greenhouse gas emissions must peak before 2025 at the latest and decline 43% by 2030, in order to likely limit global warming to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F).
  • Researchers announce a new technique for accelerating the development of vaccines and other pharmaceutical products by up to a million times, using much smaller quantities based on DNA nanotechnology.
  • Alzheimer's disease (AD) research progress:
    A study reports 42 new genes linked to an increased risk of AD. Researchers report a potential primary mechanism of sleep disturbance as an early-stage effect of neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers identify several genes associated with changes in brain structure over lifetime and potential AD therapy-targets (5 Apr).

5 April: A study suggests that if "quintessence" is an explanation for dark-energy and current data is true as well, the world may start to end within the next 100 My, during which accelerating expansion of the Universe would inverse to contraction (a cyclic model).

• 5 April
  • COVID-19 pandemic: Preclinical data for a new vaccine developed at the Medical University of Vienna indicates it is effective against all SARS-CoV-2 variants known to date, including Omicron.
  • A study presents a mechanism by which the hypothesized potential dark-energy-explaining quintessence, if true, would smoothly cause the accelerating expansion of the Universe to inverse to contraction, possibly within the cosmic near-future (100 My) given current data. It concludes that its end-time scenario theory fits "naturally with cyclic cosmologies [(each a theory of cycles of universe originations and ends, rather than the theories of one Big Bang beginning of the Universe/multiverse, to which authors were major contributors)] and recent conjectures about quantum gravity".

6 April: The first known dinosaur fossil linked to the actual day of the Chicxulub impact is reported.

• 6 April
  • U.S. Space Command, based on information collected from its planetary defense sensors, confirms the detection of the first known interstellar object. The purported interstellar meteorite, technically known as CNEOS 2014-01-08, impacted Earth in 2014, and was determined, based on its hyperbolic trajectory and estimated initial high velocity, to be from beyond the Solar System. The 2014 meteorite was detected three years earlier than the more recent and widely known interstellar objects, ʻOumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019.
  • The first known dinosaur fossil linked to the very day of the Chicxulub impact is reported by paleontologists at the Tanis site in North Dakota.
  • One science journalist reflects on the global management of the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to science, investigating the question "Why the WHO took two years to say COVID is airborne" – a finding hundreds of scientists reaffirmed in an open letter in July 2020 – with one indication that this may be one valid major concern to many expert scientists being several writings published by news outlets.
  • A study decodes electrical communication between fungi into word-like components via spiking characteristics.
  • Researchers demonstrate semi-automated testing for reproducibility (which is lacking especially in cancer research) via extraction of statements about experimental results in, as of 2022 non-semantic, gene expression cancer research papers and subsequent testing with breast cancer cell lines via robot scientist "Eve".

6 April: A study decodes electrical communication between fungi into word-like components.

• 7 April
  • Astronomers report the discovery of HD1, considered to be the earliest and most distant known galaxy yet identified in the observable universe, located only about 330 million years after the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, a light-travel distance of 13.5 billion light-years from Earth, and, due to the expansion of the universe, a present proper distance of 33.4 billion light-years.
  • Physicists from the Collider Detector at Fermilab determine the mass of the W boson with a precision of 0.01%. The result hints at a flaw in the Standard Model.
  • A trial of estimated financial energy cost of refrigerators alongside EU energy-efficiency class (EEEC) labels online finds that the approach of labels involves a trade-off between financial considerations and higher cost requirements in effort or time for the product-selection from the many available options which are often unlabelled and don't have any EEEC-requirement for being bought, used or sold within the EU.
• 8 April
  • Bioresearchers demonstrate an in vitro method (MPTR) for rejuvenation (including the transcriptome and epigenome) reprogramming in which fibroblast skin cells temporarily lose their cell identity.
  • Researchers show air pollution in fast-growing tropical cities caused ~0.5 million earlier deaths in 2018 with a substantial recent and projected rise, proposing "regulatory action targeting emerging anthropogenic sources".
• 11 April – A study confirms antidepressant potential of psilocybin therapy protocols (which use the active ingredient in psilocybin mushrooms), providing fMRI data about a correlated likely major effect mechanism – global increases in brain network integration.
• 12 April – Science and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine:
  An editorial in a scientific journal reports that relevant areas of food system research are patchy and lack independent assessments. An editorial projects significant gender and age imbalance in the population in Ukraine as a substantial problem if most refugees, as in other cases, do not return over time (4 Apr). A preprint reports impacts of the Ukrainian power grid synchronization with Continental Europe (15 Apr).

22 April: A study outlines rationale for space governance of satellites/space debris similar to terrestrial environmental regulations.

• 14 April
  • GNz7q, a distant starburst galaxy, is reported as being a "missing link" between supermassive black holes and the evolution of quasars.
  • A study describes the impact of climate change on the survival of cacti. It finds that 60% of species will experience a reduction in favourable climate by 2050–2070, with epiphytes having the greatest exposure to increased warming.
  • A preprint demonstrates how backdoors can be placed undetectably into classifying (e.g. posts as "spam" or well-visible "not spam") machine learning models which are often developed and/or trained by third parties. Parties can change the classification of any input, including in cases with types of data/software transparency, possibly including white-box access.

26 April: Results of the 'Global Carbon Budget 2021' pass peer-review, showing problematic continuation of GHG emissions trends.

• 16 April – A review suggests that global prevalence of long COVID conditions after infection could be as high as 43%, with the most common symptoms being fatigue and memory problems.
• 19 April – NASA publishes its Planetary Science Decadal Survey for 2023-2032. The future mission recommendations include a Uranus orbiter (the first visit to the planet since 1986) and the Enceladus Orbilander (landing in the early 2050s).
• 20 April
  • Micronovae, a previously unknown class of thermonuclear explosions on the surface of white dwarfs, are described for the first time.
  • A study shows that common single-use plastic products – such as paper coffee cups that are lined with a thin plastic film inside – release trillions of microplastics-nanoparticles per liter into water during normal use.
• 21 April – Researchers discover that humans are interrupting a 66-million-year-old feature of ecosystems, the relationship between diet and body mass, by driving the largest vertebrate animals towards extinction, which they suggest could have unpredictable consequences.
• 22 April
  • The Large Hadron Collider recommences full operations, three years after being shut down for upgrades.
  • Scientists suggest in a study that space governance of satellites/space debris should regulate the current free externalization of true costs and risks, with orbital space around the Earth being an "additional ecosystem" which should be subject to regulations as e.g. oceans on Earth.
  • Cancer research progress:
    The largest study of whole cancer genomes reports 58 new mutational signatures and shows that for each organ "cancers have a limited number of common signatures and a long tail of rare signatures". A study reports presence of certain bacteria in the prostate and urine for aggressive forms of prostate cancer, with biomarker- and therapeutic potentials being unclear (18 Apr).
• 25 April
  • Novel foods such as under-development cultured meat, existing microbial foods and ground-up insects are shown to have the potential to reduce environmental impacts by over 80% in a study.
  • A review about meat and sustainability of food systems, animal welfare, and healthy nutrition concludes that its consumption has to be reduced substantially for sustainable consumption and names broad potential measures such as "restrictions or fiscal mechanisms".
  • A new type of cell death 'erebosis' is reported after copper-dependent cell death was first reported the previous month.
• 26 April
  • Scientists report the detection of purine and pyrimidine nucleobases in several meteorites, including guanine, adenine, cytosine, uracil and thymine, and claim that such meteoritic nucleobases could serve as "building blocks of DNA and RNA on the early Earth".
  • The Global Carbon Budget 2021 concludes that fossil CO₂ emissions rebounded by around +4.8% relative to 2020 emissions – returning to 2019 levels, identifies three major issues for improving reliable accuracy of monitoring, shows that China and India surpassed 2019 levels (by 5.7% and 3.2%) while the EU and the US stayed beneath 2019 levels (by 5.3% and 4.5%), quantifies various changes and trends, for the first time provides models' estimates that are linked to the official country GHG inventories reporting, and shows that the remaining carbon budget at 1. Jan 2022 for a 50% likelihood to limit global warming to 1.5 °C is 120 GtC (420 GtCO₂) – or 11 years of 2021 emissions levels.
  • Scientists propose and preliminarily evaluate a likely transgressed planetary boundary for green water in the water cycle, measured by root-zone soil moisture deviation from Holocene variability. A study published one day earlier integrates "green water" along with "blue water" into an index to measure and project water scarcity in agriculture for climate change scenarios.
• 27 April
  • A lineage of H3N8 bird flu is found to infect humans for the first time, with a case reported in the Henan province of China. Months earlier, H5 strain bird flu viruses (HPAIv) have been detected in Canada and the US.
  • A study extends global assessments of shares of species threatened by extinction with reptiles, which often play functional roles in their respective ecosystems, indicating at least 21% are threatened by extinction. One day later, scientists quantify global and local mass extinction risks of marine life from climate change and conservation potentials.
  • Researchers report routes for recycling 200 industrial waste chemicals into important drugs and agrochemicals using a software for computer-aided chemical synthesis design, helping enable "circular chemistry" as a potential area of a circular economy.
• 28 April
  • A comprehensive review reaffirms likely beneficial health effects with links to health/life extension of cycles of caloric restriction and intermittent fasting as well as reducing meat consumption in humans. It identifies issues with contemporary nutrition research approaches, proposing a multi-pillar approach, and summarizes findings towards constructing – multi-system-considering and at least age-personalized dynamic – refined longevity diets and proposes inclusion of such in standard preventive healthcare.
  • A company reports results of a phase 3 clinical trial, indicating that tirzepatide could be used for substantial weight loss – possibly larger than the, as of 2022 also expensive, semaglutide approved by the FDA in 2021 – in obese people.
  • Researchers publish projections for interspecies viral sharing, that can lead to novel viral spillovers, due to ongoing climate change-caused range-shifts of mammals (mostly bats) for use in efforts of pandemic prevention.

May

12 May: Sagittarius A*, black hole in the center of the Milky Way, revealed by the Event Horizon Telescope team

• 1 May
  • A preprint indicates Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 can cause a large share of reinfections, beyond the increase of reinfections caused by the Omicron lineage, even for people who were infected by Omicron BA.1 due to increases in immune evasion, especially for the unvaccinated. On 18 May, a study shows that immunity from an Omicron infection for unvaccinated and previously uninfected is weak "against non-Omicron variants".
  • A preprint suggests that SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in or transmitted through the air are an unrecognized mechanism by which, transferred, passive immune protection occurs. However, if not sustained, protection from passive herd immunity is thought to wane over the course of weeks to months.
• 4 May
  • NASA reports the sonification (converting astronomical data associated with pressure waves into sound) of the black hole at the center of the Perseus galaxy cluster.
  • A single master gene that programs ear hair cells into either outer or inner ones is discovered, overcoming a major hurdle that had prevented the development of these cells to reverse hearing loss.
  • A study complements life-cycle assessment studies, showing substantial deforestation reduction (56%) and climate change mitigation if only 20% of per-capita beef was replaced by microbial protein by 2050.
  • A study suggests, using an epidemiological model, that by reducing the transferred viral load, face masks against COVID19 may be beneficial for variolation whereby "smaller infectious doses tend to yield milder infections, yet ultimately induce similar levels of immunity".
• 5 May
  • The monthly average carbon dioxide (CO₂) level in Earth's atmosphere exceeds 420 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in recorded history.
  • A new approach to reverse of neuropathic pain is demonstrated in animals – a gene therapy for local transgenes encoding for (releasing) GABA which is effective for months at a time.
  • A study demonstrates that a 30% caloric restriction extended life spans of male C57BL/6J mice by 10% but when combined with daily intermittent fasting and eating during the most active time of the day it extended life span by 35%.

12 May: Researchers identify the 425 biggest fossil fuel extraction projects globally, 40% of which haven't yet started extraction, that threaten climate change mitigation of global climate goals.

• 6 May
  • Scientists report the discovery of 830 million year old microorganisms in fluid inclusions within halite that may, potentially, still be alive. According to the researchers, "This study has implications for the search for life in both terrestrial and extraterrestrial chemical sedimentary rocks."
  • Low butyrylcholinesterase specific activity is identified as a potential biomarker for infants at risk for sudden infant death syndrome in a small crowd-funded study.
• 8 May – The UK's Met Office warns, with WMO affirmation, that the probability of global average temperatures reaching 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels over the next five years is now almost 50:50 (48%). It also predicts a more than 90% chance that a new record high will occur in at least one year from 2022-2026.
• 9 May
  • A study reports that declining numbers of the largest fish on Earth, the endangered whale shark, may be linked to collisions with large vessels in the global transport fleet.
  • News outlets report about the first global, interactive AI- and satellite monitoring-based, map and analysis of plastic waste sites to help prevention of plastic pollution, especially ocean pollution.
• 10 May – A sixth mass bleaching event is recorded at the Great Barrier Reef, with 91% of corals affected.

18 May and 2 May: Two separate studies show how two twin-universe cosmological models could each explain specific open problems of physics or cosmology.

• 11 May
  • A logic gate for computation at femtosecond timescales is demonstrated.
  • A study shows that infusing the nourishing cerebrospinal fluid from around brain cells of young mice into aged brains rejuvenates aspects of the brain, identifying FGF17 as a key target for potential therapeutics such as of anti-aging.
  • Scientists close a missing link in the potential origin of life from a RNA world – synergistic formation of peptides and ever-longer RNAs or peptide-decorated RNA, leading to a protein world.
  • A study suggests that in children at age 8–12 during two years, time gaming or watching digital videos can be positively correlated with measures intelligence, albeit correlations with overall screen time (including social media, socializing and TV) were not investigated and 'time gaming' did not differentiate between categories of video games (e.g. shares of games' platform and genre).
• 12 May
  • Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, is imaged for the first time by the Event Horizon Telescope team.
  • Researchers report that lunar soil has been used to grow plants for the first time.
  • Researchers identify the 425 biggest fossil fuel extraction projects globally, of which 40% as of 2020 are new projects that haven't yet started extraction. They conclude that "defusing" these "carbon bombs" – worked on by only "few actors" to date – would be necessary for climate change mitigation of global climate goals. On 17 May, a separate study finds that "staying within a 1.5 °C carbon budget (50% probability) implies leaving almost 40% of 'developed reserves' of fossil fuels unextracted". On 26 May, a study calculates climate policies-induced future lost financial profits from global stranded fossil-fuel assets.
• 17 May
  • Isotopically pure silicon-28 nanowires are shown to conduct heat 150% better than regular silicon, with potential for improved cooling of computer chips.
  • According to reports, the partly-public 2022 United States Congress hearings on UFOs may result in the UAP issue being approached more seriously, such as for a scientific public pursuit for answers and an increased interest from scientists. Known ongoing scientific research is conducted by non-profit groups of researchers that use or develop expensive equipment for new high-quality data rather than analyzing or systematically organizing public data.
  • A review concludes that, like in 2015, pollution (¾ from air pollution) was responsible for 9 million premature deaths in 2019 (one in six deaths). It concludes that little real progress against pollution can be identified and outlines needs for attention and action such as a "formal science–policy interface".
  • A trial shows that Urolithin A can improve muscle strength, exercise performance, and biomarkers of mitochondrial health.
• 18 May
  • NASA reports that the Voyager 1 spacecraft, the farthest human-made object, is sending data that does not reflect what is happening on board with the antenna apparently remaining in its prescribed orientation to Earth. On 17 June, it was reported that NASA is preparing to power down the two Voyager spacecraft in the hope of using the remaining power to extend their operation to about 2030.
  • A study shows how a Twin-world models cosmological model – already extensively studied to find out why gravity appears much weaker than other known forces – could explain the Hubble constant (H₀) tension via interactions between the two worlds. The "mirror world" would contain copies of all existing fundamental particles. On 2 May, another twin/pair-world or "bi-worlds" cosmology is shown to theoretically be able to solve the cosmological constant (Λ) problem, closely related to dark energy: two interacting worlds with a large Λ each resulting in a small shared effective Λ. Previous similar models e.g. attempt to explain the baryon asymmetry – why there was more matter than antimatter at the beginning – with a mirror anti-universe.

21 May: Graphyne is synthesised for the first time.

• 19 May
  • Scientists report that RNA was found to be formed spontaneously on prebiotic basalt lava glass which is presumed to have been abundantly available on the early Earth.
  • The yellow-billed hornbill of southern Africa, famous for its role in Disney's The Lion King, is reported to be at risk of extinction due to rising temperatures in the region.
  • Boeing starts the one-week second uncrewed test flight of its Starliner space capsule in advance of its first crewed test flight later in 2022.
  • A study estimates losses of 61 metals to help the development of circular economy strategies, showing that usespans of, often scarce, tech-critical metals are short.
• 20 May – Global warming is projected to substantially erode sleep worldwide.

21 May: The World Health Organization confirms a monkeypox outbreak in 12 non-endemic countries.

• 21 May
  • Graphyne is reported to be synthesised for the first time.
  • The WHO informs about the international 2022 monkeypox outbreak in non-endemic countries – an unprecedented number of cases detected outside of Africa after the first of these cases was detected on 6 May. On 24 May, the WHO states that the outbreak can be contained. The main method used for the early containment is 'ring vaccination' – vaccinating close contacts of positive cases via existing vaccines.
• 23 May
  • Researchers report that CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing has been used to boost vitamin D in tomatoes.
  • A study shows why decarbonization must be accompanied by strategies to reduce the levels of short-lived climate pollutants with near-term effects for climate goals.
• 24 May
  • Scientists report the first 3D-printed lab-grown wood. It is unclear if it could ever be used on a commercial scale (e.g. with sufficient production efficiency and quality).
  • A CDC study based on electronic health records shows that "one in five COVID-19 survivors aged 18–64 years and one in four survivors aged ≥65 years experienced at least one incident condition that might be attributable to previous COVID-19" or long COVID. On 18 May, an analysis of private healthcare claims shows that of 78,252 patients diagnosed with 'long COVID', 75.8% had not been hospitalized for COVID-19.
• 25 May – The world's smallest remote-controlled walking robot, measuring just half a millimetre wide, is demonstrated. Potential applications include the clearing of blocked arteries.
• 26 May – A climate change study reveals that storms in the Southern Hemisphere have already reached intensity levels previously predicted to occur only in the year 2080.

30 May: Frontier is confirmed as the world's first exascale supercomputer.

• 27 May
  • A new compact CRISPR gene editing tool better suited for therapeutic (temporary) RNA editing than Cas13 is reported, Cas7-11, – of which an early version was used for in vitro editing in 2021.
  • Science and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine:
    According to a news report academics in Russia are compiling or circulating a list of researchers who have supported Russia's invasion to prevent them from being elected to the Russian Academy of Sciences. An editorial published in a journal notes that remote surgery and types of videoconferencing for sharing expertise (e.g. ad hoc assistance) have been and could be used to support doctors in Ukraine (3 May). A forum contribution analyzes Russian users' reactions to the Bucha massacre on social media – on nationalist Telegram channels (9 May). The FAO estimates that "at least 20 percent of Ukraine's winter crops" "may not be harvested or planted" (13 May). A preprint estimates potential impacts of the EU embargoing fossil fuels from Russia, suggesting implementing such via a partial embargo with tariffs may be beneficial (25 May).
• 28 May – A new direct air capture system using isophorone diamine is demonstrated, able to remove carbon dioxide with 99% efficiency and more than twice as fast as existing systems.
• 30 May – Frontier is announced by Oak Ridge National Laboratory as the world's first exascale supercomputer.
• 31 May – Success of record-long (3 days rather than usually <12 hours) of human transplant organ preservation with machine perfusion of a liver is reported. It could possibly be extended to 10 days and prevent substantial cell damage by low temperature preservation methods. On the same day, a separate study reports new cryoprotectant solvents, tested with cells, that could preserve organs by the latter methods for much longer with substantially reduced damage.

June

1 June: A study substantiates a novel theory of ageing – clonal diversity loss of hematopoietic stem cells – which could enable healthy aging.

3 June: The global CO₂ level exceeds the milestone of being 50% greater than in the pre-industrial era

• 1 June – A study shows the clonal diversity of stem cells that produce blood cells gets drastically reduced around age 70 to a faster-growing few, substantiating a novel theory of ageing which could enable healthy aging.
• 2 June – First success of a clinical trial for a 3D bioprinted transplant, an external ear to treat microtia, that is made from the patient's own cells is reported.
• 3 June – The NOAA reports that the global concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere is now 50% greater than in pre-industrial times, and is likely at a level last seen 4.1 to 4.5 million years ago, at 421 parts per million (ppm).
• 5 June – Progress in the treatment of cancer:
  A very small trial shows complete remission of a type of colorectal cancer without surgery and radiation in all 12 patients. On the same day, results of a trial show that trastuzumab deruxtecan therapy for HER2-low metastatic breast cancer exceeded results from chemotherapy. The synthesis of ERX-41, a novel compound that has shown promise in eliminating cancer cells, is reported (2 June). Researchers describe a new light-activated 'photoimmunotherapy' for brain cancer in vitro. They believe it could join surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy as a fifth major form of cancer treatment (16 June).
• 6 June – Cats are added to the list of animals that can get SARS-CoV-2 and spread it back to humans, albeit the transmission is considered uncommon and not to be a source of variants of concern since the August 2021 detection.

24 June: Early 2022 monkeypox outbreak research finds the "presumably slow-evolving" DNA virus has evolved roughly 6–12-fold more mutations than one would expect.

24 June: NASA publishes images showing an unexpected double crater from what is thought to be the first time human space debris – likely by a spent rocket body – unintentionally hit the lunar surface on 4 March.

• 8 June
  • Observation of the axial Higgs mode, a Higgs boson-like excitation in a charge density wave material, is reported. It was incorrectly reported in some press releases as a dark matter particle.
  • Scientists provide an overview of the capabilities of missions and observatories for detecting various alien technosignatures.
• 9 June
  • A study estimates the air pollution impacts on climate change and the ozone layer from rocket launches and re-entry of reusable components and debris in 2019 and from a theoretical future space industry extrapolated from the "billionaire space race". It concludes that substantial effects from routine space tourism should "motivate regulation".
  • Researchers report a robotic finger covered in a type of manufactured living human skin. Researchers demonstrate an electronic skin giving biological skin-like haptic sensations and touch/pain-sensitivity to a robotic hand (1 June). A system of an electronic skin and a human-machine interface is reported that can enable remote sensed tactile perception, and wearable or robotic sensing of many hazardous substances and pathogens (1 June). A multilayer tactile sensor hydrogel-based robot skin is demonstrated (8 June).
• 10 June – The core of the globular cluster NGC 3201 is shown to harbor a sub-cluster of nearly a hundred black holes. The same study also confirms that the globular cluster NGC 6397 has ejected most of its original black hole population, and its inner mass excess is composed by hundreds of massive white dwarfs.
• 13 June – Science and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine:
  Groups of academics report how global science community could help Ukraine via an action plan, including for helping organizing (re)vitalization of Ukrainian science and reconstruction in the future. On the same day, a researcher outlined a number of possible major policy-based actions that could mitigate the energy and resource crises caused or exacerbated by the war. Russian space agency Roscosmos announces the intent to, unilaterally and hazardously, take over paused telescope eROSITA, launched in collaboration with Germany (4 June). A science journalist outlines some of the food system-related environmental impacts of the war (21 June). A study reports a number of humanitarian, economic, and financial impacts of the war (23 June).
• 15 June
  • Astronomers identify J1144 as the fastest-growing black hole of the last nine billion years, consuming matter equivalent to one Earth every second, as well as being the most luminous quasi-stellar object of that period.
  • Researchers report Lac-Phe as the most significantly induced circulating metabolite in two animal models of exercise which – including via chronic administration – reduces food intake and suppresses obesity.
• 20 June
  • A study suggests global food miles CO₂ emissions are 3.5–7.5 times higher than previously estimated, with transport accounting for about 19% of total food-system emissions, albeit shifting towards plant-based diets remains substantially more important.
  • Researchers demonstrate a MRI-ML-based approach that can diagnose early Alzheimer's disease with high accuracy and may help identify unknown related changes in the brain.
• 21 June – The inability to stand on one leg for 10 seconds in mid to later life is linked to a near-doubling in the risk of death from any cause within the next 10 years.
• 22 June
  • A study concludes that the spread of breast cancer accelerates during sleep.
  • Agilicious, an open-source and open-hardware versatile standardized quadrotor drone, currently tailored toward agility, is released.
  • The world's first quantum computer integrated circuit is demonstrated.
• 23 June
  • The largest known bacterium, and an organism that has encapsulated DNA despite being identified as a prokaryote and not an eukaryote, with an average length of 10 mm, T. magnifica is reported.
  • A review shows prevalence of long COVID conditions – like mood symptoms, fatigue and sleep disorders – in people age 0–18 years appears to be at ~25% overall.
  • Two studies about aging-related characteristics of long-lived animals like turtles are published, identifying potentially causal protective traits and suggesting many of the species have "slow or negligible senescence" (or aging).
  • Researchers report the controlled growth of diverse foods in the dark via solar energy and electrocatalysis-based artificial photosynthesis as a potential way to increase energy efficiency of food production and reduce its environmental impacts.
• 24 June
  • NASA publishes images showing an unexpected and unexplained double crater from what is thought to be the first time human space debris – likely by a spent rocket body – unintentionally hit the lunar surface on 4 March.
  • Early 2022 monkeypox outbreak research:
    A study reports phylogenomic characterization of the first monkeypox (MP) virus outbreak genome sequences, finding the "presumably slow-evolving" DNA virus has evolved roughly 6–12-fold more mutations than one would expect and 15 SNP mutations since the beginning of the outbreak. The WHO announces that MP is not yet a global public health emergency but a cause for deep concern (25 June). Early overviews and reviews, including about current knowledge about MP prevention and treatment, are published. Scientists are investigating circulating lineages (and potential variants) of the MP virus and compare them to the African endemic lineages. A preprint suggests that cases "where a small fraction of individuals have disproportionately large numbers of partners, can explain the sustained growth of monkeypox cases among the MSM population" (13 June). The MP incubation period is estimated to be 8.5 days on average and up to 21 days (16 June). The 3D-folded structures of the whole proteome of the current DNA virus are predicted, which may be useful for the development of (better or updated) vaccines and drugs (28 June). A study indicates MP contaminated surfaces within hospitals and households could be infectious (30 June).
• 25 June – A study indicates that the Arctic is warming four times faster than global warming now, substantially faster than current CMIP6 models could project.
• 27 June
  • With a small catalog of unknown bacteria, researchers suggest work on microbes soon to be released from melting glaciers across the world to identify and understand potential threats in advance and understand extremophiles.
  • Progress in climate change mitigation (CCM) living review-like works:
    The living document-like aggregation, assessment, integration and review website Project Drawdown adds 11 new CCM solutions to its organized set of mitigation techniques. The website's modeling framework is used in a study document to show that metal recycling has significant potential for CCM (2 June). A revised or updated version of a major worldwide 100% renewable energy proposed plan and model is published (28 June).
• 28 June
  • Physicists report that interstellar quantum communication by other civilizations could be possible and may be advantageous, identifying some potential challenges and factors for detecting such. They may use, for example, X-ray photons for remotely established channels and quantum teleportation as the communication mode.
  • A review elucidates the current state of climate change extreme event attribution science, concluding probabilities and costs-severities of links as well as identifying potential ways for its improvement.
• 30 June
  • Samsung announces the first mass production of computer chips using a 3 nm process. These feature a gate-all-around transistor architecture that reduces power consumption by up to 45%, improves performance by 23% and reduces area by 16% compared to 5 nm.
  • Researchers, health organizations and regulators are discussing, investigating and partly recommending COVID-19 vaccine boosters that mix the original vaccine formulation with Omicron-adjusted parts – such as spike proteins of a specific Omicron subvariant – to better prepare the immune system to recognize a wide variety of variants amid substantial and ongoing immune evasion by Omicron.

July

1 July: A new CRISPR gene editing/repair tool alternative to fully active Cas9 is reported.

12 July: The 'cosmic cliffs' of the Carina Nebula: One of the first images to be released from the now fully operational James Webb Space Telescope.

• 1 July
  • Scientists show why climate benefits from nature restoration are "dwarfed by the scale of ongoing fossil fuel emissions".
  • A new CRISPR gene editing/repair tool alternative to fully active Cas9 is reported – Cas9-derived nickases mediated homologous chromosome-templated repair, applicable to organisms whose matching chromosome has the desired gene/s, which is demonstrated to be more effective than Cas9 and cause fewer off-target edits.
• 4 July – Scientists report that heatwaves in western Europe are increasing "three-to-four times faster compared to the rest of the northern midlatitudes over the past 42 years" and that certain atmospheric dynamical changes can explain their increase.
• 5 July – The Large Hadron Collider commences its Run 3 physics season. The LHCb collaboration observes three never-before-seen particles: a new kind of "pentaquark" and the first-ever pair of "tetraquarks", which includes a new type of tetraquark.
• 6 July – A study suggests that the marginal effectiveness of a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose (a second "booster") versus three doses can be 40% (24% to 52%) against severe disease outcomes. There is no scientific consensus about the efficacy and overall recommendabilities of a fourth dose. The CDC recommended such in March only for "certain immunocompromised individuals and people over the age of 50".

11 & 25 July: Deep learning systems learn intuitive basic physics similar to infants and any physics via potential variables-identification from only visual data (of virtual 3D environments).

• 7 July
  • The first tandem perovskite-silicon solar cell to exceed 30% efficiency (31.25%) is independently certified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
  • A study into the effects of a global nuclear war on the world's oceans is published, revealing a rapid 10.5 °C (18.9 °F) drop in temperature, along with many longer-lasting impacts.
• 8 July – Astronomers report the discovery of massive amounts of prebiotic molecules, including precursors for RNA, in the Galactic Center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
• 9 July – Researchers report the development of an efficient, secure and convenient method to separate, purify, store and transport large amounts of hydrogen for energy storage in renewables-based energy systems as powder using ball milling.
• 11 July
  • Researchers report the development of a deep learning system that learns intuitive physics from visual data (of virtual 3D environments) to some degree "from scratch" based on an unpublished approach inspired by studies of visual cognition in infants. On 25 July, other researchers report the development of a machine learning algorithm that could discover sets of basic variables of various physical systems and predict the systems' future dynamics from video recordings of their behavior.
  • News outlets report about the development of algae biopanels by a company for sustainable energy generation with unclear viability after other researchers built the self-powered BIQ house prototype in 2013.
• 12 July – NASA releases the first suite of images from the now fully operational James Webb Space Telescope, a day after releasing the Webb's First Deep Field, the image of early universe with the highest resolution. On 14 July, NASA presents images of Jupiter and related areas captured, for the first time, and including infrared views, by the telescope. On 19 July, scientists report what could be the earliest and most distant galaxy ever discovered, GLASS-z13.
• 13 July
  • The discovery of fast radio burst FRB 20191221A with an unusually long duration of three seconds is reported.
  • A study affirms (see 7 March) that critical slowing down indicators suggest that tropical, arid and temperate forests are substantially losing resilience. On 4 July, Brazil's INPE reports that the country's regions of the Amazon rainforest have been deforested by a record amount in the first half of 2022.
  • A study shows that blood cells' loss of the Y chromosome in a subset of cells, reportedly affecting at least 40% of 70 years-old men to some degree, contributes to fibrosis, heart risks, and mortality in a causal way.
  • Researchers report the development of semitransparent solar cells that are as large as windows, after team members achieved record efficiency with high transparency in 2020. On 4 July, researchers report the fabrication of solar cells with a record average visible transparency of 79%, being nearly invisible.

25 July: Researchers introduce and demonstrate the concept of necrobotics.

28 July: AI company DeepMind reports that its AlphaFold program has determined the likely structure of nearly every protein known to science.

• 18 July
  • A survey of more than 3,000 experts finds that the extinction crisis could be worse than previously thought, and estimates that roughly 30% of species "have been globally threatened or driven extinct since the year 1500."
  • The first "dormant" black hole (meaning it does not emit high levels of X-ray radiation) is identified outside the Milky Way. The object, with nine solar masses, orbits a rare O-type star in a system called VFTS 243 within the Large Magellanic Cloud.
  • A study shows that climate change-related exceptional marine heatwaves in the Mediterranean Sea during 2015–2019 resulted in widespread mass sealife die-offs in five consecutive years.
• 20 July – Scientists report that SARS-CoV-2 builds tunneling nanotubes from nose cells to gain access to the brain.
• 21 July
  • A potential gene therapy cure for haemophilia B, which corrects the genetic defect associated with the condition is announced with trial results by doctors. It caused a sustained increase in factor IX activity in 9 of 10 patients in the small trial.
  • Sunspot AR3060 explodes early in the morning. It releases a C-5 class solar flare, and a "solar tsunami". The NOAA predicts that a geomagnetic storm from this event will strike the Earth on 23 July, between 0000 UTC and 0400 UTC, as a G2 class storm, with a slight chance of a G3 storm. Aurorae could be visible as far south as 50° N latitude.
  • Researchers report the development of deep learning software that can design proteins that contain prespecified functional sites.
• 23 July – The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the recent monkeypox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, as the number of reported cases worldwide exceeds 17,000. In July, scientists reported that the window to be able to contain the outbreak is closing or has closed. On 5 July, a preprint indicates there can be asymptomatic infections. On 27 July, an analysis of studies by a journalist indicates that "about 10-to-15% of cases have been hospitalized, mostly for pain and bacterial infections that can occur as a result of monkeypox lesions". Studies published in August indicated hospitalizations of small cohorts of early patients were 8% and 13%.
• 25 July
  • Researchers introduce the concept of necrobotics and demonstrate it by repurposing dead spiders as robotic grippers by activating their gripping arms via applying pressurized air.
  • Researchers review the scientific literature on 100% renewable energy, addressing various issues, outlining open research questions, and concluding there to be growing consensus, research and empirical evidence concerning its feasibility worldwide.
• 26 July – Scientists analyse 2.8 million of the sequenced SARS-CoV-2 genomes and use the results to compile a 'mutations blacklist' of virus weak spots, and a 'whitelist' of mutations that would make it more transmissible.
• 27 July – Progress towards a pan coronavirus vaccine is announced, following tests on mice. Antibodies targeting the S2 subunit of SARS-CoV-2's spike protein are found to neutralise multiple coronavirus variants.
• 28 July
  • DeepMind announces that its AlphaFold program has uncovered the structures of more than 200 million folded proteins, essentially all of those known to science.
  • Researchers report the development of a wearable bioadhesive stretchable high-resolution ultrasound imaging patch for days-long continuous imaging of diverse organs which may enable novel diagnostic and monitoring tools.
  • First reported discovery of an animal helping algae reproduce after pollination in the sea was first reported in 2016.
  • Researchers report the development of nanoscale brain-inspired artificial synapses, using the ion proton (H⁺
    ), for 'analog deep learning'.
  • Scientists report the discovery of chemical reactions by potential primordial soup components that produced amino acids and may be part of the origin of life on Earth.
• 29 July
  • In a preprint, scientists from the Galileo Project describe a planned expedition to retrieve small fragments of interstellar meteor CNEOS 2014-01-08, which "appears to be rare both in composition and in speed" and is not ruled out to be "extraterrestrial equipment", using a magnetic sled on the seafloor of the impact region.
  • A study, that reanalyzes data used in a study by DeSilva et al. (2021), indicates that human brain size did not decrease over the last three thousand years as suggested by this study nor within 300 ka as suggested by other studies. It concludes that "the samples need to be specific enough to test the hypothesis across different times and populations".

August

1 August: Researchers report that the risk of climate change (indirectly) resulting in worldwide societal collapse, or possibly eventual human extinction, is a "dangerously underexplored" global topic.

• 1 August
  • A meta-analysis of policy studies concludes that international treaties that aim to foster global cooperation have mostly failed to produce their intended effects in addressing global challenges, with the exception of international trade and finance regulations. The study suggests enforcement mechanisms are the "only modifiable treaty design choice" with the potential to improve the effectiveness.
  • The discovery of a super-Earth around the red dwarf star Ross 508 is reported. Part of the planet's elliptical orbit takes it within the habitable zone.
  • Researchers report that the risk of climate change (indirectly) resulting in worldwide societal collapse, or possibly eventual human extinction, is a "dangerously underexplored" global topic, despite there being indications of such being possible as worst-case scenarios and "integrated catastrophe assessment" missing.
• 2 August
  • Scientists conclude that the overall transgressed (see 18 January) planetary boundary for "novel entities" (NEs) is a placeholder for multiple different boundaries for NEs that may emerge, reporting that PFAS pollution is one such new boundary. They show that levels of these so-called "forever chemicals" in rainwater are ubiquitously, and often greatly, above guideline safe levels worldwide. There are moves to restrict and replace their use.
    On 18 August, a simple method of breaking down these chemicals once they have been pulled out of contaminated water or soil is described.
  • A preprint describes the donations-funded plans of The Galileo Project in detail: a systematic scientific research program searching for (signs of) extraterrestrial technological civilizations (ETCs) on and near Earth.
• 3 August – Scientists report an organ perfusion system that can restore, i.e. on the cellular level, multiple vital (pig) organs one hour after death (during which the body had warm ischaemia), after reporting a similar method/system for reviving (pig) brains hours after death in 2019. This could be used to preserve donor organs or for revival in medical emergencies.
• 4 August – Lab-made cartilage gel based on a synthetic hydrogel composite is found to have greater strength and wear resistance than natural cartilage, which could enable the durable resurfacing of damaged articulating joints.
• 8 August
  • Researchers provide a dataset of standardized calculated detailed environmental impacts of >57,000 circulating food products, potentially e.g. informing consumers or policy.
  • A study quantifies the large extent of climate change impacts on infectious diseases.
  • The creation of artificial neurons that can receive and release dopamine (chemical signals rather than electrical signals) and communicate with natural rat muscle and brain cells is reported, with potential for use in BCIs/prosthetics.
  • A screening AI system for many cancer types that integrates different types of data via multimodal learning is reported.

24 August: The first rail line entirely run by hydrogen-powered trains debuts in Germany.

• 10 August – 2022 monkeypox outbreak: Evidence of human-to-dog transmission is reported.
  On 4 August, a preprint reports that early post-exposure ring vaccination despite high efficacy "did not completely prevent breakthrough infections".
  On 15 August, a preprint suggests the virus has potential to infect a diverse range of native animals across Europe.
  On 16 August, a review recommends a 'living guideline' framework for needed clinical management research.
  On 19 August, a CDC study summarizes current knowledge about the transmission of monkeypox.
  Wastewater surveillance, which substantially expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic is used to detect monkeypox, with one team of researchers describing their qualitative detection method on 31 August.

25 August: The first clear evidence for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet is revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope.

• 11 August – A bioengineered cornea made from pig's skin is shown to restore vision to blind people. It can be mass-produced and stored for up to two years, unlike donated human corneas that are scarce and must be used within two weeks.
• 12 August — The National Centers for Environmental Information publish a report, where they state an all-time record cold temperature occurred in Australia during the month. On October 7, 2022, Zack Labe, a climate scientist for the NOAA GFDL releases a statement and a climate report from Berkeley Earth denying the all-time record cold temperature occurred saying, "There are still no areas of record cold so far in 2022." Labe's statement also denies the record cold temperatures in Brazil, reported by the National Institute of Meteorology in May 2022, a month before the official start of winter, was also not record cold temperatures.
• 13 August – Rocket Lab describes its self-funded plans in detail, first announced in early 2020, to send a probe to Venus, likely in 2023, to search for life in the planet's cloud layer, where other scientists reported the potential detection of biosignature-levels of phosphine in late 2020 and thereafter.
• ~14 August – As record-breaking heatwaves and droughts affect water supplies, rivers (along with shipping and nuclear reactor cooling), ecosystems, various global supply chains, health, and agriculture worldwide, in Europe, Spain domestically restricts e.g. air conditioning to defined temperature ranges, in the U.S., entities are required to provide plans to reduce their water usage, and China experiences large blackouts and experiments with cloud seeding among other measures, despite experts stating it would be "marginally effective" and possibly exacerbate problems. Several journalists of online newspapers have put these extreme weather events into the context of climate change adaptation (alongside highlighting of the importance of climate change mitigation).
• 15 August – A study on the food impacts of a nuclear war is published. It finds that even a small-scale conflict between India and Pakistan would decrease global average caloric production by 7%, while a full-scale U.S.-Russia nuclear conflict would result in a 90% loss, killing more than 5 billion people worldwide.

29 August: Scientists report the key molecular mechanisms of rejuvenation they found in a comparison of the newly presented genomes of the biologically immortal T. dohrnii and a similar but non-rejuvenating jellyfish.

• 16 August – A university reports the release of 'Quad-SDK' which may be the first open source full-stack software for large agile four-legged robots, compatible with the ROS.
• 17 August
  • A report by Global Forest Watch, using new data, concludes that the amount of tree cover being burned has nearly doubled in the past 20 years.
  • The Nadir crater, likely the result of a second, smaller asteroid that struck around the same time as the Chicxulub impact, is identified and described by researchers.
  • Geologists warn that the world is "woefully underprepared" for a massive volcanic eruption. They estimate a one-in-six chance of a magnitude seven explosion in the next one hundred years.
  • Researchers report the development of floating artificial leaves for light-driven hydrogen and syngas fuel production. The lightweight, flexible devices are scalable and can float on water similar to lotus leaves.

~August: Artificial intelligence art becomes highly sophisticated and popular and starts winning art prizes. The two images are made via the open source Stable Diffusion.

• 18 August
  • A weak spot in the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 is described by researchers, which an antibody fragment called VH Ab6 can attach to, potentially neutralising all major variants of the virus. On 11 August, researchers report a single antibody, SP1-77, that could potentially neutralize all known variants of the virus via a novel mechanism, not by not preventing the virus from binding to ACE2 receptors but by blocking it from fusing with host cells' membranes.
  • Multiple gene editing of soybean is shown to improve photosynthesis and boost yields by 20%.
  • A researcher reports that the social media app TikTok adds a keylogger to its, on iOS essentially unavoidable, in-app browser in iOS, which allows its Chinese company to gather, for example, passwords, credit card details, and everything else that is typed into websites opened from taps on any external links within the app. Shortly after the report, the company claims such capabilities are only used for debugging-types of purposes. To date, it has largely not been investigated which and to which extent (other) apps have capacities for such or similar data-collection.
  • A university reports the development of an invisible coating for fireproof wood.
• 20 August – A GBD systematic analysis reports the (non)progress on cancer and its causes during the 2010-19 decade, with ~44% of all cancer deaths in 2019 – or ~4.5 M deaths or ~105 million lost DALYs – due to known clearly preventable risk factors (contributions), led by smoking, alcohol use and high BMI.
• 22 August
  • A university reports the development of a driver isolation framework to protect operating system kernels, primarily the monolithic Linux kernel which gets ~80,000 commits/year to its drivers, from defects and vulnerabilities in device drivers, with the Mars Research Group developers describing this lack of isolation as one of the main factors undermining kernel security.
  • Scientists demonstrate that tACS brain stimulation can, depending on the frequency, for one month improve (either) short-term memory or long-term memory in 65–88-years-old people.
  • Scientists report a so far unique and unknown feature of material VO₂ – it can "remember" previous external stimuli (via structural rather than electronic states), with potential for e.g. data storage.
  • A university reports the first successful transplantation of an organoid into a human, first announced on 7 July, with the underlying study being published in February.
• 23 August
  • A study reports that look-alike humans have genetic similarities, sharing genes affecting not only the face but also some phenotypes of physique and behavior, also indicating that (their) differences in the epigenome and microbiome contribute only modestly to human variability in facial appearance.
  • Researchers introduce the concept of 'false social reality' and substantiate it by showing that (a sample of) Americans widely underestimate general public support for climate change mitigation policies by a large margin.
  • A genome-wide association study meta-analysis reports genetic factors of, the so far uniquely human, language-related skills, in particular factors of differences in skill-levels of five tested traits. It e.g. identified association with neuroanatomy of a language-related brain area via neuroimaging correlation.
• 24 August
  • The dugong is declared extinct in China.
  • The first rail line entirely run by hydrogen-powered trains debuts in Germany.
• 25 August
  • The first clear evidence for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet is revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope. The planet, WASP-39b, is a hot Jupiter located ~700 light years from Earth.
  • Researchers report the development of a highly effective CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing method without expensive viral vectors, enabling e.g. novel anti-cancer CAR-T cell therapies.
  • In two separate studies – the other published on 1 August, two teams report the achievement of synthetic embryos grown from mice embryonic stem cells (with one study also using other stem cells), without sperm or eggs, with natural-like development and some surviving until day 8.5 where early organogenesis, including formation of foundations of a brain, occurs. They grew in vitro and subsequently ex utero in an artificial womb.
• 26 August – Researchers report the development of greenhouses (or solar modules) by a startup that generate electricity from a portion of the spectrum of sunlight, allowing spectra that interior plants use to pass through.
• 29 August
  • A study reports that in model animals, treatment with rapamycin – which typically has negative side-effects – for a limited timespan extended lifespan as much as life-long administration started at the same age and that it was most effective during early adulthood.
  • Scientists report the key molecular mechanisms of rejuvenation they found in a comparison of the newly presented genomes of the biologically immortal T. dohrnii and a similar but non-rejuvenating jellyfish, involving e.g. DNA replication and repair, and stem cell renewal.
  • After establishment of the Scientist Rebellion around March 2021, several researchers affiliated with the movement (six overall) argue for civil disobedience by colleagues in a commentary behind a paywall, hypothesizing that such may cause significant pro-climate net changes of public opinion due to "potential to cut through the myriad complexities and confusion" in the public, receiving substantial coverage by online text-based news media.
• 31 August
  • Scientists warn, in a follow-up paper to their 2021 study, that a third of tree species are threatened with extinction, showing how this will significantly alter the world's ecosystems, may negatively affect billions, and could get averted with "urgent actions". On 1 August, a study reports that over 60 years (1960–2019), "the global forest area has declined by 81.7 million ha", concluding higher income nations need to reduce imports of tropical forest-related products and help with theoretically forest-related socioeconomic development and international policies.
  • News outlets report artificial intelligence art has won the first place in a digital art competition. Such artistic imagery is generated using input consisting of text and sometimes images, usually including parameters such as artistic style (text-to-image generation). Around the time, an expert concludes that "AI art is everywhere right now", with even experts not knowing what it will mean, a news outlet establishes that "AI-generated art booms" and reports about issues of copyright and automation of professional artists, a news outlet investigates how online communities (e.g. their rules) confronted with many such artworks react, a news outlet raised concerns over deepfakes, a magazine highlights possibilities of enabling "new forms of artistic expression", an editorial notes that it may be seen as a welcome "augmentation of human capability". Moreover, additional functionalities – such as enabling the use of user-provided concepts (like an object or a style) learned from few images for novel personalized art generated from the associated word/s (2 Aug) or expanding beyond the borders of artistic images in the same style (31 Aug) – are reported. On 22 August, Stable Diffusion is released as free and open source software.

September

• 1 September
  • The James Webb Space Telescope takes its first direct images of a planet beyond our Solar System. The exoplanet, HIP 65426 b, is revealed in different bands of infrared light.
  • Neuroscientists report the discovery of the axo-ciliary synapse – communication between serotonergic axons and antenna-like primary cilia of CA1 pyramidal neurons that alters the neuron's epigenetic state in the nucleus.
  • Scientists elaborate a need for an evidence-based reform of regulation of genetically modified crops (moving from regulation based on characteristics of the development-process to characteristics of the product) in a paywalled article.
• 2 September – A first spatiotemporal map reveals key insights about axolotl brain regeneration.
• 5 September – Researchers report the development of remote controlled cyborg cockroaches functional if moving to sunlight for recharging.
• 6 September – The U.S. Department of Agriculture approves a new purple tomato, genetically modified to alter its colour and enhance its nutritional quality.
• 7 September – A new malaria vaccine developed by the University of Oxford is shown to be ~80% effective at preventing the disease.
• 8 September – A study adds to the accumulating research indicating postexposure antiviral TIPs could be an effective countermeasure that reduces COVID-19 transmission. In September, India and China approve the two first nasal COVID-19 vaccines which may (as boosters) also reduce transmission (sterilizing immunity).
• 9 September
  • A study describes how multiple tipping points in the climate system could be triggered if global warming exceeds 1.5 °C.
  • Scientists report a change in gene TKTL1 as a key factor of recent brain evolution and difference of modern humans to (other) apes and Neanderthals, related to neocortex-neurogenesis. Some of the scientists reported a similar ARHGAP11B mutation in 2016.
  • News outlets report about a study that describes a way by which geothermal power plants could store their energy within their reservoirs for dispatch to (better) help manage intermittency of solar and wind.
  • China reports the discovery of Changesite–(Y), a new mineral from lunar samples containing helium-3, widely seen as a potential fuel for fusion reactors.
• 12 September – A study investigates funding allocations for public investment in energy research, development and demonstration. It provides insights about potential past impacts of drivers, that may be relevant to adjusting (or facilitating) "investment in clean energy" "to come close to achieving meaningful global decarbonization", suggesting advancement of impactful "coopetition".
• 13 September
  • A study reports results indicating COVID-19 may significantly increase risk for Alzheimer's disease, similar to prior studies about long-term impacts besides long COVID on cardiovascular outcomes, diabetes, neurologic sequelae, mental health disorders, and general future mortality after COVID-19, including specific types of sequelae less commonly seen in other viral illnesses.
  • The United in Science 2022 report is published by the WMO, summarizing latest climate science-related updates and assessing recent climate change mitigation progress as "going in the wrong direction".
• 14 September
  • A new deep learning technique enables year-round measurements of sea ice thickness in the Arctic.
  • A research report by NewsGuard indicates there is a high level of online misinformation delivered – to a mainly young user base – with TikTok, whose usage is increasing.
  • The WHO joins health associations and scientists in calling for a global fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to protect lives of current and future generations.

15 September: Researchers describe a way by which the aging of select immune system T cells can be prevented or slowed down.

• 15 September
  • A geoengineering plan to refreeze the North and South Poles by spraying sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, using a fleet of 125 military air-to-air refuelling tankers, is proposed by scientists.
  • A study shows the microbiome, on the level of strains, co-diversified in parallel to phylogenies (heritability from ancestry). The findings may be of relevance to microbiome interventions (such as probiotics) and for adjusting therapies to populations.
  • The second largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, switches from the proof-of-work (electricity consumption for validation) to the proof-of-stake (staked holdings for validation) algorithm, which cuts its large respective electricity consumption.
  • Researchers describe a way by which the aging of select immune system T cells can be prevented or is slowed down, with relevance to life extension and making vaccines more durable.

20 September: Astronomers report in a preprint the discovery of a candidate fourth interstellar object, CNEOS 2017-03-09.

• 19 September
  • A study indicates a substantial decline in dinosaur biodiversity millions of years before the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.
  • Scientists report geochemical modeling results that increase confidence for the ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus being habitable or meeting abiogenesis-requirements.

26 September: NASA's DART crashes into the asteroid Dimorphos in a first test of potential planetary defense.

• 20 September – Scientists who reported the earliest known interstellar object, CNEOS 2014-01-08, and members of The Galileo Project, report the discovery of an additional candidate interstellar meteor, CNEOS 2017-03-09, in a preprint using the same fireball catalog. They find that the implied material strength of the two objects suggests that interstellar meteors "come from a population with material strength characteristically higher than meteors originating from within the solar system".
• 21 September – Engineers report the development of autonomous 3D-printing drones for construction and repair.
• 22 September
  • Nanoengineers report the development of biocompatible microalgae hybrid microrobots for active drug-delivery in the lungs (22 Sep.) and the gastrointestinal tract (GT) (28 Sep.). The microrobots are related to medical nanobots and proved effective in tests with mice. A separate team reports the development of 'RoboCap', a robotic drug delivery capsule that enhances drug absorption by tunneling through the mucus layer in the GT (28 Sep.).
  • Around September, news outlets report about deployment, research and development of novel military drone technology in the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2022, including demining drones, self-repurposed commercial/hobby drones (including via a hackathon), reconnaissance microdrones, kamikaze drones, bomb-dropping modified drones, and countermeasures such as electronic ones.
  • Scientists caution about potential spillover of bat sarbecovirus Khosta-2 resistant to COVID-19 vaccines and also using ACE2, suggesting it or something like it could recombine with SARS-CoV-2 as a new threat.
• 26 September
  • Jupiter makes its closest approach to Earth since 1963.
  • NASA's DART crashes into the asteroid Dimorphos in a first test of potential planetary defense. Success of path alteration is reported on 11 October.
  • A study invalidates the common argument as is for high medication costs that research and development investments are reflected in and necessitate the treatment costs, finding no correlation for investments in drugs (for cases where transparency was sufficient) and their costs.
  • News outlets report, based on CDC reports and health officials, that the 2022 monkeypox outbreak appears to be receding and/or passed a peak while also reporting that its elimination within the U.S. and globally is unlikely (or the outbreak being "far from finished").
• 27 September – A study finds that drinking two to three cups of ground, instant, or decaffeinated coffee each day is associated with a longer lifespan and lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared with avoiding coffee.
• 28 September
  • A breakthrough in treating Alzheimer's disease is reported by pharmaceutical companies Eisai and Biogen, using a drug called lecanemab, which is designed to remove beta-amyloid proteins from the brain.
  • A study indicates cancer risk from chronic circadian disruption is caused via body-temperature-related heat shock factor 1.
• 29 September
  • In two studies, scientists report a novel way of cancer screening – detecting tumor-associated mycobiomes. It could be used in synergy with other biomarkers such as of bacteriomes.
  • A study estimates the disproportionality of drivers of climate change by wealth and concludes that to total emissions, investments of the global top 1% are far more important than their consumption and that the pollution gap is larger within countries than between countries.
  • A study adds to the accumulating research showing that oil and gas industry methane emissions are much larger than thought.
• 30 September
  • The discovery of "super neurons" in the entorhinal cortex of people over age 80 who show exceptional episodic memory is reported.
  • Scientists caution about potential future spillover of SHFV.

October

1 October – A new, more detailed simulation of the giant impact hypothesis suggests that the Moon formed in just hours.

• 1 October – A new simulation by NASA finds that the Moon likely formed within a matter of hours, as opposed to earlier theories that proposed a much longer period of months or years.
• 4 October – Edmonton Police Service reports the use of DNA phenotyping to generate 3D images of crime suspects.
• 5 October
  • The New York Times summarizes those awarded Nobel Prizes in the Sciences for the year 2022:
    • Physiology or Medicine (October 3): Svante Pääbo for discoveries involving genomes of extinct hominins
    • Physics (October 4): Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger for work in quantum technology
    • Chemistry (October 5): Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless for studies on click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry.
  • Scientists report the discovery of ongoing transfer of mitochondrial DNA into DNA in the cell nucleus. Previously, nuclear-mitochondrial segments (NUMT) were thought to have arisen only long ago. 66 thousand whole-genome sequences indicate this currently occurs as frequent as once in every ~4,000 human births.
  • Researchers outline the large potentials and benefits of marine algae-based aquaculture for the development of a future healthy and sustainable food system.
• 7 October
  • Researchers at Australia's Curtin University and China's Peking University theorize the supercontinent Amasia will form within 300 million years when the Pacific Ocean closes.
  • Neuroscientists report experimental MRI results that so far appear to imply nuclear proton spins of 'brain water' in the brain were entangled, suggesting brain functions that operate non-classically which may support quantum mechanisms being involved in consciousness as the signal pattern declined when human participants fell asleep.
• 12 October
  • Researchers report successful transplantation of human brain tissue organoids into baby rats. Such research could eventually controversially raise ethical issues relating to (non-)human intelligence/consciousness/welfare and be used to model human brain development and, as demonstrated, to investigate diseases (and their potential therapies). Unlike in other recent studies, the tissues appeared to be highly functional, to mature and to integrate with the rat brain.
  • A study reports that in a cohort of symptomatically infected, 46% had only partially recovered after 12 months, that asymptomatic infection was not associated with adverse outcomes of long COVID and that vaccination was associated with reduced risk of seven long-term symptoms. A meta-analysis published on 12 October reports substantial exertional intolerance more than 3 months after infection. It notes that postexertional malaise has been reported in long COVID-19 similar to CFS.
• 13 October – A novel synthetic biology-based process for recycling of plastics mixtures is presented.
• 14 October – Scientists from Boston University publish studies on SARS-CoV-2 BA.1 Omicron suggesting "irresponsible gain-of-function" studies by some but not all.
• 19 October – A novel type of effective hydrogen storage using readily available salts is reported.
• 20 October
  • A study of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, the world's largest no-fishing zone, finds a "spillover benefit" for migratory species like bigeye and yellowfin tuna.
  • The first data transmission to exceed 1 petabit per second (Pbit/s) using only a single laser and a single optical chip is demonstrated by European researchers.
• 21 October
  • Astronomers report that GJ 1252b, an Earth-sized planet orbiting an M-class red dwarf, appears to have no atmosphere at all. This discovery may reduce the chances of life emerging in such systems.
  • News outlets report about a novel agricultural robot for viable weed control using lasers or "laserweeding". There are similar precision agriculture machines that have been reported before, also e.g. applying low amounts of herbicides and fertilizers with precision while mapping plant locations. Their benefits may include "healthier crops and soil, decreased herbicide use, and reduced chemical and labor costs".
• 24 October
  • The NHS launches 'Our Future Health', one of the world's largest health and genetic data gathering projects, aimed at building a long-term repository of information for researchers. Five million UK adults are invited to participate.
  • "Hybrid viral particles (HVPs)" are reported, combining IAV and RSV in vitro.
• 25 October – A comprehensive annually scheduled study finds climate change is "undermining every dimension of global health monitored" and report dire conclusions from tracking of mitigation indicators.
• 26 October
  • In two studies, scientists report findings about the role of epigenetics – which is shaped during lifetime – in colorectal cancer, including that it is a major component of intratumour variability and findings about its influences on the accumulation of DNA mutations and cancer phenotypes.
  • At the 30th anniversary of the World Scientists' Warning to Humanity, scientists conclude that "We are now at 'code red' on planet Earth", facing a climate emergency, warning citizens and world leaders to take necessary actions with information about tracked "recent climate-related disasters, assess[ed] planetary vital signs, and [...] policy recommendations".
  • A study concludes that cosmic radiation events in the tree-ring radiocarbon record called "Miyake events", don't appear to be caused by the solar cycle (i.e. solar flares) as thought previously and have extended durations. They occurred every ~1,000 years on average and may threaten global technologies.
• 31 October – Multiple traces of monkeypox are detected in non-sewered wastewater with sparse sampling from a densely populated metropolitan area in Asia.

November

4 November: Artist's impression of the Gaia BH1 system, containing a Sun-like star and the closest known black hole to Earth.

• 3 November – Astronomers using the IXPE space observatory report that 4U 0142+61, a magnetar found 13,000 light-years from Earth, has a solid surface with no atmosphere.
• 4 November – The discovery of Gaia BH1, a binary system containing what is likely the closest known black hole to Earth, is reported by astronomers in the U.S.
• 6–18 November – The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) on climate change mitigation takes place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
• 7 November – The first clinical trial of laboratory grown red blood cells transfused into people begins at the University of Bristol.
• 9 November
  • IBM unveils its 433-qubit 'Osprey' quantum processer, the successor to its Eagle system.
  • QPX9003, a new antibiotic for gram-negative bacteria, achieves success in a Phase I clinical trial.
• 11 November – The Global Carbon Project reports that carbon emissions in 2022 remain at record levels, with no sign of the decrease that is needed to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. There is now a 50% chance that 1.5 °C will be exceeded in nine years.
• 16 November – NASA conducts the first uncrewed flight of its Space Launch System (SLS), the largest rocket in history. The onboard Orion capsule will orbit the Moon before returning to Earth, as a demonstration of planned human missions.

Predicted and scheduled events

See also: 2022 in spaceflight

Awards

• 5 July – The Fields Medal in mathematics is awarded to Hugo Duminil-Copin, June Huh, James Maynard and Maryna Viazovska.

Deaths

• 18 January – Sir David Cox, English statistician (b. 1924)
• 15 March – Eugene Parker, American solar and plasma physicist (b. 1927)
• 20 March – Wen Shengchang, Chinese oceanographer and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (b. 1921)
• 23 March – Arthur Riggs, American geneticist (b. 1939)
• 27 March – Martin Pope, American physical scientist (b. 1918)
• 27 March – James Vaupel, American demographer and aging researcher (b. 1945)
• 29 March – Paul Benioff, American physicist of quantum computing (b. 1930)
• 30 March – Kenneth Walters, British mathematician and rheologist (b. 1934)
• 1 April – Gerhard J. Woeginger, Austrian mathematician.
• 5 April – Sidney Altman, Canadian-American molecular biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (1989).
• 5 April – Bjarni Tryggvason, Icelandic-born Canadian astronaut (STS-85).
• 5 April – Eelco Visser, Dutch computer scientist.
• 5 April – Leslie Young, New Zealand economist.
• 1 May – Ray Freeman, British chemist.
• 1 May – Dominique Lecourt, French philosopher.
• 2 May – Joseph Raz, Israeli philosopher.
• 4 May – Amanda Claridge, Canadian archaeologist.
• 7 May – Sir Paul Mellars, British archaeologist.
• 8 May – Harry Dornbrand, American aerospace engineer.
• 8 May – Zhuang Qiaosheng, Chinese geneticist and wheat breeder, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
• 9 May – John H. Coates, Australian mathematician.
• 14 May – Bernard Bigot, French physicist and civil servant, director general of ITER (b. 1950)
• 9 June – Gordon M. Shepherd, American neuroscientist.
• 26 July – James Lovelock, English environmentalist (Gaia hypothesis) and futurist (b. 1919)
• 25 August – Kurt Gottfried, Austrian-born American physicist.
• 2 September – Frank Drake, American astronomer and astrophysicist (Drake equation), designer of the Arecibo message (b. 1930)

See also

• Category:Science events
• Category:Science timelines
• List of emerging technologies
• List of years in science

External links

• Media related to 2022 in science at Wikimedia Commons

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