Year in Review

  1. photo of cars backed up on a freeway with a sign above that reads, "EXTREME HEAT SAVE POWER 4-9PM STAY COOL"
    Climate

    Extreme weather in 2022 showed the global impact of climate change

    Heat waves, floods, wildfires and drought around the world were exacerbated by Earth’s changing climate.

    By Carolyn Gramling
  2. a natural embryo and a synthetic embryo against a black background
    Health & Medicine

    These 5 biomedical advances gave 2022 a sci-fi feel

    Big steps in biology and medicine include pig to human organ transplants, synthetic embryos and a fully complete human genome.

    By Meghan Rosen
  3. Human skeleton from waist down showing earliest surgery
    Life

    Here are 5 record-breaking science discoveries from 2022

    The earliest surgery, fastest supercomputer and biggest single-celled bacteria were some of this year’s top science superlatives.

    By Erin Wayman
  4. A night photo of the Artemis I rocket launching
    Astronomy

    The James Webb Space Telescope wasn’t the only big space news in 2022

    DART crashed into an asteroid, Artemis went to the moon and we got a pic of our galaxy’s monstrous black hole. Space was a busy place this year.

    By Lisa Grossman
  5. image of male and female orb spiders mating
    Animals

    These are our favorite animal stories of 2022

    Goldfish driving cars, skydiving salamanders and spiders dodging postcoital death are among the critters that most impressed the Science News staff.

    By Deborah Balthazar
  6. Two monkeys standing on a tree branch; a juvenile monkey is being groomed by a female silvered-leaf monkey
    Life

    These science discoveries from 2022 could be game changers

    Gophers that farm, the earliest known hominid, a strange hybrid monkey and the W boson's mass are among the findings awaiting more evidence.

    By Elizabeth Quill
  7. A Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute staff member sifts through the debris of a classroom destroyed by a Russian missile
    Science & Society

    Here’s how Russia’s war in Ukraine is still reshaping global science

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 disrupted both local and global science.

    By Cassie Martin
  8. an illustration showing a woman falling. She is chained to a huge spikey red COVID-19 virus. Other viruses around her are also chained to falling people.
    Health & Medicine

    2022 was the year long COVID couldn’t be ignored

    Long covid’s heavy toll grew clearer as millions of people reported lingering symptoms, and scientists and doctors looked for treatments.

    By Laura Sanders
  9. A photo of President Joe Biden signing the Inflation Reduction Act into law with a group of four men and one women standing around him.
    Climate

    2022’s biggest climate change bill pushes clean energy

    Experts weigh in on the pros and cons of the United States’ first major climate change legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, signed this year.

    By Nikk Ogasa
  10. A photo of Mary Bassett, New York state’s Commissioner of Health, receiving a COVID-19 booster shot.
    Health & Medicine

    How 4 major coronavirus tools impacted the pandemic in 2022

    During the third year of the pandemic, young kids got vaccines, a new booster shot came along, the use of at-home tests soared and Paxlovid became widely available.

    By Aimee Cunningham
  11. illustration of mpox virions
    Health & Medicine

    Viruses other than the coronavirus made headlines in 2022

    Here’s the latest on monkeypox, Ebola, bird flu and other outbreaks that hit this year.

    By Erin Garcia de Jesús
  12. illustration showing masks and covid brochures falling into a trash can
    Health & Medicine

    Why pandemic fatigue and COVID-19 burnout took over in 2022

    As public health guidelines loosened this year, people were left to weigh COVID-19 risks on their own. It was confusing, frustrating and exhausting.

    By Tina Hesman Saey