Science & Society
These are our favorite science books of 2022
Books about dinosaurs, the Milky Way and the coronavirus are among the Science News staff’s picks for must-read books of the year.
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
In 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope brought us new views of the cosmos
Science News looks back at some of the most stunning images from the James Webb telescope’s first year in space.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
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.
Notebook
Animals
A clam presumed extinct for 40,000 years has been found alive
The reappearance of living Cymatioa cooki clams places it among a group of back-from-the-dead creatures dubbed the Lazarus taxa.
Features
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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.
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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.
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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.
More Stories from the December 17, 2022 issue
- 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.
- 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.
- Humans
The world population has now reached 8 billion
In a first, the global population surpassed this milestone on November 15, according to a projection from the United Nations.
- Health & Medicine
Here’s how mysterious last-resort antibiotics kill bacteria
Scientists are finally getting a grip on how a class of last-resort antibiotics works — the drugs kill bacteria by crystallizing their membranes.
- Health & Medicine
This child was treated for a rare genetic disease while still in the womb
Babies born with infantile-onset Pompe disease typically have enlarged hearts and weak muscles. But 1-year-old Ayla has a normal heart and walks.
- Climate
Greenland’s frozen hinterlands are bleeding worse than we thought
An inland swath of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream is accelerating and thinning. It could contribute much more to sea level rise than estimated.
- Physics
Zapping tiny metal drops with sound creates wires for soft electronics
Wearable medical devices and stretchable displays could benefit from a way to use high-frequency sound to create liquid metal wires.
- Neuroscience
New brain implants ‘read’ words directly from people’s thoughts
In the lab, brain implants can translate internal speech into external signals, technology that could help people who are unable to speak or type.
- Ecosystems
Tiger sharks helped discover the world’s largest seagrass prairie
Instrument-equipped sharks went where divers couldn’t to survey the Bahama Banks seagrass ecosystem.
- Planetary Science
The pristine Winchcombe meteorite suggests that Earth’s water came from asteroids
Other meteorites have been recovered after being tracked from space to the ground, but never so quickly as the Winchcombe meteorite.
- Archaeology
Some Maya rulers may have taken generations to attract subjects
Commoners slowly granted authority to kings at the ancient Maya site of Tamarindito, researchers suspect.
- Humans
This ancient Canaanite comb is engraved with a plea against lice
The Canaanite comb bears the earliest known instance of a complete sentence written in a phonetic alphabet, researchers say.
