2022 in science


The following scientific events occurred in 2022.

Events

April

May

June

July

  • 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 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 over the past 42 years" and that 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 versus three doses can be 40% 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".
  • 7 July
  • *The first tandem perovskite-silicon solar cell to exceed 30% efficiency 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 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 economy|hydrogen for energy Hydrogen storage|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of a deep learning system that learns intuitive physics from visual data to some degree "from scratch" based on an unpublished approach inspired by studies of visual cognition in infants.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 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-z12.
  • 13 July
  • *The discovery of fast radio burst FRB 20191221A with an unusually long duration of three seconds is reported.
  • *A study affirms 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', 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.
  • 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 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 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 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, 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

September

October

November

December

Awards

Deaths