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After a year of war ravaging Ukraine, stubbornly high inflation pushing the global economy to the brink of recession, a “triple epidemic” rekindling pandemic fears, and limited progress on climate change, it’s understandable to approach 2023 with a sense of “growth.” unrest
Yet a number of scientific breakthroughs in 2022 bring reasons for optimism for the New Year.
The artificial intelligence revolution, from fusion energy to advanced vaccines and organ transplants to directed asteroids, has yielded technologies previously only found in science fiction.
These landmark discoveries, some of which are the culmination of decades of work, offer grounds for hope.
The ‘holy grail’ of nuclear fusion
In mid-December, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, conducted the first nuclear fusion experiment created more energy than was used to start it.
Described as “a shot for the ages,” the historic feat involved using the same reaction that powers the sun and stars to produce zero-carbon energy for the first time.
The technology has been followed since the 1950s and has sparked excitement about the possibility of replacing fossil fuels with a climate-friendly, renewable energy source.
Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm described the breakthrough as “one of the most impressive scientific achievements of the 21st century”, on par with the Wright brothers’ first flight in 1903.
by the way to DOEA fusion reaction involves bringing two nuclear particles from a light element together at tremendous speed, bringing them together. The resulting mass produces a large amount of energy without creating too much radioactive waste.
Aspect Independent reported in JanuaryDecades of research and billions of dollars have worked to create this “holy grail” of nuclear reactions.
Minister Granholm, the breakthrough suddenly became possible the expectation of an abundant, carbon-free energy source for the future.
The poetry of artificial intelligence
The release of ChatGPT in November offered a glimpse of a future where computer-generated prose could provide answers to a seemingly endless number of questions.
Want to know how Shakespeare would define it? staring at the stars? Maybe you have a difficult technical question about quantum physics? Maybe you want to know how to make a shoe wardrobe. suitable for all climates? Or learning to play the piano?
Developed by OpenAI and free to use – at least for now – ChatGPT has been described as a revolution in artificial intelligence, as if you were having a direct conversation with Google.
The beauty of this chatbot is that it skims through billions of data points in seconds, freeing users from the task of browsing the web in search of the precise piece of information they’re after.
The answers seem personal and human, as if the machine at the other end had carefully thought through and adapted its response.
It may have limitations though. as OpenAI acceptsChatGPT will often confidently write plausible-looking answers that are false or meaningless.
Educators are also warning. potential impact on cheating in exams and essays.
But there are many real-world benefits such as; enable computer programmers to detect errors in coding, predict medical diagnoses, and write a joke.
It has also taken steps to prevent it from being abused for bigoted and racist purposes.
OpenAI was launched in 2015 by a group including Elon Musk and CEO Sam Altman years ago and is backed by Microsoft and several venture capital firms.
New York Times He called it “quite simply, the best AI chatbot ever released to the public”.
While it hasn’t been available to the general public for long, it’s a fun way to find a new recipe for your favorite home-cooked meal or watch a movie.
deflecting asteroids
in the 1998 movie ApocalypseBruce Willis and his band of rowdy oil drillers are sent into space by NASA to plant and detonate a nuclear bomb on an asteroid that is about to destroy humanity.
Twenty-four years later, the US space agency’s Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) team has proven that diverting an asteroid from its path is not just Hollywood’s business.
In September, NASA sent a spacecraft that crashed into a 525-foot-diameter asteroid Dimorphos at 14,000 miles per hour (22,530 km) to find out if it was possible to change its orbit.
Dimorphos was not on a civilization-threatening collision course with Earth, but rather orbited the larger asteroid Didymos.
Before the collision, Dimorphos orbited the main asteroid every 11 hours and 55 minutes, after which its orbit was adjusted to 11 hours and 23 minutes.
NASA marked the first time humanity had deliberately altered “the motion of a celestial object and the first full-scale demonstration of asteroid deflection technology.” said in a press release.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the mission showed NASA was preparing for “anything the universe throws at us.”
“We all have a responsibility to protect our home planet. After all, it is all we have.”
James Webb Telescope
The launch of the James Webb Telescope brought vivid images from the dark recesses of the galaxy in 2022.
hailed as Innovation of the Year in aerospace technology by Popular Science According to the magazine, the $10 billion telescope can “see deep into star forming fields” and look at “ancient galaxies 13 billion years ago that are still at home.”
Since the James Webb Telescope began sending its fascinating images to Earth for the first time in February, it has been teaching scientists “how stars and galaxies came together from primordial matter.” Popular Science journal notes.
Unlike the Hubble Telescope, which orbits close to Earth, James Webb has been launched hundreds of thousands of miles further and sits in Earth’s shadow that permanently blocks sunlight.
Since its launch, the James Webb Space Telescope has found photographs of the oldest galaxy in the known universe, as well as the Carinae and South Wheel nebulae, a collection of galaxies known as the Stephen Quartet, and a spectrum of light from exoplanet WASP-96b. .
Universal flu vaccine
Faced with an increase in Covid-19 cases and a possible “triple disease,” researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a flu vaccine based on mRNA molecules used to create Covid vaccines to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Experts revealed in December that mouse and ferret vaccinations produced antibody responses against all 20 known strains of influenza A and B viruses for four months. Science reported the magazine.
With cases of Covid-19 rising again, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) clogging hospitals, and the winter flu season on track to be the worst in 10 years, the vaccine could be crucial to preventing widespread deaths.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already reported more than 4,500 deaths this season.
Because the flu evolves every season, it has proven difficult to create an effective vaccine.
But researchers believe they may be on the cusp of delivering an effective vaccine for the flu, based on the same mRNA technology used in Covid-19 vaccines.
