New Delhi, December 14 : We are about to bid adieu to the current year 2022 and waiting to welcome a brand-New Year. It is a good time to look back at the year 2022 and refresh our memory of some of the important events that took place.
Year 2022 has been very eventful and interesting in both good and bad ways. Here, we are looking back at some of the important events in the fields of science and technology. So, come take a look with us.
Most Notable Scientific and Technological Events of 2022:
1. China’s Artificial Sun Sets Record For Being 5-times Hotter Than SUN
China’s “artificial sun” set a new world record for superheating a loop of plasma (sustained a nuclear fusion reaction) to temperatures that’s five times hotter than the sun for over 17 minutes, as per reports in January.
The superheated plasma reached temperatures of 126 million degrees Fahrenheit, which approximately five times hotter than our star – Sun, the surface of which radiates a massive 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit and its core temperature is around 27 million degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Elon Musk’s Takeover of Twitter
The former richest man in the world – business tycoon Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media platform Twitter has been one of the constant talks of this year in the tech world. While Musk began the process of taking over Twitter back in April this year, the process finally concluded in October. Musk recently lost his crown of being the world’s richest person in December, to France’s Bernard Arnault. Twitter Files: There’s Nothing To Hide, Says Former CEO Jack Dorsey on Elon Musk’s ‘Expose’.
3. Discovery of HD1 – Most Distant Galaxy
Astronomers have now found the most distant galaxy called – HD1. It has been discovered by Japanese astronomers who used a range of highly sophisticated telescopes across the world.
This ultra-remote HD1 exists at an astounding 13.5 billion light-years away from us., and is thought to have formed only 300 million years after the “Big Bang” theory that is supposed to have created the entire Universe. The astronomers believe that HD1 may be the home to some of the most ancient stars in the Universe, known as the Population III stars that have never been observed till date. Astronomers Have Discovered the Most Distant Galaxy Ever.
4. Mummified Baby Woolly Mammoth ‘Nun cho ga’ Discovery
In June, a beautifully preserved mummified baby woolly mammoth was found in the Klondike gold fields by the miners working on Eureka Creek in Canada. The frozen woolly mammoth was uncovered while excavating through the permafrost. The mummified mammoth calf has been named Nun cho ga, by the locals meaning “big baby animal” in Hän language.
According to Palaeontologist Grant Zazula the frozen baby mammoth “is beautiful and one of the most incredible mummified ice age animals ever discovered in the world”. The animal is believed to be female, which died during the ice age over 30,000 years ago.
5. First Covid19 Nasal Vaccine Developed In India
Even though the human race has won the battle against the deadly Corona virus after significant global casualties, the fight against the pandemic is still virtually continuing with the upgrades of vaccines.
Amid most intense global research to develop nasal vaccines for Covid-19, India’s Bharat Biotech’s intranasal vaccine received approval for Phase 2/3 trials in August. While, the vaccine got further approvals in September after receiving good trial success. The Indian adenoviral intranasal vaccine BBV154 is the first of its kind Covid-19 to undergo human trials in India.
6. NASA Artemis 1 Moon Mission
After postponing four launch attempts owing to engine issues as well as unfavourable weather conditions, NASA’s Artemis 1 successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Centre on November 16.
The Artemis 1 Moon mission with the Orion spacecraft has been a success so far in its uncrewed mission carrying out an extensive test of the Space Launch System and the Orion module. Artemis 1 Moon Mission: Orion Spacecraft of NASA Successfully Enters Lunar Orbit (Watch Video).
7. ISRO PSLV Multi-satellite Launch
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) also had its important launch in November, as it launched a one-ton Earth observation satellite along with eight nanosatellites to sun-synchronous polar orbit November 26 via the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket.
The PSLV rocket blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, and the mission to launch a third-generation Earth observation satellite in India’s Oceansat series has been a success. The November 26 launch was ISRO’s fifth and final space mission for this year.
8. Massive Tech Layoffs
The month of November has been highly eventful month this year, but not always in a good way. Due to a world-wide recession a lot of tech companies went on a firing spree, most notably in November, which is still continuing.
Tech giants like Amazon, HP, Cisco, Zendesk, Airtable have been sacking their employees in thousands and the trend continues this month with more companies joining the firing bandwagon.
9. FTX Bankruptcy
Cryptocurrency exchange major FTX and FTX.US, its U.S. branch, filed for bankruptcy, again in November. FTX’s former founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested recently and will be extradited to the U.S to face eight fraud charges for fooling investors.
10. Discovery of 48,000-Year-Old Zombie Virus
As the world faces the massive concern of global warming and the world’s icy chunks are melting away, a lot of prehistoric beings from the ice-age are being discovered, including sleeping, frozen viruses.
Scientists have revived an over 48,000-Year-Old zombie virus, which has been dormant owing to its frozen state. As viruses are essentially indestructible with both heat and cold, this pre-historic amoeba virus was hibernating in ice and was revived from the melted ice. The scientists from the French National Centre for Scientific Research discovered more than a dozen archaic viruses and uncovered a ‘zombie-virus’ from the Siberian permafrost. This oldest to mankind virus is dubbed as Pandoravirus yedoma and is estimated 48,500 years old.
As the fascinating year 2022 hasn’t ended yet, we might expect at least a couple of more significant events to important events to take place, before we finally welcome 2023. Hoping that the upcoming events of the departing year will be pleasant ones.
(The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Dec 14, 2022 07:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).
