Here we are again, watching another year end and thinking back on everything that we have achieved over the last twelve months. It has been a year of turmoil for the world, with the ongoing pandemic, record setting economic problems, and more war and political scandals dominating the headlines. And yet for the scientific community, the year has not been too bad.

All through the year we have been seeing a steady stream of images from the new James Webb space telescope, with stunning images of distant nebulae and galaxies. The astronomy community has certainly benefited from greater information on the oldest stars and galaxies, and already there is a massive collection of academic papers being published in every area of astrophysics and cosmology as a result. This is one megaproject that has already proven its worth to the scientific community.

Continuing in the astronomy and space sector, this year also saw NASA successfully alter the trajectory of an asteroid using a man made probe. In September, the DART mission crashed a probe into the Dimorphus asteroid, causing to to alter its course. While this asteroid was never a threat to us, this achievement has given us the ability to protect ourselves against future asteroids that could collide with the Earth and cause major extinction events. This mission has made our own world a little bit safer.

On the technology front, this really has been the year of artificial intelligence. The field of AI and deep learning has actually been rapidly growing and expanding for several years now, but 2022 saw the rise of AI generate artwork and photographs, as well as the ability of artificial neural networks to generate written works such as news articles or short stories. It is expected that early in the new year we will see publicly available software for generating video clips and even possibly full length movies and television programs. As usual this technology has been controversial, with many concerned about the end of creative careers when companies can use much cheaper open source software instead, but it is likely too late to put this genie back in its bottle now.

Of course the greatest scientific achievement of the year (and likely the most relevant to society) came in the final weeks, with the announcement from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory of the first fusion reactor to generate an excess of energy. For now it is not commercially viable, but once the method has been refined it will provide a clean source of energy that is safe and nearly limitless. It will allow us to explore further into space and develop colonies on other worlds, while also putting an end to the use of greenhouse gas producing energy sources and thus reducing the effects of climate change on our own world. This technological and scientific advance really is a world changer.

And those are just a few of the highlights of the past year, with many more achievements being made in every field of science. Some are already being celebrated, and many more are just kernels of a theory that will be further developed in the coming years into revolutionary models and technologies. Likely the greatest scientific achievement of the year is something that we do not even realize is important yet. That is the beauty of scientific discovery.

So that is the year in review. It has been a tough year for the world, but a productive and hopeful year for the scientific community. And like so many scientists, I cannot wait to see what comes in 2023!

Happy New Year!!