For the first time in three years, COVID-19 did not make this annual list. Thankfully, the SARS-CoV-2 did not have nearly the devastating mortality rate in 2022 as it did in 2021 and 2020. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean all viruses were absent this year. In May, I wrote an article titled “What’s With All the Viruses?”. I still have that question as hospitals are now packed with sick patients battling a trifecta of respiratory illnesses—COVID-19, RSV and the flu. On the other hand, when mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) arrived in the U.S. this summer, the potential for a “twindemic” was frightening. Thankfully, already-approved vaccines and a ready community were able to ensure there would only be one pandemic at a time. We’ll start there, and then turn our attention to a handful of other incredible scientific discoveries and innovations that fueled the year 2022.
1. The contained mpox outbreak
The 2022 mpox outbreak is just that—an outbreak, not a pandemic. Since this is not a novel disease like SARS-CoV-2, it is easier to battle with already-approved vaccines that are about 85% effective. As of Monday, Dec. 9, 857,393 vials of JYNNEOS have been shipped throughout the United States. By mid-2023, the U.S. government estimates it will have a supply of approximately 7 million vials.
Galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
2. Photos/data from the James Webb Space Telescope
On Jan. 24, 2022, the world’s largest, most powerful, most complex space science telescope ever built arrived at its intended orbital destination around Lagrange Point 2. The $10 billion, 25-year project was now in space—and it was quick to deliver. On July 12, NASA revealed the first five images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. The highly detailed images are unprecedented—and stunning. Since then, Webb has captured some of the universe’s earliest galaxies (possibly even the oldest stars in the galaxy), revisited the site of a famous photo and captured incredible new details, and detailed the chemical profile of an exoplanet atmosphere for the first time.
During transplant surgery. Credit: University of Maryland Medical Center
3. First successful xenogeneic heart transplant
On Jan. 7, in a first-of-its-kind surgery, a 57-year-old man with terminal heart disease received a successful transplant of a genetically modified pig heart. The man, David Bennett, did not qualify for a traditional heart transplant, and doctors felt this was his only option. Before the surgery, Bennett was bedridden for eight weeks with a life-threatening arrythmia and was connected to a heart-lung bypass machine to remain alive. Within days of the transplant, he was weaned from extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. He visited regularly with family members and sang while watching the Super Bowl in February. However, in March, Bennett died—but not due to organ failure. The transplanted pig heart functioned well for several weeks and displayed none of the typical signs of rejection by the patient’s body, even when it was examined during the autopsy. The surgeons concluded Bennett died of heart failure that was likely caused by a complex array of factors, giving them hope for the future of xenogeneic transplants.
4. Observed effect of lead on IQ
In 1923, lead was first added to gasoline to help keep car engines healthy. However, automotive health came at the great expense of human well-being. A study published in March by Duke University calculates that exposure to car exhaust from leaded gas during childhood stole a collective 824 million IQ points from more than 170 million Americans alive today—about half the population of the United States. The findings suggest Americans born before 1996 may now be at greater risk for lead-related health problems, such as faster aging of the brain. Leaded gas for cars was banned in the U.S. in 1996, but the researchers say that anyone born before the end of that era, and especially those at the peak of its use in the 1960s and 1970s, had concerningly high lead exposures as children. But gas is not the only currier for lead—lead paint was popular before it was banned in 1978, especially in lower income areas. Today, approximately 29 million housing units have lead-based paint hazards, including deteriorated paint and lead-contaminated house dust. About 2.6 million of these are home to young children, according to the CDC.
5. Purple tomatoes approved by USDA
In September, the USDA approved the sale of Norfolk Plant Sciences’ genetically modified purple tomato, concluding that it was unlikely to pose a plant pest risk. While there are other purple-skinned tomatoes, Norfolk’s is different in that it is purposely enhanced to provide a high level of anthocyanin, which appears naturally in many foods, such as blueberries and blackberries. The approval allows Norfolk Plant Sciences to sell purple tomato seeds to U.S. customers starting Spring 2023. The decision follows a long wait for professor and researcher Cathie Martin, who developed the anthocyanin-rich purple tomato in 2008. Martin and team used transcription factors from snapdragons to trigger the tomatoes to produce more anthocyanin, creating a vibrant purple color. While the purple tomato tastes exact the same as its red counterpart, it has double the shelf life, according to a 2013 study. The next steps for the purple tomato are FDA approval and commercialization.
6. Guinness World Record for the fastest DNA sequencing technique
In January, Stanford Medicine scientists developed a new ultra-rapid genome sequencing approach that was used to diagnose rare genetic diseases in an average of eight hours—but only a record five hours in some cases. Over the span of less than six months, the Stanford team enrolled and sequenced the genomes of 12 patients—five of whom received a genetic diagnosis from the sequencing information in about the time it takes to round out a day at the office. The team’s diagnostic rate, roughly 42%, is about 12% higher than the average rate for diagnosing mystery diseases. In one of the cases, it took a snappy 5 hours and 2 minutes to sequence a patient’s genome, which set the first Guinness World Records title for fastest DNA sequencing technique. The record was certified by the National Institute of Science and Technology’s Genome in a Bottle group and is documented by Guinness World Records.
7. 20 years later, the human genome is complete
Speaking of DNA sequencing, two decades after the Human Genome Project produced the first draft human genome sequence, scientists finally published the first complete, gapless sequence in March. In 2003, the Human Genome Project mapped about 92% of the genome. That last 8% that was decoded this year includes numerous genes and repetitive DNA, and is comparable in size to an entire chromosome. Researchers generated the complete genome sequence using a special cell line that has two identical copies of each chromosome, unlike most human cells, which carry two slightly different copies.
6 days post-planting. Credit: Tyler Jones/UF
8. First plants grown in lunar soil
In May, scientists at the University of Florida successfully grew plants in soil from the moon, a first in human history and a milestone in lunar and space exploration. On loan from NASA, the 12 grams of soil was collected during the Apollo 11, 12 and 17 missions to the moon. To grow their tiny lunar garden, the researchers used thimble-sized wells in plastic plates normally used to culture cells. Each well functioned as a pot. Once they filled each “pot” with approximately a gram of lunar soil, the scientists moistened the soil with a nutrient solution and added a few seeds from the Arabidopsis plant. While nearly all of the lunar plants sprouted, there were differences between the plants grown in lunar soil and the control group. For example, some of the plants grown in the lunar soils were smaller, grew more slowly or were more varied in size than their counterparts. These are all physical signs that the plants were working to cope with the chemical and structural make-up of the moon’s soil, something confirmed when the researchers analyzed the plants’ gene expression patterns.
9. A rechargeable cyborg cockroach for search and rescue
Using ultrathin electronics and flexible materials, researchers at RIKEN (Japan) engineered a system for creating remote controlled cyborg cockroaches, equipped with a tiny wireless control module that is powered by a rechargeable battery attached to a solar cell. The researchers attached the wireless leg-control module and lithium polymer battery to the top of the insect on the thorax using a specially designed backpack, which was modeled after the body of a model cockroach. The backpack was 3D printed with an elastic polymer and conformed perfectly to the curved surface of the cockroach, allowing the rigid electronic device to be stably mounted on the thorax for more than a month. The ultrathin 0.004-mm-thick organic solar cell module was mounted on the dorsal side of the abdomen. The ultrathin and flexible organic solar cell, and how it was attached to the insect, proved necessary to ensure freedom of movement. While cyborg cockroaches have a multitude of applications, search and rescue missions are chief among them.
10. Climate change: Now or never
In April, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the third and final part of its Sixth Assessment Report on climate change, with IPCC Working Group III Co-Chair Jim Skea saying, “It’s now or never if we want to limit global warming…without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, it will be impossible.” In the scenarios assessed by the team, limiting warming to around 1.5°C (2.7°F) requires global greenhouse gas emissions to peak before 2025 at the latest, and be reduced by 43% by 2030; at the same time, methane would also need to be reduced by about a third. Even if humans do this, it is almost inevitable that we will temporarily exceed this temperature threshold, but could return to below it by the end of the century. The global temperature will stabilize when carbon dioxide emissions reach net zero. For 1.5°C (2.7°F), this means achieving net zero carbon dioxide emissions globally in the early 2050s; for 2°C (3.6°F), it is in the early 2070s. The report looks beyond technologies and demonstrates that while financial flows are a factor of three to six times lower than levels needed by 2030 to limit warming to below 2°C, there is sufficient global capital and liquidity to close investment gaps. However, it relies on clear signaling from governments and the international community, including a stronger alignment of public sector finance and policy.