Nature releases the top seven science events to watch in 2022!

Although the new crown epidemic is still rampant this year, bringing many tragedies and disasters to mankind, "every dark cloud is edged with gold"! The new crown vaccine becomes a powerful weapon in the fight against the epidemic, and the most powerful superconducting quantum computer to date goes "new" ..... The ingenuity of scientists has given humanity a lot of hope and made us look forward to a bright future. In a Dec. 17 report, the British magazine Nature's website gave us a rundown of the top seven scientific events to watch in 2022.

01 The epidemic may persist

2022 marks the third year that the new coronavirus has hit humans, and we are not currently seeing the end of it. There is an urgent need to better understand the impact of the mutant strain of Omicron and the threat it may pose. Early findings suggest that omicron has the potential to reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine. Scientists also hope to figure out what kind of disease it can cause and how severe it is.

In 2022, researchers and public health authorities will also continue to monitor the emergence of new mutant strains of the Oncoron virus and the possible long-term effects of the virus on people recovering from Oncoron pneumonia.

Many countries have already begun vaccinating their populations, and vaccine rollout may continue out of concern for omicron, but with nearly half of the world's population not yet vaccinated, the huge global vaccination gap becomes an important question.

Meanwhile, the debate over the origin of the virus is likely to continue, with the World Health Organization appointing a team of 26 scientists to try to solve the mystery anew.

02 Vaccine upgrades

Vaccine developers have set their sights on the next generation of vaccines, expecting to prevent rapidly mutating coronaviruses. 2022 may see scientists developing new crown vaccines that target specific variants of messenger RNA (mRNA), and some public health officials are hoping that vaccines developed using other technologies will play a greater role.

Protein-based vaccines are a more conventional approach to immunization and have been used for decades to treat diseases including hepatitis and shingles. This year, the new protein-based crown vaccine performed well in phase III clinical trials. DNA-based vaccines are less expensive to manufacture than mRNA vaccines and do not require refrigeration, so they could be a boon to people in low-income countries.

Progress is also expected for vaccines to treat other major viruses and diseases, including HIV, malaria and Lyme disease.

03 Physics may see a bumper year

2022 may be a bumper year for physicists as many large instruments "return with a vengeance" with new detections!

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will restart in June, and scientists have upgraded and expanded the main experiments using it - the Hyperloop Instrument Experiment (ATLAS) and the Compact Muon Coil Experiment (CMS) - which will allow them to collect more data from the 40 million proton collisions produced every second.

Large Hadron Collider to restart in 2022

In addition, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave (LIGO) Observatory in the United States, the Virgo gravitational wave detector in Europe, and the Kamioka gravitational wave detector KAGRA in Japan will also begin new observing activities.

Meanwhile, the Rare Isotope Beam (FRIB) at Michigan State University in the United States is expected to begin operations in early 2022. The $730 million multi-stage gas pedal is designed to synthesize new isotopes of thousands of known elements and will conduct studies of nuclear structure, neutron stars, and supernova explosions, among others.

04 Moon missions to follow

In 2022, several orbiters and landers from government space agencies and private space companies will head for the moon.

NASA will launch the Artemis I unmanned orbiter in February 2022, the first test of the long-delayed Space Launch System (SLS), which is designed to send astronauts to the lunar surface. "Artemis I is the first step in NASA's return to the Moon program, in addition to the agency's CAPSTONE orbiter, which will conduct experiments to provide a gateway to the first space station to orbit the Moon. In addition, the agency's CAPSTONE orbiter will conduct experiments in preparation for the first "gateway" to a space station operating around the Moon.

Russia's Luna 25 probe will go on a lunar exploration trip next year

India's third mission to the moon, Moonship 3, aims to make the first soft landing on the moon and send its rover to the moon; Japan will also try to make the first soft landing on the moon. And Russia plans to recreate the glory of the Soviet moon landing program with the Luna 25 lander. South Korea's Pathfinder lunar orbiter will begin South Korea's journey to the moon.

In private space exploration, Japanese lunar robotics company space plans to launch the Hakuto-R lander, which will carry the United Arab Emirates Rashid lunar rover. For their part, U.S.-based Cosmic Robotics and Intuitive Machines plan to use their developed probes to transport NASA instruments to the lunar surface.

05 China's Tiangong space station to be built

The joint European-Russian ExoMars program, to be launched in September 2022, will carry ESA's Rosalind Franklin Rover to Mars to look for signs of past life there. The launch was originally scheduled for 2020 but was postponed because of issues such as the parachute needed for a safe landing.

China's Tiangong space station is scheduled for completion in 2022 and has more than 1,000 experiments scheduled, ranging from astronomical and Earth observations to the effects of microgravity and cosmic radiation on bacterial growth.

06 Continued action on climate change

In 2020, the epidemic led to lower greenhouse gas emissions, but carbon emissions rebounded in 2021. This November, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) was held in Glasgow, UK, where delegates pledged to reduce coal use and methane emissions, among other things.

In November 2022, delegates from around the world will again gather in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, for the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27). Countries are expected to make climate commitments consistent with the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement to keep global warming well below pre-industrial levels of 2 degrees Celsius. In the meantime, researchers will continue to monitor greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate change could lead to extreme droughts

07 Saving Biodiversity

Habitat loss and other factors related to human activities have put about one million plant and animal species at risk of extinction. In light of this, countries want to set a new set of targets to slow the loss of biodiversity.

As of 2020, the Aichi Biodiversity Targets set in 2010 have mostly not been met. The first phase of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was held in Kunming, Yunnan Province from October 11 to 15 this year and adopted the Kunming Declaration, calling for action to build a community of life on Earth. The second phase of the conference will be held offline in Kunming, China, from April 25 to May 8, 2022.