AI
2022 was the big year for Artificial Intelligence, the year when AI became a household word. The image generators were first, like Dall-E, but by the end of the year the latest GPT release (Chat-GPT) had taken over.
Overview of some of the big AI releases: link
Space
Big milestones in space included the successful first images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), showing individual stars inside galaxies at the very beginning of time. Link to images from JWST.
The DART asteroid-impact missions was a success! Video reviews here and here.
And sadly, the Planetary Society's crowd-funded solar sail, Lightsail 2, crashed back into the Earth's atmosphere after 3 years sailing on sunlight. Link.
Environment
While its hard to pick the top environmental story, the fact that Earth warmed at an all-time record pace created climate disruptions everywhere.
On the positive side, researchers have created a form of ultra-white paint that can reflect more energy than is absorbs. Buildings coated with this paint would have a natural cooling ability that could reduce ambient temperatures and reduce energy required for AC. I'm very hopeful that this can become cost effective and widely used in desert cities. Link.
