What are you looking forward to reading in 2023? Whether it’s health, physics, technology or environmental news, new scientist will cover you
space
December 22, 2022
Engineers work on the Psyche spacecraft, scheduled for launch in October 2023 Maxar
A fleet of rockets, Amazon’s New Hope and an attempt to change our eating habits are just some of the exciting stories new scientist The news team will report in 2023. Read on for our selection of the most important science, technology, health and environment news for the coming year.
space exploration
SpaceX starship, the largest rocket ever built, will make its first orbital flight in 2023.It’s just one of a fleet of giant rockets that will launch over the next 12 months, along with Blue Origin’s new glenThe companies, owned by billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, want to shape the future of space travel.
In addition to the private sector, government space agencies are also planning some exciting missions.European Space Agency’s Jupiter’s Icy Moon Explorer It will launch in April and arrive in the Jupiter system in 2031, where it will explore Europa, Callisto and Ganymede for signs of habitability.Meanwhile, NASA is sending a mission called Spirit An asteroid, also known as Psyche, is thought to be the bare iron core of a young planet. It will launch in October and arrive in 2029.
Closer to home, NASA is also gearing up to test its experimental X-59 aircraft, which is designed to break the sound barrier without creating a sonic boom and could lead to a revival of superfast air travel.
disease
The fourth year of the coronavirus pandemic has many uncertainties, especially Cases surge in China After relaxing its zero covid policy. What is certain is that we will need more and better vaccines to deal with emerging strains, although new vaccines are unlikely to be approved as quickly as the first batch of vaccines, because regulatory approval will be slower.
Vaccines are also needed to combat the growing Avian Influenza, as the H5N1 virus continues to sweep through Europe and the United States. These countries have not traditionally vaccinated poultry like places like Egypt and Hong Kong, but governments appear to be embracing the idea.
environment
The good news is that defenders of the Amazon rainforest are in a good mood as we head into 2023. Luis Inacio Lula da SilvaBolsonaro, who will become Brazil’s president on Jan. 1, has promised to reverse many of the measures put in place by his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who had allowed wanton deforestation.
But even if the rainforests are saved, the oceans could face new threats in July 2023.If countries have not agreed to an international norm to regulate deep sea mining By then, governments and corporations concerned with the mineral resources of the seabed will be able to exploit them without restriction.
technology
Government regulation will also play a key role in AI in 2023, with the EU expected to finalize artificial intelligence law. It is the first attempt to develop broad standards for the use of artificial intelligence, aimed at protecting EU citizens from potentially harmful practices. Other countries and tech giants will be watching closely, as European tech regulation has proven to be a global model for similar laws elsewhere.
Meanwhile, another group of Europeans wants to change the way we feed the world. solar food, a company that uses renewable energy to convert carbon dioxide into a protein-rich powder, will open its first commercial-scale factory in Helsinki, Finland. The powder could be used to replace eggs and other protein sources, and could drastically reduce the water and land use involved in producing food.
physics
Finally, it’s a belated Christmas for physicists who will get two big toys in 2023. First up is the Linac Coherent Light Source-II, an upgrade to an existing facility in California that will turn it into the ultimate X-ray machine. The researchers hope to use it to make movies of the atoms inside molecules.
At the other end of the scale, a new gravitational wave hunter will also come online in 2023. The rubidium atoms used by the matter-wave laser interferometer gravitational antenna are cooled enough to become “matter waves,” able to tease out ripples in the space-time created by collisions of black holes and other massive objects.It will be able to detect our existing events gravitational wave facility Missed, can even help find dark matter.
