The spiral galaxy M51, as viewed by the James Webb Space Telescope<\/p>\n
ESA\/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Adamo (Stockholm University)\/FEAST JWST team<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
From extraordinary heat to stunning space imagery, New Scientist<\/em> has brought you extensive coverage of the biggest developments, discoveries and events in science, technology, health and environment in 2023. Here is our recap of some of the best stories this year.<\/p>\n Wildfires raged on the Greek island of Rhodes in July 2023<\/p>\n ANGELOS TZORTZINIS\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n The number of heat records broken in 2023 is simply astounding. While we can\u2019t officially say for sure until final figures are in next month, this year was almost certainly the hottest year ever recorded. In a sign of how extraordinary temperatures have been this year,\u00a0New Scientist<\/em> was already reporting this possibility in mid-June, well before the northern hemisphere summer had got into gear.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A few weeks later saw a particularly surreal string of events. The average global air temperature recorded 2 metres above Earth\u2019s surface \u2013 essentially, a way of taking the temperature of the entire planet \u2013 hit its highest ever figure on 3 July, but this record was immediately broken on 4 July , which was then matched on 5 July and broken again the next day. By the end of August, we had seen the hottest three-month period on record, and it was followed by the hottest September ever. In November, researchers declared the hottest 12 months on record.<\/p>\n Against this backdrop, negotiations at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, were a fraught affair. Whether the world would finally take action against fossil fuels was a key point of disagreement and at one point looked set to scupper the summit. In the end, the world did agree to begin \u201ctransitioning away\u201d from fossil fuels \u2013 the first time they have been mentioned in a COP text \u2013 but many questions about what that means in practice remain.<\/p>\n The weight loss drug Wegovy saw a surge in demand in 2023<\/p>\n Carsten Snejbjerg\/Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n The demand for Wegovy, or semaglutide, this year has been like almost no other drug in history. As well as being incredibly effective for weight loss, early trials this year have shown that it may cut the risk of heart attack or stroke and could also help treat addiction. Despite some moralising about about a \u201cquick fix\u201d for obesity, along with shortages and difficulty in accessing the drug, it is clear a health revolution has begun.<\/p>\n 2023 has also been the first year since 2019 that covid-19 was not at the forefront of everyone\u2019s minds. With the World Health Organization (WHO) announcing on 5 May the virus was no longer a public health emergency, in some sense the coronavirus pandemic has come to an end \u2013 at least for some. Millions of people are still experiencing the lingering symptoms of long covid, a condition that remains poorly understood.<\/p>\n Writers in London staged a rally in solidarity with striking US screenwriters, who demanded their jobs be protected from AI<\/p>\n Vuk Valcic \/ Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n By a rough count,\u00a0New Scientist<\/em> has published almost 150 stories about artificial intelligence this year. Tech firms were falling over each other to compete, from OpenAI claiming \u201chuman level performance\u201d for GPT-4 to Google saying its Gemini model was even better. Then were concerns about the rise of AI-driven misinformation, from an image of the Pope in a puffer jacket to the risk of a feedback loop of bias, along with attempts at detecting AI-generated text.<\/p>\n AI was also the subject of high-level discussions across politics and business. It became a huge sticking point in the Hollywood writers\u2019 and actors\u2019 strikes, while world leaders, researchers and businesspeople convened at Bletchley Park in the UK to sign a declaration on the risks of the new technology. Truly, this was the year AI went mainstream.<\/p>\n The dense centre of the Milky Way, as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope<\/p>\n NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Samuel Crowe (UVA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n The biggest space mission of the year was also one of the least expensive, with India\u2019s low-budget Chandrayaan-3 moon landing costing just \u00a360 million. India\u2019s success made it just the fourth nation to safely reach the moon, after the US, the Soviet Union and China. It also came just days after a Russian probe crash-landed on the lunar surface in an attempt to recapture that Soviet glory.<\/p>\n Further out in space, the James Webb Space Telescope continued to shine, providing both fantastic images and advancing our understanding of the universe, from the fastest growing galaxy to the most distant black hole ever seen.<\/p>\n Topics:<\/p>\n<\/section><\/div>\nEnvironment<\/h2>\n
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<\/div>Health<\/h2>\n
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<\/div>Artificial intelligence<\/h2>\n
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<\/div>Space<\/h2>\n
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