December 31, 2022
Top Science Stories of 2022 – what would our students say?
Posted by Laura Guertin
The end of the calendar year is a time when many lists are published with the best/worst of stories and events from the previous twelve months. The science world also engages in this practice, publishing the top science headlines from various outlets. I have generated similar blog posts for top science stories of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 2020, and 2021. Here, I am reproducing that post and updating the list to some of the collections of top science news stories from 2022, not just as a reminder to us of what has happened in our field going as far back as two semesters, but as a suggested topic to kick off the Spring 2023 semester with students.
2022 brought with it a lot of exciting #science at Los Alamos. We’re counting down just some of LANL’s top stories during our #12daysofscience. First up: A look at how a pair of asteroid-focused missions are helping with planetary defense: https://t.co/bdE0QxNfop pic.twitter.com/5X7QpP4Awi
— Los Alamos National Laboratory (@LosAlamosNatLab) December 23, 2022
If you ask your students what were the major scientific accomplishments in 2021, what would they say? Are they aware of what happened in the previous year (beyond COVID), as well as the major concerns and challenges in the sciences? Depending upon the subject area you are teaching, how many (or how few) top stories are in the geosciences, marine sciences, paleontology, planetary science, etc.? An even bigger question… should students know about what is currently happening in our discipline, and does the answer to this question vary for science and non-science majors?
The past 12 months have been a pivotal time for science. Here’s a rundown of some of Nature’s top stories about the global scientific workforce in a tumultuous year https://t.co/jz1DQQFQSc
— nature (@Nature) December 26, 2022
One idea is that on the first day of class in the semester, you could provide each of my students a blank scrap of paper (or ask them to enter in a Google Form, Doc, or Jamboard) and ask them to write down what they remember as the top five science stories were for 2022 – then ask them to list any additional stories that relate to your course. Have the students write their name on the paper and collect it so you can see what “current event literacy” students have coming into the course. Since one of the goals of my courses is to highlight recent science news, I’m always interested in seeing how students answer this same question when I ask it again at the end of the semester for comparison.
This modification could be a fun way to start… what did scientists predict would be the big science stories for 2022? Science published More than a virus: Science’s areas to watch in 2022. Covering Climate Now shared Climate Journalism’s Watchwords in 2022? Accountability and Hope. New Scientist had predictions for the big science stories of 2022. And Nature compiled their watchlist as well, The science events to watch for in 2022. Did the science happen? Was it newsworthy in the end? Something tells me the really big stories may not have been predicted – and it will be interesting to see what the future science news headlines will be.
JUST IN📢: Major hurricanes, wildfires, increasing greenhouse gasses, deep sea discoveries, & more made 2022 an eventful year.
As 2022 comes to an end, we look back at some of our top accomplishments from the last 12 months🎉
Check out our 2022 recap: https://t.co/5GPjuReasd pic.twitter.com/Le93yQcxj7— NOAA Research (@NOAAResearch) December 21, 2022
But whether you decide to ask your students about the top science news stories for 2022 or not, I encourage you to review these lists to see if there were any announcements that you may have missed!
- Columbia Climate School – Year in Review: Our Top Stories of 2022
- Discover Magazine – Our Top 10 Science Stories of 2022
- Eos – Our Favorite Science Stories of 2022
- Inside Climate News – The 5 Most Popular Today’s Climate Stories of 2022
- NASA – An Astronomical and Historic 2022 – What We Did This Year @ NASA, and Best Space Station Science Imagery of 2022
- National Science Foundation – NSF’s 10 Most-Read Research News Stories of 2022
- Nature – Nature’s biggest news stories of 2022, The best science images of 2022, and Nature’s 10: Ten people who helped shape science in 2022
- New Scientist – Biggest science news stories of 2022 as chosen by New Scientist
- NOAA –NOAA Research’s top accomplishments from 2022, and NOAA Fisheries 2022 Recap: Your Favorite Marine Life Stories, Photos, Podcasts, and Videos
- NOVA/PBS – The top science stories of 2022
- Science – Our top [career] essays by scientists in 2022, and Our favorite science news stories of 2022
- Science Friday – A Look Back at the Top Science Stories of 2022
- Science News – Here are 5 record-breaking science discoveries from 2022, and These science discoveries from 2022 could be game changers
- Smithsonian Magazine – The Ten Most Significant Science Stories of 2022, along with The Top 8 Ocean Stories of 2022, and The Ten Best Science Books of 2022, and The Top Ten Dinosaur Discoveries of 2022
- Stanford Earth Matters Magazine – Our picks: Top 10 stories of 2022
- The Atlantic – Breakthroughs of the Year
- The Guardian – The 10 biggest science stories of 2022 – chosen by scientists
- The New York Times – Our Favorite 2022 Climate Coverage (Some of It’s Even Good News!)
- TIME Magazine – 2022 in Climate Change: Almost a Disaster, But Hope Prevails
- Yale Environment 360 –Stunning Satellite Images of Our Changing Planet in 2022
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute – 2022 Year in Review
Happy New Year folks! Reflecting on our work this past year, our editors have compiled a list of our favorite stories from 2022. If you’re looking some holiday reading, here you go! https://t.co/3stjWdqkSq
— Hakai Magazine (@hakaimagazine) December 31, 2022
And what should we expect in 2023? Scientific American shares What’s on the Horizon for 2023. New Scientist has A sneak peek at the biggest science news stories of 2023. The United Nations Foundation has published Climate issues to watch in 2023. And Nature has compiled their watchlist as well:
Moon landings, mRNA vaccines and climate finance are among the themes set to shape research next year. https://t.co/svrCxfCzIT
— nature (@Nature) December 21, 2022
(please add any lists/links in the Comments section that I may have missed!)