Recap of the Positive Things that Happened in 2022
People all over the world struggled through crisis after crisis in 2022. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought death and destruction, inflated food and oil prices, a refugee crisis, and a looming threat of world war. COVID’s stranglehold lessened but remains a global threat and reminded us of the enormous power of pandemics. Global warming spawned horrifying storms, flooding, and drought across the world.
And yet, due to the efforts of dedicated individuals around this tattered globe, there are positive things to report as well. Doctors, engineers, scientists, environmentalists, humanitarians, and others dedicated to striving for a better world, can and do make a difference. Here are some of the exciting efforts announced in 2022.
List of 11 Good Things that Happened in 2022
1. Germany Launches Hydrogen Trains
Germany has replaced some of its diesel trains with its first batch of clean energy hydrogen-powered trains w. These trains are running in Lower Saxony and are expected to expand to other regions in Germany and then to other countries, reducing the use of harmful diesel fuel.
Such hydrogen-powered trains have fuel tanks that generate electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen, thereby releasing water vapor as the only emissions. This is an incredible revolutionary step towards attaining a healthier planet.
2. Lab-Grown Meat Declared Safe to Consume
The US Food and Drug Association has approved a California company’s cultivated meat safe to consume. This is a remarkable development as it offers hope for more plant-based diets and a decreased reliance on large herds of methane-releasing animals.
The Company’s lab scientists developed a technique that uses animal cells to grow meat in bioreactors. These products are in groceries and on tables at restaurants around the world.
3. New Fishing Technique Reduces Shark Bycatch
Scientists have found a new method to avoid aqua predators like sharks and stingrays from getting stuck or trapped in commercial fishing nets. This technique involves emitting a short electrical pulse every two seconds The sense organs of sharks and rays detect these electrical pulses and are deterred by them. This results in these important predators swimming away, unharmed.
4. Protection for Beavers
England has ensured legal protection for beavers - this ends their near extinction in England due to hundreds of years of poaching beavers for their skin, meat, and glands. Since October, England officially declared that the deliberate hunting, trapping, injuring, or killing of beavers is a criminal offense and is punishable by law.
Beavers, “nature’s engineers”, are finally being recognized for their critical role in maintaining wetlands by preventing floods and drought.
5. Significant Development in Treating Alzheimer’s
An antibody-drug was tested, in a clinical trial, on around 1,800 individuals with early stages of Alzheimer's Disease. It was found to reduce cognitive decline by 27% in patients who received treatment for 18 months. This marks a significant milestone in the search for effective treatments for Alzheimer's. Previous efforts have been met with disappointment.
However, it should be noted that the treatment carries certain risks, including the possibility of brain bleeds and swelling. 7% of those who received it had to discontinue use due to side effects. Nonetheless, it gives promise for more effective treatments for this debilitating disease in the future.
6. Doctors Performed the first Xenotransplant
In January 2022, doctors successfully performed the first pig-to-human (Xenotransplant) transplantation on a 57-year-old man. Although the man died 2 months after the surgery, even a few weeks is seen as a considerably long period in xenotransplantation.
Xenotransplantation offers promise to resolve the problem of organ shortages.
7. Major Breakthrough in the AI World
With tools like DALL - E and ChatGPT, AI tools have accomplished significant advancements in their domain. There are tools like DALL - E that can turn text input into a vivid, stunning, and precise image output. ChatGPT on the other hand is a text-based multipurpose AI tool.
It can act as a chatbot, write codes for you, write emails, and blogs, and answer certain complex questions as well. Although both tools are still under development and are constantly being updated, there’s no denying that this should be added as one of the exciting things that happened in 2022.
8. A Comeback of Endangered Mammals in Europe
Species of brown bears, bison, pelicans, and beavers have bounced back in 2022 in Europe thanks to the efforts of forest authorities, legislation, and human activities like rewilding.
9. DART Demonstrates Potential To Protect Earth From Asteroids
In the September of 2022, a team at NASA successfully attempted smashing the DART spacecraft into a small asteroid at 14,000 miles an hour to test the potential impact on the asteroid’s path. Although the threat of an asteroid colliding with the earth is small, this sort of research provides an important tool to protect our planet.
10. Spinal Patients Able To Walk Again?
With the efforts of neurosurgeons in implanting nerve-stimulating devices in the spinal cords of the patients, they were showing major improvements and were able to take some steps. With focused training, one of the patients could even swim and cycle. This is astonishing and life-changing for those affected by spinal damage.
11. HIstory Chip’s Improved Functionality!
Since we’ve covered a couple of positive events of 2022, we couldn’t miss out on the significant improvements we made at History Chip.
To begin with, we added video, audio, and comments functionality. This will make it more fun and easy for people like you around the world to add the stories of their lives and their shared humanity to this important project.
Conclusion
Humans have the most amazing capacity to invent and change life for the better. Even as we face dire crises, we strive and are capable of remarkable inventions and breakthroughs. Reflecting on our accomplishments of 2022 offers courage and resilience as we embark on 2023.
On that note, how did 2022 turn out for you? Share with us all the good things that you did and that happened to you in this last year.
