From deepest cosmic image to pig-to-human heart transplant, 2022's scientific milestones

2022 is nearing its end and the year has been quite a special one in terms of scientific breakthroughs. Starting from January, we saw surgeons perform the first-ever pig heart transplant into a human and witnessed nuclear scientists achieve ground-breaking milestones in advancing toward green energy. As we head into 2023, let us take a quick look at some of the most important achievements that could pioneer game-changing technologies in the future. 

First pig-to-human heart transplant

This breakthrough was achieved in January this year when surgeons in the US implanted a genetically modified heart of a pig into a 57-year old patient named David Bennett. This attempt was made by doctors at University of Maryland School of Medicine in a last ditch effort to save the patient's life, making it the first attempt of xenotransplantation (transplantation of tissues between different species). While the operation was historic on its own, it did no good as Bennett passed away two months later because his health continued to deteriorate despite the successful surgery.

[David Bennett (right); Image: AP]

Experts said that a gene-edited animal heart can function in the human body without immediate rejection, however, his demise showed that medical science still has a long-way to go before expanding the options of organ transplant in humans. 

First image of Milky Way's supermassive black hole

On May 12, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) released this jaw-dropping image of the supermassive black hole sitting at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. Named Sagittarius A*, this behemoth lies 27,000 light-years away from Earth and is a whopping four million times more massive than the sun. The image was produced by a global research team called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, using observations from a worldwide network of radio telescopes.

The photo-release followed the EHT collaboration’s 2019 release of the first image of a black hole, called M87*, at the centre of the more distant Messier 87 galaxy. The M87* is located 55 million light-years from Earth and is and 6.5 billion times the mass of sun.

First 3D-printed ear transplant

This unprecedented achievement was announced by Cornell University in June this year after scientists successfully implanted a 3D printed ear on a woman. Interestingly, the ear was generated using the woman's own cells. The need for the implant arose from the fact that the woman was suffering from microtia, a condition wherein a person is born without an external ear. Developed by 3DBio Therapeutics, this patient-specific, biologic implant named named AuriNovo could prove to be a stepping stone in developing technologies that eradicates the problems stemming from microtia. More on it here. 

Webb telescope's deepest view of the universe

Astronomers and in-fact the entire scientific community was in awe when NASA and its international partners (ESA and CSA) released the deepest image of the universe captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The $10 billion observatory, which launched on December 25, 2021, underwent six months of commissioning before releasing the picture below on July 12. 

Named the Webb telescope's first deep field, the picture showcases the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 featuring thousands of galaxies and their distorting effect on the fabric of space. The telescope, which has been designed to observe the universe in infrared light captured this image by scanning a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground, as per NASA.

Smashing an asteroid

NASA deliberately obliterating an asteroid is one for the ages. The agency rammed its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft into a space rock named Dimorphos on September 27 as a demonstration mission to test whether tweaking an asteroid's path is feasible. DART collided with Dimorphos, which orbits a bigger asterod named Didymos, at a speed of over 22,000 km per hour and managed to alter its orbital period by 33 minutes. NASA says that this breakthrough will help it develop technologies that could one day save Earth from a planet-killing asteroid and avoid a fate similar to the dinosaurs. Read all about it here.

Launch of Artemis 1

After surpassing years of political barriers and a series of delays, NASA's Artemis 1 mission finally took off on November 16, reviving humanity's hopes to return to the Moon. Artemis 1 was the uncrewed mission which was launched from the Kennedy Space Center to test the brand new Space Launch System (SLS rocket) and the Orion spacecraft before astronauts board it for their lunar mission. 

Artemis 1 ended with Orion's splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on December 12 after a near-flawless 25.5 day journey in outer space. During the three-week-long mission, Orion travelled a total of over two million kilometres and made the record of flying to the farthest distance from the Moon any human-rated spacecraft ever did.

Moving forward, NASA will analyse the data from this mission and prepare to send astronauts to the Moon starting Artemis 2. The next Moon landing, however, is planned under Artemis 3, which will launch no earlier than 2025. The Artemis Program, which is a follow-up of the Apollo Program, is extra special as NASA now aims to build sustainable bases on the lunar surface in order to prepare for crewed missions to Mars, humanity's next destination. 

Nuclear fusion breakthrough

On December 13, the US Department of Energy announced that scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California brought the world closer to unlimited green energy through nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion, according to the IAEA, is "the process by which two light atomic (hydrogen) nuclei combine to form a single heavier one while releasing massive amounts of energy."

The officials announced that using a hydrogen-nuclei fuel (made of deuterium-tritium isotpes), they produced a net energy gain of 1.5 megajoules, meaning they produced energy greater than what was put in the nuclear reaction (about 2 megajoules in, and about 3 megajoules out). The reaction was carried out by firing a 192-beam laser at a small capsule filled with deuterium-tritium fuel, which resulted in the release of about 70% of the energy fired at the target. Until now, nuclear scientists have conducted hundreds of such reactions but it was the first time they were left with residual energy after the reaction. 

With this achievement, scientists have inched closer to unlimited amount of green energy as the nuclear fusion requires hydrogen atoms (readily available in water) and leaves no waste behind. Once scientists find a way to increase the residual energy, it could prove game changing in every aspect of life, including agriculture, medical science and space exploration. Tap here and here for a more detailed explanation on how nuclear fusion can make fossil fuels obsolete.