Here at Greater Good, we tend to focus on the psychology, neuroscience, and (to a lesser degree) sociology of a meaningful life—that’s our bread and butter, which we highlight in our annual roundup of the year’s top scientific insights.
The Carina Nebula, as captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
Here, we’d like to take a moment to recognize breakthroughs in other areas of science, like physics, astronomy, and biology. The historically quick creation of COVID-19 vaccines in 2020–2021 gave many people hope for the future, and we think it’s important to remember that across many fronts, systematic observation, measurement, and experimentation have expanded human possibilities to a degree that we sometimes forget to appreciate.
Amid what can feel like waves of bad news, these developments uplift and inspire us. Here are a few hopeful and awe-inspiring breakthroughs from 2022.

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