From ChatGPT to diverting asteroids: These scientific breakthroughs give us hope for 2023

After a year in which war ravaged Ukraine, stubbornly high inflation brought the global economy to the brink of recession, a "tripledemic" revived pandemic fears, and limited progress was made on the climate crisis, it would be understandable to approach 2023 with a sense of unease. And yet a series of scientific breakthroughs in 2022 are bringing reasons for optimism for the new year. From fusion energy to improved vaccines and organ transplants, an artificial intelligence revolution to diverted asteroids, technologies previously found only in science fiction came to fruition. Those landmark discoveries, some the culmination of decades of work, offer grounds for hope. Why do heatwaves in the UK feel hotter than abroad?