December 19, 2023: The top health stories of the year, a volcano on Iceland is erupting and good luck getting that Christmas jingle out of your head. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | It seems impossible that, after the global pandemic, any health news could be as big and important. But 2023 was a big year for health discovery. Yes, COVID was still in the news–the COVID public health emergency was declared over and we gained more clarity on the nature of long COVID (rates of which appear to be declining, though tens of thousands are still suffering). But new vaccines and treatments were announced for other conditions, and major progress is being made in organ transplantation and machine learning in medicine. Senior editor for health, Tanya Lewis, rounded-up the top health stories of the year, which you can read in its entirety here.
Highlights:
After decades of development, the FDA approved several safe and effective vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which can be deadly in very young or older adults. | 10 min read
The first medicine using CRISPR technology was approved this month to treat sickle cell disease. You can read more about this remarkable technology in our recent coverage. | 5 min read
Weight-loss drugs took the world by storm this year. In addition to changing body size, researchers discovered several other health benefits of the medicines. | 5 min read
What the editor says: "This year was really the first time since the pandemic began that I started to breathe a sigh of relief that things were improving, even though the virus itself isn't gone," Lewis told me. "It's been encouraging to see fewer COVID hospitalizations and deaths, but we still need to ensure people remain protected by staying up to date on vaccines. I could finally turn my attention back to other major developments on the health beat, including advances in organ transplants (a topic of personal significance to my family). I'm excited for what's in store for 2024 and wish everyone a healthy and happy new year!" | | | A volcano on Iceland is erupting. In October, geologists started recording heavy seismic activity in Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula, centered around a miniature mountain called Þorbjörn, which is near the Blue Lagoon spa and resort, a geothermal power station and Grindavík, home to 3,500 people. On December 18, starting at about 8:00 P.M. local time, there was a sudden onslaught of earthquakes and at 10:17 P.M., a fissure opened in the ground and lava exploded out.
Why this matters: Though the Peninsula has experienced multiple eruptions in the last several years, each one is unique, and geologists cannot always predict the flow of lava. As you're reading this, lava is flowing to the north and east, away from town.
What the experts say: These events are unpredictable. "The fissure has opened close to the worst-case-scenario position," says Tom Winder, a volcano seismologist at the University of Iceland. There's no telling at this point whether the lava will avoid the town of Grindavík, or cover it with lava. | | | A volcano spews lava and smoke as it erupts in Grindavík, Iceland, December 18, 2023. Credit: Snorri Thor/NurPhoto via Getty Images | | | • An international team of researchers has compiled a complete atlas of all cells in the mouse brain. It could lead to better medicines in the future. | 3 min read | | | • The scientific term for that holiday jingle that just won't get out of your head is "earworm." Here's why they won't leave us in peace. | 4 min read | | | • Students of color in advanced degree programs need more support from their mentors and to be connected to communities of like minds, writes Nia Burrell, a physics Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern University. "If universities take responsibility for maintaining the funding and stamina for these types of mentorship programs, the mental well-being of BIPOC Ph.D. students could immensely improve," she says. | 4 min read | | | Credit: Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI | | | A new image of Uranus captured by the James Webb Space Telescope shows a striking view of the planet and its rings. The bright, white region glowing on the planet is its seasonal north polar cap. Uranus' dim inner and outer rings are also visible, including the elusive Zeta ring—the extremely faint and diffuse ring closest to the planet. | | | It's good to be reminded that Earth is not a stagnant place. It is churning with geologic activity that fuels nearly 1,500 active volcanoes around the globe, forming new land mass and constantly changing the face of the planet. The far future of our world will likely look very different from the familiar map of continents and oceans we all know. We are part of a dynamic system. | Speaking of volcanoes, the hotspot beneath Hawaii that formed all the islands will, perhaps, in 10,000 to 100,000 years from now, form a new island. Without Google, do you know the name given to this future island? Email me your answer: newsletters@sciam.com. See you tomorrow. | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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