Tag: 2024 news review

Mpox became a global health emergency for the second time in 2024

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A Red Cross worker spraying chlorine-based disinfectant in Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August 2024

MOISE KASEREKA/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Mpox surged in parts of East, West and Central Africa in 2024, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare it a public health emergency of international concern in August. This was just over a year after it said an earlier mpox emergency was over, marking the first time the WHO has declared two such alerts consecutively over the same infection.

The emergency that ended in 2023 was driven by the clade IIb variant of mpox, formerly known as…

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December 13, 2024
Climate chaos accelerated in 2024 as we hit 1.5°C for the first time

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Saharan dust storms like this one in Athens, Greece (above), are becoming more common

Reuters/Louisa Gouliamaki

It won’t be confirmed until January, but it is now almost certain that 2024 will surpass 2023 as the hottest year on record. Even more significantly, the global average temperature is set to show that the planet has warmed by more than 1.5°C since the 19th century – the limit countries agreed to pursue under the Paris Agreement.

But average temperatures are just one way of assessing the rapid changes taking place in the planet’s climate in response to our greenhouse gas emissions. From…

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December 11, 2024
Dazzling auroras lit up the skies in 2024 and we may see more in 2025

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In May, auroras turned the night sky amazing colours in Tucson, Arizona

Sean Parker

Seeing the northern lights, or aurora borealis, typically requires travelling to frosty climes as far north as Norway or Iceland, but this year they have been visible in London, southern Europe and even Mexico. There were two big light shows, in May and October. While the October event was a result of a straightforward solar storm, scientists are puzzled about the storm that caused the May aurora.

An aurora borealis seen from north Wales in May 2024

John Davidson Photos/Alamy

“We’re still quite surprised how far south the aurora was seen,” says …

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December 11, 2024
Space was for sale in 2024 as private missions led by Elon Musk boomed

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Jared Isaacman partially exited a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft in September

SpaceX

Private companies reached several milestones in space this year, including the first private lunar lander touchdown and the first civilian spacewalk, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX played a key role in many of these missions.

The first big event for the sector this year came on 22 February, when Texas-based Intuitive Machines landed its Odysseus spacecraft on the moon, making it the first private company to achieve a feat previously only accomplished by national space agencies. Despite the lander tilting unexpectedly, the mission was a success and another…

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December 11, 2024
Bird flu suddenly got serious in 2024, infecting dozens of people

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Cattle herds across the US caught bird flu this year

Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

A highly infectious type of bird flu began spreading in dairy cows across the US earlier this year, providing the pathogen with one of its best opportunities to date to evolve and more easily infect people.

Infectious disease experts have been concerned about the virus, called H5N1, for decades. Of the more than 900 people worldwide who are known to have caught it since 2003, around half died as a result.

Article amended on 11 December 2024

This article has been changed to correct the recovery statuses of the people with known infections.

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December 11, 2024