2022 science preview: mRNA vaccines, asteroid missions and collaborative robots

From new mRNA vaccines, to space mission and developments in robotic automation, in this episode we talk to three experts about some of the scientific advances they’re watching out for in 2022.

Featuring Deborah Fuller, professor of microbiology at the School of Medicine at University of Washington in the US and an expert on mRNA and DNA vaccines; Monica Grady, professor of planetary and space sciences at The Open University in the UK; Teresa Vidal-Calleja, associate professor at the Robotics Institute at University of Technology Sydney.

We also speak about what 2022 holds in store for global inequality with economist Carlos Gradín, research fellow at United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research in Helsinki in Finland.

And Naomi Schalit, senior politics and society editor at The Conversation in Boston in the US, recommends some reading to mark the one year anniversary of the attack on the Capitol in Washington D.C. 

The Conversation Weekly is produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. You can sign up to The Conversation’s free daily email here. Full credits for this episode available here.

Further reading:

• Material from asteroid Ryugu starts to give up secrets of early Solar System, by Monica Grady, The Open University
• Global inequality may be falling, but the gap between haves and have-nots is growing, by Carlos Gradín, United Nations University & colleagues
• The ‘sore loser effect’: Rejecting election results can destabilize democracy and drive terrorism, by James Piazza, Penn State
• American support for conspiracy theories and armed rebellion isn’t new – we just didn’t believe it before the Capitol insurrection, by Amanda J. Crawford, University of Connecticut