Looking back...

It is impossible to write about 2021 without mentioning the global pandemic that continues to rage. Journalist Paul Webster looked back on the past 12 months in our COVID-19 timeline of events.

You may be surprised to learn that there were plenty of scientific discoveries made in other fields, written up by Karen O'Leary in our Notable Advances of 2021.

In a lighter vein, we highlighted some key figures from the past year in our Yearbook, including COVID-19 communicators, Devi Sridhar and Pedro Hallal, and Star Trek actor (and real-life space tourist) William Shatner.

Looking forward...

As the pandemic continues, we asked Maria van Kerkhove, COVID-19 Technical Lead at the World Health Organisation to peer into her crystal ball and predict the pandemic in 2022 in her World View article.

We also asked leading researchers, including Linfa Wang from NUS Singapore, Malik Peiris at the University of Hong Kong, and John Nkengasong at Africa CDC to tell us about the 8 unanswered questions about the pandemic - what surprised them, and what do they still not understand about SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, written up by journalist Mike May.

Away from COVID-19, journalist Carrie Arnold spoke to leading researchers to highlight 11 clinical trials to watch in 2022, from psilocybin (from magic mushrooms) for depression, to oncolytic viruses and CRISPR gene therapy.

I hope you enjoy our year in review and wish you all a productive and healthy (and less eventful) 2022...!

Image from COVID-19 timeline of events.