You are certainly not alone if you want the corona pandemic to end.
In any case, it is very high in my hopes for the beginning of the year.
My colleague Marco Evers describes what this end could look like in the current issue of SPIEGEL.
The way out of the pandemic is not to make the virus go away.
Sars-CoV-2 will remain, but it will join the group of coronaviruses with which the human immune system copes reasonably well.
It is still unclear when this so-called endemic phase will begin.
In the opinion of some epidemiologists, 2022 could already be the year when the pathogen itself no longer spreads in aggressive waves, but is permanently present at a low level.
The omicron variant can accelerate the transition - it is so contagious that it could force a basic immunization of the population through massive infection.
In countries with a low vaccination rate, that would likely mean many more corona deaths.
The result, however, is the same everywhere: an everyday life that will be far less marked by reports of new infections every day, contact restrictions, school closings and hygiene concepts.
I wish you an optimistic start to the new year!
Heartfelt
Yours Julia Koch
I also recommend you:
Germany fears the Omikron wave
- and with it the possible loss of thousands of employees in the critical infrastructure due to quarantine and isolation.
Do the rules have to be adjusted for this?
A graphic from SPIEGEL
helped a reader get a booster vaccination.
According to his family doctor, the patient was early, but the article convinced the doctor.
The perfect snowflake
is difficult to photograph.
The fragile structures melt all too quickly when photographers come close to them with natural light.
Some still succeed.
A radiologist from Cairo was able to analyze
the amenophis' teeth
thanks to the latest 3D X-ray technology - without having to remove the death mask and bandages of the embalmed pharaoh.
The ruler had good teeth.
Astronomers are hoping for
golden times
with the launch of the James Webbs Telescope.
The most expensive spy probe in the history of space travel could even track down a second earth, explains Esa Science Director Günther Hasinger in an interview with SPIEGEL.
Will Omikron End the Pandemic?
The highly contagious variant can mean the beginning of the endemic phase of Sars-CoV-2.
But the price for this could be high.
The steel of the future
must protect the climate.
The steel industry still emits more carbon dioxide than car traffic.
Researchers are working on plasma reactors that will replace blast furnaces with ecological hydrogen.
quiz
What is Capgras Syndrome?
What is Christmas Illness?
What is Jerusalem Syndrome?
* You can find the answers at the bottom of the newsletter.
Picture of the week
With the help of an Ariane 5 launcher
, the James Webb space telescope from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana will begin its journey into space on Christmas Day.
Probably in June or July 2022, the most expensive telescope of all time is supposed to send the first images of its mission.
(Feedback & suggestions?)
* Quiz Answers:
1. People affected by Capgras Syndrome believe that one or more people close to them have been replaced by doppelgangers.
2. The "Christmas Disease" is the so-called hemophilia B, a blood clotting disorder that was first described in 1952 in a young patient.
His name is Charles Christmas.
3. The Jerusalem Syndrome describes a religious madness that some visitors to holy places in Jerusalem fall into every year.
They consider themselves prophets or even Jesus.