2023 environment, women and science - 27th December 2023

The environment was a major talking point in 2023. The Svalbard group of Arctic islands, which are part of Norway, decided to make new eco-friendly rules. Svalbard's tourism business wants its transport to produce less CO2.

Børre Haugli: "The tourist industry themself in Svalbard want to have sustainable industry and they develop themself into more sustainable activities."

Achievements by women were also a major topic, both now and in history. Experts cleaned and repaired the oil painting, Allegory of Inclination. This 17th century picture was painted by Artemisia Gentileschi. She was a female artist, which was very unusual. In those days, most artists were men.

Linda Falcone: "She had to know how to market herself, and that's what she's actually doing with the painting because not only is she tributing Michelangelo but she's saying, 'I as a woman have the inclination to paint'."

Women were also making history too. In politics, Jacinda Ardern decided to quit her job as prime minister of New Zealand. In 2017, at 37 years old, Ardern had become the youngest ever female prime minister. People think she did a great job.

Lia Correa: "I think she'll leave behind a really good legacy, cause like, she's a woman prime minister who kicked ass. She was awesome. She did everything she could during the pandemic. Kept a lot of people safe. Yeah, I think she's gonna have a great legacy."

In Gabon, national parks began using smart cameras. They hope to stop people hunting animals illegally.

Thijs Suijten: "And this minicomputer downloads the images from the camera and then uses artificial intelligence to automatically classify whether there is an animal, an elephant or human on the photo."

Around the world, many people asked for help for the planet on Earth Day. In London, Extinction Rebellion protested at the Houses of Parliament for four days. They want the government to take climate change seriously.

And there were parties on London's streets too. Millions of people celebrated the coronation of King Charles III. It was the first coronation in the UK since 1953.

In Mexico, French and Mexican scientists did research into 'zoonoses'. These are diseases which jump from animals to humans. Scientists are working hard to prevent the next pandemic.

A national orchestra in the US and NASA worked together to create something special. 'Cosmic Cycles' is a new work of art. It brings amazing images from the James Webb space telescope together with music. The space film is shown with music which was written by Henry Dehlinger.

Henry Dehlinger: "I think the music written for a lot of those space movies, space films are, is, is fantastic. But what we're seeing tonight at this premiere is not science fiction. It's the actual science. It's the real deal. We're actually looking at the Sun. We're actually looking at the solar system. We're actually looking at the origins of the universe."