*Quanta Magazine* has an article on *2022's Biggest Breakthroughs in Math*:

> "In 2022, mathematicians solved a centuries-old geometry question, proved the best way to minimize the surface area of clusters of up to five bubbles and proved a sweeping statement about how structure emerges in random sets and graphs."

The [full article](https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-biggest-math-breakthroughs-in-2022-20221222/) describes an impressive year of results.
This does not address this year in comparison to previous years' results,
but it is difficult to read this review and feel that the year was
in any way disappointing mathematically.

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(*Added*). Just to give a sampling, here are
excerpts from the *Quanta* article under "Geometry":

* Emanuel Milman and Joe Neenan found out the shape of clusters of bubbles that can most efficiently enclose three or four volumes — in any number of dimensions.

* Isabel Vogt and Eric Larson solved the interpolation problem: how many random points in high-dimensional space certain types of curves can pass through.

* Andras Máthé, Oleg Pikhurko and Jonathan Noel ... figured out how a circle can be cut up into visualizable pieces that can be rearranged into a square. 

* Martin and Erik Demaine ... published a paper that shows how to take any polyhedron and fold it into a flat shape — as long as you allow infinitely many creases. 

* Dusa McDuff and several collaborators found intricate fractal structures emerging when they tried to embed shapes called ellipsoids into something called Hirzebruch surfaces.

* Other mathematicians made progress toward proving the Kakeya conjecture...

Similar lists are presented under the headings: the Fields Medalists' research, Number Theory, Machine Learning, Topology, Random Structures.
Among the latter is a short paper (a 6-page proof that pinpointed when structure emerges in random graphs),
while one breakthrough resulted in a 912-page paper showing that slowly rotating black holes will keep on rotating until the end of time.