Answers to age-old questions about the nearly 14 billion years of cosmic history are closer than ever, Axios' Miriam Kramer and Alison Snyder write.

• "We're in a whole new era of astrophysics and planetary science," NASA scientist Stefanie Milam told Axios. "What we are seeing — even in our first glimpses — with the James Webb Space Telescope has just blown our mind. It surpassed our expectations in so many ways."

The year's watershed moments included the long-awaited first images sent from the Webb telescope, and a portrait of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

• The Webb telescope, which launched one year ago, delivered unprecedented images of stellar and galactic births — yielding new details about the evolving structure of early galaxies, and the first stars to turn on in the universe.

The telescope also has started looking at the atmospheres of planets far from our own.

The Event Horizon Telescope captured images of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

• "Our Galileo moment is seeing inside of black holes," Milam, the NASA scientist, told us. "We're studying star formation in ways that we've never been able to see."

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"Biden's lucky streak," by Axios visual journalist Brendan Lynch, is among the work featured in a "Best of '22" selection of last year's best work by the geniuses of Axios Visuals.

• The team of about two dozen produced 3,426 illustrations ... 5 storytelling projects ... 4,560 data visualizations ... and exchanged 149,000 messages.

Treat yourself to the best of Axios Visuals '22.

• 👀 Don't miss: "Draw your neighborhood" ... Marvel Cinematic Universe gets more diverse.

The ties between human-caused climate change and extreme weather events became clear to the naked eye in 2022 — and, for the first time, played a starring role in climate diplomacy, Axios' Andrew Freedman writes.

• Why it matters: Deadly, widespread flooding in Pakistan in late summer helped galvanize international support for compensating poor countries for their disproportionate share of climate damage.

🖼️ The big picture: The world saw a litany of extreme weather and climate events in 2022, many of which scientists concluded were made more likely or severe due to climate change:

• Europe was ravaged by deadly heat waves and wildfires.
• Hurricane Ian caught many in Florida off guard.
• Australia was hit by multiple rounds of flooding.
• Heat and drought struck China.
• Devastating drought and famine are gripping the Horn of Africa.

🔬 Zoom in: The Pakistan flooding gave diplomats from developing nations the moral high ground to secure a historic deal last month on the fraught issue of "loss and damage."

• That's UN-speak for the impact of climate change on less developed countries — which have contributed comparably little to the problem, yet are suffering some of the worst consequences.

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Confetti blankets Times Square early this morning.

• ⏰ Oops! CNN, despite banishing on-air boozy excess, missed midnight in the Central time zone.

More photos: New Year's Eve around the world.

These revelers are releasing balloons in Wuhan, China — where three New Year's Eves ago, authorities were treating dozens of cases of a "pneumonia of unknown cause," which later was named COVID-19.

🥊 Today's headlines ... Shot: Reuters, "Chinese state media seek to reassure public over COVID."

• Chaser: Financial Times, "Xi’s credibility ‘badly wounded’ as China’s Covid death toll mounts."

Bolstered by conservative outrage over revelations in the "Twitter Files" released by Elon Musk, House Republicans plan a new Judiciary Committee panel with the working name "Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government."

• Why it matters: It's part of the aggressive posture planned by the GOP, which takes the majority when the new Congress opens Tuesday.

I'm told prime targets for the new panel include the FBI, Justice Department and the intelligence community — plus the Department of Homeland Security's failed effort at a Disinformation Governance Board.

• The plan was reported by Wall Street Journal columnist Kim Strassel, who wrote ("House Republicans Plan a Committee on Censors and Snoops") that the committee "is a recognition that the recent revelations about government meddling in speech and politics go beyond the FBI."

📖 The backstory: The idea was driven by House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, responding to requests from several conservative members, a GOP aide tells me.

• McCarthy held a meeting about the new panel with incoming House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and incoming House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY.).

McCarthy has announced a Select Committee on China, chaired by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.).

Thirty-three years after the Central Park jogger attack, a Central Park entrance in Harlem now bears the chiseled name "Gate of the Exonerated" (above), for the Central Park Five — teenagers who were wrongfully convicted, triggering a conversation on racial injustice.

• Why it matters: The gate "is a rare instance of a municipality formally memorializing its colossal mistake, acknowledging the error in sandstone, etched onto the wall at the point where the teenagers entered the park," the N.Y. Times writes (subscription).

It's the first new name for a Central Park entrance since 1862.

It was the best semifinal day in the nine-year history of the College Football Playoff:

• The title game (SoFi Stadium in L.A. on Jan. 9) will match the defending national champion against the closest thing the sport has had in years to a Cinderella, AP's Ralph D. Russo writes.

No. 1 Georgia will be looking for its second straight championship — against upstart and No. 3 Texas Christian University, which had been given little chance of beating powerhouse Michigan yesterday.

The TCU Horned Frogs (13-1) upset the Wolverines 51-45 in a Fiesta Bowl thriller where Michigan could have won in the final 50 seconds.

• It was the second-highest-scoring CFP game ever, behind Georgia’s 54-48 Rose Bowl victory against Oklahoma on Jan. 1, 2018.

The Georgia Bulldogs (14-0) came from 14 points down in the second half to beat No. 4 Ohio State 42-41 in the Peach Bowl — and advance to the CFP final for the third time under coach Kirby Smart.