Already in the second month, the year 2026 has leapt into action. With global events from major sports to the film industry to space exploration, 2026 is shaping up to be a year full of memorable moments. Yet before we look ahead, what has happened so far?
Recap
The Winter Olympics opened on the 6th of February across Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo with 92 nations competing in a range of sports. This includes alpine skiing, figure skating, snowboarding, speed skating, and more. One game that has been gaining popularity is curling. Making its Olympics debut in 1924 as a demonstration sport but not becoming an official Olympic sport until 1998, it is now one of the Winter Games’ most unexpectedly popular events. Some people call it chess on ice for its strategic gameplay. It is also part of a large mystery in physics which is too big to explain here but can be found in Cleo Abram video, ‘Why This Olympic Sport Bothers Physicists’.
Bulgaria started the year with a significant change, adopting the Euro on the 1st of January and becoming the 21st member of the Eurozone. Replacing the Bulgarian Lev, the Euro now aims for increased economic stability, easier travel and trade.
Parts of the southwest in Spain, especially the region of Andalusia experienced record-breaking rainfall and consequential flooding at the start of the year. A series of Atlantic storms led by Storm Leonardo resulted in unprecedented downpours of more than 500 mm of rain in 24 hours in some places.
On the other hand, Japan experienced extraordinary weather conditions in their snow season this January and early February. They had one of the most intense snow events in decades with 15 prefectures reaching snow depths of over 2m in many places and some remote valleys with more than 4m.
The 83rd Golden Globes took place on the 11th of January in Beverly Hills, California, celebrating film and television achievements. One Battle After Another won multiple awards including Best Flim, Director and Screenplay. Hamnet won Best Film in the Drama category. Timothée Chalamet won Best Actor for his role in Marty Supreme. For the first time, a Best Podcast Golden Globe was given out – to Amy Poehler’s Good Hang.
This year’s Grammy Awards occurred on the 1st of February in Los Angeles, recognising a multitude of music. Bad Bunny won Album of the Year for Debí Tirar Más Fotos. Billie Eilish won Song of the Year for Wildflower. Olivia Dean won Best New Artist, celebrating her breakthrough year.
Upcoming
In the sports world, there are many new events happening. The Winter Paralympics are scheduled to begin on the 6th of March in Italy with 665 athletes from around 50 countries competing. The FIFA World Cup is being hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States this year, starting on the 11th of July. This year will be the largest tournament ever, with 48 teams playing 104 matches all together over the span of five weeks.
Several blockbuster movies will be released throughout this year, with several franchises continuing as well as new projects. Some of these include The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Supergirl, The Odyssey, Spiderman: Brand New Day, Toy Story 5, Project Hail Mary, Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping and more. Probably the biggest moment in cinema this year will be the 18th of December when both Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Messiah release. Many, after RDJ and Chalamet coined the term, are calling this event Avengers Dunesday and the next Barbenheimer.
There are also many celestial events coming up. On the 28th of February, the planetary parade will occur with six planets (Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) appearing aligned in the sky. On August 12th, there will be a total solar eclipse visible from parts of Europe and a total lunar eclipse on the 2nd and 3rd of March visible from the Americas.
Speaking of space, 2026 also marks the year of the Artemis II project that will be the first crewed journey around the Moon in more than 50 years. Aiming to return humans to the Moon, it hopes to build a sustained presence there for future exploration, including eventual missions to Mars. This will be launched on the 7th of March and last around 10 days as it orbits around the moon and returns to Earth. This will be the farthest any humans have travelled into space.
2026 is the 250th anniversary of the U.S. since it’s Declaration of Independence in 1776.
It is also the centennial anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth.
Starting this year on a positive note, 2026 is a happy number.
You first square its digits:
You then repeat this with the new number:
Repeating this calculation twice more gives you 13 and then 10.
The last step gives you the number 1. Because the calculations end in 1, 2026 is classified as a happy number.