Aaron Schwartz/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
From vaccine skeptics heart of the US government to continue global paralysis When it comes to climate action, science is in jeopardy in 2025. Those who believe in rationality and evidence must continue to fight the coming darkness – and we hope you agree. New scientist does, but also look for the whimsy and wonder that comes from exploring the universe and everything in it.
Before we put on our hats for the delightful celebration of science contained in our double holiday issue, it's worth reflecting on the threats we as science-minded people face. Everywhere you turn, the past year has seen shocking examples of the misuse and abuse of science.
The destruction of American science under President Donald Trump cannot be ignored, even if you do not live in the United States (see: Donald Trump and Elon Musk will put science on the chopping block in 2025). For decades, the country was one of the largest funders of science in the world, which brought enormous benefits both to the United States and to everyone else. Everything changed this year. By taking an ax to American science (or, in Elon Musk's case, a chainsaw), countless discoveries will remain imperfect, cures untested, and technologies undeveloped, leaving us all poorer.
Of course, governments are not the only source of funding, but two stories this year demonstrate the dangers of abandoning science at the whim of commercial interests. Regular readers New scientist will be familiar with Colossal Biosciences, a US company that claims to be “de-extinction” (see below). De-extinction was big news in 2025, but didn't live up to the hype). The most notable, or perhaps most infamous, development this year were three genetically modified gray wolves named Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi.
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Although it may take time to see results, science is here to serve, save and delight us all.
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Colossal claimed they were the first living dire wolves since the species went extinct 10,000 years ago, a claim widely publicized by the world's media despite protests from independent scientists. In the battle of truth and spectacle, spectacle seemed to have the upper hand.
A similar story played out in November during a UK documentary. Hitler's DNA: The Dictator's Plan. There is no doubt that the scientists involved in the series successfully identified and sequenced the Nazi dictator's genome, but the sensational interpretation of these results, such as claims that he may have suffered from schizophrenia or autism, leaves much to be desired. While the documentary and its accompanying grim headlines have come and gone, we are still awaiting the publication of a scientific paper detailing the work to truly assess the researchers' claims.
One area where we definitely don't wait for science is in the fight against climate change. Indeed, science and public policy have been in perfect harmony over the past decade, ever since countries signed the Paris Agreement, which committed to keeping global warming below 1.5°C. The only slight problem is that we didn't actually do it.
The Paris Agreement contained a ratchet mechanism to ensure we stay on track by asking countries to make new climate action commitments every five years. About 95 percent of countries failed to do so by the deadline in February this year, and only about 60 percent managed to do so on time. COP30 Climate Summitheld in November in Belem, Brazil.
The retreat did not stop there. In our guidance for the end of 2024, we called on Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to “take to the stage and publicly acknowledge the failure of the COP process to date, surrounded by unsmiling world leaders with a clear plan to do better.” Instead, countries could not even agree to include the phrase “fossil fuels” in the final text of COP30.
Okay, okay, enough of the doom and gloom—it's the holidays, after all, so let's have some fun. Another important story for 2025 was the 100th anniversary of quantum mechanics, which we covered in detail, including in our April special issue. To cap off the year, we have news that the thought experiment conceived by Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr has finally come to fruition (see below). Quantum experiment resolves age-old debate between Einstein and Bohr). This shows that yes, quantum mechanics really is that weird.
Other good news for 2025 included the continued success of GLP-1 drugs in treating a range of diseases, not just weight loss (see below). The potential of GLP-1 drugs to transform medicine has increased dramatically in 2025.), and – perhaps most bizarrely – people seeing a completely new color (see People saw the new color for the first time in 2025).
Elsewhere in this issue, you'll find an incredible smorgasbord to fill your mind and belly with this holiday season. For a new look at Charles Dickens, see: How 3 imaginary demons of physics violated the laws of nature according to the story of three demons who persecuted physicists. As you catch your breath after a busy year, consider a new approach to meditation for those short on time (see “Too Busy to Meditate? Microdosing Mindfulness Has Big Health Benefits”). To find out what the best jobs in science might be, visit the Touch and Tickle Lab and see what the evolution of tickling tells us about being human. And finally, why not wash it all down with the world's oldest beer (see: Did ancient people start farming so they could drink more beer??)
As we look to 2026 and the global challenges ahead, let's remember how powerful and wonderful science can be. Despite the naysayers and naysayers, there is no better way to make sense of the world and make it a better place than scientific research and the application of the knowledge it generates. While it may take time to see the results—for example, the century-long gap between Einstein and Bohr's debate and the resulting experiment—science is here to serve, save, and delight us all.
We wish you luck – or at least a better chance of winning from a random distribution of probabilities – next year.
