In this year-end roundup, Scientific American editors break down how 2025 reshaped science across the board—from sweeping federal upheavals that disrupted long-standing research institutions to public health setbacks driven by vaccine rollbacks and rising measles cases to renewed hostility toward climate science and clean-energy policy and finally to the mind-bending dark energy findings that are shaking up cosmology. Together, their insights reveal how 2025 was a turbulent year for science on Earth and beyond—and what to watch closely in 2026.

Recommended Reading:
<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-sickle-cell-treatments-highlight-the-power-of-patient-perspectives/">Cures for Sickle Cell Disease Arrive After a Painful Journey</a>
<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasas-bet-on-spacexs-starship-may-give-moon-race-to-china/">NASA’s Moon Race Looks like a Losing Bet</a>
<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/changing-the-fdas-vaccine-approval-process-could-threaten-covid-flu/">Changing the FDA’s Vaccine Approval Process Could Threaten COVID, Flu Protection for Children</a>
<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-paris-climate-agreement-is-turning-10-these-5-charts-show-what-progress/">5 Charts Show Climate Progress as Paris Agreement Turns 10</a>
<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-evolving-dark-energy-worries-some-physicists/">Latest Dark Energy Study Suggests the Universe Is Even Weirder Than We Imagined</a>

E-mail us at <a href="mailto:sciencequickly@sciam.com">sciencequickly@sciam.com</a> if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!
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Science Quickly is produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

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