The year 2025 was marked by remarkable scientific achievements that pushed the boundaries of medicine, genetics, and biotechnology. Breakthroughs once considered futuristic moved from theory to real-world application, offering new hope for patients and redefining the limits of innovation.
US man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant
It has been over six months since receiving a pig kidney transplant. Still, the patient remains healthy. This is the story of Tim Andrews, 67 years old, who received a genetically modified pig kidney transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in the United States last January. On the 8th, the international academic journal Nature reported that Andrews has been living healthily for over six months since receiving the pig kidney transplant. This is also the longest record of survival after receiving a pig organ transplant. The academic community has responded that this incident could serve as a significant milestone in the technology of xenotransplantation, the so-called transplantation of animal organs into humans.
Scientists Revive Extinct Dire Wolf After 13,000 Years: Genetic Breakthrough by Colossal Biosciences
The dire wolf has been extinct for over 10,000 years. These two wolves were brought back from extinction using genetic edits derived from a complete dire wolf genome, meticulously reconstructed by Colossal from ancient DNA found in fossils dating back 11,500 and 72,000 years. This moment marks not only a milestone for us as a company but also a leap forward for science, conservation, and humanity. From the beginning, our goal has been clear: To revolutionize history and be the first company to use CRISPR technology successfully in the de-extinction of previously lost species. Colossal Biosciences embarked on this ambitious endeavor with the goal of bringing back the dire wolf, a species that roamed North America until its extinction approximately 13,000 years ago. Leveraging advanced genetic engineering techniques, the company's scientists analyzed ancient DNA extracted from two dire wolf specimens—a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old ear bone. By comparing these genomes with those of modern gray wolves (Canis lupus), they identified key genetic differences responsible for the dire wolf's distinctive traits. Subsequently, they isolated EPC cells from gray wolf blood samples and edited 14 specific genes to express 20 traits associated with the dire wolf phenotype. This process resulted in the creation of embryos that were implanted into surrogate hound mixes, leading to the birth of Romulus and Remus in October 2024, followed by Khaleesi in January 2025.
Infant with rare, incurable disease is first to successfully receive personalized gene therapy treatment:
A research team supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has developed and safely delivered a personalized gene editing therapy to treat an infant with a life-threatening, incurable genetic disease. The infant, who was diagnosed with the rare condition carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1) deficiency shortly after birth, has responded positively to the treatment. The process, from diagnosis to treatment, took only six months and marks the first time the technology has been successfully deployed to treat a human patient. The technology used in this study was developed using a platform that could be tweaked to treat a wide range of genetic disorders and opens the possibility of creating personalized treatments in other parts of the body.
New class of Antibiotics: Lariocidin
Researchers have identified a new molecule with antibiotic activity against a range of disease-causing bacteria, including those resistant to existing drugs. The new molecule isolated from soil samples taken from a laboratory technician’s garden is called lariocidin due to its lasso-shaped structure. The team say that in addition to its potent antibiotic activity, the molecule also shows low toxicity towards human cells, making it a promising molecule in the fight against drug-resistant infections.
Human Embryo Implantation in 3D
A human embryo being implanted into a uterus has been pictured in real time and in 3D footage for the first time by a team of scientists. It shows images of an embryo implanting into a synthetic uterus, demonstrating how the process occurs naturally. The groundbreaking footage was released by researchers at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in collaboration with Dexeus University hospital in Barcelona, which donated the embryos.
Cosmic Breakthrough: JWST Identifies Mysterious New Class of Black Hole Stars!
Astronomers may have finally found a clue to explain the strange “little red dots” that the James Webb Space Telescope spotted in 2022. The newly discovered object, nicknamed the Cliff, hints that these dots could be something entirely new in the universe “a black hole star.” This happens when a black hole feeds so quickly that the gas around it lights up, making it look like a glowing star.
Canada lost its measles elimination status, and the U.S. could be next
On November 10, Canada was stripped of its measles-free designation and, as a result, the Pan American Health Organization declared that the Americas, as a region, had lost its measles elimination status. (Individual countries retain their own designations.)
For more than 12 months, the highly contagious measles virus has been spreading between people in Canada. The outbreak began in October 2024 after the virus jumped from an infected international traveler, and this year, more than 5,300 confirmed or probable measles cases cropped up in the country.
China’s clean energy infrastructure reveal a transformation of unmatched scale and speed
hina’s turn to green energy dwarfs any other country’s, as a parade of astonishing numbers attests. In 2024 alone it installed new solar and wind generation equivalent to roughly 100 nuclear power plants, and the pace quickened early this year. Dozens of new, ultrahigh-voltage power lines are marching thousands of kilometers from western deserts where much of the solar energy is generated to the eastern cities where it is used. Hungrily awaiting the bounty of clean energy are millions of electric cars and a sprawling network of high-speed electric trains that can zip between cities 1000 kilometers apart in a morning.
China’s landscape reflects this metamorphosis. The vistas of smog, smokestacks, and coal heaps still exist, but glinting silicon panels now cover hills, deserts, and lakes. One solar farm on the Tibetan Plateau spans more than 400 square kilometers, an area more than twice the size of Washington, D.C. Wind turbines grow ever bigger; one meant for use offshore has blades 150 meters long. Arrays of house-size lithium batteries stockpile excess energy, and more is stored in mountaintop reservoirs, pumped full of water when energy is abundant and tapped as needed by allowing the water to cascade through turbines to a lower lake. The factories that produce the solar panels, turbines, batteries, and cars have added new industrial sprawl but often without the smokestacks because they are electrified.
New weapons against a sexual scourge
Two new drugs for gonorrhea showed their mettle in large clinical trials this year, and both were approved this month by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The first new weapons against the sexually transmitted disease in decades, they come at a time when existing treatments are failing.
Gonorrhea, which affects more than 80 million people annually, not only causes pain, genital discharge, and bleeding, but can also lead to serious complications, including pelvic inflammatory disease in women and infertility in both men and women. It increases patients’ risk of HIV infection and can cause blindness if newborn babies’ eyes become infected. Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the culpable bacterium, has developed resistance against nearly every antibiotic doctors have thrown at it. The last class of drugs that still works, cephalosporins, is beginning to fail as well.
Neurons make a deadly donation to cancer cells
Tumors manipulate a diverse range of surrounding cells within the body to support their growth and metastasis including neurons. In a groundbreaking discovery this year, researchers revealed a previously unknown mechanism underlying this interaction: nerve cells can transfer mitochondria—the organelles responsible for producing most of a cell’s chemical energy directly into cancer cells. This mitochondrial donation effectively “supercharges” malignant cells, enhancing their metabolic capacity and increasing their ability to spread to distant organs. The findings suggest that interrupting this transfer process could represent a novel strategy to limit metastasis.
Previous studies had already indicated that nerves contribute to tumor progression. For instance, severing neural connections to tumors often slows their growth or even leads to partial regression. Disrupting these connections also alters the metabolic activity of cancer cells, although the precise reason remained unclear. To investigate, researchers co-cultured cancer cells with neurons and fluorescently labeled the mitochondria within nerve cells. Using high-resolution microscopy, they observed neurons transferring mitochondria to adjacent cancer cells through fine, bridge-like cellular extensions. Evidence of similar mitochondrial exchange was later identified in mouse models injected with cancer cells and in tissue samples from human prostate tumors. The study, published in Nature, provides compelling insight into how neural–tumor interactions promote cancer progression.