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2025 in science

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The following scientific events occurred, or are scheduled to occur in 2025. The United Nations declared 2025 the International year of quantum science and technology.

Events

January

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29 January: ESA begins monitoring the asteroid 2024 YR4, which is rated 3 on the Torino scale.

February

  • 3 February – Researchers in Berkeley and Cambridge attach copper nanoflower catalysts on perovskite-based artificial leaves for solar-driven hydrocarbon synthesis. Devices can produce ethane and ethylene at high rates by coupling CO2 reduction with glycerol oxidation into value-added chemicals.[28][29]
  • 7 February – Researchers develop an AI chip, smaller than a grain of salt, that mounts on the tip of an optical fibre and uses a "diffractive neural network" to decode images at light speed with very low energy. This breakthrough promises advances in efficient medical imaging and quantum communication technologies.[30][31]
  • 10 February
    • The microlensing event MOA-2011-BLG-262L is confirmed to be associated with the highest-velocity exoplanet system detected to date, moving at 541 km/s (1.2 million mph), which is close to the escape velocity for the Milky Way galaxy.[32][33]
    • Following an increase in the impact probability of 2024 YR4 – from 1.3% to 2.1% – the European Space Agency announces that it will use the advanced capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope to observe the asteroid, in order to better determine its size and trajectory.[34]
  • 12 February
  • 13 February – Scientists at the University of Cambridge report the creation of a solar-powered reactor that pulls carbon dioxide directly from the air and converts it into sustainable fuel.[38]
  • 15 February – A new record-low global sea ice extent is reported, dipping below the previous lowest that occurred in early 2023.[39]
  • 18 February
    • The impact probability of 2024 YR4 is raised by NASA, from 2.1% to 2.6%[40] and then 3.1% in the same day.[41]
    • The first 3D mapping of an exoplanet atmosphere is achieved by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. WASP-121b (also known as Tylos) is found to have powerful winds carrying elements like iron and titanium, creating intricate weather patterns across its atmosphere.[42]
  • 19 February – Microsoft unveils Majorana 1, a quantum chip powered by its new topological core architecture that it hopes will enable quantum computers capable of solving meaningful industrial-scale problems. Microsoft claims that the Majorana 1 represents progress in its long-running project to create a quantum computer based on topological qubits.[43][44]
  • 24 February – NASA formally announces that asteroid 2024 YR4 now poses "no significant threat" to Earth in 2032 and beyond, as the chances of an impact drops to 1-in-59,000 (0.0017%). This means a planetary defense mission to intercept and deflect the object in 2028 during a close flyby of Earth will not be necessary.[45]
  • 27 February
  • 28 February – An electronic device called "e-Taste", developed by Ohio State University, is shown to replicate the perception of taste, which could enhance virtual reality experiences.[49][50]

March

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11 March: 128 new moons of Saturn are confirmed.
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31 March: OpenAI's latest model GPT-4.5 is reported to be indistinguishable from a human in text conversations.

April

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17 April: An artist's impression of K2-18b, which has a possible biosignature.
  • 17 April – The atmosphere of K2-18b, a candidate water world located 124 light-years away, is found to contain large quantities of dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide – two compounds that, on Earth, are only known to be produced by life. This discovery, while requiring further proof, is described as "the strongest evidence to date for a biological activity beyond the Solar System".[81][82]
  • 18 April – Scientists at UC Berkeley use lasers to stimulate human retinas to see an extremely saturated blue-green imaginary color dubbed "olo".[83][84]
  • 20 April – NASA's Lucy spacecraft returns images of the main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, revealing it to be a contact binary and larger than originally estimated.[85]
  • 22 April – Astronomers at MIT report the discovery of BD+05 4868Ab, a small rocky exoplanet located 142 light-years from Earth, which is rapidly disintegrating due to extreme heat from its nearby host star. The planet, orbiting every 30.5 hours, exhibits a comet-like tail of vaporised minerals extending up to 9 million kilometres. It is estimated to be losing mass equivalent to Mount Everest each orbit and may completely evaporate within 1–2 million years.[86]
  • 27 April – Astronomers report the discovery of the Eos cloud, a vast molecular hydrogen cloud located about 300 light-years from Earth, revealed through far-ultraviolet emission techniques. Expected to evaporate within 6 million years, Eos is among the largest and closest molecular clouds ever found.[87]
  • 30 April
    • Engineers at ITER complete the construction of the world's largest and most powerful pulsed superconducting electromagnet system, marking a major milestone on the path to sustained nuclear fusion. The Central Solenoid and surrounding magnets will confine plasma at 150 million °C, enabling ITER to produce 500 megawatts of fusion power from just 50 megawatts of input.[88]
    • The Minor Planet Center announces two additional moons of Jupiter, bringing the planet's total moon count to 97.[89]

May

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16 May: MoM-z14 becomes the most distant galaxy ever detected.
20 May: Google DeepMind sets a new benchmark for AI video generation with its Veo 3 model.
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23 June: First image released from the Rubin Observatory, featuring the Trifid and Lagoon nebula.

June

July

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1 July: 3I/ATLAS becomes the third known interstellar object to enter our Solar System.
  • 1 July
  • 3 July – A study in Frontiers in Plant Science finds that climate change could disrupt the habitat overlap between wild vanilla species and their pollinators by 2050, threatening the survival of both. This mismatch may endanger global vanilla supply and limit the genetic diversity needed for future crop resilience.[122]
  • 6 July – The Eclipsing Binary Patrol project, collaborating with TESS, confirms the detection of 10,001 eclipsing binary star systems, including almost 8,000 previously unknown ones.[123]
  • 8 July
  • 13 July – The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration announces the detection of the most massive black hole merger ever observed via gravitational waves, producing a final object of more than 225 solar masses. Professor Mark Hannam of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration says this discovery challenges existing models of black hole formation.[127]
  • 14 July – Astronomers publish details of 2023 KQ14, informally nicknamed Ammonite, a sednoid announced in April 2025.[128][129]
  • 17 July – OpenAI announces ChatGPT Agent, "a toolbox of agentic skills to complete tasks for you using its own computer".[130]
  • 18 July – The British Antarctic Survey reports the extraction of 1.5 million-year-old ice cores from depths of 2,800 metres in East Antarctica. The samples, containing bubbles of trapped CO2, could significantly improve the understanding of Earth's climate history by nearly doubling the current ice core record of 800,000 years.[131][132]
  • 22 July – A new bioplastic, LAHB, is shown to biodegrade under deep-sea conditions, losing over 80% of its mass after 13 months at a depth of 855 m, while conventional polylactide-based plastic (PLA) remains intact.[133]
  • 24 July – Scientists at the Technical University of Denmark and Scripps Research develop an AI platform that designs custom protein minibinders in weeks, enabling T cells to selectively target and destroy cancer cells in lab experiments.[134]
  • 25 July – A new study models the potential consequences of asteroid 2024 YR4 striking the Moon in 2032, finding that such an impact – if it occurs – would be the largest in 5,000 years, ejecting debris that could threaten satellites and produce a visible meteor shower on Earth.[135]
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Predicted and scheduled events

  • October – NASA will launch its Pandora Mission, which aims to observe 20 stars and their 39 exoplanets.

Date unknown

  • Science-related budgets
    • US: Various details about planned science-related spending for 2025 have been described with some information on the planned research subjects or areas.[139][140]
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See also

References

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