Political Disruptions and Scientific Strides Define 2025

Science Friday · December 31, 2025 · Listen to Original Episode →

Original Title:

TL;DR

Federal administration disruptions at the CDC led to a breakdown in communication, directly contributing to 16 deaths and over 4,500 measles cases due to delayed guidance during outbreaks.
Global renewable energy surpassed coal for the first time, yet the second hottest year on record and breached planetary boundaries underscore climate change's systemic impact beyond temperature.
The surge in AI demand is driving up energy costs in regions like Virginia, straining existing generation capacity and impacting consumer electricity bills.
GLP-1 drugs, beyond diabetes and weight loss, show a 42% reduction in risk for various conditions, including dementia and alcohol use disorder, independent of weight loss.
Geoengineering research is gaining traction among scientists, but state-level bans on perceived weather modification technologies may hinder real-world risk and benefit studies.
Space law prohibits capturing foreign satellite debris, complicating efforts to clear orbital hazards and increasing the risk of collisions and weaponization.
A company's claim of resurrecting extinct dire wolves, based on minor genetic tweaks and marketing, represents "toys" rather than scientific progress, blurring species definitions.

Deep Dive

The year 2025 presented a stark duality in science, marked by politically driven disruptions to critical health infrastructure and environmental challenges, juxtaposed with significant advancements in renewable energy, medicine, and theoretical mathematics. While governmental actions created chaos and setbacks, particularly at the CDC, and environmental tipping points intensified, breakthroughs in GLP-1 drug applications and a solution to the long-standing "moving sofa problem" offered substantial hope and utility.

The Trump administration's actions had a profoundly destabilizing effect on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), leading to program cuts, firings, and a communication freeze that crippled the agency's ability to respond to public health crises. This dysfunction was tragically illustrated by the measles outbreaks in Texas, where local officials’ pleas for guidance went unanswered, resulting in preventable deaths and illnesses. This politically motivated malfeasance highlights how agency leadership can directly impede essential public health functions, with severe consequences for population well-being. Concurrently, the world reached a milestone with renewable energy sources surpassing coal for the first time, largely driven by China's infrastructure expansion. However, this progress was overshadowed by 2025 being the second hottest year on record, even during a La Niña period, underscoring the escalating climate crisis. Ocean acidification worsened, breaching seven out of nine planetary boundaries, signaling systemic environmental collapse. The burgeoning demand for energy, fueled by the AI boom, further strained resources, driving up energy costs for consumers as seen in Virginia, which hosts numerous data centers. These interconnected issues demonstrate a systemic tension: the transition to renewables is crucial but outpaced by both climate impacts and new energy demands.

In medicine, GLP-1 drugs, initially for diabetes, showed remarkable efficacy beyond their intended purpose. Clinical trials revealed that these drugs significantly lowered the risk of 42 different conditions, including various forms of dementia, alcohol use disorder, and fatty liver disease, independent of weight loss. This suggests a broad therapeutic mechanism that could fundamentally alter preventative medicine and aging. Meanwhile, the concept of geoengineering, or solar radiation management, gained traction among scientists and startups, despite its controversial nature and potential for unintended consequences. The secretive development and testing of these technologies, alongside the conflation with conspiracy theories like "chemtrails," have led to legislative bans in several US states, hindering scientific study of potential climate interventions. The proliferation of satellite constellations in low Earth orbit created a growing problem of space debris, posing risks to active satellites and human spaceflight. A Chinese space station crew was stranded when their return vehicle was damaged by debris, illustrating the immediate danger. Complicating matters, international space law often prohibits the recovery of another country's debris, even for recycling, creating a legal barrier to mitigating the escalating hazard. Finally, a company's claim to have resurrected the dire wolf was exposed as a misrepresentation; by tweaking only 20 genes in a gray wolf, they marketed a marketing stunt rather than genuine scientific progress, demonstrating a trend of credulous reporting on speculative technological claims.

The year concluded with a significant theoretical breakthrough: mathematicians solved the "moving sofa problem," determining the largest area object that can navigate a right-angled corner in a one-unit-wide hallway. This abstract puzzle, solved with a curved shape of approximately 2.2 square units, offers a definitive answer to a long-standing geometric challenge, showcasing the power of theoretical exploration even in seemingly whimsical domains.

Action Items

Audit CDC communication protocols: Identify 3-5 communication breakdown points during the measles outbreak to prevent future response delays.
Track renewable energy vs. coal generation: Measure the global energy mix shift over 12 months to assess climate impact trends.
Analyze AI data center energy demand: Quantify projected energy needs for 3-5 key data center hubs to inform future generation planning.
Evaluate GLP-1 drug efficacy: For 3-5 conditions, calculate the risk reduction percentage independent of weight loss to understand broader therapeutic mechanisms.
Assess space law impact on debris removal: Identify 3-5 specific legal barriers to international space junk recycling to inform policy reform.

Key Quotes

"the cdc has just been in chaos all year it started off with firing then there was some rehiring they ended programs like lead surveillance and this has just been the slow march toward what we've seen this fall upending the entire vaccine infrastructure of the country and one of the things that really stood out to me about this was amy maxman's reporting on the measles outbreak in texas for kff health news where she was writing about how officials in texas were reaching out to the cdc desperately trying to get advice and just weren't hearing anything back they were kind of stuck in this game of telephone"

Maggie Kuth highlights the significant disruption at the CDC throughout the year, including program terminations and a breakdown in communication. Kuth points to Amy Maxman's reporting on the Texas measles outbreak as an example of how this chaos led to officials being unable to get crucial advice, resulting in a "game of telephone" that had severe consequences.

"the good news is that for the first time ever the world got more energy from renewable energy sources than from coal this year and uh a lot of that is due to china building out its renewable energy infrastructure so getting power from things like solar and wind and that's pretty cool but at the same time this year was the second hottest year since we started recording this type of thing and that was despite the fact that this was a la niña year so the fact that we had such a hot year despite la niña is not great"

Sophie Bushwick presents a dual perspective on energy and climate. Bushwick notes the positive milestone of global renewable energy surpassing coal, largely driven by China's infrastructure development. However, Bushwick immediately contrasts this with the concerning reality of the second-hottest year on record, even during a La Niña period, indicating a worsening climate trend.

"one big trial found that there's 42 different conditions where your risk of getting that condition is lowered if you're taking a glp 1 drug and the interesting thing is that it seems to be independent of the weight loss so this that means the drugs are having some other mechanism that they're using to help with these conditions and one of the exciting things is a lot of these conditions are related to the brain so one study of more than 100 000 people found that glp 1 drugs reduced the risk of basically all types of dementia which is quite exciting"

Sophie Bushwick discusses promising developments with GLP-1 drugs beyond their initial diabetes and weight loss applications. Bushwick explains that a major clinical trial indicated these drugs lower the risk for 42 different conditions, and this effect appears unrelated to weight loss, suggesting a different mechanism at play. Bushwick emphasizes the excitement around studies showing reduced risk for various brain conditions, including all types of dementia.

"this is something that i keep noticing popping up all year long is geoengineering or and i also hear it referred to as srm or solar radiation management and this is the idea of putting these aerosolized particles up into the atmosphere so that you're reflecting heat back out into space kind of doing intentionally the same thing that happens when a big volcano erupts and spreads out dust all over the globe and you get like a cooler winter right"

Maggie Kuth introduces the concept of geoengineering, also known as solar radiation management (SRM). Kuth explains that this involves intentionally releasing aerosolized particles into the atmosphere to reflect heat back into space, mimicking the cooling effect observed after large volcanic eruptions. Kuth notes this topic has been increasingly present throughout the year.

"one of the really interesting things that i learned this year is that there are people who want to do space recycling and like capture this junk and with you know robotic arms and things but there's all of this space law which is my favorite kind of law the best kind of law that actually makes that illegal in many cases because anything that could be used to capture a dead satellite could also be used as a weapon against a working satellite and so the only way that you can recapture and destroy space junk is if it is your country's space junk"

Sophie Bushwick discusses the complexities of space recycling and the legal barriers to removing space junk. Bushwick highlights that while there are efforts to capture debris with robotic arms, existing space law often prohibits this. Bushwick explains that this is because the technology for capturing junk could also be weaponized against active satellites, limiting recovery to one's own country's debris.

"what they had actually done was tweaked 20 genes in the gray wolf and then just claimed that was a resurrected dire wolf and in our era of very credulous technology reporting a bunch of people just went along with this and were reporting it as a resurrected extinct species and i really liked what riley black wrote about in slate where she called this not progress but toys this has very little to do with actual scientific progress and a lot to do with splashy marketing and fundraising the clickbait of dire wolfing"

Maggie Kuth critiques a company's claim of resurrecting an extinct dire wolf species. Kuth clarifies that the company genetically modified a gray wolf, a process that was widely reported as a resurrection despite lacking scientific consensus. Kuth references Riley Black's commentary in Slate, which characterized the effort as "toys" rather than genuine scientific progress, driven by marketing and fundraising.

Resources

External Resources

Books

"The Moving Sofa Problem" - Referenced as a mathematical problem concerning the largest object that can be maneuvered around a corner.

Articles & Papers

"Measles outbreak in Texas" (KFF Health News) - Discussed as an example of the CDC's communication freeze and its impact on public health response.
"Planetary Boundaries" - Mentioned in relation to ocean acidification worsening to the point where seven out of nine boundaries have been breached.
"Biological Age" - Referenced in the context of a study suggesting Ozempic could reduce biological age.
"Geoengineering" (or Solar Radiation Management/SRM) - Discussed as a concept involving aerosolized particles to reflect heat, with mention of startups and scientific consideration.
"Chemtrail conspiracies" - Mentioned as a conspiracy theory conflated with geoengineering in several US states.
"Space Law" - Referenced as a legal framework that makes capturing foreign space junk illegal due to potential weaponization.
"Dire Wolf" (Slate) - Riley Black's writing is mentioned, characterizing the resurrection claim as "toys" rather than scientific progress.

Research & Studies

GLP-1 drug clinical trials - Discussed for showing a reduction in risk for 42 different conditions, potentially independent of weight loss.
Study of over 100,000 people on GLP-1 drugs - Found that these drugs reduced the risk of all types of dementia.
Study on biological age and Ozempic - Suggested that receiving Ozempic could reduce biological age after 32 weeks of regular injections.

Tools & Software

MATLAB (MathWorks) - Mentioned as software for technical computing and model-based design.
Simulink (MathWorks) - Mentioned as software for model-based design.

People

Sophie Bushwick - Freelance science journalist and editor, guest discussing science stories of the year.
Maggie Kuth - Climate and weather editor for CNN, guest discussing science stories of the year.
Ira Flatow - Host of Science Friday.
Amy Maxman - Reporter whose work on the measles outbreak in Texas for KFF Health News was highlighted.
Ellen Nilson - CNN writer whose story about Virginia being a hub for data centers was mentioned.
Riley Black - Writer for Slate, whose commentary on the dire wolf resurrection claim was discussed.
Charles Burquist - Producer of Science Friday.

Organizations & Institutions

MathWorks - Creator of MATLAB and Simulink, sponsor of Science Friday.
Science Friday - Podcast and program.
CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - Discussed in relation to chaos, program cuts, and communication freezes.
KFF Health News - Publication where Amy Maxman's reporting on the Texas measles outbreak appeared.
CNN - Publication where Ellen Nilson's story on data centers was featured.
US States (Tennessee, Florida, Alabama) - Mentioned for banning geoengineering or conflated conspiracy theories.
China - Mentioned for building out its renewable energy infrastructure and for its space station.
La Brea Tar Pits - Referenced as a location where dire wolf skulls have been found.
Game of Thrones - Mentioned in relation to the marketing of the dire wolf resurrection.

Websites & Online Resources

MathWorks.com - Website to learn more about MathWorks.

Other Resources

Renewable energy - Mentioned as surpassing coal for the first time globally in energy generation.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) - Mentioned as a surge in its development and a driver of energy demand.
Comet - Mentioned as a near-Earth event in 2025.
Lead surveillance - Mentioned as a CDC program that was ended.
Vaccine infrastructure - Mentioned as being upended by CDC actions.
Coal - Mentioned as a source of energy surpassed by renewables.
La Niña - Mentioned as a climate phenomenon that occurred despite a hot year.
Ocean acidification - Discussed as worsening.
Planetary boundaries - A concept where seven out of nine have been breached.
Tipping points - Mentioned as potential consequences of climate change affecting massive systems.
Data centers - Discussed as a growing hub in Virginia, increasing energy bills.
GLP-1 drugs - Discussed for diabetes treatment and weight loss, with new findings on other health benefits.
Diabetes - Mentioned as the original intended treatment for GLP-1 drugs.
Weight loss - A benefit of GLP-1 drugs that many people are utilizing.
Dementia - Mentioned as a condition whose risk is reduced by GLP-1 drugs.
Alcohol use disorder - Mentioned as a condition that can benefit from GLP-1 drugs.
Fatty liver disease - Mentioned as a condition that can benefit from GLP-1 drugs.
Cataracts - Mentioned as a condition that may benefit from GLP-1 drugs.
Geoengineering - The concept of intentionally altering the Earth's climate.
Solar radiation management (SRM) - An alternative term for geoengineering.
Aerosolized particles - Mentioned as a method used in geoengineering.
Volcano eruptions - Used as an analogy for the effect of geoengineering.
Space junk - Discussed as a growing problem in orbit, including damaged vehicles and collision risks.
Satellite constellations - Mentioned as a source of space junk.
Taikonauts - Chinese astronauts mentioned as being stranded due to space debris.
Robotic arms - Mentioned as a potential tool for space recycling.
Space recycling - The concept of capturing and removing space junk.
Moving sofa problem - A mathematical problem concerning the largest object that can fit around a corner.
L-shaped hallway - The setting for the moving sofa problem.
Curved shape - Identified as the optimal shape for the moving sofa problem.
Gray wolf - Mentioned as the species that had its genes tweaked to create the claimed dire wolf resurrection.