The biggest science story of this year There was political turmoil in the United States. Funding cuts, academic layoffs And Vaccine-skeptic policies According to critics of President Donald Trump’s administration, it has been widely seen as an attack on science. The resulting damage to science may last a long time way into the future,
But, there were also many positive developments in 2025 Provide hope for the years to come“For a non-American scientist, it’s somewhat normal, You just go about your work,” says Glenn Peters, a climate-policy researcher at the Cicero Center for International Climate Research in Oslo,
our recent Nature10 packages of This included a lot of good news – and there was more. From gene-editing to rapid disease control and policy wins, Nature Take a look at some positive science stories of 2025.
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species recovery
This year saw a rebound in the populations of some endangered and nearly extinct species due to strong conservation efforts.
green sea turtle (chelonia mydas), which has been endangered since the 1980s, is now down to ‘least concern’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Efforts to protect turtle eggs and measures to prevent their accidental entanglement in fishing nets have helped the population recover.
Ampurta (dasycercus hillieri), a rat-sized Australian rodent, driven almost to extinction ‘Least worries’ this yearDespite drought conditions and food shortages, between 2015 and 2021, the Ampurta region expanded by more than 48,000 square kilometers,
Finally, the nations reached one Historic milestone for marine conservation In September the UN High Seas Treaty was ratified by more than 60 countries. The treaty, which will come into force in January, aims to legally protect biodiversity in international waters and conserve at least 30% of land and marine areas.
ozone hole shrinks
The hole in the Antarctic ozone layer has shrunk to its smallest size since 2019, indicating the continued recovery of Earth’s protective upper atmosphere.
The ozone hole was first discovered in 1985 and is the result of human-released ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) such as refrigerants in refrigerators and aerosol sprays. In 1987, the Montreal Protocol phased out the production and use of CFCs, successfully curbing emissions. Since 1987, the average size of the ozone hole has been gradually decreasing throughout the year, reaching its smallest ever in 2019.
The ozone hole is on track to fully recover in the late 2060s, provided efforts continue to find climate-friendly alternatives to CFCs.
Gene-editing breakthroughs
“This year was a significant year for gene editing,” says chemical biologist David Liu of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “In 2025, these technologies will have achieved several medical milestones.”
“I see this year as an excellent year, marked by the launch of many clinical trials,” says Annarita Mikio, who studies gene therapy at the Imagine Institute at the Necker Hospital for Sick Children in Paris.
First gene therapy proven effective for Huntington’s disease, which slows cognitive rate 75% drop in participantsAnother gene-therapy trial — for T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia — showed promise, with most of the 11 participating children and adults entering remission, The new type of CAR T-cell therapy uses base-editing technology to modify multiple genes in T cells, helping them target cancer cells,
Researchers also tested the first use of CRISPR technology Tailored to one person this yearOther breakthroughs include the first clinical trial of gene therapy to treat a rare immune disorder called chronic granulomatous disease, and another that corrected a pathogenic mutation that can cause lung damage and liver disease,
Mikio says these clinical trials paved the way for developing mutation-specific strategies for rare diseases and showed that collaboration between academia and industry could lead to treatments for people suffering from such diseases.
promote renewable energy
This year, renewable energy overtook coal as the largest energy source globally for the first time. The feat helped China become the first country in the world to install 1 terawatt of solar power capacity in May. In the first six months of 2025 alone, China installed new solar systems with a capacity of 256 gigawatts – twice as much as the rest of the world. The country is planning to add additional 200-300 gigawatt capacity for solar and wind power in its region. Five-year plan starting in 2026.
“China and many developing countries are deploying solar and wind (and) electric vehicles at a very rapid pace,” says Peters.
Nearly half of the EU’s electricity demand in the second and third quarters of this year came from renewables. Renewable-energy capacity is projected to increase by about 4,600 gigawatts between 2025 and 2030 – double the capacity deployed between 2019 and 2024.
However, greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels reached A new high this yearIt remains to be seen whether renewable energies can replace fossil fuels as major global energy sources,
Ebola has been contained
In September, heroic efforts by health workers and African governments stopped the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in just 42 days. On 4 September, an outbreak of Zaire ebolavirus in Kasai Province was confirmed by the Ministry of Health. Overall, 64 cases were reported, with the last case reported on 25 September.
Henry Kyob Bossa, who leads the Ebola and COVID-19 response for Uganda’s health ministry, says while the remoteness of these areas made it difficult for responders to gain access, it also helped prevent the spread of the virus.
Both vaccine roll-out and treatment with monoclonal antibody therapy began soon after the outbreak was announced, helping to prevent severe disease. “We are improving management, response, community engagement and contact tracing,” says Bosa.
new medicines for malaria
In November, the World Health Organization (WHO) approved for the first time treatment of malaria For babies. Given that, at present, children under the age of five are responsible for approximately 75% of malaria deaths globally, this drug could bring the world one step closer to eliminating the disease.
An infant version of the treatment, called Cortem (artemether-lumefantrine), “creates a drug that can now be used safely to treat malaria in a relatively neglected population of infants and young infants”, says Jane Achan, a pediatrician who specializes in infectious diseases and is chief adviser to the Malaria Consortium in London. She adds, “This will certainly have broad implications, improving treatment of malaria, particularly in at-risk populations, and also improving treatment outcomes among infants and young children and those with drug-resistant malaria parasites.”
one in Phase III clinical trials this year, A second malaria drug, called ganaplaside-lumefantrine (Ganalum), successfully treated malaria in 97.4% of participants. Ganlam also cleared parasites that have developed resistance to the anti-malaria drug artemisinin.
If Ganlam receives regulatory approval, it would be the first new class of malaria drug in more than 25 years.
Peanut allergies have reduced
A study shows that peanut allergies have declined among children in the United States over the past decade, a major victory for science-based policy and decision making. For years, parents were told not to feed peanuts to their children to prevent dangerous allergic reactions. But a landmark study in 2015 found the opposite to be true – when babies are introduced to peanut products as early as four months of age, they are much less likely to be allergic to them. The study led to changes in health guidelines between 2015 and 2017.
Now, compared to 2012, the prevalence of peanut-allergy among children under three years of age in the United States has decreased by 43%. The same method of exposing infants to a variety of allergens also reduced other food allergies by 36%. “It’s a good year Peanut allergy or food allergy,says pediatric allergist Michael Pistner of Mass General Brigham for Children in Boston, Massachusetts. “This particular year has been exciting, with much of our region seeing changes for the better.”
“This is a great example of translating controlled trial findings into broader community-level outcomes,” says Pistner.
This article is reproduced with permission and was first published On 17th December 2025,
