2025 was a year packed with scientific discovery, with stories as large as the galaxy and as small as the DNA from a 24-million-year-old rhinoceros tooth (albeit an extinct one).
In between, there were triumphs, including advances in transplanting animal organs into people, and harbingers of danger, like the growing measles crisis in the U.S. that could cause the country to lose its measles elimination status.
Smithsonian Magazine science editor Carlyn Kranking joins host Robin Young to discuss it all. Kranking is the co-author of the recent article “The Ten Most Significant Science Stories of 2025, From Medical Breakthroughs to an Interstellar Visitor.”
This segment airs on December 31, 2025. Audio will be available after the broadcast.