2026-01-02 23:00:00
The time to build safeguards is before something goes wrong, not after.
Generative AI is biology’s new playground. The technology powering popular chatbots can also dream up new, entirely novel versions of life’s most basic molecules, from DNA to proteins.
Once the domain of highly trained specialists, relative novices can now design synthetic molecules using open source AI software. But ease of access is a double-edged sword. While lower barriers to entry might spur creativity or even yield new medicines, the technology could also be used for nefarious purposes, such as designing novel toxins.
In 2024, two experts wrote an essay highlighting the need for biosecurity in the field. One of them, David Baker at the University of Washington, earned a Nobel Prize for RoseTTAFold, an AI that predicts protein structures from their amino acid building blocks. The other, Harvard’s George Church, has long been at the forefront of genetic engineering and synthetic biology.
They argued we should embed a barcode into each new designer protein’s genetic sequence to form an audit trail that scientists can trace back to the protein’s origins.
But a genetic tracer alone isn’t enough. A Microsoft study found AI-designed genetic sequences often escape the biosecurity screening software used by companies synthesizing designer DNA. AI-generated proteins with alien DNA sequences confuse these programs. Anything with genetic bits previously labeled “safe” flies under the radar, even if it encodes a dangerous final product.
These early studies are raising awareness. They’re not meant to stymie progress or enthusiasm—scientists welcome ideas for self-regulation. But for AI-powered designer biology to grow responsibly and be used for good, argue Church and other experts in a new preprint, the right time to build comprehensive biosecurity is before something goes wrong, not after.
From individual proteins to DNA, RNA, and even entire cells and tissues, AI is now learning the language of biology and designing new building blocks from scratch.
These powerful AI systems don’t simply recognize patterns. They eventually generalize those learnings across biology to analyze and dream up hordes of molecules at a prompt. RFdiffusion2 and PocketGen, for example, can design proteins at the atomic level with specific health-altering purposes, like sparking biological reactions or binding to drugs.
Generative AI is also beginning to read and write RNA. Like DNA, RNA is composed of four genetic letters, but RNA treatments don’t mess with the genetic blueprint. This makes them an exciting way to tackle disease. Unfortunately, they’re hard to design. RNA folds into intricate 3D shapes that are often difficult to predict using older software.
“Generative AI models are uniquely suited” for the job of capturing these intricacies, which could bolster the field of RNA therapeutics, wrote the team.
But the same AI galvanizing the field can also be used to create dangerous biological material. A person intent on jailbreaking an algorithm can, for example, repeatedly write prompts a generative AI system would normally refuse but is tricked into answering through repetition.
The dangers aren’t theoretical. A recent study compiled a dataset of toxic and disease-causing proteins and challenged multiple popular AI protein design models to create new variants. Many of the generated proteins retained their toxicity and evaded biosecurity software. In another case, scientists developed a method to test algorithmic security called SafeProtein. They managed to jailbreak advanced protein-design models 70 percent of the time.
Beyond proteins, researchers developing a framework called GeneBreaker found carefully tailored prompts can coax AI to spit out DNA or RNA sequences resembling viruses, such as HIV. Another team produced 16 viable genomes for bacteria that infect viruses, known as bacteriophages. Some of the resulting phages outcompeted their natural peers.
Even drug discovery tools can be flipped to the dark side. In one case, researchers easily reconfigured an AI model trained to find antiviral molecules. Within hours the AI suggested a known nerve toxin as a potential drug candidate.
“This demonstrates how even well-intentioned AI models can be rapidly misused to design toxins, especially when safety constraints are absent,” wrote the team.
To address these risks, the authors argue we need rigorous frameworks and regulations at every step of the process.
Scientists are leading the charge, and governments are on board. Last year, the UK released guidance for gene synthesis screening that urges providers of DNA and RNA molecules to vet their customers and increase screening for potentially dangerous sequences. The US launched similar rules and included biosecurity in its AI Action Plan.
Meanwhile, the tech giants behind AI models in biology are echoing calls for broader oversight. Some have pledged to exclude all viral sequences that are potentially dangerous to humans from their training databases. Others have committed to rigorous screening for new designs.
These safeguards, although welcome, are fragmented.
To gain a broader picture of the biosecurity landscape, the new study interviewed 130 experts across industry, government, academia, and policy. They agreed on several themes. Most think AI misuse is an urgent concern in biology and advocate for clearer regulatory standards. Roughly half were highly skeptical of current screening systems, and a majority supported upgrades.
The authors wrote that securing generative AI for biology isn’t about “finding a single solution.”
“Instead, it requires building a fortress with multiple layers of defense, each designed to anticipate, withstand, and adapt to threats.”
They designed a roadmap based on that principle. The strategy’s primary defenses target three stages in the AI life cycle. The first step is about controlling who can access training data and different AI versions. The next would add moral training that fine-tunes AI output. And finally, “live fire drills” to stress test models could reveal ways the AI could go sideways.
For example, algorithms trained on viral genomes are useful for drug or vaccine development. But they would be restricted. Users would have to apply for access and log usage. This is similar to how scientists must record the use of controlled narcotics in research. A tiered access system would allow others to use a version of the tool trained on data without dangerous content.
Meanwhile, strategies used to ensure chatbots (mostly) behave could also keep biology-focused AI in check. Moral training would guide a model’s output such that it aims to match public health and biosecurity standards. Stress testing to pinpoint a model’s vulnerabilities, known as red-teaming, would simulate misuse scenarios and inform countermeasures. Finally, biosecurity systems won’t work in a vacuum. Increasingly sophisticated AI could benefit from greater biological or general context, in turn improving its ability to detect and raise red flags.
“An effective biosafety system is not a firewall, it is a living guardian,” wrote the team.
Awareness is only the first part of the story. Action is the next. Although a unified vision of AI biosecurity doesn’t yet exist, the team calls on the field to collectively stitch one together.
The post AI Can Now Design Proteins and DNA. Scientists Warn We Need Biosecurity Rules Before It’s Too Late. appeared first on SingularityHub.
2026-01-01 23:00:00
Once only available for children under two, a one-and-done treatment is now approved for older kids too.
Waking up, hopping out of the bed, and stumbling to the kitchen for a cup of coffee: It’s an everyday routine most people don’t think twice about.
But for children with spinal muscular atrophy, simply propping themselves up in bed is an everyday struggle. The inherited disease is caused by mutations in the SMN1 gene. Without a working copy of the gene, motor neurons—cells that control muscles—rapidly wither.
Symptoms occur early in life. In the most severe cases, six-month-old babies can’t sit up without help. Others struggle to crawl or walk. The disease doesn’t affect learning and other cognitive abilities. Babies with the condition soak in their surroundings, and their brains develop normally. All the while, the disease cruelly destroys their bodies.
Left untreated, muscle weakness expands to the lungs, potentially causing deadly breathing problems. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the disease has a clear genetic foe to target. Thanks to gene therapy, three treatments, approved by the FDA, can halt the disease in its tracks—if a patient is under two years old.
There’s a reason for the age limit. After two, the disease has already damaged motor neurons to such a degree that the therapy is no longer helpful.
Not so fast, two international teams of physicians and scientists wrote in December.
The teams published highly promising results from separate trials testing an experimental gene therapy, called Itvisma, in kids between 2 and 18 years of age. The new therapy is based on a previously approved version made by the drug company Novartis. Both have the same gene-correcting ingredient but are administered differently. The original relies on a shot into the bloodstream. Itvisma is delivered directly into the spinal cord.
The two recent trials brought significant improvement in participants’ ability to move over the course of a year. From not being able to walk, treated kids were able to roll into a sitting position from lying down and climb stairs, compared to children who did not receive treatment.
The results “demonstrate clinical benefits across a broad…population with a wide range of ages and baseline motor functions,” wrote Richard Finkel at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and team, on behalf of a broader STEER Study Group that conducted one of the trials.
The FDA agreed. In late November, the agency approved Itvisma for the disease, making it the only gene replacement therapy for people two years and older on the market.
“This achievement is not only a significant step forward for SMA [spinal muscular atrophy]–it also signals new possibilities for the broader field of neurological disorders and genetic medicine,” said John Day at the Stanford University School of Medicine in a Novartis press release.
Like its predecessor, Itvisma uses a harmless virus to carry a healthy version of the SMN1 gene into the body. The virus shuttles its cargo into cells but doesn’t tunnel into the genome. This makes it relatively safe, as it doesn’t raise the risk of unintended vandalism to the cell’s native DNA.
The previous therapy was a one-and-done shot into the bloodstream. The virus hitched a ride to motor neurons and restored their connection to muscle fibers. The liver and heart also received an unintentional dose, which could potentially cause side effects. Researchers carefully monitored children given the therapy for liver problems. These were relatively mild and easily treated.
The results were dramatic. Most treated infants were able to sit up, roll around in their cribs, and some could even crawl. But the treatment was only approved for children aged two years or younger.
Two problems hampered its broader use. One was timing: The disease rapidly eats away at motor neurons, causing long-term damage that’s difficult to restore. The other was safety. Gene therapies injected into blood are tailored to the recipient’s body weight—the higher the weight, the larger the required dose. Higher doses raise the risk of dangerous side effects, potentially causing the immune system to hyperactivate or cause damage to the liver.
For a toddler or teenager, the risk-benefit calculation didn’t work in the gene therapy’s favor.
Itvisma took an audaciously different approach by injecting the gene therapy directly into the fluid surrounding the spinal cord.
The procedure is much more invasive than a standard shot, but has a unique edge. Gene therapies delivered in this way don’t depend on body weight. Rather, their effectiveness can be carefully calibrated in a single off-the-shelf dose for anyone with the disease—toddlers, teenagers, or even adults. And because the therapy mostly circulates in liquids surrounding the spinal cord and brain, it rarely reaches other organs to cause unexpected mayhem.
Two clinical trials validated the daring new strategy.
One trial, STRENGTH, recruited 27 participants with the disease between the ages of 2 and nearly 18. The main goal was to test the treatment’s safety. The trial was single-armed, meaning that all participants received the gene therapy without a control group.
Overall, Itvisma was found to be safe. Some participants experienced cold-like symptoms, such as a runny nose and a sore throat. Others reported temporary headaches and stomach discomfort. A few suffered more severe problems, like a temporary spike in liver toxicity, fever, and motor neuron problems, which eventually went away.
Giving all participants a working treatment can lead to placebo effects. So, a second trial, STEER, followed the “gold standard” of clinical trials: double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled. The trial recruited 126 participants from 14 countries but separated them into two groups. One received the gene therapy; the other went through the same injection procedure but without the treatment. Neither the patients, their families, nor their doctors knew who got an active dose.
A year later, patients given the gene therapy could stand up from sitting on the couch, and some climbed stairs without support. Those who didn’t receive the treatment fared far worse. Once the trial was unblinded—in that both patients and doctors knew who received what treatment—the control participants also got a dose of the gene therapy.
Results from both studies prompted the FDA to approve Itvisma for people older than two.
The “approval shows the power of gene therapies and offers treatment to patients across the…disease spectrum” including various ages, symptoms, and motor function levels, said Vinay Prasad, the FDA’s chief medical and scientific officer in an announcement.
Itvisma is the latest in a burgeoning field of one-and-done gene therapies this year. From tackling a devastating genetic disease that torpedoes normal metabolism to broadening gene editors for rare inherited diseases and slashing cholesterol to protect heart health, gene therapy is finally tackling diseases once deemed unsolvable. The momentum is only building.
The post Kids With Spinal Muscular Atrophy Show Dramatic Improvement With FDA-Approved Gene Therapy appeared first on SingularityHub.
2025-12-30 23:00:00
Large Language Models Are Improving ExponentiallyGlenn Zorpette | IEEE Spectrum
“According to a metric [METR] devised, the capabilities of key LLMs are doubling every seven months. This realization leads to a second conclusion, equally stunning: By 2030, the most advanced LLMs should be able to complete, with 50 percent reliability, a software-based task that takes humans a full month of 40-hour workweeks. And the LLMs would likely be able to do many of these tasks much more quickly than humans, taking only days, or even just hours.”
There Is Only One AI Company. Welcome to the BlobSteven Levy | Wired ($)
“Even the most panicked Cassandra of a decade ago likely didn’t imagine that advanced AI would be controlled by a single, interlocking, money-seeking behemoth. …This rococo collection of partnerships, mergers, funding arrangements, government initiatives, and strategic investments links the fate of virtually every big player in the AI-o-sphere. I call this entity the Blob.”
The Next Revolution in Biology Isn’t Reading Life’s Code—It’s Writing ItAndrew Hessel | Big Think
“Andrew Hessel, cofounder of the Human Genome Project–write, argues that genome writing is humanity’s next great moonshot, outlining how DNA synthesis could transform biology, medicine, and industry. He calls for global cooperation to ensure that humanity’s new power to create life is used wisely and for the common good.”
Should We Intervene in Evolution? The Ethics of ‘Editing’ NatureDavid Farrier | Aeon
“It wasn’t our intention that humanity would become the planet’s greatest evolutionary force; yet the fact that we are confronts us with an urgent and difficult question. Some animals, plants and insects can adapt but, for many, the pace of change is too great. Should we try to save them by deliberately intervening in their evolution?”
The Quantum Apocalypse Is Coming. Be Very AfraidAmit Katwala | Wired ($)
“One day soon, at a research lab near Santa Barbara or Seattle or a secret facility in the Chinese mountains, it will begin: the sudden unlocking of the world’s secrets. Your secrets. Cybersecurity analysts call this Q-Day—the day someone builds a quantum computer that can crack the most widely used forms of encryption.”
9 Federally Funded Scientific Breakthroughs That Changed EverythingAlan Burdick and Emily Anthes | The New York Times ($)
“‘Basic research is the pacemaker of technological progress,’ Vannevar Bush, who laid out the postwar schema for government research support, wrote in a 1945 report to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Look no further than Google, which got its start in 1994 with a $4 million federal grant to help build digital libraries; the company is now a $2 trillion verb.”
Covid Vaccines Have Paved the Way for Cancer VaccinesJoão Medeiros | Wired ($)
“Going from mRNA Covid vaccines to mRNA cancer vaccines is straightforward: same fridges, same protocol, same drug, just a different patient. In the current trials, we do a biopsy of the patient, sequence the tissue, send it to the pharmaceutical company, and they design a personalized vaccine that’s bespoke to that patient’s cancer. That vaccine is not suitable for anyone else. It’s like science fiction.”
Scientists Grow More Hopeful About Ending a Global Organ ShortageRoni Caryn Rabin | The New York Times ($)
“In a modern glass complex in Geneva last month, hundreds of scientists from around the world gathered to share data, review cases—and revel in some astonishing progress. Their work was once considered the stuff of science fiction: so-called xenotransplantation, the use of animal organs to replace failing kidneys, hearts, and livers in humans.”
This Baby Boy Was Treated With the First Personalized Gene-Editing DrugAntonio Regalado | MIT Technology Review ($)
“Doctors say they constructed a bespoke gene-editing treatment in less than seven months and used it to treat a baby with a deadly metabolic condition. The rapid-fire attempt to rewrite the child’s DNA marks the first time gene editing has been tailored to treat a single individual, according to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine.”
It’s Waymo’s World. We’re All Just Riding in It.Ben Cohen | The Wall Street Journal ($)
“[Waymo] cracked a million total paid rides in late 2023. By the end of 2024, it reached five million. We’re not even halfway through 2025 and it has already crossed a cumulative 10 million. At this rate, Waymo is on track to double again and blow past 20 million fully autonomous trips by the end of the year. ‘This is what exponential scaling looks like,’”’ said Dmitri Dolgov, Waymo’s co-chief executive, at Google’s recent developer conference.”
This Incredible Map Shows the World’s 2.75 Billion BuildingsJesus Diaz | Fast Company
“From the latest skyscraper in a Chinese megalopolis to a six‑foot‑tall yurt in Inner Mongolia, researchers at the Technical University of Munich claim they have created a map of all buildings worldwide: 2.75 billion building models set in high‑resolution 3D with a level of precision never before recorded.”
Renewable Energy and EVs Have Grown So Much Faster Than Experts Predicted 10 Years AgoAdele Peters | Fast Company
“There’s now four times as much solar power as the International Energy Agency (IEA) expected 10 years ago. Last year alone, the world installed 553 gigawatts of solar power—roughly as much as 100 million US homes use—which is 1,500% more than the IEA had projected. …More than 1 in 5 new cars sold worldwide today is an EV; a decade ago, that number was fewer than 1 in 100. Even if growth flatlined now, the world is on track to reach 100 million EVs by 2028.”
Why the AI ‘Megasystem Problem’ Needs Our AttentionEric Markowitz | Big Think
“What if the greatest danger of artificial intelligence isn’t a single rogue system, but many systems quietly working together? Dr. Susan Schneider calls this the ‘megasystem problem’: networks of AI models colluding in ways we can’t predict, producing emergent structures beyond human control.”
Life Lessons From (Very Old) Bowhead WhalesCarl Zimmer | The New York Times ($)
“By measuring the molecular damage that accumulates in the eyes, ears, and eggs of bowhead whales, researchers have estimated that bowheads live as long as 268 years. A study published in the journal Nature [this year] offers a clue to how the animals manage to live so long: They are extraordinarily good at fixing damaged DNA.”
The Quest to Sequence the Genomes of EverythingGlenn Zorpette | IEEE Spectrum
“The road map calls for more than 1.65 million genome sequences between 2030 and 2035 at a cost of $1,900 per genome. If they can pull it off, the entire project will have cost roughly $4.7 billion—considerably less in real terms than what it cost to do just the human genome 22 years ago.”
The Ocean Teems With Networks of Interconnected BacteriaVeronique Greenwood | Quanta
“The Prochlorococcus [bacteria] population may be more connected than anyone could have imagined. They may be holding conversations across wide distances, not only filling the ocean with envelopes of information and nutrients, but also linking what we thought were their private, inner spaces with the interiors of other cells.”
An Entire Book Was Written in DNA—and You Can Buy It for $60Emily Mullin | Wired ($)
“DNA data storage isn’t exactly mainstream yet, but it might be getting closer. Now you can buy what may be the first commercially available book written in DNA. Today, Asimov Press debuted an anthology of biotechnology essays and science fiction stories encoded in strands of DNA. For $60, you can get a physical copy of the book plus the nucleic acid version—a metal capsule filled with dried DNA.”
Inside San Francisco’s Robot Fight ClubAshlee Vance | Core Memory
“For the past few months, Cix Liv—real name—has been operating his company REK out of a no-frills warehouse space off Van Ness in San Francisco. The office has a couple of makeshift desks with computers and a bunch of virtual reality headsets on some shelves. More to the point, REK also has four humanoid-style robots hanging from gantries, and they’ve been outfitted with armor, boxing gloves, swords, and backstories.”
Not Just Heat Death: Here Are Five Ways the Universe Could EndPaul Sutter | Ars Technica
“If you’re having trouble sleeping at night, have you tried to induce total existential dread by contemplating the end of the entire universe? If not, here’s a rundown of five ideas exploring how ‘all there is’ might become ‘nothing at all.’ Enjoy.”
The Dream of Offshore Launches Is Finally Blasting OffBecky Ferreirra | MIT Technology Review ($)
“‘The best way to build a future where we have dozens, hundreds, or maybe thousands of spaceports is to build them at sea,’ says Tom Marotta, CEO and founder of the Spaceport Company, which is working to establish offshore launch hubs. ‘It’s very hard to find a thousand acres on the coast over and over again to build spaceports. It’s very easy to build the same ship over and over again.'”
The Hottest Thing in Clean EnergyAlexander C. Kaufman | The Atlantic ($)
“For now, most of the efforts to debut next-generation geothermal technology are still in the American West, where drilling is relatively cheap and easy because the rocks they’re targeting are closer to the surface. But if the industry can prove to investors that its power plants work as described—which experts expect to happen by the end of the decade—geothermal could expand quickly, just like oil-and-gas fracking did.”
Firefly Releases Stunning Footage of Blue Ghost Landing on the MoonPassant Rabie | Gizmodo
“The Texas-based company released a clip of Blue Ghost’s descent toward the moon followed by a smooth landing. The footage is a masterclass in lunar landings, capturing striking views of the lander emerging from a cloud of dust, its shadow stretching across the moon’s surface in a superhero-like stance.”
AI Coding Assistant Refuses to Write Code, Tells User to Learn Programming InsteadBenj Edwards | Ars Technica
“The AI assistant halted work and delivered a refusal message: ‘I cannot generate code for you, as that would be completing your work. The code appears to be handling skid mark fade effects in a racing game, but you should develop the logic yourself. This ensures you understand the system and can maintain it properly.'”
Meet the Man Building a Starter Kit for CivilizationTiffany Ng | MIT Technology Review ($)
“[The Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) is] a set of 50 machines—everything from a tractor to an oven to a circuit maker—that are capable of building civilization from scratch and can be reconfigured however you see fit.”
Just One Exo-Earth Pixel Can Reveal Continents, Oceans, and MoreEthan Siegel | Big Think
“In the coming years and decades, several ambitious projects will reach completion, finally giving humanity the capability to image Earth-size planets at Earth-like distances around Sun-like stars. …Remarkably, even though these exo-Earths will appear as just one lonely pixel in our detectors, we can use that data to detect continents, oceans, icecaps, forests, deserts, and more.”
How AGI Became the Most Consequential Conspiracy Theory of Our TimeWill Douglas Heaven | MIT Technology Review ($)
“The idea that machines will be as smart as—or smarter than—humans has hijacked an entire industry. But look closely and you’ll see it’s a myth reminiscent of more explicitly outlandish and fantastical schemes. …I get it, I get it—calling AGI a conspiracy isn’t a perfect analogy. It will also piss a lot of people off. But come with me down this rabbit hole and let me show you the light.”
A Virtual Cell Is a ‘Holy Grail’ of Science. It’s Getting Closer.Matteo Wong | The Atlantic ($)
“Scientists are now designing computer programs that may unlock the ability to simulate human cells, giving researchers the ability to predict the effect of a drug, mutation, virus, or any other change in the body, and in turn making physical experiments more targeted and likelier to succeed.”
InventWood Is About to Mass-Produce Wood That’s Stronger Than SteelTim De Chant | TechCrunch
“The result is a material that has 50% more tensile strength than steel with a strength-to-weight ratio that’s 10 times better, the company said. It’s also Class A fire rated, or highly resistant to flame, and resistant to rot and pests.”
What If AI Doesn’t Get Much Better Than This?Cal Newport | The New Yorker
“In the aftermath of GPT-5’s launch, it has become more difficult to take bombastic predictions about AI at face value, and the views of critics like [Gary] Marcus seem increasingly moderate. Such voices argue that this technology is important, but not poised to drastically transform our lives. They challenge us to consider a different vision for the near-future—one in which AI might not get much better than this.”
I Gave the Police Access to My DNA—and Maybe Some of YoursAntonio Regalado | MIT Technology Review
“Scientists estimate that a database including 2% of the US population, or 6 million people, could identify the source of nearly any crime-scene DNA, given how many distant relatives each of us has. Scholars of big data have termed this phenomenon ‘tyranny of the minority.’ One person’s voluntary disclosure can end up exposing the same information about many others. And that tyranny can be abused.”
The $460 Billion Quantum Bitcoin Treasure HuntKyle Torpey | Gizmodo
“Early Bitcoin addresses, including many that have been connected to Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, may also be associated with private keys (passwords to the Bitcoin accounts basically) that are lost or otherwise not accessible to anyone. In other words, they’re sort of like lost digital treasure chests that a quantum computer could potentially unlock at some point in the future.”
The post These Were Our Favorite Tech Stories From Around the Web in 2025 appeared first on SingularityHub.
2025-12-29 23:00:00
We can guess what the universe will look like a few billion years into the future, but eventually things could get weird.
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to [email protected].
“How will the Universe end? – Iez M., age 9, Rochester, New York
Whether the universe will “end” at all is not certain, but all evidence suggests it will continue being humanity’s cosmic home for a very, very long time.
The universe—all of space and time, and all matter and energy—began about 14 billion years ago in a rapid expansion called the Big Bang, but since then it has been in a state of continuous change. First, it was full of a diffuse gas of the particles that now make up atoms: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Then, that gas collapsed into stars and galaxies.
Our understanding of the future of the universe is informed by the objects and processes we observe today. As an astrophysicist, I observe objects like distant galaxies, which lets me study how stars and galaxies change over time. By doing so, I develop theories that predict how the universe will change in the future.
Predicting the future of the universe by extending what we see today is extrapolation. It’s risky, because something unexpected could happen.
Interpolation—connecting the dots within a dataset—is much safer. Imagine you have a picture of yourself when you were 5 years old, and then another when you were 7 years old. Someone could probably guess what you looked like when you were 6. That’s interpolation.
Maybe they could extrapolate from the two pictures to what you’d look like when you are 8 or 9 years old, but no one can accurately predict too far into the future. Maybe in a few years you get glasses or suddenly get really tall.
Scientists can predict what the universe will probably look like a few billion years into the future by extrapolating how stars and galaxies change over time, but eventually things could get weird. The universe and the stuff within might once again change, like it has in the past.
Good news: The sun, our medium-sized yellow star, is going to continue shining for billions of years. It’s about halfway through its 10 billion-year lifetime. The lifetime of a star depends on its size. Big, hot, blue stars live shorter lives, while tiny, cool, red stars live for much longer.
Today, some galaxies are still producing new stars, but others have depleted their star-forming gas. When a galaxy stops forming stars, the blue stars quickly go “supernova” and disappear, exploding after only a few million years. Then, billions of years later, the yellow stars like the sun eject their outer layers into a nebula, leaving only the red stars puttering along. Eventually, all galaxies throughout the universe will stop producing new stars, and the starlight filling the universe will gradually redden and dim.
In trillions of years—hundreds of times longer than the universe’s current age—these red stars will also fade away into darkness. But until then, there will be lots of stars providing light and warmth.
Think of building a sand castle on the beach. Each bucket of sand makes the castle bigger and bigger. Galaxies grow over time in a similar way by eating up smaller galaxies. These galactic mergers will continue into the future.
In galaxy clusters, hundreds of galaxies fall inward toward their shared center, often resulting in messy collisions. In these mergers, spiral galaxies, which are orderly disks, combine in chaotic ways into disordered blob-shaped clouds of stars. Think of how easy it is to turn a well-constructed sand castle into a big mess by kicking it over.
For this reason, the universe over time will have fewer spiral galaxies and more elliptical galaxies because the spiral galaxies combine into elliptical galaxies.
The Milky Way galaxy and the neighboring Andromeda galaxy might combine in this way in a few billion years. Don’t worry: The stars in each galaxy would whiz past each other totally unharmed, and future stargazers would get a fantastic view of the two galaxies merging.
The Big Bang kick-started an expansion that probably will continue in the future. The gravity of all the stuff in the universe—stars, galaxies, gas, dark matter—pulls inward and slows down the expansion, and some theories suggest that the universe’s expansion will coast along or slow to a halt.
However, some evidence suggests that some unknown force is starting to exert a repulsive force, causing expansion to speed up. Scientists call this outward force dark energy, but very little is known about it. Like raisins in a baking cookie, galaxies will zoom away from each other faster and faster. If this continues into the future, other galaxies might be too far apart to observe from the Milky Way.
To summarize the best current prediction of the future: Star formation will shut down, so galaxies will be full of old, red, dim stars gradually cooling into darkness. Each group or cluster of galaxies will merge into a single, massive, elliptical galaxy. The accelerated expansion of the universe will make it impossible to observe other galaxies beyond the local group.
This scenario eventually winds down into a dark eternity, lasting trillions of years. New data might come to light that changes this story, and the next stage in the universe’s history might be something totally different and unexpectedly beautiful. Depending on how you look at it, the universe might not have an “end,” after all. Even if what exists is very different from how the universe is now, it’s hard to envision a distant future where the universe is entirely gone.
How does this scenario make you feel? It sometimes makes me feel wistful, which is a type of sadness, but then I remember we live at a very exciting time in the story of the universe: right at the start, in an era full of exciting stars and galaxies to observe! The cosmos can support human society and curiosity for billions of years into the future, so there’s lots of time to keep exploring and searching for answers.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The post How Will the Universe End? The Dark Eternity That Awaits Us Trillions of Years From Now appeared first on SingularityHub.
2025-12-27 23:00:00
Readers went all-in on biotech this year. Gene editing brought the broad treatment of genetic disease into view; cancer-fighting T cells took on tumors; and scientists found a way to 3D print tissues inside the body. Beyond biotech, AI chips and progress in quantum computing made waves; humanoid robots began to look almost affordable; and Kawasaki dreamed up a robot you ride like a horse. Here’s to another year of breakthroughs—thanks for reading!
Parkinson’s Patients Say Their Symptoms Eased After Receiving Millions of New Brain CellsShelly Fan
“Medications can keep some [Parkinson’s] symptoms at bay, but eventually, their effects wear off. For nearly half a century, scientists have been exploring an alternative solution: replacing dying dopamine neurons with new ones. [This year], two studies of nearly two dozen people with Parkinson’s showed the strategy is safe. A single transplant boosted dopamine levels for 18 months without notable side effects. Patients had few motor symptoms, even when they stopped taking regular medications.”
New Gene Therapy Reverses Three Diseases With Shots to the BloodstreamShelly Fan
“A team from the IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Italy treated infant mice for three blood-related genetic diseases with a custom gene-editing shot that directly edited cells in the mice’s blood. …The edits were long-lasting and survived when transplanted into mice who had not been given the therapy. A dose of ‘mobilizing agents’—chemicals that stimulate cells in the blood and immune system—further boosted the effect in young adult mice.”
A Humanoid Robot Is Now on Sale for Under $6,000—What Can You Do With It?Kartikeya Walia
“[Unitree’s R1 is] a humanoid robot priced at under $6,000. That’s not pocket change, but it’s orders of magnitude cheaper than most robots in its class, which can run into tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. The R1 packs serious mobility, sensors, and AI potential into a package that could fit in a university lab, a workspace—or even, if you’re adventurous, your living room.”
Scientists Can Now 3D Print Tissues Directly Inside the Body—No Surgery NeededShelly Fan
“Dubbed deep tissue in vivo sound printing (DISP), the system uses an injectable bioink that’s liquid at body temperature but solidifies into structures when blasted with ultrasound. A monitoring molecule, also sensitive to ultrasound, tracks tissue printing in real time. Excess bioink is safely broken down by the body.”
Forget Nvidia: DeepSeek AI Runs Near Instantaneously on These Weird ChipsJason Dorrier
“Whereas answers can take minutes to complete on other hardware, Cerebras said that its version of DeepSeek knocked out some coding tasks in as little as 1.5 seconds. According to Artificial Analysis, the company’s wafer-scale chips were 57 times faster than competitors running the AI on GPUs and hands down the fastest. That was last week. Yesterday, Groq overtook Cerebras at the top with a new offering.”
Meta’s New AI Translates Speech in Real Time Across More Than 100 LanguagesShelly Fan
“Using a voice synthesizer, the system translates words spoken in 101 languages into 36 others—not just into English, which tends to dominate current AI interpreters. In a head-to-head evaluation, the algorithm is 23 percent more accurate than today’s top models—and nearly as fast as expert human interpreters. It can also translate text into text, text into speech, and vice versa.”
Kawasaki Is Building a Robot You Ride Like a HorseMatías Mattamala
“A video shows the automated equine galloping through valleys, crossing rivers, climbing mountains, and jumping over crevasses. …Kawasaki’s current motorbikes are constrained to roads, paths, and trails, but a machine with legs has no boundaries—it can reach places no other vehicles can go.”
Scientists Target Incurable Mitochondrial Diseases With New Gene Editing ToolsShelly Fan
“Many [mitochondrial] diseases are inherited. But none are treatable. …The new study, published in Science Translational Medicine, took a new approach [to treatment]—gene therapy. Using a genetic tool called base editing to target mitochondrial DNA, the team successfully rewrote damaged sections to overcome deadly mutations in mice.”
Miniaturized CRISPR Packs a Mighty Gene Editing PunchShelly Fan
“CRISPR has a hefty problem: The system is too large, making it difficult to deliver the gene editor to cells in muscle, brain, heart, and other tissues. Now, a team at Mammoth Biosciences has a potential solution. …Their new iteration, dubbed NanoCas, slashed the size of one key component, Cas9, to roughly one-third of the original. …The compact NanoCas ‘opens the door’ for editing tissues inside the body.”
CAR T Therapy Wipes Out Deadly Metastasized Cancer in MiceShelly Fan
“The new study aimed to treat solid tumors like blood cancer—with a single injection into a patient’s vein. The team engineered CAR T cells that could hunt down metastasized cancer cells. When infused into the veins of mice they found the engineered cells rapidly shrank tumors in the liver and large intestines without causing dangerous immune side effects. The results ‘pave the way for a…clinical trial,’ wrote the team.”
Record-Breaking Qubits Are Stable for 15 Times Longer Than Google and IBM’s DesignEdd Gent
“[Transmons, the type of qubit favored by the likes of Google and IBM,] have advantages such as faster operation speeds, but their short shelf life [known as coherence] remains a major disadvantage. Now a team from Princeton has designed novel transmon qubits with coherence times of up to 1.6 milliseconds—15 times longer than those used in industry and three times longer than the best lab experiment.”
The post These Were SingularityHub’s Top 10 Stories in 2025 appeared first on SingularityHub.
2025-12-26 23:00:00
From Blue Origin to Airbus, private space stations are on the way, with the first scheduled to launch next year.
Commercial space stations are rapidly moving from concept to reality. As NASA prepares for the International Space Station’s retirement around 2030, a burgeoning private orbital industry could step into its shoes.
The ISS was humanity’s only permanent outpost in space for nearly a quarter of a century, until China’s Tiangong station was permanently crewed in 2022. But the ISS is nearing the end of its planned lifespan and NASA’s been clear that it doesn’t intend to replace the space station.
Instead, the agency wants to shift from landlord to tenant, purchasing space station services from private players rather than running a facility of its own. It’s betting the private space industry can help drive down costs and accelerate innovation.
This transition would mark a fundamental shift in the economics of low Earth orbit. And the first major milestone could come as soon as May 2026, when California-based startup Vast plans to launch its Haven-1 space station.
“If we stick to our plan, we will be the first standalone commercial LEO platform ever in space with Haven-1, and that’s an amazing inflection point for human spaceflight,” Drew Feustel, Vast’s lead astronaut and a former NASA crew member, recently told Space.com.
The company has already booked its launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9, and at around 31,000 pounds, Haven-1 will be the largest payload the rocket has ever carried. But as far as space stations go, it’s fairly modest.
Roughly the size of a shipping container, the single-module station will host crews of four for up to 10 days. But the company has tried its best to make the facility more comfortable than the utilitarian ISS, with “earth tones,” soft surfaces, inflatable sleep systems, and a revamped menu for astronauts.
Though the company hopes the design will tempt some customers, the station is really a proof of concept for Haven-2, a larger modular station that Vast hopes could succeed the ISS. Haven-2 will feature a second docking port to connect with cargo supply craft or new modules.
Development of Vast’s second station relies on funding from NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations program, however, the company says. Eager to spur a new orbital economy that can support its missions, the agency started the program in 2021 to fund and assist a host of startups building space stations.
The agency has paid out about $415 million in the program’s first phase to help companies flesh out their designs. But next year, NASA plans to select one or more companies for Phase 2 contracts worth between $1 billion and $1.5 billion and set to run from 2026 to 2031.
Axiom Space, one of the companies vying for this funding, plans to piggyback on the ISS to build its space station. The company will first launch a power and heating module and connect it to the ISS. The module will be able to operate independently starting in 2028. They’ll then gradually add habitat and research modules alongside airlocks to create a full-fledged private space station.
Meanwhile, Voyager Space and Airbus are designing a space station called Starlab, which recently moved into “full-scale development” ahead of an expected 2028 launch. The station can host four astronauts, features an external robotic arm, and is designed to launch in one go aboard SpaceX’s forthcoming Starship rocket.
In addition, Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, is working with Sierra Space and Boeing to build Orbital Reef, which they describe as a “mixed-use business park 250 miles above Earth.” The project recently put its designs to the test by asking people to carry out various day-to-day tasks, like cargo transfer, trash transfer, and stowage in life-size mockups of the habitat modules.
All these projects hope to have NASA as an anchor tenant. But they are also heavily reliant on the idea that there are a broad range of potential customers also willing to pay for orbital office space. With the cost of space launches continuing to fall, there’s hope that there will be ample demand from space tourists, researchers, and manufacturers eager to take advantage of the unique microgravity environments these stations can provide.
The economics are far from certain though, and competition will be fierce. Even if NASA is able to spur a private orbital economy, there may not be enough business to support multiple private space stations.
But with the sun setting on the ISS, a gap in the market is undoubtedly opening up. If things go to plan, we may soon find that humans have a lot more orbital destinations on the menu.
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