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Science Weekly

Our science predictions for 2026

Science Weekly

The Guardian

Science

4.21K Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2026

⏱️ 21 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last year was full of unexpected science news, from the discovery of a new colour, to the interstellar visitor 3I/Atlas passing by our solar system, and a world-first treatment with a personalised gene editing therapy. So what will this year bring? Ian Sample and science correspondent Hannah Devlin discuss the big stories likely to hit the headlines and share their predictions for 2026. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is The Guardian.

0:11.8

2020 was an interesting year for science.

0:15.7

In the US, the Trump administration unleashed chaos at scientific agencies and withdrew vast amounts of research funding and aid. The Trump administration unleashed chaos at scientific agencies and withdrew vast amounts of research

0:22.4

funding and aid.

0:24.2

The Trump administration has so far terminated more than a billion dollars in grants for the

0:29.0

National Institutes of Health.

0:30.9

More job cuts have been announced for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

0:35.7

The agency announcing it is eliminating 1,000 positions.

0:39.3

And health and climate science suffered.

0:42.3

The MMR, I think, should be taken separately.

0:45.3

This is based on what I feel, the mumps, measles,

0:51.3

and the three should be taken separately.

0:55.0

No more global warming, no more global cooling,

0:59.0

all of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others,

1:04.0

often for bad reasons, were wrong.

1:08.0

They were made by stupid people.

1:19.4

But despite the many challenges, there were countless fascinating findings, discoveries and developments. Doctors rewrote the DNA of a baby with a devastating genetic disease.

1:27.2

Scientists found a new kind of caterpillar they dubbed the bone collector.

1:32.0

Scientists say it lives in spider webs and it decorates its case with the body parts of other insects.

1:39.3

A color no one had ever seen before was revealed for the first time.

1:44.8

And we watched as a rare interstellar comet whipped past our planet.

1:49.7

Three-Eye Atlas, a mysterious interstellar visitor billions of years old,

...

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