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Breakthroughs in Medicine & AI as Research Infrastructure Crumble - 14 Nov, 2025
The Pioneer Who Warned of AI Dangers Now Takes Action
Yoshua Bengio, one of the founding figures of artificial intelligence and a pioneer of deep learning, has launched a stark warning about the technology he helped create. In recent interviews, Bengio has become increasingly vocal about what he sees as existential risks posed by advanced AI systems, arguing that “malicious use is already happening” and urging the field to prioritise safety over commercial pressures.[1]
The distinguished researcher, who spent decades advancing machine learning techniques that now power the modern AI boom, has moved beyond warnings to action. In June 2025, Bengio launched LawZero, a Canada-based non-profit dedicated to developing safe-by-design artificial intelligence systems. The organisation explicitly prioritises “safety over commercial imperatives,” representing a direct challenge to the venture-capital-driven trajectory of frontier AI development.[2]
Bengio’s concerns centre on dangerous capabilities emerging in today’s most advanced models. “Today’s frontier AI models are developing dangerous capabilities and behaviours, including deception, self-preservation, and goal misalignment,” he stated in the non-profit’s founding announcement. Rather than pursuing increasingly autonomous systems—the current obsession of major AI laboratories—LawZero is developing what Bengio calls “Scientist AI,” a deliberately non-agentic system designed to serve as a guardrail for other AI systems whilst advancing human scientific breakthroughs.[3][2]
His pivot reflects a growing schism within artificial intelligence between those pursuing ever-more-capable autonomous systems and those arguing for fundamentally different architectures prioritising human oversight and control. “Ultimately, focusing on non-agentic AI may enable the benefits of AI innovation while avoiding the risks associated with the current trajectory,” according to LawZero’s research agenda.[3]
A Chinese AI Model Teaches Itself Physics
A Chinese artificial intelligence system has demonstrated an unexpected ability to derive fundamental physics principles from raw data, teaching itself basic laws of motion and force without explicit instruction. The model, called AI-Newton, represents a significant advance in how machines can acquire scientific understanding and raises tantalizing questions about what discoveries such systems might unlock.[4]
The development underscores the increasingly sophisticated reasoning capabilities emerging in modern AI systems. AI-Newton achieved near-perfect performance on the Chinese Physics Olympiad, one of the world’s most challenging high-school physics competitions, demonstrating capacity to solve extraordinarily complex problems requiring integration of “precise calculation, abstract reasoning, and a fundamental grasp of physical principles.”[5]
Such capabilities suggest that AI systems might eventually serve as research tools capable of identifying novel physical relationships or suggesting experiments that human scientists might not have considered. The implications for scientific discovery remain uncertain, but optimistic researchers suggest AI-Newton’s approach could accelerate progress in fields from particle physics to materials science.[4]
Gene Editing Achieves Unprecedented Results Against Heart Disease
A groundbreaking clinical trial has demonstrated that CRISPR gene-editing therapy can safely reduce cholesterol levels by approximately 50 per cent in patients resistant to conventional medications—raising hopes that genetic approaches might eventually prevent heart disease in millions of people. The results, presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions in November 2025, mark the first human trial of this particular gene-editing approach and were simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine.[6][7]
The therapy, called CTX310, works by temporarily switching off a gene called ANGPTL3 in the liver, reducing both “bad” LDL cholesterol and triglycerides by half on average. In the fifteen-patient Phase 1 trial, both cholesterol and triglyceride reductions appeared within two weeks of treatment and remained stable for at least 60 days of follow-up monitoring. Notably, the treatment produced no serious adverse events during short-term observation periods.[6]
The mechanism exploits a natural human variation: people born with loss-of-function mutations in ANGPTL3 have significantly lower lifetime risk of heart disease without apparent health consequences. By mimicking this genetic variation through one-time gene editing, doctors may be able to offer permanent protection against cardiovascular disease, the world’s leading cause of death.[6]
However, researchers cautioned that much work remains. “Understanding the specific immune interactions at a molecular level allows us to develop targeted interventions that can prevent rejection before it escalates,” explained one lead researcher, but extended follow-up and larger trials are necessary before broader clinical use. If future studies confirm safety and efficacy across diverse patient populations, CRISPR-based cholesterol management could fundamentally transform cardiovascular medicine within the next decade.[8][6]
Xenotransplantation Breakthrough Offers Hope for Organ Shortage
Scientists have achieved a major advance in using genetically modified pig kidneys for human transplantation, publishing unprecedented insights into immune responses that have previously caused transplant rejection. The findings represent a watershed moment in efforts to overcome the global shortage of donor organs, potentially offering viable long-term solutions for millions waiting for life-saving transplants.[9]
The research involved analysis of pig kidneys transplanted into human recipients (specifically the study examined a deceased donor case) and demonstrated that targeted therapeutic interventions could successfully weaken immune-mediated rejection responses. Combined with novel spatial insights into how immune cells interact with pig kidney tissue, these discoveries lay groundwork for more refined anti-rejection strategies.[9]
The timing proves critical. Clinical trials of pig kidney transplantation into living human recipients began in 2025 in the United States, making this research directly applicable to immediate medical challenges. Researchers remain cautiously optimistic that genetically modified pig kidneys could become routine transplant options within the next decade, though regulatory approvals will require consistent demonstration of safety and efficacy across diverse patient populations.[9]
The potential implications are staggering. Currently, tens of thousands of people die waiting for organ transplants, and shortages force agonizing triage decisions. Xenotransplantation could expand the effective donor pool exponentially, transforming transplant medicine overnight.[9]
Microrobots Prove Capable of Targeted Drug Delivery
Scientists have successfully tested tiny magnetically-guided robots that can swim through blood vessels to deliver drugs with extraordinary precision before safely dissolving. The microrobots, each roughly the size of a grain of sand, consist of small gelatin capsules packed with medication and iron-oxide nanoparticles allowing doctors to steer them using external magnetic fields.[10][11]
In trials using pigs and sheep—animals with blood vessels similar in size to human vessels—researchers guided the robots through brains using clinical magnetic navigation systems and real-time X-ray imaging. The bots moved along vessel walls, swam against flowing blood, and reached speeds approaching half a metre per second, delivering drugs to exact targets more than 95 per cent of the time.[11]
If future human trials progress successfully, researchers suggest that first medical applications of such drug-delivering robots could emerge within five to ten years. The potential uses span stroke prevention, brain tumour treatment, and numerous hard-to-reach conditions where targeted drug delivery could minimise harmful side effects whilst maximising therapeutic efficacy. The ability for the capsules to dissolve after delivering their payload eliminates concerns about foreign objects remaining in the bloodstream.[10][11]
Climate Research Infrastructure Collapses as Trump Administration Removes Data
American climate science and environmental research face an unprecedented crisis as the Trump administration systematically removed critical climate data from federal websites and disbanded key research programmes. The decisions have created what researchers characterise as a dangerous information vacuum at precisely the moment when understanding climate change becomes increasingly urgent.[12]
Among the casualties was the shuttering of the entire climate.gov team in May 2025, likely causing the site’s closure. The National Climate Assessment reports—congressionally mandated quadrennial publications synthesising climate science for policymakers and the public—were taken offline, and the 400 scientists working on the 2027 assessment were terminated. These assessments represent crucial resources used by state and local policymakers, farmers, and businesses preparing for heat waves, droughts, and floods.[13][14]
The administration also dismantled the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the federal webpage housing climate assessments and coordinating climate research across agencies. Experts characterise these erasures as part of a “denial by erasure” strategy aimed at “eradicating climate change references from absolutely everywhere,” according to analysis of official administration communications.[14]
The damage extends beyond immediate data loss. Federal researchers face funding cuts for climate programmes whilst grant opportunities and expert review panels have been placed on indefinite hold. Scientists worldwide have expressed alarm that decades of accumulated climate monitoring data—essential for understanding long-term trends and validating climate models—has become inaccessible or deleted.[12][14]
International researchers and American climate scientists worry that this disruption will set back climate science by years and compromise efforts to prepare for climate impacts. “This dismantling of access to public information greatly complicates the ability of federal agencies to study, enforce, and inform the public about climate policy,” experts warn.[14]
Volcanic Mega-Eruptions Link to Global Climate Catastrophes
New research confirms that massive volcanic eruptions can trigger rapid global temperature collapses and create severe droughts lasting years or decades. The findings provide crucial context for understanding how explosive volcanism shapes Earth’s climate and suggest that future eruptions could trigger climatic instability comparable to centuries-long droughts.[15]
The mechanism involves sulfur dioxide and other aerosol particles ejected during eruptions forming a veil in the upper atmosphere that reflects incoming solar radiation, causing temperatures to plummet. Historical records show that some of humanity’s worst famines and societal disruptions coincided with periods following major volcanic eruptions—a pattern the new research helps explain.[15]
Understanding these climate impacts becomes increasingly important as scientists monitor active volcanic systems worldwide. With 63 confirmed eruptions from 58 different volcanoes occurring in 2025 alone, and 21 new eruptions beginning that year, the volcanic landscape remains dynamic and potentially threatening.[16]
James Watson Dies: From Nobel Prize to Controversial Legacy
James Watson, the Nobel Prize-winning biologist who co-discovered the double helix structure of DNA alongside Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, died on November 6, 2025, at age 97. Watson’s discovery fundamentally transformed biology and medicine, enabling understanding of heredity, disease mechanisms, and the molecular basis of life itself.[17]
In 1953, Watson and Crick published their groundbreaking paper proposing DNA’s double helix structure. The pair, along with Wilkins, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 “for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material.”[17]
Watson’s scientific achievements were extraordinary, yet his later career became increasingly controversial. His public statements on race and genetics drew widespread condemnation from the scientific community and civil rights advocates, forcing him to retire from his leadership position at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and become what some described as a pariah in the field he had helped establish.[18]
Despite the complexity of his legacy, Watson’s fundamental contribution to biology remains indisputable. His insights into DNA structure launched the molecular biology revolution, eventually enabling the human genome project, genetic medicine, and countless therapeutic advances. In 2007, Watson became the second person ever to publish his fully sequenced genome online, advocating for personalized medicine based on individual genetic information.[17]