© 2026 WFAE

Mailing Address:
WFAE 90.7
P.O. Box 896890
Charlotte, NC 28289-6890
Tax ID: 56-1803808
90.7 Charlotte 93.7 Southern Pines 90.3 Hickory 106.1 Laurinburg
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The year in science: From a tiny T. rex to interstellar visitors

Dire wolf pups. (Business Wire/AP)
Business Wire/AP
Dire wolf pups. (Business Wire/AP)

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 article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2025 WBUR

Here & Now Newsroom