A therapy that would once have been considered a feat of science fiction has reversed aggressive and incurable blood cancers in some patients, doctors report. The treatment involves precisely editing the DNA in white blood cells to transform them into a cancer-fighting living drug. The first girl to be treated, whose story we reported in 2022, is still free of the disease and now plans to become a cancer scientist. Now eight more children and two adults with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia have been treated, with almost two thirds (64%) of patients in remission. T-cells are supposed to be the body's guardians - seeking out and destroying threats - but in this form of leukaemia, they grow out of control.

Battery and hydrogen-powered aircraft are cleared for takeoff. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Air New Zealand has cleared its runways to test both all-electric and hydrogen-powered planes . Although in its early stages, the four-month "intensive proving program" may help one day usher in a new era of sustainable flight. Aircraft remain some of the biggest sources of vehicle-based pollution in the world.

Activewear brand Sweaty Betty has become involved in a new dispute over advertising slogans, which a period underwear company claims were copied. Kelly Newton said Sweaty Betty's use of two taglines that were very similar to her firm Nixi Body's seemed a little off, and while she could not get them trademarked she felt Sweaty Betty was taking from other female founders. Sweaty Betty said the No ifs. Ms Newton said she was speaking out after seeing personal trainer Georgina Cox reveal Sweaty Betty had offered her a settlement over a disputed slogan . Ms Newton, who co-founded Nixi Body in 2019, said the company has advertised its leak-proof period underwear with the lines Keeping you moving through menstruation, motherhood and menopause and No leaks.

Environment Conservation Ocean Underwater robot survives voyage to'never-accessed region of the planet' An Argo float delivered unprecedented data after eight months beneath Antarctic ice. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Thanks to an underwater survey robot, oceanographers are getting the first-ever readings collected from underneath East Antarctic's vast ice shelves . But for a moment, it wasn't clear when(or if) the bright yellow float would return to the ocean's surface after it dove underneath the ice. "We got lucky," Steve Rintoul, an oceanographer with Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), said in a statement .

Two armed men have stolen eight engravings by French artist Matisse and at least another five by Brazilian painter Cândido Portinari from a library in São Paulo. Brazilian officials say the thieves held up a security guard and an elderly couple who were visiting the library before making off with the artworks on foot. They reportedly entered the library by the main entrance at 10:00 (13:00 GMT) on Sunday, and left by the same route, heading towards the nearest metro station. The heist comes less than two months after the art world was rocked by a brazen break-in at the Louvre museum in Paris, where thieves made off with priceless jewels. The engravings stolen from Biblioteca Mário de Andrade on Sunday formed part of a joint exhibition with the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art.

A new strain of mpox, previously called monkeypox, has been detected in a person in England, say UK health officials. The virus is a mix of two major types of the mpox virus, and was found in someone who recently returned from travelling in Asia. Officials say they are still assessing the significance of the new strain. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says it is normal for viruses to evolve. Getting vaccinated remains the best way to protect against severe disease - although an mpox infection is mild for many.

Plus: A CDC panel voted to recommend delaying the hepatitis B vaccine for babies. If you're a longtime reader, you probably know that our newsroom selects 10 breakthroughs every year that we think will define the future . This group exercise is mostly fun and always engrossing, with plenty of lively discussion along the way, but at times it can also be quite difficult. The 2026 list will come out on January 12--so stay tuned. In the meantime, we wanted to share some of the technologies from this year's reject pile, as a window into our decision-making process. These four technologies won't be on our 2026 list of breakthroughs, but all were closely considered, and we think they're worth knowing about.

An image made with a drone shows air handling units on the roof of a CloudHQ data center in Ashburn, Virginia. An image made with a drone shows air handling units on the roof of a CloudHQ data center in Ashburn, Virginia. Mon 8 Dec 2025 07.00 ESTLast modified on Mon 8 Dec 2025 08.41 EST A coalition of more than 230 environmental groups has demanded a national moratorium on new datacenters in the US, the latest salvo in a growing backlash to a booming artificial intelligence industry that has been blamed for escalating electricity bills and worsening the climate crisis. The green groups, including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Food & Water Watch and dozens of local organizations, have urged members of Congress to halt the proliferation of energy-hungry datacenters, accusing them of causing planet-heating emissions, sucking up vast amounts of water and for exacerbating electricity bill increases that have hit Americans this year. The push comes amid a growing revolt against moves by companies such as Meta, Google and Open AI to plow hundreds of billions of dollars into new datacenters, primarily to meet the huge computing demands of AI.

The campaign is demanding stricter controls on frontier systems, citing fears superintelligent AI could'compromise national and global security'. The campaign is demanding stricter controls on frontier systems, citing fears superintelligent AI could'compromise national and global security'. More than 100 UK parliamentarians are calling on the government to introduce binding regulations on the most powerful AI systems as concern grows that ministers are moving too slowly to create safeguards in the face of lobbying from the technology industry. A former AI minister and defence secretary are part of a cross-party group of Westminster MPs, peers and elected members of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish legislatures demanding stricter controls on frontier systems, citing fears superintelligent AI "would compromise national and global security". The push for tougher regulation is being coordinated by a nonprofit organisation called Control AI whose backers include the co-founder of Skype, Jaan Tallinn.

Is AI a bubble that's about to pop? - podcast Should we be worried about the vast amounts of money pouring into AI? And what will happen if the bubble bursts? For months there have been fears that artificial intelligence is a bubble and that it is about to burst. All are heavily invested in AI. Never before has so much of the economy been dependent on one technology.