More accurate and individualized health predictions will allow for preventative factors to be implemented well in advance. In 2026, we will see the beginning of precision medical forecasting. Just as there have been remarkable advances in weather forecasting with the use of large language models, so will there be for determining an individual's risk of the major age-related diseases (cancer, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative). These diseases share common threads, such as a long incubation phase before any symptoms are manifest, usually two decades or more. They also have the same biologic underpinnings of immunosenescence and inflammaging, terms that characterize an immune system that has lost some of its functionality and protective power, and the accompanying heightened inflammation.

Elon Musk receives a golden key from Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington DC on 30 May 2025. Elon Musk receives a golden key from Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington DC on 30 May 2025. I myself have a cold. Today, we are looking back at the biggest stories in tech of 2025 - Elon Musk's political rise, burst, and fall; artificial intelligence's subsumption of the global economy, all other technology, and even the Earth's topography; Australia's remarkable social media ban; the tech industry's new Trumpian politics; and, as a treat, a glimpse of the apocalypse offered by one of Silicon Valley's savviest and strangest billionaires. Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends a memorial service for slain far-right commentator Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium, in Glendale, Arizona, on 21 September 2025.

Three killed after Russia launches'massive' attack across Ukraine Russia carried out a massive overnight attack on several Ukrainian cities, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, a day after he warned of strikes over the Christmas period. At least three people were killed, according to Ukrainian officials, including a four-year-old child, while energy infrastructure was also targeted, leaving several regions without power. Russia launched 635 drones and 38 missiles, Ukraine's air force said, adding that 621 of them were downed. Zelensky said people simply want to be with their families, at home, and safe in the run-up to Christmas, and said the strikes sent an extremely clear signal about Russia's priorities despite ongoing peace talks. He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin still cannot accept that he must stop killing.

Pope Leo XIV made his first address to the College of Cardinals on May 10, 2025 in Vatican City, and touched upon the rise of artificial intelligence. Pope Leo XIV made his first address to the College of Cardinals on May 10, 2025 in Vatican City, and touched upon the rise of artificial intelligence. As technologists race to accelerate AI's progress with minimal guardrails, they are being met with increasing resistance from a powerful global contingent: Christian leaders and their congregations. Christians are not a monolith by any means. But this year, Christian leaders across sects--including Catholics, Evangelicals, and Baptists--sounded the alarm on AI's potential impact on family, human relationships, labor, and the church itself.

A company behind an AI-powered app called CrimeRadar has apologised for the distress caused by false crime alerts issued to local US communities after a BBC Verify investigation. CrimeRadar uses artificial intelligence to monitor openly available police radio communications, automatically generating a transcript and then producing crime alerts for users across the US. BBC Verify has found multiple instances from Florida to Oregon of CrimeRadar sending misleading and inaccurate alerts about serious crime to local residents - as Thomas Copeland explains. The barge that wrecked in 1918, famous for a dramatic rescue, is now shifting closer to the falls as recent movements carry it further from its original resting spot. House Speaker Mike Johnson, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer participated in the annual ceremony that commemorates the eight days of Hanukkah.

DOGE dominated the news this year as Elon Musk's operatives shook up several US government agencies. Since the beginning of the Trump administration, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the brainchild of billionaire Elon Musk, has gone through several iterations, leading periodically to claims-- most recently from the director of the Office of Personnel Management--that the group doesn't exist, or has vanished altogether. Many of its original members are in full-time roles at various government agencies, and the new National Design Studio (NDS) is headed by Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia, a close ally of Musk's. Even if DOGE doesn't survive another year, or until the US semiquincentennial--its original expiration date, per the executive order establishing it--the organization's larger project will continue. DOGE from its inception was used for two things, both of which have continued apace: the destruction of the administrative state and the wholesale consolidation of data in service of concentrating power in the executive branch.

The Federal Communications Commission said it would ban new foreign-made drones, including Chinese-made drones such as those from DJI and Autel.

The US economy is pumped up on tech-bro vanity. I f AI did not change your life in 2025, next year it will. That is one of few forecasts that can be made with confidence in unpredictable times. This is not an invitation to believe the hype about what the technology can do today, or may one day achieve. The hype doesn't need your credence.

The government at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday adopted its first basic plan on the development and utilization of artificial intelligence. The basic plan stipulates that Japan will create reliable AI while balancing technological innovation and risk management, with an aim to become a country that offers the best environment for AI development and utilization. Japan lags behind not only other advanced nations but also countries with smaller economies in terms of AI development, and the gap is becoming wider year by year, it warns. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

Ting Cai, head of Rakuten Group's artificial intelligence team, has the task of creating AI systems that would augment the company's many businesses at a minimal cost. Rakuten Group is expanding its AI team under the stewardship of a Google veteran and building models with a focus on cost efficiency. Ting Cai, now three years into his tenure at the head of the e-commerce pioneer's artificial intelligence team, has the task of creating AI systems that would augment the company's many businesses and support the handling of commercial transactions at a minimal cost. He oversees a team that's grown to 1,000 this year and has a battery of "thousands" of Nvidia chips to work with. Tokyo-based Rakuten is wrestling with a struggling mobile business and constant competition in online shopping, both of which could get a significant boost from effective deployment of new AI tools.