Science Magazine

New Capabilities

Named renewable energy surge 2025 Breakthrough of the Year

In 2004, it took the world an entire year to install one gigawatt of solar power. By 2025, that amount went online every single day—a pace that propelled global renewable capacity past 5,000 gigawatts by year-end. Science Magazine named this accelerating surge in renewable energy its 2025 Breakthrough of the Year, recognizing solar and wind eclipsing coal as the world's largest electricity source; yesterday, U.S. Energy Information Administration data confirmed renewables supplied a record 25.7% of U.S. electricity in 2025, generating 1,162 terawatt-hours—a 10% increase over 2024—with utility-scale solar up 34.5% and 53 gigawatts of new renewable capacity added.

Updated Feb 27

New Capabilities

Recognized LLMs as 2025 Breakthrough runner-up

Science magazine named large language models doing frontier science a runner-up breakthrough of 2025. Within weeks, the prediction became reality: OpenAI's GPT-5.2 solved previously unsolved Erdős mathematics problems in 15 minutes, achieving 40% accuracy on expert-level mathematics that stumped earlier systems. DeepMind announced its first automated laboratory in the UK for 2026, pairing Gemini with robotics to synthesize hundreds of materials daily. Google partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy on Genesis, a national AI-for-science platform mobilizing 17 national laboratories.

Updated Jan 22