Next Week in Science, December 18, 2025
Programming note: We’ll be slowing down the next two weeks, as often happens here in America. Our issues will still be going, and we have some Santa-science for Christmas Eve.
The World Needs a Space COP
As space exploration rapidly advances, the outdated legal framework from the Cold War era is failing to effectively manage the growing satellite congestion and orbital risks. Experts propose establishing a Conference of the Parties to the Outer Space Treaty to update and enforce space governance incrementally, thereby facilitating improved space traffic management and debris mitigation.
What Happened to Climate Change?
Climate change, once a dominant political issue, has faded from public discourse as it stopped being a convenient tool for elites to justify extending their influence. This shift has led to reversals of climate policies, such as Ford’s recent rollback of electric vehicle production due to low consumer demand.
Two Retractions Raise the Question: Is Climate Science Really Settled? The retractions mean we will just be inundated with more propaganda.
A study published in Nature Communications suggests that current climate models overestimate Greenland ice sheet melt rates by up to 58%, leading to inflated projections of sea level rise. Meanwhile, a 2024 paper detailing climate change’s economic impacts was retracted due to errors in Uzbek economic data, raising questions about the reliability of climate predictions.
Low-dimensional signatures of neuronal activity associated with long-term operant conditioning in Aplysia
Researchers found that both short-term and long-term operant conditioning involve similar early neuron recruitment patterns but long-term conditioning engages a larger network of sensory neurons. This indicates that long-term memories rely on more extensive neural networks compared to short-term memories.
Trump moves to shut down Boulder climate research lab NCAR, drawing rebukes from Colorado officials
The Trump administration plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, citing concerns that it is a hub for “climate alarmism.” This move could impair the U.S.’s capacity to predict and prepare for extreme weather, potentially jeopardizing public safety and impacting the local economy by risking hundreds of jobs.
