Katia Riddle

Mayor Zoran Mamdani promised New York that he would bring them together and uphold his ambitious campaign promises.

for things like free buses and childcare.

Though he pledged to serve all New Yorkers, he emphasized his commitment to and appreciation for the city's working class.

He also seemed to reach beyond his base, saying, quote, if you are a New Yorker, I am your mayor.

The city's first Muslim and Democratic socialist mayor won a decisive victory in November in an election that saw the city's highest turnout in nearly 25 years.

Katie Ariddle, NPR News.

Yeah, quantum science and computing, I think it's safe to say they came up often in science news in 2025.

Yeah.

It used to be a concept that we heard about, you know, like in sci-fi.

But this year, scientists have been talking about its utility IRL.

Well, for one thing, despite all the slashing and burning the Trump administration has done around science investments this year, quantum computing and science is one of two things that they've pledged to preserve funding in, along with AI.

Yeah, exactly.

Billions of dollars both from our government and from China's government, as well as tech companies.

Google, for example, continues to tout breakthroughs that they've made something called quantum supremacy or quantum advantage.

They have been bragging a lot about this new quantum computing chip they have called Willow, which they say is an indicator of real progress in the field.

Right.

So 2025 Physics Nobel was awarded jointly to John Clark, Michel Devoret, and John Martinez for their work, proving a concept called quantum mechanical tunneling.

So it's a fundamental concept of quantum that particles can tunnel their way through barriers that by the conventional rules of physics, they shouldn't be able to penetrate.

The work happened a few decades ago, but many people now credit it with laying the foundation for advancements in quantum that have happened since then.

Yeah.