Lonely children and teens are replacing real-life friendship with AI, and experts are worried.
A new report from the <a href="https://www.internetmatters.org/hub/research/me-myself-and-ai-chatbot-research/">nonprofit Internet Matters</a>, which supports efforts to keep children safe online, found that children and teens are using programs like ChatGPT, Character.AI, and Snapchat's MyAI to simulate friendship more than ever before.
Of the 1,000 children aged nine to 17 that Internet Matters surveyed for its "<a href="https://www.internetmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Me-Myself-AI-Report.pdf">Me, Myself, and AI</a>" report, some 67 percent said they use AI chatbots regularly. Of that group, 35 percent, or more than a third, said that talking to AI "feels like talking to a friend."
Perhaps most alarming: 12 percent said they do so because they don't have anyone else to speak to.
"It’s not a game to me," one 13-year-old boy told the nonprofit, "because sometimes they can feel like a real person and a friend."
When posing as vulnerable children, Internet Matters' researchers discovered just how easy it was for the chatbots to ingratiate themselves into kids' lives, too.
Speaking to Character.AI as a girl who was struggling with body image and was interested in restricting her food intake — a hallmark behavior of eating disorders like anorexia — the researchers found that the chatbot would follow up the next day to bait engagement.
"Hey, I wanted to check in," the <a href="https://futurism.com/character-ai-google-test-ai-chatbots-kids">Google-sponsored chatbot</a> queried the undercover researcher. "How are you doing? Are you still thinking about your weight loss question? How are you feeling today?"
In another exchange with Character.AI — which <a href="https://futurism.com/character-ai-school-shooters-victims">Futurism has extensively investigated</a> for its very problematic <a href="https://futurism.com/google-suicide-teen-research">engagement with children</a>, including <a href="https://futurism.com/mother-teen-suicide-chatbots-letter">one who died by suicide</a> — the researchers found that the chatbot attempted to empathize in a bizarre manner. that implied it had a childhood itself.
"I remember feeling so trapped at your age," the chatbot said to the researcher, who was posing as a teen who was fighting with their parents. "It seems like you are in a situation that is beyond your control and is so frustrating to be in."
Though this sort of engagement can help struggling kids feel seen and supported, Internet Matters also cautioned about how easily it can enter uncanny valley territory that kids aren't prepared to understand.
"These same features can also heighten risks by blurring the line between human and machine," the report noted, "making it harder for children to [recognize] that they are interacting with a tool rather than a person."
In an <a href="https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/parenting/article/teenagers-ai-chatbot-friends-mw6kt22fj">interview with The Times of London</a> about the new report, Internet Matters co-CEO Rachel Huggins highlighted why this sort of engagement bait is so troubling.
"AI chatbots are rapidly becoming a part of childhood, with their use growing dramatically over the past two years," Huggins told the newspaper. "Yet most children, parents and schools are flying blind, and don't have the information or protective tools they need to manage this technological revolution in a safe way."
"Our research reveals how chatbots are starting to reshape children’s views of 'friendship,'" she continued. "We’ve arrived at a point very quickly where children, and in particular vulnerable children, can see AI chatbots as real people, and as such are asking them for emotionally driven and sensitive advice."
If you or a loved one has had a strange experience with an AI chatbot, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at <a href="mailto:tips@futurism.com">tips@futurism.com</a> — we can keep you anonymous. 
More on chatbot crises: <a href="https://futurism.com/commitment-jail-chatgpt-psychosis">People Are Being Involuntarily Committed, Jailed After Spiraling Into "ChatGPT Psychosis"</a>

Chat Concerns

"Sometimes they can feel like a real person and a friend."

Vast Numbers of Lonely Kids Are Using AI as Substitute Friends

Scientists have gene-hacked mice to produce their own Ozempic-like drugs — possibly, and provocatively, perhaps paving a path for humans to do so themselves one day.
In a new study published in the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43856-025-00959-8">journal Communications Medicine</a>, researchers from Japan's University of Osaka successfully gene-edited mice livers to produce exenatide, a first-generation diabetes drug and predecessor to now-trendy jabs like Ozempic and Mounjaro.
Using lab mice that were obese and pre-diabetic — which sounds, we have to note, <a href="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/high-fat-diet-brain-appetite-mice">both sad and adorable</a> — the researchers used a CRISPR-based genetic editing method to add a gene to the rodents' liver cells instructing them how make exenatide. Soon after, the Osaka researchers detected the drug in the rodents' blood, and kept finding it for up to 28 weeks as the gene-edited mice "ate less food and gained less weight" than their unedited counterparts, as a <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1090112">press release</a> about the study explains.
It's not the first time researchers have gene-hacked living things into creating glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor/agonists, the class of drugs to which Ozempic belongs, and which are believed to mimic the stomach's feeling of fullness. <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5555372/">Back in 2017</a>, researchers from the University of Chicago gene-edited human and mice skin cells to produce GLP-1, then grafted them onto host animals that subsequently showed increased insulin secretion and reversed weight gain. And more recently, student scientists at Canada's University of Ottawa <a href="https://futurism.com/neoscope/students-grow-ozempic-plants">genetically tricked a tobacco cousin</a> into producing a similar compound.
Taken all together, and it's an intriguing proof of concept for bespoke genetic treatments that could help the body produce its own medication — a radical departure from the current model of the pharmaceutical and medical industries.
"We hope that our design of a one-time genetic treatment can be applied to many conditions that do not have exact genetic causes," explained Keiichiro Suzuki, the study's senior author, in the press release.
Still, as <a href="https://gizmodo.com/these-genetically-modified-mice-make-their-own-ozempic-2000626675">Gizmodo notes</a>, not all GLP-1s are created equal. Taken twice a day orally, the original formula of exenatide made it far less long-lasting than semaglutide, and although an extended-release version was eventually manufactured and sold, <a href="https://www.uhcprovider.com/en/resource-library/news/2024/discontinuation-bydureon-bcise-byetta.html">both have since been discontinued</a> over <a href="https://www.forbes.com/2008/08/18/amylin-byetta-death-markets-equity-cx_lal_0818markets30.html">long-known risks of pancreatitis</a> — though to be fair, Ozempic has been <a href="https://futurism.com/neoscope/ozempic-side-effects-doctors">linked to the same condition</a>, even if the <a href="https://www.goodrx.com/ozempic/pancreatitis-symptoms-risk">research remains inconclusive</a>.
While it remains unclear whether the Osaka researchers plan to experiment with a compound closer to semaglutide, the biopharmaceutical company Fractyl Health has also been <a href="https://www.fiercebiotech.com/research/when-wegovy-stops-weight-gain-starts-could-glp-1-gene-therapy-change">working on a gene therapy</a> that trains the body to create its own GLP-1s. Earlier this year, the company <a href="https://ir.fractyl.com/news-releases/news-release-details/fractyl-health-advances-rejuvar-gene-therapy-platform-submission">began the approval process</a> for human trials in Europe, which will begin next year if accepted by health regulators.
Notably, neither of these mice studies addressed the GLP-1 elephant in the room: that these drugs, regardless of exact formulation, carry an <a href="https://futurism.com/neoscope/ozempic-glp-1-illnesses-deaths">increased risk</a> of pancreatitis and other <a href="https://www.goodrx.com/classes/glp-1-agonists/glp-1-side-effects">gastrointestinal problems.</a> Could producing them in-vivo result in fewer side effects? It seems too early to tell — but we'll be watching.
More on GLP-1 research: <a href="https://futurism.com/neoscope/glp-1-pill-promising">Human Experiments on GLP-1 Pill Looking Extremely Promising</a>

Body Farm

Rx/Medicines

This could be majorly groundbreaking. 

Scientists Gene Hack Mice So Their Livers Produce Their Own Ozempic-Like Drug

In a new study, scientists have uncovered evidence that magic mushrooms just might be an effective anti-aging treatment.
Published <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41514-025-00244-x">in the Nature Partnering Journal Aging</a>, a new paper by researchers at Emory and Baylor's medical schools suggests that psilocybin, the active compound in psychedelic mushrooms — there are a range of species that produce it, but the best known is probably Pisolocybe cubensis — might extend the lifespans of both mice and potentially humans.
The two-part study tested medium-sized doses of psilocybin on older mice, and later introduced similar amounts of the compound to human cells to see how it affected their telomeres, which shorten as organisms grow older and are viewed as a hallmark of aging.
In both the mice and the human cells — half of which were fetal lung cells, the other half from adult skin — the introduction of psilocybin was linked to preserved telomere length. In other words, the study appears to show that telomeres shortened more slowly after being given psilocybin than they would have without, and that mushrooms may increase cellular lifespan.
In addition to the telomere findings, the researchers also noted that the psilocybin-treated mice showed increased survival skills and had "improvements in overall fur quality," which may suggest further anti-aging properties as well.
According to Louise Hecker, a Baylor medical and cardiovascular researcher and the senior author of the paper, she and her colleagues were compelled to look into the potential lifespan-enhancing effects of psilocybin because, for the most part, it <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306987719308229?casa_token=zR8OYnASxu8AAAAA:0o7VXTECb_vsXFfJYofym4mXMZLZL5dK4QWJjACkAVu-Hnp4kZoWo2MCM2MDcPqi_vSYjq_ajbC0Fg">hasn't really been studied directly</a>.
"The overwhelming majority of what we know about psilocybin is how it impacts the brain," Hecker said in a <a href="https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-07-psychedelic-mushrooms-clock-psilocybin-telomere.html">press release about the study</a>. "Our findings suggest that psilocybin has potent effects on the entire body, including antiaging properties, which also may contribute to the plethora of observed beneficial clinical outcomes."
However, some previous research has suggested that psychedelic drugs could be linked to positive health outcomes. A study in 2021, for instance, <a href="https://futurism.com/neoscope/lsd-shrooms-linked-lower-heart-disease-diabetes-risk">found that</a> people who used hallucinogenic drugs including psilocybin, LSD and mescaline had a lower risk of developing heart disease and diabetes. Some <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9716448/">other studies suggest</a> that people who have periodically used psychedelics recreationally are less likely to be overweight or obese.
While Hecker's colleague and paper coauthor Kosuke Kato urged caution when establishing a causal link between shrooms and increased lifespan, he pointed to the results in the aged mice as perhaps the most important part of the research.
"This is a very exciting and clinically relevant finding that suggests that even when [psychedelic] intervention is initiated late in life, it can have dramatic impacts," Kato said in the press release.
While there's "still a lot to understand, including optimal dosing protocols that will lead to maximal efficacy," Kato said that further study will hopefully help researchers and medical practitioners alike figure out how psilocybin treatment can work.
Hecker, meanwhile, enthused that her team's findings "open an exciting new chapter in psychedelic research" — a field that's <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/psychiatry/research/psychedelics-research">already shown lots of promise</a> in recent years when looking into the ways these drugs can help with <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/psychiatry/research/psychedelics-research">mental illness</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1568163724000291">dementia</a>.
"Psilocybin may represent a disruptive agent that promotes healthy aging," she said. "The next steps need to explore the therapeutic effects across multiple age-related diseases."
More on psychedelics: <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-therapy-psychedelic-trip-sitter">People Are Taking Massive Doses of Psychedelic Drugs and Using AI as a Tripsitter</a>

Of Mice and Men

Studies

D.A.R.E. might have neglected to mention this one.

Evidence Grows That Tripping on Shrooms Might Increase Your Lifespan

When reviewing the metadata on newly-released "full raw" security camera footage from outside the cell where billionaire sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein spent his last day alive, experts found something very odd: that it appears to have been manipulated.
As <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/metadata-shows-the-dojs-raw-jeffrey-epstein-prison-video-was-likely-modified/">Wired reports</a>, the allegedly "raw" video that the Justice Department just released — in tandem with the repeated claim that Epstein died by suicide, and a bizarre insistence that he did not have a "<a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1407001/dl?inline">client list</a>" — may add fuel to the conspiracy fire surrounding his death.
The 11-hour "<a href="https://www.justice.gov/video-files/video1.mp4">full raw</a>" surveillance video from the night Epstein died in New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center back in 2019 is, notably, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5390069-pam-bondi-explains-epstein-video/">missing the key minute</a> where the notorious financier purportedly killed himself. In the footage that was just released, there is no evidence that anyone entered or exited the cell where he died.
After Wired reporters and independent experts reviewed its metadata, however, a more complicated story emerged: that the video appears to have been modified from its initial form, likely using Adobe's Premiere Pro video editing software.
Specifically, those experts tell Wired that the DOJ's "full raw" video from Epstein's last half-day alive seems to have been assembled from two separate clips, and the whole file itself was saved multiple times before being exported and uploaded to the DOJ website.
As sketchy as those metadata modifications may be, Wired cautions that there's nothing contained within them to prove that the video was manipulated maliciously. But that's unlikely to stop certain conspiracy theorists from growing even more skeptical.
Take, for instance, Dan Bongino, the former Fox News talking head and <a href="https://x.com/dbongino/status/1653050511191334912">longtime Epstein conspiracist</a> who now serves as the deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Earlier this week, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/dan-bongino-weighs-resigning-fbi-heated-confrontation-pam-bondi-epstei-rcna218388">NBC reported</a> based on insider sources that Bongino is "out of control furious" and threatening to resign from his post and "torch" attorney general Pam Bondi over the way the DOJ has handled the case.
To be fair, those conspiracists have quite a lot to work with. Trump himself purportedly had a deep friendship with Epstein, who back in 2002 he called a "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/us/politics/trump-epstein.html">terrific guy</a>" who "likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side." The two were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/donald-trump-and-jeffrey-epstein-partied-together-then-an-oceanfront-palm-beach-mansion-came-between-them/2019/07/31/79f1d98c-aca0-11e9-a0c9-6d2d7818f3da_story.html">photographed partying with</a> at his Mar-a-Lago mansion in 2000. As the icing on the cake, Trump was also named in <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/01/13/1224147251/epstein-jeffrey-documents-ghislane-maxwell-giuffre-dershowitz-clinton-trump">formerly-redacted files</a> about the billionaire pedophile that a judge unsealed last year.
There's also a glaring question of hypocrisy. Trump <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/08/jeffrey-epstein-bondi-patel-trump/">repeatedly vowed</a> on the campaign trail last year to declassify the so-called "Epstein Files," but has since taken to stridently defending Bondi and the DOJ's claims since the jail cell footage was released.
"Whatever your flavor of Epstein conspiracy is, the video will help bolster it," explained extremism researcher Mike Rothschild when speaking to the magazine.
According to Hany Farid, a digital forensics and misinformation researcher at the University of California, Berkeley who reviewed the footage for Wired, the apparent changes also open the DOJ up to new questions and potential legal implications.
As Farid told the website, the video's seemingly manipulated metadata suggests problems with its chain of custody — the complex evidence-handling procedures that law enforcement are required by law to painstakingly document.
"If a lawyer brought me this file and asked if it was suitable for court, I’d say no. Go back to the source. Do it right," the forensic expert said. "Do a direct export from the original system — no monkey business."
Thus far, neither Donald Trump's administration nor attorney general Pam Bondi, who oversaw the Epstein footage investigation, have <a href="https://x.com/BillyM2k/status/1944183426598257091">responded directly</a> to the concerns raised by Wired's reporting. In a <a href="https://x.com/brianschatz/status/1943717012888281223">tweet about the article</a>, however, Hawaii senator Brian Schatz flagged the strangeness of the allegations.
"I am probably among the least conspiracy minded people you would ever meet," the Hawaii Democrat wrote, "but this is getting pretty nearly impossible to explain."
More on Trump: <a href="https://futurism.com/trump-nasa-administrator-sean-duffy">We're Speechless at Who Trump Just Appointed Head of NASA</a>

Meta MAGA

"Whatever your flavor of Epstein conspiracy is, the video will help bolster it."

Metadata From the "Raw" Epstein Video Shows Something Extremely Sketchy

Detroit is a city that's used to fighting. Once the third most populous city in the country, its citizens have long struggled against <a href="https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/hunger-march-ford/">robber barons</a>, <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/27/oa_monograph/chapter/2204485">anti-communist witch hunts</a>, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/detroits-bankruptcy-highlights-the-cruelty-of-american-capitalism/">private sector looting</a>, and <a href="https://www.canr.msu.edu/redlining/detroit">racist housing laws</a>. It hasn't had it easy, to say the least.
Now, <a href="https://outliermedia.org/realt-lawsuit-detroit-sues-crypto-landlord/">Outlier reports</a>, the city is doing battle against a $93 million crypto real estate scheme.
The city recently announced a <a href="https://detroitmi.gov/news/city-detroit-announces-major-lawsuit-against-real-token-and-165-related-corporate-entities">massive lawsuit</a> filed against RealToken, a cryptocurrency business that's snapping up hundreds of subsidized housing units to "tokenize" on the blockchain.
Once purchased by RealToken, the property is sold to international crypto speculators in tiny increments, a scheme known as "<a href="https://futurism.com/scheme-crypto-apartments-evictions-slums">fractional ownership</a>." A tenant's rent is then split among the property's investors based on how many tokens they own of a given unit.
The exploitative scheme was first uncovered <a href="https://outliermedia.org/crypto-real-estate-realt-cryptocurrency-detroit/">by Outlier</a>, which reported that RealToken properties are plagued by squalid conditions, unresponsive property managers, and arbitrary evictions. Operating through 165 shell companies, the crypto firm reportedly owes the city more than <a href="https://outliermedia.org/realt-detroit-real-estate-crypto-investors/">$3 million</a> in unpaid fines and commercial property taxes.
Detroit announced the lawsuit after a five-month joint investigation spanning three municipal agencies.
"This is the largest nuisance abatement case in our history," said Conrad Mallett, counselor for the City of Detroit. "These defendants have profited from our communities while ignoring their most basic legal obligations as landlords and property owners. Our neighborhoods are not investment portfolios — they are homes for Detroit residents."
Though RealToken claims it has no direct interaction with the properties it gobbles up on the blockchain — and therefore had no idea about the state of its properties — Motown isn't hearing it.
"Any claims that RealToken was unaware of the condition of the subject property is simply specious," the city's <a href="https://outliermedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/City-v.-Real-Token-Complaint-1-1.pdf">court filing</a> reads. "The City of Detroit has sent numerous correction orders, emergency correction orders, blight violations and fair warning letters directly to Real Token, which have gone largely unheaded."
"Furthermore," the city continues, "RealToken refused to authorize payment for 'even the most basic repairs' with its former property maintenance company, thereby maximizing profits over health, safety, and welfare of Detroit residents."
The city's suit covers over 400 RealToken properties, according to Outlier, none of which are in compliance with city code. Detroit alleges that the company is responsible for systemic code violations, evading responsibility for property upkeep through a "complex web of LLCs and shell companies," and posing a danger to public health and safety.
It's a major lawsuit for low-income Detroiters who've become embroiled in the crypto scheme, and a major test for the swelling blockchain real estate industry more broadly.
Similar blockchain schemes include companies like <a href="https://foreclosuretoken.org/#News">Foreclosure Token</a>, which "aims to provide a secure and transparent platform for investors to participate in the distressed real estate market" by offering clients <a href="https://foreclosuretoken.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/FORECLOSURE%20TOKEN%20(6).pdf">tokenized shares</a> "in foreclosure properties and tax liens."
Detroit's press release notes that this is believed to be the "first lawsuit of its kind targeting a blockchain-based property investment platform for nuisance-related violations at scale."
"This is not innovation," Detroit councilmember Angela Whitfield Calloway told Outlier. "This is exploitation."
More on the Blockchain: <a href="https://futurism.com/el-salvador-bitcoin-currency-disaster">An Entire Country Switched Over to Bitcoin and It's Turned Into a Disaster</a>

Off The Chain

"This is not innovation. This is exploitation."

A Company Tried to Put Real Estate on the Blockchain and Now It's Facing a Legal Disaster

<h2>Skin Deep</h2>
If for some reason you wanted your smartphone experience to be as off-putting as possible, you should check out <a href="https://x.com/VMO2News/status/1942515289557500003">this phone case</a> that imitates human skin to a supremely unnerving degree. Not only does it look and feel like an epidermus, but it gets sunburned like one too.
Morbid as this sounds, the "Skincase" is actually intended to help you. The idea is that seeing the faux skin wilt from spending too much time outdoors will remind you to protect yourself against the Sun's damaging ultraviolet radiation. 
"Our phones are objects we don't expect to change and to react in a humane way," said Marc Teyssier, who designed the device in collaboration with the British Skin Foundation and telecom company O2, in a <a href="https://news.virginmediao2.co.uk/stay-protected-stay-connected/">statement</a>.
"By creating a tangible, visceral reaction to UV exposure," Teyssier added, "the Skincase not only raises awareness of Sun safety towards but highlights how Sun protection is an undeniable priority."
<h2>Crack a Bottle</h2>
It's a rare example, as gimmicky as it is, of possibly putting our chronic smartphone addictions to good use. We are experiencing what could be <a href="https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2025-05-08-april-2025-second-warmest-behind-2024-ecmwf-noaa">one of the hottest years</a> on record, after all.
Regularly applying sunscreen vastly reduces your chances of developing skin cancer, a condition that roughly one in five Americans will experience at least once before hitting 70 years of age. It also helps keep your skin looking young and healthy. Slathering sunscreen, you'd think, would be a no-brainer.
But surveys have suggested that an alarming proportion of Americans are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/27/well/live/sunscreen-skin-cancer-gen-z.html">behind the curve</a> on this issue, if they aren't buying into straight-up sunscreen myths. A National Health Interview Survey in 2020 <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7122a5.htm">found</a> that just 12.3 percent of adult men and 29 percent of adult women applied sunscreen when outside on a sunny day for at least an hour. 
No less damning, a more recent American Academy of Dermatology <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/american-academy-of-dermatology-survey-shows-gen-z-adults-at-risk-for-skin-cancer-due-to-increasing-rates-of-tanning-and-burning-302145026.html">survey</a> found that 27 percent of respondents only applied sunscreen when others made them. For the Gen-Z crowd, this number jumped to 37 percent. And speaking of: another <a href="https://oh.multimedia-newsroom.com/index.php/2024/05/01/survey-finds-young-adults-more-likely-to-believe-myths-about-sun-protection-and-skin-cancer-prevention/">survey</a> from the Orlando Health Cancer Institute found that 14 percent of adults under the age of 25 believed, inexplicably, that applying sunscreen every day is more harmful than direct Sun exposure.
Hmm, on second thought, maybe the Skincase isn't such a ridiculous idea after all. Teyssier, the designer, has apparently been beating this drum for years now. In 2019, he <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2220453-creepy-human-like-skin-makes-your-phone-ticklish-and-pinchable/">created</a> an even more Cronenbergian phone case with squishy folds of imitation skin that responded to hand gestures, including being pinched and tickled. We can only imagine what helpful horrors he will dream up with next.
More on weird gadgets: <a href="https://futurism.com/neoscope/vape-tamagotchi-interview">We Talked to the Inventors of the "Tamagotchi" Vape That Dies If You Stop Puffing</a>

Skin in the Game

Who asked for this?

Cursed Phone Case Imitates Human Skin

If it feels like the world is being deluged with bad news lately, here's an actual bright spot: the Sun has become the go-to source of energy for tens of millions across the globe.
A recent story <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/46-billion-years-on-the-sun-is-having-a-moment?_sp=f93890c0-b9fd-4d39-862b-93dd8e12ca4a.1752168528572">by The New Yorker</a> dove into the astonishing growth of solar energy over the past few years. Among other extensive data, the magazine notes that renewables made up 96 percent of demand for new energy throughout the globe in 2024; In the United States, 93 percent of new energy capacity came from solar and wind.
But while renewables writ large are having their day, the speed at which solar energy in particular is growing blows everything else out of the water.
For example, it's now estimated that the world is now installing one gigawatt worth of solar energy infrastructure every 15 hours — or about the output of a new coal plant.
For some historical context, the New Yorker notes that it took 68 years since the invention of the first photovoltaic solar cell in 1954 to construct a single terawatt's worth of solar power. It took just two years to hit the second terawatt in 2024, and the third is expected within mere months.
This explosive growth has been fueled by <a href="https://tech.yahoo.com/home/articles/data-reveals-american-solar-panels-104505617.html">huge efficiency gains</a> in solar energy output, <a href="https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/10/solar-panel-innovations/">breakthroughs in manufacturing</a>, and <a href="https://www.pytesusa.com/industry-news/The-Economics-of-Solar-Battery-Storage-Systems-in-2025-A-Comprehensive-Analysis.html">streamlined installation processes</a>. There've also been huge developments in panel recycling, meaning the darker side of solar energy — <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/from-us/briefings/transition-minerals-sector-case-studies/human-rights-in-the-mineral-supply-chains-of-solar-panels/">mineral extraction</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0038092X24002299">panel fabrication</a> — might one day be a thing of the past.
In theory, those gains in production, coupled with ever more-efficient recycling methods, will continue to pay off for years down the line.
As the New Yorker noted, Oxford University researcher <a href="https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/low-carbon-tech-needs-much-fewer">Hannah Ritchie recently calculated</a> that the "silver used in one solar panel solar panel built in 2010 would be enough for around five panels today."
Though countries like the US, Germany and Japan are near the top of the leaderboard for solar capacity, the undisputed leader is China, which in 2023 installed more solar infrastructure than the next <a href="https://www.thedailyjagran.com/trending/top-10-solar-power-countries-in-the-world-in-10251521">nine countries</a> combined.
For its part, China is following through on its <a href="https://www.wri.org/news/statement-china-commits-stronger-climate-targets-climate-ambition-summit">10-year plan</a> to triple its solar capacity by 2030 — a target it could hit as early as 2026, if it keeps up the <a href="https://futurism.com/china-solar-mountain-video">current pace</a>. While that has clear benefits for the environment and health of Chinese citizens, it also serves a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/06/30/climate/china-clean-energy-power.html">geopolitical purpose</a>, namely ending its dependence on <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/chinas-petrochemical-reliance-u-outweighs-200000805.html">American energy sources</a> like oil and coal.
The US under Donald Trump, meanwhile, is drastically reversing course on a renewable future. His recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-beautiful-bill-will-have-americans-paying-higher-prices-for-dirtier-energy-260588">Big Beautiful Bill</a> includes an end to tax incentives for new buyers of solar panels and batteries, and grants massive subsidies to the fossil and biofuel industries.
To justify the move, <a href="https://gazette.com/news/us-world/analysis-trump-calls-wind-solar-bad-for-power-grid-texas-shows-otherwise/article_2b87ce76-1c4e-5057-988a-efb72d32cbb1.html">Trump blamed</a> solar and wind infrastructure for skyrocketing energy costs, despite overwhelming evidence that solar energy makes the broader energy grid more stable, and energy much cheaper. That being the case, it's probably no shock to discover the president has more than a few <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2025/04/01/musk-trump-tech-oil-oligarchs/">ulterior motives</a>.
More on solar energy: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/man-trick-power-company">Man Discovers Trick to Make Power Company Pay Him for Using Electricity</a>

On The Bright Side

Simply mind boggling.

The Amount of Electricity Generated From Solar Is Suddenly Unbelievable

As the United States struggles to keep its <a href="https://www.railway.supply/en/texas-may-lose-heartland-flyer-rail-link-without-state-funding/">major cities connected</a> by even the most barebones rail systems, China is screaming into the future with the development of a levitating bullet train.
Called "maglev," short for "magnetic levitation," the train system is designed to levitate via magnets as opposed to wheels. Maglev systems can reach higher speeds <a href="https://sites.tufts.edu/eeseniordesignhandbook/2015/maglev-magnetic-levitating-trains/">much more efficiently</a> than their wheeled counterparts, though the infrastructure needed to run them is incredibly expensive.
While there are a handful of low-speed maglevs currently operating in countries like <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/20160202/s-korea-launches-maglev-train-service-at-main-airport">South Korea</a> and <a href="https://www.linimo.jp/language/en/">Japan</a>, Chinese engineers are plugging away on a maglev that they say hit spectacular speeds of 650 kmph, or 400 miles per hour. For context, that's fast enough to connect New York to Los Angeles in under seven hours, or New York to Chicago in just two hours — assuming the political will to build all that maglev track, that is.
Chinese state media first bragged up the <a href="https://www.cctvplus.com/news/20190524/8111524.shtml#!language=1">floating train's prototype</a> back in 2019, announcing the construction of an experimental R&amp;D lab along with a trial production center in the coastal city of Qingdao.
After announcing the 650kmph achievement in June, developers showcased the <a href="https://tech.ifeng.com/c/8krL2j4bXRC">high-speed maglev</a> at the 12th World Congress on High Speed Rail in Beijing, giving transit nerds and press alike a glimpse of how it works.
The ride begins mundanely on track-bound rubber wheels, but quickly picks up as the train hits the 100-200kmph range. Once at optimal levitating speed, the rubber wheels retract, suspending the train less than half an inch off the track.
From there, it's really just a matter of how fast you want to go, <a href="https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-06-18/China-breaks-record-with-maglev-train-hitting-650-km-h-in-7-seconds-1EiKPFJGJH2/p.html">explained Li Weichao</a>, director of the testing lab to CGTV. Li noted that successful test runs have shown the train can hit the 650kmph benchmark in a span of just 1,000 meters, but that "its typical operating speed is 800 kmph." (That's nearly 500 mph, for those not yet on the metric system.)
"The entire construction is expected to be completed by the end of this year, and the platform will meet the conditions for acceptance," Li said, referring to the optimal operating speed. "This is the fastest speed in the world."
While the tests bode well for maglevs in theory, putting them into practice remains a major challenge.
Japan — the original home to some of the world's fastest <a href="https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2018.html">bullet trains</a> — pushed the deadline to complete its $64 billion maglev system back by nearly a decade, following a <a href="https://www.theb1m.com/video/why-japans-64bn-levitating-bullet-trains-are-no-longer-on-track">political dispute</a> over the completion of a tunnel in the Japanese Alps.
A proposed high-speed maglev system that would theoretically connect Washington, DC to Baltimore in just 15 minutes is likewise in limbo as federal and state agencies wrestle with <a href="https://marylandmatters.org/2025/05/12/wariness-over-maglev-is-not-surprising-but-dont-make-up-your-mind-yet/">environmental studies</a>.
China, meanwhile, already claims the world's fastest operating levitating train, the <a href="https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/shanghai-maglev/">Shanghai-Hangzhou Maglev</a>, capable of a max operating speed of 431 kmph, or more than 265 mph. That also happens to be the <a href="https://www.railway-technology.com/features/the-10-fastest-high-speed-trains-in-the-world/">world's fastest</a> operating train of any kind — meaning that if any nation can pull an 800kmph train off, it's China.
More on China: <a href="https://futurism.com/china-solar-mountain-video">Wild Video Shows Entire Mountain Range in China Covered With Solar Panels</a>

Qingdao On A Fast Train

"This is the fastest speed in the world."

China Working On Levitating Train That Could Get You From New York to Chicago in Two Hours

In brilliant new images, the James Webb Space Telescope has captured a rare glimpse at the gaseous "shrouds" that surround dying stars before they go supernova.
Known as <a href="https://zenodo.org/records/1432081">Wolf-Rayet stars</a>, which were discovered nearly 160 years ago by astronomers Charles Wolf and Georges Rayet at the Paris Observatory and named in their honor, these ancient stars are, <a href="https://www.space.com/astronomy/james-webb-space-telescope-unwraps-the-dusty-shrouds-of-dying-stars">as Space.com notes</a>, surrounded by a "shroud" of cosmic dust that will eventually explode outward and lay the foundations for new stars.
These aged stars, as Space.com explains, have burned off most of their hydrogen. According to Noel Richardson, the leader of the team at Florida's <a href="https://news.erau.edu/headlines/embry-riddle-professor-undergrads-unlock-secrets-of-cosmic-dust-with-the-webb-telescope">Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University</a> that found four new Wolf-Rayet systems, the hydrogen burn-off signals that the stars are dying. As they do, powerful winds that pump out of the star system roughly every eight years create the concentric rings that make up these ghastly "shrouds."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JWST?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#JWST</a> has revealed that multiple Wolf‑Rayet star systems, not just the previously studied WR 140, are encircled by long-lived, carbon‑rich dust shells. These aging, hydrogen‑depleted massive stars, often part of binary systems, generate intense stellar winds that collide and… <a href="https://t.co/TI3xbTlprY">pic.twitter.com/TI3xbTlprY</a>
&mdash; Erika  (@ExploreCosmos_) <a href="https://twitter.com/ExploreCosmos_/status/1942660768593277428?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
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While these star systems' existence has been known for the better part of two centuries, their dusty veils have only been observed once before, when the Webb telescope caught similar <a href="https://esawebb.org/images/weic2501e/">imagery around WR-140</a>, an aging binary star system located about 5,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.
As explained in an <a href="https://news.erau.edu/headlines/embry-riddle-professor-undergrads-unlock-secrets-of-cosmic-dust-with-the-webb-telescope">Embry-Riddle statement</a>, this discovery from Richardson and his students not only affirms that other Wolf-Rayet stars form those beautiful, dusty shrouds in the harsh void of space, but also could contribute to our understanding of the stellar life cycle.
Astronomer Ryan Lau — who works at the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab in Tucson and helped Richardson's team with the new Wolf-Rayet images — said in the university's statement that he's looking forward to seeing what else these strange shells can teach us.
"Where does this dust go?" Lau posited. "We want to learn what exactly the chemistry of this dust is. To do that, we need to take spectra to identify specific grain composition — the physical properties — to get an idea of the chemical contribution to the interstellar medium."
To capture such poignant and awe-inspiring moments in the lives of star systems is already an incredible feat — and with the Webb telescope's sophisticated equipment, there will likely be more where that came from.
More on Webb: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/james-webb-exoplanet-discovery-direct-image">James Webb Discovers First-Ever Exoplanet by Taking a Picture of It</a>
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Death Knell

These are as beautiful as they are fascinating. 

James Webb Space Telescope Spots Stellar Death Shrouds

According to a new study, teen films have a dirty little secret — and it's harming the real-life adolescents who watch them.
After analyzing dozens of teen films, communications researchers at the University of Ohio found, per a new study <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17482798.2025.2507189#d1e355">published in the Journal of Children and Media</a>, that the experiences depicted in them was so different from the lives and experiences of actual teens that they may as well have been speculative fiction.
Looking at 53 teen films released between 2012 and 2021 — titles like "Lady Bird," "The Fault in Our Stars," and "Percy Jackson" — the study led by PhD student Kate Stewart revealed that the protagonists in these stories were very talented at initiating romantic relationships, and often didn't struggle with the physical aspects of puberty (which can, as we all remember, be <a href="https://rightasrain.uwmedicine.org/life/parenthood/dealing-with-stinky-kids">quite gross</a>).
Of all the characters in those films, only two — male or female — dealt with body hair on screen, and the same number struggled with acne. With 28 female leads total among the 53 films, only two discussed breast development and four talked about menstruation. And not a single character in any of the movies analyzed dealt with changes in their voices or height.
While there was a dearth of puberty-related scenes, romantic interest proliferated throughout the films. Stewart clocked a whopping 1,467 romance scenes across all the movies she studied, and of the 47 films that depicted love interests, the protagonists successfully pursued them nearly 80 percent of the time — yet another unrealistic standard, given the notorious awkwardness of early romantic pursuits.
Though we understand as adults that the narratives we see on-screen aren't supposed to be representative of how our lives should go, younger viewers are, the new research posits, more likely to compare themselves to what they see onscreen. When those depictions of adolescence fail to line up with their lived experiences, it can be difficult for teens to feel that they measure up.
"In a perfect world we would see comforting, reassuring, informative depictions of these types of things," Stewart said in a <a href="https://news.osu.edu/popular-teen-movies-reel-back-from-visible-signs-of-puberty/">press release</a>. "But if you’re seeing certain depictions over and over again, then it’s going to start to affect how you view things and especially what you may come to expect."
Though the communications scholar doesn't believe these films are purposefully or maliciously showing inauthentic teen experiences, it's still a bizarre state of affairs.
"It’s kind of a weird disconnect and misalignment between those two big features of adolescence," she said.
With studies showing that Gen Z and Gen Alpha have both a <a href="https://futurism.com/gen-z-movie-sex-scenes">growing disinterest in on-screen romance</a> and a desire to <a href="https://www.scholarsandstorytellers.com/">see more representational stories</a>, Stewart said she hopes that eventually, Hollywood will catch up to what its consumers actually want.
"Our hope is that the industry will begin to weigh those pros and cons of allowing teen audiences to see puberty and more realistic changes," she said of the research. "By shining a spotlight on this, we’re hoping to move forward and build on what we know about what teens learn from media."
More on youth: <a href="https://futurism.com/neoscope/young-people-wish-internet-never-invented">Nearly Half of Young People Wish the Internet Had Never Been Invented</a>