Science Magazine @ScienceMagazine

🔥 Beyond thrilled that the Virtual Biotech, our multi-agent AI system for drug discovery, is published in @ScienceMagazine! Discovering a new medicine is one of the most consequential endeavors in biomedicine: a breakthrough can mean years of life, independence, and hope for patients and their families. Yet 90%+ of drugs that enter clinical trials still fail. Drug discovery is intrinsically hard bc it spans an extraordinary range of disciplines, and a successful medicine must check the right boxes. No single person can be an expert in all of these domains, yet decisions in one directly determine success or failure in another. Making better decisions across this immense complexity is how we think AI agents will transform this field. We introduce the Virtual Biotech, an organization of AI scientists modeled on a biotech company. A virtual Chief Scientific Officer coordinates their work, while a scientific reviewer challenges conclusions and identifies missing evidence. Each AI scientist is domain-specialized and equipped with custom tools and knowledge to conduct research in its field. First, more than 37,000 agents assembled and analyzed a dataset of nearly 56,000 clinical trials, finding that drugs targeting cell-type-specific genes were associated with a 48% greater likelihood of successfully reaching market and 32% lower adverse event rates. The system then performed target validation to autonomously build a preclinical rationale for B7-H3 target in lung cancer after analyzing genetics, single cell, spatial transcriptomic, and clinical data. Finally, it conducted a translation failure analysis to flag possible failure mechanisms for a terminated trial testing first-in-class mAb against OSMR in ulcerative colitis. This work points toward a future where every scientist has the breadth of a biotech research organization at their fingertips—significantly expanding what they can imagine, investigate, and ultimately translate into new medicines. We owe it to our patients to make that future a reality. 🤖 Talk to your Virtual Biotech research team: virtualbiotech.ai 🖇️ Paper: science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… 💻 Code: github.com/harrisongzhang… @james_y_zou Peter Eckmann @Jiacheng_Miao Andrew Mahon @StanfordMed @StanfordDBDS @StanfordAILab @KnightHennessy @StanfordHAI @StanfordMSTP

In July 2025, four sisters left their family behind and ventured off into the unknown. Just 2 weeks later, three of their brothers followed suit. Over the next 9 months, these intrepid siblings—all African wild dogs from Zambia’s Kafue National Park—traveled thousands of kilometers, braving untold hazards. Some eventually settled into new territory, having completed the longest movement ever recorded for any African mammal. The others had their journey cut tragically short. The saga highlights the vulnerability of this iconic canine, which remains one of the world’s most endangered mammals. But the findings also suggest wild dog populations are more connected than previously thought, with movements potentially linking ecosystems across eastern and southern Africa. Learn more: scim.ag/4cM0BAH @NewsfromScience

New @ScienceAdvances research finds that Tyrannosaurus rex was warm-blooded, according to enamel isotopic data from three T. rex teeth. scim.ag/3UZGGIr

"Actions that directly harm or destroy animals remain prohibited, but altering the places where they feed, shelter, or reproduce may no longer qualify as harm in the same way. This distinction makes little ecological sense. A species cannot be separated from the living system that sustains it," writes Charles C. Davis in a new #ScienceEditorial. scim.ag/3UTkLmg

In a new Focus in @scisignal, scientists examine pioneering results from a recent paper in @ScienceMagazine, which decoded how #viruses co-opt the ubiquitin-proteasome system in host cells to interfere with innate immune defenses. scim.ag/3SZpNwX

In the latest #SciencePodcast🎙️, Susana Monsó dives into how philosophy can play a role in the scientific process—from defining terms to formulating questions. 🎧 Listen here: scim.ag/4iuHNJV

“The greater danger is allowing uncertainty to convince us to stop building, mentoring, investing in ambitious ideas, supporting vulnerable communities, or imagining a future worth creating until conditions improve.” #ScienceWorkingLife scim.ag/4dxT88v

One of America’s healthiest coral reefs is being stressed by nitrogen runoff from the Mississippi River and extreme heat, according to a new @ScienceAdvances analysis. scim.ag/4cKq2mh

“When asked about major carbon sinks worldwide, most people think of oceans and forests. In her new book, Water, Carbon, Time, Jennifer de Mooy explores another major carbon sink—peatlands—visiting various bogs and fens around the US, Canada, and Peru, where scientists are studying these special wetlands.” Read the #ScienceBooks Review: scim.ag/4cISwg5

An influenza vaccine with an adjuvant encapsulating a STING agonist and manganese ions can rejuvenate immune responses in aged mice and induce broad protection against multiple viral strains. Learn more in @SciImmunology: scim.ag/4gZ6Cem

Recent research finds that the ovaries of old mice become infiltrated with immune cells and may secrete immune signals into the body. The consequences of these changes aren’t clear, but a similar transformation in humans could have health implications after menopause. Learn more: scim.ag/4grQaoD @NewsfromScience

First release @ScienceMagazine "Virtual Biotech," whereby >37,000 AI agents were put to work to find targets and forecast success in clinical trials, both for efficacy and avoidance side-effects. And that was one the first of a series of accomplishments @james_y_zou @harrison_zhang science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

Super excited that #VirtualBiotech is published in @ScienceMagazine today! Tens of thousands of AI scientist agents work together across drug discovery + development, from target discovery to clinical trial design. Our blueprint for agentic R&D 🧵

Today @ScienceMagazine A noncontiguous code for RNA-guided DNA recognition at the origin of CRISPR-Cas | Science science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

North Korea’s underground nuclear tests at Mt. Mantap have had long-lasting and delayed effects on the region’s surrounding crust, according to a new Science study, triggering seismic activity that has persisted—and even intensified—for years after the detonations ended. The findings have implications for monitoring former nuclear test sites. scim.ag/46w29v1

A “lab-on-a-contact lens” measures concentrations of #serotonin in tear fluid in animals and in humans in a pilot trial—offering a flexible and noninvasive tool to quantify a key marker of stress responses and behaviors. @ScienceTM scim.ag/46YzkYe

Increasing the breadth of researchers trained as reviewers is crucial. In 2024, we began a program that invites reviewers to add trainees as co-reviewers. Nearly 6000 scientists have participated. All our reviewers, past and present, can now get credit on ORCID. #PeerReviewWeek

The Ice Age woolly rhinoceros may have owed much of its evolutionary success not to the frozen Siberian landscapes with which it is most closely associated, but to the more temperate regions of Eurasia, a sweeping new analysis of ancient DNA and Pleistocene habitats suggests. Learn more in Science: scim.ag/4xTLgql

In a 2025 @SciImmunology Review, researchers discussed how interactions between the nervous and immune systems could impact neurological disorders and allergy-related behaviors like food avoidance. Learn more: scim.ag/44GIuZK #ScienceMagArchives