San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences described 72 new species in 2025 — from a Galápagos heron to a fuzzy Big Bend wildflower and a shy deep‑sea fish.

Ahmad Al-Dahle joins Airbnb as the new CTO, tasked with leading engineering and data science, after Ari Balogh's exit. He brings his AI expertise from a previous role at Meta, aiming to enhance Airbnb's app with advanced AI search features.

UC Davis won state grants to study cancer among firefighters, pairing wearables and blood tests with air sampling to hunt for hazardous exposures and biomarkers.

Meta is laying off over 1,000 employees, mainly in its Reality Labs division, as it shifts focus away from the metaverse towards wearables and AI research.

Nvidia and Eli Lilly will invest up to $1 billion to open an AI co-innovation lab in the Bay Area, with work expected to begin in South San Francisco early this year. The facility pairs Nvidia compute with Lilly data to accelerate drug discovery.

OpenAI acquired Torch, a health data startup, to improve ChatGPT Health, potentially changing how people access and interact with their medical information.

Apple has partnered with Google to enhance Siri using Google's Gemini AI models, aiming to advance iPhone and iPad AI features while maintaining privacy standards.

Common Sense Media and OpenAI support the new Parents & Kids Safe AI Act to improve online safety for children, particularly focusing on AI chatbot regulation. The act proposes independent safety audits and holds companies accountable.

UCSF has joined a Phase 3 trial testing MM120, an LSD tablet, as a possible one‑time treatment for generalized anxiety disorder after promising midstage results.

Palo Alto plans a March pilot of expanded city-run fiber while critics warn the project faces steep competition and financial risks.

A 9th Circuit panel pushed back on Meta’s bid to dismiss hundreds of youth‑addiction lawsuits, raising new questions about Section 230 and platform design.

Palo Alto Networks is reportedly negotiating a roughly $400M purchase of Israeli startup Koi, which builds a supply‑chain gateway for endpoints. Talks are said to include a preliminary MOU.

Tesla's sales fell by 9% in 2025 to 1.64 million vehicles, losing its spot as the world's largest EV seller to BYD's 2.26 million. Factors include loss of a $7,500 tax credit, Musk's politics, and strong competition.