As of December 31, 2024, Ukraine ceased Russian gas transit to Europe, marking a significant blow to Moscow with supplies plummeting from 130 bcm/year to zero. President Zelensky hailed it as a major victory amid ongoing conflict. Europe, relying on LNG and Norwegian gas, maintains 94% gas storage but faces winter challenges. With Russian gas share dropping to 8%, energy prices surge, and nations like Moldova implement emergency measures. A chilly reminder that energy independence isn’t exactly warm and fuzzy.

As of January 2025, Moldova grapples with a chilly energy crisis after Gazprom halted gas supplies over a $709M debt dispute. Transnistria residents face heating blackouts, relying on a precarious 14-day restoration window. With gas tariffs soaring by nearly 30%, President Maia Sandu warns of Russia’s “energy blackmail” amid Moldova’s EU ambitions and upcoming elections. Meanwhile, heroic Moldovan officials scramble with energy-saving measures to keep the winter blues at bay.

Oregon's Axial Seamount, the northeast Pacific's most monitored underwater volcano, shows signs of an impending eruption by late 2025. Swelling at 10 inches/year and over 500 daily quakes mimic its previous 1998, 2011, and 2015 eruptions. Equipped with state-of-the-art AI-driven sensors, scientists are buzzing with anticipation—not for tsunamis, but for groundbreaking insights into magma dynamics. While marine life braces, researchers prepare for a spectacle beneath the waves.

Hospital admissions in England surged as vitamin and mineral deficiencies hit record highs in 2023/24. Iron deficiency anaemia cases rocketed nearly tenfold to 191,927, while B vitamin deficiencies saw a triple jump. The Royal College of GPs blames soaring healthy food prices, pushing many towards budget-friendly fast foods—less nutritious, more problematic. In response, the government launched a 10-year health plan focused on prevention and making balanced diets accessible, aiming to turn the tide on this nutritional nightmare.

As of 2025, nations and private firms are gearing up for lunar mining, eyeing Moon resources to fuel space missions and ease Earth’s resource strain. NASA targets 2032 for extraction, while China follows suit. However, concerns abound: lunar dust wreaks havoc on tech and health, and legal frameworks lag behind the Outer Space Treaty and 2020 Artemis Accords. Ethical debates on ownership and equitable resource sharing intensify. Experts urge urgent regulations to safeguard workers and preserve the Moon’s pristine visage.

Biotech startup Loyal is unleashing LOY-002 in early 2025, a tasty beef-flavored pill designed for dogs 10+ years old and 14+ lbs. Part of the nationwide STAY study with 1,000 pups, LOY-002 targets metabolic aging to add at least one healthy year. Meanwhile, the Dog Aging Project, backed by $7M from the NIH, explores rapamycin’s magic tricks for canine and human longevity. Loyal’s biobank ensures future tails of extended lifespans with a wag of hope.

On January 2, 2025, the U.S. State Department slapped sanctions on Iran’s Cognitive Design Production Center and Russia’s Center for Geopolitical Expertise, along with GRU officer Valery Korovin. Accused of deploying AI-driven deepfakes and disinformation across 100 fake news sites, these entities aimed to sway the 2024 elections. Despite their high-tech antics, many campaigns missed the mark with American voters. This move reaffirms the U.S. commitment to safeguarding democracy, proving that not all cyber plots can hack the spirit of the electorate.

In a bold move on January 1, 2025, President Vladimir Putin directed Russia and Sberbank to deepen AI collaboration with China, aiming to leapfrog Western-imposed tech sanctions. Currently ranked 31st globally, Russia seeks to bolster its AI standings by partnering with BRICS nations through the newly announced AI Alliance Network. This initiative focuses on joint R&D, regulatory harmonization, and tackling global challenges, proving that when chips are down, alliances heat up.

Hangzhou-based startup DeepSeek made waves in late 2024 with its DeepSeek V3, an open-source LLM boasting 671 billion parameters. Developed in two months at $5.58M using 2048 GPUs, V3 rivals Meta and OpenAI despite US sanctions restricting advanced tech access. Praised by Nvidia's Jim Fan for its Mixture-of-Experts architecture and multihead latent attention, DeepSeek V3 excels in coding and math benchmarks. Yet, it humorously misidentifies as ChatGPT occasionally, reminding us that even top AI can have an identity glitch.

January 2025 highlights Broadcom and TSMC as top AI stocks. Broadcom's AI revenue soared 220% in FY2024 to $12.2B, pushing its shares up 14% and briefly touching a $1T valuation—talk about chip off the old block! Meanwhile, TSMC is tripling its AI revenue, ramping up to 2nm chip production by year-end, and boasting a super-efficient Arizona plant with 4% higher yields. Partnered with NVIDIA and Google, both giants are set to power the AI revolution.