Ellie Larsen

BYU’s Sesquicentennial year started off with great momentum as BYU’s professional programs earned high rankings and the location for the BYU School of Medicine building was announced. Alongside breaking ground on major campus projects — including a brand new Creamery on Ninth — BYU also led groundbreaking research on sugar, generative AI, and wildfires. Here are the top ten BYU news stories of 2025.

BYU Professor of Geology, Greg Carling, and his team are investigating possible groundwater contamination in the Great Salt Lake, a crucial ecosystem that supports thousands of migratory birds.

A new book, “Serpent in Eden,” authored by BYU history professor Tyson Reeder, recently received the George Washington Prize at a Union Club ceremony in New York City.

At many universities, student researchers rarely get the chance to even see a transmission electron microscope, or TEM, up close—let alone use one. At BYU, undergraduate students are about to run the show.

Plant-Based Alternatives (PBAs) — such as the Impossible Burger — are becoming more common, and those who try them say they are actually quite good. And while companies are pouring billions into making PBAs taste just like their meat counterparts, they still aren’t catching on. So what’s the hold-up?