The first Editorial of the year at Science always gives the Editor-in-Chief an opportunity to reflect on notable developments for the Science journals. In this Editorial, Holden Thorp focuses on AI, discussing how it “will allow the scientific community to do more if it picks the right ways to use it.” He revisits the journals’ policies and approaches related to AI. The journals do use select AI tools. Over the past year for example, Science has collaborated with DataSeer to evaluate adherence to its policy mandating the sharing of underlying data and code for all published research articles. “The initial results are encouraging in that of 2,680 Science papers published between 2021 and 2024, 69% shared data.” (A related Science Editor’s Blog post provides additional details for the DataSeer project.) But Thorp notes that “although AI is helping Science catch errors that can be corrected or elements that are missing from a paper […] its use and the evaluation of the output require more human effort, not less.” This is because the reports generated by AI tools must be assessed by people. “As a small family of journals that can put more human effort into each paper,” Thorp writes, “the Science journals are less susceptible—and contribute less—to the accumulation of “AI slop” in the literature, but no system, human or artificial, can catch everything. Potential degradation of the literature by technology reinforces the value of a record maintained with human scientific experience and expertise.”

This special issue examines the multifaceted impact of climate change on business and finance, bringing together eight studies that explore how climate risks, opportunities, policies, and sentiment shape corporate behavior, investment decisions, and market dynamics. Key findings reveal that state ownership and environmental regulations significantly influence corporate environmental investment, while climate opportunity exposure can lower firms’ cost of capital in emerging markets. The research also highlights how climate policy uncertainty drives ESG performance improvements, and how both physical and transition climate risks amplify volatility in cryptocurrency markets. These insights underscore the growing integration of climate considerations into financial decision-making and point to actionable strategies for firms, investors, and policymakers navigating a climate-conscious economy.

Evaluating education quality across countries is complex and often inconsistent. A recent study introduces the Global Education Quality Index (GEQI), developed to offer a comprehensive and comparative tool for assessing education worldwide. Drawing on data from 62 countries between 2009 and 2018, the study uses an input-process-outcome framework to analyze basic, school, and postsecondary education. By highlighting regional differences and systemic strengths, the GEQI offers new insights into improving global education systems.

Can rating be more than a warm-up activity in classroom assessments? A new Hong Kong study reveals that the accuracy with which students rate their own and their peers’ writing significantly shapes the quality of feedback, the depth of revision, and ultimately the improvement of their writing performance. The research challenges the common perception and instead shows its essential role in driving meaningful learning outcomes.

While the classroom has long been described as the “black box” of education, classroom analysis aims to reveal what truly happens inside it. A new study led by East China Normal University identifies ten key questions at the frontiers of classroom analysis, offering a guideline for future research and practice. This study suggests that defining guiding values, constructing high-quality analytical frameworks, leveraging multimodal data, and ensuring ethical standards are essential to advance classroom research globally.

In an era where student-centered instruction and competency-based learning are gaining traction globally, enhancing teacher capacity remains a pivotal challenge. Recognizing this, a team of Chinese education researchers has turned to framing theory to better understand how collaborative professional development models—particularly lesson study—can drive meaningful shifts in teachers’ instructional practice.