The two individuals named for Nature’s 2025 list demonstrate how big changes can come from very different arenas: cutting-edge AI development and the push to explore Earth’s most extreme frontiers. Liang Wenfeng, founder of the Chinese AI company DeepSeek, and Du Mengran, a renowned Chinese geoscientist known as the “Deep Diver,” have both earned spots on Nature’s annual “Nature’s 10.” This list spotlights ten people who shaped some of the year’s most significant scientific stories.
Wenfeng is recognized for accelerating the field of large-scale AI with DeepSeek’s impressive R1 model, a development described by Nature as both powerful and cost-efficient. The feature notes that this release signaled the United States might not be as far ahead in AI as many observers had assumed, shaking up industry dynamics on a global scale.
Du Mengran is celebrated for her trailblazing dives into the hadal zone—the ocean’s deepest realm, deeper than six kilometers below the surface. In the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench off Japan’s northeast, she and her team uncovered what Nature calls the deepest-known ecosystem inhabited by animals on Earth, expanding our understanding of life in extreme environments.
Nature’s 10 this year encompasses a wide spectrum of science and societal issues, including astronomy, marine biology, biomedicine, research integrity, public health policy, and artificial intelligence. The collection emphasizes how advances at both the cosmic and microscopic levels—alongside critical behind-the-scenes work—are shaping science and society in 2025.
The list, compiled by Nature’s editors, is not a ranking or prize. Rather, it is a curated snapshot of notable developments and the people driving them, often as part of large research teams.
Brendan Maher, Nature’s features editor, described the 2025 cohort as highlighting exploration of new frontiers, potential medical breakthroughs, steadfast scientific integrity, and policy work that saves lives. He added that the compilation honors the many researchers—their dedication to understanding the natural world and, in many cases, to helping it—that make these stories possible and worthy of attention.
