NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory is seen with its dome open during First Look observation activities in April 2025. Messier 41, the Little Beehive Cluster, can be seen over the telescope in this telelens photo. Credit: RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA/P. Horálek (Institute of Physics in Opava)
By Bianca Licitra
TIME Magazine recently published its 2025 Best Inventions issue. Released annually for the last 25 years, the issue features “the most impactful new products and ideas” that are “changing how we live, work, play, and think about what’s possible.” This year’s list, their biggest yet, features 300 inventions across 37 categories (including healthcare, artificial intelligence, sustainability, and more).
Inventions developed through research done at AAU member universities feature prominently on the 2025 list. Research universities are a vital part of the innovation ecosystem, generating thousands of patents a year and hundreds of start-up businesses. However, with massive cuts to federal research funding, researchers leaving the country for opportunities overseas, and restrictions on recruiting the world’s top talent, innovations from America’s leading research universities are increasingly at risk.
TIME’s 2025 Best Inventions associated with AAU’s member universities include:
- SolarSPELL is an offline digital library co-founded by Arizona State University Associate Professor Laura Hosman. The library runs on a device created by an ASU team and brings thousands of resources on “education, agriculture, and health … to students, teachers, farmers, and healthcare workers in low-access areas” across the globe. The initiative engages 150 student contributors a year, 80% of whom are enrolled at ASU, and reaches nearly half a million learners across the world.
- The Every Cure MATRIX uses AI to discover already-approved drugs that can be repurposed to treat rare diseases. University of Pennsylvania, co-founder of Every Cure, conducted research at UPenn’s medical school to develop the tool.
- Northwestern University’s Millimeter Pacemaker is wireless, dissolvable, and smaller than a grain of rice. It’s also activated by light and can be non-invasively inserted with a syringe. Professor John Rogers and his team of researchers at Northwestern designed the pacemaker for patients who only need the device temporarilywhich, along with its other revolutionary features, makes it especially well-suited to “the tiny, fragile hearts of newborn babies with congenital heart defects.”
- The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has the world’s “largest digital camera ever built” and is helping capture images of billions of cosmic objects. University of California, Santa Cruz researchers and specialists “have been instrumental” in the development and success of the observatory, UCSC said. The facility, which is “set to transform the field of astronomy,” was jointly funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
- The STAR Method, developed by Columbia University researchers,AI to recover rare sperm cells from men with infertility for use in IVF. Zev Williams, director of the Columbia University Fertility Center, drew inspiration from methods used by astrophysicists identifying new galaxies when developing the STAR (Sperm Tracking and Recovery) method. According to TIME, “After 20 years of trying, the first couple to use STAR is expecting their first child this year.”
- HerBrain is an educational tool that uses AI and brain imaging data to illustrate “how brain structures change across the pregnancy and postpartum periods,” TIME Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbaradeveloped HerBrain to advance our understanding of maternal brain health. The HerBrain app - set for release in 2027 - will act as a “digital twin” of the maternal brain so expectant mothers can track and anticipate shifts in their brains and bodies.
- MDCF-2 is a malnutrition supplement developed by Jeffrey I. Gordon, professor of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. The supplement can be used to prevent long-term chronic health conditions that occur as a result of severe childhood malnutrition. As a therapeutic food, MDCF-2 is designed to repair the abnormally forming gut microbiomes that impact growth and development, which increases its benefits compared to other therapeutic foods.
- Wireless MRI Coils built by Boston University researchers “attach to the body, weigh less than a AA battery, and cost only $50 dollars,” TIME Using coaxial cables, which are the same kind that bring internet into homes, BU engineering professor Xin Zhang and her team are aiming to make MRIs more affordable and accessible.
Bianca Licitra is editorial and communications assistant at AAU.