《自然》前瞻2026年科学大事件：科研AI、基因编辑、深空与深海的全面探索

Group 1 - The article predicts that AI will transition from being an assistant to an independent researcher, with the potential for AI to achieve its first significant scientific discovery by 2026 [2][3] - AI agents, which integrate multiple large language models, will be capable of executing complex scientific processes with minimal human intervention, including hypothesis generation, experiment design, data analysis, and paper writing [2] - Smaller, specialized AI models are emerging as efficient alternatives for specific scientific problems, requiring less data and focusing on mathematical representations rather than text generation [2] Group 2 - Two clinical trials for personalized gene therapies targeting rare genetic diseases in children are expected to start in 2026, building on the case of KJ Muldoon, who received CRISPR treatment [4] - A clinical trial in the UK is anticipated to reveal results for a single blood test that can detect approximately 50 types of cancer before symptoms appear, involving over 140,000 participants [5] Group 3 - 2026 is projected to be a busy year for lunar exploration, with NASA's Artemis II mission sending four astronauts on a ten-day mission to orbit the Moon, marking the first crewed lunar mission since the 1970s [6] - China's Chang'e 7 mission is planned for 2026, aiming to land near the Moon's south pole to search for water ice and study moonquakes [8] Group 4 - The European Space Agency plans to launch the Plato exoplanet survey satellite by the end of 2026, which will monitor over 200,000 stars to search for Earth-like planets [8] - The Chinese deep-sea drilling vessel "Dream" is set to conduct its first scientific mission in 2026, aiming to drill 11 kilometers deep in the Mariana Trench to collect upper mantle samples [11] Group 5 - The Large Hadron Collider at CERN will undergo a major upgrade in 2026, halting operations for three years to install a high-luminosity LHC, which will enhance data collection for rare process observations [11] - The Mu2e detector at Fermilab is expected to be completed in April 2026, focusing on the exploration of the mysterious subatomic particle, the muon [11]