On the record
Science promises, kept and slipped
As of Aug 11, 2026, we are tracking 9 public promises across 8 science storylines. 7 are still open, 2 have slipped past the timeline their makers gave, and 0 have been marked kept. Every one stays here, dated and sourced, until it resolves.
- Pending Promised Jul 9, 2026 · due Dec 31, 2028
California's largest planned green hydrogen facility, the Lancaster Clean Energy Center, is set to open in 2028 after SB 1350 made green hydrogen power commercially viable in the state.
Reporting in the Today Got Better brief
The Lancaster Clean Energy Center in Southern California, the country's largest planned green hydrogen facility, is set to open in 2028.
- Pending Promised Jul 8, 2026
Luvesilocin, a psilocybin-like compound, showed rapid improvement in postpartum depression in an FDA Phase 2 study of 84 participants across 35 sites; whether Phase 3 trials confirm the effect size and safety specifically in postpartum patients is the open question.
Reporting in the Today Got Better brief
showed rapid improvement in postpartum depression symptoms in an FDA Phase 2 study across 35 sites and 84 participants
- Pending Promised Jul 7, 2026
GLP-1 drugs cut the risk of amputation and death in diabetics with peripheral artery disease, but whether the benefit comes from weight loss, blood sugar improvement, or a direct effect on blood vessel walls is unresolved and, the researchers say, deserves prospective trials.
Reporting in the Today Got Better brief
whether the benefit comes from weight loss, blood sugar improvement, or a direct effect on blood vessel walls is an open question the researchers say deserves prospective trials
- Pending Promised Jul 2, 2026
Promising Alzheimer's drugs can slow progression when started early, but the infrastructure for population-scale screening does not yet exist.
Reporting in the Today Got Better brief
several promising Alzheimer's drugs have shown they can slow progression when started early, but the clinical infrastructure for population-scale screening does not exist yet
- Pending Promised Jun 17, 2026
A brain implant that needs no ongoing technician visits could reach everyone who needs it, not only those near a research hospital.
Casey Harrell
Living with a disease like ALS, you are supposed to have diminished dreams. I do not.
- Pending Promised Mar 12, 2024 · due Sep 30, 2027
A McLean Hospital and Harvard trial of ketogenic and nutritional treatment in first-episode bipolar disorder is registered to report its main results by late 2027.
Virginie-Anne Chouinard, McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School
- Pending Promised Mar 31, 2021
CEPI committed up to 200 million dollars toward vaccines that protect broadly across coronaviruses, funding betacoronavirus candidates for up to four years to reach clinical proof of concept.
CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations)
CEPI plans to invest up to US$200 million in promising vaccine candidates up to clinical proof of concept
- Slipped Promised Mar 9, 2017 · due Dec 31, 2018 · resolved Nov 8, 2023
The international Synthetic Yeast Genome (Sc2.0) consortium set itself a public target of finishing the first synthetic yeast genome, all 16 chromosomes, by 2018.
The Sc2.0 synthetic yeast consortium, with BGI and partners
has set itself the ambitious task of producing the first synthetic yeast genome (16 chromosomes ~14 Mbp) by 2018
The consortium held roughly 6 of the 16 chromosomes when it set the 2018 target. All 16 synthetic chromosomes were finished and reported in November 2023, about five years late, and combining them into a single fully synthetic yeast cell is still unfinished.
- Slipped Promised Jul 6, 2022 · due Dec 31, 2024
Oxford and Caltech said their mosaic-8 pan-sarbecovirus vaccine would begin a Phase 1 human trial in 2024.
Oxford Vaccine Group and Caltech, in a CEPI-funded consortium
The consortium aims to commence a Phase 1 trial in 2024
By May 2024 Oxford's own update had pushed the start to early 2025. No first dosing of the mosaic-8 trial was confirmed in the public record as of mid-2026.
A promise goes on the ledger the day it is made and comes off only when it is kept or broken, never quietly dropped. Each links back to the storyline where we are following it.
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