The Moment: July 2026

Sure, it might seem like a good gig, getting to write about amazing people doing phenomenal work across Stanford. But here’s the thing: They don’t stop. No sooner do we publish a story about a breakthrough than the team behind it goes out and makes another one.

Last year, we introduced you to physician-scientist Billy Loo’s ambitious plan to make proton therapy—one of cancer medicine’s most precise treatments—dramatically more accessible to the people who need it. At the time, it was a bold vision. Today, it’s a reality. Stanford’s new proton therapy facility has opened, and in June a 7-year-old boy with a rare brain tumor became the first patient treated, marking the beginning of a new chapter in cancer care.

Then there’s the 2024 story about Stanford RegLab and its mission to make government work better. Since then, the team has developed an AI system for cleaning up “policy sludge”—those byzantine legal requirements that gum up governance. Working with San Francisco’s City Attorney, the team produced a legislative proposal to cut over a third of unnecessary reporting requirements. Building on this success, and with support from Stanford Impact Labs, RegLab has partnered with state governments, including California, to modernize how government buys, delivers, and evaluates in the age of AI. (For this and other achievements, RegLab director Daniel E. Ho recently received the Roland Prize, which recognizes faculty who integrate scholarship, teaching, and public service in ways that benefit students and communities alike.)

These are the kinds of updates we love: an idea that begins changing the world beyond the Farm.

With that in mind, we’re resurfacing four stories from our archives where groundbreaking work has only seen its impact and ambition grow. They span everything from public policy to mental health care, from humanitarian engineering to climate disaster. What they share is a willingness to tackle problems that are difficult, neglected, or seemingly impossible—which, as it happens, remains one of Stanford’s favorite hobbies.

Thanks for reading and happy summer!