diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index dc14c1ef8..6e90fe690 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ jobs:
           - os: macos-latest
             mne: dev
             kind: conda
-            python: "3.11"
+            python: "3.12"
           - os: windows-latest
             mne: dev
             kind: conda
diff --git a/environment.yml b/environment.yml
index 11877820e..8257e9be1 100644
--- a/environment.yml
+++ b/environment.yml
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@ name: mne-nirs
 channels:
 - conda-forge
 dependencies:
-- python>=3.8
+- python>=3.9
 - pip
 - mne
 - nilearn
 - statsmodels
-- pytables
+- pytables>=3.8