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Think you need 10,000 steps a day? Science says otherwise
The 10,000-step goal came from a 1960s ad campaign, not science. A new study reveals the real number you need for major health benefits
Think you need 10,000 steps a day? Science says otherwise
The 10,000-step goal came from a 1960s ad campaign, not science. A new study reveals the real number you need for major health benefits
Could a 'sacred moment’ with your doctor improve your health care?
Researchers say those seemingly small interactions may be more meaningful than you think.
Black holes keep tearing these stars apart, but they survive
Astronomers have found stars that repeatedly skim past supermassive black holes, surviving each encounter while producing a new burst of light. In some systems, those flares mysteriously fade with every return. Researchers now think the key may be stars that were already spinning extremely fast before being captured. That rapid rotation could explain both the fading flares and how the stars ended up in such extraordinarily tight black hole orbits.
The oldest iPhone model you can trade-in with Apple is older than you'd think
Even old Apple devices you haven’t touched in years could still get you some credit towards a new phone.
CVS Health Stock Is Beating the Market in 2026. Here's Why Wall Street Thinks It Can Soar Another 22%.
One of the pharmacy operator's segments is doing particularly well.
Column | Lewis: Science first, politics second
As you can probably tell from these columns, I love a good debate. More importantly, I think it is important to listen to other perspectives. Through those interactions, my views evolve. After writing about housing...
Column | Lewis: Science first, politics second
As you can probably tell from these columns, I love a good debate. More importantly, I think it is important to listen to other perspectives. Through those interactions, my views evolve. After writing about housing...
This Rare Nebraska District Backed Harris but Sent a Republican to Congress. Can Democrats Win Here?
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — “Do they still like Trump in Nebraska? I think so,” the president said during a recent event in Washington. Given that the state easily backed Republican Donald Trump three times and hasn't supported a Democrat for the White House since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, the answer may ...
Quitting alcohol may prime the brain for relapse
Mice that developed compulsive drinking after alcohol abstinence showed more than double the activity in a brain region associated with stress and addiction. Because the signal appeared before they drank again, researchers think it could eventually help predict who is most at risk of relapse.
Andrew Yang on where politics goes from here
This week on Catch Me Up, the midterms are closer than we think and the stakes are even bigger than the headlines are letting on. Andrew Yang helps us make sense of it all.
Industrial policy meets red state politics
Manufacturing jobs aren't always as popular as politicians think.
Haywood County residents rethink health care coverage after premium increase
Nearly nine months after marketplace health care plans increased in double digits, data show that Affordable Care Act enrollment in Haywood County decreased.
Families face higher back-to-school costs this year, report finds
A new study by two progressive think tanks estimates that a typical basket of school supplies costs nearly 8% more this year than last year.
Morning 4: Here are the 80 businesses you voted best in Metro Detroit
Morning 4 is a quick roundup of stories we think you should know about to start your day.
Nutrition experts think they've solved vegan cheese's biggest flaw
Everyone is crackers about cheese. But for those avoiding dairy, the options at the supermarket leave much to be desired
A strange new quantum droplet can hold itself together
Two very different types of quantum particles may be able to form stable droplets that hold themselves together, challenging decades of conventional thinking. The prediction could soon be tested experimentally and may reveal an unexpectedly rich world of new quantum phases.
Democrats target central Kentucky race with more support for Dembo
The campaign arm of House Democrats has added Kentucky's sixth congressional district to its list of red seats that it thinks can be flipped to blue.
Pittsburgh business leader Herky Pollock draws on own pain to help stop man’s suicide attempt on 40th Street Bridge
Editor’s note: The following story mentions suicidal behavior. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, free help is available 24/7 through the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. Herky Pollock thinks about his stepfather every time he crosses a high bridge. It
Experimenting with Science and Structure in Government
"What excites me is that it's very tempting to be very discouraged, and say, ‘Oh, we've got these archaic institutions that are calcified and you could never change them.’ But I think we're in the middle of a technological revolution that will upend lots of things, and does provide a window."
What Ovaries Reveal About the Secret Ways Women Age, According to Francesca Duncan
“Pretty much every organ system you can think of is touched by the ovaries,” says Francesca Duncan, a reproductive biologist at Northwestern University and Buck Institute for Research on Aging
Are there any college sports you think are in the wrong season?
Some recent news got me thinking…
3 bubble players pushing for a Cowboys roster spot
Which bubble players do you think are going to earn a roster spot?
A college football coach used to complain about the transfer portal. He reframed his thinking
Dave Doeren had to “reframe” the way he thought about the changes in college sports. Researchers have another name for what he did.
We Think We Found ‘Human Printer’ Natalie Harp’s Printer Setup. It’s Bulky
A fairly bulky printer, and a totally unnecessary backup battery. Why?
I quit my £80,000 job to make ice cream
The co-founder of Little Moons shares her advice for anyone thinking about starting a business of their own.
Minnesota Twins 6, Atlanta Braves 4: In-Clemens weather
Lean back and think of 1991 all over again.
Sea Aggie Researchers Make Evening Fun with Science on the Beach
“The environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it’s the one thing all of us share.” – Lady Bird JohnsonOn Galveston Island, beaches rank among the favorite environments to share and study, and, as Texas A&M University at Galveston faculty emphasized last week, are “More Than Just Sand.”A program subtitled “The Secret Life & Value of Sandy Beaches” drew more than 40 people to the Aug. 13 meeting of Surfrider Foundation Galveston, a local chapter of a nonprofit focused on the protection and enjoyment of oceans and beaches.The evening began barefoot with ecology lessons on the sand before moving across Seawall Boulevard for beverages, bites, and more beach talk at an area establishment. Drs. Guilherme Corte and Yasmina Shah Esmaeili show how a mesh bag is used as a sieve to separate organisms from samples of the sand. Credit: TAMUG Divisions of Marketing and CommunicationsNot far from where others were enjoying the attractions at Pleasure Pier, Drs. Guilherme Corte and Yasmina Shah Esmaeili introduced the ecologically curious to species living within the sediments.“When people hear ‘coral reefs,’ they immediately think of fish, live ecosystems, but when they think of sandy beaches, they think party, recreation, vacations – not coastal ecosystems,” said Corte, an assistant professor of marine biology in the College of Marine Sciences and Maritime Studies at TAMUG.Shah Esmaeili co-founded the Gulf eDNA Network and works with Corte in TAMUG’s Benthic Ecology Lab.“Sandy beaches are indeed great places for leisure and recreation,” Corte said. “Let’s keep enjoying them, because they are awesome. But they are also full of life that we most of the time don’t realize is there.”The married couple soon had the beachcombers measuring the slope with PVC poles, searching for ghost shrimp with a stainless-steel pump, sifting for marine worms and sand fleas, and guessing which species would burrow fastest back into the sand once released.Away from the sand, the focus turned to research from Drs. Ashley Ross ’03, ’10, and Virgie Greb, ’25 and those words from Lady Bird Johnson reminding people that the environment isn’t separate from their daily lives.“It’s about things that we value, mostly our communities, strong local economies, outdoor recreation, cultural connections, and our overall quality of life,” said Greb, a proud BOI – born on the island – Galvestonian, who now works in Austin as a project manager for the Texas General Land Office. “Along our coast, these benefits are deeply interconnected.”Greb and Ross, an associate professor in marine and coastal environmental science with the College of Marine Sciences & Maritime Studies, have studied a variety of ways beaches and the sea are important to Galveston and those who live there. Drs. Ashley Ross (left) and Virgie Greb (standing at right) field questions after their presentation. Credit: TAMUG Division of Marketing and CommunicationsIn 2023, using three survey methods – online for Galveston County residents, in-person at beaches, and paper distributed via city water bills – they collected 732 complete responses, 53 percent from residents and 47 percent from visitors.Most were frequent beachgoers who gave the recreation value of Galveston beaches a “B” and rated amenities such as restaurants, lodging, shopping, and beach access highly. Lower rated were water clarity and restroom facilities.“It’s noticeable that primary residents actually rate water quality higher; they’re more tolerant of hard, turbid water,” Ross said, crediting them with better understanding the natural conditions with the Trinity and San Jacinto Rivers bringing sediments and rich nutrients to the area around Galveston.Island residents also were more likely to understand that “clear” isn’t the same as clean beach water and to know that water quality is regularly tested. Clean means absent of disease-causing pathogens.“We need more education and outreach focused on water quality and the benefits of Galveston beaches and shores and water,” Greb said. “And it’s not just for tourism. There are a lot of people who are very lucky to live on an island with beaches and the bay.”
Google’s Pixel Watch 5 is promising — but it isn’t finished
Think of this as part one of the Pixel Watch 5 review as most of the new features aren’t out yet. That said, GPS rocks.
Uli Hoeneß on Musiala health scare: "I go to bed thinking of him"
In an interview with RTL/ntv, Bayern chief Uli Hoeneß revealed that he was “shocked” when Musiala suffered another collapsing incident just days apart. "I was speechless. I go to bed thinking of...
Better together: ASCEnT program prepares supply chain and engineering students for business world where they’ll need each other
The concentration helps students become systems thinkers with interdisciplinary skills to lead and solve complex challenges in the tech-driven global economy. Applications open this fall.
Patrick Patrick Launches to Bring “Wild, Wild West” Thinking to Entertainment Marketing
Little Black Book, Former NBCUniversal marketing lead Kevin Harrington tells LBB’s Addison Capper why his new agency is borrowing from the strategic rigour of consumer brands, with Netflix, Universal Pictures and AMC already on board
SGMC Health Honors Hodges with Safe Care Award
SGMC Health recognized Security Officer Jeremy Hodges as the latest recipient of the Safe Care Award for demonstrating exceptional awareness, quick thinking, and a strong commitment to patient safety.
Rethinking the Pollinator Garden
Maegan Luckett, a recent alumna of the horticulture distance education graduate program and horticulturalist at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, explores how garden plant bed layout and selection impact bees and humans alike.
Archeologists used to think women in prehistory wielded no power. Genetic data is upending that idea.
For more than 150 years, leading archaeologists have assumed that women of the past never assumed roles of power. New genetic data shows how flawed that interpretation is.
iPhone 17 Pro Cases Fit iPhone 18 Pro - Or At Least Otterbox Thinks So
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman noted on X (Twitter) today that Otterbox is already selling iPhone 18 Pro cases at Best Buy. While the timing is early for a new iPhone that isn't expected to launch until mid-September, what's more interesting is that Otterbox's packaging indicates the iPhone 18 Pro will fit iPhone 17 Pro cases and vice versa.
Scientist says only one thing truly exists: consciousness
Have you ever stopped to think about what your brain is actually doing right now? For decades, standard science has told us a pretty straightforward story: your brain is a biological supercomputer, an...
The Sinking City 2 ditches the thinky stuff for Resident Evil style horror, but I'm yet to decide if this expert mystery developer's latest is truly better for it
There's a bit, early on in The Sinking City 2, where you enter the waterlogged Miskatonic University. As you teeter aro…
Do Democrats have ‘SWAMP’ disease? A major SF donor thinks so
An audit of the Democratic Party’s spending concludes that it’s too focused on wooing white, male voters.
Scientists cited by Heritage Foundation report on women’s sports say it misrepresented their research
The conservative think tank’s report claims that high-intensity and elite sports training has lasting effects on menstrual cycles and fertility
Poll: Most Americans think the economic system is rigged — and it’s shaping midterm politics
Coach: 'Islam Makhachev doesn't care who he fights next'
Islam Makhachev's coach, Javier Mendez, doesn't think the champion cares who he fights next.
Adaptive Biotech co-founder raises $15M for new startup to rethink how AI trains on science
Harlan Robins (Photo via Harell Data) Harlan Robins spent years as the co-founder and chief scientific officer of Adaptive Biotechnologies, helping build
Why Some Business Leaders Are Rethinking The ROI Of Private Aviation
Here's how some executives are evaluating commercial flights, charter, and fractional ownership through a different lens.
Apple iPhone 18 Pro Release Date: Discounted Day Re-Enters The September Schedule
As a new report asserts a date for the next Apple keynote. Here’s why I think it’s wrong and what’s really going on (with dates and times down to the second).
In Gherdëina, Curating a Biennale Around the Politics of the Garden
“The garden is less a physical site than a conceptual space through which we could think about belonging, stewardship, memory and our shared responsibility toward the future,” curator S…
Hegseth travels to Iowa in his ‘personal capacity’ amid 2028 speculation
Officials familiar with the defense secretary’s thinking believe he is considering a run for president or some other office after his time in the Trump administration ends.
Talking back to school health with Trinity Health
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — As families prepare for a new school year, parents are thinking about much more than school supplies and schedules. Questions about sleep, screen time, mental health, n…
Australia needs more people who think like scientists—here's what that means
How we think and feel about science develops from an early age—and we never know where that early interest might take us.
Job With Highest Risk of Radiation Cancer Revealed Out of Over 500 Occupations
It's more dangerous than you think.
Some think Christian McCaffrey's "tightness" could be a hold in
The official word is that 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey has missed a week of practice due to "tightness."
Beyond Access: Rethinking the Digital Health Divide
A new framework highlights five drivers of meaningful digital health inclusion and equity.
What will TV look like in three years? Media insiders share their predictions
CNBC asked media insiders what they think the TV market — from pay TV subscribers to sports ratings — will look like in three years.
Whisker’s AI-powered litter robot thinks my cats swapped bodies
$900 for an AI-powered litter box and I can’t even watch my cat poop?
Indiana working to preserve local businesses across ownership changes
The "Keep IN" initiative is meant to get small business owners thinking about how to hand off their companies when they leave, instead of closing them down — and prompt potential successors to consider entrepreneurship through acquisition.
Germany rethinks law protecting politicians from insults
Criminal investigations of people who have referred to Merz as “Pinocchio” and “Lying Fritz” have prompted calls for reform across the political divide.
BUSINESS ‘Punk, intense and all-encompassing’: Chicagoan Dawn Heilung brings trans artists into focus
Gender Fucked Productions (Gender Fucked) Founder and former Executive Director and Artistic Director Dawn Heilung uses many labels to describe themselves— queer, bisexual, pansexual, polyamorous, trans, non-binary, transfeminine—because “I don’t think one can fully encompass my experience.” “I started [the trans, enby and queer arts and event production focused nonprofit] Gender Fucked Productions in 2022 because […]
I think the real choice comes down to iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone Ultra this year
High prices aren't weighing on iPhone buyers.
Australia needs more people who think like scientists. Here’s what that means
Science equips us with the tools to reason, evaluate evidence, and make informed decisions in a complex, changing world.
Annual PMR Children’s Business Fair applications open
MARION — A bracelet maker, young author or budding artist may notthink of themselves as a business owner yet — but the PMR Children’s Business Fair gives them the chance
5 Powerful Features To Enable On Your Chromebook
If you have a Chromebook, or are thinking about one but on the fence, these features may sway you.
The Scientists Who Want to Steer Hurricanes
Over the weekend, Hawaii was lashed by Hurricane Lala, which has washed away homes, left more than 125,000 people without power, shut down two of the state’s busiest airports, threatened dangerous flash flooding and, at time of writing, has killed one person. What if we could’ve steered the storm away from Hawaii, into the vast expanse of the empty Pacific Ocean that lies all around the islands—where no one could get hurt? This scenario might sound like the stuff of science fiction. But earlier this year, a peer-reviewed study published by the Public Library of Science found that it might be possible, and sooner than we think. The study was titled: “Weather Jiu-Jitsu: Prospects for atmospheric nudging to defuse the impact of catastrophic weather extremes.” According to the paper, the controversial practice of cloud seeding could enable human beings to make hurricanes change direction. The potential results could be astounding: The authors suggested that Hurricane Sandy, which in New York City alone killed 44 people and caused $19 billion of damage in 2012, could’ve been diverted by 200 miles, missing the metropolis entirely. Cloud seeding, which first succeeded in the U.S. in 1946, is a practice whereby small particles—for example, dry ice, silver iodide, or salt—are dropped into clouds, causing moisture to condense into precipitation. In the 1960s, the U.S. government launched Project Stormfury, an experiment that saw Navy pilots flying into the heart of a hurricane, dodging winds over a hundred miles per hour, to cloud-seed inside it, in the hope of reducing the storm’s power. “The seeding,” the theory went, “would stimulate the formation of a new eyewall that would surround the existing eyewall. The new eyewall would contract, strangling the old eyewall and reducing the intensity of the hurricane.”
Apple iPhone 18 Pro Release Date: Discounted Day Re-Enters The September Schedule
As a new report asserts a date for the next Apple keynote. Here’s why I think it’s wrong and what’s really going on (with dates and times down to the second).
9 simple, science-backed changes that can reverse your biological age
Science says it’s time to rethink – and take control – of ageing. Here’s how to slow, halt and potentially turn back your biological clock
Rethinking drinking: UNM professor's book examines the science of alcohol use
For nearly 10 years, UNM psychologist William R. Miller has studied how people cut down their alcohol use. Now, he and longtime collaborator Ricardo F. Muñoz are revisiting that research in their new book, Rethinking Drinking: Making the Right Choice for You, set for release Sept. 1.
I work with athletes. Here’s how I evaluate exercise gadgets and supplements.
Thinking about investing in a recovery device, new nutrition product or fitness watch? Ask yourself these questions first.
I work with athletes. Here’s how I evaluate exercise gadgets and supplements.
Thinking about investing in a recovery device, new nutrition product or fitness watch? Ask yourself these questions first.
BCG's consultants are getting more technical as AI reshapes the firm
BCG wants consultants with strong AI skills, but says critical thinking and judgment matter more than ever.
Apple iPhone 18 Pro Release Date: Discounted Day Re-Enters The September Schedule
As a new report asserts a date for the next Apple keynote. Here’s why I think it’s wrong and what’s really going on (with dates and times down to the second).
I Can't Tell if I Hate or Love-Hate the #1 Movie on Netflix
It's not often that I watch a film and think 'what the hell am I watching,' especially if it stars powerhouse actors like Greta Lee and Wagner Moura. But 'The Last House' on Netflix was bonkers and confusing, even if it is the number one movie on Netflix. Here, my review.
Reagan’s PATCO Showdown ignited Colorado labor backlash
Forty-five years ago this week: “It’s the old Nixon reaction as far as I’m concerned. He thinks he’s the Great God Almighty and can do no wrong … in the eyes of the public,” said Zelda Bransted, spokesman of the Colorado AFL-CIO. “I sincerely hope it backfires.” Bransted made the comment in response to President […]
T-Mobile is giving away the Apple iPhone 17 for free this weekend
Samsung and Google are getting all the attention right now, but won't somebody think about Apple?
Nancy Cartwright, philosopher: ‘People distrust science because they feel the system has abandoned them’
The thinker reflects on evidence-based science and advocates for combining methods to put research to good use in economics or public health
I don’t think the foldable iPhone stands a chance against the Galaxy Z Fold 8
Apple appears so mired in problems that getting ahead of Samsung feels impossible.
New Science Is Forcing Us to Rethink the Moment We Die
On the latest episode of “The Astounding Pop Mech Show,” Andrew Daniels, Shawn Gorman, and John Gilpatrick discuss what it really means to die.
Ford Ka, Turbo LS Volvo S90, Lincoln Town Car Ute: The Dopest Cars I Found For Sale Online
Amber's birthday is coming up, so you could think of this as a shopping list of potential gifts.
These terrifying (and wacky) birds ruled Earth after the dinosaurs
We tend to think that mammals took over after an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, but for millions of years, fearsome birds ruled Earth
'The consortium shared our long-term philosophy'
"Liverpool has always been built by thinking beyond one season," Fenway Sports Group (FSG) president Mike Gordon has said after agreeing to sell around a third of the club to a consortium including billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. In a statement, FSG confirmed it had "entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of a minority equity stake in Liverpool FC to 1892 Holdings".
One UI 9.5 leaks continue: Samsung eyes a glass UI with shiny edges and 'depth'
Think Liquid Glass.
Predicting which WRs make Cowboys 53-man roster
Which wide receivers do you think are going to make the 53-man roster?
Here’s what that big hospital at the old Sears site in SLC would look like
New renderings of the planned Intermountain Health hospital at the old Sears site in Salt Lake City are here. What do you think of them?
Too hot to think? You're not imagining it, heat really affects your brain
Extreme heat can make it harder to concentrate and make decisions.
A New Study Shows 4 Weeks on This Diet Can Start Turning Back Your Biological Clock
Think eating healthier just isn’t worth the effort? This study showing improving your diet slows aging in just a month may change your mind.
How do we decide what time it is? On the politics of clocks, calendars
Time is a concept that varies across cultures and history. While we often think of it as universal, timekeeping has been shaped by politics, religion, and economics.
Alzheimer’s can run but not hide from researchers, policymakers
The war on Alzheimer’s disease has been underway for so long that people can’t help but think it may be unwinnable. Now comes a fresh set of reasons to think again and hope anew.
Advancements and trends in lung transplantation
As U-M Health celebrates its 1,000 lung transplant patient, two lung experts talk about advancements and what to think about when choosing a center to partner with for a lung transplant surgery.
Cowboys players who might be losing their roster battles
Which Cowboys players do you think need to turn things around right now?
New AI technique helps robots complete tasks twice as fast by letting them 'think ahead'
A new AI system lets robots plan their next move while they're in motion — removing reaction delays and doubling task speeds without any extra computing overhead.
AI needs science’s search history
“Actually, that’s where the gold is,” said Alasdair Russell, my graduate school friend who leads a pre-clinical genome editing group at Cambridge. He was talking about the winding road of science that is omitted from published papers. “When you’re discussing how to do the experiment, and why this way is better than another way, and what does the data really mean? I know what it shows, but what does it mean?” At RAAIS 2026, he described how his group has begun logging the twisting path of discovery as it happens, recording the verbal and written exchanges that normally disappear. Ideas become nodes in a living graph: they branch when a meeting produces two plausible experiments, merge when separate lines of evidence converge, and go dark when someone quietly stops pursuing them. In his implementation, one agent scores novelty, while another tries to learn “how scientists think and how they navigate through a complex world of data,” so that high-potential nodes can trigger deeper investigation. As frontier AI labs deploy agents toward scientific discovery, giving AI authentic scientific taste remains a trillion-dollar dilemma. The bottleneck is that the record we have kept for centuries of science might be insufficient to get us there. The experiments that never make the paper Peter Medawar, 1960 Nobel laureate and “father of transplantation,” asked in 1963 whether the scientific paper was a fraud, and answered yes: the form of the paper misrepresents the thinking that produced it. Sixty years on, the diagnosis is unchanged. A paper presents a clean progression from hypothesis to result to conclusion. Lost along the way are the unconventional theories, the abandoned or unaffordable methods, and the underwhelming and inconclusive data. It reads like a browser history with every dead end deleted: the ten open tabs, the four rephrased queries, the wrong turn down a subforum. All scrubbed, leaving one clean path from question to answer as the canonical path. What has changed since then is that the discarded material is now worth something. No high-impact journal wants these artifacts, but raw trial and error is the most likely source of the training data required to develop scientific intuition, or what researchers call taste. Earlier attempts to capture the discards were motivated by scientific integrity. The Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine launched in 2002 to publish rigorous studies that disputed established models or exposed ineffective treatments. Its archive preserved negative conclusions after they had become papers, rather than the live alternatives and arguments that produced them. BioMed Central closed it in 2017, saying the mission had been served now that other journals publish null results. A less generous reading is that in fifteen years it published around 200 papers because almost nobody wants to read a negative result, let alone write one up when it will not count toward academic tenure. AI models are different. Even an uninteresting negative result can be useful, provided it is labeled. Earlier this year, Anthropic put a version of this to the test. The company pulled 129 decision points from real Claude Code sessions between January and March 2026, showed models the work up to a human detour, and asked what should happen next. Claude Mythos Preview beat the human choice 64% of the time, while Opus 4.5 managed 51%. The comparison was tilted toward the models because Anthropic deliberately chose moments where the human decision had room for improvement. On 127 further scenarios where the human action was already strong, the models improved on it only about 20% of the time. The study was possible because Anthropic’s researchers work inside a tool that logs by default. The reasoning, detours and outcome are produced in the same working environment. Biology has no equivalent. Its reasoning happens in hallways, at benches, in Slack threads and on whiteboards, while the outcome arrives weeks later somewhere else. The record has to emerge from the work itself. Ask scientists to reconstruct it afterwards and we’ll create another polished account. Subscribe A log is not a label Before any of this becomes training data, a negative result has to say what failed. The first paper published in the Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine examined 234 negative studies across five leading medical journals. Only 30% discussed statistical power, and half clearly defined a primary outcome. Tell a model an experiment failed, without telling it whether the assay was underpowered, a reagent had degraded, or the hypothesis was simply wrong, and it will learn noise with confidence. Decision histories have a second missing label too. When a lab considers five experiments and runs one, only the chosen branch returns an outcome. The other four are experimental counterfactuals. Researchers call this the selective labels problem: the data reveal results only for the actions someone chose to take. Such a record can teach a model to imitate a lab’s taste, but it cannot establish that the taste was good. It also smuggles local constraints into general lessons. A lab that never ran cryo-EM because it did not own a microscope teaches a model that cryo-EM is rarely the right call. Alasdair’s nodes preserve the candidate set, which is the necessary first step. To be useful, each decision record needs six fields: The evidence available at that moment, and nothing that arrived later. The candidates considered, including the ones dismissed in a sentence. For each candidate: the expected result, the confidence attached to it, and the cost in time and money. The route chosen, and the reason. What happened next. How the evidence changed the scientist’s view. These must be timestamped before the outcome, because hindsight turns uncertainty into inevitability. Disagreement also has to survive. Averaging three scientists into one clean rationale reproduces exactly the information loss we are trying to fix. But there is an obvious failure mode here. Once decisions are logged and scored, people log for the record post-facto. Anyone who has watched an electronic lab notebook fill up with retrospective tidying knows how quickly a research tool becomes a compliance exercise. A record that costs a scientist ten minutes of honest reflection per decision is worth far more than one that costs an hour of performance. A publication initiative called Registered Reports offers a useful starting point. Here, researchers submit their rationale, methods and analysis plan for peer review before the data exist, and the journal commits in principle to publish if they follow the approved plan. Nature has now expanded the format across every field it covers. This approach to paper writing timestamps intent before the outcome, but it freezes one plan. A useful search history must also preserve how the plan changed, which alternatives were rejected, when, and on what evidence. Subscribe Run the runner-up Autonomous labs show what happens when decisions and outcomes are connected in a loop. Liverpool’s mobile robotic chemist ran 688 experiments over eight days in a ten-variable formulation space. A batched Bayesian search used each result to choose the next experiments and found photocatalyst mixtures six times more active than the starting formulations. Every completed experiment changed what the system did next. The robot optimized within a goal and search space that humans had already chosen. It did not decide which scientific question mattered. So what this work demonstrates is narrower, but still useful: a search history pays off when the options return standardized outcomes quickly. Open-ended biology is harder because branches can take weeks and the discarded alternatives may never be run. Some exploration therefore has to be bought. Where two branches are plausible and the stakes justify the cost, a lab should sometimes run the runner-up. Otherwise the record captures what today’s scientists usually chose and stays silent on what they systematically overlooked. A funder could ring-fence a small fraction of a grant for the branch not taken, provided that the decision record and the outcome are both deposited. That costs money, but so does having every lab rediscover the same abandoned path. Test whether taste transfers When it comes time to evaluate if our new AI system exhibits taste, the comparison should run across laboratories and fields. At selected decision points in a live research campaign, we should freeze the six fields: the evidence, the candidates, expected results, confidence, costs and the choice made. Experts then rank the options before the outcomes are known, and those outcomes are checked independently later. We could give models one of two diets - papers alone, or papers plus decision histories - and ask them to rank the next experiment on unfamiliar projects. Then, we score information gained per dollar and week, calibration, and how quickly weak branches are abandoned. If histories improve choices only inside the lab that produced them, they amount to useful organizational memory. If they improve choices on unfamiliar problems elsewhere, Alasdair’s group will have captured something science has never managed to write down: a transferable record of taste. Until that happens, a scientific search history is a promising record, not yet a training set.
What Americans Want Fixed in Health Care — and Who They Think Should Do It
What Americans Want Fixed in Health Care — and Who They Think Should Do It, New Commonwealth Fund Survey conducted by SSRS
After this week's Elder Scrolls 6 tease, fans think they've figured out its full name - and it was hidden in Starfield all along
Elder Scrolls fans are putting together clues they say confirms the full name of the series' next instalment.
KCK abruptly stops key health services. Advocates say it speaks to a bigger need
Local health advocates said they think area collaboration, increased funding could make a difference to health outcomes in Wyandotte.
These swing voters in Nevada say they are not dismissing socialist candidates
In online focus groups, 10 of 12 Biden-to-Trump voters said they wouldn't automatically think negatively of a politician who identifies with socialism.
What patients actually think about ‘minimally invasive’ brain implants
A new study polled people with treatment-resistant depression about what matters to them when it comes to brain implants for mental health.
We like life science, industrials, financials and tech sectors as key AI beneficiaries: CIO
Manulife Investment Management's Nathan Thooft says that while people tend to think of AI as a cloud story, in reality it is a lot of infrastructure and goes beyond language models and semiconductors.
Think your business is too small for Louisiana’s new privacy law? Think again
Businesses have less than six months to prepare for a new law that will change how they collect and use consumers’ personal information.
‘Barbie 2’ in Crisis: Sequel Could Be Shelved Amid Pay Battle and Crumbling Deal Talks
“Do you guys ever think about dying?” Margot Robbie asks at the start of 2023’s “Barbie.” It’s one of many moments of existential dread that her character faces on the journey to becoming a real woman...
Guardian examines how families and small business owners are rethinking strategies for building generational wealth
/PRNewswire/ -- The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America® (Guardian) today released its latest publication, Next-Gen Wealth: New opportunities for...
Prepare for fall allergies now
There is still plenty of summer left, but we have a long-range warning for allergy sufferers. It’s time to start thinking about fall.