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More healthcare workers needed in Hampton Roads

HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — Claude Moore Opportunities (CMO), a Virginia healthcare workforce nonprofit, released data in Sept. about the need for more healthcare workers across Hampton Roads and E…

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Oct 4 • 12:12 PM EDT • Health • wavy.com
Seacoast Science Center experts to speak

NEWBURYPORT — Storm Surge, Newburyport’s all-volunteer climate education nonprofit, kicks off its fall 2026 Speaker Series on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. with “Climate Impacts on Marine Mammals: Stories

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Oct 4 • 12:03 PM EDT • Science • gloucestertimes.com
For Unhoused Seniors in LA, Housing Becomes a Critical Health Intervention

For older adults living on the streets, housing can mean more than shelter, it can become a critical part of medical recovery.

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Oct 4 • 12:00 PM EDT • Health • sdvoice.info
Paly students combine science, compassion in children’s book

A group of Palo Alto High School students recently published a picture book — “The Brave Fuzzy” — that is geared toward getting young children excited for science.

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Oct 4 • 11:48 AM EDT • Science • paloaltoonline.com
Gypsy Rose Blanchard Is Advocating For Stricter Online Harassment Laws After Fiancé's Death

Ken Urker was found dead on his 34th birthday at his home in Louisiana.

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Oct 4 • 11:46 AM EDT • Entertainment • huffpost.com
Mental health courts help divert people from jail. Why don’t more NY counties have them?

This story originally appeared in New York Focus, a nonprofit news publication investigating power in New York. Sign up for their newsletter here (https://nysfocus.com/newsletter).

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Oct 4 • 11:45 AM EDT • Health • thelcn.com
Mental health courts help divert people from jail. Why don’t more NY counties have them?

This story originally appeared in New York Focus, a nonprofit news publication investigating power in New York. Sign up for their newsletter here (https://nysfocus.com/newsletter).

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Oct 4 • 11:45 AM EDT • Health • thedailynewsonline.com
Editorial: Public input should come before approval

A recent Reno town hall revealed tensions between developer Jacobs Entertainment and residents regarding urban design and public engagement.

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Oct 4 • 11:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • thisisreno.com
Trump launches ‘Super Intelligence Force’ after calls for AI slowdown

Leaders from the intelligence community, the Pentagon, the Federal Trade Commission and the Office of Personnel Management will serve on the task force.

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Oct 4 • 10:26 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
Sunday Puzzle: 'In' at the Finish

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle along with Weekend Edition Puzzlemaster Will Shortz and WVIA listener Mary Ann Paulukonis of Pittston, Pennsylvania.

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Oct 4 • 9:18 AM EDT • Entertainment • kgou.org
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How Americans’ Financial Health Is Faring In The “K-Shaped” Economy

Hey all, Jason here. Money20/20 is still two weeks away, but I’ve already started packing (not procrastinating for once!). My calendar is already filling up with various sessions I want to catch, meetings, and of course happy hours, dinners, and other side events. If you’ll be in Vegas and want to catch up, let me know by replying to this email, and we can try to find a time amidst the chaos of the Venetian. A big if not totally unexpected piece of news dropped on Friday: the Independent Community Bankers of America, a trade group that represents smaller U.S. banks, filed a lawsuit against the OCC and Comptroller Jonathan Gould, arguing that the regulator’s move to grant trust bank charters to firms seeking to use them to conduct substantial non-fiduciary activities exceeds the authorities granted to the OCC by Congress. I haven’t had time to fully digest the legal filing or speak to folks in my network about it, but you can expect to see coverage and analysis on it in next week’s newsletter. Subscribe or Support by Upgrading The NerdCon agenda just dropped. It’s stacked. Partner content: Nubank built an AI-first bank. Chime built its own banking core. Figure and Valon are rebuilding the mortgage stack. At NerdCon, you’ll hear from the people behind those bets: what they chose, what they learned, and what they’re still figuring out. The agenda is live, with leaders from Nubank, Chime, OpenAI, Remitly, Mercury, Figure, Valon and more. Follow the mainstage conversations, bring the problem your team is wrestling with to a hands-on workshop, or pull up a chair at a roundtable. Pick your quests. Meet us in San Diego, November 18–20. Fintech Business Weekly readers save 20% with code FBW20. Explore the Agenda Things To Know & Other Good Reads Federal Reserve Board finalizes changes to enhance the transparency and public accountability of its stress test and reduce volatility in its stress test-related capital requirements (Federal Reserve Board of Governors) FDIC Announces Conclusion of Independent Monitorship (FDIC) Modernizing Financial Regulation: Initial Observations from eSLR (Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman) The Data Version of Godzilla versus Kong: FRED Takes on AI (Fed Governor Christopher Waller) Financing the AI buildout (Brookings) Q3’26: Rules for Banks but Not for Crypto (Fintech Takes Banking) The Inevitability of Local Stablecoins (Lombard Notes) Delusions of AI Governance: The Human-in-the-Loop Comfort Blanket (Fintech Snark Tank) Stripe agrees to acquire Parafin to expand revenue opportunities for platforms and help small businesses grow (Stripe) Listen: Fighting Fraud in the Age of AI, with SEON’s Tamas Kadar (Fintech Business Weekly) How Americans’ Financial Health Is Faring In The “K-Shaped” Economy If there is one overarching theme across the economy and politics in the U.S. at the moment, it’s “affordability.” The term is vague enough to encompass a panoply of factors shaping Americans’ day-to-day lives: rising costs for the hallmarks of being “middle class,” including healthcare, housing, childcare, and education, inflation and rising interest rates, and a job market with the specter of AI hovering over it. At the same time, policy shifts under the Trump administration have resulted in reduced subsidies to those who get health insurance under the Affordable Care Act and new restrictions on qualifying for Medicaid and SNAP, the impacts of which have yet to be fully felt. These factors are contributing to declining consumer confidence and general dissatisfaction with the economy, despite continuing GDP growth and stock market records. This divergence is encapsulated in the idea of the “K-shaped” economy, in which a small proportion of Americans have seen their wealth balloon, while the majority of American households struggle to preserve the lifestyle they have. Perhaps the greatest determinant of which branch of the “K” a household is on is whether their wealth and income are primarily derived from employment vs. from assets. Nearly two decades of low interest rates and, more recently, elevated rates of inflation have benefited asset owners, while those whose income is primarily or solely derived from labor have largely seen real purchasing power stagnate or decline. This is reflected in recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that labor share of U.S. GDP — the fraction of economic output that accrues to workers as compensation in exchange for their labor — dropped to just 52.8% in Q2 2026, the lowest since the BLS began keeping records. In 1947, approximately 2/3rds of economic output accrued to workers; even as recently as 2001, labor’s share of GDP was 64.1%. Against this backdrop, we’ve seen the rise of more credit and credit-like products: cash advance apps, “no-fee” overdraft, earned wage access, and buy now pay later, which are often used as small-dollar short-term borrowing mechanisms to meet immediate consumption needs or pay other bills (eg utilities, cell phone, other debt payments). With the markers of a middle class existence and, increasingly, basic financial stability seemingly out of reach for many, it should be no surprise there’s been an increase in “financial nihilism,” something industry peers like Alex Johnson and Frank Rotman have discussed and analyzed the roots of. The explosion of gambling and gambling-adjacent products and services — often marketed under the guise of being an “investment” — is inextricably intertwined with the rise of financial nihilism. Crypto, sports betting, and, more recently, prediction markets offer an escape or even hope of sorts, like a contemporary, digital version of a scratch-off lottery ticket, while leaving the overwhelming number of people who use such products worse off. Share of Households That Are Financially “Vulnerable” Ticks Up The Financial Health Network’s 2026 Financial Health Pulse® report adds context on how American households are faring. (I linked to this report in last week’s newsletter, but wanted to take time to further unpack the data in the report this week.) The Financial Health Network publishes the report annually, providing insight into how Americans’ financial circumstances are changing over time. The 2026 report is derived from a survey fielded in April and May 2026. The report leverages survey responses to assess indicators of financial health across spending, saving, borrowing, and planning/protecting and to determine a zero to 100 “FinHealth” score. Those with scores between 0 and 39 are considered “Financially Vulnerable,” consumers with scores ranging between 40 and 79 are defined as “Financially Coping,” and those with scores of 80 to 100 are “Financially Healthy.” The report found that moderate improvements in 2025 were reversed, with the share of respondents considered financially “vulnerable” rebounding to 17%. The longitudinal data reflect the impact of pandemic-era programs, like expanded unemployment, cash stimulus payments, and pauses of federal student loan payments. The positive impacts of those programs, as reflected in the Financial Health Pulse reports, had largely disappeared by 2023. While pandemic-era inflation — to be fair, in part caused by the various support and stimulus measures — had come down from as high as 9% in 2022, it has rebounded since the start of Trump’s second term, with tariffs and energy market disruptions owing to the war in Iran pushing prices back up. Specific indicators in the survey that deteriorated from 2025 to 2026 include the share of respondents spending less than their income over the past 12 months, the share paying all bills on time over the past 12 months, the share that have a manageable amount or no debt, the share that are “moderately” or “very” confident their insurance is adequate to cover them in an emergency, and the share that “somewhat” or “strongly” agree that their household plans ahead financially. Unsurprisingly, lower- and moderate-income households are more likely to struggle to pay their bills on time and have any funds leftover to save. The share of low-income households whose income exceeded their spending dropped from 35% in 2025 to 31% in 2026, while the share of upper-income households whose income exceeded expenses remained unchanged at 63%. Households with student loans or revolving credit card debt reported having “a bit more” or “far more” debt than was manageable at rates far higher than those not carrying these types of debts. The share of those with student loan debt indicating their debt load was too high to manage increased from 50% in 2025 to 55% in 2026, while the share of those with revolving credit card debt saying the same ticked up from 51% in 2025 to 54% in 2026. Households that had student loans were markedly more likely to be financially “coping” or “vulnerable” vs. those without student loans. In 2026, 27% of households with student loans were considered financially vulnerable, a jump of 6% points vs. 2025. Households without student loans saw just a 1% point increase (not statistically significant) in those considered financially vulnerable. Households’ perception of the affordability of categories of goods and services paints a stark picture, with less than one-fourth considering higher education affordable, about a third deeming childcare affordable, and less than half viewing healthcare as affordable. Fintech Business Weekly is made possible by the generous support of paying subscribers — bringing you independent analysis of banking, fintech, and crypto without fear or favor. You can support my work by becoming a paying subscriber if you aren’t already. Paying subscribers enjoy: access to the entire archive of nearly six years of newsletters extended versions of the weekly newsletter, with additional content and analysis and (for founding member tier) quarterly personal 1:1 fintech Q&A / strategy calls with me, tapping into my unparalleled knowledge of the intersection of banking and fintech and experience working in the sector, including helping to launch Goldman Sachs’ retail bank Marcus Support Fintech Business Weekly You can also support Fintech Business Weekly by sponsoring a newsletter or podcast, putting you in front of 93,000+ of the most influential decision makers in banking, fintech, and crypto. Learn more about sponsor opportunities or request a media kit by dropping me an email. Democratic Senate Report Highlights How Iran Uses Tether to Evade U.S. Sanctions Iran uses stablecoins, specifically Tether, to evade sanctions, fund regional proxies, and to purchase military drones, a report released last week by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations says. The report was authored by committee ranking member Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and the minority staff. Crypto and stablecoin proponents will often push back on criticism that criminals make use of these assets by arguing that, on an absolute dollar basis, far more illicit funds flow through traditional banking systems and payment rails than via crypto and stablecoins. And while that is likely true, it elides the reality presented in news story after news story: whether state actors — Russia, Iran, North Korea — or criminal groups, those looking to engage in illicit transactions increasingly favor stablecoins and, specifically, Tether (USDT). The report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released last week adds context to how Iran uses Tether has a lynchpin in its shadow banking system. The report analyzed 846 wallets that have been sanctioned or targeted for seizure, finding that 84% of them transacted exclusively or primarily in Tether. The ability to create near limitless, anonymous wallets and to move funds effectively instantaneously and irreversibly have made crypto a favored financial mechanism for bad actors. Stablecoins solved key drawbacks of bitcoin, namely, the original cryptocurrency’s highly volatile value in dollars. And while Tether (the company) has the technical ability to “freeze” or destroy funds, the company is often limited and reactive in its approach to doing so, the Senate report argues. Tether, which is nominally based in crypto-friendly El Salvador, “has stated that its compliance with OFAC sanctions is ‘voluntary’ and that it follows ‘OFAC guidelines,’” the Senate report says. Owing to these favorable attributes, Tether “became a primary cryptocurrency for Iran, Hamas, Hizballah, and the Houthis beginning in 2023 and has expanded in scale since,” according to the report. Tether’s role in Iran’s shadow banking system, the report says, is enhanced by crypto exchanges like Bybit, Kyrrex, OKX, Gate, and Binance, and through “over the counter” exchanges and hawala networks. The consequences of these financial flows aren’t hypothetical. The Senate report links Tether as a funds transfer mechanism to Iranian proxies in the region, including Hizballah, the Houthis, and Hamas. Tether has also been used to make payments to secure components necessary to manufacture drones, the report says. The report concludes by arguing that “[s]tablecoin issuers with a significant nexus to the United States, particularly those that offer dollar-denominated stablecoins, should be subject to American sanctions law rather than being allowed to hide behind foreign jurisdictions.” Stablecoin issuers like Tether must be held accountable for repeated failures to prevent illicit finance and sanctions violations by law enforcement, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and OFAC, the report argues. [Paying Subscriber Exclusive] OUSD Goes Live, Make Your Own Neobank, U.S. Sanctions Russia’s A7 Network As “Transnational Criminal Organization” OpenUSD, the stablecoin issued by the Open Standard consortium that includes Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, core providers, crypto firms, and numerous banks, went live last week. Social commerce platform Whop raised eyebrows in fintech by offering creators on its platform the ability to launch their own neobanks, which the company describes as “great businesses that are easy to run,” in just 15 minutes. And OFAC and FinCEN target Russia’s “shadow banking” A7 Network — more on these stories after the paywall.

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Oct 4 • 8:59 AM EDT • Health • fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com
Politics chat: Midterm polls, Senate races, Trump in Texas

As polls come out with increasing frequency closer to the midterm election, how much credence should voters give them? Meanwhile, President Trump continues campaigning for GOP candidates.

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Oct 4 • 8:06 AM EDT • Politics • npr.org
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Florida's dengue outbreak is now the largest in the continental US in decades

Information from state health departments and medical journals suggests the Florida outbreak marks the most cases in a calendar year for any state since at least the 1940s.

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Oct 4 • 7:51 AM EDT • Health • wusf.org
A Black community in Louisiana faces a future without a champion in Congress after redistricting

Scotlandville is a predominantly Black community in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that’s facing challenges in its political representation

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Oct 4 • 7:37 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
A familiar figure, a new voice: Meryl Streep’s Aslan stirs gender debate over Gerwig’s ‘Narnia’

Director Greta Gerwig's film adaptation from "The Chronicles of Narnia" is sparking controversy over casting of Meryl Streep to voice Aslan the divine lion in "Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew.".

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Oct 4 • 7:03 AM EDT • Entertainment • seattletimes.com
This Sneaky App Is Probably Sucking Up Your iPhone Storage. Here's How To Free Up Space.

This easy fix will give you more data on your device so you can go back to screenshotting every meme you see.

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Oct 4 • 7:00 AM EDT • Technology • huffpost.com
Local nonprofit is gifted a coffee business. They hope it will support human trafficking survivors.

Bloom for Women received Grounds for Restoration, a faith-based coffee business, as a gift to fund programs and create jobs for human trafficking survivors in the Lehigh Valley.

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Oct 4 • 7:00 AM EDT • Business • lehighvalleylive.com
How Democrats hope to reverse Trump’s changes to the presidency

As the midterms approach, some of the president’s foes are working to ensure his aggressive approach to executive power doesn’t outlast him.

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Oct 4 • 6:00 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
Election skeptics took over this county. They still don’t trust results.

In Shasta County, California, the election chief lost his job — then locked up the ballots and called the FBI.

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Oct 4 • 6:00 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
In Austin and beyond, nonprofit groups help musicians pay for health insurance

AUSTIN, Texas — Musician Zack Morgan jokes that when he lost his corporate job in 2015, it was like being pushed off a cliff. For years, he said, he’d been

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Oct 4 • 5:30 AM EDT • Health • nola.com
Latter-day Saints women turn away from scandal-plagued Republican candidate in Arizona

Arizona Republican candidate for Congress Mark Lamb has been accused of sexual misconduct while sheriff. His controversy is turning many voters away as Democrats see an opportunity in the red seat.

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Oct 4 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • kgou.org
Why you should think about getting your flu shot right now

Flu is surging unusually early in some parts of the western United States, catching doctors by surprise.

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Oct 4 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • washingtonpost.com
How a patient advocate could help you navigate your family's next health crisis

Here’s what you need to know to work with one most effectively.

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Oct 4 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • washingtonpost.com
Latter-day Saints women turn away from scandal-plagued Republican candidate in Arizona

Arizona Republican candidate for Congress Mark Lamb has been accused of sexual misconduct while sheriff. His controversy is turning many voters away as Democrats see an opportunity in the red seat.

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Oct 4 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • wvasfm.org
How Roy Cooper became Democrats’ best chance to flip a Senate seat

The former North Carolina governor is running in a state that for decades has more often preferred Republicans for federal office.

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Oct 4 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
Bosnia votes as pro-Russian politician looms large over the race and ethnic tensions simmer

Bosnia is holding a general election with citizens of all ethnicities focused on everyday problems

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Oct 4 • 12:13 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
Nonprofit transporting residents to healthcare receives pivotal partnership

Quest Inc. is a nonprofit in Central Florida that provides transportation services to people with developmental disabilities. (COURTESY OF QUEST INC.) A Central Florida nonprofit assisting residents with development disabilities to access healthcare appointments was selected for a pivotal partnership with a local hospital that will help expand services. Quest Inc. is a nonprofit that provides

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Oct 3 • 10:48 PM EDT • Health • yourcommunitypaper.com
WQAD News 8

WQAD (Quad Cities) is your source for breaking news, weather, traffic, and live coverage in the Quad Cities and surrounding communities. Get the latest updates from the WQAD team — from major local headlines and investigations to severe weather, community stories, and the moments everyone’s talking about. Watch live newscasts, stream breaking coverage, and catch up on the top stories shaping Davenport, Rock Island, Moline, Bettendorf, and nearby areas. Subscribe for: • Quad Cities breaking news + live updates • Weather forecasts and severe weather alerts • Investigations and accountability reporting • Community stories across the region • Major events, sports, and local explainers WQAD — Quad Cities news and weather, live and on demand. 🔗 More: https://www.wqad.com

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Oct 3 • 9:37 PM EDT • Health • youtube.com
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As midterms near, Justice Alito shares his feelings about retirement

Speaking to CBS News, Alito described the calculation as a natural one that comes with age. At 76, Alito is the second-oldest justice on the court.

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Oct 3 • 8:41 PM EDT • Politics • seattletimes.com
I changed these hidden Google Maps settings; now my Android Auto navigation is miles better

Small tweaks made every drive smoother

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Oct 3 • 7:00 PM EDT • Technology • androidpolice.com
Sadie Strong hosts annual health and wellness expo

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Buffalo-based nonprofit breast cancer support organization Sadie Strong hosted its eighth annual Community Health and Wellness Expo on Saturday at the Northland Workfor…

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Oct 3 • 6:51 PM EDT • Health • wivb.com
Reporting on the science of saunas

For centuries people have sought out saunas and hot springs for their supposed healing properties. But the science behind those claims can be quite vague. So NPR science correspondent Will Stone headed to the International Sauna Congress in Norway to find out just what we know about the health benefits of saunas. This episode was produced by Gabriel Sanchez, with engineering by Eowyn Fain. Our director is Elena Burnett.It was edited by Adam Raney.Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorning.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.

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Oct 3 • 6:35 PM EDT • Science • npr.org
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Motorola's wide foldable could be my next phone if the price is right

A wide screen I can pocket matters more than a bigger one

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Oct 3 • 6:00 PM EDT • Technology • androidpolice.com
From saunas to psychedelics, how a health reporter sorts science from hype

A reporting trip to a sauna conference in Oslo found NPR's Will Stone in a sauna with his clothes and recording gear. In this reporter's notebook, he explains how he investigates the science behind wellness claims.

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Oct 3 • 5:57 PM EDT • Science • npr.org
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From saunas to psychedelics, how a health reporter sorts science from hype

A reporting trip to a sauna conference in Oslo found NPR's Will Stone in a sauna with his clothes and recording gear. In this reporter's notebook, he explains how he investigates the science behind wellness claims.

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Oct 3 • 5:57 PM EDT • Health • npr.org
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Maryland businesses can apply for SBA disaster loans after E...

Maryland businesses and private nonprofits affected by the Empire Towers incident can now apply for low-interest disaster loans through the U.S. Small Business ...

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Oct 3 • 5:30 PM EDT • Business • afro.com
Bills elevate two defensive backs for Week 4 vs. Patriots

DB Te'Cory Couch and CB Kani Walker elevated from practice squad for Week 4

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Oct 3 • 3:59 PM EDT • Health • buffalobills.com
Trump reveals GOP senator’s phone number in battle over daylight saving time

Sen. Tom Cotton, usually a staunch Trump ally, has vowed to oppose efforts for year-round daylight saving time. He reiterated his opposition Saturday.

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Oct 3 • 3:36 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
6 One UI 9 features you should immediately try out

The One UI 9 features worth trying first

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Oct 3 • 3:00 PM EDT • Technology • androidpolice.com
Women's Fund to honor four with Dream, Achieve, Inspire awards

NEW HARTFORD — The Women’s Fund of Herkimer and Oneida Counties is celebrating its work supporting women and girls with a dinner at the Yahnundasis Golf Club, 8639 Seneca Turnpike,

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Oct 3 • 2:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • romesentinel.com
Mt. Joy plays Madison for student mental health awareness

Mt. Joy performed for UW-Madison students on Thursday as a part of Future Friends, a campus-centric mental health nonprofit.

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Oct 3 • 12:30 PM EDT • Health • captimes.com
Doctors, insurers sue Newsom over health insurance premium increases

In June, lawmakers passed a healthcare tax that could increase premiums in order to combat federal Medicaid cuts. A new lawsuit says that tax violates Proposition 35, passed by voters in 2024.

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Oct 3 • 10:31 AM EDT • Health • ijpr.org
Governor candidate Bernadette Wilson has been sued repeatedly over unpaid bills, records show

Alaska judges have ordered the Republican candidate to pay thousands of dollars for overdue business and personal debts.

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Oct 3 • 10:06 AM EDT • Politics • adn.com
A $28B hemp THC industry is fighting to save itself from a looming federal ban

America’s multibillion-dollar market for impairing hemp products faces potential elimination before the end of the year.

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Oct 3 • 10:01 AM EDT • Business • seattletimes.com
U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon presses Florida's two senators to protect Haitian TPS holders

Senate Bill 4814, if passed, would extend protections for Haitian nationals who face a forced return amid worsening gang violence, political turbulence, and economic destruction in Haiti. The legislation is stalled in the U.S. Senate.

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Oct 3 • 9:36 AM EDT • Politics • wusf.org
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Trinity Health Ann Arbor paves the way with new aortic valve procedure

Cardiac surgeons at Trinity Health Hospital in Ann Arbor are using robotic assistance to pave the way for a new aortic valve surgery procedure. WEMU’s Ana Longoria has the details.

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Oct 3 • 8:33 AM EDT • Health • wemu.org
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Gophers men's hockey opener postponed due to unplayable ice

The Gophers were due to play Michigan Tech in Houghton, MI.

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Oct 3 • 8:28 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
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What’s coming to southern Utah: New businesses and construction projects happening now

A lot of projects are under construction or opening in southern Utah. Check out the list of new restaurants, hotels, grocery stores and more. (SLT)

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Oct 3 • 8:00 AM EDT • Business • sltrib.com
Purplish: ‘The Great Colorado Ballot-O-Rama’ Part II

In the second half of the Purplish live event, the temperature rises on reporters in the host seat as they try to make the many ballot questions more digestible.

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Oct 3 • 8:00 AM EDT • Politics • kunc.org
Week in Politics: Inflation pressure; war in Iran and effect on midterm elections

We look at how some concerning economic indicators as well as the ongoing war in Iran might affect the midterm elections.

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Oct 3 • 7:47 AM EDT • Politics • npr.org
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Saturday Sports: Major League Baseball playoff time; WNBA

NPR's Scott Simon and sportswriter Howard Bryant discuss the WNBA and MLB playoffs.

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Oct 3 • 7:47 AM EDT • Sports • npr.org
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Florida Blue Foundation now accepting grant applications for maternal health initiatives

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The Florida Blue Foundation, the philanthropic affiliate of Florida Blue and part of the GuideWell portfolio of companies, now is accepting grant applications from nonprofits focused on improving maternal health outcomes in Florida. The foundation seeks to fund Florida-based nonprofits with innovative and actionable solutions designed to improve maternal […]

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Oct 3 • 7:03 AM EDT • Health • communitynewspapers.com
Theaster Gates bets on fine china

The famed, Chicago-based artist's career is taking a new direction with the purchase of Pickard China, the sole remaining maker of fine china in the United States.

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Oct 3 • 7:00 AM EDT • Business • npr.org
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Just short of its 200th birthday, a landmark natural history museum shuts down

Beloved for its dinosaurs, Philadelphia's storied Academy of Natural Sciences closed down this week, amid an intense fight by local residents, politicians and scientists to save it.

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Oct 3 • 7:00 AM EDT • Science • npr.org
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Ranchester artist’s work now in all 50 states

Two weeks ago, Katie Coyne realized her online store hit a milestone — she had shipped orders to customers in 48 states. The only two remaining states were New Jersey and Rhode Island. Suddenly, she had a mission.

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Oct 3 • 6:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • thesheridanpress.com
A toddler’s wobbly walk, hand tremors send parents on a medical journey

Doctors initially told the boy's parents not to worry. But they pressed for years until a rare diagnosis became clear.

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Oct 3 • 5:00 AM EDT • Technology • washingtonpost.com
A record number of Native Americans are running in the 2026 midterms

At least 355 Native American and Indigenous candidates ran or are running in local, state and federal primary and general elections this year — a record number.

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Oct 3 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
In New Hampshire Senate race, the Democrat faces an unusually tough time

The race’s competitiveness is somewhat surprising in a state that former Vice President Kamala Harris carried by 2.8 percentage points in 2024.

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Oct 3 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
The political walking dead: Germany’s zombie chancellor

A string of poor election results has left Friedrich Merz with unprecedentedly low approval ratings

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Oct 3 • 1:45 AM EDT • Politics • theweek.com
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Inside the study for a remedy to fight Congo’s deadliest Ebola outbreak

More than 250 participants have been enrolled in a trial for a drug that could stop them from contracting Ebola in Congo.

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Oct 3 • 1:14 AM EDT • Health • seattletimes.com
Play of the Night from PV
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Oct 3 • 12:16 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Pleasant Valley wins big at home 42-14
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Oct 3 • 12:01 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Brazil's big political rematch: What to know

Four years after President Lula narrowly defeated Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil is back at the ballot box. This time, Lula faces Bolsonaro's son, Flávio, in a high-stakes rematch.

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Oct 2 • 10:57 PM EDT • Politics • npr.org
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Politics Unplugged Podcast: Breaking down the Arizona Governor’s race with Howie Fischer

The dean of the Arizona capitol press corps, Howie Fischer, comes in to break down the Governor’s race. Then Dennis and Colin talk about the “redemption” of Deshaun Watson.

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Oct 2 • 10:55 PM EDT • Politics • azfamily.com
NH families sue Trump administration over Medicaid ban on transgender health care

Four families say their minor children could lose access to gender-affirming treatment under a pending change in Medicaid rules.

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Oct 2 • 9:03 PM EDT • Health • nhpr.org
$10 million political check is not aimed at any particular Oregon race this year, union says

The largest single political donation on record in Oregon arrived mid-September in the account of Building a Stronger Oregon, a political action committee controlled by carpenter unions.

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Oct 2 • 8:38 PM EDT • Politics • klcc.org
Deep dive
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Nonprofit launches crisis line for those struggling with mental health, substance abuse
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Oct 2 • 8:17 PM EDT • Health • local12.com
Secretary of state candidates boast business experience but differ on election oversight

All three said they want to ensure no fraud is happening amid Wyoming’s booming rate of new business filings. When it came to voting, they shared different visions for what constitutes fair access and ballot security.

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Oct 2 • 7:25 PM EDT • Business • wyomingpublicmedia.org
Healthcare Has Normalized The Abnormal. Raj Panjabi’s New Book Explains Why.

A new book from former Biden official Raj Panjabi unpacks the notion of “normalcy bias.” It may help explain how we have come to accept our country’s underperforming healthcare system.

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Oct 2 • 7:19 PM EDT • Health • forbes.com
Milwaukee brothers use youth sports to support local church

Three Milwaukee brothers use youth sports to raise money, collect food and recruit volunteers for nonprofits.

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Oct 2 • 6:16 PM EDT • Sports • spectrumnews1.com
Miami Heat tease release of new 'Vice City' jerseys on the night before 'Grand Theft Auto VI' release

"Grand Theft Auto VI" gets an unprecedented sports tie-in as the Miami Heat debut reimagined "Vice City" jerseys against the Milwaukee Bucks.

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Oct 2 • 6:10 PM EDT • Technology • foxnews.com
As Trump's proposed arch looms over D.C., protesters pin their hopes on the midterms

Democratic lawmakers, veterans and concerned citizens gathered in Memorial Circle to protest the arch Trump wants to build there. Their hopes lie primarily in a lawsuit and next month's midterms.

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Oct 2 • 5:44 PM EDT • Politics • npr.org
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Hispanic Voters, Souring on Republicans, Could Decide the Midterms

Hispanic voters are souring on Republicans. Here’s why.

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Oct 2 • 5:38 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com
IRS takes up whistleblower claim of Hope Florida money that flowed to Uthmeier’s political committee

The Internal Revenue Service is reviewing a whistleblower claim about $10 million in Medicaid settlement money that moved through the Hope Florida Foundation and, within weeks, into a political committee chaired by James Uthmeier, now Florida’s attorney general, according to new records obtained by the Florida Trident.

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Oct 2 • 5:12 PM EDT • Politics • wlrn.org
Oklahoma drunk driver at center of 'political favoritism' scandal back in prison

Admitted drunk driver Sara Polston, whose case has spurred protest and policy changes around Oklahoma’s GPS ankle monitoring program, is back in prison and facing charges of illegal voting.

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Oct 2 • 5:08 PM EDT • Politics • kosu.org
Our Unpopular President Leads an Unpopular War. Remember What Dems Got the Last Time That Happened?

It's beginning to look a lot like 2006.

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Oct 2 • 5:07 PM EDT • Politics • slate.com
Trump heads back to Texas on Wednesday as GOP fights to keep state red

Texas, long a safe Republican state, has emerged as a top battleground in midterm races up and down the ballot — but especially in the U.S. Senate race.

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Oct 2 • 4:59 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
Trump revisits the scene of his political ascent as Republicans struggle

A month before the midterms, the president is returning to Alabama and other places where his movement remains strongest.

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Oct 2 • 4:48 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
Elon Musk splits with longtime business confidante, co-parent ‘with no warning’

Shivon Zilis, the mother of four children with Musk, said their breakup was sudden but wished him the best.

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Oct 2 • 4:45 PM EDT • Business • washingtonpost.com
Modern Science: An Ohio University professor studies the mechanisms behind bats using echolocation

ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) —There's a lot we know about how animals navigate their world, but there's even more we don't. This included how bats use echolocation until recently.Peishu Li is an assistan

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Oct 2 • 4:03 PM EDT • Science • woub.org
Germany's political center fights for relevance after far-right and far-left gains

Centrist politicians are soul-searching after electoral gains by the far right and the far left. Today's weak coalitions, political fragmentation and dire economy echo a past that led to the rise of fascism.

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Oct 2 • 3:22 PM EDT • Politics • npr.org
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Midterms monitor: NH and Maine could decide control of the U.S. Senate

As national headlines reverberate at the local level, voters have no shortage of concerns. Journalists from New Hampshire and Maine joined 1A’s weekly news roundup Friday to help take the pulse of the 2026 midterm elections.

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Oct 2 • 3:19 PM EDT • Politics • nhpr.org
Studying Science in an Anti-Scientific Time

This Chronicle Review Deep Cut was first published in 2025. By Julianne Werlin Thanks for reading The Chronicle Review! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe The last two decades have not been kind to science studies. Already bruised and battered by the “science wars” of the 1990s, by the 2000s sociologists of science — who had long argued that science had to be understood in its human context — were encountering the funhouse-mirror version of their own views in right-wing critiques of climate scientists. It was enough to give some prominent scholars pause. “Was I wrong to participate in the invention of this field known as science studies?” asked Bruno Latour, the most famous sociologist of science in the world, in 2003. “Should we apologize for having been wrong all along? Or should we rather bring the sword of criticism to criticism itself and do a bit of soul-searching here: What were we really after when we were so intent on showing the social construction of scientific facts?” In response, Latour proposed a change of method and attitude. Science studies, now chastened and contrite, would no longer seek to strip facts of their authority, but to enrich and enhance them. What this meant in practice was never fully clear. But his diagnosis of problems resonated, even if his solutions did not. Latour’s exercise in public hand-wringing signaled a shift in mood. By 2016, with the first election of Donald Trump, the idea that skepticism of science was a right-wing position, not a left-wing one, had become a commonplace, discussed eagerly in The New York Times. For liberals, vaccine denial during the Covid era and Trump’s second-term attacks on the funding of scientific research, covered extensively in these pages, added a new urgency to the defense of science on both practical and principled grounds. There was little appetite for a sociology or philosophy of science that emphasized the messiness and missteps of the scientific process rather than its integrity and triumphs. The distinguished historian of science Peter Dear’s new book, The World as We Know It: From Natural Philosophy to Modern Science (Princeton University Press, 2025), which seeks to tell the story of 18th- and 19th-century science for a general public, may seem comfortably remote from these bitter contests. In its 16 short chapters, Dear draws swift, sure sketches of major discoveries from Newton to Einstein, ably guiding the reader through debates on stellar nebulae, animal taxonomy, atomic chemistry, evolution, and other flashpoints in the history of science. But though a work of history, Dear’s book must still negotiate our polarized present. In a blurb on its back cover, the historian of biology Lynn K. Nyhart alludes to the “present moment, when scientific knowledge is being swamped by misinformation and its institutions are under siege.” Dear himself, in his conclusion, refers to the “yard signs” and “bumper stickers” that proclaim “Science Is Real.” One antidote to both anti-science propaganda and to reductive slogans in science’s defense is a robust history and philosophy of science: exactly what Dear’s scholarship has long offered. But his new book illustrates how difficult such work has become. Dear, an emeritus professor of history at Cornell University, is best known as a creative and philosophically minded historian of the Scientific Revolution. His edited volume The Literary Structure of Scientific Argument (1991) analyzed the rhetoric of Galileo’s thought experiments to brilliant effect. Discipline and Experience: The Mathematical Way in the Scientific Revolution (1995) was a major contribution to the analysis of scientific experiments in early modern Europe and beyond, while Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge in Transition, 1500-1700 (2001), now in its third edition, remains one of the best overviews of the profound epistemological upheavals of 16th- and 17th-century science. But Dear has also ventured into later periods. Nearly two decades ago, in The Intelligibility of Nature: How Science Makes Sense of the World (2006), he turned to the 18th and 19th centuries to sketch a history and theory of scientific knowledge. Aimed at a generalist audience, Dear’s simple prose belied serious philosophical ambitions. Science, Dear argued, has two aspects: “natural philosophy,” the quest to understand the true nature of the universe, and “instrumentality,” the applied skills and technologies that allow us to manipulate the world for human advantage. Both strands are ancient, but the innovation of the phenomenon we call “science” was to yoke them together. As Francis Bacon wrote, “Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known, the effect cannot be produced,” an insight typically abridged to “knowledge is power.” Or, in Bertrand Russell’s characteristically blunt phrase, science has two functions, “1. to enable us to know things, and 2., to enable us to do things.” So far, so conventional. But Dear took issue with this familiar story in one respect. Bacon’s formula implied that theory and practice could be fused in a single method. In fact, Dear argued, the quest to understand nature and the desire to manipulate it were coupled only loosely. They could come together, but they could also pull apart. Focusing on natural philosophy, the “knowing” half of the scientific circle, he used a series of case studies from cosmology, taxonomy, chemistry, electromagnetism, and quantum theory to show how theories changed over time, in dialogue with practice, but never reducible to it. Take the case of matter, the basic substrate of the physical world. In the 18th and 19th centuries, scientists not only disagreed about what it was, but also about how well it could be known. In 1789, the chemist Antoine Lavoisier dismissed speculation about the atomic composition of chemicals as “discussions entirely of a metaphysical nature,” as he sought to orient chemistry away from philosophical abstraction and toward laboratory results. But in the 19th century, atoms returned with a vengeance in the atomic chemistry of John Dalton, who wanted to explain the underlying structure of nature. It was not just that Dalton and Lavoisier had a different set of experimental results, or even a different theory, Dear showed. What counted as an explanation had changed. In arguing that scientific theories depended on their intelligibility to human beings with complex arrays of beliefs and commitments, Dear was in sympathy with science studies. Key figures such as the sociologist Steven Shapin emphasized the importance of psychological mechanisms like trust in the formation and acceptance of scientific ideas. But in focusing on the scientific pursuit of knowledge, not its politics or economics, Dear resisted the more cynical perspective of some of his colleagues. The Intelligibility of Nature strikes a very different note than Shapin’s collection of a few years later, Never Pure: Historical Studies of Science as If It Was Produced by People With Bodies, Situated in Time, Space, Culture, and Society, and Struggling for Credibility and Authority (2010), to name just one example. Walking a very fine line, Dear depicted science as driven at once by complex social dynamics and by the intellectual power of real discoveries. It was a testament not only to his own acumen but also to the vitality of the field that he was able to do so. Nearly two decades later, The World as We Know It returns to the questions broached in The Intelligibility of Nature. Like Dear’s earlier study, it begins with the Newtonian cosmos and ends with debates between Einstein and Bohr on quantum physics. Beyond its terminal figures, many of the same characters appear in both studies, including the naturalists John Ray and the Comte de Buffon; the chemists Étienne François Geoffroy, Antoine Lavoisier, and John Dalton; as well as Charles Darwin and Michael Faraday, among others. Its subject is nearly identical: As in The Intelligibility of Nature, The World as We Know It considers natural philosophy as opposed to instrumentality, here defined as the “desire to create a picture of what the world is really like — the world as God knows it — rather than simply having instrumental or operational control over it.” The two books also overlap in insights — and sometimes even in language. The reader who has learned in The Intelligibility of Nature that Buffon’s method of classifying animals “reflected his belief in the importance of the senses and empiricism in learning about nature (a doctrine associated with Newton and the philosopher John Locke)” will experience a sense of déjà vu on reading, in The World as We Know It, that the classification “reflects Buffon’s commitment to the epistemological stance of Newton and his philosophical underlaborer John Locke, who stressed the role of the senses in creating natural knowledge.” Later in the passage, we read that, “because of its stress on understanding the ways of life of animals in their environments, Buffon’s approach could almost be labeled (anachronistically) as ‘ecological.’” And again, “an anachronistic way of putting it would be to say that Buffon recommends an ecological mode of understanding.” Likewise, in The Intelligibility of Nature we read of Dalton that he was initially drawn to meteorology, and that: He did a bit of experimental work on these things, especially having to do with the water-holding capacity of gases, but his real interest lay in understanding what, at an underlying natural-philosophical level, was really going on physically.” Whereas, in The World as We Know It: He did experimental work on these things, especially concerning the water-holding capacity of gases — although not at a very refined level quantitatively — but he was continually trying to develop a theoretical conception of what was happening physically. The final full chapter of each book closes on the same resigned note. Intelligibility: These days, most serious work on the natural philosophical underpinnings and implications of quantum mechanics is performed not by physicists but by philosophers of science. Among scientific practitioners themselves, Bohr’s attempt to use instrumentality as sufficient grounds for a respectable science has met with a high degree of success. And again, in The World as We Know It: Bohr’s and Einstein’s concerns are now questions that are mostly discussed by philosophers of science rather than by physicists themselves. The marginalization of these sorts of questions amounts to the demise of natural philosophy, at least in physics, in the 20th century. Quantum mechanics “works,” and that’s good enough for most scientists who encounter it. Examples could be multiplied. When handling the same subject matter, some echoes are inevitable. Scholars should not feel that because they have written “Isaac Newton died in 1727” in one book, in the next they must describe him as perishing, expiring, or meeting his maker. But the repetitions of language and arguments (not to mention six reproduced images) threaded throughout The World as We Know It are more extensive than that. They should have been caught by Princeton University Press or its reviewers, and revised. Because the two books have so much in common, it is easy to see where they diverge. The World as We Know It is a less theoretical work than its predecessor. The sociology of knowledge that organized The Intelligibility of Nature has been reduced in scale and folded into readings and examples. The taut interplay between history and theory, which gave the earlier study so much interest, is there, but it is subtle. In the earlier book, the case studies demonstrated theoretical claims about the character and development of science. In the later work, each narrative of discovery is an end in itself. Insights emerge from the history, but they do not control the organization of the study. With the theory muted, it can be hard to understand the logic uniting Dear’s sprawling history of more than two centuries of scientific knowledge. The 16 brisk chapters cover an enormous amount of material. But the closer the volume edges to comprehensiveness, the more obvious the missing elements become. A chapter on “Institutions and Pedagogy,” describing the birth of the research university, illustrates the problem. Inserted roughly halfway through the book, the unnumbered chapter is designed as an “entr’acte,” in acknowledgement that it does not fit the study’s organization around scientific discoveries. Yet as Dear is well aware, no general history of the development of modern science can bracket its 19th-century institutionalization and professionalization. It was the 19th-century university, after all, that gave us the “scientist,” a term coined by the Cambridge philosopher William Whewell. Dear’s history of scientific discoveries implies a wider social and institutional history, but it remains largely subterranean, only occasionally extruded under the pressure of the narrative. It must be said that the balance is not all on the side of the earlier study. There are some advantages to the more historical, less theoretical organization of The World as We Know It. Dear’s accounts of paradigm shifts are remarkably lucid, no small accomplishment given that they span fields and centuries. He makes excellent use of the wealth of new scholarship on Darwin and his influences, to which he has himself contributed. It is satisfying to see puzzle pieces from Buffon’s natural history, Georges Cuvier’s animal taxonomy, Thomas Robert Malthus’s demography, and Charles Lyell’s geology recombined seamlessly in the Darwinian jigsaw. Likewise, Dear’s discussion of stellar nebulae, divided between chapters two and 15, shows vividly how Newton, Kant, Herschel, and Hubble reimagined insights and observations as they sought to discover whether the diffuse light that filtered through early telescopes was a glowing, gaseous substance or discrete but distant stars. Yet despite such pleasures, the book remains a more modest work than The Intelligibility of Nature. Dear has clearly not changed his views about the history of science. But in the two decades that have elapsed, the discipline and the world around it have changed, making it harder to write a sociologically and philosophically ambitious history of science for the general reader. That is a shame, because in the age of Silicon Valley and biotechnology, both the reciprocity and the tensions Dear identified between the epistemological and instrumental ambitions of science are more evident than ever. In recent years, some of the most exciting new books on the history of science in early modernity have focused precisely on this pressure point. Important studies such as Pamela H. Smith’s From Lived Experience to the Written Word (2022), James Poskett’s Horizons: The Global Origins of Modern Science (2022), and Vera Keller’s The Interlopers: Early Stuart Projects and the Undisciplining of Knowledge (2023) all shed new light on how early modern science negotiated the relationship between its instrumental and epistemological ambitions, or in Russell’s phrase, knowing and doing. There is every opportunity for a philosophically informed approach to draw new insights from this wealth of material. Dear, unfortunately, has not done so in The World as We Know It. But for future scholars of the history of science, his body of work over nearly four decades may provide just the model. Julianne Werlin is an associate professor of English at Duke University. Thanks for reading The Chronicle Review! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe

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Oct 2 • 2:52 PM EDT • Science • chronicleofhighereducation.substack.com
Scientists seek new ways to protect Sierra Nevada meadows

Sierra Nevada meadows may cover a relatively small portion of the landscape, but scientists say they play an important role in supporting wildlife, storing water and maintaining biodiversity.

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Oct 2 • 2:44 PM EDT • Science • kunr.org
October 1 ushered in a new era in U.S. foreign aid. What's the plan? Will it work?

The America First strategy asks for a Memorandum of Understanding as a condition for healthcare and development aid. It's been praised for promoting self-reliance but criticized for its conditions.

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Oct 2 • 2:16 PM EDT • Health • npr.org
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What's at stake in Michigan's 10th Congressional District

Michigan's 10th Congressional District went from leans Republican to a toss-up. What does that mean for the this year's midterm?

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Oct 2 • 2:03 PM EDT • Politics • michiganpublic.org
Bishop’s computer science chair says AI is eliminating ‘grunt work’ and reshaping digital jobs

Dr. Russell Butler, chair of Bishop’s University’s Department of Computer Science, says artificial intelligence is increasingly taking over routine digital “grunt work,” changing the skills students and workers may need in the years ahead. Photo courtesy of Bishop’s University. Click here to read our platform! Get local news like this every morning. Subscribe free below. Subscribe Pulse Newsroom Artificial intelligence is already taking over some of the routine digital work once performed by entry-level employees, according to Bishop’s University Computer Science chair Dr. Russell Butler — a shift he believes will make expertise, judgement and the ability to evaluate AI-generated work increasingly important. Butler described the change as automation reaching what he calls the “bottom of the cognitive pyramid” during an interview with The Pulse about AI, university education and the future of digital work. His argument is not that humans are disappearing from the workplace. Instead, he sees their role changing as AI becomes capable of handling more of the repetitive tasks involved in computer-based work. “Everything’s converging on just AI basically doing all the grunt work,” Butler said. The bottom of the cognitive pyramid Butler is from Lennoxville, completed his undergraduate studies at Bishop’s and later earned his PhD at the Université de Sherbrooke. He joined Bishop’s in 2019 and now chairs its Department of Computer Science. He uses AI in research, teaching and other creative work, and said the technology is increasingly capable of handling routine digital tasks that once required substantial human time. “You’ve got the grunt work, like moving things around in Excel, doing basic programming tasks,” Butler said. “That’s like the bottom grunt work that the entry-level worker would have done two or three years ago.” Butler went further, saying in his view that much of this type of work has already been absorbed by AI tools. He connected that change to a shift he sees taking place in computer science, where entry-level roles have declined while experienced workers can use AI to increase what they can produce. “A senior developer now has access to essentially an unlimited amount of junior developers on demand,” Butler said. He was describing AI systems metaphorically, not literal employees. His point was that one experienced developer can now ask AI tools to produce code or other technical work that might previously have been assigned to more junior workers. That raises a broader question for universities and employers. If some of the simpler work traditionally given to newcomers can now be done by machines, how do people gain the experience needed to become senior workers themselves? Students doing work that once required years of programming Butler said he is already seeing the change inside his classroom. He created a Bishop’s course called CS208, Coding in Plain English, to show students — including those without traditional programming backgrounds — what they can accomplish using AI. Some come from disciplines such as psychology or neuroscience with no previous programming experience. “What I’m finding is that students who have zero programming experience, they come in from another discipline like psychology or neuroscience or something, they are now able to get up and running with real data sets,” Butler said. Butler’s own doctoral work involved neuroimaging, and he said he has assigned students work he considers comparable to the kinds of analysis he performed during his PhD. He described giving students a real dataset, an expected result and instructions to use AI to complete the analysis. Butler said those students have been able to carry out work at a level he associates with tasks he once performed after years of programming experience. That does not mean a student using AI instantly acquires the same knowledge as an experienced computer scientist. But Butler sees it as evidence that AI can dramatically lower the technical barrier between having a problem to solve and producing a working result. The role of the person using the system then changes. They need to know what to ask for, understand enough about the subject to judge the answer and take responsibility for what is ultimately produced. What about AI hallucinations? One persistent concern surrounding generative AI is hallucination — when a system produces information that sounds convincing but is false or unsupported. Butler said that problem has improved substantially in newer systems and is not as severe as it was with earlier models. He pointed in particular to newer AI systems’ ability to search the web, consult scientific databases and return source links rather than simply generating a citation from their internal model. Butler nevertheless said users should verify what AI produces. “You should verify,” he said while discussing citations generated with AI. His position is that hallucinations have become less common in the systems he uses, not that incorrect AI output is impossible. Human checking remains part of the process. Hours of work compressed Butler offered another example from his administrative work at Bishop’s. The university has been comparing CEGEP courses with first-year Bishop’s courses to determine where students may qualify for advanced standing. Traditionally, Butler said, that means reviewing two sets of course descriptions and manually matching one institution’s courses with another’s. As department chair, that could require hours of reading and comparison. He said AI can now be given both sets of material and asked to generate an initial mapping automatically. “It saves me hours and hours of work,” Butler said. Butler said the AI-generated mapping can also produce a better result than he would produce himself. He sees similar opportunities in businesses. A company may receive specifications, drawings, emails or other digital material from customers and then have employees convert that information into an internal format before anything can be manufactured or delivered. AI can increasingly perform parts of that intermediate processing. In Butler’s view, the employee does not necessarily disappear. Instead, the job becomes more about checking the result. “The human is still there,” he said. Judgement could become more valuable That change is central to Butler’s view of where digital work may be headed. If AI can produce a first draft, write basic code, compare documents or process large amounts of information, he argues that knowledge and judgement become increasingly important. “The real scarce resource going forward is going to be domain knowledge, expertise, and… credentials, authority, the ability to work with other people,” Butler said. He is therefore encouraging students not only to learn AI tools but also to broaden their education. He mentioned acting, fine art and photography as examples of courses that can help develop what he described as taste and intuition — the ability to recognize what is good, what is not and what should be changed. “And that’s the skill that they need now because the grunt work has been automated and now it’s about evaluating what the AI produces and telling it how to improve or expand the output,” Butler said. That does not remove the need for technical knowledge. Butler’s argument is that the emphasis may shift away from manually completing every step of a task and toward directing, checking and improving work produced with AI assistance. He also stressed that humans remain responsible for final decisions. “At the end of the day, the human has to make the final call,” Butler said, pointing to the question of accountability. Physical work may be different Butler draws a distinction between digital work and jobs requiring people to manipulate the physical world. He expects AI to continue advancing quickly in tasks performed almost entirely on computers. He is more cautious about claims that humanoid robots will soon be able to replace workers such as plumbers or electricians. Butler said those trades would not be replaced “anytime soon” in his view and described some current robotics demonstrations as overhyped. He described the situation as counterintuitive. “It’s almost like we solved the highest level first,” he said, contrasting advances in digital AI with the harder problem of building robots capable of operating reliably in the physical world. Butler’s argument is that some digital occupations could face automation sooner than trades requiring complex physical work. The wider AI shift in the Townships Butler’s comments come as local institutions are increasingly grappling with how AI should be used. The federal government recently announced up to $162 million over five years for 10,000 AI-related placements through Mitacs. The Université de Sherbrooke told The Pulse that the number of its collaborative research and innovation projects supported through Mitacs has approximately doubled since 2018-19, while the number of placements has approximately tripled. UdeS also said it already has projects involving both AI adoption and the application of AI to other fields. At Bishop’s, Butler said part of his role involves building the Computer Science department’s local presence, connecting students with regional partners and strengthening relationships with the Sherbrooke technology ecosystem. Those developments put universities in a difficult position. They have to prepare students to use the tools employers increasingly have available while also making sure graduates understand enough to recognize when those tools are wrong, incomplete or being applied to the wrong problem. The risk of losing human skills Butler does not see AI as risk-free. Later in the interview, he raised a separate concern: as AI becomes better at reading, writing, programming and other cognitive tasks, people could lose some of the underlying skills that historically helped produce new ideas. “The other danger is that we’re going to lose the human skills,” Butler said. He specifically mentioned reading and writing and argued that people could lose some of the lower-level understanding that contributes to breakthroughs. Butler said AI systems are based on existing human knowledge and argued that they become much more powerful when paired with a capable person. That tension runs through his view of the technology. AI can remove hours of routine work. It can allow beginners to perform tasks that once required substantial technical training. It can give experienced workers significant leverage. But the more capable the technology becomes, the more important it may be for people to develop the judgement needed to decide what should be done in the first place. For Butler, that is where education may have to change. Students still need to understand their field. They still need to know when something is wrong. And they still need to be able to make the final decision. But if AI increasingly handles the bottom of the cognitive pyramid, the value of a worker may depend less on how quickly they can perform the grunt work and more on whether they understand what the work is supposed to accomplish. Don’t miss the next story that affects your community. Join thousands of readers getting The Pulse every morning—plus breaking news alerts when it matters most. If you value this kind of local journalism, consider supporting it. Subscribe, share and like! Subscribe Share

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Oct 2 • 1:57 PM EDT • Science • publisherpt.substack.com
TGIF: Ian Donnis’ Rhode Island politics roundup for Oct 2, 2026

Time is dwindling as Ken Block tries to reshape the gov race

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Oct 2 • 1:36 PM EDT • Politics • oceanstatemedia.org
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (16%)
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love
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NVIDIA Launches DGX Spark 64 GB Desktop AI Systems

Local AI is becoming more useful by the token. As AI agents move from experiments into everyday development, increasingly capable open models are shrinking to fit on more devices, giving builders more to run locally. Coming this month, NVIDIA DGX Spark will be available with 64 GB of unified...

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Oct 2 • 1:17 PM EDT • Technology • techpowerup.com
How a Chicago educator uses food to teach science thanks to Pilot Light, a local chef-led nonprofit

At least once a month, Rita Leary incorporates food into a science lesson at Ashburn Community Elementary School. On a recent Thursday, it was all about honey. Sticky, sweet, viscous,

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Oct 2 • 1:17 PM EDT • Science • uniondemocrat.com
The race for NH governor is heating up. Here’s what to know.

As this campaign enters the home stretch, the outcome may hinge on what voters find least distasteful.

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Oct 2 • 1:13 PM EDT • Politics • nhpr.org
Abbott ramps up attacks on Democratic challenger, Gina Hinojosa, as Texas governor’s race tightens

Gov. Greg Abbott is escalating attacks on Gina Hinojosa as some polls show a closer race and Republicans confront voter concerns about the economy.

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Oct 2 • 1:07 PM EDT • Politics • houstonpublicmedia.org
Top Senate GOP-aligned super PAC pauses N.C. spending, in sign of deepening woes

The Senate Leadership Fund’s pulling money from North Carolina is the latest signal the Republican Party is giving up hope of holding that Senate seat.

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Oct 2 • 12:30 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
Weekly Rundown: Duke University launches digital twin program; Welldoc unveils AI-powered care loop

Stay up to date on the latest in health tech, digital health and health AI news with this weekly brief. Read below for news from the week of Sept. 28 to Oct. 2. | The latest news from Yosi Health, Grindr, K Health, Welldoc, Duke University and more.

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Oct 2 • 12:00 PM EDT • Health • fiercehealthcare.com
The Road to the Texas Midterms

Co-hosts Brandon Rottinghaus and Jeronimo Cortina delve into the latest news in politics

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Oct 2 • 11:59 AM EDT • Politics • houstonpublicmedia.org
These Texas doctors want to make sure people know their abortion rights during medical emergencies

Texas passed the Life of the Mother Act in 2025, aiming to clarify the narrow medical exception to the state's abortion ban. Advocates are still working to spread the word.

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Oct 2 • 11:37 AM EDT • Health • houstonpublicmedia.org
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (12%)
ahah
40%
wow
31%
love
29%
New business records emerge in case of woman accused of stealing ambulance

New federal court documents reveal prosecutors have another category of evidence to turn over to attorneys for Sarah Elizabeth George ahead of her November tria

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Oct 2 • 11:26 AM EDT • Business • idahonews.com
Analysis | How Trump keeps embracing AI

And what else happened this week under his administration.

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Oct 2 • 11:08 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
Global life expectancy nears pre-pandemic level, but healthy years lag behind: WHO

Healthy life loss linked to anxiety disorders up nearly 45% since 2019, while depressive disorders see around 20% jump, says UN agency | Anadolu

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Oct 2 • 10:49 AM EDT • Health • aa.com.tr
3.2K views · 30 reactions | New research measures the loudest birds...

New research measures the loudest birds known to science, with three South American species topping the chart. https://wapo.st/3TA5iab

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Oct 2 • 10:00 AM EDT • Science • facebook.com