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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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Gophers men's hockey opener postponed due to unplayable ice
The Gophers were due to play Michigan Tech in Houghton, MI.
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)
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.
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.
Saturday Sports: Major League Baseball playoff time; WNBA
NPR's Scott Simon and sportswriter Howard Bryant discuss the WNBA and MLB playoffs.
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 […]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The political walking dead: Germany’s zombie chancellor
A string of poor election results has left Friedrich Merz with unprecedentedly low approval ratings
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.
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.
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.
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.
$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.
Nonprofit launches crisis line for those struggling with mental health, substance abuse
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hispanic Voters, Souring on Republicans, Could Decide the Midterms
Hispanic voters are souring on Republicans. Here’s why.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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?
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
TGIF: Ian Donnis’ Rhode Island politics roundup for Oct 2, 2026
Time is dwindling as Ken Block tries to reshape the gov race
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...
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Road to the Texas Midterms
Co-hosts Brandon Rottinghaus and Jeronimo Cortina delve into the latest news in politics
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.
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
Analysis | How Trump keeps embracing AI
And what else happened this week under his administration.
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
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
Only one browser has this really helpful search tool
This is great for experimentation with a different search site, keeping a particular search out of your history at your usual site, or giving yourself a break from AI-first answers.
Maryland Democrats should reject gerrymandering and set a national precedent
Marylanders have a chance in November to turn the tide against one of the worst tactics in American politics.
Amid trade dispute, Canada continues business relationship with Washington state
Canada ambassador Mark Wiseman visited Seattle this week. He said his country wants the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement implemented fairly.
Trinity Health Foundation to host free nursing education event
The Trinity Health Foundation will present the Dr. V.R. Alla Nursing Symposium from 5:30-8:15 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, at the Rhythm City Casino Resort in Davenport. The event will bring together nursing professionals from across the Quad Cities for an evening focused on elevating the nursing profession, sharing the realities of frontline care and promoting […]
This grocery store employee makes sure every customer finds what they’re looking for
For almost three decades, Greg Atchison has been a friendly face in the grocery business.
An ER wait can worsen a mental health crisis. Hampton offers another option.
Local responders say Riverside’s psychiatric emergency department helps people in crisis reach specialized care sooner, as Virginia expands options beyond medical emergency rooms.
Android malware can steal your PIN and bank logins
RatHat Android malware uses AI to steal banking credentials, intercept two-factor authentication codes and reconstruct your PIN from touch inputs.
Democrats expand battleground for House, reaching into bloodred districts
The additions include Kansas’s 2nd, Michigan’s 1st, North Carolina’s 13th, New Jersey’s 2nd, Oklahoma’s 5th, Texas’s 9th, Virginia’s 6th and Washington’s 5th.
TN Politics: Task force anniversary brings lower crime, ongoing questions
Otis Sanford discusses the Memphis Safe Task Force, Marsha Blackburn's campaign and botched executions.
Ally of Spanish PM threatens to derail housing decree as fury over evictions grows
Spain's leftist government faced a bruising battle in parliament on Friday after an allied party opposed its plans to tackle a housing crisis stirring public protests, particularly over the eviction of an 87-year-old woman.
Here’s why experts say now is an ideal time to protect yourself from flu
Experts say now is an ideal time to get a flu shot, before influenza starts spreading widely.
After turmoil, South County Health lands Mayo Clinic deal
South County Health joins Mayo Clinic’s network, giving RI patients access to top specialists and resources while keeping local control.
YouTube sports strategy targets more live rights -- but not necessarily events
YouTube is targeting more live sports rights. But it's more likely to buy games in bulk if there's a clear consumer proposition underlying the rights.
Shingles cases dropping among people who got chickenpox vaccine, data shows
The virus that causes chickenpox can reactivate during adulthood, causing the painful, itchy rash known as shingles.
Mike Mazzei, Cyndi Munson face off in gubernatorial debate ahead of midterm election
OETA aired a pre-taped debate between the Republican and Democratic candidates for governor on Thursday.
The Unpromotables: Germany's league champions who can't go up
German football is grappling with a sum that doesn't add up - four promotion spots for five league champions.
MLB playoffs 2026: Division series preview, X-factors, predictions and more for Braves-Dodgers, Padres-Brewers, Yankees-Rays and White Sox-Guardians
Political lies, part II
Another mailer, another set of outright lies. This one arrived today, and calls Prop. I a “nonprofit slush fund.” Prop. I “ties the city hand by requiring millions to flow to a small group of nonprofits such as those who wrote the measure with no requirement that they actually build housing.” That’s factually untrue. Prop. […]
Rural Health Transformation Fund: RX or Placebo?
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis Director Alana Knudson and Virginia's Director of Rural Health Transformation Heidi Hertz briefed NPF fellows about the obstacles and opportunities in federal rural health policy.
Latino Expo Resource Fair returns this weekend, in a new location
The Latino Expo cancelled its resource fair last year because of the political climate.
New CEO selected to lead Proteus
Proteus Inc. has named Sarah Zeidler its new CEO. Zeidler will join the Des Moines-based nonprofit in mid-October, succeeding Daniel Zinnel, who stepped down in July to become CEO of Orchard Place. Zeidler most recently served as executive director of oncology services at UnityPoint Health’s John Stoddard Cancer Center. She also serves on the boards…
Health Brief: Drugmakers unscathed by Trump’s drug price plan
Plus: Governors warn of a Medicaid work requirements crunch
Boebert introduces bill addressing veterans’ mental health
Rep. Lauren Boebert has introduced a bill she says will assist veterans in accessing inpatient mental health treatment.
Salmon season brings business boost to Pulaski
The Salmon River in Pulaski is full of salmon and fly fishers, and that means business is booming in the village.
This week in science: Loud birds, eating with company, and asteroid samples
NPR's Short Wave podcast talks about really loud birds, the benefits of eating with company and what asteroid samples could tell us about the early Earth.
Trump memecoin plans another gala amid backlash to self-enrichment
The latest event will take place next month at the president’s golf club in Northern Virginia.
Ten bucks says you’ll love this community science project
Today marks the first day of Rut Watch 2026 With another season of Deer Spy in the books thanks to community scientists like you, biologists are now on a mission to pinpoint the peak of the white-tailed deer breeding season in Maine. Every observation of deer breeding behavior and sign helps define the timing of the rut, and this project uses the power of community science to collect deer data all fall long. Hunters, hikers, and wildlife watchers - Rut Watch pairs well with any outdoor adventure you have planned this season. It’s a perfect excuse to slow down and connect with nature as you look for clues. So get outside, rack up that deer data and submit rut reports from now through December 1. The online form is science made simple: Location Date and time Breeding behavior observed Submit a Rut Report What to watch for Active Breeding The most obvious breeding behavior to observe is a buck mounting a doe, but that is a rare sight as it only lasts a moment. You are more likely to witness a buck “tending” a doe, following closely, chasing, nuzzling, or pawing at her rump until she is receptive. Sparring After bucks shed their velvet, sparring helps sort out who is who in the dominance hierarchy. Early season matches are often less intense than later season matches between similar sized bucks. Most sparring is complete by the time breeding begins. Rubs Don’t just look for deer, pay attention to the trees. Rubs are marks made by bucks when they rub their antlers on trees, removing bark and leaving their scent calling card in the process. Scrapes Look to the forest floor for this sign of breeding season behavior. Scrapes consist of two parts - a licking branch, and a patch of cleared earth. Bucks break a low branch around head height, then paw at the leaves below to expose the dirt. Covered in scent, a scrape tells does and other bucks, “I’m here!” Learn More More information What’s next for deer community science: Northern Maine Wintering Deer Survey Other active community science projects: Fish Tag Reporting Maine Golden Eagle Study Maine Amphibian & Reptile Atlas Project Maine Deer Management: Maine’s Big Game Management Plan Game Species Conservation & Management Report The Benefits of Hunting: Supporting Wildlife, Conservation, and Community Subscribe Share Leave a comment
Baltimore schools commissioner resigns amid FBI raid on nonprofit business on Liberty Road
A Baltimore City schools commissioner abruptly resigned amid an FBI raid of his nonprofit business.
Campaign-style Trump ads use money meant for border security, memorials
The White House Office of Management and Budget added $20 million to the pot for commemorative events a day before DHS awarded an advertising contract of the same amount.
Goodwill Arkansas to receive $850,000 from The BlackRock Foundation
Little Rock-based nonprofit Goodwill Arkansas will receive an $850,000 grant from an initiative of The BlackRock Foundation, the philanthropic arm of asset management firm BlackRock, to help workers pursue careers...
'It's a nightmare.' Former refugee, professor on Trump's new Medicaid policy
Starting Oct. 1, many immigrants who are here legally lose their Medicaid coverage because of the Republican budget bill passed last year.
Wes Moore forms bipartisan governors group on AI, citing federal inaction
Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland is forming a bipartisan group of governors to address concerns about artificial intelligence
Trump sends out $500 ACA refunds and a letter promoting his record
The rebate checks are headed to nearly 1 million people President Donald Trump says were overcharged under the Affordable Care Act.
Arkansas, Kentucky each awarded $10M grants for maternal health efforts
A nonprofit founded by philanthropist Olivia Walton announced Thursday it is awarding $10 million grants to Arkansas and Kentucky to improve maternal health in rural communities.
Five Pennsylvania hospitals join West Virginia University Health System
Butler Memorial Hospital, Clarion Hospital, Frick Hospital, Latrobe Hospital, and Westmoreland Hospital, as well as affiliated physician practices and outpatient facilities, moved from their previous operator Independence Health System to WVU Medicine this month.
CommonSpirit Health grows operating revenue 8.5% to $42.4B in FY2026
CommonSpirit Health grew its revenues by 8.5% during its 2026 fiscal year while trimming its operating losses by $257 million, notwithstanding the multibillion-dollar hit it absorbed earlier this y | The 156-hospital nonprofit chopped its operating losses down by $257 million, notwithstanding the multibillion-dollar impact of its revenue cycle management breakup with Tenet Health.
GOP hold on Florida and Texas governors’ races weakens, nonpartisan analyst says
President Donald Trump’s poor ratings contributed to the Cook Political Report shifting both races from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican.”