SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " water " 2,650 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Rural health network aims to strengthen independent hospitals
The North Shore Health Board received a presentation from Cibolo Rural Health Network on the benefits of the Headwaters Network, a high-value network made up of Minnesota’s rural independent health care providers. “I would say a relevant correlator to the high-value network is that of a farmers’ co-op,” Brittany Sachdeva, chief operating officer for Cibolo,...
World Cup 2026: Fifa bans fans from taking water bottles into stadiums
Fans will not be allowed to take reusable water bottles into World Cup stadiums due to safety concerns, Fifa says in a late policy change.
The Politics Of Protecting The Florida Reef
This endangered marine environment built around the Florida Tract Reef continues to suffer amid partisan gridlock and differing views on the best way to protect it.
Scientists will lose critical climate record as ocean observatory goes dark under Trump funding cuts
The National Science Foundation announced it would dismantle most of the ocean monitoring system, pulling instruments from waters off Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina and Greenland by 2027.
Beluga whales keep switching mates and it may be saving their species
Hidden beneath Arctic waters, beluga whales have long kept their family lives a mystery. By analyzing DNA from more than 600 belugas in Alaska’s Bristol Bay over 13 years, researchers uncovered a surprisingly flexible mating system: both males and females regularly have offspring with different partners over their lifetimes.
Phil Ehr vows lawsuit as Broward SOE throws water on Hector Mujica's party switch explanation
Democratic organizations are taking a hands-off approach to a party eligibility dispute that could knock Mujica off the CD 28 Primary ballot.
Satellite science: FSU research increases accuracy of high-resolution ocean surface measurements
Florida State University research published today in Science Advances demonstrates a new framework for predicting the motion of kilometer-scale underwater
Report: Cardinals will not trade Josh Sweat
Speculation about edge rusher Josh Sweat's future with the Cardinals has picked up over the course of his absence from the team's offseason program, but a report on Wednesday tosses some cold water on thoughts of a trade.
Scientists Create Water Tweezers to Move Small “Surfers”
Breakthrough shows how water waves can be used to move and hold floating objects
The cult of objectivity has broken consciousness science
With 22 competing theories and no consensus in sight, the science of consciousness is lost. In this exclusive IAI interview, Berkeley psychedelics researcher and bestselling author of a new book on consciousness Michael Pollan insists that even though consciousness lies beyond traditional forms of scientific investigation, we should resist becoming dualists who see it as something radically different from ordinary stuff in the world. Instead, he makes the case for reimagining science itself: it must stop reaching for objective descriptions of physical reality, and instead embrace subjectivity as the indispensable core of all inquiry. Alasdair Craig: How did your experiences with psychedelics get you interested in consciousness?Michael Pollan: One of the things that happens on psychedelics is that they foreground consciousness. What formerly seemed perfectly transparent and ever present—and yet, non-existent, as water is to fish—suddenly you see it. The metaphor I use in the book is that psychedelics sponge the windscreen. Suddenly you realize: wow, there’s a windscreen, there is this phenomenon that’s mediating my relationship to reality. This is not an unusual realization on psychedelics. I think a lot of people are called to think about consciousness after psychedelic experiences. So that was the proximate inspiration for A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness (2026).And then there was a more specific way in which psychedelics influence the book. That was a particular experience I had on psilocybin. I had the sensation that the plants in my garden were conscious and returning my gaze, with their own point of view and agency, and I got curious as to how to evaluate an insight like that. I mean, what’s the truth quotient of insights you have on psychedelics? And I was reading William James—who, of course, wrote beautifully about mystical experience—and he said, we can’t judge the metaphysics here, but we should pay attention to two criteria: (1) How useful is it to think this is true? He was a pragmatist, of course. And (2) can we subject it to other ways of knowing to validate it? Because maybe we should treat these insights as hypotheses. And that’s kind of how I approach psychedelics, as a great generator of hypotheses, but they need to be tested against other ways of knowing. And so that led me down this long path exploring the science of plant intelligence and plant sentience.AC: I love your phrase, “smudging the windowpane of conscious experience.” So do you now start to think, actually, even when I’m not on psychedelics, I’m just seeing a screen all the time, which is not reality, but rather is my conscious experience, behind which reality is hidden?MP: Well, you know, not when I’m brushing my teeth and making breakfast! But yes, in meditation, certainly. I mean, one of the things you realize is that my experience happens to be this way now, but it could be another way. And many things can affect it. My morning coffee changes the screen in various ways, sharpens certain things.___The only tool we have to understand consciousness is consciousness.___There’s this wonderful metaphor in Aldous Huxley’s book, The Doors of Perception, where he thinks we channel consciousness, and that what the brain does is edit it, and there’s a reducing valve. And psychedelics open the reducing valve wider. I don’t know that I’m ready to buy into the idea that consciousness exists outside brains, but I do love that metaphor because there are times when you are more conscious than others. I know I’ve switched from window pane to valve, but you know, a camera aperture can open wider or narrower. And I do have a sense of that. I have a sense of when I’m being less conscious, and when I’m being more conscious, by which I mean, you know, more present, taking in more sensory information. So when you start thinking about consciousness as a matter of degree, that changes things also.I think when we scroll on social media, obviously, we’re conscious. But minimally so, because we don’t have to generate our own thoughts. We’re basically taking these little hits from other people and thinking their thoughts.The process of writing this book made me kind of relativize everyday consciousness as just one type, which is exactly what William James said. Normal consciousness is one type, separated by the flimsiest of screens from the other types.AC: If we stick with the metaphor of the smudge on the window that you get when you take psychedelics, it seems like we’re saying that consciousness has become like an object that you’re looking at, right? You’re looking at the smudge and that just is consciousness. But sometimes we’ll talk about consciousness as a state that you’re in, rather than an object you can perceive. You’re either conscious or you’re not conscious. So it’s difficult to really know what sort of thing we’re talking about when we talk about consciousness, right?MP: Yeah. When you say that consciousness is an object, what’s the subject? Consciousness also? The only tool we have to understand consciousness is consciousness. So we’re in a closed loop and when we get a perspective on consciousness, we’re not achieving any distance from it. That’s one of the problems with studying consciousness. Science is predicated on an objective, God’s eye view of things, and you never get that. There’s no such thing. SUGGESTED VIEWING The brain filters consciousness With Àlex Gómez-Marín But, yeah, there is this sense, I think, that consciousness is something you can approach. Certainly, when you’re writing and trying to recreate a conscious experience, it’s a fiction, but you’re standing back from it, and looking at it. But there’s no real subject-object distinction.AC: That’s so interesting, because when philosophers start talking about consciousness, they often talk about what they call “qualia”, which is their word for the felt experience of, say, the color red. And I think that way of speaking often makes us think of the qualia as an object, which you can see out there: the redness of red. But, as you say, we also want to collapse the subject-object distinction when we talk about consciousness. So there’s something strange going on here…MP: Oh, yeah, there are many strange things going on! *AC: Let’s talk about the varieties of consciousness. Apart from perceptions, there are, pains, emotions, thoughts, and so on. What is it that holds all this diversity together so that they all count as instances of consciousness? What is it that they all have in common?MP: Yeah, that’s a really good question. I mean, there is sensory information, right? Which we perceive coming from the world outside ourselves. And then there’s internal information, which is what’s called interoception. And this is very important too. This is where feelings come from—what are sometimes called homeostatic feelings—that are intended to get the brain to keep us in these narrow ranges of temperature and glucose and so on. That’s a very important part of consciousness. And according to some researchers, who I think are probably right, this is where consciousness begins, with these very primal feelings, like hunger and thirst and warmth and itch, and things like that. And then there’s this third thing, which is our thinking about thinking.And what holds all this together is, I think, the sense of self. Consciousness generates a self: it is probably an organizing principle. All this stuff is happening to the self. It’s a construct, I think, but it is very useful. It can connect all these different streams of consciousness to a single being or a place, metaphorically speaking.* AC: The first half of your book is about the science of consciousness. Is consciousness just another thing, like black holes or the origin of life, which we don’t yet understand, but which we should have every hope that science will one day get to the bottom of, or is there something special about consciousness that makes this unlikely?MP: It depends how you define science. As we define science now, it’s going be very difficult. Science since Galileo has had a set of rules or assumptions, which is that the proper remit of science is to deal with the objective, quantifiable, third-person world. And the physical sciences have done amazing work under that set of limitations. Galileo—for tactical reasons, not for philosophical reasons—said science should not deal with the soul, which at the time was what consciousness was considered to be. So what is subjective, what is qualitative, what is first person, we’re going to leave to the church, he said. And this was a good agreement, and it probably kept many scientists from getting burned at the stake. But it leaves science in an awkward spot, now that it wants to venture into that territory of qualities, of first-person experience. And I don’t think it has the proper tools. I think it will have to add to its toolkit in some way, and find a way to bring in phenomenology, or lived experience and introspection, which science is usually dismissive of.The challenge—we alluded to it earlier—is that the only tool you have to study consciousness with is consciousness. And what I mean by that is, the whole scientific enterprise is a manifestation of consciousness. As much as scientists like to flatter themselves with this idea that they attain a godlike perspective on what they study, when it comes to consciousness, there’s no such thing. And it’s fine for all the things you can step outside of and study from that perspective. But two areas it won’t work are consciousness and cosmology.___It could be that we live in this anomaly of not believing nature is conscious. And maybe psychedelics are teaching us something we’ve forgotten.___With cosmology, too, you have to study the universe from inside the universe. It’s not that cosmologists haven’t made progress. We know a lot about the age of the universe and expansion and things like that. But we can’t penetrate what happened before the Big Bang. We just don’t have the tools because we can’t stand outside.The fact that there are 22 full-scale theories of consciousness tells you all you need to know: we’re kind of lost. And I was surprised to find that we are more lost than I thought we were when I started this. I thought that there’d be leading theories, or that we had experiments that we could conduct that would nail some of this down. And the fact is, we don’t.So, I don’t know if science can solve it. But, of course, we can change the rules of science. A really influential book for me was a book called The Blind Spot, by two physicists, Marcello Gleiser and Adam Frank, and a philosopher, Evan Thompson. It’s a reminder that science is a social practice. It’s organized in a certain way and it can be organized in a different way. But it has this huge blind spot at the center of it, which is its failure to recognize that it is a form of consciousness itself, and it doesn’t have a good way of taking account of lived experience.AC: On the one hand, I think you want to resist traditional dualism, which would say that consciousness is something magical, something supernatural, right? But on the other hand, you’re accepting that there is this division in reality between the stuff that you can investigate objectively and measure, and so on—the stuff that science has been good at finding out about—and consciousness, which, for some reason, you can’t objectively measure. Some would take this to suggest that the dualism is actually right. Is there a way of reconciling these two strands of your thinking?MP: To call it magical is full of value judgement. I mean, you could just say immaterial. The interesting thing is, I think, that intuitively we’re all dualists. And I don’t know whether that’s because we’re children of Descartes and other cultures are less dualist than we are. Or it may be because that’s how consciousness feels. It feels different than the body. It feels separate from the body. But I don’t think we should trust that intuition.AC: So let’s think about ways that science might be changed to get at consciousness. I suppose the starting point would be the way that you begin the second half of your book. You have this nice line from William James, where he says, “We now begin our study of the mind from within.” Could you give us some sense of the ways of studying the mind from within? What does this involve?MP: I don’t know what that science looks like. But one of the points I’m making is that it depends on the humanities. I found that I learned as much, if not more, about consciousness, from reading novels and poetry. There is a sense of the fullness and complexity of consciousness that you don’t get in any scientific account. I interviewed this stream-of-consciousness writer and I approached her as an expert on consciousness, and she is. So I think that dialogue is really important.I’m reading Ben Lerner’s new novel, Transcription. Just read the first page of this novel: it’s a man falling asleep on a train, going to conduct an interview, and there is the experience of being in the train, facing backwards, there’s the view outside, but there’s a reflection of himself through which he’s seeing outside. There’s the memory of dropping his kids off at school. All this is going on in one moment of consciousness. Scientists aren’t going anywhere near that. But I think it’s useful for them to think about. That’s where we’re trying to go: like, how does such a layered experience happen? You know, it also makes you wonder, could a computer ever do this? And it gives you some doubt.*AC: Before we get to computers, perhaps we could talk briefly about plants. How did you come to feel that they are sentient?MP: Well, it was a psychedelic experience, and it’s not unusual on psychedelics. In fact, there’ve been studies about how people become animists during psychedelic experience. Their belief in animism arises after a single psychedelic experience.You know, most scientists would say this is all a myth. But we have only 400 years of the age of enlightenment and science. Before that, we were animists, and if you go around the world, most indigenous cultures are still animists, and children are animists, by and large, until they go to school. So it could be that we live in this anomaly of not believing nature is conscious. And maybe psychedelics are teaching us something we’ve forgotten.As I said, I wanted to test this idea, and see whether there was conventional scientific evidence for it. And there’s fascinating work going on in a field that calls itself—in a rather cheeky way—plant neurobiology. These are people who fully realize there are no neurons in plants, but they’re trolling conventional botanists! And they’re doing experiments that are demonstrating that plants can learn and remember, which is kind of amazing: how do you store a memory without neurons? They’re finding plants that can solve problems, that can hear and see. In fact, they have 20 senses to our five or six. For example, a bean plant looking for something to twine, and given a pole within eight inches or so of it, knows where that pole is and will aim its spiraling reach at that pole. What is that about? Is it bouncing signals off of it?One of the spookiest things is the fact that the same anesthetics that put us out put plants out. You might think that plants are already out, but they’re not. They’re just slow. If you take a plant with a fast behavior, like a Venus flytrap, and give it an anesthetic, it will stop reacting. So you have to ask yourself, what is lost when the plant is anaesthetized? Some state of alertness, of awareness, of its environment, of reactivity. I’m not prepared to call that consciousness, but maybe it’s sentience—which is a simpler form of consciousness, and involves the ability to sense what’s going on in your environment and assess what’s good and bad for you and act appropriately. That may be a universal quality of life.AC: Let’s turn from plants to AI. You point out that LLMs are trained on the internet rather than direct interactions with reality. You put this really nicely when you say the internet is not the world so much as a shadow cast by the world. So LLMs are living in this kind of shadow world, or in Plato’s cave, as you put it. What’s the significance of this for AI consciousness and moral consideration? And, to recall the beginning of our conversation, if we’re stuck behind a veil or screen of consciousness, are we also stuck in a kind of shadow world?MP: I don’t think they’re the same shadow worlds because our world includes nature and other people. And even if it’s mediated in some ways... There is a reality out there, and we are in relation to it, through consciousness. There’s friction with it. What’s missing from the LLMs is that friction with the real world. There’s more to the world than human representation, which is what they’re dealing with. And that means that so far, AI is a cultural technology for combining thoughts we’ve already had. SUGGESTED VIEWING Cracking the code for thought With Roger Penrose, Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski, Max Tegmark, Güneş Taylor Genuine creativity is more than collage. A lot of what AI does now is tantamount to collage, putting this with that and you know, that’s part of art, certainly. But there are also genuinely new ideas that come into the world that don’t come in through manipulating the representations we already have. So it remains to be seen whether AIs can be truly creative in that more radical sense.But my arguments against AI becoming conscious have to do with the fact that the idea of AI consciousness is based on this faulty metaphor that the brain is a computer. There are dimensions in which the brain is like a computer—it certainly does its share of computation. But computers have this sharp distinction between hardware and software, and brains don’t. In a brain, hardware and software are identical. Every memory is a physical change to the brain. Brains are not interchangeable in the way computers are. So this idea that you could take the consciousness out and somehow run it on another substrate, a silicon substrate, seems foolhardy.Anyway, it’s a more extended argument, and I may be wrong. And when we move to computers that aren’t based on silicon—neuromorphic computers and things like that—all bets may be off.AC: Regarding your point about LLMs being stuck in the world of our representations—the internet or whatever—and not being able to interact with reality, are these representations, the world of the internet, themselves part of reality? We’ve created the internet, but it’s still a real thing that exists. And so while the LLMs may be trapped within that part of reality, they’re nevertheless within reality and interacting with it and so on. So it’s not obvious that there’s a barrier there to them becoming conscious and being creative.MP: Yeah, I mean, if our consciousness is built out of human culture, which is what we’re talking about with all those representations. But I tend to think consciousness comes a bit more out of nature and friction with the natural world, but...AC: So there’s a fundamental divide between the natural world and human artefacts?MP: And we lose track of that, and especially people in this computer world. You know, the people who are creating these AI systems, my guess is they’ve been into video games since the age of three, and they didn’t go outside a lot. And their own contact with nature is somewhat limited. I could be wrong, it’d be a very interesting thing to ask, all the wizards of AI, whether they like to go fishing and hiking and do things like that. Or were they on computers from a very early age? I interviewed Blake Lemoine, the Google engineer who came to believe that LaMDA, the Google LLM out at the time, was conscious and deserved personhood. It was very clear that he didn’t see a distinction between this bubble in which he lived and the real world. And I think we’ve all been distanced from the natural world, and this is taking us even further away. But it’s still there, you know, and we still have bodies, and we’re still mortal, and we don’t live in a simulation.AC: I think that’s a great place to finish. Michael Pollan, thank you very much!
Red States’ Sound Science Laws Echo Trump Regulatory Overhaul
Republican-led states are following President Donald Trump’s lead and making it harder for their agencies to exceed federal environmental standards.
Steph Ruhle: MASSIVE checks for politics are “only getting bigger”
For billionaires to "write big checks right now, it's like water. When you think about the amount of money in AI, in crypto, even in finance right now, they're writing such giant checks because they know from a Donald Trump presidency you can't just influence politics, you can control it." Stephanie Ruhle breaks down why sums of money injected into politics are only getting larger.
New discovery upends an 80-year-old theory of turbulence
Researchers discovered a way to reverse the direction of energy flow in turbulence, challenging a theory that has stood for more than 80 years. The finding could open new possibilities for controlling ocean currents, improving medical technologies, and enhancing climate forecasting.
Business owners discuss the impacts of low water levels at Smith Mountain Lake
WDBJ7 spoke with business owners in Franklin County about the low water levels and how they’re already having an impact on summer business.
Not All Wine Glasses Tinkling Happily over Santa Barbara County’s Business Improvement District
The Goldwater Institute sues County Board of Supervisors and vintners association on behalf of Lompoc’s Flying Goat Cellars.
Dive Into the World of Marine Science This Summer in Southampton
This summer, Stony Brook Southampton is offering three college-credit courses, including rare opportunities to conduct research on the waters of Shinnecock Bay.
BestReviews: Outdoor Entertainment Products
Living Local 15 Host Jessica Williams takes a look at some products to help keep the outdoor fun and entertainment going this summer. FENDER X TEUFEL ROCKSTAR 2 GO PORTABLE WATERPROOF BLUETOOTH SPE…
Democrats running in Utah’s congressional primary share their views on political corruption, water resources
The four Democrats in Utah's 1st Congressional District primary election share views on affordability, water resources and political corruption.
Why are scientists planting tiny forests in big cities?
Healthy forests help combat climate change, provide humans with drinking water and even improve mental and physical health. But it’s hard to imagine an entire forest in the middle of a big city. That’s where micro-forests come into play — public forests on a smaller scale, filled with native plants. They exist around the world, and producer Rachel Carlson went to visit the largest micro-forest in California in this encore episode. She joins host Emily Kwong to chat about what she saw. Interested in more of the science behind urban nature? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
IU College of Arts and Sciences students recognized by Goldwater Scholarship program
Two students from the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington are recipients of the prestigious Barry Goldwater Scholarship, a nati...
City of Camden celebrates grand opening of Mayor Francisco "Frank" Moran Sports Complex
Von Nieda Park received a complete overhaul that included improvements to the stormwater system, addition of a natural grass baseball field, a new parking lot and sidewalks.
Businesses report thousands in losses after ‘teen takeover’
A peaceful summer night turned into chaos as hundreds of teens participated in a ‘teen takeover’ in Clearwater Beach. One young man was shot and taken to the hospital. Local business ow…
UW Bothell professor was finding sources of dangerous water and soil pollution
Melanie Malone led a research project to identify and study contamination sites in Washington state. Then the EPA canceled her grant.
AI giant Anthropic confidentially files for US IPO
AI giant Anthropic said on Monday it has confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering, teeing up what could become the watershed moment for Wall Street's AI frenzy.
Google Pixel Watch 5 may have leaked in the weirdest way possible
Found by a scuba diver underwater
Ministry of Public Health, WHO Thailand and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Kingdom of Thailand launch initiative to strengthen Thailand’s public health workforce
28 May 2026 | Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in ThailandA skilled and coordinated public health workforce is essential for protecting population health and responding to public health emergencies. Strengthening these capacities was the focus of a meeting held on 28 May 2026 at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Thailand.Dr Ailan Li, WHO Representative to Thailand, together with Dr Watcharanan Tinnaitorn, Deputy Director of the Division of Public Health Emergency Management, Ministry of Public Health, and officials from WHO and the Ministry of Public Health, met with Counselor Zhang Xiaoxiao from the Economic & Commercial Counsellor's Office, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Kingdom of Thailand to mark the launch of collaboration under the WHO Roadmap to strengthen the public health workforce.The initiative supports Thailand in strengthening its public health workforce across both health and non-health sectors. Public health emergencies require coordinated action across a wide range of professions and institutions, including health workers, border control officers, water safety specialists, communication professionals and local government authorities. Through the project, partners will work together to assess workforce capacities, strengthen competencies and promote coordination across sectors to support preparedness and response efforts.The discussion highlighted opportunities to enhance cross-country collaboration through knowledge exchange, communication activities and engagement at key project milestones, supporting workforce development and emergency preparedness efforts.Beyond its immediate objectives, the initiative also reflects Thailand’s contributions to public health at regional and global levels. The exchange highlighted the importance of sharing experiences, lessons learned and good practices through international cooperation to strengthen public health capacity and preparedness.WHO expressed appreciation to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Thailand for supporting the project and recognizing the importance of investing in public health workforce development, preparedness and health security through partnership and multilateral cooperation. WHO also commended Thailand’s continued leadership and commitment to strengthening public health systems and emergency preparedness, including through cross-sector collaboration and workforce development.WHO remains committed to supporting Thailand and partners in advancing resilient and people-centred public health systems and strengthening preparedness for future health challengesAbout the EPHF Roadmap ProjectThailand is one of four countries selected in 2026 to initiate implementation of the Essential Public Health Functions (EPHF) Roadmap, alongside Maldives, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste. The initiative is funded by the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA). The project is led by Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health, with WHO Thailand serving as a co-implementing partner. Other partners include the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI), the Global Network for Academic Public Health/Public Health Interprofessional Leadership Alliance (GNAPH/PHILA) and the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA).
Lucky's Sports, Oyster & Tiki Bar | FOX 13 Tampa Bay
Inside Maple Lanes bowling alley in Clearwater is Lucky's Sports Bar, where you can find fresh oysters and a good time. FOX 13 photojournalist Jason Wright goes inside Lucky's Sports Bar.
New solar desalination breakthrough makes fresh water without toxic brine
Scientists have developed a solar desalination system that turns seawater into drinking water without creating environmentally damaging brine. Special laser-textured metal panels use sunlight to evaporate water while automatically moving salt deposits away from the working surface, preventing clogging. The process was successfully tested with water from three oceans and can recover nearly all salts as solids. Those leftover materials could even become a source of valuable lithium for batteries.
Local Business Spotlight: Loon Lake Lodge
When guests arrive at Loon Lake Lodge, they are welcomed by Andrea and Derek Hofeldt and their three boys into an atmosphere filled with outdoor adventure, family connection, and relaxation along the Gunflint Trail. From donut fishing and watermelon-eating contests to hydro bikes and quiet time by the lake, the Hofeldt family—who own and operate...
After 22 years, you can finally download Paint.net from the URL 'Paint.net'
All because the original owners made a huge error.
USA Health promotes child safety as summer starts
The event in downtown Mobile focused on water safety and e-bike precautions.
From Wittgenstein to water capture: Meet the valedictorians and salutatorians of CC and SEAS
For the four graduating seniors awarded with the highest academic distinctions in Columbia College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science—the valedictorians and salutatorians—the recognition came as a surprise.
Ospreys appear to be signaling Lake Tahoe’s ecological health, officials say
They're iconic summer raptors known for diving into the water to hunt fish.
Everybody Plays Adaptive Sports Field Day showcases sports opportunities for all
Lester Bennett II of Munhall feels like he was baptized as an adult while water skiing in the Allegheny River. “When I fell in that water and kept...
Learning a water sport this summer? Classes, equipment rentals in Sacramento area
Whether you are looking to get into kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding or water-skiing the Sacramento area has classes and clubs to help.
AI, Power & Politics: The Debates Shaping the Sector in 2026
Leaders from GreenScale, NTT, Iron Mountain & Jabil gathered at Data Centre LIVE in May to debate the sector's hottest talking points, from energy to water
Science news this week: Exploding rocket overshadows NASA's next steps to the moon, 'Doomsday Glacier' faces big loss, quantum computer AI hybrid shows impressive results, and war deepens Iran's water crisis
May 30, 2026: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend
Trump’s $1.8bn slush fund: has the Don gone too far?
Such ‘brazen corruption’ makes the Watergate scandal look ‘almost quaint’
Scott Bessent says US seized roughly $1B in Iranian crypto as regime nears 'end of their tether'
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the U.S. has seized roughly $1 billion in Iranian cryptocurrency assets as Operation Economic Fury pushes Iran's economy toward collapse.
Volunteers to monitor stream health across Grand Traverse Bay Watershed
GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY, Mich., IWPBN/WGTU) -- Volunteers across Northern Michigan will soon head into local streams to help monitor water quality as part of a lo
Science Museum Oklahoma brings Barbie experience to kids
KOKH Fox 25 provides, news, sports, weather and local event coverage in Oklahoma City and surrounding areas, including McLoud, Shawnee, Tecumseh, Seminole, Wewoka, Maud, Asher, Wanetted, Goldsby, Norman, Blanchard, Chickasha, Pauls Valley, Purcell, Andarko, Bridgeport, Lawton, Duncan, Okarche, Kingfisher, Guthrie Stillwater and Cushing, Oklahoma.
Strength Beyond the Circle
Multi-state discus champion Malia Kranz doesn't let anything hold her back—not even a senior-season hip surgery. See how the Watertown star is finding her way back to the top of the podium while keeping a positive attitude for the future.
Hazmat crews contain gas leak at business in Whitewater Township
Officials gave an update on a hazmat situation that shut down a street in Whitewater Township Thursday.
Europa may not vent water into space after all
The debate could reopen in 2030 when NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft gets the closest view of the icy moon’s surface.
Vomiting virus is spreading across most of the U.S.
Hikers along the Pacific Crest Trail in Southern California have been hit with norovirus, but they’re not the only ones suffering. Wastewater data shows high levels in many states.
Kent business owners say water disruption is hurting their trade
South East Water says 22,000 customers across the county have been impacted.
How NASA Uses Light to Detect Waste From Mines
Tens of thousands of abandoned mines threaten waterways across the American West, but identifying which sites urgently need cleanup is slow and expensive. Now, NASA’s EMIT instrument can analyze the unique light signatures of mine waste from space to help focus remediation efforts where they're needed most.
Things you need when traveling alone, from a frequent solo traveler
As a woman who's traveled alone to many countries, I never leave home without packing my essentials, like a 55-liter backpack and a water filter.
Planet Zoo 2 Coming This Year, Featuring Flying and Aquatic Animals
Frontier Developments has announced Planet Zoo 2, which will include the ability to add flying and aquatic animals in aviaries and aquariums for the first time.
Clean Water, Hospital Construction Among Tribal Health Concerns at Senate Budget Hearing
Health care was the focus of last week’s Senate Indian Affairs Committee budget hearing as lawmakers pressed agency leaders on Indian Health Service funding cuts. While the FY 2027 budget requests $9.1 billion in discretionary funding for the IHS, the budget cuts several key programs, including sanitation facilities, special diabetes programs and scholarships for health […]
Mount View MS Excels at 2026 National Science Olympiad
Mount View Middle School (MVMS) students medaled in three events (hovercraft, water quality and codebusters) and placed 10th as a team in Division B of the 2026 National Science Olympiad Tournament, held recently at the University of Southern California.
The Oregon Water Science Center receives Portland State University’s 2026 Public Impact Partner Award
Learn more about the award and the USGS-Portland State Partnership.
DNA solves 250-year-old mystery of the Seychelles’ lost crocodiles
Scientists have solved the mystery of the Seychelles’ vanished crocodiles using DNA from historic museum specimens. The reptiles were not a unique species after all, but an isolated population of saltwater crocodiles that likely drifted thousands of kilometers across the Indian Ocean.
The Politics Of Non‑Revenue Water In MENA Cities
An exploration of how leaks, illegal connections and billing failures make non‑revenue water a deeply political issue in MENA cities.
Escaping the Heat? The Politics and Problems of Orbital Data Centers
What happens when digital systems outgrow the Earth that sustains them? Computing has always consumed energy and water, but the growing ambitions of the AI industry are pushing demand to an unprecedented scale. As pressures mount, data centers in orbit around the Earth have been pitched as a solution. But space is no escape, and what is framed as a technical fix risks entrenching digital dependence in an increasingly militarized, fragile, and crisis-prone environment. Orbital data centers simply relocate critical infrastructure into an already contested domain where the boundaries between civilian and military systems blur, satellites become strategic targets, and systemic disruption becomes a tool of coercion.
Red snapper fish fight highlights Florida governor’s disdain for science
One of the great joys of living in Florida is our access to fresh seafood — shrimp, scallops, grouper, you name it. I grilled some on Memorial Day and it was delicious! The source of all this bounty, the sea, may look like a limitless expanse, but it’s not. We have to be careful about […]
High E. coli levels along Chattahoochee River force business closures after days of rain
River outfitters and recreation businesses across metro Atlanta say unusually prolonged E. coli contamination is keeping people out of the water during the busy summer season.
Browns Pour Cold Water On Hype Surrounding Deshaun Watson
There's been a lot of offseason hype surrounding Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson. Watson, who was traded from Houston to Cleveland in a blockbuster move that has been dubbed one of the worst NFL trades in recent history, could be on the verge of a comeback. The Browns could be leaning ...
Message from the Director - Oregon Water Science Center, Summer 2026
Updates from the Center Director, Joanna Thamke.
5 Questions with Sean Debley, Technical Services Manager, Environmental Health Division
1. As Ventura County heads into summer, what should residents know about ocean water quality and how it’s monitored by the County? As temperatures begin to rise heading into summer, […]
U.S. Supreme Court settles long-running water dispute over dwindling Rio Grande
In a brief order Tuesday, the court accepted the recommendation of a special master to move forward with agreements first proposed last year by New Mexico, Texas and Colorado.
Coming to Miramar: Nearly 3,000 homes, new hotel and entertainment district with bars, restaurants and shops
Miramar Cove will feature 2,874 residences along with a 185-room hotel and dozens of restaurants, bars and shops centered around tree-lined streets and a signature waterfront area.
Going swimming? This 1 small water mistake can lead to diarrhea or worse, health officials warn
It's not just at beaches -- Illinois health officials warned that the illnesses can be contracted by people swimming in pools, hot tubs, spas, water parks, rivers and more.
Ebola, chemical plants and health, hantavirus, common colds, heat and more
As they say, bugs have ears. Public health has had a relentless May. Chemical plant (near) explosions, Ebola, hantavirus, and that's before you even get to the usual suspects: common colds, heat, and ticks. Here’s an attempt to keep you up to speed and, more importantly, what it means for you and your community. But first, an announcement: World Cup The World Cup starts in 15 days (not like anyone is counting down), and we are hanging TVs in the Health Security Operations Center. It’s going to be a gorgeous, chaotic celebration of basically every culture on earth. And it’s going to take a team effort—from communities to individuals, from public health to health care—to keep people healthy. That’s where you come in. If you’re going to the games or live within 30 miles of a stadium, we would love to hear from you. Sign up for a weekly survey here. Thanks to the more than 1,280 people who have already signed up…you will be hearing from us soon!! Global disease “weather report” Hantavirus: Two more cases The global count of cruise ship passengers with hantavirus has now increased to 13 cases (11 confirmed), with three deaths. The two new cases are overseas and among people who were already quarantining: A crew member in the Netherlands. A Spanish national passenger who was quarantining at home tested positive through daily monitoring. They are now in a biocontainment unit. In the U.S., everyone remains negative. There may be more cases, given that the incubation period of hantavirus (the time from exposure to infection) is 45 days. But this week, we will reach a major milestone: the median incubation window is 18 days, and that will pass on May 29. What this means for you: Your risk from this cruise ship outbreak remains essentially nil at this point. Ebola rages on in Central Africa Big thanks to Dr. Craig Spencer, a humanitarian physician who has treated and survived Ebola, for jumping in to provide the YLE community with an update. Craig, take it from here… The combined confirmed and suspected Ebola cases in DRC are now more than 1,000. All signs are pointing to a very long and catastrophic outbreak in Central Africa: This is a vast undercount. We know this because the test positivity rate is hovering around 50%, only 20% of contacts are being traced (and in some areas, no contacts at all), and more cases keep popping up with no known connection. This all points to widespread and undetected community transmission. This is in only a week of detection. Compared to previous outbreaks, the growth is very fast, as the huge West Africa outbreak in 2016 was first detected at 49 cases and rose to 208 cases a month later. It took four months for that outbreak to reach the size of the current one in the DR Congo. The cases are spread out across 16 health zones. There are now multiple epicenters, making containment very difficult. Next door in Uganda, the case count is seven. While this number is low compared to DRC, a concerning development is that two health care workers recently tested positive with uncertain exposure histories. If they weren’t treating known Ebola cases, this means it’s spreading undetected in Uganda as well. On the ground, backlash, including the burning of health centers, has emerged, a pattern seen in nearly every outbreak and rooted in deep community distrust. It often stems from outside actors working in communities without fully understanding or addressing local priorities. Affected populations may recognize the severity of Ebola while still holding other concerns as more pressing, such as where their loved ones are buried. Community trust is essential to an effective response, but difficult to build during an active emergency. It is best established long before a crisis begins. U.S. priorities are made clear, and may backfire. The U.S. Administration has shown that its first priority is keeping Ebola out, with helping end the outbreak in the DRC a secondary concern. That's meant travel restrictions broader than anything we've imposed before — covering travelers from across the region, and reportedly some green card holders and permanent residents as well. For example, just these past two days, news broke that high-risk American travelers will be subject to a mandatory quarantine in Kenya before they are allowed to return. If an American is infected, the U.S. government plans to send them to a hospital it is standing up from scratch in Kenya. (Currently, Americans who were in the area are allowed to return but are diverted to three airports—Houston, Atlanta, and DC—for further screening.) Past administrations have used travel notices and stepped-up screening; this goes much further. At first blush, these strict precautions may sound prudent. But this approach could backfire in three ways: Restrictions this blunt give people every reason to hide where they’ve been and whom they’ve been near — making the people we most need to find harder to track, not easier. They also breed a false sense that this is someone else’s problem. But diseases are humbling. They find the small cracks in even the most impenetrable-seeming defenses. Lives lost. There is no treatment for this Ebola strain, which means survival depends heavily on the quality of the health system. We have that system in the States, but we are choosing not to use it for infected Americans. This is unbelievable and infuriating. (See a deeper dive from me here.) The only real way to lower the risk to Americans — and everyone else — is to end the outbreak in the DRC and across the region. What this means for you: If you have travel plans to this region, it’s time to cancel them. This is a high-risk situation in Central Africa, and CDC released a Level 4 Travel Advisory. There is also great uncertainty if and when the Administration will let you back in. To the general public in the U.S., your risk remains very, very low right now. U.S. disease “weather report” Ticks: past peak season? Good news, especially for people in the Northeast and Midwest: tick numbers continue to decline. Though we are at the peak of the season, this unusually early year is trending favorably. Heat-related illnesses in the North Heat risk is certainly not blanketing the entire country yet, but this week it will be moderate in the Midwest and the Southeast. What this means for you: Be sure to check the CDC HeatRisk tool. A red day isn’t the best day for that soccer game for a kid with asthma, and a stretch of orange days is a great time to check on your elderly neighbor. Common colds surging As far as respiratory viruses go, the only thing really going around right now is the common cold. It is higher this year than last year, but should peak very soon before returning this fall. Spotlight: Chemical plants Over the weekend, YLE California covered the serious situation that unfolded around a chemical plant in Orange County, California. Thankfully, the worst-case scenario (a chemical explosion) was mitigated, but only through luck. The health implications in a densely populated area could have been catastrophic. As the situation was winding down, another chemical explosion struck Washington State. This one was fatal. Health officials say the risk to surrounding residents from chemicals in the air and ground remains low, though the community deserves far greater clarity. Clean air and clean water consistently rank as Americans’ top public health concerns — yet when chemical disasters strike, communities are too often met with reassurances rather than transparency and accountability. Residents near the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio train derailment, for example, are still waiting to understand the long-term impact on their health, with few clear answers. What this means for you: Many are wondering if facilities processing potentially dangerous materials are in their neighborhoods. This interactive map allows you to enter your ZIP code and see all facilities monitored by the EPA, including any violations. Good news Ebola vaccines and treatment for the Bundibugyo species are in development. Two vaccine platforms are being explored, at least one of which may be deployable in as little as 2 months. One vaccine is being developed by Oxford, and the other uses the same biotechnology as the FDA-approved Zaire species of Ebola. (It may provide cross-protection, but it’s unclear at this point.) On the treatment side, two promising monoclonal antibody cocktails are likely to be deployed, though doses are limited and logistical hurdles remain significant challenges. Anni over at The Biotech Tea had a great explainer about the Ebola vaccine gap, if you want to read more. [ The Biotech Tea The Ebola vaccine gap, reading vessel damage, & the Makary exit 🗝️ Paid subscribers get the Biotech Term of the Week at $30/year (~$2.50/month). I try to keep it intentionally accessible, but if cost is ever a barrier, send me a message. A few people asked about expensing your subscription, so I put together a short email template… Read more 6 days ago · 10 likes · Annicka Evans, PhD ](https://www.thebiotechtea.com/p/the-ebola-vaccine-gap-reading-vessel?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has been officially renamed polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), following more than a decade of debate and input from roughly 22,000 clinicians, researchers, and patients worldwide. This is good because the old name was medically misleading, leading to patients without visible cysts being dismissed or overlooked entirely. The WHO estimates that 70% of people with the condition remain undiagnosed. A more accurate name should improve recognition, reduce stigma, and ultimately help the millions of people living with this condition get diagnosed and treated sooner. Poll Loading... Bottom line Public health situations are everywhere right now. Staying healthy takes public health professionals and systems working tirelessly behind the scenes and each of us showing up for our neighbors and communities. Love, YLE Big thanks to Ed Nirenberg for staying on top of the Ebola vaccines, Hannah Totte for all the figures, Dr. Craig Spencer for the Ebola insight, and Dr. Matt Willis for covering the chemical situation in CA. Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) comprises a team of experts, ranging from physicians to immunologists to epidemiologists to nutritionists, working together with one goal: to “Translate” ever-evolving public health science so that people are well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. YLE suite of newsletters reaches over 475,000 people across more than 132 countries. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below: Subscribe
Tapped: Worst winter in memory triggers cascading economic strain in Colorado mountain towns
Editor’s Note: The Denver metro region sits at the center of one of the American West’s most complex and consequential water challenges. This series examines the interconnected systems that determine how the region secures, stores, and conserves its water while navigating the competing demands of fast‑growing urban communities and the increasingly unpredictable mountain snowpack that […]
Sewage monitoring at World Cup could help prevent disease outbreaks
During this summer’s FIFA World Cup matches, health officials will monitor wastewater for evidence of measles, COVID, and more.
Health department warns Clay County residents to avoid Duck Creek after blue-green algae found
The Florida Department of Health in Clay County has issued a health alert after harmful blue-green algae toxins were detected in Duck Creek, warning residents and visitors to avoid contact with the water.
World Digestive Health Day: Habits to Keep Your Gut Healthy
Key Takeaways:Daily habits such as drinking water and eating fiber are key to gut health.Ultra-processed foods may cause inflammation and digestive problems over time.Short walks after meals can improve digestion, and ongoing symptoms shouldn’t be ignored.
Cleveland Metroparks announces lineup for summer concert series
There will be four concerts at Euclid Beach and then the other four will be at Edgewater Beach.
Advancing high-threat pathogen preparedness in WHO South-East Asia Region: 2025 in review
Effective preparedness for high-threat pathogens demands more than technical tools — it requires a coherent strategy, sustained country engagement, and the institutional infrastructure to translate evidence into action. In 2025, the Pandemic and Epidemic Management (PEM) Unit advanced all three, working across the full spectrum of high threat pathogen (HTP) preparedness: from methodology development and evidence generation to country-level technical support, emergency response, and regional workforce strengthening.At the core of the PEM unit's work is building the regional evidence and policy architecture needed to prioritize and respond to HTPs systematically. A major milestone was the development of the HTP Prioritization Methodology — a structured, multi-criteria approach to ranking pathogens by epidemic potential, severity, and national context — and its national pilot in Bangladesh, where SARS-CoV-2, Nipah, dengue, and cholera emerged as the highest-priority threats, informing the PEM unit's contribution to 2026–27 biennium prioritization and workplan development (Access link here).Underpinning this work, the PEM unit advanced the peer-reviewed evidence base for HTP preparedness in the South-East Asia Region (SEAR), with three publications in international journals in 2025: Development of a zoonotic influenza distribution assessment and ranking system (ZIDAR): Technical application in Nepal to support cross-sectoral risk-based surveillance in One Health; Implications for influenza A virus surveillance in Southeast Asian Region countries: a scoping review of approaches for the surveillance of swine influenza viruses at human-swine interfaces in BMJ Public Health; and Operationalizing multisector partnerships: a Theory of Action and Reflection tool for zoonotic influenzas in Health Policy and Planning. Together, these contributions move the Region’s HTP preparedness agenda from practice to science — generating the transferable methodological foundations that will inform evidence-based capacity strengthening in Member States.Country-level engagement in 2025 reflected the breadth of contexts in which HTP preparedness must function. Technical support was provided for Mpox and cholera events across the Region, including coordination of cholera and acute watery diarrhea prevention and control in Myanmar in the wake of the March 2025 earthquake. In Myanmar, the PEM unit contributed technical leadership to the earthquake emergency response — one of the most complex humanitarian emergencies in the SEAR — as Health Operations and Technical Support lead within the Incident Management Support Team. This included strengthening emergency response planning, supporting operational and after-action reviews, and providing monitoring and evaluation support for both acute and protracted crisis response. The breadth of HTP support provided to emergency operations across the SEAR was documented in the PEM unit’s contribution to the regional report for the Health Security Interface Technical Advisory Group.In Sri Lanka, technical collaboration with the WHO Country Office and the Ministry of Health laid the groundwork for the National Steering Committee's 2026 annual meeting, development of Standard Operating Procedures for specialized emergency response, and a national training programme — all structured around evidence-based risk assessment for specialized hazards including HTPs.Across the SEAR, the unit contributed to strengthening the workforce architecture that underpins HTP response. Technical inputs shaped the WHO South-East Asia Regional Health Emergency Workforce Strategy 2025–2030, and the PEM unit supported conceptual development of the health emergency workforce framework for the Pandemic Fund Round 3 proposal.Alongside this, the unit's sustained engagement on the meningitis agenda culminated in the launch of the Regional Implementation Framework to Defeat Meningitis in South-East Asia by 2030 at the Seventy-eighth Session of the Regional Committee, ensuring the Region's priorities were reflected in the Global Technical Task Force and expanding the unit's HTP engagement beyond outbreak-prone zoonotic pathogens (Regional Implementation Framework to Defeat Meningitis in South-East Asia by 2030).Taken together, 2025 demonstrated that meaningful HTP preparedness is built incrementally — through methodology, engagement, and the steady accumulation of institutional capacity across Member States.Bangladesh piloted the HTP Prioritization Methodology and identified the highest-priority pathogens in the country context (Photo credit: WHO Country Office, Bangladesh).
State lawmakers cancel funding for Boundary Waters educational trips after criticizing nonprofit as too political
A 'Jesus Christ lizard' has been filmed running on water – and the footage is incredible | BBC Science Focus Magazine
Meet the 'Jesus Christ lizard' that can run on water (science hasn't yet discovered if it can turn that water into wine, as of yet)
For The First Time, Scientists Directly Confirm The Existence Of Vast Freshwater Systems Hiding Under The Sea Floor
For the first time, scientists have drilled into the seabed off the US East Coast and confirmed what had long been theorized – a massive body of freshened water lurking beneath the ocean.
This prehistoric fish may explain how animals first walked on Earth
Scientists have peered inside the skull of a 380-million-year-old Antarctic fish that was closely related to the first animals to walk on land, revealing surprising clues about how life began its move out of the water. Using advanced neutron imaging, researchers discovered that Koharalepis jarviki had features suited for living near the water’s surface, including openings in its skull that may have helped it gulp air and a light-sensitive organ linked to day-night rhythms.
The World Health Assembly adopts updated Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (2026–2036)
Geneva, 23 May 2026 – Member States at the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly (WHA79) adopted the updated Global action plan on antimicrobial resistance (GAP-AMR) 2026–2036, marking a major milestone in the global response to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and delivering on a key commitment contained in the 2024 United Nations General Assembly Political Declaration on AMR. The updated plan was developed through a consultative process led by the Quadripartite organizations – FAO, UNEP, WHO and WOAH – with extensive engagement of Member States and stakeholders across sectors. AMR remains one of the most significant global health and development challenges, affecting humans, animals, plants, food systems and the environment. The updated GAP-AMR provides a comprehensive One Health framework to guide coordinated global, regional and national action over the next decade. It builds on the foundation established by the original GAP-AMR adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2015 while reflecting evolving evidence, lessons learned, and the commitments made at the 2024 UN High-Level Meeting on AMR. During the Assembly, Member States expressed broad support for the updated plan and its strengthened multisectoral and One Health approach. Delegates highlighted the importance of prevention-first interventions, including infection prevention and control, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), vaccination, biosecurity, and environmental measures. They also highlighted the need for responsible, equitable and sustainable use of antimicrobials, strengthened surveillance, innovation, and sustainable agrifood systems. The updated GAP-AMR is intended to serve as the global framework for coordinated action against AMR through 2036. It aims to accelerate global progress towards the commitments and targets agreed by Member States and support countries in developing, implementing and financing ambitious multisectoral national action plans. The plan also reinforces the importance of accountability, monitoring and reporting, sustainable financing, and international cooperation to address AMR through a One Health approach. The adoption of the updated GAP-AMR reflects renewed global commitment to preserving the effectiveness of antimicrobials and safeguarding advances in human, animal and plant health, food security, economic development and environmental sustainability. As implementation begins, continued collaboration among governments, international organizations, civil society, academia and the private sector will be critical to translating commitments into measurable impact. The Quadripartite organizations will continue supporting Member States and partners in operationalizing the updated GAP-AMR and advancing coordinated One Health action against AMR at country, regional and global levels.
Semiconductor decoupling. Powell's politics. Industrializing Ogaden. Free trade and the Magna Carta.
Thank you for opening your Chartbook email. Feliks Topolski, 1907-1989 8th Army’s Front, Italy 1944 Semiconductor decoupling Source: FT One thing that Jerome Powell deeply understood is that chairing the Fed under current conditions is a deeply political job. “Powell has successes and mistakes to his name. But he stands out as having thought more carefully about the Fed’s democratic legitimacy than any chair since Paul Volcker,” said Paul Tucker, a former deputy governor at the Bank of England, referring to the Fed chair who successfully fought the great inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s. … While Powell was at the Treasury in the early 1990s, he watched Alan Greenspan build relationships within the government. That convinced Powell he needed to follow the former Fed chair’s lead and spend more time in Congress than his predecessors Yellen and Bernanke. “The accountability for the Fed runs through Congress,” said Claudia Sahm, a former Fed official who is now chief economist at New Century Advisors. “That’s not just about having people on speed dial — it’s answering questions, explaining policy and getting feedback.” Source: FT Ethiopia’s PM Abiy and Nigerian business tycoon, with Chinese engineering, are driving industrialization in Ogaden/Somali region of Ethiopia. - Michael Masri’s reporting for Africa Report if fascinating. Ethiopia has launched a cluster of large industrial schemes in the Somali region, laying foundation stones for a urea plant and an oil refinery in Gode while opening the first two phases of the Ogaden LNG project. Abiy Ahmed framed the push as part of a broader strategy to link energy, agriculture and industry. “These projects embody more than industrial growth,” he said. “They represent our shared responsibility to harness opportunities, strengthen co-operation and promote peace.” The Gode urea plant, backed by Dangote Group and Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH), is designed for 3m tonnes a year. Dangote owns 60%, while EIH holds 40%. Officials say Dangote’s equity totals about $2.5bn, while the state provides land and implementation oversight. Gas from the Calub fields will be piped 108km to the site. Construction is slated for 40 months, with operations targeted for 2028. Ethiopia imports most of its fertiliser, spending more than $1.2bn a year for 1.5m–2m tonnes. Usage was roughly 1.7m tonnes in 2023, almost half of it urea, and demand for 2024–25 is put above 2.4m tonnes. If delivered on time, the Gode plant could cover domestic needs and allow exports to neighbours. Brook Taye, chief executive of EIH, called the venture “a significant milestone in the journey toward industrial self-sufficiency”. Dangote told the groundbreaking crowd that the complex would be integrated with gas supply and a polypropylene unit to support local inputs. He pointed to Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), with a capacity of more than 5,000MW, and noted his group’s cement operations and expansion plans. The Gode refinery is being developed by Golden Concord Group of China. It is designed to process 3.5m tonnes a year of crude and condensate from the Hilala field, with associated storage. Backers say it will ease foreign-exchange pressure from fuel imports and anchor further industrial activity, including a proposed steel smelting site in Dire Dawa. GCL’s chair, Zhu Gongshan, cast the project as “a key step in Ethiopia’s path to energy sovereignty”, underscoring the Beijing–Addis ties. Financing details are still being finalised, but the refinery is central to the government’s energy-security narrative. Source: The Africa Report Dangote’s Ethiopian vision: Dangote began with cement. His crown jewel, Dangote Cement, dominates Nigeria’s market and has 10 operations in other nations in Africa. The formula has been consistent: identify sectors with chronic shortages – cement, fertiliser, sugar – commit massive local investments, and scale up to serve regional demand. Ethiopia was a natural extension of that model. In 2015, Dangote launched the Mugher Cement Plant outside Addis Ababa at a cost of $600m, with an annual capacity of 2.5 million tonnes. The investment gave him a firm foothold in one of Africa’s fastest-growing construction markets. But success came with risks. In May 2018, violent unrest led to the killing of Dangote’s country manager and temporary shutdowns at Mugher. While other investors might have retreated, Dangote doubled down. Today, he is preparing to spend $400m to expand Mugher’s capacity to 5 million tonnes, alongside a new grinding unit near Addis Ababa. Cement is just one market Dangote is targeting. Ethiopia’s enormous state-controlled sugar industry, long plagued by inefficiency and debt, has struggled for years to reform. Its Omo Kuraz Sugar Development Project, touted as one of the continent’s largest initiatives, continues to face delays and mismanagement. … The most ambitious venture of all is the planned fertiliser production complex in Gode, Somali region. Publicised on 28 August 2025, the Dangote Group and Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH) deal plans one of the world’s largest single-site urea manufacturing plants. The project costs an estimated $2.5bn and has an estimated capacity of 3 million metric tonnes annually, a rate that would not only render Ethiopia independent, but even a net exporter of fertiliser. EIH, the state wealth fund of Ethiopia, will hold 40%, while 60% is held by Dangote Group. … For Dangote, Ethiopia is a trifecta: Cement demand is projected to grow by 10% annually, its sugar consumption is growing with rapid urbanisation, and fertiliser demand is all but insatiable, given that farming supports the livelihood of 70% of Ethiopians. Source: The Africa Report The stakes for Abiy are high: For Addis Ababa, the $4bn fertiliser project in Ethiopia’s Somali region is no longer simply a manufacturing investment. It is increasingly being framed as a strategic state project tied to food sovereignty, import substitution and the government’s broader attempt to build economic resilience under mounting fiscal pressure. “Becoming self-sufficient in food is our main agenda,” Abiy says during the visit. “Land is needed; we have it. Water is needed; we have it. Human resources are needed; we have it.” The scale is enormous even by African industrial standards. Once operational, the plant is expected to produce three million metric tonnes of urea annually, potentially making it one of the continent’s largest fertiliser complexes. Ethiopian officials say the project now includes a 110km gas pipeline, a 120MW power plant, a polypropylene packaging facility and a two-million-tonne NPK blending plant. For a government grappling with chronic foreign exchange shortages, ballooning import bills and pressure on agricultural productivity, the numbers matter politically as much as they do economically. The decision to anchor the project in Gode is deliberate. Long viewed as peripheral to Ethiopia’s industrial economy, the Somali region is now being repositioned by the federal government as a future irrigation and agro-industrial corridor. Officials argue that the area’s vast land reserves and access to water could eventually support large-scale commercial farming capable of reshaping Ethiopia’s food economy. The government is simultaneously building housing infrastructure for about 5,000 residents near the plant, while officials project broader industrial expansion along the corridor. Abiy goes further, comparing the long-term revenue potential of the Gode development zone with Ethiopia’s flagship state enterprise. “The investments we are making in this Gode area, combined, will generate high revenue for Ethiopia, at par with Ethiopian Airlines,” he says. Source: The Africa Report Feliks Topolski 1907-1982 Topolski’s Chronicle, ‘Nazi Revival’, Vol. 8, Is. 1-2, 1960 HEY READERS, THANK YOU for opening the Chartbook email. I hope it brightens your day. I enjoy putting out the newsletter, but tbh, what keeps this flow going is the generosity of those readers who clicked the subscription button. Photo by Jakub Dziubak on Unsplash If you are persuaded to click, please consider the annual subscription of $50. It is both better value for you and a much better deal for me, as it involves only one credit card charge. Why feed the payments companies if we don’t have to. Subscribe Grim vision of drone warfare by Sylvie Kaufmann For contributing subscribers only. Subscribe The state of the art in Colbert-studies. Jean-Baptiste Colbert was Louis XIV chief minister from 1661 to 1683 and traditionally seen as an architect of absolutism and mercantilism. Alexander Hamilton later cited him as an inspiration in 1782. Now his legacy is disputed. Daniel Dessert, the chief critic, sees Colbert as the orchestrator not so much of an absolutist state as of an elite cabal. Would be great to have a good English-language review of this important debate. Source: lhistoire Didn’t know that the Magna Carta included free trade provisions Fighting for the right to the beach in Oregon in 1967: Source: Research Gate RAF Station – British and Polish Flags, c. 1940-45, The Ingram Collection Feliks Topolski, 1907-1989 ink and wash If you’ve scrolled this far, you know you want to click: Subscribe
Cold and rainy Memorial Day weekend leaves business struggling in Lake George
A rainy holiday weekend with temperatures in the 50's led to Lake George being mostly quiet this weekend. It was a pretty quiet lake without the influx of boats out on the water.
Adorable tiny blue octopus found nearly 6,000 feet beneath the Galápagos
A mysterious little blue octopus discovered nearly 6,000 feet beneath the waters of the Galápagos Islands has officially been identified as a brand-new species. About the size of a golf ball, the tiny creature stunned researchers during a deep-sea expedition when it suddenly appeared on camera, crawling across the ocean floor near an underwater mountain.
Pigskin Prattle: Lookin’ Ahead
I don’t always think about football in May. But when I do, I drink Dr. Brown’s Diet Cream Soda. Stay thirsty, my friends. So, yeah, it’s drizzly, as it is most every Memorial Day weekend it seems. Didn’t there used to be a Reggae Fest at the Water Tower that would get rained upon more […]
Michigan health officials urge residents to avoid contact with foam on surface waters
Filtered water at specific ages could add months to your lifespan decades later, new study finds
A new study finds that exposure to water filtration systems early in life can extend a person's lifespan by an average of 3.2 months, researchers say.
Scientists Drilled 1,300 Feet Below the Atlantic Seafloor — and Found a Massive Freshwater Reservoir
The newly confirmed reservoir stretches from offshore New Jersey to Maine and may contain enough water to supply New York City for roughly 800 years.
The Atlantic Ocean Was Hiding a Massive Freshwater Reservoir Big Enough to Supply NYC for 800 Years
Scientists have discovered a massive freshwater reservoir buried beneath the Atlantic Ocean, stretching from New Jersey to Maine — and early estimates suggest it could hold enough water to supply New York City for nearly 800 years. Researchers believe the reservoir dates back to the last ice age, though it could take years to determine whether the water can — or should — ever be tapped.
Flathead Business Watercooler
Happenings related to business in the Flathead Valley
Carolyn Hax: High-schooler is an artist but feels pressure to keep up with sport
Teen may want her temporary break from water polo to become permanent — but what will her dad and coach say?
Virginia health officials urge safe swimming pledge after 12 drownings in summer 2025
As swim season gets underway, the Virginia Department of Health is urging families to put safety first before heading to pools.
Virginia health officials urge safe swimming pledge after 12 drownings in summer 2025
As swim season gets underway, the Virginia Department of Health is urging families to put safety first before heading to pools.
How a Pocatello business is helping eastern Idaho save water, 1 lawn at a time
Amid a water shortage and emergency drought in place across Idaho, a Pocatello business offers homeowners a way to water their lawn more efficiently and help conserve water.
New box jellyfish name warns of ‘death from behind’
'Chironex blakangmati' lives in the ocean waters near Singapore.
Budget conference: Atlantic Beach water projects prioritized by Kiyan Michael funded
Good news for the Northeast Florida beach town.
Roaches, rodent droppings found during Fort Worth health inspections
One restaurant was temporarily closed by the city due to no hot water. Seven facilities received a perfect score of zero.
AI-generated images are making it impossible to distinguish truth from fiction. We need laws and AI watermarks to protect our shared reality.
Generative AI is destroying the baseline assumption that photographs bear some causal connection to reality. That's bad news for democracy.
Avoid foam on Michigan's waters this summer, health experts warn
Rinse off if you touch the foam, which can contain high levels of dangerous \
Scientists just found a faster, cleaner way to extract lithium for EV batteries
A breakthrough lithium-extraction method could help solve one of clean energy’s dirtiest problems. Researchers at Columbia Engineering have developed a fast new technique that pulls lithium directly from salty underground brines using a temperature-sensitive solvent, avoiding the giant evaporation ponds that can take years and drain precious water supplies. Even better, the method works on low-quality lithium sources that current technologies struggle to use.
Music venue part of new entertainment district proposed in downtown Tampa
Plans for a new entertainment district in downtown Tampa are in motion.
Budget conference: House agrees to Senate cost-of-living adjustments for retired ‘special risk’ employees
'The water is boiling; we’ll put the vegetables in shortly.'
What’s in the water? Farmington is dominating this spring
The school’s baseball, softball and boys lacrosse teams are ranked No. 1 in the state.
Trump administration releases $40 million for Colorado water project
The Trump administration on Friday released $40 million, clearing the way for a water district and its partners to finish funding the purchase of some of the state’s most senior Colorado River water rights, Gov. Jared Polis announced. Federal funding for the Shoshone water rights owned by Public Service Company, a division of Xcel Energy, […]