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“Big Brother ”host Julie Chen Moonves says some casting rumors are 'dead wrong'
The Chenbot promises that reality TV fans are going to be "very, very happy."
'Big Brother' host Julie Chen Moonves says some casting rumors are 'dead wrong'
'Big Brother' host Julie Chen Moonves says some casting rumors are 'dead wrong' and promises that reality TV fans are going to be 'very, very happy.'
Five Heart Podcast: The Band is Back Together
You’re seeing it all correctly. Do not adjust your antennae. Minnie is BACK! This week on the Five Heart Podcast, the unexplainable legal trouble of current and former Husker athletes. How does the distraction affect the Huskers? Will this provide some on-the-field clarity as far as who will be the designated number one RB in […]
Trump denies any wrongdoing over family's business dealings
US President Donald Trump has defended his family's multimillion-dollar business activities and denied conflicts of interest with his public office, telling US broadcaster CNBC that there was nothing ...
Lancaster County public sales: July 3, 2026
Martin & Rutt Auctioneers LLC, of New Holland, conducted a public auction of real estate June 23 for Sarah L. Smucker at 107 Ewell Road, East Earl. A four-bedroom house
F1 live streams: Link to watch British GP qualifying online
Sky Sports broadcasts coverage of F1 in the United Kingdom while Apple TV will stream the sport in the US
What a 50-year-old Post prediction got right — and wrong
Science editor Thomas O’Toole forecast innovations, including gene editing, deep-sea mining and nuclear-powered artificial hearts.
Reduced sunshine linked to higher demand for mental health care
The study highlights the relationship between weather and mental health care use, suggesting routine weather patterns could forecast service demand effectively.
Political division casts pall over 250th anniversary celebration
Michiganians fretted about political division in the U.S. even as they attended Greenfield Village to celebrate 250 years of the country being together.
Record 24.4M watched USMNT's World Cup win, per Fox Sports
The U.S.' victory against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday night was the most-watched soccer telecast in English language history with more than 24.4 million viewers, according to Fox Sports.
NYC Board of Elections to certify primary results
During a manual recount, each campaign will make its case for votes cast in its favor.
Fox Sports rules analyst Mark Clattenburg: Folarin Balogun red card ‘shouldn’t have been a VAR intervention’
A delightful win for the USMNT on Wednesday night was overshadowed by a questionable red card on striker Folarin Balogun, immediately casting concern over the national team’s next match on Monday as Balogun serves a suspension. The second-half booking came after Balogun became tangled up with a Bosnian defender. In real time, the play did…
Casting Call: Cherokee musical ‘Nanyehi’ hosting auditions July 18-19
Actors, singers and dancers of all ages are encouraged to audition for Cherokee Nation’s historical musical “Nanyehi – The Story of Nancy Ward,” returning to Hard Rock Live Tulsa Oct.
Following attack, LG Health\'s nurse scientist\'s violence prevention efforts to be recognized nationally
As the punches rained down on his face, Christian Burchill was paralyzed by shock.
Apple Eyes 10 Million Foldable iPhones in Major Expansion Move
Apple's Foldable iPhone Strategy Just Got Bigger as Production Forecast Jumps
Northern Lights Forecast: Aurora Could Be Visible In Northern States Today—Days After Powerful X-Class Solar Flare
Forecasters expect a coronal mass ejection and a powerful X-class solar flare could impact the Earth starting on Thursday.
Mia Sara calls this former costar 'a dreamboat of a man'
Mia Sara called her 'Life of Chuck' costar Mark Hamill 'a dreamboat of a man' in a rare podcast interview.
CBS Atlanta's Sam Crenshaw wins 2026 Georgia's Sportscasters of the Year
Video shows masked thieves smashing glass, grabbing items during Bowie business break-in
WBFF Fox45 provides local news, weather forecasts, traffic updates, notices of events and items of interest in the community, sports and entertainment programming for Baltimore and nearby towns and communities in Maryland, including Annapolis, Crofton, Glen Burnie, Linthicum, Pasadena, Severn, Cockeysville, Dundalk, Essex, Parkville, Owings Mills, Towson, White Marsh, Woodlawn, Hampstead, Sykesville, Taneytown, Westminster, Elkton, Perryville, Pt. Deposit, Rising Sun, Aberdeen, Abingdon, Bel Air, Edgewood, Fallston, Havre De Grace, Columbia, Elkridge, Ellicott City, Fulton, and Ocean City.
England vow to ‘keep pounding the rock’ shows Thomas Tuchel will stick with his tactic
Thomas Tuchel forecast how DR Congo was going to play. He got it wrong but at least England do have a plan, and they’re going to stick to it
Johnny Manziel Unloads On Critics Of His 'Hate' For Cleveland
If you're going to insult Johnny Manziel, do it at your own risk. Back in the September of last year, Manziel ripped the Cleveland Browns while on Shannon Sharpe's “Nightcap” podcast. The former Heisman Trophy winner said he wanted the Browns to go 0-16 during the 2025 season. "I think I will ...
Sudden danger: the science and stakes of flash flood forecasting
Flash floods pose a major threat to lives and property. When it comes to researching them, understanding the rain as it falls is only half the battle. The next step is knowing how the water will move once it hits the ground.
This satellite constellation transformed earth science by creatively tuning in to GPS signals
Governments and companies have launched similar constellations to use the method, called GNSS-R, to monitor and forecast wildfires, flooding and more.
Corona maker Constellation Brands tops forecasts as beer business drives earnings growth
Strong beer performance lifts quarterly resultsConstellation Brands Inc Class A (NYSE:STZ) reported first-quarter results ahead of Wall Street expectations, supported by continued strength in its beer division. Adjusted earnings came in at $3.
7 events in Lancaster County this weekend, from an Afroman concert to patriotic events
Get your holiday weekend plans squared away a few days early.
US pullback from NATO echoes the set-up of 'Ernstfall' wargame
The new podcast "Ernstfall" examines the challenges Germany would face in a war crisis without US support.
5 takeaways from Colorado’s shocker of a 2026 primary election
Voters in Colorado’s Democratic primary on Tuesday night mostly let their elected officials know that they’re fed up with the party’s Washington politicians and ready to back the most aggressive fighters they can find. At the same time, the voters who cast ballots in the Republican primary mostly embraced the GOP’s establishment, throwing the beleaguered […]
Tina Peters visits President Donald Trump in the White House
Since her release from prison, Tina Peters has reemerged on the political circuit — appearing over the weekend at the GOP Freedom Fest in Castle Rock and then visiting the White House on Monday to meet with President Donald Trump. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that Peters “just came to the White […]
LA sports radio host torches Lebron in blistering reaction: ‘Wasn’t a Laker’
The longtime broadcaster also suggested the split ultimately boiled down to money, saying he believes contract negotiations played a larger role than basketball considerations.
Regulated Entertainment Platforms Have Built a Home in the NBA
The evolution of entertainment platforms in sports broadcasting has been monumental. See how the technology enhances the viewer experience.
Best of the Beehive: Art & Entertainment
Our 2026 Best of the Beehive Issue is here! ead on for all winners and finalists from the Arts & Entertainment category.
Philadelphia Health Department announces Heat Health Emergency ahead of forecast high temps
A Heat Health Emergency has been declared in Philadelphia by the city's health department beginning at 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 1 through 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 4.
Dale Jr. Fires Back At Criticism Of NASCAR Broadcast
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been involved in the NASCAR media space for a while now, so the legendary driver is used to criticism. Over the weekend, some NASCAR fans expressed frustration with the TNT broadcast, as some believed that the analysts were underestimating the chances of Shane van Gisbergen ...
Splatoon Raiders Direct details enemies, weapons, tanks, customization, upgrades, and more
Nintendo released new information, footage, and screenshots for single-player action shooter Splatoon Raiders during a dedicated Nintendo Direct broadcast today, revealing details on the game’…
Comcast Split Shows Bigger Is No Longer Seen As Better In The Media Business
Comcast's plan to split into two smaller companies may mark the unofficial end of "all under one roof" consolidation in media.
Comcast is spinning out its media business. Deutsche Bank says it's time to buy the stock
Comcast is planning to spin off NBCUniversal, which makes the stock more attractive to own, according to Deutsche Bank.
Comcast is splitting its entertainment and telecoms businesses into two separate companies
The american company Comcast has begun the process of splitting into two companies: Comcast and NBCUniversal.
'I used to feel physically sick
Former road racer Keith Amor admits he misses the thrill of competing at the Isle of Man TT, he tells the BBC Bikes podcast.
Florida lawmakers help bring KIDS Act across House finish line
The online safety package boosts privacy protections for minors and still allows states to impose further restrictions.
Oil markets move from fearing shortages to worrying about surpluses
Global oil supply recovery eases shortage fears as Brent crude falls to $73. Wall Street is lowering forecasts amid demand concerns.
Stephen Amell is now 'best friends' with soccer star Neymar after replying to years-old DM on live TV
Stephen Amell tells EW about the nail-biting moment James Corden took control of his phone on a live Fox Sports broadcast to respond to a years-old DM from Brazilian soccer star Neymar, with whom he's now 'best friends.'
Comcast to Spin Off NBCUniversal Into Standalone Entertainment Company
Comcast announced today that it plans to separate NBCUniversal into its own publicly traded entertainment company, marking one of the biggest corporate restructurings in the company's history. Under the proposed split, NBCUniversal will become an independent entertainment company, separating from C
Netflix and Superheroes Are Having a Rough Stretch on Streaming....
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) I have a quick prediction before we start today’s article: You might see this data in future news articles. Not my specific charts or analysis, but the core trend I’ve been monitoring—Netflix is having a lackluster Q2—will become inescapable. Often, folks want to know “What does the data say?” Well, that’s what it says. I haven’t seen this analysis hit the trades really yet, but I have a feeling some other outlets are going to start making this case soon. Remember, you read it here first. You probably have read about the problems facing superhero films at the box office this weekend. Well, this week, I explore whether superheroes are dying on TV as well! And the data says: definitely maybe! We have a lot to cover in today’s Streaming Ratings Report, which covers the two weeks of 18-May and 25-May. Today, I’m just looking at TV, like Netflix’s disappointing Q2, superhero shows underwhelming, a few TV shows dropping off the charts, The Pitt finally ending its epic run on the viewership charts (and whether “view counts” change its status as one of the biggest shows of all time), all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Tomorrow, I’ve got a great rundown of the film side of things. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, Showlabs, TV Time trend data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of May 18th to May 31st, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Television - Netflix’s Q2 Slump Continues Having analyzed streaming ratings for going on half a decade, I have learned to trust my gut, but I’m always relieved when I can find actual data to back it up. For example, after a string of very popular shows like Stranger Things, Bridgerton, The Lincoln Lawyer and The Night Agent came out, week after week, in January and February, my gut wondered if Netflix had enough new and returning TV shows to sustain them throughout the year. Since then, Netflix’s post-March slate of shows has not impressed me. This week seemed to feature a potential new hit, but then, like a classic Duffer Bros. TV show, there was a twist. I speak of The Boroughs, Netflix’s latest (and last) Duffer Bros. produced show. The pitch is “Stranger Things with older actors”. And it topped the Nielsen charts: With just two weeks of viewership, The Boroughs would have been a top 25 debut show last year: But here’s the twist: Netflix has already cancelled The Boroughs! What happened? Likely a few things. First, the show didn’t do as well globally as it did in the US. As What’s on Netflix showed, it lagged behind several other shows that got cancelled. Second, its completion rate was likely low; after an initial burst of interest, it quickly dropped off on the Samba TV and Luminate charts. Third, the Duffer Bros. left Netflix for Paramount, and that may have factored into Netflix’s decision here. (Though I tend to believe that if a show is doing well, Netflix would have kept greenlighting seasons.) Still, just because I can explain why Netflix may have cancelled this show doesn’t mean I’m justifying it. In particular, as I’ve noted before, Netflix is losing a lot of their bigger shows as they reach their natural ends, and they need to replace those shows. This show had the hallmarks of a big new genre show, and it’s their biggest hit of the last few months (in the US at least), but now it’s done. Netflix’s other show this week—The Four Seasons, the second season of the “hit” show from last year—definitely disappointed. Its sophomore season had about half the viewership of the first, only 12.7 million hours. It also only had a two week run on Samba TV, and its numbers were all down on Luminate too. In other words, even with two successes, the Q2 slump for Netflix looks real: I could add to the list of disappointments: Both Lord of the Files and Man on Fire had short runs on the Nielsen charts. Running Point’s sophomore season also opened to about half its viewership, similar to The Four Seasons. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’s second season—see below—didn’t even make any of the three viewership charts I track, unlike the first season. Netflix is absolutely having a dismal second three months of 2026. If this Nielsen data is any indication, and I think it is, I think this will show up in Netflix’s engagement report, and maybe even their financial outcomes. And the rest of June doesn’t look much better. We have two hit shows coming back—Sweet Magnolias, one of their quietest big shows, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, a big hit for them in 2024—but the other big swings are limited series crime thrillers i.e. no future season potential. Like I said above, sometimes when I uncover a juicy nugget like this, other outlets end up writing very similar articles mimicking the data without credit. We’ll see if that happens this time! Share Television - The State of Superhero Shows on Streaming When I first heard the pitch for Spider-Noir—a Sony TV show on Prime Video that binge-released eight episodes first on MGM+ then on Prime Video two days later—I had my doubts. It’s a live-action Spider-Man show set in the 1930s, starring Nicholas Cage, based on a cameo of a character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. No, seriously, that’s the pitch. That could either go terrifically well or horribly wrong. Great because, Spider-Man. He’s the biggest superhero we have. I’ve seen tracking numbers that put the new _Spider-Man: Brand New Da_y as the blockbuster of the year and initial pre-sales back that up. And yet this Spider-Noir pitch feels very esoteric. (Also, the eight-episode binge release feels very “Amazon copying Netflix” again.) So what’s the data say? And what does this say about the future of superhero shows?
NBCUniversal may enter video game business after Comcast split, sources say
NBCUniversal is eyeing opportunities in digital gaming and new entertainment franchises as the company weighs options for future growth after its planned spinoff from Comcast , according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Exclusive-NBCUniversal May Enter Video Game Business After Comcast Split, Sources Say
By Echo Wang, Dawn Chmielewski and Milana Vinn June 29 - NBCUniversal is eyeing opportunities in digital gaming and new entertainment franchises as the company weighs options for future growth after its planned spinoff from Comcast, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter.
PENN Entertainment to Report Second Quarter Results and Host Conference Call and Webcast on August 6
PENN Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: PENN) announced today that it will release its 2026 second quarter financial results at 7:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, August 6,...
Comcast co-CEO on media business spinoff: We have the freedom now to explore adjacent businesses
Comcast co-CEOs Brian Roberts and Mike Cavanagh discuss the company's decision to spin off their media business.
Comcast cuts NBCUniversal loose. Netflix and Apple may want a look.
Comcast spent 25 years arguing that media and broadband belonged together. Now it's breaking them apart.
Comcast CEO on media business spin off: 'Our philosophy has always been to invest for growth'
Comcast chairman and co-CEO Brian Roberts calls CNBC to discuss the company's decision to spin off their media business.
Comcast is spinning off NBCUniversal media and entertainment assets
Comcast is spinning off its NBCUniversal entertainment and media assets into a separate publicly traded company.
Hayao Miyazaki voice actor Akihiro Miwa dies at 91
Akihiro Miwa has died at age 91. The Hayao Miyazaki voice actor, who played roles in 'Princess Mononoke' and 'Howl's Moving Castle,' was also an iconic singer in Japan.
Comcast Eyes Spinoff of NBCUniversal From Its Core Cable Business
All things being equal, the Comcast-NBCU marriage of the distribution and content assets will have been relatively short-lived.
Read the memo sent to Comcast employees about media spinoff plans
In a memo shared with Comcast employees, the company's co-CEOs spoke of both units' "great business prospects" and "strong balance sheets."
Comcast says it plans to split into two businesses, NBCUniversal and Sky
Current shareholders would receive shares in both companies under the planned split, Comcast said Monday.
Comcast says it will spin off NBCUniversal
Comcast’s media businesses, including NBC, Peacock and Universal, are moving one step closer to a sale.
Comcast Announces Plan To Split Tech And Media Businesses With NBCUniversal Spinoff
The company said it expects the split to be completed within a year, with Comcast’s shareholders owning shares in both companies.
Comcast plans to split into two public companies by spinning of NBCUniversal and Sky
Comcast is planning to split itself into two separate publicly traded companies by spinning off NBCUniversal and Sky
Comcast stock surges as it announces plans to spin off media business
Comcast said it plans to separate its media and technology businesses into two publicly traded companies.
Comcast to split into two companies, spin off NBCUniversal and Sky
The move announced Monday will separate Comcast’s media and entertainment assets from its broadband and wireless business.
Comcast To Separate NBCUniverisal Media And Technology Businesses
Comcast will separate the NBCUniverisal and Sky Media business and technology businesses into two public companies.
Comcast to split its cable business from media through NBCUniversal and Sky spinoff
Comcast said it plans to split into two publicly traded companies through a tax-free spinoff of NBCUniversal and Sky, separating its broadband and wireless business from its media and entertainment assets.
Comcast to split cable business from media through NBCUniversal, Sky spinoff
Comcast will split into two publicly traded companies through a spinoff of NBCUniversal and Sky, separating its cash-generating broadband arm from a media and entertainment business under pressure from streaming rivals and industry consolidation. The latest U.S. media industry shake-up follows years of cord-cutting as legacy players chase scale to better compete with Netflix while Paramount Skydance's $110 billion deal for Warner Bros Discovery is set to boost competition. Comcast, which leans on cable for much of its cash flow, is also losing broadband customers to fixed wireless offerings from T-Mobile and Verizon and to fiber rivals building out networks.
Comcast Plans Company Split, Sending Shares Soaring 22%
The spinoff of NBCUniversal and Sky will separate the company’s connectivity business from its film, theme park and streaming operations.
Comcast announces it will spin off media and tech wings into separate public companies
Comcast said Monday it plans to separate its media and technology businesses into two publicly traded companies.
Comcast Announces Plans to Separate Media and Technology Businesses Into Two Leading Public Companies
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) today announced its intention to separate into two independent publicly traded companies through a tax-free spin-off of N...
PPDS Brings 'Limitless' TV Entertainment To Historic 5 Star Bellevue Syrene Hotel With Philips MediaSuite
PPDS, the exclusive global provider of Philips Professional Displays, has announced that its Philips MediaSuite TV range has been chosen to deliver seamless access to a virtually limitless world of | Delivering modern luxuries to the 18th century hotel in Sorrento, Philips MediaSuite TVs with cast built in are now bringing seamless access to millions of movies, TV shows, games, and streaming apps to guests at one of Italy's most prestigious and exquisite hospitality destinations.
Grand Theft Auto VI Rumored to Offer 60 FPS Mode on PS5/Xbox Series X, But Maybe Not at Launch
One of the reasons Grand Theft Auto VI fans are eager to learn the currently missing details on PS5 Pro enhancements is that the most powerful console available on the market is expected to include a performance mode targeting 60 FPS. However, according to a credible source, there's a decent chance that even the base PlayStation 5 and Microsoft's roughly equivalent Xbox Series X will support 60 FPS in Rockstar's massively anticipated game. The rumor comes from the popular Polish gaming podcast Rock and Borys, which features Remigiusz "Rock" Maciaszek and Borys Nieśpielak. It is the latter who shared in […]
Life Science Reagent Market Forecast Points Higher Toward 2035, Driven by Biopharma Scale-Up and Cell Therapy Expansion
World life science reagent market forecast 2026-2035: CAGR 6-8%, index 2035=185. Bioprocessing, cell therapy, and QC drive growth. Key players: Thermo Fisher, Merck, Danaher.
Minivan crashes into vacant Benson business
WOWT 6 News 10 p.m. Sunday newscast
Reports: Diomande agrees PSG move from Leipzig
Ivory Coast forward Yan Diomande has decided to leave RB Leipzig for Paris Saint-Germain, according to media reports. Broadcasters Sky and RMC, as well as transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano, reported on Sunday that the 19-year-old has agreed a five-year contract with the French Champions League winners.
Jodie Sweetin praises “Better Call Saul ”actor cast as dad in “Full House ”pilot, but Bob Saget was always 'first choice'
Saget was engaged to cohost CBS' "The Morning Program" when he got the call for "Full House," which led to his absence in the original pilot.
Jodie Sweetin praises 'Better Call Saul' actor first cast as 'Full House' dad, but Bob Saget was No. 1 choice
Bob Saget nearly missed the chance to play Danny Tanner on 'Full House,' and though he was casting's 'first choice,' Jodie Sweetin says this 'Better Call Saul' star was 'very sweet' in the original pilot.
Katy Perry cancels music festival performance at the last minute: 'They gave me no choice'
Katy Perry apologizes after her Werchter Boutique performance was canceled at the last minute, tells fans 'I am just as unhappy as you are.'
NBC Announces Plans For Special 'Star-Spangled Sunday'
NBC is having a special "Star-Spangled Sunday" broadcast next weekend. Next Sunday is July 5, 2026. It's a very special Fourth of July weekend this year. It's America's 250th birthday. NBC and Peacock will be airing all 15 MLB games on Sunday, July 5. Two games - Mets-Braves and Padres-Dodgers - ...
Pennsylvania measles outbreak tops 70 cases as health leaders pledge to get spread ‘under control’
The most recent measles outbreak started in the area of Lebanon and Lancaster counties in late April. Cases now span six counties.
How did EBS science show reach Netflix's top 10?
For years, South Korea’s public Educational Broadcasting System has struggled to rival the massive budgets of global streaming originals and star-driven mainstr
Trump’s Great American State Fair attendees say they haven’t noticed politics overshadowing the celebration
The gloomy, overcast weather on Saturday didn’t disturb visitors who attended the first weekend of President Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair, an event commemorating America’s 250th anniversar...
Conor Sen: This demographic cliff is reshaping universities. Cities are next
An undergraduate enrollment shortfall at Syracuse University is the latest sign that long-forecast demographic pressures are taking their toll on large and well-known institutions, too. Syracuse laid blame on the
Lingering distrust, low vaccine rates threaten containment of Lancaster measles outbreak
LANCASTER, Pa. — A growing distrust of health professionals seems to be undermining their efforts in central and southeastern Pennsylvania to stop...
Inside country legend Alan Jackson\'s triumphant finale concert
Country music legend Alan Jackson has ended his touring career. On Saturday night, he performed his final show at Nashville's Nissan Stadium. The event, titled “Last Call: One More for
“RuPaul's Drag Race” star reveals queen dropped out of “All Stars 11 ”cast“ ”before filming (exclusive)
Jasmine Kennedie tells EW which one of her franchise sisters exited before filming — and the queen in question responds!
GTA 6 has no plans for a post-launch physical release, "not at launch, and not months later", insists new report
A new report has cast doubt on news that a physical version of Grand Theft Auto 6 will follow the digital release later this year after all.
Politics Unplugged Podcast: Headlines with Stacy Pearson and Marcus Dell’Artino
The Politics Unplugged panel breaks down a possible Arizona special session tied to ESA vouchers, union protections and ballot measures. The discussion centers on whether lawmakers could unwind late-night legislation that angered teachers, police and firefighters. They also examine Gov. Katie Hobbs’ political leverage and why both parties may have reasons to cut a deal. Later, the podcast turns to Trump tax cuts, Democratic Socialists, the White House reflecting pool controversy and the World Cup.
As Pa. measles outbreak worsens, state health official issue strong call to action: 'We are not just sitting back and watching this virus spread'
LANCASTER, Pa. — State Health Secretary Debra Bogen on Friday issued a strong call to action in the wake of a measles outbreak not seen in Pennsylvania...
'The Bear' ending explained – Jeremy Allen White, cast unpack finale
Warning: This story contains spoilers from the Season 5 finale of “The Bear,” now streaming on Hulu. Clear the plates and pack the linens – “The Bear” has served its
Friday Morning Politics: As Goes New York...?
Lisa Kashinsky talks about the national implications of New York's Democratic primary results.
Pennsylvania’s Health Secretary unveils plan to combat measles outbreaks
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) — Pennsylvania’s Health Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen was in Lancaster County on Friday, giving an update about the measles outbreak in the state, with most of …
Bunnie Xo says she told ‘so many girls’ to DM Jelly Roll amid divorce: 'Good luck with that'
Bunnie Xo said that she told 'so many girls' to DM Jelly Roll amid their divorce. The country star filed for divorce from the podcaster in May after nearly 10 years of marriage.
Strictly Business Cannes Lions: Deloitte, AWS, Sony Execs on AI and Tech Adoption
Variety Strictly Business Podcast Live presented by AWS & Deloitte featured Deloitte's Michelle McGuire, AWS's Ruba Borno, and Sony Pictures Entertainment's Pete Wood.
Strictly Business Cannes Lions: Deloitte, AWS, Sony Execs on AI and Tech Adoption
Variety Strictly Business Podcast Live presented by AWS & Deloitte featured Deloitte's Michelle McGuire, AWS's Ruba Borno, and Sony Pictures Entertainment's Pete Wood.
Athlete of the Year finalist: Penn Manor standout provided the power for Comets in 3 sports
Anneli Starry didn’t know what she had in Joelle Kroesen. The Penn Manor girls lacrosse coach labeled the then-freshman as a swing — an athlete who is rostered on two
Samsung will soon start charging to access its smart home API
Regular users could get caught by Samsung’s new $4.99 monthly charge for individual developers.
Lancaster County public sales: June 26, 2026
Witman Auctioneers Inc., of Manheim, conducted a public auction of real estate June 11 for the Dorothy McVey estate at 22 Sleepy Hollow Road, Nottingham. A two-bedroom mobile home on
Karl Stefanovic Speaks Out on Nine Exit After Tommy Robinson Scandal
The 'Today' host declares himself 'free' in a YouTube statement after Nine ends his contract following a deleted Tommy Robinson podcast episode.
NC Democrats demand lower utility costs + budget talks drag on as deadline nears
Read our Under the Dome newsletter and listen to our Under the Dome podcast to stay up to date on #ncpol.
Making Our Own Luck
We are cross-posting a piece that former NIH official Kris Willis wrote for Macroscience. Kris is now the President and Founder of the Woodley Park Institute, for which I’m a board member. Picking winners or hedging bets? Federal science agencies have long wrestled with the question of how to ensure their billions of dollars of grants and contracts result in maximum benefits for Americans. On the surface, it might seem that a goal-oriented, interventionist style of management would be the best policy: prioritize our most pressing problems and distribute funding accordingly.This top-down strategy creates a unique hazard, though: bad choices can send resources in the wrong direction, resulting in slow progress that impedes the delivery of tangible benefits to citizens. Moreover, if decision makers pursue an applied advance when the underlying scientific principles remain poorly understood, they risk costly failures and a loss of support for the research enterprise at large. Examples include Nixon’s 1971 War on Cancer, undertaken on the premise that a cure could be achieved in less than a decade, the drive to build an operational commercial fusion plant by the mid-1990s, and the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease, which failed to produce the effective treatments and prevention strategies promised by 2025. The contrasting laissez-faire approach is to hedge your bets. If the path to an advance is impossible to predict, then the wisest choice might be to distribute funding to as widely as possible. The main risk of this strategy is that spreading funding thinly may limit the resources available to the most promising research, resulting in the same negative outcomes as the interventionist approach: limited support for the most promising topics, slow progress, and delayed returns. In reality, at science agencies like the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, program managers navigate between these two extremes, setting some funds aside to target high-priority areas and using the rest to cover the widest possible range of meritorious proposals. This middle path seems like the most rational way to proceed, but it still requires making choices. How much should be set aside for high priority topics? What should those topics be? How should we define merit? Expert opinion can provide a helpful guide, but leading experts can have remarkably different opinions about what matters and what should be prioritized. Moreover, experts and administrators alike can be risk averse, giving an edge to high-profile, well-established concepts. What’s really needed is a data-driven framework to help guide decision-making, one that doesn’t simply repackage prestige or incumbency. Recognizing breakthroughs years in advance Many breakthroughs fail to attract funding or recognition at the earliest stages of development. Katalin Karikó, for example, spent years struggling to win grants for work on mRNA that would eventually win her and Drew Weissman a Nobel Prize. Similar stories can be told about Jim Allison’s groundbreaking studies leading to the development of cancer immunotherapy, Stan Pruisner’s demonstration that prions can self-replicate without DNA, or Robin Warren and Barry Marshall’s proof that Helicobacter pylori, not stress, causes ulcers. Yet at some point, the scientific community recognizes and responds to transformative breakthroughs like these. How does that change happen? And what if science funders could identify the areas that are on the cusp of a breakthrough? Those questions led my collaborators and me to study how scientists responded to past breakthroughs. Based on patterns in that data, we developed a means of predicting future breakthroughs, using biomedicine as a proof of concept. It’s worth taking a moment to describe how our approach works. Briefly, our prediction process begins by grouping the 18 million or so peer-reviewed papers in PubMed, the authoritative database of biomedical research, into roughly 50,000 unique topics. A small subset of these topics are so widely acclaimed as breakthroughs that they have been recognized with a major prize like a Nobel or a Lasker Award. We theorized that studying the development of these outliers over time, especially before they gained acclaim, was the key to identifying future instances of them. After defining topics, we chose 21 representative breakthroughs and asked what they looked like before they won prestigious prizes. To answer that question, we re-ran our topic-mapping algorithm repeatedly, winding back the clock one year each time, stringing together the years to follow the progress of each field as it grew and advanced. We found that in each case, the years leading up to a discovery followed a pattern: a burst of papers on a new, rapidly evolving topic, many of which quickly became influential. These characteristics—the percent of papers that are new, the percentage of papers that are brought in from other topics, and the influence of each individual paper—can all be measured separately for any given topic. Together, they act as a predictive signal that is detectable an average of five years before a transformative discovery is made, and up to thirty years before the discovery receives a major prize. Scanning the current research landscape for topics that display this signal allows us to predict what work will likely produce a future breakthrough. Each year we analyzed includes four or five signals, a number that appears to have remained constant across a twenty year time frame. In their classic work on the sociology of science, Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar established that the desire to participate in a major discovery is an important motivator for scientists as they consider whether they should take up (or abandon) a research problem. Although further work is needed, the simplest explanation for our results is that this behavior is widespread enough to detect at scale. A foundational advance, or something like it, draws the attention of scientists and causes them to change the direction of their research. They vote with their feet, staking their own reputation and careers by publishing on and citing the new idea. That upswell of interest is the foundation of our breakthrough signal. What kind of research does our model identify as a breakthrough? After building a model based on the patterns in our 21 preselected breakthroughs, we tested it by identifying all early signals of discovery from 1994 through 1997. Of the 18 signals we found in that time period, 17 can be traced forward in time to a breakthrough. Examples include super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (see the image above), the directed evolution of proteins and enzymes (Chemistry Nobel, 2018), and sequencing the human genome (National Medal of Science, 2008). The discovery of the role of leptin signaling in obesity is a particularly interesting case study. Around 1950, scientists noticed the existence of a type of lab mouse that suffered from a unique inherited form of obesity. When given the freedom to choose their own diet, these mice ate more than normal and preferred food that was high in fat. Researchers had few clues as to why the animals overate; early experiments pointed to the existence of a soluble ob factor found circulating in the bloodstream that regulated appetite, but its identity was unknown. In 1994, Jeffrey Friedman and colleagues identified and sequenced the ob gene, noting that the protein it encoded appeared to fit the profile of a circulating factor. A year later, a trio of high-profile publications demonstrated that ob was a hormone that regulated body weight and fat deposition by regulating appetite. One of these was co-authored by Friedman, who christened it leptin from the ancient Greek word for thin. Using our model, the data from 1996 make it clear this advance would become a breakthrough. Scientists had flocked to study the biology of the new hormone, generating the flurry of new papers and citations required to produce a signal. One of these demonstrated that serum leptin concentrations reflected the amount of adipose tissue in the human body, providing clinical validation of the earlier mouse studies. Before the identification of leptin, scientists were unable to point to a specific molecule that controlled appetite and adiposity, so that it was impossible to rule out non-physiological causes of obesity; its characterization fundamentally changed our concept of weight gain. In 2010, Friedman and fellow pioneer Douglas Coleman were awarded a Lasker for the discovery. Our work also identifies breakthroughs in clinical practice and behavioral and social sciences, even though these areas are less likely to draw the attention of major prize committees. One example that falls into this category is the introduction of endovascular aneurysm repair, a minimally invasive surgical procedure for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm, a leading cause of death among Americans over the age of 65. Relative to the previous standard of care, it reduces in-hospital mortality by almost four-fold. In 2017, Timothy Chuter received the American College of Surgeons’ prestigious Jacobsen Innovation award for his multiple refinements to the technique. Another under-recognized breakthrough identified by our model is the development of standardized survey instruments to assess the quality of life for HIV+ patients. The antiretroviral cocktails introduced in the mid-1990s reduced AIDS mortality, but treatment came with serious side effects. The new evaluations showed that patients whose disease progressed had worse physical functioning than Americans with other chronic diseases, while those who were asymptomatic maintained a health-related quality of life on par with the overall US population. This evidence made it possible for patients and activists to argue that even in the absence of a total cure, and in spite of the side effects, alleviation of symptoms was a worthwhile priority for clinicians. My colleagues and I have failed to identify any significant recognition for the physicians and health policy experts who pioneered this advance, although in 2016, researchers called for the World Health Organization to set targets for good health-related quality of life as part of its framework to end the AIDS pandemic. From forecasting to funding How should science funders use our predictions? Any serious discussion of what we should do with this new capability needs to begin with an understanding of its limitations. We can’t (and shouldn’t) invest all of our resources in the small number of topics predicted to produce breakthroughs. Innovative new fields are born from existing ones; they rarely arise de novo. If funders don’t maintain a diverse portfolio, the breakthroughs of tomorrow will have no antecedents. Think of this as eating the seed corn, or killing the goose that lays the golden egg. There are also multiple goals of funding beyond basic scientific discovery, including translating discoveries into clinical practice, developing new technologies, supporting economic development, and training new scientists. The investments needed to accomplish these goals are likely different from those required to support emerging breakthroughs. Finally, we must be aware that we may not capture every instance of a breakthrough. The concept is fuzzy, and not every significant discovery is recognized with a major award. Further, breakthroughs are rare, meaning that our dataset is, by necessity, small. This makes formal estimates of accuracy challenging. Although our overall success rate appears to be high, any one signal may turn out to be a false positive. We found one apparent example: the development of the third generation COX-2 inhibitors, Vioxx and Celebrex, which were much celebrated in the early 2000s as effective but non-addictive pain relievers, meets all the algorithmic criteria of a breakthrough. Five years after it received FDA approval, researchers demonstrated that Vioxx was associated with serious cardiovascular complications, and the manufacturer voluntarily pulled the drug from the market. Celebrex remains available, although like other NSAIDs, it carries an FDA warning for increased cardiovascular risk. Decision makers who were overly focused on the breakthrough potential of this research might have wasted substantial resources nurturing an area that ultimately proved to be a failure—but so would those who relied on expert opinion at the time. That said, the potential benefits of funding the next mRNA vaccine or cancer immunotherapy years earlier than we might have are large. When we can’t assume the outcome of an action, it’s worth conducting an experiment. Can targeted support for areas that are poised to produce a breakthrough increase the return on scientific investment without cannibalizing future advances? With the necessary administrative infrastructure in place, conducting this experiment would be straightforward. First, identify all the breakthrough signals between 2018 and 2023, select half at random, and commit to a decade of investment. For biomedicine, a six year window should yield about 30 topics with the potential to produce a breakthrough. Providing strong support to half of these might be accomplished for $300 million a year. That’s roughly half of the recent annual budget of the NIH Common Fund or around 20% of the fiscal year 2025 budget for ARPA-H. After five years, then again at ten, compare to see which group — the one that was actively managed, or the control — produced more breakthroughs, and on what timescale. Although we used biomedicine as an example, the same experiment could just as well be run for physics, materials science, or any other discipline. Any attempt to undertake such an experiment should keep three points top of mind. First, we can predict the topic of future breakthroughs, but the people and vision for how to move the work forward are still important. In practice, this means success requires active program managers with the expertise to develop the science and the authority to do so, including by recruiting investigators. Second, we would be wise to learn from the failures of past attempts to fund transformative research. High among these are funding modestly repackaged work, confusing the genuinely novel with the merely unfamiliar, and relying too much on incumbent investigators. All of these risks can be mitigated by thoroughly and intelligently integrating high quality data into portfolio management. Finally, we need to have patience. Even with strong funding support, producing a breakthrough takes time. If supporting breakthroughs is the best way to nurture the birth of new fields, we also need to accurately describe and properly manage the other two stages, so that we invest wisely throughout the productive lifetime of ideas and divest once they reach the point of diminishing returns. We would benefit from more study of all of these phases, especially the transition from one to another. More research could answer questions like: When does a breakthrough become an established field? How do the availability of funding, the size and characteristics of the available workforce, and the accumulation of evidence that disagrees with prevailing models affect a field’s decline? Exactly how do old ideas give birth to new ones, and can we speed up the process? The more we understand about the dynamics of scientific progress, the better we can maximize the odds that our curiosity leads to results. I’d call that finding a way to make our own luck.
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