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China builds world’s first custom plant immunity system for epidemic response
Students prioritize health amid college life
Today’s generation of college students rate their well-being as a priority, with a pandemic experience and online resources providing a foundation for it. ...
No, AI Probably Won’t Cure Cancer Anytime Soon, Scientists Say
Eric Topol is a prominent cardiologist known for his research into deploying AI and other technologies to improve healthcare. He considers himself a Demis Hassabis superfan, and when I spoke to him, he enthusiastically recounted scoring a blurb from the Google DeepMind chair for “Super Agers,” ...
ULM receives grant from Louisiana Department of Health to expand health science offerings
ULM is expanding its health science offerings, thanks to a grant of more than $2 million from the Louisiana De...
New cohort of Penn State Emerging Academic Leaders announced for fall 2026
The Penn State Office of Faculty Affairs and Human Resources Talent Management have announced the selection of 27 faculty and academic leaders for the fall 2026 Penn State Emerging Academic Leaders program.
Nicolais School of Business gets new home, permanent dean
Michael Driscoll, Ed.D., who served as interim dean for the past year, has been appointed dean, as the school and its faculty move to the DaSilva Academic Center on Wagner’s new extended campus, formerly the Staten Island campus of St. John’s University.
From Vine to Dropout: How Demi Adejuyigbe has shaped their career
"Most of my conversations are convincing people to dance or to bake."
Mental health workers say algorithmic triage is hurting patients
Therapists, clinicians, academic experts and advocates say hasty integration of AI is eroding patients’ access to timely mental health care.
Decker College celebrates achievements and welcomes new faces in 2026-27
At Binghamton University’s Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences, excitement is in the air faculty, students, and staff embark on the 2026-27 academic year.
Watch Post-Strike Movie Supply is Driving Theatre Demand, Vue Entertainment CEO says
Vue Entertainment CEO Tim Richards says the chain may see its strongest summer box office since the pandemic. "What we are seeing this year is all the movies in the post-strike period now hitting out screens. But we are also seeing the studios and content-makers producing and releasing movies at unprecedented levels." He speaks to Bloomberg's Guy Johnson, Tom Mackenzie, and Skylar Montgomery Koning.
IMG Academy's Class of 2026 Reinforces Power of Sports Education with College Sports Placement Rate 11x the National Average
IMG Academy's Class of 2026 Reinforces Power of Sports Education with College Sports Placement Rate 11x the National AverageGraduates land 34 commitments to Top 25 schools, 11 to Ivy League ...
iPhone 18 Pro: Pre-Orders and Release Date?
Apple has yet to reveal when the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra will be announced and released, but the dates usually follow a familiar pattern. As usual, the iPhone event is expected to take place in the first half of September. Labor Day falls on September 7 this year. The last time the holiday was on that day was in 2020, but the iPhone event that year was delayed until October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
App State named a business education leader in U.S. and worldwide for 2026–27
App State has been recognized as a leader in business education for the 2026–27 academic year, with five notable publications naming the university’s Walker College of Business and its business bachelor’s and master’s programs among the best in the nation and world.
Hardware spending in the US was so low in July that it nearly matched the 2020 Pandemic days when everything was out of stock
In the US, spending across video game software and hardware continued its decline during July.
Stevenson School opens new science and math centers in Del Monte Forest
Stevenson School has opened two new academic centers, replacing an older building and featuring eco-friendly designs funded entirely by donors.
From college sports to writing a book: Meet the powerhouse athlete balancing athletics and academics
From competing for one of the top programs in college sports to writing a sci-fi novel, Osawese Agbonkonkon is taking "giving it your all" to a whole new level.
Salma Hayek Pinault stars in fiery trailer for Angelina Jolie’s ‘Without Blood’: ‘How can God forgive you?’
Oscar-nominated actors Salma Hayek Pinault and Demián Bichir crackle opposite each other in the new look at the war drama ‘Without Blood’ from writer-director Angelina Jolie.
North Carolina invests in fast-track training to combat child care worker shortages, center closures
The General Assembly is spending $1.5 million to expand free, two-week child care worker training academies statewide.
Whistleblower alleges political pressure, lack of evidence in antisemitism probes targeting schools
The complaint alleges that the investigations into some of the nation’s most prestigious academic institutions were designed to strong-arm the schools into cutting deals for political purposes.
Anne M. Brown named to National Academies' New Voices program
Brown, associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, has been named to the 2026-28 New Voices cohort, recognizing emerging leaders in science, engineering, and medicine.
When AI meets global health: Who governs, who benefits and what works?
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly embedded in health systems worldwide, questions about how these technologies should be governed, evaluated, and implemented have become as consequential as the technologies themselves. Across a four-part virtual discussion series convened by the Harvard Global Health Institute (HGHI) in partnership with the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School this spring, experts from academia, multilateral organizations, government, philanthropy, and civil society examined the opportunities, challenges, and key questions shaping AI’s role in global health.
Matthew Yglesias on Abundance and the Politics of Energy - Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA
Hear in-depth conversations with the world’s top energy and climate leaders from government, business, academia, and civil society.
CMS announces QualTech event focusing on innovative technology to improve health outcomes
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday announced the launch of QualTech, a new event created to identify innovative technology that improves health outcomes. CMS is seeking participants from U.S-based teams, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, private sector companies, industry associations and other stakeholders to propose technology solutions in advance of the event.
Paving the way for public health careers
UIC’s Pre-Health Academic Readiness Program prepares first-year students for campus life.
Spend more on vet services to curb pandemic threat, says animal health body
Head of global organisation says billions of dollars needed to curb risks of mass culls
Pass Christian elementary school named Emerging Science of Reading School for 2026-2027
Pineville Elementary in Pass Christian was named one of Mississippi’s emerging science of reading schools for the 2026-2027 academic year.
Korean, Japanese restaurant in Oakley closes after more than a decade in business
Since opening in 2014 and surviving the Covid-19 Pandemic, the couple has felt the Oakley community’s warmth for more than a decade.
Stunned by a glowing green light: what happened when the ground lit up at night? - Futura-Sciences
The Aurora Hunter of Alaska Vincent Ledvina is a doctoral student in space physics, but don’t be fooled by the academic credentials—he’s also a social media star. Ledvina scours the Alaskan skies night after night, always on the lookout for the magical spectacle of the Northern Lights, and he regularly...
Seton Hall's Unique Summer Immersion Program Helps Students Discover T
Through hands-on learning, simulations and faculty mentorship, Seton Hall helps high school students explore healthcare professions and prepare for future academic and career success.
Watch Arsenal Women u17s in Shanghai Cup
Arsenal’s next generation of talent will test themselves against some of Europe’s leading academies this week as the club’s Under-17 women’s side heads to Shanghai for an inaugural internation...
‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ leads domestic box office to stunning return to pre-pandemic form
‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ is leading the charge, along with ‘The Odyssey,’ in boosting 2026’s summer box office to historic new heights, with grosses 5.7 percent ahead of the summer 2019 box office.
Who will champion science in Congress?
In public academic institutions there’s a bit of wisdom that to get anything done, you need a champion. Not just a good idea that you forward to administrators in an email, but a person who’s going to…
Outbreaks threaten HHS ‘real food’ agenda
Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. wants America to “eat real food” as a solution to the chronic disease epidemic, but that message is being lost amid outbreaks of foodborne illness and a health…
Cambridge University defends its mental health support for Jason Arday
University says it continued to provide support after resignation of academic, who was found dead this week
Bexar County health department at risk as ARPA money runs out
Just four years in, Bexar County's public health department faces an uncertain future as the pandemic-era funding it relied on dries up.
“I Have A Lot Of Problems”- Novak Djokovic Opens Up About Health Struggles In Heat After Shock Cincinnati Open Exit
The sweltering heat of Ohio has put an end to Novak Djokovic’s Cincinnati run, but losing the match is just one part of the story. The Serb has now revealed that an underlying health issue, which gets worse during humid conditions, was the real factor behind his untimely demise from Cincinnati.
Bernie-backed California House candidate called DEI a ‘social justice-driven duty,’ embraced activist role
Bernie Sanders-backed California candidate Randy Villegas promoted DEI as a "social justice-driven duty" in his academic writings on community colleges.
Bruce Willis makes rare public appearance at daughter’s wedding amid dementia battle
Tallulah Willis, the daughter of the “Die Hard” star and ex Demi Moore, married Justin Acee last week.
The Pandemic Decimated Chicago’s Famous Loop. Now, New Business Openings and $673 Million in Investment Are Fueling Its Recovery
A new report finds office vacancies are leveling off and businesses are filling empty storefronts.
Premier League: Why clubs are targeting EFL academy players
Premier League clubs are continuing to recruit young players from EFL and Scottish academies for their U21 and B-team squads.
Large-Scale Pokémon Eviction Looms With Pokémon Bank Server Shutdown
After the Nintendo 3DS handheld console saw most its online services including the online store (eShop) taken offline not too long ago, it was only a matter of time before the demise of even the re…
Patent before publication without limiting open science
Patent before publication when research has broader potential. See how technology transfer in academia can extend a discovery without limiting open science.
Is there a summer COVID-19 surge this year? Yep, it's ramping up again
Just like all previous summers since the pandemic began, COVID-19 cases are ticking up again, even while other health threats make more headlines.
What Does Science Say When “the Science” Refuses to Speak?
The data from the COVID-19 pandemic must be objectively reviewed and defended. Invoking science means accepting responsibility for outcomes and interpretations of the results.
A new happy hour in the Marigny features a special performer: A singing dog named Skinny
After decades at Pat O’Brien’s, the pandemic forced Henrietta Alves to find a new gig. She didn’t expect to get a singing dog as a bandmate in the Marigny, but that’s exactly what happened.
‘Cause we (still) rock! The Jonas Brothers introduce a new generation in nostalgia-filled Camp Rock 3
Get behind-the-scenes details of ‘Camp Rock 3’ with Joe, Kevin, and Nick Jonas — including what it was like to reunite with Demi Lovato — and meet the new cast of stars in EW’s exclusive cover story.
AI needs science’s search history
“Actually, that’s where the gold is,” said Alasdair Russell, my graduate school friend who leads a pre-clinical genome editing group at Cambridge. He was talking about the winding road of science that is omitted from published papers. “When you’re discussing how to do the experiment, and why this way is better than another way, and what does the data really mean? I know what it shows, but what does it mean?” At RAAIS 2026, he described how his group has begun logging the twisting path of discovery as it happens, recording the verbal and written exchanges that normally disappear. Ideas become nodes in a living graph: they branch when a meeting produces two plausible experiments, merge when separate lines of evidence converge, and go dark when someone quietly stops pursuing them. In his implementation, one agent scores novelty, while another tries to learn “how scientists think and how they navigate through a complex world of data,” so that high-potential nodes can trigger deeper investigation. As frontier AI labs deploy agents toward scientific discovery, giving AI authentic scientific taste remains a trillion-dollar dilemma. The bottleneck is that the record we have kept for centuries of science might be insufficient to get us there. The experiments that never make the paper Peter Medawar, 1960 Nobel laureate and “father of transplantation,” asked in 1963 whether the scientific paper was a fraud, and answered yes: the form of the paper misrepresents the thinking that produced it. Sixty years on, the diagnosis is unchanged. A paper presents a clean progression from hypothesis to result to conclusion. Lost along the way are the unconventional theories, the abandoned or unaffordable methods, and the underwhelming and inconclusive data. It reads like a browser history with every dead end deleted: the ten open tabs, the four rephrased queries, the wrong turn down a subforum. All scrubbed, leaving one clean path from question to answer as the canonical path. What has changed since then is that the discarded material is now worth something. No high-impact journal wants these artifacts, but raw trial and error is the most likely source of the training data required to develop scientific intuition, or what researchers call taste. Earlier attempts to capture the discards were motivated by scientific integrity. The Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine launched in 2002 to publish rigorous studies that disputed established models or exposed ineffective treatments. Its archive preserved negative conclusions after they had become papers, rather than the live alternatives and arguments that produced them. BioMed Central closed it in 2017, saying the mission had been served now that other journals publish null results. A less generous reading is that in fifteen years it published around 200 papers because almost nobody wants to read a negative result, let alone write one up when it will not count toward academic tenure. AI models are different. Even an uninteresting negative result can be useful, provided it is labeled. Earlier this year, Anthropic put a version of this to the test. The company pulled 129 decision points from real Claude Code sessions between January and March 2026, showed models the work up to a human detour, and asked what should happen next. Claude Mythos Preview beat the human choice 64% of the time, while Opus 4.5 managed 51%. The comparison was tilted toward the models because Anthropic deliberately chose moments where the human decision had room for improvement. On 127 further scenarios where the human action was already strong, the models improved on it only about 20% of the time. The study was possible because Anthropic’s researchers work inside a tool that logs by default. The reasoning, detours and outcome are produced in the same working environment. Biology has no equivalent. Its reasoning happens in hallways, at benches, in Slack threads and on whiteboards, while the outcome arrives weeks later somewhere else. The record has to emerge from the work itself. Ask scientists to reconstruct it afterwards and we’ll create another polished account. Subscribe A log is not a label Before any of this becomes training data, a negative result has to say what failed. The first paper published in the Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine examined 234 negative studies across five leading medical journals. Only 30% discussed statistical power, and half clearly defined a primary outcome. Tell a model an experiment failed, without telling it whether the assay was underpowered, a reagent had degraded, or the hypothesis was simply wrong, and it will learn noise with confidence. Decision histories have a second missing label too. When a lab considers five experiments and runs one, only the chosen branch returns an outcome. The other four are experimental counterfactuals. Researchers call this the selective labels problem: the data reveal results only for the actions someone chose to take. Such a record can teach a model to imitate a lab’s taste, but it cannot establish that the taste was good. It also smuggles local constraints into general lessons. A lab that never ran cryo-EM because it did not own a microscope teaches a model that cryo-EM is rarely the right call. Alasdair’s nodes preserve the candidate set, which is the necessary first step. To be useful, each decision record needs six fields: The evidence available at that moment, and nothing that arrived later. The candidates considered, including the ones dismissed in a sentence. For each candidate: the expected result, the confidence attached to it, and the cost in time and money. The route chosen, and the reason. What happened next. How the evidence changed the scientist’s view. These must be timestamped before the outcome, because hindsight turns uncertainty into inevitability. Disagreement also has to survive. Averaging three scientists into one clean rationale reproduces exactly the information loss we are trying to fix. But there is an obvious failure mode here. Once decisions are logged and scored, people log for the record post-facto. Anyone who has watched an electronic lab notebook fill up with retrospective tidying knows how quickly a research tool becomes a compliance exercise. A record that costs a scientist ten minutes of honest reflection per decision is worth far more than one that costs an hour of performance. A publication initiative called Registered Reports offers a useful starting point. Here, researchers submit their rationale, methods and analysis plan for peer review before the data exist, and the journal commits in principle to publish if they follow the approved plan. Nature has now expanded the format across every field it covers. This approach to paper writing timestamps intent before the outcome, but it freezes one plan. A useful search history must also preserve how the plan changed, which alternatives were rejected, when, and on what evidence. Subscribe Run the runner-up Autonomous labs show what happens when decisions and outcomes are connected in a loop. Liverpool’s mobile robotic chemist ran 688 experiments over eight days in a ten-variable formulation space. A batched Bayesian search used each result to choose the next experiments and found photocatalyst mixtures six times more active than the starting formulations. Every completed experiment changed what the system did next. The robot optimized within a goal and search space that humans had already chosen. It did not decide which scientific question mattered. So what this work demonstrates is narrower, but still useful: a search history pays off when the options return standardized outcomes quickly. Open-ended biology is harder because branches can take weeks and the discarded alternatives may never be run. Some exploration therefore has to be bought. Where two branches are plausible and the stakes justify the cost, a lab should sometimes run the runner-up. Otherwise the record captures what today’s scientists usually chose and stays silent on what they systematically overlooked. A funder could ring-fence a small fraction of a grant for the branch not taken, provided that the decision record and the outcome are both deposited. That costs money, but so does having every lab rediscover the same abandoned path. Test whether taste transfers When it comes time to evaluate if our new AI system exhibits taste, the comparison should run across laboratories and fields. At selected decision points in a live research campaign, we should freeze the six fields: the evidence, the candidates, expected results, confidence, costs and the choice made. Experts then rank the options before the outcomes are known, and those outcomes are checked independently later. We could give models one of two diets - papers alone, or papers plus decision histories - and ask them to rank the next experiment on unfamiliar projects. Then, we score information gained per dollar and week, calibration, and how quickly weak branches are abandoned. If histories improve choices only inside the lab that produced them, they amount to useful organizational memory. If they improve choices on unfamiliar problems elsewhere, Alasdair’s group will have captured something science has never managed to write down: a transferable record of taste. Until that happens, a scientific search history is a promising record, not yet a training set.
The NSF’s Ph.D.-to-Industry Pipeline Push
The majority of STEM Ph.D.s take jobs outside academia. While some universities help them prepare, the National Science Foundation is now investing millions to boost those efforts.
Beloved 'Romeo Theatre' to close as business failed to bounce back after pandemic
After 40 years, the Romeo Theatre is announcing its closing its doors in mid-September. The family-owned theater has delighted moviegoers for decades who are sad to see it go.
Demi Moore shares intimate photos of daughter Tallulah Willis’ wedding dress fitting: ‘So grateful’
Demi Moore shared an emotional celebration of her and Bruce Willis’ daughter Tallulah Willis, including intimate wedding dress photos: ‘Grateful we were able to share this precious event together.’
Small Business Spotlight: Specialty dental practice takes root on Market St.
WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO OPEN BLUE HERON ROOT CANAL SPECIALISTS? OWNER SARAH ERMOSHKIN: “I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart. When I was 23 years old, I owned a cafe in Seattle, where I even fought to oppose oppressive sales taxes on espresso drinks. After selling that business, I got married and started a family. Once my children were in school, I attended dental school through the Navy Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP), which covered my tuition and provided a stipend. From the beginning, my goal was to eventually own my own practice after completing my military service. The work I do is incredibly rewarding and being able to create an environment that puts patients first while helping employees grow professionally makes every day as a business owner meaningful.” WHAT DOES YOUR BUSINESS PROVIDE? ERMOSHKIN: “Endodontists are often called ‘pain doctors’ because our primary mission is to relieve pain and save natural teeth. We specialize in root canal therapy, retreatment of nonhealing root canals, treatment of root resorption, apicoectomies – microsurgical root-end procedures – and vital pulp therapy for children. Our goal is to preserve teeth that might otherwise need to be extracted and replaced with implants. Saving a patient’s natural tooth is almost always the best long-term solution for their oral health.” HOW DOES YOUR MILITARY TRAINING HELP YOUR BUSINESS? ERMOSHKIN: “My military service taught me how to lead, collaborate and make decisions under pressure. I worked closely with senior leadership while treating a large patient population and collaborating with specialists across multiple disciplines. During the COVID-19 pandemic, (I) served a dual role as Navy dentist and as the public affairs officer for Naval Health Clinic Annapolis, where I helped develop medical and dental communications for the midshipmen and support staff, while coordinating with the broader Navy Capital Region. We worked closely with other military treatment facilities to share best practices and deliver consistent public health messaging. Those leadership experiences continue to shape how I lead my team and serve our patients today.” WHAT CHALLENGES ARE YOU FACING RIGHT NOW IN YOUR BUSINESS? ERMOSHKIN: “One of our biggest challenges is overcoming the misinformation surrounding root canal treatment. Root canals are safe, effective and often the best way to relieve pain while preserving a natural tooth. Unfortunately, many people choose extraction because they believe it’s less expensive or because they’ve seen misleading information online. What they may not realize is that losing a tooth can lead to shifting teeth, changes in the way they bite and chew and significantly higher costs to restore their smile later.”
UT Health San Antonio study reveals how the liver’s internal clock may influence metabolism
Contact: Eileen Teves, 210-450-7239, tevese@uthscsa.edu Content provided by Claire Kowalick SAN ANTONIO, Aug. 12, 2026 — What if one of the keys to a healthier metabolism is understanding how and when the liver communicates with the rest of the body? Researchers at UT Health San Antonio, the academic health center of The University of Texas at […]
Experimental Pulse Oximeter Accurate Regardless Of Skin Tone, Researchers Say
By Dennis Thompson HealthDay ReporterWEDNESDAY, Aug. 12, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Pulse oximeters became widely known during the COVID-19 pandemic, as doctors used the finger clip devices to tell whether a respiratory infection was robbing patients of needed oxygen. But skin tone impairs the ...
Fauci, RFK Jr., and the latest in American health
Epidemiologist Jessica Malaty Rivera breaks down the public health breakdowns
Letters: Refocus public health priorities on current threats like food safety, measles
Recently, public discourse has been dominated by debates surrounding Dr. Anthony Fauci and COVID-19. While leadership in managing a pandemic is important, our focus should be on the critical dangers
Anthony Fauci Hysteria Reveals a Big Flaw of Our Political System
The hysteria around Anthony Fauci's tenure leading the NIH during the Covid-19 pandemic reveals a political system incapable of balance.
‘Real mummy’s curse’: health warning over growing trade in mummified human remains
Academic paper says often illicit trade exposes enthusiasts – and postal workers handling items – to serious risks
UNCW Athletics, Novant Health and EmergeOrtho Forge Landmark Partnership to Enhance Student-Athlete Health and Wellness
WILMINGTON, N.C. – UNCW Athletics announced that Novant Health and EmergeOrtho are proud partners of the Seahawks, beginning in the 2026-27 academic year. This multi-year agreement shows UNCW's dedication to providing a top-tier student-athlete experience through the largest transformational investment in UNCW Athletics history.
Prestigious educational pedigree matters much in the hiring and retention of academic surgeons. Should it?
Surgeons who not only operate on patients but also conduct impactful research and educate new surgeons tend to have something in common: They began their careers by graduating from a top-ranked medical school—and then stayed inside that rarified healthcare stratum for good.
How a counterintelligence inquiry Into Trump’s Russia ties was derailed
Documents released by the White House shed new light on the demise of an often-overlooked 2017 FBI investigation.
Dr. Ramon Tallaj reflects on the family doctor, faith, and health equity
Dr. Ramon Tallaj is chairman of the board and founder of SOMOS Community Care. “SOMOS,” which means “we are” in Spanish, is a physician-led network of 2,600 healthcare providers serving over 850,000 Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries in New York City’s immigrant communities. Tallaj reflects on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of the family doctor, and how faith has played a large role in his life and work.
How a Counterintelligence Inquiry Into Trump’s Russia Ties Was Derailed
Documents released by the White House shed new light on the demise of an often-overlooked 2017 F.B.I. investigation.
Top Science Body Deletes Climate Chapter From Judges’ Manual
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine had been under pressure from Republican leaders, including President Trump.
THE WEEK OF AUG 10, 2026
- Scientists decry Fauci prosecution threat - National Academies orders probe of peer-review process - DOE secretary referred to DOJ
Science backs calls for limiting screens in schools
School device use links with lower test scores and distractions abound. But reversing the entrenched pandemic pivot to screens will be hard.
Science and Innovation Fund for Ukraine Partners with Ukrainian Catholic University to Launch New Center of Excellence
The Science and Innovation Fund for Ukraine and the Ukrainian Catholic University have announced the establishment of the Center of Excellence in Formal Methods and Verification, a new initiative that will train a new generation of specialists across the fields of mathematics, computer science, and artificial intelligence.
We prepared for Ebola
“Preparedness cannot mean optimizing every investment for yesterday's epidemic,” write Krutika Kuppalli and Placide Mbala.
Bruce Willis and Demi Moore’s daughter gets married in gown that took 712 hours to make
Tallulah Willis, the youngest daughter of exes Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, has tied the knot with musician Justin Acee in an intimate Sun Valley wedding.
Which Suns Player Will Reach the Hall of Fame Next?
As Amar’e Stoudemire prepares for induction, the focus shifts to whether Chris Paul’s leadership, Shawn Marion’s unique versatility, or Devin Booker’s scoring dominance will secure the next call.
UCI Health opens inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Irvine | UCI Health
UCI Health — Irvine Rehabilitation Hospital is now serving patients throughout Orange County and the surrounding region. This is the academic health system’s newest facility, a 52-bed, 68,000-square-foot freestanding center developed through a joint venture partnership with Lifepoint Rehabilitation.
Feds should devise way to reflect on COVID-19 response, says Canada's chief science adviser
Canada's chief science adviser says the federal government should devise a way to reflect on its response to the COVID-19 pandemic to better prepare the country and Canadians for future public health challenges.
Blinded by science: The Thomas Dolby interview
“To get out and play a show like this, in the summer, is really an antidote to academia.”…
UVA School of Data Science launches assured enrollment program for 2026-2027 academic year
UVA School of Data Science has launched a new pilot program designed to reduce the application burden on students interested in the data science major.
National Academies backtracks on disputed climate science chapter, will review process
The review comes after President Donald Trump threatened funding for the National Academies over educational material about climate change.
A pardoned Capitol riot defendant wants her restitution money back. The Justice Department wants to keep it
After the protracted demise of the $1.776 billion fund meant to pay perceived victims of government lawfare, prosecutors say they don’t have to give a now-pardoned January 6, 2021, defendant her restitution money back.
New Book Examines Small Business Recovery and Racial Equity After the Pandemic
UCLA Luskin Professor Robert Fairlie explores how government aid, entrepreneurship and racial inequality shaped small business recovery after COVID-19.
GLVC Sports Network Announces 2026-27 Subscription Pricing, New Viewing Options
This academic year, GLVCSN will feature the introduction of a new sport-specific pass, discounted subscription opportunities, and continued all-access streaming packages.
RWJBarnabas Health Named a World's Top Disability Inclusive Business, Advancing Inclusion In Healthcare Workforce
RWJBarnabas Health, the largest, most comprehensive academic health system in New Jersey, has once again been recognized as a World’s Top Disability Inclusive Business based on its performance on the Disability Index®, the leading global benchmark for disability inclusion in business.
RWJBarnabas Health Named a World's Top Disability Inclusive Business, Advancing Inclusion In Healthcare Workforce
RWJBarnabas Health, the largest, most comprehensive academic health system in New Jersey, has once again been recognized as a World’s Top Disability Inclusive Business based on its performance on the Disability Index®, the leading global benchmark for disability inclusion in business.
The Most Basic Step of the Ebola Response Is Falling Short
Curbing the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will require stepping up testing.
Industry and academic leaders explore how engineering innovation is powering the next era of space science at the 46th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
Leading voices from across the aerospace industry and academia gathered in Florence, Italy for the panel titled "Engineering Innovation Enabling Scientific Research," examining how advances in engineering are unlocking new scientific missions and how ambitious science goals are, in turn, driving engineering breakthroughs. The panel, moderated by Alison Nordt, Director of Space Sciences & Instrumentation at Lockheed Martin Space's Advanced Technology Center, brought together six panellists to discuss the evolving relationship between space science and systems engineering: Marius Anger (Aalto University), Jon Arenberg (Northrop Grumman), Mayra Montrose (L3Harris), Giampiero Di Paolo (Thales Alenia Space Italia), Steve Squyres (Blue Origin) and Eric Stallmer (Voyager).
Back-to-school brain health: Expert tips to boost learning and memory
A UAB neuroscientist shares evidence-based tips on sleep, stress management and study strategies that can improve learning, memory and academic performance throughout the school year.
High school sports tryouts and practices kick off Aug. 17
Our high school fall sports season will kick off on Monday, Aug. 17, with tryouts and practices beginning for high school football. Tryouts and practices for all other high school sports, including cheerleading, boys' soccer, girls' soccer, boys' cross country, girls' cross country, girls' tennis, girls' swimming and diving and volleyball, will begin on Monday, Aug. 24. Tryouts and practice schedules Tryout and practice schedules are available via the practice schedules button located on the fall sports page of our website. Please note that practice schedules are subject to change due to inclement weather or unanticipated circumstances. Registration information As a reminder, students and parents must fill out all required paperwork on Final Forms to participate in tryouts and practices. A physical conducted within the last 12 months is mandatory for any student interested in trying out for an athletic team and must be uploaded into Final Forms platform. Families are encouraged to get a completed physical from their child's physician. If you are unable to get a physical from your child's physician, you can schedule a free physical with Whitney Young's school-based health center by calling (518) 573-2556. Additionally, the district physician will also be available to facilitate sports physicals at Albany High in room 4253 on the following dates: Monday, Aug. 17 from 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 20 from 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Sports physicals on Aug. 17 and 20 are free and no appointment is necessary. Academic Eligibility As a reminder, students must be in good academic standing to participate in athletics. Academic eligibility will start at the beginning of each academic year. Eligibility is determined based on quarterly grades, and interim progress reports will serve as an important academic checkpoint for all student‑athletes. For additional details about academic eligibility, please see our Athletic Code of Conduct. Falcons, we can't wait to see you soar this fall season!
Bennett College Announces Two New Bachelor of Science Degrees to Expand Healthcare Leadership and Innovation
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Bennett College is expanding its academic offerings with the launch of two new Bachelor of Science degrees: the Bachelor of Science in
Republican-led Senate panel will ask Justice Department to charge Dr. Anthony Fauci with contempt of Congress
A Senate committee voted Thursday to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress, advancing an audacious effort by Republicans to prosecute the well-known scientist over his role in the US government response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Klein ISD outscores state STAAR in science exam scores
Klein ISD students in fifth and eighth grade outscored state averages in the spring 2026 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness science exams according to new state data.
Fauci contempt vote shows lasting power of pandemic politics
Six years after the world was thrust into a global pandemic, Republicans in power aren’t leaving it in the past.
Fauci contempt vote reflects the enduring politics of COVID
Six years after the world was thrust into a global pandemic, Republicans in power aren’t leaving it in the past.
Fauci contempt vote reflects the enduring politics of COVID
Six years after the world was thrust into a global pandemic, Republicans in power aren’t leaving it in the past.
For college students, a school’s state politics can matter as much as its academics
Students are looking beyond the usual admissions rankings and tuition prices to consider whether a campus reflects their rights and values.
Cereals & Grains conference connects science, technology
The conference will unite cereal and grain experts from industry, academia and government to explore solutions.
The Latest: Senate committee votes to hold Fauci in contempt over refusal to answer questions
A Senate committee has voted to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress and refer him to the Justice Department for potential prosecution over his refusal to answer questions at a hearing last week on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic
Science Writer Nicola Twilley Discusses Mummy Sleuths, the Hunt for the Ancient Microbiome, and Finding Humanity in the Past
In a recent interview, Nicola Twilley talks about her reporting that followed scientists from the Institute for Mummy Studies as they excavate and glean discoveries from paleofeces preserved in the world’s oldest salt mine, and how that story changed her perspective on humanity and the past. Twilley was a 2025 award winner of the National Academies’ Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications.
US Stand Up for Science movement expands to Europe
A grassroots movement by scientists in the US pushing back against threats to academic freedom is setting up a Swiss outpost to take the movement global. Stand Up for Science started in February 2025 to protest against politically-motivated grant cancellations by the Trump administration. Since then, it has organised numerous rallies by scientists and turned into a broader campaigning organisation, supporting “pro-science” political candidates and attempting to impeach Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the health and human services secretary the group accuses of advancing “quack” science. Now, Stand Up for Science is establishing a Swiss office to take some of its campaigning beyond the US, and its leader is urging European academics to organise similar pro-science groups in case they face similar threats in Europe. There will likely be “spillover” to Europe from what the Trump administration is attempting in the US, said Colette Delawalla, chief executive of Stand Up for Science, who last month returned from a tour of Europe. “Are we going to see a Trump-style scientific [. . .] take over in the same way?” she asked.Delawalla, who is doing a PhD in clinical psychology, said she was driven to help found the organisation after the Trump administration started cancelling health research grants in politically taboo topics, such as transgender people, diversity and HIV, in early 2025. Since then, the administration has introduced several other measures that infringe academic and institutional autonomy.It threatened to cut Harvard University’s federal funding unless the university accepted a “critical mass” of new faculty and students to create “viewpoint diversity.” And this year, it proposed explosive new rules that would allow political appointees at research funders to screen grants to make sure they “advance the president's policy priorities.”US scientists have been at times stunned by the volume of announcements, and the country’s researchers were relatively unprepared. “We sit in front of the fire hose every day,” said Delawalla. For this reason, European scientists need to prepare now for similar assaults. “If you've got a little bit of extra time to start thinking through, and making those preparations and building community and solidarity,” then European researchers will “start five steps ahead of where we were.” She plans to return to Paris in September to share experiences with concerned French academics. Is Le Pen the same?During her European tour, Delawalla said that French academics were beginning to worry about a National Rally (RN) victory in presidential elections next year. She said there were “chilling similarities” between Trump and Marine Le Pen, the RN’s likely candidate. However, so far, the RN hasn’t proposed anything nearly as radical as the Trump administration has carried out. Its current manifesto is all but silent on university and research policy. Le Pen’s 2022 manifesto bemoaned a lack of French R&D spending, including in fundamental research, and promised to modernise labs and strip away grant bureaucracy. The party’s 2024 European election manifesto explicitly supported the Erasmus+ student exchange programme, scientific exchange and joint European technology projects. However, a Le Pen victory next year could see France drastically cut its contribution to the EU, which would hit the budget for science and innovation. Meanwhile, more restrictive immigration policies could hit university recruitment of faculty and students. Climate science denial?As heatwaves and wildfires have ravaged France, the RN has sought to distance itself from previous comments casting doubt on climate science.In the UK, the radical-right party Reform UK, now second in the polls, denied climate research in a draft of its 2024 election manifesto, but its leader, Nigel Farage, then appeared to quietly U-turn and said he was “not arguing the science.” By contrast, Trump has repeatedly and explicitly denied climate change science, in 2025 calling it “the greatest con job.” Like the RN, Reform UK has been light on research and university policy. However, it did say in its 2024 manifesto that universities should suffer “heavy financial penalties” for allowing “political bias or cancel culture” on campus, building on laws brought in by a previous Conservative government. Ahead of September state elections in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany, the poll-leading Alternative for Germany has proposed abolishing gender studies and postcolonial studies, and promised money for “critical” climate research and studies of Islam. Starts with rhetoricEven if European radical right parties aren’t currently planning the draconian policy measures of the Trump administration, Delawalla said that academics should not be complacent, and fight even small funding restrictions or anti-science talk from the start. “It starts off with sowing distrust about institutions,” she said. “It starts off with these small things, and then all of a sudden it's there.” There are other, more established science and university advocacy groups in the US aside from Stand Up for Science. But the group stands out because of Delawalla’s refusal to attempt to appear politically bipartisan or conciliatory. “I firmly believe that the US is experiencing fascism,” she said. “We’re not trying to win over the super Maga people,” she said, “and we never have been.” The lesson of the US is that even if universities or other institutions capitulate to government demands, this doesn’t save them from cuts and restrictions. “It doesn’t matter what people do,” she said. Global “pseudoscience”Another aim of Stand Up for Science’s push into Europe is to better coordinate a campaign to protect people in poorer countries from what the group describes as “pseudoscientific exploitation,” trials outside the US used to build a case against things like vaccines. Earlier this year, the group sent an investigator to Guinea-Bissau to investigate a controversial, Danish-run Hepatitis B vaccine project funded by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The study would have withheld a proven vaccine from newborns, Stand Up for Science argued in a briefing it presented to Congress, risking their health. Significantly, the research group based in Guinea-Bissau, known as Bandim, focuses on the “non-specific effects” of vaccines: impacts on health beyond preventing the target disease. Related articlesEuropean researchers sound the alarm that Trump rule changes will hit cooperationData corner: which fields of health science is the US curbing? The US ‘golden age’ science strategy: what Europeans need to know The suspicion is that the study was funded as part of an attempt to shop around for results that could help build a case against vaccines in the US, said Delawalla. “This is just code for vaccines cause autism,” she said.Bandim has put out a rebuttal of Stand Up for Science’s criticisms, arguing its work has uncovered a number of vaccine side effects, both positive and negative, which need to be taken into account in public health. However, Congressional Democrats took up the Stand Up for Science cause, and in February, Guinea-Bissau said it had permanently halted the study. WatchdogBut for Delawalla, this is not the end of the fight. Kennedy has made a number of health claims that scientists think lack evidence, such as the idea that seed oils cause inflammation, for example. Delawalla worries that more studies could be launched in poorer countries to fish around for evidence to support this agenda. Stand Up for Science is talking to African science organisations to create a kind of “watchdog” to scrutinise any further trials. “Outsourcing the investigation to some of the most vulnerable children in the world who are desperate [. . .] is fundamentally wrong,” she said.
Republicans may finally snare Dr. Fauci in Covid’s last culture war
The Covid-19 pandemic was a historic stress test that revealed American politics as too broken to deal with a national crisis.
GOP senator obtains a copy of Fauci’s phone as contempt vote looms
Sen. Ron Johnson (Wisconsin) said the phone could address many questions that Fauci declined to answer at a hearing about the pandemic last week.
Fauci's HHS iPhone turned over to Senate investigators as contempt vote looms
Sen. Ron Johnson's subcommittee obtained a copy of Anthony Fauci's pandemic-era iPhone as Rand Paul's panel weighs holding him in contempt of Congress.
Viewpoint: Europe needs a new scientific contract
The White House's new science strategy should be required reading in the Berlaymont and every European capital.Not because Europe should copy it. Parts of it should concern Europeans deeply. But because it asks the question Europe has so far avoided while steadily losing ground in the global race for technological leadership.Europe already possesses many of the world's finest universities, scientists and research-intensive companies. It produces world-leading research in fields ranging from quantum technologies and biotechnology to climate science. Yet time and again Europe generates the scientific breakthroughs while others build the companies, industries and strategic advantages around them, particularly in digital technologies. Increasingly, we find ourselves regulating technologies whose underlying capabilities were developed elsewhere.This is not primarily a scientific failure. It is an institutional one.The settlement that shaped modern science policy emerged after the Second World War. In Science, the Endless Frontier, Vannevar Bush argued that governments should invest in fundamental research while protecting scientists from political direction. Public investment was justified precisely because no government, university or company could predict where the next transformative discovery would emerge.That scientific contract served liberal democracies extraordinarily well. It underpinned decades of advances in medicine, computing, energy and communications, but the world for which it was designed no longer exists.Artificial intelligence is transforming not only technology but the production of knowledge itself. Advanced chips, computing power, data and scientific instruments have become strategic assets. Scientific knowledge now diffuses globally almost instantly. Competitive advantage increasingly lies not in making discoveries first, but in possessing the infrastructure, capital, engineering capability and institutions required to translate those ideas into products, industries and strategic advantage.The old boundaries between science, industrial policy, national security and geopolitics have largely disappeared. Dual-use technologies now underpin both economic power and military deterrence.The US has recognised this shift. In July, the White House published Science: A New Golden Age, a comprehensive attempt to rethink the relationship between science and national power. The report builds on Bush's legacy, but departs from his framework in important ways. Science is no longer treated simply as the source of future discoveries. It is presented as the foundation of economic resilience, technological leadership and national security. AI, advanced infrastructure and the capacity to build become as important as discovery itself.Yet the report also reveals a striking paradox. The same administration calling for “a new golden age” of US science has simultaneously proposed deep cuts to the federal research enterprise while expanding political influence over the allocation of public research funding. Europe should therefore distinguish between the report's diagnosis and its prescription. The diagnosis, that science has become a strategic asset, is compelling. But the prescription is self-defeating. Long-term technological leadership depends on strong universities, academic freedom and the institutional autonomy that makes scientific discovery possible. This distinction matters. Bush's achievement was never simply to make science serve national strength. It was to establish a division of labour in which governments invested in research without attempting to direct discovery itself. Scientific breakthroughs emerge precisely because researchers retain the freedom to pursue questions whose value cannot yet be demonstrated and whose conclusions cannot be anticipated.Neither China, nor the USAs science becomes more strategically important, the temptation to politicise it inevitably grows. But scientific freedom is not an obstacle to technological leadership, it is an essential precondition.China represents the opposite model. For decades it has integrated science, manufacturing, infrastructure and industrial policy into a single national strategy. Its ability to mobilise resources around critical technologies is formidable. But it does so within an authoritarian system where scientific priorities are increasingly inseparable from political power.Europe should imitate neither model. It should learn from the strategic ambition of the US without importing its growing politicisation of science. And it should learn from China's capacity to build without adopting its concentration of power.Instead, Europe needs a scientific contract of its own. Bush's scientific contract protected the freedom to discover because the defining challenge of the 20th century was producing new knowledge. Europe's next scientific contract must preserve that freedom while ensuring that scientific discoveries can be converted into technological, industrial and strategic capability. Because in a transactional world, Europe's freedom to shape its own future depends on its capacity to build it.Related articlesThe US ‘golden age’ science strategy: what Europeans need to knowEuropean researchers sound the alarm that Trump rule changes will hit cooperationNIH turmoil risks reciprocal EU-US access to health research fundingThis does not mean subordinating free science to competitiveness or industrial policy. On the contrary. Scientific autonomy remains the first principle of Europe's next scientific contract. Governments should not direct scientific discovery. Their responsibility is to ensure that Europe's scientific, industrial, financial and regulatory institutions work together rather than in isolation.Meeting that responsibility requires far more than research funding. European researchers need access to world-class computing infrastructure, advanced laboratories, shared datasets and scientific facilities. Innovative companies need patient capital, testing environments and a genuine single market in which they can scale without facing 27 different regulatory regimes. Public procurement must evolve from purchasing existing technologies to creating markets for new ones. Regulators must become partners in experimentation rather than guardians of yesterday's rules.A connecting architectureEurope does not need to invent the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) model from scratch. Britain's Aria, Germany's Sprind and Wellcome Leap already show that Europe can build institutions capable of taking high-risk, mission-oriented bets while preserving democratic accountability. The challenge now is not to create more isolated initiatives, but to connect them to Europe's broader scientific, industrial and financial system so that breakthrough discoveries can scale.Above all, Europe must stop treating research, innovation, industrial policy, finance and security as separate policy domains. The challenge is no longer to create excellent institutions in each of these fields, but to make them work as one European innovation system. Europe's strength will increasingly depend not on excellence within institutions, but on excellence across them.Europe's ambition should be neither to imitate the US nor to emulate China. It should demonstrate that scientific freedom, democratic legitimacy and technological capability are not competing objectives, but mutually reinforcing strengths. In an age of geopolitical rivalry, Europe's greatest advantage may ultimately be its ability to attract the world's best talent by combining scientific freedom, democratic openness and technological ambition.Bush's scientific contract helped define the 20th century because it protected the freedom to discover. Europe's challenge is not to abandon that achievement but to extend it. The defining task of Europe's next scientific contract is to preserve the freedom to discover while building Europe's capacity to translate scientific discovery into technological power.Kaare Nielsen is founder of Pomus, a Danish think tank on science and innovation.
Science|Business summer reads of 2026
As most people in the European research and innovation policy bubble are going on a well-deserved summer break, we have come up with a list of our favourite books, podcasts and essays from the past year that ask deeper questions about science, technology and politics.BooksPasteur’s Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation, by Donald StokesIf you haven’t read Pasteur’s Quadrant yet, now is the time. In the EU and elsewhere, we’re living through a period of dwindling faith that curiosity-driven research automatically leads to economic growth and technological progress. Pasteur’s Quadrant, published in 1997 by the Princeton academic Donald Stokes, is the most influential critique of the standard “linear model” of R&D: the idea that new discoveries made in ivory-tower labs get neatly passed on for commercialisation by start-ups. In reality, Stokes argues, practical applications often inspire more theorical lines of inquiry. Of course, we have long known that things are more complex than the linear model, but even today, it’s still often assumed in Brussels discourse. The book is a useful corrective, and is being used now to argue for new types of scientific institutions. David MatthewsThe Weaponization of Expertise: How Elites Fuel Populism, by Jacob Hale Russel and Dennis PattersonAre society’s problems solvable by technical expertise alone? “If only the benighted would listen,” say Jacob Hale Russel and Dennis Patterson, two professors at Rutgers Law School who got frustrated with how scientists and politicians handled public health communication during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the book, they argue that clichéd mantras about scientific evidence and expertise perpetrated by academics, journalists and politicians have harmed public trust in the very institutions they were trying to defend. Paradoxically, slogans such as “we believe in science,” “follow the science” and “defer to the experts” can fuel mistrust in science, experts and democratic institutions. The authors criticise “condescension” and “technocratic paternalism” in the public discourse and make the case for a more nuanced approach to scientific and expert policy advice that rests on humility, doubt, scepticism and open dialogue. “Most complex social questions in fact revolve around values, not the recitation of unambiguous facts,” they say. Florin ZubascuBreakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future, by Dan WangIn this book, Dan Wang compares the structural differences between the US and Chinese industrial policies, but raises a very timely question for innovation policy wonks: how can advanced manufacturing know-how contribute to technology-intensive economic growth? Wang says technology has three components: the tools, the blueprints and patents, and the process knowledge. The third component represents the “proficiency gained from practical experience, which isn’t easily communicated and requires years of implementation.” According to Wang, rather than seeing tools and blueprints as the ultimate ends of technological progress, policymakers should see them as milestones in the training of better scientists and manufacturers. Over the past decades, China has amassed “process knowledge” because capital flowed to complex fabrication facilities, while investors in the West have parked their money in capital-light businesses such as digital platforms or chip companies that focus on design. As it turns out, thanks to its oversized focus on manufacturing, China has gained remarkable advantages in the global technology race. Florin ZubascuBaltic: The Future of Europe, by Oliver MoodyWhat can Europe learn from the nine countries surrounding the Baltic Sea? Alongside the familiar stories about Estonia's digital transformation, the book examines how the region has used technology, resilience, education, governance and long-term thinking to respond to geopolitical, economic and security challenges. Innovation policy wonks might find fresh perspectives on how innovation can strengthen defence, societal resilience and Europe's capacity to adapt in an uncertain world. Whether or not you agree with all of Oliver Moody's conclusions, the book is a useful guide to a region that is increasingly shaping European debates on security, competitiveness and technology. Goda NaujokaityteThe Invention of Nature, by Andrea Wulf This book chronicles the wild and adventurous life of natural science pioneer Alexander von Humboldt who at some point in the 19th century seems to have been just about the most famous person in the world. Through scientific expeditions to the Andes Mountains and to the depths of Siberia, von Humboldt contributed a host of discoveries and concepts. During his life he met and formed relationships with historical figures as different as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Simon Bolivar, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte and Charles Darwin. He is also claimed to be the person in the world with most things named after him, a list that includes an ocean current, a penguin and a region of the Moon. Still venerated in Germany, with numerous scientific institutions named after him, von Humboldt has slipped out of public consciousness in most of the rest of the world. For anyone not familiar with him, this book does a good job of describing his fascinating life. Ole EllekrogCareless People, by Sarah Wynn-WilliamsYou may have heard this referred to as the book Meta doesn’t want you to read. The 2025 memoir from Sarah Wynn-Williams, former director of global public policy at Meta, then just called Facebook, includes explosive claims about everything from a toxic workplace culture to how the company worked with advertisers to target vulnerable teens, and the lengths it was prepared to go to in order to break into China. It’s a fascinating insight into how and why the tech company gradually shifted its approach to policy, whether in the US, Europe or Asia. Meta has denied the allegations in the book, and last year won an emergency ruling to prevent Wynn-Williams from promoting it. In response, the author is now suing her former employer. If that doesn’t make you want to read it. Martin GreenacrePodcastsThe Europeans: Europe’s anti-ElonThis podcast is a great choice for a light-hearted dose of European policy and culture news. Most of it has little to do with research, innovation and technology, but this particular podcast features an interview with Mastadon’s founder Eugen Rochko. He talks about his experience running an open-source, federated, European-made social media platform, and leaving it all behind. The conversation, which starts 14 minutes in, gently encourages us to reflect on what kind of technology we, as Europeans, want to make. Goda NaujokaityteSolarpunk and how we escape dystopiaNew technologies are very often taken from science fiction. Alberto Santos-Dumont, inventor the airship, was inspired as a child by the adventure stories of Jules Verne. OpenAI’s attempt to build a personal assistant with the voice of Scarlett Johansson was lifted from the 2013 film Her, completely ignoring the movie’s cautionary message. So if we want better tech, we need to imagine it first. Unfortunately, the state of current sci-fi is relentlessly dystopian, giving inventors precious few ideas or hope. However, a new genre, Solarpunk, which envisages a technologically advanced but ecologically harmonious future, is now taking off. The actual tech the genre imagines, such as permaculture, renewable energy or community repair workshops, while nice, isn’t all that inspiring or ambitious. But it’s a first step towards rescuing sci-fi from its pessimistic Blade Runner rut. David MatthewsEveryday AbundanceLaunched in June, Everyday Abundance is a podcast that tells the stories of the inventions we now take so for granted that we barely given them a second thought. For example, the washing machine, which liberated women from a lifetime “bent over washtubs and washboards.” Or modern dentistry, which ended the reality that “tooth pain was simply part of human life.” Historians of technology, Virginia Postrel and Charles C Mann are very much on the optimistic end of the spectrum when it comes to the capacity of invention to improve human life. Here, they set out their case: if it wasn’t for progress, you might be hunched over a washtub with toothache rather than reading these words. David Matthews‘We will not know what we lost’: Conservation fallout a year after USAID shutdownSince his return to the White House, Donald Trump has been on a mission to undermine science. He slashed jobs at federal agencies, terminated grants in some research areas, took unprecedented control over university affairs and, within hours of his inauguration, suspended the US Agency for International Development. While its initial focus was to administer health and food aid around the world, it had since expanded to conservation projects. The result? Some of these projects were stopped abruptly. In this Mongabay podcast, environmental reporter Michelle Nijhuis tells the story of the EcoGuard conservation programme in Liberia, whose local patrols had helped protect rainforests, monitor endangered wildlife and track illegal threats. From one day to the next, these were left without salaries. Luckily, she notes, the initiative was able to get emergency funding from international NGOs, but its future remains “incredibly uncertain.” Juliette PortalaEssaysThe Mars Delusion, by Henry WismayerWhy is humankind so fixated on establishing a colony on Mars? asks London-based writer Henry Wismayer. From space evangelists promoting Martian settlement as an insurance policy, to billionaire Jeff Bezos, who said humans should settle on Mars “because it’s cool,” the mission is not running short of advocates. However, in this essay, Wismayer reminds us that some critics expect any future Mars pioneer to end up “irradiated, sick, mad and dead.” Scientists have already looked into the possible effects of prolonged exposure to Martian gravity, and it’s not pretty: muscle shrinking, bones weakening, changes to the central nervous system and other biological modifications to make us all reconsider the journey. “Some researchers have forecast that the future settler, after generations of evolutionary conditioning, will look less like an Übermensch and more like ET,” Wismayer writes. Juliette Portala
Sanofi suspends chronic lung disease phase 2 study, tied to ‘strategic business reasons’
Sanofi halted a phase 2 trial testing a monoclonal antibody, SAR445399, in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis, Fierce Biotech has learned. The trial, which began only back in April, was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to measure the reduction in mucus plug score following treatment with SAR445399 compared with placebo in adults aged 18 to 80 years with NCFB, a chronic lung disease. The trial was officially reported as halted on July 29, the day before Sanofi’s second-quarter earnings call. The decision to pause the trial was made “as part of a company-wide portfolio review for strategic business reasons,” and not due to safety concerns, a Sanofi spokesperson told Fierce. The move to pause the NCFB trial comes during a trying time for Sanofi following a year filled with a series of trial fails. In February, the French pharma ousted CEO Paul Hudson and appointed Merck KGaA leader Belén Garijo, M.D., Ph.D., to steer the ship. Since then, Garijo has been doing a deep dive on correcting the company’s strewn R&D and clinical strategies. On July 24, Sanofi scrapped amlitelimab for atopic dermatitis, despite its lore as being a potential $5 billion blockbuster. During its second-quarter report, the company abandoned two more assets, balinatunfib and itepekimab, following failed trial results in psoriasis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, respectively. SAR445399, only first revealed by Sanofi in 2023, is an anti-interleukin-1 receptor 3 monoclonal antibody developed to block the interleukin 1, 33, and 36 cytokine pathways. These pathways can be important in chronic immune-related dermatologic diseases, such as atopic dermatitis and hidradenitis suppurativa, as well as respiratory conditions, such as NCFB. Related Sanofi’s new CEO ‘looking deeply’ at late-stage pipeline as clinical clearout continues NCFB affects roughly half a million people in the U.S., with a global incidence of greater than one million cases. In August 2025, Insmed received FDA approval for Brinsupri, a DPP1 inhibitor targeting neutrophil activation, for treatment of NCFB in adults and kids ages 12 and older. The British biotech Infex Therapeutics showed promising NCFB phase 2a data using their monoclonal antibody, INFEX702, which acts by disabling Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacteria known to be a major pathogen of NCFB. Sanofi is currently running a separate phase 2 study testing SAR445399 as a potential treatment for the inflammatory skin condition hidradenitis suppurativa.