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Stellantis launches $70 billion business plan to 2030 including 60 new models

AUBURN HILLS, Michigan, May 21 () - Stellantis set out a new 60 billion ‌euro ($70 billion) business plan on Thursday that ‌includes 60 new car models by 2030 - from combustion ​engine to fully electric vehicles - new investments in technology, joint ventures with other carmakers and better use of its manufacturing capacity. The Franco-Italian carmaker ‌said it ⁠would also refocus its sprawling 14-brand portfolio, with 70% of brand and ⁠product investments going to Jeep, Ram, Peugeot and Fiat, a

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May 21 • 7:35 AM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com
Blacksburg business owner: AI policy must work for small businesses

Policy discussions have not fully caught up to how small businesses are using AI today. That disconnect matters.

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May 21 • 4:00 AM EDT • Business • cardinalnews.org
MUSC expands Doctor of Health Administration program with fully online option new

The Medical University of South Carolina is expanding access to its Doctor of Health Administration (DHA) degree through a fully online option designed specifically for working healthcare leaders.

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May 20 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • musc.edu
Toward power-generating displays: a single device that harvests and emits light

A newly developed organic semiconductor device can both generate electricity from light and emit bright visible light, as reported by researchers from Science Tokyo. By carefully designing a material where energy losses are suppressed, the team achieved efficient power conversion and electroluminescence simultaneously, demonstrating a multifunctional platform with potential applications in displays, sensors, and energy-harvesting technologies.

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May 20 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • eurekalert.org
Steve Bellamy Launches TYPTI, Tennis Channel to Air Championships

"The points are long, the rallies are dramatic, the action is constant, there is a refined bedlam, and the strategy reads so beautifully on camera," Bellamy says of TYPTI.

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May 20 • 4:53 PM EDT • Sports • hollywoodreporter.com
Sky bridges, citizen science protect endangered Malaysia monkeys

A graceful black monkey edges across a swaying red rope bridge strung over a busy residential road in Malaysia's Penang, watched by local conservationists who carefully record her movements.

phys.org logo
May 20 • 12:30 PM EDT • Science • phys.org
Sky bridges, citizen science protect endangered Malaysia monkeys

A graceful black monkey edges across a swaying red rope bridge strung over a busy residential road in Malaysia's Penang, watched by local conservationists who carefully record her movements.Key to the...

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May 20 • 12:38 AM EDT • Science • yahoo.com
MUSC expands Doctor of Health Administration program with fully online option

The Medical University of South Carolina is expanding access to its Doctor of Health Administration (DHA) degree through a fully online option designed specifically for working healthcare leaders.

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May 19 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • musc.edu
Scientists use light to create tiny molecules that could transform medicine

Researchers have developed a light-driven method for creating tiny, high-energy “housane” molecules that are valuable for drug development and materials science. These compact ring-shaped structures are difficult to produce because of the intense internal strain they contain. By using photocatalysis and carefully tuning the starting molecules, the team managed to guide the reaction into a clean and efficient pathway.

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May 19 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
State Health Coverage for Immigrants and Implications for Health Coverage and Care

Noncitizen immigrants, particularly those who are undocumented, face significant barriers to accessing health coverage and care and are significantly more likely than citizens to be uninsured. This brief provides an overview of state health coverage programs for immigrants, including among states that have taken up options in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to expand coverage for lawfully present immigrants and/or established fully state-funded programs to fill gaps in coverage for immigrants.

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May 19 • 1:31 PM EDT • Health • kff.org
Global warming is accelerating 5,000 times faster than rice can evolve

A new study finds that climate change is creating environments where humans have never successfully cultivated rice before.

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May 19 • 5:00 AM EDT • Science • livescience.com
Georgia’s agribusiness industry depends on a thriving, fully funded public health system

In the fiscal year 2027 budget that Gov. Brian Kemp signed last week, less than one in every 10 state dollars spent on Georgia’s three primary health agencies is allocated to the Department of Public Health. The future of Georgia’s No. 1 industry relies on a state and local public health system that can track […]

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May 18 • 6:20 PM EDT • Health • georgiarecorder.com
Viewers Are Dragging This Show Online But Are Also Secretly Obsessed With It

A new season of a beloved series is already sparking intense reactions online, with viewers calling it everything from painfully relatable to full-on “rage bait.” See what all the chatter is about here.

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May 18 • 12:55 PM EDT • Entertainment • purewow.com
New MatterChat Model Helps AI to ‘See’ the Language of Science

From writing emails to generating computer code, much of the artificial intelligence prevalent in our daily lives has succeeded by mastering one domain: text. However, this leaves a major blind spot in the physical sciences, where models depend on the high-resolution, three-dimensional data of the physical world, like the intricate lattice of atoms in a crystal. Delivering on the promise of using AI for science requires teaching these data-driven text models to seamlessly “talk to” physics-based models. Now, a new AI framework from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), called MatterChat, solves this problem by creating a specialized “bridge.” It connects the conversational power of a Large Language Model (LLM) with a physics-based AI that models “interatomic potentials”: the complex physical forces between atoms. The resulting system already significantly outperforms general-purpose AI tools like GPT-4 at predicting material properties, and the team hopes it can accelerate scientific discovery by serving as a robust research partner that provides grounded insights and generates step-by-step instructions for synthesizing novel materials. A paper describing this work was recently published in Nature Machine Intelligence. “Traditional simulations can provide the physical rigor required for materials science, yet their computational cost remains prohibitive for high-throughput screening. Conversely, while LLMs excel at rapid knowledge synthesis, they inherently lack the ‘structural vision’ to interpret materials directly from their underlying atomic coordinates,” said Yingheng Tang, a postdoctoral researcher in Berkeley Lab’s Applied Math and Computational Research Division (AMCR) and lead author on the paper. “MatterChat was built to solve this dilemma, empowering LLMs with a structural ‘vision’ that allows researchers to leverage their full potential for solving complex, real-world materials challenges.” Empowering language models to solve complex challenges in materials science To build MatterChat, the Berkeley Lab team drew inspiration from technologies like Vision Question Answering (VQA) and Text-to-Image (T2I) generation. In these tasks, AI must translate high-level text concepts into visual images, or vice versa. Doing so requires developers to build tools that “bridge” two fundamentally different forms of data. The researchers adapted this concept to the physical sciences. With MatterChat, they created a “bridge model” that successfully connects an LLM’s general knowledge with the deep understanding of the atomic-scale world encoded in scientific interatomic potentials. Until now, researchers using LLMs to solve materials problems usually had to feed them raw data files as if they were just strings of text. It’s like asking an AI to understand a complex 3D engine based only on a parts list: the LLM can read the names, but it can’t “see” how the atoms fit together in space. MatterChat solves this by training a specialized AI bridge model, pre-trained on millions of crystal structures and an LLM, to align the LLM’s representation of the world with the interatomic potential’s representation of the world. The bridge model can translate physical insights into a format the LLM can actually understand. By giving the LLM these “scientific eyes”— a scientific “inductive bias” in the terminology of AI — the Berkeley Lab team has transformed it into a robust research tool capable of providing grounded scientific insights into complex materials challenges, such as predicting thermal stability or analyzing electronic band gaps. “We think of atoms as living in a physical space, but from a machine learning perspective, they are just vectors living in some very non-trivially structured manifold in a high-dimensional Euclidean space; and, of course, the same is true for the sentences and paragraphs that we use to express our ideas about those atoms,” said co-author Michael Mahoney, Berkeley Lab’s Scientific Data Division (SDD) AI Initiative Research Lead. “The bridge model basically gets those two structures to ‘talk with’ each other.” As a proof-of-concept of this general approach, the team trained their bridge model on a dataset curated by pairing nearly 143,000 stable atomic structures from the Materials Project with their corresponding physical properties. This training data was automatically assembled using the Materials Project’s API and deliberately enriched with properties fundamental to microelectronics design — like formation energy and bandgap — allowing MatterChat to learn the complex patterns connecting a material’s atomic blueprint to its functional performance. To validate their model, the researchers benchmarked MatterChat against a suite of other AI systems, from general-purpose LLMs to other specialized scientific AI methods. The results show that MatterChat consistently outperformed its competitors across a range of tasks. The model was more accurate in classifying material types and demonstrated superior precision in predicting numerical properties. For example, it excelled at predicting a material’s bandgap, a property critical for designing new electronics from high-capacity energy storage to next-generation computer chips. “Our design is significantly more efficient because we don’t have to build a massive AI model from the ground up,” said co-author Zhi (Jackie) Yao, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s AMCR. “Instead, we take two powerful, pre-trained models — a structural encoder for materials physics and an open-source LLM — and use them off-the-shelf. The only component we actually train is the lightweight ‘bridge model’ that translates between them. It’s the difference between building an entire car factory and simply designing a smart adapter that connects a world-class engine to a world-class navigation system. This approach is not only computationally efficient, but also makes the system modular, so we can easily upgrade components or adapt the bridge for other scientific domains in the future.” Crucially, this modular design highlights exactly how institutions like Berkeley Lab and the Department of Energy are carving out a highly valuable niche in the booming AI landscape. Rather than competing with Silicon Valley tech giants to build ever-larger language models from scratch, the lab is focusing on the specialized connective tissue that makes commercial AI useful for hardcore science. Because the bridge model approach underlying MatterChat is forward-compatible, it is perfectly positioned to leverage these parallel tracks of innovation. As Mahoney pointed out, “We expect that industry will continue to develop improved LLMs, and we expect domain scientists and facilities will continue to generate new data. An important part of scientific machine learning is not simply to solve problems on today’s data, but instead to develop general methods that will be forward-compatible with orders of magnitude more data, whether from scientific domains or from LLMs.” According to Yao, the MatterChat project, which was initially developed and enhanced with funding from a Berkeley Lab Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) Program, will now expand its capabilities. In a collaboration with Fermilab, MatterChat is already contributing to a U.S. Department of Energy Genesis Mission project — called Accelerating eXtreme Environment Specs-to-Silicon (AXESS) — that aims to speed up the development of next-generation, high-speed, radiation-hardened detectors for challenging particle physics experiments by using advanced 3D integrated circuits (chiplets) and AI-driven data analysis. In addition to the LDRD support, the team also credits supercomputing resources at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), located at Berkeley Lab, with MatterChat’s success. “We are incredibly grateful to NERSC; this research simply would not have happened without access to the Perlmutter supercomputer through their AI for Science program,” said Tang. Wenbin Xu, a NERSC postdoctoral fellow at the time, was also a major co-author of the work, as was Benjamin Erichson, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s SDD, highlighting the benefits of AMCR-SDD collaboration on AI for science. ### Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is committed to groundbreaking research focused on discovery science and solutions for abundant and reliable energy supplies. The lab’s expertise spans materials, chemistry, physics, biology, earth and environmental science, mathematics, and computing. Researchers from around the world rely on the lab’s world-class scientific facilities for their own pioneering research. Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest problems are best addressed by teams, Berkeley Lab and its scientists have been recognized with 17 Nobel Prizes. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

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May 18 • 11:00 AM EDT • Science • newscenter.lbl.gov
MiniPlasma Windows 0-Day Enables SYSTEM Privilege Escalation on Fully Patched Systems

MiniPlasma revives a 2020 Windows cldflt.sys flaw, enabling SYSTEM access on May 2026 patched Windows 11 systems.

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May 18 • 12:59 AM EDT • Technology • thehackernews.com
New Windows 'MiniPlasma' zero-day exploit gives SYSTEM access, PoC released

A cybersecurity researcher has released a proof-of-concept exploit for a Windows privilege escalation zero-day dubbed "MiniPlasma" that lets attackers gain SYSTEM privileges on fully patched Windows systems.

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May 17 • 6:30 PM EDT • Technology • bleepingcomputer.com
Packers last Wednesday game came nearly a century ago

The NFL has successfully invented a new timeslot with the Packers and Rams playing on “Thanksgiving Eve” this year. And though a game on the night before Thanksgiving might be a new phenomenon, it’s not the first time the Packers have played on a Wednesday. Buckle up, because this is a weird one. Though it’s […]

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May 17 • 9:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
First Public macOS Kernel Exploit on Apple M5 Prepared Using Mythos Preview in Five Days

Apple's M5 silicon has reportedly been exploited for the first time in a public macOS kernel memory corruption attack, successfully bypassing the company's notable hardware-level memory protection.

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May 16 • 10:48 PM EDT • Technology • cybersecuritynews.com
Now What? With Carbon Pricing Eroded and Pipeline Politics Advancing, Here Are the Pathways for Climate Success

At the end of a whirlwind week of news on carbon pricing and electricity strategy, capping a madcap year of pretty much non-stop, dramatic change, the word across much of Canada’s climate and energy transition community is that climate policy in this country has been shredded. Eviscerated. Hit with a sledgehammer by policy rollbacks that have pushed the country’s 2050 net zero target “well out of reach”. That means it’s never been more important to look for the rays of hope and glimmers of possibility. To glimpse the seeds of the next set of strategies to get Canada’s climate pollution under control and the country into the accelerating global dash away from fossil fuels. And then, once we’ve spotted those possibilities, get on with the hard, day-to-day slog of trying to make them a reality. Nothing takes away from the frustration and the deep disappointment so many climate and energy hawks are expressing, the sense of betrayal by the author of Value(s) and the former UN special envoy for climate action and finance. But we knew two things as the week drew to a close. We’re looking at the world as it most definitely is. And we don’t get to give up finding the pathways to confront climate change and deliver faster, deeper carbon cuts that leave no one else behind. So really, the first question we all have to ask ourselves is: What’s next? Subscribe All the Oxygen in the Room The outpouring of anger and grief over the carbon pricing deal between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been absolutely understandable. So much of the climate community poured years, more than a decade, into dragging the current federal pricing regime across the finish line, then defending it from a deluge of three-syllable rhymes after the Trudeau government proved utterly incapable of delivering its own message. The policy foisted on us by neo-classical economists took up all the oxygen in the room, burned through years of climate response time that we won’t get back, while cornering climate hawks into the position that the best response to the crisis of our lifetimes is a new tax…in an era of historic anti-tax sentiment. I mean, really—what could possibly have gone wrong? Against that history, let’s appreciate columnist Max Fawcett’s point that even a modest carbon pricing agreement with a government as off-the-wall libertarian/conspiracist as Danielle Smith’s—those adjectives are mine, not Max’s—is a win worth savouring (as long as Smith keeps her promises for a change). But part of living in the world as it is (no, I’m not letting that go) is to be clear-headed about what we can and can’t control. And one thing we get to decide, after seeing this week’s carbon price festivities take up all the oxygen yet again, is whether we want to keep letting that happen. Particularly when success down that road depends on a factor that no one with a climate agenda can control or influence—a provincial carbon pricing mechanism that has been manipulated and eroded beyond its lowest possible denominator. Thankfully, that’s not the way it has to go. Not when we have so many other powerful, practical tools at our disposal, including the ones still available to us through this abominable Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Canada and Alberta. Tools In Our Toolbox When I started roughing out this list, I didn’t expect it to grow to nearly a dozen bullet points. It’s probably still incomplete. Some of the greatest hits in today’s climate solutions toolbox include: • No Carbon Capture, No Pipeline: On Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney explicitly stated that there’s been no change to the MOU provision that there will be no West Coast pipeline without an industry commitment to build its massive, $16.5-billion carbon capture and storage (CCUS) hub in Northern Alberta, and vice versa. The two megaprojects were joined at the hip when the MOU was signed Nov. 27, and the implementation agreement this week affirmed that they still are. A parade of independent analysts have spent years pointing to the economic and technical flaws in CCUS, while the industry kept postponing its investment decision until it could arm-twist the government for more “clarity” (by which it meant even more lavish taxpayer subsidies) on the project. Now the industry itself is running away from the CCUS hub and insisting the pipeline should proceed without it, but Carney doesn’t seem to be budging from a central tenet of the MOU to which Smith has signed on. • No Subsidies, No Investors: Climate analysts and advocates have quite rightly been hammering away at Carney and his team, insisting that any new capacity the industry wants to build must proceed without new subsidies. The government has responded with a growing collection of funding and financing mechanisms for the very wide menu of industrial development and nation-building projects they say they want to take on, and that menu always includes fossil fuel infrastructure. But it’s hard to see how even the combined fiscal clout of the federal and supportive provincial governments will deliver the financial backing private investors would need when the business case for new fossil fuel development is evaporating before their eyes. Particularly when… • No Market, No Demand, No Investors: As our friend Markham Hislop at Energi Media (our apparently sleepless friend, given the massive volume of great material he’s been churning out) points out this morning, the biggest vulnerability in any pipeline deal is the assumption that Asian buyers will want the oil or liquefied natural ga that our fossil industry is so keen to send them. Hislop writes in part: Ottawa and Alberta are effectively betting that countries like China and India will continue increasing oil imports for decades as their economies grow and energy consumption rises. That assumption underpins the entire economic rationale for expanding oil sands production and building billions of dollars in new export infrastructure. But Asian energy systems are changing rapidly… China, India, South Korea, and other major hydrocarbon importers are now investing hundreds of billions of dollars into electricity systems built around wind, solar, batteries, nuclear, hydro, and expanded transmission infrastructure. Domestic “energy sovereignty” is increasingly replacing the old energy-security model based on stable oil and gas imports. Those investments are expected to sharply slow oil demand growth and eventually reverse it, even as overall energy consumption continues rising. There are also refining constraints. Many Asian refineries and petrochemical complexes are already optimized to process discounted heavy crude from the Middle East and Latin America. That raises serious questions about how much additional Canadian bitumen Asian markets can absorb at profitable prices. Small wonder that there’s still no private sector investor for the project, despite Smith’s government desperately beating the bushes to put together a deal. For now, Alberta is acting as proponent and covering early start-up costs for a pitch to the federal Major Projects Office, which could actually turn into the next tough hurdle for Smith and her pipeline to jump. • Canada Day Looms: How ironic that Canada’s birthday this year could become a major chokepoint for the provincial premier who’s been working so diligently to tear the country apart! The July 1 target date for Alberta’s pipeline proposal is baked into the MOU, was reaffirmed by the implementation plan, but it hadn’t dawned on me that it cuts both ways. As one very smart colleague wrote in an email yesterday, “they’ve thrown the ball into Alberta’s court to get the project proposal on the table really quickly and to have to do a whole pile of work to put together a massive, complicated project that would typically take years to assemble, and they’ve given them weeks to do it.” That makes July 1 a looming deadline that Smith won’t be able to run away from politically, especially with the separatists in her party and her caucus breathing down her neck. (See previous ref to off-the-wall.) But if Alberta comes in with a sloppy, incomplete submission, even after Carney bent over backwards to simplify the application process and the rules that govern it, it may be harder for the province or the industry to blame Ottawa and insist on the faster process they claim their investors are demanding. (Oh, wait—which investors would those be??) • We’ll See You In Court (Then We’ll See You Again): If Carney did cave, that would be just one more reason for Indigenous and other affected communities to take the government and the process to court—Just as Alberta First Nations did, successfully, in response to Smith’s half-baked separation referendum. Veterans of the Harper era have been warning that a shoddy process around fossil fuel infrastructure or other major projects will be a recipe for the very delays that process seeks to avoid. And now more than ever, with renewable energy and energy storage eating fossil fuels’ lunch in import markets around the world, a delayed pipeline or LNG terminal may be as good as a cancelled one. • Charged Up, Ready to Go: With its goal of doubling Canada’s electricity supply to meet a doubling of demand by 2050, the national electricity strategy that Carney unveiled Thursday has a lot to like. With its explicit language about speeding the shift from fuels to more efficient and affordable electricity, global investment and deployment patterns that already favour that shift, an emerging bidirectional power grid, the role of front-line options like rooftop solar and heat pumps, the emergence of electric vehicles as behind-the-meter energy storage, and the domestic jobs and manufacturing to make it all happen, the document doubles down on the essential cornerstone of a faster shift off fossil fuels. The strategy envisions a more prominent role for gas and nuclear power. But some of those provisions were already in the Clean Electricity Regulations that climate hawks are now fighting so hard to defend, inserted as a compromise in a futile attempt to mollify the industry and its political representatives in Alberta and Saskatchewan. But once again, gas will be a tougher sell when it’s more expensive and now so much more unpredictable than the clean alternatives. The new nuclear technologies are still speculative and deeply vulnerable to cost overruns. Increasingly, utilities, developers, and investors know it. Carney declared Thursday that “it doesn’t do us good to be sitting in court all the time with provinces. It doesn’t do us good to be talking past each other. What does do us good is to come together with specific projects.” There are no guarantees, but so much of the language and narrative-building in the electricity strategy suggests the lion’s share of those projects will be renewable. • The Party Has Already Started: The electricity strategy only rarely digs down to specific projects, but provinces representing three-quarters of Canada’s population are already embracing a faster transition. Hydro-Québec is working on a 10-year, $185-billion renewable energy and grid buildout by 2035. Ontario recently brought 10 provinces and territories together in a National Energy Corridor Agreement to boost interprovincial and -territorial transmission infrastructure. And the MOU implementation agreement commits Alberta to facilitate investment in renewable energy projects, a big step back from its continuing, punitive restrictions on renewables development. The electricity strategy envisions much of the financing and infrastructure that will be needed to pull those advances together into an integrated whole. • Delivering on Affordability: The MOU implementation plan has little or nothing to say about affordability (are you surprised?), but the electricity strategy does, with a top-line pledge to reduce home energy costs for seven out of 10 Canadian households by 2050, a total saving of $15 billion across the board. It’s just a start, but it puts affordability on the government’s narrative map. If they’re serious and deliberate about patching together a least-cost energy strategy, it’ll have little if any room for oil, gas, or nuclear—not with powerful evidence, for example, that electricity prices are higher when those prices are set by gas. • Smith Proves that Canada Works: By signing a deal that makes it harder to claim the federal government is blocking a new pipeline, Smith has helped prove Carney’s constant anti-separatist refrain that “Canada works”—incurring the rage, no doubt, of her own political base. Canada also needs to work for anyone who depends on a clean environment, healthy and thriving ecosystems, and safe, stable climate. But with Smith and her separatist constituents setting up as a fifth column for annexation by Donald Trump’s United States, let’s set aside any notion that 51st state status for Canada is a recipe for anything other than climate disaster (and so much else). Resisting and withstanding Trump (just 170 more sleeps until mid-term elections, which is a damn sight better than the 730 we started with) doesn’t mean a free pass for a pipeline, but we can still appreciate it that keeping Canada whole and sovereign is still Carney’s Job One. • The Words Not Spoken: Apart from a commitment to export a million barrels of “low-emission” Alberta bitumen per day (memo to Smith and Carney: You realize that that’s less than the industry is already exporting??), the MOU implementation plan says nothing about the international trade and economic sovereignty deals that Carney has been travelling the world to negotiate. It didn’t have to. Carney doesn’t need permission from Danielle Smith, her American enablers, or her separatist allies to continue building the alliances that will ratchet down our economic dependency on our unstable, unreliable neighbour to the south. But every connection he builds with countries outside North America helps align our economy and our future with a faster shift off fossil fuels. Little if any of this was on our bingo cards a year or two ago. But it’s the pathway that has opened up to us. And if it gives Canada any climate or energy gains at all in an era still dominated by Trump and his increasingly ridiculous tariffs, his loutish trade negotiations and his continuing annexation threats, we have to take the wins. Not least because they’ll be the point of departure for what we can achieve in 2027, 2029, and beyond, as Trump’s grip and this era begin to loosen and then fade. What is Carney Doing? If this line of thought is right—and it’s a possibility, not a prediction—it means that Carney’s actions and decisions are largely about buying time. Time for Trump’s power to wane. Time for Alberta’s separatist/conspiracist virus to spread, mutate, die out, or at least die back, with help from a vaccine of federal steadiness and calm (appropriate enough, for a movement populated largely by vaccine deniers) that no conspiracy theory can dismiss. And time for the government’s trade and investment agenda to deliver results—even knowing that some of those results will bring impacts that front-line communities will not and should not accept. In the immediate moment, none of this changes the way the wider climate community has to respond, from campaigners to investors to front-line practitioners. All of our voices are still essential. But those voices will be stronger and more confident if we have a clearer sense of the brutal game we’ve been pulled into, and a plausible path (or two it three) for playing it to the win we need. This conversation also underscores our biggest task for the remaining years of what was supposed to be the “decisive” decade for climate response: if we can shift the energy narrative in Canada, make it a mainstream view that the country’s preoccupation with oil and gas has us falling farther behind a changing world, we’ll see far better results in the 2030s and beyond. For many veteran climate advocates, taking on that part of the fight will begin with recognizing that most of our friends and family, neighbours and colleagues already understand that climate change is real and right in front of us: they’re looking away and staying silent because they don’t have what climate communicator Katharine Hayhoe calls “efficacy”. As Hayhoe recently pointed out in a feature interview with The Energy Mix, it amounts to science denial to keep hammering away at the dire news about global warming without also helping audiences understand what they can do about it, with multiple studies telling us why that won’t work. Far better to open those conversations with the dominant crises like energy security, food security, emergency preparedness and business continuity, affordability, and financial security that have knocked climate change far lower on the list of public priorities, and will likely keep it there. We Knew This Would Happen Climate hawks have always known this day would come. For decades, we warned that everyone had to pay attention to climate change right now, because it would be much tougher to respond once the crisis itself started affecting our daily lives. We were right, and here we are. But now, thanks to decades of hard work, communities and countries have an alternative to doubling down on fossil fuels. “In 10 years everyone will have ‘always known’ that solar and batteries were going to win,” Morgan Solar Executive Chair Mike Andrade writes on LinkedIn. With the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz roiling energy priorities around the world, Canada and the United States are among the shrinking number of countries that are still very keen on fossil fuel development. Understanding that gap is a first, essential step in spotting the opportunities ahead, and averting the deep economic as well as environmental and social risk we face if we don’t seize them. Thanks for reading The Energy Mix Weekender! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work. Subscribe Mitchell Beer traces his background in renewable energy and energy efficiency back to 1977, in climate change to 1997. Now he and the rest of the Energy Mix team scan 1,200 news headlines a week to pull together The Energy Mix and The Energy Mix Weekender. Chart of the Week BYD Eyes 20 Dealership Locations After Canada Greenlights Chinese EV Imports ‘Sledgehammer’ Carbon Price Deal Boosts Emissions by 230Mt, Aims for Fall 2027 Pipeline Approval ‘Worse Than Harper’: Regulatory Rollback Would Stop Canada from Assessing Project Impacts, Critics Warn Electricity Strategy Aims for Doubling by 2050, Allows ‘Flexibility’ for Gas Power Plants Opposition Mounts as O’Leary’s Data Centre Approved in Drought-Stricken Utah Diluted Carbon Price Misses ‘Reality of the World We’re In’, Could Impede Diversified Trade: Climate Institute $200B in Clean Energy Investment Will Need On-Time Delivery, Reliable Policies, Trade Association Says ‘Sovereign Pipeline’: CEO Pitches to Keep Trans Mountain in Government Hands What a Supercharged El Niño Could Mean for Canada Canada’s future is electric, and here’s how a power grid superhighway would get us there (Toronto Star) The Perilous Waters of Hecate Strait (Globe and Mail) Saudi Aramco profits jump despite conflict in Middle East (The Guardian) Farmers confront rising cost of fertilizer and fuel as spring seeding under way (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Clarkson forecasts 24% decline in offshore oil, gas capital expenditures (Oil & Gas Journal) Pipe Dreams: How Oil and Gas Fail to Deliver Economic Development in Africa (Oil Change International) Developing countries must hold the pen to script the fossil fuel transition (Climate Home News) Iran war threatens the dream of a post-oil economy in the Gulf (Washington Post) U.S. Oil, Gas Work Force Hits Lowest Level Since 2022 (Rigzone) Why Polestar Is Doubling Down on Net Zero as Rivals Pull Back on EVs (Bloomberg) Why this Michigan utility plans to sell its hydro dams for $13 (E&E News/Politico) Levees can no longer save New Orleans (Vox)

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May 16 • 6:41 PM EDT • Politics • energymixweekender.substack.com
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ENTERTAINMENT: Opera in the Ozarks sets summer season; CALS screens ‘The Grocery List Show’

Opera in the Ozarks, the summer music festival and opera training program, will feature two fully staged operas and one opera pairing, June 26-July 24 at Inspiration Point Center for the Arts, five miles west of Eureka Springs.

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May 16 • 1:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • nwaonline.com
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Consumers sue Amazon for not refunding Trump tariff costs

Amazon.com Inc was sued on Friday by consumers seeking refunds for costs passed on to them in the form of higher prices as a result ​of tariffs the U.S. Supreme Court later concluded had been unlawfully imposed by President ‌Donald Trump.

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May 15 • 8:20 PM EDT • Business • reuters.com
Rudy Giuliani reveals he had 'spiritual experience' while in pneumonia-related coma

Rudy Giuliani, 81, opens up about a 'significant' spiritual experience during a coma caused by severe viral pneumonia, saying he has since recovered fully.

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May 15 • 7:43 PM EDT • Health • foxnews.com
Notice of Intent to Award Veterinarian Services RFP | Department of Health Services

The evaluation panel carefully reviewed and analyzed the proposals received in response to the above referenced solicitation. Based upon that review and analysis, we are recommending to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors that the contract be awarded to Dr. Catherine McKenzie.

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May 15 • 1:49 PM EDT • Health • sonomacounty.gov
Kentucky Republicans race to replace McConnell while carefully keeping him at arm’s length

Kentucky’s Republican Senate primary to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell is becoming a test of the Republican Party’s transformation under President Donald Trump

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May 15 • 12:28 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
University at Albany opens up campus, and science exploration, to district students

The semester may be over at the University at Albany but the campus is still buzzing with student learning – it just may not be the students you expect. Junior Falcon scientists from North Albany Middle School, Stephen and Harriet Myers Middle School and William S. Hackett Middle School presented their experiments, and findings, to professors and graduate students at UAlbany’s Emerging Technology and Entrepreneurship (ETEC) Complex on Thursday. After the science fair, the sixth and seventh-graders explored ETEC – which houses researchers, educators and entrepreneurs – and the tour was followed by a discussion with a UAlbany atmospheric science researcher and the awards ceremony. Most will likely recognize one of the science fair judges – Damian participated in the project assessments and hopefully recruited some future Great Danes!

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May 14 • 3:16 PM EDT • Science • albanyschools.org
Ron DeSantis rips Daniel Perez for obstructing his priorities

The House Speaker has successfully thwarted DeSantis' endgame on a number of issues.

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May 14 • 3:00 PM EDT • Politics • floridapolitics.com
Community Celebrations During Pokémon GO Fest 2026: Global

Pokémon GO’s 10th anniversary brings with it the debut of the Genetic Pokémon, Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Mewtwo Y, in Super Mega Raid Battles. Trainers will need as many fellow Trainers as possible to successfully face these powerful Raid Bosses. To celebrate 10 years of Pokémon GO, for the first time, Pokémon GO Fest […]

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May 14 • 12:55 PM EDT • Technology • pokemongohub.net
How to turn of Instagram's new Instants feature and retract photos you accidentally shared

While the Meta-owned social network billed Instants as a new format to share real-life moments as they’re happening, many users are looking for a way to turn off the feature, especially those who have ended up accidentally sending images to others not fully understanding how the feature works.

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May 14 • 11:06 AM EDT • Technology • techcrunch.com
Colon cancer is rising in young adults and doctors don’t fully know why

Colorectal cancer is increasingly showing up in younger adults, with cases now appearing in people as young as their thirties — often with no family history or warning signs. A major Swiss study analyzing nearly 100,000 cases over four decades found that diagnoses in people under 50 have been steadily climbing, even as rates fall among older adults thanks to screening programs. Researchers say younger patients are also more likely to be diagnosed late, after the cancer has already spread.

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May 14 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
‘Google Home Display’ appears, hopefully as a potential Nest Hub replacement

Ahead of the upcoming release of Google Home Speaker, a new “Google Home Display” has appeared in Google app code,...

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May 13 • 10:00 PM EDT • Technology • 9to5google.com
ChatGPT Gave Out My Address and Phone Number

Thankfully, both are old. But this raises questions about what's considered private info in the AI age.

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May 13 • 8:00 PM EDT • Technology • gizmodo.com
How to Launch Your Business Successfully

Business Launch Workshop covers the key steps to start a business, with practical guidance and resources, including free one on one advising through the Washington SBDC.

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May 13 • 3:25 PM EDT • Business • rentonwa.gov
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Sony ups its new A7R VI to 66.8 megapixels and jumps the price to $4,500

It now features a fully stacked sensor for faster shooting and 8K video, making it a more do-it-all high-resolution camera.

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May 13 • 11:30 AM EDT • Technology • theverge.com
Research Profiles Welcomes the School of Public Health

The Research Profiles expansion project announced last year has reached a key milestone: School of Public Health faculty profiles have been added to the portal. The first Danforth Campus school to be fully integrated into the Research Profiles system, the School of Public Health is also WashU’s first new school in 100 years. Explore faculty […]

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May 13 • 10:00 AM EDT • Health • library.washu.edu
Scientists finally solve the 100-year mystery behind tough tires

For nearly 100 years, reinforced rubber has powered everything from car tires to airplanes, yet scientists never fully understood why adding tiny particles of carbon black made rubber so incredibly strong. Now, researchers at the University of South Florida have finally cracked the mystery using massive computer simulations that took the equivalent of 15 years of computing time. They discovered that carbon black forces rubber to “fight against itself” when stretched, dramatically boosting its strength and durability.

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May 13 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
Max Road Fire is almost fully contained, but one Broward business is feeling the aftermath
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May 12 • 11:21 PM EDT • Business • cbsnews.com
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Waymo recalls massive autonomous fleet after incident flags major safety issue

Federal regulators say a software defect may prevent Waymo vehicles from fully stopping in flooded road conditions, increasing the risk of a crash or injury

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May 12 • 10:57 PM EDT • Business • foxbusiness.com
Decades after voter approval, Miami mental health center still not open

It has been more than 20 years since Miami-Dade County voters approved funding for a facility intended to help people living with mental illness. Yet today, the $51 million Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery remains unopened despite being fully constructed and ready for use.

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May 12 • 7:37 PM EDT • Health • nbcmiami.com
Apple Plans Customizable Camera for Pros, Siri Design Changes in iOS 27

Apple Inc. is planning to upgrade its Camera app, making the software fully customizable as part of a broader set of user interface changes coming in its next iPhone software update.

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May 12 • 3:43 PM EDT • Technology • bloomberg.com
ICE ‘materially violated’ order on warrantless arrests, Colorado judge says

A federal judge ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday to immediately train its Colorado employees about how to lawfully perform warrantless arrests, after the evidence showed officers had little understanding of the requirements. U.S. District Court Senior Judge R. Brooke Jackson wrote that ICE had “materially violated” his prior order that directed immigration […]

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May 12 • 1:25 PM EDT • Politics • coloradopolitics.com
St. Mary's new Master of Social Work to meet mental health professional shortage

Beginning in Fall 2027, St. Mary’s University will offer a Master of Social Work that will be unique among San Antonio institutions for offering fully asynchronous delivery, Military Social Work and Integrative Behavioral Health Care specializations and an explicitly Marianist values foundation.

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May 12 • 5:55 AM EDT • Health • stmarytx.edu
Shams: Bucks 'fully open for business' on trade offers for Giannis

Shams: Bucks are 'fully open for business' on trades and offers for Giannis

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May 11 • 12:44 PM EDT • Business • espn.com
A million baby monitors and security cameras were easily viewable by hackers

They should be fixed now. Hopefully.

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May 11 • 12:00 PM EDT • Technology • theverge.com
‘Stellar Blade 2’ Will Leave Sony Behind To ‘Fully Reflect Its Identity’ In Marketing

Shift Up, developer of Stellar Blade, has just made a big announcement that it will also be the publisher for its sequel, Stellar Blade 2.

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May 11 • 9:19 AM EDT • Technology • forbes.com
Scientists Changed a Lifeform’s Fundamental Code. It Shouldn’t Have Survived—but It Did.

20 amino acids are usually necessary for life, but scientists successfully deleted one.

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May 11 • 9:00 AM EDT • Science • popularmechanics.com
'Probably best Celtic performance in this tumultuous season'

Sinclair: Where did that performance come from? Fir Park is a massive massive game now, hopefully we can take Sunday into Wednesday. Topped off with a piece of individual brilliance - a goal Celtic fans will play back over and over for years to come.

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May 11 • 5:36 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Chicago Teachers Union wants $8.5 million dues hike to fund politics

“Has your brand become toxic?” This was a pointed question from WGN Political Editor Tahman Bradley, posed to Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates in a recent interview. Her immediate response: “I don’t understand the question.” When pressed, Gates added, “The Chicago Teachers Union is not a political party, it is a labor union.” But internal union documents show CTU leadership is trying to skim $8.5 million more from teacher paychecks explicitly for politics, while trying to silence union members critical of Gates’ leadership. Under the proposed dues hike, Chicago teachers would see up to $800 more per year flow from their paychecks to union coffers. The union already takes in more than $40 million a year, mostly from dues. And it spends less than 18 cents of every dollar on teacher representation. The No. 1 reason for the proposed dues hike? Politics. “We must win a majority of the first 21 person fully elected school board in November,” reads the first point in CTU’s member FAQ document.1 This directly contradicts CTU’s promise to members about how leadership uses dues money. The official CTU handbook tells members that the union does not use dues money for politics, so if they are interested in funding political activity, they should consider voluntary donations to CTU’s political action committee. “Our dues are not used for political purposes,” according to the handbook. “So our PAC relies on extra contributions from our members to support progressive candidates and to impact elected officials at the city, county and state levels.” This kind of double-speak is one reason members are concerned about another constitutional change slipped into the dues hike vote, which will take place on May 20-21: an attempt to stop members from holding the union accountable. A proposed amendment to the union constitution tries to place limits on when members may bring a lawsuit against the union for violating members’ rights.2 This provision is clearly a response to members’ lawsuit against union leadership regarding Gates’ years-long refusal to publish audited financial statements. The judge in that case has repeatedly denied the union’s attempts to dismiss it. Teachers opposed to these changes have been circulating this flier, urging members to vote no. What will CTU members get in return for millions of dollars in additional dues? If the 2024 school board elections are any indication—not much. CTU leadership’s record on school board races may not inspire confidence among members. A Chicago Policy Center analysis of a dozen affiliated PACs found CTU spent nearly $2.9 million on school board races in 2024. Of that spending, more than $2.1 million (75%) went to losing candidates. And while CTU-backed candidates lost six of the nine competitive seats overall, they fared worse in their biggest-spending races, losing five of six contests in which the union and its affiliates put up more than $250,000 for their candidate. The Chicago school board elections take place Nov. 3.3 Is another $8.5 million enough to clean up a toxic reputation? Not likely. Update on federal tax credit scholarship: Last week, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she plans to opt into the federal tax credit scholarship program. If Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker follows suit, Illinois could unlock $1 billion in donor money statewide for both public- and private-school students. If Illinois does not opt in, that money will flow to other states. The Last Ward reported in February on how Illinois Democrats could unlock at least $100 million in new resources for Chicago public-school students by opting in. Update on the investigation into how Chicagoans learned about a meeting to hike their property taxes: The Last Ward reported in January on an absurd, taxpayer-funded investigation into how local media learned of a planned Chicago school board meeting to hike the district’s property tax levy. That investigation is now complete. Lawyers interviewed two dozen witnesses, and found nothing. Update on Illinois’ muni debt crisis: My colleague Joe Tabor last week published a must-read piece in Crain’s Chicago Business about how Illinois recently rejected south suburban Harvey’s request to be designated a “distressed city.” The saga shows why the state must implement a better structure to assist insolvent local governments, including allowing for the option to pursue debt relief via Chapter 9 bankruptcy. The Last Ward reported in October on how Harvey is tipping the first domino in Illinois’ municipal debt crisis. Mincing Rascals: I joined the Mincing Rascals podcast to discuss the SAFE-T Act, the millionaires tax, and more. My “green light” recommendation: Force Majeure (2014). 1 Notably, the No. 2 reason cited is “resources to fund a state-wide millionaires tax campaign in order to fully fund the state’s school funding formula.” The constitutional amendment necessary to implement a progressive income tax in Illinois recently died in the Illinois House, meaning this question would not appear on the ballot until 2028 at the earliest. 2 There is seemingly no single-subject rule for CTU constitutional amendments. So members only get one vote on the full package. One cannot vote “yes” on the dues hike and “no” on the restriction of members’ rights, for example. 3 Illinois law grants far too much power over local government to unelected officials like Gates. State lawmakers should fix that.

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May 10 • 9:01 AM EDT • Politics • thelastward.org
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What’s your favorite NBA Playoffs moment from a Tar Heel?

We’re fully into the NBA Playoffs swing, so what’s your favorite memory from a Tar Heel playing at the next level?

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May 10 • 9:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Scientists successfully transfer longevity gene and extend lifespan

Scientists at the University of Rochester pulled off a remarkable experiment: they transferred a longevity-related gene from the famously long-lived naked mole rat into mice, and the mice ended up healthier and lived longer. The special gene boosts production of a substance called high molecular weight hyaluronic acid, which appears to protect against cancer, reduce inflammation, and support healthier aging. The modified mice showed stronger resistance to tumors, healthier guts, and lower levels of age-related inflammation.

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May 9 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
Magic Mini Golf closes in Delmar Loop; Joe Edwards teases new business

Magic Mini Golf opened in October 2023 and had 18 holes of indoor miniature golf, 2 shuffleboard courts and a fully-functioning 5-car indoor Ferris wheel.

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May 9 • 1:14 PM EDT • Business • stltoday.com
Actor known for ‘Shawshank Redemption’ role dies at 87

He passed away peacefully on April 26, according to his online obituary.

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May 9 • 5:15 AM EDT • Entertainment • lehighvalleylive.com
Small Business Deduction Shouldn't Exclude Independent Financial Advisors - Americans for Tax Reform

Americans for Tax Reform urges the Trump Treasury Department to issue guidance allowing independent financial advisors to fully qualify for the 20 percent

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May 8 • 3:05 PM EDT • Business • atr.org
Petaluma businesses earn California Green Business Certification; community invited to celebrate May 12

A cohort of 16 forward-thinking Petaluma businesses has successfully achieved or are working to achieve California Green Business Certification through a collaborative program led by local climate action nonprofit, Cool Petaluma. The initiative supports businesses in adopting environmentally responsible practices that reduce waste, conserve resources, and improve operational efficiency.

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May 8 • 2:22 PM EDT • Business • sonomacounty.gov
‘Mars’ is 2025’s most popular planet baby name

Thankfully, no one named their kid Uranus.

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May 8 • 12:29 PM EDT • Science • popsci.com
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Did Cowboys successfully address these 3 concerning offseason issues?

The Cowboys had three big goals this offseason, were they successful in addressing them all?

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May 8 • 6:46 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Connecting climate science and storytelling at Mission Hill Middle School

Working with seventh grade science teachers Sallie Corbin and Christy Fairbairn, Lookout developed a science communication workshop to support students’ climate change research projects and help students think about how complex scientific ideas can be communicated clearly and meaningfully. The visit introduced students to the basics of journalism, storytelling and audience engagement, with support from UC Santa Cruz science communication graduate student and Lookout intern Cassidy Beach. Students later presented their climate change projects at Mission Hill’s Climate Change Symposium through creative formats including videos, games, comics, sculptures and interactive activities. The partnership marks one of Lookout’s first middle school classroom visits as part of its growing educational initiative focused on media literacy, civic engagement and local journalism.

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May 7 • 4:16 PM EDT • Science • lookout.co
Absci Reports Business Updates and First Quarter 2026 Financial and Operating Results

Successfully dosed all four planned healthy volunteer SAD cohorts of ongoing ABS-201™ HEADLINE trial; well-tolerated with favorable emerging safety data Preliminary pharmacokinetic (PK) modeling from HEADLINE trial supports ABS-201's targeted dosing interval Initiated dosing of first MAD cohort of AGA participants of ongoing ABS-201™ HEADLINE trial Expanding prolactin program portfolio with addition of ABS-202 to internal pipeline VANCOUVER, Wash. and NEW YORK, May 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A

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May 7 • 4:05 PM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com
Lucky Strike Entertainment Hit With Bowling Alley Monopoly Suit

Private equity-backed Lucky Strike Entertainment Corp. was sued in federal court by consumers who allege the company unlawfully acquired bowling centers across the US to gain monopoly power and drive up prices, making the sport no longer an affordable pastime for families and leagues.

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May 7 • 12:44 PM EDT • Entertainment • news.bloomberglaw.com
Science diplomacy lessons from a North Korean volcano

Mount Paektu, a mythic, active volcano on the border between North Korea and China, is almost the epitome of a scientific challenge that crosses political lines. In 946 CE, it erupted in one of the five biggest volcanic events of the past 10,000 years, kicking up huge quantities of ash and sending destructive mud flows down river channels for hundreds of kilometres. Should this happen again, the entire region, including easternmost Russia, South Korea and even Japan could be hit. “It’s definitely got the potential to be big,” said James Hammond, a professor of geophysics at Birkbeck, University of London. An eruption on the scale of 946 would have “huge regional impact.” For the past 15 years, Hammond has helped lead a groundbreaking collaboration with North Korean scientists to study the volcano, navigating scientific sanctions, tough export controls on scientific equipment and a long, pandemic-enforced exodus from the country. Although he seems more at home on far-flung research expeditions – before speaking to Science|Business, Hammond was camping out on a Greenland ice sheet – he has also advised the European Commission on its changing science diplomacy strategy. His long experience with North Korea has made Hammond sceptical of blanket bans on science collaboration, no matter the country.This is a live question in Europe, where in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, institutional ties with Russian universities were almost entirely severed, although some scientists fear this could undermine our understanding of climate change’s impact on the Arctic. Here, Hammond tells the story of the Mount Paektu mission and the policy lessons he takes from it. Ominous rumblingsThe genesis of Hammond’s collaboration came in 2002, when Mount Paektu began to rumble ominously. Earthquake activity picked up and the volcano began to emit unusual gases. North Korean scientists took notice. “People felt we need to know more about this volcano,” said Hammond. In 2011, North Korean vulcanologists put out a request for international expertise to help them learn more. At the time, Hammond and his collaborator, Clive Oppenheimer, were working on a vulcanology project in another sanctioned country, Eritrea, and so decided to answer the call. Within a month, they had flown into Pyongyang. “It was pretty incredible,” recalls Hammond (left). “We were made to feel like honoured guests, and invited to official celebrations.” The scientific opportunity was huge. Paektu is unusually positioned, a thousand kilometres from where tectonic plates rub against each other in the Pacific. “It was an incredibly interesting volcano, but not much research had been done, at least not in the international community,” he said. “There was so much we felt we could do. And we had these partners that were super keen to engage.”The mission received an unusual visitor in the form of volcano-obsessed filmmaker Werner Herzog, who accompanied Hammond and Oppenheimer while directing his 2016 film Into the Inferno about volcanos across the world. Four days into the trip, the German director delivered a long speech about reunification to his North Korean hosts, recalls Hammond. “He got to the heart of the Koreans and how they felt, and how they thought, in a way that I'm not sure I ever will,” he said. UN sanctionsHowever, Hammond realised he’d been “naïve” about how difficult it would be to collaborate with North Korea, which was sanctioned far more heavily than Eritrea. “We didn’t fully appreciate the all-encompassing nature of restrictions,” he said. In 2016, as tensions escalated over Pyongyang’s nuclear tests, a United Nations resolution banned all joint scientific work with North Korea. However, the UN sanctions did allow countries to request carve outs, and the UK successfully requested an exemption for Hammond’s work. Related articlesEU pushes for joint science diplomacy, but care needed to avoid gridlock, experts sayRussia severs its last ties with German scienceAnchor Greenlanders in Arctic climate research, experts tell EU ahead of policy updateExport controls have also delayed Hammond’s work. In one case, it took 18 months to get approval from the UK government to take seismometers, which measure earthquakes, to North Korea. “It was frustrating,” he said. “But they didn’t just say no.” However, one instrument, called an induction coil, used to measure how the earth conducts electricity, was blocked entirely because it can in theory be used to detect submarines. Karaoke bondingSince the collaboration started in 2011, Hammond has visited the country around 15 times, although the pandemic closed off North Korea for more than five years. A trip last November was Hammond’s first since the outbreak. Despite this lengthy interlude, Hammond has deep bonds in the country. The North Korean scientists Hammond works with are somewhat isolated, as they struggle to access the latest research papers and travel to international conferences. That said, they are “excellent geophysicists” and are “very well trained in the field,” he said. Over karaoke and chats about their families, “we’ve made friendships, for sure,” he said. The authorities have to sign-off things like the placement of seismometers, for example, but Hammond said these requests have been approved. “Everything that we've asked for within a scientific context has been delivered.”Scientific backchannels? These kind of personal links between scientists across political lines are one purported benefit of science diplomacy. During the Cold War, some historians argue, scientific contact between the US and Soviet Union laid a groundwork of trust for other cooperation, such as on arms control. Hammond agrees that backchannel contacts to North Korean geophysicists are hardly likely to defuse a military crisis on the Korean peninsula, but the simple fact of the scientific collaboration makes contacts between diplomats that little bit easier. “It creates opportunities to understand each other a little bit better,” he said. “When maybe you have those more difficult discussions as diplomats, it's coming from a slightly better place.” Cutting tiesDrawing lessons from the Mount Paektu mission for today’s links with Russian science isn’t simple. The analogy is far from exact, Hammond said, “because one is essentially a Cold War, versus a pretty hot war in the case of Russia.” But Hammond’s broader argument is that the challenges we face, such as climate change, pandemics, biodiversity loss, pollution and so on, have globalised in an unprecedented way, making blanket shutdowns in collaboration with any country unwise.He’s somewhat critical of the UN scientific sanctions imposed on North Korea in 2016, even though they did allow for exceptions. “I think a blanket halt to some of these things, when we face big global challenges [. . .] that’s quite a risky thing to do,” he said.Institutional endorsement?European academics are still by and large free to work individually with Russian counterparts. However, official, institutional partnerships have largely ended. Shortly following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian university rectors wrote a public letter endorsing the war, meaning European universities fear official collaboration could also be seen as a kind of endorsement. Hammond acknowledges there is a risk of legitimising regimes, and state-controlled universities, through scientific cooperation. “That’s the trade off you have to make,” he said. Strategic projectsWith Russia, instead of giving a green light to restart all Arctic science, a middle ground might be firing up a few carefully selected “strategic” projects, said Hammond. After all, European countries are still collaborating with Russia on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, an experimental nuclear fusion plant in the south of France. However, even if Europe did try to revive Arctic science with Russia, there’s no guarantee Russian scientists would play ball. A series of high-profile arrests of physicists in Russia accused of sharing their findings with the outside world has made collaboration fraught. Even before the invasion of 2022, “the Russian regime made it increasingly difficult, and this sort of discouraged people,” Dag Rune Olsen, rector of the Arctic University of Norway, told Science|Business last year.

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May 7 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencebusiness.net
Rubio’s Rome mission balances diplomacy and Republican politics

As global affairs expert Ian Lesser argues, Marco Rubio’s visit to Rome is unlikely to fully repair recent tensions between Washington, Italy and the Vatican, but it could still help ease the political climate. According to Lesser, Rubio embodies a more diplomatic and moderate Republican voice, yet remains constrained by the broader posture of the [...]

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May 7 • 6:12 AM EDT • Politics • decode39.com
33-year-old makes $192,000 a month negotiating car deals for strangers—how he built a fully remote business

With car prices soaring, Tomi built a business negotiating car deals for clients. He now has 15 remote employees and brings in $2.6 million a year. He shares exactly how to turn a practical skill into a million-dollar business or side hustle.

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May 6 • 12:47 PM EDT • Business • cnbc.com
Liquid Glass for Android is ‘not happening,’ at least not for Pixels

Apple’s Liquid Glass redesign of its platforms, especially iOS, has been divisive to say the least but, thankfully, Google’s President...

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May 6 • 9:05 AM EDT • Technology • 9to5google.com
Apple may have just made one of the most important new Siri announcements

Apple’s painfully slow launch of the new Siri has become such a long-running saga, it seems to have all the...

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May 6 • 7:19 AM EDT • Technology • 9to5mac.com
2026 CEO Study: 5 plays for AI-first transformation

AI-first CEOs are executing on strategy more successfully and scaling more AI initiatives enterprise wide. Download the 2026 IBM IBV CEO Study to find out how.

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May 6 • 5:33 AM EDT • Business • ibm.com
Legislating at the speed of artificial intelligence

By Sean Camacho Consumers in Colorado and across the country are demanding artificial intelligence companies be more transparent about how their systems work: how they’re built, how they learn, how they change over time. What we’ve learned as advocates for AI regulation is the process of building AI — iterative, adaptive and never fully finished […]

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May 6 • 2:30 AM EDT • Politics • coloradopolitics.com
Lab Thread Launches Unified Platform to Replace Fragmented Life Science Software Stacks

A UK startup launches a fully integrated digital lab management platform designed to replace the disconnected software stacks slowing down biological R&D

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May 5 • 4:50 AM EDT • Science • labmanager.com
Supreme Court temporarily restores access to abortion pill mifepristone through telehealth, mail and pharmacies

The court's order will remain in effect for another week while both sides respond and the court more fully considers the issue.

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May 4 • 11:42 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
How Gamers Are Discovering Entertainment Beyond the Screen in 2026

In 2026, that reality is more pronounced than ever—and how gamers discover new entertainment has shifted in ways the industry didn't fully predict.

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May 4 • 10:26 AM EDT • Entertainment • cgmagonline.com
Brentford 3-0 West Ham

Also, Josh Dasilva is back on the pitch! Brentford are still in there, despite some doubters at the start of the season - but those were not supporters. Jerry: We took our chances with a thing of beauty from Mikkel Damsgaard, but West Ham thankfully were profligate in front of goal, which is why they are in a relegation scrap with Spurs, and we still have a chance of a first European jaunt.

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May 4 • 4:01 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Opinion | Academic research in science is complicated

Complicated enough for a thoughtfully appointed National Science Board. Which, suddenly, we no longer have, writes a University of Minnesota professor emeritus.

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May 3 • 2:29 PM EDT • Science • startribune.com
Braves seek sweep on Spencer Strider Sunday

It’s Spencer Strider 2026 debut time. Hopefully it goes better than his 2025 debut or his first start at Coors Field.

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May 3 • 11:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
THE BLOODHOUND Immersive Experience To Be Presented By USC Themed Entertainment

The University of Southern California’s Themed Entertainment program will present “The Bloodhound,” a fully immersive theatrical production. Part of the larger USC School of Cinematic Arts.

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May 3 • 10:41 AM EDT • Entertainment • broadwayworld.com
This tiny, magnetic e-reader could stop you from doomscrolling

The Xteink X3 is a delightfully tiny, MagSafe-compatible e-ink reader that attaches to the back of your phone like a Pop Socket.

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May 3 • 9:00 AM EDT • Technology • techcrunch.com
‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field

‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field ‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field A field that once seemed like a direct path to stable, lucrative work is becoming less certain under AI, students and faculty told Spectator. By Ria Vasishtha and Arjun Menon May 3, 2026 Shanying Liu / Deputy Illustrations Editor Asia Genawi, SEAS ’29, first encountered artificial intelligence during her sophomore year at her high school in Indiana. Back in 2023, policies on AI varied widely—even within the same district—and some schools had no guidance at all. As Genawi began to see the effects of AI trickle into her classroom, she turned to guidance from her home state’s Department of Education, which she said she found “outdated and inaccessible.” Genawi spent the rest of her high school career dedicated to the issue, including writing a 15-page memo exploring varying AI policies across Indiana schools, which she sent to every Indiana state senator and representative whose contact information she was able to find. She later helped draft a bill that would have required public high schools to establish and share their own AI policies with students in an accessible format. But with so many other bills already awaiting referral, hers never made it to committee. When Genawi arrived at Columbia to study computer science, she found that the gaps she had spent years trying to address in Indiana had followed her there. Many students and professors were also grappling with what AI meant for the field. Across Columbia’s undergraduate schools, computer science has become the most popular major—accounting for around 11 percent of degrees awarded in Columbia College, 32 percent in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and 12 percent in the School of General Studies in 2024. While the number of computer science majors in SEAS grew from 166 to 173 during the 2024-25 academic year, the total number across the three schools fell around 4.5 percent from 393 to 375, driven by declines at Columbia College and General Studies. At Barnard, it has grown to become the second most popular major as of 2025, up from third the year prior. The number of degrees awarded have grown fivefold since 2016. Faculty members and students in the department told Spectator that the surge in the major’s popularity has been driven in large part by its apparent promise of a secure, well-paid career path. However, they noted that the recent rise of generative AI has compromised the sense of stability that once defined the field, even as interest in technical skills among students persists. According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2024, out of 74 majors tracked, computer science had the fifth highest unemployment rate among majors at 7 percent, while computer engineering had the second highest at 7.8 percent. “Anecdotally, people are moving away from CS as a major,” Daniel Bauer, a senior lecturer in the computer science department, said. “They’re still taking some of our classes, right, because they think they need that, but they’re instead majoring in other things.” Bauer described a field that had shifted from what he called a “nerdy outlier discipline” to one that “everyone needs,” a sign that technical skills have become a baseline expectation across industries with the emergence of AI. “A lot of people thought, ‘Oh, it’s a guaranteed path to a stable income. You get a six-figure job right out of your undergrad,’” Bauer said. Now, companies may see AI as a way to reduce demand for entry-level programmers, especially in what he calls “code monkey jobs,” roles where a large number of employees are “just writing out code nine-to-five.” Chris Murphy, a senior lecturer in the computer science department, described the current moment as the convergence of two forces: the downturn of the job market and generative AI coming onto the scene. “Things kind of started to really pick up in 2014, 16,” he said, recalling the years after the weaker 2010 market. Murphy added that this was also a period where “students were getting more experience outside of class than they were inside of class” through internships, jobs, and side projects. Murphy suggested that the earlier momentum helped make computer science feel like both an academic program and a reliable pathway into work. That feeling is harder to sustain now as the industry reconfigures, which is a shift that students are seeing firsthand. Rebecca Yu, SEAS ’27, said that during a recent internship in Big Tech, she saw that “every single tech company was racing to integrate” large language models. She added that her manager said her intern class was the first to complete their assigned projects, which she attributed to the increased efficiency that comes with AI. Frank Liu, SEAS ’29, said that with AI lowering the barrier to coding, companies now expect everyone to write code. “A lot of companies outright say if you’re not using coding in your job, you might get fired for not being productive enough,” Liu said. Yu similarly expressed that students increasingly have to accept AI being a part of industry workflow, adding that many also “make use of it to maximize their productivity.” Richard Li, CC ’28, described a “franticness” among his peers as the pace of change accelerates. He explained how “some new tool” is released regularly, noting that tools rise and fall in prominence within weeks. He has come to believe that he doesn’t need to “match that speed all the time” and keep up with every development. Li has learned that AI tools allow him to “take a breath” and “get back into the loop much easier than before” when he needs to. While some companies specifically target Columbia when hiring, sending representatives to campus career fairs and recruiting large numbers from Columbia, a computer science degree cannot be treated as a static credential, Yu described. “You can’t just get your degree and stop learning after that. You have to always be learning,” Yu said. “That is something you basically have to expect for your job.” AI has not only affected students’ decisions to major in computer science, but also reshaped how the subject is taught. Across departments, faculty members no longer treat work done outside the classroom as a reliable measure of understanding, shifting instead toward in-person exams, quizzes, and attendance checks. While homework once made up as much as 60 to 70 percent of a student’s grade in computer science classes, Murphy said that breakdown has since flipped, with exams and quizzes now accounting for the majority. “The assumption—especially among pessimists—is that they’re using it to do their homework,” Murphy said. “They take the homework assignment. They put it into generative AI. Out comes the solution. Submit solution. The end.” Murphy said that faculty members ranged in their responses from fully prohibiting AI use to actively teaching students how to effectively work with AI. He said he shifted his approach this year after his teaching assistants called his belief that students weren’t using the technology “naïve,” and now permits students to use AI on assignments. His surveys of students in his introductory classes have told a more complicated story than the one so-called pessimists offer: Around 60 to 70 percent of students who reported using AI said they used it to have concepts explained to them, to clarify assignment instructions, to generate test cases, or to create practice questions. “Those are all ways that you might have had a tutor in the past to do that, and now you have this AI essentially as your tutor,” he said. Bauer has taken a different approach, teaching students how to use AI productively without sacrificing the core principles of the discipline. “People who are trained to actually use AI tools productively, while being in charge of designing the overall project, will be very much in demand in the next couple of years,” he said. Over the past year, a working group of computer science faculty has been redesigning the introductory and intermediate programming sequence to integrate generative AI as both a subject and a tool, representatives from SEAS wrote in a statement to Spectator. The effort is “coordinated” across the department, “not course-by-course,” with a systematic assessment of how AI integration is affecting student outcomes underway to shape the next round of changes. The goal, the department explained, is for students to be able to “read, verify, and reason about code, whether they or a model wrote it.” Tony Dear, senior lecturer in the computer science department, is piloting individualized AI feedback in a discrete mathematics course, while a machine learning course is also testing a Socratic AI dialogue system designed to “guide inquiry rather than supply answers,” the statement reads. Beyond individual courses, SEAS funded seven cross-departmental faculty projects in generative AI this past academic year, spanning biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, industrial engineering, and computer science, according to the statement. This phenomenon extends beyond the computer science department. SEAS’ new AI minor, which it announced in November 2025, reflects the University’s attempt to adapt. The minor is specifically designed for noncomputer science majors and aims to provide “essential AI knowledge” while emphasizing practical and responsible use across disciplines, according to the SEAS website. At the center of the minor is AI in Context, a course taught by a team of faculty from the departments of computer science, applied mathematics, philosophy, music, literature, and the Writing Center, the representatives told Spectator. Bauer described it as targeted at students who want to bring AI into fields like economics or biology, rather than as a path into software engineering itself. At the graduate level, SEAS announced a new Master of Science in artificial intelligence in February, with the inaugural cohort starting in the fall. While recognizing how AI has helped them navigate coursework, students also described its rise as isolating, even among members of the Application Development Initiative, one of Columbia’s largest computer science clubs. “As people start to ask AI for questions that they would normally ask students and members, it starts to isolate people” Li said. Alexa Kafka, BC ’27, echoed Li’s sentiment, pointing out that computer science has always been a collaborative discipline with code reviews and pull requests, even as AI makes independent work easier. Despite this, Kafka noted that she hasn’t been to office hours “in at least a year.” Bauer added that faculty are exploring long-term solutions to the assessment problem. “One of the things that we’re trying to do at the department or school level is to maybe move towards computerized testing facilities,” Bauer said, referring to ideas in the department to revitalize computer labs as an alternative to pen-and-paper exams. “We have to accept that this is the reality, for better or worse.” But more exams, students say, does not mean better learning, nor does it reflect how computer science is actually done. “Code is so variable and can be approached in so many directions, there’s never just going to be one correct answer. There can be multiple optimal solutions,” Kafka said. Students also expressed concern that the shift toward exam-heavy grading pulls focus away from the applied, project-based work that better reflects both discipline and industry expectations. ADI has tried to respond more quickly than the curriculum can. Through a vibe coding workshop this past semester, club members said they wanted to help students understand not just that AI exists, but how to use it deliberately. “Vibe coding” refers to the practice of prompting AI to write code for a task or project, and has become widespread enough that ADI felt the gap in formal instruction was worth addressing, according to Sophia Huang, BC ’29. The workshop introduced students to the concept of context engineering, which Shaina Sahu, SEAS ’27, described as not just writing a prompt, but optimizing “the rest of the relevant information that you would feed into the model.” Without that, students said that AI-generated code can fail at scale or introduce difficult-to-detect bugs. Genawi said the shift toward AI has changed what it means to be good at computer science. “I think the shift has kind of gone towards what can you create and what can you do, instead of, what do you know,” she said. Indeed, during ADI DevFest, its annual hackathon, Li said more teams are trying to complete their projects than in years past. While sign-ups have historically outpaced submissions, Li said this is beginning to change because teams “have a tool that completes the vision for them.” While many students see AI as an equalizer that lowers the barrier to entry for coding and technical work, Murphy said it also creates new equity concerns inside the classroom around who can afford stronger tools and who already knows how to use them. “The equity issues I worry about are students who have access to paid versions of things versus free versions of things,” he said. Although popular AI models like ChatGPT and Claude have free versions available, both have paid models that can reach over $100 per month, which output different qualities of code. Murphy also pointed to differences in prior exposure to AI literacy itself. “Students who go to high schools or K-12 education, where they’re taught AI literacy, prompt engineering, context engineering, they understand how to do this, as opposed to students who go to schools who don’t teach that,” he said. “Then they come in, and then they’re somehow expected to know how to use these tools.” For Genawi, those disparities begin long before students arrive on campus. “It’s very interesting to consider how lucky you were geographically,” she said. “To be born where you were is influencing your ability to get access to these spaces.” Students like Yu, though broadly apprehensive about the future of computer science, are not without hope. “I’m optimistic, because I think if you’re truly passionate about CS, there will definitely be a place in the field to do something you want to do,” she said. Senior Staff Writer Ria Vasishtha can be contacted at ria.vasishtha@columbiaspectator.com. Follow Spectator on X @ColumbiaSpec. Staff Writer Arjun Menon can be contacted at arjun.menon@columbiaspectator.com. Follow Spectator on X @ColumbiaSpec. Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter and like Spectator on Facebook. Produced with Spectate by Emily Ta

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May 2 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • columbiaspectator.com
Trump says he'll place 25% tariff on autos from EU

Trump said Friday in a social media post that the EU is not complying with a fully agreed to trade deal, though he did not flesh out his objections in the post

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May 1 • 12:19 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
Charles tamed Trump while rebuking Trumpism in ego-flattering masterstroke

King skillfully appeals to Republicans fond of Britain and Democrats anxious about rules-based order in state visit

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May 1 • 10:39 AM EDT • Politics • theguardian.com
The folly of Trump taking a "wrecking ball" to a crucial science advisory board

Without independent oversight, the National Science Foundation is “fully at the behest of the White House.”

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May 1 • 7:30 AM EDT • Science • motherjones.com
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For Patients, Transparent Healthcare Prices Won’t Lower Out-Of-Pocket Costs

If increased transparency isn’t the answer, what could meaningfully lower patients’ out-of-pocket costs? Reduced prices of care throughout all of healthcare would help.

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May 1 • 5:45 AM EDT • Health • forbes.com
Golden Entertainment completes transition to family ownership

Golden Entertainment has successfully completed its conversion to a private family-owned compay following the close of its transaction Thursday with Chairman and CEO Blake Sartini and VICI Properti...

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Apr 30 • 2:02 PM EDT • Entertainment • cdcgaming.com
Teachers’ knowledge of science of reading improves, Fordham reports

However, at least a quarter of K-3 teachers say they are not fully committed to the literacy model, according to new research.

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Apr 30 • 1:00 AM EDT • Science • k12dive.com
America’s Politically Violent Have Their Own Ideology

Most Americans fully reject political violence. It’s time to differentiate between those who tolerate it and everyone else.

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Apr 29 • 2:05 PM EDT • Politics • theatlantic.com
Can NASA and SpaceX really build a moon base in the next 10 years?

Experts say building a lunar colony within the next decade, as NASA and Elon Musk want to, will require finding solutions to problems we don't yet fully understand.

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Apr 29 • 12:51 PM EDT • Science • livescience.com
Take-Two CEO Addresses Grand Theft Auto 6 Price, and the Possibility for More L.A. Noire

Strauss Zelnick doesn't have anything definitive on GTA 6's price tag yet, but it is being carefully considered and says Rockstar is focused on "making the most spectacular piece of entertainment on Earth."

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Apr 28 • 8:05 PM EDT • Technology • ign.com
Australia becomes the 30th country to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem

The World Health Organization (WHO) has validated Australia for eliminating trachoma as a public health problem, marking a significant milestone in the health of indigenous peoples and in global efforts to combat neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Trachoma, the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness, no longer represents a public health problem in the country.Australia is among a growing number of countries that have successfully eliminated trachoma, contributing to global progress towards the targets set out in the WHO road map for NTDs 2021–2030.Trachoma is caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis and spreads through close contact with infected individuals, contaminated surfaces, and flies that carry eye and nose discharge. Repeated infections can lead to scarring of the eyelids, turning eyelashes inward, and ultimately causing blindness if untreated.“WHO congratulates Australia on this important achievement,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This success reflects sustained commitment, strong partnerships, and a focus on reaching populations most affected by health inequities. It brings us closer to a world free from the suffering caused by trachoma.”Australia’s journey to eliminationAustralia’s achievement reflects decades of targeted public health action, particularly in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, where trachoma persisted despite its earlier disappearance from the rest of the country.National efforts intensified with the establishment of the National Trachoma Management Programme in 2006, which implemented the WHO-recommended SAFE strategy: surgery for trichiasis, antibiotics to treat infection, promotion of facial cleanliness, and environmental improvement. Regular screening of all communities classified as at-risk of trachoma by teams of qualified health workers formed an important part of the Programme. Interventions were delivered through coordinated partnerships between federal and state governments, Aboriginal community-controlled health services, and local communities.Over time, sustained screening, treatment, and prevention activities, including improvements in housing, water, sanitation and hygiene, led to a steady decline in trachoma prevalence. Australia’s approach included adaptations to reflect its context, such as targeted treatment based on community-level data rather than mass drug administration, and strong integration with environmental health programmes.“Elimination of trachoma is a win for the eye health of communities across Australia, particularly those whose lives have been impacted by a disease that is entirely preventable,” said Mark Butler, Minister for Health and Ageing, Australia. “This major milestone is thanks to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership, community commitment and sustained investment over many decades.“The lessons from this work will inform how we approach other preventable health conditions in remote and regional Australia. Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations and local health workers have been central to this success, delivering culturally safe care and community-led solutions.”“This recognition from the World Health Organization reflects decades of work led by Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, alongside local health workers in remote First Nations communities,” said Malarndirri McCarthy, Minister for Indigenous Australians. “Their work has been critical to eliminating trachoma as a public health problem in Australia.”Advancing global efforts against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)Trachoma is one of 21 diseases and disease groups that are regarded by WHO as NTDs. Together, NTDs affect more than 1 billion people worldwide, primarily in underserved populations with limited access to essential services such as clean water, sanitation, and health care.Australia’s elimination of trachoma as a public health problem highlights the importance of sustained political commitment and cross-sectoral collaboration in addressing the underlying determinants of health. It also underscores the feasibility of eliminating trachoma even in geographically challenging settings.In addition to trachoma, Australia has several endemic NTDs, including Buruli ulcer, leprosy and scabies. Validation of elimination of trachoma as a public health problem marks the first time that WHO has confirmed the elimination of an NTD in Australia, which becomes the 63rd country globally and 16th in the Western Pacific Region to have eliminated at least one NTD.“Tackling neglected tropical diseases in the Western Pacific Region has long been a challenge for countries across the socioeconomic spectrum, given the complexities in reaching the most vulnerable communities, including in remote areas,” said Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. “As a doctor from Tonga, I’ve experienced these challenges for myself. But I also know that with strategic commitment underpinned by optimal resources and partnerships in health, success is possible as other countries in our region have also demonstrated. I commend Australia on eliminating trachoma as a public health problem and urge all involved to remain vigilant to ensure this status is maintained.”WHO continues to support countries working to eliminate trachoma and other NTDs, ensuring that progress reaches those most in need and that gains are sustained through strong surveillance, appropriately integrated into national health systems, and mainstreamed within the wider health sector and beyond.Editor’s notesNeglected tropical diseases and trachoma elimination effortsNeglected tropical diseases are associated with devastating health, social and economic consequences. Their burden is mainly felt among impoverished communities in tropical areas.Public health targets for the control, elimination and eradication of these conditions were set in the road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021–2030 (https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240010352).In 1996, WHO launched the WHO Alliance for the Global Elimination of Trachoma by 2020 (GET2020), creating a network of governments, non-governmental organizations and academic institutions dedicated to the fight against trachoma. WHO continues to support endemic countries to accelerate progress towards the global target of eliminating trachoma as a public health problem worldwide; 2030 is the new target date.Elimination of trachoma as a public health problem is defined as: (i) a prevalence of trachomatous trichiasis (TT) “unknown to the health system” of < 0.2% in ≥15-year-olds; and (ii) a prevalence of trachomatous inflammation—follicular (TF) in children aged 1–9 years of < 5%, in each formerly endemic district, plus (iii) the existence of a system to identify and manage incident cases of TT.Other countries validated by WHO as having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem are: Algeria, Benin, Burundi, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, India, Iraq, Islamic Republic of Iran, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Togo, Vanuatu and Viet Nam.

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Apr 28 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • who.int
Trump Takes a ‘Wrecking Ball’ to Independent Scientific Advisory Board

Without the impartial oversight of its board, the National Science Foundation is now “fully at the behest of the White House,” experts warn.

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Apr 28 • 6:03 PM EDT • Science • insideclimatenews.org
City birds appear more afraid of women than men and scientists have no idea why

‘I fully believe our results, that urban birds react differently based on the sex of the person approaching them, but I can’t explain them right now’

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Apr 28 • 4:00 PM EDT • Science • scientificamerican.com
YouTube TV officially launches fully custom multiview – here’s where it doesn’t work

After showing up for some users last week, YouTube TV has officially launched its fully custom multiview feature, while also...

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Apr 28 • 3:45 PM EDT • Technology • 9to5google.com
Denuvo Has Been Fully Cracked And 2K Is Fighting Back

Using a relatively new bypass technique, hackers claim to have effectively cracked all games using Denuvo protection software

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Apr 28 • 1:39 PM EDT • Technology • kotaku.com
Nvidia Is Finally Doing Something About the RAM Apocalypse

Hopefully, it’s the start of better, more affordable GPU options.

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Apr 28 • 1:35 PM EDT • Technology • gizmodo.com
San Francisco State University Partners with UC Law San Francisco to Expand Downtown Presence  - UC Law San Francisco (Formerly UC Hastings)

SFSU’s Lam Family College of Business will use classroom and office space at 198 McAllister Street to establish a new downtown campus. San Francisco State University (SFSU) and UC Law San Francisco have reached an agreement that establishes a new downtown home for SFSU’s Lam Family College of Business at UC Law SF’s Academic Village. The agreement places SFSU business students in close proximity to leading employers, industry partners and transit hubs, enhancing opportunities for internships, networking and career advancement. The UC Law SF Academic Village is a shared-campus model designed to foster collaboration among higher education institutions and contribute to San Francisco’s ongoing revitalization. San Francisco State University (SFSU) and UC Law San Francisco have reached an agreement that establishes a new downtown home for graduate business programs from SFSU’s Lam Family College of Business at UC Law SF’s Academic Village. The agreement creates a new downtown campus location for SFSU, giving students direct access to San Francisco’s thriving business environment. Beginning in Fall 2026, graduate business students will take classes at the UC Law SF building at 198 McAllister Street, at the nexus of the Civic Center, Mid-Market and Tenderloin communities. Under the agreement, SFSU will occupy 3,200 square feet of exclusive teaching and office space and will share additional classrooms with UC Law. The move positions students in close proximity to leading employers, industry partners and transit hubs, enhancing opportunities for internships, networking and career advancement. “This partnership is an example of the growing strategic collaborations that expand opportunities for our students,” said SFSU President Lynn Mahoney. “By situating graduate business programs in the city’s urban core, we will help students build connections, gain experience and achieve their goals for meaningful careers and upward mobility.” Students enrolled in select Lam Family College of Business graduate programs will have access to the Academic Village’s modern classrooms, conference facilities, library, study spaces and resident and event support services. The site also includes lounges, on-site dining and newly built, fully furnished, apartment-style housing for students and professionals. As institutional partners, SFSU College of Business students and alumni are eligible for tuition discounts if they enroll in the UC Law SF Master of Legal Studies program, designed for professionals whose work intersects with the law. “San Francisco State University is an excellent addition to our Academic Village, and we are excited to have the Lam Family College of Business join us in the fall,” said UC Law SF Chancellor & Dean David Faigman. “The partnership advances UC Law SF’s commitment to collaborate with California’s other great public schools and adds vibrancy and energy to the heart of the city. Our students and programs will benefit from the interdisciplinary opportunities that will arise.” The UC Law SF Academic Village is a shared-campus model designed to foster collaboration among higher education institutions and contribute to San Francisco’s ongoing revitalization. The Lam Family College of Business will begin occupying its new space there in July 2026, with classes beginning in August. The move continues SFSU’s longstanding presence in downtown San Francisco and reflects a broader effort to align academic programs with the needs of both career-minded students and the region’s expanding and evolving workforce. For more than 60 years, the Lam Family College of Business has delivered high-quality, AACSB-accredited business education across the San Francisco–Silicon Valley region. Its graduate programs — including the MBAand the STEM-designated Master of Science in Business Analytics and Master of Science in Accounting and Analytics — are designed to help students develop the skills they need to navigate the complex challenges of a global, data-driven economy. About San Francisco State University San Francisco State University is a public university serving students from the San Francisco Bay Area, across California and around the world, with nationally acclaimed programs that span a broad range of disciplines. More than 20,000 students enroll at the University each year, and its more than 304,000 graduates have contributed to the economic, cultural and civic fabric of San Francisco and beyond. Through them — and more than 1,300 world-class faculty members — SFSU proudly embraces its legacy of academic excellence, community engagement and commitment to social justice. For more information, visit sfsu.edu. About UC Law SF UC Law San Francisco is a public law school of the University of California, founded in 1878 as the first law school in the UC system. Located in San Francisco’s Civic Center, it offers a comprehensive legal education with a strong emphasis on experiential learning, public service and professional preparation. Through its Academic Village, UC Law SF brings together students, faculty and partner institutions in a collaborative campus environment in the heart of the city. Other Academic Village partners include UC San Francisco, UC Davis, the University of San Francisco and the University of the Pacific Dugoni School of Dentistry. For more information, visit www.uclawsf.edu.

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Apr 28 • 11:00 AM EDT • Business • uclawsf.edu
Xbox boss Asha Sharma hints memory costs "will impact" pricing and availability of next-gen Project Helix console

Xbox boss Asha Sharma is carefully examining the memory crisis situation as the brand makes plans for Project Helix's launch in the future.

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Apr 28 • 9:20 AM EDT • Technology • eurogamer.net
Tucker’s first of hopefully many walk-offs for the Dodgers

In a game with both sides taking advantage of walks, Dodgers got the last laugh, walking it off on a Kyle Tucker single

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Apr 28 • 1:29 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
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What has AI done for healthcare administration lately?

Administrative AI can meaningfully cut providers’ price tags on prior authorization processes. Yet the technology adds to billing intensity, inflating medical spending as it does so.

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Apr 27 • 11:19 PM EDT • Health • healthexec.com
Petroglyph Development Group and Great Canadian Entertainment Announce the Successful Closing of the Acquisition of Chances Maple Ridge

SNUNEYMUXW (NANAIMO), British Columbia, April 27, 2026--Great Canadian Entertainment ("Great Canadian" or the "Company") and Petroglyph Development Group Ltd. ("PDG") confirmed the close of PDG’s acquisition of Chances Maple Ridge. The acquisition marks another milestone in the ongoing collaboration between the two companies. PDG is a wholly owned corporation of Snuneymuxw First Nation and the vehicle through which the Nation builds long-term economic self-determination. Snuneymuxw respectfully

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Apr 27 • 4:39 PM EDT • Entertainment • finance.yahoo.com
Op/Ed: Small Businesses Deserve Better Health Coverage Choices in N.C.

Level Funded plans can bridge the gap between fully insured coverage and traditional self‑funding for small employers:

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Apr 27 • 4:14 PM EDT • Business • businessnc.com
Scientists discover how to freeze transplant organs without cracking them

Scientists are making a major leap toward freezing organs for future use without damaging them. A new study reveals that one of the biggest obstacles—cracking during ultra-cold preservation—can be reduced by carefully tuning the temperature at which tissues enter a glass-like state. This breakthrough builds on recent successes in cryopreserved organ transplants and could bring the long-imagined idea of “banking” organs for later use much closer to reality.

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Apr 27 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
Missouri could add girls flag football as an official high school sport in 2027

Girls flag football is labeled as an emerging sport in Missouri high schools. By the 2027-28 school year, the sport could be fully accredited.

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Apr 27 • 6:00 AM EDT • Sports • stlpr.org
The Autograph Wedding Experience hosts expo at Hotel Paso del Norte

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The Autograph Wedding Experience held a wedding expo Sunday evening at Hotel Paso del Norte. The event featured fully designed wedding environments, giving attendees a chance to explore different styles and themes for their big day. Guests also enjoyed a runway show highlighting the latest in bridal fashion. In addition

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Apr 27 • 12:48 AM EDT • Entertainment • kvia.com
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How Washington’s biggest annual dinner transformed into chaos — and a crime scene

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were seated on the stage of the cavernous Washington Hilton ballroom just after 8:30 p.m. ET Saturday evening, playfully engaging with the evening’s entertainer, mentalist Oz Pearlman.

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Apr 26 • 2:04 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
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Rampant Gilgeous-Alexander fuels Thunder, Magic and Knicks win

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 42 points Saturday to propel the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 121-109 victory over Phoenix and a commanding 3-0 lead in their NBA playoff series.They'll try to polish off a sweep in the best-of-seven series on Monday in Phoenix, where the Suns will be painfully aware that no NBA team has rallied from 0-3 down to win a playoff series.

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Apr 25 • 9:26 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
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