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On This Day, Oct. 5: Scientists genetically sequence flu strain behind 1918 pandemic
On Oct. 5, 2005, scientists announced that for the first time they were able to genetically sequence the strain of avian flu that was behind the 1918 pandemic that killed up to 50 million people world...
Who’s IN, who’s OUT? Showtime hosts, nag-swap!
Fun and entertainment like no other for the Madlang People on It’s Showtime
Money is tight but don't axe Youth Parliament, says Essex member
The government plans to no longer fund the scheme launched to get young people into politics.
A week of politics, preaching and personalities
Students at UW-Whitewater know what they’ll see as they walk across campus. A couple oversized squirrels in the grass, students shuffling from classes and, if you’re lucky, a few spaced out tables handing out fun prizes. But for students, the week of Sept. 28 looked a little different. As the 2026 Wisconsin governor’s race continues...
Georgia Tech And Amazon Launch Science Hub For AI, Robotics, And Logistics Research
Georgia Tech and Amazon have launched the Georgia Tech-Amazon Science Hub, expanding a decade-long research relationship between the university and technology company. Amazon will provide funding for joint research projects and community-building initiatives through the new hub.
CaSE calls for government and science sector to ensure R&D ...
Science policy organisation says a long-term vision and stable funding base is needed as public support for R&D is not a given
Oral health status and functional outcomes in Japanese adults with hemophilia: an exploratory cross-sectional study stratified by HIV status
Scientific Reports - Oral health status and functional outcomes in Japanese adults with hemophilia: an exploratory cross-sectional study stratified by HIV status
Basalt Health Raises $20 Million Series A Led By NEA
Basalt Health has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by returning investor NEA to expand its AI platform for post-acute care admissions. Existing investors Frist Cressey Ventures and 25m Health also participated. The round brings Basalt's total funding to approximately $24.5 million.
$3.3M National Institutes of Health grant funds UH study of microplastics, infant brain development
Researchers will measure exposure through maternal blood, examine fetal brain development through ultrasound and collect cord blood and placenta samples. Infants will be assessed at 2, 6 and 12 months for neurological function, motor development, language skills and cognition.
At San Francisco General, researchers are learning how to control HIV without drugs
Doctors at San Francisco General Hospital's famed AIDS clinic have shown the immune system can be primed to keep the virus in check — a promising advance just as U.S. funding cuts threaten future research.
Will Washington’s ‘millionaire tax’ drive people away? Business owners and lawmakers disagree
Supporters say the tax is needed to help fund education, tax credits for businesses and families, and other public programs. Opponents argue it could drive entrepreneurs, investors, and employers out of Washington.
Why Fun Is Serious Business: Boston’s Push To Build a More Vibrant, Competitive City
Boston public policy leaders and business advocates argued that a dynamic, cultural nighttime economy will help the city attract and retain talent while supporting local businesses.
Column: Did Iowa miss chance to address kids’ mental health?
I question if the decisions made were the best use for the funds. What about designating more to school and community grants, which could hire more counselors and therapists? Or
TAMIU receives proposed funding for AI freight project
TAMIU's proposed logistics project would use artificial intelligence to improve freight movement through Laredo and strengthen regional trade.
Can Patriots bounce back after Week 3 embarrassment?
Can Drake Maye work out of his funk while facing the Bills?
Retailers are making returns harder. A carpet seller taught me why that’s a mistake
A standard business practice offsets future costs by funding a reserve for returns – but many small businesses don’t do it
Petra Eyes Potential Sale of Business Amid Financial Struggles
Petra Diamonds is considering selling its assets to secure enough funding to pay creditors as it struggles with the industry downturn.
South Dakota to receive $7.2M in federal funding to modernize rural emergency services
South Dakota will receive $7.2 million through the Rural Health Transformation Program to modernize EMS with 25 projects improving response and telemedicine.
John Goodman says acting at 74 still feels 'fresh' and exciting
Here’s a fun fact about John Goodman: He's a big London guy.
How Americans’ Financial Health Is Faring In The “K-Shaped” Economy
Hey all, Jason here. Money20/20 is still two weeks away, but I’ve already started packing (not procrastinating for once!). My calendar is already filling up with various sessions I want to catch, meetings, and of course happy hours, dinners, and other side events. If you’ll be in Vegas and want to catch up, let me know by replying to this email, and we can try to find a time amidst the chaos of the Venetian. A big if not totally unexpected piece of news dropped on Friday: the Independent Community Bankers of America, a trade group that represents smaller U.S. banks, filed a lawsuit against the OCC and Comptroller Jonathan Gould, arguing that the regulator’s move to grant trust bank charters to firms seeking to use them to conduct substantial non-fiduciary activities exceeds the authorities granted to the OCC by Congress. I haven’t had time to fully digest the legal filing or speak to folks in my network about it, but you can expect to see coverage and analysis on it in next week’s newsletter. Subscribe or Support by Upgrading The NerdCon agenda just dropped. It’s stacked. Partner content: Nubank built an AI-first bank. Chime built its own banking core. Figure and Valon are rebuilding the mortgage stack. At NerdCon, you’ll hear from the people behind those bets: what they chose, what they learned, and what they’re still figuring out. The agenda is live, with leaders from Nubank, Chime, OpenAI, Remitly, Mercury, Figure, Valon and more. Follow the mainstage conversations, bring the problem your team is wrestling with to a hands-on workshop, or pull up a chair at a roundtable. Pick your quests. Meet us in San Diego, November 18–20. Fintech Business Weekly readers save 20% with code FBW20. Explore the Agenda Things To Know & Other Good Reads Federal Reserve Board finalizes changes to enhance the transparency and public accountability of its stress test and reduce volatility in its stress test-related capital requirements (Federal Reserve Board of Governors) FDIC Announces Conclusion of Independent Monitorship (FDIC) Modernizing Financial Regulation: Initial Observations from eSLR (Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman) The Data Version of Godzilla versus Kong: FRED Takes on AI (Fed Governor Christopher Waller) Financing the AI buildout (Brookings) Q3’26: Rules for Banks but Not for Crypto (Fintech Takes Banking) The Inevitability of Local Stablecoins (Lombard Notes) Delusions of AI Governance: The Human-in-the-Loop Comfort Blanket (Fintech Snark Tank) Stripe agrees to acquire Parafin to expand revenue opportunities for platforms and help small businesses grow (Stripe) Listen: Fighting Fraud in the Age of AI, with SEON’s Tamas Kadar (Fintech Business Weekly) How Americans’ Financial Health Is Faring In The “K-Shaped” Economy If there is one overarching theme across the economy and politics in the U.S. at the moment, it’s “affordability.” The term is vague enough to encompass a panoply of factors shaping Americans’ day-to-day lives: rising costs for the hallmarks of being “middle class,” including healthcare, housing, childcare, and education, inflation and rising interest rates, and a job market with the specter of AI hovering over it. At the same time, policy shifts under the Trump administration have resulted in reduced subsidies to those who get health insurance under the Affordable Care Act and new restrictions on qualifying for Medicaid and SNAP, the impacts of which have yet to be fully felt. These factors are contributing to declining consumer confidence and general dissatisfaction with the economy, despite continuing GDP growth and stock market records. This divergence is encapsulated in the idea of the “K-shaped” economy, in which a small proportion of Americans have seen their wealth balloon, while the majority of American households struggle to preserve the lifestyle they have. Perhaps the greatest determinant of which branch of the “K” a household is on is whether their wealth and income are primarily derived from employment vs. from assets. Nearly two decades of low interest rates and, more recently, elevated rates of inflation have benefited asset owners, while those whose income is primarily or solely derived from labor have largely seen real purchasing power stagnate or decline. This is reflected in recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that labor share of U.S. GDP — the fraction of economic output that accrues to workers as compensation in exchange for their labor — dropped to just 52.8% in Q2 2026, the lowest since the BLS began keeping records. In 1947, approximately 2/3rds of economic output accrued to workers; even as recently as 2001, labor’s share of GDP was 64.1%. Against this backdrop, we’ve seen the rise of more credit and credit-like products: cash advance apps, “no-fee” overdraft, earned wage access, and buy now pay later, which are often used as small-dollar short-term borrowing mechanisms to meet immediate consumption needs or pay other bills (eg utilities, cell phone, other debt payments). With the markers of a middle class existence and, increasingly, basic financial stability seemingly out of reach for many, it should be no surprise there’s been an increase in “financial nihilism,” something industry peers like Alex Johnson and Frank Rotman have discussed and analyzed the roots of. The explosion of gambling and gambling-adjacent products and services — often marketed under the guise of being an “investment” — is inextricably intertwined with the rise of financial nihilism. Crypto, sports betting, and, more recently, prediction markets offer an escape or even hope of sorts, like a contemporary, digital version of a scratch-off lottery ticket, while leaving the overwhelming number of people who use such products worse off. Share of Households That Are Financially “Vulnerable” Ticks Up The Financial Health Network’s 2026 Financial Health Pulse® report adds context on how American households are faring. (I linked to this report in last week’s newsletter, but wanted to take time to further unpack the data in the report this week.) The Financial Health Network publishes the report annually, providing insight into how Americans’ financial circumstances are changing over time. The 2026 report is derived from a survey fielded in April and May 2026. The report leverages survey responses to assess indicators of financial health across spending, saving, borrowing, and planning/protecting and to determine a zero to 100 “FinHealth” score. Those with scores between 0 and 39 are considered “Financially Vulnerable,” consumers with scores ranging between 40 and 79 are defined as “Financially Coping,” and those with scores of 80 to 100 are “Financially Healthy.” The report found that moderate improvements in 2025 were reversed, with the share of respondents considered financially “vulnerable” rebounding to 17%. The longitudinal data reflect the impact of pandemic-era programs, like expanded unemployment, cash stimulus payments, and pauses of federal student loan payments. The positive impacts of those programs, as reflected in the Financial Health Pulse reports, had largely disappeared by 2023. While pandemic-era inflation — to be fair, in part caused by the various support and stimulus measures — had come down from as high as 9% in 2022, it has rebounded since the start of Trump’s second term, with tariffs and energy market disruptions owing to the war in Iran pushing prices back up. Specific indicators in the survey that deteriorated from 2025 to 2026 include the share of respondents spending less than their income over the past 12 months, the share paying all bills on time over the past 12 months, the share that have a manageable amount or no debt, the share that are “moderately” or “very” confident their insurance is adequate to cover them in an emergency, and the share that “somewhat” or “strongly” agree that their household plans ahead financially. Unsurprisingly, lower- and moderate-income households are more likely to struggle to pay their bills on time and have any funds leftover to save. The share of low-income households whose income exceeded their spending dropped from 35% in 2025 to 31% in 2026, while the share of upper-income households whose income exceeded expenses remained unchanged at 63%. Households with student loans or revolving credit card debt reported having “a bit more” or “far more” debt than was manageable at rates far higher than those not carrying these types of debts. The share of those with student loan debt indicating their debt load was too high to manage increased from 50% in 2025 to 55% in 2026, while the share of those with revolving credit card debt saying the same ticked up from 51% in 2025 to 54% in 2026. Households that had student loans were markedly more likely to be financially “coping” or “vulnerable” vs. those without student loans. In 2026, 27% of households with student loans were considered financially vulnerable, a jump of 6% points vs. 2025. Households without student loans saw just a 1% point increase (not statistically significant) in those considered financially vulnerable. Households’ perception of the affordability of categories of goods and services paints a stark picture, with less than one-fourth considering higher education affordable, about a third deeming childcare affordable, and less than half viewing healthcare as affordable. Fintech Business Weekly is made possible by the generous support of paying subscribers — bringing you independent analysis of banking, fintech, and crypto without fear or favor. You can support my work by becoming a paying subscriber if you aren’t already. Paying subscribers enjoy: access to the entire archive of nearly six years of newsletters extended versions of the weekly newsletter, with additional content and analysis and (for founding member tier) quarterly personal 1:1 fintech Q&A / strategy calls with me, tapping into my unparalleled knowledge of the intersection of banking and fintech and experience working in the sector, including helping to launch Goldman Sachs’ retail bank Marcus Support Fintech Business Weekly You can also support Fintech Business Weekly by sponsoring a newsletter or podcast, putting you in front of 93,000+ of the most influential decision makers in banking, fintech, and crypto. Learn more about sponsor opportunities or request a media kit by dropping me an email. Democratic Senate Report Highlights How Iran Uses Tether to Evade U.S. Sanctions Iran uses stablecoins, specifically Tether, to evade sanctions, fund regional proxies, and to purchase military drones, a report released last week by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations says. The report was authored by committee ranking member Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and the minority staff. Crypto and stablecoin proponents will often push back on criticism that criminals make use of these assets by arguing that, on an absolute dollar basis, far more illicit funds flow through traditional banking systems and payment rails than via crypto and stablecoins. And while that is likely true, it elides the reality presented in news story after news story: whether state actors — Russia, Iran, North Korea — or criminal groups, those looking to engage in illicit transactions increasingly favor stablecoins and, specifically, Tether (USDT). The report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released last week adds context to how Iran uses Tether has a lynchpin in its shadow banking system. The report analyzed 846 wallets that have been sanctioned or targeted for seizure, finding that 84% of them transacted exclusively or primarily in Tether. The ability to create near limitless, anonymous wallets and to move funds effectively instantaneously and irreversibly have made crypto a favored financial mechanism for bad actors. Stablecoins solved key drawbacks of bitcoin, namely, the original cryptocurrency’s highly volatile value in dollars. And while Tether (the company) has the technical ability to “freeze” or destroy funds, the company is often limited and reactive in its approach to doing so, the Senate report argues. Tether, which is nominally based in crypto-friendly El Salvador, “has stated that its compliance with OFAC sanctions is ‘voluntary’ and that it follows ‘OFAC guidelines,’” the Senate report says. Owing to these favorable attributes, Tether “became a primary cryptocurrency for Iran, Hamas, Hizballah, and the Houthis beginning in 2023 and has expanded in scale since,” according to the report. Tether’s role in Iran’s shadow banking system, the report says, is enhanced by crypto exchanges like Bybit, Kyrrex, OKX, Gate, and Binance, and through “over the counter” exchanges and hawala networks. The consequences of these financial flows aren’t hypothetical. The Senate report links Tether as a funds transfer mechanism to Iranian proxies in the region, including Hizballah, the Houthis, and Hamas. Tether has also been used to make payments to secure components necessary to manufacture drones, the report says. The report concludes by arguing that “[s]tablecoin issuers with a significant nexus to the United States, particularly those that offer dollar-denominated stablecoins, should be subject to American sanctions law rather than being allowed to hide behind foreign jurisdictions.” Stablecoin issuers like Tether must be held accountable for repeated failures to prevent illicit finance and sanctions violations by law enforcement, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and OFAC, the report argues. [Paying Subscriber Exclusive] OUSD Goes Live, Make Your Own Neobank, U.S. Sanctions Russia’s A7 Network As “Transnational Criminal Organization” OpenUSD, the stablecoin issued by the Open Standard consortium that includes Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, core providers, crypto firms, and numerous banks, went live last week. Social commerce platform Whop raised eyebrows in fintech by offering creators on its platform the ability to launch their own neobanks, which the company describes as “great businesses that are easy to run,” in just 15 minutes. And OFAC and FinCEN target Russia’s “shadow banking” A7 Network — more on these stories after the paywall.
Perelel CEO On The One Investor Question That Said It All About Women’s Health
Victoria Thain Gioia built Perelel into a women’s health brand after seeing the gaps in prenatal nutrition, funding and care for women.
Local nonprofit is gifted a coffee business. They hope it will support human trafficking survivors.
Bloom for Women received Grounds for Restoration, a faith-based coffee business, as a gift to fund programs and create jobs for human trafficking survivors in the Lehigh Valley.
This groove-heavy trio is bringing the dance party to the Bay Area
British trio Jungle brings its groove-heavy blend of funk, disco and neo-soul to the Greek Theatre in Berkeley behind its new album, “Sunshine.”
Business Roundup: Olde Tymer’s space gets new life, Higher Purpose Homes honored
In this week’s business roundup: The former Olde Tymer’s Cafe building gets a makeover in preparation for a new restaurant, while Durango-based Higher Purpose
Beshear teases 2028 run, shares message of healing at Nashville stop
Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear fueled speculation of a 2028 presidential bid while visiting Nashville for a fundraiser and book event.
5 best Florida Halloween and fall events on the Treasure Coast
Looking for something fun to do this October? Here are 5 Halloween or fall-themed events to visit on the Treasure Coast!
Quaint Florida waterfront downtown has grown with endless activities
This town is full of history, memories, small businesses and family fun, making it the perfect place to take visitors any time of year.
Pomegranate Compound Improves Heart Function Up to 80% in Mice With Heart Failure
A juicy development.
Mum fundraises to install mental health bench in Wellingborough
The bench includes phone numbers and a QR link that offer support to people in need of help.
Franciscan Health presenting The Family Dinner Project
News release, Franciscan Health: Initiative aims to help families connect over meals MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. – Franciscan Health is again hosting The Family Dinner Project, a free program focused on helping families connect, laugh and grow one meal at a time. The program provides easy recipes, fun conversation starters and simple activities to help dinnertime become a positive experience for the whole family. The Family Dinner Project sparks real conversations without cell phones, builds stronger family bonds, removes mealtime stress by making it fun and fits into any schedule or lifestyle. All families are welcome, whether big or small, multigenerational
Lane Kiffin's Wife Layla Turns Her New Business Venture Into a 'Party'
Lane Kiffin's wife Layla Kiffin is opening up about her business venture on the LSU's campus, and she says it's all about having fun.
Food and entertainment combine for Octoberfest fun
Food, face painting, live music, inflatables and yard games combined for a family-friendly atmosphere Saturday during Octoberfest at Meineke Park in Schaumburg. The Mackenzie O'Brien kicked off the li...
NAMIWalks at Asbury Methodist Church raises over $116,000 for mental health awareness
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) held its annual walk fundraiser on Saturday at the Asbury Methodist Church on East Avenue.
Nebraska vs Maryland – Game Thread of Winning Fun!
Time: 3:00pm CST Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, NE Surface: Hellas Turf (Blessed by the Bobfather himself in Husker Valhalla) Wagering Info: Huskers -14 1⁄2 . O/U – 52 1⁄2. Moneyline: Nebraska +116, Maryland +666 ($100 wager) (FanDuel) Series Record: Nebraska is 3-1 vs. Maryland all-time with all 4 games being played after the Huskers joined the Big 10. The last two games […]
Four Lancashire areas selected for healthy food funding
Blackpool, Burnley, Rossendale, and Pendle are among 45 councils selected for £222k funding.
Rag Tag Team of Biologists Who Lost Funding Because of Trump Turned a Motel Room into Makeshift Lab and Made a Groundbreaking Discovery
A team of biologists brought together by Trump's funding cuts continued their research in a motel room and made a significant discovery.
USDA Expands Regenerative Pilot Funding Soil Health Conservation
Farmers and ranchers can apply through local Natural Resources Conservation Service offices using their state’s fiscal 2027 ranking deadlines.
Women's Fund to honor four with Dream, Achieve, Inspire awards
NEW HARTFORD — The Women’s Fund of Herkimer and Oneida Counties is celebrating its work supporting women and girls with a dinner at the Yahnundasis Golf Club, 8639 Seneca Turnpike,
Ike Perlmutter helps James Uthmeier stretch fundraising lead in AG race
The business titan and his wife combined to give half a million dollars to the AG's PC.
Trump to give $90 to senior citizens for Medicare premiums
President Donald Trump said late Friday he will give around 20 million senior citizens $90 each to help pay for their Medicare Part B premiums, marking his latest effort to dole out funds to certain Americans weeks before the midterm elections.
Wyman Duggan makes up ground against Donna Deegan in fundraising race, but there's a long way to go still
Qualifying isn't until January, but the real race has begun in Jacksonville.
iPhone 18 Pro Max users on AT&T: Take these steps to save your service
If you still have service, update ASAP.
$28B hemp THC industry fighting to save itself from looming federal ban
A government-funding bill last month delayed the effective date of a hemp THC ban to Dec. 11 to give Congress time to consider regulations.
David Jolly clears $1M raised in a week with help of matching funds, but can't keep pace with Byron Donalds
It's now or never if national Democrats want to flip the Governor's Mansion.
Fast start for Texas Business Court fuels calls for statewide growth
With only five of the 11 divisions funded, West, East and South Texas are left without access to the business court.
Southern California micro businesses get boost from CIELO Fund
“We want people to know that a lot of what we do is ecosystem building.”
Southern California micro businesses get boost from CIELO Fund
“We want people to know that a lot of what we do is ecosystem building.”
An invisible force could be changing your lifespan, study suggests
New research in fruit flies suggests Earth’s magnetic field could influence ageing, lifespan and mitochondrial function.
Florida Blue Foundation now accepting grant applications for maternal health initiatives
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The Florida Blue Foundation, the philanthropic affiliate of Florida Blue and part of the GuideWell portfolio of companies, now is accepting grant applications from nonprofits focused on improving maternal health outcomes in Florida. The foundation seeks to fund Florida-based nonprofits with innovative and actionable solutions designed to improve maternal […]
Arts & Entertainment Calendar
Events coming up in the Greenville area offer music, arts, theater and family fun. Here is a sampling. “Today” refers to events scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 3.
'Double-edged sword': Trump blitzes red states amid plunging popularity
Trump is spending precious campaign time and funding in GOP states rather than challenging Democrats in the closest races for control of Congress.
What we know about Trump’s latest taxpayer-funded ad campaign
The Trump administration has created at least 13 campaign-style ads as part of its controversial taxpayer-funded, multi-million-dollar effort to promote President Donald Trump and his policies. CNN’s Betsy Klein reports.
Solo Reload Victory Cup in NA West: Event 1 Event 1 Round 1
Battle your way to Platinum in Reload Ranked to be eligible for the first and second Events of the Season, Diamond for the third, and Champion for the final Event of the Season! Compete for the opportunity to win a cash prize! Reach Round 2 (top 1600 in EU; top 800 in NAC; top 320 in OCE, ASIA, ME, BR, and NAW), where every player who earns a Victory Royale will earn $100 USD. Good luck and have fun!
Agency diverted $1.4 billion in science funds mandated by Congress
The extraordinary move — holding back part of the National Science Foundation’s research budget — is another creative sidestep by the Trump administration.
Lawmakers probe allegations that NC health officials used false information to secure Medicaid funds
GOP lawmakers in NC say they are looking into allegations that state health officials used false information to secure federal funding for a Medicaid technology overhaul. The claims were made in a lawsuit that has since been dismissed. The state auditor has revived an audit into the project.
Record 12th consecutive month of $500 million in sports bets
Advocates and counselors said more funding is needed to address sports gambling in North Carolina.
Record 12th consecutive month of $500 million in sports bets
Advocates and counselors said more funding is needed to address sports gambling in North Carolina.
Small Business Administration Update on New Rules for Small Business Size Standards - Law Offices of Snell & Wilmer
By Brett W. Johnson, Carrie Schaffer, and Hannah Wolf1 Recently, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) provided notice of a proposed rule, Small Business Size Standards, that would fundamentally restructure how the federal government defines a “small business.” The rule proposes new size standards for 338 industry groups and industries.2 On that same day, the […]
Raise the Stakes | RennerVation Foundation Poker Night Supports Nevada Foster Youth
Get ready to Raise the Stakes for Nevada foster youth! Kelly Burrows and Valieria Koss of the RennerVation Foundation join Sarah Johns to preview Raise the Stakes, a fundraising event
Dragon Lights Reno | Giant Lanterns, Dinosaurs & Interactive Family Fun
Dragon Lights is back in Reno with an all-new nighttime experience! Yu Tong Chen, Event Manager for Dragon Lights, joins Sarah Johns at the Wilbur D. May Arboretum for a
Data privacy lawsuit, subsidies for childcare staff: CT politics news
Plus: Schools get funding toward special ed and addressing attendance, while CT outpaces rest of New England in second quarter GDP growth.
DOE Opens $400M Office of Science Funding Call for FY 2027
The annual solicitation covers seven research programs, from fusion energy sciences to nuclear physics.
Timberfest Brings Two Days of Family Fun and Entertainment to Downtown Sheridan
The 42nd annual Timberfest is underway in downtown Sheridan, with two days of activities planned around the Grant County Courthouse Square Friday and Saturday. The annual Grant County festival began Friday, October 2nd, with arts and crafts vendors, amusement rides, a petting zoo and pony […]
Senate Republicans move cash from North Carolina to Kansas
The decision by the Senate Leadership Fund was disclosed Friday by four people with direct knowledge of the situation who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal strategy.
Yankees Mailbag: The aftermath of another Rivalry victory
The Yankees rolled over the Sox to get into October proper, and now the fun begins.
Timberfest Brings Two Days of Family Fun and Entertainment to Downtown Sheridan
The 42nd annual Timberfest is underway in downtown Sheridan, with two days of activities planned around the Grant County Courthouse Square Friday and Saturday. The annual Grant County festival began Friday, October 2nd, with arts and crafts vendors, amusement rides, a petting zoo and pony […]
Trump Directed Use of Taxpayer Money for Ads Praising His Presidency
The government-funded ads show just how much President Trump has been able to use federal money for his own aims.
Studying Science in an Anti-Scientific Time
This Chronicle Review Deep Cut was first published in 2025. By Julianne Werlin Thanks for reading The Chronicle Review! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe The last two decades have not been kind to science studies. Already bruised and battered by the “science wars” of the 1990s, by the 2000s sociologists of science — who had long argued that science had to be understood in its human context — were encountering the funhouse-mirror version of their own views in right-wing critiques of climate scientists. It was enough to give some prominent scholars pause. “Was I wrong to participate in the invention of this field known as science studies?” asked Bruno Latour, the most famous sociologist of science in the world, in 2003. “Should we apologize for having been wrong all along? Or should we rather bring the sword of criticism to criticism itself and do a bit of soul-searching here: What were we really after when we were so intent on showing the social construction of scientific facts?” In response, Latour proposed a change of method and attitude. Science studies, now chastened and contrite, would no longer seek to strip facts of their authority, but to enrich and enhance them. What this meant in practice was never fully clear. But his diagnosis of problems resonated, even if his solutions did not. Latour’s exercise in public hand-wringing signaled a shift in mood. By 2016, with the first election of Donald Trump, the idea that skepticism of science was a right-wing position, not a left-wing one, had become a commonplace, discussed eagerly in The New York Times. For liberals, vaccine denial during the Covid era and Trump’s second-term attacks on the funding of scientific research, covered extensively in these pages, added a new urgency to the defense of science on both practical and principled grounds. There was little appetite for a sociology or philosophy of science that emphasized the messiness and missteps of the scientific process rather than its integrity and triumphs. The distinguished historian of science Peter Dear’s new book, The World as We Know It: From Natural Philosophy to Modern Science (Princeton University Press, 2025), which seeks to tell the story of 18th- and 19th-century science for a general public, may seem comfortably remote from these bitter contests. In its 16 short chapters, Dear draws swift, sure sketches of major discoveries from Newton to Einstein, ably guiding the reader through debates on stellar nebulae, animal taxonomy, atomic chemistry, evolution, and other flashpoints in the history of science. But though a work of history, Dear’s book must still negotiate our polarized present. In a blurb on its back cover, the historian of biology Lynn K. Nyhart alludes to the “present moment, when scientific knowledge is being swamped by misinformation and its institutions are under siege.” Dear himself, in his conclusion, refers to the “yard signs” and “bumper stickers” that proclaim “Science Is Real.” One antidote to both anti-science propaganda and to reductive slogans in science’s defense is a robust history and philosophy of science: exactly what Dear’s scholarship has long offered. But his new book illustrates how difficult such work has become. Dear, an emeritus professor of history at Cornell University, is best known as a creative and philosophically minded historian of the Scientific Revolution. His edited volume The Literary Structure of Scientific Argument (1991) analyzed the rhetoric of Galileo’s thought experiments to brilliant effect. Discipline and Experience: The Mathematical Way in the Scientific Revolution (1995) was a major contribution to the analysis of scientific experiments in early modern Europe and beyond, while Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge in Transition, 1500-1700 (2001), now in its third edition, remains one of the best overviews of the profound epistemological upheavals of 16th- and 17th-century science. But Dear has also ventured into later periods. Nearly two decades ago, in The Intelligibility of Nature: How Science Makes Sense of the World (2006), he turned to the 18th and 19th centuries to sketch a history and theory of scientific knowledge. Aimed at a generalist audience, Dear’s simple prose belied serious philosophical ambitions. Science, Dear argued, has two aspects: “natural philosophy,” the quest to understand the true nature of the universe, and “instrumentality,” the applied skills and technologies that allow us to manipulate the world for human advantage. Both strands are ancient, but the innovation of the phenomenon we call “science” was to yoke them together. As Francis Bacon wrote, “Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known, the effect cannot be produced,” an insight typically abridged to “knowledge is power.” Or, in Bertrand Russell’s characteristically blunt phrase, science has two functions, “1. to enable us to know things, and 2., to enable us to do things.” So far, so conventional. But Dear took issue with this familiar story in one respect. Bacon’s formula implied that theory and practice could be fused in a single method. In fact, Dear argued, the quest to understand nature and the desire to manipulate it were coupled only loosely. They could come together, but they could also pull apart. Focusing on natural philosophy, the “knowing” half of the scientific circle, he used a series of case studies from cosmology, taxonomy, chemistry, electromagnetism, and quantum theory to show how theories changed over time, in dialogue with practice, but never reducible to it. Take the case of matter, the basic substrate of the physical world. In the 18th and 19th centuries, scientists not only disagreed about what it was, but also about how well it could be known. In 1789, the chemist Antoine Lavoisier dismissed speculation about the atomic composition of chemicals as “discussions entirely of a metaphysical nature,” as he sought to orient chemistry away from philosophical abstraction and toward laboratory results. But in the 19th century, atoms returned with a vengeance in the atomic chemistry of John Dalton, who wanted to explain the underlying structure of nature. It was not just that Dalton and Lavoisier had a different set of experimental results, or even a different theory, Dear showed. What counted as an explanation had changed. In arguing that scientific theories depended on their intelligibility to human beings with complex arrays of beliefs and commitments, Dear was in sympathy with science studies. Key figures such as the sociologist Steven Shapin emphasized the importance of psychological mechanisms like trust in the formation and acceptance of scientific ideas. But in focusing on the scientific pursuit of knowledge, not its politics or economics, Dear resisted the more cynical perspective of some of his colleagues. The Intelligibility of Nature strikes a very different note than Shapin’s collection of a few years later, Never Pure: Historical Studies of Science as If It Was Produced by People With Bodies, Situated in Time, Space, Culture, and Society, and Struggling for Credibility and Authority (2010), to name just one example. Walking a very fine line, Dear depicted science as driven at once by complex social dynamics and by the intellectual power of real discoveries. It was a testament not only to his own acumen but also to the vitality of the field that he was able to do so. Nearly two decades later, The World as We Know It returns to the questions broached in The Intelligibility of Nature. Like Dear’s earlier study, it begins with the Newtonian cosmos and ends with debates between Einstein and Bohr on quantum physics. Beyond its terminal figures, many of the same characters appear in both studies, including the naturalists John Ray and the Comte de Buffon; the chemists Étienne François Geoffroy, Antoine Lavoisier, and John Dalton; as well as Charles Darwin and Michael Faraday, among others. Its subject is nearly identical: As in The Intelligibility of Nature, The World as We Know It considers natural philosophy as opposed to instrumentality, here defined as the “desire to create a picture of what the world is really like — the world as God knows it — rather than simply having instrumental or operational control over it.” The two books also overlap in insights — and sometimes even in language. The reader who has learned in The Intelligibility of Nature that Buffon’s method of classifying animals “reflected his belief in the importance of the senses and empiricism in learning about nature (a doctrine associated with Newton and the philosopher John Locke)” will experience a sense of déjà vu on reading, in The World as We Know It, that the classification “reflects Buffon’s commitment to the epistemological stance of Newton and his philosophical underlaborer John Locke, who stressed the role of the senses in creating natural knowledge.” Later in the passage, we read that, “because of its stress on understanding the ways of life of animals in their environments, Buffon’s approach could almost be labeled (anachronistically) as ‘ecological.’” And again, “an anachronistic way of putting it would be to say that Buffon recommends an ecological mode of understanding.” Likewise, in The Intelligibility of Nature we read of Dalton that he was initially drawn to meteorology, and that: He did a bit of experimental work on these things, especially having to do with the water-holding capacity of gases, but his real interest lay in understanding what, at an underlying natural-philosophical level, was really going on physically.” Whereas, in The World as We Know It: He did experimental work on these things, especially concerning the water-holding capacity of gases — although not at a very refined level quantitatively — but he was continually trying to develop a theoretical conception of what was happening physically. The final full chapter of each book closes on the same resigned note. Intelligibility: These days, most serious work on the natural philosophical underpinnings and implications of quantum mechanics is performed not by physicists but by philosophers of science. Among scientific practitioners themselves, Bohr’s attempt to use instrumentality as sufficient grounds for a respectable science has met with a high degree of success. And again, in The World as We Know It: Bohr’s and Einstein’s concerns are now questions that are mostly discussed by philosophers of science rather than by physicists themselves. The marginalization of these sorts of questions amounts to the demise of natural philosophy, at least in physics, in the 20th century. Quantum mechanics “works,” and that’s good enough for most scientists who encounter it. Examples could be multiplied. When handling the same subject matter, some echoes are inevitable. Scholars should not feel that because they have written “Isaac Newton died in 1727” in one book, in the next they must describe him as perishing, expiring, or meeting his maker. But the repetitions of language and arguments (not to mention six reproduced images) threaded throughout The World as We Know It are more extensive than that. They should have been caught by Princeton University Press or its reviewers, and revised. Because the two books have so much in common, it is easy to see where they diverge. The World as We Know It is a less theoretical work than its predecessor. The sociology of knowledge that organized The Intelligibility of Nature has been reduced in scale and folded into readings and examples. The taut interplay between history and theory, which gave the earlier study so much interest, is there, but it is subtle. In the earlier book, the case studies demonstrated theoretical claims about the character and development of science. In the later work, each narrative of discovery is an end in itself. Insights emerge from the history, but they do not control the organization of the study. With the theory muted, it can be hard to understand the logic uniting Dear’s sprawling history of more than two centuries of scientific knowledge. The 16 brisk chapters cover an enormous amount of material. But the closer the volume edges to comprehensiveness, the more obvious the missing elements become. A chapter on “Institutions and Pedagogy,” describing the birth of the research university, illustrates the problem. Inserted roughly halfway through the book, the unnumbered chapter is designed as an “entr’acte,” in acknowledgement that it does not fit the study’s organization around scientific discoveries. Yet as Dear is well aware, no general history of the development of modern science can bracket its 19th-century institutionalization and professionalization. It was the 19th-century university, after all, that gave us the “scientist,” a term coined by the Cambridge philosopher William Whewell. Dear’s history of scientific discoveries implies a wider social and institutional history, but it remains largely subterranean, only occasionally extruded under the pressure of the narrative. It must be said that the balance is not all on the side of the earlier study. There are some advantages to the more historical, less theoretical organization of The World as We Know It. Dear’s accounts of paradigm shifts are remarkably lucid, no small accomplishment given that they span fields and centuries. He makes excellent use of the wealth of new scholarship on Darwin and his influences, to which he has himself contributed. It is satisfying to see puzzle pieces from Buffon’s natural history, Georges Cuvier’s animal taxonomy, Thomas Robert Malthus’s demography, and Charles Lyell’s geology recombined seamlessly in the Darwinian jigsaw. Likewise, Dear’s discussion of stellar nebulae, divided between chapters two and 15, shows vividly how Newton, Kant, Herschel, and Hubble reimagined insights and observations as they sought to discover whether the diffuse light that filtered through early telescopes was a glowing, gaseous substance or discrete but distant stars. Yet despite such pleasures, the book remains a more modest work than The Intelligibility of Nature. Dear has clearly not changed his views about the history of science. But in the two decades that have elapsed, the discipline and the world around it have changed, making it harder to write a sociologically and philosophically ambitious history of science for the general reader. That is a shame, because in the age of Silicon Valley and biotechnology, both the reciprocity and the tensions Dear identified between the epistemological and instrumental ambitions of science are more evident than ever. In recent years, some of the most exciting new books on the history of science in early modernity have focused precisely on this pressure point. Important studies such as Pamela H. Smith’s From Lived Experience to the Written Word (2022), James Poskett’s Horizons: The Global Origins of Modern Science (2022), and Vera Keller’s The Interlopers: Early Stuart Projects and the Undisciplining of Knowledge (2023) all shed new light on how early modern science negotiated the relationship between its instrumental and epistemological ambitions, or in Russell’s phrase, knowing and doing. There is every opportunity for a philosophically informed approach to draw new insights from this wealth of material. Dear, unfortunately, has not done so in The World as We Know It. But for future scholars of the history of science, his body of work over nearly four decades may provide just the model. Julianne Werlin is an associate professor of English at Duke University. 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