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Study reveals unexpected health benefits after 5 minutes of prayer
Adult patients experienced significant relief from pain and anxiety after just five minutes of in-person prayer, as found in a randomized controlled trial.
iOS 28 Will Reportedly Be 'Far More Significant' Than iOS 27
While we are still a week away from Apple unveiling iOS 27, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has just shared the first rumor regarding iOS 28. In his Power On newsletter today, he said that iOS 28 will be "far more significant" than iOS 27, but he did not provide any specific details. "Next year's '28' releases are already shaping up to be far more significant than the '27' updates," wrote Gurman, without elaborating.
After Gaza, Israel is now causing the West Bank health system to collapse
Most Medications Are Missing From Public Pharmacies, and Many Patients Cannot Afford to Buy Them on the Private Market. Israel's Seizure of Customs Revenues Has Significantly Deepened the Palestinian Health Ministry's Debt, and It Warns: Soon We Will No Longer Be Able to Provide Essential Health Services
Just 5 minutes of prayer could have surprising health benefits, study finds
A new study published in The Annals of Family Medicine found that adult patients experienced significant pain and anxiety relief after five minutes of prayer.
Financial fitness tips for mental health
Two-thirds of adults cite money as a significant source of stress, according to the American Psychological Association Stress in America Survey.
Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta Strikes Major Deal to Acquire Caesar's Entertainment
Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta has grown his business portfolio quite significantly, of late. This month, Fertitta was granted team ownership of the WNBA
Slot sacked
Liverpool's ownership has issued a joint statement confirming the decision to dismiss head coach Arne Slot. The contribution Arne has made to Liverpool FC in the time that he has been with us has been significant, meaningful and – most importantly of all to supporters and ourselves – successful. This was evident when he agreed to take over as head coach, when he guided us to the Premier League title and throughout the season just ended when he faced considerable challenges and burdens.
New device could make processors run 1,000 times faster without additional waste heat — scientists say it could reduce data center energy demands
A new device could allow computer processors to operate significantly faster, without generating waste heat.
New device could make processors run 1,000 times faster without additional waste heat — scientists say it could reduce data center energy demands
A new device could allow computer processors to operate significantly faster, without generating waste heat.
'Hugely significant:' Citizen scientists find over 1,100 species in Scotland's declining rainforest
"It helps us find fragments of rainforest that we maybe didn't know existed."
Scientists develop 'smart paint' that reflects 97% of sunlight and could reduce AC use during heatwaves
As heatwaves become more frequent and intense around the world, scientists are exploring new ways to keep buildings cool without increasing energy consumption. Researchers at the University of Sydney, working with startup Dewpoint Innovations, have developed a nano-engineered coating that reflects up to 97% of sunlight and stays significantly cooler than conventional surfaces.
SAPT after TAVR linked to key benefits over DAPT, new data confirm
All-cause survival after six months was significantly higher for patients discharged on DAPT than SAPT. That trend remained in place after 24 months.
Galaxy Z Fold 8 series may ‘significantly’ improve the display crease
A new report claims that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 delivers a “significant” improvement to the display crease, on par...
Trump holds Situation Room meeting to decide on Iran deal
Trump faced a politically fraught decision to enter an agreement that would invariably require significant concessions to Tehran.
Oura Ring shrinks to wedding-band size as smart ring health race heats up
Oura Health Oy, the popular smart ring maker seeking to go public this year, unveiled a significantly thinner and lighter new model along with new wellness features.
EU co-funded project UNITE announces first digital health winners, as remote care and data-sharing push gains ground
The UNITE initiative has selected its first three joint interregional projects, marking a significant milestone in building a borderless European digital health ecosystem
Opinion | It’s time for a new business plan for Minneapolis
The City Council seems more focused on niche interests and short-term fixes right now than in addressing the significant long-term economic issues the city faces, Matt Hemsley writes.
Italian Police Uncover Dead Mob Boss’s $230 Million Business Empire
When Matteo Messina Denaro died in 2023, many of his secrets died with him. That began to change with a tip about a wealthy Sicilian woman’s significant assets in a tiny European principality.
View from the Other Side: Tyler Young from Camden Chat
The Baltimore Orioles went into the 2026 offseason with a purpose, making significant moves like signing slugger Pete Alonso, Ryan Helsley, and Leody Taveras and dipping into their deep farm system to trade for Taylor Ward, Andrew Kittredge and Shane Baz. Between those moves and the graduation of top prospects like Sam Basallo, many considered […]
Why Retrofitting Research Impact Does Not Work
AACSB and the Academy of Management are convening their first-ever Research Impact Conference in Dublin this week, unveiling a long-awaited framework that takes a significant step toward making business school research serve not just academia but also corporate practice, policy, and society–with the potential to go even further.
Xbox Game Pass Price Cut Is Working, CEO Says
One of the first decisions that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma made after becoming the new boss earlier this year was to cut the price of Xbox Game Pass significantly. In a memo to staff recently, Sharma explained the thinking behind the price cut and talked about the impact it’s making so far, saying it’s helping...
Oura Ring 5 Unveiled With Smaller Design and Blood Pressure Tracking
Oura today unveiled the Oura Ring 5, a significantly smaller smart ring with new health-monitoring capabilities including blood pressure trend detection, nighttime breathing analysis, and tools for GLP-1 medication tracking. The Oura Ring 5 is 40% smaller than its predecessor, measuring 6.09mm wide and 2.29mm thick compared to 7.99mm and 2.88mm on the previous model.
Rural Health Transformation: Insights from States
The Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) will provide $50 billion to states over the next five years to transform rural health care. States received award decisions in late 2025 and are moving fast, with funding deadlines and reporting requirements already on the horizon. This program is rolling out as rural areas face significant federal Medicaid cuts over the next decade. What does this mean for Congress? Join the Bipartisan … Continued
Watch live: Phillies, Sixers, Eagles, Flyers to discuss "significant new investment" in South Philadelphia
Oura Ring 5 Is 40% Smaller, Detects Hypertension and Sleep Apnea
Oura Health Oy, the popular smart ring maker seeking to go public this year, unveiled a significantly thinner and lighter new model along with new wellness features.
Lehigh Valley HVAC Company to Pay $300K and Revise Business Practices After AG Sunday Lawsuit for Aggressive, Deceptive Sales Practices
HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday announced that Curtis Total Service, Inc., and two of its employees – current manager Richard Price and former HVAC field supervisor Matthew Price – have agreed to pay the Commonwealth $300,000 and significantly revise their business practices to comply with the Pennsylvania Consumer Protection Law and Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act.
Bournemouth want to keep key trio
Eli Junior Kroupi, Rayan and Alex Scott – this summer. The Cherries will present a strong case that European football only enhances the platform on offer at Vitality Stadium, while significant player sales in recent seasons mean there is no financial pressure to sell. Scott, 23, is under contract until 2028, but Bournemouth accept he is deserving of a new deal.
5 Cool Tech Products You Can Find On Amazon Outlet In May 2026
Amazon Outlet in May 2026 is home to a revolving door of cool tech products at a significant discount. But act fast, as these deals will come and go quickly.
Sources: Lakers go through round of layoffs amid business reorganization
Team employees in communications, content, partnerships and other departments were part of Wednesday’s staff reductions, totaling more than a dozen people. The franchise had already undergone significant changes on the business side since M…
‘Advanced access’ scheduling pleases patients, strengthens PCPs
Primary care providers can significantly improve practice performance as well as patient satisfaction by making one workaday adjustment: leaving some appointment slots open to accommodate walk-ins throughout the day.
Heart-healthy lipid profile benefits brain health in adolescents, study finds
A new Finnish study shows that blood markers of dysfunctional lipid metabolism are associated with poorer cognitive function in 15–17-year-olds. The findings are significant because brain development ...
When Dedication Meets Debt: Why Public Health Careers Are Becoming Financially
Many public health workers now face a growing financial strain: significant student loan debt paired with wages that are not keeping pace with inflation.
Ebola, chemical plants and health, hantavirus, common colds, heat and more
As they say, bugs have ears. Public health has had a relentless May. Chemical plant (near) explosions, Ebola, hantavirus, and that's before you even get to the usual suspects: common colds, heat, and ticks. Here’s an attempt to keep you up to speed and, more importantly, what it means for you and your community. But first, an announcement: World Cup The World Cup starts in 15 days (not like anyone is counting down), and we are hanging TVs in the Health Security Operations Center. It’s going to be a gorgeous, chaotic celebration of basically every culture on earth. And it’s going to take a team effort—from communities to individuals, from public health to health care—to keep people healthy. That’s where you come in. If you’re going to the games or live within 30 miles of a stadium, we would love to hear from you. Sign up for a weekly survey here. Thanks to the more than 1,280 people who have already signed up…you will be hearing from us soon!! Global disease “weather report” Hantavirus: Two more cases The global count of cruise ship passengers with hantavirus has now increased to 13 cases (11 confirmed), with three deaths. The two new cases are overseas and among people who were already quarantining: A crew member in the Netherlands. A Spanish national passenger who was quarantining at home tested positive through daily monitoring. They are now in a biocontainment unit. In the U.S., everyone remains negative. There may be more cases, given that the incubation period of hantavirus (the time from exposure to infection) is 45 days. But this week, we will reach a major milestone: the median incubation window is 18 days, and that will pass on May 29. What this means for you: Your risk from this cruise ship outbreak remains essentially nil at this point. Ebola rages on in Central Africa Big thanks to Dr. Craig Spencer, a humanitarian physician who has treated and survived Ebola, for jumping in to provide the YLE community with an update. Craig, take it from here… The combined confirmed and suspected Ebola cases in DRC are now more than 1,000. All signs are pointing to a very long and catastrophic outbreak in Central Africa: This is a vast undercount. We know this because the test positivity rate is hovering around 50%, only 20% of contacts are being traced (and in some areas, no contacts at all), and more cases keep popping up with no known connection. This all points to widespread and undetected community transmission. This is in only a week of detection. Compared to previous outbreaks, the growth is very fast, as the huge West Africa outbreak in 2016 was first detected at 49 cases and rose to 208 cases a month later. It took four months for that outbreak to reach the size of the current one in the DR Congo. The cases are spread out across 16 health zones. There are now multiple epicenters, making containment very difficult. Next door in Uganda, the case count is seven. While this number is low compared to DRC, a concerning development is that two health care workers recently tested positive with uncertain exposure histories. If they weren’t treating known Ebola cases, this means it’s spreading undetected in Uganda as well. On the ground, backlash, including the burning of health centers, has emerged, a pattern seen in nearly every outbreak and rooted in deep community distrust. It often stems from outside actors working in communities without fully understanding or addressing local priorities. Affected populations may recognize the severity of Ebola while still holding other concerns as more pressing, such as where their loved ones are buried. Community trust is essential to an effective response, but difficult to build during an active emergency. It is best established long before a crisis begins. U.S. priorities are made clear, and may backfire. The U.S. Administration has shown that its first priority is keeping Ebola out, with helping end the outbreak in the DRC a secondary concern. That's meant travel restrictions broader than anything we've imposed before — covering travelers from across the region, and reportedly some green card holders and permanent residents as well. For example, just these past two days, news broke that high-risk American travelers will be subject to a mandatory quarantine in Kenya before they are allowed to return. If an American is infected, the U.S. government plans to send them to a hospital it is standing up from scratch in Kenya. (Currently, Americans who were in the area are allowed to return but are diverted to three airports—Houston, Atlanta, and DC—for further screening.) Past administrations have used travel notices and stepped-up screening; this goes much further. At first blush, these strict precautions may sound prudent. But this approach could backfire in three ways: Restrictions this blunt give people every reason to hide where they’ve been and whom they’ve been near — making the people we most need to find harder to track, not easier. They also breed a false sense that this is someone else’s problem. But diseases are humbling. They find the small cracks in even the most impenetrable-seeming defenses. Lives lost. There is no treatment for this Ebola strain, which means survival depends heavily on the quality of the health system. We have that system in the States, but we are choosing not to use it for infected Americans. This is unbelievable and infuriating. (See a deeper dive from me here.) The only real way to lower the risk to Americans — and everyone else — is to end the outbreak in the DRC and across the region. What this means for you: If you have travel plans to this region, it’s time to cancel them. This is a high-risk situation in Central Africa, and CDC released a Level 4 Travel Advisory. There is also great uncertainty if and when the Administration will let you back in. To the general public in the U.S., your risk remains very, very low right now. U.S. disease “weather report” Ticks: past peak season? Good news, especially for people in the Northeast and Midwest: tick numbers continue to decline. Though we are at the peak of the season, this unusually early year is trending favorably. Heat-related illnesses in the North Heat risk is certainly not blanketing the entire country yet, but this week it will be moderate in the Midwest and the Southeast. What this means for you: Be sure to check the CDC HeatRisk tool. A red day isn’t the best day for that soccer game for a kid with asthma, and a stretch of orange days is a great time to check on your elderly neighbor. Common colds surging As far as respiratory viruses go, the only thing really going around right now is the common cold. It is higher this year than last year, but should peak very soon before returning this fall. Spotlight: Chemical plants Over the weekend, YLE California covered the serious situation that unfolded around a chemical plant in Orange County, California. Thankfully, the worst-case scenario (a chemical explosion) was mitigated, but only through luck. The health implications in a densely populated area could have been catastrophic. As the situation was winding down, another chemical explosion struck Washington State. This one was fatal. Health officials say the risk to surrounding residents from chemicals in the air and ground remains low, though the community deserves far greater clarity. Clean air and clean water consistently rank as Americans’ top public health concerns — yet when chemical disasters strike, communities are too often met with reassurances rather than transparency and accountability. Residents near the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio train derailment, for example, are still waiting to understand the long-term impact on their health, with few clear answers. What this means for you: Many are wondering if facilities processing potentially dangerous materials are in their neighborhoods. This interactive map allows you to enter your ZIP code and see all facilities monitored by the EPA, including any violations. Good news Ebola vaccines and treatment for the Bundibugyo species are in development. Two vaccine platforms are being explored, at least one of which may be deployable in as little as 2 months. One vaccine is being developed by Oxford, and the other uses the same biotechnology as the FDA-approved Zaire species of Ebola. (It may provide cross-protection, but it’s unclear at this point.) On the treatment side, two promising monoclonal antibody cocktails are likely to be deployed, though doses are limited and logistical hurdles remain significant challenges. Anni over at The Biotech Tea had a great explainer about the Ebola vaccine gap, if you want to read more. [ The Biotech Tea The Ebola vaccine gap, reading vessel damage, & the Makary exit 🗝️ Paid subscribers get the Biotech Term of the Week at $30/year (~$2.50/month). I try to keep it intentionally accessible, but if cost is ever a barrier, send me a message. A few people asked about expensing your subscription, so I put together a short email template… Read more 6 days ago · 10 likes · Annicka Evans, PhD ](https://www.thebiotechtea.com/p/the-ebola-vaccine-gap-reading-vessel?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has been officially renamed polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), following more than a decade of debate and input from roughly 22,000 clinicians, researchers, and patients worldwide. This is good because the old name was medically misleading, leading to patients without visible cysts being dismissed or overlooked entirely. The WHO estimates that 70% of people with the condition remain undiagnosed. A more accurate name should improve recognition, reduce stigma, and ultimately help the millions of people living with this condition get diagnosed and treated sooner. Poll Loading... Bottom line Public health situations are everywhere right now. Staying healthy takes public health professionals and systems working tirelessly behind the scenes and each of us showing up for our neighbors and communities. Love, YLE Big thanks to Ed Nirenberg for staying on top of the Ebola vaccines, Hannah Totte for all the figures, Dr. Craig Spencer for the Ebola insight, and Dr. Matt Willis for covering the chemical situation in CA. Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) comprises a team of experts, ranging from physicians to immunologists to epidemiologists to nutritionists, working together with one goal: to “Translate” ever-evolving public health science so that people are well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. YLE suite of newsletters reaches over 475,000 people across more than 132 countries. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below: Subscribe
Everton's summer and the need for urgency
(Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)The 2025-26 season has come to a close with significant questions that need answering.Whether that’s by the owners, the CEO or the manager, Evertonians need to kno...
Scientists say guava juice could make iron supplements work better
Researchers found that drinking guava juice may significantly improve anemia by helping the body absorb iron more efficiently. In a review of 17 studies, women and teenage girls who consumed guava juice — especially with iron supplements — experienced noticeable increases in hemoglobin levels. Since guava contains far more vitamin C than oranges, scientists believe it could become a simple, affordable nutrition tool in regions where anemia is widespread.
Governors’ Policy Actions on Behavioral Health Access
(Download) Behavioral health workforce shortages remain a significant barrier to accessing care in rural areas across the United States. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) State of the Behavioral Health Workforce, (2025) substantial shortages are projected for many occupations in the behavioral health workforce over the next 15 years, including psychologists, psychiatrists, […]
NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Drivers 610.47 WHQL Drops Control Panel Support
NVIDIA has released its latest GeForce Graphics Drivers 610.47 WHQL today, introducing significant changes for consumer PC users. With this driver update, NVIDIA is retiring its Control Panel for GeForce Game Ready and Studio Drivers after 20 years of service. Starting with this version, users will ...
PayPal’s online checkout empire is under siege as rivals squeeze its core business
PayPal helped invent online checkout. The iconic online payments company is facing its biggest challenge in nearly three decades of existence. Its core business of customers using the app to check out when shopping online is barely growing and new management has bluntly warned investors that “significant changes” will be needed to fix the company’s problems.
High-Level Climate, Clean Air, and Health Roundtable
Reducing air pollution and climate pollutants represents one of the most immediate opportunities to protect human health while advancing climate goals and driving economic growth. Actions to reduce super pollutants such as methane and black carbon can rapidly slow warming while significantly reducing the global burden of disease linked to air pollution. These health benefits reduce pressures on health systems and improve labour productivity, supporting economic growth.
Science Says You're Probably Making Smoothies Wrong, and I've Never Felt More Validated
A new study suggests adding a banana to berry smoothies may significantly reduce flavanol absorption, a victory for one banana skeptic.
BTS concerts bring surge in business to Las Vegas Chinatown
K-pop supergroup BTS performed at Allegiant Stadium this weekend with shows Saturday and Sunday, bringing a significant boost to businesses in Chinatown.
Liverpool In 'Concrete Talks' To Beat Man City To Sign 16-Year Old Midfielder
Liverpool have made a significant move in the race to sign one of Europe's most exciting young talents.
Star Citizen crosses $1 billion in crowdfunding as Chris Roberts eyes version 1.0
Just one year after reaching $800 million in its unrelenting funding spree, Star Citizen has now crossed yet another significant milestone. The overly ambitious space trading and...
One type of sitting may pose greater dementia risk than another, study suggests
New research suggests the type of sitting matters for dementia risk, with mentally engaging activities linked to a significant reduction in risk.
Inter Dangling a Few Players in Front of EPL Sides
Inter won’t have a particularly lavish summer budget per se, but they are poised to significantly foot it through some sales, especially pertaining to excess players.According to Fabrizio Romano (vi...
Assessing Ubisoft Entertainment (ENXTPA:UBI) Valuation After Deep Losses And Guidance For Another Tough Year
Ubisoft Entertainment (ENXTPA:UBI) is back in focus after its full year 2026 results, reporting sales of €1,395.7 million and a significantly larger net loss of €1,475.2 million compared with the previous year. See our latest analysis for Ubisoft Entertainment. The 1 day share price return of 12.95% to €5.284 came after the earnings release and guidance for another tough year. However, the 1 year total shareholder return is down 46.97%, with multi year total returns also deeply negative. This...
The World Health Assembly adopts updated Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (2026–2036)
Geneva, 23 May 2026 – Member States at the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly (WHA79) adopted the updated Global action plan on antimicrobial resistance (GAP-AMR) 2026–2036, marking a major milestone in the global response to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and delivering on a key commitment contained in the 2024 United Nations General Assembly Political Declaration on AMR. The updated plan was developed through a consultative process led by the Quadripartite organizations – FAO, UNEP, WHO and WOAH – with extensive engagement of Member States and stakeholders across sectors. AMR remains one of the most significant global health and development challenges, affecting humans, animals, plants, food systems and the environment. The updated GAP-AMR provides a comprehensive One Health framework to guide coordinated global, regional and national action over the next decade. It builds on the foundation established by the original GAP-AMR adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2015 while reflecting evolving evidence, lessons learned, and the commitments made at the 2024 UN High-Level Meeting on AMR. During the Assembly, Member States expressed broad support for the updated plan and its strengthened multisectoral and One Health approach. Delegates highlighted the importance of prevention-first interventions, including infection prevention and control, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), vaccination, biosecurity, and environmental measures. They also highlighted the need for responsible, equitable and sustainable use of antimicrobials, strengthened surveillance, innovation, and sustainable agrifood systems. The updated GAP-AMR is intended to serve as the global framework for coordinated action against AMR through 2036. It aims to accelerate global progress towards the commitments and targets agreed by Member States and support countries in developing, implementing and financing ambitious multisectoral national action plans. The plan also reinforces the importance of accountability, monitoring and reporting, sustainable financing, and international cooperation to address AMR through a One Health approach. The adoption of the updated GAP-AMR reflects renewed global commitment to preserving the effectiveness of antimicrobials and safeguarding advances in human, animal and plant health, food security, economic development and environmental sustainability. As implementation begins, continued collaboration among governments, international organizations, civil society, academia and the private sector will be critical to translating commitments into measurable impact. The Quadripartite organizations will continue supporting Member States and partners in operationalizing the updated GAP-AMR and advancing coordinated One Health action against AMR at country, regional and global levels.
Colts: Players Returning from Injury a Source of Optimism
The Indianapolis Colts should get significant contributions in 2026 from players who were injured last year.
Semiconductor decoupling. Powell's politics. Industrializing Ogaden. Free trade and the Magna Carta.
Thank you for opening your Chartbook email. Feliks Topolski, 1907-1989 8th Army’s Front, Italy 1944 Semiconductor decoupling Source: FT One thing that Jerome Powell deeply understood is that chairing the Fed under current conditions is a deeply political job. “Powell has successes and mistakes to his name. But he stands out as having thought more carefully about the Fed’s democratic legitimacy than any chair since Paul Volcker,” said Paul Tucker, a former deputy governor at the Bank of England, referring to the Fed chair who successfully fought the great inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s. … While Powell was at the Treasury in the early 1990s, he watched Alan Greenspan build relationships within the government. That convinced Powell he needed to follow the former Fed chair’s lead and spend more time in Congress than his predecessors Yellen and Bernanke. “The accountability for the Fed runs through Congress,” said Claudia Sahm, a former Fed official who is now chief economist at New Century Advisors. “That’s not just about having people on speed dial — it’s answering questions, explaining policy and getting feedback.” Source: FT Ethiopia’s PM Abiy and Nigerian business tycoon, with Chinese engineering, are driving industrialization in Ogaden/Somali region of Ethiopia. - Michael Masri’s reporting for Africa Report if fascinating. Ethiopia has launched a cluster of large industrial schemes in the Somali region, laying foundation stones for a urea plant and an oil refinery in Gode while opening the first two phases of the Ogaden LNG project. Abiy Ahmed framed the push as part of a broader strategy to link energy, agriculture and industry. “These projects embody more than industrial growth,” he said. “They represent our shared responsibility to harness opportunities, strengthen co-operation and promote peace.” The Gode urea plant, backed by Dangote Group and Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH), is designed for 3m tonnes a year. Dangote owns 60%, while EIH holds 40%. Officials say Dangote’s equity totals about $2.5bn, while the state provides land and implementation oversight. Gas from the Calub fields will be piped 108km to the site. Construction is slated for 40 months, with operations targeted for 2028. Ethiopia imports most of its fertiliser, spending more than $1.2bn a year for 1.5m–2m tonnes. Usage was roughly 1.7m tonnes in 2023, almost half of it urea, and demand for 2024–25 is put above 2.4m tonnes. If delivered on time, the Gode plant could cover domestic needs and allow exports to neighbours. Brook Taye, chief executive of EIH, called the venture “a significant milestone in the journey toward industrial self-sufficiency”. Dangote told the groundbreaking crowd that the complex would be integrated with gas supply and a polypropylene unit to support local inputs. He pointed to Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), with a capacity of more than 5,000MW, and noted his group’s cement operations and expansion plans. The Gode refinery is being developed by Golden Concord Group of China. It is designed to process 3.5m tonnes a year of crude and condensate from the Hilala field, with associated storage. Backers say it will ease foreign-exchange pressure from fuel imports and anchor further industrial activity, including a proposed steel smelting site in Dire Dawa. GCL’s chair, Zhu Gongshan, cast the project as “a key step in Ethiopia’s path to energy sovereignty”, underscoring the Beijing–Addis ties. Financing details are still being finalised, but the refinery is central to the government’s energy-security narrative. Source: The Africa Report Dangote’s Ethiopian vision: Dangote began with cement. His crown jewel, Dangote Cement, dominates Nigeria’s market and has 10 operations in other nations in Africa. The formula has been consistent: identify sectors with chronic shortages – cement, fertiliser, sugar – commit massive local investments, and scale up to serve regional demand. Ethiopia was a natural extension of that model. In 2015, Dangote launched the Mugher Cement Plant outside Addis Ababa at a cost of $600m, with an annual capacity of 2.5 million tonnes. The investment gave him a firm foothold in one of Africa’s fastest-growing construction markets. But success came with risks. In May 2018, violent unrest led to the killing of Dangote’s country manager and temporary shutdowns at Mugher. While other investors might have retreated, Dangote doubled down. Today, he is preparing to spend $400m to expand Mugher’s capacity to 5 million tonnes, alongside a new grinding unit near Addis Ababa. Cement is just one market Dangote is targeting. Ethiopia’s enormous state-controlled sugar industry, long plagued by inefficiency and debt, has struggled for years to reform. Its Omo Kuraz Sugar Development Project, touted as one of the continent’s largest initiatives, continues to face delays and mismanagement. … The most ambitious venture of all is the planned fertiliser production complex in Gode, Somali region. Publicised on 28 August 2025, the Dangote Group and Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH) deal plans one of the world’s largest single-site urea manufacturing plants. The project costs an estimated $2.5bn and has an estimated capacity of 3 million metric tonnes annually, a rate that would not only render Ethiopia independent, but even a net exporter of fertiliser. EIH, the state wealth fund of Ethiopia, will hold 40%, while 60% is held by Dangote Group. … For Dangote, Ethiopia is a trifecta: Cement demand is projected to grow by 10% annually, its sugar consumption is growing with rapid urbanisation, and fertiliser demand is all but insatiable, given that farming supports the livelihood of 70% of Ethiopians. Source: The Africa Report The stakes for Abiy are high: For Addis Ababa, the $4bn fertiliser project in Ethiopia’s Somali region is no longer simply a manufacturing investment. It is increasingly being framed as a strategic state project tied to food sovereignty, import substitution and the government’s broader attempt to build economic resilience under mounting fiscal pressure. “Becoming self-sufficient in food is our main agenda,” Abiy says during the visit. “Land is needed; we have it. Water is needed; we have it. Human resources are needed; we have it.” The scale is enormous even by African industrial standards. Once operational, the plant is expected to produce three million metric tonnes of urea annually, potentially making it one of the continent’s largest fertiliser complexes. Ethiopian officials say the project now includes a 110km gas pipeline, a 120MW power plant, a polypropylene packaging facility and a two-million-tonne NPK blending plant. For a government grappling with chronic foreign exchange shortages, ballooning import bills and pressure on agricultural productivity, the numbers matter politically as much as they do economically. The decision to anchor the project in Gode is deliberate. Long viewed as peripheral to Ethiopia’s industrial economy, the Somali region is now being repositioned by the federal government as a future irrigation and agro-industrial corridor. Officials argue that the area’s vast land reserves and access to water could eventually support large-scale commercial farming capable of reshaping Ethiopia’s food economy. The government is simultaneously building housing infrastructure for about 5,000 residents near the plant, while officials project broader industrial expansion along the corridor. Abiy goes further, comparing the long-term revenue potential of the Gode development zone with Ethiopia’s flagship state enterprise. “The investments we are making in this Gode area, combined, will generate high revenue for Ethiopia, at par with Ethiopian Airlines,” he says. Source: The Africa Report Feliks Topolski 1907-1982 Topolski’s Chronicle, ‘Nazi Revival’, Vol. 8, Is. 1-2, 1960 HEY READERS, THANK YOU for opening the Chartbook email. I hope it brightens your day. I enjoy putting out the newsletter, but tbh, what keeps this flow going is the generosity of those readers who clicked the subscription button. Photo by Jakub Dziubak on Unsplash If you are persuaded to click, please consider the annual subscription of $50. It is both better value for you and a much better deal for me, as it involves only one credit card charge. Why feed the payments companies if we don’t have to. Subscribe Grim vision of drone warfare by Sylvie Kaufmann For contributing subscribers only. Subscribe The state of the art in Colbert-studies. Jean-Baptiste Colbert was Louis XIV chief minister from 1661 to 1683 and traditionally seen as an architect of absolutism and mercantilism. Alexander Hamilton later cited him as an inspiration in 1782. Now his legacy is disputed. Daniel Dessert, the chief critic, sees Colbert as the orchestrator not so much of an absolutist state as of an elite cabal. Would be great to have a good English-language review of this important debate. Source: lhistoire Didn’t know that the Magna Carta included free trade provisions Fighting for the right to the beach in Oregon in 1967: Source: Research Gate RAF Station – British and Polish Flags, c. 1940-45, The Ingram Collection Feliks Topolski, 1907-1989 ink and wash If you’ve scrolled this far, you know you want to click: Subscribe
NASA science cut would hit Colorado universities and aerospace sector
Proposed funding for NASA could impose a significant reduction on the science programs that underpin Colorado’s aerospace economy.
Menopause health: Moving beyond hormones with metabolic interventions
While menopause’s major hormonal shifts are universally acknowledged, significant changes in women’s metabolic health at this time are frequently overlooked by traditional health care models. Digital wellness company Carrot’s AI platform Sprints is bridging this care gap with deeply personalized, data-driven lifestyle interventions for metabolism during this transition.
How microbes can boost protein content and health benefits in fermented foods
US research recently found that microbial proteins significantly contribute to the protein content of fermented foods, like yogurt and cheese. We explore the findings with one of the study authors, who tells us that microorganisms do not just help foods ferment but also boost their nutritional profile and potentially have health impacts. These food-fermenting microbes raised protein levels, reaching up to 11% of the total protein content, making up 60% of the identified proteins.
Decatur Street businesses host block party amid construction challenges
The construction began nearly nine months ago, and business owners say it has significantly affected sales.
Steelers' Broderick Jones Has Alarming 'Weight' Worry
A lingering neck injury and significant offseason weight loss leave the former first-round pick’s status in doubt as he fights for his future during a pivotal contract year.
The Best Browser Extensions to Get More Out of YouTube
You can significantly improve the YouTube experience with these five browser add-ons.
Fmr. attorney of courthouse shooting suspect said she had 'significant mental health issues'
Former attorney of 57-year-old Gwendolyn White, the woman accused of shooting two attorneys outside the Wake County Courthouse on Friday, said the suspect suffered from mental health issues for years.
Steve Sarkisian Shares Significant Health Update For Jonah Williams
Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian gave a timeline and injury update on two-way star Jonah Williams
What do Spurs and West Ham need on final day?
Joining Wolves and Burnley in the Championship next season will be one of Spurs or West Ham. Tottenham in 17th do have a significant advantage going into the final day of the season. While mathematically not guaranteed, a draw for Spurs at home to Everton all but confirms their stay in the Premier League.
Liverpool title-winner named in England’s 2026 World Cup squad
Liverpool Leader Henderson Earns England World Cup CallJordan Henderson’s remarkable football journey has taken another significant turn, with the former Liverpool captain officially named in Englan...
Citi to boost Asia wealth business with 'significant' hires, global head says
Citigroup plans to allocate a significant portion of its global wealth management hiring to Asia, where its private bank is growing faster and generating higher productivity than in other regions, the bank's global wealth head Andy Sieg said.
Bungie reportedly eyeing up "significant" layoffs, no plans for Destiny 3: what happens after Destiny 2's final update in June?
Nearly nine years later, the writing is on the walls for Destiny 2 as Bungie looks ahead to a very uncertain future.
Destiny developer Bungie will reportedly lay off a 'significant number' of people
Bungie is reportedly laying off a significant number of people and has not started work on Destiny 3.
Developers outline huge Water Street Tampa expansion, new entertainment district
Strategic Property Partners, the team behind Water Street Tampa, has outlined a significant expansion for the downtown district. Featuring a new music venue,
‘Second to None’: Tributes Pour in for Former Congressman, Progressive Icon, and LGBT Trailblazer Barney Frank, Who Died at 86
The late Massachusetts progressive lawmaker was known for his razor-sharp wit and humor, for being a trailblazer for gay rights, and for leading significant reform of the U.S. financial system.
Vivaldi 8.0 arrives as "the most significant design overhaul" in the browser's history
Vivaldi 8.0 is here, and developers say it is "the most significant design overhaul" in the browser's history.
Who reports wildlife the most? 300,000 citizen science records uncover participation bias
In recent years, citizen science methodology has gained significant momentum and is becoming increasingly important in large-scale ecological and conservation research. By involving volunteers, it enables ...
Jeremy Nathans honored at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Four Doctors Awards
Nathans received the inaugural Welch Award for Excellence in Basic Science Research recognizing exceptional leadership and significant contributions to science
Coverage is Care at Trinity Health Michigan - MHA | Michigan Health & Hospital Association
Chiquita Berg, MD, MBA, FACOG, vice president, Community Health & Well-Being, Trinity Health Michigan. Significant changes to Medicaid are expected to take effect in 2027, bringing new requirements and processes that could increase the risk of coverage loss for eligible individuals if systems are not prepared. While many details are…
Trail Blazers lay off large number of business-side employees
The Portland Trail Blazers have laid off a significant number of business-side employees as part of a reorganization under new owner Tom Dundon.
Trail Blazers lay off large number of business-side employees
The Portland Trail Blazers have laid off a significant number of business-side employees as part of a reorganization under new owner Tom Dundon.
Xbox expands leadership team with major hires
Xbox has added two big names to its leadership team: Matthew Ball and Scott Van Vliet. The new recruits are part of an on-going drive from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to move faster, build better products, and make more focused business decisions. The Game Business can reveal that Ball is joining as Chief Strategy Officer. He is a popular industry analyst who is responsible for the annual The State of Video Gaming report, which is widely read across the business. His first job will be to strengthen the console side of Xbox, which is facing significant pressures, not least from the rising costs of memory and storage. In an interview with The Game Business earlier in the year, he admitted he was “pretty frightened” by the situation for the console sector. Ball had previously worked as head of strategy and planning for Amazon Studios, and wrote the 2022 international best-seller The Metaverse. He is currently CEO of Epyllion, a venture partner at investment group Makers Fund and senior advisor at KKR & Co. Meanwhile, Scott Van Vliet joins as Chief Technology Officer. He was previously in charge of Azure OpenAI and AI Core infrastructure at Microsoft, and he also led engineering for Microsoft Teams during the COVID 19 pandemic. But he has a games background. He previously worked across games for Amazon, including Alexa, Amazon Game Studios and the Amazon App Store. He directly worked on the Minecraft: Fire TV Edition. Prior to that, he was VP of Digital Play at Mattel, and worked across brands such as Batman, Barbie, Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja and Cut The Rope. His job will be to improve how Xbox builds products so teams can move faster and deliver stronger results. For more breaking stories, sign-up to The Game Business today Subscribe In addition to these new hires, Xbox has promoted Chris Schnakenberg to Corporate Vice President, Partnerships & Business Development. He was previously VP of partnerships and business development, and joined from Activision Blizzard, where he spent 12 years in various strategy, business development and partner relations role. His focus is on third-party games, publishers and developers working with Xbox. The news follows a number of new hires and promotions earlier in the month, including Jason Ronald taking leadership over Xbox’s upcoming Project Helix console. “These changes are about strengthening our foundation by creating more clarity and improving execution,” Sharma said in an email to staff. “As we head toward Showcase and beyond, we’ll continue making the changes needed to position XBOX for the future.” Matthew Ball is speaking with Christopher Dring at The Game Business Live on Monday, June 8. More details on the event can be found here.
Xbox expands leadership team with major hires
Xbox has added two big names to its leadership team: Matthew Ball and Scott Van Vliet. The new recruits are part of an on-going drive from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to move faster, build better products, and make more focused business decisions. The Game Business can reveal that Ball is joining as Chief Strategy Officer. He is a popular industry analyst who is responsible for the annual The State of Video Gaming report, which is widely read across the business. His first job will be to strengthen the console side of Xbox, which is facing significant pressures, not least from the rising costs of memory and storage. In an interview with The Game Business earlier in the year, he admitted he was “pretty frightened” by the situation for the console sector. Ball had previously worked as head of strategy and planning for Amazon Studios, and wrote the 2022 international best-seller The Metaverse. He is currently CEO of Epyllion, a venture partner at investment group Makers Fund and senior advisor at KKR & Co. Meanwhile, Scott Van Vliet joins as Chief Technology Officer. He was previously in charge of Azure OpenAI and AI Core infrastructure at Microsoft, and he also led engineering for Microsoft Teams during the COVID 19 pandemic. But he has a games background. He previously worked across games for Amazon, including Alexa, Amazon Game Studios and the Amazon App Store. He directly worked on the Minecraft: Fire TV Edition. Prior to that, he was VP of Digital Play at Mattel, and worked across brands such as Batman, Barbie, Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja and Cut The Rope. His job will be to improve how Xbox builds products so teams can move faster and deliver stronger results. For more breaking stories, sign-up to The Game Business today Subscribe In addition to these new hires, Xbox has promoted Chris Schnakenberg to Corporate Vice President, Partnerships & Business Development. He was previously VP of partnerships and business development, and joined from Activision Blizzard, where he spent 12 years in various strategy, business development and partner relations role. His focus is on third-party games, publishers and developers working with Xbox. The news follows a number of new hires and promotions earlier in the month, including Jason Ronald taking leadership over Xbox’s upcoming Project Helix console. “These changes are about strengthening our foundation by creating more clarity and improving execution,” Sharma said in an email to staff. “As we head toward Showcase and beyond, we’ll continue making the changes needed to position XBOX for the future.” Matthew Ball is speaking with Christopher Dring at The Game Business Live on Monday, June 8. More details on the event can be found here.
Barney Frank, financial reformer and trailblazer for gay rights, dies at 86
The longtime Democratic congressman and leading liberal brought new visibility to gay rights and crafted the most significant reforms to the financial system in a generation. Frank was known for his acerbic wit, combative style and focus on marginalized communities. He was 86.
Assessing PEPFAR’s Health Spillover Effects Beyond HIV: An Update
This analysis updates prior work that assessed the association between PEPFAR investments and several health indicators, beyond HIV. It finds that PEPFAR continues to be associated with significant improvement in these broader health gains, suggesting a spillover effect beyond the program's HIV focus.
Student researcher examines how mental health affects first responder job performance
For first responders, no two days are the same, but one thing remains constant: the pressure to make split-second decisions that can save a life. Kennesaw State University research suggests that mental health challenges like depression, anxiety, and insomnia may significantly impact how well first responders can do their jobs. Mahita Polineni, a third-year psychology student in KSU’s Norman J. Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences, is studying how these factors affect cognitive functioning including memory, concentration, and decision-making among emergency medical responders.
Pickleball and pizza: BTS’s Bay Area tour boosts local businesses
(KRON) — Members of global K-pop supergroup BTS were recently spotted playing pickleball in Campbell and grabbing pizza in Redwood City, leading to a significant increase in attention and cus…
Google announces Wear OS 7 with Live Updates, widgets, more
A significant lineup of changes is coming to Pixel Watches with Wear OS 7, as Google announces the new wearable...
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.
Back in Business? The IRS Revives “Significant Issue” Rulings for Corporate Transactions
On May 5, 2026, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released Revenue Procedure 2026-21 (the “Rev. Proc.”), which reinstates a program under which
Flight to Argentina: How significant is it for Israel’s LatAm outreach?
Experts say Israel is using the new flight as a geopolitical tool to cement its footprint in Latin America.
If/Then: Pending Deregulation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Could Create Significant Negative Health Effects
If the US Environmental Protection Agency finalizes a rule on greenhouse gas emissions without quantifying related effects on human health, then Congress could respond by requiring this and future rules to account for human health effects.
People who lost the most weight on Ozempic saw huge health benefits
People who lost significant weight while taking Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, or Saxenda had sharply lower risks of major obesity-related health problems, including sleep apnea and kidney disease. Those who gained weight instead faced higher risks — especially for heart failure — even though many patients discontinued the medications within a year.
How a few minutes of intense exercise a day can save lives
Recent evidence confirms that even five minutes of daily vigorous activity significantly reduces global mortality risk.
Kudos to Cheer Club, College of Business faculty, Cybersecurity team and more
Becky Cottrell, Ph.D., Department of Social Work, and Bridget Arend, Ph.D., School of Education Becky Cottrell from the Department of Social Work and Bridget Arend, Ph.D., from the School of Education co-authored an article recently published in an international journal. Read the article. Biff Baker, Ph.D., College of Business Biff Baker, Ph.D., received a Best in Track award from the Society for Advancement of Management for research examining bureaucratic inefficiencies within Section 8 subsidized housing programs. The study focuses on how administrative delays and communication breakdowns can create housing instability for families and discourage landlord participation. It also offers recommendations to improve accountability and trust in public housing systems. Brendan Fry, Ph.D., Department of Mathematics and Statistics Brendan Fry, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, co-authored the article “Modeling the Impact of Venous Collapsibility on Retinal Oxygenation,” published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. The interdisciplinary research brought together scholars from the University of Delaware, Indiana University Indianapolis, McGill University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. Access the article. Bridget Arend, Ph.D., School of Education Bridget Arend, Ph.D., professor in the School of Education, co-published the book “Facilitating Seven Ways of Learning: A Resource for More Purposeful, Effective, and Enjoyable College Teaching, Second Edition” with James R. Davis. The book explores practical approaches to improving college teaching and student learning experiences. Buy the book. College of Business Faculty At the 2026 Western Decision Sciences Institute international conference, Sally Baalbaki-Yassine, Ph.D., Debora Gilliard, Ph.D., and David Lynn Hoffman, Ph.D., from the College of Business received the Best Case Study Paper Award for “Oreo: A Global Success Story in Brand Evolution and Market Leadership.” Lisa McVicker, Ph.D., and Apryl Brodersen, Ph.D., also had their paper, “Electronic Performance Monitoring: Employer Panacea or Legal Quagmire?” accepted for publication in the Journal of Business Leadership. Community Engagement Exchange Program Metropolitan State University of Denver was selected to host international Fellow Aleja Henao Espitia of Bogotá, Colombia through the Community Engagement Exchange program funded by the U.S. Department of State. View Espitia's LinkedIn profile. David Varel, Ph.D., College of Letters, Arts and Sciences MSU Denver historian David Varel, Ph.D., has been awarded a 2026 ACLS Fellowship by the American Council of Learned Societies. The fellowship program supports outstanding scholarship in the humanities and social sciences, and selected just 63 scholars from more than 2,000 applicants this year. Varel’s project, “The Black Chicago School: Academic Activism in the Age of American Apartheid,” explores the work of Black scholars who challenged scientific racism, built alternative institutions and helped lay the foundation for the modern civil rights movement. The fellowship provides up to $60,000 to support full-time research and writing. Learn more about the fellowship. MSU Denver Office of Financial Aid Team Several MSU Denver employees were recognized for leadership and service during the Colorado Association of Financial Aid Administrators (CAFAA) conference held in May in Crested Butte. Don Holtzen, interim associate director of systems, chaired the conference and was recognized for his service as CAFAA conference chair and technology chair during the 2025-26 term. Holtzen also received the Postsecondary Institution Professional of the Year award, which recognizes financial-aid professionals who have made significant contributions to their institutions and to CAFAA. Tori Pacheco, associate director of Student Services, helped design décor and facilitate the conference and was recognized for her service as CAFAA secretary during the 2025-26 term. Destiny Candelaria, call center coordinator, served on the conference planning committee and presented on One Stops during the event. Michael Nguyen, executive director of Financial Aid and Scholarships, assisted as a CAFAA board member and was recognized for serving as president-elect during the 2025-26 term. Richard Balbag, program assistant I, received the Distinguished Support Staff Member of the Year award, honoring staff members who have made exceptional contributions to their financial-aid offices. Military Friendly Recognition Military Friendly has awarded MSU Denver Gold Status as a military-friendly university and ranked the University No. 7 nationally for military spouses. The recognition reflects MSU Denver’s strong support systems for veterans and military spouses, including transfer credit assistance and retention-focused resources. As of 2026, 1,050 military-connected students are enrolled at the University, advancing institutional priorities around serving veterans and supporting student retention. MSU Denver Cheer Club The MSU Denver Cheer Club earned third place in the 4-Year College Small Coed Intermediate division at the USA Spirit Nationals. Celebrate the win on Instagram. MSU Denver Cybersecurity Team An MSU Denver cybersecurity team earned first place in the Strategist category at the 2026 CYBER RECon National Competition hosted at Fort Meade, Maryland, by U.S. Cyber Command. Led by Jeffrey London, Ph.D., and undergraduate student Matthew Bopp, the team competed against universities and law schools nationwide with its 30-page legal analysis on cybersecurity and free speech titled “Freedom of Speech and MDM: Misinformation, Disinformation, and Malinformation.” The paper also earned Bopp a personal invitation to apply to the University of Maryland School of Law. MSU Denver Debate Team MSU Denver Debate won the 2026 Sierra Sustainability Summit hosted at Yosemite National Park in April. Students Kat Conte and Simon Bernhard bested teams from George Washington University, Gallaudet University, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the University of San Francisco and Tennessee Tech in the modified present-and-defend style competition. Their proposal recommended adapting Colorado’s Keep Colorado Wild Pass model to support California state parks facing budget constraints. Learn about the summit. MSU Denver Women’s Golf MSU Denver Women’s Golf was represented on the national stage this month as junior Neige Dunn competed as an individual at the NCAA West Regional. She became the first Roadrunner in 10 years to qualify for NCAA Regionals as an individual. Get the details.
This unsealed Apollo 17 photo is the 'most significant evidence' in new UAP release, says doc director
'The Age of Disclosure' director Dan Farah reacts to the new tranche of UAP files released by the Department of War, singling out one image from the Apollo 17 moon landing as the 'most significant evidence.'
Problematic hinge could delay the iPhone Fold
A new rumor claims that the iPhone Fold's reported testing delays are because of significant issues with the hinge that could prevent Apple from launching it in 2026.
Innovation Developed by UT Health Sciences Research Program Passes Landmark Trial for Cardiac Amyloidosis
A new diagnostic tool developed at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences may soon make it significantly easier for physicians to detect cardiac amyloidosis, a progressive and frequently underdiagnosed disease caused by abnormal protein deposits in the heart.
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.
Potential federal college sports reform could reshape Florida football
Proposed federal reforms surrounding NIL, transfers and NCAA authority could significantly impact Florida and other SEC football programs.
Subnautica 2 Dev Gives Players Hope Amid the Game's First Hot Topic Following Launch
Fresh from its huge early access launch, underwater survival and crafting adventure game Subnautica 2 has sparked a significant debate among fans: to kill or not to kill the fish.
'Truly significant': James Webb telescope reveals largest-ever map of the universe's hidden megastructures
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have created the most detailed map of the cosmic web ever.
More to come from Ireland after beating Scots
The 2026 Women's Six Nations has felt like another significant step forward for a young but talented Ireland side.
Ebola outbreak in Central Africa declared a ‘Public Health Emergency of International Concern’
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, citing rising cases, cross-border spread and significant uncertainties about the scale of the epidemic.
With high hopes, Yale continues to invest in Upper Science Hill
The University has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the development of Upper Science Hill, which University leaders say will significantly improve research opportunities at Yale. The first phase is set to be completed this fall.
Top Stories: iPhone 18 Pro Rumors, iOS 26.5 Released, and More
WWDC is less than a month away, so the focus of the Apple world is turning toward what we might see in the next major operating system updates, but we're also looking ahead to the busy hardware update season in the fall. This week also saw a significant change to Apple's education pricing program in some countries, while a new commemorative U.S.
Trump returns from China with no Iran breakthrough — and a decision to make
As Donald Trump grew increasingly frustrated with diplomatic efforts to end the war with Iran, administration officials were closely watching whether the president’s trip to China — a nation with close ties to Tehran — would yield a significant breakthrough.
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.
Rochester Regional Health graduates first class of peace officers
Officials believe the new peace officer program will significantly strengthen the hospital system’s ability to respond to emergencies in real-time.
Heartflow reports significant revenue growth as CCTA sees wider adoption
The company keeps gaining momentum thanks to the success of its AI-powered imaging software.
5 Must-Read Analyst Questions From AMC Entertainment’s Q1 Earnings Call
AMC Entertainment’s first quarter saw a positive market response, driven by significant year-over-year revenue growth and improved operating margins. Management attributed this performance to a stronger box office environment, particularly across North America and Europe, as well as disciplined cost control and enhancements in the guest experience. CEO Adam Aron highlighted the impact of expanded premium screens, improved per patron spending, and the continued success of loyalty programs. Notabl