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What trainers actually think about the 12-3-30 workout

Have we finally unlocked exercise’s biggest secret? Or is this yet another lie perpetrated Big Treadmill?

Apr 14 • 8:15 AM EDT • Technology • vox.com

Q&A with chemist Max Delferro: Unlocking breakthroughs in catalytic science

In this Q&A, chemist Max Delferro explains how his team is combining catalysis, artificial intelligence and robotics to speed chemical discovery — cutting catalyst development from decades to years while advancing more efficient industrial processes.

Apr 14 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • anl.gov

In Leo, Trump Faces a Different Kind of Papal Opponent

Unlike his predecessor, Pope Leo XIV enjoys growing support from a broad swath of conservative Catholics.

Apr 14 • 5:05 AM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

30 Under 30 Europe Science & Healthcare 2026: The Founders Using AI To Empower Patients And Unlock Scientific Mysteries

These young entrepreneurs, researchers and doctors are improving healthcare, empowering patients and building the hardware of the future.

Apr 14 • 12:30 AM EDT • Science • forbes.com

PBR | 2026 PBR World Finals: Unleash the Beast to bring nearly two weeks of Western-themed entertainment to Fort Worth from May 7–17

Celebration features live music, fan experiences, cultural events and the richest purse in bull riding.

Apr 13 • 8:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • pbr.com

Scottish Association for Marine Science: Unlocking red seaweed for food flavor, color & hybrid proteins

Apr 12 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • foodingredientsfirst.com

I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. Here’s what I had to unlearn to build a $1 billion business

I grew up in Switzerland surrounded by entrepreneurs: my grandfather in construction, my father in surveying, my uncles in packaging and construction.

Apr 12 • 7:30 AM EDT • Business • fortune.com

Bruce Ledewitz: Our politics is a world of unreason

We live in an age of political unreason. Unless we are learn to think more reasonably, especially rejecting our own side’s partisan lies, America...

Apr 12 • 4:30 AM EDT • Politics • post-gazette.com

Life on Mars? Tiny cells just survived shock waves and toxic soil

Mars may be hostile, but it might not be entirely unlivable. In lab experiments, yeast cells survived simulated Martian shock waves and toxic perchlorate salts—two major environmental threats on the Red Planet. Their secret weapon was forming protective molecular clusters that shield critical cellular functions under stress. Without these defenses, survival plummeted, pointing to a potential universal strategy life could use beyond Earth.

Apr 11 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com

“AI polls” are fake polls

A few weeks after Donald Trump’s second presidential win, I took the train up from London (where I was living at the time) to Oxford to attend a conference on polls and forecasts of the 2024 election. Most of the attendees were pollsters or academics, but I also watched presentations from Aaru and Electric Twin, two companies that do what is interchangeably called synthetic sampling, silicon sampling, or synthetic audiences. Stripped of startup jargon, that means they use large language models (LLMs) to simulate responses to public opinion polls by having AI agents take on the role of survey respondents. I had already heard of Aaru thanks to some articles with eye-catching headlines like “No people, no problem: AI chatbots predict elections better than humans” in the months leading up to Election Day. The founders were making some big, some might even say far-fetched claims, such as: “within two years, we will simulate the entire globe — from the way crops are grown in Ukraine to how that impacts production of oil in Iraq, trade through the strait of Malacca, and elections for the mayor of Baltimore.” When Semafor asked Aaru’s cofounders — Cameron Fink and Ned Koh — about my boss, they said “we respect all those who came before us.” Nate (as he so often does) shared his thoughts on Twitter: Fink and Koh were relatively good-natured about this back-and-forth when we spoke at Oxford. They even offered to mail me one of the t-shirts featuring Nate’s quote they apparently had made. I never took them up on the offer, which I now somewhat regret. These synthetic sampling companies fell off my radar for a while, but they do still exist. In fact, Aaru recently received a $1 billion valuation. Is what they’re doing anywhere close to the most important frontier in AI development? Not by a longshot, especially when Anthropic just developed a model so adept at exploiting software vulnerabilities that it’s only being released to 40 companies. Still, silicon sampling is increasingly finding its way into public polling. Axios reported in March that “a majority of people trust their own doctors and nurses” based on findings from Aaru — without mentioning that the “people” in that sentence were actually LLMs. Around the same time, the Public Sentiment Institute “boosted” their online sample of 373 real survey respondents with 114 AI agents.1 (Spoiler alert: even the co-founder of Electric Twin doesn’t think that’s a particularly defensible approach.) Polling companies like Qualtrics and Ipsos are also developing synthetic data panels. So, what should we make of these … “polls”? Let’s get one thing out of the way: whatever they are, they’re not polls in the way that term is usually defined. Subscribe You can’t replace polls with AI On one hand, using LLMs to essentially make up fake survey respondents sort of sounds like the dumbest idea ever, one that will at best imperfectly replicate real polls while introducing all sorts of biases. On the other hand, with LLMs improving at a remarkable, perhaps even alarming rate, maybe that means I’m a dinosaur at the ripe old age of 24 because I still want to rely on polls that talk to actual people. I’m not going to argue that synthetic samples are completely useless. In fact, as I’ll return to later, there is evidence that some techniques can replicate topline survey results quickly and cheaply. But the marketing from certain companies can be slightly optimistic. “No traditional poll will exist by the time the next general election occurs,” said Fink in 2024. We’re just 206 days away from the midterms, and based on the fact that I still have to collect a bunch of polls every day, I’d say he should have run that prediction by a sample of AI agents before the interview.2 To see why synthetic samples can’t replace polls, here’s a quick primer on how they work. The simplest version of these models involves taking a LLM (like ChatGPT or Claude), giving it a demographic profile (e.g., a white, college-educated woman who lives in Utah and makes $70k a year), and then asking it to respond to a survey question. You repeat that process a few thousand times using different demographic profiles and end up with a sample of synthetic survey responses. The actual models used by private companies are more sophisticated than this, usually because they incorporate more hypothesized demographic characteristics for each agent and provide them with extra information. Aaru, for example, feeds agents a diet of news and information they’d be likely to consume, while Electric Twin incorporates their customers’ proprietary data about the audience they’re trying to replicate. The way Ben Warner, the co-founder of Electric Twin, explained it to me was “we have a large amount of data on […] for instance, 5,000 people. Can we make an accurate prediction of how they would respond to another question?” Still, it should be obvious why synthetic samples can’t replace polls. Polling is fundamentally a data collection process. We might use surveys to make predictions by feeding them into election forecasts, but the main purpose of a poll isn’t prediction, it’s gathering new data about what people think and how they feel. Silicon sampling, on the other hand, produces no new data. It’s simply a model: you input LLM training data, demographic prompts, and a bunch of other information, and it spits out a prediction for what a poll would say. We love models here, but models aren’t polls. That difference is an important philosophical sticking point for most pollsters I talk to. “I think politics should stay away from [synthetic sampling], because we’re trying to […] represent the voice of the people,” said Natalie Jackson, a vice president at GQR Insights. Democratic pollster John Hagner told me: “I think I’m just incredibly skeptical of this idea. I don’t think it’s research. At that point, you’re asking the machine to tell you what you already believe.” Hagner has seen some presentations of early synthetic sampling experiments, but so far, “if it’s being used in a campaign, people are keeping it incredibly quiet.”3 But Eli, I hear you saying, aren’t polls themselves increasingly governed by modeling decisions? Indeed they are: pollsters’ choices on which sampling method to use, how to define their likely voter models, and how to weight their samples can and do lead to dramatic differences in the results they publish. Aaru even referenced these limitations in the methodology statement included with that maternal mortality “poll” — although I’m using the term “methodology statement” loosely here, because it doesn’t really explain how the model works at all. We can ignore the (frankly preposterous) implication that synthetic sampling isn’t subject to a separate set of biases. The important point is that there’s still a meaningful difference between using weighting and other statistical techniques on actual polling data and using a model to predict what a poll would say. The latter is far closer to election forecasts or techniques like MRP — potentially useful models, but not a replacement for polls.4 To be fair, other synthetic sampling companies are perfectly happy with the distinction between polls and models. Warner compared polling and synthetic sampling to different tools in a toolbox. “The mistake I think we make is we think that these new tools should either work in exactly the same way or somehow replace these old tools,” he said. “Rather than thinking of it as, okay, so we’ve always had the hammer, we’ve always had the screwdriver, now we’ve got a saw. But don’t use a saw to try [to] do the job of a hammer.” A quick comment from Nate Eli didn’t ask me for a comment — rather rude of him, don’t you think? But since I’m editing this story, I figured I’d add a few quick thoughts rather than putting words in his mouth. Beyond the frequently misleading marketing, what bothers me about the AI “poll” hype is that as AI tools make statistical inference cheaper and/or better (note that these are not synonyms) that actually increases the comparative value of collecting original data. You might be able to train a model to make a reasonable estimate of what some hard-to-reach poll respondent would say — say, a young Black man who voted for Trump. (Such a person checks a number of boxes for a voter who is usually hard to reach in surveys.) Indeed, this is closely related to what models like the Silver Bulletin forecast already do. They essentially smooth out the kinks in noisy survey data by making inferences based on past voting patterns or national polls or surveys of other states. But you don’t actually know what these voters think unless you’re reaching them directly. If there’s a shift in opinion among this subgroup, you’re not going to detect it. So if I were running a campaign, I’d invest more in going the extra mile to find a representative sample of those voters. And then I’d hire some smart quants — or Claude? — to figure out the implications for campaign strategy based on proprietary data that my competitors didn’t have access to. -Nate Silver Are these models any good? If synthetic surveys are just a new type of model, the next obvious question is whether the models are at least accurate. The answer very much depends on who you ask. On one end of the spectrum, you have the maximalist argument that synthetic sampling is more accurate than actual polls. “It’s an incredibly challenging problem to go to someone and say ‘hey, we’re going to be more accurate at predicting human behavior than you, even when you talk to your customers directly’,” Koh recently told CNBC. In his view, synthetic sampling isn’t a saw to polling’s hammer, it’s “magic.” There’s certainly evidence that synthetic samples can replicate certain survey toplines. But if Aaru does have any examples of their approach outperforming the polls, they’re keeping those to themselves.5 Aaru’s 2024 election model, for example, had Kamala Harris leading in Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin on November 4th. And although they’ve since taken down their forecast page, they gave Harris a 50.5 percent chance of winning the race on November 2nd.6 After the election, Fink told Semafor he was happy enough with those results because they were “within margin of error,” a term that is completely meaningless when applied to a “sample” of AI agents. And of course, Aaru says their models have improved since 2024, so supposedly now they’d be more accurate than the polls? Still, their stronger argument is on cost: “We are significantly faster and cheaper than traditional polling, and still more accurate,” said Fink. The first two claims are undeniably true, but the third brings us to the opposite end of the spectrum. Both Jackson and Hagner are skeptical that these models are reliable for anything beyond replicating common survey toplines. “I just […] don’t think the machines are what we want when we’re looking for nuanced views. My example on this is people in Arizona and Nevada in 2024 who voted for Trump and voted for expanding abortion in their states on ballot initiatives,” said Jackson. Hagner identified another issue. Maybe the synthetic respondents, like sycophantic LLMs, are inhuman in one important way: they’re too nice. “The reports that have come through at the meetings that I’ve been at are that the early experiments on this, they cannot get respondents to be as racist or sexist or, frankly, as negative as human respondents,” he said. Academic research mostly agrees on this point. While there are some papers that show promising results when using LLMs to replicate polling data, most show that LLMs suffer from various quirks like producing too few “don’t know” responses and can seriously overpredict the favorability of politicians like Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. They also seem to struggle with too little variation between demographic subgroups, so the difference in predicted opinion between Democrats and Republicans, for example, is too small. When I asked Warner about these studies, his response to these papers was that just because academics can’t get synthetic sampling to work doesn’t mean that the technique doesn’t work in general. “Actually, the argument is, okay, yours does not [work]. That does not mean […] for this complex set of machinery, which uses a lot of investment, a lot of time, a lot of money, you can’t get it to work.” Cards on the table, I’m somewhat sympathetic to this argument because academics aren’t exactly great at making election forecasts. Usually, the people with skin in the game are the most accurate. Warner’s argument is that the approach Electric Twin takes — which includes, for example, making multiple predictions for each synthetic respondent using different models and prompts and subsequently averaging those to get a final prediction in a sort of ensemble forecast — produces better results than the simpler academic models. Warner shared a comparison between his method and the method from a recent academic paper with me, and Electric Twin was indeed able to get more accurate replication. But even still, he acknowledged that synthetic sampling “is not a crystal ball.” “If you asked me, do I think using other data sources will be more accurate than asking somebody who they will vote for, I would probably say no. But if you asked me ‘would your system be useful for our turnout modeling today?’ I would say yes.” For better or worse, it looks like the method is already getting more popular in the market research world. Most of the clients Aaru touts these days are businesses like EY and McDonald’s. And AI will probably begin to pop up in other parts of the political polling process. Pollsters are already using it to code open-ended survey responses, and some firms, like YouGov, are testing using LLMs to ask survey respondents questions. More worryingly, one danger to actual polls is that AI agents can be used to infiltrate online surveys. Most online polls use various checks to prevent that from happening, but there’s conflicting evidence on how effective those filters are and how prevalent AI agents currently are in online panels. If those agents ever become impossible to detect, it might spell the end of online polling, but the solution isn’t to replace all of your respondents with ChatGPT. Silver Bulletin is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a subscriber. Subscribe 1 That particular poll obviously doesn’t meet Silver Bulletin standards for aggregation. But we exclude all Public Sentiment Institute polls from our averages because we classify them as an amateur polling firm. 2 You could argue that Fink meant the next presidential election, but (a) I’m also confident we’ll still have real polls in 2028 and (b) in that case he should have asked an LLM to define “general election.” 3 Quick caveat: that’s reporting from a Democratic pollster. It’s possible that Republicans are more willing to use AI in political campaigns. 4 Indeed, Silver Bulletin does not include “polls” produced by MRP in our forecasts or averages, and we think it’s extremely misleading when their practitioners describe them in a way that suggests original data had been collected among a large number of states or Congressional districts. 5 A recent report from Aaru and EY did show two examples of a synthetic estimate being closer than a survey to a real-world benchmark — but I’d take those findings with a grain of salt because the report reads more like an ad and didn’t involve any sort of prediction being made ahead of time. 6 For comparison, our odds for Harris on the same day were 48.2 percent.

Apr 11 • 11:38 AM EDT • Technology • natesilver.net

Scientists turn 'mess' into breakthrough: Chaotic design unlocks next-generation optical devices

Researchers from the Monash University School of Physics and Astronomy have flipped a long-held assumption in optics, showing that deliberately introducing controlled disorder into ultra-thin optical ...

Apr 10 • 2:40 PM EDT • Science • phys.org

Microsoft finally lets Windows 11 testers unlock experimental features without ViVeTool

The changes are part of the fix Windows 11 effort

Apr 10 • 2:00 PM EDT • Technology • theverge.com

Morning Download: UNLV projects a nearly $11 million NIL/revenue sharing budget

On weekday mornings, Nevada Sports Net will recap three big headlines of the day in its Morning Download. Read below for today's topics.

Apr 10 • 11:45 AM EDT • Sports • nevadasportsnet.com

Adaptive sports program visits Southern Arizona P.E. classes, wheelchairs in tow

When her class moved outside for P.E., special education teacher Tiffani Jaseph saw the excitement. After coaches and players from Adaptive Sports In Schools, or ASIS, unloaded dozens of wheelchairs at Copper View Elementary in the Sahuarita School District, they told students about racing the chairs and playing wheelchair basketball. Jaseph saw the difference in […]

Apr 10 • 9:00 AM EDT • Sports • azluminaria.org

New sports business major taps into Portland sports culture

For those dreaming of careers in fields like sports marketing or working with the Portland Trail Blazers, Adidas or Nike, declaring the new sports business major can unlock opportunity, according to Michael DeVaughn, dean of the School of Business. Beginning in spring 2026, the Bachelor of Business Administration in Sports Business will be available for underclassmen to declare at UP.

Apr 9 • 12:00 PM EDT • Sports • upbeacon.com

New sports business major taps into Portland sports culture

For those dreaming of careers in fields like sports marketing or working with the Portland Trail Blazers, Adidas or Nike, declaring the new sports business major can unlock opportunity, according to Michael DeVaughn, dean of the School of Business. Beginning in spring 2026, the Bachelor of Business Administration in Sports Business will be available for underclassmen to declare at UP.

Apr 9 • 12:00 PM EDT • Business • upbeacon.com

Unless you reboot every once in a while, your Mac will get kicked offline every 49 days

A new bug has been discovered that breaks all Mac networking every 49 days, 17 hours, two minutes, and 47 seconds. It's simple to get around the bug, though.

Apr 9 • 8:11 AM EDT • Technology • appleinsider.com

The Best Restaurants to Book in London Right Now

Must-visit places include an unlikely British power dining room and a great-value Japanese spot.

Apr 9 • 1:15 AM EDT • Business • bloomberg.com

Building the Future of Business at UNLV

UNLV plans a new Lee Business School building to strengthen the region’s workforce, expand industry partnerships, and support Southern Nevada’s growing economy.

Apr 8 • 12:23 PM EDT • Business • unlv.edu

Dunlap fields questions from voters during Bangor town hall

In a wide-ranging town hall conversation in Bangor Tuesday night, Democratic 2nd Congressional District Candidate Matt Dunlap said he will not be accepting money from Political Action Committees and will prioritize issues that matter to Mainers.

Apr 8 • 12:02 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

Apple’s 2026 Shake-Up: iPhone 18 Pro Leaks While iPhone Fold Steals The Show

Which iPhone flagship should you be waiting for? This September’s launches will be unlike any previous year.

Apr 8 • 6:01 AM EDT • Technology • forbes.com

Public comment open on wording of Maine transgender sports referendum question

The question will appear on the November ballot unless the bill is enacted by the Legislature as written.

Apr 7 • 1:08 PM EDT • Sports • wgme.com

Apple’s 2026 Shake-Up: iPhone 18 Pro Leaks While iPhone Fold Steals The Show

Which iPhone flagship should you be waiting for? This September’s launches will be unlike any previous year.

Apr 7 • 3:36 AM EDT • Technology • forbes.com

CBS announces replacement for Colbert’s late-night time slot

The network said Monday that beginning May 22, the day after the finale of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” the hour will be filled by “Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen.”

Apr 6 • 2:44 PM EDT • Business • cnn.com

Rome unleashed an ancient ‘machine gun’ on Pompeii

The polybolos was centuries, if not millennia, before its time.

Apr 6 • 12:47 PM EDT • Science • popsci.com

Apple Sued by Three YouTube Channels

Three established YouTube channels have sued Apple, alleging that the company violated the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by unlawfully accessing and scraping millions of copyrighted videos from YouTube to train its AI models.

Apr 6 • 11:53 AM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com

WATCH LIVE: Trump holds news conference after unleashing latest threat against Iran

Apr 6 • 11:33 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org

A New Era of Sports Broadcasting: Galaxy S26 Ultra Unlocks New Perspectives, Bringing Cameras Inside the A ...

Capturing new angles like never before, Galaxy S26 Ultra’s broadcast-ready capture transforms how skateboarding is filmed, experienced and delivered in real time

Apr 6 • 9:00 AM EDT • Sports • news.samsung.com

Facing Michigan’s ‘Monstars,’ UConn finds itself in the unlikely position of underdog

UConn is one of the most storied programs in college basketball. They’re facing a test in Michigan unlike anything they’ve seen in years.

Apr 6 • 7:30 AM EDT • Sports • cnn.com

The Science Behind Fish Markets And DNA Tracking In The Arabian Gulf

Scientists in Bahrain are building the country’s first DNA reference library for sharks and rays using fish market samples, unlocking the full potential of environmental DNA to identify species in one of the hottest and most understudied seas on Earth.

Apr 6 • 6:30 AM EDT • Science • forbes.com

On plant health and embracing new plant-breeding techniques in South Africa

The major challenge currently confronting South Africa’s agriculture is the spread of foot-and-mouth disease. For many farmers across the country, the most urgent tasks are both securing sufficient vaccines and rolling them out quickly in the coming months, particularly as the beef and dairy industries continue to suffer big losses. There is also pressure on sheep, goats, and other livestock to prevent the disease from spreading. As efforts to get the country through this monumental challenge continue, I believe it is important to sharpen our focus on the broader task at hand: strengthening biosecurity. This covers both animal and plant health. In recent years, we haven’t focused much on plant health, except a few times, such as when we had a goss’s wilt scare in the maize industry, a few cases of citrus black spot, or cases of sclerotinia in sunflower seeds. But the fact that South Africa managed to control the outbreaks of these particular diseases when they occurred a few years ago was due to organized agricultural and government scientific capabilities, and, most importantly, the availability of crop protection or agrochemicals necessary to address some of them. Therefore, as the animal health division in the Department of Agriculture focuses on the pressing challenge of the day, the foot-and-mouth disease, there is an opportunity for the plant health division to assess if they have all the requirements to tackle any outbreak that may occur on fruits, vegetables or crops in future. The challenge with crop diseases is that they can spread quickly and cause much more rapid damage in the field than we typically see with livestock. Therefore, speed is everything in ensuring the appropriate controls are available. I raise this as an important area, particularly given the drastic climate variation we observe across the country. The production conditions in some areas have changed noticeably over time, which may introduce new risks. The other essential part is ensuring that South Africa has access to the best crop protection technology available in the market. Many technology developers worldwide have operations in South Africa. Therefore, the Department of Agriculture, along with the Agricultural Research Council, must continuously interact with technology developers to assess the various crop protection technologies they are releasing globally and determine their suitability and need in South Africa. This will require a proactive approach from the government, unlike the current approach, in which technology developers typically approach regulators with new technologies. The government, recognising the food security risks, must take a proactive approach to ensure that South African farmers have access to the latest crop protection technologies, thereby safeguarding the country’s food security. Beyond crop protection, we must never forget that South Africa’s agriculture is key to ensuring that the country is the most food-secure country at the national level in sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa is also the only African country in the top-40 global agricultural exporters, having more than doubled since 1994 on the back of the adoption of high-yielding seed cultivars. South Africa has been the only African country to adopt a bold approach to embracing science and adopting genetically engineered seeds for grains and oilseeds in the early 2000s. Since then, we have seen crop yields improve noticeably, contributing to the gains we mentioned above. But ensuring that South Africa improves further is not a given. The key lies in South African regulators’ attitudes towards new technologies. We have to maintain a progressive approach and not give in to the politics of non-food and non-scientific voices that shout on the sidelines. Food security is national security, and the government must ensure we progress, leaning on science. Therefore, the registration of high-yielding new genomic techniques is required. South Africa cannot afford to fall behind the EU, the USA, South America, and many of its competitors in global agriculture. The Department of Agriculture’s crop science division must adopt a progress-and-science-embracing approach for the good of the country. Thanks for reading AgriView! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe Share

Apr 6 • 12:02 AM EDT • Health • wandile.substack.com

Schematic Diagram of Semiartificial Photosynthesis

A semiartificial photosynthesis system composed of photocatalysts (purple), electron mediators (red), and biocatalysts (green) works together to convert carbon dioxide into useful substances using sunlight.

Apr 5 • 10:12 PM EDT • Science • eurekalert.org

NVIDIA's DLSS 5 trailer has been taken down due to 'copyright' infringement

NVIDIA's DLSS 5 announcement trailer is currently offline on YouTube due to a copyright infringement claim from an unlikely source.

Apr 5 • 10:02 PM EDT • Technology • tweaktown.com

White Sox's Munetaka Murakami hits 4th HR in 1st 8 MLB games, besting Shohei Ohtani's record by Japanese player

Apr 4 • 6:01 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Veteran Halo Developer Accuses Studio of 'Numerous Unethical and Unlawful Acts'

The art director of Halo Infinite and a veteran developer on the franchise is accusing senior staff at Halo Studios of numerous unlawful acts.

Apr 4 • 12:56 PM EDT • Technology • insider-gaming.com

A massive arctic thaw is unleashing carbon frozen for thousands of years

A sweeping new study reveals that as Arctic permafrost thaws, it is dramatically reshaping rivers and releasing vast amounts of ancient carbon that had been locked away for thousands of years. By analyzing decades of high-resolution data across northern Alaska, scientists found that runoff is increasing, rivers are carrying more dissolved carbon, and the thawing season is stretching further into the fall. This carbon eventually reaches the ocean, where some of it turns into carbon dioxide, intensifying global warming.

Apr 4 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com

Three ripple effects of Luka Dončić's injury: Lakers have lingering questions as playoff picture muddies

Luka Dončić is unlikely to play again this season unless the Lakers can make a deep playoff run without him

Apr 3 • 10:35 PM EDT • Sports • cbssports.com

Super Mario Run Celebrates The Super Mario Galaxy Movie With A New Event

Unlock some themed statues

Apr 3 • 9:45 PM EDT • Technology • nintendolife.com

Colorado sues Trump administration, calling new election order ‘unconstitutional’

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has joined a multistate coalition suing President Donald Trump over a new executive order on elections, arguing the directive unlawfully intrudes on states’ authority to run their own voting systems and threatens access to mail ballots for millions of voters. The lawsuit argues that Trump’s executive order is unconstitutional because […]

Apr 3 • 3:16 PM EDT • Politics • coloradopolitics.com

NIH would get $5 billion cut under Trump’s 2027 budget, but Congress unlikely to go along

The White House is asking Congress to cut $5 billion from the National Institutes of Health and downsize the number of institutes and centers from 27 to 22

Apr 3 • 1:50 PM EDT • Health • statnews.com

Gemma 4 and what makes an open model succeed

Having written a lot of model release blog posts, there’s something much harder about reviewing open models when they drop relative to closed models, especially in 2026. In recent years, there were so few open models, so when Llama 3 was released most people were still doing research on Llama 2 and super happy to get an update. When Qwen 3 was released, the Llama 4 fiasco had just gone down, and a whole research community was emerging to study RL on Qwen 2.5 — it was a no brainer to upgrade. Today, when an open model releases, it’s competing with Qwen 3.5, Kimi K2.5, GLM 5, MiniMax M2.5, GPT-OSS, Arcee Large, Nemotron 3, Olmo 3, and others. The space is populated, but still feels full of hidden opportunity. The potential of open models feels like a dark matter, a potential we know is huge, but few clear recipes and examples for how to unlock it are out there. Agentic AI, OpenClaw, and everything brewing in that space is going to spur mass experimentation in open models to complement the likes of Claude and Codex, not replace them. Especially with open models, the benchmarks at release are an extremely incomplete story. In some ways this is exciting, as new open models have a much higher variance and ability to surprise, but it also points at some structural reasons that make building businesses and great AI experiences around open models harder than the closed alternatives. When a new Claude Opus or GPT drops, spending a few hours with them in my agentic workflows is genuinely a good vibe test. For open models, putting them through this test is a category error. Something else to be said about open models in the era of agents is that they get out of the debate of integration, harnesses, and tools and let us see close to the ground on what exactly is the ability of just a model. Of course, we can’t test some things like search abilities without some tool, but being able to measure exactly the pace of progress of the model alone is a welcome simplification to a systematically opaque AI space. Share The list of factors I’d use to assess a new open-weight model I’m considering investing in includes: Model performance (and size) — how this model performs on benchmarks I care about and how it compares to other models of a similar size. Country of origin — some businesses care deeply about provenance, and if a model was built in China or not. Model license — if a model needs legal approval for use, uptake will be slower at mid-sized and large companies. Tooling at release — many models release with half-broken, or at least substantially slower, implementations in popular software like vLLM, Transformers, SGLANG, etc due to pushing the envelope of architectures or tools. Model fine-tunability — how easy or hard it is to modify the given model to your use-case when you actually try and use it. The core problem is that some of these are immediately available at release, e.g. general performance, license, origin, etc. but others such as tooling take day(s) to week(s) to stabilize, and others are open research questions — with no group systematically monitoring fine-tunability. In the early era of open models, the days of Llama 2 or 3 and Qwen pre v3.5, the architectures were fairly simple and the models tended to work out of the box. Some of this was due to the extremely hard work of the Llama, Qwen, Mistral, etc. developer teams. Some is due to the new models being genuinely harder to work with. When it comes to something like Qwen 3.5 or Nemotron 3, with hybrid models (either gated delta net or mamba layers), the tooling is very rough at release. Things you would expect to “just work” often don’t. I’ve been following this area closely since we released Olmo Hybrid with a similar architecture, and Qwen 3.5 is just starting to work well in the various open-source tools that need to all play nice together for RL research. That’s 1.5 months after the release date! This is just to start really investing more into understanding the behavior of the models. Of course, others started working on these models sooner by investing more engineering resources or relying on partially closed software. The fully open and distributed ecosystem takes a long time to get going on some new models. All of this is lead-in for the most important question for open models — how easy is it to adapt to specific use-cases? This is a different problem for different model sizes. Large MoE open-weight models may be used by entities like Cursor who need complex capabilities in their domain, e.g. Composer 2 trained on Kimi K2.5. Other applications can be built on much smaller models, such as Chroma’s Context-1 model for agentic search, built on GPT-OSS 20B. The question of “which models are fine-tunable” is largely background knowledge known by engineers across the industry. There should be a thriving research area here to support the open ecosystem model. The first step is to understand characteristics of different base and post-trained models to understand what they look like. The second step is to tune pretraining recipes for open models so they’re more flexible. Interconnects AI is a reader-supported publication. Consider becoming a subscriber. Subscribe For The ATOM Project and other Interconnects endeavors, we’ve put in substantial effort to measuring adoption trends in the open ecosystem. Everything takes a long time to unfold after a model is first publicly available — and adaptability is why. What we know for sure now, when Qwen has been going from strength to strength with its releases, is that technical staff across the industry has gotten comfortable working with Qwen models. Countless research methods and datasets were made to work with Qwen. It’ll take patience for any other model family to get to this point — a patience I’m not sure many open model builders have. This takes us to Gemma 4, Google’s latest open models. Gemma 3 was released more than a year ago, in March of 2025, and is a bit underrated. Gemma 4 comes in 4 sizes for now, with a bigger, MoE model of over 100B total parameters rumored but not released yet. The models we have today come in sizes of ~5B dense, 8B dense, 26B total 4B active MoE, and 31B dense. I’m most excited that they’re finally adopting a standard Apache 2.0 open source license. This’ll massively boost adoption. The standard of better licenses for strong open-weight LLMs was set by mostly Chinese open model labs in the last 1-2 years, and now U.S. companies are following suit. I will personally be so happy if the horrible Llama licenses and Gemma terms of service were an ~18-month transient dynamic of the industry being nervous about releasing strong open models. The Gemma 4 scores look very solid, the small models have incredible benchmark scores (especially in general domains like LMArena) and the 31B model rivals the recent Qwen 3.5 27B, which is the leading member of that class. The ~30B size range is an important one, as it’s accessible both to researchers and to enterprises looking to deploy the model in real use-cases. Where the 7B model scale is the default for tinkering and research, a 30B model is the default for seeing if an open model can unlock substantial value in your specific workflow — a good mix of intelligence, low price, tractability for downstream training, etc. This takes us back to the above adoption criteria I mentioned for open models and the bigger question — do I think Gemma 4 will be an overwhelming success? Previous Gemma models have been plagued by tooling issues and poorer performance when being finetuned. Gemma 4’s success is going to be entirely determined by ease of use, to a point where a 5-10% swing on benchmarks wouldn’t matter at all. It’s strong enough, small enough, with the right license, and from the U.S., so many companies are going to slot it in. I’m cautiously optimistic that Gemma 4 is going to work better here. Winds are shifting for open models built in America. We saw GPT-OSS go through a bumpy launch to become an overwhelming success. There’s a collective energy around the likes of Reflection, Arcee, Nemotron, Gemma, Olmo, and peers that show substantial demand for building new stacks around open models. There’s capital to be spent on AI stacks across the economy by those who want more ownership of everything, including the model. After launching The ATOM Project 240 days ago, the conversation is shifting into the next stage. Summer of 2025 was a crisis moment where the U.S. AI scene realized it can’t wait and figure out open models after building AGI. The two markets will capture different areas and proceed in parallel. Now that more companies in the U.S. are releasing strong models, we need to improve the ecosystem so that these models are easy to use, understand, and build value around. It’s the hard work to build another inflection point in these adoption plots I’ve been updating consistently, but that’s the work to be done. Join me in it. More data coming soon! Here’s a sneak peek:

Apr 3 • 12:57 PM EDT • Technology • interconnects.ai

Faculty spotlight: The unlikely path to building UVA’s newest school

Brian Wright didn’t expect to end up in the data science field, let alone helping lead a school.

Apr 3 • 11:08 AM EDT • Science • news.virginia.edu

Legal docs reveal Miyamoto originally saw Donkey Kong as "a human in a gorilla costume," disclose other names considered for the game/character

Nightmare unlocked

Apr 3 • 8:00 AM EDT • Technology • gonintendo.com

The Trump administration wants banks back in the mortgage business. Banks have other ideas.

Regulators hope getting banks to lend more to homebuyers will unlock more lending and give more insight into brewing risks. Analysts are skeptical.

Apr 3 • 4:55 AM EDT • Business • politico.com

Strange “elephant skin” rocks reveal ancient life in the dark ocean

A puzzling wrinkled rock formation in Morocco has led scientists to rethink where ancient microbes could live. Instead of shallow, sunlit waters, these microbes may have thrived deep in the ocean, fueled by chemicals delivered by underwater landslides. The discovery suggests that dark, nutrient-rich environments hosted thriving ecosystems much earlier than expected. It also raises the possibility that many similar fossils have been overlooked or misinterpreted.

Apr 2 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com

Scientists Unlock 3 Million Years of Climate Secrets Hidden in Antarctic Ice

Ancient Antarctic ice is revealing a more detailed and unexpected picture of Earth’s climate history.

Apr 2 • 7:49 PM EDT • Science • scitechdaily.com

Iterative Health, US Heart & Vascular Partner to Advance Community-Based Cardiovascular Research

April 2, 2026 — Iterative Health and US Heart & Vascular (USHV) have announced a strategic partnership to advance research through community-based innovation in cardiovascular care. "Clinical research is one of the most powerful ways we expand access, improve patient outcomes, and shape the future of cardiovascular care," said Robbie Allen, chief executive officer of US Heart & Vascular. "By partnering with Iterative Health, we are strengthening our ability to bring innovative therapies directly into the communities we serve. This collaboration ensures our physicians and patients have access to leading-edge trials while allowing US Heart & Vascular to remain focused on delivering exceptional, physician-led care." Under the agreement, USHV research sites will join Iterative Health’s global site network, which now spans over 100 sites across three continents. The companies share a commitment to advancing clinical research as a driver of care innovation, and this collaboration represents a major milestone for both organizations, strengthening USHV's leadership in community-based cardiovascular research and expanding Iterative Health's multispecialty focus beyond GI, hepatology, and obesity into cardiology. USHV clinical research sites will gain access to Iterative Health's centralized operational backbone, providing end-to-end support across clinical research operations, services, business development, technology innovation, and corporate functions. The strategic partnership reduces operational complexity and unlocks growth potential for USHV research sites while enabling all USHV physicians to expand access to cutting-edge therapies to the thousands of patients they serve annually. "Innovation in cardiovascular medicine shouldn't be limited to a few academic centers," said Thomas Waggoner, DO, MD, RPVI, FACC, FSCAI, FSVM, RPVI, Structural Cardiologist and Medical Director for Clinical Research at Pima Heart & Vascular, and USHV Physician Champion for Clinical Research. "By expanding community-based research across USHV, we're ensuring more patients have access to clinical trials and breakthrough therapies close to home, where trusted relationships with their physicians already exist." This alliance reinforces Iterative Health's standing as the definitive research partner across specialized therapeutic areas, now spanning GI, hepatology, obesity, and cardiovascular care. Trusted by many of the nation's leading provider organizations and biopharma sponsors, Iterative Health's global site network delivers industry-leading trial performance, accelerating life-changing therapies to market at scale. "Entering cardiology through our strategic partnership with US Heart & Vascular is a defining moment for Iterative Health and reflects the strength of our site-serving model," said Jonathan Ng, founder and CEO of Iterative Health. "Together, we are ensuring that thousands of patients have access to the newest available therapies, and that sponsors have a credible, high-performing partner to accelerate cardiovascular trial success." For more information, visit www.iterative.health and https://usheartandvascular.com/.

Apr 2 • 4:18 PM EDT • Health • dicardiology.com

How AI, Micro-Dramas And Interactivity Are Reshaping Entertainment

AI is unlocking a new era of storytelling. Inside the rise of micro-dramas and interactive content and why this could redefine entertainment

Apr 2 • 3:54 PM EDT • Entertainment • forbes.com

Google's Gemma 4 model goes fully open-source and unlocks powerful local AI

Now open-source under Apache 2.0, Gemma 4 brings offline, multimodal AI to servers, phones, and Raspberry Pi - giving developers total local control over edge and on-premises deployments.

Apr 2 • 12:00 PM EDT • Technology • zdnet.com

Why the sky looks blue – the science behind it

Sunlight hits gas molecules in the atmosphere and its wavelengths scatter in different ways. That makes the sky appear blue during the day, while at sunrise and sunset red light dominates.

Apr 2 • 8:56 AM EDT • Science • dw.com

Earth’s magnetic field went wild 600 million years ago and scientists finally know why

Hundreds of millions of years ago, Earth’s magnetic field behaved in a way that has long baffled scientists, showing wild and seemingly chaotic shifts unlike anything seen before or since. A new study suggests this chaos may actually hide a deeper pattern: instead of random fluctuations, the magnetic field may have followed a global, organized structure.

Apr 2 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com

Nintendo Really Wants You To Press Switch 2's GameChat Button

Press the C Button to unlock your NSO reward

Apr 1 • 10:35 PM EDT • Technology • nintendolife.com

Neta’s research points to brain-based clues for mental health

In a split second, the brain determines whether an ambiguous situation is good or bad — and those snap judgments can reveal important information about a person. A new article by Husker psychologist Maital Neta suggests that these responses, known as valence bias, could help identify risk factors for depression, anxiety and other stress-related conditions.

Apr 1 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • news.unl.edu

The Child Care Business Model, Explained

Child care is essential for families, businesses, and communities. Federal, state, and local governments, businesses, philanthropies, and individual families invest billions of dollars annually in formal and informal child care, yet these investments fall short of ensuring affordable, quality child care for all working families. Unlike many other sectors, child care providers operate within a … Continued

Apr 1 • 10:46 AM EDT • Business • bipartisanpolicy.org

Unlock rewards for starting GameChat—only with Nintendo Switch Online - News

Fire up GameChat for rewards A new mission is buzzing in! Until April 22 at 5:59 p.m. PT, Nintendo Switch Online members* can earn 100 My Nintendo™ Platinum Points** by hopping into GameChat***, an exclusive feature for the Nintendo Switch™ 2 system…

Apr 1 • 8:00 AM EDT • Technology • nintendo.com

2025 Menino Survey of Mayors: Unlocking Housing Supply

New Survey Examines Mayors’ Views on Housing, Policy Solutions, and Political Constraints Mayors Increasingly Back Housing Supply, But Back Away From Policies That Would Enable It Democratic Mayors More Supportive of Supply-Focused Reforms Than Republicans A new report from the Menino Survey of Mayors, based at Boston University’s Initiative on Cities, finds that a large […]

Mar 31 • 8:55 PM EDT • Politics • bu.edu

Trump's White House ballroom construction must halt unless Congress OKs it, judge orders

“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” the judge wrote.

Mar 31 • 3:54 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org

Politics in an Attention Economy | Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.

Politicians and campaigns today must break through our algorithmic attention economy by using storytelling to connect with voters, draw in unlikely supporters, and help people imagine a better future.

Mar 31 • 9:02 AM EDT • Politics • nonprofitquarterly.org

OPINION: Science says GMOs are safe. Their cultural impact is less studied

GMOs are predictable, unlike mustard plants.

Mar 31 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • idsnews.com

Instagram is testing a feature that lets you watch Stories secretly

Other perks in testing for premium users include creating unlimited audience lists and extending a Story by an additional 24 hours.

Mar 31 • 2:23 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com

This new “phonon laser” could measure gravity more precisely than ever before

Scientists have taken lasers beyond light and into the realm of sound, creating a breakthrough “phonon laser” that manipulates tiny vibrations at the quantum level. By dramatically reducing noise in these systems, researchers can now measure motion and forces with unprecedented precision. This advance could unlock new ways to study gravity, probe quantum physics, and even revolutionize navigation with ultra-accurate, satellite-free systems.

Mar 30 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com

Barton outlines how politicians exploit voter information fatigue

Dona-Gene Barton, associate professor of political science at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, was interviewed for a March 26 HuffPost article on how politicians on both sides of the aisle have taken advantage of Americans’ shortened attention spans to sway public opinion in their favor.

Mar 30 • 8:00 PM EDT • Politics • news.unl.edu

Riftbound Core Rules: Unleashed Patch Notes

Learn all about the updates to Riftbound’s rules which arrive with Unleashed.

Mar 30 • 12:00 PM EDT • Technology • riftbound.leagueoflegends.com

Ingredion and Holobiome map gut microbiome to unlock targeted health benefits

Ingredion has partnered with Holobiome to use AI and its database of two million bacterial genomes to predict how specific ingredients will interact with human health before clinical trials. The research expands beyond digestion to explore how sweeteners, plant proteins, and texture solutions influence the gut-brain axis, including sleep and mental health.

Mar 29 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • nutritioninsight.com

Scientists Stunned: Colossal Eggs Discovered 3,500 Meters Beneath an Active Volcano

Beneath an active seafloor volcano off Vancouver Island, researchers have documented a congregation of giant eggs at roughly 3,500 meters, a discovery that reframes how life can flourish under extreme conditions. The eggs belong to the Pacific white skate, an elusive deep‑sea species adapted to cold, crushing pressure and perpetual darkness. What seemed an unlikely nursery is actually a geothermally warmed refuge, where subtle heat helps embryos survive a marathon incubation. The finding links volcanic energy to a quiet engine of biodiversity, turning a hostile landscape into an incubator. A living volcano, a hidden nursery The seamount long assumed dormant now exhales mineral‑rich, shimmering plumes, proof of hydrothermal life at depth. Expedition cameras swept across black basalt and pale bacterial mats, revealing vents that pulse with warmth. That warmth, though modest by human standards, alters the physics of development for cold‑adapted embryos. In a realm where metabolism creeps, even a few degrees can mean faster growth and higher survival. The volcano is not only active; it is ecologically formative, drafting a blueprint for a thriving oasis. Giant eggs and a skate built for the abyss The Pacific white skate, Bathyraja spinosissima, is built for the abyss: broad wings, armored spines, and a life history that trades speed for endurance. Females lay outsized, rectangular “mermaid’s purses,” often 46–50 centimeters long, packed with rich yolk to fuel years of growth. In the frigid deep, embryos can require around four years to hatch, a timeline that magnifies every energetic advantage. The scale is striking—large eggs, large adults, and a textbook case of deep‑sea gigantism. The volcano’s gentle heat may literally shave months or years from the wait. Why heat matters at the bottom of the sea Hydrothermal circulation delivers low‑level warmth without the turbulence that would scatter fragile egg‑cases. Slightly elevated temperatures accelerate enzyme kinetics, nudging development along while keeping embryos within a safe range. Mineral‑laden fluids likely shape local microbiomes, which, in turn, can influence biofilms on egg surfaces. The environment acts like a slow, steady incubator, countering the deep sea’s tyrannies of cold and scarcity. For a species with long maturation and few offspring, every incremental boost compounds across generations. An ecosystem sculpted by fire and water Seafloor volcanoes create steep environmental gradients, stitching together hot vents, cool eddies, and mineral gardens into mosaic habitats. Microbes harvest chemical energy, seeding food webs that support crustaceans, fishes, and skates. Cameras documented egg‑cases nestled among rocky ledges, near communities nourished by vent‑driven chemistry. These islands of productivity behave like deep‑sea oases, sustaining life far beyond the vent orifice’s flickering light. The nursery’s success underscores how geological forces engineer biological opportunity. “Finding a cradle of life tucked beneath a breathing volcano reminds us that the planet’s harshest places can be profoundly generous.” What the discovery could change The nursery reframes conservation priorities in regions where volcanism quietly underwrites reproduction. Protecting hydrothermal corridors could safeguard entire lifecycles, not just charismatic adults spotted during occasional surveys. It also sharpens questions about how climate‑driven shifts in ocean circulation might influence vent activity, temperature fields, and embryo survival. With methodical mapping, time‑series cameras, and environmental DNA, scientists can track whether nurseries remain stable or drift with geologic rhythms. Key implications include: Enhanced understanding of deep‑sea reproduction at hydrothermal sites. New conservation targets centered on geothermal nurseries. Comparative studies with other volcanic regions, from the Galápagos to rift zones. Biotechnological insights from organisms adapted to long, cold development. Better models of how seafloor heat shapes regional biodiversity. Methods behind the revelation Remotely operated vehicles threaded through chimney fields, gathering video, temperatures, and mineral signatures. High‑definition imagery captured the distinctive, horned egg cases, their edges dusted with fine volcanic silt. Geochemical profiles mapped how heat and chemicals disperse, outlining the “thermal lanes” where eggs most cluster. Combined, these datasets reveal a nursery organized by geothermal topography, with egg‑cases concentrated in pockets of gentle, sustained warmth. A fragile boon in a changing ocean Deep‑sea environments feel remote, yet they intersect with global pressures: mining proposals, cable routes, and shifting oxygen levels. The nursery’s resilience hinges on stable heat flow, intact substrates, and minimal disturbance from noise or sediment. Safeguarding such places is not just about protecting novelty; it preserves a slow, ancient strategy that lets large, long‑lived animals endure in the coldest reaches of the Pacific. Where geology and biology meet, the planet’s deep time still writes living stories. This volcano‑warmed nursery adds a vital chapter to that story, revealing how subtle thermal gifts can tip the scales toward life in the abyss. With each dive, researchers trace the contours of an unseen world, where fire feeds water, and water—against all odds—feeds the future.

Mar 29 • 5:00 PM EDT • Science • iowaparkleader.com

These iPad apps will make you wish you had more free time

If you have an iPad and want to start using it to unleash and express your creativity, there are a number of apps that can help you do so.

Mar 28 • 12:00 PM EDT • Technology • techcrunch.com

Solar cells just did the “impossible” with this 130% breakthrough

A new solar breakthrough may overcome a long-standing efficiency barrier. Researchers used a “spin-flip” metal complex to capture and multiply energy from sunlight through singlet fission. The result reached about 130% efficiency, meaning more energy carriers were produced than photons absorbed. This could lead to much more powerful solar panels in the future.

Mar 28 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com

David Cross says stand-up specials aren't special anymore unless comics start breaking some rules

To make comedy specials special again, Cross says performers must break rules and take risks, rejecting slick, expensive productions that feel impersonal and phoned-in.

Mar 27 • 7:33 PM EDT • Entertainment • latimes.com

Unlocking the secrets of the human brain - College of Arts and Sciences

Gooyoon Chung's work focuses on tools "that can help unlock the secrets of the human brain."

Mar 27 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • college.unc.edu

Walking a tightrope between a global brand and traditional football: Why Como 1907’s entertainment machine is sustainable, unlike RB Leipzig’s

Como 1907 is causing a stir in Serie A. The Lombardy-based club, which just a few years ago was languishing in the lower reaches of Italian football, is on the verge of qualifying for the Champions League. At first glance, this rapid rise may seem like a classic ‘football fairy tale’, but behind it lies a calculated strategy, a pile of money – and a surprising amount of sustainability.

Mar 27 • 6:59 AM EDT • Entertainment • goal.com

The Chinese Deep-Sea Explorer Unlocking Science in Short Dramas

Hard science has taken Tang Limei to the coldest parts of the planet. Pop science is taking her to the hot list.

Mar 27 • 5:05 AM EDT • Science • sixthtone.com

AMD Unleases Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition, The World’s First CPU With Dual 3D V-Cache: 5.6 GHz, 208 MB Cache, 200W TDP

AMD has officially announced its first dual 3D V-Cache CPU, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition, offering a massive 208 MB cache design.

Mar 26 • 11:20 AM EDT • Technology • wccftech.com

Iran war's environmental toll could leave damage and health risks for decades, experts say

The Iran war is unleashing a toxic mix of chemicals, heavy metals and other pollutants that threaten everything from agriculture to drinking water to people’s health.

Mar 26 • 9:01 AM EDT • Health • ksat.com

Iran war's environmental toll could leave damage and health risks for decades, experts say

The Iran war is unleashing a toxic mix of chemicals, heavy metals and other pollutants that threaten everything from agriculture to drinking water to people’s health.

Mar 26 • 9:01 AM EDT • Health • news4jax.com

Saros Looks Like Returnal, But Feels Unlike Anything Else Housemarque Has Made

A three-hour hands-on shows that the Helsinki-based studio is poised to deliver another memorable PlayStation 5 exclusive.

Mar 26 • 4:00 AM EDT • Technology • gamespot.com

GitHub hits CTRL-Z, decides it will train its AI with user data after all

: As of April 24 you'll be feeding the Octocat unless you opt out

Mar 25 • 8:13 PM EDT • Technology • theregister.com

Amex launches new Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card: Earn unlimited 2% on every purchase

Earn cash back on every purchase with the new American Express Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card. Here's what business owners should know.

Mar 25 • 2:24 PM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com

New Amex Graphite business card offers flat-rate rewards, but there are better options for your business

Before you apply for the Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited, carefully consider all of your options.

Mar 25 • 2:04 PM EDT • Business • cnbc.com

Glyphosate: A story of science, risk, and nuance

In the summer of 2014, a California groundskeeper named Dewayne Johnson started noticing patches of raw, weeping skin spreading across his body. He had spent years applying Roundup, Monsanto’s glyphosate-based herbicide, for a school district, sometimes drenched in it when equipment malfunctioned. By 2014, he had a diagnosis: non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In 2018, a jury awarded him $289 million in damages, later reduced on appeal. Tens of thousands of lawsuits followed. The story hasn’t quieted down. It’s all over the internet, swinging between “this will kill you, buy organic” and “relax, you’re fear-mongering.” Some of that recent chatter stems from an Executive Order protecting glyphosate and its production, which set off intense infighting within the MAHA movement. Some of it reflects a deeper truth: Americans genuinely care about harmful chemicals in their environment (see poll below). And the conversation isn’t going anywhere, with a Supreme Court case involving Monsanto set for this April. Glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) is one of the most widely used herbicides in the world. But does glyphosate cause cancer? And how much exposure is actually risky? With so much mistrust in institutions and corporations (and some genuine conflicts of interest), making sense of the actual scientific evidence is genuinely hard. Here is a translation of what the scientific evidence actually says. Does glyphosate cause harm? Glyphosate is an herbicide that kills most plants it contacts rather than targeting specific species. It works by blocking an enzyme pathway (EPSPS) that plants and many microorganisms need to produce essential amino acids. Without those amino acids, the plant can’t grow and dies. Glyphosate was first developed by Monsanto in the 1970s and became ubiquitous after the company introduced “Roundup Ready” crops in the 1990s. In 2024, Bayer removed glyphosate from residential Roundup-branded products due to litigation pressure. But today it is still the most widely used herbicide in the world. Farmers also discovered they could spray it directly on crops like oats, lentils, beans, and peas just before harvest to dry them out faster and make harvesting easier. Because of its widespread use, it’s obviously really important to understand if it’s harmful to humans. The key principle: The dose makes the poison The most important concept in toxicology is that “the dose makes the poison.” Sixteenth-century physician Paracelsus articulated what remains the foundational principle of toxicology: sola dosis facit venenum. Water will kill you if you drink enough of it. Aspirin saves lives at 81 milligrams and causes internal bleeding at higher chronic doses. So, at what dose is glyphosate poisonous? The LD50 in rats (the dose that kills half the test animals) is around 5,600 mg/kg body weight. Table salt is roughly 3,000 mg/kg. By that classic measure, glyphosate is less acutely toxic than salt. But some people are exposed to a lot of glyphosate through their work. And among the general public, there are many questions about low-dose, cumulative exposure from multiple sources over long periods. Does glyphosate cause health problems? Cancer Correlation maps are striking, with one analysis finding that 60% of counties that spray the most glyphosate have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma rates above the national average. But correlation alone doesn’t establish cause, which is why animal and human studies matter. In animals: Rat studies are typically what most fear is rooted in, but most people don’t know the study details on the dosage given to rats. A pooled analysis of the 13 most rigorous rat studies found evidence that very high doses, around 55,000 times greater than typical food residue exposure, can cause certain cancers. In humans: One of the strongest studies followed 55,000 herbicide users over 20 years and found no overall increased cancer risk. There was one signal: among those with the highest use, rates of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) appeared elevated. A broader meta-analysis of 18 human studies also found no overall cancer risk, though a separate meta-analysis focused specifically on non-Hodgkin lymphoma found that people with high cumulative glyphosate exposure faced a 41% higher relative risk compared to those with low or no exposure. These human studies are observational studies (randomized controlled trials would be unethical), and meta-analyses are only as reliable as the studies they pool. But the story seems consistent: at very high exposure levels, there may be some cancer risk. But that’s about as far as the science currently takes us. Emerging research: gut and reproductive health Gut: Because glyphosate targets a pathway that exists in some gut bacteria, scientists have questioned whether it could affect the microbiome. In mice, a 2023 University of Iowa study found that glyphosate altered gut bacterial composition and raised markers of intestinal inflammation. A 2024 systematic review found similar patterns: disrupted gut bacteria and problems with the mucus layer that protects the intestinal wall in mice. Whether this translates to humans is an open question. The human gut is highly variable and resistant, and we don't yet have strong studies confirming the same effects in people. Reproductive health: Animal studies have found that glyphosate-based herbicides can interfere with reproductive hormones, including disrupting egg cell development in mice and reducing the number of eggs available in sheep’s ovaries. However, the doses used in these experiments were high, so it’s not yet clear whether the same effects would occur in humans. On the human side, a 2021 pilot study led by Mount Sinai researchers tested urine samples from pregnant women across the U.S. and found glyphosate in 95% of them. The study also found a possible connection between higher glyphosate exposure during pregnancy and a subtle physical difference measured in female newborns. That said, some connections weren’t statistically reliable and this was a small study. The researchers themselves said more and larger studies are needed before drawing firm conclusions. What do regulators say about glyphosate safety? In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization, classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans" (Group 2A). The classification is worth taking seriously. But, there’s an important distinction: IARC classifies hazard, meaning the potential to cause harm under some conditions. It does not assess risk, which accounts for actual exposure levels and the real-world probability of harm. The U.S. EPA, the European Food Safety Authority, Health Canada, and regulatory agencies in Australia and Japan have all concluded that glyphosate is “unlikely to be carcinogenic to humans” at realistic exposure levels. They’re asking a different question: given how much of this people actually encounter, what is the probability of harm? Your actual exposure is what determines your actual risk. What does glyphosate mean for your daily life? At the grocery store: Food residues are small. The EPA’s acceptable daily intake is 1.75 mg/kg of body weight per day. To hit that threshold from oatmeal alone, a 150-pound adult would need to eat roughly 50 pounds of oats every day. But this calculation addresses only one pathway (food), and we don’t yet have robust tools to measure people’s actual total exposure. If reducing exposure matters to you, organic certification prohibits synthetic herbicides, and organic oat products generally test at lower or undetectable levels. Either way, a diet rich in whole grains, conventional or organic, is far better for your health than one that omits them out of fear of residues. On the farm: Occupational exposure is orders of magnitude higher than consumer exposure. Farmers and farm workers who mix, load, and apply glyphosate-based herbicides, especially without protective equipment, face meaningfully different risk profiles. Proper PPE isn’t optional. Integrated weed management strategies that rotate chemical modes of action are also worth taking seriously, both for health and for long-term effectiveness. If you live near a farm: Spray drift is real. Concentrations near field edges can spike during and after application, particularly on windy days. This is an area where I think public health could really step up and empower rural communities with buffer zones, rather than placing the onus on individuals. But for now, knowing your local agricultural calendar and keeping windows closed during application are the first steps. Bottom line Dewayne Johnson was exposed to glyphosate at levels most people will never encounter, and a jury decided he deserved compensation. That outcome is not evidence that the oatmeal in your pantry is dangerous. But it is a reminder that the dose, the context, and the person doing the exposing all matter enormously. Glyphosate is a chemical tool with benefits, trade-offs, and genuine open scientific questions. Learning to hold that complexity without collapsing into panic or dismissal is, honestly, one of the most useful and hardest things to do in navigating modern health science. Love, YLE Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) is founded and operated by Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, MPH PhD—an epidemiologist, wife, and mom of two little girls. Hannah Totte, MPH, is an epidemiologist and YLE Community Manager. YLE reaches more than 425,000 people in over 132 countries with one goal: “Translate” the ever-evolving public health science so that people will be well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. 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

Mar 25 • 10:25 AM EDT • Science • yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com

EQB welcomes Daniel Rethazy as EVP, Personal Banking, adding top banking talent to reignite core business growth and execute on transformation

EQB Inc. (TSX: EQB) today announces Daniel Rethazy's appointment as Executive Vice President, Personal Banking. Mr. Rethazy brings deep experience in Canadian Banking to EQB that will accelerate momentum and unlock a new era of growth for the company's Personal Banking franchise, delivering a more competitive and rewarding banking experience, and a stronger and more resilient banking industry for all Canadians.

Mar 25 • 8:35 AM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com

American Express Launches New Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card, Kicking Off the Most Significant Year for Commercial Product Expansion in Company History

American Express Launches New Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card, Kicking Off the Most Significant Year for Commercial Product Expansion in Company History

Mar 25 • 7:18 AM EDT • Business • americanexpress.com

American Express Unveils New Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card, Rewarding Business Owners with Unlimited 2% Cash Back

American Express Unveils New Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card, Rewarding Business Owners with Unlimited 2% Cash Back

Mar 25 • 7:03 AM EDT • Business • americanexpress.com

Amex launches Graphite Business Cash Card with 2% cash back

American Express’ new Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card offers 2% cash back and a simple rewards structure, but faces tough competition in a crowded market.

Mar 25 • 7:00 AM EDT • Business • thepointsguy.com