SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " MIT " 11,921 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Yale School of Medicine On the Science of Childhood Anxiety, Say, Anxiety Disorders Are the Most Common Mental Health Challenges In Youth
Credit: Matt Bradbury October 5, 2026 - By Isabella Backman - Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health challenges in youth. Left untreated, they can disrupt the lives of both children and their families. The good news is that with intervention, most children will overcome these conditions. Across Yale School of Medicine, scientists are working to understand anxiety at every level, from common anxious behaviors to molecular biomarkers in the brain. They are using their findings to develop and disseminate new evidence-based treatments for childhood anxiety. Today, the go-to treatment for childhood anxiety disorders is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This is a form of psychotherapy that teaches children skills for confronting anxious thoughts and helps them practice managing situations that cause anxiety. While it is the gold-standard treatment backed by considerable scientific evidence, up to 50% of children will not see sufficient benefit from CBT alone. Wendy Silverman, PhD, Alfred A. Messer Professor in the Child Study Center, co-directs the Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program alongside Eli Lebowitz, PhD, associate professor in the Child Study Center. One of their main interests is learning how to improve outcomes beyond CBT. “We’re developing cutting-edge, research-based knowledge that can reduce the suffering that anxiety causes children and their families,” says Silverman. Changing parent behavior YSM experts are investigating how to improve CBT outcomes for children by involving the parents. Silverman’s research has uncovered two main components of parent intervention that improve childhood anxiety: not enabling children to completely avoid the things that make them anxious and taking steps to enhance their autonomy. Parents may unintentionally reinforce their child’s anxiety by allowing them to avoid what makes them anxious. They also may unintentionally limit the children’s sense of autonomy by being overly intrusive. “One of the things that we take pride in is that we’ve focused on trying to understand what parents need to do, and to test our ideas and see if changing the parents’ behaviors is enhancing the effects of CBT,” Silverman says. “Our findings thus far suggest that they do." As much as CBT can be helpful, it can also be challenging to get one’s child to do the necessary steps for CBT to work. This is one important reason why Lebowitz created a novel intervention program for parents named Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE). Existing intervention programs often teach parents to act as therapists for their child, such as training them on how to practice breathing exercises. “It makes sense, but this doesn’t work very well in practice,” says Lebowitz. “And part of the reason, I think, is that it’s not easy to get your kid to do things, especially if they’re not excited about doing it.” SPACE is unique because it focuses entirely on parent involvement and changing parental behavior—children are not involved in the sessions. For example, parents learn how to use supportive messages that convey confidence that their child can tolerate and manage distress. “It might sound like a parent saying to a child, ‘I get that this is really hard for you, but I know that you can handle it,’” Lebowitz says. The program also works with parents to identify the ways in which they are accommodating anxious behaviors. “We’ll pick one thing that parents are doing that is an accommodation and help them make a detailed plan for how they’re going to change that,” Lebowitz explains. Treating Anxiety in Children and Adolescents Much of the existing research on SPACE has focused on parents of children under age 14. Ongoing studies are now exploring its use with parents of older teens. “Both anxiety and accommodation can interfere with normative developmental shifts during the teen years, including increased autonomy and individuation from parents,” says Rebecca Etkin, PhD, associate research scientist in the Child Study Center. “In this sense, SPACE may be particularly well-suited for anxious teens and their parents. We want to see whether it is effective during this distinct developmental window.” Unfortunately, many families in need of CBT face barriers, including limited availability of services and geographic constraints. One way to improve access is digital interventions. Silverman and her team are developing an evidence-based digitized intervention program for parents that they can access directly from their computer or smart phone. “The work we’re doing will be one of the very few parent interventions that is digitized and importantly tested for effectiveness,” she says. Creating interventions for anxiety-related challenges Silverman and Lebowitz recently received a generous gift to develop and test other interventions that help parents reduce other child anxiety-related behavioral and emotional difficulties, such as restrictive eating and unexplained somatic symptoms. One of these projects in particular focuses on understanding the risks of social media and its potential benefits, including offering a sense of connection. “A lot of research has focused on the idea that social media is harmful and the less of it the better,” says Lebowitz. “But we actually see is that this is not quite right—there are negatives, but there are also positives. So, we’re trying to get a little bit more nuanced of a picture.” The team is working with teens with social anxiety and their parents over an extended period to better understand their social media habits and how their anxiety levels affect engagement with different platforms. The teens will answer questions sent to an app on their phones about mood and social media usage in an effort to capture emotional responses as they unfold. “We hope to develop interventions that can help make the best of social media while protecting against the more problematic effects,” Lebowitz says. The brain’s role in anxiety Researchers are also testing therapies to address anxiety at the neurological and molecular levels. In collaboration with Dylan Gee, PhD, professor of psychology in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Hilary Blumberg, MD, John and Hope Furth Professor of Psychiatric Neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine, Lebowitz and Silverman are using brain imaging to identify changes in a child’s brain before and after parents enroll in SPACE. In one study, children viewed anxiety-inducing images while undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); the researchers conducted scans with and without the children’s parents nearby. Before SPACE, children’s brains were better able to activate the regulatory circuitry needed to turn off an anxious response when their parents were nearby. But after SPACE, children could activate this circuitry even without the parent around. “As parents work on gradually reducing some of their accommodations, you can see a child get better at regulating their own fear system in the brain,” Lebowitz says. “It’s remarkable.” Research into the molecular underpinnings of anxiety can also inform new childhood anxiety treatments. In a recent study, Lebowitz, Silverman, and Flora Vaccarino, MD, Harris Professor in the Child Study Center, discovered that a protein known as fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) could be protective from the toxic effects of stress. FGF2 levels in children and their parents were linked to the children’s risk of developing anxiety and depression, the study showed. The findings could help explain why some children who are exposed to early life trauma such as poverty or abuse are more prone to developing mental health disorders. And FGF2 could be a target for treatment. “This is very novel because it starts to give a clue to what is the molecular chain that connects those lived experiences to the actual psychological outcomes,” Lebowitz says. New ways to study and treat childhood anxiety Michael Crowley, PhD, associate professor in the Child Study Center, collaborates with Silverman and Lebowitz to study the role that attention plays in development and maintenance of childhood anxiety. There is a large body of research that shows that anxious children, like anxious adults, are prone to focus on threatening stimuli such as angry faces compared with neutral faces. This has led to innovative interventions that involve attention retraining. The idea is that if experts train children to look away from threatening stimuli, it may reduce their anxiety—especially children with social anxiety who are most prone to attend to threats. The researchers have just completed a clinical trial for attention retraining with 10- to 14-year-olds with social anxiety disorders and are currently analyzing the findings. Besides this innovative attention retraining research, as Crowly notes, “I like to design tasks that are engaging to kids,” Crowley says. “My goal is to assess something without the kids knowing what we are assessing.” With this goal in mind, Crowley has created a virtual game, named Boom, to study threat processing in children with anxiety disorders. The game is similar to that of hot potato—the child and three digital players take turns virtually passing a ball to each other’s gloves. At some point, the ball turns into a bomb, and as the bomb lands in each player’s glove, the outline of the glove turns yellow. The goal is to avoid having the bomb go off in your glove. What isn’t obvious is that the game is designed to measure different types of threatening stimuli, both ambiguous and direct. In the game, the direct threat occurs as the bomb is traveling towards your glove. The ambiguous threat is the yellow outlined glove as it is unknown where the bomb will travel next. While children play the game, Crowley’s team measures their brain activity using electroencephalography (EEG). The researchers have discovered that in kids with anxiety, the brain reacts more strongly to ambiguous threats than it does in their peers, but less strongly to direct threats. They believe that the initial abnormally large brain response to not knowing where the bomb is going impairs the brain's ability to properly respond when the threat is actually traveling the child’s way. “The brains of children with anxiety are unable to differentiate between threats you need to do something about and those that are not your problem.” Michael Crowley, PhD, develops innovative games for studying anxiety in children and adolescents.Credit: Matt Bradbury Based on these insights, Crowley hopes to study whether interventions like attention training could restore appropriate threat processing. Crowley’s team is also working on a test called the Balloon Risk Avoidance Task, which evaluates risk-taking and avoidance behaviors. It features a digital balloon that is full of air and about to burst. Kids have six seconds to let air out of the balloon. The more air they let out, the less risk they face that the balloon will pop. But at the same time, the balloon becomes less valuable as it deflates. “The more air you keep in the balloon, the more points you get,” Crowley explains. So far, the researchers have found that when the balloons pop unexpectedly, teens with social anxiety show distinct brain responses. Studying these responses can help psychologists understand the underlying pathways driving the various manifestations of anxiety. The genetics of anxiety When Thomas Fernandez, MD, associate professor in the Child Study Center and of psychiatry, was still in training, there was a lot of excitement about understanding the genetics associated with autism spectrum disorder. Since then, scientists have identified around 250 genes associated with autism. The genetic contribution to anxiety disorders, on the other hand, has historically received less attention. Anxiety is less heritable than autism, but the genetic contribution for anxiety disorders that emerge in childhood may be higher than for anxiety disorders overall. While scientists estimate the heritability of anxiety disorders in general to be around 30% to 50%, some studies suggest higher heritability for certain childhood-onset anxiety presentations. “I saw firsthand how researchers in the field went about finding vulnerability genes for autism,” Fernandez says. “So, we’re using a very similar playbook for childhood anxiety.” “I saw firsthand how researchers in the field went about finding vulnerability genes for autism. So, we’re using a very similar playbook for childhood anxiety.” Thomas Fernandez, MD Associate Professor In the Child Study Center and in Psychiatry Now, Fernandez and Emily Olfson, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Child Study Center, are studying children and their parents to identify genetic changes that are present in the child but not the parents, known as “de novo mutations.” “All of us have some de novo mutations—maybe about 50 to 100 sprinkled throughout the genome,” Olfson says. “But when they occur within the coding regions of genes, they can be really disruptive.” Previous research shows that people with autism have higher rates of damaging de novo mutations than the general population. In 2022, Olfson, Lebowitz, Silverman, and Fernandez published a study on 68 children and their families that found that children with anxiety had similarly high levels of these mutations. Studying de novo mutations can help point the researchers to where they should be looking for genes associated with anxiety. “The end game is using the genes to steer us toward the right part of biology that we can then target to come up with better treatments,” Fernandez says. Building on those findings, the team is now studying more families to better understand how these de novo mutations, along with other genetic and environmental factors, shape pediatric anxiety disorders. They recently received a National Institutes of Health grant to enroll 750 new families over the next five years. Olfson is the principal investigator, with co-investigators Lebowitz, Fernandez, Silverman, and Shuangge Steven Ma, PhD, department chair and professor of biostatistics at Yale School of Public Health. Neurodevelopment, Risk Genes, and Mental Health Conditions - The Olfson Lab Joel Gelernter, MD, Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry, is interested in how different anxiety disorders differ genomically. “We are studying social phobia, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder, working to understand why people differ in their risk to these specific anxiety disorders and evaluating various risk factors,” he says. Gelernter was recently involved in one of the largest studies to date of the genomics underlying anxiety disorder. The study included around 122,000 people with anxiety disorders and around 730,000 without. It found that some genetic differences associated with anxiety were linked to signaling that helps reduce overactivity in the nervous system. Many anxiety medications available today work by targeting this process. “It’s nice when the biology that you get out of a large genome-wide study ratifies things that we already know because that can help increase confidence in further findings from the study,” Gelernter says. Uncovering the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders John Krystal, MD, Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor of Translational Research and chair of the Department of Psychiatry, is interested in the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), of which anxiety is a major symptom. In the late 1980s, Krystal’s team discovered that the drug yohimbine activated symptoms in patients with PTSD. “This was the first time we could link a specific biological mechanism to the symptoms of PTSD,” Krystal says. At the time, he adds, this finding was highly controversial. “A lot of people felt that PTSD was a purely psychological syndrome that didn’t have an underlying biology.” Since then, Krystal has dived deep into understanding the neurobiology of PTSD to learn how to better treat it. His team is evaluating the use of ketamine and psychedelics. These would be among the first treatments to be developed specifically for PTSD. They may also be applicable for other disorders including anxiety disorders, Krystal adds. An important gap in PTSD treatment is the absence of biological tests that inform how to best help patients manage their PTSD symptoms. A doctor doesn’t diagnose cancer based on how they feel. Rather, they use tests of the biology of the cancer to determine the best course of treatment. “And we can’t do that in any psychiatric disorder other than Alzheimer’s disease,” Krystal says. “But now we are building a foundation for this approach to the treatment of anxiety disorders for the first time.” Source: Yale School of Medicine
Nobel medicine prize goes to 3 scientists for research into brain activity
The Nobel committee lauded their work, writing on X that the method “is now being used in laboratories around the world to reveal the brain’s mysteries.”
Apple and a Hacker’s Future
I was happy for years in Apple’s walled garden; with AI, however, their protections feel like limitations.
Central Asia's growing commitment to university sport on full display in Tashkent and Samarkand
The 1st Central Asia Student Sports Federations Forum, held from 29 September to 2 October 2026, brought together FISU leadership, FISU Central Asia and national university sports federations from across the region, confirming the growing political and institutional commitment to student sport in Central Asia. National delegations from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan attended […]
‘I’m here to save lives’: Inside the unlikely Biden-Trump partnership to secure a Gaza ceasefire
Secure rooms in the US Capitol are cavernous compared to the White House Situation Room. They are designed for full committees or larger gatherings, not intimate discussions. On Nov. 20, 2024, Jake Sullivan and I had gone to one of those rooms to brief our successors two weeks after Donald Trump resoundingly defeated Kamala Harris.
Pee Dee business leaders worry poor infrastructure, workforce shortages will limit economic growth
Pee Dee business leaders have high ambitions to expand commercially and develop the region, but many also worry that utility and infrastructure issues could limit economic growth.
New Small Business Alliances Signal Competitive Positioning by 18+ IT and Consulting Leaders Across FedCiv, FedHealth, and DoD
In the GovCon IT and consulting market, some companies react to opportunities. Others shape the board well before the game begins. Mentor-protégé agreements fall squarely into the latter category. These partnerships are not administrative check-the-box exercises. They require sustained commitment, alignment at the leadership level, and a clear view of where the market is heading. […]
Kathleen Turner Has An Iconic Response As Michael Douglas Admits To Past Affair
“What a fuss...”
UConn Men's Basketball Commitment: A Giant Splash in 2027 Pool
A second five-star prospect has given his pledge to the Huskies.
Mitch Johnson on Tobias Harris’ calf strain: “It’s a …
Mitch Johnson on Tobias Harris’ calf strain: “It’s a …
Wahine Mālama ʻĀina
Mālama ‘āina is the Hawaiian values-based practice of caring for, protecting and honoring the natural world. For this year’s Wahine issue, Hawaii Business Magazine recognizes five women doing vital work to steward Hawai‘i’s land and ocean — from conserving culturally and ecologically significant sites and mitigating invasive pests to restoring coral reefs and revitalizing the traditional ahupua‘a system.
Northwell Health eliminating “limited number” of positions
The organization says the moves were necessary to maintain the stability of the organization in the currently challenging healthcare landscape.
Woody Marks scores for a second straight game in Week 4
Woody Marks limited to 22 total yards in Week 4 loss to the Cowboys.
White House tells ‘Big Bang Theory’ creator to ‘seek psychiatric help’ after he slams Donald Trump
Chuck Lorre is the latest Hollywood legend to lock horns with the White House, which suggested via a spokesperson he ‘seek psychiatric help’ after Lorre called Donald Trump a ‘bloated orange piece of s---.’
Inside Iowa Politics: the five-day flurry that led to $1.5 billion taxpayer commitment for proposed $15 billion Iowa steel plant
The five days that led to $1.5 billion commitment by Iowa taxpayers for new steel plant in Lee County.
Countries race to provide oral health care for all in 100-Day Sprint across Asia
Twenty Asian countries and areas across the WHO Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions vowed to strengthen essential oral health benefits as part of a “100-Day Sprint” initiative, during the 16th Asian Chief Dental Officers Meeting held from 27 to 29 September in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. The meeting marked the midpoint of the 100-day sprint bolstering support for countries to develop essential oral health benefit packages that can be integrated into national universal health coverage plans. Convened by the two WHO regional offices and the Malaysian Ministry of Health as the Secretariat, the meeting brought together national oral health leaders from 20 Asian countries, staff from all levels of WHO, WHO collaborating centres and other development partners. Participating countries and areas included: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong (SAR) China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam. Participants reviewed progress and refined proposals using the WHO Service Package Delivery and Implementation (SPDI) Platform. Countries conducted bottleneck analyses across four key areas: service delivery, workforce, access to essential medicines and health products, and health financing. They identified practical actions to address implementation challenges and refined proposed revisions to their national oral health benefit packages. “There is no health without oral health. Through the 100-Day Sprint, countries are advancing the implementation of the Western Pacific regional implementation plan on oral health and strengthening progress towards universal health coverage,” noted WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific Dr Saia Ma'u Piukala. Participants identified bottlenecks and proposed workable solutions to strengthen access to essential oral health care through primary health care, sharing experiences and discussing how best to translate policy commitments into feasible and sustainable action at the country level. Malaysian Minister of Health Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad highlighted the importance of prevention and primary health-care approaches to improve oral health: “Oral diseases can have lifelong consequences, yet many are preventable. By integrating essential oral health care into primary health care and promoting prevention in schools and communities, we can improve oral health across the life course.”The WHO team led by Dr Huong Tran, Director of the Division of Health Promotion, Disease Prevention and Control of the WHO Western Pacific Region and national oral health leads from over 20 Asian countries visited the SK Pekan Putatan School, Sabah for school oral health programme including flouride mouth rinsing. © WHO / V. ChaudharyDr Huong Tran, Director of the Division of Health Promotion, Disease Prevention and Control for the WHO Western Pacific Region, emphasized key collaborative roles WHO can play. “Oral diseases are the most common noncommunicable diseases, yet many can be prevented and treated through essential oral health services delivered at the primary health-care level,” she said. “By sharing experiences and using WHO tools such as the SPDI Platform, countries are accelerating progress towards universal health coverage for oral health.” “Integrating oral health into broader health services is essential for reducing inequities, expanding access and recognizing oral health as an integral component of overall health and well-being. The 100-Day Sprint provides an important opportunity to translate this commitment into practical action and ensure that quality oral health services reach all people, especially those most in need,” said Dr Suman Rijal, Director of the WHO South-East Asia regional Department of Healthier Populations and Noncommunicable Diseases. As host of the meeting, Malaysia showcased ongoing efforts to strengthen oral health care through primary health care and prevention-focused approaches, while providing a platform for countries across the two WHO regions to exchange experiences and accelerate progress towards universal health coverage for oral health. “WHO is encouraged by Malaysia's leadership in addressing the burden of oral diseases and advancing universal health coverage for oral health through practical, country-led action,” said Dr Rabi Abeyasinghe, WHO Representative to Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore. Countries will continue to refine and figure costs for national oral health benefits during the remaining sessions of the 100 days. These efforts support implementation of the WHO Global strategy and action plan on oral health 2023–2030, while also helping to expand access to essential oral health services through stronger and more equitable health systems across the WHO Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions.______________For more information, or to arrange media interviews, contact: WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific: wprocom@who.int WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia: SEMediaRelations@who.int
WHO joins Pre-COP31 to advance climate action that delivers for people’s health
The World Health Organization (WHO) is joining Pacific leaders, governments and partners at Pre-COP31 in Fiji from 5 to 8 October to advance health priorities in climate action and strengthen the Pacific voice ahead of the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).COP31, to be held next month in Antalya, Türkiye, marks an important step for global climate and health action. Health is one of the 10 priority themes of the COP31 Action Agenda, “Dynamic and Resilient Health Systems”, and a dedicated Health Day will take place on 9 November, the first day of COP31. The inclusion of health reflects growing global recognition that climate action and health are closely connected. The climate crisis is affecting population health globally. Across the WHO Western Pacific Region, which includes Pacific island countries and areas, the consequences of climate change include extreme heat, cyclones, floods, rising sea levels, food and water insecurity, infectious diseases and disruptions to essential health services. The Pacific in particular faces additional challenges. A recent review of 76 hospitals in 14 Pacific island countries found that 62% of health facilities are located within 500 metres of the sea or a river, leaving them particularly exposed to flooding, storm surges and sea-level rise.Bringing Pacific priorities to the global climate agendaThe Pacific Pre-COP31 provides an important opportunity for Pacific countries and partners to consolidate regional priorities and bring the experiences and leadership of Pacific communities into global climate discussions.Pacific countries have been advancing practical approaches to protect health in a changing climate, including strengthening climate-resilient health systems, improving preparedness for extreme weather events, building resilient health infrastructure and mobilizing climate finance for health. “This Pre-COP is an important moment for the Pacific, bringing global climate discussions to a region that has long been at the forefront of the climate crisis. It provides an opportunity for Pacific countries and areas to set their priorities, experiences and leadership on the global stage, and to ensure that the realities of Pacific communities are genuinely reflected in the decisions made on climate action,” said Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific.Throughout this week, WHO will co-convene and participate in high-level discussions and events focused on climate and health, climate resilience, adaptation, financing and implementation. “Climate finance is essential for resilient and healthy Pacific communities,” emphasized Dr Mark Jacobs, WHO Representative to the South Pacific and Director of Pacific Technical Support. “We must ensure that financing reaches the people, communities and essential services most exposed to climate risks, supporting locally defined priorities and investments.”WHO will work with partners to strengthen the integration of health considerations across climate policies and investments, including national climate plans and resilience initiatives.Health as a driver of climate actionAmid the risks to health and pressures on health systems, well-strategized and implemented climate action can deliver significant health benefits. Investments in clean energy, sustainable transport, resilient infrastructure, food systems and nature-based solutions have proven to reduce health risks while contributing to climate mitigation and adaptation.“Climate action is truly an investment in health. Cleaner energy, healthier food systems and climate-resilient health services can protect lives while building stronger communities. We now need to turn these opportunities into action and make health a core part of climate investments,” said Dr Sandro Demaio, Director and Head of Office, WHO Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health in the Western Pacific Region. “These benefits demonstrate that climate action is not only about reducing future risks. It is also an opportunity to improve lives today while building healthier, safer and more resilient societies.”At COP31 next month, WHO will also support the Health Pavilion, which will bring together the global health community and partners to advance health and equity within climate negotiations. With COP31 poised to move health higher on the global climate agenda, WHO will continue working with countries and partners across the Western Pacific Region and globally to strengthen climate-resilient and low-carbon health systems, and ensure that climate action protects and improves people’s health.____________________Media contactsElizabeth Bennett, WHO Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health in the Western Pacific Region, elizabeth.bennett@who.intJulia Dongwhan Shin, WHO Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health in the Western Pacific Region, dong.shin@who.intWHO Western Pacific Communications, wprocom@who.int
Trump Is Promising Health Care Checks Before the Midterms. How Far Will They Go?
Trump’s promised rebates come as Americans worry about health care costs. For Medicare recipients, a one-time payment may offer limited relief from rising premiums.
Geno Smith finishes with 119 passing yards in Week 4
Jets QB Geno Smith has quiet outing with only eight completions and 119 yards
Mark Cuban offers to help Sherrill fix state health benefits program
Gov. Mikie Sherrill is noncommittal on an offer from billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban to help New Jersey rein in the soaring cost of its troubled
Black Men, Mental Health and the Entertainment Industry
Black men, mental health and entertainment collide as Charlamagne Tha God and Lil Nas X open up about anxiety, trauma and bipolar disorder, while therapist Jahthaime Smith examines the pressures behind the public spotlight.
Vivian Kobusingye Birchall: The People Behind the Global Health Catalyst Summit
Vivian Kobusingye Birchall: The People Behind the Global Health Catalyst Summit / Augustin Bancalari, cancer care, Cancer research, Gavriel Ngwa, Geminai LLC,
Marcus Mariota productive before injury
Commanders QB Marcus Mariota sees limited work before suffering injury
Puka Nacua expected to handle regular workload
Puka Nacua not expected to have any limitations in return to action
How Americans’ Financial Health Is Faring In The “K-Shaped” Economy
Hey all, Jason here. Money20/20 is still two weeks away, but I’ve already started packing (not procrastinating for once!). My calendar is already filling up with various sessions I want to catch, meetings, and of course happy hours, dinners, and other side events. If you’ll be in Vegas and want to catch up, let me know by replying to this email, and we can try to find a time amidst the chaos of the Venetian. A big if not totally unexpected piece of news dropped on Friday: the Independent Community Bankers of America, a trade group that represents smaller U.S. banks, filed a lawsuit against the OCC and Comptroller Jonathan Gould, arguing that the regulator’s move to grant trust bank charters to firms seeking to use them to conduct substantial non-fiduciary activities exceeds the authorities granted to the OCC by Congress. I haven’t had time to fully digest the legal filing or speak to folks in my network about it, but you can expect to see coverage and analysis on it in next week’s newsletter. Subscribe or Support by Upgrading The NerdCon agenda just dropped. It’s stacked. Partner content: Nubank built an AI-first bank. Chime built its own banking core. Figure and Valon are rebuilding the mortgage stack. At NerdCon, you’ll hear from the people behind those bets: what they chose, what they learned, and what they’re still figuring out. The agenda is live, with leaders from Nubank, Chime, OpenAI, Remitly, Mercury, Figure, Valon and more. Follow the mainstage conversations, bring the problem your team is wrestling with to a hands-on workshop, or pull up a chair at a roundtable. Pick your quests. Meet us in San Diego, November 18–20. Fintech Business Weekly readers save 20% with code FBW20. Explore the Agenda Things To Know & Other Good Reads Federal Reserve Board finalizes changes to enhance the transparency and public accountability of its stress test and reduce volatility in its stress test-related capital requirements (Federal Reserve Board of Governors) FDIC Announces Conclusion of Independent Monitorship (FDIC) Modernizing Financial Regulation: Initial Observations from eSLR (Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman) The Data Version of Godzilla versus Kong: FRED Takes on AI (Fed Governor Christopher Waller) Financing the AI buildout (Brookings) Q3’26: Rules for Banks but Not for Crypto (Fintech Takes Banking) The Inevitability of Local Stablecoins (Lombard Notes) Delusions of AI Governance: The Human-in-the-Loop Comfort Blanket (Fintech Snark Tank) Stripe agrees to acquire Parafin to expand revenue opportunities for platforms and help small businesses grow (Stripe) Listen: Fighting Fraud in the Age of AI, with SEON’s Tamas Kadar (Fintech Business Weekly) How Americans’ Financial Health Is Faring In The “K-Shaped” Economy If there is one overarching theme across the economy and politics in the U.S. at the moment, it’s “affordability.” The term is vague enough to encompass a panoply of factors shaping Americans’ day-to-day lives: rising costs for the hallmarks of being “middle class,” including healthcare, housing, childcare, and education, inflation and rising interest rates, and a job market with the specter of AI hovering over it. At the same time, policy shifts under the Trump administration have resulted in reduced subsidies to those who get health insurance under the Affordable Care Act and new restrictions on qualifying for Medicaid and SNAP, the impacts of which have yet to be fully felt. These factors are contributing to declining consumer confidence and general dissatisfaction with the economy, despite continuing GDP growth and stock market records. This divergence is encapsulated in the idea of the “K-shaped” economy, in which a small proportion of Americans have seen their wealth balloon, while the majority of American households struggle to preserve the lifestyle they have. Perhaps the greatest determinant of which branch of the “K” a household is on is whether their wealth and income are primarily derived from employment vs. from assets. Nearly two decades of low interest rates and, more recently, elevated rates of inflation have benefited asset owners, while those whose income is primarily or solely derived from labor have largely seen real purchasing power stagnate or decline. This is reflected in recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that labor share of U.S. GDP — the fraction of economic output that accrues to workers as compensation in exchange for their labor — dropped to just 52.8% in Q2 2026, the lowest since the BLS began keeping records. In 1947, approximately 2/3rds of economic output accrued to workers; even as recently as 2001, labor’s share of GDP was 64.1%. Against this backdrop, we’ve seen the rise of more credit and credit-like products: cash advance apps, “no-fee” overdraft, earned wage access, and buy now pay later, which are often used as small-dollar short-term borrowing mechanisms to meet immediate consumption needs or pay other bills (eg utilities, cell phone, other debt payments). With the markers of a middle class existence and, increasingly, basic financial stability seemingly out of reach for many, it should be no surprise there’s been an increase in “financial nihilism,” something industry peers like Alex Johnson and Frank Rotman have discussed and analyzed the roots of. The explosion of gambling and gambling-adjacent products and services — often marketed under the guise of being an “investment” — is inextricably intertwined with the rise of financial nihilism. Crypto, sports betting, and, more recently, prediction markets offer an escape or even hope of sorts, like a contemporary, digital version of a scratch-off lottery ticket, while leaving the overwhelming number of people who use such products worse off. Share of Households That Are Financially “Vulnerable” Ticks Up The Financial Health Network’s 2026 Financial Health Pulse® report adds context on how American households are faring. (I linked to this report in last week’s newsletter, but wanted to take time to further unpack the data in the report this week.) The Financial Health Network publishes the report annually, providing insight into how Americans’ financial circumstances are changing over time. The 2026 report is derived from a survey fielded in April and May 2026. The report leverages survey responses to assess indicators of financial health across spending, saving, borrowing, and planning/protecting and to determine a zero to 100 “FinHealth” score. Those with scores between 0 and 39 are considered “Financially Vulnerable,” consumers with scores ranging between 40 and 79 are defined as “Financially Coping,” and those with scores of 80 to 100 are “Financially Healthy.” The report found that moderate improvements in 2025 were reversed, with the share of respondents considered financially “vulnerable” rebounding to 17%. The longitudinal data reflect the impact of pandemic-era programs, like expanded unemployment, cash stimulus payments, and pauses of federal student loan payments. The positive impacts of those programs, as reflected in the Financial Health Pulse reports, had largely disappeared by 2023. While pandemic-era inflation — to be fair, in part caused by the various support and stimulus measures — had come down from as high as 9% in 2022, it has rebounded since the start of Trump’s second term, with tariffs and energy market disruptions owing to the war in Iran pushing prices back up. Specific indicators in the survey that deteriorated from 2025 to 2026 include the share of respondents spending less than their income over the past 12 months, the share paying all bills on time over the past 12 months, the share that have a manageable amount or no debt, the share that are “moderately” or “very” confident their insurance is adequate to cover them in an emergency, and the share that “somewhat” or “strongly” agree that their household plans ahead financially. Unsurprisingly, lower- and moderate-income households are more likely to struggle to pay their bills on time and have any funds leftover to save. The share of low-income households whose income exceeded their spending dropped from 35% in 2025 to 31% in 2026, while the share of upper-income households whose income exceeded expenses remained unchanged at 63%. Households with student loans or revolving credit card debt reported having “a bit more” or “far more” debt than was manageable at rates far higher than those not carrying these types of debts. The share of those with student loan debt indicating their debt load was too high to manage increased from 50% in 2025 to 55% in 2026, while the share of those with revolving credit card debt saying the same ticked up from 51% in 2025 to 54% in 2026. Households that had student loans were markedly more likely to be financially “coping” or “vulnerable” vs. those without student loans. In 2026, 27% of households with student loans were considered financially vulnerable, a jump of 6% points vs. 2025. Households without student loans saw just a 1% point increase (not statistically significant) in those considered financially vulnerable. Households’ perception of the affordability of categories of goods and services paints a stark picture, with less than one-fourth considering higher education affordable, about a third deeming childcare affordable, and less than half viewing healthcare as affordable. Fintech Business Weekly is made possible by the generous support of paying subscribers — bringing you independent analysis of banking, fintech, and crypto without fear or favor. You can support my work by becoming a paying subscriber if you aren’t already. Paying subscribers enjoy: access to the entire archive of nearly six years of newsletters extended versions of the weekly newsletter, with additional content and analysis and (for founding member tier) quarterly personal 1:1 fintech Q&A / strategy calls with me, tapping into my unparalleled knowledge of the intersection of banking and fintech and experience working in the sector, including helping to launch Goldman Sachs’ retail bank Marcus Support Fintech Business Weekly You can also support Fintech Business Weekly by sponsoring a newsletter or podcast, putting you in front of 93,000+ of the most influential decision makers in banking, fintech, and crypto. Learn more about sponsor opportunities or request a media kit by dropping me an email. Democratic Senate Report Highlights How Iran Uses Tether to Evade U.S. Sanctions Iran uses stablecoins, specifically Tether, to evade sanctions, fund regional proxies, and to purchase military drones, a report released last week by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations says. The report was authored by committee ranking member Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and the minority staff. Crypto and stablecoin proponents will often push back on criticism that criminals make use of these assets by arguing that, on an absolute dollar basis, far more illicit funds flow through traditional banking systems and payment rails than via crypto and stablecoins. And while that is likely true, it elides the reality presented in news story after news story: whether state actors — Russia, Iran, North Korea — or criminal groups, those looking to engage in illicit transactions increasingly favor stablecoins and, specifically, Tether (USDT). The report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released last week adds context to how Iran uses Tether has a lynchpin in its shadow banking system. The report analyzed 846 wallets that have been sanctioned or targeted for seizure, finding that 84% of them transacted exclusively or primarily in Tether. The ability to create near limitless, anonymous wallets and to move funds effectively instantaneously and irreversibly have made crypto a favored financial mechanism for bad actors. Stablecoins solved key drawbacks of bitcoin, namely, the original cryptocurrency’s highly volatile value in dollars. And while Tether (the company) has the technical ability to “freeze” or destroy funds, the company is often limited and reactive in its approach to doing so, the Senate report argues. Tether, which is nominally based in crypto-friendly El Salvador, “has stated that its compliance with OFAC sanctions is ‘voluntary’ and that it follows ‘OFAC guidelines,’” the Senate report says. Owing to these favorable attributes, Tether “became a primary cryptocurrency for Iran, Hamas, Hizballah, and the Houthis beginning in 2023 and has expanded in scale since,” according to the report. Tether’s role in Iran’s shadow banking system, the report says, is enhanced by crypto exchanges like Bybit, Kyrrex, OKX, Gate, and Binance, and through “over the counter” exchanges and hawala networks. The consequences of these financial flows aren’t hypothetical. The Senate report links Tether as a funds transfer mechanism to Iranian proxies in the region, including Hizballah, the Houthis, and Hamas. Tether has also been used to make payments to secure components necessary to manufacture drones, the report says. The report concludes by arguing that “[s]tablecoin issuers with a significant nexus to the United States, particularly those that offer dollar-denominated stablecoins, should be subject to American sanctions law rather than being allowed to hide behind foreign jurisdictions.” Stablecoin issuers like Tether must be held accountable for repeated failures to prevent illicit finance and sanctions violations by law enforcement, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and OFAC, the report argues. [Paying Subscriber Exclusive] OUSD Goes Live, Make Your Own Neobank, U.S. Sanctions Russia’s A7 Network As “Transnational Criminal Organization” OpenUSD, the stablecoin issued by the Open Standard consortium that includes Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, core providers, crypto firms, and numerous banks, went live last week. Social commerce platform Whop raised eyebrows in fintech by offering creators on its platform the ability to launch their own neobanks, which the company describes as “great businesses that are easy to run,” in just 15 minutes. And OFAC and FinCEN target Russia’s “shadow banking” A7 Network — more on these stories after the paywall.
Shirt of the Week: ‘Jeremiah Smith: Are You Not Entertained?’
On Saturday, Jeremiah Smith cemented his name in Ohio State record books with another thrilling performance. Now, you can celebrate the historic accomplishment with this brand new design from BreakingT.
Orioles news: Yankees get embarrassed in Game 1
The Yankees nearly got no-hit and committed a costly baserunning blunder in a Game 1 loss to the Rays.
TV and streaming viewing picks for October 4, 2026: How to watch MLB Postseason, NFL Week 4 and WNBA Semifinals
All Times Eastern College Field Hockey Stanford at Louisville — ACC Network/ESPN Unlimited, noon College Football ACC Huddle: Final Score — ACC Network, 8 a.m. SEC Football Final — SEC Network, 8 a.m. The Final Drive — Big Ten Network, 10 a.m. Inside College Football — CBS Sports Network, 11 a.m. College Football Final —…
National team’s next matches! Everything on November’s international break
The Brazilian National Team already has its next commitments set to wrap up the 2026 calendar.During the November FIFA window, the team coached by Carlo Ancelotti will play two friendlies in Asia, bot...
Loveland Business Briefs for Oct. 4, 2026: Chamber awards dinner, Health Summit and more
News of Loveland area businesses for the week of Oct. 4.
Costa’s coffee shops return to profit with iced drinks and matcha on the menu
Costa Limited reports operating profit of £20m in year to 31 December 2025 after losses of £13.5m in 2024
Future of French far-right star in balance after antisemitism claims
After one of the most meteoric rises in the history of French politics, Jordan Bardella, the 31-year-old top ally of Marine Le Pen, is fighting for his political life after
How Trump Moved Ethical Lines With His Ads, Businesses and Summits
The president’s decision to hold an international summit at his own private golf club, an idea rejected in his first term, illustrates how much he has shattered norms.
CXO Summit: Only Days Left to Secure Your Tickets
The CXO Summit brings together 500+ C-suite leaders in London on 7-8 October. With registrations doubling, tickets are selling fast – secure yours now
FEC questions thousands of recurring online donations to Eric Schmitt
Thirteen donors flagged in federal letters appear nearly 5,700 times in Schmitt’s reports, highlighting issues with recurring online contributions.
Roma make contact for Endrick’s loan in January
Endrick is back on Roma’s radar ahead of the winter transfer window. The Brazilian continues to find limited playing time at Real Madrid and is reportedly considering a January departure to revitali...
Stray Kids follows BTS in Grammy boycott over Asian pop category
K-pop group Stray Kids is boycotting next year’s Grammys, following BTS in its decision not to submit music for consideration amid mounting controv...
Commerce awards grant to help Health Department speed up septic permit reviews
Awarded $70,000 to the Snohomish County Health Department to help it expedite reviews of on-site septic systems for new homes.
People in Business: SLSO appoints; CMIT names; UniGroup adds; Le Meridien appoints
Catch up on local business appointments, awards, and hires.
Jeremiah Smith is The Best Player in College Football
Jeremiah Smith showed why he is the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy in a big road win over Iowa. Jeremiah […]
'SNL' skewers Trump, Mitch McConnell in midterms-themed cold open
"Saturday Night Live" is ready for the midterms.
Kansas candle-making business accused of fraud to get a loan
KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A federal grand jury in Kansas City, Kansas, returned an indictment charging a Kansas woman for allegedly submitting fic
Iowa Football: Numbers That Stood Out From Ohio State Loss
Ohio State won the time of possession battle by 17 minutes, but the real eye-opening stat was Jeremiah Smith recording 200+ yards for the second straight game.
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation Director Says He "Did His Best" to Fight for a Physical Release
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is getting a physical edition, and it seems director Naoki Hamaguchi had to argue for it. He told Radio Times that he pushed Square Enix for a boxed release, while admitting the product lineup is the publishing team's call. On PS5 and Xbox Series X, the disc reportedly...
Barstool's Dave Portnoy pulled from Fox's 'Big Noon Kickoff' appearances, AP source says
Dave Portnoy and Barstool Sports will no longer make appearances on Fox's “Big Noon Kickoff” pregame college football show, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.The person talked to the AP on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been publicly announced.
Gemini app limiting what models free & AI Plus users can access, AI Pro adding Deep Think
Following the compute-based usage change in May, Google is introducing limits on what Gemini models free and AI Plus users can access.
Josh Shapiro campaigned in Bucks County for Democrats in key races: ‘You’ve got a lot of power’
Gov. Josh Shapiro kicked off a day of action for Democrats organized by Planned Parenthood's state political action committee at the Middletown Township Municipal Center in Bucks County on Saturday.
Important Players to Watch: College Football Week 5
Mensah Toney Taylor Smith and Baugh are all names to take the time and watch during their Week 5 matchup
Kramers bookstore marks 50 years of books, bites and DC history
Kramers — a bookstore, restaurant and D.C. icon — is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, largely due to their commitment to authenticity.
Noah Fant listed as questionable for Week 4
Saints TE Noah Fant questionable for Week 4 after three limited practices
South Texas Health System (@stxhealthsystem)
1 likes, 1 comments - stxhealthsystem on October 3, 2026: "A Gathering of Compassion, Commitment & Community: The Texas Association of Healthcare Volunteers (TAHV), a statewide organization dedicated to supporting, training and connecting healthcare volunteers, recently held its District 3 Meeting at South Texas Health System Edinburg. Volunteers from across South Texas and the Coastal Bend gathered to learn, share ideas and strengthen the vital role they play in supporting patients, families and healthcare teams throughout their communities. The Auxiliary to STHS (@auxiliarytosths) is made up of more than 350 student and adult volunteers who help enhance the patient experience across the health system. To help make this year's event a success, auxiliary members from hospitals throughout the Rio Grande Valley came together to plan, coordinate and host the annual meeting. We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who attended and contributed to this inspiring event. Your dedication, compassion and service make a lasting impact in hospitals across the Rio Grande Valley and beyond.".
Open Thread For Saturday’s Division Series Games
I’m putting this together the night before, because I’m out tomorrow morning. We have four games today. Game One: 1:00 Eastern: White Sox @ Guardians: Smith vs. Messick. Game Two: 4:00 Eastern: Braves @ Dodgers. Game Three: 6:30 Eastern: Yankees @ Rays. Cole vs. Rasmussen. Game Four: 8:50 Eastern: Padres @ Brewers. Ray vs. Misiorowski. […]
Red Wings C Marco Kasper Suffers Injury
Marco Kasper will miss Sunday's Red Wings game against Winnipeg with an upper-body injury, prompting Detroit to move Emmitt Finnie to center.
Voices: Teach to Fish North Miami Business Summit this weekend
Jawan sits down with Vice Mayor Kassandra Timothe and business owner Margarita Payero who benefited from the program.
Eagles get concerning multi-week DeVonta Smith injury update
This injury update for the Eagles' WR is not good news at all.
House Health Panel Backs Kratom Sales Rules for Adults 21 and Older
A Pennsylvania House committee voted unanimously for a bill allowing registered retailers to sell natural kratom to adults 21 and older…
Rams’ plan for Puka Nacua revealed ahead of Eagles game
Puka Nacua will return for Los Angeles Rams vs. Philadelphia Eagles, but Los Angeles may limit his workload.
Trey Smith on his blocking approach to accommodate running backs
During Friday's press conference, Kansas City Chiefs OL Trey Smith addressed his blocking approach to accommodate running backs | @EdEastonJr
Why 'East of Eden' Star Mike Faist Looks Familiar
Mike Faist stars as Charles Trask in the Netflix limited series adapatation. Here's where you may have recognized him before.
An invisible force could be changing your lifespan, study suggests
New research in fruit flies suggests Earth’s magnetic field could influence ageing, lifespan and mitochondrial function.
Global tech policymakers agree to embrace AI in science
A joint statement issued by the United States and 15 other countries touts the technology’s potential for accelerating scientific progress.
This protective enzyme could help stop fatty liver disease from getting worse
Scientists have identified an enzyme that may act as a natural defense against the worsening of fatty liver disease, which affects an estimated 100 million Americans. The enzyme, called UBE2N, helps liver cells clear away damaged mitochondria and break down fat, potentially preventing the inflammation, scarring, and cell damage associated with the more dangerous condition MASH.
Leucine does more than build muscle. It powers up your cells
The essential amino acid leucine can boost cellular energy production by protecting key proteins on mitochondria from being destroyed. The discovery reveals a new connection between nutrition and metabolism that could eventually lead to new approaches for metabolic disorders and cancer.
A growing number of House Republicans privately believe they won’t win the House
Four weeks to Election Day, a growing number of House Republicans privately fear their chances of holding onto the majority are vanishing and have begun focusing on how to limit the size of a potential Democratic wave.
Flu vaccines available by appointment at Summit County Public Health
Summit County Public Health is offering flu vaccines at 1867 W. Market St. in Building C. Call or visit scph.org for an appointment.
An evening of acoustic folk and bluegrass
Aitkin County Friends of the Arts will present an evening of acoustic folk, bluegrass and ambient music featuring LaPlant Road, Kelley Smith and Everybird from 6-9 p.m. on Saturday, Oct.
Manitowoc letters question fluoride and support Brad Smith
This week’s Manitowoc letters debate fluoride research and support Brad Smith for Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District.
Hardee’s Friday Night Blitz Week 6
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1 (3-3)BLACKSBURG 34, (3-3)CAVE SPRING 27 (5-0)WILLIAM BYRD 40, (4-1)RADFORD 35 (5-1)AUBURN 34, (0-6)GILES 14 (4-1)THOMAS JEFFERSON-RICHMOND 14, (4-1)HERITAGE 7 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2 (5-0)ROANOKE CATHOLIC 18, ST. FRANCIS ACADEMY 2 FORK UNION 35, (2-4)NORTH CROSS 33 (5-1)PARRY MCCLUER 43, (0-5)SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE CHRISTIAN 21 (3-2)ALTAVISTA 55, (2-4)DAN RIVER 7 (3-3)APPOMATTOX 49, (2-3)CHATHAM 7 […]
Breaking down Trump’s new ‘drug factories’ claim about Iranian nuclear sites
The president’s refusal to admit the likely gaffe follows a pattern of insisting he is always correct.
Culture refocuses attention on the Palestinian cause: ‘It has always been central to political struggle’
Musicians’ tours, film festivals and literary forums keep the flame for Gaza alive and spark debates about the limits of free expression and the concepts of censorship and cancellation
‘Tinder Swindler’ romance fraudster promises ‘safe’ dating app – using intel from con man playbook
Shimon Hayut, the notorious 'Tinder Swindler' also known as Simon Leviev, says his new Safe Love dating app will use identity verification to prevent the fraud he once committed.
$10 million political check is not aimed at any particular Oregon race this year, union says
The largest single political donation on record in Oregon arrived mid-September in the account of Building a Stronger Oregon, a political action committee controlled by carpenter unions.
What Are Reasonable Expectations for Aday Mara?
Aday Mara is an exciting name for many Oklahoma City Thunder fans, and a limited role this season shouldn't put a damper on that.
Shawn Horcoff Reveals Red Wings’ Reaction to Simon Edvinsson Leaving
Shawn Horcoff says Simon Edvinsson remains a Red Wings priority but admits Detroit did not expect the defenseman to return to Sweden.
Eagles Rule Out DeVonta Smith, Zack Baun for Game vs. Rams
Philadelphia will be down a couple of key contributors for an important game.
Keaton Mitchell should be available for Week 4
Chargers RB Keaton Mitchell on track to play after a full practice
IRS takes up whistleblower claim of Hope Florida money that flowed to Uthmeier’s political committee
The Internal Revenue Service is reviewing a whistleblower claim about $10 million in Medicaid settlement money that moved through the Hope Florida Foundation and, within weeks, into a political committee chaired by James Uthmeier, now Florida’s attorney general, according to new records obtained by the Florida Trident.
Oklahoma drunk driver at center of 'political favoritism' scandal back in prison
Admitted drunk driver Sara Polston, whose case has spurred protest and policy changes around Oklahoma’s GPS ankle monitoring program, is back in prison and facing charges of illegal voting.
Nashville-inspired entertainment destination planned for former Sunken City Brewery at Smith Mountain Lake
Dasha Smith, one of the highest-ranking female executives in sports, is leaving NFL
Smith was the only woman of color in the NFL’s C-suite.
Noah Fant limited in practice on Friday
Noah Fant is raising the potential of him playing in Week 4.
Vote no on Prop 45 to Protect California’s environment and public health
This November, California voters will have a chance to push back against President Trump’s attacks on our clean air and water, public health, and open space by voting NO on Proposition 45. This deceptive ballot initiative is a 41-page recipe for pollution and sprawl. It would weaken California’s bedrock environmental law and make it easier to build data centers, warehouses and other polluting projects – with severely limited public oversight.
Garber Convenes University-Wide Faculty Committee on Scientific Research Priorities
Garber Convenes University-Wide Faculty Committee on Scientific Research Priorities
Zay Flowers listed as questionable
Ravens WR Zay Flowers questionable after a limited practice Friday
Science Hill Independent Superintendent Matt Cook building more professional learning communities in the district
Science Hill Independent Superintendent Matt Cook stands with Science Hill students at the district’s annual Constitution Day Parade in September. Photo courtesy Matt Cook. The new superintendent of Science Hill Independent, Matt Cook, is focusing on building more
Senate Republicans move cash from North Carolina to Kansas
The decision by the Senate Leadership Fund was disclosed Friday by four people with direct knowledge of the situation who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal strategy.
Kenyon Sadiq listed as questionable for Week 4
Jets TE Kenyon Sadiq questionable after three straight limited practices
Apple will limit Mac disk access as AI agents ‘substantially’ increase risk
Apple isn’t taking AI security risks lightly.
Bellingham mulls changes to home business rules
Current regulations limit where businesses can be run and how many employees can be hired. Monday, Oct. 5's meeting could change that.
2026 HFA European Congress Spotlights New Industry Research
Health & Fitness Association submitted comments to the Office of the US Trade Representative on two trade policy dockets that could have significant implications for exercise equipment manufacturers, suppliers, and fitness facility operators.
Former GOP Rep. David Rivera sentenced to 10 years for secret Venezuela lobbying
David Rivera has been jailed since jurors found him guilty in May on all counts, including failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering as part of his work for former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government.
Studying Science in an Anti-Scientific Time
This Chronicle Review Deep Cut was first published in 2025. By Julianne Werlin Thanks for reading The Chronicle Review! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe The last two decades have not been kind to science studies. Already bruised and battered by the “science wars” of the 1990s, by the 2000s sociologists of science — who had long argued that science had to be understood in its human context — were encountering the funhouse-mirror version of their own views in right-wing critiques of climate scientists. It was enough to give some prominent scholars pause. “Was I wrong to participate in the invention of this field known as science studies?” asked Bruno Latour, the most famous sociologist of science in the world, in 2003. “Should we apologize for having been wrong all along? Or should we rather bring the sword of criticism to criticism itself and do a bit of soul-searching here: What were we really after when we were so intent on showing the social construction of scientific facts?” In response, Latour proposed a change of method and attitude. Science studies, now chastened and contrite, would no longer seek to strip facts of their authority, but to enrich and enhance them. What this meant in practice was never fully clear. But his diagnosis of problems resonated, even if his solutions did not. Latour’s exercise in public hand-wringing signaled a shift in mood. By 2016, with the first election of Donald Trump, the idea that skepticism of science was a right-wing position, not a left-wing one, had become a commonplace, discussed eagerly in The New York Times. For liberals, vaccine denial during the Covid era and Trump’s second-term attacks on the funding of scientific research, covered extensively in these pages, added a new urgency to the defense of science on both practical and principled grounds. There was little appetite for a sociology or philosophy of science that emphasized the messiness and missteps of the scientific process rather than its integrity and triumphs. The distinguished historian of science Peter Dear’s new book, The World as We Know It: From Natural Philosophy to Modern Science (Princeton University Press, 2025), which seeks to tell the story of 18th- and 19th-century science for a general public, may seem comfortably remote from these bitter contests. In its 16 short chapters, Dear draws swift, sure sketches of major discoveries from Newton to Einstein, ably guiding the reader through debates on stellar nebulae, animal taxonomy, atomic chemistry, evolution, and other flashpoints in the history of science. But though a work of history, Dear’s book must still negotiate our polarized present. In a blurb on its back cover, the historian of biology Lynn K. Nyhart alludes to the “present moment, when scientific knowledge is being swamped by misinformation and its institutions are under siege.” Dear himself, in his conclusion, refers to the “yard signs” and “bumper stickers” that proclaim “Science Is Real.” One antidote to both anti-science propaganda and to reductive slogans in science’s defense is a robust history and philosophy of science: exactly what Dear’s scholarship has long offered. But his new book illustrates how difficult such work has become. Dear, an emeritus professor of history at Cornell University, is best known as a creative and philosophically minded historian of the Scientific Revolution. His edited volume The Literary Structure of Scientific Argument (1991) analyzed the rhetoric of Galileo’s thought experiments to brilliant effect. Discipline and Experience: The Mathematical Way in the Scientific Revolution (1995) was a major contribution to the analysis of scientific experiments in early modern Europe and beyond, while Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge in Transition, 1500-1700 (2001), now in its third edition, remains one of the best overviews of the profound epistemological upheavals of 16th- and 17th-century science. But Dear has also ventured into later periods. Nearly two decades ago, in The Intelligibility of Nature: How Science Makes Sense of the World (2006), he turned to the 18th and 19th centuries to sketch a history and theory of scientific knowledge. Aimed at a generalist audience, Dear’s simple prose belied serious philosophical ambitions. Science, Dear argued, has two aspects: “natural philosophy,” the quest to understand the true nature of the universe, and “instrumentality,” the applied skills and technologies that allow us to manipulate the world for human advantage. Both strands are ancient, but the innovation of the phenomenon we call “science” was to yoke them together. As Francis Bacon wrote, “Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known, the effect cannot be produced,” an insight typically abridged to “knowledge is power.” Or, in Bertrand Russell’s characteristically blunt phrase, science has two functions, “1. to enable us to know things, and 2., to enable us to do things.” So far, so conventional. But Dear took issue with this familiar story in one respect. Bacon’s formula implied that theory and practice could be fused in a single method. In fact, Dear argued, the quest to understand nature and the desire to manipulate it were coupled only loosely. They could come together, but they could also pull apart. Focusing on natural philosophy, the “knowing” half of the scientific circle, he used a series of case studies from cosmology, taxonomy, chemistry, electromagnetism, and quantum theory to show how theories changed over time, in dialogue with practice, but never reducible to it. Take the case of matter, the basic substrate of the physical world. In the 18th and 19th centuries, scientists not only disagreed about what it was, but also about how well it could be known. In 1789, the chemist Antoine Lavoisier dismissed speculation about the atomic composition of chemicals as “discussions entirely of a metaphysical nature,” as he sought to orient chemistry away from philosophical abstraction and toward laboratory results. But in the 19th century, atoms returned with a vengeance in the atomic chemistry of John Dalton, who wanted to explain the underlying structure of nature. It was not just that Dalton and Lavoisier had a different set of experimental results, or even a different theory, Dear showed. What counted as an explanation had changed. In arguing that scientific theories depended on their intelligibility to human beings with complex arrays of beliefs and commitments, Dear was in sympathy with science studies. Key figures such as the sociologist Steven Shapin emphasized the importance of psychological mechanisms like trust in the formation and acceptance of scientific ideas. But in focusing on the scientific pursuit of knowledge, not its politics or economics, Dear resisted the more cynical perspective of some of his colleagues. The Intelligibility of Nature strikes a very different note than Shapin’s collection of a few years later, Never Pure: Historical Studies of Science as If It Was Produced by People With Bodies, Situated in Time, Space, Culture, and Society, and Struggling for Credibility and Authority (2010), to name just one example. Walking a very fine line, Dear depicted science as driven at once by complex social dynamics and by the intellectual power of real discoveries. It was a testament not only to his own acumen but also to the vitality of the field that he was able to do so. Nearly two decades later, The World as We Know It returns to the questions broached in The Intelligibility of Nature. Like Dear’s earlier study, it begins with the Newtonian cosmos and ends with debates between Einstein and Bohr on quantum physics. Beyond its terminal figures, many of the same characters appear in both studies, including the naturalists John Ray and the Comte de Buffon; the chemists Étienne François Geoffroy, Antoine Lavoisier, and John Dalton; as well as Charles Darwin and Michael Faraday, among others. Its subject is nearly identical: As in The Intelligibility of Nature, The World as We Know It considers natural philosophy as opposed to instrumentality, here defined as the “desire to create a picture of what the world is really like — the world as God knows it — rather than simply having instrumental or operational control over it.” The two books also overlap in insights — and sometimes even in language. The reader who has learned in The Intelligibility of Nature that Buffon’s method of classifying animals “reflected his belief in the importance of the senses and empiricism in learning about nature (a doctrine associated with Newton and the philosopher John Locke)” will experience a sense of déjà vu on reading, in The World as We Know It, that the classification “reflects Buffon’s commitment to the epistemological stance of Newton and his philosophical underlaborer John Locke, who stressed the role of the senses in creating natural knowledge.” Later in the passage, we read that, “because of its stress on understanding the ways of life of animals in their environments, Buffon’s approach could almost be labeled (anachronistically) as ‘ecological.’” And again, “an anachronistic way of putting it would be to say that Buffon recommends an ecological mode of understanding.” Likewise, in The Intelligibility of Nature we read of Dalton that he was initially drawn to meteorology, and that: He did a bit of experimental work on these things, especially having to do with the water-holding capacity of gases, but his real interest lay in understanding what, at an underlying natural-philosophical level, was really going on physically.” Whereas, in The World as We Know It: He did experimental work on these things, especially concerning the water-holding capacity of gases — although not at a very refined level quantitatively — but he was continually trying to develop a theoretical conception of what was happening physically. The final full chapter of each book closes on the same resigned note. Intelligibility: These days, most serious work on the natural philosophical underpinnings and implications of quantum mechanics is performed not by physicists but by philosophers of science. Among scientific practitioners themselves, Bohr’s attempt to use instrumentality as sufficient grounds for a respectable science has met with a high degree of success. And again, in The World as We Know It: Bohr’s and Einstein’s concerns are now questions that are mostly discussed by philosophers of science rather than by physicists themselves. The marginalization of these sorts of questions amounts to the demise of natural philosophy, at least in physics, in the 20th century. Quantum mechanics “works,” and that’s good enough for most scientists who encounter it. Examples could be multiplied. When handling the same subject matter, some echoes are inevitable. Scholars should not feel that because they have written “Isaac Newton died in 1727” in one book, in the next they must describe him as perishing, expiring, or meeting his maker. But the repetitions of language and arguments (not to mention six reproduced images) threaded throughout The World as We Know It are more extensive than that. They should have been caught by Princeton University Press or its reviewers, and revised. Because the two books have so much in common, it is easy to see where they diverge. The World as We Know It is a less theoretical work than its predecessor. The sociology of knowledge that organized The Intelligibility of Nature has been reduced in scale and folded into readings and examples. The taut interplay between history and theory, which gave the earlier study so much interest, is there, but it is subtle. In the earlier book, the case studies demonstrated theoretical claims about the character and development of science. In the later work, each narrative of discovery is an end in itself. Insights emerge from the history, but they do not control the organization of the study. With the theory muted, it can be hard to understand the logic uniting Dear’s sprawling history of more than two centuries of scientific knowledge. The 16 brisk chapters cover an enormous amount of material. But the closer the volume edges to comprehensiveness, the more obvious the missing elements become. A chapter on “Institutions and Pedagogy,” describing the birth of the research university, illustrates the problem. Inserted roughly halfway through the book, the unnumbered chapter is designed as an “entr’acte,” in acknowledgement that it does not fit the study’s organization around scientific discoveries. Yet as Dear is well aware, no general history of the development of modern science can bracket its 19th-century institutionalization and professionalization. It was the 19th-century university, after all, that gave us the “scientist,” a term coined by the Cambridge philosopher William Whewell. Dear’s history of scientific discoveries implies a wider social and institutional history, but it remains largely subterranean, only occasionally extruded under the pressure of the narrative. It must be said that the balance is not all on the side of the earlier study. There are some advantages to the more historical, less theoretical organization of The World as We Know It. Dear’s accounts of paradigm shifts are remarkably lucid, no small accomplishment given that they span fields and centuries. He makes excellent use of the wealth of new scholarship on Darwin and his influences, to which he has himself contributed. It is satisfying to see puzzle pieces from Buffon’s natural history, Georges Cuvier’s animal taxonomy, Thomas Robert Malthus’s demography, and Charles Lyell’s geology recombined seamlessly in the Darwinian jigsaw. Likewise, Dear’s discussion of stellar nebulae, divided between chapters two and 15, shows vividly how Newton, Kant, Herschel, and Hubble reimagined insights and observations as they sought to discover whether the diffuse light that filtered through early telescopes was a glowing, gaseous substance or discrete but distant stars. Yet despite such pleasures, the book remains a more modest work than The Intelligibility of Nature. Dear has clearly not changed his views about the history of science. But in the two decades that have elapsed, the discipline and the world around it have changed, making it harder to write a sociologically and philosophically ambitious history of science for the general reader. That is a shame, because in the age of Silicon Valley and biotechnology, both the reciprocity and the tensions Dear identified between the epistemological and instrumental ambitions of science are more evident than ever. In recent years, some of the most exciting new books on the history of science in early modernity have focused precisely on this pressure point. Important studies such as Pamela H. Smith’s From Lived Experience to the Written Word (2022), James Poskett’s Horizons: The Global Origins of Modern Science (2022), and Vera Keller’s The Interlopers: Early Stuart Projects and the Undisciplining of Knowledge (2023) all shed new light on how early modern science negotiated the relationship between its instrumental and epistemological ambitions, or in Russell’s phrase, knowing and doing. There is every opportunity for a philosophically informed approach to draw new insights from this wealth of material. Dear, unfortunately, has not done so in The World as We Know It. But for future scholars of the history of science, his body of work over nearly four decades may provide just the model. Julianne Werlin is an associate professor of English at Duke University. Thanks for reading The Chronicle Review! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe
Trump's investment push hits Europe as Irish PM eyes next tariff break
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin eyes Kerrygold butter for tariff relief next after Trump's public commitment to lift duties on Irish whiskey exports.
J.J. Picollo Opens Up on Royals' Biggest Need This Offseason
The Royals president of baseball operations named the bullpen as a top focus this winter, and he admitted the answer may not be in-house.
DA proposes civil commitment court during mental health symposium
Salt Lake County DA Sim Gill is proposing a civil commitment court as an alternative to jail for those suffering from a severe mental illness.
Bishop’s computer science chair says AI is eliminating ‘grunt work’ and reshaping digital jobs
Dr. Russell Butler, chair of Bishop’s University’s Department of Computer Science, says artificial intelligence is increasingly taking over routine digital “grunt work,” changing the skills students and workers may need in the years ahead. Photo courtesy of Bishop’s University. Click here to read our platform! Get local news like this every morning. Subscribe free below. Subscribe Pulse Newsroom Artificial intelligence is already taking over some of the routine digital work once performed by entry-level employees, according to Bishop’s University Computer Science chair Dr. Russell Butler — a shift he believes will make expertise, judgement and the ability to evaluate AI-generated work increasingly important. Butler described the change as automation reaching what he calls the “bottom of the cognitive pyramid” during an interview with The Pulse about AI, university education and the future of digital work. His argument is not that humans are disappearing from the workplace. Instead, he sees their role changing as AI becomes capable of handling more of the repetitive tasks involved in computer-based work. “Everything’s converging on just AI basically doing all the grunt work,” Butler said. The bottom of the cognitive pyramid Butler is from Lennoxville, completed his undergraduate studies at Bishop’s and later earned his PhD at the Université de Sherbrooke. He joined Bishop’s in 2019 and now chairs its Department of Computer Science. He uses AI in research, teaching and other creative work, and said the technology is increasingly capable of handling routine digital tasks that once required substantial human time. “You’ve got the grunt work, like moving things around in Excel, doing basic programming tasks,” Butler said. “That’s like the bottom grunt work that the entry-level worker would have done two or three years ago.” Butler went further, saying in his view that much of this type of work has already been absorbed by AI tools. He connected that change to a shift he sees taking place in computer science, where entry-level roles have declined while experienced workers can use AI to increase what they can produce. “A senior developer now has access to essentially an unlimited amount of junior developers on demand,” Butler said. He was describing AI systems metaphorically, not literal employees. His point was that one experienced developer can now ask AI tools to produce code or other technical work that might previously have been assigned to more junior workers. That raises a broader question for universities and employers. If some of the simpler work traditionally given to newcomers can now be done by machines, how do people gain the experience needed to become senior workers themselves? Students doing work that once required years of programming Butler said he is already seeing the change inside his classroom. He created a Bishop’s course called CS208, Coding in Plain English, to show students — including those without traditional programming backgrounds — what they can accomplish using AI. Some come from disciplines such as psychology or neuroscience with no previous programming experience. “What I’m finding is that students who have zero programming experience, they come in from another discipline like psychology or neuroscience or something, they are now able to get up and running with real data sets,” Butler said. Butler’s own doctoral work involved neuroimaging, and he said he has assigned students work he considers comparable to the kinds of analysis he performed during his PhD. He described giving students a real dataset, an expected result and instructions to use AI to complete the analysis. Butler said those students have been able to carry out work at a level he associates with tasks he once performed after years of programming experience. That does not mean a student using AI instantly acquires the same knowledge as an experienced computer scientist. But Butler sees it as evidence that AI can dramatically lower the technical barrier between having a problem to solve and producing a working result. The role of the person using the system then changes. They need to know what to ask for, understand enough about the subject to judge the answer and take responsibility for what is ultimately produced. What about AI hallucinations? One persistent concern surrounding generative AI is hallucination — when a system produces information that sounds convincing but is false or unsupported. Butler said that problem has improved substantially in newer systems and is not as severe as it was with earlier models. He pointed in particular to newer AI systems’ ability to search the web, consult scientific databases and return source links rather than simply generating a citation from their internal model. Butler nevertheless said users should verify what AI produces. “You should verify,” he said while discussing citations generated with AI. His position is that hallucinations have become less common in the systems he uses, not that incorrect AI output is impossible. Human checking remains part of the process. Hours of work compressed Butler offered another example from his administrative work at Bishop’s. The university has been comparing CEGEP courses with first-year Bishop’s courses to determine where students may qualify for advanced standing. Traditionally, Butler said, that means reviewing two sets of course descriptions and manually matching one institution’s courses with another’s. As department chair, that could require hours of reading and comparison. He said AI can now be given both sets of material and asked to generate an initial mapping automatically. “It saves me hours and hours of work,” Butler said. Butler said the AI-generated mapping can also produce a better result than he would produce himself. He sees similar opportunities in businesses. A company may receive specifications, drawings, emails or other digital material from customers and then have employees convert that information into an internal format before anything can be manufactured or delivered. AI can increasingly perform parts of that intermediate processing. In Butler’s view, the employee does not necessarily disappear. Instead, the job becomes more about checking the result. “The human is still there,” he said. Judgement could become more valuable That change is central to Butler’s view of where digital work may be headed. If AI can produce a first draft, write basic code, compare documents or process large amounts of information, he argues that knowledge and judgement become increasingly important. “The real scarce resource going forward is going to be domain knowledge, expertise, and… credentials, authority, the ability to work with other people,” Butler said. He is therefore encouraging students not only to learn AI tools but also to broaden their education. He mentioned acting, fine art and photography as examples of courses that can help develop what he described as taste and intuition — the ability to recognize what is good, what is not and what should be changed. “And that’s the skill that they need now because the grunt work has been automated and now it’s about evaluating what the AI produces and telling it how to improve or expand the output,” Butler said. That does not remove the need for technical knowledge. Butler’s argument is that the emphasis may shift away from manually completing every step of a task and toward directing, checking and improving work produced with AI assistance. He also stressed that humans remain responsible for final decisions. “At the end of the day, the human has to make the final call,” Butler said, pointing to the question of accountability. Physical work may be different Butler draws a distinction between digital work and jobs requiring people to manipulate the physical world. He expects AI to continue advancing quickly in tasks performed almost entirely on computers. He is more cautious about claims that humanoid robots will soon be able to replace workers such as plumbers or electricians. Butler said those trades would not be replaced “anytime soon” in his view and described some current robotics demonstrations as overhyped. He described the situation as counterintuitive. “It’s almost like we solved the highest level first,” he said, contrasting advances in digital AI with the harder problem of building robots capable of operating reliably in the physical world. Butler’s argument is that some digital occupations could face automation sooner than trades requiring complex physical work. The wider AI shift in the Townships Butler’s comments come as local institutions are increasingly grappling with how AI should be used. The federal government recently announced up to $162 million over five years for 10,000 AI-related placements through Mitacs. The Université de Sherbrooke told The Pulse that the number of its collaborative research and innovation projects supported through Mitacs has approximately doubled since 2018-19, while the number of placements has approximately tripled. UdeS also said it already has projects involving both AI adoption and the application of AI to other fields. At Bishop’s, Butler said part of his role involves building the Computer Science department’s local presence, connecting students with regional partners and strengthening relationships with the Sherbrooke technology ecosystem. Those developments put universities in a difficult position. They have to prepare students to use the tools employers increasingly have available while also making sure graduates understand enough to recognize when those tools are wrong, incomplete or being applied to the wrong problem. The risk of losing human skills Butler does not see AI as risk-free. Later in the interview, he raised a separate concern: as AI becomes better at reading, writing, programming and other cognitive tasks, people could lose some of the underlying skills that historically helped produce new ideas. “The other danger is that we’re going to lose the human skills,” Butler said. He specifically mentioned reading and writing and argued that people could lose some of the lower-level understanding that contributes to breakthroughs. Butler said AI systems are based on existing human knowledge and argued that they become much more powerful when paired with a capable person. That tension runs through his view of the technology. AI can remove hours of routine work. It can allow beginners to perform tasks that once required substantial technical training. It can give experienced workers significant leverage. But the more capable the technology becomes, the more important it may be for people to develop the judgement needed to decide what should be done in the first place. For Butler, that is where education may have to change. Students still need to understand their field. They still need to know when something is wrong. And they still need to be able to make the final decision. But if AI increasingly handles the bottom of the cognitive pyramid, the value of a worker may depend less on how quickly they can perform the grunt work and more on whether they understand what the work is supposed to accomplish. Don’t miss the next story that affects your community. Join thousands of readers getting The Pulse every morning—plus breaking news alerts when it matters most. If you value this kind of local journalism, consider supporting it. Subscribe, share and like! Subscribe Share
Georgia Tech And Amazon Launch Joint Science Hub
Amazon and the Georgia Institute of Technology announced today the launch of the Georgia Tech-Amazon Science Hub, reinforcing a shared commitment to
Summit County Health Department to host free drive-thru vaccine clinics
The clinics will offer flu and COVID-19 vaccines to anyone, regardless of insurance status. No appointment is necessary, and residents can stay in their vehicles while they receive their vaccines.