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Business Notes: Virginia Beach disability advocates honored; free mortgage for military family
View the latest business happenings in Hampton Roads.
Infrastructure improvements coming to Sioux Falls VA Health Care System
Projects happening in the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2026 at the Sioux Falls Health Care System include electronic health record infrastructure upgrades and kitchen and cafe renovations.
‘We really need this science’: Here’s some of the research happening at NH’s experimental forests
Simulating ice storms, the discovery of acid rain and more. Hubbard Brook’s executive director Anthea Lavallee spoke with NHPR’s Julia Barnett on what New Hampshire’s experimental forests do and what she’s keeping an eye on moving forward as the Forest Service continues its nationwide reorganization.
What's happening at the Waunakee Public Library
Circulation desk—608-849-4217 waupl@waupl.org
New growth of a business community in downtown Bremerton
As Armed Forces Day arrives in Bremerton, visitors who may not come often could be surprised by what's happening downtown.
Antarctica’s sudden sea ice loss is one of the most extreme and confusing events in the modern climate record. Scientists now know why it's happening.
In 2015, after decades of relative stability, Antarctica's sea ice suddenly began to disappear. Sea ice extent reached a record low in 2023, and scientists have now figured out what happened in that period.
HAPPENING NOW: May 2026 West Seattle Art Walk, including new Junction business Oona
We're out right now on the West Seattle Art Walk - tonight, featuring the new business that a longtime Junction fashion entrepreneur is opening: That's Linda Walsh, who - as we reported here - proprietor of Carmilia's, and now also taking over the 4536 California SW space a few doors down where Willow recently closed. Tonight she's introd...
‘There’s science happening all around us’
MARSHALL — As another school year approaching the end, more than 900 area students and participants went on a field trip and made memories at the 2026 Science and Nature Conference on Tuesday at Southwest Minnesota State University, hosted by the Southwest West Central Service Cooperative (SWWC). This was the SWWC’s 32nd annual Science and […]
HOMETOWN ENTERTAINMENT: Local Colors Festival, concerts and outdoor movies are happening this weekend
Weekend Calendar: Travis Tritt and Raul Midón perform Friday night, and Local Colors is happening Saturday
How Education Leaders Can Overcome Political Divisions (Opinion)
"Bipartisan education policy is not only possible; it is already happening," say several leaders.
How to turn of Instagram's new Instants feature and retract photos you accidentally shared
While the Meta-owned social network billed Instants as a new format to share real-life moments as they’re happening, many users are looking for a way to turn off the feature, especially those who have ended up accidentally sending images to others not fully understanding how the feature works.
Arts and entertainment events happening May 14 - May 17 across the Mid-Ohio Valley
Here is a look at all the arts and entertainment events happening this weekend across the Mid-Ohio Valley.
New UFO Files Suggest Something Strange Is Happening in The Skies
Not aliens, but the mystery is far from over.
Women’s flag football in the ACC? Jim Phillips says conversations are happening
At ACC Spring Meetings, commissioner Jim Phillips says the league is having conversations about women's flag football ahead of its Olympic debut.
I’ve waited years for Apple to fix iPhone-to-Android texting, and it’s finally happening
Apple and Google are finally bridging the security gap, rolling out end-to-end encrypted RCS in the iOS 26.5 beta.
Cacti are evolving shockingly fast and scientists just learned why
Cacti may look like slow, stubborn desert survivors, but they’re actually evolving at lightning speed. Scientists studying more than 750 cactus species discovered that what really drives the explosion of new cactus species isn’t flower size or specialized pollinators, but how quickly cactus flowers change shape over time. The finding overturns a long-standing idea dating back to Darwin and reveals deserts as surprisingly dynamic ecosystems where evolution is happening fast.
What is happening with Keir Starmer’s leadership: at-a-glance
The prime minister is fighting to stay on in No 10 as heavy election losses trigger a Labour revolt.
Phasmophobia by Alan Wake: Opening the Doors to Phasmophobia’s First Collaboration
"Phasmophobia by Alan Wake" is a limited-time event, happening now! Learn about how this first-ever outside collaboration for Phasmophobia came together:
What concerts are happening in the South Bend area from May 11 to 17?
Find out where to enjoy live music and concerts across the Michiana area from May 11-17, 2026, including free events.
Rumour: Capcom insider spills the beans
A Capcom insider who appears to be trusted by Resident Evil-insider Dusk Golem has spilled the beans on what’s been happening at the Japanese developer. The biggest news is that a remake of the…
Things to do in Cincinnati this week, May 11-17
If you're looking for the best events happening in Cincinnati, you're at the right place. Find your next concert, game, festival or family event.
Trump tariff refunds are actually happening – and businesses should pay attention
Business owners may have to wade through paperwork, but the US government is now processing refunds
Arthur Fils explains abrupt Italian Open retirement
With the exception of ATP World No. 1 Jannik Sinner‘s win, it was a wild day of unexpected happenings at the 2026 Italian Open, and part of the unpredictability centered around Arthur Fils. Fils played just 22 minutes, losing four…
Mother's Day Black Maternal Health Panel happening Saturday, May 9th
Join writer Kirsten Corley Bennett as she shares her postpartum journey, moderated by 3x Emmy winner Jasmine Minor, discussing Black Maternal Health.
Nintendo president apologizes for Switch 2 price increase, promises "robust software lineup" to make up for it
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has commented on the company’s plans moving forward in light of today’s price increase announcement for Switch 2. The company intends to raise the console’s price worldwide. For example, in the U.S., it’ll be going up by $50. Price changes will be going into effect mostly in September, though it’ll be happening as early as this...
Kuna Hometown Fair kicks off with music and family-friendly entertainment happening all weekend
The Kuna Hometown Fair kicks off Friday at Bernie Fisher Park with carnival games, food, music, and family fun all weekend long.
The Supreme Court Crippling Black Voting Power Was Not an Accident
There is a particular kind of violence the court’s majority prefers because the justices can deny it while it is happening.
What's happening at the Waunakee Public Library
Circulation desk—608-849-4217 waupl@waupl.org
Five things to do in Laredo this weekend
From laid-back gatherings to community events, there’s no shortage of things happening in Laredo this weekend.
Dallas-Fort Worth business datebook for the week of May 10.
A visit from a Supreme Court justice, a Fox News host and inflation updates are among the big business events in North Texas happening this week.
Traffic Advisory: Multiple Events in Sports Complex, May 7-10
With an exciting lineup of events happening from Thursday, May 7, until Sunday, May 10, in the Sports Complex, fans are strongly encouraged to take public transportation or arrive early and allow for extra travel time. Due to ongoing construction on Interstate 95, Exit 19 Northbound entrance / exit ramps
Arts and entertainment events happening May 7 - May 10 across the Mid-Ohio Valley
Here is a look at all the arts and entertainment events happening this weekend across the Mid-Ohio Valley.
Google Says Pixel Phones Won't Get Apple's Liquid Glass Design
The Android operating system for Pixel smartphones is not going to take design cues from Apple and adopt a Liquid Glass aesthetic, Google Android president Sameer Samat said recently (via 9to5Google). In response to a social media mockup of an Android device with a Liquid Glass design, Samat said, "Not happening! Y'all are wild". The mockup was in response to a teaser video for The Android Show: I/O, which depicted the Android mascot pulling a light switch and turning translucent.
Liquid Glass for Android is ‘not happening,’ at least not for Pixels
Apple’s Liquid Glass redesign of its platforms, especially iOS, has been divisive to say the least but, thankfully, Google’s President...
A Changing of the Guard: What the “Great Ownership Transfer” Means for Local Businesses
Adam Klappholz from Zelle joins us to talk about something big happening in small towns across America—the Great Ownership Transfer. As longtime business owners
What concerts are happening in the South Bend area May 4 to 10?
Michiana is buzzing with live music this week. Find your favorite artists and events from May 4-10, 2026.
How Entertainment and Gambling Have Changed in Rockaway Beach and NYC in Recent Years
Rockaway has always known how to keep people busy. The boardwalk drew crowds long before most of the city looked the way it does now, and a day out here meant noise, movement, and something happening just down the stretch. That same pull now runs through New York’s gaming scene, from casino floors in Queens
You Know How You Feel Overwhelmed With Content on Social Media? Well, a Similar Thing Is Happening in Science.
The problem sounds like a good thing. It’s not.
Something Nefarious Is Happening in Your Living Room Every Time You Watch TV
Music streaming services, newsletter platforms, and even Instagram are reshaping their products for the biggest screen in your house.
Things to do in Cincinnati this week, May 4-10
If you're looking for the best events happening in Cincinnati, you're at the right place. Find your next concert, game, festival or family event.
Race tightens between cybersecurity pros in healthcare and cyber bad guys everywhere
Frustratingly to hospital leadership, the upward trajectory in attacks and harms is happening despite healthcare’s striving—and spending—to be more proactive with defensive measures.
What's happening at the Waunakee Public Library
Circulation desk—608-849-4217 waupl@waupl.org
Arts and entertainment events happening April 30th-May 3rd across the Mid-Ohio Valley
Joe Oliverio joins Daybreak to discuss what’s happening April 30th-May 3rd across the Mid-Ohio Valley!
‘Incredibly difficult decision’: Ammon sisters shut down massage business amid financial strain
Do you want to know what’s happening in the eastern Idaho business scene? We’ve got you covered. Here is a rundown of this week’s business news across the valley. BIZ BUZZ AMMON Ammon massage clinic closes as costs rise Sign on storefront of Modern Mindbody Massage in Ammon. | Rett Nelson, EastIdahoNews.com AMMON – Customers […]
Sony clarifies recent PlayStation DRM update
PlayStation fans and gaming preservations have been alarmed since late last week that a new 30-day timer attached attached to newly-purchased digital games for PlayStation 4 and 5 might render those games unplayable if the system they’re on is offline for longer than a month. But a rep from Sony told Game File today that new system will require only a single online check before it functions as a perpetual license for the digitally purchased game. That is consistent with a newer theory that emerged by gamers testing the 30-day timer over the last two days. “Players can continue to access and play their purchased games as usual,” a rep for PlayStation told me over email. “A one-time online check is required after purchase to confirm the game’s license, after which no further check-ins are needed.” The rep’s explanation squares with the current understanding among players about what’s happening. A multi-day mystery A post last Friday by YouTuber Lance MacDonald spread awareness over the 30-day timer. Quickly, players began stress-testing the system, removing a battery within their PlayStations and checking what would happen if their systems were offline past the timer window. They noticed that setting a PS4 or PS5 to be the “primary” console—a common Sony-authorized method to retain rights to a digital game—wasn’t overriding the 30-day limit. On Tuesday came the breakthrough: A gamer called Andshrew on the Resetera forums posted the results of some tasting. They found that digital games purchased on PS4/PS5 after some time in mid-April would get a 30-day timer that could then be removed and replaced with a perpetual license that would allow the game to be played offline. The transition to the perpetual license occurred some number of days after the digital game was purchased and the system was connected to the internet. They believed that a PlayStation’s online check-in would trigger the license change no sooner than 15 days after the user had purchased the game. This synced with the theory that Sony’s new system is related to the 14-day window that PlayStation users have to request a refund for digitally purchased games. The new timer/check-in system could be a way to defeat some exploit in that refund system, some users theorized. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe In a follow-up, I asked the Sony rep if the 15-day timeline is accurate or if the perpetual license can be activated sooner after purchase. If they share more, I’ll update this post. Sony has not said why they’ve introduced the timer and whether it is designed to stop people from exploiting the refund system. But their explanation suggests that this new DRM method should not result in long-term loss of access to digitally purchased games, just because a PlayStation is offline for a month or Sony’s servers are down. Xbox flashback For many some gamers, the initial reporting of the 30-day timer conjured memories of Microsoft’s disastrous May 2013 announcement of the Xbox One, which was going to require an internet-connected check-in once a day, lest your games become unplayable.1 After widespread backlash, Microsoft abandoned that plan, ahead of the Xbox One’s launch. 1 Fun fact: That 24-hour check-in detail was my scoop from an interview I had that day with then-Xbox exec Phil Harrison. I was EiC of Kotaku at the time and rushing from one Xbox One preview appointment on Microsoft’s campus to another. I phoned the news in to reporter Jason Schreier, who wrote it up for the site.
11 cancers on the rise in young people - scientists find first clue why it's happening
Researchers stress that simple lifestyle changes can still significantly reduce the risk of cancer.
Mega Mewtwo Debuts During Pokémon GO Fest 2026!
Trainers, it is finally happening, Mega Mewtwo is set to debut during Pokémon GO Fest 2026 to celebrate 10 years of Pokémon GO! Mewtwo will be able to Mega Evolve, including ones you have already caught. Mewtwo will be able to Mega Evolve into Mega Mewtwo X or Mega Mewtwo Y. Mega Mewtwo X and […]
Your dreams aren’t random. Here’s what’s really happening
Dreams are more structured than they seem, shaped by both personal traits and real-world experiences. Researchers found that the brain doesn’t just replay daily life—it reshapes it into imaginative, sometimes surreal scenarios. People who mind-wander more tend to have fragmented dreams, while those who value dreams experience richer ones. Even major events like the pandemic changed dream content, making it more emotional and restrictive.
Outlook is down — live updates on the Microsoft outage
What's happening with Microsoft's popular service?
What concerts are happening in South Bend area from April 27 to May 3?
Michiana is buzzing with live music. Find out where to catch Melissa Etheridge, The Isaacs and more this week.
Things to do in Cincinnati this week, April 27-May 3
If you're looking for the best events happening in Cincinnati, you're at the right place. Find your next concert, game, festival or family event.
It's Happening: Final Fantasy XIV Is Coming To Switch 2 This August
Players will require a separate subscription from other platforms
Wahoo & COROS Hook Up: Here’s What Happening!
Wahoo Fitness & COROS have joined forces, connecting the two companies products together - here's what it means, and what's changing.
Arts and entertainment events happening April 23-26 across the Mid-Ohio Valley
Jeff DeWitt joins Daybreak to discuss what’s happening April 23-26 across the Mid-Ohio Valley!
There are fixes for AI’s toll on the power grid. Here’s why they’re not happening
Tech companies charging ahead with artificial intelligence have a problem: AI’s rapid growth is colliding headlong with a finite amount of available energy and computing power.
New issue: Mirrorlife | BBC Science Focus Magazine
Mirror life could end all life on Earth. That sounds dramatic, but senior biologists have raised the alarm about experiments happening all around the world. It sounds like something in a Doctor Who plot, but no – mirror life is a real possibility. So why do scientists want to create something that’s potentially apocalyptic? Well, it could also have huge benefits (think back to splitting the atom). The first thing to say, however, is that mirror organisms are still a little way away yet – but only decades, not centuries. So far, scientists have only made mirror molecules, one of life’s building blocks. What for? Life works because its building blocks fit together. Imagine drilling a screw into a piece of wood. The screw cuts a hole with a thread that snugly matches its own. If, for some reason, the Doctor showed up and handed you a mirror version of the screw, its thread would be in reverse. It wouldn’t twist into the hole you’d just made as the threads wouldn’t match. That said, the mirror screw would still work; you’d just have to create a mirror hole for it. Mirror molecules, including DNA, work a bit like that. They follow the same principles as the biology around us, but they’re entirely incompatible with traditional biological functions. In medical terms, this means they’re effectively invisible to your body’s systems. Our biology doesn’t have the tools to recognise these molecules and break them apart. And if someone took these mirror molecules and put them together to make a cell and then an organism… you’d have mirror life. But we don't have any way of breaking it down. If it escaped the lab, we’d just have to hope it didn’t have an appetite.
For the first time, scientists pinpoint the brain cells behind depression
Scientists have identified two specific types of brain cells that behave differently in people with depression, offering a clearer picture of what is happening inside the brain. By analyzing donated brain tissue with advanced genetic tools, the researchers found changes in neurons linked to mood and stress, as well as in immune-related microglia cells. These differences point to disruptions in key brain systems and reinforce that depression is rooted in biology, not just emotions.
What’s Happening With Tesla’s Battery Business
Plus, CATL’s sodium ion batteries will be rolling out on roads across China later this year.
Monroe County hosting another town hall Wednesday on SNAP work-rule changes
Wednesday's town hall is happening at the Edgerton R-Center on Backus Street from 5 - 6:30 p.m.
Why soccer match timing confuses American sports fans
The clock counts up, never stops, and the game continues past 90 minutes — here's what's happening
Why soccer match timing confuses American sports fans
The clock counts up, never stops, and the game continues past 90 minutes — here's what's happening
OpenAI teases next AI announcement coming today, here's what to expect
OpenAI has teased its next AI software product announcement happening later today. The teaser gives us a good idea of...
When the CEO Becomes the Brand
Research suggests that Elon Musk’s political stance appears to have reshaped how different groups perceive Tesla. Overall sales trends hint at trouble. The company’s growth stalled in 2024, and deliveries fell 8.5% in 2025. But those headline numbers hide what is happening beneath the surface. When the data is broken down by political orientation and by changes in views of Musk, a more complicated pattern emerges. Among right-leaning respondents and those whose opinion of Musk has improved, Tesla’s brand appeal is significantly higher and willingness to pay exceeds that for many competing brands, including Ford, Chevrolet, and Rivian. Among left-leaning consumers and those whose view of Musk has worsened, the opposite is true: Preference and willingness to pay for Tesla drop sharply. The outcome is not a uniform decline but a polarization of demand. Some consumers appear to feel alienated, while others feel more aligned with the brand. This raises an important strategic question of whether companies can influence purchasing decisions across these divided segments by strengthening the underlying value proposition.
The Death of Public Health
During the recent measles outbreak, the largest in more than 30 years, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. refused to clearly recommend the measles vaccine, saying instead that it was a “personal decision,” and that parents should “do their own research.” Similarly, during her recent confirmation hearing for United States Surgeon General, Casey Means was questioned by Senator William Cassidy (R, La). “You’re the nation’s doctor,” said Cassidy. “Would you encourage [a mother] to have her child vaccinated!” “I’m not an individual’s doctor,” Means said. “And every individual needs to talk to their doctor before putting a medication in their body.” In June 2025, Marty Makary, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said that COVID vaccines for pregnant women should be a “personal choice”, even though every other country in the world recommended the COVID vaccine during pregnancy due to a higher risk for severe disease. It doesn’t end there. On January 5, 2026, RFK Jr. reduced the number of routinely recommended vaccines from 18 to 10. For vaccines that protected against influenza, COVID, and rotavirus, parents were urged to speak with their doctors—to make an individual choice. (On March 16, 2026, in a ruling by a federal court in Boston, RFK Jr.’s revised schedule was invalidated.) What’s happening? Why are public health officials moving away from making recommendations for the public? The origin of this change might be rooted in the first two years of the COVID pandemic. In 2020, during the first year on the pandemic, we didn’t have anything to stop a virus that was killing hundreds of people a day and could be spread asymptomatically. We didn’t have antivirals until October, monoclonal antibodies until November, and vaccines until December. All we could do was restrict travel, close businesses, shutter schools, and mask, isolate, quarantine, test, and social distance. During the second year of the pandemic, when we had vaccines to prevent COVID, people couldn’t go anywhere without their vaccine cards. They couldn’t go to their favorite bar or restaurant or sporting event or place of worship without proof of vaccination. Some people were fired from their jobs for refusing to get vaccinated. For many, this was seen as massive government overreach and energized what has been called the “medical freedom movement.” Indeed, a headline in the New York Times declared, “How Health Freedom Became a Winning Rally Cry.” As expressed in the comments of RFK Jr., Casey Means, and Marty Makary, the medical freedom movement focuses on the individual not the community—the opposite of public health. In an article titled “Ethics and Social Value Judgments in Public Health,” ethicists from Yale University distinguished public health from medical freedom. “Public health policies,” they wrote, “are population oriented. Because individual health affects the health of others, public health measures regulate individual behavior to achieve population health goals. All raise questions about how individual autonomy and freedom should be balanced against public health interests…which respects individuals’ sovereignty over their bodies and actions as long as their actions do not harm others.” The medical freedom movement fails to recognize that it often limits the freedom of others. For example, a parent who is afraid to send a child to school where many of the students are unvaccinated. Or immune compromised children who depend on those around them to for protection. The question then becomes “Freedom for whom?” Is it your right, in the name of medical freedom, to catch and transmit a potentially fatal infection—and in so doing, take away the freedom of others? In Four Essays on Liberty, Isaiah Berlin sums it up best. “Liberty for the wolves,” he wrote, “is death to the lambs.” Thanks for reading Beyond the Noise! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe
Cardinal Commerce Notes: Botetourt business expands safe room offerings, First Piedmont names CEO, plus news from Roanoke, Lynchburg, NRV
Get up to speed on recent business happenings.
Politics, Activism Focus Of ‘End Of The World’ Event In Wheeling
WHEELING – Community organizers are asking the public to come get to know each other, make friends, and meet this year’s political candidates at an “End Of The World” party happening this week in Wheeling. The community improvement group “Where Do We Go From Here?” is organizing the event, set for 7-9 p.m. Thursday at […]
Southeast Houston business owners say they're concerned about fires happening at nearby encampment
Some business owners along McGrew Street in southeast Houston say they are concerned about a growing homeless encampment nearby.
2CV Progress Update: Holy Crap, It's All Together (Ish)
I love it when a plan comes together. Or a car. Or, for that matter, even a sandwich. I guess I like when anything comes together. But, I’m particularly fond of when my Citroën 2CV comes together, and it looks like that finally is happening. As you may recall, this is the 2CV that our […]
What events are happening in the South Bend area from April 20 to 26?
Discover concerts, festivals, theater, and family fun in South Bend and Michiana from April 20-26, 2026.
Former MSU hockey star scores first career NHL playoff goal
A former Spartans star is continuing to thrive at the highest level of hockey, and now it's happening in the postseason
Nintendo maintenance schedule - April 19, 2026 - DLC and virtual game cards impacted for Switch 2, Switch
Nintendo has released its maintenance schedule for the week of April 26, 2026: Technically two new sessions are on the docket, though both are happening at the same time. Nintendo Switch 2 and Switch will be impacted with DLC and virtual game cards, but the downtime will be short. Below is the full Nintendo maintenance schedule for the week of...
Things to do in Cincinnati this week, April 20-26
If you're looking for the best events happening in Cincinnati, you're at the right place. Find your next concert, game, festival or family event.
This week in politics: How Schuylkill County’s legislators voted
Between ongoing budget stalemates and severe partisan divides, it can be easy to feel like nothing is getting done in government. But every week is a busy week in politics, and important developments are happening at both the state and…
What is happening with the Google Assistant? [Video]
The Google Assistant is entering end-of-life, but what does that mean for those who have used it for so long? And what is next?
What to Know: AI-Powered Healthcare Innovations Shine at Edison Awards
Innovations in healthcare are happening at a breakneck speed that is increasingly supported by artificial intelligence. These developments can help with many of the problems facing the healthcare industry today: rising costs, declining accessibility, data silos and cybersecurity. But they bring with ...
What's happening at the Waunakee Public Library
Circulation desk—608-849-4217 waupl@waupl.org
Colorado shouldn’t risk cutting off access to earned wage access
By Tenisha James I live and work in Connecticut, not Colorado — but what’s happening in your state matters to people like me. I’ve already seen how policies that restrict earned wage access (EWA) can play out in real life. And I wouldn’t wish that experience on Colorado workers. Like many people, I’ve felt the squeeze […]
HOMETOWN ENTERTAINMENT: Blue Ridge Marathon and other outdoor weekend events return to our region
Blue Ridge Marathon, wine festival, home show and kite festival happening in our region this weekend
Arts and entertainment events happening April 16th-19th across the Mid-Ohio Valley
Joe Oliverio joins Daybreak to discuss what’s happening April 16th-19th across the Mid-Ohio Valley!
National Health Survey is now in Effingham, Bulloch and Screven Counties - Georgia Coastal Health District
NHANES, the nation’s most comprehensive health and nutritional survey of the U.S. population, is happening now in Bulloch, Effingham, and Screven Counties now through late June.
Are Trump's tariffs really dead? Here's what's happening behind the scenes
Importers of European cheese, a sleeping bag company for infants and a ceramics business are pushing for and against potential new tariffs.
Are Trump's tariffs really dead? Here's what's happening behind the scenes
Importers of European cheese, a sleeping bag company for infants and a ceramics business are pushing for and against potential new tariffs.
“It Would Be A Nightmare”: A PlayStation 6 “Lite” is Not Happening Due To Development and Hardware Reasons, Leaker Says
Leaker KeplerL2 debunks PlayStation 6 "Lite" rumors, citing technical "nightmares" for devs and 4K upscaling hurdles.
Rosalina and Samus have new Nintendo eShop cards, plus an eShop credit sale is live
New Rosalina and Samus Nintendo eShop cards have been revealed, and a sale is happening that can save you a bit of cash on eShop credit.
Universe is expanding faster than expected: Scientists struggle to explain cosmic acceleration
Science News: Not only is the Universe expanding, but its expansion is actually happening at a speed higher than was thought possible until recently. For many years.
Scientists Say the Universe Will Eventually Tear Itself Apart
Relax, it’s only happening in theoretical physics—at least for now.
Things to do in Cincinnati this week, April 13-19
If you're looking for the best events happening in Cincinnati, you're at the right place. Find your next concert, game, festival or family event.
Arizona State tennis programs head to Big 12 tournaments
Here are the events happening around Arizona State athletics from April 12-18, 2026.
“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.
Looking for weekend plans? Book fair, Open Streets: West Walnut offer entertainment for all
There are two fun events happening this weekend that we want to tell you about! First, Books and Brews Philly and South Philly bookstore A Novel idea are teaming up for a “Grown-Up Book Fair and Swap” on Sunday afternoon. Then, also on Sunday, we have “Open Streets: West Walnut” which just opened for the spring season. NBC10’s Sheila Watko tells us more about the upcoming events!
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