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Avoiding the Walker Dip: Military health professionals must ‘train how you’re going to fight’
Military Health System prioritizes skills sustainment, especially during times of peace, to prevent threats to medical readiness.
Apple TV to air first major live pro sports event shot on iPhone 17 Pro
On May 23, Apple TV presents a special MLS match captured on iPhone 17 Pro — a first for a major professional live sports event.
The Live Moment Effect: Genius Sports and MediaScience Study Finds Specific Moments in Live Sports Can Double Unaided Brand Recall | News
Genius Sports and MediaScience study reveals ads shown after high-intensity live sports moments can double unaided brand recall.
Boise State Forms Sports & Entertainment Group within Athletics - Boise State University Athletics
The formation brings together concerts, community, and special events at ExtraMile Arena and Albertsons Stadium
Boise State Forms Sports & Entertainment Group within Athletics - Boise State University Athletics
The formation brings together concerts, community, and special events at ExtraMile Arena and Albertsons Stadium
Dolphins Have "Names"? The Surprising Science Behind Their Unique Calls - Futura-Sciences
The Art of Dolphin “Names” Dolphins communicate in a way that stands out even in the animal kingdom. Some species, like the famed bottlenose dolphin, have unique acoustic signals, called “signature whistles,” which function much like a personal name. This vocal signature isn’t just an underwater soundbite – it’s stable...
AlmaLinux To Unveil Media/Entertainment Linux OS Edition
AlmaLinux shared with us that they will be introducing a new version of their RHEL-derived Linux operating system that is built specifically for media and entertainment use-cases.
How Josh Johnson composed 'Symphony,' the music-driven special aiming to be timeless
The 'Daily Show' co-host swaps topical punchlines for something meant to last decades in his new special 'Symphony,' premiering Friday on HBO.
Syensqo to Review Performance and Care Unit to Focus on Specialty Materials
The chemicals company is seeking to become a pure-play specialty materials and tech company, increasing its exposure to aerospace and defense, electronics, healthcare, energy and advanced mobility applications.
Chase Travel plays a starring role when entertainment clients seek VIP treatment
Chase Travel Entertainment Solutions specializes in high-stakes, customized and discreet travel arrangements for A-list celebrities and entertainment clients, leveraging its scale and focus for growth in the entertainment sector.
MUSC expands Doctor of Health Administration program with fully online option new
The Medical University of South Carolina is expanding access to its Doctor of Health Administration (DHA) degree through a fully online option designed specifically for working healthcare leaders.
Japan’s immigration politics starves restaurants of workers
Japan’s restaurant sector desperately needs more migrant workers, but the Takaichi government is prioritising nativist politics over economic reality.
Where do citizen science data come from?
Citizen science projects are playing an increasingly important role in ecological and conservation research worldwide. In these programs, members of the public support researchers by submitting photographs, audio recordings, observations, or even by contributing to data analysis. In Hungary, no fewer than 17 such initiatives combined their datasets in a joint study. The authors aimed to understand which socio-economic and environmental factors influence participation patterns in Hungary. By comparing the spatial distribution of citizen science data with an independent administrative dataset (municipality level data on income, education, demography, density and protected areas), the researchers identified several general trends as well as numerous project-specific relationships. For example, they found more per capita observations from municipalities with higher proportions of protected natural areas and lower population densities. Furthermore, excluding Budapest, the capital, both the proportion of people with diplomas and the proportion of elderly people showed a positive correlation with participation activity. In contrast, no consistent general pattern emerged regarding wealth or the proportion of children, although several project-specific relationships were observed. The study not only reveals how citizen science data are distributed across Hungary, but also provides robust support for the view that various biases must be taken into account when analyzing such data. The authors hope that their findings will help researchers in other countries design more effective projects and produce more accurate analyses by accounting for some of these or similar biases.
Owner locks robbery suspect in Downtown El Paso business; he slips out before police arrive
A 57-year-old Central El Paso man has been arrested in connection with an aggravated robbery reported earlier this month at a business in Downtown El Paso.El Pa
Tybee Island, Marine Science Center to host free Community Day
The City of Tybee Island and the Tybee Island Marine Science Center are teaming up for a special Community Day offering free admission for Tybee Island residents. The event will include interactive exhibits, family activities, raffle prizes and opportunities to learn more about coastal conservation.
Scientists think humans developed right-handedness thanks to these 2 factors
A new study explored what aspect of humanity's evolution led to 90% right-hand dominance by collecting data from thousands of primates.
EPA to rollback PFAS drinking water standards, eliminate filtration requirements
The proposed rule would give water authorities until 2031 to comply with PFOS and PFOA limitations, and eliminate filtration for four other PFAS.
Ex-prosecutor charged over handling of sealed Smith report on Trump classified files probe
A former federal prosecutor in Florida sent to her personal email account a special counsel report from the investigation into President Donald Trump's hoarding of classified documents despite a judge's order that it remain sealed, according to an indictment made public on Wednesday.
On ‘Jewish Money’ in American Politics
The biggest loser of yesterday’s primaries, Tom Massie, accepted his defeat with precisely the class and honor one would expect of him: none. He blamed the Jews, of course. Specifically, Jewish...
Gentoo Penguins Are Actually Four Different Species, Scientists Say, Revealing They're Not Quite 'Winners' of Climate Change After All
A new study indicates the adaptable birds evolved into distinct lineages as isolated populations shifted to match their environmental conditions over time. The work has implications for how conservationists assess threats to gentoos
A mysterious lost city found beneath the ocean stuns scientists worldwide - Futura-Sciences
The Lost City: An Underwater Miracle Revealed In 2000, a team of researchers uncovered a truly spectacular landscape near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge—a submerged world over 2,300 feet below the waves. This so-called “Lost City,” hidden deep beneath the surface, has revealed a realm where life not only endures but flourishes...
Scientists Warn Many Insects May Not Survive a Warming World
A sweeping study of tropical insects found that many species may struggle to survive rising global temperatures.
EA SPORTS™ F1® 25: 2026 Season Pack Brings the 2026 Season to the Grid
Rewrite the Grid in EA SPORTS™ F1® 25: 2026 Season Pack and EA SPORTS™ F1® 25: 2026 Season Edition
What to know about Ebola and how it spreads, as the outbreak widens
The outbreak has been linked to nearly 600 suspected cases and 139 deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This specific virus has no available vaccines or treatments.
Meet DFP Spring Fellow, Niko Dawson, Washington University in St. Louis -
Nikolas Dawson (he/they) is a second-year political science PhD student at Washington University in St. Louis, specializing in formal theory and American politics. His fields of study include political behavior, elites, and minority politics (broadly [...]
AMD confirms Ryzen AI MAX 400 "Gorgon Halo" will support up to 192GB memory and 160GB VRAM
AMD Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495 confirmed AMD confirms Ryzen AI Max 400 “Gorgon Halo” supports up to 192GB memory and 160GB VRAM AMD has confirmed that its
Scientists discover why Alzheimer’s risk hits women so much harder
Women may be especially sensitive to the effects of common dementia risk factors, according to a new UC San Diego study of over 17,000 adults. Researchers say tailoring prevention strategies specifically for women could be key to reducing Alzheimer’s risk.
China Has Outspent The U.S. On Research For The First Time. 3,375 American Scientists Are Telling Congress To Pay Attention
China outspent the U.S. on R&D for the first time in 2024. 3,375 scientists, including 48 Nobel laureates, just filed formal testimony with the Senate.
WHO chief concerned over 'scale and speed' of Ebola outbreak
The World Health Organization top official has expressed concern over the rapid spread of a rare type of Ebola in Congo. Authorities have reported at least 134 suspected deaths and over 500 cases.
Woman accused of shooting Rihanna's Beverly Hills home ordered to mental health evaluation
Neural representation of action symbols in primate frontal cortex
Nature - A drawing-like task designed to study compositional generalization identifies a specific neural population in the ventral premotor cortex in primates that encodes action symbols.
MUSC expands Doctor of Health Administration program with fully online option
The Medical University of South Carolina is expanding access to its Doctor of Health Administration (DHA) degree through a fully online option designed specifically for working healthcare leaders.
T. rex’s tiny arms may have evolved for a surprisingly brutal reason
Why did T. rex have such tiny arms? Scientists now think it’s because its giant head became the ultimate hunting tool. Across multiple dinosaur groups, stronger skulls and crushing jaws evolved alongside shrinking forelimbs, especially in predators hunting enormous prey. In other words, once the bite became deadly enough, the arms may have stopped mattering.
2 small businesses were hit by burglars in the same N.J. county hours apart
Two Gloucester County businesses were broken into hours apart, with police arresting a suspect in one case and investigations ongoing.
How to watch N.Y. state comptroller debate on Spectrum News
The debate starts at 7 p.m., and will be hosted by political anchors Errol Louis and Susan Arbetter.
Effects of early exposure to toxic metals
Scientists found that toxic metal exposures during specific time windows increased the risk of brain and mental health symptoms a decade later.
Baptist Health Paducah to offer special pricing for sports physicals
Baptist Health will offer sports physicals for $35 at its urgent care, primary care, pediatrics, and orthopedics & sports medicine offices. The discounted price is available through Aug. 31.
Defining An Intelligent Business
Some thoughts on data quality, semantic layers, human adoption, and practical strategies for building intelligent businesses
LOAM ENTERTAINMENT'S 'BAD COUNSELORS' ARRIVES IN THEATRES NATIONWIDE JULY 23-27 FROM FATHOM ENTERTAINMENT
When two hard-partying fraternity brothers pose as Christian camp counselors to work off court-ordered community service, the summer quickly becomes more than either of them bargained for. Loam Entertainment's irreverent fish-out-of-water comedy BAD COUNSELORS arrives in theatres nationwide for a limited engagement July 23-27, 2026, distributed by Fathom Entertainment, the leading specialty distributor of content to theatrical partners worldwide.
The Cleveland Browns Will Sell 3 Percent Of Their Franchise
NFL owners are reportedly respecting to prove a sale of a small stake of the Cleveland Browns to a private investment firm.
Scientists discover over 1,100 new marine species
Scientists have named 1,121 new marine species in a single year - from deep-sea ghost sharks to cave shrimp off Marseille.
Atlanta health inspectors prepare restaurants and vendors for World Cup crowds
Scientists Discovered a Mutation in Our Genes from an Ancient Species
A rare look inside Homo erectus genes revealed a mutation that we still share.
Vast Launches Satellite Bus Business Line
The commercial space station company announced this morning that it would start selling satellite buses, specifically targeting the low-cost, high-volume, high-power niche for missions from comms, to EO, to national-security programs.
Three Takeaways From Kauffman Foundation New Small Businesses Report
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has released its national report on early-stage entrepreneurship in the U.S., evaluating the launch of small businesses.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba points out glaring mistake on offensive player of the year award: 'It's getting disrespectful'
Renderings Reveal Barclays Center Renovations In Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Renderings have been revealed for the $150 million renovation of Barclays Center designed by Populous in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
People who lost the most weight on Ozempic saw huge health benefits
People who lost significant weight while taking Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, or Saxenda had sharply lower risks of major obesity-related health problems, including sleep apnea and kidney disease. Those who gained weight instead faced higher risks — especially for heart failure — even though many patients discontinued the medications within a year.
Health care disruptions across Massachusetts if Trump revokes TPS for Haitians
Haitian health care workers provide crucial services in Massachusetts, especially to older adults and people with disabilities.
From ‘ghost sharks’ to ‘death ball’ sponges: Scientists find more than 1,100 wild and unusual ocean species
The Ocean Census project says scientists have discovered 1,121 previously unknown species in a single year. The rush is on to save them as risks to the world’s oceans multiply
These Memphis restaurants got perfect health inspection scores in April
Tennessee Health Department inspectors performed hundreds of health inspections in Shelby County in April. These 29 restaurants earned perfect scores.
W.H.O. Chief Is ‘Deeply Concerned’ By Speed and Scale of Ebola Outbreak As Cases Rise
The warning came shortly after Congo officials reported more than 130 suspected deaths and 513 cases, a sharp rise since the outbreak was first reported over the weekend.
Why 70–80% Of Small Business Sales Fail (And How To Avoid It)
Learn why 70–80% of small business sales fail and what owners can do to build a sellable business with stronger valuation, systems, and financial clarity.
Addictive AI Could Become The Next Big Business Risk
AI is making digital products more engaging, but that also creates a growing risk around addiction, mental health and harmful customer behavior.
DNA floating in seawater is now enough to let scientists monitor the health of America’s dolphin populations
Sequencing environmental DNA in seawater shows the local presence or absence of species, but until now could give little information about those measures of biodiversity that are the most useful in conservation. As a proof-of-principle, scientists in the US have now shown that mitochondrial DNA in water sampled near schools of dolphins contains enough information to measure their local effective population size and monitor the health of these populations.
Scientists Discover Over A Thousand New Ocean Species In Landmark Deep Sea Exploration
From deep sea ghost sharks to symbiotic worms and unusual crustaceans, scientists have identified 1,121 new marine species in a single year through the Ocean Census initiative.
Photos reveal strange sea creatures that scientists have never seen before
Scientists say they’ve found more than 1,100 new marine species over the last year, emphasizing how unexplored the ocean really is.
Fund Drive Special Programming: Disinformation, Political Manipulation, Identity Politics, and the Growing threats facing American Democracy
Host Davey D welcomed Jamelle Bouie to Hard Knock Radio for an in depth conversation about disinformation, political manipulation, identity politics, and the growing threats facing American democracy. Bouie, one of the nation’s most prominent political commentators, is a columnist for The New York Times and is widely known for connecting current political events to … Continued
Crime Reports: Investigation into ‘deceptive business practice’ conducted at Abilene restaurant
Editor’s Note: The Abilene Police Department supplied the following arrest and incident reports. All information below is based on reports made by responding officers, and all suspects are considered ...
Inter Miami CF and Heron Sports & Entertainment to Join FIFA World Cup 26™ Celebration in Club’s Elite Facilities
Inter Miami CF and Heron Sports & Entertainment will join the FIFA World Cup 26™ festivities by hosting a series of special events across its world-class facilities - Nu Stadium, Inter Miami CF Stadium and the Florida Blue Training Center. Inter Miami CF’s world-class facilities will host four nations preparing
Inter Miami CF and Heron Sports & Entertainment to Join FIFA World Cup 26™ Celebration in Club’s Elite Facilities
Inter Miami CF and Heron Sports & Entertainment will join the FIFA World Cup 26™ festivities by hosting a series of special events across its world-class facilities - Nu Stadium, Inter Miami CF Stadium and the Florida Blue Training Center. Inter Miami CF’s world-class facilities will host four nations preparing
Science behind sobriety field tests
Albany High students in Elizabeth Lopatniuk's health classes participated in a dynamic lesson about the effects of alcohol on the body. After taking an in-depth look at the science behind why and how alcohol slows the activities of the brain and central nervous system, students learned about how a variety of factors can impact the level of intoxication and how blood alcohol concentration can impair one's ability to operate a motor vehicle. Albany High Student Resource Officer Nick Schuler led students through an overview of field sobriety tests that are routinely performed during a traffic stop when an officer suspects a driver may be under the influence of alcohol. Officer Schuler explained the three elements of a physical sobriety test, including walking a straight line with turns and checks for motor skill patterns, standing on one foot to check for balance and following a moving stimulus with eyes only to check for Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN), an involuntary, rhythmic jerking of the eyes as they look to the side. Students volunteered to try walking a straight line both with and without alcohol impairment simulation goggles. Officer Schuler pointed out particular behaviors and patterns that would lead to a failed field sobriety test during the simulation. As prom and graduation festivities approach, we applaud our Albany High staff for empowering our Falcons with valuable lessons so they can make wise and safe choices.
Science behind sobriety field tests
Albany High students in Elizabeth Lopatniuk's health classes participated in a dynamic lesson about the effects of alcohol on the body. After taking an in-depth look at the science behind why and how alcohol slows the activities of the brain and central nervous system, students learned about how a variety of factors can impact the level of intoxication and how blood alcohol concentration can impair one's ability to operate a motor vehicle. Albany High Student Resource Officer Nick Schuler led students through an overview of field sobriety tests that are routinely performed during a traffic stop when an officer suspects a driver may be under the influence of alcohol. Officer Schuler explained the three elements of a physical sobriety test, including walking a straight line with turns and checks for motor skill patterns, standing on one foot to check for balance and following a moving stimulus with eyes only to check for Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN), an involuntary, rhythmic jerking of the eyes as they look to the side. Students volunteered to try walking a straight line both with and without alcohol impairment simulation goggles. Officer Schuler pointed out particular behaviors and patterns that would lead to a failed field sobriety test during the simulation. As prom and graduation festivities approach, we applaud our Albany High staff for empowering our Falcons with valuable lessons so they can make wise and safe choices.
Politicians criticize MS Lt. Gov. Hosemann's redistricting committee
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann's committee on redistricting caught flak from some of his Republican colleagues because it includes two Democratic senators.
Inter Miami CF and Heron Sports & Entertainment to Join World Cup Celebration in Club’s Elite Facilities
Inter Miami CF and Heron Sports & Entertainment will join the FIFA World Cup 26™ festivities by hosting a series of special events across its world-class facilities - Nu Stadium, Inter Miami CF Stadium and the Florida Blue Training Center. Inter Miami CF’s top-notch facilities will accommodate four nations preparing
Inter Miami CF and Heron Sports & Entertainment to Join World Cup Celebration in Club’s Elite Facilities
Inter Miami CF and Heron Sports & Entertainment will join the FIFA World Cup 26™ festivities by hosting a series of special events across its world-class facilities - Nu Stadium, Inter Miami CF Stadium and the Florida Blue Training Center. Inter Miami CF’s top-notch facilities will accommodate four nations preparing
Illinois resident suspected of hantavirus infection tested negative for illness
The risk for hantavirus to spread in Illinois remains very low, state health officials emphasized.
Whoa! Netflix is Sending Narnia Heading to Theaters...What This Means for the Future of Film
(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) Here’s a funny thing about the debate over whether streamers should release their movies in theaters first: Both sides think the other side represents the “conventional wisdom”. If you’ve been reading me for any amount of time, or even just scanned my front page, you know I think movies make more money by having a robust theatrical window compared to going straight-to-streaming. I’ve published thousands of words on this topic. And for years, I felt like I was standing up to a wave of opposition. See, while the “put your films in theaters to make money” take was obvious at any point before 2019, post-streaming revolution, most of the trendy thinkers took the opposite point of view. Big names argued that Netflix putting their film straight-to-streaming (“S-to-S” from here on out) actually made more money. Netflix was “disrupting” theaters, just as they disrupted Blockbuster Video, and since innovation is always good, this too was a great idea. This thinking then leaked into the mainstream business outlets like the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. I read many articles whose take boiled down to “Netflix makes tons of money from S-to-S releases” and “theaters were in structural decline” anyways. Covid-19 shutting down theaters and the 2023 strikes shutting down film production seemingly justified this point of view, as the box office struggled to return to 2017-2019 heights. Yet I’ve also read folks arguing the opposite point: the conventional wisdom says to put films in theaters! From some writers’ points of view, “everyone” actually agrees/agreed with my “send your films to theaters” take—especially the stodgy traditional studios—and folks still didn’t understand Netflix’s genius. I feel like, for the last two years, many people have argued this point as if it’s conventional wisdom. You know what? I may have been wrong. At this point, the “S-to-S strategy makes money” might be the minority viewpoint. Especially with the news this month that Netflix will put at least one film—Greta Gerwig’s Narnia film The Magician’s Nephew—in theaters in 2027 for a full 49-day run is big news. So that’s the story of the week, but I’ll also explain why they’re making this move now and why Netflix may not completely embrace theaters, along with other topics, like how I don’t buy Disney’s “super app” strategy, the latest good news out of the unions, my take on the latest attacks against free speech, and a whole lot more. Let’s get started. Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - Netflix Goes to Theaters! Listen, I promise not to victory lap too hard today. As I just wrote, I’ve argued against sending films straight-to-streaming for—checks calendar—eight years now. Since 2018. Yikes. That’s a long time. And for years, others painted my thinking as “conventional” in that I was standing up for the status quo against trendy, cool disruption. And that’s not cool! But math is math, and I never could make the S-to-S numbers work. The only thing that ever enabled that model was Wall Street’s brief exuberance for it. It seems like the heads of Netflix now agree with me. (There were always rumors that former head of film for Netflix Scott Stuber argued internally for theatrical releases as well.) As they announced: “The Magician’s Nephew_—the first film in a Narnia series of films—will open on 12-Feb-2027, with a 49 day theatrical exclusive run.”_ I’m a little surprised at how little coverage this big change actually got. Credit to Bloomberg for leading with it and Matt Belloni’s The Town for highlighting it with the provocatively titled podcast “Hell Hath Frozen Over”. But after that? Instead of getting as much coverage as, say, the FCC’s latest egregious crackdown on free speech, this news story got crickets. But it’s massively more important for the future business of entertainment. So let’s start with the obvious question… Why Put Your Movies in Theaters? So…why should Netflix put (some!) of their movies in theaters? Well, I’ve already written that in a very, very, very long article from 2022: [ ](https://entertainment.substack.com/p/the-data-is-in-theatrical-films-massively) [ The Data Is In: Theatrical Films Massively Outperform Straight-To-Streaming Films ](https://entertainment.substack.com/p/the-data-is-in-theatrical-films-massively) Entertainment Strategy Guy · April 5, 2023 [ Read full story ](https://entertainment.substack.com/p/the-data-is-in-theatrical-films-massively) To summarize, theatrical runs make much more money, especially blockbusters, because they earn more money per viewing,1 and that helps boost home entertainment sales. Theatrical films also perform as well or better than the streaming-only films. Now, partially this is driven by increased marketing for said films, but said marketing ultimately boosts the awareness of the movies and drives improved streaming and library performance as well. Again, I’ve made this case after reviewing the economic models and streaming data for years. Just last week, Emily Horgan also made the case for kids films! Yes, it is probably conventional wisdom, but that’s also because it’s true! I’d also argue we’ve seen a lot of data in the various studios’ behavior. As I’ve noted before, the more a studio needs to make money, the likelier they are to put films in theaters. As such, Disney, Universal, Warner Bros., Paramount and Sony all send their major films to theaters. Even if they once made a big S-to-S push (*cough* Disney *cough*), they’ve since relented and returned to theaters. The tech companies don’t need to make money, per se, so it took them years to embrace theaters. Apple doesn’t need to make money because it doesn’t disclose their (likely) Quibi-sized losses each year. (They fear bad press more than losing money.) Amazon announced two years ago that they planned to make Amazon-MGM Studios/Prime Video profitable on its own, and guess what? Now they’re putting films in theaters. That leaves Netflix. They’re in between the “no need to make money at all” and the “desperately need to make money to offset linear TV declines”, so they had less pressure to put some films in theaters. Plus, for years, they were the sexy disruptor, and Wall Street rewarded them for that. (Honestly, they still do.) Yet, even Netflix likely saw the money they were leaving on the table (I’ve estimated it at an easy billion dollars before) so they changed their course. I heard one pundit argue that, because Netflix already makes so much money, they don’t need to make more money, which sort of goes against everything I’ve ever learned about business and economics. Again, to be super-nuanced, sending “films to theaters” does not mean EVERY film. TV movies have been a thing for decades. Lifetime films, Hallmark holiday films, Disney Channel Original Movies, and so on, don’t need theatrical runs. But films above a certain budget level (say $25 to 50 million) almost certainly need theaters to maximize their revenue. The Scenarios (with a Dose of Skepticism) Now time for some skepticism: it won’t surprise me at all if Netflix re-changes course. Specifically, Netflix announced that their Narnia film will go to theaters. And I’d bet anything we see KPop Demon Hunters 2: The Huntering2 also goes to theaters, cause it’s the surest hit outside of a Disney animated sequel right now. But how much does Netflix truly commit to theaters? They’ve already tried to emphasize that this is a one-off move. I see three broad scenarios:
Gloves stolen from Brewers prospects recovered at Play It Again Sports
The 13 baseball gloves stolen from the Nashville Sounds stadium May 16 have been recovered after the thieves sold them at Play-it-Again-Sports.
Fort McCoy holds April 2026 meeting of Safety & Occupational Health Advisory Council
Fort McCoy held a special meeting of the installation Safety and Occupational Health Advisory Council (SOHAC) on April 1, 2026, that included Fort McCoy...
Jenks America Food Truck Festival returns with specialty foods and live entertainment
Foodies unite! The annual Jenks America Food Truck Festival is back this month with a wide selection of specialty foods.
Georgia Republicans Grasp for a Contender to Take On Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff
On the eve of their primary, Republicans have grown nervous about their prospects in November against Mr. Ossoff, regarded as the most vulnerable Democratic senator in the fall midterms.
Suspected hantavirus case in Illinois tests negative, health officials say
Illinois health officials say a suspected hantavirus case in northern Illinois that was believed to be unrelated to the cruise ship outbreak has tested negative.
2026 NBA Draft Big Board: Michigan stars impressive at combine, Flory Bidunga falling in prospect rankings
Adam Finkelstein adjusts his Big Board after scouting prospects at last week's NBA Draft Combine
To help boost Indigenous enrollment in science majors, UMaine Machias is adding Native perspectives
The number of Native Americans enrolling in college has declined by 40% in the last decade and a half. The disparities are particularly noticeable in science and engineering, where Native American students are underrepresented at all higher education levels.
Popular Thai-inspired cocktail bar in Highland Park temporarily closed by health department
A popular Highland Park cocktail bar that serves Thai street food-inspired fare has temporarily closed its doors after county health inspectors cited it for health code violations. The Goldfish at …
Balancing act: 26 Sun Devils sports present unique challenges in NIL era
Arizona State’s athletic department faces unique challenges in sponsoring 26 varsity sports teams, especially with the rise of name, image, and likeness.
Meet Dr. Claw: The open-source AI assistant revolutionizing the research workflow
Lehigh University researchers have built the first “AI for Science” software tool designed to support the entire project workflow for research scientists. Dr. Claw is an open-source, full-stack AI research assistant that helps users refine ideas, conduct literature reviews, run experiments, draft and review papers, write grant proposals, and build presentations. It eliminates the need to toggle between specialized AI tools—such as deep research agents for source evaluation or code generators for data analysis—by unifying these capabilities within a single interface.
Ebola outbreak prompts U.S. to screen travelers at airports, other ports of entry
The U.S. is relying on a special public health authority to bar non-U.S. passport holders who have been to Uganda, Congo or South Sudan from entering the country.
The AI Era Is Reordering The 4 Paths Of Business Education
AI is commoditizing business expertise. That may expose Founder-CEO education as the missing fourth quadrant of business education.
A Tourist’s Guide to Forza Horizon 6, From A Designer’s Perspective
Take a tour through some of Forza Horizon 6's most iconic locations, and how they were designed, built and adapted for the world of Horizon.
New MatterChat Model Helps AI to ‘See’ the Language of Science
From writing emails to generating computer code, much of the artificial intelligence prevalent in our daily lives has succeeded by mastering one domain: text. However, this leaves a major blind spot in the physical sciences, where models depend on the high-resolution, three-dimensional data of the physical world, like the intricate lattice of atoms in a crystal. Delivering on the promise of using AI for science requires teaching these data-driven text models to seamlessly “talk to” physics-based models. Now, a new AI framework from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), called MatterChat, solves this problem by creating a specialized “bridge.” It connects the conversational power of a Large Language Model (LLM) with a physics-based AI that models “interatomic potentials”: the complex physical forces between atoms. The resulting system already significantly outperforms general-purpose AI tools like GPT-4 at predicting material properties, and the team hopes it can accelerate scientific discovery by serving as a robust research partner that provides grounded insights and generates step-by-step instructions for synthesizing novel materials. A paper describing this work was recently published in Nature Machine Intelligence. “Traditional simulations can provide the physical rigor required for materials science, yet their computational cost remains prohibitive for high-throughput screening. Conversely, while LLMs excel at rapid knowledge synthesis, they inherently lack the ‘structural vision’ to interpret materials directly from their underlying atomic coordinates,” said Yingheng Tang, a postdoctoral researcher in Berkeley Lab’s Applied Math and Computational Research Division (AMCR) and lead author on the paper. “MatterChat was built to solve this dilemma, empowering LLMs with a structural ‘vision’ that allows researchers to leverage their full potential for solving complex, real-world materials challenges.” Empowering language models to solve complex challenges in materials science To build MatterChat, the Berkeley Lab team drew inspiration from technologies like Vision Question Answering (VQA) and Text-to-Image (T2I) generation. In these tasks, AI must translate high-level text concepts into visual images, or vice versa. Doing so requires developers to build tools that “bridge” two fundamentally different forms of data. The researchers adapted this concept to the physical sciences. With MatterChat, they created a “bridge model” that successfully connects an LLM’s general knowledge with the deep understanding of the atomic-scale world encoded in scientific interatomic potentials. Until now, researchers using LLMs to solve materials problems usually had to feed them raw data files as if they were just strings of text. It’s like asking an AI to understand a complex 3D engine based only on a parts list: the LLM can read the names, but it can’t “see” how the atoms fit together in space. MatterChat solves this by training a specialized AI bridge model, pre-trained on millions of crystal structures and an LLM, to align the LLM’s representation of the world with the interatomic potential’s representation of the world. The bridge model can translate physical insights into a format the LLM can actually understand. By giving the LLM these “scientific eyes”— a scientific “inductive bias” in the terminology of AI — the Berkeley Lab team has transformed it into a robust research tool capable of providing grounded scientific insights into complex materials challenges, such as predicting thermal stability or analyzing electronic band gaps. “We think of atoms as living in a physical space, but from a machine learning perspective, they are just vectors living in some very non-trivially structured manifold in a high-dimensional Euclidean space; and, of course, the same is true for the sentences and paragraphs that we use to express our ideas about those atoms,” said co-author Michael Mahoney, Berkeley Lab’s Scientific Data Division (SDD) AI Initiative Research Lead. “The bridge model basically gets those two structures to ‘talk with’ each other.” As a proof-of-concept of this general approach, the team trained their bridge model on a dataset curated by pairing nearly 143,000 stable atomic structures from the Materials Project with their corresponding physical properties. This training data was automatically assembled using the Materials Project’s API and deliberately enriched with properties fundamental to microelectronics design — like formation energy and bandgap — allowing MatterChat to learn the complex patterns connecting a material’s atomic blueprint to its functional performance. To validate their model, the researchers benchmarked MatterChat against a suite of other AI systems, from general-purpose LLMs to other specialized scientific AI methods. The results show that MatterChat consistently outperformed its competitors across a range of tasks. The model was more accurate in classifying material types and demonstrated superior precision in predicting numerical properties. For example, it excelled at predicting a material’s bandgap, a property critical for designing new electronics from high-capacity energy storage to next-generation computer chips. “Our design is significantly more efficient because we don’t have to build a massive AI model from the ground up,” said co-author Zhi (Jackie) Yao, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s AMCR. “Instead, we take two powerful, pre-trained models — a structural encoder for materials physics and an open-source LLM — and use them off-the-shelf. The only component we actually train is the lightweight ‘bridge model’ that translates between them. It’s the difference between building an entire car factory and simply designing a smart adapter that connects a world-class engine to a world-class navigation system. This approach is not only computationally efficient, but also makes the system modular, so we can easily upgrade components or adapt the bridge for other scientific domains in the future.” Crucially, this modular design highlights exactly how institutions like Berkeley Lab and the Department of Energy are carving out a highly valuable niche in the booming AI landscape. Rather than competing with Silicon Valley tech giants to build ever-larger language models from scratch, the lab is focusing on the specialized connective tissue that makes commercial AI useful for hardcore science. Because the bridge model approach underlying MatterChat is forward-compatible, it is perfectly positioned to leverage these parallel tracks of innovation. As Mahoney pointed out, “We expect that industry will continue to develop improved LLMs, and we expect domain scientists and facilities will continue to generate new data. An important part of scientific machine learning is not simply to solve problems on today’s data, but instead to develop general methods that will be forward-compatible with orders of magnitude more data, whether from scientific domains or from LLMs.” According to Yao, the MatterChat project, which was initially developed and enhanced with funding from a Berkeley Lab Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) Program, will now expand its capabilities. In a collaboration with Fermilab, MatterChat is already contributing to a U.S. Department of Energy Genesis Mission project — called Accelerating eXtreme Environment Specs-to-Silicon (AXESS) — that aims to speed up the development of next-generation, high-speed, radiation-hardened detectors for challenging particle physics experiments by using advanced 3D integrated circuits (chiplets) and AI-driven data analysis. In addition to the LDRD support, the team also credits supercomputing resources at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), located at Berkeley Lab, with MatterChat’s success. “We are incredibly grateful to NERSC; this research simply would not have happened without access to the Perlmutter supercomputer through their AI for Science program,” said Tang. Wenbin Xu, a NERSC postdoctoral fellow at the time, was also a major co-author of the work, as was Benjamin Erichson, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s SDD, highlighting the benefits of AMCR-SDD collaboration on AI for science. ### Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is committed to groundbreaking research focused on discovery science and solutions for abundant and reliable energy supplies. The lab’s expertise spans materials, chemistry, physics, biology, earth and environmental science, mathematics, and computing. Researchers from around the world rely on the lab’s world-class scientific facilities for their own pioneering research. Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest problems are best addressed by teams, Berkeley Lab and its scientists have been recognized with 17 Nobel Prizes. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.
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