SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " PPE " 14,467 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Austrian GP: George Russell takes controversial pole as Max Verstappen crashes in dramatic qualifying
'Super puffy': Scientists ponder extreme low density of two planets
International researchers are engaged in a complex study of two planets in deep space that appear to have an average density lower than that of candy floss. The planets orbiting star TOI-791, located ...
'She likes that he's outside of the entertainment world': Reese Witherspoon happy that new boyfriend is not an actor
Reese Witherspoon loves that her boyfriend is not in the entertainment industry. The Legally Blonde actress – who was previously married to her Cruel Intentions co-star Ryan Phillippe and former CAA t...
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina wins first ATP Tour title in sixth final appearance
Davidovich Fokina had held five championship points before Saturday without winning a title. He only needed one.
Scientists finally reveal the shocking truth behind England’s dolphin deaths - Futura-Sciences
A Drastic Decline Along English Shores The dolphin populations along the English coastline have been disappearing at an alarming rate for several decades. Contrary to what many might hope, these aren’t dolphins simply seeking warmer waters elsewhere. The brutal reality is that this is not migration—it’s mass mortality. English researchers...
5 million have dropped ACA insurance after Trump and the GOP let prices skyrocket
The number of people who signed up for a health plan and then didn't pay their premium fell much more sharply than it has in years past. Trump officials blame fraud. Health policy experts blame costs.
Former Eagles WR A.J. Brown Predicted to Threaten NFL Record
NFL.com's Bucky Brooks predicts former Eagles WR A.J. Brown could break the 2,000-yard receiving mark with the Patriots in 2026. The post Former Eagles WR A.J. Brown Predicted to Threaten NFL Record appeared first on HEAVY.
What’s Happening: RI Small business shopping village
This summer, local entrepreneurs and small businesses will have their work on display at Providence Place.
Bill Maher reveals to JD Vance which political party keeps refusing to face his questions
Bill Maher told Vice President JD Vance on Friday's episode of "Real Time" that many of the Democrats he has supported over the years have declined invitations to appear on his show. (Credit: Real Time with Bill Maher)
New Details Emerge on Phil Mickelson and Wife Amy’s Family Health Crisis
The cause of the health crisis for Phil and Amy Mickelson has been revealed in a new report. The post New Details Emerge on Phil Mickelson and Wife Amy’s Family Health Crisis appeared first on HEAVY.
Disgraced Actor's MAGA-Coded Movie Trailer Just Dropped — And The Plot Is WILD
"Run Hide Fight: Infidels" comes almost three years after Majors’ conviction for assaulting his then-girlfriend.
Mountain lions changed everything in this tiny California preserve
A surprising ecological makeover unfolded when mountain lions began frequenting a small preserve south of San Francisco. Deer activity dropped, plants recovered, and shifts among predators like coyotes, bobcats, and foxes followed. The study shows that powerful “trophic cascades” aren’t limited to remote wilderness—they can happen in small, suburban preserves too.
Scientists discover what triggers belly fat as we age
Aging may trigger the appearance of specialized stem cells that supercharge the body's ability to create new belly fat. The discovery reveals a potential biological driver of middle-age weight gain and a promising target for future anti-obesity treatments.
Scratching that bug bite might feel good at first but science explains why it's a bad idea
You scratched that bug bite and now it's a big itchier bump. Some science explains why scratching really can make things worse, even if you don't break the skin. University of Pittsburgh researchers put tiny “cones of shame” onto mice to help unravel what happens on a cellular level when an itch ...
NHL Rumors: 3 Red Wings Who Could Be Traded Next
The Detroit Red Wings made a notable trade on Friday, as they traded top goalie prospect Sebastian Cossa to the Utah Mammoth in exchange for the 23rd overall pick of the NHL Entry Draft. The Red Wings then used that pick to select forward J.P. Hurlbert.Seeing Cossa get traded by the Red Wings is not […] The post NHL Rumors: 3 Red Wings Who Could Be Traded Next appeared first on HEAVY.
Colorado Politics Calendar June 29-July 5
CoPo’s weekly political calendar will help you find political and public-policy events throughout Colorado. It includes candidate and issue campaign events, public policy meetings, court hearings, state and local party conventions, assemblies, debates, rallies, parades, speaking engagements, traveling dignitary appearances, water meetings, book signings, county commission hearings, city council meetings and more. As a subscriber, […]
Trump tamped down fights over abortion and marriage. Conservative activists want to bring them back in 2028
Since returning to the White House, Trump has largely sidestepped causes long championed by the conservative faith movement
Fallout from USMNT loss to Turkey and previewing the Mbappe-Haaland clash
On today’s show, we look back at the United States’ final group stage match against Turkey and evaluate their readiness for the Round of 32. Manchester City insider Sam Lee joins us to preview the tournament’s first true superstar heavyweight clash as Kylian Mbappe and France square off against Erling Haaland and Norway in a battle for Group I supremacy. Plus, The Athletic’s Jay Harris is back in the studio to break down the latest bracketology, advancement percentages, and qualification permutations for Groups G, H, and I using The Athletic’s World Cup Tracker.
Former Giannis Role Players Now On Milwaukee Bucks Trading Block
The Milwaukee Bucks are turning the page to a new chapter in their franchise following the trade of Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Milwaukee Bucks. Along with opening a new era, the Bucks are also looking to move on from some of their role players during the team’s Giannis phase. Among them are Kyle Kuzma and […] The post Former Giannis Role Players Now On Milwaukee Bucks Trading Block appeared first on HEAVY.
Caleb Williams Calls Out NFL, Echoes Bold George Kittle Message
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams is already a leader of his team, and now he is leading with regards to the entire NFL. The post Caleb Williams Calls Out NFL, Echoes Bold George Kittle Message appeared first on HEAVY.
The 10 highest-rated Georgia Bulldogs in College Football 27
Georgia earns an 87 overall rating in College Football 27 with safety KJ Bolden leading the roster. Gunner Stockton appears not to be in the game
49ers News: Gotta let the Bosa Brothers dream go…
Adam Schefter believes Joey Bosa has played his last down in the NFL“Bosa turns 31 in July. Last year was the first time he appeared in double-digit games since 2021. The 49ers would pursue an edge rusher if Nick or Mykel Williams are behind the 8-ball on their rehab. Some believe Mykel begins the season […]
Browns Warned Over Deshaun Watson Decision
The Cleveland Browns can insist that their quarterback competition between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders will be decided on the field, but the decision will not be made in a vacuum. The post Browns Warned Over Deshaun Watson Decision appeared first on HEAVY.
Stenberg Excited To Join Sharks, Believes He’s NHL-Ready
Ivar Stenberg says he is ready to be in the NHL next season. After being drafted No. 2 overall by the San Jose Sharks, he becomes yet another another big-name, highly-skilled player in their under-23 group. “They have something really good going on, so super happy to join a special group,” Stenberg said. The 5-foot-11 […] The post Stenberg Excited To Join Sharks, Believes He’s NHL-Ready appeared first on San Jose Hockey Now.
Steelers’ Drew Allar Addresses Rookie Role Behind Aaron Rodgers
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Drew Allar spoke out on his place behind Aaron Rodgers on the team's depth chart entering 2026 NFL training camp. The post Steelers’ Drew Allar Addresses Rookie Role Behind Aaron Rodgers appeared first on HEAVY.
Businesses across Oahu prepare to close as rising costs strain operations
Community members say the closures are difficult to watch, especially as familiar businesses continue to disappear across the island.
Cardinals' Dustin May: Next start getting skipped
Cardinals' Dustin May: Next start getting skipped
Siekerka Talks Data Centers, NJ Business Climate on News 12’s ‘Power & Politics’ This Weekend
NJBIA President and CEO Michele Siekerka will appear on News 12’s Power & Politics with Eric Landskroner this weekend to discuss data center
Siekerka Talks Data Centers, NJ Business Climate on News 12’s ‘Power & Politics’ This Weekend
NJBIA President and CEO Michele Siekerka will appear on News 12’s Power & Politics with Eric Landskroner this weekend to discuss data center
Siekerka on Spadea: Climate Superfund Another Strike at NJ Business Climate
Appearing on Bill Spadea’s new show, Speak for America, on ONNJ, NJBIA President and CEO Michele Siekerka said it’s difficult to determine whether the
A Game Of Inches: 4 Takeaways From A Dizzying Iran-Egypt Draw
This was a pulsating game that came down to one call that flipped the knockout round fates of three teams.
Caitlin Clark Fans Staging Boycott For Saturday's Fever Game
This Saturday's showdown between the Indiana Fever and Los Angeles Sparks has unfortunately lost some of its appeal due to Caitlin Clark's latest injury. Clark suffered a back injury during Wednesday's loss to the Phoenix Mercury. To make matters worse, she was on the receiving end of a cheap shot ...
Rangers Land 37-Goal Star In Blockbuster Trade With Vegas
The New York Rangers have added a new star forward to their roster.According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, the Rangers have acquired forward Pavel Dorofeyev from the Vegas Golden Knights.Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman later added that the Rangers are sending the 26th pick of the 2026 Entry Draft, the 92nd pick of this year’s draft, and their […] The post Rangers Land 37-Goal Star In Blockbuster Trade With Vegas appeared first on HEAVY.
Guided kayak tours stopped at Pinellas Bayway South
FDOT said no private for-profit business is allowed to operate within the state transportation facility right of way per Florida Statute.
NFL stadiums swapped turf for grass ahead of 2026 World Cup. George Kittle thumping for permanent change: 'Clearly we know it's possible'
AI-generated knockoffs of Joanna Stern’s book keep appearing on Apple Books
In a video published on YouTube Shorts today, Joanna Stern called out Apple over AI-generated knockoffs of her book that continue to appear on Apple Books.
Hightower president leaving after less than three months
Roberto Stewart, who was named president in April, had been tapped to lead the improvement of the firm's technology platform.
Falcons Roundtable: Kyle Pitts Extension Done, Is Bijan Robinson Next?
The Falcons continue to lock up the core of their roster for the future. This week's Falcons Roundtable breaks down Kyle Pitts' new extension, whether his deal or Drake London's is the better value, and why Bijan Robinson appears to be the next superstar in line for a record-setting contract.
Tom Hardy is dropping a rap album amid his uncertain future on 'MobLand'
As Tom Hardy navigates rumors of his 'MobLand' exit, he's stepped into the studio to release his first rap album.
The impact of club sports on student experience in higher education
Authors: Ryan Savitz1, Divit Gupta2, Jared Ward3, Andrew Bjorkelo1 1Neumann University 2Conestoga High School 3Brigham Young University Corresponding Author: Ryan Savitz savitzr@neumann.edu …
AI-assisted colonoscopy enhances polyp detection at UT Health San Antonio Multispecialty and Research Hospital
Contact: Steven Lee, (210) 450-3823, lees22@uthscsa.edu Content provided by Kristen Zapata SAN ANTONIO, June 29, 2026 – A routine colonoscopy may last less than an hour. But what happens during that procedure can change, or even save, a life years before cancer ever has a chance to develop. Physicians at The University of Texas at San […]
New for MNSSHP 2026: Captain Jack Sparrow Leads Pirate Entertainment in Adventureland
Captain Jack Sparrow joins MNSSHP 2026 in Adventureland with a new pirate entertainment act. The Rusty Cutlass band has not appeared on any confirmed 2026 lineup yet.
Consumer-Directed Health Care: Promise or Pitfall
This panel will examine the evidence and policy outlook for consumer-directed health care as a federal solution to expanded coverage, with a focus on affordability, access, and health outcomes.
Jessica Plummer new deputy administrator of Behavioral Health Services
A founding department staff member, Jessica Plummer has stepped into the new role of deputy administrator for Larimer County Behavioral Health Services (BHS)
Pilots react to a Boeing 777 freighter's 'reckless' stunt over Texas
A Boeing 777 nearly clipped the ground during an unusually low flyover in Texas, a stunt veteran pilots called "reckless" and "stupid."
EA Sports College Football 27 Will Be Without Two Surprising Stars
One of the most anticipated video game releases of the year is set to arrive on July 9 when EA Sports releases College Football 27 worldwide.This marks the third consecutive annual release since the series returned after an 11-year hiatus.Players who want to be included in the game must actively opt in through a structured […] The post EA Sports College Football 27 Will Be Without Two Surprising Stars appeared first on HEAVY.
Meet ‘Pepper’ Baumer, The Man With Hot Sauce In His Blood
Hot sauce has been one of the hottest sectors of the food industry and third-generation owner ‘Pepper’ Baumer has built Crystal, his family’s century-old business, into a $50 million Southern staple.
New Nancy Guthrie demand letter claims to have video from her 'last' day: Report
A new demand letter about Nancy Guthrie reportedly claims to have video of the 84-year-old and her kidnapper on 'the day that was probably her last.'
“The Cheaper the Better,” Says Valve About its Steam Machine Pricing, but Don’t Expect a Price Decrease “Any Time Soon”
"The cheaper the better" is Valve's official line for how it would like to price the Steam Machine, but don't expect it to happen soon.
GOP senators seem increasingly game to buck some Trump priorities
Is growing pushback from conservative corners of the upper chamber a sign that Trump’s grip on his party may be slipping?
An Unexpected Vocation: Jaibir Nihal Singh’s Journey from Film Student to Business Executive
Though trained as a filmmaker at Pepperdine University’s Seaver College, Jaibir Nihal Singh found a way to leverage his creative skills into a career as a successful innovator. Now, as a member of Forbes 30 under 30, Singh credits his education as the launchpad for his vocation, even if he never saw it coming.
‘Under the Radar’ Cowboys Free Agent Predicted for Major Payday
Bleacher Report predicts Dallas Cowboys CB Cobie Durant could land a major payday in 2027 with a standout season. The post ‘Under the Radar’ Cowboys Free Agent Predicted for Major Payday appeared first on HEAVY.
These Deals on Video Games, Controllers, and Peripherals Will Disappear When Prime Day Ends Tonight
These are the best last-chance gaming deals for the last day of Prime Day: Save on top video games like Elden Ring, plus premium controllers, gaming mice, and essential peripherals.
Jeffries: What happens in handful of primaries not ‘indicative of what needs to happen in November’
Paxton’s support for IVF highlights broader divide among GOP
Anti-abortion activists believe life begins at conception, so many oppose IVF because it often destroys some embryos.
Two Yankees Pitching Prospects ‘Turning Heads’ in Minors This Year
The old saying is you can never have enough pitching, which the New York Yankees have apparently taken to heart. The Yankees have a stockpile of potential starting-pitching arms in the minor leagues, including Elmer Rodriguez, and two “head turning” prospects, Ben Hess and Chase Hampton. The Yankees lead the majors in team ERA (3.30) […] The post Two Yankees Pitching Prospects ‘Turning Heads’ in Minors This Year appeared first on HEAVY.
Vance Downplays Watergate and Compares Himself to Nixon
The vice president said that the scandal that ended Richard Nixon’s presidency would be “like a 12-hour news story” if it happened today and that the “deep state” had taken down Nixon.
Andy Cohen cries as he mourns 28-year-old 'WWHL' producer who died of brain cancer
Andy Cohen became emotional mourning 'Watch What Happens Live' production manager Kyra Samson, 28, who died of brain cancer earlier this week.
iPhone 18 Pro and Foldable iPhone Tipped to Get Price Hikes Too
Apple's iPhone 18 Pro lineup and its first foldable iPhone will launch at higher prices than originally predicted this September, according to several known Chinese leakers.
Texas Democrats meet for convention amid questions about party unity
Democrats see state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, as the best opportunity to flip the long-held Republican U.S. Senate seat and want to see how he will win over Black voters.
How Brad Pitt appears in “Jackass: Best and Last”: 'It was wild,' says Steve-O
The "Inglourious Basterds" actor shows up in the latest "Jackass" movie via archival footage from 2001.
What Happens to Your Liver When You Drink Green Tea Every Day
What does green tea do for your liver? Learn how it may affect fat buildup, inflammation, and liver enzymes, plus risks and benefits.
Gemini begins rolling out for existing Android Automotive vehicles
Some months after its confirmation, Gemini for Android Automotive appears to be finally rolling out to existing vehicles.
How Outward Intelligence founders bootstrapped to seven-figure revenue
Three friends with résumés spanning Google, Palantir, and Harris Poll skipped venture capital and bootstrapped their startup instead.
'The Vampire Lestat's Sam Reid on Magnus, Claudia, Sofia, and more
Would Lestat listen to Chappell Roan? Asked and answered.
Rain stopped play? Biggest worry now in British sport is extreme heat
Climate crisis is on show every day when sportspeople do their thing and the rest of us sweat on the sofa
Reasoning For Pitching Prospect's Absence From Rehab Assignment Revealed
Left-handed pitcher Ricky Tiedemann didn't make an appearance in his rehab assignment in Single-A due a separate injury than the one he's recovering from.
Clippers draft pick Narcisse Ngoy announces he will play at Auburn next year in unique draft-and-stash situation
Proposed Changes to Grant Rules Threaten the Future of Research: Scientists Must Act Now!
The Trump administration is seeking to politicize US federal science funding, but collective action can stop this grantpocalypse from happening.
Three Chicago Bears make CBS Sports’ Top 100 NFL Players of 2026 List
With the NFL on a break, get ready for list season, and CBS Sports just dropped their Top 100 Players, and three Chicago Bears made the cut.
Elliot Cadeau appears set to return to Michigan basketball roster
For the third and presumably final time this offseason, Elliot Cadeau appears to have confirmed he will stay with Michigan basketball.
Controversial billionaire tax will appear on November ballot
Proponents of a controversial billionaire tax pledge to making sure it appears on the November ballot to backfill federal healthcare funds.
It's Summer Sale Season, So I Tracked Down 25 Actually Good Gaming Deals Under $20
There's a million sales happening right now, so I sifted through them all to find 25 genuinely solid gaming deals that are each under $20.
It's Xbox's turn (again), as console prices keep going up
Microsoft announced a price hike for the Xbox Series consoles today, the third in little over a year. Effective August 1, the Xbox Series S, which launched in 2020 for $300, will cost $500 in the U.S. The Xbox Series X, which launched in 2020 at $500, will go for $800. This follows a round of PlayStation 5 price increases from Sony this spring, and a slow-motion increase for Nintendo’s Switch 2, which will kick in in the U.S. in September. (Mind you, there were also eight video game industry price hikes in six months of 2025). The chart up top shows the sudden ascent of console prices over the past year, a sudden surge in an already unusual hardware generation. Prices had been flat for years, now “up” is the new “flat.” Game console prices used to go down across the length of a console generation, but not this time around. Microsoft’s explanation for the new price hike today: We hoped another price increase would not be necessary, and we have spent the last several months working with suppliers on options. Unfortunately, console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027. The entire consumer electronics industry is struggling with the current components crisis, but the effects are particularly hard on consoles. Unlike phones, computers, speakers, and other consumer devices, consoles are typically not sold at a profit, but instead for less than they cost to make. This is an issue well beyond game consoles. Apple announced price hikes on its computers and tablets today as well. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Item 2: Brutal Bungie cuts Bungie laid off “most” of its Destiny development team and some developers who worked on Marathon, the newest game from the struggling Sony-owned studio. A WARN notice issued by Sony to Washington State, where Bungie is based, tallied cuts impacting 292 workers, effective next month. That’s strictly for Bungie/Sony jobs in Washington and wouldn’t account for any elsewhere. The video I clipped below shows the redacted list of Bungie cuts filed to Washington State officials. As you’ll see, I had to scroll for a while… In a note emailed to PlayStation workers and published online, PlayStation game studios chief Hermen Hulst offered the following explanation for these latest cuts at Bungie: This is painful news, especially for talented colleagues whose roles have been eliminated. This decision was made only after extensive discussion and careful consideration, and I want to provide some context on how we arrived here. Over the past several months, together with Bungie leadership, we reviewed the studio’s long-term direction, development priorities, resource needs, and role within our broader portfolio strategy. We explored multiple alternatives before concluding that a reduction was necessary to align the studio’s resources with its current priorities and long-term goals. In 2022, Sony bought Bungie for $3.7 billion. The studio’s marquee game, the multiplayer live service shooter Destiny 2 was losing popularity at the time. Its next game Marathon, released earlier this year, has been well-reviewed but had a slow start. Bungie is renowned for making great shooter games, and Destiny fans have mourned the wind-down of Destiny 2. They’ve also expressed bewilderment over reports that Destiny 3 is not, per Bloomberg, immediately in the cards.
Heastie brushes off growing DSA influence, defeat of incumbents in Albany
Heastie sought to put the results into context while speaking with reporters at an unrelated event in Schenectady on Thursday.
2026 World Cup Is Putting FIFA’s Rules on Political Neutrality to the Test
The World Cup is in full swing across North America, and the U.S. men’s team faces Turkey in its final group round appearance on Thursday. But behind the cheering fans and nail biting matches, FIFA's commitment to political neutrality is put to the test. Marisa sits down with Tariq Panja, global sports correspondent at The New York Times. They dig into the politics behind the games, from restrictions on Iran’s team and President Trump’s unusually close relationship with FIFA president Giann
21ALIVE SPORTS DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE: Loyer to the Clippers, TinCaps find second half success
21Alive Sports Director Andy Newman and Weekend Sports Anchor Nia Hinson catch you up on this week’s sports news.
Dolly Parton makes surprise appearance — complete with a joke
Dolly Parton just made a surprise appearance, complete with her trademark humor, amid health issues.
Kawhi Leonard Seeks Extension – But Not With Current Team
Kawhi Leonard has one year left on his current contract with the Los Angeles Clippers. He’s eligible to sign an extension this summer, and sounds like he’s willing to do get that done. The one caveat: The Clippers aren’t necessarily the team he wants to sign with. Leonard, who turns 35 on June 29, ...
Watch: 2026 High School Sports Awards
The 4th annual 6 Sports High School Awards event is happening on Thursday.
Lucky the Bull Gets a Transformation
A local artist has been working for weeks on restoring a historic landmark that will soon be making a public appearance.
New York state launches center for cannabis care and health
The state Office of Cannabis Management on Thursday announced the launch of its Center of Excellence for Cannabis Care and Health Equity.
Commodore Has Dropped The Price Of Its Retro Phone By $100 Ahead Of Preorders
A refreshing direction for a price change.
FlashPoint: How a Christian political media network became a platform for Indiana’s Lt. Gov.
By Sydney Byerly The Indiana Citizen June 25, 2026 When Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith called Islam a “demonic death cult” during an appearance on the Christian political program FlashPoint in May, the remarks drew swift backlash from faith leaders across Indiana. It also highlighted the growing influence of the Christian media network that amplified
Making Our Own Luck
We are cross-posting a piece that former NIH official Kris Willis wrote for Macroscience. Kris is now the President and Founder of the Woodley Park Institute, for which I’m a board member. Picking winners or hedging bets? Federal science agencies have long wrestled with the question of how to ensure their billions of dollars of grants and contracts result in maximum benefits for Americans. On the surface, it might seem that a goal-oriented, interventionist style of management would be the best policy: prioritize our most pressing problems and distribute funding accordingly.This top-down strategy creates a unique hazard, though: bad choices can send resources in the wrong direction, resulting in slow progress that impedes the delivery of tangible benefits to citizens. Moreover, if decision makers pursue an applied advance when the underlying scientific principles remain poorly understood, they risk costly failures and a loss of support for the research enterprise at large. Examples include Nixon’s 1971 War on Cancer, undertaken on the premise that a cure could be achieved in less than a decade, the drive to build an operational commercial fusion plant by the mid-1990s, and the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease, which failed to produce the effective treatments and prevention strategies promised by 2025. The contrasting laissez-faire approach is to hedge your bets. If the path to an advance is impossible to predict, then the wisest choice might be to distribute funding to as widely as possible. The main risk of this strategy is that spreading funding thinly may limit the resources available to the most promising research, resulting in the same negative outcomes as the interventionist approach: limited support for the most promising topics, slow progress, and delayed returns. In reality, at science agencies like the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, program managers navigate between these two extremes, setting some funds aside to target high-priority areas and using the rest to cover the widest possible range of meritorious proposals. This middle path seems like the most rational way to proceed, but it still requires making choices. How much should be set aside for high priority topics? What should those topics be? How should we define merit? Expert opinion can provide a helpful guide, but leading experts can have remarkably different opinions about what matters and what should be prioritized. Moreover, experts and administrators alike can be risk averse, giving an edge to high-profile, well-established concepts. What’s really needed is a data-driven framework to help guide decision-making, one that doesn’t simply repackage prestige or incumbency. Recognizing breakthroughs years in advance Many breakthroughs fail to attract funding or recognition at the earliest stages of development. Katalin Karikó, for example, spent years struggling to win grants for work on mRNA that would eventually win her and Drew Weissman a Nobel Prize. Similar stories can be told about Jim Allison’s groundbreaking studies leading to the development of cancer immunotherapy, Stan Pruisner’s demonstration that prions can self-replicate without DNA, or Robin Warren and Barry Marshall’s proof that Helicobacter pylori, not stress, causes ulcers. Yet at some point, the scientific community recognizes and responds to transformative breakthroughs like these. How does that change happen? And what if science funders could identify the areas that are on the cusp of a breakthrough? Those questions led my collaborators and me to study how scientists responded to past breakthroughs. Based on patterns in that data, we developed a means of predicting future breakthroughs, using biomedicine as a proof of concept. It’s worth taking a moment to describe how our approach works. Briefly, our prediction process begins by grouping the 18 million or so peer-reviewed papers in PubMed, the authoritative database of biomedical research, into roughly 50,000 unique topics. A small subset of these topics are so widely acclaimed as breakthroughs that they have been recognized with a major prize like a Nobel or a Lasker Award. We theorized that studying the development of these outliers over time, especially before they gained acclaim, was the key to identifying future instances of them. After defining topics, we chose 21 representative breakthroughs and asked what they looked like before they won prestigious prizes. To answer that question, we re-ran our topic-mapping algorithm repeatedly, winding back the clock one year each time, stringing together the years to follow the progress of each field as it grew and advanced. We found that in each case, the years leading up to a discovery followed a pattern: a burst of papers on a new, rapidly evolving topic, many of which quickly became influential. These characteristics—the percent of papers that are new, the percentage of papers that are brought in from other topics, and the influence of each individual paper—can all be measured separately for any given topic. Together, they act as a predictive signal that is detectable an average of five years before a transformative discovery is made, and up to thirty years before the discovery receives a major prize. Scanning the current research landscape for topics that display this signal allows us to predict what work will likely produce a future breakthrough. Each year we analyzed includes four or five signals, a number that appears to have remained constant across a twenty year time frame. In their classic work on the sociology of science, Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar established that the desire to participate in a major discovery is an important motivator for scientists as they consider whether they should take up (or abandon) a research problem. Although further work is needed, the simplest explanation for our results is that this behavior is widespread enough to detect at scale. A foundational advance, or something like it, draws the attention of scientists and causes them to change the direction of their research. They vote with their feet, staking their own reputation and careers by publishing on and citing the new idea. That upswell of interest is the foundation of our breakthrough signal. What kind of research does our model identify as a breakthrough? After building a model based on the patterns in our 21 preselected breakthroughs, we tested it by identifying all early signals of discovery from 1994 through 1997. Of the 18 signals we found in that time period, 17 can be traced forward in time to a breakthrough. Examples include super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (see the image above), the directed evolution of proteins and enzymes (Chemistry Nobel, 2018), and sequencing the human genome (National Medal of Science, 2008). The discovery of the role of leptin signaling in obesity is a particularly interesting case study. Around 1950, scientists noticed the existence of a type of lab mouse that suffered from a unique inherited form of obesity. When given the freedom to choose their own diet, these mice ate more than normal and preferred food that was high in fat. Researchers had few clues as to why the animals overate; early experiments pointed to the existence of a soluble ob factor found circulating in the bloodstream that regulated appetite, but its identity was unknown. In 1994, Jeffrey Friedman and colleagues identified and sequenced the ob gene, noting that the protein it encoded appeared to fit the profile of a circulating factor. A year later, a trio of high-profile publications demonstrated that ob was a hormone that regulated body weight and fat deposition by regulating appetite. One of these was co-authored by Friedman, who christened it leptin from the ancient Greek word for thin. Using our model, the data from 1996 make it clear this advance would become a breakthrough. Scientists had flocked to study the biology of the new hormone, generating the flurry of new papers and citations required to produce a signal. One of these demonstrated that serum leptin concentrations reflected the amount of adipose tissue in the human body, providing clinical validation of the earlier mouse studies. Before the identification of leptin, scientists were unable to point to a specific molecule that controlled appetite and adiposity, so that it was impossible to rule out non-physiological causes of obesity; its characterization fundamentally changed our concept of weight gain. In 2010, Friedman and fellow pioneer Douglas Coleman were awarded a Lasker for the discovery. Our work also identifies breakthroughs in clinical practice and behavioral and social sciences, even though these areas are less likely to draw the attention of major prize committees. One example that falls into this category is the introduction of endovascular aneurysm repair, a minimally invasive surgical procedure for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm, a leading cause of death among Americans over the age of 65. Relative to the previous standard of care, it reduces in-hospital mortality by almost four-fold. In 2017, Timothy Chuter received the American College of Surgeons’ prestigious Jacobsen Innovation award for his multiple refinements to the technique. Another under-recognized breakthrough identified by our model is the development of standardized survey instruments to assess the quality of life for HIV+ patients. The antiretroviral cocktails introduced in the mid-1990s reduced AIDS mortality, but treatment came with serious side effects. The new evaluations showed that patients whose disease progressed had worse physical functioning than Americans with other chronic diseases, while those who were asymptomatic maintained a health-related quality of life on par with the overall US population. This evidence made it possible for patients and activists to argue that even in the absence of a total cure, and in spite of the side effects, alleviation of symptoms was a worthwhile priority for clinicians. My colleagues and I have failed to identify any significant recognition for the physicians and health policy experts who pioneered this advance, although in 2016, researchers called for the World Health Organization to set targets for good health-related quality of life as part of its framework to end the AIDS pandemic. From forecasting to funding How should science funders use our predictions? Any serious discussion of what we should do with this new capability needs to begin with an understanding of its limitations. We can’t (and shouldn’t) invest all of our resources in the small number of topics predicted to produce breakthroughs. Innovative new fields are born from existing ones; they rarely arise de novo. If funders don’t maintain a diverse portfolio, the breakthroughs of tomorrow will have no antecedents. Think of this as eating the seed corn, or killing the goose that lays the golden egg. There are also multiple goals of funding beyond basic scientific discovery, including translating discoveries into clinical practice, developing new technologies, supporting economic development, and training new scientists. The investments needed to accomplish these goals are likely different from those required to support emerging breakthroughs. Finally, we must be aware that we may not capture every instance of a breakthrough. The concept is fuzzy, and not every significant discovery is recognized with a major award. Further, breakthroughs are rare, meaning that our dataset is, by necessity, small. This makes formal estimates of accuracy challenging. Although our overall success rate appears to be high, any one signal may turn out to be a false positive. We found one apparent example: the development of the third generation COX-2 inhibitors, Vioxx and Celebrex, which were much celebrated in the early 2000s as effective but non-addictive pain relievers, meets all the algorithmic criteria of a breakthrough. Five years after it received FDA approval, researchers demonstrated that Vioxx was associated with serious cardiovascular complications, and the manufacturer voluntarily pulled the drug from the market. Celebrex remains available, although like other NSAIDs, it carries an FDA warning for increased cardiovascular risk. Decision makers who were overly focused on the breakthrough potential of this research might have wasted substantial resources nurturing an area that ultimately proved to be a failure—but so would those who relied on expert opinion at the time. That said, the potential benefits of funding the next mRNA vaccine or cancer immunotherapy years earlier than we might have are large. When we can’t assume the outcome of an action, it’s worth conducting an experiment. Can targeted support for areas that are poised to produce a breakthrough increase the return on scientific investment without cannibalizing future advances? With the necessary administrative infrastructure in place, conducting this experiment would be straightforward. First, identify all the breakthrough signals between 2018 and 2023, select half at random, and commit to a decade of investment. For biomedicine, a six year window should yield about 30 topics with the potential to produce a breakthrough. Providing strong support to half of these might be accomplished for $300 million a year. That’s roughly half of the recent annual budget of the NIH Common Fund or around 20% of the fiscal year 2025 budget for ARPA-H. After five years, then again at ten, compare to see which group — the one that was actively managed, or the control — produced more breakthroughs, and on what timescale. Although we used biomedicine as an example, the same experiment could just as well be run for physics, materials science, or any other discipline. Any attempt to undertake such an experiment should keep three points top of mind. First, we can predict the topic of future breakthroughs, but the people and vision for how to move the work forward are still important. In practice, this means success requires active program managers with the expertise to develop the science and the authority to do so, including by recruiting investigators. Second, we would be wise to learn from the failures of past attempts to fund transformative research. High among these are funding modestly repackaged work, confusing the genuinely novel with the merely unfamiliar, and relying too much on incumbent investigators. All of these risks can be mitigated by thoroughly and intelligently integrating high quality data into portfolio management. Finally, we need to have patience. Even with strong funding support, producing a breakthrough takes time. If supporting breakthroughs is the best way to nurture the birth of new fields, we also need to accurately describe and properly manage the other two stages, so that we invest wisely throughout the productive lifetime of ideas and divest once they reach the point of diminishing returns. We would benefit from more study of all of these phases, especially the transition from one to another. More research could answer questions like: When does a breakthrough become an established field? How do the availability of funding, the size and characteristics of the available workforce, and the accumulation of evidence that disagrees with prevailing models affect a field’s decline? Exactly how do old ideas give birth to new ones, and can we speed up the process? The more we understand about the dynamics of scientific progress, the better we can maximize the odds that our curiosity leads to results. I’d call that finding a way to make our own luck.
Transcription by Ben Lerner wins Orwell prize for political fiction
Judging chair calls Lerner’s novel a ‘funny, brainy and timely’ study of our appetite for technology, while Karen Bartlett wins the nonfiction prize for The Escape from Kabul
Chris Evert shares devastating health update
It is the news that no one wanted to hear about Chris Evert. Amid the Netflix press tour and her upcoming ESPN commentary duties at Wimbledon, we learned on Wednesday that she quietly stepped away to deal with a health…
Crews on scene of business fire in southwest Cedar Rapids
The fire happened at Tegeler Wrecker & Crane in southwest Cedar Rapids.
What Happens When You Throw a Paper Plane From Space? These Physicists Found Out
A simulated A4 paper plane takes a death dive from the ISS for science.
Europe heatwave breaks records as UN agencies ramp up health warnings
As a record-breaking heatwave grips large parts of Europe, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), national weather services and partners are mobilising heat-health action plans for millions of people facing dangerous temperatures.
Fox News anchor Sean Hannity addresses viewers’ concerns over appearance
Fox News host Sean Hannity addressed online chatter about his health in a social media post on Wednesday after viewers raised concerns about his appearance on the air in recent days. “Thanks …
Government Scientists Fired by Trump Launch New Website for Sharing Climate Data
"Trusted climate information should not disappear when politics change."
Trump to meet House speaker in attempt to break legislative gridlock
Trump suddenly scrapped the signing of a pivotal bipartisan housing bill yesterday, demanding the Senate pass his voter ID bill
York County restaurants scrambling for bread after bakery's closure
Terranetti's Italian Bakery in the Mechanicsburg area closed suddenly after 54 years, leaving York County restaurants scrambling for bread.
Dolly Parton Makes Surprise Appearance Following Health Issues
Dolly Parton made a surprise appearance at the grand opening of her travel stop in Tennessee just one month after she canceled an upcoming Vegas residency due to health concerns.
Ebola response highlights value of African science
With African scientists leading the way in the latest Ebola response, Catherine Kyobutungi makes the case for long-term investment.
How should European scientists respond to the US AI kill switch?
Earlier in June, Europe’s worst fears of technological dependence were confirmed when the White House ordered the AI firm Anthropic to stop non-US citizens using its leading models. This kill-switch moment crystalised anxieties in Brussels that the continent, lagging the US on the creation of leading-edge AI models, is now a technological of vassal of Washington. The shock has specific implications for European scientists and universities. Some governments are now worried that with AI being integrated into labs, Donald Trump now has his finger hovering over an off switch for European science. “Having restrictions on this tool, it can have an impact on our own research,” said France’s research minister, Philippe Baptiste, at the VivaTech conference in Paris on June 18.Baptiste, himself a former academic, said that colleagues in mathematics had recently warned him they were now cut off from leading-edge US models, risking their work. “This model is not available anymore now because of the US restriction, and for the first time this had an impact on mathematics,” a field where large language models (LLMs) are making a significant contribution, said Baptiste. So, should European scientists avoid relying on US models in the future? Or would this be a self-harming overreaction? And how is AI being used in science, anyway? What happened?On June 12, it emerged that Washington, citing cybersecurity concerns, had ordered Anthropic to stop non-US citizens using two models: Claude Mythos 5, and Claude Fable 5, a version of Mythos but with guardrails to prevent abuse. Anthropic said Washington’s concerns were overblown. But forced to follow the order, yet with no way to check who was using the models, the company suddenly shut down access for everyone, US citizens included. There’s still no agreement on how to restore broad access. But last week, Bloomberg reported that select US companies, and the US government, still had access to Mythos despite the ban, but the EU’s cybersecurity agency Enisa had been shut out. Class division of researchersIn the longer term, access outside the US should be restored, said Marcel Salathé, co-director of the AI centre at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (EPFL), because a permanent restriction would be financially ruinous to US AI firms. “Even Trump will eventually budge to economic pressure,” he said.However, US AI firms might end up operating rather like banks, doing due diligence on users of their leading-edge AI models, he went on.European scientists are unlikely to fall foul of such checks, he said. But having a Chinese postgraduate in their lab, or doing a type of research the US disapproved of, could potentially result in access being denied. “It will create a sort of class division of researchers,” he said. More than frontier modelsHowever, successfully deploying AI in science is about far more than just having access to leading LLMs such as Mythos.Instead, many science-specific tools, most famously Alphafold, which predicts protein folding structures, require “far less” computing power to train than frontier models, well within the capabilities of European supercomputers, according to a recent analysis by the Arq Foundation, a Brussel-based AI think tank. Instead, tools such as Alphafold are possible because certain fields, like protein folding, weather prediction or astronomy, have large, clean, standardised datasets that can be used to train predictive models. Rather than compute, “data is the central constraint for AI for science,” the report says. For example, a less powerful physics model trained on CERN’s data “will be more valuable than the best model without certain data,” said Bengüsu Özcan, author of the report. European advantage?Europe could therefore steal a march by using its scientific data and infrastructure to create models US digital giants cannot. “They might actually match or go even beyond what these big [US] companies are doing,” said Özcan.Indeed, some European start-ups hope to create automated testing labs to create the kind of standardised data that could speed up the discovery of new materials. Materials scientists say there’s currently too little data to train models. AI scientistsHowever, even if the bottleneck for AI in science is often data, rather than compute, being at the mercy of the US for LLM access could still become a problem for European scientists. A new class of “AI scientists” based on leading LLMs is also emerging, Özcan’s report says.Unlike domain-specific tools like Alphafold, these try to automate day-to-day scientific work, by providing an overarching tool that coordinates specific models to synthesise existing literature, generate hypotheses or run analysis of data. The problem for Europe, however, is that these tools are sometimes based on US leading models. Google Deepmind’s AI Co-Scientist, for example, is built on Google’s Gemini LLM. Systematic failureThese scientific automation tools are still in their early stages, and still exhibit “systematic failures on scientific tasks,” Özcan’s report says. One of the problems is that the messy, day-to-day process of scientific discovery is largely not documented, meaning LLMs don’t have a good source of data to learn how scientists actually work. Meanwhile, some tasks, such as literature synthesis, don’t typically require access to leading edge models.However, the performance of AI scientific assistants could improve as companies such as Google pour resources into developing them. Rely on US“Unfortunately, for scientific assistants, there is not much we can do right now except rely on US frontier AI,” said Antoine Bosselut, a natural language processing expert based at EPFL. Chinese-built open models, which can run on local computers, lessening the risk of a shutdown, are touted as one alternative to US dependence. There’s also Mistral, once seen as Europe’s main AI hope, but the Paris-based company has seen its recent models fall behind in performance. But the Chinese alternatives are generally not as capable as US frontier AI models, said Bosselut, unless paired with fiddly, custom tools that allows them to act as independent agents. “Most scientists do not have the time,” he said. Don’t jump ship yetAlthough the kill switch moment is seen a warning shot for European scientists, it doesn’t mean labs should abandon US AI tools immediately. “I do not think the right response is simply to abandon US-based models and systems under the banner of sovereignty or independence,” said Mattias Björnmalm, secretary general of the Cesaer university association. “That would be an overreaction.”Related articlesEuropean sovereignty in AI requires ‘ugly trade-offs,’ say experts Robotic lab start-up makes case for €500M EU-funded materials testing facilityAI in science: is it useful? Instead, European researchers need to ask themselves whether they’re becoming dependent on technology that could be turned off in Washington, said Özcan. “They might not see this today, but they should really start asking this question,” she said. European researchers need a plan B, said Salathé. “I would recommend to every researcher, very proactively explore alternatives.”Own toolsIn addition, Björnmalm and others want European research institutions to develop their own scientific AI tools.Instead of signing AI deals with US digital giants, European universities should be using this money to create their own models, which may end up being superior for research, said Sabine Leonelli, an expert on the use of AI in science at the Technical University of Munich. “Universities in Europe seem to be happy to sign commercial contracts with US companies on the assumption [their AI tools] are better,” she said. But US frontier LLMs are typically opaque, and have been developed without independent scientific input, she said. “This is not good enough for science.”Last year, Swiss researchers released Apertus, an LLM designed to be completely transparent, from its development methods to its training data. The idea is that this makes scientific tools built on top of the model far more reproducible than with closed, commercial alternatives.“Europe needs more of this: serious capacity-building that gives researchers, universities and companies credible options,” said Björnmalm.
Chicago Cubs news
Dansby Swanson’s five-game hitting streak was capped Wednesday with a grand slam in the 10-3 win over the Mets
Venezuela's Devastating Earthquake Was a ‘Doublet’? Here's What This Means
The two deadly earthquakes happened just 39 seconds apart, but were seismologically distinct.
This beverage stock is likely to rise ahead of coffee business spinoff, Barclays says
The investment bank upgraded shares to overweight from equal weight.