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United Center owners break ground on 1901 Project
The $7 billion megaproject stands to dramatically reshape a swath of the Near West Side.
Draft defense bill would halt cuts, closures of military health facilities
House members are seeking to stop the closure or reductions of services at U.S. military hospitals and clinics.
College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science
Professors at the University of California want to reinstate entrance exams, claiming many students don't have a basic understanding of STEM subjects.
Small business employment reaches highest level of 2026, Paychex reports
Paychex reports small business employment reached its highest level of 2026 in May, showing resilient job growth across industries and regions.
Brentford Set to Stun Premier League With £38m Summer Transfer
Brentford Transfer News: Said El Mala Deal Signals Serious AmbitionBrentford Move Closer to Said El Mala TransferBrentford appear to be edging towards one of the most intriguing deals of the summer, w...
Scientists Create Water Tweezers to Move Small “Surfers”
Breakthrough shows how water waves can be used to move and hold floating objects
Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow tear up over “Friends” and“ The Comeback” connection: 'S---!'
The real-life friends reunited on June 3 for the season 24 premiere of the "Variety" interview series Actors on Actors.
The Rabbit Hole of Everyday Questions with Emily Zhang
Emily Zhang has created dozens of YouTube videos, receiving over 300 million views on subjects from the physics of bowling to the invention of blue LED. This year she started Rabbit Hole, a channel that offers “extraordinary answers to everyday questions.” We spoke with Zhang — a 2025 winner of the National Academies’ Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications — about Rabbit Hole and her experiences with YouTube as a medium for science communication.
The cult of objectivity has broken consciousness science
With 22 competing theories and no consensus in sight, the science of consciousness is lost. In this exclusive IAI interview, Berkeley psychedelics researcher and bestselling author of a new book on consciousness Michael Pollan insists that even though consciousness lies beyond traditional forms of scientific investigation, we should resist becoming dualists who see it as something radically different from ordinary stuff in the world. Instead, he makes the case for reimagining science itself: it must stop reaching for objective descriptions of physical reality, and instead embrace subjectivity as the indispensable core of all inquiry. Alasdair Craig: How did your experiences with psychedelics get you interested in consciousness?Michael Pollan: One of the things that happens on psychedelics is that they foreground consciousness. What formerly seemed perfectly transparent and ever present—and yet, non-existent, as water is to fish—suddenly you see it. The metaphor I use in the book is that psychedelics sponge the windscreen. Suddenly you realize: wow, there’s a windscreen, there is this phenomenon that’s mediating my relationship to reality. This is not an unusual realization on psychedelics. I think a lot of people are called to think about consciousness after psychedelic experiences. So that was the proximate inspiration for A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness (2026).And then there was a more specific way in which psychedelics influence the book. That was a particular experience I had on psilocybin. I had the sensation that the plants in my garden were conscious and returning my gaze, with their own point of view and agency, and I got curious as to how to evaluate an insight like that. I mean, what’s the truth quotient of insights you have on psychedelics? And I was reading William James—who, of course, wrote beautifully about mystical experience—and he said, we can’t judge the metaphysics here, but we should pay attention to two criteria: (1) How useful is it to think this is true? He was a pragmatist, of course. And (2) can we subject it to other ways of knowing to validate it? Because maybe we should treat these insights as hypotheses. And that’s kind of how I approach psychedelics, as a great generator of hypotheses, but they need to be tested against other ways of knowing. And so that led me down this long path exploring the science of plant intelligence and plant sentience.AC: I love your phrase, “smudging the windowpane of conscious experience.” So do you now start to think, actually, even when I’m not on psychedelics, I’m just seeing a screen all the time, which is not reality, but rather is my conscious experience, behind which reality is hidden?MP: Well, you know, not when I’m brushing my teeth and making breakfast! But yes, in meditation, certainly. I mean, one of the things you realize is that my experience happens to be this way now, but it could be another way. And many things can affect it. My morning coffee changes the screen in various ways, sharpens certain things.___The only tool we have to understand consciousness is consciousness.___There’s this wonderful metaphor in Aldous Huxley’s book, The Doors of Perception, where he thinks we channel consciousness, and that what the brain does is edit it, and there’s a reducing valve. And psychedelics open the reducing valve wider. I don’t know that I’m ready to buy into the idea that consciousness exists outside brains, but I do love that metaphor because there are times when you are more conscious than others. I know I’ve switched from window pane to valve, but you know, a camera aperture can open wider or narrower. And I do have a sense of that. I have a sense of when I’m being less conscious, and when I’m being more conscious, by which I mean, you know, more present, taking in more sensory information. So when you start thinking about consciousness as a matter of degree, that changes things also.I think when we scroll on social media, obviously, we’re conscious. But minimally so, because we don’t have to generate our own thoughts. We’re basically taking these little hits from other people and thinking their thoughts.The process of writing this book made me kind of relativize everyday consciousness as just one type, which is exactly what William James said. Normal consciousness is one type, separated by the flimsiest of screens from the other types.AC: If we stick with the metaphor of the smudge on the window that you get when you take psychedelics, it seems like we’re saying that consciousness has become like an object that you’re looking at, right? You’re looking at the smudge and that just is consciousness. But sometimes we’ll talk about consciousness as a state that you’re in, rather than an object you can perceive. You’re either conscious or you’re not conscious. So it’s difficult to really know what sort of thing we’re talking about when we talk about consciousness, right?MP: Yeah. When you say that consciousness is an object, what’s the subject? Consciousness also? The only tool we have to understand consciousness is consciousness. So we’re in a closed loop and when we get a perspective on consciousness, we’re not achieving any distance from it. That’s one of the problems with studying consciousness. Science is predicated on an objective, God’s eye view of things, and you never get that. There’s no such thing. SUGGESTED VIEWING The brain filters consciousness With Àlex Gómez-Marín But, yeah, there is this sense, I think, that consciousness is something you can approach. Certainly, when you’re writing and trying to recreate a conscious experience, it’s a fiction, but you’re standing back from it, and looking at it. But there’s no real subject-object distinction.AC: That’s so interesting, because when philosophers start talking about consciousness, they often talk about what they call “qualia”, which is their word for the felt experience of, say, the color red. And I think that way of speaking often makes us think of the qualia as an object, which you can see out there: the redness of red. But, as you say, we also want to collapse the subject-object distinction when we talk about consciousness. So there’s something strange going on here…MP: Oh, yeah, there are many strange things going on! *AC: Let’s talk about the varieties of consciousness. Apart from perceptions, there are, pains, emotions, thoughts, and so on. What is it that holds all this diversity together so that they all count as instances of consciousness? What is it that they all have in common?MP: Yeah, that’s a really good question. I mean, there is sensory information, right? Which we perceive coming from the world outside ourselves. And then there’s internal information, which is what’s called interoception. And this is very important too. This is where feelings come from—what are sometimes called homeostatic feelings—that are intended to get the brain to keep us in these narrow ranges of temperature and glucose and so on. That’s a very important part of consciousness. And according to some researchers, who I think are probably right, this is where consciousness begins, with these very primal feelings, like hunger and thirst and warmth and itch, and things like that. And then there’s this third thing, which is our thinking about thinking.And what holds all this together is, I think, the sense of self. Consciousness generates a self: it is probably an organizing principle. All this stuff is happening to the self. It’s a construct, I think, but it is very useful. It can connect all these different streams of consciousness to a single being or a place, metaphorically speaking.* AC: The first half of your book is about the science of consciousness. Is consciousness just another thing, like black holes or the origin of life, which we don’t yet understand, but which we should have every hope that science will one day get to the bottom of, or is there something special about consciousness that makes this unlikely?MP: It depends how you define science. As we define science now, it’s going be very difficult. Science since Galileo has had a set of rules or assumptions, which is that the proper remit of science is to deal with the objective, quantifiable, third-person world. And the physical sciences have done amazing work under that set of limitations. Galileo—for tactical reasons, not for philosophical reasons—said science should not deal with the soul, which at the time was what consciousness was considered to be. So what is subjective, what is qualitative, what is first person, we’re going to leave to the church, he said. And this was a good agreement, and it probably kept many scientists from getting burned at the stake. But it leaves science in an awkward spot, now that it wants to venture into that territory of qualities, of first-person experience. And I don’t think it has the proper tools. I think it will have to add to its toolkit in some way, and find a way to bring in phenomenology, or lived experience and introspection, which science is usually dismissive of.The challenge—we alluded to it earlier—is that the only tool you have to study consciousness with is consciousness. And what I mean by that is, the whole scientific enterprise is a manifestation of consciousness. As much as scientists like to flatter themselves with this idea that they attain a godlike perspective on what they study, when it comes to consciousness, there’s no such thing. And it’s fine for all the things you can step outside of and study from that perspective. But two areas it won’t work are consciousness and cosmology.___It could be that we live in this anomaly of not believing nature is conscious. And maybe psychedelics are teaching us something we’ve forgotten.___With cosmology, too, you have to study the universe from inside the universe. It’s not that cosmologists haven’t made progress. We know a lot about the age of the universe and expansion and things like that. But we can’t penetrate what happened before the Big Bang. We just don’t have the tools because we can’t stand outside.The fact that there are 22 full-scale theories of consciousness tells you all you need to know: we’re kind of lost. And I was surprised to find that we are more lost than I thought we were when I started this. I thought that there’d be leading theories, or that we had experiments that we could conduct that would nail some of this down. And the fact is, we don’t.So, I don’t know if science can solve it. But, of course, we can change the rules of science. A really influential book for me was a book called The Blind Spot, by two physicists, Marcello Gleiser and Adam Frank, and a philosopher, Evan Thompson. It’s a reminder that science is a social practice. It’s organized in a certain way and it can be organized in a different way. But it has this huge blind spot at the center of it, which is its failure to recognize that it is a form of consciousness itself, and it doesn’t have a good way of taking account of lived experience.AC: On the one hand, I think you want to resist traditional dualism, which would say that consciousness is something magical, something supernatural, right? But on the other hand, you’re accepting that there is this division in reality between the stuff that you can investigate objectively and measure, and so on—the stuff that science has been good at finding out about—and consciousness, which, for some reason, you can’t objectively measure. Some would take this to suggest that the dualism is actually right. Is there a way of reconciling these two strands of your thinking?MP: To call it magical is full of value judgement. I mean, you could just say immaterial. The interesting thing is, I think, that intuitively we’re all dualists. And I don’t know whether that’s because we’re children of Descartes and other cultures are less dualist than we are. Or it may be because that’s how consciousness feels. It feels different than the body. It feels separate from the body. But I don’t think we should trust that intuition.AC: So let’s think about ways that science might be changed to get at consciousness. I suppose the starting point would be the way that you begin the second half of your book. You have this nice line from William James, where he says, “We now begin our study of the mind from within.” Could you give us some sense of the ways of studying the mind from within? What does this involve?MP: I don’t know what that science looks like. But one of the points I’m making is that it depends on the humanities. I found that I learned as much, if not more, about consciousness, from reading novels and poetry. There is a sense of the fullness and complexity of consciousness that you don’t get in any scientific account. I interviewed this stream-of-consciousness writer and I approached her as an expert on consciousness, and she is. So I think that dialogue is really important.I’m reading Ben Lerner’s new novel, Transcription. Just read the first page of this novel: it’s a man falling asleep on a train, going to conduct an interview, and there is the experience of being in the train, facing backwards, there’s the view outside, but there’s a reflection of himself through which he’s seeing outside. There’s the memory of dropping his kids off at school. All this is going on in one moment of consciousness. Scientists aren’t going anywhere near that. But I think it’s useful for them to think about. That’s where we’re trying to go: like, how does such a layered experience happen? You know, it also makes you wonder, could a computer ever do this? And it gives you some doubt.*AC: Before we get to computers, perhaps we could talk briefly about plants. How did you come to feel that they are sentient?MP: Well, it was a psychedelic experience, and it’s not unusual on psychedelics. In fact, there’ve been studies about how people become animists during psychedelic experience. Their belief in animism arises after a single psychedelic experience.You know, most scientists would say this is all a myth. But we have only 400 years of the age of enlightenment and science. Before that, we were animists, and if you go around the world, most indigenous cultures are still animists, and children are animists, by and large, until they go to school. So it could be that we live in this anomaly of not believing nature is conscious. And maybe psychedelics are teaching us something we’ve forgotten.As I said, I wanted to test this idea, and see whether there was conventional scientific evidence for it. And there’s fascinating work going on in a field that calls itself—in a rather cheeky way—plant neurobiology. These are people who fully realize there are no neurons in plants, but they’re trolling conventional botanists! And they’re doing experiments that are demonstrating that plants can learn and remember, which is kind of amazing: how do you store a memory without neurons? They’re finding plants that can solve problems, that can hear and see. In fact, they have 20 senses to our five or six. For example, a bean plant looking for something to twine, and given a pole within eight inches or so of it, knows where that pole is and will aim its spiraling reach at that pole. What is that about? Is it bouncing signals off of it?One of the spookiest things is the fact that the same anesthetics that put us out put plants out. You might think that plants are already out, but they’re not. They’re just slow. If you take a plant with a fast behavior, like a Venus flytrap, and give it an anesthetic, it will stop reacting. So you have to ask yourself, what is lost when the plant is anaesthetized? Some state of alertness, of awareness, of its environment, of reactivity. I’m not prepared to call that consciousness, but maybe it’s sentience—which is a simpler form of consciousness, and involves the ability to sense what’s going on in your environment and assess what’s good and bad for you and act appropriately. That may be a universal quality of life.AC: Let’s turn from plants to AI. You point out that LLMs are trained on the internet rather than direct interactions with reality. You put this really nicely when you say the internet is not the world so much as a shadow cast by the world. So LLMs are living in this kind of shadow world, or in Plato’s cave, as you put it. What’s the significance of this for AI consciousness and moral consideration? And, to recall the beginning of our conversation, if we’re stuck behind a veil or screen of consciousness, are we also stuck in a kind of shadow world?MP: I don’t think they’re the same shadow worlds because our world includes nature and other people. And even if it’s mediated in some ways... There is a reality out there, and we are in relation to it, through consciousness. There’s friction with it. What’s missing from the LLMs is that friction with the real world. There’s more to the world than human representation, which is what they’re dealing with. And that means that so far, AI is a cultural technology for combining thoughts we’ve already had. SUGGESTED VIEWING Cracking the code for thought With Roger Penrose, Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski, Max Tegmark, Güneş Taylor Genuine creativity is more than collage. A lot of what AI does now is tantamount to collage, putting this with that and you know, that’s part of art, certainly. But there are also genuinely new ideas that come into the world that don’t come in through manipulating the representations we already have. So it remains to be seen whether AIs can be truly creative in that more radical sense.But my arguments against AI becoming conscious have to do with the fact that the idea of AI consciousness is based on this faulty metaphor that the brain is a computer. There are dimensions in which the brain is like a computer—it certainly does its share of computation. But computers have this sharp distinction between hardware and software, and brains don’t. In a brain, hardware and software are identical. Every memory is a physical change to the brain. Brains are not interchangeable in the way computers are. So this idea that you could take the consciousness out and somehow run it on another substrate, a silicon substrate, seems foolhardy.Anyway, it’s a more extended argument, and I may be wrong. And when we move to computers that aren’t based on silicon—neuromorphic computers and things like that—all bets may be off.AC: Regarding your point about LLMs being stuck in the world of our representations—the internet or whatever—and not being able to interact with reality, are these representations, the world of the internet, themselves part of reality? We’ve created the internet, but it’s still a real thing that exists. And so while the LLMs may be trapped within that part of reality, they’re nevertheless within reality and interacting with it and so on. So it’s not obvious that there’s a barrier there to them becoming conscious and being creative.MP: Yeah, I mean, if our consciousness is built out of human culture, which is what we’re talking about with all those representations. But I tend to think consciousness comes a bit more out of nature and friction with the natural world, but...AC: So there’s a fundamental divide between the natural world and human artefacts?MP: And we lose track of that, and especially people in this computer world. You know, the people who are creating these AI systems, my guess is they’ve been into video games since the age of three, and they didn’t go outside a lot. And their own contact with nature is somewhat limited. I could be wrong, it’d be a very interesting thing to ask, all the wizards of AI, whether they like to go fishing and hiking and do things like that. Or were they on computers from a very early age? I interviewed Blake Lemoine, the Google engineer who came to believe that LaMDA, the Google LLM out at the time, was conscious and deserved personhood. It was very clear that he didn’t see a distinction between this bubble in which he lived and the real world. And I think we’ve all been distanced from the natural world, and this is taking us even further away. But it’s still there, you know, and we still have bodies, and we’re still mortal, and we don’t live in a simulation.AC: I think that’s a great place to finish. Michael Pollan, thank you very much!
One Commanders' position group has Dan Quinn excited
One position group has Commanders coach Dan Quinn really excited about 2026.
Rockies 8, Angels 2: The will to be weird
But who cares? The Rockies win their series with the Angels.
Carlos Jorge, Reds prospect, stays hot for Double-A Chattanooga
Reds prospect Carlos Jorge hit his sixth homer of the season for the Chattanooga Lookouts while raising his batting average to .341 and OPS to .935.
Scientists lose critical climate record as ocean observatory will go dark under Trump funding cuts
The Trump administration is dismantling a $386 million network of more than 900 ocean sensors funded by the National Science Foundation.
Dallas Mavericks Pick Former Valley View Site for Arena, Entertainment District
After months of speculation about the site of the team's future multi-billion-dollar arena and entertainment district—possibly, and controversially, including the Dallas City Hall site—the Mavs are heading up the Tollway to a new home off LBJ Freeway. But tip-off won't be until at least 2031.
Business owners discuss the impacts of low water levels at Smith Mountain Lake
WDBJ7 spoke with business owners in Franklin County about the low water levels and how they’re already having an impact on summer business.
The best museums in the world for art, history, and science
From the Louvre's 380,000 displayed objects to a Chicago science museum where every exhibit lets you run the experiment yourself
Steelers already looking to replace fired coach, says Mike McCarthy
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy discussed the firing of Derius Swinton II and revealed that the team was in the process of replacing him.
Microsoft launches MXC, an OS-level sandbox for AI agents, with OpenAI and Nvidia already on board
Microsoft launches MXC, an OS-level sandbox for AI agents in Windows, giving enterprises secure runtime controls, identity, and policy enforcement.
Cable manufacturer eyes $100M expansion at Indianapolis facility
Milan-based Prysmian Cables & Systems USA LLC plans to build a roughly 143,500-square-foot addition to its existing 52,000-square-foot facility along Rockville Road on the western edge of Marion County.
Coffee Conversation: Science Riot making science fun with comedy program
While science may not be the easiest or most entertaining subject to many, the non-profit Science Riot has made it their mission to put the fun back into STEM. The
Coffee Conversation: Science Riot making science fun with comedy program
While science may not be the easiest, or most entertaining, subject to many, the non-profit Science Riot has made it their mission to put the fun back into STEM.The organization's
Trump retreated on his payout fund, but some Republicans want proof it’s dead
The Justice Department backed off a court fight over the nearly $1.8 billion fund for alleged victims of unfair prosecution. GOP senators say a pause isn’t a promise.
US FDA proposes using existing science to speed up gene therapy development
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday proposed allowing makers of cell and gene therapies targeting rare and life-threatening diseases to use existing scientific knowledge to expedite development.
Orlando Health unveils plans for new hospital in Viera, Brevard County
Orlando Health plans to build a new hospital and medical office building in Brevard County, creating over 1,000 jobs and enhancing healthcare services.
St. John’s Hosts National Science Foundation-Supported Conference on Bilingual Research
The impact of age, language background, cognitive ability, and other ingredients on bilingualism was the subject of a US National Science Foundation (NSF)-support
Democrats Must Learn to Talk Sports
Politicians need as much attention as possible, as frequently as possible, while seeming as relatable as possible. A cheat code exists to hit all three objectives.
Lakers’ free agency situation is not good for LeBron James
NBA insider Jovan Buha recently claimed that the Los Angeles Lakers are expected to prioritize Austin Reaves over LeBron James when the two stars negotiate new contracts in free agency. During his latest podcast episode, Buha said that the Lakers…
Health Alert: U.S. Embassy – June 2, 2026 – Thailand Enhanced Ebola Screening - U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Thailand
Health Alert: U.S. Embassy – June 2, 2026 – Thailand Enhanced Ebola Screening Ebola Screening Location: International Ports of Entry, Thailand Event: Thailand has implemented Ebola disease-related screening and quarantine measures for travelers who stayed in or transited through Ebola disease-affected countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. Effective May 27, 2026, travelers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, or other neighboring countries with cross-border transmission will be screened by communicable disease control officers at the international port of entry in Thailand and could be subject to mandatory quarantine or self-isolation for at least 21 days. Failure to comply with quarantine or isolation orders may result in fines, imprisonment, or both under Thai law. Thailand currently has no confirmed Ebola cases but has implemented these measures following the World Health Organization’s Public Health Emergency declaration. For more information, contact Thailand’s Department of Disease Control hotline at 1422. Actions to Take: Follow directions from Thai authorities. Review Consular Information for Americans Regarding the Ebola Outbreak Stay up to date with the latest CDC Travel Health Notices Review the CDC’s Ebola Disease: Current Situationand Ebola Disease Basics Prepare or update your personal emergency plan. Review the Traveler’s Checklist. If at risk for Ebola disease, alert your healthcare provider if you are experiencing symptoms consistent with Ebola disease to receive guidance prior to presenting for care. Continue to take malaria prophylaxis if recommended, as the symptoms of malaria can mimic symptoms of Ebola disease, leading to preventable health scares. Monitor your health for 21 days following travel if you traveled to an area experiencing an Ebola disease outbreak. If you are a U.S. citizen or national planning to travel to the United States, contact your airline to confirm your flight and route. Enroll and update your information in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). Follow the Department of State on Facebook and X . Visit state.gov and the U.S. Embassy in Thailand website. Assistance: U.S. Embassy Bangkok Phone: +66 02-205-4000 Email: ACSBKK@state.gov https://th.usembassy.gov/ State Department – Consular Affairs 888-407-4747 or 202-501-4444 Thailand Country Information Enroll in Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive security updates
Mavericks choose former Valley View Mall site in North Dallas for new arena, entertainment district
Better Business Bureau warns of fake review scam
The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers of a rising scam.
Missed Opportunities: Using Medicaid Section 1115 Projects to Improve the Health of Medicaid and Medicare Beneficiaries
Medicaid Section 1115 demonstration projects are widely used to test innovative policies but are subject to “budget neutrality” limits so that federal expenditures do not exceed what the federal government would have spent if the project was not adopted.
Los Angeles Chargers 90-in-90: TE Johnny Pascuzzi
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Wisconsin-based Packer Fastener opens Lebanon site
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NASA’s Webb Detects Methane on Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
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Astros Legends Series 20: Danny Darwin
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The White House Is the New Green Zone
Fortifications are growing in tandem with the threat of political violence.
Chicago Bears Post June 1st Trade Roundtable Thoughts
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Which 'Love Island USA' couples are still together?
As 'Love Island USA' Season 8 begins, a look back at the contestants who have remained in a relationship.
Microsoft debuts Nvidia-powered Microsoft Surface Ultra laptop
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Top Litigators & Corporate Attorneys 2026 - Orange County Business Journal
Discover 57 of Orange County's leading litigators and corporate attorneys in this special OCBJ feature highlighting the legal professionals helping businesses navigate disputes, transactions, compliance, and growth.
Meitav Investment House Announces Immediate Report Concerning Selected Business Data for April 2026
Meitav Investment House (TASE: MTAV) announced today that further to the Company's immediate report dated March 2, 2026 (Reference No. 2026-01-019142) regarding the adoption of an ongoing monthly reporting mechanism for selected business data, material to its operations, with the objective of enhancing transparency of business operations and improving the information available to the investors, the Company is pleased to publish the data for April 2026.
AI roundup: Power redistribution | Governance playbooks | LLMs vs. search engines
More people are turning to LLMs for helpful answers to subjective questions. Might they be better off sticking with web search engines?
Ministry of Public Health, WHO Thailand and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Kingdom of Thailand launch initiative to strengthen Thailand’s public health workforce
28 May 2026 | Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in ThailandA skilled and coordinated public health workforce is essential for protecting population health and responding to public health emergencies. Strengthening these capacities was the focus of a meeting held on 28 May 2026 at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Thailand.Dr Ailan Li, WHO Representative to Thailand, together with Dr Watcharanan Tinnaitorn, Deputy Director of the Division of Public Health Emergency Management, Ministry of Public Health, and officials from WHO and the Ministry of Public Health, met with Counselor Zhang Xiaoxiao from the Economic & Commercial Counsellor's Office, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Kingdom of Thailand to mark the launch of collaboration under the WHO Roadmap to strengthen the public health workforce.The initiative supports Thailand in strengthening its public health workforce across both health and non-health sectors. Public health emergencies require coordinated action across a wide range of professions and institutions, including health workers, border control officers, water safety specialists, communication professionals and local government authorities. Through the project, partners will work together to assess workforce capacities, strengthen competencies and promote coordination across sectors to support preparedness and response efforts.The discussion highlighted opportunities to enhance cross-country collaboration through knowledge exchange, communication activities and engagement at key project milestones, supporting workforce development and emergency preparedness efforts.Beyond its immediate objectives, the initiative also reflects Thailand’s contributions to public health at regional and global levels. The exchange highlighted the importance of sharing experiences, lessons learned and good practices through international cooperation to strengthen public health capacity and preparedness.WHO expressed appreciation to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Thailand for supporting the project and recognizing the importance of investing in public health workforce development, preparedness and health security through partnership and multilateral cooperation. WHO also commended Thailand’s continued leadership and commitment to strengthening public health systems and emergency preparedness, including through cross-sector collaboration and workforce development.WHO remains committed to supporting Thailand and partners in advancing resilient and people-centred public health systems and strengthening preparedness for future health challengesAbout the EPHF Roadmap ProjectThailand is one of four countries selected in 2026 to initiate implementation of the Essential Public Health Functions (EPHF) Roadmap, alongside Maldives, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste. The initiative is funded by the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA). The project is led by Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health, with WHO Thailand serving as a co-implementing partner. Other partners include the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI), the Global Network for Academic Public Health/Public Health Interprofessional Leadership Alliance (GNAPH/PHILA) and the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA).
From no-hitter to nightmare: Jordy Frahm, Nebraska crash out of Women's College World Series
Frahm was on a heater for most of Sunday's game against Texas. Then it all came crashing down for one of the best players in softball.
Pro-Trump candidate to face Petro ally in Colombia presidential runoff election after surprising performance
In a surprisingly strong performance, right-wing outsider candidate Abelardo de la Espriella will face leftist candidate senator Iván Cepeda in a runoff to decide Colombia’s presidency, setting the stage for a battle over Colombia’s political future and the direction of its relationships with key international partners, including the United States.
UVA Health launches violence intervention program
UVA Health is launching a violence intervention program at its University Medical Center.
Horror hits 'Backrooms' and 'Obsession' Beat Star Wars at box office
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Scientists shatter 30-year superconductivity record with zero-resistance material that works at normal pressure
"Our method shows that it is possible to retain that state without maintaining pressure."
Vols fall 5-4 in season-ending loss to VCU
And that’ll do it for your Tennessee Volunteers in 2026. For the first time in program history, the Vols go winless in a regional, getting shown the door by Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill 5-4. Tegan Kuhns took the mound for Tennessee, and as it turns out, that was a herculean effort […]
John Rodgers Brashier
Ready to lead Delta Council as President Recently named as the new and 92nd President of Delta Council, John Rodgers Brashier believes that his 40 years of being an independent farmer not only will help him in the role—it also humbles him to work for an organization that has done so much for the agricultural […]
Panthers may have overlooked 'star' at transformative position
An NFL analyst believes the Panthers have a "star" at an increasingly key position.
UFC Macau live results, highlights and play-by-play
UFC Macau results, highlights, live discussion and instant play-by-play, reactions and analysis.
Chinese scientists create ‘kill-them-all’ algorithm for drone warfare
Smart web identifies objects as friend, foe or terrain, meaning drone swarms can hunt even when communication is jammed and vision blocked.
Official: Massara is no longer Roma’s sporting director, follows Ranieri
Roma have released an official statement confirming that Frederic Massara is no longer sporting director, following senior advisor Claudio Ranieri out of the Stadio Olimpico exit.Official: Roma part c...
🗞️ Araujo, Julián Álvarez, Gordon... Today’s front pages
Today’s newspaper front pages in Spain are dominated by a full-blown earthquake in the transfer market, with FC Barcelona at the epicenter, along with a strong human and mental health angle surround...
Do Utahns support tax increase for Salt Lake City sports, entertainment district?
City banking revenue for planned sports, entertainment, culture and convention district
Hometown Entertainment: Pop Up Prom, Jo Dee Messina concert highlight final weekend of May
Pop Up Prom, Jo Dee Messina concert among final May weekend events
Anthropic raises $65 billion, now valued at $965 billion
Anthropic said on Thursday it has raised $65 billion in a series H funding round, valuing it at $965 billion post-money.
Tony Blair’s ‘dramatic’ intervention: helpful or harmful?
Both Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham have accused Blair of failing to focus on inequality
Sports Daily Live: Momentum builds for change in college sports
It’s a pleasant surprise for many Chiefs fans as Patrick Mahomes shows up for OTAs and takes the field.
Indiana regulators OK Texas company's purchase of Indiana power plant
The $3.45 billion transaction, which includes two other power plants, still requires federal approval and faces a challenge related to market competition concerns.
Can Trump make anybody happy with an Iran deal?
Some GOP allies want escalation. Others want to end unpopular war.
The MAGA Cult is Triumphant in Texas
Trump-endorsed scandal-magnet Ken Paxton clobbered John Cornyn, by any objective standard a good little GOP soldier. The Republican base is getting more rabid by the hour.
Trump’s silence looms as Georgia GOP Senate candidates battle for nod
Results in the Texas Republican U.S. Senate primary show why GOP candidates covet the president's endorsement.
Coding agents in the social sciences
Results from a survey of 1,260 social scientists about AI and coding agent use.
Ebola, chemical plants and health, hantavirus, common colds, heat and more
As they say, bugs have ears. Public health has had a relentless May. Chemical plant (near) explosions, Ebola, hantavirus, and that's before you even get to the usual suspects: common colds, heat, and ticks. Here’s an attempt to keep you up to speed and, more importantly, what it means for you and your community. But first, an announcement: World Cup The World Cup starts in 15 days (not like anyone is counting down), and we are hanging TVs in the Health Security Operations Center. It’s going to be a gorgeous, chaotic celebration of basically every culture on earth. And it’s going to take a team effort—from communities to individuals, from public health to health care—to keep people healthy. That’s where you come in. If you’re going to the games or live within 30 miles of a stadium, we would love to hear from you. Sign up for a weekly survey here. Thanks to the more than 1,280 people who have already signed up…you will be hearing from us soon!! Global disease “weather report” Hantavirus: Two more cases The global count of cruise ship passengers with hantavirus has now increased to 13 cases (11 confirmed), with three deaths. The two new cases are overseas and among people who were already quarantining: A crew member in the Netherlands. A Spanish national passenger who was quarantining at home tested positive through daily monitoring. They are now in a biocontainment unit. In the U.S., everyone remains negative. There may be more cases, given that the incubation period of hantavirus (the time from exposure to infection) is 45 days. But this week, we will reach a major milestone: the median incubation window is 18 days, and that will pass on May 29. What this means for you: Your risk from this cruise ship outbreak remains essentially nil at this point. Ebola rages on in Central Africa Big thanks to Dr. Craig Spencer, a humanitarian physician who has treated and survived Ebola, for jumping in to provide the YLE community with an update. Craig, take it from here… The combined confirmed and suspected Ebola cases in DRC are now more than 1,000. All signs are pointing to a very long and catastrophic outbreak in Central Africa: This is a vast undercount. We know this because the test positivity rate is hovering around 50%, only 20% of contacts are being traced (and in some areas, no contacts at all), and more cases keep popping up with no known connection. This all points to widespread and undetected community transmission. This is in only a week of detection. Compared to previous outbreaks, the growth is very fast, as the huge West Africa outbreak in 2016 was first detected at 49 cases and rose to 208 cases a month later. It took four months for that outbreak to reach the size of the current one in the DR Congo. The cases are spread out across 16 health zones. There are now multiple epicenters, making containment very difficult. Next door in Uganda, the case count is seven. While this number is low compared to DRC, a concerning development is that two health care workers recently tested positive with uncertain exposure histories. If they weren’t treating known Ebola cases, this means it’s spreading undetected in Uganda as well. On the ground, backlash, including the burning of health centers, has emerged, a pattern seen in nearly every outbreak and rooted in deep community distrust. It often stems from outside actors working in communities without fully understanding or addressing local priorities. Affected populations may recognize the severity of Ebola while still holding other concerns as more pressing, such as where their loved ones are buried. Community trust is essential to an effective response, but difficult to build during an active emergency. It is best established long before a crisis begins. U.S. priorities are made clear, and may backfire. The U.S. Administration has shown that its first priority is keeping Ebola out, with helping end the outbreak in the DRC a secondary concern. That's meant travel restrictions broader than anything we've imposed before — covering travelers from across the region, and reportedly some green card holders and permanent residents as well. For example, just these past two days, news broke that high-risk American travelers will be subject to a mandatory quarantine in Kenya before they are allowed to return. If an American is infected, the U.S. government plans to send them to a hospital it is standing up from scratch in Kenya. (Currently, Americans who were in the area are allowed to return but are diverted to three airports—Houston, Atlanta, and DC—for further screening.) Past administrations have used travel notices and stepped-up screening; this goes much further. At first blush, these strict precautions may sound prudent. But this approach could backfire in three ways: Restrictions this blunt give people every reason to hide where they’ve been and whom they’ve been near — making the people we most need to find harder to track, not easier. They also breed a false sense that this is someone else’s problem. But diseases are humbling. They find the small cracks in even the most impenetrable-seeming defenses. Lives lost. There is no treatment for this Ebola strain, which means survival depends heavily on the quality of the health system. We have that system in the States, but we are choosing not to use it for infected Americans. This is unbelievable and infuriating. (See a deeper dive from me here.) The only real way to lower the risk to Americans — and everyone else — is to end the outbreak in the DRC and across the region. What this means for you: If you have travel plans to this region, it’s time to cancel them. This is a high-risk situation in Central Africa, and CDC released a Level 4 Travel Advisory. There is also great uncertainty if and when the Administration will let you back in. To the general public in the U.S., your risk remains very, very low right now. U.S. disease “weather report” Ticks: past peak season? Good news, especially for people in the Northeast and Midwest: tick numbers continue to decline. Though we are at the peak of the season, this unusually early year is trending favorably. Heat-related illnesses in the North Heat risk is certainly not blanketing the entire country yet, but this week it will be moderate in the Midwest and the Southeast. What this means for you: Be sure to check the CDC HeatRisk tool. A red day isn’t the best day for that soccer game for a kid with asthma, and a stretch of orange days is a great time to check on your elderly neighbor. Common colds surging As far as respiratory viruses go, the only thing really going around right now is the common cold. It is higher this year than last year, but should peak very soon before returning this fall. Spotlight: Chemical plants Over the weekend, YLE California covered the serious situation that unfolded around a chemical plant in Orange County, California. Thankfully, the worst-case scenario (a chemical explosion) was mitigated, but only through luck. The health implications in a densely populated area could have been catastrophic. As the situation was winding down, another chemical explosion struck Washington State. This one was fatal. Health officials say the risk to surrounding residents from chemicals in the air and ground remains low, though the community deserves far greater clarity. Clean air and clean water consistently rank as Americans’ top public health concerns — yet when chemical disasters strike, communities are too often met with reassurances rather than transparency and accountability. Residents near the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio train derailment, for example, are still waiting to understand the long-term impact on their health, with few clear answers. What this means for you: Many are wondering if facilities processing potentially dangerous materials are in their neighborhoods. This interactive map allows you to enter your ZIP code and see all facilities monitored by the EPA, including any violations. Good news Ebola vaccines and treatment for the Bundibugyo species are in development. Two vaccine platforms are being explored, at least one of which may be deployable in as little as 2 months. One vaccine is being developed by Oxford, and the other uses the same biotechnology as the FDA-approved Zaire species of Ebola. (It may provide cross-protection, but it’s unclear at this point.) On the treatment side, two promising monoclonal antibody cocktails are likely to be deployed, though doses are limited and logistical hurdles remain significant challenges. Anni over at The Biotech Tea had a great explainer about the Ebola vaccine gap, if you want to read more. [ The Biotech Tea The Ebola vaccine gap, reading vessel damage, & the Makary exit 🗝️ Paid subscribers get the Biotech Term of the Week at $30/year (~$2.50/month). I try to keep it intentionally accessible, but if cost is ever a barrier, send me a message. A few people asked about expensing your subscription, so I put together a short email template… Read more 6 days ago · 10 likes · Annicka Evans, PhD ](https://www.thebiotechtea.com/p/the-ebola-vaccine-gap-reading-vessel?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has been officially renamed polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), following more than a decade of debate and input from roughly 22,000 clinicians, researchers, and patients worldwide. This is good because the old name was medically misleading, leading to patients without visible cysts being dismissed or overlooked entirely. The WHO estimates that 70% of people with the condition remain undiagnosed. A more accurate name should improve recognition, reduce stigma, and ultimately help the millions of people living with this condition get diagnosed and treated sooner. Poll Loading... Bottom line Public health situations are everywhere right now. Staying healthy takes public health professionals and systems working tirelessly behind the scenes and each of us showing up for our neighbors and communities. Love, YLE Big thanks to Ed Nirenberg for staying on top of the Ebola vaccines, Hannah Totte for all the figures, Dr. Craig Spencer for the Ebola insight, and Dr. Matt Willis for covering the chemical situation in CA. Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) comprises a team of experts, ranging from physicians to immunologists to epidemiologists to nutritionists, working together with one goal: to “Translate” ever-evolving public health science so that people are well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. YLE suite of newsletters reaches over 475,000 people across more than 132 countries. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below: Subscribe
Devin Vassell summed up the defensive collapse this …
Devin Vassell summed up the defensive collapse this …
After the Xi–Cheng Meeting: Taiwan’s Democratic Subjectivity and the Politics of Peace
Written by Percy Yixuanchen Yu. This article argues that the real question following the Cheng-Xi meeting and its repercussions is whether Taiwan can convert its own democratic pluralism into strat…
Who gets Nevin's unwanted award?
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Life sciences firm planning $16M relocation to Noblesville
Bothell, Washington-based BioLife Solutions Inc. plans to move its manufacturing and research operations from Indianapolis to Hamilton County.
Friends make snarky comments about my wealth. Hax readers give advice.
Is a mid-40s letter writer, getting snark from friends about wealth, “supposed to be embarrassed” about early career success?
10 players capable of leading teams to boys volleyball state tournament
Some of Minnesota’s top players could lift their teams out of difficult sections.
Religion: Christian nationalism on the Mall
Thousands gathered for the taxpayer-funded Rededicate 250
Vikings Could Still Target 3 Positions This Summer for Upgrades
Either via free agency — the most probable route — or from trades, the Minnesota Vikings may not be finished […]
3 coaches joins Jaguars through Bill Walsh diversity fellowship
The Jaguars announced three offseason additions to coaching staff through Bill Walsh diversity coaching fellowship.
Secretary of State Bellows removes transgender sports referendum from November ballot
The initiative was spearheaded by Protect Girls Sports in Maine. The group says objections had been filed with the Secretary of State’s Office.
Trump Undergoes a Physical Exam at Walter Reed
President Trump, whose health has been a subject of public scrutiny, will turn 80 next month.
Mental Health Law Needs a Family Bill of Rights
More consensus is emerging that mental health law should better inform and engage loved ones of those with serious mental illness.
SBJ Ranks Arlington as No. 24 Best Sports Business City in 2026
Arlington's professional sports teams, world-class venues and other entertainment destinations help draw a combined 16 million attendance.
SBJ Ranks Arlington as No. 24 Best Sports Business City in 2026
Arlington's professional sports teams, world-class venues and other entertainment destinations help draw a combined 16 million attendance.
Trump, near 80, to have annual physical amid scrutiny of recent ailments
U.S. President Donald Trump, who turns 80 next month, will undergo his routine annual physical on Tuesday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, following a year of public attention on apparently minor health issues.
What a neurologist eats in a day for better brain health
Brain atrophy tends to begin in your 30s and 40s, but certain lifestyle changes can slow or even reverse shrinkage.
India’s Scorching Nights Strain Power Grid and Threaten Health
India’s dangerously torrid summer days have long been a climate warning. Now the country is increasingly dealing with sweltering nights too, as global warming and poor urban planning put millions at risk.
Students learn about art preservation at NYC’s Met
Many steps are required before an object is exhibited in a museum.
Sulfonamide resistance as a global one health challenge
The Journal of Antibiotics - Sulfonamide resistance as a global one health challenge
A century of innovative spirit and an optical scientist’s pursuit
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Lessons Learned, Part 9
Mark reflects on what he learned from leading Murders at Karlov Manor and The Lost Caverns of Ixalan.
NCAA's new international rules put Wisconsin's season in jeopardy
The NCAA is pushing a new rule that would end Greg Gard's recruiting strategy in Madison as we know it.
Spurs-Thunder: Victor Wembanyama beats buzzer with half-court shot, capping dominant first half
The first half of Sunday's Game 4 of the Western Conference finals was a grind for pretty much anyone not named Victor Wembanyama.
Life’s essential 8 and longevity: the sustained impact of cardiovascular health on mortality from middle age to centenarians
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Mapping the avoid-ome: a systematic open-science approach to predictive ADMET
Nature Communications - Mapping the avoid-ome: a systematic open-science approach to predictive ADMET
Acute coronary syndromes across the lifespan of women
npj Cardiovascular Health - Acute coronary syndromes across the lifespan of women
Sporting JAX women’s team falls in Gainbridge Super League playoff opener
Sporting JAX made history in its inaugural season, but the wait for a playoff win will continue.
More than 70-year-old Cross City business gets a makeover
Over 70-year-old Cross City business gets a makeover
Scientists discover the oldest wooden tools ever used by humans
Scientists have uncovered the oldest known hand-held wooden tools ever used by humans — and they’re an astonishing 430,000 years old. Buried for hundreds of thousands of years at an ancient lakeside site in Greece, the carefully carved wooden objects reveal that early humans were far more skilled and resourceful than once believed.
$1.75 million gift will allow Kent State to expand health outreach
The $1.75 million gift will provide funding for the college’s community health and outreach programs such as the Mobile Flashes program.
Finding hope in troubling times with poetry and science
The Poets for Science Gathering this fall at Kent State is something of a cross between an academic conference and a festival.
Finding hope in troubling times with poetry and science
The Poets for Science Gathering this fall at Kent State is something of a cross between an academic conference and a festival.
LeBron James admits he misses Alex Caruso 'every single day'
The Lakers made a pretty big blunder in 2021 when they let Alex Caruso leave in free agency.