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Supreme Court strikes down political party spending limits
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that campaign finance limits on political parties violate the First Amendment, a decision expected to increase the flow of money into the midterm elections.
‘A political decision’: FIU law school community uneasy over new dean with Trump ties
“Law schools that can build and maintain ties with the conservative parts of the country... are poised to benefit,” the new dean wrote in a cover letter.
New York immigration advocates laud birthright citizenship ruling
The 6-3 decision came down Tuesday morning.
Kelly statement on SCOTUS ruling protecting girls' and women's sports
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to prevent biological men from playing in girls' and women's sports, U.S. Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA) released the following statement:
The Supreme Court’s New 6–3 Elections Case Was Not Nearly as Bad as Expected
As disastrous Supreme Court election cases go, Tuesday’s decision in NSRC v. FEC doesn’t make the list of complete abominations.
Scientists teach human cells to compute like tiny computers
Researchers have developed a way to program human cells to perform calculations and make autonomous decisions, similar to how computer chips work.
Lakers post farewell message to LeBron James after shocking decision
The Los Angeles Lakers are no longer suitors to retain LeBron James after he informed the team he would not return next year.
The End of Independent Federal Agencies Will Change Your Business
For executives, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Slaughter v. Trump will likely lead to less certainty and consistency for the regulated aspects of their businesses, with federal rules and their enforcement increasingly determined by political expediency rather than expert analysis. Specifically, there are five ways in which all U.S. businesses will be affected: regulation will become more informal and less transparent; consistency across administrations will disappear; oversight by Congress and the federal courts will be diminished; expert advice will be devalued; and politically-connected lobbyists will drive decision-making. In this environment, business leaders will need to plan accordingly, honing their ability to shift strategy, perhaps dramatically, after every election—and perhaps even during administrations.
Why the Supreme Court’s ruling could deepen Democrats’ fundraising woes
The Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday to loosen campaign finance laws by allowing party committees to coordinate with candidates is a boon for Republicans and threatens to deepen Democratic fundraising woes.
“We’re going to regret that decision”: Dbrand cancels its Companion Cube Steam Machine case after Valve demands it
“Being proud of the thing we made did not give us the right to make it”…
Supreme Court rules states can restrict transgender athletes’ sports participation in schools
The decision marks another legal setback for transgender youth as the Trump administration and Republican-led state legislatures have advanced policies limiting transgender rights.
Supreme Court sides with GOP, loosens campaign spending rules
The decision is the latest in which the Supreme Court has weighed in on campaign finance rules.
Supreme Court strikes down limits on party spending in federal elections
The court’s 2010 Citizens United decision opened the door to unlimited independent spending in federal elections.
Gov. Little celebrates U.S. Supreme Court’s decision upholding protections for women’s sports
Boise, Idaho – Governor Brad Little commented today on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Little v. Hecox. The ruling upholds Idaho’s ban on men participating in women’s sports. “Idaho was the very first state to ban men from participating in women’s sports with the passage of the Fairness
Supreme Court lets states ban trans girls from girls sports
The decision caps a yearslong, Republican-led push through statehouses and school boards to define girls' sports by sex assigned at birth.
Supreme Court upholds state laws banning transgender athletes
The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a decision to uphold state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams.
Live Updates: Supreme Court Rules on Banning Transgender Athletes From Women’s Sports
The court’s decision involving laws from West Virginia and Idaho has implications for 25 other states with similar restrictions. Times reporters are reading it and providing analysis.
Supreme Court could rule on birthright citizenship, transgender sports cases today
The Supreme Court is expected to release decisions on birthright citizenship and laws barring transgender girls and women from participating in school sports teams.
NC’s new mental health bill is heavy on studies, light on solutions
The bill makes a few changes to NC's involuntary commitment laws, but it largely punts the biggest decisions until after a stack of studies due next year.
'Staying away from the middle will be hardest': Sachin Tendulkar's emotional message to Ben Stokes after retirement
Sachin Tendulkar led heartfelt tributes to Ben Stokes following his retirement from international cricket. Tendulkar lauded Stokes' fearless approach, match-winning ability, and inspirational leadership, calling him one of England's finest all-rounders and captains. Stokes, who bowed out after a Test series loss, expressed contentment with his decision, citing years of physical and mental demands as the primary reason for stepping away.
Colorado’s workers can’t afford a decline in tourism
By Terrance Carroll Work is about more than a paycheck. It is about dignity, stability and the ability to build a life, to provide for family, to contribute to community, and to move forward with purpose. That is why we should take a closer look at how federal policy decisions, even those made with good […]
Exclusive | Warren Buffett Skips Midyear Donation to Gates Foundation Amid Epstein Review
The billionaire is expected to delay a decision on his “lifetime” pledge until he see the results of the Gates Foundation’s review.
Trump taps Keith Sonderling, a longtime ally of business, for Labor Secretary
President Trump nominated acting secretary Keith Sonderling to permanently lead the Labor Department after months of turmoil. Business leaders who backed his candidacy say he has already been steering policy and personnel decisions.
Accessory Company Yanks Companion Cube Steam Machine Case Because It Never Actually Asked Valve For Permission
“We’re going to regret that decision for a very long time”
Netflix and Superheroes Are Having a Rough Stretch on Streaming....
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) I have a quick prediction before we start today’s article: You might see this data in future news articles. Not my specific charts or analysis, but the core trend I’ve been monitoring—Netflix is having a lackluster Q2—will become inescapable. Often, folks want to know “What does the data say?” Well, that’s what it says. I haven’t seen this analysis hit the trades really yet, but I have a feeling some other outlets are going to start making this case soon. Remember, you read it here first. You probably have read about the problems facing superhero films at the box office this weekend. Well, this week, I explore whether superheroes are dying on TV as well! And the data says: definitely maybe! We have a lot to cover in today’s Streaming Ratings Report, which covers the two weeks of 18-May and 25-May. Today, I’m just looking at TV, like Netflix’s disappointing Q2, superhero shows underwhelming, a few TV shows dropping off the charts, The Pitt finally ending its epic run on the viewership charts (and whether “view counts” change its status as one of the biggest shows of all time), all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Tomorrow, I’ve got a great rundown of the film side of things. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, Showlabs, TV Time trend data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of May 18th to May 31st, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Television - Netflix’s Q2 Slump Continues Having analyzed streaming ratings for going on half a decade, I have learned to trust my gut, but I’m always relieved when I can find actual data to back it up. For example, after a string of very popular shows like Stranger Things, Bridgerton, The Lincoln Lawyer and The Night Agent came out, week after week, in January and February, my gut wondered if Netflix had enough new and returning TV shows to sustain them throughout the year. Since then, Netflix’s post-March slate of shows has not impressed me. This week seemed to feature a potential new hit, but then, like a classic Duffer Bros. TV show, there was a twist. I speak of The Boroughs, Netflix’s latest (and last) Duffer Bros. produced show. The pitch is “Stranger Things with older actors”. And it topped the Nielsen charts: With just two weeks of viewership, The Boroughs would have been a top 25 debut show last year: But here’s the twist: Netflix has already cancelled The Boroughs! What happened? Likely a few things. First, the show didn’t do as well globally as it did in the US. As What’s on Netflix showed, it lagged behind several other shows that got cancelled. Second, its completion rate was likely low; after an initial burst of interest, it quickly dropped off on the Samba TV and Luminate charts. Third, the Duffer Bros. left Netflix for Paramount, and that may have factored into Netflix’s decision here. (Though I tend to believe that if a show is doing well, Netflix would have kept greenlighting seasons.) Still, just because I can explain why Netflix may have cancelled this show doesn’t mean I’m justifying it. In particular, as I’ve noted before, Netflix is losing a lot of their bigger shows as they reach their natural ends, and they need to replace those shows. This show had the hallmarks of a big new genre show, and it’s their biggest hit of the last few months (in the US at least), but now it’s done. Netflix’s other show this week—The Four Seasons, the second season of the “hit” show from last year—definitely disappointed. Its sophomore season had about half the viewership of the first, only 12.7 million hours. It also only had a two week run on Samba TV, and its numbers were all down on Luminate too. In other words, even with two successes, the Q2 slump for Netflix looks real: I could add to the list of disappointments: Both Lord of the Files and Man on Fire had short runs on the Nielsen charts. Running Point’s sophomore season also opened to about half its viewership, similar to The Four Seasons. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’s second season—see below—didn’t even make any of the three viewership charts I track, unlike the first season. Netflix is absolutely having a dismal second three months of 2026. If this Nielsen data is any indication, and I think it is, I think this will show up in Netflix’s engagement report, and maybe even their financial outcomes. And the rest of June doesn’t look much better. We have two hit shows coming back—Sweet Magnolias, one of their quietest big shows, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, a big hit for them in 2024—but the other big swings are limited series crime thrillers i.e. no future season potential. Like I said above, sometimes when I uncover a juicy nugget like this, other outlets end up writing very similar articles mimicking the data without credit. We’ll see if that happens this time! Share Television - The State of Superhero Shows on Streaming When I first heard the pitch for Spider-Noir—a Sony TV show on Prime Video that binge-released eight episodes first on MGM+ then on Prime Video two days later—I had my doubts. It’s a live-action Spider-Man show set in the 1930s, starring Nicholas Cage, based on a cameo of a character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. No, seriously, that’s the pitch. That could either go terrifically well or horribly wrong. Great because, Spider-Man. He’s the biggest superhero we have. I’ve seen tracking numbers that put the new _Spider-Man: Brand New Da_y as the blockbuster of the year and initial pre-sales back that up. And yet this Spider-Noir pitch feels very esoteric. (Also, the eight-episode binge release feels very “Amazon copying Netflix” again.) So what’s the data say? And what does this say about the future of superhero shows?
Takeaways from the Supreme Court’s decisions expanding Trump’s firing power but preserving Fed for now
The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a significant win Monday by allowing him to remove the leaders of once-independent federal agencies at will, toppling a 1935 precedent in the process that could reorder the way the government functions.
Thomas, Gorsuch target landmark ruling Trump says protects the 'fake news'
Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch call for overruling New York Times v. Sullivan in their dissent over the CNN-Dershowitz defamation decision.
Does a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision affect how Minnesota can warn of pesticide health dangers?
The question stemmed from a lawsuit about cancer risks associated with Monsanto's widely-used weed killer, Roundup.
Supreme Court rules states can count late-arriving mailed ballots, rejecting Trump-led challenge
The decision rejected a Republican-led attack on laws in more than half the states and the District of Columbia that permit mailed ballots to arrive and be counted some number of days after the election, provided they are postmarked by Election Day.
In loss for Trump, Supreme Court keeps Lisa Cook at the Fed
The decision was a loss for Trump at the Supreme Court, which previously rejected the sweeping tariffs that were at the center of his economic policy.
Supreme Court rules mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day can be counted
A decision against such ballots could have upended election procedures in states across the country ahead of the midterm elections.
Comcast co-CEO on media business spinoff: We have the freedom now to explore adjacent businesses
Comcast co-CEOs Brian Roberts and Mike Cavanagh discuss the company's decision to spin off their media business.
Supreme Court rejects Trump's push to toss $5M verdict in E. Jean Carroll case
The decision comes about two years after the court granted Trump broad immunity from criminal prosecution
Supreme Court declines to hear Trump appeal of E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse verdict
The Supreme Court Monday declined to take up an appeal from President Donald Trump over a $5 million verdict and finding that he sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll, a decision that means the president will now have to pay the magazine columnist.
Comcast CEO on media business spin off: 'Our philosophy has always been to invest for growth'
Comcast chairman and co-CEO Brian Roberts calls CNBC to discuss the company's decision to spin off their media business.
FAIR Health Price-Informed Tools Support Healthcare Decisions Among Diverse Older Adults
/PRNewswire/ -- Price-informed shared decision-making tools developed by FAIR Health, a national, independent nonprofit, can facilitate meaningful healthcare...
AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Colorado's state primary
Democratic voters in Colorado will decide in a state primary which of two well-known statewide officeholders to nominate to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.
Supreme court nears the end of its term with cases about Donald Trump’s power to be decided
Court expected to hand down decisions on several outstanding cases, wrapping up term that has focussed on Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power
Being broke costs you 13 IQ points, according to science. Here's the number that changes everything.
CreditNinja reports that saving your first $10,000 unlocks financial stability, improving decision-making and reducing stress, ultimately boosting cognitive function.
Warriors reportedly interested in three NBA free agents as LeBron decision looms
The Golden State Warriors reportedly have their eye on several players ahead of NBA free agency.
Efzimfotase alfa demonstrated improvements in bone health in treatment-naïve pediatric patients with hypophosphatasia achieving median difference of 1.67 vs placebo in RGI-C Score at week 25 in MULBERRY Phase III trial
Positive results from the MULBERRY Phase III trial showed that efzimfotase alfa (ALXN1850), an investigational enzyme replacement therapy, demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in bone health in children (2 to
Suns Face Miles Bridges Decision After Trade With Hornets
The Phoenix Suns made a change on Sunday after getting swept in the first round of the playoffs.
3 Traps Health Systems Fall Into When Trying to Improve Their Culture
Cultivating a positive culture is a priority for hospital leaders, but many are making avoidable mistakes. Myra Gregorian, Seattle Children's chief people and transformation officer, outlined some of these common blunders — such as not involving frontline staff in decision making and assuming that simple communication methods are sufficient.
Usher makes the case for R&B in stadiums
LOS ANGELES — As Usher prepares to launch a stadium tour with Chris Brown, he says the criticism and legal troubles surrounding the singer never factored into his decision to
Hurricanes Acquire Rights to John Carlson
It had been a long day. Some teams were using all of their allotted time, even in the later rounds to make their draft decisions. Then came Carolina, and time had expired while the world waited for them to make pick number 192 in the Draft. What happened? Eric Tulsky and company smacked everyone in […]
Man with same name as U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan is eligible for Alaska's primary ballot, judge rules
The judge ruled that the division’s decision to exclude Dan J. Sullivan because his candidacy was not “in good faith” was not based on the Constitution, Alaska law or the division’s own regulations.
Buffalo Bills Make Decision On Honoring O.J. Simpson
As the franchise transitions to a new stadium, officials confirm the legendary running back’s name will be scrubbed from the Wall of Fame, ending a controversial decades-long tribute.
Vanilla Ice: Music brings people together, transcends politics
Rapper Vanilla Ice explains his decision to perform at the America 250 event. He states music is universal and should bring people together, transcending political divides. He emphasizes celebrating the country's 250 years.
Mets Make Roster Decision After 7th Straight Loss
The New York Mets have made roster decisions before game two against the Phillies.
Your health insurer shouldn’t decide your treatment plan. That’s what your doctor (and possibly AI) should be doing.
With a digital health record, clinicians and AI-driven diagnostic tools would be able to see your full health history — and then make better decisions.
Hurricanes follow Stanley Cup title by looking at how to improve roster
Carolina doesn't have a lot of free-agency decisions after winning the team's first Stanley Cup title in 20 years.
Recent rulings show that SCOTUS has ditched reason for politics
'The flurry of 6-3 decisions shows how SCOTUS has become a political body, not the judicial one the founders of our Constitution sorely aspired to,' writes an L.A. Times reader.
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.
Walbert Ureña implodes as Angels drop series opener against Athletics
On a night that started with an abrupt front office decision, Los Angeles Angels’ starter Walbert Ureña saw an abrupt end to an outing after a disastrous fifth inning led to a 9-3 loss against the Athletics on Friday.
‘It’s a bad time to be a normal’: House Republican on current political environment
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) reacts to President Trump's decision to cancel the signing of the bipartisan housing affordability bill. Rep. Johnson also discusses the president’s Iran strategy and the current political environment.
Sports Intelligence Project explores high-end decision making in multifaceted industry
A new co-curricular offering tasks students with combining data, AI and the human element of athletics.
Disagreements between Supreme Court justices bubble into public view as major rulings loom
The Supreme Court is handing down major opinions at a rapid clip, but even with some of the biggest decisions yet to come there are signs of tension between the justices.
Warren Buffett Bought A Business For $1.7B ‘Over The Phone Without Ever Meeting The People There’ Using The ‘Most Valuable Skill’ He Learned
Buying a company for $1.7 billion without meeting management sounds like the kind of decision that would keep lawyers busy for months. Warren Buffett did it over the phone. Speaking at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2003, Berkshire Hathaway Chair...
Has VAR become a lottery at the World Cup?
After a week of strange decisions many supporters have been left scratching their heads with VAR.
Weather drives cowherd size, not broken markets
Data shows weather, not broken markets, drives cowherd decisions. Producers cite grazing concerns and drought as top barriers to expansion.
After Supreme Court’s TPS decision, more than a million immigrants face scramble to stay in US
Until Thursday, hundreds of thousands of Haitians were legally living and working in the United States, along with thousands of Syrians. Now, they’re in legal limbo.
In governor's race, voters face stark choice on immigrant healthcare
California’s next governor will face tough decisions on a highly controversial piece of healthcare policy: what to do about health coverage for the more than 1.4 million low-income residents without legal status.
'It's business': 2027 5-star CB on choosing Texas over Texas A&M
2027 5-star CB John Meredith "loves A&M to death" but made a reported business decision in choosing the Texas Longhorns.
Sweden: European Social Rights Committee calls for an end to Sweden’s two-tier healthcare system
Amnesty International welcomes a landmark decision by the European Committee of Social Rights finding that Sweden breached the right to health without discrimination.
Astros Share Hunter Brown Decision Ahead of Tigers Series
A key roster situation develops as the season continues.
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.
Baxter Health Heart and Vascular Clinic Welcomes Brandi Watson, APRN
Baxter Health is proud to welcome Brandi Watson, APRN, to the Baxter Health Heart and Vascular Clinic. Watson joined the team on May 15 and is currently accepting new patients. Watson brings more than 25 years of experience caring for some of the most critically ill patients. Much of her career has been spent in intensive care settings, where she learned to make fast, high-stakes decisions for patients whose lives depended on getting the right care at the right moment. That kind of experience, which is gained through years at the bedside, is exactly what heart and vascular patients need from a provider.
Blue state leaders erupt after Supreme Court’s decision ending TPS protections for Haitians, Syrians
Supreme Court rules 6-3 in favor of Trump administration in two key immigration cases on Temporary Protected Status and asylum, drawing opposition from blue state Democrats.
Tennessee court temporarily blocks state health officials from sharing undocumented ill children’s information
The “state cannot go forward with the policy” until the judge makes a final decision, said the head of the Tennessee Justice Center.
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.
Ohio politicians respond to Supreme Court TPS ruling for Haitians and Syrians
The decision impacts more than 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians across the country, including many in Ohio.
Cheshire orchard closes after 75 years in business
A longtime Cheshire orchard has announced its closing for good. In a message shared with customers, the family that owns Drazen Orchards said it is now permanently closed and will not reopen for the foreseeable future. The orchard has been open since 1951. The Drazen family said the decision was difficult, citing rising operating costs, the physical demands of running…
Supreme Court strikes down Hawaii law requiring permission to carry guns in stores and hotels
The high court's 6-3 decision means people can carry guns onto privately owned property like shopping malls and gas stations, unless the owners specifically say guns are banned at their establishments.
Supreme Court hands Trump two major immigration victories
Supreme Court rules migrants turned away at the border cannot apply for asylum and blocks TPS recipients from judicial relief in two major decisions.
Supreme Court clears way for Trump administration to revive restrictive immigration policy
The justices, in a 6-3 decision, overturned a lower court order blocking the practice that limited the number of people who could apply for asylum each day.
Waterloo's Grout Museum District to demolish its Bluedorn Science Imaginarium amid funding changes
This summer, the Grout Museum District is preparing to demolish its former science center, the Bluedorn Science Imaginarium. The decision was made in the face of funding uncertainty stemming from property tax reform in Waterloo.
Supreme Court allows Trump administration to end legal protections for Haitians and Syrians
The 6-3 decision overturns lower court orders and allows the Department of Homeland Security to swiftly end temporary protected status, a program that protects a total of 1.3 million people from 17 countries.
Supreme Court lets Trump end temporary protections for migrants
The decision could allow the government to deport hundreds of thousands of people starting this year.
An Update from PlayStation Studios
Below is an internal email from Hermen Hulst, CEO, Studio Business Group, Sony Interactive Entertainment distributed today to SIE employees. ********************************************************************************** Dear Team, Today I want to share a difficult update regarding Bungie. We have made the decision to reduce Bungie’s workforce, affecting a significant number of employees, including most of the Destiny team and some Marathon team members. There are also reductions across SIE teams that support […]
Assort Health scores $120M series C to scale voice AI agent platform for healthcare
Assort Health picked up $120 million in series C funding, hitting unicorn status, to fuel the company's work building out a voice AI agent platform for healthcare. | Assort Health has a large proprietary specialty dataset built on 190 million patient interactions, 62,000 care protocols and 1.6 million decision pathways.
IHSA reacts as lawmakers propose bill requiring oversight on girls' sports impact
A new bill in Springfield would seek to overturn an IHSA decision to change the girls' high school flag football season
Diamondbacks Make a Decision on Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana’s brief stint in Arizona appears to be over after the Diamondbacks designated the veteran first baseman for assignment Wednesday.
Usher says tour with Chris Brown is about more than 2 stars. He makes the case for R&B in stadiums
Usher is launching a stadium tour with Chris Brown and says Brown's legal troubles never influenced his decision.
Online violence against women in politics: what shapes political party responses to technology-facilitated gender-based violence?
Political parties have a primary role to play in tackling online violence against women and gender diverse politicians. While the prevalence and impact of TFGBV, such as coordinated disinformation campaigns, deepfake image-based sexual abuse or trolling are well documented, many parties are still building their knowledge on how to respond effectively and have not put in place internal practices and policies that respond to the rapidly evolving, poorly regulated digital ecosystem. About the ReportIn order to promote and protect fair and democratic participation in politics, this ALIGN Report explores what political parties are doing in response to TFGBV and what factors shape their action. The findings, based on existing literature and interviews with gender and politics professionals, indicate there are three sets of factors which donors, civil society and practitioners should consider when designing action to support political parties to respond to TFGBV internally. These are: (1) gender norms; (2) socio-political environment; and (3) internal party factors.Key messagesUnequal gender norms are ubiquitous across politics, shaping expectations of leaders to be strong and assertive, and practices of political parties to uphold masculinist values and sustain cultures of silence. These often lead to weak response to TFGBV against women politicians.The socio-political context can incentivise or disincentivise action, depending on the salience of gender issues, which are increasingly weaponised. Electoral competitiveness, domestic laws (i.e. quota requirements), and even the political system or global normative frameworks influence political will to act.Internal party factors that shape responses will vary across countries and contexts, but include: structures to enforce codes of conduct, policies and reporting mechanisms on (TF)GBV, political ideology, extent of centralisation of leadership, and crucially the meaningful participation of women in decision-making positions, not least through internal women’s wings.Party responses can be seen as a spectrum, with actions falling between active discouragement to address TFGBV to commitment to transform unequal norms and practices within the party.About the ToolkitTogether with the report, this ALIGN toolkit offers gender professionals and others working on democratic strengthening a set of guiding questions and reflection prompts to identify which responses could be most effective and suitable in different contexts. These actions can complement other solutions to TFGBV, such as regulations promoting safety by design. The assessment spans a broad range of factors including: (1) different manifestations of gender norms, (2) the socio-political environment and (3) internal party structures.Key messagesPolitical parties are duty-bound to take action internally to respond to the significant threats posed to women members and candidates, including from their own party colleagues, affiliates and political peers.Existing party approaches to TFGBV can be assessed along a spectrum which ranges from active discouragement and passive acceptance to minimal response and transformative change.To generate effective and context-appropriate solutions to TFGBV, it is important to consider how gender norms shape leadership expectations and internal party practices, while also analysing the impact of the socio-political environment. While actions to support women to stay safe online are very common, codes of conduct and measures to strengthen women’s voice and power in the parties are proposed as most transformative solutions.
‘Blatant discrimination’: WNBA’s decision to punish Caitlin Clark sparks outrage
The Indiana Fever’s Monday night win over the Phoenix Mercury got chippy in the fourth quarter, with Fever star Caitlin Clark and Mercury veteran DeWana Bonner getting into an altercation that led to technicals being assessed to multiple players on both teams. Clark was one of the players hit with a tech, her fifth of…
Former Disney CEO Bob Iger defends ABC pulling Jimmy Kimmel over Charlie Kirk remark
Bob Iger, who presided over ABC's parent company when Jimmy Kimmel was pulled from the air in 2025, denies that the decision was politically motivated, arguing that Kimmel's comments about Charlie Kirk's murder were 'in bad taste.'
Abortion rights fight underscores key themes in Maine’s U.S. Senate race
Four years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade. In the majority of that decision was Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine had voted to confirm after he had told her the landmark decision was “settled law.”
UConn Business Researchers Discover Voluntary Corporate Climate Goals Are Viewed Favorably by Investors
'For company decisionmakers, there is clearly no argument for not considering it'
Google Home Speaker unboxed early, revealing an unfortunate hardware decision
A user claims they bought the new Google Home Speaker from Walmart, confirming an unfortunate design decision.
Bunnie Xo Was ‘Seriously Considering a Return’ to Adult Entertainment Before Jelly Roll Split
Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo‘s divorce news made headlines earlier this month, and a new report says that her desire to return to the world of adult entertainment played a part in their decision to part w...
Small Business Property Owners Disappointed By Supreme Court Decision
NFIB is disappointed by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case Pung v. Isabella County concerning tax foreclosures and the compensation of property owners.
Sportico Studio’s New Video Experience Debuts at Cannes Lions
Sportico this week launched Sportico Studio, a dedicated content and creative solutions offering for brands looking to engage the sports business community. The studio, featured on a new video page on Sportico’s homepage, will leverage Sportico‘s unique position at the center of the sports business ecosystem, connecting brands with influential decision-makers across leagues, teams, media, …
Supreme Court sides with Trump administration in green card case
The decision comes as the court considers a series of immigration issues against the backdrop of President Donald Trump's sweeping immigration crackdown
Supreme Court rules against Rastafarian who sued prison officials for cutting his dreadlocks
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a devout Rastafarian who attempted to sue prison officials for cutting his dreadlocks could not proceed with his case, a decision that will likely make it harder for believers of other faiths to enforce federal religious protections in prison.
Nationals Have Trade Decision to Make As Foster Griffin Dazzles
With the Washington Nationals still above .500 and in the playoff chase, the front office has a decision to make on Foster Griffin
'Voicemails for Isabelle' director was worried end cameo scene would come off 'creepy' (exclusive)
Netflix's new hit rom-com, 'Voicemails for Isabelle,' includes a poignant appearance in the film's final moments. Writer-director Leah McKendrick talks to EW about her decision to include that cameo, and her fear that it would feel 'creepy.'
The future of a new sports entertainment development in Chula Vista
The Pangea Sports Entertainment District complex is the latest in developments coming to Chula Vista’s bayfront. NBC 7’s Joe Little explains why its future depends on a big decision being made Tuesday.
Ranking SEC recruiting classes via average commit distance
The 2027 recruiting cycle is moving at warp speed this summer. Prospects are making their college decisions in droves amidst official visit season. Dominoes are falling and classes are being built. Looking at the SEC, many programs are in states that are littered with blue-chip talent. You’ll often see the top schools go nationwide in […]