SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " matte " 2,316 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Stony Brook School of Health Professions Honors Alumni Leaders
The Stony Brook University School of Health Professions (SHP) celebrated a group of graduates whose careers reflect both professional excellence and a commitment to service, mentorship and innovation in healthcare. At the School of Health Professions Outstanding Alumni Awards, held March 25 in the Health Sciences Center (HSC) Galleria, nine alumni were recognized for achievements
Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Celebrates Earth Day 2026
All year in Hershey, Pa., we celebrate what matters most: our planet Earth! Hershey Entertainment & Resorts (HE&R) is dedicated to reducing our environmental footprint with the support of our guests and team members. Thanks to HE&R's initiatives, the company successfully conserved the following resources in 2025:
Scientists Think Dark Matter May Be Filling Our Galaxy With Mysterious Light
No theory could explain the slight excess of far-ultraviolet light in the Milky Way until now.
Opinion | Vance, the Pope and ‘Matters of Morality’
Readers respond to Vice President JD Vance’s remarks critical of Pope Leo XIV. Also: Mr. Trump, try kindness; a tax solution that wasn’t.
Five players miss Arsenal’s training ahead of the Sporting game
Arsenal are set to face Sporting Club in the Champions League in a matter of hours, but concerns are growing over the potential absence of several key players. The Gunners have enjoyed an impressive s...
Why Warriors have advantage that matters in NBA play-in tournament vs. Clippers
The Golden State Warriors' postseason experience gives them an edge over the Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA play-in tournament on Wednesday.
One type of exercise can cut your risk of developing 8 diseases
Whether you’re hauling groceries or swimming faster laps, the amount of vigorous exercise you get matters and can slash your risk of developing eight diseases.
Walmart is updating its 4K streaming box with Gemini and Matter support
The new Onn 4K Pro could make it easier to search for something to watch using Google’s upgraded assistant.
El Paso Science Festival returns; Third Thursdays activate Downtown Arts District
The El Paso Science Festival and Third Thursdays lead a week of events, from cultural festivals and art openings to outdoor activities and community fundraisers.
SBART Press Luncheon: Matteo Williams Receives Phil Womble Ethics in Sports Award
Matteo Burdick and Josephine Grossman are the SBART Athletes of the Week.
Mid-Michigan Matters: Celebrating science and improving scientific literacy
Throughout April, Michigan State University will be holding its Science Festival.
Republicans’ big 2026 problem: An unhinged Trump who doesn’t seem to care about them
It’s almost as if President Donald Trump doesn’t care that what he’s doing could torpedo the GOP’s hopes in less than seven months — because Congress doesn’t matter much to his view of power.
Colorado’s climate decisions are health decisions — and this moment matters
Colorado is at a pivotal moment. The state has made real progress transitioning to cleaner energy, but we still have much work to do.
Woman alleges violent sexual assault by Eric Swalwell: 'He raped me’
A day after Rep. Eric Swallwell said he would resign from Congress, a Beverly Hills woman detailed what she described as a violent sexual encounter with the Democratic lawmaker.
Today is World Quantum Day. Here’s why it matters more than you think
World Quantum Day highlights the science behind technologies that already power your life and those that could reshape it next.
New investigative newsroom launches at ASU's Howard Center for Investigative Journalism
A new investigative newsroom focusing on accountability reporting, innovation and experimentation with AI-driven tools launches today at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication as part of the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism.The Beam is a multimedia newsroom that produces in-depth, high-impact reporting on issues that matter to Arizona communities, while building modern tools for the public to engage directly with the decision-makers shaping their lives.
What is World Quantum Day and why does it matter?
Scientists, educators, and technology leaders around the world are marking World Quantum Day on Tuesday.
How Audrey Hepburn impacted fashion, entertainment and even World War II
“The most important thing is to enjoy your life. To be happy. It’s all that matters,” Hepburn once said. If one is to follow her example, then a life of fashion, elegance, creativity, advocacy and kindness is a life to be enjoyed.
The Business of Resilience
Discover how resilience means building forward, not bouncing back. Explore JEFRË's monumental art and why celebrating living artists matters.
The US in Brief: Judge bins Trump’s tort
Our daily political update, featuring the stories that matter
Why climate action matters for healthy longevity
Climate change is shaping how long and how well people live. Here’s how climate action can support healthier, longer lives and reduce growing longevity gaps.
Scientists Challenge Black Hole Theory, Say Dark Matter Core May Lie At Centre Of Milky Way
Lead author Valentina Crespi explained that this dense dark matter core could bend light so strongly that it creates a dark region in the centre.
Earth Day forum to explore climate solutions through business and policy in San Francisco
Earth Day arrives next week. Amid global distractions, a local public forum plots new strategies for tackling climate change. The World Meteorological
GFWAR: The Missing Middle - Why Attainable Housing Matters for Fort Worth’s Business Community
Learn more about attainable housing in this sponsored article by Greater Fort Worth Association of REALTORS.
Trump wanted California Republicans to back Steve Hilton. They didn’t listen
Republicans at their state party convention couldn’t coalesce around one of their two candidates for governor, ending in no endorsement
Gil Carter
No matter what, Gil Carter was always going to find a career in education. “When people like politics, there’s the old saying that they have been ‘bitten by the bug.’ I was bitten at a young age,” laughed Carter, an assistant professor in Mississippi State University’s Department of Communication, Media and Theatre.
Political notes: 'Flowers' for the living, cupcakes for the interim birthday caucus
The farewell celebrations continue as the session nears the end, retiring from the House of Delegates comes with more than just some flowers and kind words and the large, but so far unseen, Interim Birthday Caucus gets its day, in political notes.
The US in Brief: Swalwell’s out
Our daily political update, featuring the stories that matter
Rep. Eric Swalwell suspends campaign for California governor after sex assault allegations
Rep. Eric Swalwell faced intense pressure to drop his bid for California governor after reporting Friday that prompted many supporters to drop their support for him
Scientists were wrong about lifespan. Your genes matter way more than we thought
For years, scientists believed our lifespan was mostly shaped by environment and chance, with genetics playing only a minor role. But a new study from the Weizmann Institute flips that idea on its head, revealing that genes may actually account for about half of the differences in how long people live. By analyzing massive twin datasets—including twins raised apart—and using innovative simulations to filter out deaths from accidents and other external causes, researchers uncovered a hidden genetic influence that had been masked for decades.
California Republicans caught between Trump loyalty and winning swing districts
California Republicans embrace Trump at their convention while candidates in competitive races keep him at arm's length to win over voters.
Trump Was Watching a U.F.C. Fight in Miami While Iran Talks Collapsed
On his way to Florida, President Trump said it did not matter to him if a deal with Iran was reached or not: “We win, regardless,” he said.
What the tech bros are getting wrong about longevity that you can get right
A whole industry revolves around longevity, but much of it misses the point. Kara Swisher learns what matters in the new CNN series, “Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever.”
Scientists Uncover Strange New State of Matter Inside Uranus and Neptune
Deep within the distant ice giants of our Solar System, familiar elements may behave in unfamiliar ways.
Dark Matter Experiment Reaches Critical Milestone Deep Underground
Hundreds of times colder than outer space.
Artemis II returns: Oakland science center celebrates end of historic moon mission
THE CHABOT SPACE AND SCIENCE CENTER in Oakland hosted an event on Friday to celebrate the Artemis II mission ahead of the touchdown of the project’s
Candidates for California governor call on Swalwell to drop out after allegations of sexual assault
The Democratic congressmember came under pressure after the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a former staffer alleged the congressmember sexually assaulted her.
Black Maternal Health Week puts focus on improving outcomes
Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a slight decline in maternal deaths, from 18.6 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023 to 17.9 in 2024. […]
How to Capture the Moments That Matter (in Life and in Business)
I'm a CEO and also the videographer for my son's football team. Here's what that experience has taught me about documenting processes and motivating teams.
Trump's divisive role in California politics is on display as GOP prepares election endorsements
Trump's endorsement of Steve Hilton for governor over Chad Bianco has upended the California GOP's strategy, forcing the party to refocus on other races.
Scientists think dark matter might come in two forms
A mysterious glow of gamma rays at the center of the Milky Way has long hinted at dark matter, but the lack of similar signals in smaller dwarf galaxies has cast doubt on that idea. Now, researchers propose a bold twist: dark matter might not be a single particle at all, but a mix of two different types that must interact with each other to produce detectable signals.
Bitter medicine: How California’s hospital bills end up depressing your take-home pay
Hospitals are suing a state agency that limits their cost increases. Their bills inflate health insurance premiums, leaving employers with less money for wages.
California’s crisis in rural health care is also a chance for transparency
Drug discounts aimed at rural hospitals serving uninsured or low-income patients actually profit hospitals that don’t serve those patients.
The US in Brief: The Pentagon’s battle against free speech
Our daily political update, featuring the stories that matter
State health chief says budget plan ‘protects what matters most’
State Health Commissioner Raynard Washington defended his department’s $2.79 billion annual spending plan to lawmakers Thursday.
Health Physicists: The Quiet Experts Keeping Radiation Risks in Check
When radioactive materials are involved, whether at a former nuclear weapons site, a decommissioned reactor, or a legacy industrial facility, the goal is simple: protect workers, safeguard communities and reduce potential radiation risks to levels that are demonstrably safe. At the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), health physicists are the professionals responsible for making that happen. Their work is often behind the scenes but always with consequences that matter deeply to the public.
Physics Professor Receives Prestigious Science Fellowship
A Georgetown University physics professor was named to a prestigious scientific association to honor her work on rheology, the movement and deformation of material caused by external forces, the university announced March 30. Emanuela Del Gado’s research focuses on soft matter — material that exists between solids and liquids, such as gel, glass and plastic —...
The US in Brief: Jaw-jaw, not war-war?
Our daily political update, featuring the stories that matter
Scientists thought there was a black hole at the centre of our Galaxy. It turns out it may be something even stranger | BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Could Sagittarius A* at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy be not a black hole, but dark matter instead? A new study suggests so.
Iran’s Reality Shatters JD Vance’s Hungarian Fantasy
If what mattered most in the world was the political future of JD Vance, this would be a very good week. The US vice president gave a rousing speech in support of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a model leader for the global conservative right, while at the same time helping his boss toward the off-ramp from an unpopular war with Iran.
Dunlap fields questions from voters during Bangor town hall
In a wide-ranging town hall conversation in Bangor Tuesday night, Democratic 2nd Congressional District Candidate Matt Dunlap said he will not be accepting money from Political Action Committees and will prioritize issues that matter to Mainers.
Leaker: Apple Will Release iPhone Air 2 No Matter How Badly It May Sell
Despite the iPhone Air's struggling sales, a known leaker claims Apple will push ahead with at least two generations of the device, while also suggesting the standard iPhone 18 will see virtually no exterior design changes.
Downtown Keene Business Owners Sound Off on Pop-up Chain Bakery, Call for Local Support on WKBK
B Bakes owners discuss chain pop-up controversy, community impact, and why supporting local businesses matters.
People visiting Japan are too scared of breaking rules, says local
As a resident of Japan, I've seen tourists to my country scared to break rules or make etiquette mistakes. But respect matters more than perfection.
Battles over business regulation resume in California's Capitol with new legislation
Lawmakers discussed bills that allow lawsuits against business monopolies and businesses that affect climate change.
"Very difficult, perhaps altogether impossible": Smith's political science at Econlib
We’re joining our friends at Liberty Matters in their celebration of the 250th anniversary of the publication of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations through a series of six weekly essays. In this fifth essay, Jacob T. Levy explores one of Smith’s most famous claims in Book V of Wealth […]
NASA chose an old DSLR as its primary Artemis II camera
It still beats the best mirrorless cameras where it matters most
Apple’s Foldable iPhone Remains on Track for September Debut
Apple Inc.’s first foldable phone is on track to arrive during the company’s normal iPhone launch period later this year, people with knowledge of the matter said, rebutting concerns about major manufacturing snags.
2026 North Carolina Science Festival in April
The North Carolina Science Festival (NCSciFest), a month-long, statewide celebration of science, returns in April 2026 with the theme “Science Matters.” Produced by Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, with presenting sponsor RTI International, NCSciFest features hundreds of interactive events designed... View Article
What do Americans want from their health information sources?
Most Americans say medical training, transparency and clarity matter most for health information sources.
Expansion gives millions of entities access to business tax accounts
The IRS said Monday it is opening the online, self-service accounts to partnerships, Indian tribal governments, tax-exempt organizations, and federal, state, and local governments.
Aqara W200 launches with Apple’s Adaptive Temperature support
The Aqara W200 brings Matter 1.4, built-in mmWave, and Apple Adaptive Temperature. Here is a closer look at what it means for Apple Home.
Physicists moved volatile antimatter by truck for the first time ever — paving the way for groundbreaking new research
CERN scientists transported antimatter by truck for the first time, enabling ultraprecise studies that could reveal why matter dominates the universe.
Even in politics, honesty matters
If the words “honesty” and “politics” are used in the same sentence, many may laugh or even think the comparison is crazy and only appropriate in fantasyland.
Opinion: SU students should engage in local politics
Our columnist claims SU students need to be more involved in local elections. These elections have a tangible impact on the SU campus, so student voices in these elections matter, she claims.
Exclusive: SpaceX lays out IPO details, targets early June roadshow, sources say
SpaceX outlined details of its highly anticipated IPO at a meeting with its team of bankers Monday night, telling them it plans to earmark a large portion of shares for retail investors and will host 1,500 of them at an event in June following the IPO roadshow launch, according to two people familiar with the matter.
A top US shipbuilder is exploring physical AI in shipbuilding
HII and GrayMatter Robotics announced plans to integrate physical AI into shipbuilding processes.
Michigan Matters: Dissecting AI opportunities and civility in politics
Michigan Matters: Dissecting AI opportunities and civility in politics
Brain Matters: Equity In The Age Of Cognitive Health
The strategy, articulated at the dome-shaped “Brain House” here in Davos, underpins a series of new DAC initiatives being rolled out in Africa, India and
Standing with Science in a Post-Truth World
Scientific progress against emerging threats will matter only if societies can defend trust in evidence from the distortions of the post-truth age
Democrats are eager to flip Issa’s seat. But his Republican successor is a ‘formidable opponent’
Leading Democrats are throwing personal jabs to distinguish themselves in a crowded primary for the competitive district that could tilt who controls Congress.
iOS 26.5 Release Date: The Game-Changing iPhone Feature You’ve Been Waiting For
The next big iPhone update is on its way and will land in a matter of weeks. When, exactly?
Houston Rockets vs. Golden State Warriors game preview
Of course Stephen Curry is coming back for this game. Not that it matters, of course. The Houston Rockets have lost multiple games against the Golden State Warriors over the past couple of seasons in which Curry didn’t play. Houston lost earlier this year at Toyota Center. In the one game Curry did play, Reed […]
Album Review: 6WA by BigXthaPlug & 600 Entertainment
BigXthaPlug spent eight months in Nashville making a country-rap album that debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, put “All the Way” with Bailey Zimmerman at No. 4 on the Hot 100, got him a Rolling Stone cover, and filled arenas with Jelly Roll. And then he came back to Dallas, rounded up four of his signees, and made a gangsta-rap record with N.W.A’s Straight Outta Compton on the cover. 6WA is the second group release from 600 Entertainment, named after the 600 block of Meadowridge Street in Ferris, Texas, where BigX and his people grew up. The whole thing is loaded with West Coast samples. From N.W.A.’s “8Ball,” Eazy-E’s “Real Muthaphuckkin G’s” and “Boyz-N-The-Hood,” Ice-T’s “6 in the Mornin’,” Snoop Dogg’s “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” and more. BigX is staking his name on the lineup he built—Rosama, MurdaGang PB, Yung Hood, KevanGotBandz, KaineMusic—and claiming a lineage from 1,400 miles away while insisting Dallas is its own thing. A million dollars in cash, split and handed straight to his mother. That’s the first place BigX goes on “From the Bottom.” He’d probably still be in the streets if he didn’t have his son and daughter. He only started rapping to make life better for Carter. Couldn’t start his car back then, now people get starstruck at Starbucks, and he throws the whole field away in one sentence: “How you think we competin’? You on the same bag, I just made me some millions off country.” Goyard bags off a Nashville payday, and he wants you to know exactly how far he’s come from everybody else. “Safe to Say” does something similar but looser. It’s a straight Ice Cube “It Was a Good Day” flip, and BigX nails it. Wakes up, checks both phones, nobody’s locked up, kid accounts look good. Gets pulled over, only catches a warning. Pulls up on the squad to liquor, ladies, and haze. Rosama takes the second verse and matches him. Wakes up to his girl cleaning his cuticles, twins playing peekaboo, pays off his car, calls a cousin, sees the opps and they don’t trip. Lawyer calls, he beat his case. Rosama is the strongest voice in the 600 camp after BigX, and “Life of a Gangster” is why. Third person, riding low, blacked-out windows, snub-nose revolver. A character who chose sticking people up over selling dope. “Quick eraser like a number-two pencil.” He never breaks character, and his delivery drops lower and slower than anything he does on the group cuts, like he’s telling you something at a cookout that he probably shouldn’t. Then on “Long Live Fre$h” he’s a completely different rapper. “Short-bus diamonds, these bitches retarded,” wide-body Durango he can’t even park. That kind of range matters on a group record. MurdaGang PB’s best verse is on the title track. Feds at his door at 6 AM, cameras busted, flushing dope, ram truck putting everybody on the floor. Yung Hood on “The Hottest” just lays out four reasons to keep hustling. Who wants to be broke, women cost money, you need bail, and home has to be straight. It’s funnier and more honest than most rappers get when they’re trying to explain why they sell drugs. KevanGotBandz on “Ain’t Never Slowin’ Down” talks about his father getting caught on the dope while he’s sitting on $300K somewhere in the hills, which is a specific kind of guilt that doesn’t usually make it onto crew tapes. KaineMusic, the newest signee, takes the back half of “Who Dunnit” and introduces herself in third person—“Took flight just to show these hoes how to perform”—but it’s too short to know if she can hold a full song. The flex tracks fill the middle of the LP and mostly run together. “I Go” is Rosama and PB trading brands, guns, and food punchlines. Rosama’s “anemic, my iron tucked low in this shirt” is a slick gun bar, PB fires back with “.223 with a clip ‘bout as big as a toddler” and “I go Burger King, stay with that whopper.” Quick, funny sometimes, but it’s all shopping lists. “Dopeman” is a chant. “6ixer Party” brings Snoop Dogg, who does exactly what you’d expect Snoop Dogg to do. BigX contributes the night’s wildest overshare: “She say she brought a friend too, well, I’m tryna put sausage on her dental.” These songs move fast and don’t overstay, but three or four of them could trade verses and nobody would catch it. Midway through, The D.O.C. shows up for a spoken-word interlude. Tracy Curry. West Dallas native, former N.W.A affiliate, co-writer on a lot of the records getting sampled on this very album. He thanks BigX for the tribute and then gets direct: “This your time, this DFW time. You need to do it like we do it down here.” Leave bread crumbs so everybody behind you can eat. Keep God in your life. It’s fatherly and generous, and it does raise the question of whether 6WA follows that advice. The album borrows heavy. The cover art, the Eazy-E samples, “Amerikkka’s Most Wanted” opening with a direct “Boyz-N-The-Hood” lift, Yung Hood rapping “Flag on my left side, Crip until I die.” But the stuff that actually stays with you is Dallas. BigX talking about Pleasant Grove, Rosama calling himself a country boy, PB recounting a raid that could’ve been last Tuesday. The record smells most like itself when it smells like Ferris, Texas, and least like Compton. BigX on “The Hottest” says his father was the first person he knew who had chickens. Not the way rappers usually wave at the drug trade. He means his actual father, his actual family. On “600 Degrees,” Rosama compares his chopper’s stutter to a speech disorder, PB claims he still has the block on his back even after leaving the city. BigX closes that one saying he used to spin and smack, and now the plaques are platinum. Thirty-two minutes was right for this. Nobody overstays, Tony Coles and Rance and Charley Cooks keep the production punchy, and BigX gives his signees real room instead of crowding every song. 6WA doesn’t reinvent anything. Five rappers, good beats, short clock. Most of what they say you’ve heard before. Some of it—the million to his mother, the cuticles and peekaboo, the four reasons to hustle—you won’t forget. Solid (★★★½☆) Favorite Track(s): “Safe to Say,” “From the Bottom,” “The Hottest” Subscribe
We live in a time where we are constantly connected but rarely seen. Here's how to fix that.
Something quieter is happening underneath all the noise — people are wondering if they matter.
5 Passive Income Business Ideas That Require Less Than $1,500 to Start
No matter your skillset, there are several passive income business ideas you can start without a major financial commitment upfront.
The truth about rye bread – healthy choice or overhyped staple?
Rye isn’t for everyone. Here’s what it is, why it can be a nutritious choice and why moderation and ingredient quality still matter.
Does a late state budget really matter? This Albany watchdog says yes
It’s a pattern that one good-government watchdog group doesn’t want you to get too comfortable with.
TheBodyPro: HIV-associated lipodystrophy persists as a health concern in the modern ART era
Lipodystrophy remains a real and present issue among HIV patients today — both as a legacy matter and as a still-emerging concern with a significant impact.
Artemis II astronauts are also having Microsoft Outlook issues
IT problems aren't just a terrestrial matter.
Gemma 4 and what makes an open model succeed
Having written a lot of model release blog posts, there’s something much harder about reviewing open models when they drop relative to closed models, especially in 2026. In recent years, there were so few open models, so when Llama 3 was released most people were still doing research on Llama 2 and super happy to get an update. When Qwen 3 was released, the Llama 4 fiasco had just gone down, and a whole research community was emerging to study RL on Qwen 2.5 — it was a no brainer to upgrade. Today, when an open model releases, it’s competing with Qwen 3.5, Kimi K2.5, GLM 5, MiniMax M2.5, GPT-OSS, Arcee Large, Nemotron 3, Olmo 3, and others. The space is populated, but still feels full of hidden opportunity. The potential of open models feels like a dark matter, a potential we know is huge, but few clear recipes and examples for how to unlock it are out there. Agentic AI, OpenClaw, and everything brewing in that space is going to spur mass experimentation in open models to complement the likes of Claude and Codex, not replace them. Especially with open models, the benchmarks at release are an extremely incomplete story. In some ways this is exciting, as new open models have a much higher variance and ability to surprise, but it also points at some structural reasons that make building businesses and great AI experiences around open models harder than the closed alternatives. When a new Claude Opus or GPT drops, spending a few hours with them in my agentic workflows is genuinely a good vibe test. For open models, putting them through this test is a category error. Something else to be said about open models in the era of agents is that they get out of the debate of integration, harnesses, and tools and let us see close to the ground on what exactly is the ability of just a model. Of course, we can’t test some things like search abilities without some tool, but being able to measure exactly the pace of progress of the model alone is a welcome simplification to a systematically opaque AI space. Share The list of factors I’d use to assess a new open-weight model I’m considering investing in includes: Model performance (and size) — how this model performs on benchmarks I care about and how it compares to other models of a similar size. Country of origin — some businesses care deeply about provenance, and if a model was built in China or not. Model license — if a model needs legal approval for use, uptake will be slower at mid-sized and large companies. Tooling at release — many models release with half-broken, or at least substantially slower, implementations in popular software like vLLM, Transformers, SGLANG, etc due to pushing the envelope of architectures or tools. Model fine-tunability — how easy or hard it is to modify the given model to your use-case when you actually try and use it. The core problem is that some of these are immediately available at release, e.g. general performance, license, origin, etc. but others such as tooling take day(s) to week(s) to stabilize, and others are open research questions — with no group systematically monitoring fine-tunability. In the early era of open models, the days of Llama 2 or 3 and Qwen pre v3.5, the architectures were fairly simple and the models tended to work out of the box. Some of this was due to the extremely hard work of the Llama, Qwen, Mistral, etc. developer teams. Some is due to the new models being genuinely harder to work with. When it comes to something like Qwen 3.5 or Nemotron 3, with hybrid models (either gated delta net or mamba layers), the tooling is very rough at release. Things you would expect to “just work” often don’t. I’ve been following this area closely since we released Olmo Hybrid with a similar architecture, and Qwen 3.5 is just starting to work well in the various open-source tools that need to all play nice together for RL research. That’s 1.5 months after the release date! This is just to start really investing more into understanding the behavior of the models. Of course, others started working on these models sooner by investing more engineering resources or relying on partially closed software. The fully open and distributed ecosystem takes a long time to get going on some new models. All of this is lead-in for the most important question for open models — how easy is it to adapt to specific use-cases? This is a different problem for different model sizes. Large MoE open-weight models may be used by entities like Cursor who need complex capabilities in their domain, e.g. Composer 2 trained on Kimi K2.5. Other applications can be built on much smaller models, such as Chroma’s Context-1 model for agentic search, built on GPT-OSS 20B. The question of “which models are fine-tunable” is largely background knowledge known by engineers across the industry. There should be a thriving research area here to support the open ecosystem model. The first step is to understand characteristics of different base and post-trained models to understand what they look like. The second step is to tune pretraining recipes for open models so they’re more flexible. Interconnects AI is a reader-supported publication. Consider becoming a subscriber. Subscribe For The ATOM Project and other Interconnects endeavors, we’ve put in substantial effort to measuring adoption trends in the open ecosystem. Everything takes a long time to unfold after a model is first publicly available — and adaptability is why. What we know for sure now, when Qwen has been going from strength to strength with its releases, is that technical staff across the industry has gotten comfortable working with Qwen models. Countless research methods and datasets were made to work with Qwen. It’ll take patience for any other model family to get to this point — a patience I’m not sure many open model builders have. This takes us to Gemma 4, Google’s latest open models. Gemma 3 was released more than a year ago, in March of 2025, and is a bit underrated. Gemma 4 comes in 4 sizes for now, with a bigger, MoE model of over 100B total parameters rumored but not released yet. The models we have today come in sizes of ~5B dense, 8B dense, 26B total 4B active MoE, and 31B dense. I’m most excited that they’re finally adopting a standard Apache 2.0 open source license. This’ll massively boost adoption. The standard of better licenses for strong open-weight LLMs was set by mostly Chinese open model labs in the last 1-2 years, and now U.S. companies are following suit. I will personally be so happy if the horrible Llama licenses and Gemma terms of service were an ~18-month transient dynamic of the industry being nervous about releasing strong open models. The Gemma 4 scores look very solid, the small models have incredible benchmark scores (especially in general domains like LMArena) and the 31B model rivals the recent Qwen 3.5 27B, which is the leading member of that class. The ~30B size range is an important one, as it’s accessible both to researchers and to enterprises looking to deploy the model in real use-cases. Where the 7B model scale is the default for tinkering and research, a 30B model is the default for seeing if an open model can unlock substantial value in your specific workflow — a good mix of intelligence, low price, tractability for downstream training, etc. This takes us back to the above adoption criteria I mentioned for open models and the bigger question — do I think Gemma 4 will be an overwhelming success? Previous Gemma models have been plagued by tooling issues and poorer performance when being finetuned. Gemma 4’s success is going to be entirely determined by ease of use, to a point where a 5-10% swing on benchmarks wouldn’t matter at all. It’s strong enough, small enough, with the right license, and from the U.S., so many companies are going to slot it in. I’m cautiously optimistic that Gemma 4 is going to work better here. Winds are shifting for open models built in America. We saw GPT-OSS go through a bumpy launch to become an overwhelming success. There’s a collective energy around the likes of Reflection, Arcee, Nemotron, Gemma, Olmo, and peers that show substantial demand for building new stacks around open models. There’s capital to be spent on AI stacks across the economy by those who want more ownership of everything, including the model. After launching The ATOM Project 240 days ago, the conversation is shifting into the next stage. Summer of 2025 was a crisis moment where the U.S. AI scene realized it can’t wait and figure out open models after building AGI. The two markets will capture different areas and proceed in parallel. Now that more companies in the U.S. are releasing strong models, we need to improve the ecosystem so that these models are easy to use, understand, and build value around. It’s the hard work to build another inflection point in these adoption plots I’ve been updating consistently, but that’s the work to be done. Join me in it. More data coming soon! Here’s a sneak peek:
Café Piro earns James Beard finalist spot; city opens health clinic in Central
This week: Café Piro reaches James Beard finals as El Paso opens a new health clinic, plus updates on trails, public art and EPCC César Chávez holiday changes.
Phil Mickelson withdraws from the Masters, joins Tiger Woods in sitting out signature major
Phil Mickelson said he will miss the Masters this year to navigate a personal family health matter, becoming another golf icon to miss the major alongside Tiger Woods.
Phil Mickelson Drops Out of Masters Due to a 'Personal Health Matter' in His Family
Phil Mickelson announced that he will no longer be competing in the 2026 Masters Tournament next week, citing a "personal health matter" in his family in a statement released on Thursday, April 2.
Phil Mickelson pulls out of 2026 Masters due to 'personal health matter'
The 2026 Masters Tournament will go on without two of the biggest names in golf.
Phil Mickelson cites family health matter in pulling out of the Masters
The Masters will not include Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods for the first time in 32 years
Phil Mickelson to miss 2026 Masters: Three-time champion out of field due to personal health matter
Mickelson will not be in the field at Augusta National Golf Club for just the second time since 1995
Phil Mickelson to miss Masters over personal health matter
Phil Mickelson announced Thursday that he won't play in next week's Masters and will be out for an extended period as his family continues to "navigate a personal health matter."
Phil Mickelson bows out of 2026 Masters due to 'personal health matter' in his family
Phil Mickelson has missed multiple LIV events this year due to a personal matter.
Phil Mickelson bows out of 2026 Masters due to a 'personal health matter' in his family
Phil Mickelson has missed multiple LIV events this year due to a personal matter.
Phil Mickelson to miss Masters due to family health matter
Phil Mickelson, a three-time Masters winner, announced he will not compete in the tournament due to a family health matter.
Pam Bondi already fired as attorney general, Cabinet official teed up as replacement: sources
President Donald Trump reportedly fired Attorney General Pam Bondi and is considering replacing her with EPA Director Lee Zeldin, sources familiar with the matter say.
Trump talked with Bondi about the possibility she’d be replaced as attorney general, sources say
President Donald Trump talked to Attorney General Pam Bondi Wednesday about the possibility she would be replaced, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN. But as of Thursday, she remained in her job and had not been fired, one of the officials said.
April’s NCSciFest shows ‘Science Matters’ in all 100 counties
As it turns 16, the nation’s first statewide science festival expects to surpass 4 million in cumulative participation.
Two Republicans are fighting for California governor. Why a tie is their best strategy
California's top-two primary creates a paradox: The only way Republicans win governor is if both advance to November. But neither is playing nice.
Blackstone’s AGS Health Said to File for $500 Million India IPO
Blackstone Inc.-owned AGS Health Pvt. has filed draft paperwork for an initial public offering in Mumbai through the confidential route, according to people familiar with the matter.