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In Graphic Detail: Why OpenAI’s ad business is still a work in progress
As OpenAI is reportedly gearing up to go public, Digiday has charted the promise, and early tensions behind its ad business.
Australia introduces advanced course on clinical safety in digital health and more briefs
Also, New Zealand is seeking providers of AI-powered mammography solutions to support BreastScreen Aotearoa.
Jayne M. Brandel, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Named Dean of School of Health and M
Jayne M. Brandel, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, a prominent scholar in the field of speech-language pathology, has been named Dean of the School of Health and Medical Sciences, effective July 1, 2026.
NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Drivers 610.47 WHQL Drops Control Panel Support
NVIDIA has released its latest GeForce Graphics Drivers 610.47 WHQL today, introducing significant changes for consumer PC users. With this driver update, NVIDIA is retiring its Control Panel for GeForce Game Ready and Studio Drivers after 20 years of service. Starting with this version, users will ...
Drug-testing bill gains momentum
A bill to prohibit medically unnecessary and nonconsensual drug testing of pregnant and postpartum women and newborns is gaining momentum in the state Legislature.
Photographer Catherine Opie is everywhere all at once this spring
'Holding Blue,' a new exhibit of Catherine Opie's photography, opens May 28 at Regen Projects in L.A. Her work will also appear at the Autry Museum, Hauser & Wirth and others.
New business development is popping up across Houston County. We checked it out from the sky.
Long Desk Days Made More Comfortable: Logitech Introduces Signature Comfort Plus Lineup
Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) today announced the launch of Signature Comfort Plus, the newest addition to Logitech’s Signature Series of everyday tool...
Liverpool transfer news: Record-breaking price blows market wide open
Liverpool could have a problem on their hands as a gigantic price blows the transfer market wide open.It appears a transfer record will be broken this summer. The Telegraph reports that Nottingham For...
Licensable picture: In this Feb. 24, 2004 photograph, Abilene Reporter-News entertainment writer Brien Murphy and KTXS sportscaster George Levesque
In this Feb. 24, 2004 photograph, Abilene Reporter-News entertainment writer Brien Murphy and KTXS sportscaster George Levesque discuss what they enjoyed and...
Infected for Science
Graphic nonfiction is a challenging genre to work in. Quite often, the need to relate information overtakes any type of narrative, as well as the art. Infected for Science struggles with that tension, as there are a number of scenes with talking heads conveying important information; however, the inspiration for this book helps offset some... Read more »
Scientists say this diet could save people and the planet. It’s more doable than you think.
National Geographic senior editor Sarah Gibbens spent a week on the planetary health diet—developed by scientists to curb both chronic disease and climate change.
Presidents, protests and politics: 2025-26 at UMich
The Michigan Daily has curated a timeline of the University of Michigan's 2025-26 school year to recap you on everything you missed.
Intel Nova Lake Edge reportedly planned with 8 E-cores and 12 Xe graphics cores
Intel Nova Lake Edge processor reportedly gets 8E+12Xe design Edge-focused SKUs may skip P-cores. Intel is reportedly planning a Nova Lake Edge processor
Alfred Hitchcock biography sheds new light on ‘The Birds’ most controversial scene (exclusive)
'A Century of Hitchcock: The Man, the Myths, the Legacy' sheds light on 'The Birds' controversial scene in which the film's star, Tippi Hedren, was attacked by real birds. Read an exclusive excerpt
Türkiye Health Sector Achievements 2026
Infographic in English on Türkiye about Health; published on 25 May 2026 by UNHCR
3 competing for Democratic nomination in Iowa House District 2
Three Democratic candidates vying for their party’s nomination to Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District will face off in the primary election June 2.
Sunderland defy expectation to secure European football against dismal Chelsea
A year to the day after they won the Championship play-off final and just four years after they escaped League One, Sunderland brought their remarkable Premier League campaign to a close by qualifying for next season’s Europa League.
Is Color Science Really Important if You Shoot RAW?
Spend enough time among photographers, and you’ll inevitably stumble into heated debates about which camera brand has the best colors. I’ve always heard that about...
Forza Horizon 6 PC Performance Analysis & Tuning Guide – How To Get Best Experience On PC
Optimize Forza Horizon 6 graphics settings for PCs, improving FPS by up to 23% with recommended tweaks for non-RT and RT configurations.
Politics: Trump reaches controversial $1.8 Billion IRS settlement
President Donald Trump last week reached a settlement with the Internal Revenue Service to end his $10 billion lawsuit over the leak of his tax returns, which includes a $1.8
Trump and Lawler Bring National Politics to Rockland County
Jonathan C. Hyman photographs Trump's Rockland County rally and the Hudson Valley political story unfolding beneath it.
Health Alert: U.S. Embassy in Rwanda (May 23, 2026) - U.S. Embassy in Rwanda
Health Alert: U.S. Embassy in Rwanda (May 23, 2026) Health Alert: U.S. Embassy in Rwanda (May 23, 2026) Location: Rwanda, countrywide Event: Entry and Exit Requirements Due to the Ebola outbreak, Rwanda has implemented new entry and exit requirements. On May 22, 2026, the Ministry of Health of Rwanda announced that all foreign nationals who have traveled to, or transited through, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) within 30 days of their travel to Rwanda will be denied entry. Rwandan nationals and foreign residents with valid proof of residency in Rwanda can enter and are subject to mandatory quarantine procedures. Travel to the U.S. Review the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) information on what travelers need to know about returning to the United States from DRC, Uganda, and South Sudan. Actions to Take: Do not travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Monitor the Ministry of Health of Rwanda webpage for local updates. If you are planning to travel to the United States, contact your airline to confirm your flight and route. Review the CDC webpage on the Ebola Current Situation. Review Consular Information for Americans Regarding the Ebola Outbreak. Review the CBP webpage for information on entry restrictions Notify friends and family of your safety. Have a plan to depart in case of emergency. Have travel documents up to date and easily accessible. Review the CDC Travelers’ Health Page for Rwanda. Continue to take malaria prophylaxis as recommended, as the symptoms of malaria can mimic symptoms of Ebola, leading to preventable health scares. Monitor your health for 21 days following travel in an area with an Ebola outbreak. If at risk for Ebola, alert your healthcare provider if you are experiencing symptoms consistent with Ebola to receive guidance prior to presenting for care. Review the Department of State’s Rwanda Travel Advisory for general health information. Refer to the U.S. Embassy’s list of medical providers. Check with your travel insurance provider about medical evacuation options should you fall ill while overseas. Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive safety and security updates. Assistance: U.S. Embassy Kigali, Rwanda 30 KG 7 Avenue (Kacyiru) +250-252-596-400 ACSKigali@state.gov https://rw.usembassy.gov State Department – Consular Affairs 888-407-4747 or 202-501-4444 Rwanda Country Information Enroll in Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive security updates. Follow us on Facebook and X
AI-generated images are making it impossible to distinguish truth from fiction. We need laws and AI watermarks to protect our shared reality.
Generative AI is destroying the baseline assumption that photographs bear some causal connection to reality. That's bad news for democracy.
Bond breakout? Big effects of bad data. Immigration and thermostatic politics & dad-chat is coming for dad-books.
Thank you for opening your Chartbook email. Anna Airy, A Shell Forge at a National Projectile Factory, Hackney Marshes, London, 1918 Bond breakout - John Authers Across the developed markets, bond markets are staging a slow-motion car wreck. Looking at the drastic moves in the US, Japan, the UK and France, Barclays’ Ajay Rajadhyaksha commented: “Last week, long bonds broke. Not in one country. In all of them. Simultaneously. Four countries. Four different political systems. Four different central banks. But the same trade — “get me out of duration!”” Each country has its own contributing political problems, but the uniformity of the shift out of long-term bonds with high duration makes clear that something broader is afoot. For Rajadhyaksha, it is “simple and uncomfortable.” The developed world “has too much debt, too little fiscal discipline, and no political appetite for fixing either.” If there’s a trigger, it has been the Iran war and the resulting shock to oil supply. Source: Bloomberg G7 countries are now borrowing at rates that were enjoyed by EM in the early 2020s For contributing subscribers only. Subscribe Trade between China and Russia has grown in recent years For contributing subscribers only. Subscribe Big effects of bad data A decade ago nearly nine in ten Americans, when approached, agreed to fill out the Current Population Survey, which is administered to about 60,000 households each month and asks about, among other things, employment. Fewer than seven in ten do so now (see chart 1). For the Consumer Expenditure Survey, which tries to capture 3,700 households monthly, the response rate is down from 68% to 40%. … When the information becomes less reliable, investment decisions get more difficult to make. Some may be delayed, creating a potential drag on the economy. A new working paper by Nicholas Bloom of Stanford University, Erica Groshen, former head of the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) now at Cornell University, and Duncan Hobbs and Michael Strain of the American Enterprise Institute, a think-tank, hazards an estimate. Preserving trust in “the integrity and quality of official statistics”, the authors claim, generates economic benefits of about $25 for every $1 spent on the BLS, the agency with an annual budget of $700m that is responsible for many of these data. To arrive at their conclusion the quartet analysed an ignoble episode in the BLS’s recent history. On August 1st 2025 Donald Trump sacked Erika McEntarfer, appointed as the agency’s commissioner by his predecessor, Joe Biden. The president alleged, without evidence, that the BLS’s steep downward revision to recent jobs numbers had been “RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad”. In fact, it was the wanton dismissal that looked bad in the eyes of many observers. In the following seven days there was a 50% leap, relative to the week before, in the average value of the index of Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU), which tracks the number of articles mentioning such uncertainty that are published daily in American newspapers. This was a discernible jump even when compared to the chaos caused by Mr Trump’s trade war in April 2025 and his real one in Iran in the past two months (see chart 2). Based on Mr Bloom’s earlier study with other colleagues of the EPU’s impact on business investment, industrial production and employment, the authors estimate that the jump reduced American GDP by over $100bn (0.3%) and non-farm payrolls by 168,000 (0.1%). Source: The Economist Immigration and thermostatic politics (Sarah O’Connor in the FT) A strange thing happened a year and a half ago. No sooner had Americans elected Donald Trump as president on an explicitly anti-immigration platform than US public opinion began to swing much more favourably towards immigration. … to political scientists who study “thermostatic” politics, this development is no surprise at all. Public opinion often moves against the prevailing party, especially if they are perceived to have gone “too far” in one direction. The phenomenon was first explored in the 1990s with reference to fiscal policy, but in recent years it has been particularly evident in the realm of immigration policy. While these swings in opinion polls can make it seem as if people don’t know their own minds, they can be a useful democratic check on governments by sending bright flashing warning lights when policies stray too far from the public’s comfort zone. The problem comes when politicians misinterpret those signals. When people tell pollsters they want less immigration, or think it is bad for the country overall (or the converse), they are often expressing an opinion about how things appear to be going in that moment relative to their preferences, rather than a deep shift in their underlying views. According to Alexander Kustov, a political scientist, most Americans’ views are quite stable and moderate: they support immigration that is controlled and in the national interest, and oppose flows that are disorderly or under-enforced. In the US, he argues the Trump administration over-interpreted dissatisfaction with high immigration under Joe Biden, and implemented policies that went too far for many voters. “People don’t necessarily change their idea about their ideal immigration policy, but they can react to what the government is currently doing,” he told me. “A lot of people are not happy with what the Trump administration are doing — right now we’re not talking about border enforcement, we’re talking about people not just getting harassed, but killed.” But similarly, he added, pro-immigration advocates would be making a mistake to interpret the recent, more favourable swing towards immigration as a deep-seated ideological shift in attitudes. The recent history of UK immigration policy offers another cautionary tale. After the 2016 Brexit referendum, public concern about immigration fell. This was partly because net migration statistics declined, but also because people felt a sense of catharsis and control, says Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, a think-tank. By 2019, the public ranked immigration as only the ninth biggest issue of concern, according to Ipsos polling. But when the Conservative government liberalised visa routes for students and care workers between 2019 and 2022, that helped net migration to surge. And so, too, did public concern. Today’s Labour government has implemented another sharply restrictive turn in immigration policy. As Kustov and researcher Caitlyn Yates argue, thermostatic public opinion should be a useful check on politicians. Instead it seems to have helped to magnify the pendulum swing in the UK. The government over-interprets and overreacts to a change in public opinion, which reacts in turn, prompting a sudden swing the other way. Source: Financial Times HEY READERS, THANK YOU for opening the Chartbook email. I hope it brightens your day. I enjoy putting out the newsletter, but tbh, what keeps this flow going is the generosity of those readers who clicked the subscription button. If you are persuaded to click, please consider the annual subscription of $50. It is both better value for you and a much better deal for me, as it involves only one credit card charge. Why feed the payments companies if we don’t have to. Subscribe Anna Airy, Shop for Machining 15-Inch Shells: Singer Manufacturing Company, Clydebank, Glasgow, 1918 Racing for a vaccine … we have been here before! The deadly Ebola outbreak in two African countries driven by a virus species with no vaccine has triggered an urgent search for a potential jab, in a test of troubled global efforts to avert threats posed by emerging diseases. A World Health Organization advisory group is due to would meet on Tuesday to recommend candidate jabs to prioritise for clinical trials, the global health body said. It will assess data including an analysis by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi), which was set up after failures in the international response to a previous Ebola crisis. The latest Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda has infected hundreds of people and killed more than 80, health authorities say. Cepi’s reaction will be a crucial indicator of its progress towards its wider goal of producing vaccines for pandemic threats in just 100 days, despite steep cuts to international health funding. “If there was ever a time that we could show the world why Cepi is needed and show the world why the 100-day mission is needed, it’s now,” Nicole Lurie, the organisation’s executive director for preparedness and response, told the FT. “We’re happy to accept that responsibility, but obviously we need help from partners — particularly financial help in the long run.” DR Congo and Uganda would make the final decision on whether to press ahead with any vaccine candidates endorsed for clinical trials by the WHO experts, the global health body said. “Other ethical and community acceptability issues will be considered,” said the WHO, which declared the latest outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday. “This will be important to make sure that the trial, if it happens, will be adequately communicated to the population.” Lurie said Cepi had provided information from a survey of research teams and companies working on drugs that might be effective against the Bundibugyo virus behind the outbreak. The organisation hoped soon to announce partners in the quest for a jab, she added, although she declined to give a timescale for when one might be developed. Cepi’s Nicole Laurie said global health bodies were ‘getting some live-fire drills’ with hantavirus and the latest Ebola outbreak. The hunt for a vaccine should be helped by scientific advances including the use of artificial intelligence to find drugs active against viruses, Lurie said. Existing jabs against the Zaire Ebola virus responsible for many previous outbreaks might provide a basis for tackling the Bundibugyo species, she added. “We’ll see how far and how fast we can get,” Lurie said, adding that Cepi had done preliminary work recently on a possible jab for the rat-borne hantavirus responsible for a recent fatal outbreak on a cruise ship. “Both with hantavirus and now with Ebola, [we] are getting some live-fire drills.” Source: Michael Peel in the Financial Times Dad-chat is coming for dad-books. (By Pamela Paul and Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg in the WSJ) They were the go-to gifts for Father’s Day: a book about some little-known chapter of World War II, the sweeping narrative of a shipwreck, perhaps the latest presidential biography. These days, dad books are a dying breed. Nonfiction book sales have been in decline for the past four years, and are now the most challenged segment of the print book market. Publishers say certain types of books still fare well—including celebrity memoirs and religious titles. But in recent years, print sales in such categories as biography, current affairs and business and economics—what publishers refer to as “serious nonfiction” and which tend to resonate especially with men—have fallen considerably. Sales of nonfiction print titles were down nearly 8% through May 9 this year, and sales of books about politics and current affairs were down 19%, according to book tracker Circana BookScan. Publishing has long been subject to cyclical changes, with trends in format and genre taking over bookshelves in grand sweeps. (Remember the adult coloring-book craze? Or the stratospheric rise of romantasy?) But many in publishing believe the decline in serious nonfiction is more existential. “The trend couldn’t be clearer,” said Jonathan Karp, the former chief executive of Simon & Schuster and publisher of the new Simon Six imprint. “This is a sea change and people should wake up and realize we’re living in a new world.” One culprit for the shift: a new media diet for fans of more serious nonfiction. … Sixty-two percent of men and 54% of women consumed a podcast in the prior month, according to a recent survey by Edison Research at SSRS, up from 46% and 39%, respectively, in 2023. “When we have internal meetings to talk about this problem, it always comes around to podcasts,” said Jonathan Burnham, president and publisher of the Harper Group at HarperCollins Publishers. “The man who wants to read American history is now tuning into one of the many good podcasts about history that lends the quiet attention to a serious subject he’s looking for. It makes the idea of sitting down with a 700-page Ron Chernow book less appealing. You’ve scratched that itch.” Source: Wall Street Journal Remarkable report by Novara from the nationalist rally in London in mid May. Anna Airy, Leopard Moth and Plums, 1915 If you’ve scrolled this far, you know you want to click: Subscribe
Running from bombs in the Balkan Wars shaped Hull manager
It has not been a straightforward week for Sergej Jakirovic, the Hull City manager, but it is not the most extraordinary in his life so far.
Health Alert: Worldwide Caution – Updated Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening – May 22, 2026 - U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Thailand
Health Alert: Worldwide Caution – Updated Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening – May 22, 2026 Event: U.S.-bound American citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) who have been present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within 21 days of arrival in the United States must only enter through the following airports for enhanced screening: Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) for flights after 11:59 PM on May 21, 2026 Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) for flights after 11:59 PM on May 22, 2026 George Bush Intercontinental Airport, (IAH), Houston, for flights departing after 11:59 PM on May 26, 2026 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will apply enhanced public health screening at IAD in response to the Ebola outbreak. This requirement applies to all passengers, including U.S. citizens and LPRs, who were present in those countries. Please be prepared for flight changes or cancellations. Actions to take: Read the Modification of List of Designated Airports Regarding Arrival Restrictions Review the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) information on what travelers need to know about returning to the United States from DRC, Uganda, and South Sudan. Read the Department of Homeland Security Alert on Enhanced Ebola Screening. Review Consular Information for Americans Regarding the Ebola Outbreak. If you are planning to travel to the United States, contact your airline to confirm your flight and route. You may also contact the State Department – Consular Affairs: Phone: +1-888-407-4747 or +1-202-501-4444 Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive safety and security updates. If you are a registered user, you can manage your subscriptions by clicking the link below. Guest subscribers cannot manage subscriptions but can create a Login.gov account to manage future subscriptions. Manage Your Subscriptions
Rediscovering science: New knowledge hidden in old data
What if the knowledge that could fuel the next scientific breakthrough has simply been forgotten in an old graph or table? Valuable scientific insights may already exist across decades of published experiments, ...
Seven Florida State University faculty members elected to the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida
Seven distinguished faculty members from Florida State University have been elected as new members of the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of
How states can incentivize local investing to find new capital for businesses and housing
Geographic and corporate concentration in banking and retail is limiting entrepreneurship in many U.S. communities. Existing place-based policies help, but often fail to deliver scalable, tailored investment solutions broadly across rural and urban areas.
Smartphones may soon be able to track hidden objects using LiDAR
Modern smartphones are packed with incredible technology, from high-resolution cameras and advanced graphics chips to AI processors. In premium models, this hardware includes LiDAR (light detection and ...
Mental Health Is Another Unfortunate ICE Casualty
Hundreds of immigrants, community members, and allies gathered in Washington DC on May 20 for a peaceful march from Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) headquarters to the Capitol.
Visiting Voices: Spencer Cox and Jake Auchincloss, Cherelle Parker, Ken Burns, and more
Throughout the academic year, dozens of public figures from the worlds of politics, civil society, and academia speak at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, part of Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics. Read what some of them had to say.
Health Alert: Worldwide Caution – Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening – May 21, 2026 - U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Thailand
Health Alert: Worldwide Caution – Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening – May 21, 2026 Event: As of May 21, 2026, all U.S.-bound American citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) who have been present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within 21 days of arrival in the United States must only enter through Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) for enhanced screening. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will apply enhanced public health screening at IAD in response to the Ebola outbreak. The Dulles requirement applies to all passengers, including U.S. citizens and LPRs, who were present in those countries. Please be prepared for flight changes or cancellations. Actions to take: Read the Department of Homeland Security Alert on Enhanced Ebola Screening. Review Consular Information for Americans Regarding the Ebola Outbreak. If you are planning to travel to the United States, contact your airline to confirm your flight and route. You may also contact the State Department – Consular Affairs: Phone: +1-888-407-4747 or +1-202-501-4444 Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive safety and security updates.
Prominent Chester County business owner facing child pornography charges
A well‑known Chester County restaurant owner was arrested Wednesday on 24 charges connected to the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material.
Health Alert – Worldwide Caution - U.S. Embassy in Argentina
Health Alert – Worldwide Caution Health Alert – Worldwide Caution Health Alert May 21, 2026 Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening Event: As of May 21, 2026, all U.S.-bound American citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) who have been present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within 21 days of arrival in the United States must only enter through Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) for enhanced screening. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will apply enhanced public health screening at IAD in response to the Ebola outbreak. The Dulles requirement applies to all passengers, including U.S. citizens and LPRs, who were present in those countries. Please be prepared for flight changes or cancellations. Actions to take: Read the Department of Homeland Security Alert on Enhanced Ebola Screening(opens in a new tab). Review Consular Information for Americans Regarding the Ebola Outbreak. If you are planning to travel to the United States, contact your airline to confirm your flight and route. You may also contact the State Department – Consular Affairs: Phone: +1-888-407-4747 or +1-202-501-4444 Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive safety and security updates. For updates on the situation, click here.
PHOTOS: Long Beach Century Club 38th Middle School Sports Awards Banquet
PHOTOS: Long Beach Century Club 38th Middle School Sports Awards Banquet
Tucson Roadrunners Set Franchise Business Records During 2025-26 Season
While the Tucson Roadrunners celebrated their 10th anniversary on the ice during the 2025-26 season, the organization also delivered one of the most successful business campaigns in franchise history off it.
Visualizing Teen Mental Health: Oakland Students Highlight Caregivers Through Photography
A recent workshop facilitated by several Bay Area organizations asked Oakland high schoolers to visualize the impact their caregivers have on their mental health.
Health Alert: Worldwide Caution – Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening – May 21, 2026 - U.S. Embassy In Nicaragua
Health Alert: Worldwide Caution – Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening Event: As of May 21, 2026, all U.S.-bound American citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) who have been present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within 21 days of arrival in the United States must only enter through Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) for enhanced screening. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will apply enhanced public health screening at IAD in response to the Ebola outbreak. The Dulles requirement applies to all passengers, including U.S. citizens and LPRs, who were present in those countries. Please be prepared for flight changes or cancellations. Actions to take: Read the Department of Homeland Security Alert on Enhanced Ebola Screening. Review Consular Information for Americans Regarding the Ebola Outbreak. If you are planning to travel to the United States, contact your airline to confirm your flight and route. You may also contact the State Department – Consular Affairs: Phone: +1-888-407-4747 or +1-202-501-4444 Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive safety and security updates.
Health Alert: Worldwide Caution – Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening – May 21, 2026 - U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Brazil
Health Alert: Worldwide Caution – Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening – May 21, 2026 Event: As of May 21, 2026, all U.S.-bound American citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) who have been present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within 21 days of arrival in the United States must only enter through Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) for enhanced screening. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will apply enhanced public health screening at IAD in response to the Ebola outbreak. The Dulles requirement applies to all passengers, including U.S. citizens and LPRs, who were present in those countries. Please be prepared for flight changes or cancellations. Actions to take: Read the Department of Homeland Security Alert on Enhanced Ebola Screening. Review Consular Information for Americans Regarding the Ebola Outbreak. If you are planning to travel to the United States, contact your airline to confirm your flight and route. You may also contact the State Department – Consular Affairs: +1-888-407-4747 or +1-202-501-4444 Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive safety and security updates.
Former Splinter Cell Creative Director Says Realistic Graphics Are Causing Problems for Modern Stealth Games
The former creative director of one of gaming's most influential stealth franchises, Splinter Cell, has suggested that advancements in lighting and shadow have made it more difficult than ever for the fans — and creators — of the genre.
Top Dem lawmakers duck questions when pressed on Platner's Reddit scandal
Top Democratic lawmakers refuse to say whether Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner's graphic Reddit posts have become a party liability ahead of midterms.
MIT scientists discover amino acid that helps the gut heal itself
MIT scientists have identified cysteine — an amino acid found in foods like meat, dairy, beans, and nuts — as a potent trigger for intestinal repair. In mice, a cysteine-rich diet activated immune cells that released healing signals, helping stem cells rebuild damaged intestinal tissue after radiation exposure. Researchers say the discovery could eventually lead to new dietary therapies for cancer patients suffering from treatment-related gut damage.
Where do citizen science data come from?
Citizen science projects are playing an increasingly important role in ecological and conservation research worldwide. In these programs, members of the public support researchers by submitting photographs, audio recordings, observations, or even by contributing to data analysis. In Hungary, no fewer than 17 such initiatives combined their datasets in a joint study. The authors aimed to understand which socio-economic and environmental factors influence participation patterns in Hungary. By comparing the spatial distribution of citizen science data with an independent administrative dataset (municipality level data on income, education, demography, density and protected areas), the researchers identified several general trends as well as numerous project-specific relationships. For example, they found more per capita observations from municipalities with higher proportions of protected natural areas and lower population densities. Furthermore, excluding Budapest, the capital, both the proportion of people with diplomas and the proportion of elderly people showed a positive correlation with participation activity. In contrast, no consistent general pattern emerged regarding wealth or the proportion of children, although several project-specific relationships were observed. The study not only reveals how citizen science data are distributed across Hungary, but also provides robust support for the view that various biases must be taken into account when analyzing such data. The authors hope that their findings will help researchers in other countries design more effective projects and produce more accurate analyses by accounting for some of these or similar biases.
Google Health 5.0 rolling out with new stats widget on Android
As telegraphed, Google Health is now rolling out as an update to the Fitbit app. On Android, Google Health 5.0 introduces a new widget.
Exhibit highlights the health impacts of online violence affecting children and adolescents
The World Health Organization (WHO) is drawing attention to the growing importance of addressing the impacts of digital environments on children’s health and development.
Dexcom CEO hints at future uses for CGM
In this edition of STAT Health Tech: Takeaways from a conversation with Dexcom CEO, and updates on WiSeR, and Epic's market share.
Scientists discover over 1,100 new marine species
Scientists have named 1,121 new marine species in a single year - from deep-sea ghost sharks to cave shrimp off Marseille.
KPMG integrates Claude across its core business and workforce of more than 276,000 in strategic alliance
Anthropic is an AI safety and research company that's working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.
Powell: Courtroom chaos in Murdaugh case could spill into South Carolina politics
News that the South Carolina Supreme Court had overturned the murder convictions of Alex Murdaugh in the state’s “Trial of the Century” made headlines nationwide.
Carley Bayer joins Essentia Health-32nd Avenue Clinic to practice neurology
The Essentia Health-32nd Avenue Clinic is excited to welcome Carley Bayer, an advanced practice registered nurse and certified nurse practitioner in neurology.
WNBA graphic omitting Caitlin Clark shows identity politics still come first
OutKick argues the WNBA once again snubbed Caitlin Clark from a promotional graphic, choosing a player averaging 1.0 points per game over its biggest star.
Trump is losing his grip on his most important demographic
If there’s one demographic group that is synonymous with President Donald Trump’s political rise — and his later rebirth — it’s the White voter without a college degree.
🎥 “Salerno returns”: spine-tingling display, choreography’s viral 😍
Top-flight atmosphere at the Arechi Stadium for the Serie C playoff clash between Salernitana and Ravenna.Watch the full Serie BKT live on OneFootball for just €9.99 a month. Click here to buy the L...
New MatterChat Model Helps AI to ‘See’ the Language of Science
From writing emails to generating computer code, much of the artificial intelligence prevalent in our daily lives has succeeded by mastering one domain: text. However, this leaves a major blind spot in the physical sciences, where models depend on the high-resolution, three-dimensional data of the physical world, like the intricate lattice of atoms in a crystal. Delivering on the promise of using AI for science requires teaching these data-driven text models to seamlessly “talk to” physics-based models. Now, a new AI framework from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), called MatterChat, solves this problem by creating a specialized “bridge.” It connects the conversational power of a Large Language Model (LLM) with a physics-based AI that models “interatomic potentials”: the complex physical forces between atoms. The resulting system already significantly outperforms general-purpose AI tools like GPT-4 at predicting material properties, and the team hopes it can accelerate scientific discovery by serving as a robust research partner that provides grounded insights and generates step-by-step instructions for synthesizing novel materials. A paper describing this work was recently published in Nature Machine Intelligence. “Traditional simulations can provide the physical rigor required for materials science, yet their computational cost remains prohibitive for high-throughput screening. Conversely, while LLMs excel at rapid knowledge synthesis, they inherently lack the ‘structural vision’ to interpret materials directly from their underlying atomic coordinates,” said Yingheng Tang, a postdoctoral researcher in Berkeley Lab’s Applied Math and Computational Research Division (AMCR) and lead author on the paper. “MatterChat was built to solve this dilemma, empowering LLMs with a structural ‘vision’ that allows researchers to leverage their full potential for solving complex, real-world materials challenges.” Empowering language models to solve complex challenges in materials science To build MatterChat, the Berkeley Lab team drew inspiration from technologies like Vision Question Answering (VQA) and Text-to-Image (T2I) generation. In these tasks, AI must translate high-level text concepts into visual images, or vice versa. Doing so requires developers to build tools that “bridge” two fundamentally different forms of data. The researchers adapted this concept to the physical sciences. With MatterChat, they created a “bridge model” that successfully connects an LLM’s general knowledge with the deep understanding of the atomic-scale world encoded in scientific interatomic potentials. Until now, researchers using LLMs to solve materials problems usually had to feed them raw data files as if they were just strings of text. It’s like asking an AI to understand a complex 3D engine based only on a parts list: the LLM can read the names, but it can’t “see” how the atoms fit together in space. MatterChat solves this by training a specialized AI bridge model, pre-trained on millions of crystal structures and an LLM, to align the LLM’s representation of the world with the interatomic potential’s representation of the world. The bridge model can translate physical insights into a format the LLM can actually understand. By giving the LLM these “scientific eyes”— a scientific “inductive bias” in the terminology of AI — the Berkeley Lab team has transformed it into a robust research tool capable of providing grounded scientific insights into complex materials challenges, such as predicting thermal stability or analyzing electronic band gaps. “We think of atoms as living in a physical space, but from a machine learning perspective, they are just vectors living in some very non-trivially structured manifold in a high-dimensional Euclidean space; and, of course, the same is true for the sentences and paragraphs that we use to express our ideas about those atoms,” said co-author Michael Mahoney, Berkeley Lab’s Scientific Data Division (SDD) AI Initiative Research Lead. “The bridge model basically gets those two structures to ‘talk with’ each other.” As a proof-of-concept of this general approach, the team trained their bridge model on a dataset curated by pairing nearly 143,000 stable atomic structures from the Materials Project with their corresponding physical properties. This training data was automatically assembled using the Materials Project’s API and deliberately enriched with properties fundamental to microelectronics design — like formation energy and bandgap — allowing MatterChat to learn the complex patterns connecting a material’s atomic blueprint to its functional performance. To validate their model, the researchers benchmarked MatterChat against a suite of other AI systems, from general-purpose LLMs to other specialized scientific AI methods. The results show that MatterChat consistently outperformed its competitors across a range of tasks. The model was more accurate in classifying material types and demonstrated superior precision in predicting numerical properties. For example, it excelled at predicting a material’s bandgap, a property critical for designing new electronics from high-capacity energy storage to next-generation computer chips. “Our design is significantly more efficient because we don’t have to build a massive AI model from the ground up,” said co-author Zhi (Jackie) Yao, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s AMCR. “Instead, we take two powerful, pre-trained models — a structural encoder for materials physics and an open-source LLM — and use them off-the-shelf. The only component we actually train is the lightweight ‘bridge model’ that translates between them. It’s the difference between building an entire car factory and simply designing a smart adapter that connects a world-class engine to a world-class navigation system. This approach is not only computationally efficient, but also makes the system modular, so we can easily upgrade components or adapt the bridge for other scientific domains in the future.” Crucially, this modular design highlights exactly how institutions like Berkeley Lab and the Department of Energy are carving out a highly valuable niche in the booming AI landscape. Rather than competing with Silicon Valley tech giants to build ever-larger language models from scratch, the lab is focusing on the specialized connective tissue that makes commercial AI useful for hardcore science. Because the bridge model approach underlying MatterChat is forward-compatible, it is perfectly positioned to leverage these parallel tracks of innovation. As Mahoney pointed out, “We expect that industry will continue to develop improved LLMs, and we expect domain scientists and facilities will continue to generate new data. An important part of scientific machine learning is not simply to solve problems on today’s data, but instead to develop general methods that will be forward-compatible with orders of magnitude more data, whether from scientific domains or from LLMs.” According to Yao, the MatterChat project, which was initially developed and enhanced with funding from a Berkeley Lab Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) Program, will now expand its capabilities. In a collaboration with Fermilab, MatterChat is already contributing to a U.S. Department of Energy Genesis Mission project — called Accelerating eXtreme Environment Specs-to-Silicon (AXESS) — that aims to speed up the development of next-generation, high-speed, radiation-hardened detectors for challenging particle physics experiments by using advanced 3D integrated circuits (chiplets) and AI-driven data analysis. In addition to the LDRD support, the team also credits supercomputing resources at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), located at Berkeley Lab, with MatterChat’s success. “We are incredibly grateful to NERSC; this research simply would not have happened without access to the Perlmutter supercomputer through their AI for Science program,” said Tang. Wenbin Xu, a NERSC postdoctoral fellow at the time, was also a major co-author of the work, as was Benjamin Erichson, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s SDD, highlighting the benefits of AMCR-SDD collaboration on AI for science. ### Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is committed to groundbreaking research focused on discovery science and solutions for abundant and reliable energy supplies. The lab’s expertise spans materials, chemistry, physics, biology, earth and environmental science, mathematics, and computing. Researchers from around the world rely on the lab’s world-class scientific facilities for their own pioneering research. Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest problems are best addressed by teams, Berkeley Lab and its scientists have been recognized with 17 Nobel Prizes. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.
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Andrew Abbott leaned into some science to get his season back on track
Andrew Abbott locked in on the stick-figure graphic of himself. The world of biomechanics is very advanced. But with Abbott going through the worst rut of his big league career, he opened up to some new ideas to get himself back on track. He asked for some help, and he leaned into some sports science. He said the stick figures made it clear, and he credits biomechanics for helping him get his season back on track. Over his last three starts, he has allowed two total runs in 17 ⅔ innings. “There’s a photo of (me) last year and the year before on a graph, and this year is in a different color,” Abbott said. “You see where you are in comparison to that. Where the hands are at this moment, where your feet are, where the knee is, where your head is at, where your shoulders are at, it breaks it all down if you want it.” When Abbott saw his mechanics in this objective way, he recognized exactly what had been going wrong. “When my tempo, my feet and my hands are aligned, then normally my mechanics are sound,” Abbott said. “And when my mechanics are sound, my stuff behaves normally. The fastball is jumpy. I’m up in velo. My extension is better.” Abbott said that he started diving more into his biomechanics in the middle of April. The Reds have a biomechanics team, which works closely with pitching coach Derek Johnson and hitting coach Chris Valaika. Leading the group is biomecahnics manager Franky Mulloy. “I laugh every day,” Francona said. “When Franky starts talking, I start laughing. I remind him to know his audience.” Francona isn’t a scientist. The Reds’ manager jokes about his own comprehension of the data. But it’s easy for him to recognize the value that the biomechanics team is providing. “That’s why we got them,” Francona said. Abbott said that he had his first big biomechanics-oriented meeting in the middle of April. Behind the scenes, there was already a lot of communication going on within the Reds’ staff. “Franky calculates all the things, builds it into these graphs, and DJ gets them,” Abbott said. “They have their internal communication. Then, we go to them and ask what about this or that. The main thing for me is arm angle.” The data shows Abbott how his arm angle evolves from start to start. He hasn’t meant to change it. But just like all of us, our posture might be different from one day to the next. Pitchers’ arm angles can make minor shifts without the pitcher or even coaches noticing. But the data can’t miss a change like that. Abbott recognized that his arm angle had been moving around without him noticing. Now, he checks in with the data to make sure that his mechanics are in sync. “They get into these cool looking graphs,” Abbott said. “I can’t really describe them. I don’t know what they are. But for me, it’s a photo of a stick figure of myself.” The stick figure of his current positioning is superimposed over previous versions of himself. With that format, Abbott can compare his mechanics on any given day to what they were when he was pitching at his very best. “It was very noticeable from the moment I saw this year as black compared to two years ago and last year, it was very, very different,” Abbott said. “I could see with my eyes without having to ask any questions about the difference in the photos.” For any pitcher, there are a lot of moving pieces in your delivery. For Abbott to be the best version of himself, he needs his head, his arm, his hand, his knee and his feet to be on the right “tempo.” “Tempo is a word I’ve used a lot,” Abbott said. “Getting everything in certain areas working together.” He has been much better at that recently. The data backs that up, and so does Abbott’s ERA. The biomechanics data has also given the Reds’ staff and Abbott some better ideas for some training that he can do between starts. He has added drills to shore up areas of his body that Abbott needed to make stronger. “They make a plan based off what they see,” Abbott said. “If things start changing, we know what to revert back to.” Overall, Abbott says that he’s not a very analytical guy. There’s so much information out there, and he says that it’s important for him to not get too analytical when he breaks down his specific pitches. He has learned the value of being “analytical about mechanics.” And the way that the Reds presented that information to him made it easier for him to make the right adjustments without being overloaded by information. “It was a very simple fix,” Abbott said. “It took a long time to finally get there, feel the results and see it. But for the most part, it was very simple to apply it.”
The State of Rural Hospitals in the U.S, 2012-2023
ASPE’s Office of Health Policy has developed an Issue Brief modeling the key determinants of rural hospital closure or conversion as well as an interactive Rural Hospital Dashboard to highlight key characteristics and trends among rural hospitals. The Issue Brief uses a Cox proportional hazards model to identify low occupancy rates, for-profit ownership and proximity to an urban county as key determinants of closure or conversion to outpatient only facilities.
Art, but Make It Sports
The creator behind the viral meme account that pairs famous artwork with sports photography is stopping at Mia for his book tour.
Chartbook 449: Voldemort on Threadneedle street. The Bank of England and the "haunted house" of English politics.
Imagine the scene: In some Harry Potter version of 21st-century London, a group of deathless UK Treasury officials gathered from across the last century huddle over warm pints and glasses of Chardonnay. Around the table there are officials from the 1920s, the 1930s, the 1970s, 2022 and today. Inevitably, in May 2026, the subject of conversation is the disintegration of the current Labour government. Despite its huge majority in parliament, it has been reduced to tatters by catastrophic local election result. These exposed the fact that rather than having a government with a clear popular majority, the UK is like most other modern societies divided into 5 segments each of which commands between 26 and 16 percent of the vote. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the leadership at Nos 10 and 11 Downing Street - where the Prime Minister and the Chancellor (Treasury Secretary) work - seem paralyzed. They are caught between mounting discontent over unfairness and the cost of living, and tough fiscal strictures that push them into making unpopular spending decisions. In the London pub, the Treasury officials from across the ages, can barely hide their satisfaction at the latest display of democratic politics caught in the vice-grip of financial logic. “Remember the mur d’argent and the banker’s ramp?” “Just like yesterday!” There are smirks around the table. Then the representative of 2026 pipes up: “One thing you have to say about the current lot (referring to the latest hapless Labour government), you don’t have to teach them about the bond market!” There is a murmur of ascent from the Treasury Mandarins. The trauma of the fiscal crisis of September-October 2022 sits deep. Back then, in the final stages of Tory decay, a ‘mini budget’ that challenged fiscal orthodoxy led to a brief but fierce panic in one of the oldest government bond markets in the world (aka gilt market). Now all you have to do is to mention the “bond market” to hush debate. [ Paul Mason@paulmasonnews In the name of public service, and as ex-economics editor of BBC Newsnight, I offer to do a zoom call, tonight, with any Labour MP who wants to understand why bond markets do not "fall into line" with governments. 1/ 3:57 PM · May 12, 2026 · 466K Views 224 Replies · 674 Reposts · 3.93K Likes ](https://x.com/paulmasonnews/status/2054229532404519082?s=20) “And the funny thing is”, the young man in the huddle continues, “they don’t even want to talk about … ”. There is a sudden hush. Significant looks are exchanged around the table. About? One of the senior figures puts down his glass with a decisive “clink”. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has entered their thoughts. Meanwhile, a few miles away in a grubby pub in Bloomsbury, two conspirators from the camp of Critical Macrofinance huddle over cans of low-alcohol IPA. They look at each other and blurt out loud: “The Bank!” “Everyone in the bloody Labour party is talking about the bond market. But why aren’t they even mentioning … the Bank of England!?” “Why is no one talking about Voldemort?” In Paul Mason’s blogpost, after much chest-thumping about basic fiscal logic, the basic point about the Bank of England is buried in the fine print at #3 in his list of suggestions as to what a radical Labour government might actually be able to do! [ Conflict & Democracy Down with the bond market! Down with gravity! It may seem unfair to focus on Labour MP Paula Barker for her off-the-cuff assertion that the bond market would have to “fall in line” with Andy Burnham, should he replace Keir Starmer as prime minister. But Burnham himself told the New Statesman that Labour had to “get beyond this thing of being in hock to the bond markets… Read more 2 days ago · 100 likes · 3 comments · Paul Mason ](https://htsf.substack.com/p/down-with-the-bond-market-down-with?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) Back in Bloomsbury they shake their heads and ask: “Didn’t we learn anything from the Eurozone crisis?” Meanwhile, as if summoned to the conversation by some higher force, the “pink pages” announce: “The days of ultra-cheap government borrowing have come to an end” and Martin “Whizzard” Wolf publishes the graph of the season Look at the UK in 2026, perilously positioned on the upper edge of the pack. No wonder no one in London needs any lessons about the “bond market”. But, look again. Imagine how they feel in Rome. What is London’s nightmare in 2026? The nightmare is that you end up like Italy in the early 2010s during the Eurozone crisis. Once comfortably situated in the middle of the pack, watching with horror as your ten-year yields explode to 7 percent and “spreads” become a national nightmare. One of the largest economies in Europe, a founding member of the euro, stigmatized. But the message of the Italian experience is ambiguous. After all, the stigma didn’t last. In 2026, Italy borrows at rates lower not only than the UK but the US. The US, which, as everyone knows, enjoys the “exorbitant privilege” of being the issuer of reserve, safe asets. What kind of magic is this? How did Italy, in the space of fifteen years, go from being good, to bad and back again? Which brings us back to our dissident friends in their Bloombury boozer and their memories of the Eurozone crisis. Italy never was Britain - with its ongoing fiscal deficits. Without interest payments, on primary balance, from 2000 to 2020 Italy ran a tight fiscal ship. Even in 2008 it barely went into deficit and when it was being put on the rack in the early 20210s its primary surplus matched that of austere Germany. So, what happened? How did it end up stigmatized? Of course Italian politics didn’t help. Berlusconi was at the helm and he had legal issues. But amongst friends in the Bloomsbury pub, Berlusconi is a sideshow, the name we whisper to each other is “Trichet”. From 2004 to 2011 the ECB was headed by Jean-Claude Trichet, ex of the French Treasury, more German than the Germans. After 2009 as the news of the Greek fiscal disaster broke, the European bond markets wento into panic mode and Trichet began a brutal game of cat and mouse. Between 2009 and 2011, Trichet intervened in the bond market to help, only when he thought he had compliance with austerity. When he thought they were uncooperative, he withdrew. In the summer of 2011, he even made direct suggestions to his Italian counterparts in Rome, as to how Italy should be governed. It was this cat and mouse game that drove the bond markets crazy and exposed Italy to a violent squeeze. When Mario Draghi took over the ECB at the end of 2011 and declared “whatever it takes”, the pressure on Italy, gradually eased. It is that starring role that has made Draghi into the towering figure in European politics that he remains today. So now you see why voices in London hush when it comes to the Bank of England. “The bond market” isn’t an irresistible objective force like the weather or an avalanche. It can appear like that. But that depends on the way it is being handled, or not handled by the central bank. Which is why the silence about the Bank of England in London right now is so significant. If you think this all sounds a bit fishy, coming from a left-liberal Keynesian like myself, well, let me introduce you to Robin Brooks, who, to put it mildly, plays on a different quidditch team to me. Here, from the position of a fiscal hawk is Robin’s celebratory account of the Bank of England’s role since 2022; In October 2022, at the height of the bond market blow-up in the UK, something incredible happened. Governor Andrew Bailey told British pension funds the Bank of England would end its support program for the country’s fragile gilt market, drawing a line under how much help the central bank was willing to give to exposed pension funds and - implicitly - the government. By the end of that week, Kwasi Kwarteng - the finance minister - had resigned. Prime Minister Liz Truss would soon follow. This episode is so incredible because it contrasts with what happened in the Euro zone earlier that year. Bond markets in Spain and Italy were under pressure amid high inflation and rising interest rates. In the middle of this, Mario Draghi - Italy’s Prime Minister - resigned, compounding pressure on bond markets of high-debt countries on the Euro periphery. Unlike the Bank of England, the ECB caved. It bought Italian and Spanish government bonds in an effort to cap yields and introduced a new tool that signaled to markets it might do such caps more frequently going forward. Faced with pressure on bond markets, the ECB capitulated to political pressure from high-debt countries like Italy and Spain. The Bank of England stood its ground and toppled the Truss government. This kind of thing has long-lasting consequences. It means markets price a higher probability of yield caps in the Euro zone, which keeps Italian and Spanish yields artificially low, while markets feel free to push up UK yields without fear of central bank intervention. As I flagged in yesterday’s post, this means you really can’t compare UK yields to those of other high-debt countries. The UK looks worse, but only because its central bank isn’t interfering with markets. There’s more to this than just that 2022 episode. The Bank of England has also been much more aggressive in its quantitative tightening (QT) than other central banks. If one motivation for quantitative easing (QE) is to lower bond yields - especially longer-dated ones - then it stands to reason QT pushes yields up. The left chart above shows a four-quarter moving average of UK government debt issuance (black line) in percent of GDP and which sectors absorb this issuance, including the Bank of England (blue bars). The right chart above compares the Bank of England’s accumulation or run-off of government bonds (blue line) with that of other central banks, where this blue line is the same as the blue bars in the left chart. The Bank of England was quicker and more aggressive than other central banks in downsizing its bond holdings, so UK yields will have risen more than elsewhere also for this reason, not just because of Governor Andrew Bailey’s remarks in October 2022. Back in October 2025, after a conversation in New York with friends in British politics, my sense of dysphoria was such that I raised the issue of the Bank of England openly in the FT Since 2008, the UK has slid into a deep economic and political predicament. Growth has stagnated to a degree far worse even than in the 1970s. The Tory leadership’s wager on the Brexit referendum spectacularly backfired, leaving the UK isolated from Europe and at the mercy of its special relationship with the US, many of whose political class regard the UK as a basket case. After years of austerity, the Labour party lurched to the left and then back to the centre. The Tory party has been eclipsed by the populist nationalism of Reform. Any British government should be worrying first and foremost about how to restart growth. Instead, Keir Starmer is beset by shades of the gilt market panic triggered by the Liz Truss government in 2022. The debt level is higher than in recent years, but there is no cause for panic. UK debt is at far from critical levels and of long duration. Whether you want to “take back control” or launch progressive economic policy, a democracy dogged by fear of bond market vigilantes is unhealthy. In a country that is a monetary sovereign, this climate points to one thing: a disconnect between the government and the central bank. Since 1997, the independence of the Bank of England has become a sacred cow. But independence is what you make of it. And in the wake of the gilt market crisis of September 2022, relations between the Bank of England and the UK government need a reset. In normal times, there is no doubt that an inflation-targeting independent central bank can serve a country well. But since 2008, the UK and other advanced economies have not had the luxury of such simple problems. To their credit, central bankers around the world have not stood on orthodoxy. After 2008, the US Federal Reserve rescued the global banking system and, through quantitative easing, it stabilised the Treasury market in the face of huge deficits. In Europe, things were trickier. Both the Bank of England under Mervyn King and Jean-Claude Trichet’s European Central Bank played cat and mouse with national governments. This was a high stakes wager that between 2010 and 2012 escalated bond market tension and triggered a disastrous turn to austerity. Shaken by the impact of those shocks, their successors, Mark Carney and Mario Draghi adopted a more protective stance (assuming you were not the government of Greece). Recall that Draghi’s legendary slogan, “Whatever it takes”, was uttered to face down the City of London’s bond vigilantes. In 2015, Draghi launched QE — financial repression by another name. In 2016, Carney used the authority of the Bank of England to stabilise markets following the vote for Brexit, an exemplary demonstration of how central banks can underpin democratic choice, even when those choices are wrong headed. All these were independent central bankers steeped in the best practice of the 1990s, who recognised that historic crises demanded radical action. It was the price surge of 2021-2023 that poisoned the atmosphere. Though the shock came mainly from the supply side, central banks ended up in the dock. Nowhere more so than in the UK. The Bank of England reacted with aggressive normalisation. Faced with a cost of living crisis, the governor called for workers to accept real wage cuts. In early 2022, as gas prices were at record levels and Russia’s army was poised to invade Ukraine, the Bank adopted a stringent programme of quantitative tightening, elevating interest rates. When the Truss government got itself in trouble, the Bank took almost a week to come to the rescue. Rather than enacting a charade of normality, it is time to recognise that in 2025 the UK faces a period of historic transition. To meet this challenge, what is needed is a new concordat with the Bank. This should not ignore inflationary pressures or the long-run trajectory of debt, but should affirm the priority of reviving investment-led growth. One could follow Donald Trump in demanding interest rate cuts. The Bank could shadow the ECB in its commitment to capping Eurozone yields. But the top priority should be to lay the ghost of September 2022. The Bank’s slowing of QT last month was a concession. An immediate and complete end would send the right signal. Such a concordat will not by itself restore sanity to politics, solve the housing problem or rebuild the NHS. But it would help to lift the fear of bond market crisis, which is paralysing the effort by democratic politicians to answer the fundamental questions facing the nation. Now, that call for a new concordat between government and Bank of Englands seems more urgent than ever. The problem is that in October 2025, Starmer still had some authority. Today the government is in tatters. And when you are the “under the harrow” - to echo a phrase of Montagu Norman’s from the 1920s - it is the worst possible time to consider institutional change. To make general arguments at a time of crisis can only seem like special pleading rather than a general argument for long-term change. The same, unfortunately, is also true for the other basic institutional reform that Britain urgently needs i.e. the abolition of the out-dated first past the post electoral system and its replacement by a moderated form of proportional representation. And thirdly - whilst we are saying the quiet parts out loud - Britain needs to reopen the question of EU membership. What the local election results of 2026 show is that this remains a key issue. And what they also show is that there is a clear majority that would favor a return. Until these basic features of Britain’s political economy are addressed the country will carry on its politics as though in a haunted house, governed by governments that lack actual majorities, conjuring up false constraints whilst ignoring the real ones. This one is for DG and MI. I love writing the newsletter. If you enjoy it too and fancy buying me a coffee once a month, you know what to do. Click below! Subscribe
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Dell has released a new 14-inch laptop for consumers. Built around Intel's Panther Lake platform, the Dell 14S also comes with a 70 Wh battery, up to 32 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and a choice between 1200p OLED or 1600p IPS displays.
Tiny ocean life helps scientists estimate whale prevalence off the California coast
A new approach to better assessing whale population data has emerged, led by a research team of marine biologists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and statisticians from Cal Poly. ...
NSF announces $1.5B NSF X-Labs initiative to pursue generational breakthrough science efforts
Today, the U.S. National Science Foundation announced $1.5 billion over the next decade toward the NSF X-Labs initiative to tackle pressing scientific challenges through novel and innovative...
Essentia Health hosting free heart failure symposium
It’s estimated that more than six million adults in the United States are living with heart failure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Local business leaders commit $10 million to support Field of Dreams
DYERSVILLE, Iowa -- Three Iowa families and business leaders have committed $10 million to support ongoing and future development at the Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville.
AMD’s FSR 4.1 upscaling tech is coming to older graphics cards
A performance boost for your GPU.
Markets/Coverages: AXA XL Starts Prevention-Focused Business Unit; Markel Adds New Media, Entertainment Offerings
AXA XL announced the creation of a new Business Unit dedicated to prevention. The new unit, led by Global Chief Underwriting Officer Libby Benet, will
Anthropic forms $200 million partnership with the Gates Foundation
Anthropic is an AI safety and research company that's working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.
The 12 contenders to fill Manchester United’s midfield hole
Just as overhauling the attack was Manchester United’s primary aim last summer, revamping their midfield is the priority in this transfer window.
Donovan Mitchell turns ankle on photographer’s shoe vs. Pistons
The Cavaliers went from watching Donovan Mitchell rearrange franchise postseason marks to watching him land awkwardly.
The 2026 Science Division Distinguished Alumni Award recipients
Gregory Reyes (Kresge ’76, biology), Larry de Ghetaldi (Merrill ’76, biology and chemistry), and Nicholas Suntzeff (Ph.D. ’80, astronomy) are recognized for careers of exceptional distinction in biomedical research, healthcare policy, and observational cosmology.
Man Tears Up After Learning Shocking Value of Handbag He Thrifted for $1.50
An 'Antiques Roadshow' guest is blown away by the price of a bag that he "just picked it up" because he "thought it was pretty"
For Yale senior, a love of science and of languages opened up new worlds
Some classmates were confused by Audrey Aslani-Far’s interest in studying both science and Russian as a Yale student. But to her, the combination makes perfect sense: both disciplines help a person to better read the world.
Essentia Health-Fosston hosting annual stroke and trauma awareness community event
In recognition of National Stroke Awareness Month and National Trauma Awareness Month, Essentia Health is hosting its annual community stroke and trauma awareness grill-out in Fosston on Wednesday, May 20.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Nintendo Switch 2 tech analysis, including frame rate and resolution
Digital Foundry has provided its technical analysis of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on Nintendo Switch 2, which goes over the game’s frame rate, resolution, and more in detail. Overall, MachineGames has produced what looks to be a solid port. The game even retains ray tracing and other graphical features present in other versions. Here’s the full roundup of...
BioShock creator says Nintendo Switch 2 proves gaming graphics are hitting "diminishing returns"
Ken Levine, creator of BioShock, recently used the Nintendo Switch 2 as an example while criticizing the gaming industry’s increasing obsession with graphical realism, arguing that the medium has reached a point of “diminishing returns” when it comes to visuals. Speaking with IGN, Levine discussed how modern games continue to chase photorealism, but believes players and developers alike are starting...
What's in the billion dollar paragraph behind the White House ballroom debate
The $1 billion request is tied directly to the transformation of the East Wing into a massive ballroom, though limited to “security”-related needs. Here's what we know.