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NWA Business Journal seeks nominations for awards programs - Talk Business & Politics

The Northwest Arkansas Business Journal is accepting nominations for multiple awards recognition programs, including its longest-running awards program, Forty Under 40. Selection to the recognition programs is based on nominees’...

May 4 • 3:06 PM EDT • Business • talkbusiness.net

Photos: 2026 Business 500 Reception, presented by Bayer & Science Delivers

On April 30, business leaders and honorees gathered in the Grand Hall at St. Louis Union Station for the St. Louis Business 500 Reception, presented by Bayer and Science Delivers. The evening celebrated the second edition of the Business 500 list, recognizing some of the metro area’s most influential, impactful, and innovative leaders. Guests enjoyed […]

May 4 • 2:46 PM EDT • Business • stlmag.com

Governor DeWine Visits Marr/Cook Elementary School to Continue OhioSEE Tour and Celebrate Science of Reading Achievement

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine visited Marr/Cook Elementary School in Clermont County today for a special event celebrating the school’s exceptional work to help their students see their best and read their best.

May 4 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • governor.ohio.gov

CISA says ‘Copy Fail’ flaw now exploited to root Linux systems

CISA has warned that threat actors have started exploiting the "Copy Fail" Linux security vulnerability in the wild, one day after Theori researchers disclosed it and shared a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit.

May 4 • 7:28 AM EDT • Technology • bleepingcomputer.com

Global Health & WASH: May 2026 Funding Opportunities (14 new opportunities!)

The May update for Global Health & WASH brings new calls that cluster around three distinct shifts: LMIC research leadership moving from funder encouragement into a hard eligibility constraint, pharmaceutical and corporate-linked funders running structurally independent education and use-inspired research portfolios at substantial scale, and AI adoption shifting decisively from speculative tool to operational capability across health and WASH systems alike. In LMIC Research Leadership as Eligibility, Not Encouragement, Wellcome anchors the dominant signal of the month with three separate major calls that all require or strongly center LMIC leadership in their basic eligibility architecture. Wellcome’s ESIC Hubs (£1.5-£1.9M per hub over 3-5 years) explicitly requires an LMIC-based lead applicant, treating Global South leadership as a design constraint rather than a participation goal. Wellcome’s Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Development Award funds transdisciplinary teams whose lead must be a mid-career or established researcher based at an organization in Africa, South Asia, or Southeast Asia. Wellcome’s larger Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Award (£1M-£8M for optimizing licensed interventions) requires the administering organization to be in eligible LMIC regions and at least 50% of applicants based there. Around Wellcome, the same pattern shows up at smaller scale and across funders: CHINNOVA channels $1M into West and Central African research institutions for climate-health work; IBRO’s Neuroscience Training Grants explicitly tier ceilings by region of residence with Africa receiving the highest amount ($5,000); IHME’s GBD Emerging Researcher Award reserves at least one of its two annual awards for an LMIC researcher; Sidaction’s HIV Cure call funds research teams across France, the Netherlands, and eligible African countries with a minimum two-country collaboration requirement. Taken together, these calls signal a meaningful shift in how research equity is being operationalized — not as encouragement language at the bottom of a call, but as a structural feature of who can lead, where the work must be administered, and what proportion of the team must be regionally rooted. In Pharma-Funded Independent Medical Education and Use-Inspired Research, the lineup this month is unusually deep. Pfizer alone runs four parallel calls under independent education and quality improvement frameworks: a Migraine and Women’s Health RFP (200K x 2-year, $500K pool), Migraine IME ($200K, $1M pool), JAK Inhibitor evidence-based education ($100K), and Maternal Vaccination HCP Education in Saudi Arabia ($75K), plus a separate Pediatric Pneumococcal Surveillance research call in Saudi Arabia ($400K per project). Novo Nordisk Foundation runs four parallel calls of its own at substantial scale: Infectious Diseases Catalyst Grants (DKK 60M pool, up to DKK 7M collaborative), Non-Diabetic Endocrinology Collaborative Grants (DKK 53M pool, DKK 5-10M per project), Pioneer Innovator Grant Health (DKK 1.1M), and Distinguished Innovator Grant Health (DKK 6.8M). LEO Foundation deploys DKK 2-4M per project for dermatology research excellence. Pfizer’s framing across calls deliberately separates the funding from product promotion, emphasizing measurable practice-relevant change and structural distance between scientific outputs and commercial activity. Novo Nordisk’s “use-inspired” hard filter pushes researchers toward a credible translation pathway from mechanism to deployable tool. The pattern: industry-aligned funders are running structurally independent portfolios at meaningful $ that fund implementation evidence, not promotion. In AI as Operational Capability, Not Speculation, several calls this month explicitly treat AI adoption as a near-term operational question with real evidence and governance requirements, rather than a speculative trend to be watched. Wellcome’s ESIC Hubs frames AI as “the accelerator” for evidence synthesis, asking hubs to translate technical innovation into adoption-ready workflows that can match real-world policy timelines. UNICEF Venture Fund’s new Climate Tech for Children’s Health call funds for-profit startups deploying AI, machine learning, and blockchain in low-resource environments, with a strict requirement that solutions must already have a working prototype with promising pilot results. The Water Research Foundation has launched two simultaneous AI calls treating reproducibility, cybersecurity guardrails, and human-in-the-loop deployments as core design constraints rather than nice-to-haves: one on GenAI and Agentic AI in water utilities ($200K), one on alternatives to water shutoffs that explicitly screens for implementation economics evidence. Nordic Innovation’s quantum technology call (NOK 4.5M) extends the same logic into life science and healthcare, demanding consortium-stage projects mature enough to test with real users. TEF-Health offers €300K in subsidized testing infrastructure for European healthcare AI and robotics SMEs. The pattern: funders are converting AI pilots into playbooks, requiring transfer evidence and risk controls before AI can move from experimentation to sector-wide operational practice. For LMIC-based researchers in infectious disease or evidence synthesis, the three Wellcome calls together represent the deepest concentration of LMIC-led research capital in recent memory — pair the Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Development Award (£200K, deadline May 19) as a strategic pipeline feeder into the larger Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Award (£1-£8M, deadline June 2), since the development award functions explicitly as a track into the larger trial scheme. For Nordic researchers, the four Novo Nordisk Foundation calls plus LEO Foundation and Nordic Innovation Quantum represent ~$30M in regional research capital this cycle, all with deadlines clustered in May-August. For WASH practitioners, the three Water Research Foundation calls together (each up to $200K) are a cluster worth reading across — one on AI deployment, one on shutoff alternatives, one rewarding applied innovation — and the strongest applicants will articulate how their work bridges utility operations to policy-relevant evidence. For US-based clinical researchers and educators, the four Pfizer calls plus the APF Portfolio’s 80+ programs form an unusually accessible recurring pipeline; APF’s prohibition on indirect costs is a meaningful structural feature for early-career applicants whose institutions might otherwise absorb significant overhead. Snapshot of New Opportunities Total Estimated Funding Pool: $100 Million+ USD The grants are organized into three categories: Open Calls: Current grant and opportunities with a deadline. Grants are listed by closing date. 39 open opportunities- 14 new! Rolling Applications: current grant and opportunities with rolling applications (but it’s still best to submit as early as possible). 14 rolling opportunities- 1 new opportunity! Long term planning: Grants that have closed their current rounds, but are expected to open new windows. 4 long term opportunities! A quick tip for returning readers: if you want to jump straight to the newest additions, use CTRL F to search for “New!” and navigate quickly to the latest funding opportunities This post is for paid subscribers. This helps support the time and effort it takes to curate and organize these opportunities. Subscribe To keep this accessible to everyone who needs it, we’re happy to offer pay what you can rates. You can find more details here. Open Calls: Migraine Competitive Grant Program: Migraine and Women’s Health (Quality Improvement and/or Research RFP), Pfizer.*Closing soon!* Pfizer, in collaboration with the American Headache Society, is seeking independent quality improvement and research projects that close persistent gaps in migraine care for women across the United States. The funding logic centers on measurable, practice-relevant change: proposals should generate actionable evidence, tools, or system improvements that can be shared and used widely, not just within a single site. Priority areas span menstrual migraine and screening in women’s health settings, the role of hormonal fluctuations across the lifespan, sex-specific risk factors, comorbidities and quality-of-life burden, and disparities in outcomes by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The call is structured as a two-step competitive process with an initial Letter of Intent, with the strongest concepts expected to translate scientific insight into implementable improvements in diagnosis, management, and equity. Geographies: United States. Who can apply: U.S.-based organizations (not individuals), including professional schools, healthcare institutions, professional organizations, and other entities focused on healthcare improvement. Funding amount: Up to USD $200,000 total over 2 years; total pool USD $500,000. Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Focus areas: migraine, women’s health, quality improvement, clinical research, menstrual migraine, health disparities. Deadline: LOI: May 5, 2026; Full proposal (by invitation): August 28, 2026. Learn more and apply here. This RFP rewards “shareable impact”: the most competitive submissions will pair rigorous methods with a clear plan for system uptake and dissemination beyond the originating institution. ReSSARC: Strengthening the Health Sector and Food Security in the Central African Republic (AID 013381/01/0) Call for Proposals, Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS). *Closing soon!* AICS is seeking a limited set of high-capacity humanitarian partners to deliver an integrated package that stabilizes essential health services while reducing acute malnutrition and strengthening food security resilience in priority areas of the Central African Republic. The funder’s logic is explicitly nexus-based: proposals should meet urgent, life-saving needs while reinforcing local systems, coordination mechanisms, and community-level capacity so results persist beyond the emergency window. AICS emphasizes inclusion and protection outcomes, expecting gender-sensitive design and explicit measures for groups facing compounded vulnerability, including women, children under five, internally displaced people, and people with disabilities. The call also signals a localization pathway, encouraging stronger collaboration with national NGOs and balanced partnerships, alongside clear coordination with existing cluster and humanitarian actors to minimize duplication and improve coverage. Geographies: Central African Republic (Bangui, Ombella-Mpoko, Ouham, Ouham-Pende, Lim-Pende, Lobaye). Who can apply: Non-profit organizations registered with AICS, plus eligible non-profits without an office in Italy that have a pre-existing collaboration agreement with an AICS-listed organization. Funding amount: Total pool EUR €1,800,000; max EUR €800,000 (single applicant) or EUR €1,000,000 (ATS). Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Focus areas: malnutrition prevention and treatment, maternal and child health, community health services, food security and resilience, localization partnerships Deadline: May 5, 2026. Learn more and apply here. This call is structured to reward partners who can link frontline service delivery to system durability and localization, not just short-term coverage gains. Contracts for Innovation in drug and alcohol addiction healthcare, Innovate UK. *Closing soon!* Innovate UK, on behalf of the Office for Life Sciences Addiction Healthcare Goals program, is procuring R&D to accelerate innovations that can improve treatment outcomes, strengthen recovery, and reduce harm and deaths linked to drug and alcohol addiction. The competition is positioned as a market-facing readiness push: selected projects are expected to advance solutions toward later-stage validation, generate evidence of user acceptability and UK market fit, and map credible routes through regulatory and certification requirements. Innovate UK signals a preference for innovations that can be field-tested in relevant UK settings and progressed to TRL 6 or 7, with practical plans for commercialization after contract completion. This structure favors applicants that can execute most work in-house, co-develop with service providers and people with lived experience, and translate technical progress into deployable tools for addiction healthcare delivery. Geographies: United Kingdom. Who can apply: Single organizations of any size (including EU, EEA, or international) leading delivery, with most work and key deliverables carried out in the UK; subcontractors for specialist skills only. Funding amount: GBP £200,000–1.5 million per project (inclusive of VAT); Total pool: GBP £20 million (across two strands). Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Focus areas: Mental Health, Health Systems Strengthening, Research & Development, Technology Access. Deadline: May 6, 2026 (11:00am). Learn more and apply here. This call uses procurement to pull near-market addiction innovations toward operational proof and adoption pathways in UK services.

May 4 • 3:59 AM EDT • Health • impactfunding.substack.com

Nominate Today! Nominations Are Now Open for the Fort Worth Business Titans Awards

The Business Press is accepting nominations for the Business Titans Awards, honoring outstanding businessmen who are making a meaningful impact in both the busi

May 4 • 12:46 AM EDT • Business • fortworthbusiness.com

Browns WR KC Concepcion given big 2026 projection

This will please Browns fans.

May 3 • 8:57 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Direct air capture has substantial health and climate opportunity costs

Communications Sustainability - Renewable energy remains more cost effective for climate and health outcomes than direct air capture except under highly optimistic technology improvements,...

May 3 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • nature.com

All Life on Earth Comes From One Single Ancestor. And It's So Much Older Than We Thought.

May 3 • 9:11 AM EDT • Science • popularmechanics.com

Life after basic income: More savings, but back to working two jobs

Cepia Harper, 43, received $850 a month between 2022 and 2024. She earned a new teaching certification, but is back at a part-time retail job.

May 3 • 5:07 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com

Trump Says He Is Reviewing Iran’s Latest Offer but Doubts It Is Acceptable

The comments came one day after Mr. Trump flatly rejected the proposal. He later clarified he was only briefed on the “concept of the deal.”

May 2 • 8:33 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field

‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field ‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field A field that once seemed like a direct path to stable, lucrative work is becoming less certain under AI, students and faculty told Spectator. By Ria Vasishtha and Arjun Menon May 3, 2026 Shanying Liu / Deputy Illustrations Editor Asia Genawi, SEAS ’29, first encountered artificial intelligence during her sophomore year at her high school in Indiana. Back in 2023, policies on AI varied widely—even within the same district—and some schools had no guidance at all. As Genawi began to see the effects of AI trickle into her classroom, she turned to guidance from her home state’s Department of Education, which she said she found “outdated and inaccessible.” Genawi spent the rest of her high school career dedicated to the issue, including writing a 15-page memo exploring varying AI policies across Indiana schools, which she sent to every Indiana state senator and representative whose contact information she was able to find. She later helped draft a bill that would have required public high schools to establish and share their own AI policies with students in an accessible format. But with so many other bills already awaiting referral, hers never made it to committee. When Genawi arrived at Columbia to study computer science, she found that the gaps she had spent years trying to address in Indiana had followed her there. Many students and professors were also grappling with what AI meant for the field. Across Columbia’s undergraduate schools, computer science has become the most popular major—accounting for around 11 percent of degrees awarded in Columbia College, 32 percent in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and 12 percent in the School of General Studies in 2024. While the number of computer science majors in SEAS grew from 166 to 173 during the 2024-25 academic year, the total number across the three schools fell around 4.5 percent from 393 to 375, driven by declines at Columbia College and General Studies. At Barnard, it has grown to become the second most popular major as of 2025, up from third the year prior. The number of degrees awarded have grown fivefold since 2016. Faculty members and students in the department told Spectator that the surge in the major’s popularity has been driven in large part by its apparent promise of a secure, well-paid career path. However, they noted that the recent rise of generative AI has compromised the sense of stability that once defined the field, even as interest in technical skills among students persists. According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2024, out of 74 majors tracked, computer science had the fifth highest unemployment rate among majors at 7 percent, while computer engineering had the second highest at 7.8 percent. “Anecdotally, people are moving away from CS as a major,” Daniel Bauer, a senior lecturer in the computer science department, said. “They’re still taking some of our classes, right, because they think they need that, but they’re instead majoring in other things.” Bauer described a field that had shifted from what he called a “nerdy outlier discipline” to one that “everyone needs,” a sign that technical skills have become a baseline expectation across industries with the emergence of AI. “A lot of people thought, ‘Oh, it’s a guaranteed path to a stable income. You get a six-figure job right out of your undergrad,’” Bauer said. Now, companies may see AI as a way to reduce demand for entry-level programmers, especially in what he calls “code monkey jobs,” roles where a large number of employees are “just writing out code nine-to-five.” Chris Murphy, a senior lecturer in the computer science department, described the current moment as the convergence of two forces: the downturn of the job market and generative AI coming onto the scene. “Things kind of started to really pick up in 2014, 16,” he said, recalling the years after the weaker 2010 market. Murphy added that this was also a period where “students were getting more experience outside of class than they were inside of class” through internships, jobs, and side projects. Murphy suggested that the earlier momentum helped make computer science feel like both an academic program and a reliable pathway into work. That feeling is harder to sustain now as the industry reconfigures, which is a shift that students are seeing firsthand. Rebecca Yu, SEAS ’27, said that during a recent internship in Big Tech, she saw that “every single tech company was racing to integrate” large language models. She added that her manager said her intern class was the first to complete their assigned projects, which she attributed to the increased efficiency that comes with AI. Frank Liu, SEAS ’29, said that with AI lowering the barrier to coding, companies now expect everyone to write code. “A lot of companies outright say if you’re not using coding in your job, you might get fired for not being productive enough,” Liu said. Yu similarly expressed that students increasingly have to accept AI being a part of industry workflow, adding that many also “make use of it to maximize their productivity.” Richard Li, CC ’28, described a “franticness” among his peers as the pace of change accelerates. He explained how “some new tool” is released regularly, noting that tools rise and fall in prominence within weeks. He has come to believe that he doesn’t need to “match that speed all the time” and keep up with every development. Li has learned that AI tools allow him to “take a breath” and “get back into the loop much easier than before” when he needs to. While some companies specifically target Columbia when hiring, sending representatives to campus career fairs and recruiting large numbers from Columbia, a computer science degree cannot be treated as a static credential, Yu described. “You can’t just get your degree and stop learning after that. You have to always be learning,” Yu said. “That is something you basically have to expect for your job.” AI has not only affected students’ decisions to major in computer science, but also reshaped how the subject is taught. Across departments, faculty members no longer treat work done outside the classroom as a reliable measure of understanding, shifting instead toward in-person exams, quizzes, and attendance checks. While homework once made up as much as 60 to 70 percent of a student’s grade in computer science classes, Murphy said that breakdown has since flipped, with exams and quizzes now accounting for the majority. “The assumption—especially among pessimists—is that they’re using it to do their homework,” Murphy said. “They take the homework assignment. They put it into generative AI. Out comes the solution. Submit solution. The end.” Murphy said that faculty members ranged in their responses from fully prohibiting AI use to actively teaching students how to effectively work with AI. He said he shifted his approach this year after his teaching assistants called his belief that students weren’t using the technology “naïve,” and now permits students to use AI on assignments. His surveys of students in his introductory classes have told a more complicated story than the one so-called pessimists offer: Around 60 to 70 percent of students who reported using AI said they used it to have concepts explained to them, to clarify assignment instructions, to generate test cases, or to create practice questions. “Those are all ways that you might have had a tutor in the past to do that, and now you have this AI essentially as your tutor,” he said. Bauer has taken a different approach, teaching students how to use AI productively without sacrificing the core principles of the discipline. “People who are trained to actually use AI tools productively, while being in charge of designing the overall project, will be very much in demand in the next couple of years,” he said. Over the past year, a working group of computer science faculty has been redesigning the introductory and intermediate programming sequence to integrate generative AI as both a subject and a tool, representatives from SEAS wrote in a statement to Spectator. The effort is “coordinated” across the department, “not course-by-course,” with a systematic assessment of how AI integration is affecting student outcomes underway to shape the next round of changes. The goal, the department explained, is for students to be able to “read, verify, and reason about code, whether they or a model wrote it.” Tony Dear, senior lecturer in the computer science department, is piloting individualized AI feedback in a discrete mathematics course, while a machine learning course is also testing a Socratic AI dialogue system designed to “guide inquiry rather than supply answers,” the statement reads. Beyond individual courses, SEAS funded seven cross-departmental faculty projects in generative AI this past academic year, spanning biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, industrial engineering, and computer science, according to the statement. This phenomenon extends beyond the computer science department. SEAS’ new AI minor, which it announced in November 2025, reflects the University’s attempt to adapt. The minor is specifically designed for noncomputer science majors and aims to provide “essential AI knowledge” while emphasizing practical and responsible use across disciplines, according to the SEAS website. At the center of the minor is AI in Context, a course taught by a team of faculty from the departments of computer science, applied mathematics, philosophy, music, literature, and the Writing Center, the representatives told Spectator. Bauer described it as targeted at students who want to bring AI into fields like economics or biology, rather than as a path into software engineering itself. At the graduate level, SEAS announced a new Master of Science in artificial intelligence in February, with the inaugural cohort starting in the fall. While recognizing how AI has helped them navigate coursework, students also described its rise as isolating, even among members of the Application Development Initiative, one of Columbia’s largest computer science clubs. “As people start to ask AI for questions that they would normally ask students and members, it starts to isolate people” Li said. Alexa Kafka, BC ’27, echoed Li’s sentiment, pointing out that computer science has always been a collaborative discipline with code reviews and pull requests, even as AI makes independent work easier. Despite this, Kafka noted that she hasn’t been to office hours “in at least a year.” Bauer added that faculty are exploring long-term solutions to the assessment problem. “One of the things that we’re trying to do at the department or school level is to maybe move towards computerized testing facilities,” Bauer said, referring to ideas in the department to revitalize computer labs as an alternative to pen-and-paper exams. “We have to accept that this is the reality, for better or worse.” But more exams, students say, does not mean better learning, nor does it reflect how computer science is actually done. “Code is so variable and can be approached in so many directions, there’s never just going to be one correct answer. There can be multiple optimal solutions,” Kafka said. Students also expressed concern that the shift toward exam-heavy grading pulls focus away from the applied, project-based work that better reflects both discipline and industry expectations. ADI has tried to respond more quickly than the curriculum can. Through a vibe coding workshop this past semester, club members said they wanted to help students understand not just that AI exists, but how to use it deliberately. “Vibe coding” refers to the practice of prompting AI to write code for a task or project, and has become widespread enough that ADI felt the gap in formal instruction was worth addressing, according to Sophia Huang, BC ’29. The workshop introduced students to the concept of context engineering, which Shaina Sahu, SEAS ’27, described as not just writing a prompt, but optimizing “the rest of the relevant information that you would feed into the model.” Without that, students said that AI-generated code can fail at scale or introduce difficult-to-detect bugs. Genawi said the shift toward AI has changed what it means to be good at computer science. “I think the shift has kind of gone towards what can you create and what can you do, instead of, what do you know,” she said. Indeed, during ADI DevFest, its annual hackathon, Li said more teams are trying to complete their projects than in years past. While sign-ups have historically outpaced submissions, Li said this is beginning to change because teams “have a tool that completes the vision for them.” While many students see AI as an equalizer that lowers the barrier to entry for coding and technical work, Murphy said it also creates new equity concerns inside the classroom around who can afford stronger tools and who already knows how to use them. “The equity issues I worry about are students who have access to paid versions of things versus free versions of things,” he said. Although popular AI models like ChatGPT and Claude have free versions available, both have paid models that can reach over $100 per month, which output different qualities of code. Murphy also pointed to differences in prior exposure to AI literacy itself. “Students who go to high schools or K-12 education, where they’re taught AI literacy, prompt engineering, context engineering, they understand how to do this, as opposed to students who go to schools who don’t teach that,” he said. “Then they come in, and then they’re somehow expected to know how to use these tools.” For Genawi, those disparities begin long before students arrive on campus. “It’s very interesting to consider how lucky you were geographically,” she said. “To be born where you were is influencing your ability to get access to these spaces.” Students like Yu, though broadly apprehensive about the future of computer science, are not without hope. “I’m optimistic, because I think if you’re truly passionate about CS, there will definitely be a place in the field to do something you want to do,” she said. Senior Staff Writer Ria Vasishtha can be contacted at ria.vasishtha@columbiaspectator.com. Follow Spectator on X @ColumbiaSpec. Staff Writer Arjun Menon can be contacted at arjun.menon@columbiaspectator.com. Follow Spectator on X @ColumbiaSpec. Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter and like Spectator on Facebook. Produced with Spectate by Emily Ta

May 2 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • columbiaspectator.com

Embrace science, logic to counter misconceptions: Ahmadiyya leader

Qadian (Gurdaspur): Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, head of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, headquartered in Qadian, has issued a strong call for greater focu.

May 2 • 5:17 PM EDT • Science • timesofindia.indiatimes.com

It can be hard to conceptualize the money spent on politics, comms expert says

Bluestack Strategies founder Maura Gillespie sheds light on the role that ‘big money’ plays in politics and protests on ‘Fox Report.’

May 2 • 4:09 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com

Greg Abel: We have an exceptional group of leaders and businesses

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel presides over the 2026 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting.

May 2 • 1:55 PM EDT • Business • cnbc.com

Punk Politics/Camp Costume is a fashion exhibition curated by (some of my) brilliant Parsons students!

I have the most amazing students. I teach Fashion Journalism at Parsons, as part of its MA Fashion Studies degree, though I have students of all different disciplines throughout the New School in my class — from fine-art photographers to investigative journalists to textile designers. And I learn about all sorts of fascinating things from them, like that designers are adding faux sweat stains to their garments now (part of a trend piece about “anatomy core”) and that real “French girl style” is actually about being “cunti cunta” (aka loud, rude, too much, liberated). So when I found out that some of my students were curating a fashion exhibition opening tonight(!!!), I just knew that it would be brilliant too. Wearable Art is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe It’s called Punk Politics/Camp Costuming1, and it’s up through May 10 at La Sudestada, the wonderful gallery and concept store in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I asked the exhibit’s lead curator, Ella Birney (a talented costume and knitwear designer from Belfast who also happens to be in my class), all about it. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Tell me about the idea of this exhibition and how it came about. Ella Birney: For our Fashion Curation class, we had to pitch [exhibition] proposals to our professor, Jessica [Glasscock], and I really wanted to continue on the themes that I was exploring in my BA when I was studying in London a couple of years ago. My BA was very punk-inspired and very political. Everything I do, as you know from my writing, always has a slight Irish, political twist to it2. So in my BA project, it was looking at knitwear as a conveyor for exploring political identity in somewhere like Ireland, where identity is such a point of contention. And looking at the images that I generated from that project, there was something so camp about the whole thing. Like, it’s so playful and in bad taste to do a political message — like a knitted Union Jack — out of mohair. There’s something very camp about that. So that’s where it kind of became punk politics/camp costuming — looking at how from the 1970s to now there’s been protest through costume and clothing. What was your BA in? It was fashion textiles, knitwear. Very craft heavy, which — craft is never taken seriously either. That’s also a kind of spin [on the punk/camp thing]. The Union Jack knit that you made is included in the show — what is camp about knitting a Union Jack out of mohair? The whole ethos of camp is kind of bad taste, doing things that are tongue in cheek and a bit wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Like, this is a bit silly. Everything I do is like, this is a bit silly. Like, being from the North of Ireland, everything you do is political. So it’s like, everything is going to be looked at in a certain lens anyway, so we may as well lean into it. So the Union Jack was because I come from a mixed marriage — Protestant-Catholic. And in the North of Ireland, that’s still a big deal. And even though I’m a Catholic and brought up in a very like Catholic Nationalist family, there [were] Union Jacks [the symbol of the United Kingdom] on my street. So I was like, then I’m gonna make your Union Jack out of knitwear. And then that kind of all linked back to the punk movement that Vivian Westwood forefronted in the late 70s, [with her stores] Let It Rock and Seditionaries. How did you source your items? Once we decided on this exhibition idea, everyone in the class was put to [think about] what do you think can fit into punk politics/camp costuming and finding designers that fit that brief. Me and my co-curators, Dulcinea Flores and Allison Gramando, made a brief to send out — with a mood board and color stories, stuff like that — and then everyone kind of got to work emailing people. We reached out to other Parsons grads. Even through Instagram stories we’ve been able to reach so many people who were like, Yeah, of course, I’ll write something for this, or Please — let me submit stuff. It actually was quite easy sourcing things. … The Parsons thing gets you quite far. What were some great pieces you got? There’s a Brooklyn-based, nonbinary artist called Buzz Slutsky. I can’t even remember how I found them, but I came across this crazy, shoe thing — they had made all these different shoes out of papier-mâché, and the story behind them is so fantastic, so interesting. They were just so obliging, like, Of course, you can have these for a few weeks. I was really happy about that. And then we have art from a collective here called Art Comes First. And they lent loads of really amazing pieces that just tied everything together. You have your Union Jack knit in the show too. Any other pieces that you made? There’s three of my BA mohair knits. There’s the Union Jack. There’s a mohair with the word “No” — which is based on an old political campaign in Ireland that was “Ulster says no to sodomy.” And then there’s another one that is red, white and blue, like the Union Jack, but has the word “Catholic” on it and lots of holy medals. I’m so happy I got to include those. How many pieces are in the show? Between 49 and 52, something like that. A load of clothing and accessories, shoes. There’s a Brooklyn-based Irish photographer who’s given us photos. There’s also a shopping cart that is an art piece by Art Comes First that has gold knuckle dusters as the handles. There’s also lots of T-shirts, original pins from the 70s and 80s that were from people’s dads. I also brought my record player, and all of [co-curator] Allison’s dad’s original albums so everyone could play records. Oh my gosh! Yeah, it’s cool. Anything else you would like to add? If we get to do an exhibition, why would we not make it political in this day and age? I hope that people come. There’s a lot of history, because it starts back in the 70s. It’s not like chronological or anything, but there are historical objects. I hope people come out of it thinking, out of all the really horrendous decades of the 70s and 80s and 90s, all these amazing subcultures happened. There are horrible political times, but there’s art that comes out of it that lasts. Punk Politics/Camp Costume is on view May 1-10 at La Sudestada, 67 West St. Suite 513, Greenpoint, Brooklyn. RSVP for the opening Friday May 1 6pm-8pm here. There’s also a button-making and patch-making workshop and artist talk May 9. Follow the show’s Instagram page @punkxcamp.parsons. Special shout out to all the students who put on this show: Ella Birney (lead curator), Dulcinea Flores (curator), Allison Gramando (curator), Pierre Sanon (lead exhibition designer), Eliana Daneshvari (exhibition designer), Reilly Lowell (editor), Jess Gayo (researcher/writer), Joyce Gayo (researcher/writer), Maria Magdalena Ugarte Montero (researcher/writer), Cassidy Colarik (exhibition press officer), Shelby Shovein (educator), Sarah Mahnke-Baum (educator), Trinidy Coleman (graphic designer), and Leonie Soravia (project manager). Jessica Glasscock was the faculty advisor. 1 The website is definitely worth checking out. 2 This is true!

May 1 • 3:59 PM EDT • Politics • raquellaneri.substack.com

WTEN: Cowgirls Invited To UTR Sports NIT Championship

LAKE CHARLES- McNeese women's tennis season isn't over- the 2026 Southland Conference regular season champs have accepted an invitation to play in the UTR Sports NIT Championship, May 5-8 in Rome, Ga. All matches will be streamed on playsight.com for free with live scoring available on IOnCourt.

May 1 • 11:00 AM EDT • Sports • mcneesesports.com

UW Health pauses new primary care patients, citing increased demand

UW Health has paused accepting new primary care patients. The clinic says it's trying to keep up with increased demand for care and population growth.

May 1 • 6:00 AM EDT • Health • captimes.com

Months after Potomac River sewage spill, businesses are still hurting

Most advisories against recreational activities in affected areas have been lifted, but perceptions about lingering waste continue to hurt local companies.

May 1 • 5:00 AM EDT • Business • washingtonpost.com

Dr. Christopher Moutos highlights preconception health steps for hopeful parents

April is Preconception Health Month, and today we're talking about what people should know before trying to start a family.Dr. Christopher Moutos from Arkansas

Apr 30 • 11:40 PM EDT • Health • katv.com

Caroline Kennedy makes rare public appearance months after daughter Tatiana's death, 'Love Story' portrayal

Caroline Kennedy made a rare public appearance at a reception honoring King Charles III and Queen Camilla's state visit in New York on Wednesday. The outing came months after the death of her daughter Tatiana Schlossberg, and her depiction on the FX series 'Love Story.'

Apr 30 • 5:53 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com

Mercer Health’s Play Hospital Continues Tradition of Hands‑On Learning for Kindergarteners

Mercer Health’s annual Play Hospital, held April 24-30, hosted nearly 800 kindergarteners who stepped into the world of healthcare through hands‑on exploration and imaginative learning. For over 30 years, this beloved program has welcomed students from Mercer County elementary schools—including St. Henry, Celina, Marion Local, Coldwater, Parkway, Fort Recovery, and Immaculate Conception—along with Versailles Elementary […]

Apr 30 • 3:37 PM EDT • Health • mercer-health.com

Longwood Men’s Tennis Accepts Bid to 2026 UTR Sports NIT Championship

MIAMI, Fla. — Fresh off its first appearance in the Big South championship match, the Longwood men's tennis team's season will continue as the Lancers accepted a bid to compete in the 2026 UTR Sports NIT Championship, announced by the organization on Thursday.

Apr 30 • 3:25 PM EDT • Sports • bigsouthsports.com

Longwood Men’s Tennis Accepts Bid to 2026 UTR Sports NIT Championship

Fresh off its first appearance in the Big South championship match, the Longwood men's tennis team's season will continue as the Lancers accepted a bid to compete in the 2026 UTR Sports NIT Championship, announced by the organization on Thursday.

Apr 30 • 12:30 PM EDT • Sports • longwoodlancers.com

AI could help human scientists pick promising research topics

Large language models flag up novel combinations of concepts in materials science

Apr 30 • 4:36 AM EDT • Science • physicsworld.com

Former Liverpool manager willing to accept Real Madrid offer

Real Madrid are currently burning the midnight oil in their attempts to finalise the next first-team manager, especially after the team went trophy-less once again this season.Given the situation and ...

Apr 30 • 2:15 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Phillies' J.T. Realmuto and Jesus Luzardo face brutal reception at Flyers playoff game

Phillies stars booed at Wells Fargo.

Apr 30 • 12:58 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Tulane students are betting big as sports wagering becomes campus norm

With one parlay bet, you can turn the $20 your mom gave you for food into $200. Enticing, right? This mindset is common on college campuses across the country. 67% of students living on campus participate in sports betting, and Tulane University is no exception. “There’s no barrier to entry for these gambling sites. It’s...

Apr 30 • 12:33 AM EDT • Sports • tulanehullabaloo.com

Davenport’s Horizon Science Academy students earns top places at STEMCON

Horizon Science Academy Davenport, delivered an exceptional performance at Concept Schools’ annual STEMCON event, according to a news release. Competing against more than 1,000 students in grades 4…

Apr 29 • 9:39 PM EDT • Science • ourquadcities.com

Health Care Affordability in the United States, From Crisis to Action

U.S. health care costs exceed $5T yearly, driving delayed care and debt. Experts urge reforms to improve affordability, access, and health outcomes. delivery of health care; financial stress; health care costs; health policy; patient advocacy

Apr 29 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • professional.heart.org

Arsenal: Mikel Arteta slams 'completely unacceptable' decision to overturn penalty awarded to Eberechi Eze in Champions League semi-final at Atletico Madrid

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says decision to scrub off penalty award for Eberechi Eze changes the course of the tie after Gunners pegged back to draw 1-1 at Atletico Madrid; Viktor Gyokeres opened scoring with a penalty before Julian Alvarez converted a spot-kick after Ben White handball

Apr 29 • 7:00 PM EDT • Sports • skysports.com

Longtime Lake Erie Nature & Science Center executive director resigns

Lake Erie Nature & Science Center Executive Director Catherine Timko is leaving the center May 21 to accept a position as president and CEO of the Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition in Akron.

Apr 29 • 4:27 PM EDT • Science • cleveland.com

Science Films Can Inspire Mindful Observation That Grounds Audiences in Local Nature

Surveys show science films help audiences comprehend new concepts through visual narratives. During Climate Week NYC 2025 last September, more than 100 people gathered on Governors Island for a screening of OBSERVER, a documentary film from the Science Communication Lab. The New York Climate Exchange, Stony Brook University and Science Communication Lab/Wonder Collaborative partnered to

Apr 29 • 2:34 PM EDT • Science • sbmatters.stonybrook.edu

Galaxy S27 redesign renders are popping up and fans are divided

The Galaxy S27 series is still far away, but leaks and rumors are rampant. Recently, it was reported that the company is considering a redesign for the back, and now concept renders are surfacing.

Apr 29 • 1:51 PM EDT • Technology • notebookcheck.net

Chatsworth High's Grant Wang hits the MIT jackpot

The 6-foot-6 senior volleyball star was first put on MIT's deferred list but learned during a tournament in Las Vegas that he has been accepted.

Apr 29 • 7:30 AM EDT • Sports • latimes.com

Scientists Unveil ‘Long Lost’ Map for Smell

The odor receptors in the nose are not distributed at random but organized in a precise spatial pattern, two new studies reveal.

Apr 29 • 5:02 AM EDT • Science • nytimes.com

Broncos Fans Worried About Bo Nix's Status For 2026 Season

We're still several months away from the start of the 2026 season, but Denver Broncos fans are already panicking about Bo Nix's status for Week 1. Nix finished his second season in Denver with 3,931 passing yards, 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Although he was inconsistent at times, he saved ...

Apr 28 • 10:30 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

After Another Attempt on Trump’s Life, Is Political Violence on the Rise in the U.S.?

A conversation with Sean Westwood, a professor at Dartmouth who tracks political violence and Americans’ perceptions of it.

Apr 28 • 12:48 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

Astrobotic Tests Next-Gen Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine With 300-Second Burn

A new rocket engine concept reaches a milestone that could reshape propulsion for lunar and deep-space missions.

Apr 28 • 11:45 AM EDT • Technology • dailygalaxy.com

Scientists create first-ever 'smell map' of the nose's smell receptors

For most of us, the sense of smell is an integral part of everyday life; it plays a critical role in providing information about our surroundings, alerting us to potential dangers, enhancing our sense ...

Apr 28 • 11:00 AM EDT • Science • medicalxpress.com

Qatar says using Hormuz Strait as political weapon is ‘unacceptable’

Apr 28 • 10:55 AM EDT • Politics • aljazeera.com

Washington renews legal push for health inspections at Tacoma ICE detention center

A renewed legal push is underway to allow health inspections at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, after months of court battles over whether state

Apr 28 • 8:27 AM EDT • Health • komonews.com

Stressed out teen? Sleep and sports may be the cure

It seems like everyone is a little stressed out these days — and not even children in their “carefree” teen years are immune.In fact, the changes that adolescents go through during that time of their life make them particularly susceptible to stress.

Apr 28 • 8:00 AM EDT • Sports • news.asu.edu

Why do discussions about ‘brain health’ ignore mental illness?

“Failing to adopt a more inclusive concept of brain health represents a massive loss of human potential,” write Husseini K. Manji, Eric J. Nestler, and Patrick J. Kennedy.

Apr 28 • 4:30 AM EDT • Health • statnews.com

BP profits double after ‘exceptional’ oil trading during Iran war

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Apr 28 • 2:18 AM EDT • Business • theguardian.com

A global survey on trust, digital health literacy and health information quality

Nature Health - An online cross-sectional survey across 30 countries, including 31,000 adults, explores perceptions of quality health information, with respect to source type and inclusion of...

Apr 27 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • nature.com

How Trump’s America Produces Normie Assassins

The only extremism suspected would-be assassins like Cole Tomas Allen share is an extreme response to Trump’s deranging politics.

Apr 27 • 4:35 PM EDT • Politics • theintercept.com

Mamdani says ‘political violence is unacceptable’ after correspondents' dinner shooting

Apr 27 • 2:52 PM EDT • Politics • usatoday.com

Rachel Reeves considering rent freeze to limit Iran war fallout

Exclusive: Sources say chancellor is examining exceptional measures to protect household budgets

Apr 27 • 1:56 PM EDT • Politics • theguardian.com

‘Out Here’ gets lost in its own concept

Court Theatre has been steadily expanding its stated mission to “re-imagine classic theatre to illuminate current times.”

Apr 27 • 1:01 PM EDT • Entertainment • hpherald.com

AMC Entertainment Scores a Thriller Weekend as MICHAEL Delivers a Record-Breaking Debut

AMC Entertainment once again welcomed global audiences in significant numbers to its theaters across the U.S. and internationally, as Michael moonwalked to the strongest biopic opening in box office history. These reported opening numbers for Michael include Friday through Sunday attendance figures, along with its Wednesday and Thursday preview screenings. As a result of the […]

Apr 27 • 11:41 AM EDT • Entertainment • boxofficepro.com

Inside the endoscopic revolution in weight loss

Article explains how bariatric endoscopy — including endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty and transoral outlet reduction — combined with metabolic therapies and GLP-1 receptor agonists is expanding nonsurgical obesity treatment options and reframing obesity as a chronic, multifactorial disease.

Apr 27 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • uclahealth.org

Apple’s ‘Ultra’ roadmap confirmed: iPhone, MacBook, and more on the way

Macworld source reveals iPhone Ultra, MacBook Ultra coming soon.

Apr 27 • 7:15 AM EDT • Technology • macworld.com

Following game's cancellation, The Last of Us multiplayer director vows he's "never going to let what I work on not see the light of day again"

The former director of cancelled The Last of Us online multiplayer game has vowed he will never let something he works on "not see the light of day again".

Apr 27 • 4:43 AM EDT • Technology • eurogamer.net

Puff, pass and publish: the science behind cannabis

As cannabis becomes more accepted across the United States, public conversations are changing quickly. But according to Rebecca Cooney, a professor of Strategic Communication at WSU, many people still misunderstand what cannabis research is actually about. Cooney works in the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication and is also a co-investigator with the Resource Center...

Apr 26 • 10:37 PM EDT • Science • dailyevergreen.com

Report: Diego Pavia accepts invitation to Ravens rookie minicamp

Diego Pavia is getting a chance to make a positive impression.

Apr 26 • 5:45 PM EDT • Sports • nbcsports.com

Political violence is 'unacceptable,' should 'never be tolerated' in US, Rep. Jason Smith says

Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., sounds off against political violence following the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting and highlights the need for DHS funding on 'Sunday Morning Futures.'

Apr 26 • 1:37 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com

Scientists Discover a Surprising Reason Intermittent Fasting Extends Life

How the body efficiently shifts metabolism after fasting may be key to improving health, UTSW-led research suggests.

Apr 26 • 10:55 AM EDT • Health • scitechdaily.com

10 misconceptions about kids sports: How parents can push against them

Understanding what’s behind our misconceptions about youth sports could be the key to unlocking a happy sports journey for our kids.

Apr 26 • 6:05 AM EDT • Sports • usatoday.com

Trump Is Going After Birth Control. Here’s Why.

Contraception was politically untouchable — until now.

Apr 25 • 10:00 AM EDT • Politics • politico.com

Mental health provider shares concerns on CareSource Medicaid payment clawbacks

“I know that there are a lot of other practices in the area that this will put them under."

Apr 24 • 5:47 PM EDT • Health • whio.com

'It Truly Excels': Saros Is Another 'Exceptional' PS5 Pro Game, Say Tech Experts

Particle accelerator

Apr 24 • 10:00 AM EDT • Technology • pushsquare.com

“Us versus them”: How political propaganda polarises beliefs without providing any news

Political polarisation is often attributed to misinformation, echo chambers, or biased news. But new experimental evidence suggests that merely making a social conflict salient – without providing any information at all – is enough to sharply increase disagreement on both factual and normative questions. This column discusses how politicians and media can ‘artificially’ amplify societal tensions by strategically choosing which conflicts to highlight, and why this mechanism is harder to counter than standard misinformation.

Apr 23 • 7:06 PM EDT • Politics • cepr.org

PopStroke’s Growth Redefines Golf Entertainment, With Wall Street Ties

PopStroke is one of the fastest-growing concepts in the golf-adjacent entertainment space, blending putting courses with a strong social and F&B component.

Apr 23 • 5:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • forbes.com

Va. lawmakers OK governor's tweaks to major energy bills, reject health and labor bill amendments

The amendments that lawmakers accepted to their bills will be incorporated before the measures become law. The ones that were rejected and sent back to Spanberger have an uncertain fate. She can choose to sign them as is, or veto them.

Apr 23 • 5:26 AM EDT • Health • virginiamercury.com

"Worst patch ever:" World of Warcraft players beg Blizzard to slow down on its updates — for all the wrong reasons

I recently alluded to this idea that World of Warcraft is losing control of its quality ... well, control. And this concept really came to ahead this week with Midnight's 12.0.5 patch, which introduced a mountain of new bugs.

Apr 23 • 2:56 AM EDT • Technology • windowscentral.com

Physicist: I Believe You Can Enhance Your Consciousness—And Expand Your Perception Into a ‘Different Realm’

Quantum-enhanced humans could enter into an entirely “different realm.”

Apr 22 • 10:01 PM EDT • Science • popularmechanics.com

Unique door helps kids learn science and engineering

The so-called “STEM Door” at McAuliffe Elementary School in the Cimarron Hills area does more than separate the library from the STEM Lab. Educators described it as a way to help students understand a range of scientific concepts.

Apr 22 • 2:20 PM EDT • Science • kktv.com

Would you accept any of these No. 1 pick offers?

Yes, the NFL draft is a day away and the Las Vegas Raiders are fully expected to take Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 overall draft pick. It would be stunning if the Raiders trade the pick, but, anything is possible and let’s some some fun. Using the Pro Football Network draft simulator, […]

Apr 22 • 1:02 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Showing Up, Still Misread: The Perception Gap Facing Black Men In Politics

Black men keep showing up in democracy, but media and politics misread their role—fueling disillusionment and opening space for alternatives.

Apr 22 • 11:21 AM EDT • Politics • forbes.com

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn plays like a Mass Effect-like sci-fi adventure in fine form, but its developer's use of AI raises some difficult questions

The signs are all good. Except there's that nagging question. How much does it matter that the studio is using gen-AI tools during the game's development?

Apr 22 • 10:22 AM EDT • Technology • eurogamer.net

Google Pixel's battery problems are unforgivable after 10 years

After 10 Pixel generations, five of which have shipped with Google's own Tensor processor, it's unacceptable to see this many battery issues still.

Apr 22 • 5:30 AM EDT • Technology • androidauthority.com

Editorial: Corporations spend big in Florida politics

Florida lawmakers cannot legally accept contributions during the 60-day session, but they were flooded with money the day before session began. A proposal out of Montana could change that.

Apr 22 • 5:30 AM EDT • Politics • orlandosentinel.com

The behavioural science behind vaccination acceptance

The ECDC, Europe’s public health agency, has collated a set of tools for improving immunisation rates based on social and behavioural science

Apr 22 • 5:19 AM EDT • Science • vaccinestoday.eu

How Al Gore Politicized Climate Science

An Inconvenient Truth turns 20 next month. In the 2006 documentary, former vice president Al Gore argued that human-driven climate change was an urgent, civilization-threatening crisis. The film became a cultural phenomenon, winning two Academy Awards and making climate change one of the defining political issues of our time. I am sure that there will be many retrospectives seeking to relitigate the scientific claims in the film. But the far more important anniversary story is not about the accuracy of any of Gore’s individual claims but rather about what the film helped to unleash in the scientific community: bringing partisan politics into the institutions of science. Gore did not simply make a film about climate change: He implored the scientific community to join him in overt climate advocacy. The fuel that Gore added to the fire of pathological politicization of the climate science community is the most important legacy of An Inconvenient Truth. Almost three years after the film’s release, Gore took the stage at the 2009 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—the country’s largest and most prominent scientific organization—and delivered something much closer to a revival sermon than a scientific lecture. Gore told the assembled scientists that they could no longer “in good conscience accept this division between the work you do and the civilization in which you live.” His directive was clear:

Apr 21 • 6:01 PM EDT • Science • thefp.com

Apple’s Cal AI crackdown signals it’s still policing the App Store

Apple tells TechCrunch Cal AI was removed not for web payments alone, but for deceptive billing, manipulative tactics, and App Store rule violations.

Apr 21 • 3:09 PM EDT • Technology • techcrunch.com

The Subaru X-100 Was The Plane-Shaped Car Designed To Cross The U.S. On A Single Tank Of Gas

The Subaru X-100, a one-off concept built with one purpose in mind: to drive across the U.S. on a single tank of gas, getting 100 MPG in the process.

Apr 21 • 12:05 PM EDT • Technology • jalopnik.com

Fiscal Year 2026 Government Funding: A Breakdown For Small Business

Earlier this year, President Trump signed into law a package funding every government agency except DHS for the remainder of FY2026, which ends on September 30.

Apr 21 • 11:02 AM EDT • Business • forbes.com

Shaky political science: using "simulated" elections over real-world elections

[Dear DSOS readers – this article is the latest in our “Shaky Political Science” series. In our 38 page report, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting,” released in early December, we examined over 40 studies focused on ranked choice voting. We found that many of these studies suffered from puzzling research methodologies, poorly constructed surveys, unrealistic simulated elections, cherry picked data, and faulty analyses that often were contradicted by results from real-world elections (a link to our full paper is here). Here are links to the first three articles in our series: the first one summarizing the overall results of our report, the second one analyzing a study co-authored by University of Minnesota academic Larry Jacobs, which was one of the most error-prone of all the research we reviewed in our report, and a third article showing an admirable example of two political scientists holding two other political scientists accountable for their flawed, sloppy research]. In this fourth article in our “Shaky Political Science” series, we shine a spotlight on seven studies that were web-hosted and funded by New America’s Political Reform Program and its Electoral Reform Research Group (the ERRG is an ad hoc committee headed by New America’s Political Reform Program and joined by the American Enterprise Institute, the Unite America Institute and Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law). This research consortium has been led by Lee Drutman, senior fellow with New America’s Political Reform Program. These seven studies are simply not credible from any objective standard about how political “science” is supposed to illuminate our understanding of either ranked choice voting or politics in general. The feature that six of these seven studies have in common is that they all used surveys – artificial, simulated elections -- to attempt to say something cogent or interesting about ranked choice voting (RCV) elections. None of them used real world data from actual RCV elections – either the 1000+ elections in the US or the many thousands of elections from places like Australia, Ireland and elsewhere where RCV has been used for 100 years. While a few of these studies conclude with some mixed positives about RCV, our analysis here is content neutral. The idea that, with a political reform like RCV, you can ask respondents in a mock, artificial election to vote with that method, with only the barest of explanation about how RCV works or its likely impacts (i.e. no spoiler candidates, majority winners, voters liberated to pick their favorite candidates, coalition-building), and then ask them their thoughts/reactions about voting in that system, with fake candidates and no real campaigning, no real exposure to an actual election or actual candidates, rests on some very puzzling assumptions. The findings of these seven studies actually are contradicted by the findings from many other studies based on real-world RCV elections. These New America studies also failed to list the real-world RCV studies in their own citations, instead including those studies that reinforced their conclusions. The seven studies featured in this article were chosen because they form a cohesive cohort which precisely illustrates one of the main points of our research paper, namely that using surveys, i.e. artificial elections, or mathematical/theoretical models, instead of real-world data, is in fact “shaky political science.” Below are summaries of our analysis of five of the seven New America studies. You can read our complete analysis of all seven studies at our paper, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting.” Choosing to “Vote As Usual” by Andre Blais, Carolina Plescia, and Semra Sevi. New America. (Blais et al., 2021). This study, web-hosted and funded by New America’s Political Reform Program and its Electoral Reform Research Group, used two surveys in which respondents completed ballots for simulated elections using plurality, approval, RCV and point (Score) voting. In both cases the authors provided the respondents with only minimal explanation of each method. For example, the entire explanation for RCV was “For this vote, rank the candidates from your first to your last choice (you do not need to rank them all). This is called the ranked vote.” That’s it. The study did not provide any context or explanation to survey respondents about why she/he might want to rank multiple candidates. Participants were not even told that ballots would be tabulated using an “instant” runoff, not to mention any description of RCVs ability to eliminate the spoiler effect or liberate voters to rank their favorite candidates without fear of helping the “greater evil” candidate to win. That’s like taking an iPhone back in time to 1970 and asking someone if they like it better than their rotary phone without explaining how it works. Their first survey targeted states that held 2020 Super Tuesday Democratic primaries and used the real candidates’ names in the survey; the second survey used fictitious candidates. In other words, they surveyed respondents who had only ever participated in plurality elections, had no history or background with using RCV or any of the other methods, had no clue about its likely impacts, and did not communicate how the alternative methods would be counted, and then asked them: “How satisfied are you with using each system?” Predictably, the winner was plurality elections, the system used for president, Congress, gubernatorial and state legislative elections – in other words, the method they have been using, year after year, all their voting lives. With so little explanation of RCV and its impacts, this study is simply not credible in discovering anything useful about real-world RCV elections. It merely shows that a basic voter education campaign is needed when adopting a new election system. Additionally, the result contradicts many other post-election surveys following real RCV elections, asking opinions from voters who had just participated in a RCV election, that showed a great deal of satisfaction with RCV (see details on that in Studies 22-25 in our paper, as well as the four studies cited in the review for Study 28). Share Other studies on “satisfaction” and “understanding” make similar mistakes, in terms of basing their surveys on inadequate explanation to respondents and lack of education about context. How could any survey ever hope to measure accurately, in essence simulate a real-world election, without actual campaigning candidates, the media writing about those candidates, organizations endorsing candidates and voters being inundated with crucial information? More than anything, what these “studies” based on surveys show is that if you ask voters about something they don’t know very much about, and fail to adequately educate them, their responses will unsurprisingly reflect their confusion. Equally puzzling is that New America’s Electoral Reform Research Group, headed by political scientist Lee Drutman, found this to be a credible enough study that they not only published it but highlighted it in Drutman’s own discussion of research related to ranked choice voting. This pattern was repeated in study after study featured by New America’s Electoral Reform Research Group. For example in Ranked-Choice Voting and Political Expression: Voter Guides Narrow the Gap between Informed and Uninformed Citizens by Cheryl Boudreau, Jonathan Colner, and Scott MacKenzie, the researchers based their analysis on a survey which found that respondents who were asked to vote in a simulated RCV election, with minimal explanation of RCV or how it works, displayed less evidence of being informed about how to use RCV effectively, with the least informed voters ranking fewer candidates. As pointed out under the study above, in a real election voters are informed by a wide variety of methods, including public education by the election administration, by interested political groups, the media, and the candidates themselves who benefit from voters being aware of how to vote in the new system. In Support for Ranked-Choice Voting across Race and Partisanship by Joseph Anthony, David C. Kimball, Jack Santucci and Jamil Scott, the researchers used respondents from different parties and races voting in simulated plurality and RCV elections, who indicated their satisfaction with each voting method. Instead of using real world election results, the authors fell back on the easy, armchair and less reliable academic research methodology of making up mock elections. As with the other studies, little explanation was given of how RCV works or what its implications might be (electing majority winners or eliminating spoilers, for example). Unsurprisingly, this study found that respondents were not very satisfied with RCV. However, when the authors added an explanation that RCV has a tendency to elect more women and people of color, they found that this greater explanation increased the preference for RCV. The more voters were familiar with it, and the more they understood potential positive impacts – surprise! -- the more they were open to switching away from the status quo. Of note, the results from this study are thoroughly contradicted by a number of other studies whose data was obtained from real RCV elections with real voters. Those studies show a great deal of satisfaction with RCV. More “fake election” research An interesting wrinkle on this “research by fake elections” approach, which only served to illustrate how unreliable such “research” can become, was taken in Ranked-Choice Voting, Runoff, and Democracy: Insights from Maine and Other U.S. States by Joseph Cerrone and Cynthia McClintock_,_ also web-hosted and funded by New America’s ERRG. It gets high marks for creativity, but an eye-roll for thinking this could possibly add anything meaningful to our understanding of real world RCV elections. This study tried to determine whether RCV, plurality or two-round runoff elections provided greater voter satisfaction and acceptance of election results. To determine that, the authors conducted a survey asking if voters were satisfied with a fictional newspaper report of an election, with three different versions given to respondents – plurality, runoff and RCV, with variations of Republican/Democrat winners and variations of “come-from-behind” winners,” i.e. candidates not initially in first place but who win the “runoff.” Again, a minimal explanation of RCV or how it works was given, and the survey showed that respondents had the greatest unfamiliarity with RCV than the other methods. The unsurprising result? Respondents were much more satisfied with “come-from-behind” victories in a traditional two-round runoff election than in RCV, even though RCV is also a runoff system but with a single round of counting. Interestingly, the dissatisfaction with RCV disappeared for those who were more familiar with RCV. In fact, among those respondents who were “very familiar” with RCV, they were equally satisfied with RCV, runoff and plurality. Surprise, surprise. Again, what this study revealed, more than anything, is not only the inadequacy of the explanation for RCV given by the authors of this study, but the failure of the research format itself, thinking that such an artificial mock election could somehow simulate what actually happens in the real world in a real RCV election. Those four studies reviewed above are fitting examples of inadequate and shaky political “science.” Other studies reviewed in our paper from the New America/Electoral Reform Research Group cohort which also used mock elections included: Ranked-Choice Voting is an Acquired Taste by Joseph Anthony and David C. Kimball. New America. (Anthony et al., 2021). Ranked-Choice Voting is No Refuge for Extreme Candidates by Melissa Baker. New America. (Baker, 2021). Also included in this New America cohort is Does Ranked-Choice Voting Reduce Racial Polarization? by Yuki Atsusaka and Theodore Landsman, which actually did use real-world election results data but applied an odd and unconventional methodology to the data which relied on shaky assumptions and non-real-world scenarios that were too divorced from reality. To determine levels of “racially polarized voting,” the researchers imagined “ethnic parties,” by which they mean political parties for each ethnic group, which was especially odd since the election data they were using came from nonpartisan RCV races. But then they made an even odder assumption, namely that since race and ethnic characteristics of studied voters were not available, the authors tried to infer that information based on who voters selected and the racial make-up of voters in each district. This amounted to little more than vague and ambiguous guesswork dressed up with a bunch of mathematical equations used to give it a veneer of scientific appearance. Indeed, it seemed to assume racial polarization in order to prove racial polarization. Based on this questionable methodology, the authors concluded that RCV doesn’t reduce racial polarization. But the premise of this study missed an obvious reality: since RCV incentivizes more candidates to run and can result in more diverse fields of candidates, one would expect more racially-polarized voting in voters’ top rankings, not less, because more voters would have someone on that ballot who represents their racial or ethnic identity and more freedom to vote for their real first choice. By encouraging more diverse candidates and eliminating the spoiler effect, RCV facilitates voting for a favorite candidate of your own race and then selecting a second choice with the best likelihood of winning. The real measure is what voters do with their additional rankings – do they consider other candidates and vote “for the best of the rest”? This study didn’t tell us anything useful about that. But readily available data shows this is common in real RCV elections, and candidates act on this knowledge by engaging with voters outside their racial group. So the authors of this study failed to consider or account for what actually happens in real-world elections, and their conclusions are tainted by this failure. New America has contributed a great deal over the past 2.5 decades to our understanding of many policy areas, including politics and political reform (full disclosure: Steven Hill, one of the authors of this article and of the “Shaky Political Science” research paper and series, is a former senior fellow and former director of New America’s political reform program, 2005-2010). So it was especially disappointing that New America funded and published such a large batch of dubious studies about ranked choice voting. The stated praiseworthy goal of its Electoral Reform Research Group was to inspire new academic research about ranked choice voting that would shed light and help the public better understand the impacts of RCV. Instead, the ERRG research did just the opposite. It produced dubious research that created more confusion and misinformation. In so doing, New America’s political reform program contributed to “shaky political science.” Steven Hill and Paul Haughey Share Upgrade to $5 subscription Thanks for reading DemocracySOS, a reader-supported digital portal for the pro-democracy movement. Subscribe for only $5 per month to receive full benefits and to support our work. Subscribe

Apr 21 • 9:31 AM EDT • Science • democracysos.substack.com

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