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Business Journal wins two California Journalism Awards
The Business Journal earned two California Journalism Awards for Frank Lopez's reporting on Central Valley agriculture and the wine industry.
HCA Healthcare Foundation awards grants to 89 Middle Tennessee nonprofits, advancing community health
In 2026, the HCA Healthcare Foundation has awarded $2.1 million in grants to 89 nonprofit organizations across Middle Tennessee.
How a new White House proposal could fundamentally change American science
In this webinar, we discuss the potential impacts of a Trump admin plan to overhaul how federal research grants are awarded and administered.
City Hall visit, packed entertainment slate highlight 2026 HBCU Swingman Classic schedule
Major League Baseball today announced the pregame and philanthropic details for the 2026 HBCU Swingman Classic presented by USA Baseball, highlighted by a team visit to City Hall, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s first pitch, uniform patches honoring HBCU legend Roger Cador and pregame entertainment by Grammy-Award winner Durand Bernarr
30 Crusaders Named Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholars
WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross had 30 student-athletes named 2026 Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholars, honoring their athletic and academic achievements. The awards were announced in the June 8 issue of Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine. Leading the way was senior Julian Beban of the men's soccer team, who was one of 10 national finalists for the men's Sports Scholar of the Year award. Beban was also joined by senior Julian Jenkins (men's lacrosse) and senior Emma Tweed (women's rowing) as the top honorees in their respective sports.
We’re in the game: Bear Bryant Award returns to EA SPORTS College Football 27
HOUSTON, July 2, 2026 – The name of the legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant is synonymous with excellence in the game of college football, and once again, fans playing EA SPORTS College Football 27’s Dynasty Mode will have the chance to win the American Heart...
What are the 'top workplaces' in the New Orleans area? Check out this year's awards.
The annual competition identifies exemplary companies via independent, anonymous surveys of their employees. This year, more than 41,000 workers were surveyed.
iPhone Photography Awards Highlight Best Images of 2026
For the last 19 years, the iPhone Photography Awards (IPPA) has selected the best photographs captured with an iPhone, and the 2026 award winners were announced today. The IPPA 2026 Grand Prize image features a volcano dramatically erupting in the Cayman Islands, with the photo shot by Robyn Jensen on an iPhone 15 Pro. The Gold Prize image by Gellért Gombai features two children napping on grass in the shadow of a badminton racket, with the photo shot in black and white using an iPhone X.
Check out all the winning shots in the 2026 iPhone Photography Awards
The iPhone Photography Awards competition has been running now for 19 years, and the 2026 winners have just been announced....
Smith Named CAA Leadership and Sports Excellence Award Winner for Swimming & Diving
RICHMOND, Va. - Drexel's Sebastian Smith has been named one of the 19 recipients of the prestigious CAA Leadership and Sport Excellence Award for the 2025-26...
Latest World & National News & Headlines
USA TODAY delivers current national and local news, sports, entertainment, finance, technology, and more through award-winning journalism, photos, and videos.
UToledo Health Pharmacy Residency Program Awarded Competitive National Grant
A $25,000 ASHP Foundation grant will grow UToledo's PGY1 Pharmacy Residency Program to seven residents, helping meet growing demand for pharmacist-led patient care.
Commerce Awards to Help Renovate Buildings into Business Incubators
Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland today announced the Kansas Department of Commerce has awarded $750,000 in Downtown Revive & Thrive grants to support nine building...
South Coast Business & Technology Awards Raises More Than $200,000 for Scholarship Foundation
William Wang, Mission Wealth, and UCSB Dept. of Technology Management among the honorees
Opinion: Proposed federal grant rules are attempt to ‘muzzle’ science | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
A proposed overhaul in how federal grants are awarded is aimed at shutting down scientific research on disfavored topics such as health disparities, climate change, gender identity, and vaccines, according to Harvard Chan School’s Nancy Krieger.
NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens Receives the PRISM Award from the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses
NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens today announced that its Medical-Surgical Unit, 5B East, has received the prestigious PRISM Award from the Academy of
Thomas, Hurst Headline Athlon Sports Preseason Awards
Wide receiver Amare Thomas and offensive lineman Shadre Hurst were Houston Football's two Athlon Sports Preseason All-America Third-Team selections announced...
Iowa's U.S. Senator Ernst holds final Small Business Expo
Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says a bill she co-sponsored has closed loopholes in two federal programs that award military contracts to small businesses that are engaged in research and development and technology. Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, is chair of the U-S Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. “We’re really proud that we […]
NJBIA to Honor Kim Guadagno with Caren Franzini Leadership Award at NJ Women Business Leaders Forum
Kim Guadagno, a trailblazer who served as New Jersey’s first Lieutenant Governor and later continued her public service in nonprofit leadership, will be honored with the Caren Franzini Leadership Award at the 12th Annual Women Business Leaders Forum, powered by Citizens and presented by NJBIA, on Sept. 23 and 24 in Atlantic City. The Women[...]
2026 Arts & Entertainment Winners
The 2026 Chronogram Readers' Choice Awards winners for arts and entertainment. The categories include annual events, art classes, dance classes, bands, radio shows, and more.
Peter Grove, award-winning science educator and lifelong environmentalist, has died at 82
He arrived in Philadelphia in 1972 and spent the next 44 years teaching science, horticulture, and civic responsibility to students young and old.
Charlotte Hornets Named Finalist For ESPN’s 2026 Sports Humanitarian Team Of The Year Award
The Charlotte Hornets have been named a finalist for ESPN's Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year Award, which recognizes a professional sports team that demo...
NASA Awards More Moon Base Science, Previews New Opportunities
NASA announced Tuesday the selection of three companies to land four new missions on the Moon in late 2028 as part of the agency’s Moon Base Program.
Blake Lively is seeking $8.04 million in legal fees from Justin Baldoni amid 'It Ends With Us' settlement
Blake Lively is asking a judge to award her over $8 million in attorneys' fees and litigation costs for having defended herself against Justin Baldoni's now-dismissed defamation lawsuit.
Marlee Matlin Signs With Gilbertson Entertainment (EXCLUSIVE)
Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin ('CODA') has inked with Gilbertson Entertainment for management.
Molecular imaging pioneer Eva Nogales awarded the 2026 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science
The Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science recognizes scientists who have a stellar record of research accomplishments.
SCSU Athletics Features 21 Owls To Receive NE10 Presidents' Award for Sports Excellence
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Southern Connecticut State University Athletics featured 21 graduating student-athletes to receive the Northeast 10 Conference's Presidents' Award, as announced by the conference on June 30, 2026.
Browns named finalist for ESPY’s Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year Award
The Sports Humanitarian Awards will be held on July 14
L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Week 2026: Celebrating excellence
From 8 to 11 June 2026, UNESCO and the Fondation L’Oréal welcomed the five laureates of the 2026 L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science International Awards to Paris for a week of exchanges, discovery
U.S. Army Contracting Command personnel recognized for streamlining small business procurement
At the FY25 Department of War and Department of the Army Small Business Awards, Army Contracting Command (ACC) was honored for strategic acquisition reforms that diversified and strengthened the defense industrial base.
Everyday Hero: Helping respiratory care breathe into the future
The Wisconsin Society for Respiratory Care honored a UW Health leader with an Honorary Lifetime Award.
FIU students shine at national FBLA conference
They earned national awards at the 2026 Future Business Leaders of America Collegiate National Leadership Conference in Las Vegas.
Henry Winkler says 'there's a string between' him and his 'Happy Days' costar Ron Howard
Winkler and Howard costarred on the '70s sitcom, and they've remained close in the decades since.
Holyoke Medical Center earns national award for improving patient experience
Holyoke Medical Center has received national recognition for its efforts to improve the patient experience through technology.
VIDEO: Champion Immersive's Buddy System In The Paddock
Every winning horse race is a team effort, but some require more teammates than others. Ahead of last Saturday's Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Stakes, Eclipse Award winner Immersive was accompanied by outrider Lee Lockwood and his horse LM Jokester in the Churchill Downs paddock, providing the 4-year-old ...
2026 Best of 225 Awards: People & Entertainment
From best chef and best photographer to best live music venue and best performing arts group, here are the 2026 Best of 225 Award winners and runners-up in the people and entertainment category.
Faculty in Politics, Chemistry, Biology and English Appointed to Endowed Professorships | Pomona College in Claremont, California
Four faculty members have been awarded endowed professorship positions. The Pomona College Board of Trustees voted to support these appointments during their meeting in May.
Copp inspires, connects with high-achieving athletes at 2025-26 Detroit High School Sports Awards
Last Wednesday, Red Wings forward served as special guest and participated in Q&A at MotorCity Casino Hotel
Cornell Yang Center for Wildlife Health awards seed funding to five conservation efforts around the globe
The CCF provides catalytic seed funding to spark pioneering applied research to advance wildlife conservation solutions. The fund prioritizes initiatives that improve the health of free-ranging wildlife and/or solve environmental problems via a One Health lens.
South Coast Business & Technology Awards Gross Another Record Total for Area Scholarships
Credit: Courtesy Santa Barbara, CA — For the fourth consecutive year, the South Coast Business and Technology (SCBT) Awards ceremony has grossed
Apple just acquired the app that won last year’s ‘Innovation’ Apple Design Award
Apple has acquired a variety of apps recently, and the latest—Play—won the 2025 Apple Design Award in the ‘Innovation’ category.
Apple Acquires Award-Winning App 'Play'
In February, Apple notified the European Commission that it would be acquiring certain assets from and have the right to hire certain employees from Rabbit 3 Times, the company behind the award-winning app design tool Play. The notification was published on the European Commission's website this week, following a four-month waiting period. Play was a Mac and iPhone app that allowed designers to prototype iPhone app interfaces using Apple's SwiftUI frameworks, and then send them to Xcode.
The Hollywood Reporter Tops 2026 SoCal Journalism Awards With 20 First-Place Wins, More Than Any Other Outlet
Among its awards are best website, journalist of the year honors for Gary Baum and Seth Abramovitch, best film critic for David Rooney, and best audio anchor/host for Scott Feinberg. Overall, THR nabb...
Lauryn Hill honored, Janet Jackson stuns and Druski makes history at BET Awards
Hill performed “Ex-Factor” Sunday
KATALIN KARIKÓ
She was met with resistance, got demoted and eventually forced to leave academia – but Katalin Karikó never lost focus, doubling-down on her work to harness mRNA for new vaccines and therapies. Karikó’s Nobel Prize-awarded discovery enabled the development of effective vaccines against COVID-19, offering protection to millions of people.
2026 BET Awards: The 5 biggest moments of celebration and remembrance
Family and sisterhood were on display at the 2026 BET Awards at the Peacock Theater with wins for Cardi B, SZA and Doechii, and tributes to D'Angelo and Lauryn Hill.
Secret Alchemist, Sarelly and Borntostandout Are Among the Winners of The Business of Beauty Global Awards 2026
From emerging challengers to established disruptors, this year’s Global Awards winners are setting a new benchmark for beauty entrepreneurship.
Photo highlights of the BET Awards
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The BET Awards, which honor achievements in Black entertainment, sports and culture, aired Sunday with comedian Druski becoming the youngest host at age 31. The live show aired from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. ___...
Jamie Foxx, Daughter Anelise's Duet During Kehlani's 2026 BET Awards Performance Will Warm Your Heart
Jamie Foxx and daughter Anelise Bishop, 17, played piano and guitar while Kehlani performed "Folded" at the 2026 BET Awards June 28 at Los Angeles' Peacock Theater.
VSP Vision Announces Winner of Propel Student Business Challenge Scholarship
RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif.—VSP Vision, in collaboration with the Student Optometric Leadership Network (SOLN), today announced that Mason Martin, a student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry, is the winner of the 2026 Propel Student Business Challenge Scholarship, powered by PECAA. Martin, who was awarded the $10,000 scholarship and a travel grant to attend the SOLN conference in Denver, is the first first-year student at the school to receive this honor, the announcement said. VSP said his standout submission featured a thoughtful, patient-centered private practice business plan.
Comedian Bill Maher wins Twain humor prize as the Kennedy Center navigates Trump-era upheaval
Comedian Bill Maher is being awarded the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The ceremony is happening at the Kennedy Center, which has been embroiled in controversy. President Donald
Ace Aquatec wins Scottish Business of the Year award for innovation
Ace Aquatec wins Scottish Business of the Year award for innovation
Federal health agency cancels most of its teen pregnancy prevention grants, including some in Pa.
A spokesperson for U.S. Health and Human Services confirmed to Stateline on Friday that the agency is canceling 53 out of 67 grants, worth about $68 million, under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, affecting grantees in more than two dozen states. A list obtained by Stateline of canceled grants includes those awarded to universities, community […]
Maui business wins bronze medal in 2026 Artisan International Flavor Awards
Pāʻia Spice Company received a bronze metal in the 2026 International Flavor Awards for its Big Haole’s Original Blend. The award came in the savory rub category. “I’m blown away,” owner Brad Beck said. “We started this company almost five years ago selling hand labeled bottles to people barbecuing at Hoʻokipa. Now, 40,000 bottles later […]
Read Live Updates From The 2026 BET Awards
Cardi B, Doechii, Jill Scott, Kehlani and more are set to take the stage on culture's biggest night.
How To Watch BET Awards 2026
Watch BET Awards 2026 live with TV channel, start time and streaming info. Stream on Fubo — no cable required, free trial available.
16 gorgeous images from the 1839 Awards’ Color Photography Contest
All the beautiful shades of our planet and its creatures.
Sarasota Business Awards honor innovation, entrepreneurship and the American spirit
The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce recognized businesses in the community across 10 categories.
Popular 9-season sitcom losing its streaming home at end of the summer
The Emmy-award winning series is regarded as as one of the most iconic shows in television history.
Entertainment | Movies, Music & TV News
ABC13 Entertainment is your source for movies, music and TV news. KTRK keeps you up-to-date with award shows and entertainment news.
BET Awards: Druski to make history as youngest host as show honors Lauryn Hill and Teyana Taylor
Druski will make history as the youngest host of the BET Awards on Sunday.
BET Awards: Druski to make history as youngest host as show honors Lauryn Hill and Teyana Taylor
Druski will make history as the youngest host of the BET Awards on Sunday.
BET Awards: Druski to make history as youngest host as show honors Lauryn Hill and Teyana Taylor
Druski will make history as the youngest host of the BET Awards on Sunday
BET Awards: Druski to make history as youngest host as show honors Lauryn Hill and Teyana Taylor
Druski will make history as the youngest host of the BET Awards on Sunday.
Don Lemon, DL Hughley bring 'Anything Goes' tour to Columbus this fall
Emmy Award-winning journalist Don Lemon and renowned comedian DL Hughley will visit Columbus as part of their extended tour this fall. The comedy-political commentary duo are set to perform at Mershon...
Ann Blyth, Oscar nominee for 'Mildred Pierce,' dies at 98
LOS ANGELES — Ann Blyth, who was nominated for an Academy Award for playing the wicked, manipulative daughter in the 1945 noir melodrama "Mildred Pierce," has died at age 98.
Brad Paisley: Data center project near Nashville Zoo is 'a monstrosity'
14-time Country Music Award winner Brad Paisley is calling on Nashville to prevent the construction of a data center near the city's zoo.
Tung-Sung Tseng: Honored to Receive the Team Science Champion Award for Tobacco-Related Cancer Research
Tung-Sung Tseng: Honored to Receive the Team Science Champion Award for Tobacco-Related Cancer Research / cancer, LTCI, OncoDaily, Oncology, Team Science
Madonna makes rare reveal of 1 major pop diva she was 'jealous' of
Madonna recently revealed why she was 'jealous' of Kylie Minogue, even though she wore a T-shirt bearing the 'Can't Get You Out of My Head' singer's name to the MTV Music Awards in 2000.
City of Covington awards final round of fiscal year 2026 Small Business Incentive program funding
The City of Covington continues its commitment to supporting entrepreneurs, revitalizing commercial corridors, and strengthening neighborhood business districts through the Covington Small Business Incentive Program. The Covington Board of Commissioners has approved the fourth and final round of Fiscal Year 2026 Small Business Incentive Program funding, awarding $28,000 to support four projects across the city....
Nia Long explains why she turned down Prince's advances
Nia Long explained why she once shut down Prince's advances when she was young, and said that she later met the musician again when she'd gained more notoriety in Hollywood.
State Street Eating House owner wins women-owned business award at Sarasota ceremony
Owner says she was unprepared for the recognition at the Frank G. Berlin, Sr. Sarasota Business Awards.
MSU Vet Tech program awarded $150k NIFA-USDA grant
Morehead State University's nationally ranked veterinary technology program was recently awarded significant financial support to help it maintain its place as the #1 program of its kind in Kentucky. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), part of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), awarded MSU's vet tech program a $150,000 NIFA-USDA grant for equipment to support small and large veterinary technology education and workforce competency at MSU. Learn more about veterinary technology programs at MSU by emailing Staton at a.staton@moreheadstate.edu or calling 606-783-2328. Find out more about MSU's veterinary technology program by calling 606-783-2662.
Texas A&M horticultural sciences students, faculty earn national recognition
Students and faculty within the Texas A&M Department of Horticultural Sciences received national awards for research, outreach and academics.
Minuteman Press Franchise Owner Dave Forster Reflects on 40 Years in Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS, June 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dave and Sandy Forster are the owners of Minuteman Press in Minneapolis, MN since February of 198...
Bunnie Xo says she told ‘so many girls’ to DM Jelly Roll amid divorce: 'Good luck with that'
Bunnie Xo said that she told 'so many girls' to DM Jelly Roll amid their divorce. The country star filed for divorce from the podcaster in May after nearly 10 years of marriage.
SGMC Health Honors White with BEE Award
SGMC Health recognized Jessica White, patient care technician on 4 South, as the June recipient of the Being Extraordinary Everyday (BEE) Award, which honors non-nursing staff who demonstrate exceptional compassion, collaboration, and dedication to patient care.
NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens NICU Awarded Gold Beacon Award for Excellence
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens has been honored with the prestigious Gold Beacon Award for Excellence from the
ECU Health announces 2026 Board Quality Leadership Award winners
ECU Health Board Quality Leadership Award winners were recognized for delivering exceptional experiences and advancing patient outcomes.
Cannes Lions Entertainment Awards: Adidas Takes Home Grand Prix for Oasis ‘Original Forever’ Collaboration
The 2026 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity recognized the best creative campaigns across entertainment, design and craft categories. Sports apparel and footwear maker Adidas’ tie-up wi...
Cannes Lions Entertainment Awards: Adidas' Oasis Collab Wins Grand Prix
The 2026 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity winners across entertainment, design and craft categories were announced. Sports apparel and footwear maker Adidas' tie-up with English band Oasis winning the top prize in the Entertainment Lions category.
College Sports Communicators Recognize Strelow with Writing Awards
BOONE, N.C. — App State's award-winning strategic communications staff added more honors this spring, as Bret Strelow was recognized for two stories in the Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Contest that's conducted by the College Sports Communicators organization.
These 15+ award-winning gadgets are on sale for Prime Day - but we'd pay full price
Editor-approved tech is still on sale during Amazon's Prime Day sale - but don't wait much longer to shop.
The Business of Beauty Global Awards 2026: Winners Announced
Wavy, Secret Alchemist, Sarelly, Dr. Diamond’s Metacine, Borntostandout and Suri are the winners of The Business of Beauty Global Awards 2026, honoured on Thursday at the Global Forum in Napa Valley, California.
TravelTech Show, Business Travel Show Europe name 2026 innovation award winners
Arcube, ImpersonAlly, Acai and Nowadays were recognized in separate competitions for travel technology innovations spanning airline retailing, brand protection, contact center automation and meetings management.
Shohei Ohtani Earns Three Nominations for 2026 ESPYS
Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers has redefined what a two-way player can look like in the modern era of baseball. Ohtani is coming off a 2025 season in which he won his fourth MVP and second straight World Series championship. On Thursday, ESPN announced the nominations for the 2026 ESPYS awards.
Discovery Education Earns Five 2026 CODiE Award Nominations Spanning Math, Science, Digital Citizenship, and Immersive Learning
Discovery Education Earns Five 2026 CODiE Award Nominations Spanning Math, Science, Digital Citizenship, and Immersive Learning
Watch: 2026 High School Sports Awards
The 4th annual 6 Sports High School Awards event is happening on Thursday.
Making Our Own Luck
We are cross-posting a piece that former NIH official Kris Willis wrote for Macroscience. Kris is now the President and Founder of the Woodley Park Institute, for which I’m a board member. Picking winners or hedging bets? Federal science agencies have long wrestled with the question of how to ensure their billions of dollars of grants and contracts result in maximum benefits for Americans. On the surface, it might seem that a goal-oriented, interventionist style of management would be the best policy: prioritize our most pressing problems and distribute funding accordingly.This top-down strategy creates a unique hazard, though: bad choices can send resources in the wrong direction, resulting in slow progress that impedes the delivery of tangible benefits to citizens. Moreover, if decision makers pursue an applied advance when the underlying scientific principles remain poorly understood, they risk costly failures and a loss of support for the research enterprise at large. Examples include Nixon’s 1971 War on Cancer, undertaken on the premise that a cure could be achieved in less than a decade, the drive to build an operational commercial fusion plant by the mid-1990s, and the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease, which failed to produce the effective treatments and prevention strategies promised by 2025. The contrasting laissez-faire approach is to hedge your bets. If the path to an advance is impossible to predict, then the wisest choice might be to distribute funding to as widely as possible. The main risk of this strategy is that spreading funding thinly may limit the resources available to the most promising research, resulting in the same negative outcomes as the interventionist approach: limited support for the most promising topics, slow progress, and delayed returns. In reality, at science agencies like the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, program managers navigate between these two extremes, setting some funds aside to target high-priority areas and using the rest to cover the widest possible range of meritorious proposals. This middle path seems like the most rational way to proceed, but it still requires making choices. How much should be set aside for high priority topics? What should those topics be? How should we define merit? Expert opinion can provide a helpful guide, but leading experts can have remarkably different opinions about what matters and what should be prioritized. Moreover, experts and administrators alike can be risk averse, giving an edge to high-profile, well-established concepts. What’s really needed is a data-driven framework to help guide decision-making, one that doesn’t simply repackage prestige or incumbency. Recognizing breakthroughs years in advance Many breakthroughs fail to attract funding or recognition at the earliest stages of development. Katalin Karikó, for example, spent years struggling to win grants for work on mRNA that would eventually win her and Drew Weissman a Nobel Prize. Similar stories can be told about Jim Allison’s groundbreaking studies leading to the development of cancer immunotherapy, Stan Pruisner’s demonstration that prions can self-replicate without DNA, or Robin Warren and Barry Marshall’s proof that Helicobacter pylori, not stress, causes ulcers. Yet at some point, the scientific community recognizes and responds to transformative breakthroughs like these. How does that change happen? And what if science funders could identify the areas that are on the cusp of a breakthrough? Those questions led my collaborators and me to study how scientists responded to past breakthroughs. Based on patterns in that data, we developed a means of predicting future breakthroughs, using biomedicine as a proof of concept. It’s worth taking a moment to describe how our approach works. Briefly, our prediction process begins by grouping the 18 million or so peer-reviewed papers in PubMed, the authoritative database of biomedical research, into roughly 50,000 unique topics. A small subset of these topics are so widely acclaimed as breakthroughs that they have been recognized with a major prize like a Nobel or a Lasker Award. We theorized that studying the development of these outliers over time, especially before they gained acclaim, was the key to identifying future instances of them. After defining topics, we chose 21 representative breakthroughs and asked what they looked like before they won prestigious prizes. To answer that question, we re-ran our topic-mapping algorithm repeatedly, winding back the clock one year each time, stringing together the years to follow the progress of each field as it grew and advanced. We found that in each case, the years leading up to a discovery followed a pattern: a burst of papers on a new, rapidly evolving topic, many of which quickly became influential. These characteristics—the percent of papers that are new, the percentage of papers that are brought in from other topics, and the influence of each individual paper—can all be measured separately for any given topic. Together, they act as a predictive signal that is detectable an average of five years before a transformative discovery is made, and up to thirty years before the discovery receives a major prize. Scanning the current research landscape for topics that display this signal allows us to predict what work will likely produce a future breakthrough. Each year we analyzed includes four or five signals, a number that appears to have remained constant across a twenty year time frame. In their classic work on the sociology of science, Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar established that the desire to participate in a major discovery is an important motivator for scientists as they consider whether they should take up (or abandon) a research problem. Although further work is needed, the simplest explanation for our results is that this behavior is widespread enough to detect at scale. A foundational advance, or something like it, draws the attention of scientists and causes them to change the direction of their research. They vote with their feet, staking their own reputation and careers by publishing on and citing the new idea. That upswell of interest is the foundation of our breakthrough signal. What kind of research does our model identify as a breakthrough? After building a model based on the patterns in our 21 preselected breakthroughs, we tested it by identifying all early signals of discovery from 1994 through 1997. Of the 18 signals we found in that time period, 17 can be traced forward in time to a breakthrough. Examples include super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (see the image above), the directed evolution of proteins and enzymes (Chemistry Nobel, 2018), and sequencing the human genome (National Medal of Science, 2008). The discovery of the role of leptin signaling in obesity is a particularly interesting case study. Around 1950, scientists noticed the existence of a type of lab mouse that suffered from a unique inherited form of obesity. When given the freedom to choose their own diet, these mice ate more than normal and preferred food that was high in fat. Researchers had few clues as to why the animals overate; early experiments pointed to the existence of a soluble ob factor found circulating in the bloodstream that regulated appetite, but its identity was unknown. In 1994, Jeffrey Friedman and colleagues identified and sequenced the ob gene, noting that the protein it encoded appeared to fit the profile of a circulating factor. A year later, a trio of high-profile publications demonstrated that ob was a hormone that regulated body weight and fat deposition by regulating appetite. One of these was co-authored by Friedman, who christened it leptin from the ancient Greek word for thin. Using our model, the data from 1996 make it clear this advance would become a breakthrough. Scientists had flocked to study the biology of the new hormone, generating the flurry of new papers and citations required to produce a signal. One of these demonstrated that serum leptin concentrations reflected the amount of adipose tissue in the human body, providing clinical validation of the earlier mouse studies. Before the identification of leptin, scientists were unable to point to a specific molecule that controlled appetite and adiposity, so that it was impossible to rule out non-physiological causes of obesity; its characterization fundamentally changed our concept of weight gain. In 2010, Friedman and fellow pioneer Douglas Coleman were awarded a Lasker for the discovery. Our work also identifies breakthroughs in clinical practice and behavioral and social sciences, even though these areas are less likely to draw the attention of major prize committees. One example that falls into this category is the introduction of endovascular aneurysm repair, a minimally invasive surgical procedure for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm, a leading cause of death among Americans over the age of 65. Relative to the previous standard of care, it reduces in-hospital mortality by almost four-fold. In 2017, Timothy Chuter received the American College of Surgeons’ prestigious Jacobsen Innovation award for his multiple refinements to the technique. Another under-recognized breakthrough identified by our model is the development of standardized survey instruments to assess the quality of life for HIV+ patients. The antiretroviral cocktails introduced in the mid-1990s reduced AIDS mortality, but treatment came with serious side effects. The new evaluations showed that patients whose disease progressed had worse physical functioning than Americans with other chronic diseases, while those who were asymptomatic maintained a health-related quality of life on par with the overall US population. This evidence made it possible for patients and activists to argue that even in the absence of a total cure, and in spite of the side effects, alleviation of symptoms was a worthwhile priority for clinicians. My colleagues and I have failed to identify any significant recognition for the physicians and health policy experts who pioneered this advance, although in 2016, researchers called for the World Health Organization to set targets for good health-related quality of life as part of its framework to end the AIDS pandemic. From forecasting to funding How should science funders use our predictions? Any serious discussion of what we should do with this new capability needs to begin with an understanding of its limitations. We can’t (and shouldn’t) invest all of our resources in the small number of topics predicted to produce breakthroughs. Innovative new fields are born from existing ones; they rarely arise de novo. If funders don’t maintain a diverse portfolio, the breakthroughs of tomorrow will have no antecedents. Think of this as eating the seed corn, or killing the goose that lays the golden egg. There are also multiple goals of funding beyond basic scientific discovery, including translating discoveries into clinical practice, developing new technologies, supporting economic development, and training new scientists. The investments needed to accomplish these goals are likely different from those required to support emerging breakthroughs. Finally, we must be aware that we may not capture every instance of a breakthrough. The concept is fuzzy, and not every significant discovery is recognized with a major award. Further, breakthroughs are rare, meaning that our dataset is, by necessity, small. This makes formal estimates of accuracy challenging. Although our overall success rate appears to be high, any one signal may turn out to be a false positive. We found one apparent example: the development of the third generation COX-2 inhibitors, Vioxx and Celebrex, which were much celebrated in the early 2000s as effective but non-addictive pain relievers, meets all the algorithmic criteria of a breakthrough. Five years after it received FDA approval, researchers demonstrated that Vioxx was associated with serious cardiovascular complications, and the manufacturer voluntarily pulled the drug from the market. Celebrex remains available, although like other NSAIDs, it carries an FDA warning for increased cardiovascular risk. Decision makers who were overly focused on the breakthrough potential of this research might have wasted substantial resources nurturing an area that ultimately proved to be a failure—but so would those who relied on expert opinion at the time. That said, the potential benefits of funding the next mRNA vaccine or cancer immunotherapy years earlier than we might have are large. When we can’t assume the outcome of an action, it’s worth conducting an experiment. Can targeted support for areas that are poised to produce a breakthrough increase the return on scientific investment without cannibalizing future advances? With the necessary administrative infrastructure in place, conducting this experiment would be straightforward. First, identify all the breakthrough signals between 2018 and 2023, select half at random, and commit to a decade of investment. For biomedicine, a six year window should yield about 30 topics with the potential to produce a breakthrough. Providing strong support to half of these might be accomplished for $300 million a year. That’s roughly half of the recent annual budget of the NIH Common Fund or around 20% of the fiscal year 2025 budget for ARPA-H. After five years, then again at ten, compare to see which group — the one that was actively managed, or the control — produced more breakthroughs, and on what timescale. Although we used biomedicine as an example, the same experiment could just as well be run for physics, materials science, or any other discipline. Any attempt to undertake such an experiment should keep three points top of mind. First, we can predict the topic of future breakthroughs, but the people and vision for how to move the work forward are still important. In practice, this means success requires active program managers with the expertise to develop the science and the authority to do so, including by recruiting investigators. Second, we would be wise to learn from the failures of past attempts to fund transformative research. High among these are funding modestly repackaged work, confusing the genuinely novel with the merely unfamiliar, and relying too much on incumbent investigators. All of these risks can be mitigated by thoroughly and intelligently integrating high quality data into portfolio management. Finally, we need to have patience. Even with strong funding support, producing a breakthrough takes time. If supporting breakthroughs is the best way to nurture the birth of new fields, we also need to accurately describe and properly manage the other two stages, so that we invest wisely throughout the productive lifetime of ideas and divest once they reach the point of diminishing returns. We would benefit from more study of all of these phases, especially the transition from one to another. More research could answer questions like: When does a breakthrough become an established field? How do the availability of funding, the size and characteristics of the available workforce, and the accumulation of evidence that disagrees with prevailing models affect a field’s decline? Exactly how do old ideas give birth to new ones, and can we speed up the process? The more we understand about the dynamics of scientific progress, the better we can maximize the odds that our curiosity leads to results. I’d call that finding a way to make our own luck.
Falls Church Business News & Notes 6-25-2026 - Falls Church News-Press Online
Falls Church Business News & Notes Falls Church Business News & Notes Local Business Updates A full interactive roundup of chamber recognitions, business expansions, events, regional awards, and one correction. Expand All 8 total notes Includes full correction Links preserved Chamber Businesses Named Top Workplaces New Editions Consulting ranked #2 among small businesses. ⌄ New
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