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Johnson’s Cindy Evans Prepares Artemis Teams for Lunar Science
NASA’s Artemis II crew had many technical and operational responsibilities during their historic mission to the Moon, but they also served an important role
Former LSU, NBA Basketball Talent And Renown LSU Sports Psychologist Set For 10-Day Strategic Mission To Burundi
Tyrus Thomas, in an NBA playoff game with the Charlotte Hornets..
Vast Launches Satellite Bus Business Line
The commercial space station company announced this morning that it would start selling satellite buses, specifically targeting the low-cost, high-volume, high-power niche for missions from comms, to EO, to national-security programs.
If/Then: Pending Deregulation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Could Create Significant Negative Health Effects
If the US Environmental Protection Agency finalizes a rule on greenhouse gas emissions without quantifying related effects on human health, then Congress could respond by requiring this and future rules to account for human health effects.
MICC kicks off 2026 small business engagement, offers one-on-one sessions
The U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command kicks off its 2026 Advanced Planning Briefing for Industry May 18, bringing together contracting professionals, small business representatives and industry partners for a week long engagement focused on transparency, innovation and Army readiness. Hosted May 18-22 virtually by MICC’s Office of Small Business Programs, the 2026 APBI began with day one briefings from senior Army and MICC leaders, including MICC Commanding General Brig. Gen. Freddy Adams and MICC Deputy to the Commanding General Clay Cole. Attendees also heard from the Department of the Army Office of Small Business Programs, representatives from MICC’s Office of Small Business Programs and leaders from the 418th Contracting Support Brigade, 419th Contracting Support Brigade, the Field Directorate Office at Fort Eustis and the Field Directorate Office at Fort Sam Houston.
Science Start-Up Colossal Is Creating an Artificial Womb
Science start-up Colossal is on a mission to make animals “productionized” — getting rid of the need for eggs or wombs. And it’s already worth billions
Planning Commission to discuss entertainment zones
The Vacaville Planning Commission will meet Tuesday evening to discuss the possibility of entertainment zones in Downtown Vacaville, conduct a General Plan Consistency Review for the Capital Improvement Program, amend the Vandengate…
Trump administration proposes admitting more White South African refugees
The Trump administration is proposing increasing the refugee admissions ceiling to 17,500 for White South Africans, according to a State Department report to Congress obtained by CNN.
Photoinduced radical emission from flexible organic crystals
Light: Science & Applications - Photoinduced radical doping strategy enables blue luminescence and elastic bending (>180°) in organic crystals. Confined oxygen radicals and dynamic...
HLS Vegetation Indices
In this explainer, each vegetation index includes a visualization, an example application, and a description of the index that highlights how HLS’s increased temporal revisit empowers new research.
Four NASA payloads to fly on Astrolab’s first lunar rover
Astrolab’s first lunar rover will carry four NASA payloads on a mission planned to launch later this year.
Federal jury delivers verdict on Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI
A jury in federal court reached a verdict in Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI after Musk accused the maker of ChatGPT of violating its founding mission as a nonprofit.
Additions to David Blunkett’s alternative king’s speech
Letters: Readers praise – and point to omissions from – the former home secretary’s proposed programme for government
Beyond the Game: Exploring Sports, Media, and Culture at Notre Dame
Katherine Walden, assistant teaching professor of American…
New MatterChat Model Helps AI to ‘See’ the Language of Science
From writing emails to generating computer code, much of the artificial intelligence prevalent in our daily lives has succeeded by mastering one domain: text. However, this leaves a major blind spot in the physical sciences, where models depend on the high-resolution, three-dimensional data of the physical world, like the intricate lattice of atoms in a crystal. Delivering on the promise of using AI for science requires teaching these data-driven text models to seamlessly “talk to” physics-based models. Now, a new AI framework from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), called MatterChat, solves this problem by creating a specialized “bridge.” It connects the conversational power of a Large Language Model (LLM) with a physics-based AI that models “interatomic potentials”: the complex physical forces between atoms. The resulting system already significantly outperforms general-purpose AI tools like GPT-4 at predicting material properties, and the team hopes it can accelerate scientific discovery by serving as a robust research partner that provides grounded insights and generates step-by-step instructions for synthesizing novel materials. A paper describing this work was recently published in Nature Machine Intelligence. “Traditional simulations can provide the physical rigor required for materials science, yet their computational cost remains prohibitive for high-throughput screening. Conversely, while LLMs excel at rapid knowledge synthesis, they inherently lack the ‘structural vision’ to interpret materials directly from their underlying atomic coordinates,” said Yingheng Tang, a postdoctoral researcher in Berkeley Lab’s Applied Math and Computational Research Division (AMCR) and lead author on the paper. “MatterChat was built to solve this dilemma, empowering LLMs with a structural ‘vision’ that allows researchers to leverage their full potential for solving complex, real-world materials challenges.” Empowering language models to solve complex challenges in materials science To build MatterChat, the Berkeley Lab team drew inspiration from technologies like Vision Question Answering (VQA) and Text-to-Image (T2I) generation. In these tasks, AI must translate high-level text concepts into visual images, or vice versa. Doing so requires developers to build tools that “bridge” two fundamentally different forms of data. The researchers adapted this concept to the physical sciences. With MatterChat, they created a “bridge model” that successfully connects an LLM’s general knowledge with the deep understanding of the atomic-scale world encoded in scientific interatomic potentials. Until now, researchers using LLMs to solve materials problems usually had to feed them raw data files as if they were just strings of text. It’s like asking an AI to understand a complex 3D engine based only on a parts list: the LLM can read the names, but it can’t “see” how the atoms fit together in space. MatterChat solves this by training a specialized AI bridge model, pre-trained on millions of crystal structures and an LLM, to align the LLM’s representation of the world with the interatomic potential’s representation of the world. The bridge model can translate physical insights into a format the LLM can actually understand. By giving the LLM these “scientific eyes”— a scientific “inductive bias” in the terminology of AI — the Berkeley Lab team has transformed it into a robust research tool capable of providing grounded scientific insights into complex materials challenges, such as predicting thermal stability or analyzing electronic band gaps. “We think of atoms as living in a physical space, but from a machine learning perspective, they are just vectors living in some very non-trivially structured manifold in a high-dimensional Euclidean space; and, of course, the same is true for the sentences and paragraphs that we use to express our ideas about those atoms,” said co-author Michael Mahoney, Berkeley Lab’s Scientific Data Division (SDD) AI Initiative Research Lead. “The bridge model basically gets those two structures to ‘talk with’ each other.” As a proof-of-concept of this general approach, the team trained their bridge model on a dataset curated by pairing nearly 143,000 stable atomic structures from the Materials Project with their corresponding physical properties. This training data was automatically assembled using the Materials Project’s API and deliberately enriched with properties fundamental to microelectronics design — like formation energy and bandgap — allowing MatterChat to learn the complex patterns connecting a material’s atomic blueprint to its functional performance. To validate their model, the researchers benchmarked MatterChat against a suite of other AI systems, from general-purpose LLMs to other specialized scientific AI methods. The results show that MatterChat consistently outperformed its competitors across a range of tasks. The model was more accurate in classifying material types and demonstrated superior precision in predicting numerical properties. For example, it excelled at predicting a material’s bandgap, a property critical for designing new electronics from high-capacity energy storage to next-generation computer chips. “Our design is significantly more efficient because we don’t have to build a massive AI model from the ground up,” said co-author Zhi (Jackie) Yao, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s AMCR. “Instead, we take two powerful, pre-trained models — a structural encoder for materials physics and an open-source LLM — and use them off-the-shelf. The only component we actually train is the lightweight ‘bridge model’ that translates between them. It’s the difference between building an entire car factory and simply designing a smart adapter that connects a world-class engine to a world-class navigation system. This approach is not only computationally efficient, but also makes the system modular, so we can easily upgrade components or adapt the bridge for other scientific domains in the future.” Crucially, this modular design highlights exactly how institutions like Berkeley Lab and the Department of Energy are carving out a highly valuable niche in the booming AI landscape. Rather than competing with Silicon Valley tech giants to build ever-larger language models from scratch, the lab is focusing on the specialized connective tissue that makes commercial AI useful for hardcore science. Because the bridge model approach underlying MatterChat is forward-compatible, it is perfectly positioned to leverage these parallel tracks of innovation. As Mahoney pointed out, “We expect that industry will continue to develop improved LLMs, and we expect domain scientists and facilities will continue to generate new data. An important part of scientific machine learning is not simply to solve problems on today’s data, but instead to develop general methods that will be forward-compatible with orders of magnitude more data, whether from scientific domains or from LLMs.” According to Yao, the MatterChat project, which was initially developed and enhanced with funding from a Berkeley Lab Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) Program, will now expand its capabilities. In a collaboration with Fermilab, MatterChat is already contributing to a U.S. Department of Energy Genesis Mission project — called Accelerating eXtreme Environment Specs-to-Silicon (AXESS) — that aims to speed up the development of next-generation, high-speed, radiation-hardened detectors for challenging particle physics experiments by using advanced 3D integrated circuits (chiplets) and AI-driven data analysis. In addition to the LDRD support, the team also credits supercomputing resources at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), located at Berkeley Lab, with MatterChat’s success. “We are incredibly grateful to NERSC; this research simply would not have happened without access to the Perlmutter supercomputer through their AI for Science program,” said Tang. Wenbin Xu, a NERSC postdoctoral fellow at the time, was also a major co-author of the work, as was Benjamin Erichson, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s SDD, highlighting the benefits of AMCR-SDD collaboration on AI for science. ### Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is committed to groundbreaking research focused on discovery science and solutions for abundant and reliable energy supplies. The lab’s expertise spans materials, chemistry, physics, biology, earth and environmental science, mathematics, and computing. Researchers from around the world rely on the lab’s world-class scientific facilities for their own pioneering research. Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest problems are best addressed by teams, Berkeley Lab and its scientists have been recognized with 17 Nobel Prizes. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.
Plan Baton Rouge III takes next step toward reality
A plan to reimagine the Mississippi riverfront in downtown Baton Rouge is headed to the Planning Commission for review Monday. Commissioned by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation and developed by i… Already an INSIDER? Sign in. Already an INSIDER? Sign in
Reimagining mental health: Stanford Medicine experts chosen to lead precision task force
Stanford Medicine’s Leanne Williams was chosen to lead the Precision Mental Health Commission to redefine and streamline how psychiatric conditions are diagnosed and treated. She’s pushing for a data-driven approach that begins with brain imaging.
Cortland Athletics wins third straight SUNYAC Commissioner's Cup for all-sports excellence
It's the the 20th time overall that Red Dragons student-athletes have claimed the trophy since the competition began in the 1996-97 season.
2027 BMW M3 CS Handschalter Goes RWD And Gets A Manual Only For America
This new limited-run model is 42 pounds lighter than a base manual M3, and it has unique tuning for its chassis, engine, steering and six-speed transmission.
All sides find common ground opposing data centers in Knox County
Knox County commissioners are exploring options to limit data centers here before they're built.
How the US Is Reshaping Europe’s Climate Ambitions
The EU-US climate relationship has evolved from a shared mission into a volatile cycle of leadership, retreat, and deep-seated friction.
Mission admission: AI, data science courses surge across Gujarat campuses
Vadodara: Artificial intelligence (AI), data science and emerging technology programmes are witnessing a major push across Gujarat, with universities rapidly introducing specialised courses to tap growing student demand and industry requirements.
South Louisiana parents turn tragedy into mental health mission after son’s suicide
Rain Will Bring Flowers Foundation works to bring mental health awareness and suicide prevention to students of all ages across the state.
SpaceX Dragon Docks to Station Filled with New Science Experiments
At 6:37 a.m. EDT, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the forward port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module, carrying nearly 6,500 pounds of food, supplies, and equipment for the Expedition 74 crew. This is the 34th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission to the space station for NASA.
‘Never-ending’ AI slop strains corporate hacking reward schemes
‘Bug bounty’ programmes have seen a jump in spurious AI-generated submissions
Now What? With Carbon Pricing Eroded and Pipeline Politics Advancing, Here Are the Pathways for Climate Success
At the end of a whirlwind week of news on carbon pricing and electricity strategy, capping a madcap year of pretty much non-stop, dramatic change, the word across much of Canada’s climate and energy transition community is that climate policy in this country has been shredded. Eviscerated. Hit with a sledgehammer by policy rollbacks that have pushed the country’s 2050 net zero target “well out of reach”. That means it’s never been more important to look for the rays of hope and glimmers of possibility. To glimpse the seeds of the next set of strategies to get Canada’s climate pollution under control and the country into the accelerating global dash away from fossil fuels. And then, once we’ve spotted those possibilities, get on with the hard, day-to-day slog of trying to make them a reality. Nothing takes away from the frustration and the deep disappointment so many climate and energy hawks are expressing, the sense of betrayal by the author of Value(s) and the former UN special envoy for climate action and finance. But we knew two things as the week drew to a close. We’re looking at the world as it most definitely is. And we don’t get to give up finding the pathways to confront climate change and deliver faster, deeper carbon cuts that leave no one else behind. So really, the first question we all have to ask ourselves is: What’s next? Subscribe All the Oxygen in the Room The outpouring of anger and grief over the carbon pricing deal between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been absolutely understandable. So much of the climate community poured years, more than a decade, into dragging the current federal pricing regime across the finish line, then defending it from a deluge of three-syllable rhymes after the Trudeau government proved utterly incapable of delivering its own message. The policy foisted on us by neo-classical economists took up all the oxygen in the room, burned through years of climate response time that we won’t get back, while cornering climate hawks into the position that the best response to the crisis of our lifetimes is a new tax…in an era of historic anti-tax sentiment. I mean, really—what could possibly have gone wrong? Against that history, let’s appreciate columnist Max Fawcett’s point that even a modest carbon pricing agreement with a government as off-the-wall libertarian/conspiracist as Danielle Smith’s—those adjectives are mine, not Max’s—is a win worth savouring (as long as Smith keeps her promises for a change). But part of living in the world as it is (no, I’m not letting that go) is to be clear-headed about what we can and can’t control. And one thing we get to decide, after seeing this week’s carbon price festivities take up all the oxygen yet again, is whether we want to keep letting that happen. Particularly when success down that road depends on a factor that no one with a climate agenda can control or influence—a provincial carbon pricing mechanism that has been manipulated and eroded beyond its lowest possible denominator. Thankfully, that’s not the way it has to go. Not when we have so many other powerful, practical tools at our disposal, including the ones still available to us through this abominable Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Canada and Alberta. Tools In Our Toolbox When I started roughing out this list, I didn’t expect it to grow to nearly a dozen bullet points. It’s probably still incomplete. Some of the greatest hits in today’s climate solutions toolbox include: • No Carbon Capture, No Pipeline: On Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney explicitly stated that there’s been no change to the MOU provision that there will be no West Coast pipeline without an industry commitment to build its massive, $16.5-billion carbon capture and storage (CCUS) hub in Northern Alberta, and vice versa. The two megaprojects were joined at the hip when the MOU was signed Nov. 27, and the implementation agreement this week affirmed that they still are. A parade of independent analysts have spent years pointing to the economic and technical flaws in CCUS, while the industry kept postponing its investment decision until it could arm-twist the government for more “clarity” (by which it meant even more lavish taxpayer subsidies) on the project. Now the industry itself is running away from the CCUS hub and insisting the pipeline should proceed without it, but Carney doesn’t seem to be budging from a central tenet of the MOU to which Smith has signed on. • No Subsidies, No Investors: Climate analysts and advocates have quite rightly been hammering away at Carney and his team, insisting that any new capacity the industry wants to build must proceed without new subsidies. The government has responded with a growing collection of funding and financing mechanisms for the very wide menu of industrial development and nation-building projects they say they want to take on, and that menu always includes fossil fuel infrastructure. But it’s hard to see how even the combined fiscal clout of the federal and supportive provincial governments will deliver the financial backing private investors would need when the business case for new fossil fuel development is evaporating before their eyes. Particularly when… • No Market, No Demand, No Investors: As our friend Markham Hislop at Energi Media (our apparently sleepless friend, given the massive volume of great material he’s been churning out) points out this morning, the biggest vulnerability in any pipeline deal is the assumption that Asian buyers will want the oil or liquefied natural ga that our fossil industry is so keen to send them. Hislop writes in part: Ottawa and Alberta are effectively betting that countries like China and India will continue increasing oil imports for decades as their economies grow and energy consumption rises. That assumption underpins the entire economic rationale for expanding oil sands production and building billions of dollars in new export infrastructure. But Asian energy systems are changing rapidly… China, India, South Korea, and other major hydrocarbon importers are now investing hundreds of billions of dollars into electricity systems built around wind, solar, batteries, nuclear, hydro, and expanded transmission infrastructure. Domestic “energy sovereignty” is increasingly replacing the old energy-security model based on stable oil and gas imports. Those investments are expected to sharply slow oil demand growth and eventually reverse it, even as overall energy consumption continues rising. There are also refining constraints. Many Asian refineries and petrochemical complexes are already optimized to process discounted heavy crude from the Middle East and Latin America. That raises serious questions about how much additional Canadian bitumen Asian markets can absorb at profitable prices. Small wonder that there’s still no private sector investor for the project, despite Smith’s government desperately beating the bushes to put together a deal. For now, Alberta is acting as proponent and covering early start-up costs for a pitch to the federal Major Projects Office, which could actually turn into the next tough hurdle for Smith and her pipeline to jump. • Canada Day Looms: How ironic that Canada’s birthday this year could become a major chokepoint for the provincial premier who’s been working so diligently to tear the country apart! The July 1 target date for Alberta’s pipeline proposal is baked into the MOU, was reaffirmed by the implementation plan, but it hadn’t dawned on me that it cuts both ways. As one very smart colleague wrote in an email yesterday, “they’ve thrown the ball into Alberta’s court to get the project proposal on the table really quickly and to have to do a whole pile of work to put together a massive, complicated project that would typically take years to assemble, and they’ve given them weeks to do it.” That makes July 1 a looming deadline that Smith won’t be able to run away from politically, especially with the separatists in her party and her caucus breathing down her neck. (See previous ref to off-the-wall.) But if Alberta comes in with a sloppy, incomplete submission, even after Carney bent over backwards to simplify the application process and the rules that govern it, it may be harder for the province or the industry to blame Ottawa and insist on the faster process they claim their investors are demanding. (Oh, wait—which investors would those be??) • We’ll See You In Court (Then We’ll See You Again): If Carney did cave, that would be just one more reason for Indigenous and other affected communities to take the government and the process to court—Just as Alberta First Nations did, successfully, in response to Smith’s half-baked separation referendum. Veterans of the Harper era have been warning that a shoddy process around fossil fuel infrastructure or other major projects will be a recipe for the very delays that process seeks to avoid. And now more than ever, with renewable energy and energy storage eating fossil fuels’ lunch in import markets around the world, a delayed pipeline or LNG terminal may be as good as a cancelled one. • Charged Up, Ready to Go: With its goal of doubling Canada’s electricity supply to meet a doubling of demand by 2050, the national electricity strategy that Carney unveiled Thursday has a lot to like. With its explicit language about speeding the shift from fuels to more efficient and affordable electricity, global investment and deployment patterns that already favour that shift, an emerging bidirectional power grid, the role of front-line options like rooftop solar and heat pumps, the emergence of electric vehicles as behind-the-meter energy storage, and the domestic jobs and manufacturing to make it all happen, the document doubles down on the essential cornerstone of a faster shift off fossil fuels. The strategy envisions a more prominent role for gas and nuclear power. But some of those provisions were already in the Clean Electricity Regulations that climate hawks are now fighting so hard to defend, inserted as a compromise in a futile attempt to mollify the industry and its political representatives in Alberta and Saskatchewan. But once again, gas will be a tougher sell when it’s more expensive and now so much more unpredictable than the clean alternatives. The new nuclear technologies are still speculative and deeply vulnerable to cost overruns. Increasingly, utilities, developers, and investors know it. Carney declared Thursday that “it doesn’t do us good to be sitting in court all the time with provinces. It doesn’t do us good to be talking past each other. What does do us good is to come together with specific projects.” There are no guarantees, but so much of the language and narrative-building in the electricity strategy suggests the lion’s share of those projects will be renewable. • The Party Has Already Started: The electricity strategy only rarely digs down to specific projects, but provinces representing three-quarters of Canada’s population are already embracing a faster transition. Hydro-Québec is working on a 10-year, $185-billion renewable energy and grid buildout by 2035. Ontario recently brought 10 provinces and territories together in a National Energy Corridor Agreement to boost interprovincial and -territorial transmission infrastructure. And the MOU implementation agreement commits Alberta to facilitate investment in renewable energy projects, a big step back from its continuing, punitive restrictions on renewables development. The electricity strategy envisions much of the financing and infrastructure that will be needed to pull those advances together into an integrated whole. • Delivering on Affordability: The MOU implementation plan has little or nothing to say about affordability (are you surprised?), but the electricity strategy does, with a top-line pledge to reduce home energy costs for seven out of 10 Canadian households by 2050, a total saving of $15 billion across the board. It’s just a start, but it puts affordability on the government’s narrative map. If they’re serious and deliberate about patching together a least-cost energy strategy, it’ll have little if any room for oil, gas, or nuclear—not with powerful evidence, for example, that electricity prices are higher when those prices are set by gas. • Smith Proves that Canada Works: By signing a deal that makes it harder to claim the federal government is blocking a new pipeline, Smith has helped prove Carney’s constant anti-separatist refrain that “Canada works”—incurring the rage, no doubt, of her own political base. Canada also needs to work for anyone who depends on a clean environment, healthy and thriving ecosystems, and safe, stable climate. But with Smith and her separatist constituents setting up as a fifth column for annexation by Donald Trump’s United States, let’s set aside any notion that 51st state status for Canada is a recipe for anything other than climate disaster (and so much else). Resisting and withstanding Trump (just 170 more sleeps until mid-term elections, which is a damn sight better than the 730 we started with) doesn’t mean a free pass for a pipeline, but we can still appreciate it that keeping Canada whole and sovereign is still Carney’s Job One. • The Words Not Spoken: Apart from a commitment to export a million barrels of “low-emission” Alberta bitumen per day (memo to Smith and Carney: You realize that that’s less than the industry is already exporting??), the MOU implementation plan says nothing about the international trade and economic sovereignty deals that Carney has been travelling the world to negotiate. It didn’t have to. Carney doesn’t need permission from Danielle Smith, her American enablers, or her separatist allies to continue building the alliances that will ratchet down our economic dependency on our unstable, unreliable neighbour to the south. But every connection he builds with countries outside North America helps align our economy and our future with a faster shift off fossil fuels. Little if any of this was on our bingo cards a year or two ago. But it’s the pathway that has opened up to us. And if it gives Canada any climate or energy gains at all in an era still dominated by Trump and his increasingly ridiculous tariffs, his loutish trade negotiations and his continuing annexation threats, we have to take the wins. Not least because they’ll be the point of departure for what we can achieve in 2027, 2029, and beyond, as Trump’s grip and this era begin to loosen and then fade. What is Carney Doing? If this line of thought is right—and it’s a possibility, not a prediction—it means that Carney’s actions and decisions are largely about buying time. Time for Trump’s power to wane. Time for Alberta’s separatist/conspiracist virus to spread, mutate, die out, or at least die back, with help from a vaccine of federal steadiness and calm (appropriate enough, for a movement populated largely by vaccine deniers) that no conspiracy theory can dismiss. And time for the government’s trade and investment agenda to deliver results—even knowing that some of those results will bring impacts that front-line communities will not and should not accept. In the immediate moment, none of this changes the way the wider climate community has to respond, from campaigners to investors to front-line practitioners. All of our voices are still essential. But those voices will be stronger and more confident if we have a clearer sense of the brutal game we’ve been pulled into, and a plausible path (or two it three) for playing it to the win we need. This conversation also underscores our biggest task for the remaining years of what was supposed to be the “decisive” decade for climate response: if we can shift the energy narrative in Canada, make it a mainstream view that the country’s preoccupation with oil and gas has us falling farther behind a changing world, we’ll see far better results in the 2030s and beyond. For many veteran climate advocates, taking on that part of the fight will begin with recognizing that most of our friends and family, neighbours and colleagues already understand that climate change is real and right in front of us: they’re looking away and staying silent because they don’t have what climate communicator Katharine Hayhoe calls “efficacy”. As Hayhoe recently pointed out in a feature interview with The Energy Mix, it amounts to science denial to keep hammering away at the dire news about global warming without also helping audiences understand what they can do about it, with multiple studies telling us why that won’t work. Far better to open those conversations with the dominant crises like energy security, food security, emergency preparedness and business continuity, affordability, and financial security that have knocked climate change far lower on the list of public priorities, and will likely keep it there. We Knew This Would Happen Climate hawks have always known this day would come. For decades, we warned that everyone had to pay attention to climate change right now, because it would be much tougher to respond once the crisis itself started affecting our daily lives. We were right, and here we are. But now, thanks to decades of hard work, communities and countries have an alternative to doubling down on fossil fuels. “In 10 years everyone will have ‘always known’ that solar and batteries were going to win,” Morgan Solar Executive Chair Mike Andrade writes on LinkedIn. With the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz roiling energy priorities around the world, Canada and the United States are among the shrinking number of countries that are still very keen on fossil fuel development. Understanding that gap is a first, essential step in spotting the opportunities ahead, and averting the deep economic as well as environmental and social risk we face if we don’t seize them. Thanks for reading The Energy Mix Weekender! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work. Subscribe Mitchell Beer traces his background in renewable energy and energy efficiency back to 1977, in climate change to 1997. Now he and the rest of the Energy Mix team scan 1,200 news headlines a week to pull together The Energy Mix and The Energy Mix Weekender. Chart of the Week BYD Eyes 20 Dealership Locations After Canada Greenlights Chinese EV Imports ‘Sledgehammer’ Carbon Price Deal Boosts Emissions by 230Mt, Aims for Fall 2027 Pipeline Approval ‘Worse Than Harper’: Regulatory Rollback Would Stop Canada from Assessing Project Impacts, Critics Warn Electricity Strategy Aims for Doubling by 2050, Allows ‘Flexibility’ for Gas Power Plants Opposition Mounts as O’Leary’s Data Centre Approved in Drought-Stricken Utah Diluted Carbon Price Misses ‘Reality of the World We’re In’, Could Impede Diversified Trade: Climate Institute $200B in Clean Energy Investment Will Need On-Time Delivery, Reliable Policies, Trade Association Says ‘Sovereign Pipeline’: CEO Pitches to Keep Trans Mountain in Government Hands What a Supercharged El Niño Could Mean for Canada Canada’s future is electric, and here’s how a power grid superhighway would get us there (Toronto Star) The Perilous Waters of Hecate Strait (Globe and Mail) Saudi Aramco profits jump despite conflict in Middle East (The Guardian) Farmers confront rising cost of fertilizer and fuel as spring seeding under way (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Clarkson forecasts 24% decline in offshore oil, gas capital expenditures (Oil & Gas Journal) Pipe Dreams: How Oil and Gas Fail to Deliver Economic Development in Africa (Oil Change International) Developing countries must hold the pen to script the fossil fuel transition (Climate Home News) Iran war threatens the dream of a post-oil economy in the Gulf (Washington Post) U.S. Oil, Gas Work Force Hits Lowest Level Since 2022 (Rigzone) Why Polestar Is Doubling Down on Net Zero as Rivals Pull Back on EVs (Bloomberg) Why this Michigan utility plans to sell its hydro dams for $13 (E&E News/Politico) Levees can no longer save New Orleans (Vox)
Climate change is a health crisis – and fixing it is a health opportunity
Independent Commission of former heads of government, international bodies, ministers and civil society leaders delivers 17 recommendations for what WHO and countries should do next.
U.S. and Nigerian mission kills Islamic State group leader, Trump says
Trump made the announcement of the joint operation to take out Abu-Bilal al-Mainuki in a late-night social media post Friday that offered few details.
4 Takeaways From France's World Cup Roster Selection
Even with some notable omissions and Kylian Mbappé's drama at Real Madrid, this France squad is simply the team to beat.
Colorado Politics Calendar May 18-24
CoPo’s weekly political calendar helps you find political and public policy events throughout Colorado. It includes candidate and issue campaign events, public policy meetings, court hearings, state and local party conventions, assemblies, debates, rallies, parades, speaking engagements, traveling dignitary appearances, water meetings, book signings, county commission hearings, city council meetings and more. As a subscriber, […]
Local partnerships provide free admission to Museum at the Bighorns, Brinton
The Museum at the Bighorns joins the lineup of other Sheridan County museums providing free admission through donation partnerships with local businesses, individuals and nonprofits.
SF business owners in Mission District say drug use, encampment fires are worsening
Small business owners on Clinton Park and Stevenson Street in the Mission say conditions have worsened in recent months as enforcement and encampment cleanups at major hotspots increase in other parts of the city.
Declare climate crisis a global public health emergency, experts tell WHO
Exclusive: Commission says alert would trigger coordinated international response that could help avoid millions dying
Rensselaer coalition bring Dunn Landfill health concerns to state Health Commission
For years, residents in the city of Rensselaer have raised concerns about their health and their children’s health because of the proximity of the Dunn landfill
PRESS RELEASE: Science Museum Oklahoma offers Memorial Day Weekend discount for military families
Science Museum Oklahoma sends this information as posted below: OKLAHOMA CITY — Science Museum Oklahoma is honoring military families with a special expanded Memorial Day weekend admission offer from May 22 through May 25. While Science Museum Oklahoma offers a regular military discount year-round, the museum will increase those savings over Memorial Day weekend. Guests with
North Dakota launches initiative focused on suicide prevention support and training for rural healthcare providers | Health and Human Services North Dakota
North Dakota is launching a new rural healthcare suicide prevention initiative aimed at strengthening follow-up care and closing critical gaps after suicide risk is identified. The effort follows recommendations from the North Dakota Suicide Fatality Review Commission and supports the Zero Suicide framework across rural and tribal healthcare systems.The initiative will support rural and tribal healthcare providers in implementing standardized suicide risk screening, follow-up care after suicide attempts and improved referral pathways into mental health and behavioral healthcare services.
NASA Science, Cargo Launch on 34th SpaceX Resupply Mission to Station
The 34th SpaceX commercial resupply mission under contract with NASA is headed to the International Space Station with new scientific experiments after
Live Coverage: SpaceX makes another attempt to launch space station cargo mission
Liftoff of the resupply mission, atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. EDT (2205 UTC). The Cargo Dragon is loaded with 6,500 pounds of science and supplies for the space station.
Dallas weighs City Hall’s future as potential Mavericks sports, entertainment site
There were 418 submissions from residents, developers, architects, business leaders and others who responded to the city’s call for concepts favored repairing or restoring the Dallas City Hall.
Hubble Sights Galaxy in Transition
This Hubble image of lenticular galaxy NGC 1266 reveals its bright center and a face that hints at spiral structure.
West Ridge business accused of bilking millions from unsuspecting customers in nationwide scam
The Federal Trade Commission and the state of Illinois filed a lawsuit against Premium Home Service and founder Yosef Banath for violating consumer protection laws.
Britain Politics
From left, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Commander Clair Haynes, and Commissioner Mark Rowley meet police officers to discuss operational planning, in London, Friday, May 15,
NASA’s new AI space chip could let spacecraft think for themselves
NASA is testing a next-generation space computer chip that could give spacecraft the ability to operate far more independently in deep space. The radiation-hardened processor is showing performance levels hundreds of times beyond current spaceflight computers while surviving punishing tests designed to mimic the harsh conditions of space. The technology could enable AI-powered spacecraft, faster scientific discoveries, and smarter missions to the Moon and Mars.
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope could reveal millions of invisible neutron stars
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope could expose a vast hidden population of neutron stars lurking unseen across the Milky Way. By detecting subtle shifts in starlight caused by gravity, the mission may identify and even weigh isolated neutron stars that are otherwise impossible to see. Scientists hope the discoveries will reveal how these extreme objects are born and why they are blasted through space at incredible speeds.
Marathons and medicine: How one woman shares her love of science
Laura Gary has a mission of running marathons in all 50 states while also teaching students in hopes of inspiring the next generation of scientists.
Richmond Buzz: Business by locals, for locals
The Richmond is buzzing with new business. In this Buzz, many have set out to make their storefronts as versatile as possible.
France 2026 World Cup Roster: Real Madrid's Eduardo Camavinga Among Notable Omissions
France named its World Cup squad, with surprise goalkeeper call-up Robin RIsser highlighting Didier Deschamps' final tournament roster as France aims for another title.
SF supes move to cull citizen commissions
A possible ballot measure aims to avoid "landmines."
Minnesota State Fair Announces Their Free Shows and Entertainment for 2026
The Minnesota State Fair has just announced their free shows and entertainment for 2026. Your admission ticket to the fair gets you in to all of these performances.
Dragon Targets Friday Launch as Crew Keeps Up Science and Spacewalk Preps
SpaceX CRS-34, the next mission to resupply the International Space Station, is now targeting its launch for no earlier than 6:05 p.m. EDT on Friday, May 15. Meanwhile, the seven-member crew aboard the orbital outpost stayed focused on microgravity research and lab maintenance throughout Thursday.
The MAX offers free admission to military families all summer
Blue Star Museums program includes active duty service members and veterans through September
Oilers fire Kris Knoblauch after seeking permission from Golden Knights to interview Bruce Cassidy
Oilers reportedly fire Kris Knoblauch after seeking permission from Golden Knights to interview Bruce Cassidy
NSF X-Labs
NSF's mission is to advance the progress of science, a mission accomplished by funding proposals for research and education made by scientists, engineers, and educators from across the country.
In Science, Research Links Genetic Variations in Virus from Wastewater with Community Transmission
New findings have wide-ranging implications for improvements in the detection and monitoring of a host of communicable diseases.
Hepatitis A
WHO fact sheet on hepatitis A provides key facts and information on transmission, who is at risk, treatment, prevention, immunization and WHO's work in this area.
Shirley Jones Named Entertainment Commissioning Head At ‘SNL UK’s Sky In Restructure; Barbara Lee To Exit
Comcast’s UK-owned pay-TV giant Sky is reshuffling its unscripted pack. Shirley Jones has been promoted to the newly created role of Head of Entertainment Commissioning at the SNL UK network, with Bar...
Shirley Jones Named Sky Entertainment Commissioning Chief In Rejig
Shirley Jones has been named Head of Entertainment Commissioning at the 'SNL UK' network Sky in a rejig partly triggered by the exit of Barbara Lee.
UofL aims to fix college sports spending, but it's missing best answer
University of Louisville administrators spoke to the Knight Commission on how to fix college sports' financial model. They're missing the best answer.
Brother Martin’s top returning senior came into the season on a mission — and he’s one step away
Bronson Leaumont prepared for this to be the best baseball season of his life.
Commission votes to launch Genesee County sports planning group
Genesee County leaders are looking at sports tourism as more than entertainment — commissioners say it could become a long-term strategy to bring new money and new visitors into the area.
Genesee County considers Sports and Entertainment Commission
Supporters say events can fuel Genesee County economy
Miami-Dade commissioners discuss long-delayed mental health facility, but still not on agenda for a vote
More than two decades after voters approved funding for a mental health facility, Miami-Dade County leaders are still debating when — or how — it will finally open.
Deschutes County Commission races bring in over $1M in fundraising
Candidates raise over $1 million in bid for four Deschutes County commission seats after voters expanded the board in 2024.
A pro-Ala Stanford super PAC has pulled its ads from TV in the final stretch of the Philly congressional race
Sources said that 314’s move to pull its TV advertising came after the organization commissioned a poll that showed Stanford’s voter support declined precipitously in recent weeks.
Trump’s Vape Fallout Grows, Two Admin Officials Now Gone
The FDA commissioner and a top HHS spokesman have resigned following the recent authorization of fruit-flavored vapes.
Women’s flag football in the ACC? Jim Phillips says conversations are happening
At ACC Spring Meetings, commissioner Jim Phillips says the league is having conversations about women's flag football ahead of its Olympic debut.
NASA’s Planet-Hunting TESS Reveals Dazzling Night Sky
NASA’s TESS has released its most complete view of the starry sky to date
Leon County minority business program faces end under anti-DEI law
Leon County commissioners are forced to dismantle their minority business program due to a new state anti-DEI law.
NBA Star Kevin Love on Helping Kids Learn About Mental Health
NBA champion Kevin Love joins TODAY’s Carson Daly to talk about his nonprofit, the Kevin Love Fund, a free program for kids that provides tools to help them understand and overcome mental health struggles. Love explains how his curriculum can be implemented in schools, shares how Simone Biles thanked him for his work, and opens up about how his mission set the foundation for him as a father.
Introducing Northwood Insights, a New Blog for the Next Generation of Business Leaders
New content platform strengthens the university’s digital presence, broadens its reach among prospective students, and establishes Northwood as a thought leader in business, free enterprise, and entrepreneurial education. Northwood University has launched Northwood Insights, a new blog designed to position the university as a leading voice in business education, free enterprise, entrepreneurship, and career development. The platform delivers expert, research-informed content to prospective students, current students, and the broader professional community, meeting audiences where they already are online and searching for answers. “Northwood has always been about preparing people to move forward with clarity and confidence,” said Marketing and Communications Officer Rachel Valdiserri. “With Northwood Insights, we’re meeting students where they are with content that’s relevant, direct, and built for how they discover and learn today. It’s not about adding more noise; it’s about delivering ideas, perspectives, and insights that help them make more informed decisions earlier in their journey.” The blog features a growing library of articles spanning Northwood’s core academic strengths, including business administration, automotive and mobility studies, sports management, and entrepreneurship. Each piece is written to inform and guide, answering the real questions students are asking while organically connecting readers to the academic programs, faculty expertise, and career outcomes that define a Northwood education. Each article is crafted to reflect Northwood’s institutional voice while being optimized for the search behaviors of today’s prospective students, a generation that begins researching universities long before they apply. By appearing in those early search results, Northwood establishes credibility, builds familiarity, and creates a meaningful connection with students the moment they are most open to influence. “This platform is a natural extension of our enrollment strategy,” said Dr. Matthew Bennett, vice president of enrollment and strategic alliances. “When a prospective student searches for career paths, we want Northwood to be the source they trust. Northwood Insights makes that possible at a global scale.” Beyond enrollment, Northwood Insights serves the university’s broader advancement mission. As a platform built to demonstrate expertise and institutional relevance, it reinforces Northwood’s standing as a thought leader in free enterprise education and entrepreneurial leadership, directly supporting alumni engagement, donor confidence, and community partnerships. The content signals that Northwood is not only preparing students for the careers of today but actively shaping the conversations defining the industries of tomorrow. “Attention isn’t given anymore; it’s earned,” said Milada Dzevitski, Northwood’s digital content and technical writer who manages the Northwood Insights blog. “This platform is built to meet that standard, with content that’s relevant, direct, and worth engaging with.” Northwood Insights is live now and will continue to grow with new content published regularly. Share this page
Israeli scientists’ microbial research delves into bowels of cow belch prevention
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev scientists say microbial communities adapt and adjust how they use resources in discovery that may help reduce methane emissions from cows
Protalix BioTherapeutics Reports First Quarter 2026 Financial and Business Results
Company to host conference call and webcast today at 8:00 a.m. EDT Elfabrio commercial execution continues following European Commission approval of the 2...
COSI to review science demonstrations after experts allege 'spectacle over safety'
The science museum laid off about 40% of its education team earlier this year, prompting some to criticize its mission of science education.
Nick Coté, pursuing “frugal science” like paper centrifuges and origami microscopes
National Merit Scholar Nick Coté chose Nevada to pursue biomedical engineering and mathematics — and a mission to make science more accessible through paper centrifuges, origami microscopes and creative problem-solving.
Scientists discover a mysterious silicone pollutant that may be everywhere
Researchers have uncovered unexpectedly high levels of silicone-based pollutants called methylsiloxanes floating through the atmosphere across cities, rural regions, and even forests. Much of the pollution appears to come from vehicle emissions, likely linked to engine oil additives that survive combustion and escape into the air. Scientists say humans may inhale more of these compounds daily than other notorious pollutants like PFAS or microplastics.
Online safety campaigners reveal Starmer frustrations after Phillips exit
PM accused of dragging heels on forcing tech firms to block transmission of nude photos on children’s phones
FDA chief to depart after Trump signed off on ousting him
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary is leaving the Trump administration, according to two people familiar with the situation, after President Donald Trump signed off on a plan to fire him last week.
Dr. Marty Makary is out as FDA commissioner
Makary is the fourth high-profile departure of the Trump administration this year.
FDA commissioner Makary is resigning, sources say
U.S. Food and Drug Commissioner Marty Makary plans to resign on Tuesday, according to two sources familiar with the situation, the latest leadership change at the federal health department which comes after weeks of public speculation and a mounting pressure campaign.
Trump says FDA Commissioner Makary is out
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, after weeks of clashing with top White House and health advisers and drawing scrutiny for a series of controversial
New poll finds big shift in Michigan governor's race
The new polling numbers represented a stark shift from a similar poll the Detroit Regional Chamber commissioned in late January and early February.
College Sports Commission Wins NIL Arb Case Against Nebraska Football Players
An arbitrator ruled in favor of the College Sports Commission in a key case brought on behalf of Nebraska football players.
Trump's FDA boss resigning as admin taps next acting leader
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigns after clashes over the abortion drug mifepristone and mounting pro-life group frustrations.
Scientists discover surprising new way to control light
In a breakthrough that could transform medical testing, data transmission and future quantum technologies, scientists at the University of Witwatersrand and the University of East Anglia have uncovered a hidden property of light that allows it to twist, spin and behave differently - without mirrors, materials or special lenses.
Commencement 2026: Pharmacy graduate combines passion for care with business acumen to provide total patient support
KINGSTON, R.I. — May 12, 2026 — For Alayna Ballavia, who will graduate from the University of Rhode Island with two advanced degrees—including a Pharm.D. from the College of Pharmacy—some of the most meaningful lessons she learned about pharmacy, healthcare, and life in general happened far beyond the classroom. During two international medical missions in […]
Live: First UK minister resigns amid calls for PM Starmer’s resignation
The British premier is under pressure to quit after his Labour Party suffered election losses.
76ers’ Tyrese Maxey makes Knicks admission that shows why New York has the best fans in the NBA
Maxey all but said it.
What to know about states' efforts to limit corporate donations in politics
HONOLULU (AP) — Two states could try a new way to reduce the influence of corporations and hard-to-track “dark money” groups that have been able to spend unlimited amounts on politics since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling.
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4886-4892: Ingenuity and Perseverance, Curiosity Style
Written by Michelle Minitti, MAHLI Deputy Principal Investigator
Primary 2026: Two candidates running for Republican nomination for PSC District 1
Republican Randy Pinocci has held a seat on the Montana Public Service Commission since 2019. Now, he’s termed-out, and two candidates are competing for the Republican nomination to succeed him.
Risky business: College sports' new enforcement entity remains on shaky ground despite a costly arbitration victory
The College Sports Commission got a sweeping victory in its first serious challenge in this new era of college athletics.
Risky business: College sports' new enforcement entity remains on shaky ground despite a costly arbitration victory
The College Sports Commission got a sweeping victory in its first serious challenge in this new era of college athletics.
College Sports Commission wins key NIL arbitration in case brought by Nebraska football players
An arbitrator ruled in favor of the College Sports Commission on Monday in a case brought on behalf of Nebraska football players that is viewed as a key test for the new entity in charge of approving third-party name-image-likeness deals in college sports.
CSC wins NIL arbitration case brought by Nebraska football players
The College Sports Commission won the first major test of its authority to enforce a salary cap in college sports Monday when an arbitrator upheld the fledging agency's decision to deny a set of deals involving Nebraska football players.
CSC wins NIL arbitration case brought by Nebraska football players
The College Sports Commission won the first major test of its authority to enforce a salary cap in college sports Monday when an arbitrator upheld the fledging agency's decision to deny a set of deals involving Nebraska football players.
Arbitrator upholds ruling denying NIL deals of 18 Nebraska football players
Nebraska case is the first major test of an NIL enforcement process via the College Sports Commission.
Plant Health 4 Life – reinforcing simple actions that protect plants
The Plant Health 4 Life campaign returns for its fourth and final year, continuing a shared effort by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the European Commission and 33 countries to put plant health at the heart of our everyday choices.
Crew Relaxes Before Busy Week of Science, Dragon Arrival, and Spacewalk Preps
The next cargo mission to resupply the International Space Station, SpaceX CRS-34, is slated for launch at 7:16 p.m. on Tuesday, May 12, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, weather pending.