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Don’t Stand Still: A CEO on 3 Directions the Healthcare Business Is Moving
These days, “if you’re standing still and you think that hospitals are going to be the way to deliver care for the next 20 years, then the system will move on beyond you,” says Eduardo Conrado, president and CEO of Ascension, a St. Louis-headquartered health system that has sites of care in 36 ...
Stop treating your daily-driver Linux PC like a science experiment
I learned the hard way that your main computer shouldn't be a lab—here is why boring is better for your daily driver.
Sterling business owners want city zoning office changes
Six current and former Sterling business and property owners spoke at the Sterling City Council’s recent meeting about ongoing problems they say they are having with the city’s building and zoning department.
VCU Health tops off new outpatient heart center in Richmond
The 93,000-square-foot building is part of the health system’s effort to expand outpatient cardiovascular care beyond its downtown Richmond campus.
Annual Go Red for Women luncheon raises awareness about women's cardiovascular health
The American Heart Association's Go Red for Women luncheon is continuing the organization's tradition of raising awareness about the importance of women's cardi
Among the Academies: A Lifelong Fascination with Fish
For Peter Wainwright, the academic path was simple: he simply followed his fascination with fish."I dare say there wasn't a lot of deep thought about what direction I should go in my life," he said. "It was more, I like fish, let's see if I can do something with fish. It was all very organic."
Alabama Given Fascinating Opponent in ESPN CFP Bubble Watch
Dominant starts and an explosive offense place Kalen DeBoer’s squad in the postseason hunt, setting up a high-stakes projected collision with a vengeful Big 12 powerhouse.
9 Best Fruits to Help Reduce Blood Pressure, Cholesterol and Heart Disease Risk
The soluble fiber in fruit can improve cholesterol, a cardiologist says. Certain fruits show “potent cardiovascular protective action” thanks to their beneficial plant compounds.
Ascend WV Healthcare, First Ascent WV Healthcare applications now open
Applications are being accepted for Ascend WV Healthcare and First Ascent WV Healthcare — launched by the West Virginia University Brad and Alys Smith Outdoor Economic Development Collaborative, in partnership with West Virginia Tourism and major healthcare organizations statewide — that invite healthcare professionals and graduating students to live and work in the Mountain State.
Ascot reorganizes underwriting businesses, names division presidents
Ascot Group on Tuesday announced a reorganization that will bring its global insurance and reinsurance underwriting operations into a newly created division and establish a separate consumer lines…
Daniel Suarez sits 16th in Chase standings after Kansas
Daniel Suarez sits 16th in the Chase standings after the NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway.
Tyler Reddick's championship hopes fading after Kansas in 2026
Tyler Reddick's championship hopes are fading after a tough NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway.
Kyle Larson controls Chase after win at Kansas in 2026
Kyle Larson controls the Chase after his big NASCAR Cup Series win at Kansas Speedway during the 2026 season.
DIFFERENT WORLD
I watched Netflix’s new A Different World from top to bottom in one sitting — 10 fascinating, spellbinding episodes.
Bobby Kotick’s lawyers sent me a bad email (and later apologized)
The message I had received was unsettling—for a moment. Then it was just really confusing. Back on January 20 of this year, at 5:15pm ET, I received an email with the subject line “Legal Correspondence re Bobby Kotick.” It was from the law firm Clare Locke, a firm I’d heard had been emailing reporters in recent years about their coverage of Kotick, the former, longtime CEO of Activision Blizzard. The letter was threatening. A lawyer from the firm introduced themselves as “defamation counsel to Bobby Kotick.” They issued a “demand” that I “correct” a Game File article I’d published a week prior. The article that had irked them had been a scoop of sorts. I’d written about a a 2022 lawsuit brought by a Swedish pension fund, AP7, over Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard. The suit wasn’t news, but I was first to review and report about Kotick’s extensive pushback to the fund’s claims. The pension fund’s core contention was that the sale had been rushed by Kotick to avoid the consequences of sexual misconduct scandals swirling around the company in 2021. (He’d not been accused of misconduct himself in those suits, to be clear.) As I wrote at the time, Kotick had denied the allegations of the rushed sale. Beyond that, Kotick used a December 2025 reply to the Swedish fund’s lawsuit to assign blame for those workplace scandals, the bad press and even for the AP7 lawsuit. I’d found Kotick’s arguments novel and newsworthy. Across nearly 3,000 words, I explained Kotick’s take: that a Swedish gaming company was behind the Swedish fund’s lawsuit (the Embracer group; they denied it); that the Microsoft-Activision deal was not rushed and was secured at what Kotick felt history had proven to be an optimal price for shareholders; that he believed a conspiracy of people at unions government agencies, PR firms and the media had spun up claims of widespread workplace misconduct at Activision Blizzard in 2021. The article gave context for all of this, letting readers assess the claims and weigh their credibility. As I’d later write to Kotick’s lawyers: I would be surprised if you could point to any news article about Bobby Kotick in the last five years that has spent more of its wordcount articulating his point of view. He is welcome to do an interview with Game File any time. Nonetheless, there they were in my inbox that Tuesday evening: Clare Locke, the law firm that secured a $787.5 million settlement from Fox News over false statements about voting machines. They were emailing me, threatening that failure to comply with their demand could support a claim of “actual malice,” a legal standard for libel. Unless… Unless, they said, I added a key paragraph to my article. This was a paragraph that I already knew Kotick’s lawyers had been emailing reporters about for at least a year, and it was a paragraph that was already in my article. The paragraph they wanted is from a 2023 settlement that California’s Civil Rights Department struck with Activision Blizzard. The settlement had closed a two-year-old lawsuit over alleged sexual discrimination at the game maker. The paragraph basically said that claims of systemic or widespread sexual harassment—or of execs like Kotick tolerating such behavior—had never been proven. I’d already seen proof that Kotick’s lawyers had pushed for the settlement’s language to be added to reports about 2021 sexual discrimination and misconduct lawsuits brought against Activision Blizzard by California and, separately, by the U.S. federal government (both suits were since settled). I knew that Kotick and his lawyers felt that the California settlement language should be mentioned in the same breath as references to an article he hated and denied, a November 2021 Wall Street Journal article claiming Kotick knew “for years” of sexual misconduct at Activision Blizzard. So, in the Game File article that Clare Locke emailed me about, in the interest of ensuring I was being fair and balanced regarding the person I was covering, I had already included the following excerpt from the California settlement [emphasis added in bold]: (Kotick has repeatedly pushed back against that November article in the Wall Street Journal, citing among other things, language from a court-approved consent decree as part of Activision’s 2023 $54 million settlement over the California suit. It states: “no court or any independent investigation has substantiated any allegations that: there has been systemic or widespread sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard [or] that Activision Blizzard senior executives ignored, condoned, or tolerated a culture of systemic harassment, retaliation, or discrimination.”) On the evening of January 20, I was incredulous. How do you write a four page legal threat about a week-old article and miss this? While scrambling to also make my kids dinner, I wrote a lengthy reply to Clare Locke’s lawyers, basically asking them to cool it with the threats and to start making sense. In part, I wrote: I hope you can understand why I am having trouble understanding what you’re asking for, when the statement you’re demanding to see in Game File’s article already appears in Game File’s article. Actual malice, as you know, refers to a reckless disregard for the truth. I’m not sure what your argument is when my article already states your client’s position. Here is where I should remind you, the reader, that I am an independent journalist. I publish on Substack, and have availed myself of the Substack Defender program that provides writers on the platform with legal support. But I’m no Wall Street Journal or New York Times, nor even IGN or GameSpot when it comes to such things as, well, having a legal department. There are more fun things for me to do as an independent journalist than writing back to a powerful law firm representing a very rich person. On the evening of January 20th, I was just trying to cook some pasta, broccoli and chicken nuggets for hungry twins. Nevertheless, I wrote back to them. Two hours later, I got a reply. Summarizing: A lawyer for Clare Locke said they’d “reviewed an incomplete version” of my article and they “apologize for the confusion.” (My guess: Someone didn’t read past the piece’s paywall, even though they’d had a full week to scrounge up the funds to do so. What I’d published above the paywall was balanced, as was what came after.)1 That was almost that, but something about the situation bothered me. The letter had been marked “confidential.” I hadn’t agreed to that, and I disliked the idea that powerful people on the beat that I cover would act like they could unilaterally control what I might tell my readers about. On the morning of the 21st, having already gotten the powerful law firm to back off, I oh-so-wisely re-approached them with just one more thing. I thanked them for clearing things up the night before but noted that I’d never agreed to keep their letter confidential. I’m all for agreeing with a source to keep things off the record, but that’s the thing. We have to agree. You can’t just declare it. I’m not bound by that. I wrote to Clare Locke’s lawyer and said, in part: I trust the matter is resolved. It was disappointing to have to spend less time with my kids last night in order to address your legal letter. Family time’s precious. I will add, for clarity’s sake, that, while your letter stipulated that it was confidential, I did not agree to those terms. In the future, should you wish to communicate with me confidentially, I am happy to agree to classifying our communication as “off the record” prior to the actual communication—as is standard with any professional journalist. The firm’s lawyer replied, not directly addressing the confidentiality issue but asserting that the matter was resolved. Why I didn’t write about this until now In May, I told this story on an episode of Simon Parkin’s podcast My Perfect Console, but I held off on sharing it directly with Game File readers. I held off to avoid stepping on the toes of another reporter, the journalist Mikhail Klimentov. He’d interviewed me in the spring of 2025 about an investigation he was working on regarding Bobby Kotick lawyers pressing the media to add the California settlement language to stories referencing the 2021 lawsuits. And about how some outlets had changed their stories and how some simply deleted them. Initially, I was a third-party source for Klimentov’s reporting, providing on-the-record context about the state of the games media. I’d heard about the letters but hadn’t put the time into pursuing the story. I thought it was interesting, and I was glad he was covering it. When the outlet that Klimentov was going to run his reporting in dropped the story, I began talking to him about potentially publishing his reporting on Game File. This was tentative. Then, in January, when I got my own Clare Locke letter, I told Klimentov that I didn’t think it would make sense for me to publish him, not with me now being part of the story. I had my own version of this situation to tell. But I wished him well and said I’d refrain from telling my tale until he could get his reporting out there. Last Friday, Klimentov finally ran his investigation, in a nearly 48-minute video report for People Make Games. It covers various Clare Locke letters, how media outlets reacted to them and what to make of all this. His video weighs the merits of Kotick’s request and looks at some of the articles that were changed (one of which had a glaring error). I highly recommend watching it: (Note, I did some editorial consulting for a People Make Games video last year but nothing to do with this report.) While many outlets haven’t left any public evidence that they updated their Kotick coverage at Kotick’s counsel’s request, at least one has. Back in October 2025, the mainstream outlet Reuters applied the most transparent article update I’ve seen. On the 3rd of the month, they published an article about the state of the Swedish pension fund’s lawsuit. Days later, they added this: In an October 7 letter sent after publication of this article, Kotick’s defamation counsel disputed claims of widespread harassment at Activision. “Not a single investigation, court finding, verdict, or ruling ever concluded that there was any merit” to the allegations of widespread harassment at Activision, Tom Clare and Nick Brechbill of Clare Locke wrote. I’ve never added a statement to my article on Game File, because none was needed. Not for fairness’ sake, nor to meet any demands of Kotick’s lawyers. I’ve nevertheless wanted to be transparent with Game File readers. If someone powerful is questioning my reporting, is threatening a lawsuit over it… if that threat is part of a pattern involving other games media outlets and if, in my case, the whole thing ran into a ridiculous ditch, I want you to know about it. I also share this as a real example of how I handle threats to Game File. I stand up for my own reporting, even when it’s not comfortable to do so. (In that same category of standing up for the work I do, I’ll point to an incident in late August. Asocial media post I published to X/Twitter regarding reporting I did about Take Two and GTA VI was hit by bogus copyright claim by a firm working for the publisher. I pushed back and got it reversed; even while a bigger games media outlet let themselves be censored. This is the other reason I’m sharing this story: To emphasize that dealing with threats from powerful people is one of the costs of covering the video game industry independently and as fearlessly as possible. This is where you come in. Your support, through free and paid subscriptions (sign up here!), can help me keep doing that. It can ensure that I’ve got the back-up I need. And it can help make fiascoes like this even less of a worry, so I can spend my evenings dealing with more important things, such as making sure I steam the kids’ broccoli just right. 1 That pension fund lawsuit I wrote about in January has all but gone away. In May, the fund and Activision Blizzard owner Microsoft agreed to settle. Lawyers for the fund brokered a $250 million settlement for former Activision Blizzard shareholders. In the settlement, the fund’s lawyers changed their rhetoric. Where once they’d questioned the meaning of the California settlement language, they adopted a version of it for themselves. Several weeks ago, while seeking to get a court to sign off on the terms of the settlement, they proposed their fee for their work in the case: $60 million.
Behind the Science with Paleontologist and Curator of Dinosauria Dr. Matthew Carrano
Is the 21st Century the real Age of Dinosaurs? Today, more paleontologists are discovering more dinosaur fossils from more places in the world than ever before. Our understanding of these amazing creatures has leapt forward while their popularity has surged. Museums sit at the junction of these phenomena. The Smithsonian has been a center for dinosaur research for more than a century, and its collections include many iconic and scientifically important specimens. Today, Smithsonian researchers continue to discover new dinosaurs, but they are also uncovering more information about the ones we already know and love. New techniques and approaches allow them to investigate aspects of dinosaur biology, ecology, and evolution in ways that would have been inconceivable to early paleontologists. The result is an ever-improving understanding of dinosaurs as living, breathing, and thriving animals. This month, go behind the science with paleontologist Dr. Matthew Carrano, Curator of Dinosauria at the National Museum of Natural History as he discusses new discoveries at home and abroad, in the field and in the museum. Registration is encouraged. Space is filled on a first come first served basis. ---------------- About the Series: Behind the Science A monthly after-hours series featuring NMNH scientists and researchers Each month, join the National Museum of Natural History for the new series, Behind the Science, where NMNH researchers share insights into their latest discoveries and explore the fascinating questions driving their work—from the origins of life to the future of our planet. Come learn what’s happening behind the scenes and how science shapes our understanding of the natural world. Programs take place in Q?rius, the Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center. Topics and speakers announced on a rolling basis, but save the dates now!
7wire Ventures Presents: Top of the Ladder Featuring Karoo Health Co-Founder & CEO Ian Koons
In our latest Top of the Ladder feature, we sat down with Ian Koons to discuss his path into healthcare, why cardiology has resisted value-based care for so long, what it means to build infrastructure rather than another app, how Karoo wraps care around patients between appointments, and where he sees the future of cardiovascular care.
New framework maps the complex link between psychological status and cardiovascular health
CVD remains the leading cause of death worldwide, while the global burden of mental disorders continues to rise.
Alien nation? URI fall Honors Colloquium lecture on Oct. 6 explains why space travel means ‘More than Martians’
KINGSTON, R.I. – Sept. 28, 2026 – Interest and fascination in space travel isn’t just about visiting far-away planets, including Mars. Sometimes, it’s learning more about other life forms from another world. But venturing into outer space is still vitally important to understand the world around us, and beyond, even if aliens are never found. […]
VMI Worldwide Partners With Empire Studios, Rascal Entertainment & Green 13 On Survival Thriller ‘Snow Predator’
EXCLUSIVE: Empire Studios, Rascal Entertainment, Green 13 Films and VMI Worldwide have partnered on Snow Predator, a survival thriller directed by Coz Greenop. The film has been written by Charley McD...
How a family garden center sparked a four-decade career in science
After becoming fascinated by chemistry as a boy, Robert Fanick dedicated his life to research and teaching youngsters about science.
Nuclear reactors, data center campuses, gas-powered plants proposed in Iberville, Ascension
If completed, the project would add an extra 20% to Louisiana's electricity generation capacity.
How watches sparked a friendship between Raggio, Moppert
What began as a business relationship evolved into unlikely friendship built on entrepreneurship, mutual respect and shared fascination with watches.
NASCAR reveals Cup post-race inspection results from Kansas
NASCAR has revealed the Cup Series post-race inspection results from the 2026 Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway in September.
Lawyer who left corporate does AI training to supplement his practice
Ron Masciantonio left his job at Five Below and started his own legal practice. He says AI training is great for filling in the gaps between clients.
Psycho-cardiovascular interaction network links mental health and heart disease
A new review proposes the psycho-cardiovascular interaction network (PCIN), a framework that links psychological and psychiatric factors with cardiovascular health and disease. The review integrates epidemiological evidence, system-level mechanisms, and molecular signaling pathways to explain how depression, anxiety, chronic stress, and other mental health conditions may contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD), and vice versa. It focuses on five representative pathways—brain-derived neurotr
NASCAR Cup Series Standings After Kansas: Full Chase Points Update
Kyle Larson did more than win Sunday at Kansas Speedway. He left the track with a commanding lead atop the NASCAR Cup Series Chase standings. Larson’s victory, his fourth career Cup win at Kansas, capped a massive points day for the Hendrick Motorsports driver. He earned 76 points, the most by any driver in a […] The post NASCAR Cup Series Standings After Kansas: Full Chase Points Update appeared first on HEAVY.
[Science Bulletin] KERI develops direct carbon coating technology for substrates
Korea Electric Research Institute grows graphene and graphite thin films at room temperature while MSIT launches safety inspections for semiconductor labs
Will Taylor Swift be at Dolphins-Chiefs game? Last Florida sightings
Fans are wondering whether Taylor Swift will attend the Sept. 27 game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins.
2026 Vanderbilt Football Mailbag #5: Call For Submissions
Post VANDERBILT Football and/or SEC Football questions in the comments here. The offense put us in position to get punt-blocked. …and Curtis lost his first SEC game in the Land of A Million Mascots. …and I’m sure you all have questions. Here are the rules of the mail bag: …and that’s it.
Richard Manoogian, longtime Masco chairman and DIA backer, dies at 90
The second-generation leader built Masco into a global home-improvement giant and left a large philanthropic mark on metro Detroit, especially in the arts.
Inside the business of gony bags, Madagascar's ubiquitous plastic sacks
Go anywhere in Madagascar and you'll find gony – large woven polypropylene sacks used to transport and store everything from vanilla to cement. For the past 50 years, these hard-wearing bags have been…
HEALTH MINUTE: Many are Unaware of Vascular Disease Risk
September is National Vascular Disease Awareness Month. Up to 40 million Americans are impacted by blood vessel conditions that could be life-threatening. But in this story of survival, it is
Sunday Puzzle: So-so
NPR's Ayesha Rascoe and WYPR listener Katherine Jakuta of Baltimore, Maryland play the puzzle with Weekend Edition puzzle master Will Shortz.
NFL Sunday Night Football best bets Week 3
Sunday Night Football brings a fascinating matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and Denver Broncos, with several key storylines shaping the betting market. Puka Nacua’s availability remains a major question, while Denver’s defense has played well through two weeks. On…
[Science Through Covers] Young orangutans learn ‘spoon-feeding’ through lessons and review
Max Planck and UNAS track 12 Sumatran orangutans for 8.75 years to reveal social and individual learning dynamics
Dietitian reveals easy ways to eat more whole grains amid new heart health findings
South Carolina-based registered dietitian Lauren Manaker discusses research linking four to six daily servings of whole grains with improvements in several cardiovascular markers and explains simple ways to increase intake.
NASCAR Chase has been best blend of entertainment and integrity
Cup Series drivers say this format is doing everything it set out to accomplish
This seasonal habit promotes healthy aging and may reduce dementia risk in older people
Aging is inevitable, but there’s increasing evidence that it may be possible to prevent, or at least delay, age-related diseases, including cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s.
NASCAR Hall of Fame Honoring Kyle Busch With Special Exhibit
The NASCAR Hall of Fame will honor the late Kyle Busch with a special exhibit dedicated to the winningest overall driver in the sport’s history. Busch’s exhibit will highlight his greatest accomplishments and his influence on the sport.The exhibit at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, located in Charlotte, North Carolina, is set to open on […] The post NASCAR Hall of Fame Honoring Kyle Busch With Special Exhibit appeared first on HEAVY.
Judge temporarily blocks Boone Health from interfering with PulsePoint Cardiovascular
A Boone County judge granted a temporary restraining order Wednesday in favor of PulsePoint Cardiovascular amid an ongoing legal dispute with Boone Health.
Open Notebook: The intersection of mental health and criminal justice
Our Open Notebook series offers readers a behind-the-scenes look at how our journalists work. In this notebook entry, reporter Madison Holcomb shares insights into the considerations she makes as she reports on criminal justice stories, especially where mental health plays a major role.
How to watch North Shore vs Atascocita high school football
You can watch North Shore football all season long with NFHS Network, including this week’s game against Atascocita.
Jason Priestley named grand marshal for Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Jason Priestley will serve as grand marshal for the Focused Health 302 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series playoff race on Saturday, Oct. 3.
Stunned scientists discover new wild cat species after a century—see the photos - Futura-Sciences
A Mysterious Cat in the Clouds High in the Andean forests—almost always wrapped in mist—a pint-sized cat was living its life unnoticed by the scientific community, although locals might have crossed its path many times. The story kicked off in 2016, when a Bolivian animal shelter contacted biologist Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz...
Judge temporarily blocks Boone Health from interfering with PulsePoint Cardiovascular
A Boone County judge granted a temporary restraining order Wednesday in favor of PulsePoint Cardiovascular amid an ongoing legal dispute with Boone Health.
Denny Hamlin Draws His Line With Carson Hocevar
Denny Hamlin says Carson Hocevar's off-track jabs are where NASCAR drivers and fans part ways. He also explained the one move that would set him off.
Earth is tearing apart beneath the Pacific Northwest
Scientists have captured a subduction zone off Vancouver Island in the process of tearing itself apart, revealing that these massive tectonic systems may die piece by piece rather than all at once. The discovery could help explain ancient plate fragments, volcanic activity, and how hidden breaks beneath Cascadia may influence future earthquakes.
After two-year hiatus from concerts, Arrowhead back in business with big names
The World Cup caused Chiefs’ stadium to be unavailable for concerts, but there will be at least three in 2027.
NYFF 2026 preview: 14 films you'll want to see (and how)
Nathan Fielder, Julianne Moore, Pedro Pascal, and more have high-profile projects at NYFF this year.
Bellingham's business closures more of a churn than a trend, industry onlookers say
Full-service restaurants hurting most. But when one place closes, another opens up
League of Women Voters is nonpartisan — and unapologetically political
Every election season, someone asks the same question, usually with a raised eyebrow: "If the League of Women Voters doesn't take sides, why does ...
Darrell Waltrip’s Former Colleague Sends Well Wishes After Sad Health Update
Larry McReynolds, who once stood alongside Darrell Waltrip in the NASCAR on FOX broadcast booth for nearly two decades, is sending his former colleague well wishes after an unfortunate health update.On Wednesday, it was revealed that Waltrip has been diagnosed with Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD) complicated by possible Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Waltrip’s family believes it […] The post Darrell Waltrip’s Former Colleague Sends Well Wishes After Sad Health Update appeared first on
Darrell Waltrip’s NASCAR Career: Championships, Wins and Greatest Moments
From three Cup championships and 84 victories to a long second career with FOX Sports, Darrell Waltrip left his mark on nearly every corner of NASCAR.
Democracies in glass houses
Even fascists claimed transparency as a virtue – visibility is not accountability, in any political system.
Bats with rabies on the rise in KC, local health depts. say. What to do if you’re exposed
Take any possible exposure seriously, local experts say.
Gardner council OKs plans for massive entertainment, education district. What’s next?
While the project is one step closer to reality, there are some details that will be ironed out next month. Here’s what to know.
Interactive sports exhibit set to open at Buffalo Museum of Science
The new $3 million exhibit at the Buffalo Museum of Science includes a new sports simulator, an anchor desk that allows visitors to record their own highlight reel as a broadcaster, a sports medicine lab, and a mascot design studio.
Meet the Muse mascot, Jolly. Who doesn't love a little guy?
Jolly joins a long line of mascots tasked with making companies feel more approachable.
What is Frontotemporal Degeneration? Darrell Waltrip health update explained
NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Darrell Waltrip's family announced that he has been diagnosed with Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD).
Fact check: What are U.S. Senate candidates’ stances on data centers in KS race?
As some communities seek to leverage projects to offset local taxes, others are preparing to vote on proposals to ban data center developments outright.
Semaglutide is improving the heart health of millions—but how? Experts are stumped
“Our analyses could not fully ascribe the effects of semaglutide on cardiovascular disease to known risk factors with any certainty,” one researcher said after exploring years of data. "These results suggest that semaglutide should be considered as a cardiovascular disease reduction drug and not just as a weight loss drug,"
NASCAR Legend Darrell Waltrip Reveals Serious Health Diagnosis
NASCAR Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip and his family have shared a difficult health update, revealing the three-time Cup Series champion's diagnosis and why he will be stepping further away from public life.
Pascal Groß Tipped Favourite To Win Premier League Star Award
The German veteran’s red-hot scoring streak and vital leadership at Brighton make him a frontrunner for Player of the Month honors against a stacked field of nominees.
Visit Liberty Science Center During Sukkot
(Courtesy of Liberty Science Center) From Sept. 28 to Oct. 1, Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey, has exciting programming planned for the entire family. In addition to fascinating science exhibits and shows, the Science Center will provide a sukkah for those observing Sukkot. The center’s exhibition, “The Power of Poison,” explores the […]
Is metascience being co-opted?
In July, the White House released a report that argued academia is deeply dysfunctional and in need of radical reform.Science: A New Golden Age sets out a litany of problems many academics will recognise: interminable waits for grants; short-term funding rather than support for longer, more ambitious projects; ballooning administrative requirements; pressure to publish, and many more. “The scientific machine is getting bogged down,” it says. At least on the face of it, Science: A New Golden Age is a triumph for the metascience movement, a loose-knit, global group of academics, philanthropists and think tankers that want far more testing and experimentation in how we fund public research and innovation. The report tells US research funders to set up internal metascience units to do just this. But it has also set alarm bells ringing that metascience is being conveniently deployed to help justify the defunding of US universities, which US vice president JD Vance has openly labelled “the enemy.” “Just because you have an issue with your plumbing in your house doesn't mean you light the entire house on fire and burn it to the ground,” said Colette Delawalla, chief executive of Stand Up for Science, a group campaigning against what it says are attacks on scientists by the Trump administration. No one is arguing that academia doesn’t need reform, but there’s debate over how far and how fast the system should be shaken up. Does public R&D need slow and steady evidence-based adjustment, or radical new experiments?One of the key arguments in Science: A New Golden Age is that there’s not enough funding for what it calls “mid-level” science: engineering-heavy projects that require tens of millions of dollars, involve ten to a hundred people, and last around five years. Such a project might develop a brain-computer interface for people with Alzheimer's disease, for example. As such, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) has already announced $1.5 billion to set up so-called X-Labs, effectively new research organisations to pursue breakthroughs in areas such as quantum sensing and new scientific instruments. Funding divertedBut there’s a catch: this money has squeezed NSF budgets for more traditional, fundamental research grants, Science reported in June, likely meaning less cash for university-based scientists. Science: A New Golden Age also makes various swipes at universities, accusing them of extracting overheads from scientists to fund administrative bloat. “We have become dependent on a narrow set of legacy institutions,” it says. The report doesn’t mention it, but the US government is simultaneously seeking greater powers over federal funding, which would allow political appointees at funding agencies to screen or cancel research grants mid-project. The White House is also seeking to slash the NSF’s budget by more than half in 2027, although similar cuts proposed for 2026 were blocked by Congress. Convenient hookThis has worried some that the metascience agenda could be misused as a kind of smokescreen to further weaken universities. James Wilsdon, executive director of the Research on Research Institute at University College London, said that the report contains lots of “interesting ideas” and agrees that in places, academia is a “pretty broken system.” But the risk is that metascience is being deployed as a “convenient hook” to support cuts and a “political land grab” to transfer grant power from scientists to political appointees in US funding agencies.So far, the metascience agenda hasn’t been seized on by radical right parties in Europe. But Wilsdon worries it will cross the Atlantic, politicising research reform efforts and making them more difficult to carry out. The report is already making some in Europe sceptical of the entire idea. “The system is not without flaws, but the metascience discussion is not likely to improve the system but rather to generate munition to undermine it,” said Claes de Vreese, a professor of AI and society at the University of Amsterdam. Peter Thiel protégéOfficially, Science: A New Golden Age has just one named author: Michael Kratsios, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and a former chief of staff to Silicon Valley mogul Peter Thiel. He also served as chief financial officer of Thiel’s Clarium Capital Management. Since the 1990s, Thiel has criticised US universities for moving away from teaching what he views as the classic works of western civilisation, and drifting towards “anti-Western zealotry.” And since 2011, he has offered two-year fellowships of $250,000 to young people to skip or drop out of university, and instead start companies or pursue scientific research. “College can be good for learning about what’s been done before, but it can also discourage you from doing something new,” according to the Thiel Fellowships website. In other areas, the Trump administration has promoted academics with a longstanding interest in metascience. For example, the head of the National Institutes of Health, Jay Bhattacharya, in 2020 co-authored a study arguing the funder backs overly conservative proposals, although he achieved wider prominence as a critic of pandemic lockdowns. Careless talk costs fundingEven before the Trump administration embraced the metascience agenda, some metascientists privately wondered whether they should be careful not to overstate dysfunctions in academia, in case this gets used as ammunition against universities. But others think being cautious with criticism is pointless. After all, last year, the Trump administration sought to cut funding from US universities on an entirely different premise: supposed antisemitism on campus. “I don't think these governments need a technical metascientific excuse to attack the universities, they will want to do so anyway,” said Will Stone, a researcher at Science Works, a new think tank advocating for a “metascience revolution” in the UK. “I think researchers should report what they find, even when the findings may be used to advance policies they disagree with,” echoed Russell Funk, a researcher at the University of Minnesota, who in 2023 co-authored a highly influential paper that argued scientific papers were becoming less disruptive over time. No justificationThat said, Funk thinks that metascientific research certainly doesn’t justify a weakening of universities. Instead, scientists need “time, resources and stability to pursue unfamiliar ideas,” he said. “Taking away those conditions works against the very goal the reforms are supposed to achieve.”The Institute for Progress, a Washington DC-based innovation policy think tank that has championed X-Labs and metascience units, also says that reforms should complement, not supplant, universities. “Unpredictable, unreliable, and reduced federal funding to researchers is destabilising to the very foundations of research and development and is bad,” said Jenn Gustetic, the institute’s director of metascience and R&D policy.Evolution or revolution?This points to a much bigger divide in the metascience community: how far and how fast should public R&D be shaken up? Does it need evolution or revolution? For example, Science: A New Golden Age says the science system relies too heavily on traditional “workhorse” project grants, the type that pay out around $250,000 a year to fund “hypothesis-driven science by small teams on tractable questions.” However, in criticising project grants, the report “decisively picks one side of a debate that is far from settled,” David Hilmer Rex, a metascientist based in Denmark, has written. In June, Pierre Azoulay, a metascientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, defended project grants, saying that the alternative of X-Labs “merits scepticism.”A-B testingOne challenge in metascience is that it’s easier to generate evidence for some types of change than others. Most straightforwardly, research funders can run A-B tests on different ways of awarding money. For example, Germany’s Volkswagen Foundation recently trialled distributed peer review, where applicants rate each other’s proposals, and measured its results against traditional review panels. Distributed peer review made quicker decisions, although awarded money to largely different ideas. However, much of the focus of the metascience movement has been on founding fast-moving and free-acting new research organisations and funders, in contrast to the alleged stodginess of mainstream academia or public innovation grants. A culture of speed and freedom are the animating principles behind Germany’s Sprind or the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria).Related articlesViewpoint: it's time to experiment with how Europe funds science European researchers sound the alarm that Trump rule changes will hit cooperationHowever, while it’s possible to closely study previously successful bodies, such as the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), for historical clues to their secret sauce, it’s impossible to guarantee in advance that the likes of Sprind or Aria will actually work as hoped. But advocates of new organisations say this inherent uncertainly shouldn’t stop us trying. “If we wait for definitive proof that something will work before we try it, I don't know where your proof is coming from,” said Stone. Trade-offsUp until now, experiments in metascience haven’t generally come with hard trade-offs over money. In the US, new ideas such as focused research organisations have often been funded by billionaire philanthropists. In Europe, new innovation agencies such as Sprind and Aria, or the Netherland’s new National Agency for Disruptive Innovation, haven’t needed explicit cuts elsewhere in the research system. But with the $1.5 billion establishment of X-Labs by the NSF, the trade-offs are becoming clearer. Some metascientists privately wonder whether a smaller pilot would have been more appropriate, given that the idea is untested. The Institute for Progress counters that the $1.5 billion X-Labs budget is spread out over a decade, so will account for less than 2% of the NSF’s annual budget. “It’s important to remember that [Darpa] was once an institutional experiment as well. Now it’s one of the most cited innovative funding models in the world,” said Gustetic.As for Europe?The US isn’t the only country placing metascience at the heart of its research strategy. Science: A New Golden Age looks admiringly at the UK, which in 2024 set up a Metascience Unit to scrutinise how it funds research. In Brussels, it’s more of a mixed picture. In 2018, the EU set up the European Innovation Council to funnel grants and equity to start-ups, although it’s sometimes criticised for awarding money too slowly. Recently, the council has started experimenting with challenges, where teams of inventors compete to overcome a technological challenge. The European Commission also wants to experiment with partially randomising grant winners, to cut down on bureaucracy. However, the Commission’s own advisers have said the EU’s own research schemes are too conventional. They want the Commission to establish a new dedicated unit to scrutinise and experiment with funding. But there’s no sign of a such unit emerging in Brussels’ plans for the next Horizon Europe programme, which from 2028 is set to distribute more than €160 billion over seven years. Sam Bogerd, director of breakthrough innovation at the Brussels-based Arq Foundation, an AI-focused think tank that also looks at metascience, says that Europe might have the opposite problem to the US: universities and basic research funding are still reasonably well supported, but there’s not enough experimentation. “We're not taking a close enough look at where this money can achieve the most, and I am worried that the good ideas around metascience will be tainted politically by their association with the Trump administration,” he said. He’s still lobbying for the Commission to set up an experimental unit. But in the meantime, the Arq Foundation plans to do its own research, and is currently hiring two metascience researchers to run the rule over how Brussels spends research funding.
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NASCAR legend Darrell Waltrip steps back from public life amid health concerns
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Is 50 the new 60?
Subscribe TL;DR: Younger generations are showing signs of worse health compared to earlier-born cohorts at the same age This backward “drift” is showing up both in mortality risk and chronic disease Worsening trends in obesity and diabetes are the most consistent signals Taking the long view, we’ve made astonishing gains in health and life expectancy in the last century. Global average life expectancy has more than doubled from 32 years in 1900 to 73 years in 2024. (But don’t forget, there were still old people when life expectancy was 32). As people lived longer, they also generally lived healthier along the way. It turns out that avoiding things that can kill you early, like malnutrition and lots of childhood infections, also keeps you healthier later in life. In a classic 2004 paper, Finch and Crimmins proposed that cohorts of children who benefited from fewer early life infections had less lifetime exposure to inflammation and cardiovascular disease later in life, accelerating mortality improvements at older ages. Poor nutrition in the womb has also been linked to a higher risk of later chronic disease. The upshot is that improvements in childhood health can pay dividends many decades later. The combination of better living conditions (nutrition, sanitation) and medical advances (antibiotics, vaccines, blood pressure meds, etc) meant that people’s healthy lifespan generally expanded, even as they lived longer. Aging researchers call this best-case scenario “compression of morbidity”—meaning we delay the onset of disease and disability even faster than the years of life we are adding. During my 20+ year research career, we could generally bank on the idea that younger generations would not only live longer but also keep getting healthier along the way. “60 is the new 50” as they say… Enter “Generational Health Drift” Sadly, this expectation of steady progress may be changing. You’ve probably heard that US life expectancy gains have slowed to a crawl in the past couple of decades. Mortality improvements are also slowing (though less dramatically) in many other high-income countries (you can read more about that in a review paper I wrote here). Mortality is a very blunt health measure, but it is often a good barometer for the broader population health trends happening underneath. And we are now seeing that younger generations may be in worse health at similar ages compared to earlier born cohorts. My collaborator Prof. George Ploubidis at University College London coined this worsening health in more recently born cohorts “generational health drift.” “Generational health drift” is bad news on multiple fronts. Most obviously, we don’t want our health progress to go backward. But the timing is also bad, since our populations are aging. In demographic terms, “population aging” means that the proportion of the population at older ages (i.e >65 years) is increasing. Fun demography fact: Current population aging is not due to the recent declines in the birth rates making the news, but declines in fertility decades ago, after the “baby boom.” As baby boomers reach older ages, the smaller cohorts behind them mean the percentage of older adults will increase. For example, the share of the population age 65 and older in the US increased from 12.4% in 2004 to 18.0% in 2024. This story of population aging was written long ago. Many worry that population aging will put pressure on health care and pension systems. But if people reach older ages in better health than in years past, those fiscal pressures would be less dire than projected. Healthy older people can also continue to contribute to society in many valuable ways, including paid work, caregiving, community service….even high political office 🤷. On the flip side, if younger generations reach retirement age in worse health and with more disabling conditions, this could magnify the societal challenge of population aging. Evidence for worsening generational health A recent paper that I LOVED in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Dr. Leah Abrams and colleagues examined which birth cohorts (aka generations) were behind worsening US mortality. Behold the Lexis diagram (cue swooning demographers). Calendar time is on the x-axis, age on the y-axis. Birth cohorts can be followed over time as they age on the diagonal lines moving up and to the right. This figure plots the year-on-year % change in all-cause mortality at a given age. Green shading indicates mortality improvements over time, white is stagnation, and gray shading indicates worsening mortality. Following the diagonal line for those born in 1950, you can see a noticeable shift from green to gray that follows this cohort for most of their lives. This gray shading shows generally worsening mortality for the 1950 to 1959 birth cohorts compared to their predecessors across all ages. Concerningly for my GenX and elder millennial peeps, there was also a deterioration in mortality for birth cohorts born in the 1970s and 1980s, visible as dark gray areas at ages 30 to 45 during the 2010s. While some of these mortality changes reflect specific shocks such as the opioid epidemic, most deaths still occur from major causes of death such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. For cancer, the gray in the top left corner of the figure below reflects the legacies of smoking for older cohorts, followed by a period of green with improvements in cancer mortality as smoking rates declined. But the white/gray shading in the bottom right corner highlights a stagnation and reversal of the cancer trends, with cohorts born around 1970 to 1985 experiencing worsening cancer mortality. This deterioration was most noticeable for colon cancer mortality, possibly linked to obesity or dietary factors. Not just dying more, but less healthy along the way. A recent paper by Dr. Laura Gimeno of University College London (of which I am a co-author), found evidence that more recently born cohorts in Great Britain have stagnating or worsening health. A stylized picture of what“generational health drift” might look like: The review paper found: Rates of childhood overweight and obesity were highest among Gen Z. Rates of diabetes in the 40s almost doubled from 3.1% among the Baby Boomers to 5.9% in Generation X. Gen Z reported higher rates of poor mental health in adolescence compared to earlier-born groups. These UK results are consistent with studies showing worsening health across generations in the US as well. A 2021 US study found that more recently born cohorts had worse biological markers (like blood pressure and blood sugar) than earlier generations at the same age. A separate 2022 study of Americans aged 50 and over found that more recently born generations had a higher number of chronic diseases, with younger age of disease onset. A 2024 Lancet paper found that in the US, women born in 1945 had 33% obesity prevalence at age 50, rising to 48.2% for women born in 1970 turning 50. So what’s going on, and can we turn it around? We don’t have a definitive answer for what’s causing the deteriorating health of younger cohorts, but circumstantial evidence points to worsening trends in obesity and diabetes in both the US and UK. Remember that cohort trends reflect lagged effects of early environments, and younger generations have faced both earlier onset and more severe obesity across their lifetimes. Despite these very concerning trends, the future is not set in stone. We’ve reversed poor generational health trends before: drops in smoking are a major reason cancer and heart disease deaths fell so dramatically in recent decades. GLP-1 drugs may finally turn the tide against rising rates of obesity and diabetes, though it is still early days. But things could also get worse…for example from a return to higher levels of childhood infectious diseases that can have a lasting impact on health. See for example: [ ](https://jenndowd.substack.com/p/dont-you-forget-about-measles-the) [ Don’t You Forget About Me(asles): The Virus That Erases Immune Memory ](https://jenndowd.substack.com/p/dont-you-forget-about-measles-the) Jenn Dowd, PhD · March 24, 2025 [ Read full story ](https://jenndowd.substack.com/p/dont-you-forget-about-measles-the) Even as an optimist, emerging data on the “generational health drift” has my full attention. For most of my research career, we took it for granted that each generation would be healthier than the last. But if present trends continue, **50 could be the new 60….**and Gen Z celebrities will soon look older than Paul Rudd :). Stay well, Jenn Share the Health! If you found this post useful, please share it with a friend. Share
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