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Survey Shows Widespread Use of Apps and Chatbots for Mental Health Support
A survey by the Bipartisan Policy Center highlights growing use of digital and AI-powered tools for mental health, with strong adoption among younger adults and key access gaps in rural communities.
Column: Trump's cries of cheating on mail-in ballots defy logic
President Trump and MAGA Republicans are hallucinating or outright lying about widespread election fraud.
Here are three ways we can turn anti-Trump solidarity into political power
The No Kings protests affirmed widespread opposition to Trump’s actions. As the midterms approach, we have an opportunity
LeAnn Rimes’ emotional reaction to jaw release therapy sparks widespread buzz
Singer LeAnn Rimes goes viral for her emotional jaw release therapy session. Experts explain how stress and muscle tension impact health and TMJ symptoms.
Relationship with Trump may be beyond repair, Keir Starmer told
PM gets widespread backing after president’s mocking impersonation takes US-UK relationship to new low
Five ways future health care leaders can tackle burnout in the workforce
The fight against widespread burnout in the health care workforce should begin with the training of future health care administrators, according to a new paper from the George Mason University College ...
DDR5 Memory Prices Just Took a Noticeable Dive for the First Time in Months, and Google’s TurboQuant Might Be Behind It
DDR5 memory prices have been rising for several months now, but according to our tracking, there has been a widespread drop this week.
Pearl Abyss boss admits the studio "could have done a better job" with Crimson Desert's totally underwhelming story
Pearl Abyss' CEO has addressed widespread disappointment with Crimson Desert's story.
LGBT People Experience Widespread Concerns and Challenges When it Comes to Health Care Affordability
This analysis highlights the health care affordability challenges facing LGBT adults, a growing population that faces health related disparities. Findings from KFF Health Tracking Polls show that LGBT adults face more widespread concerns with affording basic necessities, including health care, compared to non-LGBT adults.
Concern over Health Care Affordability Is Widespread
A majority of Californians are pessimistic about their future health care costs. These worries are fueling broad opposition to federal health care rollbacks.
Glyphosate: A story of science, risk, and nuance
In the summer of 2014, a California groundskeeper named Dewayne Johnson started noticing patches of raw, weeping skin spreading across his body. He had spent years applying Roundup, Monsanto’s glyphosate-based herbicide, for a school district, sometimes drenched in it when equipment malfunctioned. By 2014, he had a diagnosis: non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In 2018, a jury awarded him $289 million in damages, later reduced on appeal. Tens of thousands of lawsuits followed. The story hasn’t quieted down. It’s all over the internet, swinging between “this will kill you, buy organic” and “relax, you’re fear-mongering.” Some of that recent chatter stems from an Executive Order protecting glyphosate and its production, which set off intense infighting within the MAHA movement. Some of it reflects a deeper truth: Americans genuinely care about harmful chemicals in their environment (see poll below). And the conversation isn’t going anywhere, with a Supreme Court case involving Monsanto set for this April. Glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) is one of the most widely used herbicides in the world. But does glyphosate cause cancer? And how much exposure is actually risky? With so much mistrust in institutions and corporations (and some genuine conflicts of interest), making sense of the actual scientific evidence is genuinely hard. Here is a translation of what the scientific evidence actually says. Does glyphosate cause harm? Glyphosate is an herbicide that kills most plants it contacts rather than targeting specific species. It works by blocking an enzyme pathway (EPSPS) that plants and many microorganisms need to produce essential amino acids. Without those amino acids, the plant can’t grow and dies. Glyphosate was first developed by Monsanto in the 1970s and became ubiquitous after the company introduced “Roundup Ready” crops in the 1990s. In 2024, Bayer removed glyphosate from residential Roundup-branded products due to litigation pressure. But today it is still the most widely used herbicide in the world. Farmers also discovered they could spray it directly on crops like oats, lentils, beans, and peas just before harvest to dry them out faster and make harvesting easier. Because of its widespread use, it’s obviously really important to understand if it’s harmful to humans. The key principle: The dose makes the poison The most important concept in toxicology is that “the dose makes the poison.” Sixteenth-century physician Paracelsus articulated what remains the foundational principle of toxicology: sola dosis facit venenum. Water will kill you if you drink enough of it. Aspirin saves lives at 81 milligrams and causes internal bleeding at higher chronic doses. So, at what dose is glyphosate poisonous? The LD50 in rats (the dose that kills half the test animals) is around 5,600 mg/kg body weight. Table salt is roughly 3,000 mg/kg. By that classic measure, glyphosate is less acutely toxic than salt. But some people are exposed to a lot of glyphosate through their work. And among the general public, there are many questions about low-dose, cumulative exposure from multiple sources over long periods. Does glyphosate cause health problems? Cancer Correlation maps are striking, with one analysis finding that 60% of counties that spray the most glyphosate have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma rates above the national average. But correlation alone doesn’t establish cause, which is why animal and human studies matter. In animals: Rat studies are typically what most fear is rooted in, but most people don’t know the study details on the dosage given to rats. A pooled analysis of the 13 most rigorous rat studies found evidence that very high doses, around 55,000 times greater than typical food residue exposure, can cause certain cancers. In humans: One of the strongest studies followed 55,000 herbicide users over 20 years and found no overall increased cancer risk. There was one signal: among those with the highest use, rates of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) appeared elevated. A broader meta-analysis of 18 human studies also found no overall cancer risk, though a separate meta-analysis focused specifically on non-Hodgkin lymphoma found that people with high cumulative glyphosate exposure faced a 41% higher relative risk compared to those with low or no exposure. These human studies are observational studies (randomized controlled trials would be unethical), and meta-analyses are only as reliable as the studies they pool. But the story seems consistent: at very high exposure levels, there may be some cancer risk. But that’s about as far as the science currently takes us. Emerging research: gut and reproductive health Gut: Because glyphosate targets a pathway that exists in some gut bacteria, scientists have questioned whether it could affect the microbiome. In mice, a 2023 University of Iowa study found that glyphosate altered gut bacterial composition and raised markers of intestinal inflammation. A 2024 systematic review found similar patterns: disrupted gut bacteria and problems with the mucus layer that protects the intestinal wall in mice. Whether this translates to humans is an open question. The human gut is highly variable and resistant, and we don't yet have strong studies confirming the same effects in people. Reproductive health: Animal studies have found that glyphosate-based herbicides can interfere with reproductive hormones, including disrupting egg cell development in mice and reducing the number of eggs available in sheep’s ovaries. However, the doses used in these experiments were high, so it’s not yet clear whether the same effects would occur in humans. On the human side, a 2021 pilot study led by Mount Sinai researchers tested urine samples from pregnant women across the U.S. and found glyphosate in 95% of them. The study also found a possible connection between higher glyphosate exposure during pregnancy and a subtle physical difference measured in female newborns. That said, some connections weren’t statistically reliable and this was a small study. The researchers themselves said more and larger studies are needed before drawing firm conclusions. What do regulators say about glyphosate safety? In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization, classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans" (Group 2A). The classification is worth taking seriously. But, there’s an important distinction: IARC classifies hazard, meaning the potential to cause harm under some conditions. It does not assess risk, which accounts for actual exposure levels and the real-world probability of harm. The U.S. EPA, the European Food Safety Authority, Health Canada, and regulatory agencies in Australia and Japan have all concluded that glyphosate is “unlikely to be carcinogenic to humans” at realistic exposure levels. They’re asking a different question: given how much of this people actually encounter, what is the probability of harm? Your actual exposure is what determines your actual risk. What does glyphosate mean for your daily life? At the grocery store: Food residues are small. The EPA’s acceptable daily intake is 1.75 mg/kg of body weight per day. To hit that threshold from oatmeal alone, a 150-pound adult would need to eat roughly 50 pounds of oats every day. But this calculation addresses only one pathway (food), and we don’t yet have robust tools to measure people’s actual total exposure. If reducing exposure matters to you, organic certification prohibits synthetic herbicides, and organic oat products generally test at lower or undetectable levels. Either way, a diet rich in whole grains, conventional or organic, is far better for your health than one that omits them out of fear of residues. On the farm: Occupational exposure is orders of magnitude higher than consumer exposure. Farmers and farm workers who mix, load, and apply glyphosate-based herbicides, especially without protective equipment, face meaningfully different risk profiles. Proper PPE isn’t optional. Integrated weed management strategies that rotate chemical modes of action are also worth taking seriously, both for health and for long-term effectiveness. If you live near a farm: Spray drift is real. Concentrations near field edges can spike during and after application, particularly on windy days. This is an area where I think public health could really step up and empower rural communities with buffer zones, rather than placing the onus on individuals. But for now, knowing your local agricultural calendar and keeping windows closed during application are the first steps. Bottom line Dewayne Johnson was exposed to glyphosate at levels most people will never encounter, and a jury decided he deserved compensation. That outcome is not evidence that the oatmeal in your pantry is dangerous. But it is a reminder that the dose, the context, and the person doing the exposing all matter enormously. Glyphosate is a chemical tool with benefits, trade-offs, and genuine open scientific questions. Learning to hold that complexity without collapsing into panic or dismissal is, honestly, one of the most useful and hardest things to do in navigating modern health science. Love, YLE Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) is founded and operated by Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, MPH PhD—an epidemiologist, wife, and mom of two little girls. Hannah Totte, MPH, is an epidemiologist and YLE Community Manager. YLE reaches more than 425,000 people in over 132 countries with one goal: “Translate” the ever-evolving public health science so that people will be well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below: Subscribe
Trump, Who Calls Mail-in Voting ‘Cheating,’ Just Voted by Mail
President Trump has long fixated on mail-in-voting to bolster his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. But he recently used the method in a Florida special election.
In Maine’s marquee Senate primary, Janet Mills reaches out to women by raising Graham Platner’s online past
Janet Mills and her allies are counting on a gender gap to narrow Platner’s wide lead ahead of the June 9 primary to decide who will face incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins. They are betting that the unfiltered style that has brought Platner widespread attention as someone who could help Democrats reach young men will backfire with women.
Sony PlayStation Network down: PS5 users report widespread server issues; 'please fix it'
Sony PlayStation Network appeared to be down for thousands on Saturday as many flocked to social media to voice their complaints. | World News
How the NCAA tries to ensure game integrity amid a sports betting boom and the latest point-shaving scandal
Two months before Selection Sunday, a widespread college basketball game-fixing scandal was revealed. How can the NCAA stop it from happening again?
Black-Owned Business Carter’s Cheesesteaks By Garci Makes Historic Debut In Philadelphia’s Chinatown Area
The first Black-owned business in Philadelphia’s Chinatown is drawing widespread attention after opening its doors.
Survey: Most Massachusetts residents unaware of cannabis mental health risks
A state survey of more than 11,000 Massachusetts residents found widespread misunderstanding about the mental health risks tied to regular marijuana use, including links to psychosis and schizophrenia.
Asteroid Reveals The 5 Key Genetic Ingredients For Life on Earth
Could they be widespread in the Solar System after all?
Large-scale neuroimaging datasets often lack information specific to women’s health, constraining AI’s analysis potential
Addressing this gap will require collecting widespread data on pregnancy, menopause and other life events women experience—and could bring us closer to the “holy grail” of linking brain and behavior.
Widespread School, Government Office, Business Closures Monday
Widespread closures have been announced across northern Michigan Monday amid a winter storm that has hammered the state, producing significant icing across the region. Strong predicted winds and a continued winter storm warning through Monday could exacerbate impacts to infrastructure, especially for areas with icing on trees and power lines. Multiple schools in the Grand …
Contributor: Federal power grabs on elections are not about fraud
Trump has called the SAVE Act his top priority. But why? His commission found no widespread problem that needed solving.
Trump administration live updates: Poll finds widespread distrust of economic and political systems
Get live updates and the latest news as an NBC News poll finds widespread political and economic distrust, the U.S. launches tariff probes, and Trump seeks passage of the SAVE America Act.
Beyond The Burn Zone: Maui Wildfires Cause Widespread Mental Health Issues
New research shows housing displacement and income loss were central drivers of psychological harm.
Braving conflict to protect children from polio in Gaza: women at the frontline of the response
In July 2024, amid ongoing conflict and widespread displacement in the Gaza Strip, variant poliovirus – with links to poliovirus found in Egypt – was detected in wastewater in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah for the...
Health agency in Three Rivers relocates services after tornadoes
The Branch-Hillsdale St. Joseph Community Health Agency in Three Rivers is relocating some of its services after Friday’s tornadoes caused widespread damage through the area.
Live cattle futures up ahead of widespread direct business
At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, live cattle were up waiting on direct business, feeders were down on profit taking. April live cattle closed $.17 higher at $238.52 and June live cattle closed $.10 higher at $235.27. April feeder cattle closed $1.75 lower at $359 and May feeder cattle closed $1.47 lower at $355.52. Direct cash […]
Cuba hit by widespread blackout; Ecuador expels Havana’s ambassador, staff
Cuba's Ambassador to Ecuador Basilio Gutierrez and his diplomatic staff were given 48 hours to leave Quito.
Gulf businesses reel as Iran strikes trigger regional shutdowns
DUBAI >> Iran’s retaliatory strikes across the Gulf have triggered the most widespread business disruption in the region since the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing airport closures, halting port operations and sending shockwaves through financial markets.
Gulf businesses reel as Iran strikes trigger regional shutdowns
Iran's retaliatory strikes across the Gulf have triggered the most widespread business disruption in the region since the pandemic, forcing airport closures, halting port operations and sending shockwaves through financial markets.
Former EPA Staff Detail Expanding Pollution Risks Under Trump
The Trump administration’s relentless rollback of public health and environmental protections has allowed widespread toxic exposures to flourish, warn experts who helped implement safeguards now under assault.
Widespread boil water advisory prompts businesses to close
City leaders say it was caused by a water main break
Pessimism Widespread Among Local Businesses
The latest BOSS Survey reveals widespread pessimism about Hawaii's economy, with 51% of business leaders expecting conditions to worsen in 2026. Though tourism companies remain notably more optimistic than other sectors.
Snowball Earth might have had a dynamic climate and open seas
Sediments from Scotland hint that ocean-atmosphere interactions continued more than 600 million years ago despite widespread ice.
Whoops, Scientists May Have Severely Miscalculated the Number of Species on Earth
A new study focused on cryptic species—animals that look the same but are genetically different—found that they’re more widespread among vertebrates than we previously thought.
National Institutes of Health facing widespread vacancies in director roles
More than a dozen key director positions at the National Institutes of Health are unfilled. All but two of these vacancies opened after President Trump took office last year. NBC News' Aria Bendix explains how this leadership vacuum could impact public health.
Check your measles vaccine status amid surge, health providers say
Two shots of the MMR give widespread protection against measles.
America can avoid a public health crisis by saving this one alert system
U.S. policymakers use a secret weapon to uncover widespread threats to public health. This tool enabled them to discover that Americans had high blood lead levels from leaded gasoline. It warned th…
Windows 11 KB5077181 Security Update Causing Some Devices to Restart in an Infinite Loop
Microsoft's February 10, 2026, security update KB5077181 for Windows 11 versions 24H2 (build 26200.7840) and 25H2 (build 26100.7840) has triggered widespread reports of critical boot failures just days after deployment.
U.S. Health Officials Defend Rejection of Moderna’s Flu Vaccine
The F.D.A.’s refusal to examine the company’s mRNA shot drew widespread criticism from doctors and was divisive within the agency.
House Republicans call for investigation into Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show over 'widespread twerking, grinding, pelvic thrusts'
Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show upset some House Republicans, who called for an investigation over its 'widespread twerking, grinding, pelvic thrusts.'
Twin Cities small business owners call for state relief amid ICE surge: "Stop talking and start doing"
Whether it's a Venezuelan restaurant on the West Side of St. Paul, Minnesota, or a bakery on Lake Street in Minneapolis, there's widespread economic pain for Latino-owned businesses.
'Rules are rules' - pundits on VAR mayhem
Former England captain Wayne Rooney says he understood the late VAR call in Manchester City's chaotic win at Liverpool on Sunday. There was widespread confusion in the stadium and endless debate on social media following the decision to chalk off a Rayan Cherki goal and issue a red card to Liverpool's Dominik Szobozslai. Former City goalkeeper Joe Hart agreed with Rooney, stating "rules are rules" after the officials applied the letter of the law to the action.
Minneapolis businesses losing millions in sales each week as ICE operation continues
Immigrant-owned businesses are bearing the brunt of the losses from Operation Metro Surge, but effects are widespread.
Baltimore City Health Department held racially segregated equity meetings: report
Baltimore health department reportedly separated employees by race for DEI training using taxpayer funds, sparking widespread controversy.
Former Farming Leaders Warn U.S. Agriculture Could Face ‘Widespread Collapse’
A group of past government officials and the former heads of farming associations issued a dire warning to members of Congress.
Euro zone banks tightening access to business credit, ECB survey shows
Euro zone banks tightened access to corporate credit last quarter and expect to see further tightening ahead due to widespread economic uncertainty, partly related to trade policies, the European Central Bank's quarterly Bank Lending Survey showed on Tuesday.
Trump says federal government should 'take over' state elections
Trump repeated without evidence his long-running claim that U.S. elections are beset by widespread fraud.
Three months after Hurricane Melissa: PAHO continues supporting health system recovery across the Caribbean
Washington, DC, 28 January 2026 (PAHO)- Ninety days after Hurricane Melissa swept across parts of the Caribbean, countries are transitioning from emergency response toward recovery—while continuing to confront public health risks linked to damaged infrastructure, disrupted services, and heightened vulnerability to disease. The Category 5 storm made landfall first in Jamaica on 28 October 2025, causing widespread damage in several Caribbean nations, mainly across Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti, and placing sustained pressure on national health systems.
How widespread sports betting affects NFL players: ‘People have said they’d kill me’
We asked NFL players about their interactions with sports bettors and fantasy players — and whether they participate themselves.
Melania Trump calls for unity after Minneapolis shootings in rare interview
First lady Melania Trump on Tuesday called on Americans to unify in the wake of the fatal shootings of two US citizens by federal law enforcement and widespread protests in Minneapolis this month.
Trump's war on immigration entangles business in PR disaster and the literal site of contested arrests
In Minneapolis, hotels, restaurants and other businesses have temporarily closed their doors or stopped accepting reservations amid widespread protests.
European Business Leader Optimism Dips
The second edition of Boston Consulting Group'sEuropean Competitiveness Barometer, released today, signals widespread concern across the private sector, with 93% of executives warning of potential dire consequences for Europe's competitiveness, innovation, and job retention.
US airlines issue travel waivers, announce cancellations ahead of widespread winter storm
A winter storm threatened thousands of flights heading into the weekend across two dozen states, as airlines issue travel waivers for customers impacted by the snow.
'Is Microsoft Down?' Outlook and Teams Go Dark in Widespread Outage
It's not just you: Numerous Microsoft services weren't working most of Thursday, and the outage is continuing.
Massive Microsoft 365 outage affects Outlook, Defender, more
Microsoft is investigating a widespread outage affecting several Business and Enterprise Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook.
Life’s chemistry may begin in the cold darkness of space
New experiments reveal that protein precursors can form naturally in deep space under extreme cold and radiation. Scientists found that simple amino acids bond into peptides on interstellar dust, long before stars and planets exist. This challenges the idea that complex life chemistry only happens on planets. It also boosts the odds that life-friendly ingredients are widespread across the universe.
Memory loss does not progress the way scientists once thought
New research reveals memory loss with age follows a curved pattern, linked to widespread brain shrinkage rather than a single gene.
Cattle futures higher waiting on widespread direct business
At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, live and feeder cattle were up waiting for the rest of the week’s business to develop. February live cattle closed $.90 higher at $236.05 and April live cattle closed $1.10 higher at $238.42. March feeder cattle closed $4.85 higher at $364.55 and April feeder cattle closed $4.75 higher at $362.92. […]
FBI Search Journalist's Home, U.S. Greenland Talks, Mental Health Funding : Up First from NPR
The FBI searches the home of a Washington Post reporter as part of a leak investigation, raising concerns among press advocates about an escalation against press freedom.U.S. talks with Denmark and Greenland end without a deal on Greenland’s future, but a new working group forms as allies push back on President Trump’s security-driven claims.And after widespread confusion and backlash, the Trump administration reverses course and restores roughly $2 billion in funding for mental health and addiction programs nationwide.Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Emily Kopp, Rebekah Metzler, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.It was produced by Kaity Kline, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Our deputy Executive Producer is Kelley Dickens.
The ‘bombshell’ science that casts doubt on claims about microplastics
Like tobacco and asbestos before, these particles have sparked widespread fear. But now experts say the risks may be overstated
Massive brain study reveals why memory loss can suddenly speed up with age
A massive international brain study has revealed that memory decline with age isn’t driven by a single brain region or gene, but by widespread structural changes across the brain that build up over time. Analyzing thousands of MRI scans and memory tests from healthy adults, researchers found that memory loss accelerates as brain tissue shrinkage increases, especially later in life. While the hippocampus plays a key role, many other brain regions also contribute, forming a broad vulnerability rather than isolated damage.
Open inquiries probe potential involvement at the ‘highest levels of Minnesota politics’: Manhattan Institute senior fellow
Manhattan Institute senior fellow Chris Rufo discusses the ongoing investigation into the alleged Minnesota fraud scandal and how widespread the issue may be on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime.’
Trump says any country doing business with Iran will face 25 percent tariff
The US president has threatened Iran with military strikes amid widespread antigovernment protests there.
PAID POST: 2025 Marked Real Mental Health Progress in Connecticut. But Access Gaps Are Still Widening.
After a landmark year for Connecticut mental health reform, families still report widespread insurance and access barriers. New data highlights the urgent need for parity enforcement and stronger networks.
Trump Is Briefed on Options for Striking Iran as Protests Continue
The president has said he will be “hitting them very hard” if Iranian leaders kill protesters amid widespread demonstrations calling for wholesale changes in the country.
Trump administration ‘using ICE as a political football’: Former chief
Former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting Director John Sandweg on Friday said the Trump administration is “using ICE a political football” amid its widespread crackdown o…
Trump officials see fraud everywhere. Here’s what we know
A 42-minute video from a conservative content creator in Minnesota has provided the Trump administration with yet another opportunity to argue that federal safety net programs are plagued by widespread fraud.
The problem with blaming everything on inflammation
What your favorite TikTok influencer gets right — and wrong — about this widespread concern.
Trump’s controversial ballroom could actually solve a decades-long problem— and takes first formal steps for construction
President Donald Trump’s sprawling new East Wing ballroom project has attracted widespread controversy — but promises to solve a problem identified by first families and their social secretaries on both sides of the aisle for decades.
Household burning of plastic waste in developing world is hidden health threat, study shows
The practice is ‘much more widespread’ than previously realised, researchers say, with serious environmental impact
The US has tried to acquire Greenland before – and failed
On the heels of the US capture of Venezuelan leader Nícolas Maduro, President Donald Trump has ramped up his rhetoric around his desire to acquire Greenland, once again raising the prospect of military intervention, sparking fears across Europe and widespread condemnation.
Calendar Pick: Workhorses of the Entertainment/Recreational Industry
Composed of veteran musicians Rob Keller (The Welfare Liners), Ben Reynolds (Chickasaw Mudd Puppies), Domingo “Sunny” Ortiz (Widespread Panic) and William Tonks (MrJordanMrTonks), Workhorses of the Entertainment/Recreational Industry is an Athens-based band inspired by the sounds of acoustic rock, traditional folk, country and blues. As of late, the band has played several shows and is working on its album. In a bill presented by local promoter Aubrey Entertainment, the quartet will be performing alongside Scott Low & the Blue Bouillon. Seen sharing stages with artists like Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton and Shovels & Rope, Low is a folk musician whose sound has been compared to Americana acts like Jamey Johnson and Ryan Bingham, but the influence of artists like Tom […]
Audit of Minnesota DHS grant programs finds "widespread failures in oversight"
Audit finds widespread problems in DHS oversight of behavioral health grants
It comes as Minnesota is under scrutiny for fraud in social services programs.
Trump freezes child care funding for Colorado, 3 other states
Colorado was swept up in a $10 billion federal child care funding freeze announced on Monday by the Trump administration, a move state officials said they learned about through media reports. The Trump administration said it would freeze child care funding for four states, including Colorado, citing reports of widespread fraud at child care centers […]
Damage at Venezuelan military sites after US strikes: satellite images
New imagery obtained by Business Insider shows widespread damage at a military complex in the southern part of Caracas.
"Microslop" trends — backlash to Microsoft's on-going AI obsession continues
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella penned an AI-heavy blog post to close out 2025, leading to widespread mockery and a brand new moniker for the big M.
Alger County snowmobile stops say business was ‘slow’ in December
Grand Marais Tavern owner Jessica Flynn thinks a more widespread snow across the region led to a slower December.
Sony faces an unfixable PS5 vulnerability as BootROM keys are dumped and shared publicly
A leaked set of PlayStation 5 BootROM keys, published online at the end of 2025, has exposed core hardware-level security secrets that researchers say Sony cannot simply patch on existing consoles. While the breach does not enable an immediate jailbreak, experts warn it significantly lowers the bar for future exploits, potentially paving the way for permanent hacks, homebrew software, and widespread piracy risks.
Cattle futures end final session of year higher ahead of direct business
Chicago Mercantile Exchange live and feeder cattle closed higher ahead of the start of widespread direct cash business. February live was up $1.12 at $231.60 and April was $1.22 higher at $232.20. January feeders were $.70 higher at $350.25 and March was up $.75 at $345.32. Direct cattle markets were quiet. Asking prices were $232 […]
What’s new, what’s not: Parsing the rhetoric around the Minnesota child care fraud firestorm
A conservative influencer’s viral video alleging widespread fraud at taxpayer-funded child care centers in Minnesota’s Somali community kicked off a political firestorm that was years in the making.
Iran: Economic crisis, political discontent threaten regime
Protests triggered by soaring inflation and a collapsing currency have highlighted widespread political discontent. Will Iran's deep economic woes lead to regime change?
Sudan civil war: Health system ‘on the verge of collapse’
The war in Sudan has been tearing the country apart for almost 1,000 days, putting the country’s health system under intolerable pressure. The World Health Organization (WHO) is reporting widespread disease outbreaks, severe shortages, malnutrition and rising deaths.
Gig work is evolving fast. See how drivers and delivery workers are trying to stay afloat.
Gig work for Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and others has become widespread — and tricky to do profitably, gig workers have said.
More House Republicans are leaving Congress to run for governor than in decades amid frustration over ‘toxic environment’
Congressional Republicans have yet to break the record for most retirements in a single year, but some say it’s only a matter of time before widespread frustration with the current state of Washington leads to a tipping point as many in the party head for the exits.
Public health emergency declared for Washington flooding
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared a public health emergency for Washington after widespread flooding.
The disunity of science is a feature, not a bug
Mathematical models wield miraculous power, but mistaking them for reality has trapped science in a destructive quest for a “Theory of Everything.” Physicist and philosopher Ragner Fjelland argues that this leads to bloated, Frankenstein theories kept alive by clumsy, ad-hoc amendments, which reduce rather than boost science’s power. Fjelland calls for a radical shift in our attitude: we must reorientate towards creating entirely new theories, celebrating rather than lamenting disunity and diversity in science. Science, from the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century to the present day, has more or less developed in a “reductionist” way. The fundamental assumption is that all sciences may be ordered in a hierarchy that can be represented as an upside-down pyramid. At the top we find the human sciences, and at the bottom physics. Strong (or “ontological”) reductionism maintains that all theories at one level can be completely reduced to the lower level, all the way down to theories of atoms and elementary particles, or whatever is “at the bottom.” In the end, all diversity in the world can be unified in one fundamental theory. Hence it is called a final theory, or a Theory of Everything.One of the central figures in developing the idea of a Theory of Everything is the Dutch theoretical physicist Gerard 't Hooft, who received a Nobel Prize in physics in 1999 for his work. He emphasizes the non-empirical status of the theory:There exists no closely resembling alternative theory. This means that any slight change brought about in the rules would make the theory unlikely or inelegant. The theory will be a "package deal": take it, or leave it. This should hold both for the local laws and for the boundary conditions.This endeavor is not new. On the contrary, it goes all the way back to the birth of Western philosophy 2,500 years ago. The Babylonians made regular astronomical observations during a period of 600 years, from 747 BCE until 150 ACE. They developed mathematical techniques to predict astronomical phenomena, but they made no attempts at explaining them. However, the Greeks developed models, both material and theoretical, to explain the observed phenomena.The best example is Plato’s late dialogue Timaeus. Here he introduces a divine craftsman, the Demiurge, who has constructed the universe according to an original plan. Plato seems to have thought that the original plan is what is actually real, while the material world is merely an imperfect realization of it. He therefore does not, in the Timaeus, reconstruct the material universe, but the original plan, which can then be used to explain the material universe.Plato’s aim in producing a theoretical model is to reconstruct the original plan. That is what he carries out in Timaeus—and some modern physicists have embarked on the same project. For example, Einstein’s basic attitude is reflected in the title of Abraham Pais’ biography: “Subtle is the Lord...,” echoing Einstein’s comment, “Subtle is the Lord, but malicious He is not.” In an interview Einstein compared our situation to a child who enters a huge library. The child knows that someone has written the books, but he does not know the languages in which they are written. He suspects that there is a mysterious order, but he does not know what it is.___“We have all been working in what Husserl called the Galilean style; that is, we have all been making abstract mathematical models of the universe to which at least the physicists give a higher degree of reality than they accord the ordinary world of sensation.”Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize in Physics (1979)___This Platonist view is contrary to a widespread impression of science, symbolized by the picture of the “father” of modern science, Galileo Galilei, with his telescope. According to this impression, Galileo liberated himself from the dominating metaphysics of his day—basically Aristotelian philosophy—and constructed a telescope that he directed towards the sky, showing that Jupiter has four moons. He also performed experiments with bronze balls rolling down inclined planes and found the law of freely falling bodies.However, in other cases Galileo emphasized the unreliability of our senses. It is easy to see why. He defended Copernicus’ heliocentric hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, we are not at rest at the center of the universe, but moving at a tremendous speed through space. Why don’t we observe this motion? Galileo praises Copernicus because “with reason as his guide he resolutely continued to affirm what sensible experience seemed to contradict.” In other places he directly refers to Plato. SUGGESTED VIEWING The quest for a final theory With Michio Kaku Galileo’s Platonism goes back to his early writings. In The Assayer, published as early as 1623, Galileo compared the universe to a grand book that is written in the language of mathematics, and “its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it.” Therefore, things that cannot be described by mathematics—for example, colors, smells and odors—are not real. They are merely subjective.This division into subjective and objective, advocated by Galileo and his younger contemporary René Descartes, is normally associated with a mechanistic world view, which is regarded as the opposite of Platonism. When we reduce something to, for example, molecules and atoms, we move “downwards.” In contrast, the Platonist moves “upwards,” to abstract entities. However, it only shows that when we address fundamental questions, we should be careful in applying everyday spatial metaphors like “up” and “down.”___Nature is complex, and we cannot in general construct mathematical models that adequately describe the world.___The endeavor of finding a Theory of Everything has been heavily criticized. In 2006, the theoretical physicist Lee Smolin published “The Crisis in Fundamental Physics.” He argued that one of the most fundamental principles of science is that we should only regard theories as scientific if we have the possibility to show that they are false by experiments. Although he did not refer to Karl Popper, other critics have referred to Popper and argued that a theory is not scientific if it cannot be falsified (see for example Ellis & Silk 2014).These were not the first physicists to be anti-reductionists. In 1972, the journal Science published an article by the physicist Philip Anderson with the title “More Is Different.” This is the kind of article a scientist would normally write only after he has won a Nobel Prize. However, Anderson won the Nobel Prize for physics five years later, in 1977. The article is amazing, not primarily because it argues in favor of anti-reductionism in general, but because it argues for anti-reductionism within physics itself. Anderson’s conclusion was:At each stage entirely new laws, concepts, and generalizations are necessary, requiring inspiration and creativity to just as great a degree as in the previous one. Psychology is not applied biology, nor is biology applied chemistry.We may say that Plato started the “unity of science movement,” based on Euclidean geometry as the model of all knowledge. A distinguishing mark of geometry is that all possible constructions can be reduced to a few fundamental principles. We have to acknowledge that this approach has limitations. In general, we can easily model technological systems. In addition, we may construct simplified and idealized models that capture important aspects of systems, from various perspectives and for various purposes. But nature is complex, and we cannot in general construct mathematical models that adequately describe the world. In a complex system, each level has its distinct, emergent, properties that are characteristic of this level. Therefore, a complex system should be investigated at different levels and from different perspectives. Instead of exclusively pursuing a scientific ideal based on the unity of science, we should acknowledge the diversity—or even the disunity—of science.
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