SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " hib " 1,078 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
ENTERTAINMENT: Watercolor exhibition opens at LR Visitor Center; Festival Ballet sets season
Watercolors by Laura Remmel Powers go on display with a 6-7:30 p.m. reception Tuesday at the Little Rock Visitor Information Center.
Gamescom Says Exhibitors Have To Protect Against Theft
Gamescom's official statement noted that while they treat the theft 'very seriously and understand the frustration of affected exhibitors,' there's also options to pay extra for 'individual stand security'
Father and son from Florida showcase stunt entertainment at Nebraska State Fair
GRAND ISLAND - There's something for everyone at the Nebraska State Fair, ranging from agricultural exhibits, ...
New dean: GCU's College of Natural Sciences 'rethinking science education'
Dr. Jon Valla, after leaving his hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota, planned to become a psychologist, until an internship made him realized that wasn't for him. […]
Nebraska women's volleyball wins first Spike Under the Lights
The No. 1 Nebraska women's volleyball team defeated No. 17 Florida and No. 11 SMU to claim the championship in the inaugural Spikes Under the Lights exhibition tournament at AT&T Stadium on Thursday.
49ers' most agonizing roster decision looming on 2026 cutdown day
The San Francisco 49ers are approaching the final stages of the 2026 preseason with a roster that looks increasingly defined at the top but painfully unsettled underneath. With assistant head coach Chris Foerster helping steer daily operations during Kyle Shanahan’s recovery from an offseason vehicle accident, the exhibition slate provided really […] The post 49ers' most agonizing roster decision looming on 2026 cutdown day appeared first on ClutchPoints.
The Literacy Crisis Reaches Dog-Bear Science
“New analysis of more than 300 bear encounters suggests our canine companions often increase odds of conflict and rarely serve as early warning systems many recreationists assume,” reads a subhead in Mountain Journal. The thing is, that study reaches no such conclusion. But you have to read beyond the abstract to understand that. Mountain Journal is not alone. Let’s look at a brief list of takeaways published elsewhere just to establish that none of them seem to know how to read science. Wes Siler’s Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Here’s CBC: “A new peer-reviewed study, The Canine Conundrum: Is a Dog a Help or Hindrance in Bear Country?, dug into conflicts similar to what the video depicts, by analyzing 326 reported human-bear conflicts from 1901 to 2023 involving dogs.” “The study found 54 per cent of conflicts were started by dogs. In the encounters researchers included in the study, five people and 56 dogs were killed, and 170 people were injured.” “Lana Ciarniello, an independent researcher who co-authored the study, said researchers found when a person goes hiking with at least one other person, the odds of a negative bear encounter decrease by 50 per cent.” “However, when a dog is involved, the chances of a negative bear encounter increase because ‘a dog really adds a chaotic factor into the mix of recreation,’ said Ciarniello.” Again, the study finds no data supporting that conclusion. “Hiking with your pet dog may make you feel safer in bear country—but a hiker’s recent encounter and a new study prove that the numbers don’t add up,” writes Backpacker, which is now part of Outside. The numbers don’t add up to support this take. There’s plenty more examples, but all are equally dumb, so I’ll stop there. How did so many people get this so wrong? Three reasons: 1) the study is published behind a paywall, with only the abstract freely available. 2) the methodology sets out to create work relevant to a hyper-specific audience, not the public. And 3) the dataset studied is almost absurdly limited and doesn’t bear (get it?!) comparison to wider information. Let’s work through all three. The Problem is Money I understand the irony, since I’m writing about this on a subscription-model newsletter, but information wants to be free. The study is published by The Wildlife Society and costs $16 to access. Reprinting it is specifically prohibited by the terms of use, so I can only share snippets and my conclusions with you here. Having worked as a journalist for 24 years, I can report with some authority that journalists are both lazy and cheap. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that much of the material you’re seeing written about this study is drawn from the freely-available abstract (above) only, and not a deep dive into its methodology or data. And that’s a problem, because abstracts are where researchers are able to break from their numbers and editorialize their opinions about conclusions. So what’s getting reported isn’t based on numbers, it’s based on an opinion designed for a specific audience, not the general public. Hell yeah ladies, kick that bear’s ass. The Methodology is Designed to Support a Predetermined Conclusion One of the biggest issues with the science that everyone likes to cite about bear spray’s efficacy is that no one understands that study was designed for a specific audience, looking for a specific answer. And since that audience is not the public, and our safety was not the question being asked, its conclusion is rendered irrelevant to our needs. Yes, I’m talking about Efficacy of Bear Deterrent Spray in Alaska, which was created by Tom Smith and Stephen Herrero, two of the same scientists who put together this dog-bear conflict analysis. In the spray study, the purpose was to present relevant agencies with the information they needed to issue their field workers with bear spray. As such, incidents where people were unable to access the spray or similarly failed to get it deployed in time were excluded from the results, and only incidents they deemed successful were included. Could a ranger roll down their vehicle’s window and scare a bear away from a dumpster by spraying it? Turns out the answer was yes, and that was good enough for the purposes of that study. The sample size of actual bear attacks—the thing you and I would want bear spray to provide a solution to, was too small to draw conclusions from, and didn’t indicate success in that role. Is a Dog a Help or Hindrance in Bear Country? has similar limitations. “Insights provided here are intended to help wildlife managers create effective guidelines regarding the presence of domestic dogs in bear habitat,” is explained clearly by the study’s text. To conduct the study, Smith and Herrero went looking for publicly available reports of dog-bear conflicts: “All incidents included in our analysis involved at least one bear, one dog, and one person who was at immediate risk of injury (e.g., not in a protective structure such as a cabin or vehicle), injured, or killed,” explains the report’s methodology. Why is that a problem? “We recognize that data used in this study are biased in that people generally only report adverse interactions with bears, not benign ones. Consequently, we assume that for the most part, people and their dogs pass through bear country without incident.” As was the problem with the bear spray study, people are drawing conclusions here from a study that was never intended to be relevant to the general public. The Smith-Herrero database famously excludes Alaska’s Defense of Life and Property records, which are elsewhere considered the largest and most authoritative source on human-bear conflict. The Dataset is Absurdly Limited A 2009 study conducted by the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife estimates that each year there are at least 43,000 documented complaints of human-bear conflict across North America. Is a Dog a Help or Hindrance in Bear Country? Examined those reports for years ranging from 1901 to 2023, and only managed to find 326 such incidents that met the criteria explained above. Let’s do some quick math, poorly. 43,000 incidents x 122 years = 5,246,000 total incidents of documented human-bear conflict. Smith and Herrero were only able to find 326 incidents that met their criteria for dog+human+bear+risk or occurrence of injury. That means there’s a 0.006 percent chance that the study’s conclusion—that dogs make bear encounters more dangerous—even gets a chance of occurring. And remember, that’s only in documented conflicts. There’s no way to know how many people across North America run into a bear in any given year without any conflict, but it’s probably safe to assume that the total number is well in excess of 43,000. And, dig deeper into the study and you can find further restrictions that skew its conclusions even more. “While the people involved in these incidents did not report the level of training their dogs had received, it is our assumption that most were untrained companion dogs as opposed to well-trained bear dogs, such as Karelians and livestock guardian breeds that have proven to be significant aids in bear country,” the study’s methodology explains. And that’s a problem, because an ongoing study here in Montana is finding that the simple presence of a Kangal like our youngest dog Teddy can reduce visits to private property from grizzly bears by 87.8 percent. In addition to being a badass, Teddy is also a companion animal. And in my admittedly limited sample size of the three dogs currently present in our living room, she’s no more effective than her mutt brothers. Plenty of people own a dog capable of deterring bears, even if they didn’t set out to own a bear dog. The real purpose of this study appears to be a recommendation that leashes are mandated and recreationists pursue training in their deterrent of choice. But that doesn’t make for sensational headlines. Are There Any Real Takeaways Here? Let’s throw some numbers around, just to try and get our hands around what the larger picture might look like for bears and dogs here. The American Veterinary Medical Association estimates that 42.6 percent of American households own a dog. The Canadian Animal Health Institute says roughly 35 percent of households in Canuckistan own a dog. In an attempt to create the worst possible result for dogs, let’s run with that 35 percent number. And given that outdoorsy and rural people are more likely to both own a dog, and have bear encounters, let’s just make a giant assumption and apply that number to those 43,000 conflicts documented annually. If 35 percent of 43,000 human-bear encounters involve a dog, then we can assume that at least 15,050 dog-bear conflicts are occurring annually in North America. 15,050 x 122 = 1,836,100. Smith and Herrero were only able to find 326 incidents that met their human, dog, chance or occurrence of injury criteria across 122 years. And only 170 documented human injuries. So, with all the obvious caveats about these numbers in no way describing reality beyond narrow study parameters, what they actually found is that your risk of injury if your dog tangles with a bear is only 0.009 percent. I’ll take those odds next time I’m hiking my dogs in bear country. Top photo: “Superintendent Horace Albright, eating pancakes with bears, at Lake Lodge, Yellowstone National Park.” NPS. A journalist with more than two decades of experience working around the world, Wes Siler is here to cut through the outrage and disinformation to bring you the factual, insightful, actionable reporting you need to understand what’s going on. Upgrading to a paid subscription supports this reporting, and buys personal access to Wes, who will help you save money on gear, plan outdoor adventures, and prepare for real life, and who promises he’s less salty in real life than he sometimes comes across as on the Internet. Wes Siler’s Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
The Campaign to Create Second-Class Citizens
GOP lawmakers are pushing to restrict the rights of naturalized and dual citizens—including their ability to run for office.
SEGA announces TGS 2026 lineup
SEGA has announced (2) its lineup for Tokyo Game Show 2026, which will run from September 17 to 21 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.
‘Thank God’ – Fans react to NFL becoming the first major U.S. sports league to cancel Pro Bowl game
The NFL has taken the unprecedented step of cancelling their version of the All-Star Game, the Pro Bowl, from the 2026-27 season. The tradition of All-Star games being one of the biggest nights of a sports league’s calendar is an antiquated notion, as players are more focused on protecting themselves than playing in an exhibition.
Shenandoah County Fair offers nine days of entertainment, competition and community
The Shenandoah County Fair returns Friday for nine days of music, midway rides, livestock shows, agricultural exhibits, food, family activities and grandstand entertainment.
Scene Calendar: Hip-hop artist Juvenile, Cuban art at the Harn
Gainesville and Alachua County offer museum exhibits, live music, Artwalk, cultural events and family activities throughout the week and beyond.
Amazon knocks $150 off Pixel 11 phones, with up to $200 in gift cards
We also spotted discounts on the Scuf Valor Pro, a 100W battery pack, and the lowest price yet for Doom: The Dark Ages.
5 Minnesota Vikings Bold Predictions for Friday’s Preseason Finale
The Minnesota Vikings have just one preseason game left in the exhibition season before things get real. While the quarterback […]
Dinosaurs on Display at Gateway Science Museum Spark Wonder for All Ages
A new hands-on exhibit pairs replicas of prehistoric giants with real fossils being restored in Gateway's demo lab.
PLT Health Solutions Brings Its Clinically Supported Branded Ingredient Platform to Vitafoods Asia
PLT Health Solutions, Inc. will exhibit for the first time at Vitafoods Asia, 2-4 September in Bangkok, Thailand, bringing its portfolio of more than 30 clinically supported branded ingredients to Asian brand owners and product developers. A major focus at the show will be the company's joint health and mobility portfolio. PLT will bring next-generation Kinexa™ Joint Longevity Complex to the Asian market for the first time. PLT introduced Kinexa™ in 2016 and has continued to develop the ingredie
CinéShow Exhibitor Marketing of the Year Award: Cinergy Entertainment
The last few years have been an exciting time for in-theater marketing. Gen Z’s enthusiasm for FOMO-inducing events and social media–friendly menu items, together with the unfortunate culling of marketing personnel and resources on the studio side, have set the stage for a surge of creativity among cinema marketing professionals, At the top of the […]
Festival features entertainment all day
Come early, grab some delicious festival food, enjoy the exhibits and carnival, then head over to the Rafter 3C Arena for a weekend of amazing live entertainment.
Proposed Springfield zoning ban could block self-storage expansion, cut business value
A proposed zoning ordinance in Springfield would prohibit new mini-warehouse and self-storage facilities in the city.
AMC Entertainment Spikes 7%, Cinemark Climbs 6%: Is This a Short Squeeze in Progress?
Theater stocks are surging together on a down-market Monday with no earnings, no analyst upgrades, and no press releases to explain the move. When three separate exhibitors all spike at once without a single headline, something deliberate is driving the tape.
GRAND OPENING: Science + You
Explore & More’s brand-new Temporary Exhibit Galley will open on September 26, 2026. The first exhibit to be displayed in the new space on the 2nd Floor will be Science + You, which offers a child-sized laboratory where children can explore how scientists impact health and wellness. Through hands-on, interactive machinery, processes and technology, Science + You demonstrates the role science plays in keeping the body healthy. A demonstration area of the exhibit also will allow visiting scientists and educators to perform fun and interactive scientific experiments appropriate for young children. The exhibit was created by Kohl Children’s Museum of Greater Chicago, located in Glenview, Illinois, working with scientists from Abbott Laboratories. Since its debut there in 2011, the exhibit has traveled to museums in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, as well as internationally to Germany and Brazil. Science + You will be on display September 26, 2026 through January 9, 2027. Other upcoming temporary exhibits include Hero Quest , Storyland , and Monsters on Vacation .
The 2026 New York State Fair is Action-Packed, with More New Events, Exhibits, Entertainment, and Food Than Ever Before!
Jet Ski Stunt Shows, Racing Dogs, Kids Tractor Pull, Miniature Horses, The Big Cheese, and More! Asian Village and Latino Village Showcase Amazing Food, Music, and More, Now on the West…
Science of Speed: Immersive Experience at Kamin Science Center
New Immersive ‘Science of Speed’ Experience at Kamin Science Center - Things to Do - Made In PGH - New 2026 Exhibits - Science - Family Fun
Community Invited To Opening Reception For New Environmental Stewardship Exhibit At Bradbury Science Museum Aug. 25
A new exhibit on the Lab’s environmental stewardship opens Aug. 25 at the Bradbury Science Museum, 1450 Central Ave. in downtown Los Alamos. Photo Courtesy LANL LANL NEWS RELEASE Beginning Aug. 25,…
Mobile Chamber hosts largest business expo in the area
More than 200 exhibitors showcased products and services at the Mobile Convention Center.
Catch ‘Mummies of the World’ before it closes at California Science Center - Beverly Press & Park Labrea News
The California Science Center is reminding visitors that “Mummies of the World: The Exhibition” closes on Monday,...
Arizona volleyball features new offense, personnel as exhibition season starts
The Arizona Wildcats start volleyball season with an exhibition against GCU
Badger men's basketball 'bigs' show off alley-oop ability
Wisconsin's Will Garlock and Victory Onuetu exhibit growth, and lob-and-dunk skills, during summer scrimmage.
Trading cards, live music and Chris Kattan headline week in entertainment
A sports card show, free concerts, art exhibits and live comedy headline a busy week of events across Gainesville and Alachua County.
Gamescom 2026 sets new record as number of country pavilions increases by 25%
Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Morocco, and Nigeria join as new exhibitors this year
2026 APSA Theme Panel: The Politics of Opposition to Democratic Backsliding -
The Politics of Opposition to Democratic Backsliding Sunday, September 6, 10:00 am to 11:30 am 2026 APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition — Boston, MA | Register here In-person | Full Paper Panel Participants: (Chair) Daniel L. Tavana, [...]
Western Idaho Fair opens Friday at Expo Idaho
The Western Idaho Fair opens Friday, Aug. 21, at Expo Idaho with concerts, 4-H and FFA exhibits, local food, rides and family-friendly attractions.
Sports Jawn brings Philly sports treasures to the National Liberty Museum
Sports fans can now check out the new pop-up exhibit inside the National Liberty Museum in Old City called Sports Jawn. The collection features about 100 pieces of memorabilia, including Mike Schmidt's locker, jerseys worn by Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarb.
New petrified wood exhibit intersects art, history, science at Whatcom Museum
Painted Forest will be on display in Old City Hall until April 2027
Discovering science through art exhibition
An innovative exhibition that aims to present complicated science in a simple-to-understand and artistic way hosted by UWA as part of National Science Week.
Player Ratings: Schalke 0
Player Ratings: Schalke 0 – 3 Real Madrid Thibaut Courtois — 7.5: Had almost nothing to do. Made one save on the only real test he faced. His distribution was very good, misplacing just one pass — a long ball. Trent Alexander-Arnold — 7.5: Fantastic long-range passing throughout. Ibrahima Konaté — 7.5: Very strong cameo. […]
"Marvel's Spider-Man: Beyond Amazing" reaches last day at Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
Sunday was the last chance for visitors to see the "Marvel's Spider-Man: Beyond Amazing" exhibition at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.
Final day for Spider-Man exhibit at Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
New study finds HGST, WD hard drives fail less often than Seagate and Toshiba
The peer-reviewed IEEE study was written by Christoph Siemroth of the University of Essex and Yeomyung Park of Sungkyunkwan University. It reviewed data on 443,156 drives used...
State health officials confirm rare swine flu case in Ionia County resident
A rare human case of Swine Flu has been confirmed in a west Michigan resident who was reportedly a swine exhibitor at the Kent County Youth Fair at the start of August.
Ionia County resident has swine flu after exhibiting at youth fair
An Ionia County resident who exhibited pigs at the Kent County Youth Fair now has a confirmed case of swine flu, Michigan health leaders said Aug. 14.
Kent County Youth Fair exhibitor tests positive for swine flu, health officials say
A person who was a swine exhibitor at the Kent County Youth Fair at the beginning of August has since tested positive for swine flu.
Post office photography exhibit removed for ‘political content’
The exhibit in the Morristown post office lobby featured photographs of protesters at the four-way village intersection, some of whom have been gathering there nearly every Friday since the death of George Floyd in 2020.
Erie County receives small number of responses to biometric law disclosure
The law prohibits businesses from collecting, using or selling people's data.
Engineering Exploration encourages families to have fun with science
Tracy Earth Project teamed up with Quest Science Center of Livermore to bring “Engineering Exploration,” a hands-on science and engineering exhibit, to the Tracy Community Center on Friday.
Memory may not work how we thought, study of mice in artificial hibernation finds
A new study induced artificial hibernation in lab mice and may have revealed something fundamental about the nature of memory.
2026 APSA Theme Panel: Multinational Firms and National Politics -
Multinational Firms and National Politics Sunday, September 6, 10:00 am to 11:30 am 2026 APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition — Boston, MA | Register here In-person | Full Paper Panel Participants: (Chair) Calvin Thrall, Columbia University (Discussant) [...]
PFT's 2026 preseason power rankings
As the full exhibition slate starts, here's how the 32 teams stack up.
AI needs science’s search history
“Actually, that’s where the gold is,” said Alasdair Russell, my graduate school friend who leads a pre-clinical genome editing group at Cambridge. He was talking about the winding road of science that is omitted from published papers. “When you’re discussing how to do the experiment, and why this way is better than another way, and what does the data really mean? I know what it shows, but what does it mean?” At RAAIS 2026, he described how his group has begun logging the twisting path of discovery as it happens, recording the verbal and written exchanges that normally disappear. Ideas become nodes in a living graph: they branch when a meeting produces two plausible experiments, merge when separate lines of evidence converge, and go dark when someone quietly stops pursuing them. In his implementation, one agent scores novelty, while another tries to learn “how scientists think and how they navigate through a complex world of data,” so that high-potential nodes can trigger deeper investigation. As frontier AI labs deploy agents toward scientific discovery, giving AI authentic scientific taste remains a trillion-dollar dilemma. The bottleneck is that the record we have kept for centuries of science might be insufficient to get us there. The experiments that never make the paper Peter Medawar, 1960 Nobel laureate and “father of transplantation,” asked in 1963 whether the scientific paper was a fraud, and answered yes: the form of the paper misrepresents the thinking that produced it. Sixty years on, the diagnosis is unchanged. A paper presents a clean progression from hypothesis to result to conclusion. Lost along the way are the unconventional theories, the abandoned or unaffordable methods, and the underwhelming and inconclusive data. It reads like a browser history with every dead end deleted: the ten open tabs, the four rephrased queries, the wrong turn down a subforum. All scrubbed, leaving one clean path from question to answer as the canonical path. What has changed since then is that the discarded material is now worth something. No high-impact journal wants these artifacts, but raw trial and error is the most likely source of the training data required to develop scientific intuition, or what researchers call taste. Earlier attempts to capture the discards were motivated by scientific integrity. The Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine launched in 2002 to publish rigorous studies that disputed established models or exposed ineffective treatments. Its archive preserved negative conclusions after they had become papers, rather than the live alternatives and arguments that produced them. BioMed Central closed it in 2017, saying the mission had been served now that other journals publish null results. A less generous reading is that in fifteen years it published around 200 papers because almost nobody wants to read a negative result, let alone write one up when it will not count toward academic tenure. AI models are different. Even an uninteresting negative result can be useful, provided it is labeled. Earlier this year, Anthropic put a version of this to the test. The company pulled 129 decision points from real Claude Code sessions between January and March 2026, showed models the work up to a human detour, and asked what should happen next. Claude Mythos Preview beat the human choice 64% of the time, while Opus 4.5 managed 51%. The comparison was tilted toward the models because Anthropic deliberately chose moments where the human decision had room for improvement. On 127 further scenarios where the human action was already strong, the models improved on it only about 20% of the time. The study was possible because Anthropic’s researchers work inside a tool that logs by default. The reasoning, detours and outcome are produced in the same working environment. Biology has no equivalent. Its reasoning happens in hallways, at benches, in Slack threads and on whiteboards, while the outcome arrives weeks later somewhere else. The record has to emerge from the work itself. Ask scientists to reconstruct it afterwards and we’ll create another polished account. Subscribe A log is not a label Before any of this becomes training data, a negative result has to say what failed. The first paper published in the Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine examined 234 negative studies across five leading medical journals. Only 30% discussed statistical power, and half clearly defined a primary outcome. Tell a model an experiment failed, without telling it whether the assay was underpowered, a reagent had degraded, or the hypothesis was simply wrong, and it will learn noise with confidence. Decision histories have a second missing label too. When a lab considers five experiments and runs one, only the chosen branch returns an outcome. The other four are experimental counterfactuals. Researchers call this the selective labels problem: the data reveal results only for the actions someone chose to take. Such a record can teach a model to imitate a lab’s taste, but it cannot establish that the taste was good. It also smuggles local constraints into general lessons. A lab that never ran cryo-EM because it did not own a microscope teaches a model that cryo-EM is rarely the right call. Alasdair’s nodes preserve the candidate set, which is the necessary first step. To be useful, each decision record needs six fields: The evidence available at that moment, and nothing that arrived later. The candidates considered, including the ones dismissed in a sentence. For each candidate: the expected result, the confidence attached to it, and the cost in time and money. The route chosen, and the reason. What happened next. How the evidence changed the scientist’s view. These must be timestamped before the outcome, because hindsight turns uncertainty into inevitability. Disagreement also has to survive. Averaging three scientists into one clean rationale reproduces exactly the information loss we are trying to fix. But there is an obvious failure mode here. Once decisions are logged and scored, people log for the record post-facto. Anyone who has watched an electronic lab notebook fill up with retrospective tidying knows how quickly a research tool becomes a compliance exercise. A record that costs a scientist ten minutes of honest reflection per decision is worth far more than one that costs an hour of performance. A publication initiative called Registered Reports offers a useful starting point. Here, researchers submit their rationale, methods and analysis plan for peer review before the data exist, and the journal commits in principle to publish if they follow the approved plan. Nature has now expanded the format across every field it covers. This approach to paper writing timestamps intent before the outcome, but it freezes one plan. A useful search history must also preserve how the plan changed, which alternatives were rejected, when, and on what evidence. Subscribe Run the runner-up Autonomous labs show what happens when decisions and outcomes are connected in a loop. Liverpool’s mobile robotic chemist ran 688 experiments over eight days in a ten-variable formulation space. A batched Bayesian search used each result to choose the next experiments and found photocatalyst mixtures six times more active than the starting formulations. Every completed experiment changed what the system did next. The robot optimized within a goal and search space that humans had already chosen. It did not decide which scientific question mattered. So what this work demonstrates is narrower, but still useful: a search history pays off when the options return standardized outcomes quickly. Open-ended biology is harder because branches can take weeks and the discarded alternatives may never be run. Some exploration therefore has to be bought. Where two branches are plausible and the stakes justify the cost, a lab should sometimes run the runner-up. Otherwise the record captures what today’s scientists usually chose and stays silent on what they systematically overlooked. A funder could ring-fence a small fraction of a grant for the branch not taken, provided that the decision record and the outcome are both deposited. That costs money, but so does having every lab rediscover the same abandoned path. Test whether taste transfers When it comes time to evaluate if our new AI system exhibits taste, the comparison should run across laboratories and fields. At selected decision points in a live research campaign, we should freeze the six fields: the evidence, the candidates, expected results, confidence, costs and the choice made. Experts then rank the options before the outcomes are known, and those outcomes are checked independently later. We could give models one of two diets - papers alone, or papers plus decision histories - and ask them to rank the next experiment on unfamiliar projects. Then, we score information gained per dollar and week, calibration, and how quickly weak branches are abandoned. If histories improve choices only inside the lab that produced them, they amount to useful organizational memory. If they improve choices on unfamiliar problems elsewhere, Alasdair’s group will have captured something science has never managed to write down: a transferable record of taste. Until that happens, a scientific search history is a promising record, not yet a training set.
More than words: The political power of print at the Haggerty Museum of Art
Nearly 5,000 visitors viewed the Haggerty Museum of Art’s exhibitions, engaged in classroom conversations and discussed cross-cultural issues inspired by the semester’s focus on the political power of print.
Sporting KC co-founder Cliff Illig to headline KC Sports Impact Panel at KU exhibition closing event
The University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design’s “Shaping the Future of Football” exhibition concludes Aug. 21 at Keystone CoLAB in Kansas City with the KC Sports Impact Panel. Featured speaker Cliff Illig, principal owner and co-founder of Sporting Kansas City, will discuss Kansas City’s 2026 FIFA World Cup opportunity, the fan experience, and the future of sports, entertainment and economic growth in the region.
With 'Fat Marmot Week,' scientists hope to turn important marmot research into serious fun
For a marmot living in the Rocky Mountains, summer is the time to fatten up and get ready for hibernation. But this year's warmer, earlier spring has made it tough for marmots to get enough calories. A team of marmot scientists near Crested Butte is launching the first-ever Fat Marmot Week to raise awareness about these unique, chunky mammals.
77th Genesee County Fair announces biggest entertainment lineup in years
MOUNT MORRIS — The 177th Genesee County Fair returns Aug. 24-30, with an exciting lineup of nationally recognized entertainers, brand-new attractions, championship motorsports, rodeo action, carnival rides, agricultural exhibits, and family entertainment designed to make this year's Fair one of its biggest ever. Headlining the Fair are two nights of live concerts featuring some of
Google Unveils $29 Pixel Tag to Take On Apple's AirTag
Google today introduced the Pixel Tag, its answer to Apple's AirTag. Pixel Tag is Google's first item tracker, even though Google implemented an item tracking network two years ago that's been used by third-party devices. The Pixel Tag is made from stainless steel, and it is IP67 water- and dust-resistant. There's a built-in speaker that can play a sound when an item it's attached to is lost, and a button that causes a sound to play on a connected smartphone.
Kamin Science Center puts Pittsburgh’s newest indoor racetrack in gear
Kamin Science Center’s Science of Speed adds an 800-foot electric kart track, F1 simulator and real race vehicles to its new motorsports exhibit.
MidCity's Got Talent, Swamp Flashlight Night and new exhibits: 3 things to do this weekend
This week's picks
The U.S. Healthcare System is Already Mostly Socialized
Now that Abdul El-Sayed is the Democratic nominee for Michigan’s open Senate seat, the outcome of this crucial race will depend mainly on two things: Whether Republicans succeed in demonizing El-Sayed because he’s brown and a Muslim, and whether they succeed in demonizing him as a left-wing radical. I will defer for the now the question of whether bigotry will be effective this year, although I will address it another day. What I want to address instead is El-Sayed’s signature issue — healthcare. Yes, El-Sayed advocates Medicare for All, a position the usual suspects denounce as “socialism.” I will get to the politics of his stance soon. Today, however, I want to talk about the substance. We should be clear that El-Sayed doesn’t even call himself a socialist. On the contrary, he explicitly disavows the label, saying “I’m a capitalist who just knows about capitalism”. In fact, as I explained in a previous post, the policies that El-Sayed advocates qualify him as a social democrat, not a socialist. Still, El-Sayed advocates a system under which the government would pay almost all medical expenses. Isn’t that socialism? Well, if that is the criterion then much of U.S. healthcare is already socialist. In fact, the government’s role is so large that U.S. healthcare is better described as partially privatized socialism than as anything resembling a free market. Let’s start with the raw numbers on health insurance, which pays the bulk of Americans’ medical expenses. Americans receive health insurance either from private companies or from public programs, overwhelmingly Medicare and Medicaid. Here’s what the breakdown of coverage and spending between private and public looked like in 2024: While a majority of Americans with health insurance get it from private companies, well over 100 million of us are covered by government programs instead. And these government programs pay more total dollars for medical bills than the private insurers do. Why do government programs that cover a minority of the population account for a majority of health insurers’ outlays? Mainly because Medicare covers seniors, and we’re expensive. Also, while Medicaid covers many younger Americans, disabled and elderly beneficiaries account for most of its spending. Even by the raw numbers, then, U.S. health insurance looks as much public as private. But that understates the government’s role: Private health insurance in the U.S. is both highly regulated and heavily subsidized. This is obviously true for the insurance coverage purchased by tens of millions of Americans through the exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act. But employment-based health insurance, which covers 161 million Americans, is far more of a government creation than most people realize. For employment-based insurance exists largely because of huge implicit government subsidies that come with major strings attached. Here’s how that works. If your employer pays you $10,000, that’s taxable income. But if your employer pays $10,000 toward a company health insurance plan that meets certain criteria, it isn’t taxable. That’s a huge effective subsidy, running at more than $300 billion a year. Take that subsidy into account, along with the more than $100 billion per year spent subsidizing policies purchased under the ACA, as well as the outlays on Medicare and Medicaid, and net effect is that the government pays for more than two-thirds of Americans’ health insurance. Granted, there are strings attached. Roughly speaking, employment-based health plans can’t discriminate based on medical history — that is, they can’t deny coverage to employees with pre-existing conditions — and they also can’t offer the plans only to highly compensated employees — a health plan that is only for the C-suite is considered taxable income. So given the restrictions of the federal tax code, employer-based health insurance is a lot like Obamacare, which also prohibits discrimination based on medical history and provides subsidies to make insurance affordable to lower-paid workers. The fact is that virtually all of private healthcare insurance is already well under some form of government control through regulation and tax subsidies. How should we think about this system? First of all, is Medicare socialist? Don’t tell anyone, but the way Medicare operates — it covers every senior’s medical expenses, whatever they turn out to be, while being funded by taxes that depend on one’s income — could be summarized by the old Marxist slogan “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” And back in 1961, when Ronald Reagan was the face of a last-ditch effort by the American Medical Association to block the creation of Medicare, he denounced Medicare as “socialized medicine” and warned that it would destroy our freedom. In reality, American freedom survived until Jan. 20, 2025, while Medicare is immensely popular, with an 82 percent favorable rating in the most recent KFF survey. Medicaid, government health insurance for lower-income Americans, comes in at 73 percent. This is in sharp contrast to public views about private insurers, who are widely disliked if not hated and accused of denying essential care. Furthermore, if Medicare is socialism, then the whole U.S. health insurance system, with the government paying most of the bills and placing conditions on private insurers, is almost equally socialist. If you insist on calling any program the government pays for and regulates socialist, then U.S. healthcare would best be described as a partially privatized form of socialism. And one must ask, what is the point of the part that is privatized? Do private insurers add anything positive? Or are they simply parasites, skimming off money that could have been paying for care? The case for viewing insurers as parasites is strong. Many Medicare benefits are now delivered via Medicare Advantage, that is, plans paid for by the government but run through insurance companies. MedPAC, an independent advisory commission, estimates that last year Medicare Advantage plans were overpaid by $84 billion, thanks to practices such as “upcoding,” in which patients’ health problems are overstated to get larger sums from Medicare. Assessing the waste from employer-based insurance is harder, but most evidence suggests that private insurers have substantially higher administrative costs than Medicare does. Furthermore, the complexity of private insurance, with multiple payers all trying to deny care when they can, is a huge burden both on providers — doctors, nurses, and hospitals — and on patients. What do private insurers offer to compensate for these costs? One must go through intellectual contortions to avoid the conclusion that they are, in fact, parasites. Which brings me back to El-Sayed. In supporting Medicare for All, he’s basically calling for an end to the partial, parasitic privatization of a healthcare system that is already hugely dependent on public funding. When one looks at it that way, it’s not at all a radical proposal. Admittedly, the political lift requires overcoming the opposition to higher taxes to pay for Medicare for All. Political realism rather than economics was the reason I and many other progressives supported Obamacare, with all its complexities, rather than demanding an immediate move to Medicare for All. But the political calculus may very well have shifted since the 2000s, as Americans are fed up with a system of unaffordable premiums, rampant claim denials, and byzantine claim administration. Moreover, funding healthcare insurance through taxation would allow for a much more progressive distribution of the cost. That is, compared to the present system, middle-income households would pay less as high-income households would pay more. And the U.S. would stop wasting large sums on pointless administrative costs. So let’s be clear: El-Sayed’s healthcare platform is perfectly reasonable on the merits of cost, fairness and health efficacy. And with private insurers never more hated, while millions of Americans are losing their health insurance, 2026 may be its time. MUSICAL CODA
iOS 27 Beta 5 Brings New Icons for Siri, Safari, Settings and More
In the fifth beta of iOS 27, Apple is continuing to make design tweaks. There are updated Liquid Glass icons for Safari, the Siri app, Settings, Remote, App Store, and Preview. The Safari icon is a brighter blue with more detailed compass lines and arrows, while the Siri icon looks more like the actual Siri bubble that's displayed when Siri is activated.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum talks gas prices, data centers, slavery exhibit
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum discusses current issues including gas prices, data centers, the President's House, and the Reflecting Pool.
2026 APSA Theme Panel: US Democratic Decline and Its Implications for International Politics -
US Democratic Decline and Its Implications for International Politics Friday, September 4, 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm 2026 APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition — Boston, MA | Register here In-person | Roundtable Participants: (Chair) Emilia Simison, Queen [...]
Kentucky fall sports season begins with weekend exhibition matches
The 2026 fall season of Kentucky Wildcats sports kicks off on Saturday with three exhibition matchups.
Tashiba Williams: How Mobile Wound Care Is Expanding Healthcare Access
As a family nurse practitioner and the founder of ADA Family Health Clinic, a mobile wound care and primary care practice serving patients across Texas and Louisiana, Williams represents healthcare professionals whose clinical experience may contribute to leadership and care-delivery discussions.
Valuing our soil through science, art and policy
SoilTribes launches living museums, art exhibitions and policy resources to help restore Earth’s soil and ensure its future...
New marine science exhibit opens at Fort Worden
PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend Marine Science Center has opened a newly renovated exhibit at Fort Worden.
Parents argue new lawsuit against Ten Commandments in classrooms
The posters have already survived legal scrutiny under the Establishment Clause, but these parents are relying on a Texas law that prohibits the state from substantially burdening a person’s free exercise of religion.
Endless Entertainment Awaits at the Wilson County
The Wilson County – Tennessee State Fairis back with live entertainment, interactive exhibits, concerts, agricultural experiences and family-friendly attractions for all ages. Click for More Kids and Family News Several Fair favorites are returning this year, including hypnotist Richard Barker, the David Turner & Friends ventriloquist show, and Doodles the Clown. Fairgoers can also visit […]
‘Science of Speed’ roars into the Kamin Science Center
Want to zip around a track on a high-end electric kart or hop on an immersive racing simulator? Then you will definitely want to make your way to the Kamin Science Center on Pittsburgh’s North Shore and check out its new Science of Speed permanent exhibit. Taking up what had been the Science Center’s SportsWorks […]
ENTERTAINMENT: ‘Angels in America’ and ‘Lungs’ on area stages
Dive into Little Rock's vibrant arts scene with powerful theater performances and captivating exhibitions.
NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi Unveils Art Exhibit for Behavioral Health Patients with Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
Bronx, NY – NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi’s Comprehensive Addiction Treatment Center (CATC) unveiled a new art exhibit from NYC Health + Hospitals’ art
Sanofi suspends chronic lung disease phase 2 study, tied to ‘strategic business reasons’
Sanofi halted a phase 2 trial testing a monoclonal antibody, SAR445399, in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis, Fierce Biotech has learned. The trial, which began only back in April, was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to measure the reduction in mucus plug score following treatment with SAR445399 compared with placebo in adults aged 18 to 80 years with NCFB, a chronic lung disease. The trial was officially reported as halted on July 29, the day before Sanofi’s second-quarter earnings call. The decision to pause the trial was made “as part of a company-wide portfolio review for strategic business reasons,” and not due to safety concerns, a Sanofi spokesperson told Fierce. The move to pause the NCFB trial comes during a trying time for Sanofi following a year filled with a series of trial fails. In February, the French pharma ousted CEO Paul Hudson and appointed Merck KGaA leader Belén Garijo, M.D., Ph.D., to steer the ship. Since then, Garijo has been doing a deep dive on correcting the company’s strewn R&D and clinical strategies. On July 24, Sanofi scrapped amlitelimab for atopic dermatitis, despite its lore as being a potential $5 billion blockbuster. During its second-quarter report, the company abandoned two more assets, balinatunfib and itepekimab, following failed trial results in psoriasis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, respectively. SAR445399, only first revealed by Sanofi in 2023, is an anti-interleukin-1 receptor 3 monoclonal antibody developed to block the interleukin 1, 33, and 36 cytokine pathways. These pathways can be important in chronic immune-related dermatologic diseases, such as atopic dermatitis and hidradenitis suppurativa, as well as respiratory conditions, such as NCFB. Related Sanofi’s new CEO ‘looking deeply’ at late-stage pipeline as clinical clearout continues NCFB affects roughly half a million people in the U.S., with a global incidence of greater than one million cases. In August 2025, Insmed received FDA approval for Brinsupri, a DPP1 inhibitor targeting neutrophil activation, for treatment of NCFB in adults and kids ages 12 and older. The British biotech Infex Therapeutics showed promising NCFB phase 2a data using their monoclonal antibody, INFEX702, which acts by disabling Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacteria known to be a major pathogen of NCFB. Sanofi is currently running a separate phase 2 study testing SAR445399 as a potential treatment for the inflammatory skin condition hidradenitis suppurativa.
Referendum campaign asks court to block new Missouri map
People Not Politicians wants a Cole County judge to reverse Secretary of State Denny Hoskins and prohibit use of the gerrymandered map
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Others Ponder NASCAR All-Star Race’s Future
While not officially announced yet, the NASCAR All-Star Race is most likely going back to North Wilkesboro in 2027. North Wilkesboro previously hosted the premier exhibition race from 2023-2025 before the track got its own points-paying race in 2026.Meanwhile, Dover was the site of this year’s All-Star Race. However, it is expected for “The Monster […] The post Dale Earnhardt Jr., Others Ponder NASCAR All-Star Race’s Future appeared first on HEAVY.
Michigan Science Center Offers FREE Admission on August 15 for Axalta Community Free Day
Whether you have a curious preschooler or a future engineer, the Michigan Science Center offers something for every age. Families can spend hours exploring interactive exhibits that make learning…
Telegram says Apple suspension followed content norms violation by one user
Apple said its review found the content had violated guidelines prohibiting child sexual abuse material.
Bug Fest to bring hands-on science activities to East Campus
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources will host Bug Fest from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 8 as part of East Campus Discovery Days. The event will offer families a chance to explore the world of insects through hands-on activities, educational displays and interactive exhibits.
4 Anne Arundel beaches placed under no-swim advisories for high bacteria levels
Water-contact activities, including swimming and waterskiing, are prohibited.
Boris Nadezhdin, anti-war candidate in Russia, flees to France
Nadezhdin was prohibited from running in parliamentary elections in September. He posted a video from Paris, saying, "I'm alive and free."
Town and Country Fair returns to Napa Valley Expo starting Thursday
Starting Thursday, Aug. 6 the Town & Country Fair will take over the Napa Valley Expo, with live music, livestock exhibits, carnival thrills and lots more family friendly activities included with admission.
Maritime Museum Art Exhibit Tests Historic Mettle of Bronze
Bronze has long been part of life at sea. Valued for its strength, durability, and resistance to corrosion, the material has appeared in tools, trade
Big Ten, SEC back college sports bill after shift in language
Language was added to the Protect College Sports Act intended to strengthen a provision prohibiting schools from circumventing the athlete revenue-share cap.
'Pressure makes diamonds' - Charles-Cook
Motherwell's Regan Charles-Cook says "pressure makes diamonds" as he and his team-mates attempt to live up to their reputation earned last season. The Fir Park side caused a stir under Jens Berthel Askou with their free-flowing style of football which secured so many plaudits as well as a European spot. Now under Alfred Johansson and with a host of star players now away from the club, they breezed by HB Torshavn in Conference League qualifying and now face Hibernian in their Scottish Premiership opener on Sunday (16:30 BST).
ENTERTAINMENT: Johnny Cash and American history dovetail in Dyess exhibit
The Historic Dyess Colony: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home is marking the nation’s 250th anniversary with a special exhibit, opening Monday, titled “Ragged Old Flag: Johnny Cash and the American Experience.”
ENTERTAINMENT: Johnny Cash and American history dovetail in Dyess exhibit
The Historic Dyess Colony: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home is marking the nation’s 250th anniversary with a special exhibit, opening Monday, titled “Ragged Old Flag: Johnny Cash and the American Experience.”
New exhibit spotlights history of AIDS activism in New York City
The LaGuardia and Wagner Archives created an oral history of the era.
Smithsonian America 250 exhibit features 3x more liberal items than conservative ones
The Smithsonian's America 250th anniversary exhibit features nearly two dozen items for liberal causes but just seven representing conservatism.
Local sports: youth baseball championship in Watertown
Beaver River capped a perfect season with a win.
Science Center exhibit brings indoor electric kart track to Pittsburgh
At the Kamin Science Center, the new Science of Speed exhibit brings a multi-level electric indoor kart track to Pittsburgh.
Sony posts 40% rise in Q1 profit, beating estimates
Sony reported on Friday a 40% rise in first-quarter operating profit, beating analyst estimates, boosted by the performance of its gaming and image sensors businesses.
New York advocates gearing up to push rape loophole proposal in new session
Legislation would prohibit the use of intoxication of the victim as a defense in sex crimes.
New 'Science of Speed' exhibit at the Kamin Science Center offers an immersive look at racing, 40 mph karts and all
When the Kamin Science Center’s “Science of Speed” exhibit opens on Saturday, visitors will walk straight into a three-story race track...
Kamin Science Center’s ‘Science of Speed’ brings indoor go-karts, F1 simulators to Pittsburgh
Kamin Science Center’s brand new “Science of Speed” exhibit is off to a blistering start, ahead of its official opening on Saturday. On Thursday, dozens of early access guests were set loose upon the experience that features an indoor, three-level electric go-kart track with tightly coiled turns and railing lights
Arkansas basketball press conferences: Previewing Bahamas exhibitions
JJ Andrews, Cooper Bowser and Abdou Toure answered questions ahead of the Razorbacks' four-game trip to Nassau.
Science and the American Experiment: 250 Years of Innovation
A new exhibit highlights moments when new knowledge changed how Americans understood their world—and how they acted within it.
What to do this weekend: Reggae at Riverview, Science of Speed and Lawrenceville Art Crawl
Buckle up and it's off to the races at the Kamin Science Center's new "Science of Speed" exhibit, check original works at the Lawrenceville Art Crawl or chill at the Reggae at Riverview concert — here's what to do in Pittsburgh this weekend.
ArtBeat: Arts & Entertainment Showcase
Whether you’re looking for Broadway-style theater, live music under the stars, family-friendly films, art exhibitions, or community festivals, there’s plenty to enjoy across East Tennessee this week. Week of July 29–August 5 This week’s highlights are compiled from the Arts & Culture Alliance and participating arts organizations across East Tennessee. On Stage Through – August […]
ENTERTAINMENT: Library parties close summer reading program
The North Little Rock Public Library System marks the close of its Summer Library Adventure with two all-ages parties, plus two bonus events just for adults, on Thursday and Friday.
Freaks & Sideshows: New American Sign Museum exhibit features vintage circus banners
A new exhibit at the American Sign Museum shines a spotlight on a unique piece of American entertainment history.
Jackson Thomson, son of Kevin, signs Hibs deal
Jackson Thomson, 16, son of former Dundee, Hibernian, Rangers and Scotland midfielder Kevin, has signed his first professional contract with Hibs. Sun) Manager Thomas Brdaric says Malisheva "need a strategy" to complete victory over Hibernian at Easter Road in the Conference League second qualifying round, having opened up a 2-0 first-leg advantage. (Edinburgh Evening News - subscription required)