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‘Feeling Is Part of Memory’: In Conversation With Nobel Laureate Karl Deisseroth

The newly named Nobel laureate reflects on using light to probe the brain, the relationship between science and art, and the deep questions that have guided his work.

Oct 6 • 5:57 AM EDT • Science • thereader.mitpress.mit.edu

Minnesota gubernatorial candidates discuss business platforms at Economic Club discussion

Minnesota gubernatorial candidates Sen. Amy Klobuchar (DFL) and Rep. Lisa Demuth (R) faced off Monday afternoon in a forum hosted by the Economic Club of Minnesota. Each candidate took the stage independently to answer questions from a moderator for 30 minutes apiece.

Oct 6 • 5:25 AM EDT • Business • northernnewsnow.com

Minnesota gubernatorial candidates discuss business platforms at Economic Club discussion

Minnesota gubernatorial candidates Sen. Amy Klobuchar (DFL) and Rep. Lisa Demuth (R) faced off Monday afternoon in a forum hosted by the Economic Club of Minnesota. Each candidate took the stage independently to answer questions from a moderator for 30 minutes apiece.

Oct 6 • 5:25 AM EDT • Business • kttc.com

Why So Many Social Science Claims Are False

One of the most urgent questions facing society today is the potential impact of AI on education and labor markets. So it’s no surprise that two scientists attempted to provide

Oct 6 • 1:25 AM EDT • Science • themountaineer.com

Political experts talk midterm issues, expectations at Catawba panel

SALISBURY — The midterm elections loom in the not-too-distant future, and questions on U.S. electoral systems are as pervasive as ever. The “What’s at Stake” panel at the Catawba College […]

Oct 5 • 11:00 PM EDT • Politics • salisburypost.com

Oregon's Defense in Question Entering Touch Game Against UCLA

The Ducks' defense needs to be ready on Saturday.

Oct 5 • 10:50 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Drew Petzing Failed the Lions When They Needed Him Most

The Lions’ defense was awful, but Detroit’s offense deserves plenty of blame, too. Missed opportunities, costly penalties and questionable play-calling turned a winnable game into a brutal loss.

Oct 5 • 9:04 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

One Question For Boston Celtics About Style of Play

The Celtics seem destined to play faster this season, but how exactly will they do that?

Oct 5 • 7:15 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

John E. Sununu pressed on loyalty to Trump in Nashua forum

John E. Sununu pointed to his bipartisan approach to politics during his previous stretch in Congress while answering voter questions in Nashua on Monday.

Oct 5 • 6:57 PM EDT • Politics • wmur.com

Answer Man: Misleading political ads? What’s up with water alerts?

Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers: Question: The ads against Jamie Ager that are airing on TV now are false. They say that Ager voted against this or that and supported this or that. He is not an elected official and could not support or oppose any legislation. These are the ads paid for by No Going Back PAC. What am I missing? My answer: Well, I’d like to say, “The good old days of American politics where opponents politely disagreed with one another in their advertising.” But honestly, these campaigns have always been uglier than a closeup of my belly button.

Oct 5 • 5:02 PM EDT • Politics • avlwatchdog.org

Third-quarter results are scheduled after market close Oct. 29; First Business Bank takes questions next morning.

Q3 results will be released after market close Oct. 29. The Oct. 30 call starts at 8 a.m. Central, with a simultaneous webcast and investor questions.

Oct 5 • 4:30 PM EDT • Business • stocktitan.net

Send us your questions for Texas Senate candidate James Talarico

Calling all Texas Republicans, Democrats, and Independents! Are you a registered voter in Texas? Then submit questions for CNN & Jubilee’s Town Hall with James Talarico on Wednesday, October 14 and engage in a direct conversation with the Texas Democratic Senate candidate on the issues that matter most to you.

Oct 5 • 4:20 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com

Candidates to field questions at San Joaquin Delta College forum on Tuesday

The forum will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the college’s Dawn Mabalon Forum. It is free and open to the public.

Oct 5 • 4:17 PM EDT • Politics • stocktonia.org

Watch Sirianni presser after Week 4 loss to Rams

Watch Nick Sirianni as he answers questions about the Eagles’ Week 4 loss to the Rams at the Linc.

Oct 5 • 2:35 PM EDT • Sports • nbcsportsphiladelphia.com

How a controversial camera system is monitoring mental health patients

The Lampard Inquiry started back in September 2024 and I remember going to the first hearing in Chelmsford. Subscribe The bereaved families made placards of their loved ones, they stood outside in silence and then laid flowers to mark the moment. Now, two years on, in a process meant to last another two years, there’s been a development. Last week, we were told the chair, Baroness Lampard, pictured below, could be looking at making interim recommendations. Throughout the process, she has remarked that although this inquiry is looking at almost 2,000 people who were under the care of Essex mental health services from 2000-2023 when they died, the findings could have national implications for other trusts. ‘Records 24 hours a day in patient’s bedroom’ So why has this happened? One system that the inquiry is going to take a closer look at is a controversial monitoring system called Oxevision. It monitors some vital signs of patients remotely by using a camera placed in a room. It’s used by 40% of NHS mental health trusts. But campaigners, particularly the group Stop Oxevision, have asked for this technology to be removed from mental health wards as soon as possible. I spoke to a member, Hat Porter, today and they described to me what they thought this technology did and explained their concerns: “It records 24 hours a day and it’s located in a patient’s bedroom, which is obviously somewhere you’d usually expect to be a private place. “Our concerns are that the use of the technology has been has been kind of implemented as a substitute for proper in-person support, that it’s kind of over relied on and that there’s a lot of misunderstandings and that the presence of a camera, which has often been used without people’s consent, sometimes without even their knowledge, that that has a really big impact on privacy, dignity and human rights.” ‘Not sufficient’ I put it to them that the company behind Oxevision would dispute their claims about consent and in videos I’ve seen online from NHS trusts, they make it clear that the technology is complementary to trained staff and not a replacement. [ ](https://channel4news.substack.com/p/the-nottingham-inquiry-what-lessons) [ How the Nottingham inquiry shines a spotlight on other key mental health care failings ](https://channel4news.substack.com/p/the-nottingham-inquiry-what-lessons) Victoria Macdonald · Feb 12 [ Read full story ](https://channel4news.substack.com/p/the-nottingham-inquiry-what-lessons) A team of lawyers has been working on the inquiry and with bereaved family members who have concerns about this technology. I spoke to solicitor Priya Singh, from Hodge Jones & Allen, who made the point that questions usually asked by nurses would be missing from using devices like this. “It’s not sufficient to say, oh, the patient is moving around. Somebody must go in and say, are you okay? Are you distressed? Do you want help? Is there anything I can do? Share Channel 4 News “How are you spending your time? So I think a lot of our families cannot see the function of it when ultimately the patient should only really be observed when they’ve been prescribed to be observed, they can be observed more, but that more should really be happening face to face.” The Chair will hear evidence over the next two weeks and then a decision made after that, which could have national impact if she does decide this technology should be investigated or even removed. The Department of Health and Social Care said: “The Government is committed to ensuring that lessons are learned from the Lampard Inquiry to improve patient safety. “We are confident that the Inquiry will play an important role in identifying wider learnings for the health system following the tragic events in Essex and will contribute to improvements in patient safety.” We approached LIO Health, which runs Oxevision, for comment. Subscribe Share Channel 4 News Leave a comment

Oct 5 • 2:03 PM EDT • Health • channel4news.substack.com

Massachusetts Governor Urges No Vote on Cannabis Prohibition Measure

Gov. Maura Healey said she opposes Question 8, a ballot measure that aims to wipe out the state’s adult-use legalization laws.

Oct 5 • 2:01 PM EDT • Business • cannabisbusinesstimes.com

After a legal battle, Marylanders will vote on future redist...

Marylanders will vote on Question 3 in November after the state’s highest court cleared a revised redistricting amendment for the ballot.

Oct 5 • 11:30 AM EDT • Politics • afro.com

Spurs' Harris questionable for regular-season opener after straining left calf

The 6-foot-8 power forward will be reevaluated following the team’s five-game preseason schedule.

Oct 5 • 9:50 AM EDT • Sports • spectrumlocalnews.com

Answering Your Questions as Padres Near Disastrous End to Season

The San Diego Padres are inches away from total collapse, digging themselves into an 0-2 hole against the Milwaukee Brewers. They'll now turn home to a raucous Petco Park crowd with the hopes that they can stave off execution. The postseason allows for some insane turns of fortune. Could the Friars be the next recipient …

Oct 5 • 9:47 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Is it legal? Trump promises Medicare and ACA checks without Congress ahead of midterm elections

President Trump is promising $90 payments to more than 20 million Medicare seniors and $500 refunds to nearly 1 million ACA enrollees, bypassing Congress and raising legal questions from Democrats.

Oct 5 • 8:26 AM EDT • Politics • news5cleveland.com

Democrats want to change the rules for recall elections. Voters get their say with Prop. 5

Democrats say the recall process has gotten out of hand and they want to drop the 'second question' to replace a politician.

Oct 5 • 8:00 AM EDT • Politics • calmatters.org

Instinct users say its AI agent is pushing unsolicited products

Instinct users say the AI agent sent unsolicited shopping picks, raising questions about whether it's monetizing their data.

Oct 5 • 7:40 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com

Yale School of Medicine On the Science of Childhood Anxiety, Say, Anxiety Disorders Are the Most Common Mental Health Challenges In Youth

Credit: Matt Bradbury October 5, 2026 - By Isabella Backman - Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health challenges in youth. Left untreated, they can disrupt the lives of both children and their families. The good news is that with intervention, most children will overcome these conditions. Across Yale School of Medicine, scientists are working to understand anxiety at every level, from common anxious behaviors to molecular biomarkers in the brain. They are using their findings to develop and disseminate new evidence-based treatments for childhood anxiety. Today, the go-to treatment for childhood anxiety disorders is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This is a form of psychotherapy that teaches children skills for confronting anxious thoughts and helps them practice managing situations that cause anxiety. While it is the gold-standard treatment backed by considerable scientific evidence, up to 50% of children will not see sufficient benefit from CBT alone. Wendy Silverman, PhD, Alfred A. Messer Professor in the Child Study Center, co-directs the Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program alongside Eli Lebowitz, PhD, associate professor in the Child Study Center. One of their main interests is learning how to improve outcomes beyond CBT. “We’re developing cutting-edge, research-based knowledge that can reduce the suffering that anxiety causes children and their families,” says Silverman. Changing parent behavior YSM experts are investigating how to improve CBT outcomes for children by involving the parents. Silverman’s research has uncovered two main components of parent intervention that improve childhood anxiety: not enabling children to completely avoid the things that make them anxious and taking steps to enhance their autonomy. Parents may unintentionally reinforce their child’s anxiety by allowing them to avoid what makes them anxious. They also may unintentionally limit the children’s sense of autonomy by being overly intrusive. “One of the things that we take pride in is that we’ve focused on trying to understand what parents need to do, and to test our ideas and see if changing the parents’ behaviors is enhancing the effects of CBT,” Silverman says. “Our findings thus far suggest that they do." As much as CBT can be helpful, it can also be challenging to get one’s child to do the necessary steps for CBT to work. This is one important reason why Lebowitz created a novel intervention program for parents named Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE). Existing intervention programs often teach parents to act as therapists for their child, such as training them on how to practice breathing exercises. “It makes sense, but this doesn’t work very well in practice,” says Lebowitz. “And part of the reason, I think, is that it’s not easy to get your kid to do things, especially if they’re not excited about doing it.” SPACE is unique because it focuses entirely on parent involvement and changing parental behavior—children are not involved in the sessions. For example, parents learn how to use supportive messages that convey confidence that their child can tolerate and manage distress. “It might sound like a parent saying to a child, ‘I get that this is really hard for you, but I know that you can handle it,’” Lebowitz says. The program also works with parents to identify the ways in which they are accommodating anxious behaviors. “We’ll pick one thing that parents are doing that is an accommodation and help them make a detailed plan for how they’re going to change that,” Lebowitz explains. Treating Anxiety in Children and Adolescents Much of the existing research on SPACE has focused on parents of children under age 14. Ongoing studies are now exploring its use with parents of older teens. “Both anxiety and accommodation can interfere with normative developmental shifts during the teen years, including increased autonomy and individuation from parents,” says Rebecca Etkin, PhD, associate research scientist in the Child Study Center. “In this sense, SPACE may be particularly well-suited for anxious teens and their parents. We want to see whether it is effective during this distinct developmental window.” Unfortunately, many families in need of CBT face barriers, including limited availability of services and geographic constraints. One way to improve access is digital interventions. Silverman and her team are developing an evidence-based digitized intervention program for parents that they can access directly from their computer or smart phone. “The work we’re doing will be one of the very few parent interventions that is digitized and importantly tested for effectiveness,” she says. Creating interventions for anxiety-related challenges Silverman and Lebowitz recently received a generous gift to develop and test other interventions that help parents reduce other child anxiety-related behavioral and emotional difficulties, such as restrictive eating and unexplained somatic symptoms. One of these projects in particular focuses on understanding the risks of social media and its potential benefits, including offering a sense of connection. “A lot of research has focused on the idea that social media is harmful and the less of it the better,” says Lebowitz. “But we actually see is that this is not quite right—there are negatives, but there are also positives. So, we’re trying to get a little bit more nuanced of a picture.” The team is working with teens with social anxiety and their parents over an extended period to better understand their social media habits and how their anxiety levels affect engagement with different platforms. The teens will answer questions sent to an app on their phones about mood and social media usage in an effort to capture emotional responses as they unfold. “We hope to develop interventions that can help make the best of social media while protecting against the more problematic effects,” Lebowitz says. The brain’s role in anxiety Researchers are also testing therapies to address anxiety at the neurological and molecular levels. In collaboration with Dylan Gee, PhD, professor of psychology in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Hilary Blumberg, MD, John and Hope Furth Professor of Psychiatric Neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine, Lebowitz and Silverman are using brain imaging to identify changes in a child’s brain before and after parents enroll in SPACE. In one study, children viewed anxiety-inducing images while undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); the researchers conducted scans with and without the children’s parents nearby. Before SPACE, children’s brains were better able to activate the regulatory circuitry needed to turn off an anxious response when their parents were nearby. But after SPACE, children could activate this circuitry even without the parent around. “As parents work on gradually reducing some of their accommodations, you can see a child get better at regulating their own fear system in the brain,” Lebowitz says. “It’s remarkable.” Research into the molecular underpinnings of anxiety can also inform new childhood anxiety treatments. In a recent study, Lebowitz, Silverman, and Flora Vaccarino, MD, Harris Professor in the Child Study Center, discovered that a protein known as fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) could be protective from the toxic effects of stress. FGF2 levels in children and their parents were linked to the children’s risk of developing anxiety and depression, the study showed. The findings could help explain why some children who are exposed to early life trauma such as poverty or abuse are more prone to developing mental health disorders. And FGF2 could be a target for treatment. “This is very novel because it starts to give a clue to what is the molecular chain that connects those lived experiences to the actual psychological outcomes,” Lebowitz says. New ways to study and treat childhood anxiety Michael Crowley, PhD, associate professor in the Child Study Center, collaborates with Silverman and Lebowitz to study the role that attention plays in development and maintenance of childhood anxiety. There is a large body of research that shows that anxious children, like anxious adults, are prone to focus on threatening stimuli such as angry faces compared with neutral faces. This has led to innovative interventions that involve attention retraining. The idea is that if experts train children to look away from threatening stimuli, it may reduce their anxiety—especially children with social anxiety who are most prone to attend to threats. The researchers have just completed a clinical trial for attention retraining with 10- to 14-year-olds with social anxiety disorders and are currently analyzing the findings. Besides this innovative attention retraining research, as Crowly notes, “I like to design tasks that are engaging to kids,” Crowley says. “My goal is to assess something without the kids knowing what we are assessing.” With this goal in mind, Crowley has created a virtual game, named Boom, to study threat processing in children with anxiety disorders. The game is similar to that of hot potato—the child and three digital players take turns virtually passing a ball to each other’s gloves. At some point, the ball turns into a bomb, and as the bomb lands in each player’s glove, the outline of the glove turns yellow. The goal is to avoid having the bomb go off in your glove. What isn’t obvious is that the game is designed to measure different types of threatening stimuli, both ambiguous and direct. In the game, the direct threat occurs as the bomb is traveling towards your glove. The ambiguous threat is the yellow outlined glove as it is unknown where the bomb will travel next. While children play the game, Crowley’s team measures their brain activity using electroencephalography (EEG). The researchers have discovered that in kids with anxiety, the brain reacts more strongly to ambiguous threats than it does in their peers, but less strongly to direct threats. They believe that the initial abnormally large brain response to not knowing where the bomb is going impairs the brain's ability to properly respond when the threat is actually traveling the child’s way. “The brains of children with anxiety are unable to differentiate between threats you need to do something about and those that are not your problem.” Michael Crowley, PhD, develops innovative games for studying anxiety in children and adolescents.Credit: Matt Bradbury Based on these insights, Crowley hopes to study whether interventions like attention training could restore appropriate threat processing. Crowley’s team is also working on a test called the Balloon Risk Avoidance Task, which evaluates risk-taking and avoidance behaviors. It features a digital balloon that is full of air and about to burst. Kids have six seconds to let air out of the balloon. The more air they let out, the less risk they face that the balloon will pop. But at the same time, the balloon becomes less valuable as it deflates. “The more air you keep in the balloon, the more points you get,” Crowley explains. So far, the researchers have found that when the balloons pop unexpectedly, teens with social anxiety show distinct brain responses. Studying these responses can help psychologists understand the underlying pathways driving the various manifestations of anxiety. The genetics of anxiety When Thomas Fernandez, MD, associate professor in the Child Study Center and of psychiatry, was still in training, there was a lot of excitement about understanding the genetics associated with autism spectrum disorder. Since then, scientists have identified around 250 genes associated with autism. The genetic contribution to anxiety disorders, on the other hand, has historically received less attention. Anxiety is less heritable than autism, but the genetic contribution for anxiety disorders that emerge in childhood may be higher than for anxiety disorders overall. While scientists estimate the heritability of anxiety disorders in general to be around 30% to 50%, some studies suggest higher heritability for certain childhood-onset anxiety presentations. “I saw firsthand how researchers in the field went about finding vulnerability genes for autism,” Fernandez says. “So, we’re using a very similar playbook for childhood anxiety.” “I saw firsthand how researchers in the field went about finding vulnerability genes for autism. So, we’re using a very similar playbook for childhood anxiety.” Thomas Fernandez, MD Associate Professor In the Child Study Center and in Psychiatry Now, Fernandez and Emily Olfson, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Child Study Center, are studying children and their parents to identify genetic changes that are present in the child but not the parents, known as “de novo mutations.” “All of us have some de novo mutations—maybe about 50 to 100 sprinkled throughout the genome,” Olfson says. “But when they occur within the coding regions of genes, they can be really disruptive.” Previous research shows that people with autism have higher rates of damaging de novo mutations than the general population. In 2022, Olfson, Lebowitz, Silverman, and Fernandez published a study on 68 children and their families that found that children with anxiety had similarly high levels of these mutations. Studying de novo mutations can help point the researchers to where they should be looking for genes associated with anxiety. “The end game is using the genes to steer us toward the right part of biology that we can then target to come up with better treatments,” Fernandez says. Building on those findings, the team is now studying more families to better understand how these de novo mutations, along with other genetic and environmental factors, shape pediatric anxiety disorders. They recently received a National Institutes of Health grant to enroll 750 new families over the next five years. Olfson is the principal investigator, with co-investigators Lebowitz, Fernandez, Silverman, and Shuangge Steven Ma, PhD, department chair and professor of biostatistics at Yale School of Public Health. Neurodevelopment, Risk Genes, and Mental Health Conditions - The Olfson Lab Joel Gelernter, MD, Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry, is interested in how different anxiety disorders differ genomically. “We are studying social phobia, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder, working to understand why people differ in their risk to these specific anxiety disorders and evaluating various risk factors,” he says. Gelernter was recently involved in one of the largest studies to date of the genomics underlying anxiety disorder. The study included around 122,000 people with anxiety disorders and around 730,000 without. It found that some genetic differences associated with anxiety were linked to signaling that helps reduce overactivity in the nervous system. Many anxiety medications available today work by targeting this process. “It’s nice when the biology that you get out of a large genome-wide study ratifies things that we already know because that can help increase confidence in further findings from the study,” Gelernter says. Uncovering the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders John Krystal, MD, Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor of Translational Research and chair of the Department of Psychiatry, is interested in the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), of which anxiety is a major symptom. In the late 1980s, Krystal’s team discovered that the drug yohimbine activated symptoms in patients with PTSD. “This was the first time we could link a specific biological mechanism to the symptoms of PTSD,” Krystal says. At the time, he adds, this finding was highly controversial. “A lot of people felt that PTSD was a purely psychological syndrome that didn’t have an underlying biology.” Since then, Krystal has dived deep into understanding the neurobiology of PTSD to learn how to better treat it. His team is evaluating the use of ketamine and psychedelics. These would be among the first treatments to be developed specifically for PTSD. They may also be applicable for other disorders including anxiety disorders, Krystal adds. An important gap in PTSD treatment is the absence of biological tests that inform how to best help patients manage their PTSD symptoms. A doctor doesn’t diagnose cancer based on how they feel. Rather, they use tests of the biology of the cancer to determine the best course of treatment. “And we can’t do that in any psychiatric disorder other than Alzheimer’s disease,” Krystal says. “But now we are building a foundation for this approach to the treatment of anxiety disorders for the first time.” Source: Yale School of Medicine

Oct 5 • 6:44 AM EDT • Science • goldrushcam.com

What Are the Biggest Questions in Science Today? 100 Scientists Weigh In.

We asked 100 scientists about unsolved problems in their fields. They sent back provocations — on the origins of life, the possibilities for human progress and much more.

Oct 5 • 5:02 AM EDT • Science • nytimes.com

First look: Metallica opens Sphere Las Vegas residency in epic fashion

LAS VEGAS — James Hetfield had one question for fans:

Oct 5 • 3:52 AM EDT • Entertainment • havasunews.com

5 winners, 5 losers from Lions’ loss to the Panthers

The Detroit Lions fell flat against the Carolina Panthers and are now facing some serious questions about their team.

Oct 5 • 12:15 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

CDC Plans To Drop Disability Questions From Federal Health Survey

A proposed revamp of a key federal survey could lead to a drastic undercount of Americans with developmental disabilities, advocates warn.

Oct 4 • 10:01 PM EDT • Health • disabilityscoop.com

Flint residents ask questions at Mayoral and Board of Education forum

Flint Mayoral and Board of Education candidates answered questions from the public ahead of the November election at Brennan Community Center.

Oct 4 • 8:13 PM EDT • Politics • abc12.com

Scientists Uncover a “Pain Switch” That Could Help Ease Arthritis Pain

For years, scientists thought they understood the job of a protein called TRPM2. It sits on the endings of sensory nerves and detects mild, non-painful warmth. That seemed to settle the question of wh...

Oct 4 • 3:29 PM EDT • Science • yahoo.com

Ankle injury for Lamar Jackson in Week 4

Ravens QB Lamar Jackson questionable to return because of ankle issue

Oct 4 • 3:08 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Saquon Barkley downgraded to out

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley was downgraded from questionable to out in the first half of Week 4

Oct 4 • 2:26 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Column: Did Iowa miss chance to address kids’ mental health?

I question if the decisions made were the best use for the funds. What about designating more to school and community grants, which could hire more counselors and therapists? Or

Oct 4 • 1:39 PM EDT • Health • thegazette.com

Saquon Barkley questionable to return with hamstring injury

Oct 4 • 1:21 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Lane Johnson update: Eagles tackle suddenly questionable for Week 4

The Eagles could be without their All Pro right tackle against the Rams in Week 4.

Oct 4 • 11:15 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

3 Questions For Rockets Preseason Opener In Macao

NBA preseason is already underway. Likely MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo has made his unofficial debut for the Miami Heat. Houston Rockets fans will have to wait until Friday, October 9th for their team to play the Dallas Mavericks in Macao. Here are three questions they should look out for when that time comes. 3 Questions …

Oct 4 • 9:26 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Perelel CEO On The One Investor Question That Said It All About Women’s Health

Victoria Thain Gioia built Perelel into a women’s health brand after seeing the gaps in prenatal nutrition, funding and care for women.

Oct 4 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • forbes.com

Daughter of MP murdered five years ago says politicians still at risk

Katie Amess questions if anything has changed to protect politicians five years after her father's death.

Oct 4 • 7:59 AM EDT • Politics • yahoo.com

Daughter of murdered MP Sir David Amess says politicians still at risk

Katie Amess questions if anything has changed to protect politicians five years after her father's death.

Oct 4 • 7:59 AM EDT • Politics • bbc.com

New Research Just Linked a Popular Supplement to Faster Progression of Dementia

New research raises some questions.

Oct 4 • 7:45 AM EDT • Health • prevention.com

Should the Laver Cup Finally Bring Women Into the Mix?

Okay, so let’s try to make this Laver Cup hypothetical, civil, shall we? An obvious question hangs over the event called the Laver Cup. Why is it not called the Williams Cup? No, seriously now. Where are the women? For nine editions now, the formula has remained straightforward: six men from Europe, six from the …

Oct 4 • 7:30 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

One Key Question Vikings Must Answer on Sunday

Taking a look at one key question the Minnesota Vikings have to answer on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins.

Oct 4 • 7:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

What Amendment 3 reveals about housing and politics

As we approach the Nov. 3 midterm elections, when seemingly everything is politically filtered or turned into a line of attack, it raises the question: is housing political?

Oct 4 • 7:00 AM EDT • Politics • miamiherald.com

Colorado’s mobster democracy

The issues on your ballot aren’t just questions about trains, taxes and spending. They are exhibits in a larger case: dishonesty, intimidation and political bullying have become standard operating procedure at the Colorado Capitol. The message from lawmakers is increasingly simple: Vote however you like — we’ll make sure it turns out the way we […]

Oct 4 • 7:00 AM EDT • Politics • coloradopolitics.com

FEC questions thousands of recurring online donations to Eric Schmitt

Thirteen donors flagged in federal letters appear nearly 5,700 times in Schmitt’s reports, highlighting issues with recurring online contributions.

Oct 4 • 4:55 AM EDT • Politics • columbiatribune.com

Nobel laureate Eric Cornell: ‘Progress in science comes from asking new questions’

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Eric Cornell says scientists should focus on doing good science and embrace the joy of discovery, and one day they may discover something new to everybody.

Oct 4 • 4:05 AM EDT • Science • e.vnexpress.net

3 Big Questions for the A's This Offseason

With a GM vacancy, a need for pitching, and veterans who may no longer fit the roster as we look ahead, the A's will have plenty of big decisions to make this offseason.

Oct 4 • 1:42 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Eating More Protein Might Not Be as Healthy as You Think

A comprehensive look at scientific research to date points to unexpected benefits from consuming less protein, challenging the surging popularity of protein-packed meals and snacks. The research also raises a bigger question: How much protein do we really need?

Oct 3 • 9:34 PM EDT • Health • inc.com

The Boston Celtics can extend point guard Payton Pritchard

But the question is whether the storied franchise will actually do so.

Oct 3 • 9:18 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Josh Sweat injury: Arizona Cardinals elevate Cameron Robertson

Josh Sweat's availability is more in question against the Giants with the Cardinals' announced roster move.

Oct 3 • 7:01 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Valkyries to face defending-champion Aces, questions in semifinals

The Golden State Valkyries are the highest seed left in the WNBA playoffs, but Las Vegas was 3-0 in regular-season meetings between the teams. Can Natalie Nakase's team stop the star-studded Aces?

Oct 3 • 6:54 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Questions persist around horse deaths at Humboldt County Fair

The events attending veterinarians said the incidents were ‘bad luck accidents,’ but also pointed to laxness of rodeo regulation versus horseracing.

Oct 3 • 5:45 PM EDT • Entertainment • times-standard.com

Noah Fant listed as questionable for Week 4

Saints TE Noah Fant questionable for Week 4 after three limited practices

Oct 3 • 3:18 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Why hasn’t the Trump administration decided the fate of TPS for Salvadorans?

The Trump administration still hasn't reached a decision, plunging the Salvadoran community into uncertainty and raising questions about what has prompted the delay.

Oct 3 • 12:35 PM EDT • Politics • latimes.com

Tyjae Spears questionable for Week 4

Typae Spears' status for Ravens game up in the air

Oct 3 • 12:02 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Gasperini: “The match vs Verona the most exciting of all.”

Gian Piero Gasperini answered a barrage of questions from La Gazzetta dello Sport. The Roma coach looked back on some of his time with the Giallorossi, starting with the most emotional match: “I’d...

Oct 3 • 11:25 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Some 'questionable' Michigan players available for Minnesota game

Michigan (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) faces Minnesota (3-1, 1-0) in the 100th meeting for the Little Brown Jug, the oldest trophy game in college football.

Oct 3 • 11:09 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Live Nation Entertainment (LYV) Stock Stays Hard To Read After Its 93% Run

Live Nation Entertainment has seen its share price advance strongly over the past few years, which naturally puts the focus on whether the current US$168.77 level is supported by what the business can generate in cash. With the stock giving back some ground in recent weeks, the question now is how that recent share move lines up against the value implied by its cash flows. Over the past 3 years the stock has returned 92.9%, which raises the issue of whether the market is now asking investors...

Oct 3 • 9:08 AM EDT • Entertainment • finance.yahoo.com

‘You cannot force them to stay in business’: Jake, Rantz question how Seattle businesses will absorb a $22.14 minimum wage

Jake Skorheim and Jason Rantz analyze how Seattle businesses will adapt to the new $22.14 minimum wage set for January 1, 2027.

Oct 3 • 8:00 AM EDT • Business • mynorthwest.com

Purplish: ‘The Great Colorado Ballot-O-Rama’ Part II

In the second half of the Purplish live event, the temperature rises on reporters in the host seat as they try to make the many ballot questions more digestible.

Oct 3 • 8:00 AM EDT • Politics • kunc.org

David Ellison just brought in a co-CEO to run his new empire: Meet Ynon Kreiz

Ynon Kreiz's appointment as co-CEO of Skydance answers a key governance question for Ellison's soon-to-be-merged company.

Oct 3 • 7:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • cnbc.com

Letters to Sports: USC's defense, sportsmanship called into question

Readers of the Los Angeles Times Sports section give their thoughts on USC's loss to Oregon, and the horrific late hit, the Dodgers playoff chances and more.

Oct 3 • 7:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Is An Undergraduate Business Degree Worth It? 5 Questions To Ask

How to choose an undergraduate business school: 5 questions about alumni outcomes, from job placement and salaries to debt and happiness, that reveal true ROI.

Oct 3 • 7:00 AM EDT • Business • forbes.com

As midterms near, some Republicans are starting to question Trump

WASHINGTON — The most striking thing about the U.S. Senate leaving town early to campaign was all the grousing Republicans did about President Donald Trump before going.

Oct 3 • 5:28 AM EDT • Politics • nola.com

Manitowoc letters question fluoride and support Brad Smith

This week’s Manitowoc letters debate fluoride research and support Brad Smith for Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District.

Oct 3 • 5:07 AM EDT • Science • htrnews.com

U.S.-Russia Talks on Ukraine Now Involve an Oil Deal Tied to Trump Allies

President Vladimir V. Putin brought up a sale of Russian energy assets with President Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, pushing a deal that raises new questions about conflicts of interest.

Oct 3 • 5:02 AM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

'Digger' explained: You got questions? Valid.

Tom Cruise's latest movie has a big twist that might have audiences scratching their heads. Spoilers ahead.

Oct 3 • 5:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • mashable.com

The most radical thing college can do is change your mind

"I am not leaving every discussion with a completely different set of beliefs. Instead, I am becoming more aware of why I hold the views I do, especially when someone gives me a reason to question them."

Oct 3 • 2:40 AM EDT • Politics • miamistudent.net

NAMI New Mexico to host behavioral health community forum

The free event invites residents to ask city and county leaders tough questions about the region’s behavioral health system.

Oct 2 • 11:45 PM EDT • Health • santafenewmexican.com

What a can of Chef Boyardee taught me about politics...

Four years ago, I asked then-Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney a question about inflation during a video interview. I had no idea that his answer would become the most widely seen moment in Halston Media history. Maloney recalled that when money...

Oct 2 • 10:15 PM EDT • Politics • news.halstonmedia.com

WINK News to host Medicare Help Center as 50,000 Lee Health patients face insurance changes

WINK Investigates is hosting a special event to help answer pressing questions from the community.

Oct 2 • 8:14 PM EDT • Health • winknews.com

Top Three Questions the Astros Must Answer During the Offseason

With the season over and Joe Espada's future uncertain, the Astros face a pitching staff in need of help and a handful of young players that might see more playing time in 2027.

Oct 2 • 8:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Keenan Allen misses Friday's practice, questionable to play Sunday

Oct 2 • 6:19 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Rams place Terrance Ferguson on IR

Ferguson is out and Colby Parkinson is questionable

Oct 2 • 6:01 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

A system under strain: Deadly attack raises questions about mental health beds

Second-degree murder, attempted murder, and assault- crimes that happened in three counties over the course of six weeks.

Oct 2 • 5:40 PM EDT • Health • kstp.com

3 Biggest Questions Facing Pirates Entering Critical Offseason

Here are the three biggest questions facing the Pittsburgh Pirates entering a critical offseason.

Oct 2 • 5:34 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

3 Biggest Questions Facing Phillies Entering Crucial Offseason

Here are the three biggest questions facing the Philadelphia Phillies entering a critical offseason.

Oct 2 • 5:23 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Zay Flowers listed as questionable

Ravens WR Zay Flowers questionable after a limited practice Friday

Oct 2 • 4:36 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Ravens list Zay Flowers, Ronnie Stanley as questionable

Oct 2 • 4:20 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Kenyon Sadiq listed as questionable for Week 4

Jets TE Kenyon Sadiq questionable after three straight limited practices

Oct 2 • 4:18 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Bryan Cook, Dalton Risner listed as questionable for Bengals

Oct 2 • 4:11 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Studying Science in an Anti-Scientific Time

This Chronicle Review Deep Cut was first published in 2025. By Julianne Werlin Thanks for reading The Chronicle Review! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe The last two decades have not been kind to science studies. Already bruised and battered by the “science wars” of the 1990s, by the 2000s sociologists of science — who had long argued that science had to be understood in its human context — were encountering the funhouse-mirror version of their own views in right-wing critiques of climate scientists. It was enough to give some prominent scholars pause. “Was I wrong to participate in the invention of this field known as science studies?” asked Bruno Latour, the most famous sociologist of science in the world, in 2003. “Should we apologize for having been wrong all along? Or should we rather bring the sword of criticism to criticism itself and do a bit of soul-searching here: What were we really after when we were so intent on showing the social construction of scientific facts?” In response, Latour proposed a change of method and attitude. Science studies, now chastened and contrite, would no longer seek to strip facts of their authority, but to enrich and enhance them. What this meant in practice was never fully clear. But his diagnosis of problems resonated, even if his solutions did not. Latour’s exercise in public hand-wringing signaled a shift in mood. By 2016, with the first election of Donald Trump, the idea that skepticism of science was a right-wing position, not a left-wing one, had become a commonplace, discussed eagerly in The New York Times. For liberals, vaccine denial during the Covid era and Trump’s second-term attacks on the funding of scientific research, covered extensively in these pages, added a new urgency to the defense of science on both practical and principled grounds. There was little appetite for a sociology or philosophy of science that emphasized the messiness and missteps of the scientific process rather than its integrity and triumphs. The distinguished historian of science Peter Dear’s new book, The World as We Know It: From Natural Philosophy to Modern Science (Princeton University Press, 2025), which seeks to tell the story of 18th- and 19th-century science for a general public, may seem comfortably remote from these bitter contests. In its 16 short chapters, Dear draws swift, sure sketches of major discoveries from Newton to Einstein, ably guiding the reader through debates on stellar nebulae, animal taxonomy, atomic chemistry, evolution, and other flashpoints in the history of science. But though a work of history, Dear’s book must still negotiate our polarized present. In a blurb on its back cover, the historian of biology Lynn K. Nyhart alludes to the “present moment, when scientific knowledge is being swamped by misinformation and its institutions are under siege.” Dear himself, in his conclusion, refers to the “yard signs” and “bumper stickers” that proclaim “Science Is Real.” One antidote to both anti-science propaganda and to reductive slogans in science’s defense is a robust history and philosophy of science: exactly what Dear’s scholarship has long offered. But his new book illustrates how difficult such work has become. Dear, an emeritus professor of history at Cornell University, is best known as a creative and philosophically minded historian of the Scientific Revolution. His edited volume The Literary Structure of Scientific Argument (1991) analyzed the rhetoric of Galileo’s thought experiments to brilliant effect. Discipline and Experience: The Mathematical Way in the Scientific Revolution (1995) was a major contribution to the analysis of scientific experiments in early modern Europe and beyond, while Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge in Transition, 1500-1700 (2001), now in its third edition, remains one of the best overviews of the profound epistemological upheavals of 16th- and 17th-century science. But Dear has also ventured into later periods. Nearly two decades ago, in The Intelligibility of Nature: How Science Makes Sense of the World (2006), he turned to the 18th and 19th centuries to sketch a history and theory of scientific knowledge. Aimed at a generalist audience, Dear’s simple prose belied serious philosophical ambitions. Science, Dear argued, has two aspects: “natural philosophy,” the quest to understand the true nature of the universe, and “instrumentality,” the applied skills and technologies that allow us to manipulate the world for human advantage. Both strands are ancient, but the innovation of the phenomenon we call “science” was to yoke them together. As Francis Bacon wrote, “Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known, the effect cannot be produced,” an insight typically abridged to “knowledge is power.” Or, in Bertrand Russell’s characteristically blunt phrase, science has two functions, “1. to enable us to know things, and 2., to enable us to do things.” So far, so conventional. But Dear took issue with this familiar story in one respect. Bacon’s formula implied that theory and practice could be fused in a single method. In fact, Dear argued, the quest to understand nature and the desire to manipulate it were coupled only loosely. They could come together, but they could also pull apart. Focusing on natural philosophy, the “knowing” half of the scientific circle, he used a series of case studies from cosmology, taxonomy, chemistry, electromagnetism, and quantum theory to show how theories changed over time, in dialogue with practice, but never reducible to it. Take the case of matter, the basic substrate of the physical world. In the 18th and 19th centuries, scientists not only disagreed about what it was, but also about how well it could be known. In 1789, the chemist Antoine Lavoisier dismissed speculation about the atomic composition of chemicals as “discussions entirely of a metaphysical nature,” as he sought to orient chemistry away from philosophical abstraction and toward laboratory results. But in the 19th century, atoms returned with a vengeance in the atomic chemistry of John Dalton, who wanted to explain the underlying structure of nature. It was not just that Dalton and Lavoisier had a different set of experimental results, or even a different theory, Dear showed. What counted as an explanation had changed. In arguing that scientific theories depended on their intelligibility to human beings with complex arrays of beliefs and commitments, Dear was in sympathy with science studies. Key figures such as the sociologist Steven Shapin emphasized the importance of psychological mechanisms like trust in the formation and acceptance of scientific ideas. But in focusing on the scientific pursuit of knowledge, not its politics or economics, Dear resisted the more cynical perspective of some of his colleagues. The Intelligibility of Nature strikes a very different note than Shapin’s collection of a few years later, Never Pure: Historical Studies of Science as If It Was Produced by People With Bodies, Situated in Time, Space, Culture, and Society, and Struggling for Credibility and Authority (2010), to name just one example. Walking a very fine line, Dear depicted science as driven at once by complex social dynamics and by the intellectual power of real discoveries. It was a testament not only to his own acumen but also to the vitality of the field that he was able to do so. Nearly two decades later, The World as We Know It returns to the questions broached in The Intelligibility of Nature. Like Dear’s earlier study, it begins with the Newtonian cosmos and ends with debates between Einstein and Bohr on quantum physics. Beyond its terminal figures, many of the same characters appear in both studies, including the naturalists John Ray and the Comte de Buffon; the chemists Étienne François Geoffroy, Antoine Lavoisier, and John Dalton; as well as Charles Darwin and Michael Faraday, among others. Its subject is nearly identical: As in The Intelligibility of Nature, The World as We Know It considers natural philosophy as opposed to instrumentality, here defined as the “desire to create a picture of what the world is really like — the world as God knows it — rather than simply having instrumental or operational control over it.” The two books also overlap in insights — and sometimes even in language. The reader who has learned in The Intelligibility of Nature that Buffon’s method of classifying animals “reflected his belief in the importance of the senses and empiricism in learning about nature (a doctrine associated with Newton and the philosopher John Locke)” will experience a sense of déjà vu on reading, in The World as We Know It, that the classification “reflects Buffon’s commitment to the epistemological stance of Newton and his philosophical underlaborer John Locke, who stressed the role of the senses in creating natural knowledge.” Later in the passage, we read that, “because of its stress on understanding the ways of life of animals in their environments, Buffon’s approach could almost be labeled (anachronistically) as ‘ecological.’” And again, “an anachronistic way of putting it would be to say that Buffon recommends an ecological mode of understanding.” Likewise, in The Intelligibility of Nature we read of Dalton that he was initially drawn to meteorology, and that: He did a bit of experimental work on these things, especially having to do with the water-holding capacity of gases, but his real interest lay in understanding what, at an underlying natural-philosophical level, was really going on physically.” Whereas, in The World as We Know It: He did experimental work on these things, especially concerning the water-holding capacity of gases — although not at a very refined level quantitatively — but he was continually trying to develop a theoretical conception of what was happening physically. The final full chapter of each book closes on the same resigned note. Intelligibility: These days, most serious work on the natural philosophical underpinnings and implications of quantum mechanics is performed not by physicists but by philosophers of science. Among scientific practitioners themselves, Bohr’s attempt to use instrumentality as sufficient grounds for a respectable science has met with a high degree of success. And again, in The World as We Know It: Bohr’s and Einstein’s concerns are now questions that are mostly discussed by philosophers of science rather than by physicists themselves. The marginalization of these sorts of questions amounts to the demise of natural philosophy, at least in physics, in the 20th century. Quantum mechanics “works,” and that’s good enough for most scientists who encounter it. Examples could be multiplied. When handling the same subject matter, some echoes are inevitable. Scholars should not feel that because they have written “Isaac Newton died in 1727” in one book, in the next they must describe him as perishing, expiring, or meeting his maker. But the repetitions of language and arguments (not to mention six reproduced images) threaded throughout The World as We Know It are more extensive than that. They should have been caught by Princeton University Press or its reviewers, and revised. Because the two books have so much in common, it is easy to see where they diverge. The World as We Know It is a less theoretical work than its predecessor. The sociology of knowledge that organized The Intelligibility of Nature has been reduced in scale and folded into readings and examples. The taut interplay between history and theory, which gave the earlier study so much interest, is there, but it is subtle. In the earlier book, the case studies demonstrated theoretical claims about the character and development of science. In the later work, each narrative of discovery is an end in itself. Insights emerge from the history, but they do not control the organization of the study. With the theory muted, it can be hard to understand the logic uniting Dear’s sprawling history of more than two centuries of scientific knowledge. The 16 brisk chapters cover an enormous amount of material. But the closer the volume edges to comprehensiveness, the more obvious the missing elements become. A chapter on “Institutions and Pedagogy,” describing the birth of the research university, illustrates the problem. Inserted roughly halfway through the book, the unnumbered chapter is designed as an “entr’acte,” in acknowledgement that it does not fit the study’s organization around scientific discoveries. Yet as Dear is well aware, no general history of the development of modern science can bracket its 19th-century institutionalization and professionalization. It was the 19th-century university, after all, that gave us the “scientist,” a term coined by the Cambridge philosopher William Whewell. Dear’s history of scientific discoveries implies a wider social and institutional history, but it remains largely subterranean, only occasionally extruded under the pressure of the narrative. It must be said that the balance is not all on the side of the earlier study. There are some advantages to the more historical, less theoretical organization of The World as We Know It. Dear’s accounts of paradigm shifts are remarkably lucid, no small accomplishment given that they span fields and centuries. He makes excellent use of the wealth of new scholarship on Darwin and his influences, to which he has himself contributed. It is satisfying to see puzzle pieces from Buffon’s natural history, Georges Cuvier’s animal taxonomy, Thomas Robert Malthus’s demography, and Charles Lyell’s geology recombined seamlessly in the Darwinian jigsaw. Likewise, Dear’s discussion of stellar nebulae, divided between chapters two and 15, shows vividly how Newton, Kant, Herschel, and Hubble reimagined insights and observations as they sought to discover whether the diffuse light that filtered through early telescopes was a glowing, gaseous substance or discrete but distant stars. Yet despite such pleasures, the book remains a more modest work than The Intelligibility of Nature. Dear has clearly not changed his views about the history of science. But in the two decades that have elapsed, the discipline and the world around it have changed, making it harder to write a sociologically and philosophically ambitious history of science for the general reader. That is a shame, because in the age of Silicon Valley and biotechnology, both the reciprocity and the tensions Dear identified between the epistemological and instrumental ambitions of science are more evident than ever. In recent years, some of the most exciting new books on the history of science in early modernity have focused precisely on this pressure point. Important studies such as Pamela H. Smith’s From Lived Experience to the Written Word (2022), James Poskett’s Horizons: The Global Origins of Modern Science (2022), and Vera Keller’s The Interlopers: Early Stuart Projects and the Undisciplining of Knowledge (2023) all shed new light on how early modern science negotiated the relationship between its instrumental and epistemological ambitions, or in Russell’s phrase, knowing and doing. There is every opportunity for a philosophically informed approach to draw new insights from this wealth of material. Dear, unfortunately, has not done so in The World as We Know It. But for future scholars of the history of science, his body of work over nearly four decades may provide just the model. Julianne Werlin is an associate professor of English at Duke University. Thanks for reading The Chronicle Review! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe

Oct 2 • 2:52 PM EDT • Science • chronicleofhighereducation.substack.com

NC election experts warn about voter trust as AI makes political misinformation easier to create

Artificial intelligence is making it easier to create realistic political images, videos and audio, leaving voters with a new question as they head toward the midterm elections: How do they know what they are seeing is real?

Oct 2 • 2:50 PM EDT • Politics • ncnewsline.com

Questionable tag for Keenan Allen

Colts WR Keenan Allen's Week 4 status uncertain because of groin injury

Oct 2 • 2:35 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

First look: Metallica opens Sphere Las Vegas residency in epic fashion

LAS VEGAS — James Hetfield had one question for fans: “Do you want heavy, Vegas?” the Metallica frontman asked the capacity crowd assembled before him and his fellow bandmates —

Oct 2 • 2:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • recorderonline.com

Bishop’s computer science chair says AI is eliminating ‘grunt work’ and reshaping digital jobs

Dr. Russell Butler, chair of Bishop’s University’s Department of Computer Science, says artificial intelligence is increasingly taking over routine digital “grunt work,” changing the skills students and workers may need in the years ahead. Photo courtesy of Bishop’s University. Click here to read our platform! Get local news like this every morning. Subscribe free below. Subscribe Pulse Newsroom Artificial intelligence is already taking over some of the routine digital work once performed by entry-level employees, according to Bishop’s University Computer Science chair Dr. Russell Butler — a shift he believes will make expertise, judgement and the ability to evaluate AI-generated work increasingly important. Butler described the change as automation reaching what he calls the “bottom of the cognitive pyramid” during an interview with The Pulse about AI, university education and the future of digital work. His argument is not that humans are disappearing from the workplace. Instead, he sees their role changing as AI becomes capable of handling more of the repetitive tasks involved in computer-based work. “Everything’s converging on just AI basically doing all the grunt work,” Butler said. The bottom of the cognitive pyramid Butler is from Lennoxville, completed his undergraduate studies at Bishop’s and later earned his PhD at the Université de Sherbrooke. He joined Bishop’s in 2019 and now chairs its Department of Computer Science. He uses AI in research, teaching and other creative work, and said the technology is increasingly capable of handling routine digital tasks that once required substantial human time. “You’ve got the grunt work, like moving things around in Excel, doing basic programming tasks,” Butler said. “That’s like the bottom grunt work that the entry-level worker would have done two or three years ago.” Butler went further, saying in his view that much of this type of work has already been absorbed by AI tools. He connected that change to a shift he sees taking place in computer science, where entry-level roles have declined while experienced workers can use AI to increase what they can produce. “A senior developer now has access to essentially an unlimited amount of junior developers on demand,” Butler said. He was describing AI systems metaphorically, not literal employees. His point was that one experienced developer can now ask AI tools to produce code or other technical work that might previously have been assigned to more junior workers. That raises a broader question for universities and employers. If some of the simpler work traditionally given to newcomers can now be done by machines, how do people gain the experience needed to become senior workers themselves? Students doing work that once required years of programming Butler said he is already seeing the change inside his classroom. He created a Bishop’s course called CS208, Coding in Plain English, to show students — including those without traditional programming backgrounds — what they can accomplish using AI. Some come from disciplines such as psychology or neuroscience with no previous programming experience. “What I’m finding is that students who have zero programming experience, they come in from another discipline like psychology or neuroscience or something, they are now able to get up and running with real data sets,” Butler said. Butler’s own doctoral work involved neuroimaging, and he said he has assigned students work he considers comparable to the kinds of analysis he performed during his PhD. He described giving students a real dataset, an expected result and instructions to use AI to complete the analysis. Butler said those students have been able to carry out work at a level he associates with tasks he once performed after years of programming experience. That does not mean a student using AI instantly acquires the same knowledge as an experienced computer scientist. But Butler sees it as evidence that AI can dramatically lower the technical barrier between having a problem to solve and producing a working result. The role of the person using the system then changes. They need to know what to ask for, understand enough about the subject to judge the answer and take responsibility for what is ultimately produced. What about AI hallucinations? One persistent concern surrounding generative AI is hallucination — when a system produces information that sounds convincing but is false or unsupported. Butler said that problem has improved substantially in newer systems and is not as severe as it was with earlier models. He pointed in particular to newer AI systems’ ability to search the web, consult scientific databases and return source links rather than simply generating a citation from their internal model. Butler nevertheless said users should verify what AI produces. “You should verify,” he said while discussing citations generated with AI. His position is that hallucinations have become less common in the systems he uses, not that incorrect AI output is impossible. Human checking remains part of the process. Hours of work compressed Butler offered another example from his administrative work at Bishop’s. The university has been comparing CEGEP courses with first-year Bishop’s courses to determine where students may qualify for advanced standing. Traditionally, Butler said, that means reviewing two sets of course descriptions and manually matching one institution’s courses with another’s. As department chair, that could require hours of reading and comparison. He said AI can now be given both sets of material and asked to generate an initial mapping automatically. “It saves me hours and hours of work,” Butler said. Butler said the AI-generated mapping can also produce a better result than he would produce himself. He sees similar opportunities in businesses. A company may receive specifications, drawings, emails or other digital material from customers and then have employees convert that information into an internal format before anything can be manufactured or delivered. AI can increasingly perform parts of that intermediate processing. In Butler’s view, the employee does not necessarily disappear. Instead, the job becomes more about checking the result. “The human is still there,” he said. Judgement could become more valuable That change is central to Butler’s view of where digital work may be headed. If AI can produce a first draft, write basic code, compare documents or process large amounts of information, he argues that knowledge and judgement become increasingly important. “The real scarce resource going forward is going to be domain knowledge, expertise, and… credentials, authority, the ability to work with other people,” Butler said. He is therefore encouraging students not only to learn AI tools but also to broaden their education. He mentioned acting, fine art and photography as examples of courses that can help develop what he described as taste and intuition — the ability to recognize what is good, what is not and what should be changed. “And that’s the skill that they need now because the grunt work has been automated and now it’s about evaluating what the AI produces and telling it how to improve or expand the output,” Butler said. That does not remove the need for technical knowledge. Butler’s argument is that the emphasis may shift away from manually completing every step of a task and toward directing, checking and improving work produced with AI assistance. He also stressed that humans remain responsible for final decisions. “At the end of the day, the human has to make the final call,” Butler said, pointing to the question of accountability. Physical work may be different Butler draws a distinction between digital work and jobs requiring people to manipulate the physical world. He expects AI to continue advancing quickly in tasks performed almost entirely on computers. He is more cautious about claims that humanoid robots will soon be able to replace workers such as plumbers or electricians. Butler said those trades would not be replaced “anytime soon” in his view and described some current robotics demonstrations as overhyped. He described the situation as counterintuitive. “It’s almost like we solved the highest level first,” he said, contrasting advances in digital AI with the harder problem of building robots capable of operating reliably in the physical world. Butler’s argument is that some digital occupations could face automation sooner than trades requiring complex physical work. The wider AI shift in the Townships Butler’s comments come as local institutions are increasingly grappling with how AI should be used. The federal government recently announced up to $162 million over five years for 10,000 AI-related placements through Mitacs. The Université de Sherbrooke told The Pulse that the number of its collaborative research and innovation projects supported through Mitacs has approximately doubled since 2018-19, while the number of placements has approximately tripled. UdeS also said it already has projects involving both AI adoption and the application of AI to other fields. At Bishop’s, Butler said part of his role involves building the Computer Science department’s local presence, connecting students with regional partners and strengthening relationships with the Sherbrooke technology ecosystem. Those developments put universities in a difficult position. They have to prepare students to use the tools employers increasingly have available while also making sure graduates understand enough to recognize when those tools are wrong, incomplete or being applied to the wrong problem. The risk of losing human skills Butler does not see AI as risk-free. Later in the interview, he raised a separate concern: as AI becomes better at reading, writing, programming and other cognitive tasks, people could lose some of the underlying skills that historically helped produce new ideas. “The other danger is that we’re going to lose the human skills,” Butler said. He specifically mentioned reading and writing and argued that people could lose some of the lower-level understanding that contributes to breakthroughs. Butler said AI systems are based on existing human knowledge and argued that they become much more powerful when paired with a capable person. That tension runs through his view of the technology. AI can remove hours of routine work. It can allow beginners to perform tasks that once required substantial technical training. It can give experienced workers significant leverage. But the more capable the technology becomes, the more important it may be for people to develop the judgement needed to decide what should be done in the first place. For Butler, that is where education may have to change. Students still need to understand their field. They still need to know when something is wrong. And they still need to be able to make the final decision. But if AI increasingly handles the bottom of the cognitive pyramid, the value of a worker may depend less on how quickly they can perform the grunt work and more on whether they understand what the work is supposed to accomplish. Don’t miss the next story that affects your community. Join thousands of readers getting The Pulse every morning—plus breaking news alerts when it matters most. If you value this kind of local journalism, consider supporting it. Subscribe, share and like! Subscribe Share

Oct 2 • 1:57 PM EDT • Science • publisherpt.substack.com

Sean McVay’s Comments About Call Raise Questions About NFL Policy

Discussions between teams and the NFL are not always treated as confidential.

Oct 2 • 1:37 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Chargers-Seahawks Game Preview: 5 Questions with the enemy

How can the Chargers possibly try and contain Seahawks wideout Jaxon Smitch-Njigba?

Oct 2 • 1:15 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

UT's $25 million health AI project has big ambitions and unanswered questions

Experts say only a few university health systems have launched such comprehensive plans around AI, with the potential to impact millions of patients, students and faculty.

Oct 2 • 12:00 PM EDT • Health • yahoo.com

From Rwanda to ACU, Jabo pursues science and service

Before coming to Abilene, Quentin Jabo had a different future in mind. Growing up in Kigali, Rwanda, Jabo attended a minor seminary and once planned to become a priest. His family supported the path, and he saw it as a way to serve others. But during high school, Jabo began questioning whether the priesthood was […]

Oct 2 • 11:16 AM EDT • Science • acuoptimist.com

Duren’s $200 Million Deal Won’t Quiet Detroit’s Title Questions

Jalen Duren finally has his money, and a Yahoo Sports analyst already has doubts about Detroit's core. #Pistons

Oct 2 • 11:10 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Five Good Texans Questions with Blogging the Boys

We catch up with David Halprin of Blogging the Boys for five questions

Oct 2 • 9:48 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Tips For Understanding Your Family Medical History

Knowing your family medical history is essential for understanding your health, so NBC News medical contributor Dr. Akshay Syal stops by TODAY to share some helpful tips, including building a family health tree, asking your family questions, and more.

Oct 2 • 9:26 AM EDT • Health • today.com