SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " Popular " 1,632 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Police respond to report of fight outside popular sports complex in Mason
Multiple officers were called to a report of a fight outside a large and popular sports complex in Mason on Wednesday night.
Popular pasta sauce brand is launching new device to record conversations
Prego is pivoting to…surveillance? The popular pasta sauce brand announced it’s launching a new device that records your family’s dinner conversations. KTLA’s Andy Riesmeyer has m…
iPhone 18 Pro’s new color will be a mix of these three, says leaker
A Weibo leaker has offered a unique description of the iPhone 18 Pro color option that Apple is expected to market as its flagship.
Google Maps is about to get a big dose of AI
Generative AI is being infused into Google's popular feature within Maps.
Westgate Las Vegas’ SuperBook to be operated by Caesars Entertainment
The transition will expand offerings at the popular destination while preserving its identity.
Today's NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints, Answers for April 22 #576
Here's today's Connections: Sports Edition answer and hints for groups. These clues will help you solve The New York Times' popular puzzle game, Connections: Sports Edition, every day.
FactCheck.org Wins People's Voice Webby Award in News & Politics | The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania
FactCheck.org has won the popular-vote People's Voice Award as best news and politics site at the 30th Annual Webby Awards.
GOP strategists required to sign NDAs at meeting on midterm plans
The unusual secrecy surrounding the Waldorf Astoria meeting has frustrated some looking for funding clues as Trump’s popularity has dropped to near historic lows.
The Hideaway Entertainment Options Johnathan Walton’s True-Crime Podcast ‘The Handyman of West Texas’
Johnathan Walton Media has struck a deal with The Hideaway Entertainment to develop his latest true-crime podcast, “The Handyman of West Texas,” for the screen. Walton is a popular true-crime podcast ...
Two-sun planets keep disappearing: Here’s why scientists point to Einstein
Science News: The idea of a planet orbiting two suns has long captured both scientific curiosity and public imagination. Popularised by science fiction, such worlds.
Sennheiser launches HD 480 Pro, the closed-back headphones fans have been waiting for
Sennheiser's new HD 480 Pro is essentially a closed-back reimagining of the company's popular HD 490 Pro headset.
FSU's "Art in STEM" exhibition shows the beauty of science
The exhibition helps the FSU community "bridge the gap between scientific discovery and popular interest." Neighbors can view the exhibition at FSU's Dirac Science Library through the summer.
Scientists discover skincare compound that kills drug-resistant bacteria
A popular Korean skincare ingredient may be far more powerful than anyone realized. Scientists have discovered that madecassic acid—derived from the herb Centella asiatica—can stop antibiotic-resistant bacteria in their tracks, including dangerous strains of E. coli. By targeting a bacterial protein that humans don’t have, the compound disrupts the microbes’ ability to survive, making it a promising new type of antibiotic.
Horticulture specialist finds popular DIY 'lawn tonic' not backed by science
Popular 280 bowling entertainment center rebranded, includes new amenities
🎳 Bowlero is now Lucky Strike off 280. Have you visited this bowling joint? Tell us what you like about it! #bowling #entertainment
Have a small biz? Apply to be at Downtown Detroit Markets this this holiday season
Organizers of the popular holiday markets in Cadillac Square are looking for product-based Detroit businesses to feature at this year's activation.
Chatbots often offer 'problematic' cancer advice, study finds
Popular artificial intelligence programs told users where to find alternative, potentially dangerous treatments for cancer and other health scenarios.
Popular baby food brand hit by 'criminal act' as rat poison found in seized jar
Authorities warn of potentially life-threatening contamination after rat poison was found in a tampered baby food jar likely sold in Europe.
Can You Really Trust Your Sleep-Tracking Wearable?
As sleep-tracking wearables gain popularity, so does a critical question for consumers and patients alike: Can you actually trust the data on your screen?
Hollywood, Silicon Valley turn out for the 'Oscars of Science'
Big names from the worlds of film, technology, music and sports gathered on Saturday in Santa Monica, California, for the Breakthrough Prizes, popularly known as the "Oscars of Science."
Every step in making tea transforms its molecules: here is the science behind what makes a great cup - Futura-Sciences
Tea is the world’s most popular beverage after water. Whether we are talking about matcha, Earl Grey, or oolong, every true tea comes from the leaves of a single plant species: Camellia sinensis. Any other infusion is technically an herbal tea, or tisane. What makes this one plant so remarkable...
Mi Tierra Expands With Full Bar, Bringing Latin Flair And Live Entertainment To Lexington Park
LEXINGTON PARK, Md. — A familiar name in Lexington Park’s dining scene is entering a new chapter, as Mi Tierra Restaurant Bar & Grill prepares to welcome guests to its newly launched full-service bar — adding vibrant nightlife energy to its already popular Latin cuisine. The expansion, set to begin Friday, April 24, introduces an […]
Hollywood, Silicon Valley turn out for the 'Oscars of Science'
Big names from the worlds of film, technology, music and sports gathered on Saturday in Santa Monica, California for the Breakthrough Prizes, popularly known as the "Oscars of Science."
Hollywood, Silicon Valley turn out for the 'Oscars of Science'
Big names from the worlds of film, technology, music and sports gathered on Saturday in Santa Monica, California for the Breakthrough Prizes, popularly known as the "Oscars of Science."
Hollywood, Silicon Valley turn out for the 'Oscars of Science'
Big names from the worlds of film, technology, music and sports gathered on Saturday in Santa Monica, California for the Breakthrough Prizes, popularly known as the "Oscars of Science."
Hollywood, Silicon Valley turn out for the 'Oscars of Science'
Big names from the worlds of film, technology, music and sports gathered on Saturday in Santa Monica, California for the Breakthrough Prizes, popularly known as the "Oscars of Science."
Hollywood, Silicon Valley turn out for the 'Oscars of Science'
Big names from the worlds of film, technology, music and sports gathered on Saturday in Santa Monica, California for the Breakthrough Prizes, popularly known as the "Oscars of Science."
Hollywood, Silicon Valley turn out for the 'Oscars of Science'
Big names from the worlds of film, technology, music and sports gathered on Saturday in Santa Monica, California for the Breakthrough Prizes, popularly known as the "Oscars of Science." So there will ...
Former U.S. Presidents, Entertainment, Sports and Media Leaders Convene in Rare Gathering to Celebrate Country’s 250th Anniversary
IMDb, the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content.
Today's NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints, Answers for April 19 #573
Here's today's Connections: Sports Edition answer and hints for groups. These clues will help you solve The New York Times' popular puzzle game, Connections: Sports Edition, every day.
iPhone 18 Pro Report: Four New Colors Leak As Apple Cancels Popular Shade
What will the iPhone 18 Pro look like? A new leak has the answer of what to expect this fall.
Downtown Redding draws floral, stained-glass shop. Popular pub closes
This week in the Buzz, downtown Redding is getting another new business, this sports pub plans to close, and a sign is up for a new burger joint.
Maya Tea steeps into the mocktail business
The longtime Tucson tea company just released a line of zero-alcohol spirits, joining a growing trend that's found popularity among Gen Z'ers.
Seattle sports power couple Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe announce split
The sports power couple announced Friday that they are ending their 10-year relationship and phasing out their popular podcast, “A Touch More.” They dropped the news together on the podcast.
The Entertainment Report: Record Store Day, CIVL Fest, and ‘Ted Lasso’
John Dreznes, Beverly Records third generation, joins Bob Sirott to talk about the history of Beverly Records, how they plan on celebrating Record Store Day, and the rising popularity of …
Monster Jam flips into Columbia with high-octane entertainment
COLUMBIA, SC (WACH) ---- Monster Jam is rolling into the Capital City this weekend.Here’s your chance to see popular trucks like Grave Digger, El Toro Loco, S
Does Trump even have a political strategy?
Winning in politics means delivering on popular issues, and that is difficult for any president. Without a solid political strategy and discipline is nigh impossible.
Women can't get estrogen patches. Here's what the FDA is doing to help.
Estrogen patches, one of the most popular menopause treatments, have been in short supply this year. Now the FDA is working to fix it.
Small business owners in Knoxville left scrambling after popular consignment store franchise closes
Celebrate spring in the Smokies with flowers, food at Dollywood festival
Food and music are the highlights of the popular springtime festival at Dolly Parton’s theme park. Here's when to go and what you'll find!
2025-26 NBA Playoff Betting Report: Bettors Iffy on 'Banged-Up Lakers'
Major injuries to the league's most popular team have affected both bettors and books heading into the playoffs. Patrick Everson reports.
Trump taps former public health leader Erica Schwartz to run CDC
Schwartz's background as a physician with plenty of government service experience will likely be popular among lawmakers.
The Osmo Pocket 4 Is the First True Victim of the US Government's DJI Ban
The Osmo Pocket 4, a follow-up to the uber-popular Pocket 3, didn't get FCC authorization before DJI was added to its Covered List, so it won't be coming to the US anytime soon.
The Osmo Pocket 4 Is the First True Victim of the US Government's DJI Ban
The Osmo Pocket 4, a follow-up to the uber-popular Pocket 3, didn't get FCC authorization before DJI was added to its Covered List, so it won't be coming to the US anytime soon.
Colorado high school girls flag football quarterback commits to Nebraska
As the popularity of high school girls flag football continues, so does the groundbreaking moments in the sport and earlier this week, the first ever player to commit the a Division I, Power 4 program occurred. Mountain Vista (CO) Class of 2027 quarterback Ariana Akey via Instagram announced her commitment to Nebraska for women’s flag […]
Scientists Just Confirmed One of the Greatest Mysteries of Our Universe. Now What?
Observations don’t match the predictions of the standard model—and it’s not just a fluke.
White House sidesteps vaccine skeptics in potential CDC leadership reset
A new team could mark a shift away from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s unpopular vaccine agenda ahead of the midterms.
Google’s new Fitbit band has continued hiding in plain sight, software too [Gallery]
Google is working on a new Fitbit tracking band in the same vein as the popular Whoop band, and it’s...
FDA to weigh easing limits on unproven peptides favored by RFK Jr. and MAHA supporters
The Food and Drug Administration will hold a meeting this summer to consider easing restrictions on more than a half dozen peptide injections, a group of unapproved therapies that have become popular among wellness influencers, fitness gurus and celebrities.
The value of free health insurance: Evidence from Mexico’s Seguro Popular
Expanding free health insurance is central to universal health coverage, but its impact depends on how households value it. This column examines Mexico’s Seguro Popular and shows that households value the programme less than its fiscal cost. This helps explain why its effects on labour markets were modest and suggests that overall welfare gains may be smaller than often assumed, despite the programme’s large expansion in coverage.
Can Trump and Republicans Get Back on Message on the Economy?
It’s Tax Day, but much of the country’s focus has been on an unpopular war.
Popular SoCal Event and Entertainment Company Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
A Los Angeles-based event and entertainment company has filed for bankruptcy seeking reorganization under court.
5 takeaways from recent Iran polls that look increasingly grim for Trump
The US war with Iran is getting more unpopular over time. And as we’ve gotten more extensive polling, we learning more about why that is.
FDA to Weigh Easing Limits on Unproven Peptides Favored by RFK Jr. and Other MAHA Figures
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration will hold a meeting this summer to consider easing restrictions on more than a half dozen peptide injections, a group of unapproved therapies that have become popular among wellness influencers, fitness gurus and celebrities. The meeting ...
Gambling companies funnel money into ballot measures to legalize online sports betting – and to individual candidates
As popular online gambling platforms funnel millions into the campaign to legalize online sports betting in Nebraska, some companies are also making significant contributions to individual campaigns.
Spanberger's 'unconstitutional' push to redefine presidential elections makes voters 'NULL AND VOID': critics
Virginia joins the national popular vote compact as Gov. Spanberger signs bill awarding electoral votes to the national popular vote winner.
This Bustling Florida City's Walkable Downtown Has Artsy Attractions, Entertainment, And Top-Notch Eateries
St. Petersburg, Florida, is highly popular for its countless attractions, such as museums, restaurants, and theaters, all of which are close to one another.
JD Vance Would Make a Horrible Presidential Candidate
He’s unpopular and unlikable. No amount of Vancewashing in the news is going to change that.
GLP-1 medicine improves liver health independent of weight loss, study finds
Researchers at Toronto's Sinai Health have found that semaglutide—the active ingredient in popular weight loss drugs that mimic the gut hormone GLP-1—acts directly on a subset of liver cells to improve ...
Scientists Made Something Out of Nothing. Literally.
Like ghosts in the void, virtual particles can materialize from (almost) nothing.
Sony is Removing Many Popular Features From Its Free OTA TV Options Impacting Free ABC, CBS, FOX, & NBC
Sony has notified owners of its recent BRAVIA television models that significant changes to the built-in TV Guide for its OTA TV antenna users and related menu features will take effect starting in late May 2026. The update affects a range of premium sets released between 2023 and 2025, marking another instance of feature adjustments […]
Eliot Wolf: 'Business as usual' foe Patriots before NFL Draft
There were no updates on two popular offseason topics: the looming extension for cornerback Christian Gonzalez and the pursuit of Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown.
The color grading tool used by Hollywood now supports still photos – and it’s free. DaVinci Resolve 21 works with both photos and videos
DaVinci Resolve, a video editor popular for its color tools, now supports still photos to give photographers cinematic color tools – and aid hybrid creators
Today's NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints, Answers for April 13 #567
Here's today's Connections: Sports Edition answer and hints for groups. These clues will help you solve The New York Times' popular puzzle game, Connections: Sports Edition, every day.
Local matcha business gains popularity
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEW) -- NOK108 is a locally owned matcha business that has gained popularity on UVA Grounds recently.
Android version of popular iPhone feature could be available soon
An Android version of an iOS feature around since iOS 17 could be arriving soon.
Why Ozempic doesn’t work for everyone: Scientists just found a hidden reason
A new study reveals that popular diabetes and weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may not work as effectively for about 10% of people due to specific genetic variants. These individuals appear to have a puzzling condition called “GLP-1 resistance,” where their bodies produce higher levels of the hormone targeted by these drugs—but don’t respond to it properly.
Today's NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints, Answers for April 12 #566
Here's today's Connections: Sports Edition answer and hints for groups. These clues will help you solve The New York Times' popular puzzle game, Connections: Sports Edition, every day.
“AI polls” are fake polls
A few weeks after Donald Trump’s second presidential win, I took the train up from London (where I was living at the time) to Oxford to attend a conference on polls and forecasts of the 2024 election. Most of the attendees were pollsters or academics, but I also watched presentations from Aaru and Electric Twin, two companies that do what is interchangeably called synthetic sampling, silicon sampling, or synthetic audiences. Stripped of startup jargon, that means they use large language models (LLMs) to simulate responses to public opinion polls by having AI agents take on the role of survey respondents. I had already heard of Aaru thanks to some articles with eye-catching headlines like “No people, no problem: AI chatbots predict elections better than humans” in the months leading up to Election Day. The founders were making some big, some might even say far-fetched claims, such as: “within two years, we will simulate the entire globe — from the way crops are grown in Ukraine to how that impacts production of oil in Iraq, trade through the strait of Malacca, and elections for the mayor of Baltimore.” When Semafor asked Aaru’s cofounders — Cameron Fink and Ned Koh — about my boss, they said “we respect all those who came before us.” Nate (as he so often does) shared his thoughts on Twitter: Fink and Koh were relatively good-natured about this back-and-forth when we spoke at Oxford. They even offered to mail me one of the t-shirts featuring Nate’s quote they apparently had made. I never took them up on the offer, which I now somewhat regret. These synthetic sampling companies fell off my radar for a while, but they do still exist. In fact, Aaru recently received a $1 billion valuation. Is what they’re doing anywhere close to the most important frontier in AI development? Not by a longshot, especially when Anthropic just developed a model so adept at exploiting software vulnerabilities that it’s only being released to 40 companies. Still, silicon sampling is increasingly finding its way into public polling. Axios reported in March that “a majority of people trust their own doctors and nurses” based on findings from Aaru — without mentioning that the “people” in that sentence were actually LLMs. Around the same time, the Public Sentiment Institute “boosted” their online sample of 373 real survey respondents with 114 AI agents.1 (Spoiler alert: even the co-founder of Electric Twin doesn’t think that’s a particularly defensible approach.) Polling companies like Qualtrics and Ipsos are also developing synthetic data panels. So, what should we make of these … “polls”? Let’s get one thing out of the way: whatever they are, they’re not polls in the way that term is usually defined. Subscribe You can’t replace polls with AI On one hand, using LLMs to essentially make up fake survey respondents sort of sounds like the dumbest idea ever, one that will at best imperfectly replicate real polls while introducing all sorts of biases. On the other hand, with LLMs improving at a remarkable, perhaps even alarming rate, maybe that means I’m a dinosaur at the ripe old age of 24 because I still want to rely on polls that talk to actual people. I’m not going to argue that synthetic samples are completely useless. In fact, as I’ll return to later, there is evidence that some techniques can replicate topline survey results quickly and cheaply. But the marketing from certain companies can be slightly optimistic. “No traditional poll will exist by the time the next general election occurs,” said Fink in 2024. We’re just 206 days away from the midterms, and based on the fact that I still have to collect a bunch of polls every day, I’d say he should have run that prediction by a sample of AI agents before the interview.2 To see why synthetic samples can’t replace polls, here’s a quick primer on how they work. The simplest version of these models involves taking a LLM (like ChatGPT or Claude), giving it a demographic profile (e.g., a white, college-educated woman who lives in Utah and makes $70k a year), and then asking it to respond to a survey question. You repeat that process a few thousand times using different demographic profiles and end up with a sample of synthetic survey responses. The actual models used by private companies are more sophisticated than this, usually because they incorporate more hypothesized demographic characteristics for each agent and provide them with extra information. Aaru, for example, feeds agents a diet of news and information they’d be likely to consume, while Electric Twin incorporates their customers’ proprietary data about the audience they’re trying to replicate. The way Ben Warner, the co-founder of Electric Twin, explained it to me was “we have a large amount of data on […] for instance, 5,000 people. Can we make an accurate prediction of how they would respond to another question?” Still, it should be obvious why synthetic samples can’t replace polls. Polling is fundamentally a data collection process. We might use surveys to make predictions by feeding them into election forecasts, but the main purpose of a poll isn’t prediction, it’s gathering new data about what people think and how they feel. Silicon sampling, on the other hand, produces no new data. It’s simply a model: you input LLM training data, demographic prompts, and a bunch of other information, and it spits out a prediction for what a poll would say. We love models here, but models aren’t polls. That difference is an important philosophical sticking point for most pollsters I talk to. “I think politics should stay away from [synthetic sampling], because we’re trying to […] represent the voice of the people,” said Natalie Jackson, a vice president at GQR Insights. Democratic pollster John Hagner told me: “I think I’m just incredibly skeptical of this idea. I don’t think it’s research. At that point, you’re asking the machine to tell you what you already believe.” Hagner has seen some presentations of early synthetic sampling experiments, but so far, “if it’s being used in a campaign, people are keeping it incredibly quiet.”3 But Eli, I hear you saying, aren’t polls themselves increasingly governed by modeling decisions? Indeed they are: pollsters’ choices on which sampling method to use, how to define their likely voter models, and how to weight their samples can and do lead to dramatic differences in the results they publish. Aaru even referenced these limitations in the methodology statement included with that maternal mortality “poll” — although I’m using the term “methodology statement” loosely here, because it doesn’t really explain how the model works at all. We can ignore the (frankly preposterous) implication that synthetic sampling isn’t subject to a separate set of biases. The important point is that there’s still a meaningful difference between using weighting and other statistical techniques on actual polling data and using a model to predict what a poll would say. The latter is far closer to election forecasts or techniques like MRP — potentially useful models, but not a replacement for polls.4 To be fair, other synthetic sampling companies are perfectly happy with the distinction between polls and models. Warner compared polling and synthetic sampling to different tools in a toolbox. “The mistake I think we make is we think that these new tools should either work in exactly the same way or somehow replace these old tools,” he said. “Rather than thinking of it as, okay, so we’ve always had the hammer, we’ve always had the screwdriver, now we’ve got a saw. But don’t use a saw to try [to] do the job of a hammer.” A quick comment from Nate Eli didn’t ask me for a comment — rather rude of him, don’t you think? But since I’m editing this story, I figured I’d add a few quick thoughts rather than putting words in his mouth. Beyond the frequently misleading marketing, what bothers me about the AI “poll” hype is that as AI tools make statistical inference cheaper and/or better (note that these are not synonyms) that actually increases the comparative value of collecting original data. You might be able to train a model to make a reasonable estimate of what some hard-to-reach poll respondent would say — say, a young Black man who voted for Trump. (Such a person checks a number of boxes for a voter who is usually hard to reach in surveys.) Indeed, this is closely related to what models like the Silver Bulletin forecast already do. They essentially smooth out the kinks in noisy survey data by making inferences based on past voting patterns or national polls or surveys of other states. But you don’t actually know what these voters think unless you’re reaching them directly. If there’s a shift in opinion among this subgroup, you’re not going to detect it. So if I were running a campaign, I’d invest more in going the extra mile to find a representative sample of those voters. And then I’d hire some smart quants — or Claude? — to figure out the implications for campaign strategy based on proprietary data that my competitors didn’t have access to. -Nate Silver Are these models any good? If synthetic surveys are just a new type of model, the next obvious question is whether the models are at least accurate. The answer very much depends on who you ask. On one end of the spectrum, you have the maximalist argument that synthetic sampling is more accurate than actual polls. “It’s an incredibly challenging problem to go to someone and say ‘hey, we’re going to be more accurate at predicting human behavior than you, even when you talk to your customers directly’,” Koh recently told CNBC. In his view, synthetic sampling isn’t a saw to polling’s hammer, it’s “magic.” There’s certainly evidence that synthetic samples can replicate certain survey toplines. But if Aaru does have any examples of their approach outperforming the polls, they’re keeping those to themselves.5 Aaru’s 2024 election model, for example, had Kamala Harris leading in Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin on November 4th. And although they’ve since taken down their forecast page, they gave Harris a 50.5 percent chance of winning the race on November 2nd.6 After the election, Fink told Semafor he was happy enough with those results because they were “within margin of error,” a term that is completely meaningless when applied to a “sample” of AI agents. And of course, Aaru says their models have improved since 2024, so supposedly now they’d be more accurate than the polls? Still, their stronger argument is on cost: “We are significantly faster and cheaper than traditional polling, and still more accurate,” said Fink. The first two claims are undeniably true, but the third brings us to the opposite end of the spectrum. Both Jackson and Hagner are skeptical that these models are reliable for anything beyond replicating common survey toplines. “I just […] don’t think the machines are what we want when we’re looking for nuanced views. My example on this is people in Arizona and Nevada in 2024 who voted for Trump and voted for expanding abortion in their states on ballot initiatives,” said Jackson. Hagner identified another issue. Maybe the synthetic respondents, like sycophantic LLMs, are inhuman in one important way: they’re too nice. “The reports that have come through at the meetings that I’ve been at are that the early experiments on this, they cannot get respondents to be as racist or sexist or, frankly, as negative as human respondents,” he said. Academic research mostly agrees on this point. While there are some papers that show promising results when using LLMs to replicate polling data, most show that LLMs suffer from various quirks like producing too few “don’t know” responses and can seriously overpredict the favorability of politicians like Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. They also seem to struggle with too little variation between demographic subgroups, so the difference in predicted opinion between Democrats and Republicans, for example, is too small. When I asked Warner about these studies, his response to these papers was that just because academics can’t get synthetic sampling to work doesn’t mean that the technique doesn’t work in general. “Actually, the argument is, okay, yours does not [work]. That does not mean […] for this complex set of machinery, which uses a lot of investment, a lot of time, a lot of money, you can’t get it to work.” Cards on the table, I’m somewhat sympathetic to this argument because academics aren’t exactly great at making election forecasts. Usually, the people with skin in the game are the most accurate. Warner’s argument is that the approach Electric Twin takes — which includes, for example, making multiple predictions for each synthetic respondent using different models and prompts and subsequently averaging those to get a final prediction in a sort of ensemble forecast — produces better results than the simpler academic models. Warner shared a comparison between his method and the method from a recent academic paper with me, and Electric Twin was indeed able to get more accurate replication. But even still, he acknowledged that synthetic sampling “is not a crystal ball.” “If you asked me, do I think using other data sources will be more accurate than asking somebody who they will vote for, I would probably say no. But if you asked me ‘would your system be useful for our turnout modeling today?’ I would say yes.” For better or worse, it looks like the method is already getting more popular in the market research world. Most of the clients Aaru touts these days are businesses like EY and McDonald’s. And AI will probably begin to pop up in other parts of the political polling process. Pollsters are already using it to code open-ended survey responses, and some firms, like YouGov, are testing using LLMs to ask survey respondents questions. More worryingly, one danger to actual polls is that AI agents can be used to infiltrate online surveys. Most online polls use various checks to prevent that from happening, but there’s conflicting evidence on how effective those filters are and how prevalent AI agents currently are in online panels. If those agents ever become impossible to detect, it might spell the end of online polling, but the solution isn’t to replace all of your respondents with ChatGPT. Silver Bulletin is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a subscriber. Subscribe 1 That particular poll obviously doesn’t meet Silver Bulletin standards for aggregation. But we exclude all Public Sentiment Institute polls from our averages because we classify them as an amateur polling firm. 2 You could argue that Fink meant the next presidential election, but (a) I’m also confident we’ll still have real polls in 2028 and (b) in that case he should have asked an LLM to define “general election.” 3 Quick caveat: that’s reporting from a Democratic pollster. It’s possible that Republicans are more willing to use AI in political campaigns. 4 Indeed, Silver Bulletin does not include “polls” produced by MRP in our forecasts or averages, and we think it’s extremely misleading when their practitioners describe them in a way that suggests original data had been collected among a large number of states or Congressional districts. 5 A recent report from Aaru and EY did show two examples of a synthetic estimate being closer than a survey to a real-world benchmark — but I’d take those findings with a grain of salt because the report reads more like an ad and didn’t involve any sort of prediction being made ahead of time. 6 For comparison, our odds for Harris on the same day were 48.2 percent.
Business notes: Providence St. Mary Medical Center welcomes new surgeon
A new surgeon joined St. Mary Medical Center, and the United Way's popular mini golf tournament returns to Walla Walla.
OPINION: Gen Z’s political frustrations are causing an analog counterculture
Gen Z’s frustrations with political polarization and life in the digital world have led to a new counterculture. In seeking to divert from the mainstream, they have popularized rock music, tangible media, and analog systems. This pattern is as old as time, though its most unique aspect is the technological regression in the effort to be more present.
Contract talks planned for key defensive trio at Borussia Dortmund
Sports BILD is reporting that more concrete talks at Borussia Dortmund are planned with Gregor Kobel, Waldemar Anton and Julian Ryerson. However, the popular German tabloid does not provide any furth...
In praise of popular science
As a kid, I was enthusiastically and unreservedly in favor of a manned space program. Our destiny lay in the stars, I figured. Get people out there. We need Star Trek here and now. As I got older, I became rather disenchanted with the idea. Humans are expensive, fragile, and inefficient as space cargo. We could flood the solar system with 100 robotic probes for the price of any single manned mission and get back just as useful data. Besides, it turns out space travel is dangerous. Tusk is a reader-supported publication. To support this work, please become a paid subscriber. Subscribe When it came to the recent Artemis II mission, my cynical side didn’t really see the point. Flying around the Moon and back is literally something we did before I was born, and I once owned a Members Only jacket. Apollo 8 circled the Moon ten times and returned to Earth safely the same month that “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” was released. What was the point of repeating a feat that far braver people once did with tin foil and slide rules? Yet I’ve surprised myself with how moving I’ve found the Artemis II mission to be. The photos have been stunning. The crew has been professional and engaging. There have been modest but important milestones — the farthest humans have travelled from Earth; the first woman, person of color, and non-American to leave low-Earth orbit; innovations in communication, and more. One thing that really stood out is that this is really NASA at its finest. Not that this is the most important mission they ever pulled off, but they did this in a competent way that celebrated the achievements and kept the crew and the science at the forefront of the project. This wasn’t some billionaire throwing celebrities or cars into orbit as a vanity project — this was a collective effort to send experts in to do a job and come home safely. We don’t see that sort of thing much these days. I’m guessing few people would describe many government agencies as inspiring, but this one counts for me. We’re living through a profoundly anti-science era, in which pathbreaking, lifesaving discoveries like mRNA vaccines are routinely downplayed or even vilified. As I’ve noted previously, this era is something like that of the Red Scare in the 1940s and 50s, in which “egghead” professors were portrayed as out of touch or even hostile to regular Americans. One of the things that helped break that spell was Sputnik — the Soviet communications satellite that demonstrated that the United States was falling behind in crucial scientific research and applications. Its launch triggered a new appreciation for American science and goaded the federal government into supporting research universities and labs. I’m not saying that Artemis is the equivalent of Sputnik, but it potentially reminds people that there’s some value to scientific endeavors and the human faces attached to them. Despite my love for the show “For All Mankind,” I’m far from convinced that there’s any real value to putting colonies on the Moon or Mars that would justify the capital investment and the massive health risks to the astronauts. But sending scientific good will ambassadors on a trip into space once in a while? Bring it. Share
Fox Entertainment CEO Claps Back at Vertical Dramas’ Bad Rap and Looks to the Future With Dhar Mann
IMDb, the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content.
Women's professional sports leagues see big surge in popularity and profits
Throughout the U.S. there’s been a rise in interest in professional women’s sports leagues over the past few years. According to Nielsen, in 2025 Americans watched 46 billion minutes of women’s sports.
Energy drink boom raises heart health concerns, doctors warn
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — As energy drinks continue to grow in popularity, health experts in Fort Wayne are raising concerns about what frequent consumption could be doing to the heart. Many of the…
Amazon Officially Phases Out Popular Ad-Free Streaming Service Plan
Prime Video tier changes.
Al Gore to Lead Keynote Conversation at 2026 Sustainability in Entertainment Honors Hosted by THR and the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance
IMDb, the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content.
Opinion | With straight faces, GOP accuses regents of playing politics
Dave Zweifel: Rothman obviously did something deeply unpopular. The vote to sack him was unanimous, and getting 17 people to agree on anything is pretty rare these days.
CPUID compromise: users report getting malware with HWMonitor and CPU-Z tools
Multiple users are reporting that the CPUID website has been compromised, leading to popular Windows utilities such as CPU-Z and HWMonitor delivering multi-stage, evasive malware.
Popular Scottsdale sports grill, Chandler sushi spot cited by health inspectors
Four East Valley restaurants, including a popular sports grill, and a West Valley taco spot were among places cited by health inspectors in this week's Dirty Dining report.
Iran’s Reality Shatters JD Vance’s Hungarian Fantasy
If what mattered most in the world was the political future of JD Vance, this would be a very good week. The US vice president gave a rousing speech in support of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a model leader for the global conservative right, while at the same time helping his boss toward the off-ramp from an unpopular war with Iran.
Today's NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints, Answers for April 9 #563
Here's today's Connections: Sports Edition answer and hints for groups. These clues will help you solve The New York Times' popular puzzle game, Connections: Sports Edition, every day.
WireGuard VPN developer can't ship software updates after Microsoft locks account
The popular open source VPN maker is the second high-profile developer to say Microsoft locked his account without notifying him and are blocking their ability to send software updates to users.
Texas Hemp Businesses Sue State Over Rules That ‘Rewrite Law’
The Texas Hemp Businesses Council and other industry stakeholders are hoping to block the state from enforcing new rules that prohibit popular products.
Developer of VeraCrypt encryption software says Windows users may face boot-up issues after Microsoft locked his account
The maker of the popular open-source file encryption software VeraCrypt said Microsoft locked his online account, which may prevent device owners from booting up their computers.
The World’s First Computer Sank 2,000 Years Ago. Science Finally Solved One of Its Biggest Mysteries.
Using, oddly enough, techniques developed to analyze gravitational wave signals.
The World’s First Computer Sank 2,000 Years Ago. Science Finally Solved One of Its Biggest Mysteries.
Using, oddly enough, techniques developed to analyze gravitational wave signals.
Microsoft Abruptly Terminates VeraCrypt Account, Halting Windows Updates
Updates to VeraCrypt, a popular and long-running piece of encryption, are now thrown into doubt because of a seemingly unexplained Microsoft decision.
Do adaptogens really work? What the science says
Adaptogens are popular plant and fungi compounds, but the science on their effectiveness and safety is still evolving.
It's Becoming Almost Impossible To Get A Mac Studio Or Mac Mini In 2026
Having trouble getting your hands on a Mac Studio or Mac mini in 2026? You're not alone, as both popular products are on long-term backorder.
To Boost Military Budget, Trump Targets Popular Programs at Home
Amid the war with Iran, the president has proposed to scale back some of the very programs meant to ease families’ financial burdens.
Judge tosses PETA’s lawsuit against the American Kennel Club over dog breed health
NEW YORK (AP) — The animal rights group PETA's lawsuit over the health of French bulldogs and some other popular dog breeds has been dismissed, with a judge saying a New York law was misapplied to the…
Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis Next announced for Nintendo Switch
Today, Gameloft unveiled Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis Next for Nintendo Switch. The game is launching on May 28, 2026. Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis is a fast-paced arcade tennis game featuring popular characters from SpongeBob, Avatar, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and more. Expect character customization, a story mode, split-screen multiplayer, and more. Here’s an official overview: Become your favorite Nickelodeon character, like SpongeBob...
Seattle Parks and Recreation Releases Draft Outdoor Racquet Sports Strategy and Hosts Events to Gather Community Feedback
Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) is excited to release the Draft Racket Sports Strategy. We invite the community to learn about the proposed approach to balance the needs of pickleball and tennis users in our park system and look forward to gathering community feedback. This strategy was developed in response to growing popularity of both […]
New poll reveals Spanberger's popularity is plummeting amid backlash over gerrymandering
Gov. Abigail Spanberger battles record unpopularity in Virginia with 46% disapproval, the lowest rating for a governor since 1994, a new poll shows.
Trump says God supports U.S. cause in Iran war as he threatens wider bombing
The president offered a new rationale for the costly, unpopular conflict: “God wants to see people taken care of,” he said.
Today's NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints, Answers for April 7 #561
Here's today's Connections: Sports Edition answer and hints for groups. These clues will help you solve The New York Times' popular puzzle game, Connections: Sports Edition, every day.
Supreme Court clears way for Trump DOJ to wipe out Steve Bannon's conviction
Bannon, now a host of a popular MAGA podcast, was convicted in 2022 for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 attack .