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VA health secretary quits less than a year into tenure
John Bartrum, who led the Veterans Health Administration’s rollout of electronic health record modernization, said he is leaving public service.
Trump admin blasts Machado's "grotesque political opportunism" after Venezuela quakes
Machado's attempts to return to Venezuela have saddled the State Department with "extra needless drama," an official said.
Trump foe John Brennan sues administration demanding investigative records into him be preserved
Former CIA Director John Brennan, who has been under investigation by the Justice Department, is demanding the Trump administration preserve records about its inquiry into him, and asking for a court’s help, according to a new lawsuit filed in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.
Trump Health Cuts Spark Concerns Over ‘Flesh-Eating’ Bacteria
Scientists say deadly beach bacteria are expanding just as the Trump administration scales back disease-monitoring programs.
$63M in federal funding being used to upgrade airports across New York
The funding is part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program and Airport Infrastructure Grant Program.
How the Supreme Court became a pivotal force in Trump's immigration agenda
President Donald Trump's administration looked to the Supreme Court to greenlight its sweeping hard-line immigration agenda and, by and large, it got the backing it was looking for with one key exception.
IU Health's 3D printing studio helps surgeons prepare and educate patients
The health system received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January for the IU Health 3D Print Studio.
University of Phoenix to launch three-year Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration for experienced professionals
/PRNewswire/ -- University of Phoenix announces today that it has received approval from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), hlcommission.org, to launch its...
Smart voices in tech react to return of Anthropic's Fable and Mythos
Anthropic restores Fable 5 AI model after the Trump administration lifted export controls. Here's what people in tech are saying about the saga.
Trump administration ends $1.2M in federal grants for Wisconsin teen health programs
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services notified funding recipients on Saturday that the federal government had abruptly terminated a $1.2 million annual Teen Pregnancy Prevention grant, according to a letter shared with Wisconsin Public Radio.
New disease threats follow Trump administration's health program cuts
Affordable Healthcare Emerges as a Voter Priority in Purple Nevada
The Trump administration’s cuts to Medicaid and SNAP may complicate Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s reelection chances.
Exclusive: GOP think tank pushes heavy health spending cuts
The Paragon worldview is likely to remain highly relevant for the remainder of the Trump administration.
Enrollment in Affordable Care Act health plans drops by 3M, HHS data reveals
The Trump administration said the reduction can be attributed to a cleanup of fraud, waste and abuse, but the real reason extends back to enhanced subsidies put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump administration lifts Claude Mythos 5, Fable 5 export restrictions after Anthropic works with government
The Commerce Department lifted export restrictions on Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 after a review, clearing the models for wider access
Election officials react to report detailing distrust in Wisconsin elections
Republican research firm The Tarrance Group polled 600 likely Wisconsin voters about election administration concerns.
Trump administration suspends funding for New York's Medicaid fraud unit over low performance
The funding suspension is part of the Republican administration's broader anti-fraud actions in the healthcare sector.
Trump administration suspends funding for New York's Medicaid fraud unit
The move is the second suspension of a state Medicaid fraud unit this year by the Republican Trump administration.
The End of Independent Federal Agencies Will Change Your Business
For executives, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Slaughter v. Trump will likely lead to less certainty and consistency for the regulated aspects of their businesses, with federal rules and their enforcement increasingly determined by political expediency rather than expert analysis. Specifically, there are five ways in which all U.S. businesses will be affected: regulation will become more informal and less transparent; consistency across administrations will disappear; oversight by Congress and the federal courts will be diminished; expert advice will be devalued; and politically-connected lobbyists will drive decision-making. In this environment, business leaders will need to plan accordingly, honing their ability to shift strategy, perhaps dramatically, after every election—and perhaps even during administrations.
What is a quantum computer good for? Absolutely nothing
The Trump administration wants a useful quantum computer in two years. Microsoft wants one in three. Independent researchers cry hype.
Supreme Court rules states can restrict transgender athletes’ sports participation in schools
The decision marks another legal setback for transgender youth as the Trump administration and Republican-led state legislatures have advanced policies limiting transgender rights.
Trump administration puts religious freedom at heart of US health policy
Critics say the new focus could reshape LGBTQ+ healthcare, abortion access and vaccine policy
Supreme Court rejects Trump attempt to limit birthright citizenship
The Trump administration sought to upend the historical understanding of the 14th Amendment, which has long been interpreted to extend birthright citizenship broadly.
The rising price of Trump's anti-science agenda
From measles to screwworm, Americans keep paying the price for the admin's war on science.
Fact-checking the Trump administration's challenges to birthright citizenship
Until President Donald Trump, few saw it as controversial.
Empower to Acquire Milliman’s Retirement Administration Business
Empower and Milliman, Inc. today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for Empower to acquire Milliman’s retirement administration business...
Gorsuch suggests Supreme Court's Trump ruling is opening move against administrative state
Justice Neil Gorsuch's concurrence suggests the Supreme Court's FTC ruling could lead to sweeping challenges against independent federal agencies' power.
Short-sighted new student loan caps elevate chiropractic care over critical health care professions
“This administrative logic is hopelessly out of touch with the empirical reality of American health care,” writes David S. Shapiro.
Encina Private Credit Provides $90MM First Out Tranche for Healthcare Business
Encina Private Credit (EPC) served as the administrative and collateral agent on a senior secured credit facility supporting a dividend recap and refinance
FDA panel on peptides will include experts who promote the unproven chemicals favored by RFK Jr.
The Food and Drug Administration is meeting next month to consider easing restrictions on several peptides, a group of unapproved drugs popular with followers of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
John Roberts fought for decades to get rid of the 1935 precedent that had limited a president’s firing authority
For more than 40 years, since his service as a young Reagan administration lawyer, Chief Justice John Roberts has pressed for an exceptionally powerful US president, one who could fire the heads of independent agencies at any time.
Those with temporary protected status fear for what's next
The Supreme Court ruled to allow the Trump administration to end TPS for Haitian and Syrian immigrants.
Slotkin Joins Michigan Delegation Urging Small Business Administration to Approve Disaster Declaration
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, joined members of the Michigan Congressional Delegation in urging the Small Business Administration (SBA) to support Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s request for an administrative disaster declaration following the severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, high winds, large hail and torrential rainfall across the state in April. […]
Scientists Slam Trump Rule Change
Dr. Esen Sefik moved from Istanbul to New Haven 20 years ago because she believed the U.S. was the best place to do scientific research. Now, her advisees are wondering whether to stay in their home countries instead. Sefik described the U.S.'s changing research climate on Monday during a press conference about a proposed rule by the Trump administration that would require a political appointee to approve all discretionary federal grants.
NM U.S. Rep. Vasquez, a Democrat, urges state Health Care Authority to bring down SNAP error rate
U.S. Rep. Vasquez (D-N.M.) sent a letter Friday chiding NM leaders for errors administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Supreme Court rules MSU economist Lisa Cook can remain as Fed governor
The Trump administration sought to remove Fed governor Lisa Cook amid a push to get the U.S. independent central bank to lower interest rates.
Dayton Business Journal: Former Ohio State, Arizona State administrator named Wright State athletic director
Following the university’s first-ever national search for a Division I athletics director, Wright State University has selected a new leader for its athletic program. Wright State has named Brad Chandler as the next director of athletics. “I am incredibly grateful … Continue reading →
Biden's illegal immigration surge caused higher rent and home prices, Fed study finds
A Federal Reserve working paper finds unauthorized immigration during the Biden administration drove up home prices by 2.2% and rents by 1.4%.
As medical debt burdens millions, nonprofits and some governments step in
The federal government reversed course on a Biden administration-era plan to block medical debt from appearing on credit reports
Ad Performance And Politics Steered Brand Dollars Away From LGBTQ+ Communities – But The Pendulum Will Swing Back
The current administration discouraged many brands and organizations from supporting and marketing to the LGBTQ+ community, including in June
Medicare is about to cover GLP-1 drugs for weight loss. Here’s what to know.
The Trump administration will launch its pilot program on Wednesday. It lasts 18 months, and estimated costs to taxpayers have not been disclosed.
Safety in the summer
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, July is, on average, the hottest month of the year in the United States.
RedMagic officially confirms global launch of flagship OLED tablet
RedMagic has confirmed the Astra 2 as its next flagship gaming tablet. The device will arrive as the international version of the China-bound RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro, which is confirmed to feature a 185Hz OLED display and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.
Efzimfotase alfa demonstrated improvements in bone health in treatment-naïve pediatric patients with hypophosphatasia achieving median difference of 1.67 vs placebo in RGI-C Score at week 25 in MULBERRY Phase III trial
Positive results from the MULBERRY Phase III trial showed that efzimfotase alfa (ALXN1850), an investigational enzyme replacement therapy, demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in bone health in children (2 to
Galaxy Z's days are apparently numbered: Accessories point to a very unusual name for Samsung's iPhone Ultra competitor
At first, it was called the Galaxy Z Wide Fold or the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide, then—according to generally reliable sources—simply the Galaxy Z Fold8. Now a fourth name has surfaced for the compact and wider iPhone Ultra alternative, that Samsung will unveil on July 22 alongside the updated Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. However, as authentic as these images seem to be, there are doubts.
Rescheduling marijuana would put politics ahead of science
The Drug Enforcement Administration is considering a proposal to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, which would recognize all cannabis products as havi…
Rescheduling marijuana would put politics ahead of science
The Drug Enforcement Administration is considering a proposal to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, which would recognize all cannabis products as havi…
Maine targets three initiatives for initial use of federal rural health funds
The Mills administration says it's decided how it will spend nearly half of the $190 million it's received this year through the federal Rural Health Transformation Fund.
Belkin launches new 14-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 dock with 140W charging and triple 4K display support
Belkin has launched a 14-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 Dock in China priced at 2,299 yuan (approximately $338). The Belkin dock ships with a 180W adapter and 1m cable and delivers 140W USB Power Delivery over a single Thunderbolt 5 connection, with bandwidth scaling from 80Gbps to 120Gbps for high-resolution display use. Belkin briefly listed the dock on its global website at $350 before removing the page, hinting at a global launch.
UAPB School of Business and Management celebrates class of 2026
The School of Business and Management (SBM) at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff recognized the achievements of its graduating Class of 2026 during its annual Graduates Banquet recently at the STEM Conference Center. The event, coordinated by Cynthia Sims, SBM project/program specialist, brought together students, faculty, administrators, alumni, family members and supporters to […]
US close to allowing Anthropic to restore Fable 5 model, Axios reports
The Trump administration is close to allowing Anthropic to restore access to its Fable 5 model, Axios reported on Saturday, citing a source close to the situation.
So many colorful Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 bands leaked ahead of launch
Anyone opting for the new Galaxy Watch9 or the redesigned Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 after July 22 will be spoiled for choice. Lots and lots of watch bands in different styles and colors will be available from Samsung at launch, as roughly 60 images leaked in advance shows.
Trump admin rule puts reproductive health care for 160K Pa. patients at risk, lawsuit says
A lawsuit says family planning and health organizations in Pennsylvania could face federal funding delays or denials due to a new Trump administration policy.
In Trump’s America, two very different views of Christianity in politics emerge
Adherence to organized religion is falling in the United States, but defenders of the religious right are ascendant in positions of power in the Trump administration.
Trump admin rule puts reproductive health care for 160K Pa. patients at risk, lawsuit says
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and...
Apple A20 Pro motherboard leak hints at notable memory and packaging upgrades
A leaked package layout of Apple's A20 Pro hints at several notable upgrades for the iPhone 18 Pro series. The next-gen SoC is said to feature a wider 96-bit memory interface, a redesigned packaging approach for improved thermals, and a larger Neural Processing Unit (NPU).
ICE mask ban takes effect in N.Y. amid dueling lawsuits and a race for governor
The Trump administration’s lawsuit argues that states do not have the authority to regulate the federal government’s operations.
Peters, Bergman lead Michigan delegation in calling on Small Business Administration to approve disaster declaration
WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, led members of the Michigan Congressional Delegation in urging the Small Business Administration (SBA) to support Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s request for an administrative disaster declaration following the severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, high winds, large hail and torrential […]
Lawmakers say White House demolition debris at East Potomac Park poses health risk
Democratic lawmakers are urging the Trump administration to remove demolition debris from East Potomac Park Golf Course, citing health concerns, while the administration says the site poses no public health risk.
WATCH: Trump receives report from Religious Liberty Commission in the Oval Office
A new report by a Trump administration commission suggests replacing the idea of separating church and state with the idea of building bridges between them.
Jessica Plummer new deputy administrator of Behavioral Health Services
A founding department staff member, Jessica Plummer has stepped into the new role of deputy administrator for Larimer County Behavioral Health Services (BHS)
Ex-national security adviser John Bolton pleads guilty to illegally retaining classified information
Former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton pleaded guilty on Friday to illegally retaining classified information, sealing a deal with federal prosecutors that could allow him to avoid a prison term.
Trump Administration Shut Down Climate Website, Former NOAA Employees Have Just Brought It Back
In June 2025, Climate.gov was shut down by an executive order that implied it did not meet the current administration's standards. Climate scientists have just brought the data back.
Democrats call on Mills administration to settle pay dispute
The MSEA is seeking a 2.5% wage increase in the first year, with a $1,250 signing bonus. For year two, the union wants a 3% increase.
Chaotic Push to Train Staff for US Ebola Outbreak Facility Alarms Health Workers
The three-day session focused more on administrative tasks than spread prevention.
Proposed Changes to Grant Rules Threaten the Future of Research: Scientists Must Act Now!
The Trump administration is seeking to politicize US federal science funding, but collective action can stop this grantpocalypse from happening.
Kenny Klein, former longtime Louisville Athletics administrator, dies
Kenny Klein, a former Louisville Athletics administrator of 39 years who worked more than 1,300 straight men's basketball games, has died at age 65.
WATCH: Stephen Miller says 'America's doors are closed fully to asylum seekers' after Supreme Court rulings
The Supreme Court voted 6-3 on Thursday to allow the Trump administration to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disaster in Haiti and Syria, exposing hundreds of thousands more people to potential deportation.
Blue state leaders erupt after Supreme Court’s decision ending TPS protections for Haitians, Syrians
Supreme Court rules 6-3 in favor of Trump administration in two key immigration cases on Temporary Protected Status and asylum, drawing opposition from blue state Democrats.
Stonepeak reveals $2.53B offer for Chicago parking meter lease
Stonepeak disclosed its $2.53 billion bid for Chicago's parking meter lease as it urged skeptical aldermen to approve the transfer and criticized the Johnson administration.
Supreme Court hands Trump major victories on his immigration agenda
In two ideologically spit rulings that could affect millions, justices say the administration can deport some migrants and turn others away at the border.
NASA, US Small Business Administration to Announce Partnership
NASA and the U.S. Small Business Administration will sign a memorandum of agreement during a ceremony at 1 p.m. EDT, Monday, June 29, at NASA Headquarters in
Making Our Own Luck
We are cross-posting a piece that former NIH official Kris Willis wrote for Macroscience. Kris is now the President and Founder of the Woodley Park Institute, for which I’m a board member. Picking winners or hedging bets? Federal science agencies have long wrestled with the question of how to ensure their billions of dollars of grants and contracts result in maximum benefits for Americans. On the surface, it might seem that a goal-oriented, interventionist style of management would be the best policy: prioritize our most pressing problems and distribute funding accordingly.This top-down strategy creates a unique hazard, though: bad choices can send resources in the wrong direction, resulting in slow progress that impedes the delivery of tangible benefits to citizens. Moreover, if decision makers pursue an applied advance when the underlying scientific principles remain poorly understood, they risk costly failures and a loss of support for the research enterprise at large. Examples include Nixon’s 1971 War on Cancer, undertaken on the premise that a cure could be achieved in less than a decade, the drive to build an operational commercial fusion plant by the mid-1990s, and the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease, which failed to produce the effective treatments and prevention strategies promised by 2025. The contrasting laissez-faire approach is to hedge your bets. If the path to an advance is impossible to predict, then the wisest choice might be to distribute funding to as widely as possible. The main risk of this strategy is that spreading funding thinly may limit the resources available to the most promising research, resulting in the same negative outcomes as the interventionist approach: limited support for the most promising topics, slow progress, and delayed returns. In reality, at science agencies like the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, program managers navigate between these two extremes, setting some funds aside to target high-priority areas and using the rest to cover the widest possible range of meritorious proposals. This middle path seems like the most rational way to proceed, but it still requires making choices. How much should be set aside for high priority topics? What should those topics be? How should we define merit? Expert opinion can provide a helpful guide, but leading experts can have remarkably different opinions about what matters and what should be prioritized. Moreover, experts and administrators alike can be risk averse, giving an edge to high-profile, well-established concepts. What’s really needed is a data-driven framework to help guide decision-making, one that doesn’t simply repackage prestige or incumbency. Recognizing breakthroughs years in advance Many breakthroughs fail to attract funding or recognition at the earliest stages of development. Katalin Karikó, for example, spent years struggling to win grants for work on mRNA that would eventually win her and Drew Weissman a Nobel Prize. Similar stories can be told about Jim Allison’s groundbreaking studies leading to the development of cancer immunotherapy, Stan Pruisner’s demonstration that prions can self-replicate without DNA, or Robin Warren and Barry Marshall’s proof that Helicobacter pylori, not stress, causes ulcers. Yet at some point, the scientific community recognizes and responds to transformative breakthroughs like these. How does that change happen? And what if science funders could identify the areas that are on the cusp of a breakthrough? Those questions led my collaborators and me to study how scientists responded to past breakthroughs. Based on patterns in that data, we developed a means of predicting future breakthroughs, using biomedicine as a proof of concept. It’s worth taking a moment to describe how our approach works. Briefly, our prediction process begins by grouping the 18 million or so peer-reviewed papers in PubMed, the authoritative database of biomedical research, into roughly 50,000 unique topics. A small subset of these topics are so widely acclaimed as breakthroughs that they have been recognized with a major prize like a Nobel or a Lasker Award. We theorized that studying the development of these outliers over time, especially before they gained acclaim, was the key to identifying future instances of them. After defining topics, we chose 21 representative breakthroughs and asked what they looked like before they won prestigious prizes. To answer that question, we re-ran our topic-mapping algorithm repeatedly, winding back the clock one year each time, stringing together the years to follow the progress of each field as it grew and advanced. We found that in each case, the years leading up to a discovery followed a pattern: a burst of papers on a new, rapidly evolving topic, many of which quickly became influential. These characteristics—the percent of papers that are new, the percentage of papers that are brought in from other topics, and the influence of each individual paper—can all be measured separately for any given topic. Together, they act as a predictive signal that is detectable an average of five years before a transformative discovery is made, and up to thirty years before the discovery receives a major prize. Scanning the current research landscape for topics that display this signal allows us to predict what work will likely produce a future breakthrough. Each year we analyzed includes four or five signals, a number that appears to have remained constant across a twenty year time frame. In their classic work on the sociology of science, Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar established that the desire to participate in a major discovery is an important motivator for scientists as they consider whether they should take up (or abandon) a research problem. Although further work is needed, the simplest explanation for our results is that this behavior is widespread enough to detect at scale. A foundational advance, or something like it, draws the attention of scientists and causes them to change the direction of their research. They vote with their feet, staking their own reputation and careers by publishing on and citing the new idea. That upswell of interest is the foundation of our breakthrough signal. What kind of research does our model identify as a breakthrough? After building a model based on the patterns in our 21 preselected breakthroughs, we tested it by identifying all early signals of discovery from 1994 through 1997. Of the 18 signals we found in that time period, 17 can be traced forward in time to a breakthrough. Examples include super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (see the image above), the directed evolution of proteins and enzymes (Chemistry Nobel, 2018), and sequencing the human genome (National Medal of Science, 2008). The discovery of the role of leptin signaling in obesity is a particularly interesting case study. Around 1950, scientists noticed the existence of a type of lab mouse that suffered from a unique inherited form of obesity. When given the freedom to choose their own diet, these mice ate more than normal and preferred food that was high in fat. Researchers had few clues as to why the animals overate; early experiments pointed to the existence of a soluble ob factor found circulating in the bloodstream that regulated appetite, but its identity was unknown. In 1994, Jeffrey Friedman and colleagues identified and sequenced the ob gene, noting that the protein it encoded appeared to fit the profile of a circulating factor. A year later, a trio of high-profile publications demonstrated that ob was a hormone that regulated body weight and fat deposition by regulating appetite. One of these was co-authored by Friedman, who christened it leptin from the ancient Greek word for thin. Using our model, the data from 1996 make it clear this advance would become a breakthrough. Scientists had flocked to study the biology of the new hormone, generating the flurry of new papers and citations required to produce a signal. One of these demonstrated that serum leptin concentrations reflected the amount of adipose tissue in the human body, providing clinical validation of the earlier mouse studies. Before the identification of leptin, scientists were unable to point to a specific molecule that controlled appetite and adiposity, so that it was impossible to rule out non-physiological causes of obesity; its characterization fundamentally changed our concept of weight gain. In 2010, Friedman and fellow pioneer Douglas Coleman were awarded a Lasker for the discovery. Our work also identifies breakthroughs in clinical practice and behavioral and social sciences, even though these areas are less likely to draw the attention of major prize committees. One example that falls into this category is the introduction of endovascular aneurysm repair, a minimally invasive surgical procedure for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm, a leading cause of death among Americans over the age of 65. Relative to the previous standard of care, it reduces in-hospital mortality by almost four-fold. In 2017, Timothy Chuter received the American College of Surgeons’ prestigious Jacobsen Innovation award for his multiple refinements to the technique. Another under-recognized breakthrough identified by our model is the development of standardized survey instruments to assess the quality of life for HIV+ patients. The antiretroviral cocktails introduced in the mid-1990s reduced AIDS mortality, but treatment came with serious side effects. The new evaluations showed that patients whose disease progressed had worse physical functioning than Americans with other chronic diseases, while those who were asymptomatic maintained a health-related quality of life on par with the overall US population. This evidence made it possible for patients and activists to argue that even in the absence of a total cure, and in spite of the side effects, alleviation of symptoms was a worthwhile priority for clinicians. My colleagues and I have failed to identify any significant recognition for the physicians and health policy experts who pioneered this advance, although in 2016, researchers called for the World Health Organization to set targets for good health-related quality of life as part of its framework to end the AIDS pandemic. From forecasting to funding How should science funders use our predictions? Any serious discussion of what we should do with this new capability needs to begin with an understanding of its limitations. We can’t (and shouldn’t) invest all of our resources in the small number of topics predicted to produce breakthroughs. Innovative new fields are born from existing ones; they rarely arise de novo. If funders don’t maintain a diverse portfolio, the breakthroughs of tomorrow will have no antecedents. Think of this as eating the seed corn, or killing the goose that lays the golden egg. There are also multiple goals of funding beyond basic scientific discovery, including translating discoveries into clinical practice, developing new technologies, supporting economic development, and training new scientists. The investments needed to accomplish these goals are likely different from those required to support emerging breakthroughs. Finally, we must be aware that we may not capture every instance of a breakthrough. The concept is fuzzy, and not every significant discovery is recognized with a major award. Further, breakthroughs are rare, meaning that our dataset is, by necessity, small. This makes formal estimates of accuracy challenging. Although our overall success rate appears to be high, any one signal may turn out to be a false positive. We found one apparent example: the development of the third generation COX-2 inhibitors, Vioxx and Celebrex, which were much celebrated in the early 2000s as effective but non-addictive pain relievers, meets all the algorithmic criteria of a breakthrough. Five years after it received FDA approval, researchers demonstrated that Vioxx was associated with serious cardiovascular complications, and the manufacturer voluntarily pulled the drug from the market. Celebrex remains available, although like other NSAIDs, it carries an FDA warning for increased cardiovascular risk. Decision makers who were overly focused on the breakthrough potential of this research might have wasted substantial resources nurturing an area that ultimately proved to be a failure—but so would those who relied on expert opinion at the time. That said, the potential benefits of funding the next mRNA vaccine or cancer immunotherapy years earlier than we might have are large. When we can’t assume the outcome of an action, it’s worth conducting an experiment. Can targeted support for areas that are poised to produce a breakthrough increase the return on scientific investment without cannibalizing future advances? With the necessary administrative infrastructure in place, conducting this experiment would be straightforward. First, identify all the breakthrough signals between 2018 and 2023, select half at random, and commit to a decade of investment. For biomedicine, a six year window should yield about 30 topics with the potential to produce a breakthrough. Providing strong support to half of these might be accomplished for $300 million a year. That’s roughly half of the recent annual budget of the NIH Common Fund or around 20% of the fiscal year 2025 budget for ARPA-H. After five years, then again at ten, compare to see which group — the one that was actively managed, or the control — produced more breakthroughs, and on what timescale. Although we used biomedicine as an example, the same experiment could just as well be run for physics, materials science, or any other discipline. Any attempt to undertake such an experiment should keep three points top of mind. First, we can predict the topic of future breakthroughs, but the people and vision for how to move the work forward are still important. In practice, this means success requires active program managers with the expertise to develop the science and the authority to do so, including by recruiting investigators. Second, we would be wise to learn from the failures of past attempts to fund transformative research. High among these are funding modestly repackaged work, confusing the genuinely novel with the merely unfamiliar, and relying too much on incumbent investigators. All of these risks can be mitigated by thoroughly and intelligently integrating high quality data into portfolio management. Finally, we need to have patience. Even with strong funding support, producing a breakthrough takes time. If supporting breakthroughs is the best way to nurture the birth of new fields, we also need to accurately describe and properly manage the other two stages, so that we invest wisely throughout the productive lifetime of ideas and divest once they reach the point of diminishing returns. We would benefit from more study of all of these phases, especially the transition from one to another. More research could answer questions like: When does a breakthrough become an established field? How do the availability of funding, the size and characteristics of the available workforce, and the accumulation of evidence that disagrees with prevailing models affect a field’s decline? Exactly how do old ideas give birth to new ones, and can we speed up the process? The more we understand about the dynamics of scientific progress, the better we can maximize the odds that our curiosity leads to results. I’d call that finding a way to make our own luck.
Trump budget request omits funds for L.A. fire relief, prompting criticism from senators
The omission is the latest strain in a yearlong standoff between California leaders and the Trump administration over federal disaster aid.
Takeaways: Supreme Court hands Trump massive wins on immigration agenda
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority delivered President Donald Trump a pair of significant affirmations of his immigration policy Thursday, paving the way for the administration to effectively remove more than 1 million people from the US and keep many others from entering in the first place.
The Supreme Court lets Trump deport people back to war zones
Trump’s administration may ignore procedural rules governing many of the most endangered people in America.
5 states targeting Medicaid behavioral health enrollment amid fraud concerns
At least five states have taken steps in 2026 to restrict new Medicaid behavioral health provider enrollments as stakeholders seek to curb fraud, waste and abuse while strengthening oversight of high-risk services. The developments come as the Trump administration aims to crack down on healthcare fraud. On June 25, the Justice Department charged 455 people, […]
SBA’s Proposed Update to the 8(a) Business Development Program: A New Approach to Social Disadvantage
On June 11, 2026, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) published a proposed rule that would fundamentally alter how individuals qualify as “socially
Major blow for MacBook Ultra: Apple said to cancel M6 Pro and M6 Max
The Apple MacBook Ultra will either be released with the older Apple M5 Max, or its launch will be significantly delayed. This is because Apple is said to have halted development of the Apple M6 Pro and M6 Max in order to focus on the M7 series instead, which is expected to offer significantly stronger AI performance.
Kaiser Permanente highlights its dedication to LGBTQ+ health
Daniel Woody, Chief Administrative Officer for Kaiser Permanente San Francisco, joined Midday Live to talk about why the organization continues to show up for Pride, and how it supports the LGBTQ+ community year-round.
Trump administration identifies more than 500 migrant children for removal from the US, senator says
The Trump administration has identified more than 500 unaccompanied migrant children in US government custody to be potentially removed from the country, according to Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden.
Supreme Court clears way for Trump administration to revive restrictive immigration policy
The justices, in a 6-3 decision, overturned a lower court order blocking the practice that limited the number of people who could apply for asylum each day.
Supreme Court allows Trump administration to end legal protections for Haitians and Syrians
The 6-3 decision overturns lower court orders and allows the Department of Homeland Security to swiftly end temporary protected status, a program that protects a total of 1.3 million people from 17 countries.
Supreme Court sides with big business in Roundup cancer risk fight
The ruling is also a victory for the Trump administration and a defeat for the Make America Healthy Again movement.
Supreme Court sides with big business in Roundup cancer risk fight
The ruling is also a victory for the Trump administration and a defeat for the Make America Healthy Again movement.
Health systems must shift AI use from automation to transformation
While healthcare investments in AI are two to three times that of other industries, most providers focus AI's power on tackling administrative tasks. But AI's true value is in transforming care, explain experts at the HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum.
What we know about Trump’s Great American State Fair
The Trump administration’s 16-day-long Great American State Fair has begun, offering visitors to the National Mall in Washington, DC, the chance to visit pavilions showcasing every US state and territory.
Trump is racing to finish his border wall. Here’s how he is planning to do it
President Donald Trump is accelerating his effort to finish his border wall and setting an ambitious goal of completing it by the end of his administration. He’ll need landowners whose property runs along the US-Mexico border to hand over their land to finish it.
Elizabeth Warren says ‘frenzy’ of mergers under Trump could be reversed
Senator warns of ‘tsunami of anger’ against big companies and suggests future administrations may undo key deals
Under pressure from Trump, Republican-led Senate reverses course on Iran
The chamber rejected a resolution to force Trump to end the war after he criticized Republicans for undermining his administration’s negotiations.
EPA Tells Staff Not to Smuggle Politics Into Official Opinions
The EPA’s comment letters to other agencies seeking input on environmental reviews must stick to the topic—clean air, water, and land—according to a Wednesday memo from David Fotouhi, the agency’s deputy administrator.
The Trump administration has attacked science 574 times. Track each instance with this online tool
The Union of Concerned Scientists is aiming to visualize the scale of the president's anti-science actions, from censorship to the sidelining of experts.
Politics: What Donald Trump’s Defense Policy Means For Black Service Members
Black Americans serving in the U.S. military have long lived with a great contradiction. The country they’re fighting to protect is the same one that’s failed to serve and protect them.Despite this, Black Americans continue to enlist. There are over 350,000 Black active duty and select reserve members and more than 2.4 million Black veterans. That’s according to the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University.This year, Defense secretary Pete Hegseth has blocked or delayed the promotions of more than a dozen Black and female senior officers. He’s also dismissed several high-ranking Black and female officers, according to The Atlantic. This comes amid the second Trump administration’s aggressive rollback of programs and policies connected to diversity, equity and inclusion.Black military members have always battled discrimination. But for some, this is a step too far in the wrong direction. So, what does their future hold? And what does it mean for the U.S. military?Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
What will the Trump administration’s relationship with Andy Burnham look like?
The popular Labour Party politician could butt heads with the U.S. president
A Year in, the Trump Administration is Exercising “Gold Standard” Suppression of Science
Rather than encouraging high quality science, the Trump administration is disingenuously invoking “gold standard science” as a means to suppress it.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 redesign leaked in high quality official press renders
One of the most well-known leakers came out of his retirement just to show us the partially adapted design of the Galaxy Watch Ultra successor in form of high-quality official render images. The ultimate Samsung smartwatch definitely adopts elements of the Galaxy Watch Classic8, some specs have also been confirmed.
Microsoft releases smaller Surface Pro with cheaper price and 90 Hz display
Microsoft has released a new Surface Pro 2-in-1. Smaller than the new Surface Pro 12 that features a 13-inch display, the updated Surface Pro 12-inch features a 90 Hz display and a Snapdragon X Plus chipset, but only 8 GB of RAM.
Microsoft releases new 13-inch laptop globally with cheaper starting price
Microsoft has released a new version of its Surface Laptop 13-inch. Sold globally, the updated Surface Laptop 13-inch is much cheaper than Microsoft's existing models. Sadly, the device achieves a $200 saving by returning to 8 GB of RAM.
Federal judge blocks Trump policy of making arrests at immigration courts nationwide
A federal judge in California on Tuesday issued a nationwide block against the Trump administration’s policy of making arrests at immigration courts, putting an end to a practice that garnered national attention.