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Blanche will face questions from lawmakers over a nearly $1.8B fund to compensate Trump allies
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appears on Capitol Hill for his first congressional testimony since taking over at the Justice Department.
Meet Ed Gallrein, the man in the middle of the Donald Trump-Thomas Massie fight
The race against Rep. Thomas Massie has overshadowed the campaign for Ed Gallrein, the farmer and former Navy SEAL recruited to run against him.
Steep drop in number of people with Affordable Care Act health coverage, analysis finds
Enrollment in Healthcare.gov and the other marketplaces is plunging by 5 million, the new paper from KFF finds. Last year, Congress failed to make a deal to keep the coverage more affordable.
Europe's oldest science park could be redeveloped
Cambridge Science Park submits plans which could create 20,000 jobs and new public spaces.
Bournemouth v Man City: Key stats and talking points
BBC Sport examines some of the key themes before Tuesday's match (19:30 BST), with Manchester City needing a win [TO KEEP THEIR TITLE HOPES ALIVE]. This will be Andoni Iraola's final home game as Bournemouth boss and comes with his team on the brink of qualifying for Europe for the first time. A point would ensure the Cherries can finish no lower than eighth, which – as a result of Manchester City's victory in the FA Cup final – will be worth a place in next season's Conference League.
The women leaving the 'New Right'
Defectors from the ‘New Right’ say that sexism is a feature, not a bug of modern-day conservatism.New York Magazine’s Sam Adler-Bell published The Young Women Leaving the New Right, detailing the experiences of conservative women who say that rampant misogyny within the space is pushing them out of a community they helped build. From demanding that women stay home and out of public life to advocating for the repeal of civil rights law - some conservative women have reached their limit. But host Brittany Luse wonders: will this change of heart stick in the voting booths? Or is this just more of the same?To answer that question, Brittany is joined by Editor at Large of the 19th and NABJ President, Errin Haines. Errin helps unpack the link between the ‘new’ and ‘old’ right, white women checkered political history, and how searching for community can sometimes lead people down dark paths. Want more about women and politics? Check out these episodes:Progressive women have 'had it!' And they're fighting back.The political power of Gen Z womenEnough is enough. Is it time to leave America?Support Public Media. Join NPR Plus.Follow Brittany on Instagram: @bmluseFor handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
Accel Entertainment: All Eyes On Chicago
Accel Entertainment maintains steady earnings growth but remains rangebound. Click here to read more on ACEL stock and why it is a Hold.
UK unemployment unexpectedly rises to 5% as firms squeezed by Iran war
Pay growth eases to 3.4% as businesses face pressure from soaring energy costs
LA mayor's race: AI videos supporting Spencer Pratt shake up political playbook
AI-generated videos depicting L.A. mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt as a superhero and his rival Karen Bass as a villain are gaining traction online.
Cambridge Science Park plans create '20,000 new jobs and public spaces'
Cambridge Science Park submits plans which could create 20,000 jobs and new public spaces.
Bay Area first responders graduate from mental health program aimed at helping their own: 'It's a new tool'
Law enforcement officers across the country are facing a growing mental health crisis, with suicides continuing to outpace line-of-duty deaths in many years.
Rangers pitcher MacKenzie Gore leaves game with muscle tightness
Texas Rangers left-handed starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore left Monday night's game at Colorado after one inning because of muscle tightness in his back. Gore’s ailment occurred on the same day that the Rangers placed shortstop Corey Seager on the 10-day injury list because of lower back inflammation. Gore got up gingerly after diving to field a slow roller to the third base side, although it was not immediately clear if that play contributed to his injury.
WATCH: A Spacecraft Is Launching to Study How Earth Survives Solar Storms
The first-ever X-ray observations of our planet's magnetic field.
Trump targets Massie in explosive Kentucky showdown as six states hold high-stakes primaries
Six states hold primaries Tuesday testing President Trump's grip on the GOP, with high-profile races in Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.
Avalanche Faces Golden Knights in Star-Studded Western Conference Final
Series Pits Two of the Last Four Stanley Cup Champions Against Each Other
SimonMed hopes to drum up whole-body MRI business
The Tucson, Arizona-based radiology practice announced it will offer 20% discounts on its longevity scans to the military, veterans and first responders.
A strange ripple in spacetime could be the first fingerprint of dark matter
Black holes crashing together may be revealing clues about dark matter hidden across the universe. Physicists created a new model predicting how dark matter could subtly distort gravitational waves produced during black hole mergers. When they tested the method on real LIGO data, one signal stood out as potentially carrying a dark matter imprint.
Early voting underway as Johnson and Allred battle for District 33
As early voting gets underway in Texas, we're closely watching the race in Texas Congressional District 33, a newly redrawn district in Dallas County.
Nintendo reveals new mobile game Pictonico
Nintendo is releasing a brand new mobile game titled Pictonico, the company just revealed. It will be available on May 28, 2026. Pictonico is a mini-game experience centered around using photos. You can use your own face (or friends as well) across 80 different challenges. The game is free to start. A few mini-games will be available for free, but...
GOP Rep. Thomas Massie defiant as Trump seeks to oust him in primary: "I'm going to win"
Massie said the president is worried about his preferred candidate Ed Gallrein's chances in the Kentucky race.
Scientists Discover Over A Thousand New Ocean Species In Landmark Deep Sea Exploration
From deep sea ghost sharks to symbiotic worms and unusual crustaceans, scientists have identified 1,121 new marine species in a single year through the Ocean Census initiative.
Nancy Pelosi puts thumb on the scale in race for her successor. Here's who she endorsed
Pelosi’s surprise endorsement comes just two weeks from Election Day, six months after the former speaker announced she would retire
Kudos to Cheer Club, College of Business faculty, Cybersecurity team and more
Becky Cottrell, Ph.D., Department of Social Work, and Bridget Arend, Ph.D., School of Education Becky Cottrell from the Department of Social Work and Bridget Arend, Ph.D., from the School of Education co-authored an article recently published in an international journal. Read the article. Biff Baker, Ph.D., College of Business Biff Baker, Ph.D., received a Best in Track award from the Society for Advancement of Management for research examining bureaucratic inefficiencies within Section 8 subsidized housing programs. The study focuses on how administrative delays and communication breakdowns can create housing instability for families and discourage landlord participation. It also offers recommendations to improve accountability and trust in public housing systems. Brendan Fry, Ph.D., Department of Mathematics and Statistics Brendan Fry, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, co-authored the article “Modeling the Impact of Venous Collapsibility on Retinal Oxygenation,” published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. The interdisciplinary research brought together scholars from the University of Delaware, Indiana University Indianapolis, McGill University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. Access the article. Bridget Arend, Ph.D., School of Education Bridget Arend, Ph.D., professor in the School of Education, co-published the book “Facilitating Seven Ways of Learning: A Resource for More Purposeful, Effective, and Enjoyable College Teaching, Second Edition” with James R. Davis. The book explores practical approaches to improving college teaching and student learning experiences. Buy the book. College of Business Faculty At the 2026 Western Decision Sciences Institute international conference, Sally Baalbaki-Yassine, Ph.D., Debora Gilliard, Ph.D., and David Lynn Hoffman, Ph.D., from the College of Business received the Best Case Study Paper Award for “Oreo: A Global Success Story in Brand Evolution and Market Leadership.” Lisa McVicker, Ph.D., and Apryl Brodersen, Ph.D., also had their paper, “Electronic Performance Monitoring: Employer Panacea or Legal Quagmire?” accepted for publication in the Journal of Business Leadership. Community Engagement Exchange Program Metropolitan State University of Denver was selected to host international Fellow Aleja Henao Espitia of Bogotá, Colombia through the Community Engagement Exchange program funded by the U.S. Department of State. View Espitia's LinkedIn profile. David Varel, Ph.D., College of Letters, Arts and Sciences MSU Denver historian David Varel, Ph.D., has been awarded a 2026 ACLS Fellowship by the American Council of Learned Societies. The fellowship program supports outstanding scholarship in the humanities and social sciences, and selected just 63 scholars from more than 2,000 applicants this year. Varel’s project, “The Black Chicago School: Academic Activism in the Age of American Apartheid,” explores the work of Black scholars who challenged scientific racism, built alternative institutions and helped lay the foundation for the modern civil rights movement. The fellowship provides up to $60,000 to support full-time research and writing. Learn more about the fellowship. MSU Denver Office of Financial Aid Team Several MSU Denver employees were recognized for leadership and service during the Colorado Association of Financial Aid Administrators (CAFAA) conference held in May in Crested Butte. Don Holtzen, interim associate director of systems, chaired the conference and was recognized for his service as CAFAA conference chair and technology chair during the 2025-26 term. Holtzen also received the Postsecondary Institution Professional of the Year award, which recognizes financial-aid professionals who have made significant contributions to their institutions and to CAFAA. Tori Pacheco, associate director of Student Services, helped design décor and facilitate the conference and was recognized for her service as CAFAA secretary during the 2025-26 term. Destiny Candelaria, call center coordinator, served on the conference planning committee and presented on One Stops during the event. Michael Nguyen, executive director of Financial Aid and Scholarships, assisted as a CAFAA board member and was recognized for serving as president-elect during the 2025-26 term. Richard Balbag, program assistant I, received the Distinguished Support Staff Member of the Year award, honoring staff members who have made exceptional contributions to their financial-aid offices. Military Friendly Recognition Military Friendly has awarded MSU Denver Gold Status as a military-friendly university and ranked the University No. 7 nationally for military spouses. The recognition reflects MSU Denver’s strong support systems for veterans and military spouses, including transfer credit assistance and retention-focused resources. As of 2026, 1,050 military-connected students are enrolled at the University, advancing institutional priorities around serving veterans and supporting student retention. MSU Denver Cheer Club The MSU Denver Cheer Club earned third place in the 4-Year College Small Coed Intermediate division at the USA Spirit Nationals. Celebrate the win on Instagram. MSU Denver Cybersecurity Team An MSU Denver cybersecurity team earned first place in the Strategist category at the 2026 CYBER RECon National Competition hosted at Fort Meade, Maryland, by U.S. Cyber Command. Led by Jeffrey London, Ph.D., and undergraduate student Matthew Bopp, the team competed against universities and law schools nationwide with its 30-page legal analysis on cybersecurity and free speech titled “Freedom of Speech and MDM: Misinformation, Disinformation, and Malinformation.” The paper also earned Bopp a personal invitation to apply to the University of Maryland School of Law. MSU Denver Debate Team MSU Denver Debate won the 2026 Sierra Sustainability Summit hosted at Yosemite National Park in April. Students Kat Conte and Simon Bernhard bested teams from George Washington University, Gallaudet University, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the University of San Francisco and Tennessee Tech in the modified present-and-defend style competition. Their proposal recommended adapting Colorado’s Keep Colorado Wild Pass model to support California state parks facing budget constraints. Learn about the summit. MSU Denver Women’s Golf MSU Denver Women’s Golf was represented on the national stage this month as junior Neige Dunn competed as an individual at the NCAA West Regional. She became the first Roadrunner in 10 years to qualify for NCAA Regionals as an individual. Get the details.
Video: Graham Platner: ‘We Need a Political Revolution’
Graham Platner, a Democrat, is hoping to defeat Susan Collins in Maine’s Senate race this fall. On “The Interview,” he talks about why the country needs to find a way to rebuild the political system.
Rest easy, Commanders fans — 2026 schedule is a gift within the NFL’s misplaced priorities
Upon further analysis of the Commanders’ 2026 schedule, Rob Woodfork explains why this season’s slate makes up for last year but again proves the NFL’s priorities are out of order.
UC faculty and staff rally for state investment in science
UC President James B. Milliken and other leaders urged state lawmakers to pass SB 895, bipartisan legislation that would place a $12 billion bond to fund scientific research across California on the November 2026 ballot.
Could Republican Thomas Massie survive Trump's attack to oust him?
The Kentucky congressman, who has crossed the president on federal spending and the Epstein files, faces Republican voters on Tuesday.
How one Pocatello business is helping eastern Idaho save water, one lawn at a time
POCATELLO – Amid a water shortage and emergency drought in place across Idaho, a Pocatello business offers homeowners a way to water their lawn more efficiently and help conserve water. RELATED | Idaho declares drought emergency for all 44 counties as snowpack hits record lows Canopy Lawn Care, now in its second year of operation […]
Boston Scientific invests $1.5B in MiRus with option to buy its TAVR business
Boston Scientific has invested heavily in Georgia-based MiRus, a rising name in the competitive TAVR landscape.
Live Results: Kentucky midterm congressional primaries
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal critics within the Republican Party, faces a tough primary challenge Tuesday in Kentucky’s state primary. It’s the latest example this primary season of the president trying to purge the party of Republicans he perceives as disloyal. Kentucky voters will also pick nominees for U.S. Senate, five other U.S. House seats and the state General Assembly. Voters in Louisville will winnow down
Trucking insurance: How to make underwriters fight for your business
An Overdrive 2025 Small Fleet Champ's flatbed biz makes good on growth goals with a transparent promise to owner-operators: 15% of the gross for costs, no insurance chargebacks. "We had companies fighting over our business" this year, he said, with similarly transparent ELD data engagement.
Sen. Dave McCormick asks Pennsylvania to embrace AI during Harrisburg luncheon
HARRISBURG — U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick wants Pennsylvania at the forefront of the artificial intelligence boom happening across the United States.
Innovating at the Speed of Business: Announcing the Customer Achievement Awards AMER 2026 Finalists
We are honored to celebrate these remarkable achievements and the trust our customers place in Cisco as their technology partner.
55-Story Tower could become Reno’s tallest building in J Resort plans
The celebration took place in the property's new 4th Street expansion.
Whoa! Netflix is Sending Narnia Heading to Theaters...What This Means for the Future of Film
(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) Here’s a funny thing about the debate over whether streamers should release their movies in theaters first: Both sides think the other side represents the “conventional wisdom”. If you’ve been reading me for any amount of time, or even just scanned my front page, you know I think movies make more money by having a robust theatrical window compared to going straight-to-streaming. I’ve published thousands of words on this topic. And for years, I felt like I was standing up to a wave of opposition. See, while the “put your films in theaters to make money” take was obvious at any point before 2019, post-streaming revolution, most of the trendy thinkers took the opposite point of view. Big names argued that Netflix putting their film straight-to-streaming (“S-to-S” from here on out) actually made more money. Netflix was “disrupting” theaters, just as they disrupted Blockbuster Video, and since innovation is always good, this too was a great idea. This thinking then leaked into the mainstream business outlets like the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. I read many articles whose take boiled down to “Netflix makes tons of money from S-to-S releases” and “theaters were in structural decline” anyways. Covid-19 shutting down theaters and the 2023 strikes shutting down film production seemingly justified this point of view, as the box office struggled to return to 2017-2019 heights. Yet I’ve also read folks arguing the opposite point: the conventional wisdom says to put films in theaters! From some writers’ points of view, “everyone” actually agrees/agreed with my “send your films to theaters” take—especially the stodgy traditional studios—and folks still didn’t understand Netflix’s genius. I feel like, for the last two years, many people have argued this point as if it’s conventional wisdom. You know what? I may have been wrong. At this point, the “S-to-S strategy makes money” might be the minority viewpoint. Especially with the news this month that Netflix will put at least one film—Greta Gerwig’s Narnia film The Magician’s Nephew—in theaters in 2027 for a full 49-day run is big news. So that’s the story of the week, but I’ll also explain why they’re making this move now and why Netflix may not completely embrace theaters, along with other topics, like how I don’t buy Disney’s “super app” strategy, the latest good news out of the unions, my take on the latest attacks against free speech, and a whole lot more. Let’s get started. Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - Netflix Goes to Theaters! Listen, I promise not to victory lap too hard today. As I just wrote, I’ve argued against sending films straight-to-streaming for—checks calendar—eight years now. Since 2018. Yikes. That’s a long time. And for years, others painted my thinking as “conventional” in that I was standing up for the status quo against trendy, cool disruption. And that’s not cool! But math is math, and I never could make the S-to-S numbers work. The only thing that ever enabled that model was Wall Street’s brief exuberance for it. It seems like the heads of Netflix now agree with me. (There were always rumors that former head of film for Netflix Scott Stuber argued internally for theatrical releases as well.) As they announced: “The Magician’s Nephew_—the first film in a Narnia series of films—will open on 12-Feb-2027, with a 49 day theatrical exclusive run.”_ I’m a little surprised at how little coverage this big change actually got. Credit to Bloomberg for leading with it and Matt Belloni’s The Town for highlighting it with the provocatively titled podcast “Hell Hath Frozen Over”. But after that? Instead of getting as much coverage as, say, the FCC’s latest egregious crackdown on free speech, this news story got crickets. But it’s massively more important for the future business of entertainment. So let’s start with the obvious question… Why Put Your Movies in Theaters? So…why should Netflix put (some!) of their movies in theaters? Well, I’ve already written that in a very, very, very long article from 2022: [ ](https://entertainment.substack.com/p/the-data-is-in-theatrical-films-massively) [ The Data Is In: Theatrical Films Massively Outperform Straight-To-Streaming Films ](https://entertainment.substack.com/p/the-data-is-in-theatrical-films-massively) Entertainment Strategy Guy · April 5, 2023 [ Read full story ](https://entertainment.substack.com/p/the-data-is-in-theatrical-films-massively) To summarize, theatrical runs make much more money, especially blockbusters, because they earn more money per viewing,1 and that helps boost home entertainment sales. Theatrical films also perform as well or better than the streaming-only films. Now, partially this is driven by increased marketing for said films, but said marketing ultimately boosts the awareness of the movies and drives improved streaming and library performance as well. Again, I’ve made this case after reviewing the economic models and streaming data for years. Just last week, Emily Horgan also made the case for kids films! Yes, it is probably conventional wisdom, but that’s also because it’s true! I’d also argue we’ve seen a lot of data in the various studios’ behavior. As I’ve noted before, the more a studio needs to make money, the likelier they are to put films in theaters. As such, Disney, Universal, Warner Bros., Paramount and Sony all send their major films to theaters. Even if they once made a big S-to-S push (*cough* Disney *cough*), they’ve since relented and returned to theaters. The tech companies don’t need to make money, per se, so it took them years to embrace theaters. Apple doesn’t need to make money because it doesn’t disclose their (likely) Quibi-sized losses each year. (They fear bad press more than losing money.) Amazon announced two years ago that they planned to make Amazon-MGM Studios/Prime Video profitable on its own, and guess what? Now they’re putting films in theaters. That leaves Netflix. They’re in between the “no need to make money at all” and the “desperately need to make money to offset linear TV declines”, so they had less pressure to put some films in theaters. Plus, for years, they were the sexy disruptor, and Wall Street rewarded them for that. (Honestly, they still do.) Yet, even Netflix likely saw the money they were leaving on the table (I’ve estimated it at an easy billion dollars before) so they changed their course. I heard one pundit argue that, because Netflix already makes so much money, they don’t need to make more money, which sort of goes against everything I’ve ever learned about business and economics. Again, to be super-nuanced, sending “films to theaters” does not mean EVERY film. TV movies have been a thing for decades. Lifetime films, Hallmark holiday films, Disney Channel Original Movies, and so on, don’t need theatrical runs. But films above a certain budget level (say $25 to 50 million) almost certainly need theaters to maximize their revenue. The Scenarios (with a Dose of Skepticism) Now time for some skepticism: it won’t surprise me at all if Netflix re-changes course. Specifically, Netflix announced that their Narnia film will go to theaters. And I’d bet anything we see KPop Demon Hunters 2: The Huntering2 also goes to theaters, cause it’s the surest hit outside of a Disney animated sequel right now. But how much does Netflix truly commit to theaters? They’ve already tried to emphasize that this is a one-off move. I see three broad scenarios:
Jacobs Entertainment completes Phase One of Reno’s Neon Line District
The celebration took place in the property's new 4th Street expansion.
How teaching the history of science can help equip students to face polarized times
For decades, science educators have been encouraged to "stick to the science" and leave politics at the classroom door. But as disinformation spreads online and public trust in science seems to erode ...
Murdaugh attorney SLAMMED after retrial ruling: ‘Bald-faced allegations of politics’
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson discusses the state Supreme Court’s ruling in the Alex Murdaugh retrial case and criticism of defense attorney Dick Harpootlian’s past Democratic political leanings.
Georgia GOP scrambles to pick candidate to face Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff
Trump has not endorsed a candidate, which could lead to a runoff on June 16.
NASA Spaceline Current Awareness List #1,200 15 May 2026 (Space Life Science Research Results)
NASA Spaceline Current Awareness List
Four NASA payloads to fly on Astrolab’s first lunar rover
Astrolab’s first lunar rover will carry four NASA payloads on a mission planned to launch later this year.
Introducing XBOX Player Voice: A Simpler Way to Share Feedback
We’re launching XBOX Player Voice, a new place to share feedback and see how it’s being handled.
How scientists developed a hantavirus PCR test in a weekend Inside the race to develop a hantavirus PCR test
Researchers at the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory worked round the clock to develop a test for the Andes virus at the center of the deadly cruise ship outbreak
The aluminum iPhone 17 Pro dents easily, so Apple has another replacement in mind
Aluminum didn't really work out for the iPhone 17, so Apple is heading back to the drawing board.
Apple might replace aluminum with titanium in future iPhones again, per leak
iPhone 17 Pro switched from titanium to an aluminum-based design, but Apple might be exploring an ‘improved’ titanium for future iPhones.
Scientists claim our dreams are real in another dimension
You know those dreams that feel way too real? The ones with full storylines, familiar places, recurring people like you didn’t imagine them but went there.
Balancing act: 26 Sun Devils sports present unique challenges in NIL era
Arizona State’s athletic department faces unique challenges in sponsoring 26 varsity sports teams, especially with the rise of name, image, and likeness.
NASA Selects Next Class of Space Health Postdoctoral Fellows
The NASA-funded Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) has selected two early‑career scientists for its next class of postdoctoral fellows.
Bird and Human Faces Share the Same Genetic Blueprint. Why Do They Look So Different?
Changes in non-coding DNA sequences make all the difference.
Children’s Colorado must resume care to transgender plaintiffs, state Supreme Court rules by 5-2
The Colorado Supreme Court, by a 5-2 vote, ordered Children’s Hospital Colorado on Monday to resume providing certain medical services to a group of transgender plaintiffs, which it had ceased in the face of funding threats from the federal government last year. The unusual appeal before the Supreme Court stemmed from a trial judge’s rejection […]
Google is rolling out its redesigned Workspace app icons
Google’s Workspace icons got an ombre makeover.
Meet Dr. Claw: The open-source AI assistant revolutionizing the research workflow
Lehigh University researchers have built the first “AI for Science” software tool designed to support the entire project workflow for research scientists. Dr. Claw is an open-source, full-stack AI research assistant that helps users refine ideas, conduct literature reviews, run experiments, draft and review papers, write grant proposals, and build presentations. It eliminates the need to toggle between specialized AI tools—such as deep research agents for source evaluation or code generators for data analysis—by unifying these capabilities within a single interface.
Station Yards eateries hit with drop in business amid LIRR strike
Businesses near one of Long Island's busiest train stations experience a downturn as the LIRR strike disrupts commuter traffic, leading to fewer customers and reduced sales.
Ford Europe plans five new vehicles to turn around passenger business
Although it has leadership in commercial vehicles on the continent, the Blue Oval has struggled with market share in the retail space.
From Budapest to Princeton, Catholic scholars mobilize to reconnect faith and political life
CatholicPOST seeks to restore Catholic social doctrine to its rightful place in intellectual life and academic discussion.
5 runoff races to watch as early voting kicks off
Early voting for the primary runoff elections is here.
Yakima Symphony Orchestra launches summer chamber series
The Yakima Symphony Orchestra will take Beethoven beyond the concert hall this summer with a new chamber music series featuring performances at libraries, wineries and community spaces across the Yakima
New MatterChat Model Helps AI to ‘See’ the Language of Science
From writing emails to generating computer code, much of the artificial intelligence prevalent in our daily lives has succeeded by mastering one domain: text. However, this leaves a major blind spot in the physical sciences, where models depend on the high-resolution, three-dimensional data of the physical world, like the intricate lattice of atoms in a crystal. Delivering on the promise of using AI for science requires teaching these data-driven text models to seamlessly “talk to” physics-based models. Now, a new AI framework from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), called MatterChat, solves this problem by creating a specialized “bridge.” It connects the conversational power of a Large Language Model (LLM) with a physics-based AI that models “interatomic potentials”: the complex physical forces between atoms. The resulting system already significantly outperforms general-purpose AI tools like GPT-4 at predicting material properties, and the team hopes it can accelerate scientific discovery by serving as a robust research partner that provides grounded insights and generates step-by-step instructions for synthesizing novel materials. A paper describing this work was recently published in Nature Machine Intelligence. “Traditional simulations can provide the physical rigor required for materials science, yet their computational cost remains prohibitive for high-throughput screening. Conversely, while LLMs excel at rapid knowledge synthesis, they inherently lack the ‘structural vision’ to interpret materials directly from their underlying atomic coordinates,” said Yingheng Tang, a postdoctoral researcher in Berkeley Lab’s Applied Math and Computational Research Division (AMCR) and lead author on the paper. “MatterChat was built to solve this dilemma, empowering LLMs with a structural ‘vision’ that allows researchers to leverage their full potential for solving complex, real-world materials challenges.” Empowering language models to solve complex challenges in materials science To build MatterChat, the Berkeley Lab team drew inspiration from technologies like Vision Question Answering (VQA) and Text-to-Image (T2I) generation. In these tasks, AI must translate high-level text concepts into visual images, or vice versa. Doing so requires developers to build tools that “bridge” two fundamentally different forms of data. The researchers adapted this concept to the physical sciences. With MatterChat, they created a “bridge model” that successfully connects an LLM’s general knowledge with the deep understanding of the atomic-scale world encoded in scientific interatomic potentials. Until now, researchers using LLMs to solve materials problems usually had to feed them raw data files as if they were just strings of text. It’s like asking an AI to understand a complex 3D engine based only on a parts list: the LLM can read the names, but it can’t “see” how the atoms fit together in space. MatterChat solves this by training a specialized AI bridge model, pre-trained on millions of crystal structures and an LLM, to align the LLM’s representation of the world with the interatomic potential’s representation of the world. The bridge model can translate physical insights into a format the LLM can actually understand. By giving the LLM these “scientific eyes”— a scientific “inductive bias” in the terminology of AI — the Berkeley Lab team has transformed it into a robust research tool capable of providing grounded scientific insights into complex materials challenges, such as predicting thermal stability or analyzing electronic band gaps. “We think of atoms as living in a physical space, but from a machine learning perspective, they are just vectors living in some very non-trivially structured manifold in a high-dimensional Euclidean space; and, of course, the same is true for the sentences and paragraphs that we use to express our ideas about those atoms,” said co-author Michael Mahoney, Berkeley Lab’s Scientific Data Division (SDD) AI Initiative Research Lead. “The bridge model basically gets those two structures to ‘talk with’ each other.” As a proof-of-concept of this general approach, the team trained their bridge model on a dataset curated by pairing nearly 143,000 stable atomic structures from the Materials Project with their corresponding physical properties. This training data was automatically assembled using the Materials Project’s API and deliberately enriched with properties fundamental to microelectronics design — like formation energy and bandgap — allowing MatterChat to learn the complex patterns connecting a material’s atomic blueprint to its functional performance. To validate their model, the researchers benchmarked MatterChat against a suite of other AI systems, from general-purpose LLMs to other specialized scientific AI methods. The results show that MatterChat consistently outperformed its competitors across a range of tasks. The model was more accurate in classifying material types and demonstrated superior precision in predicting numerical properties. For example, it excelled at predicting a material’s bandgap, a property critical for designing new electronics from high-capacity energy storage to next-generation computer chips. “Our design is significantly more efficient because we don’t have to build a massive AI model from the ground up,” said co-author Zhi (Jackie) Yao, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s AMCR. “Instead, we take two powerful, pre-trained models — a structural encoder for materials physics and an open-source LLM — and use them off-the-shelf. The only component we actually train is the lightweight ‘bridge model’ that translates between them. It’s the difference between building an entire car factory and simply designing a smart adapter that connects a world-class engine to a world-class navigation system. This approach is not only computationally efficient, but also makes the system modular, so we can easily upgrade components or adapt the bridge for other scientific domains in the future.” Crucially, this modular design highlights exactly how institutions like Berkeley Lab and the Department of Energy are carving out a highly valuable niche in the booming AI landscape. Rather than competing with Silicon Valley tech giants to build ever-larger language models from scratch, the lab is focusing on the specialized connective tissue that makes commercial AI useful for hardcore science. Because the bridge model approach underlying MatterChat is forward-compatible, it is perfectly positioned to leverage these parallel tracks of innovation. As Mahoney pointed out, “We expect that industry will continue to develop improved LLMs, and we expect domain scientists and facilities will continue to generate new data. An important part of scientific machine learning is not simply to solve problems on today’s data, but instead to develop general methods that will be forward-compatible with orders of magnitude more data, whether from scientific domains or from LLMs.” According to Yao, the MatterChat project, which was initially developed and enhanced with funding from a Berkeley Lab Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) Program, will now expand its capabilities. In a collaboration with Fermilab, MatterChat is already contributing to a U.S. Department of Energy Genesis Mission project — called Accelerating eXtreme Environment Specs-to-Silicon (AXESS) — that aims to speed up the development of next-generation, high-speed, radiation-hardened detectors for challenging particle physics experiments by using advanced 3D integrated circuits (chiplets) and AI-driven data analysis. In addition to the LDRD support, the team also credits supercomputing resources at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), located at Berkeley Lab, with MatterChat’s success. “We are incredibly grateful to NERSC; this research simply would not have happened without access to the Perlmutter supercomputer through their AI for Science program,” said Tang. Wenbin Xu, a NERSC postdoctoral fellow at the time, was also a major co-author of the work, as was Benjamin Erichson, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s SDD, highlighting the benefits of AMCR-SDD collaboration on AI for science. ### Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is committed to groundbreaking research focused on discovery science and solutions for abundant and reliable energy supplies. The lab’s expertise spans materials, chemistry, physics, biology, earth and environmental science, mathematics, and computing. Researchers from around the world rely on the lab’s world-class scientific facilities for their own pioneering research. Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest problems are best addressed by teams, Berkeley Lab and its scientists have been recognized with 17 Nobel Prizes. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.
Pratt ‘going to forever change how political ads are done’: Chaffetz
Fox News host and former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) on Sunday praised Spencer Pratt, the Republican candidate in the Los Angeles mayoral race, saying he is “going to forever change how poli…
Meet the Graduates: School of Business Majors Are Going Places
Meet the spring 2026 graduates of the College of Charleston School of Business and find out what they're doing next.
Apple Watch Ultra 4 getting two major new upgrades, per report
A new report from Digitimes highlights two major upgrades coming with Apple Watch Ultra 4 when it launches this fall.
What’s Next for Artemis II AVATARs
Organ chips from Artemis II's AVATAR investigation have arrived at the laboratory at Emulate, Inc. in Boston, Massachusetts for analysis. The AVATAR (A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response) investigation uses personalized organ chips made from each astronaut's own cells to study the impacts of space radiation and microgravity on human health.
Gradient Google icon redesign starts rolling out
Following our report last month, Google is beginning to roll out its gradient icon redesign for Workspace apps.
The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs may have triggered a global fungal bloom
The asteroid that smacked into our planet about 66 million years ago at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary may have been bad news for dinosaurs, but it was good news for fungi. According to new ...
Op-ed: Peru’s Politics of Instability
As Peru approaches new presidential elections, a cycle of political upheaval has normalized instability, raising urgent questions about whether democracy can function when crisis becomes routine.
Op-ed: Peru’s Politics of Instability
As Peru approaches new presidential elections, a cycle of political upheaval has normalized instability, raising urgent questions about whether democracy can function when crisis becomes routine.
How teaching the history of science can help equip students to face polarized times
If science teachers embrace history as a lens for teaching complex accounts of science, we open possibilities for more socially relevant classrooms.
Op-ed: Trump Fires All Governing Members of the US National Science Foundation Amidst Major Cuts to Research
Trump Administration efforts to erase the independence of federal agencies, and roll back research, continue in the firing of all 22 National Science Foundation board members
After United Canceled Her Flight, An Agent Said “Nothing” Could Be Done — But She Heard The Trash Talk In The Background
United’s “Agent on Demand” is supposed to replace the airport customer service desk when travel goes sideways. But after a canceled flight in Atlanta, one passenger says the remote agent offered “nothing,” sent her to the 800 number, and could be heard talking about her while the call was still live.
AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Kentucky’s primaries
One of President Donald Trump’s most vocal critics within the Republican Party faces a tough primary challenge in Kentucky’s state primary | 97.3 The Sky
AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Kentucky’s primaries
One of President Donald Trump’s most vocal critics within the Republican Party faces a tough primary challenge in Kentucky’s state primary.
'Knights of the Old Republic' Animatic Reimagines Endar Spire - Star Wars News Net
A surfaced animatic from the remake of Knights of the Old Republic reveals how the opening Endar Spire sequence would've been reimagined.
No Place for Politics in Therapy?
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Indianapolis Tabbed No. 3 Best Sports Business City by Sports Business Journal
CHARLOTTE – Sports Business Journal (SBJ) has named Indianapolis as the No. 3 Best Sports Business City in the United States, the organization announced on Monday. The Best Sports Business Cities™ list highlights the top 50 cities for businesses operating in and around sports and influences strategic direction for sports business professionals across the United States. Started in 2023, Best Sports Business Cities™ is an editorial initiative developed by Sports Business Journal, the industry’s leading news source on the business of sports. Using extensive data from dozens of sources and insights from nearly 120 influential sports business executives, SBJ evaluated more than 2,000 markets to identify the top cities based on opportunity, economic environment and industry sentiment to identify cities with strong business presence, hiring potential and long-term investment viability.
Indianapolis Tabbed No. 3 Best Sports Business City by Sports Business Journal
CHARLOTTE – Sports Business Journal (SBJ) has named Indianapolis as the No. 3 Best Sports Business City in the United States, the organization announced on Monday. The Best Sports Business Cities™ list highlights the top 50 cities for businesses operating in and around sports and influences strategic direction for sports business professionals across the United States. Started in 2023, Best Sports Business Cities™ is an editorial initiative developed by Sports Business Journal, the industry’s leading news source on the business of sports. Using extensive data from dozens of sources and insights from nearly 120 influential sports business executives, SBJ evaluated more than 2,000 markets to identify the top cities based on opportunity, economic environment and industry sentiment to identify cities with strong business presence, hiring potential and long-term investment viability.
Prantl’s owner responds to health department consumer alert
Joe Cugliari, owner and president of Prantl’s Bakery, issued a statement following the Allegheny Health Department’s consumer alert regarding the bakery’s Walnut Street location in Shadyside. According to the department’s Thursday report, the bakery had a presence of rodent droppings on multiple surfaces, damaged exterior walls, soiled food equipment, old
Windows boot partition runs out of space for Microsoft's May security update
Testing? We've heard of it
Health workers race to respond to Congo's fast-spreading Ebola outbreak
Medical personnel were rushing on Monday to the frontlines of a new Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo whose late detection and quick spread have alarmed health experts.
Houston's new budget could come down to this feud
Two of Houston's top elected officials are quietly plotting ambitions for the next mayor's race.
Worsening Nebraska drought could impact tree health amid wildfire concerns
As most of western and central Nebraska faces historic drought, the state’s tree experts are concerned drought could proliferate disease and pest concerns. Dry vegetation and trees also compound wildfire risk.
Xavier Becerra faces attacks from all sides in Calif. governor's race
Becerra came under fire last week for his link to a recent fraud scandal.
Guardiola's final farewell?
It's the beginning of a defining week for Manchester City and Pep Guardiola, with Monday and Tuesday deciding whether the Premier League title race goes to the wire or comes to an abrupt halt. Arsenal face already-relegated Burnley later and City know they are likely to need to collect three points at Bournemouth on Tuesday, otherwise it will all be over. City have already won the FA Cup and Carabao Cup this season, but can they make it a domestic treble?
Ruth Patrick Science Education Center announces STEM Camp for 2026
The Ruth Patrick Science Education Center at the University of South Carolina Aiken has announced its STEM Forward Career Exploration Camp will take place July 13-17 this summer.
Gallery of Historic Entertainment Venues in Oxford, Valparaíso, and Osaka Reflect Growing Pressures on Cultural Infrastructure - 4
Image 4 of 6 from gallery of Historic Entertainment Venues in Oxford, Valparaíso, and Osaka Reflect Growing Pressures on Cultural Infrastructure. The Ultimate Picture Palace, Jeune Street, Oxford, England, 2020. Image © Motacilla via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Democrats, Tiffany face tricky politics after killing tax relief bill
Democratic lawmakers and Republican governor candidate Tom Tiffany face tricky messaging after working to kill a bill to aid taxpayers and schools.
Inside Amer Sports: Retail excellence in Shanghai
“Inside Amer Sports” is a new video series offering a behind-the-scenes look at the people, places, and experiences shaping Amer Sports around the world.
'Truly significant': James Webb telescope reveals largest-ever map of the universe's hidden megastructures
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have created the most detailed map of the cosmic web ever.
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The mere mention of AI may make some people want to run for the hills, but when it comes to space exploration, it’s an important tool.
Jewish lawmakers face an explosion of antisemitism
The hate is direct, explicit and shockingly casual.
This is the place to keep up with the Savannah Bananas in Knoxville
Get ready for the Savannah Bananas to take over Knoxville, and keep up with all the fun happening at Covenant Health Park and Neyland Stadium.
Trump’s MAGA Supreme Court lawyer breaks tradition, but the justices embrace it
Over the past year, US Solicitor General D. John Sauer has been pushing the boundaries of the law at the Supreme Court with a delivery that is quickfire, confrontational and imbued with MAGA attitude.
The Newest Oldest President
Donald Trump is turning 80. But will he face the scrutiny that Joe Biden did?
Iconic rock group’s founding member dead at 76: ‘Faced illness with remarkable strength’
The New Jersey native co-founded Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show in 1969 and had announced his retirement from touring just months before his death.
Kyowa Hakko highlights Cognizin citicoline’s science-backed cognitive health benefits
Kyowa Hakko USA is spotlighting citicoline’s benefits for cognitive performance and long-term brain health through multiple complementary mechanisms. The supplier will exhibit its citicoline ingredient Cognizin at this week’s Complementary Medicines Australia (CMA) Innovation Day 2026 in Sydney, Australia (May 21). CMA Innovation Day is one of Australia’s annual industry gatherings for the nutraceuticals supply chain, showcasing the latest innovations shaping the market for vitamins, minerals, and supplements in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
Pizza Hut faces lawsuit from franchisee over AI system
Pizza Hut's AI-powered Dragontail system led to $100M in lost business, a franchisee says in a lawsuit over delivery delays.
Grace Smith wins APSE’s feature photo as IndyStar recognized as one of nation's top sports sections
Grace Smith topped IndyStar's 10 individual winners, placing first in feature photo and third in action photo in the 2025 APSE contest
‘It’s not supposed to look like you’re going to dive in’: Historians criticize Trump’s Reflecting Pool makeover as group sues
Workers with boots dyed an “American Flag Blue” have painted over about two-thirds of the iconic Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, covering the dull gray with bright azure following a directive by President Donald Trump to expedite the pace of the project.
Entertainment: Musician Jack Johnson debuts new film
A special screening of Johnson's new documentary SURFFILMMUSIC is set to take place at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center.
America wrestles with its ‘Leaving MAGA’ phase
For those Americans who glance at President Donald Trump and only see a raving lunatic, little is more confounding than the millions of MAGA adherents who discern a force for good. Reconciling these differing viewpoints feels nearly impossible. Dismissing this conflict as just politics misses the visceral intensity of the emotions embraced on each side […]
Cleveland thrash Pistons to reach Eastern finals
The Cleveland Cavaliers beat top seeds the Detroit Pistols 125-94 in their series decider to secure a place in the NBA East Conference Finals.