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‘Minions & Monsters’ scores series-best reviews for Illumination’s animated franchise: ‘Weird, willful popular entertainment’
The latest installment drops the Minions down in Old Hollywood with cameos from Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin.
Netflix and Superheroes Are Having a Rough Stretch on Streaming....
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) I have a quick prediction before we start today’s article: You might see this data in future news articles. Not my specific charts or analysis, but the core trend I’ve been monitoring—Netflix is having a lackluster Q2—will become inescapable. Often, folks want to know “What does the data say?” Well, that’s what it says. I haven’t seen this analysis hit the trades really yet, but I have a feeling some other outlets are going to start making this case soon. Remember, you read it here first. You probably have read about the problems facing superhero films at the box office this weekend. Well, this week, I explore whether superheroes are dying on TV as well! And the data says: definitely maybe! We have a lot to cover in today’s Streaming Ratings Report, which covers the two weeks of 18-May and 25-May. Today, I’m just looking at TV, like Netflix’s disappointing Q2, superhero shows underwhelming, a few TV shows dropping off the charts, The Pitt finally ending its epic run on the viewership charts (and whether “view counts” change its status as one of the biggest shows of all time), all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Tomorrow, I’ve got a great rundown of the film side of things. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, Showlabs, TV Time trend data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of May 18th to May 31st, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Television - Netflix’s Q2 Slump Continues Having analyzed streaming ratings for going on half a decade, I have learned to trust my gut, but I’m always relieved when I can find actual data to back it up. For example, after a string of very popular shows like Stranger Things, Bridgerton, The Lincoln Lawyer and The Night Agent came out, week after week, in January and February, my gut wondered if Netflix had enough new and returning TV shows to sustain them throughout the year. Since then, Netflix’s post-March slate of shows has not impressed me. This week seemed to feature a potential new hit, but then, like a classic Duffer Bros. TV show, there was a twist. I speak of The Boroughs, Netflix’s latest (and last) Duffer Bros. produced show. The pitch is “Stranger Things with older actors”. And it topped the Nielsen charts: With just two weeks of viewership, The Boroughs would have been a top 25 debut show last year: But here’s the twist: Netflix has already cancelled The Boroughs! What happened? Likely a few things. First, the show didn’t do as well globally as it did in the US. As What’s on Netflix showed, it lagged behind several other shows that got cancelled. Second, its completion rate was likely low; after an initial burst of interest, it quickly dropped off on the Samba TV and Luminate charts. Third, the Duffer Bros. left Netflix for Paramount, and that may have factored into Netflix’s decision here. (Though I tend to believe that if a show is doing well, Netflix would have kept greenlighting seasons.) Still, just because I can explain why Netflix may have cancelled this show doesn’t mean I’m justifying it. In particular, as I’ve noted before, Netflix is losing a lot of their bigger shows as they reach their natural ends, and they need to replace those shows. This show had the hallmarks of a big new genre show, and it’s their biggest hit of the last few months (in the US at least), but now it’s done. Netflix’s other show this week—The Four Seasons, the second season of the “hit” show from last year—definitely disappointed. Its sophomore season had about half the viewership of the first, only 12.7 million hours. It also only had a two week run on Samba TV, and its numbers were all down on Luminate too. In other words, even with two successes, the Q2 slump for Netflix looks real: I could add to the list of disappointments: Both Lord of the Files and Man on Fire had short runs on the Nielsen charts. Running Point’s sophomore season also opened to about half its viewership, similar to The Four Seasons. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’s second season—see below—didn’t even make any of the three viewership charts I track, unlike the first season. Netflix is absolutely having a dismal second three months of 2026. If this Nielsen data is any indication, and I think it is, I think this will show up in Netflix’s engagement report, and maybe even their financial outcomes. And the rest of June doesn’t look much better. We have two hit shows coming back—Sweet Magnolias, one of their quietest big shows, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, a big hit for them in 2024—but the other big swings are limited series crime thrillers i.e. no future season potential. Like I said above, sometimes when I uncover a juicy nugget like this, other outlets end up writing very similar articles mimicking the data without credit. We’ll see if that happens this time! Share Television - The State of Superhero Shows on Streaming When I first heard the pitch for Spider-Noir—a Sony TV show on Prime Video that binge-released eight episodes first on MGM+ then on Prime Video two days later—I had my doubts. It’s a live-action Spider-Man show set in the 1930s, starring Nicholas Cage, based on a cameo of a character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. No, seriously, that’s the pitch. That could either go terrifically well or horribly wrong. Great because, Spider-Man. He’s the biggest superhero we have. I’ve seen tracking numbers that put the new _Spider-Man: Brand New Da_y as the blockbuster of the year and initial pre-sales back that up. And yet this Spider-Noir pitch feels very esoteric. (Also, the eight-episode binge release feels very “Amazon copying Netflix” again.) So what’s the data say? And what does this say about the future of superhero shows?
After 80 Years, Mathematicians Give Famed ‘Erdős Method’ an Upgrade
Decades ago, Paul Erdős used randomness to illuminate the vast and weird world of networks. Now mathematicians are making his technique even more powerful.
Moody Center announces exhibition exploring math, science and tech rooted in Indigenous knowledge systems
Through a framing of North, Central and South America as interconnected regions, “Radiant Geometries: Vectors of Knowledge from the Indigenous Americas” brings together contemporary Indigenous and Latin American artists whose practices illuminate knowledge as a living technology, through which the mathematical, metaphysical and artistic realms converge.
Arrakihs, a Spanish mission to illuminate the mystery of dark matter: ‘We have broken molds’
Four-telescope astronomical observatory is at the heart of the first space exploration to be led by the country
Sony drops “PC”, adds “AI” to official PlayStation business strategy summary
Sony had made some conspicuous edits and updates to its description of PlayStation’s “business environment and strategy,” in a new annual report filed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today. These changes are part of a 379-word overview of Sony’s strategy for its Game & Network Services (G&NS) division, which is another name for PlayStation. The chunk about PlayStation strategy is part of a voluminous financial report filed by Sony each June. This year’s is 229 pages long. Differences to any part of the filing—word changes made from year to year, as Sony provides a breakdown of its business for investors—can be illuminating. For example: A line from 2025 about how the PlayStation team “aims to achieve sustainable and profitable business growth” has been changed in the 2026 version to “aims to achieve sustainable business growth.” Notice which word they cut? That’s a pretty clear tell about how Sony expects its profit margins to be squeezed this year, due to rising chip costs for its hardware, among other things. A line from 2025 that stated “Sony plans to continue its efforts to deploy its first-party titles to multiple platforms such as PC” had been cut from the 2026 version. That appears to be Sony’s admission by omission that it has backed off releasing its biggest games on PC. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported in March and again in May that Sony’s big single-player marquee games are no longer planned for time-delayed release on PC.1 A whole new chunk has also been added about how “Sony is utilizing AI to unleash the creativity of studios and further enhance the PlayStation experience.” A full breakdown of the changes made from the 2025 version to the 2026 version is below. I’ve redlined them for you…
Supercomputer illuminates subatomic particle that helps hold matter together
A team of researchers has leveraged a supercomputer at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory to reveal the internal structure of a pion in unprecedented detail. The findings ...
Tulane report urges healthcare investment to improve Louisiana economy, reverse population loss
A new report argues that Louisiana’s future population and economic growth depends on increasing investments in healthcare services and passing policies that address health disparities.
The Health and Wellbeing of Formerly Incarcerated People in Connecticut: Insights from the DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey
By Carter Shannon, Nat Markey, Nora Hodgson, Samantha Lydell, Andrew Carr, and Mark Abraham, DataHaven About this Report Approximately 1 in 5 men aged 18–64 in Connecticut have experienced incarceration at some point in their lives. This population includes people who have been held in a local jail for a single night and those who have served lengthy prison sentences, and it cuts across race, age, geography, and socioeconomic background in ways that reflect broader structural inequities in the criminal legal system. Yet across nearly every indicator of wellbeing, formerly incarcerated people in Connecticut face significant disparities compared to those without an incarceration history. This report explores data on the experiences of formerly incarcerated men in Connecticut from the DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey (DCWS). The DCWS illuminates significant gaps in economic wellbeing, physical health, mental health, and social support between men with and without incarceration histories in Connecticut. The survey also reveals worse self-reported outcomes for formerly incarcerated people across a range of quality-of-life indicators, with disparities that are often most severe among those who have been incarcerated more than once. These disparities do not arise by chance. They are shaped by a policy landscape that erects lasting barriers to housing, employment, and healthcare for people leaving incarceration, as well as by the physical and psychological toll of incarceration itself. This report is being written in the political context of federal funding cuts to social programs and proposed rollbacks to Medicaid eligibility, changes that will disproportionately impact people with incarceration histories, who are more likely to rely on public health coverage and other safety net supports.
Stars outline vision for $3B arena, entertainment district in Plano
The Dallas Stars’ planned $3B hockey arena and entertainment complex in Plano is set near the back left portion of the site and illuminated in neon green.
ASUS Unveils Revolutionary ProArt PCs Powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark at Computex 2026
ASUS unveils the new ProArt P16, P14 laptops and ProArt Mini PC powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark at Computex 2026. Discover 1 petaflop AI performance, 128GB unified memory, Lumina Pro OLED displays, all-day battery life, and local AI agents launching fall 2026.
Inside the fight against ‘zombie deer disease,’ scientists confront changing politics
Many states, including Louisiana, have adopted policies aimed at stopping healthy deer from coming into contact with infected deer and environments. But those efforts could soon be dialed back at the will of state legislators, worrying scientists who study the disease and its expansion.
31 hours with the spit-shined Mina the Hollower (and 34 with the four games that came before it)
To truly appreciate Mina The Hollower, an extraordinary new throwback of a game, I sent myself to Yacht Club University. That’s not a real institution of higher learning, but it’s the best way I can explain much of the past several weeks as I prepared to play Mina by playing the four biggest game previously made by studio Yacht Club Games. I had expected Mina the Hollower, in development for six years for PC and consoles, to potentially be something special. A demo I tried in March had felt great. Mina the Hollower had an old-school premise: a singular move for its hero that felt so good to control and so rich with possibilities that, in the hands of skilled designers, it could be riffed on in various ways for the length of a full game. Mina’s core maneuver, her hollowing, made her sort of an upside down Super Mario. Nintendo’s hero jumps through the air, discovering power-ups at the apex of his jump by bonking overhead blocks, then defeating enemies by landing on them. Mina essentially jumps into the ground, digging (“hollowing”) into the earth to fetch buried treasure, then burrows for a short distance to emerge on the other side of a wall that hides treasure or an enemy that needs some battering. I wanted to understand how good Yacht Club was at making games. I wanted to see how far they’d come. If Mina was terrific—as I predicted it might be—I wanted to feel how they got there, one button press at a time. On May 6, 21 days before the writing of this review, I checked with Yacht Club Games co-founder and programmer David D’Angelo, to ask which of the studio’s games I should play to truly appreciate the new one’s design. “Hmmm all of them?” he wrote back. “Starting with Shovel Knight definitely is helpful,” he continued, referring to Yacht Club’s first game. He gave me a link to a spreadsheet of over 400 cheat codes that could help me out, if I found the game too tough.1 “Most folks say Specter of Torment is the least difficult and quickest to finish in terms of playtime, and [it] refines much of Shovel Knight,” he told me. “King of Cards is a big celebration of everything we did in [the Shovel Knight compilation] Treasure Trove— might work for you better if you’re a fan of shorter, Mario-style courses. And it’s probably the closest to Mina in terms of polish.” So that was that. Four games, none of which were required. Mina is a whole new game in a whole new world, best I can tell. I’d barely played that first Shovel Knight before and never the other three. I just thought it’d help. It did. It turns out that playing a game studios major works before their latest is very illuminating.
'The Super Mario Galaxy Movie' Leaps Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through May 27
Universal/Illumination’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the top-grossing box office release ($983.7 million) thus far in 2026, jumped atop the Official Film Chart, the weekly U.K. home entertainment sales chart, through May 27. Amazon MGM Studios’ sci-fi adventure Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling, dropped to No. 2 in its second week on the chart, followed … Continue reading "‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Leaps Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through May 27"
'The Super Mario Galaxy Movie' Leaps Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through May 27
Universal/Illumination’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the top-grossing box office release ($983.7 million) thus far in 2026, jumped atop the Official Film Chart, the weekly U.K. home entertainment sales chart, through May 27. Amazon MGM Studios’ sci-fi adventure Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling, dropped to No. 2 in its second week on the chart, followed … Continue reading "‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Leaps Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through May 27"
How Sen. Jay Morris mixed Meta's mega-deal with his own real estate business
While Morris used his political position to advance the massive Meta data center project and the Entergy deal to power the facility, he and his business partners were buying and selling the land around it over the past 15 months.
MoMI announces the 2026 season of 'Open Worlds: Science' Programs
With themes ranging from walking for brain health, infinity day, NYC wildlife, and more May–October 2026 Astoria, New York, May 18, 2026 — The wildlife of New York City, walking and brain health, the nature of infinity, and alien encounters are some of the subjects explored in the second season of Open Worlds: Science, science-focused programs presented as part of Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI)’s free Open Worlds initiative. Running through October, Open Worlds: Science features scientist-led talks, screenings, and hands-on activities that all relate to science and the moving image to help illuminate and excite visitors of all ages about the ways science affects daily life.
Bill Cassidy has taken political risks to get funding for Louisiana. Will voters care?
Cassidy coasted to reelection six years ago but is fighting for his political life against two other Republicans, U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow of Baton Rouge and State Treasurer John Fleming of Minden, in the upcoming May 16 party primary election.
New WAM Grants Support Research on Gut-Brain Interactions, Menopause and Sarcopenia
The Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement (WAM) at Cleveland Clinic has awarded grants for promising research in sex-based differences in the disease.
Melty Blood: Twi-Lumina Announced For Switch 1 & 2, Out "Early 2027"
"Type Lumina is back and better than ever"
Melty Blood: Twi-Lumina announced for PS5, Switch 2, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC
Publisher Aniplex and developer French-Bread have announced fighting game Melty Blood: Twi-Lumina for PlayStation 5, Switch 2, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC (Steam). It will launch in ear…
Lawmakers pass incentives to bring aerospace business to Louisiana
Lawmakers are passing a package of bills to give special legal protections and tax breaks to aerospace companies, though details about what projects might be coming remain confidential.
‘Out Here’ gets lost in its own concept
Court Theatre has been steadily expanding its stated mission to “re-imagine classic theatre to illuminate current times.”
This “quantum” material fooled scientists and revealed something new
A mysterious magnetic material once thought to host an exotic “quantum spin liquid” has turned out to be something entirely different—and possibly just as intriguing. Scientists studying cerium magnesium hexalluminate found it showed the hallmark signs of this elusive quantum state, like a lack of magnetic order and a spread of energy states. But after closer inspection using neutron experiments, they discovered the behavior came from a delicate tug-of-war between two opposing magnetic forces.
Shaky political science: using "simulated" elections over real-world elections
[Dear DSOS readers – this article is the latest in our “Shaky Political Science” series. In our 38 page report, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting,” released in early December, we examined over 40 studies focused on ranked choice voting. We found that many of these studies suffered from puzzling research methodologies, poorly constructed surveys, unrealistic simulated elections, cherry picked data, and faulty analyses that often were contradicted by results from real-world elections (a link to our full paper is here). Here are links to the first three articles in our series: the first one summarizing the overall results of our report, the second one analyzing a study co-authored by University of Minnesota academic Larry Jacobs, which was one of the most error-prone of all the research we reviewed in our report, and a third article showing an admirable example of two political scientists holding two other political scientists accountable for their flawed, sloppy research]. In this fourth article in our “Shaky Political Science” series, we shine a spotlight on seven studies that were web-hosted and funded by New America’s Political Reform Program and its Electoral Reform Research Group (the ERRG is an ad hoc committee headed by New America’s Political Reform Program and joined by the American Enterprise Institute, the Unite America Institute and Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law). This research consortium has been led by Lee Drutman, senior fellow with New America’s Political Reform Program. These seven studies are simply not credible from any objective standard about how political “science” is supposed to illuminate our understanding of either ranked choice voting or politics in general. The feature that six of these seven studies have in common is that they all used surveys – artificial, simulated elections -- to attempt to say something cogent or interesting about ranked choice voting (RCV) elections. None of them used real world data from actual RCV elections – either the 1000+ elections in the US or the many thousands of elections from places like Australia, Ireland and elsewhere where RCV has been used for 100 years. While a few of these studies conclude with some mixed positives about RCV, our analysis here is content neutral. The idea that, with a political reform like RCV, you can ask respondents in a mock, artificial election to vote with that method, with only the barest of explanation about how RCV works or its likely impacts (i.e. no spoiler candidates, majority winners, voters liberated to pick their favorite candidates, coalition-building), and then ask them their thoughts/reactions about voting in that system, with fake candidates and no real campaigning, no real exposure to an actual election or actual candidates, rests on some very puzzling assumptions. The findings of these seven studies actually are contradicted by the findings from many other studies based on real-world RCV elections. These New America studies also failed to list the real-world RCV studies in their own citations, instead including those studies that reinforced their conclusions. The seven studies featured in this article were chosen because they form a cohesive cohort which precisely illustrates one of the main points of our research paper, namely that using surveys, i.e. artificial elections, or mathematical/theoretical models, instead of real-world data, is in fact “shaky political science.” Below are summaries of our analysis of five of the seven New America studies. You can read our complete analysis of all seven studies at our paper, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting.” Choosing to “Vote As Usual” by Andre Blais, Carolina Plescia, and Semra Sevi. New America. (Blais et al., 2021). This study, web-hosted and funded by New America’s Political Reform Program and its Electoral Reform Research Group, used two surveys in which respondents completed ballots for simulated elections using plurality, approval, RCV and point (Score) voting. In both cases the authors provided the respondents with only minimal explanation of each method. For example, the entire explanation for RCV was “For this vote, rank the candidates from your first to your last choice (you do not need to rank them all). This is called the ranked vote.” That’s it. The study did not provide any context or explanation to survey respondents about why she/he might want to rank multiple candidates. Participants were not even told that ballots would be tabulated using an “instant” runoff, not to mention any description of RCVs ability to eliminate the spoiler effect or liberate voters to rank their favorite candidates without fear of helping the “greater evil” candidate to win. That’s like taking an iPhone back in time to 1970 and asking someone if they like it better than their rotary phone without explaining how it works. Their first survey targeted states that held 2020 Super Tuesday Democratic primaries and used the real candidates’ names in the survey; the second survey used fictitious candidates. In other words, they surveyed respondents who had only ever participated in plurality elections, had no history or background with using RCV or any of the other methods, had no clue about its likely impacts, and did not communicate how the alternative methods would be counted, and then asked them: “How satisfied are you with using each system?” Predictably, the winner was plurality elections, the system used for president, Congress, gubernatorial and state legislative elections – in other words, the method they have been using, year after year, all their voting lives. With so little explanation of RCV and its impacts, this study is simply not credible in discovering anything useful about real-world RCV elections. It merely shows that a basic voter education campaign is needed when adopting a new election system. Additionally, the result contradicts many other post-election surveys following real RCV elections, asking opinions from voters who had just participated in a RCV election, that showed a great deal of satisfaction with RCV (see details on that in Studies 22-25 in our paper, as well as the four studies cited in the review for Study 28). Share Other studies on “satisfaction” and “understanding” make similar mistakes, in terms of basing their surveys on inadequate explanation to respondents and lack of education about context. How could any survey ever hope to measure accurately, in essence simulate a real-world election, without actual campaigning candidates, the media writing about those candidates, organizations endorsing candidates and voters being inundated with crucial information? More than anything, what these “studies” based on surveys show is that if you ask voters about something they don’t know very much about, and fail to adequately educate them, their responses will unsurprisingly reflect their confusion. Equally puzzling is that New America’s Electoral Reform Research Group, headed by political scientist Lee Drutman, found this to be a credible enough study that they not only published it but highlighted it in Drutman’s own discussion of research related to ranked choice voting. This pattern was repeated in study after study featured by New America’s Electoral Reform Research Group. For example in Ranked-Choice Voting and Political Expression: Voter Guides Narrow the Gap between Informed and Uninformed Citizens by Cheryl Boudreau, Jonathan Colner, and Scott MacKenzie, the researchers based their analysis on a survey which found that respondents who were asked to vote in a simulated RCV election, with minimal explanation of RCV or how it works, displayed less evidence of being informed about how to use RCV effectively, with the least informed voters ranking fewer candidates. As pointed out under the study above, in a real election voters are informed by a wide variety of methods, including public education by the election administration, by interested political groups, the media, and the candidates themselves who benefit from voters being aware of how to vote in the new system. In Support for Ranked-Choice Voting across Race and Partisanship by Joseph Anthony, David C. Kimball, Jack Santucci and Jamil Scott, the researchers used respondents from different parties and races voting in simulated plurality and RCV elections, who indicated their satisfaction with each voting method. Instead of using real world election results, the authors fell back on the easy, armchair and less reliable academic research methodology of making up mock elections. As with the other studies, little explanation was given of how RCV works or what its implications might be (electing majority winners or eliminating spoilers, for example). Unsurprisingly, this study found that respondents were not very satisfied with RCV. However, when the authors added an explanation that RCV has a tendency to elect more women and people of color, they found that this greater explanation increased the preference for RCV. The more voters were familiar with it, and the more they understood potential positive impacts – surprise! -- the more they were open to switching away from the status quo. Of note, the results from this study are thoroughly contradicted by a number of other studies whose data was obtained from real RCV elections with real voters. Those studies show a great deal of satisfaction with RCV. More “fake election” research An interesting wrinkle on this “research by fake elections” approach, which only served to illustrate how unreliable such “research” can become, was taken in Ranked-Choice Voting, Runoff, and Democracy: Insights from Maine and Other U.S. States by Joseph Cerrone and Cynthia McClintock_,_ also web-hosted and funded by New America’s ERRG. It gets high marks for creativity, but an eye-roll for thinking this could possibly add anything meaningful to our understanding of real world RCV elections. This study tried to determine whether RCV, plurality or two-round runoff elections provided greater voter satisfaction and acceptance of election results. To determine that, the authors conducted a survey asking if voters were satisfied with a fictional newspaper report of an election, with three different versions given to respondents – plurality, runoff and RCV, with variations of Republican/Democrat winners and variations of “come-from-behind” winners,” i.e. candidates not initially in first place but who win the “runoff.” Again, a minimal explanation of RCV or how it works was given, and the survey showed that respondents had the greatest unfamiliarity with RCV than the other methods. The unsurprising result? Respondents were much more satisfied with “come-from-behind” victories in a traditional two-round runoff election than in RCV, even though RCV is also a runoff system but with a single round of counting. Interestingly, the dissatisfaction with RCV disappeared for those who were more familiar with RCV. In fact, among those respondents who were “very familiar” with RCV, they were equally satisfied with RCV, runoff and plurality. Surprise, surprise. Again, what this study revealed, more than anything, is not only the inadequacy of the explanation for RCV given by the authors of this study, but the failure of the research format itself, thinking that such an artificial mock election could somehow simulate what actually happens in the real world in a real RCV election. Those four studies reviewed above are fitting examples of inadequate and shaky political “science.” Other studies reviewed in our paper from the New America/Electoral Reform Research Group cohort which also used mock elections included: Ranked-Choice Voting is an Acquired Taste by Joseph Anthony and David C. Kimball. New America. (Anthony et al., 2021). Ranked-Choice Voting is No Refuge for Extreme Candidates by Melissa Baker. New America. (Baker, 2021). Also included in this New America cohort is Does Ranked-Choice Voting Reduce Racial Polarization? by Yuki Atsusaka and Theodore Landsman, which actually did use real-world election results data but applied an odd and unconventional methodology to the data which relied on shaky assumptions and non-real-world scenarios that were too divorced from reality. To determine levels of “racially polarized voting,” the researchers imagined “ethnic parties,” by which they mean political parties for each ethnic group, which was especially odd since the election data they were using came from nonpartisan RCV races. But then they made an even odder assumption, namely that since race and ethnic characteristics of studied voters were not available, the authors tried to infer that information based on who voters selected and the racial make-up of voters in each district. This amounted to little more than vague and ambiguous guesswork dressed up with a bunch of mathematical equations used to give it a veneer of scientific appearance. Indeed, it seemed to assume racial polarization in order to prove racial polarization. Based on this questionable methodology, the authors concluded that RCV doesn’t reduce racial polarization. But the premise of this study missed an obvious reality: since RCV incentivizes more candidates to run and can result in more diverse fields of candidates, one would expect more racially-polarized voting in voters’ top rankings, not less, because more voters would have someone on that ballot who represents their racial or ethnic identity and more freedom to vote for their real first choice. By encouraging more diverse candidates and eliminating the spoiler effect, RCV facilitates voting for a favorite candidate of your own race and then selecting a second choice with the best likelihood of winning. The real measure is what voters do with their additional rankings – do they consider other candidates and vote “for the best of the rest”? This study didn’t tell us anything useful about that. But readily available data shows this is common in real RCV elections, and candidates act on this knowledge by engaging with voters outside their racial group. So the authors of this study failed to consider or account for what actually happens in real-world elections, and their conclusions are tainted by this failure. New America has contributed a great deal over the past 2.5 decades to our understanding of many policy areas, including politics and political reform (full disclosure: Steven Hill, one of the authors of this article and of the “Shaky Political Science” research paper and series, is a former senior fellow and former director of New America’s political reform program, 2005-2010). So it was especially disappointing that New America funded and published such a large batch of dubious studies about ranked choice voting. The stated praiseworthy goal of its Electoral Reform Research Group was to inspire new academic research about ranked choice voting that would shed light and help the public better understand the impacts of RCV. Instead, the ERRG research did just the opposite. It produced dubious research that created more confusion and misinformation. In so doing, New America’s political reform program contributed to “shaky political science.” Steven Hill and Paul Haughey Share Upgrade to $5 subscription Thanks for reading DemocracySOS, a reader-supported digital portal for the pro-democracy movement. Subscribe for only $5 per month to receive full benefits and to support our work. Subscribe
A Simpler Path to Super-Resolution: Scientists Reinvent Microscopy
A new imaging framework is pushing the boundaries of how scientists observe life at the microscopic scale.
Inside the Supreme Court’s Risky New Way of Doing Business
Secret memos obtained by The New York Times illuminate the origins of the court’s now-routine “shadow docket” rulings on presidential power.
Louisiana political donors would have addresses redacted from public reports under bill
The Louisiana Legislature might block the public from seeing the addresses of political donors who give money to election campaigns starting Aug. 1.
This week in PC games: sci-fi shooter Pragmata, 2.5D platformer Replaced, and the most wishlisted game on Steam compete with illuminated manuscripts
All the biggest and most interesting PC games out this week, inlcuding pirate sandbox Windrose, sci-fi adventure Pragmata, and 2.5D platformer Replaced.
Adaptive sports program visits Southern Arizona P.E. classes, wheelchairs in tow
When her class moved outside for P.E., special education teacher Tiffani Jaseph saw the excitement. After coaches and players from Adaptive Sports In Schools, or ASIS, unloaded dozens of wheelchairs at Copper View Elementary in the Sahuarita School District, they told students about racing the chairs and playing wheelchair basketball. Jaseph saw the difference in […]
Watch: As AI Makes More Health Coverage Decisions, the Risks to Patients Grow
Major health insurers and even Medicare are using artificial intelligence to make coverage decisions. But class action lawsuits have accused insurers of using AI to wrongfully withhold treatment, and new research illuminates the risks.
I swore an oath to the Constitution, not a political party
This solution in search of a problem will come at great cost; closed primaries will cost the state more than $135 million over 10 years, according to the Secretary of State’s estimate.
Why Cleveland Clinic Chose This AI Startup To Rewire Key Healthcare Operations
The challenge for health systems now is finding an AI partner that can scale across use cases. That is the backdrop for Cleveland Clinic’s partnership with Luminai.
Illumination's Mario movies aren't just bad, they're antithetical to Nintendo
Nintendo is known for its charm and quality, two things that are missing in Illumination's animated Super Mario movies.
AI is leading some college students to change their majors
Those in technical or vocational programs were most likely to change their majors, according to a new survey from Gallup and Lumina Foundation.
Trump’s hunt for undocumented Medicaid enrollees yields few violators
The Trump administration sent states the names of hundreds of thousands of Medicaid enrollees with orders to determine whether they were ineligible based on immigration status.
The reality of death and the Trinitarian “science” of salvation
Readings: • Ez. 37:12-14 • Psa. 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 • Rom. 8:8-11 • Jn. 11:1-45 We live in a time of astounding scientific breakthroughs and unprecedented medical marvels. In my lifetime alone, we’ve witnessed men landing and […]
How Sports Are Helping Peacock Originals Fly Higher
Turns out hosting the two biggest sporting events of the year can be a real boon for your streaming service. It’s perhaps unsurprising that NBCUniversal’s Peacock racked up major wins in the month it carried both the Super Bowl and the most-watched Winter Olympic Games in over a decade, not to mention a massively watched NBA All-Star […]
4 poetry collections to check out ahead of National Poetry Month
The collections suggested here explore, celebrate and illuminate the vast, intricate lives and experiences of Black people throughout the world.
Bay Bridge Lights set to illuminate SF waterfront
After a three-years hiatus, as of March 20, the Embarcadero will have finally "got its sparkle back."
Donald Trump’s ‘college sports roundtable’: Full list of attendees revealed
Less than a week after going to war with Iran, President Donald Trump is turning his attention to a pressing domestic matter: college sports. The White House is convening a who’s-who list of sports luminaries and politicians Friday for a…
LSU sports is barely in the black financially, with uncertain financial times ahead
As LSU sports barely breaks even financially, difficult times potentially lie ahead for both its athletic teams and academic programs.
Gordon Brown: Power with Purpose – ‘illuminating’ biography of ‘towering’ politician
James Macintyre’s work explores ‘simmering tensions’ with Tony Blair, and Brown’s ‘ever-active retirement’
Louisiana to spend $140 million on FastSites to lure business investment
Louisiana officials have selected 19 ready-made construction sites across the state for $140 million in infrastructure investment to entice large-scale development.
Scientists just turned light into a remote control for crystals
NYU researchers have found a way to use light to control how microscopic particles assemble into crystals, effectively turning illumination into a tool for shaping matter. By adding light-sensitive molecules to a liquid filled with tiny particles, they can adjust how strongly the particles attract or repel one another simply by changing the light’s intensity or pattern. This allows them to trigger crystals to form, dissolve, or even be reshaped in real time.
Why older whale dads are now winning the mating game
A new study sheds light on the illuminating, sometimes counterintuitive dynamics of mating and how species survive.
The big market rotation may lead to gains in this health care name. Trading it with options
Nishant Pant breaks down this bull call spread.
Louisiana reaches $45 million settlement with CVS Health, ending lawsuits
The state had accused CVS Health of “unfair, deceptive and unlawful” business practices for using customer information to conduct a text message campaign last year against proposed legislation for pharmacy benefits managers.
Tribute to late Charlie Kirk illuminates division in Kansas politics on meaning of free speech
Republicans and Democrats in Kansas Legislature take bright-line approach to questions about Charlie Kirk's use of First Amendment right to speech.
Extra SNAP benefits, small business loans available in N. Louisiana after winter storm
Food stamp recipients and small business owners in parts of North Louisiana are eligible for federal disaster assistance to cover their losses from the recent severe winter weather.
Get an Expert Guide to What’s Driving D.C.
In our newly relaunched Politics newsletter, Washington coverage chief Damian Paletta illuminates the people and powers shaping the nation’s capital
Luminar receives a larger $33 million bid for its lidar business
A new leading bidder has appeared in the Luminar bankruptcy case: Redmond, Washington-based MicroVision, which beat out Quantum Computing Inc.'s bid by $5 million.
Luminar receives a larger $33 million bid for its lidar business
A new leading bidder has appeared in the Luminar bankruptcy case: Redmond, Washington-based MicroVision, which beat out Quantum Computing Inc.'s bid by $5 million.
Louis E. Brus, Nobel Laureate Who Illuminated the Nanoworld, Dies at 82
He accidentally created some of the first quantum dots, tiny semiconductors that now power many electronics.
‘Remote controlled’ proteins illuminate living cells
Nature - The discovery that some fluorescent proteins are sensitive to magnets could lead to the development of switchable drugs and biosensors.
Kentucky Science Center to host Glow Day this weekend
The Kentucky Science Center will be illuminated with exploration into the exciting world of electricity and bioluminescence.
Why Satyendra Nath Bose was more than Einstein’s sidekick
The life of Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose illuminates how scientific genius can emerge from the most unexpected quarters
Mapping the science–technology translational landscape in biomedicine
Nature Biotechnology - A systematic, prospective analysis of the interplay between science and technology in biomedicine can illuminate the pathway for translating scientific insights into tangible...
Review & Giveaway: Designer Science
C.W. Howell’s book documents what transpired, unpacks the broader meaning, and illuminates the effects of the “Intelligent Design” movement that sought to shake the foundations of the scientific establishment.
Trump’s EPA could limit its own ability to use new science to strengthen air pollution rules
President Trump’s EPA is reconsidering whether it had the legal authority to update its rules for ethylene oxide emissions
From Borges to Jennifer Aniston: Science begins to illuminate the mysteries of memory
How do cell phones affect our memories? What percentage of them are imagined? A group of neuroscientists is trying to unravel the secrets of one of the brain’s most common and least understood functions
Bywater-Marigny business group pushes for a more bikeable, walkable St. Claude corridor
ByMBO's inaugural event, "Spark: Light up St. Claude," featured an illuminated jellyfish and bike light giveaways.
How Louisiana plans to spend $208 million in federal funds on rural health care
Louisiana will leverage an anticipated $1 billion in federal funding for rural health care over the next five years by expanding existing training programs and creating new financial incentives for medical professionals to work in rural communities.
News from Louisiana politics in 2025 you might have forgotten
What follows is a collection of Louisiana political news from 2025 that you’ve simply forgotten or just don’t care to remember.
Entertainment this week: Alpenglow Speaker Series, Ozomatli, Pickle Barrel and more!
Friday, January 2 Alpenglow Sports Winter Speaker Series x Chris Benchetler – Illuminating the Threads of Connection – 6 p.m., 415 N Lake Blvd.. The Alpenglow Sports Winter Speaker Series presented by the North Tahoe...
Belmont Lanterns: Depression-era business promotion unearthed after 90 years
Local history buffs attended a news conference held at The Archive on Kern last Friday for answers to the mystery of the Belmont Lanterns. A contractor on the high-speed rail project discovered 82 large painted
ENTERTAINMENT: Quartet programs holiday music for Candlelight Concert
The rotating-member Listeso String Quartet drives a sleigh-ful of Christmas music, illuminated by thousands of candles, for a Candlelight Concert, 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Albert Pike Memorial Center
Dear Abby: Sensor light illuminates more than one problem
Their rear deck is within 20 feet of our property line.
Louisiana abruptly cuts two Medicaid contracts, putting care options for 488,500 in limbo
Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration is abruptly ending contracts with two of the six companies that provide Medicaid insurance in Louisiana, a move that could leave 488,500 residents uncertain of what health care they will have starting Jan. 1.
A 180-Year Assumption About Light Was Just Proven Wrong
"Light doesn't just illuminate matter, it magnetically influences it."
A 180-Year Assumption About Light Was Just Proven Wrong
"Light doesn't just illuminate matter, it magnetically influences it."
Louisiana’s secret business negotiations need to stop, critics say
Louisiana leaders have touted new industrial projects that promise to create thousands of jobs, but critics say these secret business negotiations need to stop.
‘It’s (Probably) Not Rocket Science’ brings light to farolitos and luminarias
Carmella Scorcia Pacheco joins new It’s (Probably) Not Rocket Science (IPNRS) podcast host, Cameron Goeldner, to talk about the deep cultural roots, memories and traditions behind farolitos and luminarias, in an episode titled “Little Lanterns: The...