Search headlines

Chartbook 464 The"China squeeze" - the politics of development counterfactuals.

There are three types of China shock discourse. Each has a distinct temporal register. China shock 1.0 was a phrase coined by US academics in the 2010s to retrospectively summarize the impact on particular US labour markets, which they identified through painstaking empirical investigation. China shock 2.0 on everyone’s lips in Europe in the mid 2020s is an alarm raised by trans-Atlantic policy thinkers warning of a coming disaster which they project onto Europe’s ailing car industry. The third type of China shock discourse - commonly known as the “China squeeze” launched most recently by Indian economists Shoumitro Chatterjee and Arvind Subramanian in the pages of Foreign Affairs - mobilizes a different, more speculative temporal register: the counterfactual realm of alternate history. The China squeeze argument asks not what has happened, or what is going to happen, but what might have been. Specifically, what options for economic development might have been open to Global South economies like India or the economies of sub-Saharan Africa, had it not been for China’s spectacular industrialization since the late 1990s and the persistent competitiveness of China’s manufacture in low-skilled segments. Chatterjee and Subramanian’s argument is that whilst China has built a powerful position in electrical machinery and other high-skill manufacturing, which is now delivering China Shock 2.0, it also continues to run a trade surplus in low-skill, labour-intensive manufacturing. This surplus is large and has remained largely unchanged in fifteen years. Indeed, in the 2010s, in trade with low-income countries, China’s surplus rapidly increased. On their reading, this squeezes low-income producers in low-skill sectors in which they “should” be able to compete. Source: “China’s Mercantilist Squeeze on Developing Countries” Shoumitro Chatterjee and Arvind Subramanian. Peterson Institute for International Economics 26-7 May 2026 Chatterjee and Subramanian’s wording is telling: (emphasis mine) The canonical trajectory of economic development in the post-World War II period is for countries to transition from agriculture to manufacturing, first in low-skilled manufacturing and then later on to high-skill manufacturing (Herrendorf, Rogerson, and Valentinyi 2013). At the global level, this implies that high-income countries (HICs) that once specialized in low-skilled activities cede manufacturing export space to poorer countries that come along to occupy that space. In 1965, advanced economies accounted for about 60 percent of global value-added exports in four key low-skilled manufacturing sectors, i.e., apparel, leather, textiles, and footwear. Over time this share declined and began to be occupied first by the East Asian tigers and, beginning in the late 1990s, by China. Today China accounts for about 50 percent of the global market. The question is whether China, with its rising prosperity, is continuing to behave like its richer counterparts and ceding export space to poorer followers or to behave unlike them and continuing to occupy space. In terms of the conceptual maneuvers it performs, of the three China shock discourses, the “China squeeze” argument is by far the most ambitious. After all, it bases its critique of China on a counterfactual imagining of the world. Like any counterfactual argument, to construct this alternative reality it must rely on a heuristic model. To make their argument Chatterjee and Subramanian mobilize two key claims. The first reference point is the actual history of rich-country industrialization, what they refer to as the “canonical path”. The idea is that countries transition from agriculture to light industry and low-skilled manufacturing and from there up the value chain. To make this useful as a standard of comparison and a means to construct a normative standard, they adjust sectoral export shares for two factors: 1. the underlying level of economic development of the exporting country, as measured by national income and 2. the degree to which the sector in question is internationalized. The idea being that for a high income country to have a high export share in low-skill sectors is anomalous and even more so if that particular product is highly internationalized and thus suitable for being “conceded” to lower-income competitors. Where should this process end? Here Chatterjee and Subramanian introduce their second benchmark. Their normative idea of a global development path is one in which, in due course, low-skill manufacturing exports are distributed in proportion to a country’s share in the global labour force. They imagine, in other words, a world of proportional, polycentric global development without much national specialization in low-skill manufacturing. A useful benchmark is that, in labor-intensive manufacturing sectors, a country’s share of world exports should be broadly commensurate with its share of the world’s low-skilled labor endowment. … In the Heckscher-Ohlin model, this would be true if value added per worker and export propensities, i.e., fraction of output that is exported, are the same across countries. It is this pleasant liberal vista of orderly global development, progressing towards a general distribution of low-skilled manufacturing against which they judge reality and conclude that the low-income countries are suffering a “China squeeze”. China is not exiting low-skill sectors fast enough Allowing for its gdp level and the degree of globalization, China’s share of low-skill manufacturing exports is far higher than it “should” be. Relative to population, its low-skill share of exports is far too high. That in turn yields the conclusion that huge numbers of jobs - the authors suggest tens of millions - are being hoarded by China. For the four sectors captured in figure 4, this excess in value-added exports is $110 billion in 2022. For all low-skilled sectors overall captured in appendix figure D.1, excess value-added exports amount to $365 billion. The crowding out of LMIC exports by China is therefore substantial. Both these claims have in common that they are strong structuralisms. The first is that development paths ought to resemble each other. The second is that broadly speaking as far as low-skilled manufacturing is concerned, all countries are alike. If the world currently diverges from the distribution of trade implied by these assumptions, if China is not following the advanced economy path and has huge exports, this must be the result of “policy”, which the authors then put in question as illegitimate or unfair. Thus the naturalistic construction of a canonical path leading to a “level” distribution of low-skilled manufacturing reveals itself to be a polemical tool. From the point of view of China shock polemics, this discourse is no doubt welcome. But as an account of economic history, it must surely be regarded as nothing short of bamboozling. Development paths do not follow a regular, natural sequence. As David Fishman put it aptly, “development is not a queue”. They are always and everywhere, through and through political. Development is not so much a process, as a project. Each such project is more or less well adjusted to its context. As Gerschenkron taught uneven and combined development implies differentiation rather than simple imitation on a single parth. It may be true that Europe and the US exited relatively early from low-skill work. But clearly technology has changed. As C&S themselves point out, China no longer enjoys a low wage environment. Do they really believe that such huge differences can be accounted for either by industrial policy, which as they admit does not operate powerfully in low-skill sectors, or by exchange rate manipulation? What is overwhelmingly dominant in explaining the persistence of “low-skill” manufacturing in China are surely the network effects of complex supply chains. Indeed the label of “low-skill” may miss the point. The degree of globalization which Chatterjee and Subramanian decide to conjure away in their model of the development path - to allow for the fact that Europe and American textiles exporters did not enjoy just-in-time logistics in the 1950s - obscures the point that the networks through which Chinese factories supply the world are themselves key parts of the low-skill industrialization project. China isn’t knocking out 1970s style “cheap”. It has redefined the entire product cycle. C&S’s casual reference to “T-shirts” is telling. In today’s “fast fashion”, there is weight on both terms. Fashion and fast. China’s success in delivering on both at unprecedentedly high speed and at unprecedentedly low cost, isn’t a low-skill operation at all. If we see development trajectories not as the serial repetition of the same, but as distinctive, crafted projects that cumulate in complex agglomerations of skill, technology and labor, then this explains why the assumption that low-skilled manufacturing should follow the distribution of population flies in the face of all experience. As countless cases attest, low-wage, low-income developed economies are not by themselves the makings of a competitive production base. As Leon Liao puts it quite fairly: “International trade has never been allocated according to population. A country’s population gives it no natural claim to an equivalent share of global exports." And the remarkable fact is that Subramanian alone and with co-authors has long been making this point, not to pillory China, as is the case of the tendentious _Foreign Affair_s and Peterson pieces, but to highlight the great counterpart to China’s industrial success, namely India’s relative failure. The much-quoted Foreign Affairs piece showed low-skill export shares only for China, not for India. If you put both countries in the picture as Chaterjee and Subramanian have done on other occasions, the picture looks like this. China is far above the line, but India, almost as large in terms of population, is no less anomalous, just in the opposite direction. As far as global populations are concerned, and the imagining of tens of millions of “squeezed” jobs, it is this Sino-Indian pair that account for a huge share of the action. What this graph reveals is not China’s cheating, but India’s “greatest development failure”, at least this is the argument made Arvind Subramanian, this time in co-authorship with Devesh Kapur, in their major book, A Sixth of Humanity. Independent India’s Development Odyssey which appeared with Oxford University Press earlier this year. In this highly critical work on India’s development, China is repeatedly evoked, not to criticize but as a benchmark against which to illuminate what India’s political economy has not delivered i.e. large-scale formal employment for hundreds of millions of citizens. Kapur and Subramanian leave no doubt, if you want to understand why China, not India was the main driver of manufacturing globalization from the 1980s, don’t look to slots opening up in the division of labour thanks to the liberal mindedness of advanced economies, look to the contrasting political economy of the Maoist PRC and India’s post-independence political economy. As Kapur and Subramian note: The great divergence between China and India did not begin in 1978 with the Deng reforms—it was well underway by then. In one of the great ironies of modern history, the conditions created by Maoism turned out to be a great launching pad for industrial globalization. As the comparison of India and China in 1980 makes clear, to imagine manufacturing would be equally distributed when populations are so differently endowed in terms of educational and nutritional is fanciful. Here is the data from Kapur and Subramanian, data which I explored back at the very beginning of Chartbook. As Kapur and Subramanian insist, the striking fact is that even as India’s growth accelerated from the 1980s, structural change has not. Formal employment in India lags woefully behind. Why? As Kapur and Subramanian note, the path-dependent impact of India’s poor early start was devastating. The list of factors they mention is long and weighty: We argue for a new five-fold explanation applicable at different stages of Indian history: in the initial stages, the legacy of two key pre-1980s policies, the neglect of agriculture and the strangling of the domestic private sector, were critical. The failure of broad-based agricultural growth militated against rural industrialization, which would have been devoted to satisfying local needs that would have necessarily been labour intensive. Then, when the boom came after 1980, the thicket of regulation and broader labour protections that were legislated prematurely in a nascent democracy, underpinned by a deep ideological aversion to private capital in general and big capital specifically, became a barrier to attaining the size that would be necessary to compete globally. Similarly, the reforms after 1991, while wide-ranging, did not quite encompass non-tradeable inputs critical to manufacturing, namely, land, logistics infrastructure and power. A combination of low investment (logistics infrastructure), regulation (land) and the continued monopoly supply by state governments (power), combined with residual socialism, kept costs at 75–100 per cent above efficient supply. These factors were compounded on the supply side by the government, which dominated the formal labour market and established exorbitantly high wages at the lower end of the skill spectrum. This made their employment in the labour-intensive sector by the private sector less attractive. Finally, when the services sector and its exports boomed, wages soared even further via a Dutch Disease effect: one successful tradeable sector killed and cannibalized another less-skilled tradable sector, namely, manufacturing. Thus, scarcity-inducing policies of the planning era, precocious democracy and a Gandhian aversion to size; inefficient, monopolistic supply of critical non-tradable inputs; the behemoth of government; and super-successful skill-intensive services successively undermined India’s unskilled labour employment opportunities. The employment failure seems to have been over-determined. … Less quantifiable but no less important are some of the sociological factors that have undermined manufacturing and factory jobs. Take the impact of the success of the IT sector—located in urban areas with better working conditions, such as air-conditioned offices, good schools for children and attractive entertainment options. It became a more attractive place for engineering and management graduates to flock to. … Consider manufacturing and female employment. Indian society makes it difficult for women to work, reflected in India’s unusually low female labour force participation (elaborated in Chapter XIII). Indian society, in particular the routine harassment of women in public spaces, makes it even more difficult for them to travel long distances to take up work.37 Combined with onerous regulations on creating hostels and dormitories for women—which, in turn, prevents multiple shifts of operation—factories need to be located in areas with a large female labour pool. While firms can take apparel plants to female labour or bring them to the plants by building large-scale dormitories, this raises costs. If there was a case for subsidies to encourage labour-intensive manufacturing, housing subsidies to build dormitories for women workers would be a good place to start. All of this meant, that when opportunities did open up, in part thanks to adjustments in China, India was in no position to take advantage. Here is the account of the 2020s from Kapur and Subramanian. It stands in dizzying contrast to the one-sided, “China squeeze” argument delivered in the Peterson and Foreign Affairs pieces: In 2022, for example, India’s share of global exports in clothing (the canonical labour-intensive sector) was 3.1 per cent compared to 32 per cent for China. This is extremely disappointing because China started vacating export space in this sector after the Global Financial Crisis as its wages started rising; it then vacated further space in the aftermath of geopolitical developments that led investors to seek alternative investment locations. Between its peak and today, China lost about 7.5 percentage points of global export share (worth about $43 billion in 2022); over this period, India’s export share remained stagnant at 3 per cent, while that of Vietnam and Bangladesh rose by 3.5 to 4 percentage points. China’s loss did not translate into any gain for India in terms of low-skill exports and employment. Put differently, when the conditions for dynamism and prosperity were established after 1991, and even more tantalizingly when the global export opportunities opened up, it was as if India was a high-wage economy and only skilled labour could benefit from the dynamism. It had converted its physically abundant unskilled workforce into an economically expensive resource, penalizing its use. It is not my mission here to argue for or against Kapur and Subramanian’s interpretation of India’s development trajectory. The point in this context is simply that the “China squeeze” such as it is can only be understood, in relation to the heavy burden of domestic constraints that Kapur and Subramanian so unsparingly enumerate. I am concentrating here on India because it is the great counterpart to China and the unspoken reference point of the “China squeeze” discourse. But the point is more general. Can anyone with a straight face suggest that the main problems afflicting the development of South Africa or Nigeria, the great centers of mass underemployment in sub-saharan Africa, are cheap competition from China driven by Beijing’s industrial policy and an undervalued RMB? Likewise, is the main problem of the American working-class the threat of Chinese competition or the manifest crisis of social reproduction in the United States itself? The point here, as in the discourse around China shock 2.0 in Europe, is to insist that we should not normalize the world and pathologize China, without actually investigating what is going on in America’s industrial wastelands, the German car industry, or India’s lopsided labour market. One-sided pathologization should be understood for what it is, a polemical gesture. Concepts like China shock and China squeeze are, what Reinhart Koselleck, following Carl Schmitt, would have described as “asymmetrische Kampfbegriffe”, or “asymmetrical counter-concepts” or “asymmetrical combat concepts”. If the function of arguments like the “China squeeze” is to alert elites in the rest of the world of the need to rejuvenate and energize their development projects, so be it. But let us see the resulting discourses as the mobilizing interventions that they are. Interestingly, a significant slice of China’s public sphere - the so-called industrial party - have been obsessed for the last twenty years with precisely these questions of counterfactual economic history. Since the mid 2000s, a massive online discourse developed around an alternative history in which Chinese techno-patriots were asked to imagine how they would proceed if they had the possibility of traveling back in time to transport modern technology into the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) thus averting the “great divergence” of the 18th and 19th centuries. It is a fantasy of course, but also a goad. The point was not directed at Westerners. The alternate history is dramatically nationalist, but few n the West had even heard of it until recently. The adherents of the industrial party are not liberal moralists. They don’t project natural ladders of international development and ask why others don’t cede space. They take the Realpolitik of global economic development for granted. Their pointe was directed against fellow Chinese. The rallying cry of the alternative narrative was this: Now that we are beginning to gain steam and push forward on our national development path, now that we are breaking out of the inferior position assigned to us even in the early years following WTO accession, do not lose yourself in humanistic imaginings about better futures. In the spirit of Deng, they called on China to embrace the hard truth of development. Perhaps one might of the Industrial Party as a cultural trend born out of desire for symbolic revenge against those who had inflicted the century of humiliation. In terms of the various temporalities of the “China shock” - retrospective, prospective and counterfactual - one might think of the Industrial Policy discourse as truly speculative, conjuring up the China shock that never was. Or perhaps one might better think of it as imagining a world in which a powerful China was no shock at all, but simply a defining fact of modern history. I love putting out Chartbook. I am particularly pleased that it goes out for free to thousands of subscribers around the world. But, writing this newsletter takes a lot of work. If you are enjoying it and would like to support the project, sign up for one of the subscription options here. It is the equivalent of a fancy cup of coffee per month! Subscribe

Aug 5 • 7:18 AM EDT • Politics • adamtooze.substack.com

Rep. Chuck Edwards abandons reelection bid after ethics probe

Aug 5 • 7:17 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com

Space for music on late-night TV has dwindled. New media seeks to offer an alternative

When CBS ended “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” earlier this year, it also shuttered the program’s robust music offerings.

Aug 5 • 3:04 AM EDT • Entertainment • news4jax.com

Reds owner Bob Castellini crashes Francona session, delivers message

Was it simply a wrong turn or a vote of confidence for the Cincinnati Reds manager? It looked like it was probably both.

Aug 4 • 10:57 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

F&M Brewing Science

Rob Jinks, professor of biology, who teaches the Brewing Science class at Franklin & Marshall College, dispenses a New England Indian Pale Ale into a pitcher inside Fair Trade Cafe

Aug 4 • 7:53 PM EDT • Science • lancasteronline.com

We must work together to find health care affordability solutions

There isn’t one single entity to blame for our nation’s health care crisis ― it is a systems problem requiring shared responsibility and real solutions.

Aug 4 • 5:46 PM EDT • Health • detroitnews.com

What is ‘rabbit fever?’ Health officials report 3 probable cases in New York

What is “rabbit fever?” Health officials report several probable causes of the rare but serious disease.

Aug 4 • 5:44 PM EDT • Health • wbaltv.com

What is ‘rabbit fever?’ Health officials report 3 probable cases in New York

What is “rabbit fever?” Health officials report several probable causes of the rare but serious disease.

Aug 4 • 5:44 PM EDT • Health • wmur.com

The Beauty Of Settled Science

Commenters convinced me I made a subtle mis-step in my framing of Psychology Research Is Mostly Fine. My framing emphasized that social priming studies had failed to replicate, but that many other subfields of psychology hadn’t. This naturally led commenters to point to failed replications in other subfields. Although none of these were as bad as social priming, few or none were entirely problem-free. Instead of emphasizing the difference between social priming and other subfields, I should have emphasized the difference between settled science and novel research. Here are some of my favorite psychology findings: The brain is sculpted by reinforcement learning, and a key driver of this learning is a prediction-error-based algorithm located in the nucleus accumbens and implemented through dopamine. Psychedelic drugs exert their effects through 5-HT2A receptors, pointing to a role for these receptors in some sort of construct like the balance between priors and new evidence. Certain cognitive functions are localized to certain brain areas (for example, impulse control to the frontal lobes; linguistic structure to Broca’s area, linguistic meaning to Wernicke’s area. But injure one of these areas, or render a certain function useless (eg a blind person having no more use for their visual cortex), and these mappings can gradually shift - suggesting that neurons are general-purpose compute whose specialization is a contingent fact about convenience and efficiency rather than a necessity. Most personality traits and general capabilities are about 50% genetic and 50% random, with little role for family environment or childhood history, with a few notable exceptions like partisan preference. Recent research complicates this story, but the further you go from this basic picture, the gnarlier the chains of indirect causation you require. Neurons fire together in “brain waves”, whose exact frequency corresponds with the character of consciousness; These divide neurons into natural subpopulations and linked graphs. The gamma rhythm corresponds surprisingly well to items in conscious awareness. GABA receptors seem to be involved in something like relaxation. By hitting different GABA receptors in different ways, you can modulate the exact type of relaxation you produce. Hitting GABA-A directly is too powerful and can cause dangerous levels of sedation, but allosteric modulation of GABA is an incredibly fruitful strategy that underlies drugs from benzos to barbituates to alcohol. If you know your GABA-A subunits, you can target specific subtypes of relaxation; for example, Ambien hits GABA-A1 and induces sleep. Memory divides somewhat fuzzily into bins of immediate-sensory, short-term, and long-term, with separate retrieval and storage functions, and separate systems for declarative vs. procedural learning. These can be harmed selectively, usually by hippocampal injury, so that some patients can remember their life stories but not form new long-term memories, or learn new skills like bike-riding but not new facts. The exact substrate of memory is unclear but seems to involve new synaptic connections between neurons in at least some way. The ability of modern psychology and psychiatry to treat mental illness is real but limited. SSRIs work for half or slightly fewer than half of patients; antipsychotics work with extreme side effects; benzodiazpines work but produce addiction and tolerance in many (not all) people. Most supplements are stuck in Poor Quality Study Replication Crisis Hell, but melatonin and l-theanine stand out as especially promising. Psychotherapy works with moderate effect size, but (with a few exceptions) seems to be more about the relationship with the provider than the details of the therapy itself. Mental hospitalization can sometimes defuse immediate crises but work less well than mental hospitals would like, with some studies showing overall negative effects. Schizophrenia is mostly genetic, but risk also increases with prenatal infection (especially rubella) and obstetric complications; there is suggestive evidence for roles of social stress and drug use (with psychedelics and marijuana making things worse, and nicotine if anything making things better). Bipolar and schizophrenia are so closely linked on a pathophysiological level that it seems like they might be the same disease; on the clinical level, they do seem to follow two separate courses/prognoses but can sometimes surprise clinicians by eg someone who seemed condemned to permanent schizophrenia unexpectedly recovering. The brain’s native reinforcement learning algorithms cash out in the phenomena of classical and operant conditioning; different reinforcement schedules reinforce at different levels, which can be exploited by bad actors to make especially compelling products (eg slot machines). None of these are immune to doubt. A few are speculative; one or two are genuinely unorthodox. But they’re all a step above one p = 0.049 paper that might not replicate. If they get overturned, they’ll be overturned by the same sort of genuine scientific shift that replaced Ptolemy with Copernicus or Lamarck with Darwin, not some sort of sordid discovery about someone entering random numbers into a spreadsheet. In 2008, Eliezer Yudkowsky wrote about The Beauty Of Settled Science: If you only care about scientific issues that are controversial, you will end up with a head stuffed full of garbage. The media thinks that only the cutting edge of science is worth reporting on. How often do you see headlines like “General Relativity still governing planetary orbits” or “Phlogiston theory remains false”? So, by the time anything is solid science, it is no longer a breaking headline. “Newsworthy” science is often based on the thinnest of evidence and wrong half the time—if it were not on the uttermost fringes of the scientific frontier, it would not be breaking news. Scientific controversies are problems so difficult that even people who’ve spent years mastering the field can still fool themselves. That’s what makes for the heated arguments that attract all the media attention. Worse, if you aren’t in the field and part of the game, controversies aren’t even fun. Don’t be embarrassed to read elementary science textbooks, either. If you want to pretend to be sophisticated, go find a play to sneer at. If you just want to have fun, remember that simplicity is at the core of scientific beauty [...] A steady diet of science news is bad for you: You are what you eat, and if you eat only science reporting on fluid situations, without a solid textbook now and then, your brain will turn to liquid. Psychology isn’t centrally the new paper in Annals Of Recently-Breaking News saying that an n=5 study showing that large portion sizes increase support for terrorism. Psychology is centrally ideas like brain waves, GABA receptors, reinforcement learning, twin studies, and connectionism. People who think differently are worrying too much about BREAKING NEWS!!!, and should stop. The key distinction isn’t “recent research in social psychology” vs. “recent research in cognitive/bio/behavioral psychology”, as my essay last week unfortunately implied. It’s recent research in general vs. the deposit of settled science, battle-tested hypotheses, and carefully-earmarked speculation. And part of the reason social priming in particular was such a disaster was that it defied that heuristic, building itself up over hundreds of studies until it approached or even entered the pantheon of settled science - before collapsing (5-HTTLPR was also sort of like this). This isn’t a claim that settled science is always right - Freud was “settled science” for a long time - just that there’s an intuitive distinction between the level of credence you should have in the existence of power posing vs. the existence of Broca’s Area. (I compounded this error by calling the last post “Psychology Research Is Mostly Fine”, which suggested I was talking about the new research rather than the settled science. I actually meant to distinguish between research-psychology-the-field vs. clinical-psychology-aka-therapy, but this framing unintentionally pushed against the point I wanted to make) Some commenters on the previous article understood this point, but challenged its weight. It’s very cool, they said, to know how many neurons are in which brain lobe, but the main way that Psychology affected their lives was through bad clickbait studies used to buttress dumb policies; some p = 0.049 study says that exposure to microaggressions makes minorities’ brains shrivel into raisins, and now their company has to implement punitive DEI or be sued for hazardous work conditions. I won’t dispute this as an accurate description of how the sausage gets made, but it’s worth examining the trains of thought that connect this observation to a campaign against psychology in general: The dumb woke psychology was wrong and bad, and I don’t have good heuristics for distinguishing dumb woke psychology from other psychology, so I’m going to assume it’s all wrong and bad. The dumb woke psychology was wrong and bad; it seems useful to punish/discredit psychology as a whole to assist my campaign against it, so for propaganda purposes I will try to discredit psychology as a whole. To people in the first camp, my response is: come on, your heuristics aren’t that bad. “Microaggressions makes minorities’ brains shrivel up like raisins” is in the woke category; “the hippocampal theta rhythm seems to be associated with both memory and pathfinding, suggesting an unexpected yet surprisingly compelling relationship between the two” is in the not-woke category, don’t play dumb here. To people in the second camp, my response is: deliberately exaggerated propaganda campaigns are bad and this is a confession, not an excuse. Inability to view science through anything but a political lens was what got us into this problem; doubling down on it is a temporary solution but a recipe for permanent disaster. If you pronounce entire fields of science to be acceptable collateral damage in your campaign against bad political actors, you will alienate not just scientists but patients, clinicians, and general lovers of truth. Instead, you can say the thing you mean - that woke partisans shouldn’t try to occupy and exploit the otherwise-noble science of psychology for their own political gain - and wage the same campaign with a halo rather than a comic-book-villain goatee. From the font of oracular wisdom that is Weird Sun Twitter: [ Vessel Of Spirit@VesselOfSpirit i love you all conditionally but i love the good part of you unconditionally. even if it becomes a very small part 2:11 AM · Jan 22, 2015 1 Reply · 5 Reposts · 29 Likes ](https://x.com/VesselOfSpirit/status/558084551772471298) This is how I feel about psychology1, too, but with a touch more optimism. The good part of psychology is enormous, a hoard of endless treasures. You just have to look past the headlines! 1 To play devil’s advocate - should one always be so magnamious? Astrology? Phrenology? These seem different in that their entire orientation was flawed from the start; they didn’t simply fail to find the correct constellation-personality connections, the whole project of searching for connections between constellations and personality was doomed from the start. More difficult might be asking the same question about education research, which is notoriously bad. I don’t know enough about education research to know if there’s some settled science of correct and enlightening results lurking in the background beyond the day-to-day froth of poorly-conducted and politically-motivated studies. I think if it’s 90% bad, 10% good, it’s correct to call it bad as a compact way of communicating a useful truth; I think psychology is better than that, but admit it’s a tough judgment call.

Aug 4 • 5:33 PM EDT • Science • astralcodexten.com

4 questions about the high-stakes Michigan Democratic primary

For two days last week, I lived inside the hottest political race in the country — the Michigan U.S. Senate Democratic primary between the more centrist congresswoman Haley Stevens and progressive former public health director Abdul El-Sayed. Producer Sam Weber and I flew into Detroit with some questions. How do these candidates stack up in real life? What actually matters to Michigan? Will this divide be a problem for Democrats in November? Does this race

Aug 4 • 3:27 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org

A Critique of Trump's Plan

Scott Turner examines the White House report Science: A New Golden Age, arguing that government intervention created many of American science's problems.

Aug 4 • 1:56 PM EDT • Science • mindingthecampus.org

Rep. Max Miller to seek ethics probe into himself over abuse claims

Rep. Max Miller is the former son-in-law of U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno.

Aug 4 • 1:53 PM EDT • Politics • crainscleveland.com

Jonathan Taylor may land a two-year extension

When it comes to running back contracts, much of the focus has been on the guys who are (or, as to one of them, were) holding in: Falcons running back Bijan Robinson and Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs.

Aug 4 • 1:30 PM EDT • Sports • nbcsports.com

Crimson Moon launches September 1

Gothic action adventure RPG Crimson Moon will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store on September 1, developer ProbablyMonsters announced.

Aug 4 • 12:15 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com

Sony Music Appoints Stephanie Yu to General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs

Sony Music today announced the appointment of Stephanie Yu to General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs. She reports to Rob Stringer, Chairman, Sony Music Group and Kevin Kelleher, COO, Sony Music. Yu will be responsible for overseeing the business, legal and governmental affairs strategies and activities for the company globally. Stringer […]

Aug 4 • 12:00 PM EDT • Business • sonymusic.com

Sony Music Appoints Stephanie Yu to General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs

Sony Music today announced the appointment of Stephanie Yu to General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs. She reports to Rob Stringer, Chairman, Sony Music Group and Kevin Kelleher, COO, Sony Music. Yu will be responsible for overseeing the business, legal and governmental affairs strategies and activities for the company globally. Stringer […]

Aug 4 • 12:00 PM EDT • Business • sonymusic.com

MrBeast Sales Slow, Angel Stock Falls, MUBI and Neon Look for Hits, and Will an NBA Franchise Set a Sales Record?

(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) You probably remember egg prices spiking a few years ago. This led to a lot of debate between the pro-market/pro-competition/antitrust/Neo-Brandesian crowd and the center/center-right/center-left/abundance/libertarian crowd over the cause, whether it was the avian flu outbreak or whether industry consolidation led to price fixing, using avian flu as a convenient cover. Basel Musharbash wrote a whole investigation at BIG looking at it. Well, two years later, we have our answer: it was price fixing. The Justice Department found proof, via emails, of price fixing. Indeed, just the threat of an investigation brought prices down two years ago: I bring this up because at least half a dozen of my favorite political writers and pundits, who were skeptical about price fixing at the time, haven’t written any mea culpas on this issue. It’s really dispiriting and makes it much, much harder to trust their work on other issues. If you take a hard stand on an issue, then you get it wrong, you need to explain how and why you got it wrong. Or update your priors. This is how epistemological bubbles are formed! All of which is to say, it’s time for another installment of “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong”. Last issue, I mostly focused on the “wrong” side of the equation, so today’s is a bit more balanced, but with one big mea culpa (though I still stand by my original concerns). Let’s dive right in! Subscribe CORRECTION: UFC Didn’t Release Subscriber Data (But Seems to Have Bragged About It Internally) In my analysis of the viewership of UFC Freedom 250, I wrote... “Paramount has also released datecdotes bragging about their subscriber numbers. Earlier this year, they claimed that the first UFC fight on Paramount+ brought in 1 million subscribers.” Well, that datecdote did not come from a PR rep, but from great reporting from James Faris at Business Insider. The actual quote was this: “Paramount’s flagship streaming service generated about a million new subscribers on the day of its first-ever UFC event, Paramount product chief Dane Glasgow told employees in a town hall on Tuesday morning, three staffers who attended the meeting told Business Insider.“ This wasn’t the biggest goof in the world; even Faris emphasized to me that this is more a “clarification” than a correction. Still, it sounds like, internally, the folks at Paramount were very happy about this result—and I’m guessing they were happy with this news getting out—even though the gains didn’t last through the quarter, dropping to 700K adds. RIGHT: MrBeast’s Struggles Continue... I’m very skeptical about MrBeast’s burgeoning media “empire” and, in particular, its $5 billion valuation, as I wrote earlier this year and last year. Sure enough, according to Business Insider, regarding its “booming” consumer products division_:_ “US sales volume grew 13% year-over-year in 2025, following a 33% leap the previous year, according to a presentation deck dated May 2026....A February 2025 investor deck viewed by Business Insider showed Feastables’ net revenue more than doubled in 2024 from 2023, to $215 million, and was forecast to grow 74% in 2025, to $375 million.” [Emphasis mine.] If you told investors that you projected 74% growth but delivered 13%,1 that’s not ideal. But it’s not just MrBeast. Logan Paul and KSI’s Prime had sales drop in half for their energy drinks. It’s one thing to build a successful entertainment company and an entirely different thing to succeed in the heavily-consolidated-but-also-very-competitive consumer packaged goods space! CPGs are dominated by a few firms with very wide moats compared to YouTube, which has few barriers to entry. These businesses require different skill sets and have completely different business environments. WRONG: Does the NBA Have an $8 Billion Bidder? Almost as soon as I published my article about the NBA’s finances, casting skepticism on NBA expansion, I saw this Front Office Sports headline: One group “claims to have already raised $8 billion” for the Vegas expansion team. I mean, wow. That’s just $2 billion less than what the Los Angeles Lakers were valued at when they were sold just last year. And they’re arguably the most popular team in the NBA. (Side note: the new owner is now under an investigation for fraud in how he went about financing the Lakers and the Dodgers purchases.) So much for the “dried up” language I used in that article. (This is why I usually stick to my “Entertainment Nuance Guy” tone in articles...) I went off old information—from April, when I read/heard about the NBA downplaying expansion efforts—instead of doing a quick double-check for new news. That said...if you read the article, the market for Seattle is “slow”, with just one reported bidder. So I wasn’t entirely off. This goof has annoyed me since I first published it, mainly because it undercut that article’s real point, which I stand by: NBA franchises are really overvalued right now. Now, I get why NBA teams are overvalued. When it comes to owning sports teams, it’s basically never wrong to assume that some rich person somewhere will care more about owning a team (or just being part of a group since they’re so expensive) than the actual financials. There are only so many teams to own, and opportunities to buy in preferred markets don’t come along very often. This explains why the teams sell for such high multiples (usually above a 10 to 12.5 revenue multiple, which is very high). You only need one person to overpay! Beyond the ultra-wealthy luxury good explanation, I worry NBA teams are becoming speculative assets. More and more private equity investors are buying into NBA teams. But the value, in owning a team, comes from selling it later, not any meaningful relationship to revenue or profit growth. In other words, the newer NBA owners are increasingly expecting someone later to buy their inflated asset. That’s not sound economics; that’s the “greater fool” theory at work.2 At some point, actually making money has to matter. Especially since revenue growth is now below the growth of the stock market. (And this matters because the NBA doesn’t have easy levers to pull to drastically lower their costs—half of their revenue has to go to players and then you actually have to run a team, including coaching, training, travel, media expenses, and more—or raise revenues aside from one-off expansions in America and overseas.) I just don’t see how investors make their money back buying NBA teams, except for selling at a higher price later on down the line. But if revenue/profit growth continues to slow, at some point, someone will be left holding the bag. RIGHT: Baseball and Basketball are about equally popular. Related to the above, I wanted to cite two quick pieces of evidence for one of my other theories: that the NBA and MLB are about as popular as each other, but the NBA gets much, much better media coverage. One YouGov survey has that fans prefer basketball to baseball by 52% to 48%, which I’m guessing is within the margin of error for that poll. That’s virtually even, meaning they’re about the same popularity. Over on NBC, a recent Red Sox-Yankees game averaged 4 million viewers, higher than Sunday Night Basketball’s average of 3.4 million on the same network. A Yankees-Dodgers game averaged 3.9 million two weeks ago. Not every game averages this much, but it shows you that baseball isn’t far off from basketball, depending on the matchup. Altogether, the NBA is just slightly more popular than baseball, but NBC is paying MLB a fraction of what they pay the NBA, a point I’ve made before. RIGHT: Angel, MUBI and Neon Updates... I’ve long been skeptical about many of Hollywood’s buzziest startups/smaller indie studios. It’s not that they don’t make great movies—films like Anora and Everything Everywhere All at Once are amazing—or that they’re not (rightfully) pushing the majors to make better films, but...they get a ton of hype, and that hype often doesn’t live up to the reality or difficulty in scaling up. Starting with MUBI, well, The Wall Street Journal wrote a feature on MUBI’s struggles last April, best summarized by the subheader “After Sequoia valued Mubi at $1 billion, a left-wing revolt sent the indie film company into a tailspin”. MUBI lost $7.3 million on $200 million in revenue in Q4 2025, but reportedly hit a record 1.7 million subscribers at the end of Q1. As for Neon, Department M purchased a “significant stake” in the company earlier this year. How much is that “stake” worth? According to Deadline, “No financial figures for the Neon-Department M deal were disclosed.” So...that’s not great! If it was a big valuation, we’d hear about. Also, I found this curious: “Both Neon and Department M already have separate partnerships with Qatar. The Qatar Film Committee has a slate deal in place with the former, and a biopic production pact with the latter.” Color me skeptical about much Middle Eastern investment dollars. See: LIV Golf. Finally, as for Angel (formerly Angel Studios), their stock very, very slightly popped last month after Young Washington ($20 million budget) which made $45 million in the US, but their stock is still way down from its opening. Smaller Updates RIGHT: The WGA should focus on antitrust concerns! I’ve been on this for years. Post-WGA/AMTPT deal in 2023, I wrote an article for the Ankler calling on the WGA to focus and organize against industry consolidation. Sure enough, the WGA filed a lawsuit against the Paramount-WBD merger, and people are organizing around this issue now. I wish this energy had coalesced earlier (specifically to lobby Washington much earlier), but better late than never! WRONG: Actually, the chip shortage might be due to market manipulation. In my last “Long Reads for the Long Summer” article, I shared an article about how LLMs are causing memory chip prices to spike, which will make all electronics more expensive. Well, turns out, three RAM manufacturers control 90% of the market, and now a private lawsuit accuses them of price-fixing. So yeah. WRONG/UPDATE: The Odyssey will hold! Two weeks ago, I wrote, “As of this moment, we haven’t had a super-blockbuster, though The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday could all cross the $500 million mark. (At this point, The Odyssey would need a very strong hold to get there.)” Well, it’s safe to say it’s going to have that hold! It only dropped 30% in weekend two and IMAX screenings are sold out all month. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is also off to a great start. RIGHT: People are rushing to get shows out yearly. I’ve long been bullish on yearly, weekly-released shows, and Leslie Goldberg at The Ankler wrote about how many people in town are now listening. WRONG: Mark Carney reverses Canada’s stance on homegrown production. After writing about Canada installing domestic production quotas, Canada has backed off. WRONG: I don’t trust Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s online “views”. When I originally wrote about the latest Spider-Man film’s record-breaking trailer, I thought this was just YouTube views, but after watching this Corridor Crew video and doing more research, well, it’s all social views of the trailer globally. Really? That stat includes TikTok, Reels and YouTube Shorts views. Basically, I don’t trust it anymore. (This film will probably set record, but I trust the pre-sales data more.) RIGHT: Celebrity Production companies are still struggling. I’ve written about this for years, but the company that I didn’t track was Kevin Hart’s HartBeat, which was valued at $650 million but is struggling now and might just end soon, especially after Kevin Hart pulled his endorsement deals. And Bad Robot is moving to NYC. CORRECTION: SpongeBob is a “second run” title. In my 2025 recap article, I had _SpongeBob SquarePants_labelled as a “library” title, when it is still a “second run” show, with new episodes still coming out on Nickelodeon. CORRECTION: In my last “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong” update, I offered a correction from Doug Creutz and misspelled TD Cowen. Thanks, Grammarly! 1 Though he could have increased prices to make up for the gap, he couldn’t have increased them that much. 2 There’s a theory, which I think that Daryl Morey created and Bill Simmons popularized, that, to be successful building your team, you only need a handful of bad GMs in the league to take advantage of. To be clear, Daryl Morey’s theory was also for signing bad contracts, that you could always get out of bad contracts. Basically, there’s always someone who will make a bad trade. It’s not the same exact thing, but similar enough to the Greater Fool Theory that I really like it.

Aug 4 • 11:55 AM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

Steam's Cyberpunk Sale Has Genre Classics At Their Lowest Ever Prices

Cyberpunk 2077 and RoboCop: Rogue City will barely trouble your wallet

Aug 4 • 11:52 AM EDT • Technology • kotaku.com

Falcons have spent plenty on core players this year

With the new contract for running back Bijan Robinson, the Falcons have recently given big deals to four young players who have become part of the nucleus of the team.

Aug 4 • 11:07 AM EDT • Sports • nbcsports.com

Meet S&T at the Missouri State Fair for hands-on fun

Missouri University of Science and Technology will bring hands-on activities for fairgoers of all ages to the Missouri State Fair, Aug. 13-23 in Sedalia, Missouri. Engage in hands-on activities, meet student design teams, watch science demonstrations and play with robots....Continue Reading Meet S&T at the Missouri State Fair for hands-on fun

Aug 4 • 10:26 AM EDT • Science • news.mst.edu

The Purple-State Problem

Most close readers of this column know that I see our nation’s political divisions as so great as to make the last line in the Pledge of Allegiance, that we are “one nation” and “indivisible,” hardly descriptive.While some states or congressional districts are characterized as red for Republicans or blue for Democrats, purple states or districts are thought of as fair fights where neither party has a distinct advantage. In those purple regions, it’s often thought that to win, a candidate must do well with voters near the ideological center.

Aug 4 • 9:41 AM EDT • Politics • cookpolitical.com

What to Eat and What to Avoid for Optimal Gut Health

Gut health can impact everything from sleep to the immune system, so Dr. Roshini Raj, associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health, shares her recommendations for preserving your gut microbiome. She shares the signs of an unhealthy gut, and what to eat to improve it. Dr. Raj also shares her tips for avoiding cyclosporiasis.

Aug 4 • 9:30 AM EDT • Health • today.com

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center Named Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report

RWJBarnabas Health hospitals are once again recognized for delivering exceptional patient care and outstanding clinical outcomes in the 2026-2027 U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals edition for adult healthcare services.

Aug 4 • 8:19 AM EDT • Health • rwjbh.org

Bijan Robinson inks contract extension with Falcons: Everything to know

Aug 4 • 8:14 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Falcons sign Bijan Robinson to historic three-year extension, making him NFL's highest-paid running back

Robinson led the NFL with 2,298 yards from scrimmage in 2025 and is now the highest-paid running back.

Aug 4 • 8:13 AM EDT • Sports • cbssports.com

Inside The Heartthrob Industrial Complex

Streaming, social media, and luxury brands have changed how Hollywood creates heartthrobs. Inside the formula behind today's biggest internet crushes.

Aug 4 • 8:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • nylon.com

CBS Sports makes the case for Falcons paying Bijan Robinson

Analysis says Bijan Robinson's production near-impossible to reproduce

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

What Bifidobacteria tell us about gut health and how diet can help

In this interview, microbiome researcher Sudarshan Shetty explains what shapes Bifidobacteria, how they change with age, and what diet can do

Aug 4 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • gutmicrobiotaforhealth.com

Cubs Rout Wrobleski, Dodgers Drop Fourth Straight

The Los Angeles Dodgers have dropped their fourth straight game against the Chicago Cubs.

Aug 3 • 11:49 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

The WNBA has a problem with conservative politics in sports: Riley Gaines

‘The Riley Gaines Show’ host Riley Gaines discusses the drama that has ensued since Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham spoke out to protect women's sports on 'Hannity.'

Aug 3 • 11:13 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com

Health officials probe 8 Legionnaires’ cases at Thornville nursing home

Health officials are investigating an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease at a nursing home in Thornville, just north of Lancaster.The Fairfield County health com

Aug 3 • 10:02 PM EDT • Health • abc6onyourside.com

An Emerging Deal Between Iran and Oman to Reopen Hormuz Would Come at a Cost for Trump

The deal would address President Trump’s most urgent political problem by allowing ships to move again. But it would give Iran strategic leverage it did not have before the war.

Aug 3 • 8:47 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

Albuquerque heat wave strains health and vehicles as temperatures soar

Record-breaking heat in Albuquerque is causing health issues and vehicle problems, with emergency physicians and mechanics reporting increased cases of heat-related effects.

Aug 3 • 8:38 PM EDT • Health • koat.com

Seahawks injury news: Robbie Ouzts misses practice again

Robbie Ouzts has been absent from practice with an undisclosed injury.

Aug 3 • 8:37 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Padres trade for LHP Robbie Ray

Two prospects go to San Francisco with the trade

Aug 3 • 3:39 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Tommy Sullivan and John Ziegler to Perform at LI Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame on Aug 16th

As part of the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame Soundtrack to Summer Series, Musician Tommy Sullivan (a member of the Brooklyn Bridge) will perform LIVE music and Comedian John Ziegler will open with comedy set at the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in Stony Brook Village (97 Main Street, Stony Brook, NY) on Aug. 16th from 3-4pm. The event is free for members or with general admission ticket purchase or $10 at the door concert ticket purchase. For details on this and upcoming events please visit https://www.limusichalloffame.... About Tommy Sullivan A life-long Long Islander and proud U.S. Army veteran, Tommy Sullivan enlisted in 1965 and was accepted to the United States Military Academy Band, where he created the first official rock group at West Point. Reentering civilian life in 1968, he helped create the Rhythm Method, a 7-piece Long Island band which was discovered by Johnny Maestro, then singing lead with the Del-Satins. The combined groups became the Brooklyn Bridge. As band leader and musical director, Tommy penned the group’s horn arrangements on every Bridge hit, including their gold record, Worst that could happen. Upon leaving the Bridge, Tommy co-founded Atlantic Records’ supergroup Ramatam, which was Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell’s first group following Hendrix’ death. For the second Ramatam LP Tommy wrote and orchestrated original material which featured select members of the NY Philharmonic Orchestra. Together with Johnny Maestro, Tommy co-produced Johnny’s final CD, Peace on earth. The critically acclaimed album features Tommy’s arrangements & orchestrations, plus several of his original songs. A Charter Inductee to the LI Music Hall of Fame, Tommy Sullivan continues to write, record, arrange and produce records, serve as musical director/ arranger/conductor for projects across many musical genres plus donates dozens of performances annually for numerous charity events. Tommy Sullivan’s dynamic and unique one-man show, A thousand memories, featuring his vocals and performances on four instruments, has been packing concert auditoriums, nightclubs, private parties–even vineyards-for the past several years. John Zeigler Born and raised in New York, John has performed stand-up comedy for close to 20 years and was the winner of the 2016 "Funniest Comic on the East Coast" Contest at Mohegan Sun. John's opened for such comics as Sebastian Maniscalco, Gilbert Gottfried, Jim Breuer and Robert Klein. He currently headlines clubs across the country and regularly tours with legendary comedian Bobby Collins. John recently released his Dry Bar Comedy Special and Getting My Affairs in Order.

Aug 3 • 3:39 PM EDT • Entertainment • iloveny.com

Effective August 12: Bipartisan Legislation to Prevent Harms Caused by Addictive Sports Betting

DENVER, CO – Bipartisan legislation to prevent harms caused by addictive sports betting practices will go into effect on August 12. SB26-1 31 , spon sored by Senator Matt Ball, D-Denver, addresses problems arising from the growing online sports betting industry by implement

Aug 3 • 3:33 PM EDT • Sports • senatedems.co

Fact Check Team: What has RFK Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' movement actually changed

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s MAHA movement has become.

Aug 3 • 3:27 PM EDT • Health • abc3340.com

AI use surging for mental health help among young people

Survey researcher says popularity may help fill gap between rising national problem, shortage of clinicians — provided counsel is sound.

Aug 3 • 3:16 PM EDT • Health • news.harvard.edu

GOP lawmaker's gifts, 'effusive affection' toward young staffers detailed in explosive ethics report

The House Ethics Committee recommends censure after an ethics probe found Chuck Edwards violated the code of conduct with two young female staffers.

Aug 3 • 2:32 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com

States sue Trump administration over federal assistance data sharing

Filed by 23 state attorneys general and two governors, the lawsuit alleges the federal government is sharing Social Security numbers with DHS

Aug 3 • 2:12 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

Capital One: Trump Accounts Closed Over Probe, Not Politics

In a new court filing, the bank revealed why it shut down hundreds of Trump-tied accounts in mid-2021.

Aug 3 • 2:03 PM EDT • Politics • nymag.com

THE WEEK OF AUG 3, 2026

- Senate stopgap bill counters OMB grantmaking rule - State Dept proposes changes to J visa cancellations - FCC bans foreign robots

Aug 3 • 12:18 PM EDT • Science • aip.org

Burnout wrecked my health. I lost 125 pounds getting it back.

Mary Roberts says recovering from burnout helped her lose weight reverse her declining health, and regain the confidence to launch her own consultancy.

Aug 3 • 10:01 AM EDT • Health • businessinsider.com

Flynn Creek Circus to bring high-flying entertainment to Ashland

A troupe full of artful and athletic acrobats, performers and entertainers will be heading up Interstate 5 and stopping in Ashland for a little over a week, bringing astonishing skill […]

Aug 3 • 9:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • rv-times.com

The hidden cost of Mamdani’s plan for cheap groceries

New York City probably can’t deliver “Costco For All.”

Aug 3 • 7:30 AM EDT • Politics • vox.com

Why Tesla selling its China business could be a negative for shareholders

Tesla China spin-off rumors: analysts warn a sale could erase humanoid/robotaxi upside and cut TSLA value.

Aug 3 • 7:08 AM EDT • Business • seekingalpha.com

Your kid doesn’t want to go back to school. Now what?

Many US schools will start again soon, and some parents will face kids who don’t want to go back. An expert has advice on how to handle this common problem.

Aug 3 • 7:00 AM EDT • Health • cnn.com

Decoding the gut microbiome's symphony in health and disease

The trillions of microorganisms living in our intestine influence our health, from digestion and metabolism to immunity. Yet scientists still struggle to understand how these microbes shape these important physiological functions because gut microbiomes are extraordinarily complex, redundant, and dynamic. New technologies are therefore essential for advancing microbiome research. Researchers at the University of Vienna have now reported effective strategies for simultaneously measuring thousands

Aug 3 • 6:00 AM EDT • Health • newswise.com

In Philly, roughly 1 out of 3 adults are obese. How should doctors, pediatricians talk to their patients about it?

Health care providers say initiating conversations about weight and nutrition is a key aspect to tackling obesity-related health problems.

Aug 3 • 5:45 AM EDT • Health • whyy.org

How J. Robert Oppenheimer brought together thousands of scientists to build the world's first atomic bomb

Prior to 1945, nuclear weapons were just an idea that could be discussed in theoretical physics literature. This changed when J.

Aug 3 • 3:55 AM EDT • Science • timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Pirate Problems: Bucs' Mayfield set for Clash With Williams

Two former Oklahoma Heisman winners and top draft picks collide as Caleb Williams leads his surging Bears against Baker Mayfield’s resilient Buccaneers in a high-stakes quarterback showdown.

Aug 2 • 11:19 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Changeable Guardian ESTIQUE for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch, and PC launches August 6

AMATA Games will release Cat Hui Trading LLC-developed side-scrolling robot shoot ’em up Changeable Guardian ESTIQUE for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Switch, and PC via Steam and Microsoft Sto…

Aug 2 • 10:17 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com

Rowing Science: Your Brain on Telemetry? Rowing and Math in 2026

A 2023 study found that doing math problems while rowing the erg caused rowing performance and mecha

Aug 2 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • row2k.com

For AI to Drive Science Discoveries, Highly Reproducible Data Is Key

By convening four laboratories from across the nation to test an experimental catalyst, researchers demonstrated the importance of generating highly reproducible experimental data when building AI models for investigations in science.

Aug 2 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • newswise.com

RFK Jr. and CNN’s Dana Bash flare up on-air during vaccine argument: ‘You’re talking nonsense’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took his controversial, widely contested views on vaccines to CNN on Sunday, sparking a heated debate with ‘State of the Union’ cohost Dana Bash that flared into an exchange of barbs.

Aug 2 • 7:30 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com

Woman Has Mechanic Install Duralast Part From AutoZone On Her Honda. There’s Just One Problem: 'I Wouldn't Do It'

'I don't want to switch them out for her...'

Aug 2 • 6:00 PM EDT • Technology • motor1.com

Stock shines but Mets fall flat against Marlins yet again

The single run Robert Stock gave up proved too high a summit for the Mets to overcome.

Aug 2 • 4:31 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

RFK Jr. says Trump ‘certainly’ wants him to investigate any link between autism and vaccines

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sunday said President Trump “certainly” wants him to investigate perceived links between autism and vaccines. Kennedy …

Aug 2 • 3:48 PM EDT • Health • thehill.com

James Robinson gets a tryout with Raiders

Six years after running back James Robinson rushed for 1,070 yards as a rookie in 2020 with the Jaguars, he's looking for a path back to the NFL.

Aug 2 • 3:11 PM EDT • Sports • nbcsports.com

James Robinson gets a tryout with Raiders

Aug 2 • 3:11 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

If You're Struggling to Find a MacBook Air Right Now, This Is Probably Why

You'll never guess what's reportedly causing the shortage.

Aug 2 • 3:00 PM EDT • Technology • gizmodo.com

Algorithms of Hate: How AI Is Rewriting Identity Politics

Identity-based hatred has evolved into a profitable digital industry driven by social media algorithms, political polarization

Aug 2 • 11:22 AM EDT • Politics • fairobserver.com

RFK Jr. tells CNN host that constitutional rights take priority over public health

In a heated interview with Dana Bash, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attacked Anthony Fauci and the media.

Aug 2 • 11:19 AM EDT • Health • politico.com

RFK Jr., Bash clash in heated interview: ‘This is not productive’

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CNN’s Dana Bash clashed over vaccine safety and COVID-19 in a heated interview on Sunday. The tension in the “State of the Union”…

Aug 2 • 11:10 AM EDT • Health • thehill.com

'It might be useful to have a reality check'

BBC Radio Sheffield's Rob Staton believes it might be a time for a reality check after Sheffield Wednesday's heavy loss at Oldham.

Aug 2 • 8:47 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Patriots legend Rob Gronkowski reveals the impact politics has on locker room dynamics

Rob Gronkowski said political awareness grew during his NFL career but insists the New England Patriots locker room always stayed unified to win.

Aug 2 • 7:59 AM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com

NFL legend Rob Gronkowski reveals how politics impact a locker room

New England Patriots great Rob Gronkowski tells Fox News Digital that politics don't play a significant role in the locker room.

Aug 2 • 7:52 AM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com

What a new Justice Department filing says about the ‘botched’ Reflecting Pool renovation

The Justice Department on Friday said the rush to complete President Donald Trump’s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool led to “hasty and botched work,” shedding new light on the problems behind the Washington landmark’s $14 million facelift.

Aug 2 • 7:25 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com

For GLP-1 users, the in-store clothes shopping trip is back

Nora Nye, 58, is refreshing her wardrobe as she sizes down for the first time in over ​three decades after losing 80 pounds on weight-loss drug Mounjaro. Earlier this year, the Denver bankruptcy lawyer walked into a Macy's and found herself overwhelmed.

Aug 2 • 7:02 AM EDT • Business • reuters.com

How this New Orleans prosthetics expert helps VA patients find the right fit

“The younger guys, if they have to wear a leg, they want it to be blinged out. All shiny. Silver showing. As fancy as possible,” Blake Robichaux said. Read more.

Aug 2 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • nola.com

TST Images: Brewers beat Angels, 3-1, at Angel Stadium

LOS ANGELES --The Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Angels, 3-1, on August 1, 2026 at Angel Stadium and The Sporting Tribune's Robert Sloter was there to capture the following TST Images.

Aug 2 • 12:44 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Ayaneo’s new handheld revives the Game Boy Advance. Nintendo probably wishes it had done it first

Ayaneo has unveiled the Konkr Pocket Advance, a modern Game Boy Advance-inspired handheld with a sharper display, USB-C, wireless connectivity and updated controls.

Aug 2 • 12:07 AM EDT • Technology • digitaltrends.com

Gavin Newsom Reportedly Concerned About Paramount, WB Merger State Suit

In a Friday report, sources told The Wall Street Journal that California's governor has said if the merger is blocked due to the lawsuit, state employment will suffer, and that "Newsom’s office has encouraged Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office, which has independent authority to file such suits, to find a resolution out of court."

Aug 1 • 7:46 PM EDT • Business • hollywoodreporter.com

Data centers have a politics problem

As opposition to the AI projects gains momentum, industry supporters say they have ceded the narrative to their critics.

Aug 1 • 1:45 PM EDT • Politics • politico.com

Steelers announce 2026 Hall of Honor class at training camp

The team announced three more inductees during a ceremony at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.

Aug 1 • 12:51 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

An ex-U.S. Labor Secretary and a Gen Z historian talk politics, protest and capitalism

To recognize the country’s 250th year, CNBC Make It got notable voices in politics, finance and relationships across age ranges to sit down and spark conversation about what it means to achieve happiness and success in this country today. Robert Reich, 80, a former Secretary of Labor during Bill Clinton's administration, spoke with Kahlil Greene, 26, a history newsletter writer and content creator.

Aug 1 • 9:00 AM EDT • Politics • cnbc.com

Super Robot Wars Y DLC ‘Anniversary Expansion Pack’ launches August 5

The Super Robot Wars Y version 1.4.0 update will launch on August 4, followed by the paid downloadable content “Anniversary Expansion Pack” on August 5, publisher Bandai Namco and devel…

Aug 1 • 8:00 AM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com

Opinion | What Happens to America’s Political Parties After Trump?

Democrats have an anger problem. Republicans have a Trump problem.

Aug 1 • 7:00 AM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

Video: Opinion | What Happens to America’s Political Parties After Trump?

Democrats have an anger problem. Republicans have a Trump problem.

Aug 1 • 6:55 AM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

Security guards turnover is pushing some companies toward robots

Asylon's robot dogs and drones are patrolling large facilities as the security industry faces a retention problem.

Aug 1 • 5:11 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com

It's Your Business has Brooks Robertson, Joe Molina, Leticia Eastman

News about the latest hires, retirements and more in the Topeka area.

Aug 1 • 5:01 AM EDT • Business • cjonline.com

I'm a Microsoft veteran. Here's who I'd hire for the AI transition

Rob Collie, a veteran Microsoft engineer, offers tips on how to successfully integrate AI into your business and who to hire for the transition.

Aug 1 • 3:11 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com

Novant Health investigates suspicious intruder at medical center

The incident occurred on July 25 and prompted a response from the Matthews Police Department.

Jul 31 • 8:55 PM EDT • Health • wsoctv.com

UNCW Business School Students Travel to Prague for Real-Life Consulting Experience by Robert Burrus

This article was contributed by Kestrel Smoot, International Programs Coordinator for UNCW’s Cameron School of Business. During the most recent spring semester, 33 upper-level finance and marketing students from the UNCW’s Cameron School of Business traveled to Prague, Czechia, to participate in an intensive international consulting project. Unlike traditional study-abroad programs, the Prague consultancy project focuses on real client engagement. Each year’s project is entirely new, designed through collaboration between faculty and industry partners to identify a current business challenge that students will address. This year, students worked with MAMS-Champi, a Czech non-alcoholic beverage company that is seeking to expand into other global markets. Throughout the first half of the semester, students attend class at UNCW and prepare for their time abroad by conducting preliminary research, developing analytical frameworks, and organizing themselves into specialized teams responsible for tasks such as marketing strategy, industry analysis, consumer segmentation, and competitive evaluation. The course emphasizes independence and teamwork, requiring students to take ownership of their work, manage deadlines, and collaborate across functional groups. Additionally, faculty serve as advisors, allowing students to navigate the complexities of the project much as they would in a professional consulting environment. Once in Prague, students met with company leadership, toured facilities, and refined their recommendations based on real-time feedback. The in-person component is widely regarded as the most transformative aspect of the program because students must synthesize weeks of work into a cohesive presentation and deliver it to the client, demonstrating professionalism, strategic thinking, and adaptability. Beyond the consulting work, students participated in cultural and educational activities that broadened their understanding of global business environments. They explored Prague’s historic districts, learned about Czech culture, and engaged with local professionals. These experiences helped students understand how economic, regulatory, and social factors shape market opportunities. The Prague consultancy project stands as a defining example of the Cameron School of Business’s commitment to experiential learning, consistently strengthening students’ confidence, enhancing their resumes, and serving as a focal point in job interviews. Employers recognize the value of the hands-on experience and transferable skills students gain, underscoring the program’s role in preparing industry-ready graduates for today’s fast-moving business landscape.

Jul 31 • 8:00 PM EDT • Business • wilmingtonbiz.com

Black Sons "Dreamers and Doers Camp" fosters kids love of Science

The six week camp gives rising third through eighth graders the opportunity to learn about robotics, coding and different STEM based careers.

Jul 31 • 7:08 PM EDT • Science • wmar2news.com

2026 MLB Odds: Dodgers Become Major Liability Amid Skubal Trade Talks

The Dodgers, as well as a few surprise contenders, have become major sportsbook liabilities ahead of the trade deadline. Patrick Everson breaks it down.

Jul 31 • 5:37 PM EDT • Sports • foxsports.com

PlayStations Discs Are the Least of Sony's Problems Right Now

With RAM prices as high as they are, Sony wants to claim its consoles win on affordability.

Jul 31 • 3:50 PM EDT • Technology • gizmodo.com

Eagles schedule preview: Texans

Houston you have a problem

Jul 31 • 2:16 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Microsoft confirms it will make Windows 11 run better on PCs with 8GB RAM: Promises continued focus on fixing Windows' biggest issues

Microsoft's Windows chief Pavan Davuluri has provided an update on the work it's been doing to fix Windows 11's biggest problems.

Jul 31 • 12:46 PM EDT • Technology • windowscentral.com