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Apple's iCloud Private Relay is Leaking Users' Real IP Addresses
Apple's paid Safari protection feature that promises to keep your IP masked doesn't always work, according to security researchers Tommy Mysk and Talal Haj Bakry. It turns out iCloud Private Relay can expose your real IP to websites that use or pretend to use passkeys. iCloud Private Relay is a service included with paid iCloud+ plans. It is supposed to hide your IP and DNS information when you browse the web using Safari, but it is not a VPN that masks all traffic from a device.
Team's AI agent to speed Alzheimer's treatment
Vanderbilt researchers have received a grant to build an AI tool within the health record system to get patients with Alzheimer's disease to treatment faster.
Penn State Smeal College of Business sets new fundraising record for fiscal year 2026
The Smeal College of Business set a new fundraising record by raising $45 million in fiscal year 2026 to support scholarships, faculty research, programs and facilities.
The startup idea that convinced a UW computer science legend to leave Google after 27 years
Jeff Dean, who earned his computer science Ph.D. at the University of Washington, is leaving Google after 27 years and taking three of the company's top AI researchers with him. Their startup, Discovery Loop, aims to automate the scientific method itself, and Google is helping fund it.
HOK-Designed Interdisciplinary Science Building Breaks Ground at Montclair State University
Montclair State University broke ground on an HOK-designed Interdisciplinary Science Building, marking a major investment in STEM education and research.
Earth science and policy student spends summer exploring Arctic geothermal options
Declan Goldhawk knew he wanted to spend the summer expanding on what he’s learning in college while branching out into unfamiliar territory. A 10-week internship in Alaska — a place he’s never been — researching geothermal energy at the Alaska Center for Energy and Power checked both boxes.
Why AI Still Hasn't Had Its Einstein Moment
AI is having a remarkable run in science. It’s helping researchers predict protein structures, improve weather forecasts, discover new materials, and speed up drug discovery. Researchers are getting results far […]
Business Uncertainty Drives Changes in C-Suite Strategy: Sentry
Economic uncertainty—fueled by shifting trade policies, geopolitical instability, and operational disruptions—is driving leaders to rethink planning, risk management, and long-term strategy, according to new research from Sentry Insurance. New data from a survey of more than 600 executives reveals that C-suite confidence has fallen sharply since the start of 2026, with 82% of U.S. executives … Continued
Beautiful science: Spartan research creates art
Sometimes, MSU research leads to striking, unexpected art. From naturally occurring patterns made by honeybees to microscopic images of gut neurons, here is a glimpse into the beauty revealed by MSU research.
Scientists turn one of the world's most hated plastics into premium lubricant
Polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, is among the most common plastics on the planet but also one of the hardest to recycle responsibly. In a new study in Nature, scientists describe a method to strip chlorine from PVC and convert the remaining material into synthetic lubricant-based oils that perform competitively with commercial products.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Northwell Health lead international cohort of researchers to develop more than 150 next-generation cancer treatment models
Human Cancer Model Initiative releases compendium results of decade-long project to create cancer organoids Ten years and thousands of patient samples later, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has just published its results from the Human Cancer Model Initiative (HCMI) on the development of 665 organoid models of 25 types of cancer that are now available...
Pumas can help prevent car crashes
The big cats can keep deer away from roads, according to new research.
Testing Astronaut Health in 30 Seconds of Weightlessness
UC Davis researcher Rich Whittle joined an international team aboard a parabolic flight to study how microgravity affects blood flow to protect astronauts during long-duration space missions.
Louisiana Tech and LSU Health Shreveport create historic research part
Two prominent research enterprises in North Louisiana are officially partnering, after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), establishing a new framework for collaborative research, student tra
Gotham FC, Flamingo and the Women's Sports Foundation® Announce Built to Move, A New Study Linking Movement to Greater Body Appreciation
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (Aug. 5, 2026) – Gotham FC, Flamingo and the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF®) announced Wednesday the findings of new research exploring the relationship between physical activity an
Apple's ‘Private Relay’ Is Exposing Users' Real IP Addresses
Researchers found a group of issues that mean Private Relay isn't actually protecting users' real IP addresses. 404 Media verified the issues do expose IP addresses.
Museum Of Natural History & Science Researchers Identify New Bird-Like Dinosaur Species In Northwest New Mexico
Artwork by Sergey Krasovskiy. Courtesy/NMDCA NMDCA News: ALBUQUERQUE — Paleontologists from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science have identified a new genus of two-legged dinosaur that lived in New Mexico more than 70 million years ago. “This new work illustrates the dynamic nature of dinosaur studies as we continue to test what […]
New Mexico scientists identify new dinosaur species
Researchers at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science have identified a new bird-like dinosaur species from fossils discovered in northwestern New Mexico
Researchers make movie of the first steps in a chemical reaction
Using ultra-fast X-ray flashes, SLAC scientists have captured the split-second movements that kick off the making and breaking of chemical bonds.
The #1 Cooking Oil for Heart Health, According to Nutrition Experts
Based on scientific research and expert consensus, extra-virgin olive oil is the healthiest oil for your heart, since it’s rich in antioxidants and healthy fats.
Sitting up straight may improve your mood and decision-making
A simple change in posture may subtly affect how people feel and make decisions. Participants who sat upright reported greater feelings of pride and took more successful risks in a virtual balloon game than those who hunched over. Most did not realize researchers had influenced their posture, helping rule out the possibility that they were merely responding to expectations. The results suggest workplace ergonomics could influence more than physical comfort.
How the O.J. Simpson Trial Inspired My Career in Forensic Science
Inspired by a famous trial, a NIST researcher makes sure the science law enforcement relies on is accurate and thoroughly tested.
Rooted: Ashok Krishnamurthy
The data science expert builds infrastructure and partnerships to turn complex data into real-world impact.
10 years in, Purdue’s Cornerstone Integrated Liberal Arts program has proven effective in holistic training for STEM, business students
Purdue’s Cornerstone program integrates liberal arts into STEM and business fields, and new initiatives in 2026 will expand civic learning, research and engagement across the university.
Early Mental Health Support Before Birth May Help Prevent Postpartum Depression
New research from University of Rochester Medicine finds that offering pregnant patients evidence-based mental health support during their hospital stay can help prevent postpartum depression.
Construction meets data science in Buildots Intelligence Lab
Buildots, developers of an AI-enhanced construction intelligence platform for construction projects, has announced the Buildots Intelligence Lab, the industry's first AI-powered research hub.
Fast walkers in their 80s have half the risk of cognitive decline
A study published in July builds on earlier research about “super movers.”
PET imaging links psychosis to Alzheimer's-related brain findings
New imaging research suggests that many adults who develop psychosis-related hallucinations or delusions later in life show brain changes associated with AD and other neurodegenerative disorders.
US move to overhaul science funding prompts some agreement and much doubt
Although researchers agree with the some of the critiques in a new report about the US research system, they are wary of the proposed changes
Stanford scientists discover immune cells that explode like microscopic bombs
Stanford researchers discovered immune cells in flatworms that explode within minutes, killing nearby bacteria and foreign cells before vanishing completely. Their unusually fast and localized attack could offer clues for developing targeted treatments against infections and cancer.
AI-generated stories rated better quality than human-written ones, study finds
Researcher says simpler writing by AI is easier to read and digest, but this does not mean human authors are obsolete
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.
Emory biophysicist Shashank Shekhar’s research into tiny cellular force generators nets two major federal awards
Emory assistant professor Shashank Shekhar has been awarded $3.5 million in funding for his innovative research focused on how biochemical interactions influence actin, the vital protein responsible for cell structure and movement.
UCLA-Led Team Selected for National Science Foundation Quantum Technology Award
A UCLA-led team of physicists, engineers and computer scientists has been selected by the U.S. National Science Foundation for $4 million in funding through the NSF National Quantum Virtual Laboratory, or NQVL, a national initiative designed to accelerate the development of useful quantum technologies and make advanced quantum tools and testbeds available to researchers across the country
Scientists Tried to Cut a Photon in Half—and Broke the Rules of Physics
New research shows that cutting a single particle of light spawns photons all the way to infinity.
Human nutrition degrees offer pre health majors another path to medical school
As nutrition takes on a larger role in medical education, UND graduate Anna Bernhardt is bringing a background in prevention, research and patient education to medical school
Human nutrition degrees offer pre health majors another path to medical school
As nutrition takes on a larger role in medical education, UND graduate Anna Bernhardt is bringing a background in prevention, research and patient education to medical school
A SpaceX rocket will hit the moon at 5,000 mph tonight. Experts explain what you could see, and when.
An upcoming collision of a Falcon 9 rocket part with the moon may be visible from Earth with telescopes, new research suggests. Here's what scientists and skywatchers are hoping to see.
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.
Emory biophysicist Shashank Shekar’s research into tiny cellular force generators nets two major federal awards
Emory assistant professor Shashank Shekhar has been awarded $3.5 million in funding for his innovative research focused on how biochemical interactions influence actin, the vital protein responsible for cell structure and movement.
Super El Niño may push an already stressed climate ecosystem across a critical threshold, climate change researcher says
Live Science spoke with climate change researcher Jong-Seong Kug about how a super El Niño could cause lasting damage to our world.
Business uncertainty up sharply as economic headwinds reshape C-suite decision-making
/PRNewswire/ -- C-suite confidence has fallen sharply since the start of 2026. New research from Sentry finds 82% of U.S. executives are more concerned about...
New NSF State and Regional AI Infrastructure Hubs will power AI-enabled scientific research across the country
New initiative will accelerate AI-enabled scientific discovery by expanding access to compute for researchers, students and educators through regional partnerships among state and local governments…
How Canada Became a Safe Haven for Scientists Like Me
When Trump slashed funding for American research, I looked north for opportunity
When does advanced science create entrepreneurs — and does it matter?
A new NSF Engine in Cleveland revives an old question — whether a startup or an incumbent should turn research into products — and brings up a better one: whether that distinction serves the people it’s meant to.
ENGIE North America Releases 2026 Business Energy Census highlighting rising costs, market volatility, and a shift to strategic energy decision-making
/PRNewswire/ -- ENGIE North America (ENGIE), in collaboration with Energy Research Consulting Group (ERCG), today announced the release of the 2026 North...
UT San Antonio scientist highlights growing threat of antifungal resistance
For decades, scientists have studied antibiotic resistance, which is how bacteria evolve mechanisms to evade lifesaving drugs. Now, researchers are warning that a similar challenge is emerging among fungi, where resistance to frontline antifungal medications is making serious infections increasingly difficult to treat. Nathan Wiederhold, PharmD, director of the Fungus Testing Laboratory and professor […]
Rice researcher honored for advancing science behind AI and human assessment
Rice psychological scientist recognized with early career award for distinguished contributions to research methods research, practice, education and service.
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
Digital Science launches AI-native research workspace Papers AI
Developed by the team behind Overleaf, tool is designed to provide single environment for research projects
Digital Science Launches Papers AI: An AI-Native Researcher Workspace for Writing, Data and Code
Researchers and students now have a new AI-native workspace, with the launch of Digital Science's Papers AI – where they'll never have to re-explain their work every time they turn to AI for assistance.
As Trump administration pushes court-ordered mental health care, a new report raises questions
A study of New York’s court-ordered care for people with serious mental health conditions adds to the research on this type of involuntary care.
Mental health can shape heart health outcomes
Research shows depression, anxiety and chronic stress can affect heart health. Discover the connection and how whole-person care can improve health outcomes.
UMass Chan receives Massachusetts Life Sciences Center funding to advance health equity in pregnancy care and biomedical discovery
UMass Chan Medical School researchers have received funding from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to advance research using artificial intelligence to improve early identification of pregnancy-induced hypertension and to establish a colorectal cancer biobank that will accelerate biomedical discoveries.
Coverage and Reimbursement Roadmap for Women’s Health Innovation
Women's health has long been underserved by a coverage system built around inadequate research, insufficient billing codes, and payers that have been slow to re
Scientists just 3D printed one of the hardest metals on Earth
A new 3D printing technique can produce exceptionally hard tungsten carbide cobalt while using less of its expensive raw materials. By softening rather than fully melting the material, researchers created defect-free samples with industrial-grade hardness and opened the door to more efficient manufacturing.
Douglas Flora: How Science Turned a Stage IV Lung Cancer Diagnosis Into 12 Years of Hope
Douglas Flora: How Science Turned a Stage IV Lung Cancer Diagnosis Into 12 Years of Hope / cancer, cancer care, Cancer research, cancer screening, cancer
Louisville Water scientist explains the science behind safe drinking water
Louisville Water’s Casey LaFollette shares how scientists test, research and protect the community’s drinking water supply.
Research roundup: 6 cool science stories we almost missed
Also: Cyborg diving suits for cockroaches, why sleepy sperm whales blow bubbles, Betelgeuse's companion star.
Spacewalk Preps, Health Research on Station as NASA Introduces SpaceX Crew-13
Spacewalk preparations and health research awaited the Expedition 75 crew aboard the International Space Station at the beginning of August. The next crew to visit the orbital outpost, SpaceX Crew-13, introduced themselves today during a news conference from Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
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.
Upcoming Science Cafe
BAR HARBOR—Join us for a fascinating Science Cafe with environmental toxicologist Nishad Jayasundara, Ph.D., as he explores how everyday contaminants and other stressors such as heat exposure may be quietly influencing kidney health. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects nearly 1 in 7 adults in the United States—and more than 840 million people worldwide. While factors like diet and genetics are well known, scientists are increasingly uncovering another important piece of the puzzle: environmental exposure. Drawing on his team’s research, Dr. Jayasundara, Maine INBRE alum as a College of the Atlantic undergraduate student and past MDI Bio Lab Visiting Scientist, will share how early-life exposure to environmental toxins can disrupt kidney development, and may affect kidney structure and function in adults. Blending cutting-edge research with real-world relevance, this Science Cafe will shed light on an important and often overlooked contributor to human health—and what it could mean for communities around the world. Monday, August 17, 2026 at 5 p.m.Hybrid event at Maren Auditorium and via Zoom Register Now What Are Science Cafes? MDI Bio Lab’s Science Cafes provide an informal introduction to ground-breaking biomedical research by its scientists, scholars from near and far and from local experts in other fields as well. Each Cafe lasts about one hour; the floor is open for questions and discussion. It can get lively and it’s always engaging. MDI Science Cafes are open to the public and free of charge. For more information, or to watch past events, visit our website. The MDI Science Cafe Series is brought to you by Cross Insurance. Subscribe Share Leave a comment
A founder of network science was honored for his pioneering work
Network science co-founder Albert-László Barabási received the field’s highest research honor for his contributions.
Throne Science raises $10M for AI toilet sensor
The funding will support personnel growth and research and development as the company works toward adding potential cancer-detection capabilities.
Summer Ventures at App State immerses NC high schoolers in hands-on science and math research
Each summer, high school students from across North Carolina become researchers at App State through Summer Ventures in Science and Mathematics. Offered at no cost to participants, this state-funded program engages students in hands-on, collaborative research alongside faculty and staff. App State is one of four UNC System schools that host the program.
Could Eating Less Protein Help You Age Better and Live Longer?
More protein might not be beneficial for everyone, researchers say, as studies suggest protein restriction could boost longevity and health.
Research links industrial pollution to health risks in Louisiana
By analyzing Louisiana Medicaid data, a recent study co-led by researcher Barbara Allen found elevated health risks among residents living near petrochemical plants and refineries.
Science funding cuts will harm Britain’s global standing
Letters: Readers respond to an editorial about the threat to research funding, including plans to close the Jodrell Bank Observatory
SDSU leads international research collaboration to broaden understandi
The series was published in The Lancet Public Health and expands the evidence on sex workers' well-being and occupational safety.
China’s political and scientific elite head to Beidaihe for summer retreat season
Cai Qi meets frontier researchers, urging them to play their part in Communist Party governance.
The Lumbee Tribe Wants Better Health Care. It May Be On Its Own.
Researchers and health care providers say money from the Indian Health Service won't be enough to meet the tribe's needs.
From a provincial lab, a Korean reach for a science Nobel Prize
Junsuk Rho,'s research into metamaterials sounds like science fiction -- invisibility cloaks, teleportation. It rests on bending light at will.
NSF stands up 2 Materials Innovation Platforms with $50M investment
The U.S. National Science Foundation is investing $50 million in research infrastructure to enable the discovery and development of materials that can withstand extreme conditions, from lightweight…
Time for Andy Burnham to smile on UK science
Waning support for basic research threatens Britain’s technology ambitions
Montclair State University Breaks Ground on $120 Million Science Building
The 110,000-square-foot facility will triple the university’s science lab space while adding state-of-the-art classrooms, research labs, and collaborative learning environments.
HOMETOWN HEALTH: Are you eating too much protein?
Researchers said a protein-restricted diet could improve metabolism and promote healthy aging.
Inside Kummer College: A conversation on entrepreneurship and impact
In this Q&A, Kummer College Dean Jim Sterling chats with Dr. Chevy Fang, associate professor of business and information technology at the Dennis and Janet Jaggi School of Business, to discuss the connections between research and practice, the role of family businesses to affect regional growth
Debt Digest | Federal Debt is a Health Care Problem
Welcome David Ditch to the Debt Dispatch! We are pleased to announce a new regular contributor: David Ditch will be joining the Cato Institute as a Policy Analyst for Budget and Entitlement Policy later this week. David has more than a decade of experience in fiscal policy issues, with a particular focus on federal spending. He previously worked at the Senate Budget Committee, the Heritage Foundation, and the Economic Policy Innovation Center. David’s areas of expertise include appropriations, transportation, agriculture, federalism, grantmaking, and policy options for deficit reduction. Originally from the Rochester, N.Y. area, David has a BA in Economics and Political Science from the University of Rochester and a MA in Political Management from George Washington University. David currently lives in Arlington, VA. You may have enjoyed his earlier guest posts: CBO: New Highway Bill Has More Spending, Taxes, and Deficits Trump Administration’s Proposed Changes to Federal Grants Highlight Problems of Big Government Here are this week’s reading links and fiscal facts: The federal debt is largely a health care problem. In a new report, the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation find that “In 2026, federal subsidies for health insurance, net of related payments to the government, are projected to equal $2.4 trillion, or 7.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). In CBO and JCT’s projections, those subsidies grow by 65 percent, reaching $3.9 trillion, or 8.4 percent of GDP, in 2036. Subsidies for Medicare contribute most to that overall growth, increasing by $900 billion. Over the entire 2026–2036 period, federal subsidies for health insurance total $33.6 trillion.” Cato’s Michael Cannon emphasizes, “The long-term federal debt problem is a health care problem. […] Only two categories of federal outlays will grow faster than gross domestic product (GDP): health care subsidies and interest payments on the debt. The former is, therefore, the primary driver of the latter.” The bond market fears deficits, not the loss of tariff revenue. Responding to a New York Times essay claiming tariff revenue has grown too important for a future administration to unwind, Cato’s Kyle Handley argues: “Bond investors are not attached to customs duties as a line item revenue source. They care about the government’s overall fiscal position.” He continues, “tariff revenue is a side hustle. And the Trump administration has already promised to dole out the funds through schemes like tariff dividend rebates, farm subsidies, and pay-fors on tax cuts or other spending.” Furthermore, “tariff revenue is simply not large enough to transform the government’s fiscal trajectory.” Take net interest for example: it “reached $970 billion in fiscal year 2025, absorbing 18.5 percent of federal receipts. Customs duties accounted for only 3.7 percent of receipts—and that was before refunds (see Figure 2).” Handley concludes, “The real bond-market concern is a large and growing interest bill, persistent budget deficits, and a political system unwilling to bring spending and revenue into alignment.” Medicare’s spending growth is driven by more volume and utilization. A Congressional Research Service report finds that Medicare spending “grew at an average annual rate of 7.3%” from 1985 through 2025, and the trustees project health care expenditures will keep rising “faster than gross domestic product (GDP) in most future years.” Citing CBO, the report attributes Medicare’s projected 2026–2036 spending growth to “23% from higher enrollment, 31% from inflation, and 47% from the growth of inflation-adjusted spending per beneficiary. In other words**, the largest single driver of Medicare spending growth during the next decade is expected to be higher volume and intensity of health care services.”** Boccia and Thakur explain: “as the economy grows, Medicare spending tends to grow at least as fast—and often faster—because the program automatically pays the bill for more and more healthcare consumption by seniors, even as prices rise.” The Fed has little control over market interest rates. Cato’s Jai Kedia documents that the Fed has held its rate target steady since December, yet “nearly every rate Americans actually borrow at has climbed over the same stretch.” Kedia continues, “The Fed did nothing, and the cost of credit went up anyway. […] Markets spent these months repricing macroeconomic events such as sticky core inflation, a volatile energy market driven by the conflict in the Middle East, and global trade disrupted by tariffs, among others. None of that required a policy change to show up in borrowing costs because markets, not the FOMC, set prices.” He concludes, “Accurately priced borrowing rates will come from credible disinflation and disciplined budgets and from a Fed content to follow the economy rather than pretend it leads it.” Nearly half of US farm income comes from taxpayers. Former Reagan OMB director David Stockman notes that “in the most recently completed full year (FY 2025) farmer incomes in the US totaled $97.8 billion, but fully 42.7% or $41.8 billion of that amount came from taxpayers, not the marketplace. Nor is this some kind of one-year aberration. If we look at the most recent decade as a whole, total farm income posted at nearly $708 billion, but, as indicated, fully $322 billion or 45% of this came compliments of US taxpayers.” Cato’s Chris Edwards explains why so little of that income is market-earned: “Farmers are businesspeople, but the government shields them from just about every type of weather and market risk. Furthermore, just about every part of the agricultural industry is subsidized, including insurance, loans, marketing, research, export sales, and land improvements.” The Debt Dispatch is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Samsung bans smart TV apps that share users' internet connections with strangers
New security research offers a rare view inside residential proxy networks, which rely on apps that share a person's internet connection with someone else.
UT San Antonio scientist highlights growing threat of antifungal resistance
For decades, scientists have studied antibiotic resistance, which is how bacteria evolve mechanisms to evade lifesaving drugs. Now, researchers are warning that a similar challenge is emerging among fungi, where resistance to frontline antifungal medications is making serious infections increasingly difficult to treat. Nathan Wiederhold, PharmD, director of the Fungus Testing Laboratory and professor […]
As the GLP-1 Era Reshapes Weight Management, METAbiotics Launches with Science Designed to Support Long-Term Success
Today, Danone subsidiary The Akkermansia Company announced the U.S. launch of METAbiotics, a science-backed postbiotic brand developed from decades of pioneering research into Akkermansia muciniphila and designed to support sustained weight management and metabolic health.
Scientists went looking for giant trees in Taiwan and found a lost world
Taiwan’s steep, remote mountains have sheltered extraordinary forests containing hundreds of giant Taiwania firs. After years of difficult expeditions, LiDAR mapping, and citizen-science detective work, researchers discovered an 84.1-meter (276-foot) tree, the tallest known in East Asia. They also found dense “temples of giants” where dozens of enormous trees grow together. These ancient forests rank among the world’s most carbon-rich ecosystems.
NSF Awards UC San Diego $18 Million Grant for Materials Science Research Center
UC San Diego receives an $18 million NSF grant to establish a materials research center focused on predictive assembly, training and more.
Marmots got money troubles: UCLA scientists turn to OnlyFans
A UCLA marmot lab has opened an OnlyFans account called OnlyMarms to raise funding for its research. So far, it's raised about $4,000.
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
School Smartphone Bans Show No Effect on Youth Mental Health
Following a decade of declining youth mental health, many states have attempted to limit children’s access to social media and the internet by banning smartphones in schools. In new research, Henry Saffer finds no evidence that in-school smartphone bans have any effect on the screentime or mental well-being of young Americans.
AI Identifies Previously Unrecognized Health Insights in Routine Sleep Studies
Interdisciplinary research team develops foundation model that identifies patient groups with markedly different long-term health risks
Scientific talent is global. Access to the world’s scientific stage is not.
Neuroscience in Chile does not lack talent or ideas, but the systems that make science visible increasingly price its researchers out.
India produces smart scientists but is struggling to retain them
India excels in producing talented scientists but struggles to retain them due to bureaucratic and cultural challenges in research institutions.
Senate GOP seeks to block Trump science grant rule
Senate Republicans are moving to block a Trump rule giving political appointees power over federal science grants.
Senate GOP seeks to block Trump science grant rule
Senate Republicans are moving to block a Trump rule giving political appointees power over federal science grants.
EHR-based AI beckons rapid-response team to head off avoidable in-hospital deaths
Researchers have demonstrated the use of machine–human teamwork for reducing mortality in inpatient care across a large health system.
The Science Behind Being Kind
Research suggests kindness isn’t just a virtue — it’s measurably good for your health.
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.
Expert analyses public health impact of wildfires and heatwaves
With wildfires and a heatwave currently raging through Europe, Dr Kim van Daalen, Environmental Epidemiologist in the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge and Research Associate at Homerton College, gives her analysis of the impacts on public health.
Scientists twist crystal layers and reshape matter from within
Researchers have found a way to build much larger “twisted” oxide materials while precisely controlling how their atomic layers line up. Because these materials can be made over large areas and transferred onto different surfaces, the technique could help turn twistronics from a laboratory curiosity into a practical platform for next-generation electronics.
Einstein College Opens IGNITE Community Teaching Lab to Expand Access to Bronx Science Education
The Albert Einstein College of Medicine has opened the IGNITE (Inspiring Growth in Next Generation Investigation, Training and Education) community teaching lab, the first of its kind in The Bronx. College officials said the state-of-the-art research lab provides high school and college students in Einstein’s pathway programs and across The Bronx with opportunities to experience science through hands-on learning and discovery.
A smarter way to fund scientific discovery
Spurring innovation requires more than federal research grants.
High Schoolers become summer scientists at USD
A group of local high school students have ditched the lazy summer days and instead are testing hypotheses and conducting their own scientific research inside the University of San Diego’s labs.
From the lab to the marsh, Georgia Southern students lead summer science research
As summer heat settles across the region, students in the College of Science and Mathematics (COSM) at Georgia Southern University are completing research projects from the laboratory to the salt marsh.