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Mars may have been losing its water more than 4 billion years ago, oldest-known Martian meteorite suggests
The oldest known rock from Mars was discovered on Earth in 2022. Scientists are beginning to reveal its mysteries.
These mammal ancestors birthed live young far earlier than thought
Growth rings on a fossil bone suggest at least one mammal ancestor gave birth to live young rather than laying eggs 236 million years ago.
How Nevada made big strides to keep kids with behavioral health issues out of institutions
Four years ago, the federal government found the state was sending too many kids out of state for treatment. That number has been cut by more than half.
‘Bachelor’ alum Courtney Robertson confronts OG ‘Bachelorette’ Trista Sutter for treating her ‘like scum’
OG ‘Bachelorette’ Trista Sutter says she’s still ‘shaking’ after being confronted by ‘The Bachelor’ alum Courtney Robertson for treating her ‘like scum’ years ago.
Google Unveils $29 Pixel Tag to Take On Apple's AirTag
Google today introduced the Pixel Tag, its answer to Apple's AirTag. Pixel Tag is Google's first item tracker, even though Google implemented an item tracking network two years ago that's been used by third-party devices. The Pixel Tag is made from stainless steel, and it is IP67 water- and dust-resistant. There's a built-in speaker that can play a sound when an item it's attached to is lost, and a button that causes a sound to play on a connected smartphone.
Mercosur is at risk from US tariffs and politics
Some 35 years ago, at a time of economic and political turmoil in South America, a group of farsighted countries signed the Treaty of Asunción, establishing a common market to promote economic development and social justice through economic integration. Since then, the Southern Common Market, or Mercosur, has increased regional trade and delivered an integrated industrial core that has survived to the benefit of its members, comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
3,500-year-old skeletons challenge what scientists thought they knew about syphilis
Ancient remains from Vietnam suggest diseases like yaws may have been passed from mother to child thousands of years ago, a form of transmission often assumed to indicate syphilis. The discovery could overturn how scientists interpret ancient infections and complicate the long-running mystery of syphilis’s origins.
City Vault: The Keegan era begins in winning style
On this day 25 years ago, Kevin Keegan took charge of his first competitive game for Manchester City.Keegan was in the Maine Road dugout for a clash with Watford, managed by another new boss in Gianlu...
Forty Under 40: Devin Kuhl
When Devin Kuhl joined ArcBest nearly 15 years ago as an entry-level graphic designer, he couldn’t have predicted he would one day help redefine how customers interact with the company’s...
Are Democrats having a Tea Party moment? I'm not buying it.
The DSA is having a moment, and little more, but this is not what the Tea Party looked like or sounded like during the midterm elections 16 years ago.
Anthony Scaramucci, Podcast Star, Explains U.S. Politics to the World
He spent 11 days in the Trump White House nine years ago. Now he has a hit podcast, helping the British public, among others, understand what’s going on.
60,000-year-old ostrich eggshell engravings reveal a surprisingly sophisticated human mind
More than 60,000 years ago, humans in southern Africa were engraving ostrich eggshells with intricate geometric patterns that appear far more organized than previously realized. Researchers found recurring grids, parallel lines, right angles, and repeated shapes, suggesting the designs followed deliberate rules rather than being improvised. The engravers may even have planned entire patterns in their minds before carving them.
25 Years Ago, This Critically Acclaimed RPG Heralded the End of an Era
Though a new dawn may be breaking again
Wirth downplays Social Security disaster talk
Forty-five years ago this week: “As time goes on,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Wirth, of the 2nd Congressional District, “we are finding that the safety net, which was proposed earlier this year, has some very large holes in it,” referring to a recently debated Social Security policy change. Wirth had joined with the majority […]
Scientists Used AI To Produce A Bacteria-Killing Virus, “A Little Bowel Movement” 540 Million Years Ago Sparked An Evolutionary Explosion, And Much More This Week
All the biggest science news stories of the week.
Could the last time a Democrat was elected Ohio governor foreshadow this year's election?
Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland was elected governor twenty years ago this November, and recent polls indicate the race for Ohio governor this year is close.
Growing the Game Has Never Felt More Meaningful
Fast-forward almost 30 years, and here I am playing a major role in influencing the next generation of golfers: Being named a national ambassador for Youth on Course. From that gritty Leisure Time course to playing some of the top-ranked golf courses in the country, working alongside the top golf coaches in the world, and even hitting balls next to Tiger Woods and his son Charlie (seriously, here's proof!), this sport has opened so many doors for me. Just like I did nearly 30 years ago with my dad and Uncle Chris, I can create experiences that, hopefully, stick with them for the rest of their lives, too.
British Engineering Firm Goodwin Starts Strategic Review
Goodwin Plc, a family-run UK engineering firm founded more than 140 years ago, has started a strategic review that may lead to the sale of a large chunk of a key business.
Google Messages is finally fixing two of its most annoying quirks
These fixes should have arrived years ago
BP to sell landfill RNG business Archaea Energy
The energy major announced it’s marketing Archaea amid a strategic pivot to streamline its business. BP’s $4.1 billion acquisition of Archaea four years ago stands as a high water mark in the RNG industry.
Poop made life on Earth possible. Yes, poop.
540 million years ago, nutrient-filled feces helped spread complex organisms.
New Mexico scientists announce discovery of ‘beefy’ new bird-like dinosaur in San Juan County
Dinevenator robustus may have been up to 10 feet long and lived in New Mexico more than 70 million years ago.
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 […]
80-million-year-old snake brain reveals a surprising evolutionary secret
An exceptionally preserved snake fossil from Brazil reveals that early snakes were far more diverse than scientists once thought. Detailed brain reconstructions show that Tametara mirim was adapted for burrowing, while another ancient snake was suited to life above ground. Other fossils point to marine lifestyles as well. By 80 million years ago, snakes were already experimenting with very different habitats and sensory systems.
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.
How “A Little Bowel Movement” 540 Million Years Ago Sparked An Evolutionary Explosion, Changing The Face Of Earth Forever
Viva la "faecal revolution".
There Were Actually Two Mass Extinctions During The Cretaceous, And The First One Is Looking Very Familiar
The dinosaurs went on unhindered, but 113 million years ago many marine species died out and the reasons have turned out to be very relevant right now.
Medicaid Recipients Fear Federal Cuts to Health Care in Rural Montana
A few years ago, Owen Fulford’s parents began noticing their son was struggling with certain activities at home and at school. They switched him to a bigger school so that he would have access to more resources, and they got him into see a primary care physician who after some work referred him to a […]
Where did the ice cream trucks go? Drivers talk challenges of the mobile business
As a child, Phylicia Walsh remembers staying out all day with her neighbors waiting to hear the sweet sound of an ice cream truck. But when Walsh, 36, moved to Greensburg four years ago, she stopped hearing the melodies completely. “I would love to see my kids going out and
Earlier Lifeline for Rural Hospitals Faces Test Under ‘Big Beautiful’ Law
A century-old rural Michigan hospital converted to a stripped-down model Congress created to help keep small facilities afloat, then it closed. The emergency hospital model, created a few years ago, is stabilizing some hospitals, arrived too late for others, and now faces major challenges under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
A new media ecosystem is taking root on the left, reshaping Democratic politics
More progressives are swearing off traditional media, joining a shift toward podcasts, social media and digital news that conservatives saw years ago.
AIPAC helped knock him out of Congress. Now, he says, they’re losing.
Four years ago, Michigan Rep. Andy Levin lost his primary to Haley Stevens. He tells us how he got on AIPAC’s bad side.
Trump Is Never Going to Stop Gunning for Hillary Clinton, Is He?
The old man knows how to hold a grudge, as evidenced by his request to revive a failed lawsuit from a years ago.
Scientists admit: the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs wasn’t what we thought - Futura-Sciences
The Scene of the Crime: Chicxulub and the Prehistoric Apocalypse About 66 million years ago, an asteroid roughly 6 miles wide (10 kilometers!) crashed into what is now the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. The resulting impact gouged out a crater nearly 112 miles across (around 180 kilometers)—buried today under layers...
How an 1876 massacre of Black men in South Carolina turned racial terror into political power
The men responsible for the bloodshed 150 years ago were never prosecuted; instead, they rose to South Carolina’s highest offices.
‘This Is Very Strange’: Ancient Smallpox May Have Been Less Deadly
Scientists have found smallpox viruses in the remains of people in Chile from around 500 years ago, revealing how the virus may have evolved into a global killer.
Pokémon Go’s Legacy At 10 Years Is, Well, Complicated
The AR phenomenon took over the world 10 years ago, and it’s been a bumpy ride ever since
After Hobbes vs Rousseau: Politics must move beyond human nature
Since the great debate between Hobbes and Rousseau, our political theory has been organised around a single question: is human nature essentially good or essentially corrupt? Graham Harman, the philosopher behind object-oriented ontology, argues that this is simply the wrong question to be asking. The real forces governing our collective fate - climate change, artificial intelligence, geography, and pandemics - are non-human; therefore, questions about human nature are not the central ones. Instead, Harman proposes a politics reorganised around our relationship to non-human objects and environments, in which quasi-government institutions incentivise and deter actions with the aim of extending the survival of the human race. “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” This has become one of the most popular phrases among twenty-first-century intellectuals. Often misattributed to Fredric Jameson, it has been warmly embraced by such influential authors as Slavoj Žižek and the tragically departed Mark Fisher, and has fueled the notion that the major problem with the political Left is that it simply needs to become more speculative and creative. Naturally, this is never a bad idea in any human pursuit. But what if the political distinction between Left, Right, and Center itself results from a failure of imagination? SUGGESTED READING Hobbes vs Rousseau: are we inherently evil? By Robin Douglass This particular division has been with us only since the summer of 1789. During the simmering prelude to the French Revolution, it referred originally to the physical position in the National Assembly of radical figures on one side and loyal monarchists on the other. These positions are linked with two entirely different camps of modern political theory. On the Left we find a series of authors ranging from the moderate (Locke) to the supercharged (Rousseau) to the truly radical (Marx), all of them contending that exploitation of the many by the few justifies revolutionary overthrow of the existing order. On the Right they are countered by the likes of Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Schmitt, a group of thinkers convinced that corrupt human nature can be tamed only by force. In the words of the Nazi supporter Schmitt: “One could test all theories of nature and state and political ideas according to their anthropology and classify these as to whether they consciously or unconsciously presuppose [humans] to be by nature evil or by nature good.” This is the division we continue to face today, even in the daily retail politics of Western democracies.___Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims.___The most refreshing feature of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s 2021 book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity was their awareness that the forced choice between Rousseau and Hobbes (as they put it) is no longer sufficient. Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims. Far from being stationed “beyond good and evil,” we seem to be fully entangled with both. We are not naturally good or evil, Graeber and Wengrow contend, but naturally experimental and imaginative. They rest their case on the archaeological record, which seems to bear witness to numerous episodes of seasonally shifting governments and festivals, which vacillate in the same society (even in the same year) between the egalitarian and the dictatorial. Such praise of political experiment makes a good fit with the generally anarchist position defended by these authors. Yet it is also what I find most disappointing in their position. Although they are right that the forced choice between Hobbes and Rousseau falls short of what our new situation requires, the authors simply replace it with praise for the human being as a political tinkerer and performer. In other words, they give us just another theory of human nature, one that would not have been out of place in the sixteenth or seventeenth century. What other options might we have?___The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature… We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them___One fresh approach would be to treat politics within a broader framework than human nature, given that the polis does not exist in a vacuum filled exclusively with people. When Bruno Latour went to observe the baboons of Kenya with the San Diego anthropologist Shirley Strum, they jointly concluded that these primates were more socially interdependent than our own species. Each baboon is so reliant on the dynamics of the group that they find themselves locked into constant surveillance of their potentially dangerous peers. The group structure turns out to be inherently volatile. Humans, by contrast, are able to stabilize their societies to a large degree through the mediation of inanimate objects. Although one’s position in society may seem to fluctuate over time, considerable stability is produced through such items as apartment keys, wedding rings, and identification cards, all of them serving to secure us a place distinct from that of our fellows. The Italian philosopher Maurizio Ferraris has written at length about the crucial role of documents in establishing social relations, making him a hero among notaries in his country. Proper names and license plates cement our position amidst other humans, as do symbolic achievements such as graduation from a top university or distinguished wartime service with its various medals and ribbons. None of this is found among baboons, despite their closeness to us on the evolutionary tree: after all, we did share a common ancestor just 25 to 30 million years ago. SUGGESTED VIEWING The goodness paradox With Richard Wrangham The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature, whether understood in the manner of the Left or of the Right. We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them. But initially, it is true, we face non-human things primarily in the form of constraints. It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to form a human civilization underwater, deep underground, atop Mount Everest, or in outer space. Human dependence on the non-social background takes on subtler form in discussions of political geography, especially unloved on the more idealistic Left. Consider the luckless position of Poland during World War II, sandwiched between Hitler on one side and Stalin on the other. By contrast, note the good fortune of the United States in not having a military peer positioned on any land border. Anglo-American geopolitics, since the writings of the American naval commander Alfred Thayer Mahan and the British geographer Sir Halford Mackinder, has been wedded to the notion that one or more liberal offshore naval powers should prevent any authoritarian “heartland” regime from gaining effective control of Eurasia. That remains the case whether the opponent is the impatient Napoleon, the swashbuckling German Kaiser, the villainous Hitler, the murderous Stalin, or the industrial juggernaut Chinese. In their current Foreign Affairs article “Heartland vs. Rimland,” Michael Beckley and Hal Brands analyze the current and coming state of the world on the basis of these same rather durable principles. In recent years a similar outlook has been embraced, in inverted form, by the Putin-loving Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, an icon of the Rightist intellectual underworld. For Dugin, the Anglo-Saxons are an evil force bent on destroying the spiritually superior people of the land: much like Athens in its failed war with Sparta, or Carthage in its eventual collapse against Rome. But the shared notion on both sides is that any strategy that fails to take geography into account is likely to end up as a defeated form of excessive optimism.___When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole.___More striking for us today than geography is the non-human object called climate, which threatens rimland and heartland equally. Even if we contend that humans are one hundred percent responsible for triggering the climate crisis, it remains non-human in the sense of being an independent force beyond our effective control. In a major work published just before his death in 2002, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, the American paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould noted the tendency of evolutionary theorists to focus too closely on the fate of individuals in view of their successful or failed adaptation to circumstances. With climate change, however, we confront a force that goes well beyond the scope of any individual life. Whereas Richard Dawkins extended evolutionary questions downward from individuals to the sub-individual gene, Gould pushed it upward, speaking of entire species or clades as impacted by environmental change. The asteroid that struck the Yucatán 66 million years ago is only the most famous example of this sort. In the wake of that catastrophe, large animals needing abundant supplies of food were at a fatal disadvantage by contrast with the smaller birds and mammals of the planet. When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole. The effect is to shift our attention away from individual beings towards the survival of the group.In the United States in particular, the COVID-19 pandemic sparked considerable backlash among those who asserted a nearly absolute degree of individual freedom. In California I encountered those who demanded that their businesses be allowed to reopen, that it was enough to cover their mouths but not their noses, or that they should have the right to enter any public area despite refusing vaccination. Yet public health is probably the clearest argument against libertarianism, which often merely asserts the autonomy of individuals against any claims of the commons. In normal times the individual is worth defending; under conditions that threaten the survival of part or all of our species, compulsion may be our only resort, as with perfectly reasonable blackouts and rations in wartime. To rebuild human society under the constraints of climate change will be one of the great challenges of the century to come, as will our improvised grappling with artificial intelligence. Such phenomena pose existential risks for humanity, and leave far less room for tolerance of individual brattiness. Cases are mounting of devastating wildfires caused by arson. Recently it was reported that there is even a website where one can bet on the location of coming wildfires, raising the specter of deliberate blazes set to collect on wagers. The death penalty has steadily lost support in a world where many stress the infinite value of human life. But if we focus instead on entire ecosystems, those who purposely burn the forests may begin to look worse than serial murderers.___The politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere.___So far I have spoken of force, authority, and punishment: measures sure to have greater appeal to those who identify with what we know as the Right. But other implications of the post-anthropocentric world are likely to have different backers. If non-human objects are seen as structuring political space, it stands to reason that they can no longer be introduced solely by the pace of technical breakthrough. Fields ranging from cybernetics to energy will demand increased politicization once they are reconceived not just as products of individual human investment, but as renovations of collective political geography. This need not involve world government, with its inherent risk of tyranny, but may involve quasi-governmental enforcers of prestige along the lines of a less corrupt FIFA or International Olympic Committee, punishing deviant states not with violence but with less tangible incentives.Politics will never lose its historic links with conflict and faction. But rather than factions aligned by differing theories of human nature, the politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere. This will prove just as incommensurable with the modern Left/Right spectrum as a globe is with a two-dimensional map.
Who is Curt Hagman, fixture in San Bernardino County politics linked to FBI probe?
County supervisor and Ontario International Airport Authority commissioner won his first election 26 years ago.
‘The Cardinal Countdown: 39 Days Until Kickoff’
HAYDEN TRAVELSTEAD #39 Height: 6’0” Weight: 210lb Position: LS Class: RS Junior Hometown: Acworth, GA Summary: When someone says “Travelstead” you think Louisville football special teams. The specialist family sent Brock through the program a few years ago kicking balls like a madman (he was highlighted as the cover photo yesterday), and for a brief […]
The week in politics (July 29, 2026)
On Wednesday's show: We discuss the latest developments in politics in our weekly roundup. And we reflect on the role the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee had on Houston and the city’s desegregation more than 50 years ago.
Voices In Science Lecture Aug. 13: Learn About New Mexico 250 Years Ago By State Historian Rob Martínez
NMDCA News: As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science (NMMNHS) is thrilled to welcome State Historian of New Mexico Rob Martínez for a lecture discussing what the Land of Enchantment looked like in 1776. Voices in Science: New Mexico 1776. Celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary […]
15 years ago, 4 letters changed Magic forever — and one new ability backfired
Magic 2012’s designers reveal how “dies” streamlined the game and why hexproof eventually gave way to ward
3 years ago an Israeli hospital modeled extreme disaster response. Here are 4 takeaways for US healthcare.
Hospital leaders who want to be ready should a mass casualty incident arise nearby would do well to look for insights—and inspiration—from Samson Assuta Ashdod Medical Center.
Hidden charcoal reveals the true age of ancient cave paintings
A new analysis has precisely dated paintings in France’s Font-de-Gaume cave for the first time. Scientists discovered charcoal inside black pigments once thought to contain only minerals, allowing them to use radiocarbon dating. The results show that a bison was painted about 13,000 years ago, while sections of a mask-like figure were added during several widely separated periods.
Ancient human relative cannibalized both adults and children in a cave in Spain 850,000 years ago, fossils reveal
Newly excavated bones from Gran Dolina cave in Spain reveal an ancient human relative practiced cannibalism on adults and children, but researchers still don't know why.
Inside Joe Manchin's new quest to elect more Independents to Congress
The former West Virginia senator was a lifelong Democrat before deciding to register as an independent two years ago. He now wants to create similar pathways for other politicians in both parties.
500,000-year-old elephant bone hammer shows ancient humans were master toolmakers
Early humans in England crafted a rare piece of elephant bone into a reusable hammer for sharpening stone tools nearly 500,000 years ago. The extraordinary find reveals that ancient toolmakers were resourceful, skilled, and capable of surprisingly advanced planning.
PwC's US CEO has age-old advice about climbing the corporate ladder
Paul Griggs started his career at PwC nearly 30 years ago. He said the advice he gives junior workers hasn't changed.
Josh Shapiro may be biggest fundraising juggernaut Pa. politics has ever produced
Between the start of 2023 and June 8, Shapiro raised more than $60 million, 56% more than the $39 million he raised at this point four years ago when adjusted for inflation.
‘(Everything I Do) I Do It for You’
“(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” hit No. 1 in the U.S. on July 27, 1991 — 35 years ago — and would remain there for seven weeks.
Carroll Shelby Secretly Built One Of The Craziest Supercars Ever. Here's What It's Like To Drive
Eight years ago I took a risk by buying a car without an engine. The car was Carroll Shelby’s own De Tomaso Pantera, an out-of-this-world supercar that he built in the 1980s, in secret. Buying this mysterious machine ended up leading to one of my life’s greatest automotive adventures, involving discovering the car’s original twin-turbo […]
This Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibit shows the business of craft launched in Philly 150 years ago
“Workshop of the World” shows of the Centennial Expo kickstarted the region’s industrial craft legacy.
Scientists trace the shocking origin of human eyes to an ancient “cyclops”
Researchers say a tiny one-eyed ancestor that lived nearly 600 million years ago may have shaped the evolution of every vertebrate eye, including our own. They also found that its ancient median eye lives on today as the pineal gland, which helps synchronize our sleep with daylight.
Six Years Ago, I Indulged My Husband’s Biggest Fantasy. Now It’s Eating Me Alive.
Once ... just once ... I'd like to try anything else.
Inside 530-million-year-old embryos, scientists uncover rare time-lapse of early animal growth
Think of a small fossil as the equivalent of a homemade video of prehistoric life. Fossils formed when sea organisms began their great proliferation more than half a billion years ago rarely contained ...
Hawaiʻi AG Investigation Into Political Bribery Case Goes Before Grand Jury
What began four years ago with the convictions of two state lawmakers is now looking at the lieutenant governor and other officials.
Jesus ‘n’ Mo ‘n’ science
Today’s Jesus and Mo post, called “Cern2,” is a repost from 14 years ago, for the artist is on hols. At Botany Pond yesterday, I met a woman who, after she found out I taught evol…
Popular CT family-friendly business washed away by floodwaters in 2024 has rebuilt and reopened
Old Sawmill Miniature Golf was destroyed nearly two years ago by floodwaters in Oxford and, with support of the community, the popular business has reopened. The soft reopening was in June with the grand reopening and ribbon cutting…
Reckitt to take £175mn hit from sale of Russian hygiene business
Consumer goods group began process to dispose of division more than four years ago
80 years strong: the WHO Constitution
Eighty years ago this week – in July 1946 – nations emerging from the devastation of the Second World War chose cooperation over division. They signed the Constitution of the WHO, founded on a bold and radical idea: that health is key to peace and security, and that health is a human right.
The golden age of language was a few thousand years ago
A few millennia ago, people worldwide may have spoken or signed up to 10 times as many languages as they do today.
AMD EPYC 9006 Venice Announced & Looks Poised To Be A Grand Slam
While AMD EPYC 9005 'Turin' launched just under two years ago, it has aged remarkably well.
The Other Cardenas In Politics
Two years ago, a powerful Democratic political consultant named Jesus Cardenas abruptly vanished from public life. He pleaded guilty to two felony fraud counts, shuttered his political consulting business and […]
Which sports were cut from Commonwealth Games 2026?
Glasgow is staging a slimmed-down version of the Commonwealth Games after the state of Victoria backed out of hosting three years ago
Bad for business in Indiana
Many years ago, I was up for a job as an editorial writer for a newspaper on the West Coast.
How PayPal went from Wall Street favorite to unwilling merger target
Five years ago PayPal was a Wall Street favorite and a leader in digital payments. Since then the stock has plunged, Apple Pay dominates payment services in the U.S. and PayPal is facing a takeover bid it does not like. What happens next?
An asteroid shattered near Jupiter’s gravitational gateway 800 million years ago; scientists say the debris may have bombarded Earth for 150 million years
A massive asteroid that broke apart around 800 million years ago may have sent a huge number of rocky fragments towards Earth, the Moon and Mars, according to a new study led by researchers at the Southwest Research Institute.
2 men sue hospital for sending them home with each other’s families as newborns almost 40 years ago
Of all the blunders for which a hospital can get sued, switching babies at birth has to rank among the least worried-about by lawyers and risk managers. That doesn’t mean it never happens.
New Haven shop celebrating 150 years in business
Ulysses Grant was president when AD Perkins Company opened. Dennis House visited there five years ago—take a look back.
New Haven shop celebrating 150 years in business
Ulysses Grant was president when AD Perkins Company opened in New Haven. Dennis House visited there five years ago—take a look back.
Scientists identify the rare meteorite that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago
The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs was likely an exceptionally rare CO chondrite from a distant region of the solar system. Its unusual chemistry suggests that planet-cooling dust and debris, rather than sulfur inside the asteroid, may have delivered the deadliest blow.
Free Fall 2.0 Puts The Front Office At A Crossroads
Too bad the crossroads seem to overlook a cliff on all sides, but which way do you want to go? This reminds me of a trip to Europe years ago in which Siri instructed, calmly, “turn left”. Only we were driving on a mountain road and for as long as the eye could see a […]
Earth’s biggest volcanic event transformed an entire oceanic plate
Seismic waves have revealed that the oceanic plate beneath the Ontong Java Plateau was dramatically transformed by the colossal volcanic activity that created it more than 100 million years ago. Researchers found a complex structure of horizontal layers cut through by vast swarms of vertical magma channels, along with unusually slow seismic waves suggesting that deep-rising magma chemically altered the plate itself.
The 2000s called. They want their digital camera back
Why are people who weren't born 25 years ago snapping up the digital camera of that era? Blame Taylor Swift, trend cycles, childhood nostalgia and smartphone fatigue.
Ranking Member Markey, Senator Hirono Reject Trump’s SBA Policy Proposal that Harms Underserved Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs
Letter (PDF) (Washington, July 17) – Ranking Member Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) submitted a comment letter to the Small Business Administration (SBA) opposing a proposed rule change by Trump’s SBA to the 8(a) Business Development Program that would harm underserved small business owners and entrepreneurs. The 8(a) Business Development Program was created by Congress more than 50 years ago to level the playing field for small business owners and entrepreneurs who have faced discrimination in starting and operating their businesses. The SBA’s proposed change ignores the existence of historic discrimination that minority and underserved small businesses have faced and continue to face. In the letter, the lawmakers wrote, “SBA’s proposed rule ignores present-day barriers that entrepreneurs from minority and underserved communities face. Discrimination is not dead; minority entrepreneurs continue to face reduced access to contracting opportunities and capital, as well as racial threats and targeting, including unequal treatment, refusal by others to work with minority-owned firms, being called racial slurs, and bias in the workplace. These barriers lead to wide underutilization of, and less revenue for, minority-owned businesses compared to majority-owned businesses, as supported by decades of disparity studies. The proposed rule diminishes the history of systemic racial and ethnic discrimination in the United States by claiming that remedies for discrimination create discrimination in and of themselves.” The lawmakers continued, “The program has always been open to anyone who can prove they have experienced prejudice or cultural bias in education, employment, entrepreneurship, and other facets of our society. Nonetheless SBA has moved forward with the proposed rule. It lacks a reasoned basis, purporting that the federal government has discriminated against White Americans, but offering no substantive qualitative or quantitative data or research in support. If the examples provided in the proposed rule are the only basis for what constitutes discrimination to the agency, they are woefully insufficient. The final rule must provide strong evidence that there is discrimination against White individuals and show how the rule is narrowly tailored to address it. The record remains devoid of evidence of discrimination against White individuals on the basis of race.” Ranking Member Markey is fighting to protect federal programs that address historic discrimination against small business owners from minority and underserved communities, and for a small business agenda that ensures economic opportunity for all. In June, Ranking Member Markey released a statement condemning the SBA’s proposed changes to the 8(a) Business Development Program. Also in June, Ranking Markey released a new report highlighting Trump’s drastic reduction in federal contracting dollars awarded to American small businesses, including minority-owned small businesses. In February, Ranking Member Markey, alongside Senators Hirono and Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Representative Ayanna Pressley (MA-7), introduced the Strengthening Place-based Access, Resources, and Knowledge (SPARK) Act to spur entrepreneurship and increase access to capital and resources for underserved entrepreneurs nationwide. Ranking Member Markey previously held a field hearing in Roxbury, Massachusetts, to discuss how government and the private sector can come together to make entrepreneurship more accessible for underserved communities. Earlier in February, Ranking Member Markey secured funding with the Appropriations Committee for Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers, SCORE Chapters, and Veterans Business Outreach Centers and provisions to rein in the Administration’s attempts to eliminate programs that support women, veterans, and underserved entrepreneurs. In January, Ranking Member Markey sent a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to oppose rule changes that would gut protections against discriminatory lending practices that harm small businesses. In December 2025, Ranking Member Markey sent a letter to SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler expressing significant concerns with the SBA’s overly burdensome request and unclear guidance for extensive financial documentation over the holidays, as a part of their sweeping attempts to dismantle the 8(a) Business Development Program. In July and December 2025, Ranking Member Markey sent letters to the SBA Administrator demanding answers about the Trump administration’s efforts to limit economic opportunity for American entrepreneurs, including immigrants. In May 2025, Ranking Member Markey sent a letter to the SBA Administrator rejecting President Trump’s FY 2026 budget proposal and calling on SBA to immediately release funding for the entrepreneurial development programs, which include programs like the Women’s Business Centers and the Veteran’s Business Development Centers that support underserved small business owners. In April 2025, Ranking Member Markey introduced the New Start Act of 2025 to establish a five-year pilot program providing grants to support entrepreneurial development training for currently or formerly incarcerated individuals. In February 2025, Ranking Member Markey sent letters to the SBA Administrator and Government Accountability Office (GAO) condemning President Trump’s war on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) policies and asking how the SBA intends to implement Trump’s anti-DEIA executive orders. ###
How the hold-in has become the ploy of choice for Steelers with stalled contract talks
Six years ago, Le’Veon Bell became the last Steelers player to hold out during training camp. Upset the Steelers placed the franchise tag on him...
German politician faces calls to resign over child born with US surrogate
Surrogacy is banned in Germany, a policy firmly backed by Jens Spahn's Christian Democrat party, and several years ago by Spahn, too.
Virginie Bridoux - A life shaped by sports volunteering: "There's simply nothing else like it"
French volunteer Virginie Bridoux began her journey as a sports event volunteer 20 years ago, saying it made her "a better person". Discover her story and sign up to follow in her footsteps and become a volunteer for LA28.
Chiseled Egyptian princesses knew their way around weapons
Before they were mummies, four royal sisters wielded the daggers, bows, and arrows 4,000 years ago.
OnePlus, the ‘Flagship-Killer’ Smartphone Brand, Is All but Dead
The original OnePlus phone disrupted the mobile market 13 years ago with its affordable price and top-end specs. Now, the company is exiting North America and Europe to focus on China.
Top 10 Mountain West Football Games of the Divisional Era
With the Mountain West changing, I thought it would be fun to go back and highlight the best players, games, and teams since the last phase of conference realignment 13 years ago. Previously, I’ve covered Top 10 football players, Top 10 basketball players, Top 10 Football Teams, and Top 10 Basketball Teams. Today’s list covers […]
The Mac Speaks: ‘We’ll Be Back!‘
Don’t give up hope on Conor McGregor just yet. For the first time since his disastrous UFC 329 leg injury (not the broken leg from five years ago) suffered versus Max Holloway, McGregor has gotten in front of a camera and addressed fans directly. On his 38th birthday, McGregor shares a sip of his energy […]
How the failed 2016 coup reshaped Turkiye’s civil-military relations
Takeover bid 10 years ago sped up efforts to expand civilian oversight, experts say, reducing chances of another coup.
43 Years Ago, Scientists Dropped Gophers Onto a Volcano. Today, They’re Tiny Heroes.
A bunch of gophers helped restore the plant life around Mount St. Helens after the devastating eruption in May 1980.
UVA Center for Politics talks August primary, early voter turnout
With only a few weeks left until election day, early voting for Virginia’s August congressional primary has lagged behind numbers in the same races two years ago.
Brick Pizzeria closes in Franklin; new 'entertainment experience' coming
Brick Pizzeria and Ristorante has closed at Ballpark Commons in Franklin after opening just over three years ago.
988 Enters Its Fourth Year as Demand Grows and the Mental Health and Substance Use Landscape Shifts
Data as of March 2026 show that demand for 988 continues to rise, with the volume of calls, texts, and chats 15% higher than a year earlier and nearly 50% higher than two years ago. States are also answering more calls in-state, where counselors are more likely to be familiar with local resources.
Space shuttle photobombs Earth for the final time, 15 years ago
This 2011 astronaut photo captured one of NASA's iconic space shuttles passing between Earth and the International Space Station for the very last time.
Sugar discovered floating in deep space for the first time
Similarly sweet molecules may have jumpstarted life on Earth over 4 billion years ago.
The cost of ignoring climate science (Letters)
Fire officials say this fire was human-caused. In the narrowest sense, that means a person or human activity started the spark. But the larger truth is harder to look away from: scientists wrote this script more than thirty years ago.
Scientists Discover Rare Long-Necked Dinosaur Fossils From The Jurassic Period In Thailand
The plant-eating dinosaur, named Uragasaurus kalasinensis, is believed to have lived around 150 million years ago.
Steelers Legend Hines Ward's Max Iheanachor Endorsement Raises Expectations
One of the Pittsburgh Steelers' biggest long-term projects is first-round pick Max Iheanachor. The athletic offensive tackle possesses tremendous upside, but much of that potential stems from the fact that he only began playing football a few years ago. A national analyst and a Steelers legend both believe that potential is real, offering strong endorsements of Iheanachor's future.
Phil Weiser’s sudden need to find the brake pedal
Indulge me with a personal story at the outset. Trust me, it relates. Years ago, when our kids were young, we briefly had a small jalopy for a babysitter’s use. One morning, I discovered that the battery on this poor excuse for a car was dead. Our driveway sat on a bit of an incline, […]
All these LeBron James updates are too magical to end
There was a time when the endless, breathless coverage of LeBron James weighing all the factors as he decides which team to play for next annoyed me. Sixteen years ago, when James eventually sat down with Jim Gray to announce…
How to Bring More Data Science to YouTube and Creator Media
I am constantly writing about the challenge facing agencies and brands when in comes to YouTube. Is it TV? Social video? Search? Commerce? Do you fund it from all of those respective budgets, and measure it using all their respective metrics? Sean Odlum, Chief Product Officer at Tinuiti, says it may not make sense to try and “bucket'“ YouTube. “You kinda gotta treat it as its own thing,” he said. “Years ago, we had debates [along the lines of] ‘what is this?’ Ultimately we decided, it’s YouTube. It is hard to categorize because it is so protean.” Which ultimately means that almost every part of a media department or marketing group will likely touch YouTube in some fashion. And that it probably needs its own sets of metrics and measurement tools. At Tinuiti, that need has led the agency to develop the YouTube Intelligence Suite, which aims to help brands optimize YouTube campaigns while using all the traditional marketing tools they are used to, such as MMMs. “I wouldn’t say there is a YouTube playbook,” Odlum said. “[For media planners] there is this vast bubbling ocean, so where do you start?’ A lot of brands and agencies struggle.” “You don’t want to just brute-force it—spray dollars everywhere and eventually learn. You want to start intelligently and then learn iteratively.” The problem, Odlum and his team have found, is that “brands have largely defaulted into demand generation campaigns because they’re easier to measure.” However, “you can really build your own content ecosystem around these trusted experts.” Check out the full interview here: Thanks for reading Next in Media! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe
Suffolk DA race: Rachael Rollins, Kevin Hayden fundraising tells story
Rachael Rollins' jump into the Suffolk district attorney's race has extended a political clash with incumbent Kevin Hayden that began four years ago.
It's possible to end corporate influence in politics
More than 15 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court removed limits on corporate political spending in its notorious Citizens United decision, ushering in an era of unprecedented influence by moneyed interests. As a result, a small group of ultrawealthy donors have skewed the political system to their advantage — and today, social scientists link the […]
Wimbledon 2026: The man who invented wheelchair tennis 50 years ago
Brad Parks came up with the idea for a new sport while on a family picnic 50 years ago.
Neanderthals and modern humans may have shared culture 59,000 years ago in Turkey, study finds
Fossils, stone tools and seashells in Turkey show that Neanderthals and the Homo sapiens who moved in later had the same hunting strategies and symbolic traditions even without overlapping at the site, suggesting they may have shared information.