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Category: Science

  • MIL-OSI Global: AI methods help predict the emergence of ‘gazelles’ and other high-growth firms, but challenges remain

    Source: The Conversation – France – By Tatiana Beliaeva, Enseignante–chercheuse en entrepreneuriat, UCLy (Lyon Catholic University)

    Predicting whether or not companies will be successful is crucial for guiding investment decisions and designing effective economic policies. However, past research on high-growth firms – enterprises thought to be key for driving economic development – has typically shown low predictive accuracy, suggesting that growth may be largely random. Does this assumption still hold in the AI era, in which vast amounts of data and advanced analytical methods are now available? Can AI techniques overcome difficulties in predicting high-growth firms? These questions were raised in a chapter I co-authored in the De Gruyter Handbook of SME Entrepreneurship, which reviewed scientific contributions on firm growth prediction with AI methods.

    According to the Eurostat-OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) definition, high-growth firms are businesses with at least 10 employees in the initial growth period and “average annualised growth greater than 20% per annum, over a three year period”. Growth can be measured by the firm’s number of employees or by its turnover. A subset of high-growth firms, known as “gazelles”, are young businesses – typically start-ups – that are up to five years old and experience fast growth.


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    High-growth firms drive development, innovation and job creation. Identifying firms with high-growth potential enables investors, start-up incubators, accelerators, large companies and policymakers to spot potential opportunities for investment, strategic partnerships and resource allocation at an early stage. Forecasting outcomes for start-ups is more challenging than doing so for large companies due to limited historical data, high uncertainty, and reliance on qualitative factors like founder experience and market fit.

    How random is firm growth?

    Accurate growth forecasting is especially crucial given the high failure rate of start-ups. One in five start-ups fail in their first year, and two thirds fail within 10 years. Some start-ups can also contribute significantly to job creation: research analysing data from Spanish and Russian firms between 2010 and 2018 has shown that while “gazelles” represented only about 1-2% of all businesses in both countries, they were responsible for approximately 14% of employment growth in Russia and 9% in Spain.

    High-growth firms are “widely considered essential for stimulating economic growth and employment” but are difficult to identify. Stakeholders need accurate growth predictions to help optimize decision-making and minimize risks by identifying firms with the highest potential for success.

    In an effort to understand why some firms grow faster than others, researchers have looked into various factors including the personality of entrepreneurs, competitive strategy, available resources, market conditions and macroeconomic environment. These factors, however, only explained a small portion of the variation in firm growth and were limited in their practical application. This led to the suggestion that predicting the growth of new businesses is like playing a game of chance. Another viewpoint argued that the problem of growth prediction might stem from the methods employed, suggesting an “illusion of randomness”.

    As firm growth is a complex, diverse, dynamic and non-linear process, adopting a new set of methods and approaches, such as those driven by big data and AI, can shed new light on the growth debate and forecasting.

    AI offers new opportunities for predicting high-growth firms

    AI methods are being increasingly adopted to forecast firm growth. For example, 70% of venture capital firms are adopting AI to increase internal productivity and facilitate and speed up sourcing, screening, classifying and monitoring start-ups with high potential. Crunchbase, a company data platform, claims that internal testing has shown that its AI models can predict start-up success with “95% precision” by analysing thousands of signals. These developments promise to fundamentally change how investors and businesses approach decision-making in private markets.

    The advantages of AI techniques lie in their ability to process a far greater volume, variety and velocity of data about businesses and their environments compared to traditional statistical methods. For example, machine learning methods such as random forest (RF) and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) help identify key variables affecting business outcomes in datasets with a large number of predictors. A “fused” large language model has been shown to predict start-up success using both structured (organized in tables) fundamental information and unstructured (unorganized and more complex) textual descriptions. AI techniques help enhance the accuracy of firm growth predictions, identify the most important growth factors and minimize human biases. As some scholars have noted, the improved prediction indicates that perhaps firm growth is less random than previously thought. Furthermore, the ability to capture data in real time is especially valuable in fast-paced, dynamic environments, such as high-technology industries.

    Challenges remain

    Despite AI’s rapid progress, there is still considerable potential for advancement. Although the prediction of high-growth firms has been improved with modern AI techniques, studies indicate that it continues to be a challenge. For instance, start-up success often depends on rapidly changing and intangible factors that are not easily captured by data. Further methodological advances, such as incorporating a broader range of predictors, diverse data sources and more sophisticated algorithms, are recommended.

    One of the main challenges for AI methods is their ability to offer explanations for the predictions they make. Predictions generated by complex deep learning models resemble a “black box”, with the causal mechanisms that transform input into output remaining unclear. Producing more explainable AI has become one of the key objectives set by the research community. Understanding what is explainable and what is not (yet) explainable with the use of AI methods can better guide practitioners in identifying and supporting high-growth firms.

    While start-ups offer the potential for significant investment returns, they carry considerable risks, making careful selection and accurate prediction crucial. As AI models evolve, they will increasingly integrate diverse and unstructured data sources and real-time market signals to detect early indicators of potential success. Advancements are expected to further enhance the scalability, accuracy, speed and transparency of AI-driven predictions, reshaping how high-growth firms are identified and supported.

    Tatiana Beliaeva ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

    – ref. AI methods help predict the emergence of ‘gazelles’ and other high-growth firms, but challenges remain – https://theconversation.com/ai-methods-help-predict-the-emergence-of-gazelles-and-other-high-growth-firms-but-challenges-remain-255907

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI China: Xi unveils roadmap for deepening cooperation with LAC countries 2025-05-13 22:12:54 Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday announced the launch of five programs to advance shared development and revitalization with Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries.

    Source: People’s Republic of China – Ministry of National Defense

    Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum and delivers a keynote speech at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

    BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday announced the launch of five programs to advance shared development and revitalization with Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries.

    The five programs, ranging from solidarity, development and civilization to peace and people-to-people connectivity, were announced by Xi when delivering a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum in Beijing.

    In 2015, Xi and LAC delegates attended the opening ceremony of the first ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC Forum in Beijing, which marked the launch of the forum.

    On Solidarity Program, Xi said China is willing to strengthen solidarity with LAC countries and continue to support each other on issues concerning their core interests and major concerns, to firmly safeguard the international system with the U.N. at its core and the international order underpinned by international law, and to speak with one voice in international and regional affairs.

    In the next three years, China will invite 300 members from political parties of CELAC member states every year to visit China to facilitate exchanges on national governance best practices, Xi said.

    On Development Program, China is willing to work with LAC countries to implement the Global Development Initiative, resolutely uphold the multilateral trading system, ensure stable, unimpeded global industrial and supply chains, and promote an international environment of openness and cooperation, Xi said.

    Noting that the two sides should foster greater synergy between their development strategies and expand high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, Xi said China will import more quality products from LAC countries and encourage Chinese enterprises to expand their investment in the region.

    On Civilization Program, Xi called for joint implementation of the Global Civilization Initiative. He said both sides should uphold the vision of equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness between civilizations, champion humanity’s common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom, and enhance China-LAC civilizational exchanges and mutual learning, including through a conference on China-LAC inter-civilizational dialogue.

    On Peace Program, Xi called for joint implementation of the Global Security Initiative. He said both sides should cooperate more closely in disaster governance, cybersecurity, counterterrorism, anti-corruption, narcotics control and combating transnational organized crime so as to safeguard security and stability in the region.

    On People-to-People Connectivity Program, Xi said in the next three years, China will provide CELAC member states with 3,500 government scholarships, 10,000 training opportunities in China, 500 International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarships, 300 training opportunities for poverty reduction professionals, and 1,000 funded placements through the Chinese Bridge program, initiate 300 “small and beautiful” livelihood projects, and support CELAC member states in developing Chinese language education.

    China has decided to offer a visa-free policy to five LAC countries, and will expand the policy to cover more regional countries in due course, Xi said.

    Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia, the CELAC rotating chair, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, and Dilma Rousseff, president of the New Development Bank and former Brazilian president, addressed the event respectively.

    Special representative of Yamandu Orsi, president of Uruguay, the incoming CELAC rotating chair, read out the president’s congratulatory letter.

    Faced with a world full of uncertainties, LAC countries and China should work together to promote continuous new progress in building a community with a shared future, they said.

    Both sides should respect each other and firmly support each other in safeguarding sovereignty and choosing their own development path, they said, calling for strengthening the synergy between the development strategies of LAC countries and the Belt and Road Initiative, and promoting cooperation in trade, investment, infrastructure, agriculture, science and technology, new energy and education.

    The two sides should also promote exchanges and dialogues among civilizations, safeguard the authority of the U.N., support multilateralism and free trade, and oppose unilateralism, protectionism, power politics and bullying to safeguard the common interests of the Global South, they added.

    Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum and delivers a keynote speech at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

    Chinese President Xi Jinping poses for a group photo with guests attending the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. Xi attended the opening ceremony of the meeting and delivered a keynote speech. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

    Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum and delivers a keynote speech at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

    Chinese President Xi Jinping and guests attend the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. Xi delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the meeting. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

    Chinese President Xi Jinping and guests attend the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. Xi delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the meeting. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

    Colombian President Gustavo Petro, also rotating president of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC Forum in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

    Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

    Chilean President Gabriel Boric delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

    Dilma Rousseff, president of the New Development Bank and former Brazilian president, delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI: EarthOptics Launches First Scalable MIR-Based Carbon Testing Solution, Significantly Cutting Costs, and Unlocking Access to Registry-Quality Soil Data

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MINNEAPOLIS, May 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — EarthOptics, a leader in soil intelligence technology, today announced the commercial launch of its mid-infrared (MIR) carbon analysis solution—the first at-scale, registry-quality carbon test using MIR technology. This innovation slashes the cost of traditional carbon testing while delivering fast, reliable results that meet the high-integrity data needs of carbon markets, sustainability initiatives, and Scope 3 reporting.

    By integrating automated MIR spectroscopy workflows with soil texture analysis, EarthOptics new pathway streamlines testing from start to finish, reducing manual labor, increasing throughput, and dramatically accelerating carbon verification and modeling timelines.

    “This is a game-changer for soil carbon measurement,” said Lars Dyrud, CEO of EarthOptics. “For the first time, carbon project developers and sustainability leaders can access affordable, high-quality carbon data—at scale—without sacrificing rigor or accuracy.”

    Key Features and Benefits:

    • Registry-quality results suitable for Scope 3 reporting and potential Verra methodology compatibility
    • Faster turnaround times through highly automated MIR workflows
    • Much lower cost than traditional soil carbon testing methods
    • Includes soil texture analysis, enabling more precise modeling and management
    • Commercially scalable, providing access for large-acreage carbon projects and enterprise ESG efforts

    This launch unlocks new opportunities for carbon project developers, organic and regenerative brands, and corporate sustainability programs to scale their soil carbon initiatives without budgetary or logistical barriers. Whether for registry-approved credits or internal sustainability metrics, EarthOptics MIR solution delivers high-quality data at unmatched efficiency.

    “Our goal is to remove the barriers to widespread soil carbon measurement and accelerate climate-smart agriculture,” said Britt Buchanan, SVP of Sales at EarthOptics. “By offering soil texture and fertility insights at a low incremental price, we’re delivering comprehensive, lab-grade data at a fraction of traditional costs, making it easier than ever to scale climate-smart practices with confidence.”

    For more information on EarthOptics carbon testing or to inquire about partnerships, visit www.earthoptics.com.

    ABOUT EARTHOPTICS

    At EarthOptics, we see soil. Differently. EarthOptics leverages advances in soil-sensing technologies, genomics, and data science to give farmers and ranchers actionable insights into their soil’s chemical, physical, and biological properties. By combining cutting-edge lab-based analysis with leading field-based sensors, we unlock a wide range of predictive insights that help farmers and ranchers optimize their spending and unlock sustainable farming opportunities. EarthOptics has offices in Raleigh, North Carolina; Emeryville, California; Arlington and Blacksburg, Virginia; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Fayetteville, Arkansas, along with two laboratories in Emeryville, California, and Memphis, Tennessee. To learn more, visit www.EarthOptics.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NEWS: Sanders Releases Report Documenting Trump’s War on Science

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Vermont – Bernie Sanders
    WASHINGTON, May 13 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today released a new report uncovering the far-reaching scope of Trump’s attacks on science and their impact on public health.
    “Since January, Trump has launched an unprecedented, illegal and outrageous attack on science and scientists. Trump is not only denying scientific truth but actively seeking to undermine it,” said Sanders. “That is beyond unacceptable.  This is a war we cannot allow Trump to win. Far too many lives are at stake.”
    The report finds that Trump officials effectively cut $2.7 billion in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in the first three months of 2025 – including a 31 percent cut to cancer research through March, compared to the same timeframe last year.
    “Trump’s war on science is an attack against anyone who has ever loved someone with cancer,” said Sanders. “The American people do not want us to slash cancer research in order to give more tax breaks for billionaires.”
    The report draws on HELP Committee Minority Staff’s interviews with dozens of federal scientists, workers, and experts to explain how Trump officials are suppressing what scientists can say, controlling how scientists work together, and erasing scientific data. Among those interviewed:
    One doctor said, “purging public health agency websites of data” would leave health care workers “without vetted guidance on how to treat patients.”
    Staff at the NIH Clinical Center explained how clinical care had been abruptly interrupted, and said, “Initially, we had whole labs full of people that were fired. Complete chaos. Nobody had any idea if their tests were being run. This administration has a lot of blood on their hands. We’re not political people. We just want to take care of people.”
    One former HHS official said, “I chose to go into federal service because I care about people. I want to be able to answer to the taxpayer, not the shareholder.”
    Multiple officials confirmed that scientific communication with the World Health Organization has been severely restricted.
    Trump’s arbitrary firings of HHS workers are already threatening the health and well-being of tens of millions of seniors, children, and working families.  For example, HHS has fired:
    A division at FDA that helped millions of Americans get faster access to low-cost generic prescription drugs;
    A team at CDC that supported states responding to environmental health threats like pollution, wildfires, and lead in drinking water; and
    Critical staff in NIH’s clinical cell-therapy program, delaying treatment for patients with advanced cancer. One Stage IV cancer patient said, “The reality is that by reducing money and staff, the NIH will not be able to produce my treatment and it might cost me my life. That does not sound like an administration that cares about its people.”
    The report documents how Trump officials have undermined the important role that vaccines play in preventing disease during the single largest measles outbreak in over 25 years –  with 1,001 cases reported, 126 hospitalizations, and 3 deaths.
    Trump officials have also lied about the consequences of their actions. Elon Musk says “no one” has died from the foreign aid freeze. But researchers estimate nearly 200,000 people have already died, and a global vaccine program estimates 1.2 million children – equivalent to 60,000 classrooms of kids – will die because of cuts that will save taxpayers 0.005 percent of the federal budget.
    “Let’s be clear. Trump’s war on science is not making America healthy again. It is making Americans and people throughout the world sicker,” said Sanders. “This must end. Congress, the scientific community, and the American people must stand up and fight back.”
    Read the report here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA News: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Secures Historic $600 Billion Investment Commitment in Saudi Arabia

    Source: The White House

    STRENGTHENING STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS FOR ECONOMIC PROSPERITY:
    Today in Saudi Arabia, President Donald J. Trump announced Saudi Arabia’s $600-billion commitment to invest in the United States, building economic ties that will endure for generations to come. The first deals under the announcement strengthen our energy security, defense industry, technology leadership, and access to global infrastructure and critical minerals. 

    • The deals celebrated today are historic and transformative for both countries and represent a new golden era of partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
    • From day one, President Trump’s America First Trade and Investment Policy has put the American economy, the American worker, and our national security first.
    • The following represent just a few of the many transformative deals secured in Saudi Arabia:
      • Saudi Arabian DataVolt is moving forward with plans to invest $20 billion in AI data centers and energy infrastructure in the United States.
      • Google, DataVolt, Oracle, Salesforce, AMD, and Uber are committing to invest $80 billion in cutting-edge transformative technologies in both countries.
      • Iconic American companies including Hill International, Jacobs, Parsons, and AECOM are building key infrastructure projects like King Salman International Airport, King Salman Park, The Vault, Qiddiya City, and much more totaling $2 billion in U.S. services exports.
      • Additional major exports include GE Vernova’s gas turbines and energy solutions totaling $14.2 billion and Boeing 737-8 passenger aircraft for AviLease totaling $4.8 billion.
      • In the healthcare sector, Shamekh IV Solutions, LLC will be investing $5.8 billion, including a plant in Michigan to launch a high-capacity IV fluid facility.
      • Investment partnerships include several sector-specific funds with a strong emphasis on U.S. deployment—such as the $5 billion Energy Investment Fund, the $5 billion New Era Aerospace and Defense Technology Fund, and the $4 billion Enfield Sports Global Sports Fund—each channeling substantial capital into American industries, driving innovation, and creating high-quality jobs across the United States.
    • Underscoring our commitment to strengthening our defense and security partnership, the United States and Saudi Arabia signed the largest defense sales agreement in history—nearly $142 billion, providing Saudi Arabia with state-of-the-art warfighting equipment and services from over a dozen U.S. defense firms.
      • The sales that we intend to complete fall into five broad categories: (1) air force advancement and space capabilities, (2) air and missile defense, (3) maritime and coastal security, (4) border security and land forces modernization, and (5) information and communication systems upgrades. 
      • The package also includes extensive training and support to build the capacity of the Saudi armed forces, including enhancement of Saudi service academies and military medical services.
      • This deal represents a significant investment in Saudi Arabia’s defense and regional security, built on American systems and training.
    • The United States and Saudi Arabia celebrate these and many other deals today as a result of the growing momentum of the last four months. The total package has quickly built to more than $600 billion–the largest set of commercial agreements on record between the two countries.

    UNLOCKING NEW OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH DEEPER ALLIANCES: The strategic partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia has grown increasingly robust over the past eight decades since the meeting between King Abdulaziz Al Saud and President Franklin D. Roosevelt on board the USS Quincy, the 80th anniversary of which was celebrated earlier this year.

    • Saudi Arabia is one of the United States’ largest trading partners in the Middle East.
      • Saudi direct investment in the United States totaled $9.5 billion in 2023, focused on the transportation, real estate, and automotive sectors.
      • In 2024, U.S.-Saudi Arabia goods trade totaled $25.9 billion, with U.S. exports at $13.2 billion, imports at $12.7 billion, and a trade surplus in goods of $443 million. 
    • The United States and Saudi Arabia share a commitment to deeper economic integration, underscoring the Kingdom’s pledge of expanding cooperation in critical sectors such as health, energy, and science.
      • The U.S. Department of Energy and the Ministry of Energy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have concluded an agreement for cooperation in the field of energy.  This agreement builds upon their strong existing relationship; it will focus collaboration on examining the potential for innovation, development, financing, and deployment of energy infrastructure.
      • The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Department of Energy of the United States of America have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to collaborate on mining and mineral resources.  The agreement contributes to economic development and the diversification and resilience of critical mineral supply chains.
      • NASA and the Saudi Space Agency have signed an agreement for a CubeSat to fly on NASA’s Artemis II test flight. Saudi Arabia’s CubeSat will measure aspects of space weather at a range of distances from Earth and deploy in high Earth orbit from a spacecraft adapter on the Space Launch System rocket after the Orion spacecraft is safely flying on its own with its crew of four astronauts.
      • The United States and Saudi Arabia recently agreed to modernize the Air Transport Agreement to allow U.S. airlines to carry cargo between Saudi Arabia and third countries without needing to stop in the United States, an important right for cargo hub operations. Saudi carriers will have the same rights to serve the United States.
    • The United States and Saudi Arabia further underscored their commitment to deeper cultural, educational, and scientific partnerships through the signing of agreements between the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Asian Art and the Royal Commission for AlUla on collaborative research and an exhibition focused on artifacts from ancient Dadan in AlUla, and between the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and the Royal Commission for AlUla to support the conservation of the endangered Arabian leopard through creation of a dedicated exhibit in Washington, D.C.
    • Saudi Arabia remains our largest Foreign Military Sales partner with active cases valued at more than $129 billion.
      • Our defense relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is stronger than ever under President Trump’s leadership, and the package signed today, the largest defense cooperation deal in U.S. history, is a clear demonstration of our commitment to strengthening our partnership.
      • The agreement opens the door for expanded U.S. defense industry participation and long-term sustainment partnerships with Saudi entities.
    • The deepening United States-Saudi Arabia partnership reflects a joint vision for long-term prosperity and employment opportunities in both nations.

    BUILDING ON A RECORD OF WINNING AT HOME AND ABROAD: President Trump is delivering on his promise to Make America Great Again by catalyzing investment and negotiating fair trade deals to accelerate American employment and prosperity.

    • President Trump is the dealmaker in chief, and he has once again secured a historic deal that strengthens America’s economic dominance and global influence. 
    • This comes just one week after President Trump announced a U.S.-UK trade agreement that levels the playing field, creates jobs, and opens market access with the United Kingdom.
    • Leading up to this historic deal, President Trump had already secured trillions in U.S.-based investments, setting the stage for a new era of American prosperity.
    • The $600 billion in Saudi investment in the United States builds on President Trump’s record in 2017 of securing billions in commercial deals and agreements with Saudi Arabia for the defense, energy, technology, and infrastructure sectors.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Stein Announces Genentech Will Build New Manufacturing Plant in Wake County Creating 400 Jobs

    Source: US State of North Carolina

    Headline: Governor Stein Announces Genentech Will Build New Manufacturing Plant in Wake County Creating 400 Jobs

    Governor Stein Announces Genentech Will Build New Manufacturing Plant in Wake County Creating 400 Jobs
    lsaito

    Raleigh, NC

    Governor Josh Stein announced today that Genentech, one of the world’s premiere biotechnology companies, will invest $700 million to build a new manufacturing plant in Holly Springs, creating 400 jobs.

    “World-class companies like Genentech recognize that North Carolina is a leading state for biotechnology,” said Governor Josh Stein. “These companies know that our life science workforce is ready to help them deliver their cutting-edge medicines to the world. We are proud to welcome Genetech to North Carolina.”

    Genentech, with headquarters in South San Francisco, California, is a member of Switzerland’s Roche Group (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) and is considered the original biotechnology pioneer. For more than 40 years the company has pursued groundbreaking science to discover and develop medicines for people with serious or life-threatening diseases. Genentech’s project in Holly Springs will establish a new 700,000 sq. ft. high-volume fill-finish operation to support its existing product portfolio as well as its future pipeline, allowing the company to meet growing demand for its medicines.

    “Genentech would like to thank Governor Stein and Commerce Secretary Lilley for their support and for welcoming us to North Carolina. We are thrilled to establish this relationship with the city of Holly Springs, where we will create new manufacturing and construction jobs while making a broader positive impact on the local economy and community for many years to come,” said Genentech CEO Ashley Magargee. “Our new facility will serve as an important new setting within our manufacturing network to help deliver on the promise of our company’s life-changing science and industry-leading pipeline.”

    “Genentech siting its first East Coast production facility in North Carolina is a gamechanger for our already strong biotechnology sector,” said North Carolina Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley. “Thanks to amazing state leadership from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center and continued investments in workforce and infrastructure, these kinds of successes breed great jobs and great therapies that make the world a healthier place.”

    Although wages will vary depending on the position, the average salary for the new positions will be $119,833, compared with an average wage in Wake County of $76,643. The new positions will bring an annual payroll impact to the community of more than $50 million per year.

    The company’s project in North Carolina will be facilitated, in part, by a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee earlier today. Over the course of the 12-year term of this grant, the project is estimated to grow the state’s economy by more than $3 billion. Using a formula that takes into account the new tax revenues generated by the new jobs and the capital investment, the JDIG agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $9,846,750, spread over 12 years and based on the creation of 420 jobs. State payments only occur following performance verification by the departments of Commerce and Revenue that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets.

    The project’s projected return on investment of public dollars is 230 per cent, meaning for every dollar of potential cost, the state receives $3.30 in state revenue. JDIG projects result in positive net tax revenue to the state treasury, even after taking into consideration the grant’s reimbursement payments to a given company. 

    Because Genentech chose to expand in Wake County, classified by the state’s economic tier system as Tier 3, the company’s JDIG agreement also calls for moving $3,282,250 into the state’s Industrial Development Fund – Utility Account. The Utility Account helps rural communities finance necessary infrastructure upgrades to attract future business. Even when new jobs are created in a Tier 3 county such as Wake, the new tax revenue generated through JDIG grants helps more economically challenged communities elsewhere in the state.

    “Our momentum in biotech is off the charts as these new jobs and new investment come to Holly Springs,” said N.C. Senator Lisa Grafstein. “Genentech is a renowned brand in the industry, and we welcome the company to our growing family of life science partners.”

    “Economic development success takes teamwork, and I’m proud of the many local, regional, and state organizations that worked hard to bring Genentech to our community,” said N.C. Representative Ya Liu. “We look forward to seeing this innovative company put down roots and grow in Holly Springs, Wake County, and North Carolina.”

    Partnering with the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. on this project were the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Community College System, N.C. Commerce’s Division of Workforce Solutions, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, N.C. State University, Duke Energy, Enbridge Gas North Carolina, Capital Area Workforce Development, Wake Tech, the Town of Holly Springs, Wake County, and Wake County Economic Development, a program of the Greater Raleigh Chamber.  

    May 12, 2025

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: HHS, FDA Initiate Comprehensive Review of Nutrients in Infant Formula

    Source: US Department of Health and Human Services – 3

    For Immediate Release:
    May 13, 2025

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced the next steps in Operation Stork Speed–a groundbreaking initiative to ensure the safety, reliability, and nutritional adequacy of infant formula for American families. The FDA issued a Request for Information (RFI) to begin the nutrient review process required by law for infant formula. Currently, infant formula must meet minimum and maximum levels of certain nutrients. While the FDA regularly reviews individual nutrient requirements for infant formula, this will be the first comprehensive review since 1998.
    “Operation Stork Speed brings radical transparency to ingredients in infant formula and puts science front and center,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “Every child has a fundamental right to a healthy start. We’re giving parents the truth and the tools to make that happen. You can’t Make America Healthy Again if we don’t fix what nourishes our youngest and most vulnerable Americans.”
    Through the RFI, the FDA is seeking public input to help determine whether existing nutrient requirements should be revised based on the latest scientific data, including international. The agency also welcomes data on potential adjustments to existing minimum or maximum levels, recommendations for additional nutrients to consider, and how such changes may improve health outcomes.  
    Commenters will have 90 days to submit responses. Further information on how to submit a comment can be found here, links to an external website.
    The FDA, under HHS leadership, launched Operation Stork Speed in March 2025, reaffirming the agency’s commitment to infant formula safety and nutritional quality. In addition to today’s RFI, the FDA is increasing testing for heavy metals and other contaminants in infant formula and other food consumed by children. The agency is also encouraging companies to work with the FDA on enhancing transparency and improving labeling clarity.
    “Protecting our most vulnerable is not just a moral duty—it is our responsibility,” said FDA Commissioner Martin A. Makary, M.D., M.P.H. “For many children, infant formula is their only source of nutrition. That’s why it’s absolutely crucial to continually assess the nutrition standards and incorporate gold standard science to ensure we are providing the safest, most effective nutrition possible.”
    As part of the initiative, the FDA will convene a publicly accessible expert panel in June.
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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Transforming the Royal Navy’s electromagnetic warfare capabilities

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Case study

    Transforming the Royal Navy’s electromagnetic warfare capabilities

    Dstl has been part of a major MOD programme which will fundamentally change electromagnetic warfare surveillance and anti-ship missile defence capabilities.

    In a significant advancement for UK maritime defence, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has played a crucial role in revolutionising the Royal Navy’s electromagnetic warfare (EW) capabilities through the Maritime EW Programme (MEWP).

    Working alongside industry partners, Dstl has provided operational analysis, technical expertise and advice to help the UK and allies maintain operational advantage.

    Meeting modern challenges

    Modern naval operations face an increasingly crowded and contested electromagnetic environment. In order to better sense and understand this complex picture for improved situational awareness and to better react to growing threats from sophisticated anti-ship missiles and EW systems, the Royal Navy needed to significantly upgrade its capabilities.

    This fundamental reappraisal, informed and spearheaded by Dstl’s evidence and analysis, has led to a comprehensive modernisation programme that addresses the technical capabilities and allows future capability spirals via an open architecture approach; as well as the operational frameworks for maritime EW. MEWP doesn’t just replace equipment, it reimagines how EW integrates into the command chain.

    A 2-pronged approach

    MEWP represents an unprecedented investment in naval EW capabilities, following 2 complementary tracks:

    • Maritime EW System Integrated Capability (MEWSIC), which will replace the Navy’s existing EW system and deliver improved sense and understanding together with advanced EW command and control.
    • EW Counter Measures (EWCM), which will ensure Royal Navy ships are fitted with enhanced decoy launchers (Ancilia) to provide rapid protection (right effect, right place, right time) against hostile threats including modern anti-ship missiles and directed energy weapons.

    Technological leap forward

    The programme represents a generational leap in capabilities. MEWSIC will equip 21 ships, including:

    • 2 Queen Elizabeth class carriers
    • 6 Type 45 destroyers
    • 8 Type 26 frigates
    • 5 Type 31 frigates

    The Type 45, 26 and 31s will each receive 2 Ancilia launchers to ensure complete coverage.

    A key innovation is the shift from fixed decoy launchers to trainable systems that can place the right effector in the right place at the right time to deceive incoming anti-ship missiles. This approach is already generating international interest and is being proposed as a NATO standard.

    HMS Queen Elizabeth and Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond in the North Sea.

    Transforming information processing

    The new technology fundamentally changes how EW information is collected and presented to decision-makers. This will provide:

    • more time to plan
    • more time to react
    • a clearer picture
    • better information
    • a higher level of automation

    Dstl helped drive the shift in EW surveillance capability by defining what needed to be sensed. This included not just threat emissions but also defined the EM operating environment – seeing the wood from the trees – and how command and control needs to use the detected emissions and enabling machine-speed warfare by moving to the use of machine-readable data.

    Dstl has created a new template for describing EW effectors in a digital format, enabling automatic weapon allocation and streamlined threat evaluation. By automating elements of sense and understand, the highly skilled operators are freed to manage ‘on the loop’ rather than struggling with data manipulation ‘in the loop’.

    This improved system provides commanders with enhanced situational awareness, allowing for faster and better-informed decision-making in complex environments.

    Open architecture for future growth

    MEWP adopts an open architecture approach that facilitates continuous innovation and growth throughout the system’s lifecycle. This design choice reduces the barriers to entry for emerging technologies, particularly lower Technology Readiness Level innovations such as novel threat evaluation and weapon assignment algorithms. This enables early testing of improved techniques in areas such as signal detection and processing, command and control, and decision aids for force defence.

    Dstl and its partners are already exploring potential incremental developments, including artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms.

    Other longer-term plans under consideration could provide persistent offboard radio frequency countermeasures for task group defence. Dstl has already begun research into potential concepts, including maritime recoverable decoys deployable from uncrewed vehicles.

    Collaborative approach delivering mission success

    The success of MEWP relies on strong relationships across the defence enterprise.

    Dstl’s expertise has been crucial in generating the evidence needed to shift the Royal Navy from fixed EW decoy launchers to more flexible systems. Simultaneously, Dstl has pushed a paradigm shift in the human system interface engaging closely with naval EW operators to understand the current and future challenges they face in relation to data presentation, understanding and decision making. This will enable MEWP to better deal with future challenges, such as the need to deal with directed energy weapons–and to see how technology could be applied to maximise the skills of the human operator.

    Through operational analysis, Dstl provides impartial, evidence to support capability planning and inform equipment procurement decisions, ensuring the Royal Navy receives capabilities that are truly fit for purpose.

    A fundamental shift in approach

    The MEWP programme represents more than just new equipment. It’s a complete rethinking of how EW integrates with naval operations.

    The shift to a new open architecture system will facilitate continuous innovation and development throughout the system’s lifespan. By removing previous constraints in EW information processing, the Royal Navy will be better prepared to face evolving threats in the electromagnetic domain.

    With initial operational capability planned for 2027, this Dstl-supported programme ensures the Royal Navy remains at the forefront of maritime EW capability, able to operate effectively in increasingly challenging environments.

    Find out more about how Dstl delivers mission success through science and technology advantage.

    Updates to this page

    Published 13 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What do bacon and faeces have in common? They can produce the same feeling of disgust

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Elisa Becker, Postdoctoral Researcher, Behaviour Change Interventions, University of Oxford

    Friends Stock/Shutterstock

    What do crispy bacon, a juicy beef steak, human flesh and faeces have in common? They’re all foods that trigger a powerful emotional reaction in people – disgust. And according to new research, for vegetarians, meat sits in the same psychological category as some of the most revolting substances imaginable.

    In our recent study, we explored how vegetarians and omnivores respond emotionally to different types of food. We asked vegetarians to look at images of commonly eaten meats – roast chicken, beef steak and bacon – alongside a selection of unpopular vegetables like raw onions, aubergine, olives and brussels sprouts.

    For omnivores, we swapped out the familiar meats for extreme examples: meat made from human or dog flesh – and faeces.

    Participants answered a series of questions about how they would feel eating each food, focusing especially on foods they said they’d refuse. We gathered 896 such “food rejections” from more than 300 people in the UK, and from these, we could dig into the psychology behind why people reject certain foods.

    Here’s what we found.

    Offending vegetables were usually rejected due to distaste – a reaction based on sensory experience: taste, smell, or texture. This was true for both vegetarians and omnivores. Whether it’s the bitterness of brussels sprouts or the sponginess of raw aubergine, the dislike came down to flavour or texture.

    Meat, however, was a different story. For vegetarians, it wasn’t the flavour of meat that made it unappealing, but the very idea of it. Their responses were driven by disgust – a reaction not to how something tastes, but to what it is.

    Those who rejected meat felt discomfort at the idea of meat being inside their body, or of it touching other food. That kind of deep, intuitive rejection mirrors how omnivores in our study reacted to images of human flesh, dog meat, or faeces – things we avoid not because of how they taste, but because of what they represent.

    To feel this distinction yourself, try this mental exercise. Imagine your favourite soup. Now, picture a tiny amount of a vegetable you dislike – let’s say beetroot – blended into it. You can’t see it, taste it, or smell it. Would you still eat the soup?

    If yes, you’re experiencing distaste to the beetroot. Distaste only kicks in when your senses are affronted. No taste, no problem.

    Now try the same scenario, but instead of beetroot, imagine the soup contains a minuscule amount of dog meat. Still invisible, undetectable – but you know it’s there. Would you eat it?

    Most people in western countries wouldn’t – not because of the flavour, but because of an almost primal aversion. That’s disgust.

    This distinction has been known in psychology for decades. Earlier studies showed that animal products like blood, bush meat and faeces are usually rejected because they evoke disgust, while plant-based foods are disliked due to distaste. But until now, it wasn’t clear just how closely vegetarians’ aversion to everyday meat mirrors reactions to the most revolting substances imaginable. This excludes reasoned, non-emotional choices like avoiding meat for environmental reasons or peanuts due to allergy.

    Distaste and disgust evolved to protect us from different threats. Plants often defend themselves with bitter or sour toxins, prompting a distaste response that’s shared across many species. The threat in meat comes from pathogens and parasites that can’t usually be detected by taste, so distaste is useless here. Disgust gives us way to respond to the idea of contamination, one that makes us recoil not just from the food itself, but from anything it touches.

    Disgust toward meat is more common than you might think. Around 74% of vegetarians and even 15% of flexitarians report robust levels of disgust when it comes to meat. And many omnivores experience it too – especially when confronted with unfamiliar meats. Think of the famous “Bushtucker Trials” on the reality show I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here. Few of us could stomach insects, animal brains, or offal – even if told they’re safe and nutritious.

    This emotional reaction isn’t just a quirk. It may help us reduce meat consumption overall. Recent research shows that during challenges like Veganuary, when people go a month without meat, they often become more disgusted by meat afterward. This makes it easier to keep reducing their intake.

    That could have benefits not only for personal health and animal welfare, but also for the environment, as livestock farming is a major contributor to climate change.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. What do bacon and faeces have in common? They can produce the same feeling of disgust – https://theconversation.com/what-do-bacon-and-faeces-have-in-common-they-can-produce-the-same-feeling-of-disgust-255194

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Lim Cosmic Rhapsody: this orchestral journey to outer space aims to deliver hope amid global crisis – but falls short

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Gavin Williams, Lecturer in Music, King’s College London

    On the evening of May 5, I took my seat in London’s Barbican Centre to experience a programme of interplanetary music. The concert began with the world premiere of Lim Cosmic Rhapsody, a piece by composer Manu Martin, and ended with Gustav Holst’s The Planets (completed in 1916 and first performed in 1920). Athwart these large orchestral works, lasting about 50 minutes each, lay a century’s worth of knowledge about space and music.

    Lim Cosmic Rhapsody is a piano concerto, which aspires to tell, according to the work’s creative director Susan Lim, a “compelling story of climate change and humanity’s search for solutions beyond Earth”. Following the premiere, the piece has been released as an album.

    Its first performance saw celebrated pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet command the stage in an iridescent dark-blue jacket and crystal-encrusted black slippers. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, led by conductor Robert Ziegler, was excellent and extended for the occasion by a huge choir drawn from the City of London Choir and London Voices, together with duduk (a type of flute), theremin (an electronic instrument), a drum kit and electric guitar and bass.

    Additional vocal stylings were supplied by Matthieu Eymard and Britain’s Got Talent 2023 finalist Tom Ball. They jointly closed the concerto with a rock-inspired number celebrating human-alien hybrids.

    But it began, with stern minor blows from the piano and an orchestral flurry reminiscent of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. They were intended to conjure up, as the programme notes explained, a “futuristic space lab in California in 2035”.

    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    The notes told us to expect the “arrival of a Humanimate” – an apparently friendly alien with an “expanded genetic code” containing human and “inanimate” elements. Cue oohs and aahs from the choir. The overall effect was that of a Hollywood soundtrack by James Horner, the composer for Titanic and Avatar.

    Using the orchestra to tell stories is an established practice in contemporary film music, and in an earlier tradition of 19th-century programme music. The idea of using orchestral music to narrate global, environmental stories is, however, relatively new — an early example being Michael Abel’s Global Warming (1990), which juxtaposes musical idioms from across the world.

    More recent orchestral works in this area, by contrast, tend to avoid “symphonising” the climate crisis – melding together musical differences into optimistic stories about “humanity” overcoming Earth – by sounding out specific ecologies under threat.

    In Lim Cosmic Rhapsody, music and story are tightly woven, as in film music. But without the visual dimension, the story is hard to follow. I have reconstructed the following from the album pre-recorded by the record label Decca and released to coincide with the premiere.

    The story of the concert follows a purple alpaca named Lavvy, brought back to life by a 3D printer, who guides a delegation from Earth to her homeland on a far-off planet, known as Purple Cave. A Song of a Lost Tribe pays tribute to the indigene-alpaca and her kind. Composed by Indian songwriter Joi Barua and orchestrated by Manu, it sets a melody in the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute (here expertly played by Andrew Findon), against slow-burn motor rhythms and faux-ethnic chanting.

    We arrive at the Purple Cave. A martial beat recalls Darth Vader but soon dissolves into an uplifting riff, as Lavvy the resurrected alpaca prepares for her immortalisation. At the work’s peak, she obligingly blows herself up, becoming Star Among the Cosmic Clouds (a twinkling piano Alberti bass paints the scene) and releasing life-saving purple dust to rescue the Earthlings.

    Star Among Cosmic Clouds from Lim Cosmic Rhapsody.

    The work was conceived by Singaporean composer and surgeon Susan Lim in the early days of lockdown from the ski slopes of Courchevel, France. In this moment of global crisis, she found hope in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon flight, that delivered Nasa astronauts to the International Space Station in May 2020.

    Lim prepared for the event by releasing a carefully timed animated tweet that caught the attention of SpaceX’s owner Elon Musk. He replied with a quote from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody: “Open your eyes, look up to the skies.”

    From this digital acorn, the Alan trilogy, of which Lim Cosmic Rhapsody is the second instalment, was born and continues to grow. A third part, Lim Symphony of the Oceans, is on the way.

    Creativity and privilege

    The series’ large creative team includes distinguished artists but is clearly led by Lim and other medics who have “never created art before” (according to the album’s liner notes). This speaks to the money and the power behind the project, together with the ego and eccentricity of its creative director.

    Beyond this work’s neocolonial fantasy of an exploding alpaca, it also speaks to the privilege of those who can afford to indulge in implausibly optimistic stories of technocratic overcoming. I was reminded of Indian writer Amitav Ghosh’s argument for the need for new ways to narrate the climate crisis as an urgent problem of human understanding. The combination of music and story on offer here was a serious misstep in this regard.

    It was a relief to step back a hundred years in music history and listen with fresh ears, in the second half of the concert, to Gustav Holst’s orchestral take on the galaxy, produced during another time of global crisis, the first world war, albeit on more slender means. Holst’s astrology-inspired suite felt imaginative, fresh and crisp in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s thoroughly committed performance.

    As I transitioned from the cosmic clouds and back into the city fumes, ecological questions hung in the air. But not the questions the creators of Lim Cosmic Rhapsody might have hoped (how to save humanity? will science save the day? where to start space mining?) but rather that of the music’s own ecological footprint.

    Conspicuous in this last respect was the mindless printing of hundreds of 33rpm records of the work, given away as party favours during a champagne reception before the concert and during the interval. How many times will these records, pressed from fresh plastics derived from oil, be played? Given the large stack left on the table at the end of the evening, I suspect some may never be played even once.

    Gavin Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Lim Cosmic Rhapsody: this orchestral journey to outer space aims to deliver hope amid global crisis – but falls short – https://theconversation.com/lim-cosmic-rhapsody-this-orchestral-journey-to-outer-space-aims-to-deliver-hope-amid-global-crisis-but-falls-short-256384

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Could gravity be evidence that the universe is a computer simulation? My new study suggests so

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Melvin M. Vopson, Associate Professor of Physics, University of Portsmouth

    A star cluster in the constellation Sagittarius seen by the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope

    We have long taken it for granted that gravity is one of the basic forces of nature – one of the invisible threads that keeps the universe stitched together. But suppose that this is not true. Suppose the law of gravity is simply an echo of something more fundamental: a byproduct of the universe operating under a computer-like code.

    That is the premise of my latest research, published in the journal AIP Advances. It suggests that gravity is not a mysterious force that attracts objects towards one another, but the product of an informational law of nature that I call the second law of infodynamics.

    It is a notion that seems like science fiction – but one that is based in physics and evidence that the universe appears to be operating suspiciously like a computer simulation.

    In digital technologies, right down to the apps in your phone and the world of cyberspace, efficiency is the key. Computers compact and restructure their data all the time to save memory and computer power. Maybe the same is taking place all over the universe?

    Information theory, the mathematical study of the quantification, storage and communication of information, may help us understand what’s going on. Originally developed by mathematician Claude Shannon, it has become increasingly popular in physics and is used in a growing range of research areas.

    In a 2023 paper, I used information theory to propose my second law of infodynamics.

    This stipulates that information “entropy”, or the level of information disorganisation, will have to reduce or stay static within any given closed information system. This is the opposite of the popular second law of thermodynamics, which dictates that physical entropy, or disorder, always increases.

    Take a cooling cup of coffee. Energy flows from hot to cold until the temperature of the coffee is the same as the temperature of the room and its energy is minimum – a state called thermal equilibrium. The entropy of the system is a maximum at this point – with all the molecules maximally spread out, having the same energy. What that means is that the spread of energies per molecule in the liquid is reduced.

    If one considers the information content of each molecule based on its energy, then at the start, in the hot cup of coffee, the information entropy is maximum and at equilibrium the information entropy is minimum. That’s because almost all molecules are at the same energy level, becoming identical characters in an informational message. So the spread of different energies available is reduced when there’s thermal equilibrium.

    But if we consider just location rather than energy, then there’s lots of information disorder when particles are distributed randomly in space – the information required to keep pace with them is considerable. When they consolidate themselves together under gravitational attraction, however, the way planets, stars and galaxies do, the information gets compacted and more manageable.

    In simulations, that’s exactly what occurs when a system tries to function more efficiently. So, matter flowing under the influence of gravity need not be a result of a force at all. Perhaps it is a function of the way the universe compacts the information that it has to work with.

    Here, space is not continuous and smooth. Space is made up of tiny “cells” of information, similar to pixels in a photo or squares on the screen of a computer game. In each cell is basic information about the universe – where, say, a particle is – and all are gathered together to make the fabric of the universe.

    If you place items within this space, the system gets more complex. But when all of those items come together to be one item instead of many, the information is simple again.

    The universe, under this view, tends to naturally seek to be in those states of minimal information entropy. The real kicker is that if you do the numbers, the entropic “informational force” created by this tendency toward simplicity is exactly equivalent to Newton’s law of gravitation, as shown in my paper.

    This theory builds on earlier studies of “entropic gravity” but goes a step further. In connecting information dynamics with gravity, we are led to the interesting conclusion that the universe could be running on some kind of cosmic software. In an artificial universe, maximum-efficiency rules would be expected. Symmetries would be expected. Compression would be expected.

    And law – that is, gravity – would be expected to emerge from these computational rules.

    We may not yet have definitive evidence that we live in a simulation. But the deeper we look, the more our universe seems to behave like a computational process.

    Melvin M. Vopson is affiliated with the University of Portsmouth and the Information Physics Institute.

    – ref. Could gravity be evidence that the universe is a computer simulation? My new study suggests so – https://theconversation.com/could-gravity-be-evidence-that-the-universe-is-a-computer-simulation-my-new-study-suggests-so-255913

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Type 5 diabetes is a newly recognised disease – here are all the types of diabetes you need to know about

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Craig Beall, Senior Lecturer in the Neuroscience of Energy Homeostasis, University of Exeter

    Suriyawut Suriya/Shutterstock.com

    Type 5 diabetes has just been recognised as a distinct form of diabetes by the International Diabetes Federation. Despite the name, there are more than a dozen different types of diabetes. The classification isn’t quite as tidy as the numbering suggests.

    Here’s a clear guide to the different types, including some that you may not have heard of, along with information about what causes them and how they are treated.

    Type 1

    Type 1 diabetes is caused by the body’s immune system mistakenly attacking the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. This autoimmune reaction can occur at any age, from infancy through to old age.

    It is not linked to diet or lifestyle. Instead, it probably results from a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental triggers, such as viral infections.

    Treatment involves lifelong insulin therapy, delivered through injections or pumps.

    A small number of people who struggle with low blood sugars, called hypoglycaemia, can receive new cells in the pancreas that produce insulin from deceased donors. For many, this reduces the number of insulin injections needed. Some can stop taking their insulin altogether.

    What’s more, dozens of people have now received stem-cell-derived transplants to effectively “cure” their diabetes, although people still need to take strong immune-suppressing drugs. This treatment is not yet widely available.

    Type 2

    Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the condition and is often linked to having a high BMI (body mass index). However, it can also affect people of normal weight, particularly those with a strong genetic predisposition.

    Certain ethnic groups, including south Asians and people of African and Caribbean descent, are at higher risk – even at lower body weights.

    Boosting the body’s production of insulin can help to control blood sugar levels. Some drugs boost insulin production from the pancreas, while others improve insulin sensitivity.

    Metformin, for example, is taken by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. This drug improves insulin sensitivity and switches off sugar production by the liver.

    There are dozens of different drugs to help control blood sugar in type 2 diabetes. Tailoring treatment to the individual has been shown to improve health outcomes significantly.

    Lifestyle changes can also reverse diabetes. This can be done by keeping a low-calorie diet of 800 calories a day. In a research trial maintaining this diet for 12 months reversed diabetes in 46% of people.

    Gestational diabetes

    This type of diabetes develops during pregnancy, typically between weeks 24 and 28. It is triggered by hormonal changes that reduce the body’s sensitivity to insulin.

    Risk factors include being overweight or obese, a family history of diabetes, and giving birth to a large baby in a previous pregnancy.

    Those from Middle Eastern, south Asian, black and African Caribbean backgrounds are also at higher risk of gestational diabetes. Age is also a factor, as insulin sensitivity declines with age. This can be treated with diet and exercise, tablets or insulin injections.

    Gestational diabetes usually develops during the second or third trimester of pregnancy.
    Just Life/Shutterstock.com

    Rarer forms of diabetes

    There are at least nine sub-types of diabetes that include rare genetic forms, sometimes caused by a single genetic change. Others can be caused by treatment, such as surgery or drugs, such as steroids.

    • Neonatal diabetes appears early in life. Some of the genetic changes affect how insulin is released from the pancreas. Some people still make their own insulin, so can be treated with tablets that help pancreas cells to push out insulin.

    • Maturity onset diabetes of the young, or Mody, occurs later in life and is linked to genetic changes. There are several gene changes, with some affecting how pancreas cells sense sugar and others affecting how the pancreas develops.

    • Type 3c diabetes is different. It is caused by damage to the pancreas. People with pancreatic cancer, for example, can develop diabetes after parts of the pancreas are removed. It can also develop after pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas).

    • Those with cystic fibrosis are also at a higher risk of developing diabetes. This is called cystic fibrosis-related diabetes. The risk increases with age and is very common, with around a third of people with cystic fibrosis developing diabetes by the age of 40.

    Type 5

    This newly designated form is linked to malnutrition during early life. Type 5 diabetes is more common in poorer countries. It affects around 20-25 million people worldwide.

    People have low body weight and lack insulin. But the lack of insulin is not caused by the immune system. Instead, the body may not have received the correct nutrition during childhood to help the pancreas develop normally.

    Studies with rodents have shown that a low-protein diet during pregnancy or adolescence leads to poor pancreas development. This has been known for many years. Having a smaller pancreas is a risk factor for different forms of diabetes. Essentially, having fewer reserves of insulin-producing cells.

    Diabetes is an umbrella term for a range of conditions that result in raised blood sugar levels, but the underlying causes vary widely. Understanding the specific types of diabetes someone has is crucial to providing the right treatment.

    As medical science evolves, so does the classification of diabetes. Recognising malnutrition-related diabetes as type 5 will stimulate discussion. This is a step towards better global understanding and care – especially in low-income countries.

    Craig Beall currently receives funding from Diabetes UK, Breakthrough T1D, Steve Morgan Foundation Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge, Medical Research Council, NC3Rs, Society for Endocrinology and British Society for Neuroendocrinology.

    – ref. Type 5 diabetes is a newly recognised disease – here are all the types of diabetes you need to know about – https://theconversation.com/type-5-diabetes-is-a-newly-recognised-disease-here-are-all-the-types-of-diabetes-you-need-to-know-about-256262

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Neag School Honors Faculty and Staff With 2025 Annual Awards

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    The Neag School of Education honored several faculty and staff on May 2 with its annual awards recognizing research, teaching, and service. In March, the Neag School’s Dean’s Office solicited nominations from current students, faculty, and staff and presented the awards at the end-of-year School Meeting. The 2025 award recipients are:

    Dean Jason Irizarry presents the 2025 Zirkel Distinguished Teaching Award to Adam McCready during the May 2 Neag School meeting. (Shawn Kornegay/Neag School)

    Dr. Perry A. Zirkel Distinguished Teaching Award – Adam McCready

    The Zirkel Distinguished Teaching Award is awarded annually to a full-time faculty member in the Neag School. Alumnus Perry A. Zirkel ’68 MA, ’72 Ph.D., ’76 JD is a university professor emeritus of education and law at Lehigh University, where he formerly was dean of the College of Education and more recently held the Iacocca Chair in Education. The 2025 award recipient is Adam McCready, an assistant professor-in-residence in the Department of Educational Leadership since 2019.

    McCready is a faculty member for the Neag School’s Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) Master of Arts program. His research critically examines the college student experience to identify and challenge oppressive educational structures. He has studied students’ experiences in historically white college social fraternities; college men and masculinities; and the relationship between social media use and students’ attitudes, behaviors, and experiences. His research has been published in Psychology of Men & Masculinities, Research in Higher Education, Innovative Higher Education, Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, and the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice. McCready serves as the editor for the Journal of Sorority and Fraternity Life Research and Practice, and previously served as the vice chair for scholarship and research for the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Coalition on Men and Masculinities.

    McCready exemplifies excellence in teaching through his unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in the classroom. Since joining the HESA program, McCready has taught diverse core courses, skillfully blending rich scholarship with professional experience. A reflective educator, he thoughtfully incorporates material centering minoritized students and engages in critical conversations about race, gender, sexuality, and disability to better prepare future higher education leaders.

    In Spring 2022, McCready introduced an innovative “ungrading” philosophy, focusing on feedback and reflection rather than numerical scores. This humanizing approach has strengthened student learning while influencing fellow faculty members to rethink their evaluation methods. Known for his flexibility, McCready proactively seeks student feedback and adjusts his courses to meet learners’ evolving needs.

    His thoughtful course preparation, creativity, and deep investment in student success have earned him high student evaluation scores and recognition from UConn and the Neag School’s administration. Students and colleagues alike commend his relational, scholar-practitioner model of teaching.

    Sandra Chafouleas is the recipient of the 2025 Neag School Distinguished Researcher Award. (Neag School photo)

    Distinguished Researcher Award – Sandra Chafouleas

    This award is given to a full professor in the Neag School who, over at least the last 10-year period (at least five consecutive completed years at UConn), has made significant research contributions to their field of study. This year’s recipient is Sandra Chafouleas, a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology.

    Chafouleas is also the Neag Endowed Professor and the founder and co-director of the UConn Collaboratory on School and Child Health (CSCH). Chafouleas focuses on supporting school system implementation of evidence-informed practices and is known for her expertise in areas of integrated health and learning (whole child), school mental health, and social, emotional, and behavioral assessment and intervention.

    As a principal investigator and co-principal investigator, Chafouleas has secured over $20 million to support research, service, and training activities through the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and private foundations. Chafouleas has successfully built and led multidisciplinary and multisite teams in tackling issues in the social, emotional, and behavioral functioning of children across pre-K-12 settings. She currently serves as multiple principal investigator on an NIH-funded U24 Network to advance the science of emotional well-being, leading the measurement, training, and mentorship of emerging scholars. Many individuals, including junior faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and students, have benefited from her research team’s leadership as collaborators on research publications, presentations, and grants.

    Chafouleas is also the co-creator of the award-winning Feel Your Best Self program, a free and fun toolkit that teaches 12 simple coping strategies to promote emotion regulation. The program has won numerous awards, including one Gold and three Silver Telly awards. She has authored over 200 publications, which have been cited more than 11,000 times, and regularly serves as a national presenter and invited speaker.

    She is a fellow in the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science. She has received multiple recognitions, including a 2022 Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association and selection as the 2023 Reed Fellow at UConn Waterbury. Chafouleas previously served as associate dean for The Graduate School (2012-2014) and the associate dean for research at the Neag School (2014-2016). Prior to becoming a university trainer, she worked as a school psychologist and school administrator in a variety of settings supporting the needs of children with behavior disorders.

    Dean Jason Irizarry presents the 2025 Neag School Early-Career Scholar Award to Zachary Collier during the May 2 Neag School meeting. (Shawn Kornegay/Neag School)

    Outstanding Early-Career Scholar Award – Zachary Collier

    This award is given to a pre-tenured faculty member in the Neag School who has completed at least two consecutive years at UConn. The 2025 recipient is Zachary Collier, an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology.

    Collier is a leading scholar in educational statistics, causal data mining, and artificial intelligence applications in missing data analysis. His work addresses critical methodological challenges in education, public health, and special education, with research published in top-tier journals such as Structural Equation Modeling, Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, and Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness.

    Collier has received significant external funding from major agencies, including a $3.1 million NIH grant, a $2.9 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, and awards from the Spencer and James S. McDonnell foundations. In 2025, he was named an Emerging Scholar by Diverse Issues in Higher Education and was a featured mathematician by the Network for Minorities in Mathematical Sciences. That same year, he was appointed as grant reviewer for the IES.

    Beyond his research, Collier is a dedicated educator and mentor known for fostering inclusive, collaborative learning environments. He teaches foundational and advanced courses in statistics and data science and actively supports graduate student development through co-authored research. A staunch advocate for equity in quantitative research, he contributes to initiatives like the InclusiMetrics Conference and is recognized for advancing justice-oriented approaches through QuantCrit and data sensitivity methods.

    Valerie J. Pichette Outstanding Staff Award – Diane Herlihy and Christine North

    Dean Jason Irizarry presents Diane Herlihy with the 2025 Valerie J. Pichette Outstanding Staff Award.

    Named in honor of the late Valerie J. Pichette, this award recognizes an individual or individuals who have gone above and beyond in their work at the Neag School over the past academic year. Pichette had a 30-year history of service to the state of Connecticut, including having served as executive assistant to the Neag School dean for nearly two decades. This year’s recipients are Diane Herlihy and Christine North.

    Herlihy, who joined the Neag School in 2019, is the true definition of a team player. She collaborates with faculty, students, and staff to support others within the Neag School and always brings a positive attitude. As a volunteer and an active member of the Community Building Committee, she has been instrumental in the planning and execution of many events throughout the year, including Undergraduate Commencement.

    She has taken on the responsibilities of other positions multiple times to fill in for colleagues without hesitation and still ensured her work was not affected. Herlihy is always attentive to staff and student needs and is one of the first people willing to help; she seeks out answers to problems and does it all with a caring and determined attitude.

    Dean Jason Irizarry presents Christine North with the 2025 Valerie J. Pichette Outstanding Staff Award.

    North, the sole administrative staff person for the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, constantly juggles requests from faculty, students, staff, Neag School administrators, and external stakeholders who call with questions, seek advice, and need help solving problems. She is a stable and calming presence and an essential ingredient in how the department’s business and mission are met.

    Since joining the Neag School in 1996, North has been an important member of the School community, helping others solve problems and raising questions and alternative strategies when relevant. She exhibits institutional loyalty, impressive professionalism, initiative, integrity, a willingness to help with everything and anything, and deeply cares for the culture of the Neag School.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: A Dose of History: Pioneers of UConn Pharmacy

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Ann Petry: Making the Impossible Possible 

    Raised as a third-generation New Englander and Connecticut native, Ann Petry became the first Black woman to graduate from the Connecticut College of Pharmacy in 1931 (now, the UConn School of Pharmacy).  

    Anna Houston Lane, born in 1908, called Old Saybrook her home. In 1925, Ann graduated from high school as the only person of African American descent. Ann’s parents inspired her to push the limits of what was possible. Change-making didn’t scare the Lane family – Ann’s father, Pete, opened and operated two drugstores as a pharmacist. Her mother, Bertha James Lane, worked in a factory before becoming a shop owner, hairdresser, and chiropodist, and creating her own business, Beautiful Linens for Beautiful Homes. As the youngest of three daughters, Ann and her sisters were raised in “classic New England tradition” with strong familial role models who empowered her in light of systemic racial disadvantages. 

    “The Lanes were a close-knit, middle-class Black family, which provided the young Ann Lane with a strong sense of herself as well as with a level of confidence…”  – A Yęmisi Jimoh (UMass ScholarWorks)

    Ann, inspired by her aunt, Anna L. James, the first black woman pharmacist in Connecticut,  became determined to continue breaking barriers for Black women and to carry on her family legacy by enrolling in the Connecticut College of Pharmacy in New Haven, which has since been transformed into the School of Pharmacy in Storrs. After receiving her Graduate in Pharmacy degree (Ph.G.) from the School, Ann worked in the family business for several years in Old Saybrook and Old Lyme. While working as a pharmacist, Ann also explored her other interest in writing, crafting short stories in her free time.  

    Ann Petry (Wikimedia Commons)

    In 1938, Anne married George Petry, a Louisiana-born resident of Harlem. Soon after, Ann moved to New York City and set aside her pharmaceutical career to become a journalist and writer. She dove into the world of activism, inspired by the Harlem Renaissance, and wrote for The Harlem Amsterdam News and The People’s Voices while writing short stories and novels focused on the Black experience. While her husband was in service during WWII, Ann began work on her first novel The Street, which became the first novel by an African American woman to sell more than a million copies after its publication in 1946. Ann eventually moved back to Saybrook, where she continued her joy of writing, and passed away in 1997 with her loving husband and only daughter, Elizabeth Petry, by her side. Shortly before her death, she was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame in Connecticut where her legacy continues to live.  

    As the granddaughter of a slave who self-liberated and traveled to Connecticut through the Underground Railroad, Ann Petry had the forces of history against her. Yet, with the support of her loving family and friends, Ann wrote her own story – finding success in both pharmacy and writing.  

    Varro Tyler: From Pharmacognosist to Philatelist 

    A successful professor, pharmacognosist, and lifelong scholar, Varro Tyler graduated from UConn’s School of Pharmacy with his M.S. in 1951 and his Ph.D. in 1953, becoming the first individual to be awarded both degrees from the School. 

    Born in Nebraska in 1926, Varro was a Southern man at heart but moved to Connecticut for his academic pursuits in herbal medicine. Before attending UConn, he received his bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from the University of Nebraska and studied plant sciences at Yale on an Eli Lilly Research Fellowship for a year before attending UConn.  

    Varro Tyler (Wikimedia Commons)

    Having attained his pharmacy degrees from several colleges and universities, Varro couldn’t leave academics behind. His most notable roles include associate professor and chairman of the Department of Pharmacognosy at the University of Nebraska, a similar position at the University of Washington, and Dean of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Purdue University in 1966.   

    Along with his time in academia, Varro served as the first president of the American Society of Pharmacognosy and president of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP). As an active member of professional organizations and his community, Varro implemented his work in several settings – writing more than 270 publications and frequently appearing on TV and radio talk shows.

    As the dietary supplement industry boomed in the 1990s, Varro urged the FDA to take a more assertive role in regulating product quality and manufacturers’ claims while writing a monthly column on herbal remedies for Prevention magazine. Varro grounded his interests in scientific research, opposing para-herbalism (herbalism based on pseudoscience) throughout his academic career. 

    Varro’s research interests were wide-ranging, including herbal medicine, medicinal and toxic constituents of higher fungi, drug plant cultivation, and more. In addition to his literature on these pharmaceutical topics, Varro was an avid stamp collector later in life and specialized in the postage stamps of Japan. As a philatelist, Varro wrote substantial literature on stamp forgery and had a long association with the International Society for Japanese Philately.   

    “Varro had a profound impact on pharmacy education, natural product science, and the use of herbal medicine” and received many awards and accolades.” – James E. Robbers (The American Society of Pharmacognosy)

    After retiring in 1996, Varro continued to be passionate about his interests and passed away in 2001 with his loving wife, Virginia, by his side.  

    Mike Pikal: A Legacy That Lives On  

    With a UConn career spanning almost twenty-five years, Mike Pikal inspired thousands of students and faculty at the School and left an unmatched legacy.  

    Born in 1939 in Minnesota to parents Harold and Sophie, Mike was raised in the Midwest. He stayed close to home, earning his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from St. John’s University in Minnesota. He later received a doctorate from Iowa State University in 1966.  

    Mike started his career as an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee before joining Eli Lilly Research Laboratories in the early 1970s. After years of dedicated research, Mike became a senior research scientist and won the 1996 President’s Award for his work at the company. Years later, in 1996, he joined UConn Nation as a professor of pharmaceutics.  

    During his time at UConn, Mike made the School proud, serving as the department head of Pharmaceutical Sciences and an Emeritus Professor while maintaining a fully active and highly productive research program. In 2005, he was named the first Pfizer Distinguished Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutical Technology.  

    Mike Pikal (UConn Archives)

    Mike’s research spanned freeze-drying, solid-state chemistry/materials science of pharmaceuticals and protein stability, which led to more than 170 publications. Particularly interested in freeze-drying, Mike was a leader in this field and its technology and was the main contributor to the School’s successful partnerships with groups like The Center for Pharmaceutical Processing (CPPR) and The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL). He also directed a prominent and diverse research program in freeze-drying. Because of these efforts, as well as his membership in various pharmaceutical associations, Pikal won several awards, becoming one of fewer than twenty scientists to receive the AAPS Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Award.  

    While all his accolades and research pursuits are outstanding, the School is especially grateful for the relationships Pikal formed with his Ph.D. students, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting scholars. Selflessly giving his time and advice to those starting in the pharmacy field, Pikal was truly an inspiration to those around him.

    Surrounded by his loving wife, Janice, five children, and many grandchildren, Pikal passed away in 2018, a year after retiring from UConn.  

    “Mike is just in a different league than most of the rest of us. One of the many things we love about him is that he never makes us feel that way.” — Steve Nail (Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences)

      

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Industrial Bank of China issues 10 billion yuan worth of science and technology innovation bonds

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) — Industrial Bank Co., Ltd. of China said it successfully issued its first batch of science and technology innovation bonds on the interbank market on Tuesday, which are designed to support lending to science and technology innovation and related enterprises.

    The bond issue volume was 10 billion yuan (US$1.39 billion), the maturity period was three years, and the nominal interest rate was 1.66 percent.

    The bank’s bond issue comes days after the country’s regulators unveiled support measures aimed at stimulating the issuance of sci-tech innovation bonds. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC, the central bank) and the China Securities Regulatory Commission last week announced measures to support the issuance of sci-tech innovation bonds by financial institutions, sci-tech enterprises and financial asset investment companies. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Where tomorrow’s scientists prefer to live − and where they’d rather not

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Christopher P. Scheitle, Associate Professor of Sociology, West Virginia University

    Many students have strong feelings about where they want to move after graduation. Tony Garcia/Stone via Getty Images

    Graduate students interested in an academic career after graduation day have often been told they need to be open to moving somewhere they may not want to live. This advice is because of how hard it is to get a tenure-track professor position.

    These days, this advice may be less relevant as graduate students are increasingly pursuing and ending up in careers outside of academia.

    Where graduate students want to settle post-graduation has potential consequences for communities and states across the country that depend more and more on a steady stream of skilled workers to power their economies. Locations seen as undesirable may struggle to attract and retain the next generation of scientists, engineers, professors and other professions filled by today’s graduate students.

    We are sociologists who are examining some of the factors that influence graduate students’ educational and career paths as part of a research project supported by the National Science Foundation. In March 2025 we distributed a survey to a sample of U.S.-based graduate students in five natural and social science disciplines: physics, chemistry, biology, psychology and sociology.

    As part of our survey, we asked students to identify states they would prefer to live in and places where they would be unwilling to go. To some extent, our findings match some past anecdotes and evidence about the varying number of applications received for academic positions across different states or regions.

    But little data has directly assessed students’ preferences, and our survey also provides some evidence that some states’ policies are having a negative impact on their ability to attract highly educated people.

    Most preferred, most unwilling

    For our study, we built our sample from the top 60 graduate programs for each of the five disciplines based on rankings from U.S. News and World Report. We received responses from nearly 2,000 students. Almost all of these students – 98%, specifically – are pursuing Ph.D.s in their respective fields.

    As part of our survey, we asked students to identify locations where they would “prefer” to live and also those where they would be “unwilling” to live after finishing their graduate program. For each of these questions, we presented students with a list of all states along with the option of “outside of the United States.”

    Just looking at the overall percentages, California tops the list of preferred places, with 49% of all survey-takers stating a preference to live there, followed by New York at 45% and Massachusetts with 41%.

    On the other hand, Alabama was selected most often as a state students said they’d be unwilling to move to, with 58% declaring they wouldn’t want to live there. This was followed by Mississippi and Arkansas, both with just above 50% saying they’d be unwilling to move to either state.

    Clusters of preference

    While the two lists in many respects appear like inversions of one another, there are some exceptions to that. Looking beyond the overall percentages for each survey question, we used statistical analysis to identify underlying groups or clusters of states that are more similar to each other across both the “prefer” and “unwilling” questions.

    One cluster, represented by California, New York and Massachusetts, is characterized by a very high level of preference and a low level of unwillingness. About 35% to 50% of students expressed a preference for living in these places, while only 5% to 10% said they would be unwilling to live in them. The response of “outside of the United States” is also in this category, which is noteworthy given recent concerns about the current generation of Ph.D. students looking to leave the country and efforts by other nations to recruit them.

    A second cluster represents states where the preference levels are a bit lower, 20% to 30%, and the unwillingness levels are a bit higher, 7% to 15%. Still, these are states for which graduate students hold generally favorable opinions about living in after finishing their programs. This cluster includes states such as Colorado, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey.

    A third group of states represents locations for which the rate of preference is similar to the rate of unwillingness, in the range of 10% to 20%. This cluster includes states such as Minnesota, Delaware and Virginia.

    The fourth and fifth clusters consist of states where the rate of unwillingness exceeds the rate of preference, with the size of the gap distinguishing the two clusters. In the fourth cluster, at least some students – 5% to 10% – express a preference for living in them, while around 30% to 40% say they are unwilling to live in them. This cluster includes Florida, Montana, South Carolina and Utah.

    Almost no students express a preference for living in the states contained in the fifth cluster, while the highest percentages – 40% to 60% – express an unwillingness to live in them. This cluster includes Alabama, Kansas, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

    Signs of current politics

    Many factors influence our preferences for where we want to live, including family, weather and how urban, rural or suburban it is. The politics of a community can also influence our perceptions of a place’s desirability.

    Indeed, political factors may be of particular concern to graduate students. In recent years, some states have taken a more hostile stance toward specific academic disciplines, institutions of higher education in general, or professions that are of interest to graduate students. While states such as Florida and Texas have been leading such efforts, many others have followed.

    Interestingly, our statistical grouping of states finds that students’ unwillingness to live in states such as Texas, Florida, Georgia and Ohio is higher than we would expect given those states’ corresponding preference levels. For example, about 10% of students selected Texas as a place they would prefer to live in after graduation. Looking at other states with similar preference levels, we would expect about 10% to 20% of students to say they are unwilling to live in Texas. Instead, this percentage is actually 37%. Similarly, 5% of students say they would prefer to live in Florida. Other states with this preference rate have an unwillingness rate of around 35%, but Florida’s is 45%.

    Although our data does not tell us for sure, these gaps could be a function of these states’ own policies or alignment with federal policies seen as hostile to graduate students and their future employers.

    These findings suggest that communities and employers in some states might continue to face particularly steep hurdles in recruiting graduate students for employment once they finish their degrees.

    Christopher P. Scheitle receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. This article is based on a study supported by the National Science Foundation (Award #2344563).

    Katie Corcoran receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

    Taylor Remsburg receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation as a research assistant. This article is based on a study supported by the National Science Foundation (Award #2344563).

    – ref. Where tomorrow’s scientists prefer to live − and where they’d rather not – https://theconversation.com/where-tomorrows-scientists-prefer-to-live-and-where-theyd-rather-not-254431

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: AI can scan vast numbers of social media posts during disasters to guide first responders

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Ademola Adesokan, Postdoctoral Researcher in Computer Science, Missouri University of Science and Technology

    Rescuers need to know ASAP where they’re needed in disasters. AP Photo/Mike Stewart

    When disasters happen – such as hurricanes, wildfires and earthquakes – every second counts. Emergency teams need to find people fast, send help and stay organized. In today’s world, one of the fastest ways to get information is through social media.

    In recent years, researchers have explored how artificial intelligence can use social media to help during emergencies. These programs can scan millions of posts on sites such as X, Facebook and Instagram. However, most existing systems look for simple patterns like keywords or images of damage.

    In my research as an AI scientist, I’ve developed new models that go further. They can understand the meaning and context of posts – what researchers call semantics. This helps improve how accurately the system identifies people in need and classifies situational awareness information during emergencies. The results show that these tools can give rescue teams a clearer view of what’s happening on the ground and where help is needed most.

    From posts to lifesaving insights

    People share billions of posts on social media every day. During disasters, they often share photos, videos, short messages and even their location. This creates a huge network of real-time information.

    How social media can help when a disaster strikes, by the European Commission.

    But with so many posts, it’s hard for people to find what’s important quickly. That’s where artificial intelligence helps. These systems, which use machine learning, can scan thousands of posts every second, find urgent messages, spot damage shown in pictures, and tell real information from rumors.

    During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, people sent over 20 million tweets over six days. If AI tools had been used then, they could have helped find people in danger even faster.

    Training AIs

    Researchers begin by teaching AI programs to understand emergencies. In one study I conducted, I looked at thousands of social media posts from disasters. I sorted them into groups like people asking for help, damaged buildings and general comments. Then, I used these examples to train the program to sort new posts by itself.

    One big step forward was teaching the program to look at pictures and words together. For example, a photo of flooded streets and a message like “we’re trapped” are stronger signals than either one alone. Using both, the system became much better at showing where people needed help and how serious the damage was.

    Finding information is just the first step. The main goal is to help emergency teams act quickly and save lives.

    I’m working with emergency response teams in the United States to add this technology to their systems. When a disaster hits, my program can show where help is needed by using social media posts. It can also classify this information by urgency, helping rescue teams use their resources where they are needed most.

    For example, during a flood, my system can quickly spot where people are asking for help and rank these areas by urgency. This helps rescue teams act faster and send aid where it’s needed most, even before official reports come in.

    AI scans of social media could help guide first responders to where they’re most urgently needed.
    Jon Cherry/Getty Images

    Addressing the challenges

    Using social media to help during disasters sounds great, but it’s not always easy. Sometimes, people post things that aren’t true. Other times, the same message gets posted many times or doesn’t clearly state where the problem is. This mix can make it hard for the system to know what’s real.

    To fix this, I’m working on ways to check a post’s credibility. I look at who posted it, what words they used and whether other posts say the same thing.

    I also take privacy seriously. I only use posts that anyone can see and never show names or personal details. Instead, I look at the big picture to find patterns.

    The future of disaster intelligence

    As AI systems improve, they are likely to be even more helpful during disasters. New tools can understand messages more clearly and might even help us see where trouble is coming before it starts.

    As extreme weather worsens, authorities need fast ways to get good information. When used correctly, social media can show people where help is needed most. It can help save lives and get supplies to the right places faster.

    In the future, I believe this will become a regular part of emergency work around the world. My research is still growing, but one thing is clear: Disaster response is no longer just about people on the ground – it’s also about AI systems in the cloud.

    Ademola Adesokan receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the Kummer Institute for Student Success, Research, and Economic Development at the Missouri University of Science and Technology through the Kummer Innovation and Entrepreneurship Doctoral Fellowship.

    – ref. AI can scan vast numbers of social media posts during disasters to guide first responders – https://theconversation.com/ai-can-scan-vast-numbers-of-social-media-posts-during-disasters-to-guide-first-responders-255316

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why collect asteroid samples? 4 essential reads on what these tiny bits of space rock can tell scientists

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Mary Magnuson, Associate Science Editor

    The OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule contained rock from the asteroid Bennu. NASA/Keegan Barber

    China’s Tianwen-2 asteroid sample return mission is set to launch this month, May 2025, en route to the asteroid Kamoʻoalewa (2016 HO3). The country could join the United States and Japan, whose space agencies have both successfully retrieved a sample from an asteroid to study back on Earth.

    Several space missions have flown by asteroids before and gotten a peek at their compositions, but bringing a sample back to Earth is even more helpful for scientists. The most informative analyses require having physical samples to poke and prod, shine light at, run through CT scanners and examine under electron microscopes.

    These missions require detailed planning and specialized spacecraft, so to shed light on why agencies go through the trouble, we compiled four stories from The Conversation U.S.’s archive. These articles describe the ways asteroid sample return missions generate new scientific insights at every stage – from the collection process, to the container’s return to Earth, to laboratory analyses.

    1. Ryugu’s colorful history

    The asteroid Ryugu is made of carbon-rich rock. Japan targeted Ryugu for its sample return mission Hayabusa2 in 2020.

    A sealed container that holds a piece of the Ryugu sample from Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission.
    NASA/Robert Markowitz

    As planetary scientist Paul K. Byrne from Washington University in St. Louis described in his article, the Hayabusa2 team shot the asteroid with a metal projectile and collected the dusty debris that floated into space. This process allowed the Hayabusa2 craft to gather a sample to bring home and also get a close-up look at the asteroid’s surface.

    One thing the collection team noticed: The material that flew off the asteroid was redder than the surface they shot at, which had a bluer tinge.

    Some parts of Ryugu appear almost striped – the middle latitudes are redder, while the poles look more blue. The sample collection process gave researchers some hints about why that is.

    “At some point the asteroid must have been closer to the Sun that it is now,” Byrne wrote. “That would explain the amount of reddening of the surface.”



    Read more:
    Touching the asteroid Ryugu revealed secrets of its surface and changing orbit

    2. Return capsules make shock waves

    Similar to how researchers gained valuable data just from the Hayabusa2 collection process, atmospheric scientists didn’t even need to open the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule to learn something new.

    NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission traveled to the carbon-rich asteroid Bennu and sent home a small capsule containing a sample in September 2023.

    Released from the OSIRIS-REx craft, the sample return capsule hurtled down to Earth in a heavy box about the size of a microwave. Aside from the fact that it had been released from a spacecraft about 63,000 miles (102,000 kilometers) away, the return looked strikingly similar to that of a meteorite hitting Earth.

    Scientists don’t often have the advance notice needed to study how real meteoroids – the term given to meteorites before they hit the ground – behave when they enter the atmosphere, so they jumped on the opportunity to study the capsule as it returned to Earth.

    As physicists Brian Elbing from Oklahoma State University and Elizabeth A. Silber from Sandia National Laboratories discussed in their article, OSIRIS-REx’s reentry was the perfect opportunity to study what happens in the atmosphere when meteoroid-size objects fly through.

    The teams set up networks of sensitive microphones and other instruments – both on the ground and attached to balloons – to log the sound wave frequencies that the capsule generated in the atmosphere. Understanding how waves travel through the atmosphere can help scientists figure out how to detect hazards such as natural disasters.



    Read more:
    NASA’s asteroid sample mission gave scientists around the world the rare opportunity to study an artificial meteor

    3. Building blocks of life on Bennu

    Once the OSIRIS-REx return capsule was safely back on Earth, researchers across the world – including geologist Timothy J. McCoy from the Smithsonian Institution and planetary scientist Sara Russell from the Natural History Museum in the U.K. – got to work running tests on its contents, while handling the sample carefully to avoid contaminating it.

    As they described in their article, McCoy and Russell found the sample was mostly water-rich clay, which they expected from a carbon-rich asteroid. But they also found a surprising amount of salty and brine-related minerals. These minerals form when water evaporates off a rock’s surface.

    Because these minerals – aptly called evaporites – dissolve when they come into contact with moisture, scientists had never seen them in the meteorites that fly through Earth’s atmosphere, even ones with similar compositions to Bennu. The spacecraft’s sample container kept the Bennu sample airtight, so these evaporites stayed intact.

    These results suggest that the asteroid used to be wet and muddy. And a salty, water-rich environment like Bennu may have once been a great place for organic molecules to form. Some scientists predict that Earth got its ingredients for life from a collision with an asteroid like Bennu.



    Read more:
    Bennu asteroid reveals its contents to scientists − and clues to how the building blocks of life on Earth may have been seeded

    4. Looking ahead: Asteroid mining

    Asteroid sample return missions generate lots of scientific insights. They can also help space agencies and companies understand what exactly is out there, available to bring home from asteroids. While carbon-rich asteroids like Bennu and Ryugu aren’t flush with precious metals, other asteroids have more valuable contents.

    Launched in 2023 and currently traveling through space, NASA’s Psyche mission will explore a metallic asteroid. The Psyche asteroid likely contains platinum, nickel, iron and possibly gold – all materials of commercial interest.

    Scientists can learn about the formation and composition of Earth’s core from metallic asteroids like Psyche, which is the mission’s main goal. But as planetary scientist Valerie Payré from the University of Iowa wrote in her article, “The Psyche mission is a huge step in figuring out what sort of metals are out there.”

    For now, commercial asteroid mining operations are science fiction – not to mention legally fraught. But some companies have started considering early-stage plans for how they one day might do it. Asteroid sample missions can lay some early groundwork.



    Read more:
    NASA’s robotic prospectors are helping scientists understand what asteroids are made of – setting the stage for miners to follow someday

    This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.

    – ref. Why collect asteroid samples? 4 essential reads on what these tiny bits of space rock can tell scientists – https://theconversation.com/why-collect-asteroid-samples-4-essential-reads-on-what-these-tiny-bits-of-space-rock-can-tell-scientists-255705

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: China and Central Asian countries ready to deepen cooperation in education

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    URUMQI, May 13 (Xinhua) — The first China-Central Asia Education Ministers’ Meeting was held in Urumqi, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on Monday, calling for deeper cooperation in areas such as scientific research, vocational education and more.

    Delivering a keynote speech at the meeting, Chinese Education Minister Huai Jinpeng noted that China pays close attention to cooperation with Central Asian countries in the field of education. Over the past two years, the parties have cooperated more closely and achieved fruitful results, he said.

    Regarding deepening China-Central Asia educational cooperation, Huai Jinpeng called for building new platforms for comprehensive exchanges and cooperation, forming a new system of higher education cooperation for joint training of professionals, unleashing the potential of cooperation in vocational education, strengthening cooperation in digital education based on resource sharing, and promoting exchanges between civilizations in China and Central Asian countries.

    As stated by the Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan Sayasat Nurbek, Kazakhstan and China have developed fruitful cooperation in scientific research and education and actively promoted exchanges between specialists, while the youth of the two countries are showing growing interest in studying in each other’s countries.

    At the meeting, he also stressed the importance of expanding academic interaction, strengthening cooperation in postgraduate education, and enhancing the integration of artificial intelligence in the education process.

    At the meeting, the Minister of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic Dogdurkul Kendirbaeva proposed the development of cooperation in the field of developing a green economy and environmental education, supporting projects on artificial intelligence, digital technologies, e-commerce and innovative business models, as well as the continuous development of relevant projects in the field of biodiversity and climate change.

    The Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Tajikistan Rahim Saidzod stated that as the level of informatization of the social sphere increases, Tajikistan will actively promote technological innovations and cooperation in various aspects, including neural networks, robotic automated production, 3D printing, etc.

    Minister of Education of Turkmenistan Jumamyrat Gurbangeldiev noted that Turkmenistan and China maintain an active intercultural dialogue, which has laid a solid foundation for the sustainable development of bilateral cooperation in the field of education.

    The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of the Republic of Uzbekistan Kongratbay Sharipov put forward an initiative to strengthen cooperation in the “China-Central Asia” format in the field of professional education in such specialized areas as agricultural engineering, green logistics, medical technologies, car maintenance, etc.

    Following the meeting, the Working Charter of the Mechanism of the China-Central Asia Education Ministers’ Meeting and the Urumqi Declaration of the China-Central Asia Education Ministers’ Meeting were adopted.

    The meeting announced the establishment of the China-Central Asia Alliance for the Integration of Education and Production and the Central Asian branch of the Global Institute for Teacher Education, as well as the launch of several projects in the research field.

    Meanwhile, a number of memorandums and agreements between educational institutions were signed at the event. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Apple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this year

    Source: Apple

    Headline: Apple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this year

    May 13, 2025

    PRESS RELEASE

    Apple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this year

    New features include Accessibility Nutrition Labels on the App Store, Magnifier for Mac, Braille Access, and Accessibility Reader; plus innovative updates to Live Listen, visionOS, Personal Voice, and more

    CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today announced new accessibility features coming later this year, including Accessibility Nutrition Labels, which will provide more detailed information for apps and games on the App Store. Users who are blind or have low vision can explore, learn, and interact using the new Magnifier app for Mac; take notes and perform calculations with the new Braille Access feature; and leverage the powerful camera system of Apple Vision Pro with new updates to visionOS. Additional announcements include Accessibility Reader, a new systemwide reading mode designed with accessibility in mind, along with updates to Live Listen, Background Sounds, Personal Voice, Vehicle Motion Cues, and more. Leveraging the power of Apple silicon — along with advances in on-device machine learning and artificial intelligence — users will experience a new level of accessibility across the Apple ecosystem.

    “At Apple, accessibility is part of our DNA,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Making technology for everyone is a priority for all of us, and we’re proud of the innovations we’re sharing this year. That includes tools to help people access crucial information, explore the world around them, and do what they love.”

    “Building on 40 years of accessibility innovation at Apple, we are dedicated to pushing forward with new accessibility features for all of our products,” said Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s senior director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives. “Powered by the Apple ecosystem, these features work seamlessly together to bring users new ways to engage with the things they care about most.”

    Accessibility Nutrition Labels Come to the App Store

    Accessibility Nutrition Labels bring a new section to App Store product pages that will highlight accessibility features within apps and games. These labels give users a new way to learn if an app will be accessible to them before they download it, and give developers the opportunity to better inform and educate their users on features their app supports. This includes VoiceOver, Voice Control, Larger Text, Sufficient Contrast, Reduced Motion, captions, and more. Accessibility Nutrition Labels will be available on the App Store worldwide, and developers can access more guidance on the criteria apps should meet before displaying accessibility information on their product pages.

    “Accessibility Nutrition Labels are a huge step forward for accessibility,” said Eric Bridges, the American Foundation for the Blind’s president and CEO. “Consumers deserve to know if a product or service will be accessible to them from the very start, and Apple has a long-standing history of delivering tools and technologies that allow developers to build experiences for everyone. These labels will give people with disabilities a new way to easily make more informed decisions and make purchases with a new level of confidence.”

    An All-New Magnifier for Mac

    Since 2016, Magnifier on iPhone and iPad has given users who are blind or have low vision tools to zoom in, read text, and detect objects around them. This year, Magnifier is coming to Mac to make the physical world more accessible for users with low vision. The Magnifier app for Mac connects to a user’s camera so they can zoom in on their surroundings, such as a screen or whiteboard. Magnifier works with Continuity Camera on iPhone as well as attached USB cameras, and supports reading documents using Desk View.

    With multiple live session windows, users can multitask by viewing a presentation with a webcam while simultaneously following along in a book using Desk View. With customized views, users can adjust brightness, contrast, color filters, and even perspective to make text and images easier to see. Views can also be captured, grouped, and saved to add to later on. Additionally, Magnifier for Mac is integrated with another new accessibility feature, Accessibility Reader, which transforms text from the physical world into a custom legible format.

    A New Braille Experience

    Braille Access is an all-new experience that turns iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro into a full-featured braille note taker that’s deeply integrated into the Apple ecosystem. With a built-in app launcher, users can easily open any app by typing with Braille Screen Input or a connected braille device. With Braille Access, users can quickly take notes in braille format and perform calculations using Nemeth Braille, a braille code often used in classrooms for math and science. Users can open Braille Ready Format (BRF) files directly from Braille Access, unlocking a wide range of books and files previously created on a braille note taking device. And an integrated form of Live Captions allows users to transcribe conversations in real time directly on braille displays.

    Introducing Accessibility Reader

    Accessibility Reader is a new systemwide reading mode designed to make text easier to read for users with a wide range of disabilities, such as dyslexia or low vision. Available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro, Accessibility Reader gives users new ways to customize text and focus on content they want to read, with extensive options for font, color, and spacing, as well as support for Spoken Content. Accessibility Reader can be launched from any app, and is built into the Magnifier app for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, so users can interact with text in the real world, like in books or on dining menus.

    Live Captions Arrive on Apple Watch

    For users who are deaf or hard of hearing, Live Listen controls come to Apple Watch with a new set of features, including real-time Live Captions. Live Listen turns iPhone into a remote microphone to stream content directly to AirPods, Made for iPhone hearing aids, or Beats headphones. When a session is active on iPhone, users can view Live Captions of what their iPhone hears on a paired Apple Watch while listening along to the audio. Apple Watch serves as a remote control to start or stop Live Listen sessions, or jump back in a session to capture something that may have been missed. With Apple Watch, Live Listen sessions can be controlled from across the room, so there’s no need to get up in the middle of a meeting or during class. Live Listen can be used along with hearing health features available on AirPods Pro 2, including the first-of-its-kind clinical-grade Hearing Aid feature.

    An Enhanced View with Apple Vision Pro

    For users who are blind or have low vision, visionOS will expand vision accessibility features using the advanced camera system on Apple Vision Pro. With powerful updates to Zoom, users can magnify everything in view — including their surroundings — using the main camera. For VoiceOver users, Live Recognition in visionOS uses on-device machine learning to describe surroundings, find objects, read documents, and more.1 For accessibility developers, a new API will enable approved apps to access the main camera to provide live, person-to-person assistance for visual interpretation in apps like Be My Eyes, giving users more ways to understand their surroundings hands-free.

    Additional Updates

    • Background Sounds becomes easier to personalize with new EQ settings, the option to stop automatically after a period of time, and new actions for automations in Shortcuts. Background Sounds can help minimize distractions to increase a sense of focus and relaxation, which some users find can help with symptoms of tinnitus.
    • For users at risk of losing their ability to speak, Personal Voice becomes faster, easier, and more powerful than ever, leveraging advances in on-device machine learning and artificial intelligence to create a smoother, more natural-sounding voice in less than a minute, using only 10 recorded phrases. Personal Voice will also add support for Spanish (Mexico).2
    • Vehicle Motion Cues, which can help reduce motion sickness when riding in a moving vehicle, comes to Mac, along with new ways to customize the animated onscreen dots on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
    • Eye Tracking users on iPhone and iPad will now have the option to use a switch or dwell to make selections. Keyboard typing when using Eye Tracking or Switch Control is now easier on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro with improvements including a new keyboard dwell timer, reduced steps when typing with switches, and enabling QuickPath for iPhone and Vision Pro.
    • With Head Tracking, users will be able to more easily control iPhone and iPad with head movements, similar to Eye Tracking.
    • For users with severe mobility disabilities, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS will add a new protocol to support Switch Control for Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs), an emerging technology that allows users to control their device without physical movement.
    • Assistive Access adds a new custom Apple TV app with a simplified media player. Developers will also get support in creating tailored experiences for users with intellectual and developmental disabilities using the Assistive Access API.
    • Music Haptics on iPhone becomes more customizable with the option to experience haptics for a whole song or for vocals only, as well as the option to adjust the overall intensity of taps, textures, and vibrations.
    • Sound Recognition adds Name Recognition, a new way for users who are deaf or hard of hearing to know when their name is being called.
    • Voice Control introduces a new programming mode in Xcode for software developers with limited mobility. Voice Control also adds vocabulary syncing across devices, and will expand language support to include Korean, Arabic (Saudi Arabia), Turkish, Italian, Spanish (Latin America), Mandarin Chinese (Taiwan), English (Singapore), and Russian.
    • Live Captions adds support to include English (India, Australia, UK, Singapore), Mandarin Chinese (Mainland China), Cantonese (Mainland China, Hong Kong), Spanish (Latin America, Spain), French (France, Canada), Japanese, German (Germany), and Korean.
    • Updates to CarPlay include support for Large Text. With updates to Sound Recognition in CarPlay, drivers or passengers who are deaf or hard of hearing can now be notified of the sound of a crying baby, in addition to sounds outside the car such as horns and sirens.
    • Share Accessibility Settings is a new way for users to quickly and temporarily share their accessibility settings with another iPhone or iPad. This is great for borrowing a friend’s device or using a public kiosk in a setting like a cafe.

    Celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day with Apple

    Apple Retail is introducing dedicated tables spotlighting accessibility features on a variety of devices in select store locations throughout the month of May. Additionally, Apple offers accessibility sessions year-round through Today at Apple for deeper learning, tips, and feature customization. Sessions can be scheduled at all Apple Store locations worldwide through Group Booking or by visiting a nearby store.

    Apple Music shares the story of artist Kiddo K and the power of music haptics for users who are deaf or hard of hearing, unveils updates to its Haptics playlists, and launches a brand-new playlist featuring ASL interpretations of music videos alongside Saylists playlists.

    Apple Fitness+ welcomes Chelsie Hill as a guest in a Dance workout with Fitness+ trainer Ben Allen. Hill is a professional dancer and founder of Rolettes, an L.A.-based wheelchair dance team that advocates for disability representation and women’s empowerment. The workout is available now in the Fitness+ app.

    Apple TV+ shares a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the new Apple Original film Deaf President Now!, which premieres on Apple TV+ on May 16. The documentary tells the story of the greatest civil rights movement most people have never heard about, which unfolded across eight tumultuous days in 1988. At the world’s only Deaf university, four students must find a way to lead an angry mob — and change the course of history.

    Apple Books, Apple Podcasts, Apple TV, and Apple News will spotlight stories of people with disabilities and those who are working to make the world more accessible for everyone.

    The App Store is sharing a collection of apps and games designed to be accessible to everyone, in addition to featuring the story of Klemens Strasser, a developer guided by a philosophy of making accessible apps and games like The Art of Fauna.

    The Shortcuts app adds Hold That Thought, a shortcut that prompts users to capture and recall information in a note so interruptions don’t derail their flow. The Accessibility Assistant shortcut has been added to Shortcuts on Apple Vision Pro to help recommend accessibility features based on user preferences.

    New videos on the Apple Support accessibility playlist include features like Eye Tracking, Vocal Shortcuts, and Vehicle Motion Cues, as well as a library of videos to help everyone personalize their iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro to work best for them.

    About Apple Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro. Apple’s six software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS, and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, iCloud, and Apple TV+. Apple’s more than 150,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth and to leaving the world better than we found it.

    1. Live Recognition should not be relied on in high-risk or emergency situations, in circumstances where the user may be harmed or injured, or for navigation.
    2. Personal Voice can only be used to create a voice that sounds like the user on device, using their own voice, and for their own personal, noncommercial use.

    Press Contacts

    Will Butler

    Apple

    willbutler@apple.com

    Apple Media Helpline

    media.help@apple.com

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Apple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this year

    Source: Apple

    Headline: Apple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this year

    May 13, 2025

    PRESS RELEASE

    Apple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this year

    New features include Accessibility Nutrition Labels on the App Store, Magnifier for Mac, Braille Access, and Accessibility Reader; plus innovative updates to Live Listen, visionOS, Personal Voice, and more

    CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today announced new accessibility features coming later this year, including Accessibility Nutrition Labels, which will provide more detailed information for apps and games on the App Store. Users who are blind or have low vision can explore, learn, and interact using the new Magnifier app for Mac; take notes and perform calculations with the new Braille Access feature; and leverage the powerful camera system of Apple Vision Pro with new updates to visionOS. Additional announcements include Accessibility Reader, a new systemwide reading mode designed with accessibility in mind, along with updates to Live Listen, Background Sounds, Personal Voice, Vehicle Motion Cues, and more. Leveraging the power of Apple silicon — along with advances in on-device machine learning and artificial intelligence — users will experience a new level of accessibility across the Apple ecosystem.

    “At Apple, accessibility is part of our DNA,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Making technology for everyone is a priority for all of us, and we’re proud of the innovations we’re sharing this year. That includes tools to help people access crucial information, explore the world around them, and do what they love.”

    “Building on 40 years of accessibility innovation at Apple, we are dedicated to pushing forward with new accessibility features for all of our products,” said Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s senior director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives. “Powered by the Apple ecosystem, these features work seamlessly together to bring users new ways to engage with the things they care about most.”

    Accessibility Nutrition Labels Come to the App Store

    Accessibility Nutrition Labels bring a new section to App Store product pages that will highlight accessibility features within apps and games. These labels give users a new way to learn if an app will be accessible to them before they download it, and give developers the opportunity to better inform and educate their users on features their app supports. This includes VoiceOver, Voice Control, Larger Text, Sufficient Contrast, Reduced Motion, captions, and more. Accessibility Nutrition Labels will be available on the App Store worldwide, and developers can access more guidance on the criteria apps should meet before displaying accessibility information on their product pages.

    “Accessibility Nutrition Labels are a huge step forward for accessibility,” said Eric Bridges, the American Foundation for the Blind’s president and CEO. “Consumers deserve to know if a product or service will be accessible to them from the very start, and Apple has a long-standing history of delivering tools and technologies that allow developers to build experiences for everyone. These labels will give people with disabilities a new way to easily make more informed decisions and make purchases with a new level of confidence.”

    An All-New Magnifier for Mac

    Since 2016, Magnifier on iPhone and iPad has given users who are blind or have low vision tools to zoom in, read text, and detect objects around them. This year, Magnifier is coming to Mac to make the physical world more accessible for users with low vision. The Magnifier app for Mac connects to a user’s camera so they can zoom in on their surroundings, such as a screen or whiteboard. Magnifier works with Continuity Camera on iPhone as well as attached USB cameras, and supports reading documents using Desk View.

    With multiple live session windows, users can multitask by viewing a presentation with a webcam while simultaneously following along in a book using Desk View. With customized views, users can adjust brightness, contrast, color filters, and even perspective to make text and images easier to see. Views can also be captured, grouped, and saved to add to later on. Additionally, Magnifier for Mac is integrated with another new accessibility feature, Accessibility Reader, which transforms text from the physical world into a custom legible format.

    A New Braille Experience

    Braille Access is an all-new experience that turns iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro into a full-featured braille note taker that’s deeply integrated into the Apple ecosystem. With a built-in app launcher, users can easily open any app by typing with Braille Screen Input or a connected braille device. With Braille Access, users can quickly take notes in braille format and perform calculations using Nemeth Braille, a braille code often used in classrooms for math and science. Users can open Braille Ready Format (BRF) files directly from Braille Access, unlocking a wide range of books and files previously created on a braille note taking device. And an integrated form of Live Captions allows users to transcribe conversations in real time directly on braille displays.

    Introducing Accessibility Reader

    Accessibility Reader is a new systemwide reading mode designed to make text easier to read for users with a wide range of disabilities, such as dyslexia or low vision. Available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro, Accessibility Reader gives users new ways to customize text and focus on content they want to read, with extensive options for font, color, and spacing, as well as support for Spoken Content. Accessibility Reader can be launched from any app, and is built into the Magnifier app for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, so users can interact with text in the real world, like in books or on dining menus.

    Live Captions Arrive on Apple Watch

    For users who are deaf or hard of hearing, Live Listen controls come to Apple Watch with a new set of features, including real-time Live Captions. Live Listen turns iPhone into a remote microphone to stream content directly to AirPods, Made for iPhone hearing aids, or Beats headphones. When a session is active on iPhone, users can view Live Captions of what their iPhone hears on a paired Apple Watch while listening along to the audio. Apple Watch serves as a remote control to start or stop Live Listen sessions, or jump back in a session to capture something that may have been missed. With Apple Watch, Live Listen sessions can be controlled from across the room, so there’s no need to get up in the middle of a meeting or during class. Live Listen can be used along with hearing health features available on AirPods Pro 2, including the first-of-its-kind clinical-grade Hearing Aid feature.

    An Enhanced View with Apple Vision Pro

    For users who are blind or have low vision, visionOS will expand vision accessibility features using the advanced camera system on Apple Vision Pro. With powerful updates to Zoom, users can magnify everything in view — including their surroundings — using the main camera. For VoiceOver users, Live Recognition in visionOS uses on-device machine learning to describe surroundings, find objects, read documents, and more.1 For accessibility developers, a new API will enable approved apps to access the main camera to provide live, person-to-person assistance for visual interpretation in apps like Be My Eyes, giving users more ways to understand their surroundings hands-free.

    Additional Updates

    • Background Sounds becomes easier to personalize with new EQ settings, the option to stop automatically after a period of time, and new actions for automations in Shortcuts. Background Sounds can help minimize distractions to increase a sense of focus and relaxation, which some users find can help with symptoms of tinnitus.
    • For users at risk of losing their ability to speak, Personal Voice becomes faster, easier, and more powerful than ever, leveraging advances in on-device machine learning and artificial intelligence to create a smoother, more natural-sounding voice in less than a minute, using only 10 recorded phrases. Personal Voice will also add support for Spanish (Mexico).2
    • Vehicle Motion Cues, which can help reduce motion sickness when riding in a moving vehicle, comes to Mac, along with new ways to customize the animated onscreen dots on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
    • Eye Tracking users on iPhone and iPad will now have the option to use a switch or dwell to make selections. Keyboard typing when using Eye Tracking or Switch Control is now easier on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro with improvements including a new keyboard dwell timer, reduced steps when typing with switches, and enabling QuickPath for iPhone and Vision Pro.
    • With Head Tracking, users will be able to more easily control iPhone and iPad with head movements, similar to Eye Tracking.
    • For users with severe mobility disabilities, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS will add a new protocol to support Switch Control for Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs), an emerging technology that allows users to control their device without physical movement.
    • Assistive Access adds a new custom Apple TV app with a simplified media player. Developers will also get support in creating tailored experiences for users with intellectual and developmental disabilities using the Assistive Access API.
    • Music Haptics on iPhone becomes more customizable with the option to experience haptics for a whole song or for vocals only, as well as the option to adjust the overall intensity of taps, textures, and vibrations.
    • Sound Recognition adds Name Recognition, a new way for users who are deaf or hard of hearing to know when their name is being called.
    • Voice Control introduces a new programming mode in Xcode for software developers with limited mobility. Voice Control also adds vocabulary syncing across devices, and will expand language support to include Korean, Arabic (Saudi Arabia), Turkish, Italian, Spanish (Latin America), Mandarin Chinese (Taiwan), English (Singapore), and Russian.
    • Live Captions adds support to include English (India, Australia, UK, Singapore), Mandarin Chinese (Mainland China), Cantonese (Mainland China, Hong Kong), Spanish (Latin America, Spain), French (France, Canada), Japanese, German (Germany), and Korean.
    • Updates to CarPlay include support for Large Text. With updates to Sound Recognition in CarPlay, drivers or passengers who are deaf or hard of hearing can now be notified of the sound of a crying baby, in addition to sounds outside the car such as horns and sirens.
    • Share Accessibility Settings is a new way for users to quickly and temporarily share their accessibility settings with another iPhone or iPad. This is great for borrowing a friend’s device or using a public kiosk in a setting like a cafe.

    Celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day with Apple

    Apple Retail is introducing dedicated tables spotlighting accessibility features on a variety of devices in select store locations throughout the month of May. Additionally, Apple offers accessibility sessions year-round through Today at Apple for deeper learning, tips, and feature customization. Sessions can be scheduled at all Apple Store locations worldwide through Group Booking or by visiting a nearby store.

    Apple Music shares the story of artist Kiddo K and the power of music haptics for users who are deaf or hard of hearing, unveils updates to its Haptics playlists, and launches a brand-new playlist featuring ASL interpretations of music videos alongside Saylists playlists.

    Apple Fitness+ welcomes Chelsie Hill as a guest in a Dance workout with Fitness+ trainer Ben Allen. Hill is a professional dancer and founder of Rolettes, an L.A.-based wheelchair dance team that advocates for disability representation and women’s empowerment. The workout is available now in the Fitness+ app.

    Apple TV+ shares a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the new Apple Original film Deaf President Now!, which premieres on Apple TV+ on May 16. The documentary tells the story of the greatest civil rights movement most people have never heard about, which unfolded across eight tumultuous days in 1988. At the world’s only Deaf university, four students must find a way to lead an angry mob — and change the course of history.

    Apple Books, Apple Podcasts, Apple TV, and Apple News will spotlight stories of people with disabilities and those who are working to make the world more accessible for everyone.

    The App Store is sharing a collection of apps and games designed to be accessible to everyone, in addition to featuring the story of Klemens Strasser, a developer guided by a philosophy of making accessible apps and games like The Art of Fauna.

    The Shortcuts app adds Hold That Thought, a shortcut that prompts users to capture and recall information in a note so interruptions don’t derail their flow. The Accessibility Assistant shortcut has been added to Shortcuts on Apple Vision Pro to help recommend accessibility features based on user preferences.

    New videos on the Apple Support accessibility playlist include features like Eye Tracking, Vocal Shortcuts, and Vehicle Motion Cues, as well as a library of videos to help everyone personalize their iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro to work best for them.

    About Apple Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro. Apple’s six software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS, and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, iCloud, and Apple TV+. Apple’s more than 150,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth and to leaving the world better than we found it.

    1. Live Recognition should not be relied on in high-risk or emergency situations, in circumstances where the user may be harmed or injured, or for navigation.
    2. Personal Voice can only be used to create a voice that sounds like the user on device, using their own voice, and for their own personal, noncommercial use.

    Press Contacts

    Will Butler

    Apple

    willbutler@apple.com

    Apple Media Helpline

    media.help@apple.com

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Pension schemes back British growth

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Press release

    Pension schemes back British growth

    Mansion House Accord unlocks up to £50 billion investment for the economy, with first commitments to invest in the UK.

    • More ambitious targets than 2023 Mansion House Compact will unlock investment into UK businesses and major infrastructure projects, including clean energy developments. 

    • Comes ahead of Pensions Investment Review final report, which will create megafunds to drive more investment, boost pension pots and grow the economy through the Plan for Change.

    Up to £50 billion of investment for UK businesses and major infrastructure projects is set to be unlocked through a new agreement with Britain’s biggest pension funds, as the Government goes further and faster to drive growth through the Plan for Change.

    Seventeen workplace pension providers managing around 90 percent of active savers’ defined contribution pensions will sign the Mansion House Accord at a roundtable with the Chancellor and Minister for Pensions in the City of London today (Tuesday 13 May). 

    Signatories to the Accord will pledge to invest 10 percent of their workplace portfolios in assets that boost the economy such as infrastructure, property and private equity by 2030. At least 5 percent of these portfolios will be ringfenced for the UK, expected to release £25 billion directly into the UK economy by 2030.  

    This investment could support clean energy developments across the country, delivering greater energy security and helping to lower household bills, as well as delivering growth finance to Britain’s world-leading science and technology businesses – creating jobs, boosting businesses and putting more money into people’s pockets.

    Pension savers will also benefit from the commitment to invest in private markets. Comparable Australian schemes invest significantly more in private markets and domestic companies than UK schemes, and research suggests greater investment in private markets can deliver security through diversified asset holdings and potentially drive higher returns. 

    The pledge follows hot on the heels of securing trade agreements with India and the US, which will add billions of pounds to the UK economy and protect thousands of steel and car manufacturing jobs, as well as a fourth interest rate cut since last Summer. This demonstrates the UK’s strength in navigating a changing world, going further and faster through our Plan for Change to drive growth and put more money into people’s pockets.

    Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said:

    Through our Plan for Change, we are choosing to back British businesses and British workers. I welcome this bold step by some of our biggest pension funds, which will unlock billions for major infrastructure, clean energy, and exciting startups — delivering growth, boosting pension pots, and giving working people greater security in retirement.

    Torsten Bell, Minister for Pensions, said:

    Pensions matter hugely, they underpin not just the retirements we all look forward to, but the investment our future prosperity depends on. I hugely welcome the pensions industry decision to invest in more productive assets, from growing companies to infrastructure. This supports better outcomes for savers and faster growth for Britain.

    Today’s announcement is more ambitious than the 2023 Mansion House Compact, where eleven funds committed to the aim of investing 5 percent of their workplace defined contribution default funds – the off-the-shelf funds providers offer to the vast majority of savers – in unlisted companies by 2030. The new commitment involves the vast majority of the industry and brings more assets into scope, doubles the target from 5 percent to 10 percent, and includes a specific commitment to investing 5 percent in the UK. 

    Progress against the commitment will be monitored and the initiative will be reinforced by measures to be announced in the upcoming final report of the Pensions Investment Review. The final report will tackle fragmentation in the UK pension system, creating pension megafunds that take advantage of scale and consolidation like Australian and Canadian funds do, to invest in productive assets like private markets and big infrastructure projects.  

    Some pension funds have already indicated privately that they will go beyond the targets agreed through the Mansion House Accord, which could lead to even more direct investment in the UK economy – and is particularly welcomed by the government. 

    Today’s commitment comes alongside progress in the government’s efforts to help pension savers benefit from the opportunities of investing in UK growth. The British Business Bank has now received regulatory approval from the Financial Conduct Authority to deliver the British Growth Partnership – which will provide UK pension funds and other institutional investors with access to the Bank’s extensive pipeline of UK venture capital opportunities. 

    The government will continue working with the industry to make sure pension schemes deliver the best possible value for savers — while driving the investment needed to deliver growth and put more money into people’s pockets.

    Yvonne Braun, Director of Policy, Long-Term Savings, Health and Protection at the ABI, said:

    As major investors, the pensions industry already plays a vital role in driving growth in the UK and globally. The Accord formalises the industry’s ambition to invest more in private markets to diversify investments, support innovation and infrastructure, and ensure prosperity.  Investments under the Accord will always be made in savers’ best interests. It is now critical that Government supports the industry’s ambition, by facilitating a pipeline of suitable investment opportunities, tackling barriers to investments, and delivering wider pension reforms effectively.

    Alastair King, Lord Mayor of London, said:

    The Mansion House Accord builds on the strong foundations of the Compact and signals a step change in ambition: more signatories, deeper allocations to private markets, and a clearer commitment to backing UK assets. That includes a renewed focus on revitalising the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange as well as the Aquis Exchange, which play a critical role in supporting high-growth companies that drive innovation, jobs and productivity. If we want those firms to scale in the UK, we must ensure they have the capital to do so. This is not just about better pension outcomes, it is about building a more dynamic, competitive investment ecosystem. Delivering long-term, sustainable growth is crucial and the City of London Corporation is delighted to have partnered with industry and Government to bring this ambition to life.

    Zoe Alexander, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the PLSA, said:

    UK pension schemes already invest billions in UK growth assets. This accord demonstrates the collective ambition of the DC sector to do even more, as well as its confidence that the UK will provide the right opportunities to invest, consistent with schemes’ fiduciary duty to members. The Government, in its turn, has committed to take action to ensure there is a strong pipeline of investable assets for pension schemes. With everyone playing their part, there is great potential to boost returns for savers while providing vital funding to productive growth areas.

    More information

    • This is a voluntary expression of intent by seventeen signatories. The Mansion House Accord has been jointly led by the ABI, City of London Corporation and the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association. 

    • Signatories to the new commitment include: Aegon, Aon, Aviva, Legal & General, LifeSight, M&G, Mercer, Natwest Cushon, Nest, NOW: Pensions, Phoenix Group, Royal London, Smart Pension, the People’s Pension, SEI, TPT Retirement Solutions and the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). 

    • The signatories to the Accord have stated that £252 billion of assets are subject to the pledge. Based on historical growth rates (which have been halved to reflect a maturing market (17% per annum)) and reflecting further consolidation in the pensions market, this could rise to around £740 billion by 2030.  

    • The £50 billion and £25 billion cash estimates for investment unlocked are indicative and assume current private market investment levels are at 3.5%, of which 40% is UK-based. These are increased to 10% and 50% respectively by 2030 in line with the Accord.   

    • Some providers have indicated they may exceed the private markets investment targets in the Accord, which could lead to additional investment.  

    • Investments will support UK growth sectors, including clean energy infrastructure and innovative small businesses. 

    • Government Actuary Department Analysis from 2024 found that a portfolio with greater exposure to private markets – including infrastructure and private equity – delivered stronger returns than a baseline portfolio comprised largely of overseas equities.   

    • The Pensions Investment Review interim report was published at Mansion House 2024, with the final report due Spring 2025. 
    • Pictures will be published on HMT’s Flickr following the signing event.

    Stakeholder commentary:

    Andy Briggs, Phoenix Group CEO, said:

    This Mansion House Accord will unlock investment in UK private markets while helping deliver better long-term returns and retirements for millions of pension savers. The new commitments have the potential to strengthen the economy by fuelling the growth of British businesses and boosting investment in critical infrastructure.  

    Phoenix Group has already taken a lead by launching Future Growth Capital — the first private market investment manager formed to deliver the commitments made in the initial Mansion House Compact — committing £2.5bn over three years to the UK’s most exciting, innovative and fastest growing companies. The Accord is the natural next step, and we’re proud to play our part in delivering better outcomes for our customers and for the wider society.

    Patrick Heath-Lay, Chief Executive Officer of People’s Partnership, provider of People’s Pension, said:

    People’s Pension has a vital role to play in the exciting, shared vision for the future of the pensions’ industry, which will see bigger, stronger, value-driven schemes that will deliver better value to their members. By signing this Accord, we are reaffirming how seriously we take our commitment to delivering better outcomes, as well as helping to drive UK economic growth.

    David Lane, Chief Executive of TPT Retirement Solutions, said:

    By reaching an agreement with pension providers to invest in UK productive finance in a mutually beneficial way, the Government can achieve its objective and support better outcomes for scheme members. Many pension schemes already invest in productive finance, and most are open to investing more in the UK. Investment in assets such as infrastructure, transportation, housing, venture capital and private markets can play an important role in improving risk-adjusted returns for members while also contributing to economic growth. 

    Meeting the Government’s objectives while also maintaining fiduciary duty and ensuring strong returns for members are not mutually exclusive ambitions. However, hurdles remain around value for money considerations and the availability of suitable investment opportunities. These should be a focus for Government policy to spur more investment. The most pressing issue to deal with is that provider pricing practices leave very little room in the annual management charge for investment fees. There needs to be a shift to a value for money approach that considers the returns from an investment and not just its fees.

    Jelena Croad, Head of LifeSight GB, said:

    Signing up to the Mansion House Accord is a significant step for LifeSight. We believe that private market investments can increase overall returns as part of a diversified portfolio and have already begun investing in this way.  

    Our ability to invest in private markets, without increasing existing fee agreements, showcases our dedication to providing the best possible outcomes for our members. We are excited to be part of this initiative and look forward to contributing to the growth of the economy in which our members live.  

    We are pleased that the government acknowledges the need to increase the pipeline for UK private market investment opportunities. This recognition aligns with our mission to support the growth of innovative firms and sustainable infrastructure within the UK, ultimately enhancing the retirement incomes of millions of UK pension savers.  

    For LifeSight members, these investments are being made as part of our main default funds, ensuring that our members benefit from high-quality investment opportunities.

    Steve Charlton, a member of SPP’s DC Committee and DC Managing Director at SEI, said:

    Due to ongoing collaboration and open dialogue between the industry and the UK government, we have become comfortable with the proposed changes to the Mansion House reforms. This accord demonstrates our collective ambition to have a consolidated workplace pension environment that provides flexibility and choice for pension funds to invest where they see opportunity, whilst balancing their responsibility to members. 

    We welcome the government’s commitment to ensure a good flow of investable opportunities for pension schemes. This mitigates our previous concerns about the risks of high-priced, poor-quality investments in an environment where the originally proposed investable opportunities are scarce. It enables everyone to play their part in helping to deliver better member outcomes and drive economic growth.

    Lorna Blyth, Managing Director – Investment Proposition at Aegon UK, said: 

    Aegon UK is proud to be a signatory of the Mansion House Accord, which aligns with our aim to deliver better long-term outcomes for our pension scheme members. 

    We are committed to ensuring our customers can access and share in the potential growth and success of new, innovative companies as part of diversified portfolios. Leveraging our partnership with the British Business Bank, along with our scale and expertise, we are dedicated to developing investment solutions that improve the retirement outcomes of the millions of members of the defined contribution pension schemes we support. We’ve made significant progress in becoming a DC provider fit for the future – but our journey doesn’t end here. 

    The Accord is a key element of the Government’s growth agenda, alongside other initiatives likely to transform the UK’s DC pensions market. It comes as the conclusions of the Pensions Investment Review are expected imminently and further fundamental changes are expected in the Pension Schemes Bill later this spring. This makes it essential that the Government adopts a pragmatic approach to implementation. Realistic timeframes and a steady supply of high-quality UK investment opportunities across all private asset classes are crucial for ensuring success. This includes collaborating with more organisations such as the British Business Bank to provide access to diverse types of private assets – from private equity to infrastructure, which are all vital for optimising member benefits and developing investment portfolios designed for long term growth.

    Amanda Blanc DBE, Aviva Group Chief Executive Officer, said:

    This is a major opportunity for the pension and investment industry to support UK growth while delivering improved outcomes for pension savers. As a significant investor in private markets, Aviva has recently launched a number of funds to give over four million workplace pension customers even greater opportunity to invest in UK assets, including innovative, early-stage businesses, and we want to do much more.

    Jo Sharples,  CIO, DC Solutions at Aon, said:

    We believe that investing in private assets will benefit pension scheme members by delivering better expected returns over the long-term, ultimately resulting in higher retirement outcomes. The new Mansion House Accord is a great step forward in achieving this and is a fantastic example of how the UK pensions industry can work together to break down barriers to enable greater investment in private assets.

    Updates to this page

    Published 13 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: IOM and NAUSS Strengthen Regional Cooperation on Migration and Border Governance

    Source: International Organization for Migration (IOM)

    Geneva, 13 May 2025 – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has signed a Letter of Intent with the Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS) to establish the framework for the second phase of the Arab Center for Technical Cooperation on Migration and Border Management (ACTC-MBM).

    This milestone builds on the achievements of a longstanding collaboration between IOM and NAUSS—the academic body of the Arab Interior Ministers Council—and reaffirms the shared commitment to advancing regional cooperation on migration and border governance across the 22 Arab States.

    “This partnership with NAUSS and other key institutions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is strategically important to IOM’s global and regional mission. ACTC-MBM has already made a real difference in how migration and border management are addressed,” said Ugochi Daniels, IOM Deputy Director General for Operations. “The next phase offers a clear and ambitious path to deepen our cooperation through data, technology, and innovation, and IOM remains fully committed to advancing this shared vision.”

    The second phase of the ACTC-MBM, spanning 2025 to 2029 with a budget of USD 6 million, will deepen institutional cooperation, scale up technical assistance, and enhance policy dialogue and capacity-building across the region.

    NAUSS plays a critical role in equipping security professionals across the Arab region with cutting-edge skills and knowledge. Its commitment to innovation is reflected in its forward-looking vision, which integrates emerging technologies into curricula and practice—ranging from digital border management tools to data-driven approaches for migration governance.

    The contract will be formally signed later in 2025, during the annual anniversary ceremony of NAUSS, which will be convened under the patronage of the Minister of the Interior of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz.

    The agreement also reinforces IOM’s strategic engagement with Arab States to promote safe, orderly, and regular migration while supporting rights-based and integrated approaches to border management.

    For more information, please contact IOM Media Centre  

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump guts low-income energy assistance as summer heat descends and electricity prices rise

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Conor Harrison, Associate Professor of Economic Geography, University of South Carolina

    Cities like Houston get high humidity in addition to the heat, making summer almost unbearable without cooling. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

    The U.S. is headed into what forecasters expect to be one of the hottest summers on record, and millions of people across the country will struggle to pay their power bills as temperatures and energy costs rise.

    A 2023 national survey found that nearly 1 in 4 Americans were unable to pay their full energy bill for at least one month, and nearly 1 in 4 reported that they kept their homes at unsafe temperatures to save money. By 2025, updated polling indicated nearly 3 in 4 Americans are worried about rising energy costs.

    Conservative estimates suggest that utilities shut off power to over 3 million U.S. households each year because the residents cannot pay their bills.

    This problem of high energy prices isn’t lost on the Trump administration.

    On the first day of his second term in 2025, President Donald Trump declared a national energy emergency by executive order, saying that “high energy prices … devastate Americans, particularly those living on low- and fixed incomes.”

    Secretary of Energy Christopher Wright raised concerns about utility disconnections and outlined a mission to “shrink that number, with the target of zero.”

    Yet, the administration’s 2026 budget proposal zeros out funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, the federal program that administers funding to help low-income households pay their utility bills. And on April 1, 2025, the administration laid off the entire staff of the LIHEAP office.

    During the hottest periods, even nighttime temperatures might not drop below 90 in Phoenix. Without air conditioning, homes can become dangerously hot.
    Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

    Many people already struggle to cobble together enough help from various sources to pay their power bills. As researchers who study energy insecurity, we believe gutting the federal office responsible for administering energy bill assistance will make it even harder for Americans to make ends meet.

    The high stakes of energy affordability

    We work with communities in South Carolina and Tennessee where many residents struggle to heat and cool their homes.

    We see how high energy prices force people to make dangerous trade-offs. Low-income households often find themselves choosing whether to buy necessities, pay for child care or pay their utility bills.

    One elderly person we spoke with for our research, Sarah, explained that she routinely forgoes buying medications in order to pay her utility bill. Another research participant who connects low-income families to energy bill assistance in Tennessee said: “I’ve gone into these homes, and it’s so hot. Your eyes roll in the back of your head. It’s like you can’t breathe. How do you sit in here? It’s just unreal.”

    Unfortunately, these stories are increasingly common, especially in low-income communities and communities of color.

    Electricity prices are predicted to rise with worsening climate change: More frequent heat waves and extreme weather events drive up demand and put pressure on the grid. Furthermore, rising energy demand from data centers – supercharged by the increasing energy use by artificial intelligence – is accelerating price increases.

    Shrinking resources for assistance

    LIHEAP, created in 1981, provides funding to states as block grants to help low-income families pay their utility bills. In fiscal year 2023, the program distributed US$6.1 billion in energy assistance, helping some 5.9 million households avoid losing power connections.

    The program’s small staff played critical roles in disbursing this money, providing implementation guidelines, monitoring state-level fund management and tracking and evaluating program effectiveness.

    A long line of utility customers wait to apply for help from the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program in Trenton, N.J., in 2011. In 2023, around 6 million households benefited from LIHEAP.
    AP Photo/Mel Evans

    LIHEAP has historically prioritized heating assistance in cold-weather states over cooling assistance in warmer states. However, recent research shows a need to revisit the allocation formula to address the increasing need for air conditioning. The layoffs removed staff who could direct this work.

    It is unlikely that other sources of funding can fill in the gaps if states do not receive LIHEAP funds from the federal government. The program’s funding has never been high enough to meet the need. In 2020, LIHEAP provided assistance to just 16% of eligible households.

    Our research has found that, in practice, many households rely on a range of local nonprofits, faith-based organizations and informal networks of family and friends to help them pay their bills and keep the power on.

    For example, a research participant named Deborah reported that when faced with a utility shut-off, she “drove from church to church to church” in search of assistance. United Way in South Carolina received over 16,000 calls from people seeking help to pay their utility bills in 2023.

    These charitable services are an important lifeline for many, especially in the communities we study in the South. However, research has shown that faith-based programs do not have the reach of public programs.

    Without LIHEAP, the limited funds provided by nonprofits and the personal connections that people patch together will be stretched even thinner, especially as other charitable services, such as food banks, also face funding cuts.

    What’s ahead

    The $4.1 billion that Congress allocated to LIHEAP for the 2025 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, has already been disbursed. Going forward, however, cuts to LIHEAP staff affect its ability to respond to growing need. Congress now has to decide if it will kill the program’s future funding as well.

    Maricopa County in Arizona, home to Phoenix, illustrates what’s at stake. Annual heat-related deaths have risen 1,000% there in the past decade, from 61 to 602. Hundreds of these deaths occurred indoors.

    Cooling becomes essential during Arizona’s extreme summers. Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, reported more than 600 heat-related deaths in 2024.
    AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin

    We believe gutting LIHEAP puts the goal of energy affordability for all Americans – and Americans’ lives – in jeopardy. Until more affordable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, can be scaled up, an expansion of federal assistance programs is needed, not a contraction.

    Increasing the reach and funding of LIHEAP is one option. Making home weatherization programs more effective is another.

    Governments could also require utilities to forgive past-due bills and end utility shut-offs during the hottest and coldest months. About two dozen states currently have rules to prevent shut-offs during the worst summer heat.

    For now, the cuts mean more pressure on nonprofits, faith-based organizations and informal networks. Looking ahead to another exceptionally hot summer, we can only hope that cuts to LIHEAP staff don’t foreshadow a growing yet preventable death toll.

    Etienne Toussaint, a law professor at the University of South Carolina, and Ann Eisenberg, a law professor at West Virginia University, contributed to this article.

    Conor Harrison receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

    Elena Louder receives funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

    Nikki Luke receives funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. She previously worked at the U.S. Department of Energy.

    Shelley Welton receives funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

    – ref. Trump guts low-income energy assistance as summer heat descends and electricity prices rise – https://theconversation.com/trump-guts-low-income-energy-assistance-as-summer-heat-descends-and-electricity-prices-rise-256194

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: Northstrive Biosciences Signs Binding Term Sheet with Modulant Biosciences for Exclusive Global Animal Health Licensing of EL-22

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    • Binding term sheet grants Modulant Biosciences exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize EL-22 for animal health, enabling a first-of-its-kind probiotic approach to muscle preservation in livestock.
    • This collaboration represents a strategic opportunity for Northstrive to monetize the intellectual property of EL-22 in the animal health sector. If EL-22 is successfully developed and brought to market, the license could become a long-term revenue-generating asset.

    NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., May 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Northstrive Biosciences Inc. (“Northstrive”), a subsidiary of PMGC Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ELAB) (the “Company,” “PMGC,” “we,” or “our”), today announced the signing of a binding term sheet with Modulant Biosciences LLC (“Modulant”). This binding term sheet outlines the terms for a future definitive licensing agreement for Northstrive’s licensing of certain intellectual property rights related to EL-22 in the field of animal health. This license would allow Modulant to use the relevant intellectual property for uses in animal health (“Intellectual Property”), including use as a feed additive. Excluding the Republic of Korea, the license would be worldwide and exclusive, and give Modulant the exclusive right to sub-license the relevant intellectual property globally.

    The Intellectual Property consists of those patents and applications set forth in the definitive licensing agreement, including at least: (i) U.S. Patent 8,470,551, (ii) U.S. Patent Application No. 19/19,191,246, and (iii) U.S. Patent Application No. 19/191,258. The definitive licensing agreement will establish a framework for the parties’ collaboration, sharing of intellectual property, and commercialization oversight, with a focus on livestock and other veterinary markets.

    “Targeting the myostatin pathway with a probiotic approach could be a breakthrough for achieving improved body composition in livestock and companion animals,” said Modulant Biosciences CEO Tom Campi. “The licensing of EL-22 will enable us to evaluate the muscle-building properties of the modified lactobacillus casei for treating livestock and supporting the industry’s environmental efforts.”

    Modulant Biosciences is led by Tom Campi, a seasoned biotechnology executive with extensive experience in animal drug development and commercialization. Dr. Campi is board certified by the American College of Poultry Veterinarians and has previously worked for Elanco Animal Health and Huvepharma. His more than 25-year career path has included roles in poultry technical consulting, leadership roles in US and European regulatory affairs and technology acquisitions.

    As part of the financial terms, Modulant will pay Northstrive a share of all revenues generated from sublicensing and commercial activities. Northstrive will receive a percentage of all such revenues until a certain dollar limit, after which the royalty rate will decrease. The definitive licensing agreement will also include provisions for the parties’ co-ownership of new intellectual property developed by Modulant, certain sublicensing rights, and annual updates from Modulant about licensing and commercialization efforts for the licensed technology.

    The parties intend to finalize and execute the definitive license agreement in the coming months, pending necessary approvals from Northstrive’s head licensor for certain intellectual property rights related to EL-22.

    About Northstrive Biosciences Inc.

    Northstrive Biosciences Inc., a PMGC Holdings Inc. company, is a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development and acquisition of cutting-edge aesthetic medicines. Northstrive’s lead asset, EL-22, leverages an engineered probiotic approach to address obesity’s pressing issue of preserving muscle while on weight loss treatments, including GLP-1 receptor agonists. For more information, please visit www.northstrivebio.com.

    About PMGC Holdings Inc.

    PMGC Holdings Inc. is a diversified holding company that manages and grows its portfolio through strategic acquisitions, investments, and development across various industries. Currently, our portfolio consists of three wholly owned subsidiaries: Northstrive Biosciences Inc., PMGC Research Inc., and PMGC Capital LLC. We are committed to exploring opportunities in multiple sectors to maximize growth and value. For more information, please visit https://www.pmgcholdings.com.

    About Modulant Biosciences LLC

    Modulant Biosciences is a biotechnology company specializing in veterinary medicine innovation. Led by Dr. Tom Campi, Modulant is focused on developing novel drugs and biologics for livestock and companion animals. Currently, Modulant’s synergistic pipeline includes first in class antivirals for livestock and companion animals and a “One Drug for All Cancers” platform.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Statements contained in this press release regarding matters that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Words such as “believes,” “expects,” “plans,” “potential,” “would” and “future” or similar expressions such as “look forward” are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy, activities of regulators and future regulations and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and the Company cautions investors that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. These and other risks are described more fully in PMGC’s filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, filed with the SEC on March 28, 2025, and its other documents subsequently filed with or furnished to the SEC. Investors and security holders are urged to read these documents free of charge on the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made. Except to the extent required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

    IR Contact:
    IR@pmgcholdings.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Plotly Honored as Bronze Stevie Award Winner In 2025 American Business Awards

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MONTREAL, May 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Plotly, the premier Data App platform for Python, has been named a Bronze Stevie® Award winner in the Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning Solution – Other category in The 23rd Annual American Business Awards®.

    Plotly Dash Enterprise empowers data scientists and data analysts to build interactive analytical applications using Python. This AI-powered solution eliminates the need for extensive front-end development skills, bridging the gap between complex analytics and actionable insights and accelerating decision-making. Tailored for diverse industries, including finance and healthcare, as well as for generative AI use cases, Plotly Dash combines cutting-edge AI with robust data app development capabilities to empower organizations to harness the full potential of their data science initiatives while reducing development time and costs.

    “We are extremely pleased to be recognized with this prestigious industry award, which recognizes our contribution in the area of AI and data analytics,” said Jim McIntosh, Plotly CEO. “Over 4 million monthly users are already taking advantage of Plotly AI to create interactive data apps, and by integrating advanced AI capabilities and improving the overall user experience, we’re enabling organizations to transform complex data into intuitive, business-focused dashboards that drive measurable ROI.”

    “Organizations across the United States continue to demonstrate resilience and innovation,” said Stevie Awards president Maggie Miller. “The 2025 Stevie winners have helped drive that success through their innovation, persistence, and hard work. We congratulate all of the winners in the 2025 ABAs and look forward to celebrating their achievements during our June 10 gala event in New York.”

    The American Business Awards are the premier business awards program in the U.S. All organizations operating in the U.S. are eligible to submit nominations – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. This year, more than 3,600 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted for consideration in a wide range of categories.

    To learn more about the future of data apps and join the 5,000+ companies that use Plotly:

    • Read the Plotly Blog to get an insider’s look at what’s next for data apps.
    • Join a Plotly Dash Demo to see how Dash makes data come alive in future-forward visualizations and apps.
    • Download this Plotly white paper to learn how AI-powered data app dev builds what BI never could.
    • See how to go from raw data to dynamic apps in minutes in this Plotly Tour.
    • Discover how Plotly Customers are putting data and AI to work for production data applications.

    About Plotly
    Plotly is a leading provider of open-source graphing libraries and enterprise-grade analytics solutions. Its flagship product, Dash Enterprise, enables organizations to build scalable and interactive data apps that drive impactful decision-making. To learn more about Plotly, visit our website at http://www.plotly.com

    For media inquiries:
    Brigit Valencia
    For Plotly
    brigit@compel-pr.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Iran and Ethiopia have a security deal – here’s why they signed it

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Eric Lob, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations, Florida International University

    Ethiopia and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on 6 May 2025. Under it, their national police agencies will cooperate on security and intelligence. This will include combating cross-border crime, sharing intelligence and building capacity. They will also share experiences and training.

    For Iran, the MOU marks a significant step towards strengthening relations with a regional power that’s strategically located in the Horn of Africa.

    Tehran has been using its security apparatus and military capabilities to establish and expand political and economic ties with countries in Africa. This has included drone transfers to the Ethiopian government that helped it turned the tide of the Tigray war, a separatist struggle in the country’s north that took place from 2020 to 2022.

    Iran has also supplied the Sudanese army with surveillance and combat drones. These have been used against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan’s ongoing civil war.

    The agreement is important for Ethiopia for two reasons.

    Firstly, it’s likely to enable the Ethiopian government in Addis Ababa to combat ethnic militias more effectively. It faces increasing internal instability, including tensions with hostile factions of the separatist Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

    Secondly, the agreement comes after a meeting in Addis Ababa between the Ethiopian police chief, Demelash Gebremichael, and a delegation from Iran’s regional rival, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The exchange concentrated on investigating and extraditing cross-border criminals.

    Addis Ababa’s willingness to work with regional rivals in the Middle East shows its pragmatic approach to foreign relations. Ethiopia needs all the friends it can muster as an embattled and weakened state. Since the Tigray war, it has battled the rise of ethnic militias and confronted economic adversity. It is also facing renewed hostility with neighbouring Eritrea.

    What Iran stands to gain

    Since 2016, Ethiopia has been a gateway for Iran to gain a foothold in the Horn of Africa. That year, other countries in the region severed relations with Iran. This followed Tehran’s disengagement from sub-Saharan Africa under Hassan Rouhani, who served as president from 2013 to 2021, and his prioritisation of a nuclear deal with the US.

    The severing of ties was also a byproduct of geopolitical pressure exerted by Saudi Arabia and the UAE on countries in the region. The Middle Eastern states wanted to reduce, if not eliminate, Iran’s presence in the Horn of Africa and Red Sea to limit its support for Houthi rebels in the ongoing Yemeni civil war.

    Read more: Iran’s intervention in Sudan’s civil war advances its geopolitical goals − but not without risks

    Ethiopia was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to establish relations with Iran during the 1960s. It was also one of its top trading partners on the continent before and after the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

    Strategically and ideologically, this special relationship was based on the pro-western and anti-communist stances of their monarchs: the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who ruled from 1941 to 1979, and Emperor Haile Selassie, who was in power from 1930 to 1974.

    After the revolution, Iran-Ethiopia relations revived under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who served as Iranian president from 2005 to 2013. He pursued an active Africa policy to mitigate Iran’s international isolation and circumvent US sanctions.

    After Rouhani initially downgraded these relations, they were renewed during his second term. This followed US withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

    Relations firmed when Ebrahim Raisi, who served as Iranian president from 2021 to 2024, delivered military drones and other aid to Addis Ababa during the Tigray war.

    What’s in it for Ethiopia

    Ethiopia is facing increasing instability and uncertainty. The Tigray war has depleted the state’s resources. There is an economic crisis caused by rising inflation and unemployment.

    Addis Ababa continues to confront ethnic tensions. Hostile factions of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front remain. It also faces tensions with the Amhara Fano militia, which initially fought alongside the government against Tigrayan forces. Forced disarmament policies and ongoing land disputes caused the militia to take up arms against the government.

    Read more: Somaliland-Ethiopia port deal: international opposition flags complex Red Sea politics

    Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed also faces growing opposition and resistance from his own ethnic group, the majority Oromo, and their Oromo Liberation Army. The reason for their discontent is Abiy’s imposition of centralised rule on their regional state within a federal system.

    The security and intelligence cooperation with Iran could allow Addis Ababa to combat ethnic militias more effectively.

    It would also enable Ethiopia to prepare for another possible war against neighbouring Eritrea.

    Ethiopia and Eritrea normalised relations and fought together against Tigrayan forces. However, tensions between the two countries have been brewing again. These have been triggered by two factors. First, the conditions of the 2022 Pretoria peace agreement caused Eritrea to maintain forces inside Ethiopia. Second are the ambitions of Addis Ababa to acquire a Red Sea port in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. Eritrea has supported Somalia’s opposition to the deal.

    Regional power games

    This isn’t the first time that Ethiopia has tried working with two regional rivals – Iran and the UAE. The UAE is also among its top trading partners, along with Saudi Arabia.

    In 2016, Ethiopia was the only country in the Horn of Africa that didn’t cut ties with Iran, though it was under pressure from the UAE and Saudi Arabia to do so. The decision was taken by Abiy’s predecessor, Hailemariam Desalegn, whose term ran from 2012 to 2018.

    During the Tigray war, Ethiopia received military drones and other assistance from Iran and the UAE, alongside Turkey.

    The civil war in Sudan has presented an even more complicated story. Ethiopia has vacillated between engaging with the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces at different points in the conflict.

    For its part, Iran has supported the Sudanese army. The UAE has backed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

    Ethiopia’s efforts to strengthen its security ties with Iran and the UAE show a unique case of convergence between regional rivals that have otherwise remained on opposite sides of conflicts in countries like Yemen and Sudan.

    – Iran and Ethiopia have a security deal – here’s why they signed it
    – https://theconversation.com/iran-and-ethiopia-have-a-security-deal-heres-why-they-signed-it-256486

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Iran and Ethiopia have a security deal – here’s why they signed it

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Eric Lob, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations, Florida International University

    Ethiopia and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on 6 May 2025. Under it, their national police agencies will cooperate on security and intelligence. This will include combating cross-border crime, sharing intelligence and building capacity. They will also share experiences and training.

    For Iran, the MOU marks a significant step towards strengthening relations with a regional power that’s strategically located in the Horn of Africa.

    Tehran has been using its security apparatus and military capabilities to establish and expand political and economic ties with countries in Africa. This has included drone transfers to the Ethiopian government that helped it turned the tide of the Tigray war, a separatist struggle in the country’s north that took place from 2020 to 2022.

    Iran has also supplied the Sudanese army with surveillance and combat drones. These have been used against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan’s ongoing civil war.

    The agreement is important for Ethiopia for two reasons.

    Firstly, it’s likely to enable the Ethiopian government in Addis Ababa to combat ethnic militias more effectively. It faces increasing internal instability, including tensions with hostile factions of the separatist Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

    Secondly, the agreement comes after a meeting in Addis Ababa between the Ethiopian police chief, Demelash Gebremichael, and a delegation from Iran’s regional rival, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The exchange concentrated on investigating and extraditing cross-border criminals.

    Addis Ababa’s willingness to work with regional rivals in the Middle East shows its pragmatic approach to foreign relations. Ethiopia needs all the friends it can muster as an embattled and weakened state. Since the Tigray war, it has battled the rise of ethnic militias and confronted economic adversity. It is also facing renewed hostility with neighbouring Eritrea.

    What Iran stands to gain

    Since 2016, Ethiopia has been a gateway for Iran to gain a foothold in the Horn of Africa. That year, other countries in the region severed relations with Iran. This followed Tehran’s disengagement from sub-Saharan Africa under Hassan Rouhani, who served as president from 2013 to 2021, and his prioritisation of a nuclear deal with the US.

    The severing of ties was also a byproduct of geopolitical pressure exerted by Saudi Arabia and the UAE on countries in the region. The Middle Eastern states wanted to reduce, if not eliminate, Iran’s presence in the Horn of Africa and Red Sea to limit its support for Houthi rebels in the ongoing Yemeni civil war.



    Read more:
    Iran’s intervention in Sudan’s civil war advances its geopolitical goals − but not without risks

    Ethiopia was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to establish relations with Iran during the 1960s. It was also one of its top trading partners on the continent before and after the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

    Strategically and ideologically, this special relationship was based on the pro-western and anti-communist stances of their monarchs: the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who ruled from 1941 to 1979, and Emperor Haile Selassie, who was in power from 1930 to 1974.

    After the revolution, Iran-Ethiopia relations revived under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who served as Iranian president from 2005 to 2013. He pursued an active Africa policy to mitigate Iran’s international isolation and circumvent US sanctions.

    After Rouhani initially downgraded these relations, they were renewed during his second term. This followed US withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

    Relations firmed when Ebrahim Raisi, who served as Iranian president from 2021 to 2024, delivered military drones and other aid to Addis Ababa during the Tigray war.

    What’s in it for Ethiopia

    Ethiopia is facing increasing instability and uncertainty. The Tigray war has depleted the state’s resources. There is an economic crisis caused by rising inflation and unemployment.

    Addis Ababa continues to confront ethnic tensions. Hostile factions of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front remain. It also faces tensions with the Amhara Fano militia, which initially fought alongside the government against Tigrayan forces. Forced disarmament policies and ongoing land disputes caused the militia to take up arms against the government.



    Read more:
    Somaliland-Ethiopia port deal: international opposition flags complex Red Sea politics

    Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed also faces growing opposition and resistance from his own ethnic group, the majority Oromo, and their Oromo Liberation Army. The reason for their discontent is Abiy’s imposition of centralised rule on their regional state within a federal system.

    The security and intelligence cooperation with Iran could allow Addis Ababa to combat ethnic militias more effectively.

    It would also enable Ethiopia to prepare for another possible war against neighbouring Eritrea.

    Ethiopia and Eritrea normalised relations and fought together against Tigrayan forces. However, tensions between the two countries have been brewing again. These have been triggered by two factors. First, the conditions of the 2022 Pretoria peace agreement caused Eritrea to maintain forces inside Ethiopia. Second are the ambitions of Addis Ababa to acquire a Red Sea port in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. Eritrea has supported Somalia’s opposition to the deal.

    Regional power games

    This isn’t the first time that Ethiopia has tried working with two regional rivals – Iran and the UAE. The UAE is also among its top trading partners, along with Saudi Arabia.

    In 2016, Ethiopia was the only country in the Horn of Africa that didn’t cut ties with Iran, though it was under pressure from the UAE and Saudi Arabia to do so. The decision was taken by Abiy’s predecessor, Hailemariam Desalegn, whose term ran from 2012 to 2018.

    During the Tigray war, Ethiopia received military drones and other assistance from Iran and the UAE, alongside Turkey.

    The civil war in Sudan has presented an even more complicated story. Ethiopia has vacillated between engaging with the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces at different points in the conflict.

    For its part, Iran has supported the Sudanese army. The UAE has backed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

    Ethiopia’s efforts to strengthen its security ties with Iran and the UAE show a unique case of convergence between regional rivals that have otherwise remained on opposite sides of conflicts in countries like Yemen and Sudan.

    Eric Lob does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Iran and Ethiopia have a security deal – here’s why they signed it – https://theconversation.com/iran-and-ethiopia-have-a-security-deal-heres-why-they-signed-it-256486

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: Karolinska Development’s portfolio company OssDsign has treated 10,000 patients with OssDsign Catalyst in the US

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, May 13, 2025. Karolinska Development AB (Nasdaq Stockholm: KDEV) announces that its portfolio company OssDsign has reached a new milestone with 10,000 patients treated with the innovative nanosynthetic bone graft OssDsign Catalyst on the US market.

    OssDsign Catalyst is a nanosynthetic bone graft that demonstrates rapid and robust bone formation, even in poorly vascularized environments. Launched in the US in August 2021, OssDsign Catalyst has since achieved significant success in the American orthobiologics market.

    “It is clear that OssDsign Catalyst has solidified its position in the important US market for orthobiological products. The use of the product has doubled since May of last year, when 5,000 patients were reported to have been treated with the product, which is the result of accelerating demand from American surgeons and hospitals,” says Viktor Drvota, CEO of Karolinska Development.

    Karolinska Development’s ownership in OssDsign amounts to 3 %.

    For further information, please contact:

    Viktor Drvota, CEO, Karolinska Development AB
    Phone: +46 73 982 52 02, e-mail: viktor.drvota@karolinskadevelopment.com

    Johan Dighed, General Counsel and Deputy CEO, Karolinska Development AB
    Phone: +46 70 207 48 26, e-mail: johan.dighed@karolinskadevelopment.com

    TO THE EDITORS

    About Karolinska Development AB

    Karolinska Development AB (Nasdaq Stockholm: KDEV) is a Nordic life sciences investment company. The company focuses on identifying breakthrough medical innovations in the Nordic region that are developed by entrepreneurs and leadership teams. The Company invests in the creation and growth of companies that advance these assets into commercial products that are designed to make a difference to patients’ lives while providing an attractive return on investment to shareholders.

    Karolinska Development has access to world-class medical innovations at the Karolinska Institutet and other leading universities and research institutes in the Nordic region. The Company aims to build companies around scientists who are leaders in their fields, supported by experienced management teams and advisers, and co-funded by specialist international investors, to provide the greatest chance of success.

    Karolinska Development has a portfolio of eleven companies targeting opportunities in innovative treatment for life-threatening or serious debilitating diseases.

    The Company is led by an entrepreneurial team of investment professionals with a proven track record as company builders and with access to a strong global network.

    For more information, please visit www.karolinskadevelopment.com.

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    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: A Center for Training Personnel for the IT Industry will be Created at the HSE

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: State University Higher School of Economics – State University Higher School of Economics –

    The Russian Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, together with the Analytical Center under the Government of the Russian Federation, have summed up the results of the competitive selection of universities to receive grants for the launch of advanced IT education. 50 universities submitted applications for the competition, and 26 winners from 13 regions have been determined, including the Higher School of Economics.

    With grant funds, universities will launch flagship higher education programs that will provide the labor market with highly qualified IT specialists. By 2029, within the framework of the national project “Data Economy and Digital Transformation of the State”, it is planned to train at least 3.5 thousand advanced IT developers.

    The project will be implemented on the basis of Faculty of Computer Science HSE University together with industrial partners from among leading IT companies. The University will create a Center for training personnel for the IT industry, which will be headed by the academic director of the EP “Software engineering» Nikolay Pavlochev. The center is designed to become a flagship in the field of modern engineering education, combining the best academic practices, active participation of the industry and the use of advanced technologies. It will focus on updating existing educational programs and launching new training areas focused on the current challenges of the digital economy.

    Key areas include systems programming, data analysis, game development, cybersecurity, scientific software, and product management. The curriculum will be strengthened both from the fundamental side (mathematics, algorithms, software architecture) and from the applied side – through modules developed jointly with industrial partners.

    Particular attention is planned to be paid to the integration of AI technologies into the educational process – from intelligent assistants for students to systems for analyzing educational trajectories. The project will also include active development of project activities, expansion of the internship network, support for teaching staff, and development of international mobility.

    The main condition for participation of universities in the competition of the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation was cooperation with companies for training students and attracting co-financing in the amount of at least 30% of the grant amount, and the application of the National Research University Higher School of Economics to create the center fully met this requirement.

    “Our center will work in close cooperation with leading technology companies, research institutes and industry experts. Our partners are 1C and Yandex, which will contribute not only in the form of financial support. They will participate in the development of training modules, teaching, organizing practical training for students, developing digital infrastructure, and this format of interaction is familiar to our faculty,” said Ivan Arzhantsev, Dean of the HSE Faculty of Computer Science.

    “The creation of the IT Training Center at the Higher School of Economics is not just the launch of a new structure, but also a systemic step towards updating approaches to IT education. The initiative of the Russian Ministry of Digital Development is important not only for our university, but also for the industry and the country as a whole. Specialists will be trained who can immediately join real projects, form a culture of engineering thinking and lay the foundation for technological leadership,” said HSE Vice-Rector Elena Odoevskaya.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –