Source: United States Senator for Maine Angus King
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resource (ENR) Committee, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) spoke with Dr. Preston Griffith, the nominee to serve as the Under Secretary of Energy, and Dr. Dario Gil, the nominee to serve as the Under Secretary of Energy for Science, about the need to prioritize energy storage technology as America works toward an “all of the above” energy future, making clear the value of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. During the exchange, Senator King asked the two nominees to commit to further research and development of emerging power technologies to help strengthen grid storage capacity and unlock America’s renewable energy potential.
“One of the technologies I’m most interested in is storage because we are talking about development of the grid and stabilization of the grid. And I hope that both of you will remain committed to the research and development of storage capacity on the grid because I think that is part of the solution. Do you agree, Dr. Gil,” questioned Senator King.
“Thank you for the question. Let me also just say since you are representing Maine, that I have a long connection with Maine. My wife and in-laws are from Maine, so I’ve been going for many decades and it’s a pleasure,” replied Dr. Gil.
“Wonderful. Tell her to tell your in-laws she saw me working,” said Senator King.
“Will do so. And yes, I completely agree on the importance of storage technology. It is an essential part not only of present electricity systems, but also in the future. I will also point out that within the science portfolio of the Department, we also have a lot of opportunity to accelerate the opportunity for discovery of novel, more safe, and efficient storage technologies. So, the commitment is twofold. It is both a recognition of the importance that storage plays but also that we have to do a lot of discovery to make sure that we can take a very significant leap forward, which we can do by harnessing these capabilities on AI and in the future quantum computing as well,” responded Dr. Gil.
“Mr. Griffith, I assume you believe storage is a part of all of the above,” asked Senator King.
“Yes, Senator, absolutely. Thank you for your question. It is the holy grail. We need all energy sources, technology— we need to bring them all to bear to meet this growing demand,” agreed Dr. Griffith.
As a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator King has advocated for climate solutions that deliver on the clean energy potential of the historic Inflation Reduction Act. He has repeatedly emphasized the importance of permitting reform to deliver carefully considered, timely approvals of sorely-needed clean energy projects. Senator King has also been one of the Senate’s most vocal advocates for improving energy storage technologies and development and worked to include significant storage investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. Most recently, Senator King reiterated the importance of an “all of the above” energy policy strategy during an ENR hearing considering the nominations of Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Trent Kelly (R-Miss)
Senators Kelly and Young, Representatives Kelly and Garamendi Statement on Trump’s Shipbuilding Executive Order
Washington, April 10, 2025
WASHINGTON – Arizona Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and SHIPS for America Act co-leads Senator Todd Young (R-IN), Representative Trent Kelly (R-MS-1), and Representative John Garamendi (D-CA-8) have released the following statement after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to support shipbuilding in the United States.
“This executive order recognizes the urgent need for a comprehensive approach to reinvigorate the U.S. shipbuilding and maritime industries, sharing the same goals as our SHIPS for America Act. America’s maritime industry and shipbuilding capacity have dangerously lagged behind over the years, allowing China to get ahead and pose a serious threat over the oceans. Today’s action by the Trump administration shows they see the same threat and the urgent need to reverse course to strengthen our national security and grow our economy. We’re also encouraged that many of the provisions in the executive order mirror parts of our SHIPS for America Act.
“We will introduce the SHIPS for America Act with renewed support in the coming weeks to provide the Congressional authorizations needed to truly revitalize the American shipbuilding and maritime industries, and work with the administration to get it passed. That’s how we’ll put Americans to work building more oceangoing ships and flying the American flag on merchant vessels to reclaim America’s global maritime leadership.”
Background:
Senators Kelly and Young and Representatives Kelly and Garamendi introduced the SHIPS for America Act to revitalize U.S. shipbuilding capacity to lower costs, create good-paying jobs, and strengthen national security.
Sen. Kelly earned his B.S. degree in marine engineering and nautical science in the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) and later an M.S. degree in aeronautical engineering from the United States Naval Postgraduate School. Sen. Kelly spent 25 years in the United States Navy as a pilot and is the first to serve in Congress. In 2023, Sen. Kelly was elected chair of the USMMA Board of Visitors for the 118th Congress.
Rep. Kelly serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces for the House Armed Services Committee.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)
Anti-Racism in Public Health Act Would Require Federal Government to Actively Develop Anti-Racist Health Policy
Bill Text (PDF)
WASHINGTON – Today, with Trump and Republicans continuing their coordinated attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and RFK, Jr. dismantling the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including closing the Office of Minority Health, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) are re-introducing the Anti-Racism in Public Health Act of 2025, legislation that would declare racism a public health crisis and require the federal government to actively develop anti-racist health policy. The bill would help expand research and investment into the public health impacts of structural racism through two bold new programs within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“While Trump and Republicans embolden white supremacy and carry out their coordinated assault on Black, brown, and other marginalized communities, we must continue pushing back and advancing an affirmative, anti-racist agenda that addresses racism as the public health crisis that it is,” said Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley. “By expanding research into the public health impacts of structural racism and requiring the federal government to develop anti-racist health policy, our bill is the type of responsive legislation the moment demands. I’m grateful to Senator Warren for her ongoing partnership as we continue working to dismantle centuries of racism in our public health system.”
“For centuries, racism has denied Black and Brown mothers life-saving care during pregnancies and led to higher rates of chronic illness like diabetes and asthma,” said Senator Warren. “We’re renewing the fight to tackle racial disparities head-on and give everyone a chance at a healthy life.”
In addition to researching of the impacts of structural racism on public health, the Anti-Racism in Public Health Act would:
Create a “National Center for Anti-Racism” at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to declare racism as the public health crisis that it is and further develop the research base and knowledge of the science and practice of anti-racism. The Center would be responsible for:
Conducting research, collecting data, awarding grants, and providing leadership and coordination on the science and practice of anti-racism in the provision of health care, the public health impacts of systemic racism, and the effectiveness of interventions to address these impacts;
Creating at least three regional centers of excellence in anti-racism;
Educating the public on the public health impacts of structural racism and anti-racist public health interventions;
Consulting with other Centers at the CDC to ensure that scientific and programmatic activities initiated by the agency consider structural racism in their designs, conceptualizations, and executions; and
Create a Law Enforcement Violence Prevention Program within the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the CDC. Physical and psychological violence perpetuated by law enforcement results in deaths, injuries, trauma, and stress, and disproportionately affects marginalized populations. This bill would take a public health approach to combating police brutality by creating a dedicated law enforcement violence prevention program at the CDC.
In October 2022, as a result of the lawmakers’ introduction of the Anti-Racism in Public Health Act, HHS awarded $493,000 to the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) to support their efforts to address homelessness and substance use disorder policies that create or perpetuate health disparities and contribute to structural racism.
Joining Pressley and Warren in introducing the Anti-Racism in Public Health Act are Representatives Joyce Beatty, Shontel Brown, André Carson, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Dwight Evans, Hank Johnson, Jennifer McClellan, Jerry Nadler, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Mark Pocan, Delia C. Ramirez, Jan Schakowsky, Terri Sewell, Adam Smith, Melanie Stansbury, Mark Takano, Bennie G. Thompson, Ritchie Torres, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Bonnie Watson Coleman.
The legislation is endorsed by the following organizations: Columbia NOW, SC; Power to Decide; Public Citizen; National Council of Jewish Women; YW Boston; Physicians for a National Health Program; Center for Policing Equity; Justice in Aging; Feminist Women’s Health Center; Guttmacher Institute; Center for Reproductive Rights; Diversity Uplifts, Inc.; Every Mother Counts; Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals; and Boston Medical Center.
A copy of the bill text can be found here.
In November 2022, Rep. Pressley, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and Commissioner of Public Health and Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission Dr. Bisola Ojikutu held a roundtable discussion with public health advocates to highlight the nearly $493,000 in new federal funding to help Boston address the public health impacts of structural racism.
In October 2022, Rep. Pressley, Senator Warren, and Congresswoman Barbara Lee applauded the new funding for BPHC, which was awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) alongside nine other grants to community organizations across the country. In total, HHS awarded over $4.8 million to support local efforts to address policies that may create or perpetuate health disparities and contribute to structural racism.
In 1938, zoologist Ellis Le Geyt Troughton mourned that Australia’s “gentle and specialized creatures” were “unable to cope with changed conditions and introduced enemies”.
The role of these “enemies” – namely, foxes and feral cats – in driving dozens of Australia’s animals towards extinction has solidified into a scientific consensus. This is a simple and plausible story: wily new predators arrive, decimating unwary native mammals.
In response, conservationists and governments have declared war on foxes and cats with large-scale trapping, shooting and poisoning campaigns.
But did foxes and cats definitely cause the extinction of animals such as the desert bandicoot, lesser bilby and the central hare-wallaby? Our new research shows the evidence base is nowhere near as strong as you might assume.
Feral cats are now found across almost all of Australia. But cats took decades to cover the continent. Mike Letnic/iNaturalist, CC BY-NC
What did we do?
We catalogued mammal species experts believe have either declined or gone extinct due to predation by foxes (57 species) and cats (80 species) and searched for primary sources linking foxes and cats to their decline. To assess the evidence, we then asked three simple questions.
1. Did extinctions follow the arrival of new predators?
A common claim is that extinctions followed fox and cat arrival and spread.
But is it definitely true? To find out, we compiled the last recorded sightings of extinct mammals and compared them to maps estimating the arrival of foxes and cats in the area. We included local extinctions (extinct in an area) and full extinctions, where the species is no more.
We found extinction records for 164 local populations of 52 species. Nearly a third (31%) of these records did not confirm the timeline that extinctions followed predator arrival. We found that 44% of the extinctions blamed on foxes and 20% on cats could have happened before predator arrival.
Records can be inaccurate. But our findings mean we can’t authoritatively state that foxes and cats were at the scene of these crimes. For instance, banded hare-wallabies now live only on two islands in Western Australia. They were last recorded on the mainland 4–30 years before foxes are known to have arrived.
Then there are examples of coexistence. The eastern barred bandicoot lived alongside cats on the mainland for more than 150 years before becoming extinct on the mainland, and the two species continue to live together in Tasmania.
2. Is there evidence linking foxes and cats to extinctions?
Our study found experts attribute predation pressure from foxes and cats as a reason why 57% of Australia’s threatened mammals are at risk of extinction.
For this claim to be based on evidence, we would expect to find ecological studies finding these links in most cases.
We found 331 studies and categorised each according to whether they contained predator and prey population data and if they found a link between introduced predators and a decline in the prey species.
For 76% of threatened species attributed to foxes and 80% for cats, we found no studies supporting this with population data.
Experts aren’t claiming foxes and cats are the main threat in all these cases. But when we analysed the data only for the species experts consider at high risk from foxes and cats, we found similar results.
For example, foxes and cats are ranked a “high” threat to mountain pygmy possums. We found anecdotes that foxes and cats sometimes eat these possums, but no studies showing they cause population decline.
Similarly, foxes are widely linked to the decline of black-footed rock-wallabies. But this claim came from poison-baiting studies which did not report data showing what happened to the fox population. This is important, because killing foxes does not necessarily reduce fox populations.
In 50% of studies reporting population data, there was no negative association with these predators. This further weakens the claim that foxes and cats directly drive extinctions.
For example, cats are considered a “high” threat to long-nosed potoroos. But population studies on these potoroos don’t support this. In fact, these small, seemingly vulnerable animals are able to live alongside feral cats.
By contrast, we did find one species – the brush-tailed rabbit rat – which had compelling evidence across all studies linking cats to its decline.
Long-nosed potoroos would be an appealing meal for foxes and cats. But these small marsupials have found ways to evade predators. Zoos Victoria, CC BY-NC
3. Do more introduced predators mean fewer threatened mammals?
If introduced predators cause extinctions, we would expect to find that higher predator numbers is associated with lower prey numbers (and vice versa). While correlations such as these don’t prove causation, they can give an indication.
We conducted a meta-analysis and found a negative correlation with foxes. The more foxes, the fewer threatened mammals.
This is the strongest evidence we found for introduced predators putting pressure on these species. But there are limitations – these findings would be typical for native predators and prey as well.
We found no evidence for a correlation with cats.
More lines of evidence
These aren’t the only lines of evidence. Making the strongest case for fox and cat pressure are studies finding extinct species often fall within a critical weight range – 35 grams to 5.5 kilos – which are good-sized prey for foxes and cats.
But these studies don’t explain why Australian animals would be uniquely vulnerable. For millennia, Australia’s mammals have lived alongside predators such as dingoes, Tasmanian devils, quolls and wedge-tailed eagles.
Conservationists have long believed Australia’s endemic mammals are naive or poorly adapted to survive alongside ambush hunters such as foxes and cats. But there’s no current evidence for this.
Our research has shown Australian rodents respond to foxes in the same way as do North American and Middle Eastern rodents, who evolved alongside foxes.
One line of argument goes further to suggest that foxes, cats and dingoes have “rewired” Australian ecosystems following the loss of the thylacine, Tasmanian devil (once common on the mainland) and the long-extinct marsupial lion.
What should we conclude?
We didn’t set out to prove or disprove the idea that foxes and cats drive extinctions. Instead, our study lays out the available primary evidence of historic records and studies to allow readers to draw their own conclusions.
Sweeping claims have been made about Australia’s introduced predators. But when we analyse the evidence base, we find it ambiguous, weak and – in most cases – lacking.
Foxes and cats have been largely convicted by expert opinion which, while useful, can be prone to bias and groupthink.
So what did cause Australia’s mammal extinctions? The honest answer is we don’t know. It could be foxes and cats – but it could also be something else.
Arian Wallach receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Erick Lundgren receives funding from the Centre for Open Science & Synthesis in Ecology and Evolution at the University of Alberta
Once floodwaters subside, talk of planned retreat inevitably rises.
Within Aotearoa New Zealand, several communities from north to south – including Kumeū, Kawatiri Westport and parts of Ōtepoti Dunedin – are considering future relocations while others are completing property buyouts and categorisations.
Planned retreats may reduce exposure to harm, but the social and cultural burdens of dislocation from land and home are complex. Planning, funding and physically relocating or removing homes, taonga or assets – and even entire towns – is challenging.
Internationally, research has focused on why, when and how planned retreats occur, as well as who pays. But we explore what happens to the places we retreat from.
Our latest research examines 161 international case studies of planned retreat. We analysed what happens beyond retreat, revealing how land use has changed following withdrawal of human activities.
We found a wide range of land use following retreat. In some cases, comprehensive planning for future uses of land was part of the retreat process. But in others we found a failure to consider these changing places.
Planned retreats have happened in response to various climate and hazard risks, including sea-level rise and coastal erosion, tsunami, cyclones, earthquakes, floods and landslides.
The case studies we investigated range from gradual transitions to sudden changes, such as from residential or business activities to conservation or vacant lands. In some cases, “sea change” is evident, where once dry land becomes foreshore and seabed.
Through our research, we identified global “retreat legacies”. These themes demonstrate how communities across the world have sought similar outcomes, highlighting primary land-use patterns following retreat.
The case studies show significant conversions of private to public land, with new nature and open-space reserves. Sites have been rehabilitated and floodplains and coastal ecosystems restored and reconnected.
Open spaces are used for various purposes, including as nature, community, stormwater or passive recreational reserves. Some of these new zones may restrict structures or certain activities, depending on the risk.
For example, due to debris flow hazard in Matatā in the Bay of Plenty, only transitory recreation or specific low-risk activities are allowed in the post-retreat environment because of the high risk to human life.
Planning and investment in new open-space zones range from basic rehabilitation (grassed sites) to established parks and reserves, such as the Grand Forks riverfront greenway which borders rivers in the twin US cities of Grand Forks, North Dakota, and East Grand Forks, Minnesota. This area now hosts various recreational courses and connected trails as well as major flood protection measures.
Project Twin Streams has transformed former residential sites to allow rivers to roam in the floodplain. Wikimedia Commons/Ingolfson, CC BY-SA
Nature-based adaptations are a key function in this retreat legacy. For example, Project Twin Streams, a large-scale environmental restoration project in Waitakere, West Auckland, has transformed former residential sites into drainage reserves to make room for rivers in the floodplain.
Importantly, not all retreats require significant land-use change. Continued farming, heritage preservation and cultural activities show that planned retreats are not always full and final withdrawals from a place.
Instead, they represent an adapted relationship. While sensitive activities are relocated, other practices may remain, such as residents’ continued access to the old village of Vunidogoloa in Fiji for fishing and farming.
Social and economic legacies
Urban development in a small number of retreated sites has involved comprehensive spatial reorganisation, with planning for new urban esplanades, improved infrastructure and cultural amenities.
One example is the comprehensive infrastructure masterplan for the Caño Martín Peña district in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which involves communities living along a tidal channel. The plan applied a community-first approach to retreat. It integrated infrastructure, housing, open space, flood mitigation and ecological planning.
Alternatively, the decision to remove stopbanks and return the landscape to a “waterscape” can become a tourism feature, such as in the marshlands of the Biesbosch National Park in the Netherlands. A museum is dedicated to the transformed environment.
Where there was no post-retreat planning or site rehabilitation, ghost towns such as Missouri’s Pattonsburg leave eerie reminders of the costs of living in danger zones.
Vacant and abandoned sites also raise environmental justice and ecological concerns about which retreat spaces are invested in and rehabilitated to avoid urban blight and environmental risks. Retreat sites may include landfills or contaminated land, requiring major site rehabilitation.
The 12 case studies from Aotearoa New Zealand demonstrate a range of new land uses. These include new open-space reserves, the restoration of floodplains and coastal environments, risk mitigation and re-development, and protection measures such as stopbanks.
Moving beyond retreat
Our research highlights how planned retreats can create a transition in landscapes, with potential for a new sense of place, meaning and strategic adaptation.
We found planned retreats have impacts beyond the retreat site, which reinforces the value of spatial planning.
The definition and practices of “planned or managed retreat” must include early planning to account of the values and uses the land once had. Any reconfigurations of land and seascapes must imagine a future well beyond people’s retreat.
Christina Hanna received funding from the national science challenge Resilience to Nature’s Challenges Kia manawaroa – Ngā Ākina o Te Ao Tūroa and from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Endeavour Fund.
Iain White received funding from the national science challenge Resilience to Nature’s Challenges Kia manawaroa – Ngā Ākina o Te Ao Tūroa, from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Endeavour Fund and from the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake. He is New Zealand’s national contact point for climate, energy and mobility for the European Union’s Horizon Europe research program.
Raven Cretney received funding from the national science challenge Resilience to Nature’s Challenges Kia manawaroa – Ngā Ākina o Te Ao Tūroa.
Pip Wallace 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.
Hospital-acquired infections are infections patients didn’t have when they were admitted to hospital. The most common include wound infections after surgery, urinary tract infections and pneumonia.
These can have a big impact for patients, often increasing their time in hospital, requiring additional treatment and causing discomfort. Unfortunately, some people who sustain an infection in hospital don’t recover. In Australia, there are an estimated 7,500 deaths associated with hospital-acquired infections annually.
It’s important to prevent such infections not only for the benefit of patients, but also because of their cost to the health system and to reduce antibiotic use.
Even though patients don’t usually come into contact with each other directly in hospitals, there are many ways bacteria can be transmitted between patients.
Our own and other research suggests medical equipment (such as blood pressure machines, dressing trolleys and drip stands) could be a common source of infection.
We conducted an experiment in a New South Wales hospital where we introduced a package of extra cleaning measures onto several wards.
The package consisted of designated cleaners specifically trained to clean and disinfect sensitive medical equipment. Normally, the cleaning of shared equipment is the responsibility of clinical staff.
These cleaners spent three hours a day disinfecting shared medical equipment on the ward. We also provided regular training and feedback to the cleaners.
The start date for the cleaning package on each ward was randomly selected. This is known as a “stepped wedge” trial (more on this later).
We monitored the thoroughness of cleaning before and after introducing the cleaning package by applying a florescent gel marker to shared equipment. The gel cannot be seen without a special light, but is easily removed if the surface is cleaned well.
We also monitored infections in patients on the wards before and after introducing the cleaning package. Over the course of the experiment, more than 5,000 patients passed through the wards we were studying.
Finally, we looked at the economic costs and benefits: how much the cleaning package costs, versus the health-care costs that may be saved thanks to any avoided infections.
Shared hospital equipment such as IV drip stands can harbour infections. Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock
What we found
Before the intervention, we found the thoroughness of cleaning shared equipment, assessed by the removal of the gel marker, was low. Once we introduced the cleaning package, cleaning thoroughness improved from 24% to 66%.
After the cleaning package was introduced, hospital-acquired infections dropped by about one-third, from 14.9% to 9.8% of patients. We saw a reduction in a range of different types of infections including bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections and surgical wound infections.
To put this another way, for every 1,000 patients admitted to wards with the cleaning package, we estimated there were 30 fewer infections compared to wards before the cleaning package was introduced. This not only benefits patients, but also hospitals and the community, by freeing up resources that can be used to treat other patients.
Treating infections in hospital is expensive. We estimate the cost of treating infections before the cleaning intervention was around A$2.1 million for a group of 1,000 patients, arising from 130 infections. These costs come from extra time in hospital and treatment costs associated with infections.
We estimated the 30 fewer infections per 1,000 patients reduced costs to $1.5 million, even when factoring in the cost of cleaners and cleaning products. Put differently, our intervention could save a hospital $642,000 for every 1,000 patients.
Some limitations of our research
Our experiment was limited to several wards at one Australian hospital. It’s possible the cleaning was particularly poor at this hospital, and the same intervention at other hospitals may not result in the same benefit.
For various reasons, even with trained designated cleaners we didn’t find every piece of equipment was cleaned all the time. This reflects common real-world issues in a busy ward. For example, some equipment was being used and not available for cleaning and cleaners were sometimes absent due to illness.
We don’t know whether even more cleaning might have resulted in an even greater reduction in infections, but there is often a law of diminishing returns when assessing infection control interventions.
A limitation of looking at infection rates before and after the introduction of an intervention is that other things may change at the same time, such as staffing levels, so not all the difference in infections may be due to the intervention.
But the stepped wedge model, where the cleaning package was introduced at different times on different wards, increases our confidence the reduction in infections was the result of the cleaning package.
Improving hospital cleaning is a no brainer
Shared medical equipment harbours pathogens, which can survive for long periods in health-care settings.
Like our study, other research has similarly suggested a clean hospital is a safe hospital. Importantly, cleaning needs to include thorough disinfection to reduce the risk of infection (not just removing visible dirt and stains).
Our work is also consistent with other research that shows improving cleaning in hospitals is cost-effective.
Cleaning services and products have often been subject to cuts when hospitals have needed to save money.
But prioritising effective cleaning of medical equipment appears to be a no brainer for health system administrators. We need to invest in better cleaning practices for both the health of patients and the financial bottom line.
Brett Mitchell receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Medical Research Future Fund. Brett is Editor-in-Chief of Infection, Disease and Health for which he is paid an honorarium by the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control. Brett has appointments at Avondale University, Monash University and the Hunter Medical Research Institute. GAMA Healthcare Australia provided cleaning wipes used in a study referenced in this article.
Allen Cheng receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Government. He is a member of the Infection Prevention and Control Advisory Committee advising the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Healthcare.
Source: United States Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico)
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) are demanding answers on the Administration’s decision to cancel funding for ten National Institute of Standards and Technology Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Centers across the country, including in New Mexico. The action came on April 1, one day before Trump announced sweeping tariffs on imports that tanked the stock market and raised warnings from experts of a recession.
New Mexico MEP is part of a national network of 51 MEPs that have helped boost the productivity and competitiveness of thousands of small American manufacturers across the country for decades. The economic impact of these centers has been substantial. Last year, New Mexico MEP worked directly with 134 small manufacturers in advanced manufacturing, lean manufacturing, product development, and market expansion. This helped create or retain 700 jobs and generate $40 million in new sales. The administration’s action to cut this program and other MEP centers across the nation will raise costs on consumers, harm small businesses, and weaken businesses’ ability to recruit and retain employees.
“Small manufacturers rely on MEP Centers for essential support in adopting the latest advanced technologies, updating their cybersecurity, navigating supply chain challenges, and accessing workforce training—resources that are often out of reach for small businesses without this dedicated assistance,” the senators wrote. “These centers drive innovation, boost productivity, and create high-quality jobs, strengthening both local economies and America’s global competitiveness. Without this critical federal support, MEP Centers—especially those with the fewest resources, and those serving rural and underserved communities—will be at the greatest risk of closure.
A report by Summit Consulting and the Upjohn Institute found that the MEPprogram generated a substantial economic and financial return ratio of more than 17:1 for the $175 million funding invested by the federal government in FY2023. The study also determined that MEP Center projects contributed to an overall increase of nearly 309,000 jobs nationwide.
The letter was led by Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce Committee U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Ranking Member of the Science, Manufacturing and Competitiveness Subcommittee Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.). Alongside Heinrich and Luján, the letter is signed by U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Maizie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
The letter can be found here and below:
Dear Secretary Lutnick,
We write to express our deep concern regarding the Department of Commerce’s recent decision to cancel future funding for ten National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Centers in Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Wyoming. This decision has raised widespread concern across the entire national network of MEP Centers, prompting fears about whether these initial cancellations are the first step in a broader effort to dismantle the program and eliminate federal funding for all 51 centers, with centers in Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New York, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin expected to be notified about their status shortly. Given the MEP program’s long-standing, bipartisan support in strengthening small and medium-sized American manufacturers, we share these concerns and urge you to provide clarity and certainty on your plans for the future of the MEP program.
According to the National Association of Manufacturers, 93% of manufacturers have fewer than 100 employees, while 75% have fewer than 20 employees. Small manufacturers rely on MEP Centers for essential support in adopting the latest advanced technologies, updating their cybersecurity, navigating supply chain challenges, and accessing workforce training—resources that are often out of reach for small businesses without this dedicated assistance. These centers drive innovation, boost productivity, and create high-quality jobs, strengthening both local economies and America’s global competitiveness. Without this critical federal support, MEP Centers—especially those with the fewest resources, and those serving rural and underserved communities—will be at the greatest risk of closure.
Dismantling this program would not only disrupt benefits for small businesses but also undermine decades of federal investment in domestic manufacturing resilience, which Congress prioritized in the MEP program in the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. Congress also reauthorized the MEP program in the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. NIST was provided $175 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 to fund the MEP Centers. In FY2024 alone, the MEP National Network resulted in $2.6 billion in cost savings, $15 billion in new and retained sales, $5 billion in new client investments, and over 108,000 jobs created or retained. Additionally, a report by Summit Consulting and the Upjohn Institute found that the MEP program generated a substantial economic and financial return ratio of more than 17:1 for the $175 million funding invested by the federal government in FY2023. The study also determined that MEP Center projects contributed to an overall increase of nearly 309,000 jobs across the United States.
Given these benefits and the funding in the FY 2025 Continuing Resolution, we request a full explanation of the rationale behind this funding decision and ask that you promptly reconsider. Additionally, we urge the Department of Commerce to provide Congress with an impact assessment detailing how this decision will affect manufacturers in the affected states and regions. This action has caused tremendous uncertainty for all MEP Centers and the thousands of American manufacturing companies and their workers. Therefore, to better understand your plans for renewals across other states in the future, we request a briefing on the way ahead for the overall MEP program prior to making any final non-renewal decisions by April 30, 2025.
Eliminating federal support for MEP Centers would hamper American small and medium-sized manufacturers. We urge you to take immediate action to protect the MEP program and the manufacturers that rely on it. We look forward to your response no later than April 30, 2025, and are ready to work with you to find solutions that maintain and enhance the MEP program’s ability to serve America’s manufacturing sector.
Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
At MIREA – Russian Technological University (RTU MIREA) in Moscow, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Chernyshenko familiarized himself with the key educational and scientific projects of the university and also assessed the work of the laboratories.
The event was also attended by Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Andrey Omelchuk and Rector of RTU MIREA Stanislav Kudzh.
“Today, when we are faced with the national goal outlined by President Vladimir Putin – technological leadership, the development of universities is becoming especially important. MIREA – Russian Technological University uses government support tools. The university participates in the Priority-2030 program of the national project “Youth and Children”, conducts research based on the Advanced Engineering School. Cooperation with industrial partners allows us to obtain specific developments, which we saw today in the university’s technological laboratories,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko.
In total, more than 30 thousand students study at RTU MIREA, including more than 1.8 thousand representatives from 80 countries.
The Deputy Prime Minister, together with the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia and the Rector, assessed the modern digital prototyping laboratory and got acquainted with the educational and scientific testing complex “Import Substitution of Information Technologies”, created jointly with Rostelecom. Also, in the motion capture laboratory and the immersive technology laboratory, equipment was shown that allows recording the movements, movements and facial expressions of actors with high positioning accuracy, followed by the recreation of their actions in digital models of characters and animation objects.
In addition, the guests assessed the work of the Departmental Situation Center for Monitoring the Sphere of Education and Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia.
“RTU MIREA is an active participant in the national project “Youth and Children”. The University creates a comprehensive infrastructure for training highly qualified personnel. I would like to separately note the work of the Departmental Situation Center of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia for monitoring the sphere of education and science, operating on the basis of the University, which ensures the collection and verification of relevant data. Today, the results of its work help the Ministry and the heads of scientific and educational organizations to promptly respond to modern challenges and make effective management decisions,” said Deputy Head of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia Andrey Omelchuk.
Rector of RTU MIREA Stanislav Kudzh spoke in detail about the work of the Situation Center of the Ministry of Education and Science, where monitoring of the educational sphere is carried out in real time.
“We strive to make our university a driver of technological sovereignty: from digital prototyping laboratories and immersive technologies to large-scale projects such as the educational and scientific complex with Rostelecom and the Departmental Situation Center of the Ministry of Education and Science. These solutions are the basis for training personnel capable of responding to the challenges of the time. I am confident that the support of the Russian Government will allow us to further develop the innovative ecosystem, where education, science and the real sector of the economy are creating the future today,” said RTU MIREA Rector Stanislav Kudzh.
The visit ended with a discussion of the university’s development prospects and its role in implementing state programs for digitalization and training personnel for high-tech industries.
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.
But this apparent rebound obscures a more surprising political shift: the growing appeal of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) among immigrants and their children.
Yet recent polling tells a different story. An October 2024 survey found that 45 per cent of immigrants had changed their political allegiances since arriving in Canada, with many now leaning Conservative.
Meanwhile, another national survey from January 2025 found that a majority of East Asian (55 per cent) and South Asian (56 per cent) respondents expressed support for the Conservative Party, far outpacing support for the Liberals or the NDP.
Why, then, would racialized Canadians increasingly turn to the right?
In a study I recently published, I interviewed 50 Canadian-born children of South Asian, Chinese and white immigrants living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). I argue that this shift is not a contradiction but provides a window into how racialized groups navigate inequality, exclusion and the search for belonging.
While there are many reasons 2nd-generation racialized Canadians may support the Conservative Party, this study highlights one under-documented explanation. Voting for a right-wing party that represents the interests of white, wealthy citizens can be a way for second-generation South Asian and Chinese Canadians to seek acceptance when power is linked to whiteness..
In other words, many of these racialized Canadians don’t vote Conservative because they’re unaware of inequality. They vote Conservative because they’re trying to navigate it.
Growing up in precariously middle-class households, the young adults I interviewed watched their immigrant parents face deskilling and downward mobility despite arriving in Canada with professional credentials.
They saw their families pressured to “Canadianize” their names and accents, only to be sidelined by employers who still favoured whiteness.
In this context, support for the Conservatives reflects not ignorance of marginalization, but a way to move through it. Aligning with the right becomes a signal of belonging.
As one young South Asian Canadian man put it:
“You’ve arrived. You’re a Canadian. So, start voting like one.”
This desire to belong doesn’t emerge in a vacuum. It’s shaped by racial scripts that reward conformity and penalize dissent — most notably, the model minority stereotype.
The model minority stereotype casts Asian Canadians as hardworking and quietly successful. On the surface, it sounds like praise. But in practice, it hides inequality and demands silence in exchange for conditional belonging.
In some contexts, political restraint, like staying quiet or avoiding protest, can function as a survival strategy. But that’s not what I observed in this study.
The second-generation Canadians I interviewed were not politically quiet. They were vocal in their support for the Conservative Party. For them, voting Conservative was a way to assert they already belonged, not by asking for inclusion, but by showing they did not need to. Conservatism became a marker of success, self-reliance and alignment with those at the centre of Canadian life.
In Canada, ideas about who belongs are often shaped by race, class and respectability. Racialized people must not only prove they are hardworking and law-abiding, but also demonstrate that they’ve “fit in.” For some, voting Conservative becomes a way to show they’ve done just that — a way of saying: “I’m not like them. I’m one of you.”
But this strategy comes at a cost. In reinforcing the very structures that marginalize them, racialized voters may gain individual recognition while deepening collective exclusion. And in rejecting equity-based platforms, they may forgo the policies that could build a more just society.
This dynamic isn’t limited to the second generation. A recent CBC survey found that four in five newcomers believe Canada has accepted too many immigrants and international students without proper planning.
Some immigrants are increasingly expressing exclusionary views, often toward those who arrived more recently. This, too, is a form of aspirational politics. And it shows just how deeply race, precarity and belonging are entangled in Canada today.
None of this means that racialized Conservative voters are naïve. Their decisions often reflect a clear-eyed understanding of how power works.
But if we want a fairer political future, we must reckon with the ways race, class and nationalism shape belonging — not just at the ballot box, but in the stories we tell about who gets to be “Canadian.”
As sociologist Ruha Benjamin reminds us, inclusion shouldn’t be treated as an act of generosity. It’s not about “helping” the marginalized — it’s about understanding that we’re all connected. When fear shapes policy and public goods are stripped away, everyone suffers.
Emine Fidan Elcioglu 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.
Source: United States Senator John Hickenlooper – Colorado
Legislation would ensure partnerships between NASA and the private sector to boost satellite-enabled research
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and John Cornyn reintroduced their bipartisan Accessing Satellite Capabilities to Enable New Discoveries (ASCEND) Act to codify NASA’s Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition (CSDA) program and continue shared access to commercial small-satellite (SmallSat) datasets that prove crucial for Earth science research and applications.
“Satellites help us study and better understand our planet,” said Hickenlooper. “Our legislation leverages public-private partnerships to advance vital scientific research.”
“Investing in satellite data and imagery gives us a deeper understanding of everything from agricultural yields to weather forecasting and disaster response,” said Cornyn. “This legislation would create a permanent program through NASA to expand the data pool available to us and build on prior success.”
Alongside the unprecedented growth of the commercial space industry, technological advancements have enabled the development of SmallSats with novel capabilities. There has been a sharp increase in the number of privately owned and operated satellites, including over 2,800 SmallSats launched in 2023 alone. Commercial SmallSats provide high resolution data to complement the suite of Earth observations acquired by NASA, other U.S. Government agencies, and international partners. Earth observation data supplied by satellites in orbit provide important information for a variety of purposes, including increasing agricultural crop yields, informing forest conservation, improving disaster mitigation and response, forecasting space weather, advancing science, and more.
NASA established CSDA as a pilot program in 2017 to identify and evaluate commercial capabilities, establish new processes to onramp vendors, and enable broad sharing and use of acquired data products. The CSDA pilot program proved to be a success, with participating scientists finding the program’s datasets to be useful and reliable for a variety of research topics. Today, fifteen commercial vendors are providing 7 unique data types to federal researchers through CSDA.
The ASCEND Act would permanently authorize CSDA within NASA to sustain and expand the program and continue to leverage the advancing capabilities in remote sensing offered by commercial vendors.
“This act will provide data to support Earth science and applications and help meet some of the nation’s strategic goals, providing societal benefit and improving public understanding and exchange of knowledge,” said Frank Eparvier, Interim Director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder. “We firmly believe that supporting the ASCEND Act will strengthen Colorado’s leadership in Earth science and secure long-term economic societal benefits for the state and the nation. Thank you, Senator Hickenlooper, for your leadership on the important ASCEND Act.”
“Commercial satellite observations have a demonstrated ability to provide vital information about important Earth characteristics and processes in a cost-effective way. They serve as a powerful complement to the capabilities developed by NASA and other federal agencies, enhancing our ability to monitor and understand our surroundings and the environment,” said Waleed Abdalati, Director of the Cooperative Institute for Research In Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. “These insights contribute significantly to our safety, prosperity, and overall well-being by deepening our understanding of the world around us.”
“NASA’s Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA) program is an outstanding example of how commercial companies can provide data and services to the government for a fraction of the cost of government owned systems. CSF applauds the reintroduction of the ASCEND Act and encourages quick passage of this legislation to expand utilization of these important data sets,” said Dave Cavossa, President of the Commercial Space Federation.
Specifically, this legislation will:
Establish CSDA as a permanent program within NASA’s Earth Science Division
Direct NASA to expand procurement licenses and provide federal agencies access to high-quality Earth remote sensing datasets and imagery
Promote the acquisition of new datasets for scientific and non-scientific applications
Require an annual report to Congress on the uses and impact of commercial data products and licensing agreements
NEW YORK, April 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Silvercrest Asset Management Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SAMG), a leading registered investment advisory firm specializing in institutional and wealth asset management services, is pleased to announce the appointment of J. Allen Gray to its Board of Directors, effective immediately.
Mr. Gray brings extensive experience in financial services and strategic leadership to Silvercrest. As head of Silvercrest’s institutional business, Mr. Gray has played a pivotal role in the success of the firm’s institutional equity business over his tenure. The institutional asset management business has grown to approximately 30% of its discretionary assets under management under Mr. Gray’s nearly 17-year tenure. He is a Silvercrest Partner and Managing Director, and has been a member of the company’s Executive Committee since 2019.
“We are thrilled to welcome Allen Gray to our Board of Directors,” said Richard Hough, Chairman and CEO of Silvercrest Asset Management Group Inc. “Allen will provide the Board with important strategic insights with regards to our ongoing growth in the institutional asset management business as well our global initiatives. Our ambitious growth plans will greatly benefit from Allen’s careful advice and counsel. His deep industry knowledge, proven leadership, and commitment to excellence align perfectly with Silvercrest’s mission to deliver exceptional value to our clients.”
About J. Allen Gray
J. Allen Gray is a Managing Director and Head of Institutional business. Prior to Silvercrest, Mr. Gray served as a Managing Partner and a Member of the Management Committee of Osprey Partners Investment Management, LLC and as President of the Osprey Concentrated Large Cap Value Equity Fund. Prior to Osprey Partners, Mr. Gray served as a Managing Director with Radnor Capital Management, a start-up investment firm, where he was responsible for the firm’s sales, marketing and client relations activities. Mr. Gray began his career with Kidder, Peabody & Co. as a financial advisor before accepting a position with Wheat, First Securities, Inc. as Vice President for institutional equity sales as well as continuing to work as a financial advisor to families and individuals. Mr. Gray remained with Wheat, First Securities until the founding of Radnor Capital Management. Mr. Gray received his B.A. in Political Science from Randolph-Macon College.
About Silvercrest
Silvercrest was founded in April 2002 as an independent, employee-owned registered investment adviser. With offices in New York, Boston, Virginia, New Jersey, California and Wisconsin, Silvercrest provides traditional and alternative investment advisory and family office services to wealthy families and select institutional investors. As of December 31, 2024, the firm reported assets under management of $36.5 billion.
Source: US Department of Health and Human Services – 3
For Immediate Release: April 10, 2025
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is taking a groundbreaking step to advance public health by replacing animal testing in the development of monoclonal antibody therapies and other drugs with more effective, human-relevant methods. The new approach is designed to improve drug safety and accelerate the evaluation process, while reducing animal experimentation, lowering research and development (R&D) costs, and ultimately, drug prices. The FDA’s animal testing requirement will be reduced, refined, or potentially replaced using a range of approaches, including AI-based computational models of toxicity and cell lines and organoid toxicity testing in a laboratory setting (so-called New Approach Methodologies or NAMs data). Implementation of the regimen will begin immediately for investigational new drug (IND) applications, where inclusion of NAMs data is encouraged, and is outlined in a roadmap also being released today. To make determinations of efficacy, the agency will also begin use pre-existing, real-world safety data from other countries, with comparable regulatory standards, where the drug has already been studied in humans. “For too long, drug manufacturers have performed additional animal testing of drugs that have data in broad human use internationally. This initiative marks a paradigm shift in drug evaluation and holds promise to accelerate cures and meaningful treatments for Americans while reducing animal use,” said FDA Commissioner Martin A. Makary, M.D., M.P.H. “By leveraging AI-based computational modeling, human organ model-based lab testing, and real-world human data, we can get safer treatments to patients faster and more reliably, while also reducing R&D costs and drug prices. It is a win-win for public health and ethics.” Key Benefits of Replacing Animal Testing in Monoclonal Antibody Safety Evaluation:
Advanced Computer Simulations: The roadmap encourages developers to leverage computer modeling and artificial intelligence to predict a drug’s behavior. For example, software models could simulate how a monoclonal antibody distributes through the human body and reliably predict side effects based on this distribution as well as the drug’s molecular composition. We believe this will drastically reduce the need for animal trials. Human-Based Lab Models: The FDA will promote the use of lab-grown human “organoids” and organ-on-a-chip systems that mimic human organs – such as liver, heart, and immune organs – to test drug safety. These experiments can reveal toxic effects that could easily go undetected in animals, providing a more direct window into human responses. Regulatory Incentives: The agency will work to update its guidelines to allow consideration of data from these new methods. Companies that submit strong safety data from non-animal tests may receive streamlined review, as the need for certain animal studies is eliminated, which would incentivize investment in modernized testing platforms. Faster Drug Development: The use of these modern techniques should help speed up the drug development process, enabling monoclonal antibody therapies to reach patients more quickly without compromising safety. Global Leadership in Regulatory Science: With this move, the FDA reaffirms its role as a global leader in modern regulatory science, setting new standards for the industry and encouraging the adoption of innovative, humane testing methods. In recent years, Congress and the scientific community have pressed for more human-relevant testing methods. Today’s announcement is a step by the FDA towards its commitment to modernize regulatory science as technology advances.
Working in close partnership with federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Toxicology Program and the Department of Veterans Affairs, the FDA aims to accelerate the validation and adoption of these innovative methods through the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM). The FDA and federal partners will host a public workshop later this year to discuss the roadmap and gather stakeholder input on its implementation. Over the coming year, the FDA aims to launch a pilot program allowing select monoclonal antibody developers to use a primarily non-animal-based testing strategy, under close FDA consultation. Findings from an accompanying pilot study will inform broader policy changes and guidance updates expected to roll out in phases. Commissioner Makary noted the far-reaching significance of this proposal. “For patients, it means a more efficient pipeline for novel treatments. It also means an added margin of safety, since human-based test systems may better predict real-world outcomes. For animal welfare, it represents a major step toward ending the use of laboratory animals in drug testing. Thousands of animals, including dogs and primates, could eventually be spared each year as these new methods take root.” Related Information
Related Information
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The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, radiation-emitting electronic products, and for regulating tobacco products.
Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Cory Booker
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), along with U.S. Representatives Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR-01) and Summer Lee (D-PA-12), led colleagues in writing a letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor calling for the Department of Education (ED) to immediately rescind their guidance on inclusive classrooms.
“In February, OCR’s DCL threatened to rescind federal funding from any school, district, or state that seeks to create inclusive classrooms. Although ED published the March FAQ ostensibly to clarify this guidance, the FAQ document spreads misinformation by falsely suggesting, without evidence, that social and emotional learning (SEL) and culturally responsive teaching are discriminatory,” the lawmakers wrote.
SEL and culturally responsive teaching are both evidence-based educational practices that create supportive environments, help students build social and emotional skills, and promote student engagement and academic achievement in the classroom.
“Although we have numerous significant concerns with the substance and content of OCR’s recent guidance, we write specifically to express our opposition to the guidance provided in Question 8 of the FAQ, which falsely claims that “schools have sought to veil discriminatory policies with terms like ‘social-emotional learning’ or ‘culturally responsive’ teaching,” and suggests such curricula are discriminatory under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. This erroneous guidance contradicts scientific evidence, prior OCR guidance, and long-standing state and local laws and practices,” the lawmakers continued.
The Department of Education’s guidance seeks to override state and district leadership over curriculum despite Congress and numerous federal laws specifically prohibiting federal involvement in curriculum decisions.
“Because of the strong, established evidence that supports schools’ use of SEL and culturally responsive teaching, we strongly urge OCR to immediately rescind the February 14th Dear Colleague Letter and March 1st FAQ, both of which undermine OCR’s long-standing guidance and threaten critical funding that supports students nationwide,” the lawmakers concluded
The letter is endorsed by the following organizations: CASEL, National Association for College Admission Counseling, National Science Teaching Association, Educators for Excellence, International Literacy Association, National Parents Union, National Association of School Psychologists, American Federation of School Administrators, and Social Emotional Learning Alliance for the United States.
The letter is cosigned by U.S. Senators Andy Kim (D-NJ), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Alex Padilla (D-CA), and U.S. Representatives Delia Ramirez (D-IL-03), Betty McCollum (D-MN-04), Andrea Salinas (D-OR-06), Danny Davis (D-IL-07), Terri Sewell (D-AL-07), Jonathan Jackson (D-IL-01), Jennifer McClellan (D-VA-04), Bennie Thompson (D-MS-02), Nydia Velazquez (D-NY-07), Dwight Evans (D-PA-03), Chellie Pingree (D-ME-03), Shri Thanedar (D-MI-13), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09), and Joyce Beatty (D-OH-03).
Source: United States of America – Federal Government Departments (video statements)
Have We Ever Been to Uranus? In 1986, NASA’s Voyager 2 gave us our first and only close-up look at this ice giant. What it found was a bizarre, tilted world with extreme seasons, swirling methane clouds, narrow dusty rings and icy moons that could even hide oceans beneath their crusts.
Not only could Uranus hold clues about our own solar system but also the many similar-sized planets found throughout the galaxy.
A NASA scientist explains why Uranus is worth a second visit. Explore more about Uranus: https://science.nasa.gov/uranus/
Producers: Scott Bednar, Pedro Cota, Jessie Wilde
Editor: Daniel Salazar
Flying high above the clouds and moon-gazing may sound like a scene from a timeless romance, but NASA did just that in the name of Earth science research. In March 2025 pilots took the agency’s ER-2 science aircraft on a series of night flights over NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, as the Moon increased in visible size. For those few nights, the high-flying plane was converted into a one-of-a-kind airborne lunar observatory. The Airborne Lunar Spectral Irradiance, or air-LUSI, mission observed the Moon at different phases and measured the sunlight reflected by the lunar surface. Specifically, the instrument tracks the amount of light reflected at different wavelengths. This information enables scientists to use the Moon as a calibration tool for Earth-observing sensors. As an “absolute reference, the Moon also becomes the perfect benchmark for satellites to consistently and accurately measure processes on Earth,” said Kevin Turpie, air-LUSI’s principal investigator and a researcher based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. This helps scientists to improve the precision of many different measurements, including data on weather patterns, vegetation growth, and ocean conditions. As the highest-flying platform for airborne science, the ER-2 can fly the air-LUSI instrument in the stratosphere, above 95% of the atmosphere. Data collected at an altitude nearing 70,000 feet are highly accurate because the air is predominantly clear of the gases and particles found in the lower atmosphere that can interfere with measurements.
“To date, air-LUSI measurements of the Moon are the most accurate ever made,” said Kelsey Bisson, the NASA program scientist supporting the mission. “Air-LUSI data can advance our ability to understand the Earth and our weather, and they provide a new way to calibrate satellites that can result in cost savings.” The quality of these data has transformative implications for satellite and Earth observing systems. The improved accuracy and enhanced ability provided by air-LUSI data flown on the ER-2 reduces the need for onboard reference devices, effectually cutting satellite costs. The air-LUSI project is a collaboration between scientists and engineers from NASA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and McMaster University in Ontario.
“The collective effort of the American and Canadian team members offers an opportunity for truly exciting engineering and science collaboration,” said Andrew Gadsden, associate professor and associate chair for graduate studies in mechanical engineering at McMaster University, and co-investigator on the air-LUSI project. The McMaster team developed the Autonomous Robotic Telescope Mount Instrument System and High-Altitude Aircraft Mounted Robotic (HAAMR) telescope mount, which support the air-LUSI system.
The HAAMR telescope mount was integrated onto the ER-2 and flown for the first time during the science flights in March. This new lunar tracking system is contributing to what John Woodward IV, co-investigator for air-LUSI, called the “highest accuracy measurements” of moonlight. To improve Earth observation technology, air-LUSI represents an important evolutionary step.
Have we ever been to Uranus? The answer is simple, yes, but only once. The Voyager II spacecraft flew by the planet Uranus back in 1986, during a golden era when the Voyager spacecraft explored all four giant planets of our solar system. It revealed an extreme world, a planet that had been bowled over onto its side by some extreme cataclysm early in the formation of the solar system. That means that its seasons and its magnetic field get exposed to the most dramatic seasonal variability of any place that we know of in the solar system. The atmosphere was a churning system made of methane and hydrogen and water, with methane clouds showing up as white against the bluer background of the planet itself. The densely packed ring system is host to a number of very fine, narrow and dusty rings surrounded by a collection of icy satellites. And those satellites may harbor deep, dark, hidden oceans beneath an icy crust of water ice. Taken together, this extreme and exciting system is somewhere that we simply must go back to explore and hopefully in the next one to two decades NASA and the European Space Agency will mount an ambitious mission to go out there and explore the Uranian system. It’s important not just for solar system science, but also for the growing field of exoplanet science. As planets of this particular size, the size of Uranus, about four times wider than planet Earth, seem to be commonplace throughout our galaxy. So how have we been to Uranus? Yes, but it’s time that we went back. [END VIDEO TRANSCRIPT] Full Episode List Full YouTube Playlist
Observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have provided a surprising twist in the narrative surrounding what is believed to be the first star observed in the act of swallowing a planet. The new findings suggest that the star actually did not swell to envelop a planet as previously hypothesized. Instead, Webb’s observations show the planet’s orbit shrank over time, slowly bringing the planet closer to its demise until it was engulfed in full. “Because this is such a novel event, we didn’t quite know what to expect when we decided to point this telescope in its direction,” said Ryan Lau, lead author of the new paper and astronomer at NSF NOIRLab (National Science Foundation National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory) in Tuscon, Arizona. “With its high-resolution look in the infrared, we are learning valuable insights about the final fates of planetary systems, possibly including our own.” Two instruments aboard Webb conducted the post-mortem of the scene – Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) and NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph). The researchers were able to come to their conclusion using a two-pronged investigative approach.
The star at the center of this scene is located in the Milky Way galaxy about 12,000 light-years away from Earth. The brightening event, formally called ZTF SLRN-2020, was originally spotted as a flash of optical light using the Zwicky Transient Facility at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego, California. Data from NASA’s NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) showed the star actually brightened in the infrared a year before the optical light flash, hinting at the presence of dust. This initial 2023 investigation led researchers to believe that the star was more Sun-like, and had been in the process of aging into a red giant over hundreds of thousands of years, slowly expanding as it exhausted its hydrogen fuel. However, Webb’s MIRI told a different story. With powerful sensitivity and spatial resolution, Webb was able to precisely measure the hidden emission from the star and its immediate surroundings, which lie in a very crowded region of space. The researchers found the star was not as bright as it should have been if it had evolved into a red giant, indicating there was no swelling to engulf the planet as once thought.
Researchers suggest that, at one point, the planet was about Jupiter-sized, but orbited quite close to the star, even closer than Mercury’s orbit around our Sun. Over millions of years, the planet orbited closer and closer to the star, leading to the catastrophic consequence. “The planet eventually started to graze the star’s atmosphere. Then it was a runaway process of falling in faster from that moment,” said team member Morgan MacLeod of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “The planet, as it’s falling in, started to sort of smear around the star.” In its final splashdown, the planet would have blasted gas away from the outer layers of the star. As it expanded and cooled off, the heavy elements in this gas condensed into cold dust over the next year.
While the researchers did expect an expanding cloud of cooler dust around the star, a look with the powerful NIRSpec revealed a hot circumstellar disk of molecular gas closer in. Furthermore, Webb’s high spectral resolution was able to detect certain molecules in this accretion disk, including carbon monoxide. “With such a transformative telescope like Webb, it was hard for me to have any expectations of what we’d find in the immediate surroundings of the star,” said Colette Salyk of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, an exoplanet researcher and co-author on the new paper. “I will say, I could not have expected seeing what has the characteristics of a planet-forming region, even though planets are not forming here, in the aftermath of an engulfment.” The ability to characterize this gas opens more questions for researchers about what actually happened once the planet was fully swallowed by the star. “This is truly the precipice of studying these events. This is the only one we’ve observed in action, and this is the best detection of the aftermath after things have settled back down,” Lau said. “We hope this is just the start of our sample.” These observations, taken under Guaranteed Time Observation program 1240, which was specifically designed to investigate a family of mysterious, sudden, infrared brightening events, were among the first Target of Opportunity programs performed by Webb. These types of study are reserved for events, like supernova explosions, that are expected to occur, but researchers don’t exactly know when or where. NASA’s space telescopes are part of a growing, international network that stands ready to witness these fleeting changes, to help us understand how the universe works. Researchers expect to add to their sample and identify future events like this using the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory and NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which will survey large areas of the sky repeatedly to look for changes over time. The team’s findings appear today in The Astrophysical Journal. The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). To learn more about Webb, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/webb Downloads Click any image to open a larger version. View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute. View/Download the science paper from the The Astrophysical Journal.
Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.govNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Hannah Braun – hbraun@stsci.eduSpace Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Read more about Webb’s impact on exoplanet research Video: How to Study Exoplanets Learn more about exoplanets More Webb News More Webb Images Webb Science Themes Webb Mission Page
What is the Webb Telescope? SpacePlace for Kids En Español Ciencia de la NASA NASA en español Space Place para niños
Nick Kopp is a Dragon flight lead in the Transportation Integration Office at Johnson Space Center in Houston. He is currently leading NASA’s efforts to prepare, launch, and return the agency’s 32nd SpaceX commercial resupply services mission. He works directly with SpaceX and collaborates with NASA’s many internal, external, and international partners to ensure the success of this and other cargo missions to the International Space Station. Read on to learn about his career with NASA and more!
Nick Kopp Transportation Integration Office Flight Lead
Where are you from? I am from Cleveland, Ohio. Tell us about your role at NASA. I work directly with SpaceX to ensure the Dragon cargo spacecraft meets NASA’s requirements to visit the space station. I also collaborate with NASA’s various partners who are safely flying science investigations and other cargo to and from the space station. For the upcoming flight, I’ve worked extensively with SpaceX to prepare to return the Dragon cargo spacecraft off the coast of California. How would you describe your job to family or friends who may not be familiar with NASA? I’m responsible for getting stuff to and from the International Space Station safely. How long have you been working for NASA? I have been working for NASA for about 15 years at both Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama and Johnson Space Center in Texas. What advice would you give to young individuals aspiring to work in the space industry or at NASA? It takes so many different people with all kinds of different skills working together to make missions happen. I would suggest looking at NASA’s websites to find the skill or task that makes you want to learn more and then focusing your energy into that skill. Surround yourself with people with similar goals. Connect with people in the industry and ask them questions. You are in control of your destiny!
What was your path to NASA? I’ve wanted to work at NASA since I was a kid and my grandfather showed me the Moon through his home-built telescope. I studied aerospace engineering at the University of Illinois, where I joined Students for the Exploration and Development of Space and attended a conference at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. I met some folks from the Payload Operations Integration Center and learned of the awesome space station science operations at Marshall. I was lucky enough to be chosen for a contractor job working directly with astronauts on the space station to conduct science experiments! Is there someone in the space, aerospace, or science industry that has motivated or inspired you to work for the space program? Or someone you discovered while working for NASA who inspires you? After working with him from the ground when he was aboard the space station, I was lucky enough to spend many overnight shifts getting to know NASA astronaut and Flight Director TJ Creamer. TJ’s path to NASA and his servant leadership have left an ongoing legacy for people at the agency. His general attitude, extreme competence, friendly demeanor, and genuine care for people around him continue to inspire me every day to become a great leader. What is your favorite NASA memory? My favorite NASA memory is being selected as a payload operations director on the International Space Station Payload Operations and Integration Center flight control team. I looked up to those in this position for 10 years and did everything I could to gather the skills and knowledge I needed to take on the role. I became responsible for the minute-to-minute operations of astronauts conducting science investigations on the space station. I vividly remember the joy I felt learning of the news of my assignment, taking my first shift, my first conversation with an astronaut in space, and the bittersweet decision to leave and continue my career goals at NASA in a different role.
What do you love sharing about station? What’s important to get across to general audiences to help them understand the benefits to life on Earth? Although it takes place off the planet, research on the space station is conducted for people on Earth. The time and effort spent building, maintaining, and conducting science on the International Space Station is spent by people in our community and communities around the world to further humanity’s collective understanding of the universe around us. When we understand more about science, we can be more successful. So many people around the planet have had life-changing benefits from experiments that can only be done by people conducting research in microgravity, above the atmosphere, where you can view most of Earth. If you could have dinner with any astronaut, past or present, who would it be? I would have dinner with anyone from the Apollo 13 crew. I’d love to learn how they felt that NASA’s culture drove the outcome of that mission. Do you have a favorite space-related memory or moment that stands out to you? While working a night shift at the operations center in Huntsville, Alabama, we were monitoring payloads returning to Earth on a Dragon cargo spacecraft. We took a quick break outside the control center to watch as the spacecraft re-entered Earth’s atmosphere above us on its way to splash down off the coast of Florida. It was a clear night. As the spacecraft flew overhead, we saw the ablative heat shield create a shimmering trail of fire and sparkles that stretched across the whole night sky. It looked as though Tinker Bell just flew over us! What are some of the key projects you’ve worked on during your time at NASA? What have been your favorite? Some of my favorite projects I’ve worked on include:
Serving as the International Space Station Program’s representative as flight lead for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission
Troubleshooting unexpected results when conducting science on the space station
Writing instructions for astronauts filming a virtual reality documentary on the space station
Assessing design changes on the Space Launch System rocket’s core stage
Managing and training a team of flight controllers
Helping NASA move Dragon spacecraft returns from Florida to California
What are your hobbies/things you enjoy outside of work? I love playing board games with my wife, sailing, flying, traveling around the world, and learning about leadership and project management theory. Day launch or night launch? The Crew-8 night launch, specifically, where the Falcon 9 booster landed just above me! Favorite space movie? Spaceballs NASA “worm” or “meatball” logo? Meatball
Every day, we’re conducting exciting research aboard our orbiting laboratory that will help us explore further into space and bring benefits back to people on Earth. You can keep up with the latest news, videos, and pictures about space station science on the Station Research & Technology news page. It’s a curated hub of space station research digital media from Johnson and other centers and space agencies. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter to get the updates delivered directly to you. Follow updates on social media at @ISS_Research on Twitter, and on the space station accounts on Facebook and Instagram.
The diversity of rock types along the rim of Jezero Crater offers a wide glimpse of Martian history. Scientists with NASA’s Perseverance rover are exploring what they consider a veritable Martian cornucopia full of intriguing rocky outcrops on the rim of Jezero Crater. Studying rocks, boulders, and outcrops helps scientists understand the planet’s history, evolution, and potential for past or present habitability. Since January, the rover has cored five rocks on the rim, sealing samples from three of them in sample tubes. It’s also performed up-close analysis of seven rocks and analyzed another 83 from afar by zapping them with a laser. This is the mission’s fastest science-collection tempo since the rover landed on the Red Planet more than four years ago. Perseverance climbed the western wall of Jezero Crater for 3½ months, reaching the rim on Dec. 12, 2024, and is currently exploring a roughly 445-foot-tall (135-meter-tall) slope the science team calls “Witch Hazel Hill.” The diversity of rocks they have found there has gone beyond their expectations. “During previous science campaigns in Jezero, it could take several months to find a rock that was significantly different from the last rock we sampled and scientifically unique enough for sampling,” said Perseverance’s project scientist, Katie Stack Morgan of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “But up here on the crater rim, there are new and intriguing rocks everywhere the rover turns. It has been all we had hoped for and more.”
That’s because Jezero Crater’s western rim contains tons of fragmented once-molten rocks that were knocked out of their subterranean home billions of years ago by one or more meteor impacts, including possibly the one that produced Jezero Crater. Perseverance is finding these formerly underground boulders juxtaposed with well-preserved layered rocks that were “born” billions of years ago on what would become the crater’s rim. And just a short drive away is a boulder showing signs that it was modified by water nestled beside one that saw little water in its past. Oldest Sample Yet? Perseverance collected its first crater-rim rock sample, named “Silver Mountain,” on Jan. 28. (NASA scientists informally nickname Martian features, including rocks and, separately, rock samples, to help keep track of them.) The rock it came from, called “Shallow Bay,” most likely formed at least 3.9 billion years ago during Mars’ earliest geologic period, the Noachian, and it may have been broken up and recrystallized during an ancient meteor impact. About 360 feet (110 meters) away from that sampling site is an outcrop that caught the science team’s eye because it contains igneous minerals crystallized from magma deep in the Martian crust. (Igneous rocks can form deep underground from magma or from volcanic activity at the surface, and they are excellent record-keepers — particularly because mineral crystals within them preserve details about the precise moment they formed.) But after two coring attempts (on Feb. 4 and Feb. 8) fizzled due to the rock being so crumbly, the rover drove about 520 feet (160 meters) northwest to another scientifically intriguing rock, dubbed “Tablelands.” Data from the rover’s instruments indicates that Tablelands is made almost entirely of serpentine minerals, which form when large amounts of water react with iron- and magnesium-bearing minerals in igneous rock. During this process, called serpentinization, the rock’s original structure and mineralogy change, often causing it to expand and fracture. Byproducts of the process sometimes include hydrogen gas, which can lead to the generation of methane in the presence of carbon dioxide. On Earth, such rocks can support microbial communities. Coring Tablelands went smoothly. But sealing it became an engineering challenge.
Flick Maneuver “This happened once before, when there was enough powdered rock at the top of the tube that it interfered with getting a perfect seal,” said Kyle Kaplan, a robotics engineer at JPL. “For Tablelands, we pulled out all the stops. Over 13 sols,” or Martian days, “we used a tool to brush out the top of the tube 33 times and made eight sealing attempts. We even flicked it a second time.” During a flick maneuver, the sample handling arm — a little robotic arm in the rover’s belly — presses the tube against a wall inside the rover, then pulls the tube away, causing it to vibrate. On March 2, the combination of flicks and brushings cleaned the tube’s top opening enough for Perseverance to seal and store the serpentine-laden rock sample. Eight days later, the rover had no issues sealing its third rim sample, from a rock called “Main River.” The alternating bright and dark bands on the rock were like nothing the science team had seen before. Up Next Following the collection of the Main River sample, the rover has continued exploring Witch Hazel Hill, analyzing three more rocky outcrops (“Sally’s Cove,” “Dennis Pond,” and “Mount Pearl”). And the team isn’t done yet. “The last four months have been a whirlwind for the science team, and we still feel that Witch Hazel Hill has more to tell us,” said Stack. “We’ll use all the rover data gathered recently to decide if and where to collect the next sample from the crater rim. Crater rims — you gotta love ’em.” More About Perseverance A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover is characterizing the planet’s geology and past climate, to help pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet and is the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith. NASA’s Mars Sample Return Program, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), is designed to send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio and the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover. For more about Perseverance:
Mars 2020: Perseverance Rover
News Media Contacts DC AgleJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-9011agle@jpl.nasa.gov Karen Fox / Molly WasserNASA Headquarters, Washington202-358-1600karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov 2025-051
NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland is launching the NASA Glenn High School Engineering Institute this summer. The free, work-based learning experience is designed to help high school students prepare for a future in the aerospace workforce. Rising high school juniors and seniors in Northeast Ohio can submit applications for this new, in-person summer program from Friday, April 11, through Friday, May 9. The NASA Glenn High School Engineering Institute will immerse students in NASA’s work while providing essential career readiness tools to help them in future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-focused academic and professional pursuits. Throughout the five-day institute, students will use authentic NASA mission content and work alongside Glenn’s technical experts to gain a deeper understanding of the engineering design process, develop practical engineering solutions to real-world challenges, and test prototypes to answer questions in key mission areas:
Acoustic dampening – How can we reduce noise pollution from jet engines? Power management and distribution – How can we develop a smart power system for future space stations? Simulated lunar operations – Can we invent tires that don’t use air?
Program DatesSelected students will participate in one of the following week-long sessions.
Session 1: July 7 – 11, 2025 Session 2: July 14 – 18, 2025 Session 3: July 21 – 25, 2025
Eligibility and Application RequirementsTo be eligible for this program, students must:
Be entering 11th or 12th grade for the 2025-2026 academic year Have a minimum 3.2 GPA, verified by their school counselor Submit a letter of recommendation from a teacher
Additional application requirements are outlined in the Supplemental Application. How to Apply:To be considered for this opportunity, complete and submit the NASA Gateway application and the Supplemental Application by Friday May 9. Questions pertaining to the NASA Glenn High School Engineering Institute should be directed to Gerald Voltz at GRC-Ed-Opportunities@mail.nasa.gov. For information about NASA Glenn, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/glenn -end- Debbie WelchGlenn Research Center, Cleveland216-433-8655debbie.welch@nasa.gov
Headline: N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island is a winner in 2025 Newsweek Readers’ Choice Awards contest for Best Aquarium
N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island is a winner in 2025 Newsweek Readers’ Choice Awards contest for Best Aquarium jejohnson6
The N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island is honored and thrilled to announce that it is a winner in the 2025 Newsweek Readers’ Choice Awards contest for Best Aquarium. Nominees from across the United States were selected by an editorial panel of travel experts and Newsweek contributors. Polls closed after a public voting period of 28 days during the month of March. The top ten winners were announced on April 3.
Newsweek’s description of the N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island praised the Aquarium’s flagship Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation Center, also known as the S.T.A.R. Center. “Known for its stellar sea turtle rehab center, the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island has something for everyone, from the alligators and turtles of the Outer Banks to the Atlantic’s sharks, jellies and of course, sea turtles,” the panelists stated. The national publication, which reaches 100 million people each month, also highlights the Aquarium’s impressive Graveyard of the Atlantic exhibit, a 285,000-gallon ocean habitat featuring a model of the Civil War–era USS Monitor that serves as a home to sand tiger sharks, tarpon, sheepshead, Atlantic spadefish and more.
Responding to the win, Larry Warner, director of the Aquarium said, “The entire team at the Aquarium takes the work they do for our animals and our guests extremely seriously and with a great deal of pride. It is an honor to be a nominee, but to then be voted by the public as a Best Aquarium winner for Newsweek’s Readers’ Choice Award is a validation of the team’s pride and passion.”
A 61,000 square-foot facility sited on 16 acres, the Aquarium welcomes an average of 320,000 guests each year, including volunteers and students on school field trips. The 3,000-square-foot S.T.A.R. Center provides medical care and rehabilitation assistance to sea turtles, mostly loggerhead, Kemps ridley and greens. During the winter of 2024-25, the Aquarium provided care to nearly 800 cold-stunned sea turtles and has since successfully rehabilitated and released over 600 of those sea turtles into the warmer waters of the Gulf Stream. Founded in 1976, the Aquarium is celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2026.
About the North Carolina Aquarium at Roanoke Island
Located on the Outer Banks, the N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island is part of N.C. Aquariums, which includes four attractions along North Carolina’s coast and is a division of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Close to Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, the Aquarium is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Admission: ages 3–12, $10.95; ages 13–61, $12.95; ages 62 +, $11.95. Children 2 and under and North Carolina Aquarium Society members are admitted free of charge. For more information, visitwww.ncaquariums.com/roanoke-island
About the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) manages, promotes, and enhances the things that people love about North Carolina – its diverse arts and culture, rich history, and spectacular natural areas. Through its programs, the department enhances education, stimulates economic development, improves public health, expands accessibility, and strengthens community resiliency.
The department manages over 100 locations across the state, including 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, five science museums, four aquariums, 35 state parks, four recreation areas, dozens of state trails and natural areas, the North Carolina Zoo, the State Library, the State Archives, the N.C. Arts Council, the African American Heritage Commission, the American Indian Heritage Commission, the State Historic Preservation Office, the Office of State Archaeology, the Highway Historical Markers program, the N.C. Land and Water Fund, and the Natural Heritage Program. For more information, please visit www.dncr.nc.gov
Headline: Prominent Educator Nathan C. Newbold to be Featured on N.C. Highway Historical Marker
Prominent Educator Nathan C. Newbold to be Featured on N.C. Highway Historical Marker jejohnson6
A prominent education leader who worked with African American students soon will be recognized with a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker.
The marker commemorating Nathan C. Newbold will be dedicated during a ceremony Friday, April 25, at 1 p.m., at the corner of Hillsborough Street and West Park Drive in Raleigh.
Newbold, an educator, public servant, reformer, and longtime director of the Division of Negro Education in North Carolina was born in Pasquotank County, near Elizabeth City, on Dec. 27, 1871. He enrolled at Trinity College (later renamed Duke University) in 1894. He began his public service as a teacher and principal in eastern North Carolina and served as superintendent of schools in Asheboro, Roxboro, and Washington County.
In 1913, Newbold moved to Raleigh and became the state’s first state agent for Negro Education where he sought to expand educational opportunities for Black students. He convinced the state legislature and local governments to allocate matching funds to build rural schools.
Newbold’s enthusiasm for education led him to contact Julius Rosenwald and arrange for funding for a school to be built in Chowan County. This was one of the first Rosenwald Schools to be built outside of the Tuskegee area in Alabama. Over the years, Newbold and his team secured funding for over 843 Rosenwald Schools in North Carolina, more than any other state.
In 1920, following a state educational survey, he outlined to the State Board of Education a plan to create an entire Division of Negro Education. The plan was approved, $15,000 in funding was appropriated by the General Assembly, and Newbold was named division director in 1921. He retired from that position in 1950, 29 years later.
Newbold was a founding member of the North Carolina Commission for Interracial Cooperation and served as the director of the Division of Cooperation in Education and Race Relations, a project sponsored by the State Department of Public Education, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina.
He died at his home in Raleigh on Dec. 23, 1957, at the age of 85, after having given a full life to work across race and religious lines.
The marker describes Newbold as a “White advocate for Black opportunities within the system of segregation.” For more information about the historical marker, please visit https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2024/06/27/nathan-newbold-1871-1957-h-127, or call (919) 814-6625.
The Highway Historical Marker Program is a collaboration between the N.C. departments of Natural and Cultural Resources and Transportation.
About the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) manages, promotes, and enhances the things that people love about North Carolina – its diverse arts and culture, rich history, and spectacular natural areas. Through its programs, the department enhances education, stimulates economic development, improves public health, expands accessibility, and strengthens community resiliency.
The department manages over 100 locations across the state, including 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, five science museums, four aquariums, 35 state parks, four recreation areas, dozens of state trails and natural areas, the North Carolina Zoo, the State Library, the State Archives, the N.C. Arts Council, the African American Heritage Commission, the American Indian Heritage Commission, the State Historic Preservation Office, the Office of State Archaeology, the Highway Historical Markers program, the N.C. Land and Water Fund, and the Natural Heritage Program. For more information, please visit www.dncr.nc.gov.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jack Brand, Researcher in Behavioural and Movement Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
An Atlantic salmon smolt, ready for its seaward migration.Jörgen Wiklund
“Out of sight, out of mind” is how we often treat what is flushed down our toilets. But the drugs we take, from anxiety medications to antibiotics, don’t simply vanish after leaving our bodies. Many are not fully removed by wastewater treatment systems and end up in rivers, lakes and streams, where they can linger and affect wildlife in unexpected ways.
In our new study, we investigated how a sedative called clobazam, commonly prescribed for sleep and anxiety disorders, influences the migration of juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) from the River Dal in central Sweden to the Baltic Sea.
Our findings suggest that even tiny traces of drugs in the environment can alter animal behaviour in ways that may shape their survival and success in the wild.
A recent global survey of the world’s rivers found drugs were contaminating waterways on every continent – even Antarctica. These substances enter aquatic ecosystems not only through our everyday use, as active compounds pass through our bodies and into sewage systems, but also due to improper disposal and industrial effluents.
Particularly worrying is the fact that the biological targets of many of these drugs, such as receptors in the human brain, are also present in a wide variety of other species. That means animals in the wild can also be affected.
In fact, research over the last several decades has demonstrated that pharmaceutical pollutants can disrupt a wide range of traits in animals, including their physiology, development and reproduction.
Pharmaceutical pollution in the wild
The behavioural effects of pharmaceutical pollutants have received relatively less attention, but laboratory studies show that a variety of these contaminants can change brain function and behaviour in fish and other animals. This is a major cause for concern, given that actions critical to survival, including avoiding predators, foraging for food and social interaction, can all be disrupted.
Lab-based research has provided useful insights, but experimental conditions rarely reflect the complexity of nature. Environments are dynamic and difficult to predict, and animals often behave differently than they do in controlled settings. That’s why we set out to test the effects of pharmaceutical exposure in the wild.
As part of a large field study in central Sweden, we attached implants that slowly released clobazam (a common pharmaceutical pollutant) and also miniature tracking transmitters to juvenile Atlantic salmon on their seaward migration through the Dal.
The Dal is a large river in central Sweden that flows into the Baltic Sea. Michael Bertram
We found that clobazam increased the success of this river-to-sea migration, as more clobazam-treated salmon reached the Baltic Sea compared with untreated fish. These clobazam-exposed salmon also took less time to pass through two major hydropower dams that often delay or block salmon migration.
To better understand these changes, we followed up with a laboratory experiment which revealed that clobazam also altered how fish group and move together – what scientists call shoaling behaviour – when faced with a predator.
This suggests that the migration changes observed in the wild may stem from drug-induced shifts in social dynamics and risk-taking behaviour.
What does this mean for wildlife?
Our study is among the first to show that pharmaceutical pollution can affect not just behaviour in the lab, but outcomes for animals in their natural environment.
While an increase in migration success might initially sound like a positive effect, any disruption to natural behaviour can have ripple effects across ecosystems.
Even seemingly beneficial changes to animal behaviour, like faster passage through barriers, can come at a cost. Changes to the timing of migrations, for instance, might lead fish to arrive at the sea when conditions are not ideal, or expose them to new predators and risks. Over time, these subtle shifts could influence the dynamics of entire populations and threaten the balance of ecosystems.
Pharmaceuticals are vital for keeping people and animals healthy. But the accumulation of these drugs in rivers and lakes demands smarter approaches to keeping waterways clean.
One part of the solution is upgrading wastewater treatment plants. Some advanced methods such as ozonation, which involves bubbling ozone gas through wastewater to break down pollutants, can be effective at removing pharmaceuticals. But such advanced treatment systems are often prohibitively expensive to install and out of reach for many regions.
Another promising avenue is green chemistry: designing drugs that break down more easily in the environment or become less toxic after use. Our team has recently highlighted this as a key step toward reducing pharmaceutical pollution in the environment.
Stronger regulations and better drug disposal practices can also help to prevent medications from ending up in waterways in the first place.
There’s no single fix, but by advancing and integrating science, technology and policy, we can help to protect wildlife from the unintended effects of pharmaceutical pollution.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Jack Brand receives funding from the Swedish Research Council Formas and the Carl Trygger Foundation.
Michael Bertram receives funding from the Swedish Research Council Formas, the Kempe Foundations, the Marie-Claire Cronstedt Foundation, the ÅForsk Foundation, and the Baltic Salmon Foundation.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Adam Kepecs, Professor of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis
Many patients with late-stage cancer slip into a profound apathy as the disease ravages their bodies − and brains.demaerre/iStock via Getty Images Plus
A cruel consequence of advanced cancer is the profound apathy many patients experience as they lose interest in once-cherished activities. This symptom is part of a syndrome called cachexia, which affects about 80% of late-stage cancer patients, leading to severe muscle wasting and weight loss that leave patients bone thin despite adequate nutrition.
This loss of motivation doesn’t just deepen patients’ suffering, it isolates them from family and friends. Because patients struggle to engage with demanding therapies that require effort and persistence, it also strains families and complicates treatment.
Doctors typically assume that when late-stage cancer patients withdraw from life, it is an inevitable psychological response to physical deterioration. But what if apathy isn’t just a byproduct of physical decline but an integral part of the disease itself?
In our newly published research, my colleagues and I have discovered something remarkable: Cancer doesn’t simply waste the body – it hijacks a specific brain circuit that controls motivation. Our findings, published in the journal Science, challenge decades of assumptions and suggest it might be possible to restore what many cancer patients describe as most devastating to lose – their will to engage with life.
Untangling fatigue from physical decline
To unravel the puzzle of apathy in cancer cachexia, we needed to trace the exact path inflammation takes in the body and peer inside a living brain while the disease is progressing – something impossible in people. However, neuroscientists have advanced technologies that make this possible in mice.
Modern neuroscience equips us with a powerful arsenal of tools to probe how disease changes brain activity in mice. Scientists can map entire brains at the cellular level, track neural activity during behavior, and precisely switch neurons on or off. We used these neuroscience tools in a mouse model of cancer cachexia to study the effects of the disease on the brain and motivation.
We identified a small brain region called the area postrema that acts as the brain’s inflammation detector. As a tumor grows, it releases cytokines − molecules that trigger inflammation − into the bloodstream. The area postrema lacks the typical blood-brain barrier that keeps out toxins, pathogens and other molecules from the body, allowing it to directly sample circulating inflammatory signals.
When the area postrema detects a rise in inflammatory molecules, it triggers a neural cascade across multiple brain regions, ultimately suppressing dopamine release in the brain’s motivation center − the nucleus accumbens. While commonly misconstrued as a “pleasure chemical,” dopamine is actually associated with drive, or the willingness to put in effort to gain rewards: It tips the internal cost-benefit scale toward action.
We directly observed this shift using two quantitative tests designed with behavioral economics principles to measure effort. In the first, mice repeatedly poked their noses into a food port, with progressively more pokes required to earn each food pellet. In the second task, mice repeatedly crossed a bridge between two water ports, each gradually depleting with use and forcing the mice to switch sides to replenish the supply, similar to picking berries until a bush is empty.
As cancer progressed, mice still pursued easy rewards but quickly abandoned tasks requiring greater effort. Meanwhile, we watched dopamine levels fall in real time, precisely mirroring the mice’s decreasing willingness to work for rewards.
Our findings suggest that cancer isn’t just generally “wearing out” the brain − it sends targeted inflammatory signals that the brain detects. The brain then responds by rapidly reducing dopamine levels to dial down motivation. This matches what patients describe: “Everything feels too hard.”
Restoring motivation in late-stage disease
Perhaps most exciting, we found several ways to restore motivation in mice suffering from cancer cachexia − even when the cancer itself continued progressing.
First, by genetically switching off the inflammation-sensing neurons in the area postrema, or by directly stimulating neurons to release dopamine, we were able to restore normal motivation in mice.
Second, we found that giving mice a drug that blocks a particular cytokine − working similarly to existing FDA-approved arthritis treatments − also proved effective. While the drug did not reverse physical wasting, it restored the mice’s willingness to work for rewards.
While these results are based on mouse models, they suggest a treatment possibility for people: Targeting this specific inflammation-dopamine circuit could improve quality of life for cancer patients, even when the disease remains incurable.
The boundary between physical and psychological symptoms is an artificially drawn line. Cancer ignores this division, using inflammation to commandeer the very circuits that drive a patient’s will to act. But our findings suggest these messages can be intercepted and the circuits restored.
Our discovery has implications far beyond cancer. The inflammatory molecule driving loss of motivation in cancer is also involved in numerous other conditions − from autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis to chronic infections and depression. This same brain circuit might explain the debilitating apathy that millions of people suffering from various chronic diseases experience.
Apathy triggered by inflammation may have originally evolved as a protective mechanism. When early humans faced acute infections, dialing down motivation made sense − it conserved energy and directed resources toward recovery. But what once helped people survive short-term illnesses turns harmful when inflammation persists chronically, as it does in cancer and other diseases. Rather than aiding survival, prolonged apathy deepens suffering, worsening health outcomes and quality of life.
While translating these findings into therapies for people requires more research, our discovery reveals a promising target for treatment. By intercepting inflammatory signals or modulating brain circuits, researchers may be able to restore a patient’s drive. For patients and families watching motivation slip away, that possibility offers something powerful: hope that even as disease progresses, the essence of who we are might be reclaimed.
Adam Kepecs receives funding from the National Institutes of Health.
Ministry of Ayush Brings Together Global Homoeopathy Fraternity on World Homoeopathy Day 2025 in a mega convention at Gandhinagar On this World Homoeopathy Day, we reaffirm our commitment to expanding its scope through research, education and public outreach: Ayush Minister, Shri Prataprao Jadhav
Convention Souvenir, 8 Books, E-Portals of CCRH Library & Homoeopathy Archives, and a Documentary Film on Drug Proving Released
Posted On: 10 APR 2025 6:49PM by PIB Delhi
The Ministry of Ayush, Government of India, celebrated World Homoeopathy Day 2025 with great fervour at the Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The two-day event was organised by the Ministry through its apex research and academic institutions—Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH), National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH), and National Institute of Homoeopathy (NIH)—bringing together leading global voices in Homoeopathy to commemorate the 270th birth anniversary of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of Homoeopathy.
The grand celebration underscored the theme ‘Education, Practice and Research in Homoeopathy’, and witnessed participation of over 8,000 delegates from across India and abroad, including academicians, clinicians, researchers, students, and industry professionals. The event featured panel discussions, exhibitions, scientific paper presentations, and deliberations on advancing Homoeopathy as an integral component of global and national healthcare systems.
The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Bhupendra Patel, inaugurated the event in the presence of Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Ayush and Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare, Shri Prataprao Jadhav. The event was also graced by Shri Rushikesh Patel, Health Minister, Government of Gujarat; Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush; and other senior officials.
Shri Prataprao Jadhav, Union Minister of State (I/C), Ministry of Ayush, highlighted India’s leadership in global traditional medicine systems. He said, “Homoeopathy is not merely an alternative—it is a science rooted in compassion and evidence. On this World Homoeopathy Day, we reaffirm our commitment to expanding its scope through research, education and public outreach.” He also emphasized CCRH’s vital role in standardizing homoeopathic medicines and preserving botanical knowledge, noting the Council’s work in pharmacognosy, physicochemical studies, and the digitization of 17,000 herbarium sheets.
In his inaugural address, Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Bhupendra Patel applauded the Ministry of Ayush for selecting Gujarat as the host state for this historic event. He emphasized Homoeopathy’s growing relevance in modern healthcare and lauded the Ministry’s efforts to integrate Homoeopathy into public health services and national health programmes. He remarked that “This scientific and evidence-based therapy has the potential to transform public health outcomes. Gujarat is proud to contribute to this movement, especially as it is home to WHO’s Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in Jamnagar.”
Delivering the keynote address, Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush, stated that “This occasion is a tribute to Dr. Hahnemann’s visionary system of healing. With the global demand for evidence-based, integrative, and patient-centric healthcare on the rise, Homoeopathy stands well-positioned to serve future generations. The Ministry of Ayush remains committed to furthering its impact through robust research, education, and policy.”
During the inaugural ceremony, the dignitaries released a Convention Souvenir, eight new publications, e-portals of the CCRH Library and Homoeopathy Archives, and a documentary film on drug proving, showcasing the remarkable research and documentation work undertaken in the field.
The symposium also featured the largest-ever exhibition of the Homoeopathy industry, bridging academia and enterprise, and hosted a first-of-its-kind national-level competition to foster innovation among students and practitioners.
Retirement from government service does’nt mean you are retired as a citizen: Dr. Jitendra Singh Urges Superannuating Officials to be contributors and Partners in Viksit Bharat Digital Reforms, Empowered Retirees, and a Vision for 2047: Highlights from Guwahati’s PRC and Bankers’ Workshop
Posted On: 10 APR 2025 6:12PM by PIB Delhi
Guwahati, April 10: “Retirement from government service doesn’t mean you are retired as a citizen”, said Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh in a message that resonated deeply with the hundreds of officers nearing retirement, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology; Earth Sciences and Minister of State for PMO, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr. Jitendra Singh, in a message that resonated deeply with the hundreds of officers nearing retirement.
The Minister said that retirement from government service should not be seen as an end, but a transition into a new role as contributors and partners to nation building. Addressing the 56th Pre-Retirement Counselling (PRC) Workshop and the 9th Bankers’ Awareness Program, Dr. Jitendra Singh called for a paradigm shift in the way Indian society perceives retired government servants.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that many officers at 60 are at the prime of their, energy and expertise. “So we wish to involve them in the task of nation building and use their experiences. As the Prime Minister says, every citizen has to contribute to the making of Viksit Bharat,” he said.
Organised by the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) in collaboration with the Assam Government, the day-long event at the Assam Administrative Staff College featured back-to-back technical sessions on pension reforms, digital life certification, CGHS facilities, financial planning, and innovations like the Bhavishya Portal and Integrated Pensioners’ Portal. These sessions were designed to prepare retiring employees for a smooth transition, both in terms of procedural knowledge and personal empowerment.
The workshop aimed to prepare civil servants for a smooth post-retirement transition, not just in terms of paperwork but also in purpose. Dr. Jitendra Singh emphasized the need for institutional mechanisms that can integrate retirees into developmental roles based on their skills and inclinations.Outlining several reforms undertaken by the Government over the past decade to simplify pension procedures, Dr. Jitendra Singh recalled how superannuating officers earlier had to run from one office to another, often losing months before receiving their first pension payment. “That era is over,” he said. “Today, with digital PPOs, integrated pension portals like Bhavishya, and face authentication tools, we’ve eliminated procedural delays and harassment.”
He lauded the role of the Department of Pensions under Secretary V. Srinivas, noting how Indian digital pension practices are now being emulated by countries like Maldives, Mongolia, and Bangladesh. The success of initiatives such as Digital Life Certificate (DLC), CPGRAMS, and face authentication, he said, are examples of how technology can bring dignity and efficiency to governance.
Going beyond procedural ease, Dr. Jitendra Singh proposed the creation of a national directory of retired officers, based on their expertise and interests. “We will prepare a performa to capture details like qualification, experience, and preferred areas of work, so that ministries can consult it and engage retirees in policy committees or advisory roles,” he explained.
The Minister also drew attention to evolving societal needs and reforms in pension rules—such as the inclusion of divorced daughters, faster processing for widows, and compassionate consideration for families of missing employees—that reflect a progressive and humane approach.
Dr. Jitendra Singh proposed developing a national database of retired officers with their skillsets, experience, and interests, enabling government departments to draw on their expertise post-retirement. “Many citizens have taken up start-ups or pursued creative passions after retirement. The first successful millet-based start-up came from a scientist who retired from a government institute. You can begin anew at any age,” he said.
In a lighter moment, Dr. Jitendra Singh noted how the retirement phase has even helped uncover hidden talents. “There are those who never got to pursue music or writing or any other pursuit in their service years. Retirement gives you the freedom. We can even help with an audition at All India Radio if you say you want to sing,” he quipped, drawing laughter and applause.
Ending on an empowering note, the Minister urged retiring officers not to see themselves as passive recipients of pension but as active nation-builders. “You are retiring as government officials, not as citizens. Your best may be yet to come,” he said.
The daylong event saw the address of Shri V. Srinivas, Secretary, DoPPW, Shri Dhrubajyoti Sengupta, Joint Secretary and remarks from key stakeholders, including SBI’s Deputy MD Shri Shamsher Singh, Additional Secretary from the Health Ministry Ms. Roli Singh, IG BSF Shri Sanjay Gaur, and General Manager of Northeast Frontier Railway Shri Chetan Shrivastava.
With India envisioning itself as a developed nation by 2047, Dr. Jitendra Singh’s remarks offered a timely reminder that wisdom, dedication, and public service do not retire—they evolve.
Headline: Unlocking AI’s global potential: New report shows progress and challenges
Stanford HAI Index highlights transformative developments in artificial intelligence that carry profound implications for societies worldwide—especially in regions across the Global South [1]. As we explore these insights, we recognize that AI is transforming industries, creating new opportunities, and driving economic growth. There are extraordinary opportunities that AI presents and a shared responsibility to ensure its benefits are accessible.
A Steep Drop in Costs and Barriers
One of the most remarkable shifts has been the dramatic reduction in the cost of AI model usage. The cost of querying an AI model that scores the equivalent of GPT-3.5 fell from $20 per million tokens in late 2022 to just $0.07 by late 2024. This more than 99% decrease is not merely a technical milestone—it’s a gateway to access. Innovators and entrepreneurs in low-resource regions can now harness powerful tools once restricted to the world’s largest companies, applying them to local challenges in healthcare, agriculture, education, and public service.
Closing the Performance Gap
The gap between open-weight and proprietary closed-weight models has also narrowed significantly. By 2024, open-weight models rival their commercial counterparts, fueling competition and innovation across the ecosystem. In parallel, the performance gap between the top frontier models has also compressed. Smaller models are achieving results once thought exclusive to massive-scale systems—Microsoft’s Phi-3-mini, for instance, delivers performance comparable to models 142 times larger, bringing powerful AI within reach of environments with constrained resources.
Persistent Challenges: Reasoning and Data
Yet challenges remain. Despite advances, AI systems still struggle with higher-order reasoning, such as arithmetic and strategic planning—capabilities that are essential in domains where reliability is critical. Continued research and responsible application are essential to overcome these limitations.
Another emerging concern is the rapid reduction of publicly available data used to train AI models. As websites increasingly restrict data scraping, model performance and generalizability may suffer—especially in contexts where labeled datasets are already limited. This trend may necessitate new learning approaches tailored to data-constrained environments.
Real-World Impact on Productivity and Workforce
Perhaps the most exciting development is AI’s tangible impact on human productivity. Last year’s AI Index was among the first to highlight research showing that AI meaningfully improves productivity. This year, follow-up studies confirmed and expanded those findings—especially in real-world workplace environments.
One such study tracked over 5,000 customer support agents using a generative AI assistant [2]. The tool increased productivity by 15%, with the most significant improvements seen among less experienced workers and skilled trade workers, who also boosted the quality of their work. Additionally, AI assistance helped employees learn on the job, improving English fluency among international agents, and even enhanced the work environment—customers were more polite and less likely to escalate issues when AI was involved.
Complementing these findings, Microsoft’s internal research initiative on AI and productivity compiled results from over a dozen workplace studies, including the largest known randomized controlled trial of generative AI integration[3]. Tools like Microsoft Copilot are already enabling workers to complete tasks more efficiently across roles and industries. The research underscores that the impact of AI is greatest when tools are adopted and integrated strategically—and that the potential will only grow as organizations recalibrate workflows to take full advantage of these new capabilities.
Expanding Access to Computer Science Education
As AI becomes more integrated into daily life, computer science education is more essential than ever. Encouragingly, two-thirds of countries now offer or plan to offer K–12 CS education, a figure that has doubled since 2019. African and Latin American countries have made some of the most significant strides in expanding access. However, the benefits of this progress are not yet universal—many students across Africa still lack access to computer science education due to basic infrastructure gaps, including lack of electricity in schools. Closing this digital divide is essential to preparing the next generation to not only use AI, but to shape it.
Our Shared Responsibility
At Microsoft, we view this moment as a significant inflection point—one that calls for thoughtful action as much as innovation. The rapid progress in AI brings enormous potential to improve productivity, solve real-world challenges, and drive economic growth. But realizing that potential requires continued investment in robust infrastructure, high-quality education, and responsible deployment of AI technologies.
To make the most of this moment, we need to support workers with learning new skills and tools to apply AI effectively in their jobs. Nations and businesses that invest in AI skilling will foster innovation and open doors to more people to build meaningful careers that contribute to a stronger economy. The goal is clear: to turn technical breakthroughs into practical impact at scale.
[2] E. Brynjolfsson, D. Li, and L. Raymond, “Generative AI at Work*,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, p. qjae044, Feb. 2025, doi: 10.1093/qje/qjae044.
[3] S. Jaffe et al, “Generative AI in Real-World Workplaces,” Jul. 2024, Accessed: Apr. 05, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/generative-ai-in-real-world-workplaces/
Headline: Creating better healthcare outcomes with Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Foundry
Read how healthcare providers are streamlining tasks, accelerating research, and improving patient care with Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Foundry.
The healthcare industry has consistently been at the forefront of technological advancements, continuously seeking ways to improve patient care and outcomes. In recent years, the integration of AI into healthcare has opened new avenues for innovation and efficiency. Azure OpenAI Service is a leading contributor to this transformation, empowering healthcare providers to create better outcomes through advanced AI capabilities, such as Azure AI Content Safety, which helps to keep content safe by monitoring content with advanced language and vision models.
Here, we look at a few healthcare providers who have successfully adopted Azure OpenAI Service to save time, streamline workflows, and increase focus on patients.
Build custom generative AI solutions with Azure OpenAI Service
Kry reduces administrative tasks, increases focus on patient care
In the rapidly evolving landscape of digital transformation, healthcare companies like Kry are at the forefront of adopting advanced technologies to streamline administrative tasks and enable medical professionals to focus more on patient care. With more than 200 million patient interactions to date, Kry has become Europe’s largest digital-first healthcare provider, boasting a high patient satisfaction rating of 4.8 out of 5.0.
Partnering with Azure OpenAI Service, Kry is leveraging generative AI to revolutionize patient access to healthcare. The result has reduced administrative burdens on clinicians, optimized healthcare resources, and enhanced the overall quality of patient care. By analyzing patient data and enabling patients to choose the type of healthcare they need (such as a video consultation, self-care advice, physiotherapy, and other services), Kry efficiently navigates patients among primary, urgent, and secondary care to match them with the most appropriate medical providers. Notably, 60% of Kry’s patients are female. Using Kry, they are benefiting from improved female health services and quality medical content.
The partnership between Kry and Azure OpenAI Service is solving inefficiencies in healthcare delivery and changing the future of healthcare for the better. As technology advances and AI continues to evolve, Kry’s commitment to leveraging cutting-edge solutions will help ensure a more accessible, sustainable, and efficient healthcare experience for patients and healthcare professionals alike.
Design and manage AI apps and agents with Azure AI Foundry
Ontada unlocked 150 million unstructured medical documents with Azure OpenAI Service
Healthcare systems globally face a pressing data-related challenge—how to unlock the contents of volumes of unstructured, inaccessible healthcare data including clinical notes, lab reports, medical images, and operational data. Knowing that each data point can make a life-changing difference for cancer patients, Ontada, a McKesson business dedicated to oncology data and evidence, needed to analyze 150 million unstructured oncology documents to generate key insights for cancer patients. When done manually, this process is time-consuming, cost-prohibitive, and error-prone.
Ontada chose Azure AI Document Intelligence and Azure OpenAI Service to implement language models that target nearly 100 critical oncology data elements across 39 cancer types. The result significantly increased its ability to rapidly extract important data and clinical details. They also developed a novel data platform solution called ON.Genuity that combines structured and unstructured data to provide a comprehensive view of patient information, enhancing drug development and treatment adoption. They use Azure Databricks for their data pipeline to process both types of data, as well as Azure AI Document Intelligence to extract text from PDFs and other documents. The platform can provision and analyze data in less than 45 minutes. As a result, they were able to process 150 million documents in three weeks and reduced processing time by 75%. Using Microsoft Azure AI, Ontada has already accelerated its life science product development, speeding up time to market from months to just one week.
Simple, secure data extraction with Azure AI Document Intelligence
Shriners Children’s implements more efficient, secure solutions
Information used by healthcare professionals to diagnose and treat patients is often stored on outdated systems that may not be very secure or easy to operate. But for clinicians to treat patients promptly, they need efficient solutions that minimize errors. Previously, Shriners Children’s had to rely on their analytics team to provide insights from patient clinical notes and history, which were often outdated or even handwritten, making them difficult to use. This process was time-consuming, inefficient, and error-prone.
To fix this process, Shriners Children’s implemented an AI platform using Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Search to securely house and organize patient data. Now, clinicians can easily and securely navigate patient data in a singular location. The solution, called ShrinersGPT, leverages Azure OpenAI Service in addition to Azure Blob Storage, Azure AI Search, and Azure Monitor Log Analytics, to create a seamless, easy-to-use experience for clinicians to access patient information.
This solution is more efficient and secure; clinicians can now quickly find patient symptoms and conditions without relying on the analytics team, and data is more securely stored and accessible only by authorized personnel. Perhaps most importantly, patient care is enhanced through improved access to data, which helps create well-informed treatment plans.
Deliver relevant responses with Azure AI Search
In addition, Shriners Children’s is now set up to scale with ease as they look to incorporate Microsoft Fabric data analytics platform within their ShrinersGPT solution. Microsoft Fabric features a comprehensive set of analytics experiences designed to work together seamlessly for better data insights, so Shriners doctors and researchers can tailor insights as needed. They also look to expand to other healthcare clinics in their ecosystem and plan to enhance the chatbot to answer a wider variety of health questions.
From enhancing patient care and streamlining administrative tasks to accelerating medical research and improving diagnostic accuracy, Azure AI is helping to drive innovation and efficiency in healthcare, creating better outcomes for both patients and caregivers.
Our commitment to trustworthy AI
Organizations across industries are leveraging Azure AI and Microsoft 365 Copilot capabilities to drive growth, increase productivity, and create value-added experiences.
We’re committed to helping organizations use and build AI that is trustworthy, meaning it is secure, private, and safe. We bring best practices and learnings from decades of researching and building AI products at scale to provide industry-leading commitments and capabilities that span our three pillars of security, privacy, and safety. Trustworthy AI is only possible when you combine our commitments, such as our Secure Future Initiative and our Responsible AI principles, with our product capabilities to unlock AI transformation with confidence.
Source: United States Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced legislation to strengthen the development, manufacturing, and defense applications of quantum technology in the United States. These bills include the Defense Quantum Acceleration Act with Senator Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), the Quantum Sandbox for Near-Term Applications Act with Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and the Advancing Quantum Manufacturing Act with Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich.).
“Tennessee is among the states leading the nation in quantum development, and we need to continue building on this momentum to strengthen quantum technology across the nation,” said Senator Blackburn. “These bills would provide a strategic roadmap for quantum development, promote continued innovation, and supercharge the Defense Department’s approach to quantum technology to advance our national security. I look forward to working with the Commerce Committee to pass these bills and reauthorize the National Quantum Initiative.”
BACKGROUND
The Defense Quantum Acceleration Act would supercharge the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) approach to quantum technology and advance U.S. national security, building on the work done at institutions like Oak Ridge National Lab in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Specifically, this bill would establish a framework for the DoD to optimize its approach to the development and transitioning of quantum technology and develop a strategic quantum roadmap. It would also authorize a defense quantum technology testbed to enable the Defense Innovation Unit to successfully execute the transition of near-term quantum capabilities. Click here to read the bill text.
The Quantum Sandbox for Near-Term Applications Act would establish a public-private partnership for near-term quantum application development and acceleration. Click here to read the bill text.
The Advancing Quantum Manufacturing Act would establish a Manufacturing USA Institute for Quantum Manufacturing and improve coordination between the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation for activities related to quantum development. Click here to read the bill text.
Earlier this year, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) recognized Senator Blackburn for her leadership on advancing a reauthorization of quantum computing research programs to drive innovation, protect the nation, and create new industries.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Randy Feenstra (IA-04)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Hull) introduced theGenome to Phenome Initiative Reauthorization Act, which would support continued agricultural research to expand knowledge of crop and animal genetics and phenomics. This includes critical research taking place at Iowa State University to increase crop yields while keeping costs low for Iowa farmers and producers.
More specifically, this legislation reauthorizes the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Genome to Phenome Initiative (AG2PI) – which was included in the 2018 Farm Bill as a competitive grant program – at $40 million to fund research concerning genomes and phenomes of both crops and animals critical to American agriculture. Investing in this research will ensure that our producers can reach their full potential through more efficient and secure agricultural production.
“Last year, I invited House Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson to Iowa to meet with our farmers, producers, and agricultural community. In addition to attending the Farm Progress Show in Boone to see the newest advancements in farm technology, we had the opportunity to learn more about research taking place at Iowa State University through the Genome to Phenome Initiative. In part, this initiative studies plant genetics – particularly corn – to determine how to increase yields and make crops more resilient,” said Rep. Feenstra. “Investments in agricultural research are critical to our farm economy and the long-term strength of Iowa agriculture. It’s why I introduced legislation to reauthorize the Genome to Phenome Initiative and ensure that this program receives funding to continue this cutting-edge research. Representing the second largest agricultural-producing congressional district in the nation, increasing yields, lowering input costs, and supporting our farmers are important priorities for agriculture and our rural communities.”
“In Iowa, we continue to grow more with less and this progress is largely due to our ongoing efforts to enhance corn’s resilience against various environmental challenges through Genomes to Phenomes research,” said Stu Swanson, Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA) President and farmer from Galt, Iowa. “Genomes to Phenomes funding plays an important role as we continue advancing corn research and production, ensuring it meets the needs of both farmers and consumers in an ever-changing world. ICGA appreciates Congressman Feenstra’s continued leadership on this important issue.”
Sitting on the House Agriculture Subcommittee for Conservation, Research, and Biotechnology, promoting critical investment in agricultural research has been a priority for Feenstra. Recently, Feenstra helped introduce theFuture Funding for Agricultural Research, Mentorship, and Education Reauthorization (Future FARMER) Act, which includes funding for the Food and Agricultural Sciences Education account in the Farm Bill, helping to promote several agricultural research and education priorities.
