This undated photo provided by Centivax in 2025 shows Tim Friede, who is hyper-immune to the venom of various snakes, with a water cobra wrapped around his arm. (Centivax via AP)2025-05-02T15:00:16Z NEW YORK (AP) Tim Friede has been bitten by snakes hundreds of times often on purpose. Now scientists are studying his blood in hopes of creating a better treatment for snake bites. Friede has long had a fascination with reptiles and other venomous creatures. He used to milk scorpions and spiders venom as a hobby and kept dozens of snakes at his Wisconsin home.Hoping to protect himself from snake bites and out of what he calls simple curiosity he began injecting himself with small doses of snake venom and then slowly increased the amount to try to build up tolerance. He would then let snakes bite him.At first, it was very scary, Friede said. But the more you do it, the better you get at it, the more calm you become with it. In this photo provided by Centivax, Tim Friede, center, stands in a lab in South San Francisco, Calif., in 2023, that is using his blood to prepare an antivenom to the bites of various snakes. (Centivax via AP) In this photo provided by Centivax, Tim Friede, center, stands in a lab in South San Francisco, Calif., in 2023, that is using his blood to prepare an antivenom to the bites of various snakes. (Centivax via AP) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More While no doctor or emergency medical technician or anyone, really would ever suggest this is a remotely good idea, experts say his method tracks how the body works. When the immune system is exposed to the toxins in snake venom, it develops antibodies that can neutralize the poison. If its a small amount of venom the body can react before its overwhelmed. And if its venom the body has seen before, it can react more quickly and handle larger exposures. Friede has withstood snakebites and injections for nearly two decades and still has a refrigerator full of venom. In videos posted to his YouTube channel, he shows off swollen fang marks on his arms from black mamba, taipan and water cobra bites. I wanted to push the limits as close to death as possible to where Im just basically teetering right there and then back off of it, he said. But Friede also wanted to help. He emailed every scientist he could find, asking them to study the tolerance hed built up.And there is a need: Around 110,000 people die from snakebite every year, according to the World Health Organization. And making antivenom is expensive and difficult. It is often created by injecting large mammals like horses with venom and collecting the antibodies they produce. These antivenoms are usually only effective against specific snake species, and can sometimes produce bad reactions due to their nonhuman origins. This photo provided by Centivax shows Mark Bellin and Hannah Hirou who are involved in efforts to produce an antivenom to counteract the bites of various snakes, at a lab in South San Francisco, Calif., in 2025. (Centivax via AP) This photo provided by Centivax shows Mark Bellin and Hannah Hirou who are involved in efforts to produce an antivenom to counteract the bites of various snakes, at a lab in South San Francisco, Calif., in 2025. (Centivax via AP) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More When Columbia Universitys Peter Kwong heard of Friede, he said, Oh, wow, this is very unusual. We had a very special individual with amazing antibodies that he created over 18 years.In a study published Friday in the journal Cell, Kwong and collaborators shared what they were able to do with Friedes unique blood: They identified two antibodies that neutralize venom from many different snake species with the aim of someday producing a treatment that could offer broad protection. Its very early research the antivenom was only tested in mice, and researchers are still years away from human trials. And while their experimental treatment shows promise against the group of snakes that include mambas and cobras, its not effective against vipers, which include snakes like rattlers. Despite the promise, there is much work to do, said Nicholas Casewell, a snakebite researcher at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in an email. Casewell was not involved with the new study. Friedes journey has not been without its missteps. Among them: He said after one bad snake bite he had to cut off part of his finger. And some particularly nasty cobra bites sent him to the hospital.Friede is now employed by Centivax, which is trying to develop the treatment, and hes excited that his 18-year odyssey could one day save lives from snakebite. But his message to those inspired to follow in his footsteps is quite simple: Dont do it, he said.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN Ramakrishnan is a science reporter for The Associated Press, based in New York. She covers research and new developments related to space, early human history and more. twitter mailto

The competition is fierce, but no one can paint quite as vivid a picture of the future technofeudalist dystopia the Trump administration is trying to build as Howard Lutnick, the Secretary of Commerce, of the army of millions and millions of people screwing in little, little screws to make iPhones, that kind of thing is going to come to America fame.Lutnick filled in some blanks of the expanded MAGA dystopic universe on CNBC this week, when he said these are really good paying jobs, they start at $70s, $80s, $90,000 [a year]. These are tradecraft. Its time to train people not to do the jobs of the past, but to do the great jobs of the future. This is the new model, where you work in these kinds of plants for the rest of your life, and your kids work here, and your grandkids work here.Lutnick: "It's time to train people not to do the jobs of the past, but to do the great jobs of the future. This is the new model where you work in these kinds of plants for the rest of your life and your kids work here and your grandkids work here. We let the auto plants go overseas." Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-04-29T17:51:17.855ZThe administrations new fantasythe apparent boon Trumps tariffs will bringis a future in which you will work at the factory until you die, and your children will work at the same factory until they die, and your childrens children will work at the factory until they die. You will all make mid-to-high five figures; there is no pitch for or thought of upward mobility, of working in a factory to fund your childrens education so that they might one day manage or own the factory (or do something else entirely!) Lutnick said that the thousands of Americans who work in car factories now are trained to care of robotic arms, theyre trained to keep the air conditioner working.Left unsaid and totally unexamined is who, in the long term, will make the basic scientific discoveries or invent the technologies and products of the future that will keep the United States an economic superpower; the administration is firing the scientists, defunding and threatening universities, trying to abolish the Department of Education. The hope literally appears to be that Elon Musks AI will invent new things for us and will replace all of the knowledge work and expertise that this administration has already inexplicably destroyed.There is nothing wrong with working at a factory and there is nothing wrong with investing in American manufacturing or creating programs that incentivize it. We have long needed to invest in community colleges, technical colleges, and vocational schools to do job training and to offer alternative paths for people who cant or dont want to go to college. But factory worker is the only job that anyone in this administration can imagine. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Tucker Carlson that the fired government workers, many of whom are coders, scientists, medical professionals, etc, will also become factory workers: We are shedding excess labor in the federal government that will give us the labor that we need for the new manufacturing, he said.But even this administration realizes that eventually, robots will do those jobs. And so the only jobs that follow them are air conditioning guy for the automated factory and guy who helps the robot arm move. Lutnick himself seems to have no idea how many jobs there will be or what they will be, whether they will be automated, or what.We are inventing everything in the world, but were letting everyone else build it. We invent the iPhone, which is awesome, he said on Newsmax. Why do we let everyone else build it? Why cant we build it here? The key is AI and automation have made that in reach. I understand why you need zillions of other people to work on it, but its time now, can automation build that plant here? Where we can employ, we dont need millions of Americans to do it, we need hundreds of thousands of Americans to work in those factories, and I think were going to create 5 million great tradecraft jobs in America.your child will toil valiantly in the factory. it will be masculine. it will restore our national character. it will make america great again. oh my child? my child will run a lucrative rightwing podcast Jake Grumbach (@jakemgrumbach.bsky.social) 2025-04-29T18:47:41.083ZMeanwhile, the administration is not only attacking schools, foreign students (who disproportionately create businesses and jobs), scientists, and knowledge workers, it has actively gone to war with the clean energy industry, which has been creating the fastest-growing blue collar paths to the middle class, which are wind turbine service technicians and solar panel installers.Stephen Miller says the country will eliminate the Department of Education and that, children will be taught to love America. Children will be taught to be patriots. Perhaps they will go to the taxpayer-funded religious charter schools?It is possible to imagine a grand back-to-America manufacturing strategy that does not require inflicting pain and economic suffering on the American people and on the rest of the world. It is possible and good to bring manufacturing jobs back to America, and to rebuild an upwardly-mobile middle class by focusing on technical training, local ownership, and reskilling through incentives and strategic, carefully-considered tariffs that are rolled out over time. But that is not what is being pursued, and it's not what is being done. What is being pursued is a self-inflicted emergency designed to purge immigrants, scientists, and higher education from American life and the American economy in favor of an economy that may have worked many decades ago but will not work now.The only upshot of any of this is that these policies are wildly unpopular, and that this future is exceedingly unlikely to actually come to pass.But heres what this future, being pitched by the plain language and plain actions of this administration, is. It is very sad and very small. It lacks imagination. It lacks dynamism. Men will not be allowed in womens spaces and women will not be allowed in mens spaces. Women will be tradwives and will be paid $5,000 have babies. Those babies will not have parents who can afford to buy them 30 dolls, they will have two dolls instead, and they will like it. The boys will not have any dolls, though. The rich and powerful will stockpile supplies because they know the impacts of their policies. You will not buy breakfast at McDonalds as a treat. Your friends will be AI chatbots. Your therapist will be a chatbot. You will pay massive tariffs to try food from other countries. You will work in the factory. You will not own the factory. They will own the factory. You will die at the factory. Your kids will learn about AI at the technical college, and then they will work in the factory. Your kids will not own the factory. Their kids will own the factory. Their kids will go on Fox News and tell you that they have created good jobs, patriotic jobs. American jobs, not Chinese jobs. Jobs that your kids and their kids and their kids' kids can work at until they die. Your kids will repair the air conditioning. Your kids will screw in the screws. Your children's children will move the robot arms, like their father and grandfather did before them.

Nature, Published online: 02 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01325-3Treatment combines existing drug with antibodies from hyper-immune reptile collector, raising both hopes and ethical concerns.

Nature, Published online: 02 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09084-xAuthor Correction: Parvalbumin-expressing basket-cell network plasticity induced by experience regulates adult learning

A Reuters photographer captured an image of Michael Waltzs phone screen during a White House cabinet meeting, a day before he was ousted from his job as national security adviser.

Harvard has hired lawyers connected to conservative Supreme Court justices and President Trump himself to fight its case against the government.

The post Stephen Miller Dead Behind Eyes At 39 appeared first on The Onion.

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Rescue workers arrive to the scene after a deadly collision between a pickup truck and tour van near Henrys Lake State Park in eastern Idaho on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Roger Merrill via A)2025-05-02T16:16:24Z ISLAND PARK, Idaho (AP) A pickup truck and tour van collision near Yellowstone National Park has killed seven people and injured eight others, Idaho State Police say.The crash happened just before 7:15 p.m. Thursday on a highway near Henrys Lake State Park in eastern Idaho, police said in a press release. The state park is roughly 16 miles (26 kilometers) west of Yellowstone National Park.Both vehicles caught fire after the crash, the Idaho State Police said in a news release. The driver of the Dodge Ram pickup and six people inside the Mercedes passenger van died. The van was carrying a tour group of 14 people, and the surviving occupants were taken to hospitals with injuries, police spokesman Aaron Snell said. Authorities have not said what led up to the crash, which remains under investigation.Police say air ambulances along with emergency paramedics responded to the collision. The Fremont County coroners office had not released the names of those killed as of Friday morning. The Idaho State Police said officials were still working on notifying family members of those killed and injured, so the agency was not yet releasing the names, ages, hometowns or nationalities of the people involved.

"Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" co-stars Ruth Buzzi and Gary Owens share a laugh during NBC's 75th Anniversary Party, in Los Angeles, Jan. 9, 2002. (AP Photo/Rene Macura, File)2025-05-02T15:05:21Z LOS ANGELES (AP) Ruth Buzzi, who rose to fame as the frumpy and bitter Gladys Ormphby on the groundbreaking sketch comedy series Rowan & Martins Laugh-In and made over 200 television appearances during a 45-year career, has died at age 88.Buzzi died Thursday at her home in Texas, says her agent Mike Eisenstadt. She had been diagnosed with Alzheimers and was in hospice care. Shortly before her death, her husband, Kent Perkins, had posted a statement on Buzzis Facebook page, thanking her many fans and telling them: She wants you to know she probably had more fun doing those shows than you had watching them.Buzzi won a Golden Globe and was a two-time Emmy nominee for the NBC show that ran from 1968 to 1973. She was the only regular to appear in all six seasons, including the pilot.She was first spotted by Laugh-In creator and producer George Schlatter playing various characters on The Steve Allen Comedy Hour. Schlatter was holding auditions for Laugh-In when he received a picture in the mail of Buzzi in her Ormphby costume, sitting in a wire mesh trash barrel. The character was clad in drab brown with her bun covered by a hairnet knotted in the middle of her forehead.I think I hired her because of my passion for Gladys Ormphby, he wrote in his 2023 memoir Still Laughing A Life in Comedy. I must admit that the hairnet and the rolled-down stockings did light my fire. My favorite Gladys line was when she announced that the day of the office Christmas party, they sent her home early. The Gladys character used her purse as a weapon against anyone who bothered her, striking people over the head. On Laugh-In, her most frequent target was Arte Johnsons dirty old man character Tyrone F. Horneigh.Gladys embodies the overlooked, the downtrodden, the taken for granted, the struggler, Buzzi told The Connecticut Post in 2018. So when she fights back, she speaks for everyone whos been marginalized, reduced to a sex object or otherwise abused. And thats almost everyone at some time or other. Buzzi took her act to the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts in Las Vegas, where she bashed her purse on the heads of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Lucille Ball, among others.Her other recurring characters on Laugh-In included Flicker Farkle; Busy-Buzzi, a Hollywood gossip columnist; Doris Swizzler, a cocktail-lounge regular who got drunk with husband Leonard, played by Dick Martin; and an inconsiderate flight attendant.I never took my work for granted, nor assumed I deserved more of the credit or spotlight or more pay than anyone else, Buzzi told The Connecticut Post. I was just thrilled to drive down the hill to NBC every day as an employed actor with a job to do.Buzzi remained friends through the years with Laugh-In co-stars Lily Tomlin and Jo Anne Worley.Born Ruth Ann Buzzi on July 24, 1936, in Westerly, Rhode Island, she was the daughter of Angelo Buzzi, a nationally known stone sculptor. Her father and later her brother operated Buzzi Memorials, a gravestone and monument maker in Stonington, Connecticut, where she was head cheerleader in high school. Buzzi enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse at age 17. Two years later, she traveled with singer Rudy Vallee in a musical and comedy act during her summer break. That earned her an Actors Equity union card before she graduated from the playhouses College of Theatre Arts.Buzzi moved to New York and was immediately hired for a lead role in an off-Broadway musical revue, the first of 19 such shows she performed in on the East Coast.She got her national television break on The Garry Moore Show in 1964, just after Carol Burnett was replaced by Dorothy Loudon on the series. She played Shakundala the Silent, a bumbling magicians assistant to Dom DeLuises character Dominic the Great.Buzzi was a regular on the CBS variety show The Entertainers whose hosts included Burnett and Bob Newhart.She was in the original Broadway cast of Sweet Charity with Gwen Verdon in 1966.Buzzi toured the country with her nightclub act, including appearances in Las Vegas. She was a semi-regular on That Girl as Marlo Thomas friend. She co-starred with Jim Nabors as time-traveling androids on The Lost Saucer in the mid-1970s.Her other guest appearances included variety shows hosted by Burnett, Flip Wilson, Glen Campbell, Tony Orlando, Donny and Marie Osmond and Leslie Uggams.She appeared in Balls last comedy series Life With Lucy.Buzzi guested in music videos with Weird Al Yankovic, the B-52s and the Presidents of the United States of America.She did hundreds of guest voices in cartoon series including Pound Puppies, Berenstain Bears, The Smurfs and The Angry Beavers.She was Emmy nominated for her six-year run as shopkeeper Ruthie on Sesame Street.Her movie credits included Freaky Friday, Chu Chu and the Philly Flash, The North Avenue Irregulars and The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again. Buzzi was active on social media and had thousands of followers whom she rewarded with such one-liners as I have never faked a sarcasm and Scientists say the universe is made up entirely of neurons, protons and electrons. They seem to have missed morons.She married actor Kent Perkins in 1978.The couple moved from California to Texas in 2003 and bought a 640-acre ranch near Stephenville.Buzzi retired from acting in 2021 and suffered a series of strokes the following year. Her husband told The Dallas Morning News in 2023 that she had dementia.-Associated Press National Writer Hillel Italie contributed to this report.

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08818-1Global data collected between 2014 and 2024 provide insights into the distribution and potential transport mechanisms of subsurface microplastics throughout the oceanic water column.

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08943-xA nanofluidic intracellular delivery (NanoFLUID) patch provides a versatile, biocompatible and efficient method for the targeted delivery of payloads to internal organs for therapeutic purposes and for biomolecular investigations.

A jury in suburban Chicago convicted the man of murder and hate crime charges in the 2023 killing of Wadee Alfayoumi, 6. He was the boys landlord.

The picture of a steady job market, even if backward looking, reassured investors worried about a trade-induced economic slowdown.

EDINBURGH, SCOTLANDScolding thousands of employees for letting themselves become distracted from their schooling, Rockstar Games announced Friday that Grand Theft Auto VI would be delayed until the studios developers got their grades up. We understand how much our team wants to release a painstakingly crafted Vice City into the world, but theres just no way we can do that for them until we see them put their nose to the grindstone in Algebra II, said Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Rockstar parent company Take Two Interactive, stressing that a C-minus in biology just wouldnt cut it, particularly given how much games cost to develop these days. The simple fact is theyre losing track of what matters most, which is making the honor roll, finding a summer job, and really thinking about their future. You cant just skip half your homework assignments and spend all your time working on jiggle physics for the strip clubs scattered across the fictional state of Leonida. Maybe if they get that GPA up, well consider releasing GTA VI for them in Q2 of 2026. But thats a big maybe. Zelnick added that it wouldnt hurt if Rockstars team of software engineers all tried joining the junior varsity track team.The post GTA VI Delayed Until Developers Get Grades Up appeared first on The Onion.

WASHINGTONSigning the executive order just minutes after storming off the set, President Donald Trump revoked federal funding for PBS this week after his grandfather clock reportedly received a lower-than-expected Antiques Roadshow appraisal. For Christs sake, $2,500? said a visibly flabbergasted Trump, who appeared to grow more and more irate as the appraiser explained that the longcase clock was likely a reproduction from the 1980s and not the 19th-century family heirloom the commander-in-chief had claimed it was. This is solid walnut, handcrafted in the Black Forest. This thing is worth $25,000 at the least. You must be out of your mind. Youre crazy. What are your qualifications, anyway? You people will never see a cent out of me again. At press time, sources confirmed Trump was scraping the Made in China sticker off the clock.The post Trump Revokes PBS Funding After Antique Grandfather Clock Receives Meager Appraisal appeared first on The Onion.

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Witness Mimi Haley arrives to testify in the case against former film producer Harvey Weinstein at state court in Manhattan, Thursday, May 1, 2025 in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool Photo via AP)2025-05-02T16:15:44Z NEW YORK (AP) One of Harvey Weinstein s accusers broke down in tears and cursed on the witness stand Friday as a defense lawyer questioned her account of the former Hollywood mogul forcing oral sex on her nearly two decades ago.He was the one who raped me, not the other way around, Miriam Haley told jurors.That is for the jury to decide, Weinstein lawyer Jennifer Bonjean responded.No, its not for the jury to decide. Its my experience. And he did that to me, Haley said, using expletives as tears began streaming down her face.Judge Curtis Farber halted questioning and sent jurors on a break. Haley, her eyes red and face glistening, did not look at Weinstein as she left the witness stand.Haley, 48, was testifying for a fourth day at Weinsteins rape trial. Questioning resumed after the break, with Haley composed but occasional flickers of frustration in her voice. Bonjean continued to press her about specifics she did and did not recall from the alleged July 2006 assault and about its aftermath, including a time a couple of weeks later when Haley has said she had sex with Weinstein that she didnt want but didnt fight. You didnt say, Like, hey, what you did to me the other night wasnt cool? Bonjean asked.No, said Haley, reiterating that she went numb during the hotel encounter.Weinstein is charged with sexually assaulting Haley and another woman and raping a third. He denies the allegations and his lawyers argue that his accusers had consensual encounters with a then-powerful movie producer who could advance their careers. Haley, who has also gone by the name Mimi Haleyi, is the first accuser to testify at the retrial, which is happening after an appeals court overturned Weinsteins conviction at an earlier trial. Haleys testimony at that 2020 trial took just one day.Haley alleges that Weinstein assaulted her after inviting her to his apartment to, as she put it, just stop by and say hi. She had worked briefly as a production assistant on the Weinstein-produced TV show Project Runway, and his company had booked her a flight to Los Angeles the next day attend a movie premiere. She testified earlier in the week that Weinstein backed her into a bedroom and pushed her onto a bed, holding her down as she tried to get up and pleaded: No, no its not going to happen.Haley and two of her friends testified that she told them soon after that Weinstein had sexually assaulted her. She maintains she was never interested in any sexual or romantic relationship with Weinstein, despite his past overtures, but wanted his help getting jobs in show business.Zeroing in on the alleged assault, Bonjean on Friday questioned why Haley would agree to go to Weinsteins apartment after what the witness described as previous bizarre and overwhelming behavior, including his barging into her home weeks earlier as he sought to persuade her to go to Paris with him.Haley said she didnt have a reason to turn down Weinsteins request to stop by his apartment, thought it would be impolite to refuse, and didnt fear for her safety, even after his earlier behavior. Haley grew emotional as Bonjean asked just how Haleys clothes came off before Weinstein allegedly yanked out a tampon and performed oral sex on her. Haley said Weinstein took off her clothing, but she didnt recall the details: I was, you know, busy struggling, she explained.You removed your clothes, right? Bonjean soon asked, leading to the fractious and tearful exchange.Earlier, Bonjean had focused on Haleys trip to Los Angeles at the expense of Weinsteins then-company. Did you just think he was just being generous? the defense attorney asked.Haley said she accepted partly because she wanted to get back in his good books after turning down the earlier invitation to Paris, and the Los Angeles trip seemed more appropriate because shed be traveling on her own and could also visit a friend there.You wanted to appease him, make him happy, make him like you? Bonjean asked. Well, that, too, Haley said.Weinsteins retrial includes charges related to Haley and another accuser from the original trial, Jessica Mann, who alleges a 2013 rape. Hes also being tried, for the first time, for allegedly forcing oral sex on former model Kaja Sokola in 2006. Mann and Sokola also are expected to testify.The Associated Press generally does not name people who allege they have been sexually assaulted unless they give permission for their names to be used. Haley, Mann and Sokola have done so. MICHAEL R. SISAK Sisak is an Associated Press reporter covering law enforcement and courts in New York City, including former President Donald Trumps criminal and civil cases and problems plaguing the federal prison system. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought walks after a television interview at the White House, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-05-02T12:04:48Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trumps 2026 budget plan would slash non-defense domestic spending by $163 billion while increasing expenditures on national security, according to statements released by the White House on Friday.The budget showed a desire to crack down on diversity programs and initiatives to address climate change. But the administration has yet to release detailed tables on what it wants income taxes, tariffs or the budget deficit to be a sign of the political and financial challenge confronting Trump when hes promising to cut taxes and repay the federal debt without doing major damage to economic growth.Budgets do not become law but serve as a touchstone for the upcoming fiscal year debates. Often considered a statement of values, this first budget since Trumps return to the White House carries the added weight of defining the Republican presidents second-term pursuits, alongside his party in Congress. It also arrives as Trump has unilaterally imposed what could hundreds of billions of dollars in tax increases in the form of tariffs, setting off a trade war that has consumers, CEOs and foreign leaders worried about a possible economic downturn. The White Houses Office of Management and Budget, headed by Russell Vought, a chief architect of Project 2025, provided contours of a so-called skinny version of topline numbers, with more details to come. Details soon, Vought said during a Cabinet meeting this week at the White House.The nations estimated $7 trillion-plus federal budget has been growing steadily, with annual deficits fast approaching $2 trillion and the annual interest payments on the debt almost $1 trillion. Thats thanks mostly to the spike in emergency COVID-19 pandemic spending, changes in the tax code and climbing costs of Medicare, Medicaid and other programs, largely to cover the nations health needs as people age. The nations debt load, at $36 trillion, is ballooning. This years presidential budget request is expected to reflect cuts already made by Trumps actions and adviser Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency, including the slashing of the government workforce. It also could point to potential new revenue streams, possibly from Trumps tariffs program.Democrats are prepared to assail Trumps budget as further evidence that the Republican administration is intent on gutting government programs that Americans depend on. Congress is already deep into the slog of drafting of Trumps big bill of tax breaks, spending cuts and bolstered funds for the administrations mass deportation effort a package that, unlike the budget plan, would carry the force of law. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who spoke with Trump multiple times this week, is racing to have the presidents big, beautiful bill approved by the House by Memorial Day and sent on to the Senate.We had a very productive and encouraging meeting at the White House this morning, and the remaining pieces of The One, Big Beautiful Bill! are coming together very well, Johnson, R-La., said in a statement after Thursdays meeting with Trump and various committee chairmen. But deep differences remain among the Republicans, who are trying to pass that big bill over the objections of Democrats.We are awaiting some final calculations on a few of the tax components, and we expect to be able to complete that work on a very aggressive schedule, Johnson said.Meantime, Cabinet officials are expected to start trekking to Capitol Hill to testify about their various requests in the presidents budget.Its Congress, under its constitutional powers, that decides the spending plans, approves the bills that authorize federal programs and funds them through the appropriations process. Often, that system breaks down, forcing lawmakers to pass stopgap spending bills to keep the government funded and avoid federal shutdowns.Vought is also expected on Capitol Hill in the weeks ahead as the Trump administration presses its case to Congress for funds. Among the more skilled conservative budget hands in Washington, Vought has charted a career toward this moment. He served during the first Trump administration in the same role and, for Project 2025, wrote an extensive chapter about the remaking of the federal government.Vought has separately been preparing a $9 billion package that would gut current 2025 funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which involves the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. Trump signed an executive order late Thursday that instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and federal agencies to cease funding for PBS and NPR.Vought has said that package of so-called budget rescissions would be a first of potentially more, as the Trump administration tests the appetite in Congress for lawmakers to go on record and vote to roll back the money. JOSH BOAK Boak covers the White House and economic policy for The Associated Press. He joined the AP in 2013. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08941-zSingle-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomic approaches reveal major expression changes in outer root cell types when grown in soil versus gel conditions, and also uncover how root tissues communicate and adapt to contrasting soil conditions at single-cell resolution.

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08901-7A one-step process using fossil-free hydrogen-plasma-based reduction is used to extract nickel from low-grade ore and create high-grade ferronickel alloys, providing a more sustainable and environmentally friendly method for obtaining nickel.

Wall Street has recovered from Aprils sharp sell-off, buoyed by hope for trade talks. But the economic fallout from President Trumps policies still has investors on edge.

Scientists identified antibodies that neutralized the poison in whole or in part from the bites of cobras, mambas and other deadly species.

The post Jordon Hudson Inducted Into NFL Hall Of Fame appeared first on The Onion.

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Ive recently decided linen clothing is not for me and not because I dont like the lightweight, relaxed look or feel of linen fabric. I just find that the easy, breezy fabric gets so wrinkled, which bothers me, and Im not about to break out my Steamery steamer multiple times a day to fix it.So I was a little hesitant to try linen bedding, despite how much other people seem to love it.READ MORE...

Paula Kerger, President and CEO at PBS, speaks at the executive session during the PBS Winter 2020 TCA Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena, Jan. 10, 2020, in Pasadena, Calif. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)2025-05-02T15:08:56Z The head of PBS said Friday that President Donald Trumps executive order aiming to slash public subsidies to PBS and NPR was blatantly unlawful. Public Broadcasting Service CEO Paula Kerger said the Republican presidents order threatens our ability to serve the American public with educational programming, as we have for the past 50-plus years.We are currently exploring all options to allow PBS to continue to serve our member stations and all Americans, Kerger said.Trump signed the order late Thursday, alleging bias in the broadcasters reporting.The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies to cease Federal funding for PBS and National Public Radio and further requires that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations. The White House, in a social media posting announcing the signing, said the outlets receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as news. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funnels public funding to the two services, said that it is not a federal executive agency subject to Trumps orders. The president earlier this week said he was firing three of the five remaining CPB board members threatening its ability to do any work and was immediately sued by the CPB to stop it. The vast majority of public money for the services goes directly to its hundreds of local stations, which operate on a combination of government funding, donations and philanthropic grants. Stations in smaller markets are particularly dependent on the public money and most threatened by the cuts of the sort Trump is proposing. Public broadcasting has been threatened frequently by Republican leaders in the past, but the local ties have largely enabled them to escape cutbacks legislators dont want to be seen as responsible for shutting down stations in their districts. But the current threat is seen as the most serious in the systems history. Its also the latest move by Trump and his administration to utilize federal powers to control or hamstring institutions whose actions or viewpoints he disagrees with.Since taking office in January for a second term, Trump has ousted leaders, placed staff on administrative leave and cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to artists, libraries, museums, theaters and others, through takeovers of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Trump has also pushed to withhold federal research and education funds from universities and punish law firms unless they agree to eliminate diversity programs and other measures he has found objectionable.Just two weeks ago, the White House said it would be asking Congress to rescind funding for the CPB as part of a $9.1 billion package of cuts. That package, however, which budget director Russell Vought said would likely be the first of several, has not yet been sent to Capitol Hill.The move against PBS and NPR comes as Trumps administration has been working to dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global Media, including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which were designed to model independent news gathering globally in societies that restrict the press. Those efforts have faced pushback from federal courts, which have ruled in some cases that the Trump administration may have overstepped its authority in holding back funds appropriated to the outlets by Congress.___AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report. DAVID BAUDER Bauder is the APs national media writer, covering the intersection of news, politics and entertainment. He is based in New York. twitter mailto

U.S. Central Command, the part of the Pentagon that oversees its wars in the Middle East, denies that the United States military bombed a target in Yemen based on posts on X from an anonymous open source intelligence account which identified it as a Houthi base before the bombing and apologized for their posts after local news reports said civilians died in the bombing.A defense official declined to say whether it was the U.S. that bombed the target, but said that the military does not use information posted by open-source intelligence accounts on social media to select targets. The defense official said CENTCOM uses detailed and comprehensive intelligence to conduct strikes against the Houthis. Its common for the U.S. to kill civilians in airstrikes, and it has done so several times in Yemen. On Monday, for example, Reuters reported it killed dozens of people when it combed a detention center for African migrants.The gathering and posting of open source intelligence about war zones on X and other social media platforms has become a popular, and lucrative, pastime. In the oceans of OSINT accounts on X there are people who know what they are doing, and then there are countless frauds and hundreds of amateurs.Last week, a small OSINT account on X apologized for incorrectly identifying a quarry in Yemen as an underground base after a U.S. airstrike blew it up and killed eight people.The account VleckieHond retweeted another OSINT account in early April with pictures of what both suggested was an underground Houthi base. Vleckie noted the area's exact coordinates. Last one Northwest of Sanaa, it said.On April 28, a U.S. strike hit the region VleckieHond posted. According to local news reports, the U.S. attack hit houses near a quarry. Vleckie and reporters on the ground in Yemen said there had never been an underground base there, and Vleckie apologized on X after the strike.Allright, time for me to go through the mud.Based on satellite imagery I'd marked this quarry as an underground base, and tweeted is out as such. I'm fairly certain Centcom doesn't take their targeting data from Twitter, but this still is a very severe mistake. https://t.co/Ze9hFNj4ko pic.twitter.com/cRgnXDx2KK Vleckie (@VleckieHond) April 28, 2025Allright, time for me to go through the mud, the person running the Vleckie account wrote. I should have never posted it. The fact that I took in from someone else who had posted it is not an excuse.Vleckie then shared receipts of two donations they madeone to Doctors Without Borders and the other to the Yemen Data Projectfor 500 euros. No more posting about 'possible' bases. Look for more concrete signs of these bases, most notably spoil heaps, present at even smaller bases, but not really here.Vleckie posting this started a news cycle, or at least a lot of discussion on X, about whether the Pentagon was using information from random OSINT accounts on social media to help identify targets. There was no evidence that this was the case, besides the coincidence of the area Vleckie tweeted about having been bombed, and their apology, which of course does not mean that they had anything to do with the strike. Its also worth noting that Vleckies apology had the effect of raising their profile in the OSINT world even though there is absolutely no evidence that the military bombed this target because of their tweet and its somewhat ludicrous to imagine that the Pentagon is picking targets based on the tweets of small anonymous Twitter accounts.VleckieHonds analysis has appeared in CTC Sentinel, a West Point published magazine. Journalist Michael Knights cited VleckieHonds work in an April 2024 issue of CTC Sentinel that used OSINT to detail the Houthi war effort.The work of one Pentagon affiliated analyst isnt confirmation that Americas military machine is scanning social media for targets. I'm fairly certain Centcom doesn't take their targeting data from Twitter, but this still is a very severe mistake, VleckieHond said in its apology post on X. The account didnt respond to 404 Medias request for a comment.Critics online and in the the media pointed to Knights citation of Vleckies work in a CTC Sentinel as possible proof that the Pentagon used the accounts work to pick targets, which is largely just idle speculation.The VleckieHond situation points to the problems in the OSINT community broadly and on X specifically. Its been something of a steady decline, really, Eliot Higgins, the founder of the investigative journalism firm Bellingcat, which helped popularize the use of OSINT on Twitter and more broadly for journalism, told 404 Media. Bellingcats success in using open source intelligence, video footage, social media posts, satellite imagery, and maps to do groundbreaking journalistic work has spawned an endless number of copycats and OSINT accounts, many of which do good work but many of which do not.The early days in the era of the Arab Spring and on through Syria and MH17 were very community minded and cautious, Higgins said. It felt like something new and yet also important being constructed. Then the Trump years ushered in this flood of chaos and conspiracism filling the roomnow suddenly everyone with a Telegram screenshot was in the analysts seat.There is a lot of AI-generated slop and outright lies on X right now, especially in the OSINT space. Musk coming in and taking over X exacerbated it, Higgins said. We've focused on moving our community onto other spaces, so there's at least some healthy spaces for collaborative work.Calibre Obscura, a well-known open source account that focuses on weapons, told 404 Media that the legitimate OSINT field itself is still healthy, even if X has become a cesspool. It has gotten worse, but not uniquely, it said. Its just more slop and propaganda like everything else.But the problem with Vleckie isnt that the account is posting slop or lying. Theyre an amateur sleuth in a field where the opinions of informed amateurs are taken seriously. At least seriously enough to end up in a Pentagon funded magazine. Vleckies X profile bio says Yemen things, learning as I post, Ceasefire now.And, indeed, Vleckie has spun the underground base mistake as a learning opportunity.So now to improve and learn from this: No more posting about 'possible' bases. Look for more concrete signs of these bases, most notably spoil heaps, present at even smaller bases, but not really here, it said in a long thread about how it will improve its processes.There should be rules, but theyre notreally universal, Higgins said. Thegood practitioners also tend to adhere to a pretty straightforward set of principles, verify before you share; be transparent about your methods; properly credit others; do no harm (particularly when it comes to people in conflict zones). You also deign not to speculate beyond the evidence. If its not confirmed, dont say it. In short, approach open source investigation as you would investigative journalism. If you wouldnt send it from an office where you have to sign your name to the work, maybe dont launch it into the world from an anonymoussecret account.Higgins began his career as an anonymous account posting under the name Brown Moses about the Syrian Civil War. As his profile rose, he dropped the pseudonym. Its adouble-edged sword, he said. Anonymity can matter a lot, particularlyfor those in hazardous locales or under repressive regimes. But it also provides cover forbad actors: people who game data, push propaganda, or chase clout with absolutely no accountability. If youre anonymous and responsible, well and goodbut if youre building a big security following, shaping narratives and making claims that affect the lay publicstechnical literacy, then you owe it. You cant say Im just some guy and amass views and attention. Where theres reach, theres responsibility, and a lot of that responsibility is being shirked right now.In Vleckies apology thread, they promised to raise its standard of proof. I want information on this page to be reliable, they said. I sincerely apologize for this error in my judgement, and it will never be my intention to spread false information here or elsewhere.All that said, the military has its own intelligence, and is not looking at Twitter to decide what to bomb.

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08892-5An artificial Kitaev chain is realized by engineering three coupled quantum dots in a two-dimensional electron gas, which enables the manipulation and observation of both the edge and bulk states.

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08841-2An aromatic metallo-annulene, comprising a 15-carbon macrocycle enclosing an osmium complex, with the metal residing within the plane of the macrocycle is reported.

by Mary Hudetz ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week. The director of Arizonas embattled Medicaid agency resigned this week, just as she was expected to face questions from lawmakers about her handling of a massive fraud scheme that largely targeted Native Americans.Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, announced Wednesday that she had accepted the resignation of Carmen Heredia, director of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System. The governor lauded Heredias leadership of the agency while blaming Republican lawmakers for politicizing the confirmation process, saying it had become clear they would not confirm Heredias nomination.Sen. Jake Hoffman, a Republican and chair of the Senates Committee on Director Nominations, said in a statement that in responding to the fraud scheme, Heredia had poorly executed the suspensions of hundreds of behavioral health providers. Heredia had served as the head of AHCCCS without Senate confirmation since early 2023, several years after officials say the fraud likely began during the Republican administration of former Gov. Doug Ducey. In the year before Heredia became director, records show that officials were warned that the fraud was harming patients, but they struggled to respond and failed to alert the public, which Heredia did along with other state leaders in May 2023. (Earlier this year, a spokesperson for Ducey did not comment on missed opportunities to stop the fraud but said that the former governor went to great lengths to assist in Hobbs transition.)Under Heredias leadership, AHCCCS withheld payment to more than 300 businesses as the agency investigated allegations that they were fraudulently billing Medicaid for treatment services. Often, the services had not been provided, and business owners were accused of allowing patients to continue the substance use they had hoped to overcome through treatment.In a statement, Heredia said she submitted her resignation with a heavy heart and expressed concern that a partisan agenda had resulted in professionals being dragged through career damaging hearings. Two years ago, Senate Republicans derailed the nomination of one of Hobbs previous picks to lead the health department.Last September, more than a year after the crackdown began, the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting and ProPublica reported that the suspensions had rendered patients homeless. Victims of the scheme, some from other states, were also left without access to the drug and alcohol treatment they were seeking. Over several years, businesses across much of Arizona, but mostly in Phoenix, reaped huge Medicaid reimbursements by enrolling Native Americans in their programs and billing the states American Indian Health Program at exorbitant rates for services, like counseling sessions. (The AIHP is a Medicaid insurance option that, until the fraud was discovered, had no set limit on the amount of money providers could bill for services.) At a news conference Thursday, Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, said there had been more than 100 indictments and 25 convictions so far related to the scheme. She also said she expected more indictments to come.AHCCCS said over the past two years that officials top priority was patient safety, and in May 2023, the agency set up a hotline for victims. It provided brief hotel stays for people displaced from shuttered facilities. However, AHCCCS said last year that it had no record of what happened to a majority of the hotlines then 11,400 callers, largely because after six months it had stopped tracking outcomes for people who did not stay in a hotel. According to available data, more than 575 people ended up without housing as of last September. AZCIR and ProPublica also found that at least 40 Indigenous residents of sober living homes and treatment facilities in the Phoenix area died as the state fumbled its response.A handful of the suspended providers, out of hundreds investigated, were allowed to resume billing Medicaid after clearing allegations with the state. But they said the suspensions still pushed them to the brink financially and upended their patients care, AZCIR and ProPublica found. As a result, Heredias swift and aggressive response to the crisis which authorities said was needed to root out fraud and save lives caused concerns that behavioral health care, especially for Native Americans, was increasingly difficult to access. Under Katie Hobbs leadership, Heredias response has been incredibly disturbing, to say the least, Hoffman said. We are left with a broken system due to Heredias mismanagement, and our vulnerable populations are caught up in this collapse.A spokesperson for Senate Republicans declined a request for an interview with Hoffman.While Hoffmans statement mostly focused on the fraud scheme that authorities say cost the state $2 billion, he said he also took issue with other matters within AHCCCS involving long-term care.In addition to Heredias resignation, Jennifer Cunico, the director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, also stepped down this week. Like Heredia, Cunico was set to appear before lawmakers for a confirmation hearing. Cunico said she was proud of her work at the department but made the difficult decision to withdraw her nomination after it became clear she wouldnt be confirmed either. Her resignation comes two years after Hobbs previous pick to lead the health department withdrew her nomination following a heated confirmation hearing. Hoffman said Cunico had defended public health officials pandemic response during meetings with lawmakers but did not provide details. Hoffman previously sponsored legislation that prohibited state and local agencies from enacting vaccine mandates.The governor defended Heredias response to the fraud crisis and said both Heredia and Cunico had worked on a range of initiatives, including improving access to maternal health care. Carmen Heredia helped root out a multi-billion dollar wave of Medicaid fraud and the related humanitarian fallout which the previous administration ignored, Hobbs said in a statement. Her work to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in our healthcare system is a model for the nation, and she always ensured people who needed help continued to get it. She added, The Senates unprecedented politicization of the director confirmation process has ended the directorship of two healthcare professionals who have made our state government run more efficiently and more effectively. Christopher Lomahquahu, an investigative reporter and Roy W. Howard fellow for AZCIR, contributed reporting.

Detained at his citizenship interview, the Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi speaks of his ordeal.

The former chief of staff to Senator John Fetterman last year wrote to a doctor who had treated him, pointing to warning signs that suggested the senator could be backsliding on his recovery from a mental health crisis.

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Get to Costco, get your tools (and your $1.50 hot dog and soda combo), and then show us your favorite DIY projects.READ MORE...

Elon Musk flashes his T-shirt that reads "DOGE" to the media as he walks on South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)2025-05-02T20:29:17Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to clear the way for Elon Musk s Department of Government Efficiency to access Social Security systems containing personal data on millions of Americans.The emergency appeal comes after a judge in Maryland restricted the teams access under federal privacy laws. Social Security holds personal records on nearly everyone in the country, including school records, bank details, salary information and medical and mental health records for disability recipients, according to court documents.The government says the DOGE team needs access to target waste in the federal government, and asked the justices to put the lower court order on hold as the lawsuit over the issue plays out. Solicitor General John Sauer argued that the judges restrictions disrupt DOGEs urgent work and inappropriately interfere with executive-branch functions. Left undisturbed, this preliminary injunction will only invite further judicial incursions into internal agency decision-making, he wrote. Musk has been focused on Social Security as an alleged hotbed of fraud, describing it as a Ponzi scheme and insisting that reducing waste in the program is an important way to cut government spending. An appeals court refused to immediately to lift the block on DOGE access, though it split along ideological lines. Conservative judges in the minority said theres no evidence that the team has done any targeted snooping or exposed personal information. The lawsuit was originally filed by a group of labor unions and retirees represented by the group Democracy Forward.The ruling from U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander in Maryland that blocked DOGE from Social Security systems did allow staffers to access data that has been redacted or stripped of anything personally identifiable.The appeal is the latest in a string of emergency applications to the nations highest court as the Trump administration faces about 200 lawsuits challenging various aspects of President Donald Trumps sweeping conservative agenda. LINDSAY WHITEHURST Whitehurst covers the Supreme Court, legal affairs and criminal justice for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C. Past stops include Salt Lake City, New Mexico and Indiana. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01138-4Some types of cell are more likely than others to give rise to tumours. A rapid cell cycle is a newly identified predictor of cancer susceptibility.

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08888-1Multimodal results (iEEG, fMRI and MEG) of predictions from integrated information theory and global neuronal workspace theory align with some predictions of both theories on visual consciousness, but also critically challenge key tenets of both theories.

The e-commerce site acted after the Trump administration said it would close a loophole that allowed low-cost Chinese-made items to enter the U.S. without import fees.

For eight years running, Finland has topped the World Happiness Report but what exactly does it measure?

A study in The New England Journal Of Medicine found that semaglutides, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, may help treat fatty liver disease, pointing to yet another potential use for these popular weight-loss drugs. What do you think?What about my other piece-of-shit organs?Jane LeClair, Age GuesserMy livers gonna have abs!Mike Reina, Collar StitcherBut will peoples livers admit to using it?Ron Tran, UnemployedThe post Study Finds Ozempic May Reduce Signs Of Fatty Liver Disease appeared first on The Onion.

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Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01362-yDNA from ancient and present-day members of Picuris Pueblo confirm oral histories linking the tribe to the famed Chaco Canyon centre.

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08937-9Experiments in mouse models show that proper recovery of the intestinal microbiota following depletion, with or without faecal microbiota transplant therapy, is dependent on syntrophic interactions that occur only with specific dietary interventions.

A federal judge in Maryland found that scrutiny of the agencys sensitive information systems by Elon Musks team appeared to violate federal privacy laws.

President Trump on Friday said he would be taking away the universitys status, renewing a threat he made last month. It was not immediately clear if the I.R.S. was moving forward with a change.

Nature, Published online: 02 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01397-1Huge reductions, if enacted, could have catastrophic effects on US competitiveness and the scientific pipeline, critics say.

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01294-7An ambitious plan to stop the global threat of AIDS has been derailed. But many are hopeful that progress can be salvaged.