Monday, July 14
Scientists Unveil Quantum Leap That Could Make Silicon Obsolete With 1,000× Faster Electronics
In a remarkable breakthrough, researchers have developed a technique that could transform the electronics industry, propelling devices into a new era of speed and efficiency.
By employing a method known as thermal quenching, scientists have discovered a way to switch a quantum material between conductive and insulating states, paving the way for electronics that are 1,000 times faster than current models.
This innovation holds the potential to replace traditional silicon components, promising devices that are both exponentially smaller and significantly faster.
As the demand for faster and more compact technology continues to grow, this discovery could revolutionize how we interact with electronic devices.
Sunday, July 13
Lifestyle
Why are there so many pills to take in the morning?
D3sign/Getty Images
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that about 100,000 different supplement products are sold in the US. That’s an umbrella term for vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and any other mystery powder you toss into your morning smoothie.
Over 75% of American adults take at least one daily supplement, according to the FDA. The domestic industry is estimated to be worth about $60 billion this year. But why?
How we got here
The US has been enamored of supplements for hundreds of years. The term “snake oil salesman” dates back to the 1800s. But around 1990, the FDA wanted to require standardized nutritional labeling (how modern).
The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 was passed by Congress to hold supplements to the same scientific standards as medications, requiring proof for claims made on the labels. The dietary supplement industry revolted:The industry told people the FDA would lock up their vitamins or require prescriptions.
Celebrities spoke out against the tyranny. There were marches, and citizens sent thousands of postcards to Congress.
Mel Gibson even made this commercial.
In 1994, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act was passed, exempting supps from most of the FDA’s drug regulations. Instead, they’re regulated by the FDA as food—a big reason why a multitude of brands line drugstore shelves and pop up in influencer bios.
“Honey, I made fish oil for dinner.” Supplements can’t claim to treat or prevent diseases, but they can include broader, unscientific claims, like being “immune boosters”:Fiber, fish oil, and vitamin D are beneficial for certain groups of people suffering from deficiencies.
However, most studies on supplements are observational, allowing scientists to identify correlations between vitamin intake and health outcomes, but not to establish a definitive cause-and-effect relationship.
Deregulation isn’t a perfect science: The supplement industry has celebrated Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointment as Health and Human Services Secretary, hoping he will clear the pathway to allow SNAP, HSA, and insurance funds to cover dietary supplements. But some industry experts have resisted his plans to get rid of an important pathway for ingredients to enter the market.—MM
D3sign/Getty Images
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that about 100,000 different supplement products are sold in the US. That’s an umbrella term for vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and any other mystery powder you toss into your morning smoothie.
Over 75% of American adults take at least one daily supplement, according to the FDA. The domestic industry is estimated to be worth about $60 billion this year. But why?
How we got here
The US has been enamored of supplements for hundreds of years. The term “snake oil salesman” dates back to the 1800s. But around 1990, the FDA wanted to require standardized nutritional labeling (how modern).
The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 was passed by Congress to hold supplements to the same scientific standards as medications, requiring proof for claims made on the labels. The dietary supplement industry revolted:The industry told people the FDA would lock up their vitamins or require prescriptions.
Celebrities spoke out against the tyranny. There were marches, and citizens sent thousands of postcards to Congress.
Mel Gibson even made this commercial.
In 1994, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act was passed, exempting supps from most of the FDA’s drug regulations. Instead, they’re regulated by the FDA as food—a big reason why a multitude of brands line drugstore shelves and pop up in influencer bios.
“Honey, I made fish oil for dinner.” Supplements can’t claim to treat or prevent diseases, but they can include broader, unscientific claims, like being “immune boosters”:Fiber, fish oil, and vitamin D are beneficial for certain groups of people suffering from deficiencies.
However, most studies on supplements are observational, allowing scientists to identify correlations between vitamin intake and health outcomes, but not to establish a definitive cause-and-effect relationship.
Deregulation isn’t a perfect science: The supplement industry has celebrated Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointment as Health and Human Services Secretary, hoping he will clear the pathway to allow SNAP, HSA, and insurance funds to cover dietary supplements. But some industry experts have resisted his plans to get rid of an important pathway for ingredients to enter the market.—MM
Robert Reich
Friends,
With the national and international news bringing anguish almost every day, I think it’s important to keep a tally of what is still good and beautiful in our lives and in the world, lest we succumb to despair.
A major part of not submitting to Trump’s tyranny is living our lives to the fullest — hopefully and cheerfully, in the face of him and his regime.
I had breakfast recently with a friend who defends immigrants.
I expected her to be overcome with anger and sadness. Instead, she was as happy as I’ve ever seen her.
“What gives?” I asked her. “You seem almost, well, joyful.”
“Not exactly joyful,” she laughed. “But I’m in a good place.”
“How can you be when you’re surrounded every day by people whose lives are being ruined by the orange menace?”
At A Glance
Was Shakespeare high when he wrote "Hamlet"?
How this rare coconut became the largest seed in the world.
Why do babies have nearly 100 more bones than adults?
How the ancients kept time with water clocks.
Picturing the booming business of space-based internet.
The 1880s-era, 109-foot hand-dug well in Greensburg, Kansas.
The universe is mostly a tint of beige dubbed "cosmic latte."
Why US chocolate tastes weird to the rest of the world.
A retired FBI agent interviews a jailed hit man about a cold case.
The worldwide effort to defend against asteroid 2024 YR4.
Cancer rates have been falling for nearly three decades.
A quick explainer on the science of bubbles.
Visualize the county-level effects of extreme weather events in the US.
Meet the durian, the divisive, spiky fruit of Southeast Asia.
Why no one wants to host the Olympics.
In The NEWS
The US State Department begins layoffs.
Over 1,300 domestic State Department employees were laid off yesterday as part of the Trump administration’s plans to downsize and reorganize the department. The firings come days after the Supreme Court cleared the way for the administration to undertake massive reductions to the federal workforce. A letter sent to Congress in May stated that the administration sought to cut the department’s domestic employees by almost 3,400 via layoffs and voluntary departures.
Trump announces 35% tariffs on Canadian imports.
The rate is set to go into effect Aug. 1 and exceeds the 25% tariffs imposed on Canadian goods in February. President Donald Trump cited Canada’s retaliatory tariffs and failure to control fentanyl smuggling to the US as the reason for the increase, though federal data shows relatively little of the drug enters via the northern border. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada would continue trade negotiations while defending its national interest.
Son of 'El Chapo' pleads guilty in US drug trafficking case.
Ovidio Guzmán López, son of Mexican drug lord JoaquÃn "El Chapo" Guzmán, pleaded guilty in a Chicago federal court Friday to drug trafficking, money laundering, and firearms charges related to leading a Sinaloa cartel faction that smuggled large amounts of fentanyl and other drugs into the US. As part of his plea, Guzmán López admitted to overseeing the production and distribution of narcotics that fueled the ongoing opioid crisis, though terms of his sentencing have not been disclosed. He is the first of the drug lord's sons to enter a plea deal.
Goldman Sachs to pilot an AI software engineer.
The global investment bank announced this week it will begin testing an autonomous software engineer created by Cognition, a $4B AI startup backed by venture capitalists Peter Thiel and Joe Lonsdale. The program, called Devin, will work alongside the firm’s 12,000 human developers to write code. Goldman's technology chief anticipates Devin, which will initially be supervised by humans, could boost worker productivity fourfold compared to previous AI tools. Goldman is the first major bank to deploy the technology.
Justin Bieber surprises fans with new album.
Canadian singer Justin Bieber released his seventh studio album, "Swag," at midnight yesterday, hours after teasing it on social media and billboards. The album marks the 31-year-old's first in four years. Bieber, who has taken several breaks from music to focus on his health, cut his last tour short in 2022 due to a battle with Ramsay Hunt syndrome. The new album cover appears to show him holding his son, Jack Blues, whom he welcomed last year with his wife, Hailey Rhode Bieber. See Billboard’s preliminary ranking of Bieber’s new songs here.
Dinosaur fossils found in Denver museum’s parking lot.
The Denver Museum of Nature and Science, known for its dinosaur exhibits, announced this week the discovery of a dinosaur fossil beneath its parking lot. The bone was unearthed 763 feet below the surface during a construction project in January and is estimated to be nearly 70 million years old, making it the deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil ever discovered within Denver’s city limits. It is currently on display in the museum’s “Discovering Teen Rex” exhibit.
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Our last BIG VACATION
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My wife and I have been using an American Express-Delta credit card for over 20 years. We use that card for as many purchases as we can. In the 20 years that we have been using that card, we have never paid any interest payments, always paying it off before any interest is due.
We have used our points to fly to Cancun, Mexico; Las Vegas, Nevada; Honolulu, Hawaii; NYC, NY; Paris, France; and, Vancouver, Canada.
Before yesterday, we had over 400,500 frequent flyer miles built up and decided to use those miles to fly to Honolulu, Hawaii again and take an island cruise as our LAST BIG VACATION before turning 80 years of age. We had made the assumption that once we reached 80, we would not be traveling that much anymore.
A Delta agent helped us book our flight out of Atlanta, GA, flying nonstop to Hawaii in Delta comfort seats, right behind the first-class bulkhead. Our return flight would put us in first-class seats right behind the Delta One bulkhead. Our return flight would also be non-stop.
This trip would leave us with 45,000 points that we would donate to fly critical care patients to a hospital. We had done this before with the points we earned on United and American Airlines.
My wife and I consider ourselves to be lower middle class financially, but the point of this article is to let people know that if you are willing to be patient and plan, there are many things you can do that you might think you do not have the financial resources to do.
Parkinson’s reversal? One drug brings dying brain cells back to life
A potent LRRK2 inhibitor rebuilt primary cilia, revived dopamine signaling, and doubled nerve-ending density
in mice with Parkinson’s mutations, suggesting enzyme-blocking therapy could slow or reverse disease.
Credit: Shutterstock
Putting the brakes on an enzyme might rescue neurons that are dying due to a type of Parkinson's disease that's caused by a single genetic mutation, according to a new Stanford Medicine-led study conducted in mice.
The genetic mutation causes an enzyme called leucine-rich repeat kinase 2, or LRRK2, to be overactive. Too much LRRK2 enzyme activity changes the structure of brain cells in a way that disrupts crucial communication between neurons that make the neurotransmitter dopamine and cells in the striatum, a region deep in the brain that is part of the dopamine system and is involved in movement, motivation and decision making.
Saturday, July 12
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