Russian drone with Nvidia chips signals dawn of lethal AI

Russian drone with Nvidia chips signals dawn of lethal AI

The New York Times reports: The young woman ran for her life, but it was too late. A small Russian drone resembling a model airplane swooped down from the sky last month in the city of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine. As it tried to navigate toward a gas station, it crashed into a wall and exploded in a hail of shrapnel, killing Tetiana Bubynets, 19, a university student, and two others. They were among the thousands of Ukrainian civilians who…

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Trump says communities that oppose data centers are ‘making a mistake’

Trump says communities that oppose data centers are ‘making a mistake’

Axios reports: President Trump defended the expansion of data centers in an interview with his former fixer, Michael Cohen, that aired in full on Sunday. Why it matters: Trump’s support comes as data centers face growing backlash in both red and blue states. What he’s saying: Trump told Cohen during their interview that the U.S. was leading China in AI “by a lot” and that data centers were not taking power from the grid. “They’re making their own power plants. They’re building the most beautiful, you’ve never seen power plants…

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Carney will not allow Canada to be turned into a North American Belarus

Carney will not allow Canada to be turned into a North American Belarus

Toronto Star‘s Allan Woods writes: Trump has yet to publicly comment on the breakdown in trade talks, but U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told reporters that Canada was offered “the best treatment of any major exporter to our market.” Without going into detail, he said Canadian negotiators made “new demands and walkbacks of other commitments” that had “upended the careful balance reached in the past days.” Doing a deal under the conditions Carney described would clearly have undermined Canada’s pivot…

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Canada should be ready to cut electricity, critical minerals as trade woes worsen, says Ontario’s premier

Canada should be ready to cut electricity, critical minerals as trade woes worsen, says Ontario’s premier

The Associated Press reports: Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Monday that Ronald Reagan would be “throwing up” over President Donald Trump’s trade policies and threatened to cut off electricity and critical minerals to the United States as Trump escalated the trade fight. Ford, speaking in an interview with The Associated Press, said Trump has underestimated Canadians’ willingness to endure economic pain rather than give in to U.S. pressure. “He underestimates Canada. We’re all in,” Ford said. “Up here, we’re at…

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How Trump is trying to crush California’s environmental policies

How Trump is trying to crush California’s environmental policies

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration has taken a series of extraordinary steps to attack California’s position as a national leader in environmental protection, enlisting at least a half-dozen federal agencies to undermine the state’s efforts to pivot away from fossil fuels. The stakes are high. Because of its market muscle as the world’s fourth largest economy, California’s environmental regulations have influenced the manufacturers of automobiles and other consumer goods. And its green policies have spread to some…

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Washington Post ordered to reinstate opinion writer fired over Charlie Kirk posts

Washington Post ordered to reinstate opinion writer fired over Charlie Kirk posts

The Guardian reports: An independent arbitrator has ordered the Washington Post to rehire the high-profile opinion columnist Karen Attiah, abruptly fired by the news organization last September over comments she made on social media about Charlie Kirk, the then recently slain conservative activist. On Monday, an arbitrator ruled that the Post had violated her rights as a union-protected employee and ordered the newspaper to reinstate her and compensate her for lost wages. “This decision confirms what we’ve said from the…

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Aging brains maintain robust language networks despite cognitive decline

Aging brains maintain robust language networks despite cognitive decline

Neuroscience News reports: As human beings age, many cognitive functions naturally decline. Brain scans have consistently shown age-related deterioration in neural networks responsible for executive functions, working memory, and problem-solving. But when it comes to language, the aging brain tells a completely different, highly resilient story. Barring neurological conditions such as stroke or dementia, most older adults retain excellent language skills. In fact, many individuals experience linguistic improvement as they accumulate a richer vocabulary throughout their lives. A newly published…

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The dominant power in the Middle East from now on will not be the U.S. or Israel but Iran

The dominant power in the Middle East from now on will not be the U.S. or Israel but Iran

Robert Kagan writes: For years, Iran confronted a balance of power in the Middle East that tilted against it. The region was dominated by a hostile American superpower, a nuclear-armed and militarily superior Israel, and significant local actors—Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates—that were strategically and economically aligned with the United States. Today finds Iran in entirely new circumstances. It has gone head-to-head with the superpower and Israel, withstood a pounding from their most advanced weapons, and more than…

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Trump’s bullying of Canada is failing

Trump’s bullying of Canada is failing

David Frum writes: U.S.-Canada trade talks collapsed last night. Punitive Trump tariffs will now go into effect. Canada will reciprocate with retaliatory tariffs of its own. The story may not be over. Donald Trump is notorious for issuing threats, then reversing them. Wars are on, off, on again, off again, then on a third time—but only as a “little detour.” This is not an administration that thinks even one move ahead. But without a supersized Trump TACO, the U.S.-Canada impasse…

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Trump declares war on Canada because he’s a peevish, perverse, enraged child

Trump declares war on Canada because he’s a peevish, perverse, enraged child

Robert Reich writes: Not exactly a war, but a trade war — which will impose huge costs on both American consumers and on Canada. As I said, Trump is now completely and utterly out of his mind. The very idea of a trade war with Canada — our neighbor, our ally, our closest friend, a nation that’s peaceful and whose people have a reputation for kindness — is absurd. But Trump is doing it anyway. He’s imposing a 50 percent…

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Data centers ‘dug their own grave,’ says Texas Gov. Greg Abbott

Data centers ‘dug their own grave,’ says Texas Gov. Greg Abbott

Axios reports: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott delivered one of the starkest warnings yet from a Republican to the AI industry, saying data center companies “dug their own grave” and deserve the backlash they’re facing after failing to win community support. Why it matters: Abbott is the latest governor to sharply change course on the AI data center boom he once enthusiastically courted, as local opposition becomes a potent political force. Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who last year celebrated a $20 billion Amazon data center investment, imposed new restrictions this week….

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Stanford University’s dirty secrets, according to the student who exposed them

Stanford University’s dirty secrets, according to the student who exposed them

  How does a college freshman take down the president of Stanford University? Theo Baker became the youngest-ever recipient of the George Polk Award after exposing research misconduct tied to former Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne. Now, in his new book How to Rule the World, Baker argues that the story goes far beyond one university leader—and reveals how Stanford became the training ground for Silicon Valley’s most powerful people. Kara and Theo discuss Stanford’s secretive power networks, the university’s no-boundaries…

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How Big Tech steers the public school system in the service of its commercial interests

How Big Tech steers the public school system in the service of its commercial interests

Natasha Singer writes: One humid afternoon in the summer of 2025, representatives from Microsoft were waiting as some 200 teachers trooped into a conference hall in downtown Manhattan. The educators were there for a workshop on the school technology of the moment: artificial intelligence chatbots. The Microsoft team gave a presentation on their Copilot chatbot and asked the teachers to practice using it for tasks like generating emails to parents and customizing lesson plans. Microsoft instructors also screened an A.I….

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The fungi in the ocean may be way more important than we realized

The fungi in the ocean may be way more important than we realized

Science Alert reports: Hidden inside tree trunks, between grains of soil, deep within our bodies, and below our feet, fungi seem to wind their way into everything. But did you know fungi actually live in the ocean, too? New research published in PLOS Biology reveals the overlooked role of marine fungi in the carbon cycle by zooming in on the seawater and sediments that line an Arctic fjord in Norway. We’re only just starting to understand how widespread fungi are…

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