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Music-induced emotion affects what we remember and how clearly

Music-induced emotion affects what we remember and how clearly

PsyPost reports: Music can stir emotion, spark memories, and bring people together—but does it also change what we remember? A new study published in The Journal of Neuroscience suggests that the emotional arousal elicited by music after learning can shape whether people remember the gist of an experience or its finer details. The research indicates that increases or decreases in emotional arousal after listening to music influence the balance between general and specific memory in different ways, with potential implications…

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Trump risks losing a ‘pillar’ of his trade strategy and having to refund a big chunk of $159 billion from tariff revenues

Trump risks losing a ‘pillar’ of his trade strategy and having to refund a big chunk of $159 billion from tariff revenues

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump has audaciously claimed virtually unlimited power to bypass Congress and impose sweeping taxes on foreign products. Now a federal appeals court has thrown a roadblock in his path. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled Friday that Trump went too far when he declared national emergencies to justify imposing sweeping import taxes on almost every country on earth. The ruling largely upheld a May decision by a specialized federal trade…

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Former CDC scientist warns: RFK Jr. appears to believe in eugenics. ‘Wake up… This is where fascism lives’

Former CDC scientist warns: RFK Jr. appears to believe in eugenics. ‘Wake up… This is where fascism lives’

The Daily Beast reports: A scientist who resigned from the CDC this week is warning that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy has shown signs he believes in “eugenics.” Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who resigned in protest of the Trump administration’s firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez, told MSNBC Saturday morning that America needs to “wake up” to the secretary’s rhetoric. “I really hear the echoes of the word, ‘superior genetics,’” Daskalakis said. “He referred to very high members…

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Trump drives scientists, spies and soldiers out of government

Trump drives scientists, spies and soldiers out of government

Axios reports: Centuries’ worth of experience walked out of key government agencies this summer, including high-level departures from the CDC, Pentagon and intelligence community just in the past week. Why it matters: President Trump and his allies believe the “Deep State,” scientific establishment and federal bureaucracy were overdue for a purge. They’re ushering in a government in which the officials maintaining nuclear weapons, monitoring medical trials or guarding state secrets have shorter resumes and smaller staffs — likely for many years to come. Driving…

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Ali Velshi: ‘America has been badly let down by the leadership of the Democratic Party’

Ali Velshi: ‘America has been badly let down by the leadership of the Democratic Party’

  Even in easy times, this democracy needs care. And right now it is in dire need of defense. And it needs defenders who are willing to do whatever it takes. Americans are begging for more. Begging for Democrats to get off the mat and back into the fight. If political leaders in this country are not prepared to fight with both hands, and are not prepared to make “good trouble”, then perhaps they should step aside and make space…

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Undisguised racism: Trump’s cabinet is almost all white, and he keeps firing Black officials

Undisguised racism: Trump’s cabinet is almost all white, and he keeps firing Black officials

The Guardian reports: A day after Donald Trump announced that he was firing Lisa Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the board of governors of the Federal Reserve, the White House proudly released a photo. It showed Trump, his cabinet and other officials giving a thumbs-up. Of the 24 people in the Oval Office, only one was Black. For those who have studied the US president’s long and troubling history of racism, the two events were more than…

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Israel’s only language is force

Israel’s only language is force

Abed Abou Shhadeh writes: Historian Yuval Noah Harari has described this moment as a spiritual turning point for Jews – perhaps the most significant since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Jews, he argued, have survived catastrophe after catastrophe, but never faced a spiritual threat of this magnitude. Israel’s current path, Harari warned, risks dismantling 2,000 years of Jewish thought and culture. In his view, Israel could end up ethnically cleansing Palestinians, dismantling democratic structures, and replacing…

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Life on Earth probably needed supplies from space

Life on Earth probably needed supplies from space

University of Bern: Earth is so far the only known planet on which life exists—with liquid water and a stable atmosphere. However, the conditions were not conducive to life when it formed. The gas-dust cloud from which all the planets in the solar system formed was rich in volatile elements essential for life, such as hydrogen, carbon and sulfur. However, in the inner solar system—the part closest to the sun, where the four rocky planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars…

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Most Trump tariffs are not legal, appeals court rules

Most Trump tariffs are not legal, appeals court rules

Reuters reports: A divided U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday that most of Donald Trump’s tariffs are illegal, undercutting the Republican president’s use of the levies as a key international economic policy tool. The court allowed the tariffs to remain in place through October 14 to give the Trump administration a chance to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump has made tariffs a pillar of U.S. foreign policy in his second term, using them to exert political…

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White House plans to unilaterally cancel $4.9B in foreign aid in end-run around Congress’ funding power

White House plans to unilaterally cancel $4.9B in foreign aid in end-run around Congress’ funding power

The New York Times reports: The White House has informed Congress it intends to cancel $4.9 billion that lawmakers approved for foreign aid programs, invoking a little-known and legally untested power to slash spending without their approval. The 15-page notification, sent to Congress on Thursday night and reviewed by The New York Times, is the administration’s first attempt to push through what is known as a “pocket rescission.” It is an effort to unilaterally claw back money that has already…

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Trump’s pick to head CDC is a Peter Thiel acolyte

Trump’s pick to head CDC is a Peter Thiel acolyte

The New Republic reports: Donald Trump has tapped Deputy Health Secretary Jim O’Neill, a market fundamentalist Silicon Valley investor and long-time associate of billionaire Peter Thiel, as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control. Taking the place of Susan Monarez, whose firing has raised alarm over the dangerous incompetence of the health department under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., O’Neill will bring to the role no medical or scientific background. But he does have a history of feverish advocacy…

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Israel’s onslaught on Gaza City forces thousands to flee with nowhere to go

Israel’s onslaught on Gaza City forces thousands to flee with nowhere to go

Abdel Qader Sabbah reports: Israeli tanks backed by warplanes and quadcopters are pushing deeper into Gaza City, destroying entire neighborhoods and leaving people with nowhere to go. The escalating assault comes amid a widening famine, with Palestinians starving to death every day. Airstrikes continue to pound civilians in central and southern Gaza. It has been one of the deadliest periods for journalists since Israel’s assault began, with at least 11 journalists killed in two bombardments just two weeks apart. Palestinians…

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Israel’s killing of journalists follows a pattern of silencing Palestinian media that stretches back to 1967

Israel’s killing of journalists follows a pattern of silencing Palestinian media that stretches back to 1967

A funeral ceremony takes place in the courtyard of Nasser Hospital in Gaza following the deaths of five journalists on Aug. 25, 2025. Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images By Maha Nassar, University of Arizona Five journalists were among the 22 people killed on Aug. 25, 2025, in Israeli strikes on the Nasser Hospital in the Gaza Strip. Following global condemnation, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying Israel “values the work of journalists.” But…

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Collapse of critical Atlantic current is more likely than previously thought, study finds

Collapse of critical Atlantic current is more likely than previously thought, study finds

The Guardian reports: The collapse of a critical Atlantic current can no longer be considered a low-likelihood event, a study has concluded, making deep cuts to fossil fuel emissions even more urgent to avoid the catastrophic impact. The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) is a major part of the global climate system. It brings sun-warmed tropical water to Europe and the Arctic, where it cools and sinks to form a deep return current. The Amoc was already known to be…

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