- The top 25 stories curated by editors and fellow readers!
Editor's Pick |
| Work Joint Staff Addresses Drones Over New Jersey Military Installations  In recent weeks, a number of drones have been sighted over New Jersey, prompting concern and thousands of telephone calls to report them. Some of those drones have even been sighted over Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle, both in New Jersey. |
| Work Hair Regeneration Slowed by Intermittent Fasting  Summary: New research shows that intermittent fasting, while beneficial for metabolic health, may slow hair regrowth by impairing hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs). In mice, fasting caused HFSCs to undergo apoptosis during extended fasting periods due to oxidative stress and free fatty acid buildup. |
| Work Trump vows to end 'very costly' daylight saving time  US President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants to end daylight saving time (DST), arguing that it is "inconvenient" and "very costly" to Americans. DST is the practice of moving the clock ahead by one hour in the spring and back an hour in the autumn to make better use of natural daylight. |
| Work McKinsey & Company to pay $650 million for role in opioid crisis while executives avoid trials  The global consulting firm McKinsey and Company Friday agreed to pay $650 million to settle a federal probe into its role in helping "turbocharge" sales of the highly addictive opioid painkiller OxyContin for Purdue Pharma, the U.S. Justice Department announced on Friday. |
| Work Ozempic could be linked to a common cause of sudden blindness, another study finds  Novo Nordisk's (NVO-2.68%) blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic may have a potential link with an eye condition that causes vision loss, according to a non-peer reviewed study published Thursday on medRxiv. |
| Work US couple shot and killed while on vacation in Mexico, officials say  The town is located on the border with the neighboring state of Guanajuato, which has more homicides than any other state in Mexico. Warring drug gangs fighting for the territory are largely responsible for the violence there. |
| Work TSA unveils 2025 canine calendar featuring 12 explosive-sniffing dogs  Lilly said the black Lab is incredibly laid-back at home. As a government employee, Argo eats a strict diet for his health. Like many of his human friends, he looks forward to a good meal after a hard day’s work. |
| Work Police seek owner of 'misplaced' $1.7 million worth of cocaine found off Florida coast  Ivey then joked the department will keep the owner's property "in a secure area" and offer an all-expenses-paid "staycation" at the "Ivey's Iron Bar Lodge," referring to the Brevard County Jail. |
| Work What Is Entropy? A Measure of Just How Little We Really Know.  Exactly 200 years ago, a French engineer introduced an idea that would quantify the universe's inexorable slide into decay. But entropy, as it's currently understood, is less a fact about the world than a reflection of our growing ignorance. |
| Work Chris Rock takes shot at Jake Paul in 'SNL' monologue: 'I hate him'  Paul, a popular YouTuber and brother of fellow YouTuber Logan Paul, defeated "The Hangover" star after eight rounds in the ring last month. Tyson, who retired from boxing in 2005, came out of retirement for the fight that ultimately garnered more than 100 million global viewers on Netflix. |
| Work Freddie Freeman's World Series grand slam ball sells for over $1 million in auction  The baseball is the second ball connected to the Dodgers to be auctioned this season. The ball hit by Shohei Ohtani that made him the first player in major league history with at least 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season sold for nearly $4.4 million to a Taiwanese investment firm and is on display in that country. |
| Work Linux banned Russian contributors. Does my FOSS project need to worry about U.S. Sanctions?  Since the Linux project removed a number of entries from the MAINTAINERS file, all of whom were putatively Russian, in October, we've been receiving questions about U.S. sanctions against Russia and what, if anything, we should do about them. |
| Work Renck: Broncos will beat the Colts because they finally have head coach who can win a big game  Forget the offensive playsheet, Payton wins behind the scenes with the structure he creates — players know what to expect — and the tone he strikes. The latter changes depending on the opponent, and the message was clear this week. The Broncos are running into the storm with eyes wide open. The players came across as focused, not nervous. |
| Work Keeler: CU Buffs' Travis Hunter wins 2024 Heisman Trophy, cements legacy as greatest Buffs football player  “I’m not going to do anything and keep my head in the right space. It’s going to be kind of hard (to repeat my career) because a lot of kids come in with different type of things on their mind. And so they’ve just got to be focused. |
| Work CU Buffs star Travis Hunter's Heisman Trophy season by the numbers  No cornerback has ever been selected No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft, but Hunter’s two-way abilities, his speed and his freakishly good ball skills give him a chance to make history in April. His teammate, QB Shedeur Sanders, also has a solid chance to go No. 1 considering his premium position. Hunter wouldn’t be a Heisman finalist without Sanders, the Unitas Golden Arm Award winner. |
| Work 2024 Heisman Trophy voting results: How much did Travis Hunter win by?  CU Buffs two-way star Travis Hunter was named the 2024 Heisman Trophy winner. Here’s a look at the final tally for the top 10 vote-getters. The winner was selected by a voting block of 928 voters: with 145 media members voting from six separate regions and 57 votes coming from former Heisman Trophy winners. |
| Work Mackenzie Blackwood stars in Avalanche debut as Colorado holds off Nashville  “I wasn’t in love with our game, like it wasn’t a masterpiece,” Bednar said. “But we played well enough to get the two points — especially with how (Blackwood) played. He was a big part of it.” |
| Work Today in History: December 15, Dylann Roof convicted of killing 9 Black church members in South Carolina  A federal jury in Charleston, South Carolina, convicted Dylann Roof of killing nine Black church members who had welcomed him into their Bible study gathering. |
| Work Freddie Freeman's World Series grand slam ball sells for over $1 million in auction  The baseball is the second ball connected to the Dodgers to be auctioned this season. The ball hit by Shohei Ohtani that made him the first player in major league history with at least 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season sold for nearly $4.4 million to a Taiwanese investment firm and is on display in that country. |
| Work At annual Christmas event, The Blue Heart Foundation announces leadership change  At the event, several people were honored with community service awards, including Voice & Viewpoint publisher John Warren, who received the award named for late founder Tracy Morris. Others receiving awards included Gloria Cooper as “District 4 Game Changer of the Year,” and Wilson Kennedy as “Mentor of the Year.” |
| Work First border construction, now Trump. Uncertainty swirls around the future of Friendship Park.  The Biden administration has pledged to reopen access to the U.S. side, but uncertainty grows as a new federal administration approaches |
| Work Hochul May Face a Challenger She Knows Well: Her Lieutenant Governor  He has done little to tamp down the rumors, telling donors that he plans on running for a statewide office. In an interview, he said that he had no “intention” of challenging Ms. Hochul in 2026, but also allowed that he planned to “stay ready” and that he wanted to be an “independent actor.” |
| Work 'At the End of the Bench, a Man Was Leaning Against the Railing'  We will have published 250 Diary entries this year by the end of December. We need your help choosing the best. New York Times editors narrowed the field to five finalists. Now it’s up to you to vote for your favorite. |
| Work UnitedHealth Is Strategically Limiting Access to Critical Treatment for Kids With Autism  ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published. These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story. |
| Work A Turning Point for Ultraprocessed Foods  Alice Callahan, a nutrition and health reporter for The New York Times, discusses how these foods came to be such a big part of what we eat, and why that's so hard to change. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. |
| Work 'Holiday Heart' Is a Serious Medical Issue Triggered by Festive Booze  It's the time of year for workplace Christmas parties, and gatherings with family and friends. Maybe you'll drink a lot in one go. Then you feel your heart beating fast or irregularly. Maybe there's a flutter in your chest or neck. Maybe you feel dizzy or short of breath. |
| Work How to Protect Yourself From the Salt Typhoon Hack, No Matter What the FBI Says  Hackers have gained sweeping access to U.S. text messages and phone calls -- and in response, the FBI is falling back on the same warmed-over, bad advice about encryption that it has trotted out for years. |
| Work AI is booming on the App Store, and developers are taking advantage of it  There's endless hype around generative AI this year, and app developers have clearly been paying attention. AI-focused tools are blowing up Apple's App Store charts in almost every category, occupying top 10 rankings across education, productivity, and photo editing. |
| Work Exotic New Superconductors Delight and Confound  Three new species of superconductivity were spotted this year, illustrating the myriad ways electrons can join together to form a frictionless quantum soup. |
| Work How big data created the modern dairy cow  No matter where you are in the world, there's a good chance the milk or cheese you're buying is the product of the US dairy industry. Even if it didn't come from American cattle, the cow that produced the milk could well have been inseminated by an American bull. |
| Work How Is Cell Death Essential to Life?  Cells in our bodies are constantly dying -- and these countless tiny deaths are essential to human health and multicellular life itself. In this episode, co-host Steven Strogatz speaks with cellular biologist Shai Shaham about what makes a cell "alive" and |
| Work Half of Australia Lives Here  The 3 areas in blue above, contain roughly 50% of Australia's population, which means that the area in white contains the other 50%. So to be fair it's just under half live in those three areas but how does this compare to other countries? |
| Work Eggs may be secret to high IQ in babies  Want to ensure your bundle of joy is a bundle of smarts, too? Eggs may be the key to ensuring a high IQ in infants - but pregnant women would need to eat up to nine per day for the best results. Fortunately, there are alternatives. |
| Work How the EEOC built America's secret police, and got companies to pay for it  Last Wednesday in Baltimore, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a suit against the convenience store chain Sheetz, arguing that their use of criminal background checks in hiring violates federal civil rights law. |
| Work UN cybercrime treaty faces uncertain future under Trump  The United Nations is on the verge of formally adopting a controversial new cybercrime convention that contains significant human rights risks. |
| Work Study reveals mammoth as key food source for ancient Americans  Scientists have uncovered the first direct evidence that ancient Americans relied primarily on mammoth and other large animals for food. Their research sheds new light on both the rapid expansion of humans throughout the Americas and the extinction of large ice age mammals. |
| Work Ann Arbor hopes to bring rooftop solar to the masses by creating a utility  Why did city officials want to pursue a sustainable energy utility? We have to nest it in the climate goals and the reality of our electric system. Our charge in the Office of Sustainability and Innovations is to think about how we get to 100% renewable electricity powering the community. |
| Work Did you perceive the invisible gorilla after all?  The 'invisible gorilla' study is a staple of undergraduate psychology teaching. |
| Work Mexico is using an AI-powered app to prevent suicides  Last fall, school administrators at the University of Yucatan asked Abraham Slim, a 23-year-old medical student, to fill out a survey on his smartphone. The questions on the survey did not relate to his subjects but probed into his mental health. |
| Work Absinthe: From Green Fairy to Moral Panic Absinthe, once the 'Green Fairy' - muse of painters and poets - came to haunt the last decades of 19th-century France. |
| Work Mars rover makes epic climb to explore some of the oldest rocks in the Solar System  After a months-long climb up the side of a crater on Mars, NASA's Perseverance rover has finally emerged on its rim -- and now faces a 4-billion-year-old landscape never before explored on the red planet. |
| Work Pilot avoids jail over crash that killed UK tourist  British tourist Jocelyn Spurway, 29, was killed and 21-year-old Irish woman Hannah O'Dowd seriously injured when the aircraft hit the sand on Middle Island in January 2017. |
| Work Cooking oil linked to colon cancer in early study, tied to inflammation  Researchers have revealed another potential reason to avoid ultraprocessed foods. |
| Work 'I felt like a breathing corpse': Stories from people freed from Syria's torture prison  It was a defining moment of the fall of the Syrian regime - rebels freeing inmates from the country's most notorious prison. A week on, four men speak to the BBC about the elation of their release, and the years of horror that preceded it. |
| Work The Biggest Medical Breakthroughs of 2024  Science and medicine typically move in spurts and stumbles. But every once in a while, a genuine breakthrough does come along and substantially improve how doctors can manage or treat a particular health problem. |
| Work Big Oil wants to help Big Tech power artificial intelligence data centers  Exxon Mobil and Chevron are jumping into the race to power artificial intelligence data centers, as the two oil majors bet tech companies will ultimately turn to natural gas to meet their tremendous energy needs. Exxon unveiled plans this week to build a natural gas plant to power a data center. |
| Work 5 ways Google migrating Chrome OS to Android is a good thing  Chromebooks are capable and popular devices. There are even higher-end Chromebooks, called Chromebook Plus devices, that add AI capabilities to the Chromebook to make it a more useful device. |
| Work World's biggest iceberg heads north after escaping vortex  The world's biggest iceberg is on the move again after being trapped in a vortex for most of the year. A23a is 3,800 sq km (1,500 sq miles), which is more than twice the size of Greater London, and is 400m (1,312ft) thick. |
| Work What are AI 'world models,' and why do they matter?  World models, also known as world simulators, are being touted by some as the next big thing in AI. But what the heck are these things? |
| Work Vegetable Recall Update As FDA Issues Most Serious Concern Level  The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the recall of a range of vegetable products produced by 4Earth Farms of Commerce, California, is a Class I risk classification, the most dangerous it can issue. |
| Work Pelosi Gets Hip Replacement After Fall During Congressional Trip  House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) underwent a hip replacement after falling during a congressional trip to Luxembourg, her office said Saturday. |
| Work 390,000 WordPress accounts stolen from hackers in supply chain attack  A threat actor tracked as MUT-1244 has stolen over 390,000 WordPress credentials in a large-scale, year-long campaign targeting other threat actors using a trojanized WordPress credentials checker. |
| Work Generative AI's Continuing Copyright Problems, an Essay in Memory of Suchir Balaji, 1998 - 2024  In early November, I had a stimulating Zoom call with a former OpenAI employee and Berkeley graduate named Suchir Balaji, who had just left OpenAI. To my shock, I just learned that he died, three weeks later, an apparent suicide, according to police reports. |
| Work George Stephanopoulos and ABC apologize to Trump, are forced to pay $15 million to settle defamation suit  ABC News and their top anchor George Stephanopoulos have reached a settlement with Donald Trump in his defamation suit, which will result in the news network paying the president-elect $15 million. |
| Work Primary school children left in tears after vicar tells them Santa isnt real  Breaking the illusion that Santa is not real is a parental ritual usually handled with painstaking care. For students at a primary school in Hampshire, however, their childhood wonder was torn to shreds after a vicar told pupils the bearded gift-bearer was made up. |
| Work US Officials in 'Direct Contact' With Victorious Syria Rebels  Officials from the US, Turkey and a number of Arab countries have agreed to support a peaceful transition process in Syria, following talks in Jordan. At a news conference in Aqaba, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said regional powers did not want Syria to "descend into chaos". |
| Work Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi arrested after performing concert without hijab  Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi was arrested on Saturday after performing a YouTube concert without wearing the obligatory hijab. Local media report two of Ahmadi's musicians - Ehsan Birghidar and Sohail Faqih Nasiri - were also arrested. |
| Work Trump nominees should 'steer clear' of undermining polio vaccine, McConnell says  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, a childhood polio survivor, said any of President-elect Donald Trump's nominees seeking confirmation should "steer clear" of efforts to discredit the polio vaccine. |
| Work School smartphone ban results in better sleep and improved mood  Psychologists at the University of York, who tested the impact that smartphones have on children's behaviour for a new two-part documentary series for Channel 4, found that a ban in school impacted positively on sleep and mood. |
| Work Should Programming Languages be Safe or Powerful? Should a programming language be powerful and let a programmer do a lot, or should it be safe and protect the programmer from bad mistakes? Contrary to what the title insinuates, these are not diametrically opposed attributes. |
| Work Jamie Foxx Is "Recovering" With Stitches After Physical Altercation During Birthday Dinner  The Oscar winner was celebrating his birthday at Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills when someone from another table threw a glass at him in a physical altercation, according to a statement shared by his publicist. |