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bioGraphic: “Scientists and conservationists in the U.S. Midwest are working to stop industrial herbicides from drifting onto the region’s remaining hardwood trees. The symptoms were strange. They were the same across multiple oak species—white, swamp white, black, red, post, shingle, chinkapin, blackjack, and pin. Leaves thickened, elongated, and contorted into grotesque shapes—cupping, puckering, curling, and …
“The Data Foundation today announced the launch of the Evidence Act Hub, a comprehensive digital repository designed to preserve and organize strategic plans, reports, and toolkits related to federal data and evaluation activities required under the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act). This living archive serves as a central resource for researchers, …
Scientific American: “Never heard of the Journal of International Relief or the International Humanitarian Digital Repository? That’s because they don’t exist. But that’s not stopping some of the world’s most popular artificial intelligence models from sending users looking for records such as these, according to a new International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) statement. …
The Nation’s Data at Risk: 2025 Report – “This report continues ASA’s multiyear effort to assess the state of the U.S. federal statistical system, with a focus on developments in 2025. It highlights challenges and opportunities across five dimensions: staffing and capacity; system structure and funding; innovation; congressional engagement; and stakeholder support. It concludes with …
Washington Post [no paywall]: “Do yourself a favor and download iFixit’s new app. The free app from iFixit, a repair and advocacy organization, has one extremely handy feature for any smartphone model: It shows a personalized “death date” of when you should replace your phone’s battery, long before it fails on you. Think of it …
H2O Casebook Collection – Search inside H2O’s collection of 452 casebooks, 10,765 legal documents, and 161 authors, or view our featured casebooks. “H2O is a free platform for making, sharing, and remixing open-licensed casebooks and other course materials. It is developed and maintained by the Library Innovation Lab at the Harvard Law School Library. With H2O, …
Poynter: “Ann Hermes knew her work as a photojournalist would take her to exotic places. And it has — to discover the food markets of Jerusalem, to see hammocks in Honduras and to witness the Arab Spring in Egypt. But the work that’s closer to home reveals something Hermes is skilled at seeking out. It …
“Civicus downgraded the United States’ civic space rating from “narrowed” to “obstructed,” citing a sharp erosion of fundamental freedoms under a year of Trump-era actions—including militarized crackdowns on protests, expanded ICE deployments, restrictive laws, surveillance and harassment of civil society, suppression of campus speech, pressure on journalists, threats to revoke broadcast licenses, lawsuits against media …
404 Media: “We’ve got new photos and videos showing a Border Patrol agent using Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses during an immigration raid. When we’ve covered CBP’s use of the tech before, the recording light on the glasses was not on. That’s different this time: the glasses are clearly in use. This matters because DHS bans …
Unbiased Science: The Potential Danger Behind the Glitter – “A counterfeit or fake cosmetic product is one that imitates the branding, packaging, or claims of a legitimate product but is made outside the authorized supply chain. These fake products aren’t just disappointing; they can be dangerous. They may be manufactured in unsafe conditions, and they …
Brainyacts: 1. A user pulled out an internal company document just by prompting. Let that sink in. A determined user was able to extract, through the chat interface, an internal memo that was never meant to be disclosed. Not “state secret” level, but still: a company document that describes how the model is trained and …
“As authoritarian regimes worldwide escalate their assault on independent media, PEN America and Bard College today announced the launch of Kronika, a new digital platform designed to safeguard journalism globally and ensure that the historical record cannot be obliterated by censorship. The initiative is an expansion of the Russian Independent Media Archive (RIMA), which PEN …