The organizers of science's quirkiest awards show moved their ceremony to Switzerland after declaring it "unsafe" for guests to visit America, but never specified what danger they had in mind. Ten research teams picked up Ig Nobel Prizes on Thursday at a convention center in Zurich for studies ranging from cockroach milk to the science […] The post Ig Nobel Prize ceremony flees the U.S. for the first time in 35 years over vague "safety" claims appeared first on American Almanac .
The organizers of science's quirkiest awards show moved their ceremony to Switzerland after declaring it "unsafe" for guests to visit America, but never specified what danger they had in mind. Ten research teams picked up Ig Nobel Prizes on Thursday at a convention center in Zurich for studies ranging from cockroach milk to the science of blowing your nose. The awards, handed out every year since 1991 by the magazine Annals of Improbable Research, honor genuine scientific work that "makes you laugh, then makes you think." For 35 consecutive years the ceremony called the United States home, rotating among Harvard, MIT, and Boston University. Not anymore. Master of ceremonies Marc Abrahams, who also edits the magazine, told The Associated…Open
Tarek Mansour co-founded the fast-growing prediction market company shortly after graduating from M.I.T., aiming to provide a “mathematical, objective” view of the world.
Data: MIT IT FutureTech and the University of Queensland ; Chart: Herb Scribner/Axios There is a one-in-five chance of AI gaining dangerous weapons capabilities or causing mass harm that could kill millions in the next five years, per global experts surveyed for a recent MIT study . Why it matters: The findings add to the growing debate over AI safety and cybersecurity as governments and companies race to deploy increasingly capable systems. - Last week's news of an OpenAI model breaking containment and breaching the AI platform Hugging Face only adds to the debate about what can go wrong. Driving the news: Researchers from MIT and the University of Queensland in Australia asked 272 international experts to evaluate 24 different risks…
We ask almost every AI architect and leader the same thing in private: What AI risk worries you most? - Almost all of them fire back the same response: a killer pathogen, spreading too silently, widely and quickly to stop. Why it matters: The rare agreement among AI experts flows from the belief these advanced models could help a bad actor create a deadly pathogen before the government and industry perfect detection and prevention systems. This isn't a likely scenario. And some of AI's biggest optimists reject doom scenarios. - It's simply a plausible one as AI gets better at understanding our biological vulnerabilities, much like it has our cyber ones inside large nonhuman systems. Driving the news: The experts aren't hedging. In a new…
Two of the Democratic Party's marquee 2026 Senate candidates built their campaigns around attacking billionaire political influence, then accepted millions from a mega-donor who visited Jeffrey Epstein's private island. James Talarico, the Democrat running for Senate in Texas, has made the phrase "Epstein class" a centerpiece of his stump speech. "The Epstein Class has no […] The post Talarico and Ossoff rail against 'Epstein class' while cashing checks from Epstein-linked billionaire appeared first on American Almanac .
Two of the Democratic Party's marquee 2026 Senate candidates built their campaigns around attacking billionaire political influence, then accepted millions from a mega-donor who visited Jeffrey Epstein's private island. James Talarico, the Democrat running for Senate in Texas, has made the phrase "Epstein class" a centerpiece of his stump speech. "The Epstein Class has no place in Texas," he declared on the campaign trail. His campaign website warns that "billionaire mega-donors aren't just buying yachts and jets, they're buying power, and they're using that power to rig our political system." In Georgia, Sen. Jon Ossoff has struck the same chord, accusing Republicans of fronting for "the Epstein class, ruling our country." Yet both…Open
Inspired by diving birds, roboticists built the lightweight machines to move from water to air. The design may one day lead to robots that can monitor and sample the coastal ocean.
A federal lawmaker announced this week that MIT has agreed to release a recording related to a series of UAP sightings over Washington D.C. in July 1952. To Disclosure Foundation Executive Director Jordan Flowers, this represents significant progress: “The gloves are coming off, in terms of pushing for transparency, and knowing where these things are and pulling them out of the right structures.” #UFO #InvasionOfWashington #Disclosure "NewsNation Prime" is America’s source for unbiased news offering a full range of perspectives from across the U.S. Weekends starting at 7p/6C. #Prime NewsNation is your source for fact-based, unbiased news for all Americans.
The AI job apocalypse may make for an "incredible headline," AI investor and All-In podcast co-host Chamath Palihapitiya said on "The Axios Show" — but he says it ignores history. Why it matters: The AI boom has turned the future of work into a political fight , an investor thesis and a sales pitch . Palihapitiya's counter: New technology changes what humans do, but it doesn't make them irrelevant. The big picture: The Social Capital CEO rejected the idea that AI and robotics will wipe out work — even for plumbers. Axios' Dan Primack floated a future where robots could crawl under the cabinet and do the job. - Palihapitiya asks who will run the plumbing business, or the robotics company. Humans will still need shelter, food, clothing…
MIT researchers think they've worked out exactly how Russia's Burevestnik nuclear-powered missile flies. "It's almost certainly a terrible idea," one analyst said. "But it's not an impossible idea."
