All posts tagged: reshaping

Is Algorithmic Asymmetry Reshaping How We Think?

Is Algorithmic Asymmetry Reshaping How We Think?

Published by Jenni Sidey

Algorithms are growing more powerful by the year. What they measure is a ghost of a pattern that once looked like someone statistically adjacent to you and me. The gap between past and present is costing us more than we notice. Machines that never met you Imagine you are standing on one side of a traditional scale. On the other side: a machine that has never met you, never been hungry, never buried anyone, never changed its mind at three in the morning. The machine nonetheless decides, in milliseconds, whether you are creditworthy, whether your job application clears a filter, whether your medical scan warrants a specialist’s attention, whether you are shown the news story that confirms your fears or the one that complicates them. That machine is running on an algorithm. And that algorithm, almost certainly, knows far more about the average person in its training data than it knows about you, specifically, today. This is algorithmic asymmetry—a structural condition of contemporary life that reaches everyone: the 22-year-old applying for a first apartment, the …

Trump is reshaping election policy in many states, with or without the SAVE America Act

Trump is reshaping election policy in many states, with or without the SAVE America Act

Published by Sam Flores

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter to get the latest. Presidents have no constitutional authority to oversee elections or dictate how they are run. That hasn’t stopped President Donald Trump from a sweeping effort to reshape elections during his second term in office. Legislation on Trump’s election priorities has so far stalled in the U.S. Senate, and federal courts have for now blocked key provisions of an executive order on elections he signed last year. But his efforts are affecting laws at the state level. Since Trump resumed office last January, at least 10 states have passed legislation reflecting one or more of his preferred election policies, including Florida’s passage of a proof-of-citizenship registration requirement earlier this month. In total, at least one-third of state legislatures have seriously considered bills that align with, or seek to counter, Trump’s aggressive push to reshape the nation’s electoral system. This all comes as Trump attempts to exercise his influence over elections …

How AI Is Reshaping the Battlefield

How AI Is Reshaping the Battlefield

Published by José Betancourt

Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube Just how are powerful AI models being used in warfare overseas? In this episode of Galaxy Brain, Charlie Warzel sits down with Will Knight, a senior writer at Wired, to discuss the rise of autonomous weapons. From the origins of Project Maven to the recent falling-out between Anthropic and the Department of Defense, they trace what’s happening as artificial intelligence moves from summarizing documents to informing decisions on the battlefield. How do these weapons work? What are the safeguards? Who decides what values get baked into these models? As autonomous systems become harder to avoid, where exactly is the line between human judgment and machine decision making? Warzel and Knight help explain how the Pentagon and Silicon Valley are more entangled than ever and where warfare goes from here. The following is a transcript of the episode: Will Knight: The U.S. government will talk a lot about the importance of AI reflecting American values. But what are those values, exactly? Charlie Warzel: Right. Do we get to …

The world added a record 814 GW of wind + solar – reshaping energy fast

The world added a record 814 GW of wind + solar – reshaping energy fast

Published by skeptic

Photo: Dongfang Electric Corporation The world just added a record amount of wind and solar in 2025, and it’s not even close. New data from global energy think tank Ember shows that 814 gigawatts (GW) of new solar and wind capacity came online last year, up 17% from 2024’s 696 GW. That brings total global wind and solar capacity to 4,174 GW – or just over 4 terawatts. That’s a massive buildout of the two fastest-growing sources of electricity in history, and solar is doing most of the heavy lifting. Solar keeps pulling ahead Solar made up the bulk of new additions in 2025. Globally, nearly 4 GW of solar was installed for every 1 GW of wind. Advertisement – scroll for more content In total, 647 GW of new solar capacity was added in 2025, up from 582 GW in 2024 – an 11% year-over-year increase on top of an already strong year. By the end of 2025, global solar capacity reached nearly 2,900 GW. Wind rebounds Wind is still playing catch-up, but it …

Technology Is Reshaping Sleep Apnea Treatment

Technology Is Reshaping Sleep Apnea Treatment

Published by skeptic

Inspire therapy—a hypoglossal nerve stimulation implant—has been FDA-approved for more than 11 years, with over 100,000 patients treated across the US, Europe, and Asia. Ruchir Patel, Inspire’s senior medical director, says data show reductions in daytime sleepiness, a 79 percent drop in sleep apnea severity, and a 90 percent reduction in snoring. Early US data report average nightly usage of more than 6.5 hours. “This is an exciting time because there are more treatment options available than in the past,” he says. Pharmaceutical approaches are also emerging. In 2024, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Zepbound (tirzepatide) for moderate to severe OSA in adults with obesity—the first weight-loss drug to carry a specific sleep apnea indication. Meanwhile, Cambridge, Massachusetts–based startup Apnimed has developed a nightly pill targeting neuromuscular pathways that influence upper airway tone. Rather than mechanically splinting the airway open, the drug aims to stabilize it biologically. “For a long time, OSA was understood primarily as an anatomical problem, so the logical solution was mechanical,” says John Cronin, chief medical officer at Apnimed. …

Gambling is reshaping video games, time, money and attention in 2026, report says

Gambling is reshaping video games, time, money and attention in 2026, report says

Published by skeptic

For years, gambling lived on the outer edges of the video game business. It was boxed in by geography, hemmed in by regulation, and treated as culturally separate from mainstream gaming. However, the wall has now largely come down. The State of Video Gaming in 2026 by Epyllion’s CEO Matthew Ball argues that gambling, especially iGaming, online sports betting, and prediction markets, has become one of the biggest forces redirecting how players use their time and money. Instead of operating in parallel with games, the platforms are increasingly competing with them head-on. My State of Video Games in 2026 is now out (Early Access) 1⃣ Why revenue growth is more elusive than headlines suggest2⃣Why video gaming has been losing the attention war for a half decade (and to what)3⃣ Where there's indisputable growth + Lots morehttps://t.co/cqNMmJL8ni — Matthew Ball (@ballmatthew) February 17, 2026 There has been a steady change in leisure time toward interactive systems that keep users engaged around the clock and, more often than not, put real money on the line. Video games …

How Two Quiet USPS Changes Are Reshaping Delivery in Vermont

How Two Quiet USPS Changes Are Reshaping Delivery in Vermont

Published by Sam Flores

The U.S. Postal Service in Vermont has quietly implemented changes to the way mail is processed that are expected to further slow down the delivery speed of many mail categories for Vermonters. Vermont is the latest region to join Regional Transportation Optimization, a new strategy that ends evening collection of mail that’s more than 50 miles away from regional mail centers. Last week, a postal service spokesperson did not answer questions about when the new program was expected to come to Vermont. But on Jan. 16, the postal service filed data in response to questions from the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission that shows the program has already been implemented in every zip code in the state. Regional Transportation Optimization is one part of the Delivering for America plan, a years-long strategy of service cuts and other changes that began in 2021 under former Postmaster Louis DeJoy. The postal service has said the plan is essential for making its operations efficient and financially self-sustaining. But critics of the program say there’s been a lack of transparency …

Ryan Burge on ‘The Vanishing Church’ and how polarization is reshaping American faith

Ryan Burge on ‘The Vanishing Church’ and how polarization is reshaping American faith

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Faith communities have long been places where people with different perspectives gathered and built relationships. But today, many find those spaces look different.  Social scientist Ryan Burge, whose research examines how polarization intersects with American religious life, spoke at an RNS virtual event this week to share his insights about what polarization means for congregations, community life and the country’s civic landscape. His new book, “The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations Is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us,” examines how political polarization has changed congregational life over the past several decades. Burge was interviewed by Adelle M. Banks, RNS projects editor and national reporter, and he took audience questions from Niala Boodhoo, RNS live events host. The transcript was edited for clarity. ADELLE M. BANKS: Ryan, you dedicate your book, “The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Modern Congregations Is Hurting Democracy, Faith and Us,” in part to “the faithful few” of First Baptist Church of Mount Vernon, Illinois. What did that church, which was long affiliated with the …

How Claude Code Is Reshaping Software—and Anthropic

How Claude Code Is Reshaping Software—and Anthropic

Published by skeptic

Engineers in Silicon Valley have been raving about Anthropic’s AI coding tool, Claude Code, for months. But recently, the buzz feels as if it’s reached a fever pitch. Earlier this week, I sat down with Boris Cherny, head of Claude Code, to try to understand how the company is meeting this moment. “We built the simplest possible thing,” said Cherny. “The craziest thing was learning three months ago that half of the sales team at Anthropic uses Claude Code every week.” AI-powered coding has evolved quickly. From 2021 to 2024, most tools functioned as little more than autocomplete, suggesting a few lines of code as developers typed. By early 2025, startups like Cursor and Windsurf began rolling out early “agentic” coding products, which let developers describe a feature in plain language and leave the rest up to an AI agent. Claude Code launched around this time too. Cherny acknowledges that early versions of Claude Code often stumbled, making errors or getting stuck in costly loops. Cherny says Anthropic built Claude Code for where AI capabilities …

Gut microbes are reshaping how scientists think about brain evolution

Gut microbes are reshaping how scientists think about brain evolution

Published by Jenni Sidey

A new study from Northwestern University is reshaping how scientists think about brain evolution. The research suggests that the gut microbiome does more than aid digestion. It may also influence how brains develop, function, and meet their high energy needs. The work is led by Katie Amato, an associate professor of biological anthropology at Northwestern and the study’s principal investigator. Her team set out to explore a long-standing puzzle in evolutionary biology. Humans have the largest brains relative to body size among primates, yet brains are extremely costly organs to build and maintain. They consume large amounts of energy, especially glucose. How evolution met those demands has remained unclear. Amato’s group focused on a possible contributor that has received little attention in this context: the gut microbiome. These communities of microbes help break down food, produce metabolites, and regulate metabolism. Previous work from Amato’s lab showed that microbes from larger-brained primates generate more metabolic energy when transferred into mice. The new study goes further by examining whether those microbes also change how the brain itself …