Five Sunday Reads
This weekend, read about why cosmologists are fighting over everything, how to make the most of your professional decline, and more.
The Nobel Prize Winner Who Thinks We Have the Universe All Wrong
Cosmologists are fighting over everything.
By Ross Andersen
Your Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think
Here's how to make the most of it. (From 2019)
By Arthur C. Brooks
Elon Musk Is Playing God
The tech billionaire wants to shape humanity's future. Not everyone has a place there.
By Charlie Warzel and Hana Kiros
The Computer-Science Bubble Is Bursting
Artificial intelligence is ideally suited to replacing the very type of person who built it.
By Rose Horowitch
The Questions We Don't Ask Our Families but Should
Many people don't know very much about their older relatives. But if we don't ask, we risk never knowing our own history. (From 2022)
By Elizabeth Keating
The Week Ahead
Jurassic World Rebirth, an action movie about a team that makes a disturbing discovery while on a mission to retrieve DNA from dinosaurs (in theaters Wednesday)
Season 2 of The Sandman, a show about a cosmic being who controls dreams and finally escapes a more than century-long imprisonment (Volume 1 premieres Thursday on Netflix)
Dictating the Agenda, a book by Alexander Cooley and Alexander Dukalskis about the resurgence of authoritarian politics around the world (out Monday)
Essay
America's Coming Smoke Epidemic
By Zoë Schlanger
For 49 straight days, everyone in Seeley Lake was breathing smoke. A wildfire had ignited outside the small rural community in Montana, and the plume of smoke had parked itself over the houses. Air quality plummeted. At several moments, the concentration of particulate matter in the air exceeded the upper limit of what monitors could measure.
Christopher Migliaccio, an associate professor of immunology at the University of Montana, saw an opportunity to do what few have ever done: study what happens after people get exposed to wildfire smoke.
More in Culture
Catch Up on The Atlantic
Photo Album
An estimated 11 million metric tons of plastic enter oceans each year, according to the U.S. State Department. These photos show how some of it accumulates in highly visible ways.
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Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
‘Jurassic World Rebirth' Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes Critics Split On Movie
Scarlett Johansson in "Jurassic World Rebirth." Jurassic World Rebirth, Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey and Mahershala Ali's reboot of the Jurassic World franchise, has Rotten Tomatoes critics divided. Jurassic World Rebirth opens in theaters nationwide on Wednesday. The official summary for the film reads, 'Five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, the planet's ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived. 'The three most colossal creatures across land, sea and air within that tropical biosphere hold, in their DNA, the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind.' Directed by Gareth Edwards, Jurassic World Rebirth also stars Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Philippine Velge, Bechir Sylvain and Ed Skrein. As of Tuesday, Jurassic World Rebirth has earned a 53% 'rotten' rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics based on 113 reviews. RT's Critics Consensus and Popcornmeter rating are still pending. What Are Individual Critics Saying About 'Jurassic World Rebirth'? Among the top critics on RT who give Jurassic World Rebirth a 'rotten' rating is Johnny Oleksinski of the New York Post, who writes, 'The once-great franchise is hardly reborn from the amber this time. It's slammed by an asteroid yet again.' Alissa Wilkinson of The New York Times also gives Jurassic World Rebirth a 'rotten' rating on RT, 'In the story, the ubiquity of the dinosaurs has left humanity feeling bored and annoyed, cutting the feet out from under those moments. And it's starting to feel like the movies are getting bored, too.' Nick Schager of the Daily Beast rates Jurassic World Rebirth 'rotten' as well, writing in his RT review summary, 'he underwhelming result is similar to its signature beasts: a handsome clone that serves no purpose except to line its creators' pockets.' Mark Kennedy of The Associated Press is among the top critics on RT who give Jurassic World a 'fresh' rating, writing, 'In many ways, the folks behind Jurassic World Rebirth are trying to do the same thing as their mercenaries: Going back to the source code to recapture the magic of Steven Spielberg's 1993 blockbuster original. They've thrillingly succeeded.' Bill Bria of The Wrap also gives Jurassic World Rebirth a fresh rating on RT, writing, 'Just because cheeseburgers are now available anywhere doesn't mean that they can't be damn tasty. Jurassic Park Rebirth is just a well-made cheeseburger, and whether that's filling and interesting enough is up to your own appetite.' Also giving the film a 'fresh' review is Stephanie Zacharek of TIME Magazine, who writes, 'Jurassic World Rebirth features likable humans as well as some pleasantly cartoonish distasteful ones, and lots of dinosaurs just doing their thing.' Jurassic World Rebirth opens in theaters nationwide on Friday.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
AI's ‘massive transition' in biopharma shapes leadership mindsets — tension and all
This story was originally published on PharmaVoice. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily PharmaVoice newsletter. Artificial intelligence is taking shape as a major revolution in biopharma, from drug discovery to clinical trials. The wheels of technology spin quickly, and as the seeds of AI germinate, leaders are wrapping their heads around how far it's come and where it's going now. Dr. Lynda Stuart, who serves as the inaugural president and CEO of the Fund for Science and Technology, a new venture capital group with a mission to foster sustainable tech innovation in biotech and other areas, has watched AI go from a fringe idea to a real-world effort. 'It's an interesting time for the AI field in biotech because there's a massive transition from a nascent technology to being a real tool that you can use,' Stuart said. 'That transition from the theoretical to the real demonstrates an enormous opportunity for good — to define responsible use and mitigate risk.' Stuart hearkens back to early days in the field. The FFST is part of the 'Paul Allen ecosystem,' referring to the late entrepreneur best known for co-founding Microsoft with Bill Gates who began to push programming into the AI realm before his death in 2018. She also worked with biochemist David Baker, who won half of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside the founders of AlphaFold. His ideas, considered revolutionary now as AI takes center stage, weren't always seen that way, Stuart said. '[Baker] had this crazy idea that he was going to design proteins from scratch — everyone thought he was part of the lunatic fringe,' Stuart said. Now, the FFST estimates it will provide $150 million in grants aimed at AI by the end of next year. There is always a process of hitting the gas and pumping the brakes on new technology, Stuart said, and the FFST is trying to find that line, calling for a mindset that puts AI on the right track for innovation but keeps potential hype in check. 'To understand and address this tension in innovation is to set up a framework that is agile enough to allow innovation to move at the pace it should move and then know when to regulate,' Stuart said. 'We've proposed something called an 'if-then' framework, where if certain capabilities are reached, then you deal with them — but you shouldn't get all panicked about something that's 10 years away.' A paradox of the pharmaceutical industry is that, while cutting-edge science drives every significant advancement, leadership is sometimes less enthusiastic about embracing the new ways. Financial and regulatory risk play a role in that tension. 'This was my obsession and focus for many years,' said Dr. Mathai Mammen, who served as head of R&D at pharma juggernaut Johnson & Johnson. When the AI revolution was still operating in much smaller computer science circles, he promoted using datasets and machine learning to enroll clinical trials, for instance. 'Ten years ago, I started seeing the evolution in technology and the convolutional neural network technology take off with the availability of electronic data,' Mammen said. 'I knew this would yield a revolution, whether on the drug discovery or drug development side, and when I came to J&J, this became a mantra and something important to try and drive.' Now, as CEO of the biotech Parabilis Medicines, Mammen recalls the resistance to AI, even though company leaders broadly supported the concept. Still, full buy-in took time and was hard won, Mammen said. 'For some people, there's a tried-and-true approach, and they feel there's too much company and personal risk in rationalizing trying something new,' Mammen said. 'That collective experience of being successful is in some ways a source of resistance, and the more experienced and successful a place has been, the more resistance there might be.' Mammen said he was able to 'drive through' that resistance with like-minded executives at J&J by focusing on near-term problems. That meant drilling down on the use of data rather than implementing rudimentary tech before the company was ready to jump in. 'We changed the organizational structure to give the data science team real authority — that comes with some reluctance because you're taking authority away from someone, but those individuals quickly saw they were apt to be more successful with this new partnership,' Mammen said. 'These are the step changes that led to organization-wide change from nothing to being probably the leading data science organization in pharmaceuticals.' Mammen attributes the success of J&J's portfolio at the time to how he and his team were able to deploy those tools and that mindset as early adopters. Sanofi debuted a new campus in 2022 in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a chance to build not only for the scientific needs of today, but for technology coming down the pike, particularly in the field of immunoscience. 'There are going to be things you can't foresee,' Matt Truppo, global head of research platforms and computational R&D at Sanofi, said during a press tour of the Cambridge Crossing facility in June. He pointed out that procedures that once once took months soon only took weeks to perform, and 'now we're doing multiple structures a day enabled in part by AI leveraging extremely large data sets.' 'That transition from the theoretical to the real demonstrates an enormous opportunity for good — to define responsible use and mitigate risk.' Dr. Lynda Stuart CEO, Fund for Science and Technology The company had to build with an eye to the future. 'What you try to do is build with the vision in mind of what you're going to need, and when you find that those needs have accelerated beyond what you planned, then you go back and address them,' Truppo said. The two buildings on the 900,000-square-foot campus were designed to foster collaboration among working groups of scientists and company leaders, and the R&D team had to also think about data in that way. 'We're at a stage where new models are moving so quickly in academia and industry that you need to be able to test them and internalize them rapidly, evaluate them, see who you want to partner with and where your internal models are superior,' Truppo said. 'We have the advantage that this building is quite new, but even with that, we have to keep up, and human intuition is an important part of it.' Keeping the human aspect and the traditional scientific process intact as AI becomes a more widely used tool will keep the industry from spinning out of control — even as leaders explore new realms, the FFST's Stuart said. 'I'm hoping the hype won't get away from itself,' she said. 'You always have to ground truth in real science — if you set out to make something and you fail, then that's still teaching us something.' Recommended Reading Biotech's turning point: for every challenge, an opportunity in disguise Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
'Jurassic World Rebirth' movie review: Dinos still rule over rickety plot
Over the years, the 'Jurassic Park' movies have settled into a tried-and-true formula: celebrate the dinosaurs, tolerate the humans. With 'Jurassic World Rebirth' (★★½ out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters July 2), that song – specifically, the roar of a hungry T. rex – remains the same, although director Gareth Edwards at least tries something different by throwing a heist movie into the usual perilous adventure. But homages to Steven Spielberg's 1993 original, a starry cast (including Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey and Oscar winner Mahershala Ali) and dinos aplenty can only do so much when saddled with generic characters and a rickety plot. Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox Some time has passed since Chris Pratt and Jeff Goldblum led an epic team-up in 'Jurassic World Dominion.' The planet's environmental conditions have proven unkind to the prehistoric animals unleashed all over the world, while humanity has pretty much lost all interest in these majestic creatures. That's the setup for one heck of a thought-provoking movie but why do that when we can return to a lush remote island (again) for more dangerous shenanigans (again). Shady pharmaceutical guy Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) is in need of live dino DNA to produce a potential miracle cure for heart disease. He taps covert operative Zora Bennett (Johansson) to lead a team and help paleontologist Henry Loomis (Bailey) to snag some blood from three giant species: one each from land, sea and air. On a boat captained by Zora's good-hearted pal Duncan Kincaid (Ali), they head to a former research facility near the equator – where dinos thrive – and rescue a vacationing family that's been marooned in the Atlantic Ocean by a mosasaur. That ends up complicating the narrative as they separate and 'Rebirth' turns into two movies: Zora and Co. on their genetic mission, and the other folks trying not to get eaten by various toothy critters. One positive to that lack of focus means more screen time with different dinos, which really is the main reason why anybody's going to watch this movie outside of Bailey's new 'Wicked' superfans. Of all the human roles, his Loomis is the only one that seems like someone put some thought into the character. He's a throwback to the days of Sam Neill's Alan Grant, a smart dude who much like the audience sees the dinos for how awesome they are. And they are really cool. The T. rex is back, of course, and gets pretty irked when woken up from a nap. A baby Aquilops named Dolores is the most adorable little thing ever. The mosasaur has henchman spinosaurs – a nice touch – while a titanosaurus couple shares a loving moment (which gets interrupted by some pesky humans). There's also a new big bad dino called the D. rex (or Distortus rex, if you're fancy), a mutated monster that looks like a combo of the Elephant Man and a T. rex. It's got a large set of arms and an extra set of tiny arms to go with its ginormous forehead. Most of the time you'll be rooting for those guys over the humans. (And if you want to see some people get eaten rather viciously, you're in luck!) Edwards has a penchant for large spectacle movies with a big budget and a bigger message (see: 'Godzilla,' 'Rogue One'), and while this 'Rebirth' isn't exactly a thinking man's 'Jurassic,' there's enough B-movie craziness to keep it enjoyable. This franchise probably should have been extinct a while ago. We're stuck with it, though, so might as well go with the pterosaur flow. How to watch 'Jurassic World Rebirth' "Jurassic World Rebirth" is in theaters July 2 and is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association "for intense sequences of violence/action, bloody images, some suggestive references, language and a drug reference." The six previous "Jurassic" movies are all streaming on Peacock.
