CNA938 Rewind - NDP2025: How does host Siti K prepare for the show?
Singapore is developing Asia's first allergic rhinitis database. The condition – commonly known as hay fever – is triggered by allergens such as dust, pollen and pet dander. Andrea Heng and Hairianto Dimand speak with Koh Tze Sin, a 26 year-old Singaporean living with Allergic Rhinitis for hear a first hand account. They also speak with Adjunct Associate Professor Ng Chew Lip, Senior Consultant, Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery (ENT) and the principal investigator of Project ENTenna to find out more about the study.
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US judge rejects states' bid to block Trump diversity research funding cuts
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he arrives at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S., August 1, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo A federal judge on Friday rejected a bid by 16 Democratic-led states to force U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to restore hundreds of millions of dollars of grants it canceled that support increasing diversity in science, technology, engineering and math fields. Democratic state attorneys general had urged U.S. District Judge John Cronan in Manhattan to block the National Science Foundation from canceling funding awarded to universities designed to increase the participation of women, minorities, and people in those fields, known collectively as STEM. They had argued in a lawsuit filed in May that the Trump administration lacked the power to cap research funding and eliminate diversity programs provided by the NSF that were mandated by Congress and urged the judge to reverse grant terminations that began in April. But Cronan, a Trump appointee, agreed with the administration that a challenge to NSF's already-completed grant terminations could not be pursued in his court but instead could only be taken up by the Court of Federal Claims, a specialist court that hears monetary claims against the U.S. government. He said the states likewise failed to show a new NSF policy stating that research "must aim to create opportunities for all Americans everywhere" and that research projects that preference "subgroups of people" do not reflect the agency's priorities was inconsistent with the agency's governing statute. The same day that policy was posted in April, NSF began canceling grants that had been previously issued that touched on among other topics of diversity, equity and inclusion. Trump has sought to eliminate DEI from the government and society. The states said the policy was inconsistent with the National Science Foundation Act's mandate that the agency award grants "to increase the participation of underrepresented populations in STEM fields." Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Tech Reporting suspected advanced cyber attacks will provide a defence framework: Shanmugam Business Singapore's US tariff rate stays at 10%, but the Republic is not out of the woods yet Asia Asia-Pacific economies welcome new US tariff rates, but concerns over extent of full impact remain Business ST explains: How Trump tariffs could affect Singapore SMEs, jobs and markets Asia Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki erupts Singapore Thundery showers expected on most days in first half of August Singapore Synapxe chief executive, MND deputy secretary to become new perm secs on Sept 1 Singapore 5 women face capital charges after they were allegedly found with nearly 27kg of cocaine in S'pore But Cronan said NSF's policy did not require it to cease supporting such projects and that it has in fact continued to fund a number of such projects, including at institutions within the plaintiff states. "This evidence powerfully undermines Plaintiffs' argument that the Priority Directive renders this class of projects categorically ineligible for funding," Cronan wrote. NSF declined to comment. A spokesperson for New York Attorney General Letitia James' office, which took the lead for the plaintiffs, said it is reviewing the decision. REUTERS
Straits Times
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‘Hot wasps' found at US nuclear facility in South Carolina
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox On July 3, workers found a radioactive wasp nest on a post near a tank used to store nuclear waste. Three additional nests have since been found. COLUMBIA - Four radioactive wasp nests have been discovered at a South Carolina nuclear facility, according to federal officials. The first nest, which was found by workers at the Savannah River Site early in July, was recently disclosed in a report from the Department of Energy, which owns the site. The facility, near Aiken, South Carolina, produced material for nuclear weapons throughout the Cold War. Three additional nests have since been discovered at the site, officials told The New York Times on Aug 1. 'The US Department of Energy is managing the discovery of four wasp nests with very low levels of radioactive contamination,' Mr Edwin Deshong, the manager of the department's Savannah River Operations Office, said in an emailed statement. 'The nests do not pose a health risk to SRS workers, the community, or the environment.' But the discovery raised questions about the extent of the environmental contamination at the site, said Professor Timothy Mousseau, a biologist at the University of South Carolina who studies organisms and ecosystems in radioactive regions of the world, including Chernobyl, Ukraine, and Fukushima, Japan. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Tech Reporting suspected advanced cyber attacks will provide a defence framework: Shanmugam Business Singapore's US tariff rate stays at 10%, but the Republic is not out of the woods yet Asia Asia-Pacific economies welcome new US tariff rates, but concerns over extent of full impact remain Business ST explains: How Trump tariffs could affect Singapore SMEs, jobs and markets Asia Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki erupts Singapore Thundery showers expected on most days in first half of August Singapore Synapxe chief executive, MND deputy secretary to become new perm secs on Sept 1 Singapore 5 women face capital charges after they were allegedly found with nearly 27kg of cocaine in S'pore 'This is an indicator that there are contaminants spread across this area that have not been completely encased and protected,' Prof Mousseau said. The discovery of additional radioactive nests, he added, indicates 'that much greater effort must be made to assess the possible risks and hazards of what appears to be a significant source of radioactive pollutants.' A 2011 photo shows workers decommissioning heavy water infrastructure at the Savannah River Site, near Aiken, South Carolina. PHOTO: NYTIMES Here's what to know: What is the Savannah River Site? The Savannah River Site, formerly known as the Savannah River Plant, sits on 800 sq km in the sandhills of South Carolina, close to the Georgia border. The facility was built in the 1950s to produce materials for nuclear weapons. For decades, the site produced plutonium and tritium, a key component of hydrogen bombs. The production of material for nuclear weapons ramped down after the end of the Cold War, and the Department of Energy began cleaning up the site in 1996. But the process has dragged on well past its initially projected completion date. Officials now say that cleanup activities will be complete by 2065. In 2018, the first Trump administration announced plans to repurpose an unfinished building at the site to produce plutonium 'pits' – the cores of nuclear weapons. Production is expected to begin in the 2030s. What did workers find? Workers at the site routinely monitor the grounds for signs of radioactivity. On July 3, they discovered a radioactive wasp nest on a post near a tank used to store nuclear waste. 'The wasp nest was sprayed to kill wasps, then bagged as radiological waste,' the federal report said. 'The ground and surrounded area did not have any contamination.' But the report omitted key details, Prof Mousseau said, including the absolute level of radioactivity in the nest and the specific isotopes that were found, which would provide clues about the source of the contamination. Three additional nests were subsequently discovered during 'routine work activities,' a spokesperson for the Department of Energy said in an email on Aug 1. How did the nests become radioactive? It's not entirely clear, but the initial Department of Energy report said that the radioactivity resulted from 'on-site legacy radioactive contamination,' rather than from a leak or 'loss of contamination control.' That's a reasonable explanation, said Prof Mousseau, who has studied birds at the site. 'There's some legacy radioactive contamination sitting around in the mud in the bottom of the lakes, or, you know, here and there,' he said. The report did not disclose the species of wasp involved, but many wasps make their nests out of wood that they chew into a pulp. It was not far-fetched to imagine that they came across some contaminated rotting wood that had escaped previous detection and used the material to make their nest, Prof Mousseau said. How alarming is the discovery of radioactive wasp nests? Wasps don't typically travel far from their nests, Prof Mousseau said, and the 'hot wasps,' as he called them, probably posed little direct risk to the public. But there are other potential risks. 'The main concern relates to whether or not there are large areas of significant contamination that have escaped surveillance in the past,' he said. 'Alternatively, this could indicate that there is some new or old radioactive contamination that is coming to the surface that was unexpected.' In 2017, workers found radioactive bird droppings on the roof of a building at the site, and birds can carry radioactivity long distances, spreading it across the landscape, Prof Mousseau said. The wasp nests are a 'red flag' that should lead to more surveillance and investigation, he added. 'We would like to know a lot more about what this actually represents, and just how common it is and whether there is any evidence of these radionuclides being moved through the ecosystem,' Prof Mousseau said. NYTIMES
