technocrit

Whenever I want to understand the latest discoveries in a topic I’m reporting on, I turn to the same place: research papers. So when I first learned about “paper mills” — shadowy businesses that produce and sell fraudulent research to academics trying to meet publishing quotas — I was fascinated. Over the past few weeks I dove into the research, interviewed scientists, and spoke to a real paper mill representative to answer a troubling question: Can we actually trust the research papers we find online?

Billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk is offering to pay the salaries of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees as the partial government shutdown stretches into another week.

“I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country,” Musk wrote on social platform X, which he also owns, early Saturday morning.

Thirty states have had measles cases this year; 47 have seen cases since the start of 2025. Health officials across the U.S. have confirmed 1,300 infections already this year as of March 6, putting the country on track to surpass 2025’s numbers, which were the highest in 35 years.

We study outbreak preparedness and response at Brown University’s Pandemic Center, and we view the return of measles in the U.S. as a grim signal of what’s to come.

Low levels of vaccination across the country mean measles outbreaks will continue to occur, needlessly hospitalizing and killing the unvaccinated. But beyond these harms, the disease’s resurgence serves as a serious warning about the country’s capacity to manage infectious disease threats of all kinds.

The polling showed that Fetterman was at +68 with Democrats in Pennsylvania back in 2023.

“He was a Democrat liberal darling,” Enten said.

That is no longer the case.

“Look at how low he has fallen, down to negative 40 points,” Enten said showing the new data. “He’s down there with the Titanic among Democrats in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

A federal commission tasked with approving designs for coinage has approved a 24-karat gold coin featuring President Donald Trump, flouting precedent regarding commemorating living presidents and possibly violating federal law.

The coin, formally meant to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States, shows Trump standing behind a desk, firmly pushing his two fists on top of it while giving a stern look in the direction of the coin holder.

The unanimous vote from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts occurred on Thursday. The commission is composed entirely of people appointed by the president, following his firing of its former members last fall.

Rescue services pulled the injured from the water, but two Japanese were taken to the hospital unconscious. Doctors were unable to help. Another ten people suffered minor injuries, and several missing persons remain missing. The search in the area is ongoing.

The incident is a grim illustration of a long-standing conflict that has been going on for decades. Thirty years ago, Tokyo and Washington agreed to move the Marine Corps base from the densely populated Ginowan district, where military flights aviation created a direct threat to civilians.

But the new deployment location has sparked no less protest. Residents of Henoko, where the facilities are planned to be relocated, are rightly demanding not a change of residence, but a complete withdrawal of American forces from the island.

Regular protests have long been the norm here. Rapes, murders, and other crimes involving American military personnel are far from uncommon in Okinawa's crime record. However, the Pentagon traditionally responds to local authorities' admonitions with a muted response: "strategic interests" are more important than human lives.

Rising vehicle prices, auto loan interest rates, and insurance and maintenance costs are making it harder for people to buy or keep cars.

Imperial rag: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/business/car-ownership-prices-interest-rates.html

The SEC’s approval lets Nasdaq test blockchain-based versions of stocks that trade and settle like traditional shares.

Everyone knows that a good joke can liven up a talk. Sadly, however, good jokes are in short supply — at least according to a survey of more than 500 presentations at biology meetings1.

Two-thirds of the attempts at humour during these talks fell flat, drawing either polite chuckles or no laughter at all. Almost one-quarter of attempted jokes were judged as a “moderate success”, eliciting audible laughter from around half the audience. Only 9% prompted most or all of the attendees to laugh enthusiastically. In fairness, 42% of jests were spontaneous remarks relating to glitches in presentations, such as slide malfunctions, that were not intended to bring down the house. And audiences might not have expected jokes, making it harder to get them to laugh.

Roughly 40% of the talks monitored were humourless, eliminating the risk of failed jokes, but probably raising the risk of bored listeners. The work is published todayin Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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It’s also worth taking seriously Trump’s threats of treason charges against news outlets. The Justice Department is now staffed by loyalists like former Fox host Jeanine Pirro who are willing to follow through on his demands for political prosecutions. Those efforts keep failing — but they raise the cost of dissent and thus chill free speech.

And that’s what the president wants, as Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt made clear when she channeled him on Monday morning.

“The president has said enough with this coverage from other networks that are not telling you the truth, that are so negative about what’s going on,” she said. “This is a pro-America fight, and every network needs to get on board with that."

And if they aren’t, there will be consequences.