Tootfinder

Study reveals hidden 'chemical currency' fueling the ocean's carbon cycle #ocean

Study reveals hidden 'chemical currency' fueling the ocean's carbon cycle
A new study, led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Columbia University, identifies a diverse set of molecules released by marine phytoplankton that fuel microbial life and help drive Earth's carbon cycle. While scientists know that carbon is moved through an invisible network of phytoplankton and other microbes in the surface ocean, the specific compounds have long been a mystery. These compounds are small, chemically difficult to detect in salty seawater, and are rapidly consu…

Sergey Brin, a Google founder,
has more than doubled his financial contribution to the fight against a proposed wealth tax in California.
New filings with the state show that former Alphabet president Sergey Brin donated $25m to a Super Pac dedicated to blocking the tax
-- on top of $20m he had already given.
Brin is not alone among Google’s top brass in upping his financial stake in the campaign against the ballot proposal.
The company’s former CEO
Eric …

New Study: Evidence shows how X’s algorithmic feed is radicalizing its users toward the Right. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10098-2

The political effects of X’s feed algorithm - Nature
Among users initially on a chronological feed, 7 weeks of exposure to X’s algorithmic feed in 2023 shifted political attitudes and account-following behaviour in a more conservative direction compared with those remaining on a chronological feed, whereas switching the feed setting in the opposite direction, from algorithmic to chronological, had no effect.

Hungary's Prime Minister-elect Peter Magyar says he plans to suspend state broadcaster MTVA and "create independent, objective, and impartial conditions" (Sandor Zsiros/Euronews)
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/04…

Magyar vows to shut down Hungarian state TV akin to 'North Korea'
Magyar has threatened to suspend the state broadcaster following a heated on-air clash, accusing it of spreading “North Korean-style” propaganda and false claims about his family during the election campaign. #EuropeNews

Time course of visual plasticity following adult-onset #deafness (in cats) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-39490-8

"Tree planting can combat urban heat, but some neighborhoods are falling behind"
#Trees #Environment
https://

Tree planting can combat urban heat, but some neighborhoods are falling behind
Sydney communities may be missing out on crucial tree planting projects intended to combat urban heat, leaving western and eastern parts of Greater Sydney with less protection from extreme heat, a University of Sydney-led study has revealed. In a surprising finding, the researchers found that while Greater Sydney's total tree canopy increased by 4.2% from 1.514 billion square meters to 1.578 billion square meters between 2016 and 2022, this growth was not evenly distributed.

Internal doc: the State Department moved its internal chatbot from Claude Sonnet 4.5 to GPT-4.1, following Trump's directive to cancel Anthropic contracts (Nextgov/FCW)
https://www.nextgov.com/acquisition/2026/03/state-offlo…

State offloads Claude as underpinning model in flagship StateChat
The agency moved its chatbot to operate on OpenAI’s GPT 4.1, internal document shows.

Following California implementing a law raising its minimum wage to $20 for more than 500,000 fast-food workers in the state in 2024,
Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of research firm Beacon Economics, offered a warning about the state raising its minimum wage.
“California’s well-intended push to reduce income inequality via wage floors is beginning to have a significant negative impact on some of our most vulnerable workers
—our youth, particularly those from lower-i…

Economists warned California not to raise the minimum wage to $20. They were wrong in almost every way so far, another economist says
“The results are nowhere as dire as predicted,” Berkeley’s Michael Reich told Fortune.

A Swiss canton has suspended its pilot of electronic voting after failing to count 2,048 votes cast in national referendums held on March 8.
Basel-Stadt announced the problem with its e-voting pilot, open to about 10,300 locals living abroad and 30 people with disabilities, last Friday afternoon.
It encouraged participants to deliver a paper vote to the town hall or use a polling station but admitted this would not be possible for many.
By the close of polling on Sunday, its …

Swiss e-voting pilot can't count 2,048 ballots after USB keys fail to decrypt them
: Officials suspend Basel-Stadt trial and launch probe

A survey of 1,500 people aged 14 to 29: hopefulness regarding AI has dropped from 27% to 18% over the past year, and 50% report using GenAI daily or weekly (Callie Holtermann/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/style/gen-z-ai-gallup-study.html

Half of Gen Z Uses AI, but Their Feelings Are Souring, Study Shows
A new study from Gallup found that young adults have grown less hopeful and more angry about artificial intelligence.