Aggregator

As a professor of cognitive neuroimaging, I've spent decades using state-of-the-art brain-imaging techniques to investigate the autistic brain.

The Supreme Court has temporarily allowed President Trump to fire Rebecca Slaughter, the last Democrat on the FTC. "The court's action is technically temporary, since the justices said they will hear arguments in the case in December, but every indication is that the conservative court majority will use the case to reverse a major Supreme Court precedent that dates back almost a century," reports NPR. From the report: Congress created the FTC and lots of other agencies to be multi-member, bipartisan regulatory agencies. And the Supreme Court in 1935 upheld those statutes ruling ruled against then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt's claim that he could fire FTC commissioners at will. In a unanimous opinion at the time, the court said Congress acted within its powers in declaring that a commissioner could only be fired for misconduct -- not for a policy disagreement. But now, prodded by President Trump, the court's six-member conservative majority seems poised to remake the way independent agencies operate. And if the handwriting on the wall is as clear as it seems to be, the independent agencies won't be independent. Their membership will be subject to the will of the president. The court's action Monday was hardly subtle. While the lower courts had ruled that the president could not fire Slaughter, under the court's 1935 precedent, the conservative Supreme Court majority allowed the president to fire her. Indeed, her name isn't even on the FTC website anymore. And the court so far has allowed Trump to fire other agency board members. In short, the justices are not playing hide-the-ball. And it's a good bet that the court will reverse the 1935 precedent, which until now had been reaffirmed multiple times. The result will be that whereas in the past, these agencies had to be bipartisan, with a minority of opposition party members, now there will be no such requirement. In short, Trump can name all the agency members. And if his successor is a Democrat, he or she can fire all the Republicans.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Devil Wears Prada star, 42, was the epitome of elegance in the shimmery garment, which featured a black strappy bust, while stopping for striking snaps at Zoo Palast.

Signatories include 10 Nobel Prize winners

ai-pocalypse  Ten Nobel Prize winners are among the more than 200 people who've signed a letter calling on the United Nations to define and enforce “red lines” that prohibit some uses of AI.…

The system, set to be introduced in October, is designed to replace manual passport stamping for non-EU travellers, including UK passport holders, entering the Schengen Area.

Single since his days as a heart-throb to millions of teenage girls in the 1980s, Matt Goss is finally getting married. The Bros pop singer has proposed to his girlfriend, the jewellery designer Chantal Brown.

After research suggested bungalows are being snapped up by much younger buyers, calls are growing for housebuilders to address the 'chronic shortage' of single-storey homes.

Here in sunny Bournemouth, amid the conference sound system's canned Vivaldi and the gentle burps (and worse) of Lib Dem activists during debates, you hear swipes at Sir Ed Davey.

The nation's best hotels, chefs and hospitality newcomers for this year have been unveiled in the AA's flagship Hospitality Awards 2025 - with awards presented across 18 categories.

The Moon is rusting -- and it's Earth's fault. Nature: Scientists have found that oxygen particles blown from Earth to the Moon can turn lunar minerals into hematite, also known as rust. The discovery adds to researchers' growing understanding of the deep interconnection between Earth and the Moon -- and shows how the Moon keeps a geological record of those interactions, says Ziliang Jin, a planetary scientist at Macau University of Science and Technology in China. He and his colleagues reported their findings earlier this month in Geophysical Research Letters. Most of the time, both Earth and the Moon are bathed in a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun. But for around five days each month, Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon, blocking most of the flood of solar particles. During that time, the Moon is exposed mainly to particles that had been part of Earth's atmosphere before blowing into space -- a phenomenon known as Earth wind. That wind contains ions of various elements, including hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. When those charged particles hit the Moon, they can implant themselves into the upper layers of lunar soil and trigger chemical reactions.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Thomas Cooper died when the pressurized oxygen chamber he was inside at a Michigan medical facility burst into flames on January 31.

On Monday, fans were treated to the first trailer for Celebrity Traitors, showing there is plenty of excitement and drama in store.

Google is rolling out its Gemini AI assistant to Google TV, bringing conversational AI to over 300 million devices. Users will be able to ask Gemini for help with TV recommendations, show recaps, reviews, or even general tasks like homework help, vacation planning, or learning new skills. TechCrunch reports: The company stresses that Gemini's addition doesn't mean that you won't be able to do the same things you used to be able to do through the (non-AI) Google Assistant integration. Those commands will still work, says Google. The Gemini rollout to Google TV begins on the TCL QM9K series starting today. Later in the year, Gemini will arrive on the Google TV Streamer, Walmart onn 4K Pro, 2025 Hisense U7, U8, and UX models, and 2025 TCL QM7K, QM8K, and X11K models. More functionality will be added over time.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

She was one of nine people brought before the Banda Aceh Syar'iyah Court, where judges handed down punishments ranging from 10 to 100 lashes for various offences

A vast swathe of the country is switching to having non-recyclable waste picked up every three weeks despite warnings of increased fly-tipping and and more rat infestations.

An asylum seeker who was shot and killed after he stabbed six people at a hotel in Glasgow made threats 24 hours before the incident, a court heard yesterday.

I don't want to worry you, but now might be a good time to have your Covid mask washed and ready for action.

The Tories said the PM may have broken the MPs' code of conduct by failing to declare past support from the Labour Together think-tank, previously run by his chief of staff (pictured with Sir Keir).

iFixit's teardown of Apple's iPhone Air reveals a device dominated by its battery, which occupies approximately two-thirds of the internal space while critical components including the logic board cluster at the top. The battery matches the component used in Apple's iPhone Air MagSafe battery pack and can be swapped between devices. The top-heavy component layout addresses the bendgate vulnerability that damaged logic boards in previous thin iPhone models when pressure was applied to the device's middle section. Despite the iPhone Air's thinner profile, iFixit awarded it a 7 out of 10 repairability score, citing reduced component layering that provides more direct access to the USB-C connector, battery, and other serviceable parts compared to standard iPhone models. The dual-entry system further contributes to the device's serviceability.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

EastEnders actress Lacey, 37, who is set to leave the BBC soap soon, will battle it all out against Corrie's Vicky Myers, Emmerdale's Beth Cordingly and Hollyoaks' Isabelle Smith.