RAS

May 27 2026BUSINESS

Women CFOs Lead the AI Infrastructure Race

In the current surge of artificial intelligence, companies are pouring billions into building the hardware that powers it. The people steering these budgets are often women, a fact that raises questions about gender roles in tech leadership. These finance chiefs do more than approve numbers; they

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May 27 2026SCIENCE

The Hidden Bond Between Fans and Their Favorite Stars

Fans often feel a special connection to the people they see on TV, movies or social media. Researchers call this feeling a parasocial experience. There are three parts to it: interacting with the star, forming a relationship, and feeling attached. The last part is called parasocial attachment. A r

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May 26 2026POLITICS

Simple Choice: Why Alaska Should Drop Ranked Voting

Alaska voters face a decision next year about how to choose their leaders. A new proposal wants to end the system that lets voters rank multiple candidates. It says the old way—pick one person—is clearer and fairer. The current method is more complex. Candidates run in a “top‑four jungle

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May 26 2026POLITICS

Surveillance Cameras: A Debate About Safety and Freedom

In Austin, Texas, a recent decision to shut down automatic license‑plate readers sparked controversy. The city celebrated the removal last year, but a violent streak involving three teenagers—who carried out twelve shootings and stole five cars over thirty hours—ended only after they crossed into a

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May 26 2026SCIENCE

DNA Polymerase Choices Shape the Noise in Short Repeat DNA Tests

The way scientists amplify DNA for tests depends heavily on the enzyme they pick. Thermostable DNA polymerases are used in PCR to copy DNA accurately, but mistakes can sneak in. These errors matter when scientists look for tiny changes, like a single mutation in a patient’s sample or the DNA of a mi

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May 25 2026POLITICS

Why Your Power Bill Could Decide the Next Election

Electricity prices have jumped nearly 13 percent since 2020, and since 2025 they’ve gone up another 6 percent. Experts predict another rise next year, with some warnings that bills could later surge by 40 percent. The problem isn’t just cost—demand is outpacing supply fast. Data centers, AI companie

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May 25 2026FINANCE

What’s Really Shaping the Quad Cities’ Commercial Real Estate Scene

The Quad Cities isn’t just another mid-sized metro—it’s quietly reshaping how commercial real estate works. Forget the usual hype about booming markets or ghost towns; this place thrives on practicality. Retail spaces, for example, aren’t just about flashy storefronts anymore. Big chains and franchi

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May 24 2026POLITICS

Delays on Alaska’s big energy plan are making life harder for locals

Alaska keeps talking about building a major gas pipeline, yet every delay pushes the project further out of reach. People across the state see sky-high power costs every month, and the situation only gets worse when lawmakers argue instead of acting. In some areas, electricity bills have already jum

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May 24 2026HEALTH

How Ethiopian farmers fight bugs in their animals

In the busy city of Hawassa, Ethiopia, raising cows and goats is a big part of life. These animals help families earn money and eat well. But tiny pests like ticks and lice often ruin this hard work. They make animals sick and can spread dangerous diseases. Farmers have two main ways to fight these

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May 23 2026TECHNOLOGY

New tech pulls voices from plane crash images, raising privacy concerns

The National Transportation Safety Board has temporarily hidden all its crash investigation files online after new software made it possible to extract pilot voices from still images of audio spectrograms. During a recent hearing about the UPS cargo plane crash in Kentucky, investigators shared a PD

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