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The U.S. declared independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776. Independence Day gatherings were a little different in those days, and so was the weather.00:58[1]
The U.S.[2] declared independence from Great Britain[3] 249 years ago – on July 4, 1776.Independence Day gatherings were a little different in those days, and so was the weather.

While, for obvious reasons, there are not many surviving weather records

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Most heat-related illnesses are caused by exercise when temperatures reach their maximum. Dog owners should learn what the symptoms of dehydration look like before venturing out in the heat.
SANTA NELLA, Calif. – A California[1] woman has been arrested on dozens of cruelty charges after deputies said she left over 100 cats[2] in a U-Haul van, enduring extreme heat[3].

Merced County Sheriff's deputies[4] discovered the 134 cats, 28 of which were

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People often consider evolution to be a process that occurs in nature in the background of human society. But evolution is not separate from human beings. In fact, human cultural practices can influence evolution[1] in wildlife. This influence is highly

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a man in a military uniform stands behind a podium next to a poster of a map

The U.S. Air Force dropped a dozen ground-penetrating bombs, each weighing 30,000 pounds (13,607 kilograms), in a raid on Iran’s nuclear site[1] at Fordo on June 21, 2025. The attack was an attempt to reach the uranium enrichment facility buried deep

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two parallel rows of vertical metal tubes with hoses attached to the tops

When U.S. forces attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities[1] on June 21, 2025, the main target was metal tubes in laboratories deep underground. The tubes are centrifuges that produce highly enriched uranium needed to build nuclear weapons.

Inside of a centrifuge,

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Reuters News Agency
GovernmentPolitics

As Donald Trump takes office on January 20, concerns over ‘bond vigilantes’[1] in the United States have resurfaced 

Like Bill Clinton before him, Trump now faces the prospect of ‘bond vigilantes’ – so-called because they punish

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Reuters News Agency
Technology

Reuters was first to report[1] that Meta has warned it may have to “roll back or pause” some features in India due to an antitrust directive which banned WhatsApp from sharing user data for advertising purposes. A non-public court filing seen

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Reuters News Agency
Business & Finance

Reuters was two-and-a-half minutes ahead[1] of rivals on Eli Lilly’s unscheduled trading update, which showed fourth-quarter sales of its weight-loss drug Zepbound would miss Wall Street estimates. The drugmaker’s shares slumped 8% on

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Statue of George Washington in the Rotunda at the Capitol in Washington

A $157 billion defense funding boost that the Pentagon has been counting on to compensate for an otherwise flat budget has been approved by Congress and is on its way to President Donald Trump's desk for his signature.

The House voted 218-214 almost entirely along party lines on Thursday afternoon to pass the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, sweeping legislation to enact Trump's agenda on everything from immigration to taxes. The House passage, which followed the Senate's narrow approval on Tuesday, closed a week of Congress sprinting to get the bill to Trump's desk by his self-imposed deadline of July 4.

In addition to bulking up defense funding, which includes a few billion dollars for service member quality-of-life improvements, the bill will slash social safety net programs, including food assistance that military families and veterans rely on.

Read Next: Guardsmen Help Operate 'Alligator Alcatraz' as Trump Increasingly Leans on Military for Immigration Crackdown[1]

"The One Big, Beautiful Bill makes a historic and long overdue investment of $150 billion to achieve President Trump's Peace Through Strength agenda and restore American deterrence," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said in a statement after the bill's passage. "We can't afford to wait any longer to begin rebuilding our military capacity, launching the future of American defense, and supercharging American manufacturing."

The Pentagon has been banking on passage of the bill to bring its budget next year to a record nearly $1 trillion. Without passage of the bill, the department has been planning a roughly $848 billion budget for fiscal 2026, essentially the same amount of funding it has this year.

The Pentagon's budget gimmickry irked some GOP defense hawks in Congress who had intended for the $150 billion in the One Big Beautiful Bill to supplement a regular $1 trillion defense budget. But the House, at least, has so far followed the Pentagon plan in its regular appropriations process[2].

The Pentagon has said the funding in the Trump agenda bill could be used to make up for holes[3] caused by pulling some existing funding for operations on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The bill approved Thursday includes about $1 billion for military operations on the border, compared to about $5 billion in border funding being planned for at the Pentagon.

The Army[4] has already moved about $1 billion[5] from facilities maintenance, including for dilapidated barracks, to border operations.

The One Big Beautiful Bill has $1 billion for barracks restoration -- but that money is intended to be divvied up between the Army, Air Force[6], Navy[7] and Space Force[8].

The bill separately provides about $350 million specifically for the Marine Corps[9]' housing improvement initiative known as Barracks 2030.

The bill also provides temporary authorization for more widespread barracks privatization, an idea that has gained steam in recent years[10] as the services have struggled with maintenance backlogs.

The bill's biggest pots of defense funding are $29 billion for shipbuilding, $25 billion for munitions and $25 billion for the Golden Dome, Trump's still hazy proposal[11] for a space-based missile shield over the United States.

The barracks funding in the bill is part of an overall $9 billion set aside for military quality-of-life issues, including $2 billion for military health care programs, $2.9 billion to help cover Basic Allowance for Housing[12] costs, $50 million for special pay[13] and bonuses, $100 million for child care fee assistance, and $10 million for military spouse[14] professional licensure fee assistance.

Meanwhile, the bill makes deep cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, commonly referred to as food stamps.

Specifically, the bill will cut federal funding and force states to make up the difference. While the burden on states is not quite as heavy in the final bill[15] as originally proposed, state government officials and anti-hunger advocates have still warned that the burden-sharing will overwhelm state budgets and force them to make cuts that will affect everyone on the program, including veterans and military families.

SNAP is a lifeline for many military families, which face food insecurity at higher rates than the civilian population. About 1.2 million veterans are also estimated to be on SNAP.

The bill also revives SNAP's work requirements for veterans, reversing a change made in a bipartisan deal in 2023 that exempted all veterans from work requirements regardless of their disability status. The reversal has elicited fierce pushback from some veterans groups.

"Cutting SNAP exemptions for veterans is an unacceptable betrayal," Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America said in a statement last week. The bill's cuts "ignore the unique challenges veterans face, from service-connected disabilities to navigating the transition to civilian life. SNAP isn't a handout; it's a vital lifeline that keeps food on the table for those who serve."

Republicans have defended reviving work requirements for veterans by pointing to continued exemptions for people with disabilities and framing the mandate as an "opportunity."

"The One Big Beautiful Bill restores work, volunteer and training opportunities for veterans on SNAP -- rolling back a Biden-era carveout that denied them the dignity of work," House Agriculture Committee Republicans posted on social media Friday. "Veterans who qualify for exemptions remain fully protected."

Republicans pushed the bill through Congress using a process known as reconciliation, which allowed the bill to pass without any Democratic support. But wrangling enough GOP support to pass was also a battle.

In the Senate, Republicans added several provisions meant to spare Alaska from harsh benefits cuts in order to win support[16] from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. Still, Vice President JD Vance needed to break a tie in order for the bill to pass the upper chamber because three other Republicans -- Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky -- opposed it.

In the House, members of the hard-line conservative Freedom Caucus spent Wednesday threatening to tank the bill over what they viewed as insufficient spending cuts, while some more moderate Republicans balked at Medicaid cuts. But ultimately, they voted for the bill Thursday without any changes.

Just two House Republicans, conservative Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and moderate Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, voted against the bill.

Related: Food Assistance Cuts Softened, Veterans Education Benefits Protected in Senate Version of Trump Agenda Bill[17]

© Copyright 2025 Military.com. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Military.com, please submit your request here[18].

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Army National Guard soldiers conduct foot patrols along the southern border

Hundreds more miles of federal land along the U.S. southern border in Arizona is set to be transferred to the Department of Defense, further expanding newly created military zones -- and the footprint of the military's role in immigration enforcement.

The newest military zone in Arizona -- the fourth border zone created by the Trump administration -- will encompass 140 miles of Department of Interior land near the Barry M. Goldwater range and will be transferred to the military as an extension of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma[1], Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told reporters Wednesday.

The administration has created the zones as a way to tap the military to enforce its border security and immigrant deportation agenda, and they allow additional court charges to be filed against those who trespass. Most recently, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last month said an additional 250 miles, this time along the Rio Grande River, would be handed[2] to the Department of the Air Force[3] as an extension of Joint Base San Antonio[4], Military.com previously reported.

Read Next: Army Creating New Artificial Intelligence-Focused Occupational Specialty and Officer Field[5]

Once those two new federal leases are transferred, it will mean that the Army[6], Air Force and Marine Corps[7] will all have an ownership stake in enforcing security at the U.S. southern border.

Two other military zones have already been created at the border, one in New Mexico that is an extension of the Army[8]'s Fort Huachuca[9], Arizona, and another in West Texas that is considered a part of Fort Bliss[10]. Last month, U.S. attorneys announced some of the first convictions[11] of migrants who crossed into the zones.

Meanwhile, officials are offering differing numbers on just how many active-duty troops are involved in the expanding border mission.

At the press briefing, Parnell told reporters that about 8,500 military personnel are currently assigned to the active-duty Joint Task Force Southern Border mission. The figure is a drop from earlier figures of around 10,000. One defense official said the new figure doesn't reflect any units being removed but rather the normal ebb and flow of personnel for a long-standing mission.

Maj. Geoffrey Carmichael, a spokesman for the border mission, told Military.com on Wednesday that the total number of Joint Task Force Southern Border personnel was hovering around 7,600.

Another defense official said the roughly 1,000-person difference between the two figures was because the 7,600 number was troops directly on the border while the larger 8,500 number Parnell offered included various personnel supporting or on loan to the Department of Homeland Security and the border mission.

In total, upward of 600 miles of the U.S. southern border with Mexico has either been placed, or is soon to be placed, under the Department of Defense's ownership.

Following President Donald Trump's earliest executive orders this year, the military has expanded its integration with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection, a move that continues to alarm defense and legal experts, Military.com has previously reported[12].

"It seems to be a growing trend," Jennifer Kavanagh, the director of military analysis at the Defense Priorities think tank in Washington, D.C., told Military.com on Wednesday. "There are obviously limits to how much of the land along the border they can militarize easily -- private land will be more challenging -- but I would expect them to keep pushing ahead with this tactic."

In addition to the thousands of military personnel now patrolling the border alongside the Border Patrol, the Pentagon says that the efforts to build the first ICE detention center on a military installation are making progress.

The first defense official who spoke with Military.com said that the ground at Fort Bliss, located near El Paso, Texas, has already been prepared for a "temporary, soft-sided holding facility" that will be paid for by the Army but run by contractors, not military personnel.

When asked whether there were plans to expand efforts for holding facilities to other bases, the official noted that the Pentagon is "a planning organization" but that they had nothing to announce at the present time.

The result, according to Parnell, is that there have been more than 3,500 patrols, including 150 with the Mexican military, since March 20.

Parnell boasted that between June 28 and June 30 there were zero "get-aways" -- people crossing the border who either flee from patrols back into Mexico or into the U.S.

"We have made incredible progress and will continue to work toward achieving 100% operational control of the border," Parnell told reporters.

However, the claims come as the Pentagon heads into a budget season that leaves a lot of questions about how it will pay for the expanded operations.

Last week, officials said that more than $5 billion is being budgeted in the upcoming year for operations at the U.S. southern border.

But defense officials, who briefed the press on annual budget plans, said they are betting on a Trump agenda bill in Congress to backfill any money pulled from current military funds to help pay for not only the thousands of troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border but also those sent to Los Angeles after immigration raid protests in the city.

Meanwhile, the military services have been raiding other parts of their budgets -- namely those aimed at upkeeping and building new barracks -- to make ends meet.

The Pentagon has already moved to gut $1 billion from the Army's facilities budget, which the service was planning to use on living quarters for junior troops that have suffered from dilapidated conditions for years.

Related: Guardsmen Pulled off LA Mission as State Warns Troops Are 'Stretched Thin' Amid Wildfire Season[13]

© Copyright 2025 Military.com. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Military.com, please submit your request here[14].

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at the Pentagon

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will hold back delivering to Ukraine some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons as part of its announced pause[1] to some arms shipments amid U.S. concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much, officials said.

The details on the weapons in some of the paused deliveries[2] were confirmed by a U.S. official and former national security official familiar with the matter. They both requested anonymity to discuss what is are being held up as the Pentagon has yet to provide details.

The pause includes some shipments of Patriot missiles, precision-guided GMLRS, Hellfire missiles and Howitzer rounds.

Elbridge Colby, Defense Department undersecretary for policy, said the decision to halt some weapons comes as Pentagon officials have aimed to provide Trump “with robust options to continue military aid to Ukraine, consistent with his goal of bringing this tragic war to an end.”

“At the same time, the department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving U.S. forces’ readiness for administration defense priorities,” Colby added in a statement.

Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur, co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, blasted the move that came just days after Russians forces launched one of the biggest air assaults on Ukraine[3] since it launched the war more than three years ago.

“U.S. made air defense systems, including the Patriot platform, are the centerpiece of Ukraine’s defenses against Russian strikes. They work. They save lives every day," the Ohio Democrat said. "But there are no parallel defensive alternatives for Ukraine if the U.S. stops supplying these vital munitions."

One of the officials said other weaponry being held up includes the AIM-7 Sparrow — a medium-range radar homing air-to-air missile — as well as shorter-range Stinger missiles and AT-4 grenade launchers.

The Pentagon review that determined that stocks were too low on some weapons previously pledged comes just over a week after Trump helped forge a ceasefire between Israel and Iran[4] to end their 12-day conflict.

The U.S. has provided provided air defense support to Israel, Qatar and other Mideast neighbors. It's unclear if that conflict had any impact on the Trump's move in Ukraine.

The U.S. deployed air defenses systems as it knocked down an Iranian ballistic missile assault[5] last month launched on the Al-Udeid Air Base[6] in Qatar. The retaliatory strike from Tehran against the U.S. military installation came days after Trump ordered a barrage of strikes[7] on three key Iranian nuclear sites.

© Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Atelier AesthetixGood skin is always in! Skincare experts Lisa Garcia and Natalia Guzman are known for providing natural results to their clients through treatments including microneedling, wrinkle relaxers, skin boosters, peels, lasers, and more at the Atelier Aesthetix[1]

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Shannon NadjFeeling hot, hot, hot! Celebrity trainer Shannon Nad[1]j is heating up summer Fridays with her Hot Pilates workouts. 

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The workout guru, who has helped sculpt Hailey Bieber[2]Kendall Jenner[3]Shay Mitchell[4], and Shanina Shaik's[5] bodies, is hosting

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Malin AkermanHere's a look at what celebrities have been up to as of late!

Malin Akerman[1] attended the RIXO gifting suite at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, California hosted by brand co-founders Henrietta Rix and Orlagh McCloskey.

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Sydney Sweeney[2] stepped out in New

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President Trump signs the 'big, beautiful bill'
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Elon Musk says[1] the two-party system is broken, and he just launched a new political party to prove it.

On Saturday, Musk announced on X, the social media platform he owns, the formation of the "America Party,"

...

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DHS celebrates Supreme Court win on third-country deportations: 'Fire up the deportation planes'
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Eight criminal illegal aliens were deported to South Sudan on Independence Day, the Department of Homeland Security[1] (DHS) announced Saturday, after what it called "weeks of delays by activist judges" that left ICE

...

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Trump defends use of ‘Shylock’ term, says he never considered it antisemitic
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

President Donald Trump[1] has defended his use of the term "shylock" at a rally this week, saying he was unaware it is considered antisemitic by some people. 

Trump used the term in his speech in Iowa on Thursday,

...

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Imagine the magnificent glaciers of Greenland, the eternal snow of the Tibetan high mountains, and the permanently ice-cold groundwater in Finland. As cold and beautiful these are, for the structural biologist Kirill Kovalev, they are more importantly home to unusual molecules that could control brain cells' activity.

Kovalev, EIPOD Postdoctoral Fellow at EMBL Hamburg's Schneider Group and EMBL-EBI's Bateman Group, is a physicist passionate about solving biological problems. He is particularly hooked by rhodopsins, a group of colorful proteins that enable aquatic microorganisms to harness sunlight for energy.

"In my work, I search for unusual rhodopsins and try to understand what they do," said Kovalev. "Such molecules could have undiscovered functions that we could benefit from."

Some rhodopsins have already been modified to serve as light-operated switches for electrical activity in cells. This technique, called optogenetics, is used by neuroscientists to selectively control neuronal activity during experiments. Rhodopsins with other abilities, such as enzymatic activity, could be used to control chemical reactions with light, for example.

Having studied rhodopsins for years, Kovalev thought he knew them inside out - until he discovered a new, obscure group of rhodopsins that were unlike anything he had seen before.

As it often happens in science, it started serendipitously. While browsing online protein databases, Kovalev spotted an unusual feature common to microbial rhodopsins found exclusively in very cold environments, such as glaciers and high mountains. "That's weird," he thought. After all, rhodopsins are something you typically find in seas and lakes.

These cold-climate rhodopsins were almost identical to each other, even though they evolved thousands of kilometres apart. This couldn't be a coincidence. They must be essential for surviving in the cold, concluded Kovalev, and to acknowledge this, he named them 'cryorhodopsins'.

Rhodopsins out of the blue

Kovalev wanted to know more: what these rhodopsins look like, how they work, and, in particular, what color they are.

Color is the key feature of each rhodopsin. Most are pink-orange - they reflect pink and orange light, and absorb green and blue light, which activates them. Scientists strive to create a palette of different colored rhodopsins, so they could control neuronal activity with more precision. Blue rhodopsins have been especially sought-after because they are activated by red light, which penetrates tissues more deeply and non-invasively.

To Kovalev's amazement, the cryorhodopsins he examined in the lab revealed an unexpected diversity of colors, and, most importantly, some were blue.

The color of each rhodopsin is determined by its molecular structure, which dictates the wavelengths of light it absorbs and reflects. Any changes in this structure can alter the color.

"I can actually tell what's going on with cryorhodopsin simply by looking at its color," laughed Kovalev.

Applying advanced structural biology techniques, he figured out that the secret to the blue color is the same rare structural feature that he originally spotted in the protein databases.

"Now that we understand what makes them blue, we can design synthetic blue rhodopsins tailored to different applications," said Kovalev.

Next, Kovalev's collaborators examined cryorhodopsins in cultured brain cells. When cells expressing cryorhodopsins were exposed to UV light, it induced electric currents inside them. Interestingly, if the researchers illuminated the cells right afterwards with green light, the cells became more excitable, whereas if they used UV/red light instead, it reduced the cells' excitability.

"New optogenetic tools to efficiently switch the cell's electric activity both 'on' and 'off' would be incredibly useful in research, biotechnology and medicine," said Tobias Moser, Group Leader at the University Medical Center Göttingen who participated in the study. "For example, in my group, we develop new optical cochlear implants for patients that can optogenetically restore hearing in patients. Developing the utility of such a multi-purpose rhodopsin for future applications is an important task for the next studies."

"Our cryorhodopsins aren't ready to be used as tools yet, but they're an excellent prototype. They have all the key features that, based on our findings, could be engineered to become more effective for optogenetics," said Kovalev.

Evolution's UV light protector

When exposed to sunlight even on a rainy winter day in Hamburg, cryorhodopsins can sense UV light, as shown using advanced spectroscopy by Kovalev's collaborators from Goethe University Frankfurt led by Josef Wachtveitl. Wachtveitl's team showed that cryorhodopsins are in fact the slowest among all rhodopsins in their response to light. This made the scientists suspect that those cryorhodopsins might act like photosensors letting the microbes 'see' UV light - a property unheard of among other cryorhodopsins.

"Can they really do that?" Kovalev kept asking himself. A typical sensor protein teams up with a messenger molecule that passes information from the cell membrane to the cell's inside.

Kovalev grew more convinced, when together with his collaborators from Alicante, Spain, and his EIPOD co-supervisor, Alex Bateman from EMBL-EBI, they noticed that the cryorhodopsin gene is always accompanied by a gene encoding a tiny protein of unknown function - likely inherited together, and possibly functionally linked.

Kovalev wondered if this might be the missing messenger. Using the AI tool AlphaFold, the team were able to show that five copies of the small protein would form a ring and interact with the cryorhodopsin. According to their predictions, the small protein sits poised against the cryorhodopsin inside the cell. They believe that when cryorhodopsin detects UV light, the small protein could depart to carry this information into the cell.

"It was fascinating to uncover a new mechanism via which the light-sensitive signal from cryorhodopsins could be passed on to other parts of the cell. It is always a thrill to learn what the functions are for uncharacterised proteins. In fact, we find these proteins also in organisms that do not contain cryorhodopsin, perhaps hinting at a much wider range of jobs for these proteins."

Why cryorhodopsins evolved their astonishing dual function - and why only in cold environments - remains a mystery.

"We suspect that cryorhodopsins evolved their unique features not because of the cold, but rather to let microbes sense UV light, which can be harmful to them," said Kovalev. "In cold environments, such as the top of a mountain, bacteria face intense UV radiation. Cryorhodopsins might help them sense it, so they could protect themselves. This hypothesis aligns well with our findings."

"Discovering extraordinary molecules like these wouldn't be possible without scientific expeditions to often remote locations, to study the adaptations of the organisms living there," added Kovalev. "We can learn so much from that!"

Unique approach to unique molecules

To reveal the fascinating biology of cryorhodopsins, Kovalev and his collaborators had to overcome several technical challenges.

One was that cryorhodopsins are nearly identical in structure, and even a slight change in the position of a single atom can result in different properties. Studying molecules at this level of detail requires going beyond standard experimental methods. Kovalev applied a 4D structural biology approach, combining X-ray crystallography at EMBL Hamburg beamline P14 and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) in the group of Albert Guskov in Groningen, Netherlands, with protein activation by light.

"I actually chose to do my postdoc at EMBL Hamburg, because of the unique beamline setup that made my project possible," said Kovalev. "The whole P14 beamline team worked together to tailor the setup to my experiments - I'm very grateful for their help."

Another challenge was that cryorhodopsins are extremely sensitive to light. For this reason, Kovalev's collaborators had to learn to work with the samples in almost complete darkness.

Read more …Frozen light switches: How Arctic microbes could revolutionize neuroscience

Two young women speak to the BBC about why ketamine has become such a popular drug....

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Our brain makes decisions based on direct associations between stimuli in our environment, but it often also does so based on events that initially appear unrelated. How does it achieve this? A recent study by the Cellular Mechanisms in Physiological and Pathological Behavior Research Group at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, published in PNAS, offers new insights into this process and identifies the brain areas involved.

Using observations in mice, led primarily by first author and PhD student José Antonio González Parra and supervised by Dr. Arnau Busquets, the research team was able to determine the mechanisms involved in how the brain makes decisions based on indirect associations between different stimuli. That is, instead of directly associating a specific stimulus with a rewarding or aversive situation, the brain establishes connections between two or more stimuli. As Dr. Busquets explains, "The project aims to understand how the brain enables us to make decisions based on indirect relationships between stimuli in our environment."

In this context, the mice were subjected to various behavioral tests. They were trained to associate one smell-banana-with a sweet taste, and another smell-almond-with a salty taste. Later, a negative stimulus was associated with the smell of banana. From that point on, the mice rejected the sweet taste, which was linked to the banana smell and thus carried a negative connotation. In other words, "they formed an indirect association between the sweet taste and the aversive stimulus through its link to a specific smell," explains Busquets.

The Role of the Amygdala

Using genetic techniques delivered via viral vectors, the researchers were able to observe which areas of the mice's brains were activated throughout the process of encoding and consolidating the associations. They found that the amygdala, a brain region associated with responses such as fear and anxiety and involved in certain mental disorders like psychosis and PTSD, was activated when the mice linked olfactory and taste stimuli.

At the same time, they identified other brain areas that were also involved and interacted with the amygdala. Thanks to imaging techniques, they were able to establish a connection between these areas and a part of the cerebral cortex. "We have identified a brain circuit that controls associations between stimuli and allows for these indirect associations," says Dr. Busquets. They also confirmed that if amygdala activity was inhibited while the mice were exposed to the stimuli, the animals were unable to form these indirect associations.

As Dr. Arnau Busquets explains, the researchers believe that the brain circuits involved in decision-making processes in humans are similar to those in mice. Therefore, the data obtained in this newly published study could be relevant for treating certain mental disorders linked to amygdala activity. "Alterations in these indirect associations form the basis of various mental disorders," he adds. "Understanding the brain circuits involved in these complex cognitive processes can help us design therapeutic strategies for humans." In this sense, future approaches could include brain stimulation or modulation of activity in these areas in people with PTSD or psychotic symptoms.

Read more …Scientists discovered how a scent can change your mind

4:00 PM, July 5, 2025Coverage: TNT/truTV/Univision/TUDN/DAZN

East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA

Match Stats
Possession
48.5%51.5%
Shots on Goal
Shot Attempts
Yellow Cards
Corner Kicks

Betting...

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Jul 5, 2025, 05:35 PM ET

The Memphis Grizzlies[1] are trading center Jay Huff[2] to the Indiana Pacers[3] for one second-round pick and one second-round pick swap, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania on Saturday.

Huff, who turns 27 in August,...

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Pochettino: 'We need to win' Gold Cup Final (0:42)

Mauricio Pochettino discusses the USMNT Gold Cup Final against Mexico. (0:42)

HOUSTON -- United States[1] head coach Mauricio Pochettino said his team needs the "pressure" and...

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Astronomers manning an asteroid warning system[1] caught a glimpse of a large, bright object zipping through the solar system late on July 1, 2025[2]. The object’s potentially interstellar origins excited scientists across the globe, and the next morning, the European Space Agency confirmed[3] that this object, first named A11pl3Z and then...

Authors: Staff

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Many modern devices – from cellphones and computers to electric vehicles and wind turbines – rely on strong magnets made from a type of minerals called rare earths. As the systems and infrastructure used in daily life have turned digital and the United States has moved toward renewable energy, accessing these minerals has become critical...

Authors: Staff

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Can a monkey, a pigeon or a fish reason like a person? It’s a question scientists have been testing in increasingly creative ways – and what we’ve found so far paints a more complicated picture than you’d think.

Imagine you’re filling out a March Madness bracket. You hear that Team A beat Team B, and Team B beat Team C – so...

Authors: Staff

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"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." Exodus 20:1-17.

That is, just look at your own piece of the pie, not the other fellow’s.   You will look at what you have, not what someone else has.   You will not act upon a desire for something that belongs to someone else.    What's your is yours, what's theirs is theirs.  You will focus on your property, not their property.   It is not about them and what they have; it is about you, your journey toward God, and what you have along the way.

Why would God require this?

Implementing this commandment yields a certain kind of social structure.  Not following it creates another.   And the social structure in which people grow up and live their lives affects how people are trained up for God.

What are the practical consequences of this?

Read more …The 10th Commandment Forbids Socialism

The primitive hate on display in the streets around the globe cries out for a Final Solution to the Jewish Problem.

It is time to end the Jewish Problem once and for all.

Both the problem and solution are simple, and this instruction can be short.   

The decision and responsibility for it are yours.

Read more …The Problem With Jews and The Final Solution

First one bank announced it will only accept digital currency.

Now the Reserve Bank of Australia has announced it is heading into digital currency.

As the moth is to the flame, so are the follies of man.

Artificial intelligence and the next level of quantum computing will render passwords and encryption efforts obsolete.

Read more …Digital Currency Follies

The San Gabriel River in Georgetown, Texas, was overflowing on Saturday, the day after torrential rains caused deadly floods along the Guadalupe River in Kerrville.
AUSTIN, Texas - Dangerous flooding continued in Central Texas[1] through the weekend, as authorities searched for dozens of missing people swept away by floodwaters on the Fourth of July.

New flooding was reported along the San Gabriel River, the Brazos River,

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Kerrville floods leave behind a trail of devastation in Texas, where at least 27 people are dead and many more still unaccounted for as of Saturday afternoon.
KERRVILLE, Texas– As a deadly "flood[1] wave" swept through Kerr County, Texas[2], on the Fourth of July, miles and miles of damage were left behind. 

The Guadalupe River surge measured 20 feet in just an hour at Kerrville and nearly 27 feet in Comfort[3]

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Tropical Storm Chantal is active in the Atlantic, expecting to bring rain to the Carolinas. FOX Weather Storm Specialist Mike Seidel is live in Folly Beach, South Carolina with the latest conditions. 
Tropical Storm Chantal formed more or less on schedule from the old front draped from North Florida across the warm Gulf Stream waters offshore of Georgia and the Carolinas.The atmospheric pattern is only marginal over the system, so dramatic intensification

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05 July 2025