The Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday that it would eliminate its scientific research arm and begin firing hundreds of chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists, after denying for months that it intended to do so.

Coders spent more time prompting and reviewing AI generations than they saved on coding. On the surface, METR's results seem to contradict other benchmarks and experiments that demonstrate increases in coding efficiency when AI tools are used. But those often also measure productivity in terms of total lines of code or the number of discrete tasks/code commits/pull requests completed, all of which can be poor proxies for actual coding efficiency. These factors lead the researchers to conclude that current AI coding tools may be particularly ill-suited to "settings with very high quality standards, or with many implicit requirements (e.g., relating to documentation, testing coverage, or linting/formatting) that take humans substantial time to learn." While those factors may not apply in "many realistic, economically relevant settings" involving simpler code bases, they could limit the impact of AI tools in this study and similar real-world situations.

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The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it is eliminating its research and development arm and reducing agency staff by thousands of employees.

by Caitlin Johnstone Jul 18, 2025

The only ones willing to stand up. Real artists doing what artists should do. I've been listening to both these bands. I'd love to see a show in Canada.

Hey Everyone! Meet Clover. They are my apartment complex' friendly neighborhood bunbun. Ive been watching them grow up for about 2-3 years now. I just had to share. These photos were taken as I got got home!

The most depressing news of the week: Intel is ending their performance-optimized Clear Linux distribution. Over the past decade the Clear Linux operating system has shown what's possible with out-of-the-box performance on x86_64 hardware... Not just for Intel platforms but even showing extremely great performance results on AMD x86_64 too. But with the cost-cutting going on at Intel, Clear Linux is now being sunset.

Maiquetía (Venezuela) (AFP) – Venezuela on Friday received seven children who had been left behind in the United States after their parents were deported by the Donald Trump administration.

Over on his YouTube channel [Tom Stanton] shows us how to build a Stirling Engine for a bike. A Stirling Engine is a heat engine, powered by the expansion and contraction of a working fluid (such a…

…with carrots, mushrooms and onions and marinated in sake before cooking. Served over plain rice. Delicious even though the mushrooms got stuck under the skin.

Huda Skaik July 7 2025

From LIFE Magazine, July 20, 1942

Hey y'all, I know getting a setup that feels "right" can be a process. We all have different goals, tech preferences, etc.

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To note, this is the share of Linux computers visiting US goverment's web sites. In India, for example, the share is already higher.

LibreOffice has been on the offensive lately, taking the time to call out Microsoft and its practices whenever it can. Now, it is at it again, accusing Microsoft of "intentionally" using "unnecessarily complex" file formats to achieve user lock-in with its Microsoft 365 (Office) documents.

The first tranche of Australian tanks has been handed over to the Ukrainian army to help its defence against Russia’s invasion.

President Trump’s attacks on the group of emerging economies, which includes Brazil, Russia and China, have put one member — India — in an uncomfortable spot.

I've been stuck at this boss all day, it kinda sucks. There's quite a few undefendable moves. You can't even block when it goes to its third form and takes about 1/2 health with its attack. With a character they pulled out of their butts.

Public support for Ishiba's administration has tumbled to its lowest level since he took office in October, partly because of frustration over the cost of living.

He pointed to overregulation, fragmentation, and weak productivity as structural weaknesses, and urged European leaders to act on the 2024 report led by former ECB President Mario Draghi, which recommended €800 billion in annual investment to strengthen industrial competitiveness.

Germany has been described as an analogue country in a digital world. Meanwhile, Estonia has digitized all of its government services, including applying for divorce. How has Estonia become Europe's digital leader?

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