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During his historic trip to Africa in April 2026, Pope Leo XIV toured the archaeological ruins of Annaba, Algeria, capping what he referred to as a “special” journey to the country. Annaba, where the ancient city of Hippo Regius once stood, is not far from where St. Augustine—patron of the Augustinian order to which the Pope belongs—was ordained, made bishop and crafted his most influential theological works. Walking in his footsteps, Pope Leo—who referred to himself as a “Son of Augustine” upon his election to the papacy—toured the ruins with other members of the Order and his traveling party. It was a personal and symbolic moment, but for those paying close attention to his early pontificate, it represented only the most recent of many tributes he has paid to Augustine and his teachings. “In reading through Pope Leo’s addresses and his homilies, his messages and his video recordings, there is barely one that goes by without him referencing Augustine in some way,” said Paul A. Camacho, PhD, associate director of The Augustinian Institute at Villanova University, and scholar of Augustine’s teachings. When the Pontiff accepted the St. Augustine Medal from the Augustinian Province of St. Thomas of Villanova in August 2025, he made it clear why. “As Augustinians, we strive every day to live up to the spiritual example of our spiritual father, St. Augustine,” he said to the Province. “To be recognized as an Augustinian, it’s an honor held dearly. So much of who I am, I owe to the spirit and teachings of St. Augustine and I am grateful to all of you for all the many ways your lives exhibit a deep commitment to the values of Veritas, Unitas and Caritas.” Veritas Examples abound related to all three values and how Pope Leo has invoked Augustine in speaking about them. Dr. Camacho cites a handful he found particularly noteworthy. For example, Veritas first appeared in an especially prominent way during an early address for the June Solemnity of the Holy Trinity and Jubilee of Sport. Then, Pope Leo said, “This combination of Trinity and Sport is somewhat unusual, yet the juxtaposition is not inappropriate. Every good worthwhile human activity is in some way a reflection of God’s infinite beauty, and sport is certainly one of these.” “For St. Augustine, the Trinity and wisdom are intimately connected,” Dr. Camacho said, also mentioning that Augustine authored an entire book on the subject titled “On the Trinity.” “Divine wisdom is revealed in the Most Holy Trinity and wisdom always leads us to Veritas—the truth," he said. “What Pope Leo goes on to do is say that the life of God, the Trinity, is a life of play…It’s a dance, and dance is a sport, and our own way of participating in that kind of activity is a participation in life of God.” When Pope Leo later spoke to the International Foundation of Catholic Universities—an occasion for which the motto was “Choreographers of Knowledge”—he referenced that dance again. “Pope Leo invites us to think of our relationship to Veritas not as something to master,” Dr. Camacho said. “But rather as a light that draws us out of ourselves towards it, in a dance of relationship with it and one another.” Unitas During a September Mass for the General Chapter of the Order of St. Augustine, Pope Leo prayed that those in attendance be given “the gift to listen, the gift to be humble and the gift to promote unity within the Augustinian Order, and throughout the Order, throughout the Church and the world.” Earlier in the summer, he touched on unity during the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly, commenting on the Gospel of John, in which “Christ prays that we may all be one.” “This being one is the greatest good we can desire, for this universal union brings about among his creatures the eternal communion of love that is God himself: the Father who gives life, the Son who received it and the Spirit who shares it… the Lord does not want us in this unity to be a nameless and faceless crowd,” Pope Leo said. “What Pope Leo expresses here is that unity is not conformity, but rather community—the kind of community in which each one of us becomes more of who it is that we are the more we love and work for what is good in common,” explained Dr. Camacho. “This is a deeply Augustinian insight.” In one general audience with members of various religious groups, Pope Leo relayed “Unity has always been a constant concern of mine, as witnessed by the motto I chose for my episcopal ministry.” He was referencing, Dr. Camacho says, the Latin phrase In illo uno unum, displayed on his coat of arms. “That phrase—‘in the one [Christ] we are one’—comes from St. Augustine’s commentary on the Psalms. Pope Leo comes back again to this idea that when we love and follow the truth that is Christ, we simultaneously become more uniquely individual, and our unity becomes genuine community, and not mass conformity.” Caritas In his Opening Homily for the Beginning of the Pontificate, Pope Leo followed his salutations with these words: “I greet you all with a heart full of gratitude at the beginning of the ministry that has been entrusted to me. St. Augustine wrote: ‘Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” According to Dr. Camacho, Augustine taught that the solution to the restless heart is Caritas, or rightly ordered love that finds its rest in God. Augustine’s thinking about love is developed in a social dimension when he distinguishes between two different kinds of political communities, which he calls the “Earthly City” (in which pride and self-love dominate), and the “City of God” (in which love of God and neighbor form the community). Augustine’s enduring and influential work “De Civitas Dei,” or “City of God,” articulates this distinction between false and true loves. At the 16th Annual Meeting of the International Catholic Legislators Network, Pope Leo suggested that we look to Augustine, citing his own witness of social upheavals in his time, and that we consider Augustine’s reminder that we must attend to these “two orientations of the human heart.” “Ordo amoris—order of love,” explained Dr. Camacho. “This is Augustine’s notion that following Christ is not a matter of private devotion, but rather demands a dilation of our hearts: our loves must move out to embrace the poor, the marginalized, the downtrodden, the forgotten. In Catholic Social Thought, this is the principle of solidarity: while the things that we love begin with what is most intimate to us, we are called to expand our love outward. One of the things Pope Leo is trying to say is that Augustine’s thought remains a living inspiration for how we might organize our societies.” Speaking to the International Interparliamentary Union in late June, Pope Leo intimated that St. Augustine speaks of “your responsibility to promote and protect, independent of any special interest, the good of the community, the common good, particularly by defending the vulnerable and the marginalized.” “Augustine’s idea was that what makes a community is what its members love in common,” Dr. Camacho said. “In other words, Caritas—love—is fundamental to how we think about how we relate to one another. Not just on a one-to-one, personal level or in terms of a private relationship to my own good, but rather how we relate to our communities, and what we build together for the common good.” “Bringing Augustine Back to the World” One of the great gifts of the Augustinian Order, says Dr. Camacho, is that “because of its charism of community, it draws individuals to become religious from all walks of life, and not just those who have extensively read or studied the work of Augustine.” It is especially noteworthy, he says, just how entrenched Pope Leo’s words and actions are in his long-time study of Augustine. “It is quite clear that Pope Leo loves Augustine, not just as an exemplar, as a patron saint of the Order, or as a doctor of the Church—though he is all of these. Leo loves Augustine as a companion: a man whose life reminds us that discipleship is about fidelity and not about perfection; a thinker who is rich in philosophical and theological insight; and a priest and bishop who cared deeply for his community. “In his pontificate, it is already clear that Pope Leo, this great “Son of Augustine,” is bringing Augustine back to the Church and to the world as a vital source of wisdom and inspiration.”
ExpertSpotlight: Why the Strait of Hormuz Matters: The World’s Most Critical Chokepoint
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most strategically vital waterways on Earth. Just 20 miles wide at its narrowest point, with shipping lanes only a few miles across in each direction, this narrow channel connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Through it flows roughly one-fifth of the world’s petroleum supply, along with vast quantities of liquefied natural gas, particularly from Qatar. For global markets, the Strait is more than geography, it is a pressure point. Any disruption, even the threat of one, can send oil prices surging and rattle financial markets worldwide. A History Shaped by Empire and Energy For centuries, the Strait served as a maritime corridor linking Mesopotamia, Persia, India, and East Africa. Control over it shifted between regional powers, colonial empires, and eventually modern nation-states. In the 16th century, the Portuguese seized nearby islands to dominate regional trade routes. Later, British naval power asserted influence during the height of imperial shipping dominance. In the 20th century, however, the Strait’s importance expanded dramatically with the rise of oil exports from Gulf states. After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, tensions surrounding the Strait intensified. During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, particularly the so-called “Tanker War” phase, commercial vessels were targeted, highlighting how vulnerable global energy supplies could be. Since then, periodic confrontations between Iran, the United States, and regional powers have kept the Strait at the centre of geopolitical risk. Why It Is So Important Today 1. Energy Security Major oil producers including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar rely heavily on this route. Even short-term closures could disrupt millions of barrels per day in global supply. 2. Global Economic Stability Because oil is globally traded and priced, disruptions in the Strait impact fuel costs, inflation, shipping, and consumer prices worldwide — including in North America and Europe. 3. Military Strategy The Strait is bordered primarily by Iran to the north and Oman to the south. Iran has periodically threatened to close the passage in response to sanctions or military pressure. The U.S. Navy and allied forces maintain a consistent presence to ensure freedom of navigation. 4. Modern Geopolitical Flashpoint Recent decades have seen drone seizures, tanker detentions, and naval standoffs. Each incident reinforces how fragile global energy logistics can be when concentrated in a single corridor. The Strait as a Symbol of Interdependence The Strait of Hormuz underscores a central truth of globalization: the world’s economies are deeply interconnected and geographically vulnerable. A narrow stretch of water in the Middle East can influence gasoline prices in Ontario, manufacturing costs in Germany, and energy security debates in Asia. It is both a trade artery and a geopolitical lever — a reminder that geography still shapes global power. Expert Angles for Media An expert in geopolitics, energy economics, or maritime security could explore: How vulnerable is the global economy to a prolonged closure? Can alternative pipelines realistically replace Hormuz traffic? What role do regional alliances play in deterring conflict? How does the Strait shape Iran’s negotiating power? What would insurance and shipping markets do in a crisis? The Strait of Hormuz is not simply a map feature — it is one of the world’s most consequential strategic chokepoints. Its stability underpins global energy flows, economic predictability, and international security. If tensions rise there, the world feels it. Our experts can help! Connect with more experts here: www.expertfile.com
UF professor to expand proven disease-prediction dashboard to monitor Gulf threats
After deploying life-saving cholera-prediction systems in Africa and Asia, a University of Florida researcher is turning his attention to the pathogen-plagued waters off Florida’s Gulf Coast. In the fight to end cholera deaths by 2030 – a goal set by the World Health Organization – UF researcher and professor Antar Jutla, Ph.D., has deployed his Cholera Risk Dashboard in about 20 countries, most recently in Kenya. Using NASA and NOAA satellite images and artificial intelligence algorithms, the dashboard is an interactive web interface that pinpoints areas ripe for thriving cholera bacteria. It can predict cholera risk four weeks out, allowing early and proactive humanitarian efforts, medical preparation and health warnings. Cholera is a bacterial disease spread through contaminated food and water; it causes severe intestinal issues and can be fatal if untreated. The US Centers for Disease Control reports between 21,000 and 143,000 cholera deaths each year globally. Make no mistake, the Cholera Risk Dashboard saves lives, existing users contend. His team now wants to set up a similar pathogen-monitoring and disease-prediction system for pathogenic bacteria in the warm, pathogen-fertile waters of the Gulf of America. “Its timeliness, its predictiveness and its ease of access to the right data is a game changer in responding to outbreaks and preventing potentially catastrophic occurrences.” - Linet Kwamboka Nyang’au, a senior program manager for Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data Closer to home Jutla is seeking funding to develop a pathogen-prediction model to identify dangerous bacteria in the Gulf to warn people – particularly rescue workers – to use protective gear or avoid contaminated areas. He envisions post-hurricane systems for the Gulf that will help the U.S. Navy/Coast Guard and other rescue workers make informed health decisions before entering the water. And he wants UF to be at the forefront of this technology. “If we have enough resources, I think within a year we should have a prototype ready for the Gulf,” said Jutla, an associate professor with UF’s Engineering School Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment. “We want to build that expertise here at UF for the entire Gulf of America.” Jutla and his co-investigators have applied for a five-year, $4 million NOAA RESTORE grant to study pathogens known as vibrios off Florida’s West Coast and develop the Vibrio Warning System. These vibrios in the Gulf can cause diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, fever and chills. One alarming example is Vibrio vulnificus, commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria, a bacterium that often leads to amputations or death. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported increases in vibrio infections in the Gulf region, particularly from 2000 to 2018. The warm and ecologically sensitive Gulf waters provide a thriving habitat for harmful pathogens. “The grant builds directly on the success of our cholera-prediction system," Jutla noted. "By integrating AI technologies into public health decision-making, we would not only lead the nation but also become self-reliant in understanding the movement of environmentally sensitive pathogens, positioning ourselves as global leaders.” Learning from preparing early Jutla’s dashboards are critical tools for global health and humanitarian officials, said Linet Kwamboka Nyang’au, a senior program manager for Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. “Its timeliness, its predictiveness and its ease of access to the right data is a game changer in responding to outbreaks and preventing potentially catastrophic occurrences,” Kwamboka Nyang’au said. Over the last few years, Jutla and several health/government leaders have been working to deploy the cholera-predictive dashboard. “Our partnership with UF, the government of Kenya and others on the cholera dashboard is a life-saving mission for high-risk, extremely vulnerable populations in Africa. By predicting potential cholera outbreaks and coordinating multi-stakeholder interventions, we are enabling swift action and empowering local governments and communities to prevent crises before they unfold,” said Davis Adieno, senior director of programs for the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. The early warnings for waterborne pathogens also allows the United Nations time to issue early assistance to residents in the outbreak’s path, said Juan Chaves-Gonzalez, a program advisor with the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “There are several things we do with the money ahead of time. We provide hygiene kits. We repair and protect water sources. We start chlorination, we set up hand-washing stations, train and deploy rapid-response teams. At the community level, we try to inject funding to procure rapid-diagnostic tests,” he said. “We identify those very, very specific barriers and put money in organizations’ hands in advance to remove those barriers.” Eyes on the Gulf In the United States, hurricanes stir up vibrios in the Gulf, posing a high risk of infection for humans in the water. There has been a nearly 200% increase in these cases over the last 20 years in the U.S., according to the CDC. “After Hurricane Ian, we saw a very heavy presence of these vibrios in Sarasota Bay and the Charlotte Bay region. Not only that, but they were showing signs of antibiotic-resistance. Last year, we had one of the largest number of cases of vibriosis in the history of Florida,” Jutla said. Samples from 2024 hurricanes Helene and Milton are being analyzed with AI and complex bioinformatics algorithms. “If there is a risky operation by rescue personnel, not using personal protective equipment, then we would want them to know there is a significant concentration of these bacteria in the water,” Jutla said. “As an example, Navy divers operating in contaminated waters are at risk of infections from vibrios and other enteric pathogens, which can cause severe gastrointestinal and wound infections.” Safety and economics “Exposure to vibrios and other enteric pathogens,” Jutla added, “can disrupt economic activities, particularly in coastal regions that are dependent on tourism and fishing. And vibrios may be considered potential bioterrorism agents due to their ability to cause widespread illness and panic.” In developing the Vibrio Warning System, Jutla noted, he and his team want to significantly enhance public health safety and preparedness along the Gulf Coast. By leveraging advanced AI technologies, satellite datasets and predictive modeling, they plan to mitigate the risks posed by environmentally sensitive pathogenic bacteria, ensuring timely interventions and safeguarding human health and economic activities. “Hospital systems and healthcare providers in the Gulf region will have a tool for anticipatory decision making on where and when to anticipate illness from these environmentally sensitive vibrios, and issue a potential warning to the general public,” he said. “With the potential to become a leader in environmental pathogen prediction, UF stands at the forefront of this critical research, poised to make a lasting impact on local, regional, national and global health and safety.”
Gates Foundation to Fund RPI Research to Develop Low-Cost Monoclonal Antibody Treatments
Professor Todd Przybycien, Ph.D., head of RPI’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, has been awarded a $3.1 million share of a Gates Foundation Global Grand Challenge grant to advance exceptionally low-cost monoclonal antibody (mAb) manufacturing. Monoclonal antibodies have proven effective at treating a wide range of conditions, including infectious diseases like COVID-19, autoimmune disorders, and certain types of cancer. But they are expensive to produce, and current market prices of $50 to $100 per gram put them effectively out-of-reach for millions of people around the world. The goal of the Gates Grand Challenge is to reduce the price of mAbs to just $10 per gram. Last month, the Gates Foundation announced $10.5 million in funding to a team led by the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) in order to achieve that goal. Professor Przybycien’s group is part of that team and will focus on improving the process of purifying monoclonal antibodies after they have been produced by engineered cells. “Optimization and intensification of the downstream purification process offer the exciting possibility of breaking through to the $10/g overall target,” Przybycien said. “We are excited to advance the precipitation-based process we have developed with our collaborator at Penn State as part of the manufacturing solution to sustainably meet the global need for monoclonal antibodies.” Przybycien is an internationally recognized researcher in biomanufacturing and applied biophysics, focusing on developing processes to manufacture recombinant proteins, mRNA, and viral vectors. He has won numerous awards including the NSF CAREER Award and the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award. He is also a fellow of the American Chemical Society, AIChE, and AIMBE. “This grant is a testament to the years of work Todd Przybycien and his team have done to optimize and improve biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes,” said Shekhar Garde, Ph.D., the Thomas R. Farino, Jr. ’67 and Patricia E. Farino Dean of the School of Engineering. “It will pave the way for affordable access to lifesaving medications for millions of people who desperately need them.” “We are excited by the opportunity to demonstrate that there are existing solutions developed by industry and academic partners that can significantly reduce cost of goods and accelerate timelines,” said Kelvin Lee, NIIMBL Institute Director. “We are honored to receive this grant from the Gates Foundation, which will enable this exceptional team to deliver meaningful advances to antibody production efficiency.” This Gates Grand Challenge was established in honor of Dr. Steve Hadley, who championed the reduction of mAbs costs to make them affordable in low- and middle-income countries. The team’s first target will be a monoclonal antibody to treat malaria, an infectious disease which kills more than half a million people each year, primarily in Africa.
Ape Ancestors and Neanderthals Likely Kissed, New Analysis Finds
Kissing occurs in a variety of animals but presents an evolutionary puzzle: it appears to carry high risks, such as disease transmission, while offering no obvious reproductive or survival advantage. Despite kissing carrying cultural and emotional significance in many human societies, up to now researchers have paid little attention to its evolutionary history. In the new study, “A comparative approach to the evolution of kissing,” published this week in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, the researchers carried out the first attempt to reconstruct the evolutionary history of kissing using a cross-species approach based on the primate family tree. The results indicate that kissing is an ancient trait in the large apes, evolving in the ancestor to that group 21.5 – 16.9 million years ago. Kissing was retained over the course of evolution and is still present in most of the large apes. The team also found that our extinct human relatives, Neanderthals, were likely to have engaged in kissing too. This finding, together with previous studies showing that humans and Neanderthals shared oral microbes (via saliva transfer) and genetic material (via interbreeding), strongly suggests that humans and Neanderthals kissed one another. “While kissing may seem like an ordinary or universal behavior, it is only documented in 46% of human cultures,” said Catherine Talbot, co-author and assistant professor in the College of Psychology at Florida Tech. “The social norms and context vary widely across societies, raising the question of whether kissing is an evolved behavior or cultural invention. This is the first step in addressing that question.” Matilda Brindle, lead author and evolutionary biologist at Oxford’s Department of Biology, said: “This is the first time anyone has taken a broad evolutionary lens to examine kissing. Our findings add to a growing body of work highlighting the remarkable diversity of sexual behaviors exhibited by our primate cousins.” To run the analyses, the team first defined what constitutes a kiss. This was challenging because many mouth-to-mouth behaviours look like kissing. Since the researchers were exploring kissing across different species, the definition also needed to be applicable to a wide range of animals. They therefore defined kissing as non-aggressive, mouth-to-mouth contact that did not involve food transfer. Having established this definition, the researchers collected data from the literature on which modern primate species have been observed kissing, focusing on the group of monkeys and apes that evolved in Africa, Europe and Asia. This included chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans, all of which have been observed kissing. They then ran a phylogenetic analysis, treating kissing as a ‘trait’ and mapping this to the family tree of primates. They used a statistical approach (called Bayesian modelling) to simulate different evolution scenarios along the branches of the tree, to estimate the probability that different ancestors also engaged in kissing. The model was run 10 million times to give robust statistical estimates. Stuart West, co-author and professor of evolutionary biology at Oxford, said, “By integrating evolutionary biology with behavioral data, we’re able to make informed inferences about traits that don’t fossilise – like kissing. This lets us study social behaviour in both modern and extinct species.” While the researchers caution that existing data are limited – particularly outside the large apes – the study offers a framework for future work and provides a way for primatologists to record kissing behaviors in nonhuman animals using a consistent definition.
UD physicists track one of the most powerful solar flares in nearly two decades
A massive solar flare – possibly the strongest recorded in nearly 20 years – has unleashed a wave of charged particles toward Earth, sparking radio blackouts across parts of Africa and Europe and triggering measurable increases in radiation levels worldwide. At the University of Delaware, physicists Pierre-Simon Mangeard and John Clem are closely monitoring the event through UD’s neutron monitor network, a global system that tracks cosmic radiation from observatories in Newark, Greenland, Canada, Antarctica and Hawaii. “This is a significant event, still in progress,” said Mangeard. The physicists are seeing a roughly 65% increase in ground-level radiation, which is possibly the largest since 2006. These elevated readings are known as a Ground Level Enhancement (GLE) – a rare occurrence caused by high-energy particles accelerated by solar flares that penetrate Earth’s magnetic field and reach the surface. The data being collected now will help researchers better understand how such bursts of solar activity impact Earth’s atmosphere, communications systems and even aviation safety. Clem and Mangeard’s work at UD’s Bartol Research Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy contributes to global efforts to monitor and predict space weather events, including solar storms and coronal mass ejections. The team’s continuous, real-time data help scientists worldwide assess potential disruptions to satellites, power grids and high-altitude flights. As analysis of this flare continues, UD’s neutron monitor network will remain a key resource for understanding how space weather events ripple through our planet’s systems. Experts available for interviews: • Pierre-Simon Mangeard, research associate, Department of Physics and Astronomy • John Clem, associate professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy To contact Mangeard or Clem, email mediarelations@udel.edu.
Federal Budget 2025: What's In It for Canadian Seniors?
Let's be honest: the word "budget" probably makes you want to take a nap. Or pour a stiff drink. Maybe both. We spent decades pinching pennies, brown-bagging lunches, and watching every dollar so we could finally retire and stop thinking about money every waking minute. Now here I am, telling you to read about a government budget. I know. I'm sorry. But stick with me—I promise to make this as painless (and possibly entertaining) as possible. Why You Should Care About the 2025 Federal Budget (Even If You Really Don't Want To) Some of you hate talking about money. I get it. But here's the thing: information is power, and denial isn't just a river in Africa (give it a second to land)—it creates unnecessary ignorance and real missed opportunities to regain some control over your financial life. Plus, this budget affects your kids and grandkids too. So even if you're sitting pretty, the people you love might not be. The Economy Right Now: A Very Quick Explainer You've probably noticed everything costs more. A lot more. Welcome to inflation, courtesy of today's tariff-happy trade wars. (And if you want a deeper dive into how inflation affects more than just your wallet, check out my earlier piece: "Inflation: It's not just for prices anymore".) Here's the short version: When governments slap tariffs on imported goods (think: "You want to sell your stuff here? Pay up!"), Companies pass those costs directly to you at checkout. Your grocery bill goes up. Your heating costs rise. Even that new garden hose costs more because, apparently, everything comes from somewhere else now. So when you're living on a fixed income—CPP, OAS, maybe some RRIF withdrawals—and prices keep climbing while your income stays flat, that's a problem. A big one. Enter: the federal budget. It's basically Ottawa's financial to-do list: where they'll spend money, what they'll cut, and (theoretically) how they plan to make your life easier. Or at least less expensive. What's Actually In This Federal Budget Thing (The Good Parts Only) I've waded through the charts, jargon, and multi-billion-dollar announcements so you don't have to. Here's what matters to you: 1. Your House: Now it's a Potential ATM Remember when turning your basement into a rental suite sounded expensive and complicated? Ottawa heard you. The Secondary Suite Loan Program is expanded: Borrow up to $80,000 at 2% interest (15-year term) to build a basement apartment, garden suite, or in-law unit. The refinancing rules are also relaxed: You can now refinance up to 90% of your home's post-renovation value to fund these projects. Translation: You can turn unused space into monthly rental income, house a caregiver, or create a spot for family—all while boosting your property value. It's like your house went to entrepreneurship school. For more on Additional Dwelling Units (ADUs), check out this post. 2. Slightly Less Painful Tax Season Ottawa is cutting the base federal tax rate for modest-income earners and cancelling the consumer carbon price on heating fuels. Translation: If you're still working part-time or living on CPP + OAS + RRIF withdrawals, expect slightly lower deductions and cheaper heating bills starting this winter. We're talking maybe $30–$50 more per month—not a windfall, but enough to buy groceries without wincing at the checkout. 3. Health Care: Maybe, Possibly, Getting Better The budget includes more money for provinces to spend on health care and long-term care reform. The goal? Shorter wait times and expanded home-care programs. Translation: The government says they're helping seniors age at home with dignity. Whether that actually happens depends on your province not blowing the money on consultants and photo ops. Keep your eyes on provincial announcements for new or expanded home-care subsidies. 4. Your Savings: Slightly Less Likely to Evaporate Budget 2025 confirmed Canada has the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7. They're also cracking down on bank fraud and scams targeting seniors. Translation: Lower national debt helps keep interest rates and inflation under control, protecting the real value of your fixed income. And Ottawa is finally recognizing that scammers love targeting retirees. (If you haven't already, read my piece on The Rise in Grandparent Scams—it's eye-opening.) About time. Watch for my upcoming article on a recent senior scam making the rounds—and my assessment of how banks can do much more to protect seniors. 5. $60 Billion in "Savings" (Don't Panic) You'll hear politicians bragging about cutting $60 billion. Before you worry they're gutting CPP or OAS, relax. They're trimming their own bureaucracy—less middle management, more digital tools, fewer wasteful meetings about meetings. Translation: They're supposedly spending less on themselves so they can spend more on things that matter—like housing, health care, and infrastructure. Whether they actually pull this off remains to be seen, but at least they're talking about it. So What Does All This Actually Mean? Look, I won't pretend this budget is a game-changer. It's not. But it does offer a few smart moves if you're willing to act. And let's remember: this is Carney's first budget. Changing financial policy and spending priorities takes time—and some patience on our part. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither is a functional federal budget that actually helps everyday Canadians. Review your home equity. Could an ADU loan help you age in place and generate income? Audit your expenses annually. Cutting $100/month in spending equals roughly $1,500 in pre-tax income. That's real money. Stay vigilant against scams. Government protection is nice, but it starts with you not clicking sketchy emails and text messages. Ask about tax credits. Low-income seniors may qualify for increased refundable credits under provincial top-ups this year. This isn't a flashy budget. There are no big checks in the mail. But it does signal a shift toward pragmatism: help Canadians stay housed, healthy, and financially secure while Ottawa tightens its own belt. For Canadians 55+, that means: Slightly lower everyday costs More options to create income from your home Continued investment in health and home care A more stable economy to protect your savings Progress? Maybe. One cautious, bureaucratic step at a time. Your Next Move Take 30 minutes this week to think through how these programs could fit into your life. Could an ADU loan make aging in place possible? Could refinancing free up cash flow? Small adjustments now = big peace of mind later. And that's what being hit, fit, and financially free is all about. And hey—you just read an entire article about a government budget. Voluntarily. That deserves recognition. Go ahead, brag about it. You've earned it. Now go enjoy your retirement. You've definitely earned that too. Sue Don’t Retire…Re-Wire!!!
Taking discoveries to the real world for the benefit of human health
It takes about a decade and a lot of money to bring a new drug to market—between $1 billion to $2 billion, in fact. University of Delaware inventor Jason Gleghorn wants to change that. At UD, Gleghorn is developing leading-edge microfluidic tissue models. The devices are about the size of two postage stamps, and they offer a faster, less-expensive way to study disease and to develop pharmaceutical targets. These aren’t tools he wants to keep just for himself. No, Gleghorn wants to put the patented technology he’s developing in the hands of other experts, to advance clinical solutions in women’s health, maternal-fetal health and pre-term birth. His work also has the potential to improve understanding of drug transport in the female reproductive tract, placenta, lung and lymph nodes. Gleghorn, an associate professor of biomedical engineering, was named to the first cohort of Innovation Ambassadors at UD, as part of the University’s effort to foster and support an innovation culture on campus. Below, he shares some of what he’s learned about translating research to society. Q: What is the problem that you are trying to address? Gleghorn: A lot of disease has to do with disorganization in the body’s normal tissue structure. My lab makes microfluidic tissue models, called organ-on-a-chip models, that have super-tiny channels about the thickness of a human hair, where we can introduce very small amounts of liquid, including cells, to represent an organ in the human body. This can help us study and understand the mechanism of how things work in the body (the biology) or help us do things like drug screening to test therapeutic compounds for treating disease. And while these little microfluidic devices can do promising things, the infrastructure required to make the system work often restricts their use to high-end labs. We want to democratize the techniques and technology so that nonexperts can use it. To achieve this, we changed the way we make these devices, so that they are compatible with standard manufacturing, which means we can scale them and create them much easier. Gleghorn: One of the problems with drug screening, in general, is that animal model studies don’t always represent human biology. So, when we’re using animal models to test new drugs — which have been the best tool we have available — the results are not always apples to apples. Fundamentally, our microfluidic devices can model what happens in humans … we can plug in the relevant human components to understand how the mechanism is working and then ask questions about what drives those processes and identify targets for therapies to prevent the dysfunction. Q: What is innovative about this device? Gleghorn: The innovation part is this modularity — no one makes these devices this way. The science happens on the tiny tissue model insert, which is sandwiched between two pieces of clear acrylic. This allows us to watch what’s happening on the tissue model insert in real time. Meanwhile, the outer shell’s clamshell design provides flexibility: if we’re studying lung tissue and we want to study the female reproductive tract, all we do is unscrew the outer shell and insert the proper tissue model that mimics the female reproductive tract and we’re off. We’ve done a lot of the engineering to make it very simple to operate and use, and adaptable to common lab tools that everyone has, to eliminate the need for financial investment in things like specialized clean rooms, incubators and pumps, etc., so the technology can be useful in regular labs or easily deployable to far-flung locations or countries. With a laser cutter and $500 worth of equipment, you could conceivably mass manufacture these things for maternal medicine in Africa, for example. Democratizing the technology so it is compatible and useful for even an inexperienced user aligns with the mission of my lab, which focuses on scaling the science and the innovation faster, instead of only a few specialized labs being a bottleneck to uncovering new mechanisms of disease and the development of therapies. We patented this modularity, the way to build these tiny microfluidic devices and the simplicity of how it's used as a tool set, through UD’s Office of Economic Innovation and Partnerships (OEIP). Q: How have you translated this work so far? Gleghorn: To date, we've taken this microfluidic system to nine different research labs across seven countries and four continents — including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Belgium and South Africa. These labs are using our technology to study problems in women’s health and collecting data with it. We’re developing boot camps where researchers can come for two or three days to the University of Delaware, where we teach them how to use this device and they take some back with them. From a basic science perspective, there is high enthusiasm for the power of what it can tell you and its ease of use. As engineers, we think it's pretty cool that many other people are using our innovations for new discoveries. Q: What support and guidance have you received from the UD innovation ecosystem? Gleghorn: To do any of this work, you need partners that have various expertise and backgrounds. UD’s Office of Economic Innovation and Partnerships has built a strong team of professionals with expertise in different areas, such as how do you license or take something to patent, how do you make connections with the business community? OEIP is home to Delaware’s Small Business Development Center, which can help you think about business visibility in terms of startups. Horn Entrepreneurship has built out impressive programs for teaching students and faculty to think entrepreneurially and build mentor networks, while programs like the Institute for Engineering Driven Health and the NSF Accelerating Research Translation at UD provide gap funding to be able to do product development and to take the work from basic prototype to something that is more marketable. More broadly in Delaware is the Small Business Administration, the Delaware Innovation Space and regional grant programs and small accelerators to help Delaware innovators. Q: How have students in your lab benefited from engaging in innovation? Gleghorn: Undergraduate students in my lab have made hundreds of these devices at scale. We basically built a little manufacturing facility, so we have ways to sterilize them, track batches, etc. We call it “the foundry.” In other work, graduate students are engineering different components or working on specific system designs for various studies. The students see collaborators use these devices to discover new science and new discoveries. That's very rewarding as an engineer. Additionally, my lab focuses on building solutions that are useful in the clinic and commercially viable. As a result, we've had two grad students spin out companies related to the work we've been doing in the lab. Q: How has research translation positively impacted your work? Gleghorn: I started down this road maybe five years ago, seriously trying to think about how to translate our research findings. Being an entrepreneur, translating technology — it's a very different way to think about your work. And so that framework has really permeated most of the research that I do now and changed the way I think about problems. It has opened new opportunities for collaboration and for alternate sources of funding with companies. This has value in terms of taking the research that you're doing fundamentally and creating a measurable impact in the community, but it also diversifies your funding streams to work on important problems. And different viewpoints help you look at the work you do in new ways, challenging you to define the value proposition, the impact of your work.
First scientific paper on 3I/ATLAS interstellar object
When the news started to spread on July 1, 2025, about a new object that was spotted from outside our solar system, only the third of its kind ever known, astronomers at Michigan State University — along with a team of international researchers — turned their telescopes to capture data on the new celestial sighting. The team rushed to write a scientific paper on what they know so far about the object, now called 3I/ATLAS, after NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS. ATLAS consists of four telescopes — two in Hawaii, one in Chile and one in South Africa — which automatically scans the whole sky several times every night looking for moving objects. MSU’s Darryl Seligman, a member of the scientific team and an assistant professor in the College of Natural Science, took the lead on writing the paper. “I heard something about the object before I went to bed, but we didn’t have a lot of information yet,” Seligman said. “By the time I woke up around 1 a.m., my colleagues, Marco Micheli from the European Space Agency and Davide Farnocchia from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, were emailing me that this was likely for real. I started sending messages telling everyone to turn their telescopes to look at this object and started writing the paper to document what we know to date. We have data coming in from across the globe about this object.” The discovery Larry Denneau, a member of the ATLAS team reviewed and submitted the observations from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile shortly after it was observed on the night of July 1. Denneau said that he was cautiously excited. “We have had false alarms in the past about interesting objects, so we know not to get too excited on the first day. But the incoming observations were all consistent, and late that night it looked like we had the real thing. “It is especially gratifying that we found it in the Milky Way in the direction of the galactic center, which is a very challenging place to survey for asteroids because of all the stars in the background,” Denneau said. “Most other surveys don't look there.” John Tonry, another member of ATLAS and professor at the University of Hawaii, was instrumental in design and construction of ATLAS, the survey that discovered 3I. Tonry said, “It's really gratifying every time our hard work surveying the sky discovers something new, and this comet that has been traveling for millions of years from another star system is particularly interesting.” Once 3I/ATLAS was confirmed, Seligman and Karen Meech, faculty chair for the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii, both managed the communications flow and worked on getting the data pulled together for submitting the paper. “Once 3I/ATLAS was identified as likely interstellar, we mobilized rapidly,” Meech said. “We activated observing time on major facilities like the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope and the Gemini Observatory to capture early, high-quality data and build a foundation for detailed follow-up studies.” After confirmation of the interstellar object, institutions from around the world began sharing information about 3I/ATLAS with Seligman. What scientists know about 3I/ATLAS so far Though data is pouring in about the discovery, it’s still so far away from Earth, which leaves many unanswered questions. Here’s what the scientific team knows at this point: It is only the third interstellar (meaning from outside our solar system) object to be detected passing through our solar system. It’s potentially giving off gas like other comets do, but that needs to be confirmed. It’s moving really fast at 60 kilometers per second, or 134,000 miles per hour, relative to the sun. It’s on an orbital path that is shaped like a boomerang or hyperbola. It’s very bright. It’s on a path that will leave our solar system and not return, but scientists will be able to study it for several months before it leaves. The James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope are expected to reveal more information about its size, composition, spin and how it reacts to being heated over the next few months. “We have these images of 3I/ATLAS where it’s not entirely clear and it looks fuzzier than the other stars in the same image,” said James Wray, a professor at Georgia Tech. “But the object is pretty far away and, so, we just don’t know.” Seligman and his team are specifically interested in 3I/ATLAS’s brightness because it informs us about the evolution of the coma, a cloud of dust and gas. They’ve been tracking it to see if it has been changing over time as the object moves and turns in space. They also want to monitor for sudden outburst events in which the object gets much brighter. “3I/ATLAS likely contains ices, especially below the surface, and those ices may start to activate as it nears the sun,” Seligman said. “But until we detect specific gas emissions, like H₂O, CO or CO₂, we can’t say for sure what kinds of ice or how much are there.” The discovery of 3I/ATLAS is just the beginning. For Tessa Frincke, who came to MSU in late June to begin her career as a doctoral student with Seligman, having the opportunity to analyze data from 3I/ATLAS to predict its future path could lead to her publishing a scientific paper of her own. “I’ve had to learn a lot quickly, and I was shocked at how many people were involved,” said Frincke. “Discoveries like this have a domino effect that inspires novel engineering and mission planning.” For Atsuhiro Yaginuma, a fourth-year undergraduate student on Seligman’s team, this discovery has inspired him to apply his current research to see if it is possible to launch a spacecraft from Earth to get it within hundreds of miles or kilometers to 3I/ATLAS to capture some images and learn more about the object. “The closest approach to Earth will be in December,” said Yaginuma. “It would require a lot of fuel and a lot of rapid mobilization from people here on Earth. But getting close to an interstellar object could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” “We can’t continue to do this research and experiment with new ideas from Frincke and Yaginuma without federal funding,” said Seligman, who also is a postdoctoral fellow of the National Science Foundation. Seligman and Aster Taylor, who is a former student of Seligman’s and now a doctoral candidate in astronomy and astrophysics and a 2023 Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Fellow, wrote the following: “At a critical moment, given the current congressional discussions on science funding, 3I/ATLAS also reminds us of the broader impact of astronomical research. An example like 3I is particularly important to astronomy — as a science, we are supported almost entirely by government and philanthropic funding. The fact that this science is not funded by commercial enterprise indicates that our field does not provide a financial return on investment, but instead responds to the public’s curiosity about the deep questions of the universe: Where did we come from? Are we alone? What else is out there? The curiosity of the public, as expressed by the will of the U.S. Congress and made manifest in the federal budget, is the reason that astronomy exists.” In addition to MSU, contributors to this research and paper include European Space Agency Near-Earth Objects Coordination Centre (Italy), NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech (USA), University of Hawaii (USA), Auburn University (USA), Universidad de Alicante (Spain), Universitat de Barcelona (Spain), European Southern Observatory (Germany), Villanova University (USA), Lowell Observatory (USA), University of Maryland (USA), Las Cumbres Observatory (USA), University of Belgrade (Serbia), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), University of Michigan (USA), University of Western Ontario (Canada), Georgia Institute of Technology (USA), Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago (Chile) and Boston University (USA).
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here. The oil-rich states of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have a lot going for them: wealth, domestic stability and growing global influence. In recent months, these Gulf kingdoms also appear closer to something they have long sought: reliable U.S. support that has become stronger and more uncritical than ever, just as Iranian power in the region has significantly degraded. In Donald Trump, the nonelected Gulf Arab monarchs have an ally in Washington who has largely shed previous American concerns for democracy and human rights. That the American president made his first scheduled international trip of his second term to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE only underscores their international clout. Additionally, the popular overthrow of the Assad government in Syria and Israel’s war against Iran and its allies in Lebanon and Yemen have served to greatly weaken Tehran’s perceived threat to Gulf Arab interests. Yet, as an expert on Middle Eastern politics, I believe Gulf Arab countries must still navigate a regional political tightrope. And as the Israeli targeting of senior Hamas leaders in Qatar on Sept. 9, 2025, shows, events by other Middle Eastern actors have a nasty habit of derailing Gulf leaders’ plans. How these countries manage four particular uncertainties will have a significant effect on their hopes for stability and growth. 1. Managing a post-civil war Syria In Syria, years of civil war that had exacerbated splits among ethnic and religious groups finally ended in December 2024. Since then, Arab Gulf countries, which once opposed the Iranian-allied government of Bashar Assad, have been pivotal in supporting new Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. They successfully lobbied the U.S. to drop sanctions. In addition to sharing mutual regional interests with Sharaa, the leaders of Gulf Arab states want a Syrian state that is free from internal war and can absorb the millions of refugees that fled the conflict to other countries in the Middle East. Gulf states can support postwar Syria diplomatically and financially. However, they can’t wish away the legacy of long war and sectarian strife. Israeli attacks on Syrian soil since Assad’s fall, as well as recent outbreaks of fighting in the Sweida region of southern Syria, underscore the ongoing fragility of the Syrian government and concerns over its ability to contain violence and migration outside of its borders. 2. The challenge of regional politics Syria illustrates a broader policy challenge for Gulf states. As their wealth, military strength and influence have grown, these countries have become dominant in the Arab world. As a result, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have invested billions of dollars in efforts to influence governments and groups across the world. This includes the mostly authoritarian governments in the Middle East and North Africa, such as Egypt’s. But here, Gulf states are torn politically. If democratic systems form elsewhere in the Arab world, this could encourage Gulf citizens to push for elected government at home. Yet overly coercive Arab governments outside of the Gulf can be prone to popular unrest and even civil war. Propping up unpopular regional governments risks backfiring on Gulf Arab leaders in one of two ways. First, it can entice Gulf states into protracted and damaging wars, such as was the case with Saudi Arabia and the UAE’s failed military intervention in Yemen against the Houthis. Second, it can drive a wedge between Gulf states, as is seen with the current conflict in Sudan, in which the Saudis and Emiratis are backing rival factions. 3. Watching which way Iran will turn Always looming behind complicated Middle Eastern politics is Iran, the historically powerful, populous, non-Arab country whose governing Shiite Islam ideology has been the chief antagonist to the Sunni-led Gulf Arab states since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Opposing Gulf Arab and American strategic interests, Iran has for years intervened aggressively in Middle Eastern politics by funding and encouraging militant Shiite groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere. An assertive Iran has been especially a thorn in the side of Saudi Arabia, which strives to be the dominant Muslim majority power in the region. Dealing with Iran has required careful balancing from Qatar and the UAE, which are more directly exposed to Tehran geographically and have maintained relatively stronger relations. Given this, Gulf countries may silently welcome the decrease in Iran’s military power in the wake of Israel’s recent war against Iran and its allies, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, while also fearing further Iranian-Israeli conflict. At the same time, a less powerful Iran runs two types of new potential dangers for Gulf states. Should Iran become more unstable, the resulting turmoil could be felt across the region. In addition, should Iran’s military, policy and economic turmoil lead to a new political system, it could disturb Gulf countries. Neither a Muslim majority democratic government nor a more hard-line nationalist variant in Iran would sit well with nearby Gulf monarchs. Conversely, concerns that the Israeli and U.S. bombing of Iran may actually lead to increased Iranian determination to pursue a nuclear program also worry Gulf leaders. 4. Living with Israel’s military assertiveness Israel, the unquestioned military power and sole nuclear weapons state in the region, has long posed particularly deep political dilemmas to Gulf Arab states. The current challenge is how to balance the immense global unpopularity of the Israeli government’s war in Gaza – including among Gulf Arab citizens – with common strategic interests the Gulf states hold with Israel. Gulf Arab leaders face domestic and regional pressure to show solidarity for Palestinians and their aspirations for statehood. Yet Gulf rulers also share strategic goals with Israel. Along with opposition to Iranian influence, Gulf states maintain strong military links to the U.S, like Israel. They also appreciate the economic and other security value of Israel’s high-tech products, including software used for espionage and cybersecurity. This helps explain the UAE’s 2019 decision to join the short list of Arab states with full diplomatic relations with Israel. Hamas attacked Israel in 2023 in part to stop Saudi Arabia from following suit – something that might have further sidelined Palestinians’ bargaining power. Indeed, moves toward open Saudi diplomatic recognition of Israel were stopped by Hamas’ attack and the global backlash that followed Israel’s ongoing devastation of Gaza. Gulf leaders may still believe that normalized ties with Israel would be good for the long-term economic prospects of the region. And Bahrain and the UAE – the two Gulf Arab states with diplomatic relations with Israel – have not backed away from their official relationship. Yet expanding open relations with Israel further, and taking in other Gulf states, is unlikely without a real reversal in Israel’s policy toward Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank. All this is more true in the immediate aftermath of Israel’s attack in Qatar – the first time Israel has launched a direct strike within a Gulf Arab state. That action, even if ostensibly directed at Hamas, is likely to exacerbate tensions not only with Qatar but place increasing stress on the calculus allied Gulf Arab countries make in their dealings with Israel. Tricky way forward for Gulf Arab states These challenges underscore an inescapable truth for Gulf leaders: They are hostage to events beyond their control. Insulating them from that reality takes regional unity. The Gulf Cooperation Council, nearly 45 years old, was established precisely for this purpose. While it remains the most successful regional organization in the Middle East, the GCC has not always prevented major rifts, such as in 2017 when a coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia cut ties with and blockaded Qatar. The conflict was resolved in 2021. Since then, the six members of the GCC have worked together more closely. No doubt, rivalries and disagreements still exist. Yet Arab Gulf leaders have learned that cooperation is useful in the face of major challenges. This can be seen in the recent collaborative diplomatic approaches toward Syria and the U.S. A second lesson comes from the broader Middle East. Key issues are often interdependent, particularly the status of Palestinians. Hamas’ attack on Israel, and the resulting destruction of much of Gaza, resurfaced the deep popularity across the region of addressing Palestinian needs and rights. The monarchs of the Arab Gulf would like to maintain their unchallenged domestic political status while expanding their influence in the Middle East and beyond. However, even when Gulf leaders wish to be done with the region’s challenges, those challenges are not always done with them. Isabella Ishanyan, a UMass Amherst undergraduate, provided research assistance for this article.
