US EditionDaily Briefing
Data center backlash; South Africa pushes for return of deceived Russian recruits; are MRIs accurate?
15 Articles •
Sanders Calls for Pause on AI Data Centers
Left 40%
Center 60%
What happened: Senator Bernie Sanders is demanding a nationwide moratorium on large AI data center construction, citing facilities that consume electricity equivalent to 750,000-1.2 million homes and water matching 18.5 million households. Projects by OpenAI, Oracle, and Meta are underway despite community protests in Texas and Louisiana, where construction traffic caused crashes to surge 600%.
Why it matters: Electricity bills have already surged this year in northern Virginia, Illinois, and Ohio where data centers concentrate, signaling potential cost increases for households near new facilities. Major corporations including Amazon, Walmart, and UnitedHealth are planning AI-driven job cuts, with 55% of surveyed Pennsylvanians believing AI expansion will decrease jobs in their industry.
Blindspot: No Coverage from Right Sources
100% of sources are Original Reporting
67% of sources are High Factuality
56 Articles •
Harvard Morgue Manager Sentenced to 8 Years for Selling Remains
8%
Center 63%
Right 29%
What happened: Cedric Lodge stole and sold brains, faces, hands, hearts and other parts taken from cadavers donated to Harvard from about 2018 through 2020, earning an estimated $40,000–$95,000. He was sentenced to eight years this week; his wife Denise, who handled PayPal payments and shipments, received one year.
Why it matters: More than 400 donor families may have been affected and still do not know which parts of their loved ones were taken, causing deep emotional harm and triggering victim notification efforts. The scandal led to civil suits and a court finding that Harvard showed "extraordinary failure" in supervising the morgue, exposing significant legal and reputational consequences.
Blindspot: Low Coverage from Left Sources
75% of sources are Original Reporting
63% of sources are High Factuality
16 Articles •
South Africa Seeks Return of 17 Men Allegedly Deceived Into Russian Military
Left 50%
Center 29%
R 21%
What happened: Seventeen South African men were allegedly deceived in July into traveling to Russia under false promises of bodyguard training or development programs, then forced into Russian military service and deployed to Ukraine's frontlines. South African authorities received distress calls from the men on November 6th and are now conducting high-level negotiations with Russia to secure their return.
Why it matters: The men, who lack military training or combat experience, are in grave danger on active war fronts after signing contracts in Russian they couldn't understand. This case highlights a broader pattern of Russian recruitment across Africa disguised as employment or educational opportunities, with officials warning revelations are likely just the tip of the iceberg.
100% of sources are Original Reporting
69% of sources are High Factuality
20 Articles •
Tiny Autonomous Robots Solve 40-Year Robotics Challenge
Center 75%
Right 25%
The breakthrough: Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Michigan built fully autonomous robots measuring 210-340 micrometers that contain onboard computers, temperature sensors, memory, and propulsion systems. These devices operate on 100 nanowatts of power, cost one penny each to manufacture, and successfully demonstrated autonomous navigation toward warmer areas in 56 trials conducted in mid-December 2025.
What it means: This breakthrough solves a 40-year robotics challenge and could accelerate applications in medical microsurgery for in-body diagnostics and repair, environmental monitoring, and nanomanufacturing. However, researchers must first develop wireless locomotion systems and complete safety testing before the robots can operate inside human bodies.
Blindspot: No Coverage from Left Sources
100% of sources are Original Reporting
12 Articles •
Study Finds 40% of fMRI Brain Scans Misread Neural Activity
Center 100%
What happened: Researchers at Technical University of Munich published findings in Nature Neuroscience this month showing that roughly 40% of fMRI signals show reversed oxygen metabolism—increased signals sometimes indicate decreased neural activity and vice versa. The team tested over 40 participants performing mental tasks while simultaneously measuring conventional fMRI and actual oxygen consumption using novel quantitative MRI techniques.
Why it matters: This challenges three decades of fMRI research affecting tens of thousands of studies on depression, Alzheimer's, and aging, which may have misinterpreted vascular changes as neural deficits. AI and machine learning models trained on fMRI data face a 40% label corruption problem, potentially undermining diagnostic tools, brain-computer interfaces achieving 82% speech decoding accuracy, and neural networks built on flawed neuroscience assumptions.
92% of sources are Original Reporting
165 Articles •
MIT Fusion Center Director Fatally Shot in Brookline Home
Left 29%
Center 49%
R 22%
What happened: Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, an MIT professor and director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, was shot multiple times Monday night at his Brookline apartment and died Tuesday morning. Police responded to gunshots around 8:30 p.m. on Gibbs Street, found him in the foyer, and transported him to Beth Israel Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.
What's next: No suspects are in custody and authorities have released limited information about motive in this active homicide investigation. MIT is offering support services to students and colleagues grieving the loss of the internationally recognized fusion physicist who was advancing clean energy research and had received a Presidential Early Career Award.
Daily Briefing
Data center backlash; South Africa pushes for return of deceived Russian recruits; are MRIs accurate?
15 Articles •
Sanders Calls for Pause on AI Data Centers
Left 40%
Center 60%
What happened: Senator Bernie Sanders is demanding a nationwide moratorium on large AI data center construction, citing facilities that consume electricity equivalent to 750,000-1.2 million homes and water matching 18.5 million households. Projects by OpenAI, Oracle, and Meta are underway despite community protests in Texas and Louisiana, where construction traffic caused crashes to surge 600%.
Why it matters: Electricity bills have already surged this year in northern Virginia, Illinois, and Ohio where data centers concentrate, signaling potential cost increases for households near new facilities. Major corporations including Amazon, Walmart, and UnitedHealth are planning AI-driven job cuts, with 55% of surveyed Pennsylvanians believing AI expansion will decrease jobs in their industry.
Blindspot: No Coverage from Right Sources
100% of sources are Original Reporting
67% of sources are High Factuality
56 Articles •
Harvard Morgue Manager Sentenced to 8 Years for Selling Remains
8%
Center 63%
Right 29%
What happened: Cedric Lodge stole and sold brains, faces, hands, hearts and other parts taken from cadavers donated to Harvard from about 2018 through 2020, earning an estimated $40,000–$95,000. He was sentenced to eight years this week; his wife Denise, who handled PayPal payments and shipments, received one year.
Why it matters: More than 400 donor families may have been affected and still do not know which parts of their loved ones were taken, causing deep emotional harm and triggering victim notification efforts. The scandal led to civil suits and a court finding that Harvard showed "extraordinary failure" in supervising the morgue, exposing significant legal and reputational consequences.
Blindspot: Low Coverage from Left Sources
75% of sources are Original Reporting
63% of sources are High Factuality
16 Articles •
South Africa Seeks Return of 17 Men Allegedly Deceived Into Russian Military
Left 50%
Center 29%
R 21%
What happened: Seventeen South African men were allegedly deceived in July into traveling to Russia under false promises of bodyguard training or development programs, then forced into Russian military service and deployed to Ukraine's frontlines. South African authorities received distress calls from the men on November 6th and are now conducting high-level negotiations with Russia to secure their return.
Why it matters: The men, who lack military training or combat experience, are in grave danger on active war fronts after signing contracts in Russian they couldn't understand. This case highlights a broader pattern of Russian recruitment across Africa disguised as employment or educational opportunities, with officials warning revelations are likely just the tip of the iceberg.
100% of sources are Original Reporting
69% of sources are High Factuality
20 Articles •
Tiny Autonomous Robots Solve 40-Year Robotics Challenge
Center 75%
Right 25%
The breakthrough: Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Michigan built fully autonomous robots measuring 210-340 micrometers that contain onboard computers, temperature sensors, memory, and propulsion systems. These devices operate on 100 nanowatts of power, cost one penny each to manufacture, and successfully demonstrated autonomous navigation toward warmer areas in 56 trials conducted in mid-December 2025.
What it means: This breakthrough solves a 40-year robotics challenge and could accelerate applications in medical microsurgery for in-body diagnostics and repair, environmental monitoring, and nanomanufacturing. However, researchers must first develop wireless locomotion systems and complete safety testing before the robots can operate inside human bodies.
Blindspot: No Coverage from Left Sources
100% of sources are Original Reporting
12 Articles •
Study Finds 40% of fMRI Brain Scans Misread Neural Activity
Center 100%
What happened: Researchers at Technical University of Munich published findings in Nature Neuroscience this month showing that roughly 40% of fMRI signals show reversed oxygen metabolism—increased signals sometimes indicate decreased neural activity and vice versa. The team tested over 40 participants performing mental tasks while simultaneously measuring conventional fMRI and actual oxygen consumption using novel quantitative MRI techniques.
Why it matters: This challenges three decades of fMRI research affecting tens of thousands of studies on depression, Alzheimer's, and aging, which may have misinterpreted vascular changes as neural deficits. AI and machine learning models trained on fMRI data face a 40% label corruption problem, potentially undermining diagnostic tools, brain-computer interfaces achieving 82% speech decoding accuracy, and neural networks built on flawed neuroscience assumptions.
92% of sources are Original Reporting
165 Articles •
MIT Fusion Center Director Fatally Shot in Brookline Home
Left 29%
Center 49%
R 22%
What happened: Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, an MIT professor and director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, was shot multiple times Monday night at his Brookline apartment and died Tuesday morning. Police responded to gunshots around 8:30 p.m. on Gibbs Street, found him in the foyer, and transported him to Beth Israel Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.
What's next: No suspects are in custody and authorities have released limited information about motive in this active homicide investigation. MIT is offering support services to students and colleagues grieving the loss of the internationally recognized fusion physicist who was advancing clean energy research and had received a Presidential Early Career Award.