The Age of Cheap Online Shopping is Ending
The Age of Cheap Online Shopping is Ending Summary The US has ended the longstanding “de minimis” duty exemption that allowed low-value international parcels to enter without tariffs. Once raised…
Do social-media bans benefit young people? These data could offer clues
Do social-media bans benefit young people? These data could offer clues Summary The Australian Online Safety Amendment Act will forbid people under 16 from holding accounts on major social platforms.…
The grant lottery: award rates at UK national funding agency fall below 20%
The grant lottery: award rates at UK national funding agency fall below 20% Summary New UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) data show application volumes have surged while award numbers have…
Include climate impacts when protecting infrastructure
Include climate impacts when protecting infrastructure Summary In a short correspondence in Nature, Hongfang Lu and Y. Frank Cheng highlight that the September 2022 ruptures of the Nord Stream natural-gas…
China’s chikungunya virus outbreak is a wake up call
China’s chikungunya virus outbreak is a wake up call Summary The correspondence warns that China’s recent chikungunya (CHIKV) outbreak — more than 7,000 cases reported in Guangdong province since July…
ESA’s Solar Orbiter will help space boffins predict destructive coronal ejections
ESA’s Solar Orbiter will help space boffins predict destructive coronal ejections Summary Solar Orbiter has pinpointed where energetic electrons expelled by the Sun originate and separated events into two clear…
I was a part-time DBA. After this failover foul-up, they hired a full-time DBA
I was a part-time DBA. After this failover foul-up, they hired a full-time DBA Summary In 2012 a part-time DBA, ‘Derek’, managed two MySQL instances in Boston and Malta with…
White House nixes NASA unions amid budget uncertainty
Summary The White House issued an executive order (signed 28 Aug 2025) adding NASA to the National Security Exclusions list, effectively stripping many federal labour protections from NASA staff. The…
Azure budget alerts go berserk after Microsoft account migration misfire
Azure budget alerts go berserk after Microsoft account migration misfire Summary Some Microsoft Azure customers were hit by wildly incorrect budget forecasts after an account migration from the Microsoft Online…
Laravel inventor tells devs to quit writing ‘cathedrals of complexity’
Laravel inventor tells devs to quit writing ‘cathedrals of complexity’ Summary Taylor Otwell, creator and maintainer of the Laravel PHP framework, urged developers to avoid over‑engineering and “clever” solutions that…