The Christian Science Monitor

If Donald Trump can convince manufacturers to come back to the U.S., it may set off not a jobs boom, but an automation boom, as new factories may be the world’s most automated.

Tariffs, AI, and manufacturing: Will one spark a growth spurt in the other two? Yes, according to a number of companies that signaled they may shift select operations to America because of tariffs. The good news: New factories planned for the U.S. will not only be safer and more efficient. They will also be among the most modern in the world, helping America begin to catch up with manufacturing standouts like Germany and Japan. And as Laurent Belsie reports for The Christian Science Monitor, to accomplish this, companies are leaning into artificial intelligence. He reports most companies are not aiming to eliminate humans from the factory floor.?Instead, they hope to meld the functionality of robots with the adaptability of workers. Find the link to the story in the comments to find out more about the potential growth of new AI-assisted factories in the U.S. #AI #manufacturing #robots #workers #TrendingTopics

Why should those day-old strawberries that went bad too soon end up in your local landfill? Or the two pallets of expired room-temperature rocky road ice cream? If food waste were its own country, it would be the?third-highest emitter?of greenhouse gases after China and the United States. It may not sound appetizing, but mix and process that rocky road with cow manure and you get renewable natural gas. Reporter Troy Aidan Sambajon and photographer Melanie Stetson Freeman took a look at how #Massachusetts become the only state to reduce food waste with six of the nation's 25 food recycling facilities. Find the link to The Christian Science Monitor story in the comments. #recycling #restaurants #food #trendingtopics #solutions

Will the bumpy road ahead for research universities mean tough times for grad school students? American colleges and universities are facing hard decisions this spring after the Trump administration cut billions in research dollars. Millions of dollars in cuts to such research giants as - Columbia - Johns Hopkins - University of Pennsylvania Federal grants from NIH and other federal agencies affect research in the sciences, business, education, health care, and more. Will American higher education remain the absolute envy of the world? For The Christian Science Monitor, Ira Porter looks at the critical decisions ahead for these critical research centers. Find the link to his story in comments. #research #universities #Trump #Grants #trendingTopics

#Sustainability isn’t an afterthought, it can be baked into every part of the business. That's what I shared with @TroySambojan when I had the opportunity to speak with him at the The Christian Science Monitor for this story about #foodwaste. There's no way not to get excited about Vanguard Renewables: they turn food waste into energy. Their solution is a #winwin for everyone from manufacturers to farmers to employees and residents. It's truly exciting to see how companies can work together to have immediate impact in our communities and be role models for others. This article is definitely worth a read! #cpg #foodmanufacturing Justin Housman Andy Miller https://lnkd.in/eNw5Tnra

Bernie Sanders is not running for president. Yet he's drawing bigger crowds. And he's got AOC with him. What's this all about? https://lnkd.in/eRQbcQhE

Why are the Kremlin and China celebrating the organizational grenade DOGE has thrown at Voice of America? Excellent Editor & Publisher (E&P) Magazine interview (audio and text) with Steven Herman, Chief National Correspondent for VOA. E&P reports Herman finds himself among more than 1,300 colleagues placed on excused absence. While Herman was singled out under an executive order deeming him potentially disloyal to the president’s foreign policy, his colleagues’ suspensions were not linked to any alleged wrongdoing. When asked why VOA still matters, Herman cited examples of VOA’s unique role in broadcasting to marginalized or oppressed communities, including the Rohingya refugees and the Tibetan population. “We broadcast in Tibet, we broadcast in Burmese. And in those languages, there may be no independent credible voice, whether it’s radio, television, [or] the internet. To listen or read the full interview, see the link in comments. Also read Moscow-based writer Fred Weir's reporting on what VOA meant to Russians during the Cold War. Link to story also in comments. #VOA #VoiceOfAmerica #DOGE #Musk #Trump

RIP Voice of America. Russians remember. https://lnkd.in/e-UG__n9

It's a regimented row upon row of interconnected computer servers, miles of fiber-optic cables, and a massive network of cooling pipes – the physical backbone of our digital lives. Welcome to Data Center Alley in rural Maryland. Some casually refer to it as "the cloud." While it has revolutionized the way people communicate, work, and share information, cloud facilities like this one are encroaching on farms and other familiar landscapes. As well as ways of life in local communities. The Christian Science Monitor environmental writer, Stephanie Hanes traveled back home accompanied by photographer Riley Robinson to take a deeper look at the impact of data sprawl. Find the link to their story in the comments. #DataCenters #cloud #AWS #climate #trendingtopics

An exodus of talent will have consequences for future American leadership in science. "As we lose more early-career investigators and our workforce in science ages, we’ll have no one to fill the gap," Kirstin RW Matthews of Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy tells The Christian Science Monitor. #science #research #sciencefunding #sciencepolicy #technology #tech #universities #America #UnitedStates