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Zillow economists have an economic model known as the Zillow Market Heat Index to gauge the competitiveness of housing markets across the country. This model looks at key indicatorsincluding home price changes, inventory levels, and days on marketto generate a score showing whether a market favors sellers or buyers.
A higher score indicates a hotter metro-level housing market where sellers have more power. A lower score indicates a colder metro-level housing market where buyers have more power.
According to Zillow, a score of 70 or above is a strong sellers market, and a score from 55 to 69 is a sellers market. A score of 44 to 55 indicates a neutral market. A score from 28 to 44 reflects a buyers market, and a score of 27 or below is a strong buyers market.
Nationally, Zillow rates the U.S. housing market at 55 for its April 2025 reading, published in May 2025, right on the border between a sellers market and a neutral market. That said, Zillows reading varies significantly across the county.
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Among the 250 largest metro area housing markets, these 10 are the hottest markets, where sellers have the most power, according to Zillow:
Rochester, NY: 169
Buffalo, NY: 126
Charleston, WV: 107
Syracuse, NY: 105
Hartford, CT: 97
Albany, NY: 97
Manchester, NH: 93
Anchorage, AK: 86
Boston, MA: 85
Lansing, MI: 85
And these 10 are the coldest markets, where buyers have the most power, according to Zillow:
Jackson, TN: 23
Macon, GA: 25
Gulfport, MS: 26
Brownsville, TX: 27
Naples, FL: 27
Cape Coral, FL: 30
Daphne, AL: 30
Panama City, FL: 30
Punta Gorda, FL: 31
Beaumont, TX: 33
5 takeaways on Zillows latest assessment
Directionally, theres a lot Zillow gets right. We believe Zillow has correctly identified many regional housing markets where buyers have gained the most leverageparticularly around the Gulf. It also highlights areas where sellers have maintained, relatively speaking, some degree of control, including large portions of the Northeast and Midwest.
In ResiClub’s view, Zillow is slightly overstating Northeast and Midwest tightness. While there are still some relatively competitive pockets in those regions, Zillows model appears to exaggerate the strength of seller conditions. In the real world, many of these markets feel more neutral or only slightly tilted toward sellersnot full-blown strong sellers markets as the model suggests.
Zillow also appears to be overstating seller strength on the West Coast. Conditions on the West Coast have clearly softened over the past year, and Zillows model doesnt fully reflect that shift.
The softest housing markets right now are Southwest Florida and Central Texas. Based on our own housing market analysis, Florida, in particular, Southwest Florida currently stands out as the softest region in the country, followed by Central Texas markets such as Austin and San Antonio.
Zillows Market Heat Index is usefulbut I believe ResiClub’s monthly reportsespecially our inventory analysis across +800 metros and +3,000 counties and our home price analysis across 800+ metros and 3,000+ countiesdo a better job of keeping housing stakeholders ahead of market shifts and better informed on current market dynamics.
What did this Zillow analysis look like back in spring 2022 at the climax of the pandemic housing boom? Below is Zillows April 2022 readingpublished in May 2022.
Feeling bad about your appearance? Try making a fan edit of yourself.
Thats the latest advice circulating on TikTok, where users are cutting and stitching together dramatic clips of themselves to the tune of Rasheedas 2006 track Got That Good.
And it seems to work. One viral video, with 10 million views, has people hyping up the creator in the comments. WHO IS THAT DIVA? one wrote. Chill out my bf is on this app, another added.
In another video, with 5.6 million views, the creator wrote, Feel ugly? Make an edit with yourself to boost your confidence. Again, the internet responded with compliments, and many saying they are going to try the trend for themselves. This was my favorite activity as a high schooler, one commented. Made one yesterday and cant stop looking at it, another wrote. Hold on wait Im gonna try this but I’m afraid it would raise my ego through the roof.
The trend is meant to boost creators confidence by giving themselves a fan edit normally reserved for the likes of Harry Styles, Timothée Chalamet, and other beloved celebrities.
Fan edits have long been a cornerstone of fandom and online culture. They are also an art form, with dramatic music, flashy transitions, and glowing filters that show the subjects at their most attractive and iconic. But why should celebrities be the only ones who get the fan-cam treatment?
Its no secret that social media is a highlight reel. Yet even when we know Instagram is not real life, the constant exposure to filtered photos and curated feeds can take a toll on our self-image. Research backs this up. One 2021 study found that frequent Instagram use is linked to higher rates of body dissatisfaction, a stronger desire to be thin, and lower self-esteem among girls ages 14 to 24.
Why not put those editing skills to good use instead?
The perfectly manicured grass at the pitch of Munich’s Allianz Arena is ready for action thanks in part to its use of a hybrid system of natural and synthetic materials. Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan will have the perfect groundwork laid out for them as they face off in the UEFA Champions League Final today (Saturday, May 31, 2025).
Lets recap some team history and developments before we dive into how to watch the big game live.
Key stats for Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan
Inter has three European Champion Clubs’ Cups to their name, which makes them the second most winning Serie A team in the competitions history. The team was victorious in 2010 and faced defeat in the final in 1967, 1972, and 2022.
Paris Saint-Germain has never taken home the trophy. In 2020, the organization came close, but were ultimately defeated by Bayern München in Lisbon. They are determined to upgrade their record during their second appearance in the final. Experts have given them slightly better odds to win it all, but it truly is anyones game.
How the two teams reached the final
In the Champions League, 32 teams are divided into groups of four and face off six times against the other members of their group. The teams are ranked in a point system for wins and draws, with the top two advancing to a knockout round. The third place team is relegated to the Europa League. The remaining 16 teams battle it out for a place in the final.
Paris Saint-Germain had a bumpy road to the finals. They were ranked 15th in the league phase but managed to squeak by. Their impressive 10-0 win against Brest helped turn the tide in the knockout round. They went on to beat Liverpool, Aston Villa, and Arsenal to secure their spot.
Inter Milan had a smoother ride into the final. The organization finished fourth in the league phase and was only defeated once. They defeated Feyenoord, Bayern, and Barcelona to earn their place in the final.
How can I watch or stream the final?
For soccer fans in the United States, CBS Sports is the media outlet of the moment, offering 10 hours of Champions League coverage across various platforms. The big game takes place on Saturday, May 31, at 3 p.m. ET. Here’s how coverage breaks down:
1 p.m. ET: Pre-match coverage will begin, live from Munich, on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network.
1:30 p.m. ET: Coverage begins on CBS.
3 p.m. ET: The game airs live on CBS and streams on Paramount+.
CBS is available for traditional cable viewers and free with an over-the-air antenna. Cable subscribers can also watch CBS live through the CBS website.
Cord-cutters (or anyone else) also have the option to subscribe to Paramount+, and may be eligible for a free trial.
The Spanish-language channel TUDN is also an option. For football fans in the UK, tune into TNT Sports or stream on discovery+ at 8 p.m. BST.
Lyse Martel is a Berlin-based Color, Materials, and Finish (CMF) designer and strategist in the mobility and consumer electronics industries. Her work combines craftsmanship and emerging technology to shape design strategy, drive material innovation, and create new sensory experiences. Lyse is fascinated by designs power to shape how people feel and act. She believes design can foster emotional connection and wellbeing at a time when AI and automation are making their way into many new consumer product experiences, from the car to the living room. Below, Martel explores the emotional dimension of circular design and how the CMF field is evolving to meet the global challenges of circularity and sustainability. Fast Company: Please introduce yourself to our readers.Lyse MartelLyse Martel: Im Lyse Martel, a CMF designer and design strategist, working primarily in automotive and consumer electronics. CMF, which stands for Color, Materials, and Finish, is about how a product looks, feels, and connects emotionally. So my work focuses on those elements as well as on strategy, brand identity, and sustainability. Although I mainly work in automotive and consumer electronics, CMF can apply to many different areas. Over the years Ive worked with brands like Bang & Olufsen, Hopium, and NIO. And most recently I was directing a circular design project at Volkswagen Groupdesigning for circularity from the start with a large team of designers from different disciplines. How did you find your way into this field? It was step by step. My love for design was always there, even before I knew what to call it. It was shaped by my familys craftsmanship, as well as my own curiosity for shapes, textures, colors, and sensory experiences. On my fathers side, I grew up around a lot of woodworking and carpentry. And on my mothers side are generations of tailors. So that gave me an appreciation for textiles and textures and detailing and crafts. And Ive always loved illustration and drawing and building small architectures with natural elementseverything that could involve materials and aesthetics. And I think that brought me to materiality and storytelling and eventually to CMF design. Were you able to find an educational path that encouraged your interests? I went to a specialized high school for applied arts and design, where I grew immensely as a creative person, and had a teacher who supported me and saw my potential with conceptual thinking. At university another teacher encouraged me to apply to a design internship in the automotive sector in Paris, and thats how I formally entered the CMF design field. I was immediately drawn to the innovation and complexity of using material and color to shape the brand identity for a mobility project. [Photo: Lyse Martel]How do you stay on top of trends in color and material?Much of it is intuitive, but we also learn to connect the dots and see trends. Im very much inspired by psychology and by whats going on in the worldanything that could possibly impact human experiences and emotions. Im paying attention to developments in architecture, interiors, digital and physical design, and material innovation. Im also looking at global trends that have nothing to do with the design industry, including culture and the natural world. Nature plays a big role because you can look at how light interacts, how materials evolve with time, the functioning of ecosystems, and agriculture. Im also very interested in how CMF design intersects with concepts like wellbeing and happiness, so I follow influential practitioners like Ivy Ross from Google, and Susan Magsamen, who works on neuroaesthetics, and Carol Gilligan, the psychologist and philosopher. Could you share more about neuroaesthetics? Neuroaesthetics looks at how design makes people feel: how beauty and art and design influence our brain, and how things like color, textures, light, and sound make us react cognitively or emotionally. We know that certain visual experiences will calm or excite us, while others make us feel uncomfortable. Designers can leverage those insights to create more meaningful and intuitive interactions. Ive always been fascinated by how design makes people feel, and neuroaesthetics gives us the scientific reasoning behind those ideas. For instance, when Im working with color and material for a car interior, I can decide to craft a more calming atmosphere with natural materials, or use soft lighting or a color gradient that can guide the users eye. I can think about how textures and tactility will influence the users feeling of comfort, or their perception of product quality or durability. When it comes to sustainability, there are a lot of materials that may not be readily acceptable to a user. In that case it can be helpful to lean into the authenticity of that material, perhaps by making it warmer or softer, or relating it to nature through colors or grain. So if we can somehow elevate or upscale the experience with that material, then we can start to shift the mindset to embrace sustainable materials or choices. Earlier you mentioned your work in circular design. Could you share more about that? Circular design is rethinking how we create and use products. It means designing for longevity, adaptability, and regeneration. We seek out the right materials, we design for easy reuse and repair, and we try to ensure that the product stays in circulation for as long as possible. Longevity is the number one criteria, because the longer you use a product, the less impact it has in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and other waste metrics. With circularity do you encounter pushback from industries that simply need consumers to keep buying more stuff? It does clash with short-term profit models, so its not easy for businesses to embrace it completely. But there is momentum for circular design, which is driven by consumer expectations, tighter regulations, and a growing recognition that resource efficiency is also smart business. Ive seen mobility and consumer electronics firms try out concepts like modularity, repairability, and designing with disassembly in mind. Neuroaesthetics seems to be a strategy for tapping into peoples innate prefrences for certain colors, materials, and finishes. But could also instigate behavior change, by tapping into the emotional layer of circularity? Absolutely, it can be surprisingly comforting, even if the materials are unexpected. When designing a circular product, youre often working with waste, like a polymer thats meant to circulate between cars. The challenge is making that material feel good, both emotionally and physically. What works is embracing the materials character, maybe it has a soft texture or a slight irregularity, like a grain or uneven thread. Or it comes in a natural color that feels ultra-fresh. These little details shift the focus from what it is to how it makes you feel. You might not even realize its recycled plastic, but it just feels right. Sometimes, a car interior can feel like a cozy cabin, all because of the right textures and tones. That emotional layer is what really connects circularity.How could neuroaesthetics help make people comfortable with something new, like self-driving cars? Its really about how shapes, colors and textures support the digital experience; all the micro-details working together to help the user feel at ease. Ive been testing self-driving vehicles recently, and its surprising how much the environment impacts your reaction. In one case, the layout was minimal, with just the right number of buttons, and that simplicity helped me relax. But I also tested a car that was entirely gray, and it felt dull and dated. Light tones or soft gradients, something that evokes a sunrise or sunset, can go a long way in making the space feel more inviting.With automation, trust becomes a key part of the brief. How easily will someone understand whats happening? Are they okay letting go of the wheel? Thats where CMF design needs to be fully integrated. I have to work closely with the interior and UX designers so that everything speaks the same language. If I propose a soft, natural palette and the shapes are cold or aggressive, it creates a disconnect.[AI Image: courtesy Lyse Martel]Can you share how you use AI in your work, or how AI factors into the CMF design process? Its part of my creative process in that it helps me visualize materials, colors, and sensory experiences Im considering for a project. Its a great way to communicate an idea visually, and also to put it out there so someone else can pick it up and build on it. So for me, its really a tool that helps us be more precise in how we express and share ideas.There are also really promising use cases in circular design, where AI can help us map local resources and integrate them more intelligently into products. For example, theres a lot of bamboo in China, linen in the north of France, or paper waste around Berlin. So what can we do with that knowledge? We can see where materials are available, but also think about how to reduce waste, predict life cycles, or imagine new reuse scenarios. Anything that involves localizing or optimizing can be supported by AI.And as the digital world increasingly shapes the physical one, I think theres real potential in using these new, hyper-sensory AI-generated visuals to inspire physical experiences. Neuroaesthetics helps us design for emotion, and AI can help translate those emotional cues into visual concepts that, when made real, feel meaningful and multi-sensory. Do you ever get any pushback for the decisions that you or your team might make as CMF designers? Sometimes theres a strong reaction to a particular color or material choice. I remember working on a concept car called Eve, developed with a strong focus on emerging markets and innovative design languages. I proposed an exterior in a rose gold tone, which could be read as pink. That sparked some discomfort in the room. I think it challenged certain expectations of what a car should look like, especially in Western automotive culture. But in China, rose gold is often associated with refinement and quality. Its not seen as gendered in the same way. So for me, it was an opportunity to bring a fresh, culturally relevant aesthetic into the project. I understood the hesitation, but thats part of the role. Sometimes CMF invites us to gently shift the visual language and open up new emotional possibilities.[Image: Felix Godard Design]Are there certain colors and finishes that are timeless and others that are more transitory? In the last decade we used a lot of neutrals, like beige and gray. Many brands also decided to shape themselves around their core colorsour black, our white, etc. And they would build up from there to include more exciting colors into their identity. Today I see those approaches being challenged. Gen Z is coming in and they have other ideas about whats fresh. In the past few years we saw a lot of yellows. Recently, dark reds have been popping up everywhere, and theyre a powerful, timeless choice that adds richness and sophistication. These colors grab attention and can work well, but we need to be mindful of their relevance for long-term products.I believe there is still a need for that core timelessness. You might use black as a core color, but you might tint it blue to make it more interesting or less intense. When I was at Bang & Olufsen, we often discussed how to stand out from typical black consumer electronics. For a more lifestyle-oriented, subtle design in the home, why not use gray?[Image: courtesy NIO]Are you ever surprised when a particular color takes off? The latest Pantone color of the year is a brown-beige shade, which honestly surprised me. Ive used warm grays before when I wanted to give a product a cozier, inviting feel, but this one doesnt feel as fresh to me. Im not sure it resonates with the moment in the same way other trends do. I love when a heritage brand takes an unexpected turn, like the paper company GF Smith, which recently rebranded with vibrant, poppy colrs and introduced a bespoke, rounded sans-serif typeface, GF Smith Homie. I like to see they are brushing off the history to embrace different values and just be human. They want to stand for inclusivity, so theyre going to speak up about that and make sure its seen in the brand.Where do you draw creative inspiration? Its really what makes me burn, what is calling my heart. I also need to talk to peoplenot only creatives, but people from all walks of life. I enjoy traveling through my city and looking at how people live. I learn a lot simply from riding the train, overhearing conversations, and observing how the mood changes with the seasons. I also read the news and check out certain magazines. Theres one I like, Imagine5, that focuses on how to make sustainability joyful. It explores that from all angles and its very accessible. You dont have to be a sustainability expert to enjoy it. [Image: courtesy NIO]Could you share some of the projects youve worked on that youre most proud of? I joined the global smart EV brand NIO in its early stages, when the brand vision was still taking shape, and contributed to the initial direction of color, materials, and finishes as part of the design team. The objective was to align with their vision of Blue Sky Coming, so we had to come up with progressive aesthetics and human-centered design, which later evolved into design principles. Shaping that brand was extremely rich for me in terms of learning and collaborating with so many talented designers. I also led a couple of projects one was the previously mentioned concept car called Eve. I had the opportunity to introduce more natural materials and different colors that were not commonly used in the automotive space.Introducing new aesthetics became an important theme for my later work with Bang & Olufsen, which was about connecting the dots between sound and material and design. And then more recently, the circularity project Ive been leading for Volkswagen Group is really close to my heart. The brief was to introduce longevity, adaptability, and recyclability across all design touch points for Volkswagen. To that end we provided creative direction that considered everything from exterior design, interior, user experience, and materiality.It was an interesting challenge to find the emotional layer of circularity, while staying on brand for Volkswagen. Circularity has a lot of very technical aspects, but as designers we can make circularity tangible. How do you deal with mistakes or failure in the creative process? I view mistakes or failure as an opportunity to test more, to rethink, and to reframe. If a design doesnt work, how can we regroup and find a solution thats way more interesting and beyond the obvious? In the creative process there can be a lot of fear associated with going against the grain. What Ive noticed is that if we stay in that fear space, we close ourselves off to opportunities. Its important to be in an open space of creativity and curiosity. Allow mistakes and failure to happen. When there is joy in the process and a strong intuition, you produce better results in the end. What advice would you give to aspiring designers, but also anyone who wants to enter the world you inhabit? Great design comes from a constantly growing and inspired mind. Stay curious and know that inspiration comes from everywhere. Embrace your uniqueness, but also be able to evolve from that. Be open to change and to new perspectives. There will be tough feedback and creative disagreements, but the important thing is how you receive those situations. Maintain a mindset of abundance and try to see the positive in anything you do. Finally, as creatives its important for us to take time alone to recharge, to reflect, and to work on our magic. When youre feeling well and thriving individually, your creativity also does. At that point its crucial to rejoin the collective, where you have a chance to collaborate and experience the diversity of perspectives that fuels creativity. It can be a tough road for aspiring designers, but I would encourage them to proceed with care and openness, and to leave their fears behind.
Remember the banana peels, apple cores, and leftover pizza you recently threw in the garbage? Today, your food wasteand your neighborsis emitting climate-warming greenhouse gases as it decomposes in a nearby municipal landfill.
Buried food scraps and yard waste at 51 dumps across Colorado generate an amount of methane equivalent to driving 1 million gasoline-powered cars for a year. About 80 times as potent as carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas over a period of 20 years, methane accounts for 11% of global emissions that scientists say are warming the atmosphere and contributing to more intense and severe weather, wildfires, and drought.
Landfills are the third-largest source of methane pollution in Colorado, after agriculture and fossil fuel extraction. Draft methane rules released last month by the states Department of Public Health and Environment would, for the first time, require some dump operators to measure and quantify methane releases and to fix leaks. The proposal mandates that waste managers install a gas collection system if their dump generates a certain amount of the climate-warming gas.
It also addresses loopholes in federal law that allow waste to sit for five years before such systems are requiredeven though science has shown that half of all food waste decays within about three and a half years. The draft rule surpasses U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards in the amount of landfill area operators must monitor for emissions. Its set to be heard by the states Air Quality Control Commission in August.
Proposed regulations require the elimination of open gas flaresburning emissions directly into the atmosphereand urge the use of biocovers and biofilters, which rely on bacteria to break down gases. The 70-page draft also calls for more routine and thorough monitoring of a dump surface with advanced technologies like satellites, which recently recorded large plumes of methane escaping from a Denver-area landfill.
Weve had our eyes opened thanks to technology that has made the invisible, visiblenow we know the extent of the problem, which is much greater than what estimates have portrayed, said Katherine Blauvelt, circular economy director at Industrious Labs, a nonprofit working to decarbonize industry.
When landfill operators fail to control leaks, we know harmful pollutants are coming along for the ride.
Cancer-causing volatile organic compounds, such as benzene and toluene, escape with methane leaching from landfills. These chemicals also contribute to the formation of lung-damaging ozone pollution, an increasing problem for the 3.6 million people who live in the greater Denver metropolitan area.
Indeed, the region along the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains ranked sixth in the nation for the most polluted airwith unhealthy ozone levels reported on one out of every 10 days, on average, according to the American Lung Associations 2025 State of the Air report. The state is also woefully behind in its compliance with federal air quality standards.
State officials and environmental advocates agree that reducing methane emissions from landfills, which are easier to mitigate than cow burps, for example, is one of the quickest and most efficient ways to slow warming in the short term.
Waste deposited in landfills continues producing methane for decades as it breaks downand its one sector where Colorado has yet to directly take action to reduce these greenhouse gases, said Tim Taylor, a supervisor in the states air pollution control division, in an online hearing last February on the proposed landfill methane rules.
Colorados draft regulations are similar to those in California, Oregon, Maryland, and Washington, he added. More than 10 landfills in the state are already required under federal rules to have gas collection and control systems. Yet even with such technology in place, disposal facilities routinely exceed federal methane emissions caps.
The states health department has also identified a dozen municipal solid waste landfills, based on a preliminary analysis, that would be required to put such systems in place under the proposed rules, Zachary Aedo, an agency spokesman, said in an email to Capital & Main.
Many of these facilities are operated by counties, some of which expressed concerns about their ability to pay for such systems.
We are a small rural county, and a multimillion-dollar containment system is going to be more than we can build, testified Delta County Commissioner Craig Fuller at the February hearing. The financial equation of this whole thing is absolutely mind-bogglingwe are struggling as it is to provide health and human services.
Other county officials embraced the proposed tightening of rules.
Landfills across Colorado, including in Eagle County, are leading sources of methane pollution, said Eagle County Commissioner Matt Scherr in a March 6 statement. As a local elected official I support a robust rule that embraces advanced technologies to cut pollution, protect public health and help the methane mitigation industry thrive.
For larger landfill companies, like Waste Management, which operates 283 active disposal sites nationwide, figuring out which technology works to best monitor emissions from a dumps surface is proving a complex challenge. The company is testing technologies at facilities with different topographies and climate fluctuations to understand what causes emissions releases, said Amy Banister, Waste Management senior director of air programs.
Landfills are complicated, emissions vary over time, and we have emissions 24/7, said Banister at an online meeting last September of a technical group created by Colorado health department officials. Drones produced a lot of false positivesand we need more work understanding how fixed sensors can be applied in a landfill environment.
State health officials suggested municipalities could offset the costs of installing gas collection systems at disposal sites by converting methane into energy. Several landfill operations in Colorado currently have such waste-to-energy systemswhich send power they generate to the states power grid.
We are mindful of the costs of complying with this rule and how tipping fees may be impacted, said Taylor, an air quality supervisor, at the February hearing. Analyses conducted in other states of their landfill methane rules found there wasnt an increase in tipping fees as a result of regulations over time.
Tipping fees are paid by those who dispose of waste in a landfill. If operators passed on compliance costs to households, a state analysis found, the yearly average annual fee would increase $22.90 per household.
Colorados push comes as the EPA issued an enforcement alert in September that found recurring Clean Air Act compliance issues at municipal solid waste landfills that led to the significant release of methane, based on 100 inspections conducted over three years.
Such violations included improper design and installation of gas collection and control systems, failure to maintain adequate cover integrity, and improper monitoring of facilities for emissions.
To address gaps in federal regulations, which require operators to measure emissions four times a year by walking in a grid pattern across the face of the landfill with a handheld sensor, Colorados draft rules require third-party monitoring. Such measurements must be conducted offsite by an entity approved by the states air pollution control division that uses a satellite, aircraft or mobile monitoring platform.
The infrequency of such grid walkswhich skip spots that operators deem dangerouscontributes to the undercounting of methane emissions from landfills, according to a satellite-based analysis. An international team of scientists estimated potent greenhouse gas emissions from landfills are 50% higher than EPA estimates. Satellites like one operated by nonprofit Carbon Mapper found large methane plumes outside the quarterly monitoring periods over the Tower Landfill in Commerce City, northeast of Denver.
The satellite allowed scientists to see parts of the landfill not accessible with traditional monitoringmeasurements that found that such landfills are underreporting their methane emissions to state regulators, said Tia Scarpelli, a research scientist and waste sector lead at Carbon Mapper.
Landfill emissions tend to be quite persistentif a landfill is emitting when its first observed, its likely to be emitting later on, she added. Scarpelli cautioned that its important for regulators to investigate with operators what was happening on the landfill surface at the time the leak was measured.
Tower Landfills operator, Allied Waste Systems of Colorado, provided reasons for such large methane releases in a January 2024 report to the states health department, including equipment malfunctions. The fix for about 22 emissions events over the federal methane limits detected in August 2023 by surface monitoring: Soil added as cover maintenance.
Like many dumps across Colorado and the nation, the Tower Landfill is located near a community thats already disproportionately impacted by emissions from industrial activities.
These landfills are not only driving climate change, they are also driving a public health crisis in our community, said Guadalupe Solis, director of environmental justice programs at Cultivando, a nonprofit led by Latina and Indigenous women in northern Denver. The Tower Landfill is near nursing homes, clinics, near schools with majority Hispanic students.
Physicians in the state warned that those who live the closest to dumps suffer the worst health effects from pollutants like benzene and hydrogen sulfide, which are linked to cancer, heart, and other health conditions.
People living near landfills, like myself, my family and my patients, experience higher exposure to air pollution, testified Dr. Nikita Habermehl, a specialist in pediatric emergency medicine who lives near a landfill in Larimer County, at the February 26 public hearing, leading to increased rates of respiratory issues and headaches and asthma worsened by poor air quality.
By Jennifer Oldham, Capital & Main
This piece was originally published by Capital & Main, which reports from California on economic, political, and social issues.
In less than two weeks, on June 9, Apple will kick off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), in which it will showcase the next versions of the operating systems that power its myriad devices. The centerpiece of that event will be iOS 26, the soon-to-be renumbered operating system that powers the companys flagship product, the iPhone.
Yet, despite artificial intelligence being all the rage in the tech industry right now, reports say that with iOS 26 (formerly referred to as iOS 19see below), Apple will promote something visual instead of artificial. While some new AI features may be baked into the newly renumbered OS, the key feature of iOS 26 will be its complete visual redesign. In other words, your iPhones software is about to look strikingly different. Heres how.
Welcome to the solariumand iOS 26
Two big changes are coming to the next iOS. The first is a naming rebrand. Historically, iOS versions were numbered sequentially, starting with “iPhone OS 1” for the original iPhone in 2007. With the iPhone’s 2010 operating systemits fourth versionApple shortened the name to “iOS 4.”
However, Bloomberg reports that starting with the new iOS Apple will debut on June 9, the company will drop the sequential numbering of the operating system, and go with the year it will spill over into, just like carmakers do with vehicles. So, despite being the 19th version, the upcoming iOS will no longer be called “iOS 19” and will instead be called “iOS 26.” This change will be carried over to the numbering system on all of Apple’s other operating systems, too, and is reportedly being done to provide a more uniform numbering scheme for its various software products (currently numbered macOS 16, iPadOS 18, and visionOS 2, etc), and make it easier for consumers to identify if they are running the latest device software.
However, the rebranded iOS naming scheme is a relatively minor change compared to what else Apple has in store for iOS 19sorry, iOS 26. That change is a radical visual redesign of the operating system.
Most of what is currently known about iOS 26s visual overhaul comes from two sources: Bloombergs Mark Gurman and Jon Prosser, host of the Front Page Tech YouTube channel. Both have reported on iOS 26s major redesign, and their reports largely align, suggesting that they are, at least in part, accurate.
So what will iOS 26 look like? Its internal codenamesomething Apple assigns to every software product in developmentgives us a big clue. That name is solarium, Bloomberg reported. If youre wondering what a solarium is, know that youve probably stood in one if you’ve ever been to an interior garden. It’s a room fitted with glass walls and ceilings, designed to let as much sunlight as possible filter in.
Apple presumably chose the solarium codename for iOS 26 because the entire operating system will have a glass-like appearance. By glass-like, think of an operating system with elements like menus and toolbars that are partially transparentyou can see through them, and the colors and shapes of content behind them will show through, just like light shows through a solariums glass walls.
If this sounds vaguely familiar to you, its because Apple has actually used similar transparency in one of its operating systems beforevisionOS, the software that powers the Apple Vision Pro. Indeed, reports suggest that iOS 19s design is inspired by visionOS. But visionOS powers a spatial computing deviceone that melds the physical world with the digital. That 3D interface relies heavily on digital drop shadows and other visual tricks to re-create the feeling of physical depth. However, an iPhones operating system runs on a 2D screen, so dont expect iOS 26 to feature heavy digital dropshadows.
If you want to see how Apple will handle transparent elements on a 2D device, you dont have to wait until June 9. Instead, simply check out Apples new Invites app, which it launched in February. You can see a screenshot of it above. See how different the UI looks in the app from the UI of iOS 18 currently? Those glassy panes in the app give the best visual hint of what to expect system-wide in iOS 26.
Another reported feature of the redesign is reflective buttons and other elements that shimmer when you move your phone. This shimmering isnt caused by real light hitting your iPhones screen. Rather, the software can tell, thanks to your iPhones gyroscope, when the device is moving and tilting in your hand, and will thus generate a reflective light effect across buttons to give the translucent objects more depth and form.
It will probably be very similar to how the home screen icons in tvOS, the operating system that powers the Apple TV, appear to shimmer when you gently swipe them with your thumb using the Siri Remotes touchpad.
iOS 26 is also expected to gain other major visual changes, including floating pill-shaped toolbars (replacing the fixed toolbars used at the bottom of iPhone apps now), thinner buttons, a glass-like keyboard, and potentially even rounder app icons.
Whats behind the iOS 26 visual shakeup?
Those who have reportedly seen builds of iOS 26 say the redesign that Apple is set to unveil in less than two weeks represents the most significant visual overhaul to the iPhones operating system since iOS 7 in 2013a design that has largely persisted through and to the current iOS 18.
Indeed, Bloombergs Mark Gurman has called the redesign tranformative, stating that it is one of the most dramatic software overhauls in the companys history while noting that it will fundamentally change the look of iOS.
But here’s one thing about change: most people hate itor are at least apprehensive about it. And Apple has a lot of people to contend with. It has more than two billion active devices around the world, used by hundreds of millions of users, and the switch isnt coming to just the iPhones operating system, but to the operating systems of all of Apples devices this fall, including the iPads iPadOS, the Macs macOS, the Apple Watchs watchOS, the Apple TVs tvOS, and the Vision Pros visionOS (all renumbered to “26,” too).
But Apple reportedly feels it needs to deliver something this year with iOS and its other operating systems that is, quite literally, eye-catching. It needs something special to help reinvigorate device sales, particularly after the flagship feature of iOS 18, Apple Intelligence, has largely been met with indifference by the average consumer and disappointment by AI aficionados.
In January, respected TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo stated that there was no evidence to suggest that Apple Intelligence was driving hardware upgrade cycles among consumers. In Apple’s most recent financial report, from its second quarter, iPhone revenue rose about 2% from the same period a year earlier, to $46.8 billion, but that growth may have been driven by U.S. consumers snapping up the device before Trumps tariffs make iPhones more costly, notes Sherwood.
Putting a new digital coat of paint on iOS 26 and the companys other new operating systems is an easy way to make its devices feel fresh againand, if done right, it can go a long way to actually making the ever-increasingly complicated operating systems more straightforward to use and easier to navigate.
By incorporating the same design language used in iOS 26 into its other products, the redesigned interface may make users feel more familiar with Apples other devices, which could help spur sales of Macs or Apple TVs to people who currently only own iPhones.
The iOS 26 redesign may also help distract from the fact that Apple isnt expected to make any significant announcements regarding its AI platform, Apple Intelligence, at WWDC.
Despite the early reports about iOS 26s visual changes, we wont know anything for sure until Apple unveils a preview of the upcoming operating system at WWDC on June 9.
Speaking of that event: Apples logo for WWDC25 may be teasing the iOS 26 redesign in plain sight. If you check out the animated logo here, youll notice that the ends of the transparent, glass-like rainbow seem to show colored light reflecting through its surfacejust like youd see at a solarium.
Hiring managers arent convinced that master’s degree holders perform better than candidates with two years of work experience, but they are still willing to pay them more.
Thats according to a recent survey of 1,000 U.S. hiring managers conducted by Resume Genius. Fifty-two percent of respondents said the performance of those who earn the credential is the same as those with a bachelor’s degree plus two years of work experience. Another 10% believe its worse.
A master’s degree simply isn’t experience; it’s knowledge, explains Resume Genius career expert Nathan Soto. So much practical know-how can only be learned by doing the job, and higher education doesn’t prepare people for work. It prepares them for even higher levels of academic study.
The survey also suggests a significant discrepancy in how different generations view the degree, with more than double the proportion of Gen Z hiring managers29% in totalsuggesting it leads to stronger performance, compared with just 13% of Boomers. As Baby Boomers age out of the workforce, it suggests that the proportion of hiring managers who value master’s degrees is growing, Soto says.
Despite the broad skepticism over its value, 72% of hiring managers say they offer master’s degree holders higher salaries. In fact, one in four say they offer 20% more to candidates with the degree. This may be reason enough to get one, Soto says.
Wage premiums arent keeping up with tuition
At the same time, Soto points out that the cost of higher education has more than doubled in the last 20 years. Coupled with a one- or two-year delay entering the workforce, he warns that getting a return on that investment is far from certain.
If you can afford to complete a master’s degree without incurring a crushing amount of debt, then there are real benefits, he says. However, people in fields without strict master’s degree requirements would be better off entering their chosen profession and then deciding whether or not a master’s degree is essential to their own professional advancement.
According to data from the Economic Policy Institute, those with a bachelor’s degree earn roughly 20% more in hourly wages than those without, and master’s degree holders earn an additional 20% on average.
Real hourly wages have grown both for workers with just a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree by about the same amountabout 35% over the last 33 years, says Economic Policy Institute senior economist Elise Gould, explaining that her data set goes back to 1992. The differential between a master’s and a bachelor’s degree has been pretty constant as well. Workers with a master’s degree are paid about 20% more than a worker with only a bachelor’s degree.
Gould adds that during that time the cost of obtaining a degree has skyrocketed, but the relative earning potential has remained relatively unchanged. The data are about averages. I think it is really about individuals, their resources, their time, what they’re going to study and their objectives, she says. All those factors should be taken into account.
Not all master’s degrees are made the same
On average, a slight majority of master’s degrees pay for themselves over time, however, positive returns are far less likely compared to other degree types, and depend more heavily on factors like field of study, institution, and location.
According to a 2024 study by the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, or FREOPP, 57% of master’s degree earners experience a positive return on their investment, compared with 77% of bachelor’s, doctoral, and professional degree earners.
That’s actually overstating the performance of master’s degrees, because the positive ROI is heavily concentrated in nursing, explains FREOPP founder Avik Roy. The average master’s degree outside of nursing has a negative ROI.
According to the FREOPP studywhich compares College Scorecard data against wage, occupation, and geography data published by the Census Bureau in the American Community Surveythere is a significant discrepancy in return potential between master’s programs.
Nearly 40% of MBA programs, for example, have negative returns, on average. However, there is a significantly higher chance of a positive ROI for those who attend a top-10 ranked business school.
Technical programs, like engineering and computer science, were also more likely to offer a return on their investment than not. Humanities occupied the most spots on the other end of the spectrum, with film school standing out for offering the lowest median returns.
If you’re pursuing a master’s degree in nursing, computer science, or engineering, the likely return on that is very positive, Roy says. If you’re outside of those fields of study, buyer beware.
In Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in California, trees that have persisted through rain and shine for thousands of years are now facing multiple threats triggered by a changing climate.
Scientists and park managers once thought giant sequoia forests were nearly impervious to stressors like wildfire, drought and pests. Yet, even very large trees are proving vulnerable, particularly when those stressors are amplified by rising temperatures and increasing weather extremes.
The rapid pace of climate changecombined with threats like the spread of invasive species and diseasescan affect ecosystems in ways that defy expectations based on past experiences. As a result, Western forests are transitioning to grasslands or shrublands after unprecedented wildfires. Woody plants are expanding into coastal wetlands. Coral reefs are being lost entirely.
To protect these places, which are valued for their natural beauty and the benefits they provide for recreation, clean water and wildlife, forest and land managers increasingly must anticipate risks they have never seen before. And they must prepare for what those risks will mean for stewardship as ecosystems rapidly transform.
As ecologists and a climate scientist, were helping them figure out how to do that.
Managing changing ecosystems
Traditional management approaches focus on maintaining or restoring how ecosystems looked and functioned historically.
However, that doesnt always work when ecosystems are subjected to new and rapidly shifting conditions.
Ecosystems have many moving partsplants, animals, fungi, and microbes; and the soil, air and water in which they livethat interact with one another in complex ways.
When the climate changes, its like shifting the ground on which everything rests. The results can undermine the integrity of the system, leading to ecological changes that are hard to predict.
To plan for an uncertain future, natural resource managers need to consider many different ways changes in climate and ecosystems could affect their landscapes. Essentially, what scenarios are possible?
Preparing for multiple possibilities
At Sequoia and Kings Canyon, park managers were aware that climate change posed some big risks to the iconic trees under their care. More than a decade ago, they undertook a major effort to explore different scenarios that could play out in the future.
Its a good thing they did, because some of the more extreme possibilities they imagined happened sooner than expected.
In 2014, drought in California caused the giant sequoias foliage to die back, something never documented before. In 2017, sequoia trees began dying from insect damage. And, in 2020 and 2021, fires burned through sequoia groves, killing thousands of ancient trees.
While these extreme events came as a surprise to many people, thinking through the possibilities ahead of time meant the park managers had already begun to take steps that proved beneficial. One example was prioritizing prescribed burns to remove undergrowth that could fuel hotter, more destructive fires.
The key to effective planning is a thoughtful consideration of a suite of strategies that are likely to succeed in the face of many different changes in climates and ecosystems. That involves thinking through wide-ranging potential outcomes to see how different strategies might fare under each scenarioincluding preparing for catastrophic possibilities, even those considered unlikely.
For example, prescribed burning may reduce risks from both catastrophic wildfire and drought by reducing the density of plant growth, whereas suppressing all fires could increase those risks in the long run.
Strategies undertaken today have consequences for decades to come. Managers need to have confidence that they are making good investments when they put limited resources toward actions like forest thinning, invasive species control, buying seeds or replanting trees. Scenarios can help inform those investment choices.
Constructing credible scenarios of ecological change to inform this type of planning requires considering the most important unknowns. Scenarios look not only at how the climate could change, but also how complex ecosystems could react and what surprises might lay beyond the horizon.
Scientists at the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center are collaborating with managers in the Nebraska Sandhills to develop scenarios of future ecological change unde different climate conditions, disturbance events like fires and extreme droughts, and land uses like grazing. [Photos: T. Walz, M. Lavin, C. Helzer, O. Richmond, NPS (top to bottom)., CC BY]
Key ingredients for crafting ecological scenarios
To provide some guidance to people tasked with managing these landscapes, we brought together a group of experts in ecology, climate science, and natural resource management from across universities and government agencies.
We identified three key ingredients for constructing credible ecological scenarios:
1. Embracing ecological uncertainty: Instead of banking on one most likely outcome for ecosystems in a changing climate, managers can better prepare by mapping out multiple possibilities. In Nebraskas Sandhills, we are exploring how this mostly intact native prairie could transform, with outcomes as divergent as woodlands and open dunes.
2. Thinking in trajectories: Its helpful to consider not just the outcomes, but also the potential pathways for getting there. Will ecological changes unfold gradually or all at once? By envisioning different pathways through which ecosystems might respond to climate change and other stressors, natural resource managers can identify critical moments where specific actions, such as removing tree seedlings encroaching into grasslands, can steer ecosystems toward a more desirable future.
3. Preparing for surprises: Planning for rare disasters or sudden species collapses helps managers respond nimbly when the unexpected strikes, such as a severe drought leading to widespread erosion. Being prepared for abrupt changes and having contingency plans can mean the difference between quickly helping an ecosystem recover and losing it entirely.
Over the past decade, access to climate model projections through easy-to-use websites has revolutionized resource managers ability to explore different scenarios of how the local climate might change.
What managers are missing today is similar access to ecological model projections and tools that can help them anticipate possible changes in ecosystems. To bridge this gap, we believe the scientific community should prioritize developing ecological projections and decision-support tools that can empower managers to plan for ecological uncertainty with greater confidence and foresight.
Ecological scenarios dont eliminate uncertainty, but they can help to navigate it more effectively by identifying strategic actions to manage forests and other ecosystems.
Kyra Clark-Wolf is a research scientist in ecological transformation at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Brian W. Miller is a research ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey.
Imtiaz Rangwala is a research scientist in climate at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The probability of any American having dementia in their lifetime may be far greater than previously thought. For instance, a 2025 study that tracked a large sample of American adults across more than three decades found that their average likelihood of developing dementia between ages 55 to 95 was 42%, and that figure was even higher among women, Black adults and those with genetic risk.
Now, a great deal of attention is being paid to how to stave off cognitive decline in the aging American population. But what is often missing from this conversation is the role that chronic stress can play in how well people age from a cognitive standpoint, as well as everybodys risk for dementia.
We are professors at Penn State in the Center for Healthy Aging, with expertise in health psychology and neuropsychology. We study the pathways by which chronic psychological stress influences the risk of dementia and how it influences the ability to stay healthy as people age.
Recent research shows that Americans who are currently middle-aged or older report experiencing more frequent stressful events than previous generations. A key driver behind this increase appears to be rising economic and job insecurity, especially in the wake of the 2007-2009 Great Recession and ongoing shifts in the labor market. Many people stay in the workforce longer due to financial necessity, as Americans are living longer and face greater challenges covering basic expenses in later life.
Therefore, it may be more important than ever to understand the pathways by which stress influences cognitive aging.
Social isolation and stress
Although everyone experiences some stress in daily life, some people experience stress that is more intense, persistent or prolonged. It is this relatively chronic stress that is most consistently linked with poorer health.
In a recent review paper, our team summarized how chronic stress is a hidden but powerful factor underlying cognitive aging, or the speed at which your cognitive performance slows down with age.
It is hard to overstate the impact of stress on your cognitive health as you age. This is in part because your psychological, behavioral and biological responses to everyday stressful events are closely intertwined, and each can amplify and interact with the other.
For instance, living alone can be stressfulparticularly for older adultsand being isolated makes it more difficult to live a healthy lifestyle, as well as to detect and get help for signs of cognitive decline.
Moreover, stressful experiencesand your reactions to themcan make it harder to sleep well and to engage in other healthy behaviors, like getting enough exercise and maintaining a healthy diet. In turn, insufficient sleep and a lack of physical activity can make it harder to cope with stressful experiences.
Stress is often missing from dementia prevention efforts
A robust body of research highlights the importance of at least 14 different factors that relate to your risk of Alzheimers disease, a common and devastating form of dementia and other forms of dementia. Although some of these factors may be outside of your control, such as diabetes or depression, many of these factors involve things that people do, such as physical activity, healthy eating and social engagement.
What is less well-recognized is that chronic stress is intimately interwoven with all of these factors that relate to dementia risk. Our work and research by others that we reviewed in our recent paper demonstrate that chronic stress can affect brain function and physiology, influence mood and make it harder to maintain healthy habits. Yet, dementia prevention efforts rarely address stress.
Avoiding stressful events and difficult life circumstances is typically not an option.
Where and how you live and work plays a major role in how much stress you experience. For example, people with lower incomes, less education or those living in disadvantaged neighborhoods often face more frequent stress and have fewer forms of supportsuch as nearby clinics, access to healthy food, reliable transportation or safe places to exercise or socializeto help them manage the challenges of aging As shown in recent work on brain health in rural and underserved communities, these conditions can shape whether people have the chance to stay healthy as they age.
Over time, the effects of stress tend to build up, wearing down the bodys systems and shaping long-term emotional and social habits.
Lifestyle changes to manage stress and lessen dementia risk
The good news is that there are multiple things that can be done to slow or prevent dementia, and our review suggests that these can be enhanced if the role of stress is better understood.
Whether you are a young, midlife or an older adult, it is not too early or too late to address the implications of stress on brain health and aging. Here are a few ways you can take direct actions to help manage your level of stress:
Follow lifestyle behaviors that can improve healthy aging. These include: following a healthy diet, engaging in physical activity and getting enough sleep. Even small changes in these domains can make a big difference.
Prioritize your mental health and well-being to the extent you can. Things as simple as talking about your worries, asking for support from friends and family and going outsid regularly can be immensely valuable.
If your doctor says that you or someone you care about should follow a new health care regimen, or suggests there are signs of cognitive impairment, ask them what support or advice they have for managing related stress.
If you or a loved one feel socially isolated, consider how small shifts could make a difference. For instance, research suggests that adding just one extra interaction a dayeven if its a text message or a brief phone callcan be helpful, and that even interactions with people you dont know well, such as at a coffee shop or doctors office, can have meaningful benefits.
Walkable neighborhoods, lifelong learning
A 2025 study identified stress as one of 17 overlapping factors that affect the odds of developing any brain disease, including stroke, late-life depression and dementia. This work suggests that addressing stress and overlapping issues such as loneliness may have additional health benefits as well.
However, not all individuals or families are able to make big changes on their own. Research suggests that community-level and workplace interventions can reduce the risk of dementia. For example, safe and walkable neighborhoods and opportunities for social connection and lifelong learningsuch as through community classes and eventshave the potential to reduce stress and promote brain health.
Importantly, researchers have estimated that even a modest delay in disease onset of Alzheimers would save hundreds of thousands of dollars for every American affected. Thus, providing incentives to companies who offer stress management resources could ultimately save money as well as help people age more healthfully.
In addition, stress related to the stigma around mental health and aging can discourage people from seeking support that would benefit them. Even just thinking about your risk of dementia can be stressful in itself. Things can be done about this, too. For instance, normalizing the use of hearing aids and integrating reports of perceived memory and mental health issues into routine primary care and workplace wellness programs could encourage people to engage with preventive services earlier.
Although research on potential biomedical treatments is ongoing and important, there is currently no cure for Alzheimers disease. However, if interventions aimed at reducing stress were prioritized in guidelines for dementia prevention, the benefits could be far-reaching, resulting in both delayed disease onset and improved quality of life for millions of people.
Jennifer E. Graham-Engeland is a professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State.
Martin J. Sliwinski is a professor of human development and family studies at Penn State.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The lab as we know it today is being transformed by how we think about medical research and drug discovery, as well as the intersection of artificial intelligence and biotechnology. As someone who has transitioned from a doctor to a tech CEO, Ive witnessed firsthand how our mindset around medicine and innovation needs to evolve to keep pace with the accelerating changes in technology. In my journey, one of the most important lessons Ive learned is: You can be too smart for your own good.
It may sound counterintuitive, but when building a company or investing in new technologies, the smartest people often fall into the trap of overcomplicating things. A brilliant idea isnt always enough. You need the right people who can think creatively, take risks, and make it happen in the real world.
For me, the mindset shift from doctor to CEO was about understanding that its not just about medical knowledge; its about building the right ecosystem to nurture that knowledge and turn it into real and transformative change. I believe that a crucial part of that ecosystem for my company, Owkin, is a new form of intelligence: a biological artificial superintelligence (BASI) to complement the ingenious human minds working with us. Next generation AI tools, like K Navigator, Owkins agentic co-pilot for researchers, and K Pro for pharma, which is in the pipeline, will allow us to understand the full complexity of biology that has been beyond human understanding so far.
This forms the backbone of Owkins mission: We are creating the next-generation pharma focused on discovering cures and significantly enhancing pipeline value by developing a new intelligence system capable of decoding biological truths at scale.
AI can fill the innovation gap left by pharma
As the pharmaceutical industry increasingly focuses on a handful of blockbuster drugs, its leaving behind many areas of medicine that are crucial for the future of healthcare. Too many diseases remain uncured as traditional pharma struggles to navigate the complexity of biology to augment care with efficient new molecules and diagnostics.
From rare diseases to precision oncology, theres an innovation gap that AI is perfectly positioned to fill. AI can identify previously overlooked opportunities and streamline the development of treatments that are highly personalized and targeted.
Unlike traditional pharmaceutical companies that are heavily reliant on large-scale, high-risk projects, AI companies can operate in a more agile, data-driven way. We can make smaller, more informed bets, leveraging machine learning and vast datasets to uncover insights that were once out of reach. This shift enables faster and more efficient drug discovery, with the added benefit of offering solutions for diseases that may not have attracted the attention of big pharma.
Cell lines alone aren’t going to work
Most traditional biological research has been based on cell linescells removed from the human body and grown in petri dishes.
But as we look to the future, theres a growing realization that cell lines, and other traditional research methods, are becoming outdated. While once a staple in biomedical research, they do not accurately replicate the complexity of human biology, and they fail to capture the diversity and variability that exists in real patients.
AI-driven models are capable of moving beyond the limitations of cell lines by integrating data both from research done in cells and tissues removed from the body (in vitro) and from research done in living animals (in vivo). This validation approach, which incorporates multiple data types and sources, allows us to create more reliable and predictive models of human diseases.
Science is advancing, and so is regulation. The FDAs recent announcement of plans to phase out animal testing in favor of more effective, human-relevant methods means that we are entering an era where therapies can be tested on human tissue models from the very start. In collaboration with leading academic centers, Owkin has developed a patient-derived, lab-grown organoid (a mini version of a human organ), a breakthrough that brings us closer to faster, more accurate, and humane drug discovery.
The combination of clinical data, genomic insights, and AI not only accelerates the development of new treatments but also increases their chances of success in clinical trials.
The lab of the future
The lab of the future will be one where AI is at the center, guiding discovery, improving precision, and increasing efficiency. Validation using real-world data will allow us to make better decisions and achieve higher rates of success. The traditional research process is being upended by these new technologies, and thats a good thing. The future of medicine will not just rely on human expertise, but on the power of AI and data to transform how we understand and treat disease.
AI will deliver transformative therapies at an exponential scale, addressing the complexities of biology that traditional pharmaceutical approaches often cannot solve. Labs will become automated and serve as the ultimate playground for scientists, driving the future of drug discovery by harnessing the full potential of advanced AI systems.
In these dynamic labs, organoids and agents will come together to work in synergy, allowing scientists to model and simulate human biology with greater accuracy. AI-driven technology will decipher biological patterns to identify the patients most likely to respond to specific treatments, significantly improving the chances of success in clinical trials and beyond. Seamlessly integrating these cutting-edge tools into the lab environment will transform the way we approach drug discovery, targeting diseases with a level of precision that was previously unimaginable.
By pioneering the use of data, biology, and AI to decode the fundamental mechanics of disease and advance medical science, it will be possible to establish a foundation for the future of a “positive singularity” in medicine. Through this innovative ecosystem, AI can revolutionize medicine. The time to innovate is now, and the possibilities are endless.
Thomas Clozel is cofounder and CEO of Owkin.
