These crackers weren’t intended to be tasty at all when first invented. CC-licensed photo by Andrea Goh on Flickr.

You can sign up to receive each day’s Start Up post by email. You’ll need to click a confirmation link, so no spam.

---

It’s Friday, so there’s another post due at the Social Warming Substack at about 0845 UK time.

---

A selection of 10 links for you. No Ritz? I’m @charlesarthur on Twitter. On Threads: charles_arthur. On Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@charlesarthur. On Bluesky: @charlesarthur.bsky.social. Observations and links welcome.

---

Trump administration’s MAHA report on children’s health filled with flawed references, including some studies that don’t exist • CNN

Brenda Goodman, Jacqueline Howard and Betsy Klein:

»

The first report from the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, released last week, appears to be rife with errors, including some studies that don’t exist.

Touted by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a milestone, the report lays out the government’s priorities for addressing chronic health problems in children, which it ascribes to poor diet, lack of exercise, stress, overprescribing of drugs and exposure to environmental chemicals.

The sweeping 78-page document was produced in a little more than three months after it was ordered by President Donald Trump. It contained 522 references to studies, government reports and news articles. But some of these references were wrong or don’t appear to exist. In other cases, studies in the report were misrepresented, according to the researchers who conducted them.

The citation errors were first reported by NOTUS, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news site created by former Politico Publisher Robert Allbritton.

An updated version of the report was posted online Thursday with some changes to the text and the works cited.

NOTUS identified seven studies in the original report that didn’t appear to exist.

One of them was credited to Dr. Katherine Keyes, an epidemiologist at Columbia University, and titled “Changes in mental health and substance use among US adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Keyes said she does study anxiety in teens, but she didn’t author any study with that title.

«

Absolutely typical of the Trump administration not to take any care in devision such a report. But how do you quote studies that don’t exist? How don’t you check that? Of course they used a chatbot to compile it – demanding that it write all the content – but it’s ridiculous. Slovenly and stupid.
unique link to this extract

---

Why were Graham Crackers invented? The reason is truly bizarre • All That’s Interesting

John Kuroski:

»

The graham cracker needs no introduction. [English readers: OK, it does. It’s basically a sort of ryebread cracker like you’d put cheese on.] Today, these delightfully crunchy snacks are a common fixture at campfire gatherings, serving as a key ingredient of s’mores and helping to deliver the delicious combination of chocolate and toasted marshmallow to one’s mouth.

Few people stop to think about why graham crackers were invented, though, and most would likely assume that their creation was a typical culinary experiment. But this assumption is far from the truth. The original purpose of the graham cracker was, in fact, to repress sexual desires in all who ate them.

…Sylvester Graham believed that people should eat like Adam and Eve did, theorizing that indulging in rich, flavorful foods — think meats, fats, and anything with spices — could ignite carnal desires and lead individuals down a path of moral decay. In his view, a bland diet was the key to maintaining sexual purity and restraint. He advocated for a vegetarian lifestyle centered around whole wheats, which he believed would curb lustful thoughts.

The philosophy came to be known as the “Graham Diet,” which included an early, now-unrecognizable version of the graham cracker.

While promoting his “Graham Diet,” Graham spoke out against the additives that were being put in processed bread at the time to make it whiter and the preservatives that kept the bread from spoiling. He promoted homemade bread — emphasizing the importance of using whole wheat flour — in his 1837 book A Treatise on Bread and Bread-Making.
He also promoted virtually flavorless food, thinking that adding spices or sugars to foods increased people’s sexual urges, and suggested bland products to avoid stimulating the body in an “unholy” way.

«

Graham was an, er, inspiration for John Kellogg who did indeed invent those breakfast cereals you’ve heard of.
unique link to this extract

---

Trump administration pulls the plug on the bird flu vaccine • NPR

Rob Stein:

»

The federal government announced Wednesday that it is cancelling a contract to develop a vaccine to protect people against flu viruses that could cause pandemics, including the bird flu virus that’s been spreading among dairy cows in the U.S., citing concerns about the safety of the mRNA technology being used.

The Department of Health and Human Services said it is terminating a $766m contract with the vaccine company Moderna to develop an mRNA vaccine to protect people against flu strains with pandemic potential, including the H5N1 bird flu virus that’s been raising fears.

“After a rigorous review, we concluded that continued investment in Moderna’s H5N1 mRNA vaccine was not scientifically or ethically justifiable,” HHS Communications Director Andrew Nixon said in a statement.

“This is not simply about efficacy — it’s about safety, integrity, and trust. The reality is that mRNA technology remains under-tested, and we are not going to spend taxpayer dollars repeating the mistakes of the last administration, which concealed legitimate safety concerns from the public,” Nixon said.

…Jennifer Nuzzo, the director of Brown University’s Pandemic Center, said the decision was “disappointing, but unsurprising given the politically-motivated, evidence-free rhetoric that tries to paint mRNA vaccines as being dangerous.”

“While there are other means of making flu vaccines in a pandemic, they are slower and some rely on eggs, which may be in short supply,” Nuzzo added in an email.

«

The line about eggs is thermonuclear-grade hot. Anyway, looks like the watching brief needs to keep watching.
unique link to this extract

---

The myth of automated learning • New Cartographies

Nicholas Carr thinks the threat of AI in education is because it discourages the process of learning:

»

You can speculate all you want about computers eventually attaining human-level intelligence or even “superintelligence,” but for the time being AI is doing something that has a long precedent in human affairs. Whether it’s engaged in research or summarization, writing words or creating charts, it is replacing human labour with machine labour.

Thanks to human-factors researchers and the mountain of evidence they’ve compiled on the consequences of automation for workers, we know that one of three things happens when people use a machine to automate a task they would otherwise have done themselves:

• Their skill in the activity grows
• Their skill in the activity atrophies
• Their skill in the activity never develops.

Which scenario plays out hinges on the level of mastery a person brings to the job. If a worker has already mastered the activity being automated, the machine can become an aid to further skill development. It takes over a routine but time-consuming task, allowing the person to tackle and master harder challenges. In the hands of an experienced mathematician, for instance, a slide rule or a calculator becomes an intelligence amplifier.

If, however, the maintenance of the skill in question requires frequent practice — as is the case with most manual skills and many skills requiring a combination of manual and mental dexterity — then automation can threaten the talent of even a master practitioner. We see this in aviation. When skilled pilots become so dependent on autopilot systems that they rarely practice manual flying, they suffer what researchers term “skill fade.” They lose situational awareness, and their reactions slow. They get rusty.

…Unlike carpentry or calculus, learning is not a skill that can be “mastered.” It’s true that the more research you do, the better you’ll get at doing research, and the more papers you write, the better you’ll get at writing papers, but the pedagogical value of a writing assignment doesn’t lie in the tangible product of the work — the paper that gets handed in at the assignment’s end. It lies in the work itself: the critical reading of source materials, the synthesis of evidence and ideas, the formulation of a thesis and an argument, and the expression of thought in a coherent piece of writing.

«

unique link to this extract

---

Apple is reportedly going to rename all of its operating systems • The Verge

Jay Peters:

»

Apple is going to change how it names its next set of major operating systems, Bloomberg reports. Instead of just notching up the version number, Apple will instead mark them by year.

However, the numbers will apparently align with the year after the one the update is actually released in, similar to cars. That means that the next big iOS update will be iOS 26 instead of iOS 19. Bloomberg says that other upcoming name changes include iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26.

Apple plans to officially announce the change at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which kicks off on June 9th. The idea is to make Apple’s software version numbers more consistent. Right now, the version numbers are all over the place; the current naming schemes include things like iOS 18, watchOS 12, and visionOS 2.

«

Makes sense, I suppose? Except calling the software released this year by next year’s number is.. oh well. People who don’t get to hear about this are going to be confused as hell when they see their Watch go from 12 to 26, and wonder what on earth happened to 13-25.
unique link to this extract

---

Dieselgate pollution killed 16,000 people in UK, study estimates • The Guardian

Damian Carrington:

»

The excess pollution emitted as a result of the Dieselgate scandal has killed about 16,000 people in the UK and caused 30,000 cases of asthma in children, according to a new analysis. A further 6,000 premature deaths will occur in coming years without action, the researchers said.

The Dieselgate scandal erupted in 2015 when diesel cars were found to be emitting far more toxic air pollution on the roads than when they passed regulatory tests, due to the use of illegal “defeat devices”.

Large fines and compulsory recalls of vehicles to remove or disable the defeat devices took place in the US. But experts say the UK and most EU countries have lagged far behind, leading to devastating impacts on health, and urge immediate action. Many millions of highly polluting diesel vehicles remain on the roads in the UK and EU.

The analysis estimated the impact of only the excess pollution released due to the defeat devices, not the total emissions from the cars. In the UK, these excess emissions had led to 800,000 days of sick leave and a total economic burden due to deaths and poor health of £96bn by 2024.

Across the UK and EU combined, the fallout from Dieselgate has included about 124,000 early deaths and economic damage of €760bn (£637bn), the study estimated. Without action, a further 81,000 premature deaths and €430bn are projected by 2040, by which time most Dieselgate vehicles will no longer be in use.

“Our calculations reveal the widespread and devastating health impacts of excessive diesel emissions – thousands of lives cut short, countless children developing asthma, and an immense burden of chronic illness,” said Dr Jamie Kelly, at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea), which conducted the research for environmental law group ClientEarth.

«

Before you scoff at the numbers, or the idea that vehicle exhausts could have such effects, remember that lead used to be a component of petrol, leading to dramatic levels of air pollution and, in turn, blood lead levels which dropped dramatically when it was banned. Dieselgate is egregious because the effects of particulates were known when the “defeat devices” were built.
unique link to this extract

---

German court confirms civil liability for corporate climate harms • Climate Rights International

»

In a landmark ruling advancing efforts to hold major polluters accountable for transnational climate-related harms, on May 28 a German court concluded that a corporation can be held liable under civil law for its proportional contribution to global climate change, Climate Rights International said today. 

Filed in 2015, the case against German energy giant RWE AG challenged the corporation to pay for its proportional share of adaptation costs needed to protect the Andean city of Huaraz, Peru, from a flood from a glacial lake exacerbated by global warming. RWE AG, one of Europe’s largest emitters, is estimated to be responsible for approximately 0.47% of global historical global greenhouse gas emissions.

“This groundbreaking ruling confirms that corporate emitters can no longer hide behind borders, politics, or scale to escape responsibility,” said Lotte Leicht, Advocacy Director at Climate Rights International. “The court’s message is clear: major carbon polluters can be held legally responsible for their role in driving the climate crisis and the resulting human rights and economic harms. If the reasoning of this decision is adopted by other courts, it could lay the foundation for ending the era of impunity for fossil fuel giants and other big greenhouse gas emitters.”

«

There’s an article about the Peruvian farmer (yes really) who brought this lawsuit at Climate Change News.

After this week’s collapse of a glacier in Switzerland, this ruling feels like the coming together of strands of possibility.
unique link to this extract

---

U.S. pauses exports of airplane and semiconductor technology to China • The New York Times

Ana Swanson:

»

The Trump administration has suspended some sales to China of critical U.S. technologies, including those related to jet engines, semiconductors and certain chemicals and machinery. The move is a response to China’s recent restrictions on exports of critical minerals to the United States, a decision by Beijing that has threatened to cripple U.S. company supply chains, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The new limits are pushing the world’s largest economies a step closer toward supply chain warfare, as Washington and Beijing try to flex their power over essential economic components in an attempt to gain the upper hand in an intensifying trade conflict.

A growing standoff over critical supply chains could have significant implications for companies that depend on foreign technologies, including makers of airplanes, robots, cars and semiconductors.

It could also complicate efforts to negotiate an end to a trade fight over the administration’s tariff policies. On May 12, negotiators from the two countries agreed to reduce the punishing tariffs they have imposed on each other for 90 days while negotiators sought a longer-term resolution.

Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, said at the time that “the consensus from both delegations is that neither side wanted a decoupling.” Yet the administration continues to target China with punitive measures. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also announced on Wednesday that the United States would “aggressively revoke” visas for Chinese students who study in critical fields or who have connections to the Chinese Communist Party.

«

Given that a US court declared Trump’s tariffs illegal (see p25 of the judgment), all they have now is reciprocal export wars. China might win that one too.
unique link to this extract

---

AI-powered political fanfiction racks up views online • Semafor

David Weigel and Kadia Goba:

»

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, kept herself busy on Tuesday. She confronted Elon Musk in a closed-door meeting, got Supreme Court justices John Roberts and Clarence Thomas arrested, ended the career of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and humiliated Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert.

Crockett’s busy — and fictional — day unfolded on “Mr. Noah’s Stories,” a YouTube channel that inserts the names of public figures into lengthy fanfiction videos. It’s one of many accounts, across social media sites, that serves the appetite for dramatic, partisan stories by making them up.

With little fanfare — maybe “with jaw clenched,” as these overwritten stories often put it — Crockett’s gotten a few of the fakes taken down, and ignored the rest.

“Clearly the algorithm loves my name, so people do stuff with my name,” Crockett told Semafor. “I’ve just told people at this point, if it’s an AI-generated voice, it’s probably a lie.”

Hard to avoid on TikTok, YouTube or Facebook, AI-generated slop has become a barometer of political fame, just as it has of pop culture celebrity. Cabinet secretaries, members of Congress, and presidential family members regularly appear in fake stories with tidy narratives.

They fly under the radar. They sometimes get more views than real-world political reporting that’s not built for the algorithms.

And they’ve become irritating, and worrying, to some members of Congress.

«

There’s no way this ends well. The problem is, how do you police it? AI systems already fail to tell truth from fiction, just as humans do.
unique link to this extract

---

Sam Altman and Jony Ive will force A.I. into your life • The New Yorker

Kyle Chayka:

»

It will reportedly not attempt to supplant the other technologies you depend on: according to the Wall Street Journal, Altman described it as a kind of third device, meant to work within an ecosystem that includes your laptop and smartphone. But it will effectively be a self-surveillance machine that creates a technological scrim for your personal reality.

The involvement of Ive invites inevitable comparisons with the iPhone, but this is not necessarily a compliment; to many of us, an iPhone of A.I. sounds less like a utopian promise than like a threat that A.I. will soon become ubiquitous and unavoidable. Smartphones have already absorbed us in our screens, creating personalized information bubbles; omnipresent A.I. will only intensify that atomization while being more automated, more inscrutable, and more inescapable.

The video claims that more information about the new product will be shared next year, which would mean that we’re currently in the Palm Pilot stage of A.I.—with the iPhone-like invention looming around the corner, poised to obliterate the competition.

But there are vast logistical hurdles to achieving this optimistic timeline for ubiquitous consumer A.I. More than a billion people in the world own iPhones. Some research estimates that generating a typical e-mail using A.I. consumes a bottle’s worth of water to siphon heat away from the data centers’ servers to separate cooling towers. This means that, if we all started using our personal A.I. machines dozens of times a day, as we do our iPhones, the environmental toll of our personal technology would skyrocket—imagine something like turning every car on the road into a diesel truck.

«

Not to worry – it’s not as if the world has a problem with how it generates its energy, after all.
unique link to this extract

---

• Why do social networks drive us a little mad? • Why does angry content seem to dominate what we see? • How much of a role do algorithms play in affecting what we see and do online? • What can we do about it? • Did Facebook have any inkling of what was coming in Myanmar in 2016? Read Social Warming, my latest book, and find answers – and more.

---

Errata, corrigenda and ai no corrida: none notified