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Scientists Tap ‘Secret’ Fresh Water Under the Ocean, Raising Hopes of a Thirsty World (Maria) 

The author writes, “Deep in Earth’s past, an icy landscape became a seascape as the ice melted and the oceans rose off what is now the northeastern US. Nearly 50 years ago, a government ship drilled into the sea floor and found, of all things, fresh water. This summer, a first-of-its-kind global research expedition followed up on that surprise…Drilling under the saltwater off Cape Cod, Expedition 501 extracted samples from what is now thought to be a massive, hidden aquifer.”

A Senator Just Unapologetically Declared the US a White Homeland (Laura) 

From Slate: “Schmitt makes clear that the problem of immigration is not that people violate the rules or that the rules are not enforced. It is about immigration per se, about non-Europeans stealing the birthright of the descendants of America’s original white Christian settlers. This includes German settlers like Schmitt’s ancestors, a group at one time considered nonwhite, but not the Black slaves who built much of the country and whose roots here largely predate his own, nor countless other ethnic groups who have made significant contributions to this nation.”

Families Say Maduro Lied and Confirm Trump’s Version of the US Navy Strike That Killed 11 Venezuelans (DonkeyHotey) 

The author writes, “While the Maduro administration insists that the White House ‘invented’ an attack against a Venezuelan vessel allegedly filled with drugs and that the video offered as proof was ‘made with AI,’ families and friends of the 11 men killed in the US military strike are confirming their deaths, posting photographs and tributes on social media, and giving faces and names to the victims…The US government said the operation was part of a strategy to curb the flow of drugs in the Caribbean. Authorities linked the trip to members of the Tren de Aragua criminal group. No identities or evidence of drug cargo have been released.”

Google Gemini Dubbed ‘High Risk’ for Kids and Teens in New Safety Assessment (Sean) 

From TechCrunch: “Gemini’s ‘Under 13’ and ‘Teen Experience’ tiers both appeared to be the adult versions of Gemini under the hood, with only some additional safety features added on top. The organization believes that for AI products to truly be safer for kids, they should be built with child safety in mind from the ground up. For example, its analysis found that Gemini could still share ‘inappropriate and unsafe’ material with children, which they may not be ready for, including information related to sex, drugs, alcohol, and other unsafe mental health advice.”

Teen Carlo Acutis Becomes Millennial Catholic Saint (Dana) 

The author writes, “In recent years, Acutis has shot to near rock star-like fame among many young Catholics, generating a global following the likes of which the Catholic Church hasn’t seen in ages. Much of that popularity is thanks to a concerted campaign by the Vatican to give the next generation of faithful a relatable, modern-day role model, an ordinary kid who used his technological talents to spread the faith.”

AI Generated ‘Boring History’ Videos Are Flooding YouTube and Drowning Out Real History (Laryn) 

From 404 Media: “They are part of a sophisticated and growing AI slop content ecosystem that is flooding YouTube, is drowning out human-made content created by real anthropologists and historians who spend weeks or months researching, fact-checking, scripting, recording, and editing their videos, and are quite literally rewriting history with surface-level, automated drek that the YouTube algorithm delivers to people. YouTube has said it will demonetize or otherwise crack down on ‘mass produced’ videos, but it is not clear whether that has had any sort of impact on the proliferation of AI-generated videos on the platform, and none of the people I spoke to for this article have noticed any change.”