Author: openjargon

• A lawyer for a heiress used her "like a human ATM," prosecutors allege. 
• The heiress Gretchen Valade's grandfather founded the workwear brand Carhartt.
• Her attorney, David Sutherland, is accused of stealing millions from her trusts before her death.

Carhartt heiress Gretchen Valade's longtime lawyer is facing trial over accusations that he embezzled millions of dollars from the philanthropist in her final years of life.

The Michigan criminal trial of David Sutherland, an attorney who managed two trusts for Valade, began in Wayne County Criminal Court last week.

During opening remarks on Thursday, an assistant attorney general accused Sutherland of using Valade of using her "like a human ATM," the Detroit Free Press reported.

Valade, a philanthropist and businesswoman whose grandfather started the Carhartt workwear company in 1889, died in December 2022 at the age of 97.

She was known in Michigan as the "Angel of Jazz" for her work saving the Detroit Jazz Festival, according to Michigan Public.

Sutherland was charged just weeks after Valade's death in 2023 with one count of conducting a criminal enterprise, two counts of embezzling more than $100,000, and one count of embezzling more than $100,000 from a vulnerable adult, according to the Michigan attorney general's office.

The felony counties each carry a maximum 20-year sentence.

Sutherland has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Attorneys for Sutherland did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The Michigan attorney general's office alleges that Sutherland issued himself a series of loans without Valade's permission from her 1982 revocable trust and her 2009 irrevocable trust, both of which he managed.

"Trust. That's what this case is really about. Trust and betrayal," Scott Teter, division chief of the financial crimes division for the Attorney General's Office, said during opening remarks last week, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Teter told the jury that despite already billing Valade $19,000 a month for his services, Sutherland also secretly wrote himself two promissory notes for $5 million each from Valade's trusts, leaving "no note, no I.O.U., no nothin,'" the Detroit Free Press reported.

Teter also accused Sutherland of using the stolen money to pay for two of his failing businesses, a Florida pizza franchise and a Michigan oil company, according to the outlet.

"Mr. Sutherland abused his authority as an attorney and trusted advisor to steal millions from a long-time client and must be held accountable," Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in 2023 press release.

• Apple's new Pencil Pro shows the tech giant really thought of everything in its latest launch.
• A viral TikTok highlighted a subtle detail in the stylus that is "so Apple."
• The Pencil Pro launched May 7 alongside the new M4 iPad.

The new Apple Pencil Pro comes with a subtle yet surprising new feature.

The pencil stylus was launched on May 7 at the "Let Loose" event alongside the new M4 iPad Pro and iPad Air. Apple showed off the capabilities of the new Pencil Pro, but a recent TikTok revealed another feature that highlights the tech giant's attention to detail.

A designer who goes by Oliur online posted a video demonstrating how the Pencil Pro casts an artificial shadow over an iPad depending on which tool is selected, mimicking the shadow of a real pen a user would choose.

In the viral video, the creator chose a fountain pen to write with, and a shadow of the pen could be seen on the iPad screen as he held the stylus closer to the new OLED display.

"This is so ridiculous and so over the top, but just so Apple as well," Oliur said.

It's unclear if the detail is only present in graphic-design software Procreate, where artists can press the barrel of the Pencil Pro to prompt shortcuts to a range of tools, such as brushes, a marker, and more.

The new stylus starts at $129 and comes with "Find My" compatibility.

Apple didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• Michael Cohen testified that he would financially benefit if Donald Trump is acquitted.
• It gives him more to talk about on his podcasts and in a future book.
• Cohen isn't shutting up any time soon — he said he might run for US Congress.

Michael Cohen wants to see Donald Trump behind bars.

But if the former president is acquitted in his ongoing hush-money trial, it'd probably be better for Cohen financially, he testified Monday morning.

Asked by Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche whether a conviction would benefit Cohen financially, he said the opposite was true.

"The answer is 'no,'" Cohen said.

If Trump walks free, Cohen may be able to make more money from his podcast and a potential third book.

"It's better if he's not, for me, because it gives me more to talk about in the future," Cohen said.

Blanche completed his third day of cross-examining Cohen Monday, seeking to depict him to jurors as a liar and scoundrel out for vengeance against Trump.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office accused Trump of falsifying 34 business documents in order to reimburse Cohen for hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Trump's lawyers have said that Cohen went rogue when making the hush-money payments and that Trump wasn't involved in the scheme.

Cohen, a former personal lawyer to Trump and Trump Organization executive, has had his own share of legal trouble.

He pleaded guilty in 2018 to breaking campaign finance laws with the hush-money payment, as well as to an array of tax crimes and lying to Congress about Trump's business dealings.

In the years since Cohen has turned into a wrathful Trump critic. He served a stint in prison, has written two books — "Disloyal" and "Revenge" — and hosts two podcasts about his decadelong journey in Trump's orbit.

Blanche, in his cross-examination, suggested that Cohen's media output gives him a financial interest in the outcome of the criminal trial.

Cohen has testified that he's made about $4.4 million since September 2020, from book sales, his podcasts, and sales of podcast-affiliated merchandise.

Cohen lost his law license as a result of his guilty pleas and testified he had sold multiple properties he owned. Nearly all of his income comes from book sales and podcast deals, with additional funds coming from a lease on one remaining investment property he owns, and an additional negligible sum from TikTok, he testified.

He has also shopped around a reality show about his life called "The Fixer," he said on the witness stand Monday. No studio has picked it up yet, he said.

Cohen said, regardless of how the trial turns out, he would be talking about the case. He said he is considering writing a third book and running for US Congress.

"Whether Mr. Trump is ultimately determined innocent or guilty is not going to affect whether I speak about it or not," Cohen said.

• Trump has yet to chose a VP candidate, but several names are in the mix.
• A new poll shows that Rep. Elise Stefanik would have the most negative impact on the ticket.
• Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott would have the most positive effect, according to the poll.

Donald Trump still has yet to choose someone to be his running mate.

One element that the former president and presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee will have to consider, among other factors, is the impact that each of the vice presidential contenders will have on the ticket overall.

If a new Harvard CAPS-Harris poll released on Monday is to be believed, there are several options that could give Trump a significant boost — and others that would be a significant drag.

Among the contenders polled, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York — who, as House GOP conference chair, is the highest-ranking woman in Washington — would be the biggest drag on the ticket.

24% of all voters say they would be less likely to support a Trump ticket with her on it, while just 13% said they would be more likely to do so.

It's bad even within her own party: 22% of GOP respondents said they would be less likely to vote for Trump if Stefanik was on the ticket, while just 12% said they would be more likely to do so.

Those results put her below North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a lesser-known contender, as well as South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who's recently made headlines for killing her own dog and dubiously claiming to have met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

The poll, conducted between May 15 and 16 among 1,660 registered voters, does not explain why Stefanik ranks so low.

While she was among the first House Republicans to endorse Trump's 2024 campaign, it's possible that GOP voters are still aware of her past as a moderate, Trump-skeptic lawmaker.

The poll also found that Stefanik remains relatively unknown to the average voter — 20% have a favorable impression of her, 22% have an unfavorable impression, and 56% either have no opinion, or haven't heard of her.

Meanwhile, the poll showed that the biggest boons for the Trump ticket would be Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy — both of whom challenged Trump for the nomination this year — as well as Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.

In each case, the majority of voters — ranging between 54% and 64% — indicated that Trump's VP choice wouldn't affect their decision at all.

Here's how each VP contender polled among all voters:

• Sen. Tim Scott — 25% more likely, 19% less likely;
• Vivek Ramaswamy — 23% more likely, 13% less likely;
• Sen. Marco Rubio — 22% more likely, 22% less likely;
• Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard — 19% more likely, 20% less likely;
• Gov. Kristi Noem — 16% more likely, 23% less likely;
• Gov. Doug Burgum — 15% more likely, 21% less likely;
• Rep. Elise Stefanik — 13% more likely, 24% less likely.

• Cargo vessels account for nearly 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, underscoring a need for energy-efficient solutions.
• WISAMO from Michelin is a new automated wing sail design that harnesses the wind for propulsion.
• Its innovative design, with a goal of lowering carbon emissions by up to 50%, can propel the maritime industry to a more sustainable future.

Long before cargo vessels hauled millions of gallons of oil to fuel their voyages, merchant ships hoisted their sails using the wind. An innovative new design is bringing these sails back using groundbreaking 21st-century technology that could propel the maritime industry to a greener, more sustainable future.

WISAMO from Michelin — its name is a combination of the words wing, sail, and mobility — is an inflatable, retractable, and automated wing sail. While it's not intended to replace ships' engines entirely, it lightens their loads and decreases their dependence on fuel. According to Michelin, the company that manufactured the design, the goal is to cut carbon emissions by up to 20% for existing ships and up to 50% for newly-built models.

"It is a revolutionary design that harnesses the wind — a free, universal, and inexhaustible source of propulsion," Gildas Quemeneur, executive director of WISAMO, said. "Decarbonization has become a vital way to limit environmental impact, and solutions need to come in many different forms. WISAMO is an important innovation that can help the maritime industry reach its ambitious goals."

An industry ripe for transformation

Energy-efficient solutions are sorely needed in the maritime industry, which transports 90% of the world's goods. The average size of container ships has doubled in the last 20 years, and the vessels now account for nearly 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. 

To improve its environmental profile, the International Maritime Organization has set a goal of cutting carbon emissions by at least 20% by 2030 and 70% by 2040, intending to reach carbon net zero by 2050. Ships must make drastic changes to achieve these goals — a daunting task considering that 99% rely on conventional heavy fuel oil. WISAMO was introduced as a solution at Michelin's 2021 Movin'On World Summit for Sustainable Mobility, a forum of over 5,000 public and private stakeholders seeking to solve the challenges of sustainable transportation. Michelin's engineers began testing WISAMO on French sailing champion Michel Desjoyeaux's yacht later that year. 

Designed to propel into the future 

Unlike a traditional sail, which has a flat surface, WISAMO from Michelin is inflatable, reducing mechanical stress and increasing durability. When conditions are suitable for capturing the wind, small fans inside the sail fill it with air as a telescopic mast raises it high above the deck. When the ship returns to port, passes under a bridge, or encounters winds above 55 knots, the mast lowers and the sail deflates into neat folds atop the deck. 

These actions are performed digitally and automatically, with sensors determining optimal settings for smooth, efficient sailing. The sail is simple to install and operate, and can be used by commercial ships and pleasure craft alike.

"The WISAMO wing sail has one of the broadest ranges of wind use on the market, with proven effectiveness on many points of sail. It is particularly efficient upwind," Gildas Quemeneur said.

Its automated operation is critical for cargo ships, which are sparsely crewed with staff who may lack sailing experience. Retractable sails make loading and unloading freight easy, especially for "ro-ro ships" that carry cars, motorcycles, buses, and other vehicles, which are typically rolled onto the deck and rolled off at their destination.

After gaining feedback from Desjoyeaux, Michelin began testing a second prototype on the Compagnie Maritime Nantaise ro-ro ship MN Pelican. The ship's routes include the Bay of Biscay, notorious for its rough seas and strong winter winds. The robust WISAMO from Michelin has stood up well to these conditions, and the Pelican's captain and crew say they are impressed with its efficient operation.

While the current model of WISAMO from Michelin measures 1,076 square feet, Michelin is developing a larger version that reaches 8,611 square feet. Large container ships could deploy as many as six of the large sails. The first commercial deliveries are planned for 2026. 

Carrying and using less heavy fuel oil could also help shipping companies save money, and Michelin estimates the WISAMO will pay for itself in about five years. After that, it will continue to generate additional savings throughout its lifecycle.  

With its automated, easy-to-use features, WISAMO from Michelin is a boon for commercial and pleasure ships seeking energy-efficient solutions. Its innovative wind sail design could speed the shipping industry toward its environmental goals and significantly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. 

Learn more about WISAMO from Michelin and other innovations here. 

This post was created by Insider Studios with Michelin.

• Companies are leveraging 5G, which requires new cybersecurity approaches.
• Professionals at the RSA Conference shared insights on securing 5G devices and networks.
• This article is part of "5G and Connectivity Playbook," a series exploring some of our time's most important tech innovations.

Increasingly, companies are leveraging 5G connectivity, whether through 5G mobile devices or Internet of Things technology. This means they need to evolve the way they think about cybersecurity.

Business Insider spoke with several cybersecurity professionals at the annual RSA Conference, which took place from May 6 to 9 in San Francisco. They shared advice on how companies could improve cybersecurity as they moved into the age of 5G.

"For the office, factories, sites, campuses, 5G should be seen as an active replacement for WiFi," Nathan Howe, the group vice president of innovation at Zscaler, said. "This requires some serious rethinking, but the advantages are massive — once you get past that initial shock in terms of difference. Private 5G networks will change the way in which everything connects."

Overall, professionals said that companies should think about cybersecurity from the beginning.

"It's much cheaper thinking about cybersecurity when building something rather than thinking about cybersecurity when it's already built," Andrea Carcano, a cofounder and the chief product officer of Nozomi Networks, said.

Here are cybersecurity professionals' best practices for securing 5G devices and networks.

Inspect and secure 5G devices

Many customers are still trying to understand how to fully use 5G. Increasingly, organizations purchase and manage their own private 5G infrastructure.

If they do this, they must conduct thorough security assessments, inspect the quality of the IoT products they use, and follow manufacturer guidelines on how to secure them, Boaz Gelbord, Akamai's chief security officer, said.

Additionally, professionals said companies should understand what's connected to the 5G networks they're using and hold their vendors accountable for security, ensuring they make updates to software and hardware and mend any vulnerabilities.

Use a zero-trust approach

Several professionals pointed to using a zero-trust approach, which means systems should never trust anything entering the network and should verify all devices, requests, and users. This includes security controls over which users can access the network and which systems on the network can communicate with each other.

"Zero trust really goes hand in hand with 5G," Donna Johnson, Cradlepoint's chief marketing officer, said. "Even as your attack surface widens, you've narrowed the potential impact of any attack that can get through."

As part of this approach, companies should have visibility into the traffic of their 5G networks and continuously validate and monitor end-point devices on those networks. That's because as more devices get connected to 5G networks, the bigger the attack surface becomes.

"From an attacker's perspective, the more things connected to it, the more gold mines there are for them to attack," Christine Gadsby, the vice president of product security at BlackBerry, said.

It's also important to have a powerful enforcement layer, including enforcement policies and controls over which devices are permitted to access the network, Darren Guccione, the CEO and a cofounder of Keeper Security, said.

"We make sure the right person, on the right device, at the right time, at the right location has access to very specific systems based on their role," Guccione said.

With more IoT devices, there are even more ways to communicate across 5G networks. Companies should use tools to check whether rogue devices are on their 5G networks.

"Because 5G includes IoT, it's going to open up a whole world of issues with monitoring communication," Megha Kalsi, a partner at AlixPartners, said. "As an industry, we also need to figure out how to monitor some of that communication using 5G."

Analyze risks

Finally, companies should analyze their risks, the services they use, and how much of their data is exposed. They should consider possible entry points for hackers and how they can mitigate issues as they transition to 5G.

This is crucial, given the significant gap between the speed at which bad actors can exploit vulnerabilities and the speed at which an organization can patch its vulnerabilities.

Companies need to "go above and beyond best practices," Jimmy Mesta, the chief technology officer and a cofounder of RAD Security, said. They need to monitor for anomalies, verify workloads, and properly configure the products they use. As generative artificial intelligence is increasingly used in cybersecurity, some tasks can be automated.

Increased use of 5G calls for updated security practices. "A lot of the standard practices today will not work," Carcano said. "That's the main risk. Someone will use 5G technology and try to apply old-school methodology to perform cybersecurity, but 5G will change and expand boundaries and work more in a zero-trust network when potentially everything is at risk."

• College athletes should be leveraging LinkedIn more, say athletes and experts.
• Student-athlete Sabrina Oostburg described the success she's had using LinkedIn to promote herself.
• NIL Athlete of the Year Chase Griffin also said even high-school athletes should be on LinkedIn.

The name, image, and likeness business has changed the game for college athletes who now need to self-promote on social-media platforms like Instagram and TikTok if they want to make money from NIL.

LinkedIn is another often-overlooked platform where student-athletes can promote themselves and score brand deals, athletes and experts told Business Insider.

The professional network has leaned into creator content and grown in recent years as a platform for influencers of all kinds.

Some student-athletes who have found success building their brands on LinkedIn include Tanner Maddox, a freshman football player from Villanova; Sabrina Oostburg, a track and field athlete from Belmont University; and Connor Printz, a former basketball player from Claremont McKenna College, according to Out2Win, an AI-powered platform for brands to evaluate athletes based on their marketability metrics, which tracked the frequency of student-athletes posting on LinkedIn.

While Instagram and TikTok are crucial for athletes to showcase their creativity and build an audience, LinkedIn is better for connecting directly with brands, said Jack Adler, founder of Out2Win.

"LinkedIn is a better platform for actually connecting with those businesses because that's where a lot of the marketers spend their time," Adler said.

Oostburg and Printz told BI they've used LinkedIn to secure NIL brand deals and connect with agents or other professionals they want to work with.

College athletes have used LinkedIn to get brand deals and sign with talent agents

Oostburg said she landed two sponsorship deals through LinkedIn, including with the Nashville Zoo and a startup called Backhat. One of the partnerships was paid and both offered free products. She's also connected through the platform with social-media managers and business owners — and even her current agency, Raymond Representation.

Oostburg said some of her peers have laughed at her for using LinkedIn and don't see the value in it.

"I'm like, 'What are you guys laughing at?'"she said. "They don't see the vision of how you can use that for NIL."

Printz, meanwhile, has used LinkedIn to help build his personal brand and prepare for a sports career after college. Two months ago, he posted on LinkedIn his story about gaining over 100 NIL deals and over 1 million followers across social media. He said the post opened a lot of doors for him.

"It kind of went a little bit viral on there and people were reaching out to me every single day just wanting to talk," said Printz.

While Printz hasn't used LinkedIn to get NIL deals, like Oostburg, he found his agent through the platform while seeking NIL representation about six months ago.

"When I was looking for an agent, I just posted on there and had many, many people reach out," he said. "Luckily, that's how I connected with my agent."

Samantha Green, who founded the Athlete Con convention and works directly with student-athletes, said she advises athletes to post about their current NIL deals and contact brands on LinkedIn for opportunities.

"If you think about it seriously, anybody that's a head of influencer marketing at any brand is often on LinkedIn," she told BI.

Green said athletes can also make more of a name for themselves on LinkedIn than on other platforms.

"There are a million athletes on TikTok. There are a million athletes on Instagram. But who are the ones actually putting a business presence forward and building a brand as a professional while still being a college athlete?" Green said. "Few and far between are on LinkedIn, so you'll really stand out."

Chase Griffin, a UCLA quarterback who was named the 2022 NIL Male Athlete of the Year by NIL Summit and Opendorse, is also proof of the opportunities athletes can get on LinkedIn. Griffin, who's scored more than 30 NIL deals during his career, landed his first through LinkedIn. 

He advises any athlete in college or high school to create a LinkedIn profile because it can set them up for future success. 

"LinkedIn can play a huge role in making sure that you have a network vesting while you're still in college," he said. "That way, once you leave your campus, you're still tied to your network, and you've been able to put your accomplishments and accolades out in front of the companies that you're going to work for."

Griffin said his LinkedIn presence has helped shape his early career, and he plans to continue building his audience and content on the platform.

 "If you're doing NIL or not, as a college athlete, you're also a college student," he said, "and LinkedIn is the spot to be for college students."

• Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash aboard a US-made Bell 212, according to reports.
• The helicopter was between 40 and 50 years of age, experts told Reuters, based on available data.
• US sanctions may have prevented Iran from adequately maintaining the helicopter, one analyst said.

The helicopter that crashed on Sunday with Iran's president on board was US-made and may have been in service since before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to reports.

President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage were flying on a US-made Bell 212 helicopter, per Iran International, when it crashed into a hillside in Iran's mountainous northwest, killing all on board.

The group was returning from a ceremony marking a dam opening near the country's border with Azerbaijan, per Al Jazeera.

The US developed the Bell 212 in the mid-1960s in cooperation with the Canadian government, according to WeaponsSystem.net, and it was first put into service in 1971. Production ended in 1998.

Until the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran was one of the US' closest allies in the region.

Experts said that the few details provided about the accident suggest that the helicopter that crashed could have been between 40 and 50 years old, per Reuters.

If true, flying such a plane is "simply suicidal," said Julian Röpcke, Security Policy and Conflicts Senior Editor at Bild, a German tabloid.

(Bild and Business Insider share a parent company, Axel Springer.)

Roland Dangerfield, a former British Army officer and the CEO of Sentinel Aviation, said the helicopter's age and model were less important than its level of maintenance.

He told BI that aircraft dating back to the 1940s are flying over the UK "perfectly safely," while in the US B-52 bombers have been around since the 1950s.

"The key to this is whether the helicopter was maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's maintenance regime," he said.

But Dangerfield said that US trade embargoes and restrictions on helicopter parts may have prevented the Iranian regime from maintaining the Bell 212.

Iran's former foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, drew a similar conclusion, saying US sanctions — which prohibit Iran from purchasing US-built aircraft and parts — could be partly to blame for the crash.

Raisi's death is just the latest incident involving helicopters and planes crashing while flying in heavy fog.

Bell 212 helicopters have been involved in 432 accidents, resulting in 639 fatalities, since 1972, including Raisi's crash on Sunday, according to a database updated and held by the Flight Safety Foundation.

• For over a century, Einstein's general theory of relativity has been key to understanding gravity. 
• But new research suggests this theory "glitches" in the farthest reaches of space. 
• That doesn't mean we're throwing Einstein's theory out the window. But it may need a slight tweak. 

Over the last 100 years, countless studies have proven that Albert Einstein's greatest theory — his theory of general relativity — is practically bulletproof, capable of everything from predicting black holes to guiding your GPS technology.

However, as scientists arm themselves with more powerful and sophisticated technology, capable of peering into the cosmos in unprecedented detail, they see phenomena they can't explain with Einstein's theory.

Einstein's general theory of relativity states that the curvature of space-time causes gravity. But zoom out to enormous scales like clusters of galaxies spanning billions of light years across, and the laws of Einstein's gravity theory appear to change.

"It's almost as if gravity itself stops perfectly matching Einstein's theory," Robin Wen, a recent University of Waterloo graduate, said in a university press release.

Wen is part of a collaboration between the University of Waterloo and the University of British Columbia who are on the hunt to solve the mystery, calling this discrepancy in Einstein's theory a "cosmic glitch."

Their new study, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, suggests that gravity becomes about 1% weaker at very large scales. If gravity behaved according to Einstein's theory, then this 1% difference shouldn't exist.

Cosmologists won't be doing away with general relativity anytime soon. It's still a strikingly accurate framework for understanding gravity at smaller scales.

"It's not like we're breaking how your GPS works, or a black hole. We were only trying to see if there's any deviation at the largest possible scales," Wen told Business Insider.

If this glitch truly exists, it could help cosmologists explain some of the greatest mysteries of the universe.

Easing cosmological tension

The research team was combing through data of the cosmic microwave background when they discovered this apparent glitch.

The cosmic microwave background is a vast expanse of lingering radiation that was left behind by the Big Bang. Scientists use it to understand the earliest stages of the universe like how the first galaxies formed and what happened immediately after the Big Bang.

Wen and his colleagues used a model — based on fundamental physical laws like Einstein's theory of general relativity — and compared their model's prediction of what the CMB data should look like with observational CMB data.

Their scientific model didn't match the observations — what we actually see in the distant universe.

However, when they tweaked Einstein's theory to account for a 1% gravity deficit, their model aligned more closely with the observational data, Wen told BI over email.

A 1% adjustment may not sound like a big deal, but it's enough to suggest that Einstein's theory may need a rethink. And what's more, this glitch may help us better understand some confusing behavior in the universe.

The cosmos, as we understand it, is filled with tensions. Sometimes, different measurements of the same phenomenon don't agree with each other. One example of this is the Hubble Tension — a problem that's puzzled astronomers for years.

The Hubble Tension refers to conflicting measurements of the expansion rate of the universe. According to our standard model of physics, the expansion rate of the universe should be the same everywhere. However, observations of the nearby universe suggest that the expansion rate is faster than regions of the distant universe. Astronomers have proposed multiple possible explanations but haven't settled on one, yet.

Now, with this cosmic glitch, there's a new explanation on the table.

A 1% weaker gravity at large scales could reduce the Hubble Tension by bringing the universe's expansion rate closer to measurements from local observations, said Niayesh Afshordi, study co-author and professor of astrophysics at the University of Waterloo, in a recent YouTube interview.

Thinking outside the box

The fact that this cosmic glitch could potentially help astronomers resolve the Hubble tension is a good sign that it may truly exist. But this study doesn't offer definitive proof of a 1% gravity deficit at large scales, Wen said.

For now, there's still a chance that this glitch could be the result of statistical error. "With future data in the coming 10 years, we should expect to see if this is actually a real detection, or just fluctuation due to your statistical power," Wen said.

Valerio Faraoni, professor of physics and interim dean of science at Bishop's University, told BI it's reasonable to think the glitch could exist because general relativity has not been tested in the distant universe.

So, "it's quite possible, at least in principle, that we don't understand gravity on the larger scale," said Faraoni, who wasn't a part of the study.

He thinks that in order to resolve conflicts between predictions and observations of our universe, we need to think outside the box. And this cosmic glitch study does exactly that.

"We probably need something outrageous," he said. "It does look exotic, it does look strange. But I think we have to be absolutely open to all these strange ideas."

Next, Wen and his colleagues will take a close look at new data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). DESI measures the effects of dark energy on the expansion rate of the universe, and has created the largest 3D map of the cosmos to date.

Moreover, DESI has found that, like gravity, dark energy doesn't behave the way astronomers expect at large cosmological scales. Wen wants to find out whether these two "glitches" are somehow linked, which would provide even more evidence for a need to tweak general relativity.

But even he is skeptical of general relativity's limitations. "If you asked me to bet on something, I might bet on GR still. GR works so well, right? For the alternative models, it's hard to tell at this stage," he said.

• Donald Trump's defense team is expected to call an ex-FEC commissioner as a witness in his hush-money trial.
• Bradley Smith, a Republican election-law expert, is being paid $1,200 an hour. 
• Smith was previously barred from testifying in the trial of fallen crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried.

As Donald Trump's criminal hush-money trial nears the end, the former president's defense team plans to call at least one witness — an ex-commissioner of the Federal Election Commission who's getting a whopping $1,200 an hour.

Bradley Smith — a Republican campaign-finance-law expert who has served on the FEC as commissioner, vice chairman and chairman between 2000 and 2005 — is expected to testify in Trump's historic Manhattan trial on Monday.

Manhattan prosecutors fought hard to keep Smith off the stand. Smith has twice been barred by federal judges from testifying as a defense expert, prosecutors noted in February — including in a 2014 case where he'd hoped to tell a jury that an average person may not know that "straw man" donations are illegal.

Smith didn't immediately return Business Insider's request for comment Monday morning.

Trump retained Smith, known for his opposition to campaign finance regulations, to provide expert testimony, advise the defense, and "engage in commentary with media organizations covering the matter," according to court documents.

Trump may not get his money's worth, though.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, the judge presiding over the trial, dealt a blow to the defense on Monday when he greatly limited the scope of any testimony by Smith.

As a result of Merchan's order, Smith, who was appointed to the FEC by former President Bill Clinton, is essentially only allowed to explain to Trump's hush-money jury what the FEC is, what it does, and what the standard definitions are for such terms as "campaign expenditure" and "campaign contribution."

In fighting to keep Smith from testifying for Trump, prosecutors noted in February that he had been barred from testifying for the defense in two unrelated federal cases in Manhattan.

The judges in both cases found that the defense improperly wanted Smith to interpret campaign finance law to the jury.

One of those cases was the fraud trial of fallen cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried.

The other case where Smith was barred from testifying was United States v. Suarez.

In that case, Smith would have testified that "people often misunderstand the campaign laws" and that "it is reasonable for individuals to believe that the law allows 'straw man' donations," prosecutors in Trump's case complained in court documents filed earlier this year.

Trump — and his Save America PAC — were charged well over $2 million on expert testimony for last year's Manhattan civil fraud trial — including $1,350 an hour for New York University professor Eli Bartov, who testified he worked 650 hours and pocketed at least $877,500.

Bartov "lost all credibility" on the stand, state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron wrote in December. "All that his testimony proves is that for a million or so dollars, some experts will say whatever you want them to say," Engoron wrote. 

Trump has been standing trial since mid-April on criminal charges related to a $130,000 hush-money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has charged the former president with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Prosecutors allege Trump illegally falsified invoices, checks, and other records throughout 2017, to disguise a year's worth of monthly reimbursement checks to his then attorney, Michael Cohen.

Once Trump's "fixer," Cohen had made the initial outlay of a $130,0000 hush-money payment that silenced Daniels just 11 days before the 2016 election. Daniels had threatened to go public with a story of a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006 when his son with Melania Trump was only four months old.

Trump has denied having sex with Daniels.

Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor, but the charge becomes a felony — punishable by up to four years in prison — if the records were falsified with the intent to commit or hide some other underlying crime.

Prosecutors have argued Trump orchestrated the payment to Daniels as part of a conspiracy to influence the 2016 election in violation of state and federal election laws.

In putting Smith on the stand, Trump's defense team hopes to challenge the prosecution's argument that the hush-money payment breached those laws.