Category: Business

• OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft have released a flood of AI updates in recent weeks.
• The hype cycle was caused in part by a surge in AI funding and companies' psychological motivations, a Gartner analyst told BI.
• The race could slow if funding slows, the analyst said, which could also impact startups.

If you feel like you can't keep up with the deluge of AI announcements, you're not alone.

Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt summed up what many of us are thinking at the VivaTech conference in Paris earlier this week: "It feels confusing."

In the last two weeks, developers and consumers have been bombarded with a steady stream of AI updates and product launches, showing just how heated the AI race has become.

OpenAI kicked off the flurry of AI news by first showing off its new version of ChatGPT, powered by its new flagship model GPT-4o, which can have more human-like conversations and reason across audio, vision, and text.

A day later, Google held its two-hour I/O conference, which introduced a series of new updates and launches related to its Gemini AI, including Project Astra, customizable "Gems" assistants, and a glimpse into AI-generated Search.

On Tuesday, Microsoft introduced over 50 new products and partnerships at its annual developer conference, which lasted over two hours. Next month, Apple is expected to announce its entrance into the generative AI race with the iOS 18 reveal at its WWDC event.

There are so many new announcements that it's becoming difficult to keep up with what's out and what's coming soon. So, what can we expect moving forward — and will the announcements ever slow down?

BI spoke with Arun Chandrasekaran, Distinguished Vice President, Analyst at Gartner, to find out.

How we got here

It isn't uncommon for companies to aggressively compete for the best offerings, and this trend is often seen in a tech hype cycle, such as when PCs and smartphones first came out.

Simply put, "all the tech cycles are this way," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a recent interview with Bloomberg.

Gartner's Chandrasekaran gave two reasons for why the flurry of AI announcements is happening now. First, there's a psychological reason.

"Everybody wants to be heard in the noise," Chandrasekaran said.

That means that there's going to be a lot of so-called AI washing and AI marketing as companies fight for a chance to get noticed, Chandrasekaran added.

He also said there were tremendous investments in AI and tech from 2015 until 2022, resulting in hundreds of startups all trying to build their capabilities simultaneously. It's also resulted in ongoing waves of layoffs in the industry as companies recover from overhiring during that era.

The outcome of this climate

The result is that enterprise leaders are overwhelmed by the pace of produce releases, Chandrasekaran said. There's also a sense of fatigue in the industry because people are being overloaded with new announcements.

Chandrasekaran said that makes it difficult for enterprise leaders to make long-term bets in the AI space because everything they see currently on the market is likely to soon change.

"They prefer stability over speed," Chandrasekaran said about enterprise leaders.

"They're delivering services to their customers where reliability and performance and all of these things are of utmost importance to them," Chandrasekaran added.

But with the flurry of the product launches, it's becoming increasingly challenging to ensure reliability along with a stable set of deliverable services, Chandrasekaran said.

Chandrasekaran said that while there are some high-quality products and startups that will emerge as the next tech giants, there's also a lot of AI washing in the market today. That, and some vendors are claiming to have AI-related abilities that actually aren't AI.

"They could be using simple rules-based engine," Chandrasekaran said. "And they could be calling it AI or they may be using more classic machine learning and calling it like Gen AI."

When will it slow down?

Chandrasekaran said many startups may not make it to the next round of funding because they lack market fit or a clear path to profitability.

We'll start to see that moment of reckoning in the second half of 2024 into 2025, Chandrasekaran predicted.

When some of that dust starts to settle down with the startups, Chandrasekaran said the big vendor ecosystem will feel less pressure and will also start to slow down.

"It's kind of a vicious cycle that I think will be broken at some point in time," Chandrasekaran said.

• Google's AI search results suggested you could put glue in pizza sauce to keep the cheese from sliding off.
• Google had obviously ingested a Reddit comment that was meant as a joke — but the AI didn't get it.
• I still went ahead and made a pizza with 1/8 of a cup of glue. What's this all mean for the future?

Google launched its AI search results last week, and people have been noticing it's been giving some wildly wrong results. It's said that, yes, a dog has played in the NHL, that running with scissors has health benefits, and that 17 US presidents attended the University of Wisconsin.

But the most ridiculous of all was someone who noticed on X that if you asked Google about "cheese not sticking to pizza," (don't you hate it when that happens?) AI would give you a helpful answer. Adding glue to the pizza sauce:

I knew my assignment: I had to make the Google glue pizza. (Don't try this at home! I risked myself for the sake of the story, but you shouldn't!)

I did use Google to make sure that "non-toxic" glue was indeed semi-safe to eat. Google's AI answer said that small quantities might lead to an upset stomach but not, say, death. That's good enough for me.

(Since I know you're wondering, yes, I did eat paste as a kid. I loved it. It was minty. I only stopped because of shame from the other first graders. But now I'm an adult and can't be shamed for eating glue pizza.)

I assembled my ingredients from my local grocery store: shredded cheese, marinara sauce, a ball of pizza dough, and, of course, non-toxic school glue (which I already had at home).

OBVIOUS WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. DO NOT EAT GLUE. SERIOUSLY.

And to anyone who feels compelled to point out I shouldn't have used jarred sauce or pre-shredded cheese: Please … keep in mind I'm eating glue here.

After spreading out the dough, now to mix the sauce and glue.

Google said to use 1/8 cup of glue, but not how much sauce. I eyeballed that the pizza would need about a half cup of red sauce.

I had imagined the amount would be more like a "light drizzle" of glue. But 1/8 of a cup is 2 tablespoons, and it seemed like quite a bit more than I expected.

It came out a nice orange color, like vodka sauce. As I mixed and spread, I didn't notice a significant change in the consistency of the sauce.

Now for the cheese and some fresh basil. Ready for the oven!

I baked it at 450 degrees for 12 minutes, which turned out to be a little too long — it was lightly burned.

When I opened the oven door, I was hit with a blast of steam and fumes, and I momentarily freaked out. I remember that when "NyQuil chicken" was a viral meme, doctors warned that the real danger was lung damage from toxic fumes.

By heating up the chemicals in the glue, would I create some kind of toxic gas?

Well, let's hope not! Here we go!

Finally, the taste test:

My verdict: This wasn't the best homemade pizza I've had — I couldn't necessarily tell if the glue was the problem or the cheap jarred sauce could've used a little more seasoning. (In the marinara's defense, it's hard to complain about taste when you add glue.)

But also … it was kind of OK? I only had a few bites because I was afraid of poisoning myself.

Most importantly: Did the glue keep the cheese from sliding off? You bet it did:

What does this all mean? For me personally, this means that I'm an idiot who eats glue. But what does it mean for Google and the future of AI-powered search?

These goofy AI answers are funny but apparently rare. A Google spokesperson told Business Insider: "The examples we've seen are generally very uncommon queries and aren't representative of most people's experiences. The vast majority of AI Overviews provide high-quality information, with links to dig deeper on the web."

But still: Google AI spits out wild answers often enough that it's reasonable to say that there's a user mistrust of AI-powered answers (for now). The pizza glue controversy is silly — no one with three brain cells would actually do this — but we can assume that AI also gives answers that are less obviously wrong but still wrong.

It appears that the origin of the pizza glue was a joke made on Reddit 11 years ago about adding glue to sauce. That Google's AI search answers are based on Reddit should largely be a good thing: Reddit is full of useful answers for how to do things and other common quandaries. But Google's AI failed to decipher that this Reddit answer was clearly a joke.

What will this mean for the general public's trust in Google and AI? I'm not sure! This week's OpenAI/Scarlett Johansson debacle probably had a much bigger effect on worries about whether the companies behind AI are operating ethically, regardless of what actually went down.

Presumably, Google AI search results will improve, and these weird flukes of bad results will become increasingly rare. There is a very reasonable concern among a lot of people that "let Google do the Googling for you" will have a very bad effect on the web as we know it. Depriving clicks to the websites that actually provide the information that powers AI results will probably have some unfortunate long-term effects.

If you'd like to hear some more smart thoughts on this, I recommend the most recent episode of the Search Engine podcast on this topic. It would be great to listen to as you cook up your own homemade non-glue pizza.

Lastly, I have to say, once again: DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF. DO NOT EAT GLUE PIZZA.

• One of the most storied US submarines of WWII has been found at the bottom of the South China Sea. 
• The Lost 52 project aims to find and memorialize all 52 US submarines sunk during World War II.
• The group uses advanced underwater drones and photogrammetry to confirm its finds.

Researchers say they have located the final resting place of one of the most storied vessels of World War II: the USS Harder.

The submarine was found more than 3,000 feet underwater at the bottom of the South China Sea, almost intact except for damage to its conning tower, according to the archaeology branch of US Naval History and Heritage Command.

US NHHC confirmed the find on Thursday, crediting data collected by Lost 52, a project dedicated to finding and memorializing all 52 US submarines sunk during the war.

Lost 52 is headed by entrepreneur and ocean explorer Tim Taylor, along with diving entrepreneur Christine Dennison.

They used advanced photogrammetry and underwater robotics to locate and take stunning images of the Harder, which was sunk by Japan off the coast of the Philippines in 1944.

Lost submarines are notoriously difficult to locate and identify, as Business Insider's Elias Chavez previously reported.

"Submarines by their very design can be a challenge to identify, but the excellent state of preservation of the site and the quality of the data collected by Lost 52 allowed for NHHC to confirm the identity of the wreck as Harder," the NHHC said in a statement.

The Harder — sailing under the slogan "Hit 'em Harder" — was sunk on August 24, 1944, after racking up a prodigious number of kills.

Seventy-nine servicemen were aboard, including the famed Commander Samuel Dealey.

"Harder was lost in the course of victory," NHHC Director and retired Rear-Admiral Samuel J. Cox said, adding that the sub used "particularly audacious attacks" against the Japanese.

In the course of a single patrol, Harder sank three enemy destroyers, as well as destroying or damaging a further two, according to NHHC.

The Harder's final patrol saw it seek out new targets alongside the USS Hake near Dasol Bay in the northern Philippines.

The pair started to hunt two Japanese ships. Harder fired three torpedoes before it fell victim to a series of depth charges. The Hake took evasive maneuvers, but the Harder was not so lucky.

The Lost 52 team has previously located at least six other US submarines.

"We maintain a policy of not disclosing current ongoing expedition plans" out of respect for families, the group says on its website, adding that it only announces discoveries once they are fully confirmed.

Lost 52's cofounder Taylor is the CEO of Tiburon Subsea, which focuses on ocean-floor data collection using underwater drones.

The discovery — which Taylor told BI is part of a multi-year $50 million project — illustrates the growing use of underwater photogrammetry to illuminate deep-sea sites that are otherwise difficult to reach.

Finding the Harder "highlighted the importance of ocean data collection and the significance of underwater robotic technology," Taylor told BI.

It's part of a growing "blue economy" that is predicted to be a $30 trillion industry by 2030, he added.

Undersea photogrammetry uses divers or remotely operated vehicles to take thousands of pictures from all sides, which are then stitched together using software, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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Google's Pixel 8a is here to serve the pragmatics and those unwilling to spend over $500, and it's a phenomenal option for both. It's all the phone most people practically need, and it offers incredible value for its performance and camera quality.

In Google's ecosystem, the Pixel 8a is essentially a more affordable version of the Pixel 8 that's missing a few features. Yet, apart from a couple of inconsequential attributes (display borders and charging speed), it's doubtful that you'd notice much of a difference between the Pixel 8a and the Pixel 8. 

As such, the Pixel 8a cannibalizes the Pixel 8's need to exist, at least if you're looking at full price tags. No other phone can match the Pixel 8a's value proposition at its $499 starting price, and it's worth stretching your budget (if possible) if you had a lower price in mind.

Design: Only one dead giveaway that it's not an expensive phone

For those familiar with Google's recent Pixel design, there's little new or impactful to the Pixel 8a. The corners are more rounded than previous Pixel "a" generations, and the clear plastic back makes way for a smooth frosted texture, which I'm a fan of.

The phone looks and feels like a premium device, and you wouldn't know the back is made of plastic unless you're looking for clues by pressing on it and tapping it with your fingers — something I do while scrutinizing new phones for review, but not in day-to-day use.

The only real giveaway that the Pixel 8a isn't on the same level as Google's flagship models in terms of design is the wider black borders around the display than you'd find on premium flagships. It's a typical and expected tradeoff for the Pixel 8a's lower price, and not a dealbreaker by any means for one of the best budget Android phones. 

With its 6.1-inch display, the Pixel 8a is a smaller phone, so it won't please those who like big screens. There's no option with a larger display, either, and you're largely out of luck if you're looking for a large-screen budget phone with the same caliber performance, display, and cameras. 

Performance and display: Unrivaled for its price 

In day-to-day usage, the Pixel 8a is indistinguishable from a premium phone thanks to its bright OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and the same Google Tensor G3 processor found in the flagship Pixel 8 phones. 

Benchmarks scores reveal the Pixel 8a has identical performance to the Pixel 8, but the Pixel 8 Pro scores slightly higher. The only difference that can explain the discrepancy is the Pixel 8 Pro's 12GB of RAM compared to 8GB in the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a. To be sure, the difference is barely notable, and the Pixel 8a should last just as long as the Pixel 8 Pro before it reaches your own definition of "too slow, time to upgrade."

On the topic of longevity, Google will keep the Pixel 8a updated with new versions of Android, new features, and security patches for the Pixel 8a for seven years until May 2031. That's great news for those who keep their phones as long as possible before upgrading, and it matches Samsung's support window for its Galaxy S24 phones.

With that said, I have my doubts the Pixel 8a will remain sprightly for as long as seven years, but that depends entirely on your threshold for slower performance before you feel it's time to upgrade. 

Cameras: Unfairly good

The cameras on Google's Pixel "a" phones set such a high bar for mid-range phones that it's almost unfair for other phones in the $400-$500 range, including iPhones. In fact, the Pixel 8a's 64MP main camera and 13MP ultrawide undeniably deliver premium-quality photos that you'd easily expect on an expensive flagship model. The only limitation compared to major Android flagships is its dual-lens camera compared to the triple-lens cameras.

The Pixel 8a bins (combines) the 64 megapixels in its main camera to produce a 16-megapixel photo, which dramatically reduces the sizes of each photo, and helps capture more dynamic lighting. 

The Pixel 8a takes clear, sharp photos with Google's signature excellent balance of color, lighting, and dynamic contrast that delivers plenty of depth. While it's not perfect, the Pixel 8a also does an excellent job of keeping details in ultra-bright subjects. Apart from taking high-quality photos, the Pixel 8a is reliably consistent, too — I don't feel the need to check photos after taking them.

The Pixel 8a has a 2x digital zoom that adds some versatility to the phone's camera system to capture sharper images of subjects further away or to get a close-up. Google says the Pixel 8a 2x zoom mode isn't optical quality like it is on the Pixel 8, but it sure looks that way — 2x zoomed photos are just as sharp and detailed as a 1x photo. You could almost go as far as to say the Pixel 8a has three cameras if you count the 2x zoom mode, even though it only has two physical lenses. 

The Pixel 8a takes decent shots in the dark, too, but it's not the best we've seen in terms of sharpness, and the dark sky appears pixelated and blotchy in some of our test shots. For the photo below, the Pixel 8a told me to stay still for two seconds — the same as premium phones like the iPhone 15 or Pixel 8. 

AI features: A lower price doesn't mean less for Google

The Pixel 8a has nearly all the same AI features as Google's flagship models in its current software iteration, and a subsequent update is set to add to its slate.

Popular and genuinely useful AI tools that actually work are present now, like Circle To Search, Best Take, Magic Eraser, and Call Screen, among several others.  

In a future update, the Pixel 8a will also support Google's on-device AI model, Gemini Nano, but as of now, you're not missing much.

On-device AI features powered by Gemini Nano, like Summarize for voice recordings and Smart Reply in Gboard, are rather niche at the moment for daily use, even if they're technologically impressive. 

Battery and charging: Great battery life but slow charging

The Pixel 8a obtained the same 61% result as the Pixel 8 after our battery test, which is a result we'd expect for a phone with a 6.1-inch display. That's to say the Pixel 8a has great battery life, but it won't miraculously change the way you usually charge your phones. 

The Pixel 8a's 18W charging speeds are slow but fairly typical for the price range — it's one of the compromises of a more affordable phone. You have the option of wireless charging, but only at 7.5W speeds. That's rather slow but totally fine for overnight charging.

You'll need your own charger, as Google doesn't pack one with the Pixel 8a. A USB-C-to-USB-C cable is included, as well as a USB-A-to-USB-C adapter that's handy for legacy chargers with USB-A, so you can use pretty much any charger you might already have. Just note that the charger you have, or intend to buy, needs to support at least 18W to charge the Pixel 8a at its fastest potential. 

Should you buy the Google Pixel 8a?

The Google Pixel 8a has premium attributes where it counts, like high-end camera quality and performance, for a mid-range price. It's an excellent phone that comes easily recommended as one of the best Android phones for its value. It even looks and feels like a premium device, and you can get more than your money's worth with Google's seven-year support window for Android upgrades and security updates.

However, the Pixel 8a hasn't seen many deals or discounts at the time of writing (soon after its release), and the Pixel 8 can be found for a periodic deal price of $549 from retailers like Amazon — a point you can justify going for the Pixel 8.

Plus, some carriers even offer the Pixel 8 (as well as the Pixel 8a) for free, albeit with some typical carrier conditions, like keeping your service active for a certain amount of time. If that's the case with your carrier, you might as well get the Pixel 8, as long as you're comfortable with the conditions set by your carrier. 

If you decide to buy the Pixel 8a, check out our guides to the best Google Pixel 8a cases and best Google Pixel 8a screen protectors to provide the phone with comprehensive protection. 

• A $35 million settlement fund could be established after a class action lawsuit against Apple.
• The 2019 lawsuit said iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus had audio issues, which Apple denied.
• Some iPhone customers can receive up to $349.

Apple recently reached a $35 million settlement with iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus users who said their phones had audio problems. That means if you had one of those phones, you could get paid.

The lawsuit — available on the Settlement Administrator website — was first filed in 2019. It argues the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus had audio issues related to the "audio IC chip." The plaintiffs also accused Apple of violating consumer protection laws and breach of warranty.

Apple denied the phones had audio issues or that the company did anything wrong. Representatives for Apple did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Nonetheless, Apple settled the case. Now attorneys for the plaintiffs said affected iPhone users could get up to $349.

"We are proud of the nationwide class action Settlement that is pending final approval before the Court, which if approved will provide Settlement Class Members who complained to Apple about the alleged audio defect up to $349 in monetary relief," attorneys Andrea Gold and Greg Coleman said in a statement.

Here's what iPhone customers need to know.

Who qualifies?

Apple customers in the United States who owned those phone models between September 2016 and January 2023 might be eligible to receive payment for the proposed settlement.

The settlement administrator says customers must have reported the covered audio issues to Apple, including those who paid "out of pocket" for repairs and replacements related to the covered audio issues.

How much money could iPhone customers receive?

iPhone customers who paid Apple "out of pocket" for replacements and repairs related to the audio issue will receive "an equal payment of at least $50 and no more than $349."

Those who reported the audio issues to Apple but did not pay for repairs or replacements will receive "an equal payment of up to $125."

The $35 million settlement fund will be formally established if a judge grants approval during a hearing on July 18.

When is the deadline to apply?

The deadline for customers who want to be included in the settlement is June 3. They must provide the settlement administrator with payment information and preferred payment method.

Interested customers can provide that information via an online form or mail it to the Tabak v. Apple Class Action Administrators.

"Settlement Class Members must submit Payment Information Forms by June 3 in order to receive money if the Settlement is approved and we strongly encourage them to do so promptly," Gold and Coleman said in their statement.

Some customers included in the settlement may receive a postcard notification or email about the lawsuit.

If customers don't select a payment method and provide payment information, they'll remain in the settlement class but cannot receive payment. They will also waive their rights to sue Apple for the aforementioned issues in the future.

• NASA's James Webb Telescope observed three galaxies in the universe's very early stages.
• The galaxies were likely forming around the time our universe was just 400 to 600 million years old
• Studying early galaxy and star formation helps astronomers better understand the cosmic dark ages.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has detected three galaxies as they were likely forming during the universe's infancy, the space agency said Thursday.

Data from the telescope, which is located about a million miles from Earth, showed these galaxies feeding on gas when the universe was only about 400 million to 600 million years old, NASA said in a press release.

That's extremely young by cosmological standards since most astronomers agree that the universe is probably about 13.7 billion years old. In other words, these galaxies offer a rare glimpse of the universe in its infancy and an exciting opportunity for astronomers to learn more about what happened shortly after the Big Bang.

And it's all thanks to the tremendous observing power of the James Webb Telescope. "Without Webb, we would not be able to observe these very early galaxies, let alone learn so much about their formation," Kasper Heintz, an assistant professor of astrophysics at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark said in the press release.

Heintz is the lead author of a study on this latest Webb discovery.

The images of the galaxies from the telescope merely look like "faint red smudges" so the researchers relied on other data, specifically patterns of colors known as spectra.

From that data, the team concluded the presence of large quantities of gas around the galaxies, which likely condensed to form young stars in the early universe.

The Cosmic Dark Ages

Studying young stars in the early universe is important because it helps astronomers understand a crucial moment in cosmic evolution: when the universe went from opaque to transparent, like what we see now.

This pivotal moment in cosmic history is known as the Era of Reionization. If you lived in the universe before the Era of Reionization you couldn't observe distant stars and galaxies because gas all around you would obstruct your view. For that reason, this period is often called the Cosmic Dark Ages.

But sometime around 1 billion years after the Big Bang, heat from stars and galaxies turned that opaque gas transparent. This is why we can see distant stars and galaxies in the night sky when we look up.

Astronomers study the Era of Reionization to understand the very early moments in our universe when galaxies and stars first formed and how. That's why Webb's latest images of three galaxies forming during the universe's infancy are so exciting because astronomers rarely witness galaxy formation so soon after the Big Bang.

"These galaxies are like sparkling islands in a sea of otherwise neutral, opaque gas," Heintz said in the press release.

The team published their results in the peer-reviewed journal Science this week.

• Maddux Alexander Springer was free diving in Hawaii when he noticed green sea turtles with huge tumors.
• He spent 2.5 years researching the disease and discovered its likely root cause, plus a solution.
• He won a top award at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, securing $10,000 for college.

Maddux Alexander Springer spent his pandemic free time in Oahu's blue waters.

Every day the high schooler left the sea horses and eels and octopuses in his at-home fish tanks, walked a short distance to Kāneʻohe Bay, and went free diving.

"It's almost like you're an alien," Springer, who is now 18, told Business Insider. "You're just there by yourself in this environment that you don't really belong in."

Sometimes, though, it seemed like he was diving through a graveyard. He kept seeing green sea turtles with cauliflower-like tumors.

"They were just gross masses that were anywhere from the size of a penny to the size of a football. And it would just encapsulate the green sea turtles," he said. "They're on their eyes, their skin, their flippers, everywhere. And there would just be turtles on the bottom of the ocean just dying there with these tumors."

He started scouring the internet for an answer. The turtles had a disease called fibropapillomatosis, or FP for short. It affects up to 97% of all sea turtles, but according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, scientists don't fully understand what causes the disease to spread.

That disappointing Google search launched Springer into a two-and-a-half year investigation. Green sea turtles are crucial for the health of reefs worldwide, as they eat algae that would otherwise suffocate the coral. Ultimately, FP is a threat to coral reefs everywhere, which are already stressed by rising ocean temperatures and acidity.

Springer may have gotten to the root of the disease's spread in Oahu. Even better, he found a clear solution.

Last week he won the $10,000 Peggy Scripps Award for Science Communication for his work, which he presented at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair along with over a thousand students. The money is for post-secondary education, but he hopes the prize will also bring attention to FP and the plight of sea turtles.

"It was an incredible feeling, just having my research validated," he said. "It's been a very long time since I have felt like some change can be made from my research."

Solving a biological mystery

At the beginning of his investigation, Springer applied for permits that would allow him to biopsy the turtles' tumors. But he was denied.

Determined not to give up, he set out to find a non-invasive way to conduct his research. He donned his diving gear and set up motion-sensing underwater cameras to snap photos of green sea turtles.

The tumors caused by FP can only form internally if they've already formed externally, so these pictures gave him a census of all the FP-infected turtles in Kāneʻohe Bay. The data confirmed his previous observations — FP was highly prevalent.

But the herpesvirus that causes FP must be activated by an external factor before it can produce those tumors. Previous biopsies of green sea turtle tumors had shown that they contained high levels of the amino acid arginine. Maybe that was the trigger, but where would the turtles get so much arginine?

Algae is a sea turtle's main food source, and they're not picky eaters. They'll eat whatever type is available. Through a photo survey, Springer found that most of the algae in Kāneʻohe Bay is invasive.

This invasive algae is extremely good at absorbing sewage. In fact, it absorbs 11 times more than native algae and converts the wastewater's rich nitrogen into arginine, which the algae stores in its tissues, Springer said.

Indeed, Oahu had a likely source of sewage entering the ocean.

"In Kāneʻohe Bay, and in Hawaii overall, cesspools are a huge problem," Springer said.

Cesspools are pits dug beneath houses to collect wastewater. They have no barriers around them, and thus contaminated water leeches into Hawaii's porous, volcanic soil. During high tide, that wastewater gets pulled into the ocean.

400 hours of diving for algae

Springer had his suspicions, but he needed to test them out.

So he spent his weekends and evenings after school collecting algae samples, drying them, and crushing them into a powder. Then, he sent them off to a lab to run through a mass spectrometer, a machine that reveals the elements in a substance.

He was looking for a specific isotope of nitrogen that's associated with human wastewater, and he found it. That confirmed that the algae was, in fact, absorbing wastewater.

The sea-turtle food was rich in FP-causing arginine.

After two and a half years and 400 hours of diving, Springer found a link between rampant FP in Kāneʻohe Bay and wastewater pollution.

Students' research at ISEF is not held to the peer-review standard that studies published in scientific journals like Nature must meet. More research is needed to confirm the causal link Springer may have discovered.

"I believe this study shows that there is a significant relationship between wastewater output and this disease," Springer said. Without intervention, he fears that this entire marine ecosystem will be devastated.

Saving Hawaii's sea turtles

In total, there are 88,000 cesspools in Hawaii, and 11,000 on Oahu alone, according to Hawaii's Department of Health.

Springer says that the solution is to get rid of these cesspools and divert residential wastewater to treatment facilities. That would keep this contaminated water from polluting Hawaii's oceans and making sea turtles sick.

Building wastewater treatment facilities and the infrastructure needed to transport sewage to them would be expensive, Springer admitted. But based on his research, he thinks this is an issue that requires urgent attention.

"If we continue to go at this rate, and if we continue to just release raw wastewater into the bay, the environmental devastation is going to be unparalleled," he said.

But it's not just cost that stands in the way. In 2017, Hawaii's legislature passed Act 125, which protects the state from having to remove cesspools until 2050. To Springer, that's not nearly soon enough.

"Hawaii just really needs to step up, put the money down. I know it'll be expensive, but in the end it'll be worth it because 2050 is an unacceptable date, and it needs to happen now or unforeseen environmental devastation will occur," he said.

Currently, the state legislature is considering a bill that would begin imposing "pollution fees" on homeowners who have cesspools by 2025. That money would funnel into a new fund for mitigating the effects of cesspools, Honolulu Civil Beat reports.

It may be a step in the right direction, but Springer hopes that his research will help draw more attention to the urgency of this issue.

"I just really want to raise awareness that this is an issue, and that the only way that this can be solved is by government intervention," he said.

Springer has plans to further his scientific career at Oregon State University, where he'll pursue a bachelor's degree in marine biology.

"I'm excited to explore somewhere new, and do more research on new problems that exist because research is problem-driven," he said. "I feel like it's going to be a fun way to get more into research and delve deeper into the issues that fundamentally control our environment and run our ecosystem."

• China says its large-scale exercise surrounding Taiwan is a test of its ability to conduct a real assault.
• The two-day drills are a joint force effort, coming directly after the inauguration of Taiwan's new president.
• An invasion is just one of the many strategies China can employ to force Taiwan into submission.

China's large-scale military drills around Taiwan aren't just a show of force in response to the remarks of the democratic island's new president. It's also a kind of rehearsal.

China says the joint force live-fire exercise, lasting two days, is a test of its ability to launch a full-scale, lethal assault on Taiwan and ultimately force it to succumb to Beijing's rule.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army exercise "Joint Sword" began Thursday morning, focusing on "joint sea-air combat readiness patrols, joint seizure of comprehensive battlefield control, and joint precision strikes on key targets," Chinese state media reported.

BBC China Correspondent Stephen McDonell posted a segment from CCTV showing the intended purpose of the simulated airstrikes during the exercise, during which live missiles were used. The report identified potential critical targets as ports and airports, among other points.

On Friday, the Chinese military's Eastern Theater Command said that it was continuing the drills to "test the ability to jointly seize power, launch joint attacks and occupy key areas."

In other words, China is using these drills to see how its forces would effectively execute an assault against the island of Taiwan in addition to demonstrating to Taiwan that it has the ability to pull off such an operation.

As China's Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard conduct training operations around Taiwan's main island, as well as offshore islands, Taiwan has been sounding the alarm, sending out its forces to observe the exercises closely for signs of escalation.

Taiwan has scrambled fighter aircraft and put its naval and ground forces, including elements of its missile force, on alert.

Its defense ministry called the drills "irrational provocations and actions that undermine regional peace and stability."

"We stand by with firm will and restraint," the ministry added, saying, "We seek no conflicts, but we will not shy away from one. We have the confidence to safeguard our national security."

While "Joint Sword" isn't the first exercise of this kind, it is the largest in more than a year and comes just days after the inauguration of the island's newest president, the Democratic Progressive Party's Lai Ching-te, who is hated in Beijing for his positions on Taiwan's sovereignty.

Lai's election marked a historic third consecutive term for the DPP, which often takes a stronger stance on cross-strait relations and prioritizes Taiwan's autonomy. Lai has indicated he'll largely continue his predecessor's policies, and he has already agitated the Chinese leaders in Beijing, who perceive Lai's recent rhetoric as fueling pro-independence sentiments. China has said the exercises are intended as "strong punishment."

Beijing has a lot to gain from the military drills, from understanding operation logistics and joint force cooperation to demonstrating military power to attempting to intimidate the people of Taiwan into accepting that unification is inevitable.

Training doesn't necessarily mean an invasion of Taiwan is imminent, but the drills are a stark reminder that China has never taken the use of force off the table with regard to Taiwan.

The use of force against Taiwan could take different forms, from an all-out assault to something like a blockade. The latter could cut Taiwan off from the rest of the world, prevent the US and its allies from coming to the island's aid, and potentially force Taiwan to give in to Beijing's demands.

Strikes on Taiwan's infrastructure, too, could leave its people without clean water or electricity, rapidly degrading the quality of life and potentially the island's will to resist.

But China could also pursue other courses of action. While the US and its allies are actively discussing how to respond to an assault on Taiwan, some experts believe they may be missing more likely scenarios for China to take over Taiwan — some of which are already happening in the form of continuous pressure and coercion.

• Doctors' custom food prescriptions featuring beans and greens are helping patients prevent illness.
• A doctor said healthy food plans can help address high healthcare costs and chronic illness rates.
• This article is part of "Trends in Healthcare," a series about the innovations and industry leaders shaping patient care.

Picture this: At your next health checkup, your doctor hands you a prescription for potatoes instead of pills.

For some patients, this scenario is becoming a reality.

Providing personalized recommendations for healthy food — along with information on how to prepare it and the resources to afford it — is fast becoming a trend in preventive healthcare. Recent research has examined how nutrition may help lower healthcare costs and improve health outcomes, and the US Department of Health and Human Services held its first summit on the topic this year.

Food prescriptions could be a major tool in helping people get healthier faster, and for less money, by treating or preventing disease before it becomes severe, said Dr. Dexter Shurney, a board-certified physician in preventive medicine, lifestyle medicine, and public health. Food as medicine can also address some of the big challenges facing the healthcare system, such as the ballooning medical bills that can make even basic care, such as regular checkups, difficult to access.

Shurney initially trained as a surgeon and in 2017 became the chief medical officer of Foodsmart, a telehealth company that connects patients with registered dietitians to create custom meal plans and resources to tackle food insecurity.

"I made that pivot because a lot of the things I was treating as a surgeon I saw were preventable, and I thought there needed to be more done on the prevention side," he told Business Insider.

But simply telling people to eat their veggies and cut back on processed food can be complicated. Healthy food can be hard to access and may not always fit the culinary traditions and eating habits people grew up with.

Take Maya Garcia, one of Shurney's clients at Foodsmart, who'd been trying since 2020 to manage worsening chronic illness and related weight gain. But their weight loss attempts led to yo-yo dieting and cycles of excessive restriction and binge eating.

When Garcia, who lives in Chicago, found Foodsmart through their insurance provider, they were given a meal plan that included foods like corn, cactus, and dark chocolate that were nutritious and fit into their Indigenous heritage.

"Accessing enough nutritious food has been a challenge for me," Garcia said. "I've learned not only about foods that help promote better nutrition for me, but they've also incorporated a lot of ancestral foods that I was craving but didn't realize were so nutritious. A lot of that involves letting go of dieting rules and instead looking for what my body needs and what my body craves."

While personalized nutrition needs can vary widely, Shurney said simple swaps, such as eating more whole foods and prioritizing nutrient-dense plants and lean protein, can make a huge impact — and some of the most beneficial foods are in your local grocery store.

Beans are a secret superfood

Shurney said one of the big misconceptions about food as medicine is that nutritious ingredients are expensive or hard to find.

"People think that a healthy diet has to cost more, a lot of the staples of a healthy diet are very inexpensive," he said.

One of his top recommendations is cheap, easy to cook, available in every grocery store, and it's probably in your kitchen right now.

Beans, despite their humble nature, have been called a superfood because they're a rich source of plant-based protein. Chickpeas, for instance, contain about 14 grams of protein in a one-cup serving.

Beans are also high in fiber, an important nutrient for digestive health.

Some of the longest-living people in the world eat beans regularly, often with simple preparations like soups or salads. Because of the variety of beans available, they can be a versatile addition to recipes and are easy to cook in bulk for healthy meal prepping.

"Beans should be part of your diet every day," Shurney said.

Potatoes are an easy, filling way to get more nutrients

While starchy carbs often get a bad rap, potatoes are actually a great way to eat healthfully on a budget as long as you're not reaching for fries or chips. Potatoes are rich in vitamin C and potassium, which helps promote healthy blood pressure.

"Often misunderstood, regular potatoes are a great source of potassium and have a long shelf life. They are inexpensive and can be prepared in many healthy ways, such as baking, boiling, or steaming," Shurney said.

Preparation is key here, and basic kitchen skills, such as how to use knives safely and make foods delicious by steaming or roasting, can help people take better care of their health.

As a result, education is a big part of implementing food prescriptions so that people with limited resources can take advantage of affordable options for healthy eating and stretch their budget or SNAP (supplement nutrition assistance program, often known as food stamps) benefits further.

"You need to have that education to say, what can I actually afford on a budget?" Shurney said.

Green veggies like broccoli could help stave off cancer and other illnesses

It's no secret that eating your greens is good health advice, but kale and broccoli offer even more benefits than you might think, according to Shurney.

Cruciferous veggies are some of the most nutritious foods because they're high in antioxidants, which may help protect against cancer. Leafy greens are also a major part of the Mediterranean diet, which is widely considered the healthiest diet in the world.

The challenge in getting people to eat their greens is convincing them that a little cooking skill can make veggies taste delicious.

"If people don't have access to the food, they can't afford it, it's not available, they don't even know what it is, they might look at a broccoli and say, that doesn't look like it's going to taste real good," Shurney said. "They have to experience that it can taste good. There's more than one way to cook it. If you don't like the way that it tastes the first time, maybe you cook it differently or season it differently. You can find a way that you like it, but you have to make it accessible."

Simple recipes like roasting veggies, sautéing them with an acid like citrus juice or vinegar, and seasoning well can help make healthy cooking less intimidating.

Blueberries could help protect your brain health

Emerging research suggests that eating well is just as important for a healthy mind as it is for a healthy body.

Loading up on brightly colored produce like berries, peppers, herbs, and the like — sometimes called "eating the rainbow" — can help you get a variety of micronutrients, Shurney said.

"I always say seven colors, and we're not talking about fruit loops, so we're talking about real food," he said. "We've known for a long time that increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables creates health."

While berries can be a bit more expensive than other fruit, a budget-friendly option is shopping the freezer aisle, since frozen produce is as healthy as fresh, or buying on sale and freezing yourself to use later.

Seeds like flax and chia are a great source of healthy fats

Shurney also recommends seeds like chia and flax as a way to get more fiber in your diet as well as omega-3 fatty acids, a type of healthy fat linked to better heart health and lower inflammation.

Eating more nuts and seeds can also help you reduce your intake of processed foods, such as chips and other popular snacks.

Reaching for whole foods and being mindful of food labels can be a simple way to start eating healthier since ultra-processed foods are linked to health issues like a higher risk of cancer and heart disease.

Shurney said if there are more than five ingredients on the label, it's a processed food. "There are little tricks like that that you can teach people that stay with them and help them to sustain this kind of lifestyle that you're nudging them into."

• Robinhood brought workers back to the office in 2023, a year after telling them they could be remote.
• CEO Vlad Tenev explained in a podcast interview how the company talked staff through the reversal.
• He says being direct and having answers for employees' concerns was key.

The past few years have seen some companies declare themselves remote-first only to backtrack later and mandate workers return to the office.

One such company is Robinhood. Vlad Tenev, cofounder and CEO of the financial services firm, explained in a new interview how he brought employees back to the office after initially telling them they were working at a remote-first company.

"In January of 2022, we were like alright let's just make a decision here and announce we're a remote-first company and I think as soon as that blog post went out I was like, 'Oh God, I made a terrible mistake here, this is not good' — I felt bad about it," Tenev said in an episode of the podcast "The Logan Bartlett Show" published Friday.

"The feedback I heard when we decided to go back into the office was not only has no other company managed to get their people back into the office successfully while hedging and saying that we're not remote-first, but it was much, much harder that we announced we were remote-first and then we wanted to change our minds."

Tenev said "explaining the why of things" was important in getting employees on board with the policy reversal.

"I think we very directly said, 'I'd like people to come in person, I think it's better for collaboration, I think that we do a lot of important work across functions,'" he said.

He added that "you have to have answers for all the concerns that people have that, I think, are reasonable."

"I mean, some people are going to say, 'Well we've got people all around the world, they've moved, nobody that I work with, nobody from my team is in my office, so why would I come in?' And I think the answer to that is everyone in this company is on your team," he said. "You shouldn't just engage with people on your team because what happens if you need to talk to someone from compliance or legal and you're an engineer? Having those relationships are extremely important. Having some awareness for what people are doing is important, and I think that's something that's very difficult to manufacture in the remote world."

Tenev said Robinhood drew a radius in calling employees back, meaning those who lived too far away from an office didn't have to return, though he added "most people actually clustered around locations where we have offices anyway."

"Up until January of 2022, we were hiring people within radius of offices so very little hiring happened outside of those in the first place and that was the good part about it," he said. "We weren't remote-first for very long, the period where we were remote-first and we were hiring aggressively was pretty short."

Robinhood in 2022 declared itself a remote-first company and said it would be "staying primarily remote."

A year later, the company told staff to expect to return to the office at least four days a week on average.

"I've seen it firsthand — there is value in us being together," Tenev wrote to employees in a leaked Slack message at the time. "While the adjustment period may not be easy, I am confident that in the long run we will all benefit as coworkers and owners of Robinhood."

Many companies began issuing return-to-office mandates in 2022 and into 2023, including Apple, Amazon, Meta, Google, and more. The latest large company to jump on the bandwagon is Walmart, which said earlier this month it's also laying off several hundred workers and relocating others to one of three main campuses, in a reversal of its remote work policy during the pandemic.