Elon Musk's foray into the Wisconsin Supreme Court election turned many heads. Scott Olson/Getty Images 2025-04-02T02:19:29Z SaveSaved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Elon Musk's super PAC poured more than $12 million into the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.In the end, the liberal candidate, Judge Susan Crawford, defeated conservative Judge Brad Schimel.The loss is a blow for Musk, who held a town hall in Wisconsin and urged voters to back Schimel.For Wisconsin Republicans, regaining a conservative majority on the state's Supreme Court was a top priority.Elon Musk, the world's richest man, funneledmore than $12 million via his America PAC to sway the pivotal judicial race in one of the country's premier swing states.It wasn't enough.On Tuesday, Musk's big bet on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race fell apart, with outlets including NBC News and CNN projecting that liberal Dane County Judge Susan Crawford has defeated conservative Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel in the most expensive judicial race in US history.Musk, the face of President Donald Trump's White House DOGE office, has been met with increasingly vocal opposition by voters over the task force's cost-cutting efforts. And the fallout from DOGE is also impacting Tesla, the company that catapulted Musk to international prominence.Crawford's victory is a significant blow for Musk as DOGE's work continues to face increased scrutiny from the public and could lead to electoral gains for Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections.Here's how Crawford's win is set to upend Musk's political playbook:Musk is caught in the DOGE-houseFor weeks, scenes of frustrated voters sharply questioning and booing GOP members of Congress have become a defining narrative of DOGE, as many lawmakers have had to defend waves of staffing cuts.As a guiding force behind efforts to cut costs at critical federal departments along with efforts to eliminate the US Agency for International Development, or USAID Musk has faced mounting pushback over the task force's aggressive tactics to reign in spending.Musk went all in for Schimel, arguing that the Wisconsin race was "important for the future of civilization.""If the [Wisconsin] Supreme Court is able to redraw the districts, they will gerrymander the district and deprive Wisconsin of two seats on the Republican side," Musk said, referencing the potential for Democrats to make gains through a new congressional map."Then they will try to stop all the government reforms we are getting done for you, the American people," he added.In a state that narrowly backed Trump over former Vice President Kamala Harris last November, voters this week made a new choice.Crawford's win keeps the liberal bloc in the majority. The court could potentially revisit the state's congressional maps, with a redraw likely to offer Democrats an opportunity to pick up additional seats.With Republicans currently clinging to a razor-thin 218-213 majority in the US House ahead of what could be a tough midterm cycle, holding the lower chamber will be key for Musk and Trump especially as it relates to future oversight over DOGE's work.Musk may approach other races differentlyMusk campaigned heavily for Trump in swing-state Pennsylvania last November, with America PAC pouring millions of dollars into the state, much of it for canvassing and other digital-related efforts.The tech mogul's decision to hand out $1 million checks to select voters who signed petitions at town hall events similar to what he employed in Wisconsin this time around drew many people out as he criticized Harris and the media. Trump would go on to win Pennsylvania in the 2024 general election.Schimel's loss, on the other hand, is a setback for Musk.Wisconsin Supreme Court races in recent years have become increasingly polarized, with issues like abortion rights, union collective bargaining rights, and voting regulations being used to drive up turnout among base voters. This week, conservatives fell short in their efforts to take the court in a different direction.Musk is poised to wade into other contests ahead of the midterms, especially with Trump's agenda on the line. However, the latest results in Wisconsin show that there's a limit to such an influence.Recommended video

The Trump administration has set its crosshairs on dozens of universities across the US as part of an effort to crack down on DEI-related initiatives and what the administration has said to be a rampant presence of anti-semitism on campuses.Already, the administration's moves to reduce federal spending has had sweeping consequences for America's higher education institutions.Universities have implemented hiring freezes or pursued layoffs as billions of dollars worth of funding toward research remains at threat or has been taken away as a result of the White House's move to downsize or dismantle government agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the United States Agency for International Development.But the administration also has directly threatened several universities to strip them of federal funds, accusing them of failing to properly respond to anti-semitism on campus or participating in "race-exclusionary practices."The Department of Education issued a letter in March to 60 higher education institutions, including a few Ivy League schools, warning them of potential probes if they do not do more to protect Jewish students.Columbia University was stripped of $400 million worth of federal contracts and grants after the Trump administration accused the university of mishandling its response to harassment against Jewish students.In two weeks, the Ivy League school conceded, by banning masks on campus and hiring more security, in hopes of restoring the contracts.Here's a list of notable cases in which the Trump administration targeted higher education institutions and how universities have responded:Harvard UniversityHarvard University may lose nearly 9 billion in federal grants and contracts. Brian Snyder/REUTERS The Department of Health and Human Services announced that it was conducting a review of $8.9 billion worth of federal contracts and grants.The Trump administration accused the university of failing to protect its Jewish student body and promoting "divisive ideologies over free inquiry."The review is to "ensure the university is in compliance with federal regulations, including its civil rights responsibilities," according to a statement from the Department of Education."Harvard University President Alan M. Garber said in a statement that the school would "engage with members of the federal government's task force to combat antisemitism."Columbia UniversityColumbia came back to Trump with a list of nine proposals. peterspiro/Getty Images/iStockphoto Columbia University was the first Ivy League school the Trump administration targeted over concerns of anti-semitism on university campuses.The administration announced in a statement that it was cancelling about $400 million in federal contracts and grants to Columbia.The university responded to the funding cuts on March 20 with a list of nine proposals that entailed increasing campus security and stronger enforcement of disciplinary actions, among other actions.Columbia's interim president, Katrina Armstrong, resigned after the university announced its concessions.Princeton UniversityBlair Hall at Princeton University in springtime. Photo Spirit/Shutterstock Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber said in an announcement that dozens of research grants, including those administered by the Department of Energy, NASA, and the Defense Department, were suspended.The university leader said in a statement that the "full rationale" of the move was unclear but added that the school was "committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination."Prior to the announcement, Eisgruber penned an essay in The Atlantic saying the Trump administration's targeting of universities presents "the greatest threat to American universities since the Red Scare of the 1950s."Johns Hopkins University Facebook/Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins said it would get rid of more than 2,200 jobs as a result of the Trump administration's move to eliminate the US Agency for International Development.Part of the funding was directed toward work focused on preventing the spread of HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis, the university said in a statement."Over more than five decades, our colleagues have brought the benefits of research, discovery, and clinical care to mothers, children, and families at home and around the world, from Nepal to Nigeria, from the Western highlands of Guatemala to our hometown of Baltimore," university president Ron Daniels said.University of MichiganThe University of Michigan elimiated its DEI office and related programs. Ken Wolter/Shutterstock University of Michigan leaders eliminated its office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and other related programs.University leaders said in a statement that the moves comes as "federal actions against DEI programming have intensified.""These decisions have not been made lightly," the statement said. "We recognize the changes are significant and will be challenging for many of us, especially those whose lives and careers have been enriched by and dedicated to programs that are now pivoting."The school said it would redirect funding towards other "student-facing programs," including financial aid for lower-income families and mental health services.University of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania Jumping Rocks/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images The Trump Administration suspended $175 million in federal contracts from the University of Pennsylvania citing the participation of a transgender athlete, Lia Thomas, on the women's swimming team in 2022. "These contracts include research on preventing hospital-acquired infections, drug screening against deadly viruses, quantum computing, protections against chemical warfare, and student loan programs," the university's president J. Larry Jameson wrote in a statement at the end of March. "These stop work orders are in addition to several federal grants that have been cancelled recently, and the slowing down of the award of grants going forward," Jameson went on. "We are actively pursuing multiple avenues to understand and address these funding terminations, freezes, and slowdowns."

This week at CinemaCon movie studios are putting on a show for movie theater representatives and invited media. And at tonights Warner Bros. presentation, James Gunn and DC Studios closed things out with a look at this summers Superman. James Gunn referred to this summer as the summer ofSuperman but after the extended footage he showed at CinemaCon, it might be the summer of Krypto. Supermans dog played a big role in the films first trailer but in this footage we saw much, much more. The footage basically had the same structure as the trailer, but just added more context. For example, we saw Superman beaten in the snow in the trailer and calling for Krypto to take him home. What we didnt see is when he arrives, he jumps on top of Superman. He bites him. He grabs his leg and moves it. All while Superman tries to get him to stop. Its cuteand finally, he does stop, grabbing onto Supermans cape and dragging him home. Home is the Fortress of Solitude which appears to be very close to where Superman fell. It gloriously arises from the snow, complete with diamond-shaped door. Krypto whistles, the S glows, and it opens. Inside, four robots all converge on Superman. Each has a number on them and zero sense of humor. No need to thank us, Superman, one says. We are automotons and have no emotions. Or something like that. One of the robots, number 12, is new and when Superman is told that he smiles at her. He looked at me, she said. They assess his injuries, which are extensive. Nothing a little sun cant fix. So the entire Fortress turns toward the sun as Superman is put on a table and directed toward the sun. Large pieces of glass come together to form a magnifying glass that blasts him with light. He screams, but is better.From there, the footage was largely just the trailer with a few new additions. For example, we see Clark and Lois in her apartment doing an interviewonly, shes calling him Superman. He, apparently, has been under fire lately. The trailer then ends back in the Fortress as he begins to head back out. There are robots everywhere but Krypto keeps snapping at him as he walks out. It annoys Superman but, when Krypto whimpers as he leaves, he smiles and flies away. Additional reporting by Sabina Graves. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

By Matt Novak Published April 1, 2025 | Comments (3) | US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz joins US Vice President JD Vance for a visit to the US military's Pituffik Space Base on March 28, 2025 in Pituffik, Greenland. Photo by Jim Watson - Pool / Getty Images Top national security officials at the White House, including national security advisor Michael Waltz, have sometimes been using regular Gmail accounts to discuss highly sensitive military operations, according to a new report from the Washington Post. Gmail is not end-to-end encrypted like more secure government systems available to officials like Waltz and can be intercepted by foreign adversaries. The Gmail accounts were used to discuss sensitive military positions and powerful weapons systems relating to an ongoing conflict, according to the Post, citing three unnamed government officials and emails reviewed firsthand by the newspaper. Personal email accounts of any kind are not considered a secure way to communicate sensitive information, though National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told the Post that no classified information was transmitted over insecure channels. The report comes after Waltz and roughly two dozen officials were outed as using Signal to discuss attack plans in Yemen after mistakenly adding the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that Waltzs Yemen group chat wasnt the only Signal chat where sensitive plans were being discussed. Waltz is rumored to be losing support from President Donald Trump over the scandal, but Trump has also demonstrated a lack of understanding in his public comments. During one recent White House press conference, a reporter asked Trump if Defense Secretary Pete Hegseths job was in danger. Trump wondered why anyone would ask about Hegseth since he had nothing to do with the snafu. But Hegseth wasnt just involved, he was the one who appeared to share the most sensitive information in the Signal group chat texts that were made public by the Atlantic, including the types of planes that were being deployed and when. The New York Times reports that Vice President JD Vance and Trumps chief of staff Susie Wiles met with President Trump last Wednesday to discuss whether Waltz should lose his job, but ultimately decided to keep him on. Its not clear whether this latest article from the Post about Waltzs use of Gmail will cause Trump to reconsider, but that seems dependent upon whether the story breaks through at Fox News. The president is infamous for watching a lot of TV and will often tweet his thoughts on TV news coverage on his social media platform Truth Social. The amount of TV coverage a given topic gets often determines whether Trump will act. Trump seemed reluctant to pull the nomination of Matt Gaetz for Attorney General until Fox News wouldnt stop harping on the story.The use of insecure email accounts by top Trump officials is ironic, of course, given the fact that Trump made information security such a central part of his 2016 presidential campaign. His opponent, Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton, used a private server for some of her work as Secretary of State, something that Trump often said she should get tossed in jail for. Waltz himself has criticized Democrats for not being careful with classified material. Bidens sitting National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan sent Top Secret messages to Hillary Clintons private account, Waltz tweeted in June 2023. And what did DOJ do about it? Not a damn thing. It seems unlikely that Waltz is going to advocate for charges to be brought against himself.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Lucas Ropek Published March 31, 2025 By Matt Novak Published March 31, 2025 By Matthew Gault Published March 31, 2025 AJ Dellinger and Matt Novak Published March 29, 2025 By Matt Novak Published March 28, 2025 By Matt Novak Published March 27, 2025

Life looked different after an asteroid crashed into the planet around 66 million years ago. The dinosaurs died out, the arboreal mammals declined, and the terrestrial mammals thrived. The traditional story thats told is that the asteroid decimated the dinosaurs and that the decimation of the dinosaurs allowed mammals to trade the treetops for the ground. But what if that traditional story is wrong? What if the mammalian transformation from arboreal to terrestrial was already underway at the time of the asteroid?According to a new paper in Palaeontology, things might have happened that way, as the move from arboreal to terrestrial was already being made by many mammals before the asteroid arrived. Mammals Adapted to the GroundWhen the asteroid arrived at the end of the Cretaceous period, the dinosaurs disappeared. But they werent the only creatures that were affected.Tree dwelling mammals struggled after the asteroid impact, said Christine Janis, a study author and a professor of paleontology at the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol, according to a press release.Though its clear that arboreal mammals declined while terrestrial mammals thrived in the aftermath of the impact, it isnt clear whether these mammals were also declining and thriving before the asteroid, too. Setting out in search of answers, Janis and her team turned to fossil fragments from the Late Cretaceous, before the disappearance of the dinosaurs.Studying the structure of these fragments, Janis and her team found that some species of mammals were already starting to switch from arboreal habitats to terrestrial ones, swapping out one home for another, millions of years in advance of the asteroid.It was already known that plant life changed toward the end of the Cretaceous, with flowering plants, known as angiosperms, creating more diverse habitats on the ground, Janis said in the release. What had not been documented was whether mammals were becoming more terrestrial, in line with the habitat changes.Read More: Did Humans and Dinosaurs Ever Live Together?Finding Traces of Mammal MovementLooking specifically to fragments of limb bones, Janis and her team found that many therian mammals, or mammals from the marsupial and placental branches of the mammalian family tree, were starting to transition out of a lifestyle in the trees to a lifestyle on the ground in the final years of the Cretaceous, when dinosaurs were still alive and well. While tracking these changes in the lifestyles of the therians would typically involve the investigation of full skeletons, Janis and her team were able to stick to the analysis of fossil fragments. Thats because the traces of the therians motion are contained in the articular surfaces, or the tips, of these fossils, where they indicate whether a specific species was more suited to arboreal or terrestrial movement. Weve known for a long time that mammalian long bone articular surfaces can carry good information about their mode of locomotion, but I think this is the first study to use such small bone elements to study change within a community, rather than just individual species, Janis said in the release.Ultimately, these findings indicate that the fate of the dinosaurs wasnt the only factor that influenced the lives and lifestyles of mammals around the end of the Cretaceous. The vegetational habitat was more important for the course of Cretaceous mammalian evolution than any influence from dinosaurs, Janis said in the press release.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Sam Walters is a journalist covering archaeology, paleontology, ecology, and evolution for Discover, along with an assortment of other topics. Before joining the Discover team as an assistant editor in 2022, Sam studied journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Nature, Published online: 31 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01012-3Two experiments show that small payments can speed up peer review, but there might be unintended consequences. Plus, US grant cuts are ending scientific careers and Lyft drivers data reveals speeding-ticket racism.

Nature, Published online: 28 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01000-7The gender gap in research publishing is improving but slowly. Plus, climate disasters are creating an insurance crisis and scientists discovered a promising antibiotic in a box of dirt theyd left under a lab bench for a year.

The bow-wielding Ironeye is the newest class revealed to be coming to Elden Ring Nightreign, developer From Software's upcoming multiplayer spin-off of its hit open world-RPG.The Ironeye excels at ranged damage, starting each session with a bow and specializing in Dexterity-based weapons, according to a press release from publisher Bandai Namco. A new trailer highlights the newest Nightfarer's (Nightreign's version of classes) impressive mobility, showing the ability to send out a scatter of arrows while sliding or even firing shots after double-jumping off a wall. Of course, the Iron Eye has some heavy-hitting abilities as well, such as a move that pulls out a massive bow and arrow that can pierce enemies and is followed up by a shockwave that knocks down surrounding foes. The Ironeye joins other Nightfarers like the magic-specializing Recluse, the grapple-shot-wielding Wylder, the nimble assassin-like Duchess, and the tank-oriented Guardian for a total of five playable classes revealed in Elden Ring Nightreign so far.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Lego has officially released the Disney: Beauty and the Beast Castle, a gigantic new set featuring nearly 3,000 bricks and 10 adorable minifigures. The only catch? It's available exclusively for Lego Insiders. However, becoming a Lego Insider is entirely free, and you'll even accrue loyalty points that can be redeemed for bonus content. If you're not interested in signing up, the Lego Beauty and the Beast Castle will launch for everyone on April 4. Lego Beauty and the Beast Castle (2,916 pieces) $280 This 2,916-brick set stands nearly two feet tall, making it a striking centerpiece regardless of where you choose to display it. Aside from its gorgeous exterior, you'll find a functional interior complete with several rooms and interactive components, including a dinner table with spinning platters, a removable grand staircase, and a dance floor that lets you recreate the dance scene with Belle and Beast.Ten minifigures are also included in the set: Maurice, Belle, Cogsworth, Chip and Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, Fifi, the enchanted rose, the Beast, Gaston, and LeFou. So, if you're interested in using the display as a playset, younger builders will have a full suite of characters to recreate their favorite moments from the film. See at Lego Store Lego Disney Beauty and the Beast CastleGallery The Lego Beauty and the Beast Castle is exclusive to the Lego Store, and we're expecting it to be a hot commodity. Consider signing up to become a Lego Insider if you want to ensure inventory doesn't run out in the next few days. As a bonus, ordering by April 2 will get you a free Easter Bunny Surprise Set. The tiny set is just 217 pieces, but it usually costs $20 and makes a wonderful holiday decoration.While this new Lego set is certainly enticing, it's not the only Disney Lego set up for grabs. A whole bunch are available at Amazon, some of which are currently on sale. Here's a look at some of our favorites if you'd like to grab a companion for the massive Beauty and the Beast Castle.Continue Reading at GameSpot