Runways Gen-4 release overshadows OpenAIs image upgrade as Higgsfield, Udio, Prodia, and Pika debut powerful new AI tools for video, music, and image generation.

Multiple public records teams were entirely cut by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the HHS as part of the Trump administrations layoffs of 10,000 health workers.

SpaceX has just test fired a Super Heavy booster ahead of the Starships ninth flight test.The ground-based firing of the worlds most powerful rocket took place at SpaceXs Starbase site in Boca Chica, Texas, on Thursday.Recommended VideosNotably, the upcoming flight test will involve the first-ever reuse of a Super Heavy booster, with this particular one having made its maiden flight in the seventh test in January 2025.Related SpaceX shared footage of Thursdays static fire in a post on social media:The reuse of rocket boosters is a key part of SpaceXs spaceflight system. The company has been landing and reusing the first stage of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket for years, helping the company to drastically cut the cost of spaceflight. Doing the same with the Super Heavy, however, is a more challenging endeavor due to the rockets much larger size, and because rather than landing on a hard surface like the Falcon 9, SpaceX is using a new method involving giant mechanical arms on the launch tower that secure the Super Heavy above the ground as it returns.SpaceX has so far managed to successfully bring home the Super Heavy booster three times, achieving the remarkable feat for the first time in October last year. The Elon Musk-led spaceflight company said the first Super Heavy reuse will be a step toward its goal of zero-touch reflight, in other words, repeated liftoffs without the Super Heavy touching the ground between missions.A date has yet to be set for the ninth flight test of the Starship, which comprises the first-stage Super Heavy and the upper stage Starship spacecraft.The last two tests saw the spacecraft break up in the air due to recurring propulsion system issues linked to structural vibrations and fuel line vulnerabilities. Having now addressed those issues, SpaceX engineers will be desperate for the upcoming test to fill its mission goals, which will include a soft landing of the spacecraft in the Indian Ocean.SpaceX is aiming to ramp up testing of the Starship this year as NASA is hoping to use a modified version of the spacecraft to land two astronauts on the moon in the highly anticipated Artemis III mission, which is currently scheduled for 2027.Editors Recommendations

NetflixTable of ContentsTable of ContentsBeasts of No Nation (2015)The Kitchen (2023)Solo (2018)Tired of scrolling past the same Netflix recommendations over and over? Youre not alonethe algorithm loves to push the biggest blockbusters and buzziest new releases front and center. But behind all the flashy thumbnails lies a treasure trove of underrated movies just waiting to be found. These are the kind of films that might not have received much hype but still pack a serious punch.Recommended VideosWhether youre in the mood for a suspenseful drama, a chilling dystopia, or an award-winning war film, theres something unexpected ready to surprise you. Forget the same old picks and take a chance at these hidden gems that bring bold yet overlooked stories. Get ready with some popcorn and gear up for a fun weekend with these underappreciated movies on Netflix.RelatedWe also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max,andthe best movies on Disney+.NetflixIn an unnamed West African country on the brink of chaos, the young boy Agu (Abraham Attah) finds his idyllic childhood shattered as civil war engulfs his village. Separated from his family amidst the turmoil, Agu joins child soldiers, learning to live and act like one himself under the command of the ruthless man simply known as Commandant (Idris Elba). Through Agus eyes, viewers are taken on a brutal journey that exposes the devastating impact of war on innocents.Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, Beasts of No Nation is a one-of-a-kind war film that attempts to capture the psyche of a child ensnared by the horrors of conflict. Abraham Attah delivers a performance of staggering depth, capturing Agus transformation from a carefree boy to a hardened soldier. This heartbreaking arc is complemented by Idris Elbas role as a menacing figure who manipulates young recruits without leaving space for weakness or empathy. Despite its critical acclaim and numerous accolades, the 2015 film remains criminally underrated in the larger conversation of the best in the genre and of that decade. As the first film released on Netflix, it caused quite a stir in the industry. Beast of No Nations simultaneous limited theatrical distributionled major cinema chains to boycott the film, reducing its exposure to broader audiences.Beasts of No Nationis streaming on Netflix.NetflixThe Kitchen takes place in a dystopian London of 2040, where soaring housing prices and the dismantling of social welfare have transformed the city into a playground for billionaires. The marginalized find refuge in the last remaining social housing complex, The Kitchen, where a man, Izi (Kane Robinson), who hopes to change his situation, crosses paths with a 12-year-old orphan, Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman). Their bond transforms their initial goals, and Izi is soon confronted with choices that could affect his whole community.Directed by Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares, The Kitchens most impressive aspect is undoubtedly its world-building, as it offers a stunning portrait of a society teetering on the edge of collapse. Its future version of London is marked by stark contrasts, with its gleaming skyscrapers overshadowing dilapidated high-rises, capturing the chasm between wealth and poverty. While its setting threatens to overpower its plot, which hits familiar beats, the dystopian sci-fi is still a powerful watch for fans of eat-the-rich movies that are unflinching in their depiction of the consequences of systemic inequality.The Kitchenis streaming on Netflix.NetflixOn a Spanish island, Fuerteventura, the suspenseful true story of surfer lvaro Vizcano (portrayed by Alain Hernndez) unfolds. Solo follows the protagonist who, after a night of heavy drinking and personal drama, goes on a solo surfing expedition to clear his mind. However, a misstep leads him to plummet off a steep cliff, resulting in severe injuries, including a broken hip and head trauma. Stranded on an isolated beach with no immediate hope for rescue, lvaro confronts not only the merciless forces of nature but also his past choices. Over 48 grueling hours, he battles physical and mental agony and strives to survive against overwhelming odds.Since there was a much more popular Soloset in a galaxy far, far away and also released in 2018, audiences can be forgiven for completely missing out on the Spanish counterpart set in the Canary archipelago. Directed by Hugo Stuven, the survival drama is a visually stunning dive into the depths of one mans storyhis regrets, his relationships, and more. Its non-linear storytelling may sometimes jolt viewers out of the intensity of his struggle to stay alive, but they do add necessary layers to the narrative that will have anyone rooting for lvaro in the end.Solois streaming on Netflix.Editors Recommendations

For Cambodian refugees in Seattle, his restaurant became an oasis of family, community and noodle soup.

CLIENT-SIDE ENCRYPTION Google unveils end-to-end messages for Gmail. Only thing is: Its not true E2EE. Yes, encryption/decryption occurs on end-user devices, but there's a catch. Dan Goodin Apr 3, 2025 5:16 pm | 10 Credit: Getty Images Credit: Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreWhen Google announced Tuesday that end-to-end encrypted messages were coming to Gmail for business users, some people balked, noting it wasnt true E2EE as the term is known in privacy and security circles. Others wondered precisely how it works under the hood. Heres a description of what the new service does and doesnt do, as well as some of the basic security that underpins it.When Google uses the term E2EE in this context, it means that an email is encrypted inside Chrome, Firefox, or just about any other browser the sender chooses. As the message makes its way to its destination, it remains encrypted and cant be decrypted until it arrives at its final destination, when its decrypted in the recipient's browser.Giving S/MIME the heave-hoThe chief selling point of this new service is that it allows government agencies and the businesses that work with them to comply with a raft of security and privacy regulations and at the same time eliminates the massive headaches that have traditionally plagued anyone deploying such regulation-compliant email systems. Up to now, the most common means has been S/MIME, a standard so complex and painful that only the bravest and most well-resourced organizations tend to implement it.S/MIME requires each sender and receiver to have an X.509 certificate thats been issued by a certificate authority. Obtaining, distributing, and managing these certificates in a secure manner takes time, money, and coordination. That means that if Bob and Alice have never worked together before and an urgent or unexpected need arises for him to send Alice an encrypted message promptly, theyre out of luck until an admin applies for a certificate and sees that its installed on Alices machineso much for flexibility and agility.Google says that E2EE Gmail abstracts away this complexity. Instead, Bob drafts an email to Alice, clicks a button that turns on the feature, and hits send. Bobs browser encrypts the message, and sends it to Alice. The message decrypts only after it arrives in Alices browser and she authenticates herself.To make this happen, Bobs organization deploys what Google says is a lightweight key server, known as a KACL, short for a key access control list. This server, which can be hosted on premises or most cloud services, is where keys are generated and stored. When Bob sends an encrypted message, his browser connects to the key server and obtains an ephemeral symmetric encryption key. Bobs browser encrypts the message and sends it to Alice, along with a reference key. Alices browser uses the reference key to download the symmetric key from the KACL and decrypts the message. The key is then deleted.To prevent Mallory or another adversary-in-the-middle from obtaining the key, Alice must first authenticate herself through Okta, Ping, or whatever other identity provider, or IDP, Bobs organization uses. If this is the first time Alice has received a message from Bobs organization, she will first have to prove to the IDP that she has control of her email address. If Alice plans to receive encrypted emails from Bobs organization in the future, Alice sets up an account that can be used going forward.Bobs organization can add an additional layer of protection by requiring Alice to already have an account on the IDP and authenticate herself through it.The idea is that no matter what, at no time and in no way does Gmail ever have the real key. Never, Julien Duplant, a Google Workspace product manager, told Ars. And we never have the decrypted content. Its only happening on that users device.Now, as to whether this constitutes true E2EE, it likely doesnt, at least under stricter definitions that are commonly used. To purists, E2EE means that only the sender and the recipient have the means necessary to encrypt and decrypt the message. Thats not the case here, since the people inside Bobs organization who deployed and manage the KACL have true custody of the key.In other words, the actual encryption and decryption process occurs on the end-user devices, not on the organizations server or anywhere else in between. Thats the part that Google says is E2EE. The keys, however, are managed by Bobs organization. Admins with full access can snoop on the communications at any time.The mechanism making all of this possible is what Google calls CSE, short for client-side encryption. It provides a simple programming interface that streamlines the process. Until now, CSE worked only with S/MIME. Whats new here is a mechanism for securely sharing a symmetric key between Bobs organization and Alice or anyone else Bob wants to email.The new feature is of potential value to organizations that must comply with onerous regulations mandating end-to-end encryption. It most definitely isnt suitable for consumers or anyone who wants sole control over the messages they send. Privacy advocates, take note.Dan GoodinSenior Security EditorDan GoodinSenior Security Editor Dan Goodin is Senior Security Editor at Ars Technica, where he oversees coverage of malware, computer espionage, botnets, hardware hacking, encryption, and passwords. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening, cooking, and following the independent music scene. Dan is based in San Francisco. Follow him at here on Mastodon and here on Bluesky. Contact him on Signal at DanArs.82. 10 Comments

Yodel-ay-hee-hoo! Monkeys are better yodelers than humans, study finds Voice breaks in Latin American monkey calls resemble human yodeling, but over a much wider frequency range. Jennifer Ouellette Apr 3, 2025 3:10 pm | 9 Black and gold howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya) Credit: Jacob Dunn, Anglia Ruskin University Black and gold howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya) Credit: Jacob Dunn, Anglia Ruskin University Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreHumans have practiced some form of yodeling since at least the 13th century, when Marco Polo encountered Tibetan monks on his travels who used the vocal technique for long-distance communication. It's since morphed into a distinctive singing style. But can animals also yodel? According to a new paper published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Biological Sciences, several species of monkey dwelling in the rainforests of Latin America employ "voice breaks" in their calls that acoustically resemble human yodelingi.e., "ultra-yodels" that boast a much wider frequency range.Many years ago, I wrote about the bioacoustics of human yodeling for New Scientist. In many respects, yodeling is quite simple. It merely involves singing a long note subjected to repeated rapid sharp shifts in pitch. It's the unique anatomy of the human vocal tract that makes it possible, notably the larynx (voice box) located just behind the Adam's apple. The larynx is comprised of cartilage and the hyoid bone that together support the vocal cords, which are attached to muscles on either side of the larynx.When air flows through the trachea, the vocal cords vibrate at frequencies ranging from 110 to 200 Hz. We have the capability of contracting the muscles to change the shape, position, and tension of our vocal cords, thereby altering the pitch of the sound produced. Stiffer vocal cords result in faster vibrations, which produce higher pitches.Prior research has shown that human vocal cords share the same two principal vibration modes as a guitar, and human singers rely on both when performing. It's well-known that we have two distinct ranges: a "head voice" and a "chest voice." There is a gap when shifting between them, which trained singers learn how to smooth over. Yodelers accentuate that gap instead.Monkey see, monkey yodel?That's how it works for humans, but when it comes to the question of yodeling animals, it depends on how you define yodeling, according to bioacoustician Tecumseh Fitch of the University of Vienna in Austria, who co-authored this latest paper. Plenty of animal vocalizations use repeated sudden changes in pitch (including birds), and a 2023 study found that toothed whales can produce vocal registers through their noses for echolocation and communication.There haven't been as many studies of vocal registers in non-human primates, but researchers have found, for example, that the "coo" call of the Japanese macaque is similar to a human falsetto; the squeal of a Syke monkey is similar to the human "modal" register; and the Diana monkey produces alarm calls that are similar to "vocal fry" in humans. Tufted capuchins (Sapajus apella) Jacob Dunn, Anglia Ruskin University Tufted capuchins (Sapajus apella) Jacob Dunn, Anglia Ruskin University Peruvian spider monkey (Ateles chamek) Jacob Dunn, Anglia Ruskin University Peruvian spider monkey (Ateles chamek) Jacob Dunn, Anglia Ruskin University Tufted capuchins (Sapajus apella) Jacob Dunn, Anglia Ruskin University Peruvian spider monkey (Ateles chamek) Jacob Dunn, Anglia Ruskin University It's known that non-human primates have something humans have lost over the course of evolution: very thin, light vocal membranes just above the vocal folds. Scientists have pondered the purpose of those membranes, and a 2022 study concluded that this membrane was crucial for producing sounds. The co-authors of this latest paper wanted to test their hypothesis that the membranes serve as an additional oscillator to enable such non-human primates to achieve the equivalent of human voice registers. That, in turn, would render them capable in principle of producing a wider range of callsperhaps even a yodel.The team studied many species, including black and gold howler monkeys, tufted capuchins, black-capped squirrel monkeys, and Peruvian spider monkeys. They took CT scans of excised monkey larynxes housed at the Japan Monkey Center, as well as two excised larynxes from tufted capuchin monkeys at Kyoto University. They also made live recordings of monkey calls at the La Senda Verde animal refuge in the Bolivian Andes, using non-invasive EGG to monitor vocal fold vibrations.The results showed that New World monkeys had evolved the largest primate vocal membranes, supporting the hypothesis that they play a critical role in vocal production, specifically voice breaks that transitioned rapidly in frequency, which they achieved by switching sound production from their vocal folds to their vocal membranes. It's technically a yodel, even though it might not sound much like the human version (cf. the recording of a tufted capuchin above).The monkeys' "ultra-yodels" had frequency leaps that were five times larger than human frequency changes, often exceeding three octaves. (Human yodelers are limited to one octave.) While the monkeys' vocal membranes serve to extend their pitch range, the tradeoff is a lack of pitch stability.These results show how monkeys take advantage of an evolved feature in their larynxthe vocal membranewhich allows for a wider range of calls to be produced, including these ultra-yodels," said co-author Jacob Dunn, an evolutionary biologist at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England.This might be particularly important in primates, which have complex social lives and need to communicate in a variety of different ways. Its highly likely this has evolved to enrich the animals call repertoire, and is potentially used for attention-grabbing changes, call diversification, or identifying themselves.Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Biological Sciences, 2025. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2024.0005 (About DOIs).Jennifer OuelletteSenior WriterJennifer OuelletteSenior Writer Jennifer is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. 9 Comments

The artificial sweetener sucralose may stoke hunger rather than abate itAntonio Guillem Fernandez/AlamyPeople report being hungrier after consuming the artificial sweetener sucralose and experience heightened brain activity in regions involved with appetite. The finding suggests that artificial sweeteners may encourage overeating instead of satisfying our sweet tooth.Artificial sweeteners have become increasingly popular worldwide as awareness around sugars health risks grows. Unlike sugar, these additives sweeten foods and drinks without adding substantial calories. But they may come with their own set of health concerns. Studies in rodents and small numbers of people have shown, for instance,

US president Donald Trumps massive, sweeping tariffs sent global stock markets tumbling on Thursday, setting the stage for a worldwide trade war and ratcheting up the dangers of a punishing recession. Experts fear that the US cleantech sector is especially vulnerable to a deep downturn, which would undermine the nations progress on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and undercut its leadership in an essential, growing industry. It would be hard for me to think of cleantech or climate tech sectors that arent facing huge risks, says Noah Kaufman, senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, who served on the Council of Economic Advisers under President Joe Biden. I think were a country without a federal climate strategy at this point, with an economy headed in the wrong direction, so I dont see a lot of reason to be optimistic, he adds. Indeed, there are mounting challenges and rising risks across the cleantech and climate tech sectors. How deep and wide-ranging the impact of the economic changes could be depends on many variables and on reactions still taking shape. In particular, the negotiations underway in Congress over the budget will determine the fate of subsidies for electric vehicles, battery production, and other support for clean energy. Many of those programs were established by former president Bidens signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act. Beyond the tenuous government support, any slowdown in the broader economy threatens to tighten corporate and venture capital funding for startups working on carbon removal, synthetic aviation fuels, electric delivery vehicles, and other technologies that help companies meet climate action goals. In addition, Trumps tariffs, particularly the now 54% levy on Chinese goods, will push up the costs of key components for many businesses. Notably, the US imported $4 billion worth of lithium-ion batteries from China during the first four months of last year, so the tariff increase would impose a huge tax on products that go into electric vehicles, laptops, phones, and many other devices. Higher prices for aluminum, steel, copper, cement, and numerous other goods and materials will also drive up the costs of doing all sorts of business, including building wind turbines, solar farms, and geothermal plants. And if China, Canada, the European Union, and other nations respond with retaliatory trade measures, as is widely expected, it will also become harder or more expensive for US companies to export goods like EVs or battery components to overseas markets. Even traditional energy stocks took a beating on Wall Street Thursday, out of fear that any broader economic sluggishness will drive down electricity demand. Trump administration cuts to the Department of Energy and other federal programs could also take away money from demonstration projects that help cleantech companies test and scale up their technologies. And if Congress does eliminate certain subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act, it could halt billion-dollar projects that are being planned or perhaps even some that are already under construction. The growing policy uncertainty and weakening economic conditions alone may already be causing some of this to occur. Since Trump took office, companies have canceled, delayed, or scaled back at least nine US clean energy supply chain developments or operations, according to the Big Green Machine, a database maintained by Jay Turner, a professor of environmental studies at Wellesley College, and student researchers there. The projects that have been affected represent some $8 billion in public and private investments, and more than 9,000 jobs. They include KORE Powers planned battery facility in Arizona, which the company halted; Envision Automotive Energy Supplys paused expansion in Florence County, South Carolina; and Akasols closure of two plants in Michigan. VW also scaled back production at its recently expanded EV factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, amid slower-than-expected growth in sales and, perhaps, the expectation that the Trump administration will strive to roll back consumer tax credits for vehicle purchases. The biggest challenge for companies that are making hundred-million- or billion-dollar capital investments is dealing with the uncertainty, Turner says. Uncertainty is a real deterrent to making big bets. Venture capital investments in clean energy have been cooling for a while. They peaked at $24.5 billion in 2022 and settled at around $18 billion annually during the last two years, according to data provided by Pitchbook. First-quarter figures for this year arent yet available, though industry watchers are keen to see where they land. Some parts of the cleantech sector could hold up better than others through the Trump administration and any upcoming economic gloom. The Pitchbook report, for instance, noted that the surge in development of AI data centers is fueling demand for dispatchable energy sources. That means the type that can run around the clock, such as nuclear fission, fusion, and geothermal (though in practice, the data center boom has often meant commissioning or relying on natural-gas plants that produce planet-warming emissions). Trumps new energy secretary, Chris Wright, previously the chief executive of the oilfield services company Liberty Energy, has also talked favorably about nuclear power and geothermaland rather unfavorably about renewables like solar and wind. But observers fear that more sectors will lose than win in any economic downturn to come, and Turner stresses that the decisions made during this administration could last well beyond it. The near-term concern is that this emerging clean-energy industry in the US suffers a significant pullback and the US cedes this market to other countries, especially China, that are actively working to position themselves to be leaders in the clean-energy future, he says. The long-term concern, he adds, is that if government policies on cleantech simply advance and retreat with the whims of each administration, companies will stop trying to make long-term investments that bank on such subsidies, grants or loans. Catherine Wolfram, a professor of energy and applied economics at MIT, also notes that China and the European Union are forging ahead in developing policies to drive down emissions and build up carbon-free sectors. She observes that theyre both now moving on to the tougher work of cleaning up heavy industries like steel, while the US is losing ground on even making clean electricity. Its the worst kind of US exceptionalism, she says.

Economists and supply chain experts told Business Insider the average consumer will spend about $4,000 more this year on staples from food to apparel due to cost increases caused by Donald Trump's tariffs. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images 2025-04-04T00:27:47Z SaveSaved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Donald Trump has enacted sweeping tariffs on items imported from the country's global trade partners.The tariffs will cause price increases on goods from pantry staples to apparel, experts told BI.On average, consumers should expect to pay about $3,800 more this year, a Yale economist said.If you thought the cost of groceries was high before, economists and supply chain experts have some bad news.President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced sweeping 10% tariffs on goods from any country imported into the United States, and even higher tariffs for 60 trading partners with a persistent trade deficit with the US.The wide-reaching "Liberation Day" tariffs impact countries including China and Japan, as well as the European Union, and territories near Antarctica inhabited only by penguins. TheyCanada and Mexico.For consumers,the increased import costs caused by Trump's aggressive tariff plan are expected to result in higher prices for everything from pantry staples like coffee and sugar to apparel and larger purchases like cars and appliances.Ernie Tedeschi, the director of economics at the Budget Lab at Yale, said the price hikes are expected to increase the overall price level of goods in the United States by 2.3%, costing the average consumer household about $3,800 this year.Tedeschi told Business Insider that the existing tariffs against Mexico and Canada alone account for an expected 1% price increase of about $1,700 per household. The "Liberation Day" tariffs announced Wednesday are expected to result in a further 1.3% hike, or $2,100 per household."So 1.3% may not sound like a lot to the normal person, but $2,100 is a meaningful amount," Tedeschi said. "Now, of course, that's an average, so if you open up the hood to that number, there's a distribution beneath that number."Price hikes on pantry staples and produceThe exact intention behind Trump's tariff plan remains unclear the president says his main goal is to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, but some analysts suspect he may be trying to trigger a recession to reduce interest rates purposely and the stock market has tanked in response to the uncertainty.Imports from some countries will be hit with higher tariffs than others, driving uneven price hikes across industries. For example, China which largely imports machinery and appliances, furniture, toys, and electronics to the US tariff when combining the new tariffs (34%) with ones that have been previously announced. Goods from the European Union, which primarily imports medical and pharmaceutical products and motor vehicles, will be subject to a new 20% tariff.Tedeschi said the cost of clothing items is expected to increase by about 8%. He added that pantry staples like sugar and coffee are expected to increase in price by about 1.3%, while fresh produce is likely to increase by about 2.2%."The luxury of eating our favorite fruits and vegetables regardless of the season is based on global imports with much coming from Central and South America," Margaret Kidd, an instructional associate professor of supply chain and logistics technology at the University of Houston, told BI. "Tariffs will make many of these staples unaffordable."The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement in 2020, maintains NAFTA's zero-tariff treatment for most agricultural products, textiles, apparel, and other goods that meet the trade agreement's rules of origin. But while the United States gets much of its produce from neighboring Mexico tariff-free, including tomatoes, avocados, and strawberries, other imports will face new price hikes like grapes from Peru or bananas and mangoes from the Philippines."The USMCA is still in effect, so there are fruits and vegetables still covered under the deal and are tariff-free, but then some of them, they are not covered," Chris Tang, a UCLA professor who's an expert in global supply chain management and the impact of regulatory policies, told Business Insider.Stockpiling and substitutionsOf course, consumers and businesses alike will try to find substitutions. Still, Tedeschi said it takes time to carve out new supply chain routes, for stores to expand their offerings, and for customers to find suitable alternatives to their typical favorites."So you may, literally and figuratively, eat the price increase in the short run, as you're figuring out what a proper substitute is, but there are areas where there will be substitutions available," Tedeschi said. "Let's say coffee, for example, imported from Colombia. If Starbucks has a supply chain agreement with Colombia, over time, they'll be able to shift that to another country or another supplier to mitigate the cost of the tariff, perhaps. Whereas, in the short run, like, in a month, Starbucks is not going to be able to do that, so if you want your latte, you're going to have to pay extra."Some, like "Shark Tank" star Mark Cuban, have suggested Americans start stockpiling goods now to avoid price hikes. They say retailers may raise prices and "blame it on tariffs," even if their goods are US-made. While the experts who spoke to Business Insider say that may be true, panic buying might further hurt supply chains and cause prices to go up, too."This kind of shift in demand would actually exacerbate this price increase," Tang said. "If the demand is more stable, then the price is more stable. If everyone starts stocking up on toothpaste and toilet paper, the prices go higher."Low-income households will bear the bruntAnd that's just the immediate impact on everyday consumable items.The Consumer Technology Association estimated in a January report that Trump's tariffs could increase the price of laptops and tablets by 46-68%, video game consoles by 40-58%, and smartphones by 26-37%.Car imports will see tariffs of upward of 25%, which could translate to $12,000 or more based on an average car price of $48,000. Some automakers have responded to the tariffs by offering employee pricing deals, while others paused work at their factories and started cutting staff, Business Insider previously reported.Not every household will be affected by the tariffs similarly, either. In response to Trump's trade plan, Tedeschi said, lower-income households will spend about two and a half times more of their share of income than the highest-earning households will.Kidd said pharmaceuticals, which represent $251 billion of imports, will face tariffs from 20% to more than 50%, which will disproportionately burden Americans without insurance and may set the path toward an increased deductible for those covered under an employer health plan."Lower income households are more likely to purchase imports. They spend a larger share of their income than higher income households do, and so they are more vulnerable to tariffs than higher income households are," Tedeschi said. "And obviously people care about food for food's sake, but that also has distributional implications as well. The more the price of food goes up, the more that disproportionately affects lower-income families as well."Recommended video