Author(s): Dwaipayan Bandyopadhyay Originally published on Towards AI. Today, in this article, I will give a detailed walkthrough about how we can leverage MongoDBs own Atlas as a Vector Search Index and Embedding model and LLM served as an endpoint in the Databricks portal to do Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) on a piece of data.Source : Image by AuthorIn todays AI World, where large amounts of structured and unstructured data are generated daily, accurately using knowledge has become the cornerstone of modern-day technology. Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) is a widely used approach that solves real-world data problems by amalgamating the power of Generative AI and Information Retrieval.Retrieval Augmented Generation generally consists of Three major steps, I will explain them briefly down below Information Retrieval The very first step involves retrieving relevant information from a knowledge base, database, or vector database, where we store the embeddings of the data from which we will retrieve information. This Retrieval part is typically done via Similarity Search, in which we find the similarities between the embedded query and the embeddings already stored in the Vector Database.Augmentation Step After retrieving the similar information from the Vector Database, it gets combined with the query asked by the user so that the retriever gets the context to what has been asked and form a better answer for the query.Generation Step This is the final step, where a Large Language Model comes into play, we feed the augmented information to the LLM, and it generates a proper human readable answer based on that information provided. Feeding of the augmented information is crucial because otherwise the AI might generate some random information as it doesnt have any context of what has been asked.What is MongoDB Atlas?Atlas is a multi-cloud database service provided by MongoDB in which the developers can create clusters, databases and indexes directly in the cloud, without installing anything locally. Basically, its MongoDB on Cloud, users can create an account by signing up from their official website provided below MongoDB Atlas: Cloud Document Database | MongoDBAfter signing in for the very first time, just follow the steps mentioned in the below documentation to spin up a free cluster.Get Started with Atlas MongoDB AtlasAfter the Cluster has been created, its time to create a Database and a collection. Now, as MongoDB is a NoSQL Database, we have to create a Database first (unlike Schema for SQL Databases, although the concept is same), then inside the Database we have to create a collection, in which we can store documents (It is like creating a table inside a Database). If this feels confusing, please refer to the following article of how to create a Collection and Database, but remember, do not add any documents, just create collection and a database.Connecting MongoDB with Python The Coding part starts nowNow, we will connect MongoDB with Python, so that we can do the rest of the steps programmatically, without using the UI for a second.To connect and access MongoDB Atlas via Python, we need to install a package called pymongo. It can be installed via the following pip command.pip install pymongoAfter it has been installed, we will import the class MongoClient to connect with MongoDB via Python. For that we will require the connection string, which can be found under Drivers settings after clicking on Connect from the Cluster. The process can be found in the following link, Step 2.Quick Start: Getting Started With MongoDB Atlas and Python | MongoDBAfter the connection string is found, write and execute the below to connect with MongoDBfrom pymongo import MongoClientclient = MongoClient("YOUR_CONNECTION_URL")dbName = "YOUR_DATABASE_NAME"collectionName = "YOUR_COLLECTION_NAME"collection = client[dbName][collectionName]This will establish the connection with MongoDB, if no errors are encountered, then the connection has been successfully made with MongoDB.After the connection has been established, lets talk about all the other packages we require to do the entire RAG process, apart from pymongo. Install the following packages via pippip install langchainpip install langchain_databrickspip install langchain_mongodbWe only require these three packages to do the entire process. After they are installed successfully, lets import all the necessary classes from these packages.Importing Necessary classes from the packagesfrom pymongo import MongoClientfrom langchain_mongodb.vectorstores import MongoDBAtlasVectorSearchfrom langchain.document_loaders import TextLoaderfrom langchain.text_splitter import RecursiveCharacterTextSplitterfrom langchain.chains import RetrievalQAfrom langchain_databricks import ChatDatabricksfrom langchain_databricks import DatabricksEmbeddingsAs we have already established the connection with Databricks, lets just load our data and do the chunking using RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter. We will be keeping each chunk size as 1000 with an overlapping of 100 characters and a new paragraph(\n\n) as a separator.# Importing the data using TextLoaderloader = TextLoader("story.txt")data = loader.load()# Configuring the Chunking strategytext_splitter = RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter( chunk_size=1000, chunk_overlap=100, separators="\n\n")# keeping the chunks in this variablechunked_docs = text_splitter.split_documents(data)Configuring LLM and Embedding ModelsNext, we will configure our Embedding model and Large Language Model which we are going to use. Now, here we will be using the models which are serving as an endpoint in Databricks Portal. If someone dont have the access of Databricks, then they can go with the regular approach of using OpenAIEmbeddings and ChatOpenAI classes, and configure them accordingly.embeddings = DatabricksEmbeddings( endpoint="databricks-gte-large-en")llm = ChatDatabricks( target_uri="databricks", endpoint="databricks-meta-llama-3-1-70b-instruct", temperature=0.0,)We will be using the GTE-Large embedding model and the Meta LLama 3.1 70B Instruct models for this demo.Creating a Vector Search Index in MongoDB AtlasNow, after all the configuration is done, we will be creating a Vector Search Index in Atlas, in which we will store our embeddings and use them later to do the RAG. There are two ways to create the Vector Search Index, one is either the UI or the other way is via Code. Now Atlas provides us with a default Search Index name i.e vector_index, if someone wants to go by this name, then they can just write and execute the following codevectorStore = MongoDBAtlasVectorSearch.from_documents( chunked_docs, embeddings, collection=collection).create_vector_search_index( dimensions=1024 )This will create a vector search index named vector_index with the dimension 1024, inside the collection we created earlier. We just have the pass the chunked documents, alongside the embeddings and the collection configuration via which we connected to Atlas.Image before the creation of the Search Index (execution of the above code)Source : Image by AuthorImage after executing the above code (creation of the default search index)Source : Image by AuthorAs we can see now, after the execution of the above piece of code, our search index with the default name vector_index has been created and 129 documents have been inserted (which is the number of chunks created earlier)But, if someone wants to go a step further and create their own Search Index by providing own custom name, then we need to make some changes in the above code. First, we need to create the custom index using the name provided by the user, and then insert the embeddings into it, this cannot be done in one go (if done programmatically).Creating custom vector search indexMongoDBAtlasVectorSearch(index_name="mongo_rag", collection=collection, embedding=embeddings).create_vector_search_index( dimensions=1024)Here, we are creating an index called mongo_rag first with the dimension of 1024, now the dimension is very crucial whether we create the by-default index or custom index, because if this dimension doesnt match with the one of the Embedding model, then it will be a major issue, the application will not even execute. for the embedding model used here i.e GTE-Large, the dimension is 1024.Image after creating the custom index (embeddings are not yet added)Source : Image by AuthorAs we can see here, the index has been created successfully, but the Documents are still at 129 values as we havent populated the embeddings here. We should delete the previously added chunks first, otherwise we will just push the same chunks again, which will be a repetition which might introduce hallucinations.Populating the Custom Index with EmbeddingsUsing the following code, we can populate the custom index with the embeddingsvectorStore = MongoDBAtlasVectorSearch.from_documents(index_name="mongo_rag", embedding=embeddings, documents=chunked_docs, collection=collection)In this approach, while inserting embeddings into the search index, we are providing the index_name here, this will let us store the indexes in that particular search index.Designing the RAG functionIn this step, we will just design a generic RAG function using the LLMs and Endpoint configuration we defined earlier.def query_data(query): # Perform Atlas Vector Search using Langchain's vectorStore # similarity_search returns MongoDB documents most similar to the query docs = vectorStore.similarity_search(query, k=3) # Putting the similar chunks into a list to print it later similar_chunks = [chunk for chunk in docs] # Setting up the retriever defined using MongDBAtlasVectorSearch retriever = vectorStore.as_retriever() # Load "stuff" documents chain. Stuff documents chain takes a list of documents, # inserts them all into a prompt and passes that prompt to an LLM. qa = RetrievalQA.from_chain_type(llm, chain_type="stuff", retriever=retriever) # Execute the chain retriever_output = qa.invoke(query) # Return Atlas Vector Search output, and output generated using RAG Architecture return (f"Similar Chunks\n-{similar_chunks}\n, Answer-{retriever_output}")Now we will pass a sample query and check how it is workingquery = "Explain the Character of Macbeth"query_data(query)Answer'Similar Chunks\n-[Document(metadata={\'_id\': \'6798ecf0a3137ba55ff6b544\', \'source\': \'story.txt\'}, page_content="1606\\nTHE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH\\n\\n\\nby William Shakespeare\\n\\n\\n\\nDramatis Personae\\n\\n DUNCAN, King of Scotland\\n MACBETH, Thane of Glamis and Cawdor, a general in the King\'s\\narmy\\n LADY MACBETH, his wife\\n MACDUFF, Thane of Fife, a nobleman of Scotland\\n LADY MACDUFF, his wife\\n MALCOLM, elder son of Duncan\\n DONALBAIN, younger son of Duncan\\n BANQUO, Thane of Lochaber, a general in the King\'s army\\n FLEANCE, his son\\n LENNOX, nobleman of Scotland\\n ROSS, nobleman of Scotland\\n MENTEITH nobleman of Scotland\\n ANGUS, nobleman of Scotland\\n CAITHNESS, nobleman of Scotland\\n SIWARD, Earl of Northumberland, general of the English forces\\n YOUNG SIWARD, his son\\n SEYTON, attendant to Macbeth\\n HECATE, Queen of the Witches\\n The Three Witches\\n Boy, Son of Macduff \\n Gentlewoman attending on Lady Macbeth\\n An English Doctor\\n A Scottish Doctor\\n A Sergeant\\n A Porter\\n An Old Man\\n The Ghost of Banquo and other Apparitions\\n Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murtherers, Attendants,"), Document(metadata={\'_id\': \'6798ecf0a3137ba55ff6b5a7\', \'source\': \'story.txt\'}, page_content="Was a most sainted king; the queen that bore thee,\\n Oftener upon her knees than on her feet,\\n Died every day she lived. Fare thee well!\\n These evils thou repeat\'st upon thyself\\n Have banish\'d me from Scotland. O my breast,\\n Thy hope ends here!\\n MALCOLM. Macduff, this noble passion,\\n Child of integrity, hath from my soul\\n Wiped the black scruples, reconciled my thoughts\\n To thy good truth and honor. Devilish Macbeth\\n By many of these trains hath sought to win me\\n Into his power, and modest wisdom plucks me\\n From over-credulous haste. But God above\\n Deal between thee and me! For even now\\n I put myself to thy direction and \\n Unspeak mine own detraction; here abjure\\n The taints and blames I laid upon myself,\\n For strangers to my nature. I am yet\\n Unknown to woman, never was forsworn,\\n Scarcely have coveted what was mine own,\\n At no time broke my faith, would not betray\\n The devil to his fellow, and delight"), Document(metadata={\'_id\': \'6798ecf0a3137ba55ff6b57d\', \'source\': \'story.txt\'}, page_content="Particular addition, from the bill\\n That writes them all alike; and so of men. \\n Now if you have a station in the file,\\n Not i\' the worst rank of manhood, say it,\\n And I will put that business in your bosoms\\n Whose execution takes your enemy off,\\n Grapples you to the heart and love of us,\\n Who wear our health but sickly in his life,\\n Which in his death were perfect.\\n SECOND MURTHERER. I am one, my liege,\\n Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world\\n Have so incensed that I am reckless what\\n I do to spite the world.\\n FIRST MURTHERER. And I another\\n So weary with disasters, tugg\'d with fortune,\\n That I would set my life on any chance,\\n To mend it or be rid on\'t.\\n MACBETH. Both of you\\n Know Banquo was your enemy.\\n BOTH MURTHERERS. True, my lord.\\n MACBETH. So is he mine, and in such bloody distance\\n That every minute of his being thrusts \\n Against my near\'st of life; and though I could")]\n, Answer-{\'query\': \'Explain the Character of Macbeth\', \'result\': "Based on the provided context, Macbeth is a complex character who is the Thane of Glamis and Cawdor, and a general in the King\'s army. He is a prominent figure in the play and is driven by a desire for power and prestige. \\n\\nInitially, Macbeth is portrayed as a respected and accomplished military leader, but as the play progresses, his darker qualities are revealed. He is shown to be ruthless, ambitious, and willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals, including murder. \\n\\nMacbeth\'s relationship with his wife, Lady Macbeth, also plays a significant role in shaping his character. He is influenced by her goading and encouragement, which pushes him to commit regicide and seize the throne. \\n\\nHowever, Macbeth\'s actions are also motivated by a sense of insecurity and paranoia, as he becomes increasingly obsessed with the idea of being overthrown and killed. This fear drives him to order the murder of his friend Banquo and his family, further highlighting his descent into darkness and tyranny.\\n\\nThroughout the play, Macbeth\'s character undergoes a significant transformation, from a respected nobleman to a tyrannical and isolated ruler. His downfall is ultimately sealed when he is killed by Macduff, and his head is brought to Malcolm, the rightful king. \\n\\nIt\'s worth noting that the provided context only gives a glimpse into Macbeth\'s character, and a more comprehensive understanding would require a broader analysis of the entire play."}'The output can be further modified based on the requirement.Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AI

Image by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty / FuturismDevelopmentsThe Trump Administration's pick to run America's incredibly consequential Health and Human Services Department, Robert F. Jennedy Jr., declared during his contentious first confirmation hearing today that he was "raised at a time when there was no chronic disease epidemic."It's a claim as sweeping as it is idiotic.Kennedy is 71 years old, born in the year 1954, when the world was awash as it's always been in chronic diseases ranging from diabetes to arthritis to asthma, and far beyond (his uncle, former US president John F. Kennedy, suffered from a range of chronic conditions including Addison's disease.)The powerful Kennedy scion repeated versions of this claim throughout his failed presidential campaign; indeed, it's central to the "Make America Healthy Again" movement that Kennedy, a notorious conspiracy theorist whose various crusades against vaccines and modern healthcare systems has made him tens of millions of dollars, has become the leading figure of."Today, Americans' overall health is in a grievous condition," Kennedy added during today's hearing, adding later that "it's the human tragedy that moves us to care."To be clear, chronic disease is a major problem, and one that tons of American adults and children are suffering from. This a reality that actual medical and policy experts in the US are keenly aware of and one that's wildly complex. Processed foods, a key target of Kennedy's ire, are indeed bad for human health, and millions of Americans live in nutrition-poor food deserts; our deeply broken, impossible-to-navigate healthcare system regularly bankrupts people; toxic forever chemicals are in human lungs and newborn babies; industrialized farming is associated with elevated cancer risk for farm workers and consumers, according to the National Institutes of Health.In sum: pretty bad, especially considering that the US is the richest nation in the history of the world."The United States is the only industrialized country where we've been having rising mortality among working-age adults, and it really starts at age 15," James Perrin, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and former director of pediatrics at Mass General Hospital for Children, told The New York Times late last year."That's really scary, and it partly reflects that fact that we're producing lots of relatively unhealthy young Americans."That said, however, Kennedyfrequently overstates and exaggerates figures around chronic disease in young people in particular. And again, for a 71-year-old man to declare that day-to-day American health was overall betterwhen he was a kid is absurd.Before Medicare and Medicaid were signed into law in 1965, Americans, especially those in low-income families and areas, had extremely limited access to health care at all; as such, information about whatever chronic diseases they might have had just wouldn't have even been available. The first half of the 20th century also saw a heavy focus on containing and eradicating infectious diseases, like polio and measles, as opposed to chronic illness. And though public awareness about chronic disease gained ground in the latter half of the century largely due to breakthroughs in the fight against infectious illness we also developed significant advancements in diagnostic technology, tools, and guidelines, which have in turn allowed scientists to better track and diagnose chronic conditions (which impacts the kind of data we've been able to collect about them.)And by the way, if we're discussing the health landscape of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, we're talking about a moment in history before reckonings with various notorious toxins like lead and asbestos the former wasn't banned until 1978, and the latter in 1989 and when we were still subjecting American servicemembers to the horrors of chemical agents like Agent Orange and napalm.From smartphones to the staggering ubiquity of microplastics to a wealth inequality that limits access to quality healthcare and nutritious food, there's plenty that ails us in the modern world. But it's easy for Kennedy to say there wasn't an "epidemic" in chronic conditions during his youth, when both information and awareness were limited not to mention when his family's immense wealth could buy any health care they needed. Coming from an unqualified, pseudoscience-hawking, brain-wormed conspiracy theorist who consistently spouts corrosive nonsense about the very advancements that allowed the medical industry to focus on chronic conditions, it's especially rich."Anyone could stand up and say, 'We have a lot of chronic diseases. We need to look at it,'" the endocrinologist Jeffrey Flier, a former dean of Harvard Medical School who researches chronic illnesses like obesity and diabetes, told NPR this week. "The idea that he represents some new insight into the importance of that area and how we should be thinking about it is ludicrous."More on RFK Jr.: RFK Jr. Says Hell Send People Taking Adderall to Labor CampsShare This Article

TheGradientAll-Weather 120V Window Heat Pump I saw atCES 2025was blowing crisp, cool air onto the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center, sitting on a makeshift window at a booth shared with the other home electrification companiesBioLiteand Copper.This isn't your dad's window air conditioner. That old thing couldn't keep you warm at all, much less when it's below zero outside. That's why Gradient's big window heat pump is so much larger -- and more expensive.Read more: Best of CES 2025 Winners, Awarded by CNET GroupRather than sitting inside the window and taking up all of the space, like most window units, the Gradient unit straddles the bottom of the window, with the outdoor and indoor units hanging below, like a horseback rider's legs dangling from the saddle. All the Best Home Tech Gadgets We Saw at CES 2025: Robot Maids, Fog Gardens and More See all photos A powerful heat pump for small spacesThe All-Weather model was designed to boost the heating performance of Gradient's primary model meant for moderate climates. The moderate climate model can keep a home warm when the mercury outside drops to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The All-Weather model, built to meet the needs of the New York City Housing Authority, is rated for weather down to minus-13 degrees.Gradient's heat pump can heat and cool up to 500 square feet, with 9,300 BTUs of cooling power and up to 9,000 BTUs for heating. But perhaps the coolest part is that this big device (it weighs 140 pounds) can run off a standard 120-volt outlet -- no electrical work needed. A Gradient rep told CNET by email you won't need to hire a professional to help install it. The All-Weather 120V Window Heat Pump can be installed on your own. Mist, Wi-Fi and more heat pump perksThe unit has some nifty features. The outdoor unit has a diffuser that turns any condensate into mist, meaning no water is pooling up underneath it or dripping onto the ground below. The heat pumps are Wi-Fi enabled and can be controlled either from the app or from a touch thermostat on the indoor unit.The heat pump also doesn't block the view of the window. Because it hangs below, you can still open and close the window, see outside and use the top of the heat pump as a small table surface.So far, Gradient's heat pumps have been mostly available only to specific buyers -- namely the New York City Housing Authority. But company reps told me business customers can buy direct from Gradient. A few units were made available to individual consumers through a contractor in the the New York area, but those quantities were very limited, and the company mostly sells to businesses. A Gradient rep said the company believes that's the fastest way to scale up electrification, and it means you might see these heat pumps in businesses, schools or multifamily housing.The All-Weather model has an MSRP of $3,800 -- a lot more than your typical window AC, but for something with a lot more capability. And because it doesn't require any permitting, ductwork or electrical work, expect the installation cost to be a lot smaller than other ways to heat and cool your home.Correction, Jan. 29: Updated to clarify that direct-to-consumer sales are limited to one contractor. CES 2025: We Still See These 35 Products When We Close Our Eyes See all photos

Whether you're getting the freshest fruit and veggies delivered, shopping at the supermarket's organic section or handpicking peaches by the pound at the local farm, it all needs washing before you eat or cook with it.Between bacterial dangers like E.coli, salmonella and listeria, cross-contamination, other people's hands and the various chemicals left on veggies in the form of pesticides or protectants, no vegetable should avoid a trip to the sink before it enters your mouth. And yes, that includes organic because organic does not mean pesticide-free; it just means no toxic pesticides, a common misconception most grocery shoppers have.Before you get too worked up about pesticides in your produce, consider that theUS Department of Agriculture Pesticide Data Program(PDF) found over 99% of foods sampled measured residue levels that met the safety standards established by the Environmental Protection Agency, with 27% having no detectable pesticide residues at all. In short: Some residue is OK, and not all chemicals found on food are harmful -- you don't need to freak out over forgetting to wash a handful of fruits and veggies. For instance, a food-grade wax is sprayed on apples to replace the natural wax washed away during the post-harvest cleaning process. Trace amounts of pesticides typically won't impact your health significantly, but if you're worried about downing pesticides or other chemicals your food may have been exposed to, you might take a better-safe-than-sorry approach and wash your produce before eating.Some varieties are more prone to persistent particulates than others, and to help sort the dirtiest produce from the not-so-bad, the Environmental Working Group, a food safety nonprofit, publishes a list of produce most likely to contain pesticides. It's called The Dirty Dozen, and it's a cheat sheet of which fruits and vegetables you should always wash. Strawberries are the produce most likely to have pesticides, according to the study. Angela Lang/CNETThe group analyzed 47,510 samples of 46 fruits and vegetables, tested by the US Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture.The No. 1 offender of pesticides in the group's latest study? Strawberries. The popular berries had more total instances of chemicals found on them than any other fruit or vegetable included in the sweeping analysis.Below you'll find the 12 foods most likely to contain pesticides -- and the 15 foods least likely to be tainted. The Dirty Dozen: The fruits and vegetables to always wash Upgrade your inbox Get cnet insider From talking fridges to iPhones, our experts are here to help make the world a little less complicated. Foods most likely to contain pesticides, according to FDA and USDA data.StrawberriesSpinachKale, collard and mustard greensGrapesPeachesPearsNectarinesApplesBell and hot peppersCherriesBlueberriesGreen beans Strawberries, spinach and kale are foods you'd be wise to wash thoroughly before eating. Mitatzgrzkan/500px/Getty ImagesThe Dirty Dozen is a good indicator meant to alert consumers to the fruits and vegetables most in need of thorough washing. Even a quick rinse with water or a spritz ofproduce washhelps.You can also sidestep much of the potential risk by buyingcertified organic fruits and vegetablesthat are free from the use of farming pesticides. Knowing which foods are more likely to contain pesticides might help you decide where to spend that bit of extra money on organic. As I learned in ananalysis of organic and nonorganic prices, they aren't as expensive as you might think. It doesn't always make sense to splurge on organic produce. Jupiterimages/GettyMore takeaways from the Dirty Dozen studyMore than 95% of samples of strawberries, apples, cherries, spinach, nectarines and grapes tested positive for residues of two or more pesticides.A total of 209 different pesticides were found on Dirty Dozen items.Of those 209, over 50 different pesticides were detected on every type of crop on the list, except cherries.Kale, collard and mustard greens, as well as hot peppers and bell peppers, had the most pesticides detected of any crop -- 103 and 101 pesticides in total, respectively.Conversely, the EWG found these 15 fruits and vegetables Ieast likely to contain pesticides. Foods with naturally occurring protective skin are far less likely to contain potentially harmful pesticides. Westend 61/Getty ImagesThe Clean 15: Fruits and vegetables you can skip washingThese are the fruits and vegetables least likely to contain pesticides, according to the study:AvocadosSweet cornPineappleOnionsPapayaSweet peas (frozen)AsparagusHoneydew melonKiwiCabbageWatermelonMushroomsMangoesSweet PotatoesCarrotsThe Clean 15 were found to have the lowest levels of pesticide contamination across all of the tested samples, but that doesn't mean that they aren't contaminated by pesticides at all. It certainly doesn't mean that the fruits and veggies you're bringing home aren't contaminated with bacteria, either. You'd be statistically safer consuming unwashed food from the Clean 15 than the Dirty Dozen, but it's still a good rule of thumb to rinse all of your fruits and vegetables before eating them.EWG's methodology involves six measures of pesticide contamination. The analysis focuses on which fruits and vegetables are most likely to contain one or more pesticides but does not measure how much of any one pesticide is on a given piece of produce. You can read more on the EWG's Dirty Dozen in the published study here.Washing fruit and vegetables FAQs What were the results of Environmental Working Group's 2024 Shopper's Guide Dirty Dozen sample testing? Out of the analyzed tested samples, EWG found that 95% of the samples from the Dirty Dozen fruits and vegetables category were coated in potentially harmful fungicides. On the other hand, nearly 65% of the samples from the Clean Fifteen fruits and vegetables category displayed no detectable amounts of fungicide. What pesticides were identified by the EWG? The EWG identified a number of pesticides during the analysis of tested samples, and the organization found that four of the five most common pesticides were potentially dangerous fungicides: fludioxonil, pyraclostrobin, boscalid and pyrimethanil.

January 29, 20255 min readRFK Jr., Confirmation Hearing Showed 5 Ways He Threatens PublicHealthFrom Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.s views on vaccines to Medicaid, here are some ways his nomination for head of the Department of Health and Human Services could have sweeping effects on health careBy Tanya Lewis edited by Lauren J. YoungRobert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, testifies during his confirmation hearing on January 29, 2025. Win McNamee/Getty ImagesRobert F. Kennedy, Jr., faced a barrage of questions from U.S. senators today during his confirmation hearing for his nomination for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The hearing focused on views Kennedy, an environmental lawyer with no medical training, has expressed on several important issues facing Americans public health today, including vaccines, chronic disease and federal health care programs such as Medicaid. Kennedys responses could reveal how he would lead the governments vast health and medical apparatus should he be confirmed.The hearing was a reminder of just how sprawling the Department of Health and Human Services is and just how far reaching the areas of health care that the secretary has their hand on, says Jason Schwartz, an associate professor of health policy at the Yale School of Public Health, who specializes in vaccines and vaccination policy. I was struck by, under questioning from both Republican and Democratic senators, the areas where theres clearly not a great deal of familiarity on Kennedys part regarding major components of the HHS portfolio.Kennedy has made unsupported and dangerous claims about fluoridation, raw milk and other topics. In the hearing, Democratic Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado also brought up Kennedys unsubstantiated past statement that Lyme disease was a bioweapon. Perhaps most notably, Kennedy has frequently promoted false or misleading claims about vaccines, though he tried to distance himself from some of them during todays hearing.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.As the [hearings] questions pointed out, theres been almost no one whos been a more expansive critic of vaccines in his work for such a long time, Schwartz says.Here are five takeaways from the hearing that reveal what Kennedys leadership of HHS might look like.VaccinesKennedy has a long record of antivaccine activism, despite the fact that his own children are vaccinated. He has falsely linked vaccines to autism and has benefitted financially from efforts to revoke the approval of certain vaccines. Despite this history, Kennedy stated in the hearing that he is not antivaccine but rather prosafety. Democratic senators begged to differ. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon pointed to Kennedys visit to Samoa in 2019, which occurred months before a measles outbreak that killed 83 people, many of them children. Vaccination rates were already low following a tragic incident the previous year, when two nurses accidentally administered combined the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella with a muscle relaxant, leading to the deaths of two children. Kennedy met with antivaccine advocates during his visit and later wrote a letter to the countrys prime minister inaccurately suggestion that a defective vaccine could have caused the infections. In the confirmation hearing Kennedy denied responsibility for any role in the deadly outbreak, however.During the COVID pandemic, Kennedy sought to revoke the approval of the lifesaving COVID vaccines just six months after their rollout. In the hearing, he said he was against the vaccines use in six-year old children and cited a misleading claim that that age group does not get severely ill from COVID. Yet health experts acknowledge the vaccines likely saved millions of lives, including childrens.The data clearly show that there has been plenty of risk of COVID in young children, and while its not as common a cause of serious illness or death as it is in older individuals, no one would argue that it isnt still a significant health concern, and theres a very good reason to continue to recommend vaccination in young children, Schwartz says.MedicaidDuring the hearing, Kennedy was asked about his views on Medicaid, the government insurance program that supports nearly 80 million low-income Americans. (The program was plunged into uncertainty yesterday when the Trump administration announced a federal funding freeze that roughly coincided with the Medicaid portal temporarily going offline, which meant that people could not check enrollment status or submit claims.) Kennedy at times appeared to confuse Medicare and Medicaid in the hearing, Schwartz says; the nominee claimed that most people are dissatisfied with the latter program, despite clear evidence to the contrary. When questioned about whether he would cut Medicaid, he gave indirect answers stating he would follow President Donald Trumps desire to reform it.AbortionIn the past Kennedy has been supportive of abortion, but in recent months and during the hearing, he appears to have changed his position. When Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma questioned him about his views on abortion, he said that he agreed with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy and that 1.2 million abortions (the estimated number in the U.S. in 2023) is too many. He also said he supports Trumps view that states should decide on abortion access, yet like the president, he also opposes late-term abortions (which are almost always done for medical reasons) and supports so-called conscience exemptions (in which a provider can choose not to provide abortion care for religious reasons).Chronic DiseaseMuch of the Republicans questioning of Kennedy focused on his belief that the country is facing a chronic disease epidemic driven by obesity, unhealthy food and a broken health care system. Kennedy cited a slew of statistics about how rates of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and autoimmune illnesses, and autism have mushroomed, particularly in children. He has pointed to processed foods and food additives as major drivers of this trend. Some evidence has linked consumption of ultraprocessed foods to health harms, but its unclear what, if any, actions Kennedy would take as HHS secretary to combat it. President Trump has taken a deregulatory approach to government, so the idea of his administrations HHS regulating food companies or school lunches doesnt appear likely.Infectious DiseasesAs the hearing wrapped up, the questions turned to Kennedys previous statements about shifting HHSs priorities away from infectious diseases to chronic ones. He reportedly told an antivaccine conference in November 2023 that he would tell the National Institutes of Health to take a break from studying infectious diseases for the next eight years. When Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota asked, Do you intend to give research on bird flu a break?referring to a disease that has caused a widespread outbreak in U.S. cattle, infected 67 people in the country and killed oneKennedy demurred, saying he would continue to work to prevent pandemics. His previous record of opposing vaccines and other vital health measures suggest otherwise.Kennedys review for HHS secretary is expected to go before another congressional committee on Thursday. Senators also have a period to submit further questions to Kennedy before a final vote.Additional reporting by Lauren J. Young.

There are many reasons to be Googling Miami Airbnbs ahead of your next vacation (spring break, South Beach, and nonstop parties immediately come to mind), but the Magic City has many facets to its frenetic charm.Miami is also a hotbed for avant-garde fashion, design, and art, which is why people flock to the beach every year to navigate the crowds at Art Basel and Design Miami. History buffs can explore architecture from the 1920s at the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, stroll the Deering Estate house museum, or study up on Miamis urban and environmental design at the Coral Gables Museum. Theres plenty of nightlife to speak of, too, but if youre aiming for something more low-key, catch a live performance at the Historic Miracle Theatre, or head over to ArtecHouseMiami to immerse yourself in interactive art.You could even devote a day or so to scouring the food scene, from a Cuban food tour of Little Havana to noshing at trendy spots like the playful, pastel-hued Casadonna or local favorites like the News Cafe, the historic restaurant where Gianni Versace used to venture to pick up his daily newspaper.No matter if youre traveling solo, with a partner, or with a group, there are countless Miami vacation rentals to set you up for an epic vacation to remember, whether you want to be somewhere along the stately avenues of Coral Gables or right in the heart of bustling downtown Miami. Here, nine of our favorite Miami Airbnbs for doing the most (or the least, if relaxation is key) on your visit.Courtesy of AirbnbSuite in Espaola WayIn the heart of South Beach and along the Spanish-influenced Espaola Way lies the peachy-hued Casa Victoria where you'll be posted during your sunny visit. The color palette continues indoors, where pops of orange and yellow complete the tropical vibe of your suite complete with a king-size bed and twin-size floor mattress (which rolls up if you're flying solo). The windows that wrap around your suite soak in lots of sunlight and views of the picturesque surroundings, but one of the biggest perks of your temporary home are the light-blocking curtains which gently diffuse all that light when youre sleeping off your hangover from the night before.BOOK NOWCourtesy of Airbnb

Update: The release has been delayed.Following successful funding on Kickstarter, the turn-based tactical strategy game Warside has finally locked in a release date. It will launch for Switch and multiple other platforms on 28th January 2025.In case you missed our existing coverage of this one, as you can see, it's heavily inspired by a certain Nintendo series. The developer previously mentioned how it felt it could "evolve" the genre and was happy to cite not only Advance Wars but also series like Wargroove and Into The Breach as inspirations.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

SoftBank is in talks to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI as part of a broader partnership that could see the Japanese conglomerate spend more than $40 billion on AI initiatives with the Microsoft-backed startup, according to Financial Times.The potential investment would make SoftBank OpenAIs largest single backer, the report said, surpassing Microsoft, which first invested in the ChatGPT maker in 2019. The deal comes after both companies announced last week they would jointly invest $100 billion in Stargate, a U.S. data center project for OpenAI that could expand to $500 billion over four years.SoftBank plans to invest $15 billion to $25 billion directly into OpenAI in addition to its $15 billion Stargate commitment, the report said. OpenAI will invest around $15 billion in Stargate, with SoftBanks equity investment potentially covering OpenAIs infrastructure commitment.The talks come at a time when Chinese firm DeepSeeks release of its R1 reasoning model, which was built on a relatively modest budget, rattled public markets this week.The chip giant Nvidia lost as much as $589 billion in a day before making slight recovery, as investors worried that big investments in expensive AI hardware might not be necessary if companies could achieve similar results with fewer resources.OpenAI claimed earlier this week that it had found evidence that DeepSeek used OpenAIs proprietary models to train R1 and other models through a technique called distillation, which allows developers to achieve similar performance with smaller models at a much lower cost. The company says this would violate its terms of service, which prohibit using outputs to develop competing models.OpenAIs deal with SoftBank, which Financial Times says hasnt finalized, represents SoftBank founder Masayoshi Sons biggest bet since injecting $16 billion into WeWork. It would also reduce OpenAIs dependence on Microsoft for computing resources, with Microsoft recently agreeing to give up its position as OpenAIs exclusive cloud provider.Around 20% of Stargates funding is expected to be equity, with the remainder financed through debt secured against assets and cash flow, the report said. OpenAI, which reached a $157 billion valuation last year, is also negotiating to become a for-profit company to facilitate additional fundraising.

Heres what you need to know and do.dpa/picture alliance via Getty ImagesGoogles backtrack on its promise to kill tracking cookies last year created a huge furor. But all seems to have gone rather quiet since then. In the background, there are all kinds of standoffs as no one can agree on what should happen next. Meanwhile, Google has suddenly brought back digital fingerprinting for some added spice.But those devilish little cookies are still with us, and if youre one of Chromes 3 billion users, then theyre still following you around, reporting back to their ad-industry masters. There is no real clarity as yet as to what happens next, when it happens, and how the ad industry and Google and regulators will ever find common ground.The issue is that Google wants to offer an opt-in (or opt-out) for users to decide whether to enable tracking cookies on their browser. The industry fears a cataclysmic rejection akin to Apples opt-out, which caused chaos for all those tracking iPhone users. There is also the question as to what Google can use instead, given its account-based insight into all those users that is not as reliant on cookies.Cue DigiDays latest, of which it warns anyone waiting for Google to drop a game-changing cookie update can go ahead and breathe its not coming with this one.MORE FOR YOUBut what seems to have been decided is that the opt-in prompt will be global, which is the sledgehammer solution. Because when asked if they want to be tracked, the smart money is on most users saying no, I do not.Its hardly groundbreaking information, DigiDay says, but it does signal the direction things are heading: Web advertising is inching closer to the mobile app model, where consent-based prompts from Google and Apple already dictate privacy settings.And it seems that whatever happens will extend beyond cookies into tracking IP addresses as well, which you will only be able to hide when browsing incognito.This is all very high-level and has not yet provided enough substance for a backlash from anyone. But when the detail comes that will quickly change. How this is designed end executed will be critical. And all eyes will be on Google and any conflicts that might appear in how the new ad-industry order is being restructured.As DigiDay points out, after five years of investment into Googles promised cookie overhaul, ad execs are fed up with delays and half measures. Beneath it all, skepticism lingers: If consent collection drives the majority of Chrome users to opt out of third-party tracking, Google will still have access to user data at the transactional level thanks to its own walled garden.Google isnt saying much, other than to point out theres nothing really new here. But perhaps thats the point, weve seen all this before and yet here we all still are.Meanwhile, for those 3 billion Chrome users the promise is a one-click leave me alone button that will kill cookies. Better they had been killed for everyone all at once, but at least you can kill them for yourself, with that easy button when it comes.Quite what will be done instead remains to be seen.

In this file photo, Elon Musk presents about Tesla to an audienceNurPhoto via Getty ImagesIn Teslas 4Q24 Earnings call, which reported sales and profits below expectations, Elon Musk claimed that Tesla would launch an unsupervised robotaxi service in Austin, Texas by June of this year, and in every market by next year. Musk says 2025 may be the biggest year in Tesla history.Musks claim was met with extremely strong skepticism in online forums for self-driving. He has made predictions of the imminent arrival of such a capability every year for over 8 years, and not delivered. This 5-month prediction is, however, one of this most short-term predictions.The service will be offered, he states, through Tesla fleet-owned vehicles. Customers will receive FSD software the the same capability reasonably soon after. Cars will pick up riders with nobody in the vehicle in June. He admits it is a bold goal, and they will put their toe in the water gently at first but because the system does not require mapping it can spread quickly, and will be in many regions in the US by the end of the year. He believes the only thing that has held them back is an excess of caution and that the media are focusing unfairly on Tesla crashes.Next year, it will be in almost every market, limited by regulatory approval and that customers will be able to hire their own vehicles out via the Tesla fleet. Tesla said they will prove to regulators that Tesla FSD is unequivocally safer than regular driving mode, one crash for every 5.9 million miles driven, 8.5 times safer. (He may be referring to data from NHTSA which states human drivers have a police reported crash about every 600,000 miles. When Tesla reports crash numbers for Autopilot/FSD, it reports numbers for the much less frequent airbag deployments mostly on freeways--not police reported crashes on mixed streets--and for the supervised system.)AnalysisMusks claim is, to all available evidence, extreme to the point of being ridiculous, and it is indeed receiving much ridicule. While Tesla has not released signficant data on their supervised FSD system, their Q4 2024 data on Autopilot (which now uses the FSD software when on freeways) did claim a 5.9 million mile interval between accidents. This is for crashes which trigger an airbag, which is a small fraction of total crashes, and mostly on freeways, where crashes are much less frequent (though more severe.) This is for the supervised system, where the driver is nagged to constantly watch the road, and takes over if the system does anything to make the driver uncomfortable.MORE FOR YOUTesla Cybercab prototype on display. If the announced service launches in June, it will presumably ... [+] be with regular model Tesla cars.Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reservedOn the other hand, independent Tesla owners have been collecting data on how often they feel they are doing a critical disengagement, namely taking over when the feel the vehicle was about to do something serious, about every 400 miles with the new 13.2 release of Tesla FSD. Because they intervene, it is not determined whether an actual crash would have happened, this is based on fear. Constrast that with a recent study from Swiss Insurance underwriter SwissRe which examined the data on Waymo Robotaxis operating with nobody behind the wheel. They found those cars were engaged in a crash event which would have resulted in an insurance liability claim every 2.3 million miles. While the two numbers calculate something moderately different, the gulf is so immense as to make Musks claims entirely incredible. While Waymo is now beginning to scale their service, including in Austin, this is over 6 years after they first were able to put a car out on the roads with no safety driver.Thats a crucially important fact. As hard as it is to reach that level of safety, even arguably the best team in the business took 6 years to get from that to serious deployment. In spite of Musks claim of the importance of their reduced use of maps (they do use them in some places) the Waymo cars are not blocked in their expansion by mapping issues. Their cars drive off-map every day when the road changes; they just dont wish to do that regularly as they feel it reduces safety.Tesla recently showed off their Cybercabs giving rides on a closed movie set, and their cars driving themselves off the factory line to the loading area. This is a wise effort, but it is entirely unimpressive in 2025. Teams have been doing private-course driving since the 2000s.As the new Director of Government Efficiency, Musk may be able to remove regulatory hurdles from Teslas deployments. Texas already has an extremely light regulatory regime, which is why they are starting there. Tesla has not yet even applied for a test permit in California for an uncrewed vehicle, and the process there is very unlikely to be managed all the way to permits to provide service to the public in just a year. Thats true in a number of other states, which dont even have laws or experience with it yet.