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Future shock: Is this Team Humanity’s last chance to stand up to AI?

Since we last visited the artificial intelligence industry in this column, a lot has happened, much of it seeming to confirm my worst fears. Seven weeks ago, I wrote about the “Hugging Face” breach, so called for the company that got hacked with no human intervention by “rogue” AI agents created by OpenAI. On their own initiative, OpenAI’s agents broke out of their containment, charmingly called their “sandboxes,” before eventually being detected. That was disconcerting enough, but in the past couple of weeks several key players at the forefront of AI research have ...

Dear Annie: Co-worker takes all the credit

Dear Annie: I have a close friend I have known for more than 20 years. We have been through marriages, children, job changes and plenty of ups and downs together. I love her and consider her almost like family. Lately, though, I have started to notice that our friendship feels very one-sided. I am usually the one who calls, makes plans and checks in. When she is going through something difficult, I am always there to listen. But when I need support, she often changes the subject, gives a quick response or says she is too busy. Recently, I was having a particularly hard week and ...

Scuba diver experiences nausea due to nerve compression

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m a scuba diver, and I recently purchased a dry suit that is expectedly tight on my neck. During my first dive with it, I pulled the hood down, and within a few minutes, I immediately felt nauseous before even entering the water. I also briefly felt lightheaded and faint. I removed the hood, loosened the neck a bit, and tried to relax. The feeling somewhat subsided. I tried again and was able to do a short 25-minute dive. But when I got out, I was immediately nauseated and subsequently vomited. I am usually quite sensitive to motion and take Dramamine when on a ...

Not quite grateful for a broken arm, but it’s a reminder of people’s amazing resilience in the face of disabilities

On the Sunday evening of Labor Day weekend, after a delightful dinner with close friends, I tripped over one of those ubiquitous electric rent-a-scooters. I went down hard, landing on my knee and arm, though luckily not hitting my head. At home that night, I couldn’t even bend my left elbow enough to remove my earrings or necklace. For those who know me well, the surest sign of injury is that I couldn’t summon the strength in my left hand or arm to floss my teeth. Quelle horreur! A couple of days later, I got an X-ray and confirmed that the arm was indeed fractured at the elbow. I ...

Iran war pushes diesel – the economy’s lifeblood – to record high prices, with no relief on the horizon

Diesel fuel prices in the U.S. continue to break all-time records, hitting $6.28 a gallon as a national average on Sept. 14, 2026, and they aren’t likely to come down anytime soon. Because diesel is the fuel for freight transportation, farming and construction — and is related to a key heating fuel — the effects are set to spread across the entire U.S. economy. The inflation-adjusted price of diesel in late August was about as high as it was in 2022 and has likely risen further. There are still three factors that we, scholars of U.S. and global energy markets and supply chains, ...

Dear Annie: Grandma stuck between two parenting styles

Dear Annie: My husband and I absolutely adore our grandchildren, and spending time with them is one of the great joys of our lives. The problem is that our son and daughter-in-law have very different parenting styles, and we keep finding ourselves caught in the middle. Our son is much more relaxed about things like bedtime, sweets and screen time. Our daughter-in-law is stricter and likes to keep the children on a very specific routine. For example, our son will tell us it is fine if the kids stay up late watching a movie, but later our daughter-in-law will be upset because they were ...