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

Columns

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 ...

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

Columns

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, ...

Explaining an adverse drug reaction called DRESS syndrome

Columns

DEAR DR. ROACH: Could you explain what happened to me with a condition called DRESS syndrome? I had back-to-back urinary tract infections (UTIs) that were about six weeks apart. For the first one, I was treated with three days of an antibiotic, and it went away. For the second, I was given another week of the same antibiotic. My UTI symptoms improved quickly, but after three days on the antibiotic, I developed a rash. I first noticed spots on my legs, but by the next morning, they were on both of my legs and arms with some on my belly and upper back. The following day, I had fever, ...

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

Columns

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 ...

Dear Annie: Grandma stuck between two parenting styles

Columns

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 ...

Applause, Applause

Columns

Each Saturday, The Express community newspaper highlights people, groups and activities our readers deem worthy of applause. Mill Hall Elementary School would like to send a huge THANK YOU to the local businesses who donated to our Grandparents and Special Friends Day recently. Students and guests enjoyed a school-wide game of Bingo, with prizes for students made possible through generous donations from Arby’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Ice Shack, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Subway, Taco Bell, Weis Markets in Lock Haven and Weis Markets in Mill Hall. Thank you for supporting local students ...