Sunday News 347 March 16th, 2025 View in browser The local economic impact of the Swedish higher education system. “Our findings reveal an uncomfortable truth: research intensity at Swedish universities correlates negatively with local income levels. Despite world-class output and high citation rates, the economic benefits remain elusive. The problem is twofold. First, universities seem to function as intellectual enclaves rather than engines of regional development. Knowledge generated within them does not easily translate into local economic dynamism, often because research priorities are misaligned with industry needs. Second, these institutions do little to retain or develop local human capital. Instead of fostering regional talent, they facilitate its outflow, exacerbating Sweden’s spatial inequalities”.These are findings that probably apply to many other national university systems around the World including Portugal. Their innovation model is flawed as Alexander Von Gabain, ironically a former Director of Sweden’s Karoiinska Institute’s innovation initiative, showed here. Sunday News is a selection of links posted daily by the  Explora community.  Newcomers can check previous Sunday News editions here. If you are a new reader, you may catch up by reading Sunday News’ First, Second, Third , Fourth and Fifth Year Highlights. Antonio Camara Education Science needs more shrimp on treadmills. See also Fact Check: ‘Shrimp on a treadmill’ study and cost misrepresented We’ve been wrong about math for 2300 years. See also Mathematica: A secret world of intuition and curiosity, by David Bessis The cultural divide between Mathematics and AI. “Traditional mathematics sessions proceeded with their usual rigor and depth, while newer AI-focused tracks buzzed with speculation and possibility” European word translator We are witnessing a new brain drain’ as scientists flee America for France. “A French university says it’s providing safe harbor to American scientists from Yale, Stanford, NASA, and the NIH” Health Alcohol and cancer risk: what you need to know The secret of how Greenland sharks can live cancer-free for 400 years How the NIH dominates the world’s health research — in charts Sports SailGP Championship: From towering catamarans racing at 60mph to $12.8m in prize money. Is this F1 on the water? Mobility Robot-taxis are here, by Tomas Pueyo. Excellent The world’s first electric seaglider just hit a major milestone How BYD undercuts Tesla around the world, by the numbers Cities, Nature, and Clean Tech Tech Execs are pushing Trump to build ‘Freedom Cities’ run by corporations The silent revolution in urban forestry: How AI and ancient ecology are redesigning cities Best bird videos: 21 favorites from our Macaulay Library. See also Best bird sounds: Our favorite Macaulay Library Audio Recordings 2025 and  Cornell Lab of Ornithology site AI’s guide to Nature: A conservationist’s guide to AI Blockchain beyond crypto: Revolutionizing energy trading and distribution Developing companies Standards, by Jeffrey Pomerantz and Jason Griffey. “An engaging introduction to standards, the invisible infrastructure that shapes the built and digital environments of the modern world.” OpenAI plots charging $20,000 a month for PhD-level Agents The startup CTO’s handbook Why Central Banks are falling behind: The Digital Economy, Climate Change, and Geopolitical Shifts China is trying to reshape global supply chains. “China is using “industrial diplomacy” and technology controls to create new China-friendly global production networks centered around China” The American Dynamism 50: Companies shaping the fight of the future. As selected by a16z. Most interesting. You can see a table listing the companies and their URLs in this post of the always excellent Construction Physics blog. Hardware is very much back. AR/VR/AI/IoT/Quantum Computing/ Bio Xreal One review: The revelation smart glasses needed Apple is reportedly bringing live translation to AirPods.  Google’s Pixel Buds have supported live translations for years. Speaking things into existence, by Ethan Mollick. “Influential AI researcher Andrej Karpathy wrote two years ago that “the hottest new programming language is English,” a topic he expanded on last month with the idea of “vibe coding” a practice where you just ask an AI to create something for you”. Read also Vibe coding, some thoughts and predictions, by Andrew Chen Crossing the uncanny valley of conversational voice. “At Sesame, our goal is to achieve “voice presence”—the magical quality that makes spoken interactions feel real, understood, and valued” China’s playbook for dominance in robotics. Excellent Far out Public intelligence, by Kevin Kelly Top jobs for introverts Rob the store, outrun the pro!. An award winning campaign for sports shoes Little Chinese Everywhere. Unseen China Toy inventor’s notebook: Bubble plane These words are disappearing in the Trump administration