The 2023 landmark Supreme Court decision effectively banning race-conscious affirmative action — along with the subsequent challenges to diversity, equity and inclusion in major corporations and military admissions — has brought back the decades-old argument for “merit-based” or “colorblind” policies.
New research conducted by Chika Okafor, an assistant professor of law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and fellow at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern, shows that social network discrimination — the phenomenon in which minorities suffer disadvantages in economic and social opportunities simply because their social group is smaller — occurs because people tend to form social connections with others who resemble, behave and hail from a similar background. The study was published in the Journal of Law & Economics.
“If we care about fairness and about true equality of opportunity, we should care about this work,” Okafor said. “This paper mathematically disproves a proposition that colorblindness inherently promotes merit. We need to have more open and honest conversations about how to truly advance our society in light of the implications of social network discrimination.
“I grounded my paper in economic theory,” said Okafor, who’s an economist. “This allowed me to distill from a mathematical perspective a new and important driver of disparities between majority and minority groups. With these insights, one can then incorporate historical, sociological and even legal perspectives to better explore the implications of my findings not only for American society — but also for other communities around the world.”
‘Social networks play a huge role in labor markets’
Okafor found that minorities are less likely to be referred for a job because they form fewer social connections with existing employees, particularly in a setting with colorblind hiring when characteristics of the groups are fully equal except for group size.
“Social networks play a huge role in labor markets,” Okafor said. “Despite initial equality in ability, employment, wages and network structure, minorities receive disproportionately fewer jobs through referrals and lower expected wages, simply because their social group is smaller.”
Okafor’s research also found that minorities can expect lower wages. He used real-world data to estimate that the minimum difference in expected wages caused by social network discrimination is at least 3.2%, disadvantaging minority workers. He described this as the minimum difference between groups because it is based purely on differences in group size. His estimate does not incorporate other important factors that would increase the wage gap between majority and minority workers in the U.S., such as historical discrimination, prejudice and inequality.
Okafor added that his research adds critical elements to the ongoing debate about colorblindness, diversity and merit.
“Much of the arguments we have heard for decades promote the view that colorblind policies inherently promote individual merit and move us closer to a meritocracy,” he said. “My mathematical findings show that even if we hypothetically lived in a seemingly utopian world where everyone was starting off on equal footing and there were colorblind policies, minorities would still face disadvantages in social and economic opportunities over time because of social network dynamics arising from their group size being smaller. My findings do not only relate to hiring, but to any setting in which social networks matter — from company boardrooms to college classrooms. This complicates the commonplace narrative for colorblind polices.”
As his research evolves, Okafor wants to dig deeper into how society can respond to social network discrimination, particularly to identify interventions that can help promote true equality of opportunity across America.
LUSAKA, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) — The number of confirmed mpox cases in Zambia has risen to 231 since the outbreak was first declared in the southern African country in October last year, according to figures released on Tuesday evening by the Zambia National Public Health Institute (ZNPHI).
The increase follows seven new confirmed cases recorded between Aug. 28 and Sept. 4, according to the ZNPHI.
During the same period, 74 suspected cases were reported, bringing the cumulative number of suspected cases to 1,225, although no new deaths were recorded during the same period.
The total number of mpox-related deaths remains at three, while the cumulative number of active cases now stands at 17.
According to the ZNPHI, the disease has now spread to all 10 provinces of the country. ■
A red carpet event, especially one to promote the new Downton Abbey film, is not typically a place for radical political statements. But at the film’s premiere in London earlier this month, that movie’s star, Hugh Bonneville, spoke out about Gaza. “Before I talk about the fluff and loveliness of our wonderful film, what’s about to happen in Gaza City is absolutely indefensible,” he announced to a visibly shocked showbiz reporter. “The international community must do more to bring it to an end.”
Bonneville’s words may have been surprising for some, but they’re actually part of a larger pattern of actors, musicians, artists and cultural figures who feel increasingly moved to speak out. This week hundreds of actors – including Olivia Colman, Aimee Lou Wood and Mark Ruffalo – signed a pledge promising not to work with Israeli film institutions they say are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people”. From the Eurovision winner JJ using his victory to criticise Israel to footballer Mohamed Salah lambasting UEFA for announcing the death of Suleiman Obeid, the “Palestinian Pele”, without saying that he was killed in an Israeli attack, there is a sense that if people don’t use their platforms to speak out now, they may bitterly regret it later.
“So many people have been afraid of saying the wrong thing, but are now realising that silence is also a statement,” says the musician PinkPantheress, who thinks we are at a tipping point in terms of discussingGaza. “There’s been this shift where artists see that their platforms actually matter – and that it is their responsibility to amplify the call for justice. Neutrality shouldn’t be an option.”
Next week, PinkPantheress will be performing in a manifestation of this tipping point, when a concert called Together for Palestine is held at the 12,500-capacity Wembley Arena, with all profits going to Choose Love, a British charity working in Gaza to deliver food, medical supplies and other support. It will be one of the largest-scale benefit concerts for Palestine, since the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023. These were followed by a campaign of bombardment and starvation by Israel that has been labelled a genocide by groups including the UN and Amnesty International.
Along with names who have spoken out about Palestine for years, such as Massive Attack and Damon Albarn, there is a broad range of cultural figures on the bill including Benedict Cumberbatch, Louis Theroux, Bastille, Paloma Faith, Riz Ahmed, Amelia Dimoldenberg, Hot Chip, Guy Pearce, Portishead, Celeste and Jamie xx. Palestinian artists and musicians, such as Faraj Suleiman, Malak Mattar and Nai Barghouti, are also represented.
Signed a boycott pledge … Olivia Colman. Photograph: Cat Morley/Avalon
The concert, which sold out in a few hours, has taken 18 months to organise. Venues were initially highly reluctant to be involved, while some musicians showed hesitation about signing up – the fact it is happening at all points not just to the increasingly urgent situation in Gaza, but the way fears about speaking out are starting to dissipate.
“You don’t want to be the only person doing this,” says Brian Eno, who is organising the concert with film producer Tracey Seaward, who was behind Dirty Pretty Things and The Queen, and actor Khalid Abdalla, who starred in United 93 and The Kite Runner. “When we first started out,” says Eno, “it was hard to get anyone interested. But I think everyone’s realised that what’s happening in Gaza is completely obscene. Whatever conflicted feelings they might have had about the war beforehand have suddenly disappeared. It’s immoral and repulsive. I think on that point, everybody can at least agree.”
Eno is keen to stress that Together for Palestine is not a political rally. Rather, it is billed as a day of hope, community and remembrance. “A lot of the people involved in making this show are Jewish, along with a lot of Palestinians as well,” says Eno. “We want it to be seen as an occasion in which people work together, regardless of their particular faith or ethnic affiliation.”
One of those Palestinians is the artist Malak Mattar, who has been working with renowned stage designer Es Devlin to curate a selection of Palestinian artworks for the show. Some of these will be by artists who have died during the conflict, such as Heba Zaqout, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in October 2023, and Duniyana Al-Amour, who was killed in her bedroom at the age of 22. The latter attack by Israel took place in August 2022, a reminder that such strikes were taking place long before the Hamas atrocities happened.
‘When the call came, it was impossible to say no’ … PinkPantheress. Photograph: Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP
As someone who grew up in Gaza and still has family members there, it can be frustrating, says Mattar, to witness the silence of many fellow artists and institutions in the UK. “As an artist myself,” she says, “I know what it means to have things cancelled because you’ve spoken out. I have been asked not to make speeches at my exhibitions. But I think right now is a powerful moment of history, where people are coming together to speak out. It’s going to be a great sense of solidarity that we feel on the night of 17 September – and also very moving when we remember the people that we lost during the genocide.”
When the concert was first announced, Eno admitted that one of his biggest regrets, over his illustrious five-decade career in the music industry, was that “so many of us have remained silent about Palestine. Often that silence has come from fear – real fear – that speaking out could provoke a backlash, close doors or end a career.”
Yet this fear is now being discussed much more openly. Kneecap were subject to a police investigation and faced calls to have their US work visas revoked after accusing Israel of genocide onstage at the Coachella festival in April. This hasn’t prevented the likes of PinkPantheress from getting involved in the concert: “My team and I talk about the genocide in Palestine often, and what we can do to help as individuals, as a collective, but also what I can do as an artist. Putting your ego aside is important. You have to be willing to learn and get things wrong every now and again. I’m constantly listening and engaging in conversations with my team and friends. When the call came to appear at Together for Palestine, it was impossible to say no.”
On the bill … Jamie xx. Photograph: Steve Jennings/Getty Images
Being open to learning about the reality of the situation seems crucial for the shift that is now happening. Eno happily admits that his own views on Gaza changed after visiting the West Bank six years ago. There he saw firsthand what he calls “the relentless humiliation … which is the nastiest weapon in a way … continually demeaning, continually shilly-shallying, pretending there’s a peace process when there’s no intention whatsoever to achieve peace on any kind of terms that the Palestinians could possibly accept.”
When he tried to explain this to people, Eno says, he was always being forced to go through the entire history of the conflict. People were either bamboozled by the conflicting accounts, or looking for an easy way to avoid getting involved. “Israel has always, in my opinion, depended on calling on the complexity of the situation,” says Eno. “To sort of say, ‘Well, of course you don’t really understand it, it’s far more complex than you can imagine.’ But people are no longer asking me to do this, because everyone knows we shouldn’t be in the place we are now.”
PinkPantheress says that having so many fellow artists on the bill supporting the message has made it easier to speak out – and hopefully will make it easier for others to join them in future. “One voice can get ignored,” she says, “but when it’s a chorus it’s way harder. Seeing artists from totally different backgrounds come together proves this isn’t just a political issue but a human one.”
Last year, we conducted our first-ever analysis of the Primetime Emmy Awards to find out how total viewership and actual voting results would end up comparing for the most-watched nominated titles and actors. Driven by our curiosity for data, we shared the insights as a fun spin on the results, and the response was so positive, we decided to give it another go!
While viewing time is not ultimately a consideration for who will get the statue, we wanted to see who this year’s winners would be if the deciding factor was by how U.S. TV audiences voted with their time (and we’ve expanded the number of categories we’re covering this time around).
The ceremony is set to air on Sunday, September 14th at 8pm on CBS and Paramount+.
The winners by viewership
Outstanding Drama Series
Like many series, production on the third season of HBO’s The White Lotus was delayed due to the Writer’s Guild of America strike in 2023. So when it launched in February of this year, it had been more than two years since the last chapter. Released episodically, it built momentum over the course of the season and enjoyed seven consecutive weeks of viewership increases. Additionally, viewing patterns showed that a subset of viewers were going back to watch prior seasons. All told, The White Lotus totaled over 210 million viewing hours within the Emmy eligibility window, giving it our Best Drama title this year.
Though Apple TV+’s Severance didn’t finish in the top spot, the fact that it finished in second place at 157.5 million hours, among a very competitive set of programs, is worth highlighting. Apple TV+’s penetration among the U.S. TV audience is lower than its competitors, which makes the feat all the more impressive.
Outstanding Comedy Series
Hulu’s The Bear, last year’s Comedy winner in our Emmy analysis, was once again in the running this time around. However, it was ABC’s Abbott Elementary that finished in the top spot with 184.1 million hours. Heading into its fifth season, the series has performed consistently well for ABC, and also benefits from significant catch-up viewing on Hulu. This was an example of a key trend of success we are seeing emerge across the media landscape—multiplatform engagement—which gives the viewers the option of where they want to consume content.
With Abbott Elementary, Only Murders in the Building, and The Bear occupying the top three spots in this category, Disney was once again a force to be reckoned with.
Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series
True crime is a very popular genre among TV viewers (and podcast listeners), and we often see documentaries of that ilk break into the weekly top 10. While we can’t call Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story true crime in the strictest sense, the highly dramatized telling of a very real murder case seemed to offer something for a broad range of viewers. With just over 149 million hours of watch time, it is our winner in the Best Limited or Anthology Series this year.
Coming in second, and the only other title to break the 100 million hour mark, was HBO’s The Penguin, set in Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe. Its status as an acquired series (since it aired on HBO before becoming available on HBO Max) meant it hovered just outside our Top 10 for the majority of its run, but quietly accrued a substantial amount of watch time during and after.
Outstanding Television Movie
This is a new category for us this year, but fitting since we track movies in our streaming top 10 every week, and the nominees are all streaming exclusives. Netflix’s action thriller Rebel Ridge led the pack by a significant margin with 90.5 million viewing hours. The feature occupied the number one movie position in our top 10 for three consecutive weeks last September.
Again, an honorable mention is in order for Apple TV+’s The Gorge here, which also enjoyed three consecutive weeks on the movie chart and finished third among nominees despite the aforementioned disparity in distribution.
Outstanding Reality Competition Series
While this is a new category for us to cover, the nominees remained largely unchanged from 2024, with RuPaul’s Drag Race, Amazing Race, The Traitors, and Top Chef all returning. The one difference was CBS’s Survivor being nominated this year in place of NBC’s The Voice last year. Survivor, a pioneer in what became a very popular primetime genre, recently completed its 48th season, and is the longest running of any of the nominees. That was certainly a contributing factor to its victory in our viewer tally, as fans can enjoy recently telecast episodes on Paramount+ and prior seasons on Paramount+, Hulu, and The Roku Channel, among other places. Survivor notched the most viewing hours by a substantial margin.
Given Love Island USA’s popularity this summer, it will be interesting to see if the dating competition gets an Emmy nod next year.
Lead Actor in a Drama Series
This is the second year in a row that Gary Oldman was nominated for the role of Jackson Lamb in Apple TV+’s Slow Horses, and after a second place finish in 2024, Sir Gary reached the top spot in our viewing total this year. With a long and storied career, it’s not uncommon to find a movie starring Mr. Oldman on television. But, outside of Slow Horses itself, it was his turns in the Harry Potter and the Christoper Nolan Batman film franchises that helped propel him to victory.
Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Like the Lead Actor in a Drama Category, our winner in the Lead Actress category is another television and film veteran with a long history of industry accolades. Kathy Bates takes the crown by a wide margin here, largely fueled by CBS’s Matlock—another multiplatform success—for which she is nominated. And although many films contributed to Ms. Bates’ overall total, two in particular stand out, the first being Netflix original A Family Affair, which was released during the summer of 2024. The other goes back nearly 30 years, and is a staple of both linear TV and streaming: romantic drama Titanic.
Looking across the acting categories, it’s a very close contest between Kathy Bates and Gary Oldman as the most-viewed actor overall, with Oldman just a hair ahead.
Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Jeremy Allen White, who plays Carmy in Hulu’s The Bear, won both our viewing title and the actual Emmy for Lead Comedy Actor last year, and has managed to repeat the feat this year, at least for the viewing portion. However, where he was ahead in watch time by a wide margin in 2024, it was a much tighter race this time around. Jason Segel from Apple TV+’s Shrinking came in a very close second.
Outside of The Bear, Jeremy Allen White was again helped by his role in the Showtime dramedy Shameless, while Jason Segel had the benefit of How I Met Your Mother, both long-running shows that viewers enjoy rewatching.
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Rounding out our awards this year is the Lead Actress in a Comedy category, which features three returning competitors in Quinta Brunson, Ayo Edebiri, and Jean Smart. However, it was Kristen Bell—nominated for Netflix’s Nobody Wants This—that took the crown this time around. Much like the Lead Actor category, this was a tight competition, with Uzo Aduba of Netflix’s The Residence following very closely behind Bell.
NBC’s The Good Place, which isalso available on Netflix, was the biggest contributor to Kristen Bell’s total outside of Nobody Wants This. For Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black played a role.
Conclusion
The nominees for the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards demonstrate the power of both new and long-running programming to attract viewers’ time and attention. By understanding how audiences are voting with their time, brands and platforms can ensure they’re reaching audiences where they are and create meaningful partnerships with the talent they are investing their time in.
Measurement Methodology
For nominated programs and movies: Total viewing hours across broadcast, cable, and streaming were tallied for the Emmy eligibility period of June 1, 2024 – May 31, 2025.
For nominated actors: Total viewing hours across broadcast, cable, and streaming were tallied for any title featuring the nominee during the eligibility period, with some guidelines:
They must be a named character
Must be in the top-billed cast
Voice work, cameos, shorts, and brief recurring roles are excluded
A number of high-calibre conductors, including Kurt Masur, Klaus Tennstedt and Carlos Kleiber, born in the years leading up to 1930, came to prominence around the middle of the 20th century, maturing during the years of Herbert von Karajan’s dominance. Christoph von Dohnányi, who has died aged 95, was among them, rising like the others through the ranks of the German opera houses to major posts in the UK and US.
Following appointments as general music director at Lübeck, Kassel and Frankfurt, Dohnányi made his British debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1965, his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1972 (with Falstaff) and at Covent Garden in 1974 (with Salome). Then in 1984 he began an 18-year period as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra, during which he elevated it to new heights.
He took the orchestra on more than a dozen international tours, to Europe and Asia, including China. In the 1990s Cleveland became the first American orchestra in decades to serve as a resident ensemble at the Salzburg festival. He also took them to the Edinburgh and Lucerne festivals and to the BBC Proms, and it was under his directorship that the Cleveland became the most-recorded US orchestra of the age. He was the catalyst behind the $37m renovation of Severance Hall, dating from 1931, which reopened in January 2000.
One project that did not go to plan was the projected recording of Wagner’s Ring with the orchestra for Decca. Das Rheingold was released in 1995 and Die Walküre in 1997, but were unfavourably reviewed and failed to compete in the market with recent recordings by Bernard Haitink, James Levine and Daniel Barenboim. Many of the principal roles were not taken by the best singers of the day, the finest characterisations being those of Peter Schreier as a wheedling, needle-sharp Mime and Kim Begley as a quixotic Loge. The chief virtue of these recordings was considered to be the orchestral playing, particularly that of the brass.
Dohnányi with the Cleveland Orchestra in 1983. Photograph: Bettmann Archive
It was at this point that the classical recording industry collapsed, putting an end to the Ring project and severely curtailing the recording career of Dohnányi and many other major figures. Dohnányi brought his tenure at Cleveland to a close with two performances of Siegfried, but the opera was not recorded. Plans for him to do Götterdämmerung in the role of music director laureate in 2005 were abandoned on financial grounds.
He was also principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London from 1994, and its principal conductor from 1997 for 11 years, being appointed honorary conductor for life in 2008.
On his return to Covent Garden, his Wozzeck (1984), Die Frau ohne Schatten (1987), Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Fidelio (both 1990) were generally well received. He had made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1972 with his then wife, Anja Silja, in the title role of Salome and appeared there many times over the following three decades, conducting the Ring in 1993.
In those latter years he focused primarily on repertory from the Austro-German tradition from Mozart to Mahler and Strauss, though his versatility and technical skills served him well in works of the Second Viennese School and in later modernist scores. He conducted the premiere of Henze’s Der Junge Lord in 1965, making his debut at the Deutsche Oper, in what the composer described as “a brilliantly rehearsed and conducted performance”.
His conducting of Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron in Frankfurt and Vienna in the 1970s were highly acclaimed, and his recordings of Berg’s Lulu (1976) and Wozzeck (1979), also starring Silja, were regarded as benchmarks. He conducted all the leading orchestras in the US and was a familiar figure on the podium in concert halls and at the opera all over the world.
Born in Berlin, he was the third child of Hans von Dohnányi, a prominent jurist, and Christine Bonhoeffer, whose brother was the well-known Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Hans was no less active than his brother-in-law in his resistance to the Nazis; indeed, he was directly involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler on 20 July 1944. By this time both he and Bonhoeffer had already been arrested and imprisoned; both were hanged in April 1945.
It had been Christoph’s intention to become a lawyer to help restore justice in Germany, and immediately after the war he studied law in Munich. But music was already a major part of his life and as he later recalled: “As I had a very quick mind and a good memory, I was able to listen to my law professor while composing music at the same time.”
Dohnányi at rehearsals for the Music Triennale in Cologne, 2000. Photograph: Brill/Ullstein Bild/Getty Images
As a member of an extended family whose ancestors had been close to Brahms, Liszt and others, he had already studied music, including the piano, seriously as a child. Those studies were interrupted by the war, but in 1948 he entered the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Munich, winning the Richard Strauss conducting prize when he graduated in 1951.
He then moved to the US to continue his studies with his composer grandfather Ernö von Dohnányi, who had joined the faculty of Florida State University at Tallahassee. He also spent summers at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, studying with Leonard Bernstein.
In 1953 he was engaged by Georg Solti as a chorus master and conductor at Frankfurt Opera, progressing from there to the music director posts in Lübeck (1957-63), Kassel (1963-68) – where he revived Schreker’s Der Ferne Klang, suppressed by the Nazis – Frankfurt (1968–77) and Hamburg (1977–84).
Working at Frankfurt with a team of dramaturgs that included Gerard Mortier (later director of La Monnaie in Brussels, and the Salzburg festival), he aimed for a broadly based programme that combined traditional elements with innovative “director’s theatre”. Engaging directors such as Klaus Michael Grüber and Hans Neuenfels, he helped pave the way for the radical developments of his successor, Michael Gielen.
He was also chief conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne from 1964 to 1970 and exploited the high technical standard of the orchestra, and the openness of the city to avant-garde music encouraged by Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s founding of Musica Viva in 1945, to expand the repertory. At the same time he devoted himself to the music of Mendelssohn, banned in his youth, performing Elijah, as well as many of the orchestral works.
In addition to his London appointments, he was artistic adviser to the Orchestre de Paris from 1998 to 2000 and chief conductor of the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg from 2004 to 2010.
In interpretative terms he generally gave the impression of being led by his intellect rather than his emotions, so much so that his readings could border on the perfunctory. He nevertheless generated a substantial body of work, much of it of high quality. Technically he impressed both audiences and players – his ear for intonation and voicing was both famed and feared – and his ability to motivate musicians raised standards wherever he worked.
His first marriage, in 1957, was to the German actor Renate Zillessen, and they had two children, Katja and Justus; in 1979 he married Silja, with whom he had three children, Julia, Benedikt and Olga. His first two marriages ended in divorce. In 2004 he married Barbara Koller, a viola player and his former assistant. She survives him, with his five children and his brother Klaus.
The World Is Facing Rising Energy Demands. NREL’s ULIS Power Module May Be an Answer.
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NREL’s Ultra-Low Inductance Smart (ULIS) power module can help “squeeze” more usable power out of the world’s electricity supply, making it a promising solution to rising energy demands to power data centers and vehicles. Photo by Brooke Buchan, NREL
Global energy demands are surging, pushed by energy-intensive data centers powering artificial intelligence and increased manufacturing. How will the world meet these rising energy needs?
One answer is to get more use out of the energy we already produce and at a lower cost. In pursuit of this goal, NREL researchers have created a silicon-carbide-based power module—a physical housing for the power electronics that control the flow of electricity between systems—with never-before-seen efficiency, power density, and low-cost manufacturability.
The breakthrough, called NREL’s Ultra-Low Inductance Smart power module, is nicknamed ULIS. Powered by silicon carbide semiconductors, ULIS is capable of achieving five times greater energy density than predecessor designs in a smaller package, making it possible for manufacturers to build and power more efficient, compact, and lighter technologies. The 1200-volt, 400-amp power module is suitable for use in data centers, power grids, microreactors, and even heavy-duty vehicles such as next-generation aircraft and military vehicles.
Most importantly, ULIS boasts parasitic inductance—resistance to changes in electrical current, which is the primary hurdle to any electrical conversion—seven to nine times lower than any current state-of-the-art silicon carbide power module. Its ultrafast, ultraefficient switching of electrical current into usable forms allows ULIS to “squeeze” more usable power out of the electricity supply. This makes it a compelling solution to the world’s energy demand problem.
“We consider ULIS to be a true breakthrough,” said Faisal Khan, NREL’s chief energy storage researcher and the principal investigator for the project. “It’s a future-proofed, ultrafast power module that will make the next generation of power converters more affordable, efficient, and compact.”
Furthermore, Khan explained, ULIS is uniquely suited for high-intensity applications, like aviation and military operations, because the powerful, lightweight module also monitors its own state of health and can predict component failure before it occurs. For planes flying 30,000 feet above sea level or military vehicles traveling through combat zones, that level of reliability can mean the difference between life and death.
“ULIS was a truly organic effort, built entirely in-house here at NREL,” Khan said. “We are very excited to demonstrate its strengths in real-world settings.”
Text version
ULIS Features Entirely New, Low-Cost Design
Many of ULIS’ features are made possible by its wholly new design.
Unlike typical power modules, which assemble semiconductor devices inside a brick-like package, ULIS winds its circuits around a flat, octagonal design. The disk-like shape allows more devices to be housed in a smaller area, making the overall package smaller and lighter. At the same time, novel current routing allows for maximum magnetic flux cancellation, contributing to the power module’s clean, low-loss electrical output—in other words, its ultrahigh efficiency.
“Our biggest concern was that the device switches off and on very quickly, and we needed a layout that wouldn’t create a chokepoint within the design,” said Shuofeng Zhao, an NREL power electronics researcher who designed ULIS’ flux cancellation architecture.
ULIS features the lowest parasitic inductance—resistance to change of current—ever seen, allowing it to convert electricity more efficiently. Image by NREL
One of the original layouts, Zhao said, looked like a flower with a semiconductor at the tip of each petal. Another idea was to create a hollow cylinder with components wired to the inside. Every idea the team came up with was either too expensive or too difficult to fabricate—until they stopped thinking in three dimensions and flattened the design into nearly two.
“We squished it flat, like a pancake,” Zhao said, “and suddenly we had a low-cost, high-performing design that was much easier to fabricate.”
The fine balance the team found between the high electrical performance of a 3D design and a flat, fabrication-friendly layout unlocked ULIS’ full potential.
Second, where conventional power modules rely on bulky and inflexible materials, ULIS takes a new approach.
Traditional designs call for power modules to conduct electricity and dissipate excess heat by bonding copper sheets directly to a ceramic base—an effective, but rigid, solution. ULIS bonds copper to a flexible polymer, called Temprion, to create a thinner, lighter, more configurable design.
Because the material bonds easily to copper using just pressure and heat, and because its parts can be machined using widely available equipment, ULIS can be fabricated quickly and inexpensively. Manufacturing costs total hundreds, rather than thousands, of dollars.
ULIS can be fabricated quickly and inexpensively. Manufacturing costs total hundreds, rather than thousands, of dollars.
A third breakthrough allows ULIS to function wirelessly, as an isolated unit that can be controlled and monitored without external cables. That modular, Lego-like nature means it can slot into machines as different as data center servers, advanced aircraft, and military vehicles. The patent for this low-latency wireless communication protocol, spearheaded by NREL power electronics Sarwar Islam, is pending.
Finally, while the silicon carbide semiconductors powering ULIS represent the current state of the art, the ULIS research team has intentionally “future proofed” the design. ULIS can scale to accommodate advancements in semiconductor devices using silicon carbide, gallium nitride, and even gallium oxide, a promising avenue that has not yet been commercialized.
Each innovation adds to a single idea: that in a world where we rely on steady access to electricity, ULIS provides reliability.
ULIS can be machined using widely available equipment, reducing the manufacturing costs for the power module from thousands to hundreds of dollars. Photo by Brook Buchan, NREL
ULIS’ Intentional Design for High-Intensity Applications Is Poised for Impact
Where could ULIS make an impact?
Modernizing the U.S. power grid: Whenever energy is fed into the power grid, it has to be converted into a usable form. This process often relies on bulky, low-frequency transformers and conversion stations. ULIS’ ultrafast and efficient switching maximizes the amount of energy that reaches consumers, and its tolerance for high temperatures can lower maintenance costs over a power plant’s lifetime.
Enabling advanced aircraft: Because ULIS can transfer electricity faster than other technologies on the market and conserve more electricity, it can enable high-performing, lightweight power converters for advanced aircraft. That means futuristic technologies like electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles—sometimes thought of as “flying taxis”—could become cost effective and high performing enough to be commercially viable.
Powering cities and data centers through fusion: While commercial fusion reactors are still on the horizon, these energy systems could prove revolutionary by delivering power where traditional energy systems are difficult to build and maintain. ULIS’ ultralow inductance and compact, reliable design will make it possible to build the pulsed power components needed for future fusion systems.
In pursuit of steadier, lower-cost electricity, high-performance artificial intelligence, and advanced vehicle technologies, ULIS is now available to license. Reach out to NREL’s Lab Partnering Service to learn more.
Learn more about NREL’s energy storage and transportation and mobility research. And sign up for NREL’s transportation and mobility research newsletter to stay current on the latest news.
The night sky often dazzles with brief explosions of unimaginable power. Gamma-ray bursts are among the most intense, usually marking the catastrophic end of stars. These bursts vanish within seconds or minutes, leaving astronomers with little more than fleeting traces.
But a recent observation broke every rule. One gamma-ray burst not only lasted far longer than usual but also repeated in a pattern that has never been recorded before.
Astronomers stunned by burst
The burst, labeled GRB 250702B, was reported in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Dr. Antonio Martin-Carrillo and colleagues used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope to study the phenomenon.
“This event is unlike any other seen in 50 years of GRB observations,” said Dr. Martin-Carrillo of the University College Dublin. “GRBs are catastrophic events, so they are expected to go off just once because the source that produced them does not survive the dramatic explosion.”
“This event baffled us not only because it showed repeated powerful activity but also because it seemed to be periodic, which has never seen before.”
Star collapse or black hole?
Theories about its origin vary. One possibility involves the collapse of a star many times more massive than the Sun. In such a case, some material could have continued feeding the central engine, extending its activity.
Another explanation suggests a tidal disruption event, where a star is torn apart by a black hole.
For this burst, the data hint that a white dwarf might have been shredded by an intermediate-mass black hole – a long-hypothesized but rarely seen type.
A burst that wouldn’t end
Most gamma-ray bursts last milliseconds to minutes. This one endured about a day – hundreds of times longer than the norm.
Professor Andrew Levan of Radboud University noted that it was 100 to 1,000 times longer than most GRBs.
The unusual length led astronomers to compare it with ultralong bursts and even with rare tidal disruption events.
However, GRB 250702B showed distinct bursts at intervals that seemed close to integer multiples, hinting at possible periodic behavior.
Pinpointing the source
Initial detections came from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Einstein Probe.
Both caught early signals but could not locate the source precisely. The Very Large Telescope provided sharper data, showing the event was located outside of our galaxy.
“The event seemed to have originated from within our galaxy due to its proximity to the galactic plane. The VLT fundamentally changed that paradigm,” Professor Levan noted.
Host galaxy revealed
The HAWK-I camera on the VLT revealed an extremely red infrared counterpart, suggesting a heavily dust-obscured source.
Follow-up imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope confirmed the host galaxy’s structure. Observations showed the galaxy had a complex, asymmetric shape, possibly with dust lanes. Such dust could explain the unusually red afterglow.
“What we found was considerably more exciting – the fact that this object is extragalactic means that it is considerably more powerful,” said Dr. Martin-Carrillo.
Collision explains the glow
The afterglow in X-ray, infrared, and radio wavelengths appeared consistent with models in which relativistic jets collide with surrounding material.
Yet the details pointed to an unusually narrow jet angle and significant dust extinction, unlike most known bursts.
Despite these differences, the afterglow fit within the broader family of GRB models, strengthening the case for either a rare stellar collapse or a tidal disruption event involving a black hole.
Mystery sparks new theories
The researchers outlined four possible scenarios. First, it may have been a relativistic tidal disruption event, most likely a white dwarf consumed by an intermediate-mass black hole.
The second possibility is a nonstandard stellar collapse involving unusual progenitors or environments. Third, the event may have been echoes caused by the scattering of gamma rays through dense dust shells.
A fourth possibility is that the burst came from a very distant, high-redshift source and was brightened by gravitational lensing. Each theory presents challenges, but the first two currently align best with the data.
Clarifying the gamma-ray burst
“We are still not sure what produced this or if we can ever really find out but, with this research, we have made a huge step forward towards understanding this extremely unusual and exciting object,” said Dr. Martin-Carrillo.
Future monitoring with instruments like the James Webb Space Telescope may offer more clues. Continued X-ray and radio tracking could reveal whether the burst’s jet shuts down like those in tidal disruption events or follows the path of an unusual star’s collapse.
Either way, GRB 250702B has already reshaped what astronomers thought they knew about cosmic explosions.
The study is published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA and M. Kornmesser
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The Hollywood Reporter‘s celebration of Los Angeles’ top real estate agents is back.
This year’s L.A. Power Broker Awards, presented by luxury real estate PR firm The Society Group, will take place at the Mandarin Oriental Residences Beverly Hills on Sept. 17. The fifth annual honors — toasting the powerhouse sellers on THR‘s Top L.A. Brokers list, followed by an awards presentation — are co-hosted by Compass Development Marketing Group, with interiors and furnishings by home styling company Vesta Home.
This year’s event will go on without an emcee, after Selling Sunset‘s Jason Oppenheim and Mary Bonnet hosted the event in 2022 and 2024, and Mauricio Umansky took the reins in 2023. Nominees for eight of the awards categories are presented below, with winners announced at the event.
Team of the Year Nominees: Tomer Fridman (Christie’s); Aaron Kirman (Christie’s); F. Ron Smith and David Berg (Compass); The Altman Brothers (Douglas Elliman); Myra and Michael Nourmand (Nourmand & Associates); Branden and Rayni Williams (The Beverly Hills Estates); David Parnes and James Harris (Carolwood)
Philanthropic Impact Award Nominees: Cindy Ambuehl (Christie’s); Juliette Hohnen (Douglas Elliman); Heather Roy and Learka Bosnak (Douglas Elliman); Smith and Berg (Compass)
Agent of Historic Architecture Nominees: Joyce Rey (Coldwell Banker); Smith and Berg (Compass); Rochelle Atlas Maize (Nourmand); Linda May (Carolwood)
Condo Sale of the Year Nominees: Jason Oppenheim (Oppenheim Group); The Altman Brothers (Douglas Elliman); Santiago Arana (The Agency); Jonah Wilson (Carolwood); Sally Forster Jones and Tomer Fridman (Compass)
Media Maverick Award Nominees: Kirman (Christie’s); Atlas Maize (Nourmand); Jordan Cohen (Re/Max); Mauricio Umansky (The Agency); Blair Chang (The Agency); Oppenheim (Oppenheim Group)
Stratospheric Sale of the Year Nominees: Kurt Rappaport (Westside Estate Agency); Harris and Parnes (Carolwood); Solomon Properties (Coldwell); Forster Jones (Compass); Carl Gambino (Compass); Ginger Glass (Compass); Sandro Dazzan (The Agency); Cooper Mount (Carolwood); Drew Fenton (Carolwood); Linda May (Carolwood)
Celebrity Property Portfolio Nominees: The Shevin Team (Douglas Elliman); Jade Mills (Coldwell Banker); Lea Porter (Beverly Hills Estates); Jordan Cohen (Re/Max); Hohnen (Douglas Elliman); Smith and Berg (Compass); Gambino (Compass)
Rising Star Nominees: Barron N. Hilton and Tessa Hilton (Hilton Hilton); Lauren Duffy (Douglas Elliman); Bryce Pennel (Douglas Elliman)
Cancer cells have many strategies for resisting therapy. One such strategy is survivin, a protein that drives the division of diseased cells and prevents them from dying. It is found in large quantities in almost all tumors, but is difficult to target with conventional drugs.
Enter a new project led by Prof. Dr. Shirley Knauer from the Faculty of Biology at the University of Duisburg-Essen: she and her team are developing bespoke small antibody fragments, known as nanobodies, which recognize survivin with great selectivity. Because they are smaller and more stable than conventional antibodies, they can reach structures that are virtually inaccessible to other active substances.
The project combines molecular biology, biochemistry and structural biology approaches. The researchers couple the nanobodies to a degradation signal, prompting the cell’s own machinery to break down survivin – a strategy known as targeted protein degradation using PROTACs (Proteolysis Targeting Chimeras). In simple terms, the nanobody binds to survivin, which causes the protein to lose its function and be directed to an enzyme complex that breaks it down. This causes the cancer cell to lose an important protective mechanism.
The researchers hope that this will make tumors more responsive to conventional therapies and open up new treatment possibilities. In addition, the modular structure of their method means that it could be transferred to other target proteins in the future.
Our approach therefore offers great potential for personalized cancer medicine. The funding will enable us to further develop this promising therapeutic platform.”
Prof. Dr. Shirley Knauer, Faculty of Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen
Baaghi 4 box office collection day 6: Tiger Shroff, Sanjay Dutt, and Harnaaz Sandhu’s ultraviolent action spectacle seems to have flustered audiences off.
Baaghi 4 box office collection day 6: Tiger Shroff headlined the Baaghi franchise and took it to great box office business in the previous instalments. Then what has gone missing this time? The September 5 release seemed to have it all on paper, the star presence, the killer action, and more- and yet the film has not found viewers in its first week. (Also read: Baaghi 4 Twitter review: ‘Desi Stallone’ Tiger Shroff can’t save this ‘cringe violent mess with no story’, say viewers)
Baaghi 4 box office collection day 6: Tiger Shroff plays the lead in the action film.
Baaghi 4 box office
The latest update on Sacnilk states that Baaghi 4 collected ₹ 1.93 crore on its sixth day of release, as per early estimates. This brings the film’s total box office collectionto a lukewarm ₹ 41.68 crore. The film opened at ₹ 12 crore, which is still the highest single-day collection for the film so far.
The downward spiral is a worrying sign for Baaghi 4. In comparison, the other big Hollywood release, The Conjuring: Last Rites, has gone on to collect ₹ 2.55 crore on Wednesday. The total India collection of the horror film is now at ₹ 63.55 crore, which is far higher than Baaghi 4. Viewers have shown their preference for a Hollywood franchise over a Bollywood franchise this time around.
A worrying signal?
This was the exact sentiment that was expressed by filmmaker Sanjay Gupta, who shared his disappointment with Bollywood films sticking to franchises and same old rules. He asked on his X account, “Franchise films without original directors are tanking. Is there a lesson to learn for the producers???”
Baaghi 4 is the fourth instalment in the franchise, which began in 2016 with Baaghi, starring Tiger and Shraddha Kapoor. Baaghi 4 also stars Sonam Bajwa, Shreyas Talpade, Saurabh Sachdeva, Upendra Limaye, and Sheeba Akashdeep Sabir in key roles. The story and screenplay have been penned by Sajid Nadiadwala. It is directed by A. Harsha and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala.
News / Entertainment / Bollywood / Baaghi 4 box office collection day 6: No takers for Tiger Shroff film midweek, film collects ₹2 crore
