Good news on clean energy, AI-designed drugs
Our friend Angus opens the free section of this week’s Fix the News with a rundown on a session he curated at TED 2026 in Vancouver.
Among the items in the FTN section requiring a subscription:
— In 2025, every country in the 38-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development operated below its peak fossil output for the first time. “Fossil power’s global decline has begun,” reads the headline from Ember, an energy think tank.
— Virginia has become the third state — after Utah and Mane — to make plug and play solar, aka “balcony solar,” legal, says CleanTechnica.
Here is more from Virginia Public Media.
— AI-designed drugs by Isomorphic Labs, a British biotech spinoff of Google DeepMind, are headed to human trials, Wired reports.
“The exciting thing about the molecules that we’re designing is because we have so much more of an understanding about how these molecules work, we’ve engineered them to be very, very potent,” says Isomorphic Labs President Max Jaderberg. “You can take them at a much lower dose, and they’ll have lower side effects.”
Also in the news
Iran war’s shaky ceasefire further strained as United Arab Emirates responds to missile and drone attack
WPost: U.S. intelligence says Iran can survive Trump naval blockade for at least 3 months before severe economic hardship
Federal court rules against 10 percent global tariffs Trump imposed after loss at Supreme Court
Trump administration lifts hold on immigration applications for doctors but leaves others waiting
AP: State Department to start revoking the U.S. passports of parents who owe child support
As U.S. debt surpasses the nation’s total economic output, Washington barely notices
Trump administration's cancellation of humanities grants was unconstitutional, federal judge rules
ProPublica: Trump exempted some of U.S.’ biggest polluters from air quality rules; all they had to do was send an email request
Trump administration to propose weakening some Biden-era PFAS limits, EPA official says
Takeaways from investigation showing Georgia officials knew carpet mills polluted local water supplies with PFAS
Tennessee enacts new congressional map carving up majority-Black district in Memphis
WPost columnist: ‘Trump demands gratitude in D.C. So he put up banners thanking himself.’
Trump drives across D.C.’s Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to inspect new blue coating he’s putting on it
Robert Reich: ‘What we can do to stop and reverse Trump's takeover of the media’
World Health Organization assesses the public health risk of hantavirus as low
You can call the Capitol switchboard, (202) 224-3121, and be connected to the offices of your representative and senators. To email your House member and your two senators, you can connect to their websites at Congress.gov. Most lawmakers seem to only accept emails from their constituents, but these leaders accept emails from Americans nationwide, at:
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer
Senate Majority Leader John Thune