THE NEW SPACE RACE: SpaceX reveals EVA suit design as Polaris Dawn mission approaches.

I THOUGHT THE SCIENCE WAS SETTLED: We’ve Probably Been Wrong About T.Rex Again, New Study Says.

WELL, HE’S NOT WRONG: Trump Accuses Democrats Of Running A ‘Gestapo Administration.’

“THEY CAN’T KILL US ALL!” Ten More Boeing Whistleblowers. You’ve got to admire their bravery, considering.

LET’S HOPE IT COMES TO THIS: “At Washington dinner parties, dark jokes abound about where to go into exile if the former president reclaims the White House.”

WELL, GOOD, I TAKE THAT: Scientists Have Discovered Cognitive Benefits of Creatine. “Various studies have already reported improvements in cognitive performance after a long creatine diet. The substance also counteracts the metabolic changes caused by sleep deprivation.”

VITAMIN D UPDATE: New study challenges one-size-fits-all approach to vitamin D supplementation guidelines. “The first key insight is that ambient UVB emerges as a critical predictor of vitamin D status, even in a place like the UK, which receives relatively little sunlight. The second is that age, sex, body mass index (BMI), cholesterol level, and vitamin D supplementation significantly influence how individuals respond to UVB. For example, as BMI and age increase, the amount of vitamin D produced in response to UVB decreases.”

IT’S NOT BY ACCIDENT: Digital addiction starts early: 30% of K-2 kids use TikTok.

WELL, IT WAS DEFINITELY ABOUT POWER, YOU KNOW. Did Elon Cut Tesla Supercharging as a Power Move?

HASN’T THIS BEEN KNOWN FOR CENTURIES? Beer and spirits have more detrimental effects on the waistline and on cardiovascular disease risk than red or white wine.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Air Force secretary gets taste of future of aviation combat in AI-piloted craft.

WELL, GOOD: Treatment for peripheral artery disease as effective for women as men.

WE USED TO MAKE THEM, BUT DECIDED IT WAS SMARTER TO OUTSOURCE THAT TO OUR LIKELY GEOPOLITICAL ENEMIES: America’s War Machine Runs on Rare-Earth Magnets. China Owns That Market.

The American war machine depends on tiny bits of metal, some as small as dimes. Rare-earth magnets are needed for F-35 jet fighters, missile-guidance systems, Predator drones and nuclear submarines.

The problem: China makes most of the world’s rare-earth magnets, with 92% of the global market share.

Now, Washington is doling out hundreds of millions of dollars in grants and tax credits to revive magnet-making in America. Defense manufacturers are on a clock.

A U.S. law in 2018 restricted the use of made-in-China magnets in American military equipment, shriveling the list of potential suppliers to a small number in Japan and the West. By 2027, the curbs will extend to magnets made anywhere that contain materials mined or processed in China, covering nearly all of the current global supply.

After three decades of post-Cold War deindustrialization, rebuilding the industry—against China’s market heft—is an uphill battle, even with government help. Only one company in the U.S. is in production of the dominant type of rare-earth magnet.

“We’re not going to be able to simply flip a switch and get to where we want to be,” said Anthony Di Stasio, a senior U.S. defense official. “The only thing that you can really judge success on right now is how many positive ripples have you made from throwing the rock into the lake.”

The office Di Stasio runs in the Defense Department is diving into supply chains to invest in the pieces and parts that make the military work. Much of what they invest in is processing minerals and making metals, betting that regardless of how, for example, submarine technology evolves, the same building blocks will be needed.

Plus: “In the West, mines and processing facilities face more regulations. There are only a small number of experts left in the field, requiring pricey workarounds such as importing foreign talent, sending Americans abroad for training and automating.”

THE LEFT NEVER FACED THIS KIND OF CAMPUS OPPOSITION BEFORE: Dueling pro-Palestinian, pro-Israel demonstrations hit Clemson.

SCREAMING CAMPUS GARBAGE BABIES LIVING UP TO THEIR NAME: TRASH: Humboldt campus occupiers left 8,000 LBS of debris, university says. I remember when Tea Party protesters left sites cleaner than they found them, and the press and our national deep thinkers called them barbarians.

A CINCO DE MAYO FLASHBACK TO A SIMPLER, MORE INNOCENT TIME:

Happy Cinco de Mayo! pic.twitter.com/QWCFHnsAKt

— Media Research Center (@theMRC) May 5, 2024

ROGER KIMBALL: From Idealism to Irresponsibility: Comparing College Protests Then and Now. “Like every major college protest since the 1960s, the pro-Palestinian—which is to say, the anti-Israel—protests sweeping college campuses today have early and often been compared with the protests of that annus horribilis, 1968. There are plenty of similarities but also plenty of differences. History repeats itself as student and faculty protestors align themselves with the totalitarians. Then it was the Viet Cong, Mao, and the Khmer Rouge. Today it is the Sunni Muslim terrorist group Hamas, the main puppet master of the “pro-Palestinian” agitators. One apparently striking difference is the strong current of anti-Semitism. It is ubiquitous now; it was not a factor in the protests of the 1960s and 1970s.”

CONSEQUENCES: Hagerty joins chorus of GOP senators stoking efforts to cut funding from universities hosting protests. “Hagerty appeared Saturday on Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street to react to reports that 2,000 college students were arrested on campuses in their pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Some were charged with misdemeanors such as trespassing, while others stand accused of assaulting police officers. Videos have come out from some of these protesters revealing antisemitic themes in their chants and signage.”

The problem isn’t these protests in particular, it’s the higher education sector in general, as an incubator of toxic ideas and hatred.

THEY HAVE TO SCOTCH THIS STUFF, IT’S HURTING DEMOCRATS: Wash U Law Faculty, Students, And Alumni Condemn Protest Crackdown.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Anti-Israel Georgetown Professor Dubs US Congressman a ‘Race Traitor’ and ‘Uncle Tom:’ Zein El-Amine has long history of supporting Students for Justice in Palestine, which is leading anti-Israel campus protests.

IT’S WHO THEY ARE, IT’S WHAT THEY DO: The CDC is already mismanaging H5N1: The implications for the virus and the potential government response are vast and concerning.

After the way they blew it on Covid, it’s likely no one will listen to them anyway, so there’s that.

COULDN’T HAPPEN TO A NICER BUNCH: ‘Ozempic Face’ Destroying the Hollywood Beautiful People?

WELL, YES: Activist Groups Trained Students for Months Before Campus Protests: Left-wing groups and veteran demonstrators provided guidance and support before rise of pro-Palestinian encampments.

For the last decade, donations to NSJP have been received and administered by the Wespac Foundation, according to Howard Horowitz, Wespac’s board chairman. The donations are passed on to NSJP “for projects in the United States,” he said, declining to provide further details.

Wespac, a nonprofit based in Westchester County near New York City, is decades old, according to its website. It has supported humanitarian causes, as well as organizations that propagate antisemitism, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Wespac has posted support of pro-Palestinian protests on social media and posted videos in which protesters held signs that refer to President Biden as “Genocide Joe.” . . .

“There is nothing wrong with being a member of Hamas, being a leader of Hamas, being a fighter in Hamas,” Kates said. “These are the people that are on the front lines defending Palestine.”

Samidoun didn’t respond to emailed requests for comment. The German government banned the group last November after saying it supported terrorism and antisemitism, and incited the use of violence to enforce political interests.

This is just the surface.

OPEN THREAD: Light this candle.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA awards studies for commercial Mars missions.