Mail Order Voting, Mosquitoes, & a Cheese-rolling Race

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Adam Rogers
May 29, 2026

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A federal judge declined to halt President Trump's executive order creating a federal voter list and limiting mail voting. Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, ruled it was too early to block the order because it has not yet been implemented.
The order would direct the federal government to create a list of eligible voters and have the US Postal Service deliver mail ballots only to those on the list. Trump has repeatedly claimed mail voting is rife with fraud, a claim he has made since his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. Opponents argue it is unconstitutional because states and Congress, not the president, set election rules.
Democrats and civil rights groups vowed to return to court when implementation begins. It is Trump's second executive order seeking to overhaul elections — his first, which required proof of citizenship to register to vote, has been blocked by multiple federal judges.

US and Iranian negotiators have reached a tentative deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and extend the ceasefire, but neither President Trump nor Iran's leadership has signed off, an American official said.
Under the 60-day memorandum of understanding, Iran would remove mines from the strait within 30 days, allow unfettered shipping without tolls, and agree not to develop a nuclear weapon. The US would end its blockade of Iranian ports, waive some oil sanctions, and consider further easing restrictions. Iran would also enter negotiations over disposing of its enriched uranium stockpile.
Military strikes continued even as diplomats negotiated. On Wednesday night, US forces destroyed five Iranian drones and a ground control site near Bandar Abbas. Iran retaliated by firing a ballistic missile at a US air base in Kuwait, which was intercepted with no casualties.

A new study in the Journal of Experimental Biology suggests mosquitoes can learn to associate DEET — the world's most widely used insect repellent — with blood meals, potentially becoming attracted to it rather than repelled. The research found that 60% of mosquitoes that fed on blood while exposed to DEET subsequently showed biting attempts when exposed to DEET alone.
The finding mirrors classical conditioning: mosquitoes, like Pavlov's dogs, learned to associate a stimulus with a reward. Researchers said it represents "a significant change in our understanding of repellants," which were previously thought to work solely by being toxic or blocking mosquitoes' ability to detect humans.
DEET remains a frontline defense against malaria, dengue, Zika and Japanese encephalitis, and experts say travelers should keep using it. Mosquitoes are most likely to feed and form the association when repellent begins to wear off, so regular reapplication is essential.

The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into funding behind E. Jean Carroll's sexual abuse lawsuits against Trump, focusing on a nonprofit tied to Democratic donor Reid Hoffman. (More)

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that a Black Mississippi death row inmate deserves a new trial after prosecutors improperly struck four Black jurors during jury selection in his 2004 capital murder case. (More)

The Treasury Department is preparing a $250 bill featuring Trump, pending legislation that would change the law barring living people from appearing on US currency. (More)

Britain's spy agency says nearly 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the highest official death estimate from any government. (More)

France's lower house voted 254-0 to repeal the Code Noir, a 1685 slavery law that remained on the books despite France abolishing slavery in 1848. (More)

Italy seized $232 million in assets linked to deceased Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro's drug network, including gold bars and 20 luxury properties, to disrupt the Sicilian Mafia's financial recovery. (More)

US stock markets closed higher on Thursday (S&P +0.58%, Nasdaq +0.91%, Dow +0.05%) on reports that the US and Iran extended their ceasefire. (More)

Fertitta Entertainment, which owns the Golden Nugget and Morton's, is buying Caesars for $5.7 billion and absorbing nearly $12 billion in debt. (More)

Dell's stock jumped 19% after the company reported 88% revenue growth to $43.8 billion, fueled by a 757% surge in AI server sales to $16.1 billion. (More)

The Spurs crushed the Thunder in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals 118-91, setting up a win-or-go-home Game 7 on Saturday. (More)

Jannik Sinner, the French Open favorite, lost to 56th-ranked Juan Manuel Cerundolo after getting dizzy in the Paris heat, blowing a 5-1 lead in the third set. (More)

MLB owners proposed a $245 million salary cap Thursday, a move the players' union has vowed to reject and that threatens the 2027 season with a work stoppage. (More)

Freezing embryos 30 times faster than standard methods prevents ice from forming inside cells, producing embryos that develop nearly as well as fresh ones, Cornell researchers found. (More)

Paleontologists identified a new 43-foot ocean predator named Tylosaurus rex from a fossil that had been misclassified in a Texas museum since 1979. (More)

Amputated tissue from a sea cucumber keeps growing for over three years in natural seawater. The discovery could open new possibilities in tissue regeneration and biomedical research. (More)

Lastest viral airplane sleep hack is a bad idea.

Nursing home costs across America.

Photos from England’s crazed cheese-rolling race.

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