By LIAM McEWAN

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eight hundred episodes, 37 seasons, and one four-fingered family that refuses to age.

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As “The Simpsons” hits a milestone few series have ever glimpsed this weekend, the architects behind Springfield are reflecting on the choices that turned crude 1987 shorts from “The Tracey Ullman Show” into a cultural juggernaut.

“We’ve done 800 episodes, and I’m really glad we didn’t do a big overarching story,” said Al Jean, executive producer and former showrunner. “You always return to square one at the end of the show. And there’s no question that was a big influence on the longevity.”

For Matt Selman, the current showrunner, the Simpsons’ refusal to age is a liberation that simultaneously raises questions about the weight of their long history: “Do these characters have the emotional memory of the 800 things that have happened to them? … I don’t really know the answer to that.”

Meanwhile, show creator Matt Groening views reaching nearly four decades’ worth of production as a triumph tinged with perfectionism.

“I’ve spent 38 years now trying to get them to draw the characters correctly,” Groening said. “We’ve got to figure out how to shift perspective and do it more cinematically and we’re always trying to improve.”

Episode 800, “Irrational Treasure,” airs Sunday on Fox.

The voices behind Springfield

Nancy Cartwright arrived at her 1987 audition expecting to read for Lisa Simpson. She had other ideas.

“Hi Matt. Nice to meet you. I was out there and I noticed that there’s Lisa, that’s fine, 8-year-old middle child, but then there’s this Bart,” Cartwright recalled saying. “I’d kind of like to do him.”

Groening agreed to the “switcheroo” immediately. “She completely channeled him,” he said.

Nancy Cartwright arrives at a celebration for “The Simpsons” 800th episode, “Irrational Treasure,” on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Andrew Park/Invision/AP)

Nearly four decades later, Cartwright notes that “there are still people that yet don’t know that it’s a woman that does the voice.”

The role has become inseparable from her identity. “It’s become such a part of my lifestyle. I’m used to doing it all the time, and I’m not looking forward to the day when we’re done,” she said.

Lisa Simpson’s defining characteristic emerged just as spontaneously. Animator David Silverman, who drew the original outline for the show’s iconic opening sequence, recalled a production meeting where the middle Simpson child lacked a signature moment.

“We don’t have a gag for Lisa, we have a gag for everybody else. What should we do for Lisa?” Silverman reflects. “And I suggested, ‘Well, maybe she’s in the band and maybe she plays a tuba.’ And so Jim (James L. Brooks) said, ‘Well, I don’t know about the tuba but what if she played the baritone saxophone? In fact, what if she played it really well? That could be her character, she could be the genius kid of the family that nobody appreciates.’”

From controversy to institution

The show’s path to becoming a global institution was paved with early outrage. Groening remembers when Bart Simpson was deemed a threat to American classrooms — he relished every moment of it.

“That was the best move ever when the culture decided ‘The Simpsons’ was too outrageous,” Groening said. “And if you wear a Bart Simpson ‘Underachiever’ T-shirt to school, you got kicked out. That was the best thing for us.”

When Fox executives asked whether the show targeted kids or adults, Groening said the creative team made an immediate choice that defined everything that followed. “We said it’s for adults,” he recalled. “And that was the best instantaneous decision that we made because it meant that we could do a wide range of jokes.”

Matt Groening, left, and Matt Selman arrive at a celebration for “The Simpsons” 800th episode, “Irrational Treasure,” on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Andrew Park/Invision/AP)

As the internet arrived, so did a new breed of critic. Groening admits the “Comic Book Guy” character — Springfield’s perpetually dissatisfied nerd — was created as a direct response to early online fans declaring every new episode the “worst episode ever.”

“I like analysis and I like criticism,” Groening said. “But ‘That’s not funny’ and ‘That’s boring,’ that annoys me. Those are to me the laziest reactions you can get.”

His prediction for the show’s future carries characteristic sarcasm. “Well, I can tell you this because we are time travelers,” Groening joked. “The Simpsons will be on in a thousand years. Still on. Unfortunately, fans are going to say the show’s been going downhill for the last 500 years.”

Predictions, presidents and pop stars

The show’s supposed ability to predict the future — including a 2000 episode where Lisa inherits the presidency from “President Trump” — has become internet legend.

Matt Groening, from left, Nancy Cartwright, and Matt Selman arrive at a celebration for “The Simpsons” 800th episode, “Irrational Treasure,” on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Andrew Park/Invision/AP)

Jean offered a simple explanation: “Well, the predictions are accidental. We’re not from the future.”

But modern technology has turned prophecy into fraud, according to Selman.

“The predictions are all fake now,” Selman said. “They’re just done by AI. And people all go, ‘Oh my God, how do they do it?’ I throw up my hands in despair for the gullibility of mankind.”

Guest stars have become a hallmark of the series, from Michael Jackson to Lady Gaga to the Rolling Stones. Jackson’s 1991 appearance in “Stark Raving Dad” came after he cold-called Groening.

“I was working late in my office at 10 p.m. My phone rang … ‘Hi, this is Michael Jackson.’ And I hung up because, you know, it was obviously a prank. And he called back, ‘No, really, don’t hang up,’” Groening recalled.

While the show secured the King of Pop in Season 3, one prestigious group has consistently declined invitations to Springfield. “The ones that never said yes were U.S. presidents and I don’t think we’re ever going to do that,” Jean said.

‘The Simpsons’ in the streaming era

Disney’s 2019 acquisition of 21st Century Fox brought “The Simpsons” to Disney+, introducing the show to new generations — and generating some exclusives not factored into the 800-episode count.

“The fact that ‘The Simpsons’ is on Disney+ has really exposed us to a new generation,” said Selman. “If it’s an 8- to 12-year-old’s favorite show for two or three years of their life before they move on to something else, that’s a big win for us.”

James L. Brooks arrives at a celebration for “The Simpsons” 800th episode, “Irrational Treasure,” on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Andrew Park/Invision/AP)

Streaming has also liberated the show from commercial constraints. “The thing that’s loosened up for us is the time, because things are tied to commercial breaks,” Groening said. “We still do three acts, or sometimes four acts, because we’re on the Fox network. But for the stuff for Disney, we go wild. And we can stretch out a little bit.”

No end in sight for ‘The Simpsons’

For Jean, the show’s greatest achievement is in the personal connections forged over decades. “I’ll have people come up to me and say, ‘My parents were splitting up. I was going through a bad time as a kid and your show got me through it.’ And I just would go, ‘Oh, this couldn’t mean more.’”

Silverman sees that same impact as the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition. “People often asked me when I wanted to be a cartoonist and animator and said, ‘What goals do you have?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know. The only goal that I would love to see happen is to be involved in some animation project that makes a difference to people.’ So I guess I can check that one off.”

“There’s no end in sight,” Jean said. “We’re gonna go to Season 40, at least. Full steam ahead.”

For Groening, the future remains as open-ended as the series itself: “Believe it or not, there’s still stories that we haven’t gotten around to that are just in my head that I want us to do.”

A new weapons screening requirement at the state Capitol will help keep prohibited weapons like knives out of the building when it goes into effect next week, but visitors will still be able to carry handguns if they have the proper permit.

Starting Tuesday, members of the public visiting the Capitol will need to pass through a metal detector and send their bags through an x-ray machine so security officers or State Patrol troopers can screen for banned items.

Banned items will include knives, explosives, and blunt-force objects like batons, as well as event or protest items like balloons, spray paint, chalk, or candles. But anyone with a permit to carry may continue bringing a pistol into the Capitol under state law.

If carrying a pistol, visitors will need to inform staff that they have a weapon and have a State Patrol trooper verify their permit and a government-issued identification. People carrying without a permit could face arrest.

Executive order

Gov. Tim Walz issued an executive order directing weapons screening last month based on the recommendations of an independent security assessment commissioned by state leaders in the wake of last summer’s violence against Minnesota lawmakers.

Minnesota was among a minority of states without security measures like x-ray scanners or metal detectors at its entrances. The June 2025 assassination of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and the shootings of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, pushed the state to implement a long-debated security boost.

In July, a nude intruder broke into the Capitol and was discovered sitting in the Senate president’s chair by security officers — after state public safety leaders told news media that they had already boosted security measures. In response public safety leaders reduced the number of unlocked doors, installed new door alarms and boosted security presence at remaining open doors.

The state Capitol was wired to support metal detectors during major renovations completed in 2017, but the new capabilities sat unused for nearly a decade. Now, four entrances have both metal detectors and x-ray scanners. All visitors and staff will have to pass through screening, though state lawmakers, statewide elected officials, members of the state Supreme Court are exempt.

“No single measure eliminates all risk, but this one meaningfully reduces preventable risks and violence in a shared civic space where the public, elected officials and staff gather on a regular basis,” said Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson at a Friday news conference.

Security checkpoints

The primary entrance for visitors is on the ground level under the south steps of the state Capitol, according to the Minnesota State Patrol. The other three security checkpoints are at tunnels connecting the Capitol to the Minnesota Senate Building, Minnesota Judicial Center and State Office Building.

Public safety officials did not have an exact estimate of how much the measures will cost the state, though the machinery at the four checkpoints cost around $200,000, a State Patrol spokesperson said. The state also had to bring additional officers to the Capitol, which will add to costs. Security expenses will be covered by the State Patrol’s budget, according to public safety officials.

The Capitol will remain accessible to the public between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. Security will offer expanded hours during extended floor debates during the legislative session, which sometimes extend late into the evening or early morning.

Not a ‘weapons ban’

Col. Christina Bogojevic, chief of the Minnesota State Patrol, said the new weapons screening policy is not a “weapons ban” and does not change existing state law. It doesn’t change the rules on items allowed in the Capitol, but gives security more control over what makes it into the building, she said.

“In the past, we wouldn’t know if someone was carrying an illegal or a prohibited item if they hid it under a jacket,” Bogojevic said. “We wouldn’t know that unless it was used, and so again, this is a layer of security to allow us to see those prohibited items before they make it into the Capitol.”

The state Senate also is boosting security.

Starting on Feb. 17, the Senate will require members of the public to pass through a full-body scanner before entering the Senate Gallery, the observation area above the floor where members gather to vote. It’s also banning members of the public from carrying firearms in the Senate Gallery.

The 2026 Minnesota Legislature starts on Tuesday.

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By FARNOUSH AMIRI, EDITH M. LEDERER and MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Trump administration is urging other nations to press a tiny Pacific island country to withdraw a United Nations draft resolution supporting strong action to prevent climate change, including reparations for damage caused by any nation that fails to take action.

In guidance issued this week to all U.S. embassies and consulates abroad, the State Department said it “strongly objects” to the proposal being discussed by the U.N. General Assembly and that its adoption “could pose a major threat to U.S. industry.”

“President Trump has delivered a very clear message: that the U.N. and many nations of the world have gone wildly off track, exaggerating climate change into the world’s greatest threat,” according to the cable sent Tuesday and obtained by The Associated Press.

It is the latest move by the Trump administration to distance the U.S. from climate change efforts at home and around the world. A day ago, the government revoked a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. last month also announced plans to withdraw from the U.N. treaty that establishes international climate negotiations.

The draft resolution sponsored by Vanuatu, which like many island nations fears for its survival because of climate change, is being circulated among the 193-member General Assembly and stems from a landmark advisory opinion by the U.N.’s top court last July.

The International Court of Justice said countries could be in violation of international law if they fail to take measures to protect the planet from climate change, and nations harmed by its effects could be entitled to reparations.

All U.N. member states, including major greenhouse gas emitters like the U.S. and China, are parties to the court. The opinion is not legally binding but was hailed as a turning point in international climate law.

The draft resolution expresses determination to translate the ICJ’s findings in to “concrete multinational action” and calls on all nations and regional organizations to comply with their obligations under international law related to climate change.

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The proposal says that includes adopting a national climate action plan to limit global temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius; phasing out subsidies for fossil fuel exploration, production and exploitation; and urging those in violation to “provide full and prompt reparation for damage.” It would establish an International Register of Damage to record evidence and claims.

Vanuatu’s U.N. Ambassador Odo Tevi, who said his island country wants a vote on the resolution by the end of March, has stressed that it would ensure that the clarity in the ICJ ruling “strengthens global climate action and multilateral cooperation.”

Louis Charbonneau, U.N. director of Human Rights Watch, urged support for the draft resolution Friday and said “governments should live up to their obligation” to protect human rights around the world by protecting the environment.

“Responsible governments shouldn’t allow themselves to be bullied by those that reject the global scientific consensus and continue to support reliance on harmful fossil fuels,” he said.

While General Assembly resolutions also are not legally binding, the ICJ said taking action to deal with the climate crisis is an international obligation.

“The resolution attempts to turn the ICJ’s interpretation of key legal standards into a practical roadmap for state accountability, which is likely to trigger political pushback from higher income high emitting countries wary of their historical responsibility and financial liability,” Candy Ofime, climate justice researcher and legal adviser at Amnesty International, said in a statement Friday.

The State Department cable outlined plans to tell other countries to urge Vanuatu to withdraw its draft — which the U.S. says is “even more problematic” than the court opinion — from consideration by Friday, when informal consultations began.

It asserted that other Group of 7 economic powers as well as China, Saudi Arabia and Russia have all indicated to the U.S. Mission to the U.N. that they share Americans’ concerns with “aspects” of the draft.

“This UNGA resolution is another example of U.N. overreach, part of a broader pattern of trying to use speculative climate models to fabricate purported legal obligations that seek to assign blame and encourage baseless claims, and to infer human rights obligations to which states have not agreed,” according to the cable, which tells U.S. diplomats to use it as a talking point with representatives of other countries.

Many mainstream scientists have continuously warned that climate change is behind increasing instances of deadly and costly extreme weather, including flooding, droughts, wildfires, intense rainfall events and dangerous heat.

Amiri reported from New York, and Lee from Munich, Germany.

By Miriam Fauzia, The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS — While Valentine’s Day is a time to celebrate love, for the 250 million roses and other floral bouquets produced for the holiday, it means a slow death.

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That countdown is driven in part by ethylene, a natural plant hormone that speeds up aging in cut flowers. Researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington are testing new ways to blunt ethylene’s effects, with the goal of helping bouquets and fresh produce last longer. Here’s what to know.

What is ethylene?

Plants produce ethylene — an odorless, colorless gas — as they age, when damaged and in response to shifts in temperature, sunlight and other environmental stressors.

“Ethylene plays a vital role in nature, from fruit ripening to leaf drop to seed germination,” Rasika Dias, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UT Arlington leading the research, said in a news release. “For instance, fruits such as bananas, avocados and pears ripen because of ethylene. This ripening process transforms starch into sugars, which explains why ripe fruit tastes sweet.”

Because ethylene can drift through the air, it can affect nearby plants, which is why a ripe banana can speed the ripening of other fruit. Depending on how much ethylene is circulating, the gas can visibly age a plant, triggering the yellowing and dropping of leaves, and shortening how long a bouquet can last, according to the American Floral Endowment.

Shipping and storage can amplify those aging effects. Stress and mechanical damage can spur plants to release more ethylene, hastening deterioration unless growers and distributors intervene with anti-ethylene treatments.

Switching off ethylene

To slow ethylene’s effects, floral and produce industries often use 1-methylcyclopropene, or 1-MCP, a chemical discovered in the mid-1990s. It works like an ethylene decoy, attaching to the same places in plant cells that ethylene normally would. But unlike the gas, 1-MCP doesn’t trigger ripening or aging. Instead, it blocks ethylene’s signal from getting through, slowing a plant’s wilting or a fruit’s ripening.

But using 1-MCP has drawbacks. The chemical is highly reactive, can be tricky to handle and typically must be applied in sealed or enclosed spaces to work effectively, according to the American Floral Endowment. And because its effects can last for an extended period, 1-MCP may prevent some fruits from ripening.

With support from the American Floral Endowment and the United States Department of Agriculture, Dias and his lab at UT Arlington are testing alternatives to 1-MCP that aren’t volatile. Some of the most promising candidates include compounds built around metals such as copper. To see whether they slow the wilting process, the researchers take about 30 freshly cut flowers and divide them into three groups: untreated, treated with existing commercial products and treated with the new compounds.

“You monitor how long each group lasts — how fast petals drop, how quickly they wilt,” Dias said in the news release. “If the treated flowers last significantly longer than the untreated ones, that compound shows promise.”

In addition to helping with flowers, Dias hopes the research will reduce food waste. In 2019, 66.2 million tons of wasted food were generated in the food retail, food service and residential sectors, with about 60% ending up in landfills; another 40.1 million tons came from food and beverage manufacturing and processing, according to a 2019 report by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“Fruits and vegetables are thrown away when they over-ripen — bananas turn brown, tomatoes become too soft and people won’t buy them,” Dias said. “This is a major issue during shipping, since most food travels long distances. Without treatment, much of it deteriorates before reaching stores. That’s a huge economic and food-security problem.”

Miriam Fauzia is a science reporting fellow at The Dallas Morning News. Her fellowship is supported by the University of Texas at Dallas. The News makes all editorial decisions.

©2026 The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.