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Arkansas’ Goodwill leader shares business model goals - Talk Business & Politics

The CEO of Goodwill Industries of Arkansas Brian Marsh knows his nonprofit is practically a household name, but he’s hoping its work can change household incomes. Marsh sat down with...

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Mar 24 • 3:00 PM EDT • Business • talkbusiness.net
Funding Uncertainty Has Consequences

We're asking the U.S. government to release holds on Congressionally-appropriated funding for scientific research, education, and critical activities at the earliest possible time.

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Mar 24 • 2:25 PM EDT • Science • fas.org
Marathon has sold 1.2M copies across Steam, PS5, and Xbox

Alinea Analytics estimates show that Marathon has generated gross revenues of $55M via 1.2M copies sold on Steam, PS5, and Xbox: Looking at the split between Steam, PS5, and Xbox, Steam is clearly the main platform for Marathon, accounting for a little under 70% of the audience (800K copies sold). Meanwhile, PS5 takes about 19% (217K) and Xbox (including console, PC, and cloud) accounts for a bit over 11% or 133K. Marathon is technically a first-party Sony title, so seeing the home console struggle to break 20% of the volume is a notable data point for the ongoing platform-agnostic debate. PlayStation Studios online games will almost certainly continue being multiplatform (despite Sony reportedly pulling back on PC releases). Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe As for Marathon, the consensus among hardcore players who pushed through the awkward onboarding phase – myself included – is that it’s fantastic. The gunplay, aesthetic, and presentation are among the best in the shooter genre. A great game doesn’t always equal an immediate hit, though, as shown by our estimates. Things are looking lukewarm right now. But this might be one of those marathon-not-a-sprint situations. Had to, didn’t I? Why wasn’t Marathon a hit on the same level as Arc Raiders? One topic that came up in a lot of conversations at GDC this year was why Marathon hasn’t hit the same stratosphere as Arc Raiders. On paper, they’re both extraction shooters, and Marathon has the Bungie pedigree – the house that built the gold standard for gunplay in Halo and Destiny. Marathon’s neon-futuristic aesthetic also distinguishes itself from the gritty realism of Tarkov or the post-apocalyptic hope of ARC Raiders. But vibes can only get you so far for first impressions if the onboarding feels like a brick wall. Marathon is a sweaty PvP-focused experience with a first-time user experience and UI that I can only describe as dreadful. Players are dropped into a complex ecosystem where the UI, though visually striking, is functionally uninformative, forcing users to manually hover over nondescript, identical icons just to identify basic gear or weapon mods. This lack of clarity is compounded by punishing mechanics like a severe heat gauge for movement and a scarcity of vital resources, all without a clear tutorial or a low-stakes mode to learn the ropes. Most people – even top streamers and veteran shooter players – have no idea what’s going on in Marathon at first. Arc is on the complete other end of the spectrum. As we covered here and here, Arc Raiders offers a more collaborative, approachable loop where players often work together toward shared goals. And the objectives are instantly clear. To many players, this contrast only emphasised Marathon’s issues, especially during the testing period. Players understand the Arc Raiders loop within 30 minutes, while Marathon acts as a massive filter, chewing up newcomers and spitting them out before they can experience the depth of Bungie’s signature gunplay. What I’m getting at here is that the poor first-time user experience of Marathon’s Server Slam likely stifled launch sales, while the opposite was true for Arc. Let’s look at the pre-launch copies sold for each game during their respective Server Slams (launch-aligned) : Looking at the trajectory: Arc Raiders saw a massive 80% jump in copies sold during its three-day Server Slam (day -13 to -11). Players jumped in, realised the water was fine, and immediately opened their wallets. Marathon, meanwhile, saw a 49% increase in the four days following its Slam (Day -7 to -3). At the time of each game’s respective launch, Arc Raiders had nearly double the Steam footprint of Marathon – and word of mouth only continued to grow. Bungie could have had more time to fix the onboarding process had the beta happened earlier. But Marathon launched three days after the beta finished. These factors limited the launch sales quite a bit, I reckon. Marathon has found a niche audience, though Despite the friction-heavy start, the data suggests that those who survived Marathon’s onboarding are loving life. We’ve been tracking cross-platform DAUs, and while there’s the expected post-launch leakage, many players are sticking with it. After peaking at 478K total DAUs on its first Saturday, Marathon has settled into a respectable rhythm, holding 345K DAUs as of yesterday and averaging 380K DAUs across the weekend. Steam continues to do the heavy lifting here, consistently accounting for the lion’s share of the daily players. Players have been putting in the hours, too: On Steam, Marathon’s average playtime has climbed to 27.8 hours, significantly outpacing the console averages on PS5 (16.5h) and Xbox (17.3h). Even more telling than the averages: 22% of the Steam audience has surged past the 50-hour mark, and nearly 7% have already logged over 100 hours. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe This data suggests that once the Bungie magic clicks, it hooks players deeper than the average extraction shooter. There’s also started to be a shift in the game’s discourse. Marathon launched as one of those games that’s cool to hate. But as Marathon’s 100-hour club grows, we’re seeing conversations around its mechanical merit outweigh the negativity. Several high-profile creators, who were initially vocal critics, have spent the last week coming around on the mechanical depth of the endgame. It’s a subtle but positive signal; the hate train is losing steam, and a new narrative about the game is emerging. Bungie faithfuls unite Another interesting metric in Marathon’s first few weeks is who, exactly, is playing. Bungie leans heavily on its prestige as the “makers of Halo and Destiny,” in its marketing, and that message has clearly hit the mark. On Steam, the gravity (hammer) of Bungie’s previous work is unavoidable. A staggering 78.2% of Marathon players also played Destiny 2. The trend carries across other platforms, with 74.2% of PS5 players and 82.7% of Xbox players also having played Destiny 2. The Halo legacy lives on, it seems. More on that in a bit. While Destiny 2 went free to play, these numbers still represent a high-intent migration of a fanbase that trusts Bungie’s specific brand of kinetic gunplay and cryptic world-building. The Xbox data adds another layer of legacy. About 85.7% of Marathon players on Xbox have played Halo Infinite, while over half of the Steam audience has spent time in Halo Infinite and 36.1% in the Master Chief Collection (a paid collection of the old Bungie-made legacy games). Interestingly, we see a 55.9% overlap with ARC Raiders on Steam. Overlap is even higher there on PlayStation (60.5%) and Xbox (66.5%). And there’s also significant crossover with Helldivers 2 on all platforms, too. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe Bungie has found some of its fans with Marathon, and the challenge now is keeping this engaged in a high-stakes PvP environment when they’ve spent the last decade primarily enjoying the power fantasies of PvE. On that note… Go the full 26 miles? Or cut and run? Time for some could’ve, should’ve, would’ve. These things would have improved Marathon’s performance at launch: A more robust onboarding process, perhaps in the form of a short single-player/PvE campaign. We know Bungie fans love this stuff. A traditional arena-based mode akin to Destiny’s Crucible could have been a bridge for the cautious players who’d have been otherwise deterred by the Server Slam. It’s also a great palate cleanser after getting merked. Introducing a dedicated PvE environment would have similarly diversified the conversation and lowered the barrier for the Bungie faithful who found the pure PvP extraction loop too abrasive. PvE is safer than PvP these days. There’s an argument that a thin PvE mode would have just felt like a budget Destiny, potentially hurting the brand more. But given how dire the FTUE is, I think it would have been a net positive. Any kind of tutorialised loop that demystifies the stakes, really. While there is merit in a studio sticking firmly to a singular creative vision, and going all in on the hardcore extraction loop. Less forgiving is the technical reality is that the user interface and first-time user experience (FTUE) were not at a commercial standard for launch. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe In a landscape where player time is oversaturated and the most contested currency, a flawed FTUE is a critical failure point. But it’s not all doom and gloom, as Marathon has an incredible, unique gameplay loop, suggesting that financial success is still attainable if Bungie can pivot effectively. Bungie and PlayStation now face a difficult strategic crossroads, though – one within a challenging games market. They could: Double down on Marathon with a long-term Rainbow Six Siege- or No Man’s Sky-style recovery plan, which is something I heard Last Stand Media’s Chris Maldonado mention last week. While this could be a sunk-cost fallacy in action, it could eventually yield the audience the game’s mechanical depth deserves. Shift focus toward the inevitable Destiny 3 or another project, mitigating the escalating opportunity cost and cutting their losses, so to speak. Doing both is an expensive proposition, given the high overhead and burn rate of operating out of Bellevue, Washington. With Sony recently demonstrating a lower threshold for underperforming studios and projects, the margin for error has vanished. Whatever happens, the next six months will determine whether Marathon becomes a cornerstone of Sony’s live-service portfolio or a cautionary tale of vision exceeding accessibility. I’m hoping it’s the former, because Marathon rocks. As always, hit subscribe to get updates on Marathon and other relevant games. Subscribe Want to get your hands on our data for yourself – for free? We’re offering a free trial of our platform for games companies. Send us a message here, or reply to this email, and we’ll set you up. The last word Reply to this email – or reach out here – if you have any feedback for the newsletter – or want to request a game for us to cover. [Alinea Analytics boasts the most accurate PC and console estimates in the business. Game makers use our platform to understand their audience, keep an eye on the competition, monitor sales trends, and spot new opportunities. We equip game studios and financial institutions with accurate data and the confidence to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Want to talk about all things games market data? We’d love to chat!]

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Mar 24 • 2:06 PM EDT • Technology • alineaanalytics.substack.com
Trump and Republican National Committee Lean Toward Dallas for Unusual 2026 GOP Midterm Convention

Parties normally hold conventions every four years to nominate presidential candidates, but Republicans hope to hold one this year in the face of midterm headwinds.

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Mar 24 • 1:50 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com
Jennifer Lopez Gets Down to Business in a Pencil Skirt

Whether or not you’re personally on board with the look, Jennifer Lopez will always be a ride-or-die pencil skirt fan.

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Mar 24 • 1:47 PM EDT • Business • vogue.com
Georgia: Opposition politician Elene Khoshtaria given politically motivated prison sentence for graffiti

In Elene Khoshtaria’s case, the severity of the punishment appears related not to material damage, but to her political opinions and the symbolic damage she has inflicted on the ruling party

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Mar 24 • 1:16 PM EDT • Politics • amnesty.org
Winners of Science Playwriting Competition Showcased April 15 at Simons Center

The Stony Brook University Science Playwriting Competition brings the sciences and humanities closer together, providing an outlet for scientists and playwrights to venture beyond their normal modes of thinking, spark their imaginations and create new experiences. Rooted in artistic expression, the best science plays can be exceptional works of art that convey scientific concepts aesthetically, potentially

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Mar 24 • 1:14 PM EDT • Science • news.stonybrook.edu
Pop-up bar dedicated to women's sports now open in Boston

261 at Para Maria is named for the bib number worn by the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon.

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Mar 24 • 1:06 PM EDT • Sports • boston.com
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'We Will Do It' — Marvel Rivals Dev Confirms Nintendo Switch 2 Version in the Works

Marvel Rivals is officially coming to the Nintendo Switch 2, according to its developers in an interview with IGN. We just don't know when.

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Mar 24 • 12:51 PM EDT • Technology • ign.com
The OnePlus 15T is officially here with a crazy amount of power squeezed into a compact body

By "here", of course, we mean China, and by "crazy amount of power", we mean a Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 SoC and 7,500mAh battery.

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Mar 24 • 12:32 PM EDT • Technology • phonearena.com
A $25 minimum wage in D.C. could shift business to N. Va., restaurant association says

A $25 minimum wage proposal in D.C. could push some restaurant workers into Northern Virginia in the short term and, in the long term, potentially drive businesses to relocate as well, the head of the region's restaurant association says. The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington -- an outspoken opponent of D.C.'s Initiative 82, which sought to phase

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Mar 24 • 11:45 AM EDT • Business • arlnow.com
The Economist launches new Economist Enterprise business unit

The move combines business-to-business teams and units that currently service more than 2,700 organizations globally.

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Mar 24 • 11:08 AM EDT • Business • axios.com
High-Signal Publisher
Scientists Must Speak Clearly, Especially in Court: Five Tips for Clear Communication

As climate impacts intensify, so does the legal push to hold polluters accountable, protect vulnerable communities, and enforce environmental laws. And in these legal cases, science is key. Because science can’t present itself on the stand, scientists are essential to give scientific results a voice

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Mar 24 • 9:00 AM EDT • Science • blog.ucs.org
Who Is The American Small Business Now? Banks May Not Know

Fintech made it easier than ever to start a business. Now data reveals why verifying who actually did is the sector's next unsolved problem.

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Mar 24 • 8:30 AM EDT • Business • forbes.com
Pacers Sports & Entertainment launches retail media network

Pacers Sports & Entertainment has unveiled a novel retail media network --the kind normally reserved for an Amazon, Costco or PetSmart -- which widens its marketing footprint across the globe’s top 500 digital publishers through the data spine of Deloitte and the AI ad tech of Yieldmo.

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Mar 24 • 8:07 AM EDT • Entertainment • sportsbusinessjournal.com
Highly and casually active citizen scientists contribute equally valuable data

A new study shows that contributions from both highly and casually active citizen scientists can be equally valuable and — in some cases — even complement each other.

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Mar 24 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • eurekalert.org
Registration opens for hands-on ocean science program for teachers this summer

Registration has officially opened for BLOOM Educators, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences' professional development program offering hands-on training for middle and high school teachers.

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Mar 24 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • penbaypilot.com
UCLA Health podcast shines a light on colorectal cancer prevention, early detection and rising risks

UCLA Health's podcast episode on colorectal cancer, featuring Dr. Eve Glazier, Katie Couric and Dr. Fola May, highlights the critical need for prevention and early detection amid rising risks, particularly among younger adults. The discussion focuses on cancer screening, lifestyle modifications and advocacy to reduce the incidence of this disease.

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Mar 24 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • uclahealth.org
Mad Mercs are back: AMG confirms Black Series GT is officially coming

And it’ll be a homologation car for the next-gen GT3 car

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Mar 24 • 7:14 AM EDT • Technology • topgear.com
Why is AirDrop support disabled by default on Samsung Galaxy?

Samsung will officially start rolling out AirDrop support over Quick Share on Galaxy S26 devices throughout this week but, personally,...

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Mar 24 • 7:00 AM EDT • Technology • 9to5google.com
ICE officers at airports a ‘test run’ for midterms, Steve Bannon suggests

Former White House strategist says current situation at airports will help ‘really perfect ICE’s involvement in the 2026 midterm elections’

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Mar 24 • 6:34 AM EDT • Politics • theguardian.com
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‘Corpus Christi’ returns to the Bartell, years after protests

StageQ, Madison’s LGBTQ community theater, stages Terrence McNally’s controversial retelling of Jesus’ life and crucifixion through Easter weekend.

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Mar 24 • 6:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • captimes.com
Opinion | Nothing against California-based Sutter Health, but Allina’s local governance matters

Allina is built on a "model of care that puts patients and families at the center of everything. That is not something that transfers automatically with a transaction. It has to be protected deliberately, by people who understand what it is and why it matters," the writer says.

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Mar 24 • 5:59 AM EDT • Health • startribune.com
Play the Tiny Takeover drop

Tiny Takeover has officially stormed Minecraft! New versions of baby mobs are causing cuteness overload across biomes and builds. Pack your golden dandelions, craft name tags, and get ready to collect, cuddle, and coo over our new tiny rascals.

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Mar 24 • 5:50 AM EDT • Technology • minecraft.net
Josh Shapiro endorses James Malone in key Lancaster County Senate race

Gov. Josh Shapiro has officially endorsed James Malone’s bid for reelection in the Lancaster County state Senate district that both parties say could determine party control next year.

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Mar 24 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • lancasteronline.com
2026 ‘Dirty Dozen’ produce: Nearly 100% tested positive for pesticides, including ‘forever chemicals’

The 2026 “Dirty Dozen” list of most contaminated produce has a worrisome finding. Many of the most common pesticides are also potentially toxic “forever chemicals.”

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Mar 24 • 12:01 AM EDT • Health • cnn.com
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We disagreed on politics. We agreed on wine. That was enough.

At the Virginia Governor’s Cup Gala in Richmond earlier this month, a very dapper gentleman approached me and introduced himself. In his light-colored suit and bowtie, he looked very Southern in a classical sense, the sort of Virginia Gentleman you used to see south of the Rappahannock as recently as my college days. “I’m a longtime reader and fan of your writing, if not your politics,” he said. His comment was the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove, simultaneously conveying praise and disapproval while establishing boundaries. Man, I wish we still discoursed like this instead of shouting bromides and insults to try and “own” our opponents with a funny meme and a furrowed brow. Subscribe “Well, we’ll always have wine to share together,” I said, and thanked him for his kind words. We clinked glasses, exchanged pleasantries about the delicious gold medal-winning wines being poured that evening, and went our separate ways. Our exchange reminded me that more unites us than divides us. Wine brings people together to share a meal and a few hours of joy despite our differences.1 That’s why I refer to the wine community — including readers and consumers — rather than the wine industry. Together, we are so much more than production, distribution and sales statistics. A few minutes later the evening’s awards ceremony began. Applause grew as the 12 winemakers who made the top-scoring wines for the Governor’s Case took the stage, including a loud cheer for Jonathan Wheeler of Trump Winery and his 2018 Blanc de Noir sparkling wine. All the winemakers on stage had reason to be proud, Wheeler perhaps more so. Trump Winery was the only winery to win six gold medals in the competition this year. (Wineries are limited to six entries.) Two of Wheeler’s ciders also won gold medals in a separate competition. When you cover the labels and take the sour taste of politics off your palate, the wines are pretty darn good.2 Then Gov. Abigail Spanberger, newly elected Democrat and Virginia’s first female governor, was introduced to great applause to announce which of the 12 wines had won the Governor’s Cup. She spoke for a few minutes about the importance of wine to Virginia’s economy and tourism and the international acclaim Virginia wine has received. Just two weeks earlier, she gave the Democrats’ response to Trump’s State of the Union speech, but this night wasn’t about politics. That didn’t stop several people in the crowd from speculating on the irony should she have to present the trophy to Trump Winery. In the end, Valley Road Vineyards was displayed on the screen behind Spanberger as the winning winery. Blue Bee Cidery in Richmond took top honors for that category. The crowd cheered a female governor presenting the state’s highest trophy to a female winemaker and then resumed the evening’s festivities, united by their mutual love of wine. A whiff of politics couldn’t dim the cheer of celebration and a community united by its love of wine. In Memoriam: Michel Rolland The global wine community lost a giant March 20, with the passing of Michel Rolland. He was 78. Rolland was the original “flying winemaker,” a globe-trotting consultant who helped Bordeaux regain its mojo in the 1970s and then shaped the rise of Napa Valley cult Cabernet as consultant to Simi, Harlan, Newton, Screaming Eagle, Araujo, Dalle Valle and other wineries. He was instrumental in Argentina’s rise to prominence and even had his own winery, Clos de los Siete, in a partnership with other wine families. Rolland’s career arc paralleled that of Robert Parker, the world’s most influential critic. Parker championed many of the wines Rolland consulted on, helping build his reputation and demand for his services. It also made him a target for Parker’s critics. As W. Blake Gray wrote on Wine-Searcher in his excellent tribute to Rolland: Rolland created the type of wines Parker loved: rich body, plenty of fruit, soft tannins. He sometimes faced the accusation of creating a generic international style of red wine, where the great wines he made in Argentina were indistinguishable from the great wines he made in France. Rolland chafed at that critique, as did many of his fans. He was credited with championing green harvesting and leaf pulling, as well as careful selection of grapes in the winery, practices we nearly universally think of today for high-quality winemaking. “Michel was an incredible innovator who changed how wine was made and how grapes were grown,” Napa Valley winemaker Aaron Pott wrote on Facebook. “His work has transformed the wine trade. He created new ways of looking at wine, tasting wine, evaluating ripeness and quality. … This was not just a man with a ‘style’ that he imposed on vineyards but a man that understood how to make great wine from great sites.” Rolland started his consulting company in 1973 in Libourne, in Bordeaux, with his wife, Dany. Both had graduated the year before from Bordeaux’s Institute d’Oenologie. The couple sold their majority share in the business in 2020, according to Wine Spectator. Over his career, Rolland reportedly worked with more than 100 wineries in 20 countries. He even made it to Virginia, where he consulted for Kluge Estate in the mid-2000s. (Kluge Estate is now Trump Winery.) Reader feedback, please! Last week, I did my first WineLine Live! with Dr. Laura Catena of Catena Zapata winery in Argentina. We enjoyed a fascinating discussion about her efforts to preserve the genetic heritage of old vineyards in Mendoza. I conceived of WineLine Live! for paid subscribers, as a thank you for your financial support. And while only a few people joined live, the video now has more views than I have paid subscribers, so I guess that’s pretty good. Even so, I’m considering opening future installments to anyone on Substack to reach a broader audience. So my questions to you: Should these be public? And what format do you prefer? Live gives a chat feature with the potential for viewers to interact with me and the guest, while a video post would just be that. Another alternative is a podcast, which would just be audio, without video of my chins. Please let me know in the comments. Leave a comment In the Glass A few wines I’ve enjoyed recently: Bonny Doon Vineyard Take Me to Your Liter, Le Cigare Volant, Red Wine of the Earth. 2023, Central Coast, CA. Blend of Grenache, Syrah Cinsaut and Petite Sirah. Delightful wine with expressive red fruit flavors, casual drinking. Doon lovers of a certain age will remember Randall Grahm’s Big House Red; this is more in that style than his original Le Cigare Volant, modeled after Chateauneuf du Pape. The liter bottle makes it an even better value. I see this online at about $15. Great value. Albert Bichot Bourgogne Pinot Noir Origines 2023. 13% - Textbook pinot noir and an excellent, affordable entry (regional) Burgundy. Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Wines of 2025. $24 at Total Wine & More. Loma Larga Pinot Noir 2021 “Coastal Cool Climate Wine”, Valle de Casablanca, Chile. An older sample, showing beautifully. Spicy and fruit forward. I’m seeing widely varied pricing online, from $18-$32. At the lower end, it’s a terrific value. 13.5% Dr. Loosen Riesling Dry 2016, Mosel, Germany. Found this “in the stack.” And it stacked up well, shedding some of its youthful acidity for opulent Riesling character, including a hint of the mineral oil older Riesling often features. A great value, as I’m seeing it as low as $14 online. 12% abv. Red Tail Ridge Blau Franc Blend 2024, Sans Oak, Finger Lakes. 13.4% abv. The name is a neat portmanteau of Blaufrankisch and Cabernet Franc, thus Blau Franc. The blend is 50-50, no oak involved. The Blau dominates on the palate, with the spicy caraway seed (think New York deli rye bread). The Franc adds body. The result is juicy, energetic and joyful. Sokol Blosser Estate Rosé of Pinot Noir 2025, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon. This first rosé of 2025 was a welcome respite to our cold, snowy winter here in the Mid-Atlantic. Oh man, I needed this! Bright and energetic, exuberant even, it perks up the mood and goes down fast. 13%. Certified B Corp. Ingredient and nutrition labeling, and in a modest way that doesn’t occupy a lot of label space. (Since it’s not required, presumably there are no minimum font size requirements.) More wineries should follow this example. Dave McIntyre's WineLine is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Thanks for reading Dave McIntyre's WineLine! This post is public so feel free to share it. Share 1 Some restraint may be required. 2 Especially the bubblies.

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Mar 23 • 10:54 PM EDT • Politics • dmwineline.substack.com
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Gigantic 'Heat Dome' Baking The Whole US May Be Historic, Scientists Say

"The entire US is going to be hot... that's really bizarre.”

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Mar 23 • 8:03 PM EDT • Science • sciencealert.com
Scientists say NAD+ could slow aging and fight Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s

A global team of leading scientists is zeroing in on a tiny but powerful molecule that could reshape how we age. Known as NAD⁺, it plays a crucial role in keeping our cells energized, repairing DNA, and maintaining overall health—but its levels steadily decline over time, potentially fueling diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Researchers are now exploring ways to boost NAD⁺ using compounds like NR and NMN, with early studies hinting at improvements in memory, metabolism, and physical function.

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Mar 23 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
Scientists found a rhino in the Arctic and it changes everything

Scientists have uncovered a new species of rhinoceros in the Canadian High Arctic, revealing that rhinos once lived far farther north than expected. The fossil, dating back 23 million years, is unusually complete and has helped reshape ideas about how these animals migrated between continents. Evidence suggests rhinos crossed from Europe to North America more recently than scientists once thought.

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Mar 23 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
Supercomputers just solved a 50-year-old mystery about giant stars

Astronomers have finally cracked a decades-old mystery about red giant stars—how material from their deep interiors makes its way to the surface. Using cutting-edge supercomputer simulations, researchers discovered that stellar rotation plays a powerful role in mixing elements across a previously unexplained barrier inside the star.

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Mar 23 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
Cypress business owner charged with felony water pollution, authorities say

Detectives said the Cypress company, which power washes dump-truck engines, was dumping contaminated wastewater into a drainage ditch that eventually leads all the way to the Gulf.

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Mar 23 • 7:47 PM EDT • Business • abc13.com
SP40 Restomod Is Built Around The One Ford That Edsel Actually Got Right

Carbon-bodied SP40 brings the style of Edsel Ford’s one-off speedster to a wider audience

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Mar 23 • 5:22 PM EDT • Technology • carscoops.com
'Sled head': Lawsuits against USA Bobsled/Skeleton allege brain injury

Three personal injury lawsuits have been filed on behalf of elite bobsledders who claim officials intentionally concealed evidence that the sport causes brain injuries.

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Mar 23 • 4:31 PM EDT • Sports • latimes.com
Chemistry student develops clear polish that turns your fingernail into a touch-screen stylus

Researchers have developed a prototype nail polish to help more people access electrically-charged touch screens.

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Mar 23 • 4:25 PM EDT • Technology • livescience.com
NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi | North Central Bronx Brings Novel Minimally Invasive Vascular Surgery Procedures to the Bronx - NYC Health + Hospitals

NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi | North Central Bronx today announced it has begun offering two types of minimally invasive surgical procedures that were

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Mar 23 • 1:58 PM EDT • Health • nychealthandhospitals.org
Saturn Gets 11 New Moons, Bringing Its Total To A Whopping 285 –66 Percent Of All The Solar System's Moons

There's actually a rule which stops these moons from being given proper names. Don't give them the attention.

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Mar 23 • 11:48 AM EDT • Science • iflscience.com
Susquehanna business school ranks No. 3 nationally for academic experience in debut on Poets&Quants

Stay up to date with the latest news, stories, and achievements from the Susquehanna University community.

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Mar 23 • 11:29 AM EDT • Business • susqu.edu
This Web Tool Sabotages AI Chatbots By Making Them Really, Really Slow

Artist Sam Lavigne created ‘Slow LLM’ to make people question their dependence on tools like Claude and ChatGPT. Or at least, make them super annoying to use.

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Mar 23 • 11:20 AM EDT • Technology • 404media.co
Microsoft Realizes It’s Epically Screwed Up Windows 11 as Users Rage at Copilot AI Crammed Everywhere

Windows VP Pavan Davuluri effectively admitted outright that the company went too far to shove AI down users' throats at all costs.

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Mar 23 • 10:45 AM EDT • Technology • futurism.com
Finishing a video game can trigger “post-game depression,” study finds

Post-game depression is now being studied as a measurable phenomenon, with researchers identifying how finishing a video game can leave players feeling empty, reflective, and emotionally drained.

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Mar 23 • 10:38 AM EDT • Technology • dexerto.com
Microsoft announces Xbox Partner Preview for this week, with Ryu Ga Gotoku's Stranger Than Heaven finally making a showing

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Mar 23 • 10:17 AM EDT • Technology • eurogamer.net
Apple Reportedly Preparing 'Biggest Set of iPhone Revamps' Ever

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New ‘Crimson Desert’ Patch Fixes Storage, Combat, Controls, Bosses, Fast Travel

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Mar 23 • 9:11 AM EDT • Technology • forbes.com
UNH Paul College Top Public Business School in New England for Academic Experience and Career Outcomes

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Mar 23 • 8:00 AM EDT • Business • unh.edu
Data Is at the Heart of What Public Health Does

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Mar 23 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • pew.org
As President Trump’s Attacks on Science Escalate, Big Oil Moves to Avoid Legal Accountability

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Mar 23 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • blog.ucs.org
The problem with Trump promoting "gold standard science"

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Mar 23 • 5:44 AM EDT • Politics • ny1.com
Leeds 0-0 Brentford

Paul: Leeds played as if they are frightened of losing rather than trying to win. Chris: Good point in the end - they are a good side pushing for a European place and have good players. Hopefully in the final run-in we will see more of Daniel James, Wilfried Gnonto and Noah Okafor, especially in the home games, to create more goals and keep us in the Premier League.

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Mar 23 • 4:22 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
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Mar 23 • 3:53 AM EDT • Sports • motor1.com
Kathy Ireland Accuses Business Managers of Looting Her Fortune

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Mar 23 • 3:01 AM EDT • Business • independent.com
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Mum on his own replacement, Bennet disrespects voters

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Power Play Primed – Hurricanes 5, Penguins 1

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Executive Council seeks greater role in half-billion-dollar rural health initiative

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Mar 22 • 11:26 PM EDT • Health • wmur.com
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California Politics 360 Full Episode | Sexual abuse allegations against César Chávez

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Mar 22 • 11:25 PM EDT • Politics • kcra.com
Two new features are officially announced today for the Google Messages app

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Joe Kent says he wants Donald Trump to hear MAGA opposition to Iran war

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Samsung rolling out AirDrop over Quick Share on Galaxy S26, more devices coming

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Apple already has the perfect platform for deploying conversational AI

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Your Thymus and Your Healthspan

Our thymus gland plays a central role in the development or our immune system, specifically for supporting T cell development (how these cells got their name, maturation and differentiation in the thymus) and discriminating between self and foreign, non-self antigen proteins with production of dendritic cells. As we age, our thymus gland shrinks—the process known as involution—with progressive change from spongy to fatty tissue, with loss of functionality. But this process, with respect to timeline and extent, markedly varies from one person to the next. And to make things even more complicated, our thymus gland anatomy and precise location in the chest also is highly variable. So the famous Frank Netter diagrams from the 1960s (such as at left below) don’t capture the remarkable heterogeneity that a random set of 12 chest CT scans (below at right). What I consider as 2 landmark papers in Nature this week (here and here) used AI to quantify health of the thymus in 2 large cohorts, and then correlate the metric to a broad array of health outcomes. In this edition of Ground Truths, I’m going to cover three questions: (1) How was thymus health determined by AI?; (2) How is thymus health linked to key clinical outcomes? and (3) Are there ways we can promote a healthy (aka rejuvenate) thymus gland in our later years? Subscribe 1. How was thymus health determined by AI? This was accomplished by extensive work developing and validating an AI pipeline for 2 stages, the first for localization and segmentation of the thymus bed, and the second to quantify a digital marker, termed the thymic health score. There’s a lot to this algorithmic development, so I won’t go into all the details, but just provide a rudimentary outline of what was done. The 1st stage used supervised learning with 2 radiologists reviewing 2,461 chest CT scans. That work trained a 3D U-Net model to automatically identify the thymic bed’s 3D cropped region using center of mass coordinates, which reached 99.8% accuracy. The 2nd stage used a foundation model that was pre-trained with SwAV (which stands for Swapping Assignment between multiple Views), a self-supervised model, that generated a high-dimensional thymus representation of 4,096 features. That compares to the radiology reductionist and subjective scoring of 0 to 3 where 0 means the thymus is fully degenerated and fatty, and 3 is considered dense, intact glandular soft tissue. Notably, the self-supervised learning (SSL) performance was superior to supervised (AUC ~0.75 vs 0.55, respectively) reflecting the shallowness of the 0-3 classifier vs SSL’s holistic, self-taught AI. The thymic health score ranged from 0 to 100, with the highest number indexed to fully preserved thymic health. The algorithmic work extended to explainability with both Shapely value distribution, meaning the model was holistic not relying on any “magic” pixel, and occlusion sensitivity, demonstrating the model’s performance was not affected by ribs, sternum, lung tissue, but rather focused on the thymic bed directly. Below are a few saliency maps from the occlusion sensitivity that indicate the thymic bed focus, not affected by neighboring structures, using the jet color scale. Now the AI was ready for processing ~25,000 CT scans, each over 30 MB files, from the 2 large participant cohorts to provide a thymic health score, it did so in less than 14 hours, which is less than 2 seconds per scan! Share 2. How is thymus health linked to key clinical outcomes? The two cohorts were the National Lung Screening Trial, NLST (N=25,031) and the Framingham Heart Study, FHS (N=2,581) each with baseline demographics and long term follow up of >12 years for health outcomes. From the NSLT, you can see below that increased age and body-mass index were correlated to reduced thymic health. And, overall, men had reduced thymic health scores compared with women. There are a lot of graphs in the paper for outcomes, for both the NLST and FHS cohorts. To simplify the major outcomes, below is a composite Figure with striking reduction of all-cause mortality and for the different causes of death. The results were consistent between the 2 cohorts. For example, the cardiovascular mortality hazard ratio average was 0.57 in NLST and 0.38 in FHS (weighted to be 0.53 for the aggregate). The reduction of mortality also extended to digestive diseases and pulmonary disease (data not shown below). Lung cancer incidence was reduced by 36% for high vs low thymic health (Figure below, with a panel -incidence and b panel-mortality, adjusted for age, sex, BMI, smoking status). Notably, there was a smoker’s paradox: lower incidence and improved survival for lung cancer in smokers who had a high thymus health score. Smoking was associated with lower thymic scores whereas alcohol was not. Higher thymic health was linked to higher HDL cholesterol, lower triglycerides, lower fasting blood glucose, and lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Inflammation biomarkers, such as C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, were elevated in the people with lower thymic health scores. In their second paper, the same team looked at the relationship between thymic score and outcomes for 3,476 patients receiving cancer immunotherapy. The non-small cell lung cancer progression-free survival was reduced in patients with low thymic health score. A parallel relationship for survival was seen for other types of cancer including melanoma, breast, and kidney with a 44% lower risk among high thymic scores (Figure). A similar pattern was seen with different immune checkpoint inhibitors. The thymus health score outperformed programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1)and tumor mutation burden (TMB) assay of the tumor and was an independent prognostic marker of progression-free survival. In this dataset, a direct connect with thymus score and adaptive immune function was noted with a correlation before cancer treatment for both T-cell diversity and thymus T-cell production (a metric known as T cell receptor excision circles). Thymus Removal Study There is a highly relevant citation about thymus function before moving onto ways to rejuvenate it. In 2023, a very important study of thymus removal during cardiothoracic surgery was published, with 1146 patients undergoing thymus removal vs 1146 matched controls (mean age 55 years). The adverse outcomes for thymus removal were striking, with a 2.9 higher risk of all-cause mortality and doubling of cancer incidence, 1.5 fold increase in cancer mortality, and 1.5-fold increase in autoimmune diseases. The immune function showed marked compromise after thymus removal, as reflected by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (Figure below) Share Ground Truths 3. Are there ways we can promote a healthy (aka rejuvenate) thymus gland in our later years? In recent months we’ve learned a lot about the process of thymus involution and the pathways by which this may be modulated. Thymus involution is primarily due to loss to thymus epithelial cells (TECs) and there are 2 subtypes with different functions: the cortical, responsible for positive selection of T cells, and the medullary, for negative selection. When adipose tissue infiltrates the thymus, thymic adipocytes are pro-inflammatory, knocking out T-cell output. Likewise, systemic inflammation, or “inflammaging,” from smoking, obesity, and chronic stress promote thymic adipocytes. Now, from preclinical studies, we know about key pathways that account for these processes. Historically, back in 2014, FOXN1 was recognized as a single master transcription factor essential for TEC function, with studies in mice with forced FOXN1 upregulation leading to thymus regeneration. That laid the foundation for potential regrowth of quiescent thymus cells. It took awhile to find pathways to accomplish this goal and to even refute its role as the master regulator. The Liver-Thymus Axis Feng Zhang and his team recently showed that injection of an mRNA vaccine to the liver encoding DLL1, IL-7 and FLT3-L in combination, factors known to support thymopoiesis (Figure), successfully enhanced immune function in aged mice. However, the effect was transient. The FGF21 Story Two reports in 2025 addressed the thymus gland’s production of FGF21, a growth factor (fibroblast growth factor 21) and its control of thymus involution. This growth factor is also produced by the liver, but it doesn’t have impact on the thymus in aged rodent models. In contrast, The liver’s hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) has been shown to reverse senescent TEC structural changes. Growth hormone stimulates production of insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in the liver and the thymus. Two small studies in human participants (TRIIM, for Thymus Regeneration, Immunorestoration, and Insulin Mitigation) of 6 and 50 people, respectively, treated with combined human growth hormone, metformin and DHEA, suggested the potential of slowing epigenetic aging and improving thymus mass and function. But the combination of drugs, small sample, and lack of controls make conclusions murky. Increased thymus FGF21 led to increased CD8 T cells in old mice and extended healthspan and improved physical performance. Building on the previous FOXN1 data, ablation of β-klotho, the obligatory co-receptor for FOXN1, accelerated thymic aging. The benefit to FGF21 was confirmed in a companion paper using an FGF21 knock-in mouse model showing thymus enlargement and increased TECs throughout the lifespan. (schematic Figure below). The accompanying editorial for these 2 papers speculated: “The proposed link between age-associated thymus involution and organismal aging is intriguing, and suggests we might seek to achieve systemic rejuvenation by counteracting thymic involution.” Other Factors Lessons from the Axolotl (Mexican Salamander) In an elegant set of experiments of the axolotl (Figure), known for its complete thymus regeneration after total surgical removal, mediators were identified. Surprisingly FOXN1 was dispensable. But midkine, a growth factor, appeared to be the driver, the initiator of thymus cell growth, survival, and repair. Other components that contributed were Postn+ (periostin-expressing mesenchymal niches) and Ccl19, a chemokine protein from the bloodstream. RANK and RANKL RANK (receptor activator of nuclear factor κB its ligand (RANKL) have been considered key regulators of medullary TECs. In a study of both aged mice and human thymus cell cultures, their key role was confirmed, with multiple benefits of resorting TEC function, recruitment of progenitor cells, and T cell development. Subscribe Summing Up This body of work strongly supports the health of the thymus gland as a critical regulator of human healthspan, not just a correlate or link. The new landmark studies are reinforced by the regenerative biology experimental models that have shown, via an array of mediators, that healthspan of aged mice is at least in part dependent on thymus gland function and its critical role for maintaining adaptive immunity. It sure seems that we’d be better off having an immune reservoir of naive T cells instead of a profile in older adults of exhausted, low quality, memory T cells, with a senescent phenotype. It is striking that we ignored the importance of the thymus gland for many decades. A wake-up call was the results of the thymectomy matched control study reviewed here, with the opposite of high thymic health score improved health outcomes. The convergence of AI and healthspan here is notable. The exceptional and laborious work for developing and validating (no less explaining) the AI to quantify thymus health set the foundation for probing the connect the major health outcomes in two cohorts with extensive follow-up. We’ve never had a way to meaningfully quantify the thymus gland before, so this represents important leverage of supervised, self-supervised, and transformer models. The study wouldn’t have been possible without AI. And it begs the question as to whether there are ways we can maintain our thymus at a high health score. But it’s not so simple to rejuvenate our thymus. There are multiple risks including the induction of autoimmunity, increasing the risk of cancer, and inducing a pro-inflammatory state. For example, factors that increase TEC proliferation could compromise the medulllary negative selection process and leak out auto-reactive (self-attacking) T cells. Thymic cells could be induced to proliferate, but we know, for example, that growth hormone and IGF-1 are associated with an increase risk of cancer. If thymus rejuvenation doesn’t clear out the accumulated senescent cells in older adults, then inflammation within the gland could block the production of TECs. Keeping these risks in mind, we now have identified many ways to keep our thymus healthy as we age that undoubtedly will be tested in clinical trials going forward. Ultimately, the benefit-to-risk tradeoffs will be defined. In the meantime, we have desperately needed an immunome. As I’ve stressed in multiple prior Ground Truths, we have no test in the clinic to assess a patient’s immune status! It was very encouraging for me to get an email from Hugo Aerts, the senior author of the landmark papers in the days after they were published: “I also wanted to say that your Substack on “Why We Need an Immunome” was inspiring for this work. We found it a very compelling perspective and greatly enjoyed reading it.” Just having an assessment of a person’s immune status via a chest CT scan, with millions of these performed per year, might help in guiding the right immunotherapy for cancer (e.g. more intensive, combinations for those with low thymic health scores) and help define people who are increased risk for age-related diseases of cancer, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative. The main theme of Super Agers is that we now have many layers of data (genetics, proteins, biomarkers, organ clocks that can be integrated via multimodal AI) for us to define a person’s specific risk decades before one of these age-related diseases leads to symptoms, enabling prevention. From the new studies this week, we can add thymus health score as yet another way to understand a person’s risk, a window into their adaptive immune system and healthspan. And perhaps someday we will be able to safely rejuvenate the thymus, or maintain its health through one’s life, and use the thymus health score to monitor. NB: I wrote this post (No A.I.) A Quick Poll Loading... ********************************************************************* Thanks to Ground Truths subscribers (now > 200,000) from every US state and 212 countries. Your subscription to these free essays and podcasts makes my work in putting them together worthwhile. Please join! If you found this interesting PLEASE share it! Share Ground Truths Paid subscriptions are voluntary and all proceeds from them go to support Scripps Research. They do allow for posting comments and questions, which I do my best to respond to. Please don’t hesitate to post comments and give me feedback. Let me know topics that you would like to see covered. Leave a comment Many thanks to those who have contributed—they have greatly helped fund our summer internship programs for the past two years. It enabled us to accept and support 47 summer interns in 2025! We aim to accept even more of the several thousand who will apply for summer 2026.

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Mar 22 • 2:18 PM EDT • Health • erictopol.substack.com
Trump mocks 'discombobulated' Schumer over Democrats' near gaffe on funding ICE

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Mar 22 • 12:05 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com
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Mar 22 • 10:30 AM EDT • Science • gizmodo.com
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Mar 22 • 9:56 AM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com
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Mar 22 • 8:00 AM EDT • Business • linkedin.com
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Mar 22 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
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Game Preview: Carolina Hurricanes @ Pittsburgh Penguins 3/22/2026

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Nurses rally in Alameda to protest federal health care cuts

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Mar 21 • 12:40 PM EDT • Politics • bloomberg.com
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Apple TV Is Now Almost 20 Years Old

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Mar 21 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • sciencealert.com
Giant Study May Have Found The Ideal Amount of Coffee to Lower Stress

There's actually a sweet spot.

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Mar 21 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencealert.com
NASA’s Hubble accidentally caught a comet breaking apart in real time

In an incredibly lucky cosmic accident, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured a comet breaking apart in real time—something astronomers have long tried and failed to observe. The comet, C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), wasn’t even the original target, but when researchers pivoted to it, they unknowingly caught it mid-disintegration into multiple pieces.

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Mar 21 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
Fort Collins' former Sundance building has a new owner. What we know

After closing its doors on East Mulberry Street in July 2024, the longtime home of Sundance Steakhouse & Saloon officially has a new owner.

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Mar 21 • 7:01 AM EDT • Business • coloradoan.com
The Science Behind the $19 Million Colostrum Craze: Miracle Cure or Marketing Myth?

Colostrum supplements are exploding in popularity, fueled by celebrity endorsements and loose regulation. But what does the science actually say?

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Mar 21 • 7:00 AM EDT • Science • inc.com
10 US cities with the largest portion of institutional investors

Institutional investors don't have a strong hold nationally, but in a handful of markets in the South, they own 1 out of 10 homes.

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Mar 21 • 6:51 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com
6 years since lockdown, here's a look at COVID vaccine guidance today

Changing guidance around COVID-19 vaccines, specifically, has been central to RFK Jr.'s run as health secretary. A judge just struck some of it down.

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Mar 21 • 6:03 AM EDT • Health • usatoday.com
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