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Pro Padel League raises $15 million as investors bet on sport’s U.S. growth
The Pro Padel League has raised $15 million in new funding as it looks to accelerate its next phase of growth in the U.S.
Apnimed Announces Strategic Monetization of Shionogi-Apnimed Sleep Science (SASS) Joint Venture Stake for $150M and Royalties, Strengthening Focus on its Wholly-Owned OSA Program, AD109
/PRNewswire/ -- Apnimed, Inc., a pharmaceutical company developing an oral drug product candidate, AD109, that is designed to address a root cause of...
Health Care Access for Women: The Cost of Being Dismissed, March 26
The event will feature a panel and table discussions focused on strategies for women to more effectively advocate for themselves in health care settings.
Arlington's Westover Taco Will Be Home to Northern Virginia's First Women’s Sports Bar
Restaurateur Sarah White is converting Arlington's Westover Taco into Northern Virginia's first ever women's sports bar.
Wind Turbines Once Had One Job: Generate Power. Now Engineers Want Their Towers to Do Something Modern Life Cannot Run Without
Deep in the North Sea, a strange new AI infrastructure plan is taking shape inside offshore wind turbines.
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’
CelebrateOne secures $3.39M grant to fund for maternal health in Columbus
CelebrateOne secured a $3.39 million grant to fund 15 organizations expanding maternal health services in Franklin County.
We’ve Been Underestimating Flying Foxes
Australia used to incinerate the large fruit bats, but research suggests they bring hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits to the country’s economy.
We’ve Been Underestimating Flying Foxes
Australia used to incinerate the large fruit bats, but research suggests they bring hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits to the country’s economy.
Using multiple AI health tools could pose reliability risks
Hundreds of AI tools for health care tout accuracy rates above 90%, but most are tested only in isolation.
How Bans on Corporate Political Donations Influence Campaign Platforms
Julia Cagé, Caroline Le Pennec, and Elisa Mougin discuss their recent research on France’s 1995 ban on corporate contributions to political campaigns. The ban pushed candidates to de-emphasize local politics in favor of national issues and, in many cases, adopt more extreme rhetoric.
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.
Opinion | Why Are So Many Democrats So Far Out of Touch?
Candidates in safe districts are under no pressure to moderate in order to win.
Is the Center Still Alive in Big-City Politics?
Left-leaning mayoral winners are getting a lot of attention, but in a few cities business-friendly moderates are showing strength.
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.
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.
From One Major to Three in Four Years: Connecting Data Science, German and Linguistics at Montclair
In a German language program for local children and on an archive translation project, Isabella Zarate Gonzalez shows how Montclair’s mix of STEM, world languages and community engagement helped her connect her interests into a single path
WHO recommends new diagnostic tools to help end TB
On World TB Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) is urging countries to accelerate action to end tuberculosis (TB) and expand access to lifesaving services by using new innovations such as diagnostic tests that can be used near the point-of-care and tongue swabs that can help detect the disease faster reaching more people.
Segment: Financing Action on Extreme Heat and Maternal and Newborn Health: The Way Forward
The segment “Financing Action on Extreme Heat and Maternal and Newborn Health: The Way Forward” will examine how innovative and better-aligned financing approaches can respond to these growing risks. Discussions will highlight country experiences in mobilizing domestic resources, opportunities to unlock and scale climate finance, and the role of heat-smart innovations in building resilient health systems. Particular attention will be given to low- and middle-income countries, where exposure and vulnerability remain highest, and where integrated solutions can deliver the greatest impact.
Revolutionary Women: Lady Johnson, Angelica Schuyler and the Politics of Loyalty
State and territory commissions and other partners are hosting events across the nation to commemorate America's 250 anniversary in 2026.
Miami starts cutting property tax rebate checks for seniors
'This program is about delivering real relief where it matters most.'
Microsoft hires Ali Farhadi to work with Mustafa Suleyman on AI
Microsoft hired Ali Farhadi, former Allen Institute CEO, to join Mustafa Suleyman's AI team as corporate VP.
Scientists Connect “Time Crystals” to the Outside World in Groundbreaking Experiment
A newly demonstrated link between a time crystal and a mechanical system opens a door scientists once thought closed.
'Players' of an MMORPG for AI Agents Spontaneously Generated Their Own Religion
SpaceMolt is a new destination for vaguely portentous word salad.
UCI Health says it will lay off 150 in 'strategic restructuring'
About 1% of the system's workforce is expected to be laid off as the county's only academic health system restructures, citing cuts at the federal level.
Uncommon Ground seeks new operator as longtime Wrigleyville restaurateurs plan to retire
The longtime restaurateurs behind Uncommon Ground at 3800 N. Clark St. in Wrigleyville are seeking a new operator for the restaurant, brewery and music venue.
F1 CEO talks US growth as business accelerates
Formula One (F1) CEO Stefano Domenicali joins Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi to discuss F1's rapid growth in the US market, new racing regulations, and more. Watch the video above to hear more on the sport's focus on expansion and entertainment.
I Turned My Childhood Hobby Into a $2K-a-Month Business. Then I Quit My Corporate Job and Hit $100K+ Month.
Danielle Meyer, founder of Spicy Dan, always had an "entrepreneurial mindset."
In a rare event, the moon got a massive new crater
A crater as wide as two American football fields formed in spring 2024, a size expected roughly once a century. A NASA orbiter got to watch.
Roger Bennett of the Men in Blazers discusses the agony and the ecstasy of watching a penalty shootout
What’s the new 'Background Security' on the iPhone? What we know.
Apple's new Background Security Improvements operate between software updates, providing "lightweight security releases."
Republicans fear this Democrat in Georgia Senate race: ‘This guy’s no slouch’
The Cook Political Report rates the general election as a toss-up.
Grub Lab: $6 Million Raised To Bring Sports And Entertainment IP To Independent Restaurants Nationwide
Grub Lab, an Australia-founded restaurant technology startup, announced it has raised $6 million in funding from Quantaco to accelerate its expansion across the United States and support a national rollout tied to major sports leagues and entertainment studios. The company is positioning itself as a modern solution to help independent restaurants compete for family dining traffic through interactive, branded experiences.
We both lost our jobs. So we started a company.
After being laid off in 2020, my husband and I launched Larroudé from home. Today, the shoe brand employs 600 people and generates millions.
Closing the women’s health gap: 5 key focus areas and why they need more research
Only 6% of private investment targets women's health, a World Economic Forum report says. 5 examples show how strategic investments could change this.
UCLA tries to enjoy rare opportunity for Lauren and Sienna Betts
UCLA works to celebrate Lauren and Sienna Betts as successful sisters and individual playmakers pushing to help the Bruins win.
Banijay Entertainment Dials Up Global Scripted with Premium Series Mania Slate
Media and entertainment powerhouse, Banijay Entertainment, today unveils its premium scripted offering for Series Mania, showcasing a broad range of high-end drama from across its global portfolio. As the number one European studio in scripted, with more than 100 titles launching each year, the company continues to demonstrate its scale, creative strength, global reach and […]
AI-generated attack ads are already slopping up Mass. races
AI attack ads are already showing up in Massachusetts races — and the 2026 cycle is just getting started.
Noah Hiles: What I’m hearing on Pirates, Konnor Griffin extension talks
BRADENTON, Fla. — The Pirates reassigned Konnor Griffin to minor league camp Saturday, ending any hope that the game’s top-rated prospect would...
Delivery Hero to Sell Taiwan Business to Grab
The German food-delivery company said it would sell Foodpanda as part of a strategic review for $600 million in cash.
Mum on his own replacement, Bennet disrespects voters
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet is playing an arrogant game of hide-and-seek with Colorado voters as he seeks to abandon his Senate seat to become governor. Bennet insists that if he is elected governor in November, he will wait until he is inaugurated in January 2027 before he resigns from the Senate so he can unilaterally […]
BUSINESS MONDAY: Spotlight on Sarah's Cheesecakes & Cafe in Pittsfield
The small family-owned and -operated operation is celebrating its 20th anniversary—and looking forward to many more years to come.
Trump’s new red line could set the Iran war on a fateful course
On Friday, President Donald Trump said he was considering “winding down” his war with Iran. But a day later, he threatened to “obliterate” the country’s power plants in an escalation that could further tip the conflict out of control.
How Obama’s Strategist Discouraged Biden From Running in 2016
In a new set of oral histories, David Plouffe, President Barack Obama’s political adviser, described how he urged Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. not to challenge Hillary Clinton for the nomination.
2026 Best Business Schools | How Alumni Rate Their Undergraduate Business Degrees
Alumni rate their undergraduate business programs in Poets&Quants’ 2026 ranking, evaluating academic experience, career preparation, advising, and how well their degrees support long-term career goals.
Oil prices rise after Trump issues ultimatum and Iran threatens to close the Strait of Hormuz indefinitely
Oil prices rose Sunday after President Donald Trump threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened by Monday evening.
Crimson Desert developer apologizes and promises to replace AI-generated art
Pearl Abyss announced a comprehensive audit of its in-game assets and will replace any AI-generated content.
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.
Buffalo Museum of Science celebrates 50% completion of upcoming Science Stadium Exhibit
The Buffalo Museum of Science marked a major milestone in its $3 million Science Stadium exhibit, announcing on March 20 the project is now 50% complete ahead of its planned
Crimson Desert admits it used generative AI for "early-stage iteration" and apologises AI images were not replaced before release
Crimson Desert developer Pearl Abyss has responded to claims its latest game used AI to generate images, admitting "2D …
3 restaurants open in Pittsburgh’s East Carson business district
Pittsburgh city leaders celebrated the opening of three new restaurants in the city’s East Carson business district on Friday.
Capcom celebrates Resident Evil's 30th anniversary by promising "even more wonderful experiences" are coming, but doesn't confirm when
Resident Evil series executive producer, Jun Takeuchi, has written to Resident Evil players across the world, thanking …
Homan says ‘more conversations need to be had’ to end standoff over ICE, DHS funding
Bash: Trump celebrating Mueller’s death ‘not a surprise, but that doesn’t make it okay’
Maine progressive Senate candidate Graham Platner responds to Gov. Janet Mills’ attack on his online past
New Apple TV and HomePod Mini Remain 'Ready' to Launch
Apple has unveiled nine new products this month, but the wait continues for the next-generation Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini models. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said new versions of the Apple TV and HomePod mini have been "ready" since last year, but he reiterated that Apple has held off on releasing them until the more personalized version of Siri and other Apple Intelligence upgrades are released later this year.
Square Enix announces it will integrate Google’s generative AI Gemini into popular online game Dragon Quest X
Square Enix has found a use for Google’s generative AI Gemini and will be putting it to use in the popular online game, Dragon Quest X. Gemini will be used in-game as a feature that allows players to…
UF students celebrate ‘women supporting women’ through new mental health group
According to the Healthy Minds Network’s data interface, a little more than one in three female college students suffered from anxiety in 2025, compared to a little under one in four male students.
Column: Republicans fearing a midterm rout revive Islamophobia as political strategy
The latest twist on replacement theory is the idea that white Americans are in need of saving from dark-skinned "others."
AI-generated ads are trickling into political campaigns, sparking big worries
AI usage in political ads is largely regulated at the state level, but there remain concerns about how they can mislead voters.
How investors use the BRRRR strategy to scale real estate portfolios
"My strategy is basically to use every property to fund the next one," said one real estate investor.
See what students from New Hampstead High wore for their 2026 prom
Students from New Hampstead celebrate their 2026 high school prom at Red Gate Farms.
Barricade That Kept Out the Far Right in France Is Crumbling
Franck Leclere made his way through the timber-framed houses of Chalons-en-Champagne and joined a crowd of people in symbolic white shirts to demonstrate against the rise of the far right in France.
Chuck Norris's Second Highest-Rated Movie Is One He Spent About 30 Seconds In
The second highest-rated movie associated with Chuck Norris is one he didn't even have a starring role in.
Trump’s Reaction to Mueller’s Death: ‘Good, I’m Glad.’
The president has consistently celebrated the deaths of political foes. His response to Mr. Mueller’s death drew criticism from Republicans and Democrats.
Health Literacy as a Modifiable Clinical Risk Factor: Operationalizing an Underrecognized Determinant of Outcomes
Health literacy has been considered a social determinant of health and has never been extensively incorporated in the general practice of clinical care. Systematic reviews and cohort studies sho...
Fact-checking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on the effects of the SAVE America Act
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the SAVE America Act would require in-person voter registration, “something only 5% of Americans do today." The act would require that, but the rate of in-person registrations is higher than Schumer said.
Donald Trump Is Nothing Like Robert Mueller
The absurdity of a man who avoided Vietnam due to “bone spurs” dancing on the grave of a decorated combat veteran
47th annual Utica University science fair shows area students are smarter than ever
Four dozen science projects from 60 students from eight area schools competed for the top prizes at the Donohue Concourse underneath the Frank Gannett Library. Some of the topics may have changed over the years — there were no baking soda volcanoes — but the students still displayed their projects on decorated posterboard for staff, family and the judges to see. The projects were split between the junior division — 7th and 8th grades — and the senior division — 9th through 12th grades.
Robert Mueller, former special counsel who led Trump-Russia probe, dies
A decorated Marine and longtime law enforcement leader, Mueller served as FBI director before taking on the high-profile investigation in 2017.
Fed’s Powell Lauds Volcker Record in Face of Political Pressure
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Saturday lauded the policy record of the late Fed Chair Paul Volcker, who raised interest rates and sparked a recession to tame the high inflation that took off during the 1970s.
Couple left biotech jobs to run a farm, how they keep marriage strong
Working together — in corporate jobs and with our own business — has taught us key strategies to help both our careers and marriage thrive.
RJ promotes Traci Wilson to vice president of digital strategy
Wilson succeeds Jim Prather, who retires on April 3. She will assume her new role on April 6.
My twins separated for the first time at 19
After doing everything together their entire lives, my twin sons separated for six weeks and hardly checked in. It was good for their relationship.
TAMIU planetarium reopens after major renovations
TAMIU celebrated the reopening of its renovated planetarium, now featuring advanced technology and a new immersive learning experience for students and visitors.
The Joe Kent saga lays bare the real Trump derangement syndrome
Washington's Kent resigning from the nation's security team seemed like an accountability moment. Instead, it demonstrated how President Trump isn't held responsible for anything.
Big Money Flows Into State Attorney General Races as Legal Battles Shape American Politics
With control of Congress on the ballot in November, state attorney general races can get lost in the shuffle. But just outside the election spotlight, there are partisan groups, corporate interests and advocacy networks revving up campaigns for offices that are playing a growing role in American ...
Ancient DNA reveals a farming shift that pushed a society to the brink
A new study reveals that farming in Argentina’s Uspallata Valley was adopted by local hunter-gatherers rather than introduced by outside populations. Centuries later, a stressed group of maize-heavy farmers migrated into the region, facing climate instability, disease, and declining numbers. Despite these pressures, there’s no sign of violence—instead, families stayed connected across generations, using kinship networks to survive. The research shows how cooperation, not conflict, helped communities navigate crisis.
'A pediatric clinic, but so much more.' Shipley Health Clinic celebrates 55 years
The Margaret B. Shipley Child Health Clinic in Canton is celebrating its 55th anniversary this year.
Israel deliberately targeting medical facilities in south Lebanon, say health workers
Medics and officials say there is systematic use of double-tap strikes in campaign to make the south uninhabitable
Wine vs beer vs spirits: Which is the least bad for your health?
A study of 340,000 adults suggests not all alcohol carries the same risk - even at low to moderate levels, beer, cider and spirits were linked to higher mortality, while wine was associated with a lower risk.
'They most definitely misled me' | Macon business owner frustrated after Bibb leaders deny alcohol license
'They most definitely misled me' | Macon business owner frustrated after Bibb leaders deny alcohol license
California Health Sciences University medical student celebrates full-circle moment on Match Day
Friday was a big day for medical students across the country. It's Match Day.
Exclusive | Growing Frustration With Chuck Schumer Spurs Talk of Replacing Him
Some Democrats on Capitol Hill are discussing how to get New York’s senior senator to step aside as minority leader amid concerns about his negotiating style and midterms strategy.
Why the Trump administration is easing sanctions on certain Iranian oil stockpiles
Trump administration officials are making a desperate push to secure every available barrel of oil amid a worsening energy crisis — even if it means lifting sanctions on the very country that they’re fighting against.
Scientists turn probiotic bacteria into tumor-hunting cancer killers
Scientists have engineered probiotic bacteria to act as tumor-seeking drug factories. In mice, these bacteria infiltrated tumors and produced a cancer-fighting drug right where it was needed. This targeted approach could make treatments more effective and reduce side effects. More research is needed before it can be tested in people.
iOS 26.4: Top 10 New Features Coming to Your iPhone
iOS 26.4 isn't the major update with new Siri features that we hoped for, but there are some useful quality of life improvements, and a little bit of fun with an AI playlist generator and new emoji characters. Playlist Playground - Apple Music has a Playlist Playground option that lets you generate playlists from text-based descriptions. You can include moods, feelings, activities, or make up something entirely nonsensical and let the AI figure out what you mean.
Value investors see mispriced opportunities from sports to fertilizer
Value investors pitched a mix of stock ideas in disparate corners of the market at the Value Invest conference in New York on Thursday.
WordPress.com now lets AI agents write and publish posts, and more
New AI agents on WordPress.com could lower barriers to publishing while increasing machine-generated content across the web.
New controls can stretch, blur and even reverse quantum time flow
In new research published in Physical Review X, scientists have designed quantum control protocols that generate processes more consistent with time flowing backward than forward. The protocols—techniques ...
How writing fiction made me a better business strategist
Writing fiction sharpened my strategic thinking in ways no workshop could — here's how I use a novelist's mindset to solve complex business problems.
Utica Zoo Celebrates Spring and Ramadan with Special Events
Families and friends are invited to celebrate the first day of spring and the end of Ramadan with a day full of activities at the Utica Zoo.
How accurate is the science in Project Hail Mary?
This science-fiction movie plays with quantum physics, space travel, astrobiology and mass-to-energy conversion
[VIDEO] Lucy Wang Featured in Business Interview TV Series
Watch a new Business Insurance interview with Lucy Wang, discussing how California's historic insurance regulatory reform has impacted the state's insurance market and rates in response to increasing wildfire exposure.
From corporate trailblazer to inspiring professor - Gary W. Rollins College of Business
From Turner Broadcast to corporate consulting, Libby Fakier is using her experience to build the next generation of professional sales.
xAI Sends Engineers to Client Sites to Win Business from OpenAI
Elon Musk’s xAI is sending engineers directly into the offices of prospective corporate clients in an attempt to claw business customers away from rivals OpenAI and Anthropic PBC.
Hispanic Women-Owned Business Growth—Revenue Hasn’t Caught Up
Hispanic/Latina women are launching businesses at record rates and leading in employer firm growth. New IWOB data shows why revenue still doesn’t match the momentum—and what changes that.
“Loyal Slaves” and Campfire Entertainment in Frank Vizetelly’s Confederate Camp
Frank Vizetelly’s illustration titled “Night Amusements in the Confederate Camp” appeared in the Illustrated London News on January 10, 1863. It was one among a number of wartime scenes that Vizetelly captured for the newspaper. Subscribe Following the war, the illustration appeared in a number of books, including John O. Casler’s Four Years in the Stonewall Brigade (1893) and Campfires of the Confederacy (1898) by Ben La Bree. The scene depicts a Confederate camp at night with an enslaved man, most likely a camp servant, performing a dance around a fire with the music provided by a soldier playing a banjo. Another enslaved man looks on at the right. Vizetelly likely witnessed the scene—one that would have been common throughout the war. It’s a wonderful example of the way in which Confederates—slaveowners and nonslaveowners alike—experienced the presence of slave labor in the army. Vizetelly was deeply sympathetic to the Confederate cause. His depiction of the enslaved man as more than happy to entertain the very people who were fighting to keep him enslaved was precisely the kind of image designed to reassure a British audience that slavery was benign, and by implication, that Britain need not feel morally troubled about recognizing or supporting the Confederacy. Share Just as importantly, the sight of a dancing slave reassured Confederates themselves that the institution of slavery remained secure even after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. I’ve come across this illustration many times before and I plan on using it in my next book project on the role of enslaved labor in the Confederate army during the Gettysburg Campaign, but this is not the reason I am sharing it with you today. It has to do with where I recently found it, which came as a complete surprise and is incredibly revealing. Let’s take a look.
Why people are turning to salt rooms and halotherapy to unwind
Salt rooms regenerate health skin cells and boost our breathing. Here's what to look for when finding a salt room experience.