SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " science " 21,650 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
What's for Lunch? 25 Years of Inspired Science in Schools
The Sisters in Science student organization has quietly shaped young learners in Kalamazoo by presenting hands-on experiences in schools.
We’re Suing the Trump Administration for Removing Science, History from Our National Parks
We cannot fully understand our country and climate without publicly accessible and accurate historical and scientific information.
Live Science Today: Jensen Huang AGI claim and major leap to reanimation after death
Tuesday, March 24, 2026: Your daily roundup of the biggest science stories making headlines.
Avalon’s New Challenges, Opportunities in Life Science Investing
LA JOLLA – As Avalon BioVentures wraps up deploying its very first fund, the $135 million ABV1, the early stage focused venture capital firm is already lookin
It’s not just vaccines: Parents are refusing other routine preventive care for newborns
Doctors across the nation are alarmed that skepticism fueled by rising anti-science sentiment and medical mistrust is increasingly reaching beyond vaccines to other proven, routine, preventive care for babies.
Salamander Migration Has New Citizen Science Component
Each spring, blue-spotted salamanders emerge from their underground burrows at Presque Isle Park in Marquette and venture across the road to lay their eggs. Northern Michigan University students have been involved in conservation, data collection and public education efforts for this annual event, but this year, the general public is invited to play a more active role in salamander migration research. Northern Michigan University Biology Department Head Jill Leonard encourages community members to participate in the Marquette Citizen Science Project.
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.
Steven Corcelli named William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science
Steven A. Corcelli, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame, has been appointed the William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science by University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., effective April 1. Corcelli, who has served as interim science dean since July, was selected through a comprehensive national search launched after his predecessor, Santiago Schnell, was appointed as Dartmouth’s provost.
Carbonsphere launches for carbon science and net-zero solutions
Tsinghua University Press is pleased to announce the launch of Carbonsphere, a new open-access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to carbon science, technology, and policy. Sponsored by Qinghai University and Tsinghua University and published by Tsinghua University Press, the journal creates a new interdisciplinary platform for research spanning natural systems, engineered systems, and human systems.
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...
The most innovative data science companies of 2026
Why Unstructured, Feedzai, Synchron and Chalk are among Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in data science for 2026
Iowa lawmakers OK conscience bill letting health workers deny services
Health care providers and institutions may decline services that violate their conscience under a bill headed to Gov. Kim Reynolds' desk.
What’s That Building? South portico of the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
The structure’s south entrance will be put to use for the first time in more than a century, just in time for the Obama Presidential Center opening nearby this summer.
Is social media addictive? The science reveals what’s at stake
The research into whether social media is addictive is nuanced and complex, with many unanswered questions
CDC dilemma: Nominee may need both MAHA and science chops
As a deadline arrives this week to nominate a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, some Republicans are skeptical the administration will find someone who can check all the boxes necessary for confirmation. The candidate will need the “Make America Healthy Again” mindset of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Health and Human Services Department, […]
How COVID turned America against science — and what it will take to win it back
Tony Fauci was not just jerking the country around.
How COVID turned America against science — and what it will take to win it back
Tony Fauci was not just jerking the country around.
What growing up in an end-times church taught a science communicator about dispelling misinformation
A passion for snakes opened a crack in the religious beliefs science communicator Paul Martin Jensen grew up with in a end-times Pentecostal church.
Old Wisdom, New Science, and the Tools of Tomorrow
How can firefighters navigate between the hard-earned practical wisdom of the past and modern technological developments? Scott Guillerault says fire research may point the way.
Tropical Cyclone Narelle Crosses Australia
The powerful storm lashed the northern edge of the continent with damaging winds and drenching rain as it made landfall multiple times.
Gigantic 'Heat Dome' Baking The Whole US May Be Historic, Scientists Say
"The entire US is going to be hot... that's really bizarre.”
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.
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.
How Pixar Got the Science Right in Hoppers
Meet the researcher who informed the writers about beaver behavior and threats to their habitat
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.
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
NIU Today - Two business graduate degrees reimagined with a bold AI focus
Beginning this fall, two graduate degrees within the College of Business’s Department of Operations Management and Information Systems (OM&IS) will be reimagined to emphasize their focus on artificial intelligence and analytics. Formerly known as the Master of Science in Data Analytics (MSDA) degree, this degree has been transformed into the Master of Science in Business...
Insulin pills may soon replace daily injections
For over a century, scientists have chased the dream of insulin pills, but the digestive system kept destroying the drug before it could work—forcing millions of patients to rely on daily injections. Now, researchers at Kumamoto University have developed a clever workaround using a tiny peptide that helps insulin slip through the intestinal wall.
Astrophysicist Deborah Haarsma Connects Science with Christian Faith at Pepperdine Libraries' Frank Pack Lecture
Hosted by Pepperdine Libraries' Rushford Center, the University community was given the special honor of hearing Haarsma's insights on Christian faith and science at the 21st annual Frank Pack Distinguished Christian Scholar Lecture.
A mission NASA might kill is still returning fascinating science from Jupiter
We can’t quite afford to support everything that we have done in the past."
Denver Museum of Nature & Science
The Monday Outlook: Project Hail Mary and the Science Behind Blockbuster Sci-Fi
Project Hail Mary is the latest sci-fi blockbuster to stretch the bounds of audience imagination and stir the curiosity of real scientists. But the science driving films like Project Hail Mary, Interstellar and The Martian isn’t all fictional: at UChicago, researchers exploring the cosmos and decoding the origins of life are making discoveries that would feel right at home on the big screen. This week's Monday Outlook features scientists from UChicago and Argonne National Laborat
NASA Data Hackathon Inspires Community Action
On Jan. 31, students, library staff, researchers, and community members gathered at the University of Florida’s (UF) Marston Science Library for the
Veterinary Science Certificate Program promotes early steps on career path
Rural communities face a growing shortage of veterinary professionals, creating challenges for pet owners and livestock producers alike.
Shorebird science and conservation collective shows big data can protect birds
New research from the Shorebird Science and Conservation Collective at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI), published in the journal Conservation Biology, provides ...
NMSU’s ‘Big Bang Bash’ invites community to hands-on art and science experience
New Mexico State University’s College of Arts and Sciences welcomes kids of all ages to this year’s “Big Bang Bash: Where Arts and Sciences Collide” from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, April 2 at...
Science Through Shadows: How Astronomical Alignments Reveal the Universe
When one celestial object passes in front of another, it can cast a shadow that travels across space – and sometimes across Earth. These moments of alignment, known as eclipses, occultations, and transits, allow scientists to study distant objects in remarkable ways. By observing how light changes when an object briefly blocks another, astronomers can measure sizes and shapes, detect atmospheres, and refine the orbits of asteroids and planets.
Uplifting and Not Ceding Ground on Health Equity Practice Is Critical to Strengthening Public Health and the Health of the Nation
Public health science gains in the last quarter century in the United States have been formidable due to a focus on structural and social determinants of health, thereby enhancing understanding of the role of inequitable policies in shaping health inequities and inequitable access to ameliorative resources.
Beyond The Hype: How AI Is Rewiring Fashion’s Art And Science
AI is recalibrating fashion from design to supply chain. Explore how leaders at Levi’s, ALO Yoga, and REVOLVE bridge data-driven precision with human-inspired creativity.
SWOT Mission Unlocks a New View of Our Waterways
Explore how rivers move, change, and sustain life across the planet with SWOT data.
Formulating a Future: Finding a Calling in Pharmaceutical Science | Oberlin College and Conservatory
Chemistry major Alex Xie ’26 utilizes CELA’s research fellowships and scholarship advising to transition from campus labs to a future in pharmaceutical research.
Mills says federal abortion investigation is ‘political’
In particular, the federal government says it wants to find out if Maine “is unlawfully coercing entities covered by Federal health care conscience protection laws to provide, pay for, or provide coverage of abortion.”
Cargo Headed to Station, Week Begins with Science Prep and Maintenance
A cargo spacecraft is in orbit catching up to the International Space Station for a docking tomorrow to deliver food and supplies to the Expedition 74 crew. Aboard the orbital lab, the seven residents kicked off the week with science operations prep, routine maintenance, and getting systems ready for a future spacewalk.
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.
Politics & Film: ‘Fahrenheit 9/11,’ March 27
Join Politics & Film for a screening of Michael Moore's award-winning documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11” on Friday, March 27 at 5:00 p.m. in Wehr Life Sciences 111.
Causal Inference Is Eating Machine Learning
Your ML model predicts perfectly but recommends wrong actions. Learn the 5-question diagnostic, method comparison matrix, and Python workflow to fix it with causal inference.
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.
How Will Gravity on Mars Affect Humans? A New Study Reveals a Clue.
Maintaining muscle mass is key.
Shorebird Science and Conservation Collective Shows Big Data Can Protect Birds
New research published in the journal Conservation Biology provides a model for big data to inform conservation.
Crab Nebula Expansion over 25 Years
These two Hubble images compare the Crab Nebula in 1999 to 2024, revealing its expansion over the years.
Bridging science and music - College of Arts and Sciences
Graduate student Briana Nave studies music's use and interactions with modern scientific medicine in the early 20th century.
WSU launches bilingual video series to help beekeepers improve colony health
Researchers with WSU's Honey Bee and Pollinators Program have produced a new video series giving novice keepers a strong introduction to best practices and the science of apiculture, in both Spanish and English.
Cycling, crystals and cutting-edge science: the secrets of Hodgkinson and Hunter Bell’s success
The training duo who oversaw famous medal success in Torun believe the best is yet to come for their athletes
Register for 25Live trainings at Health Sciences Center
The Facilities Planning and Scheduling team will provide a 25Live training session from 2-3 p.m. April 8 at the Health Sciences Center, Room 2912.
Live Science Today: Earth hits record energy imbalance, Hawaii floods and NASA prepares for Artemis II launch
Monday, March 23, 2026: Your daily roundup of the biggest science stories making headlines.
A surprising foam discovery could change everyday products
Foams have long baffled scientists because liquid drains from them far sooner than theory predicts. New research shows the reason: the bubbles don’t stay put—they rearrange, opening pathways for liquid to escape. The key factor is the pressure needed to shift bubbles, not just push liquid through them. This insight reshapes how we understand foams and could improve everyday products.
Inaugural Health Care by Food research award honors excellence in food is medicine science
DALLAS, March 23, 2026 — At a time when American dietary patterns are facing renewed attention, the American Heart Association has announced its inaugural Health Care by Food™ Most Impactful Food Is Medicine Research Award, honoring the year’s most...
Inaugural Health Care by Food research award honors excellence in food is medicine science
DALLAS, March 23, 2026 — At a time when American dietary patterns are facing renewed attention, the American Heart Association has announced its inaugural Health Care by Food™ Most Impactful Food Is Medicine Research Award, honoring the year’s most...
As President Trump’s Attacks on Science Escalate, Big Oil Moves to Avoid Legal Accountability
This piece was originally published in Climate Home News. The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) recently agreed to hear arguments in Boulder v. Exxon and Suncor a case that could decide whether communities harmed by climate change can hold polluters accountable in state court. Origin
The problem with Trump promoting "gold standard science"
This simplistic branding is confusing, misleading, and potentially harmful to scientific literacy.
Benjamin Logan students shine at Regional Science Day competition
Benjamin Logan students had a strong showing at the Ohio Academy of Science Regional Science Day at Ohio Northern University. Competing against top students from […]
What’s the science behind ice thickness and when it’s safe to drive on a lake?
A Canadian ice researcher came up with a formula in 1971 for ice roads. It’s still the foundation for safety guidelines.
New York approves cannabis for anxiety. Science says it may not help
A Lancet Psychiatry study found no evidence cannabinoids treat anxiety, PTSD. In NY, any practitioner can certify a patient for medical cannabis for any condition they deem appropriate.
How ‘Tiny Shortcuts’ Are Poisoning Science
Seemingly harmless data tweaks are undermining the integrity of the entire field. We must define the problem to prevent it.
Inside the Turmoil at RFK Jr.’s CDC, as Told by Current and Former Employees
Forty-three current and former C.D.C. employees on the changes they say are replacing science with ideology — and making Americans more vulnerable.
Science Explains Why You Wake Up at 3 am, and How to Go Back to Sleep
About one in five people have middle-of-the-night insomnia.
Science should guide Florida’s pesticide conversations
The science on glyphosate exposure is extensive, and the levels reported in bread testing fall well below thresholds associated with harm.
Coeur d'Alene's science guy
Ahead of his retirement in May from the teaching staff at Arizona State University, behavioral neuroscientist Brian Smith has put his focus into making science more accessible to more people. “There's a lot of misunderstanding what science is,” Smith said.
Cleanup underway after pick-up truck crashed into science surplus store in Geneva
The Christian Science Monitor Daily for March 23, 2026
Rethink the news: Reducing news to hard lines and side-taking leaves a lot of the story untold. Progress comes from challenging what we hear and considering different views.
Dean for Basic Science Colin Duckett tapped to serve as Boston University Provost
Duckett, executive vice dean for basic and preclinical science, will begin his tenure as chief academic officer at Boston University starting in July.
Students Learn the Science of Tree Felling at Treehaven
Click here to view this video from wjfw.com.
Precision Nutrition: Tufts University Expert Q&A On How Personalized Diet Science May Transform Health - Where The Food Comes From
Tufts expert José Ordovás explains precision nutrition and how personalized diet science could transform health and prevent disease.
A DNA test ruled him out. He was convicted of murder anyway.
Forensics has its share of high-profile problems. There’s phony “junk science,” like bogus bite-mark and blood spatter analyses that have sent innocent people to jail. And there’s the steady drumbeat of lab scandals, where analysts make up results. But there’s a subtler and more pervasive problem at work in many cases: lab analysts and lawyers who take perfectly legitimate science and twist it. Globe Opinion is exploring these distortions with a series we’re calling “Twisted Science.” And there may be no better place to start than with the case of Terrel Barros.
Extendend interview: Dr Roham Alvandi on Iran, Britain, and the futures that might have been
From Cold War power games to the cultural aspirations of the Pahlavi era, this extended conversation pulls back the curtain on the global forces that continue to shape - and be shaped by - Iran today. Dr Roham Alvandi is Director of the Iranian History Initiative at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
A promising fatty liver treatment may raise cancer risk
A surprising new study reveals that blocking a supposedly protective enzyme, Caspase-2, could actually backfire—raising the risk of chronic liver damage and cancer over time. Researchers found that without this enzyme, liver cells grow abnormally large and accumulate genetic damage, leading to inflammation, scarring, and eventually tumors, especially with age. While inhibiting Caspase-2 may offer short-term benefits, such as reducing fatty liver disease, the long-term consequences appear dangerous.
Science diplomacy, research and global health
Nature Microbiology - As a young scientist from the global south, engaging in science diplomacy has brought greater purpose and meaning to my career, writes Delfina Fernandes Hlashwayo.
Science diplomacy, research and global health
Nature Microbiology - As a young scientist from the global south, engaging in science diplomacy has brought greater purpose and meaning to my career, writes Delfina Fernandes Hlashwayo.
Art and science collide in alumna’s artwork
Juliet Fiss, an RIT imaging science alumna, uses algorithms and formulas to create artwork, including a piece at RIT’s Carlson Center.
Two-thirds of workers are burned out—here's what science says about how to tackle it
Burnout is at an all-time high, with some studies saying two-thirds of employees now cite job burnout as a major challenge. Overwork and chronic stress do not just drain energy, they can erode health, ...
Students compete in Virginia Science Olympiad State Tournament at UVA
The tournament’s events ranged from knowledge tests to building robots.
Students compete in Virginia Science Olympiad State Tournament at UVA
The tournament’s events ranged from knowledge tests to building robots.
Cockroaches with smart backpacks? Scientists turn insects into cyborgs to detect hidden pipeline leaks
Science News: Although the concept seems like something from science fiction, science is rapidly adopting it. Researchers have started creating ‘cyborg cockroaches,.
Educational Service Center awarded Teach Computer Science 2.0 Grant
The Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve has been awarded $584,614 through the Ohio Teach Computer Science 2.0 State Grant, a competitive initiative funded by the Ohio Department of Higher Education. As part of an $8 million…
Would you fart for science? Slap you with Science 3-22-2026
Student researchers bring Kentucky State University science to Posters-at-the-Capitol
With lawmakers just steps away, three Kentucky State University undergraduates presented research on cattle health, soil amendments and food safety at the Capitol Annex on March 5, bringing student-led agricultural […]
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
You're Incredibly Smart If You Can Answer Even ONE Question On This Science Quiz
It's time to channel your inner Bill Nye.
Science Central: Planetarium opens this week
Wednesday at 10:30 there will be a ribbon cutting unveiling the 1,830-square-foot planetarium features a 21-foot-high, 28-foot-wide dome.
Long Lost 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' Episode Finally Found
Thanks to a garage sale, the 'Star Force' episode from the earliest days of 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' is online for all to see.