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Technological Decolonization in the Shadow of Algorithmic Hegemony
With every crisis originating from a tech company, we see a fresh batch of dirty laundry aired & we fail to grasp the scale of the issue.
Here’s who’ll win the World Cup, according to science
Statisticians from across Europe teamed up to train a competition-predicting, machine learning algorithm. This is what they found.
The NTS Radio Player brings the best of internet radio to your hi-fi
To hell with algorithms, let a human DJ take the wheel.
Social media’s next evolution: user-controlled algorithms
Social media feeds are becoming more customizable as platforms like Threads, Instagram, and TikTok introduce tools that let users directly influence the algorithms powering their recommendations.
UConn Health Minute: Smarter Spine Care
At UConn Health, spine surgery is getting a high-tech upgrade. Dr. Hardeep Singh explains how advanced imaging and an AI learning algorithm, surgeons can pl ...
Atom Computing and Phasecraft Partner on Material Science Algorithms
Neutral-atom quantum hardware developer Atom Computing and quantum software specialist Phasecraft have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on application-focused algorithms. The partnership aims to adapt Phasecraft’s hardware-optimized software to
Online racism is significantly impacting mental health, First Nations people say: ‘It’s like carrying a bully in your pocket’
Australian Human Rights Commission has called for a digital duty of care to prevent social media algorithms from incentivising ‘racist’ content
What AI-herding scientists can learn from watching ‘sheepdog YouTube’
Controlling a small group of “noisy” sheep holds hints for computer algorithms
You Can Personalize Your Instagram Algorithm Now — Unless You Want To See More Posts From Accounts You Follow
Instagram has expanded its algorithm personalization features to its main feed.
You can just tell the Instagram algorithm what you want now
You’ll be able to change topics that Instagram shows you.
iOS 27 Brings New Functionality to HomePod
With the launch of iOS 27 and HomePod Software 27, Apple is adding support for AutoMix, Apple's AI-powered Apple Music feature that blends songs using matching key and tempo. Apple says it has improved AutoMix's underlying algorithms to generate new transition types, making for more seamless blends between tracks, so this should also benefit the newly introduced feature for HomePod.
Preparing future math teachers to teach data science
When Eric Weber, professor and chair of mathematics at Iowa State University, talks about data science with future math teachers, he doesn't begin with code, algorithms, or buzzwords. Instead, he asks ...
‘Algorithms are thoughts’: How live coding is rewriting the rules of electronic music
It was a Tuesday at Nightclub 101 in the East Village, and the floor was moving. Not shuffling — but moving with vigor. On stage, Jake Sondy wasn't singing or
Are plants the key to solving energy and food crises worldwide?
Costas Maranas, Robert V. & Gloria H. Waltemeyer Chair and Donald B. Broughton Professor of Chemical Engineering at Penn State, is developing computer models and algorithms to help scientists better understand, analyze and redesign biological organisms, including plants. In this Q&A, Maranas discussed how recent breakthroughs in modeling, artificial intelligence and systems biology are accelerating their work, helping plant scientists better understand and repurpose plants into fuel, plastics and more.
How Nigeria’s ‘algorithmic apothecary’ fuels a surge in risky herbal cures
Unverified herbal remedies promoted on social media are driving rising health risks and delayed treatment in Nigeria.
Chinese scientists create ‘kill-them-all’ algorithm for drone warfare
Smart web identifies objects as friend, foe or terrain, meaning drone swarms can hunt even when communication is jammed and vision blocked.
Bari Weiss: Think For Yourself, Not By Yourself
When we launched The Free Press, the plan was simple: Tell the truth plainly, and let readers come to their own conclusions. I thought there would be a sizable enough group of people who would pay the cost of one coffee a month to read high-quality news and opinion journalism. But what happened next surprised even me. Yes, you came for the stories—for the investigations, essays, debates, interviews, podcasts, and arguments. But over the past few years, you also found one another. I’ve watched strangers become friends in the lobby before our debates. I’ve seen people trade numbers after live recordings of Honestly, launch businesses after Free Press dinners, fall in love after our meetups—even get married (!?), and say some version of the same sentence over and over again: I thought I was the only one. We live in the most connected age in history, and yet, millions of people feel isolated, alienated, politically homeless, and starved for real conversation. We have followers and no neighbors. Algorithms instead of interlocutors. Our social media feeds are like troughs, but what we really need is a table to gather around. The Free Press is a publication, yes, but it is also a gathering place for independent minds. So today, I’m thrilled to share our new investment in you. We are launching a new world of community experiences for our paid subscribers, designed to bring _Free Press_ers together online and in real life. Introducing Our Community Launch The Free Press Forum Our new digital home for paid subscribers, the Forum, is now live. This is where _Free Press_ers can meet, debate, recommend, organize, joke, argue, and converse like civilized people. Imagine that. This is not social media as you know it. No bots. No algorithmic rage bait. No performative nonsense. Just smart people talking to one another. Inside the Forum, you’ll find conversations on the things our readers already care about most: the issues of the day, recommendations (books, music, travel), work and networking, parenting, dating, and where to find your people—online and in real life. Jump in! Introduce yourself and join the first conversations in the Free Press Forum here. You’ll also find announcements from us (paid subscribers are first to hear!) and our writers, hosting regular Ask Me Anythings (AMAs)—live conversations where subscribers can ask questions, push back, and continue the discussion beyond the page. This Thursday, subscribers can chat with our brilliant reporter, culture vulture, and co-founder Suzy Weiss. Friday, I’ll be lending you Nellie Bowles, queen of TGIF, to answer subscriber questions live. Read more about The Forum directly from Nellie here. The Free Press Supper Club The best part of being a _Free Press_er is meeting other _Free Press_ers. So we’re inviting you all to dinner to do just that. It’s part salon, part blind date, part old-fashioned dinner party. Here’s how it works: You answer a short questionnaire. We match you with a small group of _Free Press_ers in your city. We send you to a great restaurant. You show up for supper. The rest is up to you. Your next best friend, co-founder, or future spouse may already be waiting at the table. Learn more and sign up here for our first Supper Club in 12 cities in three countries taking place on June 18. Don’t see your city? Raise your hand if you’d like a Free Press Supper Club near you. Yes, St. Louis—we hear you. The Free Press Retreats and Excursions We’re also building something new for 2027: immersive experiences for Free Press readers who want to continue the conversation trailside, poolside, or around a fire long after dessert. The Free Press Retreat will be an intimate long weekend built around big ideas, outdoor adventure, great meals, and the kinds of discussions that happen when curious people spend meaningful time together. Bring your spouse, your parents, your children—or come on your own. Free Press Excursions will take us farther afield: curated trips with Free Press writers and contributors exploring places that help explain the world we live in, from the battlefields of Gettysburg and Normandy to the Vatican in Rome. We’ll share more details this summer. If you’d like an early look when these experiences open for registration, show your interest here.**A Note to Our Subscribers** These new offerings exist because of our paying subscribers. If you’re already one: Thank you. You built this. And you keep us going. If you’ve been reading us for free and wondering whether to join, this is a very good time. For a short while only, we’re offering a rare 20 percent discount for you to join our community as a paid subscriber. You’ll unlock everything we publish, plus exclusive access to our members-only Forum, Supper Clubs, and more insider perks. Thinking for yourself shouldn’t mean thinking by yourself. See you there. —Bari
Did a bot deny your claim? NC lawmakers want to regulate AI in health insurance
North Carolina lawmakers want to limit how artificial intelligence is used in health insurance decisions, citing fears over “upcoding” and algorithm-driven denials.
Exclusive: Why Adnan Sami Doesn't Care About Getting 'Pulled Into Politics' After Meeting RSS Chief
Adnan Sami said, "So the politics, it doesn't bother me anymore."
YouTube may be building different political realities for men and women
A new study found the platform’s recommendation algorithm steers users toward sharply different political content based on inferred gender.
When Algorithms Decide Who Gets Health Care
Scholar argues that algorithms determining health care coverage should be more regulated.
Baking soda & vinegar volcanoes with Mad Science of Austin & SA
View: Why we need to domesticate Africa’s health algorithm
As AI transforms medicine, African countries risk becoming the raw material for a revolution whose benefits flow elsewhere.
Global Steel Price Surge: Not India Or China, This Nation Steals The Show
India Steel Production: India remains one of the quickest expanding steel markets in the world within this global uptrend.
Scientists Decode Giant Venus Cloud, Say "Hydraulic Jump" Is Behind It
This happens when a fast-moving, shallow flow suddenly slows down and becomes deeper.
OpenAI Bought Company That Offered A.I. Tools for Cloning Voices
The acquisition, Weights.gg, was a sort of social network for creating and sharing artificial intelligence algorithms.
The promises and pitfalls of personalized health
Can the algorithm adjust to factor in my PMOS?
AI’s rapid growth spurs regulatory reaction in Colorado
The 2026 legislative session was marked by a major push to regulate artificial intelligence, a technology advancing at breakneck speed. Colorado is at the forefront of AI policy, becoming the first state to pursue regulation on “algorithmic discrimination” by passing a law in 2024. Supporters have lauded the legislation, saying it’s necessary to put guardrails […]
AIM-HI virtual showcase highlights AI, algorithm innovation in health care
Augmented Intelligence in Medicine and Health Care Initiative (AIM-HI) provides preview of work being carried out by grantees.
How Google Is Moving The Needle On AI, Tony Stark-Style
Google DeepMind's new AI-powered pointer may change how humans interact with computers altogether.
Meet the new women’s sports magazine that wants you to step away from the algorithm
Snatch Magazine, born from a New York apartment by artist Sophia Mitropoulos, released its second issue in March.
NYU’s Quantum Institute, IBM Team Up for Postdoctoral Research Program in Quantum Computing
Joint postdoctoral research projects will focus on quantum algorithms and applications in research areas across chemistry, computer science, materials science, physics, optimization, and more
Sleeping giant has awakened for Southern Section baseball playoffs
Defending champion St. John Bosco enters the Division 1 baseball playoffs on an 11-game winning streak, but it didn't get much love from the seeding algorithms.
Lykke Li vs. the Algorithm
The singer-songwriter speaks on the algorithm, rock resurgence, and running away from it all as she releases her sixth and reportedly final album, The Afterparty, today.
What’s eating healthcare AI? Not healthcare AI itself
When AI fails to thrive in healthcare, the problem is usually not with an algorithm. It’s with something deeper. Three unrelated opinion pieces authored by far-flung subject matter experts hit on this theme just this week.
AI lets chemists design molecules by simply describing them
Creating complex molecules usually requires years of experience and countless decisions, but a new AI system is changing that. Synthegy lets chemists guide synthesis and reaction planning using simple language, while powerful algorithms generate and evaluate possible solutions. The AI doesn’t just compute—it reasons, scoring pathways and explaining which ones make the most sense.
Flaws in Kenya’s AI-driven health reforms driving up costs for the poorest
Exclusive: amid unrest, President William Ruto promised to give all Kenyans access to healthcare. But the algorithm favours the rich, an investigation has found
How Perimenopause Became America's New Health Scare
If you’re a woman who speaks English, it sometimes feels like you can’t spend time on the internet without being bombarded with all the ways in which your body or your mind could be just a little broken. A few years ago, Instagram was full of women talking about attention deficit disorder, and lo and behold: From 2020 to 2022, the percentage of women (between the ages of 23 and 49) newly diagnosed with it nearly doubled. Not long ago, premenstrual syndrome was all the rage, with the algorithm pushing videos that explained why it’s okay to fly off the handle once a month. These days, the word perimenopause is everywhere. Perhaps you’ve seen the headlines. “Perimenopause is having a millennial moment. Here are 7 ways to cope,” says The Washington Post. Or perhaps you’ve seen Apple TV’s glossy drama Your Friends & Neighbors, which is back for its second season; the female protagonist Mel is explicitly perimenopausal, and in the first season, she keyed a car for no apparent reason. She’s played by Amanda Peet, who talks about being perimenopausal in real life (“God knows I’ve wanted to key a lot of cars in the last three years,” she’s said.) In fact, it sometimes feels like every celebrity interview with a forty- or fiftysomething woman requires her to open up about what’s going on with her hormones. Drew Barrymore joked on CBS Mornings that when she found out how long perimenopause can last, she thought she’d “never make it 10 years like this.” Katherine Heigl told Business Insider that “whoever designed it so that women would be going through perimenopause while raising teenagers should be sent a strongly worded letter.” At the same time, influencers who talk about perimenopause seem to have cropped up out of nowhere with something to sell you, causing people online to wonder where this all came from. It’s trickled down from Instagram to tchotchke shops, which sell fridge magnets that say “Perimenopause Is Hot.” You can buy a T-shirt that proclaims “Perimenopause Made Me Do It!” My mom, who is 48, started uncontrollably shaking her leg at night a few years ago. “It’s perimenopause,” she told me when I complained about how annoying it was. But what exactly is perimenopause—and why are we all talking about it all of a sudden?
Scientists identify 10,000 'impossible' exoplanet candidates, potentially tripling the number of known alien worlds
A new study has identified a potentially record-breaking haul of transiting exoplanets, thanks to a machine learning algorithm that analyzed the light curves of more than 80 million previously overlooked stars.
Rodriguez introduces new AI bill, drawing kudos from business and consumer groups | The Sum and Substance
The bill requires disclosures on use of AI in consequential decisions, lets the AG's office intervene if algorithmic discrimination is found.
Using Data Science to Get Food and Volunteers Where They’re Needed Most
Researchers helped VolunteerMatch and Feeding America improve the algorithms behind their work.
"He Is Proof Of God On Earth": Mojtaba Khamenei's Aide Amid Health Concerns
Ayatollah Mohsen Qomi said that despite his injuries, Iranian officials were now focused on preserving the Supreme Leader's life.
OpenAI's New AI Models Ordered To Never Talk About 'Goblins, Gremlins And Ogres'
OpenAI Codex CLI instructs GPT models not to mention goblins gremlins or similar creatures unless relevant
Kentucky Derby 2026: How algorithms are changing horse betting ... and outraging gamblers in the process
Opinion | This Minnesota bill would crack down on outrageous resale ticket prices
"There’s nothing free about a market where tickets listed don’t even exist, consumers don’t have a shot at tickets on on sale because they’re scooped up by algorithms, and prices are driven up by bots," Dayna Frank writes.
NVIDIA Improves Path Tracing Performance By 3x With Enhanced ReSTIR Algorithms, Prepped For Next-Gen Gaming
NVIDIA shared a new and improved ReSTIR algorithm, which improves Path Tracing performance by 2-3x, setting the stage for next-gen gaming.
NVIDIA says new ReSTIR path tracing update is 2 to 3 times faster, but this is still research
ReSTIR PT Enhanced could lower the cost of real-time path tracing NVIDIA researchers have published a new paper called ReSTIR PT Enhanced: Algorithmic
Dipika Kakar Breaks Down During MRI Scan, Shoaib Ibrahim Shares Health Update: "Chote-Chote Dots Nikle Hain"
Dipika Kakar said, "Ghabra rahi thi main... Main royi bhi; machine mein jaane se pehle bhi royi, aur machine mein bhi royi"
Farewell to Prof. Michael Rabin, godfather of Israeli computer science
A pioneer of modern computing, Rabin shaped algorithms, cryptography and AI foundations, mentored generations and remains the only Israeli to win the Turing Award, the field’s highest honor, as computer science reshaped everyday life
Indonesia and the politics of platform governance
The relationship between governments and digital platforms is never simple. Governments can introduce regulations, but digital platforms also possess enormous power through the technologies, algorithms, and global information infrastructure they control.
Beyond the Algorithm: The business of fun
Depending on the setting, Chris Davenport might describe his career in a number of ways, but if he had to distill it into a single phrase, he would probably say: professional risk manager. Over decades in the mountains...
Scientists Revise Timeline For End Of The Universe, And It's Earlier Than Previously Estimated
The study is based on Hawking radiation introduced by Stephen Hawking.
“The choice is yours…”, an analysis of Wilders’ algorithmic politics on platform X
Geert Wilders: a longtime actor in politicsGeert Wilders has been a long-standing figure in Dutch politics. He has served in the House of Representatives since 1998, initially as a member of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) until he left the party in 2004 (Vossen, 2011, p. 184 ...
When Algorithms Decide: Are Business Schools Preparing Leaders Or Training Managers To Obey Machines?
B-schools are racing to teach AI skills – but they risk producing grads who defer to algorithms instead of leading through them.
Health Law Navigator: The Compliance Department vs. The Machines: A Playbook for Using AI
In 2026, health care facilities are under relentless pressure to use AI. From diagnostic algorithms that outperform radiologists to predictive
Microsoft Warns Copilot AI Is For 'Entertainment Purposes' Only: 'Use At Your Own Risk'
Microsoft updates Copilot terms and conditions, warning that the AI tool is for entertainment only and users assume all risks.
Politics in an Attention Economy | Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.
Politicians and campaigns today must break through our algorithmic attention economy by using storytelling to connect with voters, draw in unlikely supporters, and help people imagine a better future.
DDR5 RAM prices show rare drop amidst memory shortage after TurboQuant announcement
U.S. buyers are starting to see memory prices level off at major retailers. Amazon shoppers will find that some Corsair Vengeance DDR5 RAM is now slightly more affordable. Google’s TurboQuant algorithm may allow AI data centers to use fewer modules, increasing supply for gamers.
How AI therapies are changing health care
It may become harder to tell whether a compound or an algorithm is doing the healing.
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.
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.
Nvidia Confirms DLSS 5 Is Re-Drawing Games, and That Sucks
Nvidia has confirmed that the new DLSS 5 algorithm is redrawing games based on a 2D image input and motion data. That's not great!
Markiplier to Microdramas: The Ankler x NAB Show’s Future of Entertainment
Share Subscribe Vegas, baby! The Ankler is heading back to NAB Show for a second year in a row — and doubling down on conversations with the smartest people in the industry. From April 18–22, we’re partnering again with the industry’s biggest media and tech gathering to break down the Business of Media and Entertainment as it’s actually evolving: faster, riskier and increasingly driven by new formats, new audiences and new power players. This curated series will bring together top creators, executives and innovators to tackle the forces reshaping the industry — from the AI disruption of Hollywood’s creative ecosystem to the rise of the creator economy, shifting audience behavior and the changing economics of production. We’ll be rolling out more programming in the coming weeks — including top speakers from leading AI studios, prediction markets and beyond — so keep an eye on the Business of Media and Entertainment hub. But first up, we’re announcing two panels about what’s actually working in Hollywood: The Scary-Smart Business of Horror A good scare has become one of the entertainment economy’s most reliable engines. With disciplined budgets, built-in fandoms and global box office upside, horror consistently outperforms. From theatrical releases to streaming-first originals and creator-driven IP, the genre is artistically flexible and financially durable — and one of the last truly communal experiences for Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences. Join YouTube creator Mark Fischbach, aka Markiplier, whose independent feature Iron Lung earned more than $50 million at the global box office, Atomic Monster president Michael Clear and screenwriter Akela Cooper (M3GAN, Malignant) for a conversation moderated by Like & Subscribe’s Natalie Jarvey about why horror travels so effectively across platforms and borders, how studios and independents are building sustainable genre pipelines and why the next wave of breakout franchises may emerge from unexpected sources. Inside the Microdrama Boom Short-form serialized storytelling is having a major moment. Microdramas, social-native series and creator-led narratives are capturing massive audiences with low-cost, rapid production cycles and direct-to-fan distribution. What was once dismissed as niche or experimental is now attracting major platform investment. Moderated by Jarvey, this panel of microdrama creators and executives — including one of the format’s top stars and producers, Kasey Esser, and Dhar Mann Studios’ head of vertical content, Erin McFarlane — examines how format innovation, fandom dynamics and algorithmic discovery are reshaping the economics of scripted storytelling and what traditional studios can learn from these agile models. For sponsorship opportunities, contact Lynne@theankler.com Share
Instagram worse for mental health than WhatsApp, global study finds
World Happiness Report finds platforms focused on connection less harmful than algorithm-driven apps
UC-created algorithm can help treat chronic health condition
High blood pressure affects about half of U.S. adults.
Spotify’s newest feature will let you control your recommendations
Spotify was early to the algorithmically recommended music game. Now the company is testing a feature that lets listeners have...
Mark Cuban names 2 up-and-coming Democrats that he's impressed with
Cuban told Business Insider that Zohran Mamdani and James Talarico are two Democrats who "understand how to make the algorithms work for them."
"Please Mind Your Business": Kamal Haasan Slams Trump Amid "Permission" Row
Hitting out at the US after a top official said Washington, DC, had given India "permission" to buy Russian oil after the Middle East conflict disrupted global supply chains, actor-politician Kamal Haasan has said India does not take orders
Scientists build a “periodic table” for AI
Choosing the right method for multimodal AI—systems that combine text, images, and more—has long been trial and error. Emory physicists created a unifying mathematical framework that shows many AI techniques rely on the same core idea: compress data while preserving what’s most predictive. Their “control knob” approach helps researchers design better algorithms, use less data, and avoid wasted computing power. The team believes it could pave the way for more accurate, efficient, and environmentally friendly AI.
Imagery, Algorithms, and the Ballot: What Takaichi’s Victory Says About Youth Politics in the Digital Age
Sanae Takaichi’s electoral victory in February marks a historic turning point in Japanese politics. As Japan’s first female prime minister and the leader of a commanding parliamentary majority, she represents change in both symbolic and strategic terms. ,
Hotmail Founder Sabeer Bhatia Slams Dhurandhar: 'Watching Senseless Killings Is Not Entertainment'
Sabeer Bhatia expressed particular concern about the film's impact on younger audiences
The State of the Union brings a big audience for Trump. But does it matter?
In the age of algorithm-driven social media feeds, the audience for the speech is increasingly fragmented and entrenched in their political positions.
Trump's Swollen Ankles Spark Health Concerns Again: Edema Causes, Risks And What It Means
US President Trump's visibly swollen ankles have reignited scrutiny over his health, drawing attention to edema, fluid buildup in tissues. Here's what causes swelling and when it may signal a serious health issue.
Netflix disappoints subscribers with adaptation of famous science-fiction saga
An unkillable sci-fi franchise just ran into the only foe it can’t outpace: the algorithm. What set off a clash between artistic ambition, canon loyalists, and the cold math of streaming?
The political effects of X’s feed algorithm
Nature - Among users initially on a chronological feed, 7 weeks of exposure to X’s algorithmic feed in 2023 shifted political attitudes and account-following behaviour in a more conservative...
Southern Section coaches continue to complain about playoff system
Competitive equity system using computer algorithm continues to receive mixed reviews from boys' and girls' soccer coaches.
Harvard University Offers 7 Free Data Science Courses, Check Full List
Harvard University offers seven free online data science courses lasting eight to nine weeks with one to two hours of study weekly. Applications close June 17, 2026.
'Not Russia's Business': Why Putin Is Gleeful Over Trump's Greenland Gambit
Russian President Vladimir Putin has distanced Moscow from Donald Trump's Greenland ambitions, saying that the United States and its NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) allies will sort the matter among themselves.
Women’s Health Founders Are Rebuilding How Patients Find Care
Women’s health founders are rebuilding how patients find care, shifting to direct-to-consumer access, owned channels, and navigation models as algorithms raise costs.
UK politics ‘constantly suffering’ from online disinformation, says Labour MP
Emily Thornberry says risk posed to British democracy by bot farms and biased algorithms requires action
Do Colds Impact Men And Women Differently? Science Says Yes, Here's Why
While the "man flu" stereotype paints men to be dramatic sufferers, studies show women often have severe and prolonged symptoms like intense fatigue and inflammation due to oestrogen-fueled immune overdrive.
The chatbot will see you now: how AI is being trained to spot mental health issues in any language
Calls to a clinic in Uganda are helping create a therapy algorithm that works in local languages, as specialists look to technology to address the global mental health crisis
A New Bridge Links the Strange Math of Infinity to Computer Science
Descriptive set theorists study the niche mathematics of infinity. Now, they’ve shown that their problems can be rewritten in the concrete language of algorithms.
When they go low, we go viral
Millennial and Gen Z Democrats are running on something their predecessors can’t quite figure out — the social media algorithm.
MrBeast's former manager says the age of social-media superstars is fading
MrBeast's former manager Reed Duchscher said we're unlikely to see mega stars break out as algorithms favor smaller creators who make niche content.
December 26, 2025
Physicist Sean Carroll takes on black holes, Schrödinger’s cat, and other big physics concepts. Plus, we revisit some of our top stories of 2025, covering research into how death metal singers safely produce extreme vocalizations, how algorithms and social media are changing language, and what we can learn from people thriving in the coldest parts of the world.
New York to require social media platforms to display mental health warnings
Social media platforms with infinite scrolling, auto-play and algorithmic feeds will be required to display warning labels about their potential harm to young users’ mental health under a new law, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Friday.
'India Cured Me': NRI Returns After 10 Years, Criticises US Healthcare System
An NRI living in the US for 10 years returns to India, praising Indian healthcare and highlighting the high costs and complexity of the US system.
“My goal is to eliminate every line of C and C++ from Microsoft by 2030” — Microsoft bets on AI to finally modernize Windows
A distinguished engineer outlined a "previously unimaginable" plan to rewrite millions of lines of code using AI agents and algorithms.
AI is revolutionizing business but it can’t form the leaders we need
The rush for AI in businesses risks leaving us with a leadership vacuum that no algorithm can fill. As automation grows, critical operations demand leaders...
AI in entertainment: The real revolution is operational
Discussions about AI in the entertainment industry often conjure images of algorithm-generated scripts and digitally ... Read More
UK Wants All iPhones to Block Explicit Images Unless You Prove Age
Apple and Google will soon be "encouraged" to build nudity-detection algorithms into their software by default, as part of the UK government's strategy to tackle violence against women and girls, reports the Financial Times. According to the report, Home Office officials want device operating systems to prevent any nudity from being displayed unless users can verify that they're adults through biometric checks or official ID.
The AI industry wants to turn the routine mammogram into a powerful multitool
A new generation of AI algorithms aim to go beyond detecting cancers to predicting risk for cardiovascular diseases.
The Political Limits of Algorithmic Governance
Algorithmic efficiency may undermine the very liberal democracy it was meant to improve.
TikTok’s mental health ‘rabbit hole’? It’s not in your head.
It’s not just you: Data shows the app’s algorithm makes some topics ‘stickier’ than others
After 'Disagreeing With <i>Dhurandhar's</i> Politics', Hrithik Roshan Says "I Cant Wait For Part 2"
In his first post, though Hrithik Roshan lauded the storytelling, he admitted that he might disagree with the "politics" of the film
Spotify’s Prompted Playlists use AI to control your algorithm
Create your next playlist with a chatbot
Hrithik Roshan Praises </i>Dhurandhar</i> Despite 'Disagreeing With Its Politics': "Loved And Learnt From This One"
Hrithik Roshan took to his Instagram Story to share a detailed review of the film
Instagram's new 'Your Algorithm' tool gives you more control over the Reels you see
You can select which topics you want to see more or less of, and your recommendations will adapt accordingly.
