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May 31: "Stadium Sling Bag Giveaway" presented by the Rich Entertainment Group, as Bisons host IronPigs (1pm)
GET MY TICKETS Everyone needs a good companion when they head out to the ballpark, and Sunday, May 31st is a great chance for you to get a new stadium essential. Before the Bisons game against the IronPigs at 1:05 p.m., we'll be hosting a Stadium Sling Bag Giveaway, presented
OpenAI adds AI pets to its Codex coding tool
The animated companion tracks your work in the background.
The Outer Worlds will soon be removed from stores — but there's a catch
The Outer Worlds will be delisted on certain platforms, but the Spacer's Choice Edition will continue to receive updates.
The Division Was Originally A World Of Warcraft Clone, Says Ubisoft
There was a time when The Division didn't feature cover-based shooting, but instead had a hot bar and dog companion
Blackmagic Camera app gets Apple Watch companion
Blackmagic Design, ahead of NAB 2026, updated its Blackmagic Camera app to include a new Apple Watch control option.
Rock the Paws: Companion Animal Care hosts event to support pets for seniors
Companion Animal Care of Brevard County hosts \
How vibe coding app Anything is rebuilding after getting booted from the App Store twice
Anything is planning to launch a desktop companion app to aid mobile app development after its App Store removal.
Man dates Replika AI companion for 3 years — shares pros and cons
Ian Nicholson has had a long-term relationship with his AI companion Min-ho for years, saying it feels different from being with a human.
Artificial Detective: Breaking Down the Gameplay Behind This Incredible Xbox Partner Preview Reveal
Artificial Detective puts you on the case of solving humanity’s disappearance. We spoke to its creators on how they're blending hacking, stealth, and companion abilities in this upcoming decopunk action-adventure.
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn – Learn More About Gameplay, New Companions, the Closed Beta, and the Release Window
The release of The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is planned for spring 2027, and players can gain access to an Xbox Series X|S Closed Beta on April 22, 2026.
New studies of old dogs help scientists understand where they came from
Using the oldest dog genes studied so far, scientists are finding more evidence that our furry friends have been our companions for thousands of years. Scientists think dogs descended from an ancient...
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.
Health Medicinals Expands Apotheco Medicinals as National Operations Platform
NEW YORK & CHICAGO, March 11, 2026--Unified pharmacy platform embedded in prescriber workflows, bringing commercial, personalized, and Rx-companion therapies together.
CA health officials warning beachgoers of bird flu for pets after elephant seals contract virus
People and their canine companions are urged to be extra careful now at the beaches because of a new warning from the California Department of Public Health about bird flu.
NASA’s DART spacecraft changed an asteroid’s orbit around the sun
A 2022 NASA mission changed the orbit of the asteroid Dimorphos around its companion. New data shows their joint orbit around the sun also changed.
Detectives Arrest Woman in Business Card Theft and Fraud
Cape Coral, Fla — Renee Lynn Companioni (W/F, DOB 03/02/1978) has been arrested following an investigation into the fraudulent use […]
Lenovo Unveils an Attachable AI Agent 'Companion' for Their Laptops
As the Mobile World Conference begins in Spain, Lenovo brought a new attachable accessory for their laptops — an AI agent. CNET reports: The little circular module perches on the top of your Lenovo laptop display, attached via the magnetic Magic Bay on the rear. The module is home to an adora...
Reusse: File this under ‘You never know what will happen in sports’
An old drinking companion once used to bellow that unexpected outcomes were part of what made sports great. This reporter couldn’t help but recall that fellow while watching hockey Friday night.
They have AI boyfriends, girlfriends. Here's how they're celebrating Valentine's Day.
Ahead of Valentine’s Day, EVA AI hosted a pop up where human users could take their AI companions on a date. I went to see what it's like.
Entrepreneur Libor Zezulka, M.A. Launches Start.Scale.Survive. Business Guide Built on Book OS Platform
Czech Republic, February 13, 2026 -- The new business book combines print publishing with a companion mobile app, web community, and VIP conten...
Twin beams blast from a hidden star in stunning Hubble Space Telescope image
A dazzling new Hubble image peels back the layers of the mysterious Egg Nebula, a rare and fleeting phase in a Sun-like star’s death just 1,000 light-years away. Hidden inside a dense cocoon of dust, the dying star blasts twin beams of light through a polar opening, carving glowing lobes and delicate ripples into the surrounding cloud. These striking, symmetrical arcs hint that unseen companion stars may be shaping the spectacle from within.
Two Hands Corporation Announces AI Business Update and Financial Update
Locust Valley, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - February 12, 2026) - Two Hands Corporation (CSE: TWOH) (OTCID: TWOH) ("Two Hands" or the "Company") is pleased to announce significant progress in its strategic transformation into an AI- and mobile app-focused technology platform, targeting high-growth markets in India and Southeast Asia. The Company has invested in ON GRAPH, a project to develop a n AI platform centered on character creation and companion experiences. This platform will integrate...
The Science of Love (Episode 2)
Guest host Geena Davis helps us explore how the love we feel —for our partners, friends, family, even our four legged companions—shapes our brains, bodies, and lives.
Gemini Deep Think: Redefining the Future of Scientific Research
Gemini Deep Think is accelerating discovery in maths, physics, and computer science by acting as a powerful scientific companion for researchers.
Gillibrand urges FTC to examine impacts of AI on older Americans
The junior New York senator requested a briefing on the FTC’s inquiry into generative AI companions.
Samsung teases new privacy feature to hide your Galaxy phone screen from onlookers
Samsung said that the upcoming feature will let you protect selected parts of the screen like notification popup area.
Radio waves revealed what happened before a star exploded
For the first time, astronomers have captured radio signals from a rare exploding star, exposing what happened in the years leading up to its death. The radio waves reveal that the star violently shed huge amounts of material shortly before it exploded, likely due to interaction with a nearby companion star. This discovery gives scientists a new tool to rewind the clock on stellar deaths. It also shows that some supernovae are far more dramatic in their final moments than previously thought.
“Stars like the Sun don’t just stop shining,” but this one did
A distant Sun-like star suddenly went dark for months, stunning astronomers who quickly realized something massive was passing in front of it. Observations revealed a gigantic disk of gas and dust filled with vaporized metals, swirling around an unseen companion object. For the first time, scientists directly measured the motion of these metallic winds inside such a disk. The findings suggest that even ancient star systems can still experience catastrophic planetary smashups.
China’s AI Boyfriend Business Is Taking On a Life of Its Own
Gen Z women in China are all in on digital companionship—even setting up dates with real-world versions of their AI boyfriends.
[CES 2026] An Entertainment Companion for Every Moment Seen & Heard
The Entertainment Companion zone at The First Look 2026 marked a new chapter in Samsung’s visual display evolution; building on nearly two decades as the
'Worst in Show' CES products include AI refrigerators, AI companions and AI doorbells
Artificial intelligence took center stage at this year's CES gadget show, but not always for the right reasons.
Your AI Girlfriend Has a Body and Memory Now. Meet Emily, CES's Most Intimate Robot
The life-size sex robot uses conversational AI and memory to create a more personalized experience.
Lenovo Debuts Space Frame Design in Latest ThinkPads at CES 2026
The new flagship X1 Carbon Gen 14 and companion X1 2-in-1 Gen 11 get new modular chassis for greater serviceability and longer lifespans.
[CES 2026] An Entertainment Companion for Every Moment Seen and Heard
The Entertainment Companion zone at The First Look 2026 marked a new chapter in Samsung’s visual display evolution — building on two decades as the world’s No. 1 TV brand. The space was divided into art, gaming and entertainment sections, anchored by the world’s first 130-inch Micro RGB TV and the Vision AI Companion. Samsung
11,000-year-old dog skulls reveal a hidden origin story
Dogs began diversifying thousands of years earlier than previously believed, with clear differences in size and shape appearing over 11,000 years ago. A massive global analysis of ancient skulls shows that early dogs were already adapting to different roles in human societies. This challenges the idea that dog diversity is mainly a product of recent breeding. Instead, it points to a long process of coevolution between humans and their earliest canine companions.
Betelgeuse: Effect of Companion Star Wake
Scientists used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to look for evidence of a wake being generated by a companion star orbiting Betelgeuse. The team found a noticeable difference in light shown in the lefthand peak when the companion star was at different points in its orbit.
NASA Hubble Helps Detect 'Wake' of Betelgeuse’s Elusive Companion Star
New Hubble and ground-based observations allowed astronomers to track the influence of a recently discovered companion star around Betelgeuse.
This robot companion is a cameraman for your pet
The Vex plays with your pet and films it too, even editing the video itself.
LG brought back the Wallpaper TV for CES and ditched the companion sound bar
The OLED evo W6 from LG makes a glorious return with an even more minimalist design.
Samsung Presents ‘Your Companion to AI Living’ at The First Look During CES 2026
Next-generation AI-powered devices and experiences to be showcased at the company’s exclusive exhibition through January 7
Japanese startup Ludens AI brought two very adorable robots to CES 2026
Japanese startup Ludens AI is showing off two extremely adorable robot companions at CES 2026: Cocomo and Inu.
CfA Science in the Press at AAS 247 | Center for Astrophysics
Cambridge, Mass. (December 22, 2025)— New scientific results from across the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) will be revealed at multiple press conferences and presentations during the 247th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) from January 5-8, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona.Presentations will highlight new research, including a deeper look into little red dots, a more complete census of active galactic nuclei, and uncovering properties of early universe dwarf galaxies, a look at Betelgeuse’s binary companion.
Restaurant Norms May Be Making Us Miserable, Scientists Say
New research reveals that most diners feel uneasy eating before everyone at the table has been served, even though their companions typically wouldn’t mind if they did.
Mirumi the furry companion robot is now available on Kickstarter
More robots need to come wrapped in fur.