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Rugby player with no football experience commits to Gamecocks
Neff Giwa, a 20-year-old Irishman who has never played American football, committed on Sunday to play at South Carolina as an offensive lineman.
Apple's 50th Anniversary Finale Revealed
Apple has been celebrating its upcoming 50th anniversary by hosting surprise performances and other events around the world over the past few weeks, and now Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has revealed details about the company's grand finale. In a social media post, Gurman said Apple's celebrations will conclude this week with a finale at its Apple Park headquarters for employees. A special guest will perform, according to Gurman. He hinted at Paul McCartney.
iOS 27 Rumored to Feature All-New Siri App With 'Extensions' Feature
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman discussed Apple's upcoming AI plans in more detail. As he reported last week, this will apparently include a Siri app with a so-called "Extensions" feature across iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27. With the Siri app, the report said that iPhone, iPad, and Mac users would be able to interact with Apple's assistant in both text and voice modes.
He wants kids to love science and to see people who look like them who love it, too
Maynard Okereke, the “Hip Hop MD,” will be at San Diego’s Central Library on April 2 to share his book, “Zombie Spiders and Asteroid Blasters: 16 Incredible Ways that Scientists are Changing the World”
Game Preview #73: New Jersey Devils vs. Chicago Blackhawks
The Devils have now lost too many games to pull the Hail Mary off. How will they look on the ice now?
Caster Semenya calls out IOC chief over Olympic transgender ban
Two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya expressed her disappointment with International Committee President Kirsty Coventry over the decision to ban transgender athletes from competing at the Olympics.
France XI vs Colombia – Predicted lineup and team news
France and Colombia face off in a friendly at Northwest Stadium on Sunday, with both sides treating the match as valuable preparation for the upcoming World Cup.France come into this game after a 2-1 ...
Floyd Mayweather pumps brakes on rematch with Manny Pacquiao
Floyd Mayweather cast some doubt on details of his pending fight with Manny Pacquiao, saying the location has not be set and that the bout will actually just be an exhibition.
Hubert Kós leads Texas men to second straight NCAA swim title
Hubert Kós broke his own NCAA record while defending his title in the 200-yard backstroke to help the Texas men win a second straight national championship in swimming and diving.
Macomb Co. Clerk Anthony Forlini to be GOP secretary of state nominee
"He's the most electable," said former state Rep. Pete Lund, a Republican state convention delegate from Macomb County.
Denver Summit set NWSL attendance record in inaugural home game
Denver Summit set the NWSL attendance record in their inaugural home game, brining in a crowd of 63,004 against the Washington Spirit.
Let’s take a look at the retro tech making a comeback
Boomboxes, instant cameras, and even landlines are making a comeback. Here are the coolest retro-inspired devices available.
UFC Brings Cage-Match Bout to the White House, Home of a President Who Favors Cage-Match Politics
WASHINGTON (AP) — Cage-match fighting is coming to the White House to fete President Donald Trump, a proud proponent of cage-match politics. In the coming weeks, crews will erect a 6-foot wire-mesh fence shaped into an octagon on the lawn, where UFC fighters will use a combination of kickboxing,
Controversial star receiver named Philadelphia Eagles' most overpaid player
Earlier this month, star cornerback Cooper DeJean was named the Philadelphia Eagles’ most underpaid player by Brad Gagnon of Blecher Report. Gagnon recently released a list of every NFL teams’ most overpaid player, and for the Eagles, that distinction went to mercurial star wide receiver A.J. Brown. Brown has eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in each of his four seasons in Philadelphia, but declining production combined with a huge contract and some distracting behavior has led Brown to being overpaid, at least in the eyes of Gagnon.
Macomb city officials break down proposed sports complex, residents voice concerns
A crowd of about 100 people gathered at Thursday evening's economic development update.
Scientists testing new scanning technology discover mysterious structure beneath an ancient Egyptian city
Archaeologists working in Egypt's Nile Delta may have discovered a tomb or temple dating back around 2,600 years while testing a new technology designed to locate structures buried deep beneath the surface. ...
Vanderbilt Lung Transplant Program sets new record
The Vanderbilt Transplant Center is now the second largest lung transplant center in the United States by volume, with 149 lung transplants in 2025, the most ever in one year at Vanderbilt Health. The Vanderbilt Lung Transplant Program leads the nation in organ preservation and regeneration and is among the best in long-term outcomes, demonstrating the success of the interdisciplinary team in caring for these complex patients. Several features make the program unique in the United States, said Konrad Hoetzenecker, MD, PhD, professor of Thoracic Surgery and surgical director of the Vanderbilt Lung Transplant Program. Vanderbilt serves as a “second opinion center” and accepts most complex candidates that are turned down by other centers due to increased perioperative risk. This includes patients over 70 years old, patients requiring combined procedures with their transplant, multiorgan transplantations and sensitized patients (individuals who have pre-formed anti-HLA antibodies who are at higher risk for complications). The expertise and excellent outcomes have attracted patients far beyond the borders of Tennessee; almost half of Vanderbilt Health’s lung transplant recipients come from out of state. “Another unique feature is our minimally invasive transplant program,” Hoetzenecker said. “By using distinct surgical instruments and techniques, the incisions can be kept as small as 7 to 8 centimeters, which results in better healing, less pain and faster recovery. “This minimally invasive approach is embedded in an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol, a multimodal, evidence-based perioperative care pathway designed to reduce surgical stress, minimize complications and speed up recovery. Our unique ERAS protocol, by a dedicated interdisciplinary approach, aims to improve recovery after lung transplant and reduce ICU and hospital stay.” The lung transplant program recently celebrated a milestone — 1,000 lung transplants since the program began in 1990. “This significant achievement reflects the concerted effort of a multidisciplinary collaboration by the Departments of Thoracic Surgery, Medicine, Anesthesiology and Critical Care,” said David Erasmus, MD, associate professor of Medicine and medical director of Vanderbilt Lung Transplant. Lung transplants have been attempted since the 1960s, but they were largely unsuccessful until the 1980s, when surgical techniques were refined and new antirejection drugs proved effective. Patient outcomes steadily improved from the 1990s to the present. Vanderbilt’s fourth lung transplant recipient in 1990, Pam Everett, is the longest-living, single-lung transplant known in the world, recently celebrating 35 years since her transplant. The Vanderbilt Lung Transplant surgical team is led by Hoetzenecker and Caitlin Demarest, MD, PhD, the surgical director and associate surgical director of the Vanderbilt Lung Transplant program. Erasmus is the medical director of Vanderbilt Lung Transplant along with Anil Trindade, MD, associate medical director and associate professor of Medicine.
The Science Behind “Project Hail Mary”, Ghost Elephants, And Womb Transplants
Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down in episode 80…
Walking a tightrope between a global brand and traditional football: Why Como 1907’s entertainment machine is sustainable, unlike RB Leipzig’s
Como 1907 is causing a stir in Serie A. The Lombardy-based club, which just a few years ago was languishing in the lower reaches of Italian football, is on the verge of qualifying for the Champions League. At first glance, this rapid rise may seem like a classic ‘football fairy tale’, but behind it lies a calculated strategy, a pile of money – and a surprising amount of sustainability.
Troop Shortage Crisis Grips Israeli Military as War Expands
Meanwhile, the Israeli army has acknowledged a shortfall of approximately 15,000 troops, including around 8,000 combat soldiers.
Iran forbids sports teams from travel to 'hostile' countries
Iran has banned its sports teams from traveling to countries it considers "hostile," Iranian state TV reported Thursday ahead of Tractor FC's scheduled soccer game in Saudi Arabia.
Rays squander Opening Day lead, fall to Cardinals
The Opening Day contest was tied at 1-1 in the sixth inning before the teams combined for the 14 runs.
UConn's Geno Auriemma says Title IX 'pretty much out the window'
UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma on Thursday said Title IX legislation, in practice, is "pretty much out the window."
UCLA's Close asks NCAA to make changes, ease coaching burden
UCLA women's basketball coach Cori Close said Thursday that collegiate sports success comes with an exhausting pace for coaches, and pleaded for the NCAA to make changes.
Apple Plans to Let Rival AI Chatbots Integrate With Siri in iOS 27
Apple plans to allow third-party AI chatbots to integrate with Siri in iOS 27, reports Bloomberg. Apple already has a partnership with OpenAI that lets Siri hand questions off to ChatGPT, but Apple will expand that integration to other companies like Google and Anthropic. An iPhone user with the Claude or Gemini app installed will be able to send questions to those chatbots, like how the current ChatGPT feature works.
Motorola Razr 70 Ultra leaks on high-resolution renders for the first time
The Motorola Razr 70 Ultra can be seen for the first time in high-resolution render images. Motorola's next-generation folding flagship combines a 4-inch secondary display with slim bezels with a 7-inch main display and a dual camera.
Apple Plans to Open Up Siri to Rival AI Assistants in iOS 27 Update
(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. plans to open Siri to outside artificial intelligence assistants, a major move aimed at bolstering the iPhone as an AI platform.The company is preparing to make the change as part of a Siri overhaul in its upcoming iOS 27 operating system update, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The assistant can already tap into ChatGPT through a partnership with OpenAI, but Apple will now allow competing services to do the same.The changes are part of an attempt to tu
iPhone Fold is ‘no doubt’ coming later than iPhone 18 Pro, says Gurman
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said today there is “no doubt” the iPhone Fold will ship a bit later than the iPhone 18 Pro.
iPhone Fold Likely to Ship Later Than iPhone 18 Pro
The new foldable iPhone won't ship to customers in the same September timeframe as the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said today in a Q&A session. Apple will likely ship the iPhone Fold to customers after the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max come out in September, but Gurman did not provide a specific availability timeline.
Alien Deathstorm: Sci-fi Survival and Action Combine for a New First-Person Horror Hybrid
New from Rebellion (Atomfall, Sniper Elite) is Alien Deathstorm, an atmospheric first-person horror hybrid, coming to Xbox and Xbox Game Pass.
GOP Tax Writer Floats Bill to Boost Business Interest Deductions
American companies facing higher after-tax capital costs because of how tax law excludes global income from interest deductibility calculations would get a break under new legislation proposed by a GOP House tax writer.
Lynn sports management students attend National Football League Combine
Lynn University sports management students attended the Sports Management Worldwide National Football League (NFL) Combine Football Career Conference in…
The Health Benefits of Baby Bonds | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Early wealth-building policies are popular and effective.
UCLA softball coach Kelly Inouye-Perez breaking records amid changing landscape
Last month, Inouye-Perez became the winningest coach for the winningest program in softball history.
Pullman Danang Beach Resort Responds to Rising Bleisure Travel with Expanded Business and Leisure Facilities
/PRNewswire/ -- As global travel patterns continue to evolve, "bleisure" travel, which combines business trips with leisure experiences, has become a...
Jaouadi sets record as Florida, Indiana co-lead NCAA swim
Florida freshman Ahmed Jaouadi broke the NCAA record in the 1,650-yard freestyle, and the Gators shared the Day 1 lead with Indiana at the Division I swimming and diving championships on Wednesday.
A story of carnival, dance and politics
“I saw the power of combining story with dance and fashion and was really intrigued by the dynamics of that combination,” Amy Kimberly, former executive
Students ‘Surge’ with fun at local entertainment center
Have you ever wanted to visit an arcade, a restaurant and a bowling alley all in one place? Surge Entertainment by Drew Brees combines all three in same building, along with more activities including laser tag and sports simulators. While the venue offers variety, its attempt to do everything at once leaves certain areas underdeveloped,...
Inside the impact of NIL and revenue sharing on college hockey
Can competitive balance survive in the sport with the widest variety of athletic programs?
Going into the community to bring down high BP
Rush University Medical Center, the AMA and others combine efforts to address hypertension. Find out how.
The BB-777 is the ultimate in boombox nostalgia
It’s a modern recreation of the iconic Sharp GF-777.
Jay-Z felt 'uncontrollable anger' amid sexual assault, rape lawsuit
Jay-Z has broken his silence about the lawsuit that accused him and fellow music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs of raping a teenage girl more than two decades ago.
WATCH: 'We negotiate with bombs,' Hegseth says of U.S. air campaign in Iran
President Donald Trump has listed five objectives that the U.S. wants to achieve before ending its war with Iran. Now, as he suggests the U.S. may soon be “winding down” the operation after three and a half weeks, some of his key aims remain undefined or unfulfilled.
Cabin Fever Reliever combines expo and entertainment
Two Harbors Community Radio is bringing back its Cabin Fever Reliever event this Sunday, March 29, at the high school.
iOS 27 Siri Overhaul: Standalone App, New Design, Dynamic Island Integration and Ask Siri Button
Apple is testing a standalone Siri chatbot app for iOS 27, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple plans to debut a chatbot version of Siri that will compete with Claude and ChatGPT, and the new Siri could be accessible through a dedicated app. Gurman previously said that Apple was not going to develop a standalone Siri app, but it appears plans have changed.
Apple Combines Business Offerings on Single Platform
Apple has introduced a platform that brings together several of its business offerings. Dubbed “Apple Business,” the platform will be launched April 14 in
Ex-Abercrombie & Fitch CEO said doctors "better find me incompetent"
The prison recording emerged during a three-day competency hearing over the ability of Michael Jefferies to stand trial for sex trafficking.
76ers' Paul George blamed mental health for banned substance use
The Sixers' Paul George, who was suspended 25 games for a failed drug test, is set to return Wednesday when Philadelphia faces the Boston Celtics.
The Economist launches new Economist Enterprise business unit
The move combines business-to-business teams and units that currently service more than 2,700 organizations globally.
US business activity slows as war-driven costs surge
U.S. business activity slowed in March to its weakest pace in nearly a year as rising costs tied to the Iran conflict weighed on demand, Bloomberg writes. A key S&P Global index dipped but remained in expansion territory, while input prices surged to multimonth highs. Service sector growth softened, hiring declined and companies passed higher […]
2026 NFL Draft combined rankings: No. 1 overall prospect is a Big Ten star — just not Fernando Mendoza
Arbitration case could bring change to NCAA's 'messy middle'
Why Nebraska's recent challenge could have wide-ranging salary cap implications.
Colorado Sen. Mike Weissman calls for cold water on heated hate speech
Likening the recent record-setting warm temperatures to hot political rhetoric, Colorado Sen. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora, pleaded for an end to death threats and other hate speech directed at lawmakers of both parties. “The increasingly tragic reality of our politics, however, like the increasingly tragic reality of our climate, is one of combustibility,” Weissman said from the well […]
Kraken assume majority ownership of Climate Pledge Arena
The Seattle Kraken ownership group, led by Samantha Holloway, announced the creation of One Roof Sports and Entertainment on Monday.
Bill introduced seeks to ban sports bets on prediction markets
A bipartisan Senate bill introduced Monday seeks to ban prediction markets from allowing transactions that mimic sports betting.
WATCH LIVE: Trump joins Memphis Safe Task Force roundtable, initiative aimed at combating crime
Borussia Dortmund names second-division exec as sporting director
Borussia Dortmund has dipped into the German second division to appoint a new sporting director who won praise for making impactful transfers on a budget.
Apple Reportedly Preparing 'Biggest Set of iPhone Revamps' Ever
Apple is working on "the biggest set of iPhone revamps in the product's history," according to the latest word from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Specifically, he is referring to the long-rumored foldable iPhone, as well as an ambitious 20th-anniversary iPhone with a truly "edge-to-edge" design.
New ‘Crimson Desert’ Patch Fixes Storage, Combat, Controls, Bosses, Fast Travel
A new Crimson Desert patch has fixed many of the game's biggest issues not even a week after launch. They really transform the game.
‘They’ve Stolen the Narrative’: Black Business Leaders on the DEI Backlash
Bloomberg Businessweek convened five prominent Black executives to candidly discuss navigating the White House, rollbacks in access and the current American mood.
Crimson Desert Update Makes Control Improvements, Eases The Difficulty
Crimson Desert's latest update introduces early player-driven improvements, including new storage options, combat balance tweaks, and expanded fast travel.
Bill Self says coaching future at Kansas to be determined
Longtime Kansas coach Bill Self said after Sunday's season-ending loss to St. John's that he has not yet made a decision about his coaching future, later adding that any decision will be based solely on his health.
Carrie Anne Fleming, 'Supernatural' and 'iZombie' actress, dies at 51
Carrie Anne Fleming, who appeared on 3 episodes of 'Supernatural' as Bobby's wife Karen, has died. She was 51.
Wisconsin edges Ohio St., wins another title at Frozen Four
Claire Enright scored the go-ahead goal in the third period Sunday, Ava McNaughton had 34 saves, and No. 2 seed Wisconsin beat top-seeded Ohio State 3-2 at the Frozen Four to win its second consecutive national championship.
Notre Dame men join women in winning inaugural three-weapon title
Notre Dame's Ahmed Hesham won the men's saber Sunday, and the Fighting Irish men joined the women in winning the inaugural three-weapon national championship at the Joyce 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.
Trump mocks 'discombobulated' Schumer over Democrats' near gaffe on funding ICE
President Donald Trump mocked Chuck Schumer after the Senate minority leader accidentally said "We must fund ICE" on the Senate floor amid the DHS funding shutdown fight.
iPad 12 With A18 Chip for Apple Intelligence is 'Still Coming This Year'
Apple has updated a wide range of products and accessories this month, but there is still no entry-level iPad 12 with Apple Intelligence support. Fortunately, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said an iPad with an A18 chip for Apple Intelligence is "ready to go" and "still coming this year". An earlier report from Macworld claimed that the iPad 12 will actually have an A19 chip.
New Apple TV and HomePod Mini Remain 'Ready' to Launch
Apple has unveiled nine new products this month, but the wait continues for the next-generation Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini models. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said new versions of the Apple TV and HomePod mini have been "ready" since last year, but he reiterated that Apple has held off on releasing them until the more personalized version of Siri and other Apple Intelligence upgrades are released later this year.
Sebastian Kehl exits role as Borussia Dortmund sporting director
Borussia Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl is leaving the team with immediate effect as the club undergoes a major shakeup after what will be a trophyless season.
Acuff scores 36 as Arkansas holds off No. 12 seed High Point 94-88
Two of the highest-scoring teams in the nation combined on a back-and-forth affair that featured 15 lead changes and six ties.
Get ready to vote in the next Detroit Community Choice Awards
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In the Fight to Defend the Amazon, This Indigenous Community’s Secret Weapon Is Science
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Edgecombe's double-double helps 76ers down Jazz 126-116
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) VJ Edgecombe had 22 points and 13 rebounds and Quentin Grimes scored 26 points to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 126-116 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.
Curzan lifts Virginia women to sixth straight NCAA swim title
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Donald Trump Is Nothing Like Robert Mueller
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Mainieri out as South Carolina's baseball coach in 2nd season
Paul Mainieri is out as South Carolina's baseball coach midway through his second season after he couldn't approach the level of success he had produced at LSU.
Wisconsin's Caroline Harvey wins Kazmaier Award as top player
Wisconsin defender Caroline Harvey voted as the winner of the Patty Kazaier Memorial Award for college women's hockey's top player.
One All-in-One AI Platform, Endless Business Possibilities for Just $85
1min.AI combines writing, images, and video.
Combating youth suicide tilts increasingly toward early intervention
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Alabama's Tyler Fay pitches no-hitter against Florida
Tyler Fay pitched Alabama's first nine-inning, complete-game no-hitter in 84 years, striking out 13 in a 6-0 victory over Florida on Friday night.
Cori Close hails Lauren Betts's 'courageous vulnerability' on mental health
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Mark Robinson admits ‘I lied’ about CNN story
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How to watch 2026 NCAA swimming and diving championships
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Tilman Fertitta Bid Puts Caesars Entertainment Value And Future In Focus
Tilman Fertitta is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire Caesars Entertainment, ahead of a rival bid from investor Carl Icahn. The potential deal would combine Fertitta's Golden Nugget casino interests and sports assets with Caesars Entertainment's Las Vegas Strip footprint. This development is attracting attention from shareholders as a possible turning point for NasdaqGS:CZR. Caesars Entertainment, trading as NasdaqGS:CZR, last closed at $27.44. The share price return is up 44.8% over...
Claimants drop lawsuit against Gerry Adams over IRA bombings
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This Infamous Radioactive 'Tomb' Is Leaking, And Experts Are Worried
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Unilever in talks to combine food business with McCormick, WSJ reports
Unilever is in talks to separate its food business and combine it with spice maker McCormick in an all-stock deal which could come within weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing sources.
Unilever in Talks to Combine Food Business With McCormick, Report Says
Unilever Plc, the maker of Hellmann’s mayonnaise, is in talks to combine its food business with McCormick & Co., according to a report in the Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the matter.
Exclusive | Unilever in Talks to Separate Food Business and Combine It With McCormick
The remaining Unilever company would focus on beauty, personal-care products and home.
High-speed combat drone production starts at new US Anduril plant in days
Anduril Industries will begin building its new FURY, "loyal wingman," high-speed combat drones in the coming days at a new facility in Ohio, as the U.S. military's interest in unmanned aircraft surges following battlefield successes in Ukraine and Iran.
New dispute emerges around Subnautica 2’s early access release
Lawyers for the ousted—and now partially reinstated—leadership team of Unknown Worlds, the studio behind Subnautica 2, are crying foul over news that the game will be released into early access in May. The release announcement earlier this week was made improperly, potentially “damaging the game and sowing additional confusion among the Subnautica community,” the lawyers said in a letter sent on Tuesday to Vice Chancellor Lori Will of Delaware’s Court of Chancery. In their letter, the lawyers also floated the idea of asking Will to find Krafton in contempt of the court’s ruling. The letter was sent just one day after Will’s bombshell ruling that publisher Krafton had breached its contract with Unknown Worlds’ executive team, when it fired them last June. The new issue isn’t necessarily the May early access timeframe, but how the news was announced. The letter and Krafton’s response have not been previously reported. A quick recap of prior events: Subnautica 2 is an unreleased, underwater survival adventure and the most-wishlisted game on Steam. Last year, longtime Unknown Worlds CEO Ted Gill, along with studio co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, were fired by Krafton. They swiftly sued, saying the publisher had terminated them to avoid paying out up to $250 million in potential performance-based bonuses. The studio leaders had hoped to earn that with an early access release of the game, which Krafton had blocked. The publisher argued in court that Subnautica 2 wasn’t ready, which the ousted execs disputed. On Monday, Will ruled that Krafton had violated its contract, firing the execs to avoid the performance payouts, and that it had to reinstate Gill and give him full authority over any early access release for Subnautica 2. On Tuesday, IGN reported on a new memo issued that day to Unknown Worlds staff by Steve Papoutsis, the executive Krafton had put in charge of Unknown Worlds after the 2025 firings. In the note, Papoutsis said that Subnautica 2 had passed a key development milestone “last week” and that he and Krafton had determined the game “is ready for Early Access release in May.” This news appeared to catch the lawyers for Gill, Cleveland and McGuire by surprise. On Tuesday night, they sent a letter to Will expressing “serious concerns” about whether it would be possible to forge an agreement with Krafton consistent with the judge’s order. Papoutsis’ memo was a problem, they wrote. He didn’t have the authority to declare anything about Subnautica 2’s release. As of 9am ET on Monday, March 16, the effective date of Will’s order, Papoutsis wasn’t CEO of Unknown Worlds. Gill was. And, per Will’s order, only Gill could make Subnautica 2 release decisions. They continued: Krafton self-servingly announced the launch without any regard to its impact on the game, the team, or the community—let alone this Court’s Opinion. Announcing the release of a game is momentous, and it is typically accompanied by significant marketing activity, fanfare, and community coordination. And most importantly, the announcement is carefully designed to maximize excitement for the game. That entire process was supposed to be driven by Mr. Gill. However, in defiance of the Court’s Opinion, Krafton has now taken that away, further damaging the game and sowing additional confusion among the Subnautica community. The lawyers speculated that Krafton had “intentionally leaked” Papoutsis’ memo and then issued an official statement to confirm the leak. Game File is a reader-supported publication. My reporting is only possible through support from readers like you. To support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe On Wednesday, lawyers for Krafton defended their client in their own letter to vice chancellor Will, saying nothing they did violated her order nor showed contempt: Papoutsis’s message was simply celebrating the UW employees’ efforts toward a past event: Krafton’s pre-Opinion determination that Subnautica 2 was ready for Early Access release. There was nothing improper about conveying the results of the milestone review or thanking the development team for their dedication and talent. They added that Gill could still make his own call about Subnautica 2’s release: In his role as CEO, Gill will be able to assess independently his views on the state of Subnautica 2 and the appropriate release schedule; nothing in Papoutsis’s message alters Gill’s authority or discretion. Vice chancellor Will has not responded to the letters and doesn’t necessarily have to. Both parties were previously ordered by Will to confer this week and submit a proposed judgment consistent with her ruling. The letter from Gill’s attorney’s this week doesn’t indicate whether he would or would not support a May release for Subnautica 2. But it could limit his options. And, if Gill’s lawyers are right, the lack of marketing fanfare around the leak of the May date could dull the launch of the game. Any harm to Subnautica 2’s launch is an extra sensitive issue given the context of the legal dispute: millions of dollars of payouts are on the line, tethered to the scale of the game’s initial performance. In her ruling on Monday, Will noted that there was obvious “bad blood” between Gill’s side and Krafton but that the two would need to work together: “They can—and must—act in good faith to navigate their remaining contractual relationship.” Item 2: A new kind of couch co-op game A highlight of GDC each year is the Alt.Ctrl showcase that features games played with extremely experimental controllers. Perusing this year’s offerings last Friday, I found a game controlled with giant scissors, another with big toothbrushes and one that amounted to dumpster diving. My favorite was Pivot, a co-op game about collectively maneuvering a couch. It was developed by students at the University of Utah’s masters of arts and engineering games program. Players lift and tilt the physical couch in order to control the position of a virtual one. That virtual one is moving through an obstacle course on-screen, while being pursued by a giant skull. Developer Nishant Verma told me at GDC that the couch is made of styrofoam (this became more evident as I watched!) and that the name was a riff on an episode of the sitcom Friends. Item 3: In brief… 🚫 Ubisoft is laying off more than 100 workers at its Red Storm studio, as the North Carolina location known for decades for its Tom Clancy games, ceases in-house game development, VGC reports. 👀 On Monday, Nvidia’s revealed its DLSS 5 AI-driven graphics technology that purports to improve game graphics… and it has been roasted about it by the media and the online gaming public for the remainder of the week. The tech changed the faces of characters in footage from Resident Evil Requiem, Hogwarts Legacy and EA Sports FC, drawing accusations of giving carefully art-directed games the generic look of AI “slop.” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had said on Monday that “DLSS 5 is the GPT moment for graphics—blending handcrafted rendering with generative AI to deliver a dramatic leap in visual realism while preserving the control artists need for creative expression.” By mid-week, Huang was telling Tom’s Hardware that the new tech’s critics were “completely wrong” because game-makers could still “fine-tune the generative AI” to suit their game’s aesthetics.
Trump faces his most difficult Iran war decision: Will he deploy U.S. troops to seize uranium?
The president has been circumspect about how far he's willing to go to follow through on his pledge to destroy Iran's weapons program once and for all, including seizing or destroying the near-bomb-grade nuclear material that Iran possesses.
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling celebrates idols and combat at SXSW
The women of Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, making their first-ever stop in Austin during SXSW, put on an unforgettable show.
Bloomberg: Google begins testing dedicated Gemini app for Mac
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Xiaomi releases new lightweight laptop with Intel Panther Lake and 120 Hz OLED display
Xiaomi has released a new 14-inch laptop featuring Intel's Panther Lake platform. Available with up to 32 GB of RAM, the Book Pro 14 combines a 120 Hz OLED display with 72 Wh battery inside a housing that tips the scales at barely over a kilo.
MLB reaches agreements with Polymarket, federal commission
MLB has named Polymarket as the league's official prediction market exchange and announced an information sharing agreement with the CFTC, the federal body that oversees the growing industry.