SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " 2nd " 625 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Nebraska Democrats clash in US House primary for the state's 'blue dot' district
The fate of Nebraska’s “blue dot” will play prominently as Democratic voters select a congressional nominee in the state’s 2nd District.
Iowa politics: KCCI's full interview with Zach Lahn, Republican candidate for governor
KCCI sat down with GOP governor candidate Zach Lahn to ask where he stands on key issues ahead of the June 2nd primary election.
Yet another new Onn Streaming Stick passes through FCC approval
Walmart just released its new Onn 4K Stick and 2nd-gen Onn 4K Pro streaming devices. The retailer hasn't been able to keep up with demand, as it is difficult to find them in stock online or in stores, yet it's already moving ahead with another new model.
John Isner, Venus Williams take on expanded roles as TNT Sports reveals 2026 Roland-Garros broadcast team
TNT Sports is giving John Isner and Venus Williams significantly more to do at this year’s Roland-Garros, the network announced Thursday. Isner and Williams are both taking on expanded roles for the 2026 tournament, which kicks off May 24 across TNT, truTV, and HBO Max. Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion who spent years…
Knicks fans completely take over Philadelphia local broadcast, too
The Philadelphia 76ers have some soul-searching to do after being swept out of the 2026 NBA Playoffs by the rival New York Knicks. Adding insult to injury, Knicks fans completely took over the Sixers’ home arena, Xfinity Mobile Arena, despite players pleading with the Philly faithful not to let that happen. And if getting swept…
Red Sox’s Jarren Duran deletes Instagram account after criticizing NBC Sports’ Michael Holley
If you can’t take the heat, stay off Instagram. On Friday, NBC Sports Boston’s Michael Holley expressed doubts about the Boston Red Sox’s honesty regarding Roman Anthony’s ongoing injury situation. “I understand why all teams do it, but let’s just be honest. All teams lie. They lie about injuries, they just do,” said Holley. “Tell me…
Health officials issue warning after 2nd case of measles on Long Island -- with possible restaurant exposure
Gateway sports notebook: Gators track and field athletes shine at Baldwin Invitational
Gateway track and field has had a season full of big moments and top finishes at dual meets and invitationals, and many of the top Gators athletes tested their mettle at the 52nd Baldwin Invitational on May 1.
Elmo delivers electric commentary on Phillies broadcast
The NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast booth had a very special guest during Saturday’s Philadelphia Phillies game against the Colorado Rockies. Sesame Street star Elmo was in attendance at Citizens Bank Park for the “Strike Out the Stigma” event in support of mental health awareness. And Elmo joined Phillies announcers Tom McCarthy and John Kruk in…
UFL ref interviewed during game on Fox broadcast
The UFL has come up with innovative features and unique access on broadcasts that have left fans wondering if we could see such additions to future NFL broadcasts. But something that happened on Friday night’s Fox telecast of a UFL game between the Columbus Aviators and St. Louis BattleHawks that probably won’t carry over to…
Goalie Alex Lyon fuels Buffalo Sabres' surge into 2nd round of the playoffs
He and the Sabres took a step back with a 5-1 loss on Friday night. Lyon allowed four goals on 27 shots, and didn't get much support from sloppy defensive play in front of him.
Goalie Alex Lyon fuels Buffalo Sabres' surge into 2nd round of the playoffs
He and the Sabres took a step back with a 5-1 loss on Friday night. Lyon allowed four goals on 27 shots, and didn't get much support from sloppy defensive play in front of him.
Canadiens beat Sabres 5-1 to tie 2nd-round playoff series at 1 apiece
The series shifts to Montreal for Game 3 on Sunday night.
Mukilteo sports chiropractor receives national recognition
Marc Van Dreissche is the 2nd in the state to be named Sports Chiropractor of the Year by a national board.
"Chaos Rising" Set Guide: Full Set List, Product Lineup, Store...
We now have the full English set list for Chaos Rising starring Mega Greninja ex! As posted before, it will release on May 22nd as our fourth English Mega
Sabres beat Montreal 4-2 in 2nd round playoff opener
Buffalo hosts Game 2 on Friday night, before the series shifts to Montreal on Sunday.
Browns QB Shedeur Sanders graduates
While preparing for his 2nd NFL season, Browns QB Shedeur Sanders returned to Boulder to walk in the ceremony
Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde on Golden Tempo’s ‘pretty dramatic’ win at the Kentucky Derby
Pat Forde has covered 39 Kentucky Derbys. He has never seen one like last weekend’s. Nobody has. The 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby will go down as one of the most memorable. Golden Tempo’s last-to-first victory captivated America and made Cherie DeVaux a star as she became the first female trainer to win the…
Sold Out? Gamers Struggle to Buy New Steam Controller, Urge Valve to Fix Its Site
Thirty minutes after orders went live, would-be buyers faced 'sold out' alerts on Valve's website as scalpers quickly listed the $99 device for up to $700 on eBay.
Sports media reacts to the passing of Yankees radio legend John Sterling
John Sterling, the legendary voice of the New York Yankees for 35 years, has passed away at 87. Sterling died from complications following heart surgery after suffering a heart attack earlier this year. The news was announced on WFAN — the station where he became a New York institution — by morning hosts Boomer Esiason…
Mets news: Ronny Mauricio has a left thumb fracture, will go on Injured List
Another one bites the dust.
Photos from the 152nd Kentucky Derby: the best day in horse racing, the 'Sport of Kings'
Once again, tens of thousands flocked to Churchill Downs, dressed to the nines, to partake in one of the grandest spectacles in sport and, perhaps, travel back in time.
Sabres beat Bruins 4-1 in Game 6 to reach 2nd round for 1st time since 2007
The Sabres’ speed dominated in the early going.
Top Doctor Draws Attention to Trump’s ‘Overdue’ Health Exam
The president had two “routine” check-ups last year.
UWS Trader Joe’s at West 72nd Street to Temporarily Close for ‘Major Renovations’
Courtesy photo. By Gus Saltonstall The Upper West Side Trader Joe's at West 72nd Street and Broadway is set to
Photos show pre-race workouts ahead of the Kentucky Derby
Horses and trainers take to the track for workouts ahead of the 152nd Kentucky Derby, set for Saturday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Jazz Fest part entertainment, part education
Many rooms across Hastings were classrooms as much as they were improvised concert spaces during the 22nd Annual Thornapple Arts Council (TAC) Jazz Festival. Kerry Moffit sat in the back of the bottom floor of the Green Street United Methodist Church in Hastings Friday morning, with his trumpet at his side, taking notes as the
SIFF 2026: What to see and expect at this year’s festival
The 52nd annual festival, though smaller in scale than previous years, still has everything from up-to-the-minute documentaries to restored classics.
Kentucky Derby 2026 prediction: We asked AI to simulate the 152nd Run for the Roses. Here's who won — and it wasn't the opening favorite
Logitech made a analog and mechanical keyboard in one
Launching May 2nd starting at $179.99.
Mobilizing parliamentary leadership to protect women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health in times of crisis: PMNCH at the 152nd IPU Assembly
At the 152nd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Istanbul, Türkiye (15–19 April 2026), PMNCH called on global parliamentary leaders to prioritize women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health (WCAH) as a cornerstone of peace, justice and sustainable development. Bringing together over 1,500 delegates from 126 countries, the Assembly underscored the urgent need for coordinated parliamentary action to protect essential health services, strengthen financing and advance accountability in the face of growing global crises.
Humbled Brian Snitker inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame
Former Braves manager Brian Snitker sat up behind the podium in the press conference room at Truist Park one more time, and this time he was wearing a suit instead of a uniform. With his family in the front two rows, Snitker reflected prior to his induction as the 42nd member of the Braves Hall of Fame before Atlanta played the Philadelphia Phillies. “It’s humbling, and just it’s a great feeling,” Snitker said.
Denver Broncos select PLAYER with their 170th overall selection
With their 152nd overall selection in the 5th round of the 2026 NFL Draft, the Denver Broncos select NC State TE Justin Joly The Athletic’s Dane Brugler had Justin Joly as his TE5 in this draft and had a 3rd/4th round grade on him. Now, the Broncos trade up to get him in the 5th […]
The Weekend Mauling: 4/25/26
Weekend Linksplosion! This is behind a paywall, but the KU Athletics board has approved a larger line of credit for the department. Everything’s totally fine though, right? Home runs and head scratchers from the 2nd day of the NFL draft A 4 day, tornado-heavy weather pattern is set up across the central US In things […]
3 NE Ohio businesses announce expansions: Restaurant, brewery, coffee shop
Three businesses in Northeast Ohio recently announced unique expansion projects. Here’s a look.
Reed Hastings says entertainment industry will be least affected by AI
Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings shared his thoughts on how AI in the entertainment industry on an April 22nd episode of the "Possible" podcast.
Catherine Schumacher joins Essentia Health-32nd Avenue Clinic to practice obstetrics and gynecology
Catherine Schumacher, an advanced practice registered nurse and certified nurse midwife in obstetrics and gynecology, is excited to join the Essentia Health-32nd Avenue Clinic.
Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Jays fall despite late comeback
Recapping how the Yankees’ top AL opponents fared on April 22nd.
CBS Sports Network to Broadcast Navy vs. Loyola Game Friday Night Under the Lights
After spending the last two weekends on the road, Navy (7-6, 3-4 Patriot League) returns home to play host to Loyola (8-5, 5-2 Patriot League) on Friday evening in its regular-season finale. Faceoff is slated for 7:06 pm at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and the game is presented by First Command. Navy is led by Joe Amplo, who has put together a 50-39 record in his 7 seasons at the helm of the Mids' program, while Loyola's Charley Toomey has posted a 195-117 record in 21 seasons as the Greyhounds' head coach. The contest marks the 22nd meeting in a series that dates back to 1939. Friday's contest will be televised by CBS Sports Network with Chris Lewis and Evan Washburn calling the action. Additionally, the game will be carried live on 1430 WNAV with Joe Miller on the call. Radio coverage begins at 6:45 pm with the Navy Lacrosse Pregame Show. Live stats will also be available on NavySports.com(.)
Boston Marathon 2026: Kenya's John Korir, Sharon Lokedi each win men's and women's races for 2nd consecutive year
Texas Named Best State For Business For Record 22nd Consecutive Year
Texas Border Business AUSTIN ‒ Governor Greg Abbott celebrated Texas being ranked the Best State for Business for the 22nd year in a row by Chief Executive magazine. “Texas is where businesses innovate and where opportunity abounds,” said Governor Abbott. “Texas has long dominated the nation as the Best State for Business thanks to our pro-growth […]
Boston Marathon 2026: Kenya's John Korir, Sharon Lokedi both win men's and women's races for 2nd consecutive year
Boston Marathon 2026: Kenya's John Korir, Sharon Lokedi both win race for 2nd consecutive year
iOS 27 Rumored to Drop Support for These iPhone Models
iOS 27 will be compatible with the iPhone 12 series and newer, according to Instant Digital, a known Apple leaker on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. If this rumor is accurate, iOS 27 will drop support for the following iPhone models:iPhone 11 iPhone 11 Pro iPhone 11 Pro Max iPhone SE (2nd generation)However, these devices will continue to receive iOS 26 security updates for at least a few years.
"Abyss Eye" Set Featuring Mega Darkrai ex Officially Revealed for...
Abyss Eye starring Mega Darkrai ex has been officially revealed! It will release in Japan on May 22nd as their M5 set. Oddly, the set was revealed four
Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter launches September 17
Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter will launch for PlayStation 5, Switch 2, Switch, and PC via Steam on September 17 worldwide, Falcom and GungHo Online Entertainment announced. In the west, Trails in t…
Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter launches on September 17 worldwide
Falcom and GungHo have shared the Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter release and and a new trailer.
Deadline Hollywood
CBS Entertainment President Amy Reisenbach explains why they went with 'NCIS: New York' and did not consider picking up 'Tony & Ziva' for next season. Read more below.
‘Pothole Politics’ Meets a Hell’s Kitchen Crater at W42nd & 9th Avenue
Three weeks of sewer repairs snarl traffic at W42nd and 9th, exposing underground infrastructure clashes and testing Hell’s Kitchen patience.
Arteta expecting changes from Sporting for Arsenal 2nd leg
Mikel Arteta is expecting a tough match against Sporting CP on Wednesday, believing that they’ll approach the game in a different way after their first-leg defeat.Photo by Harry Murphy/Getty ImagesA...
Sporting suffer injury blow ahead of Arsenal 2nd leg
Ivan Fresneda is expected to miss Sporting CP’s match against Arsenal on Wednesday, but club captain Morten Hjulmand is back after suspension.Photo by Gualter Fatia/Getty ImagesSporting CP made a fe...
Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ St. Louis Blues, 4/14/2026
Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (41-24-16, 98 points, 2nd place Metropolitan Division) @ St. Louis Blues (36-33-12, 82 points, 7th place Central Division) When: 9:30 p.m. ET How to Watch: Local on TVAS and SN-PIT, national on ESPN Pens’ Path Ahead: The Philadelphia Flyers officially clinched a first-round matchup with the Pens with a shootout victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on […]
Barcelona squad named for Atlético 2nd leg
Hansi Flick has called up 24 players for Tuesday’s clash
Political newcomer running for Rep. Golden's seat in US House
At 29 years old, Paige Loud is the youngest candidate in the Democratic primary race for Maine's 2nd Congressional District.
Dallas ISD voters to decide largest school bond in state history
On May 2nd, voters living in Dallas ISD will decide whether to pay $33 more a year in property taxes to pay for a $6.2 billion bond package. The plan would build 26 new schools and make major upgrades to facilities and technology at every campus. Lone Star Politics speaks with Miguel Solis, former President of DISD Board of Trustees and now the President of the Commit Partnership.
Masters 2026: Sergio Garcia gets warning after going nuclear on tee box, breaking driver and ending up carrying Jon Rahm's bag
Sergio Garcia was given a warning just two holes after he erupted on Sunday morning.
Billy Donovan, perhaps coaching Bulls for last time, faces Mavericks
Chicago's season-ending road clash with the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday will be Bulls coach Billy Donovan's 482nd regular-season game on the bench.
“AI polls” are fake polls
A few weeks after Donald Trump’s second presidential win, I took the train up from London (where I was living at the time) to Oxford to attend a conference on polls and forecasts of the 2024 election. Most of the attendees were pollsters or academics, but I also watched presentations from Aaru and Electric Twin, two companies that do what is interchangeably called synthetic sampling, silicon sampling, or synthetic audiences. Stripped of startup jargon, that means they use large language models (LLMs) to simulate responses to public opinion polls by having AI agents take on the role of survey respondents. I had already heard of Aaru thanks to some articles with eye-catching headlines like “No people, no problem: AI chatbots predict elections better than humans” in the months leading up to Election Day. The founders were making some big, some might even say far-fetched claims, such as: “within two years, we will simulate the entire globe — from the way crops are grown in Ukraine to how that impacts production of oil in Iraq, trade through the strait of Malacca, and elections for the mayor of Baltimore.” When Semafor asked Aaru’s cofounders — Cameron Fink and Ned Koh — about my boss, they said “we respect all those who came before us.” Nate (as he so often does) shared his thoughts on Twitter: Fink and Koh were relatively good-natured about this back-and-forth when we spoke at Oxford. They even offered to mail me one of the t-shirts featuring Nate’s quote they apparently had made. I never took them up on the offer, which I now somewhat regret. These synthetic sampling companies fell off my radar for a while, but they do still exist. In fact, Aaru recently received a $1 billion valuation. Is what they’re doing anywhere close to the most important frontier in AI development? Not by a longshot, especially when Anthropic just developed a model so adept at exploiting software vulnerabilities that it’s only being released to 40 companies. Still, silicon sampling is increasingly finding its way into public polling. Axios reported in March that “a majority of people trust their own doctors and nurses” based on findings from Aaru — without mentioning that the “people” in that sentence were actually LLMs. Around the same time, the Public Sentiment Institute “boosted” their online sample of 373 real survey respondents with 114 AI agents.1 (Spoiler alert: even the co-founder of Electric Twin doesn’t think that’s a particularly defensible approach.) Polling companies like Qualtrics and Ipsos are also developing synthetic data panels. So, what should we make of these … “polls”? Let’s get one thing out of the way: whatever they are, they’re not polls in the way that term is usually defined. Subscribe You can’t replace polls with AI On one hand, using LLMs to essentially make up fake survey respondents sort of sounds like the dumbest idea ever, one that will at best imperfectly replicate real polls while introducing all sorts of biases. On the other hand, with LLMs improving at a remarkable, perhaps even alarming rate, maybe that means I’m a dinosaur at the ripe old age of 24 because I still want to rely on polls that talk to actual people. I’m not going to argue that synthetic samples are completely useless. In fact, as I’ll return to later, there is evidence that some techniques can replicate topline survey results quickly and cheaply. But the marketing from certain companies can be slightly optimistic. “No traditional poll will exist by the time the next general election occurs,” said Fink in 2024. We’re just 206 days away from the midterms, and based on the fact that I still have to collect a bunch of polls every day, I’d say he should have run that prediction by a sample of AI agents before the interview.2 To see why synthetic samples can’t replace polls, here’s a quick primer on how they work. The simplest version of these models involves taking a LLM (like ChatGPT or Claude), giving it a demographic profile (e.g., a white, college-educated woman who lives in Utah and makes $70k a year), and then asking it to respond to a survey question. You repeat that process a few thousand times using different demographic profiles and end up with a sample of synthetic survey responses. The actual models used by private companies are more sophisticated than this, usually because they incorporate more hypothesized demographic characteristics for each agent and provide them with extra information. Aaru, for example, feeds agents a diet of news and information they’d be likely to consume, while Electric Twin incorporates their customers’ proprietary data about the audience they’re trying to replicate. The way Ben Warner, the co-founder of Electric Twin, explained it to me was “we have a large amount of data on […] for instance, 5,000 people. Can we make an accurate prediction of how they would respond to another question?” Still, it should be obvious why synthetic samples can’t replace polls. Polling is fundamentally a data collection process. We might use surveys to make predictions by feeding them into election forecasts, but the main purpose of a poll isn’t prediction, it’s gathering new data about what people think and how they feel. Silicon sampling, on the other hand, produces no new data. It’s simply a model: you input LLM training data, demographic prompts, and a bunch of other information, and it spits out a prediction for what a poll would say. We love models here, but models aren’t polls. That difference is an important philosophical sticking point for most pollsters I talk to. “I think politics should stay away from [synthetic sampling], because we’re trying to […] represent the voice of the people,” said Natalie Jackson, a vice president at GQR Insights. Democratic pollster John Hagner told me: “I think I’m just incredibly skeptical of this idea. I don’t think it’s research. At that point, you’re asking the machine to tell you what you already believe.” Hagner has seen some presentations of early synthetic sampling experiments, but so far, “if it’s being used in a campaign, people are keeping it incredibly quiet.”3 But Eli, I hear you saying, aren’t polls themselves increasingly governed by modeling decisions? Indeed they are: pollsters’ choices on which sampling method to use, how to define their likely voter models, and how to weight their samples can and do lead to dramatic differences in the results they publish. Aaru even referenced these limitations in the methodology statement included with that maternal mortality “poll” — although I’m using the term “methodology statement” loosely here, because it doesn’t really explain how the model works at all. We can ignore the (frankly preposterous) implication that synthetic sampling isn’t subject to a separate set of biases. The important point is that there’s still a meaningful difference between using weighting and other statistical techniques on actual polling data and using a model to predict what a poll would say. The latter is far closer to election forecasts or techniques like MRP — potentially useful models, but not a replacement for polls.4 To be fair, other synthetic sampling companies are perfectly happy with the distinction between polls and models. Warner compared polling and synthetic sampling to different tools in a toolbox. “The mistake I think we make is we think that these new tools should either work in exactly the same way or somehow replace these old tools,” he said. “Rather than thinking of it as, okay, so we’ve always had the hammer, we’ve always had the screwdriver, now we’ve got a saw. But don’t use a saw to try [to] do the job of a hammer.” A quick comment from Nate Eli didn’t ask me for a comment — rather rude of him, don’t you think? But since I’m editing this story, I figured I’d add a few quick thoughts rather than putting words in his mouth. Beyond the frequently misleading marketing, what bothers me about the AI “poll” hype is that as AI tools make statistical inference cheaper and/or better (note that these are not synonyms) that actually increases the comparative value of collecting original data. You might be able to train a model to make a reasonable estimate of what some hard-to-reach poll respondent would say — say, a young Black man who voted for Trump. (Such a person checks a number of boxes for a voter who is usually hard to reach in surveys.) Indeed, this is closely related to what models like the Silver Bulletin forecast already do. They essentially smooth out the kinks in noisy survey data by making inferences based on past voting patterns or national polls or surveys of other states. But you don’t actually know what these voters think unless you’re reaching them directly. If there’s a shift in opinion among this subgroup, you’re not going to detect it. So if I were running a campaign, I’d invest more in going the extra mile to find a representative sample of those voters. And then I’d hire some smart quants — or Claude? — to figure out the implications for campaign strategy based on proprietary data that my competitors didn’t have access to. -Nate Silver Are these models any good? If synthetic surveys are just a new type of model, the next obvious question is whether the models are at least accurate. The answer very much depends on who you ask. On one end of the spectrum, you have the maximalist argument that synthetic sampling is more accurate than actual polls. “It’s an incredibly challenging problem to go to someone and say ‘hey, we’re going to be more accurate at predicting human behavior than you, even when you talk to your customers directly’,” Koh recently told CNBC. In his view, synthetic sampling isn’t a saw to polling’s hammer, it’s “magic.” There’s certainly evidence that synthetic samples can replicate certain survey toplines. But if Aaru does have any examples of their approach outperforming the polls, they’re keeping those to themselves.5 Aaru’s 2024 election model, for example, had Kamala Harris leading in Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin on November 4th. And although they’ve since taken down their forecast page, they gave Harris a 50.5 percent chance of winning the race on November 2nd.6 After the election, Fink told Semafor he was happy enough with those results because they were “within margin of error,” a term that is completely meaningless when applied to a “sample” of AI agents. And of course, Aaru says their models have improved since 2024, so supposedly now they’d be more accurate than the polls? Still, their stronger argument is on cost: “We are significantly faster and cheaper than traditional polling, and still more accurate,” said Fink. The first two claims are undeniably true, but the third brings us to the opposite end of the spectrum. Both Jackson and Hagner are skeptical that these models are reliable for anything beyond replicating common survey toplines. “I just […] don’t think the machines are what we want when we’re looking for nuanced views. My example on this is people in Arizona and Nevada in 2024 who voted for Trump and voted for expanding abortion in their states on ballot initiatives,” said Jackson. Hagner identified another issue. Maybe the synthetic respondents, like sycophantic LLMs, are inhuman in one important way: they’re too nice. “The reports that have come through at the meetings that I’ve been at are that the early experiments on this, they cannot get respondents to be as racist or sexist or, frankly, as negative as human respondents,” he said. Academic research mostly agrees on this point. While there are some papers that show promising results when using LLMs to replicate polling data, most show that LLMs suffer from various quirks like producing too few “don’t know” responses and can seriously overpredict the favorability of politicians like Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. They also seem to struggle with too little variation between demographic subgroups, so the difference in predicted opinion between Democrats and Republicans, for example, is too small. When I asked Warner about these studies, his response to these papers was that just because academics can’t get synthetic sampling to work doesn’t mean that the technique doesn’t work in general. “Actually, the argument is, okay, yours does not [work]. That does not mean […] for this complex set of machinery, which uses a lot of investment, a lot of time, a lot of money, you can’t get it to work.” Cards on the table, I’m somewhat sympathetic to this argument because academics aren’t exactly great at making election forecasts. Usually, the people with skin in the game are the most accurate. Warner’s argument is that the approach Electric Twin takes — which includes, for example, making multiple predictions for each synthetic respondent using different models and prompts and subsequently averaging those to get a final prediction in a sort of ensemble forecast — produces better results than the simpler academic models. Warner shared a comparison between his method and the method from a recent academic paper with me, and Electric Twin was indeed able to get more accurate replication. But even still, he acknowledged that synthetic sampling “is not a crystal ball.” “If you asked me, do I think using other data sources will be more accurate than asking somebody who they will vote for, I would probably say no. But if you asked me ‘would your system be useful for our turnout modeling today?’ I would say yes.” For better or worse, it looks like the method is already getting more popular in the market research world. Most of the clients Aaru touts these days are businesses like EY and McDonald’s. And AI will probably begin to pop up in other parts of the political polling process. Pollsters are already using it to code open-ended survey responses, and some firms, like YouGov, are testing using LLMs to ask survey respondents questions. More worryingly, one danger to actual polls is that AI agents can be used to infiltrate online surveys. Most online polls use various checks to prevent that from happening, but there’s conflicting evidence on how effective those filters are and how prevalent AI agents currently are in online panels. If those agents ever become impossible to detect, it might spell the end of online polling, but the solution isn’t to replace all of your respondents with ChatGPT. Silver Bulletin is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a subscriber. Subscribe 1 That particular poll obviously doesn’t meet Silver Bulletin standards for aggregation. But we exclude all Public Sentiment Institute polls from our averages because we classify them as an amateur polling firm. 2 You could argue that Fink meant the next presidential election, but (a) I’m also confident we’ll still have real polls in 2028 and (b) in that case he should have asked an LLM to define “general election.” 3 Quick caveat: that’s reporting from a Democratic pollster. It’s possible that Republicans are more willing to use AI in political campaigns. 4 Indeed, Silver Bulletin does not include “polls” produced by MRP in our forecasts or averages, and we think it’s extremely misleading when their practitioners describe them in a way that suggests original data had been collected among a large number of states or Congressional districts. 5 A recent report from Aaru and EY did show two examples of a synthetic estimate being closer than a survey to a real-world benchmark — but I’d take those findings with a grain of salt because the report reads more like an ad and didn’t involve any sort of prediction being made ahead of time. 6 For comparison, our odds for Harris on the same day were 48.2 percent.
Game Preview: Washington Capitals @ Pittsburgh Penguins, 4/11/2026
Who: Washington Capitals (40-30-9, 89 points, 6th place Metropolitan Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (41-22-16, 98 points, 2nd place Metropolitan Division) When: 3:00 p.m. ET How to Watch: National broadcast on ABC and TBS Pens’ Path Ahead: Today is the final home game of the regular season (but not the last home game of the season, now that […]
Amazon Luna ends support for third-party subscriptions and game purchases
You'll no longer be able to stream games you bought from EA, GOG and Ubisoft through the platform.
National champion running back among Patriots’ latest pre-draft visits
The Patriots’ list of reported pre-draft visits is now up to 17.
Dunlap fields questions from voters during Bangor town hall
In a wide-ranging town hall conversation in Bangor Tuesday night, Democratic 2nd Congressional District Candidate Matt Dunlap said he will not be accepting money from Political Action Committees and will prioritize issues that matter to Mainers.
Yarbrough speaks with Lone Star Politics after opponent in TX-32 ends campaign for GOP nomination
After businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley ends his campaign for the GOP nomination in the 32nd Congressional District, Trump-endorsed Jace Yarbrough will take on the Democrat in the November election. The newly-drawn district was designed to favor Republicans by state lawmakers. Yarbrough takes questions from Lone Star Politics about his conservative views and his priorities if elected to office.
With eye on long-term health, D-backs tab Kelly for 2nd rehab start
PHOENIX -- It’s not a setback, but Merrill Kelly's 2026 season debut for the D-backs has once again been pushed back. After being announced as the club’s Opening Day starter on Feb. 14 before having the proverbial rug pulled from out under him due to intercostal nerve irritation a week
Small Business Workshop on Social Media Marketing
If you’ve boosted posts and gotten little to no results, you’re not alone.
Apple iOS 26.5 public beta is now available
Apple has released the first public beta for iOS 26.5, just a few days after the beta for developers came out.
Skunk near Fellows Lake is 2nd rabies case for 2026: Health department
With a second case of rabies identified this week, Springfield-Greene County Health Department advises community to be careful around wildlife.
1 in 5 Louisiana adults report 'frequent mental distress,' the 2nd highest in the nation.
Madison Parish had the highest rates of adults with frequent mental distress in Louisiana. See the statewide data.
Politics Friday: 3 congressional candidates vying for their party's endorsement
Friday at noon, a check-in on the only Minnesota congressional race guaranteed to send a new person to Washington. MPR News politics editor Brian Bakst speaks with three candidates seeking to represent the 2nd Congressional District.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a black hole of entertainment
Somehow, the Super Mario Galaxy Movie is even less of a film than the first.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a black hole of entertainment
Somehow, the Super Mario Galaxy Movie is even less of a film than the first.
Astros Prospect Report: April 2nd
See how the prospects performed last night.
Midshipmen Play Host to Holy Cross Saturday Afternoon on CBS Sports Network
Navy (6-4, 2-2 Patriot League) returns home to play host to Holy Cross (5-5, 2-3 Patriot League) on Saturday in a nationally-televised Patriot League contest. Faceoff is slated for 3:06 pm at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and the game is presented by Navy Mutual. Navy is led by Joe Amplo, who has put together a 49-37 record in his 7 seasons at the helm of the Mids' program, while Holy Cross' J.L. Reppert has posted a 15-57 record in 6 seasons as the Crusaders' head coach. The contest marks the 22nd meeting in a series that dates back to 2004.
Datavault AI (NASDAQ: DVLT) Partners With Demora Foundation To Power K-Entertainment Tokenization Platform
Austin, Texas, United States, April 2nd, 2026, FinanceWireDatavault AI NASDAQ:DVLT, an AI-driven data monetization, RWA tokenization and Web 3.0 infrastructure company, and Demora Foundation announced a Technology Integration Agreement naming Datavault AI as the formal AI data intelligence and RWA…
Soundcore Nebula X1 Pro review: The king of party projectors
Soundcore’s Nebula X1 Pro is a one-of-a-kind but expensive home theater system.
Destination 318 launches 2nd annual $100k tourism business challenge
Second annual $100k tourism business challenge launched by Destination 318.
Arts and entertainment events happening April 2nd-5th across the Mid-Ohio Valley
Joe Oliverio joins Daybreak to discuss what’s happening April 2nd-5th across the Mid-Ohio Valley!
Finalists Selected: The 2026 NIHCM Awards in Health Care Journalism and Policy Research
Announcing the finalists for the 32nd Annual NIHCM Awards in health care journalism and policy research. Learn more about the insightful work from the...
Game Preview: Detroit Red Wings @ Pittsburgh Penguins 3/31/2026
Who: Detroit Red Wings (39-26-8, 86 points, 6th place Atlantic Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (37-21-16, 90 points, 2nd place Metropolitan Division) When: 7:00 p.m. eastern How to Watch: Locally broadcast on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and FanDuel Sportsnet Detroit, streaming on ESPN+ Pens’ Path Ahead: The Pens are headed to Tampa Bay to pay the Lightning on Thursday before returning […]
Trump Faces a Decision on Whether to Start a Ground War in Iran
The president wants a negotiation, but the Iranians say they are refusing until a cease-fire is declared. And while Marines and the 82nd Airborne Division offer new leverage, the risks escalate quickly.
Allegiant Stadium will host another Super Bowl
Las Vegas will host a 2nd Super Bowl in 5 years
A 2nd grader designed an adorable mascot for NASA’s Artemis II mission
'Rise' is a baseball hat-wearing plushie that will let the four-person crew know when they have officially hit zero gravity.
Mid-Ohio Valley Spring Sports: Roane County Raiders schedule
Baseball Head coach: Larry Ash, 2nd year Assistant coaches: Matt Ash, Will Starcher Last year: 9-12 Roster Seniors 3 Jacob Greathouse (C/P), 8 Caden Caldwell (2B/MI), 16 Hogan Greathouse (DH/OF), 23 Carder Kinder (CF/P/UTL) Juniors 9 Brodey Proctor (LF), 11 Carson Casto (OF), 15 Alex Richardson (C/3B/P), 22 Reis Thornabar (1B/P) Sophomores 1 Wyatt Brabham […]
Are the Thunder finally healthy as a team?
Here's the latest on the reigning champions' general health ahead of their Sunday night game with the Knicks.
Are the Thunder finally healthy as a team?
Here's the latest on the reigning champions' general health ahead of their Sunday night game with the Knicks.
Game Preview: Dallas Stars @ Pittsburgh Penguins 3/28/2026
Who: Dallas Stars (43-18-11, 97 points, 2nd place Central Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (36-20-16, 88 points, 2nd place Metropolitan Division) When: 5:00 p.m. eastern How to Watch: Locally broadcast on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and Victory+, streaming on ESPN+ Pens’ Path Ahead: The Penguins have a back-to-back coming up that will have a major impact on the Eastern Conference playoff race. […]
Kansas Senate passes bill to create sports authority for future Chiefs stadium
The Kansas Senate passed a bill to create a sports authority, a board that would oversee a new stadium in Kansas City, Kansas, and a team headquarters in Olathe.
Jeremy Melander joins Essentia Health-32nd Avenue Clinic to practice orthopedic surgery
The Essentia Health-32nd Avenue Clinic is excited to welcome Jeremy Melander, an advanced practice registered nurse and certified nurse practitioner in orthopedic surgery.
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition with 208MB of total cache launches April 22nd
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 now official AMD has confirmed that the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition will launch on April 22. The date was shared by Jack Huynh, SVP
More than $40K Awarded to Middle and High School Scientists and Engineers at the 72nd Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair
/PRNewswire/ -- The 72nd Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair (GSDSEF) was held this year at the Balboa Park Activity Center, on Wednesday, March...
Approximately 1,000 US soldiers preparing to deploy to the Middle East to be available for Iran operations
Approximately 1,000 US soldiers with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division are expecting to deploy in coming days to the Middle East, according to two sources familiar with the matter, adding to the growing military firepower in the region as the Trump administration says it is in talks with Iran to end the conflict
Samsung's cheaper Mini LED TVs are now on sale
Samsung unveiled new budget Mini LED TVs as well as some higher-end models using its Quantum Mini LED tech.
2nd Car Show Scheduled at Sangertown Square
Racing fans and families can check out high-performance cars and meet local drivers at the Mall Car Show at Sangertown Square.
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.
Game Preview: Carolina Hurricanes @ Pittsburgh Penguins 3/22/2026
Who: Carolina Hurricanes (44-19-6, 94 points, 1st place Metropolitan Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (35-18-16, 86 points, 2nd place Metropolitan Division) When: 3:00 p.m. eastern How to Watch: Locally broadcast on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and FDSN South, streaming on ESPN+ Pens’ Path Ahead: Quality opponents await in the next week; the Pens host Colorado on Tuesday, an Avs team […]
49ers News: 25 more Sundays until NFL football is back
Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Sunday, March 22nd, 2026
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.