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PSA: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Is Now Available Physically On Switch 2
And it's not a Game-Key Card
Vaccines for healthy pre-teens and teens
Adolescents ages 9-18 are due for key vaccines. Uninsured youth can get free vaccines from the City of Berkeley Immunization Clinic. Parents of uninsured adolescents can come to the City of Berkeley immunization clinic to check their child’s vaccination status and, if needed, catch up on their missing shots.Staying up to date on vaccines is important for families at a variety of ages. Adolescence is an important time to check vaccine status as kids age 9 to 18 can get proven protections to help protect against of a variety of diseases.
CBS Sports offers split decision on Iowa vs. Nebraska Sweet 16
With tipoff coming later today, CBS Sports offered a split decision on who win between Iowa and Nebraska in the Sweet 16.
Ahead of Atlanta visit, Cory Booker casts Georgia as key political battleground
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker heads to Atlanta on Friday to appear alongside U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock at the First Baptist Church of Decatur.
PWHL Takeover Tour in Detroit as women's hockey rides Olympic high
Women's hockey is enjoying a wave of interest thanks to USA's victory at the 2026 Olympics, a boost for the PWHL.
US ramping up production of weapons critical for major war
From Tomahawk missiles to THAAD interceptor seekers, the US is massively increasing its production rates for key munitions amid stockpile concerns.
Orlov Offers Winning Wisdom Amidst Sharks’ Losing Streak (+)
ST. LOUIS — Dmitry Orlov has been an unappreciated leader in the San Jose Sharks’ surprising season. The veteran defenseman is also one of just four Sharks players who have won a Stanley Cup. Orlov hoisted the Cup in 2018 with the Washington Capitals. “It’s not easy. It’s a mind-set,” he said. “If you want […] The post Orlov Offers Winning Wisdom Amidst Sharks’ Losing Streak (+) appeared first on San Jose Hockey Now.
Dartmouth hockey team brings championship experience to NCAA Worcester regional
The Dartmouth College men’s hockey team has already won a championship. Now the Big Green are looking for another one, and it starts Thursday in the NCAA Division I tournament’s
The hunt for the next UNC men's basketball coach begins
Davis' handling of key moments in games and the era of NIL contributed to the change at the University of North Carolina.
GOP lawmakers vent frustration over Trump administration’s lack of info on Iran war
A key group of House Republicans are growing increasingly wary of the US war with Iran after a briefing with Department of Defense officials on Wednesday left some unsatisfied with what they were told about the objectives and length of the war effort.
Can Rep. Thomas Massie, Leading Trump Critic, Hang On in Kentucky Primary?
Can any Republican disagree with Trump and get away with it? Thomas Massie’s primary race in Kentucky is a key test.
Student-led business hooks customers across the country
Stay up to date with the latest news, stories, and achievements from the Susquehanna University community.
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,...
iOS 26.4 has fixes for 35+ security issues on iPhone, details here
iOS 26.4 launched yesterday, and alongside new features, it brings over 35 key security fixes for your iPhone per Apple’s notes.
Glyphosate: A story of science, risk, and nuance
In the summer of 2014, a California groundskeeper named Dewayne Johnson started noticing patches of raw, weeping skin spreading across his body. He had spent years applying Roundup, Monsanto’s glyphosate-based herbicide, for a school district, sometimes drenched in it when equipment malfunctioned. By 2014, he had a diagnosis: non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In 2018, a jury awarded him $289 million in damages, later reduced on appeal. Tens of thousands of lawsuits followed. The story hasn’t quieted down. It’s all over the internet, swinging between “this will kill you, buy organic” and “relax, you’re fear-mongering.” Some of that recent chatter stems from an Executive Order protecting glyphosate and its production, which set off intense infighting within the MAHA movement. Some of it reflects a deeper truth: Americans genuinely care about harmful chemicals in their environment (see poll below). And the conversation isn’t going anywhere, with a Supreme Court case involving Monsanto set for this April. Glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) is one of the most widely used herbicides in the world. But does glyphosate cause cancer? And how much exposure is actually risky? With so much mistrust in institutions and corporations (and some genuine conflicts of interest), making sense of the actual scientific evidence is genuinely hard. Here is a translation of what the scientific evidence actually says. Does glyphosate cause harm? Glyphosate is an herbicide that kills most plants it contacts rather than targeting specific species. It works by blocking an enzyme pathway (EPSPS) that plants and many microorganisms need to produce essential amino acids. Without those amino acids, the plant can’t grow and dies. Glyphosate was first developed by Monsanto in the 1970s and became ubiquitous after the company introduced “Roundup Ready” crops in the 1990s. In 2024, Bayer removed glyphosate from residential Roundup-branded products due to litigation pressure. But today it is still the most widely used herbicide in the world. Farmers also discovered they could spray it directly on crops like oats, lentils, beans, and peas just before harvest to dry them out faster and make harvesting easier. Because of its widespread use, it’s obviously really important to understand if it’s harmful to humans. The key principle: The dose makes the poison The most important concept in toxicology is that “the dose makes the poison.” Sixteenth-century physician Paracelsus articulated what remains the foundational principle of toxicology: sola dosis facit venenum. Water will kill you if you drink enough of it. Aspirin saves lives at 81 milligrams and causes internal bleeding at higher chronic doses. So, at what dose is glyphosate poisonous? The LD50 in rats (the dose that kills half the test animals) is around 5,600 mg/kg body weight. Table salt is roughly 3,000 mg/kg. By that classic measure, glyphosate is less acutely toxic than salt. But some people are exposed to a lot of glyphosate through their work. And among the general public, there are many questions about low-dose, cumulative exposure from multiple sources over long periods. Does glyphosate cause health problems? Cancer Correlation maps are striking, with one analysis finding that 60% of counties that spray the most glyphosate have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma rates above the national average. But correlation alone doesn’t establish cause, which is why animal and human studies matter. In animals: Rat studies are typically what most fear is rooted in, but most people don’t know the study details on the dosage given to rats. A pooled analysis of the 13 most rigorous rat studies found evidence that very high doses, around 55,000 times greater than typical food residue exposure, can cause certain cancers. In humans: One of the strongest studies followed 55,000 herbicide users over 20 years and found no overall increased cancer risk. There was one signal: among those with the highest use, rates of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) appeared elevated. A broader meta-analysis of 18 human studies also found no overall cancer risk, though a separate meta-analysis focused specifically on non-Hodgkin lymphoma found that people with high cumulative glyphosate exposure faced a 41% higher relative risk compared to those with low or no exposure. These human studies are observational studies (randomized controlled trials would be unethical), and meta-analyses are only as reliable as the studies they pool. But the story seems consistent: at very high exposure levels, there may be some cancer risk. But that’s about as far as the science currently takes us. Emerging research: gut and reproductive health Gut: Because glyphosate targets a pathway that exists in some gut bacteria, scientists have questioned whether it could affect the microbiome. In mice, a 2023 University of Iowa study found that glyphosate altered gut bacterial composition and raised markers of intestinal inflammation. A 2024 systematic review found similar patterns: disrupted gut bacteria and problems with the mucus layer that protects the intestinal wall in mice. Whether this translates to humans is an open question. The human gut is highly variable and resistant, and we don't yet have strong studies confirming the same effects in people. Reproductive health: Animal studies have found that glyphosate-based herbicides can interfere with reproductive hormones, including disrupting egg cell development in mice and reducing the number of eggs available in sheep’s ovaries. However, the doses used in these experiments were high, so it’s not yet clear whether the same effects would occur in humans. On the human side, a 2021 pilot study led by Mount Sinai researchers tested urine samples from pregnant women across the U.S. and found glyphosate in 95% of them. The study also found a possible connection between higher glyphosate exposure during pregnancy and a subtle physical difference measured in female newborns. That said, some connections weren’t statistically reliable and this was a small study. The researchers themselves said more and larger studies are needed before drawing firm conclusions. What do regulators say about glyphosate safety? In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization, classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans" (Group 2A). The classification is worth taking seriously. But, there’s an important distinction: IARC classifies hazard, meaning the potential to cause harm under some conditions. It does not assess risk, which accounts for actual exposure levels and the real-world probability of harm. The U.S. EPA, the European Food Safety Authority, Health Canada, and regulatory agencies in Australia and Japan have all concluded that glyphosate is “unlikely to be carcinogenic to humans” at realistic exposure levels. They’re asking a different question: given how much of this people actually encounter, what is the probability of harm? Your actual exposure is what determines your actual risk. What does glyphosate mean for your daily life? At the grocery store: Food residues are small. The EPA’s acceptable daily intake is 1.75 mg/kg of body weight per day. To hit that threshold from oatmeal alone, a 150-pound adult would need to eat roughly 50 pounds of oats every day. But this calculation addresses only one pathway (food), and we don’t yet have robust tools to measure people’s actual total exposure. If reducing exposure matters to you, organic certification prohibits synthetic herbicides, and organic oat products generally test at lower or undetectable levels. Either way, a diet rich in whole grains, conventional or organic, is far better for your health than one that omits them out of fear of residues. On the farm: Occupational exposure is orders of magnitude higher than consumer exposure. Farmers and farm workers who mix, load, and apply glyphosate-based herbicides, especially without protective equipment, face meaningfully different risk profiles. Proper PPE isn’t optional. Integrated weed management strategies that rotate chemical modes of action are also worth taking seriously, both for health and for long-term effectiveness. If you live near a farm: Spray drift is real. Concentrations near field edges can spike during and after application, particularly on windy days. This is an area where I think public health could really step up and empower rural communities with buffer zones, rather than placing the onus on individuals. But for now, knowing your local agricultural calendar and keeping windows closed during application are the first steps. Bottom line Dewayne Johnson was exposed to glyphosate at levels most people will never encounter, and a jury decided he deserved compensation. That outcome is not evidence that the oatmeal in your pantry is dangerous. But it is a reminder that the dose, the context, and the person doing the exposing all matter enormously. Glyphosate is a chemical tool with benefits, trade-offs, and genuine open scientific questions. Learning to hold that complexity without collapsing into panic or dismissal is, honestly, one of the most useful and hardest things to do in navigating modern health science. Love, YLE Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) is founded and operated by Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, MPH PhD—an epidemiologist, wife, and mom of two little girls. Hannah Totte, MPH, is an epidemiologist and YLE Community Manager. YLE reaches more than 425,000 people in over 132 countries with one goal: “Translate” the ever-evolving public health science so that people will be well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below: Subscribe
tvOS 26.4 fixes an annoying audio issue on Apple TV 4K
tvOS 26.4 is available now on Apple TV 4K, packing several new features and also a key fix for an annoying audio issue. Here are the details.
Danish Foreign Minister Becomes Kingmaker After Trump Standoff
Denmark’s headstrong Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen holds the keys to deciding who becomes the Nordic nation’s next prime minister.
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?
Cardinal Health (CAH) Emerged as a Key Contributor on Pharmaceutical Strength and Margin Expansion
Renaissance Investment Management, an investment management company, released its Q4 2025 “Large Cap Growth Strategy” investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The strategy faced a difficult fourth quarter of 2025, underperforming both the S&P 500, which gained 2.7%, and the Russell 1000 Growth Index as market leadership remained concentrated in […]
Deloitte: From Subscribers to Superfans: Fan Engagement Shapes the Next Phase of Media and Entertainment Growth
/PRNewswire/ -- Key takeaways Consumer spend remains flat on streaming services: The average subscribing household reports spending $69 per month on streaming...
Greenwich doctor tied to Vince McMahon case wins key defamation ruling
The doctor has a defamation suit against the lawyer for a woman who sued former World Wrestling Entertainment boss Vince McMahon.
Mushy bourbon sludge recycled into battery electrodes
Whiskey's biggest waste problem could become an energy solution.
Caldara overlooked facts in slamming utilities
Normally, I appreciate the variety of perspectives published on Colorado Politics. But regarding Jon Caldara’s recent column on Xcel, he irresponsibly neglects key facts to the point of annihilating credibility (“Are our overlords normalizing power outages?” March 15). He neglects any discussion regarding the nuance of safety (or fiduciary responsibility) versus inconvenience, for example: Is […]
Takeaways: Capitals Can’t Get Going In Loss to Blues
The Washington Capitals did a lot of the right things so Tayler against the St. Louis Blues to kick off their three-game road swing. However, it wasn’t enough, and ultimately, a lack of offense led to a 3-0 loss.
The BlackBerry-Esque Smartphone With a Full Keyboard Just Launched on Kickstarter
This Android smartphone with a tactile QWERTY keyboard has already raised over $2.1 million.
Scientists discover why this deadly lung cancer keeps coming back
Scientists have discovered that losing a key protein in small cell lung cancer triggers inflammation that actually helps tumors grow and spread. Even more surprising, it pushes cancer cells into a more aggressive, neuron-like state linked to relapse.
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.
Leveraging storytelling in politics
Community college marketing and communications staff play a key role in providing the visuals and storytelling in a college's efforts to educate and influence lawmakers and other stakeholders. That...
Senate Democrats Urge Kennedy to Stop Hindering Key Health Panel
The health secretary has canceled or postponed three meetings of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which shapes health care coverage for Americans.
Sherrill flexes political muscle in midterm battle between moderate Democrats and progressives
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill launches Mission to Deliver PAC, aiming to boost moderate Democrats in key federal and statewide 2026 midterm races.
Congress Passes Small Business Research Reauthorization
If it becomes law, the compromise bill would end a nearly six-month lapse in solicitations and annual funding.
Diagnosis for 3.23.26: Checking the pulse of Florida health care news and policy
Health care battles intensify as key bills advance
World Tuberculosis Day 2026: Primary health care key to a more accessible, people-centered response
In the Americas, an estimated 350,000 people fell ill with tuberculosis in 2024, and nearly 77,000 were not diagnosed, highlighting the need to bring diagnosis and treatment closer to communities.
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 […]
The NFL's ever-expanding slate is coming for your Wednesdays
In today's edition: Wednesday Night Football, the best division in hockey, ranking MLB's young talent, the world in photos, FGCU flashback, and more.
Ford recalls more than 254,000 SUVs due to software issues
Ford is recalling more than 254,000 SUVs in the U.S. after a software defect was found to impact rearview cameras and key driver-assistance safety systems.
MLB World Series predictions: Expert picks for 2026 champion, pennant winners
Here are the title predictions from our CBS Sports MLB staff for the 2026 season
Scientists Must Speak Clearly, Especially in Court: Five Tips for Clear Communication
As climate impacts intensify, so does the legal push to hold polluters accountable, protect vulnerable communities, and enforce environmental laws. And in these legal cases, science is key. Because science can’t present itself on the stand, scientists are essential to give scientific results a voice
Differences between W2 and 1099 workers for small businesses
Hiring for your small business? One of the first decisions you’ll face is who to hire and how to classify them. Should you bring on a W-2 employee or a 1099 independent contractor? In this episode of Small Business Smarts, ADP’s Laci Buzzelli breaks down the key differences between the two and when each option makes the most sense for small businesses. For more information, visit ADP.com/SPARK
How Maryland’s Megan Kelly Walter became a champion in two NCAA sports
Megan Walter was recruited as a two-sport athlete in field hockey and lacrosse coming out of Holton-Arms School in nearby Bethesda.
US whiskey maker takes over Waterford Distillery
Tennessee Distilling Group has agreed to buy Waterford Distillery after the Irish whiskey maker entered into receivership in 2024.
Colorado football lands mid-tier in ESPN's returning production metric
Colorado ranks near the middle of the FBS in returning production, balancing transfer portal additions with a few key returning pieces.
Play the Tiny Takeover drop
Tiny Takeover has officially stormed Minecraft! New versions of baby mobs are causing cuteness overload across biomes and builds. Pack your golden dandelions, craft name tags, and get ready to collect, cuddle, and coo over our new tiny rascals.
Josh Shapiro endorses James Malone in key Lancaster County Senate race
Gov. Josh Shapiro has officially endorsed James Malone’s bid for reelection in the Lancaster County state Senate district that both parties say could determine party control next year.
An asteroid sample contains all the key components for life on Earth
DNA from a distance
Hochul pushes environmental review reforms amid state budget negotiations
Hochul has touted the policy as a key element of her affordability agenda.
Microsoft hires former Ai2 CEO Ali Farhadi and key researchers for Suleyman’s AI team
Microsoft is hiring former Ai2 CEO Ali Farhadi, along with Hanna Hajishirzi and Ranjay Krishna from the Allen Institute for AI to join Mustafa Suleyman's Superintelligence team, GeekWire has learned.
2026 MLB standings predictions: Expert picks for every division, full projections as baseball season begins
Here are the predictions from our CBS Sports MLB staff for the 2026 season
How Will Gravity on Mars Affect Humans? A New Study Reveals a Clue.
Maintaining muscle mass is key.
Trump to Maria Bartiromo: Iran wants to make a deal badly, could be within 5 days or sooner
Maria Bartiromo reports that President Donald Trump says Iran ‘wants to make a deal badly’ as he orders a five-day pause on planned strikes against key infrastructure, signaling ongoing high-level talks and triggering a sharp market rebound.
As demand for GLP-1 pills and shots surges, healthy habits are still key
Whether they’re using weekly shots or daily pills, more Americans than ever are turning to anti-obesity drugs to lose weight and boost health.
A surprising foam discovery could change everyday products
Foams have long baffled scientists because liquid drains from them far sooner than theory predicts. New research shows the reason: the bubbles don’t stay put—they rearrange, opening pathways for liquid to escape. The key factor is the pressure needed to shift bubbles, not just push liquid through them. This insight reshapes how we understand foams and could improve everyday products.
Data Is at the Heart of What Public Health Does
Data is key to protecting the health and safety of a community, from identifying and tracking disease outbreaks to ensuring that water is safe to drink. Data is also vital to understanding where resources are most needed. This value is especially apparent to the officials charged with protecting public health, such as Dr. Janet Berreman, Kauai’s (Kauaʻi’s)* district health officer.
Starmer says ‘every lever’ will be explored to ease rising costs of living from Iran conflict
PM will chair Cobra meeting with key ministers and Bank of England on Monday, as experts warn of economic shock
Trump whistleblower Alex Vindman: ‘Sitting on the sidelines was not an option’
Democratic Senate hopeful says experience of being key witness in Trump’s first impeachment makes him right choice for Florida
Closing the women’s health gap: 5 key focus areas and why they need more research
Only 6% of private investment targets women's health, a World Economic Forum report says. 5 examples show how strategic investments could change this.
Doubts from key Republicans on surgeon general test MAHA’s political power
Casey Means faces pushback from some Republicans over her refusal to forcefully recommend vaccines.
Today's hefty Crimson Desert patch includes "beginning of improvements" to keyboard and mouse controls, plus much more
Pearl Abyss has detailed a rather chunky patch for Crimson Desert, after its launch last week was marred by multiple issues and AI controversies.
What’s at stake for UK in May’s local elections: six key questions
Reform, Plaid Cymru, the SNP and the Greens are all banking on big gains and nationwide repercussions
St. Louis Blues Weekly Prospect Report (March 22)
Jiricek has big scoring week; McIsaac announces future plans; Ralph, Michigan State head to NCAA Tournament with Mayich, Clarkson University eliminated; Peterson scored pair, including a SH beauty for Springfield
Color of Hockey: Williams helping to grow sport on, off ice in Jacksonville
Works for Sabres ECHL affiliate as goalie coach, director of community development
Ducks Sign Herman Träff to Entry-Level Contract
The 20-year-old had 41 points in 51 games this season for Oskarshamn in the HockeyAllsvenskan.
Minnesota Wild, NHL mourn hockey writer Jessi Pierce after death in house fire
Pierce and her three children were killed in a house fire outside of Minneapolis early Saturday morning.
Exit polls suggest lead for Merz's SPD in key west German state
Far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) looks set for a record score in western Germany
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.
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