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Gov. DeSantis trying to figure out 'timing' of property tax phaseout
How soon can it take effect? It's an open question even for the man who wants to make it happen.
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.
NBPA accuses Bucks of tanking for trying to hold out Giannis Antetokounmpo, but there's a simpler explanation
Antetokounmpo hasn't played since March 15, but he wants to return despite Milwaukee's place in the standings
Google wants Android Automotive to control more of your car
Google wants Android in cars to break out of the infotainment box.
Marathon has sold 1.2M copies across Steam, PS5, and Xbox
Alinea Analytics estimates show that Marathon has generated gross revenues of $55M via 1.2M copies sold on Steam, PS5, and Xbox: Looking at the split between Steam, PS5, and Xbox, Steam is clearly the main platform for Marathon, accounting for a little under 70% of the audience (800K copies sold). Meanwhile, PS5 takes about 19% (217K) and Xbox (including console, PC, and cloud) accounts for a bit over 11% or 133K. Marathon is technically a first-party Sony title, so seeing the home console struggle to break 20% of the volume is a notable data point for the ongoing platform-agnostic debate. PlayStation Studios online games will almost certainly continue being multiplatform (despite Sony reportedly pulling back on PC releases). Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe As for Marathon, the consensus among hardcore players who pushed through the awkward onboarding phase – myself included – is that it’s fantastic. The gunplay, aesthetic, and presentation are among the best in the shooter genre. A great game doesn’t always equal an immediate hit, though, as shown by our estimates. Things are looking lukewarm right now. But this might be one of those marathon-not-a-sprint situations. Had to, didn’t I? Why wasn’t Marathon a hit on the same level as Arc Raiders? One topic that came up in a lot of conversations at GDC this year was why Marathon hasn’t hit the same stratosphere as Arc Raiders. On paper, they’re both extraction shooters, and Marathon has the Bungie pedigree – the house that built the gold standard for gunplay in Halo and Destiny. Marathon’s neon-futuristic aesthetic also distinguishes itself from the gritty realism of Tarkov or the post-apocalyptic hope of ARC Raiders. But vibes can only get you so far for first impressions if the onboarding feels like a brick wall. Marathon is a sweaty PvP-focused experience with a first-time user experience and UI that I can only describe as dreadful. Players are dropped into a complex ecosystem where the UI, though visually striking, is functionally uninformative, forcing users to manually hover over nondescript, identical icons just to identify basic gear or weapon mods. This lack of clarity is compounded by punishing mechanics like a severe heat gauge for movement and a scarcity of vital resources, all without a clear tutorial or a low-stakes mode to learn the ropes. Most people – even top streamers and veteran shooter players – have no idea what’s going on in Marathon at first. Arc is on the complete other end of the spectrum. As we covered here and here, Arc Raiders offers a more collaborative, approachable loop where players often work together toward shared goals. And the objectives are instantly clear. To many players, this contrast only emphasised Marathon’s issues, especially during the testing period. Players understand the Arc Raiders loop within 30 minutes, while Marathon acts as a massive filter, chewing up newcomers and spitting them out before they can experience the depth of Bungie’s signature gunplay. What I’m getting at here is that the poor first-time user experience of Marathon’s Server Slam likely stifled launch sales, while the opposite was true for Arc. Let’s look at the pre-launch copies sold for each game during their respective Server Slams (launch-aligned) : Looking at the trajectory: Arc Raiders saw a massive 80% jump in copies sold during its three-day Server Slam (day -13 to -11). Players jumped in, realised the water was fine, and immediately opened their wallets. Marathon, meanwhile, saw a 49% increase in the four days following its Slam (Day -7 to -3). At the time of each game’s respective launch, Arc Raiders had nearly double the Steam footprint of Marathon – and word of mouth only continued to grow. Bungie could have had more time to fix the onboarding process had the beta happened earlier. But Marathon launched three days after the beta finished. These factors limited the launch sales quite a bit, I reckon. Marathon has found a niche audience, though Despite the friction-heavy start, the data suggests that those who survived Marathon’s onboarding are loving life. We’ve been tracking cross-platform DAUs, and while there’s the expected post-launch leakage, many players are sticking with it. After peaking at 478K total DAUs on its first Saturday, Marathon has settled into a respectable rhythm, holding 345K DAUs as of yesterday and averaging 380K DAUs across the weekend. Steam continues to do the heavy lifting here, consistently accounting for the lion’s share of the daily players. Players have been putting in the hours, too: On Steam, Marathon’s average playtime has climbed to 27.8 hours, significantly outpacing the console averages on PS5 (16.5h) and Xbox (17.3h). Even more telling than the averages: 22% of the Steam audience has surged past the 50-hour mark, and nearly 7% have already logged over 100 hours. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe This data suggests that once the Bungie magic clicks, it hooks players deeper than the average extraction shooter. There’s also started to be a shift in the game’s discourse. Marathon launched as one of those games that’s cool to hate. But as Marathon’s 100-hour club grows, we’re seeing conversations around its mechanical merit outweigh the negativity. Several high-profile creators, who were initially vocal critics, have spent the last week coming around on the mechanical depth of the endgame. It’s a subtle but positive signal; the hate train is losing steam, and a new narrative about the game is emerging. Bungie faithfuls unite Another interesting metric in Marathon’s first few weeks is who, exactly, is playing. Bungie leans heavily on its prestige as the “makers of Halo and Destiny,” in its marketing, and that message has clearly hit the mark. On Steam, the gravity (hammer) of Bungie’s previous work is unavoidable. A staggering 78.2% of Marathon players also played Destiny 2. The trend carries across other platforms, with 74.2% of PS5 players and 82.7% of Xbox players also having played Destiny 2. The Halo legacy lives on, it seems. More on that in a bit. While Destiny 2 went free to play, these numbers still represent a high-intent migration of a fanbase that trusts Bungie’s specific brand of kinetic gunplay and cryptic world-building. The Xbox data adds another layer of legacy. About 85.7% of Marathon players on Xbox have played Halo Infinite, while over half of the Steam audience has spent time in Halo Infinite and 36.1% in the Master Chief Collection (a paid collection of the old Bungie-made legacy games). Interestingly, we see a 55.9% overlap with ARC Raiders on Steam. Overlap is even higher there on PlayStation (60.5%) and Xbox (66.5%). And there’s also significant crossover with Helldivers 2 on all platforms, too. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe Bungie has found some of its fans with Marathon, and the challenge now is keeping this engaged in a high-stakes PvP environment when they’ve spent the last decade primarily enjoying the power fantasies of PvE. On that note… Go the full 26 miles? Or cut and run? Time for some could’ve, should’ve, would’ve. These things would have improved Marathon’s performance at launch: A more robust onboarding process, perhaps in the form of a short single-player/PvE campaign. We know Bungie fans love this stuff. A traditional arena-based mode akin to Destiny’s Crucible could have been a bridge for the cautious players who’d have been otherwise deterred by the Server Slam. It’s also a great palate cleanser after getting merked. Introducing a dedicated PvE environment would have similarly diversified the conversation and lowered the barrier for the Bungie faithful who found the pure PvP extraction loop too abrasive. PvE is safer than PvP these days. There’s an argument that a thin PvE mode would have just felt like a budget Destiny, potentially hurting the brand more. But given how dire the FTUE is, I think it would have been a net positive. Any kind of tutorialised loop that demystifies the stakes, really. While there is merit in a studio sticking firmly to a singular creative vision, and going all in on the hardcore extraction loop. Less forgiving is the technical reality is that the user interface and first-time user experience (FTUE) were not at a commercial standard for launch. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe In a landscape where player time is oversaturated and the most contested currency, a flawed FTUE is a critical failure point. But it’s not all doom and gloom, as Marathon has an incredible, unique gameplay loop, suggesting that financial success is still attainable if Bungie can pivot effectively. Bungie and PlayStation now face a difficult strategic crossroads, though – one within a challenging games market. They could: Double down on Marathon with a long-term Rainbow Six Siege- or No Man’s Sky-style recovery plan, which is something I heard Last Stand Media’s Chris Maldonado mention last week. While this could be a sunk-cost fallacy in action, it could eventually yield the audience the game’s mechanical depth deserves. Shift focus toward the inevitable Destiny 3 or another project, mitigating the escalating opportunity cost and cutting their losses, so to speak. Doing both is an expensive proposition, given the high overhead and burn rate of operating out of Bellevue, Washington. With Sony recently demonstrating a lower threshold for underperforming studios and projects, the margin for error has vanished. Whatever happens, the next six months will determine whether Marathon becomes a cornerstone of Sony’s live-service portfolio or a cautionary tale of vision exceeding accessibility. I’m hoping it’s the former, because Marathon rocks. As always, hit subscribe to get updates on Marathon and other relevant games. Subscribe Want to get your hands on our data for yourself – for free? We’re offering a free trial of our platform for games companies. Send us a message here, or reply to this email, and we’ll set you up. The last word Reply to this email – or reach out here – if you have any feedback for the newsletter – or want to request a game for us to cover. [Alinea Analytics boasts the most accurate PC and console estimates in the business. Game makers use our platform to understand their audience, keep an eye on the competition, monitor sales trends, and spot new opportunities. We equip game studios and financial institutions with accurate data and the confidence to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Want to talk about all things games market data? We’d love to chat!]
My unsung hero of science: Buckminster Fuller, the architect who wanted to redesign the world (and inspired a nanosized one)
Few 20th-century scientific figures are as hard to classify as Buckminster Fuller.
Maine governor candidate King sets education priorities
King said he wants to help teachers by simplifying what it takes to be certified, rewarding high achievers with better pay and giving them opportunities to further their careers.
Change is ‘long overdue’ at Homeland Security. Can Markwayne Mullin bring it?
Newly confirmed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told senators during his confirmation hearing that he wanted to keep the department out of the headlines. That won’t be easy.
Wind Turbines Once Had One Job: Generate Power. Now Engineers Want Their Towers to Do Something Modern Life Cannot Run Without
Deep in the North Sea, a strange new AI infrastructure plan is taking shape inside offshore wind turbines.
Amid competition for sponsors, top sports clubs are investing in social media operations
Sponsors used to want hospitality access and pitch-side banners. Now they want access to a club's social following.
Why Trump may not be able to TACO in Iran — even if he wants to
Wars, unlike illegal tariffs, cannot be switched on and off to meet a president’s whims or to permanently shore up free-falling markets.
Online gambling is big business in Colorado. Lawmakers want to change that
Data is scarce, but concerns about problem betting are driving proposed new restrictions on the lottery’s plans and sportsbooks on your phone.
Sarah Michelle Gellar says she and Reese Witherspoon were too shy to ask Adele for a play date
Sarah Michelle Gellar says she and Reese Witherspoon were both too nervous to ask Adele if they could schedule a play date for all of their kids: 'None of us wanted to ask.'
Trump Claims Victory on Memphis Crime as His Crackdown Draws Protests
Residents and state officials are divided over whether a crime task force is a welcome fix or an unwanted imposition in a city where crime was already falling.
Did Dana White want Nate Diaz back in UFC?
Former title contender Nate Diaz will return to MMA for a promotion not named UFC.
Advocates want $150M collectively in state budget for food assistance programs
Advocates say the need is dire as more New Yorkers are having to make difficult choices when it comes to how they spend their money.
Louisiana's health secretary wants AI on the phones and the website
Louisiana residents may see changes in calling the state health department or using its website if it turns to artificial intelligence to save money. The department is examining how it can implement AI over the next few years to make residents’ experiences more efficient and reduce spending, Louisiana Department of Health Secretary Bruce Greenstein said […]
Beyond the brackets, Florida seeks college sports solutions amid possible Trump action
“We don’t want to do something or say something that’s going to disadvantage these major institutions,” said Alan Levine, who chairs the Board of Governors.
Opinion | We Can’t Let Crypto and A.I. Buy the Policies They Want
We can’t let crypto and A.I. buy the policies they want.
Top business leader demands end to stalemate over City Council's pick for zoning chair
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce President Jack Lavin said more than 40 development projects have been stalled by City Council's failure to agree on new permanent chair for the powerful Zoning Committee. He wants Mayor Brandon Johnson to forge a compromise to break the stalemate.
5 ChatGPT Prompts To Start Your Own Business From Scratch
Plenty of people want to work for themselves but never start. Use these ChatGPT prompts to go from idea to business owner today.
Mills says federal abortion investigation is ‘political’
In particular, the federal government says it wants to find out if Maine “is unlawfully coercing entities covered by Federal health care conscience protection laws to provide, pay for, or provide coverage of abortion.”
Voice of America Journalists Sue, Saying Trump Officials Interfered in Coverage
The journalists said in the complaint that the administration was trying to force them to be a “mouthpiece” and that one official demanded “loyalty” if reporters wanted to “keep their jobs.”
Microsoft-backed startup raises $40 million for advanced chipmaking equipment tech
Lace, a Norway-headquartered chipmaking equipment startup which is backed by Microsoft, has raised $40 million in funding to further develop a technology that could enable significant advances in semiconductor design and manufacturing, the company said on Monday. To make cutting-edge chips, manufacturers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Intel employ a process called lithography that uses light to draw complex circuits that form the foundation of advanced artificial intelligence chips. Manufacturers use light-based lithography systems made by the Dutch company ASML - which dominates the market - as they race to shrink chip components and squeeze in more features to boost the computing horsepower on a limited area of silicon.
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.
Delivery Hero to Sell Taiwan Business to Grab
The German food-delivery company said it would sell Foodpanda as part of a strategic review for $600 million in cash.
Grab Strikes $600 Million Deal for Foodpanda Taiwan Business
Grab Holdings Ltd. agreed to buy Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda operations in Taiwan for $600 million, a deal that marks its first foray outside of its Southeast Asian home market.
Joe Kent says he wants Donald Trump to hear MAGA opposition to Iran war
It’s a concerted effort, Kent said, to rally members of the president’s Make America Great Again movement and ensure he hears dissenting voices.
Samsung Brings AirDrop Support to Quick Share with Galaxy S26 Series
Samsung is introducing AirDrop support to the Galaxy S26 series, making it easier for users to share content between devices using Quick Share. The feature will begin rolling out from March 231, starting in Korea and expanding to more regions including Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, Latin America, North America, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan. AirDrop support […]
The OG Four-Door Porsche Sports Sedan Wasn't Even Built By Porsche
In 1967, a Texas-based car dealer wanted a four-door Porsche 911 S. Porsche wouldn't make it, so he turned to coachbuilders for help.
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.
Science Central: Planetarium opens this week
Wednesday at 10:30 there will be a ribbon cutting unveiling the 1,830-square-foot planetarium features a 21-foot-high, 28-foot-wide dome.
Neighbors say Indian Springs revival could do KCK ‘more good than that stadium’
Area businesses said they want to see the project revitalize the State Avenue business corridor near I-635.
Girls' basketball coach of the year: Alicia Komaki of Sierra Canyon
She came up with a winning formula to defeat Etiwanda and No. 1 Ontario Christian in the Southern Section Open Division championship.
'Completely lawless': Why this congresswoman wants Pam Bondi impeached
From the Epstein files to the integrity of prosecutions, Democratic Congresswoman Summer Lee says Attorney General Pam Bondi is damaging the DOJ.
The Supreme Court Could Make it Harder to Vote by Mail in the Midterms
The Republican National Committee wants to toss ballots arriving after Election Day. Critics say thousands of votes — a majority cast by Democrats — are at stake.
Are AI tokens the new signing bonus or just a cost of doing business?
Maybe tokens really will become the fourth pillar of engineering compensation. But engineers might want to hold the line before embracing this as a straightforward win.
Eddie Hall Teases Summer MMA Return, Dillon Danis Fight
Former World's Strongest Man Eddie Hall is eyeing a return to the cage later this year, and wants to face Dillon Danis.
Brooks Nader, 29, Reveals She Had Liposuction ‘Years Ago’ and Regrets It: ‘I Just Didn’t Need It’ (Exclusive)
The model and reality star tells PEOPLE that she experienced unwanted side effects from the procedure
‘They want to colonise us’: Brazil’s Lula warns of foreign interference
The left-wing Brazilian president is critical of US actions throughout Latin America, though he does not name Trump.
Barry Keoghan is 'hiding away' after online 'abuse' over his looks: 'You don't want to even be on screen anymore'
Barry Keoghan says online 'abuse' over his looks is 'becoming a problem' and has made him shy away from the public eye: 'You don't want to even be on screen anymore.'
Third-round draft prospects who can really help the Cowboys
Who do you want Dallas to draft with pick 92?
Wrexham’s Hollywood owners’ Sky Sports’ watchalong criticised by Swansea CEO
Sky offered an alternative commentary with Wrexhman owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac alongside regular presenter David Prutton.
UFC London’s Felipe Franco promises entertainment after teammate Jailton Almeida’s release: ‘They want to see blood’
Felipe Franco battles undefeated Mario Pinto at UFC London
Apple Wanted to Buy Halide to Boost iPhone 18 Pro's Camera App—Now There's a Lawsuit
Apple's plans to enhance the iPhone 18 Pro's Camera app led it to consider acquiring Halide, but the talks ultimately collapsed and were followed by a fierce legal dispute between the startup's co-founders, according to The Information reports. In the summer of 2025, Apple reportedly held discussions to acquire Lux Optics, the developer behind the popular iPhone camera apps Halide, Kino, and Spectre.
Wellness expo offers financial and health resources to Allen County families
According to a press release, the free event is open to the public and seeks to help reduce health and economic disparities, in turn improving and saving lives.
Nebraska, hungry for school's first Sweet 16, ready for Vanderbilt
After winning the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament game on Thursday, Nebraska wants more.
Country music star wants a shot at Super Bowl Halftime Show: ‘Make the call’
It's been a while since a country music star landed the gig.
‘Those days are over’: These business owners say they can’t raise prices even if they wanted to
Looking out his shop window, across the street, just to the right, Paloma Clothing co-owner Mike Roach sees one of Portland, Oregon’s, most expensive gas stations.
Bengals hold top-30 visit with Rutgers QB Athan Kaliakmanis
Cincinnati wants a promising developmental quarterback behind Joe Burrow, and they had a visit with one recently.
Eviction reform, Aquarion, towing laws: CT politics news
Plus: DeLauro wants to fund DHS but not ICE, and bills increasing the ECS formula and offering tax credits for paid internships advance.
Why the US wants to protect Iran’s oil and gas
The Mideast energy truce is breaking down.
Family-focused venue The Block Jax opens in Deerwood with food vendors, live music, dog park & more
Whether you want to catch the big game or take the family out for a night, The Block Jax, Jacksonville’s first outdoor food hall, made its debut on Friday with a grand-opening celebration continuing through Sunday.
Ohio airman's father says his son's death should not be 'political springboard'
Charles Simmons son was killed in a March 12 crash in Iraq. The grieving father said he doesn't want his son's death used as a talking point.
AI is running rampant in health care. They want to fix that.
Researchers at Northeastern are creating a universal guide for how to ethically implement AI in health care.
[VIDEO] Lucy Wang Featured in Business Interview TV Series
Watch a new Business Insurance interview with Lucy Wang, discussing how California's historic insurance regulatory reform has impacted the state's insurance market and rates in response to increasing wildfire exposure.
US intel finds no China plan to invade Taiwan by 2027, despite military buildup
The U.S. intelligence community says China has no fixed timeline to invade Taiwan and is not planning action by 2027, marking a shift from prior warnings.
Influencers are pushing out media for aspiring Democratic politicians
Voters used to say they wanted a president they could have a beer with. Now, would-be presidential candidates are chasing that authenticity in a different way: appearing on podcasts, spo…
'Anthony's purpose.' Canton mother remembers son with tribute art show
Monica Ramos of Canton is honoring her late son with an art show. And she wants to help others who struggle with mental health like her son did.
Google Messages is getting the one feature I’ve actually wanted for years
Google Messages has finally rolled out live location sharing, and I can't believe it took this long.
Scott Galloway: Cost of his Big Tech protest, paternity leave comments
Scott Galloway wants you to quit Big Tech. First, he had to do his own audit.
A company wants to launch space mirrors. All to the head-shaking chagrin of scientists.
A sky full of mirrors
America started a war. The economic pain will be borne by countries that never asked for it
The war in Iran has delivered what economists call a “black swan” event — an unforeseen shock so destructive, no one is immune to it.
Justice Department probe of Powell could backfire on Trump and keep Fed chair in office
President Donald Trump has for months wanted to remove Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve. But instead, an investigation by one of his own officials could end up extending Powell's time at the top of the central bank even after his term formally ends May 15.
Are You One of Those Weirdos Who Wants More Money in Politics? Move to West Virginia!
A shady new political donations law just passed, and so the age-old effort to keep the Mountain State an oligarch’s playground rolls onwards.
Hochul wants new state commission to study AI effect on N.Y. economy
As of December, the state’s unemployment rate stood at 4.6%, according to state labor department statistics.
Be counted among the Capital Region’s top private companies
Each year, Business Report ranks the Top 100 Private Companies in the Capital Region — one of our most anticipated and widely read features. It’s the definitive look at the companies driving growth, investment and job creation across our market. If your company is privately held and headquartered in the Capital Region, we want to […]
Google gives Android users a way to install unverified apps if they prove they really, really want to
: Chocolate Factory describes concession as an attempt to balance openess with safety
Crimson Desert’s Metacritic Score Leads To 30% Pearl Abyss Stock Drop
Crimson Desert's Metacritic score was not what investors wanted to see, leading to a big stock drop, fair or not.
LeBron James says he’s ‘not at all’ interested in NBA ownership
After making it clear he wanted to own an NBA team in Las Vegas, James has now changed course.
TSA officers are the latest aviation workers to be used as ‘political pawns.’ Now, they just want the shutdown to end
For over a month, Transportation Security Administration employees have been showing up to work at US airports without getting paid.
Home Health Care Aides Say It’s Time to End ‘Inhumane’ 24-Hour Shifts
The aides want the New York City Council to to pass a law that would limit their shifts to 12 hours, except in the case of emergencies.
LeBron James’ path to NBA ownership ‘less likely’ as partners pass on expansion bid: Sources
LeBron James has repeatedly made it clear that he wants to own an NBA team in Las Vegas. That dream is looking more unlikely now.
5 Knoxville sports bars for Tennessee Vols fans during March Madness
The game is on and you want to feel the energy with lots of other Vols fans. Here's where you will feel right at home in a sea of orange.
TNA WRESTLING AND EUROSPORT INDIA ANNOUNCE NEW MULTI-YEAR EXCLUSIVE PROGRAMMING AGREEMENT
The Deal Includes the Popular Localized Hindi-Language Series ‘Pehlwani Patakha’, as well as Exclusive TNA+ Specials & Iconic Content from TNA’s Expansive Library Boasting Classic Matches from Some of the Sport’s Most Legendary Figures
Science-minded student charts research, service path at Penn State
When Eva SinhaRoy arrived at University Park a couple years ago, she was a little overwhelmed at the possibilities. The science-minded student knew she wanted to focus on research, but she also wanted to build skills in other areas such as leadership. Since then, she's found her place in undergraduate research, leadership, and campus activities such as THON and the Presidential Leadership Academy.
LinkedIn partners with The Trade Desk for CTV ads
LinkedIn wants a bigger chunk of the streaming TV ad business. The Trade Desk will be its first demand-side platform partner for connected-TV ads.
Platner responds to Mills’ ad highlighting past comments
The ad quoted Platner writing that if women want to avoid rape they should make sure they don’t get so altered that “they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to” and that they should “act like an adult.”
Why Denver should care about conservation easements — even if you’ve never set foot on a ranch
By Jason Swan I live in Denver. I drink tap water from my kitchen sink, hike close to home when I can, worry about wildfire smoke every summer, and try, like many families, to keep up with the rising cost of living. I don’t own land. I don’t ranch. I don’t farm. And yet one […]
Colorado lawmakers want to rein in sports betting
The legislation acknowledges an increase in problem gambling since the state legalized it in May 2020.
Opinion | Cubans Want a Deal. Just Not This One.
Trump wants a symbolic win. Islanders want actual democracy.
Florida GOP candidate wants women who sell nude images to pay ‘sin tax’
'We've Always Wanted to Do It': Todd Howard Says He Knew Starfield PS5 Would Be a 'Matter of Time'
"We have a great relationship with PlayStation"
Trump said he wanted one of the Texas Senate candidates to drop out. Now he’s missed the deadline
President Donald Trump promised his endorsement was forthcoming in the GOP Texas Senate runoff and said he wanted whoever he didn’t pick to drop out. But now — preoccupied with the Iran war and a doomed voting bill — he’s missed a critical deadline.
49ers given uncomfortable 1-word assessment for offseason roster moves
This isn't exactly what the 49ers want to hear about their offseason so far.
Group plans $50 million push to make child care a top issue in midterms
An advocacy group is providing support to candidates who want to expand support for child and elder care in the midterm elections.
Poll: Mass. Legislature underwater in court of public opinion
Massachusetts residents highly prize transparency and want to see an audit of the Legislature, the poll found.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review: Private and performant
If you want to spend $1,300 on a phone, it might as well be this one.
Dell XPS 16 (2026) review: Return of the king
The XPS 16 has nearly everything you want from a premium 16-inch productivity laptop and it's a worthy flagbearer for one of the most iconic notebook lines of all time.
7 Gut Health Myths a GI Doctor Wants You to Ditch Right Away
From lemon water to celiac disease, don't fall for these common myths.
Magic mushroom-infused products appear in Colorado gas stations – what public health officials want consumers to know
Hallucinogenic chocolate bars were removed from six Denver-area gas stations.
President Trump says ‘I think I could do anything I want’ with Cuba
Folsom ensures workers get no-cost health care
Folsom Mayor Lance Willie wants to make sure all his employees will continue to receive insurance at no cost to them, and with rising costs, the only way the town
Plan to light Earth at night with space mirrors angers scientists
A US start-up wants to ‘sell sunlight after dark’ using satellites with giant mirrors, but astronomers warn of disastrous consequences
The restaurant reservation wars show no signs of slowing down
When Mona Panjwani opened One40 Rooftop, a swanky restaurant in lower Manhattan last year, one of the biggest dilemmas besides the menu was choosing the reservation platform.
Good vibes only? The science behind optimism and manifestation
Psychologist Deepika Chopra says that optimism isn’t about being positive all the time. It’s about staying open, curious and resilient. In her new book, The Power of Real Optimism, she explains the science behind optimism and evidence-based manifestation, and how affirmations done the right way can lead to success. Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekitSign up for our newsletter here.Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at lifekit@npr.orgSupport the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at plus.npr.org/lifekit
POLITICO Correspondent reports the WH wants countries to ‘participate performatively’ in Strait of Hormuz
Chicago business conference to help local entrepreneurs
A Chicago business conference wants to help local entrepreneurs.
JPMorgan Hires Goldman’s Zhang to Co-Head China IB Business
JPMorgan Chase & Co. hired Zhang Yi to co-head its China investment banking business with Michelle Wang, according to an internal memo.