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Design Files: Mirrodin, Part 4
Mark finishes his trip through Mirrodin's design handoff file with a look at the set's rare artifacts and lands.
PC Performance Status Update
An update on the PC performance optimizations Borderlands 4 has received to-date.
Trump was offered an off-ramp to the DHS shutdown but he didn’t take it
President Donald Trump was presented Sunday with a potential off-ramp to the more than month-long Department of Homeland Security shutdown: fund every part of the department except enforcement operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, two sources familiar with the conversations told CNN.
Trump admin dumps Biden-era wind projects for billion-dollar investment in US oil
The Trump Department of the Interior secured a landmark agreement with energy giant TotalEnergies to redirect nearly $1 billion away from "unreliable" and "ideological" wind projects.
Peregrine Road performs at the Jesup
BAR HARBOR — On Thursday, April 9, at 5:30 p.m., the Jesup will host a free Music and Conversation program with Peregrine Road (Rachel Bell and Karen Axelrod). Peregrine Road
US soccer legend Landon Donovan details mental health struggles in new book
American soccer great Landon Donovan talks to Fox News Digital about the themes in his new book, "Landon: A Memoir."
Melton Little lands Jack May's endorsement in open HD 71 race
'I know he will fight for conservative principles.'
When Vermont’s treatment landscape shifts, community providers step up
As Vermont’s substance use treatment landscape shifts, community providers are stepping up to maintain access to care. In Washington County, strong partnerships ensure rapid connection to treatment, recovery services, and coordinated support.
UNH Paul College Top Public Business School in New England for Academic Experience and Career Outcomes
UNH’s Paul College ranks No. 63 nationally in 2026 Poets&Quants rankings, leading New England public schools in academic experience and career outcomes.
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
OpenAI talent flow: See who's feeding into and hiring away employees
Big Tech, particularly Google, was a huge feeder for OpenAI. Many employees landed at smaller startups after they left Sam Altman's AI giant.
Banijay Series Mania Slate: ‘A Woman of Substance,’ ‘Peaky Blinders’
Other highlights take in Jack Thorne’s ‘Falling,’ Richard Gadd’s ‘Half Man,’ ‘Wallander’ and Series Mania titles ‘Anatomy of a Moment’ and ‘Etty.’
Ballard set to miss Northern Ireland's Italy play-off
Dan Ballard is set to miss Northern Ireland's crucial World Cup play-off semi-final against Italy on Thursday because of a hamstring injury.
Kathy Ireland Accuses Business Managers of Looting Her Fortune
The model-turned-entrepreneur and lifelong Santa Barbara resident claims decades-long deception left her virtually broke.
Breaking the Cycle review – meet the charismatic Thai politician striving to change his country’s history
Gripping documentary examines the Future Forward Party’s unprecedented 2019 election result, and its leader’s aim to break Thailand’s repeated military coups
US soccer legend Landon Donovan opens up on mental health struggles, redefining success
American soccer legend Landon Donovan opened up about mental health struggles and reconfiguring what success meant to him. He releases "Landon: A Memoir" this week.
The M-Trends 2026 report shows how to strengthen business cybersecurity.
Learn more about the evolving threat landscape based on Mandiant's new M-Trends 2026 cybersecurity report.
Why Have Patriots Not Done More To Address Pass Rush?
The New England Patriots had just 35 sacks last season, ranking near the bottom of the league in the regular season.
Michael McCarthy Considering Three Races As Options For Journalism's Return
After Journalism worked five furlongs in company Sunday at Santa Anita, trainer Michael McCarthy said he is looking at three potential races to kick off the colt’s 4-year-old campaign. Journalism could return in either the Oaklawn Handicap (G2) or Ben Ali (G3) at Keeneland, both on April 18, or ...
Two Offseason Trades Patriots Should Have Made But Didn't
Here are two trades that the New England Patriots should have pursued this offseason but ultimately passed on.
Khloé Kardashian Recalls How Her Divorce from Lamar Odom Made Her ‘Obsessed’ with Leading a Healthy Lifestyle
Khloé Kardashian opened up about her relationship with diet and exercise on the March 18 episode of her podcast, ‘Khloé in Wonder Land.’ She said she became ‘obsessed’ with exercise after examining how her food choices were affecting her quality of life.
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.
Far-left activists stay in 5-star Cuban hotel as island suffers total blackout
CodePink sponsored flights to Cuba to protest President Donald Trump's sanctions, but the group faced backlash for staying in luxury hotels.
Treasury secretary defends U.S. military actions in Iran: 'Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate'
Scott Bessent said "all options" were on the table to secure Kharg Island.
Politics chat: Trump's mixed messages on the Iran war, the latest on DHS funding
We look at President Trump's mixed messages on the war with Iran, plus the latest on Department of Homeland Security funding, which Congress has frozen over his immigration enforcement policies.
A secret weapon to fight carbon emissions was just discovered: Beavers
A new study in Switzerland finds that beaver-built wetlands can trap and store large amounts of carbon, offering a low-cost boost for restoration and climate resilience.
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.
Electron's Investment Into Good Wayland Support
For years Electron apps were notorious for continuing to depend upon X11/XWayland and not jive well with the modern Wayland experience on modern Linux desktops
Southland girls' basketball final rankings for 2025-26 seaosn
A look at the top 20 high school girls' basketball teams in the Southland, led by Open Division state champion Ontario Christian.
Get ready to vote in the next Detroit Community Choice Awards
The awards program seeks to shine a light on outstanding businesses in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.
A Grip on Sports: In a season when Gonzaga's defense was the driving force behind its success, the Zags couldn't get the one stop they needed
A GRIP ON SPORTS • After all the flotsam and jetsam is swept away, sometimes a college basketball game, an NCAA Tournament game, comes down to making one play. Saturday night in Portland, Texas did. And Gonzaga’s season once again fell short of its ultimate goal.
Anders Lee defends Islanders’ effort after blowout Canadiens loss
New York Islanders captain Anders Lee defended his team's effort after a blowout loss on the road against the Montreal Canadiens.
Recap: Sporting KC suffers 4-1 loss to Colorado
Sporting Kansas City suffered a 4-1 loss to the Colorado Rapids on Saturday at Sporting Park. Shapi Suleymanov scored the lone goal for SKC in the defeat as the visitors prevailed behind a brace from Paxten Aaronson to go along with a goal from fellow Designated Player Rafael Navarro and
Marc Abrahams, founder of the satirical Ig Nobel Prizes: ‘Scientists in the US are very angry. People are waking up’
The awards are moving to Switzerland, because their founder believes he can no longer guarantee the laureates’ safety in the United States
Luka Doncic Explains Controversial Exchange with Goga Bitadze Before Suspension
Luka Doncic did not let up on Saturday night, leading the Los Angeles Lakers to a 105-104 win over the Orlando Magic. Doncic has been on an absolute heater of late, and he kept his foot on the gas against the Magic. The Lakers improved to 46-25 and remain third in the Western Conference.
LeBron James breaks record for most NBA games played
LeBron James broke the NBA record for most regular-season games played on Saturday, taking the court for his 1,612th when the Los Angeles Lakers tipped off against the Orlando Magic.James, playing his unprecedented 23rd season, already holds a host of NBA records, including points scored, field goals made and field goals attempted and the longest streak of regular-season games with at least 10 points scored -- 1,297 -- in history.
Islanders @ Canadiens [Game #70 thread]
The Islanders have a big one tonight in Montreal, where the Canadiens are in a three-way tie for the Atlantic’s third playoff spots (84 points, same as wild card occupants Detroit and Boston but with a game in hand) while the Islanders begin a night of play on the outside looking in for the first […]
Hochul running mate visits Long Island businesses struggling amid ICE raids
"Business is very, very bad," said the owner of Dulcemania II Saturday. "People are scared, afraid to come out."
Illinois State, Wake Forest battle for NIT quarterfinal spot
Another prolific scoring performance by Juke Harris allowed Wake Forest to keep its season alive and the best game of Landon Wolf's career enabled Illinois State to continue playing.
Waterfront staple Shooters brings new life to Flats entertainment district
Shooters became a hotspot in the Flats during Cleveland nightlife's heydey period before the 2000's.
Waterfront staple Shooters brings new life to Flats entertainment district
Shooters became a hotspot in the Flats during Cleveland nightlife's heydey period before the 2000's.
Dueling Complaints Alleging Open Meeting Law Violations Emerge After…
Nantucket Current is the island's leading online news source. We deliver the news, stories, and people of Nantucket, unbiased and unfiltered.
Cowboys land top pass rusher in new mock draft
It feels inevitable that Dallas will take a pass rusher in the first round.
Trump threatens to deploy ICE agents to airports Monday if funding deal isn’t reached
President Donald Trump said Saturday he will deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to US airports on Monday if an agreement isn’t reached to fund the Department of Homeland Security amid a partial government shutdown.
Queens small businesses push for stronger safety measures after attempted robberies
QUEENS, N.Y. (PIX11) — Business owners in Queens are calling for stronger public safety measures after an attempted break-in at one of Woodhaven’s most well-known landmarks. The incident happened earl...
Flood-prone Kīhei Crossroads for sale as its popular businesses remain closed from latest storm
In June of 2025, the popular strip shopping center near the Kīhei Canoe Club and the surrounding vacant land went on the market for $15.85 million.
The reality of death and the Trinitarian “science” of salvation
Readings: • Ez. 37:12-14 • Psa. 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 • Rom. 8:8-11 • Jn. 11:1-45 We live in a time of astounding scientific breakthroughs and unprecedented medical marvels. In my lifetime alone, we’ve witnessed men landing and […]
Big money flows into state attorney general races as legal battles shape American politics
There are races in 30 states this year for attorney general, and groups that support those candidates prepared for the elections by raising record amounts in 2025.
Player status report, presented by Orlando Health: Orlando City SC at Nashville SC
Here is the Player Status Report, presented by Orlando Health, for Saturday's away match at Nashville SC
Minecraft World Is Coming To Chessington World Of Adventures In 2027
The land will include new attractions including a world-first Minecraft coaster, themed retail and dining, plus a host of fan favourites and ridiculous fun from the Minecraft universe.
Billionaires, trial lawyers and unions gear up for 2026 California ballot brawls
It costs millions to qualify for the ballot and most measures fail, but that’s not stopping lots of special interest groups from trying
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.
At age 41, a Westmoreland mom of 3 is diagnosed with a cancer that's rising in younger populations
When Misty Ament felt sharp pain in her right side last August, the 41-year-old assumed she was dealing with appendicitis. Instead, doctors discovered...
Nebraska lands the commitment of 3-star athlete Kaden Howard
The feel-good momentum surrounding the Nebraska athletic department continues to build following the men’s basketball team’s first-round NCAA Tournament victory—and it’s now carrying over onto the recruiting trail. The Cornhuskers have secured a commitment from 3-star athlete Kaden Howard, a 5-foot-10, 160-pound playmaker out of Miami, Florida. Howard picked Nebraska over Louisville, West Virginia and […]
Salary cap: OL Elgton Jenkins’ contract with the Cleveland Browns
Looking at the details of Browns OL Elgton Jenkins’ contract, option bonuses, and incentives.
The mental health effects of gun violence near schools
Dr. Scott Hadland from Mass. General Brigham discusses new data that shows the amount of shootings near schools is trending downwards.
Why cats always land on their feet, according to science
Why do cats always land on their feet? It’s one of science’s most enduring mysteries in the realm of pets.
Amid soaring prices, Maryland Republicans make political push for gas tax holiday
Maryland House and Senate Republicans said Thursday they will press for a 30-day gas tax holiday to ease skyrocketing gas prices spawned by the Iran war.
Google confirms AI headline rewrites test in Search results
Publishers face new risk as Google tests AI-written titles in Search, rewriting tone and intent to better match queries and boost engagement.
Maternal and Infant Health in State Rural Health Transformation Proposals Set Promising Priorities in an Uncertain Landscape
Visit the post for more.
Chuck Norris, 'Walker, Texas Ranger' star and martial artist, dies at 86
The "Walker, Texas Ranger" star reportedly had an undisclosed medical emergency on the island of Kauai.
FOX5 Las Vegas Sports' Mike Davis on the state of the Raiders
FOX5 Las Vegas Sports Anchor Mike Davis wakes up with "GMFB" on the state of the Las Vegas Raiders and defensive end Maxx Crosby trade fallout.
Science center: New seats are latest stage of CineDome reno
Museum’s domed theater expected to reopen in late May.
Player availability report, presented by Orlando Health Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute: Orlando Pride vs Denver Summit
Here is this week's player availability report, presented by Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute, for Friday's home match vs Denver Summit
Splenda manufacturer eyes $91M in upgrades to Indianapolis operations
Carmel-based Heartland Food Products Group plans to construct a new building and add the newly acquired Splenda brand to its product manufacturing operations in Indianapolis.
Kathy Ireland alleges decades-long fraud in lawsuit against business partners
Mogul claims betrayal cost her family more than $100 million.
A Grip on Sports: The Zags survive a first-round rock fight in Portland, one that also caused contusions for those watching from home
A GRIP ON SPORTS • There was one thing I was certain of when I began writing this column almost 15 years ago. The day Chuck Norris died, I would share my story of the lone interaction I had with the “Walker, Texas Ranger” star. It has everything. High school football. A rickety press box. Family. Sports writing. But, alas, it may have to wait. Today is just not the day.
Who Should Be England’s Number 10 at the World Cup?
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is fast approaching, and England manager Thomas Tuchel has some huge decisions to make. Former boss Gareth Southgate came in for major criticism from supporters for continually...
Judge Rules US Government Overreached With Transgender Health Care Declaration
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge said the government overreached by issuing a declaration that called treatments like puberty blockers and surgeries unsafe and ineffective for young people experiencing gender dysphoria, according to a ruling Thursday in Oregon. Judge Mustafa Kasubhai's ruling ...
2 measles exposure sites identified at Salem health centers, Oregon officials say
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Two Salem health centers were identified as the latest measles exposure sites in Oregon, officials said. The Oregon Health Authority and Marion County public health official…
Firefighters battling flames on roof of building housing row of businesses in Midwood
FDNY officials say a fire was reported in a restaurant at 1021 Avenue H between East 10th Street and Coney Island Avenue around 4:40 p.m.
New dispute emerges around Subnautica 2’s early access release
Lawyers for the ousted—and now partially reinstated—leadership team of Unknown Worlds, the studio behind Subnautica 2, are crying foul over news that the game will be released into early access in May. The release announcement earlier this week was made improperly, potentially “damaging the game and sowing additional confusion among the Subnautica community,” the lawyers said in a letter sent on Tuesday to Vice Chancellor Lori Will of Delaware’s Court of Chancery. In their letter, the lawyers also floated the idea of asking Will to find Krafton in contempt of the court’s ruling. The letter was sent just one day after Will’s bombshell ruling that publisher Krafton had breached its contract with Unknown Worlds’ executive team, when it fired them last June. The new issue isn’t necessarily the May early access timeframe, but how the news was announced. The letter and Krafton’s response have not been previously reported. A quick recap of prior events: Subnautica 2 is an unreleased, underwater survival adventure and the most-wishlisted game on Steam. Last year, longtime Unknown Worlds CEO Ted Gill, along with studio co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, were fired by Krafton. They swiftly sued, saying the publisher had terminated them to avoid paying out up to $250 million in potential performance-based bonuses. The studio leaders had hoped to earn that with an early access release of the game, which Krafton had blocked. The publisher argued in court that Subnautica 2 wasn’t ready, which the ousted execs disputed. On Monday, Will ruled that Krafton had violated its contract, firing the execs to avoid the performance payouts, and that it had to reinstate Gill and give him full authority over any early access release for Subnautica 2. On Tuesday, IGN reported on a new memo issued that day to Unknown Worlds staff by Steve Papoutsis, the executive Krafton had put in charge of Unknown Worlds after the 2025 firings. In the note, Papoutsis said that Subnautica 2 had passed a key development milestone “last week” and that he and Krafton had determined the game “is ready for Early Access release in May.” This news appeared to catch the lawyers for Gill, Cleveland and McGuire by surprise. On Tuesday night, they sent a letter to Will expressing “serious concerns” about whether it would be possible to forge an agreement with Krafton consistent with the judge’s order. Papoutsis’ memo was a problem, they wrote. He didn’t have the authority to declare anything about Subnautica 2’s release. As of 9am ET on Monday, March 16, the effective date of Will’s order, Papoutsis wasn’t CEO of Unknown Worlds. Gill was. And, per Will’s order, only Gill could make Subnautica 2 release decisions. They continued: Krafton self-servingly announced the launch without any regard to its impact on the game, the team, or the community—let alone this Court’s Opinion. Announcing the release of a game is momentous, and it is typically accompanied by significant marketing activity, fanfare, and community coordination. And most importantly, the announcement is carefully designed to maximize excitement for the game. That entire process was supposed to be driven by Mr. Gill. However, in defiance of the Court’s Opinion, Krafton has now taken that away, further damaging the game and sowing additional confusion among the Subnautica community. The lawyers speculated that Krafton had “intentionally leaked” Papoutsis’ memo and then issued an official statement to confirm the leak. Game File is a reader-supported publication. My reporting is only possible through support from readers like you. To support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe On Wednesday, lawyers for Krafton defended their client in their own letter to vice chancellor Will, saying nothing they did violated her order nor showed contempt: Papoutsis’s message was simply celebrating the UW employees’ efforts toward a past event: Krafton’s pre-Opinion determination that Subnautica 2 was ready for Early Access release. There was nothing improper about conveying the results of the milestone review or thanking the development team for their dedication and talent. They added that Gill could still make his own call about Subnautica 2’s release: In his role as CEO, Gill will be able to assess independently his views on the state of Subnautica 2 and the appropriate release schedule; nothing in Papoutsis’s message alters Gill’s authority or discretion. Vice chancellor Will has not responded to the letters and doesn’t necessarily have to. Both parties were previously ordered by Will to confer this week and submit a proposed judgment consistent with her ruling. The letter from Gill’s attorney’s this week doesn’t indicate whether he would or would not support a May release for Subnautica 2. But it could limit his options. And, if Gill’s lawyers are right, the lack of marketing fanfare around the leak of the May date could dull the launch of the game. Any harm to Subnautica 2’s launch is an extra sensitive issue given the context of the legal dispute: millions of dollars of payouts are on the line, tethered to the scale of the game’s initial performance. In her ruling on Monday, Will noted that there was obvious “bad blood” between Gill’s side and Krafton but that the two would need to work together: “They can—and must—act in good faith to navigate their remaining contractual relationship.” Item 2: A new kind of couch co-op game A highlight of GDC each year is the Alt.Ctrl showcase that features games played with extremely experimental controllers. Perusing this year’s offerings last Friday, I found a game controlled with giant scissors, another with big toothbrushes and one that amounted to dumpster diving. My favorite was Pivot, a co-op game about collectively maneuvering a couch. It was developed by students at the University of Utah’s masters of arts and engineering games program. Players lift and tilt the physical couch in order to control the position of a virtual one. That virtual one is moving through an obstacle course on-screen, while being pursued by a giant skull. Developer Nishant Verma told me at GDC that the couch is made of styrofoam (this became more evident as I watched!) and that the name was a riff on an episode of the sitcom Friends. Item 3: In brief… 🚫 Ubisoft is laying off more than 100 workers at its Red Storm studio, as the North Carolina location known for decades for its Tom Clancy games, ceases in-house game development, VGC reports. 👀 On Monday, Nvidia’s revealed its DLSS 5 AI-driven graphics technology that purports to improve game graphics… and it has been roasted about it by the media and the online gaming public for the remainder of the week. The tech changed the faces of characters in footage from Resident Evil Requiem, Hogwarts Legacy and EA Sports FC, drawing accusations of giving carefully art-directed games the generic look of AI “slop.” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had said on Monday that “DLSS 5 is the GPT moment for graphics—blending handcrafted rendering with generative AI to deliver a dramatic leap in visual realism while preserving the control artists need for creative expression.” By mid-week, Huang was telling Tom’s Hardware that the new tech’s critics were “completely wrong” because game-makers could still “fine-tune the generative AI” to suit their game’s aesthetics.
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Register to this forumOver the past decade, artificial intelligence (AI) has significantly evolved in complexity, performance, and utility. Its integration across a wide range of industrial sectors has accelerated, with healthcare emerging as one of the most transformative sectors. In this sector, AI has enabled high-impact applications – from enhancing the speed and accuracy of disease diagnosis and supporting clinical decision-making, to strengthening public health initiatives such as disease surveillance and workforce optimization. Moreover, AI holds immense potential to empower individuals, enabling them to take greater control of their personal health and well-being. Yet the central question remains: Who benefits, who is at risk, and do these innovations close or widen health inequities? While the potential of AI-enabled applications is substantial, many countries have approached their adoption with caution. This hesitancy stems from concerns about risks and benefits, including model bias, data breaches, privacy violations, and the erosion of professional skills due to over-reliance on AI. Additional barriers include inadequate data infrastructure and a lack of robust evidence on the most effective forms and interfaces of AI to enhance service delivery and system performance. Moreover, the rapid rise of Generative AI has introduced a heightened urgency for the development of comprehensive governance and ethical frameworks. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Health Practice Team and Digital Sector, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Western Pacific, are convening the Forum on Harnessing AI for Health Equity on 25–26 March at ADB Headquarters. Senior health officials from 16 developing member countries (DMCs), alongside leading researchers, innovators, and policymakers from across Asia and the Pacific, will engage in discussions on how AI can be governed, financed, and scaled to deliver healthier lives for all. The forum is funded through the High-Level Technology Fund with support from the Government of Japan. Objectives The two-day forum aims to:Identify high-impact, evidence-based health AI use cases suitable for resource-constrained settings and map out a pipeline for potential supportIntroduce and validate the WHO's policy guidance on minimum necessary ecosystem for countries and institutions to self-assess readiness for AI adoptionObtain initial commitment from participating stakeholders to join a pilot regional initiative focused on data/model sharing for a priority health challengeEndorse a prioritized set of actionable policy recommendations focusing on governance, regulation, and sustainable financing necessary to scale high-impact health AI use cases in resource-constrained settings Target participants The forum will convene participants from 16 ADB DMCs including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Viet Nam. In addition, health system leaders and practitioners, private sector technologists, academic experts, representatives from civil society organizations, development partners, and philanthropic institutions engaged in AI for Health from Australia, the People’s Republic of China, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the Republic of Korea will also be invited. SessionsDay 1 (25 March)Session 1: AI Use Cases for the Care Continuum: Improving Access and QualitySession 2: Adopting a risk-based approach for AI use case prioritizationSession 3: Establishing the Minimum Ecosystem for Implementation Risk ManagementSession 4: Future-Ready Health Workforce: Building Competency for Human-AI CollaborationDay 2 (26 March)Session 5: The Political Economy of AI in Health: Understanding Stakeholder Interests and their Impact on EquitySession 6: AI and Health Financing: Supporting Fair Coverage and ProtectionSession 7: AI Regulation and Oversight: Pathways for Different RealitiesSession 8: The Way Forward – Building Alliances and Regional Partnership How to registerThe forum will be held in a hybrid format. In-person attendance is by invitation only, while livestreaming of the forum will be available to the public. To register, please complete this form on or before 24 March 2026.Event organizers / partnersAsian Development Bank (ADB)WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific High-Level Technology Fund (HLTF)ContactAkihito WatabeHealth Specialist, SD3-HSDawatabe@adb.org Jae Kyoun KimHealth Specialist, SD3-HSDjkkim@adb.org
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