SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " jd " 1,729 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Vance says US-Iran talks end without deal after 21 hours of negotiations
Vice President JD Vance says U.S.-Iran talks ended without a deal after Iran refused American terms, calling the outcome bad news for Iran more than the United States.
2026 Masters final round tee times, how to watch: Can Rory McIlroy win a second straight green jacket at Augusta National?
Columbus organization hosts free Black maternal health expo
The Columbus, Georgia Chapter of Jack & Jill of America held its first-ever Black Maternal Health Expo this morning at Comer Gym.
2026 Greenville Heart Walk shines spotlight on survivors and heart health
“The purpose, the meaning of this Heart Walk is just community.”
Where to watch Athletics vs. New York Mets: Live stream, start time, TV channel, odds for Saturday, April 11
The Athletics and Mets continue their series in New York on Saturday.
I found a new meteor shower — and it comes from an asteroid getting baked to bits by the sun
A NASA researcher in planetary sciences explains how he discovered a new meteor shower linked to a disintegrating asteroid.
I tested the AirPods Max 2, Sony WH-1000XM6, and Bose QuietComfort Ultra — here's the only pair I’d keep
This might ruffle some feathers
AC Milan vs Udinese – Match preview and team news
AC Milan and Udinese meet in a matchday 32 clash of Serie A at the San Siro on Saturday.AC Milan sits in third position at the Serie A table with 63 points from 31 matches, while Udinese are currently...
World Leaders Push to Save Iran Talks Amid Israel’s Attacks in Lebanon
President Trump’s cease-fire with Iran appears at risk as Vice President JD Vance heads to Pakistan for discussions with Iranian officials.
Vance meets Pakistan PM as US-Iran peace talks begin
Pakistan has emerged as a key player in efforts to extend a fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, hosting high-stakes talks involving Vice President JD Vance and senior advisers as both sides explore a path toward a more lasting agreement.
New health service lets Mountain Brook, Vestavia, Homewood residents skip the long waits
A new house call service is coming to Vestavia Hills, Homewood and Mountain Brook.
GlassWorm Campaign Uses Zig Dropper to Infect Multiple Developer IDEs
GlassWorm uses a fake WakaTime VS Code extension to infect IDEs, deploy RATs, and steal data, prompting urgent credential rotation.
How JD Vance went from well-known foreign war skeptic to the public face of peace talks with Iran
Vice President JD Vance will travel to Pakistan to helm talks aimed at solidifying the fragile truce between the US and Iran — and in the process, elevate himself as the key peacemaker within an administration that has devoted its last several weeks to war.
Trump started the Iran war with 5 goals. How far has he really gotten?
The president claimed he achieved them all. The reality is more complicated.
Crime Stoppers: Extension cords stolen from lot of Moline business
The person was wearing a baseball cap, black hoodie, green pants and boots. Police said the person also had a large black backpack.
China's car sales extend declines in March
China's car sales fell for a sixth straight month in March, as rising fuel prices hit demand for gasoline models while electric vehicle sales still reeled from reduced incentives as the economic recovery is sputtering.
Iran’s Reality Shatters JD Vance’s Hungarian Fantasy
If what mattered most in the world was the political future of JD Vance, this would be a very good week. The US vice president gave a rousing speech in support of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a model leader for the global conservative right, while at the same time helping his boss toward the off-ramp from an unpopular war with Iran.
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy on American Politics and the GOP
Former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy participates in a discussion on the state of American politics and the Republican party at a forum hosted by The John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at Harvard University.
Sen. Graham seeks congressional review of any peace deal with Iran
Sen. Lindsey Graham said in a post on X that he looks forward to the architects of the proposal, including Vice President JD Vance, coming to Congress and explaining how the deal meets America’s national security objectives.
Large Hadron Collider gives scientists their best look yet at conditions right after the Big Bang
"This is the first time we have observed, for a large interval in momentum and for multiple species, this flow pattern in a subset of proton collisions in which an unusually large number of particles are produced."
Texas cannabis businesses sue state to block smokeable hemp ban
Hemp businesses also want to block a new rule that raises licensing fees by thousands of dollars.
Business license revoked from Greenwood restaurant after deadly shooting, officials say
The Greenwood City Council voted to revoke the business licence for a restaurant that has been involved in several deadly shootings.
Kalamazoo production to bridge exploitation and entertainment during piano fest
"Good Night, Oscar" examines the intersection of humor and heartbreak while exploring themes of mental illness, celebrity exploitation, and entertainment’s impact on society.
President's budget brings back NASA science cuts
The President's Budget Request for fiscal year 2027 calls for $18.8 billion in NASA spending, a $5.6 billion cut.
JD Vance's mom to speak at county GOP fundraiser
Beverly Aikins has become a public speaker since her son took office, often sharing her story about recovering from substance use.
A’s Bullpen Blows Yet Another Game
A’s Lose Another Winnable Game
Viewpoint: FP10 should remain open, excellent and secure
Europe is right to worry about research security. Foreign interference is real. So is the misuse of sensitive knowledge. Universities working in sensitive areas such as AI, quantum, semiconductors and advanced materials cannot afford to ignore the geopolitical environment around them.But Europe is in danger of drawing the wrong conclusion, one that would increase, not reduce, its strategic vulnerabilities.If the EU applies an “EU preference” logic to the next Framework Programme for research and innovation (FP10), it will weaken one of its greatest strategic assets: a research system built on openness, excellence and international collaboration. In the name of security, Europe could end up advancing science more slowly, innovating less effectively and making itself less attractive to global talent and partners in advanced science and technology.That would be a serious mistake.The EU preference included in Article 10 of the proposed European Competitiveness Fund may make sense in some industrial or deployment contexts, but is far harder to justify when applied to collaborative research in advanced science and technology, where excellence and global connectivity are crucial. Research is not procurement. It does not thrive when isolated. It advances through access to the best ideas, the best people, the best facilities and the best data, wherever they are found. This is why FP10 should not simply absorb industrial policy logic by default. Doing so would risk importing instruments that are ill-suited to research and that ultimately increase vulnerability rather than resilience.For universities of science and technology, the issue is especially acute. These institutions sit at the frontier of knowledge and technology creation in the very fields Europe sees as critical for its future competitiveness and resilience. They know better than most that security risks are real. But they also know that openness and security are not opposites. In practice, they have to be made to work together. Research security is not about closing doors. It is about building resilience through collective responsibility, trust, proportionate safeguards and better governance. That is a fundamentally different approach from default restriction.The risks of non-collaborationThe real danger in the current debate is that Europe talks too much about the risks of collaboration and not enough about the risks of non-collaboration. Those risks are strategic too. Cut researchers off from international networks and Europe loses access to knowledge, data, infrastructures and talent. Slow down global collaboration in critical technologies and Europe slows down its own progress on cutting-edge science. Make participation rules unpredictable and Europe weakens its attractiveness to researchers and investors alike.In other words, over-restricting collaboration will create strategic vulnerabilities, particularly in advanced science and technologies.This point is often underestimated in policy discussions that frame openness mainly as a value to be defended. Europe’s scientific strength, technological development and long-term competitiveness depend on remaining connected to the best research ecosystems in the world. For a continent that wants to accelerate deep tech, strengthen industrial capacity and reduce strategic dependencies, weakening the excellence base would be self-defeating. That does not mean ignoring risk. Quite the opposite. Universities are already strengthening due diligence, internal governance, awareness-raising, screening procedures and compliance support. Across Europe, institutions are working to manage risks linked to foreign interference, sanctions, export controls and the misuse of research. The right response is not complacency. It is better risk management. But that means targeted, evidence-based and proportionate measures, not blunt top-down restrictions with wide spillover effects. In the daily reality of universities, openness and restriction often coexist. The real challenge is how to apply safeguards without sliding into securitisation that damages academic freedom, open science and international cooperation. Restrict partners, not nationsMore restrictive treatment of collaborators from European Economic Area members Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, or from Switzerland and the UK, is strategically very difficult to justify. These are deeply embedded partners in Europe’s research and innovation ecosystem. Beyond that, Europe should still resist default exclusion and instead rely on case-by-case assessment. The relevant question is not nationality in the abstract. It is the actual risk profile of a collaboration: the institution, the affiliations, the field, the knowledge involved, the intended use and the safeguards available. Screening should focus on institutions and affiliations rather than nationality alone. Related articlesParliament ‘misreads’ link between Horizon Europe and ECF, Commission official saysFrustration grows at governance gap in next Horizon EuropeIf EU preference logic is imported into research without careful calibration, the likely result is a chilling effect. Researchers may step back from legitimate and beneficial collaboration, even where risks are manageable. International partners may see Europe as less predictable. And Europe may end up undermining the very excellence base it needs to compete, scale up and lead in strategic technologies, thereby increasing its dependence on others.FP10 should do the opposite. It should remain open by default, with restrictions used only exceptionally, and then on the basis of clear evidence. It should integrate research security into open science and research integrity frameworks, not set them against each other. And it should recognise that academic freedom, scientific excellence and responsible international collaboration are not obstacles to Europe’s security, they are part of it. Europe needs stronger tools to protect itself. But it also needs the discipline to avoid measures that would weaken it and increase its strategic vulnerabilities in the process. In FP10, that means staying open, excellent and secure.Louise Drogoul is senior advisor for innovation and sustainability at the Cesaer university association.
WhatsApp Gets New CarPlay App
Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp was today updated with expanded support for CarPlay. CarPlay users are able to more easily call and message their friends and family members in WhatsApp directly from the car interface. WhatsApp had CarPlay integration before, but with limited Siri-based functionality. The new app has a full native CarPlay interface with a list of recent chats and call history, along with a tab for favorite contacts.
Vance stumps for Hungary’s Orban as Trump-aligned movement faces critical test
The vice president traveled to Budapest as Trump’s deadline for an Iran deal loomed Tuesday, backing the administration’s closest ideological ally in Europe.
2026 NFL Mock Draft: Dallas Cowboys choose defensive help
With the 12th overall pick in the 2026 Bleeding Green Nation community mock draft, Dallas Cowboys GM ejdubya selects ...
Trump administration live updates: Voters head to the polls in Georgia and Wisconsin
Get live updates and the latest news on the Trump administration as voters go to the polls in Georgia and Wisconsin and JD Vance meets with Hungary's Viktor Orbán.
Columbia stands to lose tens of millions as White House reopens push to cut science funding
Columbia stands to lose tens of millions in federal funding for fiscal year 2027 if Congress accepts a new budget request from President Donald Trump, released on Friday, which seeks to cut over $15 billion from federal science agencies.
Former NJ Gov. Chris Christie on Leadership and the Political Landscape
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) discusses leadership, the upcoming midterm elections, and the political landscape during a conversation hosted by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School.
Activists and Policy Advocates on the Role of Civility in Politics, Media, and Everyday Life
Activists and policy advocates sit down for a discussion on the impact of civility on politics, the media, and everyday life. NYU Washington, DC, hosts this event.
MNUFC Provides an Update Regarding the Health of James Rodríguez
James discharged from hospital, returned to training
Sackets Harbor: Village & chamber respond to business owner’s Tom Homan decision
The village of Sackets Harbor and its chamber of commerce are speaking out about a business owner’s decision to refuse service to U.S. border czar Tom Homan.
Ravens' 56-man roster as off-season workouts begin
The Baltimore Ravens are set to begin their nine-week offseason workout program on Monday. Here’s a full look at the current 55-man roster
Science Fiction as Prior Art?
Some inventors find their inventive spark through science fiction. Tasers, for example, were inspired by (and named after) the 1911 novel Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle. Likewise, Motorola’s...
Commanders to host USC star ahead of 2026 NFL Draft
The Commanders continue doing their due diligence on wide receivers ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft.
Insider: LeBron James could retire if Lakers win NBA championship
One insider says that LeBron James could retire this summer if the Lakers someone win the NBA championship this June.
Karpathy shares 'LLM Knowledge Base' architecture that bypasses RAG with an evolving markdown library maintained by AI
Karpathy proposes something simpler and more loosely, messily elegant than the typical enterprise solution of a vector database and RAG pipeline.
Charlie Day recalls in horror taking all his clothes off in front of Jennifer Aniston: 'Never felt less attractive'
Charlie Day recalled an extremely awkward first day on the set of 'Horrible Bosses' in which the actor had to take off his clothes for Jennifer Aniston.
Samsung releases the 2026 The Frame Pro and 3 OLED TVs (and one is basically an OLED The Frame)
Samsung's version of an OLED art TV is here. Meanwhile, the LG G6 Wallpaper doesn't even have a release date yet.
Ozarks Sports Zone Digital Extra: Spring sports recap; MSU baseball scores big win at Hammons
KY3’s Chad Plein and the Ozarks Sports Zone’s Chris Parker highlight the latest in high school spring sports.
Exclusive: US upends global supply program for malaria and HIV amid warnings of gaps
The U.S. is upending the way it delivers medical supplies for diseases such as HIV and malaria to lower-income countries, according to seven sources and an internal email, risking a second dislocation of life-saving services in just over a year.
Still Alive: Bobrovsky Comes Up Big, Florida Panthers Sweep Bruins
SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers always seem to get up for the Boston Bruins. They certainly did on Thursday night. […] This article: Still Alive: Bobrovsky Comes Up Big, Florida Panthers Sweep Bruins originally appeared on Florida Hockey Now.
Found: Most pristine star in the universe
A record-setting pristine star provides a window into the dawn of stars and galaxies in the universe. This groundbreaking find connects the work of two telescopes at Carnegie Science's Las Campanas Observatory—the du Pont, where spectra for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-V are taken, and the state-of-the-art Magellan Clay.
Chinese satellite with robotic 'octopus arm' passes key refueling test in orbit — making longer-lived space assets more likely
The experimental Hukeda-2 satellite and its highly flexible robotic arm have passed a major refuelling test in low Earth orbit. The demonstration is the latest step toward China significantly expanding the longevity of its spacecraft.
Sports paper reveals figures! These are the Bundesliga top earners
French sports newspaper L'Équipe today estimated the gross salaries of the highest-paid Bundesliga players and coaches. Who do you think makes the most money per month? Coaches2. Kasper Hjulmand (Le...
Live updates: Trump to address nation, give updates on Iran war
President Trump is set to address the nation at 9 p.m. ET in what is set to be his first prime-time address since the U.S. and Israeli assault on Iran began.
Vance and Rubio's differing postures on Iran war highlight their challenges ahead of 2028 election
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance are both seen as the Republican Party’s strongest potential candidates in the next presidential election, but the Iran war could prove to be a political millstone for them
New Book by JD Vance Will Explore His Conversion to Catholicism
The vice president’s book, to be released in June, will detail his return to Christianity after leaving the loosely evangelical practice of his childhood.
Vance announces new book about finding his ‘way back to faith’
Vice President JD Vance announced a new book about his “personal journey” in his faith.
3-2: Chart
Mariners 2, Yankees 1 Cold baseball because it’s March: Julio Rodríguez, -.18 WPACold baseball because it’s October: Luis Castillo, +.35 WPA Game Thread Comment of the Day
Clean your feed: Here's how to rebuild your X
The advent of AI content has only made it harder to distinguish fact from fiction.
Midjourney engineer debuts open source Pretext to revolutionize web design
It allows developers to treat text as a fluid substance that can be recalculated every single frame without dropping a beat.
Dallas Cowboys 2026 NFL Draft Preview
The Dallas Cowboys in 2025 turned out to be quite a talented team, but only on one side of the field. The offense ranked among the best in the NFL. However, the team scored as many points as it gave up. Pick any defensive stat, and the Cowboys likely ranked in the bottom five in […] The post Dallas Cowboys 2026 NFL Draft Preview appeared first on The Lead.
Focus: Priced low, growing fast: women's sports draw smart money
Wealthy investors are increasingly turning to women's sports as a rare opportunity to tap into a fast-growing market at lower valuations, favoring strong returns over the high entry costs and limited upside of marquee men's franchises in the NFL or the UK's Premier League.
Atlanta Braves News: Drake Baldwin, Strong Season Start, More
Solid Start to the Season for the Braves.
Usha Vance on disagreements with JD Vance, 2028 and shopping at Costco
The second lady, who was registered as a Democrat until at least 2014, told NBC News she sometimes has thoughts that are "idiosyncratic" and don't fit neatly with one political party.
Jacksonville business owner arrested by ALE
A Jacksonville business owner is facing felony charges following a multi-month investigation by the N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement Division.
Pelham council to discuss bill impacting business license fees at special called meeting
City officials in Pelham announced a special called city council meeting for Monday night to discuss a bill making its way through the legislature that could impact how much money cities can collect from businesses doing out-of-town contract work.
JD Vance warns that extraterrestrials are demons: 'I'm going to get to the bottom of this'
JD Vance does not believe that 'celestial beings' who 'fly around and do things to people' are aliens. 'I think they're demons,' the vice president said on a recent podcast appearance, vowing to 'get to the bottom of this.'
JD Vance leads CPAC poll for next Republican presidential candidate
Vice-president received about 53% of votes at Conservative Political Action Conference held in Texas this year
Maine Science Festival brings in the next generation with interactive exhibits
Maine Science Festival Exploration Stations brought the next generations of scientists together in Bangor.
Better Communication for Better Health: A Conversation with Angela McGowan, JD, MPH - Free Public Health Webinar - Public Health Communications Collaborative
Join us for practical strategies on how communicators can protect, advocate for, and strengthen the public health field through a policy lens.
The Politics Behind 'No Kings' Protests
Protests are amping up in Central Florida amid the third 'No Kings' protest. Many say this could be the largest in U.S. history. UCF Associate Professor Larry Walker joined FOX 35's Garrett Wymer live via Zoom to examine the political aspect of the protests, and what demonstrators want to see change.
Israeli military kills three Palestinian men in Gaza, health officials say
The Israeli military killed three Palestinian men in Gaza on Saturday in two separate air strikes, local health officials and medics said, the latest round of deadly violence despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that is now more than five months old.
Stephen Curry will miss at least 2 more games for Warriors as postseason nears: 'We are running out of games'
Michigan cools off hot-shooting Alabama, outguns Crimson Tide into Elite 8
Alabama's high-octane offense kept things interesting for a half. But Michigan dominates both sides of the floor and ultimately took the game over.
Business Lookahead: Gauging the war's impact
STORY: From a worrying drop in stocks to a surge in energy prices from the war in the Middle East to key data on jobs and trade, these are the stories to watch in business and finance in the coming week. ::Look Ahead::War impactThe first quarter is ending with financial markets at the mercy of geopolitics.The Iran war has wiped roughly $7 trillion off global stocks since it erupted.With oil prices up nearly 70% year to date, suddenly interest rates are heading up, rather than down, and energy-hungry AI does not look like such a slam-dunk anymore.Meanwhile, gold has plunged 16% after being nearly unstoppable since the start of 2025.We’ll see whether markets roll on or rollover as the second quarter begins.::Job growth in focusThe U.S. jobs report for March comes out Friday.It will offer a crucial view into the economy's health as investors gauge fallout from the energy price surge.Monthly payrolls are seen rising by 48,000, according to a Reuters poll. February's surprisingly weak report caught Wall Street off guard, showing nonfarm payrolls fell by 92,000 while the unemployment rate increased to 4.4%.Uncertainty over the Iran war is also clouding the economic forecasts for the Federal Reserve, with Wall Street pulling back on expectations for U.S. interest rate cuts this year as the oil price surge fuels concerns about rising inflation.Other U.S. data in the coming week includes retail sales for February and reports on manufacturing and services activity.::Chip checkSouth Korea releases its trade data for March on Wednesday.It will provide an early indicator of how the global economy is holding up in the face of the war and the resulting shock to energy prices. Korea's export-heavy economy is a bellwether for global trade and one of the first to report data from the previous month.Its manufacturing fortunes are of even greater interest than usual, not just because of its dependence on Middle Eastern energy imports, but also because its world-leading DRAM chips are of critical importance to the AI sector and currently in short supply too. ::Inflation assessmentAnd flash euro zone inflation for March is due on Tuesday. After long hovering around the 2% mark, higher energy prices are now expected to push headline inflation up, as they did in 2022. The question is, how large and sustained any jump in inflation might be.Early data is not painting a pretty picture. Private sector growth in the euro zone slowed sharply in March, with input costs rising to their highest in more than three years and supply chains being significantly disrupted.Money markets are now heavily pricing in a rate hike which was almost unthinkable before the Iran war.
Your stereotypes about Gen Z aren’t just inaccurate. They’re hurting your business
Welcome to Fast Company Daily, our daily newsletter on LinkedIn, featuring a free article selected each day by our editors as well as a roundup of great advice on careers, hiring, innovation, and technology. Visit fastcompany.
New bill aims to keep professional sports teams in their home city
A new bill would make it more difficult for professional sports team owners to relocate their franchises by giving communities the right of first refusal.
New bill aims to keep professional sports teams in their home city
A new bill would make it more difficult for professional sports team owners to relocate their franchises by giving communities the right of first refusal.
Iran bans sports teams from travelling to countries it deems 'hostile'
Iran has banned national and club sports teams from travelling to countries it considers hostile until further notice, Iranian media reported on Thursday citing the Sports Ministry, which said the move was due to concerns over the safety of Iranian athletes.
Apple Plans to Open Up Siri to Rival AI Assistants in iOS 27 Update
Apple Inc. plans to open Siri to outside artificial intelligence assistants, a major move aimed at bolstering the iPhone as an AI platform.
Tom Brady says he's asked NFL about potential comeback: 'They don't like that idea very much'
Tom Brady has asked the NFL about its policy of allowing minority owners to return as players, but he has no plans on returning the field, he told CNBC.
An Indiana town shows two sides of Trump's factory "boom"
In industrial communities like South Bend, government policies are lifting some sectors while clouding the outlook for others, leaving many manufacturers navigating a patchwork of incentives, tariffs and shifting signals from Washington.
Commanders 'contenders again' in these latest NFL power rankings
In SI's new power rankings, the Commanders are praised for a strong offseason thus far and are labeled "contenders again."
Afeela EVs Really Are Vaporware. Sony, Honda Kill Entertainment-Focused Car
Sony's plans depended on technology from three upcoming Honda models. When Honda cancelled those EVs, Sony did 'not have a viable path forward' on Afeela.
The right is openly divided over the Iran war as conservatives gather for CPAC
This year, neither Trump nor Vice President JD Vance has been publicly announced as speaking to the gathering. But among those who are slated to speak are big names in the MAGA movement who have voiced conflicting views on the Iran war.
Entire Apple Watch range slashed up to 57% – including standout lightning deal
Apple Watches past and present get price slashed in the Amazon Spring Sale.
Flavio Bolsonaro Inches Ahead of Lula in Brazil Election Poll
Flavio Bolsonaro edged ahead of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the run-up to October’s election, with a new poll showing for the first time that the right-wing senator is leading the race.
Anthropic’s Claude can now control your Mac, escalating the fight to build AI agents that actually do work
Anthropic has given Claude the ability to control a Mac, marking a major step in the AI agent race and raising new questions about automation, reliability, and security.
Cloudflare’s new Dynamic Workers ditch containers to run AI agent code 100x faster
Cloudflare says dynamically loaded Workers are priced at $0.002 per unique Worker loaded per day, in addition to standard CPU and invocation charges
Tone, Humor, and the Performative Aspect of Politics
Senators John Kennedy (R-LA) and Peter Welch (D-VT) joined C-SPAN "Ceasefire" host Dasha Burns to discuss the roles of tone and humor in politics.
Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley tie for 3rd in New Hampshire GOP 2028 poll, far behind Marco Rubio, JD Vance
New polling shows another run for the Governor may be challenging.
White House pitches pharma on pricing draft
Plus: Names of the candidates to lead the CDC
Add this one line to your AI prompts for faster, better answers
This handy prompt add-on can save you from tedious back-and-forths with your AI.
Devin Booker gets 100% on Suns’ playoff seeding chase
Devin Booker knows where the Suns sit amid their previous five-game skid and how it impacts the playoff seeding chase.
St. Louis Blues Weekly Prospect Report (March 22)
Jiricek has big scoring week; McIsaac announces future plans; Ralph, Michigan State head to NCAA Tournament with Mayich, Clarkson University eliminated; Peterson scored pair, including a SH beauty for Springfield
Kentucky Gov. Beshear takes jabs at JD Vance in his home state of Ohio
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, speaking in JD Vance’s home state of Ohio on Saturday, tore into the vice president, questioning his Appalachian roots and telling voters they “deserve better.”
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.
Flexitarian and the MIND included in top diets for a healthy brain, according to U.S. News
Discover four top diets that may support sharper focus, steadier mood, and long-term brain resilience
Spring (Sports) Have Sprung!
QHS takes down QND in Baseball, QND falls to Helias in girls' soccer, and QU falls to UMSL in baseball.