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Senators consider deal to fund Homeland Security but not ICE enforcement
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators raced Tuesday to clinch an emerging proposal to end the Homeland Security shutdown by funding much of the department, including the Transportation Security Administration airport workers going without pay, but excluding the ICE enforcement operations that have been core to the dispute. The sudden sense of urgency comes as U.S. airports […]
Charlie’s Beat: A healthy life, well lived
Today’s story comes from a personal perspective, about a person who’s been in my life for close to 50 years. Bryant Stamford was the Fitness & Nutrition columnist for the
Oklahoma’s governor picks energy executive Alan Armstrong to fill US Senate seat through end of year
Oklahoma’s governor on Tuesday appointed energy executive Alan Armstrong to serve in the US Senate through the end of the year and finish the term of Republican Markwayne Mullin, the new homeland security secretary.
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.
TSA lines are so bad that United, Delta waive change fees
Some airlines are waiving change fees or fare differences for passengers affected by hourslong waits at airport security.
WATCH LIVE: Senate meets as lawmakers consider deal to fund Homeland Security
50 Cent Inks $100M Deal To Launch Entertainment Hub Featuring A Restaurant In Times Square
If you don’t hear from 50 Cent, just know he’s likely closing in on a business deal.
U.S. Business Activity Hits 11-Month Low as War Drives Prices Higher
U.S. business activity growth slowed to an 11-month low in March while prices surged, according to a preliminary S&P Global survey released Tuesday. S&P’s composite output index, based on its surveys of services and manufacturing firms, fell to 51.4 from 51.9 in February. That was its weakest readi
Brookdale Student Leana Vitale Turns Passion for Science into Research Success
Leana Vitale is proving that curiosity, determination, and hard work can open remarkable doors. A Brookdale student graduating this spring with two associate degrees in biology and chemistry, she has already distinguished herself as an
Scientists Develop New Gut Health Measure That Tracks Disease
Scientists have identified a new way to distinguish healthy guts from diseased ones and track how some illnesses progress by measuring how gut bacteria interact with one another. According to a study published in Science, a Rutgers-led team of scientists found that healthy and diseased digestive systems behave like two distinct ecological states, driven not by individual microbes but […]
CT bill seeks to reduce business tax on energy, boost state tourism and international trade
State lawmakers are considering a wide-ranging proposal aimed at reducing business costs, increasing municipal revenue and expanding international trade.
Personnel note: Natalie Brown departs RSA, heads back to Senate as Danny Burgess Senior Aide
'During her time with us, she added significant value to our clients and brought a level of direction and strategy to our Session approach and appropriations process.'
Stony Brook Southampton Educators Earn Suffolk County Recognition for Science, Sustainability and Service
Suffolk County Legislator Ann E. Welker recognized educators from Stony Brook Southampton during the March 10 general meeting of the Suffolk County Legislature and the Women of Distinction luncheon, both held in Riverhead, NY. Wendy Pearson, vice president for strategic initiatives at Stony Brook University and executive director for Stony Brook Southampton, received a 2026 Woman
Jimmy Kimmel Rips Into Trump Over Airport Security Chaos
The late-night host turns a 2016 Trump tweet against the president.
UCLA Health podcast shines a light on colorectal cancer prevention, early detection and rising risks
UCLA Health's podcast episode on colorectal cancer, featuring Dr. Eve Glazier, Katie Couric and Dr. Fola May, highlights the critical need for prevention and early detection amid rising risks, particularly among younger adults. The discussion focuses on cancer screening, lifestyle modifications and advocacy to reduce the incidence of this disease.
BIW strike comes weeks after visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
The strike arrives several weeks after a morale-boosting appearance in which U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth touted the need to boost defense manufacturing.
Earth’s Strangest Magnetic Era: Scientists Decode the Ediacaran Mystery
Ancient rocks reveal that Earth’s magnetic field during the Ediacaran may not have been chaotic after all.
Supreme Court to scrutinize former policy of turning away asylum seekers at southern border
The Supreme Court on Tuesday will consider the legality of a policy championed by President Donald Trump during his first term that prevented scores of migrants arriving at the southern border from starting the process of applying for asylum.
Blount: Online sports betting proposal has little support in Senate, would cost casino industry
Sen. David Blount, chairman of the Gaming Committee in the Senate, says a proposal to legalize online sports betting lacks support in the Senate, and could harm the state's casino tourism industry, which provides thousands of jobs and millions in state revenue. Blount also discusses proposed, and recently enacted, changes to the Public Employee Retirement System, and proposals to increase tax credits for private schools.
Florida Democrats hope in special election to flip a state legislative district that includes Mar-a-Lago
Democrats in Florida are hoping to capitalize on the party’s recent special election overperformances and come out on top Tuesday in a special state House election for a Palm Beach district that includes President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
Android Auto is breaking for Pixel and Samsung users, and no one knows why
Users are reporting connection issues associated with a recent update and an Android 16 security feature.
Video: Senate Confirms Markwayne Mullin as Homeland Security Secretary
The Senate confirmed Markwayne Mullin to take over the Homeland Security Department in a 54-to-45 vote on Monday.
Nintendo Cuts Switch 2 Output by Over 30% on Weak Holiday Sales
Nintendo Co. is cutting back the production of Switch 2 after demand for the $450 gaming console trailed the company’s expectations during the year-end holiday season, particularly in the US.
Businesses in the mountains trading ski rentals for bike rentals during warm spring
We disagreed on politics. We agreed on wine. That was enough.
At the Virginia Governor’s Cup Gala in Richmond earlier this month, a very dapper gentleman approached me and introduced himself. In his light-colored suit and bowtie, he looked very Southern in a classical sense, the sort of Virginia Gentleman you used to see south of the Rappahannock as recently as my college days. “I’m a longtime reader and fan of your writing, if not your politics,” he said. His comment was the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove, simultaneously conveying praise and disapproval while establishing boundaries. Man, I wish we still discoursed like this instead of shouting bromides and insults to try and “own” our opponents with a funny meme and a furrowed brow. Subscribe “Well, we’ll always have wine to share together,” I said, and thanked him for his kind words. We clinked glasses, exchanged pleasantries about the delicious gold medal-winning wines being poured that evening, and went our separate ways. Our exchange reminded me that more unites us than divides us. Wine brings people together to share a meal and a few hours of joy despite our differences.1 That’s why I refer to the wine community — including readers and consumers — rather than the wine industry. Together, we are so much more than production, distribution and sales statistics. A few minutes later the evening’s awards ceremony began. Applause grew as the 12 winemakers who made the top-scoring wines for the Governor’s Case took the stage, including a loud cheer for Jonathan Wheeler of Trump Winery and his 2018 Blanc de Noir sparkling wine. All the winemakers on stage had reason to be proud, Wheeler perhaps more so. Trump Winery was the only winery to win six gold medals in the competition this year. (Wineries are limited to six entries.) Two of Wheeler’s ciders also won gold medals in a separate competition. When you cover the labels and take the sour taste of politics off your palate, the wines are pretty darn good.2 Then Gov. Abigail Spanberger, newly elected Democrat and Virginia’s first female governor, was introduced to great applause to announce which of the 12 wines had won the Governor’s Cup. She spoke for a few minutes about the importance of wine to Virginia’s economy and tourism and the international acclaim Virginia wine has received. Just two weeks earlier, she gave the Democrats’ response to Trump’s State of the Union speech, but this night wasn’t about politics. That didn’t stop several people in the crowd from speculating on the irony should she have to present the trophy to Trump Winery. In the end, Valley Road Vineyards was displayed on the screen behind Spanberger as the winning winery. Blue Bee Cidery in Richmond took top honors for that category. The crowd cheered a female governor presenting the state’s highest trophy to a female winemaker and then resumed the evening’s festivities, united by their mutual love of wine. A whiff of politics couldn’t dim the cheer of celebration and a community united by its love of wine. In Memoriam: Michel Rolland The global wine community lost a giant March 20, with the passing of Michel Rolland. He was 78. Rolland was the original “flying winemaker,” a globe-trotting consultant who helped Bordeaux regain its mojo in the 1970s and then shaped the rise of Napa Valley cult Cabernet as consultant to Simi, Harlan, Newton, Screaming Eagle, Araujo, Dalle Valle and other wineries. He was instrumental in Argentina’s rise to prominence and even had his own winery, Clos de los Siete, in a partnership with other wine families. Rolland’s career arc paralleled that of Robert Parker, the world’s most influential critic. Parker championed many of the wines Rolland consulted on, helping build his reputation and demand for his services. It also made him a target for Parker’s critics. As W. Blake Gray wrote on Wine-Searcher in his excellent tribute to Rolland: Rolland created the type of wines Parker loved: rich body, plenty of fruit, soft tannins. He sometimes faced the accusation of creating a generic international style of red wine, where the great wines he made in Argentina were indistinguishable from the great wines he made in France. Rolland chafed at that critique, as did many of his fans. He was credited with championing green harvesting and leaf pulling, as well as careful selection of grapes in the winery, practices we nearly universally think of today for high-quality winemaking. “Michel was an incredible innovator who changed how wine was made and how grapes were grown,” Napa Valley winemaker Aaron Pott wrote on Facebook. “His work has transformed the wine trade. He created new ways of looking at wine, tasting wine, evaluating ripeness and quality. … This was not just a man with a ‘style’ that he imposed on vineyards but a man that understood how to make great wine from great sites.” Rolland started his consulting company in 1973 in Libourne, in Bordeaux, with his wife, Dany. Both had graduated the year before from Bordeaux’s Institute d’Oenologie. The couple sold their majority share in the business in 2020, according to Wine Spectator. Over his career, Rolland reportedly worked with more than 100 wineries in 20 countries. He even made it to Virginia, where he consulted for Kluge Estate in the mid-2000s. (Kluge Estate is now Trump Winery.) Reader feedback, please! Last week, I did my first WineLine Live! with Dr. Laura Catena of Catena Zapata winery in Argentina. We enjoyed a fascinating discussion about her efforts to preserve the genetic heritage of old vineyards in Mendoza. I conceived of WineLine Live! for paid subscribers, as a thank you for your financial support. And while only a few people joined live, the video now has more views than I have paid subscribers, so I guess that’s pretty good. Even so, I’m considering opening future installments to anyone on Substack to reach a broader audience. So my questions to you: Should these be public? And what format do you prefer? Live gives a chat feature with the potential for viewers to interact with me and the guest, while a video post would just be that. Another alternative is a podcast, which would just be audio, without video of my chins. Please let me know in the comments. Leave a comment In the Glass A few wines I’ve enjoyed recently: Bonny Doon Vineyard Take Me to Your Liter, Le Cigare Volant, Red Wine of the Earth. 2023, Central Coast, CA. Blend of Grenache, Syrah Cinsaut and Petite Sirah. Delightful wine with expressive red fruit flavors, casual drinking. Doon lovers of a certain age will remember Randall Grahm’s Big House Red; this is more in that style than his original Le Cigare Volant, modeled after Chateauneuf du Pape. The liter bottle makes it an even better value. I see this online at about $15. Great value. Albert Bichot Bourgogne Pinot Noir Origines 2023. 13% - Textbook pinot noir and an excellent, affordable entry (regional) Burgundy. Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Wines of 2025. $24 at Total Wine & More. Loma Larga Pinot Noir 2021 “Coastal Cool Climate Wine”, Valle de Casablanca, Chile. An older sample, showing beautifully. Spicy and fruit forward. I’m seeing widely varied pricing online, from $18-$32. At the lower end, it’s a terrific value. 13.5% Dr. Loosen Riesling Dry 2016, Mosel, Germany. Found this “in the stack.” And it stacked up well, shedding some of its youthful acidity for opulent Riesling character, including a hint of the mineral oil older Riesling often features. A great value, as I’m seeing it as low as $14 online. 12% abv. Red Tail Ridge Blau Franc Blend 2024, Sans Oak, Finger Lakes. 13.4% abv. The name is a neat portmanteau of Blaufrankisch and Cabernet Franc, thus Blau Franc. The blend is 50-50, no oak involved. The Blau dominates on the palate, with the spicy caraway seed (think New York deli rye bread). The Franc adds body. The result is juicy, energetic and joyful. Sokol Blosser Estate Rosé of Pinot Noir 2025, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon. This first rosé of 2025 was a welcome respite to our cold, snowy winter here in the Mid-Atlantic. Oh man, I needed this! Bright and energetic, exuberant even, it perks up the mood and goes down fast. 13%. Certified B Corp. Ingredient and nutrition labeling, and in a modest way that doesn’t occupy a lot of label space. (Since it’s not required, presumably there are no minimum font size requirements.) More wineries should follow this example. Dave McIntyre's WineLine is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Thanks for reading Dave McIntyre's WineLine! This post is public so feel free to share it. Share 1 Some restraint may be required. 2 Especially the bubblies.
Top Senate Republicans coalesce behind plan to end DHS shutdown
Top Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill believe their party is unified behind a plan to reopen the Department of Homeland Security. Now, they need to sell the plan to Democrats.
Entertainment district ordinance repeal not on council agendas despite Ward 7 councilmember claims
Norman City Council will not see an ordinance repeal related to the Rock Creek Entertainment District during Tuesday’s city council meeting, despite a statement from a council member that it
Trump’s New Political Tool: ICE
President Trump has increasingly used Immigration and Customs Enforcement to push personal and political objectives, and on Monday sent agents to airports across the country to help deal with long security lines.
Markwayne Mullin confirmed to lead Department of Homeland Security
The Oklahoma Republican faced a glide path to confirmation with the help of two Democratic senators.
Markwayne Mullin confirmed to lead a DHS in turmoil
Markwayne Mullin will serve as Donald Trump’s next Department of Homeland Security secretary, elevating the US senator to helm the agency at the center of the president’s controversial immigration enforcement effort and an ongoing shutdown.
The Monday Outlook: Project Hail Mary and the Science Behind Blockbuster Sci-Fi
Project Hail Mary is the latest sci-fi blockbuster to stretch the bounds of audience imagination and stir the curiosity of real scientists. But the science driving films like Project Hail Mary, Interstellar and The Martian isn’t all fictional: at UChicago, researchers exploring the cosmos and decoding the origins of life are making discoveries that would feel right at home on the big screen. This week's Monday Outlook features scientists from UChicago and Argonne National Laborat
UCI Health lays off 150 workers as part of restructuring
UCI Health said the cuts were prompted by a changing environment that includes shifts in federal funding, reimbursement pressures and rising operational costs,
‘Don’t Make Any Deal’: Trump Tells Republicans to Hold Firm on Shutdown Talks
The president is using the standoff over funding the Department of Homeland Security as leverage to pass a strict voter ID bill. Critics say the bill would place an undue burden on eligible voters.
Trump makes a detour to Elvis Presley’s Graceland in Memphis during Iran war
Trump took the side trip to Elvis Presley’s home while in Memphis for an event on crime
Someone has publicly leaked an exploit kit that can hack millions of iPhones
Leaked "DarkSword" exploits published to GitHub allow hackers and cybercriminals to target iPhone users running old versions of iOS with spyware, according to cybersecurity researchers.
'Sled head': Lawsuits against USA Bobsled/Skeleton allege brain injury
Three personal injury lawsuits have been filed on behalf of elite bobsledders who claim officials intentionally concealed evidence that the sport causes brain injuries.
UCI Health says it will lay off 150 in 'strategic restructuring'
About 1% of the system's workforce is expected to be laid off as the county's only academic health system restructures, citing cuts at the federal level.
SCOTUS conservatives signal readiness to curb late-arriving mail ballots
Conservative Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical during oral arguments of allowing states to continue counting late-arriving mail-in ballots. A decision is expected in June.
Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus Review - Intel's Fastest Gaming CPU
The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a game-changer, featuring more cores and larger cache than the 265K, while cutting the launch price to just $300. In gaming, it outperformed all non-X3D Ryzen CPUs, and application performance is impressive as well, matching the much pricier Ryzen 9 9950X.
Thousands in taxpayer funds spent on horse, hair and makeup expenses for Kristi Noem’s Mount Rushmore ad
Tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars were spent on expenses for hair and makeup artists and a horse for the advertisement showcasing outgoing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in front of Mount Rushmore, according to invoices seen by CNN.
iPhone Air Said to Be Roughly Twice as Popular as iPhone 16 Plus
While it certainly has its critics, the iPhone Air appears to have validated Apple's decision to retire the iPhone Plus, if new results from an independent analysis are anything to go by. Crowdsourced Speedtest data published by Ookla suggests the iPhone Air captured 6.8 percent of iPhone 17 generation samples in the U.S. during the fourth quarter of 2025, up from the 2.9 percent share the iPhone 16 Plus managed in the same launch window a year earlier.
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.
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 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.
I Turned My Childhood Hobby Into a $2K-a-Month Business. Then I Quit My Corporate Job and Hit $100K+ Month.
Danielle Meyer, founder of Spicy Dan, always had an "entrepreneurial mindset."
Purple Demonstration Reveals Critical Security Gaps and Invisible Threats in Standard Business WiFi
Manchester, LANCS, March 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Purple, the global leader in guest WiFi, has issued a call for heightened digital caution ...
Microsoft Realizes It’s Epically Screwed Up Windows 11 as Users Rage at Copilot AI Crammed Everywhere
Windows VP Pavan Davuluri effectively admitted outright that the company went too far to shove AI down users' throats at all costs.
Seven most intriguing offensive additions during the 2026 NFL free agency period
Kyler Murray joining Kevin O'Connell with the Vikings, plus more interesting offensive moves
Watch sperm whale headbutt another for no apparent reason
Researchers have captured extraordinary footage of sperm whales randomly headbutting each other, confirming anecdotal reports from mariners and whalers in the 18th and 19th centuries.
What’s the new 'Background Security' on the iPhone? What we know.
Apple's new Background Security Improvements operate between software updates, providing "lightweight security releases."
New York’s LaGuardia airport closed after plane collision with fire truck kills two pilots
About 40 people taken to hospital after Air Canada Express crash, some with serious injuries
Data Is at the Heart of What Public Health Does
Data is key to protecting the health and safety of a community, from identifying and tracking disease outbreaks to ensuring that water is safe to drink. Data is also vital to understanding where resources are most needed. This value is especially apparent to the officials charged with protecting public health, such as Dr. Janet Berreman, Kauai’s (Kauaʻi’s)* district health officer.
'BTS: The Return' review: The world's biggest boy band, without a clear direction
The documentary is an intimate, surprisingly revelatory look at BTS in transition — and the complicated process of figuring out who they are now.
Stamford cites serious health violations at nine entities in January
Of the more than 30 Stamford businesses inspected in January, nine were cited for serious violations during health inspections, reports show.
Volunteer US and UK fighters in Ukraine face hidden health crises, new study suggests
Former soldiers who have served as volunteer fighters in Ukraine experience high levels of mental and physical health difficulties yet are rarely able to access the health care they need, either during ...
AI Swarm Attacks Are Coming, Is Your Business Ready?
Leaders need a new cybersecurity playbook for the agentic era, with stronger governance, faster response systems, workforce awareness, and up-to-date security frameworks.
Costco Expands Member Offerings With Fertility Care And In Store Events
Costco Wholesale has partnered with Sesame and IVI RMA North America to offer U.S. members access to advanced fertility care with exclusive pricing and coordinated services. The retailer is also rolling out a national outdoor cooking roadshow in warehouses, featuring multiple brands and on site experiences for members. These moves extend Costco’s reach further into healthcare services and experiential retail beyond its traditional bulk merchandise model. For investors tracking...
Norman City Council to consider ordinance repeal related to Rock Creek Entertainment District
Norman City Council will consider repealing an ordinance related to the Rock Creek Entertainment District during its Tuesday meeting, according to a council member’s social media post.
Executive Council seeks greater role in half-billion-dollar rural health initiative
New Hampshire executive councilors are seeking a greater role in a $640 million rural health initiative after initially delaying approval and securing more oversight.
The 3DFX Voodoo Lives Again In An FPGA
The 3DFX Voodoo was not the first dedicated 3D graphics chipset by any means, but it became the favourite for gamers among the early mass-market GPUs. It would be found on a 3D-processing-only PCI …
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.
9/11 survivors’ health care secured for next 15 years
The World Trade Center Health Program secures funding for 15 more years, ensuring healthcare access for 9/11 survivors and victims' families.
Fire destroys 30,000 square feet of Aledo plating business, no injuries reported
Woman seeks help at Aurora business after suffering serious injuries in shooting
A woman collapsed inside an Aurora business while seeking help after she was shot Saturday night. Police are trying to determine what led up to it.
Federal union says 'untrained' ICE agents shouldn't replace TSA
President Donald Trump said he would tap ICE agents to run security at US airports as unpaid TSA officers stop showing up to work.
Your Thymus and Your Healthspan
Our thymus gland plays a central role in the development or our immune system, specifically for supporting T cell development (how these cells got their name, maturation and differentiation in the thymus) and discriminating between self and foreign, non-self antigen proteins with production of dendritic cells. As we age, our thymus gland shrinks—the process known as involution—with progressive change from spongy to fatty tissue, with loss of functionality. But this process, with respect to timeline and extent, markedly varies from one person to the next. And to make things even more complicated, our thymus gland anatomy and precise location in the chest also is highly variable. So the famous Frank Netter diagrams from the 1960s (such as at left below) don’t capture the remarkable heterogeneity that a random set of 12 chest CT scans (below at right). What I consider as 2 landmark papers in Nature this week (here and here) used AI to quantify health of the thymus in 2 large cohorts, and then correlate the metric to a broad array of health outcomes. In this edition of Ground Truths, I’m going to cover three questions: (1) How was thymus health determined by AI?; (2) How is thymus health linked to key clinical outcomes? and (3) Are there ways we can promote a healthy (aka rejuvenate) thymus gland in our later years? Subscribe 1. How was thymus health determined by AI? This was accomplished by extensive work developing and validating an AI pipeline for 2 stages, the first for localization and segmentation of the thymus bed, and the second to quantify a digital marker, termed the thymic health score. There’s a lot to this algorithmic development, so I won’t go into all the details, but just provide a rudimentary outline of what was done. The 1st stage used supervised learning with 2 radiologists reviewing 2,461 chest CT scans. That work trained a 3D U-Net model to automatically identify the thymic bed’s 3D cropped region using center of mass coordinates, which reached 99.8% accuracy. The 2nd stage used a foundation model that was pre-trained with SwAV (which stands for Swapping Assignment between multiple Views), a self-supervised model, that generated a high-dimensional thymus representation of 4,096 features. That compares to the radiology reductionist and subjective scoring of 0 to 3 where 0 means the thymus is fully degenerated and fatty, and 3 is considered dense, intact glandular soft tissue. Notably, the self-supervised learning (SSL) performance was superior to supervised (AUC ~0.75 vs 0.55, respectively) reflecting the shallowness of the 0-3 classifier vs SSL’s holistic, self-taught AI. The thymic health score ranged from 0 to 100, with the highest number indexed to fully preserved thymic health. The algorithmic work extended to explainability with both Shapely value distribution, meaning the model was holistic not relying on any “magic” pixel, and occlusion sensitivity, demonstrating the model’s performance was not affected by ribs, sternum, lung tissue, but rather focused on the thymic bed directly. Below are a few saliency maps from the occlusion sensitivity that indicate the thymic bed focus, not affected by neighboring structures, using the jet color scale. Now the AI was ready for processing ~25,000 CT scans, each over 30 MB files, from the 2 large participant cohorts to provide a thymic health score, it did so in less than 14 hours, which is less than 2 seconds per scan! Share 2. How is thymus health linked to key clinical outcomes? The two cohorts were the National Lung Screening Trial, NLST (N=25,031) and the Framingham Heart Study, FHS (N=2,581) each with baseline demographics and long term follow up of >12 years for health outcomes. From the NSLT, you can see below that increased age and body-mass index were correlated to reduced thymic health. And, overall, men had reduced thymic health scores compared with women. There are a lot of graphs in the paper for outcomes, for both the NLST and FHS cohorts. To simplify the major outcomes, below is a composite Figure with striking reduction of all-cause mortality and for the different causes of death. The results were consistent between the 2 cohorts. For example, the cardiovascular mortality hazard ratio average was 0.57 in NLST and 0.38 in FHS (weighted to be 0.53 for the aggregate). The reduction of mortality also extended to digestive diseases and pulmonary disease (data not shown below). Lung cancer incidence was reduced by 36% for high vs low thymic health (Figure below, with a panel -incidence and b panel-mortality, adjusted for age, sex, BMI, smoking status). Notably, there was a smoker’s paradox: lower incidence and improved survival for lung cancer in smokers who had a high thymus health score. Smoking was associated with lower thymic scores whereas alcohol was not. Higher thymic health was linked to higher HDL cholesterol, lower triglycerides, lower fasting blood glucose, and lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Inflammation biomarkers, such as C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, were elevated in the people with lower thymic health scores. In their second paper, the same team looked at the relationship between thymic score and outcomes for 3,476 patients receiving cancer immunotherapy. The non-small cell lung cancer progression-free survival was reduced in patients with low thymic health score. A parallel relationship for survival was seen for other types of cancer including melanoma, breast, and kidney with a 44% lower risk among high thymic scores (Figure). A similar pattern was seen with different immune checkpoint inhibitors. The thymus health score outperformed programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1)and tumor mutation burden (TMB) assay of the tumor and was an independent prognostic marker of progression-free survival. In this dataset, a direct connect with thymus score and adaptive immune function was noted with a correlation before cancer treatment for both T-cell diversity and thymus T-cell production (a metric known as T cell receptor excision circles). Thymus Removal Study There is a highly relevant citation about thymus function before moving onto ways to rejuvenate it. In 2023, a very important study of thymus removal during cardiothoracic surgery was published, with 1146 patients undergoing thymus removal vs 1146 matched controls (mean age 55 years). The adverse outcomes for thymus removal were striking, with a 2.9 higher risk of all-cause mortality and doubling of cancer incidence, 1.5 fold increase in cancer mortality, and 1.5-fold increase in autoimmune diseases. The immune function showed marked compromise after thymus removal, as reflected by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (Figure below) Share Ground Truths 3. Are there ways we can promote a healthy (aka rejuvenate) thymus gland in our later years? In recent months we’ve learned a lot about the process of thymus involution and the pathways by which this may be modulated. Thymus involution is primarily due to loss to thymus epithelial cells (TECs) and there are 2 subtypes with different functions: the cortical, responsible for positive selection of T cells, and the medullary, for negative selection. When adipose tissue infiltrates the thymus, thymic adipocytes are pro-inflammatory, knocking out T-cell output. Likewise, systemic inflammation, or “inflammaging,” from smoking, obesity, and chronic stress promote thymic adipocytes. Now, from preclinical studies, we know about key pathways that account for these processes. Historically, back in 2014, FOXN1 was recognized as a single master transcription factor essential for TEC function, with studies in mice with forced FOXN1 upregulation leading to thymus regeneration. That laid the foundation for potential regrowth of quiescent thymus cells. It took awhile to find pathways to accomplish this goal and to even refute its role as the master regulator. The Liver-Thymus Axis Feng Zhang and his team recently showed that injection of an mRNA vaccine to the liver encoding DLL1, IL-7 and FLT3-L in combination, factors known to support thymopoiesis (Figure), successfully enhanced immune function in aged mice. However, the effect was transient. The FGF21 Story Two reports in 2025 addressed the thymus gland’s production of FGF21, a growth factor (fibroblast growth factor 21) and its control of thymus involution. This growth factor is also produced by the liver, but it doesn’t have impact on the thymus in aged rodent models. In contrast, The liver’s hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) has been shown to reverse senescent TEC structural changes. Growth hormone stimulates production of insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in the liver and the thymus. Two small studies in human participants (TRIIM, for Thymus Regeneration, Immunorestoration, and Insulin Mitigation) of 6 and 50 people, respectively, treated with combined human growth hormone, metformin and DHEA, suggested the potential of slowing epigenetic aging and improving thymus mass and function. But the combination of drugs, small sample, and lack of controls make conclusions murky. Increased thymus FGF21 led to increased CD8 T cells in old mice and extended healthspan and improved physical performance. Building on the previous FOXN1 data, ablation of β-klotho, the obligatory co-receptor for FOXN1, accelerated thymic aging. The benefit to FGF21 was confirmed in a companion paper using an FGF21 knock-in mouse model showing thymus enlargement and increased TECs throughout the lifespan. (schematic Figure below). The accompanying editorial for these 2 papers speculated: “The proposed link between age-associated thymus involution and organismal aging is intriguing, and suggests we might seek to achieve systemic rejuvenation by counteracting thymic involution.” Other Factors Lessons from the Axolotl (Mexican Salamander) In an elegant set of experiments of the axolotl (Figure), known for its complete thymus regeneration after total surgical removal, mediators were identified. Surprisingly FOXN1 was dispensable. But midkine, a growth factor, appeared to be the driver, the initiator of thymus cell growth, survival, and repair. Other components that contributed were Postn+ (periostin-expressing mesenchymal niches) and Ccl19, a chemokine protein from the bloodstream. RANK and RANKL RANK (receptor activator of nuclear factor κB its ligand (RANKL) have been considered key regulators of medullary TECs. In a study of both aged mice and human thymus cell cultures, their key role was confirmed, with multiple benefits of resorting TEC function, recruitment of progenitor cells, and T cell development. Subscribe Summing Up This body of work strongly supports the health of the thymus gland as a critical regulator of human healthspan, not just a correlate or link. The new landmark studies are reinforced by the regenerative biology experimental models that have shown, via an array of mediators, that healthspan of aged mice is at least in part dependent on thymus gland function and its critical role for maintaining adaptive immunity. It sure seems that we’d be better off having an immune reservoir of naive T cells instead of a profile in older adults of exhausted, low quality, memory T cells, with a senescent phenotype. It is striking that we ignored the importance of the thymus gland for many decades. A wake-up call was the results of the thymectomy matched control study reviewed here, with the opposite of high thymic health score improved health outcomes. The convergence of AI and healthspan here is notable. The exceptional and laborious work for developing and validating (no less explaining) the AI to quantify thymus health set the foundation for probing the connect the major health outcomes in two cohorts with extensive follow-up. We’ve never had a way to meaningfully quantify the thymus gland before, so this represents important leverage of supervised, self-supervised, and transformer models. The study wouldn’t have been possible without AI. And it begs the question as to whether there are ways we can maintain our thymus at a high health score. But it’s not so simple to rejuvenate our thymus. There are multiple risks including the induction of autoimmunity, increasing the risk of cancer, and inducing a pro-inflammatory state. For example, factors that increase TEC proliferation could compromise the medulllary negative selection process and leak out auto-reactive (self-attacking) T cells. Thymic cells could be induced to proliferate, but we know, for example, that growth hormone and IGF-1 are associated with an increase risk of cancer. If thymus rejuvenation doesn’t clear out the accumulated senescent cells in older adults, then inflammation within the gland could block the production of TECs. Keeping these risks in mind, we now have identified many ways to keep our thymus healthy as we age that undoubtedly will be tested in clinical trials going forward. Ultimately, the benefit-to-risk tradeoffs will be defined. In the meantime, we have desperately needed an immunome. As I’ve stressed in multiple prior Ground Truths, we have no test in the clinic to assess a patient’s immune status! It was very encouraging for me to get an email from Hugo Aerts, the senior author of the landmark papers in the days after they were published: “I also wanted to say that your Substack on “Why We Need an Immunome” was inspiring for this work. We found it a very compelling perspective and greatly enjoyed reading it.” Just having an assessment of a person’s immune status via a chest CT scan, with millions of these performed per year, might help in guiding the right immunotherapy for cancer (e.g. more intensive, combinations for those with low thymic health scores) and help define people who are increased risk for age-related diseases of cancer, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative. The main theme of Super Agers is that we now have many layers of data (genetics, proteins, biomarkers, organ clocks that can be integrated via multimodal AI) for us to define a person’s specific risk decades before one of these age-related diseases leads to symptoms, enabling prevention. From the new studies this week, we can add thymus health score as yet another way to understand a person’s risk, a window into their adaptive immune system and healthspan. And perhaps someday we will be able to safely rejuvenate the thymus, or maintain its health through one’s life, and use the thymus health score to monitor. NB: I wrote this post (No A.I.) A Quick Poll Loading... ********************************************************************* Thanks to Ground Truths subscribers (now > 200,000) from every US state and 212 countries. Your subscription to these free essays and podcasts makes my work in putting them together worthwhile. Please join! If you found this interesting PLEASE share it! Share Ground Truths Paid subscriptions are voluntary and all proceeds from them go to support Scripps Research. They do allow for posting comments and questions, which I do my best to respond to. Please don’t hesitate to post comments and give me feedback. Let me know topics that you would like to see covered. Leave a comment Many thanks to those who have contributed—they have greatly helped fund our summer internship programs for the past two years. It enabled us to accept and support 47 summer interns in 2025! We aim to accept even more of the several thousand who will apply for summer 2026.
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