SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " term " 6,779 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Sherrill flexes political muscle in midterm battle between moderate Democrats and progressives
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill launches Mission to Deliver PAC, aiming to boost moderate Democrats in key federal and statewide 2026 midterm races.
Marathon has sold 1.2M copies across Steam, PS5, and Xbox
Alinea Analytics estimates show that Marathon has generated gross revenues of $55M via 1.2M copies sold on Steam, PS5, and Xbox: Looking at the split between Steam, PS5, and Xbox, Steam is clearly the main platform for Marathon, accounting for a little under 70% of the audience (800K copies sold). Meanwhile, PS5 takes about 19% (217K) and Xbox (including console, PC, and cloud) accounts for a bit over 11% or 133K. Marathon is technically a first-party Sony title, so seeing the home console struggle to break 20% of the volume is a notable data point for the ongoing platform-agnostic debate. PlayStation Studios online games will almost certainly continue being multiplatform (despite Sony reportedly pulling back on PC releases). Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe As for Marathon, the consensus among hardcore players who pushed through the awkward onboarding phase – myself included – is that it’s fantastic. The gunplay, aesthetic, and presentation are among the best in the shooter genre. A great game doesn’t always equal an immediate hit, though, as shown by our estimates. Things are looking lukewarm right now. But this might be one of those marathon-not-a-sprint situations. Had to, didn’t I? Why wasn’t Marathon a hit on the same level as Arc Raiders? One topic that came up in a lot of conversations at GDC this year was why Marathon hasn’t hit the same stratosphere as Arc Raiders. On paper, they’re both extraction shooters, and Marathon has the Bungie pedigree – the house that built the gold standard for gunplay in Halo and Destiny. Marathon’s neon-futuristic aesthetic also distinguishes itself from the gritty realism of Tarkov or the post-apocalyptic hope of ARC Raiders. But vibes can only get you so far for first impressions if the onboarding feels like a brick wall. Marathon is a sweaty PvP-focused experience with a first-time user experience and UI that I can only describe as dreadful. Players are dropped into a complex ecosystem where the UI, though visually striking, is functionally uninformative, forcing users to manually hover over nondescript, identical icons just to identify basic gear or weapon mods. This lack of clarity is compounded by punishing mechanics like a severe heat gauge for movement and a scarcity of vital resources, all without a clear tutorial or a low-stakes mode to learn the ropes. Most people – even top streamers and veteran shooter players – have no idea what’s going on in Marathon at first. Arc is on the complete other end of the spectrum. As we covered here and here, Arc Raiders offers a more collaborative, approachable loop where players often work together toward shared goals. And the objectives are instantly clear. To many players, this contrast only emphasised Marathon’s issues, especially during the testing period. Players understand the Arc Raiders loop within 30 minutes, while Marathon acts as a massive filter, chewing up newcomers and spitting them out before they can experience the depth of Bungie’s signature gunplay. What I’m getting at here is that the poor first-time user experience of Marathon’s Server Slam likely stifled launch sales, while the opposite was true for Arc. Let’s look at the pre-launch copies sold for each game during their respective Server Slams (launch-aligned) : Looking at the trajectory: Arc Raiders saw a massive 80% jump in copies sold during its three-day Server Slam (day -13 to -11). Players jumped in, realised the water was fine, and immediately opened their wallets. Marathon, meanwhile, saw a 49% increase in the four days following its Slam (Day -7 to -3). At the time of each game’s respective launch, Arc Raiders had nearly double the Steam footprint of Marathon – and word of mouth only continued to grow. Bungie could have had more time to fix the onboarding process had the beta happened earlier. But Marathon launched three days after the beta finished. These factors limited the launch sales quite a bit, I reckon. Marathon has found a niche audience, though Despite the friction-heavy start, the data suggests that those who survived Marathon’s onboarding are loving life. We’ve been tracking cross-platform DAUs, and while there’s the expected post-launch leakage, many players are sticking with it. After peaking at 478K total DAUs on its first Saturday, Marathon has settled into a respectable rhythm, holding 345K DAUs as of yesterday and averaging 380K DAUs across the weekend. Steam continues to do the heavy lifting here, consistently accounting for the lion’s share of the daily players. Players have been putting in the hours, too: On Steam, Marathon’s average playtime has climbed to 27.8 hours, significantly outpacing the console averages on PS5 (16.5h) and Xbox (17.3h). Even more telling than the averages: 22% of the Steam audience has surged past the 50-hour mark, and nearly 7% have already logged over 100 hours. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe This data suggests that once the Bungie magic clicks, it hooks players deeper than the average extraction shooter. There’s also started to be a shift in the game’s discourse. Marathon launched as one of those games that’s cool to hate. But as Marathon’s 100-hour club grows, we’re seeing conversations around its mechanical merit outweigh the negativity. Several high-profile creators, who were initially vocal critics, have spent the last week coming around on the mechanical depth of the endgame. It’s a subtle but positive signal; the hate train is losing steam, and a new narrative about the game is emerging. Bungie faithfuls unite Another interesting metric in Marathon’s first few weeks is who, exactly, is playing. Bungie leans heavily on its prestige as the “makers of Halo and Destiny,” in its marketing, and that message has clearly hit the mark. On Steam, the gravity (hammer) of Bungie’s previous work is unavoidable. A staggering 78.2% of Marathon players also played Destiny 2. The trend carries across other platforms, with 74.2% of PS5 players and 82.7% of Xbox players also having played Destiny 2. The Halo legacy lives on, it seems. More on that in a bit. While Destiny 2 went free to play, these numbers still represent a high-intent migration of a fanbase that trusts Bungie’s specific brand of kinetic gunplay and cryptic world-building. The Xbox data adds another layer of legacy. About 85.7% of Marathon players on Xbox have played Halo Infinite, while over half of the Steam audience has spent time in Halo Infinite and 36.1% in the Master Chief Collection (a paid collection of the old Bungie-made legacy games). Interestingly, we see a 55.9% overlap with ARC Raiders on Steam. Overlap is even higher there on PlayStation (60.5%) and Xbox (66.5%). And there’s also significant crossover with Helldivers 2 on all platforms, too. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe Bungie has found some of its fans with Marathon, and the challenge now is keeping this engaged in a high-stakes PvP environment when they’ve spent the last decade primarily enjoying the power fantasies of PvE. On that note… Go the full 26 miles? Or cut and run? Time for some could’ve, should’ve, would’ve. These things would have improved Marathon’s performance at launch: A more robust onboarding process, perhaps in the form of a short single-player/PvE campaign. We know Bungie fans love this stuff. A traditional arena-based mode akin to Destiny’s Crucible could have been a bridge for the cautious players who’d have been otherwise deterred by the Server Slam. It’s also a great palate cleanser after getting merked. Introducing a dedicated PvE environment would have similarly diversified the conversation and lowered the barrier for the Bungie faithful who found the pure PvP extraction loop too abrasive. PvE is safer than PvP these days. There’s an argument that a thin PvE mode would have just felt like a budget Destiny, potentially hurting the brand more. But given how dire the FTUE is, I think it would have been a net positive. Any kind of tutorialised loop that demystifies the stakes, really. While there is merit in a studio sticking firmly to a singular creative vision, and going all in on the hardcore extraction loop. Less forgiving is the technical reality is that the user interface and first-time user experience (FTUE) were not at a commercial standard for launch. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe In a landscape where player time is oversaturated and the most contested currency, a flawed FTUE is a critical failure point. But it’s not all doom and gloom, as Marathon has an incredible, unique gameplay loop, suggesting that financial success is still attainable if Bungie can pivot effectively. Bungie and PlayStation now face a difficult strategic crossroads, though – one within a challenging games market. They could: Double down on Marathon with a long-term Rainbow Six Siege- or No Man’s Sky-style recovery plan, which is something I heard Last Stand Media’s Chris Maldonado mention last week. While this could be a sunk-cost fallacy in action, it could eventually yield the audience the game’s mechanical depth deserves. Shift focus toward the inevitable Destiny 3 or another project, mitigating the escalating opportunity cost and cutting their losses, so to speak. Doing both is an expensive proposition, given the high overhead and burn rate of operating out of Bellevue, Washington. With Sony recently demonstrating a lower threshold for underperforming studios and projects, the margin for error has vanished. Whatever happens, the next six months will determine whether Marathon becomes a cornerstone of Sony’s live-service portfolio or a cautionary tale of vision exceeding accessibility. I’m hoping it’s the former, because Marathon rocks. As always, hit subscribe to get updates on Marathon and other relevant games. Subscribe Want to get your hands on our data for yourself – for free? We’re offering a free trial of our platform for games companies. Send us a message here, or reply to this email, and we’ll set you up. The last word Reply to this email – or reach out here – if you have any feedback for the newsletter – or want to request a game for us to cover. [Alinea Analytics boasts the most accurate PC and console estimates in the business. Game makers use our platform to understand their audience, keep an eye on the competition, monitor sales trends, and spot new opportunities. We equip game studios and financial institutions with accurate data and the confidence to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Want to talk about all things games market data? We’d love to chat!]
Trump and Republican National Committee Lean Toward Dallas for Unusual 2026 GOP Midterm Convention
Parties normally hold conventions every four years to nominate presidential candidates, but Republicans hope to hold one this year in the face of midterm headwinds.
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.
Kent Alterman & Sarah Babineau’s Good Walk Entertainment Inks First-Look Deal With Sony Pictures Television
EXCLUSIVE: Good Walk Entertainment, the production company founded by former top Comedy Central executives Kent Alterman and Sarah Babineau, has signed a first-look deal with Sony Pictures Television....
Paul Renner seeks crackdown on Muslim immigration, Sharia law
'The long-term compatibility of Islam in this country does not exist.'
A $25 minimum wage in D.C. could shift business to N. Va., restaurant association says
A $25 minimum wage proposal in D.C. could push some restaurant workers into Northern Virginia in the short term and, in the long term, potentially drive businesses to relocate as well, the head of the region's restaurant association says. The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington -- an outspoken opponent of D.C.'s Initiative 82, which sought to phase
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
Why going to an HBCU might be better for Black students’ health
A study found correlation between the environment and long-term wellness in sample of 1,978 who attended college between 1940-80
Republicans at Risk of Losing Latino Support Ahead of Midterms
The economy, inflation and immigration are the top issues for Latinos ahead of the US midterms.
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.
The US in Brief: DHS’s new boss
The latest news in US politics, with coverage of Donald Trump’s second term.
ICE officers at airports a ‘test run’ for midterms, Steve Bannon suggests
Former White House strategist says current situation at airports will help ‘really perfect ICE’s involvement in the 2026 midterm elections’
Josh Shapiro endorses James Malone in key Lancaster County Senate race
Gov. Josh Shapiro has officially endorsed James Malone’s bid for reelection in the Lancaster County state Senate district that both parties say could determine party control next year.
‘It’s a big deal’: Election expert weighs in on the Supreme Court case that could upend midterms
Neal Stephenson, who coined the term ‘metaverse’, says head-mounted VR hardware will never happen
: ‘People don’t like wearing things on their faces and don’t trust those who do’
Why are the Virginia Cavaliers sports teams also called the Wahoos?
The term “Wahoos” or “Hoos” are almost exclusively used by Virginia students when referring to their athletes and fans.
Trump puts Republicans in a bind on the DHS shutdown: From the Politics Desk
Plus, the Supreme Court hears a case with big midterm implications.
I was on the Air Canada flight that crashed at LaGuardia
A 22-year-old student was on an Air Canada flight that crashed at LaGuardia Airport. He described the moment of the collision and the aftermath.
The View: Politicians Disappear From ABC Show After Trump FCC Threat
The ABC panel show hasn't had any political guests on since the FCC announced it was investigating it. That changed today as the network fights the feds ahead of the midterms.
NIH grant terminations affected women scientists more than men, study finds
A new paper shows that women, particularly those early in their careers, have been disproportionately affected by NIH grant terminations
Uplifting and Not Ceding Ground on Health Equity Practice Is Critical to Strengthening Public Health and the Health of the Nation
Public health science gains in the last quarter century in the United States have been formidable due to a focus on structural and social determinants of health, thereby enhancing understanding of the role of inequitable policies in shaping health inequities and inequitable access to ameliorative resources.
Mills, Collins on opposite sides of trans athlete issue
Collins, who is seeking a sixth term, posted on social media over the weekend that she’s held a “longstanding position that transgender athletes should not compete in girls’ and women’s athletics.”
Supreme Court leans toward Trump-backed push to limit mail-in ballots
The Supreme Court's conservative majority seemed skeptical of late- arriving ballots. The case could lead to stricter rules in this year's midterm elections.
STC HVACR student turns childhood lessons into vision for future business
Currently pursuing an associate degree in Heating, Ventilation, AC and Refrigeration (HVACR) at South Texas College, Cesar Bernal III said he was just 12 years old when he began watching his father turn determination and hard work into a small but thriving air-conditioning business in Weslaco.
Rahm Emanuel proposes banning all federal employees from betting on prediction markets
AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (AMC) Is a Trending Stock: Facts to Know Before Betting on It
Zacks.com users have recently been watching AMC Entertainment (AMC) quite a bit. Thus, it is worth knowing the facts that could determine the stock's prospects.
Microsoft Exchange Online service change causes email access issues
Microsoft is working to address an ongoing service issue that has intermittently prevented some users from accessing their cloud-based Exchange Online mailboxes via Outlook mobile and Mac desktop clients since Thursday.
How the term ‘neurodivergent’ moved from activists to pop culture
Nick Minaj is one of the most recent Trump supporters to identify herself as “neurodivergent,” embracing a narrow definition of a once-niche term commonly associated with autism and ADHD.
Staff revolts, secret meetings: Inside the tense fight between Mike Pence and the Heritage Foundation
Mike Pence used to dream of following two successful Donald Trump terms with his own turn in the White House.
MTSU Agrees to Long-Term Extension with NIKE and BSN SPORTS - Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
MTSU Athletics announced on Monday that it will continue to partner with the world's leading brand for apparel and footwear after inking a long-term extensio...
Energy Attacks in War on Iran Could Turn Economic Shock Into Long-Term Damage
A new phase targeting oil and gas infrastructure in the Persian Gulf threatens to hurt businesses and customers around the world for months or even years.
Opinion | Doctors should be paid to keep patients healthy
Value-based care works best when physicians lead, specialists share accountability, and long-term outcomes matter.
2026 Best Business Schools | How Alumni Rate Their Undergraduate Business Degrees
Alumni rate their undergraduate business programs in Poets&Quants’ 2026 ranking, evaluating academic experience, career preparation, advising, and how well their degrees support long-term career goals.
Bill Self says coaching future at Kansas to be determined
Longtime Kansas coach Bill Self said after Sunday's season-ending loss to St. John's that he has not yet made a decision about his coaching future, later adding that any decision will be based solely on his health.
A promising fatty liver treatment may raise cancer risk
A surprising new study reveals that blocking a supposedly protective enzyme, Caspase-2, could actually backfire—raising the risk of chronic liver damage and cancer over time. Researchers found that without this enzyme, liver cells grow abnormally large and accumulate genetic damage, leading to inflammation, scarring, and eventually tumors, especially with age. While inhibiting Caspase-2 may offer short-term benefits, such as reducing fatty liver disease, the long-term consequences appear dangerous.
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.
Slovenia liberals take narrow election lead over conservatives: exit poll
Exits polls suggest Prime Minister Robert Golob has blocked a fourth term for right-winger Janez Janša
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.
Politics Now: March 22, 2026
This week on Politics Now with host John Langeler: Nevada is trying to lessen its reliance on fuel from California. We talk with the vice-chair of the committee tasked with determining how to do th…
LISTEN LIVE: Supreme Court considers late-arriving mail ballot laws in case that may affect midterms
If Mike Johnson Goes, Who Runs House GOP?
The possibility of losing the majority in the midterms has put the Republican spotlight back on Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan and Tom Emmer.
Column: Republicans fearing a midterm rout revive Islamophobia as political strategy
The latest twist on replacement theory is the idea that white Americans are in need of saving from dark-skinned "others."
White House navigates vaccine politics, midterm risks in CDC director search
The Trump administration faces complicated political dynamics as it seeks someone to helm the key public health agency suffering a prolonged leadership vacuum.
White House navigates vaccine politics, midterm risks in CDC director search
The Trump administration faces complicated political dynamics as it seeks someone to helm the key public health agency suffering a prolonged leadership vacuum.
The Supreme Court Could Make it Harder to Vote by Mail in the Midterms
The Republican National Committee wants to toss ballots arriving after Election Day. Critics say thousands of votes — a majority cast by Democrats — are at stake.
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
The Antidote to Our Growing Crises Must Transcend Politics
Each day, the challenges in our nation pile up. In just recent weeks, there has been the ongoing war in Iran and the Middle East, and ongoing debates about the growing negative impact of the Internet, looming AI challenges, and the Epstein files. The anticipation of divisive, even ugly, midterm elec...
Health Literacy as a Modifiable Clinical Risk Factor: Operationalizing an Underrecognized Determinant of Outcomes
Health literacy has been considered a social determinant of health and has never been extensively incorporated in the general practice of clinical care. Systematic reviews and cohort studies sho...
WHO verifies deadly hospital attack in war-torn Sudan
The World Health Organization (WHO) verified on Saturday a hospital attack in war-torn Sudan that killed 64 people.
G.O.P. Bid to Target Transgender Athletes Falls Flat in the Senate
In moving to bar transgender women and girls from women’s and girls’ sports, Republicans sought to put Democrats in an awkward political spot on a sensitive issue ahead of the midterm elections.
Super PAC spending passes $200M, with some groups hiding their cause
Groups that include pro-Israel organizations obscured their spending in some midterm races to try to defeat candidates that oppose their cause.
Tom Kean Jr.'s political roots date to 1776. Is that enough to protect the Republican's House seat?
Tom Kean Jr.’s bid for a third term representing New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District offers a window into the larger battle for control of the narrowly divided House
Tom Kean Jr.'s political roots date to 1776. Is that enough to protect the Republican's House seat?
Tom Kean Jr.'s bid for a third term representing New Jersey's 7th Congressional District offers a window into the larger battle for control of the narrowly divided House. Kean and other Republicans...
The insular bubble of caucuses and assemblies
Nearly 30 years ago, then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan coined the term “irrational exuberance” to describe the overheated stock market. That descriptive phrase could also apply to much of the political realm. The hype in politics often grossly exceeds the reality on the ground. In that vein, let’s focus on Colorado’s precinct caucuses held earlier […]
Trump is eager to disclose details on others’ health – but not his own
President revealing congressman’s terminal diagnosis follows caginess about his own health, such as recent rash
High Gas Prices, Driven Up by the Iran War, Loom Over the Midterms
The war has complicated the Republican message on affordability. Democrats see an opportunity to drive their economic message while tying President Trump to an unpopular overseas conflict.
GOP, Dems battle over Trump's SAVE Act. But who will it really help?
The president says the election security bill 'will guarantee the midterms' for Republicans. Available data is far less clear cut. Here's why.
NCAA sues DraftKings for trademark infringement
The NCAA has sued DraftKings for trademark infringement for the unauthorized use of terms like "March Madness" and "Final Four"
Exclusive | Growing Frustration With Chuck Schumer Spurs Talk of Replacing Him
Some Democrats on Capitol Hill are discussing how to get New York’s senior senator to step aside as minority leader amid concerns about his negotiating style and midterms strategy.
Short-Term Cuts, Long-Term Costs: Investing in Health Care for All Californians
Providing health care for all Californians improves health, strengthens communities, and prevents higher long-term costs.
Report: Panthers agree to terms with local free-agent LB
The Panthers are reportedly signing an Anderson, S.C. native and former All-Sun Belt selection.
Political Science study reveals how Americans decide who counts as a
The term “person of color” has grown increasingly common in American public life. A new Berkeley Political Science paper, “Who Counts as a ‘Person of Color’? The Roles of Ancestry, Phenotype,
American Express Business Line of Credit Review 2026
The American Express business line of credit offers fast funding, flexible payments and favorable terms, especially for existing Amex customers.
New study links more immigrants with lower elderly mortality
Researchers say among newcomers are medical, long-term care workers who are arriving amid critical U.S. shortage.
The US in Brief: The rising cost of war
The latest news in US politics, with coverage of Donald Trump’s second term
Anthropic just shipped an OpenClaw killer called Claude Code Channels, letting you message it over Telegram and Discord
The consensus among early adopters is that Anthropic has successfully internalized the most desirable features of the open-source movement—multi-channel support and long-term memory
Trump Told Inner Circle Some Mass Deportation Policies Went Too Far
The president is convinced that voters don’t like the term “mass deportation,” and has directed advisers to adopt a new approach on one of his central campaign promises.
Ex-FBI agents involved in Arctic Frost probe sue for wrongful termination
Two ex-FBI agents sued the bureau to challenge their firings, which they argued was an act of politically motivated retaliation tied 'solely' to their work on the Arctic Frost probe.
Companies are spending more on AI—HR leaders question the payoff
HR executives say AI adoption is driving up costs, placing pressure on productivity gains and long-term profitability.
Justice Department probe of Powell could backfire on Trump and keep Fed chair in office
President Donald Trump has for months wanted to remove Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve. But instead, an investigation by one of his own officials could end up extending Powell's time at the top of the central bank even after his term formally ends May 15.
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.
What a day at a gas station in Pennsylvania reveals about the midterms: From the Politics Desk
Plus, an update on the talks to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
Democrats vow political reckoning if they win midterms as campaign season heats up
Democrats threaten to break up major mergers and launch congressional investigations against Trump-aligned companies if they regain power after midterms.
Marathon Players Are About To Solve Its Weeks-Long ARG
Alternate reality games are kind of Bungie's thing.
How the Iran war is becoming ‘the soundtrack of the midterm election campaign’
Democrats prepare for health care overhaul
Democrats are outlining a new vision for the health care system ahead of the midterms.
Tinder Plans to Let AI Scan Your Camera Roll
In a feature the dating app says is set to roll out in the U.S. later this spring, Tinder plans to access users' camera rolls to pick photos and determine what they're into.
Trump's DHS pick Mullin advances by one vote after Sen. Fetterman votes yes
Republican Sen. Rand Paul opposed Mullin, but Democratic Sen. John Fetterman crossed the aisle to rescue the nominee, who was approved by a one-vote margin.
In Business, Why Creating Value Wins
Businesses that create superior value—delivering customer benefits exceeding costs, driving loyalty and retention—consistently outperform those chasing short-term profits
The White House Is Lost in the ‘Weave’
The Trump administration has a coherence problem. This issue starts at the top with a fabulist president who is increasingly unfiltered and unfocused, offering up ping-ponging thoughts with little purpose or explanation. His approach to governing and to waging a war has itself become “the weave,” his term for the random asides that pepper his speeches. For much of his political life, Trump, 79, understood the importance of a simple and repetitive story, the need to keep the main thing the main t
The best strength training plan might be simpler than you think
New strength training guidelines emphasize that doing any resistance training is what truly matters. Based on decades of research, experts say even simple routines can increase muscle, strength, and physical function. The key is not perfection but consistency. In fact, the best workout plan is the one you can maintain long term.
Interventional radiology breakthrough in portal vein thrombosis treatment
A UCLA Health interventional radiologist has successfully performed the first pediatric percutaneous spleno-renal shunt procedure to treat severe portal hypertension in a 6-year-old patient. This minimally invasive procedure aims to relieve complications associated with portal vein thrombosis, showing promising long-term outcomes.
Premature Menopause Increases Heart Disease Risk
By Dennis Thompson HealthDay ReporterTHURSDAY, March 19, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Premature menopause can increase a woman’s long-term risk of heart disease from clogged arteries by 40%, a new study says. This risk is particularly important among Black women, as they are three times more likely to ...
This heart-healthy diet may also lower the risk of dementia
Two studies have found the DASH diet — either alone or combined with the Mediterranean diet — is a winner in terms of brain health.
Fetterman says Democrats lack leader, claims party driven by ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, an ardent supporter of Israel who also backs the U.S. attack against Iran, suggested that his party is lead by Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Norway’s Improving Business Outlook in Survey Dents Easing Bets
A key survey of Norway’s business sentiment signaled somewhat better prospects for the nation’s companies, suggesting less pressure on the central bank to consider any easing moves in the near term.
Report: Majority of ACA enrollees are cutting back on food to afford health insurance
The expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies has left marketplace enrollees scrambling — and a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey captures the damage in stark terms.
Pikl Pioneers a New Category of Insurance-Enabled Business Models, Earning it 20% UK Short-Term Rental Market Share
Pikl, the company pioneering insurance-enabled business models that drive revenue whilst protecting against downside risk, today announced that it has achieved 20% market share in the UK short-term rental market – the first industry in which its insurance-enabled growth solutions have been delivered. The achievement comes just two years after Pikl launched its flagship flexible cancellation solution in 2024, which allows property management companies (PMCs) to offer guests the flexible booking o
Texas GOP lawmakers head to Washington for White House meeting
The visit comes as the Trump administration is trying to find ways to reduce costs on American families ahead of the midterms.
Senate Democrats lay out plans to overhaul health insurance after setbacks under Trump
Democrats are sharpening their health care message as the midterms loom.
SK pharmteco Reaffirms Three-Business-Unit Strategy, Strengthens Global Gene Therapy Business Unit with Funding Commitment
RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif., March 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SK pharmteco today announced a significant funding commitment to support strategic initiatives within its viral vector business, while reaffirming its long-term growth strategy across three business units: small molecule, peptides, and viral vectors. SK pharmteco is sharpening its strategy to provide pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners with the financial strength, technical rigor, and operational infrastructure needed for long-term
Tim Cook on iPhone's Future: 'There's So Much Left That We Can Do'
In an interview with Nikias Molina at New York's Grand Central Terminal last week, Apple's CEO Tim Cook briefly commented on the future of the iPhone. "There's so much left that we can do with the iPhone," said Cook. "I think it's going to continue to be the center of people's digital lives".
Cal State Monterey Bay partners with Montage Health to expand nursing education
Montage Health has made a gift commitment of $15 million to bolster CSUMB's nursing education program.
Fetterman's a no as Senate Republicans debate new voting restrictions
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Fetterman broke with his party and voted to fund the federal government, and to oppose legislation limiting President...
Thai Leader Anutin Set to Extend Rule in Vote After Election Win
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is poised to win lawmaker approval for a new term less than six weeks after elections, potentially bringing stability to the country’s often volatile political landscape and allowing him to manage the fallout from the war in the Middle East.
NWS: Straight-line winds ripped roof off Gaffney business
The National Weather Service has determined what caused a roof to be ripped off of a business in Gaffney Monday morning.