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Fire destroys Clymer barn, business
CLYMER – Fire destroyed a tarp business and barn on Ravlin Hill Road in Clymer on Tuesday – though the family’s home was saved. Firefighters from six area volunteer fire departments responded to the fire around 5 a.m. after Clymer firefighters called for mutual aid. Surrounding departments, starting with the Stanley Hose Company from Sherman, […]
Margaret Hamilton, Whose Software Guided the Apollo Missions, Has Died
Margaret Hamilton, the first female programmer hired to work on the space project at M.I.T., was 90.
RFK Jr. Plans Vaccine Injury Initiative, Drawing Wary Eye From Experts
Vaccine safety experts say more research into the side effects would be welcome yet question whether the health secretary’s effort will be grounded in science.
Trump Will Award Musk National Medal Of Science At D.C. Tech Summit
Musk and Jensen Huang, who’s also being honored, were two of the six tech moguls who signed the voluntary "White House Accord on Super Intelligence" last month.
Who Won August and September: Original Films or Franchises?
(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) I just heard someone say that if you’re reading a pundit or data analyst, and they don’t tell you that they got anything wrong, they’re not a pundit but an “influencer”. I agree with that. You have to tell your audience when you get things wrong, or they won’t (or shouldn’t) trust you as much. Today, we’ve got another edition of “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong”. In general, I’m patting myself on the back (and patting very hard) about a few things like IP at the box office, LIV golf, horror films, crowdfunding movies, superheroes, and old people going to the theaters. That said, I also made a couple of data mistakes on the streaming bubble popping and HBO’s datecdotes, so I’m not perfect. But first, I need your feedback... Subscribe Follow-Ups: What Should We Call Mid-Budget Movies Which Aren’t Cinematic Enough for Theaters But Are Too Expensive to Make Money on Streaming? After I asked for feedback on what we should call straight-to-streaming films that are too big to pencil out on streaming but not really big enough to resonate in theaters, I got some great suggestions from you all, including... “Moldilocks” from John Aboud “Little Big Indie” from Travis Frick1 “Midflicks” from Jonathan Funke. “Extra-Medium” from Jona Nwuke. (Read the explanation in the footnote.) Between these and Brandon Katz—who suggested “Bermuda Budget Triangle”, “The Platform Gap” and “The Distribution Deadzone”—we’ve got some excellent suggestions. And they’re better than my suggestion, the “Streaming Budget Dead Zone”, so let’s take a poll! The winning entry becomes the new term. Loading... RIGHT: LIV Golf is Fully Bankrupt…Is Anyone Else Next? A few years ago, I was always a bit perplexed at all the articles I’d read praising LIV Golf and their strategy to disrupt the PGA. LIV Golf, a brand new professional golf league, offered PGA stars ten times what they made on the PGA Tour to join their new league. And folks praised this strategy for its initial “success” in that a lot of big names did indeed leave the PGA. Yeah, of course the players came over. LIV Golf paid them so, so, so much more! But LIV Golf hadn’t discovered a way to increase potential revenue. So think about this in basic business terms… They paid much more in costs… …but had no real way to increase revenue. That’s not a strategy! That’s deficit financing. It won’t work unless you bankrupt the competition (and then turn around and pay those same golfers much, much less). It’s not a sustainable strategy and only lasts as long as the company/person/nation backing it decides they’re cool with losing money. For LIV Golf, that meant Middle East oil wealth, in particular Saudi Arabian money. Clearly, the current Iran War has hurt Middle East finances, so they need to trim their more exorbitant spending. And LIV Golf was part of that trimming. This should be a major warning for others. TGL’s parent company, TMRW Sports, just got a $1 billion valuation, despite TGL’s (the indoor golf league) horrible TV viewership of less than half a million viewers per match. Unrivaled, the women’s basketball league, just secured a $650 valuation, despite its horrible TV viewership and a new rival (Project B) entering the scene next year. To relate this to streaming, Hollywood should ask which streamers may have wealthy patrons funding their losses. (Let’s be clear: Google, Amazon and Apple.) Could those patrons lose their appetite? For Amazon, probably not. But Apple has a new boss, so maybe! WRONG: My Analysis of the Streaming Bubble Was Missing a Week I’m going to be congratulating myself a lot today, but I make mistakes too, like this data goof. When I last compiled the data on the decline in TV shows, I was missing one week at the end of June. If you look at the first image, you can see that one week was mislabelled as “July”. Mainly, this image got updated to show a 27% decline, not 29%: This change doesn’t really impact the overall analysis, but it is two percent better. By the way, through the third quarter, the decline increased and it’s now a 30% decrease since 2022. (I’ll write/visualize this in an upcoming article.) But I want you to trust me and my data. Especially these days, when many people are using LLMs that I know are inserting faulty data into their charts, I want to keep earning my audience’s faith. So that’s the accurate data. RIGHT: IP Remains Very, Very Popular In July, I wrote a giant (and I mean giant) article on Backrooms, Obsession, and the box office, going over what we know, what we don’t know about what works in theaters, looking at YouTubers, IP, the horror genre, comic book movies, and a whole lot more. The month of August really tested a lot of my theses and, being honest, mostly supported my arguments. Let’s start with IP. Looking at 8-Aug (the weekend after Spider-Man: Brand New Day came out) to 18-Sep (the weekend that Resident Evil came out, which I think provides a nice bookend to this time period), there were seven films based on pre-existing IP: Resident Evil (2026) ($126 million) Practical Magic 2 ($65 million) _Insidious: Out of the Furthe_r ($65 million) Coyote Vs. Acme ($59 million) Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie ($53 million) Tony ($15 million) Super Troopers 3 ($7 million) Compare those to the notable original films from the past month—I actually could have included more movies, but here are just thirteen, bringing us to an even twenty films—including.... The End of Oak Street ($54 million) Buddy ($26 million) Mutiny ($15 million) By Any Means ($15 million) The Dog Stars ($14 million) Runner ($14 million) One Night Only ($11 million) Hope ($8 million) Spa Weekend ($7 million) The Uprising ($6 million) Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma ($6 million) Onslaught ($3 million) Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man ($2.8 million) Here’s that in chart form: Five of the top six films in this time period were all based on IP. I made a big chart of films that grossed over $200 million at the box office before Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey hit theaters. Let’s update that chart! By the way, if you want to see how I categorized each film—so another bar chart—here it is: I know that many of my fellow critics/pundits/analysts dislike films based on IP and how Hollywood is making so many of them. And I’m sympathetic to this point of view. As I’ve written many, many times before, you need a balance between existing franchises, new IP, and original films. And Hollywood clearly needs to make more films like Resident Evil (a well-made film from a visionary director) and fewer Practical Magic 2’s (which didn’t get critical or customer buzz). But at some point, critics and pundits need to contend with what audiences are telling them: Movie-goers aren’t showing up to original films. Audiences are speaking with their dollars, telling you they want more IP and franchises. You can try to convince studio heads to make fewer IP-based films and franchises, but the data and numbers aren’t there. Instead, critics need to work harder to convince audiences to show up for original films. Aim your ire/concern at the average person, not studio heads.2 Because they’re just making the films that audiences are telling them to make. WRONG: Original Horror Films Didn’t Break Out I’ll be honest, even though I wrote an article casting some skepticism on the horror genre in July, if you asked me to make a prediction, I would have predicted that, in August, a new, original horror film would have blown up. No, seriously, I just assumed that Obsession and Backrooms presaged a change in audience behavior. But none of the buzzy new original horror films from August—Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Onslaught (not an action film in spite of the ads), The End of Oak Street, Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man, or _Buddy—_broke out. To be clear, exactly one of those films (Buddy) had good “ROI”, but again—I try to be specific in my language—none were “popular” in any broad sense of the word. None of them will be “saving” movies theaters like Backrooms or _Obsession_helped save the summer. The new Insidious film and Resident Evil, both based on IP, were far and away the biggest horror films since July. (We’ll see if this changes in October/Halloween season.) RIGHT: Stay Skeptical about Crowdfunding... I’ve long been skeptical about crowd-investing platforms as one of Hollywood’s saviors, mainly because there’s so much hype/buzz. People need to stay more skeptical about more things, explaining both the potential upside but also the downsides. In particular, the media often hypes crowdfunding at the start and never checks in on the actual results after they’ve come in later. And August gave us our first update! _Ice Cream Man—_directed by Eli Roth—grossed $6 million off of a $5.5 million budget. This is a production of The Horror Section, which was one of the first “crowd investing” studios with 2,400 investors, which means that 2,400 investors probably lost money. They certainly aren’t getting as great of returns as if they had just invested their dollars in the stock market. Hopefully Stiletto (Tagline: “Someone’s Going to Make it Rain Blood!”) does better next month. WRONG: Another Data Goof Here’s another data error. When the first episode of House of the Dragon came out, HBO put out that it had 21.5 million viewers in the first three days, and I read that to mean in the US…but no, it was global. So my US-only datecdotes charts shouldn’t have included it. We never got US-only numbers for the first episode, but for the final episode, HBO put out that it had 11 million US viewers. (And that global dropped to 21 million viewers.) Here’s the updated chart (which I’ve since used in the Streaming Ratings Report): Still, this show is absolutely huge. RIGHT: Superhero Films Remain Very, Very Popular After Supergirl flopped, I read a few takes that “comic book movies are going the way of the Western”. Post-Spider-Man: Brand New Day, that take didn’t age well. To be fair, I have a very nuanced take on the superhero genre right now; it’s down right now, for a lot of reasons. But it’s not “dead”. Maybe _Spider-_Man is just a really popular character? I saw that take, and it’s a fair counter-argument. (But pundits arguing that superhero movies were dead should have mentioned this $1.5 billion counter-argument…) But is it just Spider-Man? The next Avengers film already has $50 million in pre-sales (and I was skeptical that that film would do well) and the Avengers: End Game re-release topped the box office two weekends ago (over three original films). And I wouldn’t bet against Batman or Superman. So maybe it’s just Spider-Man, Batman, Superman and the Avengers. Oh, and Deadpool, of course. And Black Panther. And Wolverine. And probably the X-Men. Plus a well-made Wonder Woman or the Hulk film could break out. But that’s it! It’s just those ten characters/teams. Oh, what’s that? Lanterns is also doing well on HBO? (See previous section…) To be fair, I’m actually pretty sympathetic to the argument that more popular characters—like Spider-Man and Batman—anchor more popular films. In fact, I made that exact argument three years ago when I first wrote about the “Marvel-cession”. In many ways, you can blame The Guardians of the Galaxy for fooling Marvel Studios (and the rest of us) into believing that any character could pop. It turns out, the list of iconic characters is probably smaller than most people think. But it’s probably too early to say that superhero films and comic book movies are dead unless “death” means a slight decline over a longtime. RIGHT: Who Killed Theaters? Old People I get frustrated whenever I see headlines or analysis about how young people are “returning” to theaters. As I’ve detailed(for years), young people have always powered the US box office, despite narratives about “kids these days” and their “phones”. Really, what’s changed post-2020/pandemic is that old people aren’t going to the movies nearly as much. This summer, I saw a movie (from an older director) in a theater near a retirement community, and multiple older people at the theater were talking about how this was their first time seeing a movie in years. I dislike personal anecdotes, so YouGov can fill in the data, best summarized by this headline: “Who killed movie theaters? Not the youths”. According to them, 64% of people aged 18-29 have seen a movie in the last year, but only 30% of 65-and-older. 20% of 18-29 have seen a movie in theaters in the last week and 42% in the last month. Here’s the polling data: Most concerning? Many Americans (17%) think theaters are a worse or much worse experience than watching films at home. Slight WRONG: Hadestown Opens Big A live theater capture of the Broadway musical, Hadestown, made $20 million at the US box office, which begs the question: was I wrong to be skeptical about musicals a few years ago? Yes and no. On the one hand, $20 million is a far cry from being “popular”, so yeah, the genre isn’t that popular overall and Hadestown is one of the more popular musicals from recent years (i.e. the “Taylor Swift Data Fallacy” in action). On the other, I doubt filming this cost all that much, and I don’t think that they spent much on marketing, so this is a good source of ancillary revenue. Smaller Updates WRONG: As I mentioned in a Streaming Ratings Report, I underestimated the budget for Enola Holmes 3. It probably cost more like $50 million, if not more. But... I’m not sure that it really matters? At sub-10 million hours, prices have to come down to make this work. WRONG: Netflix is giving Ink a 27-day in theaters! To quote the kids/YouTubers these days, let’s go! Now I might actually have a chance to see Danny Boyle’s latest in theaters. I’d complained about this in a “Coming Soon” section, but I was heartened to read that Netflix is giving multiple films longer theatrical windows this year. RIGHT: Netflix is sending 4-5 films per year to theaters. Netflix is slowly but surely sending more and more films to theaters, as I cautiously predicted earlier this year. For now, it’s just three big films and a number of awards contenders, but still, this is great news. And they’ll be releasing box office grosses! Just this week, Ted Sarandos confirmed that KPop Demon Hunters 2 will come to theaters (and my guess is it performs in the box office top ten at a minimum). WRONG: Angel has 3 million subscribers! How do I know this? Well, they told Deadline, who reported it. I marked this as “wrong”, since they’ve doubled their subscribers in one year but, you know, they don’t really have a hit film to speak of and they’re still losing money. WRONG: Furious was only renewed for one more season. I accidentally wrote “two more seasons” in my latest “Renewals, Cancellations, Un-Orders and Removals Update”. RIGHT: House of David is ending with its third season. In July, Prime Video renewed House of David for a third season, as I just wrote in my latest “Renewals and Cancellations” report. Well, now it’s ending after that third season. Why? As I’ve been writing, its viewership wasn’t great. I got feedback that this show didn’t cost very much, but it cost enough that its limited viewership didn’t save it. WRONG: Adults was a Hulu original! So I missed Adults when it first came out last year; I saw that it aired on FX and just assumed that it was a linear-first program. Turns out, it aired three episodes on FX, but binge-released the rest of its episodes the next day on Hulu. Huh. So I should have covered it last year! But I just wrote about it. 1 “When I was a kid in the 90s, if you wore a t-shirt to school that wasn’t too big and also wasn’t too small, but somehow didn’t quite fit, we’d say you were wearing an “extra-medium” shirt.” 2 As always, a huge exception is Disney, which barely makes anything original anymore.
Six Flags Entertainment Corporation Stock 12‑Month Price Target Cut to $20.79, Implies 72% Upside
Explore more price target data and ratings for Six Flags Entertainment Corporation on the Forecasts tab, and track all previous and future analyst recommendations for Six Flags Entertainment Corporation in the dedicated News Flow.Select reference data provided by FactSet. Copyright © 2026 FactSet R…
RWJBarnabas Health Opens Sixth Food Farmacy and First in Southern Region
On September 8, 2026, RWJBarnabas Health opened the system’s sixth Food Farmacy at Monmouth Medical Center to provide patients with nutritious foods and individualized nutrition counseling from registered dietitians to support long-term health and well-being.
Iowa Business Council survey shows postive outlook on state's economy
The Iowa Business Council (IBC) has released its third quarter Economic Outlook Survey that gauges the outlook for the next six months. IBC President Joe Murphy says it’s based on a 100 point scale. “Our overall survey score was 64.91 index points, so just under 65 points, relatively flat, virtually no movement on the overall […]
Forecasting the Next Five Years of Business Jet Deliveries – Part 2
Image: Bombardier Global 7500/8000 Factory Part 1 (https://lnkd.in/ebQSmHXb) laid out the raw material behind this forecast: a six-OEM market where 1Q26 backlog growth ranges from 43% at Bombardier to roughly …
A Public Health-Minded Senator Asks: What Comes After Trump and Kennedy?
Senator Patty Murray, a former chair of the Senate health committee, is forming a group of experts to examine how to insulate the C.D.C. from political interference.
A Public Health-Minded Senator Asks: What Comes After Trump and Kennedy?
Senator Patty Murray, a former chair of the Senate health committee, is forming a group of experts to examine how to insulate the C.D.C. from political interference.
Justin Casse passed on the family training business over 4:30 a.m. wake-ups. Now he owns stakes in about 100 racehorses across six countries
Casse built a global business spotting future champions—and learned that even the best judgment can’t guarantee a winning investment.
Jonathan the Giant Tortoise Is 194 Years Old. He Just Had His Genome Sequenced.
Scientists have sequenced his genome for the first time, hoping the world’s oldest land animal can offer clues into the genetics of longevity.
Some furloughed Star Wars Zero Company developers are returning to work, studio says
Bit Reactor, the Maryland based company, behind this summer’s well-received tactical combat game Star Wars Zero Company says that “more” of its team is returning to work after being furloughed ahead of the game’s release. This is the studio’s first statement on the matter since Game File’s August report that “most” of the development team had been furloughed—technically kept as employees, but without pay or benefits—a few weeks prior to launch. Some of those furloughs ended this week. “This week, we started the process of returning more of our team back to work at Bit Reactor, an important step forward in our continued support for Zero Company, “ Bit Reactor CEO Greg Foertsch said in a statement. He continued: “Having to ask team members to step away after we navigated unexpected business developments outside of our control and so close to launch was an incredibly difficult decision, but one that was necessary to help us eventually bring as many people back as possible. “This team means a tremendous amount to me, and I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together. Thank you to our fans for the incredible response to the game and for supporting us along this journey. We look forward to sharing more updates regarding Bit Reactor and Zero Company soon.” Game File reported in August that Bit Reactor had retained a small team to work on updates for Zero Company. One person familiar with the situation told Game File that the returns announced today bring the studio’s pay-rolled headcount to more than half of what it had been ahead of the furloughs. That means a considerable number of people have been brought back, but that a fair number also remain without pay. While companies in the U.S. are often legally required to publicly disclose how many people they’ve laid off, furloughs can often be kept private, for a time. The United States Department of Labor requires companies to publicly report mass furloughs if they meet specific criteria, including any expectation that they will last more than six months. For those game makers who remain furloughed by Bit Reactor, it’s now been about two months. For more about Bit Reactor, the furloughs, the studio’s back-story and the ongoing lawsuit that brought this to light, read my August report. [ ‘Most’ of Star Wars Zero Company studio Bit Reactor was furloughed ahead of launch ](https://www.gamefile.news/p/star-wars-zero-company-bit-reactor-furloughs-lawsuit) Stephen Totilo · Sep 1 Last week was meant to be a moment of triumph for Bit Reactor, the Maryland-based game studio founded in 2021 with ambitions to create a great new tactical combat game. [ Read full story ](https://www.gamefile.news/p/star-wars-zero-company-bit-reactor-furloughs-lawsuit)
Philadelphia Eagles: Promote RB With Over 1,600 Career Yards
Injuries continue to plague the Philadelphia Eagles‘ running back room. Saquon Barkley suffered a hamstring injury and is reportedly week-to-week, meaning he could miss one game to multiple weeks. Additionally, Tank Bigsby, the second option, recently underwent core muscle surgery, prompting the Eagles to place him on injured reserve, hoping he misses six weeks or […] The post Philadelphia Eagles: Promote RB With Over 1,600 Career Yards appeared first on Gridiron Heroics.
Joe Manganiello claims ex Sofía Vergara ridiculed him during his near-fatal health battle
Was the Human Gut Healthier in Ancient Times?
The microbiome isn’t what it used to be in many parts of the world. The shift may be affecting the well-being of people in industrialized countries.
Eagles RT Lane Johnson retires to focus on mental health
The six-time Pro Bowl selection was a key component of an Eagles offensive line that helped win two Super Bowls.
Beaten-Down Flutter Entertainment Stock Upgraded
Flutter Entertainment (FLUT) stock struggles near six-year lows despite a Citigroup upgrade
Rubio Stresses Need for U.S. Security Work With Greece on Migration and Terrorism
Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised Greece for spending more on defense, while saying it needs to address “mass migration.”
Don’t Let the Flu Sideline Your Season. It’s Time for your Flu Shot!
As autumn sets in, the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) is urging residents to get their annual flu shot now to stay healthy and active through the months ahead. “We recommend a seasonal flu shot for everyone six months of age and older,” said Dr. Alexia Harrist, State Health Officer with WDH. “These vaccines carry […]
Movie Review: ‘The Social Reckoning’ is classic Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Sorkin revisits a familiar subject, Mark Zuckerberg, in “The Social Reckoning,” which opens in theaters nationwide Friday. Sixteen years after “The Social Network,” Zuckerberg is now portrayed by Jeremy
Chase for Business Expands Its Integrated Digital Experience with Chase Payroll, Powered by Gusto
NEW YORK, October 07, 2026--Small business owners increasingly want the tools they use to run their businesses to work together and be managed in one place. In recent Chase research, 89% of business owners said they would find it valuable to manage payroll within the same platform they use for business banking and payments, highlighting growing demand for a more connected business experience. Additionally, 37% said meeting payroll put pressure on cash flow over the last six months, underscoring
Why Markets Are Buoyant
Energy and technology companies’ earnings are expected to keep driving up stock indexes. But what’s driving up their profits are weighing on the economy.
Mayo High School business teacher honored as distinguished educator by national nonprofit
The honor recognizes his six professional certifications in real-world finance topics.
Trump Officials Ramp Up Investigations Into Voter Registration Groups
The Trump administration is investigating nonprofits that it says may be recruiting noncitizens for voter registration, documents show, even though noncitizen voting in the United States is rare.
'Home of the Future' at LACMA explores dark side of American dream
Across six decades, designers and corporations sold the home as a route to health, freedom and security. The exhibition raises the harder question of who paid for that dream.
Liverpool handed boost in pursuit of Andoni Iraola favourite
Liverpool’s start to life under Andoni Iraola has been solid, but not spectacular. The Reds are yet to taste defeat under the Spaniard but already sit six points off the Premier League leaders afte...
Science Hill region bound after blocking Dobyns-Bennett; West Ridge survives to play again
No matter what the sport, expect high-intensity competition when Science Hill and Dobyns-Bennett are lined up against each other. It was no different on Tuesday on the volleyball court.
DEG Presents Annual EnTech Awards Honoring Entertainment Technology Innovators
DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group presented its sixth annual EnTech Awards Oct. 6 at the Culver Theater in Culver City, Calif. The 2026 Hall of Fame Award was presented to Gray Ainsworth, EVP and head of global content operations for Lionsgate. Ainsworth recalled his start in the entertainment business as an actor with the legendary … Continue reading "DEG Presents Annual EnTech Awards Honoring Entertainment Technology Innovators"
Measuring Stick for the Washington Run Defense Against Iowa
Two years ago, Iowa rushed for 220 yards on the Washington run defense, averaging nearly six yards per carry inside Kinnick Stadium. The Huskies lost 40-16 in what was just the fourth Big Ten game of Jedd Fisch’s tenure in Seattle. The loss demonstrated the physicality and stylistic gap that Washington aimed to close as …
Angus Taylor’s immigration plan misses the target – on politics and on policy
The most surprising aspect of the Coalition’s policy is that in six pages of detail there is not a single mention of the labour market
In Iceland, Rubio Dodges a Diplomatic Flap Over a Trump Map
President Trump had posted a map on his Truth Social account in September depicting Iceland as part of U.S. territory.
Philadelphia Eagles great Lane Johnson abruptly retires citing ‘mental health’
The six-time Pro Bowl right tackle says he is stepping away after 14 seasons to focus on his mental health and spend more time with his family
The 2026 Big Ten College Football Playoff Picture: Week 6
The contenders and fringe contenders are beginning to show themselves in the Big Ten. At the same time, six programs have been eliminated from contention.
Trump Does Not Plan to Reimburse Taxpayers for Promotional Ads
A day after the president said his super PAC would pay for the ads, which had drawn bipartisan backlash, officials said that he meant moving forward. A new taxpayer-funded ad aired Tuesday.
Rating the Governor Races: The States Where Democrats Are Poised for Victory
Election Day this year will determine who holds the keys to influential executive mansions across the country. Thirty-six states have gubernatorial contests on the ballot, and the results in November will determine whether Democrats control a majority of the nation’s governorships for the first ...
Emmys will move to Amazon Prime
The Television Academy and Amazon Prime Video on Tuesday announced a historic six-year deal for exclusive global rights to the Emmy Awards .
What To Expect in OKC Thunder’s First Preseason Game
With six stars sidelined, young prospects like Ajay Mitchell and Aday Mara take center stage in Tulsa to fight for roles within the Thunder’s championship-caliber rotation.
Rating the Governor Races: The States Where the GOP Is Poised for Victory
Election Day this year will determine who holds the keys to influential executive mansions across the country. Thirty-six states have gubernatorial contests on the ballot, and the results in November will determine whether Democrats control a majority of the nation’s governorships for the first ...
Amazon bricks Alexa’s ability to control Echo speakers' AUX input
Amazon hasn't made an Echo with a 3.5mm port in six years.
Emmys moving to Prime Video in 2027
The Emmys have a new home.Starting in 2027, the Emmy Awards will stream exclusively on Prime Video as part of a six-year deal between the Television Academy and the Amazon-owned streaming service.The ...
Susan Collins, a political survivor, tries to outrun Trump
In her bid for a sixth term representing Maine, Susan Collins has been beset by President Donald Trump weighing her down with constant controversy.
‘Vampire Diaries’ star makes first major public appearance in 7 years
Steven R. McQueen, who starred as Jeremy Gilbert across six seasons of ‘The Vampire Diaries,’ reunited with his former castmates at a Paris fan convention.
Soldiers Wounded by Iranian Drone Strike Accuse Military Health Care System of Failing Them
Six U.S. Army Reserve soldiers died and more than 30 suffered wounds during the March attack,
Students Use Forensic Science Skills in Escape Room
Hundreds of students from across the region put their problem-solving skills to the test this week during the Regional Science Consortium’s annual Forensic Science Escape Room. Elementary school students had just a few hours to figure out how someone died as part of a forensic science escape room activity. The Regional Science Consortium partnered with Mercyhurst University for the 10th year of the event, which is taking place at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center. It began Monday and runs through Thursday.Throughout the week, more than 250 students are working to solve murder mysteries using real forensic science techniques. Students must analyze the evidence, piece together clues and solve the crime before time runs out.Organizers said the event gives students interested in pursuing forensic science in college a firsthand look at what a career in the field could entail.Sarah Skelton, Special Gifts Coordinator at Iroquois, said the activity provides students with an opportunity to develop skills that can sometimes be difficult to practice in a traditional classroom. "It really helps them to work in teams and on critical thinking skills. Which, not that they don't get these opportunities, but it's hard sometimes in the classroom to develop those higher-level thinking skills”, said Skelton.Students also get a chance to learn how forensic science is used in real-life investigations. As Skelton explained, "What are the real-life applications? What would you actually see in a crime scene? How would you handle these types of forensic investigations? So it's really cool our kids get to see what opportunities are out there and possibly a career field one day."The popular event has grown over the years, with some students returning year after year. Organizers said watching those students grow and develop their interests is one of the highlights of the program.Jeanette Schnars, the Executive Director of the Regional Science Consortium said it's rewarding to see how students' interests evolve as they get older. According to Schnars, "How they have grown and matured and where their interests are going and maybe they aren't going into forensics, but if they are going into sciences or different disciplines, so it's really fulfilling to see how they have matured."One student who continues to enjoy the event is sixth-grader Mia Harvey of Iroquois. Harvey hopes to pursue a career in medicine and says the forensic science activities are helping her explore her interests, "One day I want to become a neurologist, and learning about the bones is probably going to help me."Harvey said her favorite part of the event is the real-life application of what she's learning. "While you are trying to find the clues, they teach real stuff that you would need to know”, said Harvey.Event organizers said if students are learning while having fun, then the program is accomplishing its goal. "Not only are they learning the science, but they are having fun with it too”, said Schnars.Adults will also have a chance to take part in the experience this Saturday during an adult version of the escape room, which will feature food, drinks and entertainment. For more information, click here.The Forensic Science Escape Room has become one of the Regional Science Consortium’s most popular events, with teachers signing up their students as soon as registration opens in August.
Brazil: Lessons from a Disaster
By Antonio Martins (Outras Palavras) Defeats become deeper and more prolonged when we misunderstand what caused them, avoid correcting course, and embrace “solutions” that only compound our mistakes. Lula’s government and the Brazilian left suffered a disaster in Sunday’s election. Contrary to every poll, the president finished the first round 2.2 million votes behind Flávio Bolsonaro—and, more significantly, 3.4 million votes below his total four years ago, when the machinery of the state was working against him and in favor of his opponent. His vote share declined in 98 percent of Brazil’s municipalities. The PL, the main party of the far right, elected 121 deputies and 28 senators, becoming the largest caucus in both houses of Congress. The parties aligned with the Centrão—Brazil’s bloc of transactional center-right parties—were somewhat diminished, but will still hold roughly 250 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 35 in the Senate. That will make it easier to assemble the majorities needed to amend the Constitution or impeach Supreme Federal Court justices. If elected, Flávio Bolsonaro could appoint four members of the Court, substantially altering its internal balance of power. What produced these results? How can the far right be prevented from consolidating them into a prolonged political hegemony? And what is the essential change of direction the left now needs? Explaining the Disaster Across the commercial media and the exuberant chaos of digital platforms, interpretations are multiplying. Some focus on specific episodes: Lula’s absence from the Globo debate, his very close relationship with Alexandre de Moraes, or his emphasis on issues supposedly remote from most people’s everyday concerns, such as rare earth minerals. Among the more systemic interpretations, three seem especially questionable. One argues that the principal defeat was not the left’s, since its congressional representation declined only slightly. The decisive movement captured at the ballot box, according to this view, was a shift within the right itself—from the more moderate and transactional forces of the Centrão toward the more ideological and radicalized forces of the PL and Novo. A second interpretation holds that the nature of electoral and political processes has changed. The material interests and aspirations of society, it argues, no longer play the central role they once did; they have given way to forms of subjective self-identification that the left has yet to understand. And a third concludes that, because of these two developments, we should expect a political winter: a prolonged period in which the far right and the broader right dominate Brazilian political life. There are important elements in all three interpretations. The problem lies in what they deny or leave out: Lula’s third government was a small-bore government. It offered the majorities that elected it neither a clearly better life nor reasons to believe again in politics and its power to transform society. These failures flowed from two fatal accommodations, which I will examine below. As a result, the government suffered a slow but steady erosion of support. And, as has happened in so many Western countries, it gave the far right the opportunity to present itself as anti-system and to benefit from popular frustration and distress. The interpretation that emphasizes the migration of votes from the center-right and traditional right toward the far right has been advanced, among others, by the courageous journalist Leonardo Sakamoto. In his UOL column on Monday, October 5, he highlights the miserable behavior of the traditional conservative parties. Over the past four years, they repeatedly joined forces with the “neo”-fascists, helping to “normalize” them—a criticism that could equally be directed at almost the entire corporate media. Believing they could use the far right as a stepping stone, they instead ended up partly devoured by it. This was especially true in the Senate, where the PL’s gain of 13 senators and Novo’s gain of two came at the expense of the PSD, which lost nine; the MDB, which lost two; the PSDB, which lost two; and the PP, which lost one. Sakamoto’s observation is accurate and necessary, but it leaves uncomfortable questions unanswered. Why did the erosion of the Centrão benefit the far right rather than, for example, producing growth for the left—as has happened so many times before, both in Brazil and elsewhere? The answer is not difficult. Throughout its four years in office, Lula’s third government was almost invariably associated with the Centrão. Here lies its first accommodation: accepting the limits imposed by conservative institutions; avoiding, as much as possible, any attempt to strain those limits through popular pressure; and believing only in the modest changes that could be squeezed through openings in Congress. The failure of the campaign to end the six-day workweek is emblematic. Lula could have electrified the presidential race by pairing it with a popular campaign for passage of the measure. Instead, he chose to place his hopes in the hands of Senate president Rodrigo Alcolumbre. He generated no mass mobilization, did not force his opponents onto an uncomfortable defensive, and won no victory. In September 2025, the government squandered the greatest of its many opportunities to shake up conservative power in Congress. Popular opposition to the so-called Shielding Amendment—which, if approved, would have restricted criminal proceedings against members of Congress—brought crowds into the streets, mobilized primarily by artists and social movements. This opened the possibility for a broader political education: a campaign that could begin exposing the limits and dysfunctions of Brazil’s political system while putting Bolsonaro’s movement on the defensive for its predictable support of political privilege. The amendment was defeated. But the executive branch then backed away from the fight. It remained associated with an institutional world widely seen as corrupt, elitist, and indifferent to ordinary people’s struggles. In doing so, it forfeited its credibility as a vehicle for the protest vote. On Sunday, it reaped the bitter fruits. Are We Doomed? Taking a different approach from Sakamoto, the philosopher Moysés Pinto Neto and other writers have drawn attention, in their first analyses of October 4, to the fragmentation of the public sphere produced by Big Tech platforms. Through their algorithms, these platforms present each person with a different view of social reality. As a consequence, it becomes much harder to identify common material problems and demands—for example, the fight for labor rights or for a properly funded public health system. Voters no longer embrace such demands, these authors argue, because they no longer see themselves as part of a collective. Instead, they tend to value the identities assigned to them by neoliberal subjectivity—the role of the entrepreneur, for example. On this interpretation, the left’s possible error lies in clinging to outdated illusions. Moysés’s warning is highly relevant and resonates with arguments such as Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor’s “Apocalyptic Fascism and the Billionaires’ Bet.” Unlike a century ago, the far right no longer promises a radiant future. It concentrates instead on resentment—especially that of young men. “They belong to a generation that fears it may never own a home, but compensates with the pleasure it gets from constantly provoking progressives online. Convinced their future has been stolen, they share memes romanticizing historical authoritarian regimes,” the authors write. But Moysés seems to confuse this danger with inevitability. He fails to see that the left’s answer cannot be adaptation. On the contrary, it must strengthen the possibility of politics as collective action. Nor does he recognize that precisely such a reversal is already becoming possible in some of the most promising mobilizations of the twenty-first century: the election, at the end of 2025, of the young Muslim Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York, on a platform centered on the intensely material fight for an affordable city; the Left Party’s victory in Berlin two weeks ago, built around the demand to expropriate private real-estate corporations; and the very recent wave of demonstrations in Spain—including an occupation of Madrid’s Puerta del Sol—in which tens of thousands of young people mobilized by the Tenants’ Union have demanded limits on rents. By putting itself in the straitjacket of the “fiscal framework” in the first months of 2022, Lula’s third government adopted the second fatal accommodation of its term. Faced with conservative institutions and a country devastated by four years of Bolsonaro, increased public investment was the government’s remaining weapon for offering a more dignified life to the majority and forging an anti-conservative pact with them. The same state that disburses 1 trillion reais a year to enrich a small class of rentiers could instead spend money to extend the Family Health Strategy to every Brazilian, at a cost of 30 billion reais; provide full-day public schooling and childcare to all adolescents and children—and, especially, relief to their mothers; achieve universal sanitation while cleaning up polluted urban rivers; multiply metro systems; begin transforming the urban peripheries; and undertake many other urgently needed projects. In April 2023, an article in Outras Palavras warned that the fiscal framework could “shrink the Lula government and preserve the forces that condemn the country to inequality and regression.” A year later, another article showed that restraints on public spending were strangling policies vital to ordinary people and undermining the president’s popularity. In November 2024 came a reality check, in the form of the government’s humiliating defeat in the municipal elections. Even then, the fiscal lock was neither removed nor loosened. On the contrary: throughout the government’s four years, fiscal restraint remained central to its political narrative. The administration proudly proclaimed that it had “put the state’s accounts in order,” without grasping either how misleading that phrase was—given the payment of 1 trillion reais in interest—or how badly the message was hurting it politically. Lula finally woke up in September 2026. The increase in Bolsa Família benefits, after four years of being frozen; the announcement that anti-obesity drugs would be offered through Brazil’s public health system; and the ban on online betting showed that the state has the power to act decisively on behalf of the majority when those in government are willing to confront obstacles. The huge marches that closed the campaign in Fortaleza, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo on the eve of October 4 showed how such initiatives can mobilize activists and the broader public. But it was too late—and too little to change the outcome of the first round. History has not ended The possibility of a turnaround in the three weeks leading up to November 25 cannot be ruled out. It will not be simple or easy. Lula must not only make up a deficit of 2.2 million votes; he must also offset the movement of voters who backed other right-wing candidates in the first round, most of whom are likely to move toward Flávio Bolsonaro. Pulling that off will require a broad, grassroots effort to win over voters, potentially reinforced by new initiatives from Lula. The coming hours and days will be decisive. If Bolsonaro’s movement also wins the presidency, the result will create a high-risk situation for Brazilian sovereignty and democracy. The enormous challenges posed by such an outcome would require the left to reexamine, in depth and with a genuine willingness to engage in self-criticism, its political projects—or its lack of them—and its practices. But would that mean we are condemned to the long winter of far-right hegemony that some analyses are beginning to forecast? It is far too early to say, suggests a recent text by Álvaro García Linera, the thinker who served as vice president of Bolivia under Evo Morales. His central hypothesis is that this political current will prove short-lived. At a moment when the entire world is once again talking about sovereignty and protecting national economies, the far right offers a stale, recolonizing neoliberalism. Its submission to the United States is as blatant and pathetic as Flávio and Eduardo Bolsonaro’s overtures to Donald Trump. Its project amounts to something like every man for himself: greater inequality, capitalism without limits, devastation, and supremacism. Will it work? In the United States, just two years into his second term, Trump himself is reaching record levels of unpopularity and may be on the verge of losing Republican control of both the House and Senate in November. Every new beginning is difficult. Whatever the outcome of the second round, the defeats of October 4 show how profoundly the Brazilian left will have to rethink and rebuild. But just as it would be foolish to underestimate the seriousness of its mistakes, it would be equally foolish to conclude that rebuilding a political project is no longer possible. History has not ended. The times are moving faster than ever. Originally published in Portuguese by Outras Palavras. English translation by Eric Blanc; I’ve added the subtitles. More We can’t stop the far right at home or abroad without a revitalized labor movement, which is yet another reason why you should become a sustaining supporter of the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) — one of US labor’s pivotal bright spots. Relatedly, Jacobin published a short piece of mine reflecting on a decade of Bernie Sanders inspiring a whole new generation of young worker organizers.
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Yale School of Medicine On the Science of Childhood Anxiety, Say, Anxiety Disorders Are the Most Common Mental Health Challenges In Youth
Credit: Matt Bradbury October 5, 2026 - By Isabella Backman - Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health challenges in youth. Left untreated, they can disrupt the lives of both children and their families. The good news is that with intervention, most children will overcome these conditions. Across Yale School of Medicine, scientists are working to understand anxiety at every level, from common anxious behaviors to molecular biomarkers in the brain. They are using their findings to develop and disseminate new evidence-based treatments for childhood anxiety. Today, the go-to treatment for childhood anxiety disorders is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This is a form of psychotherapy that teaches children skills for confronting anxious thoughts and helps them practice managing situations that cause anxiety. While it is the gold-standard treatment backed by considerable scientific evidence, up to 50% of children will not see sufficient benefit from CBT alone. Wendy Silverman, PhD, Alfred A. Messer Professor in the Child Study Center, co-directs the Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program alongside Eli Lebowitz, PhD, associate professor in the Child Study Center. One of their main interests is learning how to improve outcomes beyond CBT. “We’re developing cutting-edge, research-based knowledge that can reduce the suffering that anxiety causes children and their families,” says Silverman. Changing parent behavior YSM experts are investigating how to improve CBT outcomes for children by involving the parents. Silverman’s research has uncovered two main components of parent intervention that improve childhood anxiety: not enabling children to completely avoid the things that make them anxious and taking steps to enhance their autonomy. Parents may unintentionally reinforce their child’s anxiety by allowing them to avoid what makes them anxious. They also may unintentionally limit the children’s sense of autonomy by being overly intrusive. “One of the things that we take pride in is that we’ve focused on trying to understand what parents need to do, and to test our ideas and see if changing the parents’ behaviors is enhancing the effects of CBT,” Silverman says. “Our findings thus far suggest that they do." As much as CBT can be helpful, it can also be challenging to get one’s child to do the necessary steps for CBT to work. This is one important reason why Lebowitz created a novel intervention program for parents named Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE). Existing intervention programs often teach parents to act as therapists for their child, such as training them on how to practice breathing exercises. “It makes sense, but this doesn’t work very well in practice,” says Lebowitz. “And part of the reason, I think, is that it’s not easy to get your kid to do things, especially if they’re not excited about doing it.” SPACE is unique because it focuses entirely on parent involvement and changing parental behavior—children are not involved in the sessions. For example, parents learn how to use supportive messages that convey confidence that their child can tolerate and manage distress. “It might sound like a parent saying to a child, ‘I get that this is really hard for you, but I know that you can handle it,’” Lebowitz says. The program also works with parents to identify the ways in which they are accommodating anxious behaviors. “We’ll pick one thing that parents are doing that is an accommodation and help them make a detailed plan for how they’re going to change that,” Lebowitz explains. Treating Anxiety in Children and Adolescents Much of the existing research on SPACE has focused on parents of children under age 14. Ongoing studies are now exploring its use with parents of older teens. “Both anxiety and accommodation can interfere with normative developmental shifts during the teen years, including increased autonomy and individuation from parents,” says Rebecca Etkin, PhD, associate research scientist in the Child Study Center. “In this sense, SPACE may be particularly well-suited for anxious teens and their parents. We want to see whether it is effective during this distinct developmental window.” Unfortunately, many families in need of CBT face barriers, including limited availability of services and geographic constraints. One way to improve access is digital interventions. Silverman and her team are developing an evidence-based digitized intervention program for parents that they can access directly from their computer or smart phone. “The work we’re doing will be one of the very few parent interventions that is digitized and importantly tested for effectiveness,” she says. Creating interventions for anxiety-related challenges Silverman and Lebowitz recently received a generous gift to develop and test other interventions that help parents reduce other child anxiety-related behavioral and emotional difficulties, such as restrictive eating and unexplained somatic symptoms. One of these projects in particular focuses on understanding the risks of social media and its potential benefits, including offering a sense of connection. “A lot of research has focused on the idea that social media is harmful and the less of it the better,” says Lebowitz. “But we actually see is that this is not quite right—there are negatives, but there are also positives. So, we’re trying to get a little bit more nuanced of a picture.” The team is working with teens with social anxiety and their parents over an extended period to better understand their social media habits and how their anxiety levels affect engagement with different platforms. The teens will answer questions sent to an app on their phones about mood and social media usage in an effort to capture emotional responses as they unfold. “We hope to develop interventions that can help make the best of social media while protecting against the more problematic effects,” Lebowitz says. The brain’s role in anxiety Researchers are also testing therapies to address anxiety at the neurological and molecular levels. In collaboration with Dylan Gee, PhD, professor of psychology in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Hilary Blumberg, MD, John and Hope Furth Professor of Psychiatric Neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine, Lebowitz and Silverman are using brain imaging to identify changes in a child’s brain before and after parents enroll in SPACE. In one study, children viewed anxiety-inducing images while undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); the researchers conducted scans with and without the children’s parents nearby. Before SPACE, children’s brains were better able to activate the regulatory circuitry needed to turn off an anxious response when their parents were nearby. But after SPACE, children could activate this circuitry even without the parent around. “As parents work on gradually reducing some of their accommodations, you can see a child get better at regulating their own fear system in the brain,” Lebowitz says. “It’s remarkable.” Research into the molecular underpinnings of anxiety can also inform new childhood anxiety treatments. In a recent study, Lebowitz, Silverman, and Flora Vaccarino, MD, Harris Professor in the Child Study Center, discovered that a protein known as fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) could be protective from the toxic effects of stress. FGF2 levels in children and their parents were linked to the children’s risk of developing anxiety and depression, the study showed. The findings could help explain why some children who are exposed to early life trauma such as poverty or abuse are more prone to developing mental health disorders. And FGF2 could be a target for treatment. “This is very novel because it starts to give a clue to what is the molecular chain that connects those lived experiences to the actual psychological outcomes,” Lebowitz says. New ways to study and treat childhood anxiety Michael Crowley, PhD, associate professor in the Child Study Center, collaborates with Silverman and Lebowitz to study the role that attention plays in development and maintenance of childhood anxiety. There is a large body of research that shows that anxious children, like anxious adults, are prone to focus on threatening stimuli such as angry faces compared with neutral faces. This has led to innovative interventions that involve attention retraining. The idea is that if experts train children to look away from threatening stimuli, it may reduce their anxiety—especially children with social anxiety who are most prone to attend to threats. The researchers have just completed a clinical trial for attention retraining with 10- to 14-year-olds with social anxiety disorders and are currently analyzing the findings. Besides this innovative attention retraining research, as Crowly notes, “I like to design tasks that are engaging to kids,” Crowley says. “My goal is to assess something without the kids knowing what we are assessing.” With this goal in mind, Crowley has created a virtual game, named Boom, to study threat processing in children with anxiety disorders. The game is similar to that of hot potato—the child and three digital players take turns virtually passing a ball to each other’s gloves. At some point, the ball turns into a bomb, and as the bomb lands in each player’s glove, the outline of the glove turns yellow. The goal is to avoid having the bomb go off in your glove. What isn’t obvious is that the game is designed to measure different types of threatening stimuli, both ambiguous and direct. In the game, the direct threat occurs as the bomb is traveling towards your glove. The ambiguous threat is the yellow outlined glove as it is unknown where the bomb will travel next. While children play the game, Crowley’s team measures their brain activity using electroencephalography (EEG). The researchers have discovered that in kids with anxiety, the brain reacts more strongly to ambiguous threats than it does in their peers, but less strongly to direct threats. They believe that the initial abnormally large brain response to not knowing where the bomb is going impairs the brain's ability to properly respond when the threat is actually traveling the child’s way. “The brains of children with anxiety are unable to differentiate between threats you need to do something about and those that are not your problem.” Michael Crowley, PhD, develops innovative games for studying anxiety in children and adolescents.Credit: Matt Bradbury Based on these insights, Crowley hopes to study whether interventions like attention training could restore appropriate threat processing. Crowley’s team is also working on a test called the Balloon Risk Avoidance Task, which evaluates risk-taking and avoidance behaviors. It features a digital balloon that is full of air and about to burst. Kids have six seconds to let air out of the balloon. The more air they let out, the less risk they face that the balloon will pop. But at the same time, the balloon becomes less valuable as it deflates. “The more air you keep in the balloon, the more points you get,” Crowley explains. So far, the researchers have found that when the balloons pop unexpectedly, teens with social anxiety show distinct brain responses. Studying these responses can help psychologists understand the underlying pathways driving the various manifestations of anxiety. The genetics of anxiety When Thomas Fernandez, MD, associate professor in the Child Study Center and of psychiatry, was still in training, there was a lot of excitement about understanding the genetics associated with autism spectrum disorder. Since then, scientists have identified around 250 genes associated with autism. The genetic contribution to anxiety disorders, on the other hand, has historically received less attention. Anxiety is less heritable than autism, but the genetic contribution for anxiety disorders that emerge in childhood may be higher than for anxiety disorders overall. While scientists estimate the heritability of anxiety disorders in general to be around 30% to 50%, some studies suggest higher heritability for certain childhood-onset anxiety presentations. “I saw firsthand how researchers in the field went about finding vulnerability genes for autism,” Fernandez says. “So, we’re using a very similar playbook for childhood anxiety.” “I saw firsthand how researchers in the field went about finding vulnerability genes for autism. So, we’re using a very similar playbook for childhood anxiety.” Thomas Fernandez, MD Associate Professor In the Child Study Center and in Psychiatry Now, Fernandez and Emily Olfson, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Child Study Center, are studying children and their parents to identify genetic changes that are present in the child but not the parents, known as “de novo mutations.” “All of us have some de novo mutations—maybe about 50 to 100 sprinkled throughout the genome,” Olfson says. “But when they occur within the coding regions of genes, they can be really disruptive.” Previous research shows that people with autism have higher rates of damaging de novo mutations than the general population. In 2022, Olfson, Lebowitz, Silverman, and Fernandez published a study on 68 children and their families that found that children with anxiety had similarly high levels of these mutations. Studying de novo mutations can help point the researchers to where they should be looking for genes associated with anxiety. “The end game is using the genes to steer us toward the right part of biology that we can then target to come up with better treatments,” Fernandez says. Building on those findings, the team is now studying more families to better understand how these de novo mutations, along with other genetic and environmental factors, shape pediatric anxiety disorders. They recently received a National Institutes of Health grant to enroll 750 new families over the next five years. Olfson is the principal investigator, with co-investigators Lebowitz, Fernandez, Silverman, and Shuangge Steven Ma, PhD, department chair and professor of biostatistics at Yale School of Public Health. Neurodevelopment, Risk Genes, and Mental Health Conditions - The Olfson Lab Joel Gelernter, MD, Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry, is interested in how different anxiety disorders differ genomically. “We are studying social phobia, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder, working to understand why people differ in their risk to these specific anxiety disorders and evaluating various risk factors,” he says. Gelernter was recently involved in one of the largest studies to date of the genomics underlying anxiety disorder. The study included around 122,000 people with anxiety disorders and around 730,000 without. It found that some genetic differences associated with anxiety were linked to signaling that helps reduce overactivity in the nervous system. Many anxiety medications available today work by targeting this process. “It’s nice when the biology that you get out of a large genome-wide study ratifies things that we already know because that can help increase confidence in further findings from the study,” Gelernter says. Uncovering the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders John Krystal, MD, Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor of Translational Research and chair of the Department of Psychiatry, is interested in the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), of which anxiety is a major symptom. In the late 1980s, Krystal’s team discovered that the drug yohimbine activated symptoms in patients with PTSD. “This was the first time we could link a specific biological mechanism to the symptoms of PTSD,” Krystal says. At the time, he adds, this finding was highly controversial. “A lot of people felt that PTSD was a purely psychological syndrome that didn’t have an underlying biology.” Since then, Krystal has dived deep into understanding the neurobiology of PTSD to learn how to better treat it. His team is evaluating the use of ketamine and psychedelics. These would be among the first treatments to be developed specifically for PTSD. They may also be applicable for other disorders including anxiety disorders, Krystal adds. An important gap in PTSD treatment is the absence of biological tests that inform how to best help patients manage their PTSD symptoms. A doctor doesn’t diagnose cancer based on how they feel. Rather, they use tests of the biology of the cancer to determine the best course of treatment. “And we can’t do that in any psychiatric disorder other than Alzheimer’s disease,” Krystal says. “But now we are building a foundation for this approach to the treatment of anxiety disorders for the first time.” Source: Yale School of Medicine
Who’s Winning the Battle for Congress?
It’s Oct. 5 — 29 days away from the midterms. Here’s the state of play.
Democrats Expect Record Number of Women in Party in House After Midterm Elections
Democrats are increasingly confident they will have a record number of women serving in the House next year, after backing women in competitive districts they are now positioned to win.
How the Midterms Could Complicate the Supreme Court’s New Term
Even before the justices start their new term on Monday, the court has spent the summer resolving fast-moving requests on election-related disputes.
How the Midterms Could Complicate the Supreme Court’s New Term
Even before the justices start their new term on Monday, the court has spent the summer resolving fast-moving requests on election-related disputes.
What Are the Biggest Questions in Science Today? 100 Scientists Weigh In.
We asked 100 scientists about unsolved problems in their fields. They sent back provocations — on the origins of life, the possibilities for human progress and much more.
To Make More Money, Rolls-Royce Is Aiming Higher on Price, Not Production
The luxury carmaker is expanding its factory in Britain to focus on rarefied custom cars. First up is a $3.5 million-plus electric roadster.
Are Babies Conscious?
By pinpointing when it begins in young humans, scientists hope to better understand what consciousness is, and how it arises, in all of us.
Driving Community Health: Bristol Myers Squibb, Emirates Thalassemia Society and Dubai Science Park Host the 6th 'Help Save a Life' Blood Donation Drive
For patients living with chronic blood disorders, access to safe and reliable blood supplies is fundamental to their care journey. Marking the sixth edition of an impactful partnership, Bristol Myers Squibb proudly collaborated with the Emirates Thalassemia Society and Dubai Science Park, the region's leading science focused hub and part of TECOM Group PJSC, hosted the 'Help Save a Life' blood donation drive, bringing together community members and healthcare professionals to provide vital suppo
Driving Community Health: Bristol Myers Squibb, Emirates Thalassemia Society and Dubai Science Park Host the 6th 'Help Save a Life' Blood Donation Drive
For patients living with chronic blood disorders, access to safe and reliable blood supplies is fundamental to their care journey. Marking the sixth edition of an impactful partnership, Bristol Myers Squibb proudly collaborated with the Emirates Thalassemia Society and Dubai Science Park, the region's leading science focused hub and part of TECOM Group PJSC, hosted the 'Help Save a Life' blood donation drive, bringing together community members and healthcare professionals to provide vital suppo
Engelbert Humperdinck says he ‘went through hell’ rejecting 'casting couch' advances early in career
Where to watch Sixers vs. Knicks today: Channel, live stream, time, TV schedule for NBA preseason game
It's Philadelphia vs. New York to open the preseason, with LeBron James taking center stage.
Serb nationalist Milorad Dodik credits 'vast majority' to Trump, Putin
Pro-Russia Serb nationalist politician Milorad Dodik – who is serving a six-year ban from holding public office for defying rulings of Bosnia’s international envoy and Constitutional Court, claimed victory on Sunday, saying his party would hold a “vast majority”.
Eagles: Brandon Graham Makes Curious Retirement Comment on Lane Johnson
Hours before the Philadelphia Eagles were set to play the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, right tackle Lane Johnson was added to the injury report for a personal reason. Johnson, 36, has won two Super Bowls with the Eagles, made six Pro Bowl appearances, and earned All-Pro honors five times. It’s unclear when the 2013 […] The post Eagles: Brandon Graham Makes Curious Retirement Comment on Lane Johnson appeared first on Gridiron Heroics.
Tyler Higbee good for five catches
Los Angeles Rams tight end Tyler Higbee posted five receptions for 67 yards on six targets in Week 4
Mark Andrews scores first TD of 2026
Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews posted five receptions for 27 yards and a touchdown on six targets in Week 4
Worst-Case Scenario for Bucs’ Mayfield Revealed
A dislocated thumb sidelines Baker Mayfield for up to six weeks, forcing undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels to lead a winless roster and salvage Tampa Bay’s fading season.
Rodri Studied Business by Day, Played for Villarreal by Night
Rodri combined morning training at Villarreal with afternoon business administration lectures in Castellon, cycling between the two without his flatmates knowing he played professional football. They found out only when he appeared on television wearing Villarreal’s number six shirt, a moment Rodri has called the best period of his life. The 30-year-old turned down a…
Health fair connects peninsula families to care close to home
ILWACO — Richelle De Villa didn’t come to Ocean Beach Health’s Community Health Fair alone. She brought six family members: her father, sister, brother, sister-in-law, and a niece and nephew, […]