Research from scientists at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have shed new light on an age-old question: what makes the human brain unique?
The team’s discovery comes from their investigation of human-accelerated regions (HARs) — sections of the human genome that have accumulated an unusually high level of mutations as humans have evolved. There is a lot of scientific interest in HARs, as they are hypothesized to play an essential role in conferring human-specific traits, and also have links to neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism.
One reason why scientists think that HARs confer human-specific traits is because they have undergone rapid changes in their genetic sequences since we split from our closest living relative — the chimpanzee — approximately 5 million years ago.
Now, UC San Diego researchers have identified one particular HAR — called HAR123 — that appears to be instrumental in shaping the human brain.
The researchers found:
HAR123 itself is not a gene, but is instead a type of molecular “volume control” known as a transcriptional enhancer. Transcriptional enhancers control which genes are activated, how much they are activated, and at what times they are activated during an organism’s development.
Through its role as a transcriptional enhancer, HAR123 promotes the development of neural progenitor cells, the cells that give rise to the two main types of brain cells — neurons and glial cells.
HAR123 also influences the ratio of neurons and glial cells that form from neural progenitor cells.
Ultimately, HAR123 promotes a particularly advanced human trait called cognitive flexibility, or the ability to unlearn and replace previous knowledge.
In addition to providing new insights into the biology of the human brain, the results also offer a molecular explanation for some of the radical changes that have occurred in the human brain over the course of our evolution. This is supported, for example, by the authors’ finding that the human version of HAR123 exerts different molecular and cellular effects than the chimpanzee version in both stem cells and neuron precursor cells in a petri dish.
Further research is needed to more fully understand the molecular action of HAR123 and whether the human version of HAR123 does indeed confer human-specific neural traits. This line of research could lead us to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying many neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism.
The study, published online in Science Advances, was led by Miles Wilkinson, Ph.D., distinguished professor, and Kun Tan, Ph.D., assistant professor, both within the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Reproductive Sciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine. Wilkinson is also affiliate faculty of the UC San Diego Institute for Genomic Medicine. The study was funded, in part, by grants from the National Institutes of Health and 10x Genomics. The authors declare no competing interests.
The start of the Premier League season is almost upon us, and you see how we’ve been preparing for Manchester United with our pre-match gallery!
Our first team took to the field at the Sobha Realty Training Centre for our latest session under the watchful eye of Mikel Arteta and his coaching staff.
Find out what they got up to with our gallery below, captured by club photographer, Stuart MacFarlane.
pre-man utd training
Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
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Alzheimer’s disease steals memories and devastates lives. Yet despite an abundance of research, the earliest brain changes that trigger this disease still remain unclear, making it challenging to find effective treatments.
But could lithium – a metal most of us know better for its use in batteries or as a treatment for mood disorders – play a role in cognitive health? New research shows that this mineral may play a key role in protecting against Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s is linked to the buildup of two harmful proteins: amyloid-beta and tau. Amyloid-beta clumps outside brain cells (neurons), forming sticky plaques that block communication. Tau twists into tangles inside cells, disrupting their structure and function. Together, they damage the delicate network of neurons that supports memory and thinking.
But for nearly a decade now, scientists from Harvard University have also been uncovering lithium’s unexpected importance in the brain.
Lithium is naturally present in small amounts in the brain. This lithium comes from our diet, where it’s transported through the bloodstream to the brain’s cells. But researchers have found that as people move from mild cognitive impairment – a stage often seen as a warning sign for Alzheimer’s – to full Alzheimer’s disease, their lithium levels drop. This loss of lithium appears to set off the cascade of changes that lead to memory loss and confusion.
This recent study now helps to explain why a loss of lithium is linked with Alzheimer’s disease. The study showed that lithium acts as a natural defender – helping to keep amyloid and tau in check. When lithium levels fall, the brain becomes more vulnerable to these toxic proteins.
Researchers uncovered this connection by conducting postmortem examinations of brain tissue taken from people who had been in different stages of cognitive health. Those with mild cognitive impairment had noticeably less lithium in their brains compared to those who had been in good cognitive health. Levels were even lower in Alzheimer’s patients.
Interestingly, they found that the lithium doesn’t just disappear. Much of it becomes trapped within amyloid plaques, which lock it away from the brain cells where it’s needed most. This means even if total lithium levels don’t drop drastically, brain cells may still be starved of its protective effects.
So to explore what happens when lithium is missing completely, the scientists then studied mice – both healthy mice and mice that had been genetically engineered to develop Alzheimer’s symptoms. They cut the mice’s dietary lithium by 50% and observed the results.
The effects were striking. Mice with reduced lithium showed faster amyloid and tau buildup, more brain inflammation and lost connections between neurons – all crucial for learning and memory. The genetically engineered mice also performed worse in memory tests.
Amyloid plaques built up more quickly when the mice had no lithium. nobeastsofierce/ Shutterstock
At the core of this process is an enzyme called GSK3β. Lithium normally keeps this enzyme under control. But when lithium is low, GSK3β becomes overactive, encouraging tau to behave abnormally and form tangles that damage neurons. This enzyme acts like a switch, tipping brain cells toward disease if unchecked.
The good news is the study didn’t stop at identifying the problem. Researchers treated mice with lithium orotate, a form of the mineral that’s less likely to get trapped by amyloid plaques. This treatment prevented the harmful buildup of amyloid-beta and tau, reduce inflammation, preserved neuron connections and improved memory.
Lithium’s importance
This research recasts lithium as more than a forgotten trace mineral. It appears to be a vital guardian of brain health, protecting neurons and maintaining cognitive function throughout life. Disrupting lithium balance might be one of the earliest steps toward Alzheimer’s – even before symptoms show.
Lithium’s protective role isn’t entirely new. It’s been used in psychiatry for decades, particularly to manage bipolar disorder where it stabilises mood. But medicinal doses are much higher than the tiny amounts naturally present in the brain. This study is the first to reveal that even these small, natural levels have a crucial protective function.
Beyond Alzheimer’s, lithium supports brain growth, shields nerve cells, and calms inflammation, all important for healthy ageing. Keeping lithium levels stable could have wider benefits in preventing dementia and supporting brain resilience.
One reason lithium hasn’t featured prominently in Alzheimer’s research before is its simplicity. It doesn’t target one molecule but acts like a conductor, balancing multiple brain processes. This makes it harder to study but no less important.
The discovery that lithium deficiency worsens Alzheimer’s damage opens new possibilities. Unlike current treatments focusing on removing amyloid plaques or tau tangles, lithium replacement could boost the brain’s defences.
Read more:
Alzheimer’s drug approved in the UK, but it won’t be available on the NHS – here’s why
Lithium orotate is especially promising because it doesn’t get trapped by amyloid and delivers lithium where neurons most need it. Lithium salts have long been used safely in medicine, so this approach could be easy and accessible for older adults.
Still, it’s unclear why lithium levels fall in some people. Is it due to diet, genetics or another cause? Could differences in the natural levels of lithium in drinking water worldwide influence Alzheimer’s risk? These puzzles invite future research.
It’s also important to note that much of this work was done in mice. While animal models offer valuable insights, human brains are more complex. Clinical trials will be needed to see if lithium orotate can safely prevent or slow Alzheimer’s in people.
We also don’t yet know how supplements or diet might affect brain lithium levels over time, or if this would be practical as treatment.
Still, the idea that a simple mineral could delay or prevent one of the world’s most devastating diseases is both exciting and hopeful.
Donald Trump’s administration was close to giving Elon Musk’s xAI artificial intelligence company a huge federal contract this summer, only to back out after its chatbot, Grok, began issuing antisemitic slurs, according to a report.
According to Wired, emails between several AI developers and the General Services Administration, which is responsible for administering government tech contracts, chart how the proposed partnership fell apart as Musk’s pet project began dabbling in Nazi rhetoric.
In early June, around the time the president and the tech billionaire suffered a spectacular public falling out, exchanging barbed personal insults over their competing social media platforms, the GSA’s leadership was meeting with the xAI team “to see what opportunities may exist for automation and streamlining,” according to the outlet.
Elon Musk launched his xAI venture in November 2023 but narrowly missed out on a contract with the U.S. government earlier this month (AFP/Getty)
Their initial two-hour sitdown was reportedly a success, prompting the GSA to pursue the company with enthusiasm, hoping to see Grok integrated into its internal infrastructure as part of the Trump administration’s push to modernize the running of the central government.
“We kept saying, ‘Are you sure?’ And they were like ‘No, we gotta have Grok,’” one employee involved in the discussions told Wired.
The conversations continued over the following weeks, and xAI was eventually added to the GSA Multiple Award Schedule, the agency’s government-wide contracting program.
Then, in early July, Grok suddenly went haywire after an update to make it less “woke” than its competitors went too far, leading to the chatbot referring to itself as “MechaHitler” in homage to the robotic version of Adolf Hitler that appeared in the 1992 video game Wolfenstein 3D.
Grok went on to share several offensive, anti-Jewish posts, barking “Heil Hitler,” claiming Jews run Hollywood and agreeing they should be sent “back home to Saturn” while denying that its new stance amounted to Nazism.
“Labeling truths as hate speech stifles discussion,” it declared.
Musk’s company apologized for the upset and scrubbed the “inappropriate” posts. Still, it was not seemingly enough to save xAI’s relationship with the GSA, although the furore was allegedly not noticed, at least initially, by the agency’s leadership.
Donald Trump and Musk were close during last year’s presidential election and for the first half of this year but the tech billionaire left the White House in accrimonious circumstances in June (AFP/Getty)
“The week after Grok went MechaHitler, [the GSA’s management] was like ‘Where are we on Grok?’” the same employee told Wired. “We were like, ‘Do you not read a newspaper?’”
When the U.S. government duly announced a series of partnerships with the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, and Box, an AI-based content management platform, in early August, xAI’s name was not among them.
The GSA has not definitively stated that Grok’s outburst was the reason for the scrapping of xAI’s proposed contract, but two company employees told Wired they believed that was the case.
The Independent has reached out to the GSA for more information.
The GSA’s talks with the AI firms coincided with Trump’s administration publishing its AI Action Plan in July, which laid out its goals for the United States to become a world leader in the emerging sector while calling for a reduction in regulation and red tape.
The Red Vineyard is among Van Gogh’s most dramatically coloured Provençal landscapes, but it is also famed for being the only painting that the artist is certain to have sold. It went for 400 francs (then £16) at a Brussels exhibition in March 1890, four months before his suicide.
The painting is now in Russia, at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. It was decided to conserve the picture, to ensure its long-term preservation. This led to the first investigation of The Red Vineyard using modern scientific techniques, unearthing fascinating discoveries.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 22 February 2022 the painting has not travelled to exhibitions and far fewer international visitors go to the Pushkin.
The Red Vineyard in the Pushkin’s conservation studio, Moscow, 2021 Credit: State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
Van Gogh came across the vineyard on a late afternoon walk with Paul Gauguin on 28 October 1888, five days after his friend’s arrival in Arles. Picking the grapes normally takes place in September in Provence, but the ripe harvest seems to have been late that year. On around 11 October Vincent had written to his brother Theo: “There are bunches weighing a kilo, even—the grape is magnificent this year, from the fine autumn days.”
Vincent described the scene he had witnessed with Gauguin: “A red vineyard, completely red like red wine. In the distance it became yellow, and then a green sky with a sun, fields violet and sparkling yellow here and there after the rain in which the setting sun was reflected.”
Although Van Gogh liked to paint landscapes outdoors, he completed The Red Vineyard back in his studio—using his imagination. Gauguin was then encouraging him to make his pictures more creative, less literal. No doubt the two artists discussed this vineyard scene on their return after the walk—perhaps over a glass or two of the local Provençal red wine.
Van Gogh’s fiery colouration is certainly extreme. The vines are much redder than one would expect, with Vincent describing it as the colour of the plant Virginia Creeper. On the right of the composition is what might appear at first glance to be a river, but it is a road, glistening wet after recent rain. The huge sun, setting in a late autumnal afternoon, produces an eerily yellow sky.
In the upper left, the row of trees shelters a road running north-east from Arles. On the horizon, to the far right, one can just make out the distant ruins of the abbey of Montmajour, painted in light blue.
The Pushkin Museum’s examination of The Red Vineyard revealed important details about how the picture was developed. Parts of the sun and sky are created from paint squeezed directly from the tube onto the canvas, with the artist sometimes using his finger to smooth it out.
A technical analysis shows that the colouration of the sky has been partly lost. Van Gogh used chrome yellow paint, which darkens with exposure to light. His original yellows would have been even brighter and still more dramatic.
Van Gogh also made changes to the composition. The man standing in the road in the upper right was originally a woman dressed in a skirt, white blouse and hat.
The prominent woman in dark blue bending over a basket, in the central foreground, was added later. The woman on the far right, by the edge of the road, wears the traditional costume of the Arlésiennes, the famed women of Arles. The Pushkin specialists suggest that she represents Van Gogh’s friend Marie Ginoux, who with her husband ran the Café de la Gare, just a few doors away from the Yellow House, the artist’s home and studio.
The Red Vineyard has an unusual history. In April 1889 Vincent sent the painting to Theo in Paris. Describing it as “very beautiful”, Theo hung it in the Parisian apartment he had just moved into with his bride Jo Bonger.
A few months afterwards Vincent was offered the opportunity to exhibit a few paintings at an exhibition organised by the group Les Vingt in Brussels in January 1890. Among those he chose was The Red Vineyard, which he asked Theo to dispatch. At the show it was bought by fellow artist Anna Boch, who kept it until 1907.
Two years later The Red Vineyard was acquired by the avant-garde Moscow collector and textile factory owner Ivan Morozov. The asking price had risen to 30,000 francs, an indication of Van Gogh’s rapid rise to fame.
Morozov’s collection was nationalised in 1918, a year after the Russian Revolution. In 1919 he emigrated to Finland, dying in 1921. Initially Morozov’s paintings were kept in his Moscow mansion, which was turned into a public museum.
In 1948, The Red Vineyard was among the works transferred to the Pushkin Museum. However during Stalin’s later years it was not on display, since he regarded Modern French art as inappropriate for a Communist society. Following de-Stalinization, after the leader’s death in 1953, the Van Gogh once more went on show. The Red Vineyard has remained in Moscow and has not been sent out on loan for over 60 years.
The question of the painting’s condition recently came up with the organisation of a major exhibition of the Morozov collection in Paris. Eventually it was decided that the Van Gogh was too fragile to travel. The Pushkin director Marina Loshak admitted that it was “very sad” that this “ill” painting could not to outside exhibitions. Hence the decision to conserve it.
The exhibition The Morozov Collection: Icons of Modern Art was on at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris in 2022 (with nearly 200 works of Modern art, but without The Red Vineyard).
One question that the Pushkin may now have to consider is the presentation of The Red Vineyard, which has been hung in an ornate gold frame. This frame probably dates from the time of Morozov’s acquisition, in 1909. It has become part of the history of the painting, so it is unlikely to be changed.
But a fancy gilt frame was not at all what Vincent had intended. In a letter to Theo he gave his own views on framing: “simple strips of wood nailed on the stretching frame and painted.” He drew an accompanying rough thumbnail sketch of the framed painting of The Red Vineyard.
Vincent van Gogh’s quick sketch of the framed The Red Vineyard in a letter to Theo, 10 November 1888 Credit: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Van Gogh’s companion Gauguin also painted his own depiction of the vineyard which they had seen together during their walk near Montmajour. But his version of the scene could hardly have been more different. Indeed, at first glance, it looks little like an autumnal harvest.
Paul Gauguin’s Human Misery (The Wine Harvest) (November 1888). Credit: Ordrupgaard Collection, Copenhagen
Gauguin’s painting, which he initially entitled Human Misery (November 1888), focuses on a melancholic woman whose figure was inspired by a contorted Peruvian mummy that the artist had seen in a Paris museum. Behind her are two rows of dense vines, with a couple of stooping pickers, set against a strong yellow-ochre background.
Van Gogh commented on Gauguin’s technique, saying that the composition with the grieving woman had come from his friend’s “head”, from his imagination. “If he doesn’t spoil it or leave it unfinished it will be very beautiful and strange,” Vincent commented.
Gauguin himself believed it was his “best picture” of the year—although its sombre title can hardly have boosted the chances of a sale. But like Van Gogh’s painting it, too, soon found a buyer—Emile Schuffenecker, a progressive artist friend. It was in the artistic circle of the avant-garde that the work of both Van Gogh and Gauguin was first appreciated—and found buyers.
REVISED: Originally published on 4 February 2022, this blog post was updated with new information on 15 August 2025.
Martin Bailey is a leading Van Gogh specialist and special correspondent for The Art Newspaper. He has curated exhibitions at the Barbican Art Gallery, Compton Verney/National Gallery of Scotland and Tate Britain.
Martin Bailey’s recent Van Gogh books
Martin has written a number of bestselling books on Van Gogh’s years in France: The Sunflowers Are Mine: The Story of Van Gogh’s Masterpiece (Frances Lincoln 2013, UK and US), Studio of the South: Van Gogh in Provence (Frances Lincoln 2016, UK and US), Starry Night: Van Gogh at the Asylum (White Lion Publishing 2018, UK and US) and Van Gogh’s Finale: Auvers and the Artist’s Rise to Fame (Frances Lincoln 2021, UK and US). The Sunflowers are Mine (2024, UK and US) and Van Gogh’s Finale (2024, UK and US) are also now available in a more compact paperback format.
His other recent books include Living with Vincent van Gogh: The Homes & Landscapes that shaped the Artist (White Lion Publishing 2019, UK and US), which provides an overview of the artist’s life. The Illustrated Provence Letters of Van Gogh has been reissued (Batsford 2021, UK and US). My Friend Van Gogh/Emile Bernard provides the first English translation of Bernard’s writings on Van Gogh (David Zwirner Books 2023, UKand US).
To contact Martin Bailey, please email vangogh@theartnewspaper.com
Please note that he does not undertake authentications.
Explore all of Martin’s adventures with Van Gogh here
Action cam manufacturer Insta360 has launched a new sub-brand called Antigravity, focusing entirely on drones.
Its first model, the Antigravity A1, is unique in that it can record 360-degree video at up to 8K resolution.
Launch date is slated for January 2026, but exact pricing is still unknown.
Get more in-depth ZDNET tech coverage: Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome and Chromium browsers.
Insta360 this week announced its venturing into a new frontier: drones. Its new sub-brand Antigravity will focus entirely on camera-equipped drones, and today, it revealed its first product: the Antigravity A1, the world’s first 360 drone that can record 360-degree videos at 8K resolution.
Also: Why I recommend this 8K pocket camera over traditional shooters – especially at this price
I recently had a chance to fly the pre-production model, and it was a lot of fun. I was surprised at how easy it was to fly and shoot — you can just concentrate on directing the drone since it records everything around it at once, making it impossible to screw up a shot. Here’s a breakdown of the news.
Behind the design
The Antigravity A1 is a small drone, weighing about 249 grams. This means it’s small enough to where you won’t need to obtain a flight license or register the drone with the Federal Aviation Administration to fly it. You can just take it out and instantly have fun with it.
Although I don’t have exact dimensions, I did get a chance to hold a pre-production model, and can confirm that it’s small enough to carry with one hand. Those turbines you see in the photo below can be folded for easier storage.
Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET
See the world in 360
The drone has four cameras in total: two facing forward, one on top, and one on the bottom. A live feed is sent from the device to the micro-OLED displays inside Antigravity’s Vision goggles. You don’t see the full 360-degree view all at once; you only see a portion. To see the entire feed, you’ll have to physically turn your head. Antigravity states that through “FreeMotion technology and responsive head tracking,” you’ll be able to look “freely in any direction”.
Also: I fell in love with a $2,000 mirrorless camera that puts design and simplicity over everything else
No matter where you look: up, down, left, right, front, back, upside down — all you’ll see is high-resolution video. There aren’t any blind spots, and no part of the drone blocks the view. Insta360 told me that Antigravity utilizes “advanced image stitching” software to make the drone invisible to the camera.
Intuitive controls
Instead of the traditional double-handed controller with two analog sticks, the A1 drone is operated via Antigravity’s Grip controller, which is held in one hand. To make the device move, you press down on the rear trigger to move forward. To change direction, you’ll have to bank the controller to the side. Doing so moves the white circle on the headset’s screen, which is what the drone follows.
The headset that gives you a POV of your drone footage.
Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET
If the motion controls are too confusing, users have the option of using the scroll wheel. Above the wheel is the battery indicator, letting you know how much juice the drone has at any given moment. That big button does a couple of things depending on how you press it. A short press activates the emergency stop, while a long press initiates a “Return to home” function.
Antigravity states the A1 drone will launch sometime in January 2026, with more information, such as pricing, bundles, and regional availability coming closer to launch.
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A simple “sugar seal” for a pill could enable a new noninvasive test for intestinal inflammation. More appealing than uncomfortable colonoscopies or tricky home sample collection, this tool uses a synthetic sugar that triggers the release of a brilliant blue dye, which is easy to spot in stool samples (Device 2025, DOI: 10.1016/j.device.2025.100865). The researchers say this cost-effective capsule could improve the quality of life of around 7 million people worldwide who have an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease.
A collaboration between the research groups of Yuhan Lee and Jeffrey Karp of Harvard University and Caitlyn L. Maikawa of the University of Toronto created the edible biosensor. It looks like a classic capsule for medication but is sealed with a specially designed sugar polymer that is responsive to reactive and radical species that are associated with disease and inflammation. That polymer is based on dextran, a water-soluble polysaccharide, which is modified with insoluble fragments of phenylboronic esters that help the polysaccharide resist the corrosive acids in the stomach so the capsule can successfully sail into the intestines.
If the intestines are inflamed, the high levels of reactive biomarkers such as hydrogen peroxide break the polymer’s ester bonds, degrading the polymer back to dextran, which then easily dissolves, breaking open the capsule and releasing its contents—a synthetic dye known as erioglaucine. The dye turns the contents of the guts a bright blue that can be easily seen upon exit.
The researchers tested their system in vitro and in vivo using rats with ulcerative colitis, and they found that 78% of the devices detected the disease with an easy-to-spot color change.
The team says the pill presents a promising alternative for monitoring IBDs. The capsule not only cuts down costs but also reduces the reliance on laboratory analyses and tricky or invasive procedures, which could increase quality of life for people with IBDs.
Golf has always been a big sport in business circles. It is no surprise that politics is getting in on the action as well, say Northeastern academics.
President Donald Trump is a keen golf player like many of his predecessors at the White House. AP Photo/Alastair Grant
LONDON — Mark Twain is said to have popularized the saying that “golf is a good walk spoiled.” It seems few U.S. presidents would have agreed with him.
President Dwight Eisenhower is estimated to have played more than 800 rounds of golf during his presidency between 1953-61 (that’s a game every three to four days, according to golf news website Bunkered).
Some apocryphal stories suggest that much of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s political negotiations ahead of the Civil Rights Act passing in 1964 took place as he hacked away on the fairways. President Barack Obama, who clocked 333 rounds between 2009-17, loved to practice his left-handed swing so much that he had a golf simulator installed at the White House.
And now, the United States arguably has its biggest golf fan in the Oval Office in the form of President Donald Trump, who reportedly has a single digit handicap and owns 18 golf resorts across the world. There is even a dedicated website called Did Trump Golf Today?
So what is it about leaders of the free world enjoying a long-form and time-demanding game like golf?
Ahmad Alnajadah, assistant professor in business at Northeastern University in London, says golf is a rare sport in that it allows for socializing and networking at the same time.
“While it seems counterintuitive that busy leaders would choose such a time-intensive activity,” says Alnajadah, “golf’s four- to five-hour duration actually creates uninterrupted relationship-building opportunities that are increasingly rare in our hyper-connected world. It’s one of the few socially acceptable ways to have someone’s undivided attention for hours.”
George H.W. Bush (handicap, 11) is recorded as saying that it was “amazing how many people beat you at golf now that you’re no longer president.” It may have been a comment said in jest, but it hints at the fact that some presidential golf associates may be looking to curry favor over the course of 18 holes.
The formality of the sport, Alnajadah argues — with its dress codes, manicured lawns and exclusive clubhouses — lends itself to doing business and holding talks.
“The golf course takes away the formal meeting setting where you have that boardroom where it is cold and you’re sitting on opposite sides of each other,” he says. “It breaks that formality when you’re playing a game of golf. You can take jabs at each other if someone misses, you can have more informal conversations.
“It is more natural and organic to have it in that type of setting — the game of golf allows for it. You can’t build a relationship with someone if you’re playing one-on-one or five-on-five basketball, because you’re just running back and forth. You can’t even do it in tennis. You could do it afterwards or during breaks in between.
“But golf is the only sport that I feel like you can play individually, but really be able to take your time and assess people in that process.”
The relaxed and scenic setting of a golf course lends itself to deal-making, according to Evodio Kaltenecker, an associate teaching professor in international business and strategy at Northeastern.
“The game itself encourages conversation during long periods,” the Oakland-based academic says, “which allows for the development of personal relationships, something important for building trust and rapport. Golf facilitates coming to an agreement.”
That was put into practice on the world stage recently by Trump when he used what the White House described as a “private visit” to his Turnberry golf resort in Ayrshire, Scotland, to announce a trade deal between the U.S. and the European Union.
During his time at his two Scottish resorts in July, he hosted the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, held talks about the Middle East with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and discussed whisky tariffs with Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney.
Kaltenecker remarks that U.S. presidents long before Trump, including John F. Kennedy (handicap, 7) and George W. Bush — his “Now watch this drive” remark to reporters made it into Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” documentary — have enjoyed golf in the same way as countless chief executives have. The difference now, he says, is that Trump also has investments in the sport.
“The intertwining between golf and business, business and politics, and politics and golf are not new,” he explains. “However, the novelty here is the triple intertwining of golf, business and politics altogether. The new angle now is that Trump not only plays golf but also has business interests in the sport, with his golf courses, resorts and hotels.”
Trump is known to take an avid interest in his golf assets. As well as using his summer visit to Scotland to open a new course in Aberdeenshire, he was seen, according to reports in The Times of London, checking on guests at Turnberry to ensure they were having a good time. He was even spotted clearing up empty glasses to ensure the place was tidy.
Kaltenecker says transparency issues could arise out of Trump’s golf-related business arrangements, highlighting that lobbyists could look to use golf outings and sponsorships in a bid to gain access to decision-makers in Trump’s administration.
“The intersection of golf, business and politics can raise ethical concerns when individuals in positions of power use their access to create personal or financial gain,” Kaltenecker explains.
It has also been true the other way around, that Trump’s politics have impacted his business. In March, activists from the pro-Gaza group Palestine Action, which has since been banned in the U.K., vandalized his Turnberry resort in response to the president’s comments on the Middle East conflict.
Trump has lobbied for Turnberry to host the British Open, but his son Eric Trump conceded in a recent BBC interview that “politics” has been the “elephant in the room” for event organizers.
Even with that, the links between golf and politics are likely to remain a feature at least until the second Trump term is over in 2029, says Kaltenecker.
“Looking ahead, I believe we will see even more examples of the triple intertwining of golf, business and politics,” he continues. “Not only because golf is the quintessential sport of business but, most importantly, because Trump is the U.S. president with the deepest ties in the sport, both as a practitioner and as an owner of several resorts around the world.
“All in all, golf serves as a deal-making and relationship-building opportunity. However, this convergence also raises ethical considerations and potential conflicts of interest that require scrutiny.”
“I’ve written Knull before, but last time was during the KING IN BLACK event itself, so I was absolutely taking cues from Donny and Ryan on how to handle him,” Ewing says. “This time, I’m treating him a little differently, but the core of the character remains the same: he’s a force of absolute evil, absolute darkness, absolute nothingness, and if you think you can handle him – as an adversary, as an ally, or as a mixture of the two – you’ve got a big surprise coming.”
Get your first look at Knull’s return in the preview pages below, as well as in the brand-new variant covers celebrating the 250th issue of VENOM. The landmark issue also contains a back-up story by Charles Soule and Carlos Gomez starring the symbiote host who started it all: Eddie Brock!
Brace for Knull’s return in VENOM #250 and pick the issue up at your local comic book store on October 1!
Grab these comics and more at your local comic book shop! Or redeem then read your digital copy on the Marvel Unlimited app by using the code found in your print comic. Find and support your local comic book shop at ComicShopLocator.com.
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