The Times spoke with De los Reyes’ son Daniel, who shared his father’s last words to him: “Always play your best.”
Walfredo de los Reyes Sr., the internationally lauded Cuban percussionist who had a prodigious six-decade career in the music industry, died Aug. 28 in Concord, Calif. He was 92.
Walfredo de los Reyes Jr. — who plays drums for the legendary rock band Chicago — shared the news of his father’s death in an Instagram post last week.
“My father, Walfredo de los Reyes Sr., passed away last night, surrounded by his loving wife, Debbie, my brother Danny, and my wife, Kirsten,” he wrote. “He was not only an incredible father, but also a mentor in music and in life. He will always live in my heart. … His spirit, his rhythm will never stop.”
Speaking with The Times, De los Reyes’ son Daniel, drummer of the Grammy-winning country group Zac Brown Band, recalled his most recent memories of his father and the pain of his loss.
“I did everything I could to help him in his last months, his last days, as far as comfort,” he said. “You see a bunch of testimonials that everybody’s been writing in… but to me, he’s just my father. He’s just my father that I help out and I go to work with. To process everything [has] been very, very difficult. He was my Superman. He was like my Bionic Man. I thought, ‘Nothing’s ever going to happen to him.’ And the end has finally come.”
Walfredo de los Reyes Sr. plays congas onstage.
(Courtesy of Daniel de los Reyes)
While he hopes that his father’s musical legacy is preserved and appreciated, Daniel also wants people to remember the person his father was outside the industry.
“He would take in whoever it was and help them,” Daniel said. “[It] didn’t matter where they were from. If they called him, I can assure you, he would invite him to the house he would share with them — make them feel like they were part of his family immediately.”
Daniel also shared his father’s last words to him: “Always play your best.”
“It wasn’t just playing in the music instrument,” he said. “It was being the best person that you could possibly be. And that when you close your eyes at night, you feel good with yourself.
“I’m going to take those last words and that’s going to be my mantra for the rest of my life. I always try to be the best person as possible, but now it’s just I have my father’s love shining through me.”
Walfredo de los Reyes III was born in Havana on June 16, 1933, into a musical family. His father, Walfredo de los Reyes II, was a trumpeter who helped found the Orquesta Casino de la Playa in 1937.
De los Reyes would go on to play percussions alongside Latin music icons like Tito Puente, Cachao López, Willie Bobo and Cuban singer La Lupe. He also performed with famous American acts such as Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr., Linda Ronstadt, Dionne Warwick, Steve Winwood and Debbie Reynolds. He expanded his list of featured performances through his longtime residence in Las Vegas where he shared the stage with Milton Berle, Wayne Newton, Robert Goulet, Bernadette Peters and Rita Moreno.
His signature style of simultaneously playing a drum kit and percussion instruments was inspired by both Cuban and American influences — like Candido Segarra and Ed Shaughnessy — but also by necessity.
Tito Puente, left, poses for a photo with Walfredo de los Reyes Sr.
(Courtesy of Daniel de los Reyes)
“When I got my band at the Casino Parisien [in Havana], I didn’t have enough [money] to [hire] a conga player,” De los Reyes said in a 2011 interview with the National Assn. of Music Merchants. “I had to decide between a conga and a singer. I got the singer, because you always need a singer. [Then] I started putting congas on the left side [of my drum set] and playing with my left hand, the tumbao. … Why should I play only a conga drum? My feet just lay there.”
Figures from across the music world shared tributes to De los Reyes, including Tito Puente Jr., Gregg Bissonette, Luis Conte, Raul Pineda, Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, Israel Morales and Al Velasquez.
He is survived by his wife, Debbie Bellamy de los Reyes, his five children and 10 grandchildren. His son, actor Kamar de los Reyes, died of cancer in 2023 at age 56.
Introduction Bioactive compounds in lychee Neuroprotective effects Anti-cancer potential Safety and dosage considerations Current research gaps Conclusions References Further reading
Explore how lychee’s potent compounds may protect the brain and fight cancer, while scientists race to translate these promising findings into safe, standardized therapies.
Lychees. Image Credit: Abdul Momin Photographer / Shutterstock.com
Introduction
Lychee (Litchi chinensis) is a tropical Sapindaceae fruit that is native to China and widely cultivated throughout Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Lychee is rich in numerous bioactive molecules with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anti-cancer properties, some of which include epicatechin, procyanidins, and anthocyanins. It also provides polysaccharides, vitamins, and minerals such as potassium, which contribute to its nutritional and nutraceutical profile. As a result, lychee-derived compounds have been widely studied for their potential therapeutic applications.1
Bioactive compounds in lychee
Lychee concentrates potent phytochemicals in its peel and seeds, the most prevalent of which include epicatechin, quercetin, anthocyanins, rutin, catechin, procyanidin A2, an A-type procyanidin dimer, as well as the B-type procyanidin dimer procyanidin B2.These phytochemicals are complemented by carbohydrates, amino acids, and vitamins, supporting both antioxidant and metabolic benefits. These polyphenols and flavonoids donate electrons or hydrogen atoms and chelate metals, providing a strong biochemical basis for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.1,2
Bioactive compounds present in L. chinensis for the development of innovative products and their benefits to health1
Pericarp, which is otherwise known as the lychee peel, is a particularly rich source of these compounds, as demonstrated by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). Lychee seeds also contain high levels of phenolic fractions, which suggests that lychee byproducts could function as concentrated nutraceutical ingredients and functional foods.2
Pericarp extracts exhibit dose-dependent free-radical scavenging activity in vitro using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) assays. In vivo, these extracts mitigate D-galactose-induced oxidative stress by reducing malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, increasing glutathione (GSH) levels, and decreasing protein carbonyl levels, while enhancing superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity to counteract reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and lipid peroxidation.2
Neuroprotective effects
In a type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rat model with cognitive impairment, lychee seed extract (LSE) improved Morris water-maze performance, reduced β-amyloid (Aβ), advanced glycation end products (AGEs), and Tau in the hippocampus, normalized acetylcholinesterase distribution, as well as reduced cornu ammonis 1 (CA1) neuronal injury, changes consistent with lower oxidative and metabolic stress.3
The polyphenol-rich profile of lychee enhances endogenous antioxidant defenses through the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/antioxidant response element axis while reducing neuroinflammation by restraining nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB)-driven cytokine signaling. Polyphenols may also activate protein kinase C (PKC) pathways, contributing to neuronal resilience and potentially delaying Alzheimer’s disease progression.3,4
Flavonoid-rich foods are associated with improved learning and memory, as well as protection of vulnerable neurons, thereby supporting future research on the potential benefits of lychee polyphenols for mitigating cognitive decline. In Parkinson’s disease models, fruit phenolics like catechins and epicatechins protect dopaminergic neurons from 6-hydroxydopamine, a mechanism consistent with Nrf2 activation and NF-κB suppression.4
Lychees. Image Credit: S_Dedy / Shutterstock.com
Anti-cancer potential
Lychee leaf-extract-mediated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been shown to exhibit anti-cancer activity by suppressing proliferation and inducing apoptosis in various human cancer cell lines. Mechanistically, green plant-derived AgNPs increase ROS, destabilize mitochondrial integrity to cause mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP), release cytochrome c, assemble the apoptosome, as well as activate caspase-9 and caspase-3 within the mitochondria-dependent intrinsic pathway.5
Phytochemicals and plant-based nanoparticles contribute to cell-cycle arrest and anti-angiogenic effects by inhibiting cell-cycle proteins, disrupting microtubule assembly, and suppressing angiogenesis. For example, green-synthesized AgNPs induce apoptosis in human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) cells by generating ROS, as well as caspase-3 and caspase-9 activation. Furthermore, green AgNPs induce apoptosis and oxidative stress in both normal and cancerous human hepatic cells in vitro, thus indicating a selective vulnerability of mitochondria in hepatocellular systems.5
In addition to nanoparticle approaches, lychee seed proanthocyanidins have been linked to anti-cancer mechanisms, including apoptosis induction, inhibition of α-amylase and tyrosinase, and suppression of angiogenesis.1,5
Safety and dosage considerations
Unripe lychee contains methylenecyclopropyl glycine (MCPG), a hypoglycin-A-related toxin that reduces hepatic glucose levels and inhibits β-oxidation. These effects can worsen acute hypoglycemia and encephalopathy, particularly among undernourished children.6
MCPG has been detected in lychee pulp and seeds, with outbreaks often coinciding with pesticide co-exposures. While moderate consumption of ripe lychee pulp is considered safe, unripe fruit and excessive intake pose risks of hypoglycemia, particularly in malnourished populations.6,7
Additional studies are needed to verify bioavailability, dissolution, and the pharmacokinetics of standardized and well-characterized extracts. Clinical trials should also prioritize standardized preparations and monitoring patients for sex-specific adverse effects.7,8
Current research gaps
To date, few large and well-controlled human clinical trials have been performed on lychee extracts. As a result, most evidence is based on in vitro or in vivo data.Absorption, metabolism, distribution, and excretion profiles, active metabolites, and tissue targeting also remain undefined.7,8
Bioactive compound concentrations can also differ by cultivar, growing conditions, ripeness, and extraction or processing methods, which limits dose comparisons and reproducibility. Standardized sourcing, validated assays, and harmonized protocols are required to enable accurate trials and regulatory evaluation.7,8
Health Benefits Of Eating Lychee | Healthy Eating | Keto Health 101
Conclusions
Lychee consumption has been associated with a wide range of beneficial effects, including reduced oxidative stress, modulation of Nrf2 and NF-κB, improved amyloid and Tau pathology, protection of dopaminergic neurons, as well as anti-cancer effects such as cell-cycle arrest, mitochondrial apoptosis, and anti-angiogenesis.2–5
Additional mechanisms include the modulation of PKC pathways for neuroprotection and the inhibition of α-amylase and tyrosinase enzymes in cancer-related models.1,4,5
To translate these promising findings into clinical applications, additional research is needed to establish standardized extracts, pharmacokinetic profiles, optimal dosing strategies, and rigorous quality control measures. Well-designed multicenter randomized clinical trials with safety monitoring, biomarker validation, and defined clinical outcomes will also be essential.7,8
References
Castillo-Olvera, G., Sandoval-Cortes, J., Ascacio-Valdes, J. A., et al. (2025). Litchi chinensis: nutritional, functional, and nutraceutical properties. Food Production, Processing and Nutrition7(1). DOI:10.1186/s43014-024-00275-z, https://fppn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s43014-024-00275-z
Yang, Z., Zhang, L., Wu, Y. H., et al. (2022). Evaluation of chemical constituents of litchi pericarp extracts and its antioxidant activity in mice. Foods11(23). DOI:10.3390/foods11233837, https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/11/23/3837
Tang, Y., Yu, C., Wu, J., et al.. (2018). Lychee seed extract protects against neuronal injury and improves cognitive function in rats with type II diabetes mellitus with cognitive impairment. International Journal of Molecular Medicine41(1); 251-263. DOI:10.3892/ijmm.2017.3245, https://www.spandidos-publications.com/10.3892/ijmm.2017.3245
Roy, S., Roy, S. C., Zehravi, M., et al.. (2025). Exploring the neuroprotective benefits of phytochemicals extracted from indigenous edible fruits in Bangladesh. Animal Models and Experimental Medicine8(2); 239-265. DOI:10.1002/ame2.12522, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ame2.12522
Wani, A. K., Akhtar, N., Mir, T., et al.. (2023). Targeting apoptotic pathway of cancer cells with phytochemicals and plant-based nanomaterials. Biomolecules13(2). DOI:10.3390/biom13020194, https://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/13/2/194
Sinha, S. N., Ramakrishna, U. V., Sinha, P. K., & Thakur, C. P. (2020). A recurring disease outbreak following litchi fruit consumption among children in Muzaffarpur, Bihar—A comprehensive investigation on factors of toxicity. PLoS One15(12). DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0244798, https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0244798
Floyd, Z. E., Ribnicky, D. M., Raskin, I., et al.. (2022). Designing a clinical study with dietary supplements: it’s all in the details. Frontiers in Nutrition8. DOI:10.3389/fnut.2021.779486, https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2021.779486/full
Kanungo, J., Sorkin, B. C., Krzykwa, J., et al. (2024). Screening tools to evaluate the neurotoxic potential of botanicals: building a strategy to assess safety. Expert Opinion on Drug Metabolism & Toxicology20(7); 629-646. DOI:10.1080/17425255.2024.2378895, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17425255.2024.2378895
(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks were poised to mirror a weak US session, where equities fell alongside bonds amid a rush of corporate-debt sales and worries over developed-world budgets.
Equity-index futures pointed to a weaker open in Japan and Australia and a tepid open for Hong Kong. Earlier, the S&P 500 pared losses to close 0.7% lower. US contracts edged 0.2% higher in early Asia trading. Alphabet Inc. gained in after-hours trading as a federal judge ruled Google won’t be forced to sell its Chrome browser.
US 30-year bond yields neared 5% on Tuesday, weighing on tech shares whose valuations had stretched during a surge from April lows. The dollar rose and gold climbed to a record. The yen weakened after a report said Japan’s ruling party is set to call for early party elections.
Traders are contending with a range of concerns, from key economic data and US tariffs to Federal Reserve independence, monetary policy and global fiscal prospects. This comes as the stock market appears to be at a crossroads, with the S&P 500 having logged its smallest monthly gain since July 2024, just before what is historically the weakest month for equities.
Along with a slew of corporate sales, there’s been renewed concern about longer-dated global debt after years of issuance exacerbated budget deficits. In the UK, the yield on long-dated bonds hit the highest since 1998 and the pound sank as pressure mounted on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to manage the budget.
Long bonds are under real pressure from poor deficit and debt metrics in many countries and, in the US, from Fed-related concerns, according to Nomura.
“A breach of 5% on the US 30-year will likely further increase the focus on these issues,” said Andrew Ticehurst, a Nomura Holdings Inc. strategist in Sydney.
In Asia, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. will be in focus after the US revoked the company’s authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base. TSMC’s US-listed American depositary receipts slipped as much as 2.3% Tuesday.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said his administration would ask the Supreme Court for an expedited ruling in hopes of overturning a federal court decision that many of his tariffs were illegally imposed. “The stock market’s down because the stock market needs the tariffs. They want the tariffs,” the president said.
Traders will be looking to key US labor market data this week for clues on economic growth and the Fed’s policy outlook. Employers showed little enthusiasm to take on workers during August, and the unemployment rate probably ticked up to an almost four-year high, adding to evidence of a more subdued jobs market.
The importance of this week’s economic data will ultimately drive where yields are by Friday’s close – even if there is a lot that could shift investors’ perception of the state of the labor market in the interim,” said Ian Lyngen and Vail Hartman at BMO Capital Markets.
On the economic front, US factory activity shrank in August for a sixth straight month, driven by a pullback in production that shows manufacturing remains bogged down by higher import duties.
“The ISM manufacturing report indicated that companies are largely managing headcount rather than actively hiring,” said Scott Helfstein at Global X. “This may be a clue ahead of Friday’s jobs numbers. New jobs are likely slowing, but meaningful revisions to data over the prior months could mean that the report, good or bad, may not influence investors much.”
Helfstein said investors should pay close attention to wage growth in Friday’s job report.
“Wages have been outpacing inflation and that is usually a good sign for consumption,” he said. “While defaults are going up slightly, most of the numbers on consumer behavior have remained robust.”
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% as of 8:30 a.m. Tokyo time Hang Seng futures rose 0.1% S&P/ASX 200 futures fell 0.4% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1634 The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 148.52 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1382 per dollar The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.6519 Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 0.3% to $111,124.9 Ether rose 0.2% to $4,323.55 Bonds
Australia’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.36% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed Spot gold fell 0.2% to $3,527.73 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
People with learning disabilities progress faster to severe type 2 diabetes and are at greater risk of dying from their condition than people without these disabilities, suggests research published in the open access journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Control.
This is despite having better overall blood glucose control and similar risks of vascular complications, the findings indicate.
Around 1.5 million people (950,000 adults) in the UK have a learning disability, which includes conditions such as Down syndrome and cerebral palsy, note the researchers.
Type 2 diabetes in those with learning disabilities can be challenging as it requires a substantial amount of monitoring and management, which they may not always be able to do, potentially compromising their blood glucose control, explain the researchers.
But there’s been no large study on the potential impact of learning disabilities on the outcomes of type 2 diabetes, including blood glucose control, progression to microvascular and macrovascular complications, initiation of insulin therapy (proxy for severe disease), and risk of death, they add.
Macrovascular complications refer to stroke, coronary heart disease, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, or amputation more than 6 months after diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. Microvascular complications refer to diabetic nephropathy, retinopathy, or neuropathy.
In a bid to plug this knowledge gap, the researchers extracted anonymised medical records for 352,215 adults newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in primary care between January 2004 and January 2021 from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) GOLD.
Of these, 280,300 met the eligibility criteria for inclusion in the study, 2074 of whom had a learning disability when they were diagnosed.
They tended to be younger (average age 51 vs 64) and have a shorter monitoring period. And they included higher proportions of men, people of White ethnicity, people living with severe obesity and in areas of greatest deprivation than those without learning disabilities.
They were also more likely to be taking medication for diabetes and high blood pressure and to have more complications related to diabetes at the time of their diagnosis.
Even after adjusting for these potentially influential risk factors they were 19% less likely to have poor blood glucose control than those without learning disabilities 5 years after diagnosis.
But they were 20% more likely to progress faster to severe disease and the need for insulin therapy than those who didn’t have learning disabilities.
And they were around twice as likely to die from any cause and specifically from diabetes despite having similar risks of vascular complications as those who didn’t have learning disabilities.
This is an observational study, and as such, can’t establish cause and effect, and the researchers acknowledge that large numbers of values for the outcome variables for blood glucose control were missing among those with learning disabilities. Complication rates may therefore have either been underdiagnosed or under-recorded, they suggest.
“Our finding of higher rates of insulin initiation in those with learning disabilities warrants further investigation into whether this is due to poorer glycemic control at presentation (and therefore faster advancing type 2 diabetes) or due to having a greater degree of clinical surveillance,” say the researchers.
“Future research into the mechanisms behind this could help reduce health disparities for people with [type 2 diabetes] and learning disabilities,” they add.
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An image of the lunar far side. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
A massive impact may have temporarily strengthened the Moon’s weak magnetic field, producing a short-lived surge that became preserved in certain lunar rocks.
For decades, scientists have wrestled with a simple question: what happened to the Moon’s magnetism? Instruments on orbiting spacecraft once detected strong magnetic signatures in lunar surface rocks, indicating a powerful field in the past. Yet the moon itself has no inherent magnetism today.
Researchers at MIT now believe they may have uncovered the answer. Their hypothesis suggests that the Moon once possessed a faint magnetic field, and when a massive impact occurred, it produced a burst of plasma that temporarily strengthened this field, particularly on the far side of the Moon.
In findings published in Science Advances, the team used detailed simulations to test this scenario. They showed that an asteroid-scale collision could have created a cloud of charged particles that briefly surrounded the Moon. As the plasma swept around the lunar surface and collected on the side opposite the impact, it would have interacted with the Moon’s weak field, causing a short-lived but powerful amplification. During this fleeting episode, rocks in the region could have absorbed and preserved the record of the enhanced magnetism before it quickly faded.
This sequence of events offers a plausible explanation for the unusually magnetic rocks found near the Moon’s south pole, on the far side. Notably, the Imbrium basin—one of the largest known impact craters—lies almost exactly opposite this region on the near side. The researchers propose that the event that created the Imbrium basin likely generated the plasma cloud that set the process in motion.
“There are large parts of lunar magnetism that are still unexplained,” says lead author Isaac Narrett, a graduate student in the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS). “But the majority of the strong magnetic fields that are measured by orbiting spacecraft can be explained by this process — especially on the far side of the moon.”
Narrett’s co-authors include Rona Oran and Benjamin Weiss at MIT, along with Katarina Miljkovic at Curtin University, Yuxi Chen and Gábor Tóth at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and Elias Mansbach PhD ’24 at Cambridge University. Nuno Loureiro, professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT, also contributed insights and advice.
Tracing lunar magnetism
For many years, scientists have recognized that the Moon retains traces of an ancient magnetic field. Evidence comes both from Apollo-era lunar samples brought back in the 1960s and 70s and from remote measurements collected by orbiting spacecraft. These studies reveal that surface rocks, particularly those on the Moon’s far side, still carry signatures of magnetism.
One widely accepted explanation is that the Moon once generated a global magnetic field through a “dynamo” mechanism, driven by movement within a molten core. Earth produces its current magnetic field through such a process, and it is believed the Moon may have done something similar in the past. However, because the Moon’s core is much smaller, any dynamo it sustained would likely have been weak, insufficient to fully account for the strongly magnetized rocks found in certain regions.
Another possibility explored over the years is that a massive impact created plasma, which then temporarily boosted a weak magnetic field. In 2020, Oran and Weiss tested this scenario using simulations of a large collision, combined with the solar magnetic field, which reaches the Moon but is very faint at that distance.
Their simulations examined whether such an impact could strengthen the solar field enough to match the high levels of magnetism detected in lunar rocks. The results indicated it could not, effectively casting doubt on plasma-driven impacts as the main explanation for the Moon’s puzzling magnetic record.
A new simulation approach
But in their new study, the researchers took a different tack. Instead of accounting for the sun’s magnetic field, they assumed that the moon once hosted a dynamo that produced a magnetic field of its own, albeit a weak one. Given the size of its core, they estimated that such a field would have been about 1 microtesla, or 50 times weaker than the Earth’s field today.
From this starting point, the researchers simulated a large impact to the moon’s surface, similar to what would have created the Imbrium basin, on the moon’s near side. Using impact simulations from Katarina Miljkovic, the team then simulated the cloud of plasma that such an impact would have generated as the force of the impact vaporized the surface material. They adapted a second code, developed by collaborators at the University of Michigan, to simulate how the resulting plasma would flow and interact with the moon’s weak magnetic field.
These simulations showed that as a plasma cloud arose from the impact, some of it would have expanded into space, while the rest would stream around the moon and concentrate on the opposite side. There, the plasma would have compressed and briefly amplified the moon’s weak magnetic field. This entire process, from the moment the magnetic field was amplified to the time that it decays back to baseline, would have been incredibly fast — somewhere around 40 minutes, Narrett says.
Would this brief window have been enough for surrounding rocks to record the momentary magnetic spike? The researchers say, yes, with some help from another, impact-related effect.
Shocks aligning electrons
They found that an Imbrium-scale impact would have sent a pressure wave through the moon, similar to a seismic shock. These waves would have converged to the other side, where the shock would have “jittered” the surrounding rocks, briefly unsettling the rocks’ electrons — the subatomic particles that naturally orient their spins to any external magnetic field. The researchers suspect the rocks were shocked just as the impact’s plasma amplified the moon’s magnetic field. As the rocks’ electrons settled back, they assumed a new orientation, in line with the momentary high magnetic field.
“It’s as if you throw a 52-card deck in the air, in a magnetic field, and each card has a compass needle,” Weiss says. “When the cards settle back to the ground, they do so in a new orientation. That’s essentially the magnetization process.”
The researchers say this combination of a dynamo plus a large impact, coupled with the impact’s shockwave, is enough to explain the moon’s highly magnetized surface rocks — particularly on the far side. One way to know for sure is to directly sample the rocks for signs of shock, and high magnetism. This could be a possibility, as the rocks lie on the far side, near the lunar south pole, where missions such as NASA’s Artemis program plan to explore.
“For several decades, there’s been sort of a conundrum over the moon’s magnetism — is it from impacts or is it from a dynamo?” Oran says. “And here we’re saying, it’s a little bit of both. And it’s a testable hypothesis, which is nice.”
Reference: “Impact plasma amplification of the ancient lunar dynamo” by Isaac S. Narrett, Rona Oran, Yuxi Chen, Katarina Miljković, Gábor Tóth, Elias N. Mansbach and Benjamin P. Weiss, 23 May 2025, Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adr7401
The team’s simulations were carried out using the MIT SuperCloud. This research was supported, in part, by NASA.
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Kayla Nicole, the ex-girlfriend of Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, is addressing backlash she has faced since Kelce announced his engagement to pop superstar Taylor Swift.
The model and sports journalist said she feels “triggered” by online criticism but insists she is not afraid of being “canceled.”
Speaking on her podcast The Pre-Game, Nicole explained that she has avoided addressing certain controversies in the past, hoping they would “blow over.” However, she said when she does share her perspective, people often misinterpret her comments as seeking attention rather than speaking from experience. “I want to clear my name. I want to address it,” she noted.
The remarks come after Kelce and Swift broke the internet last week with their engagement announcement, which included a series of photos showcasing Swift’s engagement ring. Shortly after, Nicole posted a workout caption that many interpreted as a response, sparking renewed scrutiny.
Nicole, who dated Kelce from 2017 to 2022, has previously spoken about the challenges of being linked to a high-profile athlete. Earlier this year, she suggested that Kelce moving on with Swift was “a compliment,” comparing it to losing to a championship-winning team.
In past interviews, Nicole admitted public comments about her relationship sometimes left her in tears, particularly after Swift’s fans criticized her for discussing Kelce. She also revealed her family, including her mother, has been “hurt” by the negative headlines.
Neither Kelce nor Swift has responded to Nicole’s recent comments, and no date has been set for the couple’s upcoming wedding.
Beverly Hills, CA, Sept. 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Spotify top rated true crime podcast Scam Junkie has just waived their $4.99 per month subscription fee. Most podcasts charge a small monthly fee for subscribers. Because Scam Junkie has become so popular and is attracting regular paid advertisers the award winning podcast is now available for free to everyone.
Host and producer Steve Comisar aka The Don of Con says, “By making our podcast free we will increase our listeners into the millions per episode. That makes the cost of advertising on the show go up. When the advertisers pay more, the talent also gets paid more.” It’s rumored that top podcast hosts like Comisar and Joe Rogan can make in excess of seven figures a month.
Comisar got his success in podcasting by being the only Hollywood actor who was also an iconic con man. Scam Junkie is the only true crime podcast hosted by a former scam artist. Comisar has been acting since he was a child and hosting Scam Junkie since 2023. After a long prison stint Comisar turned his life around and now educates people on the scams he once ran. Scam Junkie is now in its third season on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Paul Offit, a vocal critic of Robert F Kennedy Jr, has been removed from the advisory committee on vaccines for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as Kennedy continues undercutting scientific expertise at federal agencies.
Offit has said that Americans can no longer trust the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because of the decisions taken by Kennedy as secretary of US Department of Health and Human Services. Offit has also warned that Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, is attempting to sow doubt and confusion about vaccines in particular in order to drive down vaccination rates across the country.
Beginning in 2017, Offit served two four-year terms on the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biologics Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC). He said he was offered a third term, set to expire in 2027, by FDA officials.
Offit filled out the necessary paperwork, and was put on the list of voting VRBPAC members through 2027.
But as of Tuesday, his name is no longer on the roster of independent advisers.
About a week and a half ago, he said, his contact at the FDA told him that they still wanted him on the committee and that his forms had been cleared by the FDA, “but they’re being held up at HHS”.
Soon after that, Offit said he received an email thanking him for his service on the committee. He was not given a reason for his dismissal.
“What I know to be a fact is that it got held up at HHS. I also know that, according to the person who talked to me, the FDA wanted me to be on that committee,” Offit said.
The news was first reported by Pink Sheet.
“I understand that it’s likely I didn’t get through HHS because Robert F Kennedy Jr may not like me as much as I’d hoped,” Offit said. “I have been critical of the administration. But that’s OK, because it’s OK to have debate about things, it’s OK to question, and then if you think I’m wrong, tell me where I’m wrong.”
Offit appears to be the only member of the committee to be dismissed. Other members are serving terms until 2026 or later.
The health department did not respond to the Guardian’s questions about whether Offit was removed because of his criticisms of Kennedy, or whether other members of the committee would be dismissed.
Kennedy shocked the health community when he abruptly fired all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in June. He replaced the advisers with individuals who have little experience with vaccines or who have taken anti-vaccine stances.
The dismissal of Offit sounded similar to other shakeups at US health agencies, said Peter Hotez, dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine.
“It’s consistent with what the secretary of HHS did with ACIP, remove those who are qualified and vaccine experts and replace them with unqualified ideologues or those who promote pseudoscience,” Hotez said.
Typically, the ACIP releases recommendations on vaccines for the CDC to adopt.
“The FDA has sort of taken over that position in many ways, by becoming both a licensing and recommending body at the same time,” Offit observed.
Last week, Kennedy announced on X that Covid vaccines would be limited to those with health conditions that make them more vulnerable to severe illness. He also revoked the emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for children under the age of five.
As the ACIP has not yet convened to make recommendations on the new Covid boosters, some states are waiting to roll out the updated shots, even as Covid cases continue increasing throughout the US.
There are 16 states that prohibit pharmacists from administering shots that have not been recommended by the ACIP.
“That’s the law for them,” Offit said. “The pharmacists will only give ACIP recommended vaccines, and we haven’t heard from them yet.”
He believes the ACIP was targeted in part because the committee’s recommendations form the basis of vaccine mandates for school attendance.
“I think that’s part of it, I do. Because I think the goal is to make it so that vaccines aren’t mandated any more, period. And the way to do that is to do what they did with Covid vaccine – just make it shared clinical decision-making. And I think they’d like to do that for every vaccine,” Offit said.
Although Kennedy pledged not to take away vaccines, he already has, Offit said. In May, Kennedy said the Covid vaccines were no longer recommended for pregnant people, making it much more difficult for pregnant people to access the shots.
But because the VRBPAC plays a different role, Offit believes its fate may be different from the ACIP.
Marty Makary, the head of the FDA, is “trying to protect” VRBPAC, Offit said.
And as long as experienced members remain on the committee, “unlike the ACIP, you’re still going to be getting great advice from the FDA vaccine advisory committee”, he said.
Between November 2024 and February 2025, PATH and UNICEF provided the youths with training on malaria and immunization messaging, communication techniques, and rumor management. At the outset, they received communication materials—posters, job aids, audio spots and messaging guides—to support their outreach. Then, at the end of the challenge, all clubs were recognized with certificates of participation. The most successful groups received additional tools, such as smartphones and laptops, to encourage sustained engagement and support future initiatives.
Michael’s team in Kisantu, a health zone roughly 75 miles south Kinshasa, was one of the most successful youth groups.
“It wasn’t like the polio campaigns,” he recalls. “This was new, unfamiliar—and people were afraid.”
Instead of just facing parents in public, the youth groups decided to take a more personal approach. They knocked on doors. They sat with families, sharing stories and smiles. They answered questions one by one.
“Salvation is individual,” Michael said. “When someone opens their door and sees a familiar face from the neighborhood, they’re more likely to listen.”
In one case, a father adamantly refused to allow his granddaughter to be vaccinated, citing religious objections. But when he realized one of the youth volunteers was his neighbor’s daughter, he softened.
Lychees. Image Credit: S_Dedy / Shutterstock.com 
