Blog

  • Compounds may help treat certain neurological disorders

    August 5, 2025

    At a Glance

    • An experimental small molecule alleviated CoQ10 deficiency and reversed associated brain damage in a boy with a rare disease.
    • The results suggest a practical approach to treating inherited diseases involving reduced CoQ10 levels.

    LuckyStep / Shutterstock

    Human cells gain their energy by breaking down compounds from food, mainly sugars and fats. This process takes place in cellular compartments called mitochondria. A molecule called coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) plays a key role in this process. Low CoQ10 levels, caused by an inability to make CoQ10, are associated with diseases called primary CoQ10 deficiencies. Many of these diseases have neurological symptoms. Boosting CoQ10 levels might help treat these diseases. But while dietary supplements with CoQ10 are available, CoQ10 can’t easily enter the brain.

    An alternative way to boost CoQ10 levels would be to use precursor compounds that the body can use to make its own CoQ10. A research team led by Dr. Michael Pacold at NYU Grossman School of Medicine recently figured out the pathway by which the body makes a major part of the CoQ10 molecule called the headgroup. The immediate precursor to the CoQ10 headgroup is a compound called 4-hydroxybenzoate (4-HB). 4-HB, in turn, is made from another compound called 4-hydroxymandelate (4-HMA).

    In their new study, which was funded in part by NIH, the team tested whether supplementing with 4-HMA or 4-HB could treat diseases caused by CoQ10 deficiencies. Results appeared in Nature on July 9, 2025.

    The team first used mice engineered to lack the enzyme that makes 4-HMA, called HPDL. Problems with this enzyme underlie an ultra-rare, lethal neurodevelopmental disorder in people. Normally, mice lacking HPDL die within the first 15 days of life. Oral supplementation with CoQ10 or related compounds did not improve survival. But nearly all the mice supplemented with 4-HMA or 4-HB starting in the first week of life survived for a typical mouse lifespan of 18 months or longer. Treatment with 4-HMA partially reversed problems normally seen in these mice, which include abnormally small mitochondria and abnormal tissue development in the cerebellum, a part of the brain that controls movement.

    Mitochondria. 

     nobeastsofierce / Shutterstock

    The researchers used a technique called isotopic labeling to track 4-HMA and 4-HB in the mice. They found that more than half of the mouse equivalent of CoQ10 came from the 4-HMA or 4-HB supplements. This indicated that the supplements were being used to make CoQ10.

    Because of these and other encouraging studies in animal models, the team tried using 4-HB to treat an 8-year-old boy with fast-progressing paralysis due to excess muscle contraction. The boy had gone in a span of three months from being able to run and play sports to needing a wheelchair. Genetic testing confirmed that he had disease-causing mutations in the gene for HPDL. The researchers gave the boy 4-HB dissolved in water daily at a high dose for the first month and at reduced doses thereafter.

    Within the first two weeks of treatment, various measures of motor function improved. They remained stable or continued to improve over eight total months of treatment. The boy went from falling multiple times a day to falling less than once a week. He was able to run after about a month and a half, and able to ride a bicycle after four months.

    The findings suggest that supplementing with CoQ10 precursors can boost CoQ10 levels in mice and humans. This, in turn, can improve the neurological symptoms of CoQ10 deficiency.

    “To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that neurological symptoms of a primary CoQ10 deficiency can be stabilized or improved by supplying not CoQ10 itself, but instead its smaller, more easily processed precursors,” Pacold says.

    —by Brian Doctrow, Ph.D.

    Related Links

    References

    Coenzyme Q headgroup intermediates can ameliorate a mitochondrial encephalopathy. Shi G, Miller C, Kuno S, Rey Hipolito AG, El Nagar S, Riboldi GM, Korn M, Tran WC, Wang Z, Ficaro L, Lin T, Spillier Q, Gamallo-Lana B, Jones DR, Snuderl M, Song SC, Mar AC, Joyner AL, Sillitoe RV, Banh RS, Pacold ME. Nature. 2025 Jul 9. doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-09246-x. Online ahead of print. PMID: 40634618.

    Funding

    NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation; Pershing Square Foundation; Tara Miller Melanoma Foundation; Harry J Lloyd Charitable Trust; Irma T. Hirschl Charitable Trust; Concern Foundation; Harrington Discovery Institute; Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Centre; NYU Langone Health Technology Opportunities and Ventures; Cycle for Survival; Francois Wallace Monahan Fund; Takeda Science Foundation; Astellas Foundation for Research on Metabolic Disorders; Mochida Memorial Foundation for Medical and Pharmaceutical Research.

    Continue Reading

  • NASA Planning for Unauthorized Shutdown of Carbon Monitoring Satellites – eos.org

    1. NASA Planning for Unauthorized Shutdown of Carbon Monitoring Satellites  eos.org
    2. What kind of an evil ignorant C_______ does this?!!?  Daily Kos
    3. Support for young men  LAist
    4. “This Is Illegal”: NASA Reportedly Ordered To Destroy Important OCO Satellite  IFLScience
    5. What do you think about the Trump administration’s request to NASA employees to draw up plans to end at least two major satellite missions?  Wyoming Public Media

    Continue Reading

  • toward the Habitable Worlds Observatory

    05 Aug 2025

    Breann Sitarski of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center updates conference on progress of telescope design.

    By Matthew Peach in San Diego

    NASA is further prioritizing its long-running search for life in the universe and laying the groundwork for its next flagship astrophysics mission after the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope – scheduled to launch by May, 2027.

    Currently known as the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), the planned development will build upon studies conducted for two earlier mission concepts – the Large Ultraviolet Optical Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR), and the Habitable Exoplanets Observatory.

    The HWO is planned to be a large ultraviolet, optical, infrared space telescope. It will be the first such specifically engineered to identify habitable, Earth-like planets next to relatively bright stars like our Sun with a coronagraph, and to examine them for evidence of life.

    During the UV/Optical/IR Space Telescopes and Instruments: Innovative Technologies and Concepts XII conference, on Sunday, at SPIE Optics & Photonics 2025, Breann Sitarski presented an update on the HWO architecture and technology plan. Sitarski is Deputy Principal Architect, GSFC Testbed Lead at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).

    “The HWO will revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos. Several technologies need to be advanced in the next decade to ensure performance requirements will be met,” she said. “Specifically, ultra-stable optical systems, highly sensitive ultraviolet instrument components, and starlight suppression technologies must be advanced, and facilities must be prepared for compliance tests.”

    NASA’s GSFC is leading several testbed facilities that are open to academia and industry to validate their test articles against requirements. The ultra-stable structures laboratory and Mini-MUST will enable TRL 5 (Technology Readiness Level) stability testing for ~1-m class diameter optics and optical systems at the picometer level. In NASA’s interpretation, TRL 5 means the component and/or breadboard is validated for the relevant environment.

    Objectives and progress

    Sitarski then described the progress and latest status of the the architecture and technology plan. “One of the things that we needed to develop for HWO is a robust strategically-executed technology plan that demonstrates technical feasibility, reduces overall programmatic risk, and enables transformative scientific discovery. We have done that. We have defined a robust strategic technology plan that is consistent with the science,” she said.

    “The technology needs to be informed by the science and the architecture We have two really strong science cases for HWO. First is the search for life. In order to search for life – that’s Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars – we need a high-contrast coronagraph system to find exoplanets, but we also need a large ultra-stable telescope.

    “Luckily, that large ultra-stable telescope is also really useful for transformative astrophysics and it really enables transformative astrophysics. And stability, in particular, adds a really interesting aspect, when you think about what we can achieve. Having the large ultra-stable telescope that also enables the search for life, will enable that level of astronomy, as well. We also want and need high-sensitivity UV and visible instrumentation,” she said.

    In summary, there are three technology tracks aligned to the HWO’s system architecture: the coronagraph system technologies; the large ultrastable telescope technologies; and the high-sensitivity UV-VIS instrumentation technologies. “We have made progress that has advanced the state-of-the-art across all of these tracks,” she said.

    Sitarski concluded her presentation saying, “Our technology plan is now in place. We have a risk-based process to evolve that plan in response to challenges and our critical technologies continue to advance and enable the Habitable Worlds Observatory’s transformative science.”

    Continue Reading

  • All you need to know about AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers draw

    All you need to know about AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers draw

    The AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup will be hosted by China next year, starting from 30th April 2026.

    The draw for the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup 2026 will be held on August 7th, 2025. The main tournament would be a spectacle to behold, with talents from Asia lighting up the stage in China. This will be the first of the three consecutive editions hosted by China.

    The upcoming edition of the tournament holds unprecedented significance, as this will be the biggest ever, with 12 teams taking part in it for the first time. Not just that, but there are four spots in the 2026 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup that are also up for grabs.

    The qualifiers for the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup will be a one-round affair. It will be held between 9 and 17 October later this year. After the culmination of the qualifiers, eight teams will be rewarded with a spot in the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup 2026.

    Four teams have already sealed their place. Hosts China, along with North Korea, Japan, and South Korea, have already qualified for the tournament.

    Also Read: When and where to watch AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers in India?

    26 teams in fray for a spot in AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup

    The Indian U17 Women’s team will be keen to ace the qualifiers. Credits: AIFF Media

    Before the draw, 26 countries had been divided into four pots. Pots 1 and 2 have 8 teams, whereas 7 teams have been kept in Pot 3. Pot 4 consists of just 3 teams. India finds itself in Pot 1 along with Thailand, Australia, Philippines, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Iran, and Indonesia.

    Pot 2 has teams like Chinese Taipei, Myanmar, Singapore, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, Nepal, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. Pot 3 boasts of Jordan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Guam, Mongolia, the Northern Mariana Islands, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Kuwait, Macau, and Saudi Arabia have been kept in Pot 4.

    AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup draw Pots:

    • Pot 1: Thailand, Australia, Philippines, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Indonesia
    • Pot 2: Chinese Taipei, Myanmar, Singapore, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, Nepal, Hong Kong, Malaysia
    • Pot 3: Jordan, Kyrgyz Republic, Guam, Mongolia, Northern Mariana Islands, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan
    • Pot 4: Kuwait, Macau, Saudi Arabia

    When and where to watch AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup draw?

    The Indian team will be eager to know their opponents. With them being in Pot 1, they can expect some lower-ranked sides in their group, but the fixtures would be challenging.

    Teams will be drawn into three groups of four and five groups of three. The fans will be able to catch up with the live streaming of the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers draw on the AFC Hub YouTube channel.

    For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.


    Continue Reading

  • 1970s Video Game Console Defeats Modern AI Models in a Game of Chess

    1970s Video Game Console Defeats Modern AI Models in a Game of Chess

    It’s not every day that you get to read about OpenAI’s all-knowing ChatGPT being taken to the cleaners by a 46-year-old, 8-bit program, Star Wars-era chess engine.

    But that’s exactly what happened in a matchup orchestrated by Citrix software engineer Robert Caruso.

    The ChatGPT, Atari Matchup

    It all began as a casual conversation between Caruso and ChatGPT about using AI in chess. Following that, the cocky chatbot suggested playing chess against the 1977-vintage Atari 2600, which could only look 1 to 2 moves ahead. 

    What followed was a 90-minute comedy of errors on the Stella emulator with ChatGPT confusing rooks for bishops, forgetting where the pieces were, and repeatedly making silly and illegal moves. 

    Switching the interface to standard algebraic notation — Caruso thought this would give ChatGPT a clearer view of the game — didn’t help either, and Atari won fair and square.

    Copilot Loses, Gemini Backs Off

    Atari’s next opponent, Microsoft’s Copilot, didn’t fare any better despite the bot’s tall claims that it could “think 10–15 moves ahead” and win easily. Copilot lost two pawns, a knight, and a bishop by the seventh turn, and it was ‘game over’ when it moved its queen into a direct capture.

    Google’s Gemini AI — after reviewing Caruso’s prior matches — turned out to be the smartest of the lot: It downright refused to take on Atari, saying it would “struggle immensely,” while also citing “time efficiency” and a “sensible decision” as reasons for withdrawing.

    LLMs’ Limitations

    Atari’s triumph over some of the world’s most advanced large language models isn’t just shocking, it’s telling.

    In an era of AI anthropomorphization, the multi-billion-dollar chatbots’ defeat to a 4KB chess engine shows these tools are only designed for language prediction and not structured reasoning, which requires strict logic and memory.

    Image credit: AlexBuess/Shutterstock

    Learn More about Popular Industries on Thomasnet

    Continue Reading

  • New wearable sensor tracks body water hydration in real time

    New wearable sensor tracks body water hydration in real time

    Staying hydrated sounds simple. But when temperatures rise and the body sweats more, it’s not always easy to know when you’re running low on water. Dehydration can sneak up quickly—whether you’re playing football, battling a fire, working outside, or just spending your day in an office. Even mild dehydration can affect how you think, move, and feel. More serious cases can be dangerous, leading to heatstroke, kidney problems, or even heart trouble.

    Despite the risks, keeping track of how much water your body needs—and when it needs it—is hard. Traditional tools like blood tests or urine samples are slow, uncomfortable, and only give you a one-time reading. New solutions are needed that are fast, reliable, and easy to use in daily life. Now, scientists at The University of Texas at Austin may have found a better way.

    A Wearable Breakthrough for Real-Time Hydration

    Led by engineer Nanshu Lu, a team at UT Austin developed a small wearable sensor that tracks hydration in real time without needles, wires, or lab tests. Their study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that this new tool can give continuous hydration feedback as you move through your day.

    A next-generation wearable hydration sensor offers real-time tracking of body water levels, helping users stay healthy and prevent dehydration. (CREDIT: Science Photo Library)

    “Dehydration is a silent threat that affects millions of people every day,” said Lu, a professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering. “Our wearable sensor provides a simple, effective way to monitor hydration levels in real time, empowering individuals to take proactive steps to stay healthy and perform at their best.”

    The sensor uses bioimpedance, a technique that checks how electricity flows through the body. Since water is a strong conductor of electricity, tissues filled with water let the electrical current move easily. When the body loses water, the tissues resist the flow more. By placing electrodes across the arm, the device sends a small and safe electrical signal through the skin. This signal changes based on how much water is in the muscle.

    From Lab Testing to Daily Life

    To make sure their device worked well in both lab settings and real life, the team ran a series of experiments. In one test, eight volunteers took a diuretic—a drug that causes the body to lose fluid. As participants dehydrated, their arm’s electrical resistance increased. The sensor’s readings strongly matched the amount of body weight lost, with a Pearson correlation of 0.956 ± 0.033. This means that changes in the sensor readings closely followed how much water people actually lost.

    “We saw that arm bioimpedance is not only sensitive to hydration changes but also aligns closely with whole-body hydration measurements,” said Matija Jankovic, a post-doctoral researcher in Lu’s lab and co-author of the study. “This means the sensor can be a reliable surrogate for tracking hydration levels, even during everyday activities like walking, working, or exercising.”

    In another experiment, participants wore the sensor during 24 hours of normal life—eating, sleeping, and moving around freely. Even with regular activity, the device still captured clear changes in hydration. Whether people were drinking fluids or sweating it out, the device responded right away. Unlike older technologies, this sensor doesn’t require large machines or lab visits. It’s wireless, dry, and flexible enough to move with your body. Data goes straight to a smartphone app, so users can track hydration wherever they are.

    A Sensor with Many Uses

    This device isn’t just for athletes or emergency workers. It has the potential to benefit anyone who wants to stay well-hydrated, from students on campus to older adults managing health conditions. Hydration plays a central role in how the body works. Water helps organs function, supports body temperature, and keeps your brain and muscles performing their best. Yet many people don’t drink enough water. Chronic dehydration is common, and often overlooked.

    Nanshu Lu holding the hydration sensor. (CREDIT: UT Austin)

    Even slight dehydration can reduce focus, coordination, and endurance. Left unchecked, it can raise the risk of serious problems, like kidney stones or heart strain. That’s why a simple tool that tracks hydration without effort could make a big difference.

    The new sensor might also help patients with medical conditions. Continuous hydration monitoring could support better care for kidney disease, cardiovascular problems, or long-term dehydration. And it could help prevent sudden issues during recovery from illness or surgery. “And hopefully, it could help our Longhorn student athletes compete and stay healthy on hot days,” Lu added.

    Looking Ahead: Smarter Design and Broader Access

    For now, the sensor measures relative changes in hydration—how your levels shift during the day. But researchers are already working on the next step: building a database of reference values to estimate absolute hydration status. By collecting readings from many people, the team hopes to create a baseline that shows what “normal” hydration looks like.

    The hydration sensor on an arm. (CREDIT: UT Austin)

    The researchers are also exploring new designs to make the device even easier to wear. These include breathable “e-tattoos” and sweat-wicking materials for long-term comfort. They plan to test the sensor on larger groups of people and expand to other parts of the body, like the forearm or thigh.

    A key finding in their simulations was that when electrode placement was optimized across the arm, a strong linear link formed between the sensor readings and the electrical resistance of muscle. Since muscle resistance changes based on water content, this result proved that arm-based measurements could stand in for full-body data.By comparing these readings to known hydration standards, it may even be possible to estimate someone’s absolute hydration state—not just how it changes over time.

    “This is just the beginning,” Lu said. “Our goal is to make simple hydration monitoring accessible to everyone.”

    From long shifts in the sun to intense training sessions, the dangers of dehydration won’t go away. But with this wearable device, the ability to track and manage hydration could finally be within reach—for anyone, anywhere.

    Continue Reading

  • Nvidia says its AI chips do not have ‘kill switches’ after China claim

    Nvidia says its AI chips do not have ‘kill switches’ after China claim

    Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks to the media at a hotel in Beijing, China July 16, 2025.

    Alessandro Diviggiano | Reuters

    Nvidia on Tuesday rejected Chinese accusations that its data center GPUs for artificial intelligence include a hardware function that could remotely deactivate the chips, which is commonly called a “kill switch.”

    “NVIDIA GPUs do not and should not have kill switches and backdoors,” wrote Nvidia’s Chief Security Officer David Reber in a blog post on Tuesday.

    The blog post comes after the Cyberspace Administration of China said last week that it needed Nvidia to provide documents about what it called security vulnerabilities in the H20, Nvidia’s data center AI chip intended for the Chinese market. The regulator specifically mentioned “backdoor” security risks, according to the New York Times.

    The statement is an example of how Nvidia is navigating geopolitical conflict as its AI chips remain in high demand by countries and companies around the world. U.S. lawmakers have proposed legislation that would require AI chips under export regulations to be equipped with location-tracking systems.

    The U.S. has placed export controls on some Nvidia chips to China because of national security reasons, saying that the country could use the chips to gain an advantage in AI or for military purposes.

    Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has argued that it is better for the U.S. if Nvidia’s chips become the global standard for AI computers, especially among Chinese developers.

    The H20 generates billions in revenue per quarter for Nvidia in sales, although the company does not typically break out its revenue specifically. The chip was briefly banned from export to China in April.

    The company said its guidance would have been about $8 billion higher except for lost sales from a recent export restriction on its China-bound H20 chips.

    The Trump administration said in July that it would grant a waiver for the chips to resume sales.

    Silicon Valley technologists and security experts generally believe that backdoors — when a device has a hidden function that would allow a government or attacker to secretly take data from a computer or otherwise control it — are untenable in products.

    Apple, in particular, has publicly fought off government requests for what it calls “backdoors” in the past as well.

    Nvidia declined to comment further on its blog post.

    Reber argued in the blog post that secret backdoors are dangerous vulnerabilities that could be used by hackers, not just officials, and that they “violate the fundamental principles of cybersecurity.”

    He also said that if a kill switch or backdoor were to be put in products like Nvidia GPUs, that they would harm U.S. national security interests.

    “Hardwiring a kill switch into a chip is something entirely different: a permanent flaw beyond user control, and an open invitation for disaster,” Reber wrote. “It’s like buying a car where the dealership keeps a remote control for the parking brake — just in case they decide you shouldn’t be driving.”

    Continue Reading

  • Rising Incidences, Misconceptions, and Unmet Needs Warrant Awareness for Appendix Cancer

    Rising Incidences, Misconceptions, and Unmet Needs Warrant Awareness for Appendix Cancer

    Rosario Ligresti, MD, FASGE

    Among rare and understudied tumor types lies appendiceal cancer, of which the incidence has increased since 2010 without much explanation, according to Rosario Ligresti, MD, FASGE.

    In a retrospective study published in Cancer, data revealed that between 1992 and 2016, 4570 malignant appendiceal tumors were observed in patients at least 15 years of age in the Canadian Cancer Registry, and 7060 were observed in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results incidence database.1 Furthermore, data from a prospective study published in JAMA Surgery determined that a higher rate of appendiceal tumors was observed in patients with periappendicular abscesses (14.3%; 95% CI, 10.8%-17.9%) compared with those who had uncomplicated acute appendicitis (1.5%; 95% CI, 1.1%-1.9%; P < .001) and those with complicated acute appendicitis without periappendicular abscesses (2.4%; 95% CI, 1.8%-3.0%; P < .001).2 Notably, patient age was the only factor associated with the prevalence of periappendicular abscess tumors (odds ratio, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.04-1.09; P < .001).

    “This reinforces the need for thinking about the rising incidence of [appendiceal cancer in] younger patients. We can tie this a little bit into colon cancer, [especially] now we’re considering screening patients at the age of 45 years or younger for colon cancer,” Ligresti explained in an interview with OncLive® for Appendiceal Cancer Awareness Month, observed annually in August. “There’s an increased incidence of colon cancer in younger populations, and this may be part of that entire shift. Why does that matter? Because sometimes [appendiceal cancer is] diagnosed at colonoscopy.”

    In the interview, Ligresti highlighted the importance of spreading awareness about appendiceal cancer, common misconceptions surrounding this malignancy, current treatment approaches, and significant unmet needs that persist for this patient population.

    Ligresti is the chief of gastroenterology at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey.

    OncLive: Why is it essential to spread awareness about appendiceal cancer?

    Ligresti: Appendix cancer is one of those cancers [that’s] extremely uncommon. People don’t think about it, and when they do, it’s lumped together with colon cancer, but it’s an extremely different animal; it’s not quite colon cancer. More importantly, [appendix cancer] is increasing in incidence, very much in parallel with a lot of [other] cancers worldwide; unfortunately, it’s increasing in younger patients. For a variety of reasons, appendix cancer is not thought of often, and it’s not a commonly seen diagnosis.

    Given the rarity of this cancer, what are some of the most common misconceptions oncology teams should know regarding the management of this disease?

    With only about 3000 patients seen annually [with appendiceal cancer], it’s one of those cancers that, unless it’s kept in mind, it’s not kept in mind. Fifty percent of patients have no symptoms at all, and another 30% will [have it] present as appendicitis. More surgeons are treating patients with appendicitis in a nonoperative, more medical way, and that may not be the best thing [due to the rising incidence of appendix cancer].

    At the end of the day, a lot of the specimens removed from [younger] patients who have appendicitis may harbor appendiceal cancer. If you see a patient who doesn’t quite fit the typical patient who should have appendicitis, [such as] a very young, otherwise healthy patient, but in someone who’s a little bit older, we should keep in mind that a [sizeable] percentage of those patients may be harboring a malignancy, like appendiceal cancer.

    Besides surgery, what treatments are available?

    A large percentage of these patients will present as if they have appendicitis, and it’s the same underlying causes of appendicitis that happen in nononcologic appendicitis. Patients have appendicitis for a variety of reasons, like E. faecalis, and in that group of patients, the treatment has been surgery for many years. More recently, patients are being treated more medically, which may not be in their best interest. Without a doubt, surgery still plays the primary role. Patients should have a right colonic resection to remove the tumor and the surrounding colon, if possible.

    However, if patients, for example, don’t meet the criteria to [undergo] surgery, then there are certain treatments, depending on the pathology. [Approximately] 20% of these patients will have a cancer of the appendix that looks very much like colon cancer pathologically. Those patients are treated with conventional colon cancer chemotherapy. [Still,] the problem with that is that the data are very limited. [Will a] patient who has colon cancer pathology originating in the appendix [have a disease that] behaves just like colon cancer originating in the rest of the colon? That we don’t know, because there have been too few patients to study. We don’t really know if treating someone with appendiceal cancer that looks like colon cancer will respond the same way as colon cancer anywhere else.

    The benefit is that there has been certainly good response in those patients when you treat them like as if they have colon cancer. The downside is that in the younger patients that we’re seeing, the pathology is shifting towards a more neuroendocrine or carcinoid type. In that particular group, there are effective chemotherapy agents that can be used, although we don’t know if they work well enough in appendiceal cancer to apply them uniformly. The mainstay of therapy is surgery, if possible; however, 50% of patients will have no symptoms until it’s too late.

    Overall survival [(OS) rates] with this disease are all over the map, from dismal when the patients have no symptoms, at [approximately] 29% to 33%, all the way up [approximately] 93% if [the tumor is] found incidentally during an appendectomy. [OS] is stage-dependent, as is everything, and also pathology-dependent.

    Are there any ongoing clinical trials or research in this space to address these disparities?

    Unfortunately, no, and that’s the big problem with appendiceal cancer. It’s a cancer where the incidence rate is so low therefore the total population is low. What we are seeing trial-wise is a lot of epidemiological data being put forward, especially in the last 6 months. We’ve seen 2 significant reviews showing the change in demographics and in presentation of this disease to a younger population.

    However, as far as etiology, that remains a little bit of a mystery. Better treatment courses are a bit of an unstudied area. We don’t know if there are any benefits in treating patients more medically or oncologically, other than performing surgery, because there are so few patients with the disease. If you look at the types of tumors that we’re seeing in younger patients, neuroendocrine tumors, especially of the appendix, or nerve tumors of the appendix, there are limited data sets in nerve tumors elsewhere, and [the appendix] is [a common] spot for nerve tumors of the gastrointestinal tract in patients. There’s a bit of a vacuum and a big paucity, which why [it’s important to bring awareness to this].

    What are the main unmet needs for patients with appendix cancer, and what is needed to address them?

    There are 2 big unmet needs. The biggest unmet need is [determining] how to make an early diagnosis in a patient [with appendiceal cancer]. This is where biomarkers may be important in picking out the right patient population, for example, that could be tested. Patients who are at risk for colon cancer, generally, might be a patient group that might be interesting to look at. We know that there are some trends of increasing [incidence in] appendiceal cancer in patients who have inflammatory bowel disease, like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. This could be a patient population where you might want to target some of the data that we have and evaluate patients for early detection with something like biomarker testing. There is a whole, uncharted, untapped potential for this.

    The other part of figuring this out from an early detection standpoint is trying to nail down the epidemiology. Why is it that the incidence rate is increasing in younger populations? Why is there a stage shift and a pathology shift in younger populations? There isn’t a clear answer as to why someone in a younger age cohort is getting an increased incidence of carcinoid. What exactly is in the environment? What exactly is in the genome that is changing to force this? JAMA Surgery put out an article earlier this year that highlighted that patients in younger age cohorts—patients born in the late 1970s to early 1980s—had a tripling of their incidence rate, and we don’t know why, and that’s a real problem.2 The unmet needs here are [establishing if] there is a way to do early detection. More importantly, [determining] where this is all coming from.

    References

    1. Singh H, Koomson AS, Decker KM, et al. Continued increasing incidence of malignant appendiceal tumors in Canada and the United States: a population-based study. Cancer. 2020;126(10);2206-2216. doi:10.1002/cncr.32793
    2. Salminen R, Alajääski J, Rautio T, et al. Appendiceal tumor prevalence in patients with periappendicular abscess. JAMA Surg. 2025;160(5):526-534. doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2025.0312

    Continue Reading

  • MSDW Podcast: How partners are preparing for Microsoft’s FY2026 strategy, with Joe Corigliano

    MSDW Podcast: How partners are preparing for Microsoft’s FY2026 strategy, with Joe Corigliano

    Early in Microsoft’s FY26, managers in the sales and channel organizations have worked to explain important program changes that will impact partners in the Dynamics 365 and Power Platform space. At the recent Biz Apps Partner Executive Summit 2025 event, attendees heard from a variety of Microsoft representatives who presented sales strategy and the reorganized structure that attempts to blend business applications with modern work. Partners also heard about Microsoft’s new and updated incentives, vision for AI agent sales in the enterprise, and revised sales plays across industries and segments.

    Joe Corigliano was one of the key organizers of the event from Dynamics Communities and he joined us after the event ended to recap some of the highlights like memorable insights from speakers, some of the MSDW event coverage, and partner reactions to Microsoft’s outlook on selling AI agents.

    Continue Reading

  • Today’s Q&A About 3I/ATLAS. The following questions appeared in my… | by Avi Loeb | Aug, 2025

    Today’s Q&A About 3I/ATLAS. The following questions appeared in my… | by Avi Loeb | Aug, 2025

    Zoom image will be displayed

    The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS was discovered in a region of the sky that is crowded with stars, making it difficult to notice. The discovery image by the ATLAS telescope is shown in the inset image bracketed by the red box, which provides a zoomed-in view of the region where 3I/ATLAS was discovered. (Image credit: ATLAS/University of Hawaii/NASA)

    The following questions appeared in my email inbox this morning, as I woke up for my routine 3-mile jog at sunrise. I list them below along with my answers, since some of them reiterated what dozens of podcasters and interviewers asked me over the past few days.

    Question:

    “Dr Loeb,

    I’ve been following your work since the discovery of 1I/`Oumuamua, and am thoroughly impressed with your dedication to this subject. The discovery of 3I/Atlas is of particular interest, and I wonder if you might answer a question regarding it?

    You mentioned, in several of the interviews I’ve watched, that 3I/Atlas will be obscured from our view by the sun at the end of October. If the object is in fact technological in nature, you speculated that it could take advantage of this by potentially changing course and heading toward Earth. Based on the object’s diameter (20 kilometers), velocity (60 km/sec) and angular momentum, how large of an angular momentum impulse would be needed to redirect 3I/Atlas toward Earth while keeping it hidden from observation?

    I assume this requires an extraordinary amount of torque to accomplish this task given its current velocity. If the object slows too much, doesn’t it risk being captured in a solar orbit?

    Thanks in advance for your reply. I want to commend you on your courage to entertain this hypothesis in the face of criticism from colleagues. Statistically speaking, it seems impossible that we are alone in the universe, or even the Milky Way. Current assumptions that “everything in space is a rock” seem counterproductive and potentially dangerous in our quest for objective truth. Keep up the great work and I look forward to seeing you in future interviews as we learn more about 3I/ATLAS and other interstellar objects.”

    Answer:

    “The more likely scenario from an engineering perspective involves a mothership that releases mini-probes which perform a reverse Oberth maneuver to slow down at perihelion and intercept Earth, taking advantage of the Sun’s gravitational assist. The change in angular momentum per unit mass needs to be of order ~(0.36 au)*(68 km/s) where 0.36 au is the change in orbital radius required to get to the Earth’s distance from the Sun from the distance of closest approach of 3I/ATLAS (where 1 au=149.6 million kilometers) and 68 kilometers per second is the speed of 3I/ATLAS at perihelion. The amount of fuel required for this maneuver depends on the mass of the mini-probe. The mini-probe can potentially reach the Earth within a few months after perihelion.”

    Question:

    “Dear Dr Loeb,

    I have been following your posts on Medium since your planned and then successful expedition to the seas just north of Papua New Guinea. I had a lot of fun refreshing the browser tab each day, waiting to see if you had exciting news to share.

    The habit has continued to this day. Thank you for doing what you do. Through your Medium space I have learned that in science, humanity needs rigorous discourse and exploration of all scientific possibilities, rather than a blinkered focus on comfortable narratives.

    It is the subject of comfort that I write to you about today. Your mid-July post about the anomalous properties of 3I/ATLAS immediately struck me as extremely alarming.

    After reading your post, I reasoned that the object’s Sagittarian origin, trajectory, tactical approach to the inner solar system bodies, and unlikely size added up to an extraordinary set of coincidences that should not be ignored.

    All this is to say, I made plans (a moderate amount of long shelf-life food) after reading your initial 3I/ATLAS posts. More recent information (no cometary activity) brings to mind something Han Solo said… “I have a bad feeling about this.”

    I have no illusions about our chances of survival if we are targeted for elimination, as per the Dark Forest theory. However, I would like to spend time with my family in the leadup to a potential encounter. I figure this will be a good thing whether or not all hell breaks loose.

    Given what we know now, when would be the earliest time we could expect to greet the arrival of objects in orbit around earth? I appreciate that you are very busy; thank-you for your time.

    Yours sincerely and good-luck!”

    Answer:

    “It is difficult to forecast when and how a direct encounter with aliens would take place, even as we monitor 3I/ATLAS, because that involves many uncertainties regarding the alien travel technologies, goals and intent. The best we can do is monitor the sky with telescopes. It may well be that 3I/ATLAS is a natural comet. But even then, we have to check each and every interstellar object that the Rubin Observatory will find in the coming decade for anomalous characteristics, like non-gravitational acceleration with no cometary tail or artificial lights or unusual shape. It would be a mistake to imagine a specific form based on scripts from science fiction writers, because their imagination, just like Large Language Models of Artificial Intelligence, is limited by their training data set on Earth. Even if we keep finding interstellar rocks, we should always be open to the possibility that one of the future interstellar objects might be technological. The nature of that encounter remains to be seen.”

    Question:

    “Thanks, Avi. I always really appreciate your replies.

    May I ask one simple question — as of today, what % chance would you say 3I/ATLAS is of extraterrestrial/alien intelligence origin?!

    Best regards, “

    Answer:

    “60%. In my recent essays at

    https://avi-loeb.medium.com/

    I suggested a `Loeb Scale’ for interstellar objects where `0’ is a definitely natural object (comet or asteroid) and `10’ is a definitely technological object (identified by maneuvers or emission of artificial light or signals). Currently, I give 3I/ATLAS a 6 on that scale, but my assessment will change as we get better data on it when it comes closer to the Sun.

    Scientists change their opinions as they learn from new results. For example, Stephen Hawking wished to prove that the idea of black hole entropy — first proposed by the Princeton PhD student, Jacob Bekenstein, is nonsense. When he did the quantum-mechanical calculation, he realized that Bekenstein was right and black holes evaporate by emitting thermal radiation. This was the biggest theoretical discovery in Hawking’s scientific career.”

    Question:

    “How would an alien spacecraft look like?”

    Answer:

    An encounter with alien technology is a blind date of astronomical proportions. We should observe rather than imagine what it might look like. If alien intelligence is above ours, we may not be able to comprehend the full scope of their scientific understanding, tactics and ambitions, for the same reason that prehistoric cave dwellers who encounter a cell phone would regard it as a rock of a type that they had never seen before. The current approach of comet experts to interstellar objects reflects the stone age of space exploration.”

    Question:

    “Hi Avi, It is remarkable that the latest imaging data in the most recent observations does not show a tail trailing 3I/ATLAS. I saw an older study that found 3I/ATLAS did have a tail. What do you think led that group to make that conclusion?”

    Answer:

    “There were claims of a tail but since 3I/ATLAS is accelerating and its current size is not much larger than the angular resolution of Earth-based telescopes, it is challenging to avoid fictitious elongation of the image as a result of the object’s motion. As 3I/ATLAS gets closer to the Sun in the coming weeks, it would be easier to gauge whether it has a tail for three reasons: it will get brighter by reflecting more sunlight, bigger on the sky because it is closer to us, and if it is a comet — its activity will be enhanced as the Sun warms it up to a higher surface temperature.”

    Question:

    “Some conspiracy theorists argued that the story of 3I/ATLAS was floated as a distraction from the Jeffrey Epstein files. What is your take on this?”

    Answer:

    “3I/ATLAS is a physical object in the sky at a large distance from Earth that cannot be faked because it was observed independently from different directions by the Hubble Space telescope and ground-based telescopes. You can purchase a 0.5-meter telescope yourself and look at it. Its existence has nothing to do with terrestrial politics.”

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    Zoom image will be displayed

    (Image Credit: Chris Michel, National Academy of Sciences, 2023)

    Avi Loeb is the head of the Galileo Project, founding director of Harvard University’s — Black Hole Initiative, director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the former chair of the astronomy department at Harvard University (2011–2020). He is a former member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and a former chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies. He is the bestselling author of “Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth” and a co-author of the textbook “Life in the Cosmos”, both published in 2021. The paperback edition of his new book, titled “Interstellar”, was published in August 2024.

    Continue Reading