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Immune-targeting vaccine shows promise intercepting cancer in patients with Lynch Syndrome

The investigational cancer vaccine, NOUS-209, was found to safely stimulate the immune system to target precancerous and cancerous cells in individuals with Lynch Syndrome (LS), according to a study from researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The results of a Phase Ib/II clinical trial, published today in Nature Medicine, provide early evidence that immune-based approaches, such as NOUS-209, may be able to intercept cancer before it develops, offering a potential new avenue for preventive care for high-risk individuals.

“Current management strategies for Lynch Syndrome patients—frequent screenings or elective preventive surgery—are life-changing interventions that help prevent cancer development but can significantly affect quality of life,” said principal investigator Eduardo Vilar-Sanchez, M.D., Ph.D., chair ad interim of Clinical Cancer Prevention. “By teaching the immune system to recognize and attack abnormal cells, this therapy offers a promising new approach to this patient population, who face a significantly higher risk of colorectal, endometrial, urothelial and other cancers.”

Study links men’s higher intelligence to fewer abusive relationship behaviors

A new study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences shows that men with higher general intelligence are less likely to engage in abusive or coercive behaviors toward their romantic partners. The findings suggest that cognitive ability may play a role in how men manage conflict and commitment in heterosexual relationships.

General intelligence is a broad mental capacity that influences reasoning, planning, and problem-solving. Psychology research has long established that people with higher general intelligence tend to experience better life outcomes. They generally achieve higher levels of education and earn more money. They also tend to live longer and suffer from fewer health issues.

But the relationship between intelligence and romantic success is less clear. Some data suggests that intelligent people are less likely to divorce. Other studies indicate they may have sex less frequently or choose to have fewer children. Evolutionary psychologists have debated why this might be the case.

Antarctica’s only native insect is already eating microplastics

A global research team led by researchers from the University of Kentucky Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment has found that Antarctica’s only native insect is already ingesting microplastics, even in one of the planet’s most remote regions.

The study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, is the first to examine how microplastics affect an Antarctic insect and to document plastic pieces inside wild-caught midges.

Jack Devlin, who led the work back in 2020 as part of his Ph.D. before moving to Scotland to work as a marine ornithologist, said the project started after a documentary on plastic pollution left him stunned.

The 2026 Timeline: AGI Arrival, Safety Concerns, Robotaxi Fleets & Hyperscaler Timelines | 221

The 2026 Timeline: AGI Arrival, Safety Concerns, Robotaxi Fleets & Hyperscaler Timelines ## The rapid advancement of AI and related technologies is expected to bring about a transformative turning point in human history by 2026, making traditional measures of economic growth, such as GDP, obsolete and requiring new metrics to track progress ## ## Questions to inspire discussion.

Measuring and Defining AGI

🤖 Q: How should we rigorously define and measure AGI capabilities? A: Use benchmarks to quantify specific capabilities rather than debating terminology, enabling clear communication about what AGI can actually do across multiple domains like marine biology, accounting, and art simultaneously.

🧠 Q: What makes AGI fundamentally different from human intelligence? A: AGI represents a complementary, orthogonal form of intelligence to human intelligence, not replicative, with potential to find cross-domain insights by combining expertise across fields humans typically can’t master simultaneously.

📊 Q: How can we measure AI self-awareness and moral status? A: Apply personhood benchmarks that quantify AI models’ self-awareness and requirements for moral treatment, with Opus 4.5 currently being state-of-the-art on these metrics for rigorous comparison across models.

AI Capabilities and Risks.

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Navigating the Deep Tech Industrial Revolution

Podcast with Chuck Brooks, Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and President of Brooks Consulting International — Quantum Computing Report.

Overview In this episode of The Quantum Spin by HKA, host Veronica Combs discusses the intersections of quantum technology and cybersecurity with Chuck Brooks, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and the president of Brooks Consulting International. Chuck discusses how the evolution of technology, particularly AI and quantum computing, has dramatically transformed cybersecurity. The conversation also touches on the role of CISOs, the integration of new technologies, and the importance of ongoing education and adaptation in the face of rapidly changing technologies. 00:00 Introduction to Quantum Spin Podcast00:34 Guest Introduction: Chuck Brooks00:46 Chuck Brooks’ Career […].

Teens Spend Most School Phone Time on Social Media

“This moves the conversation beyond anecdotes and self-reports to real-world behavior,” said Dr. Jason Nagata.

How much time during school hours do teens spend on social media? This is what a recent study published in JAMA hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated connections between adolescent phone use during school. This study has the potential to help researchers, academic administrators, students, and parents become aware of the connections between adolescent phone use and all-around health.

For the study, the researchers analyzed data regarding smartphone app usage during school hours from 640 adolescents aged 13–18 through software installed on their phones that was approved by all participants and their parents. The goal of the study was to ascertain phone app usage during school hours, with data being obtained from September 2022 to May 2024. In the end, the researchers found that teens spent about 1.16 hours each school day on smartphones, mostly using social media apps, with higher use among older students and those from underprivileged households.

Elon Musk on AGI Timeline, US vs China, Job Markets, Clean Energy & Humanoid Robots

Questions to inspire discussion.

🤖 Q: How quickly will AI and robotics replace human jobs? A: AI and robotics will do half or more of all jobs within the next 3–7 years, with white-collar work being replaced first, followed by blue-collar labor through humanoid robots.

🏢 Q: What competitive advantage will AI-native companies have? A: Companies that are entirely AI-powered will demolish competitors, similar to how a single manually calculated cell in a spreadsheet makes it unable to compete with entirely computer-based spreadsheets.

💼 Q: What forces companies to adopt more AI? A: Companies using more AI must outcompete those using less, creating a forcing function for increased AI adoption, as inertia currently keeps humans doing AI-capable tasks.

📊 Q: How much of enterprise software development can AI handle autonomously? A: Blitzy, an AI platform using thousands of specialized agents, autonomously handles 80%+ of enterprise software development, increasing engineering velocity 5x when paired with human developers.

Energy and Infrastructure.

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