In a significant step forward for cancer therapy, researchers at Northwestern University have redesigned the molecular structure of a well-known chemotherapy drug, greatly increasing its solubility, effectiveness, and safety.
For this study, the scientists created the drug entirely from scratch as a spherical nucleic acid (SNA), a nanoscale structure that incorporates the drug into DNA strands surrounding tiny spheres. This innovative design transforms a compound that normally dissolves poorly and works weakly into a highly potent, precisely targeted treatment that spares healthy cells from damage..
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Restructuring an old chemo drug -
Orvis closing about half its storesOutdoor equipment retailer Orvis will close 36 locations by early 2026 due to “unprecedented tariff pressure,” president Simon Perkins said.
The Vermont-based company will shutter 31 stores and five outlets, which have not yet been specified. Orvis currently operates about 70 retail stores and six outlets across the U.S., according to its website.
In addition to its store closures, Orvis will reduce its product offerings, which include fly fishing gear, outdoor apparel and more.
“Like many in retail, Orvis’ business model faced a sizeable shift with the introduction of an unprecedented tariff landscape,” Perkins said in a statement, according to CT Insider. “For more than a century-and-a-half, we’ve been committed to being leaders in our space for customers and partners, beginning with our industry-leading fly rods still crafted in Vermont today. To ensure a durable brand and model for decades to come, we are focusing on our core strengths and making the difficult but necessary decision to rescale the business by tightening our assortment and reducing our corporate store footprint.
“As part of this effort, we will close 31 stores and 5 outlets by early 2026. We will be concentrating on a more focused retail store portfolio, as well as brick-and-mortar opportunities through our valued dealer network,” he added.
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AI and the age of de-skillingThe fretting has swelled from a murmur to a clamor, all variations on the same foreboding theme: “Your Brain on ChatGPT.” “AI Is Making You Dumber.” “AI Is Killing Critical Thinking.” Once, the fear was of a runaway intelligence that would wipe us out, maybe while turning the planet into a paper-clip factory. Now that chatbots are going the way of Google—moving from the miraculous to the taken-for-granted—the anxiety has shifted, too, from apocalypse to atrophy. Teachers, especially, say they’re beginning to see the rot. The term for it is unlovely but not inapt: de-skilling.
The worry is far from fanciful. Kids who turn to Gemini to summarize Twelfth Night may never learn to wrestle with Shakespeare on their own. Aspiring lawyers who use Harvey AI for legal analysis may fail to develop the interpretive muscle their predecessors took for granted. In a recent study, several hundred U.K. participants were given a standard critical-thinking test and were interviewed about their AI use for finding information or making decisions. Younger users leaned more on the technology, and scored lower on the test. Use it or lose it was the basic takeaway. Another study looked at physicians performing colonoscopies: After three months of using an AI system to help flag polyps, they became less adept at spotting them unaided.
But the real puzzle isn’t whether de-skilling exists—it plainly does—but rather what kind of thing it is. Are all forms of de-skilling corrosive? Or are there kinds that we can live with, that might even be welcome? De-skilling is a catchall term for losses of very different kinds: some costly, some trivial, some oddly generative. To grasp what’s at stake, we have to look closely at the ways that skill frays, fades, or mutates when new technologies arrive.
From Atlantic:
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The secret to good health?Play in the dirt!
How a radical experiment to bring a forest into a preschool transformed children’s health
In Finland, kindergartens are exposing children to more mud, wild plants and moss - and finding changes to their health that show how crucial biodiversity is to wellbeing
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Magnificent Beast! -
Magnificent Beast!I love your projects!
Does Kim's new house have a gas line out to her backyard? Easy to have one installed? Could be the perfect housewarming present....
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Will you be able to get a COVID vaccine? -
Trump is playing by China's rulesA Crown for One, a Go Board for the Other: S. Korea’s Tailored Gifts to Trump and Xi
Kind of says it all.
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Trump is playing by China's rules -
Trump is playing by China's rulesFareed Zakaria's opening segment yesterday.
The U.S. wins through openness and innovation, not tariffs and centralized planning.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1151920083198304
For those that prefer text rather than video, here's the same piece in his weekly WaPo column: