twytere

My eyes dart around the wood-paneled room and over to the circulation desk. Few sounds disturb the heavy quiet in here: an occasional cough; the scrape of a chair on the worn, creaky floorboards; the chirping wheels of the book delivery cart; the deliberately slow turning of a stiff, crinkled, centuries-old page. All my fellow readers are hunched over, absorbed in their own treasures. Good. Now’s my chance.

I lean in, my head inching imperceptibly toward my reading table and the 400-year-old encyclopedia of medicinal plants resting in its foam cradle. I check the room again, then move in closer. No one in the whole British Library is paying attention to me. No one suspects. A few more inches and I’m there, inside it. My eyes close. At last—I inhale.

American Chemical Society (ACS)

February 15, 2015

Hexanal, once commonly called caproic aldehyde, is a six-carbon straight-chain aldehyde. It is a clear liquid with an atmospheric-pressure boiling point of 131 ºC. P. Bagard published the first synthesis of hexanal in 1907. It is found in foods ranging from olive oil to pears to Hass avocados. Its fruity flavor makes it a useful additive in the flavor industry.

In 2014, Y. Takeuchi and co-workers at the University of Tokyo studied hexanal in another context: They discovered that it and its isomer 4-methylpentanal act as pheromones in rats. They found that exposing rats to these chemicals in combination causes the rodents to display increasingly anxious behavior. Neither compound alone produces similar results.

Antonia Juelich

ABSTRACT:

How are terrorists using AI? Semi-structured interviews with 27 former Boko Haram members conducted in northeast Nigeria in 2025 and 2026 reveal unprecedented detail about AI-assisted terrorist activity primarily through 2024. This report finds that both factions of Boko Haram use frontier AI, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Meta AI, and DeepSeek, to assist in combat and day-to-day operations. This AI use is institutionalized through specialized units and internal training. It has aided in attack planning, weapons troubleshooting, and the design of explosive devices, as users have successfully circumvented some safeguards. This know-how was transferred through transnational jihadist networks, with Islamic State operatives delivering in-person training. Respondents expressed strong enthusiasm for AI and, in some cases, openness to mass-casualty weapons, though documented use remains conventional. Terrorist adoption of AI has thus advanced further and more systematically than prior analysis has recognized, making it a present and growing reality that warrants attention from policymakers, security communities, and AI developers.

Wellness is inescapable. Up 35% since 2019, it’s now worth $6.8T. Outpacing sports, tourism, and tech, it’s equivalent to 60% of global healthcare spending.

Building behavioral bridges, the gym-as-clinic is positioning as a care hub for GLP-1 patients — many of whom are fitness foreigners needing guidance doctors can’t give.

Replacing piecemeal solutions, Everything Gyms are merging diagnostics, coaching, recovery, and community to support complete lifestyle makeovers. Women are all-in on strength, people are hyped on hybrid training for healthspan, and more are swapping burnout-inducing cardio for mind-body modalities like Pilates.

Outside the gym, movement is moving toward play, belonging, and story over metrics, a trend showing up in surging participation across run crews, trail culture, racket sports, surf parks, and thermal bathing. Valuing joy as a component of health, most want community and belonging, not optimization — particularly mental health-conscious Gen Z.

AI platforms are racing to translate scattered biometrics into clear direction, replacing data overwhelm with the holy grail, Personal Health OS. Of note, Function and Superpower secured fresh funds, with the former now worth $2.5B. Overall, the status quo is out of style, with everyone from OpenAI to Apple eyeing the Medicine 3.0 infrastructure opportunity.

As wearables chase healthcare integration, the FDA cracked down on wellness devices, issuing WHOOP a warning. Doubling down, WHOOP, Ultrahuman, and Oura all launched diagnostics. Pursuing a $100B vision, the latter won an ITC suit against competitors, deepened ties with the US DoD, debuted primary care partnerships, and closed a $900M+ Series E at an $11B valuation.

Critics say productizing care prices people out, but so do predatory insurance practices. Doctors worry the shift toward consumer-led solutions could foster a false sense of confidence that causes people to delay care — but facing labor shortages, the alternative is staying in the dark. An optimistic ideal, applying AI to the old guard could support high-quality systems for all.

Among those who say they plan to increase health and wellness spending this year, food and nutrition leads by a wide margin. Half expect to spend more on healthy groceries and nutrition products, making it the most common form of investment in personal health.