JMIR Publications released four feature News and Perspectives articles on innovations and industry developments in clinical AI.

In an interview published in Risk Sciences, global investor Jim Rogers reflects on contrarian thinking, risk management, global market uncertainty, emerging economies, fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, and the personal lessons that have shaped his view of investing. The article emphasizes independent judgment, firsthand observation, emotional resilience, and long-term thinking as essential tools for navigating volatile markets.

The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), in collaboration with the University of Technology Sydney, Wuhan University, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology, has achieved a major breakthrough at the 43rd International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) 2026. EdUHK's Chair Professor of the Department of Mathematics and Information Technology Professor Xu Guandong and his research team, including Assistant Professor at Centre for Learning, Teaching and Technology (LTTC) Dr Yu Yang and Research Assistant Mr Nitin Bisht, secured three full paper acceptances and publications, with one selected for an oral spotlight presentation—an honour awarded to only 168 papers out of 23,918 submissions, underscoring the exceptional quality of the team’s research.  

Researchers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering believe they have found a new approach on CAR-T cells that offers hope of success against solid tumors. Their solution is called SHIFTERS. Instead of searching for a naturally occurring marker that may not even exist, the researchers developed a way to temporarily create one. Using focused ultrasound, physicians prompt tumor cells to briefly display CD19, a marker CAR-T cells already recognize. The work is described in the study,“Ultrasound Priming Gated by Solid Tumor Hallmarks to Guide CAR-T Therapy” in Science Advances. The idea behind SHIFTERS is surprisingly straightforward. Most solid tumors have characteristics that healthy tissue does not. One of those characteristics is low oxygen. As tumors grow rapidly, they often outgrow their blood supply, leaving pockets of cancer cells starved for oxygen.The USC researchers designed SHIFTERS to recognize that condition. But low oxygen alone isn’t precise enough to activate the system. Doctors must also apply focused ultrasound, a noninvasive technology that can precisely target tissue deep inside the body without surgery. The researchers first tested SHIFTERS in cancer cells grown in the laboratory. Next came three-dimensional tumor models that more closely resemble real tumors. Finally, they tested the technology in animal models carrying human brain and liver tumors. Across every stage, the results pointed in the same direction. Once ultrasound activated the temporary marker, CAR-T cells mounted a much stronger attack than they normally achieve against solid tumors. Tumors treated with ultrasound shrank dramatically, while untreated tumors continued to grow.

Memories can survive even after the brain temporarily loses more than half of its synaptic connections, according to a new mouse study, which challenges the long-held view that long-term memories depend on stable individual synapses. Instead, the findings suggest that memory is preserved by resilient patterns of neural architecture that enable the brain to rebuild its circuitry while retaining stored information. Long-term memory depends on lasting changes in the brain and has been thought to depend on strengthened connections between neurons. However, research has shown that these synaptic changes and the neural patterns associated with memories can be surprisingly unstable over time, raising unanswered questions about how memories persist despite constant remodeling of the brain. This suggests that memory relies not on preserving individual synaptic connections, but on maintaining broader patterns of neural organization.

 

Here, Yu-Ju Lin and colleagues used a mouse model of artificial hibernation to examine structural mechanisms underlying memory retention. According to the authors, hibernating mammals provide a unique opportunity to study this process, as their brains undergo dramatic reductions in activity and structural changes during dormancy while retaining memories upon waking. Through brain structure imaging and analysis as well as behavioral tests, Lin et al. found that even after hippocampal activity dropped by about 70% and more than half of synapses were eliminated during artificial hibernation, the animals retained memories and recovered their original neural organization after returning to normal conditions. The finding indicates that memory may be preserved not through individual synapses, but through resilient patterns of neural architecture, including specific clusters of connected synapses that remain protected during widespread hibernation-associated brain remodeling. These preserved structural motifs may act as a “core memory trace,” allowing the brain to rebuild functional networks after major disruptions while maintaining stored memories.

The McCombs School of Business announced today that two of its most technology-focused graduate programs are getting new names that acknowledge the central role of emerging technologies in the curriculum.

Starting this academic year, the Master of Science in Business Analytics will be renamed the Master of Science in Business Analytics and Artificial Intelligence; the Master of Science in Information Technology and Management will be renamed the Master of Science in Business Technology and Artificial Intelligence.