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Interesting Things Around World, Washington D.C., DC (2026)

09/07/2026

More than half of global CEOs say AI has yet to deliver measurable revenue gains or cost savings for their companies.

Despite the enormous investment and excitement surrounding artificial intelligence, a major PwC survey reveals a striking gap between adopting AI and turning it into financial results.

PwC’s 29th Global CEO Survey, released in January 2026, gathered responses from 4,454 CEOs across 95 countries and territories.

The findings were revealing: 56% said their companies had seen neither higher revenues nor lower costs from AI over the previous 12 months.

Only 30% reported increased revenue, while 26% said AI had reduced costs. Just 12% achieved both revenue growth and cost savings. Another 22% reported that AI had increased their costs.

That does not mean AI has produced absolutely no value for most businesses. The survey did not calculate a complete return on investment, and benefits such as improved quality, employee productivity or faster decision-making may not immediately appear as higher revenue or lower costs.

But it does expose a significant business challenge: using AI is not the same as making money from AI.

PwC found that companies reporting both revenue and cost benefits were two to three times more likely to have embedded AI extensively across areas such as products, demand generation and strategic decision-making.

Organizations with stronger AI foundations—including responsible-AI frameworks and technology systems that support enterprise-wide integration—were also three times more likely to report meaningful financial returns.

The implication is that simply giving employees access to AI tools may not be enough. Businesses appear more likely to capture value when they redesign workflows, integrate AI into core operations and establish ways to measure its impact.

The survey does not prove that AI investment is failing, nor that the technology itself is incapable of generating returns. It shows that financial benefits remain uneven, with a relatively small group of companies pulling ahead while many others are still struggling to translate adoption into measurable business outcomes.

Source: PwC, 29th Global CEO Survey: Leading through uncertainty in the age of AI, January 19, 2026.

09/07/2026

Even moderate drinking may be associated with measurable changes in brain structure, according to a major study involving more than 36,000 adults.

Published in Nature Communications, the research analyzed MRI brain scans and alcohol-consumption data from 36,678 middle-aged and older adults in the UK Biobank.

The researchers found that greater alcohol intake was associated with smaller overall brain volumes, reduced gray matter volume and differences in white matter microstructure. The associations were widespread across the brain rather than confined to a single region.

And the pattern was not limited to heavy drinkers.

Negative associations were detectable among people consuming an average of one to two UK alcohol units per day, with the relationship becoming stronger as consumption increased. One UK unit contains 8 grams of pure alcohol, so two units are approximately equivalent to one typical glass of wine or a pint of beer—not two U.S. standard drinks.

To illustrate the scale of the findings, researchers compared the associated brain-volume differences with those seen during normal aging.

For an average 50-year-old, increasing consumption from one to two UK units per day was associated with changes equivalent to approximately two years of aging. Increasing from two to three units was associated with an additional difference equivalent to about 3.5 years.

These comparisons do not mean that drinking literally ages the entire brain by that amount, or that an individual will experience a predictable loss of intelligence. They are statistical comparisons based on brain-volume measurements.

The study was observational and cross-sectional, meaning it cannot establish that alcohol directly caused the differences. Other factors, including unmeasured health or lifestyle differences, may also contribute. The researchers specifically called for further studies to investigate causation.

The findings nevertheless add to a substantial body of evidence showing that heavy alcohol use can damage the brain. In severe cases, chronic alcohol misuse can also contribute to thiamine deficiency, which may cause Wernicke’s encephalopathy and, without prompt treatment, potentially permanent memory impairment associated with Korsakoff syndrome.

There is also an important recovery distinction: some alcohol-related changes in brain structure and function can improve with prolonged abstinence, although recovery varies and certain severe injuries may persist.

The takeaway is not that every occasional drink causes irreversible brain damage. It is that the assumption that moderate drinking is automatically harmless deserves closer scrutiny.

Source: Daviet, R., et al. (2022). Associations between alcohol consumption and gray and white matter volumes in the UK Biobank. Nature Communications, 13, 1175. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28735-5. Published March 4, 2022.

09/07/2026

Scientists have discovered that just two doses of psilocybin can prevent a devastating side effect of chemotherapy—in mice.

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have identified a surprising new role for psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in certain mushrooms: protecting nerve cells from chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, or CIPN. The findings were published in Science on September 3, 2026.

CIPN can cause burning pain, tingling, numbness and extreme sensitivity to cold, particularly in the hands and feet. In severe cases, it can interfere with walking, everyday activities and the ability to continue cancer treatment.

A major meta-analysis found that approximately 68% of patients experienced neuropathy within the first month after chemotherapy, although rates vary considerably depending on the drugs used and when symptoms are measured. For some patients, nerve damage can persist for months or years.

In the new study, researchers administered psilocybin before chemotherapy in several preclinical models involving cisplatin, paclitaxel and docetaxel.

As few as two doses prevented the onset of neuropathy in the tested models, even after repeated chemotherapy cycles. Treated animals maintained touch sensation, showed reduced cold hypersensitivity and retained sensory nerve endings that would otherwise have been damaged. Importantly, the treatment did not impair chemotherapy’s antitumor activity in the models examined.

The mechanism is particularly fascinating.

Nerve cells depend on mitochondria—their energy-producing structures—to travel along long nerve fibers and supply energy to distant endings. Chemotherapy can disrupt this transport, leaving nerve endings vulnerable to injury.

Psilocybin helped preserve mitochondrial movement and distribution through a signaling pathway involving serotonin 5-HT2A receptors. Blocking that receptor pathway reversed the protective effect, while a non-hallucinogenic compound targeting the same receptors produced similar protection. This raises the possibility that future medicines could retain the nerve-protective benefits without producing psychedelic effects.

The next step is human testing. MD Anderson’s planned Phase 2 NeuroGuard trial will evaluate whether psilocybin can prevent or reduce neuropathy in patients receiving neurotoxic chemotherapy for breast, colorectal and head-and-neck cancers. The trial is registered as NCT07227909, with recruitment not yet underway in the available registry information.

For now, psilocybin is not an established or approved treatment for preventing chemotherapy-induced neuropathy. The findings are promising, but researchers still need to determine whether the protection translates to humans, what doses are appropriate and how safely the treatment can be used alongside cancer therapy.

Source: Heles, M., et al. (2026). Psilocybin prevents chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy through mitochondrial trafficking preservation. Science, 393(6815), eaec6116. DOI: 10.1126/science.aec6116. UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, September 3, 2026.

09/07/2026

Rabies warnings are being issued across several U.S. states after infected baby goats, bats, wildlife and a domestic dog raised serious concerns about human and animal exposure.

In North Carolina, a traveling petting zoo has become the center of a major public-health investigation.

Three baby goats from Farm Adventures in Harmony tested positive for rabies, while a fourth was presumed infected. Officials believe the goats were most likely exposed to a skunk that entered their pen in late July.

The animals had been taken to events across multiple counties, where visitors—including children and older adults—may have held, fed or cuddled them.

By September 2, local health departments had conducted 284 exposure-risk assessments, and rabies post-exposure prophylaxis had been recommended for 213 people. That does not mean 213 people were infected; it means they were considered to have had exposures serious enough to warrant preventive treatment.

Meanwhile, Idaho reported 24 rabid bats in 2026 as of September 2, more than in each of the previous three years. One public-health district had also received more than twice as many calls about possible bat exposures as it had at the same point in 2025. Officials say the reasons for the increase remain uncertain.

In Texas, San Antonio and surrounding Bexar County reported 22 wildlife rabies cases during June and July 2026, compared with just two or three cases during the same months in each of the previous two years.

Then, on August 18, authorities confirmed rabies in a pet Husky mix—the first reported case in a domestic dog in Bexar County in more than a decade. The dog’s owner said the animal had killed a baby skunk near their home weeks earlier.

These incidents illustrate how rabies can move from infected wildlife into pets, livestock and places where people may have close contact with animals.

The disease is caused by a virus that attacks the central nervous system. It spreads primarily through bites and scratches, but infected saliva can also transmit the virus if it reaches broken skin or the eyes, nose or mouth.

Once clinical symptoms develop, rabies is almost always fatal. But timely medical treatment after exposure can prevent the disease.

If you are bitten or scratched by an animal that may have rabies, wash the wound thoroughly with soap and running water for 15 minutes and seek urgent medical advice. A healthcare professional or health department can assess whether post-exposure prophylaxis is needed. PEP generally includes wound care, rabies immune globulin when indicated, and a series of vaccine doses. Do not wait for symptoms to appear.

Pet vaccination remains one of the most important protections. Residents are also urged to avoid handling bats or unfamiliar wildlife and to report suspicious animal encounters to local authorities.

The key point is not that rabies is suddenly everywhere. It is that a preventable exposure can become a life-threatening emergency when the warning signs are overlooked or treatment is delayed.

Source: Newsweek, “Rabies Warning Issued in Multiple States as Local Cases Rise” (2026); North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services; Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, September 2, 2026; City of San Antonio, August 19, 2026; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

09/07/2026

Nine more pharmaceutical companies are joining a U.S. effort to bring prescription drug prices closer to those paid in other wealthy countries.

On August 31, 2026, President Donald Trump announced a new round of “most-favored-nation” pricing arrangements involving Alcon, Astellas Pharma, BeOne Medicines, BridgeBio, CSL, Kyowa Kirin, Sun Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals and UCB.

The announcement brings the administration’s total to 26 participating drugmakers, representing about 89% of the U.S. branded-drug market, according to the White House. Teva, however, said it was still finalizing its agreement.

The goal is to reduce the gap between what Americans pay for certain medicines and the lower prices negotiated in comparable developed countries.

Under the arrangements, state Medicaid programs are expected to gain access to most-favored-nation prices for covered medicines. The companies have also made commitments concerning future innovative drugs, with treatments for conditions including hemophilia, Parkinson’s disease, glaucoma, macular degeneration, liver disease and cancer among those affected.

But there is an important distinction: the administration has not publicly disclosed the exact new prices or discounts for many of the medicines covered by these agreements. It is therefore too early to say how much every patient will save.

The deals also include a major supply-chain component.

The nine companies have collectively pledged at least $19.6 billion in U.S. manufacturing investment. Several are also contributing active pharmaceutical ingredients to a strategic national reserve, including ingredients used in seizure medications, antibiotics, blood-pressure treatments and transplant medicines. These are supply-security commitments, not necessarily announcements that those specific generic drugs will receive new consumer discounts.

The White House projects that its broader pricing framework could generate roughly $600 billion in savings over the next decade. That is an economic forecast, however, not money already saved. The estimate includes expected savings from future drug launches as well as existing medicines, and its ultimate impact will depend on how the agreements are implemented.

The policy has also attracted criticism. Consumer advocates question whether voluntary, partly confidential agreements will deliver substantial additional relief, particularly because Medicaid already receives significant statutory drug discounts. Supporters argue that international price benchmarking and expanded direct-to-consumer access could make expensive medicines more affordable.

For patients, the central question is whether these agreements will translate into meaningful reductions in the prices they actually pay at the pharmacy.

Source: CBS News, “Trump announces deal with 9 new pharmaceutical firms in move to ease drug costs,” August 31, 2026; White House fact sheet, August 31, 2026; Reuters; White House Council of Economic Advisers.

09/06/2026

A California homeowner turned his ordinary front lawn into a thriving “food forest.” Now he’s facing repeated fines from his city over how that garden is maintained.

Michael Sherman of Chino, California, replaced his grass lawn in 2019 with an edible landscape producing foods and plants including bananas, squash, radishes, passion fruit, Swiss chard, sunflowers and aloe vera.

His goal was simple: grow more of his family’s own food, reduce grocery expenses and know exactly how that food was produced.

But the unconventional front yard eventually drew complaints from neighbors and scrutiny from city code enforcement.

In April 2026, Chino officials issued Sherman $750 in fines for several code violations, including what the city classified as overgrown vegetation. Officials told him to trim the property, preserve clear lines of sight for pedestrians and keep cultivated crops at least 15 feet from neighboring property lines.

Sherman made significant changes.

He removed bushes, cut back vegetation and trimmed trees to address visibility and safety concerns. He even acknowledged that keeping sight lines clear for pedestrians made sense.

But the dispute didn’t end there.

In early September, Sherman said he paid another $500 code-enforcement fine and faced the possibility of another $500 penalty if remaining violations were not corrected by September 16. The city told CBS Los Angeles that progress had been made but that some vegetation still needed to be removed or trimmed.

The controversy has divided the neighborhood.

Some residents support Sherman and say he regularly shares produce with neighbors. Others have complained that the dense vegetation looks neglected and could provide habitat for rodents.

Chino’s own municipal code helps explain the conflict.

The city allows crop cultivation, but its zoning rules require a 15-foot setback from adjacent property lines. Separately, the city classifies certain overgrown vegetation as a public nuisance when it may harbor rodents or is substantially different from surrounding landscaping.

So the dispute is not technically about whether residents are allowed to grow food. It is about how far a productive garden can depart from conventional suburban landscaping while still complying with local maintenance and zoning standards.

The irony hasn’t been lost on Sherman: Chino’s longtime slogan is “Where Everything Grows.”

Sherman says he plans to continue appealing citations and hopes to preserve as much of the food-producing landscape as possible.

Source: CBS Los Angeles, April 27 and September 2, 2026; City of Chino Municipal Code; New York Post.

09/06/2026

New Zealand has taken a major step toward bringing M**A-assisted therapy into mainstream psychiatric care.

On September 4, 2026, New Zealand’s medicines regulator, Medsafe, authorized two psychiatrists to prescribe pharmaceutical-grade M**A to eligible adults with post-traumatic stress disorder whose symptoms have not adequately responded to conventional treatments.

But there is an important distinction: M**A itself has not been approved as a medicine for general use in New Zealand.

Instead, the two specialists received individual authorization to prescribe it under tightly controlled clinical protocols. Any other psychiatrist who wants to offer the treatment would need separate approval from Medsafe.

Patients must be at least 18 years old, undergo a comprehensive clinical assessment, and receive M**A as part of a broader psychotherapy program.

The drug is administered in a controlled clinical environment under the supervision of an authorized psychiatrist. Patients cannot take M**A home.

The decision puts New Zealand alongside Australia, which in 2023 became the first country to establish a regulatory pathway allowing specifically authorized psychiatrists to prescribe M**A for PTSD.

Australia also treats these products as unapproved medicines, meaning they have not gone through the same standard product-approval process as conventional prescription drugs.

Interest in M**A-assisted therapy has grown because PTSD can be extremely difficult to treat. Existing medications and psychotherapy help many patients, but some continue to experience severe symptoms despite treatment.

The United States has taken a more cautious path.

In August 2024, the FDA declined to approve the first M**A-assisted PTSD treatment application and requested additional evidence, following concerns over trial methodology, safety and whether the available data adequately demonstrated effectiveness.

That story is not over.

In August 2026, it was reported that Resilient Pharmaceuticals, formerly Lykos Therapeutics, resubmitted its M**A-assisted therapy application to the FDA, beginning another potential regulatory review.

New Zealand’s decision therefore represents another significant milestone for psychedelic-assisted psychiatry—but it is not a declaration that M**A is safe or appropriate for everyone. Access remains highly restricted, supervised and limited to carefully selected patients.

Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health/Medsafe, September 4, 2026; Agence France-Presse/The Guardian; Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration.

09/06/2026

A new bipartisan bill in Congress would cut off federal funding for Flock-style license plate readers — and its reach extends far beyond Flock cameras.

Introduced on September 2 by Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky alongside Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri, the “Flock-Off Act,” H.R. 10221, would prohibit federal money from being used to purchase, install, operate, maintain, repair or upgrade automated license plate readers and certain biometric surveillance cameras.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California joined several Republican lawmakers as an original cosponsor, giving the proposal bipartisan support.

The bill is named after Flock Safety, one of America’s largest automated license plate reader companies, but it is written broadly enough to cover qualifying surveillance systems made by any company.

And it goes considerably further than license plates.

The legislation defines covered biometric data to include facial images, voiceprints, fingerprints, iris and retinal scans, and gait patterns when cameras automatically extract and process that information using machine learning or other automated technology.

It would also prevent federal money from paying for the surrounding infrastructure — including subscriptions, cloud storage, databases, software, network connectivity, data-analysis services and agreements giving agencies access to surveillance data.

Existing federally funded systems would face major consequences.

If the legislation became law, federal agencies would have 180 days to decommission and remove covered systems purchased or operated wholly or partly with federal money.

State, local and tribal recipients of federal funds would likewise have 180 days to stop operating covered systems financed through the relevant federal program and terminate federally funded contracts or subscriptions connected to them. Agencies that improperly continued spending federal money could have further funding under that program withheld until the money was repaid.

There are two major exceptions.

Covered cameras could still receive federal funding for certain border-security operations within one mile of the northern or southern U.S. border, and automated license plate readers could still be funded when used solely for highway toll collection, with strict limits on how that data is used.

Supporters argue these interconnected surveillance networks allow authorities to track the movements of ordinary people without warrants or meaningful judicial oversight. Massie says federal taxpayers should not be forced to finance what he describes as a growing “surveillance state.”

Law-enforcement supporters of ALPR technology counter that the systems can help locate stolen vehicles, identify suspects and find missing people, arguing that removing them could weaken an increasingly important investigative tool.

The proposal is not law yet. H.R. 10221 has been referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and would still need to pass Congress and be signed into law before these restrictions could take effect.

Source: U.S. House of Representatives — H.R. 10221, Flock-Off Act, introduced September 2, 2026; Jacob Sullum, Reason, “A New Bill Reflects the Bipartisan Backlash Against Flock-Enabled Mass Surveillance,” September 3, 2026.

09/06/2026

Just 10 U.S. states accounted for roughly 60% of all ma*****na arrests nationwide in 2025.

And most of those arrests were for simple possession.

An analysis by NORML using FBI Crime Data Explorer figures found that police in Texas, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Georgia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Indiana, Louisiana and Alabama made more than 131,000 ma*****na-related arrests in 2025.

Nationwide, the FBI recorded at least 218,152 ma*****na arrests that year, although NORML notes that incomplete reporting by some law-enforcement agencies means the true number could be higher.

Texas alone recorded 29,690 ma*****na arrests, the highest total in the country.

Of those, 28,943—about 97.5%—were for possession, rather than sales or trafficking.

The same pattern appeared across several other high-arrest states. In North Carolina, Wisconsin, Georgia, Tennessee and Pennsylvania, at least 90% of ma*****na arrests involved possession offenses.

The contrast with states where adult recreational cannabis is legal is striking.

Twenty-four states currently permit adult-use ma*****na, and some report extremely low numbers of possession arrests. Vermont, for example, recorded just 16 ma*****na-possession arrests in 2025.

Louisiana stood out in another way: ma*****na possession accounted for 62% of all drug arrests in the state, the highest share reported nationwide.

Louisiana also enacted a new law in 2026 increasing penalties for ma*****na possession committed within designated drug-free school zones. Under certain circumstances, the offense can carry up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

There is also an economic dimension worth noting. Louisiana had the highest state poverty rate in the country at 18.7% in the latest available 2024 Census estimates, while Alabama was also among the states with poverty rates of 15% or higher.

The numbers illustrate how dramatically ma*****na enforcement now depends on geography.

An adult can legally possess cannabis under state law in one part of America, while crossing into another state can expose that same person to arrest, fines or even jail for similar conduct.

Source: National Organization for the Reform of Ma*****na Laws (NORML), “FBI: 60 Percent of All Ma*****na Arrests Nationwide Occurred in These Ten States,” August 31, 2026; FBI Crime Data Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau.

09/06/2026

Scientists have taken an extraordinary step toward something Alzheimer’s medicine has never been able to do: replace neurons lost to disease rather than simply slow their deterioration.

Researchers led by the University of South Carolina have developed an experimental nanogel called Nano-ERASER, or TN-PTBP1, that produced striking neurological and behavioral improvements in mice engineered to develop Alzheimer’s-like disease.

Instead of altering DNA, the treatment carries antibodies across the blood-brain barrier and delivers them inside astrocytes—star-shaped cells that normally support neurons.

Once inside, the antibodies trigger the degradation of a protein called PTBP1, which helps maintain an astrocyte’s cellular identity. Reducing PTBP1 activated neuronal programs and prompted astrocytes to adopt neuron-like characteristics. In laboratory-grown human brain organoids, the resulting neurons displayed mature markers and measurable electrical activity.

Then came the animal experiment.

Researchers treated 8-month-old 5XFAD mice, a widely used genetic model that develops severe amyloid accumulation, neuronal loss and memory impairment.

The mice received just two intravenous injections, eight days apart.

Over the following weeks, treated animals recovered much of their nesting behavior and performed dramatically better in the Morris water maze, a standard test of spatial learning and memory. Their performance approached that of healthy control mice on several measures.

When researchers examined their brains, they also found higher neuron density and increased markers of newly generated neurons.

The benefits extended beyond neuroregeneration.

Treated mice showed lower levels of the inflammatory molecules TNF-α and IL-6, reduced amyloid-beta burden and improvements in markers associated with blood-brain barrier integrity.

The researchers describe the approach as non-genomic and potentially reversible, because it temporarily targets a protein rather than permanently modifying the genetic code.

But this remains an early preclinical experiment.

The behavioral study involved relatively small groups of mice, the 5XFAD model does not reproduce every aspect of human Alzheimer’s disease, and Nano-ERASER has not been tested in people. Questions about long-term safety, durability and exactly how newly generated neurons integrate into brain circuits still need further investigation. The team says future work will include longer-term studies and testing in nonhuman primates before any potential human trials.

Still, the concept is fascinating: instead of only trying to protect the neurons that remain, future Alzheimer’s therapies might someday attempt to regenerate some of those already lost.

Source: Wang, M., VanderVeen, B., Xu, Z. A., et al. (2026). Reverse the progression of Alzheimer’s disease through Nano-ERASER-based adult neuroregeneration. Cell Biomaterials, published August 26, 2026. DOI: 10.1016/j.celbio.2026.100575.

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