WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.760 Hi, I'm Mica Finch. Today is Saturday, September 19, 2026, and this is your lolwat daily briefing. 2 00:00:07.760 --> 00:00:13.280 Coming up, a discovery about how brains develop, a wild cat that was hiding in a familiar name, 3 00:00:13.280 --> 00:00:18.720 and why two coding assistants with the same AI model can behave very differently. We'll also 4 00:00:18.720 --> 00:00:23.120 check the live desk, then finish with a musical tradition that's been changed by the people 5 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:28.560 carrying it. First, from the daily briefing on our site, researchers have found that different 6 00:00:28.560 --> 00:00:32.800 parts of the brain follow separate paths from the earliest stages of development. 7 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:38.320 The Stanford-led team traced two populations of early cells in mouse embryos. 8 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:43.920 One gives rise to the forebrain and midbrain, the other forms the hindbrain. Using what they learned, 9 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:48.240 the researchers also grew functional human hindbrain motor neurons from stem cells in 10 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:53.440 the laboratory. Why does that matter? If you want to study a particular kind of brain cell, 11 00:00:53.440 --> 00:00:56.560 starting with the right developmental pathway, could make a real difference. 12 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:01.280 This work gives researchers another way to investigate conditions affecting those neurons. 13 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:06.880 It's a research advance, though, not a new treatment. The study appeared in Nature Neuroscience. 14 00:01:07.600 --> 00:01:13.040 There's also a health development in the briefing. The FDA has approved a combination of two medicines 15 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:18.480 for a particular group of adults with advanced breast cancer. The treatment combines imlunostrent 16 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:24.880 with abomasoclib. It is for estrogen receptor positive, HER2 negative cancer with an ESR1 17 00:01:24.880 --> 00:01:30.160 mutation, after the disease has progressed, following endocrine therapy. In an exploratory 18 00:01:30.160 --> 00:01:36.000 analysis of 159 patients with that mutation, the median time before the cancer progressed 19 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:41.760 was 11.1 months with the combination, compared with 5.5 months with imlunostrant alone. 20 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:47.120 That is different from showing that patients lived longer overall. Those survival results 21 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:52.480 were still immature. The medicines can also have serious side effects. The approval gives 22 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:56.720 the specified group another treatment option, rather than changing care for everyone with 23 00:01:56.720 --> 00:02:02.720 breast cancer. Our written briefing, links directly to the FDA announcement. Elsewhere 24 00:02:02.720 --> 00:02:07.440 in the written briefing, Malaysia's securities regulator wants to know how major listed companies 25 00:02:07.440 --> 00:02:12.960 are preparing for a possible strong El Nino. Reuters, reported that the regulator plans to 26 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:18.080 compare what companies disclose about climate risks, with what they're actually doing. Water 27 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:23.680 supplies and agriculture are among the concerns. The useful question here is a practical one. 28 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:28.480 When a company says it's prepared, what has it changed? For a reader trying to make sense 29 00:02:28.480 --> 00:02:34.000 of a corporate climate report, that distinction is useful. A list of possible hazards doesn't 30 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:38.560 tell you whether a business has a workable response. The regulator's proposed follow-up 31 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:42.800 would compare those statements with practical preparations, particularly around drought and 32 00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:47.680 water stress. Whether that produces better preparation is something to watch, rather than 33 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:55.120 a result already established. Now, a short check of the live desk. Our Cuba update posted at 6 56 34 00:02:55.120 --> 00:03:00.640 this evening, Eastern Time, reports that nearly half of the state utility's Havana customers 35 00:03:00.640 --> 00:03:07.120 had electricity restored, following the nationwide blackout. Recovery was still incomplete. Follow 36 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:12.640 our live desk for verified updates. Next, the cat. This is a story I've been especially keen 37 00:03:12.640 --> 00:03:17.600 to share, because the animal wasn't unknown to the people living near it. The surprise was in 38 00:03:17.600 --> 00:03:24.640 its family tree. A small spotted cat from Bolivia, nicknamed Tigrino, ended up at a wildlife sanctuary 39 00:03:24.640 --> 00:03:30.160 after being found as a kitten. At first, he was identified as a familiar kind of tiger cat, 40 00:03:30.160 --> 00:03:35.680 but his markings didn't quite fit. Comparing whole genomes eventually placed the Bolivian cat 41 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:40.640 on its own evolutionary branch. Researchers concluded that what had been treated as one 42 00:03:40.640 --> 00:03:46.320 kind of tiger cat, actually contained five species. The newly described Bolivian species 43 00:03:46.320 --> 00:03:52.400 takes the name, Tilcayo, a name already used by nearby communities. Here's why a change of name 44 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:58.400 can matter outside a field guide. A species spread across a huge area may appear relatively secure. 45 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:04.640 If that supposed species turns out to be several distinct lineages, each with a smaller range, 46 00:04:04.640 --> 00:04:09.120 conservation assessments need another look. That doesn't tell us how many Tilcayos remain 47 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:14.320 in the wild. Researchers still need evidence about their population and range, but it changes 48 00:04:14.320 --> 00:04:19.600 what needs to be counted. There's another lovely detail in the investigation. Some of the genomes 49 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:24.720 came from old museum specimens. Those collections let researchers compare living animals with 50 00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:29.760 populations that can be difficult to encounter now, and connect the revised family tree with 51 00:04:29.760 --> 00:04:35.200 the evidence behind the older names. A preserved specimen can still answer a question that nobody 52 00:04:35.200 --> 00:04:39.920 could have asked when it entered the collection. You'll find photographs, the full story, 53 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:46.080 and its sources on the site. Over in technology, Rivet Sparrow asks a useful question. If two 54 00:04:46.080 --> 00:04:51.280 coding assistants use the same AI model, why aren't they equally good at the job? Part of the 55 00:04:51.280 --> 00:04:56.480 answer may be the software around the model. It decides which old messages stay in memory, 56 00:04:56.480 --> 00:05:01.280 how a plan is maintained, and which tools the assistant can use. Researchers call that 57 00:05:01.280 --> 00:05:05.920 surrounding machinery a harness. A recent preprint compared different arrangements while 58 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:11.840 holding the model fixed within match tests. Some extra features helped, others added little. 59 00:05:11.840 --> 00:05:16.000 Planning could keep a weaker model working long enough to attempt an edit, while helping 60 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:21.600 stronger models stop spending time on redundant checks. It's one study, and it hasn't been 61 00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:26.960 peer-reviewed. But it suggests a sensible way to judge an assistant. Watch what happens when the 62 00:05:26.960 --> 00:05:32.160 work gets messy, not just which model name is printed on the box. Rivet suggests a small, 63 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:37.760 practical comparison. Give two assistants the same modest task in separate copies of a project. 64 00:05:38.320 --> 00:05:41.920 Watch whether they keep track of your requirements, recover from an error, 65 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:47.680 and stop once the work is complete. One task won't prove which product is generally better. 66 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:52.240 It can reveal the particular thing that is making one assistant useful and the other frustrating. 67 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:56.960 That is a more concrete starting point than treating every new feature as an improvement. 68 00:05:57.520 --> 00:06:02.640 And finally, Sora Meridian follows Nanyin, a musical tradition from southern China carried 69 00:06:02.640 --> 00:06:08.080 to Singapore by migrants. Its recognizable sounds include a bamboo flute, wooden clappers, 70 00:06:08.080 --> 00:06:13.120 and a lute held horizontally. In Singapore, practitioners have also experimented with new 71 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:19.280 instruments, lyrics, and theatrical settings. A festival program in Shanghai brings that history 72 00:06:19.280 --> 00:06:24.240 back toward the tradition's place of origin. Sora's article distinguishes the established 73 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:30.160 practice from the adaptations and the advertised performances. It's a story about how people keep 74 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:35.520 something recognizable while continuing to change it. For a first listen, Sora suggests 75 00:06:35.520 --> 00:06:40.480 following the wooden clappers for a few phrases, then turning your attention to the lute or the 76 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:45.760 voice. Each has a different job. You don't need to understand the whole tradition before noticing 77 00:06:45.760 --> 00:06:51.040 that relationship. The article also separates the festival's advertised program from what has 78 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:55.520 been independently confirmed. So, a planned performance doesn't quietly turn into an 79 00:06:55.520 --> 00:07:00.400 eyewitness account. That's your briefing. Find the full daily roundup, the articles, 80 00:07:00.400 --> 00:07:06.160 and their sources, at lolwat.net. I'm Mica Finch. Thanks for listening.