Good morning. It's Tuesday, Feb. 18, and we're covering a plane overturning while landing in Toronto, record-breaking cancer remission, and much more. First time reading? Join over 4 million intellectually curious readers. Sign up here.
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A Delta Air Lines plane, operated by its subsidiary, Endeavor Air, crashed and overturned upon landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport yesterday. All 76 passengers and four crew members aboard the flight were evacuated, and at least 18 people sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Authorities, led by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, are still investigating the cause of the incident. The aircraft was flying in from Minneapolis amid heavy winds, with gusts of up to 40 mph reported at the time of the crash. The temperature was around 18 degrees Fahrenheit. The Bombardier CRJ-900 aircraft is about 16 years old and can often operate for two or three decades with regular maintenance. See photos of the crash here.
Yesterday's crash adds to a spate of aviation accidents around the world in the last few months, including when 179 people died in December after an airliner crashed on landing at a South Korean airport and when 67 people died last month after a US Army helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet collided in Washington, DC. See the deadliest plane crashes in history here. |
A woman has remained in remission for more than 18 years after being diagnosed with advanced pediatric nerve cancer, doctors reported yesterday. Her remission is the longest observed success from an immunotherapy treatment known as CAR-T.
The patient first arrived at a Houston hospital in 2006 at just 4 years old, where doctors diagnosed her with neuroblastoma—a condition in which immature nerve cells become cancerous as they develop. After traditional treatments failed, she enrolled in an experimental trial to receive chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy. The approach takes a person's own immune system T cells (see overview), equips them with a gene that helps target cancer cells, and reinjects them into the body.
While CAR-T has seen success in treating blood cancers like leukemia, the approach has been less effective in solid tumors like neuroblastoma. Of the 10 others enrolled in the original trial, nine passed away, while one survived for nine years before losing contact with researchers.
See a timeline of CAR-T therapy here. |
Pope Francis will remain in a Rome hospital longer than expected due to a "complex clinical picture" from a respiratory tract infection, the Vatican announced yesterday.
The 88-year-old pontiff was admitted Friday after a weeklong bout of bronchitis, marking his fourth hospitalization since his 2013 election. Tests revealed a polymicrobial respiratory tract infection, meaning multiple pathogens are involved, requiring treatment adjustments. The Vatican says he remains stable but has not given a release timeline. Before his hospitalization, the pope maintained a busy schedule, including overseeing the commencement of the 2025 Jubilee.
The Argentina-born pope battled a severe respiratory infection in his youth, leading to partial lung removal. He spent 10 days in the hospital in July 2021 after colon surgery, was hospitalized for three nights in March 2023 for bronchitis, and underwent hernia surgery in June 2023. Officials say doctors are closely monitoring his treatment response and watching for signs of worsening, particularly pneumonia. |
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
> Kendrick Lamar becomes first hip-hop artist to land three albums at the same time in Top 10 of Billboard 200 albums chart (More) | Shakira resumes world tour after canceling concert over the weekend following hospitalization for a stomach illness (More) |
> Paquita la del Barrio, Grammy-nominated Mexican music icon, dies at age 77 (More) |
> Matt Damon tapped as star of Christopher Nolan's upcoming film "The Odyssey," slated for a July 2026 release date (More) | "SNL" 50th anniversary special hauls in 14.8 million viewers (More) |
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> Social media platform X blocks links to secure messaging app Signal; encrypted service has been used by terminated government workers to contact journalists (More) |
> Pancreatic cancer tumors reprogram adjacent nerve cells in ways that fuel tumor growth; study may lead to new ways to slow or halt the disease, which has a five-year survival rate of around 10% (More) |
> Paleontologists discover 30-million-year-old skull belonging to a new species of Hyaenodonta, a leopard-like apex predator that roamed what is now Egypt after dinosaurs went extinct (More) |
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> Chinese President Xi Jinping holds meeting with top Chinese entrepreneurs, including Alibaba’s Jack Ma and heads of electric carmaker BYD, Apple’s Chinese rival Huawei, and gaming holding company Tencent (More) |
> Southwest Airlines to cut 15% of corporate jobs, or about 1,750 people, as part of cost-cutting measures; mass layoffs are first-ever in the carrier's history (More) |
> OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever reportedly raising more than $1B for his AI startup Safe Superintelligence at a valuation of over $30B (More) |
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> Federal judge expected to rule by today in state attorneys general effort to bar Department of Government Efficiency from firing government employees or accessing data (More) | DOGE reportedly seeking access to IRS systems that store sensitive taxpayer data (More) | Four top deputies of New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) resign in fallout from Adams' corruption case (More) |
> US and Russian officials kick off talks in Saudi Arabia about ending Ukraine war, while European leaders gather in Paris for Ukraine summit (More) | Israeli forces to remain in five locations in southern Lebanon even after deadline for full withdrawal under ceasefire deal (More) |
> At least 11 dead from Kentucky storm as the US faces a polar vortex this week, bringing extreme cold and snow that could set record-low temperatures (More) |
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> The Human Behind the Characters
NY Times | Hank Azaria. The mastermind behind more than 100 "Simpsons" voices presents in an audio-visual argument that AI can’t replace actors, as voice work requires creativity, spontaneity, and heart. (Read, best with sound)
> The Hardest-Working Font
Aresluna | Marcin Wichary. Originally designed for engraving machines, the ubiquitous Gorton font's fascinating history—from computer keyboards to Apollo space missions—reveals its surprising influence on technical lettering, signage, and even comic books. (Read) |
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