Lebanon, Seeing Mouse Vision, and the Nowstalgia Effect

 Need To Know 

Lebanon in Crossfire

Roughly 700,000 people in Lebanon, including about 200,000 children, have been displaced as Israeli airstrikes on Beirut continued yesterday. Many are sheltering in schools and stadiums (see photos). Lebanese officials say the death toll is rising by roughly 100 people a day, with at least 570 people killed as of yesterday.

Israel began bombing Lebanon last week after Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group, attacked Israel in retaliation for the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.  Lebanon’s government has called for talks with Israel aimed at disarming Hezbollah and postponed parliamentary elections by two years. The country, which borders Israel to the south, was already struggling to recover from a nearly 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah that officially ended in 2024, though UN experts reported continued strikes in Lebanon after the ceasefire.

In Iran, state officials say more than 1,300 civilians have been killed, as US officials report striking over 5,000 targets over 10 days (see breakdown), with roughly $5.6B spent on munitions in the first two days. The Pentagon has also reported seven service member deaths and about 140 wounded.

The Eyes of a Mouse

Scientists have reconstructed videos of what mice are seeing by analyzing their brain activity, a new study revealed yesterday. The research could lay the groundwork for understanding how different animals experience visual input.

In recent years, researchers have used fMRI scans to monitor human subjects as they watch images or films. They then recreate those images, including with the help of generative AI tools like Stable Diffusion (see study, w/photo). In the latest study, researchers showed 10-second videos to 10 mice, reconstructing frame-by-frame visuals by analyzing the brain activity of five mouse subjects. Instead of using fMRI scans, which analyze blood flow, these scientists used single-cell recordings, aiming to capture the activity of individual neurons in the visual cortex (about 8,000 neurons per mouse). The goal was to capture more a precise measurement of brain activity. 

The team then compared pixel-level data between the original and reconstructed videos. See the video here and the full study here.

Runway Safety Lapse

South Korean airport operators built a concrete mound at the end of Muan International Airport’s runway to cut costs, according to a government audit released yesterday. The decision violated safety standards and contributed to the 2024 Jeju Air crash that killed 179 people. 

A report released earlier this year used computer simulations to reconstruct the Boeing 737-800’s belly landing and collision (see analysis) with a solid concrete mound after a bird strike left its landing gear inoperable. The audit found the airport had used solid concrete rather than collapsible materials to support a localizer antenna—a navigation aid that guides landing aircraft—because reshaping the surrounding terrain would have been more expensive. Investigators also determined that airport officials falsified inspection reports for 16 years to conceal the defect.

The audit identified 14 similar localizer installations at nine airports nationwide that did not meet government regulations. Officials said they are working to replace those with compliant structures.

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo scores 83 points in 150-129 win over Washington Wizards, marking second-highest scoring effort in NBA history after the late Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game from 1962 (More) 

> Italy purchases portrait of a young Pope Urban VIII, painted by Baroque painter Caravaggio around 1598, for roughly $35M, one of its largest payouts for a single artwork (More) 

> Arnold Schwarzenegger to revive 1980s "Conan the Barbarian" franchise, also in talks to return to "Predator" franchise and star in sequel to 1985 film "Commando" (More) | Universal Pictures secures deal to produce Bon Jovi biopic (More)

Science & Technology

> Blood test identifies women at higher risk for dementia up to 25 years before symptoms appear, enabling better preventive care and monitoring (More) | What we've learned about Alzheimer's (1440 Topics) 

> Ancient parrot DNA reveals Amazonian parrots were transported across the Andes centuries before the Inca Empire—evidence of a long-distance trade network that challenges assumptions about regional isolation in pre-Incan societies (More) 

> Transportation Department approves eight electric aircraft pilot programs across 26 states (More) 

Business & Markets

> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 -0.2%, Dow -0.1%, Nasdaq +0.0%) (More) | Bill Ackman's Pershing Square hedge fund seeks up to $10B in initial public offering on NYSE (More) 

> Legora, Swedish legal AI platform, valued at roughly $5.6B after $550M funding round as it seeks to expand in the US—home of rival Harvey (More) | Meta acquires Moltbook, a social network for AI agents that went viral earlier this year (More) 

> China posts record trade surplus in first two months of 2026 as exports rose around 22% year-over-year, driven by strong global demand for semiconductors, electronics, and autos (More) 

Politics & World Affairs

> Severe storms bring tornadoes, massive hail from Texas to Indiana; National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center issues Level 4 of 5 risk—the highest severe weather outlook so far this year (More, w/videos) 

> Republican Clay Fuller and Democrat Shawn Harris head to April runoff in race to fill seat of former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R, GA-14), who resigned in January (More) | Trump appoints Turning Point CEO Erika Kirk to 16-seat Air Force Academy Board of Visitors, replacing her late husband, Charlie Kirk (More)

> Canadian police search for two suspects after shots are fired at the US consulate in Toronto; no one was wounded and no motive was publicly identified as of this writing (More) 

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Historybook: Civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy born (1926); Sir Alexander Fleming, scientist who discovered penicillin, dies (1955); Janet Reno confirmed as US' first female attorney general (1993); Coordinated bombings kill 191 people on trains in Madrid (2004); COVID-19 declared a pandemic by World Health Organization (2020).

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