Gene-Editing Infusion Slashes Cholesterol in Early Trial

Today's Graduates Face a Career of Constant Reinvention

Pentagon Pursues Drone Funding Deals as Government Bets Grow

Micron Crosses $1 Trillion as Chip Rally Hits Record Pace

US Strikes Iran After Drone Attacks Strain Fragile Cease-Fire

Gene-Editing Infusion Slashes Cholesterol in Early Trial

An experimental gene-editing treatment sharply lowered cholesterol levels after a single infusion, scientists reported Monday in a small preliminary study. The interim analysis, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, examined 35 patients in a trial expected to enroll as many as 85 participants, all of whom have genetically high LDL cholesterol or heart disease. At the highest dose, the single infusion reduced LDL cholesterol by as much as 62 percent, a change that has been sustained in a subgroup treated 18 months earlier. The treatment works by disabling the PCSK9 gene in liver cells, which prompts the liver to pull more LDL cholesterol from the bloodstream. The study was led by Dr. Sekar Kathiresan, chief executive of Verve Therapeutics, now a subsidiary of Eli Lilly, who cited a family history of heart disease as his motivation. Researchers hope that, if confirmed in larger studies, the approach could offer a one-time method to prevent cardiovascular disease, which kills nearly 800,000 Americans each year.

NYT

Today's Graduates Face a Career of Constant Reinvention

College graduates entering the workforce this month face a degree of career disruption that distinguishes them from earlier cohorts. LinkedIn projects that people starting out now will hold twice as many jobs over their careers as those who began 15 years ago, partly because working lives are stretching to 50 or 60 years. Workers are also increasingly likely to hold positions disconnected from their undergraduate studies. About 42 percent of recent college graduates ages 22 to 27 hold jobs that do not require a degree, up from roughly 38 percent in early 2023, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The longer-term effect of artificial intelligence on these careers remains uncertain, though significant disruption is widely anticipated at some point. Some jobs today's graduates eventually hold may not yet exist.

WSJ

Pentagon Pursues Drone Funding Deals as Government Bets Grow

The Trump administration is pursuing funding deals with several drone companies as part of a broader push to use strategic government investment to strengthen domestic production and lower costs, people familiar with the matter said. The potential agreements follow months of discussions between private drone makers and the Pentagon, including its Office of Strategic Capital, a lending office the Pentagon said holds about $210 billion in lending authority. Some deals could combine debt and equity, giving the federal government an ownership stake in the companies, though the talks remain in a negotiation phase. Among the firms identified for possible funding are Performance Drone Works, which won an Army reconnaissance contract; Unusual Machines, a components supplier that counts Donald Trump Jr. as a shareholder and advisory board member; and Neros Technologies, a Sequoia Capital-backed maker of first-person view drones. The office has previously structured conditional loans requiring companies to meet benchmarks before receiving money, and has also made several critical-minerals investments. The drone talks reflect a wider pattern of the government taking direct financial positions in firms it deems vital to national security supply chains.

WSJ

Micron Crosses $1 Trillion as Chip Rally Hits Record Pace

Micron Technology shares jumped roughly 18 percent on May 26, pushing the memory-chip maker's market value past $1 trillion for the first time and underscoring the breadth of the artificial-intelligence-driven chip rally. The catalyst was a UBS price-target increase citing demand for high-bandwidth memory in AI servers. The milestone came as the PHLX Semiconductor Index posted its best start to a year on record. Sandisk has soared 570 percent this year, Intel has more than tripled, and Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix have all reached $1 trillion valuations, while Advanced Micro Devices now exceeds JPMorgan Chase in market value. Investor enthusiasm for AI hardware has helped lift the broader market out of its Iran-war slump while fueling concern that so steep a surge must eventually end.

CNBC / WSJ

US Strikes Iran After Drone Attacks Strain Fragile Cease-Fire

U.S. forces conducted new military strikes against Iran on Wednesday after Tehran launched drones at commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. officials. American F/A-18, F-16 and F-35 fighter jets shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones, then struck a drone-control station near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas before a fifth drone could launch. Officials said the site posed a threat to U.S. forces and commercial traffic in the strait. As with earlier strikes this week, administration officials described the attacks as limited and defensive rather than an escalation that would collapse the fragile cease-fire both sides have largely observed. There were no casualties in the incident, two of the officials said.

The strikes come as Iran's economy buckles under a U.S. naval blockade that has choked off oil export revenue and pushed the country toward shutting down wells as storage runs short. More than a million Iranians have lost work, the national currency has fallen to record lows, and prices for staples such as rice, meat, bread and cheese have risen sharply in recent weeks. Officials are urging citizens to conserve fuel, electricity and water as the squeeze spreads into daily life, raising fears of a repeat of the deadly protests that erupted at the turn of the year. President Masoud Pezeshkian told the Tehran Chamber of Commerce that the main war is now economic, warning that failure there would mean failure for the country. Analysts say the deepening hardship gives Tehran an incentive to negotiate as Washington presses it to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

WSJ

MAY 28, 1964: PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION IS FOUNDED

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed to unify various Palestinian groups in the struggle for a homeland. Under leaders like Yasir Arafat, it later gained international recognition but also faced internal tensions between militant and more moderate factions.

Found a mistake? Have a news tip or feedback to share? Contact our newsroom using the button below:

citizen journal offers three flagship products: a daily national news summary, a daily Kansas news summary, and local news and school board summaries from 34 cities across 5 states. Use the links in the header to navigate to national, kansas, and local coverage. Subscribe to each, some, or all to get an email when new issues are published for FREE!

Brought to you by (click me!)

Sources

1. New York Times
2. Wall Street Journal
3. Wall Street Journal
4. CNBC / Wall Street Journal
5. Wall Street Journal — strikes / Wall Street Journal — blockade