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Likely tornado rips through Houston area

admin - Latest News - November 25, 2025
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A massive funnel cloud sliced through the Houston area, downing trees and tearing pieces from buildings. NBC News’ Priscilla Thompson reports from hard-hit Spring, Texas.



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Nov. 25, 2025, 6:40 AM ESTBy Evan BushAs we age, the human brain rewires itself. The process happens in distinct phases, or “epochs,” according to new research, as the structure of our neural networks changes and our brains reconfigure how we think and process information.For the first time, scientists say they’ve identified four distinct turning points between those phases in an average brain: at ages 9, 32, 66 and 83. During each epoch between those years, our brains show markedly different characteristics in brain architecture, they say.The findings, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, suggest that human cognition does not simply increase with age until a peak, then decline. In fact, the phase from ages 9 to 32 is the only time in life when our neural networks are becoming increasingly efficient, according to the research. During the adulthood phase, from 32 to 66, the average person’s brain architecture essentially stabilizes without major changes, at a time when researchers think people are generally plateauing in intelligence and personality. And in the years after the last turning point — 83 and beyond — the brain becomes increasingly reliant on individual regions as connections between them begin to wither away. “It’s not a linear progression,” said Alexa Mousley, a postdoctoral researcher associate at the University of Cambridge, who is the study’s lead author. “This is the first step of understanding the way the brain’s changing fluctuates based on age.” How AI is transforming healthcare across the country03:59The findings could help identify why mental health and neurological conditions develop during particular phases of rewiring.Rick Betzel, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Minnesota who was not involved in the research, said the findings are intriguing, but more data is needed to support the conclusions. The theories may not hold up to scrutiny over time, he said.“They did this really ambitious thing,” Betzel said of the study. “Let’s see where it stands in a few years.” For their research, Mousley and her colleagues analyzed MRI diffusion scans — which are essentially images of how water molecules move within the brain — from about 3,800 people from age 0 to age 90. The goal was to map the neural connections across the average person’s brain at different stages in life. In the brain, the bundles of nerve fibers that transfer signals are encapsulated in fatty tissue called myelin. Think of it like wiring or plumbing. Water molecules diffused in the brain tend to move in the direction of these fibers, rather than across them, meaning researchers can infer where the neural pathways are located. “We can’t crack open skulls … we rely on non-invasive approaches,” Betzel said of this type of neuroscience research. “What we’re trying to figure out is where these fiber bundles are at.” Based on the MRI scans, the new study maps the neural network of an average person across a lifespan, determining where connections are strengthening or weakening. The five “epochs” it describes are based on the neural connections the researchers observed. The first phase is from 0 to age 9, they suggest. The brain rapidly increases in gray and white matter; it prunes extra synapses and restructures itself. From ages 9 to 32, there is an extended period of rewiring. The brain is defined by rapid communication across the entire brain and efficient connections between different regions. Most mental health disorders are diagnosed during this time period, Mousely said: “Is there something about this second era of life, as we find it, that could lead people to be more vulnerable to the onset of mental health disorders?”From 32 to 66, the brain plateaus. It’s still rewiring itself, but less dramatically and more slowly. Then, from 66 to age of 83, the brain tends toward “modularity,” where the neural network is divided into highly connected subnetworks with less central integration. At age 83, connectivity declines further. Betzel said the theory described in the study likely jives with people’s lived experiences with aging and cognition. “It’s intuitively something we gravitate towards. I have two kids and they’re really young. I think all of the time, ‘I’m getting out of my toddler era,’” Betzel said. “Maybe the science ends up being there. But are those the exact right ages? I don’t know.” In the ideal version of a study like this, he added, the researchers would have MRI diffusion data for a large group of people, each of whom were scanned during every year of life from birth to death. But that wasn’t possible because the technology wasn’t available decades ago. Instead, the researchers combined nine different data sets containing neuroimaging from previous studies and attempted to harmonize them. Betzel said each of those data sets varies in quality and approach, and the effort to make them correspond with one another could wash away important variability, ultimately leading to bias in the results. Nonetheless, he said the authors of the paper are “thoughtful” and skilled scientists who did their best to control for that possibility. “Brain networks change over the lifespan — absolutely. Is it discrete such that there are five exact change points? I’d say stay tuned. It’s an interesting idea.”Evan BushEvan Bush is a science reporter for NBC News.
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Oct. 19, 2025, 7:00 AM EDTBy Margaret HethermanBorn into Victorian tradition in 1866, Alice Austen enjoyed a position in Staten Island society that gave her freedom to pursue what she dubbed “the larky life,” a whirlwind of fashionable gatherings and mischief that challenged social norms. But it was the gift of a wooden box camera from her uncle — and a chance meeting in the Catskills — that set the course for how Austen would be remembered beyond Gilded days: as one of America’s earliest and most adventurous women photographers and for her relationship with Gertrude Tate, which spanned more than half a century.Though her father abandoned her mother when she was an infant, Austen enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle with extended family in their home called Clear Comfort, overlooking the coastline of the New York City borough of Staten Island. She perfected imagery of her natural surroundings, social doings and “the sporting society set” in a darkroom fashioned from a closet. Her photos serve as a portal to the Gilded Age, with images of the annual regatta, boathouse bathers, charity balls and lawn tennis, a sport newly open to women who were too restricted by corsets to actually run for the ball.A self-portrait of Alice Austen on the front porch of Clear Comfort in 1892.Courtesy Collection of Alice Austen HouseWhen cycling took off, so did Austen, similarly constrained by long skirts that could catch in the spokes; even so, with heavy camera equipment mounted on her bicycle, she ferried to Manhattan, where she famously documented turn-of-the-century urban life, enshrining the likes of street sweepers, rag pickers, egg sellers and messengers to gelatin print — producing her 1896 “Street Types of New York” portfolio.As adept at arranging portraiture as igniting flash powder over a night bloom of flowering cactus, Austen also delighted in making gender-bending exposures of female friends. Nicknamed “The Darned Club,” they posed in undergarments with cigarettes, men’s suits with fake mustaches and together in bed in Victorian nighties.“She was in a period where she and her friends were really embracing this concept of the ‘New Woman,’” said Victoria Munro, executive director of the Alice Austen House, the original Austen residence, which also serves as a museum and exhibition space.“She created clubs with these new activities that women were able to do, unchaperoned by men — and they were safe spaces for her and her circle of women friends who were, many of them lesbian, able to be together and have fun and really celebrate,” Munro said. “There was also a certain amount of freedom in the 1880s and 1890s, because women weren’t yet considered to even have a sexuality … so they weren’t even suspected of this kind of perceived bad behavior.”
November 3, 2025
Nov. 3, 2025, 5:00 AM ESTBy Bridget Bowman and Adam EdelmanThe candidates for governor in New Jersey and Virginia crisscrossed their states in the final weekend of the 2025 campaign season, ahead of the first big elections since President Donald Trump’s victory in 2024. The races will be the early tests for major questions facing both political parties after 2024, from how to navigate the high cost of living to how to appeal to increasingly swingy Latino voters, as well as which side is energized going into the 2026 midterms. Republicans face a familiar challenge of turning out Trump’s coalition when he is not on the ballot, while Democrats are looking for a boost after a demoralizing election last year. In Virginia, former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger has consistently led her Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, in polling and fundraising throughout the entire campaign. A more competitive race has formed in New Jersey, according to recent polling, where Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill is facing Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a former state legislator. Jack Ciattarelli and Mikie Sherrill.USA Today Network fileBoth Sherrill and Spanberger were elected to Congress in the party’s 2018 midterm blue wave during Trump’s first term, and they lived together while serving in the House. The former roommates are now looking to lead their party’s electoral pushback against Trump following his return to the White House. “In 2025, it really feels like the important fight is at the state level in these governor’s offices, because with the president having the presidency, the GOP having the Senate and the House, and even co-opting the Supreme Court, the last bastion feels like governors races and governors standing in the breach,” Sherrill told NBC News in a Friday interview. While Democrats have brought some high profile surrogates to their states, Republicans have largely campaigned on their own. Trump has not campaigned in person either state, despite endorsing Ciattarelli. (Trump has not endorsed Earle-Sears.)But the president is holding two telephone rallies Monday night for candidates in New Jersey and Virginia.Both Spanberger and Sherrill had some help from former President Barack Obama at rallies on Saturday. Obama appeared with Sherrill in Newark, the state’s largest city, amid some concerns about Black voter turnout. In Virginia, Obama rallied supporters in Norfolk and encouraged them to send a message to the rest of the country. “Lord knows we need that light. We need that inspiration.” Obama said at both rallies. “Because, let’s face it, our country and our politics are in a pretty dark place right now.”Obama told voters in both states they have the opportunity to “set a glorious example for this nation.” Other prominent Democrats — including potential future presidential contenders — hit the campaign trail in both states in the final days. In New Jersey, the state’s two Democratic senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, campaigned for Sherrill, along with Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego and Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy. Their weekend events followed other top Democrats’ forays into the state, including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin. Many of the same names crossed through Virginia as well. In Virginia, Spanberger continued her closing statewide bus tour — which had kicked off on Oct. 25 — making stops on Saturday in Norfolk, alongside Obama, and on Sunday in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. On Monday, she’s scheduled to hold a trio of final-day events in the region of her old Richmond-area congressional district.Abigail Spanberger on Capitol Hill in 2024.Mariam Zuhaib / AP fileHer closing message has centered on her campaign-long focus on economic and affordability issues, as well as a sharp rejection of Trump’s policies and the chaos she said they’ve created in Virginia’s economy.“With the political turmoil coming out of Washington right now, this election is an opportunity,” she said during her Norfolk speech.“In Virginia, we need a governor who will recognize that Virginians are struggling to afford the rising costs in health care, housing and energy,” she added.Polls in Virginia have consistently shown Spanberger leading. Early voting kicked off in the commonwealth more than six weeks ago, and as of Saturday, more than 1.43 million people had already voted — nearly 44% of total turnout in the 2021 governor’s race.While Republicans did not see the same quantity of high-profile surrogates on the trail in the final days, Earle-Sears had support from popular Gov. Glenn Youngkin.Earle-Sears held campaign events on Saturday in Abingdon, a heavily Republican area in southwest Virginia, and in Loudoun County. Youngkin, the term-limited Republican governor, appeared at those events, alongside the rest of the Republican ticket — John Reid, the lieutenant governor nominee, and Jason Miyares, the incumbent attorney general. The same lineup appeared at Earle-Sears campaign events on Sunday in Prince George and Hanover, near Richmond. Earle-Sears was slated to hold more events Monday in Roanoke and in Virginia Beach and Manassas, where Republican National Committee chair Joe Gruters was also scheduled to join. Winsome Earle-Sears in Richmond, Va., in 2022.Steve Helber / AP fileIn recent days, Earle-Sears has put a focus on attacking Spanberger over years-old violent texts from Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones, as well as efforts by legislative Democrats to redraw Virginia’s congressional maps.But over the weekend, Earle-Sears revisited a message that had been a focus earlier in her campaign: emphasizing the accomplishments of Youngkin’s administration and telling voters that electing her would mark a continuation of his record, including growing the private sector of the economy.“This election is about our future,” Earle-Sears said in Abingdon. “We’ve had four glorious years where we’ve been making jobs left and right … We’ve already had so many successes, but there’s more that can happen.”Ciattarelli also embarked on a bus tour to rally his supporters in New Jersey over the weekend. Asked after he cast his ballot on Friday if any big names would join him on the trail, he told reporters, “Jack Ciattarelli.” This is Ciattarelli’s third run for governor after losing the 2017 GOP primary and becoming the GOP nominee in 2021, when he lost a surprisingly close, 3-point race to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. Ciattarelli said Friday that this year feels different.“The issues I was talking about in ‘21 were percolating. Today, they’re at a complete boil. We’ve got an affordability crisis, a public safety crisis, a public education crisis, a housing crisis, including over-development,” Ciattarelli said. “There’s a lot less indifference this time around,” Ciattarelli later added. “Back in ‘21 I had too many people inside New Jersey, including Republicans, and people around the country who didn’t think I had a shot in hell. They now know differently because of our performance in 21.”Public polls have shown a competitive campaign in New Jersey, although the state of the race has varied depending on the survey. On Thursday alone, five independent polls came out showing Sherrill ranging from a 9-point advantage to a negligible 1-point edge.Both Ciattarelli and Sherrill have also made their closing pitches on the airwaves in ads highlighting the state’s high cost of living — part of more than $100 million in ads in the race, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. Since the June primary, Democrats have spent nearly $64 million on ads through Election Day, while Republicans have spent more than $42 million. “I’ll serve you as governor to drive your costs down,” Sherrill says in her closing TV ad. “On day one, I’m declaring a state of emergency on utility costs to lower your family’s bills. And when I’m governor, no sales tax increases, period. And I’ll fight for your family just as hard as I fight for mine.” Ciattarelli used one of his closing spots to cast himself as the “change” candidate, tying Sherrill to Murphy, the two-term Democratic governor. “We need someone who’s honest with a real plan, someone who gets it,” Ciattarelli says in the ad. “As governor, I’ll fight every day for people who work hard and play by the rules because that’s what you deserve. Together, I know we can fix New Jersey. It’s time.”In Virginia, Earle-Sears’ closing ads have largely focused on attacking Spanberger, highlighting Jones’ texts and her positions on the rights of transgender people, as well as tying her to national Democrats like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi.“She’s weak, she’s wrong, we can’t trust her,” the ad’s narrator says.Spanberger, for her part, has used her closing ad to revisit her personal story, talking about her record of public service, including as a CIA officer.Bridget BowmanBridget Bowman is a national political reporter for NBC News.Adam EdelmanAdam Edelman is a politics reporter for NBC News. Julie Tsirkin, Kyle Stewart, Gabriel Vasconcellos and Katherine Koretski contributed.
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