Ghost Students, Cancer Research & a Record-Breaking Woman | TMI Ep 416

Artificial intelligence, higher education fraud, cancer research, healthy aging, and one astonishing feat of human endurance—today's TMI Show explores four stories that reveal how rapidly our world is changing. From AI exploiting taxpayer-funded college programs to breakthroughs in cancer biology and muscle aging, we separate the hype from the science before ending on an inspiring record that needs no controversy to make history.On today's TMI Show with Ted Rall and Manila Chan:Artificial intelligence has officially enrolled in college.Not to earn a degree—but to steal your tax dollars. Across the country, investigators are uncovering a growing wave of "ghost students": AI-assisted fake identities enrolling in online courses, collecting Pell Grants and financial aid, and disappearing before anyone realizes the student never existed. We'll explain how organized fraud rings are weaponizing generative AI and why colleges are struggling to stop them.Then...Scientists may have discovered one of the molecular switches that turns ordinary colorectal cancer into a deadly metastatic disease.We'll break down the fascinating biology behind a newly identified gene regulator that appears to control when cancer cells become more adaptable and aggressive—and why preventing metastasis may ultimately save more lives than simply shrinking tumors.Next...What if growing older isn't simply about getting weaker?New research published in Nature Aging suggests regular exercise doesn't just build stronger muscles—it may actually preserve many of the same molecular pathways found in younger people. We'll explain how exercise appears to slow biological aging at the cellular level and why scientists now believe many aspects of muscle aging may be far more preventable than once thought.And finally...One woman. One rowboat. Forty-three days alone in the Pacific Ocean.Kelsey Pfendler has become the fastest person—man or woman—to row solo from California to Hawaii, breaking both the women's and men's records in one remarkable achievement. Sometimes the greatest statement in sports isn't made with an argument... it's made with a stopwatch.Smart analysis. Bigger questions. Stories that matter.New episodes weekdays at 10:00 a.m. ET.