Plans for a summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping were underway before the U.S. went to war with Iran. That war delayed the meeting, now set for next week, and will overshadow other issues the two leaders planned to discuss.

The Iran conflict has “significantly altered” the agenda for the Trump-Xi summit and could be a “major obstacle” to resolving trade issues between the two countries, said Lyle J. Goldstein at Responsible Statecraft. The “tensions are palpable” in part because China has reportedly shared weapons and intelligence with Tehran, but both countries want to keep the world economy from “careening off the looming cliff.” 

Trump may want to “temper his expectations” for the summit, said Jacob Dreyer at The New York Times. China once saw presidential visits as “global validation” for its rise but now has “begun to chart its own course” as its leaders realize their country has “learned all it can” from the U.S.

‘Creditor-debtor dynamic’
The president has “fewer cards to play” at the summit, said Brahma Chellaney at The Hill. His choice to go to war against Iran has “boomeranged” into a “global energy shock,” with the result that a meeting intended as a “show of strength” for the U.S. president may end up being more about “damage control.”

Trade issues will “take center stage at the summit,” said Patricia M. Kim at Brookings. Trump and Xi will likely continue the “trade truce” between their countries, with the U.S. getting Chinese exports of rare earth minerals and sales of American farm products, while China gets tariff and regulatory relief from Washington. 

Breakthroughs unlikely
The number of Americans with favorable views about China has “ticked up,” nearly doubling since 2023 to 27%, said Pew Research. Fewer Americans say China is an enemy, but most “still see it as a competitor.”

The summit is “unlikely to deliver decisive breakthroughs” between the U.S. and China, said Yingfan Chen and Dingding Chen at The Diplomat. Its significance will not be a “transforming” of the dynamic between the two countries but instead a “maintaining” of a “minimum level of predictability” in the relationship.

The thymus is a small organ behind the breastbone that helps to establish the body’s immune system early in life. Since it shrinks with age, it was once thought to become mostly inactive over time. But two different studies published in the journal Nature — one connecting the long-term health of adults with their thymic health and the other analyzing cancer therapy outcomes and thymic health — point to the thymus as playing an important role in wellness. 

This organ has been “overlooked for decades,” said Hugo Aerts, a corresponding author on both studies, in a press release. And it may be a “missing piece in explaining why people age differently and why cancer treatments fail in some patients.”

T-cells and immunity
The thymus’ main function is to “generate a diverse T-cell repertoire, which provides adaptive immunity throughout life,” said the Nature study on thymic long-term health consequences. While the “relevance and abundance of the T-cell repertoire at a young age are well documented,” the thymus likely “retains a continued role in T-cell production throughout adulthood.”

Higher thymic health scores are “associated with laboratory markers of continued T-cell production, greater T-cell diversity in blood and tumors, and stronger activity of immune pathways, supporting thymic health as a proxy for immune competence,” said the press release. “When thymic health and T-cell diversity decline, the immune system becomes less able to respond to new threats.”

Surprising health indicator
People with better thymic health had “about a 50% lower risk of premature death, 63% lower risk of cardiovascular death, and 36% lower risk of developing lung cancer compared to those with low thymic health,” said the release. And researchers saw “similar patterns across many other causes of death.” A healthy thymus was also “associated with reduced risks of progression and all-cause mortality” in cancer patients, said the Nature study on thymic health and cancer. 

Future solutions
There’s now interest in finding ways to “slow down the thymus’ natural deterioration,” said The Washington Post. This could have “many applications in autoimmune diseases, improving people’s responses to vaccinations as they age, or improving how people respond to cancer immunotherapies.”

The Milky Way arcs over a salt flat in northwest Argentina. Titled “My Perfect Night,” the image was captured by Daniel Viñé Garcia and is among 25 winners of the 2026 Milky Way Photographer of the Year competition, published on the Capture the Atlas blog. 
Daniel Viñé Garcia / Milky Way Photographer of the Year

Studios never take a breath these days, especially in an uncertain and highly competitive streaming environment. And so, once again, the weeks ahead are teeming with intriguing new and returning series for fans of everything from the funny to the scary.

‘The Terror: Devil in Silver’
Three years after the short-lived Apple TV+ adaptation of “The Changeling,” horror novelist Victor LaValle gets another crack at the small screen with the third season of this anthology series, based on his 2012 novel of the same name. The series “excels with its raw depictions of paranoia, delusion and, appropriately enough, terror through creative, claustrophobic camerawork,” said Daniel Kurland at Bloody Disgusting. (May 7 on AMC+)

‘The Boroughs’
Executive-produced by the Duffer Brothers (“Stranger Things”), “The Boroughs” is billed as a cross between the 1985 sci-fi classic “Cocoon” and “Stranger Things.” The series will explore the “perspectives of people who so often aren’t the heroes of these tales, because society often regards aging as a moral failure rather than an opportunity to tell fresh stories that draw on age and experience,” said Aimee Hart at Polygon. (May 21 on Netflix)

‘Deli Boys,’ season 2
One of the best comedies of 2025, creator Abdullah Saeed’s “Deli Boys” returns to Hulu for a second season. The first round was “full of hijinks and heart, centering on fully realized, flawed South Asian protagonists whose culture is seamlessly integrated,” said Saloni Gajjar at The AV Club. (May 28 on Hulu)