San Francisco’s Gladstone finds the brain’s protective barrier stops importing helpful blood proteins early in Alzheimer’s-like disease in mice

• Technology · Wed.

  Google DeepMind’s AlphaGenome 2 predicts how tiny DNA differences change genes in specific kinds of cells, a tool for tracking down causes of disease

  Google DeepMind on Nov. 11 released AlphaGenome 2, an AI model that predicts how DNA variants affect gene activity in particular cell types, such as gut immune cells, instead of whole-tissue averages.  DeepMind says it identifies nearly twice as many causal variants as its first model.  It is for research only, not diagnosis.

• Medicine · Wed.

  Adding a waist measurement to BMI did a better job of spotting obesity that raises the risk of death, a study of 844,000 adults finds

  A study in Nature tested a 2025 proposal to diagnose obesity with waist size as well as body mass index, or BMI.  In records from 844,108 adults in China, the U.K., the U.S. and Spain, BMI alone missed 5% to 9% of people with risky body fat and wrongly flagged 1% to 3%.  Only obesity confirmed by waist size was tied to a higher risk of death.

• Real Estate · Wed.

  San Jose council to vote Nov. 17 on letting small-lot owners build 1,200-square-foot backyard homes

  A draft ordinance (File 26-1198, PP26-003) on the Nov. 17 San José council land-use consent calendar would raise the detached ADU size cap on lots of 9,000 square feet or less to 1,200 square feet from 1,000, drop the rear-yard and 6-foot-separation rules for detached ADUs, allow retaining walls up to 4 feet (top of wall to bottom of footing) without special approval, and route spacing-related tree removals on flatter lots in high and very high fire hazard zones through the simpler unsuitable-tree process.

• Profiles · Wed.

  Chrizia Dela Rosa, San Jose math teacher and a California Teacher of the Year, makes sure every student’s name is said right

  Piedmont Hills High School teacher Chrizia Dela Rosa, one of California’s five 2026 Teachers of the Year, built a classroom of belonging around a lesson from her own second-grade teacher: learn every name.

• Gaming · Wed.

  Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake sells 5.2 million in four days, Switch 2’s fastest Nintendo game

  Nintendo said Nov. 11 that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Switch 2 sold more than 5.2 million units worldwide in four days after its Nov. 5 launch, including about 810,000 in Japan, making it the fastest-selling Nintendo-published Switch 2 game globally and in the U.S. The remake costs $59.99 digital or $69.99 boxed in the U.S.

• Stacy Keach (Actor), ‘Mike Hammer’ Star and UC Berkeley Graduate, Dies

None this week.