MON SIX

March 13 (Reuters) - A trial directly comparing Eliquis and Xarelto - two commonly used blood-thinning drugs from the same class of medicines - found that Eliquis carries a clearly lower risk of dangerous bleeding in patients with clots deep in the body, ‌researchers reported in The New England Journal of Medicine.

A pharmacist holds a bottle of the drug Eliquis, made by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, at a pharmacy in Provo

Eliquis, known chemically as apixaban, is sold by Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer, while ‌Xarelto (rivaroxaban) is sold by Bayer and Johnson & Johnson.

The drugs, given to prevent recurrent blood clots that can lead to strokes, can sometimes also cause serious bleeding episodes.

"This trial provides ​highly anticipated evidence for physicians and should bring real peace of mind to venous thrombosis patients, who often live with the dual fear of blood clot recurrence and bleeding," study leader Dr. Lana Castellucci of The Ottawa Hospital in Canada said in a statement.

The researchers enrolled 2,760 patients with a venous thrombosis - blood clots in the veins - in the legs or lungs and randomly assigned them to treatment with one of the two anticoagulants.

After three months – the ‌standard course of treatment - 7.1% of participants taking ⁠Xarelto had experienced clinically relevant bleeding, compared to 3.3% of participants who received Eliquis.

There did not appear to be a difference in the risk of recurrent blood clots, suggesting both drugs work for their intended purpose, although there ⁠weren't enough study participants to allow reliable detection of a true effect, researchers said.

The study involved mainly white patients with healthy kidneys and livers and without cancer or obesity, so the results may not be applicable to everyone, the researchers acknowledged.

"Despite these limitations, the trial provides vital evidence for the treatment of venous ​thromboembolism," ​Dr. Lisa Moores of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in ​Bethesda, Maryland, wrote in an NEJM editorial. "Apixaban is a safer ‌first-line option than rivaroxaban for minimizing the risk of bleeding without compromising the prevention of recurrent thrombosis."

THE AGING GUT CAN IMPAIR THE AGING BRAIN

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Changes in the intestines with aging can contribute to cognitive declines, a study in mice suggests.

The aging gastrointestinal tract produces molecules that blunt the activity of the vagus nerve, a key pathway for communication between the gut and the brain, researchers reported in Nature.

In particular, a microbe called Parabacteroides goldsteinii, which produces molecules called medium-chain fatty acids, or MCFAs, becomes more abundant with age.

High levels of MCFAs activate immune cells in the gut to ‌produce inflammatory signaling molecules. One of these, IL-1beta, impairs the function of the vagus ​nerve, which plays a critical role in communication between the intestines and the hippocampus ​of the brain, where memories are formed.

In mice with cognitive decline, ​administering a bacterial virus that inhibits the activity of P. goldsteinii resulted in lower MCFA levels and improved memory, ‌the researchers found.

Furthermore, stimulating the vagus nerve by administering ​either the hormone cholecystokinin that regulates digestion, ​or the GLP-1 drug Saxenda from Novo Nordisk, reversed age-related memory deficits in the mice, they also found.

"The degree of reversibility of age-related cognitive decline in the animals just by altering gut-brain communication was a surprise," study leader Christoph Thaiss of Stanford Medicine said ​in a statement.

"We tend to think of memory ‌decline as a brain-intrinsic process. But this study indicates that we can enhance memory formation and brain activity by changing the ​composition of the gastrointestinal tract — a kind of remote control for the brain."

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(Reporting by Nancy Lapid; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

KLEINFELTERSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — A few dozen birdwatchers gathered in the predawn darkness to wait for the moment when thousands of migrating snow geese stopped honking and preening to suddenly take flight from a Pennsylvania reservoir.

Snow Geese

The mesmerizing display, about an hour after sunrise, was over almost as soon as it began. The birds circled a few times and then headed out to neighboring farm fields, seeking unharvested grains and other sustenance on their epicannual spring flightnorthward into New York state and Quebec.

The Pennsylvania reservoir was built a half-century ago to attract waterfowl and over the years the gaggle has grown. Pennsylvania Game Commission environmental education specialist Payton Miller described it as a raucous bird tornado that lifts off the water.

"All it takes is for me to come out here on a really nice morning where there's a huge morning flight and I'm kind of reminded how awesome it is to see such a large number of such a beautiful bird," Miller said. "I never get sick of it."

Among those taking it all in was Adrian Binns, a safari guide from Paoli, Pennsylvania, who went to the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area for "the whole enjoyment of seeing something you don't see every day."

Snow geese have been arriving in growing numbers at the 6,300-acre (25 square kilometers) Middle Creek property since the late 1990s. At this time of year, they have just spent months along the Atlantic coast, from New Jersey south to the Carolinas, with many of them overwintering on the Delmarva Peninsula that forms the Chesapeake Bay.

They don't stay long at Middle Creek — it's just a way station on their journey to summer breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic and western Greenland. But for a few short weeks they are the main attraction at Middle Creek, which draws about 150,000 visitors annually — including about a thousand hunters.

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The Pennsylvania Game Commission, which owns Middle Creek, says about 100,000 snow geese were roosting there on the busiest day last year, on par with recent peak activity but below the single-day record of about 200,000 on Feb. 21, 2018.

Snow geese are doing well, but their large numbers have come with a cost. According to a 2017 study published by Springer Nature, greater snow geese grew in population from about 3,000 in the early 20th century to some 700,000 by the 1990s. By some estimates, there are about a million of the birds now — along with maybe 10 million of lesser snow geese, which are smaller — that also breed in the Arctic.

The number of migrating tundra swans at Middle Creek, while far lower, has also increased over time, from a dozen or so in the mid-1970s to 5,000 or more in recent years. Middle Creek birders have also identified more than 280 bird species on the site, among them bald eagles, northern harriers, ospreys and owls.

As snow geese numbers have boomed in recent decades, wildlife officials in the U.S. and Canada have navigated abalancing actinvolving hunting regulations, concerns about crop damage, shifts in snow geese migration and changes to overwintering patterns. Environmental damage from overgrazing in the Arctic has led experts to conclude the birds are overabundant.

David M. Bird, a McGill University wildlife biology professor, described the population as "probably one of the biggest conservation problems facing wildlife biologists in North America today." Snow geese feed by pulling up plants by the roots, which damages habitats for themselves, various birds and other kinds of wildlife.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission reported recently thatavian influenza viruses, present in the state since 2022, continue to circulate among the state's wild birds. The game agency asked for the public's help in reporting sick or dead wild birds and reported that about 2,000 wild bird carcasses — mostly snow geese — had to be removed from a quarry a few miles north of Bethlehem in December and January.

Bird said that for nature lovers, snow geese can be a delight but for farmers, they're a pest. For hunters, they're food but for animal rights advocates, they're a species that needs protection, he said.

"But if you are a paid professional wildlife manager at a municipal, state or federal level whose challenging job is to try to please all of the aforementioned parties, then you will undoubtedly experience many sleepless nights in the fall when the geese arrive," Bird said.

March 13 (Reuters) - The top Democrat on the ‌U.S. Senate Commerce ‌aviation subcommittee on Friday called ​for a government investigation into two recent incidents of the government's use ‌of a ⁠laser-based anti-drone system in Texas.

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Senator Tammy ⁠Duckworth in a letter seen by Reuters asked ​the inspector ​generals ​for the ‌Transporation, Homeland Security and Defense departments to jointly investigate the government's use of counter drone high-energy ‌laser weapons. She ​the Texas ​events ​near the Mexican ‌border "raise serious questions regarding ​interagency ​coordination, notification procedures, aviation safety protocol, and ​compliance ‌with federal law."

(Reporting by ​David Shepardson; Editing by ​Toby Chopra)

Rhett & Link are celebrating their milestone 3,000th episode on their hit YouTube channel Good Mythical Morning

NEED TO KNOW

• The YouTube duo first started uploading videos to YouTube back in 2006 and launched Good Mythical Morning in 2012

• "Hitting this milestone is incredibly special to us and the Mythical crew," the pair told PEOPLE. "Not just because of the number, but because of the community that's grown around the show"

Rhett & Linkare looking back as their YouTube careers hit an impressive milestone.

On March 13, the content creation duo — known for nearly two decades of comedic videos — released the 3,000th episode of their flagship web series,Good Mythical Morning.

"When we started Good Mythical Morning back in 2012, we knew it would be a long-term project. But this long term? We could have never imagined we would get to 3000 episodes," the pair tells PEOPLE in an exclusive statement.

"Hitting this milestone is incredibly special to us and the Mythical crew," they continue. "Not just because of the number, but because of the community that's grown around the show. The Mythical Beasts have been with us every step of the way, and this episode is really a celebration of them as much as it is of us."

The internet personalities, whose full names are Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, first started uploading videos to YouTube back in 2006, but it wasn't until 2012 that they launched Good Mythical Morning, where they complete silly taste tests among other out-of-the-box content.

Today, Good Mythical Morning has close to 20 million subscribers, and the pair have a host of other media properties under their entertainment studio, including the YouTube channel Mythical Kitchen, podcastsEar BiscuitsandA Hot Dog is a Sandwichand the food outlet Sporked.

Speaking to PEOPLE in June, thepair notedhow rare it is to see the kind of career longevity they've managed to cultivate on the internet.

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"Almost everybody who started at the beginning of YouTube when we were getting going is not still experiencing the traction that we are," Link said. "A lot of that is owed to the success of Good Mythical Morning, which wasn't the first thing we did. We started it as a side project, not knowing that it was gonna be our lifeline to our audience."

Rhett added that, while other content creators tried to chase viral trends for short-term success, they dug into a consistent show format to slowly build a reliable audience.

The pair have also not been shy when it comes to setting boundaries with their audience — even amid the rise of influencers who make a living sharing intimate details about their personal lives.

"If you get into a place where you're letting your audience lead you or you're just sitting there, cowering to them, to do the thing that they want from you, you're going to shrivel up creatively and personally," Rhett told PEOPLE. "Understanding how that relationship actually works has been a key to our longevity."

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

As they looked to the future, the Rhett said that they want to continue to build out the Mythical brand, creating new properties that "shepherd from a distance" and can "develop a life of their own."

And as for Great Mythical Morning, though Link acknowledged it can be a "challenge to keep it fresh," he added that "the challenge is part of why it works."

Read the original article onPeople

On the Friday, March 13, 2026, episode of The Excerpt podcast:Bracket season is almost here. With conference tournaments underway and Selection Sunday looming, which teams look ready to make a deep run and which powerhouses might miss the field entirely? USA TODAY College Sports Reporter Paul Myerberg joins The Excerpt to break down the tournament picture, including Florida's title defense, potential Cinderella teams and the NBA prospects who could steal the spotlight.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it.This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Podcasts:True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here

Dana Taylor:

March Madness is just around the corner, and that means brackets, buzzer beaters, and the annual scramble to figure out which teams are contenders and which ones might bust your bracket. Can the defending Champion Florida Gators men's basketball make another title run? Which powerhouse programs might be on the outside looking in on Selection Sunday, and which NBA prospects could turn the tournament into their breakout moment?

Hello, and welcome to USA TODAY's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Friday, March 13th, 2026. Joining me to preview the men's NCAA tournament is USA TODAY College Sports Reporter Paul Myerberg. Thanks for coming on The Excerpt, Paul.

Paul Myerberg:

Oh, thank you so much for having me.

Dana Taylor:

Paul, let's zoom out first. What kind of March Madness are we heading into this year? Is there a clear favorite or does this feel like a wide open field?

Paul Myerberg:

Yeah, it kind of feels like both, and I know that's hedging my answer, but at the same time you have clear favorites, you have maybe at least four, maybe six, if you're being optimistic, maybe eight teams. And within that, there's a very wide open competition for who you think is the best team of the country or who you think can win the national championship. Those eight teams, I would say, are kind of sitting in first class. And then you have another 60 teams, 75 teams, just way back in coach. That's the separation that we're seeing now.

Yeah, there are really talented teams who are not on the bubble, but maybe back off the top one or two seeds who could come up and win this national championship, but we're really hyper-focused on these specific handful, handful-plus of teams. And the odds are at this point that the national champion will come from this very small group.

Dana Taylor:

The Florida Gators are coming in as the defending national champions. How realistic is it for them to repeat and what would have to go right for that to happen?

Paul Myerberg:

It's a really interesting team and it's a team that has evolved in a really interesting way. If you think back to last March and last early April, for your listeners to remember the tournament, this was a team that was led by a very singular talent named Walter Clayton. And Walter Clayton was maybe six feet in sneakers. He was not the biggest guy on the court, but he was someone who every time Florida was in trouble, they needed someone to make a play to provide a spark, he really carried that team and was the MVP of the Final Four and had a historic NCAA tournament. And it took Florida some time to find themselves and discover who they were.

So if you had asked me this question maybe a month to a month and a half ago, I think the answer would've been no, because Florida was not playing like a national championship team. They had a lot of holes and I don't think they knew who they were yet, but this group has really rallied. They're on an extended winning streak right now. Players like Alex Condon have grown into leadership roles. Rueben Chinyelu, who's their big man in the middle, is a veteran, experienced guy who's extremely physical. At this point, Florida's in that small group of teams that I mentioned, those six to eight teams when you think you win a national championship. And we'll see how they do in the SCC, that conference tournament. But as of right now, the arrow is really pointing up on Florida.

And it's funny, there was a time for about two decades where very few teams even competed to go back to back. It was seen as one of the great challenges in college sports. We had UConn do it in '23, '24. I think Florida's got a really excellent chance at this point to repeat. And considering where they were in maybe January into early February, it would be really an incredible achievement for this specific team to follow in last year's footsteps and cut down the nuts again in Indianapolis.

Dana Taylor:

Paul, Duke is always a school mentioned during March Madness and they're a number one seed. Are there any other blue bloods you are watching ahead of the tournament?

Paul Myerberg:

Yeah, Duke is the number one seed very likely this year. They might even be the top overall seed. They're extremely good. I'm looking at blue bloods who are kind of on the opposite end of the spectrum. These are three teams who are historic powers who are not going to be one seeds. They'll be in the tournament, but it's just up in the air how they're going to do. And that's North Carolina, Kansas, and Kentucky. North Carolina has had injury problems. When they are healthy, they're extremely good, and I think they're going to be healthy come March or come March Madness. So they're a team to watch. Kansas is hit or miss, very talented. We'll talk about one of their players later on as a draft prospect named Darryn Peterson.

Kentucky is someone that I'm really watching because they are so hit or miss. Supposedly, and we don't know these numbers because they're impossible to access, but supposedly Kentucky has the most expensive roster. Nowadays with NIL, you can essentially pay for players. Kentucky has done that, and it's become a bit of a cautionary tale because Kentucky went out and developed and purchased a roster that resembles, in some respects, an all-star roster of established players mixed with five-star recruits, and Kentucky doesn't really know who they are or what they can be. So that's a team that I'm watching. If it clicks, and there's no reason to think that it will, but if it clicks, Kentucky is a team that could be very, very dangerous.

At the same time, like I said, we're waiting for it to click. And if they get ejected in the opening round as a seven seed or an eight seed, it's going to be a difficult off-season for the Wildcats and for Coach Mark Pope.

Dana Taylor:

Who are the teams that look built to make a deep run this year? What separates those programs from the rest of the field?

Paul Myerberg:

That's a really great question. And I think just to tackle the second part, what separates a great regular season team, there are a lot of really good regular season teams from a great tournament team is coaching, it's experience, and its execution. And it's not really so much depth. You don't really need to go nine players deep in the tournament. Very rarely do teams do that. A lot of times teams that win a national championship just go seven deep or eight deep. So the teams that I'm looking at are teams that are really strong through your sixth, your seventh guy, have made recent tournament runs, they know what it takes, and are well coached and they know who they are and they have an identity.

So let's just name a few. Duke, we touched on. Arizona, they were the last unbeaten major conference program. UConn won two of the last three national championships. Michigan, Iowa State, and Houston. I think those are the six teams that I look at right now. And Florida, obviously, six or seven teams I look at right now and I say, "Okay, these are the teams that are go deep into March." And what they all have in common is, like I said, recent postseason success, singular talents who can carry a team on an off night, and a coach who knows what he is doing, knows how to press the right buttons. So as I said in the start, if I had to put my chips on the table and say it's either one of these teams or the field, I don't sweat it. It's one of those teams to me that'll win the national championship.

Dana Taylor:

Some conferences look especially strong this season. Are there leagues that could end up dominating the bracket or sending a surprising number of teams into the Sweet 16?

Paul Myerberg:

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There are a few conferences who I think are going to make noise, and I think they're going to make noise for different reasons. There's the Big 12, and the Big 12 is not as deep as other leagues, but they're really top-heavy. That's because they have Arizona, they have Houston, they have Iowa State. And those are three teams, like I said, who could win it all. And that's a really good top three. You could see all three of those teams in the elite eight. I mean, you could conceivably see two of those teams in the final four, maybe get all three depending on how the seating and the brackets shake out. That's one league that is very top-heavy.

Two leagues that are deeper but don't have that really thick upper crust would be theBig 10and the SEC. I think both of those leagues will challenge to have the most teams in the bracket. SEC last year had 14. They're not going to get there this year, probably more like nine or 10, similarly with the Big 10. The Big 10 and the SEC have teams at the top. They have an Alabama, they have a Florida, they have a Michigan, they have a Michigan State, but that's more about the depth. So if you look at the Sweet 16, I wouldn't be surprised if the Big 10, the SEC make up half of that, maybe make up nine of the 16 teams with another few from the Big 12. So I would focus on those three leagues.

One league on just quickly on the other end of the spectrum, a couple years ago, the Big East was dominating this tournament. They had a budget teams, the elite eight. Obviously UConn went on to win the whole thing. This year, the Big East might get three teams in the bracket unless you have an upset in the conference tournament. That's UConn, that's St. John's, and Villanova. So it has a different feel. You might see two of those teams get to the elite eight, but the Big East doesn't have that kind of depth that we're used to seeing from the conference in the recent pass.

Dana Taylor:

Every year we see a few big name programs sweating it out on Selection Sunday. Which name teams are in real danger of missing the tournament this year?

Paul Myerberg:

There are two big names that could miss the tournament. If I had to guess, at least one of them definitely will, probably both of them will down the line. That's Indiana and Auburn. We might know Indiana now is a football school, amazingly, because they just won 16 and 0 and won the national championship back in January. Indiana basketball is historically one of the flag bearers for this sport. They're really bad. They're really, really bad and it's causing a lot of hand wringing in Bloomington waiting for September to roll around. So, Indiana, I think is on the outside looking in now. As it stands, they've probably got to win two games in the Big 10 tournament to make the field. It feels really unlikely.

Auburn, similarly, they have played a really tough schedule, but just the wins aren't there. They're hovering around 500 right now. They've got a terrible record against teams that are at the very top of the SEC and in the top 25. So they're going to be sweating it out. Both those teams, like I said, I would guess that neither of them make it, and instead they're watching someone like Santa Clara play in their place. And that's going to be difficult for Indiana and their fan base, for example, to swallow.

Dana Taylor:

Well, how much did these conference tournaments actually change the bracket picture? Can a team still play its way in or out at this stage?

Paul Myerberg:

Definitely. And it's interesting to think about how individual conferences are impacted by their tournament. For example, like I mentioned the Big Ten and the SEC. Teams in that conference by and large are playing in the conference tournament for bragging rights and for a banner, but also for where their seating will be in the tournament because most of them are officially in the field. There's a chance that Ole Miss might come up and win the conference tournament and steal a bid from somewhere else. It just feels unlikely, just like in the Big 10. Why people love these conference tournaments and why they're just so caught up and wrapped up in them is because the unpredictability and because there are so many leagues where it's one and done, meaning that the only team that's getting in is your conference champion. And there are a lot of leagues. There are more leagues that are like that than not basically in division one.

So for me, for example, I live in Brooklyn, New York. Down the street for me is Long Island University. Long Island University is not making the NCAA tournament as an at large bid, meeting as a team that doesn't win their conference tournament. So they're playing in the Northeastern Conference Tournament. Every game matters. Every possession matters. Every shot matters. Every defensive stop matters because if you lose to whomever on whatever night, the season's over. Pack your bags, clean out your locker, go to class, and we'll see you in a couple months. And that's just so dramatic to me. And it's why people love March Madness. So when you watch conference tournaments, Big Ten and SEC, it's a lot of fun. The competition's at a high level, the level of play is excellent, but I love watching The MAC, and the MEAC, and the Southern Conference because it's live or die. Every single moment matters. So yeah, for those leagues, the conference tournament is absolutely everything. It's just everything.

Dana Taylor:

March Madness is often where NBA prospects introduce themselves to a national audience. Who are the top NBA Draft prospects we should be watching out for in this tournament?

Paul Myerberg:

Yeah, there are three. And I'll start by saying this. According to draft pundits and prognosticators, this is the deepest NBA Draft in terms of top-level lottery picks in a decade or maybe more, so there's a lot of attention on this year's draft class. There's still no doubt that there are three players who rise above the rest. That's Darryn Peterson at Kansas, Cameron Boozer at Duke, and AJ Dybantsa at Brigham Young. Each in their own way is a special talent. Darryn Peterson, he's had injury issues, but when he's playing and healthy, he's probably a number one overall pick in just an unstoppable score. Cameron Boozer, his father, Carlos Boozer, was an NBA All-Star. A big man for Duke, 20 points, 10 rebounds for assist. If he averages that amount through the end of regular season, he'll be the first freshman to do that since Larry Bird in the late 70s.

And then Dybantsa at Brigham Young, BYU is not a place where five-star basketball recruits go to, just historically. AJ went there and he's been the top scorer in the country. And if he leaves the nation scoring, he'll be the third freshman in the history of the NCAA to do so. So those are three guys that if you're just a casual fan and you flip on CBS or truTV on a Thursday or a Friday in a couple weeks, watch those guys because you'll be watching them on Amazon and on Thursday night on NBC for the next 10 years.

Dana Taylor:

Every year there's at least one Cinderella story, Paul. What kinds of teams tend to make those runs? And do you see any potential bracket busters this year?

Paul Myerberg:

Yeah, so Cinderella, it's a very, very narrow definition. Duke cannot be a Cinderella. We have to agree on that. Duke might think of themselves sometimes as plucky little underdogs. No, you're not Cinderella. You have to be very, very specific. You have to come out of nowhere. You have to have not achieved anything of late. You have to be discounted. And it helps if you have a bunch of guys who look like they shouldn't be sharing the court with Cameron Boozer or Darryn Peterson. Two teams who are really good, who have great records against not elite competition, who I think can bust the bracket for people, that's St. Louis. St. Louis is the top-scoring team in the country, or they have been for most of the year. It's just an electric offensive scheme, very dynamic, ton of break shooters. They could get into a game against a more talented team and just kind of run them off the court because they get hot.

And then Miami of Ohio, not Miami, Florida. We're talking Miami, Ohio. They're unbeaten in the MAC Conference, the Mid-American Conference. They've been in the news recently because people who are at Auburn, or former Auburn coaches, they don't deserve to be in the tournament if they lose a game because they haven't played a great schedule. That to me is like the definition of Cinderella. You have coaches or former coaches in major conferences saying you don't deserve to be there? Yes, put on your glass slipper and hit 18 three pointers in a game and beat Duke by 13. That's the dream for the Cinderella March Madness. So keep your eye on those two. One thing that's for sure, there will be a Cinderella. That is guaranteed. It'll be somebody. Every March has one. It could be a person, it could be a coach, it could be a team, but Cinderella will be there. She's out there waiting right now.

Dana Taylor:

And then any potential bracket busters?

Paul Myerberg:

Yeah, I would say those two teams, a team like I mentioned like Kentucky or North Carolina or Kansas, because they're so talented, they might get a low seed, like a six seed or a seven seed, which doesn't make sense when you look at the name, but just flip the switch. North Carolina with a player like Wilson who's been injured this season, flip the switch, get healthy, and make a run. So those are your bracket busters. They're not Cinderellas, but they are definitely bracket busters.

Dana Taylor:

Follow along with March Madness and all things sports with USA TODAY's Sports Seriously podcast. Paul Myerberg is a college sports reporter with USA TODAY. Paul, it was a pleasure speaking with you. Thank you so much for coming on The Excerpt.

Paul Myerberg:

Of course. Thank you so much for having me.

Dana Taylor:

Thanks to our senior producer, Kaely Monahan for her production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts@usatoday.com. Thanks for listening. I'm Dana Taylor. I'll be back Monday morning with another episode of USA TODAY's The Excerpt.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Which team is built to win March Madness this year | The Excerpt

False spring has swarmed across the Central and Eastern U.S. in recent days, but the West is about to get in on the warmer weather once again.

A pattern change will cause the mercury to soar to record levels across the Southwest while the East will be riding quite the temperature roller coaster through next week.

Record Warmth Returns To West

Above average temperatures are going to dominate the West for the foreseeable future, threatening numerous records.

(MORE:March Outlook)

This record heat will cover much of southern and central California and stretch eastward into Texas. Some records could also be set as far north as Colorado. Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and Albuquerque are all cities that could see daily records at least one day in the next week.

Daily temperatures will gradually climb each day. By early next week, places as far north as San Jose and Redding could see highs near 90 degrees.

For the Desert Southwest, this is looking to be a historic March heat wave.

Phoenix could see multiple days over 100 degrees. They typically don't reach temperatures this high until early May, and their earliest recorded 100 degrees was set in 1988 on March 26. This heat wave could beat this record by more than a week.

Some of these state all-time March records could be in jeopardy:

• California's state record max for March is 107 degrees at Mecca on March 21, 2004

• Arizona's state record max for March is 104 at Yuma on March 21, 2004

• Nevada's state record max for March is 100 at Laughlin on March 17, 2007

Temperature Roller Coaster For The East

The East will see temperatures rise above average through the weekend before they get knocked down by a harsh reality check early next week.

As this pattern flip brings warmth to the Southwest, it will pull colder air southward from Canada beginning Monday in the Rockies and Plains, then pushing to the rest of the South and East on Tuesday. That could be followed by another cold front Friday into next Saturday.

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Temperatures will be up and down for much of the week ahead.

(MORE:Allergy Season Is Growing)

Record Warmth So Far

Before the calendar even turned to March, Phoenix tied or set new daily record highsfour days in a rowall in the 90s.

One Deep South Texas reporting station recorded what may be thenation's hottest winter temperature.

(MORE:Record Warmest Winter In Parts Of The West)

And the records continued to fall as we kicked off thefirst month of meteorological spring.

During the first week of March, we saw many daily record highs tied or set across the Southern Plains and Southeast.

Then, this week, that warmth spread through much of the eastern half of the country.

Some notable daily high temperature records that were tied or broken on Monday occurred in South Bend, Indiana (73), Milwaukee, Wisconsin (70), Islip, New York (68) and Toledo, Ohio (73), among several others.

Tuesday, that record warmth continued to shift east where Central Park broke its daily high temperature with a high of 80. Other daily records that fell were Boston (Logan AP) with 73, Hartford, Connecticut (74) and Worcester, Massachusetts (67), among several others.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him onBluesky,X (formerly Twitter)andFacebook.

By Napat Wesshasartar and Artorn Pookasook

Thai aunt awaits news of a missing Thai crew member after Strait of Hormuz attack, in Surin province

BAN SAI, Thailand, March 13 (Reuters) - Thousands of miles from the Middle East in Thailand's rural northeast, Sommai Butdee waits for news ‌of her nephew, one of three crew members missing from the Thai-flagged vessel after ‌it was struck with two projectiles earlier this week as it travelled through the Strait of Hormuz.

On Friday, Sommai, 58, ​gathered with other relatives under their wooden stilt home in Surin province's Ban Sai village. Holding out her phone, she showed a photo of her nephew, 27-year-old Panupong Muentan, on his graduation from a merchant marine training centre.

"He didn't say much. I wished him a safe journey. He had gone ‌to work at sea once or ⁠twice before. He told me, 'Don't be afraid. There's nothing to worry about'," Sommai said, recalling the last time they had seen each other in February.

Sommai ⁠raised her nephew and described him as a good and devoted man, who hoped to help pay off the family's debt and his sibling's tuition fees through his work as an engine room mechanic.

"They only ​went ​there to make a living, to work. They didn't ​know anything about the bigger things happening ‌in the world. We never thought it would turn out like this. His parents and relatives are all sad," said his uncle, Dechawat Ratanapakul, 70.

Bangkok has demanded an apology and clarification from Tehran over the incident.

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"Thailand is not a party to the conflict, the ship was not carrying anything controversial and there have been ships that have had safe passage and our vessel should ‌have been treated that way also," Thai Foreign Minister ​Sihasak Phuangketkeow told reporters in Bangkok on Friday.

The U.S.-Israeli war ​on Iran has threatened Gulf ports and ​disrupted global trade through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in ‌a statement carried by the Tasnim news ​agency that the ship was "fired ​upon by Iranian fighters".

Twenty other crew members abandoned ship in a lifeboat before being rescued by the Omani navy.

The three missing crewmen are believed to be in the vessel's ​engine room, the ship's owner, ‌Precious Shipping said previously.

"I just want to hug him if he survives. I hope ​he is safe. I would be so happy," Sommai said.

(Additional reporting by Chalinee Thirasupa; ​Writing by Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Kate Mayberry)