If you paid $40 for the physical edition of Concord, you can make a lot more than that back on eBay. [credit: Kyle Orland ] As recently as a week ago, a new disc copy of Sony's team-based shooter Concord on the PlayStation 5 would set you back about $40 at most retailers. Now that Sony has shut off the game's servers after just two weeks, you might think those now-useless discs would be practically worthless. Instead, the physical version of Concord on PS5 has become a surprise collector's item. An Ars analysis of nearly 300 eBay listings completed between September 3–8 shows new copies of the now-defunct game selling for a median price of $100 since the game's shutdown. That going rate peaked at a median of $118 on September 5, up from $89.50 on September 3, before settling at $110 for eBay sales made on September 8. As usual with gaming collectibles, the price increase has less to do with playability and more to do with rarity. GameDiscoverCo analyst Simon Carless told IGN last month that he estimated an underwhelming 25,000 total sales for Concord across PS5 and PC. Even if we assume 80 percent of those sales were on the PS5, most of those console sales probably came as purely digital downloads, given long-running industry trends and the game's focus on online play.

Kate Middleton — now Catherine, the Princess of Wales — announced Monday in a video message that she had completed chemotherapy for the cancer diagnosis she first revealed in March. She said she would resume some public events, though engagements are expected to remain limited through the end of the year. “Doing what I can to stay cancer free is now my focus,” the princess wrote in a post shared on X. “Although I have finished chemotherapy, my path to healing and full recovery is long and I must continue to take each day as it comes.” She was diagnosed with cancer after doctors performed abdominal surgery on her and discovered evidence of the disease.  Kensington Palace has not released details on what type of cancer the princess has, nor did it specify what stage the cancer was when it was found. But as a 42-year-old woman, Middleton is far from alone in her diagnosis: Worldwide, more and more people under 50 are developing cancers. Cancer typically strikes those who are in their 50s, 60s, or even older. Yet, in recent decades, early-onset cancers — which are usually defined as occurring in patients younger than 50 — are occurring at a higher rate, particularly in wealthy countries. As illustrated in the chart below, a 2023 BMJ analysis found that the early onset of 29 different cancers had risen nearly 80 percent globally between 1990 and 2019.  Separately, a study published in JAMA Network Open the same year concluded that the occurrence of a wide range of cancers among people under 50 had increased between 2010 to 2019 among American adults, particularly among women. Much of the increase is attributable to colon and rectal cancers: In 2019, there were about 5.7 cases of colorectal cancer among 100,000 people ages 14 to 49. That’s up 63 percent since 1990, when there were approximately only 3.5 cases per 100,000 people. Breast, cervical, and skin cancers are still the most likely cancers to develop in adults under 50, but individual cases of colorectal cancers taking the lives of well-known celebrities, like actor Chadwick Boseman in 2020, have made that trend more visible in recent years. Cancers of the bladder, kidney, ovaries, pancreas, prostate, thyroid, and uterus also became significantly more common in the nearly three decades covered by the global investigation published in BMJ. John Marshall, director of the Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal Cancers at Georgetown University, told me recently that, early in his career, he rarely saw a patient under 50. Today, half of his patients are in that age range, many of them appearing to be healthy and fit. At first, these young patients usually came in with colorectal cancer, but Marshall has increasingly seen younger people with cancers attacking other parts of the gastrointestinal tract. No single factor is to blame for this widespread uptick in numerous cancers among young people, particularly the rise in the gastrointestinal system, but scientists are starting to put together a picture of the reality behind one of the most important medical mysteries of our time. One review published in Frontiers in Nutrition in 2022 found several dietary factors were associated with early-onset colorectal cancer. Eating a lot of deep-fried and processed foods, foods high in fat, and sugary drinks and desserts was a significant risk factor, as was having a diet low in fiber. Other studies have found higher alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of developing cancer early.  Toxins in our environment, such as microplastics, could also be a contributing factor. These tiny particles can be found in everything from food containers to synthetic clothing, before making their way into our bodies and our GI tracts.  One New Zealand research team concluded the upticks in cancers among young adults matched the timeline that we would expect from the multiplication of microplastics in the environment. Cellular and rodent models have suggested that microplastics could promote tumor growth. Though more research is needed, these materials contain chemicals that can disrupt hormones and pose a risk to our health. But these are still theories. Scientists still don’t fully understand what is primarily driving earlier-in-life cancer cases. What we do know is that stories like Middleton’s are becoming all too common.  Update, September 9, 12:55 pm ET: This story was originally published on March 22 and has been updated to reflect new information about Kate Middleton’s health status.

Apple has refreshed the Apple Watch Ultra 2 with a new “satin black” color option and sleep apnea detection feature, the company announced at its September event today. It’s the first time Apple has offered the Watch Ultra in more than one color since it launched two years ago. Apple says its sleep apnea feature uses the watch’s accelerometer to analyze “breathing disturbance data” every 30 days and will “notify you if it shows consistent signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea.” The feature is coming to the new Apple Watch Series 10 as well as the Series 9. Apple also announced a new titanium Milanese Loop. It’s $799 and available for preorder today ahead of a September 20th release. The Watch Ultra will get watchOS 11, which brings...

Enlarge The newest Apple Watch is all about a big screen, a thinner case, and lighter metal options, allowing for better typing and easier viewing. Apple's first wide-angle OLED display inside the Series 10 is 40 percent brighter than the Series 9. It allows for a wider variety of viewing angles. Its refresh rate, when idle, can update information from apps and complications once a second instead of the existing once-a-minute rate. The 9.7 mm case, the thinnest Watch so far, required miniaturization of various components, including the speaker, logic board, and metal backing. The aluminum version weighs 10 percent less than the previous generation. The titanium version, replacing stainless steel, shaves even more weight off the Watch than the already reduced Series 10.

The 10th version of the Apple Watch has been announced at Apple’s event on Monday and features a 40 percent brighter wide-angle OLED screen that’s larger than the display on the Apple Watch Ultra. The new Apple Watch Series 10 is just 9.7 millimeters thick, making it 10 percent thinner and 10 percent lighter than the Apple Watch Series 9. Apple says its larger OLED screen, the largest used in an Apple Watch to date, allows the wearable to display an extra line of text onscreen, making it easier for users to check emails and messages at a glance. Powered by Apple’s new S10 chip with a four-core neural engine, the Series 10 features a polished aluminum finish and a new metal back integrating the smartwatch’s various antennas. It’s still...

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