SANYA, China, Aug. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A news report from People’s Daily Digital Communication

From crystal-clear, magical underwater worlds to the panoramic mountain-top views of a coastal city, this tropical seaside destination stands out as an ideal summer getaway, blessed with remarkable natural scenery and upgraded cultural-tourism offerings. Every visitor gets to immerse themselves in the unique romance and tenderness of Sanya.

The azure ocean forms Sanya’s most enchanting backdrop, and Atlantis Sanya is the perfect spot to experience marine-themed romance. Its Lost Chambers Aquarium unveils a dazzling underwater paradise. The massive 16.5-meter-long and 8.3-meter-high viewing panel fully reveals the seascapes of Ambassador Lagoon, showcasing the vibrant vitality of marine ecosystems. Home to over 86,000 marine creatures across 280 species, the aquarium features schools of lively golden trevally gliding freely, graceful leopard sharks swimming by, and colourful butterflyfish darting among corals. These diverse marine dwellers create a dream-like underwater realm. As a full-spectrum, all-in-one ocean-themed resort, Atlantis Sanya provides guests with premium coastal vacation experiences.

Marking World Turtle Day and the first year of the closed-door operation of the Hainan Free Trade Port, Atlantis Sanya held an official unveiling ceremony for its exclusive sea turtle breeding base, Turtle House. The official theme of World Turtle Day 2026 is “I Love Turtles”, which aims to raise public awareness of the survival threats facing sea turtles and encourage joint efforts to protect their habitats. Supported by an international professional conservation team, Atlantis Sanya has fully advanced its sea turtle protection program from emergency rescue and rehabilitation to a new stage of captive breeding and stock enhancement release. Upholding its corporate social responsibility in practice, the resort offers robust backing for marine biodiversity conservation and ecological civilization development across Hainan.

Famous for its romantic folk love legend, Luhuitou Scenic Area sits on the coastline surrounded by the sea on three sides, making it a beloved cultural landmark. Visitors can take sightseeing vehicles winding up the mountain roads, greeted by cool sea breezes and lush green scenery along the way. Upon reaching the summit, a spectacular panoramic view unfolds: mountains, urban landscapes, rivers, sea, harbor, islands and bays converge into one magnificent scene. Stretching between mountains and the ocean, the whole city resembles an exquisite Chinese landscape scroll, with well-arranged buildings, winding coastlines and boundless blue waters combining to form an unparalleled picturesque view.

To enhance summer travel comfort, Sanya has comprehensively upgraded tourism services and attractions. Mist-cooling systems are installed city-wide at the airport to ease summer heat and improve visitor experience. Coastal green corridors have been completed across the city, linking seascapes and ecological spots for strolling and cooling off. Ten curated summer cool-tour routes have been tailor-made for diverse traveller groups, covering mountain-and-sea sightseeing, coastal getaways.

Moreover, key scenic spots including Luhuitou have revamped night-tour offerings. Open night viewing boardwalks and trendy events such as fluorescent night runs enrich evening tourism and extend consumption cycles. Visitors may admire magnificent daytime landscapes and enjoy enchanting night-time charm, unlocking round-the-clock summer romance in Sanya.

– New omnibus-style video shows aespa enjoying Shin Ramyun in everyday moments –

SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Nongshim will launch the second phase of its global Shin Ramyun campaign on August 20 featuring global K-pop force aespa, as Shin Ramyun’s global ambassador. The campaign is designed specifically for international markets and will roll out across 14 key countries. Through a variety of digital content, Nongshim aims to introduce consumers around the world to the ‘Spicy Happiness’ of Shin Ramyun, the simple joy of enjoying its signature spicy taste in everyday life.

Nongshim launched its first global Shin Ramyun campaign with aespa last November. Its music video-style advertisement, featuring aespa’s music and performance, generated 270 million views and helped raise global awareness of Shin Ramyun’s slogan, ‘Spicy Happiness In Noodles’. For the second campaign, the setting moves from the stage to everyday life, showing aespa enjoying Shin Ramyun while cooking, shopping, traveling and spending time together.

‘Spicy Happiness’ in Everyday Life, from Cooking to Travel

The main campaign video opens with aespa saying, “To us, spicy is happiness.” It then shows four everyday moments featuring the members and Shin Ramyun in an omnibus-style format.

Across the video, aespa enjoy Shin Ramyun in a variety of settings. In the “cooking” scene, the members prepare and share Shin Ramyun with a friend, while the “shopping” scene follows them picking up Shin Ramyun at a store. In the “travel” scene, the members enjoy Shin Ramyun with a companion while on a trip.

In the final quiz scene, aespa is asked, “What is another word for happiness?” They answer “SHIN”, playfully bringing the campaign’s “Spicy Happiness” message to life.

Through the video, as Korea’s No. 1 iconic ramyun that embodies the nation’s food culture, Nongshim aims to show consumers around the world how Shin Ramyun’s signature spicy taste can add enjoyment to ordinary moments and make time spent together feel more special.

Diverse Digital Content Tailored for Global Audiences

Nongshim will release a total of 15 videos, including one main campaign video and 14 digital shorts. The shorts expand on the everyday moments featured in the main video through short, upbeat content. They also include interview-style videos in which aespa members talk about topics such as “when they crave Shin Ramyun” and “their favorite toppings to enjoy with Shin Ramyun.” By naturally showing how the members enjoy Shin Ramyun in their daily lives and highlighting their individual preferences, Nongshim aims to communicate the appeal of Shin Ramyun more effectively to global consumers.

The campaign will first roll out in key markets across North America, Asia and Europe where Nongshim has overseas operations, before expanding to markets around the world.

aespa said, “We hope fans around the world can find their own moments of ‘Spicy Happiness’ with Shin Ramyun too.”

A Nongshim representative said, “The second campaign shows global consumers, through aespa, how Shin Ramyun fits naturally into everyday life. Together with aespa, we will continue to engage consumers worldwide and communicate the value of Shin Ramyun’s global slogan, ‘Spicy Happiness In Noodles.'”             

About aespa

aespa is a global K-pop force renowned for their distinctive concept and powerful performances. Comprised of KARINA, WINTER, GISELLE, and NINGNING, the group has continued to break records since their 2020 debut with “Black Mamba.” Their releases have achieved major global chart success, including multiple No. 1s on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart and seven consecutive million-selling releases. Most recently, aespa collaborated with Anderson .Paak on “Keychain (FROM THE FILM K-POPS!)” and released their second full-length album in May 2026, which topped the iTunes Top Albums chart in 25 regions worldwide.

aespa’s growing international impact has earned recognition across the global music industry, including being named Group of the Year at Billboard Women in Music 2025 and receiving a nomination for Best Female K-Pop Artist at the 2026 American Music Awards. In August, aespa made their highly anticipated Lollapalooza debut in Chicago and kicked off their new world tour, 2026–27 aespa LIVE TOUR – SYNK : COMPLæXITY, continuing their momentum on the global stage.

Global Campaign YouTube Video

oncoReveal® Essential+ validated at LSI Medience for cfDNA/cfRNA screening in the LC-SCRUM-Asia project, with testing planned to begin in August 2026

NATICK, Mass. and TOKYO, Aug. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Pillar Biosciences, Inc. (“Pillar”), LC-SCRUM-Asia and LSI Medience Corporation (“LSI Medience”) today announced a collaboration to support genomic screening of blood-based samples from patients with lung cancer as part of the LC-SCRUM-Asia project in Japan.

Following approval of a revision to the LC-SCRUM-Asia project protocol, the participating organizations plan to begin testing in August 2026. The project is expected to include approximately 2,000 patients over a two-year period.

Pillar’s oncoReveal® Essential+ assay has been validated at LSI Medience for use as a screening test for circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and cell-free RNA (cfRNA) samples collected from patients with lung cancer participating in the LC-SCRUM-Asia project. Testing will be performed by LSI Medience to support identification of genomic alterations relevant to the project’s research objectives.

“LC-SCRUM-Asia has established an important collaborative framework for advancing precision oncology research in lung cancer,” said Daniel Harma, Chief Commercial Officer, Pillar Biosciences. “We are pleased that oncoReveal Essential+ has been validated at LSI Medience for screening both cfDNA and cfRNA samples and look forward to supporting this large-scale project in Japan.”

“Rapid and reliable genomic testing is essential for identifying patients who may benefit from biomarker-driven clinical studies and emerging precision therapies,” said Dr. Koichi Goto of LC-SCRUM-Asia. “The use of oncoReveal® Essential+ through LSI Medience will provide the LC-SCRUM-Asia network with a highly accurate and accessible liquid biopsy solution for analyzing cfDNA and cfRNA from patients with non-small cell lung cancer, while supporting the rapid turnaround needed for clinical research.”

Supporting blood-based genomic screening in lung cancer
Liquid biopsy testing can enable genomic analysis from blood samples when tissue is limited or when a minimally invasive sampling approach is desirable. By combining analysis of cfDNA and cfRNA, the LC-SCRUM-Asia project is designed to support broad screening for genomic alterations in patients with lung cancer.

The planned use of oncoReveal Essential+ within the LC-SCRUM-Asia project reflects the assay’s ability to support targeted NGS analysis from blood-based specimens within a decentralized laboratory workflow.

About LC-SCRUM-Asia

LC-SCRUM-Asia is a large-scale lung cancer genomic screening and clinical research network led by the National Cancer Center Hospital East in Japan. The project brings together medical institutions, diagnostic laboratories, pharmaceutical companies, and other research partners to identify genomic alterations in patients with lung cancer and facilitate the development and delivery of biomarker-driven therapies. Through comprehensive molecular screening and collaboration across participating institutions, LC-SCRUM-Asia seeks to advance precision medicine and expand clinical research opportunities for patients with lung cancer.

About LSI Medience Corporation

LSI Medience Corporation, a Japanese subsidiary of PHC Holdings Corporation, was established in 1975. With clinical testing as its primary business, LSI Medience develops new solutions by leveraging the analytical capabilities it has built across a broad range of testing fields. The company contributes to disease prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and treatment and is actively engaged in initiatives supporting next-generation healthcare, including personalized medicine. For more information, visit www.medience.co.jp/english/.

About Pillar Biosciences

Pillar Biosciences is a global provider of next-generation sequencing (NGS) kitted solutions designed to deliver high analytical performance and operational efficiency for cancer testing. Powered by proprietary SLIMamp® and PiVAT® technologies, Pillar enables localized testing to expand access to complex molecular diagnostics worldwide. The company offers a growing portfolio of IVD and RUO NGS kits targeting tumor profiling, biomarker analysis, and molecular research and monitoring applications. Pillar’s solutions are built to provide laboratories and pharmaceutical partners with reliable, reproducible results while improving workflow efficiency across clinical and research settings. For more information, visit pillarbiosci.com and connect with us on LinkedIn.

TRACES moves beyond static datasets and answer keys, testing whether AI can navigate real-world scientific environments, adapt to feedback and produce verifiable discoveries

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Aug. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Apodex today introduced TRACES, a novel benchmark designed to evaluate AI on one of the hardest challenges in artificial intelligence: working on real-world problems where the answer may not yet be known.

Most AI benchmarks begin with an answer key. They measure whether a model can retrieve established knowledge, solve a predefined problem, write correct code or reproduce a known result. Scientific discovery is different. Researchers often begin without knowing the answer, and sometimes without knowing whether their initial hypothesis is correct. Progress may require searching vast bodies of evidence, using specialized tools, maintaining competing hypotheses, running experiments, learning from failure and repeatedly revising a line of inquiry before reaching a conclusion that can withstand verification. In some scientific problems, the ultimate answer may not become known until months or years later.

TRACES is designed for that world. Rather than treating a benchmark as a static dataset with hidden answers, TRACES transforms real-world problems into executable environments where AI systems can observe, act, use tools, learn from feedback and work toward verifiable outcomes. The process of such AI systems interacting with executable environments are also evaluated along six TRACES capabilities, novel evaluation metrics which we design specifically for the purpose of evaluating discoverative AI. Together, these real-world problems, executable environments and evaluation frameworks form the TRACES benchmark.

“TRACES is a benchmark designed specifically to evaluate progress in discoverative AI,” said Dr. Sheng Wang, Lead Scientist at Apodex, who leads discovery and evaluation. “It brings together sophisticated efforts in scouting high-value real-world problems, assembling the tools and data needed to build executable environments, and developing a novel scoring system that evaluates not only outcomes but also the discovery process. We believe TRACES represents an important milestone in the development of discoverative AI.”

Beyond Static Benchmarks: Toward Executable Environments

TRACES is built around a different conception of AI evaluation. Instead of presenting a model with a question and scoring only its final answer, a TRACES environment gives an AI system an environment in which to work. Depending on the problem, that environment may include scientific literature, structured datasets, code execution, specialized scientific tools, simulators, folding engines, experimental feedback or other interfaces. The system must decide what to do, interpret what happens, update its approach and continue working toward a verifiable outcome. The full trajectory can then be evaluated alongside the final result.

TRACES: Six Capabilities for Discovery

Discoverative AI aims at answering open-ended, high-value questions, many of which may lack outcome feedback. It is therefore essential to evaluate and verify the process of such systems, essential for the success of discoverative AI. To this end, within these environments, TRACES evaluates six capabilities Apodex considers fundamental to long-horizon, verifiable problem solving:

• T — Tools: selecting, calling and correctly interpreting external tools
• R — Repair: locating and correcting its own errors once feedback arrives
• A — Alternatives: laying out competing hypotheses and keeping or discarding them as evidence accumulates
• C — Coherence: holding state, constraints and logic intact across a long chain of work
• E — Evidence: grounding every conclusion in observation, data, experiment or citation
• S — Scope: stating the conditions under which a conclusion holds, and where it does not apply

“The TRACES process verification is what makes the benchmark unique,” said Brian Wang, AI Research Scientist at Apodex. “In scientific discovery, the answer is one line at the end of hundreds of judgments — what to try next, when the evidence is enough, when to abandon a hypothesis. The capability lives there, and scoring only the last line throws away almost all of it. Our TRACES verifier systematically scores the quality of process, which is essential for evaluating and improving AI systems for long-horizon, open-ended discoverative jobs.”

Together, these dimensions evaluate more than whether an AI produced the right final answer. They evaluate how the system got there. A scientifically plausible answer is not enough if the system used the wrong tool, ignored contradictory evidence, failed to consider alternative explanations or made a claim broader than its evidence supports. The objective is to evaluate both outcome and process — what the system discovered and whether the path it took supports the conclusion.

Verifying the Path, Not Only the Answer

In TRACES, AI systems are evaluated both by outcome and process verifiers. The outcome verifier grades a submission against hidden ground truth; the process evaluation asks whether the conclusion was earned — whether the path that produced it is one that would hold up on the next problem. Both matter, but for discoverative AI, process verification is arguably more important,  evaluating submissions along the six fundamental TRACES capabilities.

TRACES makes each of the generic capabilities concrete for different environments. Evidence fidelity (E), for instance, could take different forms: where a solver must propose a candidate that will later be tested in the physical world, it asks whether the proposal rests on a prediction the solver actually ran under its limited feedback budget rather than on asserted plausibility; where the deliverable is a report that must survive audit, it asks whether every figure traces to a procedure genuinely executed on the population it claims to describe. Decomposing TRACES capabilities into problem-specific atomic skills or subrubrics, TRACES verification offers targeted process evaluation and diagnostic feedback.

Evaluators do not assign a free-form score — they match observed evidence against explicit written descriptions of each scoring band, and every finding is anchored to specific steps in the recorded trajectory. An independent model then reviews the result, and disagreement triggers a re-score and final adjudication. Calibrations between process verification and hidden outcomes, and verification-repair loops are also carried out to ensure the validity of our process verifier.

Beyond What AI Knows: Measuring What It Can Discover

As AI moves deeper into science, the distinction between knowing and discovering becomes increasingly important. A model can summarize what humanity already knows about a disease and still fail to identify a new therapeutic opportunity. It can understand published protein science and still fail to design a biological candidate that works when tested. It can produce an elegant scientific explanation that collapses when confronted with new evidence. Discovery begins where the answer key ends. TRACES is Apodex’s attempt to evaluate AI at that boundary.

About Apodex

Apodex is building Discoverative AI: artificial intelligence that discovers unknown things from known knowledge, rather than just generating outputs from material already in the training distribution. At the core is the company’s Self-Evolving Solver, a system built for real-world problems: questions with no answer in any dataset, where every reasoning step can be audited, and every improvement is earned through verified discovery.

Apodex’s founding thesis is that scale and data alone cannot cross the barrier from pattern-matching to genuine discovery. Crossing it requires new ideas from neuroscience, information theory, physics, and formal verification — and the people sharp enough to bring them. Apodex is hiring across research, engineering, and open-source contributions. Learn more at www.apodex.com.

Participation and Access

TRACES is open for participation, and Apodex is actively seeking both solver systems to evaluate and new problems to build. Teams building a solver system — a model, a harness, an agent loop, or all three — can submit it for evaluation on our benchmark, including on the TRACES capabilities, through https://discovery.apodex.com/submit-solver.html. No integration work is required from the submitting team: every system enters through the same fixed episode interface, and Apodex performs that work in collaboration with the submitter. Researchers and organizations holding a consequential problem from their own field — one they believe an AI system should be able to attack — can propose it through https://discovery.apodex.com/submit-problem.html, and Apodex will work with them to turn it into an executable environment with both outcome and process verifiers.

For More Information

The complete framework, including the problem-scouting process behind the 423 high-value problems assembled from a survey of 561 industries across 16 sectors, the environment and episode design, the process metric, and full results, is documented in the following technical report and websites:

Explore TRACES and its environments 
Read the TRACES technical paper on arXiv 

Media Contact
TEAM LEWIS: apodex@teamlewis.com