Structures within the brain change over time Temet/Getty Images The COVID-19 pandemic may have accelerated the ageing of our brains even before we caught the infection. Research suggests that even relatively early on in the outbreak, brains aged by 5.5 months, possibly due to stress or lifestyle changes. We know that many people with long … Read more
It’s an automatic behavior when you meet someone new: subconsciously, you take stock of physical cues to gauge how old they are. Facial wrinkles, gray hairs, an unsteady walk: these all signal older age. Often, these guesses are pretty accurate, and researchers are attempting to replicate that internal age calculator to figure out how old … Read more
It seems that not all organs are equally important for longevity Westend61 GmbH / Alamy When it comes to living a long life, it seems not all organs are created equal. Scientists have found that having a youthful brain or immune system may be key – more so than having a slowly ageing heart or … Read more
Is soil really an antidepressant? Cavan Images/Alamy There are so many colourful claims out there when it comes to gardening, but there is one in particular that has been doing the rounds recently: “Soil is an antidepressant.” According to this idea, espoused through countless social media posts, Mycobacterium cows– a microbe naturally found in soil … Read more
TIME reporter Andrew Chow discussed the findings of a new study about how ChatGPT affects critical thinking with Nataliya Kosymyna. Kosymyna was part of a team of researchers at MIT’s Media Lab who set out to determine whether ChatGPT and large language models (LLMs) are eroding critical thinking, and the study returned some concerning results. … Read more
Magnetic resonance imaging scan of a human brain The Queen/ Politics/ste is not/sen A device that massages the face and neck boosts the brain’s waste disposal system, suggesting it could reduce the severity of conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) bathes our brain, pumped into it before leaving through a network of thin tubes … Read more
Hormonal birth control is effective in preventing pregnancy, but there may be some neurological trade-offs that we are only just learning about Oral contraceptives have been effectively preventing pregnancy for more than 65 years, but it has only been in the past 10 that scientists – many of them women – have started to seriously … Read more
A declining ability to detect scents is linked to conditions including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. But restoring sensitivity to smell might not only reduce cognitive decline – studies also show it could even reverse it. Our reporters put the latest scent training kits to the test and explored the research behind our our most neglected sense. … Read more
The new cocaine vaccine was given once a month in a small trial Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images A small trial of an experimental vaccine designed to stop cocaine reaching the brain suggests that it helps reduce the drug’s use. Over a 32-week trial involving monthly injections, the urine of seven people given the vaccine was … Read more
Working long hours comes with a slew of health issues, from too much stress to disturbed sleep, heart conditions, and mental-health disorders like anxiety and depression. It may even cause changes in the brain, according to a new report published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Researchers from Korea found that people who regularly work long … Read more
