Summary: New research presented at the SLEEP 2025 meeting indicates that adolescents who use moderate catch-up sleep on weekends—up to two extra hours compared with weekdays—report fewer anxiety symptoms. By contrast, teens who sleep substantially more or less on weekends than during the week showed higher anxiety levels. These findings suggest a balanced weekend recovery … Read more

Summary: A global analysis of nearly one million people has identified hundreds of genetic regions associated with socioeconomic status (SES), revealing a common genetic signal that links income, education, occupation and area-level deprivation. The study estimates that genetic differences explain about 9% of variation in SES, while the remaining variation is shaped by social, environmental … Read more

Summary: New research reveals how the body clears dying cells under stress, uncovering an unexpected role for classic stress-response genes. Using the model organism C. elegans, scientists visualized a stress-activated pathway that promotes removal of cellular debris—a process fundamental to immune health, development and tissue maintenance. By combining live imaging with CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, the … Read more

Summary: New research suggests that bacteria normally found in the mouth can migrate to the gut and may contribute to cognitive decline in people with Parkinson’s disease. Investigators detected harmful microbes and their toxins in the intestines of Parkinson’s patients with dementia, pointing to a possible connection between oral hygiene, gut microbiome changes, and neurodegeneration. … Read more

Summary: New research indicates that healthy lifestyle choices can lower the risk of stroke, dementia, and late-life depression, even in people whose cells show signs of accelerated biological aging. Telomeres—protective DNA caps at the ends of chromosomes—shorten naturally with age and in response to environmental stressors, and shorter telomeres have been associated with greater vulnerability … Read more

Summary: A large new study shows that seven days of brief, daily acts of kindness and gratitude can meaningfully boost emotional well-being. In the web-based Big Joy Project, nearly 17,600 participants worldwide completed short micro-activities—such as asking someone to share a joyful moment, listing things they are grateful for, or performing a small kind act—and … Read more

Summary: Researchers have produced the first large-scale map showing how more than 140,000 mutations influence the formation of amyloid beta fibrils, revealing the energetic structure of the fleeting transition state that precedes plaque formation in Alzheimer’s disease. Using high-throughput DNA synthesis, engineered yeast assays, and machine learning, the team reconstructed a detailed energy landscape of … Read more

Summary: A new study shows the brain can rapidly reconfigure itself to encode rewarding experiences—like finding food—even when the reward’s location changes. Using virtual reality and two-photon imaging in mice, researchers observed flexible “reward maps” in the hippocampus that update within moments after the reward moves. These reward maps remain detectable over long distances within … Read more

Summary: A new study explains how people solve complex problems by flexibly using strategies such as hierarchical and counterfactual reasoning. In the experiment, participants tried to predict the route of a hidden ball moving through a maze, making split-second decisions based on auditory cues and short-term memory. Because it is infeasible for the brain to … Read more

Summary: Researchers have identified neurons in the ventral hippocampus that form “meal memories,” encoding both what and when food was consumed. These specialized memory traces — called meal engrams — appear during brief pauses between bites, helping the brain record eating episodes and their context. When these neurons were selectively disrupted in laboratory rats, the … Read more