Summary: A clear sense of purpose—whether found in work, hobbies, family roles, or volunteer activities—can meaningfully reduce the experience of loneliness across the adult lifespan. A large new study of more than 2,300 adults in Switzerland shows that people who report a strong sense of purpose also report less loneliness. While many purpose-driven activities involve … Read more

Summary: Research indicates bilingualism can delay the clinical onset of Alzheimer’s disease by up to five years. A recent neuroimaging study finds that, among older adults with Alzheimer’s, those who are bilingual tend to have larger hippocampi—a critical brain structure for memory—than comparable monolinguals. These findings point to a form of brain resilience associated with … Read more

Summary: By comparing genomes of rats bred to drink compulsively with those bred to avoid alcohol, researchers identified 930 genes linked to alcohol preference, revealing the complex genetic architecture of alcoholism. Source: Purdue University. Alcohol-seeking rats offer a clearer view of the complex genetics behind alcoholism. Researchers at Purdue University and Indiana University used selectively … Read more

Summary: A specialized group of taste cells appears to play an active role in the mouth’s immune surveillance, detecting and responding to harmful microbes. These findings may guide new approaches to prevent or treat taste loss associated with infections, aging, obesity, and chemotherapy-induced changes to the oral microbiome. Source: University of Nebraska–Lincoln Taste cells are … Read more

Summary: The perception of every scent is built on precise neural circuitry that maps odor receptors to specific targets in the brain. Source: Columbia University Making the invisible tangible is a long-standing goal for scientists, and nowhere is this more striking than in the visualizations of how the brain interprets smells. The striking, almost sea-creature-like … Read more

Summary: Across diverse faiths and regions, prompting people to think about their God made them more willing to share money with anonymous strangers. This boost in generosity applied equally to recipients from the same religion and to those from different religious groups. Source: University of Illinois Does belief in God encourage generosity only toward co-religionists, … Read more

Summary: NU-9, a new non-toxic compound, targets upper motor neurons and reverses cellular damage associated with ALS within 60 days of treatment. Source: Northwestern University Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered the first compound that halts and reverses degeneration of upper motor neurons — a critical cell type whose decline drives amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) … Read more

Missing sleep for a single night can leave you irritable, but months of disrupted sleep may contribute to lasting mood problems such as depression. Researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) now report a possible molecular link between the circadian clock that governs sleep-wake timing and mood regulation. A team led by HHMI investigator … Read more

Summary: Scientists identify distinct “social” and “asocial” neurons in the prefrontal cortex that change their activity depending on whether another individual is present. Source: CNRS. Researchers at the Institut de neurosciences des systèmes (Aix-Marseille University / INSERM), the Laboratoire de psychologie sociale et cognitive (Université Clermont Auvergne / CNRS), and the Institut de neurosciences de … Read more

Summary: Why do people often finish each other’s sentences? It’s not just social intuition — it reflects a rapid neurological process. A recent study using eye-tracking shows that listeners do not wait for a sentence to finish before interpreting it. Instead, the brain actively builds the sentence’s grammatical structure in real time, often committing to … Read more