Summary: New analysis identifies three life stages when alcohol exposure is most likely to damage brain health. Source: BMJ A growing body of research links alcohol use to harm across the lifespan, and a new perspective article highlights three specific life stages when the brain appears especially vulnerable: gestation (conception through birth), later adolescence (ages … Read more

Summary: A detailed human ecology and metabolic study challenges the idea that chronic tiredness is just the result of too little sleep. The research links widespread fatigue to nutritional imbalances—specifically deficiencies in folate (vitamin B9) and vitamin B12—using blood chemistry and behavioral measures to reveal predictable metabolic patterns associated with lowered energy and motivation. By … Read more

New brain-imaging method offers a measurable biomarker to improve diagnosis and guide treatment for boys with autism Researchers have developed a brain-imaging method that maps and tracks the function of neural circuits involved in social perception, producing an objective measure that can help diagnose autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in boys and monitor individual treatment response. … Read more

Summary: New research from the University of Eastern Finland finds that buying second-hand gifts is typically a deliberate, intentional choice rather than an impulsive act. Motivations include fair pricing, the thrill of discovering unique or rare items, and ethical and ecological concerns. Data gathered from users of a major Finnish consumer-to-consumer marketplace, Tori.fi, show that … Read more

Summary: Researchers examine how infants discover which acoustic distinctions in speech are meaningful in their native language, showing that natural conversational speech provides the contextual signals needed for this learning. Source: University of Maryland Babies can tell many speech sounds apart shortly after birth, and by around their first birthday they tune into the sound … Read more

Researchers at Japan’s RIKEN Brain Science Institute have identified specific regions of the cingulate cortex that encode the values of offensive and defensive strategies. By measuring neural activity with functional MRI while experienced amateur players evaluated positions in shogi (Japanese chess), the team found complementary encoding: one cingulate area linked to attack value and another … Read more

Researchers from Sanford‑Burnham and SUNY Downstate Medical Center report that deficiencies in hyaluronan—also called hyaluronic acid (HA)—can produce spontaneous epileptic seizures. HA is a large polysaccharide found throughout connective, epithelial, and neural tissues, including the brain’s extracellular space (ECS). Published April 30 in The Journal of Neuroscience, the study provides new physiological insight into HA’s … Read more

Summary: New research establishes a causal link showing that eating fruit and vegetables and taking exercise raise happiness, rather than merely being associated with it. Source: University of Kent Researchers at the University of Kent and the University of Reading report evidence that increased fruit and vegetable consumption and regular physical activity lead to higher … Read more

Summary: Analysis of data from a smartphone mood-tracking app shows that even brief, everyday physical activity is associated with improved happiness. Source: University of Cambridge. Largest smartphone-based study to date finds that small amounts of physical activity — not just formal exercise — are linked to greater happiness. Researchers from the University of Cambridge and … Read more

Summary: A new study demonstrates that artificial intelligence systems are more vulnerable to adversarial attacks than previously recognized, exposing them to manipulations that can produce incorrect or dangerous decisions. Researchers show that adversarial weaknesses are widespread across modern deep neural networks, raising alarm about deploying these systems in safety-critical settings. To evaluate these risks, the … Read more