Assertiveness is a skill anyone can learn. Improving it helps us communicate more clearly, relate to others more effectively, and ensure our needs are respected. Increasing assertiveness can be life-changing for people who tend to be shy, passive, or overly accommodating (Hill, 2020). Training reduces the fear around speaking up and supports standing up for … Read more

Summary: A new parent-report questionnaire can help detect signs of autism in children aged 18 to 30 months, though it does not identify every child who will later receive a diagnosis. Source: University of Cambridge New research led by the University of Cambridge shows that the Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT) can identify … Read more

Summary: New Northwestern University research shows that deep, uninterrupted sleep can strengthen memory for faces and names when specific memories are reactivated during slow-wave sleep. Source: Northwestern University Struggling to remember names while faces stay familiar? The solution might be a better nap. A study from Northwestern University provides the first clear evidence that reactivating … Read more

Throughout our lives we pass through many different stages and transitions. As we grow, we often leave the family home, establish our own households, and see our needs shift. Some basic needs remain—shelter, clean water, food—but our emotional and psychological needs evolve. How we understand and respond to those needs strongly shapes our sense of … Read more

Approach developed at UCLA holds promise for 60 percent of patients with the deadly disease. Researchers at the UCLA Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research and the Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at UCLA have developed a stem cell gene‑editing approach that could one day treat a majority of … Read more

Summary: In mice, opioid withdrawal disrupts serotonin signaling to the nucleus accumbens, causing pronounced reductions in sociability and increased social avoidance. Source: Stanford Opioid withdrawal is not only physically painful but also sharply reduces social motivation, a change that undermines recovery by driving isolation at precisely the time when social support is most needed. “Self-isolation … Read more

Summary: Although SARS-CoV-2 rarely appears to infect brain cells directly, new autopsy research shows the virus can still produce substantial neurological injury. Investigators conclude that much of the brain damage seen in people who die with COVID-19 is likely driven by inflammation—either system-wide or focused in the brain’s blood vessels—rather than by direct viral invasion … Read more

Using a lighthearted, informal method (not based on download numbers or reviews), here is a short, curated list of positive psychology podcasts that will: Make you laugh Help you better understand yourself Teach you about others Spark feelings of awe and wonder Challenge assumptions about happiness Inspire more purposeful living Not every show is exclusively … Read more

Summary: The first anatomical reconstruction of the Neanderthal cartilaginous Eustachian tube (CET) shows a tubal morphology similar to that of human infants, and suggests Neanderthals may have been highly susceptible to chronic otitis media (middle ear infections). Lifelong ear disease and its complications could have reduced Neanderthal fitness and competitiveness, potentially contributing to their decline … Read more

Summary: Research suggests Lewy body disorders—including Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies—may encompass two distinct subtypes. One appears to begin in the peripheral nervous system of the gut and travel to the brain; the other begins in the brain or enters through the olfactory system and then spreads to the brainstem and peripheral nervous … Read more