Summary: A new study challenges the widely held belief that high-quality, nonjudgmental listening is essential for persuasion. While good listening improves how people feel about a conversation and reduces defensiveness, it doesn’t enhance the impact of persuasive messages.Instead, the study found that sharing compelling personal narratives—especially on polarizing topics like...

Summary: A new study has identified specific brain networks that regulate the intensity of political engagement, regardless of ideology. By analyzing Vietnam War veterans with localized brain injuries, researchers found that damage to the prefrontal cortex increased political fervor, while damage to the amygdala reduced it.These findings highlight how emotional...

Summary: For the first time, scientists have shown how heavy alcohol use leads to long-term cognitive impairments by damaging brain circuits responsible for decision-making. In a rat model, animals exposed to high alcohol levels performed significantly worse on a complex, shifting-reward task, even after nearly three months of sobriety.These decision-making...

Summary: A large study of over 72,000 pregnant women found that those infected with SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy were less likely to develop Long COVID than non-pregnant peers. Using data from two national databases, researchers found consistent results: about 16% of pregnant women developed Long COVID symptoms versus 19% of matched...

Summary: Researchers have developed a brain-computer interface that can synthesize natural-sounding speech from brain activity in near real time, restoring a voice to people with severe paralysis. The system decodes signals from the motor cortex and uses AI to transform them into audible speech with minimal delay—less than one second.Unlike...

Summary: A new study shows that weight training not only boosts physical strength but also protects the brains of older adults with mild cognitive impairment. After six months of twice-weekly resistance training, participants showed memory improvements and protection against brain atrophy in regions linked to Alzheimer’s disease.MRI scans revealed preserved...

Summary: A new study of over 45,000 young adults found that using screens in bed increases the risk of insomnia by 59% and cuts sleep by 24 minutes. Surprisingly, the type of activity—whether social media, movies, or studying—didn’t make a difference; it was the screen time itself that mattered most.Researchers...

Summary: A new study reveals that inflammation during pregnancy may impair neurodevelopment in infants by reducing CD11c-positive microglia—key immune cells that support brain myelination. These cells produce IGF-1, a protein critical for forming the myelin sheath that helps nerve signals travel efficiently.In both mice and preterm infants exposed to maternal...

Summary: A new study finds that ChatGPT, while excellent at logic and math, exhibits many of the same cognitive biases as humans when making subjective decisions. In tests for common judgment errors, the AI showed overconfidence, risk aversion, and even the classic gambler’s fallacy, though it avoided other typical human...

Summary: A new study reveals that autism-like symptoms in mice emerge when two nerve proteins—MDGA2 and BDNF—fall out of balance. MDGA2 typically keeps BDNF/TrkB signaling in check, but when MDGA2 levels drop, heightened neuronal activity and social impairments occur.Mice with reduced MDGA2 showed behaviors resembling autism, including repetitive grooming and...