Neuroscie
Serotonin Proven to Reduce Cognitive Belief Stickiness in OCD
Summary: A new study has redefined the biological understanding of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) by discovering that serotonin directly reduces “belief stickiness”, the cognitive failure to abandon old ideas despite contradicting…
Heart Attacks Release Toxin That Damages Brain Function
Summary: Researchers cracked a critical hidden mechanism behind the “heart-brain axis,” revealing how a heart attack physically reshapes brain function to cause depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline. The research demonstrates…
Machine Learning Doubles Depression Remission Rate
Summary: A pioneering, first-of-its-kind study demonstrated that a personalized, machine-learning-guided lifestyle coaching program can nearly double the remission rates of mild-to-moderate depression. The research tracks how individual behavioral factors uniquely…
Study Maps 175 Vicious Mental Health Loops
Summary: A pioneering public health study has delivered a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary mapping of the complex crises surrounding sleep deprivation, anxiety, and depression among young adults. The research moves past a…
Life
Nature
Newfound bat skeletons are the oldest on record
Two fossilized bat skeletons unearthed in western Wyoming represent a new species and are the oldest set of bat bones yet discovered, researchers say. The incredibly complete fossils of Icaronycteris…
Astronomy
Asteroid 2024 YR4 was Earth’s first real-life defense test
Artist’s depiction of an asteroid floating in space. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb), Martin Kornmesser (ESA), Serge Brunier (ESO), Nick Risinger (Photopic Sky Survey) At this point in…
How do you fire someone into the sun?
Firing our villain straight at the Sun results in a big miss. Credit: Michael Brown, CC BY To point a rocket directly at the sun and hit would require great…
Cosmic ray puzzle resolved as scientists link ‘knee’ formation to black holes
LHAASO experiment. Credit: LHAASO Collaboration Milestone results released by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) on November 16 have solved a decades-old mystery about the cosmic ray energy…
If the supernova standard candle is wrong, it could solve the Hubble tension
An illustration showing how Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs) expand with the universe. Credit: Gabriela Secara, Perimeter Institute CC-BY-4.0 Last time I wrote about new data that overturns the standard cosmological…
