

More Senses, Lower Dementia Risk
Dementia is a devastating condition, and as our population ages, a looming fear for many. For decades, science has sought to better understand dementia and the factors surrounding it. A recently concluded study by UC San Francisco followed 1,794 subjects, all in initially their seventies, and tracked them for ten years to try to better understand the relationship between their sensory functioning--their ability to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch--and whether or not they de


Want Better Sleep? Practice Optimism
Welcome back to our Sleep Series, a string of blog posts about the role of sleep in our lives, including the benefits of achieving enough slumber and tips to help make it happen. As life grows increasingly stressful and complicated, it becomes more and more important to perform the necessary steps to take care of yourself, sleep being key among them. In this current juncture in history, it can be hard to maintain an upbeat attitude. The devastating effects of COVID-19, nation


The Secret to Learning: Space
Pretty much everyone has something they wouldn't mind learning, whether it's a new language, a dance move, or just a way to memorize all their internet passwords. Is there a way we can leverage what we know about how the brain works in order to more efficiently retain information? In a word, yes. It turns out that if you space out your study sessions, you'll remember more, and it will even take fewer total hours of studying. Spaced repetition, as it's called, takes advantage


The Furry Robot Factor
Image source: Gurion University of the Negevl. As many pet owners know, in hard times, it can be very helpful to have a furry little friend around. Since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, there has been an unprecedented surge in pet adoptions around the world. Research demonstrates that keeping an animal around (especially a dog) lowers psychological arousal and stress, and creates physiological changes that actually make us feel better. That said, not everyone can simply g