Author: dispatchtimes news

A Zhejiang University-led study in China has compared the cognitive outcomes of children conceived through frozen embryo transfer using hormone replacement therapy with those conceived via natural cycle protocols. The retrospective cohort, drawn from a reproductive centre, followed 1,538 families and 790 singletons born between 2004 and 2017. It found no meaningful difference in early childhood IQ between the two uterine-preparation methods, but noted higher rates of unusually large babies and admissions to newborn care units in the hormone replacement therapy group. Researchers distinguished two ways of preparing the uterus for embryo transfer. The natural cycle method relies on the…

A study published in Autism Research suggests that autistic people possess a brain configured with a highly interconnected reward centre and social processing networks. Led by Chen Yang and Ai-Ping Sun, the team used resting-state brain imaging to analyse data from 646 participants, including 298 autistic individuals and 348 typically developing controls, to map how these networks communicate when the brain is at rest. The human brain handles social interactions through a distributed system known as the social brain, comprising four subnetworks that govern different facets of connection. The reward system encodes motivation and the pleasure attached to social stimuli,…

A new longitudinal analysis suggests that adolescents who begin using cannabis may experience a slower pace of cognitive development than their peers who do not use the drug. The study, published in Neuropsychopharmacology, draws on data from a large national project and finds that youths often start with marginally higher cognitive scores in late childhood, but their rate of improvement lags as they age. Adolescence is a period of rapid brain development when the organ undergoes major structural and functional changes, making it particularly susceptible to external chemical influences. Cannabis contains more than 120 cannabinoids, with delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) being the…

A small pilot study conducted at Johns Hopkins University examined the effects of psilocybin, delivered with psychological support, in 20 patients with post-treatment Lyme disease. Six months after two psilocybin sessions, participants reported a 40% reduction in overall symptom burden compared with the start of the study, and their health-related quality of life improved. The researchers emphasised that the trial had no control group. Lyme disease is caused by Borrelia bacteria and is transmitted via infected ticks. It can affect the skin, joints, nervous system and heart, with early signs typically including fever, fatigue, headache and a distinctive expanding rash.…

A new study published in American Psychologist finds that political liberals, while generally disliking prejudice, tend to rate antisemitic remarks more positively when they are paired with justifications rooted in human rights or criticisms of Israel. The researchers say these specific justifications can function as social signals, leading liberals to view the speaker as an ally rather than broadly bigoted. Antisemitism refers to prejudice or hatred directed at Jewish people. The researchers explain that in social psychology, expressions of prejudice are often accompanied by a justification to make them seem more socially acceptable or grounded in a legitimate concern. The…

A small Dutch study has found that a curious personality tends to align with higher indicators of cognitive reserve—specifically education and mentally stimulating leisure activities—though it did not observe a link with performance on cognitive tests. Cognitive reserve describes the brain’s ability to sustain functioning amid ageing, brain injury or disease-related changes. It is thought to accumulate gradually through experiences that repeatedly engage the brain, such as education, demanding work, reading, learning new skills and other mentally stimulating activities. In later life, greater cognitive reserve may delay or lessen cognitive effects of brain changes, even if those changes still occur.…

A new study has shown the brain actively directs the body’s endurance adaptations, revealing that a specific cluster of neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus governs stamina gains after regular exercise in mice. The scientists found that activating SF1 neurons immediately after a workout is necessary for long‑term increases in endurance, a discovery published in Neuron in May 2026. The work was led by Morgan Kindel of the University of Pennsylvania and Ryan J. Post of Providence College, with a team of collaborators. Historically, exercise physiology has focused on the body’s periphery — muscles, the cardiovascular system and immune function —…

A long-running, nationally representative twin study has concluded that loneliness in childhood and social isolation independently forecast mental health, well-being and employment prospects in young adulthood, and that loneliness does not appear to help isolated youths reconnect. The Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study, led by researchers at King’s College London, followed more than two thousand twins from England and Wales to age 18, collecting data at ages 12 and 18. In the researchers’ framework, social isolation is the objective absence of supportive relationships, while loneliness is the subjective sense that one’s social connections are unsatisfactory. A child can be surrounded…

Daytime stress is linked to negative dream emotions, a new study indicates, with researchers suggesting that the more distressed people feel during waking hours, the more likely their dreams are to carry negative emotional tones. The work, led by Jonas Mathes of SRH University Heidelberg, analysed data from 65 participants collected over a two‑week period. Psychologists frequently discuss the Continuity Hypothesis, which posits that waking experiences, thoughts and feelings feed into dream content. In this study, the researchers explored whether the coping strategies people use to manage daytime stress shape the emotional tone of their dreams. Coping strategies are commonly…

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has introduced an artificial intelligence approach to map how different regions of the human brain age. By analysing MRI scans in fine detail, researchers show that ageing does not occur evenly across the brain, with certain areas displaying more advanced biological age in people with Alzheimer’s disease. “Our earlier work focused on global brain age, where AI estimates how old a person’s brain appears from an MRI,” study author Andrei Irimia told PsyPost. “That provides a useful summary, but it reduces the entire brain to a single…