By the numbers
University of California - San Diego
 |
| Why are women more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease? - Harvard Health |
Scientists at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine analyzed data from more than 17,000 middle aged and older adults and found that certain modifiable dementia risk factors appear to have a greater impact on women's cognitive function than men's.
The findings were
published May 19, 2026, in Biology of Sex Differences.
I’ve Lost the Rationale for Why We’re Doing What We’re Doing
By Tom Cantlon
Oppressed people? That’s also true in countries all over the world that we don’t seem to care about. Even further, Viktor Orban in Hungary was transitioning the country to an oppressive authoritarian system and we supported him. Is it because Cuba is in our Western hemisphere? So is Peru where President Bukele is leading a harsh authoritarian rule, but we’re making deals with him to take the immigration rejects (to put it in terms that fit Trump’s attitude) that Trump wants to get rid of.
And much of what the Cuban people suffer is simple poverty which the
U.S. has played a big role in creating. We’ve had embargoes of varying degrees
imposed on them since 1960, and of course much worse now since Trump has almost
cut off their ability to import oil.
It’s Always Been About Race
This is the question posed by possible Supreme Court review
of the finding by an Alabama judicial panel that Alabama could not use a
congressional district map that deliberately discriminated against Black
voters.
Two of the three judges on the panel which found race-based
discrimination had been appointed to the bench by President Trump; one, by
President Reagan. The issue now is whether the conservative justices of the
Supreme Court will upend the panel’s racial discrimination finding,
notwithstanding that the Alabama judges had followed legal standards set in the
Supreme Court’s recent decision in Louisiana v.
Callais.
If they allow the Alabama decision stand, it will be a rare
exception to the flood of Supreme-Court-encouraged gerrymandering prompted by
the Callais decision. Those Republican gerrymanders are likely
to purge
one-third of African -Americans representatives from Congress by
destroying the Black majority districts that elected them.
Nonetheless, the six justices of the Supreme Court who
caused this political bloodbath along racial lines claim that Republican
gerrymandering does not violate the voting rights of African-Americans. The
purge is lawful under the Voting Rights Act, say the justices, because the
G.O.P. has partisan reasons to eliminate the Black districts
that cannot be “disentangled” from racial motives.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Be sharp
University of Toronto
Researchers found that when people are thinking clearly and efficiently,
the effect can equal roughly 40 extra minutes of productive work.
Published in Science Advances, the research tracked participants over 12 weeks to better understand why people sometimes struggle to follow through on their plans.
The findings point to daily shifts in mental sharpness as a key factor.
On days when participants felt more
mentally alert, they were more likely to set goals and complete them, whether
tackling schoolwork or everyday tasks like making dinner.
"Some days everything just clicks, and on other days it
feels like you're pushing through fog," says Cendri Hutcherson, associate
professor in the Department of Psychology at U of T Scarborough and lead author
of the study.
"What we wanted to understand was why that happens, and
how much those mental ups and downs actually matter."
Nutrition experts emphasize food quality and protein intake first
By Miguel G. Borda, Universidad de Navarra, and George E. Barreto, University of Limerick
 |
| Give me some of this (but not him) |
However, that assumption is not always accurate. People who
already get enough nutrients from their diet often see little to no clear
benefit from many supplements. In some cases, supplements are simply an added
cost with limited value. They can also carry risks. Large amounts of certain
vitamins and minerals may cause toxicity, interact with medications, or lead to
other unwanted health effects.
For older adults, however, the picture is more complicated.
The most useful question is not simply whether supplements are “good” or “bad,”
but whether someone is actually deficient, what might be causing that
deficiency, and whether a supplement is the safest way to address it.
Trump's war-driven energy cost hikes affect the whole economy
The report offered a mixed but still uncomfortable picture. The month-to-month rise was softer than expected, but the change year over year still points to concern: a 3.8% jump from a year earlier, the fastest pace since 2021, and a less volatile index that excludes food and energy up 3.3%.
This increase suggests inflation isn’t limited to gasoline. Housing, utilities and recreational spending are also keeping underlying inflation elevated, even as other data shows a slowing economy and weaker income growth.
As finance and applied investments professors who study how businesses make decisions amid uncertainty, we have been watching this tension build. In our 2026 economic outlook, we warned that recession fears could persist alongside rising prices. Fresh inflation data now suggests the challenge may be deeper and longer lasting than many expected.
The fresh inflation data comes from the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, or headline PCE, which is maintained and released by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. Headline PCE had already been getting hotter, rising to 3.5% year on year in March 2026, up from 2.8% in February. But an even more important metric for the Federal Reserve is core PCE, which excludes the more volatile categories of food and energy. Core PCE matters because it gives policymakers a clearer read on underlying inflation pressures and is generally considered a better predictor of where inflation is headed, the Fed’s chief concern. That has been rising this year as well.
The key question isn’t simply whether gas prices are rising, but whether those higher energy costs are spreading into the rest of the economy.
