THE LATEST RESEARCH
New findings about the brain, behavior and mental health—with the evidence and limits in view.
TL;DR: Among 10 people with dementia who finished a 6-month therapy garden program in Germany, restlessness ratings were lower than at the start. With no comparison group, the study cannot show the garden caused the change. Key Findings Lower restlessness rati…
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TL;DR: In 34 trials of children and teens with cancer, those given supportive programs like play or art did better on anxiety and pain than those who were not. But the trials were small and varied. Key Findings Anxiety: Across 7 trials, program group had a med…
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TL;DR: In a two-week trial of 30 adults with chronic insomnia, nightly sleep rose about 82 minutes with real brain stimulation and 6 with fake. The groups started far apart, so this is an early signal. Key Findings Sleep time: Real-stimulation group gained abo…
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TL;DR: A 2026 preprint on medRxiv followed 72 people with bipolar disorder who wore wrist activity monitors and asked whether day-to-day swings in sleep and activity carry information about mood episodes beyond weekly averages. They did — the swings were linke…
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TL;DR: In a small trial of 30 nursing-home residents with Parkinson's, adding 15 minutes of Baduanjin, a gentle qigong routine, to regular physical therapy led to better balance and farther walking after 12 weeks. Walking speed on a timed test and motor sympto…
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TL;DR: In a small Spanish study of 84 adults with severe grief, scores fell most in the group given ayahuasca alongside grief therapy. People were not randomly assigned, so this is an early signal, not proof. Key Findings Ayahuasca plus therapy: Grief severity…
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TL;DR: In 41 studies of adults with schizophrenia or a related condition, 7 of 18 antipsychotics lowered hostility more than a dummy pill. Confidence in the evidence was low or very low. Key Findings Antipsychotics beat placebo: 7 of 18 drugs clearly reduced h…
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TL;DR: A 2026 review looked for studies comparing memory and thinking test scores of older Latin American immigrants with those of people born in their new country, and found only 3, all on Mexican-born adults in the United States. Those adults scored lower th…
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TL;DR: In a 2026 study, rats that had a stroke got 7 sessions of mild electrical pulses to the median nerve, which in people runs through the wrist. Compared with untreated stroke rats, they did better on movement tests, had less brain damage and kept more of…
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TL;DR: In a 2026 study, 9 people with spinal cord injuries wore a brain-wave cap and imagined moving their left or right foot. A new AI model named the imagined foot correctly 85% of the time, vs 75% for the best older model, but it was tested on recorded data…
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