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University of Waterloo

·October 6, 2025·5 min read

Why It’s Time to Retire the Body Mass Index

A growing number of researchers are calling for the end of BMI as a measure of health, arguing it’s outdated, misleading, and rooted in discrimination. The metric, a simple weight-to-height ratio, fails to account for fat distribution, muscle mass, age, or ethnicity—yet it still influences medical decisions and public perception.

This shows the skeleton with a spinal cord highlighted.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·September 23, 2025·4 min read

Blood Tests Could Predict Spinal Cord Injury Severity and Survival

A new study shows that routine hospital blood tests could help predict spinal cord injury severity and survival chances. Researchers used machine learning to analyze data from thousands of patients and found that patterns in blood markers, such as electrolytes and immune cells, forecasted recovery outcomes as early as one to three days after admission.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·September 15, 2025·4 min read

Simple Hair Test May Spot Mental Health Risks in Kids

Long-term stress, measured through hair cortisol, may help predict mental health risks in children living with chronic physical illnesses. In a four-year study of 244 children, researchers found that persistently high cortisol levels were strongly linked to anxiety, depression, and behavioral difficulties.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 30, 2025·4 min read

Songs Trigger Faster, Stronger Personal Memories

New research shows that full songs are far more effective than spoken lyrics in evoking personal memories. By comparing reactions to popular pop songs and spoken-word versions, researchers found that music helps anchor memories to specific times and emotions.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·December 6, 2024·5 min read

Antipsychotics Worsen Behavior in Dementia

A study of 500,000 Canadian nursing home residents found antipsychotic medications significantly worsened behaviors in patients, with nearly 68% experiencing increased issues. Antipsychotics are often prescribed "off-label" for dementia-related symptoms, despite serious side effects like tremors and cognitive decline. Researchers advocate for person-centered care, emphasizing non-drug therapies like music, art, and exercise to address behavioral issues.

This shows two people, squiggly lines and the words "cause" and "effect".

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·November 22, 2024·3 min read

Why We’re Wired to Love Simple Solutions

People's preference for simple explanations stems from their desire for efficiency in both understanding situations and achieving goals. Researchers found that participants consistently favored explanations involving common, reliable causes over complex or rare ones.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 8, 2024·3 min read

Sex-Based Breakfast Choices May Boost Metabolism

A recent study using mathematical models suggests that breakfast choices may affect men’s and women’s metabolisms differently. Results indicate that men’s metabolisms respond better to carb-heavy breakfasts, while women’s bodies benefit more from higher-fat options like eggs or avocados, especially after fasting.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·August 25, 2024·4 min read

How Logical Thinking and Empathy Define Wisdom

A new study reveals that people across 12 countries and five continents perceive wisdom through two key dimensions: reflective orientation and socio-emotional awareness. Reflective orientation includes logical thinking and emotion control, while socio-emotional awareness focuses on empathy and social context. These dimensions consistently influence how individuals judge wisdom in leaders, scientists, and others. The findings highlight the universal principles that shape perceptions of wisdom and their implications for leadership and education.

This shows a man sitting alone on a bench.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 11, 2024·4 min read

Loneliness Worse for Memory Than Social Isolation

A new study finds that loneliness impacts memory more negatively than social isolation among older adults. Those who are both socially isolated and lonely experience the greatest memory decline, but loneliness alone also significantly harms memory.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·March 6, 2024·4 min read

Real Person or Deepfake? Can You Tell?

A new study reveals a significant challenge in distinguishing real from AI-generated images, with only 61% of participants accurately identifying them—far below the anticipated 85%. The study involved 260 people evaluating 20 photos, half sourced from Google and half produced by AI programs like Stable Diffusion or DALL-E, focusing on details like fingers, eyes, and teeth to make their judgments.

Featured Neuroscience

·August 22, 2023·3 min read

Why Our Brains Prefer Symbols to Words

Research reveals symbols are more memorable than words. This novel study dives into our brain's knack for recalling graphic symbols and logos over their word counterparts. Symbols, offering visual anchors for abstract ideas, outperform words in memory tests. This understanding could revolutionize visual communication and design.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 16, 2023·4 min read

AI Revolution: Simulating Human Behavior for Groundbreaking Social Science

A team of researchers predicts artificial intelligence (AI), particularly large language models (LLMs), could redefine social science research. They believe LLMs, trained on vast amounts of text data, can mimic human responses to aid in extensive and rapid human behavior studies.