Author: Carlos Morales

Researchers have long told us that green spaces are healthy. And who could argue that spending time in a woodsy place is better than a stroll along a crowded city street?

A recent study led by a University of California scientist suggests that there might be one exception to the greenery rule: grass.

Investigators tracked nearly 90,000 nurses across the United States for nearly two decades while tracking cardiovascular problems with the group. Those include strokes and heart attacks.

The study found that trees are far more beneficial to health than grass. And the difference is startling.

People living in neighborhoods with more visible trees had a 4% lower rate of cardiovascular disease. Meantime, those living in areas with more grass had a 6% higher rate of cardiovascular disease.

Researchers used data from the Nurses’ Health Study. That study tracked nurses’ health across a wide range of locales, including cities, suburban areas and rural towns.

The team also analyzed 350 million Google Street View photos to measure green spaces.

Scientists suggest that trees can do things for our health that grass just can’t. A tree canopy keeps a neighborhood cooler, which is especially nice in a heat wave. Trees and their branches muffle traffic sounds, which other research has shown can increase risks to the heart. And people walk more often in tree-lined areas.

Now, consider grass. A lawn must be mowed. That creates noise and air pollution. Perhaps most importantly, grassy areas are more common in car-dependent areas. And cars, of course, pollute.

So, next time you look for a new home, check for trees … and maybe don’t worry about the lack of a lawn.

Waking up with a yawn, you wonder what on earth possessed you to dream you were in a kennel. Then, your better half asks if you heard the neighbor’s dogs barking all night.

Now, scientists are using that trick to goad us into creativity.

A new study from Northwestern University shows it is possible to influence what a person dreams about. And they found that REM sleep — that rapid eye movement stage when our most detailed, realistic dreams occur — might help us solve problems.

The scientists used a technique called targeted memory reactivation in a study involving 20 participants who had experienced lucid dreaming. That means they were sometimes aware they were dreaming as they slept.

Each participant was asked to solve a series of tough brain teasers, with three minutes allotted per puzzle. Each puzzle had its own distinctive soundtrack.

Later, when participants were asleep in the lab, researchers recorded their brain activity and other physiological signals. During REM sleep, scientists again played the soundtracks linked to half the unsolved puzzles.

Here’s what they found: 75% of the participants reported dreams that included ideas or facets of the unsolved puzzles. After they woke, participants solved 42% of the puzzles they dreamed about, compared with 17% of the ones they didn’t.

The researchers said their findings don’t necessarily mean you will solve every problem that finds its way into a dream, let alone those that only make sense in a dream-like scenario. But it helps expand what we know about human creativity and tells us sound can influence dreams.

So the next time a problem weighs heavily on your mind? Sleep on it.

Is using a robot pal to talk about your worries or ask for advice a good idea?

A new study from researchers in Denmark suggests those questions may have troubling answers, though they are far from definitive.

A chatbot is a software application that simulates human conversation. You might text and ask it to suggest a hairstyle. Or prompt it to write a poem. Some people use them as companions.

With more than 1.3 billion downloads since 2022, ChatGPT is now widely used.

The Danish researchers wanted to test what had only been reported anecdotally. They searched more than 10.7 million psychiatric patient records for clinical notes that mentioned “ChatGPT,” “chatbot” or had a related spelling.

They found 38 cases in which chatbot use appeared to have potentially added to mental harm, such as feeding delusions, suicidal thoughts, eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

In 11 cases, chatbots reinforced a patient’s false beliefs. Six patients showed signs of self-harm tied to chatbot interactions. For five patients with eating disorders, chatbots enabled calorie-counting or food restriction.

While those aren’t large numbers, researchers say the true numbers are likely much higher. Most clinicians do not consistently ask patients about chatbot use. And if they do, it might not end up in a patient’s chart. The researchers asked only about ChatGPT, not its many competitors.

For now, the researchers suggest that mental health professionals talk to patients about their chatbot use, because some would benefit from either reducing their reliance on them or skipping them entirely.

It looks like we’re not the only ones playing pretend.

A new study from Johns Hopkins University delved into the imagination capabilities of a 43-year-old bonobo named Kanzi — and learned more about how humans play pretend.

In a series of experiments published in the journal Science, researchers presented the ape with empty jars and pretended to fill the containers with juice. Then, they poured the imaginary drink from the cups and prompted Kanzi with questions about the whereabouts of the juice.

Again and again, the bonobo pointed to the location of the nonexistent beverage — despite his knowledge that there was nothing really there.

To eliminate the chance that Kanzi believed real items were hidden somewhere, researchers replicated the test with actual juice. Kanzi’s preference for the real drink in these trials suggested the ape wasn’t confused.

He was playing the game.

This research challenges the assumption that only humans are capable of creating mental images for situations that don’t really exist. Such an idea is monumental — not only for the animal kingdom, but also for humankind. This is the first instance of a controlled experiment tracking a nonhuman animal’s understanding of pretend play.

Findings like these propose that the practice of imagination isn’t just a playful act reserved for children, but rather an intricate neural system with evolutionary underpinnings.

Who knows —  our own species’ resilience might stem from the creative ability to visualize a hopeful situation beyond the here and now.

So the next time you find yourself building a pillow fort or plotting a late-night vision board, consider inviting an ape to the party. They might have their own take.

Trying to avoid diabetes? Take a hike.

No, really.

A new study from researchers at Gladstone Institutes explains why folks living at a high altitude tend to develop diabetes much less often than those who live at sea level.

As oxygen levels drop, your red blood cells tap into a different kind of metabolism, relying on the glucose in your blood to get by. They become “sugar sponges.”

Not only does this help your body adapt to the low oxygen at high altitudes — it also lowers your blood sugar levels. Researchers say this phenomenon sheds light on the untapped role of red blood cells in how the body breaks down sugar.

Initially, researchers noticed that mice in low-oxygen conditions were able to clear sugar from their bloodstream after their meals faster than their counterparts, but found no sign of the sugar being used in their organs.

They found that mice in these conditions produced more red blood cells, and that these cells acted as a sink for the sugar. Each individual red blood cell also absorbed more glucose than its counterpart produced under normal levels of oxygen.

Typically, authors said, red blood cells are almost solely known for their mission of ferrying oxygen throughout the body — so this function was surprising.

Based on this mechanism, researchers were able to develop a new drug that reversed diabetes in mice, pointing toward promising new avenues that might change how we think about diabetes treatment.

So don’t go setting off on an expedition to Mount Everest just yet. A more manageable means of accessing high-altitude benefits just might be in the works.

Here’s something to talk about around the office water cooler: Office water coolers aren’t as clean as they could be.

A paper published in the journal AIMS Microbiology reported some disquieting findings based on its review of 70 water studies. Water coolers and public water dispensers often contain more bacteria than tap water.

This finding proved true even though many dispensers supposedly filter water.

Researchers found that water coolers and other dispensers often contained bacterial counts above recommended levels.

So, if you thought it was safe to drink straight from the blue jug, guess again.

Blame it, at least partially, on biofilms. These are communities of bacteria living on surfaces. They protect themselves by creating a slimy coating making them resistant to cleaning. And water coolers and their cousins are ideal targets for biofilm formation. The bacteria thrive on plastic tubing and other internal components.

Investigators found that bacterial populations formed even after proper maintenance and treatment. Bacteria would regrow even after disinfection, often after just a couple of days.

Nozzles were ground zero for contamination. Researchers found they were 100 times more contaminated with bacteria than other parts of the dispensers.

Chlorine defeats bacteria in municipal water systems. That isn’t the case with the office water cooler. Bacterial colonies can become resistant to cleaning with time.

A serious problem with dispensers is the stagnation of water for long periods. So, bacteria are undisturbed and can grow unencumbered.

It makes tap water look pretty good.

How do you take your tea?

With milk and a little sugar? Maybe some cream? A jug of it, iced? A can from the gas station? With biscuits, perhaps. Or honey when sick.

Tea has long been touted for its benefits. Some varieties, like green tea, have been linked to longevity, stroke prevention or protection against cancer. Tea drinking has even been shown to lower rates of cognitive decline.

Now, a new review published in Beverage Plant Research takes a comprehensive look at the documented benefits thus far — and also suggests that it’s not just what kind of tea we drink, but how it’s prepared.

The versions of tea that are some of the more convenient, like bottled teas or bubble teas on the go, often contain added sugars and preservatives. While these additions are rarely noticeable to our palate, they might play a role in offsetting the beverage’s sought-after benefits. For these, the authors recommend moderation.

And, while it might be hard to haul a teapot around with you day-to-day, the paper found that benefits are easily conferred when tea is freshly brewed.

Currently, when it comes to depth and breadth, green tea remains the golden — or should we say chartreuse — child of tea-related research. Researchers are pushing for a better understanding of the benefits of other unsung heroes, like black tea, white tea and even oolong. They also suggest there is ample opportunity for refining current guidance around tea drinking practices to better understand how the beverage does us well.

But for now, green tea, which is linked to weight management control, better metabolic markers and levels of cholesterol, remains king. Freshly brewed, of course.

Face it: You’ve peaked.

Well, maybe not. It all depends on your lifestyle. Researchers from Sweden followed adults over the course of 47 years to pinpoint when our bodies — and strength — truly begin to decline.

Let’s steel ourselves.

Around the age of 35, our bodies begin to experience an ever-so-slight physical drop. That’s a blow. But the study also emphasized that exercise, even after that unfairly early number, boosts our health in a number of ways that matter.

The study showed that folks who became active during adulthood were able to increase their physical abilities by as much as 10%. In some ways, the scientists said, physical activity could decelerate the decline in performance.

The research focused on 427 people who were born in 1958. Researchers took objective assessments of their physical capacity beginning at age 16, up to the age of 63. They used tests like the Sargent jump, which is a vertical leap made from a stationary position, to track metrics like muscle power.

This study is not only unique in how many years it followed participants, but also how it analyzed their data. Typically, research in this area has used cross-sectional data, which compares different age groups as opposed to continuously evaluating the same individuals. While labor intensive, the result is a comprehensive effort that allowed researchers to understand how physical decline and age are associated.

Next year, researchers plan to examine the participants once again, as they reach 68 years of age.

Then, it’s back to the grind — understanding how lifestyle choices, health and simple biology work together to change our bodies over time.