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Fukushima insects tested for cognition

In the contaminated area around Fukushima, Japan, scientists are studying the impact of radioactivity on the cognitive abilities of pollinating insects such as honeybees and giant hornets. Bees and hornets are known to have a wide range of cognitive skills, including the ability to recognise colours and navigate in space. However, pollution by substances released into the environment by humans, such as pesticides, can impair their performance. Olivier Armant, from the radionuclide ecology and

Repetitive negative thinking associated with cognitive decline in older adults

The present study suggested that the risk of cognitive impairment increased with higher RNT scores among older adults, and the robustness of the finding was confirmed through adjustment for various potential confounding variables. Additionally, individuals aged 60 ~ 79 years, junior high school and above were more prone to suffer from cognitive impairment with a high RNT score. However, the correlation between RNT and cognitive function was not significant in older adults aged 80 to 90 years, or

MIT Study Finds AI Use Reprograms the Brain, Leading to Cognitive Decline

By Nicolas Hulscher, MPH A new MIT study titled, Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task, has found that using ChatGPT to help write essays leads to long-term cognitive harm—measurable through EEG brain scans. Students who repeatedly relied on ChatGPT showed weakened neural connectivity, impaired memory recall, and diminished sense of ownership over their own writing. While the AI-generated content often scored well, the brains beh

Cognitive load is what matters

Cognitive Load is what matters Readable version | Chinese translation | Korean translation | Turkish translation It is a living document, last update: August 2025. Your contributions are welcome! Introduction There are so many buzzwords and best practices out there, but most of them have failed. We need something more fundamental, something that can't be wrong. Sometimes we feel confusion going through the code. Confusion costs time and money. Confusion is caused by high cognitive load. It'

Cognitive Load is what matters

Cognitive Load is what matters Readable version | Chinese translation | Korean translation | Turkish translation It is a living document, last update: August 2025. Your contributions are welcome! Introduction There are so many buzzwords and best practices out there, but most of them have failed. We need something more fundamental, something that can't be wrong. Sometimes we feel confusion going through the code. Confusion costs time and money. Confusion is caused by high cognitive load. It'

In the long run, LLMs make us dumber

The comfort we get when offloading our cognitive load to LLMs is bad for us. Cognitive load should exist, and if we reduce it too much – if we stop thinking – we can actually unlearn how to think. Kids who always choose the easy route and copy their homework from other students eventually find themselves completely clueless about what’s going on in school. Someone who always lets their spouse handle all the bills and banking may one day be unable to manage even a simple payment on their own. A

Cognitive Offloading: How AI is Quietly Eroding Our Critical Thinking

Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly permeated every facet of modern life, seamlessly performing tasks ranging from trivial errands to complex decision-making processes. The allure of AI lies predominantly in its unmatched potential for efficiency, convenience, and accuracy. However, this unprecedented convenience brings with it a hidden yet profound threat: the subtle erosion of human capacity for critical thinking through cognitive offloading. Understanding Cognitive Offloading Cognitive

When progress doesn’t feel like home: Why many are hesitant to join the AI migration

Want smarter insights in your inbox? Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get only what matters to enterprise AI, data, and security leaders. Subscribe Now When my wife recently brought up AI in a masterclass for coaches, she did not expect silence. One executive coach eventually responded that he found AI to be an excellent thought partner when working with clients. Another coach suggested that it would be helpful to be familiar with the Chinese Room analogy, arguing that no matter how sophis

This Common Pain Med Could Be Raising Dementia Risk

Chronic pain can be a debilitating experience. A common medication used to manage the condition may come with its own serious dangers, however. Recent research finds an upsetting link between the drug gabapentin and a higher risk of dementia. Scientists at Case Western Reserve University led the study, which examined the medical records of people with chronic low back pain. People taking gabapentin for their back were significantly more likely to develop dementia over time compared to non-users

Figuring out why a nap might help people see things in new ways

Dmitri Mendeleev famously saw the complete arrangement of the periodic table after falling asleep on his desk. He claimed in his dream he saw a table where all the elements fell into place, and he wrote it all down when he woke up. By having a eureka moment right after a nap, he joined a club full of rather talented people: Mary Shelley, Thomas Edison, and Salvador Dali. To figure out if there’s a grain of truth to all these anecdotes, a team of German scientists at the Hamburg University, led

Pet ownership and cognitive functioning in later adulthood across pet types

Age-related cognitive decline is an increasingly pressing concern in public health, which may begin in early adulthood and accelerate with increasing age1,2. While much research is still investigating the precise mechanisms of cognitive ageing, previous studies have identified several contributing factors, including for example genetics, general health and lifestyle choices3,4,5,6,7. Cognitive decline is a major public health concern on both individual and societal levels due to its association

Between utopia and collapse: Navigating AI’s murky middle future

Join the event trusted by enterprise leaders for nearly two decades. VB Transform brings together the people building real enterprise AI strategy. Learn more In the blog post The Gentle Singularity, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman painted a vision of the near future where AI quietly and benevolently transforms human life. There will be no sharp break, he suggests, only a steady, almost imperceptible ascent toward abundance. Intelligence will become as accessible as electricity. Robots will be performing