The relationship between mind and machine has long fascinated philosophers and scientists, who have likened the human brain to clocks, chronometers and, in more recent decades, computers. In the early days of artificial intelligence, academics referred cheekily to humans as “meat machines.” Lately this framing has trickled into the vernacular of tech executives. Elon Musk…
New research led by University College Cork scientists suggests that both caffeinated and decaf coffee reshape the gut microbiome in ways tied to lower stress and improved psychological well-being, offering clues to the drink’s long-suspected health effects. Boscaini et al. reveal previously unrecognized effects of coffee on the microbiota-gut-brain axis, suggesting that microbiome profiles could…
Nelson Dellis holds his trophy after winning the annual USA Memory Championships in New York in 2011 DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images Nelson Dellis is a six-time US memory champion who once memorised the order of a shuffled deck of cards in 40.7 seconds and knows the first 10,000 digits of pi. Now, scientists have…
