A 7-day mind-body retreat study in 20 healthy adults found pre/post shifts across fMRI brain networks and plasma biology, with p values as low as 0.000003.1 Those numbers are striking, but the design was observational, so the honest reading is biological signal without causal isolation. Research Highlights Neural signal was broad: Meditation-state fMRI showed lower …
A 2026 laboratory study found no detectable acute-pain increase in frequent cannabis users after at least 12 hours of biochemically verified abstinence. Frequent users had higher THC exposure and higher plasma cannabinoid markers, but pain threshold, pain tolerance, and pain ratings did not differ from occasional users.1 Research Highlights 75 healthy adults were tested: Pabon …
A 2025 survey of 686 Dutch university students linked violent pornography use to self-reported sexual aggression risk, especially when pornography was perceived as realistic or when peer rape myth acceptance was higher. Research Highlights 686 students were surveyed: the Dutch online sample was 63.4% female and focused on pornography use, perceived realism, peer rape myth …
One-pronuclear biparental zygotes may be less biologically normal than they look. In a 2026 Nature mouse study, forcing maternal and paternal genomes into 1 enlarged pronucleus disrupted early embryonic epigenetic marks, while the usual 2-pronuclear state created a cytoplasmic competition that helped preserve developmental potential.1 Research Highlights The 2026 zygote study asks why mammalian zygotes …
A 2026 review in Purinergic Signalling argues that P2X7 receptors are one of the clearest molecular bridges between stress, ATP danger signaling, microglial inflammation, NLRP3 inflammasome activation, reduced BDNF, and new antidepressant drug targets.1 Research Highlights P2X7 is the lead receptor: Mattova et al. reviewed 7 ATP-gated P2X receptor subunits, with P2X7 carrying the strongest …
A 2026 systematic review found that microglia-related immune signals do not line up cleanly with psychiatric diagnosis labels: major depression showed frontolimbic TSPO-PET increases, while schizophrenia showed elevated kynurenic acid in cerebrospinal fluid.1 The strongest interpretation is that immune-brain markers may sort subgroups better than DSM categories do. Research Highlights Depression had the clearest TSPO-PET …
A 2026 randomized exploratory pilot found that a single 24-minute yoga session did not significantly lower salivary cortisol or salivary alpha-amylase compared with quiet sitting in 19 stressed adults.1 The acute yoga signal was physiological but not the simple stress-biomarker drop that wellness claims often imply. Research Highlights Biomarker claim failed: Yoga did not significantly …