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How Scott Bessent used financial engineering to fund deficit and created a $1.45 trillion shortfall

https://fortune.com/2026/08/08/treasury-borrowing-tbac-145-trillion-shortfall-bessent-debt/

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DATE: August 8, 2026 at 09:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
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TITLE: Brain scans reveal widespread structural and functional changes in patients following COVID-19 infection

URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-widespread-structural-and-functional-changes-in-patients-foll/

A recent review of 49 brain imaging studies reveals that COVID-19 is associated with widespread structural and functional changes in the human brain. The findings indicate that the virus affects regions responsible for memory, emotion, and executive function, which may help explain the neurological symptoms many patients experience. The research was published in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

Following the initial outbreak of the coronavirus, many patients began reporting enduring neurological issues, such as brain fog, fatigue, and memory loss. A team of scientists led by researchers Li Chen, Huan Lan, and Wenxiong Liu synthesized data from existing medical studies to build a comprehensive picture of how the virus impacts the central nervous system. They focused on research utilizing magnetic resonance imaging, a technology that uses strong magnetic fields to generate detailed maps of the brain’s internal anatomy and activity.

To evaluate the extent of the damage, the researchers looked at different types of brain tissue. Gray matter consists of the brain’s neuron cell bodies, which process information, while white matter contains the nerve fibers that connect these processing centers. Functional imaging techniques measure blood flow or oxygen levels to track how different brain areas communicate in real time.

The research team conducted a systematic review, gathering 49 previously published studies that compared the brain scans of people who had contracted COVID-19 with those of healthy individuals. These studies included patients in various stages of the disease, ranging from acute infection to long-term recovery. Some of the individual studies were small, involving as few as 10 participants, while others evaluated more than 200 patients.

By pooling the results, the researchers identified consistent patterns of abnormalities across several key brain regions. The frontal lobe, which handles decision-making and cognitive control, frequently showed structural changes. The temporal and parietal lobes, areas involved in sensory processing and attention, also exhibited noticeable differences in patients who had recovered from the virus.

Structural changes in the frontal lobe might explain the loss of top-down cognitive control observed in some patients. The researchers note that the prefrontal cortex is highly sensitive to psychosocial stress. This means the stress of the pandemic itself, alongside the biological infection, might contribute to these structural shifts.

The temporal lobe includes areas like Heschl’s gyrus, a region that processes auditory information. Patients recovering from COVID-19 often experience difficulties processing sound, which can contribute to chronic fatigue as the brain works harder during daily listening activities. The parietal lobe, a region involved in visual and spatial attention, also showed structural changes linked to impaired attention allocation.

In many of these regions, COVID-19 patients displayed a reduction in overall gray matter volume and a thinning of the outer cortical layer. This tissue loss could result from reduced oxygen supply or severe immune system inflammation during the infection. Conversely, a few studies reported localized increases in gray matter volume. The researchers suggest this could represent temporary swelling caused by vascular injury, or it could be the brain’s attempt to compensate for damaged tissue by growing new neural connections.

The review highlighted extensive structural issues in the brain’s white matter. To measure this, scientists track the microscopic diffusion of water molecules along nerve fibers. In COVID-19 patients, this water movement was often abnormal, indicating that the protective coating around the nerve fibers had degraded. These microscopic changes were present even in patients who experienced only mild to moderate respiratory symptoms and had otherwise normal-looking gray matter on standard medical scans.

Functional imaging scans revealed altered patterns of spontaneous brain activity. When patients were simply resting in the scanner, their brains showed abnormal synchronization between different regions. The limbic system, a network of deep brain structures including the insula, hippocampus, and amygdala, frequently exhibited connectivity issues. Because these areas regulate emotion and memory, functional disruptions here often correlated with clinical symptoms like anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress.

When patients were asked to perform working memory tasks during their scans, their brains displayed altered activation patterns. This suggests that the nervous system had to reorganize its resources to maintain normal cognitive performance. Other functional scans focused on the olfactory network, the brain regions responsible for processing smell. Patients suffering from a persistent loss of smell showed disrupted connectivity in this specific network, which also correlated with lower scores on short-term verbal memory tests.

Tests measuring cerebral blood flow found lower than normal circulation in several brain areas, including the frontal and temporal lobes. This restricted blood supply limits the delivery of oxygen and nutrients, which might contribute to difficulties with attention, language processing, and executive function. The review found that deep subcortical nuclei, such as the thalamus, were particularly vulnerable to this reduced blood flow. These deep relay centers have high metabolic demands and rely on adjacent blood vessels that lack secondary backup circulation.

The reviewed studies rely heavily on cross-sectional data, meaning they capture a single snapshot of the brain after infection rather than tracking changes over an extended period. Because the vast majority of these studies lack pre-infection baseline brain scans, it is difficult to prove definitively that COVID-19 directly caused all the observed changes. Individual biological differences present before the pandemic might account for some of the variations in brain structure and function.

The researchers point out that the clinical status of the patients varied widely across the studies. Grouping together individuals with acute infections and those experiencing long-term recovery makes it challenging to isolate how the brain heals over time. Some studies also focused only on specific, predefined brain regions rather than scanning the entire brain. This targeted approach can artificially inflate the statistical differences between patients and healthy controls.

Future research utilizing unbiased, whole-brain analyses and long-term tracking could map the specific trajectory of these neurological changes. Additional follow-up investigations are required to clarify whether COVID-19-related brain alterations are permanent, or if they are reversible with therapeutic interventions and time.

The study, “Widespread structural and functional brain alterations in COVID-19: a systematic review of MRI studies,” was authored by Li Chen, Huan Lan, Wenxiong Liu, Chao Zuo, Graham J. Kemp, Song Wang, Qiyong Gong, and Xueling Suo.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-widespread-structural-and-functional-changes-in-patients-foll/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #COVID19brainchanges #neuroimaging #brainfog #frontallobe #temporalparietallobe #graymatterloss #white matterintegrity #functionalMRI #neuroinflammation #CerebralCortexstudy

COVID-19 is associated with widespread structural and functional changes in the brain, particularly in the frontal, temporal, and parietal regions, with both gray and white matter alterations and altered functional connectivity observed across studies. The findings synthesize MRI-based evidence from multiple studies to outline common patterns and potential mechanisms, while noting limitations related to cross-sectional data and variability across samples.

This topic is of interest to psychology readers because it links biological changes in brain structure and function with cognitive, emotional, and behavioral symptoms reported after infection, highlighting how systemic illness can intersect with neural processes involved in memory, attention, and emotion regulation.

Article Title: Brain scans reveal widespread structural and functional changes in patients following COVID-19 infection

Link to PsyPost Article: https://nolinkpreview.com/www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-widespread-structural-and-functional-changes-in-patients-foll/

#COVID19 #BrainImaging #MRI #GrayMatter #WhiteMatter #FunctionalConnectivity #LimbicSystem #ExecutiveFunction #CognitiveImpact #Neuroscience

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So who did something with their email signature and ruined it for everyone?

It’s Saturday. I have a teams call at 10 EST with the entire leadership team of our directorate about email signatures. On Saturday. And I have to drive 1.5 hours to my RTO location. They were very specific: TW is not authorized for this call. I was on numerous calls yesterday about making sure the font style, size, and formatting of each letter in the email signature for my entire team of employees and contractors is exactly per specification. The office profile photos has to be this and that format, size, resolution, etc. Any non compliance, no matter how minor, will be viewed as disobedience, violating a direct order, and I quote “viewed as a hostile act against the administration”. Having your name in 12 point font instead of the specified 11 was given as an example of “a career ending act of defiance”. Someone did something with their outlook email signature to get the secretary this fired up over something so dumb. Thanks whoever you are. Or if you did this on your way out the door…..heheheheI can’t wait till my epap evaluation. I’m going to write a 20 page manifesto about how my compliance with the email signature rules is the only reason the federal government functions and I should be given multiple QSIs as a result. These people are so CooCoo it’ll probably work. For those familiar with the original email, as always our leadership adds additional embellishment and interpretation. I’ve received no less than 20 copies of the same original order, 19 which are additional instruction and clarification, of which 18 contradict each other.

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DATE: August 8, 2026 at 08:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: Ketogenic diet improves metabolic health and may reduce symptoms in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

URL: https://www.psypost.org/ketogenic-diet-improves-metabolic-health-and-may-reduce-symptoms-in-schizophrenia-and-bipolar-disorder/

A recent study published in the Schizophrenia Bulletin suggests that a ketogenic diet provides metabolic and psychiatric benefits for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The research indicates that shifting the brain’s primary fuel source from carbohydrates to fat derivatives called ketones tends to improve markers of blood sugar regulation. The findings also provide evidence that adopting this diet is associated with reduced symptoms of depression and psychosis over time.

People diagnosed with psychotic disorders frequently experience impaired cognitive function and disrupted daily living. The psychiatric medications typically prescribed to manage these conditions tend to induce high rates of metabolic dysfunction. These physical side effects often include elevated blood sugar, weight gain, and an increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome involves a cluster of risk factors, such as high blood pressure and elevated fasting glucose, which correlate with shorter lifespans and more severe psychiatric symptoms. Diet plays a large role in the onset of this syndrome, and individuals with schizophrenia often face lifestyle challenges that make traditional nutritional management difficult.

The ketogenic diet is a nutritional approach composed of roughly 70 percent fat, 20 percent protein, and 10 percent carbohydrates. By severely restricting carbohydrate intake, the diet forces the body to break down fat into molecules known as ketone bodies. These ketone bodies provide an alternative energy source for cells.

Laboratory studies suggest that ketone metabolism yields more energy than glucose metabolism, which might help counteract the dysfunctional glucose processing often observed in the brains of individuals with schizophrenia. Previous case reports and uncontrolled studies provide evidence that the ketogenic diet can alleviate metabolic syndrome and psychiatric symptoms in various mental health conditions.

“A number of pilot studies have signaled the promise of a ketogenic diet as a treatment of serious mental health, but to attribute these positive effects to the diet rather than any other factors we still need randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the ketogenic diet to another diet,” said Judith M. Ford, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. “Our study was a first attempt to directly make this comparison in participants with schizophrenia-spectrum or bipolar-1 disorder.”

The researchers recruited adult participants who met the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorder with psychotic features. The research began with 58 participants who were randomly assigned to either a ketogenic diet group or a diet-as-usual control group for a one-month period.

Participants in the ketogenic diet group received 18 microwavable meals each week from a contracted delivery service. They were instructed to consume at least two provided meals a day and keep their overall carbohydrate intake below 10 percent. The diet-as-usual group was asked to continue their typical eating habits and did not receive prepared meals. Both groups received weekly check-in calls from a licensed dietitian.

The researchers measured several physiological variables, including body weight, insulin resistance, and hemoglobin A1c, which is a protein that reflects average blood sugar levels over several months. The authors also measured cognitive performance and psychiatric symptoms, such as depression and the positive and negative symptoms of psychosis. The analytical models adjusted for participants’ initial baseline scores to ensure that any observed changes were not due to preexisting differences between the groups.

At the end of the one-month trial, individuals in the ketogenic diet group demonstrated metabolic improvements compared to those eating their usual diet. Based on objective blood tests, the ketogenic group successfully reached and maintained standard nutritional ketosis. “We also showed that this diet is highly feasible in this population, with 83 percent of daily-tested participants maintaining ketosis in the one-month RCT portion of the study,” Ford noted.

Compared to the diet-as-usual group, participants on the ketogenic diet experienced a relative decrease in body mass index and lower levels of both hemoglobin A1c and insulin resistance. For instance, the ketogenic diet participants saw a moderate absolute reduction in their body weight and blood sugar markers, whereas the control group experienced nearly no change. Cognitive performance and symptoms of psychosis did not differ between the two groups at the end of the first month.

Partway through the trial, the researchers secured funding to offer an extended four-month ketogenic diet phase to all participants. A total of 25 individuals completed this extended dietary protocol. “Adherence to the diet was also high in this extension period (94 percent), with no reports of significant side effects from the diet,” Ford explained.

“I don’t know if this surprised us, but we were really encouraged to see the high feasibility of this diet in an outpatient population of patients with schizophrenia-spectrum or bipolar-1 disorder,” Ford said. “A common assumption we hear is that the diet must be too difficult for participants with severe mental illness to adhere to, but 25 of the participants opted to continue on the diet beyond the one-month RCT.”

This level of adherence suggests that lifestyle interventions are possible for this population when adequate resources are provided. “This choice to extend demonstrates the viability of this diet as a long-term intervention, along with support from our team, which included providing them with 18 microwavable ketogenic meals per week via a specialized delivery service, an initial coaching session, and support from a dietitian or research assistant,” Ford added.

Because there was no active control group for this extension phase, the researchers assessed changes by comparing the participants’ metabolic and psychiatric measurements at the four-month mark directly against their initial baseline scores. “The most notable effects in this study were the significant metabolic improvements in the ketogenic diet group compared with the control group in the RCT part of the trial,” Ford said.

After four months on the ketogenic diet, participants demonstrated enhanced cognitive performance and reductions in both the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. They also experienced a marked reduction in depressive symptoms. Measurements of body mass index and hemoglobin A1c remained lower than their initial baseline levels.

“While we also saw significant improvements in depression, schizophrenia symptoms, and cognitive performance after four months on the ketogenic diet, we can’t attribute those effects to the specific diet, as it was offered to all participants at this stage,” Ford cautioned.

Readers might wonder why cognitive benefits did not appear earlier in the trial. Ford clarified this timeline, referencing similar clinical observations from other recent diet studies. “We weren’t able to see neuropsychiatric or cognitive benefits of the ketogenic diet after only one month on the diet, indicating that participants may need a longer time on the ketogenic diet for those benefits to emerge,” Ford said. “This is consistent with other similarly-sized single-arm pilot studies such as Volek et al. (2025), Campbell et al. (2025), and Sethi et al. (2024).”

To explore the mechanics behind these improvements, the authors conducted statistical tests to see if the clinical gains were tied to the presence of ketones or simply to weight loss. They found that higher levels of blood ketones strongly correlated with greater reductions in hemoglobin A1c and depressive symptoms.

Changes in body weight did not correlate with these specific metabolic or psychiatric improvements. “Also, we wondered throughout the trial if benefits would be due solely to weight loss,” Ford said. “We were gratified to find that the improvement in depressive symptoms and metabolic health was not related to weight loss but to ketone levels, even in the one-month RCT.”

The study design involves a few elements that could influence how the outcomes are interpreted. “There are a couple of caveats,” Ford noted. “First, it’s important to note that we did not have a control group for the four-month extension of the study, meaning all significant improvements we observed in neuropsychiatric symptoms and cognition were in a single-arm design. This indicates the need for longer-term RCTs to explore these effects.”

Because the control group did not receive catered meals, the ketogenic diet group had an inherent advantage in accessing free, easily prepared food that included fresh vegetables and proteins. “Second, we only provided meals to the ketogenic diet group, while the diet-as-usual group followed their regular diet,” Ford said. “As a result, we can’t rule out that meal provision itself contributed to some of the observed benefits. We recommend that future studies address this variable in their design.”

The study relied on a relatively small sample size, which prevented the authors from testing complex statistical models or separating the outcomes by specific psychiatric diagnoses. Certain physiological measurements were not tracked during the trial. The blood tests did not assess markers like cholesterol or detailed electrolyte balances.

These omitted measures are important for evaluating long-term cardiovascular health and the risk of developing kidney stones on a high-fat diet. The research team also did not track adjustments to participants’ psychiatric medications throughout the study.

Future research could benefit from longer monitoring periods and larger sample sizes to clarify how dietary interventions interact with standard psychiatric treatments.

“Our results are really promising, indicating that a ketogenic diet is feasible and safe in patients with serious mental illness, and our single-arm extension findings also indicate that the ketogenic diet may be beneficial for alleviating depression and schizophrenia symptoms,” Ford concluded. “We hope to see more funding being made available for RCTs that follow larger groups of patients for longer periods of time to establish whether the ketogenic diet is an effective treatment strategy for serious mental illness.”

The study, “Metabolic Improvements with a Ketogenic Diet Correlate with Symptom Improvement in Psychosis: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” was authored by Samantha V. Abram, Juliette M. Kyner, An Vu, Zanib Naeem, Shebani Sethi, Michael S. Jacob, Susanna L. Fryer, Daniel H. Mathalon, and Judith M. Ford.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/ketogenic-diet-improves-metabolic-health-and-may-reduce-symptoms-in-schizophrenia-and-bipolar-disorder/

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The article reports on a randomized trial and follow-up extension showing that a ketogenic diet can improve metabolic health and, over time, reduce depressive and psychotic symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum and bipolar disorders. Feasibility and adherence were high in the outpatient setting, with notable metabolic gains and later cognitive and psychiatric improvements observed.

The work highlights how dietary patterns may interact with cognitive and mood-related symptoms in psychotic disorders, offering a lens on non-pharmacologic approaches that address metabolic health alongside psychiatric outcomes.

Article Title: Ketogenic diet improves metabolic health and may reduce symptoms in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
Link to PsyPost Article: https://nolinkpreview.com/www.psypost.org/ketogenic-diet-improves-metabolic-health-and-may-reduce-symptoms-in-schizophrenia-and-bipolar-disorder/

#ketogenicdiet #metabolichealth #schizophrenia #bipolardisorder #psychopharmacology #depression #ketones #randomizedtrial #psychiatricresearch #dietaryinterventions

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Senate passes stopgap funding bill

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/6018009-senate-government-funding-bill

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August 08, 2026 - r/fednews Daily Discussion Thread

Have anything you want to talk about that doesn't quite warrant its own thread or currently being discussed in a megathread? Post it here!In an effort to effectively manage the amount of information being posted, please keep anything speculative or considered repetitive within this discussion thread.

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DATE: August 8, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: Scientists may have found a surprisingly simple way to boost breast milk production

URL: https://www.psypost.org/scientists-may-have-found-a-surprisingly-simple-way-to-boost-breast-milk-production/

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials exploring the effects of music on breastfeeding found that women who listened to music produced more breast milk both immediately and over time. Music also improved breast milk fat content and reduced participating mothers’ levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The paper was published in International Breastfeeding Journal.

Breastfeeding provides infants with nutrients tailored to their early development and antibodies that help protect them from infections. It is also associated with health benefits for mothers and can strengthen physical and emotional closeness between mother and child. However, successful breastfeeding depends on more than a mother’s motivation or knowledge, as lactation is a complex process deeply connected to maternal psychological health and emotional relaxation.

The infant’s ability to latch and suck effectively, the mother’s milk production, pain, illness, premature birth, and complications during delivery can all influence the process. Early skin-to-skin contact and skilled guidance from healthcare professionals can help establish breastfeeding and address problems before they lead to the discontinuation of breastfeeding.

Support from partners, relatives, employers, and the wider community is also important, especially when mothers are tired, uncertain, or returning to work. Cultural expectations, access to parental leave, opportunities to breastfeed, and exposure to infant formula marketing can further shape breastfeeding decisions and duration.

These physical and emotional challenges frequently trigger psychological stress, activating the body’s “fight-or-flight” response. This reaction elevates cortisol and adrenaline levels, which constrict blood vessels in the breasts and block the release of oxytocin, the essential hormone responsible for the neuroendocrine let-down, or milk ejection, reflex. Perceived insufficient milk supply often creates anxiety that further inhibits milk flow, while Postpartum Depression, which affects roughly 17 percent of mothers globally, can severely undermine a mother’s breastfeeding confidence and self-efficacy.

Listening to music serves as a psychological relaxation tool, stimulating mood-regulating neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. This shifts the nervous system into a “rest-and-digest” state, lowering cortisol and allowing oxytocin to facilitate milk release.

Study author Shalin Lee Wan Fei and her colleagues conducted their systematic review and meta-analysis aiming to integrate existing evidence on the effects of music on breastfeeding mothers with term and preterm infants. A systematic review comprehensively gathers all existing high-quality studies on a specific topic, while a meta-analysis mathematically combines their data to identify overall statistical trends.

The researchers were interested in how music affects objective breastfeeding metrics such as milk volume and breast milk composition, alongside psychological outcomes like maternal stress and anxiety. Maternal stress was assessed through salivary cortisol levels and the Perceived Stress Scale, a standardized psychological questionnaire, while anxiety was measured using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory.

These authors conducted a comprehensive search across four major electronic databases: Scopus, PubMed (MEDLINE), CINAHL (EBSCOhost), and Web of Science. For the search, they used combinations of keywords that included terms related to music interventions, such as music, music therapy, auditory stimulation, and lullaby, alongside breastfeeding terms like breastfeeding, lactation, breast milk, and postpartum.

They were looking for studies conducted on postpartum women who were breastfeeding that involved exposure to any form of music compared to standard care without music or silence. The studies needed to be experiments, specifically randomized controlled trials with quantitative outcomes. Qualitative studies, case reports, editorials, and conference abstracts were excluded from the analysis.

The search initially identified 429 studies matching the study authors’ keywords, but a more detailed inspection revealed only six studies that matched all their criteria. One of these studies was conducted in India, one in the USA, one in Iran, one in Turkey, one in Brazil, and one in Thailand. The number of breastfeeding mothers participating in each study ranged between 30 in India and 304 in Thailand, totaling 696 participants across all trials.

The meta-analysis of the results of these studies indicated that music increased breast milk volume, both immediately and cumulatively over time. Music also improved breast milk fat content, as psychological relaxation helped mothers achieve a more complete let-down reflex that thoroughly emptied the breast, yielding milk with higher lipid concentration. Additionally, music consistently lowered maternal stress levels, as indicated by reduced concentrations of salivary cortisol.

The review also highlighted long-term and multi-sensory benefits beyond immediate milk yield. One included trial demonstrated that mothers who received music therapy maintained significantly higher exclusive breastfeeding rates 15 to 60 days after hospital discharge. Another study found that combining soothing music with a visual cue, such as looking at a photograph of the baby while pumping, produced even higher milk volumes and protein levels than music alone.

“Findings suggest music therapy is a promising, non-invasive adjunct to lactation care. By potentially reducing maternal stress, it may improve milk quantity and composition. However, further high-quality, standardized trials are necessary to carefully evaluate its true clinical magnitude and determine its appropriate integration into routine protocols for long-term breastfeeding success,” the study authors concluded. In this context, an adjunct refers to a supportive, non-pharmacological addition to standard medical care.

The study contributes significantly to the scientific understanding of music interventions on breastfeeding, though the authors note several limitations. The quality of measures of milk output varied across studies and their validity was uncertain, with many trials lacking standardized breast pumps or 24-hour volume tracking. Consequently, under the GRADE framework, the overall certainty of evidence was rated as moderate to low.

Furthermore, because participants could hear the music, they could not be blinded to the intervention, leaving room for expectancy effects, which occur when participants experience psychological or physical changes simply because they know what researchers are testing.

The paper, “The effect of music on breastfeeding: a systematic review and meta-analysis of breast milk production, composition, and maternal stress,” was authored by Shalin Lee Wan Fei, Chai Li Sze, and Saloma Pawi.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/scientists-may-have-found-a-surprisingly-simple-way-to-boost-breast-milk-production/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #MusicBreastfeeding #BreastMilkProduction #LactationScience #MaternalStressRelief #OxytocinBoost #BreastfeedingBenefits #MusicTherapy #PostpartumWellbeing #BreastMilkFatContent #ExclusiveBreastfeeding

DATE: August 8, 2026 at 03:00AM
SOURCE: GOODNEWSNETWORK.ORG

TITLE: Good News in History, August 8

URL: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/events060808/

450 years ago today, the keystone of Europe’s first modern astronomical observatory—the Uraniborg designed by Tycho Brahe, was laid. It was also the last to be built without a telescope as its primary instrument. It was the first scientific complex to be funded entirely by a state for the purpose of research, and was so […]

The post Good News in History, August 8 appeared first on Good News Network.

URL: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/events060808/

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#psychology #depression #goodnews #goodnewsthread #happy #happynews #SpreadJoy #PositiveVibes #CommunityLove #SpreadLight #goodnewnetworkorg #positivescience #science @goodnews

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Interior staffers not happy with Burgum

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/07/doug-burgum-interior-department-pirro-01028360

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DATE: August 8, 2026 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
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TITLE: Is sexting good for your relationship? Psychological research points to one important factor

URL: https://www.psypost.org/is-sexting-good-for-your-relationship-psychological-research-points-to-one-important-factor/

Engaging in digital sexual activities like sexting with a romantic partner can be a positive or negative experience depending on the underlying reasons for doing so. New research published in The Journal of Sex Research indicates that seeking intimacy and pleasure through digital sexual exchanges is linked to higher relationship and sexual satisfaction. Participating simply to avoid negative outcomes is associated with lower satisfaction across multiple areas of a person’s life.

Technology-mediated sexual interactions refer to sharing self-created sexual material through digital communication devices. This broad category includes activities like sending sexually explicit text messages, exchanging intimate photographs or videos, and engaging in phone sex. Many people in committed romantic relationships use these digital tools to connect with their partners. For some couples, these interactions function as a way to maintain intimacy across long physical distances.

Previous studies on the outcomes of these digital sexual behaviors have yielded mixed findings. Some research suggests that sexting boosts relationship happiness and individual well-being. Other studies link it to increased relationship conflict and negative emotional states.

“This research was motivated both by a debate in the existing research on technology-mediated sexual interactions (TMSIs),” said study author Erin Leigh Courtice, a postdoctoral research associate working with the CARE Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University. “The literature in this area has been contradictory. Our interpretation was that these inconsistencies were because researchers hadn’t examined the motivations that underlie people’s TMSI use with a romantic partner.”

To understand these conflicting findings, Courtice and her colleagues applied a psychological concept known as the approach-avoidance motivational framework. “Basically, what this theory states is that people can engage in a behavior, including a sexual behavior, with approach or avoidance motives,” Courtice said.

“Approach motives drive people towards a specific outcome, e.g., engaging in sexual activity to gain sexual pleasure, or a closer connection with someone,” Courtice detailed. “Avoidance motives drive people away from a specific outcome, e.g., engaging in a sexual activity to try and prevent a relational conflict or a breakup.”

Typically, seeking positive outcomes builds satisfaction, but acting out of fear damages it. Courtice noted that this framework is well-established for physical intimacy, but “this theory hasn’t been tested with technology-mediated sexual contexts, so we also wanted to see if this pattern that we see for in-person sexual behaviors would hold in a new context.”

In the first phase of their research, the scientists recruited 269 university students who were in committed romantic relationships. The participants were mostly young adults, with an average age of 19, and the group included roughly 55 percent women and 41 percent men. About 40 percent of these participants were currently in a long-distance relationship. The participants completed a detailed survey about their digital sexual behaviors and motivations.

Because no standard questionnaire existed for this specific purpose, the researchers created a new scale to measure why people participate in digital sexual interactions. They adapted questions from previous surveys used for in-person sexual behaviors and added new questions specific to technology. The initial phase suggested that motivations for digital sexual interactions generally fall into three separate categories: approach motives, avoidance motives, and affirmation motives.

Affirmation motives specifically involve seeking reassurance or validation about one’s physical desirability. “We found that some people also reported TMSI motives related to seeking affirmation, specifically, seeking validation about one’s body and desirability,” Courtice noted. “We didn’t examine this too closely, but I think there would be some interesting things to unpack about whether those motives relate to higher vs. lower sexual and relationship satisfaction.”

The statistical analysis also indicated that participants viewed their satisfaction with digital sexual activities as distinct from their satisfaction with in-person sexual activities. This finding suggests that digital and physical sexual experiences are processed differently by individuals in romantic relationships. Similarly, the participants’ desire for digital sexual interactions was mathematically distinct from their desire for physical intimacy.

To test how these different motivations relate to overall well-being, the scientists conducted a second study with 459 adults in committed relationships. This group was older and more diverse, with an average age of 30, and was recruited from online survey platforms alongside university pools. Participants completed the refined motivation questionnaire from the first study, as well as measures assessing their overall life satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, and the specific frequency of their digital sexual interactions.

The researchers initially guessed that individuals using avoidance motives would engage in digital sexual activities less often. “We predicted that people who engaged in TMSI less often would report more avoidance motives,” Courtice told PsyPost. “We thought that this kind of reluctant, defensive engagement would suppress frequency.”

The data told a different story. “But we actually saw the opposite: TMSI frequency was positively associated with avoidance motives,” Courtice explained. Frequent digital sex was not tied to just one type of goal, as individuals seemed to use technology for various reasons throughout their relationship.

This counterintuitive finding indicates that using avoidance strategies can still reinforce a behavior if it successfully averts the feared outcome. “This might suggest that someone who sexts, for example, to prevent a break-up often does get the outcome they were trying to avoid, which reinforces both the behavior and the motive, even while the broader satisfaction picture is worse,” Courtice added.

Despite happening frequently, these two types of motivations were associated with entirely different emotional and relational outcomes. “The honest answer to ‘is sexting good or bad for a relationship?’ is that the question is misspecified,” Courtice summarized. “What predicted outcomes in our data weren’t whether or how often couples engaged, but the motivation behind it.”

“In our research, people who more often engaged in TMSI with their partners for approach reasons, e.g., pursuing intimacy, pleasure, enhancement, building toward in-person sex, reported higher satisfaction with their technology-mediated sexual life, their in-person sexual life, and their relationship,” Courtice said.

The opposite was true for those seeking to avoid a negative result. “People who more often engaged in TMSI with their partners for avoidance reasons, e.g., appeasing a partner, coping with negative feelings, trying to prevent conflict or rejection, or sidestepping in-person sex, reported lower in-person sexual satisfaction and lower relationship satisfaction,” Courtice explained.

“For both of these, the pathway ran largely through desire for one’s partner,” Courtice noted. “Approach motives predicted stronger dyadic sexual desire, which in turn predicted higher satisfaction across sexual, relationship, and life domains. Conversely, avoidance motives predicted weaker desire, which in turn predicted lower satisfaction across those same domains.”

To understand the real-world impact of these psychological dynamics, the researchers calculated how much these motivations actually explain variations in couples’ overall happiness. “The associations were importantly moderate, and not the same for every outcome that we measured,” Courtice said. “The largest effect sizes were on technology-specific outcomes: approach motives and technology-mediated sexual satisfaction, and approach motives and desire for technology-mediated sex with one’s partner.”

As the outcomes moved further away from specific digital interactions, the statistical associations weakened. “The amount of variance explained drops off sharply as you move away from the sexual domain,” Courtice pointed out.

“We saw that motives and desire together accounted for about 35% of the variance in in-person sexual satisfaction and 27% in relationship satisfaction, but only 8% in life satisfaction,” Courtice elaborated. “So these approach and avoidance motives for TMSI were meaningfully related to how people feel about their sex lives and relationships, but only faintly related to how they feel about their lives overall.”

The study relied on data collected at a single point in time, meaning it cannot establish a strict chain of cause and effect. “This was also a cross-sectional study, so we can’t say for sure that there is a causal relationship here, just that these different motivational styles are correlated with different levels of sexual, relationship, and life satisfaction,” Courtice explained. It is highly possible that existing relationship dissatisfaction causes people to rely on avoidance motives, rather than the motives causing the relationship issues.

The research also focused exclusively on couples who were already exchanging digital sexual material. “Study eligibility required that our participants were in a committed relationship with someone they had engaged in TMSI with, so our findings describe variation among people already doing this, and don’t adjudicate whether someone should start sexting with their partner if they aren’t already,” Courtice said.

Sending an intimate digital message is not a guaranteed fix for relationship problems, nor is it inherently destructive. “One big one: we didn’t necessarily find that sexting is either wholly good or wholly bad for relationships,” Courtice clarified. “We found that ‘it depends on the motives behind sexting’.”

By paying attention to underlying goals, partners can better navigate digital communication. “So, for anyone in a relationship: if you’re thinking about sexting with your partner, it’s useful to question why you want to,” Courtice advised. “If it’s for those more ‘approach’ motives, it might be beneficial, but if it’s because you’re trying to avoid or prevent something negative, it may be less beneficial.”

The study, “It’s Not What You Do, it’s Why: Motives and Outcomes of Technology-Mediated Sexual Interactions in Romantic Relationships,” was authored by Erin Leigh Courtice, Vesna Beljo, and Krystelle Shaughnessy.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/is-sexting-good-for-your-relationship-psychological-research-points-to-one-important-factor/

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Most Federal Employees Work Longer Than They Actually Need To

https://www.fedweek.com/retirement-financial-planning/most-federal-employees-work-longer-than-they-actually-need-to/

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DATE: August 7, 2026 at 09:25PM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Teen cannabis use linked to slower memory and thinking growth

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260806050726.htm

Teens who start using cannabis may experience slower growth in memory, attention, language, and processing speed. Their abilities often developed normally at first, then began leveling off while nonusers continued improving. THC appeared to be the most likely driver, especially for worsening memory.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260806050726.htm

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DATE: August 8, 2026 at 12:47AM
SOURCE: THE GOOD NEWS PODCAST

TITLE: Phone Box Saved ☎

URL: https://share.transistor.fm/s/ecd8d505

An artist has gone above and beyond to save (and draw attention to) a rare UK phone box.

Read more about the trip here

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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DATE: August 7, 2026 at 10:00PM
SOURCE: GOODNEWSNETWORK.ORG

TITLE: The Tiger Returns to Kazakhstan in First-in-the-World Rewilding Project a Decade in the Making

URL: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/the-tiger-returns-to-kazakhstan-in-first-in-the-world-rewilding-project-a-decade-in-the-making/

Kazakhstan has taken a massive step towards its long-held goal of re-establishing the tiger in the country by releasing a female Amur tiger into the Ile-Balkhash Nature Reserve. Established in 2018 for this exact purpose, what followed was a truly generational effort of reforestation and replenishing prey species of deer and antelope that the Caspian […]

The post The Tiger Returns to Kazakhstan in First-in-the-World Rewilding Project a Decade in the Making appeared first on Good News Network.

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DATE: August 7, 2026 at 10:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

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TITLE: Frequent short-video viewers show altered brain function

URL: https://www.psypost.org/frequent-short-video-viewers-show-altered-brain-function/

Young adults who used short-video platforms for at least an hour daily showed stronger communication across numerous brain systems than those reporting less than an hour of use, according to a study published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

Platforms such as TikTok present a rapid stream of brief, attention-grabbing videos, often selected by personalized recommendation systems. Greater use has previously been associated with anxiety, depression, loneliness, and problematic use, but an association does not necessarily mean that the platforms cause these difficulties.

Previous brain-imaging studies have generally scanned people while they watched short videos. These experiments suggest personalized content can engage brain systems involved in attention, self-related thought, and cognitive control. The researchers behind the new study instead examined participants at rest to investigate whether differences were detectable when no videos were being watched.

Siwei He of Chongqing Shapingba Mental Health Center and colleagues recruited 62 healthy adults from China. Seven were excluded because of poor-quality imaging data, leaving 55 participants (average age 21.6 years, including 39 women).

Participants reported their average daily short-video use. Twenty who used the platforms for less than one hour formed the “lower-use” group. The “higher-use” group included 35 participants: 24 reported one to two hours daily and 11 reported two to three hours. Nobody reported more than three hours.

The researchers emphasized that the one-hour division did not represent addiction or pathological use. It simply distinguished comparatively lower and higher use within their sample.

While participants rested in a scanner, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measured fluctuations in blood flow associated with brain activity. The researchers examined activity in individual regions, communication within and between brain networks, and the overall organization of connections across the brain.

Higher-use participants showed stronger communication across many connections involving systems responsible for movement, bodily sensations, vision, hearing, attention, cognitive control, and internally directed thought. Particularly robust differences involved sensorimotor, auditory, subcortical, and cingulo-opercular networks. In simple terms, regions involved in processing sensations and movement, detecting sound, relaying information, and maintaining control appeared more tightly coordinated.

Regional activity also differed. The higher-use group showed greater spontaneous activity in the left precentral gyrus, which contributes to movement and sensorimotor processing, but lower activity in part of the right inferior frontal gyrus, a region involved in functions including behavioral control.

At the whole-brain level, higher-use participants had greater global and local efficiency, greater clustering of neighboring regions, and shorter communication paths across the brain. One interpretation for this is that intensive exposure to fast-paced audiovisual material changes brain systems involved in sensory processing and attention. The authors also acknowledged that greater efficiency is not automatically evidence of damage: similar patterns have sometimes been connected with intelligence and working-memory performance.

The researchers could not determine whether this more efficient-looking brain organization was beneficial or harmful because they did not assess attention, memory, or other cognitive abilities. As the authors wrote, “Future studies should incorporate such measures to determine whether the altered brain network topology associated with a relatively higher [short video platform] usage confers cognitive benefits or represents a risk factor for maladaptive outcomes.”

Some limitations are to be noted. For instance, other unmeasured factors—including recent platform use, caffeine, nicotine, and scanning time—could also have influenced brain activity.

The study, “Association between usage intensity of short video platforms and altered brain function: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study,” was authored by Siwei He, Shixiong Tang, Dayi Liu, Zhiyuan Chen, Qinyu Zou, and Yicheng Long.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/frequent-short-video-viewers-show-altered-brain-function/

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DATE: August 7, 2026 at 08:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

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TITLE: Lower myelin levels in gray matter suggest a biological tie between early trauma and depression

URL: https://www.psypost.org/lower-myelin-levels-in-gray-matter-suggest-a-biological-tie-between-early-trauma-and-depression/

A recent study published in the journal NeuroImage: Clinical indicates that adults who developed depression after experiencing childhood trauma tend to have lower levels of myelin, a protective coating on nerve cells. This reduction in brain insulation provides evidence for a potential biological link between early life adversity and the later onset of depressive symptoms.

Major depressive disorder affects millions of people worldwide and carries a heavy personal and economic toll. Exposure to adverse experiences during childhood is a well-documented risk factor for developing this mental health condition in adulthood. However, the exact biological mechanisms that connect early trauma to adult depression remain poorly understood. To explore this connection, scientists have increasingly looked at the brain’s microscopic structure.

One area of interest is myelin. Myelin is a fatty substance that wraps around the thread-like extensions of nerve cells. It acts much like the plastic insulation on an electrical wire. By insulating the nerve cells, myelin helps speed up the transmission of electrical signals between neurons, allowing different parts of the brain to communicate effectively. When myelin is damaged or fails to develop properly, this communication can break down.

Most previous research has focused on myelin in the brain’s white matter, which acts as the deep communication highways of the brain. Much less is known about myelin in the gray matter, the outer layer of the brain where most information processing occurs. Myelin in the gray matter is less dense but is thought to play a role in synchronizing complex neural circuits. The authors of the current study wanted to explore whether abnormal myelin levels in the gray matter might serve as a biological bridge explaining how childhood trauma leads to depression.

The research team recruited 35 young adults diagnosed with major depressive disorder and 49 healthy control participants. The patients had a median age of 23 years, and seven of them were men. The healthy controls had a median age of 24 years, with 18 men in the group. None of the patients had taken systematic antidepressant medications prior to joining the study.

To evaluate the participants, the researchers used clinical questionnaires, including the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. They then scanned the participants’ brains using a technique called synthetic magnetic resonance imaging. This specific type of brain scan allowed the scientists to measure the exact volume of myelin in the gray matter of the brain in a single five-to-six-minute session. It also measured proton density, which reflects the concentration of water in the brain tissue.

The brain scans indicated that the participants with depression had lower myelin content and higher proton density in several specific areas on the left side of their brains compared to the healthy controls. These areas included regions involved in language processing, visual attention, and emotional regulation, such as the left inferior frontal sulcus and the left insula. Other imaging metrics recorded during the scans, such as the T1 and T2 relaxation times of the tissue, were not statistically significant between the groups.

The group differences in myelin and proton density were moderate to large in magnitude. To measure this, the researchers used a statistical metric called Cohen’s d, which expresses the size of a difference between two groups. The difference in myelin content between the depressed and healthy groups yielded a Cohen’s d effect size ranging from 0.75 to 0.85 depending on the specific brain region. The higher proton density in the depressed group showed a similar effect size ranging from 0.71 to 0.94.

An increase in proton density often indicates that more brain tissue has been replaced by water. Along with reduced myelin, this water increase suggests a loss of structural integrity in those specific gray matter regions. The researchers theorize that delayed development or disruption of myelin within the gray matter might make these neural circuits more vulnerable to the negative effects of environmental stress.

The researchers then looked at how these structural brain differences related to the participants’ symptoms and histories. Lower myelin content in the left hemisphere correlated with worse scores on both the depression and anxiety questionnaires. Through a statistical mediation analysis, the authors found that reduced myelin in a specific region called the left lateral area 5 helped explain the link between childhood trauma and current depressive symptoms. This region of the brain is generally associated with visual attention, or the ability to focus on specific visual information in the environment.

This structural brain difference in the left lateral area 5 accounted for roughly 6.4 percent to 8.1 percent of the relationship between early trauma and adult depression. A similar mediating effect was found for anxiety symptoms in the left insula, a region heavily involved in processing internal body states and negative emotions like fear and disgust. By accounting for a single-digit percentage of the variance, the myelin reduction suggests a small but measurable contribution, highlighting that depression is a complex condition with many contributing factors.

The study relies on a cross-sectional design, meaning all data was collected at a single point in time. This setup makes it impossible to determine the direction of cause and effect. It is biologically possible that the ongoing stress or inflammation associated with experiencing depression led to the reduction in myelin, rather than the myelin loss preceding the depression. Tracking these brain changes in individuals over several years would be required to establish a firm timeline of events.

The researchers did not control for the presence of comorbid anxiety when selecting their participants. Because anxiety symptoms are highly common in people with depression and were correlated with myelin changes in this sample, it is difficult to isolate which brain changes belong exclusively to depression. The sample size of 84 individuals is also relatively small for structural brain imaging research, and the sex distribution was uneven between the two groups. Future research would benefit from observing larger, evenly matched groups to confirm how childhood trauma and brain development interact.

The study, “Abnormal myelin could be a mediator of childhood-trauma-induced depression: a quantitative synthetic MRI study,” was authored by Junyan Wen, Shuqiong Zheng, Zhimin Chen, Xuecong Lin, Shanshan Yang, Wei Cui, Liaoming Gao, Ziqi Wu, Liya Gong, Zhujia Li, Ying Guo, Yanyu Hao, Mingxuan Gao, Jingwen Luo, Linlin Jing, Honglei Yin, and Ge Wen.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/lower-myelin-levels-in-gray-matter-suggest-a-biological-tie-between-early-trauma-and-depression/

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DoD wants AI to cut civilian hiring to 30 days

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2026/08/dod-wants-ai-to-cut-civilian-hiring-to-30-days/

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Judge rejects VA’s third attempt to cancel union contracts

https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2026/08/judge-rejects-vas-third-attempt-cancel-union-contracts/415293/?oref=ge-home-top-story

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