A new synthesis of research published September 23 in StudyFinds finds three competing theories for why time accelerates with age — and confirms that the popular "pile of memories" explanation describes the pattern but doesn't cause it. The actual culprit appears to be neural dedifferentiation: older brains log fewer distinct mental "events" per unit of time. Also: a Tulane University study of 277,489 adults published in Nature Communications finds that men who are both lonely and socially isolated lose nearly 5.8 years of life free from depression and anxiety, and healthy lifestyle choices mitigate the physical risks of isolation but do almost nothing to protect against the psychological damage of loneliness itself. And Joachim Lanham, a 24-year-old Norwegian man who called himself a "transcontinental inline skater" on Instagram, was on day 22 of rollerblading from New York to Los Angeles when he was struck by an SUV near Salina, Kansas, left in a ditch, and died on September 11 with his brother holding his hand.
","author_name":"Keith Conrad"}