A new study in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics assessed life trajectories of children in Lesotho, Africa, across a wide range of educational and later-life outcomes. The study found that children who enrolled in primary school at an older age—despite an initial disadvantage in years of schooling—were more likely to remain in school through adolescence, obtained higher total years of schooling, and developed greater literacy than children who began primary school at younger ages. The older children were also more likely to delay marriage, have fewer children, hold higher-earning jobs, and accumulate greater wealth.

Timing exercise to match body clock chronotype—the natural predisposition to morning or evening alertness—may lower cardiovascular disease risk among those who are already vulnerable, suggests research published in the open access journal Open Heart. Chronotype alignment boosted sleep quality and lowered risk factors, such as high blood pressure, fasting glucose, and ‘bad’ cholesterol, more effectively than mismatched exercise timing, the trial results indicate. The findings prompt the researchers to suggest that individual chronotype assessment should be included in exercise prescriptions for those who are at risk of cardiovascular disease.

A substantial amount of medical information provided by 5 popular chatbots is inaccurate and incomplete, with half of the answers to clear evidence based questions “somewhat” or “highly” problematic, show the results of a study published in the open access journal BMJ Open. Continued deployment of these chatbots without public education and oversight risks amplifying misinformation, warn the researchers.