The use of dating apps and pornography websites has grown rapidly in recent years, supporting what may develop into a form of addiction – while potentially undermining traditional beliefs in romance and ‘true’ love.

To delve deeper, international experts surveyed 664 users of dating apps and online porn to assess people’s views on love and the “existential value we place on it”, says Flinders University psychology researcher Dr Reza Shabahang, the first author of a new article in BMC Psychology.

Researchers found that eye-level neighborhood characteristics and residents’ perceptions of their surrounding environment are associated with sleep health among working adults in Tokyo. Streetscapes with a greater sense of enclosure and perceived safety were linked to longer sleep duration, while greenery may support sleep indirectly by enhancing feelings of safety. 

During ketamine anesthesia, the brain’s nerve cells fall silent—as consciousness returns, they begin to reconnect. For the first time, researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) have shown that immune cells in the brain play a critical role in this process—with differences between female and male brains. The findings were published in Science Advances.

A new study suggests that a soy-derived lysolecithin, LPC70, reduced high-salt diet (HSD)-induced hypertension, social behavior deficits, and object recognition memory impairment in mice. The benefits are associated with receptor-specific regulation in prostaglandin (PG) signaling. An increased production of arachidonic acid-derived PGs was also noted. The findings suggest LPC70 may serve as a functional food ingredient to mitigate HSD-associated cardiovascular and cognitive decline.