Grandparents who play with, read to, and look after their grandkids score better on cognitive tests. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. From physical fitness to doing puzzles to going out with friends, there's a laundry list of advice out there to help protect our brains from cognitive decline as we age . Taking care of grandchildren may also help brain health, according to new research from the American Psychological Association published today in the journal . "Many grandparents provide regular care for their grandchildren--care that supports families and society more broadly," Flavia Chereches, a study co-author and Ph.D. candidate at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, said in a statement.

Humans often encounter role conflicts -- social dilemmas where the expectations of multiple roles clash and cannot be simultaneously fulfilled. As large language models (LLMs) become increasingly influential in human decision-making, understanding how they behave in complex social situations is essential. While previous research has evaluated LLMs' social abilities in contexts with predefined correct answers, role conflicts represent inherently ambiguous social dilemmas that require contextual sensitivity: the ability to recognize and appropriately weigh situational cues that can fundamentally alter decision priorities. To address this gap, we introduce RoleConflictBench, a novel benchmark designed to evaluate LLMs' contextual sensitivity in complex social dilemmas. Our benchmark employs a three-stage pipeline to generate over 13K realistic role conflict scenarios across 65 roles, systematically varying their associated expectations (i.e., their responsibilities and obligations) and situational urgency levels. By analyzing model choices across 10 different LLMs, we find that while LLMs show some capacity to respond to these contextual cues, this sensitivity is insufficient. Instead, their decisions are predominantly governed by a powerful, inherent bias related to social roles rather than situational information. Our analysis quantifies these biases, revealing a dominant preference for roles within the Family and Occupation domains, as well as a clear prioritization of male roles and Abrahamic religions across most evaluatee models.

While at the park, the service members had the chance to explore attractions and participate in Disneyland's daily flag ceremony. Disney's Imagineers are working on a new animatronic of iconic American visionary Walt Disney, but some members of his family have opposing views about whether it celebrates his legacy or dehumanizes him. Disney's Main Street Opera House plans to unveil a new theme park attraction called Walt Disney – A Magical Life, featuring an audio-animatronic of the company's founder. But Joanna Miller, one of Disney's grandchildren, slammed the idea of an animatronic as "dehumanizing" in a viral Facebook post. Among her claims, she suggested that her grandfather had told early Imagineer Sam McKim he never wanted to be commemorated with an animatronic.

It's not just the teenagers that have to be told to get off the Xbox for dinner anymore - and this new gaming generation may need you to shout even louder. New research has shown that 85 per cent of people over 65 play video games at least once a week, while 36 per cent play every day. Many of these grandparent gamers say that they first picked up the console during the COVID-19 lockdowns, and now use them regularly to keep their mind active. Studies have shown that games can boost the brainpower of the elderly and stave off dementia. Researchers from the University of Saskatchewan say that gaming may improve peripheral attention skills, which are essential for reading ability.

Dear Abby: I am a man in my late 40s who has been looking for love all my life. One factor that has made it difficult is my height. What makes finding someone nearly impossible is that the online dating site profiles always ask for my height. Unfortunately, being extremely short in stature isn't a characteristic women are looking for, so even though I can spend upward of an hour filling out all that profile information, the system invariably returns a no-match for me. Do you think I should lie about my height, and when I meet the person, hopefully she can give me a chance?

Dear Prudence is online weekly to chat live with readers. Here's an edited transcript of this week's chat. In just a few weeks, the days will start getting longer. Let's just hold on until then. Not my type: My older co-worker has a "puppy crush" on me. This is encouraged by our office matriarchs. The sexual desire on my part is nil.

Human-level intelligence is familiar in biological hardware – you're using it now. Science and technology seem to be converging, from several directions, on the possibility of similar intelligence in non-biological systems. It is difficult to predict when this might happen, but most artificial intelligence (AI) specialists estimate that it is more likely than not within this century. Freed of biological constraints, such as a brain that needs to fit through a human birth canal (and that runs on the power of a mere 20W lightbulb), non-biological machines might be much more intelligent than we are. What would this mean for us?

At the opposite end of the country, in Pembroke Pines, Fla., 87-year-old Marilyn Sumkin uses an app called Join Papa to summon what the company calls "grandchildren on demand." College students show up for shopping, chores and chit-chat. Studies have found that loneliness is worse for health than obesity or inactivity, and is as lethal as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It's also an epidemic: A recent study from Cigna Corp. found that about half of Americans are lonely. According to a recent Harvard University study, the cost of loneliness for Medicare is $6.7 billion a year.

Many innovations come in the shape of machines that replace workers. We hear of cars that drive themselves, of robots that perform more and more tasks, and of how artificial intelligence can replace smart jobs. These technological developments cause alarm among many, and this has intensified since the last recession that began in 2008. The recovery from the recession has been slow, and especially in creating new jobs. That is why many have called it'a jobless recovery.'

A bionic hand that restores amputees' sense of touch is set to change the lives of thousands who have lost limbs, claim scientists. Two middle-aged men who lost their right hands in horrific accidents at work have revealed how the device has given them back their independence over the last two years. Keith Vonderhuevel, 51, from Ohio, is now able to pick up his grandchildren - and actually'feel' their hands for the first time. And Igor Spetic, 52, also from Ohio, has been filmed at home brushing his teeth, combing his hair, cutting eggs and tomatoes and drizzling mayonnaise. Named'Sensation', the bionic hand could revolutionise the treatment of maimed members of the Armed Forces, its developers claim.