Do phone bans in schools work?

Most parents have some concerns about phone use. This is an interesting study from the UK, that investigated phone bans in schools.

The study covered 30 schools (20 had phone bans, 10 didn't), with the students aged 12-15.

Their main finding: phone bans don't meaningfully affect/improve mental wellbeing.

Basically the phone bans only reduced phone and social media use slightly, and kids still used their phones at home.

Important point: the phone bans weren't uniform or super strict in all cases -- e.g. some schools just told students keep their phones in their bags.

So we can't say that "phone bans will NEVER work". They just didn't have a huge impact, on average, in the way they were implememted in those 20 schools.

Does flying increase cancer risk?

Going on a tangent from another Board. We were talking about "space weather" and landed on the question of "flying and radiation".

Found this literature review found that:

aircrew have higher rates of certain cancers, such as melanoma, non-melanoma skin cancer, and breast cancer in female flight attendants, compared to the general population. However, the evidence does not clearly prove that cosmic ionizing radiation alone causes these cancers, because other factors—like disrupted sleep patterns, lifestyle, and exposure to chemicals—also affect risk.

(Quoting the Credo summary)

To me, it sounds plausible. Flight attendants, pilots, and frequent flyers beware!

Creatine for cognitive function?

Eating creatine for physical health has become an accepted thing. But what about for the brain?

A while back, I watched this Huberman Labs episode, that covered this.Huberman podcast (with guest Rhonda Patrick) And I wanted to look at the research myself: here's one 2024 systematic review, covering 16 randomised control trials with a total of 492 participants.

You can see the full methodology and results in the credo summary of the paper -- but essentially the review concluded that creatine did have benefits for cognition.

As per the credo summary tldr:

This supplement may modestly improve memory and help people complete attention and fast-thinking tasks more quickly.

Shingles Vaccine Protects Against Dementia

A flagship study came out in Nature in 2025 that solidified a long observed finding, that the Shingles (Herpes Zoster) vaccine can protect against dementia.

Previous studies were classic observational cohort designs which can fail to show causation or account for confounding factors. This 2021 study found "a combined analysis estimated a 31% lower risk" and indicated the need for stronger research.

In comes the 2025 Nature study, this time a natural experiment arose:

To provide causal as opposed to correlational evidence, we take advantage of the fact that, in Wales, eligibility for the zoster vaccine was determined on the basis of an individual’s exact date of birth. Those born before 2 September 1933 were ineligible and remained ineligible for life, whereas those born on or after 2 September 1933 were eligible for at least 1 year to receive the vaccine.

The finding:

We show that receiving the zoster vaccine reduced the probability of a new dementia diagnosis over a follow-up period of 7 years by 3.5 percentage points (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.6–7.1, P = 0.019), corresponding to a 20.0% (95% CI = 6.5–33.4) relative reduction. This protective effect was stronger among women than men.

Interestingly, the newer recombinant vaccines seem to be ever more effective than the live-attenuated vaccines (the ones tested in the Nature experiment), though more studies are in the pipeline to deepen this finding.

The mechanism for why the protective effect happens is still TBD, though some hypothesize that detrimental impact of getting Shingles on the brain may cause long term damage that leads to dementia.

Either way, the impacts seem clear, the Shingles vaccine seems like a must-get in a full range defense against dementia.

20g of creatine to boost cognition?

On an episode of Huberman Labs, guest Rhonda Patrick talks about creatine for cognition. When she's sleep deprived, she takes 20g of creatine, and says it helps (could be placebo effect, she says).

I looked up a specific paper that mentions this 20g figure. Interestingly, the paper is a review by the European Food Safety Authority, and it reviews 21 studies.

As the credo summary highlights, the review found:

Two studies suggested short-term working-memory benefits at 20 grams daily, but lower doses and longer use did not reproduce them.

Would be interesting to deep dive into those two studies!

Season 17, Episode 48: 3 Ways Space Weather (Possibly) Impacts Your Everyday Life

Hey StarTalkians! Season 17, episode 48 was a sit-down discussion with Neil, Chuck and guest Dr. Lika Guhathakurta, a heliophysicist at NASA. The latter half addressed space weather, coronal mass ejections and the many ways in which the sun can – and does – impact our lives.

Super Solar Storms with Lika Guhathakurta - StarTalk Radio

One of Dr. Guhathakurta’s papers delves into what she calls “everyday” space weather, and overlaps with a lot of the podcast discussion.

Carrington-Like Events

Around 50 minutes into the show, they discuss the so-called “Carrington Event” of 1859, and Dr. Guhathakurta also covers this issue in the paper mentioned above. But as her paper points out, there have been others.

A 1989 space weather event knocked out transformers in New Jersey, the United Kingdom and Quebec, with Quebec also losing power for 9 hours. In 2003, geomagnetic storms caused blackouts in southern Sweden and possibly damaged transformers in South Africa.

3 Everyday Effects of Space Weather

Those events are more dramatic – thankfully, we don’t have that type of thing every day. However, that doesn’t mean space weather doesn’t have everyday impacts.

1: Power Problems

It doesn’t have to be a Carrington-like event for space weather to impact your electricity supply. A paper referenced by Dr. Guhathakurta looked at data on insurance claims for industrial electrical equipment, cross-referenced with space weather conditions. While they struggle to pin down a precise dollar amount for the cost – it’s probably in the billions – they calculate that 500 claims are submitted in the US annually because of space weather.

2: Cosmic Rays During Flights

When you travel by plane, you’re exposed to more cosmic rays – high-energy particles originating in distant events like supernovae. At solar maximum, the sun’s magnetic field actually protects us, but at times of lower solar activity, we’re exposed to more. A study looking at this calculated that flying at high latitudes for 12 and a half hours exposes you to as much radiation as a chest X-ray, or about half that for mid-latitudes.

3: The “Blurry Vision” of Your Satellite Navigation

Dr. Guhathakurta estimates [2] that about a third of the inaccuracy of satellite navigation devices come down to space weather. Irregularities in the ionosphere can refract and scatter their signals, leading to what she calls “blurry vision.” It isn’t a huge effect, but it is definitely something you’ll notice often!  

Does “mouth taping” improve sleep?

TLDR: there is some (non-conclusive) evidence mouth taping improves sleep. But if you have trouble breathing through your nose (e.g. have some nasal-blockage condition, or a cold), then give mouth taping a skip.

I’ve been seeing these companies selling mouth tape on instagram — to prevent mouth-breathing when sleeping (which is suppose to help). I have tried them, but I can’t really say for sure if they help me.

Found this aptly titled 2025 review “Breaking social media fads and uncovering the safety and efficacy of mouth taping in patients with mouth breathing, sleep disordered breathing, or obstructive sleep apnea: A systemic review” .

What the review looked at?

• The paper reviewed 10 other studies – that tested either mouth tape, mouth-sealing patches, or chinstraps.

• Those study participants were mostly sleep-clinic patients. (So unclear whether the findings apply more generally)

• It wasn’t a meta-analysis, as the 10 studies weren’t similar enough. The review authors also rated the 10 studies’ methodology poorly (in terms of ability to draw generalised findings). 

• (So all-in-all, take the results (below) with a pinch of salt!)

What the review found? (My interpretation of the findings: check out the credo summary yourself!)

• Some (weak) evidence that mouth taping reduces sleep apnoea. 

• Some evidence mouth taping reduces snoring and “oxygen desaturation” (when blood oxygen go below a certain level)

• Mouth tape likelier to be effective if used with a jaw device.

• Some of the studies excluded people with “nasal obstruction” (which makes sense). So we can’t say mouth taping helps these people (which isn’t surprising).

Does Socialisation Reduce Cognitive Decline? A New Study Says Yes

For people who don’t already have dementia, but are worried about it, learning about protective factors and risk factors for cognitive decline is one of the only steps you can take. A common piece of advice is to remain socially active, but does it really make a difference?

A new study [1] looked into this and found a very clear correlation between higher levels of social engagement and better cognitive performance.

Why Researching the Impact of Social Engagement is Difficult

Defining social engagement isn’t as easy as you might think. As a paper tackling this issue points out, researchers tend to use many different, overlapping terms. For example, social participation, social connectedness and community engagement are all used, and other studies may focus instead on social isolation. The paper points out that the subtle distinctions between these methods makes it difficult to interpret the evidence as a whole.

What the New Study Adds

The new research [1] used a composite measure called the Social Engagement Index, which covers specific things like whether you live with other people, whether you went out for fun in the past month, whether you visited friends or family, whether you’re married, employed and more. The idea is to cover many metrics of social engagement and use all of them to produce the final score.

They used data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study from 2011 to 2019, which covers Americans aged 65 or older enrolled in Medicare, and discounted anyone likely to have dementia at the start of the study. They found that higher social engagement (at baseline) was associated with a reduced decline in memory, orientation (i.e. what day is it? Who is the vice president?) and executive function. This was also incremental: the more engaged, the better the outcome.

Does Social Engagement Reduce Cognitive Decline?

The overall picture isn’t as clear as we might like. A “systematic review of reviews” covered this issue (section 4.1 for a summary) and despite emphasizing that low social engagement increases your risk, concluded that the data on the presumed protective effect is inconsistent. That said, the difference between a protective effect and avoiding an increase in risk seems more of a philosophical issue than a practical one.

As the new study also suggests, it certainly seems better to be socially engaged than to not be.

I should probably drink more coffee

Think coffee is a bad habit? Research actually suggests otherwise. This umbrella review of 218 meta-analyses concludes that 3-4 cups a day is associated with lower risk for heart disease and all-cause mortality. Check out the source to read more!

Season 17, Episode 51: 3 Ways We’re Hunting Dark Energy, Explained

Hey StarTalkians! Episode 51 of season 17 welcomed Dr. Jason Rhodes, who sat down with Neil and Paul to discuss the new Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the hunt for dark energy. This took up most of the podcast, but particularly the first half:

The Hunt for Dark Energy with Jason Rhodes - StarTalk Radio

Dr. Rhodes mentions three ways the telescope will be looking for dark energy, but as is often the case, it was easy to get lost in the meandering discussion. So here’s a briefer, clearer list.

Method 1: Type 1a Supernovae

This was discussed early on in the history of this board, but the short version is: these supernovae are “standard candles,” which are used to fix cosmic distances. If you fix the distances of many of these across different redshifts, you can tell how fast space appears to be expanding.

Method 2: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations

Baryon acoustic oscillations are a little like frozen sound waves, spread out over the universe. Back when the universe was a hot, electron-baryon plasma, photons were basically trapped. They continually interacted with the plasma, until the universe cooled enough for the particles to form into the first atoms. At this point, the photons could finally escape, leading to the well-known cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB).

But at the same time, the ripples of what happened in the plasma phase spread out too. Denser regions of the early plasma universe were pulled together by gravity, but pushed back apart by the interacting photons. This led to oscillations – like sound waves – which travelled through the plasma until the universe cooled.

These waves were released along with the CMB, and form another key relic of the early universe. A distinctive signal of this has been detected.

Like type 1a supernovae, these can be used to establish a distance scale, and any distance scale can be used to probe dark energy.

Method 3: Weak Lensing

Gravitational lensing is usually discussed in the dramatic cases, like a galaxy cluster magnifying and warping an ancient galaxy behind it. But it also operates on much smaller scales, and this type is useful in the hunts for dark matter and dark energy. This gets especially technical, but the short version is: weak lensing is useful in combination with the other two methods, and by helping to map the distribution of dark matter.