SPONSORED BY  | | | | September 18, 2023: The brain-gut connection, how to protect kids online and winners of the $3 million Breakthrough prize. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | Scientists have traced two molecular pathways from the brain to the gut that produce flare-ups of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In three different groups of IBD patients, researchers found that psychological stress—a death in the family or a bad fight with a loved one, for instance—could trigger the release of brain chemicals that cause IBD symptoms. One chemical, called CRH, launches a cascade of events that prompts both an inflammatory response and reduced food movement in the gut.
Why this matters: About three million adults in the U.S. suffer from IBD. While genes play a role, targeted stress-management techniques can help to prevent and treat agonizing flares.
What the experts say: "We often have a black box between the brain and the effect we see in the periphery," says Henrique Veiga-Fernandes, a neuroimmunologist at the Champalimaud Center for the Unknown in Lisbon, about the link between the brain and the immune system. "If we want to use it in the therapeutic context, we actually need to understand the mechanism." | | | Stress triggers a cascade of hormones | Credit: Now Medical Studios; Source: "The Enteric Nervous System Relays Psychological Stress to Intestinal Inflammation," by Kai Markus Schneider et al., in Cell, Vol. 186; June 22, 2023 (reference) | | | This year several states have enacted age limits for online content like social media apps. A bill, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), has advanced out of a Senate committee and awaits consideration on the legislative floor. But some experts think there are more effective ways to protect children and teens from damaging online content. For starters, enhancing digital privacy laws could subsequently stop algorithms that emphasize extreme content. Laws that allow users to request the removal of content and a content rating system (like the one for movies) could help teens and parents limit the audience for specific posts.
Why this matters: Teens in the U.S. spend the bulk of their waking hours in front of network-connected screens, according to surveys from the nonprofit organization Common Sense and from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Kids younger than age 13 aren't that far behind; they spend upward of five hours online daily. Excessive time spent on social media has been associated with poor mental health among kids and teens.
What the experts say: "If people's data is treated with respect in ways that are transparent and accountable, actually, it turns out a whole set of safety risks get mitigated," says social psychologist Sonia Livingstone, at the London School of Economics and Political Science. | | | • An insect-sized robot designed by engineers at Cornell can carry 22 times its own weight. | 2 min read | | | • In ten years, the U.S. will activate the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), which will be the most advanced particle collider facility in the world. We need to start attracting and training its workforce now, and we should start with high school students, writes Raghav Kunnawalkam Elayavalli, an assistant professor of physics at Vanderbilt University. | 6 min read | | | SPONSORED CONTENT BY The Weizmann Institute of Science | Hanna's groundbreaking research could revolutionize organ transplantation. Learn more. | | | Jumping in and DOING science may be a much better way to get young people interested in science than having them read about science in dry textbooks. Check out the Scientific American collection of DIY science experiments, which are designed to spark the curiosity in all of us. | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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