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Age-related cognitive and exploratory decline is a hallmark of brain aging across species, yet the evolutionary conservation of specific behavioral phenotypes remains unresolved. Thigmotaxis, the wall-following preference in open-field exploration, serves as a robust index of anxiety and cognitive vulnerability in humans and rodent models of aging and neurodegeneration. Here, we report that house crickets (Acheta domesticus) exhibit steep age-related increases in thigmotaxis, mirroring...

Cognitive decline with age is characterized by impairments in learning, sensory discrimination, and decision-making. While mammalian models have advanced understanding of the neural substrates of aging, their use in large-scale behavioral studies is limited. Invertebrate models, such as the house cricket (Acheta domesticus), offer short lifespans, high throughput, and conserved neurobiological pathways but remain underexplored in geroscience. We developed a dual behavioral paradigm integrating...

Increased napping in later life is a common behaviour shaped by cultural, environmental and biological factors. Although brief naps can enhance alertness and memory, epidemiological evidence suggests that frequent or prolonged daytime sleep in older adults is associated with poorer physical health and accelerated cognitive decline, including episodic memory, possibly due to the underlying circadian disruption of the sleep-wake cycle. In this study, we tested whether restricting nap habits for 12...

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Circadian clocks regulate a myriad of physiological processes rhythmically throughout the day in most organisms. Our study focuses on a relatively less-studied neuropeptide CCHamide1 (CCHa1), expressed in the Drosophila melanogaster gut and the central circadian clock in the brain. We investigated the role of ccha1 on sleep under altered dietary conditions, as well as its impact on metabolism and fitness in Drosophila. We assayed sleep under ad libitum fed, starved and altered protein diets...

Distribution by field is also closer to the norm than last year’s class

ARPA-E’s $135 million in new funds will match its total spending from previous 12 years

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White House’s 2027 budget request includes $900 million for NSF to upgrade U.S. academic fleet

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and ageing is their strongest biological risk factor. In the ageing cardiovascular system, mitochondrial dysfunction is not only a central driver of disease progression but also a key feature of cardiovascular ageing, linking oxidative stress, calcium dysregulation, bioenergetic failure, impaired mitochondrial dynamics, defective mitophagy, and chronic inflammation to myocardial and vascular decline. In...

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent age-associated joint disease marked by progressive cartilage loss, subchondral bone remodeling, osteophyte formation, and low-grade inflammation. In OA, articular chondrocytes shift from a stable extracellular matrix (ECM)-maintaining state toward a hypertrophy-like program with increased collagen type X alpha 1 chain (COL10A1), runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2), and matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP-13), promoting ECM degradation, calcification, and...