Background: Wellness tourism increasingly incorporates short yoga sessions for stress management, yet evidence on their immediate physiological and emotional responses remains limited. Objective: This exploratory pilot study aimed to generate preliminary data on acute physiological and emotional responses to a single 24-minute yoga session (breathing, postures, and meditation) compared with quiet sitting in novice practitioners. Methods: In this single-center, randomized waitlist-controlled exploratory pilot study (1:1 allocation), 19 university-affiliated adults with self-reported daily stress and no prior guided yoga experience were allocated to an immediate 24-minute yoga session (n=10) or quiet sitting (n=9). The primary outcome was change in salivary cortisol from baseline to postintervention. Secondary outcomes included salivary alpha-amylase, heart rate (Apple Watch [Apple Inc], subset n=12), and real-time emotional indices (stress, calmness, and concentration) measured by a commercial single-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) device (Kansei Analyzer [Dentsu ScienceJAM], subset n=8). Data were analyzed using change scores relative to the breathing phase, with between-group comparison performed by independent tests or multivariable linear regression adjusted for age, sex, and baseline values as appropriate. Results: No significant between-group differences were observed for salivary cortisol or alpha-amylase. In the yoga group, heart rate increased during postures and remained mildly elevated during meditation relative to the breathing phase, consistent with mild physical exertion. Exploratory individual EEG analyses suggested reduced stress and increased concentration during breathing and meditation phases in some participants. Conclusions: In this small exploratory pilot study, a single 24-minute yoga session did not significantly alter salivary stress biomarkers at the group level. However, it induced measurable cardiovascular activation and heterogeneous EEG-derived emotional responses. These hypothesis-generating findings demonstrate marked interindividual variability, suggesting the need for larger validation studies with improved control conditions.
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From peripheral initiation to central integration: a narrative review of the antihypertensive mechanisms of acupuncture in regulating autonomic nervous system homeostasis
Essential Hypertension (EH) is one of the most prevalent chronic cardiovascular diseases, imposing a significant burden on healthcare systems worldwide due to its high rates of disability and mortality. Long-term elevation of blood pressure leads to multi-organ damage in the heart, brain, and kidneys, resulting in severe complications such as coronary heart disease, stroke, and chronic kidney disease. Current treatment for hypertension primarily relies on pharmacological interventions. Although antihypertensive drugs have achieved notable success in controlling blood pressure, challenges remain, including poor long-term medication adherence, side effects, and inadequate blood pressure control in some patients with resistant hypertension. In parallel, acupuncture, a key modality of traditional Chinese medicine, has demonstrated unique advantages in hypertension management in recent years. Characterized by its holistic regulatory effects and minimal side effects, acupuncture is recognized by the World Health Organization as a recommended complementary and alternative therapy for hypertension, although its precise mechanisms remain incompletely understood. This review aims to summarize the “peripheral-central synergy” antihypertensive mechanism of acupuncture in regulating autonomic nervous system (ANS) homeostasis. Studies indicate that acupuncture primarily modulates autonomic homeostasis through the following pathways: (1) activating peripheral nerve fibers to convert physical stimulation into complex bioelectrical signals; (2) regulating synaptic neurotransmitter release and the expression of related membrane receptors; (3) modulating the synaptic microenvironment; (4) regulating the NTS-CVLM-RVLM neural circuit; and (5) modulating the HPA axis neuro-endocrine circuit. Through in-depth analysis, this review elucidates the multi-level and multi-dimensional impact of acupuncture therapy on primary hypertension, providing stronger evidence and a theoretical foundation for its clinical application.
Evaluation of anxiety levels and stress coping methods of pregnant women after the Kahramanmaraş earthquake
ObjectiveNatural disasters can cause serious psychological pressures on women during pregnancy. How the mental health of pregnant women is affected after major disasters such as earthquakes and what coping methods come into play in this process is an important research topic. This study aimed to evaluate the anxiety levels and stress coping strategies of pregnant women who experienced the February 6, 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquake.MethodsThis cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out within four months after the earthquake. A total of 118 pregnant women were included. Participants were grouped according to pregnancy trimester. Anxiety level was assessed with the Beck Anxiety Inventory and coping strategies with the Brief COPE Scale. Earthquake exposure data, including building damage and loss of relatives, were collected via structured survey.ResultsThe mean Beck Anxiety score was 15.9 ± 12.8. A significant difference was observed between trimesters (H = 19.09, p < 0.001), with anxiety declining from the first to the third trimester. Religious coping (ρ = 0.42, p < 0.001), acceptance (ρ = 0.36, p < 0.001), and behavioral avoidance (ρ = 0.36, p < 0.001) were positively correlated with anxiety. Positive reinterpretation and development showed a significant negative correlation with anxiety (ρ = −0.32, p < 0.001). Building damage category was not significantly associated with anxiety (p = 0.80).ConclusionAnxiety in post-earthquake pregnant women differs according to trimester, and individual coping styles are associated with anxiety levels. Within the scope of the variables measured in this study, positive reinterpretation showed the strongest negative association with anxiety. Approaches supporting cognitive flexibility should be prioritized in perinatal mental health interventions.
Corticotropin-Releasing Factor and Somatostatin Neurons in the Central Amygdala Mediate Dynamic Defensive Behaviors during Fear Extinction
Traumatic experiences can result in heightened fear responses to trauma-associated stimuli. These symptoms can be difficult to extinguish, so identifying neuronal targets for facilitating fear extinction is critical. Many studies investigating fear learning in mice measure conditioned fear via freezing, but other defensive behaviors, such as flight, can also be present during conditioning. The central amygdala (CEA) mediates conditioned freezing and flight responses via corticotropin-releasing factor-positive (CRF+) and somatostatin-positive (SOM+) neuron populations. However, it is unknown how these populations regulate changes in freezing and flight responses as fear extinction is learned. Thus, we investigated the roles of CRF+ and SOM+ CEA neurons in modulating defensive behaviors during extinction. To elicit dynamic defensive responses in male and female mice, we used a modified pavlovian conditioned flight paradigm that paired an aversive footshock with a serial compound stimulus (SCS) consisting of tone followed by white noise (WN), resulting in freezing during the tone that rapidly transitioned into flight (escape jumping and darting) during WN. We used optogenetics in CRF-Cre and SOM-Cre mice to selectively excite and inhibit CRF+ and SOM+ CEA populations during WN presentation within extinction. Within early extinction, CRF+ inhibition reduced WN-evoked jumping and led to subsequent context-specific reduction in tone-evoked freezing. During extinction, SOM+ excitation replaced early WN-evoked flight with freezing, and both SOM+ excitation and inhibition reduced WN-evoked darting. Collectively, these data demonstrate modulation of jumping and darting behaviors within extinction via CRF+ and SOM+ CEA activity. These findings suggest mechanisms of attenuating multiple defensive behaviors during extinction.
Synaptic remodeling and the female depression exposome: a mini-review of neuroendocrine, epigenetic, and social determinants
Depression is a multifactorial, chronic disorder and represents a leading cause of disability, with women exhibiting nearly twice the lifetime prevalence compared to men. Growing evidence indicates that this disparity cannot be explained by hormonal or psychosocial factors, but rather by dynamic interactions between environmental exposures, neuroendocrine signaling, and epigenetic regulation across development. This mini-narrative review aimed to examine how sex-specific exposome components interact with epigenetic mechanisms and synaptic remodeling processes to influence vulnerability to Major Depressive Disorder in women. The reviewed evidence demonstrates that fluctuations in ovarian hormones modulate HPA axis responsivity, neuroinflammatory signaling, and glutamatergic transmission through epigenetic regulation of stress-responsive genes such as NR3C1, SLC6A4, and BDNF, consequently influencing synaptic remodeling within corticolimbic circuits. Environmental and social exposures, particularly early-life adversity and psychosocial stressors, further interact with microglial activation and chromatin remodeling to produce long-lasting alterations in hippocampal and prefrontal plasticity. Collectively, these findings support a model in which sex-dependent neuroendocrine sensitivity amplifies exposome-driven epigenetic programming across the lifespan. Future research directions emerging from this synthesis include longitudinal life-course studies integrating multi-omic biomarkers, quantitative exposome assessment, and neuroimaging approaches to identify modifiable environmental targets and advance precision, sex-informed preventive and therapeutic strategies in depression.
Four things we’d need to put data centers in space
MIT Technology Review Explains: Let our writers untangle the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what’s coming next. You can read more from the series here.
In January, Elon Musk’s SpaceX filed an application with the US Federal Communications Commission to launch up to one million data centers into Earth’s orbit. The goal? To fully unleash the potential of AI without triggering an environmental crisis on Earth. But could it work?
SpaceX is the latest in a string of high-tech companies extolling the potential of orbital computing infrastructure. Last year, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said that the tech industry will move toward large-scale computing in space. Google has plans to loft data-crunching satellites, aiming to launch a test constellation of 80 as early as next year. And last November Starcloud, a startup based in Washington State, launched a satellite fitted with a high-performance Nvidia H100 GPU, marking the first orbital test of an advanced AI chip. The company envisions orbiting data centers as large as those on Earth by 2030.
Proponents believe that putting data centers in space makes sense. The current AI boom is straining energy grids and adding to the demand for water, which is needed to cool the computers. Communities in the vicinity of large-scale data centers worry about increasing prices for those resources as a result of the growing demand, among other issues.
In space, advocates say, the water and energy problems would be solved. In constantly illuminated sun-synchronous orbits, space-borne data centers would have uninterrupted access to solar power. At the same time, the excess heat they produce would be easily expelled into the cold vacuum of space. And with the cost of space launches decreasing, and mega-rockets such as SpaceX’s Starship promising to push prices even lower, there could be a point at which moving the world’s data centers into space makes sound business sense. Detractors, on the other hand, tell a different story and point to a variety of technological hurdles, though some say it’s possible they may be surmountable in the not-so-distant future. Here are four of the must-haves we’d need to make space-based data centers a reality.
A way to carry away heat
AI data centers produce a lot of heat. Space might seem like a great place to dispel that heat without using up massive amounts of water. But it’s not so simple. To get the power needed to run 24-7, a space-based data center would have to be in a constantly illuminated orbit, circling the planet from pole to pole, and never hide in Earth’s shadow. And in that orbit, the temperature of the equipment would never drop below 80 °C, which is way too hot for electronics to operate safely in the long term.
Getting the heat out of such a system is surprisingly challenging. “Thermal management and cooling in space is generally a huge problem,” says Lilly Eichinger, CEO of the Austrian space tech startup Satellives.
On Earth, heat dissipates mostly through the natural process of convection, which relies on the movement of gases and liquids like air and water. In the vacuum of space, heat has to be removed through the far less efficient process of radiation. Safely removing the heat produced by the computers, as well as what’s absorbed from the sun, requires large radiative surfaces. The bulkier the satellite, the harder it is to send all the heat inside it out into space.
But Yves Durand, former director of technology at the European aerospace giant Thales Alenia Space, says that technology already exists to tackle the problem.
The company previously developed a system for large telecommunications satellites that can pipe refrigerant fluid through a network of tubing using a mechanical pump, ultimately transferring heat from within a spacecraft to radiators on the exterior. Durand led a 2024 feasibility study on space-based data centers, which found that although challenges exist, it should be possible for Europe to put gigawatt-scale data centers (on par with the largest Earthbound facilities) into orbit before 2050. These would be considerably larger than those envisioned by SpaceX, featuring solar arrays hundreds of meters in size—larger than the International Space Station.
Computer chips that can withstand a radiation onslaught
The space around Earth is constantly battered by cosmic particles and lashed by solar radiation. On Earth’s surface, humans and their electronic devices are protected from this corrosive soup of charged particles by the planet’s atmosphere and magnetosphere. But the farther away from Earth you venture, the weaker that protection becomes. Studies show that aircraft crews have a higher risk of developing cancer because of their frequent exposure to high radiation at cruising altitude, where the atmosphere is thin and less protective.
Electronics in space are at risk of three types of problems caused by high radiation levels, says Ken Mai, a principal systems scientist in electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Phenomena known as single-event upsets can cause bit flips and corrupt stored data when charged particles hit chips and memory devices. Over time, electronics in space accumulate damage from ionizing radiation that degrades their performance. And sometimes a charged particle can strike the component in a way that physically displaces atoms on the chip, creating permanent damage, Mai explains.
Traditionally, computers launched to space had to undergo years of testing and were specifically designed to withstand the intense radiation present in Earth’s orbit. These space-hardened electronics are much more expensive, though, and their performance is also years behind the state-of-the-art devices for Earth-based computing. Launching conventional chips is a gamble. But Durand says cutting-edge computer chips use technologies that are by default more resistant to radiation than past systems. And in mid-March, Nvidia touted hardware, including a new GPU, that is “bringing AI compute to orbital data centers.”
Nvidia’s head of edge AI marketing, Chen Su, told MIT Technology Review, that “Nvidia systems are inherently commercial off the shelf, with radiation resilience achieved at the system level rather than through radiation‑hardened silicon alone.” He added that satellite makers increase the chips’ resiliency with the help of shielding, advanced software for error detection, and architectures that combine the consumer-grade devices with bespoke, hardened technologies.
Still, Mai says that the data-crunching chips are only one issue. The data centers would also need memory and storage devices, both of which are vulnerable to damage by excessive radiation. And operators would need the ability to swap things out or adapt when issues arise. The feasibility and affordability of using robots or astronaut missions for maintenance is a major question mark hanging over the idea of large-scale orbiting data centers.
“You not only need to throw up a data center to space that meets your current needs; you need redundancy, extra parts, and reconfigurability, so when stuff breaks, you can just change your configuration and continue working,” says Mai. “It’s a very challenging problem because on one hand you have free energy and power in space, but there are a lot of disadvantages. It’s quite possible that those problems will outweigh the advantages that you get from putting a data center into space.”
In addition to the need for regular maintenance, there’s also the potential for catastrophic loss. During periods of intense space weather, satellites can be flooded with enough radiation to kill all their electronics. The sun has just passed the most active phase of its 11-year cycle with relatively little impact on satellites. Still, experts warn that since the space age began, the planet has not experienced the worst the sun is capable of. Many doubt whether the low-cost new space systems that dominate Earth’s orbits today are prepared for that.
A plan to dodge space debris
Both large-scale orbiting data centers such as those envisioned by Thales Alenia Space and the mega-constellations of smaller satellites as proposed by SpaceX give a headache to space sustainability experts. The space around Earth is already quite crowded with satellites. Starlink satellites alone perform hundreds of thousands of collision avoidance maneuvers every year to dodge debris and other spacecraft. The more stuff in space, the higher the likelihood of a devastating collision that would clutter the orbit with thousands of dangerous fragments.
Large structures with hundreds of square meters of solar arrays would quickly suffer damage from small pieces of space debris and meteorites, which would over time degrade the performance of their solar panels and create more debris in orbit. Operating one million satellites in low Earth orbit, the region of space at the altitude of up to 2,000 kilometers, might be impossible to do safely unless all satellites in that area are part of the same network so they can communicate effectively to maneuver around each other, Greg Vialle, the founder of the orbital recycling startup Lunexus Space, told MIT Technology Review.
“You can fit roughly four to five thousand satellites in one orbital shell,” Vialle says. “If you count all the shells in low Earth orbit, you get to a number of around 240,000 satellites maximum.”
And spacecraft must be able to pass each other at a safe distance to avoid collisions, he says.
“You also need to be able to get stuff up to higher orbits and back down to de-orbit,” he adds. “So you need to have gaps of at least 10 kilometers between the satellites to do that safely. Mega-constellations like Starlink can be packed more tightly because the satellites communicate with each other. But you can’t have one million satellites around Earth unless it’s a monopoly.”
On top of that, Starlink would likely want to regularly upgrade its orbiting data centers with more modern technology. Replacing a million satellites perhaps every five years would mean even more orbital traffic—and it could increase the rate of debris reentry into Earth’s atmosphere from around three or four pieces of junk a day to about one every three minutes, according to a group of astronomers who filed objections against SpaceX’s FCC application. Some scientists are concerned that reentering debris could damage the ozone layer and alter Earth’s thermal balance.
Economical launch and assembly
The longer hardware survives in orbit, the better the return on investment. But for orbital data centers to make economic sense, companies will have to find a relatively cheap way to get that hardware in orbit. SpaceX is betting on its upcoming Starship mega-rocket, which will be able to carry up to six times as much payload as the current workhorse, Falcon 9. The Thales Alenia Space study concluded that if Europe were to build its own orbital data centers, it would have to develop a similarly potent launcher.
But launch is only part of the equation. A large-scale orbital data center won’t fit in a rocket—even a mega-rocket. It will need to be assembled in orbit. And that will likely require advanced robotic systems that do not exist yet. Various companies have conducted Earth-based tests with precursors of such systems, but they are still far from real-world use.
Durand says that in the short term, smaller-scale data centers are likely to establish themselves as an integral part of the orbital infrastructure, by processing images from Earth-observing satellites directly in space without having to send them to Earth. That would be a huge help for companies selling insights from space, as many of these data sets are extremely large, and competition for opportunities to downlink them to Earth for processing via ground stations is growing.
“The good thing with orbital data centers is that you can start with small servers and gradually increase and build up larger data centers,” says Durand. “You can use modularity. You can learn little by little and gradually develop industrial capacity in space. We have all the technology, and the demand for space-based data processing infrastructure is huge, so it makes sense to think about it.”
Smaller facilities probably won’t do much to offset the strain that terrestrial data centers are placing on the planet’s water and electricity, though. That vision of the future might take decades to come to fruition, some critics think—if it even gets off the ground at all.
Beyond dopamine blockade: mechanistic humility and the rise of muscarinic, TAAR1, and glutamatergic pathways in schizophrenia
The approval of the first non–dopamine-blocking therapy for schizophrenia marks a defining moment in psychiatry. Muscarinic M1/M4 modulation, alongside emerging TAAR1 and glutamatergic pathways, signals a shift beyond dopamine dominance toward circuit-level integration. These advances embody mechanistic humility: the scientific courage to prioritize clinical signal over mechanistic certainty. It is the scientific curiosity to revisit older hypotheses, question single-pathway models, and integrate multiple mechanisms. Building on the recognition of dopamine blockade’s experiential burdens, this new era guides psychiatry toward a pluralistic framework. The challenge for 2026 is not to replace dopamine, but to rebalance it, moving from receptor blockade dominance to circuit modulation informed pluralistic treatment. This evolution aims to restore harmony not just among neural circuits, but within the lived experience of patients.