Cognition

Close to 100 new laws are taking effect this week, covering a wide range of policy areas including gun regulations, artificial intelligence, facial recognition technology, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforcement. The package reflects a broad legislative response to issues spanning public safety, emerging technology, and immigration, affecting residents, businesses, and law enforcement as the new rules come into force.

Dozens of political and civil society activists have issued a joint call urging international recognition of the "Hazara Genocide," referring to the persecution and killings of the Hazara community in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The activists argue that formal recognition by governments and international bodies is a necessary step toward justice, accountability and protection for the Hazara minority, who have long faced targeted violence.

Senators Ed Markey and Jeff Merkley, along with Representatives Pramila Jayapal, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley, have reintroduced legislation that would stop federal government use of facial recognition and other biometric surveillance technology. The measure, first put forward in earlier sessions of Congress, targets concerns over misidentification, privacy violations and disproportionate policing of communities of color, renewing a debate among civil liberties groups, law enforcement agencies and technology firms.

Wired reports that nicotine, long tied to smoking and health warnings, is being rebranded by parts of the wellness movement. Advocates promote nicotine pouches and low-dose products for focus and cognitive benefits, while health experts warn the substance remains addictive and carries cardiovascular risks. The piece has sparked debate online about whether wellness culture is downplaying proven harms in pursuit of new performance-enhancing trends.

Elon Musk argued that enhancing human biology is key to closing the speed gap between human cognition and artificial intelligence. The comments renew his long-running warning that AI is advancing faster than people can keep up, and his interest in brain-computer interfaces as a way for humans to remain relevant alongside increasingly capable machines.

A new study found that adults with higher levels of a particular vitamin showed healthier brain scans, according to coverage by Yahoo Health. The findings add to ongoing research into how nutrition may influence brain health and cognitive aging in adults. Details on which vitamin was measured and the study's size have not been widely reported yet.

WIRED reports that nicotine, long associated with smoking and health harm, is being rebranded and repositioned within the wellness movement. Wellness circles and product makers are promoting forms like pouches and low-dose products as cognitive enhancers or alternatives to cigarettes. The trend is drawing attention and skepticism, since nicotine remains addictive and its purported health benefits are debated by medical experts.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge report that measurable sex differences in attention can already be detected in newborn babies, suggesting the differences emerge far earlier in development than previously assumed. The finding is drawing discussion about how much of the gap is rooted in biology versus later social and environmental influence.

Single-celled slime molds, which lack brains yet can solve mazes, optimize networks, and learn simple patterns, are at the center of a growing scientific dispute over how intelligence should be defined. Researchers disagree on whether such abilities reflect genuine cognition or simpler biological processes, a question with implications for neuroscience, philosophy, and artificial intelligence.

Scientists are revisiting slime molds, single-celled organisms that can solve mazes and optimize networks despite having no brain, prompting renewed argument over whether the word 'intelligence' should apply beyond animals. Critics say such behavior is better described as simple adaptive processing, while others argue cognition exists on a spectrum across life forms.

Discover Magazine is highlighting 'umwelt', the idea that each animal species experiences the world through its own unique sensory reality, shaped by the senses it possesses. The article argues that recognising these perceptual worlds can change how researchers study animal behaviour, since humans cannot assume animals perceive their surroundings the way people do.