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Oliver Buchannon
David Richards
The Brain That Never Learned to See And What It Tells Us About Mental Health

Jul 29, 2026

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14 min read

The Brain That Never Learned to See And What It Tells Us About Mental Health

Consider something that psychiatrists noticed more than 70 years ago, quietly at first, almost as a footnote. They were treating thousands of patients with schizophrenia and, across all those cases, something was conspicuously absent. Not one of those patients had been born blind. Not one.

David Richards
David Richards
What If the Month You Were Born in Actually Made a Difference to Your Mental Health?

Jul 15, 2026

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20 min read

What If the Month You Were Born in Actually Made a Difference to Your Mental Health?

Here is something worth sitting with for a moment. The month you were born could have a small but measurable influence on your risk of developing a serious mental illness later in life.

David Richards
David Richards
The Quiet Revolution Inside Your Cells

Jul 8, 2026

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13 min read

The Quiet Revolution Inside Your Cells

But the more you look at what’s happening in labs right now, the harder it becomes to dismiss. Something real is taking shape. Something that might change how we think about aging altogether.

David Richards
David Richards
Brain Boosters vs. Brain Busters: The Role of Diet in Cognitive Function

Jul 3, 2026

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11 min read

Brain Boosters vs. Brain Busters: The Role of Diet in Cognitive Function

Cognitive decline is among the top health concerns for most older adults, and I count myself among them.

David Richards
David Richards
Could Kimchi Hold the Key to Flushing Plastic From Your Body?

Jul 1, 2026

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17 min read

Could Kimchi Hold the Key to Flushing Plastic From Your Body?

And here is the uncomfortable part: there are currently no reliable, practical strategies to remove nanoplastics from the human body once they've been absorbed. Until recently, that sentence had no "but."

David Richards
David Richards
Still Evolving: What Modern Life Is Doing to the Human Body

Jun 24, 2026

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17 min read

Still Evolving: What Modern Life Is Doing to the Human Body

We are still evolving, just not in the way we tend to picture it. There’s no obvious transformation unfolding in front of us. It’s more subtle than that, shaped by the environments we live in and, just as much, by the ones we’ve created without paying much attention.

David Richards
David Richards
Could Full-Fat Cheese Protect Your Brain? The Surprising Link Between Dairy and Dementia Risk

Jun 17, 2026

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11 min read

Could Full-Fat Cheese Protect Your Brain? The Surprising Link Between Dairy and Dementia Risk

Cheese, often seen as an indulgence, may actually offer a small cognitive advantage.

David Richards
David Richards
The Bacteria Behind Your Brain

Jun 10, 2026

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12 min read

The Bacteria Behind Your Brain

What they found was not subtle. Mice given human or squirrel monkey microbes began expressing brain genes in patterns that looked distinctly more human-like. Specifically, genes tied to energy production became more active.

David Richards
David Richards
Why Younger Generations Are Seeing More Hair Loss — And What It Reveals About Modern Health

May 6, 2026

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7 min read

Why Younger Generations Are Seeing More Hair Loss — And What It Reveals About Modern Health

The loss is a sign of something more than hair. It reflects the world these generations grew up in, shaped partly by circumstance and partly by culture. The pace. The pressure. The constant hum of everything.

David Richards
David Richards
Cancer Without the Crisis: Rethinking Prostate Cancer in Older Men

Apr 15, 2026

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23 min read

Cancer Without the Crisis: Rethinking Prostate Cancer in Older Men

By age 60, many men are already living with prostate cancer they will never know about.That sentence tends to stop people for a moment. Cancer is supposed to announce itself loudly. A diagnosis divides life into the before and the after. However, prostate cancer, at least in many men, defies this expectation.

David Richards
David Richards
Touch Your Food: The Surprising Link Between Fingers, Digestion, and Fullness

Mar 25, 2026

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21 min read

Touch Your Food: The Surprising Link Between Fingers, Digestion, and Fullness

Our hands are packed with tiny nerve endings that help the brain identify texture, temperature and moisture. When those nerves interact with food, signals travel up to the brain and help prime the digestive system. The body starts preparing before the first bite.

David Richards
David Richards
Listen Up: This Article Just Might Save You from Dementia

Mar 4, 2026

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19 min read

Listen Up: This Article Just Might Save You from Dementia

A large study from Johns Hopkins found that older adults with moderate to severe hearing loss had a 61% higher prevalence of dementia.

David Richards
David Richards
Colon Cancer on the Rise: The Hidden Crisis in Young Adults

Jan 28, 2026

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25 min read

Colon Cancer on the Rise: The Hidden Crisis in Young Adults

There are milestones to ageing. One of those, for me, was after turning 50, when my first colorectal cancer kit arrived at my house. At the time fifty seemed like an arbitrary age, and I was correct, but for all the wrong reasons.

David Richards
David Richards
Digital Detox: Restoring Your Brain in the Age of Screens

Dec 31, 2025

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29 min read

Digital Detox: Restoring Your Brain in the Age of Screens

Is that what productivity looks like in the digital age? When we’re attending five meetings at once but can’t give any of them our full attention? When rest is optional, but Slack is 24/7?

David Richards
David Richards
Blue Zones: Longevity Secrets or Lucrative Lifestyle Brand?

Dec 10, 2025

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26 min read

Blue Zones: Longevity Secrets or Lucrative Lifestyle Brand?

As soon as I learned about Blue Zones, I recalled Élie Metchnikoff's wishful thinking that yogurt was a key to longevity, based on the observation that Bulgarian peasants who consumed large amounts of fermented milk (yogurt) appeared to live unusually long lives. This turned out to be more likely a case of poor record keeping and exaggeration, unintentional and otherwise.

David Richards
David Richards
Red Light Therapy: Health Miracle or Photonic Fraud?

Dec 3, 2025

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23 min read

Red Light Therapy: Health Miracle or Photonic Fraud?

I concede that I came at this article with a great deal of skepticism born from the number and boldness of claims and by the fact that it only seems to have fringe support. Although this can all be attributed to the relative newness in the mainstream, I feel it is worth asking a simple question: is red light therapy a scam, or is it backed by science?

David Richards
David Richards
Seed Oils and the Raging Health Debate

Nov 26, 2025

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27 min read

Seed Oils and the Raging Health Debate

What I personally can’t shake is this: Most seed oils require industrial processing to be edible. The crude oil extracted from soybeans or cottonseed is not safe for human consumption until it’s chemically altered. That’s a sticking point for me.

David Richards
David Richards
Why 45 and 60 Just Hit Differently

Nov 19, 2025

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28 min read

Why 45 and 60 Just Hit Differently

Aging is not a smooth and linear deceleration. It is more of a gearing down with measurable delineations, two of which are particularly jarring.

David Richards
David Richards
When Eating Healthy Becomes Unhealthy: An Overview of Orthorexia

Oct 22, 2025

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24 min read

When Eating Healthy Becomes Unhealthy: An Overview of Orthorexia

In today's wellness-obsessed society, it's simple to commend someone who plans their meals carefully, stays away from processed foods, and avoids sugar. However, what occurs when the strict adherence to a healthy diet begins to harm one's physical and mental well-being?

David Richards
David Richards
Why Creatine Might Be the Smartest Supplement You're Not Taking Yet

Oct 15, 2025

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19 min read

Why Creatine Might Be the Smartest Supplement You're Not Taking Yet

A few decades later, and the supplement has garnered renewed interest. An increasing number of studies hint at another role for creatine: helping to support brain health, cognitive function, and mood regulation.

David Richards
David Richards
The Forever Fantasy: Why Living Forever Isn’t in Our DNA

Oct 8, 2025

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15 min read

The Forever Fantasy: Why Living Forever Isn’t in Our DNA

Every so often, headlines announce the possibility of extending life well beyond what we currently think possible—some even hint at immortality. But let’s be clear: we are nowhere close to living forever, and arguably, we never will be.

David Richards
David Richards
When Productivity Becomes a Drug: Inside Cortisol Addiction

Oct 1, 2025

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23 min read

When Productivity Becomes a Drug: Inside Cortisol Addiction

I noticed recently that I have lost the ability to do nothing. In my youth, I was a champion at it. This discovery led me to my second realization: I pack up my days so that I don’t have to contend with the possibility.

David Richards
David Richards
Adult-Onset Allergies: What You Need to Know

Sep 24, 2025

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24 min read

Adult-Onset Allergies: What You Need to Know

While it's acknowledged that adults can develop environmental allergies even without a childhood history, precise percentages quantifying this occurrence are not readily available. However, it, too, is not zero. As the global population ages, allergy manifestations among the elderly will become more common in the future. This is the topic we will be discussing in the third and final installment of our immune system series.

David Richards
David Richards
Immunity Starts in the Kitchen, Dietary Essentials

Sep 17, 2025

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26 min read

Immunity Starts in the Kitchen, Dietary Essentials

While genetics and exercise play a role, what we eat can have a significant impact on how well our immune system functions. A well-balanced diet full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants can support and even boost immune health, while poor dietary choices can weaken immune responses and increase the risk of illness.

David Richards
David Richards
Sweat Your Way to a Stronger Immune System

Sep 10, 2025

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25 min read

Sweat Your Way to a Stronger Immune System

Driven by the pandemic, the human immune system briefly took centre stage as a worldwide concern, and though that concern has somewhat subsided, it remains a forefront topic. With an aging population, I don’t believe that is going to change.

David Richards
David Richards
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