🌞 The catwalk for a good cause

Earlier this week, Stanford Professor Karl Deisseroth won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He shared the award with Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for their work in neuroscience. 

Karl actually missed the midnight call announcing he had won, so the Nobel Committee called his wife (also a Stanford Professor!) Michelle Monje so they could talk to him. 

Later, he told his children. When he told his daughters, they ran into his arms and squealed. When he told one of his sons a little later, he wrapped his dad in a huge bear hug while his sister could barely contain her smile. It was the most wholesome demonstration of love and joy for someone else’s passion.

Winning the Nobel Prize didn’t disqualify him from his more important  jobs though: Karl still had to make school lunches. 

When he was asked how he’ll celebrate, he said: “Get back to work. We have a lot of things still to discover and a lot of people to help.”

I’m really not doing the video justice, so do yourself a favour and watch it here. Unlike Karl, I’m no neuroscientist, but I promise it’ll make you feel good. 

Chess prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan has become the youngest chess player to achieve the Woman Grandmaster title in chess (yep, there’s a Guinness World Record for that!) 

This isn’t her first record either. At 10, she became the youngest chess Woman International Master and the youngest player to defeat a grandmaster in a chess tournament.

Now 11, she’s less than 200 points away from becoming the world’s youngest ever grandmaster, according to The Guardian.

However, she told them: “I want to become a grandmaster as soon as possible, but I’m doing it because I like it, not to just chase records.” 

Whatta legend.

A project led by the University College London (UCL) that reduces MRI scan times has received funding to be trialled on the NHS (the UK’s public healthcare system). 

The project reduces MRI scan times from 20-30 minutes to just 7 minutes. It’s funded as part of a government drive to diagnose dementia faster. 

MRI scans are important in diagnosing dementia accurately. However, they’re expensive, and limited capacity means that waiting times can be long. 

Faster scans mean more patients are able to access healthcare. It also means it’s more accessible and easier for patients who have trouble lying flat for long periods. 

Study co-lead Professor Nick Fox said: “MRI brain scans are crucially important for diagnosis in dementia and absolutely essential for eligibility for new therapies that could slow Alzheimer’s disease – but all too often people have long waits or don’t ever get a scan… I believe this will make a real difference to reducing the time to get a diagnosis in dementia - and to making it more accurate.” 

Hanon Nishio celebrates a second goal during the Football Women's Final match between DPR Korea and Japan on day thirteen of the 20th Asian Games (Photo by Masashi Hara/Getty Images)

For the sake of breaking the fourth wall, here was my alternate caption: me entering Yo-Chi when they’ve finally restocked their coconut flavor.

Alpaca aficionados and coffee connoisseurs unite! (Not sure if that’s a pairing that exists?)

A Serbian cafe that opened recently introduced a very unique offering: six alpacas to keep you company.

According to the Associated Press, the South American animals are “happy to interact with the guests”.

For around 10 euros, visitors can feed the alpacas and get a drink (though it isn’t confirmed if this is for the patrons or the alpacas!) 

For those planning for their Eurosummer next year, add this to the list.

Check it out here.

Meet Dangerous Females: a Brisbane-based non-profit domestic violence advisory group. 

Last weekend, Dangerous Females partnered with Brisbane Fashion Month and Brisbane’s best fashion designers to host a fashion runway event.

Aptly named ‘catwalk for a cause,’ all funds from the event went towards frontline domestic violence services. 

Dangerous Females frontwoman Jes Hallagan said: “What this runway signifies is a fabulous, diverse and creative group of people coming together for a fun morning while showing their support for Australia’s critical domestic violence frontline services.”

Okay, this one is going to read as a bit of a storytime, but stick with me. 

In 2017, MIT student Daniel Carballo enrolled in a product design class. He was placed in a group of 17 to brainstorm potential ideas. He proposed a wearable device that would send signals to the brain to reduce tremors, intended for Parkinson’s disease patients. He called it a “throwaway” idea. 

When the team eventually narrowed their ideas, they selected Carballo’s, in a vote of 16-1. He was the only person who voted no. 

Regardless, the team worked on the project, and met Michael, a home renovator with early-onset Parkinson’s. 

When they first presented their prototype to a crowd almost 10 years ago, Michael wore a wristband. Within seconds, his tremors dramatically decreased. He said: “When this device is turned on, I feel like I used to feel when I didn’t have Parkinson’s disease… It’s an amazing, amazing feeling.” 

A few years later, the university group turned into Encora Therapeutics. 

This year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the device to help adults with essential tremor, a condition in the nervous system that causes shaking.

The company ran two trials where patients used the devices, and in both trials, over 70% of patients experienced meaningful improvement. 

Enora co-founder Daniel said: “We hear stories from patients about how they’ve struggled with their condition and how much they benefit from this. It reminds us why we keep going.”

While the device is intended for essential tremor, there’s also potential for it to be used for other neurological conditions. 

This is a much better outcome than any of the group projects I’ve had to do, but we can’t all win. 

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the NYC Administration for Children’s Services have announced that the city will provide free childcare to over 10,000 children.

The city will move them off the child care voucher waitlist and will support low-income children aged from 6 weeks to 13 years, and up to 19 years for children with special needs.

The Mayor said: “For families struggling to make ends meet, and the providers who deliver them high-quality and consistent child care, access to vouchers is nothing short of transformational. Today’s voucher expansion is a critical step in ensuring no family is left behind in our movement towards universal childcare”. 

Women’s tennis is set to achieve equal prize money with men at its biggest tournaments outside the four Grand Slams for the first time. 

From 2027, that will include tournaments in Rome, Montreal/Toronto and Cincinnati. Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) chair Valerie Camillo said the organisation is “stepping up to deliver more for players and tournaments”. 

These tournaments will join Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Beijing, as well as the United Cup and all four Grand Slams, in offering equal prize money. 

The WTA will also launch a new Tournament Investment Fund to provide financial support to select tournaments. 

Reporting by Pavitra Ravi.