A new study from the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology reveals that just 30 days of guided mindfulness meditation can significantly enhance key aspects of attentional control — especially how quickly and accurately people direct their focus — regardless of age. The study is among the first to use eye tracking, a powerful and objective measure of attention, to test the effects of mindfulness training on young, middle-aged, and older adults. The findings demonstrate that even short-term meditation can lead to measurable cognitive improvements.

Researchers at the University of Chicago have developed a more sensitive liquid biopsy test that uses RNA instead of DNA for detecting cancer. Using blood samples from patients with colorectal cancer, the test was able to detect the earliest stages of the disease with 95% accuracy, vastly improving on current, commercially available, non-invasive testing methods.