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New technology aims to keep your drink safe

• A smart bracelet could help detect drink-spiking drugs. The device is still in development and isn't yet available to consumers.

• Don't rely on technology alone. Keep your drink in sight, watch it being made, and stay with trusted friends.

• Act quickly if something feels off. If your drink seems unusual or you suddenly feel far more intoxicated than expected, get help immediately.

Whether you're heading to a concert, bar, or college party, a new wearable device could soon add another layer of protection against drink tampering.

Developed by startup Elora Armor, the bracelet (along with pendants and keychains planned for the future) contains a sensor that can detect benzodiazepines, a class of drugs commonly associated with drink spiking.

How exactly does the bracelet work

Users place a small drop of their drink on the sensor, and a connected smartphone app analyzes the sample. If a suspected drug is detected, the app alerts the user and can automatically send their live location to preselected emergency contacts.

While the technology is still being developed and isn't yet commercially available, safety experts say it could become a very useful tool down the road.

The important caveat is that consumers don't treat the technology as a substitute for basic safety precautions.

Technology can help but awareness still matters

No device can detect every possible substance or eliminate the risk of drink tampering.

Experts continue to recommend keeping drinks within sight, accepting beverages only from trusted servers or bartenders, and staying with friends when going out.

The new bracelet is designed to complement those habits, not necessarily replace them.

How to protect yourself

• Create a safety network before you go out. Share your location with a trusted friend, agree on a meeting spot, and establish a code word in case someone needs help leaving quickly.

• Don't ignore sudden symptoms. If you become intoxicated much faster than expected, feel unusually dizzy, confused, or struggle to stay awake, tell someone you trust immediately and seek medical attention. Don't try to "sleep it off."

• Think beyond bars. Drink spiking can happen at house parties, concerts, festivals, and other crowded events. No matter where you are, never leave your drink unattended or accept one that's already been opened or poured by someone you don't know.

• Watch your drink being made. Order directly from the bartender or server whenever possible, and avoid accepting drinks that have already been poured or left unattended.

• Trust your instincts. If a drink tastes, smells, or looks unusual (or if someone is pressuring you to drink it) don't take the risk. Throw it away and order a fresh one.

• Keep a hand over your drink in crowded places. Whether you're walking through a crowd, dancing, or talking with friends, covering your cup can reduce the chance of someone slipping something into it.

New research links frequent television habits to smaller memory-related brain regions

• Frequent TV watching in midlife was associated with smaller brain structures linked to memory and thinking decades later.

• The same pattern was not seen with sitting at work, suggesting different sedentary activities may affect the brain differently.

• The study found an association not proof that television watching directly causes these brain changes.

Many of us have heard the warning that watching too much television is "bad for your brain." While that's an oversimplification, new research suggests there may be some truth behind the idea at least when it comes to frequent TV viewing during midlife.

Researchers from the University of Southern California analyzed long-term health data and found that people who reported watching television "very often" in their leisure time during middle age were more likely to show smaller brain structures decades later.

Those changes appeared in areas involved in memory, decision-making and visual processing, as well as in regions that are known to be affected early in Alzheimer's disease. The researchers also found more white matter changes, which have been linked to aging, cognitive decline and stroke risk. Importantly, the findings show an association rather than proving that television watching directly caused these differences.

For years weve focused on how much people sit. Our findings suggest we should also pay attention to what theyre doing while theyre sitting, researcher David Raichlen said in a news release.

How the study was conducted

The study included 1,712 adults who participated in the long-running Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.

Participants were about 53 years old, on average, when they first answered questions between 1987 and 1989 about how often they watched television during their free time and how much of their workday they spent sitting.

More than 20 years later, participants underwent brain MRI scans. Researchers compared the scans with the earlier survey responses while accounting for several factors that could influence brain health, including physical activity, diabetes, body mass index, smoking and alcohol use.

The study relied on self-reported television habits, and participants did not receive brain scans at the beginning of the study, both of which are important limitations the authors acknowledged.

What the findings could mean

One of the most notable findings was that not all sitting appeared to have the same relationship with brain health.

While frequent television viewing was linked to smaller brain volumes and greater white matter changes, spending long periods sitting at work was associated with larger brain volumes in some regions and lower levels of white matter changes. The researchers suggest that mentally engaging work activities may differ from the more passive nature of television viewing.

The researchers also found that many of the observed brain differences were more pronounced in men, although additional research is needed to better understand why. Overall, the findings suggest that it may be worth paying attention not only to how much time people spend sitting, but also to how they spend that time.

We frequently encourage the public not to spend too much time sitting down, but experts may want to expand that recommendation to encompass the activities done while sitting, since those seems to have distinct impacts on brain health, researcher Natan Feter said in the release.

New research shows weight-loss medications are replacing surgery for many patients

• GLP-1 medications have quickly become the most common obesity treatment for adolescents and young adults.

• Researchers found bariatric surgery rates declined as use of the medications increased.

• The findings highlight how treatment options for obesity are shifting, though access and disparities remain concerns.

GLP-1 medications such as semaglutide have transformed obesity treatment for adults over the past few years, and new research suggests they're having a similar impact on younger patients.

A study published in JAMA Pediatrics found that adolescents and young adults are increasingly being treated with GLP-1 medications instead of metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS). Researchers say the trend reflects how quickly these medications have become part of routine obesity care since newer GLP-1 drugs became available.

The findings don't suggest that surgery is disappearing or that one treatment is necessarily better than another. Instead, they show how medical practice has evolved as more patients and providers have gained access to effective prescription medications for obesity.

This research is the first national-scale Epic Cosmos analysis, to our knowledge, to characterize real-world use of combined GLP-1RA therapy and MBS among adolescents and young adults with obesity, lead author Sarah Messiah, Ph.D., M.P.H., said in a news release.

How the researchers studied the trend

Researchers analyzed data from a nationwide clinical database covering more than 204,000 adolescents and young adults between the ages of 12 and 29 who received treatment for obesity.

The team compared two time periods: May through November 2022, shortly before semaglutide became widely available for adolescents with obesity, and June 2025 through January 2026, after GLP-1 medications had become much more common.

They examined whether patients received GLP-1 medications, metabolic and bariatric surgery, or a combination of both. The researchers also looked at differences in treatment based on factors such as age, sex, race and ethnicity, insurance coverage, and neighborhood socioeconomic status to better understand who was receiving each type of care.

What the findings mean for families

The study found a dramatic shift in treatment patterns over the study period.

Among adolescents and young adults receiving obesity treatment, exclusive use of GLP-1 medications increased from 88.2% in 2022 to 96.1% by 2025-2026. During the same period, the share of patients treated with bariatric surgery fell from 11.6% to 3.7%, while the small percentage receiving both treatments remained essentially unchanged at 0.2%.

Our teams study captures an inflection point in pediatric obesity treatment, said Dr. Messiah. While only a small proportion of adolescents and young adults currently receive both therapies, combination treatment was virtually nonexistent before GLP-1 medications became widely available. Were now seeing clinicians integrate these therapies in different ways as obesity care continues to evolve.

Researchers also found differences in who received treatment. Older patients, those with commercial insurance, and people living in higher-income neighborhoods were generally more likely to receive GLP-1 medications, suggesting access may not be equal across all groups.

For consumers, the results illustrate how rapidly obesity care is changing for younger people. GLP-1 medications have become the dominant treatment approach in just a few years, but the researchers note that continued efforts are needed to address disparities so that treatment options are more accessible regardless of a patient's background or insurance coverage.

One in five listings had a price reduction in July

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• The national median home listing price fell 2.4% from a year earlier to $428,950 in July.

• Sellers reduced the asking price on 20% of listings as the summer housing market lost momentum.

• Pending sales increased for the eighth straight month, suggesting buyers remain active despite high borrowing costs.

Home sellers are becoming more willing to lower their asking prices as the summer buying season cools, but buyers have not entirely retreated from the market.

According to Realtor.coms July Housing Market report, the national median listing price was $428,950 in July, down 2.4% from a year earlier and nearly unchanged from June. It was the ninth consecutive month in which asking prices declined on an annual basis.

Price reductions also became more common. Sellers cut the asking price on 20% of active listings, up from 18.8% in June and just below the 20.6% recorded in July 2025.

The figures indicate that some sellers may have initially priced their homes higher than buyers were willing or able to pay. Elevated mortgage rates continue to limit purchasing power, forcing buyers to be more selective.

Julys data show a market that is cooling seasonally, not coming apart, Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale said in the report. She said sellers are adjusting their prices while buyers are responding more selectively.

Buyers are still signing contracts

Despite the increase in price cuts, the number of listings in pending status rose 1.3% from July 2025. That marked the eighth consecutive month of annual pending-sales growth, the longest such stretch since 2020 and 2021.

However, the pace of growth is slowing. Pending listings increased 4.1% in May and 3.7% in June before easing to 1.3% in July.

Homes spent a median of 57 days on the market, four days longer than in June but one day less than a year earlier. It was the first annual decrease in selling time following 26 consecutive months in which homes took longer to sell than they did the previous year.

Julys 57-day selling period was also in line with the typical July pace before the pandemic.

Regional differences remain significant

Price trends varied widely depending on location.

Median listing prices fell 3.9% from a year earlier in the West and 2.5% in the South. Prices declined 1.4% in the Northeast but edged up 0.2% in the Midwest.

Price per square foot, which helps account for differences in the size of homes being listed, declined in 34 of the 50 largest metropolitan areas. Austin, Texas, recorded the largest annual decrease at 8.5%, followed by Memphis at 6% and Tampa at 4.8%.

Providence, Rhode Island, posted the largest increase in price per square foot at 8.3%. Indianapolis was up 4.8%, while Hartford, Connecticut, increased 4.5%.

Price reductions were most common in Portland, Oregon, where 31% of listings had been marked down. Denver followed at 30.9%, while Dallas and Austin were both at 28.3%.

At the other end of the scale, only 9% of Hartford listings had a price reduction. New York was next at 9.7%, followed by Buffalo at 10.5%.