1: Some Good News About Your Coffee Habit

A cohort study of 132K individuals followed for 43 years found that higher caffeinated coffee intake was associated with more favourable cognitive outcomes and a significantly lower risk of dementia. While causality cannot be confirmed, the long follow-up and large sample size strengthen the association. For clinicians who rely on caffeine to power through long days, the findings suggest the habit may carry more than short-term benefits.

2: Early-Life Risk Factors for Food Allergy Development

A systematic review and meta-analysis of 2.8M children identified key risk factors associated with developing food allergies, including prior allergic conditions, atopic dermatitis, delayed solid food introduction, first-born status, male sex, and cesarean delivery. The scale of the dataset lends weight to these associations. The findings offer clearer targets for prevention strategies, screening, and further research in the food allergy field.

3: Early Support, Lasting Impact: Early Intervention in Developmental Delay

A cohort study of infants with moderate to severe developmental delays or disabilities examined the academic impact of early intervention (EI) services before age 3. Among 13K children in New York City, EI services delivered before age 3 were associated with measurable academic benefits later in childhood — particularly in third-grade math and language arts performance. The data reinforce that early developmental investment may translate into sustained academic gains.

Can kindness be adjustable? A new brain study may have the answer

What happened: Have you ever watched someone hog the middle armrest and wished you could flip a switch to make them nicer? Turns out, science is surprisingly close to doing just that. A new study suggests generosity isn’t just a personality trait — it may also be a frequency.

Why it matters: Researchers at the University of Zurich asked 44 volunteers to decide how to split money with an anonymous partner. As they made their choice, scientists delivered a low-level electrical current to the frontal and parietal regions of the brain. When those areas were stimulated in sync, participants gave away more money.

The more the 2 regions were stimulated to “talk” to each other simultaneously, the more likely volunteers were to be liberal with their wallets — not mind control, but a neurological nudge toward empathy.

This discovery builds on previous research that mapped the brain’s "internal dialogue" during selfless acts. By watching participants play a money-sharing game, scientists pinpointed exactly which regions — the empathy hub and the decision centre — were "talking" to each other when someone chose to be generous. Now, they’ve moved from observing the conversation to joining it.

Using a gentle electrical pulse to "nudge" these regions into sync, researchers found they could boost a person’s altruism. When asked about the experience, one volunteer said the stimulation felt like a “warm shower,” and they never felt like anything was impacting their decisions. 

But: Should we be concerned that something as simple as brain stimulation could influence our behaviour? The researchers don’t think so. They say the findings suggest altruism is hardwired into our brains, making us take care of others. The study was regulated and approved by an ethics committee, and participants could withdraw consent at any time.

Bottom line: The jolt is temporary, but the breakthrough is permanent. We’ve learned that a well-placed spark can nudge the brain toward its better nature, proving that even if we aren’t born saints, we’re certainly wired to try.

1: ✈️ China just made visiting a lot easier for Canadians. Starting Feb. 17, Canadian passport holders no longer need a visa for stays in mainland China of up to 30 days — for tourism, business, family visits, or transit — under a visa-waiver program Beijing says will run through the end of 2026. The move follows recent diplomatic visits aimed at boosting people-to-people ties and comes as China joins several Western nations in loosening travel rules tightened during years of pandemic closures and political friction.

2: 🧬 3 mm of human spinal cord just challenged decades of dogma. Scientists at Northwestern University grew spinal cord organoids from induced pluripotent stem cells, matured them for months, then injured them with either scalpel cuts or compression to model traumatic spinal cord injury. Untreated, the tissue showed neuronal death, glial scar–like formation, and inflammation. But when exposed to a supramolecular peptide therapy previously shown to reverse paralysis in mice, the organoids demonstrated reduced scarring and significant axonal regrowth, even dampening pro-inflammatory signals when microglia were included. It’s still years from human trials, but this offers rare human-tissue validation in a field long defined by irreversibility.

3: 🏃 BC Cancer is prescribing exercise before treatment even starts.
The province’s first cancer physiatrist is building a “prehabilitation” model that brings physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dietetics, and speech therapy in at diagnosis — not after chemo ends. The shift follows a New England Journal of Medicine study showing that colon cancer patients in a structured 3-year exercise program had 90% survival at 7 years. Instead of reacting to weakness, the goal is to meet treatment already conditioned.

4:🛡️ Canada is redrawing its trade map without Washington.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is brokering talks between the EU and the 12-nation CPTPP bloc to align supply chains and “rules of origin,” potentially linking more than 1/3 of global trade. At the same time, Ottawa is preparing a defense strategy that would direct 70% of military spending to Canadian firms and push defence outlays to 5% of GDP by 2035. Trade and defence are moving in the same direction.

5: 🇨🇦 12 medals in, Team Canada’s pattern is emerging at the 2026 Winter Olympics. As of Tuesday evening, the red and white have 3 gold, 4 silver, and 5 bronze, with freestyle skiing and speeds skating delivering early highlights. Meanwhile, the traditional powerhouses are looming. Hockey (men’s and women’s) and curling are both tracking toward high-stakes playoff rounds, with medal implications still very much alive. If those brackets break Canada’s way, the medal table could shift quickly before the Games close on Feb. 22.

92.3%: how often an AI-enabled digital stethoscope caught significant heart valve disease — compared with 46% using a traditional stethoscope alone. In adults over 50, that gap is the difference between reassurance and a diagnosis.

>50%: the share of serious heart valve problems that are estimated to go undiagnosed. Since symptoms (such as fatigue, shortness of breath, and reduced stamina) creep in slowly, they often get blamed on aging. By the time it’s obvious, the damage is harder to undo.

$1M: what one American paid for a home in Tuscany — roughly the price of a modest condo in Toronto, but in Italy it buys olive trees, a hilltop view, and the full “la dolce vita” package. As North American housing costs climb, the math on overseas real estate is starting to look less like fantasy and more like a spreadsheet.

82%: the share of drivers in a recent survey who say bright headlights make night driving uncomfortable or harder to manage. It's a frustration many Canadians recognize as LED tech replaces old halogen beams with lights that feel blindingly bright.

✈️ Visit: this year’s top travel destinations if you’re looking for a place to "accidentally" extend your next conference. From the sports-obsessed streets of Melbourne to the quiet shores of Anguilla, consider this your 2026 scouting report for burning those accumulated vacation days.

🍲 Make: a Northern Italian–inspired Olympic watch-party spread. Risotto, osso buco, tortellini with sausage and mascarpone, tiramisu to finish. Alpine comfort, no airport security.

🧠 Learn: how to troubleshoot common pitfalls in oral iron therapy with this free course. It offers a practical deep dive into choosing the right formulations and managing the side effects that usually make patients stop taking their meds.

❄️ Save: up to 40% at Patagonia’s online sale. Fleeces, puffers, parkas — the kind of gear that survives rural locums and February sidewalks.

📚 Read: “This Is How a Child Dies of Measles” story in The Atlantic. It’s a sobering look at what happens when vaccine-preventable disease stops being theoretical.

📺 Watch: how to automate your way to a million with the White Coat Investor. If you have zero brainpower left for budgeting after a shift, this episode explains why a simple, automatic system beats complex strategies every time.

First clue: Et tu, Brute?-style injury

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