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Most people say they want to live to a ripe old age. But that isnt really true. What people really want is to live to a ripe, old age in good mental and physical health. Some of us actually get to live this dream. These folks are known as super-agers and they make it well into their 80s not just in decent physical shape, but also with minds at least as sharp as people 30 years younger. How do they manage it? Thats the question Northwestern University researchers have been aiming to answer with a 25-year-long study. It examined the brains and lifestyles of almost 300 super-agers. As youd expect, a quarter century of data shows it really helps to be born with lucky biology. The neuroscientists found a number of physical differences between the brains of super-agers and the average person. There isnt much non-scientists can do with that information. We have to make the most of the brains bequeathed to us by our DNA. Luckily, the researchers also discovered one big difference in behavior that sets apart super-agers who are still going strong into their 80s and beyond. Its something any of us can adopt in our own lives. Super-agers brains are different When you scan or posthumously autopsy the brains of super-agers, they look different than average brains, according to Sandra Weintraub, a Northwestern psychology professor involved in the study. Normal brains generally show some accumulation of the plaques and protein tangles that are characteristic of Alzheimers disease. Super-agers brains are largely free of them. The study also revealed that while the outer layer of the brain, known as the cortex, tends to thin out as we age, it stays thick in super-agers. They also have a different mix of cell types in their brain. Our findings show that exceptional memory in old age is not only possible but is linked to a distinct neurobiological profile. This opens the door to new interventions aimed at preserving brain health well into the later decades of life, Weintraub commented to Northwestern Now. Thats of huge interest in scientists looking for treatments that can help us stay healthier longer. Weintraub calls the findings earth-shattering for us. But for those of us without medical degrees, theres little we can do with this information. You cant vacuum rogue proteins out of your brain or plump its cortex. (Though other studies do suggest sleep helps to wash proteins and other gunk out of your brain, so maybe dont skimp on shut-eye.) And so are their social lives Further complicating those looking for an easy takeaway from the research, the super-agers also didnt have a lot of lifestyle factors in common. Some were athletes. Others confirmed loafers. Some drank. Others smoked. They ate different things and kept different habits. But there was one big exception. Super-agers, it turns out, tend to be incredibly social. The group was particularly sociable and relished extracurricular activities. Compared to their cognitively average, same-aged peers, they rated their relationships with others more positively. Similarly, on a self-reported questionnaire of personality traits they tended to endorse high levels of extraversion, the researchers reported in recent paper published in Alzheimers & Dementia. Want to be a super-ager? Focus on your relationships This might come as a surprise to laypeople who think aging well is all about HIIT workouts and plentiful kale. But it likely isnt a huge shock to other scientists. The Harvard Study of Adult Development has been minutely tracking the lives of some 724 original participants (and now some of their descendants) since 1938. It discovered the biggest predictor of a long, healthy life isnt biological. Its social. The better the quality of your relationships, the more likely you are to age well. And while you have only indirect influence on things like your cholesterol level and brain health, you are directly in control of your social life. Its something we can and should prioritize, according to study director Robert Waldinger. We think of physical fitness as a practice, as something we do to maintain our bodies. Our social life is a living system, and it needs maintenance too, he told the Harvard Gazette. The effects of keeping up your social ties arent minor. Neuroscientist Bryan James, author of another study on aging and social contact, summed up his findings this way: Social activity is associated with a decreased risk of developing dementia and mild cognitive impairment [] the least socially active older adults developed dementia an average of five years before the most socially active. Keeping up with friends helps with healthy aging. But so does keeping up with learning. Research has shown a strong link between keeping your brain active and maintaining cognitive performance deep into your later years. One study found that just joining a class to learn a new skill or hobby improved brain performance as if subjects were 30 years younger. Another one, done at Stanford, found no cognitive decline at all until retirement and beyond if you stay mentally active. Are you getting your 5-3-1? All of which suggests that staying social and mentally engaged is one of the most impactful moves you can make if you dream of becoming a super-ager yourself. The basic takeaway when it comes to mental function and aging is, use it or lose it. But experts have offered more detailed guidance too. Harvard-trained ocial scientist and author Kasley Killam, for instance, has suggested the 531 rule: Spend time with five different people a week. This could be anyone from your gym buddy or book club bestie to the person the next pew over at church. Nurture three close relationships. Equally important is maintaining tighter bonds with three of the people closest to you, usually family and dear friends. Aim for one hour of social interaction a day. That doesnt have to be all at once. It could be 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there, Killam explained to Business Insider. You can also combine social time with other activities, walking the dog with a neighbor, say. Even just chatting on the phone can have more of an impact than many people suspect. According to a recent study in the U.S., talking on the phone for 10 minutes two to five times a week significantly lowered peoples levels of loneliness, depression, and anxiety, Killam reports in Psychology Today. Change what you can influence The bad news from science is that super-agers really are different physically. Their brains have biological quirks that help them stay sharp longer. Theres no way, unfortunately, to borrow that magic. But there is something else that sets super-agers apart that you can steal. Its not a diet or exercise plan. Its a love for getting out and seeing other people and learning new things. It turns out the more you maintain your social connections and mental stimuli, the more likely you are to get not just more years, but more healthy, active, and sharp years. Jessica Stillman This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister publication, Inc. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
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Amid an uncertain economythe growth of AI, tariffs, rising costscompanies are pulling back on hiring. As layoffs increase, the labor market cools, and unemployment ticks up, were seeing fewer people quitting their jobs. The implication: Many workers will be job hugging and sitting tight in their roles through 2026. Put more pessimistically: Employees are going to feel stuck where they are for the foreseeable future. In many cases, that means staying in unsatisfying jobs. Gallups 2025 State of the Global Workforce report shows that employee engagement has fallen to 21%. And a March 2025 study of 1,000 U.S. workers by advisory and consulting firm Fractional Insights showed that 44% of employees reported feeling workplace angst, despite often showing intent to stay. So if these employees are hugging their current roles, its not an act of affection. Its often in desperation. Being a job hugger means youre feeling anxious, insecure, more likely to stay but also more likely to want to leave, says Erin Eatough, chief science officer and principal adviser at Fractional Insights, which applies organizational psychology insights to the workplace. You often see a self-protective response: Nothing to see here, Im doing a good job, Im not leaving. This performative behavior can be psychologically damaging, especially in a culture of layoffs. If I was scared of losing my job Id try everything to keep it: complimenting my boss, staying late, going to optional meetings, being a good organizational citizen, says Anthony Klotz, professor of organizational behavior at the UCL School of Management in London. But we know that when people arent loving their jobs but are still going above and beyond, that its a one-way trip to burnout. The tight squeeze In cases where jobs arent immediately under threat, the effects of hugging are more likely to be slow burning. When an employees only motivation is to collect a consistent paycheck, discretionary effort drops. Theyre less productive. Engagement takes a huge hit. Over time, that gradually chips away at their well-being. Humans want to feel useful, that they care about the work theyre doing, and that theyre investing their time well, Eatough says. When efforts are low, that can impact a persons sense of value. The effects stretch beyond the workplace, too. Frustrated and reluctant stayers can quickly end up in a vicious cycle, Klotz says, noting, When youre in a situation that feels like its sucking life out of you, you end up ruminating about how depleting it is, then end up so tired that you dont have energy for restorative activities outside of work. So its this downward spiralyou begin your workday even more depleted. Longer term, job hugging stunts growth. When youre looking out for yourself, rather than the team or organization, your investment in working relationships begins to break down, Eatough says. Over time, staying in that situation means youre more likely to become deeply cynical, which hurts the individual and their career trajectory. When hugging becomes clinging Feeling stuck is nothing new. At some point in their careers, most workers will be in a situation where if they could leave for a better role, they would, says Klotz, who predicted the Great Resignation. But what distinguishes job hugging is that its anxiously clinging to a role during unfavorable labor markets. Its not that employees dont want to quitits that they cant. Its human nature that when theres a threat of any sort that we move away from it and towards stability, Klotz says. Your job represents that stability. And currently, its not a great time to switch jobs. There are few options for job huggers. The first is speaking up and working with a manager to improve the situation. But this might be unlikely for employees who feel trapped or lack motivation in the first place. Klotz says cognitive reframing can helpfocusing purely on the positive aspects of a draining role, such as a friendly team, and tuning out the rest. Finally, slowly backing away from extra tasksin other words, quiet quittingcould mean workers can redraw work-life boundaries in the interim at least. Otherwise, beyond Stoic philosophy or a benevolent boss, there is little choice but to wait it out. In some cases, a job hugger may eventually turn it around, ease their grip, and become quietly content in their role. But more often, wanting to quit usually leads to actually quitting. In effect, job hugging is damage control: hanging on until the situation changes. I think well see some people be resilient, wait it out, and find another role, Klotz says. But therell be others in the quagmire of struggling with exhaustion of spending eight hours a day in a job they dont like.
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The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and cloud services has led to a massive demand for computing power. The surge has strained data infrastructure, which requires lots of electricity to operate. A single, midsize data center here on Earth can consume enough electricity to power about 16,500 homes, with even larger facilities using as much as a small city. Over the past few years, tech leaders have increasingly advocated for space-based AI infrastructure as a way to address the power requirements of data centers. In space, sunshinewhich solar panels can convert into electricityis abundant and reliable. On November 4, 2025, Google unveiled Project Suncatcher, a bold proposal to launch an 81-satellite constellation into low Earth orbit. It plans to use the constellation to harvest sunlight to power the next generation of AI data centers in space. So instead of beaming power back to Earth, the constellation would beam data back to Earth. For example, if you asked a chatbot how to bake sourdough bread, instead of firing up a data center in Virginia to craft a response, your query would be beamed up to the constellation in space, processed by chips running purely on solar energy, and the recipe sent back down to your device. Doing so would mean leaving the substantial heat generated behind in the cold vacuum of space. As a technology entrepreneur, I applaud Googles ambitious plan. But as a space scientist, I predict that the company will soon have to reckon with a growing problem: space debris. The mathematics of disaster Space debristhe collection of defunct human-made objects in Earths orbitis already affecting space agencies, companies, and astronauts. This debris includes large pieces, such as spent rocket stages and dead satellites, as well as tiny flecks of paint and other fragments from discontinued satellites. Space debris travels at hypersonic speeds of approximately 17,500 mph in low Earth orbit. At this speed, colliding with a piece of debris the size of a blueberry would feel like being hit by a falling anvil. Satellite breakups and anti-satellite tests have created an alarming amount of debris, a crisis now exacerbated by the rapid expansion of commercial constellations such as SpaceXs Starlink. The Starlink network has more than 7,500 satellites providing global high-speed internet. The U.S. Space Force actively tracks more than 40,000 objects larger than a softball using ground-based radar and optical telescopes. However, this number represents less than 1% of the lethal objects in orbit. The majority are too small for these telescopes to identify and track reliably. In November 2025, three Chinese astronauts aboard the Tiangong space station were forced to delay their return to Earth because their capsule had been struck by a piece of space debris. Back in 2018, a similar incident on the International Space Station challenged relations between the U.S. and Russia, as Russian media speculated that a NASA astronaut may have deliberately sabotaged the station. The orbital shell Googles project targetsa sun-synchronous orbit approximately 400 miles above Earthis a prime location for uninterrupted solar energy. At this orbit, the spacecrafts solar arrays will always be in direct sunshine, where they can generate electricity to power the onboard AI payload. But for this reason, sun-synchronous orbit is also the single most congested highway in low Earth orbit, and objects in this orbit are the most likely to collide with other satellites or debris. As new objects arrive and existing objects break apart, low Earth orbit could approach Kessler syndrome. In this theory, once the number of objects in low Earth orbit exceeds a critical threshold, collisions between objects generate a cascade of new debris. Eventually, this cascade of collisions could render certain orbits entirely unusable. Implications for Project Suncatcher Project Suncatcher proposes a cluster of satellites carrying large solar panels. They would fly with a radius of just 1 kilometer, each node spaced less than 200 meters apart. To put that in perspective, imagine a racetrack roughly the size of the Daytona International Speedway, where 81 cars race at 17,500 mph while separated by gaps about the distance you need to safely brake on the highway. This ultradense formation is necessary for the satellites to transmit data to each other. The constellation splits complex AI workloads across all its 81 units, enabling them to think and process data simultaneously as a single, massive, distributed brain. Google is partnering with a space company to launch two prototypesatellites by early 2027 to validate the hardware. But in the vacuum of space, flying in formation is a constant battle against physics. While the atmosphere in low Earth orbit is incredibly thin, it is not empty. Sparse air particles create orbital drag on satellites; this force pushes against the spacecraft, slowing it down and forcing it to drop in altitude. Satellites with large surface areas have more issues with drag, as they can act like a sail catching the wind. To add to this complexity, streams of particles and magnetic fields from the sunknown as space weathercan cause the density of air particles in low Earth orbit to fluctuate in unpredictable ways. These fluctuations directly affect orbital drag. When satellites are spaced less than 200 meters apart, the margin for error evaporates. A single impact could not only destroy one satellite but also send it blasting into its neighbors, triggering a cascade that could wipe out the entire cluster and randomly scatter millions of new pieces of debris into an orbit that is already a minefield. The importance of active avoidance To prevent crashes and cascades, satellite companies could adopt a leave no trace standard, which means designing satellites that do not fragment, release debris, or endanger their neighbors, and that can be safely removed from orbit. For a constellation as dense and intricate as Suncatcher, meeting this standard might require equipping the satellites with reflexes that autonomously detect and dance through a debris field. Suncatchers current design doesnt include these active avoidance capabilities. In the first six months of 2025 alone, SpaceXs Starlink constellation performed a staggering 144,404 collision-avoidance maneuvers to dodge debris and other spacecraft. Similarly, Suncatcher would likely encounter debris larger than a grain of sand every five seconds. Todays object-tracking infrastructure is generally limited to debris larger than a softball, leaving millions of smaller debris pieces effectively invisible to satellite operators. Future constellations will need an onboard detection system that can actively spot these smaller threats and maneuver the satellite autonomously in real time. Equipping Suncatcher with active collision-avoidance capabilities would be an engineering feat. Because of the tight spacing, the constellation would need to respond as a single entity. Satellites would need to reposition in concert, similar to a synchronized flock of birds. Each satellite would need to react to the slightest shift of its neighbor. Paying rent for the orbit Technological solutions, however, can go only so far. In September 2022, the Federal Communications Commission created a rule requiring satellite operators to remove their spacecraft from orbit within five years of the missions completion. This typically involves a controlled de-orbit maneuver. Operators must now reserve enough fuel to fire the thrusters at the end of the mission to lower the satellites altitude, until atmospheric drag takes over and the spacecraft burns up in the atmosphere. However, the rule does not address the debris already in space, nor any future debris, from accidents or mishaps. To tackle these issues, some policymakers have proposed a use tax for space debris removal. A use tax or orbital-use fee would charge satellite operators a levy based on the orbital stress their constellation imposes, much like larger or heavier vehicles paying greater fees to use public roads. These funds would finance active debris-removal missions, which capture and remove the most dangerous pieces of junk. Avoiding collisions is a temporary technical fix, not a long-term solution to the space debris problem. As some companies look to space as a new home for data centers, and others continue to send satellite constellations into orbit, new policies and active debris-removal programs can help keep low Earth orbit open for business. Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti is an associate research scientist at the University of Michigan. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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