Goodable

When the 5,000th B-17 bomber rolled out of the Boeing factory after Pearl Harbor, teenage riveter Anna Mae Krier made sure it carried a special message from the women of World War II: she signed her name on it. Now 98, Krier is in Normandy, France, for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, proudly celebrating the vital roles women played in the June 6, 1944, invasion and throughout the war, including making the weaponry that enabled men to fight.

Krier was among millions of women who stepped into defense-industry factories, replacing men who were called up for combat. These women had their own icon in “Rosie the Riveter,” a woman in a polka-dotted bandanna flexing a muscular arm with the slogan: “We can do it!” After Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, “every man, woman, and child just went to work,” Krier recalled as she visited the iconic D-Day battle site, Pegasus Bridge.

Krier, a North Dakota native, was just 17 when she started working as a riveter on B-17 and B-29 bombers in 1943. She helped build more than 6,000 aircraft. “Us women built all that equipment, the airplanes, the tanks, the ammunition, and ships used in the Allied invasion of Normandy that helped liberate Europe from Adolf Hitler’s tyranny,” Krier said. She added, “We weren’t doing it for honors and awards. We were doing it to save our country. And we ended up helping save the world.”

Women also flew the planes they built. The pioneering Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) fulfilled noncombat flight missions, including ferrying planes from factories to the front lines, freeing male pilots for battle. Despite their significant contributions, women defense workers received little notice or appreciation at first. Krier and other former “Rosies” successfully pushed for their contributions to be recognized with a Congressional Gold Medal. “That made me so proud,” she said. “And I’m just so proud of our young women today. We opened doors for them, and it's wonderful to see what they are doing with their lives.”

D-Day's Anniversary is Shining a Light on Rosie the Riveter Heroes

Talker News

A rare monkey at Chester Zoo has had a big few months. Masaya, a critically endangered roloway monkey, gave birth just months after surgeons saved her foot in what the zoo said was a pioneering operation.

Masaya was the first ever roloway monkey to undergo surgery to remove a golf-ball sized mass from her foot. During the procedure at the University of Liverpool's Small Animal Teaching Hospital, the 15-year-old primate had one toe amputated.

Now she is recovering well and has given birth to a daughter, Lagertha, who was born two weeks ago. The baby is Masaya’s third daughter.

Zoe Edwards, primate keeper at Chester Zoo, said: “Masaya is a very experienced mom and she's parenting magnificently.

“Lagertha is only a few weeks old and is very dinky, but already curious about the roloway monkey habitat and inquisitive about us.

“The fact Masaya’s foot has healed so well is a huge relief.

“If she'd had an amputation, we'd have been left with real questions about whether she could hold her offspring or continue with her normal behaviors.”

The zoo said the third successful birth is a landmark moment in protecting the survival of roloway monkeys.

Roloway monkeys at Chester Zoo come from West Africa and are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN.

In the wild, they have been hit by hunters and illegal pet dealers, with their numbers falling by 80 percent. Once common in the rainforests of Ghana and the Ivory Coast, the species now survives only in isolated pockets of old-growth forest.

Edwards said: “Chester Zoo is one of only two places in the UK that roloway monkeys can be found, and Masaya is very important - not just to her family, but to her whole species.

“There are only a few breeding females in zoos in Europe."

Masaya had recurring problems with her foot from the time she arrived at Chester Zoo in 2023. Vets carried out x-rays, ultrasounds and biopsies, but struggled to pin down the cause. They eventually concluded it was likely a persistent abscess, possibly linked to an old thorn injury.

When the swelling got worse in 2025, staff decided to take Masaya to Liverpool for a CT scan.

Charlotte Bentley, Veterinary Officer at the zoo’s Animal Health Centre, said: “It’s not every day you take a monkey to vet school.

“We had to bring everything she might need, from anaesthesia equipment to medications and blankets.

“Following the scan, we decided an operation was the way forward. She's been an absolute trooper all the way through, and I'm just glad we were able to do something for her.”

Rachel Burrow, a vet and lecturer at the University of Liverpool, played a key role in the CT scan and the operation.

She said: “This was the last chance to save Masaya's foot before amputation.

“Working with primates is completely different from my usual patients, who are typically cats and dogs, and it was a real privilege to care for such a rare animal.

"It's great to see the surgery was a success - she's comfortable, active and using the limb well."

📸 credit: Talker News

Endangered Monkey Gives Birth Months After Pioneering Foot Surgery

People

It started with six dads and a simple idea. Now, Forget-Me-Knot FC has grown into a group of about 36 fathers in England who meet regularly to talk, play football and support each other after the loss of a baby or child.

The group is based in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire and was founded in September 2025 by Sean Coleman, a dad who lost his baby and wanted to bring together other fathers who had been through similar experiences.

Member Aaron Way told PEOPLE the club was created to fill a gap many grieving fathers face.

"Losing a child can be incredibly isolating, and many men find it difficult to talk openly about their grief. The idea behind the club was simple: to create a safe space where men could come together, talk honestly, and play football," said Way to PEOPLE, who lost his daughter Willow last August.

"What began as a small initiative has grown into a supportive community where dads who have experienced similar losses can connect and support each other through something familiar - football."

Forget-Me-Knot FC was started with the help of Royal Stoke University Hospital, University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust and the Port Vale Foundation. The dads meet every other Monday evening at the Port Vale Foundation in Burslem, England.

What began with six members has grown to nearly 40, with some attending regularly and others joining when they can.

"Many of the early members found out about the group through word of mouth, the UHNM Charity bereavement team, or local support networks. As more people began sharing the positive impact the club was having, awareness spread through the community and social media, helping more dads discover the group," Way said.

Each session starts with conversation before anyone steps onto the pitch.

"Everyone sits together and shares how their week has been, whether that’s something difficult or something positive. It’s a safe space where people can speak openly without feeling judged," Way said.

"After that, we head onto the pitch for a relaxed game of football. The focus isn’t competition - it’s connection."

The support does not stop at the regular football sessions. Way said the dads also stay connected through community events and social activities.

"We raise awareness about baby loss, take part in community events, and sometimes play matches with similar teams. We also organize social activities throughout the month, such as meals out, snooker or pool nights," he said.

"We aim to make sure everyone feels included, even if they’re unable to play football or attend the regular sessions."

For Way, the strength of the club comes from shared experience.

"At Forget-Me-Knot FC, everyone understands that loss. That shared experience creates a strong sense of trust and openness. Football also plays a big role, giving people a healthy way to release stress, reconnect with others, and find moments of normality again while still honouring the memories of their children," he said.

The group now hopes to keep growing and reach more families across the country.

"We also hope to continue building partnerships with organizations that support bereaved families and to keep raising awareness about baby loss and mental health," Way said.

He said the club also wants to play matches against other teams set up for similar reasons.

Way said the recognition the group has received has been surprising, because the aim was never public attention.

"It was simply about supporting dads through the incredibly difficult journey of losing a baby or child," he said.

"However, the attention it has received has been encouraging because it helps open up conversations about grief, especially for fathers. If that recognition helps even one person feel able to reach out for support, then it’s worthwhile."

As the club keeps going, Way said the message to other grieving parents is simple.

"Grief doesn’t follow a timeline, and everyone processes it differently," he said. "Talking to others who truly understand, whether through a support group, a community, or a team like ours, can make a huge difference. It’s okay to ask for help, and it’s okay to take things one day at a time."

📸credit: Forget me knot FC Facebook

Dad Launches Soccer Team To Help Grieving Fathers After Child Loss

The Guardian

Val Kilmer is set to return to the screen, this time through generative AI.

The actor, who passed away last year at age 65, will appear in the drama As Deep As the Grave, a project he had joined before his death from throat cancer. Kilmer will play Father Fintan, a Native American spiritualist and Catholic priest.

Director and writer Coerte Voorhees told Variety the part was created with Kilmer in mind.

“He was the actor I wanted to play this role,” explained Voorhees to Variety. “It drew on his Native American heritage and his ties to and love of the Southwest.”

Voorhees said Kilmer could not make it to set because of his illness. The film-maker is now working with Kilmer’s estate and his daughter, Mercedes, to bring the actor into the film using what Variety described as state-of-the-art, generative AI. Voorhees also said Kilmer’s son, Jack, supports the plan.

“His family kept saying how important they thought the movie was and that Val really wanted to be a part of this,” Voorhees told Variety. “He really thought it was important story that he wanted his name on … Despite the fact some people might call it controversial, this is what Val wanted.”

According to Variety, the AI-generated version of Kilmer will appear in a “significant” portion of the film. Voorhees said the production will use images of the actor taken throughout his life to recreate him across different decades.

As Deep As the Grave is based on the true story of archaeologists Ann and Earl Morris. The pair worked with the Navajo people in the 1920s to uncover North America’s earliest civilization, the Ancestral Puebloan.

The film was previously titled Canyon Del Muerto and has been in the works since 2023. Tom Felton, known for Harry Potter, is set to play Earl. BAFTA winner Abigail Lawrie will play Ann. The supporting cast includes Oscar winner Wes Studi and actor Jacob Fortune-Lloyd.

Voorhees told Variety that Kilmer’s connection to the role went beyond casting. He said the character drew from Kilmer’s claimed Cherokee heritage, and from his advocacy for Native American rights.

The project adds Kilmer’s name to a growing list of actors linked to AI use in film and audio. Variety noted that AI has started to appear more often in Hollywood productions in recent years.

In 2024, Brady Corbet’s Oscar-winning film The Brutalist used AI to fine-tune Adrien Brody’s Hungarian accent. Last year, Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine also signed deals with startup ElevenLabs, allowing the company to create AI versions of their voices.

Kilmer’s career and personal life were the subject of the 2021 documentary Val. The film told his story through archive footage, with voiceover from his son Jack.

Now, that story is crossing into another stage, with Kilmer’s family backing his appearance in As Deep As the Grave after his death. Voorhees told Variety that the family believed Kilmer wanted to remain part of the film, even if the method used to do that is likely to draw debate.

“Despite the fact some people might call it controversial, this is what Val wanted.”

📸 credit: "Val Kilmer Cannes" by Georges Biard is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/?ref=openverse.

AI is Bringing Back Val Kilmer For a New Film

USA Today

A Little Penguin was recently released back into the wild in North Steyne Beach in Sydney, New South Wales, after weeks of rehabilitation.

According to staff at Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Pixel the little penguin, whose sex hasn’t yet been determined, was found by a member of the public at Manly Beach on February 9. An initial assessment found that the penguin was “young and in poor body condition.”

Pixel was treated at specialized marine wildlife rehabilitation facilities, where with “supportive care, proper nutrition and time to regain strength, the penguin improved and was eventually cleared for release,” the society said.

This slow-motion footage shows Pixel being returned to the ocean at North Steyne Beach, the society said.

📸 credit: Taronga Conservation Society Australia via Storyful

A Rehabilitated Little Penguin Was Just Released in Epic Fashion at a Beach in New South Wales

CTV News

Bagging groceries does not usually come with a national title, but for one Georgia teenager, it just did.

Rocco Cammorata, an 18-year-old Publix employee in Suwanee, has won the National Grocers Association Best Bagger Championship, taking home a US$10,000 grand prize and national bragging, or bagging, rights.

“This year, I went to nationals, and I won it all,” Rocco told 11Alive.

The competition is not as simple as putting groceries in a bag. Judges score contestants on speed, weight distribution and technique.

Rocco said there is a system behind every bag.

“Get your two walls in on the side, cans on the bottom, put your filler items in the top,” he explained.

Contestants have to pack groceries in under 53 seconds. They also need to protect fragile items and balance the weight of each bag.

Rocco said getting ready for the national stage took months of practice.

“We would train three or four days a week for an hour and a half,” Rocco said. “My dad or mom would time me, and then I would go weigh my bags.”

His father, Martin Cammorata, said the whole family joined in.

“Training was boot camp for him. We called it Rocco’s Den,” Martin said.

The job also runs in the family. Martin has worked at Publix for 32 years, and Rocco’s older brother has also competed at nationals.

“It’s in the blood, for sure,” Martin said.

Rocco’s manager, Scott Drew, said the title matches the effort he brings to work every day.

“It’s amazing for the store, amazing for his peers, amazing for Publix,” Drew said. “Rocco really prides himself on the way he bags and how he takes care of our customers.”

The national championship is the first win for someone from Publix and the state of Georgia.

Even with the title, Rocco said his focus has not changed.

“You have to move fast and get everything in the bags in an orderly fashion,” he said.

And if anyone wants to learn how he does it, Rocco said he is happy to teach.

📸 credit: National Grocers Association

This Grocery Store Worker Just Won the Title 'Best Bagger in America'

For an artist who usually hides behind a gas mask and gloves, Mr. Flower Fantastic is having a very public moment.

The anonymous floral artist has worked with Serena Williams, Michael Jordan, Spike Lee, Nike, Louis Vuitton and Netflix. Recently, when the Chicago Bulls retired Derrick Rose's jersey number, he covered an outdoor basketball court with a portrait of the former point guard made of roses and carnations.

"It took thousands of flowers to pull this off, in the middle of winter. In Chicago," Mr. Flower Fantastic told NPR. "It was really special."

Hundreds of people lined up in the cold to see it.

Mr. Flower Fantastic, who says he often goes by "MFF" or "Flower," stays anonymous because he wants the focus on the work. He usually wears a gas mask and gloves in public, which hide his identity and protect his health. He is allergic to flowers.

But while showing an NPR reporter around the New York Botanical Garden's conservatory for his new show, he wore no mask and no gloves.

A lifelong New Yorker, Mr. Flower Fantastic said he saw the garden's invitation to collaborate on its annual orchid show as a chance to step out from behind his secret identity and share the city the way he sees it, finding beauty in ordinary structures.

Inside the conservatory, that includes a dumpster painted matte black and filled with white moth orchids and English ivy. It includes a manhole cover framed with arcs of purple and yellow moth orchids, yellow slipper orchids and pink and white Dancing Lady orchids. And it includes a car wash with a taxi driving through it, made of synthetic and real carnations.

"My favorite flower, a lot of people don't know this, is a carnation," Mr. Flower Fantastic told NPR. "Oftentimes, it gets overlooked. It's quite common, but it's capable of extraordinary things with a bit of creativity."

He said he learned to love flowers with his mother in her garden in Jamaica, Queens, and during visits to Jamaica, where they have family.

"She's the one that shared the gift of gardening with me. We did have a garden in our yard and it was beautiful. Not only was the garden beautiful, but just the time spent together was beautiful and important and nurturing, all of those things that go into creating a garden. Time, patience, love, care. Those were values that were put into me at an early age through her."

He said his mother comes to see the show every day.

Mr. Flower Fantastic is a former graffiti artist, and one of his tags appears in the show recreated in flowers. When he first started working with flowers, he said he sometimes left his designs on the street as gifts for others and posted clues to their locations for his Instagram followers.

He said he did not originally expect flowers to become part of his professional work. He saw the garden as a place for family, calm and peace.

But that changed over time.

"You start to think about what you're doing with the time that you have. And, you know, for many people that have kids, that's amazing because that's proof that you existed. But for some people who don't, what other good can they put into the world? This is my way of kind of saying that I was here."

In 2018, Serena Williams' agent contacted him and asked him to create a large-scale sneaker in flowers to mark the launch of her Nike "Queen" Air Max 97. He collaborated with fashion designer Virgil Abloh and said that shaped the way he approached his art.

"He would do a deep dive on everything and anything, really moving the needle in a beautiful way. He was a giver."

Mr. Flower Fantastic presented the sculpture to Williams at the U.S. Open. He said his career took off after that.

Now his studio sits on a 10-acre property north of Manhattan, where he and his team create installations for brands and people around the globe. He said he is interested in sculpture, photography, film and set design. He wanted the New York Botanical Garden show, called The Orchid Show: Mr. Flower Fantastic's Concrete Jungle, to feel immersive, like a film set, so the installations are life-sized.

About 85 people were involved in producing it, with most of them from the New York Botanical Garden.

"It's a beautiful way to introduce myself authentically. When people come to this show, they are coming through a portal, a time capsule, if you will. A lot of the stops along the way are moments in my life that I believe my creativity really flourished and bloomed," he said.

He also said the place is empty without the people who bring it life.

"When you're here, you're family. We're experiencing this show together."

"I'm about celebrating moments, and flowers help me to do that, right? They show up in moments of celebration. They show up in moments where comfort is needed."

He told NPR that working with flowers this way "has been about the opportunity to be trusted, by the universe, by God, by Mother Nature ... it is an amazing responsibility and incredible honor. And I couldn't think of anything else that would give me so much joy."

Mr. Flower Fantastic's Concrete Jungle is at the New York Botanical Garden in New York City through April 26.

📸 credit: New York Botanical Garden

Mysterious Floral Artist Takes Over New York Botanical Garden

For Brian Holmes, last Wednesday was no ordinary hospital appointment.

The 70-year-old from Britain has become the first patient in Europe to receive a new antibody drug for prostate cancer as part of a clinical trial at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Devon.

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust said Brian is only the fifth person in the world to receive the drug. He has been living with metastatic prostate cancer for two years and has exhausted all traditional lines of treatment.

The trust said the trial is testing an “antibody drug conjugate”, a type of targeted cancer therapy. It said these drugs “combine monoclonal antibodies with chemotherapy agents via a chemical linker”.

They are designed to attach to cancer cells and deliver treatment directly, while reducing damage to healthy tissue.

The infusion took place on Wednesday, 11 March, with the Oncology Research team at Derriford Hospital.

The hospital said it could not name the drug or its manufacturer because of research protocols. It also said it did not yet have access to any drugs in this class for prostate cancer outside clinical trials.

Doctors said the drug had previously proven effective against breast and bladder cancer.

Brian said he hoped the treatment could extend his life.

“I can’t believe I’ve been given the opportunity to do this,” he said.

“It’s amazing, not just for me and potentially extending my life, but also for the hundreds, if not thousands of lives that this could have the potential to save.”

The trial is being overseen by Dr Dominique Parslow, consultant clinical oncologist in uro-oncology and HPB, Amanda Hind, oncology staff nurse, and Helen Smith, research nurse specialist at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust.

Dr Parslow said getting to this stage had taken time and securing places on trials was difficult.

“It’s been a very long journey to get to today, it’s very difficult to get trial slots to put patients onto treatment, but it’s such a great opportunity for our local patients to get a new treatment that we have a lot of hope for,” she said.

Brian said being selected for the trial had given him renewed determination.

He said he felt privileged to take part and described it as a rare chance.

“This is a rare opportunity for me personally, this is my only hope to extend my life by any real period at all,” he said.

“The potential of this new treatment is enormous, and being selected for this trial has given me the strength to carry on the fight.

“It would have been around two years ago now that I was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

“We've tried various treatments ranging from hormone therapy, which had some phenomenal results initially but then decided that was probably not going to be the case long term.

“Then we tried rounds of chemotherapy to help remove some of the infection in the bones as well where it had spread to.

“I can't believe I've actually been given the opportunity to do this trial.”

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust said Brian was the first patient in Europe to trial the drug, and that no drugs in this class for prostate cancer were currently available outside clinical trials.

First in Europe: Prostate Cancer Patient Receives Breakthrough Antibody Drug

It looked like beach junk at first, the kind of thing a dog happily grabs and refuses to drop. But on a late January walk in Bay Head, New Jersey, Charlie Brown came back carrying something far older.

When Matthew Gregg pulled a large piece of debris from the mouth of his German shorthaired pointer on Jan. 27, he immediately noticed it was too heavy to be driftwood. What he did not know then was that his rescue dog had picked up an ancient fossil along the high tide line.

"He’s got a good nose," Gregg said. "He likes to pick things up that smell funky."

Gregg, 42, said Charlie Brown likely found the object in a mix of seaweed, driftwood and debris on the beach. The dog was wagging his tail when he brought it over.

"When I took it out of his mouth, I was alarmed at how heavy it was," Gregg said. "I started looking at it and I'm like, 'This has definitely got to be really old.'"

The bone was thick, dark and large enough to dwarf Gregg's hand. He took it home so his son, 8-year-old Matthew Gregg II, could get a closer look.

The younger Gregg has a strong interest in fossils, his father said.

"He loves sharks teeth and sea glass and… anything to do with outside and nature," Gregg said.

The second grader wanted to know what the bone was, so he used his father's email address to contact the Edelman Fossil Park & Museum in New Jersey.

After studying the fossil, museum staff first thought it might be a giant ground sloth femur, Gregg said. According to BBC Wildlife, ground sloths were large herbivores and grazers with long claws that lived throughout the Americas between 129,000 and 11,700 years ago.

The museum team later identified the bone as a walrus femur from the last ice age, according to a spokesperson for the museum. That means it could be at least 10,000 years old.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, walruses lived along the Atlantic Coast as far south as Florida and South Carolina during the last ice age. Today they are found closer to the Arctic.

Museum staff said the fossil's condition suggests it was buried in sand for a very long time. That likely protected it for thousands of years. Staff said it may have been brought to the surface through beach replenishment work, but it probably had not been exposed to the elements for long.

The museum cleaned the bone, removed salt debris and stabilized it with glue to help prevent decay.

In exchange for bringing in the fossil, Gregg and his son got a behind-the-scenes tour of the facility and a look at the fossil lab, Gregg said.

"I thought it was amazing," Gregg II said.

The walrus bone is now on loan to the museum and is being displayed with its collections. Gregg II said he likes knowing other people can see it.

Gregg said the discovery has pushed both of them further into fossils and learning. His son now keeps a collection of 135 shark teeth in his room, along with other finds.

"Every time him and I get into an adventure like this, it always just steam rolls into this epic journey of continuing on with his newfound passion," Gregg said. "His bedroom is basically a museum."

Dog Unearths Ice Age Walrus Bone On New Jersey Beach

Sunny Skyz

What could have turned into a porch theft confrontation in Philadelphia ended with a few words of kindness.

When Bernadette Williams noticed someone trying to steal a package from her neighbor’s porch, she did not respond with anger. Doorbell camera footage captured her calmly saying, “Put that down.”

Instead of escalating the moment, Williams reached into her pocket and gave the woman $7, the only cash she had with her.

For Williams, the choice came from compassion.

“I said, ‘She’s in trouble. How can I make a bad situation better?’ You have to be a part of the solution,” she said.

Williams also offered encouragement, telling the woman, “Get some help. You’re better than that. I love you. God loves you.”

The woman apologized and thanked her. Williams later said she saw genuine remorse in the woman’s eyes.

“Her eyes of ‘I’m sorry.’ That was in her heart, and that’s what I read. I hope that she will be fine, and I have faith that she will be fine,” she said.

Williams, who said she has lived in the neighborhood for decades, said her response was rooted in community.

“We are a part of this community, and we can make our community better,” she said.

📸 credit: 6abc Philadelphia

This Homeowner Stopped a Porch Pirate —  With Kind Words And A Message Of Love

Science Daily

Your morning coffee might be doing a little more than waking you up. A large long-running study has found that moderate intake of caffeinated coffee or tea was linked to a lower risk of dementia, slower cognitive decline and better preservation of cognitive abilities.

Researchers examined data from 131,821 participants in the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. Those datasets tracked participants for up to 43 years, with repeated evaluations of diet, dementia diagnoses, subjective cognitive concerns and objective cognitive performance.

Among the more than 130,000 participants, 11,033 developed dementia during the study period.

The findings showed that moderate intake of caffeinated coffee, defined as 2 to 3 cups a day, or tea, defined as 1 to 2 cups a day, was associated with a reduced risk of dementia. Researchers also found slower cognitive decline and better preservation of cognitive abilities in those groups.

Individuals who consumed higher amounts of caffeinated coffee had an 18 percent lower risk of developing dementia than those who rarely or never drank it. They also reported lower rates of subjective cognitive decline, 7.8 percent compared with 9.5 percent, and performed better on certain objective cognitive tests.

"When searching for possible dementia prevention tools, we thought something as prevalent as coffee may be a promising dietary intervention -- and our unique access to high quality data through studies that has been going on for more than 40 years allowed us to follow through on that idea," said senior author Daniel Wang, MD, ScD, associate scientist with the Channing Division of Network Medicine in the Mass General Brigham Department of Medicine and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.

Wang is also an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard Chan School and an associate member at the Broad Institute.

"While our results are encouraging, it's important to remember that the effect size is small and there are lots of important ways to protect cognitive function as we age. Our study suggests that caffeinated coffee or tea consumption can be one piece of that puzzle," Wang said.

The study points to prevention as an area of focus because current treatments for dementia are limited and generally provide only modest benefits after symptoms begin. Researchers said scientists are increasingly focusing on lifestyle factors, including diet, that may influence the development of cognitive decline.

Coffee and tea contain compounds including polyphenols and caffeine, which are thought to support brain health. According to the researchers, these substances may help reduce inflammation and limit cellular damage, both of which are linked to cognitive decline.

Previous research on coffee and dementia has produced mixed results, often because of shorter study periods or limited data on long-term consumption patterns and different types of beverages, the researchers said.

In this study, tea drinkers showed similar patterns to coffee drinkers. Decaffeinated coffee did not show the same associations. Researchers said that this suggests caffeine may be an important factor behind the observed brain-related benefits, although more research is needed to confirm the underlying mechanisms.

The strongest effects were seen in people who drank 2 to 3 cups of caffeinated coffee or 1 to 2 cups of tea per day. Higher levels of caffeine intake did not appear to cause harm and showed comparable benefits to the moderate intake range highlighted in the study.

"We also compared people with different genetic predispositions to developing dementia and saw the same results -- meaning coffee or caffeine is likely equally beneficial for people with high and low genetic risk of developing dementia," said lead author Yu Zhang, MBBS, MS, PhD student at Harvard Chan School and a research trainee at Mass General Brigham.

In addition to Wang and Zhang, Mass General Brigham contributors included Yuxi Liu, Yanping Li, Yuhan Li, Jae H. Kang, A. Heather Eliassen, Molin Wang, Eric B. Rimm, Frank B. Hu, and Meir J. Stampfer. Additional authors were Walter C. Willett and Xiao Gu.

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