Drug risk assessment

Much research backs up parents’ worries that their teens could start smoking pot or drinking alcohol due to peer pressure. But a new study suggests brain structure could also predict adolescents’ risk for substance use.

The study, published Dec. 30 in JAMA Network Open, identified key differences in the brain structure of adolescents who started using substances like alcohol, nicotine, or marijuana before the age of 15. In comparison with their abstaining peers, these adolescents’ brains exhibited an overall higher volume, greater cortical and subcortical volumes, and thinner prefrontal cortex (the brain’s control center).

Of the nearly 10,000 teens in the study, one-third reported substance use (most often alcohol) before age 15. Psychiatrists collected MRI scans of all the participants between ages 9 and 11. Researchers followed up years later with survey questions about substance use.

Comparing the scans showed that some of the brain differences existed before any substance use began. The researchers aren’t sure what causes the preexisting brain variability, although they suggest it may predispose youth to substance use. They recommended adding the phenomenon to an existing list of risk factors, among which are parental substance abuse and unsupervised time with peers.

Good news for coffee (and tea) drinkers

Runnin’ on Dunkin’ (or Starbucks) isn’t just a guilty pleasure, according to scientists at the University of Utah’s Huntsman Cancer Institute. Their meta-analysis found that drinking tea and coffee, even decaf, can lower the risk of certain head and neck cancers (HNCs).

The researchers included roughly 10,000 HNC cases and 16,000 control cases across 14 studies in their analysis. Compared with non–coffee drinkers, those who drank more than four cups a day of caffeinated coffee were 17% less likely to develop any HNCs and 22% less likely to develop throat cancer. Drinking up to one cup of decaffeinated coffee daily was associated with a 25% reduced risk of oral cavity cancer.

Drinking up to one cup of tea daily was also linked to a 9% decreased HNC risk, but a daily tea habit of more than one cup raised the chances of a laryngeal cancer diagnosis by 38%.

The study was published Dec. 23 in Cancer. —H.F.

Steve Gribben/Johns Hopkins APL/NASA/AP

Shooting for the sun

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe broke records Dec. 24, flying 3.8 million miles above the sun’s surface—the closest pass to the sun and the highest speed ever recorded for a man-made object. The spacecraft, which darted by the sun at 430,000 miles per hour, has traveled ever closer to the sun since its launch in 2018. The probe was built to collect data that could solve mysteries such as the origin of solar wind. During an earlier solar flyby in 2021, the probe discovered that the outer boundary of the sun’s atmosphere is wrinkled with peaks and valleys. —H.F.