What if protecting your brain from dementia was as simple as wiggling your little fingers a few seconds each day? That’s the promise behind “pinky time”, a viral TikTok trend that claims a simple finger exercise can lower your risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

Videos promoting this supposed brain-health hack have attracted millions of views, with some suggesting that difficulty performing the movement could be a warning sign of cognitive decline. By arranging the fingers into a specific pattern and moving the pinkies up and down, proponents argue you are giving your brain a quick workout that keeps it sharp.

It’s easy to see why the idea has gained attention. A free, effortless daily habit that protects against one of the most feared conditions of ageing is an appealing prospect. But while the trend draws loosely on real neuroscience, the conclusions being made are far more ambitious than the evidence allows.

Doing something fiddly and new with your fingers, such as learning new chords on a guitar, takes real concentration. Your brain has to plan each movement, hold back the wrong ones, and constantly adjust based on what you are seeing and what your fingers are feeling.

That’s a surprising amount of mental work for such a small physical task, and it may help explain why hands-on hobbies such as learning a musical instrument or knitting are associated with sharper memory and better brain function.

For years, scientists have used finger-tapping tasks, where people repeatedly tap a finger or follow a simple rhythm, to study how movement, attention and the ageing brain are connected. However, these tasks are used as research tools and should not be confused with scientific tests for dementia or memory loss.

There’s another idea behind this: the brain can rewire itself in response to what we ask it to do, building new connections as we learn. So when you learn a new finger movement, you’re encouraging your brain to strengthen and reorganise neural connections involved in that task.

In this sense, pinky time fits into a broader category of activities that challenge the brain through novelty and coordination. From juggling to dancing or learning a new language, these sorts of tasks may help keep the brain resilient as we age.

Performing unfamiliar movements can feel mentally demanding, but it does not mean it can diagnose cognitive decline or protect against it. Many factors influence how well someone performs a finger coordination task, including mobility, flexibility, previous injuries and practice. A healthy person may struggle with this movement task, while someone with cognitive impairment may perform it with ease.

Looking for easy fixes

The popularity of pinky time highlights that people are increasingly looking for simple ways to monitor and protect their brain health. Unfortunately, detecting the earliest stages of cognitive decline is considerably more complex.

Doctors and researchers use carefully developed tests that measure many aspects of cognition, including memory, attention, language and “executive functioning” (the planning, organising and self-control skills we use to perform daily tasks).

There is currently no evidence that struggling with this particular finger movement predicts early memory or thinking problems, and no strong evidence that practising it can prevent cognitive decline.

Research on various hand and finger exercises has reported modest benefits in people who already have some cognitive difficulties. But there isn’t much evidence yet, and it’s not clear whether the benefits are big enough to help protect against dementia.

Another limitation is that the brain benefits most from activities that remain difficult. As a task becomes familiar, it requires less attention and cognitive effort. A movement that feels difficult today may become largely automatic after repeated practice, reducing its value as a brain workout.

What is known to work

Unfortunately, there’s no single trick to keeping your brain sharp as you age. What does seem to matter is much broader – staying active, looking after your heart, getting enough sleep and keeping up your social life. There’s also growing evidence that something as simple as sorting out your hearing or eyesight can help too, because it makes it easier to stay socially and mentally switched on.

A healthy diet, particularly one resembling the Mediterranean diet, has also been linked to better brain health. Lifelong learning, whether through education, hobbies, languages, music or other mentally stimulating activities, also seems to help.

Pinky time as a coordination challenge may be fun and harmless. But its viral promise oversimplifies a much more complex picture. When it comes to protecting our brains, the evidence still favours the less glamorous fundamentals: exercise, sleep, healthy diet, social connection, good sensory health and lifelong learning.

England is sweltering under an red heat health alert and could see its hottest June day on record. In North America, football fans and players are suffering, with a quarter of this summer’s World Cup matches forecast to be played in dangerous heat.

The public know to expect this in advance because the science of forecasting has become remarkably powerful. Scientists can run a million versions of the future before it arrives. But seeing the future in data is not the same as being ready for it. The gap between knowing and doing is not a gap in our technical capability. It is a gap in human imagination.

In September 2024, Storm Boris brought severe flooding across central Europe. Forecasts gave authorities time to act. Thousands of people were evacuated. The science helped people see into the future.

Three years earlier, in July 2021, forecasts for rivers in western Germany were predicting serious flooding several days ahead. Yet some people did not receive warnings. Others did not understand what the warnings meant. And some simply could not imagine that the flood would be worse than anything they had ever seen before. Villages were torn apart and 190 people died.

What happened differently? I was part of a team of researchers who spoke to people who had lived through the floods in the Ahr valley in Germany. One person said: “It was clear that a lot of rain was coming. I lacked the imagination of what that means.” People may possess information and still be unable to see the danger they are in. Previous experience can help people picture a flood, but often only up to the scale of their prior experience. As the climate changes further, the future has no template.

Making possibilities visible

Between 2015 and 2018, Cape Town in South Africa experienced a severe drought. Reservoir levels fell sharply. The city began to approach what became known as day zero: the point at which household taps would be turned on, and no water would come.

Research showed that this situation was made worse by inequality as much as climate change. Rich residents filled swimming pools while their poorer neighbours were left without running water to drink. But the crisis rose in prominence because of the way it was discussed. The idea of day zero turned an abstract risk into a timed countdown, making visible the possibility of an otherwise invisible but devastating future. Cape Town needed better water infrastructure, but the crisis did not become real until its residents created better imagination infrastructure.

Imagination infrastructure provides the building blocks of society’s shared understanding. To understand how the natural world will affect us, we need stories, forecasts, maps, conversations and shared spaces that allow us to rehearse a future in our minds before it arrives. A flood warning is a piece of imagination infrastructure. So is a photograph of water rushing through a familiar street, which can make an approaching danger suddenly real in a way that an abstract warning cannot.

The science will tell us what is likely to happen. The harder question is whether that knowledge reaches people in a form they can feel and act on.

Not only that, but imagination infrastructure can improve physical infrastructure. This is not an either/or trade-off. We cannot replace flood barriers and pumping stations with storytelling. We also need strong public institutions and political decisions that take future risk seriously. But physical infrastructure begins with a collective act of imagination. Before we build a flood barrier or redesign a street, we have to picture why that change matters.

Futures we can already see

The science of climate forecasting has already given us a range of possible futures: worlds with 1.5°C of warming above pre-industrial temperatures, 2°C, 3°C and beyond over the coming decades. Those numbers can often seem too abstract to grasp, or the timescales feel too far off to care about.

The challenge for science is not just to forecast the conditions that are ahead. It is to imagine the kind of society we want to be in the future, as conditions like this week’s heatwave in the UK grow more common.

The good news is that we don’t have to look very far to see ideas being put into action. Just a few steps from where I live and work in Reading, we have modern hydroelectric turbines on the River Thames generating renewable electricity. Electric buses carry passengers swiftly around the town. And the Reading School Streets programme (an initiative that ensures roads outside ten schools are closed to most vehicles during school arrival and departure times) brings cleaner air and safer surroundings to children and families on the daily trip to the school gates. These ideas all stem from someone deciding to imagine a different future and making that a reality.

When science predicts heatwaves or floods next week, or extreme conditions decades in the future, those futures are real. To avoid walking headlong into disasters we can already see, and to build different futures for ourselves, we need to learn to imagine and feel them too.

WASHINGTON (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will check in face-to-face with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, visiting the volatile U.S. leader two weeks before the annual summit of the military alliance at a time when the Pentagon is reviewing the size of the U.S. military footprint in Europe.

Trump has long been critical of NATO, arguing the U.S. carries more than its fair share of military spending. But his grievances have been louder since the Iran war as he fumed over some member countries ignoring his call to help him restart oil trade through the shuttered Strait of Hormuz.

Trump has renewed his threats to leave the 77-year-old military alliance, raising the stakes ahead of the NATO leaders’ summit in Turkey next month. But Rutte, who has become known as a Trump whisperer for his ability to charm the president, is expected to use Wednesday’s White House meeting to try to appease him.

The visit comes after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week lashed out at allies during a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels. He announced a six-month Pentagon review of American forces in Europe.

Hegseth echoed some of Trump’s critiques, faulting European allies for not letting the U.S. use bases in Europe to attack Iran. NATO allies were not consulted about the war before the U.S. launched it with Israel on Feb. 28, and some have been openly critical of Trump’s strategy.

Trump has claimed NATO allies were not there for the U.S. and suggested leaving the alliance, which was founded in 1949 to counter the Cold War threat posed to European security by the Soviet Union. At the heart of their treaty is a mutual defense agreement in which an attack on one is considered an attack on all. The only time it has been invoked was in 2001, to support the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

The Pentagon’s warning that it will reduce its military presence in Europe to focus on threats elsewhere was the latest upheaval for the 32-member alliance since Trump returned to office.

The Republican leader stunned European allies last year when he threatened to annex Greenland, a semiautonomous island that is part of ally Denmark.

A chief part of Rutte’s mission these days is keeping the U.S. in NATO, and he’s proven himself deft in the past at subduing Trump’s frustrations.

Rutte frequently flatters the president, crediting him with getting NATO members to increase their defense spending. Trump last year pressured leaders to agree to invest 5% of their GDP annually on defense by 2035.

On Tuesday evening, Rutte appeared for an interview on Fox News Channel, of which Trump is known to be a dedicated viewer.

Rutte repeatedly praised Trump, emphasizing he is the leader of the NATO alliance and said of his efforts in Iran: “I’m completely behind him on this.”

He said that Trump’s frustrations over the use of bases in Europe involved a few “isolated cases.”

The lengths to which Rutte is willing to praise Trump have at times raised eyebrows, such as when he referred to the president as “daddy” during the alliance’s summit last year.

He then sent him a fawning text message that employed one of Trump’s favorite flourishes, capitalizing random words. “Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win,” Rutte said.

Trump shared the private message on social media for the world to see.

He did it again in January, blasting out another Rutte message that closed with: “Can’t wait to see you. Yours, Mark.”

___

Associated Press writer Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

The Environment Agency has been on the River Ouse monitoring elevated ammonia levels.

It comes as Yorkshire Water said it identified the pollution in its raw water supply and shut down its water treatment works to protect water quality.

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As reported by The Press, some residents of Easingwold, Tollerton and surrounding areas with no or low water pressure overnight on Tuesday, June 22 and yesterday.

In an update at 11.03pm last night the company said some customers in Easingwold, Tollerton and surrounding areas “may still be experiencing low water pressure while we continue to respond” to the incident.

Ammonia is a sharp‑smelling chemical found in sewage and fertilisers which, at high levels in the river, can damage fish and other wildlife.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “Our officers have been on site monitoring elevated ammonia levels in the River Ouse and working hard to identify the source of the pollution.

“We are investigating the incident and will not hesitate to take enforcement action if appropriate.”

The spokesperson added that its officers have been monitoring various locations on the River Ouse, including upstream of Beningbrough.

Environmental incidents can be reported to the Environment Agency via its hotline 0800 807060.

ITV has announced additional cast members who will be starring in the recently commissioned drama, Marvis Eccleston.

Penelope Wilton, who starred in Downton Abbey as Isobel Merton, will be taking on the titular role alongside Jonathan Pryce, who can be seen in Slow Horses and The Crown and will be playing Marvis’ husband, Dennis Eccleston.

The four-part drama follows the “tragic and extraordinary” real-life story of a woman who survived a joint suicide pact with her husband and was subsequently arrested and charged with his murder.

Penelope Wilton from Dowton Abbey will be playing the titular role (Image: Ian West/PA Wire)

Who else will be starring in Marvis Eccleston?

Call The Midwife star Chris Reilly and Sian Brooke from Blue Lights will play the couple’s children, Kevin and Joy.

Darrell D’Silva and Jill Halfpenny will play Kenton and Tracey, the partners of Joy and Kevin.

The show has been written by Chris Lang, known for Unforgotten and The Thief, with all four episodes being directed by the BAFTA award-winning Bruce Goodison.

ITV has described the drama as a “complicated mix of raw and intense emotions”.

After being diagnosed with terminal cancer, Dennis decides to decline treatment and end his life with his wife, Marvis, “much to the anguish and upset of their adult children”.

Dennis had cancer twice before and understood the “gruelling toll” the treatment would take on him and his family.

After being rushed to the hospital following an overdose, Dennis passes away, but Marvis survives and, after being interviewed by hospital staff, is arrested for his death.

The family now has to navigate their grief while dealing with the possibility of their mother going to prison.

The show is currently being filmed in Bristol.

Will you be watching Marvis Eccleston when it is released? Let us know in the comments below.

Yorkshire Water has urged customers to use water wisely as the region saw a spike in demand, reaching 1.485 billion litres on Tuesday, June 23 – 150 million litres above average for this time of year.

The company expects demand to climb further, potentially reaching 1.49 billion litres on the hottest day of the heatwave.

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Andy Shaw, head of water production at Yorkshire Water, said: “With temperatures climbing people will understandably be making the most of the sunshine, and with an increase in temperature we see increased water demand.

“Small changes by everyone can make a big difference and help save thousands of litres of water.”

Yorkshire Water suggests using a watering can instead of a hosepipe, running full loads in washing machines and dishwashers, and turning off taps while brushing teeth.

He added: “Simple actions such as using a watering can instead of a hosepipe, watering plants in the morning or evening rather than in the heat of the day, waiting until washing machines and dishwashers are full before putting them on, and turning off the tap while brushing teeth can all play a vital role in helping to protect resources.” 

The company reminds customers that every drop counts and asks the public to support efforts to manage demand.

Water-saving tips are available at www.yorkshirewater.com/your-water/save-water/

For the last 31 years, Tesco’s Clubcard scheme has had one very strict rule: no one under the age of 18 has been allowed to sign up.

However, that’s all about to change, as the retailer is launching its first-ever card for teens. 

The new version of Clubcard will allow younger people to access the cheaper prices and deals offered to adults for the very first time.

Though it’s worth noting that there is a big catch when it comes to who can sign up and how they join. 

Here’s everything you need to know…

Who can sign up for Tesco’s new Clubcard?

The new version of the scheme isn’t available to all teenagers, only those aged 16 and 17.

And 16 and 17-year-olds can only join if their parent or guardian already has a Clubcard account. This is because the teens have to be invited to join through the parents’ account. 

The ‘invite to Clubcard’ option can be found in the settings section of the app, but only those with the latest version will be able to access it.

If you can’t see it, then it’s worth updating your Clubcard app.

Once your child has joined the scheme, they won’t be given a physical card, as it’s only available through the Tesco app or website. And when it comes to using the card, this can only be done in-store or at a petrol station, not online. 

What perks come with Clubcard for 16-17s?

Like the regular Clubcard scheme, members will be able to access Clubcard Prices in Tesco stores (excluding some age-restricted items) and collect points that can be converted into vouchers for money off at the checkout.

Speaking about the launch, Tesco Group membership & loyalty director, Shama Wilson, said: ‘We are delighted to be giving younger customers access to Tesco Clubcard for the first time, and we have no doubt that it will prove popular with 16 and 17-year-olds, whether they are shopping in one of our big Tesco or little Tesco stores.

‘From today, our new Clubcard for 16-17s members will not only be able to get Clubcard Prices in-store, including our iconic Tesco lunchtime meal deal for just £3.85, but also collect points that they can turn into vouchers for money off their in-store shopping.’

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In other supermarket news, M&S has just brought back its viral, sold-out strawberry sandwich and launched a brand new version.

The new one is made with a cocoa-enriched sweetened bread, a layer of smooth pistachio creme, a Fairtrade Belgian dark chocolate sauce, and sliced British strawberries.

If this weren’t enough, there are also two new sweet dips hitting the shelves in the Foodhall – a Strawberry and Cream one, plus Chocolate and Pistachio.

Aldi has also caused a stir with its new £3.99 Spritzes, which shoppers have hailed ‘gorgeous’ and ideal for sipping in the summer.

And Asda has made a major change to its delivery service, introducing a new two-hour rule.

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The warning comes as the State Pension age is already beginning to rise for older workers, with the increase from 66 to 67 having already started. But for younger generations, a further increase is already written in place, but the review may change things again.

According to the Government Actuary’s latest report, the State Pension age will rise from 67 to 68 between April 2044 and April 2046, affecting people born on or after 6 April 1977.

The review states: “Increase in (State Pension Age) from 67 to 68 – between April 2044 and April 2046; it begins to rise above 67 for those born on or after 6 April 1977.”

State Pension age is already rising

The Government Actuary’s report confirms that the State Pension age is rising from 66 to 67 between April 2026 and April 2028.

The increase began affecting people born on or after April 6 1960.

For millions approaching retirement, that means waiting longer before receiving one of the UK’s most important retirement benefits.

As DWP secretary Pat McFadden admits, age is experienced very differently across Britain.

“Being 67 or 68 years old can feel very different in different parts of the country,” he said.

The Cabinet minister pointed to his own constituency in the Black Country, where generations of workers have spent decades in physically demanding jobs.

“I know that it can feel quite different to be 67 or 68 years old in my constituency compared with leafier parts of the country.”

Government carrying out fresh State Pension review

The latest findings come as the Government conducts its third statutory review of the State Pension age.

Under the Pensions Act 2014, ministers are legally required to regularly examine whether the State Pension age remains appropriate, taking account of life expectancy and wider economic factors.

The review explains that ministers must consider whether pension age rules mean that people can expect to spend a reasonable proportion of their adult lives receiving the State Pension.

The report notes that the Secretary of State must review the rules while “having regard to life expectancy and other factors” considered relevant.

Des Cooney, financial consultant and retirement planning specialist at Axis Financial Consultants, highlights the issues that uncertainty hanging over the state pension age review can cause: “People have built savings strategies, ISA contributions, and drawdown timelines around a number they were told to rely on – and even the suggestion of change can leave those plans exposed.”

He adds: “My strong advice to anyone following this story is not to wait for the review’s conclusions before reviewing their own retirement income picture. The
earlier you stress-test your position against a later state pension age, the more options you’ll have to adjust without having to make drastic changes.”

Could my pension age rise even sooner?

One of the most significant revelations in the report is that previous governments considered bringing forward the increase to age 68.

The Government Actuary notes that following the 2017 review, ministers announced plans to increase the State Pension age from 67 to 68 between 2037 and 2039, seven years earlier than currently legislated.

The report states the Government intended to increase the pension age from 67 to 68 “between 2037 and 2039, bringing it forward by seven years from its legislated date of 2044 to 2046”, although that proposal was later delayed pending further evidence.

While no decision has yet been taken to accelerate the increase, it highlights how future reviews could still alter retirement timetables.

Industry body Pensions UK has urged ministers to take a measured approach when deciding future State Pension ages.

In its response to the review, the organisation said: “The State Pension Age is a crucial lever for maintaining the long-term sustainability of the State Pension system, while the State Pension itself remains central to ensuring adequate retirement income.”

Pensions UK said policymakers must balance the affordability of the system with fairness for future retirees, particularly as many workers remain heavily reliant on the State Pension as a foundation of retirement income.

The organisation has also stressed the importance of providing certainty so people can plan effectively for retirement.

Why does the State Pension age keep increasing?

Successive governments have argued that rising life expectancy means people are spending longer in retirement than previous generations.

The review reveals that policymakers continue to examine how much of adult life people should spend receiving the State Pension.

It notes that a previous review suggested the Government was minded to commit to “up to 32%” as the appropriate proportion of adult life spent receiving State Pension payments.

That figure is likely to remain a key consideration as ministers weigh up future increases.

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What does it mean for your pension?

If you were born after April 6 1977, current legislation means you are likely to have a State Pension age of at least 68. However, the ongoing Government review means future changes cannot be ruled out.

The full new State Pension is currently worth more than £11,900 a year, making it a crucial source of income for millions of people.

Experts recommend checking your State Pension forecast regularly and ensuring your National Insurance record is complete, particularly as retirement ages continue to move higher.