It's always great to start off the year with good news, and what's more positive than giving animals a safe and loving home?

In this episode, I'll speak to wildlife conservationist Forrest Galante,

of his latest project documenting the inner workings of one of the biggest animal sanctuaries and rehabilitation centers on the planet.

The series is called Ventara, Sanctuary Stories, and it's streaming on HBO Max and Discovery

Plus.

Then, we're going to keep the good vibes rolling by getting into a new study that explores

how helping others, even in the smallest ways, improves cognitive function.

But before that, we'll talk about a recent study that looks into what

actually makes an elite performer, be it an athlete, academic, or musician. So whether it's

pursuing excellence, being kind, or helping animals, we've got the scientific evidence to back

up being good. Welcome to Curiosity Weekly from Discovery. I'm your host, Dr. Samantha Amin. Let's do it.

Researchers found a powerful way to help protect your brain health. Help someone else. The team

found that regularly helping others outside your home significantly slows cognitive decline

as we age. The researchers are from the University of Texas at Austin and

the University of Massachusetts, Boston. They use data from the National Health and Retirement Study,

which goes back to 1998 so they could follow people over two decades. They analyzed data from

over 31,000 adults in the U.S. over the age of 51. They found that people who spent about two to four

hours per week helping others experienced a 15 to 20 percent slower rate of cognitive decline.

They published the study in October 2025. That's a meaningful difference in how quickly

things like memory and thinking skills change

over time.

And helping here doesn't mean anything extreme.

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