October 27, 2025

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today. A new fossil discovery is rewriting evolutionary history, brain games are proving to be important to support cognitive health, and what’s Axl up to now 😝 

Let’s get into it!

A study conducted by researchers at McGill University found evidence that adults over 65 can boost a brain chemical associated with memory and attention by engaging in 30 minutes of “rigorous mental exercises” daily.

Called acetylcholine, the messenger chemical typically decreases by 2.5% per decade just from the process of aging. Over the course of the ten-week McGill study, participants were able to increase the chemical’s levels by 2.3%.

It’s been historically difficult for researchers to determine if programs like Elevate, Luminosity, or BrainHQ are truly effective, according to McGill neurologist Étienne de Villers-Sidani. By having half the study participants play Candy Crush or solitaire for 30 minutes per day and the other half complete BrainHQ exercises, Villers-Sidani and team were able to establish the link between cognitive retention and regular mental exercise.

Those who played games every day saw no improvement in acetylcholine levels, while the BrainHQ group saw the 2.3% increase over time, with chemical levels jumping in the anterior cingulate cortex and the hippocampus. The former is a brain region associated with decision-making and error-detection, and the latter is associated with memory function.

Six months ago, a fossil featured in the image above was discovered on Prince Edward Island, bearing what investigators believe is a 290-million-year-old Pachypes—a type of footprint left by a prehistoric reptile called a Pareiasaurus.

The problem with that belief is that even though they’re basically certain of the fossil’s age and origin, the known fossil record doesn’t include any trace of the Pareiasaurus for another 30 or 40 million years after this fossilized marking was printed.

“I was dumbfounded,” said Patrick Brunet, the self-taught scientist who found the fossil at Hillsborough Bay.

The fossil dates back to the Permian Period, when dog-sized lizard-like creatures roamed the earth—at least according to the current understanding of the fossil record. But the footprint Brunet found is practically the size of a dart board.

Brunet—along with John Calder, an advisor to the P.E.I. Museum and Heritage Foundation—and several international scientists will convene to formalize their hypothesis about the fossil’s origins. In doing so,’

Axl Rose in his prime could hang with any performer in rock ‘n’ roll, but at any given moment during any given show, the wheels could fall off and the explosive and volatile frontman could call it a night. Just ask residents of St. Louis.

These days, however, Axl is way less loaded gun and much more rose, which is why fans were taken aback by what appeared to be a vintage Axl incident in Buenos Aires the other night. Microphones being tossed, jackets being ripped off, bass drums being kicked from the outside—what the hell was he doing?

He was definitely frustrated, but this time due to a technical issue in which his in-ear monitor was only channeling the drum kit and no other instruments. Asked about the incident by Eddie Trunk, Slash elaborated on what happened.

"Oh, that whole thing, God, it got so blown out of proportion," he said.

"So he's trying to communicate that to the engineers and they don't know what the f**k he's talking about," he continued. "And so it was one of those frantic moments trying to get it together at the beginning of the set. And that was it. And he was pointing out that it's the drums; it's not something else. Whatever your myriad of different things it possibly could be, it was the drums, and that's what he was trying to convey. But it got really blown out of proportion. Jesus. I guess people were thinking that it had something to do with Isaac [Carpenter] because it was directed at the kit, but it wasn't about Isaac."

From the comfort of your home

Even though streaming services have completely upended the home movie viewing experience, we still remember the excitment of being able to own your own copy of an awesome flick.

In today’s trivia we’re rewinding (see what we did there 🤣) back to 1988 with a ten questions about great movies that were made available for you to buy and add to that growing collection of tapes that year.

Complete the game and earn a shot at a $25 Amazon eGift Card ;)

Winner will be notified on Tuesday afternoon. Keep an eye on your inbox and don’t forget to check your spam folder!*