Take the risk or play it safe? Scientists have now watched that argument unfold inside the human brain in real time.

Researchers recorded electrical activity directly from the brains of six people while they played a game involving treasure chests and bombs. Two neighbouring areas of the orbitofrontal cortex showed opposing patterns linked to approaching a reward or avoiding risk.

Before difficult decisions, those neural states rapidly alternated before settling on a choice. That internal back-and-forth before a big decision may be considerably more literal than we thought.

Aging may be getting old.

L’Oréal is pushing beauty towards a different idea: treating skin according to its biology rather than simply the number of candles on a birthday cake. Its Longevity AI Cloud analyses more than 260 biomarkers, with the aim of understanding skin health at a biological level and moving skincare from correction towards anticipation.

In August, L’Oréal went further, announcing a multi-year partnership with NUS Medicine focused on the role of skin, scalp and hair in healthy ageing. Beauty spent decades trying to fight ageing. Its next obsession may be helping skin age exceptionally well.

One of the largest transfers of wealth in history is taking shape across Asia.

An estimated $10 trillion is expected to move between generations over the next decade. But Asia is also the world's fastest-ageing region: 15% of its population is already over 60, a figure projected to reach 26% by 2050.

That makes the great wealth handover more interesting than inheritance alone. Longer lives mean balancing what gets passed down with decades of independence still to finance. Perhaps the new definition of wealth isn't what you leave behind. It's how much freedom it gives you while you're here.

Carbs have spent years being treated as longevity's guilty pleasure. New research makes the story rather less convenient.

Researchers studied 104 adults, assigning them to four different diets for four weeks. Three groups showed reductions in a composite estimate of biological age. The result with the strongest statistical confidence appeared in the omnivorous, higher-carbohydrate group, whose diet derived about 53% of energy from carbohydrates.

It's preliminary research, not permission to build dinner around croissants. But it does put another crack in one of nutrition's favourite simple rules. Carbs may never have been the interesting question. Which carbs is.

Oktoberfest may be synonymous with beer, but a quieter shift is taking place in Munich.

Alcohol-free beer has become an increasingly visible part of the Wiesn, reflecting a much broader change in how people are choosing to drink. Across Germany and beyond, moderation is moving into the mainstream, particularly among younger generations who are increasingly comfortable enjoying the occasion without the alcohol.

What makes Oktoberfest interesting is precisely its tradition. If one of the world's great rituals can make room for a sober movement without losing its sense of celebration, something larger is changing. Perhaps pleasure is becoming more considered.

The Offline Club has built a social network around something unusually radical, putting your phone away. Founded in Amsterdam in 2024, the concept has since spread to 19 other cities.

Its gatherings typically begin with quiet phone-free time for reading, writing or making something, followed by conversation.

In London, the movement drew 2,000 people to Primrose Hill for a phone-free sunset; subsequent gatherings began selling out. After two decades of companies trying to invent the next social network, someone remembered the original one.

Equinox has spent years convincing us that a gym can be a lifestyle. Now it wants the holiday too.

Equinox Resort AMAALA opened on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast on September 3, becoming Equinox's second hotel globally and its first outside the United States. Designed by Foster + Partners with interiors by Rockwell Group, it has 128 rooms and suites and 21 branded residences.

The wider concept goes considerably beyond the hotel gym, AMAALA's Equinox plans include a magnesium vitality pool, spa grotto, hyperbaric chambers and personalized recovery experiences. The hotel gym used to be somewhere you squeezed in a workout before breakfast. Equinox has made it the reason to book the flight.