Dementia is linked to changes in the brain. Health professionals used to assume that brain damage and dementia symptoms always went hand in hand. More recent research, however, shows that some people have significant brain damage yet never develop dementia. How can that be? In a previous post, I shared that dementia is defined by the inability to function in everyday life, such as getting lost in familiar places, having difficulty managing finances, forgetting to turn off the stove, or struggling with basic tasks.
In the early hours of Friday 24 June 2016, the result glowed on my phone: 52%. Barely a majority, but nonetheless a verdict. I lay in my rented bedroom in Devon, still in pyjamas, watching everything I'd planned dissolve. When I saw the headline UK votes to leave EU, my first thought wasn't political. It was: What does this mean for me? It was the final day of my second school placement, the culmination of my teacher training for a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE).
Among the people working in the drug business in Brazil's favelas, there are those who once dreamed of being an airline pilot, an astronaut, a teacher or a writer but, as they say around here, took the wrong path. Now, their dream is a house of their own and a stable source of income away from crime. A luxury car or motorbike are also on their wish list.
When they meet, share stories and learn together, they build empathy and understanding that lasts a lifetime, Linda Cowie and Meg Grant said of the children who participate in the schools linking network they help run. The project, which now operates in 26 local authorities, pairs schools so pupils from different faiths, cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds can meet, spend time together and discover what they have in common.
William Gib­son famous­ly observed that the future is already here, it's just not even­ly dis­trib­uted. That line is often thought to have been inspired by Japan, which was already pro­ject­ing a thor­ough­ly futur­is­tic image, at least in pop­u­lar cul­ture, by the time he made his debut with Neu­ro­mancer in 1984. But as any­one who's spent enough time in the coun­try under­stands - albeit not with­out frus­tra­tion - even twen­ty-first-cen­tu­ry Japan remains in many ways a pre-dig­i­tal soci­ety.
Ireland and China are both "major technological economies" which have transformed the lives of their people, Taoiseach Micheál Martin told one of the highest-ranking Chinese politicians during a bilateral meeting on Tuesday.
Artificial intelligence (AI) played a significant role in the tech skills landscape in 2025, from helping teachers do their jobs to becoming a vital skill for people to learn. On the other hand, hiring across the technology sector was less predictable, with fewer jobs advertised, though having the right skills was found to increase job security. Skills will continue to be important going forward, regardless of where AI takes the sector.
I was entirely on my own when I was 19. While I was enrolled in college, I worked full-time at night in the call center of a fintech company, Jack Henry & Associates. It was a gritty, hands-on role, but an exciting time to be with the company, which was growing quickly. I didn't have a typical college experience. I worked a lot so I could pay for my car and home. At work, I put my hand up any chance I could. I was never the smartest person, but I worked really hard and was always willing to figure out problems. Even if I'd never done something, I would figure it out. I couldn't afford to fail, personally or professionally.
Think AI makes you smarter? Probably not, according to Saul Perlmutter, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who was credited for discovering that the universe's expansion is accelerating. He said AI's biggest danger is psychological: it can give people the illusion they understand something when they don't, weakening judgment just as the technology becomes more embedded in our daily work and learning.
Teachers will be given training to spot the signs of misogyny and tackle it in the classroom as part of the government's long-awaited strategy to halve violence against women and girls within the next decade. The plans - which focus on preventing the radicalisation of young men - are due to be unveiled on Thursday, after being pushed back three times this year.
As long as the Taliban remain the reality on the ground in Afghanistan, we cannot afford to waste time doing nothing. In my role, I have tried to help smooth the discussions between the IOC and those currently in control, focusing on the sport rights of women and girls and particularly primary school girls who are still inside Afghanistan. They are not about legitimising any government, but they are very important for creating tangible opportunities for future generations of young boys and girls in Afghanistan.
Kids are struggling academically and teachers are struggling right beside them as they deal with issues like politics in the classroom, low pay, and lack of resources. In other words: education is a struggle right now. One third grade teacher, who shares content as @salami4prez on TikTok, posted a simple video saying that things would improve if parents just consistently sent their kids to school.
Tadgh O'Donovan, science teacher in Carrigaline Community School and content creator @teachwithtadgh, took a chance during the pandemic, and he hasn't looked back since
"The first step should always be to teach young people skills," Quentin Gartner of the German National Students' Conference. He added that minors need to learn how to behave responsibly online, rather than simply being blocked. Australia's new law, which came into effect on Wednesday, requires major platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook to block accounts of users under 16 or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (30 million).
She enjoyed a distinguished career in public education, remembered for her intelligence, articulate teaching style, and dedication to preserving history and culture. Beyond the classroom, Ms. Boyce was celebrated for her joy in singing and her beautiful operatic voice. She performed widely, bringing to life African American spirituals, operatic arias, Broadway classics, and art songs. Her recitals often included sing-alongs, inviting audiences to share in the music and storytelling traditions she cherished.
At the end of every school year, many parents ask me to write a personal note to their student as an inscription in a certain children's book. They request this of all of their kids' teachers, then give the book as a graduation gift. It's a cute idea, but what it amounts to is a large stack of paperwork at a time of the school year when I'm already drowning in paperwork.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
New data, however, suggests that the profession's talent crunch may be - cautiously - easing. Graduates who earned a bachelor's or master's degree in accounting fell to 55,152 in the 2023-24 academic year, according to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). That's a 6.6% decline from the year prior - still a drop, but a slower one than the 9.6% decline in 2022-23
Montano is a retired schoolteacher who has long been a figure in Milpitas public office. She served for eight years as a school board trustee for Milpitas Unified School District starting in 2000, before being elected to city council in 2012, where she served for two non-consecutive terms. In 2022, Montano made history when she became the first woman to be elected mayor of Milpitas, and in 2024 was re-elected in a close race with a crowded field of four candidates.
Over time, this initial emotional impulse seems to have subsided, and some Russian-speaking Ukrainians have reverted to their old ways. A significant proportion of young people in schools, and sometimes even teachers, continue to speak Russian to each other. Nevertheless, the use of Ukrainian in schools continues to increase, according to a study conducted by the State Service of Education Quality of Ukraine (SSEQU) and the Commissioner for the Protection of the Ukrainian Language in April and May 2025.
The grant will pay for the construction of wireless towers, fixed wireless access (FWA) infrastructure, and receivers for designated student homes in hard-to-reach parts of the Lordsburg area, with the goal of bringing FWA service to 395 student households that currently lack reliable home internet. Internet service will be provided at no charge for the first three years for participating students and school staff.
I fall down YouTube rabbit holes sometimes as a way of unwinding. Lately, the algorithm has been sending me videos of teenagers covering rock songs from the '70s and early '80s, and some of them are better than they have any right to be. I've been particularly struck by how many of these bands choose to do covers of Rush songs.
The questions you ask yourself while learning reveal not just what you don't know but how you think, what confuses you, what excites you, how you make connections, and how you construct meaning from new information. Traditionally, much of this process happened in private-a child working through a math problem in their notebook, a teenager wondering about a concept while walking to school, someone lying in bed thinking about something they heard that day.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
There is no engagement with the youth who studied under bombardment, no voice for the high school students whose determination defied the arrogance of war. Here in Gaza, where schools have been turned into piles of rubble, young people are rewriting the story of resilience: a story of education practiced as an act of resistance, and hope rising from beneath the ruins.