When we hear the word "heart," we imagine the body's engine—a tireless, muscular pump that works to circulate blood and bring oxygen to every living cell. But in a shocking discovery, scientists now suggest that we might have been underestimating another silent hero of our cardiovascular system- the aorta. Long considered to be little more than a passive pipe, the aorta is now being recognized as an active, dynamic participant in supporting the heart—so much so that scientists are referring to it as a "second heart."

This revolutionary finding presents a promising new vision of cardiovascular function and may redefine the way we treat heart failure and circulatory health globally.

The aorta, the largest artery in the human body, has long been renowned for its elasticity—stretching to allow the surge of blood from the heart and recoiling to keep pressure constant. Though these qualities were once thought to be purely passive, new studies published in The Journal of The Royal Society Interface show a more active role.

The aorta also does more than merely absorb pressure, according to research. The aorta produces what's referred to as a "wave-pumping effect"—a mechanical function by which the vessel stretches and recoils in harmony with the cardiac cycle. This motion generates energy that helps push blood through the body, essentially serving as a second pumping mechanism.

This phenomenon, only seen before in the initial stage of embryonic development, seems to continue up to adulthood, particularly being important in patients whose heart function is impaired.

How Your Aorta Becomes a "Second Heart"?

The wave-pumping mechanism, scientifically known as impedance pumping, is the interaction between heartbeats and the elasticity of the aorta. As the heart contracts during systole, the left ventricle forces blood into the aorta, stretching it like a spring. Subsequently, during diastole when the heart relaxes, the aorta snaps back, propelling the blood forward using stored mechanical energy.

This back-and-forth stretch-recoil mechanism enhances circulation without demanding another heartbeat. It's nature's clever technique for lessening cardiac burden while preserving blood flow—and might be particularly critical when the heart has been compromised by disease.

Researchers employed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study the motion of the aorta of 159 people, both healthy volunteers and those with heart failure. The findings were dramatic.

Healthy subjects demonstrated much greater aortic displacement, reflecting strong wave-pumping activity. Conversely, individuals with heart failure had lower aortic stretch, implying weaker secondary pumping assistance. This contrast illuminates how some individuals with compromised hearts are able to pump blood efficiently anyway—partly due to the mechanical aid of their aorta.

Can Your Aorta Help Save Your Heart?

Heart failure, which impairs the heart's pumping ability, affects millions worldwide. This discovery paves the way for an entirely new treatment category: increasing the elasticity of the aorta to facilitate blood flow.

Today, certain antihypertensive medications are attempting to decrease arterial stiffness, but their specific effect on aortic wave-pumping is unknown. With this new understanding, therapies in the future may be created to activate or restore the aorta's pumping ability, relieving the failing heart's workload and enhancing patient outcomes.

Researchers are also examining non-drug treatments such as lifestyle changes and exercise, both of which are known to enhance vascular flexibility. Might we one day have individualized exercise regimens or vascular therapies specifically designed to maximize this second heart? The potential is intriguing.

Why the Aorta's Role Was Overlooked?

Interestingly, the wave-pumping function of the aorta was heretofore seen only during the embryonic stages, where it helped still-undeveloped hearts pump blood. Gradually, as the heart developed, researchers presumed that this process became obsolete.

That turns out not to be the case, according to this new study. What turns out to be true is that the aorta can continue to have this function deep into adulthood, particularly kicking in during cardiac duress.

This discovery is a paradigm shift in our conception of the vascular system—not only as a tube network, but as a smart, adaptive circulation partner.

To comprehend the aorta as something greater than an inert pipe—but instead as a second heart—may revolutionize diagnostics and treatment approaches for cardiovascular disease. From how we read MRI scans to how we customize therapies for heart failure patients, this information introduces a new dimension of complexity—and hope.

In the future, keeping your heart healthy might also mean taking better care of your aorta—the silent force that could be saving your life, one beat at a time.

Manipulation, according to the American Psychological Association, is behavior designed to exploit, control or otherwise influence others to one’s advantage. Some people Some people do this with words; others through actions. In a new study, researchers found that there is another act that manipulators often use to their advantage.

We think of a hug or a hand on the arm as comforting and connecting. But a new study suggests that these simple actions can hide a darker intention. Research in the journal Current Psychology reveals that people who are manipulative and self-centered (narcissistic) often use touch to calculate how to influence or control their romantic partners.

Senior researcher Richard Mattson points out that in these relationships, you not only miss out on the good feelings that touch usually brings like lower stress and a boost of the "love hormone" oxytocin, but the touch is actively used to benefit the manipulative person, often hurting their partner in the process. This work connects how someone touches with who they are.

How Do Narcissists Manipulate With Touch?

Most studies look at the positive effects of touch, but this research focused on the opposite: when touch is used to harm or trick someone. The study centered on people who showed traits belonging to the "Dark Triad," which is a group of three linked, negative personality traits:

Narcissism: Being extremely self-focused, needing admiration, and lacking empathy for others.

Psychopathy: Having very little empathy (inability to understand others' feelings) and acting impulsively.

Machiavellianism: Being cunning and manipulative to reach personal goals, often deceiving others.

The researchers surveyed over 500 college students about their comfort with touch and how they used it in relationships. They found that people with high levels of these dark traits were significantly more likely to use touch as a tool to control, influence, or manipulate their romantic partner, proving it wasn't about affection but about power.

Does Gender Affect How Manipulators Act?

The study revealed some interesting gender-based difference in how these manipulative traits showed up:

Men with these darker traits tended to use touch in an effort to feel more connected to their partner. This was especially true if they already felt insecure or unstable in the relationship, using touch as a way to reinforce their bond or ease their own anxiety.

Women with "Dark Triad" traits often reported feeling uncomfortable when they were touched by others. However, they were still more likely than others to use touch themselves as a means of controlling or influencing their partner.

Experts summarized the core attitude of these personality types as "me first, you second." This self-serving belief is so strong that it affects even how they handle affection and physical closeness—an important part of any relationship.

Can Recognizing Signs Help Build Better Relations?

People with high "Dark Triad" traits often have romantic relationships that are short-lived, troubled, and complex.

The study's findings offer a path toward solutions. Since touch is a powerful, low-cost tool for providing support and promoting better health, Mattson suggests this information can help create new interventions. The goal is to "leverage touch" to teach people, especially those who avoid touch or use it to manipulate, how to use it in healthy, caring, and mutual ways. Instead of using touch for control or self-protection, they could learn to use it to truly connect and support someone else.

Many struggles that were once simply called "teenage behavior" are now understood as signs of ADHD. Teens with ADHD often face extra pressure from school and social life, like falling behind or struggling with communication, because their brains are wired differently. This constant stress is very common, according to the Child Mind Institute, and a new study has found an answer to this problem.

Whether it is less structured lives at home or school, stress of falling behind or not doing well with communication that works well for other students, etc. This kind of pressure and stress is very common for ADHD teens.

But a new study found a powerful, non-medication solution to this stress: exercise. The research, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, shows that just three weeks of regular, planned exercise helped teens with ADHD feel much less stressed. It didn't make them instantly calm; it taught their nervous system a healthy way to quiet down and cope.

Why Do Teens With ADHD Need Structure?

A teen with ADHD often struggles with follow-through—what they want to do is often stopped by what their brain allows. In the study, when teens did moderate exercise (getting their heart rate up) for three weeks, their stress levels dropped.

Researchers introduced a three-week program of moderate-to-vigorous activity to adolescents with ADHD. At the program's conclusion, the teens reported a drop in their perceived stress levels.

Normally, constantly being stressed can wear out the body, causing cortisol levels to flatten. This means the body stops knowing how to respond to stress properly. The exercise actually "wakes up" this system so the teens can handle stress better and recover faster.

Simple, repeated movements (like running or dancing) give the nervous system a predictable rhythm. This rhythm tells the body it's safe, helping the teen move away from feeling "fight-or-flight" and toward a calmer state.

Neurotransmitter Boost

Movement increases brain chemicals like dopamine and norepinephrine—the same ones targeted by ADHD medication. This is why teens often feel more focused and clear-headed after sports or other physical activity.

Quick Results

The study saw great results in only three weeks, which is encouraging for parents. You don't need a huge, long-term plan to start seeing changes. Even small, regular movement (20 to 40 minutes, a few times a week) can start regulating your teen’s stress.

How Can You Make Your Home Life More Structured?

To make exercise a part of your teen’s life, forget about making them comply. Instead, focus on consistency and fun. Aim for movement three or four times a week, as long as it raises their heart rate and is enjoyable. The key is to make it fun, not a chore:

Let them choose

ADHD brains love new things and things they are interested in. Let your teen pick the activity, like shooting hoops, martial arts, or rollerblading. If they enjoy it, they’ll stick with it.

Reframe the activity

Think of movement as a way to change their mood or energy quickly. When your teen seems overwhelmed or too hyper, suggest a short burst of activity, like five minutes of jumping jacks, a quick walk, or just dancing to music.

Join in

Teens are more likely to participate when parents join in. This makes movement a time for connection, not a chore or a punishment.

You can try your own three-week challenge at home. Track how your teen's stress, mood, and sleep change. This helps them connect the dots between moving their body and feeling better.

Ultimately, exercise gives your teen a way to feel in control and safe. To help them stress less, start with their feet, not just their head.

As with every flu season, new strains of the virus that causes COVID-19 are spreading across Europe, the United States, and other parts of the world. The latest one to draw attention is the Stratus variant, also known as the “Frankenstein variant.”

Scientifically labeled XFG, this variant has become increasingly dominant in Germany and several European countries since mid-2025. Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have listed XFG as a variant under monitoring (VUM), meaning it is being closely tracked, though it is not yet considered a major threat.

What Is the ‘Frankenstein’ Variant?

The XFG variant is a recombinant strain, a mix of two earlier sub-lineages, LF.7 and LP.8.1.2. Much like Frankenstein’s creature, which was stitched together from different parts, this variant combines genetic material from multiple virus lines.

Such mutations are a normal part of how viruses evolve over time. The nickname “Frankenstein” first appeared during the spread of Omicron in late 2021, when new combinations of subvariants began to surface. For now, both the WHO and Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI) rate the overall risk from XFG as low.

Is the Frankenstein Variant Behind Your Persistent Cough?

Most infections caused by the Stratus (XFG) variant appear mild, particularly among those who are vaccinated or have received booster doses. However, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this variant has one feature that sets it apart, a persistent, dry cough that lingers long after recovery.

Doctors in the UK and India have also noted other possible signs linked to this variant, including a sharp, burning throat pain and hoarseness of voice. These symptoms could explain why some people experience a cough that seems to “never go away.”

Frankenstein Variant Spreads Across Germany and Europe

Data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and the ECDC show that XFG has become the dominant strain in Germany since mid-2025, accounting for an increasing share of sequenced COVID-19 cases. The variant has also been detected in several other European countries, such as France, Spain, and the Netherlands.

While case numbers across Europe remain relatively high, the ECDC reports that infections are gradually declining in most regions.

How to Stay Safe From the Frankenstein Variant?

During the respiratory illness season, health authorities continue to remind people to stay up to date on recommended vaccines, including those for COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

“These vaccines provide strong protection against severe illness,” the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) stated, urging individuals to consult their healthcare provider or local health authority about their eligibility.

Personal safety measures include:

• Staying home when you feel unwell
• Wearing a well-fitted mask in crowded or enclosed places, or if you’re sick and around others
• Improving indoor ventilation wherever possible
• Washing hands regularly
• Covering coughs and sneezes
• Cleaning and disinfecting surfaces that are frequently touched

These simple precautions remain the most effective way to prevent infection and limit the spread of respiratory viruses, including new COVID-19 variants like Frankenstein (XFG).