In the News

Times of India covered a study by Eunyoung Choi and Jennifer Ailshire that found that extreme heat may silently accelerate biological aging at the molecular level, with effects comparable to smoking and heavy alcohol consumption.

Money Talks News mentioned Christian Pike’s research on the Alzheimer’s risk gene APOE4 and how women are more at risk for the disease.

Oprah Daily quoted Em Arpawong in an article about thriving after experiencing adversity. “When your sense of safety, well-being, and identity is challenged and you have to rethink who you are and what you want, that’s when growth happens.”

Next Avenue quoted Donna Benton in an article on why aging experts fear that Trump administration decisions will harm older adults in the U.S. Benton noted that the draft budget for 2026 stops funding for elder justice and elder rights support service programs: “The safety net for the elder justice system is being loosened and there are not as many resources for people who are being scammed.”

65 Y MÁS (Spain) featured Helpful Village, a platform designed by Adjunct Lecturer Manuel Acevedo to streamline village management processes and help older adults safely age in place. The article also mentioned that in the wake of the pandemic, several experts at the USC Leonard Davis School emphasized that aging in place requires not only adapting the physical space but also having a strong social network.

McKnight’s Senior Living featured a USC study estimating that dementia will cost the U.S. $781 trillion in 2025. The United States Cost of Dementia research team includes prominent experts across disciplines at USC, including Eileen Crimmins and Mireille Jacobson from the USC Leonard Davis School. The study was also covered in NeuroEdge, Medical Economics, Medical Xpress, and Earth.com.

In a story announcing James Bullock as the new dean of the USC Dornsife College, Annenberg Media mentioned that Dean Pinchas Cohen co-chaired the search committee.

Realtor.com featured a study by Eunyoung Choi and Jennifer Ailshire that showed older adults in regions with more days of excessive heat showed increase biological aging. “It’s really about the combination of heat and humidity, particularly for older adults, because older adults don’t sweat the same way,” Ailshire explained. “If you’re in a high-humidity place, you don’t get as much of that cooling effect. You have to look at your area’s temperature and your humidity to really understand what your risk might be.” The article was republished in SF Gate and Yahoo Life.

Live with Kelly and Mark (ABC) discussed a recent USC Leonard Davis study on how older adults living in areas with more extreme heat experience greater biological aging. Entertainment Weekly, Yahoo and AOL reported on Kelly Ripa’s joking skepticism of the study.

Greek Reporter featured a study by Caleb Finch that analyzed ancient medical texts and found mentions of dementia to be very rare. “The ancient Greeks had very, very few—but we found them—mentions of something that would be like mild cognitive impairment,” Finch said.