Welcome to Sol & Iris ~
I’ve always been fascinated by the things that help us live a little better—not just longer, but more fully.
Sol & Iris grew from that curiosity. It’s a place where science and soul can sit at the same table: new discoveries about the brain and body, thoughtful ideas about aging and longevity, the changing landscape of women’s health, and the small, beautiful things that make being alive worthwhile.
There will be good news here, too. Things that restore a little faith in people and remind us that the world is still full of kindness, ingenuity and wonder.
My hope is simple: that each issue leaves you with something useful, something interesting, and perhaps something that makes your day a little brighter.
I’m so glad you’re here.— Patty
THE CURIOUS MIND
What can an 80-year-old brain teach us about staying sharp?
Scientists have been studying a remarkable group of people known as SuperAgers—adults over 80 whose memory performs as well as, or sometimes better than, people decades younger.
This year, researchers examining donated brain tissue found something fascinating.
SuperAgers had distinctive molecular patterns in the hippocampus—the part of the brain deeply involved in learning and memory—and showed more signs of newly created neurons than other older adults studied.
That's particularly intriguing because scientists have debated for years just how much new neuron formation continues in the adult human brain.
It doesn't mean we've discovered the secret to becoming a SuperAger. We haven't.
But it does add to an increasingly hopeful picture of the aging brain: aging isn't necessarily synonymous with losing our ability to adapt.
And perhaps the most exciting question is still unanswered:
Why do some brains remain so resilient?
Scientists are working on it. We'll be watching.
Why it matters: Understanding what unusually healthy older brains are doing differently may eventually help researchers find ways to protect memory and cognitive function for the rest of us.
So what can we learn from them? Scientists haven't discovered a SuperAger formula. In fact, their lifestyles can be surprisingly different. But one characteristic keeps appearing: SuperAgers tend to be highly social and report strong, satisfying relationships with other people and their brains are remarkable. New research published in 2026 found that SuperAgers had roughly twice as many newly generated neurons as cognitively healthy older adults their age. We can't yet say why some people become SuperAgers. But they offer us something perhaps just as valuable: proof that remarkable memory and an adaptable brain are possible well into our 80s and beyond.
Source: NIH / Nature, 2026.
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THE LIVING BODY
Maybe longevity isn't about a supplement after all.
A fascinating study published this month followed more than 13,000 adults age 65 and older for a median of seven years.
Researchers didn't just ask whether people exercised. They actually measured different aspects of physical fitness.
And some of the strongest associations with survival involved wonderfully ordinary abilities:
Balance and agility.Lower-body strength.Cardiorespiratory fitness.
People with better overall fitness had lower mortality during the follow-up period—even after researchers accounted for numerous other factors.
This doesn't prove that improving your balance will add a particular number of years to your life. Observational research can't tell us that.
But it reinforces an idea I love:
Perhaps one of the best things we can do for our future selves is simply remain capable.
Get out of the chair. Carry the groceries. Climb the stairs. Walk somewhere beautiful. Keep using your legs.
Not very glamorous.
Possibly very important.
Try this
The researchers used simple measures including a chair-stand test, standing on one leg, and a short get-up-and-go test.
So this month's little experiment is simply to notice:
How is your balance? How easily do you rise from a chair?
Not as a judgment. Just information.
So what should we actually do with this?
The encouraging part isn't that we all need to become athletes.
In fact, one of the most interesting patterns in the study was that much of the difference appeared between the least-fit group and everyone above it. That suggests we may not need extraordinary fitness to matter—simply maintaining basic physical capability may be enormously important.
Three abilities are worth paying attention to as we age:
Balance. Leg strength. Cardiovascular fitness.
Can you comfortably rise from a chair without using your hands?
Can you stand on one leg?
Can you walk briskly or climb stairs without becoming unusually winded?
They're wonderfully ordinary abilities—and they may tell us something meaningful about how well our bodies are aging.
THE TAKEAWAY: Don't exercise only to change how your body looks. Train to keep your body capable.
Strong legs. Good balance. A heart and lungs that can carry you where you want to go.
Because longevity isn't only about adding years.
It's about still being able to use them.
Source: Wu et al., JAMA Network Open, August 2026.
Want to go deeper?
Read the original JAMA Network Open study →
Source: JAMA Network Open, August 2026.
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WOMEN, UNFILTERED
Menopause is finally getting a bigger research spotlight.
Considering that roughly half the population will experience menopause, you might imagine that we'd already have extraordinarily good answers about it.
We don't.
This spring, the National Institutes of Health brought researchers, clinicians, federal agencies and community members together for a three-day workshop devoted to identifying what we still don't understand about the menopausal transition.
Among the issues: why symptoms vary so dramatically, which treatments work best for whom, how timing and type of menopause affect treatment, and what the transition may mean for long-term bone, cardiovascular, cognitive, sexual and emotional health.
NIH also notes that many healthcare providers report uncertainty about the best approaches to evaluating and managing menopausal symptoms.
That's frustrating.
But there's another way to look at it:
The questions women have been asking for years are increasingly becoming research questions.
And Sol & Iris will be following the answers as they emerge.
Source: NIH Office of Disease Prevention, 2026.
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SOMETHING GOOD
Sometimes hope fits inside a picnic cooler.
Coral reefs around the world are struggling as oceans warm.
In Palau, scientists are experimenting with an unexpectedly simple tool to help identify corals that may be better equipped to survive hotter water:
ordinary picnic coolers.
Researchers briefly expose coral fragments to warmer conditions and observe which ones tolerate the heat better. Those naturally resilient corals may then be especially useful for restoration efforts.
It's inexpensive. It's relatively simple. And communities don't necessarily need elaborate laboratory equipment to do it.
It won't solve climate change, and scientists aren't pretending it will.
But I love the ingenuity of it.
Sometimes helping something enormous begins with something surprisingly small.
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PETALS
Little pieces of wisdom, gathered from our readers.
This space belongs to you.
Each month, I'd love to share a few small pieces of wisdom from the Sol & Iris community—something life has taught you, something that's making your days better, or simply something you wish you'd understood sooner.
For our first Petals question:
What is one thing you know now that you wish you had known ten years ago?
It can be profound.
It can be practical.
It can be funny.
Send yours to hello@solandiris.com.
With your permission, we may tuck it into a future issue as one of our Petals.
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SMALL GOOD
One small way to leave the world a little better.
This month:
Tell someone specifically what you appreciate about them.
Not “You're wonderful.”
Something specific.
You always make people feel included.
You were kind to me when I really needed it.
I admire the way you take care of your mother.
You make me laugh when I need it most.
It costs nothing.
It takes perhaps thirty seconds.
And there's a decent chance the person remembers it much longer than you do.
From the community
Have you done some tiny thing that made your corner of the world a little better?
Tell us.
Your Small Good might become someone else's next one.
THE CURIOUS AND STRANGE
Scientists just found sugar floating in space.
Yes. Sugar. In space.
Astronomers have detected a molecule called erythrulose inside a cloud of gas and dust near the center of our galaxy.
What makes that remarkable is that erythrulose contains four carbon atoms, making it the most complex sugar yet detected beyond our solar system—and researchers are calling it the first “true sugar” identified in interstellar space.
No, this doesn't mean there are cosmic doughnuts drifting around the Milky Way.
But it does matter.
Sugars are important ingredients in the chemistry of life. Finding increasingly complex organic molecules in the material between stars suggests that some of life's chemical building blocks may begin forming long before planets—or life itself—ever exist.
Which raises a rather wonderful question:
How much of the chemistry needed for life is already out there, scattered among the stars?
We don't know.
And that's precisely why I love this one.
Source: Nature, 2026
IRIS & WIT
What single word connects all five?
HOUSE-WORK-LIGHT-FLY-PLACE
(answer at bottom of newsletter)
THE IRIS
One beautiful thing to carry with you.
An iris doesn't bloom by trying harder.
It responds to what surrounds it—light, water, season, time.
Maybe we aren't so different.
Not everything in life needs to be forced into becoming.
Some things need tending.
And then, when they're ready,
they open.
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THE SOL & IRIS QUESTION
Before you go, one question:
When do you feel most alive?
I'd genuinely love to know.
Reply to hello@solandiris.com and tell me.
We'll share some of your answers in the next issue.
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Until next month, stay curious.
And notice something beautiful.
— Patty
SOL & IRIS - The science of living. The art of being alive.
Puzzle answer: Fire
*** Bonus - word of the month - Pronoia - The instinctive state of mind or belief that the world, the universe and other people are secretly conspiring to help you, support you and do you good. (thank you Kendra Burrows for the word)
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A note from Sol & Iris: Our content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Health decisions are personal; please discuss them with a qualified healthcare professional who knows your individual circumstances.
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