I ran across this article in the news about topological changes that happen in our brains as we age. You can try to read the original open access paper published by the author Alexa Mousley.
The topological changes in the brain that occur in the brain is linked to the structural connections that are made or not in human development and roughly correspond to the main epochs of brain structure in our lives: childhood (transition to adolescence around 9 years old), adolescence lasts until around 32 years old when we finally reach adulthood, then at age 66 we reach the early ageing stage and that finally changes into late ageing or old farthood around age 83. It’s a good thing I retired 5 years ago.
What this says, of course, is that nobody should be getting married or driving until they hit age 32. There are buses, you know, although we do have self-driving cars which explode on impact so thank goodness we don’t need to worry about that.
Also, it implies that you shouldn’t be drafted into military service until you’re presumably old enough to know that war doesn’t solve any problems.
Furthermore, this could lead to earlier retirements, reducing the need for awkward discussions with tenured professors who are apparently unaware they often arrive at the office with their pants on backwards. Just boot them out the door!
Why didn’t we think of this topology thing a long time ago?
For an interesting topology discussion, see the Wikipedia article, which has an interesting photo of something called homeomorphic topology, an amusing example of which is the picture of continuous transformation of a coffee mug into a donut, or as many Iowa City people would prefer, a bagel (something that looks like a doughnut but is so tasteless you have to slather it with a pound of cream cheese).
If you have any questions, call the author of the study. You’re welcome!
Mousley, A., Bethlehem, R.A.I., Yeh, FC. et al. Topological turning points across the human lifespan. Nat Commun 16, 10055 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65974-8
Go Retire Psychiatrist 