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In more recent decades, women have started to delay having children or decide to not have them at all. Society has been taught that women must have children when they’re in their 20s because that’s when fertility is highest. Unfortunately it’s true that fertility declines as women age, but pregnancy is still possible up until menopause.

Even if someone previously didn’t want children, with technology they have the option to change their minds much later in life. Many women have taken to the idea of having more life and career experience before brining about children. But the language around pregnancy in women over 35 is still pretty offensive.

This now more common phenomenon of waiting until later in life to have children is medically called a geriatric pregnancy, though some doctors sugar coat it by calling it “advanced maternal age.” Neither of these terms feels indicative of a warm feeling you’re expected to experience while growing a child. BBC’s The Global Story podcast blows through some pretty unfortunate misconceptions and truths about pregnancy after 35 in an interview with the Head of Reproductive Science and Sociology Group, UCL.

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The two women co-hosting the podcast are both moms who waited to have children after the magic number. While having a baby after 35 is considered geriatric, some women are having babies into their 70s. Dr. Ssali says, “last week we successfully delivered this lady who was 70 years of age of twins, a boy and a girl. Previously we had treated her with IVF, again the same process, three years ago and she conceived and delivered a baby girl.”

Of course choosing to have a baby in your 70s is well outside the normal age for childbearing, 35-50 isn’t since many of these women are still capable of natural pregnancy without intervention. A woman’s fertility decreases with age but it doesn’t go down to zero until after menopause has fully set in. If it were impossible to conceive there wouldn’t be a term called, “menopause baby,” which simply means someone became pregnant during their perimenopausal phase.

Professor Joyce Harper, the head of reproductive science and sociology explains, that while women’s eggs lose fertility over the years, the uterus never does. This is why IVF using donated eggs for older hopeful parents can be successful. The trend of later in life babies isn’t one to soon end as the age a woman births her first child increases by one year every decade.

“The average age [for first time moms] globally is 28,” Stephanie Hegarty, BBC Population Correspondent says. “60 years ago the average age was 22 and every decade it’s gone up globally by about a year.”

Hegarty expands on the thought by adding people can continue to have babies as they get older. But when it comes to why people are choosing to have children later in life, economics plays a big part in whether people decide to have children or not. Raising a child is expensive and the cost of living has only gotten more exorbitant while wages have stayed largely the same. The experts on the podcast also said girls and women becoming more educated has pushed desires for motherhood to later years.

It’s certainly something to consider when it comes to terminology. If the trend of increasing average age for women delivering their first child continues, then in another few decades, 35 will be the average age. Will we still be calling it geriatric pregnancy or advanced maternal age, then? Maybe a language change is in order before we reach that stage.

In the age of calculators and smartphones, it’s become less necessary to do math in your head than it used to be, but that doesn’t mean mental math is useless. Knowing how to calculate in your head can be handy, and if you’re lucky enough to learn mental abacus skills from a young age, it can be wicked fast as well.

Video of students demonstrating how quickly they can calculate numbers in their head are blowing people’s minds, as the method is completely foreign for many of us. The use of a physical abacus isn’t generally taught in the United States, other than perhaps a basic introduction to how it works. But precious few of us ever get to see how the ancient counter gets used for mental math.

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The concept is simple and can be taught from a young age, but it takes a bit of time and practice to perfect. Watch what it looks like for basic addition and subtraction at lightning speed, though:

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If you don’t know what they’re doing, it looks like students are just randomly flicking their fingers and wrists. But they are actually envisioning the abacus while they move their fingers, as if they were actually using one.

There are various methods of finger calculations that make use of abacus concepts. Watch another method that uses both hands in action:

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Even very young children can calculate large sums very quickly using these abacus-based mental math methods. Watch these little superstars add two-digit to four-digit numbers like it’s nothing.

How do they do it?

Much of the skill here requires a solid understanding of how an abacus is used to calculate and lots of practice with the physical movements of calculating with it. That’s not exactly simple to explain, as it take a couple of years of practice using an abacus—for these mental calculations, specifically the Japanese soroban abacus—to gain the skills needed to be able to calculate quickly. BBC Global shares how such practices are taught in Japan, not only for mental math but for overall cognitive memory:

Abacus mental math programs online recommend learning it between the ages of 5 to 13. It is possible to learn at older ages, but it might take longer to master compared to younger students.

But if there’s a finger method you want to try for addition and subtraction up to 99, one that’s simple and quick to learn is called chisanbop, in which ones are counted on one hand and 10s are counted on the other. Here’s an explainer video that shows how it works:

Chisanbop!

Most of us carry calculators around in our pockets with us at all time, so such practices may feel like a waste of time. But learning new skills that tax our brain is like a workout for our mind, so it’s not a bad idea to give things like this a spin. Even if we don’t learn to calculate large numbers in the blink of an eye, we can at least exercise our mental muscles to keep our brains healthier. And who knows, maybe we’ll get a party trick or two out of it as well.

Kristen Wiig made an epic return to “Saturday Night Live” this week, and along with bringing back her iconic “Aunt Linda” character, she might have created a whole new fan favorite.

In a horror trailer reminiscent of an A24 film, Chloe Fineman and Molly Kearney work up the courage to take their first pilates class. They enter an eerily dark purple room where Wiig, playing a cult-leader Pilates instructor with a fondness for weird pet names, gives them the scariest workout of their life.

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Now, look, pilates is a great form of exercise, with proven benefits for flexibility, core strength and posture. But when it comes to most pilates studios, there’s a certain…vibe. In a word, it’s intense. Anyone who’s been to a class can probably say they have a whole new relationship to discomfort.

And this sketch, along with Wiig’s performance, totally nailed all the typical pilates experience—from the intimidating reformer machines that look like they’re”designed for torture… but somehow, also sex,” to the mind boggling instructions during class (“take those ankle straps around your waist and your knee straps around your head!”) to the unbearable consequence of forgetting your special sticky socks. May god help you.

In fact, it got the seal of approval from bonafide Pilates regulars.

“As a person who has been doing pilates for over 5 years, this is 100% accurate lmao,” one viewer on Youtube wrote.

Another added, “I’ve done Pilates classes, and this made me laugh so hard because it’s all true!”

Even a staff member for a pilates studio chimed in, saying “I work the front desk at a Pilates studio and this is perfectly accurate. I laughed so hard!”

Watch “a chilling new look at girl horror” below:

And don’t forget: embrace the shake!!!

It’s a wonder that humans can get anything done because we are hard-wired to procrastinate. Whenever we consider performing a task that may be boring, unpleasant, or stressful, the brain automatically sends a signal that says why not do it “later” or “tomorrow”?

Humans are natural-born procrastinators because our old brain wants to protect us from potential danger or discomfort. So, when faced with an uncomfortable situation, our brain springs into action and suggests we do it later.

While some people are able to override this reaction, many cannot and researchers believe that around 20% are chronic procrastinators.

As we all know, this knee-jerk reaction can cause all sorts of troubles. It can make it a lot harder to be a good employee, take care of domestic responsibilities, or ensure our school work is done on time. According to Psychological Science, chronic procrastinators have higher levels of anxiety and often have inadequate retirement savings.

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It makes sense. When we put off taking care of the things we need to handle, they have a way of creeping up on us and creating a lot of anxiety.

The good news is that podcast host, author, motivational speaker and former lawyer Mel Robbins has a solution that can help many people bypass the procrastination impulse and get things done. She calls it the 5-Second Rule.

The technique just takes 3 easy steps:

1. Recognize the moment that your mind begins to make excuses and tell you that whatever you need to do—whether it’s the dishes, your homework, or having a meaningful conversation—can be put off ‘til later.
2. Start counting down in your head or out loud, “5-4-3-2-1.”
3. Begin the task once you hit the number 1.

Why does it work? Counting down transitions your brain’s function from the primitive, procrastinating midbrain to the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with decision-making. Also, by counting, your brain focuses on the numbers instead of making excuses, so nothing prevents you from starting the task.

According to Robbins, overcoming procrastination and taking care of business isn’t just about about being motivated.

“You think what you’re missing is motivation, but that’s not true,” says Robbins. “To change, to start a business, to be a better parent, a better companion, and to do all the things you want to achieve in life—you will necessarily have to go through complicated, scary and uncertain things. You’re never going to ‘feel it,’ but you can do it.”

She believes that techniques such as the 5-Second Rule allow us to regain control over our minds and bodies so we can live the lives we are truly meant to enjoy. According to Robbins, asserting control over our thoughts means “regaining confidence in yourself; fighting your fears; stopping stressing; living happier, and finally having the courage to share and defend your ideas.”

So next time you are about to start a new project but your brain tells you to first pick up your phone and scroll through Instagram, simply start counting down from 5. The desire will pass and you’ll have taken the first step toward achieving your goals and getting free from your old brain.

The 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship Game was a highly anticipated matchup between an undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks team and an Iowa Hawkeyes squad that featured the biggest star in the sport, Caitlin Clark.

After Iowa broke ratings records in the Elite 8 (against LSU) and again in the Final Four (against UConn), the expectation was that many millions of folks would tune in for the national championship game on Sunday afternoon. The game being on ABC rather than ESPN figured to provide another boost, as even in 2024 network broadcasts allow for a wider reach, and the game itself delivered with Clark going crazy early from three before becoming a back-and-forth battle until the Gamecocks ultimately pulled away for a win to complete a perfect season.

On Monday, the official ratings came in and it once again broke the record for the most-watched women’s college basketball game of all-time, pulling in a ridiculous 18.7 million average viewers, with a 24 million viewer peak. That isn’t just a huge number for a women’s game, it made it the most-watched basketball game of any kind — men’s/women’s college, WNBA, or NBA — since 2019.

Clark was fired up when she learned of the record-setting ratings the game did, as even in a Hawkeyes loss, it was a phenomenal day for the sport and both teams involved.

It is quite the number, bringing in viewership we simply never see this side of the football field (or Olympics), and shows how the when given mainstream attention and the perfect storm of star power and team dominance, there’s an awful lot of interest in the women’s game.

Blame it on the election year, the eclipse, or something else, but the hip-hop world has descended into utter chaos in 2024. First, there was Ice Spice and Latto, then there was Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj. Kendrick Lamar threw shots at Drake and J. Cole; J. Cole shot back and apologized a few days later. Today, not only did Meek Mill air out his feelings about Wale but now, City Girls JT and Yung Miami are having it out on the timeline, apparently prompted by perceived shade from Saucy Santana.

Buckle up, this is a bumpy ride.

So, I guess the place to start is JT, who has been on a Nicki Minaj-esque tweet rampage for the past several hours, arguing with infamous Stan acoount Ken Barbie (please understand, all of these people need to get a life, but it’s high school on Stan Twitter 24/7, so of course, this is where it all started). Meanwhile, Yung Miami was dealing with a Stan troll of her own, and when her good friend Santana inserted himself into the conversation is where things really went left.

After telling off the stan in question (and receiving a catty reply in return), Santana tried to dismiss their return fire about Yung Miami being caught in the crossfire of Diddy’s ongoing legal drama. Unfortunately, JT apparently took his snide reference to TV shows about Diddy’s ongoing problems personally. “Your not my power of attorney sit your ass down!!!” she told him. She also took a separate tweet from Yung Miami around the same time the same way, interpreting Miami’s assertion that “A bitch been sneak dissing me for weeks” to be a reference to herself.

That opened the floodgates, and JT lit into her partner-in-rhyme, prompting a back-and-forth that is still ongoing, as of press time.

You can see more of the ongoing feud below. If all this is just rollout for a reunion album, I will be FURIOUS.

A total solar eclipse appeared on Monday afternoon, and a large portion of the United States got to witness the celestial event. The path of totality went over a number of states, including the great state of Ohio, where plenty of folks (for example: me) went outside and threw on some eclipse glasses and looked up into the sky.

Two of the cities that got an especially great view of things were Cincinnati, which got 99.7 coverage at its peak, and Cleveland, which was right along the path of totality. Fortunately, there were people in both cities that decided to set up time lapse cameras in their respective MLB stadiums, as both the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Guardians are getting ready to play games in the late afternoon/early evening on Monday. Unsurprisingly, the video the Reds posted was stunning.

The one that the official MLB account posted from Progressive Field was even better, as it had the sun prominently featured and really gave a glimpse into just how dark things got for those who were along the path of totality.

Unsurprisingly, the players in attendance were blown away by the whole thing.

Anyway, let’s all do this again when we get another one of these in the U.S. in 2044 and 2045.

Last year, Daisy Ridley surprised Star Wars fans by appearing at the 2023 Celebration event and revealing that she’d be starring in a new movie set 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker.

Ridley’s involvement shocked fans given she’d stepped away from social media after receiving a significant amount of hate for playing Rey, the new Jedi hero of the Sequel Trilogy who had the audacity to be a girl. There was also a significant amount of (sigh) discourse following the release of The Last Jedi. Throw in the fact that Star Wars has yet to get a single theatrical feature off the ground since Rise of Skywalker, and you had some pretty puzzled people.

However, in a new interview, Ridley opened up about why she was still excited to jump back into the franchise despite, well, everything.

Via Empire:

“I suppose I feel more like I’m owning it. I suppose I owned it the first time. Basically, I’m an adult now,” she explains. “I certainly did not feel like an adult at the time. Obviously, personally, things have changed, and professionally, I’ve had lots of other experiences, and so I definitely feel like it’s a different thing this time.” Even after three films – and a considerable amount of online discourse – Ridley still holds real affection for the world of Star Wars. “There’s just a lot of joy with me and these films,” she says. “Honestly, if I wasn’t excited, I wouldn’t have done it. It feels like a great thing to be a part of.”

Obviously, Ridley couldn’t reveal anything about the plot, which will reportedly involve the formation of a new Jedi Order, and what that even means following the events of the The Skywalker Saga. Her main concern is doing justice to this wisened iteration of Rey.

“It feels pretty amazing to be able to continue a character – like, can I even remember how to play her?” Ridley told Empire. “It’s an interesting challenge as an actor to come back to something and try to figure out what’s changed for me and what’s changed for her.”

(Via Empire)

At WrestleMania 40, Cody Rhodes didn’t just finish his story, he capitalized on everything he’s worked for over the last few years to elevate himself to the face of WWE. Holding the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship for the first time in his career, Rhodes will also roll into Monday Night Raw as the driving force behind the band Downstait claiming the top song on the iTunes Rock chart following his win.

When Rhodes returned to WWE three years ago, he was intentional about every aspect of his character. Maintaining the gimmick he’d created wasn’t in question — he had trademarked everything and has the tattoo of his logo prominently placed on his neck. And when it came to his music, he was adamant everything stay intact.

“The music, it wasn’t that there was any pushback, as much as it was, what does it matter? We make great music here too, and really they do,” Rhodes told Uproxx Sports ahead of his American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes documentary. “I’ve heard a song that was a version for me here. That was an area where I was adamant, and Kevin Dunn was very generous in that he allowed that to be the case. Now I couldn’t think of the bit without it. There’s some fans who are absolutely on board and they know every part of this movie you’re going to see. And then there’s other fans who know, this is where we go, ‘whoa,’ at the show and that may be their only thing. What we’ve discovered was this rallying cry against WWE, which is what the song is, is very catchy. That was an area where I knew it was important enough to fight for it.”

The song has become tied to Rhodes and his rise to the top, and will now follow him into his first appearance as champion on Monday Night Raw.

There are certain things that are quintessential British culture, like tea parties, corgis, and guards with big hats. One of the most iconic pieces of British pop culture is Doctor Who, the long-running sci-fi show that most recently helped launch the careers of Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and James Corden before they shipped him across the pond to become a professional chauffeur. But throughout its 50+ years on air, Doctor Who has never encountered another infamous British legacy: The Beatles.

There has never been a Beatles-themed episode of the series, even though they’ve done just about everything else. This is likely due to the price tag on a popular track like “Hey Jude.” Though they could probably afford “Wild Honey Pie” if they wanted to.

As showrunner Russell T. Davies explained to Empire, “I knew instantly you can never play Beatles songs on screen because the copyright is too expensive. So I’m thinking, ‘How would you do a Beatles episode without Beatles music?’ And that becomes the entire plot. That’s where the idea came from – copyright law!”

Davies helmed the show from 2005- 2010 and just returned for the most recent season. He was clearly brainstorming this whole Beatles thing the entire time.

One of the upcoming episodes will star the latest Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa, as he and his companion take a trip down Abbey Road. Davies explained how the idea came to life: “There’s a young director called Sam Arbor who I’ve kind of been mentoring for a while, and when I told him I was going back to Doctor Who, he was just 21 and said, ‘Oh my God, if I had a TARDIS, I’d go back and watch the Beatles recording their first album.’ And I thought for a 21-year-old to say that must mean there’s something to that idea.” The Doctor Who universe has been big on nostalgia lately.

How will they possibly pull it off? You’ll have to wait and see! The 14th season of Doctor Who premieres on May 11 on Disney+. Feel free to queue up the Beatles documentary, also on Disney+, if you want an immersive experience.

(Via Empire)