Mandy Oaklander | October 22, 2026

When I recently started taking walks—my main type of exercise these days—I didn’t want to default to listening to music or podcasts. Surely the sounds of the outdoors would be therapeutic, I figured. So I pretty much just zone out as I loop around my neighborhood.

My colleague Angela Haupt, innovator that she is, explored an upgrade: pick a color, then focus on spotting it in your surroundings. Going on a color walk certainly brightens my day, and Angela will teach you exactly how to do it below.

TODAY’S TOPICS

A major advance in cancer
The year by which dementia cases could double
Walk the rainbow
Moshing through heartbreak

TODAY I LEARNED

A new type of cancer treatment is changing lives

Sebastian Kaulitzki/Science Photo Library—Getty Images

I recently spoke to researchers and patients involved in the trial for an exciting new FDA-approved treatment for rectal cancer called dostarlimab. It’s an immunotherapy that uncovers the cloak that some cancer cells—including some of those involved in rectal cancer—rely on to hide from the immune system. The drug shrunk tumors in many patients, helping them to avoid getting chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. That’s a big advance, since many rectal cancer patients require surgery to remove part of the rectum and then need to use colostomy bags for the rest of their lives.

One patient I spoke to was told she wouldn’t be able to have more children when she was diagnosed. But thanks to the drug she took in the trial, her tumor shrunk, and she now has had a girl and a boy.

The drug is for people with a specific type of rectal cancer caused by mutations that interfere with the cells’ ability to repair DNA. For the 5-10% of patients who carry these mutations, the drug can be life-changing. —Alice Park

Read the full story here.

BIG NUMBER

11.4 million

That’s how many people were estimated to have developed dementia worldwide in 2023, according to a new study in JAMA Neurology. The researchers project that the annual number of new cases could more than double by 2050. —Veronique Greenwood

SOURCE: JAMA NEUROLOGY

ONE SMALL CHANGE

Turn your walk into a color hunt

Before your next walk, pick a color—yellow, fuchsia, whatever catches your eye—and see where it turns up. You might spot it on a fire hydrant, mailbox numbers, or even a bucket of cat litter.

Giving your brain one simple thing to hunt for can put your mental chatter on mute and help you notice details you usually pass without a second glance. Take photos if you’d like, or let the discoveries be yours alone. –Angela Haupt

Read the full story here.

Is your company shaping the future?

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Every year, TIME asks what it means for a company to be influential. Every year, the answer changes.

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WHAT WE’RE READING

Could a moshpit help heal a broken heart? Leoni Horton at the Guardian describes how hardcore punk became an unexpected form of therapy after a devastating breakup.
Third-party contractors like Deloitte stand to benefit handsomely from state Medicaid work requirements, Sophie Hurwitz reports for Mother Jones.
The story of a Phoenix woman’s three-year wait to get a life-saving intestine transplant reveals the complexities and challenges of the organ transplant process, the Associated Press reports.