clubhouse chat: brain gains

welcome back to the thursday science read, where we treat peer-reviewed journals the way the group chat treats screenshots. consider this the good gossip: we already told you snack-sized strength counts — now the strength aisle's favorite powder is growing a brain, and the girlies got there before the scientists finished writing it up.

the glow file

meet the it-girl supplement of the year: creatine — yes, the gym one — and no, the group chat is not taking it for biceps. a 2024 research analysis found that daily creatine significantly improved memory, attention, and processing speed — and here's the juicy part: the benefits showed up stronger in women than men. it also props up your brain on short sleep and stressful weeks, and in older women it protects strength and bone alongside lifting — which is why searches for it have more than doubled this year. the cheat sheet: three to five grams of plain creatine monohydrate a day, whenever — consistency beats timing, and it will not "bulk" you. the smartest thing in your gym bag might be a powder.

the piggy bank

eddie smith jr. spent 58 years — many of them at 80-hour weeks — pulling a boat company back from bankruptcy. buyers came calling with offers around half a billion dollars. he said no, and this week he gave grady-white boats away instead — to a trust that protects the company's people and sends its profits to charity, forever. "it's really a gift to me to be able to do what i do," he said. imagine turning down five hundred million dollars because generosity felt better. that part gets us every time.

heard at the clubhouse

first, the sports pages: the women's transfer market officially has main character energy. sam coffey's move to the nwsl champions just set a new league record at one and a half million dollars — and the global women's record has now been broken four times in a single year. pay the women, watch the women. and in dating news, the word of the summer is wildflowering — bumble's love expert says the move is dating outside your usual type on purpose: no checklist, no five-year plan, just curiosity. it's the anti-situationship — nothing to define, everything to learn. the group chat will have opinions.

the sunshine page

two wins for the group chat: georgia's okefenokee swamp — the largest blackwater swamp in north america — just became a unesco world heritage site, joining the grand canyon and yellowstone on the world's guest list. and at lake tuz in türkiye, five years after drought wiped out a whole nesting season, about 5,000 flamingo chicks just hatched — the pink comeback is fully on. the planet said soft reboot.

the dress code

the varsity cropped crewneck in liberty wash blue — eighty dollars. brain gains need a uniform too: broken-in wash, cropped just right, correct for the 6am lift and the library era alike. powder in the shaker, crewneck on, go be the smartest one at the squat rack. shop it here.

the passed note

the beauty hack, passed under the desk: cloud skin — the soft-focus complexion all over tiktok — is about deleting powder, not adding steps. moisturizer, a hydrating skin tint, cream blush, and let it all blur together like a filter. glow that looks like eight hours of sleep and a very sharp brain.

send this to a friend. that's how the club grows.

health is hot.