Ben Shelton won his maiden tour title, beating Aslan Karatsev 7-5, 6-1 at the Japan Open

Taylor Swift and Matty Healy have reportedly parted ways after rumours that the pair were dating had the internet in a chokehold. During the star's hotly anticipated Eras Tour in Chicago on Saturday (3 June), Swift surprised fans with two new additions. One of which was a piano version of her 2017 song 'I Don't Wanna Live Forever'. The song is centred around heartbreak and losing the love of your life, prompting the singer to seemingly hold back emotions on stage. One part of the song says: "Been sitting eyes wide open behind these four walls, hoping you'd call/ It's just a cruel existence like there's no point hoping at all." The performance garnered a lot of attention from fans, who first praised the emotional rendition, before speculating that Swift was hinting at what was going on in her personal life. It came a day before reports of Swift "splitting" from The 1975 frontman. "Her voice breaks - she‘s looking up trying to hold her tears - continues to sing like that, it’s literally heartbreaking," one Swiftie wrote, while another noted: "That voice crack." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter A close source told TMZ that Swift is "single" again, but unclear what happened. Meanwhile, Entertainment Tonight claimed, "Taylor and Matty broke up. They are both extremely busy and realised they’re not really compatible with each other." "Taylor’s friends want what’s best for her and aren’t shocked that their relationship fizzled out since she recently got out of a long-term relationship," a source told the publication on Monday (5 June), referring to Swift's split from British actor Joe Alwyn after six years of dating. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

By Dawn Chmielewski and Danielle Broadway LOS ANGELES The Hollywood writers' strike marks 100 days on Wednesday with

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Have you got a favourite track? Well, it’s time to turn it up and enjoy the beat with a warm cup of coffee. Everyday pleasures like listening to music or sipping a cup of coffee can elevate brain activity, improving cognitive performance including in tasks demanding concentration and memory, according to a recent study. A group of researchers looked at a new NYU Tandon School of Engineering study involving MindWatch a brain-monitoring technology. MindWatch is an algorithm that analyses a person’s brain activity from data which is collected from a wearable device which can monitor electrodermal activity (EDA). EDA is a measure of electrical changes in the skin triggered by emotional stress, often associated with sweat responses. In the study, published in Nature Scientific Reports, participants were made to wear these skin-monitoring wristbands as well as brain-monitoring headbands to complete a range of cognitive tests. The tests were conducted while the participants listened to music, drank their coffee and smelled perfumes reflecting their individual preferences. These tests were completed again without any of those stimulants. Researchers found that both music and coffee significantly influenced participants’ brain arousal, and put them in a “state of mind” that could “modulate their performance in the working memory tasks they were performing,” the NYU press release says. The wearable device found that the stimulates specifically triggered increased “beta band” brain wave activity which is linked to peak cognitive performance. Perfumes also had a slight positive effect, suggesting to researchers that there is a need for further investigation. “The pandemic has impacted the mental well-being of many people across the globe and now more than ever, there is a need to seamlessly monitor the negative impact of everyday stressors on one’s cognitive function,” says Rose Faghih, an associate professor of biomedical engineering who developed MindWatch in six years. “Right now MindWatch is still under development, but our eventual goal is that it will contribute to technology that could allow any person to monitor his or her own brain cognitive arousal in real-time, detecting moments of acute stress or cognitive disengagement, for example. “At those times, MindWatch could ‘nudge’ a person towards simple and safe interventions — perhaps listening to music — so they could get themselves into a brain state in which they feel better and perform job or school tasks more successfully, professor Faghih added. The specific tests used in this study involved a working memory task, called the n-back test which involves presenting a sequence of stimuli to the participants, in this case, images or sounds. It was shown one by one, and people were asked to indicate whether the current stimulus matched the one presented "n" items back in the sequence. This study employed a 1-back test — the participant responded "yes" when the current stimulus is the same as the one presented one item back — and a more challenging 3-back test, asking the same for three items back. Three types of music were also tested out, there was energetic and relaxing music familiar to the participants, as well as novel AI-generated music that reflected the subject’s tastes. Results showed that familiar, energetic music led to the best performance, followed by AI-generated music tailored to the participant’s taste. Coffee and perfume had lesser but still noticeable positive impacts. The MindWatch team wish to conduct further experiments to confirm the tool’s reliability and understand the broader effectiveness of various interventions on brain activity. Researchers have noted that while specific interventions might generally boost brain performance, individual results may vary. The study is published in the journal Nature. Read More ‘The Puss in Boots Effect:’ Women use infant-directed speech when addressing dogs with larger eyes Study reveals one thing to focus on if you want to live to 100 Extreme heat may speed up cognitive decline for people from poorer neighbourhoods Quick, moist and flavourful: Jurgen Krauss’s marble cake Mother whose hot flushes led to leukaemia diagnosis says ‘don’t ignore’ symptoms What happens at a sexual health check-up?

West Brom have announced The Jeff Astle Foundation as their official charity partner for the 2023-24 season. The Jeff Astle Foundation was launched to serve as a lasting legacy for former Baggies forward Astle, who died in 2002 aged 59 with early-onset dementia and had his verdict of death later recorded as being by industrial disease, owing to the repeated heading of a ball. Set up by Astle’s family, The Jeff Astle Foundation continues to campaign for greater research into the impact of repetitive heading for footballers, raising awareness of brain injury in all forms of sport and offering much-needed support to those affected. Astle scored 174 goals in 361 appearances for West Brom and netted the winner in their FA Cup triumph over Everton in 1968. A donation will be made to The Jeff Astle Foundation for every home shirt sold. Albion managing director Mark Miles said: “We are delighted to be supporting The Jeff Astle Foundation for the coming season. “The profile of the charity and its achievements to date are a direct consequence of one family’s dedicated quest to ensure the safety of everyone who plays the beautiful game. “We wholeheartedly support the charity’s aim to raise awareness of brain injury in all forms of sport, including football, and hope the partnership helps further build the profile of their incredible work.” Charity director Dawn Astle said: “We are honoured and overwhelmed to be named the club’s official charity partner for the 2023-24 season. “Dad loved this club and its supporters and to have next season’s home kit dedicated to him and the charity instils our family with a pride that is difficult to comprehend. “We are so, so thankful to the club for providing us with this opportunity to continue to celebrate dad’s legacy, raising awareness and funds for the charity in the process. “As a family we have been fortunate enough to have been involved in the kit’s design and we are confident the club’s supporters will love it as much as we do. “It’s a special kit for a really important cause, and every shirt sold will help us to continue our work with those affected by brain injuries in sport.”