Everyone knows someone — or maybe is that person — who shuts their eyes tight during the scary parts of a horror film and forces their friend to go first in the haunted house.

Others avoid scary movies and haunted houses altogether during Halloween. In a study published in August, a team at the University of Colorado Boulder studied how people’s brains respond to threats and fear.

Brain cells in the interpeduncular nucleus glow green in a mouse’s brain after a shadow appears on the ceiling. (Photo courtesy of CU Boulder)

The researchers found that a group of neurons, called the interpeduncular nucleus or IPN, plays a role in controlling how people respond and adapt to threats. IPN is a brain circuit located in the midbrain near the brain stem. The team discovered that this circuitry is highly activated the first time a person sees a potentially threatening situation, but as soon as individuals realize there is no threat anymore, the IPN shuts down.

“The first time that you see a very scary movie and there is a scene that you are not anticipating, your IPN is going to be very activated,” psychology and neuroscience professor Susanna Molas said. “But if you see this movie, you re-watch the movie over and over across the same week, your IPN is going to start learning that the scary scene is not as scary anymore, and the IPN will be less active across repeated exposures. It’s the same if you go to a haunted house.”

The more frightened a person is, the more the IPN should be engaged, Molas said. It’s also possible that people who love haunted houses and have a high tolerance for scary movies might have a less active IPN. There may also be a cognitive aspect of the person having more rationale when dealing with spooky situations.

“I think that there is an interplay between natural threat responses, but at the same time, more cognitive assessment,” Molas said. “So it’s possible that some people have a different balance of the natural threat response versus thinking whether this situation is actually creating a danger or a harm.”

For the study, the research team exposed mice to a projected shadow periodically over three days that mimics the approach of an aerial predator. The mice’s instinct was to run away. The team used advanced imaging techniques to measure the mice’s brain activity during the threat. Molas said she was surprised by how quickly the mice adapted their behavior and stopped running away from the shadow.

“I was struck to see that by three days, the animals already understood that the threat is not a danger anymore,” Molas said.

Disruptions in the IPN circuit could also play a role in mental health conditions, such as anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. About 19% of adults in the U.S. have an anxiety disorder, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. In a normal threat response, the IPN activity decreases once the brain identifies that there’s no real threat. With anxiety, the IPN remains active in anticipation of a negative effect happening in the future.

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It’s important to understand the causes and some of the brain regions involved with anxiety so scientists can develop better, more specialized treatments for it, Molas said.

“Anxiety is a very prevalent disorder in our society and the neural circuits behind that are still not completely understood,” she said. “There’s been huge progress, but there are some brain areas that, like the IPN, have not been considered for many decades.”

A month after the Minnesota Twins fired manager Rocco Baldelli following the conclusion of a disappointing 92-loss season, the team has finally settled on his replacement: Derek Shelton.

Shelton will become the 15th manager in club history, a source with knowledge of the hiring confirmed. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Shelton was the Twins’ bench coach for two seasons serving under both Paul Molitor and then Baldelli in 2018-19 before getting hired to manage the Pittsburgh Pirates for five-plus seasons. He was fired by Pittsburgh in May and replaced by bench coach Don Kelly.

President of baseball and business operations Derek Falvey is very familiar with Shelton, 55, who was finalist in the Twins’ last managerial search before Baldelli was hired. Good friends from their time with the Tampa Bay Rays, Shelton, a long-time major league coach, agreed to stay on Baldelli’s staff for his first season at the helm.

Following the 2019 season in which the Twins won 101 games, Shelton was hired by the Pirates, where he remained until the middle of this season. Shelton had a 306-440 (.410) record during his time in Pittsburgh. Working with the low-budget Pirates, Shelton lost 100 games in two consecutive seasons. The Pirates moved on from him after a 12-26 start to last season.

Shelton, who was a minor league catcher in the early 1990s, pivoted to coaching later that decade. He managed a New York Yankees’ affiliate before moving on to work for the then-Cleveland Indians, first in the minor leagues and then the majors.

He first became a major league coach in 2005 in Cleveland, serving as hitting coach through the 2009 season. He then moved to Tampa Bay and held the same role, overlapping on the coaching staff with Baldelli, before serving as the Blue Jays’ quality control coach for a season in 2017. From there, he joined the Twins for two seasons before getting his first chance to manage.

Other reported finalists for the job included James Rowson, who was the Twins’ hitting coach from 2017-19, former Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais and Ryan Flaherty, the Chicago Cubs’ bench coach.

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By MATT BROWN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has restored a memorial to a Confederate general in Washington, D.C. that demonstrators took down during racial justice protests in the summer of 2020, part of a broader effort by the president to reshape the way the country’s history is told.

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The statue of Albert Pike, a Confederate general and diplomat who later served on the Arkansas Supreme Court, is the only outdoor statue of a Confederate leader in the nation’s capital. It has been contentious since it was first placed in 1901.

Racial justice protestors in 2020 removed the statue from its pedestal and set it on fire on Juneteenth, a holiday among Black Americans that commemorates the end of slavery. The day was recognized as a federal holiday the following year.

The National Park Service in August announced plans to restore the statue in response to a pair of spring executive orders by President Donald Trump about the administration of the nation’s capital and how history is presented.

The administration has already ordered a review of the Smithsonian museums and exhibitions to align the institution’s content with President Donald Trump’s interpretation of American history. The park service is under orders to review interpretive materials at all its historical properties and remove or alter descriptions that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living” or otherwise sully the American story.

The statue becomes a political flashpoint

The statue has returned to Judiciary Square, a downtown complex that includes an array of federal and municipal courthouses and the D.C. police headquarters.

Conservatives had seized on the monument’s removal as an example of destructive excess and vandalism by protestors during the summer of 2020. Some rightwing activists praised the statue’s restoration following Trump’s order.

But critics of the monument argue that the public placement of Pike’s statue endorses his views and actions rather than simply commemorates them.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, the city’s lone non-voting elected official in Congress, called the statue’s restoration a “morally objectionable move” in a statement this week. She has proposed legislation in Congress that would permanently remove the memorial.

“Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical artifacts, not remain in parks or other locations that imply honor. Pike represents the worst of the Confederacy and has no claim to be memorialized in the nation’s capital,” Norton said.

Trump criticized the statue’s removal in 2020 following its removal by protestors, calling it a “beautiful piece of art.”

The removal of memorials to Confederate figures was a key goal of the wave of activism that followed the 2015 killing of nine Black church parishioners by a white supremacist gunman who idolized Confederate symbols. More than 480 symbols and statues were removed nationwide since then, according to the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Whose Heritage?” campaign.

After the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer sparked a nationwide reckoning on racial injustice, the SPLC recorded more than 160 removals of Confederate symbols in that year alone.

Pike statue does not mention his service to the Confederacy

Pike was a slave owner, white supremacist and poet who served as an Army general and diplomat for the Confederate states despite being born and raised in Massachusetts.

During the Civil War, he led Confederate troops in Arkansas and negotiated with slave-owning Native American tribes. Pike received amnesty from President Andrew Johnson in 1865, after which he was accused by former opponents of being involved in the Ku Klux Klan. He moved to Washington in 1870.

Pike’s statue was part of a wave of Confederate statues that were erected across the country, largely in former Confederate states, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The statues, often funded and established by Confederate heritage groups, were part of the Southern “Lost Cause” movement that sought to romanticize the Confederacy and downplay the role of slavery as a reason for why states seceded from the Union.

The statue was authorized by Congress in 1898 and then erected in 1901. It was proposed by the Freemasons, who wanted to honor him for his leadership in the society. Union veterans strongly opposed the statue but relented after being assured that Pike would be displayed in civilian clothing. The plaque recognizes Pike as an author, poet and philanthropist but does not mention his military service to the Confederacy.

Northern state lawmakers and Union veterans were outraged by the trend at the time of Pike’s statue being erected and countered the movement by erecting statues of Union generals and lawmakers in cities across the country’s northeast and Midwest.

For instance, the Washington, D.C. neighborhoods of Dupont Circle, Logan Circle and Thomas Circle near the square where Pike’s statue now stands are all named after Union generals.

By Jeff Gammage, The Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA — The spirits of the pets come first, treading home on soft, shadowy paws, making their way by the light of altar candles and guided by the eternal tie of love.

They’re welcomed with offerings of favorite treats and fresh water, and by the careful placement of old toys and worn collars that have become cherished mementos.

It’s a new tradition connected to the Day of the Dead, the ancient Mexican holiday where people honor and celebrate the lives of family members at a time when the wall between worlds melts.

Now, in Philadelphia and elsewhere, people have begun to recognize not just human relatives but those with wings and whiskers, the departed dogs, cats, birds, and other animals that enriched their lives. And who, like family, continue to be mourned and missed.

The souls of pets are said to return on Oct. 27, a few days before the Dia de Muertos on Nov. 1 and 2.

“The day,” said Gerardo Coronado Benitez, manager of the Association of Mexican Business Owners of Philadelphia, “is not about death, but about celebrating and remembering people, keeping memories alive. Of course many people want to keep alive the memories of their pets.”

He’s helping organize a big Day of the Dead event at the Italian Market on Nov. 2, where people will be able to place photos of relatives and pets on a community ofrenda ― a decorated altar ― at 9th Street and Washington Avenue.

Others have set up altars in their homes. These ofrendas may be adorned with traditional marigolds, with candy skulls, paper skeletons, and photographs. But they may also feature a snatch of fur or a whisker left behind.

Genesis Pimentel-Howard created an ofrenda for her cat, Mobi, on a bedroom shelf of the West Philadelphia home she shares with her husband, Yaphet Howard.

It’s hard for her to talk about Mobi, who died suddenly in May at only 4 years old.

He was, she said, an adorable menace. Mobi loved to poke at and play with the couple’s other cat, Sannin, though Sannin didn’t always appreciate the attention.

Mobi sometimes stole food from the trash. And he managed to push over and break Pimentel-Howard’s flat-screen TV. Still, she said, he followed her everywhere, even into the bathroom. She couldn’t use the bathroom without him trailing her inside.

“A sweet momma’s boy,” she said. “Always next to me.”

On the ofrenda, Pimentel-Howard placed her grandmother’s pearls. And photos of her family dogs, Ella and Red, and her hamster, Shia LaBeouf. She added a shadow box that holds Mobi’s collar and an impression of his paw.

“I’ll stay up as late as a can to welcome him,” she said. “I like to think he’ll be around.”

Genesis Pimentel-Howard holds a photo of her late cat, Mobi, beside a lovingly crafted “ofrenda” in her Philadelphia home on Monday. The altar glows with candlelight, welcoming the spirits of her beloved departed pets. The ritual is part of a growing tradition tied to Día de los Muertos. (Jose F. Moreno/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS)

The roots of the Day of the Dead go back 3,000 years, to Aztec and Mayan traditions. It’s celebrated not only in Mexico but also in wider Latin America and in communities across the United States.

Dogs have always played an important role. The ancients considered them sacred, guides that led souls through the afterlife. They revered the Mexican Hairless Dog, the Xoloitzcuintle, or Xolo for short.

It’s a Xolo dog, Dante, that guides Miguel to meet his ancestors in Coco, the popular animated Disney movie. And it’s a song from the movie, Remember Me, that’s become the soundtrack for countless social-media posts about departed pets.

In Philadelphia, the Italian Market festival welcomes all who wish to take part to South 9th Street between Federal and Christian Streets from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Fleisher Art Memorial in South Philadelphia also will hold a big Day of the Dead celebration. Everyone is invited to help with final preparations for the ofrenda from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Oct. 31, and to come to the Day of the Dead event the next day.

“The animals, that’s family too,” said María De Los Angeles Hernández Del Prado, the artist who led the creation of the Fleisher’s large, three-part ofrenda, which includes a section devoted to pets. “They’re the same as us, they just don’t talk the same language.”

Pimentel-Howard knew after Mobi died that she would find a way to honor him, along with the other animals she has loved.

“You don’t know what it’s like to lose an animal,” she said, “until you’ve lost one.”

©2025 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC. Visit at inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.