The New Scientist report draws on longitudinal data from two North American cohorts that combined serial verbal memory testing with amyloid PET imaging. Participants learned a 15-word list and were tested on immediate, delayed, and post-distraction recall—the exact format used in many memory clinics. Women maintained scores within the normal range for an average 2.7 years longer than men despite comparable amyloid burden, consistent with well-documented female advantages in verbal memory across the lifespan. This pattern reflects greater cognitive reserve, possibly supported by denser intra-hemispheric connectivity, allowing compensation until a tipping point triggers steeper decline. The analysis highlights a critical limitation: the studies did not report exact sample sizes stratified by sex or adjust for education and occupational verbal demands, both of which may inflate reserve estimates. Prior peer-reviewed work (Ferretti et al., Nature Reviews Neurology 2023) and a 2021 meta-analysis in JAMA Neurology already flagged that women reach clinical MCI thresholds later yet progress faster once symptomatic; the current findings extend that timeline to the preclinical window. Consequently, anti-amyloid trials such as those for lecanemab may under-enroll women at truly early stages, explaining observed weaker efficacy signals. Clinical adoption of sex-stratified cut-offs on verbal tasks or routine plasma p-tau217 screening after age 65 would close this diagnostic gap before reserve collapses.