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鲨鱼有朋友吗？
–›p87
撰稿人
我们将重返月球，而且这次我们将留在那里。这大致是美国国家航空航天局（NASA）在 3 月份分享其通过一系列标题为“点火”（Ignition）且引人入胜的活动和文件来构建月球基地的计划时所传达的信息。
JONATHAN O’CALLAGHAN
美国和中国正在竞相建立第一个月球基地。太空记者 Jonathan 揭秘了赢得这场竞赛为何如此重要。–›p66
与此同时，月球门户空间站（Lunar Gateway）——拟议中绕月运行的永久空间站，旨在支持未来前往月球、火星及更遥远空间的任务——已被搁置。美国国家航空航天局目前正将注意力集中在其他事情上，这可能是由于来自另一个国家的压力：美国国家航空航天局局长 Jared Isaacman 在今年早些时候表示：“我们发现自己面临一个真正的地缘政治对手，他们正在挑战美国在太空高地的领导地位。”
DR JAMES LLOYD
如果我们暂时抛开将太空视为终极“高地”的令人不安的认知，其信息很明确：美国不希望中国在月球上四处活动并将其独占。因此，在月球表面留下足迹的竞赛已经开始——这些靴子或许有一天会被月壤覆盖，并存放于某个环形山阴影下的小型月球牧场气闸室中。
从未有人在野外见过活体成年大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）。科学作家 James 将会见那些希望亲眼见到这种神秘深海居民的专家。–›p52
这一切将在何时发生？美国国家航空航天局的目标是在 2028 年实现人类着陆，而一个可以让宇航员过夜（即便不能永久居住）的栖息地可能会在 2032 年准备就绪。另一方面，中国计划让其中国航天员在 2030 年抵达月球，并将 2035 年设定为在当地建立某种半永久性结构的期限。
HAYLEY BENNETT
因此，在感觉如同眨眼之间，月球基地的设想已成为现实。它已经从一个仅存在于科幻小说页面的想象之跃，变成了人类真正的下一个巨大飞跃。在 p66 了解这些月球前哨站将如何成型，以及为什么中国和美国在竞相建立它们。
下一波减肥药将不会抑制你的饥饿感——它们将改变你储存脂肪的方式。BBC 科学聚焦的常驻撰稿人 Hayley 进行了调查。–›p60
DR HELEN PILCHER
细胞生物学家 Helen 深入探讨了反安慰剂效应（nocebo effect）——安慰剂效应的“邪恶双胞胎”——背后的科学，以及它对健康可能产生的惊人影响。–›p74
Daniel Bennett, 编辑
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3
目录
常规板块
本月来自全球最令人惊叹的科学摄影作品。
认识旨在关注您福祉的机器人；如何打造自己的模拟赛车设备；编辑精选。
您对《BBC 科学聚焦》杂志近期文章的想法和意见。
一种新型单剂量胆固醇治疗方案在一次里程碑式的临床试验中取得了令人鼓舞的结果。
减肥药物能抑制进食冲动——它是否能被用来控制更复杂的欲望？
我们的专家为您解答疑问。本月话题：植物是否也经历过黑死病？在高温车内放置的塑料瓶装水可以饮用吗？烤焦的吐司对身体有害吗？土星环究竟是如何形成的？奶酪的未来是什么？为什么有些人天生吸引猫？鲨鱼有朋友吗？自信心具有传染性吗？以及更多……
本月重大新闻，包括：科学家称地球早期生命在繁衍方面表现糟糕；是时候重新考虑您的“每日五份蔬果”饮食法了；我们发现了一块可以解码深空信号的“罗塞塔石碑”；研究揭示了霸王龙手臂为何长得如此之小。以及更多……
植物是否也经历过黑死病？
减肥药物抑制的可能不仅仅是您的食欲；地球巨大的真菌网络正在解体。我们应该担心吗？；力量训练如何帮助您更健康地老去。
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月球基地竞赛
新研究揭示了我们的免疫系统是如何衰老的，以及我们能做些什么来减缓这一过程。
目前还没有在野外观察到活体成年大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）的记录。一群勇敢的专家正致力于改变这一现状。
等不及到下个月获取科学与技术资讯？我们的网站充满了新闻、专题和问答，让您的好奇心得到满足。sciencefocus.com
胰高血糖素样肽-1 (GLP-1) 药物通过抑制食欲帮助您减肥。而其继任者则采用了完全不同的方法。
在我们的最近天体邻居上建立前哨站的竞赛正在升温。而且，这次竞争的赌注之高前所未有。
安慰剂效应有一个邪恶的双胞胎，它会对您的健康产生严重干扰。
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5
启发之眼 (EYE OPENER)
加拿大，多伦多大学 (UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO)
这个纠结的霓虹灯结实际上是一只幼蟹。这是螃蟹在生命最早的幼虫阶段——即蚤状幼体 (zoea) 时的样子，就在它从卵中孵化出来之后。嗯……差不多。
首先，它在这里看起来显然比在现实生活中大得多。这是因为这张充满活力的图像是由多伦多大学的光学显微镜协调员 Tong Zhang 以 10 倍放大率拍摄的。通常，蚤状幼体 (zoea) 是微小的，长度仅为 0.25–1mm (0.009–0.03in)。
其次，它比正常情况下更亮、色彩更丰富。虽然这些颜色确实来自螃蟹组织和细胞中的天然荧光，但 Zhang 使用了红外线和紫外线波长的激光来增强它们。这种成像技术在处理微观生物时无需染料，使它们看起来更生动，从而更容易识别。
Zhang 不确定这只蚤状幼体 (zoea) 具体有多大年纪，但他表示“根据其形态，它孵化出来的时间并不长”。它生命的下一个阶段将是拟蟹幼体 (megalops) 阶段，届时它将长出小爪子，开始看起来更像螃蟹。
DR TONG ZHANG/EVIDENT IMAGE AWARDS
访问我们获取更多惊人图像：
SCIENCEFOCUS BBCSCIENCEFOCUS
启发之眼 (EYE OPENER)
苏格兰，斯凯岛 (ISLE OF SKYE)，仙女池瀑布 (FAIRY POOL WATERFALLS)
在这幅苏格兰景色中划过闪光的，我们要感谢的是有记录以来最古老的流星雨。天琴座流星雨在 22 April 达到顶峰，摄影师 Josh Dury 捕捉到了这张视觉盛宴般的图像。除了瀑布、山脉、星星和银河 (Milky Way) 的剪影带外，它还显示了流星——撒切尔彗星 (Comet Thatcher) 的微小碎片
——在穿过地球大气层时剧烈燃烧。
撒切尔彗星 (Comet Thatcher) 正式发现于 1861, 年，但中国天文学家的记录可见早至 687 BCE。只要这个“脏雪球”一直在绕太阳运行，碎片就会从中脱落。当地球的轨道与这些碎片相交时，它们以极高的速度撞击我们的大气层——速度高达 50km/s (111,847mph)。
它们移动速度如此之快，以至于前方的空气无法及时避开。相反，空气被迅速压缩，产生热量爆炸。超高温的空气导致流星体发光，产生了像在这里看到的这种条纹。
每当地球经过撒切尔彗星 (Comet Thatcher) 留下的尘迹时，我们每年春天都能看到天琴座流星雨，但直到 2283 年我们才能再次看到撒切尔彗星 (Thatcher) 本身，因为该彗星绕太阳运行一周需要 415 年。
JOSH DURY
SCIENCEFOCUS BBCSCIENCEFOCUS
9
启发之眼 (EYE OPENER)
美国，加利福尼亚州，埃尔多拉多国家森林 (ELDORADO NATIONAL FOREST)
任何爱吃甜食的人可能会忍不住想把这些红色的“软糖”塞进嘴里。不过，我们不建议这么做。它们看起来像糖果，但实际上是一种植物微小的腺毛。而且它们有毒。至少对于那些想要取食该植物的昆虫来说是有毒的。这些被称为毛状体 (trichomes) 的细毛分泌毒性物质，以保护植物——在本例中为雪植株 (Sarcodes sanguinea) ——免受害虫和食草动物的侵害。这些细毛极其微小，通常只有几千分之一毫米长。摄影师 Timothy Boomer 使用了 7.5x 微观镜头，使这些细毛看起来如此巨大且多汁。
雪植株完全是红色的——它们没有叶绿素，因此完全没有绿色，这意味着它们无法像典型植物那样进行光合作用。相反，它们通过与根肿囊菌 (Rhizopogon ellenae) 形成共生关系来获取养分。
与
与
与
与
Elizabeth Preston
Trevor Cox 教授
Jo Wimpenny
发现
核心困惑 科学家们对地球地核的变化感到困惑 p22
压力测试 为什么地球上的首批动物在繁衍上陷入困境 p20
升级 新模型揭示了金字塔建造的秘密 p23
健康
在一项里程碑式的试验中，一次实验性基因治疗注射将“坏”胆固醇降低了高达 62
伦敦的医学研究人员表示，一次性治疗可能会带来高胆固醇的治愈方法。
在一项早期临床试验中，单剂量的新型实验性疗法将低密度脂蛋白（LDL）“坏”胆固醇水平降低了高达 62，并使其在长达一年的时间里保持在低水平，这让人们燃起希望，患者有一天或许可以避免在余生中每天服药。
这种名为 VERVE-102, 的治疗方法通过静脉滴注给药，其原理是永久改变一个参与胆固醇调节的基因。研究人员报告称，在结果发表于《新英格兰医学杂志》的这项试验中，没有出现严重的安全性问题。
降低 LDL 胆固醇可以减少动脉中脂肪斑块的积聚，从而有助于降低心脏病发作和中风的风险。虽然他汀类药物可以实现与基因治疗类似的降低效果，但它们通常需要每天服用。
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
这种新型输液能阻止肝脏产生 PCSK9 蛋白（黄色），促使身体清除更多 LDL 胆固醇
如果更大规模的研究确认 VERVE-102 安全有效，那么单次治疗即可提供针对心血管疾病的长期保护。
该方法旨在模拟一种天然的生物学特性。有些人天生就具有该基因处于关闭状态的特性，使他们终身胆固醇水平极低，患心脏病的风险也低得多。
“现在还处于早期阶段，但这是一个极其令人兴奋的里程碑，”伦敦大学学院（UCL）的临床学者、Barts Health 和 UCL 医院（UCLH）的顾问心脏病专家以及该试验的当地负责人之一 Riyaz Patel 教授说道。
该疗法旨在为心脏病发作和中风的高风险人群重建这种保护效果。
“这些发现表明该技术有效、安全且有助于降低胆固醇。” 为什么这很重要
尽管贴有“基因治疗”的标签，但该治疗并不会重写一个人的整体 DNA。它仅对肝细胞内的一个基因进行单点定向编辑，且这种改变仅限于患者体内的这些细胞。
LDL 胆固醇升高是心脏病发作和中风的最大风险因素之一，导致英国和美国每年有数十万人死亡。
至关重要的一点是，它不会触及精子或卵子中携带的基因，因此不会遗传给后代。实际上，它的设计是为了复制某些人天生就具有的一种遗传变异——不过，与任何新药一样，其长期安全性仍在研究中。
医生可以使用他汀类药物来降低这种风险，目前英国有 700 多万人，美国有 40 million 以上的人在服用此类药物。但只有在人们坚持服用时，它们才有效。
英国心脏基金会首席科学与医学官 Bryan Williams 教授表示：“这些结果非常令人兴奋，凸显了基因技术及其在医疗保健中应用的变革速度。”
研究表明，约一半的患者在开始服用胆固醇药物后的一年内会停止用药，要么是因为他们觉得每天服药难以坚持，要么是因为副作用。肌肉酸痛是最常报告的问题，而少数患者会出现更严重的并发症。
“胆固醇水平显著降低，在最高剂量下降低幅度高达 62%，且降低效果在数月内似乎保持稳定。”
每公斤体重包含的总 RNA 量。RNA 在体内充当遗传信使。
上方 VERVE-102, 通过静脉滴注的方式给药
这就是为什么研究人员对 VERVE-102. 等疗法如此兴奋的原因。如果单次剂量就能提供持久的胆固醇降低效果，那么可能完全不再需要终身服药。
在最高剂量下，该疗法将 LDL 胆固醇降低了高达 62%。最低的降低幅度为 9%，出现在 0.3-mg/kg 的最低剂量组。在随访时间最长的参与者中，胆固醇水平保持在低位。
“虽然还需要涉及更多患者的长期研究来确认这一点，但单次剂量有可能在数年内降低一个人的心血管疾病风险。”
右图 这项新疗法展示了体细胞基因编辑的潜力——即改变普通体细胞的基因，而非精子或卵细胞
“如果更大规模的试验证明成功，这种创新的基因疗法有潜力彻底改变我们为高风险患者降低胆固醇的治疗方式。”
这项由伦敦大学学院 (UCL) 和 UCLH 研究人员开展的研究涉及 35 名成年人，他们要么患有遗传性极高胆固醇血症（已知为杂合子家族性高胆固醇血症），要么患有早发性冠心病。
VERVE-102 是通过单次输注给药，并间接降低 LDL。它关闭了促使肝脏产生一种名为 PCSK9 蛋白质的基因，而这种蛋白质通常会阻止身体清除血液中循环的 LDL 胆固醇。随着基因被沉默，身体会清除更多的 LDL。
其他人则发出了更明确的谨慎提醒。伦敦帝国学院的公共卫生学教授 Kausik Ray 博士表示，不应对该疗法进行过度宣传。
每位患者接受六种剂量之一，范围从 0.3mg 到 1.0mg (0.3 到 1.0)
发现
“对于基因编辑来说，理论上它是维持 PCSK9 降低的一次性终身治疗，但我们目前只有几个月的数据，”他说道。
位于剑桥附近的研究所表示，这项工作令人印象深刻，且很可能成为未来几年开发的众多体细胞基因编辑技术之一。
基因编辑还能治疗什么？一些专家将这次试验视为更广泛领域的里程碑。这项工作展示了体细胞基因编辑（改变普通体细胞而非精子或卵细胞的基因）在应对更常见疾病方面的潜力。与许多此前专注于罕见遗传病的基因编辑疗法不同，VERVE-102 针对的是一种影响全球数百万人的疾病。
“安全顾虑意味着 FDA 要求进行 14 年的安全随访。安全问题可能在多年后才会出现。这些问题可能出现在另一个器官或另一个基因中。如果发生这种情况，我们需要观察是否有长期后果。”
“这是体细胞基因编辑治疗关键疾病的一个良好应用，”他告诉 BBC 科学聚焦。
他补充说，除了帮助那一小部分对他汀类药物反应不佳或出现并发症的人群外，它还为体细胞基因编辑治疗常见慢性疾病指明了道路——而现有的基因编辑主要针对较罕见的遗传疾病。
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, ALAMY
Ray 还预测，一些胆固醇极高的患者在接受基因治疗的同时，可能仍需要额外的药物辅助，以将 LDL 降低到足够低的水平。
欧洲分子生物学实验室欧洲生物信息学研究所所长 Ewan Birney 教授
考古学
STONEOFSTONEHENGE.ORG.UK, NATURE/CLARKE/KIRKLAND/BEVINS ET AL X3
一篇新论文发现
那个巨大的祭坛石可能是从多格兰（Doggerland）搬运而来的，这里曾将英国与欧洲大陆相连。
发现
巨石阵之永恒谜团之一便是其祭坛石（Altar Stone）是如何从苏格兰经历 700 公里（435 英里）的旅程到达英格兰南部的。现在，研究人员认为他们可能找到了部分答案：冰川协助了其运输。
“祭坛石一定具有足够的重要性，使得[人们]愿意将其搬运至少两次；第一次是为了在末次冰期结束时将其免于被上升的海平面淹没，第二次则是将其搬运到萨利斯伯里平原（Salisbury Plain）的最终安置地。”
砂岩来源
共同第一作者、来自科廷大学（Curtin）地球与行星科学学院的安东尼·克拉克（Anthony Clarke）博士表示，研究结果表明，冰川将祭坛石带到了多格兰，随后新石器时代的人们将其搬运至巨石阵的剩余路程。
这块重达 6 吨的巨大砂岩板位于纪念碑中心，被认为在大约 5,000 年前到达萨利斯伯里平原。之前的研究将该石头的起源追溯到苏格兰东北部，但无法解释它是如何跨越如此遥远的距离的。
“我们的模型显示，冰川在末次冰期期间可能将岩石运输了一部分路程——最远可能到达北海的多格滩（Dogger Bank）——但并未进入英格兰南部，这意味着这块石头仍然需要由人们搬运数百公里，”克拉克说道。
在研究了古代冰流后，谢菲尔德哈勒姆大学（Sheffield Hallam University）和澳大利亚科廷大学的科学家们认为，在英国末次冰期（33,000 年前至 11,700 年前之间），一座冰川将祭坛石从苏格兰东北部的奥卡迪亚盆地（Orcadian Basin）带到了多格滩。
现已沉没在北海之下的多格滩，曾是多格兰的一部分——这是一块巨大的史前陆地，将英国与欧洲大陆相连。由于该地区没有天然的大型石头来源，任何在那里发现的巨石必然是由冰川带来的。
尽管研究表明冰川将祭坛石向南搬运，但研究人员没有发现一条能将苏格兰源头直接连接到巨石阵的可行冰川路径。相反，他们认为新石器时代的人们分阶段搬运这块石头，结合使用了陆路、沿海和河流路线。
青石（BLUESTONES）：来自威尔士的普雷塞利山（Preseli Hills）
祭坛石（ALTAR STONE）：来自苏格兰东北部的古红砂岩沉积层
较大的萨森石（LARGER SARSEN STONES）：当地石材，主要来自马尔伯勒（Marlborough）附近的西林（West Woods）
谢菲尔德哈勒姆大学的雷米·维内斯（Remy Veness）博士是发表在《第四纪科学杂志》（Journal of Quaternary Science）上的论文的共同第一作者，他表示：“我们最近发现祭坛石起源于苏格兰东北部，但它如何通过 700 公里的旅程到达萨利斯伯里平原一直存在广泛争议。”
他们补充说，将如此巨大的物体远距离搬运的壮举，表明新石器时代社区之间存在着一种此前未被充分认识的组织和协作水平。
冰盖漂砾运输模型，并展示了一组真实的复杂多阶段运输事件。
“在如此长距离内搬运这样一块巨大的石头，需要规划、协调以及对地形的深刻理解——更不用说巨大的决心了，”克拉克说。
他补充道：“我认为即使这样也低估了冰川运输的全部程度，而且可以想象，祭坛石在多次冰川作用下可能到达了更南、更西的地方。冰川运输理论中包含的内容比我们迄今为止所承认的要多。”
“这些发现令人兴奋的地方在于，它们可能意味着多格兰的人们在祭坛石被纳入巨石阵之前很久，就已经赋予了它文化意义。”
然而，达勒姆大学（Durham University）的冰川地貌学家大卫·埃文斯（David Evans）教授指出，这项研究是“基于一个可验证的
发现
古生物学家长期以来一直在思考：为什么地球上的动物生命在数百万年间保持相对不变。最早的一些生物是 Fractofusus，它们存在于埃迪卡拉纪（635 和 539 million 年前之间），尽管它们看起来更像蕨类植物而非动物。它们似乎没有口器、器官或肢体，但被认为是从周围的水中吸收营养。它们通过匍匐茎发送克隆体进行无性生殖——就像现代的草莓植株一样。
“埃迪卡拉纪的生命状态相当惬意，因此对有性生殖的需求非常有限，”来自剑桥大学动物学系的首席作者 Emily Mitchell 博士说道。“竞争相对较少，所以没有真正的压力去改变任何东西。”
Mitchell 和她的团队研究了纽芬兰 Mistaken Point 的化石，那里是世界上最丰富的埃迪卡拉纪化石来源地之一。他们发现，在这一时期，动物生活在营养丰富的水域中，资源竞争有限。随着它们从深海扩散到较浅的水域，它们将面临更多压力，包括潮汐、风暴、温度波动以及营养水平的变化。
进化
动物只有在面临压力和竞争时，才开始改良其有性生殖方式
“压力本质上导致了有性生殖的出现，而当这种情况发生时，我们可以看到动物在尝试殖民新区域时，扩散距离大幅增加，这是由于竞争加剧所致，”Mitchell 说道。
科学家揭示，地球上的首批动物并不擅长繁殖。
为了进行这项研究，来自剑桥大学的研究人员研究了一些地球上已知最古老动物的化石，这些动物生活在大约 574 million 年前。这些动物进行无性生殖，仅由单一亲本的基因产生后代。
事实上，它们在这方面表现得如此糟糕，以至于实际上阻碍了生命的多样性长达数百万年。直到压力
随着这些动物适应新栖息地和新的繁殖模式，物种的多样化程度也随之提高。这一过程在随后的寒武纪进一步加速，当时动物变得可以移动。
这项发表在《自然-生态与进化》（Nature Ecology and Evolution）杂志上的新研究，在一定程度上解释了一个问题
而竞争导致了有性生殖的出现，随后进化速度加快。
健康
新研究揭示，并非所有“每日五份”的目标都能均等实现——而且我们中只有一小部分人能从摄入的水果和蔬菜中获得足够的关键微量营养素。
这项研究包括来自哈佛医学院和雷丁大学的科学家，他们调查了英国和美国参与者的饮食，并分析了黄烷醇（具有抗氧化和抗炎特性的植物化合物）的摄入量。
“黄烷醇是我们应该纳入饮食的关键成分，因为它们对血管功能有‘益处，并能降低心血管死亡率’，”参与研究的雷丁大学 Gunter Kuhnle 教授解释道。
插图：ROBIN BOYDEN
科学家表示，我们应该目标是获得充足的一种特定微量营养素
但研究发现，我们许多人并未达到黄烷醇的推荐水平。研究人员使用了现有的
太空
一颗白矮星——一个密度极高、体积大致与地球相当但质量接近太阳的恒星残骸——与一颗质量较大但密度较低的红矮星（质量约为太阳的十分之一）组成对星。这两颗星极其紧密地相互绕转，完成一次轨道运行仅需一个多小时。
恒星磁场之间的相互作用在它们轨道的特定点产生无线电爆发，这意味着信号以规律的时间间隔出现。
在过去的几年里，天文学家一直被一系列源自银河的奇异无线电信号所困惑。约有十几个这类长周期无线电
现在，澳大利亚悉尼大学的科学家在《自然·天文学》（Nature Astronomy）上报道称，他们发现了一个不寻常的双星系统，该系统可能是其中一个信号的源头。他们将其称为“恒星罗塞塔石”，认为它能帮助他们解读这些古怪的信号。
“这个系统为我们提供了一种解码这些信号的方法。它可以帮助我们确定其他长周期瞬变源更像脉冲星还是白矮星系统，起到了恒星罗塞塔石的作用，”领导这项研究的博士候选人 Kovi Rose 说道，他指的是那件促成了埃及象形文字破译的考古文物。
这些瞬变源被探测到自我们星系的不同部分发出。
这个新识别的系统，被命名为 ^?X= ljȅǿșǩș șȅǟ
除了无线电信号外，来自质量较小恒星的物质被吸引向白矮星，使其加热并发出 X 射线。这意味着这一发现不仅为研究恒星间的磁相互作用提供了独特机会，还为研究在地球上无法复制的条件下的极端等离子体物理学提供了机会。
“这些系统是天然的实验室，”Rose 补充道。“它们让我们能够测试对于物质在强磁场和强引力作用下如何表现的认知。”
虽然无线电波之谜现在似乎得到了解决，但围绕激变变星物理学的疑问仍然存在。
研究通过追踪 30,000 多个参与者的饮食，利用尿液生物标志物来监测黄烷醇水平。
每天五份水果和蔬菜。研究人员指出，你选择食用哪些水果和蔬菜，比单纯达到“每日五份”更重要。
一盒；蔓越莓，每 250 克一盒含有约 300 毫克；以及黑莓，每 200 克一盒含有约 250 毫克。
一个苹果与另一个苹果之间。相反，关键在于做出有意识的选择并食用各种水果和蔬菜。
“在餐时加入一把黑莓、一个完整的苹果或一杯绿茶，会产生真正的影响，”论文主作者、来自美国加州大学戴维斯分校的 Javier Ottaviani 博士说道。
最佳黄烷醇水平在每天 400 到 600 毫克之间。然而，研究人员发现，只有不到五分之一的参与者达到了这一水平——包括那些食用其
你还可以使用 Phenol Explorer 和美国农业部数据库来识别不同食物中黄烷醇的含量。然而，Kuhnle 指出，即使是
那么我们应该优先选择哪些水果和蔬菜？富含黄烷醇的水果包括李子，每 500 克含约 450 毫克黄烷醇
发现
地质学
在地球外核中，太平洋下方 2,250 公里（1,400 英里）处的一条熔融铁流通过改变方向让科学家们感到惊讶。
地球的外核、内核和下地幔，因此，提供了更多关于核幔边界的见解，而核幔边界是深地动力学的关键区域。”
欧空局（ESA）的最新数据表明，向东的流动在几年前达到峰值后，现在可能再次减弱，这增加了该事件代表一次暂时性振荡，或属于地核动力学中一个更长自然周期的一部分的可能性。
这些观测结果为我们星球液态外核的行为转变提供了新的见解。这一层在产生地球磁场方面起着关键作用，而磁场则像一面防护盾，抵御危险的太阳辐射。
这些变化发生在地球表面深处，不对人类或气候构成直接威胁。但科学家们认为，这对于理解我们星球的运作方式以及外核如何产生地球防护磁场至关重要。
爱丁堡大学的研究人员通过梳理 1997 和 2025 之间获取的地面和卫星观测数据做出了这一发现。他们在《地球深层研究杂志》（The Journal of Studies of Earth’s Deep Interior）中报道称，2010 年，赤道太平洋下方一个富铁流体广大区域的流动方向从微弱向西转变为强力向东。
古生物学
科学家们长期以来都知道，地球的磁场并非固定不变。它随着地核流的演变而缓慢变化，影响着从导航系统到航天器运行以及近地空间天气模型的一切。
“太平洋下方的这种大规模流向反转，引发了关于地球深层内部行为的新问题，”该研究的第一作者、该大学地球科学学院的 Frederik Dahl Madsen 表示。
虽然科学家们早已一致认为 霸王龙 的微小肢体相当没用，但其尺寸背后的实际进化诱因仍存在争议。但现在，
“科学家们现在想了解这种反转是代表一次短暂的波动，还是重复振荡的一部分，亦或是地核循环的一种新的稳定平衡状态。”
此前，人们认为外核由稳定的向西循环主导，但根据欧洲航天局（ESA）的内外部场地球科学家 Elisabetta Iorfida 的说法，太平洋的反转挑战了这一观点。
多亏了新的研究，我们或许得到了答案。
伦敦大学学院（UCL）和剑桥大学的研究人员研究了 82 种兽脚类恐龙（霸王龙所属的这一类多样化的两足、主要食肉的恐龙群），发现它们的手臂随着头部和颌部的增大而萎缩。这表明 霸王龙 （以及其他掠食性恐龙）在进化过程中，将头部和颌部作为主要攻击武器，而非爪子。
插图：ROBIN BOYDEN
“这项研究表明，区域性变化可以在短短十年内迅速出现，”她说。“这些发现还可能帮助科学家调查可能的相互作用，”
考古学
结果，它们的手臂随着长期不使用而萎缩，直到最终被恐龙巨大的颌部和身体完全掩盖，变成了我们开玩笑时提到的那些短小手臂。
这项发表在《英国皇家学会 B 报》（Proceedings of the Royal Society B）上的研究发现，较短的手臂与巨大且强有力的颅骨和颌部的发展联系更紧密，而非与恐龙的整体体型相关。这表明 霸王龙 的短小手臂并非简单的身体变大所导致的结果。
数百万块石块，每块重量在 2.5 和 15 吨之间。为了让这座纪念碑在胡夫统治的 27 年内完工，平均每三分钟就必须放置一块石块。然而，关于这座巨型结构如何在这一时间框架内完工，一直存在激烈争论。
“头部取代了手臂成为攻击手段，”论文主作者、伦敦大学学院（UCL）地球科学系博士生查理·罗杰·谢雷尔（Charlie Roger Scherer）解释道。“这是一个‘不使用就失去’的典型案例——手臂不再有用，随着时间的推移而缩小。”
一些研究人员认为曾使用了外部斜坡。但此类斜坡本身就需要大量的材料，且从未发现过明确的考古证据证明其存在。
“这些适应性变化通常发生在拥有巨型猎物的区域。试图用爪子去拉扯和抓取一只 100 英尺长的蜥脚类恐龙并不理想。用下颚攻击并咬住可能会更有效。”
另一种观点认为，金字塔内建造了一个单一斜坡，在结构中螺旋上升，随着施工进度从顶端向下填充。但 Roig 的数学模型发现，如果仅使用一个斜坡，完成金字塔将需要近半个世纪的时间。
此外，还有许多其他兽脚类恐龙也“跳过了手臂训练日”。Scherer 举例称，卡诺塔龙（Carnotaurus）的手臂甚至比 霸王龙 更小。不过，恐龙的整体尺寸似乎并不重要。尽管体型仅为 霸王龙 的一小部分，但几种较小的兽脚类恐龙同样拥有强壮的头部和微小的手臂。
相反，他认为有 4 个凹陷的斜坡同时围绕金字塔螺旋上升，每个斜坡从基座附近的不同点开始。一旦主体结构完工，这些斜坡就可以被填充。他的计算机生成模型表明，这种方法可以将建设周期缩短至 27 年的时间范围内。
古埃及人在缺乏现代机械和技术的情况下建造吉萨大金字塔的能力，数十年以来一直让专家们感到惊讶——且困惑不解。
但现在，研究员维森特·路易斯·罗塞尔·罗伊格（Vicente Luis Rosell Roig）在《自然》（Nature）杂志上提出的数学证据，可能解开了围绕这座古迹建设的谜团：一个巧妙的螺旋形凹陷斜坡系统被用于运送巨大的石块。
“这是对金字塔建设的一个有趣解释，”利物浦大学埃及学研究员罗兰·恩马奇（Roland Enmarch）博士表示。“这需要更多证据来验证——例如更多关于我们预期会看到的结构异常的扫描。但这看起来确实非常可行。吉萨大金字塔既不是最古老的也不是最后一座金字塔，因此它可能也能揭示其他金字塔是如何建造的。”
这座最大的埃及金字塔大约建于公元前 2,560 年，作为埃及法老胡夫的陵墓，其中包含估计 2.3
SAM AFFOULLOUSS/UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA X4
3
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NATURE
科学家在南极发现了一种海鞘，可能成为治愈皮肤癌的关键。这种微小的海洋生物——adareanum 拟海鞘（Synoicum adareanum）——产生的一种细菌含有毒性化合物，能够杀死黑色素瘤细胞而不会损害其他人体细胞。
“这种选择性在药物开发中至关重要，因为你希望在治疗疾病的同时不伤害患者，”共同领导该化合物研究的南佛罗里达大学（USF）化学教授比尔·贝克（Bill Baker）博士说道。
据估计，每年有 57,000 人死于黑色素瘤（最致命的皮肤癌形式）。预计到 2040 年，这一数字将上升到 96,000 人。
海鞘（也称为 ascidians）是一种囊状海洋无脊椎动物，生活在倾斜的海床底。南极海域的海鞘经过数百万年的进化以应对恶劣条件，能够产生化学防御手段来抵御捕食者和疾病。
来自 USF 的一个团队——以及来自内华达州沙漠研究中心和加州大学圣地亚哥分校斯克里普斯海洋研究所的科学家们——在南极花费了六周时间采集海鞘。现在他们正在研究其 DNA、化学成分和生物学特性，这一过程可能需要数年时间。“如果我们希望将其开发成药物，那么了解这种化合物的来源和功能至关重要，”Baker 说道。
显微镜下的新闻
GLP-1 药物通过隔绝大脑中的“食物噪音”来抑制你的进食冲动。专家发现，它们可能还会影响其他更具危害性的冲动。
作者：S A N D R I N E C E U R S T E M O N T
分析
减肥药改变了人们的生活。任何想要瘦身的人不再需要面对坚持节食和艰苦锻炼方案的持续斗争，而只需遵循一个每周注射的疗程，就能减轻体重。
这一切之所以成为可能，是因为这些药物能够抑制你的进食冲动。通过模拟肠道激素 GLP-1，这些以 Wegovy、Mounjaro 和 Ozempic 为品牌名称销售的药物，通过告知你的大脑已经吃饱来抑制食欲。但这些药物似乎具有以其他方式改变生活的潜力。
相关研究正在调查 GLP-1 药物在冲动控制方面是否具有更广泛的益处。例如，许多服用这些药物的人（其活性成分在 Ozempic 和 Wegovy 中为 semaglutide，在 Mounjaro 中为 tirzepatide）报告说，他们不再渴望饮酒。另一些人则表示，他们不再觉得有强烈的冲动去进行冲动购物、咬指甲或赌博。
【上方图片】服用 GLP-1 药物的人报告酒精渴望程度降低。关于这些药物对啮齿动物影响的研究也提供了支持这些主张的证据。
研究人员现在感兴趣的是，它们是否在暴力等相关行为中也起作用。那么，这些药物的影响究竟能有多深远？
“我认为我们仍在努力追赶这些药物在行为方面产生的大量影响，”新泽西州罗格斯大学城市全球公共卫生系的副教授 Daniel Semenza 博士表示。
这些药物能够更广泛地帮助控制冲动是有道理的。因为已知它们能减少关于进食的持续侵入性想法（即所谓的“食物噪音”），这是驱动冲动的心理嘈杂的一种例子。但涉及的大脑机制尚未被完全理解。
GLP-1 影响大脑的奖励系统，而该系统负责动机和欲望，因此它们能够影响食物以外的其他冲动也就不足为奇了。
当某种事物让你感到愉悦时，大脑中会释放化学物质多巴胺。这会让你产生快感，从而使你的身体渴望更多能产生这种感觉的事物。例如，吃一个汉堡通常会释放少量的多巴胺；然而，饮酒则会让你的大脑被多巴胺淹没。这就是为什么酒精如此容易令人成瘾。
近年来，越来越多的证据表明 GLP-1 药物可能有助于治疗成瘾——多项研究发现，成瘾于酒精的啮齿动物在服用司美格鲁肽（semaglutide）后，其暴饮行为得到了抑制。
但有趣的是，针对啮齿动物的研究表明，如果在饮酒前给予 GLP-1 药物，多巴胺水平并不会增加。巴尔的摩国家卫生研究院的医生兼科学家洛伦佐·莱吉奥（Lorenzo Leggio）博士表示：“GLP-1 药物正在削弱酒精诱导的多巴胺释放。”
近日，位于田纳西州纳什维尔的范德比尔特大学医学中心（Vanderbilt University Medical Center）的神经学家汉娜·凯利（Hannah Kelly）博士发布的一篇病例报告也表明，GLP-1 药物可以钝化大脑中的多巴胺反应。凯利与一名
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分析
同事记录了一名 46 岁男性的情况。该男子在服用治疗帕金森病的药物后，出现了冲动控制障碍，这种病症的特点是无法克制可能有害的冲动。
由于帕金森病患者体内的多巴胺过少，因此帕金森药物会提高大脑中的多巴胺水平。然而，随着体内多巴胺的增加，该男子开始出现无法控制的性冲动，导致其发生了婚外情。他还感到强迫性地想要购物，导致一次高达 $30,000（约 £22,000）的购物狂欢。但当他开始每周注射司美格鲁肽以治疗另一种无关疾病时，该男子发现这些药物遏制了他的冲动行为。
“潜在地，这种对暴力的反应与那些没有服用药物的人是一样的，”塞门扎（Semenza）说道。
然而，这项研究仅仅是第一步，塞门扎强调还需要开展更多工作。例如，他和同事使用的数据是在 1 个时间点收集的，因此无法让他们区分因果关系。未参与该项研究的凯利补充道，导致暴力行为的因素如此之多，仅观察其中两个因素不足以证明 GLP-1 药物具有直接影响。
“我认为这位患者确实证明了它对冲动控制障碍有效，”凯利说道。
莱吉奥补充说，多巴胺调节并非 GLP-1 药物帮助冲动控制的唯一机制。近期的研究表明，它们在改善情绪健康方面发挥作用，这可能会产生间接影响。并非每个人喝酒是为了获得快感——有些人饮酒是为了缓解压力或焦虑。因此，如果 GLP-1 药物能帮助人们感到更平静、更积极，那么患者可能会与酒精建立更好的关系，因为当心理触发因素被削弱时，他们就不会寻求饮酒。
塞门扎及其团队目前计划进行一项准实验分析，通过检查医疗记录和逮捕记录等不同来源的数据，以更好地了解 GLP-1 药物与暴力之间随时间变化的联系。如果进一步的证据表明存在直接联系，这些药物可能会成为预防暴力的另一种工具。
“在广泛的人群中，我们认为可以作为预防暴力选项的药物干预手段非常少，”塞门扎说道。
减肥药物还可能以一种迂回的方式帮助改善更复杂的行为。Semenza 及其同事最近在《犯罪学》（Criminology）杂志上发表了一篇报告，探讨服用 GLP-1 药物是否能帮助遏制暴力行为。
目前，认知行为疗法通常被推荐给易产生暴力倾向的人。其希望是通过训练，让他们在可能发生暴力的情境中产生不同的思考方式，从而不再随冲动而行动。它教会他们放慢速度，仔细思考自己可能的反应过程，并提前预想以避免攻击性行为。
他们通过关注 2025 年在美国针对 821 名曾在某个时间点服用过减肥药的成年人进行的调查，研究了 GLP-1 药物对冲动性和酒精滥用的影响，而这两者是暴力行为最大的风险因素之二。该调查询问参与者在过去 12 个月内是否参与过暴力犯罪，例如用武器威胁他人或参与肢体冲突。调查还包含了一系列评估其冲动水平和酒精使用情况的问题。
“如果操作得当，这些干预措施已被证明非常有效，特别是对于那些生活在美国暴力程度较高社区的人，”Semenza 说道，“但它们价格昂贵，很难让人们定期参加，而且在社区中推广起来可能很复杂。”
Semenza 认为，GLP-1 药物可能会产生类似的效果，通过降低冲动性并给人们更多时间思考自己的行为，正如在面对食物渴望时的情况那样。他还认为，弄清楚这类药物会对哪些人群产生最大影响至关重要。
研究两人发现，与从未服用过或已停止服用 GLP-1 药物的人相比，服用 GLP-1 药物的人，冲动性与暴力犯罪之间的关系降低了 62%，而酒精使用与暴力犯罪之间的联系降低了 52%。
“对于过去有过暴力行为的人以及他们周围的人来说，这可能是一种非常有意义的干预手段，”Semenza 补充道。
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“我们认为这意味着，在 GLP-1 使用者中，冲动性并没有转化为
【上图】GLP-1 药物作用于大脑的方式，可能为我们治疗冲动控制障碍患者提供一种途径。
专家们日益达成共识，认为对于有冲动行为问题的人来说，GLP-1 药物可能像给需要减肥的人那样，改变他们的生活。这一进展不仅有潜力改变对 GLP-1 药物处方的需求，还可能改变治疗格局。
“如果能出现更多证据证明这种相关性，从而使 GLP-1 药物可以被处方 [用于治疗冲动控制障碍]，那就太好了，”Kelly 说道。
如果临床试验证明 GLP-1 药物可以帮助戒除成瘾，Leggio 认为其影响将是前所未有的。首先，它们可能会像在肥胖症中那样，帮助消除对成瘾的污名化，从而鼓励那些在成瘾中挣扎的人不再羞于寻求帮助。
Kelly 表示，目前针对冲动控制障碍患者的治疗手段很少。例如，在服用多巴胺刺激药物的人群中，每 6 人中就有 1 人受到此类障碍影响。对于帕金森病患者，通常的解决方案是停止或降低药物剂量，但这并不理想，因为他们服用药物是为了控制行走困难和震颤等症状。改为开具 GLP-1 药物处方可能会改变这一切。
作者：S A N D R I N E C E U R S T E M O N T。Sandrine 是一位自由科学记者，报道领域涵盖健康与技术。
“大多数成瘾患者没有得到治疗，”他说，“希望这些药物能真正带来突破，不仅证明其有效，还能增加寻求治疗的人数。”
分析
作者：M I C H A E L D A Y
此时此刻，在地球上几乎每一片土壤之下，一个该星球最奇异的生命结构之一正在蔓延。它是一种真菌，但与你晚餐盘中的蘑菇完全不同。
Society for the Protection of Underground FǓ ΛȅȖ șশ^XhFষ ǩș ƺǦǓ ȅǟƺ ȅ @ƺǩǏ
[[IMG_XXXX]] 上图：SPUN 团队从世界各地（包括不丹，如图所示）采集了土壤样本，以观察丛枝菌根真菌网络的延伸范围
该研究称，从端到端来看，全球 AM 真菌的菌丝总长度将超过 110 拍（quadrillion）公里。这足以跨越银河的约十分之一，即大约 11,000 光年。据认为，这些菌丝持有约 300 百万吨碳：是全球所有在世人类总重量的 4–6 倍。
盘。相反，它以微观菌丝的形式生长，比棉花更细，在土壤中穿梭并深入大多数植物的根部。
右上图 在蒙古采集土壤样本
这类根系共生真菌有几种类型。分布最广且是一项重大新研究焦点的类型是丛枝菌根真菌（arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi），简称 AM 真菌。它们已经存在了数亿年，远在第一批树木出现之前。
但这项研究不仅为这个隐藏世界提供了令人惊叹的数据，还提出了一个更大的问题：如果如此庞大的系统一直生长在我们的脚下，它能为我们做些什么——而如果它开始衰竭会发生什么？根系及其他
右上图 莫哈韦沙漠中“装袋并贴标”的土壤样本
一个多世纪以来，科学家们已知这些真菌通过向植物输送营养和水分，帮助维持生态系统的生存。然而，一个出奇基础的问题直到现在才得到解答：这个隐藏的网络究竟有多少埋在地下？
科学家经常将这些真菌网络称为地球的循环系统，原因显而易见。
简单来说，它们将自己编织进植物的根部，并作为根系的延伸，
答案来自一项最新的研究，由
分析
一个如此庞大且与地球生命如此紧密交织的系统——你可能会认为它是安全的。但事实并非如此。事实上，揭示其惊人规模的同一项研究还揭露了一个更为令人担忧的情况：我们正在摧毁它。而且速度很快。
它们在土壤中延伸的深度远超根系单独能达到的范围。它们收集水分和营养并将其输送给植物。植物则以通过光合作用产生的糖分作为回报。
然而，虽然我们投入巨大资源去种植和保护森林，但大量碳最终归宿的庞大地下网络所获得的关注相对较少。
这并非少数几种异常物种之间的某种小众伙伴关系。AM 真菌与地球上约 70 per cent 的植物物种相连。撕裂这个地下网络，就等于在大多数全球植物的下方扯断了供应线。随之而来的，还有我们依赖的农作物、森林和牧场。
“这些真菌的重要性与规模之巨，无论如何强调都不为过，”该研究的第一作者、SPUN 的进化生态学家 Justin Stewart 博士说。
当人们想象值得拯救的自然景观时，往往会想到雨林。但野生草地——那种大多数人开车经过的、开阔且不显眼的景观——估计拥有全球 40 per cent 的 AM 真菌。南苏丹的平原、佛罗里达的大沼泽地和青藏高原都被预测为极其丰富。
THOMÁS MUNITA/SPUNX2, GABRIEL DE LA ROSA/SPUN
喂养植物只是故事的一半。同样的植物-真菌伙伴关系还帮助调节气候。当植物吸收碳时，它们会
“对我来说，最大的发现之一是草地的重要性，它是地球上被严重忽视的生态系统，”研究贡献者、谢菲尔德大学植物土壤过程教授 Katie Field 博士说。她说，结果表明草地拥有“如此巨大的真菌多样性，以及如此巨大的真菌密度”。
将部分碳发送到地下交给它们的真菌伙伴，帮助将其储存在土壤中。
“真菌在气候和保护领域被忽视了太久，”SPUN 的执行主任兼阿姆斯特丹自由大学进化生物学教授 Toby Kiers 博士说道。“现在是改变这一轨迹的时候了。”
来自项目外部的警告则更为严峻。伦敦帝国学院和邱园（Kew Gardens）的真菌生态学家 Martin Bidartondo 教授表示，两个世纪的工业活动正在迫使一个耗时数亿年才进化而成的系统，进入一个它从未被设计去适应的环境中。
“人类大约在 300,000 年前进化而来，而我们在过去的 200 年里正以惊人的速度挥霍着这份遗产，”他说。“我们正在进行一项史上最大规模的实验，没有重复组，也没有对照组……迅速制造出植物和真菌在进化过程中无法应对的‘弗兰肯斯坦’式环境。”
他说，如果这些网络遭到严重破坏，损害将不会仅停留在地下。植物将难以扎根和生长——而由此产生的裂痕将向外扩散：影响到我们收获的食物和木材、依赖植物生存的动物、土壤储存碳和水的能力，以及其抵御侵蚀的能力。换句话说，抽掉真菌，地表之上惊人数量的生命将开始崩塌。
贯穿这一切的残酷事实是，我们被要求去照顾某种我们几乎不了解的东西。即使是测量过它的科学家们，也迅速指出了他们知识的局限性。
“关于它们的作用、功能的有效性，以及它们在不同环境和宿主植物中的角色如何变化，我们仍然知之甚少，”Field 承认。她的合著者、生物学家 Merlin Sheldrake 博士对此表示同意：“关于这些生物运输系统的基础设施在地球上是如何分布的，我们的了解依然太少。”
而问题就由此产生。草原是地球上受保护程度最低的地区之一，其转化为农田的速度比森林被砍伐的速度快四倍。
[[IMG_XXXX]] 上方：SPUN 团队制作了一幅地图，显示了丛枝菌根网络在全球范围内的分布情况
MORITZ STEFANER/TRUTH & BEAUTY/ SPUN, GETTY IMAGES
通常情况下，了解不足是采取观望态度的理由。但在这里，情况正好相反。我们现在知道这个网络极其庞大，它默默地支撑着世界上大多数植物生命，而我们正在迅速地将其损毁。
这对真菌来说是个坏消息，因为农业对这些网络具有破坏性。犁耕将纤细的菌丝撕裂，而化学肥料则消除了植物最初喂养真菌的理由。因此，这些网络在枯萎。事实上，SPUN 的研究发现，农田中的真菌网络含量仅为野生土地的一半左右。
这就是为什么 SPUN 团队没有等待完整图像呈现的原因。在研究的同时，他们发布了一幅“菌根基础设施地图”——这是首个关于这些网络分布位置的详细全球指南——他们正敦促各国政府将其纳入保护计划：保护最富饶的草原，重新思考农田管理方式，并将土壤视为需要精心照料的资产，而非仅仅是可利用的资源。
作者：M I C H A E L D A Y（Michael 是一位屡获殊荣的自由撰稿人和作家。）
正如我们所见，正是这些网络每年埋藏着数十亿吨的碳。因此，随着它们的枯萎，这种损失的影响将远远超出土壤范围。
分析
握手的力度是否比血压更能预示你的寿命？
随着生物年龄测量法日益普及，那些听起来很有科学依据的测试往往能占据头条。但一个简陋的握力测量设备（握力计）在与血液测试和表观遗传时钟的竞争中也毫不逊色。
你不需要成为一名“健身房猛男”也能享受力量训练带来的益处。但有些事情是你需要了解的。
原理很简单：你尽全力握紧，设备会给出以公斤为单位的读数。如果你在同龄人中表现出色，这通常预示着你未来的健康寿命和总寿命都将较为理想。
作者：D R A N D R E W S T E E L E
握力测试的有效性正是力量训练如今如此风靡的原因之一。力量训练传统上被认为是那些在健身房举铁的猛男们的专属，但现在人们越来越强调它对所有人的重要性——从糖尿病患者、接受癌症治疗的病人，到那些仅仅想优化健康长寿的人。
握力是你潜在长寿的一个良好指标。但仅针对握力进行训练并不能帮你延长寿命。
为力量训练提供有力支持的是大规模的“队列研究”。在这些研究中，科学家们在数十年间追踪大量人群，观察他们的行为、饮食等，然后将其与患病情况及最终死因联系起来。最近一项针对美国退休医疗专业人员的研究发现，参加锻炼的人寿命更长——而且最佳的组合是心血管训练（有氧运动）与力量训练的结合。
研究人员发现，每周 1.5–2 小时的力量训练与死亡风险降低 13% 相关。在针对特定疾病时，这一数字更高：心脏病死亡风险降低 19%，神经系统疾病（如痴呆症）死亡风险降低 27%。更棒的是，这与有氧运动具有叠加效应——除非你已经处于最活跃的有氧运动组（每周跑步约五小时或步行十小时），否则增加一些力量训练可以让你活得更久。
那么，为什么举起沉重的重量能帮助延长寿命呢？首先，关于力量训练有一个误区：重量并不需要很大。它们甚至不需要是你在健身房看到的那些杠铃片和杠铃杆。力量训练是你可以在家完成的：自重练习（如平板支撑、仰卧起坐和深蹲）是极佳的入门方式。
关于这一点稍后详述，但首先来看一些生物学知识。骨骼肌是人体最大的器官：
分析
在健康的成年人中，它约占体重的 30–40%。 (之所以称为“骨骼肌”，是因为它是附着在骨骼上的肌肉，且可以通过锻炼产生影响。) 从这个角度来看，肌肉对我们的健康和衰老过程产生如此巨大的影响也就不足为奇了。
肌肉对于吸收葡萄糖（餐后血液中的糖分）至关重要。事实上，餐后约 80% 的葡萄糖被锁定在你的骨骼肌中。如果你在网上看到过关于避免餐后“血糖峰值”的宣传，那么最好的技巧之一就是拥有更多能够吸收葡萄糖的肌肉。
而且有充分的证据表明，运动可以提供帮助：如果你患有糖尿病（这意味着你的血糖往往较高），力量训练可以降低血糖——而且你变得越强，血糖降低得越多。一项研究甚至发现，对于糖尿病患者的血糖控制，力量训练的效果优于有氧运动。不过，总的来说，两者似乎都很重要。非糖尿病患者是否应该担心血糖峰值仍是一个开放性问题，但增加肌肉量是目前最好的技巧之一，并且还带来一系列其他益处。
骨骼肌还会分泌许多被称为“肌肉因子”（myokines）的信号分子。同样，因为它是我们最大的器官，这些分泌物似乎至关重要。例如，运动中的肌肉会分泌一种名为白细胞介素 6（IL-6）的分子，该分子通常与炎症相关，但在这种情境下，它似乎具有抗炎作用。IL-6 还能减少内脏脂肪——即与糖尿病和加速衰老相关的那类脂肪。甚至有一项试验证明了这一点：运动能减少内脏脂肪，但如果参与者服用了阻断 IL-6 作用的药物，则没有此效果。
上方：显微镜下观察到的人类骨骼肌，经人工着色
说到骨骼，力量训练同样可以增强骨骼。这对女性尤为重要，因为在绝经后，女性激素的变化会导致骨密度和强度的显著下降。
年轻人可能在打一个月石膏后就能从骨折中恢复，而一名髋部骨折的老年人在一年内死亡的概率为 15–30%。
但运动可以帮助降低这一风险。平衡训练可以降低我们跌倒的概率，而功能性和力量训练则可以改善肌肉和神经肌肉连接，赋予我们反应所需的速度和力量。更棒的是，更强壮的骨骼意味着跌倒更有可能仅导致面子受损，而不是骨折。
抗阻运动可以帮助抵消这种损失。一项命名颇具趣味的 LIFTMOR 试验让 60 多岁且骨量较低的女性分别接受为期八个月的监督下高强度抗阻与冲击训练（每周两次），或低强度居家运动。前一组参与者的两个关键部位骨密度显著增加：下脊柱和股骨头（腿部与髋部连接处）。一项针对男性的类似试验发现，男性同样能从中受益。
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, GETTY IMAGES
遗憾的是，骨骼肌量如此重要，但从 30 多岁起，我们每年会损失 0.5–1% 的肌肉量。这听起来可能不多，但经过数十年，累积起来影响巨大。力量下降的速度大约比 2–5 倍快。
原因在于，导致髋部骨折的跌倒是老年人健康状况恶化甚至死亡的一个重要原因。
分析
病。运动现在已被推荐作为癌症治疗的一部分，在化疗和放疗期间可缓解疲劳并提高生活质量。
另一个好消息是我们不需要进行海量运动就能产生影响：收益随运动量的增加而稳步上升，然后在每周大约两小时左右达到平台期，因此无需过度操劳。
你甚至不需要去健身房：NHS（英国国家医疗服务体系）的力量训练方案围绕一把椅子、一面墙和几个装满水的瓶子构建。以下是其中你可以尝试的几项：
O 坐立交替 将手臂交叉抱在胸前，仅使用腿部力量，从椅子上站起并再次坐下。这不仅是锻炼：如果你计算 30 秒内能完成多少次，这就是一项衰弱程度的衡量指标。 O 靠墙静蹲 将背部沿墙向下滑动，直到呈坐姿并保持该姿势。这是几种“等长”静态维持动作之一，有助于降低血压。
O 肱二头肌弯举 双手各持一个装满水的瓶子，缓慢地将其弯曲至肩部，然后放下。准备好后你可以升级到哑铃，但从轻量缓慢的动作开始依然能增强肌肉力量。
虽然力量训练目前确实备受推崇，但保持运动的多样性也同样重要。同一项显示力量训练能降低死亡风险的研究发现，有氧运动可以承担大部分艰巨的任务，而其他研究则发现，混合多种运动类型是最有益的。
左图：力量训练并不一定需要举起沉重的重量。弹力带在起步阶段就能提供足够的阻力。
这是因为，虽然长寿在字面意义上仅仅是指我们活了多少年，但更重要的是我们的健康寿命（healthspan），它涵盖了许多不同的方面：免于疾病，以及力量、平衡力、耐力、骨密度等。
握力就是一个很好的例子。人们很容易在读到握力的重要性后，决定花大量时间通过挤压握力器来优化它。但这仅仅是在“针对测试进行训练”。握力是死亡率的一个绝佳预测指标，并不是因为强壮的手部直接影响了你患癌或患痴呆症的风险，而是因为拥有一个整体健康、强健且有活力的身体能保护你免受许多与年龄相关的问题的困扰，而握力的提升只是一个副作用。
肌肉量，到 75 岁时，我们每年会损失 2–4%。
好消息是，抗阻训练可以有所帮助，而且开始训练永远不晚：一项研究向养老院的一组 90 多岁的老人（最年长者 96 岁）实施了为期八周的力量训练计划。他们的力量几乎增加了三倍，腿部肌肉增长了约 10%，行走速度提高了约 50%。
还有一个更务实的观点：享受多样化的活动“自助餐”，可能比每年在健身房重复相同的动作更容易在数十年间保持活力。
作者：D R A N D R E W S T E E L E。Andrew 是一位科学家、作家和主持人。他是《Ageless》（Doubleday，2021）一书的作者。
我们拥有的最好的长寿药并不是药物。而是无论 20 年后你仍然愿意进行的任何运动。
它甚至可以帮助那些非常严重的……
为明天做好准备
作者：R O B E R T B A N I N O
如果你将一只情感支持动物与一台机器人真空吸尘器结合起来，会得到什么？你可能会得到像这里看到的这个长满绒毛、有雀斑的创造物。
它被称为“Familiar”，乍一看，你可能会认为它只是一个新型的、改良后的机器人宠物——是索尼 Aibo 一个更柔软、更先进的继承者。
但它的创造者——一个包括来自迪士尼、波士顿动力（Boston Dynamics）和 iRobot（Roomba 机器人吸尘器的背后的公司）的机器人工程师在内的团队——表示它不仅仅于此。他们说，Familiar 是一个“旨在以自然方式适应并与人类互动的物理实体 AI 系统”。
换句话说，它是一个随着你与之关系的深化而发展出性格的 AI 伴侣。简而言之，它是一个你可以建立情感纽带的机器人。
上图：Familiar 可以为那些无法照顾宠物的人提供陪伴和刺激。
它们的情绪以及如何适当应对每一种情绪。从实际效果来看，它在学习如何关怀。
孤独的人，而且偶尔需要一个友好的提醒来让他们从沙发上站起来。
iRobot 前首席执行官 Colin Angle 在 5 月于纽约举行的“一切之未来”（Future of Everything）会议上展示了原型机，并表示 Familiar 代表了机器人技术的进步。“机器人技术的下一个时代不仅仅关乎灵巧度或类人形态——而在于能够建立并维持人类连接的机器。”
这是一个雄心勃勃的项目，如果 Familiar 在上市时（预计 2027 年）真的能实现制造者所声称的所有功能，那么这是一个令人钦佩的项目。但问题依然存在，最明显的是：它们的价格是多少？预计价格将“与典型的宠物养育成本相当”，尽管正如 Renfrew 所指出的，“Familiar 并不是宠物的替代品”。
“‘守护灵’（Familiars）旨在为任何希望在家庭中拥有一个积极、关怀之存在的人提供服务，”Renfrew 说道。“它们适用于那些你需要陪伴、安慰，甚至温和引导的时刻。”这种安慰可能是在你感到压力时的一次亲昵蹭触。而与此同时，“温和引导”则可能在你盯着手机太久时，以一次轻推的形式出现。
但制造一个能产生情感纽带的机器人真的那么重要吗？毕竟，人们能够且确实会对几乎任何事物产生依恋，从泰迪熊到家用电器——例如扫地机器人（已知用户会给它们起名、装饰它们，甚至在它们停止工作时为之哀悼）。那么，除了外观之外，守护灵与人们可能产生依恋的任何其他物体有何不同？
而且他是对的——守护灵归根结底是一台机器。一台你可能会与其建立纽带甚至照顾它的机器，但它依然是一台机器。即使它能察觉到你何时需要被提醒停止“末日刷屏”（doomscrolling），与它的 AI 互动难道不是用一种数字干扰替代了另一种数字干扰吗？
“守护灵会像另一个人那样，注意到你是否已经静坐且脱离社交很长时间，然后它会采取行动。它会走过来，邀请你起身、走动、走到户外或直接与它互动，”Renfrew 说。
“如果我们制造的是一个旨在吸引你注意力的东西，那我们只不过是做了一个形状不同的屏幕，”Renfrew 说。“我们做了相反的事情。没有屏幕，没有信息流，没有通知，也没有任何通过你的时间以及与守护灵的互动来获利的商业模式。”
根据制造这些机器的公司联合创始人 Ira Renfrew 的说法，守护灵的不同之处主要在于它能够学习。“我们想要的是一个随着时间推移而成为你世界一部分的东西，而不是一个电子小玩意或家用电器。守护灵感知周围环境，发展出独特的个性，并以随着身边人们共同生活而演进的方式做出反应。”
正是这种识别并响应行为线索的能力——这种“情商”——可能使守护灵与其监护人之间建立起持久的联系。
“衡量我们是否成功的诚实标准，不在于你花在守护灵上的时间有多少；而在于你最终是否与自己的生活联系得更紧密，而不是更依赖于这台机器。我能做的最接近的类比是 Apple Watch 或 Oura 戒指，因为这些工具能帮你生活得更好一点，而不会接管你的生活。”
那么，守护灵是为谁设计的？嗯，基本上是任何人。Renfrew 表示，公司“专注于服务大众，而非特定的利基市场，尽管我们确实有一些对该概念表现出特别浓厚兴趣的特定目标群体。”其中一个目标群体可能是老年人（已经有几种旨在为老年人提供陪伴和刺激的机器人动物）。但同样，它也可以是任何
FAMILIAR MACHINES AND MAGIC X2
不过，仅靠学习并不总是足以形成持久的纽带。毕竟，机器人宠物会学习做动作并在家中导航，但这并不意味着在新鲜感消失后你依然会珍惜它。守护灵与机器人宠物的区别在于，它会学习关于其“监护人”（与其共居的人）的信息。它学习识别他们的日常习惯、他们的感受，
作者：R O B E R T B A N I N O
Robert 是 BBC 科学聚焦 的执行编辑。
创新
如何构建你自己的
模拟赛车设备
如果你还没注意到，我们正在进入赛车游戏的黄金时代。感觉目前游戏世界的半数玩家都在用 Xbox 玩《极限竞速：地平线 6》，在日本的街道上疾驰。与此同时，在 PS5 上，数百万人仍然涌向稍微旧一些但更严肃的赛车模拟游戏《跑车浪漫旅 7》，参加每周比赛和阶级赛。甚至 F1 赛车手也在玩：当马克斯·维斯塔潘不在赛道上时，你可能
首先，你需要选择一款游戏和对应的游戏机，因为有些游戏仅兼容单一系统。当然，你可能想在 rFactor 2 中与马克斯（Max）并驾齐驱（如果你认真对待模拟赛车，那是最佳选择），但这款游戏价格昂贵，对时间的占用极高，且要求非常苛刻。此外，一台游戏 PC 至少会让你花费 £1,500 ($2,000)。而主机游戏能提供 90% 的乐趣，而且你不需要申请银行贷款就能开始。
你会发现他正带着自己的 Verstappen Sim Racing 团队在网上进行比赛。事实上，马克斯是模拟赛车的坚定拥护者，他认为相比于耗资数百万的传统“从卡丁车到开轮式赛车”的晋升路径，模拟赛车是挖掘驾驶天才的一种更高效的方式。
那么，参与其中需要什么？嗯，如果你想从使用控制器升级到能让你感觉像个模拟赛车手的设备，我们认为你需要大约 £700（约 $950），这还不包括游戏机或 PC。以下是我们的计算方式：
如果你已经拥有一台游戏机，就继续使用它并寻找其中的赛车游戏。对我们来说，PS5 是首选。这是因为 Gran Turismo 7 是进入模拟赛车世界的最佳入口，且它是 PlayStation 独占游戏。那里有一个活跃的赛车社区和一套排名系统，你可以通过它向真实的竞技赛事迈进。如果你使用 Xbox，年度的 Formula 1 系列以及更严肃的 Assetto Corsa 也是绝佳选择。
方向盘与踏板。这是核心部分，也是预算投入最多的地方。廉价的方向盘使用皮带或齿轮来产生阻力；更好的设备则使用“混合”或“直驱”系统，以提供更精准、更细腻的反馈。在踏板方面，请寻找真正的刹车踏板而非简单的弹簧——比起几乎任何其他单一升级，压力传感器（load cell）刹车对车辆在制动时的体感影响最大，不过这通常是后期添加的升级项。
座椅。将方向盘螺栓固定在一个摇晃的桌子上很快就会让你沮丧，因为在强力制动时，你无法在踏板前支撑身体，且坐姿完全错误。此外，你无法充分享受正宗的模拟赛车体验。你不需要一套完整的动态模拟舱来解决这个问题——一个专用的可折叠座舱就能以极低的价格完成任务，而且在空间有限的情况下，不用时可以将其收起来。
显示器。容易被忽略，但在赛车游戏中，快速刷新的屏幕比几乎任何其他游戏类型都更重要，因为你需要实时对制动点和弯心标记做出反应。一个拥有 144Hz 以上刷新率、低响应时间并支持游戏机可变刷新率（VRR）的面板，与标准电视相比，将显著减少模糊感和输入延迟。曲面宽屏将提升沉浸感。多屏幕可提供宽广的视野，但占用空间大且通常价格昂贵。
很多模拟赛车的核心在于理解轮胎的状态。通过其“混合”驱动系统，Thrustmaster 在这方面表现出色——当我启动 Gran Turismo 7 时，感觉就像在玩一款全新的游戏。值得花点时间研究方向盘的菜单以微调设置，但出厂状态下基本可以实现即插即用。踏板坚固，行程和阻力足以带来真实感。
这是一套完整且真实的初学者配置：
…方向盘与踏板：
Thrustmaster T248R £249.99.
一款具有混合力反馈方向盘，配备磁力踏板组和方向盘显示屏，无需 PC 即可调整设置。它获得了 PS5、PS4 和 PC 的官方授权，并能毫无障碍地直接映射到 Gran Turismo 7 的方向盘设置中。
Next Level Racing 座椅的包装尺寸出乎意料地小，且易于组装——你只需要具备宜家家具级别的组装技能即可。尽管它是为了折叠存放和隐藏在橱柜中而设计，但连续使用几个小时依然舒适，而且至关重要的是，它让你感觉自己正坐在一辆赛车里。
…座椅：Next Level Racing GTLite Pro £279
一款可折叠的 GT 风格驾驶舱，支持最高 13Nm 的轴距，因此即使您以后升级方向盘也不需要更换。需要腾出空间时，可以通过内置轮子将其推走。
iiyama 曲线显示器非常出色。如果条件允许，可以多花一点钱买个尺寸更大的。但在目前的这个价格下，它几乎无可挑剔。
…显示器：iiyama G-Master G2766HSU-B1 £115–£165
全面投入并投资是很诱人的，但模拟赛车需要时间与空间。如果您两者兼备，那么这套设备的模块化程度足够高，您可以逐一升级每个组件。话虽如此，如果您只想在周日跳入一场 F1 比赛并假装身在摩纳哥，这套方案就能满足需求。
一款 27 英寸（65 厘米）的曲线游戏显示器，拥有 165Hz 刷新率和 1 毫秒响应时间——远超标准电视的性能，足以让制动点的判断明显变得更容易。
GETTY IMAGES
创新 (INNOVATIONS)
编辑精选… (EDITOR’S PICKS…)
…尽情狂欢 (Party Hard)
Marshall 的便携式蓝牙扬声器将帅气的外观、磅礴的声音和强劲的耐用性完美结合。Stockwell III 正体现了这一点，单次充电可播放 40 小时以上，且驱动单元配置可向四面八方投射音频——即 Marshall 所称的 360° 立体声。换句话说，无论把它放在哪里，它都能成为派对的灵魂。更棒的是，这是我们见过的首批电池可更换的蓝牙扬声器之一——在充斥着密封、胶封竞争产品的市场中，这个小细节对维修而言意义重大。
本月最智能科技
Marshall Stockwell III £199.99, marshall.com
创新 (INNOVATIONS)
丹麦高端 Hi-Fi 制造商 Dali 终于全面投入研发一款一体化无线扬声器系统——这引起了我们的兴趣。Vega 的设计采用了木材和阳极氧化铝，使其看起来更像一件 Japandi（日式北欧风）家具而非传统的扬声器。在优雅的造型之下，是一些巧妙的技术，旨在抵消将所有扬声器集成在一个单元中的缺陷。它具备“自适应立体声增强 (Adaptive Stereo Enhancement)”功能，可调整信号以营造出比单元本身更宽广的立体声感；以及“自适应方向调整 (Adaptive Orientation Adjustment)”功能，可根据其直立或平放的状态调整空间音频元素。连接性能强劲，声音表现也同样有保障，但有一个遗憾：它不支持 HDMI eARC 或 Dolby Atmos，因此不适合作为家庭影院的回音壁（soundbar）使用。
不要在烹饪时靠猜测，请使用温度计。你绝对不会后悔。这款新产品是我们见过的最高科技产品之一。Typhur 没有使用蓝牙信号将温度数据从探针传输到手机，而是采用了低频无线技术将数据发送到配备独立屏幕的专用接收器。这样做的好处是？它可以穿透一些极具挑战性的材料（例如圆形陶瓷烤炉 kamado-style barbecue 的外壳），并实现远距离实时监测肉类温度（根据 Typhur 的说法，距离约为 200 米/656 英尺）。
Dali Vega, £2,599, dali-speakers.com
Typhur Sync Gold Dual £199.99, uk.typhur.com
如果您和我一样经常浏览 YouTube 的烹饪频道，您可能会注意到每位厨师的餐桌上都有一种特殊的烧烤炉：Konro 烤炉。这并不是新鲜事——这是一种基于 18 世纪设计的日式烤炉，主要用于烹饪 yakitori（烧鸟）。构成炉身的多孔石材是由硅藻土切割而成，而硅藻土是由古代微小藻类的遗骸形成的。这种结构具有极佳的隔热效果，因此燃料效率高且能提供极高的炙烤温度。它分为两种类型：传统型和现代型。
为办公和旅行而设计的电脑鼠标通常为了尺寸而牺牲舒适度。它们可能体积小巧方便，但由于没有足够的表面让手部支撑，使用起来非常痛苦。罗技（Logitech）的解决方案是这款可以对折的灵活鼠标。展开后，这种巧妙的设计在尺寸（至少在长度上）和支撑力上，几乎能提供与家用鼠标相当的体验。这里没有传统的鼠标滚轮，而是在中间设计了一个触控面板，用于滚动页面。另一个巧妙的设计点是内置的 AI，它能确保你在摸索展开鼠标时，不会意外点击到任何内容。
夏至已经过去，这意味着夜晚将逐渐变长。为了对抗这一点，我计划寻找一种对世界上最古老的创新——火——进行高科技（近似）改造的产品。Summit 承诺提供温暖身心的热量，且不会刺激眼睛，也不会让你闻起来像黑线鳕鱼，因为它不产生烟雾。该炉具采用双层壁设计，底部设有孔洞将空气吸入腔体，空气在沿壁上升过程中被火加热。这些热空气从火上方排出，进行“二次燃烧”，制造商称其温度足以消除烟尘颗粒。
Konro Grill 价格不等，japaneseknifecompany.com 和 kasaigrills.com
Solo Stove Summit From £349, solostove.com
Logitech Mobi Fold £69.99, logitech.com
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专题：抗衰老
作者：DR DAVID COX
年长
更
睿智
吗？
专题：抗衰老
在你的胸腔中心有一个微小的、形状像百里香叶子的腺体，它在你预期寿命的长短中起着重要作用。
这个腺体被称为胸腺，它是身体中一组被称为 T 细胞的白细胞的训练场，这些细胞发挥着至关重要的功能。我们在整个生命周期中都依赖 T 细胞来寻找并摧毁癌症细胞、消除病原体并统筹我们的免疫反应。T 细胞诞生于骨髓，但正是胸腺将它们训练成专业化、有组织的“杀手机器”。
然而，最令人惊讶的是，直到相对近期，人们还认为胸腺在成年期几乎没有任何作用。许多医生认为它是过时的，在给儿童进行心脏手术时会常规地将其切除（由于儿童时期胸腺的大小和位置，它会阻碍触及心脏）。同样，所谓的胸腺切除术也被用于治疗某些自身免疫性疾病。“人们认为它是一个没用的器官，因为人们把它切掉后没有看到立即的反应，”美国圣路易斯华盛顿大学的病理学和免疫学教授 Maxim Artyomov 说道。
主图：科学家们正重新关注胸腺及其对预期寿命的积极影响
但在 2023 年，《新英格兰医学杂志》发表的一篇里程碑式论文为胸腺及其重要性提供了新见解。该论文作者对比了 1,420 名接受过胸腺切除术的人员与 6,000 多名未接受该手术的人员的免疫系统，并对所有人进行了为期五年的追踪。他们的研究表明，切除胸腺与患自身免疫性疾病、癌症以及死于任何原因的早逝风险显著升高相关。
[[IMG_BELOW LEFT AND RIGHT]] 超加工食品被发现会加剧免疫系统的负担
此类研究引发了人们对胸腺及其作用的重新关注，不仅关注它在人体衰老过程中的整体健康作用，还关注它对免疫系统健康及其衰老方式的影响。对胸腺输出量（即它向血液中释放成熟 T 细胞的速率，本质上是免疫系统衰老程度的一种衡量指标）的测量显示，这一指标在生命的极早阶段（青春期）达到峰值。从那时起，胸腺开始萎缩，导致在余生中训练有素的 T 细胞数量稳步下降。
“要全面掌握免疫系统的状态，你需要观察不同的方面”
“如果你将 30 或 40 岁时的自己与 80 岁时进行比较，你的胸腺输出量几乎将趋近于零，”Artyomov 说道，“产生新 T 细胞的水平非常、非常低。”
虽然我们所有人都会经历这种下降（即免疫衰老），但研究衰老的科学家们发现，我们经历这一过程的速度并不相同。不同人的衰老速度各异。造成这种胸腺萎缩的原因多种多样，其中之一是我们摄入的热量多少。
长期过量饮食，尤其是食用由预消化成分（如精制碳水化合物、能量棒或即食餐）制成的食品，会导致内脏脂肪的增加。这些脂肪细胞在胸腺及其他内脏器官中积聚，从而损害其功能。
虽然稳步萎缩的胸腺是免疫衰老中一个尤为关键的组成部分，但这并非全部。“免疫是一个具有许多不同维度的复杂系统，”海法以色列理工学院（Technion – Israel Institute of Technology）的教授兼免疫学专家 Shai Shen-Orr 说道，“要全面掌握免疫系统的状态，你需要观察许多不同的方面。”
人类免疫系统的运作机制经过了数百万年的进化而形成。疫苗、抗生素和现代卫生系统在我们的历史中出现的时间非常之短，以至于我们的身体……
但由于我们的世界在过去 120 年中发生了如此剧烈的变化，科学家们现在认为，导致免疫耗竭的主要驱动因素已经改变。现在，我们的免疫系统不再是由病原体，而是被其他威胁（从空气污染到微塑料和农药）过度刺激。
“你的免疫系统如何耗竭，取决于你的生活方式和居住地”
这些新威胁可能会让我们的免疫系统在生命中更早地进入耗竭状态，并导致其被重新塑造，从而增加患自身免疫性疾病（身体错误地攻击自身组织）的可能性。
新兴证据表明，超加工食品中的一些合成成分（从某些乳化剂到常见的防腐剂）可能会产生类似影响，持续加剧免疫系统的负担。
“这些接触将你的免疫系统推向一种超反应模式，”美国加州巴克衰老研究所（Buck Institute for Research on Aging）研究免疫系统衰老的教授 David Furman 博士说道，“你一直在产生更多在血液中循环的炎症蛋白。这意味着当你需要免疫反应时（例如对抗癌症），你的反应能力较差，而与此同时，这些炎症在组织和器官中积聚，造成附带损害。”
你的免疫系统在何种程度上被如此耗尽，既取决于你的生活方式，也取决于你的居住地。研究人员甚至发现，与在美国富裕地区长大的儿童相比，在孟加拉国达卡等严重污染城市度过生命前几年的儿童，其免疫衰老的迹象明显加速。据 Shen-Orr 所言，这体现在这些儿童对疫苗的反应能力上。
“当我们观察免疫反应时，由于已经接触到的环境暴露，一个三岁孟加拉国孩子的免疫系统已经可以与加利福尼亚州帕洛阿尔托的一名 30 岁成年人相媲美，”他说。“这就是为什么在美国，儿童疫苗的成功率在 95 per cent 以上，而在孟加拉国，某些感染的疫苗成功率则低于 50 per cent 的原因之一。”
尚未完全适应它们。结果，我们的免疫系统仍然处于准备状态，会对任何感知到的威胁做出强烈反应。
【上方图片】儿童疫苗接种的有效性可能因儿童免疫系统的状态而异，而儿童免疫系统的状态则可能因其成长环境而异
在 99 per cent 的人类历史中，这种反应性是我们应对病原体持续轰击的唯一保护手段。“100,000 年前，你的免疫系统必须极其积极，这在字面意义上是生存需求，”Artyomov 说。“即使在 20 世纪初，结核病、沙门氏菌和白喉（所有这些我们现在不再经常听到的传染病）的平均死亡率，仍然高于 COVID 大流行的高峰期。”
长期以来，这种免疫衰老一直处于不可见状态，无法进行准确评估。但现在，研究人员正开始开发能够让任何人了解其免疫系统衰老程度的测试。
未来，此类测试可能会成为常规健康体检的一部分，但它们已经揭示了关于我们如何让自己更长久地保持健康的新信息。
传统的免疫健康测量主要集中在血液中的个体生物标志物上，例如名为 IL-6 或 CRP 的与炎症相关的蛋白质。但在过去的二十年里，研究人员日益意识到这种方法过于简单化。
从历史上看，与各种细菌和病毒的战斗是免疫衰老的主要驱动因素之一，并最终可能导致一种被称为“免疫耗竭”的状态。在这种状态下，长期且压倒性的刺激导致 T 细胞和其他免疫细胞不再能像以前那样有效地应对这些威胁。
GETTY, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
“炎症有许多不同类型，”Shen-Orr 说。“当我们观察患有炎症性肠病的人群时可以发现这一点。这些人中大约 25 per cent 的 CRP 水平并未升高。”
为了获得更清晰的图景，Shen-Orr 着手开发一项能够捕捉免疫健康不同维度的测试，涵盖从炎症、免疫耗竭到胸腺输出的所有方面。该测试被称为 IMM-AGE，它还评估
【抗衰老专题】
免疫系统的“记忆”——即能够记住此前接触过的病原体的细胞群体——以及所谓“僵尸”或衰老免疫细胞的数量（这些细胞已损坏且不再能正常发挥功能）。IMM-AGE 测量 18 种类型的免疫细胞，以提供一个人免疫年龄的估算值。
Furman 采取了不同的方法。他正在使用一种被称为深度学习的强大 AI 形式，筛查约 1,000 名年龄在 8 岁至 96, 岁之间的人员的血液，寻找免疫系统随时间衰退的关键预测指标。他利用这些结果开发了一项名为 iAge 的不同测试。
研究表明，较高的 iAge 可以预示血管健康的下降，以及心脏病和衰弱的风险。另一方面，一个人的 IMM-AGE 则能揭示其在应对感染时发展为败血症的潜在易感性，以及他们是否更可能对疫苗的反应较差。此类检测还有助于揭示免疫衰老速度较慢如何带来长寿，例如，百岁老人通常拥有年轻得多的 iAge。
通过研究如此宽广生命跨度内的免疫衰老，Furman 了解到某些方面是超出我们控制范围的。他表示，免疫细胞的行为存在关键的过渡性转变，这些转变似乎是天生设定在生命中不同时间点发生的。其中一次转变发生在 30 岁后期，而第二次发生在 60 多岁，从免疫角度来看，这似乎标志着老年的开始。这或许可以解释 60 岁以上人群更容易感染季节性流感和尿路感染的原因。
“我们认为这些转变是基因编程的结果，因为无论环境暴露情况如何，你在人群层面都能观察到这些现象，”他说道。
更快的免疫衰老可能还具有遗传因素。如果你父母体内有较高水平的潜在炎症，这似乎会以某种方式影响其子女的基因，使其免疫细胞更容易产生更多炎症。
“[父母有炎症，] 孩子就很可能也是炎症体质，”Furman 补充道。“在计划生育时，或许需要考虑炎症和免疫反应性。”
另一个诱发免疫衰老的因素被认为是某些病毒，大多数人在童年或青少年时期感染这些病毒，并且它们会伴随我们一生。
例如，引起水痘的 varicella zoster 病毒，或者疱疹家族的另一成员——巨细胞病毒。病原体
ABOVE 巨细胞病毒感染会加速免疫衰老（免疫系统的恶化），因为该病毒终身留在体内，并在潜伏多年后间歇性地重新激活，从而激活免疫系统。Furman 表示：“80 per cent 的人携带巨细胞病毒，它驱动了体内的许多免疫变化。我们认为这些病毒导致了免疫系统的最终耗竭。”
BELOW 定期刷牙、使用牙线和进行牙科检查至关重要，因为口腔健康状况不佳会导致炎症并加速免疫衰老。
与此同时，人群研究还揭示，我们对免疫衰老的控制力可能比想象中要大。Artyomov 说：“你会发现，那些通过规律运动、良好的牙科护理等方式照顾自己的 65-year-olds，其炎症水平要低得多。”
得知一些保持免疫系统健康的首要建议包括规律运动和每晚保证充足睡眠，这并不令人惊讶。
但还有其他新兴发现，例如：
与此同时，人们日益认为，在 60 岁、70 岁及以后维持规律的社交联系至关重要，但这不一定是因为它带来的心理益处。在这种情况下，益处来自微生物。虽然过多的病原细菌和病毒会使免疫系统精疲力竭，但也有数万亿个已经进化到能与我们和谐共存的微生物。当我们与朋友见面时，我们的免疫系统会接触到所有这些细菌、病毒和真菌。但由于我们已经适应了与它们共存，它们成了免疫系统的一种正向刺激，使其能够保持良好的功能。“这就是为什么老年人的社交孤立会导致免疫健康下降，并增加患心血管疾病等疾病的风险，”Furman 说道。
饮食的平衡也能产生重大影响，特别是你摄入的纤维和 omega-3 脂肪酸与饱和脂肪的比例。“在涉及免疫衰老时，这种平衡确实是关键，”伯明翰大学炎症与衰老系的副教授 Niharika Duggal 博士说道。根据 Duggal 的说法，这与这些食物的代谢方式有关。当纤维和 omega-3 在肠道中被消化时，会释放出大量的短链脂肪酸和消解素（resolvins），这有助于减轻肠道和血液中的炎症。
然而，我们中的许多人通过食用大量高度加工的零食和快餐，摄入了过多的饱和脂肪。饱和脂肪被消化成一种称为神经酰胺（ceramides）的物质，而这种物质会放大炎症。
Duggal 在她的研究中使用了 IMM-AGE。通过观察 30 多岁和 60 多岁的人群，她发现，饱和脂肪与纤维及 omega-3 的饮食平衡，比实际年龄更能反映一个人的免疫健康状况。
最后，有建议认为，某些形式的正向压力对衰老的免疫系统极其有益，能推动其更高效地工作。衰老科学表明，一组名为植物化学物（phytochemicals）的天然化学物质（存在于水果和蔬菜中）可以充当这种正向压力的一种形式。这也是为什么蓝莓和石榴与中晚年认知能力的提高相关的一个原因——它们含有能激活我们免疫细胞的植物化学物，使这些细胞能更有效地清除大脑中失效的衰老细胞和毒性蛋白。
Furman 表示，正向压力也被认为是定期进行桑拿或冷水浴对免疫系统有益的原因之一。
总的来说，他的建议是，随着年龄增长，尝试将这些形式的正向压力融入生活，并以减轻炎症的方式调整生活方式。“以不同方式挑战你的身体可以帮助你抵御这些炎症触发因素，”他说道。
David 是一位自由健康记者和前神经科学家。他的新书《年龄密码》（The Age Code，Fourth Estate，2026）现已上市。
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上方图：一次罕见的大鳍鱿鱼目击记录，它们生活在更深的海域，体型可能比大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）略大
大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）
专题
作者：D R J A M E S L L O Y D
从未有人在自然栖息地中见过活体成年大王酸浆鱿。一群勇敢的科学家正试图改变这一现状
施密特海洋研究所 (SCHMIDT OCEAN INSTITUTE)
在冰冷的深海之中，两颗如餐盘般巨大的眼睛在漆黑之中闪烁。眼睛捕捉到了猎物：一条游近的鱼。刹那间，两条带钩的触腕划破水流，捕捉住扭动地猎物，随后八条长臂将其紧紧包裹在致命的怀抱中。
这就是大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）：地球上最重的无脊椎动物，但也是最难以捉摸的。从未有人在自然环境下见过成年大王酸浆鱿；关于它们的大部分认知都来自渔船捕捉到的碎片残骸，或是在鲸鱼腹中发现的组织。
但我们见过一只幼体。2025, 年，一次深海探险拍摄到了第一段透明幼年大王酸浆鱿的影像，它在南大西洋海面下 600 米（近 2,000 英尺）处静静地漂浮。它仅长 30 厘米（约 1 英尺）：虽然称不上“巨大”，但极其可爱。
“那太壮观了，”新西兰奥克兰理工大学的海洋生物学家、鱿鱼专家 Kat Bolstad 教授说道，她参与了该影像的核实工作。“它看起来就像一件精致的玻璃雕塑。”
现在，寻找成年个体的行动已经展开——据认为成年个体长度可达 7 米（近 25 英尺），体重可达 500 公斤（1,100 磅）——Bolstad 及其同事正尝试一些日益大胆且富有想象力的方法，诱使它们走出隐藏之所。
1925, 年，英国自然主义者 James Erik Hamilton 在一只抹香鲸的胃里发现了一些神秘的触腕。大英博物馆的检测确认，它们属于一种此前科学界未知的生物：大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）。
在随后的 100 年里，研究人员主要基于不完整的标本和身体部位拼凑出关于这种动物的信息。目前仅有 3 个完整的成年标本，其中最大的一只于 2007 年在南极被一艘渔船捕获，当时它被卷入被拉向水面的渔网中。该标本现展出于新西兰特帕帕通加雷瓦博物馆（简称“特帕帕”/Te Papa）——这是唯一可以亲眼看到完整实体标本的地方。
在许多方面，大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）是典型的鱿鱼。它拥有两个鳍；一个细长的肌肉质身体（即“外套膜”）；两只眼睛；一个甜甜圈形状的大脑；以及一个隐藏的、类似鹦鹉的喙，周围环绕着 8 条带有吸盘的触手和 2 条像鱼叉一样射出的更长触腕。在外套膜内部是其内脏器官，包括 3 颗心脏和一个墨囊。
它是玻璃鱿属的一员，该属通常能在透明和不透明状态之间切换。然而，我们掌握的大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）标本均为红粉色，因此我们尚不清楚它是否具备这种变色能力。与其他玻璃鱿不同，大王酸浆鱿的每条触手中间和触腕末端都有锋利的钩子——这有利于抓捕如 2 米长（6 英尺 6 英寸）的巴塔哥尼亚牙鱼等猎物。触腕上的钩子还能向两个方向 360° 旋转，使其能够像螺丝一样钻入鱼肉。
上方图：洪堡鱿（Humboldt squid），也被称为巨型飞鱿，体型约为大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）的三分之一
阳光不足以照射到海洋底部。潜入几百米深，你就进入了海洋光线昏暗的“暮色区”。在这种深度，光线不足以支撑光合作用。
BRIAN SKERRY/MINDEN/NATUREPL.COM, 史密森尼学会 (SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION)
左图：1983 年在美国史密森尼国家自然历史博物馆准备展出的一只大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）
继续向下潜入 1, 000米 (3, 280英尺) 以下，你就到达了“午夜区”，这里完全被阳光遗忘。
大王酸浆鱿生活在南极周围的寒冷海域中——主要是南冰洋。我们之所以知道这一点，是因为在该地区，抹抹香鲸（这种鱿鱼的主要捕食者）的胃里经常含有无法消化的大王酸浆鱿喙。尽管大王酸浆鱿行踪隐秘，但它们似乎数量众多：据估计，它们约占南冰洋抹抹香鲸饮食的 80 百分比。许多抹抹香鲸的头部和背部也有伤痕——这可能是与鱿鱼带钩的触手发生混乱冲突的结果。
大王酸浆鱿就生活在这里，在海平面下方约 2, 000米（近 6, 600英尺）处，用像西瓜一样大的眼睛窥视着一个永恒黑夜的世界。
根据一项 2012 研究，这种鱿鱼超大且超灵敏的眼睛（直径约 30厘米 (1英尺)，是动物界中最大的）可能是为了探测居住在阴暗环境中的其他动物所发出的微光而进化而来的。例如，由潜入的
“触手钩在两个方向上都可以 360° 旋转，使它们能够像螺丝一样钻入鱼类肌肉中”
抹抹香鲸惊扰的远处浮游生物群突然发出的生物发光。无论这种光芒多么微弱，都可以为即将到来的捕食者提供早期预警。这也解释了为什么这种鱿鱼如此擅长避开人类。
“通常用于探索深海的设备带有强光，且噪音很大，对大多数动物来说可能是恐怖的，”Bolstad 说道。如果大王酸浆鱿能在 100米 (328英尺) 以外探测到抹抹香鲸，那么它肯定能发现一个亮着灯的机器人水下潜航器。
这种鱿鱼的眼睛还有另一个特殊特征：表面有被称为“发光器”的发光器官。在较年轻、较透明的鱿鱼身上，这可能是一种伪装形式，当捕食者从下方观察时，有助于隐藏眼睛的轮廓。
TE PAPA TONGAREWA/新西兰博物馆, ALAMY, NOAA OCEAN EXPLORATION 2012, ROV SUBASTIAN/SCHMIDT OCEAN INSTITUTE
“但当鱿鱼长大并生活在更深处时，发光器可能具有其他用途，”Bolstad 说道。“它们可能是用来照亮猎物的聚光灯，或者是与其他大王酸浆鱿沟通的一种方式。”当然，在动物界，这种沟通通常转化为某种求偶信号。
大王酸浆鱿可能是最重的无脊椎动物，但尽管其名称如此，还有另一种鱿鱼更长：大王鱿。它属于不同的科，长度可达 13米 (43英尺)，尽管体型远没有那么粗壮。
大王鱿在 2012 年首次在自然环境中被拍摄到，分布于全球，出现频率更高，并且很可能是克拉肯神话（传说中潜伏在深渊中、等待将船只拖入毁灭的人食之兽）的起源。我们还拥有极其罕见的大鳍鱿鱼的迷人影像，它在深海漂浮时，将诡异且细长的手臂和触手呈直角伸展。如果在野外拍摄到一只成年大王酸浆鱿，将完成这个异世界三部曲。
为了捕捉到那段影像，Bolstad 一直在与深海专家、Te Papa 鱼类馆长 Thom Linley 博士合作开发一套定制的相机系统。他们决定采用一种“挑逗”的方法：模拟一只孤独鱿鱼的发光眼睛。
抹抹香鲸
大王鱿
大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）是地球上最重的无脊椎动物，体重可达 500kg (1,100lbs)，长度（含触手）可达 7m (23ft)。仅其眼睛就有西瓜般大小。以下是它与其他深海居民的对比…… 18m (59ft) 13m (43ft)
大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）
专题
[[IMG_XXXX]] 从最左侧起顺时针方向：在新西兰 Te Papa Tongarewa 博物馆展出的大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）标本；大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）可能对常用潜水器发出的光线和声音敏感；在基斯利峡谷 (Keathley Canyon) 1,961m (6,434ft) 深处发现的一只大鳍鱿鱼；首次确认观测到的一只幼年大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）的活体影像。
“我们知道这些发光器官可以用于交流，”Bolstad 说道，“因此，一只正在寻找配偶的大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）可能会看到我们，并认为我们值得调查。深海极其广阔，因此我们希望创造一种能吸引它们注意力的信号。”
该系统的诱导光复制了鱿鱼眼睛上发光器的图案。除此之外，所有设计都尽可能地低调。为了照亮现场——这在没有阳光的拍摄环境中至关重要——研究人员使用了他们认为鱿鱼看不见的深红色光。“该系统还有一个小鳍，使其能够顺着水流定向并保持稳定，”Linley 说道。“我们尽量减少任何可能发出叮当声或碰撞声的部件，以确保在水下尽可能安静。”
这对搭档在 2026 年初在南极洲测试了他们的设备，目前正在对其进行微调，
大鳍鱿鱼
大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）
人类
幼年大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）
0.3m (approx 1ft)
8m (26ft) 7m (23ft)
以便为 2027. 年 1 月的另一次出征做好准备。摄像机还具有 360° 全景视角，因此不会有情到深处的鱿鱼潜伏在镜头之外。
“最理想的情况是，一只鱿鱼靠近，搞不清楚发生了什么，停下来观察，然后也许会给它一个‘小拥抱’，”Bolstad 说道。
在自然栖息地观察大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）将使研究人员能够填补其认知中的一些重大空白：例如，这种动物是如何移动的。
人们认为它是一种“伏击捕食者”，生活节奏缓慢，通过节省能量等待猎物游到附近。“但与大王鱿鱼 (giant squid) 相比，大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）拥有极其巨大的鳍，”Bolstad 说道。“所以，如果它愿意，一定能够快速移动，即便不能长时间维持。”
目前，寻找大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）在某种程度上像是一场猜测游戏。研究人员前往他们认为最有可能出现的地方，并寄希望于好运。但随着鱿鱼在海洋中穿行，它会留下一个痕迹——如果能被检测到，将证实该动物的存在：即它的 DNA。
所有动物都会向周围环境释放遗传物质——这被称为“环境 DNA” (eDNA)。一份海水样本可能包含数百种不同物种的痕迹，每种物种都有独特的遗传特征。例如，大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）可能会通过粪便、皮肤细胞、粘液甚至墨汁留下 DNA。
“这是一个‘遗传汤’，”西澳大利亚大学珀斯 Minderoo OceanOmics 中心分子生态学家 Georgia Nester 博士说道。“一旦回到实验室，我们就可以提取 DNA 来寻找我们感兴趣的物种。”
[[IMG_XXXX]] 从上方起顺时针方向：大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）的触手末端具有独特的旋转钩；鱿鱼的肉和组织在抹香鲸的胃液中会迅速溶解，但它们坚硬的喙无法被消化；大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）的吸盘具有钙质的锯齿状内部结构，对猎物来说可能是致命的；1873 年在加拿大纽芬兰 Logy Bay 发现的一只大王鱿鱼 (giant squid)。
“关于大王酸浆鱿（巨型鱿鱼）的信息非常少，且仅来源于大约 15 年前采集的一个标本，”Nester 说道。“这就像是在只有一页纸的碎片时去寻找一本书。”
Nester 正在开创使用 eDNA（环境 DNA）技术来了解深海栖息地生物多样性的先河，并于近期领导了一项研究，在西澳大利亚海岸采集的样本中检测到了稀有物种。令人兴奋的是，其中一个物种就是大王鱿。“我们可以使用同样的技术来检测大王酸浆鱿，”她说道。
对大王酸浆鱿进行基因组测序（即其完整的遗传指令集）将有助于研究人员寻找可用于设计引物的独特 DNA 序列。当下一艘渔船偶然遇到它时，这可能会成为可能：得益于一艘船在新西兰附近采集的新鲜冷冻组织样本，大王鱿的基因组已在 2020 年完成测序。
为了使引物可靠，它需要针对目标物种具有特异性，但又不能特异到忽略物种内部的遗传变异。“理想情况下，我们希望使用多个样本的序列来验证引物，”Nester 说。
为了寻找特定物种，研究人员会创建被称为“引物”的短 DNA 段。当将其应用于样本时，这些引物就像磁铁一样，将目标物种的 eDNA 提取出来，以便进行扩增和研究。挑战在于，要创建物种特异性引物，研究人员需要该动物的遗传信息。
最终，研究人员将能够利用这项技术绘制大王酸浆鱿的活动地图。这种动物的 DNA 在海洋中会迅速降解，可能维持不到一天，因此检测到它将是近期出现过该生物的确定信号。
“我们可以将大王酸浆鱿引物应用于我们的南极海水样本，”Nester 解释道，“并用它来研究是什么将
大王酸浆鱿专题
它吸引到某些区域的——是猎物？还是温度？然后我们就可以投放一些摄像机。”
在海洋中游荡的巨型鱿鱼并非唯一巨大的生物：深海动物通常比它们在浅水区的亲戚体型更大。巨型等足类就是另一个例子：想象一只像家猫一样大的鼠妇。
这种“深海巨型化”现象有几个可能的原因。“深海中的食物匮乏，”Linley 说。“体型较大的动物具有能量效率更高的优势，因此它们在两餐之间能支撑更长时间。”
缺乏能够捕食大型动物的捕食者是另一个可能的因素，此外还有低温，低温可以促使细胞（进而促使身体）生长得更大。
大王酸浆鱿的难以捉摸表明，我们的海洋仍有多少未解之谜。根据一项估计，在总共多达两百万个海洋物种中，约 90% 的海洋物种尚未被发现。瞥见这种鱿鱼将有助于开启关于其栖息地在维持地球生命和调节气候方面重要性的讨论。
“深海占据了这颗星球 95% 的生存空间，”Bolstad 说。“地球上的平均动物就是深海动物。这个栖息地也可能是地球生命的起点。”
“深海是[地球]引擎盖下的发动机，”Linley 补充道。它执行的无数功能对于维持这颗星球的运行至关重要。“它在循环氧气；它在吸收二氧化碳；它在调节全球平均热量。如果我们不了解深海，我们就不能说我们了解这颗星球。”
TE PAPA TONGAREWA/新西兰博物馆 X3, JOHN MAUNDER/WIKIPEDIA
在一月份，这些勇敢的鱿鱼追踪者将紧盯着他们的影像，在磷虾碎片从摄像机前飞速掠过时，窥视着深渊。
“I think a lot about seeing that first arm curiously reach out of the darkness,” Linley 说。“我对那个画面有着非常强烈的心理预期。”
“我想我们起初可能不会相信，”Bolstad补充道。“[接下来] 我们可能会互相捶打并尖叫。然后我们得反复观看很多遍来确认，然后才会告诉其他人。”
b y D R J A M E S L L O Y D James 是一位常驻英国的自由科学撰稿人。
体重减轻专题
byHAYLEY BENNETT
我们才刚刚开始理解减肥药物的威力，而制药公司已经在竞相开发更具革命性的后续产品
当今的减肥药物是通过改变我们的饮食量来发挥作用的。Ozempic、Wegovy 等——即 GLP-1 类药物——通过干扰涉及血糖、食欲和饱腹感的激素来降低我们的进食欲望。简单来说，它们让人们更容易坚持饮食计划。接下来是下一代减肥药物，它们承诺将实现某种截然不同的改变。目前，药物公司正在测试一些并不一定会改变我们饮食量，而是改变身体如何处理这些食物的药物。
这些新药针对的是管控人体燃烧与储存能量的代谢通路。本质上，它们改变的是“引擎”的运行机制，而非进入引擎的燃料量。
制造商称，这些新药能帮助人们更持久地维持体重减轻，同时避免 胰高血糖素样肽-1 (GLP-1) 类药物带来的肌肉流失。不过，“可能”才是这里的关键词，因为这些药物中还没有一种在人类身上经过广泛测试——至少目前还没有。尽管它们现在开始进入小规模临床试验。我们会看到 GLP-1 类药物
GETTY IMAGES
专题：体重减轻
被抛在脑后，迎来新一波竞相上市的减肥药浪潮吗？还是说，这两者在世界上都能占有一席之地？
上方：司美格鲁肽（semaglutide）分子结构的插图，叠加在一些脂肪细胞之上
“目前的 GLP-1 类药物，如司美格鲁肽 [Ozempic 和 Wegovy] 以及替泽帕肽 [Mounjaro]，确实令人印象深刻。它们能帮助人们减轻 15 到 20 百分比的体重，”希腊雅典国立及卡波迪斯特里亚大学专门从事实验室医学和临床生物化学研究的 Maria Dalamaga 教授说道。“但它们也存在一些重要的局限性，”她补充道。
右图：大多数 GLP-1 类药物需要每周注射一次。人们希望新药不需要如此频繁地服用
其中一个局限性是，当人们停止服用 GLP-1 类药物时，其食物摄入量通常会迅速回升，因此减轻的体重也会很快反弹。
然而，主要问题在于，GLP-1 驱动的体重减轻并不仅仅是脂肪。其中约 25 到 40 百分比是“瘦体重”——即肌肉。
肌肉在静息状态下比脂肪燃烧更多的能量，因此在过去，流失肌肉可能曾帮助人类在饥饿中生存。这意味着，在减轻体重的同时维持健康的身体成分是很困难的——我们的身体必须以某种方式覆盖其默认的肌肉萎缩程序。而这正是研发下一代减肥药的科学家们试图实现的目标。
这与我们在传统饮食法中看到的比例相似，因为与低热量饮食一样，GLP-1 类药物是通过减少食物摄入来发挥作用的。但为什么这种削减热量的方法会导致肌肉萎缩？
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY X3
“我认为我们必须把注意力从体重的减轻幅度上移开。那不像[体重的减轻]质量那样重要，”美国纽约 Regeneron Pharmaceuticals 公司肥胖、肌肉与代谢研究负责人 Mark Sleeman 博士表示。“我们希望患者获得高质量的减重，从而减少脂肪，使[剩余的]脂肪得到适当储存，并保留肌肉。”在 2022, 年，Sleeman 的团队揭示了肥胖与
据科学家称，这是我们从祖先那里继承的一种节能策略。
体重减轻
专题
左图：一个 RNA 分子的插图。制药公司正在利用基因沉默（一项涉及 RNA 干扰的过程）来针对内脏脂肪
其他公司则在尝试一种不同的方法，以阻止信息传递到脂肪组织。美国公司 Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals 和 Alnylam 都在开发基因沉默疗法，从源头上去除特定的蛋白质。这些药物利用短片段的 RNA——称为 siRNA（小干扰 RNA）——来针对编码这些蛋白质的 DNA 序列。
Arrowhead 的首席医疗官兼研发负责人 James Hamilton 博士解释说，这就像是为这些信号蛋白“关掉水龙头”。这家总部位于加利福尼亚州的公司有两种针对 Activin E 通路的药物正在进行人体试验——一种 (ARO-INHBE) 针对 Activin E 基因本身，另一种 (ARO-ALK7) 针对脂肪细胞上其受体 ALK7 的基因。虽然这些是早期试验，每组观察的人数不足 100 人，但到目前为止，结果看起来很有希望。
“我们在一些早期临床试验中发现，针对 [Activin E] 通路的治疗可能对内脏脂肪有特定益处。内脏脂肪是最棘手的一种脂肪——它在器官周围积聚，具有炎症性，并且会使人们更容易患上 2 型糖尿病等疾病，”汉密尔顿（Hamilton）表示。
初步数据表明，在接受单剂量 ARO-ALK7 治疗后，患者在 8 周内内脏（“腹部”）脂肪减少了 14%。此外，来自 ARO-INHBE 试验的早期数据表明，该药物实际上可能完全防止肌肉流失。
一种被称为 Activin E 的信号分子。他们发现，由于 Activin E 基因突变而产生 Activin E 蛋白短版本的人，其体型更健康，且腰部和臀部周围倾向于存储更少的脂肪。
汉密尔顿表示，与抗体疗法相比，这种基因沉默方法的优势在于其效果可以持续数月。而与目前大多数需要每周注射一次的 GLP-1 类药物相比，这是一个巨大的优势。
意识到阻断 Activin E 的潜力后，该团队进行了进一步研究。通过对小鼠的测试，他们成功证明 Activin E 蛋白是信使，允许肝脏通过脂肪细胞受体与身体的脂肪储备进行“对话”。
不过，正如达拉马加（Dalamaga）所指出的，这里有一个警告。“它们可能不需要频繁给药 [但]……如果出现意外问题，它们无法被快速逆转。”
“它们作用于储脂细胞，以调节你存储脂肪的方式，”斯利曼（Sleeman）解释道。“如果你摄入过多食物，你必须有地方存储它，所以你会把它存入脂肪中。[Activin E] 是能够调节你能量存储位置的分泌因子之一。”
她补充说，过去人们曾担心基因沉默药物对肝脏的影响，例如它们是否可能会无意中关闭具有相似 DNA 序列的非靶向基因。
因此，针对 Activin E 的治疗可以防止脂肪堆积，允许更多脂肪转化为能量，从而——有望地——减少身体对分解肌肉的依赖。然而，尽管再生生物制药公司（Regeneron）的大多数疗法使用抗体来阻断蛋白质，但该公司尚未宣布任何 Activin E 阻断剂的人体试验。
虽然现代药物设计已经改进，但仍需要通过长期试验来证明 Activin E 可以被安全地关闭较长时间。
斯利曼表示，他的团队希望首先充分了解该信使及其受体的作用。
“与抗体疗法相比，基因沉默的一个优势是其效果可以持续数月”
专题：减轻体重
在保留肌肉方面——使用 bimagrumab 的人其精瘦体重仅损失了 1%，而服用 GLP-1 的人损失了 5 到 7%。
然而，Activin E 并不是唯一的 activin。还有少数其他几种，其中一些同样与脂肪细胞对话，此外还有一系列可与它们的不同组合结合的受体。它们的作用范围超出了代谢领域，但如果药物制造商能够解开 activins 复杂的通信机制，从而学习它们如何针对脂肪流失和肌肉保存，他们将获得巨大的成功。
有趣的是，最好的结果出现在同时服用两种药物（bimagrumab 和 semaglutide）的人群中。他们减轻的脂肪比单独使用任何一种药物都要多——超过了腹部脂肪的三分之一——而精瘦体重的损失仅为 1 到 2%。
再生生物制药公司（Regeneron）数十年来一直在致力于此。在对 Activin E 的研究之外，该公司已经在进行 garetosmab 的临床试验，这是一种阻断 Activin A（一种在脂肪细胞发育中起作用的 activin）的抗体。去年，再生生物制药公司还公布了一项针对绝经后女性的试验结果，研究人员将 garetosmab 与另一种阻断肌肉生长抑制素（myostatin，一种驱动肌肉萎缩的关键蛋白）的抗体（trevogrumab）结合使用。
根据在最近一次综述中报道过 bimagrumab 的 Dalamaga 称，目前有多项新试验正在招募人员，以测试该药与替泽帕肽（Mounjaro）联合使用的效果。但可能仍然有单独使用该药的需求。
这两款药物共同增加了女性的大腿肌肉量，同时减少了脂肪量。Sleeman 表示：“那是一项非常关键的早期研究，”并补充说，肌肉减少症（与年龄相关的肌肉流失）在男性和女性中都很重要。
她说：“对于不耐受 胰高血糖素样肽-1 (GLP-1) 药物的人，或者对于将维持肌肉视为首要任务的老年人来说，单独使用一种专注于代谢的药物是有意义的，即使体重秤上的数字下降得没有那么剧烈。”
下方：目前一些正在试验的药物的一个关键重点是将不健康的白色脂肪组织（即白脂肪）“棕色化”，以改善代谢。
激活素受体的组成部分也是 bimagrumab 的目标。这种抗体最初由 Mounjaro 的美国制造商礼来公司（Eli Lilly）开发，用于治疗肌肉萎缩疾病，但现在正处于中期临床试验中，以测试其作为减肥药的安全性及其有效性。今年公布的结果表明，该药去除脂肪的速度几乎与 胰高血糖素样肽-1 (GLP-1)（司美格鲁肽）一样快。但在它可能表现卓越的地方在于：
如果说有什么令人担忧的，那就是 bimagrumab 阻断了参与传递多个激活素途径信号的受体组成部分。而激活素并不只与脂肪细胞对话。因此，虽然早期试验中的副作用主要局限于肌肉痉挛、痤疮和腹泻，但 Dalamaga 建议我们需要警惕更危险的副作用。
“我们正在干预一个我们尚未完全掌握其全部作用范围的系统”
右图：科学家们正在测试一种能够关闭体内代谢调节因子的药物，从而使脂肪被分解而非储存。
她警告说：“到目前为止，现有的试验数据总体上是令人安心的，但我们正在干预一个我们尚未完全掌握其全部作用范围的系统。” 众所周知，激活素参与了生殖、免疫、伤口愈合等重要过程。
同样的担忧也可以延伸到一些公司试图通过翻转代谢“主开关”来以更广泛的方式重置代谢的行为。
例如，总部位于意大利都灵的生物技术公司 Resalis Therapeutics 正在测试 RES-010，这是一种针对一个被广泛研究的基因开关 miR-22 的药物。miR-22 是一种代谢调节因子，是一段天然的短链 RNA，可以控制各种代谢途径——其中一些与激活素途径重叠。从药物制造商的角度来看，它最有趣的一点或许在于它能抑制促进脂肪储存组织转化为脂肪燃烧组织的信号。因此，将其关闭在代谢上应该是受益的。
这些方法——无论是单独使用还是与 胰高血糖素样肽-1 (GLP-1) 食欲调节剂配对——都可以延缓患者在停止用药后不可避免的体重反弹。
Sleeman 表示：“在减少食物摄入和增加能量消耗之间取得良好的平衡将是一个非常稳健的方法，我认为这将具有更持久的效果，”这暗示了结合食欲和代谢改变的方法看起来很有前景。
与此同时，Dalamaga 表示，现在断定停止任何肥胖药物在没有持续治疗的情况下能产生持久效果还为时过早。而 Hamilton 仅对其他公司基于“有趣的动物研究”而得出的体重反弹较慢的结论表示谨慎乐观。
“[RES-010] 改变了身体使用脂肪的方式，增强了线粒体（为细胞提供能量的‘电池’）的产生和活性，并帮助将白脂肪（储存能量）转化为棕色脂肪（燃烧能量），” Resalis 的首席科学官 Riccardo Panella 博士在去年 9 月于奥地利维也纳举行的一次讨论糖尿病的科学专家会议上说道。
1 010, 22. 22 010
尽管如此，随着制药商测试将新一代 GLP-1 与其他分子结合的药物，我们可能很快会进一步了解代谢调节的力量。例如，礼来公司（Eli Lilly）的实验性药物 retatrutide（“Triple G”）将 GLP-1 与另外两种激素——GIP 和 glucagon（胰高血糖素）相结合，其目的部分是为了帮助人们燃烧更多脂肪。最近的试验还表明，即使是像 Mounjaro（GLP-1 加上 GIP）这样已获批的双效药物，也能驱动不健康白脂肪的“褐变”以改善代谢——尽管它们具体是如何实现这一点的目前尚不清楚。
然而到目前为止，最好的数据来自一项最近结束的一期临床试验（Resalis 公司对此不予置评）以及针对非人类灵长类动物的研究。在灵长类动物研究中，动物在接受 RES-010 和 semaglutide（司美格鲁肽）治疗 10 周后，体脂均下降了近 15 %，但使用 RES-010 仅丢失了 1 % 的瘦体重，而使用 semaglutide 则丢失了 8 %。Resalis 声称，其药物的基本作用应当是降低体重反弹的可能性。但尽管动物与 GLP-1 相比反弹较少，但随访期似乎仅为四周。
这种将减肥市场的焦点转向更健康代谢的趋势最终是否有益，仍有待观察。在某种意义上，如果我们减少了对入口之物的担心——因为我们改变了身体处理这些物质的方式——
——这可能意味着人们会对健康饮食减少关注。
然而，Dalamaga 并不那么悲观。“我不会那样定义它，”她说，“真正的目标是让肥胖治疗变得更健康、在生物学上更完整，同时依然承认营养、体力活动和阻力训练对于长期健康至关重要。”
GETTY IMAGES, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
她说，更广泛的一点是，该领域正从纯粹以总减重来衡量成功，转向追求更好的身体成分这一理想目标。
作者：H A Y L E Y B E N N E T T（Hayley 是常驻英国布里斯托的科学作家）。
这将我们带回了 GLP-1 的第一个问题，以及这些新的代谢改变药物是否……
人类正急匆匆地返回月球。然而这一次，我们计划停留更久一些……
文字：
插画：
插图：MITCHELL STUART
只要人类仰望天空，月球就一直是令人着迷的对象。它距离如此之近，以至于我们最亲近的天体邻居不仅在夜空中占据主导地位，而且看起来近在咫尺，令人心向往之。
香港大学。“中国并非如此。它正在利用其国家发射能力。”
四月份，四名宇航员在 Artemis II（阿尔忒弥斯 2 号）任务中绕月飞行。他们乘坐美国国家航空航天局的 Orion（猎户座）飞船，由强大的空间发射系统 (SLS) 火箭发射。明年，Artemis III（阿尔忒弥斯 3 号）任务将看到另外四名宇航员进入地球轨道，并练习与两个商业月球着陆器进行对接，这两个着陆器分别由杰夫·贝佐斯的蓝色起源（Blue Origin）和埃隆·马斯克的 SpaceX 开发：分别为 Blue Moon 和 Starship 人类着陆系统。
“抵达那里可能是最简单的一部分”
但事实并非如此。在其椭圆轨道的最近点，月球距离地球超过 350,000km（超过 220,000 英里）。直到过去 60 年里，它才真正进入我们的触及范围。
如果一切按计划进行，该计划的下一个任务 Artemis IV（阿尔忒弥斯 4 号）可能会在 2028. 年让两名宇航员使用其中一个着陆器在月球上着陆。这将是自 1972 年 12 月 Apollo 17 号离开以来，人类首次重返月球表面。
人类曾在月球上登陆六次，全部是在美国国家航空航天局的 Apollo（阿波罗）计划期间，该计划运行时间为 1969 到 1972. 年。每一次任务都很短暂，持续时间不超过几天。距离任何人踏上月球表面已经过去了半个多世纪。但在接下来的几年里，这一切可能即将改变。
中国选择了一条不同的道路。其航天员将乘坐孟舟飞船（一种与美国国家航空航天局的“猎户座”飞船尺寸相近的航天器），由巨大的长征 10 号火箭（目前正在研发中）发射前往月球。
美国和中国都设定了重返月球表面的目标。这些任务最初将持续几天，随后将延长至数周，并有望引导两国在月球上建立永久基地，从而实现人类在另一个星球上的持续存在。“目前还没有人在另一个天体上进行过长期停留，”居住在美国加利福尼亚州的商业太空栖息地顾问、太空咨询公司 Stellar Amenities 的创始人阿纳斯塔西娅·普罗西纳（Anastasia Prosina）说道。
为了实现太空探索的这一新里程碑，我们需要将人员送往那里的火箭、将其降落的着陆器以及供他们居住的栖息地。这三个领域都取得了重大进展，预计首批人类将在本十年末重返月球。但这些月球基地究竟长什么样？将位于何处？而谁赢得月球基地竞赛是否重要？
通往永久月球基地的第一步是将人类送回月球。美国国家航空航天局和中国载人航天工程办公室（CMSA）都为此制定了路线图——美国国家航空航天局的目标是 2028 年回归，而中国载人航天工程办公室设定的目标是 2030 年。从这里开始，这两个机构选择了截然不同的方案。
美国国家航空航天局在 Artemis 计划中严重依赖商业企业的帮助，尤其是杰夫·贝佐斯的蓝色起源公司（Blue Origin）和埃隆·马斯克的 SpaceX。“美国国家航空航天局正依靠商业机构将他们送上月球，”一位天文学和天体物理学教授 昆廷·帕克（Quentin Parker）博士说道。
中国计划让中国航天员乘坐孟舟飞船前往低月球轨道。抵达后，他们将与揽月号（Lanyue）对接，后者是中国载人航天工程办公室的月球着陆器，将由另一枚长征 10 号火箭发射并自主飞行至该处。航天员将从孟舟飞船转移到揽月号，然后下降到月球表面。
他表示，首先，环境极其艰苦，并指出一个太阴日持续 29.5 个地球日（这意味着表面将沐浴在约 14 天的连续阳光下，随后陷入接下来的 14 天黑暗中）。表面温度也可能出现数百度的剧烈波动，且崎岖的山地地形正等待着未来的航天员。
这些栖息地仍在设计中，但可能与国际空间站上看到的圆柱形模块非常相似。它们将被放置在表面，并可能被埋在月壤中，甚至隐藏在地下洞穴中，以保护居住者免受太阳辐射的影响。
不过普罗西纳表示，为月球设计栖息地与设计轨道空间站大不相同。一方面，在地球轨道的失重环境中，“上方”的方向并不那么重要。“没有墙壁或地板，只有表面，”普罗西纳说，“桌子和设备可以放置在任何位置。”
帕克表示，到目前为止，火箭的研发“一切进展顺利”，并评论说中国对其月球计划相当开放。“ [中国] 不像以前那样神秘了，”他说，“这是基于过去几年持续成功的强大记录。”
美国和中国早期的探索将相对简单。两国的航天员将在月球着陆，停留几天，然后返回月球轨道，最后返回地球。然而，随着任务的推进，它们将变得更加复杂，最终实现更长时间的月球表面停留，并最终建立永久基地。
插图：MITCHELL STUART
对于首次的阿尔忒弥斯（Artemis）登月，美国国家航空航天局计划配备一台月球车，宇航员可以用它在月球表面行驶更长距离。随后，非载人登月任务将派遣栖息地等设备，使宇航员在月球期间能够在此生活和工作。
然而，在月球上情况则有所不同。尽管月球的重力仅为地球的六分之一，但其栖息地将更类似于我们行星上的住宅和实验室。
不过，抵达那里可能是比较容易的部分。“月球是一个充满挑战的环境，”科罗拉多矿业学院航空航天工程教授乔治·索尔斯（George Sowers）博士说道。照明
中国的月球基地将被命名为国际月球研究站。
该基地正与包括俄罗斯在内的多个国际合作伙伴共同设计，并将位于月球南极——这与美国国家航空航天局拟建的月球基地目的地相同。“ [中国] 正考虑在 2030 和 2035 之间完成全面建设，”帕克（Parker）表示。
奥林匹克游泳池，索尔斯解释道，然后加热地面。
美国和中国都计划在月球南极建立基地。科学家认为那里蕴藏着大量的水，以冰的形式被困在漆黑的陨石坑中，这可能成为一种极其宝贵的资源。
“冰可能以颗粒的形式混在月壤中，”他说道。释放这些水在“概念上非常简单”，仅需要 –70°C (–94°F) 的温度。“然后冰就会升华——变成蒸汽。你只需要具备捕获该蒸汽的能力。要么在上面盖个帐篷并对其原位加热，要么将其挖掘出来放入烤箱中。”
与美国国家航空航天局的月球基地一样，它将在表面分布各种混合栖息地。美国和中国都在研发核裂变反应堆，为各自的月球站点提供电力，同时开发自动月球车和其他机械，以协助基地的建设与运行。
月球在绕地球公转时带有微小角度，倾斜方式使得极地的一些陨石坑永远见不到阳光。这些区域被称为永久阴影区（PSRs），或者更激进地称为“永恒黑暗之坑”。这些 PSR 内部的温度下降至接近绝对零度 (–273°C/–459°F)，因此它们可能是冰在数十亿年间积累并保持稳定的绝佳位置。
插图：MITCHELL STUART
水由氢和氧组成，而这两者也是火箭燃料的关键成分。因此，通过收集月球上的水并将其分解，有可能开发出大量的推进剂，用于在月球表面为火箭补充燃料。我们可以
美国国家航空航天局还计划建造着陆垫，让抵达的火箭在起降时不会扬起大量的月尘，因为月尘非常锋利，且如果被吸入，对硬件和人类都具有危险性。“这将是一个持续性的头疼问题，”索尔斯说道。
“这项努力中最重要的事情就是寻找水，”普罗西纳（Prosina）解释道。
美国国家航空航天局负责人贾里德·艾萨克曼（Jared Isaacman）在二月份告诉《纽约时报》，起初，美国国家航空航天局的月球基地会像某种“废品场”。它将是一系列散布在月球表面的设备的松散组合。
“起初，美国国家航空航天局的月球基地将
然而，最终该地点可能会开始像科幻小说中那些流畅的月球基地。这可能包括更先进的栖息地，以及特制的规模化 3D 打印机，后者可以将月壤与少量塑料胶水混合，制造各种设备，包括用于建造新栖息地的砖块。
像个废品场”
一家致力于尽快演示该技术的公司是 GRU Space，这家总部位于加利福尼亚州的初创公司近期因宣布计划成为首个建造月球酒店的公司而成为新闻头条。“我们已经签署了一份合同，最早将于明年在月球着陆，并在那儿制造世界上第一批砖块，”该公司创始人兼首席执行官 Skyler Chan 说道。他计划在即将到来的任务中发射一个鞋盒大小的设备，以测试 3D 打印造砖工艺。
美国和中国都达成了一致——他们计划尽快将探测车送入这些坑穴。
Chan 表示，如果该方案可行，GRU Space 的设备可以扩大规模，用于制造“基本上任何结构”的砖块，从道路到仓库均可。“我们的使命是建造栖息地，建造城市，建造供人们居住的结构。”
在美方方面，挥发物调查极地探索车（VIPER）将在 2027. 年在月球着陆时，驶入一个或多个永久阴影区（PSR）。与此同时，中国计划使用一种“跳跃式”无人机，利用推进器在表面跳跃并掉入坑穴。作为中国嫦娥-7 任务的一部分，其中一架此类跳跃无人机预计将于今年 8 月下旬出发前往月球。抵达后，预计它将通过跳入 12km 宽（13 miles）的沙克尔顿陨石坑来开始寻找冰。
中国还谈到了利用月尘制造砖块以建设其月球基地的计划。
然而，航天工业专家、前美国国家航空航天局提案经理 Jeff Nosanov 表示，在建设月球基地方面仍存在许多不确定性。“仍然有一些重大的未知因素在未来几年内无法解决——例如，我们如何将大型载荷降落在月球上，”他说。“这真的是最大的障碍。这就像是空间站，但难度高了一百万倍。”
如果能找到冰，下一步将是研究如何采集。一种可能性是在永久阴影区内部用一个巨大的帐篷覆盖一段区域，其尺寸大约为
Sowers 表示，使用从月球获取的火箭燃料，可以将火星任务的成本降低 $12bn（约 £9bn）。“水可以很容易地电解成氢和氧，然后液化成火箭推进剂，即液氢和液氧，”他解释道。
“在不久的将来，美国和中国在月球同一区域运行基地，这将引发一些有趣的地缘政治问题”
凭借这种能力，人们预见到了这样一个未来：航天器将月球作为临时前哨站，在向太阳系深处进一步发射之前，先在月球着陆补给。这可能使前往火星等目的地的载人任务变得更加可行，因为你不需要从地球发射海量燃料来支撑任务。
月球上还有其他可能有所用处的资源：例如氦-3，这是一种可用于核聚变的氦形态。中国表达了从月表开采氦-3 的愿望，但目前尚不清楚这是否可行。
“我不知道他们打算怎么做，”Parker 说道。
无论未来如何，显然新一轮的月球竞赛已经全面展开。在未来几年，我们可能会看到人类重返月球。在最初的几次出击之后，人们在多大程度上愿意建设永久性月球基地仍有待观察，但相关的实施计划已经在迅速具体化。
美国和中国也一直在稳步地吸引各国加入它们各自的月球基地计划。美国已吸引了包括英国、法国、澳大利亚和印度在内的 60 多个国家加入，而中国的名单规模较小，包含俄罗斯、南非、巴基斯坦和塞内加尔在内的不到 20 个国家。一些国家同时加入了这两个计划，包括泰国和阿联酋。在各国建设基地的过程中，月球上不太可能发生某种形式的公开冲突，但仍有一些尚未解决的监管问题。例如，如果一次中国任务不小心降落在美国月球基地附近，或者反之亦然，会怎样？如果双方同时降落在同一个极具价值的地点又会怎样？
在不久的将来，如果美国和中国在月球的同一区域运营基地，将引发一些有趣的地缘政治问题。美国一直公开对其对中国的月球野心表示警惕，频繁发表评论，称需要击败中国重返月球并率先在那里建立基地。
随着国际空间站计划在运行 30 多年后于 2031 年左右退役，人类在太空中的未来很可能会实现另一个巨大的飞跃。我们可能会从居住在绕地运行的空间站，转变为在月球表面进行研究和资源开采。
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
目前，根据 1967 年的《外层空间条约》，任何国家都不能在太空中的任何地方主张主权。例如，美国和中国不能声称拥有某个特定的月球陨石坑或区域。然而，《外层空间条约》确实有相关条款，确保一个国家在另一个星球上的硬件设备免受损坏。
随着这场月球竞赛的升级，这些问题在未来几年将变得日益重要。但或许还有另一种可能性：美国和中国将放下分歧，决定合作而非竞争。
作者：J O N A T H A N O ’ C A L L A G H A N。Jonathan 是一位常驻英国的获奖自由科学记者。
因此，假设第一个将设备送入含有大量易获取冰层的月球陨石坑的国家，可能会辩称该区域属于他们（因为另一个国家在该陨石坑内开展任何活动的尝试都可能会损坏其硬件）。这提高了率先建立月球存在感的重要性。
“资源评估将至关重要，”Parker 说道。“如果中国人先到达（一个有价值的陨石坑），还剩下什么？美国人是否也会尝试抵达（那里）？”在这样一个潜在的陨石坑边缘可能会有充足的空间，也可能没有。
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专题：反安慰剂效应
THE NOCEBO EFFECT
“反安慰剂”是安慰剂效应的“邪恶双胞胎”。它可以使医疗干预失效，诱发不利的副作用，甚至导致真实症状恶化。那么，当负面预期起作用时，最糟糕的情况会是什么？
有些人说，那听起来像金属磨损的尖叫声。另一些人将其描述为刺耳的咔嗒声或嗡嗡声。从 2016 年底开始，驻古巴哈瓦那美国大使馆的外交官和情报人员报告称，他们在家中和酒店房间里听到了奇怪的噪音。有些人说，就好像有一束能量从外面发射到了他们身上。
不久之后，他们开始感到不适。他们描述了剧烈的疼痛、头痛、头晕、耳压感、眩晕、恶心和意识混乱。有些人出现了平衡问题。另一些人则开始在记忆力方面感到困难。
这种情况被称为“哈瓦那综合征”，没过多久它就开始蔓延。在接下来的几年里，来自全球各地的数百名北美官员报告了类似的经历。在一次事件中，一名国家安全委员会成员在白宫外突然倒下。在另一次事件中，一名国防部高级官员在维尔纽斯的北约峰会上昏迷。
从那时起，有些人康复了，但另一些人则留下了严重的神经系统症状，导致他们的生活轨迹发生了改变。许多人不得不放弃工作。那么原因是什么？
一种理论认为，他们被俄罗斯间谍盯上了，对方使用了发射定向能量源（如微波或无线电波）的秘密武器。今年早些时候，美国媒体报道称，美国政府秘密购买并研究了一台包含俄罗斯组件的设备，该设备可能与哈瓦那综合征有关。
这听起来很吸引人，但此案尚未结案。
FEATURE
从未有任何行凶者被抓获或承认责任，且此类武器如何运作尚不明确。另一个奇怪之处在于，患有哈瓦那综合征的人确实有症状，但身体没有明显的物理损伤。这指向了另一种解释：他们的症状可能是由一种被称为反安慰剂效应的东西引起的。
在过去几年里，我一直在为我的新书《本书可能会引起副作用》（This Book May Cause Side Effects）研究反安慰剂效应。如果这个术语听起来很熟悉，可能是因为你听过发音相似的“安慰剂效应”。当正面预期促使一个人的健康状况改善时，就会发生这种情况。在经典形式中，一个人服用了一颗不含药物的安慰剂药片，并因此感觉好转。安慰剂已被证明可以缓解癫痫、过敏、胃溃疡、勃起功能障碍等症状。
反安慰剂效应（nocebo effect）是安慰剂效应的“邪恶双胞胎”。该词源自拉丁语，意为“我将伤害”，当负面信念导致我们身体不适时就会发生。这在临床试验中可见：对照组中接受安慰剂的人在被告知可能出现副作用后，确实产生了副作用。例如，从 12 项新冠疫苗试验（涉及 45,000 多人）中收集的数据显示，所有常见的疫苗不良反应中，有 76% 是由反安慰剂效应引起的。
在“现实世界”中，反安慰剂效应可以幻化出新症状，恶化现有症状，塑造疾病并延长病期。而且，它的普遍程度远超大多数人的认知。反安慰剂效应影响了我们对药物和食物的反应方式、手术后的康复速度以及我们的衰老方式。
它解释了为什么四分之一的癌症患者在开始化疗前就会感到恶心；为什么背痛患者即使身体损伤程度相同，但致残程度却截然不同；以及为什么癌症等慢性病患者的状况恶化，往往与疾病本身的进展关系较小，而与他们的心理状态关系更大。
反安慰剂效应在个体层面上影响我们，但在压力巨大的时期，它也可以像病毒一样传播。这被称为群体性心因性疾病（Mass Psychogenic Illness, MPI），这可能是对部分（如果不是全部）哈瓦那综合征患者所经历症状最合理的解释。
MPI 听起来可能很奇怪，但历史上此类案例比比皆是。其中包括中世纪的“跳舞狂热”，当时人们身体扭曲、剧烈地跳动，有时
FEATURE
他们造成的症状在社区中悄然蔓延。
其结果可能是戏剧性的。在 YouTube 上，你可以找到美国警察在接触到街头药物芬太尼后出现“药物过量”反应的随身记录仪片段。
芬太尼是一种合成类鸦片药，药效比吗啡或海洛因强 50 倍。每年有数万名使用者因过量而死亡。在美国，许多执法人员认为，仅仅接触几粒芬太尼就可能引发潜在的致命昏厥。因此，当他们不小心触碰到这种粉末时，可能会像石头一样地摔倒并立即失去意识。
从表面上看，这是一个可怕的困境；但事情并非看似那样。毒理学家一致认为，通过接触或不小心吸入芬太尼而导致药物过量的可能性几乎为零。如果真是这样，那么毒贩、针具交换站的工作人员以及合法配制该药的药剂师也会昏厥。但事实并非如此。
与许多警察的认知相反，芬太尼不能轻易通过皮肤渗透，且在空气传播时导致中毒的风险几乎为零。使用者出现过量反应，是因为他们注射、吸烟或吸食了过多药物。在这些病例中，血液和尿液检测中会出现药物成分。然而，据我所知，那些出现这种“纯净过量”反应的警察中，没有任何一个人在毒理学检测中呈阳性。
执法群体相信一套理论，而科学界则相信另一套：击倒警察的并非芬太尼，而是“芬太尼能造成这种后果”的错误信念。这种预期足够强烈，以至于扭曲了大脑的预测机制，激活了他们的镜像神经元，从而引发了极其真实且可怕的症状。
MPI 再次发作。
从历史上看，当 MPI 爆发时，它们至少容易被控制。传播依赖于视觉接触或口耳相传。当受影响者被隔离且相关消息平息时，爆发便会随之消失。
如今，这类信息的传播很难被控制。故事可以在互联网上无休止地反弹。在那些美国警察的案例中，他们晕倒的视频已被观看超过 18 million 次。现在，研究人员担心社交媒体对 MPI（群体性心理疾病）的影响。
Kirsten Müller-Vahl 教授在德国汉诺威医科大学经营着一家针对图雷特综合征患者的诊所。从 2019, 年 5 月开始，患者们开始
【反安慰剂效应专题】
出现奇怪的症状。他们的手臂剧烈地抽搐，有时会打到别人。他们大声喊出污言秽语和随机的词汇，例如“Bombe”（炸弹）和“Fliegende Haie”（飞行的鲨鱼）。
他们中没有人能控制自己的行为。正常生活变得不再可能，他们深感痛苦。有人提出可能是图雷特综合征，但 Müller-Vahl 教授坚决否认。“对我来说，这绝对不是图雷特综合征，这一点非常明确，”她告诉我的。
图雷特综合征通常在年幼时显现。眨眼、做鬼脸或耸肩等细微的抽搐会缓慢开始。一两年后，可能会出现清嗓子或哼唧等发声抽搐。只有十分之一的人会进一步发展出该病最臭名昭著的症状——秽语症（大喊污言秽语）——但即便如此，大多数患者也只是重复少数几个脏词。
但这次的情况不同。Müller-Vahl 教授的大多数患者是青少年或年轻成年人，他们张扬且多样化的症状是在毫无预警的情况下出现的。最奇怪的是，尽管他们从未见过面，但他们喊出的内容竟然完全相同。
这毫无道理，但随后 Müller-Vahl 听说了一位名叫 Jan Zimmermann 的德国影响力人物，他正在自己的 YouTube 频道“Gewitter im Kopf”（脑中雷暴）上制作关于自己图雷特综合征的视频。当 Zimmermann 在 2019, 年 2 月发布第一段视频时，Müller-Vahl 还没有这类患者。三个月后，Zimmermann 拥有了超过一百万订阅者，而 Müller-Vahl 接到了她的第一个病例。随后，更多病例接踵而至。
将这种现象称为 TikTok 抽搐。
当人们被带入实验室，并在聆听风电场次声波录音的同时被告知可能存在副作用时，那些认为自己敏感的人确实会出现症状。但当同样的人在被解释了反安慰剂效应之后再次聆听该噪音时，他们的症状回到了基线水平。在实验第一部分中如此轻易显现的感觉，在第二部分中也同样轻易地消失了。
现在，专家们担心社交媒体正在加速反安慰剂效应的传播。MPI 已经成了过去式，现在这是“社交媒体诱发的群体性疾病”。由于其无处不在且覆盖范围极广，社交媒体有可能比以往任何时候都更远、更快地传播这种新版本的 MPI。而且，它可能更难以遏制。
他们都看过 Zimmermann 的视频，随后出现了镜像症状。“这两者之间存在联系，这一点非常明确，”她说。患者们正在通过社交媒体“感染”症状。
随后疫情爆发，更多患有抽搐症状的“慢性健康影响者”或“病患网红”（illfluencers）开始制作内容。这包括 Müller-Vahl 的一些患者以及来自其他国家的人。与此同时，全球的专业中心注意到转诊人数陡增。德克萨斯州的一家诊所在疫情期间增幅达 60%。伦敦的另一家诊所则注意到，转诊人数在几个月内翻了一番。
从受“哈瓦那综合征”和“无原因药物过量”影响的人，到我们所有那些有时会出现无法从生理上解释的躯体症状的人，人们可能很难接受心理对身体具有如此深远的影响。然而，承认这种复杂的相互作用，是我们为了最大限度地减少此类症状并优化健康所能采取的最强有力的手段之一。
那么，我们能做些什么来保护自己免受反安慰剂效应以及社交媒体大规模诱发疾病的影响呢？
尽管大多数观看“病态影响者”（illfluencers）的人并不会出现镜像症状，但仍有一小部分脆弱的、尚未被定义的人群会出现这种情况。TikTok 抽搐症的故事及时提醒我们，要仔细思考我们消费的内容类型及其数量。
其模式始终如一：夸张的抽搐动作几乎每周都在变化，且通常在新视频发布时模仿其内容。症状直接从内容创作者传递到了内容消费者身上。
此外，研究表明，仅仅是了解反安慰剂效应，就能让人对其产生更强的抵抗力。
有些人认为风力发电场的低频嗡鸣声（次声波）导致他们出现了恶心和头晕等症状，但尚未发现因果关系，这使得反安慰剂效应成为一种可能性。
作者：DR HELEN PILCHER。Helen 是一位细胞生物学家、科学作家，也是《这本书可能会引起副作用》（This Book May Cause Side Effects，Atlantic Books, 2026）一书的作者。
据估计，有数千名年轻人受到了影响。媒体将其称为……
JOYCE PALMER, WESTMINSTER
黑死病是人类历史上最具灾难性的流行病。在 1347 和 1353 之间，多达一半的欧洲人口——约 50 million 人——在感染鼠疫杆菌（Yersinia pestis）后死亡。但随着人口骤减，一件出乎意料的事情发生了——植物的生物多样性也随之暴跌。
从表面上看，这很奇怪。根据当代的叙事，当人类消失，自然界获得所需的恢复空间和时间时，它会充满活力地反弹。然而，在 650 年前，情况并非如此。植物生命非但没有改善，反而变得更糟。就好像植物本身也在经历一场流行病。
在黑死病之前，农业处于上升期。随后，随着流行病的爆发，农业也随之崩溃。农田被废弃，谷类作物无人播种。发表在《生态学快报》（Ecology Letters）上的一项研究发现，植物多样性损失最严重的地区正是那些土地废弃最严重的地区。换句话说：在古代，农业有利于生物多样性。
在 0 到 1300年（公元）之间，欧洲的植物多样性有所增加，在西罗马帝国的兴衰中增长，持续到中世纪早期，然后在黑死病爆发前达到顶峰。随后流行病袭击，在 150 年的时间里，植物多样性骤降，直到人类人口增加后才开始恢复。
然而，原因并非某种细菌，而是其他东西。
为了评估欧洲植物多样性在过去 2,000 年左右的变化，来自约克大学的 Jonathan Gordon 及其同事研究了大量的花粉化石样本。数据揭示了一个分为三个部分的故事。
而共同因素是什么？谷物。
DR EMMA DAVIES DR HELEN SCALES PROF ABBIE JORDAN LUIS VILLAZON DR CHRISTIAN JARRETT DR JAMES LLOYD DR HELEN PILCHER DR ALASTAIR GUNN PETE LAWRENCE
饮食 海洋生物学 心理学 情绪 生活方式 动物 自然 行星科学 天文学
KIAN PEARCE, CHICHESTER
除了味道糟糕之外，这里主要的健康担忧是微塑料和从瓶中浸出的化学物质。
多项研究表明，锑（在高剂量下会引起类似砷中毒的症状）会从通常用于一次性水瓶的 PET 塑料中浸入水中。这种浸出在 45⁰C (113⁰F) 以上时会剧增，但即便如此，几乎每项研究都发现，锑的含量仍远低于世界卫生组织（WHO）的饮用水限制标准。
这些发现与现状形成了鲜明对比，如今农业集约化是生物多样性丧失的主要驱动因素。然而，当你思考农民如何利用土地时，这种情况就合理了。
瓶装水中已经存在一定程度的微塑料，但中国浙江大学 2024 年的一项研究发现，在温度超过 80⁰C (176⁰F) 之前，温度对它们的浓度没有明显影响。LV
如今，农业由单作主导。农民通常专注于单一的作物种类，且通常使用农药和化肥。这对环境不利，因为它污染了景观，并阻碍了野生动植物的生长和生存。
将其与中世纪时期对比，那时还没有工业农药和化肥。当时盛行的是混种而非单作。
SUSAN BARKER, 通过电子邮件
谷类作物条带与泥土斑块、刻意休耕（暂时不播种）的田地、小片林地以及粗放放牧区相邻。其结果是一种马赛克式的景观，为动植物的繁衍提供了多样化的栖息地。因此，这里有两个值得借鉴的信息。首先，那些试图通过让自然自行发展来增加
当任何淀粉类食物被加热到约 120⁰C (248⁰F) 以上时，糖分和氨基酸会发生反应，通过一个称为美拉德反应（Maillard reaction）的过程产生多种新化合物。其中之一是一种名为丙烯酰胺的分子，研究表明，极高剂量的丙烯酰胺会导致小鼠患癌。
插图：ADAM GALEGETTY IMAGES X2
生物多样性的政策可能并不像预期的那样有效。Gordon 指出，欧洲许多生物多样性最丰富的地区，正是那些具有低强度、混合农业历史的地区。
针对这一发现，英国食品标准局在 2017 年发起了一项活动，鼓励我们避免食用烤过头的烤薯条、烤土豆和吐司。但自那时起，各项研究一直未能发现人类饮食中的丙烯酰胺与癌症之间存在联系。目前英国癌症研究中心的建议是“您不需要避免食用烤焦的淀粉类食物”。LV
其次是，如果我们想从工业化前的农民身上汲取深刻教训，农业与野生动物并不一定是互斥的。HP
弗雷德里克·亨利湾 (Frederick Henry Bay)。潜水员们发现的个体数量不足一百条，他们通过其身体上的花纹来识别它们，这些花纹就像指纹一样独特。
在塔斯马尼亚的卢特鲁维塔 (Lutruwita) 沿岸，生活着海洋中最具“朋克”风格的一些鱼类。红手鱼 (Thymichthys politus) 具有极高的辨识度。它们利用鳍像手指和手一样在海床上大步走，头部竖起的一根鳍像莫西干发型，撅起的嘴唇则像是涂了一抹深红色的口红。
T. politus 是 14 种手鱼之一，全部为澳大利亚海域特有。它们缺乏鳔（一种内部充满气体的气球），而大多数其他鱼类依靠鳔来获得浮力。因此，手鱼并没有选择漂浮和游泳，而是演化出了能够像肢体一样在水下行走之腹鳍和胸鳍。成年后，手鱼移动的距离不远且速度不快；而幼鱼则在出生地直接定居。
尽管如此，它们仍然很容易被忽略。不仅是因为体型小——红手鱼最大生长至 9 厘米 (3.5in)，不足人类一个手掌的宽度——还因为它们是世界上最稀有的鱼类之一。目前已知它们仅分布在两个小块的岩礁区域中。
保琳·达顿 (PAULINE DUTTON)，通过电子邮件
因此，该物种在扩散至新栖息地方面的能力并不强，这使得它们在面对局部环境变化时极其脆弱。手鱼种群正遭受水污染和沉积物的影响，且其海藻家园正面临海胆的过度啃食。
气候变化也是一个主要威胁。卢特鲁维塔周围的海域升温迅速，而手鱼缺乏迁移到较冷环境的能力。在 2024, 年 1 月，来自塔斯马尼亚大学的科学家们搜集了 25 条红手鱼，并将它们移入水族馆，以保护它们免受严重海洋热浪的影响。同年 5 月，18 条手鱼被成功放回野外，而三条在人工环境下死亡，四条被保留用于建立该物种的繁育计划。
面对类似的多种威胁，其他手鱼物种也处于危险状态。粉红手鱼在数十年间未曾现身，直到 2021, 年，一条粉红手鱼在水下 150 米 (492 英尺) 处被相机拍到，这远深于科学家此前认为的生存深度。齐贝尔手鱼 (Ziebell’s handfish) 自 2007. 年起就再未出现。而光滑手鱼则拥有一个令人遗憾的“荣誉”：它是近代以来首个被宣布灭绝的海洋鱼类。到 2020, 年，距离最后一次见到活体已过去太久。然而，两年后它们被“复活”了（至少在技术层面上），因为科学家们认为该物种可能仍隐藏在某些尚未检查的区域。
与那颗额外卫星的消失以及环带的形成处于同一时期。因此，最新的观点是，海佩里翁 (Hyperion) 并非奇迹般地在碰撞中幸存，而实际上是由这次碰撞产生的。在这种情景下，一颗被命名为“原海佩里翁” (proto-Hyperion) 的卫星（大小约为克律萨利斯 (Chrysalis) 的四倍）参与了这次碰撞。
关于土星及其随行的卫星，还有许多未解之谜。其中一个谜题当然是它壮观的环系统是如何形成的。最近，科学家们表明，这个谜题的答案可能与另一个谜题紧密相关。
十年前，卡西尼号 (Cassini) 探测器对土星质量分布的测量表明，其质量向中心集中的程度略高于预期。如果土星曾经拥有一颗额外的卫星（天文学家称之为克律萨利斯），这一点就可以解释。天文学家认为，这颗失踪的卫星在与土星最大的卫星（也是太阳系中仅次于木卫三的第二大卫星）泰坦 (Titan) 发生碰撞后，可能破碎形成了环带。
这种卫星合并解释了许多现象：为什么土卫六（Titan）上的撞击坑如此之少，为什么它的轨道相当离心，为什么它与土卫十一（Hyperion）的轨道处于“锁定”状态，土卫十一本身不规则的形状和低密度，以及土星遥远的卫星土卫八（Iapetus）轨道倾斜这一长期未解之谜。
尽管这些独特的小鱼在野外面临着所有这些麻烦，但手鱼（handfish）仍有希望。手鱼保护项目的科学家们正努力保护它们及其栖息地。公众可以通过捐赠一千美元来支持他们的工作，作为回报可以为一条手鱼命名。目前已经有很多鱼有了名字——Mia, Molly, Rusty, Rupert, Barnacle Joy, Prince Pickles Spotty Spot Spot 和 Spooky Moo——但仍有许多鱼在等待有人为它们命名并帮助确保它们的未来。HS
但至关重要的是，这一事件还可以解释土星环的起源。土卫六轨道的扩大灾难性地破坏了土星内部卫星的稳定性，导致它们相互碰撞。虽然第二次大灾难发生的具体时间尚不清楚，但它必须发生在土卫六与原土卫十一合并之后，这与土星环约 100 million 年的估计年龄一致。AG
NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY, 美国国家航空航天局/JPL
然而，最近对这一过程的模拟显示，作为土星主要卫星中最小的一颗，土卫十一在“蛹”（Chrysalis）与土卫六相遇的过程中几乎肯定无法幸存。土卫十一和土卫六处于一个轨道“锁定”状态，这个状态似乎相对年轻，可疑地追溯到
WENDY COPSEY, LICHFIELD
乳制奶酪的销量正在激增，市场对蛋白质产品的需求巨大，而且热爱手工奶酪的狂热者数量也在增加。
但植物基纯素奶酪正变得不那么受欢迎，因为许多产品被贴上了超加工的标签，含有淀粉、胶质、油类、色素和香料等成分。然而，有些人仍然更倾向于纯素替代品，因为他们担心牛在啃草时会向大气中释放大量的温室气体甲烷。
要复制传统奶酪复杂的风味和质地非常困难，因此大多数无乳制品都是温和切达奶酪（cheddar）、马苏里拉奶酪（mozzarella）和软奶酪的模仿品。
纯素奶酪通常主要由油和淀粉组成，蛋白质含量低或没有蛋白质。高蛋白版本含有坚果或豆类，如扁豆和鹰嘴豆。一些公司已经找到了利用基因工程酵母、细菌或真菌来生产牛牛奶中酪蛋白（casein）副本的方法。这些蛋白质会自动组装成被称为“胶束”（micelles）的微小球形结构，它们在奶酪的结构和延展性中起着关键作用。非乳源酪蛋白可以首先用于制造牛奶，然后再制成奶酪。
那天晚上晚些时候，如果天空足够暗，正是英仙座流星雨（Perseid meteor shower）的巅峰期，它是全年最丰富的流星源之一。在凌晨时分观察能获得最佳的流星率，8 月 9/10 日至 15/16 日的夜晚活动最为剧烈。流星雨在日食后的一个晚上，即 8 月 12/13 日达到顶峰，我们可以期待每小时看到约 90 颗流星。今年没有讨厌的月亮干扰，因为，嗯，8 月 12 日它就在太阳前面！
有些月份在天文活动上非常安静，没有多少特殊事件。这些时间非常适合重新熟悉那些恒久不变的星座。然而，有些月份在天文活动上极其繁忙，以至于夜空必须退居其次，2026 年 8 月就是这样一个月份！
纯素奶酪通常需要极高浓度的脂肪，才能制造出可以切片和融化的产品。椰子油和棕榈油是最常见的类型，两者都含有高水平的饱和脂肪。
8 月 12 日，将发生一次显著的日偏食，在傍晚时分，太阳盘面的 90% 以上将被月球遮挡。这次事件在从格陵兰到西班牙的路径上是全食，在向南穿过大西洋时经过英国西侧。
同样不容忽视的是，8 月 28 日早晨，月球将被地球的影子遮挡而发生月食。这次事件将一直持续到月落，在 BST（英国夏令时）凌晨 5:13 的最大食时刻，地球的影子将覆盖月球直径的 93% 以上。两次食相的主要时间如上所示。现在我们只需要祈祷天气晴朗。PL
在英国，观看日食需要采取安全预防措施。对于直接观看，经过认证的日食眼镜既方便又便宜。一种更简单的方法是在
b y P E T E L A W R E N C E
(@Avertedvision) Pete 是一位天文学专家，也是《The Sky at Night》节目的主持人。
在 BBC FOUR 和 BBC IPLAYER 上观看 THE SKY AT NIGHT
科学家们继续创新，以打造口感更好、更健康的纯素奶酪。位于爱丁堡的赫瑞-瓦特大学（Heriot-Watt University）的一个团队最近开发出一种利用不饱和向日葵油或菜籽油制造可融化产品的方法。
FRANCIS CHASE，伦敦
他们向液体油中添加被称为“油凝胶剂”（oleogelators）的分子（包括蜡或蛋白质），从而创造出一个三维凝胶结构。这种结构表现得像固体脂肪，且比用椰子油或棕榈油制成的奶酪更容易产生油润的融化感。
在另一项最近的进展中，美国阿肯色大学（University of Arkansas）的科学家报告称，稻米铣削的废料可能有助于制造富含蛋白质的纯素奶酪。
他们分析了糙米、碎米粒和米糠中的蛋白质，然后将其与椰子油和玉米淀粉结合，制成了一种蛋白质含量约为 12% 的奶酪。
每个蛋白质部分具有不同的特性。在测试中，由糙米蛋白制成的奶酪质地更硬，而米粒蛋白则产生了最易融化的奶酪。
在其他方面，存在于水中的微小生物——微藻，提供了一种带有酸味的替代方案。微藻可以在被称为生物反应器的大桶中生长，由光照和二氧化碳驱动。一种方案是制作微藻蛋白粉，并将其与水均质化，从而制造出一种类似牛奶的液体。
插图：PETE LAWRENCE, ADAM GALEGETTY 图像
猫也更喜欢行为方式特定的人。目前，关于猫行为的科学研究正处于繁荣期。在另一项研究中，研究人员监测了 119 人在收容所与猫互动时发生的情况。基本上，科学家们拍摄并观看了大量的猫咪视频，发现那些神经质程度较高的人倾向于以一种更具控制力、且对猫的信号反应较少的方式进行互动。这对猫来说并不惬意，这表明任何自认为的“猫咪磁铁”都较不可能是神经质的，而更有可能以一种尊重的方式与猫互动。
我唯一能自然吸引到家猫的方法，大概就是让自己全身涂满鱼酱。而我的女儿则是个“猫咪磁铁”。她只要走出家门，随机的猫科动物就会在街上跟着她走。看来，有些人确实更容易被猫接近，但这究竟是因为人、因为猫，还是两者兼而有之？
微藻是氨基酸、脂肪酸、维生素、矿物质和抗氧化剂的绝佳来源。据报道，用微藻制成的产品具有一种令人满足的咸鲜味，即“うま味”（umami）。
因此，虽然乳制品奶酪制造商将始终为爱好者提供高端产品，但纯素替代品将继续变得更健康，且更接近真实之味。ED
与它们那著名的冷漠名声截然不同，许多猫确实选择留在人类身边。在一项针对 50 只生活在家庭和避难所中的猫的研究中，大多数猫选择人类的陪伴而非食物和玩具。猫还拥有精密的嗅觉系统，可以分辨主人与陌生人的气味。当面对来自主人和陌生人的气味拭子时，猫花在嗅闻陌生人气味上的时间更长。这表明它们能够根据感官线索识别出熟悉的人类。
当然，并非所有的猫都一样。它们也存在性格差异，而这也影响了它们对人类的偏好。在 2022 年的一项初步研究中，人们被邀请在猫咖或救援中心坐上两个美妙的小时，与猫咪们共处。研究人员监测了猫的行为并分析了它们的尿样。他们发现，睾丸激素水平较低的公猫，以及从小就与人类生活在一起的公猫更加友好。这表明，至少在公猫中，激素和早年生活经历在它们是否会接近一个人方面起到了很大作用。因此，成为“吸猫体质”是一项可以通过学习掌握的技能，只要你与合适的猫互动并尊重它们。HP
它们还能察觉与人类情绪相关的气味。在另一项研究中，研究人员向猫展示了人们在感到快乐、恐惧、压力或情绪中立时分泌的汗液拭子。猫并不喜欢恐惧的气味。它们更有可能压低耳朵、甩尾巴、身体紧绷并后退。那么，猫会愿意接近一个恐惧的人吗？证据表明，不会。
FRANCESCA STUCKEY HOWARD, PLYMOUTH
最近发表在《欧洲预防心脏病学杂志》（European Journal of Preventive Cardiology）上的一项研究发现，即使是对睡眠、运动和饮食进行微小的改变，仍能对心脏健康产生显著影响。媒体在报道时声称，多睡 11 分钟可以将心脏病发作和中风的风险降低 10%。但这个标题具有误导性。该研究考察的是增加睡眠、增加运动和改善饮食相结合后的综合效果。
研究发现，若要仅通过睡眠来实现 10% 的风险降低，你每晚实际上需要多睡约半小时。此外，这 10% 并不意味着你个人心脏病发作的概率降低了 10%。
该研究对 53,000 名参与者进行了为期八年的跟踪观察，期间报告了 2,000 多起心血管“事件”。这占研究人群的 3.8%。如果所有人都增加了睡眠以获得 10% 的风险降低，那么这个数字将下降到研究人群的 3.4%。
尽管如此，总体信息仍然成立：充足的睡眠是维持心脏健康的重要因素。原因之一是，由于皮质醇水平较低，你的血压通常在夜间下降。睡眠不足会阻碍血压的这种下降，从而增加血管压力，进而导致动脉硬化（atherosclerosis）。
在身体尚未准备好之前醒来，还会让压力激素在早晨激增并冲击你的神经系统。2014 年在美国的一项研究发现，在夏令时开始、人们失去一小时睡眠后的那个周一早晨，心脏病发作的数量增加了 25%。按下贪睡按钮不一定能救命，但久而久之，它可能会延长你的寿命。LV
TOM DAVIS, VIA EMAIL
我们很多人都知道，当身边有一个自信的朋友或同事时，自己也会感到格外地意气风发。当然，这只是 anecdotal（轶闻式的经验），但现在一项新研究提供了一些基于实验室的证据，支持自信确实具有传染性的观点。
GETTY IMAGES X3 ILLUSTRATION: ADAM GALE
伦敦大学伯贝克学院（Birkbeck, University of London）的研究人员要求参与者对计算机屏幕上一团点阵的移动方向做出重复判断，并陈述他们对该决定有多大信心。随后，参与者再次进行判断，但这次有一名合作伙伴执行完全相同的任务并分享自己的信心评分（该伙伴实际上是一个计算机程序，但参与者认为是一个真实的人）。最后，参与者再次独立做出同样的判断。这个过程被重复多次，以便参与者随着时间的推移能够掌握其伙伴信心水平的要点。
下一期“WRITEIN 每月问题”的撰写者将获得两本精装科学书籍：
《Whale》和《The Intertidal Zone》。
价值超过 £35！
JESSICA DAY, BRISTOL
我们倾向于认为鲨鱼是孤独的生物，但某些物种会成对或成群狩猎，或者形成维持多年的社交群体。有些鲨鱼甚至有“朋友”。最近在斐济鲨鱼礁海洋保护区（Shark Reef Marine Reserve）的一项研究发现，成年牛鲨会选择它们的社交伙伴，且更倾向于与体型相似的个体互动。雄性通常有更多的社交联系——它们比雌性小，因此社交融合可能有助于它们避免冲突并获得食物。
鲨鱼友谊的其他好处可能包括学习新技能和结识潜在的配偶。JL
LAURA LIAMERO, 通过电子邮件
自恋是一个热门话题，媒体大肆宣传自恋率正在飞速上升。然而，一项针对 55 个国家 540,000 人的近期研究发现，在过去 40 年中，夸大性自恋（grandiose narcissism）的发生率并没有增加的证据。虽然缺乏“自恋流行病”的证据，但社交媒体确实让自恋行为显得比以往任何时候都更显眼。
那么，究竟是什么让一个人变成自恋者？为了回答这个问题，了解我们关于人格遗传学的认知会有所帮助。大多数人格特质的遗传率在 30 到 50 之间。这意味着我们的基因构成解释了人与人之间约一半的差异，而另一半则源于我们多样的人生经历。
当研究人员研究自恋时，问题变得更加复杂。早期的双胞胎研究表明，遗传解释程度较低。例如，一项 2014 年针对 3,014 对双胞胎的研究发现，夸大性自恋的遗传率为 23%，而特权性自恋（entitled narcissism）的遗传率为 35%。换句话说，基因在解释自恋中起作用，但环境因素（如育儿风格、朋友和人际关系）更为重要。
关键发现是，那些与更自信的伙伴配对的参与者，倾向于在自己的判断中表现出更高的自信心——不仅是在与伙伴分享评分时，而且在再次私下做出判断时也是如此。这表明他们并非为了面子而声称更有信心。
研究人员表示，这种明显的自信心的社交传播，可能有助于解释为什么某些社交群体（如金融交易员）倾向于表现出较高的自信水平。
然而，一项规模大得多的 2026 年研究描绘了不同的景象。利用扩展双胞胎家庭设计，研究人员发现自恋的遗传率实际上在 50 左右。此外，研究人员没有发现任何证据表明共同的家庭环境因素（例如育儿风格）塑造了自恋。因此，他们在父母和孩子之间发现的相似自恋水平是由共同基因决定的，而不是共同成长环境的结果。
——这种虚张声势具有传染性。
“心血管系统，”他说，“大多数人在想到身体如何泵血时，会想：‘没错，我们有一个泵，叫心脏。’但心脏只能泵出回流到它这里的血液。”
那些低强度的运动很容易实现。当你舒适地坐着时，只需在脚趾保持触地的同时抬起脚后跟。然后重复这个动作 5–10 分钟。研究人员认为，对于糖尿病患者以及任何长时间久坐的人来说，这是一个简单但有效的干预措施——因为缺乏活动是降低小腿泵功能最确定的方式之一。
小腿是将血液从腿部推回心脏的肌肉链中的一个机制。足部、大腿和腹部的肌肉也起到了阀门的作用。“你可以把它想象成牙膏。你在依次挤压一个个管子，它们将牙膏向北喷射，”McBane 说。
踮起脚尖或散步。这是基础的解剖机制——仔细思考起来时略显神奇，但因其过于普遍且常规而经常被忽视。
行走和跑步是保持你的“第二心脏”泵动的两种最简单方式。这也是每天走 10,000 步的另一个理由。但 McBane 还表示，其他形式的锻炼也很重要，包括力量训练，以确保这块重要的肌肉不会随着年龄增长而萎缩。
然而，这种情况现在可能正在发生改变，因为科学家们在思考这种被称为“小腿肌肉泵功能”的机制是否能成为改善短期和长期健康的强力杠杆。
小腿的不同之处在于，首先，它更容易研究。例如，我们没有针对大腿泵功能的同等衡量标准。其次，它是我们大多数人都能更多地利用的肌肉，这意味着它可能是一个我们所有人都可以拉动的真实“杠杆”，用以改善健康。
2024, 年，梅奥医学中心（Mayo Clinic）的研究人员研究了当这一功能运作不畅时会发生什么。他们发现，小腿泵功能障碍者的死亡率显著增加。
“我以前——就个人而言——认为心血管健康最重要的事情是具备有氧适能。只要你坚持跑步并保持有氧健康，你就没问题，”他说。“但现实是，我们还必须保持无氧能力。你需要努力锻炼并增强肌肉发育，维持肌肉力量。”
研究表明，除了长期的死亡风险外，还存在短期获益。良好的小腿泵功能意味着血液在腿部和脚踝处的积聚较少，从而减轻隐痛和不适。这可能也有助于降低脚踝肿胀和深静脉血栓等问题的风险。
例如，在一项为期 10 年的研究中，结果显示，小腿泵功能正常的人死亡风险为 5.9 百分比。在同一时期，小腿泵功能受损者的死亡风险为 17.5 百分比。这就是为什么小腿肌肉有时被地称为我们的“第二心脏”——研究作者 Robert D McBane 博士认为，这个词并没有被过度炒作。
其他形式的运动可能同样重要，比如通过拉伸来维持踝关节的灵活性，或者进行平衡训练——同样，尤其是随着年龄的增长——以确保人们仍能定期行走和锻炼。
研究还关注了一块特定的小腿肌肉，称为比目鱼肌（soleus），它在我们活动时始终处于活跃状态。研究人员表明，即使在坐姿下，通过低强度运动激活这块肌肉，也可能改善我们身体在餐后处理葡萄糖的方式。
McBane 补充道，有数据支持这样一种观点：专门加强小腿肌肉——无论是在健身房还是通过徒步——都可以改善小腿泵的功能。“我们目前还不清楚这是否能提高生存率，”他说。“你可以想象它应该能，但我们的研究尚未采取进一步步骤来证明这能改善身体的整体健康。”
“小腿肌肉是我们极其重要的生理组成部分。”
插图：VALENTIN TKACH
“我们必须保持我们的无氧能力。你需要努力锻炼以保持肌肉活力”
即便如此，我也要前往登山机了——谁想加入我？
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Do sharks have friends?
–›p87
C O N T R I B U T O R S
We’re going back to the Moon, and this time we’re staying. That was roughly the message from NASA when, in March, it shared its plans to build a Moon base via a series of events and documents intriguingly titled “Ignition”.
JONATHAN O’CALLAGHAN
The US and China are racing to establish the first base on the Moon. Space journalist Jonathan reveals why winning this race is so important.–›p66
Meanwhile, Lunar Gateway – the proposed permanent space station orbiting the Moon, intended to support future missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond – has been put on hold. NASA is focusing its attention on other things now, possibly due to the
pressure coming from another nation: “We find ourselves with a real geopolitical rival, challenging American leadership in the high ground of space,” said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman earlier this year.
DR JAMES LLOYD
If we put aside the worrying perception of space as the ultimate “high ground” for a moment, the message is clear. The US doesn’t want China running around on the Moon and having it all to itself. So, the race to put boots on the lunar surface – boots that might one day be dusted with regolith and stored by the airlock of a little lunar ranch in the shadow of a crater – is on.
No human has ever seen an adult colossal squid alive in the wild. Science writer James meets the experts hoping to set eyes on this elusive deep-sea dweller.–›p52
When will it all happen? Well, NASA is targeting a human landing in 2028, and a habitat – one that astronauts can spend the night in, if not stay permanently – could be ready by 2032. China, on the other hand, is proposing to have its taikonauts arrive on the Moon in 2030 and has set 2035 as a deadline for some kind of semi-permanent structure there.
HAYLEY BENNETT
So, in what feels like the blink of an eye, the idea of a Moon base has come to life. It’s gone from being a leap of imagination that lived exclusively on the pages of sciencefiction novels to becoming the actual, next giant leap for humanity. Discover how these lunar outposts will take shape – and why China and the US are racing to establish them – on p66.
The next wave of weight-loss drugs won’t curb your hunger – they’ll change how you store fat. Hayley, a regular BBC Science Focus contributor, investigates. –›p60
DR HELEN PILCHER
Cell biologist Helen delves into the science behind the nocebo effect – the placebo effect’s evil twin – and the surprising impact it can have on your health.–›p74
Daniel Bennett, Editor
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3
CONTENTS
R E G U L A R S
The most striking science photography from around the world this month.
Meet the bot built to care about your wellbeing; How to build your own sim-racing rig; Editor’s picks.
Your thoughts and opinions on the recent articles in BBC Science Focus Magazine.
A new single-dose cholesterol treatment has delivered promising results in a landmark clinical trial.
Obesity medication curbs the impulse to eat – can it be used to rein in more complex urges?
Our experts answer your questions. This month: Did plants have a Black Death too? Is it safe to drink from a plastic bottle that’s been left in a hot car? Is burnt toast bad for you? What really made Saturn’s rings? What is the future of cheese? Why do some people naturally attract cats? Do sharks have friends? Is confidence contagious? And more…
This month’s biggest news, including: Earth’s early life was terrible at sex, say scientists; It’s time to rethink your five-a-day; We’ve found a ‘Rosetta Stone’ that could decode deep-space signals; Study reveals why the T. rex grew such embarrassingly small arms. And more…
Did plants have a Black Death too?
Weight-loss drugs might suppress more than just your appetite; Earth’s vast fungal networks are unravelling. Should we be worried?; How strength training can help you age better.
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44 OLDER, WISER… WEAKER?
THE MOON BASE RACE
New research is revealing how our immune systems age and what we can do to slow the process down.
There are no recorded sightings of live adult colossal squid in the wild. A group of intrepid experts is setting out to change that.
Can’t wait until next month to get your fix of science and tech? Our website is packed with news, features and Q&As to keep your brain satisfied. sciencefocus.com
GLP-1 drugs help you lose weight by suppressing your appetite. Their successors take an entirely different approach.
The race to establish an outpost on our nearest celestial neighbour is heating up. And the stakes couldn’t be higher.
The placebo effect has an evil twin and it can play havoc with your health.
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EYE OPENER
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, CANADA
This tangled knot of neon lights is actually a baby crab. It’s what a crab looks like during the earliest, larval stage of its life, as a zoea – just after it has hatched from its egg. Well… almost.
For one thing, it obviously appears much bigger here than it would in real life. That’s because this vibrant image was captured at 10x magnification by Tong Zhang, light microscopy coordinator at the University of Toronto. Normally, zoea are microscopic, measuring just 0.25–1mm (0.009–0.03in) long.
For another, it’s brighter and more colourful than it would normally be. Although the colours do actually come from the natural fluorescence in the crab’s tissues and cells, Zhang used lasers at infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths to intensify them. This imaging technique eliminates the need for dyes when working with microscopic organisms, making them appear more vivid and therefore easier to identify.
Zhang doesn’t know how old this zoea is exactly, but he says that “based on its morphology, it hatched from its egg not very long ago.” Its next stage of life will be the megalops stage, where it will develop little claws and start to look a lot more crab-like.
DR TONG ZHANG/EVIDENT IMAGE AWARDS
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EYE OPENER
FAIRY POOL WATERFALLS, ISLE OF SKYE, SCOTLAND
We have the oldest recorded meteor shower to thank for the flashes streaking across this view of Scotland. The Lyrid meteor shower peaked on 22 April when photographer Josh Dury captured this feast of an image. Aside from the waterfalls, mountains, stars and silhouetted band of the Milky Way, it shows meteors – tiny fragments of the Comet Thatcher
– burning up as they fall through Earth’s atmosphere.
Comet Thatcher was officially discovered in 1861, but there are recorded sightings by Chinese astronomers going as far back as 687 BCE. And for as long as this ‘dirty snowball’ has been orbiting the Sun, fragments have been breaking off it. When Earth’s orbit crosses paths with those bits, they hit our atmosphere at very high speeds – as fast as 50km/s (111,847mph).
They move so fast that the air in front of them can’t get out of their way. Instead, the air is rapidly compressed, creating an explosion of heat. The superheated air causes the meteoroids to glow, producing streaks like the ones you see here.
We get to see the Lyrids every spring as Earth passes through the trail left by Comet Thatcher, but we won’t see Thatcher itself again until 2283, as the comet takes 415 years to orbit the Sun.
JOSH DURY
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EYE OPENER
ELDORADO NATIONAL FOREST, CALIFORNIA, US
Anyone with a sweet tooth might be tempted to pop one of these red gummies into their mouth. We wouldn’t recommend it, though. They might look like sweets, but they’re actually the tiny glandular hairs of a plant. And they’re toxic. At least, they are to the bugs that want to feed on the plant. Known as trichomes, these hairs secrete toxic substances to protect the plant – in this case, a snow plant (Sarcodes sanguinea) – from pests and herbivores. The hairs are minuscule, usually only a few thousandths of a millimetre long. Photographer Timothy Boomer has used a 7.5x microscopic lens to make these ones appear so big and juicy.
Snow plants are entirely red – they have no chlorophyll so there’s no green on them at all, meaning they’re unable to photosynthesise like typical plants. Instead, they get their nutrients by forming a symbiotic relationship with the fungus Rhizopogon ellenae.
R. ellenae feeds itself through a partnership it forms with trees. Using the underground mycelium network, the fungus feeds water and minerals to the trees, and the trees give the products of their photosynthesis to the fungus. Snow plants essentially use their roots to hack into this system via the fungus.
TIMOTHY BOOMER/WILD MACRO
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L E T T E R O F T H E M O N T H
I read with interest Ian Taylor’s article on brain health ‘25 small changes that make a big difference to your dementia risk’ (July, p44). I’m no academic, but at 86 I still have an active mind, with memories stretching back over my life. Though the article contained some excellent tips for improving brain health, the exercise of fine motor skills was largely excluded.
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In my experience, handiwork, especially when it involves tools – whether it’s needlework or using screwdrivers and spanners – adds to the mind’s ability to understand the physical world.
Philip Noble, via email
I enjoyed Dr David Cox’s article ‘Lack of touch is harming our health’ (June, p66) on the positive effects that human touch can have on mental and physical wellbeing. As I sit here reading it next to my two cats, I wonder if there is similar research on the salutary effects of physical contact with domesticated animals. Does it have the same effect? To what extent do these findings apply to petting and grooming?
Ken Walsh, via email
Dr David Cox replies… The power of touch very much applies when it comes to stroking or petting a furry friend. Some fascinating studies have shown that touching their fur activates numerous calming systems within the human body. The brain releases chemicals that dampen the levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, while increasing the levels of other hormones that we use for mood regulation. What’s more, being in regular physical contact with a much-loved pet can probably lengthen your life – epidemiological studies have linked this to reduced rates of a number of diseases.
I’m always intrigued by reading stories like ‘Are we addicted to ultra-processed foods?’ (June, p58). The article mentioned how the government could do more to help people avoid these foods – such as increasing tax on certain items, for example. It made me realise how expensive fruit, fish, meat and vegetables have become.
Audit Bureau of Circulations 373,813 (combined, Jan-Dec 2025)
WORTH OVER
When times are hard, families are often forced to choose cheaper ultra-processed foods, even though they know they’re the worst foods for their health in the long-term. It seems to me that taxing ultra-processed food won’t help anyone unless the price of healthy, raw ingredients falls.
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DISCOVERIES
CORE CONFUSION Scientists are baffled by a change in Earth’s core p22
STRESS TEST Why Earth’s first animals struggled with reproduction p20
RAMPING UP New modelling reveals the secrets of pyramid construction p23
HEALTH
In a landmark trial, one shot of an experimental gene therapy slashed ‘bad’ cholesterol by up to 62 per cent
one-off treatment could lead to a cure for high cholesterol, according to London medical researchers.
In an early-stage clinical trial, a single dose of a new experimental therapy cut
levels of LDL ‘bad’ cholesterol by up to 62 per cent and kept them low for as long as a year, raising hopes that patients could one day avoid taking daily medication for the rest of their lives.
The treatment, called VERVE-102, is delivered through an IV drip and works by permanently altering a gene involved in cholesterol regulation. Researchers reported no serious safety concerns in the trial, the results of which were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Lowering LDL cholesterol reduces the build-up of fatty plaques in the arteries, helping to cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes. While statins can achieve similar reductions to gene therapy, they generally need to be taken every day.
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
The new infusion stops the liver from making
the PCSK9 protein (yellow), prompting the body remove to
more LDL cholesterol
If larger studies confirm that VERVE102 is safe and effective, a single treatment could provide long-lasting protection against cardiovascular disease.
The approach is designed to mimic a natural quirk of biology. Some people are born with this gene effectively switched off, giving them very low cholesterol throughout life and a much lower risk of heart disease.
“It’s still early days, but this is an extremely exciting milestone,” said Prof Riyaz Patel, a clinical academic at University College London (UCL), consultant cardiologist at Barts Health and UCL Hospitals (UCLH), and one of the local leads for the trial.
The therapy aims to recreate that protective effect in people at high risk of heart attacks and strokes.
“These findings show the technology works, is safe and helps lower cholesterol.” WHY IT MATTERS
Despite the ‘gene therapy’ label, the treatment does not rewrite a person’s wider DNA. It makes a single, targeted edit to one gene inside liver cells, and the change is confined to those cells in the patient’s own body.
Raised LDL cholesterol is one of the biggest risk factors for heart attacks and strokes, contributing to hundreds of thousands of deaths each year in the UK and the US.
Crucially, it doesn’t touch the genes carried in sperm or eggs, so it cannot be passed on to a person’s children. In effect, it is designed to copy a genetic variant that some people are simply born with – though, as with any new medicine, its long-term safety is still being studied.
Doctors can lower that risk with statins, and the drugs are now taken by more than seven million people in the UK and upwards of 40 million in the US. But they only work if people keep taking them.
Prof Bryan Williams, chief scientific and medical officer at the British Heart Foundation, said: “These results are very exciting and highlight the pace of change in genetic technologies and their application in healthcare.”
Research suggests around half of patients stop their cholesterol medication within a year of starting, either because they find a daily pill difficult to maintain or because of side effects. Muscle aches are the most commonly reported problem, while a small number of patients experience more serious complications.
“Cholesterol levels were lowered by impressive amounts, up to 62 per cent at the highest dose, and reductions appear to have been stable over several months.”
of total RNA per kilogram of body weight. RNA acts as a genetic messenger in the body.
ABOVE VERVE-102, is delivered as an infusion through an IV drip
That is why researchers are so excited by treatments such as VERVE-102. If a single dose can provide lasting cholesterol reductions, it could remove the need for lifelong medication altogether.
At the highest dose, the therapy reduced LDL cholesterol by up to 62 per cent. The smallest reduction, nine per cent, was seen at the lowest 0.3-mg-per-kilogram dose. In the participants followed for the longest, cholesterol stayed low.
“While longer studies involving more patients will be needed to confirm this, it is possible that a single dose could reduce a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease for years.”
RIGHT The new treatment shows the potential of somatic gene editing – altering the genes of ordinary body cells rather than sperm or eggs
“If larger trials prove successful, this innovative gene therapy has the potential to revolutionise the way we treat people to lower cholesterol in the highest-risk patients.”
The study, run by researchers at UCL and UCLH, involved 35 adults who either had an inherited form of very high cholesterol – known as heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia – or premature coronary artery disease.
VERVE-102 is given as a single infusion and lowers LDL indirectly. It switches off the gene that prompts the liver to make a protein called PCSK9, which normally stops the body from clearing circulating LDL cholesterol from the blood. With the gene silenced, the body removes more LDL.
Others sounded a clearer note of caution. Dr Kausik Ray, a professor of public health at Imperial College London, said the therapy should not be oversold.
Each patient received one of six doses, ranging from 0.3mg to 1.0mg
DISCOVERIES
“For gene editing, it is, in theory, a once-in-a-lifetime treatment to maintain PCSK9 lowering, but we currently only have months of data,” he said.
Institute near Cambridge, says the work was impressive and likely to be one of many somatic gene-editing technologies developed in the coming years.
WHAT ELSE COULD GENE EDITING TREAT? Some experts framed the trial as a milestone for the wider field. The work shows the potential of somatic gene editing – altering the genes of ordinary body cells rather than sperm or eggs – to tackle more common conditions. Unlike many previous gene-editing therapies, which have focused on rare inherited disorders, VERVE-102 is aimed at a condition that affects millions of people worldwide.
“Safety concerns mean the FDA requires 14 years of safety follow-up. Safety issues may not emerge for many years. These can be in another organ or another gene. If this happens, we need to see if there are long-term consequences.”
“This is a good use of somatic gene editing for a key disease,” he told BBC Science Focus.
He added that as well as helping the small group of people who do not respond well to statins or who have complications, it pointed to a route for somatic gene editing to treat a common chronic disease – whereas existing gene editing has mostly targeted rarer genetic conditions.
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, ALAMY
Ray also predicted that some patients with extremely high cholesterol might still need additional medication alongside gene therapy to drive their LDL low enough.
Prof Ewan Birney, director of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics
ARCHAEOLOGY.
STONEOFSTONEHENGE.ORG.UK, NATURE/CLARKE/KIRKLAND/BEVINS ET AL X3
A new paper has found
that the giant altar stone could have been moved from Doggerland, which
once connected Britain to mainland Europe
DISCOVERIES
ne of Stonehenge’s enduring mysteries is how its Altar Stone made the 700km (435-mile) journey from Scotland to southern England. Now, researchers think they may have part of the answer: a glacier helped transport it.
“The Altar Stone must have been significant enough [for people] to be willing to move the stone at least twice; first to save it from being submerged by rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age and then again to its final resting place on Salisbury Plain.”
SOURCE OF SANDSTONES
Co-lead author Dr Anthony Clarke, from Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the findings suggest glaciers carried the Altar Stone as far as Doggerland, leaving Neolithic people to transport it the rest of the way to Stonehenge.
The massive six-tonne sandstone slab lies at the centre of the monument and is thought to have arrived on Salisbury Plain around 5,000 years ago. Previous studies traced the stone’s origins to northeast Scotland, but were unable to answer how it covered such a vast distance.
“Our modelling shows glaciers may have transported rocks part of the way during the last ice age – potentially as far as Dogger Bank in the North Sea – but not into southern England, meaning the stone would still have needed to be moved hundreds of kilometres by people,” said Clarke.
After studying ancient ice flows, scientists at Sheffield Hallam University and Curtin University in Australia believe a glacier carried the Altar Stone from the Orcadian Basin in northeast Scotland to Dogger Bank during Britain’s last ice age, between 33,000 and 11,700 years ago.
Dogger Bank, now submerged beneath the North Sea, once formed part of Doggerland – the vast prehistoric landmass that connected Britain to mainland Europe. Because the area contains no natural source of large stones, any boulders found there must have been carried in by glaciers.
While the study suggests glaciers carried the Altar Stone south, the researchers found no viable glacial pathway linking its Scottish source directly to Stonehenge. Instead, they believe Neolithic people transported the stone in stages, using a combination of overland, coastal and river routes.
BLUESTONES From the Preseli Hills, Wales
ALTAR STONE From the old red sandstone deposits of northeast Scotland
LARGER SARSEN STONES Local stone, mainly from West Woods near Marlborough
Sheffield Hallam University’s Dr Remy Veness, co-lead author of the paper in theJournal of Quaternary Science, said: “We recently discovered that the origin of the Altar Stone is northeast Scotland, but how it travelled 700km to Salisbury Plain is widely debated.
They add that the feat of moving such a massive object over long distances points to a level of organisation and cooperation among Neolithic communities not previously fully appreciated.
model of ice sheet erratic transport and shows a realistic set of complex multiple phase transport events.”
“Transporting a stone of this size over such a long distance would have required planning, coordination and a deep understanding of the landscape – not to mention tremendous determination,” Clarke said.
He added: “I would suggest that even this underestimates the full extent of glacial transport and it is conceivable that the Altar Stone could have got further south and west over multiple glaciations. There is more to the glacial transport theory than we have hitherto given credit.”
“What’s exciting about these findings is that they could imply that the people of Doggerland attached cultural significance to the Altar Stone long before it was incorporated into Stonehenge.”
Yet Prof David Evans, a glacial geomorphologist at Durham University, noted the study was “based upon a testable
DISCOVERIES
palaeontologists have long been asking: why animal life remained relatively unchanged on Earth for millions of years. Some of the earliest creatures were Fractofusus, which existed during the Ediacaran Period (between 635 and 539 million years ago), though they looked more like ferns than animals. They didn’t appear to have mouths, organs or limbs, but are believed to have absorbed nutrients from the water around them. They reproduced asexually by sending out clones via runners – just like modern strawberry plants.
“Life was pretty nice during the Ediacaran, so the need for sex was rather limited,” says lead author Dr Emily Mitchell from Cambridge’s Department of Zoology. “There was relatively little competition, so there was no real pressure to change anything.”
Mitchell and her team studied fossils from Mistaken Point in Newfoundland, one of the world’s richest sources of fossils from the Ediacaran. They found that during this period, animals lived in rich waters, where competition for resources was limited. As they spread from the deep ocean to shallower areas of water, they would have faced more pressures, including tides, storms, shifting temperatures and changing nutrient levels.
EVOLUTION
Animals only began to improve their sexual reproduction when they faced stress and competition
“Stress essentially leads to sexual reproduction, and when that happens, we can see a massive increase in dispersal distances as animals attempt to colonise new areas due to an increase in competition,” says Mitchell.
arth’s first animals weren’t great at reproduction, scientists have revealed.
For the study, researchers from the University of Cambridge studied fossils of some of the oldest-known animals on Earth, which lived around 574 million years ago. These animals reproduced asexually, creating offspring from only a single parent’s genes.
In fact, they were so bad at it that they actually held back life’s diversity for millions of years. It was only when stress
As these animals adapted to new habitats and new modes of reproduction, diversification of species increased too. This process accelerated further in the following Cambrian Period, when animals became mobile.
Reported in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, the new study goes some way to explaining a question
and competition led to the arrival of sexual reproduction that the pace of evolution increased.
HEALTH
ot all five-a-day goals are met equally – and only a fraction of us are getting enough of a key micronutrient from the fruit and veg we eat, new research
School and the University of Reading, looked at the diets of UK and US participants and analysed the volume in which flavanols (compounds in plants with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties) were consumed.
diets, as they have a “beneficial effect on vascular function and reduce cardiovascular mortality,” explains Prof Gunter Kuhnle of the University of Reading, one of the researchers involved.
ILLUSTRATIONS: ROBIN BOYDEN
We should be aiming to get enough of a specific micronutrient, say scientists
But the study found that many of us aren’t hitting the recommended level of flavanols. Researchers used existing
has revealed.
The study, which included scientists from Harvard Medical
Flavanols are a key ingredient we ought to be packing into our
SPACE
a white dwarf – a dense stellar remnant roughly the size of Earth but with a mass close to that of the Sun – paired with a larger but lower-mass red dwarf star of about one-tenth the Sun’s mass. The two stars orbit each other extremely closely, completing a full orbit in just over an hour.
Interactions between the stars’ magnetic fields generate radio bursts at specific points during their orbit, meaning the signal occurs at regular intervals.
ver the past few years, astronomers have been puzzled by a series of strange radio signals originating in the Milky Way. Around a dozen of these long-period radio
Now, scientists at the University of Sydney in Australia report inNature Astronomy that they have found an unusual binary star system which may be the source of one of these signals. They’ve dubbed it a ‘stellar Rosetta Stone’, believing it can help them make sense of these weird signals.
“This system gives us a way to decode these signals. It could help us determine whether other longperiod transients are more like pulsars or white dwarf systems, acting as a stellar Rosetta Stone,” says Kovi Rose, the PhD candidate who led the study, referring to the archaeological artefact that enabled the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
transients have been detected emanating from different parts of our Galaxy.
The newly identified system, named ^?X= ljȅǿșǩș șȅǟ
As well as the radio signals, material from the less massive star is drawn towards the white dwarf, heating it up and emitting X-rays. This means the discovery not only provides a unique opportunity to study magnetic interactions between stars but also extreme plasma physics under conditions that cannot be replicated on Earth.
“These systems are natural laboratories,” Rose added. “They allow us to test our understanding of how matter behaves in strong magnetic fields and under intense gravitational forces.”
While the radio wave mystery now appears to be solved, questions remain around the physics of cataclysmic variable stars.
research to track the diets of more than 30,000 participants, using urine biomarkers to monitor flavanol levels.
daily five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. The researchers point out that your choice of which fruit and vegetables you consume is more important than simply getting your five-a-day.
punnet; cranberries, which have around 300mg per 250g punnet; and blackberries, which have around 250mg per 200g punnet.
one apple to another. Instead, it’s about making mindful choices and eating a range of fruit and veg.
“Including a handful of blackberries, a whole apple or having a cup of green tea alongside your meal makes a real difference,” says Dr Javier Ottaviani, the paper’s lead author from the University of California, Davis, in the US.
Optimal flavanol levels sit between 400 and 600mg per day. However, the researchers discovered that fewer than one in five participants hit this level – including those who ate their
You can also identify the volume of flavanols in different foods using the Phenol Explorer and the US Department of Agriculture databases. However, Kuhnle points out that levels can vary even from
So which fruit and veg should we prioritise? Flavanol-rich fruits include plums, which have around 450mg of flavanols per 500g
DISCOVERIES
GEOLOGY
river of molten iron flowing 2,250km (1,400 miles) below the Pacific Ocean in Earth’s outer core has surprised scientists by changing direction.
Earth’s outer core, inner core and lower mantle and, therefore, give more insights into the core-mantle boundary, which is a critical region for deep-Earth dynamics.”
ESA’s latest data suggest the eastward flow may now be weakening again after reaching a peak several years ago, raising the possibility that the event represents a temporary oscillation or is part of a longer natural cycle in core dynamics.
The observations give new insights into the shifting behaviour of our planet’s liquid outer core. This layer plays a key role in generating Earth’s magnetic field, which acts as a protective shield against dangerous solar radiation.
These changes occur far below Earth’s surface and pose no immediate danger to people or the climate. But scientists still think they’re fundamental to understanding how our planet works, and how the outer core generates Earth’s protective magnetic field.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh made the discovery by combing through ground and satellite observations taken between 1997 and 2025. They report in The Journal of Studies of Earth’s Deep Interior that, in 2010, a broad region of iron-rich fluid beneath the equatorial Pacific switched from moving weakly westwards to strongly eastwards.
PALAEONTOLOGY
Scientists have long known that our planet’s magnetic field is not fixed. It slowly changes over time as the core flow evolves, affecting everything from navigation systems to spacecraft operations and models of near-Earth space weather.
“The large-scale flow reversal beneath the Pacific raises new questions about the behaviour of Earth’s deep interior,” said lead author of the study, Frederik Dahl Madsen, at the University’s School of Geosciences.
hile scientists have long agreed the miniature limbs of a Tyrannosaurus rex were pretty useless, the actual evolutionary trigger behind their size remained up for debate. But now,
“Scientists now want to understand whether the reversal represents a short-lived fluctuation, part of a repeating oscillation, or a new stable equilibrium for core circulation.”
Previously, it was assumed that the outer core was dominated by a stable westward circulation, but according to Elisabetta Iorfida, an Interior and Exterior Fields Earth Scientist at the European Space Agency, the Pacific reversal challenges that.
thanks to new research, we might have the answer.
Researchers from University College London (UCL) and Cambridge University studied 82 species of theropods – the diverse group of twolegged, primarily meat-eating dinosaurs thatT. rex belongs to – and found that their arms shrank as their heads and jaws grew larger. This suggests that Tyrannosaurus (and other predatory
ILLUSTRATIONS: ROBIN BOYDEN
“This study shows that regional changes can emerge rapidly within just a decade,” she said. “The findings may also help scientists investigate possible interactions between
dinosaurs) evolved to use their head and jaws as their main weapon of attack, rather than their claws.
ARCHAEOLOGY
As a result, their arms shrank over time with disuse, until eventually they were so outsized by the dinosaur’s enormous jaw and body that they became the tiny arms we joke about.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found that smaller arms were linked more closely with the development of large, powerful skulls and jaws – rather than the overall body size of the dinosaur. This shows that the small arms of the T. rex weren’t simply a result of their bodies getting bigger.
million stone blocks, each weighing between 2.5 and 15 tonnes. For the monument to have been completed within the 27 years of Khufu’s reign, a block would have to have been placed at an average rate of one every three minutes. Debate has raged, however, over how the giant structure could have been completed in this time frame.
“The head took over from the arms as the method of attack,” explains lead author Charlie Roger Scherer, a PhD student at UCL Earth Sciences. “It’s a case of ‘use it or lose it’ – the arms are no longer useful and reduce in size over time.”
Some researchers have suggested that external ramps were used. But such ramps would themselves have required vast quantities of material, and no clear archaeological evidence of them has ever been found.
“These adaptations often occurred in areas with gigantic prey. Trying to pull and grab at a 100ft-long sauropod with your claws is not ideal. Attacking and holding on with the jaws might have been more effective.”
Another idea suggests a single ramp was built into the pyramid, spiralling upwards through the structure before being filled in from the top down as construction progressed. But Roig’s mathematical modelling found that it would have taken nearly half a century to complete the pyramid using just one ramp.
There were also plenty of other theropods skipping arm day. Scherer cites the Carnotaurus as having even smaller arms than T. rex. One thing that doesn’t seem to matter, though, is the dinosaur’s overall size. Several smaller theropods had similarly built strong heads and tiny arms, despite being a fraction of the size of a T.rex.
Instead, he argues thatfourindented ramps spiralled around the pyramid simultaneously, each beginning from a different point near the base. Once the main structure was complete, these ramps could then have been filled in. His computer-generated model suggested this method would have allowed construction to have been completed in the 27-year time frame.
he Ancient Egyptians’ ability to build the Great Pyramid of Giza in the absence of modern machinery and technology has amazed – and baffled – experts for decades.
But now the mystery surrounding the monument’s construction may have been solved by researcher Vicente Luis Rosell Roig, who presents mathematical evidence in Nature that an ingenious system of spiralling, indented ramps were used to deliver the massive stones.
“This is an interesting explanation for the pyramid’s construction,” said Dr Roland Enmarch, a reader in Egyptology at the University of Liverpool. “It will need to be verified with more evidence – more scans of structural abnormalities that we would expect to see. But it does seem very plausible. The Great Pyramid of Giza wasn’t the oldest or the last of the pyramids, so it might also shed light on how others were built.”
The largest Egyptian pyramid, which was built around 2,560 BCE to be the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu, contains an estimated 2.3
SAM AFFOULLOUSS/UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA X4
3
4
NATURE
cientists have found a species of sea squirt in Antarctica that could hold the key to curing skin cancer. The tiny sea creatures – Synoicum adareanum – produce a bacterium containing a toxic
compound that kills melanoma cells without harming other human cells.
“That selectivity is critical in drug development because you want to treat the disease without harming the patient,” said Dr Bill Baker, a chemistry professor at the University of South Florida (USF), who is co-leading the research into the compound.
An estimated 57,000 people die of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, every year. That figure is projected to rise to 96,000 by 2040.
Sea squirts, also known as ascidians, are sac-like marine invertebrates that live on sloped seabeds. Those in Antarctica have evolved over millions of years to cope with the harsh conditions and are able to produce chemical defences to deter predators and disease.
A team from USF – along with scientists from the Desert Research Institute, Nevada, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego – spent six weeks in the Antarctic collecting sea squirts. Now they’re looking into their DNA, chemistry and biology, a process that could take years. “Understanding the source and function of this compound is critical if we hope to develop it into a drug,” Baker said.
News under the microscope
GLP-1 medications insulate your brain from food noise to curb your urge to eat. Experts are finding they could also affect other more harmful impulses
b y S A N D R I N E C E U R S T E M O N T
ANALYSIS
eight-loss drugs have changed people’s lives. Instead of facing an ongoing struggle of sticking to a diet and gruelling exercise regime, anyone looking to slim
W
down now only has to follow a course of weekly injections, and they can shed pounds.
It’s all made possible by the way these drugs curb your impulse to eat. By mimicking the gut hormone GLP-1, these drugs – sold under the brand names Wegovy, Mounjaro and Ozempic – suppress your appetite by telling your brain that you’ve eaten enough. But it seems these medications have the potential to transform lives in other ways.
Studies have been investigating how GLP-1 drugs could have wider-reaching benefits related to impulse control. For example, many people taking these drugs – whose active ingredients are semaglutide (in the case of Ozempic and Wegovy) or tirzepatide (for Mounjaro) – are reporting that they no longer crave alcohol. While others say they don’t feel as compelled to make impulse buys, bite their nails or gamble.
ABOVE People on GLP-1 drugs have reported reduced cravings for alcohol. Studies on the drugs’ effects on rodents have also provided evidence to back up these claims
Researchers are now interested in whether they could also play a role in related behaviours such as violence. So, how far-reaching could the impact of these drugs be?
“I think we’re still catching up on what a lot of the behavioural impacts are,” says Dr Daniel Semenza, an associate professor in the Department of Urban-Global Public Health at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
It makes sense that these drugs could help with impulse control more generally. That’s because they’re known to reduce persistent intrusive thoughts about eating, so-called ‘food noise’, an example of the mental chatter that drives urges. But the brain mechanisms involved are still not completely understood.
GLP-1s affect the brain’s reward system, which is responsible for motivation and desire, so it’s not surprising they can impact other impulses beyond food.
When something gives you pleasure, the chemical dopamine is released in your brain. That makes you feel good, so your body wants more of whatever it was that produced that feeling. Eating a hamburger, for example, typically releases a small amount of dopamine; drinking alcohol, however, floods your brain with it. This is why alcohol can be so addictive.
There has been mounting evidence in recent years that GLP-1 drugs could help with addiction – several studies have found that rodents hooked on alcohol reined in their binge-like drinking when given semaglutide.
But interestingly, studies with rodents have shown that dopamine levels don’t increase if they’re given a GLP-1 medication before consuming alcohol. “GLP-1 drugs are attenuating the alcohol-induced dopamine release,” says Dr Lorenzo Leggio, a physician and scientist at the National Institutes of Health in Baltimore.
A recent case report by Dr Hannah Kelly, a neurologist at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in Nashville, Tennessee, also suggests that GLP-1 drugs can blunt the dopamine response in the brain. Kelly and a
GETTY IMAGES X2
ANALYSIS
colleague wrote about a 46-year-old man who developed impulse control disorder, a condition characterised by the inability to curb impulses that can be harmful, after taking medication to treat Parkinson’s disease.
The Parkinson’s medication increases levels of dopamine in the brain, as people with the disease have too little of it. However, with more dopamine in his body, the man started having uncontrollable sexual urges, which led to an extramarital affair. He also felt compelled to shop, resulting in a $30,000 (approx £22,000) shopping spree. But when he started getting weekly injections of semaglutide to treat an unrelated condition, the man found that they curtailed his impulsive behaviour.
to violence in the same way, potentially, as it would be for people who aren’t on the drugs,” says Semenza.
This study is, however, just the first step, and Semenza emphasises that more work is needed. The data he and his colleague used, for example, was collected at one point in time and so didn’t allow them to tease out cause and effect. Kelly, who wasn’t involved in the research, adds that there are so many factors that contribute to violent behaviour that looking at just two of them isn’t enough to suggest that GLP-1 medications are having a direct impact.
“I think this patient really proved that it works for impulse control disorder,” says Kelly.
Leggio adds that dopamine regulation is not the only mechanism by which GLP-1 drugs can help with impulse control. Recent research has shown that they play a role in improving emotional wellbeing, which could have an indirect impact. Not everyone drinks alcohol to feel pleasure – some people consume it to alleviate stress or anxiety. So, if GLP-1 drugs are helping people to feel calmer and more positive, patients could develop a better relationship with alcohol as they won’t be reaching for a drink if their psychological triggers are dampened.
Semenza and his team are now planning to do a quasi-experimental analysis that will examine different sources of data, such as medical and arrest records, to get a better idea of whether there is a connection between GLP-1 drugs and violence over time. If further evidence suggests that there is a direct link, these medications could become another tool to help prevent violence.
“In broad populations, there are very few pharmaceutical interventions that we think about as an option for violence prevention,” says Semenza.
Weight-loss medications may also help with more complex behaviours in a roundabout way. Semenza and a colleague have just published a report in the journal Criminology examining whether taking GLP-1 drugs could help to curb violence.
Currently, cognitive behavioural therapy is often recommended for people who are prone to violence. The hope is that it trains them to think differently about situations where violence could occur so they don’t act on their impulses. It teaches them to slow down, think through the process of how they might react, and think ahead to avoid aggression.
They examined the impact of GLP-1 drugs on impulsivity and alcohol abuse, two of the biggest risk factors for violence, by focusing on a 2025 survey conducted in the US on 821 adults who had taken a weight-loss drug at some point. The survey asked participants whether they had engaged in a violent crime, such as threatening someone with a weapon or taking part in a physical fight, in the past 12 months. It also included a number of questions that assessed their level of impulsivity and alcohol use.
“These interventions have been shown to be really effective if they’re done the right way, especially with people who are living in higher violence communities in the US,” says Semenza. “But they’re expensive, it’s hard to get people to attend regularly, and they can be complicated to put out into the community.”
Semenza thinks that GLP-1s could potentially have a similar effect by reducing impulsivity and giving people more time to think about their actions, as seems to be the case with food cravings. He also thinks it’s important to figure out what people these drugs would have the biggest impact on.
The pair found that the relationship between impulsivity and violent crime was reduced by 62 per cent and the link between alcohol use and violent crime was down 52 per cent for people taking GLP-1 drugs, compared to those who either had never taken GLP-1 drugs or had stopped taking them.
“This could be a really meaningful intervention for people who have been violent in the past and for the people around them,” adds Semenza.
GETTY IMAGES
“What we think this means, is that among GLP-1 users, impulsivity is not translating
ABOVE The way GLP-1 drugs act on the brain may offer us a way to treat people with impulse control disorder
There’s increasing agreement among experts that GLP-1 drugs could be as life-changing for people with impulsive behaviour issues as they have been for those who’ve needed to lose weight. It’s a development that has the potential to change not only the demand for GLP-1 drug prescriptions but also the treatment landscape.
“It would be lovely if more evidence emerges to prove this correlation so that GLP-1 medications can be prescribed [for impulse control disorder],” says Kelly.
If clinical trials prove that GLP-1 drugs can help with addiction, Leggio thinks that their impact could be unprecedented. First and foremost, they may help destigmatise addiction, as they’re doing for obesity, and so encourage people who struggle with addiction not to be ashamed to ask for help.
Kelly says there are few treatments available for people with impulse control disorder, for example, which affects one in six people who take dopamine-stimulating drugs. With Parkinson’s patients, the usual solution is to discontinue or lower the dose of their medication, which is not ideal as they take it to control symptoms such as walking difficulties and tremors. Prescribing GLP-1 drugs instead could change all that.
b y S A N D R I N E C E U R S T E M O N T Sandrine is a freelance science journalist who covers health and technology.
“The majority of patients with addiction are not treated,” he says. “The hope is that these drugs may really shake the trees and not just prove to be effective, but also increase the number of people who seek treatment.”
ANALYSIS
b y M I C H A E L D A Y
ight now, beneath almost every patch of soil on Earth, one of the planet’s strangest living structures is spreading. It’s a fungus, though nothing like the mushrooms on your dinner
Society for the Protection of Underground FǓ ΛȅȖ șশ^XhFষ ǩș ƺǦǓ ȅǟƺ ȅ @ƺǩǏ
ABOVE The SPUN team collected soil samples from all over the world, including Bhutan (here), to see how far the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi network extended
end to end, the study says, the threads of the world’s AM fungi would stretch for more than 110 quadrillion kilometres. That’s enough to span about a tenth of the Milky Way, or roughly 11,000 light-years. And those same threads are thought to hold around 300 megatonnes of carbon: 4–6 times the combined weight of every human alive.
plate. Instead, it grows as microscopic threads, finer than cotton, weaving through the soil and into the roots of most plants.
TOP RIGHT Soil samples being collected in Mongolia
There are several types of these root-dwelling fungi. The most widespread – and the focus of a major new study – are arbuscular mycorrhizal, or AM, fungi. They’ve been around for hundreds of millions of years, long before the first trees.
But the study does more than put staggering numbers on a hidden world. It raises a bigger question: if something this vast has been growing beneath our feet all along, what is it doing for us – and what happens if it starts to fail? ROOTS AND ALL
ABOVE RIGHT ‘Bagged and tagged’ soil samples in Mojave
Scientists have known for more than a century that they help keep ecosystems alive by ferrying nutrients and water to plants. Yet one surprisingly basic question has remained unanswered until now: just how much of this hidden network is buried underground?
Scientists often call these fungal networks Earth’s circulatory systems, and it’s easy to see why.
Put simply, they weave themselves into a plant’s roots and act as an extension of them,
The answer, fresh from a new study by the
ANALYSIS
A system this vast and this woven into life on Earth – you’d think it would be safe. It isn’t. In fact, the same study that revealed its staggering scale also revealed something far more worrying: we’re destroying it. And fast.
reaching far further into the soil than the roots could manage alone. They gather water and nutrients and deliver them to the plant. The plant repays them with sugar, produced through photosynthesis.
Yet while we devote huge resources to planting and protecting forests, the vast underground network where much of that carbon ends up has received comparatively little attention.
This isn’t some niche partnership between a handful of unusual species. AM fungi connect with around 70 per cent of all plant species on Earth. Tear apart this underground network, and you’re ripping the supply lines out from beneath most of the world’s plants. And with them, the crops, forests and grazing land we depend on.
“It’s hard to overstate the importance and enormity of these fungi,” says the study’s lead author Dr Justin Stewart, an evolutionary ecologist at SPUN. “There could be up to ǾশȅΚǓȖ ǟ ষȅǟ ǦǩșǿǓ ΛȅȖ ǩǿǴ ș ƺ teaspoon of soil.”
When people picture nature worth saving, they tend to think of rainforests. But wild grasslands – the kind of open, unglamorous landscape most of us drive past – hold an estimated 40 per cent of the world’s AM fungi. The plains of South Sudan, the Everglades in Florida and the Tibetan Plateau are all predicted to be especially rich.
THOMÁS MUNITA/SPUNX2, GABRIEL DE LA ROSA/SPUN
Feeding plants is only half the story. The same plant-fungi partnerships also help regulate the climate. As plants pull carbon ǏǩȅΠǩǏǓশKऒষǟȖȅǾ ǦǓƺ ǾȅșȒǦǓȖǓ ǦǓΡ
“For me, one of the biggest findings was the importance of grasslands, the great overlooked ecosystem of Earth,” says study contributor Dr Katie Field, Professor of Plant Soil Processes at the University of Sheffield. Grasslands, she says, turned out to host “this huge diversity of fungi and this huge density of fungi as well”.
send some of that carbon underground to their fungal partners, helping store it in the soil. An earlier study estimated that around ǟȅ ȖLjǩ ǩȅǿ ȅǿǿǓșȅǟKऒǟ ȅΛșǩǿ ȅE fungi every year – almost as much as the United States emits annually.
“Fungi have been ignored in climate and conservation for too long,” says Dr Toby Kiers, SPUN’s executive director and a professor of evolutionary biology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. “Now is the time to change that trajectory.”
The warning from outside the project is starker still. Prof Martin Bidartondo, a fungal ecologist at Imperial College London and Kew Gardens, says two centuries of industrial activity are forcing a system that took hundreds of millions of years to evolve into conditions it was never built for.
“Humans evolved some 300,000 years ago, and in the last 200 we’ve been spending that inheritance at astonishing speed,” he says. “We’re doing the biggest experiment ever, without replicates or controls … rapidly creating Frankenstein conditions that plants and fungi did not evolve to cope with.”
If the networks were seriously degraded, he says, the damage wouldn’t stay underground. Plants would struggle to establish and grow – and from there the cracks would spread outward: to the food and timber we harvest, the animals that live on plants, the soil’s ability to store carbon and water, and its resistance to erosion. Pull out the fungi, in other words, and a surprising amount of life above the surface starts to unravel.
The uncomfortable truth running through all of this is that we’re being asked to look after something we barely understand. Even the scientists who measured it are quick to point to the edges of their knowledge.
“We still know relatively little about what they do, how effectively they function, and how their roles vary across environments and host plants,” Field admits. Her co-author, biologist Dr Merlin Sheldrake, agrees: “We still understand too little about how the infrastructure of these living transport systems is distributed across the planet.”
And here’s where the trouble starts. Grasslands are among the least protected places on Earth, and they’re being converted into farmland four times faster than forests are being cleared.
ABOVE The SPUN team has produced a map showing how the arbuscular
MORITZ STEFANER/TRUTH & BEAUTY/ SPUN, GETTY IMAGES
Normally, not knowing enough is a reason to wait and see. Here it cuts the other way. We now know the network is vast, that it quietly holds up most of the world’s plant life, and that we’re wearing it away fast.
mycorrhizal networks are distributed across the entire globe
That’s bad news for the fungi, because farming is brutal on these networks. Ploughing tears the fine threads apart, and chemical fertilisers remove the plant’s reason to feed the fungi in the first place. So the networks wither. Indeed, the SPUN study found that farmland holds only about half as much fungal network as wild land.
That’s why the SPUN team isn’t waiting for the full picture. Alongside the study, they’ve released a Mycorrhizal Infrastructure Map – the first detailed global guide to where these networks lie – and they’re urging governments to fold it into conservation plans: protecting the richest grasslands, rethinking how farmland is managed and treating the soil as something to be looked after rather than simply used.
b y M I C H A E L D A Y Michael is an awardwinning freelance journalist and author.
As we’ve seen, these are the same networks burying billions of tonnes of carbon each year. So, as they wither, that loss reaches well beyond the soil.
ANALYSIS
ould the strength of your handshake be a better indicator of how long you’re going to live than your blood pressure?
With the growing
popularity of measuring biological age, it’s often the sciencey-sounding tests that get the headlines. But a humble gripstrength measuring device (a dynamometer) gives the blood tests and epigenetic clocks a run for their money.
You don’t need to be a gym bro to enjoy the benefits of strength training. But there are some things you need to know
The principle is simple: you squeeze as hard as you can, and the device gives you a reading in kilograms. If you perform well for your age, that bodes well for your future healthspan and lifespan generally.
b y D R A N D R E W S T E E L E
The effectiveness of grip strength is one reason why strength training is having a moment. Traditionally seen as the preserve of iron-pumping gym bros, it’s increasingly being emphasised for everyone from diabetes sufferers and patients undergoing cancer treatment, to people just trying to optimise their healthy longevity.
Grip strength is
a good indicator of your potential
longevity. But
training for grip strength alone won’t help you
live longer
Adding weight to the case for strength training are massive ‘cohort studies’, where scientists follow large groups of people for decades, watching what they do, what they eat and more, then correlate that with what ails and eventually kills them. A recent study of retired healthcare professionals in the US found that participants who exercised lived longer – and that the optimal combination was a mix of cardio and strength training.
The researchers found that 1.5–2 hours a week of strength training was associated with a 13 per cent lower risk of death. That figure was even higher when looking at specific diseases: a 19-per-cent reduction in risk for death from heart disease, and 27 per cent for neurological diseases like dementia. Even better, this stacks with cardio – unless you’re already in the most active cardio group (people running about five hours a week, or walking for ten), adding some strength training can make you live longer.
So why might lifting heavy weights help increase your lifespan? Well, that’s the first myth about strength training: the weights don’t need to be heavy. They don’t even need to be the plates and bars you find at a gym. Strength training is something you can do at home: bodyweight exercises such as planks, sit-ups and squats are a great way to get started.
More on that later, but first, some biology. Skeletal muscle is the body’s largest organ:
ANALYSIS
it makes up around 30–40 per cent of body mass in a healthy adult. (It’s called ‘skeletal’ because it’s the muscle attached to our bones that exercise can affect.) Looked at that way, it’s not surprising that muscle can have such a big effect on our health and how we age.
Muscle is critical for gobbling up glucose – the sugar found in our blood after a meal. Indeed, around 80 per cent of post-meal glucose is locked away in your skeletal muscles. If you’ve seen the hype online about trying to avoid ‘glucose spikes’ after eating, one of the best hacks is to have more glucose-absorbing muscles.
And there’s good evidence that exercise can help: if you have diabetes, which means your blood glucose tends to be higher, strength training can reduce it – and, the stronger you get, the more it’s reduced. One study even found that strength training was better than cardio for blood sugar control in people with diabetes. Though, in general, it seems both are important. It’s an open question whether people without diabetes should worry about glucose spikes, but building muscle is one of the better hacks out there and comes with a range of other benefits too.
Skeletal muscle also secretes a lot of signalling molecules known as ‘myokines’. Again, because it’s our biggest organ, these secretions seem to matter. For example, exercised muscle secretes a molecule called interleukin 6 (IL-6), which is usually associated with inflammation, but, in this context, seems to be anti-inflammatory. IL-6 also reduces the amount of visceral fat – the type associated with diabetes and accelerated ageing. There’s even been a trial showing this: exercise reduced visceral fat, but not if participants were given a drug that blocks the action of IL-6.
ABOVE Human skeletal muscle, artificially coloured, as seen under a microscope
Speaking of bones, strength training can strengthen them, too. This is particularly important for women because, after the menopause, a woman’s changing hormones can cause significant loss of bone density and strength.
Where a young person might shrug off a fracture after a month in a cast, an older person who breaks their hip has a 15–30-per-cent chance of dying within a year.
But exercise can help reduce this risk. Training balance can make it less likely that we fall in the first place, but functional and strength training can improve both muscles and neuromuscular connections, giving us the speed and strength to react. Better still, stronger bones mean that a fall is more likely to result only in injured pride and not a break.
Resistance exercise can help counter that loss. The delightfully named LIFTMOR trial gave women in their 60s with low bone mass either eight months of supervised high-intensity resistance and impact training twice a week, or low-intensity home exercise. Participants in the former group significantly increased bone density in two key areas: the lower spine and the head of the femur (where your leg connects to your hip). A similar trial in men found that guys can benefit too.
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, GETTY IMAGES
It’s almost a shame skeletal muscle mass is so important, because, starting in our late 30s, we lose 0.5–1 per cent of it each year. That might not sound like much, but over decades, it adds up. Strength drops around 2–5 times faster than
The reason that this is so critical is that falls resulting in broken hips are a huge cause of ill health and even death in older people.
ANALYSIS
ill. Exercise is now a recommended part of cancer treatment, easing fatigue and improving quality of life during chemo- and radiotherapy.
The other piece of good news is we don’t need overwhelming amounts to make a difference: the benefits climb steadily with the amount you do, then plateau at around two hours a week, so there’s no need to overdo it.
You don’t even need to hit the gym: the NHS’s strength routine is built around a chair, a wall and a couple of filled water bottles. Here are a few things from it you can try:
O Sit-to-stand Fold your arms across your chest and, using just your legs, stand up from a chair and sit back down again. This isn’t just exercise: if you count how many of these you can do in 30 seconds, it’s a measure of frailty. OWall sits Slide your back down a wall until you’re in a seated position and hold that position. This is one of several ‘isometric’ static holds that are good for lowering blood pressure.
OBiceps curls With a filled bottle in each hand, curl them slowly up to your shoulders and back down. You can graduate to dumbbells when you’re ready, but starting light with slow movements can still build muscle strength.
While strength training is definitely having a moment, it’s also important to maintain a diversity of exercise. The same study showing that strength training reduced the risk of death, found that aerobic exercise can do much of the heavy lifting, and other studies have found that a mixture of exercise types is most beneficial.
LEFT Strength training doesn’t have to involve lifting heavy weights. Bands offer plenty of resistance to start with
That’s because, while longevity literally just means how many years we live, what matters more is our healthspan, which encompasses lots of different things: freedom from disease, but also strength, balance, stamina, bone density and more.
Grip strength is a great example. It would be all too easy to read about its importance and then decide to spend ages squeezing grip strengtheners to optimise it. But that’s just training for the test. Grip strength is a great predictor of mortality, not because strong hands directly influence your risk of cancer or dementia, but because having a generally healthy, fit, strong body protects you from many age-related problems, and improves your grip as a side-effect.
muscle mass and, by age 75, we’re losing 2–4 per cent of it per year.
The good news is, resistance training can help, and it’s never too late to start: one study gave an eight-week strength training programme to a small group of 90-somethings in a nursing home (the oldest was 96). Their strength almost tripled, their leg muscles grew by about 10 per cent, and their walking speed increased by around 50 per cent.
There’s also a more pragmatic point: enjoying a buffet of varied activities probably makes it easier to stay active over decades, rather than smashing out the same reps at the gym every year.
b y D R A N D R E W S T E E L E Andrew is a scientist, writer and presenter. He is the author ofAgeless (Doubleday, 2021).
The best longevity drug we have isn’t a drug. It’s whatever exercise you’ll still want to be doing 20 years from now.
It can even help people who are very seriously
P R E P A R E Y O U R S E L F F O R T O M O R R O W
b y R O B E R T B A N I N O
hat do you get if you cross an emotional support animal with a robot vacuum cleaner? You probably get something like the furry, freckled creation you see here.
It’s called a Familiar and at first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s simply a new and
improved robo-pet – a more plush, more advanced successor to Sony’s Aibo.
But its creators – a group that includes robotics engineers from Disney, Boston Dynamics and iRobot (the company behind the Roomba robo-vac) – say it’s more than that. They say a Familiar is a “physically embodied AI system designed to adapt and interact with people in ways that feel natural”.
Put another way, it’s an AI companion whose personality develops as your relationship with it deepens. In short, it’s a bot you can bond with.
ABOVE Familiars could provide company and stimulation for people who may not be able to look after a pet
their moods and how to respond appropriately to each of them. To all intents and purposes, it learns how to care.
lonely and, now and again, could use a friendly reminder to get up off the sofa.
Colin Angle, former CEO of iRobot, unveiled the prototype in May at the Future of Everything conference in New York, saying Familiars represent a step forward in robotics. “The next era of robotics is not just about dexterity or humanoid form – it’s about machines that can build and sustain human connection.”
It’s an ambitious project and, if Familiars are genuinely capable of everything their makers claim when they go on sale (expected 2027), an admirable one. But questions remain, the most obvious being: how much will they cost? Prices are expected to “resemble that of typical pet ownership,” even though as Renfrew points out, “a Familiar is not a pet replacement”.
“Familiars are designed for anyone who would like a positive, caring presence in their household,” says Renfrew. “They’re for the moments when you could use some company, comfort or even gentle coaching.” That comfort could be a nuzzle when you’re feeling stressed. The “gentle coaching”, meanwhile, might come in the form of a nudge if you’ve been staring at your phone for too long.
But is building a bot you can bond with really such a big deal? After all, people can and do form attachments with almost anything, from teddy bears to home appliances – robo-vacs, for example (users have been known to name them, decorate them and even mourn them when they stop working). Aside from its appearance, then, how is a Familiar different to any other object someone could grow attached to?
And he’s right – a Familiar is, ultimately, a machine. One you might bond with and even care for, but a machine nevertheless. Even if it can spot when you need a nudge to stop doomscrolling, isn’t interacting with its AI just swapping one digital distraction for another?
“A Familiar will notice if you’ve been settled and disengaged for a long [time], the way another [person] would. Then it does something about it. It comes over and invites you to get up, move around, step outside or engage with it directly,” Renfrew says.
“If we had built something that captures your attention, we would just have made a screen in a different shape,” says Renfrew. “We did the opposite. There’s no screen, no feed, no notifications, and no business model that profits from your time and engagement with the Familiar.
According to Ira Renfrew, co-founder of the company that makes them, a Familiar is different primarily because it can learn. “We wanted something that becomes part of your world over time, not a gadget or an appliance. Familiars perceive their environment, develop distinct personalities, and respond in ways that evolve through life alongside the people around them.”
It’s this ability to recognise and respond to behavioural cues – this ‘emotional intelligence’ – that may allow a Familiar to form a lasting connection with its guardian.
“The honest measure of whether we’ve succeeded isn’t how much time you spend with your Familiar; it’s whether you end up more connected to your life, not more attached to the machine. The closest comparison I’d make is to an Apple Watch or Oura ring, as these are tools that help you live a little better without taking over your life.”
So, who is a Familiar for? Well, anyone, essentially. Renfrew says the company is “focused on serving the general public, not a specific niche, though we do have very specific target segments that have shown particularly strong interest in the concept.” One of those target segments could be the elderly (there are already several robotic animals built to provide company and stimulation for seniors). But equally, it could be anyone who’s
FAMILIAR MACHINES AND MAGIC X2
Learning alone isn’t always enough to form a lasting bond, though. After all, a robo-pet will learn to do tricks and navigate your home, but that won’t necessarily make you cherish it once the novelty has worn off. What marks a Familiar out from a robo-pet is that it learns about its ‘guardians’ (the people it shares a home with). It learns to recognise their routines, their feelings,
b y R O B E R T B A N I N O
Robert is the managing editor of BBC Science Focus.
INNOVATIONS
HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN
SIM-RACING RIG
n case you hadn’t noticed, we’re entering a golden era of racing games. It feels like half of the gaming world is currently screeching around the streets of Japan on their Xbox with Forza Horizon 6. At the same time, on the PS5, millions still flock to the slightly older, but more serious racing sim Gran Turismo 7 for the weekly races and ladder competitions. Even F1 drivers are at it: when Max Verstappen isn’t on the track, you can probably
First, you need to pick a game and console, as some will only be compatible with one system. Sure, you might want to pull up alongside Max in rFactor 2 (it’s the place to be if you’re serious about sim racing), but it’s expensive, hugely demanding of your time and very strict. Plus, a gaming PC is going to set you back at least £1,500 ($2,000). Console games will provide 90 per cent of the fun, and you won’t need a bank loan to get started.
find him competing online with his own Verstappen Sim Racing team. Indeed, Max is a big advocate of sim racing, arguing that it’s a much better way to find driving talent than the traditional ‘karting to open-wheel racing’ route that costs millions.
So what does it take to get involved? Well, if you want to graduate from a controller to something that makes you feel like a sim racer, we think you’ll need around £700 (about $950), and that’s not including a console or a PC. Here’s how we got there:
If you already own a console, stick with that and find racing games there. For us, the PS5 is the console of choice. That’s because Gran Turismo 7 is the best entry point to sim racing, and it’s a PlayStation exclusive. There’s a healthy community of racers and a ranking system you can climb towards real competitive events. The yearly Formula 1 series and the more serious Assetto Corsa are also great options if you’re on Xbox.
THE WHEEL AND PEDALS. This is the core and where most of your budget should go. Cheaper wheels use belts or gears to generate resistance; better ones use ‘hybrid’ or ‘direct drive’ systems for sharper, more detailed feedback. On the pedal side, look for a proper brake pedal rather than a simple spring – a load cell brake makes a bigger difference to how the car feels under braking than almost any other single upgrade, though it tends to be something you add later.
THE SEAT. A wheel bolted to a wobbly desk will quickly frustrate, because you lose the ability to brace against the pedals under hard braking, and your sitting position is all wrong. What's more, you won’t get to enjoy the authentic sim racing experience to the full. You don’t need a full motion rig to fix this – a dedicated, foldable cockpit does the job for a fraction of the price and can be packed away when you’re not using it if you have limited space.
THE MONITOR. Easy to overlook, but a fastrefresh screen matters more in racing games than almost any other genre, because you’re reacting to braking points and apex markers in real time. A 144Hz-plus panel with a low response time and support for your console’s variable refresh rate will noticeably reduce blur and input lag compared with a standard TV. A curved, wide screen will up the immersion. Multiple screens give a wide field of view, but take up a lot of room and are usually pricey.
A lot of sim racing is about understanding what your tyres are doing. Through its ‘hybrid’ drive system, the Thrustmaster does a great job of this – it was like playing a whole new game when I fired up Gran Turismo 7. It’s worth digging into the wheel’s menu to fine-tune the settings, but out of the box it’s close to plug-and-play. The pedals were sturdy with enough travel and resistance to feel realistic.
Here’s a complete, realistic beginner’s rig:
…Wheel and pedals:
ThrustmasterT248R £249.99.
A hybrid force feedback wheel with a magnetic pedal set and an on-wheel display for adjusting settings without a PC. It’s officially licensed for PS5, PS4 and PC, and maps straight into Gran Turismo 7’s wheel settings with no fuss.
The Next Level Racing seat comes in a surprisingly small package and is easy to build – you just need some Ikea-level construction skills. Despite being designed to fold away and be hidden in a cupboard, it’s comfortable for several hours and, crucially, makes you feel like you’re sitting in a racing car.
…Seat: NextLevelRacing GTLitePro£279
A foldable, GT-style cockpit rated for wheelbases up to 13Nm, so it won’t need replacing even if you upgrade the wheel later. Rolls away on built-in wheels when you need the space back.
The iiyama curved monitor is a winner. If you can, spend a little more for something bigger. But at this price it’s hard to fault.
…Monitor: iiyamaG-Master G2766HSU-B1 £115–£165
It’s tempting to go all in and invest, but sim racing requires time and space. If you have both, then this setup is modular enough that you can start upgrading each component one at a time. That said, if you want to just jump into an F1 race on a Sunday and pretend you’re in Monaco, this will do the trick.
A 27in (65cm) curved gaming monitor with a 165Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time – well beyond what a standard TV offers and enough to make braking points noticeably easier to judge.
GETTY IMAGES
INNOVATIONS
EDITOR’S PICKS…
…Party Hard
Marshall’s portable Bluetooth speakers are a great combination of handsome looks, big sound and stamina. The Stockwell III embodies this, with 40-plus hours of playtime between charges and a driver setup that throws audio in every direction – what Marshall calls stereophonic 360° sound. In other words, it’s built to be the life of the party, wherever you drop it. Better still, it’s one of the first Bluetooth speakers we’ve seen where the battery is replaceable – a small detail that makes a big difference for repairs in a market full of sealed, glued-shut rivals.
This month’s smartest tech
Marshall Stockwell III £199.99, marshall.com
INNOVATIONS
Dali, the high-end Danish hi-fi maker, has finally gone all-in on an all-in-one wireless speaker system – and we’re intrigued. The design of the Vega uses wood and anodised aluminium to make it look more like a piece of Japandi furniture than a traditional speaker. Under the elegant styling is some clever tech designed to counteract the drawbacks of putting all your speakers in one unit. There’s the Adaptive Stereo Enhancement, which adapts your signal to create a stereo sound that feels wider than the unit, and Adaptive Orientation Adjustment, which adjusts the spatial audio elements according to whether it’s stood up or laid flat. Connectivity is strong, and the sound promises to be, too, but with one catch: there’s no HDMI eARC or Dolby Atmos support, so it’s not built for use as a soundbar with your home cinema.
Take the guesswork out of cooking and use a thermometer. You won’t look back. This new entry is one of the most high-tech we’ve seen. Instead of using a Bluetooth signal to transfer temperature data from the probe to your phone, the Typhur uses low-frequency wireless tech to beam the data to a dedicated receiver equipped with its own screen. The payoff? It can send live readings of your meats through some challenging materials such as the ceramic shell of a kamado-style barbecue and from far away (around 200m/656ft, according to Typhur’s claims).
Dali Vega, £2,599, dali-speakers.com
Typhur Sync Gold Dual £199.99, uk.typhur.com
If, like me, you’re often on YouTube cooking channels, you might have noticed a particular barbecue on every chef’s table: a Konro grill. This isn’t new – it’s a Japanese grill based on an 18th-century design, used mostly for cooking yakitori. The porous stone material that makes up the body is cut out of diatomaceous earth, formed from the remains of ancient, microscopic algae. This structure makes for great insulation, so it’s fuel efficient and provides searingly hot temps. There are two types: traditional and modern.
Computer mice built for people who work and travel usually sacrifice comfort for size. They may be conveniently small, but with little surface to rest your hand on, they’re a pain to use. Logitech’s solution is this flexi-mouse that folds in half. Unfurled, this neat design ends up close to the size (at least in length) and support that your mouse at home might provide. Instead of a traditional mousewheel, there’s a touch-sensitive panel in the middle for scrolling through pages. Another clever design touch is the built-in AI that makes sure the mouse doesn’t accidentally click anything while you’re fumbling around to unfold it.
The summer solstice is behind us, which means the nights will be drawing in. In defiance of this, I plan to source a hightech(-ish) take on the oldest innovation in the world: fire. The Summit promises cockle-warming heat without stinging your eyes or making you smell like haddock, as it’s smoke-free. The stove is double-walled, with holes at the base that draw air into the cavity, where it is heated by the fire as it rises through the walls. This hot air exits over the top of the fire for a “secondary burn” that its makers say is hot enough to eradicate soot particles.
Konro Grill Prices vary, japaneseknifecompany.com and kasaigrills.com
Solo Stove Summit From £349, solostove.com
Logitech Mobi Fold £69.99, logitech.com
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FEATURE ANTI-AGEING
b y D R D AV I D C O X
O L D E R
W E A
W I S E R
K E R ?
can do to slow it down and keep our defences as strong as possible in later life
FEATURE ANTI-AGEING
n the centre of your chest lies a tiny, thyme-leaf shaped gland that plays a big role in how long you’re likely to live.
Known as the thymus, it acts as the body’s training ground for a group of white blood cells called T cells, which serve a very important function. We rely on T cells throughout our lives to seek and destroy cancers, eliminate pathogens and marshal our immune responses. T cells are birthed in the bone marrow, but it’s the thymus that trains them to become specialised, organised killing machines.
What’s most remarkable, however, is that until relatively recently the thymus was assumed to serve virtually no purpose at all in adulthood. Many doctors considered it to be obsolete
and would routinely remove it during cardiac surgery on children (the size and position of the thymus during childhood makes it difficult to reach the heart). Similarly, so-called thymectomies have been used as a treatment for some autoimmune conditions. “It was thought to be a useless organ because people would cut it out and didn’t see an immediate reaction,” says Maxim Artyomov, professor of pathology and immunology at Washington University in St Louis, in the US.
MAIN IMAGE Scientists are refocusing on the thymus and its positive impact on life expectancy
But in 2023, a landmark paper published in theNew England Journal of Medicine shed new light on the thymus and its importance. The paper’s authors had compared the immune systems of 1,420 people who had undergone a thymectomy with more than 6,000 people who hadn’t and followed them all for five years. Their work revealed that thymus removal was associated with a significantly higher risk of developing autoimmune diseases, cancer and premature death from any cause.
BELOW LEFT AND RIGHTUltra-processed foods have been found to aggravate the immune system
Such studies have led to renewed interest in the thymus and its role in not only our overall health as we age, but also the health of our immune systems and how they age. Measurements of thymic output – the rate
at which it releases mature T cells into the bloodstream, essentially a measure of the immune system’s ageing – reveal that this peaks surprisingly early in life, during puberty. From then on, the thymus shrinks, resulting in a steady decline in the numbers of trained T cells over the rest of our lives.
“To capture the full state of the immune system, you need to look at different things”
“If you compare yourself at 30 or 40 years old to when you’re 80, your thymic output will be nearly at zero,” says Artyomov. “There are very, very low levels of new T cells being produced.”
But while all of us will experience this decline, or immune ageing, the scientists studying ageing are finding that we won’t all experience it at the same rate. It proceeds at
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different speeds for different people. There are various reasons for this thymic shrinkage, one of which is the amount of calories we consume.
Consistently overeating, especially foods made from pre-digested ingredients such as refined carbohydrates, snack bars or ready meals, can lead to the acquisition of visceral fat. These fat cells accumulate in the thymus, and other internal organs, impairing their function.
But while the steadily shrinking thymus is one particularly critical component of immune ageing, it’s also not the full story. “Immunity is a complex system with a lot of different angles,” says Shai Shen-Orr, a professor and immunology expert at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. “To capture the full state of the immune system, you need to look at many different things.”
The workings of the human immune system have been forged over millions of years of evolution. Vaccines, antibiotics and modern sanitation systems have all emerged so recently in our history that our bodies
But because our world has shifted so drastically in the past 120 years, scientists now believe that the primary drivers of immune exhaustion have changed. Instead of pathogens, our immune systems are now being overstimulated by other threats, from air pollution to microplastics and pesticides.
“How your immune system is being exhausted depends on lifestyle and where you live”
These new threats can push our immune systems to a state of exhaustion much earlier in life, and lead to them being rewired in a way that makes autoimmune diseases (where the body mistakenly attacks its own tissues) more likely.
Emerging evidence suggests that some of the synthetic ingredients within ultra-processed foods, from certain emulsifiers to common preservatives could be having a similar effect, persistently aggravating the immune system.
“These exposures push your immune system into a hyperreactive mode,” says Dr David Furman, a professor who studies how the immune system ages at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in California, US. “You’re constantly producing more inflammatory proteins that circulate in the blood. This means you have poorer immune responses when you need them, for example against cancers, while that inflammation accumulates in tissues and organs, causing collateral damage.”
The extent to which your immune system is being exhausted in this way depends both on your lifestyle and where you live. Researchers have even seen dramatically accelerated signs of immune ageing in children who have spent the first few years of their lives in heavily polluted cities, such as Dhaka in Bangladesh, compared with those growing up in an affluent part of the US. According to Shen-Orr, this is reflected in how well these children are able to respond to vaccines.
“When we’ve looked at immune responses, the immune system of a three-year-old Bangladeshi kid is already comparable to that of a 30-year-old in Palo Alto, California, due to the environmental exposures they’ve already encountered,” he says. “It’s one of the reasons why vaccine success rates are above 95 per cent for children in the US and below 50 per cent for some infections in Bangladesh.”
have yet to fully adapt to them. As a result, our immune systems are still primed to react strongly to any perceived threat.
ABOVE The effectiveness of childhood vaccinations can vary depending on the state of a child’s immune system, and the state of a child’s immune system can vary depending on the conditions they’re raised in
For 99 per cent of human history, this reactivity was the only protection we had against a constant bombardment of pathogens. “100,000 years ago, your immune system had to be super proactive, and that was a literal survival need,” says Artyomov. “Even at the beginning of the 20th century, the average mortality from tuberculosis, salmonella, and diphtheria, all these infectious diseases we don’t hear much about anymore, was higher than at the peak of the COVID pandemic.”
For a long time, this kind of immune ageing has remained invisible, impossible to accurately assess. But now researchers are beginning to develop tests that could enable anyone to get an idea of how well or badly their immune system is ageing.
In the future, such tests could become part of general health checkups, but they’re already revealing new information about how we can keep ourselves healthier for longer.
Traditional measurements of immune health have focused primarily on individual biomarkers in the blood, proteins with names like IL-6 or CRP, which have been linked to inflammation. But over the last two decades, researchers have increasingly realised that this is overly simplistic.
Historically, these battles with various bacteria and viruses were one of the primary drivers of immune ageing and could eventually lead to a state known as immune exhaustion. This is where prolonged, overwhelming stimulation results in T cells and other immune cells no longer being able to respond as well as they once did to these threats.
GETTY, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
“There are many different types of inflammation,” says Shen-Orr. “We see this when we look at people living with inflammatory bowel disease. Around 25 per cent of these people don’t have elevated levels of CRP.”
In the hope of getting a clearer picture, Shen-Orr set out to develop a test that captured different facets of immune health, from inflammation and immune exhaustion to thymic output. Called IMM-AGE, it also assesses
ANTI-AGEING FEATURE
the immune system’s ‘memory’ – populations of cells that remember the pathogens they’ve previously encountered – and the number of so-called ‘zombie’ or senescent immune cells that are damaged and no longer function as they should. IMM-AGE measures 18 types of immune cells to provide an estimate of a person’s immune age.
Furman has taken a different approach. He’s using a powerful form of AI known as deep learning to scour the blood of around 1,000 people aged between eight and 96, looking for key predictors for how the immune system declines over time. He’s used the results to develop a different test known as iAge.
Studies have shown that having a higher iAge can predict declining blood vessel health, as well as risk of heart disease and frailty. A person’s IMM-AGE, on the other hand, can reveal their underlying vulnerability to developing sepsis in response to an infection, and whether they’re more likely to respond less well to vaccines. Such tests have also helped reveal how slower immune ageing can lead to longevity, with centenarians, for example, having a far younger iAge.
By studying immune ageing across such a wide lifespan, Furman has gained an understanding of how certain aspects are beyond our control. He says that there are key transitional shifts in the behaviour of immune cells that appear to be innately programmed to happen at different points in our lives. One of these shifts occurs in our late 30s, while the second takes place in our 60s and appears to signal the beginning of old age from an immune perspective. This may explain the greater vulnerability to seasonal flu and urinary tract infections in the over 60s.
“We believe these shifts are genetically programmed, because you see them at a population level regardless of environmental exposures,” he says.
Faster immune ageing may also have a hereditary element. If your parents have high levels of underlying inflammation, it appears to programme their children’s genes in such a way that their immune cells are primed to generate more inflammation.
“[Inflamed parents are] very likely to have an inflamed baby,” Furman adds. “Inflammation and immune reactivity perhaps need to be considered in family planning.”
Another trigger of immune ageing is thought to be certain viruses that most of us acquire during childhood or adolescence and stay with us for the rest of our lives.
The varicella zoster virus, for example, which causes chickenpox, or the cytomegalovirus, another member of the herpes family. Pathogens
ABOVEA cytomegalovirus infection can speed up immunosenescence (the deterioration of the like these can then hide in the body and flare up immune system) as the virus stays in the body for life and can reawaken after years of dormancy
intermittently, activating the immune system. “80 per cent of us have cytomegalovirus and it drives many immune changes in the body,” says Furman. “We believe these viruses contribute to the eventual exhaustion of the immune system.”
BELOW Regular teeth brushing, flossing and dental checks are crucial, as poor oral health can lead to inflammation and accelerated immune ageing
At the same time, population studies also reveal that we have more control over immune ageing than we might think. “You see that the 65-year-olds who take care of themselves with regular exercise, good dental care and so on, have much lower levels of inflammation,” Artyomov says.
It’ll come as no surprise to learn that some of the top tips for keeping your immune system healthy include regular exercise and getting enough sleep each night.
But there are other emerging findings, such
At the same time, maintaining regular social connections into your 60s, 70s and beyond is increasingly thought to be key, but not necessarily for the mental benefits it provides. In this case, the benefits are microbial. While too many pathogenic bacteria and viruses can exhaust the immune system, there are also trillions of microbes that have evolved to happily co-exist with us. When we meet up with friends, our immune systems are exposed to all of these bacteria, viruses and fungi. But because we’re already adapted to co-exist with them, they serve as a form of positive stimulation for our immune system, which primes it to keep functioning well. “It’s why social isolation in the elderly leads to declining immune health and greater risk of things like cardiovascular disease,” says Furman.
The balance of your diet can also make a major difference, particularly the amount of fibre and omega-3 fatty acids you consume compared with saturated fat. “This balance is really key when it comes to immune ageing,” says Dr Niharika Duggal, an associate professor
Yet many of us consume an excess of saturated fat by eating lots of highly processed snacks and fast food. Saturated fat is digested into substances called ceramides, which amplify inflammation.
Duggal has used IMM-AGE in her research. Looking at people in their 30s and their 60s, she’s found that the dietary balance of saturated fat to fibre and omega-3s is a more important indicator of a person’s immune health than their chronological age.
Finally, there are suggestions that certain forms of positive stress can be extremely beneficial to the ageing immune system and give it a nudge to start working more efficiently. Ageing science is showing that a group of natural chemicals called phytochemicals, which are present in fruits and vegetables, can act as one of these forms of positive stress. It’s one of the reasons why blueberries and pomegranates are linked to improved cognition in mid- to later life – they contain phytochemicals that kick our immune cells into gear, making them better at clearing nonfunctional senescent cells and toxic proteins from the brain.
Furman says that positive stress is also thought to be one of the reasons why taking regular saunas or dips in cold plunge pools is useful for the immune system.
Overall, his recommendation is to try to incorporate these forms of positive stress into your life as you get older, as well as adapting your lifestyle in ways that mitigate inflammation. “Challenging your body in different ways can help protect you from these inflammatory triggers,” he says.
David is a freelance health journalist and former neuroscientist. His new book The Age Code (Fourth Estate, 2026), is available now.
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ABOVE A rare sighting of a bigfin squid, which live a little deeper and can grow to be a little larger than the colossal squid
COLOSSAL SQUID
FEATURE
b y D R J A M E S L L O Y D
No human has ever seen a living adult colossal squid in its natural habitat. A group of intrepid scientists is looking to change that
SCHMIDT OCEAN INSTITUTE
eep within an icy ocean, two eyes the size of dinner plates glow in the inky black. The eyes have spotted a meal: an approaching fish. In a flash, two hooked tentacles slice through the water and capture the writhing prey, before eight long arms wrap it in a deadly embrace.
This is the colossal squid: the heaviest invertebrate on the planet, but also the most elusive. No one has ever seen an adult colossal squid in its natural environment; most of what we know about them comes from fragmented remains caught by fishing vessels or found in the bellies of whales.
But we have seen a baby one. In 2025, a deep-sea expedition captured the first footage of a juvenile, see-through colossal squid, floating serenely in the South Atlantic Ocean, 600m (almost 2,000ft) beneath the waves. It was just 30cm long (about 1ft): not quite colossal, but oh-so-cute.
“It was spectacular,” says Prof Kat Bolstad, a marine biologist and squid expert at the Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, who helped to verify the footage. “It looked like a delicate glass sculpture.”
Now, the search is on to find an adult – which are thought to grow up to 7m (nearly 25ft) in length and weigh up to 500kg (1,100lbs) – and Bolstad and colleagues are coming up with some increasingly imaginative ways to lure them out of hiding.
In 1925, the British naturalist James Erik Hamilton discovered some mysterious arms inside the stomach of a sperm whale. Tests at the British Museum confirmed that they belonged to a creature previously unknown to science: the colossal squid.
In the 100 years since, researchers have pieced together information about this animal based mostly on incomplete specimens and body parts. There are just three complete adult specimens, the largest of which was captured by a fishing vessel in Antarctica in 2007 when it became entangled in fishing lines being hauled up to the surface. It’s now on display at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (‘Te Papa’ for short) – the only place where you can see a complete specimen in the flesh.
The colossal squid is in many ways a typical squid. It has two fins; an elongated, muscular body (its ‘mantle’); two eyes; a doughnutshaped brain; and a hidden, parrot-like beak that’s surrounded by a circle of eight, sucker-lined arms and two longer tentacles that it shoots out like harpoons. Inside the mantle are its internal organs, including three hearts and an ink sac.
It’s a member of the glass squid family, which can usually switch between translucent and opaque states. The only specimens of colossal squid we have are reddish-pink, though, so we don’t know if it shares that colour-changing ability. Unlike other glass squid, the colossal squid has sharp hooks in the middle of each of its arms and on the tips of its tentacles – useful for grappling prey such as the 2m-long (6ft 6in) Patagonian toothfish. The tentacle hooks also rotate 360° in both directions, allowing them to screw into fish flesh.
ABOVE Humboldt squid, also known as jumbo flying squid, are approx one third the size of a colossal squid
Sunlight isn’t bright enough to reach the bottom of the ocean. Dive down a couple of hundred metres and you enter the ocean’s dimly lit ‘twilight zone’. At this depth, there isn’t enough light to support photosynthesis.
BRIAN SKERRY/MINDEN/NATUREPL.COM, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
LEFT A giant squid being prepared for display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, US, in 1983
Descend further, below 1,000m (3,280ft), and you reach the ‘midnight zone’, entirely beyond the sunlight’s reach.
Colossal squid live in the cold waters surrounding Antarctica – primarily the Southern Ocean. We know this because, in this region, the stomachs of sperm whales – the squid’s main predator – often contain indigestible colossal squid beaks. And although colossal squid are elusive, they seem to be abundant: it’s been estimated that they make up around 80 per cent of the sperm whale diet in the Southern Ocean. Many sperm whales also have scars on their heads and backs – possibly the result of chaotic encounters with the squid’s hooked tentacles.
It’s here that colossal squid live, around 2,000m (almost 6,600ft) below the ocean’s surface, peering out into a world of perpetual night with eyes as big as watermelons.
According to a 2012 study, the squid’s supersized, ultra-sensitive eyes – the largest in the animal kingdom at around 30cm (1ft) in diameter – may have evolved to detect the dim light generated by other animals inhabiting this gloom. Light such as the sudden bioluminescent glow of a distant bloom of plankton disturbed by a diving
“THE TENTACLE HOOKS ALSO ROTATE 360° IN BOTH DIRECTIONS, ALLOWING THEM TO SCREW INTO FISH FLESH”
sperm whale. That glow, however faint, could provide an early warning of an incoming predator. This would also help to explain why the squid is so good at avoiding humans.
“The gear that’s typically used to explore the deep sea has bright lights, makes a lot of noise, and is probably terrifying to most animals,” says Bolstad. If a colossal squid can detect a sperm whale from over 100m (328ft) away, it would certainly spot a robotic underwater vehicle with its lights ablaze.
The squid’s eyes have another specialised feature: light-emitting organs, called ‘photophores’, on their surface. These might be a form of camouflage in younger, more translucent squid, helping to hide the silhouette of their eyes when seen by predators from below.
TE PAPA TONGAREWA/MUSEUM OF NEW ZEALAND, ALAMY, NOAA OCEAN EXPLORATION 2012, ROV SUBASTIAN/SCHMIDT OCEAN INSTITUTE
“But when the squid is older and living deeper, the photophores are likely to have other uses,” says Bolstad. “They might be spotlights for illuminating prey, or a way to communicate with other colossal squid.” Of course, in the animal kingdom, this kind of communication often translates to a kind of mating signal.
The colossal squid may be the heaviest invertebrate, but, despite its name, there is another squid that’s even longer: the giant squid. It belongs to a different family and can reach up to 13m (43ft) in length, although it’s far less bulky.
First filmed in its natural environment in 2012, the giant squid is found all over the world, is more frequently sighted and is the likely origin of the kraken myth (the man-eating beast that, according to legend, lurks in the abyss, waiting to pull ships to their doom). We also have mesmerising footage of the ultra-rare bigfin squid, which holds its eerily long arms and tentacles out at right angles as it drifts through the deep. Filming an adult colossal squid in
the wild would complete this otherworldly trilogy.
In the hope of capturing that footage, Bolstad has been working on a bespoke camera system with Dr Thom Linley, a deep-sea expert and Curator of Fishes at Te Papa. They’ve settled on a flirtatious approach: simulate the glowing eye of a lonely-hearted squid.
Sperm whale
Giant squid
The colossal squid is the heaviest invertebrate on the planet, weighing up to 500kg (1,100lbs) and measuring up to 7m (23ft) in length (including its tentacles). Its eyes alone are the size of watermelons. Here’s how it compares to other
deep-sea denizens… 18m (59ft) 13m (43ft)
COLOSSAL SQUID
FEATURE
CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT The colossal squid specimen on display at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa; Colossal squid are likely sensitive to the light and sounds made by common submersibles; A bigfin squid spotted in Keathley Canyon at a depth of 1,961m (6,434ft); The first confirmed live observation of a baby colossal squid
“We know that these light organs could be used for communication,” says Bolstad, “so a colossal squid on the lookout for a mate might see us and think we’re worth investigating. The deep sea is unimaginably enormous, so we wanted to create a signal that would attract their attention.”
The light lure on their system replicates the pattern of photophores on the squid’s eye. Otherwise, everything is designed to be as discreet as possible. To illuminate the scene – essential for filming where there’s no sunlight – the researchers use a dark red light that they believe is invisible to the squid. “The system also has a small fin so that it orientates into the current and gets nice and stable,” says Linley. “We try to minimise anything that could jingle or clatter so that it’s very quiet in the water.”
The duo tested their set-up in Antarctica in early 2026 and are currently tweaking it
Bigfin squid
Colossal squid
Human
Baby colossal squid
0.3m (approx 1ft)
8m (26ft) 7m (23ft)
to be ready for another outing in January 2027. The camera also has a 360° view, so there’s no chance of an amorous squid lurking just out of shot.
“The best-case scenario is that a squid approaches, can’t quite figure out what’s going on, stays and investigates, and then maybe gives it a little hug,” says Bolstad.
Observing the colossal squid in its natural habitat would allow researchers to fill some significant gaps in their understanding: how the animal moves around, for instance.
It’s believed to be an ‘ambush predator’ that follows a slow pace of life, conserving energy and waiting for a meal to swim close by. “But the colossal squid has strikingly large fins compared to the giant squid,” says Bolstad. “So, it must have the ability to move quite quickly if it wants to, even if not in a sustained way.”
The search for the colossal squid amounts to something of a guessing game at the moment. Researchers go to where they think it’s most likely to be and hope for the best. But as the squid travels through the ocean, it leaves behind a trace that – if detected – would confirm the animal’s presence: its DNA.
All animals shed genetic material into their surroundings – what’s called ‘environmental DNA’ (eDNA). A single sample of seawater could contain traces of hundreds of different species, all of which have a distinct genetic signature. A colossal squid, for example, might leave behind DNA from its faeces, skin cells, mucus and even its ink.
“It’s a genetic soup,” says Dr Georgia Nester, a molecular ecologist at the Minderoo OceanOmics Centre at the University of Western Australia in Perth. “Once we’re back at the lab, we can extract the DNA to look for the species we’re interested in.”
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE The colossal squid has unique rotating hooks on the ends of its tentacles; Squid flesh and tissue dissolve quickly in the stomach juices of sperm whales, but their hard beaks can’t be digested; Colossal squid suckers have a calcareous, serrated inner structure that is probably lethal to prey; A giant squid found in Logy Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, in 1873
“We have very little information about the colossal squid, collected from one specimen around 15 years ago,” says Nester. “It’s like looking for a book when you only have the corner of a page.”
Nester is pioneering the use of eDNA technology to understand the biodiversity of deep-sea habitats and recently led a study that detected rare species in samples collected off the coast of Western Australia. Tantalisingly, one of those species was the giant squid. “We could use the same technique to detect the colossal squid,” she says.
Sequencing the colossal squid’s genome – its complete set of genetic instructions – would help researchers to find unique DNA sequences that a primer could be based on. This might be possible when a fishing vessel next encounters one: the giant squid’s genome was sequenced in 2020 thanks to a freshly frozen tissue sample collected by a vessel near New Zealand.
For a primer to be reliable, it needs to be specific to the target species, but not so specific that it misses genetic variation within the species. “Ideally, we’d want to validate the primer using sequences from multiple specimens,” says Nester.
To look for a particular species, researchers create short segments of DNA called ‘primers’. When applied to the samples, these act like magnets, pulling out the eDNA of the target species so that it can be amplified and studied. The challenge is that, to create a species-specific primer, researchers need genetic information about that animal.
Eventually, researchers will be able to use this technology to create maps of the colossal squid’s movements. The animal’s DNA will degrade quickly in the ocean, possibly lasting less than a day, so detecting it would be a sure sign of a recent visit.
“We could run a colossal squid primer over our Antarctic seawater samples,” explains Nester, “and use it to look at what brings
COLOSSAL SQUID FEATURE
it to certain regions – is it the prey? The temperature? Then we could drop some cameras down.”
The supersized squid that roam our oceans aren’t alone in their immensity: deep-sea animals are often bigger than their shallowerwater relatives. The giant isopod is another example: imagine a woodlouse the size of a domestic cat.
There are a few possible reasons for this ‘deep-sea gigantism’. “Food is scarce in the deep sea,” says Linley. “Larger animals have the benefit of being more energy efficient, so they’re able to go longer between meals.”
A relative lack of predators capable of feeding on large animals is another possible factor, as is the cold temperature, which can encourage cells (and hence bodies) to grow larger.
The elusiveness of the colossal squid shows just how much of our oceans remain a mystery. According to one estimate, around 90 per cent of marine species are still undiscovered, out of up to two million marine species in total. Glimpsing this squid would help to start conversations about the importance of its habitat in both sustaining life on Earth and regulating our climate.
“The deep sea accounts for 95 per cent of the living space on this planet,” says Bolstad. “The average animal on Earth is a deep-sea animal. This habitat is also probably where life on Earth began.”
“The deep sea is the engine under [Earth’s] hood,” adds Linley. The myriad of functions it performs is fundamental to keeping this planet running. “It’s cycling oxygen; it’s absorbing carbon dioxide; it’s averaging heat over the planet. We can’t say that we understand this planet if we don’t understand the deep sea.”
TE PAPA TONGAREWA/MUSEUM OF NEW ZEALAND X3, JOHN MAUNDER/WIKIPEDIA
In January, these intrepid squid-chasers will be glued to their footage, peering into the void as bits of krill buzz past their camera.
“I think a lot about seeing that first arm curiously reach out of the darkness,” says Linley. “I have a really strong mental image of what that will be like.”
“I think we won’t be able to believe it at first,” adds Bolstad. “[Next] we’ll probably be punching each other and screaming. And then we’ll have to watch it many times just to be sure, before we tell anybody else.”
b y D R J A M E S L L O Y D James is a freelance science writer based in the UK.
WEIGHT LOSS FEATURE
byHAYLEY BENNETT
We’re only just getting our heads round the power of weight-loss drugs, yet pharma companies are racing forward with their even more revolutionary successors
oday’s weight-loss drugs work by changing how much we eat. Ozempic, Wegovy and the like – the GLP-1s – reduce our desire to eat by interfering with the hormones involved in blood sugar, appetite and feeling full. Put simply, they make it easier to stick to a diet. Cue the next generation of weight-loss drugs, which promise to do something radically different. Right now, drug companies are testing drugs that won’t necessarily change how much food we eat, but rather what our bodies do with that food.
These new drugs target the metabolic pathways governing how our bodies burn and store energy. Essentially, they alter the mechanics of the engine rather than how much fuel goes into it.
Manufacturers say these new drugs could help people keep the weight off for longer while avoiding the muscle wastage that comes with GLP-1s. ‘Could’ is the key word here, though, because none of these drugs have been widely tested on humans – yet. Although they’re now starting to make it into smaller trials. Will we see GLP-1s
GETTY IMAGES
FEATURE WEIGHT LOSS
swept to the side as a new wave of weight-loss medications races to the market? Or is there a place in the world for both?
ABOVE An illustration of the molecular structure of semaglutide, superimposed over some fat cells
“Current GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide [Ozempic and Wegovy] and tirzepatide [Mounjaro] are genuinely impressive. They can help people lose 15 to 20 per cent of their body weight,” says Prof Maria Dalamaga, who specialises in laboratory medicine and clinical biochemistry at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece. “But they have some important limitations,” she adds.
RIGHT Most GLP-1s have to be injected weekly. It’s hoped the new drugs won’t need to be taken so frequently
One such limitation is that when people stop taking GLP-1s, their food intake usually shoots back up, so any weight they’ve lost returns quickly.
The main problem, however, is that GLP-1-fuelled weight loss isn’t just fat. About 25 to 40 per cent of it is ‘lean mass’ – muscle.
Muscle burns more energy than fat at rest, so shedding it may once have helped humans survive starvation. What this means is that losing weight while maintaining a healthy body composition is hard – our bodies would somehow have to override their default muscle-wasting programme. And that’s what scientists making the next generation of weight-loss drugs are trying to do.
It’s a similar proportion to what we see with conventional diets, because, like lowcalorie diets, GLP-1s work by reducing our food intake. But why does this calorie-cutting approach waste away muscle?
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY X3
“I think we have to take our eye off the magnitude of weight loss. That’s not as important as quality [of weight loss],” says Dr Mark Sleeman, head of obesity, muscle and metabolism research at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in New York, in the US. “We want patients to have quality weight loss, so [they can] decrease their fat, have proper storage of [their remaining] fat and preserve muscle.” In 2022, Sleeman’s team uncovered a link between obesity and
According to scientists, it’s an energy-saving strategy we’ve inherited from our ancestors.
WEIGHT LOSS
FEATURE
LEFT An illustration of an RNA molecule. Pharmaceutical companies are using gene silencing, a process that involves RNA interference, to target visceral fat
Other companies are trying a different approach to stop the messages from getting through to fat tissues. US companies Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals and Alnylam both make gene-silencing therapies that take out specific proteins at their source. The medicines target the DNA sequences coding for the proteins using short stretches of RNA – known as siRNAs (small interfering RNAs).
It’s like “turning off the faucet” for these signalling proteins, explains Dr James Hamilton, Arrowhead’s chief medical officer and head of research and development. The California-based company has two drugs targeting the Activin E pathway in human trials – one (ARO-INHBE) targeting the Activin E gene itself and the other (ARO-ALK7) targeting the gene for its receptor, ALK7, on fat cells. Although these are early trials, looking at effects in less than 100 people each, so far the results look promising.
“We’ve seen in some of our early clinical trials that targeting the [Activin E] pathway might have benefits specific to visceral fat, which is the most problematic fat – it’s the fat that accumulates around organs, which is inflammatory and can predispose people to things like type 2 diabetes,” Hamilton says.
Preliminary data shows patients drop 14 per cent of their visceral (‘belly’) fat within eight weeks on a single dose of ARO-ALK7. What’s more, early data from the ARO-INHBE trial suggests the drug could actually prevent muscle loss altogether.
a signalling molecule known as Activin E. They found that people who made short versions of the Activin E protein – due to mutations in the Activin E gene – had a healthier body type and tended to store less fat around their waists and hips.
An advantage of this gene-silencing approach compared to antibody therapies is that the effects could last several months, Hamilton says. And compared to the current generation of GLP-1s, most of which are injected weekly, that’s a big benefit.
Realising the potential of blocking Activin E, the team investigated further. Through tests on mice, they managed to show that Activin E proteins are messengers that allow the liver to talk to the body’s fat stores via fat cell receptors.
There’s a caveat, though, as Dalamaga points out. “They may require less frequent dosing [but]… they’re not quickly reversible if an unexpected problem appears.”
“They act on the fat-storing cells to modulate how you store fat,” Sleeman explains. “If you eat too much food, you have to have somewhere to store it, so you put it in your fat. [Activin E] is one of the secreted factors that’s able to regulate where you store your energy.”
In the past, she adds, there have been concerns about the effects of gene-silencing drugs on the liver, for example, or how they might inadvertently switch off non-target genes that have similar DNA sequences.
Targeting Activin E, then, could prevent fat hoarding, allowing more of it to be converted to energy so that – hopefully – the body resorts less to breaking down muscle. However, while most of Regeneron’s therapies use antibodies to block proteins, it hasn’t yet announced human trials of any Activin E blockers.
While modern drug designs have improved, extended trials will be needed to show that Activin E can be safely switched off for longer periods.
Sleeman says his team wants to fully understand what the messenger and its receptors do first.
“AN ADVANTAGE OF GENE SILENCING COMPARED TO ANTIBODY THERAPIES IS THE EFFECTS COULD LAST MONTHS”
FEATURE WEIGHT LOSS
preserving muscle – those on bimagrumab lost barely 1 per cent of their lean mass compared to 5 to 7 per cent in those who took GLP-1.
Activin E isn’t the only activin, however. There’s a handful of others, some of which also talk to fat cells, as well as an array of receptors that bind to varying combinations of them. Their roles extend beyond metabolism, but if drug manufacturers can unravel the activins’ complex communications to learn how they target fat loss and muscle preservation, they’ll be on to a winner.
Interestingly, though, the best results were seen in those who took both drugs (bimagrumab and semaglutide). They lost more fat than with either drug alone – over a third of their belly fat – while still only sacrificing 1 to 2 per cent of their lean mass.
Regeneron has been working on doing this for decades. Alongside its research on Activin E, the company is already in clinical trials with garetosmab, an antibody that blocks Activin A – an activin with a role in fat cell development. Last year, Regeneron also published results of a trial in postmenopausal women, where researchers paired garetosmab with another antibody (trevogrumab) that blocks myostatin, a key protein driving muscle wasting.
According to Dalamaga, who covered bimagrumab in a recent review, multiple new trials are now recruiting people to test the drug in combination with tirzepatide (Mounjaro). But there may still be a call for taking the drug on its own.
Together, the two drugs increased women’s thigh muscle volume while decreasing fat mass. “That was a very pivotal early study,” Sleeman says, adding that sarcopenia – age-related muscle loss – is important in both men and women.
“For someone who doesn’t tolerate GLP-1 drugs, or an older person where preserving muscle is a major priority, a metabolismfocused drug on its own could make sense, even if the number on the scales doesn’t drop as dramatically,” she says.
BELOW A key focus of some drugs currently being trialled is the process of ‘browning’ unhealthy white adipose tissue, or white fat, to improve metabolism
Components of activin receptors are also the target of bimagrumab, an antibody originally developed by Mounjaro’s US manufacturer Eli Lilly to treat muscle-wasting disorders, but now in mid-stage clinical trials to test its safety and efficacy as a weight-loss drug. Results published this year suggest the drug strips fat almost as fast as a GLP-1 (semaglutide). But where it may excel is in
If there’s a concern, it’s that bimagrumab blocks components of receptors involved in
“WE’RE INTERFERING IN A SYSTEM WHOSE FULL RANGE OF ACTIONS WE DON’T COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND”
transmitting messages for multiple activin pathways. And activins don’t just talk to fat cells. So, while side effects in early trials have been limited mainly to muscle spasms, acne and diarrhoea, Dalamaga suggests we need to watch out for more dangerous ones.
RIGHT Scientists are testing a drug that switches off a metabolic regulator in the body so fat is broken down rather than stored
“So far, the available trial data has been generally reassuring, but we’re interfering in a system whose full range of actions we don’t completely understand,” she warns. Activins are known to be involved in important processes like reproduction, immunity, wound healing and more.
The same concerns could be extended to metabolic ‘master switches’ that some companies are trying to flip to reset metabolism in an even broader way.
Biotech company Resalis Therapeutics, based in Turin, Italy, for instance, is testing RES-010, a drug that targets a well-studied genetic switch known as miR-22. A metabolic regulator, miR-22 is a short piece of natural RNA that can control various metabolic pathways – some of which cross over with activin pathways. From a drug manufacturer’s perspective, perhaps its most interesting quality is that it suppresses messages promoting conversion of fat-storing tissue to fat-burning tissue. Thus, switching it off should be metabolically beneficial.
approaches – either alone or paired with a GLP-1 appetite modifier
– can delay the inevitable regain when patients stop the drugs.
“A good balance between reducing food intake and increasing energy expenditure would be a very sound approach, and I think it’d be more prolonged,” says Sleeman, hinting that combined appetiteand metabolic-changing approaches look promising.
Meanwhile, Dalamaga says it’s too early to presume that stopping any obesity drug would lead to lasting results without ongoing treatment. And Hamilton expresses only cautious optimism about slower weight regain based on “interesting animal studies” at other companies.
“[RES-010] changes the way in which the body uses fats, boosts the production and activity of mitochondria – the ‘batteries’ that power cells – and helps convert white fat (which stores energy) into brown fat (which burns it),” Dr Riccardo Panella, chief scientific officer at Resalis, told a meeting of scientific experts discussing diabetes in Vienna, Austria last September.
Nevertheless, we may soon start to learn more about the power of metabolic modification as drug makers test a new generation of GLP-1s mixed with other molecules. Eli Lilly’s experimental retatrutide (‘Triple G’), for example, combines GLP-1 with two other hormones – GIP and glucagon, which is partly intended to help people burn more fat. Very recent trials also suggest that even approved, dual-action drugs like Mounjaro (GLP-1 plus GIP) drive ‘browning’ of unhealthy white fat to improve metabolism – although how they do this is currently unclear.
Thus far, however, the best data came from a recently-ended phase one trial (which Resalis would not comment on) and studies in non-human primates. In the primate studies, animals lost close to 15 per cent of their body fat on both RES-010 and semaglutide over 10 weeks, but just 1 per cent of their lean mass with RES-010 versus 8 per cent with semaglutide. Resalis claims that the fundamental action of its drug should reduce the likelihood of weight regain. But while animals did have less rebound compared to the GLP-1, the follow-up period appears to have been just four weeks.
Whether this refocusing of the weight-loss market towards healthier metabolism is ultimately of benefit remains to be seen. In a sense, worrying less about what we put in our mouths – because we’ve changed what our bodies do with it
– could mean people pay less attention to healthy eating.
Dalamaga, however, is less cynical. “I wouldn’t frame it [like that],” she says. “The real goal is to make obesity treatment healthier and more biologically complete, while still recognising that nutrition, physical activity and resistance exercise remain important for long-term health.”
GETTY IMAGES, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
The broader point, she says, is that the field is moving away from judging success purely by total weight loss and towards an ideal of better body composition.
b y H A Y L E Y B E N N E T T Hayley is a science writer based in Bristol, UK.
This brings us back to the first problem with GLP-1s and the question of whether any of these new metabolism-altering
Humanity is rushing back to the Moon. This time, however, we're planning on staying a while longer…
Words by
Illustrations by
ILLUSTRATION: MITCHELL STUART
he Moon has been an object of fascination for as long as humanity has been gazing up at the heavens. Its proximity is such that our closest celestial neighbour not only seems to dominate the night sky, but also appears to be tantalisingly close.
University of Hong Kong. “China isn’t. It’s using its national launch capacities.”
In April, four astronauts flew around the Moon on the Artemis II mission. They travelled in NASA's Orion spacecraft, launched on the mighty Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Next year, the Artemis III mission will see another four astronauts launch into Earth orbit and practise docking with two commercial lunar landers being developed by Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX: Blue Moon and Starship Human Landing System, respectively.
“Getting there is likely to be the easy part”
It’s not, though. At the closest point in its elliptical orbit, the
If all goes according to plan, the next mission in the program, Artemis IV, might see two astronauts use one of the landers to touch down on the Moon in 2028. It would be humanity’s first return to the lunar surface since Apollo 17 left it in December 1972.
Moon lies more than 350,000km (over 220,000 miles) from Earth. It was only truly brought within our reach in the last 60 years.
Humans have landed on the Moon six times, all during NASA’s Apollo programme, which ran from 1969 to 1972. Each of those missions was brief, lasting no more than a few days. It has been over half a century since anyone set foot on the lunar surface. But in the next few years, that could all be about to change.
China has opted for a different path. Its astronauts will be taken to the Moon in a Mengzhou capsule (a spacecraft of similar size to NASA’s Orion) launched aboard a giant Long March 10 rocket (currently under development).
The US and China have set targets to return to the lunar surface with missions that, initially, will last days, but later, weeks, and will hopefully lead to both nations establishing permanent bases on the Moon, giving us a continuous human presence on another world. “Nobody has ever done long-duration stays on another celestial body,” says Anastasia Prosina, a commercial space habitat consultant based in California, US and founder of the space consultancy firm Stellar Amenities.
To achieve this new milestone in space exploration, we need rockets to launch people there, landers to set them down, and habitats for them to live in. Significant progress is being made in all three of these areas, with the first humans expected to return to the Moon by the end of the decade. But what will these Moon bases actually look like, where will they be, and does it matter who wins the Moon base race?
The first step on the road to a permanent lunar base is getting humans back on the Moon. Both NASA and the Chinese Manned Space Agency (CMSA) have a roadmap for this – NASA is aiming for a 2028 return, while CMSA has set a target of 2030. From there, the two agencies have opted for contrasting approaches.
NASA is leaning heavily on help from commercial enterprise with its Artemis programme, particularly Jeff Bezos’s company Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX. “NASA is relying on commercial bodies to get them to the Moon,” says Dr Quentin Parker, an astronomy and astrophysics professor at the
The plan is for China’s astronauts to travel to low lunar orbit aboard Mengzhou. Once there, they’ll rendezvous with Lanyue, CMSA’s lunar lander, which will have launched aboard a separate Long March 10 rocket and travelled there autonomously. The astronauts will transfer from Mengzhou to Lanyue before descending to the surface.
conditions are hard for a start, he says, noting a lunar day lasts 29.5 Earth days (meaning the surface is bathed in continuous sunlight for around 14 days, before being plunged into darkness for the following 14 days). Surface temperatures can also swing wildly by hundreds of degrees, and harsh mountainous terrain awaits any future astronauts.
These habitats are still being designed, but might look quite similar to the cylindrical modules seen on the International Space Station. They will be placed on the surface and possibly buried in lunar dust, or even hidden in caves underground, to protect occupants from solar radiation.
Designing habitats for the Moon is quite different from designing orbital space stations, though, says Prosina. For one thing, in the weightless environment of Earth orbit, the direction of ‘up’ doesn’t matter so much. “There are no walls or floors, just surfaces,” says Prosina. “The table and equipment can be positioned anywhere.”
“Everything is going well” with the development of the rocket so far, says Parker, who remarks that China has been quite open about its plans for the Moon. “[China’s] not as secretive as it used to be,” he says. “That’s off the back of a strong track record over the last few years of ongoing success.”
Early excursions by the US and China will be relatively basic. Each nation’s astronauts will land on the Moon, stay for a few days, and then return to lunar orbit before travelling back to Earth. As the missions progress, however, they’ll get more complex, culminating in longer duration stays on the lunar surface and eventually permanent bases.
ILLUSTRATION: MITCHELL STUART
For the first Artemis landing, NASA plans to include a rover, which astronauts will be able to use to travel longer distances across the surface. Subsequent non-human landings will then dispatch equipment such as habitats, which astronauts will be able to live and work in, while on the Moon.
On the Moon, however, it’s a different story. Even though the Moon only has one sixth of Earth’s gravity, habitats will be more akin to the homes and laboratories on our planet.
Getting there is likely to be the easy part, though. “The Moon is a challenging environment,” says Dr George Sowers, a professor of aerospace engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. The lighting
China’s Moon base will be called the International Lunar Research Station.
It’s being designed with a number of international partners, including Russia, and will be located at the Moon’s South Pole – the same destination as NASA’s intended Moon base. “[China is] looking at full construction between 2030 and 2035,” says Parker.
Olympic swimming pool, explains Sowers, and then heat up the ground.
Both the US and China plan to build their bases at the Moon’s South Pole. Scientists think there is a vast amount of water there, trapped as ice inside pitch-black craters, and it could be an invaluable resource.
“The ice is mixed in with the lunar soil probably in the form of grains,” he says. Releasing this water is “conceptually very easy”, requiring temperatures of only –70°C (–94°F). “Then the ice will sublimate – turn into vapour. You just have to have the ability to capture that vapour. So either you put a tent over it and heat it where it sits, or you can dig it up and put it in an oven.”
Like NASA’s Moon base, it will have a mixture of habitats scattered on the surface. Both the US and China are developing nuclear fission reactors to supply their lunar sites with power, as well as autonomous rovers and other machinery to help build and operate their bases.
The Moon orbits Earth at a slight angle, tilted in such a way that some of the craters at its poles never see sunlight. They’re known as permanently shadowed regions (PSRs), or more radically, “craters of eternal darkness”. Temperatures drop to near absolute zero (–273°C/–459°F) inside these PSRs, so they could be prime locations for ice to have built up and stayed stable over billions of years.
ILLUSTRATION: MITCHELL STUART
Water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, which are also key components of rocket fuel. By collecting the Moon’s water and splitting it apart, it could therefore be possible to develop large amounts of propellant that could be used to refuel rockets on the lunar surface. We could
NASA is also planning to build landing pads where incoming rockets can touch down and take off without kicking up huge amounts of Moon dust, which can be sharp and dangerous to hardware and humans if they inhale it. “It’s going to be a constant headache,” says Sowers.
“The most important thing in this endeavour is finding the water,” explains Prosina.
At first, NASA’s Moon base will resemble something of a “junkyard”, the head of NASA, Jared Isaacman, told The New York Times in February. It will be a loose collection of apparatus spread over the lunar surface.
“At first, NASA's Moon base will
Eventually, however, the site may begin to resemble the sleek Moon bases of science fiction. This could include more advanced habitats, but also specially designed large-scale 3D printers, which can mix lunar dust with a small amount of plastic glue to make a variety of equipment, including bricks for building new habitats.
resemble a junkyard”
One company that’s set on demonstrating this technology soon is GRU Space, the California-based start-up that recently made headlines by announcing its plans to become the first to build a lunar hotel. “We have a contract to land on the Moon as early as next year and make the world’s first bricks [there],” says Skyler Chan, the company’s founder and CEO. He plans to launch a shoebox-sized piece of equipment on an upcoming mission to test the 3D-printing brick-making process.
Both the US and China agree – they plan to send vehicles into these craters as soon as possible.
If it works, GRU Space’s equipment could be scaled-up and used to make bricks for “any structure essentially”, Chan says, from roads to warehouses. “Our mission is to build habitats, build cities, build structures for people to live in.”
On the American side, the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) will drive into one or more PSRs when it lands on the Moon in 2027. China, meanwhile, plans on using a ‘hopper’ drone that will use thrusters to hop across the surface and drop into the craters. One of these hopper drones is due to depart for the Moon in late August this year as part of China’s Chang’e-7 mission. Once there, it’s expected to begin its search for ice by leaping into the 12km-wide (13 miles) Shackleton Crater.
China has also spoken about using lunar dust to make bricks to build its Moon bases.
There remain plenty of uncertainties in constructing Moon bases, however, says Jeff Nosanov, a space industry expert and former NASA proposal manager. “There are still major unknowns that aren’t going to be resolved in the next few years – how we land large payloads on the Moon, for example,” he says. “That’s really the biggest obstacle. It’s like the space station, but a million times harder.”
If ice can be found, the next step will be to figure out how to collect it. One possibility is to cover a section inside a PSR with a large tent approximately the size of an
reduce the cost of a mission to Mars by $12bn (approx £9bn) using rocket fuel procured from the Moon, says Sowers. “Water can be easily electrolysed into hydrogen and oxygen, and then liquefied into rocket propellant, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen,” he explains.
“A near future where the US and China operate bases in the same region of the Moon poses some interesting geopolitical questions”
With this ability, a future is envisioned in which spacecraft use the Moon as a staging outpost, landing there to refuel before launching out further into the Solar System. That could make human missions to destinations such as Mars much more feasible, because you wouldn’t need to launch huge amounts of fuel from Earth to make the mission possible.
There are other resources on the Moon that might also be useful: helium-3, for example – a form of helium that could be used in nuclear fusion. China has spoken of its desire to mine helium-3 from the surface, but it’s not yet known whether this is achievable.
“I don’t know what they’re going to do,” says Parker.
Whatever the future may hold, it is clear that the new Moon race has very much begun. In the coming years, we will likely see humans return to the Moon. How much appetite there will then be to build permanent lunar bases beyond those initial sorties remains to be seen, but the plans to do so are already materialising quickly.
The US and China have also been steadily signing up countries to join their respective Moon base plans. The US has signed up more than 60 nations including the UK, France, Australia and India, while China has Russia, South Africa, Pakistan and Senegal on its smaller list of less than 20 nations. Some countries have signed up to both plans, including Thailand and the UAE. It’s unlikely there will be any sort of open conflict on the Moon as each country builds their bases, but there are unanswered regulatory questions. What if a Chinese mission accidentally landed near a US lunar base, for example, or vice versa? What if they both landed at a valuable location at the same time?
A near future where the US and China operate bases in the same region of the Moon poses some interesting geopolitical questions. The US has been outspoken about its wariness of China’s lunar ambitions, making frequent comments about the need to beat China back to the Moon and establish a base there first.
With the International Space Station also set to be retired around 2031 after more than 30 years of operation, it might well be that the future of humanity in space takes another giant leap forward. We could go from inhabiting space stations in orbit around Earth to performing research and mining for resources on the surface of the Moon.
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Currently, under the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, no country can lay claim to anywhere in space. The US and China could not say they own any particular lunar crater or region, for example. The Outer Space Treaty does make provisions for ensuring that a country’s hardware on another world is protected from damage, however.
These questions will become increasingly important in the coming years as this Moon race ramps up. But perhaps there is another possibility: that the US and China will put aside their differences and decide to cooperate, instead of compete.
b y J O N A T H A N O ’ C A L L A G H A N Jonathan is an award-winning freelance science journalist based in the UK.
As such, the first nation to get their equipment into a lunar crater containing large amounts of readily accessible ice could, hypothetically speaking, argue that it is theirs (since any attempts by another nation to operate in that crater could damage their hardware). That raises the stakes of establishing a lunar presence first.
“Assessment of resources is going to be crucial,” says Parker. “If the Chinese get to [a valuable crater] first, what’s left? Will the Americans try to get [there] as well?” There might be plenty of room around the rim of such a prospective crater, or there might not.
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FEATURE THE NOCEBO EFFECT
THE
The ‘nocebo’ is the placebo effect’s ‘evil twin’. It can render medical interventions ineffective, conjure up adverse side effects or even lead to the real symptoms getting worse. So, when negative expectations are in play, what’s the worst that can happen?
S
ome said it sounded like the screech of grinding metal. Others described it as a piercing, clicking or buzzing noise. Beginning in late 2016, diplomats and intelligence agents stationed at the US Embassy in Havana, Cuba, reported hearing weird noises in their homes and hotel rooms. It was, some said, as if a beam of energy was being fired at
them from outside.
Soon afterwards, they began to feel unwell. They described shooting pains, headaches, dizziness, pressure in the ears, vertigo, nausea and confusion. Some had problems with their balance. Others began to struggle with their memory.
The condition became known as Havana Syndrome, and it wasn’t long before it started to spread. In the following years, hundreds of North American officials from all over the globe reported similar experiences. On one occasion, a member of the National Security Council was struck down outside the White House. In another, a senior Defense Department official was overcome at a NATO summit in Vilnius.
Since then, some have recovered, but others have been left with debilitating neurological symptoms that have derailed their lives. A number have had to give up work. And the cause?
One theory is that they were targeted by Russian spies who used a clandestine weapon emitting a directed energy source, such as microwaves or radio waves. Earlier this year, American media reported that the US government had secretly bought and studied a device containing Russian components that could be linked to Havana Syndrome.
It sounds intriguing, but it’s not case closed.
FEATURE
No perpetrator has ever been caught or admitted responsibility, and it’s unclear how such a weapon would work. Another oddity is that people with Havana Syndrome have genuine symptoms but no obvious physical damage to their bodies. This points to a different explanation, that their symptoms may have been caused by something called the nocebo effect.
For the last few years, I’ve been researching the nocebo effect for my new book,This Book May Cause Side Effects. If the term sounds familiar, it may be because you’ve heard of the similar-sounding placebo effect. This occurs when positive expectations prompt a person’s health to improve. In its classic guise, a person takes a placebo tablet that contains no medicine and feels better for it. Placebos have been shown to ease the symptoms of epilepsy, allergies, stomach ulcers, erectile dysfunction and more.
The nocebo effect is placebo’s evil twin. Derived from the Latin meaning ‘I will harm’, it occurs when negative beliefs cause us to become unwell. It’s seen in clinical trials when people in the control group receiving a placebo develop side effects after being warned about them. For example, data collected from 12 trials of the COVID-19 vaccine, involving over 45,000 people, reveals that 76 per cent of all common adverse reactions to the jab were caused by the nocebo effect.
In the ‘real world’, the nocebo effect can conjure new symptoms and worsen existing ones, sculpt illness and prolong ill health. It’s also far more pervasive than most people realise. The nocebo effect taints the way we respond to medicines and foods, how quickly we recover from surgery and the way that we age.
It explains why a quarter of cancer patients begin to feel nauseous before they have their chemotherapy. Why people with back pain can have the same amount of physical damage, but wildly different degrees of disability. And why the decline of patients with chronic conditions, such as cancer, often has less to do with the progress of their disease and more to do with their psychological state.
The nocebo effect affects us individually, but in times of heightened stress, it can also spread like a virus. This is known as Mass Psychogenic Illness (MPI), and it may be the most likely explanation for the symptoms experienced by some (if not all) of those with Havana Syndrome.
MPI may sound unusual, but history is littered with examples. They include the dancing manias of the Middle Ages, which saw people contort and thrash around, sometimes
FEATURE
they cause, creep through communities.
The results of this can be dramatic. Head over to YouTube, and you can find bodycam footage of US police officers ‘overdosing’ after coming into contact with the street drug fentanyl.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, fifty times more potent than morphine or heroin. Every year, tens of thousands of users overdose and die. In the US, many law enforcement officers believe that exposure to just a few grains can trigger a potentially fatal collapse. So, when they accidentally touch the powder, they can drop like a stone and immediately lose consciousness.
At face value, this is a terrifying predicament; only things aren’t quite what they seem. Toxicologists agree that it’s virtually impossible to overdose from touching or accidentally inhaling fentanyl. If it were, then dealers, workers at needle exchange sites, and pharmacists who prepare the drug legitimately, would also be collapsing. They’re not.
Contrary to what many police officers believe, fentanyl does not pass readily through the skin, and the risk of it poisoning someone when it’s airborne is next to nothing. When users overdose, it’s because they’ve injected, smoked or snorted too much of it. In these cases, the drug shows up on blood and urine tests, yet to the best of my knowledge, none of the police officers with these ‘immaculate overdoses’ are known to have returned a positive toxicology test.
The law enforcement community believes one story. The scientific community another: that it isn’t fentanyl that strikes police officers down, but the misplaced belief that fentanyl can do this. This expectation is strong enough to skew the brain’s prediction machinery, fire up their mirror neurons, and cause their very genuine and frightening symptoms.
MPI strikes again.
Historically, when outbreaks of MPI occurred, they were, at least, easy to contain. Transmission relied on line of sight or word of mouth. Outbreaks fizzled when those affected were isolated and news of the episode died down.
Today, it’s much harder to contain this sort of information. Stories can ricochet around the internet indefinitely. In the case of the American police officers, videos of the collapses have been viewed more than 18 million times. Now, researchers are worried about the effect of social media on MPI.
Prof Kirsten Müller-Vahl runs a clinic for people with Tourette syndrome at the Hannover Medical School in Germany. Beginning in May 2019, patients started
THE NOCEBO EFFECT FEATURE
presenting with odd symptoms. Their arms jerked wildly. Sometimes they hit people. They shouted obscenities and random words, such as Bombe (bomb) and Fliegende Haie (flying sharks).
None of them could control their actions. Normal life was becoming impossible, and they were deeply distressed. Tourette syndrome had been mooted, but Müller-Vahl was adamant. “To me, it was absolutely clear that this was not Tourette’s,” she told me.
Tourette syndrome typically manifests at a young age. Subtle tics, in the form of blinking, grimacing or shrugging, start slowly. A year or two later, vocal tics, such as throat-clearing or grunting, can appear. Only one in ten goes on to develop the condition’s most infamous symptoms – coprolalia (shouting obscene words) – but even then, most patients repeat just a handful of swear words.
This was different. Most of Müller-Vahl’s patients were teenagers or young adults, whose flamboyant and diverse symptoms had appeared without warning. Strangest of all, they all shouted the same things, even though they had never met or seen each other.
It made no sense, but then Müller-Vahl heard about a German influencer called Jan Zimmermann, who was making videos about his own Tourette syndrome for his Gewitter im Kopf (Thunderstorm in the Head) YouTube channel. When Zimmermann posted his first video in February 2019, Müller-Vahl had no patients like this. Three months later, Zimmermann had over a million subscribers, and Müller-Vahl saw her first case. Many more followed.
the phenomena as TikTok tics.
Brought into a laboratory and warned of possible side effects as they listen to a recording of a wind farm infrasound, people who believe they are sensitive do experience symptoms. But when the same people have the nocebo effect explained to them and then listen to the noise, their symptoms return to baseline levels. The sensations that manifest so easily in the first part of the experiment vanish just as easily in the second.
Now, experts are worried that social media is turbo-charging the spread of the nocebo effect. Move over MPI, this is “mass social media-induced illness.” Because of its ubiquity and reach, social media has the potential to spread this new version of MPI further and faster than ever before. It could be more difficult to rein in, too.
All of them had watched Zimmermann’s videos and then developed mirror symptoms. “It was absolutely clear there was a relationship between these two things,” she says. Patients were catching symptoms via social media.
Then the pandemic struck and more ‘chronic health influencers’ or ‘illfluencers’ with tics started producing content. This included some of Müller-Vahl’s own patients, as well as people from other countries. At the same time, specialist centres around the globe noted a steep rise in referrals. One clinic in Texas saw a 60-per-cent increase during the pandemic. Another, in London, noted that referrals doubled over a few months.
From those affected by Havana Syndrome and the ‘immaculate overdoses’, to all of us who sometimes have physical symptoms that can’t be physically explained, it can be hard to accept the profound influence of the mind on the body. Yet, recognising this complex interplay is one of the most powerful things we can do to minimise these sorts of symptoms and maximise our health.
So, what can we do to protect ourselves from the nocebo effect and the reach of mass social media-induced illness?
Although most people who watch illfluencers don’t develop mirror symptoms, there’s a vulnerable, as-yet-undefined minority who do. The story of the TikTok tics is a timely reminder to think carefully about the type and volume of content we consume.
The pattern was always the same. Larger-than-life tics, which changed on an almost weekly basis, often mimicking the content of new videos as they dropped. Symptoms passed directly from content creator to content consumer.
In addition, studies suggest that simply knowing about the nocebo effect can make people more resistant to it.
Some people believe that the low-frequency hum (infrasound) of wind farms causes them to develop symptoms, such as nausea and dizziness, but no causal relationship has been found, making the nocebo effect likely.
b y D R H E L E N P I L C H E R Helen is a cell biologist, science writer and the author ofThis Book May Cause
It’s estimated that thousands of young people were affected. The media referred to
Side Effects(Atlantic Books, 2026).
JOYCE PALMER, WESTMINSTER
The Black Death was the most catastrophic pandemic in human history. Between 1347 and 1353, up to half of Europe’s population – some 50 million people – died after being infected with the bacterium, Yersinia pestis. But as the human population plummeted, something unexpected happened – plant biodiversity tanked alongside it.
At face value, this is odd. According to the contemporary narrative, when humans disappear and nature is given the space and time that it needs to recover, it rebounds with verve. Six hundred and fifty years ago, however, that wasn’t the case. Instead of doing better, plant life did worse. It was almost as if the plants were experiencing a pandemic of their own.
Before the Black Death, agriculture was on the up. Then, as the pandemic unravelled, so did agriculture. Farmland became abandoned and cereal crops were left unsown. Published in Ecology Letters, the study found that the biggest losses of plant diversity occurred in the areas most affected by land abandonment. Put another way: in the old days, agriculture was good for biodiversity.
Between 0 and 1300AD, plant diversity in Europe increased, growing through the rise and fall of the Western Roman Empire, continuing into the early Middle Ages, and then peaking just before the Black Death. Then the pandemic hit, and for 150 years, plant diversity nosedived, only to recover as human populations increased.
The cause, however, was not a bacterium, but something else.
To assess how plant diversity in Europe has changed over the last 2,000 years or so, Jonathan Gordon from the University of York and colleagues studied a huge collection of fossilised pollen grains. The data revealed a story in three parts.
And the common factor? Cereal.
DR EMMA DAVIES
DR HELEN SCALES
PROF ABBIE JORDAN
LUIS VILLAZON
DR CHRISTIAN JARRETT
DR JAMES LLOYD
DR HELEN PILCHER
DR ALASTAIR GUNN
PETE LAWRENCE
Food & drink
Marine biology
Psychology
Emotions
Lifestyle
Animals
Nature
Planetary science
Astronomy
KIAN PEARCE, CHICHESTER
Apart from tasting yucky, the main health concerns here are microplastics and chemicals leaching from the bottle.
There are several studies that have shown that antimony (which causes symptoms like arsenic poisoning at high doses) leaches into the water from PET plastic typically used in disposable water bottles. This leaching increases sharply above 45⁰C (113⁰F), but even then, virtually every study has found that antimony levels remain comfortably below the WHO drinking water limits.
The findings are in stark contrast to the situation today, where the intensification of agriculture is a key driver of biodiversity loss. It makes sense, however, when you think about how farmers use their land.
Microplastics are already present in bottled water to some extent, but a 2024 study at Zhejiang University in China found that temperature doesn’t affect their concentration measurably until you get over 80⁰C (176⁰F). LV
Today, agriculture is dominated by monocultures. Farmers typically focus on a single crop species, which is often treated with pesticides and fertilisers. This is bad for the environment as it pollutes the landscape and stymies the growth and survival of wild plants and animals.
Contrast this with medieval times, when there were no industrial pesticides and fertilisers. Instead of monocultures, mixed planting was the norm.
SUSAN BARKER, VIA EMAIL
Strips of cereal crops rubbed shoulders with patches of dirt, deliberately fallow (temporarily unsown) fields, bits of woodland and areas of rough grazing pasture. The result was a mosaic landscape, with a diverse range of habitats for plant and animal life to thrive. So, there are two take-home messages. The first is that policies that seek to boost
When any starchy food is heated above about 120⁰C (248⁰F), the sugars and amino acids react to create a variety of new compounds in a process called the Maillard reaction. One of these is a molecule called acrylamide, which at very high doses has been shown to cause cancer in mice.
ILLUSTRATION: ADAM GALEGETTY IMAGES X2
biodiversity by leaving nature to its own devices may not be as effective as hoped. Gordon points out that many of the most biodiverse locations in Europe are those with a history of low-intensity, mixed agriculture.
In response to this discovery, the UK Food Standards Agency launched a campaign in 2017 to encourage us to avoid overdone oven chips, roast potatoes and toast. But since then, studies have consistently failed to find links between dietary acrylamide and cancer in humans. The advice from Cancer Research UK is currently that "you don’t need to avoid burnt starchy foods". LV
And the second is that, if we want to learn the hard lessons of pre-industrial farmers, agriculture and wildlife don’t have to be mutually exclusive. HP
Frederick Henry Bay. Divers have spotted fewer than a hundred individuals, identifying them from the patterns on their bodies, which are as unique as fingerprints.
Along the shoreline of Lutruwita, Tasmania live some of the most punk fish in the sea. Red handfish (Thymichthys politus) are unmistakable. They strut across the seabed using their fins as fingers and hands, have a fin sticking up from their head like a mohawk and pouting lips that sport a dash of crimson lipstick.
T.politus is one of 14 species of handfish, all endemic to Australian waters. They lack the swimbladder, an internal, gas-filled balloon, which gives most other fish a buoyant boost. So instead of floating and swimming, handfish evolved pelvic and pectoral fins that operate as limbs for walking underwater. As adults, handfish don’t move far or fast, and as larvae they settle down right where they’re born.
Nevertheless, they’re easily missed. Not just because they’re small – red handfish grow up to 9cm (3.5in), less than a human handspan – but because they are one of the world’s rarest species of fish. They’re known from just two small patches of rocky reef in
PAULINE DUTTON, VIA EMAIL
Consequently, the species doesn’t have a great ability to disperse into new habitats, making them highly vulnerable to local changes. Handfish populations are suffering from water pollution and sedimentation, and from sea urchins overgrazing their seaweed homes.
Climate change is also a major threat. Waters around Lutruwita are warming fast and handfish are poorly equipped to move to cooler conditions. In January 2024, scientists from the University of Tasmania gathered up 25 red handfish and moved them into aquariums to keep them safe from a severe ocean heatwave. In May that year, 18 handfish were successfully returned to the wild, while three died in captivity and four were kept to establish a breeding programme for the species.
Facing a similar multitude of threats, other handfish species are also in a precarious state. Pink handfish hadn’t been seen for decades until 2021, when one was spotted on camera 150m (492ft) underwater, much deeper than scientists assumed they lived. Ziebell’s handfish haven’t been seen since 2007. And smooth handfish have the dubious honour of being the first marine fish in recent times to be declared extinct. By 2020, too long had passed since they had been seen alive. However, two years later they were resurrected, technically at least, when scientists agreed the species could still be hiding out somewhere that hasn’t yet been checked.
same period as the disappearance of the extra moon and the formation of the rings. So, the latest idea is that Hyperion didn’t miraculously survive the encounter but actually resulted from it. In this scenario, a moon, dubbed ‘proto-Hyperion’, about four times as big as Chrysalis, was involved in the collision.
There are many mysteries about the planet Saturn and its entourage of moons. One, of course, is how its spectacular ring system was formed. Recently, scientists showed that the answer to that mystery may be tied up in another.
A decade ago, measurements of the mass distribution of Saturn by the Cassini probe suggested that its mass is slightly more concentrated towards its centre than expected. This could be explained if Saturn once had an extra moon, which astronomers called Chrysalis. Astronomers thought that this missing moon could have broken up to form the rings after an encounter with Titan, Saturn’s largest moon (and the second largest moon in the Solar System, after Jupiter’s Ganymede).
This merger of moons explains many things: why Titan has such a shortage of impact craters, why its orbit is quite eccentric, why it is ‘locked’ with Hyperion’s orbit, the irregular shape and low density of Hyperion itself, and the long-standing mystery of the orbital tilt of Saturn’s distant moon Iapetus.
Despite all the troubles these unique little fish face in the wild, there’s still hope for handfish. Scientists at the Handfish Conservation Project are working hard to protect them and their habitats. Members of the public can support their work by donating a thousand dollars in return for naming a handfish. Already there are lots with names – Mia, Molly, Rusty, Rupert, Barnacle Joy, Prince Pickles Spotty Spot Spot and Spooky Moo – but there are still plenty waiting for someone to give them a name and help secure their future. HS
But crucially, this event can also explain the origin of Saturn’s rings. The widening of Titan’s orbit catastrophically destabilised Saturn’s inner moons and sent them colliding into each other. While the timing of this second cataclysm is unclear, it must have occurred after Titan’s merger with proto-Hyperion, consistent with the rings’ estimated age of about 100 million years. AG
NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY, NASA/JPL
However, recent simulations of this process showed that Hyperion, the smallest of Saturn’s major moons, would almost certainly not survive an encounter between Chrysalis and Titan. Hyperion and Titan are in an orbital ‘lock’, which appears to be relatively young, suspiciously dating to the
WENDY COPSEY, LICHFIELD
Sales of dairy cheeses are booming, with a huge demand for all things protein and increasing numbers of artisan cheese fanatics.
But plant-based vegan cheeses are becoming less popular because many are labelled as ultraprocessed, with ingredients such as starches, gums, oils, colourings and flavourings. However, some people still prefer a vegan alternative, concerned that cows release large volumes of greenhouse gas methane to the atmosphere as they munch grass.
It’s very difficult to replicate the complex flavours and textures of traditional cheeses, and therefore most dairy free products are imitations of mild cheddar, mozzarella and soft cheese.
Vegan cheeses often mainly comprise oil and starch with low to no levels of protein. Higher protein versions contain nuts or legumes such as lentils and chickpeas. Some companies have found ways to use genetically engineered yeast, bacteria or fungi to produce copies of the casein proteins found in cow’s milk. These proteins self-assemble to form tiny spherical structures called micelles, which play a key role in cheese’s structure and stretchiness. The non-dairy caseins can be used first to make milk and then cheese.
Later that evening, if the sky is dark, it’s the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, one of the richest sources of meteors throughout the year. Observing into the early hours gives the best rates and the nights of 9/10 to 15/16 August show the highest activity. The shower peaks the night after the eclipse, 12/13 August, and we can expect to see around 90 meteors per hour. There’s no pesky Moon to interfere this year because, well, it’s in front of the Sun on 12 August!
Some months are so astronomically quiet that they don’t contain many special events. These are great times to reacquaint with the ever-constant constellations. Some months, though, are so astronomically busy that the night sky must take second place, and August 2026 will be one of those!
Vegan cheeses generally need very high concentrations of fat to create a product that can be sliced and melted. Coconut oil and palm oil are the most common types, both of which contain high levels of saturated fat.
On 12 August, a significant partial eclipse of the Sun occurs when over 90 per cent of the Sun’s disc will be obscured by the Moon in the late afternoon. This event is total along a track from Greenland to Spain, passing to the west of the UK as it tracks south across the Atlantic.
Not to be ignored, the Moon puts on a show on the morning of 28 August when it’s eclipsed by Earth’s shadow. This event continues through to moonset, Earth’s shadow extending over 93 per cent of the Moon’s diameter at the point of greatest eclipse at 5:13am BST. The main timings of both eclipses are shown above. Now we just need to hope for clear skies. PL
From the UK, safety precautions need to be taken to see the eclipse. For direct viewing, certified eclipse glasses are convenient and inexpensive. A simpler method is to create a 1-3mm hole in
b y P E T E L A W R E N C E
(@Avertedvision) Pete is an astronomy expert and presenter on The Sky at Night.
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Scientists continue to innovate to create better-tasting, healthier vegan cheeses. A team at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh recently developed a way to create a meltable product using unsaturated sunflower oil or rapeseed oil.
FRANCIS CHASE, LONDON
They add molecules called oleogelators, which include waxes or proteins, to liquid oil to create a three-dimensional gel structure that behaves like a solid fat and is better at oozily melting than cheeses formed from coconut or palm oil.
In another recent development, scientists at the University of Arkansas, US, reported that waste products from rice milling could be good for making protein-packed vegan cheese.
They analysed proteins from brown rice,
broken kernels and rice bran before combining them with coconut oil and corn starch to make a cheese with around 12 per cent protein.
Each protein fraction has different characteristics. In tests, cheese from brown rice protein had a firmer texture, whereas rice kernel proteins gave the most meltable cheese.
Elsewhere, microalgae, tiny organisms found in water, offer a tangy alternative. Microalgae can grow in big vats called bioreactors, fuelled by light and carbon dioxide. One option is to make a microalgae protein flour and homogenise it with water to make a kind of milk.
ILLUSTRATIONS: PETE LAWRENCE, ADAM GALEGETTY IMAGES
Cats also prefer people who act in certain ways. Right now, the science of cat behaviour is booming, and in another study, researchers monitored what happened when 119 people were allowed to interact with cats in a rehoming shelter. Basically, the scientists filmed and watched a lot of cat videos and found that people who were more neurotic tended to interact in ways that were more controlling and less responsive to the cats’ cues. That’s not cool for cats, suggesting that any self-styled moggy magnet is less likely to be neurotic and more likely to interact with cats in a respectful way.
The only way that I would ever naturally attract a domestic cat is if I was slathered in fish paste. My daughter, on the other hand, is a moggy magnet. She only has to step outside, and random felines follow her down the street. Some people, it seems, really are more likely to be approached by cats, but is it the people, the cats, or both?
The microalgae are an excellent source of amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Products made with them are reported to have a satisfyingly savoury taste known as umami.
So, while dairy cheese makers will always provide premium products for aficionados, vegan alternatives continue to get healthier and more like the real thing. ED
In stark contrast to their famously standoffish reputation, many cats really do choose to be around people. In a study of 50 cats living in homes and shelters, the majority of cats chose human company over food and toys. Cats also have a sophisticated olfactory system and can discriminate between the scent of their owner and unfamiliar people. Presented with scent swabs taken from their owner and from unfamiliar humans, cats spend longer sniffing the odour of strangers. This suggests that they can identify familiar humans based on sensory cues.
Of course, not all cats are created equal. They have personality differences too, and this also influences their penchant for people. In a 2022 pilot study, people were invited simply to sit in a cat café or rescue centre and hang out with the cats for two wonderful hours. Researchers monitored the cat's behaviour and analysed their urine samples. They found that male cats with lower testosterone levels and male cats that had lived with humans from a young age were friendlier. This suggests that, in male cats at least, hormones and early life experiences play a big part in whether or not they will approach a person. So, being a cat magnet is a skill you can learn, if you interact with the right cat and treat them with respect. HP
They can also pick up on scents that are related to human emotion. In another study, researchers presented cats with swabs of sweat that came from people when they were feeling happy, frightened, stressed or neutral. The cats didnot appreciate the fearful scent. They were more likely to flatten their ears, swish their tail, tense up and back away. So, would a cat willingly approach a person who is frightened? The evidence suggests, no.
FRANCESCA STUCKEY HOWARD, PLYMOUTH
A recent study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that quite modest changes to sleep, exercise and diet could still have a meaningful effect on heart health. This was reported in the press with the claim that 11 minutes extra sleep could cut heart attacks and strokes by 10 per cent. But this headline is misleading. The study looked at the effects of more sleep, more exercise and a better diet combined.
To get that 10 per cent reduction from sleep alone, the study found you’d actually need about half an hour extra each night. Furthermore, that 10 per cent doesn’t mean your personal chances of a heart attack drop by 10 per cent.
The study followed 53,000 participants over eight years and in that time, just over 2,000 cardiovascular ‘events’ were reported. That’s 3.8 per cent of the study population. If they’d all had the extra sleep to gain the 10 per cent reduction, this figure would have dropped to just 3.4 per cent of the study population.
Nevertheless, the overall message is still valid; getting a good night’s sleep is an important contributor to a healthy heart. One of the reasons for this is that your blood pressure normally drops during the night, due to lower cortisol levels. Not sleeping enough prevents your blood pressure from dropping as much. This increases the stress on blood vessels, which in turn leads to the hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis).
Waking before your body is ready also unleashes a morning surge of stress hormones on your nervous system. A study in the US in 2014 found that the number of heart attacks rises by 25 per cent on the Monday morning after the clocks go forward, when we miss out on an hour of sleep. Hitting the snooze button won’t necessarily save your life but, over time, it might extend it. LV
TOM DAVIS, VIA EMAIL
Many of us know that feeling of having a little extra swagger when we’ve got a confident friend or colleague by our side. Of course, that’s just anecdotal, but now a new study has provided some lab-based evidence to support the idea that confidence really can be contagious.
GETTY IMAGES X3ILLUSTRATION: ADAM GALE
The researchers at Birkbeck, University of London asked participants to make repeated judgments about the direction of travel of a cloud of dots on a computer screen, and to state how confident they were in their decision. Then the participants repeated the judgment but with a partner who performed the exact same task and shared their own confidence rating (the partner was actually a computer programme, but the participants thought it was a real person). Finally, the participants made the same kind of judgment on their own again. This process was repeated many times so the participants could learn the gist of their partner’s confidence levels over time.
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We tend to think of sharks as solitary creatures, but some species hunt in pairs or packs, or form social groups that last for years. Some sharks even have ‘friends’. A recent study at the Shark Reef Marine Reserve in Fiji found that adult bull sharks choose their social partners, being more likely to interact with those of a similar size. The males tended to have more social connections – they are smaller than the females, so social integration may help them to avoid confrontations and gain access to food.
Other perks of shark friendship could include learning new skills and meeting potential mates. JL
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Narcissism is a hot topic, with significant media hype about rates of narcissism skyrocketing. Yet, a recent study of 540,000 people across 55 countries found no evidence for increased rates of grandiose narcissism across the past 40 years. While evidence of a ‘narcissism epidemic’ is lacking, social media certainly makes narcissistic behaviour feel more visible than ever.
So, what actually makes someone a narcissist? To answer that, it helps to look at what we know about personality genetics. Most personality traits are between 30 and 50 per cent heritable. This means that our genetic makeup explains about half of the differences between people, with the other half coming from our varied life experiences.
When researchers look at narcissism, the issue is more complex. Early twin studies suggest only modest genetic explanations. For example, a 2014 study of 3,014 twin pairs found that grandiose narcissism was 23 per cent heritable while entitled narcissism was 35 per cent heritable. In other words, genes play a role in explaining narcissism, but environmental factors such as parenting style, friends and relationships are more important.
The key finding was that participants who were paired with a more confident partner tended to start expressing more confidence in their own judgments – not only when sharing their ratings with their partners, but also when they were making their judgments in private again, which suggests they weren't just claiming more confidence for the sake of appearances.
The researchers said this apparent social transmission of confidence could help to explain why certain social groups, such as financial traders, tend to exhibit heightened confidence levels
However, a much larger 2026 study paints a different picture. Using an extended twin family design, the researchers found that narcissism is actually around 50 per cent genetic. Additionally, the researchers found no evidence that shared family environment factors (e.g. parenting style) shaped narcissism at all. So, the similar levels of narcissism they found between parents and children were due to shared genes – and not a result of a shared upbringing.
– the bravado can be catching.
An important caveat is that the new study involved confidence in a specific perceptual task, rather than the broader feeling of being more confident. Also, the transmission of confidence wasn't measured over the longer term.
There’s no simple answer to whether nature or nurture plays a bigger role in narcissism; both play a part. While research suggests that genes do matter, so do our experiences. AJ
Nonetheless, the results jibe with findings from personality science that suggest our own behavioural tendencies can be shaped by the kind of people we mix with. Some of us seem to be more prone to these influences than others – so whether or not a confident friend gives you that swagger might come down to how much of a social chameleon you are. CJ
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DON’T SKIP CALF DAY
A ‘second heart’ is located below your knees, and you need to get it pumping
omething pretty cool happens every time you wiggle your toes. Your calf muscles squeeze veins deep in the lower leg and force blood upwards, against gravity, to your heart. The same thing happens when you flex your ankle, climb the stairs, stand on
cardiovascular system,” he says. “Most people, when they think of pumping blood in the body, they think: ‘Yeah, we’ve got a pump. It’s called the heart.’ But the heart can only pump out the blood that’s returned to it.”
Those low-level movements are easy. When seated comfortably, you simply raise your heels while keeping your toes on the ground. Then you repeat this for 5–10 minutes. Researchers believe it’s a simple but powerful intervention for people with diabetes, as well as anyone who sits for long periods – because inactivity is one of the surest ways to lower your calf pump function.
The calf is one mechanism in a chain of muscles that propel blood from the legs back to the heart. Muscles in the foot, thigh and abdomen also serve as valves. “You can think of it like toothpaste. You’re squeezing one tube after another, and they’re ejecting the toothpaste north,” McBane says.
tiptoes or take a walk. It’s basic anatomical machinery – faintly miraculous when you stop to think about it, but so ubiquitous and normal that it’s often overlooked.
Walking and running are two of the simplest ways to keep your second heart pumping. It’s another reason to get your 10,000 steps a day. But McBane also says that other forms of exercise are important, including strength training to ensure this important muscle doesn’t waste as we age.
That could now be changing, however, as scientists wonder if this mechanism – known as the calf muscle pump function – could be a powerful lever to improve short- and long-term health.
What’s different about the calf is that, first of all, it’s easier to study. We don’t have the equivalent measure of calf pump function for the thigh, for example. Second, it’s a muscle that most of us can use more, meaning it’s potentially a literal lever that all of us can pull to improve our health.
In 2024, researchers at the Mayo Clinic looked at what happens when this function doesn’t work so well. They found that mortality rates increase quite dramatically for people with calf pump dysfunction.
“I used to think – just personally – that the most important thing for good cardiovascular health was being aerobically fit. As long as you go for a run and keep fit aerobically, then you’re going to be okay,” he says. “The reality is, we have to keep our anaerobic capacity too. You need to work hard to keep your muscles exercised and developed, and maintain muscle strength.”
Research suggests there are short-term benefits as well as the longer-term risk of mortality. Good calf pump function means less blood pooling in the legs and ankles, reducing dull pain and discomfort. This may also contribute to the risk of things like swollen ankles and deep vein thrombosis.
Over a 10-year period, for example, the study showed that someone with normal calf pump function has a 5.9-per-cent risk of mortality. Over that same period, somebody with impaired calf pump function has a 17.5-per-cent risk of mortality. It’s why the calf muscle is sometimes referred to as our ‘second heart’ – a term that isn’t overhyped, according to study author Dr Robert D McBane.
Other forms of exercise may also be important, like stretching to maintain ankle mobility or balance training – again, especially with age – to make sure people are still able to walk and exercise regularly.
Studies have also looked at a specific calf muscle called the soleus, which is active whenever we move about. Researchers have shown that activating this muscle with low-level movements, even when people are seated, may improve the way our bodies process glucose after a meal.
McBane adds that there’s data to support the idea that strengthening the calf muscles specifically – whether that’s at the gym or hiking – can improve calf pump function. “What we don’t know yet is whether that also improves survival,” he says. “You could imagine that it would, but we haven’t yet taken the extra step in our research to show that this improves global health in the body.”
“The calf muscle is a very important physiological component of our
ILLUSTRATION: VALENTIN TKACH
“wehavetokeepouranaerobic capacity.Youneedtoworkhard tokeepyourmusclesexercised”
Even so, I’m heading off to the stair machine – who’s joining me?
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本次翻译质量未通过。文档中存在严重的字符乱码（Corruption）、幻觉（Hallucination）以及结构性混乱。虽然部分段落翻译流畅，但关键的目录区域和特定名称出现了不可接受的乱码和文本丢失。
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