A recent study has revealed that high-fat cheese and cream might play a role in preventing dementia.
This research, published in Neurology The Medical Journal of the American Academy of Neurology, indicates that individuals consuming two servings of high-fat cheese daily as part of a balanced diet had a lower likelihood of developing dementia.
“For decades, discussions surrounding high-fat versus low-fat diets have influenced health guidance, often branding cheese as an unhealthy option,” remarked Dr. Emily Sonnestedt, the study’s lead author and an associate professor at Lund University in Sweden.
“Our findings suggest that certain high-fat dairy products might actually diminish the risk of dementia, thereby challenging longstanding beliefs about fat and cognitive health.”
The study evaluated data from 27,670 older adults, monitoring their health over an approximate span of 25 years to identify who developed dementia.
Researchers also requested participants to track their dietary intake for a week and assess any changes in their eating habits over recent years.
Results showed that individuals consuming a nutritious diet with at least 50 g (1.8 oz) of high-fat cheese per day had a 13 percent reduced risk of dementia compared to those who ingested less than 15 g (0.5 oz).
Focusing on vascular dementia, a condition characterized by insufficient blood flow to the brain, cheese consumers experienced a 29% lower risk.
Additionally, participants consuming 20 grams (0.7 ounces) of heavy cream—such as whipped cream, clotted cream, or double cream—had a 16 percent decreased risk of dementia.
Conversely, no similar association was found with low-fat cheese, cream, or other dairy products.
“These findings imply that not all dairy items equate when it comes to cognitive health,” stated Sonestedt.
Items like buttermilk, yogurt, and kefir show no impact on dementia risk – Credit: Getty
An essential factor in this study is its execution in Sweden, where cheese is frequently consumed uncooked.
When cheese is melted, its composition transforms and the fat separates, potentially influencing how our bodies absorb it.
The researchers advocate for similar studies in other nations since outcomes might differ in places like the United States, where cheese is often heated prior to consumption.
“Additional research is essential to verify our findings and explore whether specific high-fat dairy products truly offer some level of protection for brain health.”
Severe, poorly controlled asthma might increasingly be managed with monthly injections
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Individuals suffering from severe asthma often depend on daily steroid medications, raising their likelihood of diabetes, infections, and bone issues. A new study indicates that monthly antibody injections could serve as a safer alternative.
When asthma is unmanageable with an inhaler, steroid drugs are commonly used, effectively decreasing airway inflammation and alleviating symptoms alongside the risk of asthma attacks. However, these medications can lead to serious side effects. “We aim to minimize the usage of oral steroids,” says Fan Chun from Imperial College London, who was not part of the research.
Previous studies demonstrated that tezepelumab, a monthly antibody injection, reduces the symptoms of severe asthma more effectively than a placebo. This has led to its approval in several countries, including the UK and the US, over recent years. However, it remained uncertain whether this treatment could lessen or eliminate the reliance on steroid drugs.
To investigate this, David Jackson and his colleagues at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London recruited 298 individuals aged 18 to 80 with severe asthma from 11 countries. Participants were already using daily inhalers and steroids and were asked to take tezepelumab for one year. Chung noted that a control group wasn’t necessary since prior trials established that the injection had a significant effect compared to a placebo.
Researchers observed that, under medical supervision, participants’ oral steroid doses gradually decreased throughout the study.
By the end of the year, around half of the participants no longer required steroid medication, while 40% were able to reduce their doses enough to “minimize side effects,” according to Chung. “This outcome is highly successful,” he stated. “The trial confirms that tezepelumab is an effective treatment for patients with severe asthma, decreasing the need for daily medications.”
Side effects, such as worsening asthma symptoms, were reported by 9% of participants. However, it is unclear if these were due to the injection or existed beforehand, Chong explained. Nonetheless, he considers the rate acceptable given the advantages of reducing steroid use.
Pills may provide a more convenient method for taking weight-loss medications
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An oral pill could soon serve as an alternative to Wegovy and Ozempic injections after research demonstrated that it significantly reduces weight and enhances blood sugar levels in individuals with obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Created by the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, Orforglipron mimics the action of semaglutide, the key ingredient found in Wigovy and Ozempic, by imitating a hormone known as GLP-1.
In a previous trial, researchers discovered that individuals who were obese but did not have type 2 diabetes could lose an average of approximately 11 percent of their body weight over 72 weeks while using Orforglipron. Although this is less than the 15% typically observed with similar treatments, many find the convenience of taking a pill more appealing. With semaglutide injections, the preference for oral medication becomes clear, as noted by Deborah Horn from the University of Texas.
To assess its effectiveness for those with obesity and type 2 diabetes, Horn and her colleagues enlisted over 1,600 individuals from ten countries, including India, Australia, China, Germany, Brazil, and the United States.
Approximately 900 participants were assigned to receive varying daily doses of orforglipron—low, medium, or high—while the remainder received placebo pills alongside lifestyle guidance.
After 72 weeks, individuals in the high-dose group lost nearly 10 percent on average, with 67 percent of that group achieving over 5 percent weight loss. The middle and low-dose groups recorded around 7 percent and 5 percent reductions, respectively, while the placebo group had less than a 3 percent decrease.
This study reaffirms that Orforglipron results in less weight loss compared to injectable GLP-1 medications; however, it may still enhance health and quality of life. Stefan Trapp from University College London, who did not participate in the study, remarked, “Even a modest 5% weight loss generally leads to clear benefits, such as increased exercise capacity, lifestyle changes, and reduced risk of other illnesses.”
Moreover, participants receiving high doses experienced an average drop of nearly 2 percent in blood sugar levels, with approximately 75 percent reaching levels typically aimed for diabetics, Horn shared. Conversely, those on lower doses saw a mere 0.1% reduction, while the placebo group exhibited no significant change.
Roughly 10% of the individuals taking high and medium doses had to discontinue use due to side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea—nearly double the occurrence seen in the low and placebo groups. Nonetheless, most participants deemed the side effects manageable, according to Horn. “The side effects were standard for other GLP-1 injectable medications,” she explained.
Horn mentioned that Eli Lilly anticipates the FDA will approve the drug for obesity and type 2 diabetes by early next year. As a physician, she hopes for approval of all three doses to provide patients with options to optimize their health while minimizing side effects.
Orforglipron does not necessitate refrigeration or syringes, which may lower manufacturing, storage, and distribution costs compared to injectable GLP-1 drugs. This, along with the elimination of injection-related discomfort, could enhance access to GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, which are currently costly and hard to obtain in many low- and middle-income nations, Trapp noted.
Gentle exercises, like walking, can enhance brain health
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Older adults, particularly those at greater risk for Alzheimer’s disease, might slow cognitive decline by walking just 3,000 steps daily. The underlying reasons for this effect remain unclear; however, it could be linked to how regular exercise influences inflammation and blood circulation in the brain.
Earlier studies connecting regular physical activity to reduced cognitive decline often depended on individuals recalling their activity levels, with limited exploration into why staying active might offer such benefits.
To overcome these constraints, Wai Ying Wendy Yau and colleagues at Harvard University objectively tracked the physical activity of 296 cognitively healthy adults aged 50 to 90 through step-counting devices over a week.
Most participants also underwent brain imaging to assess baseline levels of misfolded proteins known as tau and beta-amyloid, which are believed to contribute to Alzheimer’s disease. These levels were typically evaluated every 2 to 3 years over a follow-up duration spanning 3 to 14 years. Participants took annual cognitive tests measuring memory and processing speed.
The research team estimated exercise’s impact on cognitive decline by feeding data from step counts, brain imaging, and cognitive evaluations into a statistical model. They discovered that participants with elevated levels of misfolded beta-amyloid who walked between 3,000 to 5,000 steps daily considerably slowed tau accumulation, but not beta-amyloid.
“[Exercise is] somehow hindering the spread of tau protein, which is more closely linked to symptom onset in individuals with [Alzheimer’s disease] than amyloid beta,” remarked Charles Marshall at Queen Mary University of London.
This was associated with an approximate 40 percent reduction in cognitive decline over a nine-year average follow-up, compared to participants taking fewer than 3,000 steps daily, categorized as inactive. Researchers, however, did not have data on whether any participants were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s during the follow-up.
Conversely, walking between 5,000 and 7,500 steps daily further slowed tau buildup, leading to a 54 percent reduction in cognitive decline compared to inactivity. However, exceeding 7,500 steps daily did not result in additional cognitive improvements. “The benefits with tau and cognition eventually reach a plateau,” Yau noted.
While the exact mechanisms through which regular exercise yields these effects remain uninvestigated, potential causes may include: Physical activity that diminishes inflammation purportedly caused by beta-amyloid and tau misfolding, disrupting neural connections, and damaging cells. Moreover, exercise could enhance blood flow or boost levels of protective hormones in the brain.
Nonetheless, this study does not conclusively establish that walking 5,000 steps daily directly contributes to slowing cognitive decline. Unidentified or unnoticed pre-existing conditions might impact individuals’ capacity and enthusiasm for exercising, according to Marshall. Various lifestyle and socio-economic factors that the research team considered may also affect activity levels and tau counts.
Nevertheless, given that regular exercise offers numerous health advantages, is inexpensive, and generally has few side effects, individuals should be encouraged to aim for at least 3,000 steps daily, even if the exact impact on cognitive function remains uncertain. “I always advise people not to obsess over numeric goals for step counts. It’s merely a target,” said Marshall. “What truly matters is maintaining regular physical activity, which doesn’t have to be at large volumes or high intensity.”
Prior research suggests that consistent lifestyle alterations, including exercise, can reverse cognitive decline. However, Yau emphasizes the necessity for further studies that randomly assign participants to distinct daily step counts to differentiate the effects of exercise from other lifestyle modifications and determine whether it genuinely slows tau accumulation.
According to new research published in the journal Food, daily consumption of mango (Mangifera indica) over a period of 24 weeks has shown improvements in both short- and long-term glycemic control, reduced insulin resistance, increased insulin sensitivity, and favorable changes in body composition for pre-diabetic patients. These findings indicate that incorporating fresh mangoes into the diet may aid glycemic control for those at high risk for type 2 diabetes, offering a practical food-based strategy to enhance body composition.
Daily consumption of mangoes for 24 weeks significantly enhanced glycemic control, insulin sensitivity, and body composition in adults with diabetes, underscoring the potential of mangoes as an effective dietary strategy for metabolic health. Image credit: Mohan Nannapaneni.
Currently, over 130 million adults in the United States are living with diabetes or pre-diabetes, as reported by the CDC.
Predictions indicate that by 2030, nearly 40% of U.S. adults will be affected by prediabetes.
Early identification and prevention at the prediabetic stage is crucial, as many individuals remain unaware of their condition until complications arise.
Nutrition plays a vital role in glycemic control, and a balanced diet can promote both enhanced blood glucose regulation and overall long-term health.
In a diabetes prevention program, lifestyle interventions resulted in a 58% reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes, compared to a 31% reduction with metformin versus placebo. Thus, identifying accessible natural strategies to mitigate these risk factors is essential for delaying diabetes onset and minimizing associated complications.
Dietary practices enriched with fruits, vegetables, and bioactive compounds have shown beneficial effects on glycemic control and metabolic health.
Mangoes, being tropical fruits, are rich in several bioactive compounds such as carotenoids, ascorbic acid, dietary fiber, phenolic compounds, gallbladder acid, and quercetin.
“It’s not merely about the sugar content; the overall context of the food is crucial,” stated Dr. Raedeh Basiri, a Clinical Nutrition Researcher at George Mason University.
“This study stands as the first long-term clinical trial to showcase the metabolic and body composition benefits of mangoes for individuals with prediabetes.”
“Essentially, it’s about more than just the sugar present in food. The naturally occurring sugars in mangoes and other fruits are balanced by the fiber and other vitamins and nutrients that confer additional health advantages.”
“Foods with added sugars, like breakfast cereals and low-sugar snacks, often lack the same nutritional value and may even elevate the risk of diabetes.”
“The objective is to urge people to include whole fruits like mangoes in their dietary strategies for healthy eating and diabetes prevention.”
“Individuals at high risk for diabetes should emphasize not only the sugar content of their food but also how the sugar is delivered.”
Dr. Basiri and her team divided participants into two groups: one receiving fresh mangoes daily and the other receiving low-sugar granola bars.
Throughout the six-month study, researchers measured participants’ blood glucose levels, their insulin response, and body fat.
The results showed that the high-sugar content in mangoes (32 grams of sugar) was more beneficial than the low-sugar granola bars (11 grams of sugar).
The group consuming mangoes daily exhibited improved glycemic control, heightened insulin sensitivity, and reduced body fat.
“Our findings reinforce and broaden the emerging evidence on the metabolic advantages of consuming fresh mango daily among pre-diabetic individuals,” the researchers noted.
“Participants who ate an average of one mango each day for 24 weeks recorded lower fasting blood glucose levels compared to the control group.”
“Future studies should utilize objective dietary biomarkers (like plasma carotenoids and urinary polyphenols) to enhance accuracy and credibility.”
“Additionally, exploring the mechanisms underlying these observed effects, including the role of bioactive compounds in mango on insulin signaling and inflammation, is essential, especially across diverse populations.”
“Longer follow-up periods and comparisons with other fruits and dietary strategies could provide clarity on the specific benefits of mangoes for metabolic health.”
“Final investigations should delve into broader health advantages of mango consumption beyond glycemic control and body composition, including potential impacts on metabolic pathways and variations in gene expression, as individual responses to the same foods can differ.”
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Raedeh Basiri et al. 2025. Daily mango intake improves blood glucose and body composition outcomes in prediabetic adults: a randomized controlled study. Food 14 (17): 2971; doi: 10.3390/foods14172971
Recent statistics indicate that since the implementation of age verification for pornographic websites, the UK is conducting an additional five million online age checks daily.
The Association of Age Verification Providers (AVPA) reported a significant increase in age checks across the UK since Friday, coinciding with the enforcement of mandatory age verification under the Online Safety Act.
“We are thrilled to assist you in maximizing your business potential,” remarked Iain Corby, executive director of AVPA.
In the UK, the use of virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow users to bypass restrictions on blocked sites, is rapidly increasing as they mask users’ actual locations. Four of the top five free applications in the UK Apple Download Store are VPNs, with popular provider Proton reporting an astonishing 1,800% surge in downloads.
Last week, Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, indicated it may initiate a formal inquiry into the inadequate age checks reported this week. Ofcom stated it will actively monitor compliance with age verification requirements and may investigate specific services as needed.
AVPA, the industry association representing UK age verification companies, has been assessing the checks performed on UK porn providers, which were mandated to implement “very effective” age verification by July 25th.
Companies that verified ages were instructed to report “the number of checks conducted today for a very effective age guarantee.”
While the AVPA stated it couldn’t provide a baseline for comparison, it noted that effective age verification measures are newly introduced to dedicated UK porn sites, which previously only required a confirmation check for age.
An Ofcom spokesperson said: “Until now, children could easily stumble upon pornographic and other online content without seeking it out. Age checks are essential to prevent that. We must ensure platforms are adhering to these requirements and anticipate enforcement actions against non-compliant companies.”
Ofcom stresses that service providers should not promote the use of VPNs to circumvent age management.
Penalties for breaching online safety regulations, including insufficient age verification processes, can range from 10% of global revenue to complete blockage of the site’s access in severe cases.
Age verification methods endorsed by OFCOM and utilized by AVPA members include facial age estimation, which analyses a person’s age via live photos and videos; verification through credit card providers, banks, or mobile network operators; photo ID matching, where a user’s ID is compared to a selfie; and a “digital identity wallet” containing age verification proof.
Prominent pornographic platforms, including Pornhub, the UK’s leading porn site, have pledged to adopt the stringent age verification measures mandated by the Act.
The law compels sites and applications to protect children from various harmful content, specifically material that encourages suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders. Advanced platforms must also take action to prevent the dissemination of abusive content targeting individuals with characteristics protected under equality laws, such as age, race, and gender.
Free speech advocates argue that the restrictions on child-related content have caused the classification of X-rated materials to age unnecessarily, along with several Reddit forums dedicated to discussions around alcohol abuse.
Reddit and X have been approached for their feedback.
For many years, eggs have been labeled as major contributors to cholesterol problems. However, recent studies indicate that this reputation may be unjust.
Low-density lipoproteins (LDL cholesterol), often called the “bad” cholesterol, are fatty substances in the bloodstream that can block arteries and heighten the risk of heart disease and stroke. For years, eggs were believed to exacerbate this issue. But new evidence is shifting this perspective.
“Our study’s results indicate that egg consumption does not raise LDL cholesterol levels,” stated Professor John Buckley, the lead author, in an interview with BBC Science Focus. “We need clearer messaging on this topic, as it still leads individuals with rising LDL to avoid eggs.”
To investigate the effects of egg consumption on cholesterol, Buckley and his team had participants with healthy cholesterol levels follow one of three diets over five weeks. One diet was high in saturated fat and cholesterol, another was high in saturated fat but low in cholesterol, and the third was high in cholesterol but low in saturated fat.
Only the meal plan that included two eggs a day resulted in lowered LDL levels. The other two diets either allowed for just one egg per week or led to an actual increase in LDL levels.
Eggs are high in cholesterol but low in saturated fat, making them vital for beneficial effects – Credit: Getty/Gregory Adams
“Eggs are among the few foods that are high in cholesterol yet low in saturated fat,” Buckley noted.
“New evidence suggests it isn’t cholesterol but rather saturated fats that negatively impact cholesterol levels, and we are the first study to conclusively demonstrate this.”
An egg-rich diet also showed improvements in other blood lipids associated with heart health, though Buckley emphasizes the need for further research to fully comprehend these changes.
What’s the takeaway? Cholesterol intake from foods doesn’t necessarily correlate with blood cholesterol, particularly when your overall diet is low in saturated fat.
“Most foods high in cholesterol also contain saturated fats,” Buckley explained. “This is a key reason why dietary cholesterol has been vilified; high intake from those foods raises LDL cholesterol, but isolating the independent effects of saturated fats in research has been challenging, and we are working on that now.”
The next time you enjoy breakfast, don’t feel guilty about having a few eggs—just maybe skip that extra serving of bacon.
And what about Buckley himself? “I had eggs for breakfast this morning and didn’t worry about raising my LDL cholesterol,” he shared.
Read more:
About our experts
Professor John Buckley is the Executive Dean of the Allied Health and Human Performance Academic Unit at the University of South Australia. His research primarily explores the effects of diet and exercise on health and physical functioning across a variety of groups, from patients to elite athletes.
oBlue UT You will receive a call or text offering you a job opportunity. It seems enticing – it’s remote work, and you can potentially earn £800 daily. If you’re interested, just reach out to the sender through the provided WhatsApp number.
The tasks are quite simple. Typically, you’re asked to engage with TikTok content through likes and shares.
“Once you start liking and sharing, you’ll get a small payout. However, this is fraudulent funding tied to individuals involved in scams,” remarks Annya Burskys, head of fraud prevention at the National Building Association. “Then, you might be told that you need to pay a total to unlock greater profits, which could be framed as a training fee.
“Part of that money is used to compensate other victims, leading some into organized crime syndicates.”
Burskys highlights that this initial outreach is particularly enticing for many, especially students.
“We’re noticing an uptick in incidents, particularly within the 16-25 age group,” she says. “Previously, we didn’t receive such reports daily, but now we hear from individuals who have sent money or from banks alerting us about funds transferred to these accounts.”
In some instances, the victim might inadvertently become a “money mule.”
Beyond sharing funds or account details, victims may later discover that their bank and identity information have been exploited for additional fraud.
Typically, victims incur losses amounting to hundreds or thousands of pounds. “It’s far from a good deal. The concern lies in the volume,” she explains. “Events unfold swiftly. From initiation to the realization that you’ve been scammed, an investment fraud can occur over mere months or even years.”
As academic institutions close for the summer, students seeking employment should be cautious of potential scams.
What does fraud look like?
The £800 figure frequently appears in correspondence related to the scam. You will be prompted to contact via WhatsApp. Photo: Guardian
Messages often claim to originate from recruitment agencies, sometimes using legitimate company names or stating availability of work through TikTok. Some texts even reference your CV as if you’d submitted it. They promise earnings of hundreds of pounds daily (the £800 figure is a recurring theme).
Calls may bear similarities too. In a recent week, an automated voice falsely claimed to represent a recruitment agency, instructing recipients to contact via WhatsApp if interested in the job. The associated phone number typically appears as a regular UK mobile.
Some scams reference your CV as if you had submitted it. Photo: Guardian
What the message asks for
The initial message will prompt you to express interest in the position. The scammer will claim it involves work related to sharing content preferences (likely TikTok videos). When you register or when it’s time for payment, you may be asked for more personal information.
You might receive an initial “payment,” but then you will be requested to cover costs for training or to unlock access to higher earnings.
What to do
Be cautious of unsolicited messages that claim to offer job opportunities. This approach is not typical for genuine recruitment agencies. The agency asserts, “In fact, we don’t utilize our platform to directly contact job seekers for our employers to acquire new employees.”
Burskys recommends that if you receive messages from recruiters or companies offering jobs, investigate by “using the company’s home and researching on LinkedIn.” A company’s home page may provide insights into its operations, directors, and details regarding their legitimacy.
If you know the name of the employer, visit their site to see if the position is advertised.
In the UK, reports of fraudulent messages can be forwarded to 7726.
Numerous recruiters provide advice on safely conducting your job search, such as these tips.
Regularly incorporating chickpeas into your diet can lead to a notable reduction in cholesterol levels. Discover more at the Nutrition 2025 Meeting in Orlando.
A 12-week research study by the Illinois Institute of Technology explored the impact of consuming one glass of chickpeas or black beans daily with a group of 72 pre-diabetic adults.
Participants were randomly assigned to consume chickpeas, black beans, or rice (as a control) along with their usual meals. Blood samples were taken at the beginning, middle, and conclusion of the study to monitor alterations in cholesterol, inflammation, and blood glucose levels.
The findings indicated that total cholesterol levels dropped significantly from an average of 200.4 to 185.8 milligrams per deciliter after 12 weeks of daily chickpea intake.
Among the legumes studied, only chickpeas were linked to lower cholesterol. “No significant changes in cholesterol were detected with black bean consumption,” stated Morgan Smith, who spoke to doctoral candidates from the Illinois Institute of Technology presenting their research at the conference. BBC Science Focus.
Additionally, chickpeas appeared to reduce inflammation in the short term. “By the six-week mark of chickpea consumption, we noted a significant decline in highly sensitive C-reactive protein (HS-CRP),” Smith remarked. This protein serves as a marker for inflammation in the body.
“Nevertheless, these results diminished by week 12. Although HS-CRP remained lower at week 12 compared to the baseline, the distinctions were no longer statistically significant,” she explained.
Conversely, while black beans did reduce inflammation, they did not impact cholesterol levels.
These results imply that chickpeas and black beans may provide varied health advantages due to their unique nutritional compositions.
Participants consuming one glass of chickpeas daily for 12 weeks experienced a significant reduction in cholesterol levels. – Getty
“We are currently investigating this, particularly concerning the bioactive components that set apart black beans from chickpeas,” Smith added. “We are analyzing the (poly)phenol content of both the intervention and the corresponding metabolite profile in the blood.”
Smith noted that chickpeas and black beans were selected for their “richness in dietary fiber, plant-based proteins, and bioactive compounds,” and for their convenience as canned options.
“Participants were in a free-living state and simply asked to integrate canned black beans or chickpeas into their regular diet without any specific preparation guidelines,” she stated.
While the study did not yield changes in blood glucose levels, researchers are still examining data related to glucose regulation and plan to explore how legumes influence gut microbiota.
“We are particularly focused on identifying changes in microbial metabolites, like short-chain fatty acids, and how these alterations enhance metabolic health outcomes,” Smith remarked.
“Ultimately, our aim is to deepen our understanding of the connections between diet, microbiome, and chronic disease prevention.”
The complete findings of this study are yet to be published in peer-reviewed journals.
About our experts
Morgan Smith is a doctoral candidate in food science and nutrition at Illinois Institute of Technology. She has contributed to peer-reviewed research featured in the journals Nutrition and Healthy Aging and Metabolites.
In 2012, retired consultant Dianne Hoffman began observing Tom. For five hours each day, she tuned in to Harriet and Ozzy’s behaviors, a pair residing at Dunrobin Ranch in Montana.
The couple was broadcast live as they nested Ospreys and tended to their eggs. Although the eggs never hatched, the Ospreys occupied the nest for a few months before finally leaving.
“I believe they’ve gone through grief,” says Hoffman, now 81.
The webcam at Dunrovin Ranch provides an intimate view of Ospreys nesting and raising chicks during the summer. Photo: Dunrovin Ranch
Hoffman was coping with her grief from losing her husband, brother, and father, and watching the live stream allowed her to “reconnect with the world.”
“It was a very dark time,” she shares. Ozzy passed away in 2014, but she continues to monitor the nest and its current inhabitants for an hour each day. “I can’t think of anything that has positively impacted my life from the Internet more than these cameras.”
Over the past 20 years, nature-centered live streams situated near nests, watering holes, burrows, and landscapes have proliferated, made possible by affordable cameras and remote internet connections that deliver resilient natural feeds. The allure of nature’s drama, or occasionally the lack thereof, captivates viewers.
Sweden’s live annual footage of the Moose relocation has garnered attention. Photo: SVT/AP
The seventh season of the television series, Great Moose’s transition from the Swedish broadcaster SVT, featured 20 days of continuous live footage, drawing millions of viewers. Norwegian NRK broadcasted 18 hours of salmon swimming upstream and 12 hours of fire dancing.
In an increasingly urbanized world, where many are glued to screens, the disconnect from nature is palpable. “We’ve found that while technology can distance us from nature, it can also uniquely connect us to it,” a researcher articulated in a recent publication.
Later, another study revealed that nature live streams “enhance the lives of those unable to leave their homes and those distanced from natural environments.”
Researchers at the University of Montana first deployed a camera in 2012, focusing on Harriet and Ozzy’s nest. At the end of the breeding season, owner Suzanne Miller turned it off, but numerous viewers urged her to keep it running. “[They said] Please, don’t switch it off. We want to see your ranch,” Miller explains, as people became invested in the happenings beyond the nest.
Hoffman stated that the livestream has provided solace during her tough times, and she still observes it daily for an hour. Photo: Rachel Wisniewski/The Guardian
Initially, Miller found it bizarre that someone would dedicate time to mundane tasks like cleaning the paddock. “I felt really odd at first,” she recalls. However, she later added three more live streams of the river, paddock, and bird feeders. Only after she fell ill and was confined to home for six months did she grasp the worth of these streams and became just as captivated by the farm’s live content.
If someone leaves the gate open, viewers promptly notify the ranch. Members once witnessed a horse’s tragic demise after a vet fell on ice and broke its neck, the horse’s head resting peacefully on Miller’s lap as it passed. “Many viewers are elderly and are dealing with death in their own lives,” she notes. “It opened dialogues about mortality.”
The stream has attracted 275 paid subscribers, many of whom have never visited the farm. It costs $8 a month to subscribe, with a bulk of the audience being seniors or those with mobility challenges. Some members have even had their ashes scattered on the property without ever having set foot on the farm.
Numerous platforms enable viewers to communicate and exchange messages through discussion boards. Established in 1994, Fog Cam claims to be the oldest continuously operating webcam worldwide. This webcam shares images every 20 seconds and showcases the fog enveloping San Francisco.
South Africa’s Lion pride is a crowd favorite, with millions tuning in to their live streams. Photo: African
“If you can dream it, there’s likely a live stream for it,” states Rebecca Mauldin, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. “Although this is a new area of research, it’s not a new phenomenon. Millions of people are captivated by nature live streams.”
However, these streams offer more than mere entertainment. Research indicates they have health benefits as well. A forthcoming study reveals that nature-centric live streams lead to increased happiness among some elderly residents in care homes, enhancing mood, relaxation, and sleep. A previous study involving Dunrovin’s webcams suggested they brought about “significant positive changes” for nursing home inhabitants and could serve as an “innovative and effective method” for improving their overall health.
“I’ve realized that this isn’t exclusively for the elderly. There are many reasons nature may not be easily accessible,” Mauldin adds.
The Africam Live Stream features cameras stationed across the continent, capturing footage of animals such as this herd of giraffes from Namibia. Photo: African
Numerous webcams are operational across 35 national parks in the U.S. The Giant Panda Cam showcases animal activity at the Smithsonian National Zoo, while you can observe wildlife through Africam. In the UK, wildlife trusts operate 25 live webcams, with the Peregrine Falcon Cam on Leamington Spa’s City Hall gaining 160,000 views in 2024.
In isolated areas, webcams provide alternatives for those unable to visit in person. Scomer Island, off the Welsh coast, streamed live footage of its 42,000 terns, receiving 120,000 views in 2024.
The Channel Islands Research Colony hosts around 5,800 pairs of North Gannets from February to October each year. Photo: Warwickshire Wildlife Trust
They also serve as a means to gain insights into animal behavior. Conservationists rely on a Live Cam designed for areas that are inaccessible to the public, thus preventing human disturbance. “One of our trainees spotted the first seal pup born at the sanctuary via the camera: a tiny, fluffy white pup surrounded by adults,” recounts Georgia de John Clendart, Marine Officer of the Cumbrian Wildlife Trust.
For certain birds, like the Osprey, permanent cameras also function as CCTV. “Osprey cams primarily serve security purposes and act as deterrents for those who seek to protect these endangered birds and their nests,” explains Paul Waterhouse, Reservation Officer at the Cumbrian Wildlife Trust.
The Osprey Nest Cam at Rutland Water Nature Reserve has shown 33 females and 33 males caring for 27 chicks together since 2015. Photo: Rutland Osprey Nest Cam Live Stream
Mauldin’s research indicates that nature live streams aid in relaxation and help place people’s concerns into perspective.
“It sheds light on human curiosity. We have a desire to learn; we cherish unpredictability—sometimes it’s mundane, sometimes it’s extraordinary. It’s a yearning to connect with the world surrounding us,” she states.
What to Watch
Ready to dive into the world of online nature viewing? Here are six of the most popular live streams to get started:
Bears Going Fishing: From late June to July, bears gather at Brooks Falls, Alaska, to catch migrating salmon. Up to 25 bears can sometimes be seen on screen simultaneously (if you’re eager for a preview, check out this two-hour video as a teaser).
Bats on the Move: During the day, Bracken Caves, Texas, USA, is tranquil, but as evening descends, you can witness the mass exit of 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats from the cave in search of food.
Baby Storks: The Knepp Estate in Sussex, UK, is nurturing a population of white storks that began breeding in 2020 after being absent for centuries. The live stream captures the four fledglings, Isla, Ivy, Issy, and Ivan, with current footage of them sharing a small dead rabbit.
Osprey Love Island: This resembles a popular reality show, featuring four Osprey couples vying for space within a single nest at Lowes Wildlife Reserve in Scotland. After weeks of rivalry and scheming, two birds secure the prime spot and appear ready to lay eggs.
Elephant Watering Hole: This live stream captures the bustling environment at the watering holes in Tembe Elephant Park along the South Africa-Mozambique border, where elephants, lions, rhinos, and buffalos frequently pause for a drink. As darkness falls, the camera’s night vision reveals a serene world filled with moths and fireflies.
Live Jelly Cam: The Jellyfish Cams at the Monterey Bay Aquarium provide a mesmerizing experience as you immerse yourself in the tranquil realm of Eastern Pacific sea nettles. Witness the jellyfish drifting gracefully as their tentacles rhythmically pulse.
And if you’re already a passionate viewer, feel free to share your favorite live stream in the comments below.
Explore more on extinction here, and follow Guardian App biodiversity journalists Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield.
Climate change is already impacting our lives negatively
Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images
When considering the dangers posed by climate change, floods and violent storms might come to mind, or even unprecedented heat waves. A study conducted in the latter half of 2024 revealed that most Americans view extreme weather as the chief climate threat. Yet, climate change disrupts daily life in many other persistent ways.
“These events significantly impact people’s lives but often don’t make headlines,” states Jennifer Carman from Yale University.
These more subtle consequences of climate change may seem trivial compared to disasters, like worse allergies or increased commute times, but they collectively signify major shifts, according to Carman. Understanding these issues is crucial for individuals to brace for climate changes affecting their everyday experiences. Remarkably, around half of Americans report feeling the effects of climate change a decade ago—double the number of those who don’t.
“Not everyone is affected by severe events,” Carman remarks. “However, everyone experiences the impacts of daily life consistently.”
Climate change drives up food prices and more
Elevated temperatures associated with climate change inflate prices. In a study by Fridrikik and her team at the European Central Bank, they identified strong correlations between temperature and numerous global price indices. They discovered that higher average temperatures lead to both inflation and extreme weather, particularly in equatorial regions, with impacts persisting year-round.
They projected that by 2035, this would escalate annual price inflation rates by 0.5% to 1.2% for various goods, depending on global greenhouse gas emissions. Agriculture is notably susceptible to weather variations, meaning its price impacts may be about twice as significant. “This unpredictability complicates food production,” Carman notes.
Air conditioning usage is rising and becoming more costly
Increasing temperatures escalate air conditioning expenses. In hotter regions, users will need to operate their air conditioners longer and more frequently. This demand can exceed affordable energy bills.
Individuals in previously temperate areas, such as London or the US’s Pacific Northwest, find themselves needing to install air conditioning for the first time. Globally, soaring cooling expenses negate any reductions in heating costs.
Hot weather disrupts sleep
Even with air conditioning, high nighttime temperatures can hinder sleep quality. Research by Renjie Chen from the University of Hudan, along with colleagues, assessed over 20 million nights of sleep data from hundreds of thousands in China. They found that a 10°C rise in night temperature could raise the likelihood of insufficient sleep by 20%. Under severe emissions scenarios, they estimate that each individual in China might lose about 33 hours of sleep per year by the century’s end.
This isn’t just a localized issue. Research by Kelton Minor from Columbia University showed that elevated nighttime temperatures correlated with reduced sleep across tens of thousands of individuals in 68 countries. Findings suggest higher nighttime temperatures result in decreased sleep—mainly affecting older adults and women in hotter, poorer regions.
Climate change intensifies air pollution
Air pollution poses serious health risks, whether from PM2.5 particles or ozone. Recent research indicates that combining higher temperatures with existing pollutants can exacerbate the harmful effects of air quality, particularly among those who spend extended time outdoors.
Historically, fossil fuel-driven pollution has decreased as power grids have become cleaner, yielding public health benefits. However, as climate change fuels more frequent and severe wildfires, decades of progress may be undone, exposing communities to wildfire smoke. One study forecasts that increased smoke exposure could lead to around 700,000 additional deaths in the U.S. by 2050.
Supporting evidence aligns with anecdotal perceptions; William Andreg from the University of Utah and his team found that the pollen season in North America has lengthened since the 1990s, with overall pollen levels increasing by 21%. The majority of these changes have been attributed to human-induced warming.
Travel delays accumulate, whether long-haul or daily
Climate change is increasingly responsible for weather-related interruptions in transportation systems, leading to billions of wasted hours.
For instance, Valerie Mueller and colleagues from Arizona State University studied the impact of routine coastal flooding on commute times in the eastern U.S. They estimated individuals experience about 23 minutes of delays annually due to these floods, which is double the time recorded 20 years ago. Their analysis revealed these delays stem mainly from rising sea levels rather than extreme storm surges.
While a handful of extra minutes might seem negligible, it accumulates to billions of lost hours overall. Over the coming decades, further sea level rise could escalate delays to hundreds of minutes per person annually.
Weather-induced delays are also increasing in train services and airports. The International Air Transport Association reported that weather-related delays rose from 11% of total delays in 2012 to 30% in 2023. Additionally, even if passengers board their flights, climate change can exacerbate certain turbulence, contributing to rougher flights.
oOn Saturday afternoon in Central Park in Shenzhen, a teenage girl gag evacuates from a drizzle under a concrete canopy. Putting stacked bags of potato chips in front of them, they swarm around some smartphones and sing towards the Mandoppo ballad. Their laughter rang across the grass around them, until they drilled holes in a mechanical, lively sound. Someone ordered dinner.
A few meters away from the improvised karaoke session is the “Airdrop Cabinet.” This is one of over 40 things in Deep Shenzhen, run by Meituan, China’s largest food delivery platform. The Hungry Park offers everything you can order, from rice noodles to subway sandwiches and bubble tea.
Loaded with items from a shopping mall less than 3km, drones watch, listen, listen, hover over the delivery station before lowering and depositing the items in a sealed box that can only be unlocked by entering the customer’s phone number. Dinner is served with non-humans. Meituan aims to beat human delivery times by about 10%, perhaps for a journey through the clouds in a thin polystyrene box.
The drone will take off from the rooftop of a shopping mall in Shenzhen, China on April 3, 2025. Photo: Anthony Kwan/The Guardian
Drones are just a part of the broader robotics and artificial intelligence industry that China intends to expand this year.
With the trade war furious, demographic challenges are dragged into the economy, and the prospects for productive relationships with the world’s largest economy seem farther than ever. Chinese leaders see artificial intelligence as key to solving problems created by the shrinking workforce, upgrading its military power, and solving the source of public pride, especially if Chinese companies avoid US-led sanctions on core technologies. And as technology companies have tried to crack down on excessive wealth and influence outside of the control of the Xi Jinping state, which has been shunned by Chinese leaders for many years, Xi’s neighbors are welcomed by folds as they seek to restore confidence in the private sector and encourage domestic innovation.
In March, Prime Minister Li Qiang promised to “unleash the creativity of the digital economy” with a special focus on “embodied AI.” Guangzhou, including the deep Shenzhen high-tech hub, is at the forefront of this movement. The state government recently announced 60m yuan (£6.4m) in new funding for the innovation centre. In particular, Demi Shenzhen is known as China’s drone capital due to its progressive approach to drone regulation, allowing the “low-altitude economy” to develop faster than the rest of the country. China’s Civil Aviation Authority predicts the sector’s value will increase by 3.5TN Yuan by five times over the next decade.
Drones aren’t the only ones who promise or threaten the tempo of Chinese urban life. Humanoid robots are particularly lively. The highlights of this spring festival gala have been seen almost 1.7 billion times, A dance performed by a group of humanoid robots It was created by a company called Unitree. On Saturday, the world’s first humanoid vs humanity – half marathon – took place in the suburbs of Beijing.
The robots will be participating in Saturday’s race. Photo: Ng Han Guan/AP
Rui Ma, a Chinese technology analyst and investor based in San Francisco, said: This shift will enable industry growthIn 2025, it’s much faster than in the past few years. Reinforcement learning means training robots to learn from experience rather than relying on hard models, training humanoid robots in months rather than years, speeding up the pace of innovation. Toy robot dogs are already part of everyday life in China. At Yiwu’s wholesale market, a trade hub in Zhijiang province in eastern China, mothers stay with exporters beyond the price of eyelashes while children play with robotic dogs. In Streets in Shanghaiwoman walking robot dog. This carries a shopping basket on its back.
The drone run by Meituan, which has been loaded with products, will take off from the rooftop shopping at Shenzhen, China on April 3, 2025. Photo: Anthony Kwan/The Guardian
The development of China’s robotics industry is closely linked to advances in AI. For years, China has been catching up to the US. XI wants to promote economic growth through “new quality productivity” that includes advanced technology.
Many in Washington fear that the US lead is narrowing. One of the main tools in the US arsenal controls a critical part of the supply chain of semiconductors, the microchips used to train advanced AI models. The US has restricted exports of its most sophisticated chips to China. This is part of a strategy that former national security adviser Jake Sullivan described as “highfence” with the most strategically valuable technologies in the United States.
However, in January, a previously unknown Chinese company called Deepseek sets the Chinese technological scene and releases the R1, a massive linguistic inference model, to perform at a price that leads its US competitors. The model wiped out 1TN from Wall Street’s main technology index, causing a stock market crash as investors feared that US pole positions in high-tech races were no longer guaranteed.
“You can’t stress too much how crazy it is,” says MA.
Since then, China’s AI industry has been filled with optimism. As an answer to China’s long-term and sustainable growth, it was already being promoted by the government, and now the people are beginning to believe it, says Ma.
Meituan drones remove orders at the “Airdrop Cabinet” in Shenzhen, China. Photo: Meituan
Li Shuhao, a Guangzhou-based high-tech entrepreneur who founded AI marketing company TEC-DO in 2017, was in the US when the Deepseek moment happened. Suddenly, he says, “It was much easier to arrange an interview and a meeting with other AI scientists.”
“Deepseek is like a symbol of the oriental way of doing business,” says Li, a confessed “metal head” surrounded by electric guitars and drum kits in her Guangzhou office. He mentions a strategy by Deepseek founder Liang Wenfeng, who will fund it through his own hedge funds rather than seeking external venture capital funds. “This is how a typical Chinese entrepreneur thinks: survive first and then do something new.”
Deepseek has published the work as open source. This is a principle that the government has long supported and a move that encouraged the widespread adoption of the model. Robotics is a special beneficiary.
Technology is the top priority
The robot supply chain can be roughly divided into three areas: brain, body, and application of technology in the real world. China has long been confident in its capabilities in the latter two regions. The advanced supply chains of other high-tech industries, such as electric vehicles and autonomous drones, show that China has both the ability to produce large-scale industrial components and the ability to assemble them into complex commodities. However, once you solved the most difficult part of the puzzle, it was elusive to create a robotic brain that could learn human-like behavior and movements. You need sophisticated AI.
Deepseek’s R1 model is changing the game and hosting ways for domestic humanoid robot companies to keep up with their international competitors, Goldman Sachs analysts said in a recent memo. The fact that Deepseek’s open source model uses less advanced chips can help level the playing field for Chinese companies.
Engineers will train humanoid robots at the Humanoid Robot Innovation Centre in Shogan Park, Beijing, China on March 28, 2025. Photo: Beijing Youth Daily/VCG/Getty Images
The industry still has its challenges. AI models require a large amount of data to train. While LLM, used for things like chatbots, can draw out a vast universe of content, the Internet, the data in robotic AI models is relatively scarce info on how to physically move spaces and interact with objects and people.
Another sector in which China is focused, the car should be able to navigate six axes, or “degrees of freedom”, forward and rear, left and right, up and down, and rotations between these positions. The same goes for general robotics, such as Meituan’s food delivery loan. To enable humanoid robots to mimic humans on everyday tasks such as cooking, they need up to 60 degrees of freedom. There is a 27 H1 model of Unitree that caused a splash on Spring Gala.
A robot does not have to be completely humanoids to be useful. A wheel or humanoid robot with limited movement can take on automated ripe tasks, such as dangerous or repetitive factory work. Based in Shenzhen, Ubtech has already supplying humanoid robots to its car factories. With a shrinking workforce, China is keen to find ways to automate as much as possible.
The organizers, which was the Boao Forum for Asia last month, business meeting, were keen to cook Jianbing, Delicious pancakes are typical Chinese street food made with the robot arms of the booth, similar to the claws that collect toys packed in an arcade (the resulting snacks weren’t as crisp as humans made). Beijing’s parks have increased their surveillance capabilities by pasting cameras into autonomous buggies running along the path.
The humanoid robot will perform at the opening ceremony of the 2025 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) Annual Meeting held in Beijing, China’s capital, on March 27, 2025. Photo: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock
Effectively zero. It may be attacked by the satellite that you fall.
Although the number of satellites in the orbit has risen in exponential functions, modern satellites have the ability to control the re -entry trajectory, and they are built from low -density materials to burn out as they fall into the atmosphere.
However, fragments in the universe are still reaching the ground. We use the rocket stage from the long March rocket in China as a recent example.
One piece per day sounds like a lot, but at least three airplanes are dropped (mainly non -profit aircraft) in order to focus on it. 。
Being attacked by a piece of satellite is unlikely to be hit by a part of the crashed airplane -credit: Petrovich9
When the plane crashes, it usually remains in one piece until the moment of the impact, and is often full of fuel. As a result, the falling aircraft is much more fatal than a typical cosmic fragment. This may be part of a small titanium and carbon fiber panel.
There is no difference here for the extra altitude that the fragments of the universe have fallen. Falling from 300 km (about 186 miles) is the same as 10 km (6.2 miles) to reach the terminal speed long before hitting the ground.
Aircraft tend to fly near a dense population area, but spaceship is much more evenly distributed around the world. If everyone in the world goes out and spread, they cover only about 0.0002 % on the surface of the earth.
Therefore, even if the fragments of the fallen universe are fatal, they miss 99.9998 % and translate them into one death every 1 or 300 years.
This article is the answer to the question (asked by Charlie Bond by e -mail) “What is the possibility of a falling satellite?”
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Meteorologists typically only name weather systems that are likely to have widespread and significant impacts. Think hurricanes and the massive winter “nor’easters” that hit the Atlantic Ocean in the United States and Canada. Hector is an exception. A simple thunderstorm, named after his reliability, not his power.
You can set your watch alongside Hector as it forms over the Tiwi Islands off the coast of Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory. Hector appears at 3pm almost every day during the snowy and rainy seasons from September to March.
Map of the Tiwi Islands – Photo credit: Getty
His clockwork consistency is the result of the local microclimate created by sea breezes and Tiwi’s pyramid-like topography.
The islands are surrounded by tropical ocean air. When the morning sun hits, dry air on land warms up faster than moist air over the ocean. As the dry air heats up, it expands, creating a low-pressure system above the island that sucks in ocean air over land as the afternoon sea breeze.
Sea breezes blow in from all directions. When they gather at the top, they have nowhere to go but to rise, carrying moisture from the ocean with them. As the air column rises, it cools and condenses, forming water droplets and clouds, creating instability in the atmosphere and rapidly forming deep convective storms. Hence, Hector’s nickname is “Hector the Convector”.
It was named after World War II pilots who used its giant cumulonimbus thunderclouds as navigational aids when flying between Darwin and Papua New Guinea.
According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Hector is one of the most persistently large thunderstorms on Earth, regularly reaching heights of more than 12 miles (19 km) and sometimes reaching the stratosphere.
He is also one of the most well-studied figures. Thunderstorms tend to be unpredictable and short-lived. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where they occur, but since the 1980s scientists have used Hector’s exceptional reliability to investigate how storms form and to investigate phenomena such as lightning and updrafts. I’ve been investigating.
This article answers the question (asked via email by Dawn Greer): “What is Hector the Convector?”
If you have any questions, please email us at:questions@sciencefocus.comor send us a messagefacebook,×orInstagramPage (remember to include your name and location).
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Steven Johnson, a research software enthusiast known for his nonfiction books, is constantly on the lookout for digital tools to enhance the creative process. When the rise of large-scale language models powering text-generating AI tools like ChatGPT caught his attention, he became intrigued by their implications for information organization. His articles on LLM in the New York Times attracted the interest of researchers at Google Labs, who approached him with a proposal to develop a digital research assistant. The result is NotebookLM, an AI-powered note-taking tool designed to organize and summarize information and answer questions. Johnson views it as a tool for enhancing understanding.
The productivity technology landscape is increasingly incorporating generative AI, with new and existing tools expected to offer features that streamline schedules, emails, and note-taking. Johnson, initially skeptical of such products, began to wonder if his workflow could benefit from AI enhancements. The NotebookLM platform, while warning of potential inaccuracies, differentiates itself from other text generators by only utilizing provided information. Users can create notebooks and upload various sources including PDFs, audio files, web links, and Google Docs.
NotebookLM enhances productivity by efficiently summarizing key points and extracting quotes. Its AI chat feature facilitates deeper interrogation of the material and quickly retrieving information. Johnson uses the tool for various projects, including his next book, finding it helpful in brainstorming ideas and structuring content. However, he notes drawbacks such as subjective summaries and the potential for AI-generated content to diverge from the original material.
NotebookLM aims to augment rather than replace cognitive functions, serving as a digital extension of memory and supporting creativity. The concept of a “second brain” resonates in productivity discussions, emphasizing the power of leveraging AI to handle lower-value tasks and freeing up time for more meaningful work. Other tools like Notion and Capacities offer diverse organizational features coupled with AI assistance, catering to different user preferences and workflow needs.
While AI-driven productivity tools like Reclaim.ai and Superhuman show promise in optimizing scheduling and email management, caution is advised in conflating busyness with productivity. Clear outcomes and emotional well-being play crucial roles in effective tool utilization. As AI continues to advance, the prospect of autonomous AI agents performing actions beyond mere chat interactions looms on the horizon, potentially transforming how we approach everyday tasks in the future.
aAnyone who saw the run that Tom Vickery uploaded to the sports-tracking app Strava on February 18th of last year might have been a little confused. The 30-minute sprint appeared to be taking place in the middle of the Channel, not far from Guernsey, toward the west coast of France. And, oddly enough, the run was in a straight line, as measured by a ruler, and was shown on Vickery’s public profile as a one-inch, unbending orange line within a blue swath of the app’s virtual ocean. Oh, and it was on world-record-breaking pace.
Of course, it probably came as no surprise to anyone who knows Vickery. The 38-year-old triathlon coach from Cambridge was on holiday to Bilbao for a two-day ferry trip, and this fairly fast jog was just one of almost four years of daily runs he had been recording on Strava at the time. Determined not to break the record on board, Vickery got up at 5am and spent his allotted 30 minutes sprinting up and down the deck. As the boat slid through the water, he appeared to be running faster than any long-distance runner in the world.
This is just one example of the lengths some people will go to to maintain a “streak.” A streak is something (actually anything) that continues uninterrupted over a period of time. It’s a form of gamification: the process of adding game-like elements to a task to make it more engaging. Perhaps the most famous “streak holder” is British runner Ron Hill, who ran every day for 52 years and 39 days (or 19,032 consecutive days), even going for a jog the day after breaking his sternum in a car accident in 1993.
Hill, a scientist, used to keep a diary of his runs, but more recently, advances in technology have made it possible to keep track of streaks in a more streamlined and user-friendly way. For example, on Snapchat, the word “streak” is part of the lexicon. A “snap streak” is the number of consecutive days that a user sends “snaps,” either photos or messages, to other users. To maintain a snap streak, a user must send a snap within a 24-hour period or the streak ends.
Cognitive decline is characterized by a decrease in memory, concentration, and thinking abilities. It is common for individuals to experience increased forgetfulness as they age, such as forgetting names or items they intended to purchase.
However, a more frequent occurrence of these symptoms could indicate cognitive impairment, where cognitive function declines faster than expected due to aging. This can be concerning for both the individual experiencing the symptoms and their loved ones.
Common signs of cognitive impairment include:
Forgetting important dates and events
Losing track of thoughts
Feeling overwhelmed by decision-making and planning
Difficulty navigating familiar places
Becoming impulsive
While cognitive abilities naturally decline with age, the extent and speed of decline vary among individuals and are influenced by genetics and family history. Therefore, two people with similar age-related brain changes may perform differently on cognitive tasks, and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease may exhibit similar cognitive abilities but different brain changes.
What can you do now to prevent cognitive decline?
Building cognitive reserve through experiences like education, occupation, and stimulating activities can help individuals cope with age-related changes. Lifestyle factors like diet, exercise, and social interactions also play a role in cognitive health.
Health conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, and vascular disease can worsen cognitive decline, but lifestyle changes can help manage or prevent these conditions.
Eat a balanced diet with plenty of leafy greens
Stay active
Limit alcohol consumption
Avoid tobacco products
Eating a nutritious, balanced diet, with plenty of leafy and dark green vegetables, can help keep you healthy both physically and mentally. – Image credit: Getty
Making positive changes in one area of your life can have ripple effects on other aspects of health. Unhealthy habits can create a chain reaction of negative health outcomes, while healthy choices can improve overall well-being.
Habits to avoid
A high-fat diet can increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, and cognitive impairment, while smoking can impact lung capacity and cognitive function. By adopting a low-fat diet and avoiding tobacco products, individuals can reduce their risk of cognitive decline.
While we may not be able to prevent cognitive decline entirely, adopting a healthy lifestyle can help build cognitive reserve and potentially slow the decline. Research is ongoing to uncover more about the factors influencing cognitive health.
Aim for an overall healthier lifestyle
In addition to diet and exercise, engaging in social and sexual activities can benefit cognitive health. Social interactions can stimulate the brain and slow cognitive decline, while maintaining romantic and intimate relationships may improve cognitive function.
Stimulating activities like reading, playing games, or learning new skills can also help prevent cognitive decline. Gender differences in cognitive lifestyle choices may influence cognitive outcomes, highlighting the importance of varied activities for cognitive health.
Get a good night’s sleep
Sleep plays a crucial role in cognitive function, with adequate rest linked to better cognitive outcomes. Napping and getting around eight hours of sleep nightly can help reduce the risk of cognitive decline.
Quality sleep is essential for focus, creativity, and decision-making, while sleep deprivation can negatively impact physical and cognitive health. Establishing good sleep habits is key to maintaining cognitive function as we age.
Regular dental checkups can help prevent cognitive decline
Research suggests that gum disease bacteria may be linked to Alzheimer’s and dementia development, emphasizing the importance of oral health for cognitive well-being. By practicing good oral hygiene and seeking regular dental care, individuals can potentially reduce their risk of cognitive decline.
While there is no miracle cure for cognitive decline, taking proactive steps to improve overall health can slow the rate of decline associated with aging. It’s crucial to address any concerns about cognitive function with a healthcare provider to explore potential treatment options.
Walking 9,000 to 10,000 steps a day appears to protect against early death and heart-related events
Pippa Samaya/Getty Images/Cavan Images
Walking 9,000 to 10,000 steps a day appears to reduce the risk of early death and heart-related events, adding legitimacy to an idea that has been criticized as unscientific.
The exact origins of the popular belief that people should aim for 10,000 steps a day are unknown, but it is believed to be related to a marketing campaign promoting pedometers in Japan.
Now, research by Matthew Ahmadi Professors at the University of Sydney in Australia suggest that this number may have some value.
The researchers analyzed more than 72,000 participants in the UK Biobank study, with an average age of 61, who wore movement-tracking accelerometers on their wrists for a week. “We were able to quantify the number of steps we took each day,” Ahmadi says.
Participants were then followed for an average of just under seven years, during which time there were 1,633 deaths and 6,190 heart disease-related events. The researchers found that the optimal number of steps per day is 9,000, after adjusting for other factors that may influence the risk of illness and death during that period, such as diet quality, smoking status, and other physical activity. I calculated it to be ~10,000 steps, after which the benefits begin to gradually decrease.
Doing so was found to reduce the risk of death by 39% and risk of heart-related events by 21% during the follow-up period.
“This paper will help the field take a major step forward in refining the science behind physical activity and sedentary time guidelines. Pardon the pun,” he says. Dale Esliger At Loughborough University, UK. “It seems to support the idea that the 10,000 step goal, which is not evidence-based to begin with, may indeed be about right.”
However, on the other hand nicolas berger Researchers at Britain’s Teesside University said the study was “very well designed” using “rigorous methodology and statistical analysis”, but Esliger said the wrist-worn acceleration It says that the meter is not always the best indicator of step count.
The researchers also didn’t take into account the number of steps taken per minute. “Probably about 6,000 steps performed at a higher cadence may be just as protective of your health as 10,000 steps at a slower pace,” Esliger says.
A new study from Toronto Metropolitan University says 100% orange juice and sugar-sweetened beverages are not equivalent when it comes to their effects on food intake and blood sugar response, and should not be placed in the same category when making beverage decisions.
Consuming 100% orange juice before a meal reduces food intake at the next meal and lowers daily blood glucose concentrations in healthy, normal weight adults when compared to orange drink.
The World Health Organization suggests reducing free sugar intake to no more than 10% of daily energy intake to reduce the risk of unhealthy weight and tooth decay.
Consistent with these recommendations, some national dietary guidelines recommend reducing sugar intake from all sources.
However, these recommendations do not differentiate between sources of free sugars and are primarily based on data from observational studies, so the physiological mechanisms underlying the observed effects cannot be readily determined.
“Our findings highlight the importance of considering the source of sugar when considering overall health effects,” said Dr. Nick Bellissimo of Toronto Metropolitan University, senior author of the study. I am emphasizing that.”
The randomized, repeated measures study included 36 adult men and women with normal BMI levels who received 1 cup of 100% orange juice, orange flavored, 2 hours after a breakfast consisting of cereal, 2% milk, and 2% milk. Ingested sugar-sweetened beverages and water. Breakfast bar.
Blood sugar responses, average appetite, and subjective emotions were measured every 15 minutes for 60 minutes in 34 participants.
Glycemic responses and energy intake for the rest of the day were measured in 31 participants using continuous blood glucose monitors and food records.
Subjective sweetness and pleasantness were measured immediately after ingesting the test beverage.
Glycemic responses, average appetite, and subjective emotions were measured every 15 minutes for 60 minutes.
Food intake was measured 60 minutes after the pizza lunch.
Blood sugar levels were lower with 100% orange juice than with orange drink at 15, 30, and 45 minutes, but not after 60 minutes.
Blood sugar levels for the rest of the day were lower after drinking 100% orange juice compared to drinking orange or water.
The findings also showed that food intake at lunch and throughout the day was lower after consuming 100% orange juice compared to consuming orange drink.
Participants also had higher subjective comfort measures and enjoyed 100% orange juice more compared to orange beverages and water.
Using 100% orange juice instead of sugary drinks may reduce your total daily calorie intake and help regulate blood sugar levels.
100% orange juice contains flavonoids such as hesperidin, which can affect sugar absorption by slowing glucose transport, causing a delayed blood sugar response.
Consumption of 100% orange juice is associated with increased flavonoid intake, decreased added sugar, and higher quality diet.
The researchers said, “Consumption of 100% orange juice as a preload resulted in higher caloric compensation, lower total daily energy intake, and lower blood glucose concentrations compared to orange beverages.”
“Future longitudinal studies are needed to assess whether the habit of replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with 100% orange juice contributes to a healthier body weight and improved glycemic control.”
of paper It was published in the magazine nutrients.
_____
Stephanie Robayo other. 2024. Effects of her 100% orange juice and moderate sugar-sweetened beverages on subjective appetite, food intake, and glycemic responses in adults. nutrients 16 (2): 242; doi: 10.3390/nu16020242
In a cross-sectional study, researchers from Chung-Ang University and elsewhere analyzed data from the Korean HEXA Cohort Study to investigate the association between kimchi consumption and obesity among Korean adults. They showed that total kimchi intake of one to three servings per day was inversely associated with obesity risk in men. Additionally, in men, higher intakes of baechu kimchi (cabbage kimchi) were associated with lower prevalence of obesity and abdominal obesity. It was found that higher intake of gakdugi (radish kimchi) was associated with lower prevalence of abdominal obesity in both men and women. However, all results indicate a “J-shaped” association, suggesting that overconsumption may increase obesity prevalence.
Consuming 1 to 3 servings of kimchi per day has been shown to reduce obesity risk in men. Image credit: Lee Dong-won.
Kimchi is traditionally consumed as a side dish in Korea and is produced by salting and fermenting vegetables with various flavorings and seasonings such as onions, garlic, chili powder, salted shrimp, and fish sauce.
The main vegetables in kimchi are cabbage and radish, and kimchi is low in calories and rich in dietary fiber, lactic acid bacteria, vitamins, and polyphenols.
Fermented kimchi contains the following major types of lactic acid bacteria: leuconostoc seed, lactic acid bacteria Species and Weissella spp.
especially, lactic acid bacteria It is the dominant species of kimchi lactic acid bacteria in late seed fermentation.
In previously published experimental studies, Lactobacillus brevis and Lactobacillus plantarum Components isolated from kimchi had anti-obesity effects.
And researchers Hyein Jung and colleagues at Chung-Ang University wanted to know whether regular consumption was associated with a reduced risk of overall and/or abdominal obesity, which is considered to be particularly harmful to health. .
Scientists used data from 115,726 participants (36,756 men and 78,970 women, average age 51 years) who took part in the Health Examination (HEXA) study.
HEXA is a large-scale community-based longitudinal study of the Korean Genomic Epidemiology Study, which aims to investigate environmental and genetic risk factors for common long-term conditions in Korean adults aged 40 years and older.
Dietary intake in the previous year was assessed using a validated 106-item food frequency questionnaire. In this survey, participants were asked to indicate how often they ate one serving of each food item: never, rarely, or three times a day.
Kimchi total includes Baechu. Kakudugi. Nabak and donchimi (watery kimchi). Others include takana kimchi.
Baechu kimchi or gahdugi kimchi weighs 50g, and nabak kimchi or donchimi kimchi weighs 95g.
We measured each participant's height, weight, BMI, and waist circumference. BMI 18.5 was defined as underweight. Normal weight is 18.5-25. Obesity for people over 25 years old.
Abdominal obesity was defined as waist circumference of at least 90 cm for men and at least 85 cm for women. Approximately 36% of men and 25% of women's girlfriends were obese.
The results showed a J-shaped curve, likely because the higher the consumption, the higher the intake of total energy, carbohydrates, protein, fat, sodium, and cooked rice, the researchers said. ing.
Compared to participants who ate less than one serving of kimchi per day, those who ate five or more servings were more likely to gain weight, have a larger waist size, and be obese.
They were also less highly educated, had lower incomes, and were more likely to drink alcohol.
However, after accounting for potentially influencing factors, researchers found that consuming up to three servings of kimchi per day was associated with an 11% lower obesity rate compared with less than one serving per day.
Among men, those who consumed three or more servings of baechu kimchi per day had a 10% lower prevalence of obesity and a 10% lower prevalence of abdominal obesity compared to those who consumed less than one serving per day.
For women, consuming this type of kimchi two to three times a day was associated with an 8% lower obesity rate, and consuming one to two times a day was associated with a 6% lower incidence of abdominal obesity.
It was found that eating less than the average amount of gakdugi kimchi reduced obesity rates by about 9% for both men and women.
Consumption of 25 g/day for men and 11 g/day for women reduced the risk of abdominal obesity by 8% (men) to 11% (women) compared to no intake.
“A 'J-shaped' association was observed across all outcomes, suggesting that overconsumption may increase obesity prevalence,” the authors said.
“Kimchi is also one of the major sources of sodium intake, so the health benefits of other ingredients should be considered when recommending appropriate amounts.”
H. Jung other. 2024. Association between kimchi intake and obesity based on BMI and abdominal obesity in Korean adults: A cross-sectional analysis of a health checkup survey. BMJ Open 14: e076650; doi: 10.1136/bmjoopen-2023-076650
Flipster, the number one trading platform for altcoin liquidity and the fastest growing crypto derivatives platform, has finally announced the Flipster Earn Pool campaign. Although first teased in December last year, news of this long-awaited addition was slow to reach trading platforms. This release is worth the wait, as the platform promises users the chance to earn up to 10,000 USDT* per day (starting on February 1st) in his USDT held in-house. there was. flip star account.
As a derivatives-first platform, a legitimate criticism of Flipster was the lack of options to handle funds during important events.
flip star'sCEO Kim Young-jin Say. Flipster acquisition pool Users can know that their funds are safe and working on our platform while they wait for their next investment move. As a trader, we understand that you can't always feel confident leaving money in a position. With Flipster Earn Pool, you have the potential to earn money on Flipster even when you're not actively trading. ”
Traders choose to have a Flipster account for great opportunities in altcoin derivatives and trading contests. The brand has built a reputation for high altcoin liquidity that is unmatched by its competitors. Although this platform is fairly new, its USP is directly related to attracting top derivatives traders to the app. Flipster Earn Pool aims to appeal to users interested in the opportunity to earn passive income while waiting for the next big deal, which could help grow its user base over time.
The platform is committed to regularly offering the world's first permanent futures listings for tokens that have just finished spot listing on major exchanges. Recent examples include ACE, MANTA, ALT, and DMAIL. These all achieved permanent futures listings on Flipster within four hours of their spot listing on top crypto exchanges.
Ben Rogers, Head of Marketing, said: “Once MANTA launched, some users quickly turned their excitement into big profits, with one user earning $7,675 USDT in a single trade. ALT had similar success, with users earning $5,789 USDT. At the time of publication, the highest altcoin trading profit on Flipster was reported to be 52,310 USDT on ACE, which also featured the world's first PERP on the platform. DMAIL is planning the world premiere of PERP this week, and the company is confident that some users will achieve similar results by turning news into leveraged trading on Flipster.”
The difference now is that users can earn up to 10,000 daily with the funds in their Flipster wallet and can profit from their trades.
Flipster Earn Pool calculates interest daily from a shared prize pool of 10,000 USDT, and users can see how much they have earned with their funds on the Flipster website. To be eligible for returns from day one, a user must ensure that his USDT is present in his Flipster account by 00:01 UTC on February 1st and meets the daily trading requirements. there is. Since it takes time for word to spread about new offers, early participants may be able to earn revenue from idle funds.
About Flipstar
Flipster is the world's fastest growing cryptocurrency derivatives platform. The easy-to-use app provides users with an all-in-one experience with up to 100x leverage on a wide selection of over 200 tokens. It is considered best-in-class in terms of altcoin liquidity, and top tokens such as BTC and ETH are also available. Users can instantly flip, monitor their portfolios and take advantage of market movements anytime, anywhere.Users can start with flipstar.xyz. For media inquiries or requests to interview the team, please feel free to contact pr@flipster.xyz or stay up to date with Flipster. blog. *Terms of use, which can be found at the following site, apply. https://flipsterxyz.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8902043575695-Flipster-Earn-Campaign-240201
The source of this content is Flipster. This press release is for informational purposes only. This information does not constitute investment advice or investment recommendations.
contact
head of marketing ben rogers flip star pr@flipster.xyz
According to an internal document released late Wednesday, Meta estimates that about 100,000 children on Facebook and Instagram are subjected to online sexual harassment every day, including “pictures of adult genitalia.” The unsealed legal filings include several allegations against Meta, based on information the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office learned from presentations and communications between Meta employees. These allegations describe an incident in 2020 in which the 12-year-old daughter of an Apple executive was solicited via Instagram’s messaging product, IG Direct.
In testimony before the US Congress late last year, a senior Meta employee described how his daughter was recruited through Instagram. His efforts to resolve the issue were ignored, he said. This suit is the latest in a series of lawsuits filed by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office on December 5, alleging that Meta’s social network has become a marketplace for child predators. The state’s attorney general, Raul Torrez, accused Meta of allowing adults to find, send messages to, and groom children. Meta released a statement in response to Wednesday’s filing, stating, “We want to provide teens with a safe and age-appropriate online experience, and we have over 30 tools to support them and their parents.”
The lawsuit also referenced a 2021 internal presentation on child safety, in which Meta states that it has “poorly invested in the sexual expression of minors on IG, with significant sexual commentary on content posted by minors.” The complaint also highlights Meta employees’ concerns about the safety of children. Meta’s statement also said the company “has taken significant steps to prevent unwanted contact from teens, especially adults.”
The New Mexico lawsuit follows a Guardian investigation in April that revealed how Meta failed to report or detect the use of its platform for child trafficking. According to documents included in the lawsuit, Meta employees “coordinate human trafficking operations” and ensure that “every step of human exploitation (recruitment, conditioning, and exploitation) is expressed on our platform.” But an internal email from 2017 said executives opposed scanning Facebook Messenger for “harmful content,” citing the service’s desire to “provide more privacy.” In December, Meta received widespread criticism for introducing end-to-end encryption for messages sent via Facebook and Messenger.
It is unclear which components of multivitamins are involved in improving cognitive function.
Asia Vision/Getty Images
Studies have shown that taking a daily multivitamin slows the rate of memory decline in older adults.
This study is the third randomized trial to yield such results, and adds to a growing body of evidence that multivitamins can slow age-related cognitive decline.
“The result is the equivalent of delaying cognitive aging by two years, which is huge,” he says. joan manson from Harvard Medical School was involved in all three clinical trials. These were part of a larger study, funded by the makers of cocoa supplements, to examine whether taking multivitamins and cocoa extract supplements could help prevent heart disease and cancer in people over 60.
Some participants also took a memory test designed to measure whether any of the supplements were having a psychological effect.
The latest trial compared both types of supplements with a placebo pill in 573 people who took in-person memory tests at the start of the study and two years later. Those who took a multivitamin called Centrum Silver performed slightly better on memory tests than those who took a placebo pill.
This is similar to the results of two other arms of a large study that administered memory tests to people online or over the phone.
“The results of this study suggest that multivitamins hold promise as a safe and affordable strategy to protect memory and slow cognitive aging in older adults,” Munson says.
It is unclear which components of multivitamins are responsible for their effects.
Duane Mellor The British Dietetic Association says the trial was not designed to investiage memory effects and further research specifically set up to study this issue is needed. “The results need to be treated with caution,” he says. “It's not a definitive study.”
Recent research has revealed a link between Neanderthal genetics and the tendency of some modern humans to wake up early. The study traces back to the interbreeding of modern humans and Neanderthals in Eurasia and suggests that genetic variation in Neanderthals influences the circadian rhythms of modern human descendants. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
A new paper has been published in a magazine Genome biology and evolutionAccording to a paper published by Oxford University Press, genetic material from Neanderthal ancestors may have contributed to the tendency of some people today to be “early risers” – the type of people who find it easier to get up early and go to bed. I discovered that there is a possibility that
Human evolution and genetic adaptation
All anatomically modern humans trace their origins to Africa about 300,000 years ago, where environmental factors shaped many of their biological characteristics. About 70,000 years ago, the ancestors of modern Eurasian humans began migrating into Eurasia, where they encountered a variety of new environments, including high latitude regions with large seasonal fluctuations in sunlight and temperature.
But other hominins, such as Neanderthals and Denisovans, lived in Eurasia for more than 400,000 years. These archaic humans diverged from modern humans about 700,000 years ago, and as a result, our ancestors and archaic humans evolved under different environmental conditions. This led to the accumulation of strain-specific genetic variation and phenotypes. When humans came to Eurasia, they interbred with archaic humans from the continent. This created the possibility for humans to acquire genetic variations already adapted to these new environments.
Genes of ancient humans and characteristics of modern humans
Although previous studies have shown that many of the archaic ancestors of modern humans are not beneficial and have been removed by natural selection, some archaic hominin variants that remain in human populations has shown evidence of adaptation. For example, archaic genetic variation is thought to be associated with differences in hemoglobin levels, immune resistance to new pathogens, levels of skin pigmentation, and fat composition among Tibetans at high altitudes.
Changes in patterns and levels of light exposure have biological and behavioral effects that lead to evolutionary adaptations. Scientists have extensively studied the evolution of circadian adaptations in insects, plants, and fish, but humans have been less well studied. The Eurasian environment where Neanderthals and Denisovans lived for hundreds of thousands of years is located at higher latitudes and has more variable daylight hours than where modern humans evolved before leaving Africa. So the researchers investigated whether there was genetic evidence for differences in circadian clocks between Neanderthals and modern humans.
Research methods and findings
The researchers defined a set of 246 circadian genes using a combination of literature searches and expert knowledge. They found hundreds of genetic variations unique to each strain that can affect genes involved in the circadian clock. Using artificial intelligence techniques, they identified 28 circadian genes that contain mutations that could alter splicing in archaic humans and that may be differentially regulated between modern and archaic humans. identified 16 circadian genes.
This indicates that there may be functional differences between the circadian clocks of ancient and modern humans. Eurasian modern humans and Neanderthal ancestors interbred, so some humans may have acquired circadian variation from Neanderthals.
To test this, the researchers studied a large population of hundreds of thousands of people in the UK Biobank and found that introgressed genetic mutations (mutations that passed from Neanderthals to modern humans) could affect wakefulness and sleep. We investigated whether there is a relationship with physical preference for. They discovered a number of introgressed mutants that affected sleep preferences, and most surprisingly, they found that these mutants consistently increased morningness, or the tendency to rise early. This suggests a directional influence on this trait and is consistent with adaptations to high latitudes observed in other animals.
Increased morning time in humans is associated with a shortened circadian clock period. This may be beneficial at high latitudes, as it has been shown that sleep and wakefulness can be coordinated more quickly with external timing cues. Shortening of the circadian period is required to synchronize with the long summer light period at high latitudes in Drosophila, and selection for a shorter circadian period results in the latitudinal period decreasing with increasing latitude in natural Drosophila populations. There is a latitudinal gradient in which the
Therefore, the bias toward morningness in introgressed mutants may indicate selection for shortened circadian periods in populations living at high latitudes. The tendency to be a morning person may have been evolutionarily beneficial to our ancestors who lived in the high latitudes of Europe, and would have been a Neanderthal genetic trait worth preserving.
“By combining ancient times, DNA“After extensive genetic and artificial intelligence research in modern humans, we discovered substantial genetic differences in the circadian systems of Neanderthals and modern humans,” said John, lead author of the paper.・A. Capra said.
“And by analyzing Neanderthal DNA fragments that remain in the genomes of modern humans, we discovered surprising trends, many of which affect the regulation of circadian genes in modern humans. These effects are primarily in the consistent direction of increasing Neanderthal tendencies.” Morning people. This change is consistent with the effects of living at high latitudes on animals’ circadian clocks, which may allow them to adjust more quickly to changing seasonal light patterns.
“Our next steps include applying these analyzes to more diverse modern human populations and investigating the effects of the Neanderthal variants we identified on circadian clocks in model systems. and applying similar analyzes to other potentially adaptive traits.”
Reference: “Archaic Introgression Shaped Human Circadian Traits” by Keila Velazquez-Arcelay, Laura L Colbran, Evonne McArthur, Colin M Brand, David C Rinker, Justin K Siemann, Douglas G McMahon, John A Capra, December 14, 2023 , Genome biology and evolution. DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evad203
Every Christmas season, it becomes clear once again that there are amazingly accomplished singers like Mariah Carey and George Michael. Their songs stir strong emotions. Singing involves perhaps the most complex and mostly hidden movements that humans and animals can perform. To become a good singer, you need to learn how to coordinate the movements of hundreds of muscles in your body with great precision. Therefore, it requires a lot of talent and practice.
Voice box training: unexplored territory We all know that athletes spend a lot of time exercising their limbs and body muscles, but why not try training your voice box muscles? “Surprisingly, little is known about the effects of exercise on these muscles or whether they respond to training in humans,” said Professor Koen Elemans of the University of Southern Denmark, an expert in sound production. says. Close to their precious voice box.
This study found that male songbirds require daily singing practice to improve vocal muscle health and song quality. This is an important factor in attracting mates and maintaining social bonds.
Insights from Songbirds
New research published today (December 12th) in a prestigious journal nature communications Male songbirds report that they need to sing daily to strengthen their vocal muscles and produce beautiful songs. And if the female didn’t notice, she notices. “Singing is extremely important for songbirds. They sing to impress potential partners, protect their territory, and maintain social bonds,” said Iris, lead author of the study. Dr. Adam says.
Researchers have shown that songbirds’ vocal muscles require training to keep them at peak performance. And it’s not just training; what’s especially important is singing practice. The study was carried out by an international team of researchers from the University of Southern Denmark, Leiden University, Umeå University and the University of Vermont, and led by Assistant Professor Iris Adam and Professor Koen Elemans from the Department of Biology at the University of Southern Denmark. .
Vocal muscles also need exercise
“It has long been known that songbird calls are controlled by fast vocal muscles, but it remains to be seen whether and how these muscles respond to exercise, similar to leg muscles. “Until now, we knew very little about it,” says Iris Adam. In their study, the researchers showed that when songbirds don’t use their vocal muscles at all, their voices become significantly slower and weaker within a few days. But even if the bird only made a mumble, after seven days the vocal muscles had already lost 50% of their power.
Therefore, in order for songbirds to remain attractive, they may need to invest a lot of time and energy into singing every day.
Unique features of the vocal muscles While studying the vocal muscles of zebra finches, the research team made another very important discovery. “When we go to the gym to work out our leg and arm muscles, we typically slow down our movements,” said study author Pell Stoll, an expert in human muscle exercise physiology. To tell. But songbird vocal muscles, like the muscles in their limbs, don’t get stronger or slower with exercise, they get weaker and faster. This is the opposite of normal limb and body muscles. “We think this reverse training may be unique to the vocal muscles and may be true for everyone.” vertebrateBecause all vocal muscles are developmentally related, ”says Iris Adam.
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