【推荐1】People’s likelihood of being vegetarian seems to be influenced by several genetic variants, and two of the three most important genes found so far appear to be involved in fat metabolism (新陈代谢).

Genetic factors are known to influence aspects of diet, such as whether people like coffee or alcohol. To see if genes also affect vegetarianism, Nabeel Yaseen at Northwestern University in Chicago and his team turned to data on about 5300 strict vegetarians and 330,000 meat eaters. They found that three gene variants were more common in vegetarians. Two, called NPC1 and RMC1, are involved in the transport and metabolism of cholesterol and other fatty molecules. The third gene, called RIOK3, has various functions, including affecting the immune system.

It isn’t known how these genes may relate to vegetarianism. But one of the chief differences between animal-based foods and plant-based ones is the chemical make-up of their fats or oils, collectively known as lipids (油脂). Yaseen conclude that some people may function better on a vegetarian diet because they are more able to synthesize (合成) certain lipid molecules that are present in meat.

Some people who try vegetarianism but give up may be doing so because their body becomes deficient in the essential lipids, says Yaseen. “They decide that this diet is not for them or gradually go back into an omnivore (杂食) diet. Some people might think they just don’t have the willpower.”

Another possibility is that the apparently vegetarianism-promoting gene variants affect people’s taste. “Alot of information about genes is yet to be known,” Yaseen says.

Richard McIlwain at the UK Vegetarian Society says the number of vegetarians has almost doubled in the UK between 2012 and 2019. “That would seem to suggest something other than potential genetic factors are at play,” he says. “People go vegetarian because, more and more, they are concerned about climate, about animal welfare or about their health,” he says, which are more important determinants than physiological factors.

【推荐2】The human body possesses an efficient defense system to battle with flu viruses. The immune system protects against the attack of harmful microbes (微生物) by producing chemicals called antibodies, which are programmed to destroy a specific type of microbe. They travel in the blood and search the body for invaders (入侵者). When they find an invasive microbe, antibodies attack and destroy any cell that contains the virus. However, flu viruses can be a terrible enemy. Even if your body successfully fights against the viruses, with their ability to evolve rapidly, your body may have no protection or immunity from the new ones.

Your body produces white blood cells to protect you against infectious diseases. Your body can detect invading microbes in your bloodstream because they carry antigens in their proteins. White blood cells in your immune system, such as T cells, can sense antigens in the viruses in your cells. Once your body finds an antigen, it takes immediate action in many different ways. For example, T cells produce more antibodies, call in cells that eat microbes, and destroy cells that are infected with a virus.

One of the best things about the immune system is that it will always remember a microbe it has fought before and know just how to fight it again in the future. Your body can learn to fight so well that your immune system can completely destroy a virus before you feel sick at all.

However, even the most cautious people can become infected. Fortunately, medical scientists have developed vaccines (疫苗), which are weakened or dead flu viruses that enter a person’s body before the person gets sick. These viruses cause the body to produce antibodies to attack and destroy the strong viruses that may invade during flu season.

【推荐2】Smart entertainment is changing how we engage with leisure. By combining cutting-edge technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), augmented reality, and the internet of things with traditional forms of entertainment, this innovation is enhancing users’ experiences.

In 2023, Huawei introduced its Vision Smart TV3, transforming your home into your own amusement park. This innovative technology features groundbreaking AI super-sensing cameras and AI vision chips powered by deep learning and big data. These advanced components see and study your movements, enabling you to control characters through your body gestures. Social media is busy with users sharing their experiences of playing motion-sensing games, which require real-life movements like jumping and squatting instead of simply holding a controller.

The Vision Smart TV is not only cutting-edge but also family-friendly. Turning on the kids mode allows the screen to monitor real-time data, offering suggestions for adjusting a child’s viewing distance and posture. This provides a safe and comfortable entertainment experience for the younger audience. TorieZ, a Huawei Vision Smart TV3 owner and a mother of a 3-year-old daughter, shared her experience on Xiaohongshu. “Thanks to the smart screen, my child maintains good posture without constant supervision because her favorite cartoons stop if she slouches (懒洋洋地坐),” she said. When she’s free, TorieZ and her husband enjoy exercising together under the instructions of the TV.

We can not only play video games merely on the screens; now, with smart entertainment, you can get an immersive experience of Mario Kart, a racing video game, put right into your living room. While playing the game, players can control their karts running in their living rooms. Each kart has an onboard camera on it. The camera can record the layout of where they are and upload it to the Nintendo system. After processing it, some settings, like jungles and snowy landscapes, are created based on the layout and shown on the Switch screen. So, things in your living room, like the sofa and table, your feet or even your cat, can be a part of your game.

Step outside and you can also enjoy smart entertainment experiences. Shanghai Disney Resort uses big data analysis to offer personalized services. In the US and South America, VR World, the largest VR club, gives users super real gaming and travel adventures.

Looking forward, cutting-edge technologies will continue to change how we spend our leisure time.

【推荐3】In 2015, inspiration struck Jennifer Lee like an apple from Newton’s tree. In her case, though, it was a dumpling.

Lee and her friend Yiying Lu were texting about upcoming dinner plans. Lee sent over a picture of dumplings, and Lu turned to her phone’s emoji keyboard for a dumpling emoji. But none existed. For most people, this kind of omission would only bring annoyance. For them, big actions.

Within hours, Lu, a graphic designer, created her own picture of a dumpling and sent it to Lee. And Lee found the emoji-ruling organization — the Unicode Consortium (UC), which sets the standard text and emoji in nearly all the world’s writing systems. Then, Lee paid $75 for an individual membership and attended its technical meetings. The committee were happy to see there were outsiders who cared about the process. Before the committee, Lee presented her proposal for the dumpling emoji with more than 1,000 words, explaining the necessity of adding a dumpling emoji.

Finally in February 2016, Lee and Lu received approval for their beloved dumpling emoji. The committee were so impressed that they asked Lu to help design three other images of emoji: the takeout box, chopsticks and the fortune cookie. For them, it sparked a lifelong passion. Later, they co-founded Emojination, a grassroots group with the motto “Emoji for the people, by the people”. It advocates for more inclusive and representative emoji.

In the world of emoji, nothing gets through without initiative. “Clearly it matters, because the world cares so much. It’s a worldwide explosive passion for the usage of emoji that brings them to phones,” Lee said.

【推荐1】“There’s nothing in the world so discouraging as money,” a character voices gloomily (沮丧) in Antigone, but maybe he didn’t know how to use his cash. If we spend it right, a research suggests, money can, in fact, buy happiness.

According to one often-repeated rule of thumb (拇指), spending on experiences rather than objects makes us happiest. When asked to reflect on a buying, people who described experiential ones—travel, say, or concerts—were much happier than those who described material ones. A new table is easier to get used to than a trip to Chile.

Not all experiences are equally worthwhile, however. Study shows that it’s not so much that doing things makes us happier than having things—it’s that we like doing things with people. This is particularly true for extroverts (性格外向的人). They got significantly happier after shopping with others, no matter what they bought.

University of Cambridge researchers joined with a bank to analyze the relationship between customers’ spending habits, personality, and happiness. They found that outgoing people splurged (挥霍) on restaurants and entertainment, while self-controlled types shelled out for fitness and insurance. And those whose spending fit their personality were happier than those who spent against type. In one case, extroverts and introverts (性格内向的人) received vouchers (代金券) for either a bar or a bookstore. Extroverts were happier when forced to spend money at the bar, while introverts were happier spending at the bookstore. And when people were assigned to buy goodies for either a hospitalized child or themselves, those who bought treats for a sick child reported more positive feelings. The effect was the same in a rich country (Canada) as in a poor one (South Africa).

So how do you turn cash into fun? First, figure out whether you’re an extrovert or an introvert. Then, head to a bar, bookstore, or hospital with a Canadian. There must be a joke in there somewhere.