【推荐1】If you followed the Rio Olympic Games, you may have noticed that several athletes, including US swimmer Michael Phelps, had circular bruises (青肿) on their bodies. These bruises were the result of “cupping (拔火罐) therapy”, a traditional Chinese medicinal practice that has been around for more than 2,000 years.

Many athletes say that they have benefited from the therapy. Phelps used the therapy in the fall of 201 and has used it about twice a week since, reported ABC News. Another US swimmer, Dana Vollmer, also believes that “it really helps with blood flow”.

However, some have said that the supposed health effects result from people’s feeling that the treatment works, rather than any physical effect of the treatment. To figure out cupping therapy has any physical effect, last year researchers from Germany carried out a test in which a false treatment was provided.

In the study, the same type of cups was used in the real treatment and the false treatment. But in the false treatment, the cups had a hole at the top so that they couldn’t create the proper suction (吸力).

The tested patients, who suffered from a disorder that caused a lot of pain, were told that they would receive either a traditional cupping or “soft cupping”. But they were not informed that the so-called “soft cupping” was a false treatment.

It turned out that most patients correctly guessed which kind of cupping they had received. In both groups, patients also experienced about the same reductions in pain. “The results suggest the effects of cupping therapy might come from factors that are not necessarily part of the treatment itself,” the researchers told the Live Science website.

The question of whether cupping therapy works still needs to be answered. “But because the treatment is relatively safe and it could be helpful for some people, the therapy can be used as part of a comprehensive treatment program involving other exercises, nutritional choices and lifestyle changing,” Dr Brent Bauer, director of the US Complementary and Integrative Medicine Program at Mayo Clinic, told Live Science.

【推荐3】Chopsticks(筷子)come in many different shapes and styles, and have been around since 1200 B.C.E. The utensils(器具)earned their place at the Chinese dinner table around 400 B.C.E. More than 20 percent of the world’s population relies on chopsticks for eating. China alone uses 45 billion disposable(一次性的)pairs per year.     1    

China was the first to experiment with chopsticks nearly 3000 years ago.     2     The Chinese used them for cooking since they could dip them into boiling pots of water. Then China’s population boomed. Cooks were forced to conserve resources, which meant chopping foods into tiny bites that used less fuel to cook. Bite sized foods, paired with Chinese philosopher and vegetarian Confucius’ anti-knife beliefs, set up the utensils for widespread adoption beyond China.

    3     Chinese chopsticks, for instance, are long and thick “to facilitate dining around the table,” Ruixi Hu, founder of Lost Plate Food Tours, says. Hu grew up in Chengdu, China, where she first used chopsticks at age 2. She now goes on food tours throughout Asia and she’s found many chopstick varieties.

In Japan, where bamboo chopsticks were adopted in 500 C.E., chopsticks have evolved over time. They’re now particularly fine-tuned for one of Japan’s main foods: fish. “Japanese chopsticks are short and sharp, mainly because the Japanese are good at eating fish, and it is easy to remove fish bones with sharp chopsticks,” Hu says.     4     That’s why their chopsticks don’t need to be as long.

Head over to South Korea where chopsticks look a bit different.     5     That’s because South Koreans love barbecue. The metal chopsticks won’t burn when diners are barbecuing their meat.

【推荐2】Although social media allow us to become more connected to other people than at any time in history, a new study suggests that many Americans feel lonelier than ever before, which is weakening the nation's mental and physical health.

The study conducted by the health insurer（保险公司）Cigna, found widespread loneliness, with nearly half of Americans reporting they feel alone. or left out at least some of the time. The nation’s 75 million millennials(ages 23-37)and Generation Z adults(ages 18-22)are lonelier than older generations, Besides, 54% of people surveyed said they feel no one knows them well, and four in 10 reported they "lack companionship"，their "relationships aren't meaningful "and that they" are isolated from others. ”

Douglas Nemecek, MD, Cigna's chief medical officer for Behavioral Health, said the finding of the study suggest that the problem has become common, equaling the risks caused by tobacco and the nation’s ever-expanding waistline（腰围）. "Loneliness has the same influence on health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, while obesity（肥胖）less than 10 cigarettes a day，" he said in releasing the report.

Nemecek's commentstallied withthose of other leading public health specialist, including former Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, MD, who said loneliness should be targeted in public health campaigns like those designed to fight against smoking and obesity. "During my years' caring for patients, the worst disease I saw was not heart disease or diabetes; it was loneliness, " Murty said in a recent cover story in theHarward Business Revieres.

The new report, produced in Cigna's partnership with the polling company Ipsos, is based on an online survey of more than 20，000 US adults using the well-regarded UCLA Loneliness Scale to see how widespread loneliness is in America.

【推荐3】Poaching (偷猎) and habitat loss have threatened Africa’s two species of elephants, taking them closer toward the edge of extinction, according to a new report released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Before this update, Africa’s elephants were grouped together and were evaluated as vulnerable (脆弱的) by the IUCN. This is the first time the two species have been classified separately. In the past, elephants were mostly considered as either Asian elephants or African elephants. Forest and savanna elephants were typically classified as subspecies of African elephants.

The African forest elephant is now listed as critically endangered and the African savanna elephant as endangered. The number of African forest elephants fell by more than 86% over a 31-year assessment period. The population of African savanna elephants dropped by at least 60% over the last 50 years, according to the IUCN, which tracks the assessment risk of the world’s animals. Africa currently has an estimated 415,000 elephants, counting the two species together.

Both elephant species experienced significant population decreases because of poaching. Although it peaked in 2011, illegal hunting still happens and continues to threaten elephant populations. African elephants also face continued habitat loss as their land is converted for agriculture or other uses.

There is some good conservation news, the IUCN points out. Anti-poaching measures, combined with better land use planning to support better human-wildlife relationships, have helped conservation efforts. Some forest elephant population figures have stabilized in well-managed area as in Gabon and the Republic of Congo and savanna population figures have remained stable or have been growing, particularly in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area in southern Africa.

But with persistent demand for ivory and increasing human pressures on Africa’s wild lands, concern for Africa’s elephants is high, and the need to creatively conserve and wisely manage these animals and their habitats is severer than ever.

【推荐1】Four “amateur (业余的) astronauts” are about to launch into orbit in another landmark mission for space tourism. It’s the latest flight to help open up access to space for paying customers. The trip has been paid for by US billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman, who will travel with three crewmates (机组同事). A healthcare worker, a science educator and a data analyst will circle the Earth with Mr. Isaacman for three days. They hope to inspire others with their adventure and to raise money for children’s cancer medicine. Accordingly, the mission has been named Inspiration 4.

The crew’s Dragon vehicle, made by Elon Musk’s company Space X, will ride a Falcon-9 rocket. It is due to launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center at 20:02 EDT on Wednesday, or very shortly after. The spacecraft will reach an altitude of 575km, which is about 150km higher than the International Space Station (ISS). The four will then spend their time doing experiments and looking at Earth through a large domed (圆顶状的) window which offers panoramic views of the whole planet.

The mission follows hot on the heels of Sir Richard Branson’s flight aboard his Virgin Galactic rocket plane on 11 July, and fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos’s trip to space nine days later in the New Shepard vehicle. The glass dome has been fitted in place of the mechanism that Dragon normally uses to dock (对接) with the ISS, which isn’t needed on this flight.

In the 60 years since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin first went into space, fewer than 600 people have followed in his footsteps, and most of those have been military-trained personnel flying on government-sponsored missions. Inspiration 4 is different. It’ll be a fully commercially purchased and operated orbital flight. NASA helped fund the development of a lot of the technology used by Elon Musk’s company, and did so to try to diversify the economy in low-Earth orbit.

【推荐3】Astronauts traveling in space meet forms of radiation (辐射) that are uncommon on Earth. Some of this radiation has been shown to be harmful to human health. It is linked to cancers and heart problems. Yet a new American study suggests the radiation does not shorten astronauts’ lives.

Researchers studied nearly 60 years of health records and other data about male astronauts from the United States. They then compared this data with information about a group of men who are in good health, richer than most Americans and receive good health care — professional athletes. The study found that neither group has higher rates of dying at a young age. In fact, both groups generally live longer than other Americans.

Astronauts are usually well-educated, earn more money and are in better physical conditions than the average Americans. Some earlier research has linked being an astronaut to a lower risk of early death, the researchers noted. The findings were reported in the medical journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

Much of the existing research on mortality rates (死亡率) in astronauts has not yet explored the mental and physical demands of this job. There also has not been a lot of research on whether astronauts show what is known as the “healthy worker effect”. This effect leads people with employment of any kind to have fewer medical problems than people who are unable to work, said Robert Reynolds.

Reynolds said, “The challenge has always been to understand if astronauts are as healthy as they would be if they had never gone to space at all. To do this, we need to find a group that is comparable on several important factors (因素).” Considering the similar physical requirements, a group of athletes are selected.

As the result suggests, being exposed to radiation doesn’t lead to an early death for astronauts.