【推荐1】People often call music a universal language, but do certain songs really cause the same mental images in our minds? Scientists at Princeton find that while music absolutely can stimulate(激发)similar mental experiences, the results also strongly suggest culture is a major factor.

A total of 622 people took part in the study. All of the volunteers came from one of three locations: two suburban college towns in the US (one in Arkansas and the other in Michigan), or the rural Chinese village of Dimen. It’s worth noting that the main language in Dimen is Dong, a tonal language unrelated to the official language of China. Locals there have little contact with Western media or culture at all. All participants listened to the exact same 32 “musical stimuli”— which were 60-second cuts of instrumental music. Half of these pieces came from Western music while the rest came from Chinese music.

After hearing, researchers asked the groups about the images they saw in their heads while listening. Incredibly, people from Arkansas and Michigan often described very similar stories, even using the exact same words frequently. Dimen listeners, on the other hand, envisioned stories that were similar to each other but quite different from the American listeners. More specifically, one track led t o Americans seeing a cowboy in the hot desert surveying an empty town. Meanwhile, Chinese participants imagined a man in ancient times reflecting on the loss of a loved one.

“There’s something about the results that’s really surprising, especially because people encounter music in 2022 often in a solitary way, over headphones. But it turns out, it’s still a shared experience, almost like a shred dream, although not universally shared, ”says Elizabeth Margulis, the study author.

The results paint a more complex picture of music’s power. Music can generate remarkably similar stories in listeners’ minds, but it depends on a common set of cultural experiences. So while we imagine music can bring people together, the opposite can also be true-it can distinguish between sets of people with a different background or culture.

【推荐2】There are two kinds of people climbing a mountain. The first, they are smiling, laughing and fully enjoying the journey no matter the effort they have taken. Another group, however, they are struggling. They have to stop and catch their breath 10 times on the way up.     1     It’s their lifestyle choices. We’ll give you three main reasons your pursuit of health and youth through lifestyle choices is an essential.

You should build a strong foundation now. You probably know people who’ve survived a horrific disease — and it was said that their preexisting physical and spirits strengthen their bodies for battle and made them better equipped to endure stresses. That’s true with the recent COVID-19 pandemic: Severe cases are more likely for those with preexisting conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, chronic lung disease and so on.     2     That is, healthy choices will help prevent chronic disease and set you up for a long life.

It’s unclear how many reboots you’ll get. Perhaps in a utopian 25th-century world, there will exist some places that allows you to walk into a booth, press a few buttons, and erase every cigarette you’ve smoked, every couch you’ve potatoed, every potato you’ve ever fried.     3     Your ability to maximize their effectiveness will depend on your commitment to improving your biology through proven means: nutrition, physical activity, sleep, not smoking, and stress management.

    4     The human brain remains the final biological frontier. So even if science ultimately allows us to correct our cells, genes, and other mechanisms that make our bodies work, when your brain goes, you will too.     5     And the steps are the same as those you can take to protect the rest of your body.

【推荐3】Memory loss is a common part of aging. A decade-long study of older adults in China has found that a healthy lifestyle is linked to slower memory loss even when people carry a risky gene for Alzheimer’s(阿尔茨海默氏症). Researchers from China’s National Center for Neurological Disorders and other medical organizations followed 29,000 people aged at least 60 years for up to 10 years. Forty-nine percent of the participants were women.

At the beginning of the study in 2009, the researchers tested the participants memory function with the Auditory Verbal Learning Test(AVLT 听觉词语学习测验). They were also tested for the APOE gene, the most common gene linked with Alzheimer’s. Around 20 percent of the participants were carriers of the risk gene. The participants received tests in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2019. In the follow-ups, six healthy lifestyle factors were analyzed: a healthy diet, regular physical exercise, active social contact, active cognitive activity, non-smoking and never drinking alcohol.

The results showed that the AVLT scores continuously decreased over the 10 years. But the highest test scores were in the favorable group and the lowest in the group where people usually have an unhealthy lifestyle. The participants with favorable and average lifestyles, even when they were APOE carriers, had a slower rate of memory loss than the participants with unhealthy lifestyles.

The researchers said that they studied the contribution of each lifestyle factor and their combined effects in a large sample size over an entire 10 years and offered important information to protect older adults against memory loss.

The results about the APOE carriers also provide a positive outlook that healthy lifestyle risks are related to a slower rate of memory loss, regardless of the genetic risk.

【推荐1】Here in the middle of London, something extraordinary is going on. You can hear a loud and unmistakable sound of bees doing what they do best: making honey.

What’s more, they’re performing their magic, not in the leafy acres of nearby park, but up on the balcony of St Ermin’s Hotel. Whereas most urban residences would do their best to keep sting-bearing insects as far away from guests as possible, this hotel opens its doors to the capital’s bees. The person who tends this “Bee Hotel” is Camilla Goddard. “In the long run, bees are amazing creatures to work with. You can’t help admiring the way they operate. They really do put the good of the community first,” she says.

As well as providing an enjoyable pastime, modern beekeeping is becoming increasingly critical. According to the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA), 70 different UK crops depend on bees for pollination (授粉). Without bees to provide pollination, one-third of all our food wouldn’t survive. During the Second World War, Winston Churchill was a firm supporter of bees and made sure they got extra supplies to carry on with their pollination work, even as the German army dropped their bombs.

“Bees are in danger of disappearing from our environment,” warns Tim Lovett of the BBKA. Today, bee numbers are down by 50 per cent. Using more and more land, agricultural industry reduces spots where bees can live. Crop-protecting pesticides have also led to high death rate of bees. Another blow was an Asian species that first arrived in Devon and then spread across the country. It settled on the bees and not only weakened their immune system but caused their wings to deform (变畸形) so that flying became impossible.

Anxious about the decline of beekeeping, the BBKA has produced a school information pack entitled “Bees in the Curriculum”. Once the children have been around bees for a while, they understand the service that bees provide for us, rather than seeing them as the source of stings.

【推荐1】More than 80% of adolescents worldwide are not active enough, putting their health at risk by sitting focused on a screen rather than running about, say World Health Organization (WHO) researchers

The proportion of inadequate active girls in 27 countries rose to more than 90% in 2016, the latest year for which figures are available. There was a significant gender gap. Girls lag behind boys in physical activity, in all but four countries- Afghanistan, Samoa, Tonga and Zambia.

The WHO says the situation is serious and that urgent action must be taken to get adolescents moving, with inactivity posing a great threat to their current and future health. Physical activity is important to the development of bone, muscular strength, and heart and lung health. It helps young people avoid obesity, heart disease, cancers and diabetes (糖尿病) . There is growing evidence that it helps cognitive (认知的) development.

“This is not the good start in life that we would want for our children and adolescents,” said Bull.“The data are worrying for all-parents, the community and the health system.”

Although schools provide sports, they are often under pressure. But Bull said communities and sporting associations can help, and towns can be better planned to encourage active living. Parental encouragement and providing a role model is also valuable.

Besides, a culture change is required, according to the WHO global action plan on physical activity, because there are disadvantages and unintended consequences to the use of digital media. It involves excessive (过度的) amounts of time spent on phones, laptops and gaming devices. The electronic revolution has fundamentally transformed people’s movement patterns by changing where and how they live, learn, work, play and travel. Gradually and eventually, it isolates people indoors.