【推荐1】Staying positive through cold season could be the best defence against getting sick, a new American study suggests.

In an experiment that exposed healthy volunteers to a cold or flu virus, researchers found that people with a generally sunny character were less likely to fall ill. The findings, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, build on evidence that a “positive emotional style” can help keep away from the common cold and other illnesses.

“People with a positive emotional style may have different immune responses to the virus,” explained lead study author Dr. Sheldon Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “And when they do get a cold, they may experience their illness as less severe.”

Cohen and his colleagues had found in a previous study that happier people seemed less susceptible to catching a cold, but some questions remained as to whether the emotional quality itself had the effect.

For the new study, the researchers had 193 healthy adults complete standard measures of personality qualities, physical health and “emotional style”. Those who tended to be happy, energetic and easy-going were judged as having a positive emotional style, while those who were often unhappy, tense and hostile had a negative style.

Afterwards, the researchers gave them nose drops containing either a cold virus or a particular flu virus that causes flu-like symptoms. Over the next six days the volunteers reported on any aches, pains, sneezing they had. Cohen and his colleagues found that happy people were less likely to develop a cold. What’s more, when happy folks did develop a cold, their symptoms were less severe than they would be expected based on objective measures.

In contrast, people with negative characters were not at increased risk of developing a cold based on objective measures, though they did tend to get down about their symptoms.

“We find that it’s really positive emotions that have the big effect”, Cohen said, “not the negative ones.”

So can a bad-tempered person fight a cold by deciding to be happy?

【推荐3】The musician Moby once said, “Music has no form whatsoever--all it is is air moving just a little bit differently. It’s the only artform that you can’t touch.” It is true that we cannot touch music, but that does not mean that music is invisible. There is, in fact, away to “see” music.

How can we see music? Neuroscientists (神经科学家) use MRI machines to look inside the brain. These tools let them see the neurons, or braincells, which are in use when people are listening to music. Computer screens linked to MRIs show that when people listen to music, neurons light up in many parts of the brain.

Neuroscientists have ds covered that it isn’t necessary to hear music for the neurons to light up. Even when you just think about a song, these neurons light up. In addition, the same neural activity in the same part of the brain happens when people experience other pleasurable activities. For example, some of the same neurons light up when we eat something delicious or hug a love done. Negative feelings such as fear or anxiety make neurons in a different area light up. However, when an anxious or frightened person listens to pleasurable music, these neurons stop lighting up.

Why does music have so many benefits? The answer maybe because it uses so many different parts of the brain. According to neuroscientists, using many parts of the brain at one time gives your brain a good “workout.” Reading music while playing a musical instrument uses more parts of the brain simultaneously (同时地) than most other activities. It involves both physical movement and mental activity, much like playing a sport such as soccer.

So, although Moby is completely correct that we cannot touch music, it is possible to “see” music. There is still a lot to learn about the effects of music on our brain. However, there is no doubt that scientists have shown that music is an extremely powerful artform with many positive effects.