1 . When you have to cancel your Thanksgiving plans due to the spread of the COVID-19, you may find yourself craving companionship as much as that pumpkin pie. That’s because parts of the brain respond to loneliness much like they react to hunger, according to a study in Nature Neuroscience.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology scanned the brains of 40 healthy, social young adults after 10 hours of either fasting (禁食) or social isolation (隔离). They found that after being alone, participants’ neurological responses to social signals were similar to hungry people reacting to food — that is, certain areas of the brain linked to desire were turned on to start working.

For an isolated person, a picture of people laughing together caused the same areas of the brain to light up as when a hungry person looked at a big plate of pasta.

“Just like hunger is an unpleasant sensation that motivates us to seek out food and thirst motivates us to seek out water, loneliness is a biological need that motivates us to reconnect to others,” Holt-Lunstad told Insider.

Researchers were surprised to find that people who were prevented from socializing became much more focused on that need, and less reactive to hunger. As their loneliness increased, they became less responsive to images of food.

These latest findings suggest that the relationship between food and loneliness might be more complicated than we thought, despite the popular opinion of stress-eating to cope with social isolation. More research is needed to understand the complex ways people deal with loneliness.

Studies like this can help scientists understand how the brain processes loneliness, and possibly reduce the negative consequences. However, although loneliness may be similar to hunger, fixing it isn’t as easy as serving someone a hearty dinner because people are unique and they need varying levels of social interactions to meet their needs.

9 . Are your childhood memories closely connected with cycling? Perhaps you even remember the pride in getting your first bike on your birthday, complete with streamers (装饰彩纸条) coming out of the handlebars, and the excitement of coasting down the tallest hill in town? When we were children, biking gave us independence, a sense of self, adventure and excitement, but city biking poses challenges to us when we are adults.

Obviously, biking brings a number of benefits to the riders, but why aren’t there more bikers on city roads? Goodordering, a company that designs bags to suit modern active lifestyles, conducted a survey and found out that the number one factor preventing people from biking to work was the realization of road safety”—sharing the road with cars can be dangerous.

Omar Bakhshi, a UK-based developer, experienced this first-hand. A car brushed against him while he was cycling, leaving him with an injury that impacted his taste and smell for life. Bakhshi realized what happened to him wasn’t unusual. Because bikers often experience close encounters (相撞) with cars, Bakhshi set out to make the roads safer for urban cyclists to use.

His company, Tether, is launching a small sensor that goes on a bike’s handlebars. As the biker rides through the city, the device projects (投影) a “safety zone” of lights onto the pavement. The hope is that these lights will force car drivers to sit up and pay attention to the rules of sharing the road. If cars get too close to the biker’s personal space, the lights will start shining.

What makes Bakhsh’s device different from similar devices on the market is its smart features. Tether’s device collects data from close encounters with cars and then the data is organized into a central database. The data can be accessed by bikers to determine which streets are safer for cyclists and choose a route to avoid areas that have a large number of close encounters with cars.

10 . Social isolation (隔离) is a big cause for old people’s diseases, including heart disease and mental disease.     1     You can consider the following ideas to help him or her get out and in touch with others.

Check out a nearby senior center. Senior centers serve as a gateway to the nation’s aging network, connecting older adults to vital community services that can help them stay healthy and independent. Services offered include exercise classes, art programs, socialization, etc. Stop in with your loved one and go over the newsletter (简报) together to look for specific activities that appeal to him or her.     2    

Find places to volunteer.     3     Volunteering allows your loved one to give back to the community, use important skills, share valuable gifts with other people and widen his or her circle of acquaintances. If your loved one shows an interest in volunteering, you can go to places like local schools and social service agencies for volunteering work.

Look for social clubs and faith-based groups that might fit your loved one. These groups can be an excellent way of connecting with others sharing an interest, a belief or a hobby.     4     You can provide assistance by looking through your local newspapers, asking friends for recommendations, etc.

    5    Communicating through social media, video chats, email or other technological means can be a great way for your loved one to stay in touch with friends and family members. These means can be difficult for many older adults to handle, but there are community resources available to provide guidance. For example, you can find out whether your local library offers computer classes to help your loved one div e into the waters.