Scientific digest: when does excess weight become useful?

But how did the scientists guess that in front of them is not just a shell, but a musical instrument? One of the clues lay in the fact that barely noticeable red dots were found on it, in shape and size suitable for the pads of the fingers. In addition, the edge of the shell was not accidentally broken off, as the archaeologists who discovered it thought, but was specially carved, and there were even two drilled holes into which, apparently, a mouthpiece was inserted.

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The Magdalenians, who lived in much of modern Europe, from northern Spain to Germany, were skilled hunters and used numerous stone tools.

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They could use a shell, capable of emitting a sound equal to the volume of an approaching train, for ritual purposes or for summoning fellow tribesmen.

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“The intensity of the sound produced by this shell is impressive,” admits the co-author of the study, head of the laboratory of molecular and structural archeology at the Sorbonne Philip Walter. “You can imagine how it sounded inside the cave.”

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The researcher believes that there were many other notes in the repertoire of prehistoric people, it is a pity that archaeologists can hardly ever guess what kind of music the Magdalenians played.

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Middle age – overweight – long life?

Photo author, Getty Images

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Middle-aged people who gain excess weight live longer than their peers who have been in good physical shape all their lives. Scientists came to this paradoxical (but for some – very inspiring) conclusion during a study of two generations of Americans, which lasted almost 70 years.

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At the same time, people suffering from overweight since childhood have the highest chances of not living to old age.

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“Our conclusions concern primarily those who at a young age had a normal weight, but then began to gradually gain it and by middle age were already overweight,” explains the head of the study, professor of sociology at Ohio University Hui Zheng. people are more likely to live longer. “

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The professor and colleagues analyzed data from more than 8,000 Massachusetts residents, parents and their children, using records that were kept since 1948. (Children were tracked from 1971 to 2014).

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Weight gain tendencies in both groups were approximately the same, but scientists noted with alarm that the trend towards obesity in children was observed at an earlier age.

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Moreover, they were more likely to die from being overweight than their parents’ generation.

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But a small increase in weight, says Professor Zheng, adds extra years of life with age.

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In turn, anti-obesity activists warn: the results of the new study do not mean that you can give yourself the green light and stop monitoring your weight.

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“It’s okay to gain weight by mid-life, and it’s true that this little gain protects against a host of diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” says a spokesman for the National Obesity Forum. Tam Fry. – But do not imagine that at 55 you can give up and dream of longevity. “

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When the enemy becomes a friend

Photo author, Getty Images

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You need to make a reservation right away that this virus will protect you only if you are cabbage, well, or broccoli, or another representative of the cabbage family.

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But this in no way diminishes the significance of the discovery that scientists made (the results of their work are published in PNAS), who found out that in difficult times for a plant, a mosaic virus that infects many types of vegetables and often leads to their death, can come to their aid. However, it all depends on the weather.

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“Under normal conditions, the virus acts in its usual role as a pathogen that kills the host plant,” explains professor at the University of Valencia, virologist Santiago Fito Elena. “But in drought conditions, on the contrary, it helps its plant survive.”

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To understand the mechanism behind this strange concern, the scientists infected test plants with two variants of the virus, which developed in normal and arid conditions, and then divided the infected plants into two groups, one of which was watered normally, and the other was deprived of water.

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The viruses that themselves experienced drought spared their owners even when they were watered abundantly, and those viruses that were accustomed to an abundance of water destroyed their plants even when they themselves were thirsty.

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According to scientists, viruses familiar with drought have learned to modify the genes of their hosts and change their circadian rhythm so that they get by with less water.

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Of course, the virus does this not entirely selflessly, because by saving the plant, it also saves itself.

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In addition, the researchers acknowledge that the mechanism that viruses use to increase plant resistance to drought is hardly universal. However, if we learn to make partner viruses out of viruses-enemies, then this can provide an invaluable service to agriculture. Especially if we assume that climatic changes threaten us with increasingly severe and prolonged droughts.

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