- New bill aims to limit harmful heavy metals found in baby food
- In effort to prevent rabies, CDC launches new rules for bringing dogs into the US
- ‘Blast-furnace heat every day’: Record temperatures cancel classes, widening learning gaps across Southeast Asia
- A new Apple ad is sparking backlash from viewers who say it hits the wrong note
- Major AlphaFold upgrade offers boost for drug discovery
- Hacking the immune system could slow ageing — here’s how
New bill aims to limit harmful heavy metals found in baby food
新法案旨在限制嬰兒食品中有害重金屬
Health
US lawmakers plan to introduce a bill Thursday that aims to limit the amount of heavy metals found in baby food through stronger regulation and enforcement by the US Food and Drug Administration. Heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury can be toxic to everyone, but exposure is especially dangerous for babies and toddlers. The neurotoxins can permanently damage developing brains, potentially causing long-term intellectual and behavioral problems. The Baby Food Safety Act of 2024 would direct the FDA to develop maximum allowable limits for toxic heavy metals found in baby food more broadly. It would set standards for testing of the final food products and allow the FDA to monitor these standards through access to the records of food suppliers and manufacturers. It would also bolster the FDA’s authority to enforce the limits it sets, allowing the agency to mandate that companies recall food products that don’t meet standards, as opposed to the voluntary recalls that have been the standard.
---from CNN
美國立法院計劃週四提出一項法案，旨在透過美國食品和藥物管理局加強監管和執法來限制嬰兒食品中重金屬的含量。 鉛、砷、鎘和汞等重金屬可能對每個人都有毒，但接觸這些重金屬對嬰兒和幼兒尤其危險。 神經毒素會永久損害發育中的大腦，可能導致長期的智力和行為問題。 2024 年嬰兒食品安全法案將指示 FDA 制定更廣泛的嬰兒食品中有毒重金屬的最大允許限量。 它將制定最終食品的測試標準，並允許 FDA 透過存取食品供應商和製造商的記錄來監控這些標準。 它還將增強 FDA 執行其設定限制的權力，允許該機構強制公司召回不符合標準的食品，而不是公司被自願召回。
---摘錄翻譯自CNN
In effort to prevent rabies, CDC launches new rules for bringing dogs into the US
為了預防狂犬病，疾病預防控制中心推出了帶狗進入美國的新規定
Health
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday that it is updating regulations for bringing dogs into the United States in an effort to keep the country free of canine rabies. Starting August 1, the tightened rules require that all dogs entering the US appear healthy upon arrival, be at least 6 months old, be microchipped and be accompanied by a “CDC Dog Import Form” receipt that was filled out online two to 10 days before arrival. These rules apply to all dogs, including service dogs and those who were born in the United States but are returning from another country. The announcement noted that more requirements may apply based on where the dog has traveled in the previous six months or where they had been vaccinated. The CDC website offers travel checklists for US-vaccinated dogs and foreign-vaccinated dogs from high-risk countries. Dog rabies was eliminated in the United States in 2007, but the virus remains endemic in more than 100 countries, according to the CDC, and unvaccinated dogs can still contract the disease from wildlife. In the US, rabies is mostly found in wild animals such as bats, raccoons, skunks and foxes. But in certain areas around the world, including parts of Asia, Africa and Central and South America, rabies in dogs remains a major issue.
---from CNN
美國疾病管制與預防中心(CDC)週三宣布，正在更新有關將狗帶入美國的規定，以確保該國免受犬類狂犬病的侵害。 從8 月1 日開始，嚴格的規定要求所有進入美國的狗在抵達時必須表現健康、至少6 個月大、植入晶片並附有到達前2 至10 天在線上填寫的「CDC 狗進口表格」收據。 這些規則適用於所有狗，包括服務犬和在美國出生但從其他國家返回的狗。 該公告指出，根據狗在過去六個月內旅行過的地方或接種疫苗的地點，可能會適用更多要求。 疾病預防控制中心網站提供了美國接種疫苗的狗和來自高風險國家的外國接種疫苗的狗的旅行清單。 據美國疾病管制與預防中心稱，美國已於 2007 年消滅了狗狂犬病，但該病毒仍在 100 多個國家流行，未接種疫苗的狗仍然可能從野生動物感染這種疾病。 在美國，狂犬病主要見於蝙蝠、浣熊、臭鼬和狐狸等野生動物。 但在世界某些地區，包括亞洲、非洲以及中美洲和南美洲的部分地區，狗的狂犬病仍然是一個主要問題。
----摘錄翻譯自CNN
‘Blast-furnace heat every day’: Record temperatures cancel classes, widening learning gaps across Southeast Asia
「每天都有高爐高溫」：創紀錄的高溫導致課程取消，東南亞各地的學習差距擴大
Culture
When temperatures in Cambodia hit a staggering 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in April, Sek Seila, an 11-year-old student studying in the capital Phnom Penh, was promptly sent home from school. Like hundreds of millions of other children in many parts of South and Southeast Asia, Sek Seila has had to cope with unprecedented setbacks due to record-breaking heat — like sudden school closures, and having lessons and activities canceled or disrupted. School this year has been difficult, he says, adding that stifling heat and high humidity levels in poorly ventilated classrooms have been difficult to endure. “My classroom does not have air conditioning,” Sek Seila told CNN. His class of 43 students pass around mini hand-held fans during lessons on most days to keep cool. “It’s very unpleasant and uncomfortable,” he says. “On some days, it can even get so hot that it feels like your skin is burning.”
---from CNN
4月份，當柬埔寨氣溫達到驚人的 38 攝氏度（100.4 華氏度）時，在首都金邊學習的 11 歲學生 Sek Seila 立即被學校送回家。 與南亞和東南亞許多地區的數億其他兒童一樣，Sek Seila也必須應對破紀錄的高溫造成的前所未有的挫折，例如學校突然停課、課程和活動取消或中斷。 他說，今年的學校很困難，通風不良的教室裡令人窒息的高溫和高濕度讓人難以忍受。 「我的教室沒有空調，」Sek Seila告訴美國有線電視新聞網。 他的班上有 43 名學生，大多數時候上課時都會互相傳遞迷你手持風扇以保持涼爽。 「這非常不愉快和不舒服，」他說。「有時，天氣甚至會變得很熱，感覺皮膚在燃燒。」
---摘錄翻譯自CNN
A new Apple ad is sparking backlash from viewers who say it hits the wrong note
蘋果公司的一則新廣告引發了觀眾的強烈反對，他們認為這則廣告詞有誤
Culture
When an ad goes viral, it’s usually for one of two reasons — it resonates so deeply with viewers that they can’t stop talking about it … or it makes people so upset they rush to social media to voice their outrage. An Apple ad for its new iPad Pro seems to fall into the latter category. Posted on social media Tuesday by Apple CEO Tim Cook, the ad starts off as a sort of time capsule for human creativity. There’s a metronome. A record player. Then the lights come on in a warehouse-like room, where you see those items and dozens of other creative tools sitting on a metal slab in the center of the shot. There’s also a CRT TV, cans of paint, a globe of the Earth, a piano, an ‘80s arcade video game, a sculptural bust of a human head and a trumpet. Another giant metal slab hangs ominously above it all. The items are in a giant hydraulic press, and within about 40 seconds everything will be gone — crushed under tons of force in an often dramatic fashion. After the destruction, the hydraulic press starts rising again. The debris is now gone. In its place is a shiny, new iPad Pro. A voiceover says, “The most powerful iPad ever is also the thinnest.” Apple is seemingly trying to capitalize on this trend while making a point about how its new iPad Pro is so powerful it can replace other means of creative expression. But for many viewers, the ad doesn’t land the right note. “I’m not sure ‘wanton destruction of all the good and beautiful things is this world’ was really the vibe you were trying for,” says one commenter on X.
---from CNN
當一則廣告像病毒一樣傳播時，通常是出於以下兩個原因之一：它與觀眾產生瞭如此深刻的共鳴，以至於他們無法停止談論它……或者它讓人們非常沮喪，以至於他們湧向社群媒體來表達他們的憤怒。 蘋果新款 iPad Pro 的廣告似乎屬於後者。 蘋果執行長Tim Cook週二在社群媒體上發布了這則廣告，它一開始是人類創造力的時間膠囊。 有一個節拍器。 電唱機。 然後，一個像倉庫一樣的房間裡的燈亮了，你可以看到這些物品和許多其他創意工具坐在鏡頭中央的金屬板上。 還有一台 CRT 電視、幾罐油漆、一個地球儀、一架鋼琴、一個 80 年代的街機電玩遊戲、一個半身雕像和一個喇叭。 另一塊巨大的金屬板不祥地懸掛在這一切之上。 這些物品被放入一個巨大的液壓機中，大約 40 秒之內，所有物品都會消失——在巨大的力量下以戲劇性的方式被壓碎。 破壞後，液壓機再次開始上升。 現在碎片已經消失了。 取而代之的是閃亮的新款 iPad Pro。 畫外音說：“有史以來最強大的 iPad 也是最薄的。” 蘋果似乎試圖利用這一趨勢，同時強調其新款 iPad Pro 的功能如此強大，可以取代其他創意表達方式。 但對許多觀眾來說，這則廣告並沒有引起人們好的感覺。 「我不確定『肆意破壞這個世界上所有美好事物』是否真的是你想要的氛圍」X 上的一位評論者說。
---摘錄翻譯自CNN
Major AlphaFold upgrade offers boost for drug discovery
AlphaFold 的重大升級促進了藥物發現
Sciences
Since the powerhouse artificial intelligence (AI) tool AlphaFold2 was released in 2021, scientists have used the protein-structure-prediction model to map one of our cells’ biggest machines, discover drugs and chart the universe of every known protein. Despite such successes, John Jumper — who leads AlphaFold’s development at Google DeepMind in London — is regularly asked whether the tool can do more. Requests include the ability to predict the shape of proteins that contain function-altering modifications, or their structure alongside those of DNA, RNA and other cellular players that are crucial to a protein’s duties. AlphaFold3 is limited to non-commercial use through a DeepMind website. Frank Uhlmann, a biochemist at the Francis Crick Institute in London who gained early access to AlphaFold3, has been impressed with its capabilities. “This is just revolutionary,” he says. “It’s going to democratize structural-biology research.”
---from Nature
自 2021 年發布強大的人工智慧 (AI) 工具 AlphaFold2 以來，科學家一直在使用蛋白質結構預測模型來繪製細胞最大機器之一的圖譜、發現藥物並繪製每種已知蛋白質的宇宙圖。 儘管取得了這些成功，倫敦 Google DeepMind 負責 AlphaFold 開發的 John Jumper 經常被問到該工具是否可以做得更多。 要求包括能夠預測包含改變功能的修飾的蛋白質的形狀，或其結構以及對蛋白質的職責至關重要的 DNA、RNA 和其他細胞參與者的結構。 AlphaFold3 僅限於透過 DeepMind 網站進行非商業用途。 倫敦Francis Crick研究所的生物化學家Frank Uhlmann很早就接觸到了 AlphaFold3，他對其功能印象深刻。 「這簡直是革命性的，」他說。「這將使結構生物學研究更為普及。」
---摘錄翻譯自Nature
Hacking the immune system could slow ageing — here’s how
駭客攻擊免疫系統可以延緩老化—具體方法如下
Sciences
Stem-cell researcher Carolina Florian didn’t trust what she was seeing. Her elderly laboratory mice were starting to look younger. They were more sprightly and their coats were sleeker. Yet all she had done was to briefly treat them — many weeks earlier — with a drug that corrected the organization of proteins inside a type of stem cell. When technicians who were replicating her experiment in two other labs found the same thing, she started to feel more confident that the treatment was somehow rejuvenating the animals. In two papers, in 2020 and 2022, her team described how the approach extends the lifespan of mice and keeps them fit into old age. The target of Florian’s elixir is the immune system. The stem cells she treated are called haematopoietic, or blood, stem cells (HS cells), which give rise to immune cells. As blood circulates, the mix of cells pervades every organ, affecting all bodily functions. But the molecular composition of the HS cells changes with age, and this distorts the balance of immune cells that they produce. “Fixing the drift in them that occurs with time seems to fix a lot of the problems of ageing — not only in the immune system but also in the rest of the body,” says Florian, who is now at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute in Spain. In March 3, another team showed that restoring the balance between two key types of immune cell gives old mice more youthful immune systems, improving the animals’ ability to respond to vaccines and to stave off viral infections.
--from Nature
幹細胞研究員Carolina Florian並不相信她所看到的。 她的實驗室老老鼠開始看起來更年輕了。 他們更加活潑，皮毛也更加光滑。 然而，她所做的只是在幾週前用一種藥物對它們進行了短暫的治療，該藥物可以導正一種幹細胞內的蛋白質組織。 當在另外兩個實驗室複製她的實驗的技術人員發現同樣的事情時，她開始更有信心，認為這種治療在某種程度上使動物恢復活力。 在 2020 年和 2022 年的兩篇論文中，她的團隊描述了該方法如何延長小鼠的壽命並讓它們保持健康的晚年狀態。 Florian長生不老藥的目標是免疫系統。 她處理的幹細胞被稱為造血幹細胞（HS細胞），它能產生免疫細胞。 隨著血液循環，細胞混合物遍布每個器官，影響所有身體功能。 但 HS 細胞的分子組成會隨著年齡的增長而變化，這會破壞它們產生的免疫細胞的平衡。 「修復它們隨時間發生的漂移似乎可以解決許多衰老問題——不僅在免疫系統中，而且在身體的其他部位，」Florian說，他現在在西班牙的Bellvitge生物醫學研究所工作。 3 月 3 日，另一個團隊表明，恢復兩種關鍵類型免疫細胞之間的平衡可以使老年小鼠的免疫系統更加年輕，從而提高動物對疫苗的反應和避免病毒感染的能力。
--摘錄翻譯自Nature