- Chemicals linked to breast cancer leach into our foods, study finds
- Childhood sleep issues may raise suicide risk, study finds
- Instagram makes teen accounts private as pressure mounts to protect children
- Man smashes Ai Weiwei sculpture at Italy art show opening
- DNA from 3,600-year-old cheese sequenced by scientists
- A space rock is about to become Earth’s new ‘mini-moon’
Chemicals linked to breast cancer leach into our foods, study finds
研究發現，許多與乳癌相關的化學物質已滲入食物中
Health
Nearly 200 chemicals connected to breast cancer are used in the making of food packaging and plastic tableware, and dozens of those carcinogens can migrate into the human body, a new study found. “There is strong evidence that 76 known or potential breast carcinogens from food contact materials recently purchased all over the world can be found in people,” said study coauthor Jane Muncke, managing director and chief scientific officer at the Food Packaging Forum, a nonprofit foundation based in Zurich, Switzerland, that focuses on science communication and research. The new study, published Tuesday in the journal Frontiers in Toxicology, compared the Silent Springs database of known carcinogens for breast cancer with the Database on Food Contact Chemicals Monitored in Humans, or FCChumon. FCChumon, created by the Food Packaging Forum, is a list of food contact chemicals that have been detected in human breast milk, blood, urine and tissues. While it’s up to regulatory agencies to make sweeping changes to protect the food supply, there are steps consumers can take to reduce the risk of toxic chemicals and carcinogens, according to Silent Spring. Avoid burning or charring food, as the muscle meat of beef, pork, fish or poultry produces DNA-damaging chemicals when grilled at high temperatures or over an open flame. Use a ventilation fan when you cook. Pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, accumulate in fat, so remove the fat and skin from meat and fish before cooking and drain off any that forms during meal preparation. Choose smaller, younger seafood that will contain less mercury and other toxins than larger, older seafood, according to Silent Spring. Choose organic produce, meat and dairy over conventional when you can — while heavy metals may still be present, organic food is exposed to fewer pesticides. Toss plastic containers. Instead, store and microwave all foods in glass rather than plastic, don’t use nonstick pans for cooking and replace any plastic bottles and coffee makers with glass or stainless steel.
---from CNN
一項新的研究發現，有近 200 種與乳癌有關的化學物質被用於製造食品包裝和塑膠餐具，其中有數十種致癌物質會進入人體。 「有強力證據顯示，全球各地最近購買的食品接觸材料中有76種已知或潛在的乳腺致癌物可在人體中被發現，」研究的共同作者、總部位於瑞士蘇黎世的非營利基金會「食品包裝論壇」的執行董事兼首席科學官 Jane Muncke 說。該基金會專注於科學傳播和研究。 這項新研究於週二發表在《毒理學前沿》期刊，將「沉默之春」的乳腺癌已知致癌物資料庫與「人體監測食品接觸化學物質數據庫」（FCChumon）進行了比較。 FCChumon 是由「食品包裝論壇」創建的一份清單，列出了在人體乳汁、血液、尿液和組織中檢測到的食品接觸化學物質。 雖然監管機構需要進行大規模的變革來保護食品供應，但根據「沉默之春」的建議，消費者可以採取一些步驟來減少接觸有毒化學物質和致癌物質的風險。 避免將食物燒焦，因為在高溫或明火上烤製牛肉、豬肉、魚或家禽的肌肉肉會產生損害DNA的化學物質。烹飪時使用排風扇。 像多氯聯苯（PCBs）這樣的污染物會在脂肪中積累，因此在烹飪前去除肉類和魚類的脂肪和皮膚，並排除烹飪過程中產生的脂肪。 選擇較小、較年輕的海鮮，因為它們含有的汞和其他毒素會比較大、年長的海鮮少。 儘可能選擇有機的水果、蔬菜、肉類和乳製品，雖然仍可能含有重金屬，但有機食品接觸的農藥較少。 丟棄塑料容器。用玻璃而不是塑料來存放和加熱所有食物，避免使用不粘鍋烹飪，並用玻璃或不鏽鋼取代塑料瓶和咖啡壺。
---摘錄翻譯自CNN
Childhood sleep issues may raise suicide risk, study finds
研究發現，兒童睡眠問題可能會導致自殺風險提升
Health
If your child sometimes has trouble sleeping, it may be easy to chalk it up to a phase they will grow out of one day. But a new study suggests possible serious consequences for this line of thought — such as a higher risk for suicidal ideation or attempts when they are older. Having severe sleep disturbances at age 10 was linked with having a 2.7 times higher risk for suicidal ideation and suicide attempts two years later, according to a study published Monday in the journal JAMA Network Open. Nearly 1 in 3 participants with severe sleep disturbance later reported some level of suicidal behavior. “Given that sleep is highly visible as a risk factor, non-stigmatizing, and highly treatable … we suggest study of sleep as a risk factor and critical intervention target for youth suicide,” said senior study author Dr. Rebecca Bernert, a suicidologist and founder of the Stanford Suicide Prevention Research Laboratory in California, via email. Suicide is a leading cause of death among children ages 10 to 14, a group that also has high rates of sleep disturbance, according to the study. This lack of regulation, as well as fatigue, can impair decision-making. The ability to cope with stressors decreases and impulsivity increases, and problem-solving becomes more challenging, Berry said. Sleep also assists with the regulation of neurotransmitter levels, metabolism, brain plasticity and the cleaning of toxic waste proteins from the brain. Create a wind-down routine that starts an hour before bedtime, Berry said. It should limit screen time, homework and physical activity as much as possible and include relaxing activities such as light reading, journaling or listening to calming music. For kids who struggle with restlessness at bedtime, “parents may consider practicing mindfulness strategies with their child to support emotion regulation,” Berry said.
---from CNN
如果你的孩子有時候睡眠困難，你可能會覺得這只是他們成長過程中的一個階段，最終會克服。然而，一項新研究表明，這種想法可能帶來嚴重後果——未來會增加自殺念頭或自殺企圖的風險。 根據週一發表在《JAMA Network Open》期刊上的研究，10歲時出現嚴重睡眠障礙的孩子，兩年後有自殺念頭和自殺企圖的風險會增加2.7倍。研究中，將近三分之一有嚴重睡眠障礙的參與者後來報告了某種程度的自殺行為。 「有鑑於睡眠問題是一個明顯的風險因素，不帶有污名化且易於治療……我們建議將睡眠作為青年自殺的風險因素和關鍵干預目標進行研究」，加州斯坦福自殺預防研究實驗室的創辦人、研究的資深作者Dr. Rebecca Bernert在電子郵件中表示。 根據該研究，自殺是10至14歲兒童的主要死亡原因之一，這個年齡段的睡眠障礙發生率也很高。 Berry表示，這種調節能力的缺乏，以及疲勞，會削弱決策能力。應對壓力的能力下降，衝動性增加，解決問題變得更具挑戰性。睡眠還有助於調節神經遞質水平、新陳代謝、大腦可塑性，並清除大腦中的有毒廢物蛋白質。 Berry建議，為孩子制定一個在睡前一小時開始的放鬆程序。該程序應盡量減少屏幕時間、家庭作業和體力活動，並包括輕度閱讀、寫日記或聽舒緩音樂等放鬆活動。 對於那些上床後依然煩躁不安的孩子，貝瑞表示，「家長可以考慮與孩子一起練習正念策略，以支持情感調節。」
---摘錄翻譯自CNN
Instagram makes teen accounts private as pressure mounts to protect children
在「保護兒童」的壓力不斷攀升下，IG將會使青少年帳號私人化
Culture
Instagram is making teen accounts private by default as it tries to make the platform safer for children amid a growing backlash against how social media affects young people's lives. Starting September 24, in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, anyone under 18 who signs up for Instagram will be placed into a restrictive teen account. Those under 18 with existing accounts will be migrated over the next 60 days. Teens in the European Union will see their accounts adjusted later this year. "The three concerns we're hearing from parents are that their teens are seeing content that they don't want to see or that they're getting contacted by people they don't want to be contacted by or that they're spending too much time on the app," said Naomi Gleit, head of product at Meta. "So teen accounts is really focused on addressing those three concerns." New York Attorney General Letitia James said Meta's announcement was "an important first step, but much more needs to be done to ensure our kids are protected from the harms of social media." James' office is working with other New York officials on how to implement a new state law intended to curb children's access to what critics call addictive social media feeds. In the past, Meta's efforts at addressing teen safety and mental health on its platforms have also been met with criticism that the changes don't go far enough. For instance, while kids will get a notification when they've spent 60 minutes on the app, they will be able to bypass it and continue scrolling.
---from VOA
Instagram 將青少年帳戶預設為私人帳戶，試圖讓兒童使用該平台時能更加安全，這是為了因應對於社交媒體影響年輕人生活，不斷上漲的反彈聲浪。 自9月24日起，在美國、英國、加拿大和澳洲地區，任何未滿18歲註冊Instagram帳號的人都會被預設為限制性帳戶。至於現在擁有帳號的18歲以下用戶也將在未來60天內轉換成限制性帳戶。今年之內，歐盟地區的青少年帳號也將隨後調整。 Meta公司的產品主管Naomi Gleit表示：「我們從家長那裡聽到的三個疑慮是，他們的青少年看到了父母不想要他們看到的內容、他們被不想被聯繫的人聯繫，或是他們在應用程式上花費了太多的時間。所以設置青少年帳號的重點就是要解決這三點。」 紐約州檢察長Letitia James表示，Meta的宣佈是「重要的第一步。但目前仍有許多工作要做，以確保我們的孩子能受到保護，遠離社交媒體的傷害。」James正與其他紐約的官員合作，研究如何實施一項新的州法，以遏制批評者所宣稱的「兒童社交媒體上癮症」。 過去，Meta在其平台上遭到批評，原因是他們在處理青少年安全與心理健康上的力道不夠。舉例來說，雖然孩子們在應用程式上花費超過60分鐘就會收到通知，但他們仍然可以忽略通知，並繼續瀏覽程式。
---摘錄翻譯自VOA
Man smashes Ai Weiwei sculpture at Italy art show opening
一名男子在藝術家Ai Wei Wei義大利的展覽開幕式裡，砸壞了一件雕塑品
Culture
A man shattered a sculpture by Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei on Friday during the opening of his exhibition at Palazzo Fava in the Italian city of Bologna, a spokesperson for the show said. Footage from CCTV cameras — posted on Ai Weiwei’s Instagram account — showed a man vigorously pushing the sculpture over, breaking it and then holding a piece of it over his head. The sculpture targeted was the artist’s large blue and white “Porcelain Cube,” the spokesperson said. The exhibit’s curator, Arturo Galansino, said the perpetrator was well-known in the art world. “Unfortunately, I know the author of this inconsiderate gesture from a series of disturbing and damaging episodes over the years involving various exhibitions and institutions in Florence,” said Galansino. The police in Bologna told local media a 57-year old Czech man had been arrested after being stopped by the museum’s security. The police could not immediately be reached for comment. The spokesperson said the art show, entitled “Who am I?” had opened on Saturday as normal and that the oeuvre will be replaced by a life-size print of the cube. The exhibition is due to run until May 4. “Ai Weiwei worried that no one was hurt and then asked that the remains of the work be covered and taken away,” he said. It was not clear how the man had entered the building during the invite-only event on Friday.
---from CNN
本週五，著名中國藝術家與行動藝術家Ai Weiwei的展覽於義大利博洛尼亞市帕拉索法瓦宮（Palazzo Fava）舉行，該展覽的發言人表示，一名男子在其開幕式上打碎了一件雕塑品。 從監視器拍攝的畫面中，可見男子用力推倒雕塑，並將其打碎，隨後舉起一塊碎片高舉在頭頂。該影片已被Ai Wei Wei發布在個人Instagram帳號上 發言人表示，遭到破壞的雕塑是一件大型藍白色的「瓷立方」（Porcelain Cube）。 展覽策展人Arturo Galansino表示，此名肇事者在藝術界相當有名。 「不幸的是，我認識這名做出如此糟糕行為的人。他過去數年在佛羅倫斯的各類展覽和機構中曾涉及一連串令人不安且具破壞性的行為。」Galansino表示。 博洛尼亞的警方向當地媒體表示，一名57歲的捷克男子在被博物館的保安攔下後，就被逮捕。但警方未能立即做出回應。 發言人表示，名為「我是誰？」的藝術展覽將照常於週六開展，該作品將由立體打印的瓷立方複製品取代。展覽預計將持續到5月4日。 發言人說：「Ai Wei Wei首先關心的是沒有人受傷，然後才要求將作品的殘骸覆蓋並帶走。」 目前尚不清楚該男子是如何在週五的邀請制活動中進入展場的。
---摘錄翻譯自CNN
DNA from 3,600-year-old cheese sequenced by scientists
科學家們成功為3600年前的乳酪DNA進行定序
Sciences
Bronze Age desert dwellers unearthed from graves in what’s now northwest China were buried with cheese scattered on their heads and necks—perhaps as a snack packed for the afterlife. A decade after the dairy discovery on strikingly intact remains mummified by the Taklamakan Desert’s arid conditions, scientists have extracted and sequenced DNA from the 3,600-year-old cheese, the oldest in the archaeological record. The analysis revealed how the Xiaohe people made cheese, showing the way humans harnessed microbes to improve their food and how microbes can be used to track cultural influences through the ages. The findings, published Wednesday in the journal Cell, open a“new frontier in ancient DNA studies,”with this“type of research unthinkable even a decade ago,”said Christina Warinner, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences and Anthropology at Harvard University. Warinner wasn’t involved in the research. “This is an unprecedented study, allowing us to observe how a bacterium evolved over the past 3,000 years. Moreover, by examining dairy products, we’ve gained a clearer picture of ancient human life and their interactions with the world,”Fu said in a statement. “This is just the beginning.” It was remarkable that not only had the cheese survived but that it was possible to sequence DNA from the foodstuff, Hermes said.“Ancient DNA analysis, especially on microbes, is fraught with technical problems, mostly stemming from contamination by modern bacteria,”he added. While the dairy product found with the mummies is the oldest intact cheese in the archaeological record, other evidence such as animal proteins in human dental calculus and milk residues on pottery suggest that cheesemaking originated much earlier, likely more than 9,000 years ago in Anatolia or the Levant, Warinner noted.
---from CNN
青銅時代的沙漠居民在現今中國西北部的一處古墳中被發現，他們的頭部和脖子上散落著奶酪——或許是為了給他們來世所準備的零食。十年後，科學家從這些在塔克拉瑪干沙漠乾燥條件下，保存完好的遺骸裡，成功提取並測序了距今3600年的乳酪DNA，這是考古紀錄中最古老的奶酪。 這項分析揭示了蕭河人如何製作乳酪，並展示了人類如何利用微生物來改善食物，以及追蹤微生物是如何通過歷史影響文化。這些發現，於週三發表在Cell期刊上，為古代DNA研究開闢了一個「新領域」。「這種研究在十年前是無法想像的」，哈佛大學社會科學與人類學教授Christina Warinner說道。（她並未參與這項研究。） 「這是一項前所未有的研究，使我們能夠觀察到細菌在過去3000年中的進化過程。此外，通過研究乳製品，我們對古代人類的生活及其與世界的互動有了更清晰的認識，」Qiaomei Fu在一份聲明中說：「不過，這僅僅是個開始。」 這些奶酪不僅保存下來，而且能夠從中提取DNA進行測序，這讓Hermes感到驚訝。他補充道：「古代DNA分析，尤其是對微生物的分析，充滿了技術問題，主要是來自於現代細菌的污染。」 Christina Warinner指出，儘管與木乃伊一起發現的乳酪是考古紀錄中最古老最完整的乳製品，但其他證據，如人類牙結石中的動物蛋白和陶器上的牛奶殘留物表明，乳酪製作可能早在9000多年前的安納托利亞或黎凡特地區就已經出現。
---摘錄翻譯自CNN
A space rock is about to become Earth’s new ‘mini-moon’
一塊太空岩石即將成為地球新的「迷你月亮」
Sciences
Earth is about to gain a new “mini-moon,” but it won’t stay around for long. The newly discovered asteroid, named 2024 PT5, will temporarily be captured by Earth’s gravity and orbit our world from September 29 to November 25, according to astronomers. Then, the space rock will return to a heliocentric orbit, which is an orbit around the sun. Details about the ephemeral mini-moon and the horseshoe-shaped path it travels were published this month in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. Astronomers first spotted the asteroid on August 7 using the South Africa-based observatory of the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS. Mini-moon events come in two flavors, de la Fuente Marcos said. Long episodes involve asteroids referred to as temporarily captured orbiters, which complete one or more revolutions around our planet that can last for one or more years. During short episodes, on the other hand, the asteroid doesn’t even complete one full pass around the Earth. Mini-moons can also be asteroids that come from the main asteroid belt, located between Mars and Jupiter, or they may be fragments of the lunar surface launched by asteroid impacts millions of years ago, Jedicke said. And when Asteroid 2024 PT5 comes back around again, astronomers expect it to become Earth’s mini-moon for a few days in November 2055 and again for a few weeks in early 2084.
---from CNN
地球即將迎來一顆新的「迷你月球」，但它停留的時間不會太長。 據天文學家表示，這顆新發現的小行星命名為2024 PT5，將暫時被地球引力捕捉，並在9月29日至11月25日期間環繞地球運行。之後，這顆太空岩石將回到日心軌道，也就是繞著太陽運行的軌道。 有關這顆曇花一現的小月亮及其馬蹄形路徑的詳細資料，已於本月刊登在美國天文學會的《美國天文學會研究筆記》（Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society）上。 天文學家首次在8月7日，利用NASA資助的「小行星撞擊地球最後警報系統」（ATLAS）發現了這顆小行星，而該觀測站位於南非。 de la Fuente Marcos表示，行程迷你月球有兩種類型。 長期的事件涉及稱為「暫時捕獲的軌道器」的小行星，它們會圍繞運行地球一圈或多圈，這個過程可能持續一年或更長時間。而在短期的事件中，小行星甚至無法完整繞地球一圈。 Jedicke 表示，小型月球也可能是來自火星與木星之間，主小行星帶的小行星，但也可能是數百萬年前，由小行星撞擊而迸出的月球表面碎片。 當小行星2024 PT5再次回歸時，天文學家預計它會在2055年11月再次成為小月亮數天，並在2084年成為首個長達數週的小月亮。
---摘錄翻譯自CNN