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STANFORD UNIVERSITY

    Up to 90% of school leavers in major Asian cities are suffering from myopia — short-sightedness, a study suggests. Researchers say the “extraordinary rise” in the problem is being caused by students working very hard in school and missing out on outdoor light.

    Eye experts say that you are short-sighted if your vision is blurred(模糊的) beyond 2m. It is often caused by an elongation (拉伸) of the eyeball that happens when people are young. According to the research, the problem is being caused by a combination of factors — a commitment to education and lack of outdoor light.

    Professor Morgan who led this study argues that many children in South East Asia spend long hours studying at school and doing their homework. This in itself puts pressure on the eyes, but exposure to between two and three hours of daylight helps maintain healthy eyes.

    Cultural factors also seem to play a part. Across many parts of South East Asian children often have a lunchtime nap. According to Professor Morgan they are missing out on natural light to prevent short-sightedness.

    A big concern is the numbers of the students suffering from “high” myopia. One in five of these students could experience severe visual impairment(障碍) and even blindness. These people are at considerable risk-sometimes people are not told about it and are just given more powerful glasses-they need to be warned about the risk and given some self-testing measures so they can get to an ophthalmologist and get some help.

    For decades, researchers believed there was a strong genetic component to the condition. But this study strongly suggests an alternative view. “Any type of simple genetic explanation just doesn't fit with that speed of change; gene pools just don't change in two generations. Whether it's a purely environmental effect or an environmental effect playing a sensitive genome, it really doesn't matter, the thing that's changed is not the gene pool—it's the environment.”

    Lemurs are cute animals that live on the island of Madagascar, the fourth-largest island in the world. Lemurs have big eyes, long noses, and long tails(except for the Indri) and live high in the trees of Madagascan forests. Lemurs are quite intelligent. They are the cousins of monkeys and look quite similar. They also swing through the trees and live in family groups.

    There are different species of lemurs. Some lemurs (the Indri) sing like a whale, and some (the Sifaka) walk like a ballet dancer. Some lemurs are very small, like the Pygmy Mouse Lemur which weighs only 25-30 grams. Others, like the Indri, can weigh up to ten kilograms. Some lemurs are nocturnal, being awake at night and sleeping during the day, and some are not nocturnal but diurnal. Generally, the smaller lemurs are nocturnal, while the bigger ones are diurnal. All the species are unique to Madagascar.

    However, all of the lemurs are endangered species. Many species have already disappeared in the last few centuries. There are not many of lemurs left. People in Madagascar have been destroying the forests where lemurs live. Local people also hunt lemurs for food. Some of the local people see lemurs as bringers of bad luck, so they kill lemurs.

    At the moment, there are about 85 lemur species left. But many people fear that the number of species will fall quickly. Soon there may be no lemurs left if we do not make serious efforts to protect them.

    In 2016, designer Liz Ciokajlo received a task from the Museum of Modern Art (Moma) in New York: revisit the Moon Boot, a fluffy-looking snowshoe inspired by the footwear used by the Apollo astronauts.

    Launched in 1972 at the height of the lunar missions, the Moon Boot is an icon of the 20th Century's “plastic age” and the museum administrators wanted a new take on it.

    Ciokajlo set out to reimagine it. She knew only a biomaterial would work in a “post-plastic age”, but the designer also wanted a new destination to inspire it. Our generation's space travel obsession is not the Moon, she thought, but the red planet Mars. And Mars allows you to really think outside of the box.

    The task led her to an amazing biomaterial that had already attracted the attention of engineers innovating m building materials and of top space agencies like NASA and ESA. Her final design, a tall, female, rough-looking boot, can be made on board a spaceship with almost only human sweat and a few fungus spores (真菌孢子), ideal for a seven-month trip to Mars with limited check-in luggage.

    This magic biomaterial is mycelium (菌丝体), the vegetative part of the fungus It looks like amass of white thread-like structures, each called hyphae. Collectively, these threads are called mycelium and are the largest part of the fungus.

    Mycelium has amazing properties. It is a great recycler, as it feeds off a substrate to create more material, and has the potential of almost limitless growth in the right conditions. It can endure more pressure than conventional concrete without breaking. It is a known insulator and fire-retardant and could even provide radiation protection on space missions.

    On Earth it's currently used to create ceiling panels, leather, packaging materials and building materials, but in outer space it stands out for its architectural potential, says artist and engineer Maurizio Montalti, who has teamed up with Ciokajlo.

    For her revisited boot, Ciokajlo wanted to use the human body as the source for some of the building materials and decided to employ sweat. Reusing sweat is not entirely new in space exploration but a novelty approach for footwear. She thinks it might make astronauts feel closer to home during the long journey to Mars.

    The design is still hypothetical, because the real boot submitted for Moma and currently in display at the London Design Museum did use mycelium but not human sweat, as their deadline was too tight, but the science checks out.

    If you wear glasses, chances are you are smarter. Research published in the famous British journal Nature Communications has found that people who displayed higher levels of intelligence were almost 30 percent more likely to wear glasses.

    The scientists studied the genes of thousands of people between the ages of 16 and 102.The study showed intelligence can be connected to physical characteristics. One characteristic was eyesight. In out of 10 people who were more intelligent, there was a higher chance they needed glasses. Scientists also said being smarter has other benefits. It is connected to better health.

    It is important to remember these are connections which are not proven causes. Scientists call this correlation. Just because something is connected to something else does not mean one of those things caused the other. And it's worth noting that what constitutes intelligence is subjective and can be difficult, if not impossible, to measure.

    Forget genes though. Plenty of proof shows wearing glasses makes people think you are more intelligent, even if you do not need glasses. A number of studies have found people who wear glasses are seen as smarter, hard-working and honest. Many lawyers use this idea to help win their cases. Lawyer Harvey Solves explained this. Glasses soften their appearance. He said sometimes there has been a huge amount of proof showing that people he was defending broke the law. He had them wear glasses and they weren't found guilty.

    Glasses are also used to show someone is intelligent in movies and on TV. Ideas about people who wear glasses have begun to shift. People who do not need glasses sometimes wear them for fashion only. They want to look worldly or cool. But not everyone is impressed by this idea, though. GQ magazine said people who wear glasses for fashion are trying too hard to look smart and hip (时髦的). However, that hasn't stopped many celebrities from happily wearing glasses even if they do not need them. Justin Bieber is just one high-profile fan of fashion glasses.

A new study estimates more than 1 billion people worldwide are currently living with obesity. People with obesity are considered medically overweight. The study, published in the medical publication The Lancet, said that one in eight people are obese. Researchers said around 43 percent of adults were overweight in 2022. Obesity among adults has more than doubled since 1990. Among young people aged 5 to 19, the obesity rate increased by four times during the same period.

"A staggering number of people are living with obesity, and severe obesity is strongly linked to a long list of health problems and an early death." declared the lead writer of the study, Majid Ezzati, a professor at Imperial College London.

The WHO noted that at the World Health Assembly in 2022, member states agreed to an agency plan to fight obesity. So far, 31 governments "are now leading the way" to reduce obesity by carrying out goals of the plan.

These include government measures to enact new rules on "harmful" marketing of unhealthy food and drinks to children. In addition, governments are aiming to improve school and nutrition policies. They are also seeking price reductions for healthy foods, to increase public awareness about healthy diets and exercise and to strengthen requirements for physical activity in schools.

Imperial College's Ezzati said that obesity rates are not rising in many wealthier nations. But they are quickly increasing in other countries. He noted that some countries have many underweight people, meaning the nations are facing what he called a "double burden" of nutrition problems.

Branca is head of nutrition at the WHO. He told reporters, "In the past, we have been thinking of obesity as a problem of the rich, but obesity is a problem of the world. Although new obesity drugs — such as Ozempic and Wegovy — could be helpful tools in reducing obesity, they noted that the cost and availability of the drugs might increase inequality."