Your New Year's plan to move more is one of the toughest to stick to, and a group of scientists working with obese(过度肥胖的) mice think they're starting to understand why

    Rather than our sedentary(久坐的) lives causing weight gain, says Alexxai Kraviz, the National Institutes of Health neuroscientist who led the study, changes in brain chemistry after we start gaining weight affect our capacity to move.

    “Obses mice can move just fine,” says Kravitz, who published the work with his team in Cell Metabolism “They just don't.”

    What Kravitz's team found is that the activity of a particular dopamine(多巴胺) receptor linked to movement goes down as mice gain weight on a high-fat diet. So the nice slow down and they move less. And when the researchers restored the activity of that dopamine receptor—DR2—the mice started moving more, even though they were still obese. The team also saw that lean mice missing the DR2 receptor acted like obese mice. This is the target, says Kravitz—restoring that dopamine receptor function. “Maybe 20 or 30 years down the road, we could do that in people,” he says.

    And there is one more thing: The scientists fed normal mice and the mice lacking DR2 the same high-fat diet. Both sets of mice gained weight at the same rate.

    Kravitz says this is important because mice lacking DR2 move less from the get-go, whereas a normal mouse takes a little time to start seeing that dopamine receptor-related loss of exercise. The ability to exercise seems to be disconnected from weight gain, he says.

    “Exercise is a healthy thing to do, but its impact on weight loss has been exaggerated,” he says. “We have to be realistic about the size of the effect of exercise on weight, as opposed to health benefits.”

    Still, before you abandon your New Year's exercise plan, keep in mind that this study was done using a high-fat diet, and not the normal calorie restriction that people maintain when they diet.

    That's a big drawback to the work, says Vicki Vieira-Potter, a University of Missouri physiologist not involved in the study.

    “They feed the mice with high-fat diet, it damages the receptor, and that decreases activity. Those who plan to lost weight should remember high-fat diet is a nice way to cause obesity in the lab, but it's not the same as the normal situation of obesity,” she says.

    Sine also says that a lot of the weight gain in the mice came after they stopped moving around, which indicates that the loss of movement did impact obesity.

    Women are friendly. They often share with others. But men are more competitive. They are trying to improve their social status. Why? Researchers have found it's all due to the hormone oxytocin (荷尔蒙催生素). Although known as the love hormone, it affects the sexes differently.

    Generally, people believe that the hormone oxytocin is let out in our body in various social situations and our body creates a large amount of it when falling in love or giving birth.

    But in a former experiment Professor Ryan found that the hormone is also let out in our body during a negative situation such as envy (嫉妒).

    Further researches showed that in men the hormone oxytocin improves the ability to recognize competitive relations, but in women it raises the ability to recognize friendship.

    Professor Ryan's recent experiment used 62 men and women aged 20 to 37.

    Half of the participants (参与者) received oxytocin. The other half received placebo (安慰剂).

    After a week, the two groups switched with participants. They went through the same steps with the other material.

    Following each treatment, they were shown some video pictures with different social behavior. Then they were asked to analyze the relations by answering some questions. The questions were about telling friendship from competition. And their answers should be based on gestures, body language and facial expressions.

    The results showed that, after treatment with oxytocin, men's ability to correctly recognize competitive relations improved, but in women it was the ability to correctly recognize friendship that got better.

    Professor Ryan thus concluded, “Our experiment proves that the hormone oxytocin can raise people's abilities to better tell apart different social behaviors.”

    A newspaper reporter's job can be very interesting. He meets all types of people and lives quite a busy life. He is on the rush for news all the time, then after several years he may get a desk job, and life becomes a bit more settled. Let's look at his work a little more closely. In a day he may have to interview the prime minister of a foreign country, and the next day he may be writing about a football match. Sometimes he may be so busy that he has hardly any time to sleep. And at other times he may go on for days looking out for news materials yet return empty-handed.

    In the beginning, a reporter has to cover a very wide field. After the early years he becomes more specialized in his work. For example, he may finally be asked to write only on court cases or politics or sports. Some reporters may become so specialized that they are asked only to write on a special thing: horse racing, for example. In most newspaper houses there is at least one special racing correspondent. Some newspapers have book reviews. Their job is delightful. They read the latest book and then write reviews on the ones they like. Then there are those who write on films, so they get to see them even before they are shown in the cinema. How lucky, you would say!

    A reporter's job can also be very dangerous. A number of them have died rushing from one assignment to another, and if there is a flood or a riot(暴) they may get hurt or even be killed. Three years ago there was a reporter whose camera was smashed by a group of men, because they were angry with him for taking their picture. Dangerous or not, one thing is certain, and that is, their job is never dull!

    Spring is coming, and it is time for those about to graduate to look for jobs. Competition is tough, so job seekers must carefully consider their personal choices. Whatever we are wearing, our family and friends may accept us, but the workplace may not.

    A high school newspaper editor said it is unfair for companies to discourage visible tattoos (纹身)，nose rings, or certain dress styles. It is true you can't judge a book by its cover, yet people do "cover" themselves in order to convey certain messages. What we wear, including tattoos and nose rings, is an expression of who we are. Just as people convey messages about themselves with their appearances, so do companies. Dress standards exist in the business world for a number of reasons, but the main concern is often about what customers accept.

    Others may say how to dress is a matter of personal freedom, but for businesses it is more about whether to make or lose money. Most employers do care about the personal appearances of their employees, because those people represent the companies to their customers.

    As a hiring manager I am paid to choose the people who would make the best impression on our customers. There are plenty of well-qualified candidates, so it is not wrong to reject someone who might disappoint my customers. Even though I am open-minded, I can't expect all our customers are.

    There is nobody to blame but yourself if your set of choices does not match that of your preferred employer. No company should have to change to satisfy a candidate simply because he or she is unwilling to respect its standards, as long as its standards are legal.

Are You a Morning Person?

    Mornings are not for everyone. Knowing that our own bodies may be wired to prefer a certain time of day is certainly a relief. But many of us still have to wake up and function during those first daylight hours. So what can you do?

    We tapped a variety of experts—from sleep experts to nutritionists to life organizational pros—to share their tricks on how to make morning less stressful and more pleasant (for) even the most after-hours of night owls.

    ①Night waking

    Poor sleep quality can explain why we sometimes wake up from eight hours of snoozing and feel like we only clocked in at four. "It's normal to have one or two awakenings, but more than that leaves us feeling groggy in the morning because of the fragmented sleep," [explains Shelby Harris, director of the behavioral sleep medicine program at Montefiore Medical Center.]

    ②The Science of snoozing

    The snooze button does more harm than good. Nodding off again sends you into a light and fragmented sleep! Multiple snoozes can leave you feeling groggier than just getting out of bed the first time.

    Instead, be honest about the time you intend to get up and then enjoy every last minute of shuteye, so you can wake up alert and ready to go.

    ③Don't ease into your workday

    It can be tempting to plow through the easy things early on-checking e-mail, scanning the headlines—but it's wise to tackle the bigger stuff first. "Getting to work on the most important tasks not only ups the chances that they actually get done, but it also leaves you with a burst of accomplishment to take with you the rest of the day," says Jason Selk, coauthor of Organize Tomorrow Today.

    ④Save social media for later

    Schedule a social media block later in the afternoon to check in when you're likely to need a break anyway, and save the morning for the important stuff.

Vocabulary Focus

    tap(v) [tæp] to get or make use of something

    groggy (adj) ['gragi] weak and unable to think clearly or walk correctly, usually because of tiredness or illness

    shuteye (n) ['ʃʌtai] sleep

    plow through (something) (phr v) to finish reading, eating or dealing with something with difficulty

    A hospital has been forced to ban Pokemon Go players from the site after a monster hub(妖怪枢纽站) was found in the A&E department. Royal Stoke University Hospital discovered that its casualty unit(急诊室) is on the same spot as a Pokemon Go 'gym' ­­ where players can train their newly caught Nintendo creatures.

    The University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust agreed last week that patients can play Pokemon Go on wards because walking around is healthy. But the Trust has been forced to post a warning on its website about public access to A&E. It said if Pokemon Go becomes a major annoyance it would ask Nintendo­­ which decides on the locations of the virtual gyms according to GPS­­to have it removed from the premises(道馆).

    Kevin Parker, associate chief nurse, said, "Members of the public who do not need to be at Royal Stoke should not attempt to enter A&E or any other part of the hospital building to play the game. The A&E department is incredibly busy this summer. We want the public to understand that anybody who visits the hospital solely to play the game will provide an unwanted distraction to the important work of the hospital. I'm also aware of various reports in the media of unsafe areas that the game has been played in."

    "Royal Stoke University Hospital is a safe area where gamers can enjoy Pokemon Go." Michelle Harris, the Trust's manager, said the game could still be played by those already in hospital. "We recognize that the Pokemon Go game encourages walking and exercise, which is something that the Trust is equally keen to promote," she said.

    There are a number of "walking routes" established throughout the Trust that can be used to combine walking and playing the game. "Walking just 30 minutes, five times a week, can help reduce the risk of preventable illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease."

    There have been several warnings about the game since its UK release. Last week a group of teenagers in Wiltshire were left stranded almost 100ft underground after they got carried away searching for Pokemon Go characters. The four boys, aged 16 and 17, ended up getting lost and had to wait to get a phone signal before they could call for help. Eventually, they contacted Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue team, who took them to safety. Damien Bence, of the fire and rescue team, said: "Pokemon Go is obviously leading people into dangerous situations."