Between 1975 and 2016, the prevalence of worldwide obesity nearly tripled up in number. According to the World Health Organization, in 2016, over 1.9 billion adults (aged 18 and above), were overweight, while more than 650 million of them were obese. 

This begs for a question: what makes us gain weight? We might answer that fatty or sweet or salty foods make us gain weight, but that might not be the case. Researchers from the National Institute of Health conducted a study that suggested that it’s not just salt or sugar or fat that makes us gain weight — it is the quality of food we are eating, if they are processed or not.

The study, conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, is the first randomized, controlled trial to show that eating a diet made up of ultra-processed foods actually drives people to overeat and gain weight compared with a diet made up of whole or minimally processed foods. Study participants on the ultra-processed diet ate an average of 508 calories more per day and ended up gaining an average of 2 pounds over a two-week period. People on the unprocessed diet, meanwhile, ended up losing about 2 pounds on average over a two-week period.

"The difference in weight gain for one [group] and weight loss for the other during these two periods is phenomenal. We haven't seen anything like this," says Barry Popkin, a nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina who has studied the role of ultra-processed foods in the American diet but was not involved in the current research.

Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, agrees that the findings are striking. He says what was so impressive was that the NIH researchers documented this weight gain even though each meal offered on the two different diets contained the same total amount of calories, fats, protein, sugar, salt, carbohydrates and fiber. Study participants were allowed to eat as much or as little as they wanted but ended up eating way more of the ultra-processed meals, even though they didn't rate those meals as being tastier than the unprocessed meals.

"These are landmark findings that the processing of the foods makes a huge difference in how much a person eats," says Mozaffarian. That's important, because the majority of foods now sold in the U.S. — and increasingly, around the globe — are ultra-processed.

And ultra-processed foods include more than just the obvious suspects, like chips, candy, packaged desserts and ready-to-eat meals. The category also includes foods that some consumers might find surprising, including Honey Nut Cheerios and other breakfast cereals, packaged white bread, jarred sauces, yogurt with added fruit, and frozen sausages and other reconstituted meat products. Popkin says ultra-processed foods usually contain a long list of ingredients, many of them made in labs. So, for example, instead of seeing "apples" listed on a food label, you might get additives that re-create the scent of that fruit. These are foods designed to be convenient and low cost and require little preparation.

(Image Credit: Christopher Flowers/ Unsplash)

Simon Forman and Richard Napier were 17th-century astrologers in England, but they practiced medicine. They had a thriving business of patients who came in and described their ills. Forman and Napier would consult the stars, and then prescribe treatments like bloodletting or applying a dead animal to the body. The practitioners took detailed notes on thousands of cases, which survive today. Better yet, the notes have been transcribed into understandable modern English and the 500 most interesting cases uploaded for all to read, sorted into categories like witchcraft, venereal diseases, bad marriages, frenzy, and chastity diseases.

There are many treasures to be found here. Joan Broadbrok, 40, has a throbbing headache and "thinks her children to be rats & mice." Edward Cleaver's worrisome ill thoughts ("kisse myne arse") may stem from the witchery of a neighbor who suckled a puppy.

The project "opens a wormhole into the grubby and enigmatic world of 17th-century medicine, magic and the occult," Professor Lauren Kassell of Cambridge's History and Philosophy of Science Department and one of the project's leads, said in a statement.

"Channeled through the astrologers' pens are fragments of the health and fertility concerns, bewitchment fears and sexual desires from thousands of lives otherwise lost to history."

The selected cases file is part of a larger project to transcribe and digitize the entirety of Forman and Napier's writings. Read about Forman and Napier at Cnet and browse the searchable case files here. -Thanks, WTM!    

(Image: Wellcome Images)

Researchers at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Britain have successfully rewritten a bacteria’s DNA. Amazingly, the bacteria, Escherichia coli, survived the process, much to the relief of the researchers.

The bacteria are alive, though unusually shaped and reproducing slowly. But their cells operate according to a new set of biological rules, producing familiar proteins with a reconstructed genetic code.

The achievement one day may lead to organisms that produce novel medicines or other valuable molecules, as living factories. These synthetic bacteria also may offer clues as to how the genetic code arose in the early history of life.

“It’s a landmark,” said Tom Ellis, director of the Center for Synthetic Biology at Imperial College London, who was not involved in the new study. “No one’s done anything like it in terms of size or in terms of number of changes before.”

This new breakthrough might be a way for us to understand how life works.

More details at the New York Times.

(Image Credit: Nano Creative/ Science Source)

Being out on the battlefield, soldiers risk their lives every day for their country. Apart from psychological trauma and other possible damage done to them while in the line of service, there are also seemingly minor injuries which could debilitate their daily lives. Hearing damage is one of them.

Hundreds of veterans are now claiming that the earplugs issued to them caused hearing loss. They have filed lawsuits against 3M, the manufacturer of the "dual-ended combat arms earplugs" issued to them.

Hundreds of soldiers are now claiming that the earplugs didn’t work, and they’ve suffered hearing loss as a result. The defective design allegedly causes hearing loss, tinnitus and a loss of balance. By the end of the fiscal year 2015, there were 2.6 million veterans receiving disability benefits for tinnitus and hearing loss, according to a Veterans Administration study.

However, originally the manufacturer of the earplugs had been a company named Aearo Technologies which was subsequently purchased by 3M in 2008. It seems that Aearo had been aware of the defects that their products exhibited according to the Department of Justice. 3M denies that these earplugs were the cause of hearing damage saying that they had conformed to the design and specifications required by the military.

(Image credit: Your Best Digs/Flickr; Wikimedia Commons)

The Phantom Menace was released on May 19, 1999. From its premiere, the movie has been a source of disappointment among Star Wars fans. The first episode of the Skywalker saga gave us a pint-sized Darth Vader, too much Jar Jar Binks and not enough Darth Maul, bureaucratic discussions, midichlorians, and no apparent bridge to the next chapter. But it was also the first Star Wars movie in 16 years. For the movie's 20th anniversary, io9 spoke with fans attending Star Wars Celebration in Chicago last month to see how they felt about The Phantom Menace. They were surprisingly enthusiastic.

“I have a personal connection to that movie,” said Natassia Strayer, who was cosplaying as Rey at the convention. “When I was younger my favorite character was young Anakin and I used to have this pair of ski goggles that looked like the podracing goggles. So, when I was like four or five, I would just wear them and run around my basement like I was podracing. I know that a lot of people don’t like [The Phantom Menace] as much but for me, just because of that nostalgia, I still enjoy it because I think back to that childhood.”

That comment explains the rehabilitation of The Phantom Menace rather well. In 1999, longtime Star Wars fans had high expectations, while for an entire generation, it was their first Star Wars experience, or at least the first Star Wars movie they saw on the big screen. With no preconceived notions about what a Star Wars movie should be, they enjoyed The Phantom Menace for what it was- essentially a movie for kids. But was it their age or their lack of Star Wars experience? To find out, Andrew Daniels watched the movie with his wife Lauren, who hadn't seen any of the Star Wars films before. An interview with her before and after the screening gives one point of evidence that it's your age at first watch that determines how much you enjoy The Phantom Menace.  

39 years ago on 18 May 1980, Mount St Helens in Washington State, erupted. The eruption removed the upper 1,300 feet (396 meters) of the summit and left a horseshoe-shaped crater and a barren wasteland.

via Amaze | Image: USGS/wikimedia

Located nearly 1,000km from Tahiti’s capital, Papeete, Napuka is one of the most isolated islands in French Polynesia.

The name Disappointment Islands was given to this place more than 250 years ago. A hidden paradise in French Polynesia were visitors are scarce and the locals are friendly.

It is like a mirage in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by endless stretches of blue and white sand beaches. Its aptly given name has sheltered it for many years from unwanted tourist attention. 

Andrew Evans traveled to Disappointment islands and wrote about his adventures over at BBC Travel:

And yet, 254 years after Byron’s attempt, the Disappointment Islands still proved difficult to access. Flights to the larger atoll of Napuka are not even listed on Air Tahiti’s international website. I spent three weeks making cold calls before I got hold of an agent.

“You can fly to Napuka in February,” she explained in French, “but then you have to stay a full month.” And so I travelled in the better weather of May, when scheduled flights still gave me a minimum eight-day stay. Located nearly 1,000km from Tahiti’s capital, Papeete, Napuka is one of the most isolated islands in French Polynesia, and a quick stop on a larger circular air route. Once I stepped off the plane, I would have to stay.

Images: Andrew Evans

Kyu-shirataki train Station in Japan made headlines last year for being open just to accommodate a single student. Now that she has graduated, the station closed down and a lot of people went there to say their last goodbyes.

Some members of the press and some locals came to see the train stop at their station for the last time after 69 years. Warm milk and sweet potatoes were passed around and a big thank you sign was on the wall commemorating the important day.

Japanese sculptor Koji Kasatani is famous for creating art that appears to have been made from everyday objects. Most notably, banana peels. Bringing to mind Warhol’s iconic paintings, he uses ceramics “banana peels” to create busts and other sculptures.

The artist believes that humour is the essence of art and he embodies that in his art. His studies at accademia d’arte in Florence, Italy in 2007 made him fall in love with natural and classic materials for his artwork.

Image: Koji Kasatani

The village of Vrontados is on the Greek island of Chios. Every Easter, the town lights up with a war between two churches called Rouketopolemos (rocket war). The congregations of Agios Markos (St. Marks) and Panagia Erithiani assemble their homemade rockets on the night before Orthodox Easter and fire away until after midnight, with the aim of hitting the bell tower of the rival church. The tradition dates back to the occupation of the Ottoman Empire, but no one really knows the origins of the war. Real cannons were used until 1889. Even today, the 60 to 80 thousand rockets can do some real damage, so the churches and surrounding homes reinforce their buildings with metal plates and mesh, and man the hoses until the war dies down. There is never a "winner" declared, so the battles can be continued the next year. Despite the danger, Rouketopolemos is a tourist draw for Vrontados. The footage above is from the 2019 rocket war. It gets a little scary around 1:48. -via Laughing Squid

David Goodsell, a structural biologist at Scripps Research in San Diego, California, is also a watercolor painter. His theme of choice is viruses!

Goodsell depicts viruses in his paintings with scientific precision, thus making Ebola or HIV appear beautiful. In fact, his works have graced the cover of many scientific journals as well as books he has produced.

Goodsell’s work is so much more than just an image of a molecule or a virus. He brings those tiny particles to life and his artwork is actually quite informative for his fellow scientists as well as to a wider audience.

Science Magazine has a neat feature on Goodsell, the scientist painter who turned deadly viruses into gorgeous illustrations:

In addition to studying pictures of cells from high-powered microscopes, Goodsell relies on molecular structures from electron microscopy (EM), x-ray crystallography, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to make his paintings, which show the often crowded and complex world of cells and the microbes that infect them. He even uses the known weights of molecules if that’s all he has so that he can at least draw, say, a correctly sized circle. “I’m a scientist first,” he says. “I’m not making editorial images that are meant to sell magazines. I want to somehow inform the scientists and armchair scientists what the state of knowledge is now and hopefully give them an intuitive sense of how these things really look—or may look,” he says.

Image: Jon Cohen, Illustrations: David Goodsell

Japan is full of costumed mascots, representing anything from villages to corporations to the local prison. New mascots, called yurukyara, are invented for every TV show and advertising campaign. But it's not easy to convey personality when you can't speak or use your own facial expressions, so the people who aspire to live inside those kawaii costumes go to Choko Group Mascot Actor’s School. The school was founded by actor Choko Ohira, who worked in costume on a children's show for ten years, then decided to train the next generation of mascots.   

Her dedication is key, as it’s not a simple matter of prancing around in a costume. Companies might just put their new recruits into a mascot suit without any training, but students at Choko Group adhere to strict rules set by the school. These include never letting anyone see you change or showing skin when in costume. Keeping the fantasy alive of it being a flesh-and-blood character, rather than a human in a suit, is of the utmost importance.

For that same reason, no talking is allowed either, unless the student has progressed to the upper echelons of mascot society as the main actor, or is in a generic costume that isn’t tied to one specific yurukyara. If speaking is required, cuteness is key, no matter the actor’s natural tone of voice. Who can wear which costume is specified by height, not gender, so the chance of a cute animal costumes being worn by a man with a deep voice is just as high as it being a high-pitched woman, and there should be no discrepancy in the level of kawaii (cuteness). Other than that, a sunny disposition and a reasonable level of fitness always help. The costumes can be cumbersome, there’s lots of movement involved, and those movements have to look as upbeat as possible.

Read more about yurukyara training at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: Roberto Solisa)

From the dawn of time, humans have found games as the fundamental means for entertainment. It involves strategic thinking, teamwork, foresight, and a whole lot of fun among other skills that it takes for one to enjoy a game. Yes, enjoying a game requires us to actually be good at it.

Games aren't limited within one space alone. We often associate games nowadays with the digital platforms as video games have become widely available through smartphones and PCs. But we can find games or its principles in economy, politics, society, and other aspects of life: competition, limited resources, interaction with other players.

Games aren’t just at the origins of our social order. They also lie at the origins of our digital order. Kids these days still fall in love with computers by playing with them.

The writers in this issue describe finding their way into computers through games. Some gamers are just in it for fun, while others get into managing gamer communities, and even go pro. Some gamers discover that the game isn’t what they expected—or that play is something different than what the game’s designers intended.

Sometimes, though, gaming gets serious. Games can embody a set of assumptions, even an ideology. Playing a game about cities, for example, you can absorb assumptions about how cities are supposed to be run.

Explore the different dimensions of "play" and how our lives, our culture, and our world can actually be shaped by it. From the perspective of a game, we delve deeper into the underlying mechanisms that make our world run and the different rules, contexts, assumptions, and scenarios that happen. How we respond and act will largely depend on the way we "play these games".

(Image credit: Mpho Mojapelo/Unsplash)

In any story, whether it is in a video game platform or other forms of media, there are certain narrative devices that writers and designers include to make the experience more engaging. These also serve to establish the premise of the world in which the characters move.

Particularly in survival horror games, deception is a crucial device. From the perception of the world and its structure or environment to the role that a character plays in that world, deception plays an important part to make it more enjoyable and at times, to push the story further.

A key narrative element of survival horror games is deception: making the player think or believe something that isn’t necessarily true. Many horror games – with Prey being no exception – rely on the narrative hook of the player-character (in this case, Morgan Yu) having some form of amnesia. This amnesia is a convenient trope which allows and motivates the player to uncover the chain of events that led to the starting point of the game (for more on this, see Kirkland, 2009).

Samantha Webb analyzes these narrative devices in survival horror games which give players not just a visceral but a cerebral experience of the game. You may read more of her study on First Person Scholar.

(Image credit: BerzekerLT/Fandom; Bethesda)

We all have the right to protest which is enshrined in the constitutions of liberal nations. But perhaps, no other nation takes this right as seriously as the French. They even have a dedicated website that shows which demonstrations are scheduled for the day and where it will happen.

Protesting has become part of the French culture which is no surprise since it is widely noted that the French Revolution changed the game entirely from the public to the private arena. The people found their voice and they chose to let them be heard. 

And I think, in part, that's why protests in France are a more common sight than other places in the world. The people are spurred to action for the causes in which they believe and they take to the streets whenever they see any injustices being done. On the other hand, other countries also see their fair share of protests but perhaps not as vigorous as those of the French.

Back in the US, we have our share of demonstrations, but they tend to be, for lack of a better term, wimpier. Americans might take to the streets for a day or two, but they can’t match the work ethic of those French men and women who, every morning, don their uniform of protest and trudge dutifully to the picket lines. The participation rates are staggering. Adjusting for population, a Parisian-scale protest would equal six million descending on Washington.

Of course, one other thing that needs to be taken into consideration is the impact of these protests. Being an ordinary occurrence, the question is whether the government, businesses, or whatever institution or policy the demonstrators protest against will respond to these concerns with urgency.

(Image credit: Norbu Gyachung/Unsplash)