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Can music make us smarter? Can meditation make you smarter? Wait]
Can meditation make you smarter? Most people know that meditation is one of the best ways to relieve stress, but meditation practice is not only to calm people down temporarily. Meditation is also often associated with changes in brain structure-it helps to concentrate, improve memory, and has multitasking skills. But can this kind of physical and mental exercise really help you get an A directly in your studies?

Although it is not clear how meditation changes the brain, some scientists say that meditation can make us focus on a specific thing or idea, thus changing our neural network. But remember, these studies don't show any changes in our brains, but only show that these cognitive abilities are related to meditation.

Another study skipped brain scans and directly proposed the practical benefits of meditation. OM chanting in yoga is a good way to combine high concentration with multi-task skills-when work loses focus, some people need to expect something. Researchers believe that meditation can help people solve the trouble of things or thinking interruption, and effectively complete multi-tasking work. At the same time, meditation can also relieve students' stress in exams and improve their academic performance.

Compile/Yin Shan

Biomimetic retinal implantation allows patients to see again.

popular science

A new bionic eye implant allows blind people to recognize faces, watch TV and even read. Nano Retina's bionic retina products are one of the two ways to help patients with age-related macular degeneration recover their vision. This product has benefited 6.5438+0.5 million people in the United States. Although bionic eye named Argus II launched by Second Sight in the European market last year is similar to Nano Retina's products. However, the product has a built-in antenna to receive external energy, so it is huge, and the patient needs to undergo a transplant operation for 4 hours under complete anesthesia. On the other hand, bionic eye's implant is smaller because it has no antenna part.

Bionic eye of Nano Retina can capture images directly from the eyes. The ophthalmologist can implant the product into the eye within 30 minutes by cutting a small hole in the retina, which can greatly reduce the discomfort of the elderly during the operation. Bionic eye products will provide a 576-pixel grayscale image. In addition, according to the "Nano Retina" company, this product can be clinically tested as soon as next year.

Compile/Yin Shanshan

Eating egg yolk accelerates the deterioration of coronary heart disease

atherosclerosis

Scientists have discovered the truth about eggs: eating egg yolk is almost as harmful as smoking, because eating egg yolk increases the risk of atherosclerosis. This disease is an obstacle caused by atherosclerotic plaque formed on the inner wall of arteries, and cholesterol can promote plaque formation.

Dr David Spencer of the University of Western Ontario in London said that in terms of plaque formation, the adverse effects of eating egg yolk are about two-thirds of those of smoking. He surveyed 123 1 men and women, and correlated this finding with the risk factors of stroke and heart attack. Plaque rupture is a common cause of most heart attacks and many strokes.

Studies have shown that with the increase of age, plaques will accumulate on the arterial wall, and egg yolk can accelerate the formation of plaques. He said that this effect is not dominated by gender, cholesterol, blood pressure, smoking, body mass index and diabetes. Although he believes that more research is needed to reach a final conclusion, he stressed that people at risk of cardiovascular disease should try to avoid eating egg yolk frequently.

Compile/Yang Xiaowen

How does carbon monoxide kill people?

Respiratory and intensive care

Researchers in Leeds, England, found that even low levels of carbon monoxide can disturb the heart rhythm and lead to death.

The gas, cigarettes and automobile exhaust from the faulty boiler all contain a lot of carbon monoxide, which can be closely combined with hemoglobin, thus making hemoglobin lose its ability to transport oxygen, leading to the death of human body due to hypoxia and suffocation. Many people in the world die of carbon monoxide poisoning every year. The research team of Leeds University found that even a small amount of carbon monoxide gas can keep the sodium ion channel, an important channel for controlling heartbeat, open but not closed. Interfering with sodium channels will disturb the heart rhythm and lead to arrhythmia, which may be fatal. They cooperated with French researchers to test the effect of an angina pectoris drug on sodium channels in rats, and found that this old drug can help sodium channels return to normal. Although clinical trials are still needed, this is undoubtedly a good start.

Compile/Wang Fang

The strongest X-ray laser beam is as accurate as a scalpel.

Nature-photonics

With the help of a slender diamond, scientists at the National Accelerator Laboratory of Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) of the US Department of Energy transformed the linear accelerator coherent light source (LCLS) into a more accurate tool, which can be used to explore the nano-world. After this improvement, the laser pulse can be focused to a very narrow X-ray wavelength and achieve higher intensity, which makes some previously impossible experiments possible.

In a process called "self-injection", diamonds filter the laser beam into a single X-ray wavelength and then amplify it. This upgrade is equivalent to turning an axe into a scalpel, giving scientists more control when conducting research and manipulating substances at the atomic level, and also allowing them to take clearer and sharper photos of materials, molecules and chemical reactions. Jerry Hastings, co-author of the research paper and SLAC scientist, said: "When we studied this kind of laser, we were surprised to find that the project was actually very simple and low-cost."

Compile/Yang Xiaowen

Doing more exercise can protect the heart of middle-aged people.

circulate

A study of more than 4000 people shows that middle-aged people in their forties and fifties can do more exercise to protect their hearts. The expert explained: "You don't need to do strenuous exercise in the gym, just keep two and a half hours of moderate-intensity exercise every week, such as gardening and brisk walking."

In this study, the researchers found that people who do recommended exercise for 2.5 hours a week have lower levels of inflammatory markers in their blood. High levels of inflammatory markers increase the risk of heart disease. The researchers considered some other factors, such as obesity and smoking, and found that the results did not change. Dr Mark Hammer, who led the research, said: "We should encourage more people to take part in activities, such as walking instead of taking the bus. Everyone can get healthy in moderate exercise. "

Compile/Wang Fang