Eating less sugar in the first 1,000 days of life can lead to healthier adulthood | Technology Weekly

Compiled by Zhou Shuyi and Wang Xiang

The evolutionary origins of kissing

A kiss is a language that transcends regions and cultures. In different parts of the world, although the details vary, kisses are limited to special situations, special relationships, special people - special intimacy. This may mean that there is an evolutionary basis across cultures behind kissing. Some researchers believe that kissing originated from sniffing, breastfeeding or feeding behaviors between parents and children. A study recently published in Evolutionary Anthropology put forward another view: kissing originated from the "finishing stage" of hair grooming by human ancestors, and this behavior still exists in modern apes such as chimpanzees.

A Mesopotamian clay sculpture from 1800 BC showing a couple kissing. | The Trustees of the British Museum

Grooming is a common behavior among non-human primates: picking out parasites, dead skin, and debris from the hair of other individuals promotes endorphin secretion, relieves stress, and strengthens social bonds. Therefore, grooming has both hygienic and social significance, and often occurs between individuals with close social and kinship relationships, regardless of gender and age. In the final step of grooming, the groomer will pout and suck the hair and skin of the person being groomed to remove parasites or debris. Researchers say that compared to previous hypotheses about the origin of kissing, this action is closer to human kissing in form, context, and function - it includes pouting and sucking, is not limited to parent-child relationships, and has social intimacy.

The authors point out that during the evolution, human ancestors gradually lost their body hair, and the hygienic function of grooming weakened. Grooming became less frequent and lasted shorter. Compared with other primates, humans have reduced grooming behavior by 89%. But the last step of grooming - sucking and touching with the lips - has been retained as the core of a social ritual and evolved into today's kiss. Studies have shown that mouth-to-mouth kissing evolved from mouth-to-skin kissing, which originated from the behavior of human ancestors grooming each other's hair. Because the area near the lips is very sensitive, kissing is maintained because of the pleasurable effect it brings.

The researchers said that modern apes have hair of varying lengths, and groups with less or thinner hair tend to groom for shorter periods of time. If grooming ends with a kiss regardless of the length of the grooming session, this would strongly support the above hypothesis.

The first scientific achievement of the Tianguan satellite was released, and a new type of X-ray transient source was detected

On October 31, Beijing time, the space science satellite, the Einstein Probe (EP) satellite, developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, completed its in-orbit delivery and was officially named the "Tianguan" satellite. At the delivery ceremony, the Chinese Academy of Sciences also announced the first important scientific achievement of the "Tianguan" satellite in orbit: the detection of a transient source with unique X-ray characteristics, EP240408a. This transient source has attracted attention for its unique temporal and spectral characteristics in the X-ray band, and this is the first time such an event has been observed in the field of astronomy. The relevant paper was published online by SCIENCE CHINA Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy on October 30. The discovery of EP240408a marks an important first step for the "Tianguan" satellite in revealing unknown phenomena in the universe.

X-ray image obtained during the observations that discovered EP240408a | National Space Science Center

EP240408a was first detected on April 8, 2024 by the Wide Field X-ray Telescope (WXT) on Tianguan, which recorded a violent burst of X-rays. The brightness of the burst increased by 300 times and lasted only 12 seconds. Subsequently, through follow-up observations by EP's follow-up X-ray telescope FXT, Swift satellite and NICER and other space telescopes, scientists further confirmed the discovery, and the X-ray object disappeared after about 10 days. Zhang Wenda, the author of the article and an associate researcher at the National Astronomical Observatory, said: "The temporal variation and spectral characteristics of EP240408a do not fully match our known X-ray transient sources, including jet tidal disruption stellar events (TDEs), gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), X-ray binaries (XRBs), or fast blue optical transients (FBOTs). EP240408a may not belong to any currently known type of X-ray transient source and may represent a new or rare astronomical phenomenon."

Yuan Weimin, chief scientist of the Tianguan satellite, said: "The discovery of EP240408a may indicate a new type of transient source. This type of short-term X-ray flare has a time scale of about 10 days and may have been missed in previous time-domain X-ray surveys. It is difficult for other currently operating X-ray telescopes or telescopes in other wavelengths to detect similar objects. The discovery of EP is of great significance to our understanding of extreme physical processes in the universe."

The Tianguan satellite project is led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with the participation of the European Space Agency (ESA), the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) and the French National Center for Space Studies (CNES). EP was launched on January 9, 2024 and began routine scientific operations in July of the same year.

Eating less sugar in the first 1,000 days of life could lead to healthier adulthood

Childhood experiences can sometimes have a lifelong impact, and the food we eat in the first few years of life may shape our bodies in incredible ways. A study published in Science on October 31 analyzed population health data before and after the UK lifted the "sugar restriction order" in 1953 and found that limiting sugar intake in the first 1,000 days of life (from pregnancy to 2 years old) can significantly reduce the risk of diabetes and high blood pressure in adulthood.

During World War II, the British government implemented sugar rationing due to economic difficulties. During this period, British residents consumed an average of about 40 grams of sugar per day, which is comparable to the level prescribed by modern dietary guidelines (<50 g). The rationing system ended in September 1953, and the average sugar intake quickly doubled to 80 grams per day. At the same time, the intake of other foods remained almost unchanged. Using data from the UK Biobank, researchers compared the health of 38,000 people born during the sugar rationing system with 22,000 people born shortly after the end of the sugar rationing system. The results showed that the former had a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and hypertension in adulthood by about 35% and 20%, respectively, and the onset time was delayed by 4 years and 2 years, respectively. It is worth noting that restricting sugar intake during pregnancy alone can reduce the risk of disease by about 1/3, and the protective effect of sugar restriction after birth is further enhanced, especially after six months of birth, which is usually the period when babies start to eat solid food.

The researchers said the study highlights the long-term health benefits of limiting sugar intake in the first 1,000 days of life. The findings do not mean that parents or children need to completely ban sugar, but given the prevalence of added sugar in the food industry, reducing sugar intake is still beneficial, "the key is moderation."

OpenAI adds search functionality to ChatGPT

On October 31, local time, OpenAI announced that it would add a search function to the chatbot ChatGPT, providing users with fast and timely latest information and answers without the need for another search engine. This function is integrated into the chatbot instead of a separate search product.

OpenAI said that the search model is a fine-tuned version of GPT-4o, and the search function is now fully open to paid Plus and Team users. Paid users of the Enterprise and Education versions will gain access in the coming weeks, while free users will have to wait a few more months. ChatGPT's search function will mine network information based on user questions and provide fast and timely answers. The chat content between users and ChatGPT will contain links to sources such as news articles and blog posts, giving users the opportunity to learn more information.

"ChatGPT search uses content provided directly by third-party search providers and our partners to provide users with the information they are looking for." The press release wrote that OpenAI works with news and data providers to add the latest information and new visual designs to categories such as weather, stocks, sports, news and maps. OpenAI has signed content agreements with several publishers this year, including Time magazine, the Financial Times, German media giant Axel Springer, the owner of Business Insider, and Le Monde, France.

41.02 million digits! GPU helps discover the largest prime number to date

Luke Durant, a former engineer at Nvidia, used numerous graphics processing units (GPUs) to successfully discover the largest prime number known to date: 2¹³⁶ ²⁷⁹ ⁸⁴¹-1, which expands to 41024320 decimal digits, 16 million digits longer than the 2018 record.

Prime numbers are natural numbers greater than 1 that can only be divided by 1 and themselves, such as 2, 3, and 5. As numbers get bigger, it becomes increasingly difficult to prove which numbers are prime. Luke participated in the "Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search" (GIMPS) project and discovered this latest prime number. He will receive a $3,000 prize, which is the first prize awarded by the project since 2018.

All prime numbers previously discovered by the GIMPS project were found by the central processing unit (CPU) of a personal computer. The latest prime number was discovered with the help of GPUs, chips originally developed for computer games that have become key to the rise of artificial intelligence. Luke, who worked as a GPU development engineer at Nvidia, networked thousands of GPUs deployed in 24 data centers in 17 countries around the world to collaborate on the discovery of this prime number.

This new prime is also the 52nd Mersenne prime. Mersenne primes are primes of the form 2n-1 (n is a positive integer), named in honor of the pioneering work done by French mathematician Marin Mersenne in this field. Such primes are relatively easy to find, making them the primary target of the GIMPS project.

Luke said that the reason why he spared no effort to find Mersenne primes was that he hoped to prove through this achievement that GPUs can not only be used in the field of AI, but also have the potential to "show their prowess" in the fields of basic mathematics and scientific research. (Science and Technology Daily)

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