Trump's Tariffs Are Truly Global. Just Ask the Penguins of McDonald Islands.
King penguins in the Australian territory of Heard Island. (Australian Antarctic Division/AFP via Getty Images)
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Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
There's an Invisible Line That Animals Don't Cross. Here's Why.
The animal kingdoms of Asia and Australia are worlds apart, thanks to an invisible line that runs right between the two neighboring continents. Most wildlife never cross this imaginary boundary, not even birds. And so it has been for tens of millions of years, shaping animal evolution in different ways on each side. It all started about 30 million years ago, when the Australian tectonic plate bashed up against the Eurasian tectonic plate and created an archipelago, rerouting ocean currents and creating new regional climates. On one side of the map, in Indonesia and Malaysia, monkeys, apes, elephants, tigers, and rhinos evolved; while on the other side, in New Guinea and Australia, marsupials, monotremes, rodents, and cockatoos flourish. Very few species are abundant on both sides. The curious faunal divide is named Wallace's Line – after the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, who first noticed the stark difference in animal life (mostly mammals) while exploring the region in the mid-19th century. "We may consider it established that the Strait of Lombok [between Bali and Lombok] only 15 miles wide [24 kilometers] marks the limit and abruptly separates two of the great zoological regions of the globe," Wallace wrote. The naturalist later went on to independently develop a theory of evolution around the same time as Charles Darwin. The line he drew on a map more than a century ago is still considered a hypothetical evolutionary barrier, although debates continue as to its exact location and mechanisms. Generally speaking, Wallace's line separates a shelf of the Asian continent from a shelf of the Australian tectonic plate. It is a geological line, but it is also a climatic and biological one. Deep ocean channels like the Lombok Strait separate each shelf, which makes it difficult for animals to cross. Even when sea levels in the distant past were much lower than today, this chasm would have still existed. While Wallace's invisible line is most obvious when comparing mammals in Asia and Australia, it also exists for birds, reptiles, and other animals. Even creatures with wings don't typically make the trip across Wallace's line, and in the ocean, some types of fish and microbes show genetic differences on one side of the border compared to the other, indicating very little mixing between populations. Scientists have yet to figure out what invisible barriers are holding these species back. Habitat and climate, however, are probably factors accentuating the evolutionary divide. In 2023, an analysis of more than 20,000 vertebrate species found that Southeast Asian lineages evolved in a relatively tropical ancient environment that allowed them to spread out toward New Guinea on humid island "stepping stones". Wildlife on the Australian continental shelf, meanwhile, evolved in distinctly drier conditions, which dictated a different evolutionary path. This meant that Australian wildlife was at a disadvantage in the tropical islands nearer the equator. The more researchers study the Wallace line, however, the less clear it becomes about where the line should be drawn and how 'porous' the barrier might be – at least to some animals that can swim, float, or fly, like bats, beetles, monitor lizards, or macaques. Wallace's divide isn't an absolute border, but more of a gradient, scientists say. Even still, the blurry line helps us make sense of animal evolution for thousands of species. "Darwin's and Wallace's mental and actual maps were the table on which the evolutionary scheme was played out, comparable in importance to the geological time scale," argued science historian Jane Camerini in 1993 for the History of Science Society. What started as a single, roughly placed line, drawn more than a century ago, has now helped shape a bigger and more complicated picture of the natural world and its mysteries. Dehorning Rhinos Cuts Poaching by 78% – Saving Thousands of Animals' Lives Worms Use Their Bodies to Build Towers as a Wild Survival Strategy Elusive LSD Fungus Finally Discovered on Flower
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
As Fluoride Bans Spread, Who Will Be Hit the Hardest?
A recent study projected that if the entire country were to stop adding fluoride to the water supply, tooth decay would increase by about 7.5%, representing about 25 million more cavities. Credit - Linda Raymond—Getty Images Cavities and dental costs are at risk of skyrocketing as a growing number of states consider banning the use of fluoride in public water—and children from low-income households are likely most vulnerable. In March, Utah became the first state to prohibit adding fluoride to drinking water. A couple months later, Florida followed suit. Several other states are now considering similar bills. In a recent study published in JAMA Health Forum, researchers projected what would happen if the entire country were to stop adding fluoride to the water supply. The potential impact on both people's oral health and their dental bills was substantial: Tooth decay, the study found, would increase by about 7.5%—representing about 25 million more cavities—and the U.S. would face about $9.8 billion in additional costs over five years, including both what families would have to pay out-of-pocket for dental care and what the government would need to pay for public health insurance. And those impacts would disproportionately affect children on public insurance plans or without insurance, the researchers found. Fluoridated water is 'an amazing public health intervention that comes straight from the tap,' says the senior author of the study, Dr. Lisa Simon, an internal medicine physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital, who is also a general dentist. Read More: The Science Behind Fluoride in Drinking Water 'Fluoride works for everyone—it benefits adults, it benefits children,' Simon says. 'But the people who derive the most benefit from it are people who have a harder time accessing routine dental care.' 'Unfortunately, in our country, that is more likely to be children and families who are low-income, who rely on public insurance, or who otherwise face challenges in getting to a dentist,' she says. States' moves to ban the use of fluoride in public drinking water come as the Trump Administration—due in large part to the influence of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—has pushed back against the practice. Kennedy has long blasted water fluoridation, claiming it is linked to arthritis, bone cancer, IQ loss, and more, and signaled that HHS will stop recommending it. The Environmental Protection Agency has said that it is studying the potential health risks of fluoride, and the Food and Drug Administration said it is taking steps to remove prescription ingestible fluoride supplements for children from the market. Some research suggests that fluoride could be associated with lower IQ scores, but only at significantly high levels of exposure—the amount of fluoride that is added to public water, based on federal guidelines, is far lower. And the majority of public health experts, pediatricians, and dentists insist that water fluoridation is a long-standing practice that is both safe and effective at protecting oral health and fighting cavities and tooth decay. Read More: America's Dental Health Is in Trouble 'It's been touted to be one of the most successful or greatest public health initiatives, right up there with vaccinations,' says Dr. Tomitra Latimer, a pediatrician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. U.S. localities started adding fluoride to public water in 1945, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has credited the public health initiative for the 'dramatic decline in cavities' in the country in the years since. According to the CDC, drinking fluoridated water reduces cavities by roughly 25% in both children and adults. Tooth decay, though preventable, is one of the most common childhood diseases. And children of color, children who come from low-income households, children on public insurance plans that limit which providers they can see, and children who live in rural areas and have to travel long distances to access care—all of them are at greater risk of developing cavities, according to Latimer. Children with autism also tend to have a heightened risk of developing cavities because they may struggle with brushing their teeth regularly, she says. While there are alternative sources of fluoride that people can purchase, the cost may be out of reach for many families, Latimer says. That's why, she says, fluoridated water is so critical: It's an easily accessible tool that can help protect the oral health of children who are most vulnerable to cavities. And for generations, it's flowed straight from the tap. Contact us at letters@
National Geographic
a day ago
- National Geographic
Can hypnosis really treat hot flashes?
Researchers at Baylor University have found that compared to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), hypnosis was more effective in reducing the frequency and severity of hot flashes. Above, infrared thermal imaging shows heat distribution across a woman's face. Thermogram by Joseph Giacomin, Getty Images The use of hypnosis for medical and psychological purposes dates back centuries. In the 18th century, Austrian physician Franz Anton Mesmer believed 'mesmerism' to be caused by an invisible fluid between the subject and the therapist. The practice was used to alter the perception of pain in surgical patients, and help people with psychological issues. Today hypnosis is understood to be a subjective state in which perception or memory can be evoked by suggestion. While our understanding of hypnotism has evolved, the practice is still a useful tool for both medicine and psychology. Modern day hypnotism has been used in battling addiction, provide relief from chronic pain, and most recently reducing the occurrence of hot flashes. Most women begin the menopausal transition, when the production of estrogen and progesterone declines and menstruation stops, between ages 45 and 55. Because of the shift in hormone levels, women can experience hot flashes before and during menopause. The sudden sensation of heat, sweating, anxiety, and chills can be debilitating. (Read more about what happens during menopause.) Researchers and practitioners argue that hypnosis could provide an alternative to hormone-driven therapies that can be expensive and come with their own risks. While it might sound far-fetched, studies of hypnosis treatment for hot flashes exist. Most of the research on behavioral interventions for menopause symptoms focuses on clinical hypnosis and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), but researchers at Baylor University wanted to dig deeper. In a 2025 scoping review, they found that compared to CBT, hypnosis was more effective in reducing both their frequency and severity. Here's a look at the science behind hypnosis treatment for hot flashes—what it entails and how it might actually work. (Was this hypnotic health craze an elaborate hoax or a medical breakthrough?) What causes hot flashes—and how are they treated? To treat hot flashes, 'I think it's first important to consider what causes hot flashes in the first place,' says Gary Elkins, lead author of the review study and clinical psychologist at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. 'It's not just the estrogen decline that causes a hot flash.' When a woman has a hot flash, there's a dysregulation in core body temperature. Core body temperature is regulated by the hypothalamus in the brain. 'During the menopause transition, there are many different hormonal changes that the hypothalamus is misperceiving as heat, so when a woman has a hot flash she has sweating that is designed to cool her down,' explains Elkins. More well-known and readily prescribed treatments are hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and hormone-free medications like veozah, gabapentin, and clonidine. HRT works by increasing hormone levels, while the hormone free-medications target brain cells and other pathways involved in hot flashes. The North American Menopause Society also recommends CBT as an effective non‐hormonal treatment. Hypnosis and hot flash triggers Elkins and his colleagues scoured the literature for studies on both hot flashes and CBT. Across 23 studies, the team found that after the first week of hypnosis practice, there was a decline on average of about 30 percent. By the fourth week, the decline in frequency was by 70 percent. CBT didn't seem to perform as well. So what might be happening in the brain to cut hot flashes down? Elkins and his colleagues suspect that when a woman goes under hypnosis and hears the post-hypnotic suggestions, the hypothalamus perceives coolness and the frequency of hot flashes begins to decline. Stress and anxiety are other major triggers of hot flashes, so as women practice hypnotic relaxation, the effects carry over to when the woman isn't doing the hypnosis, providing a way to regulate the stress response or the autonomic nervous system. Elkins emphasizes the importance of consistency. 'It's not like I will hypnotize you one time and hot flashes will go away. It doesn't work that way, because you've got to reinforce and re-experience the coolness—it's the mind-body connection.' What hypnosis therapy looks like Mary Cahilly, a mental health and wellness therapist, has already incorporated hypnosis for hot flashes in her offerings at Canyon Ranch, a wellness resort in Lenox, Massachusetts. There's a formula to hypnotism that practitioners use, and it typically begins with recalling something pleasant. 'When we have a pleasant memory, our body relaxes because the limbic part of the brain doesn't understand the difference between a thought and reality,' explains Cahilly. Then the muscles progressively relax and that leads to the official trance process. 'In the case of hot flashes,' says Cahilly, 'When you're in the trance, it's a feeling like you're in control of your body, that there's coolness, a sense of freedom and lightness.' A post-hypnotic suggestion is offered toward the end so that the woman can easily return to this state of coolness and relaxation during a hot flash. Hypnosis as an alternative treatment Many of the medications currently available to treat hot flash symptoms can cause side effects, ranging from inconvenient, like dry mouth and eyes, stomach upset, and drowsiness, to more serious like increased liver enzymes that can be a sign of liver damage. Because hypnosis has nothing to do with fixing estrogen levels, it doesn't come with side effects, and that's part of the appeal. Estrogen levels never return to their original levels after menopause, but hot flashes eventually go away because the hypothalamus begins to again regulate body temperature. 'It is believed,' Elkins speculates, 'that with the practice of hypnosis, the process of regulation is occurring earlier on.' There's also the issue of accessibility and cost—veozah has a monthly cost of roughly $550, while hypnosis can be accessed through an evidence-based digital therapeutic app created in partnership with Elkins, or an array of other apps like HypnoBox or EverCalm. While in-person hypnosis with therapists like Cahilly can cost upwards of $250, sessions can be recorded and used at home. (Could this be the end of menopause as we know it?) Elkins acknowledges the fraught relationship between women and healthcare, and that historically women have been dismissed or told their symptoms are all in their head. For Elkins and his team, it was important to explore whether the change hypnosis causes in hot flashes was due to belief. 'What we found was that it didn't matter if you believed in it, or you didn't believe in it,' he says. While hypnosis is a mind-body therapy, and has similarities with mindfulness or relaxation techniques, Elkins' research shows that CBT does not decrease the frequency or severity of hot flashes. Neither do mindfulness practices. 'They can both decrease how much it bothers a person, but there's little or no change in the hot flashes,' he notes. Is hypnosis simply a placebo effect? But researchers can't rule out a placebo effect—the idea that your brain can convince your body that a treatment works and heal your body's symptoms. 'Some hypnosis researchers actually call hypnosis a super placebo,' says Michael Lifshitz, assistant professor of social and transcultural psychiatry at McGill University. 'Your brain has the power to dramatically change itself through the power of suggestion.' While this might sound similar to wishful thinking, it's not. 'Placebo is not about what you think. It's not a mind cure. It's not positive thinking. It's not expectation, and it's not faith or belief,' explains Ted Kaptchuk, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. The important thing to note, according to Lifshitz, is that placebos can actually change your body's processes. 'There's all kinds of mind-body connections that are not just subjective—your subjective experience actually affects the capacity of your body in a lot of tangible ways.' When it comes to hypnosis for physical symptoms like hot flashes, Lifshitz thinks it's better to reframe our thinking: 'Let's embrace the power of the mind over the body and that hypnosis is a way of harnessing that power.' In a 2020 study, Kaptchuk investigated the efficacy of an open-label placebo (OLP) treatment for menopausal hot flashes—meaning, the patients were fully aware that they weren't taking medication. 'These patients are desperate after failed medications and doctor appointments. They are not expecting to get better,' he says. The study found that OLP treatment was both safe and effective. The exact mechanism behind placebo is complex, but with his research, Kaptchuk is hoping to understand its benefits. 'Placebos don't cure tumors. They don't cure malaria. They only turn down symptoms that the body creates itself,' he explains. Symptoms, like hot flashes, are the nerves and neurons in the body saying that something is happening, 'but your brain sees something more, turns up the volume, and you get bad hot flashes.' Even if the placebo effect drives the effectiveness of hypnosis in treating hot flashes, it's likely not a problem for patients. As Elkins puts it, 'if woman can see the research and evidence that hypnosis helps, it improves the frequency severity of hot flashes, they don't really care what you want to call it.'
