DR MICHAEL MOSLEY: How a little Neanderthal can help you fight Covid

When it comes to pain, I like to think I’m pretty tough, but when I was recently asked to participate in a pain study, I did pretty poorly.

It was for a TV show I do about sleep, and we looked at how a bad night’s sleep reduces your ability to tolerate pain, which is important if you have a chronic pain disorder.

The test was to blindfold myself, place my hands in a bucket of ice cold water, and then test how long I could hold them there before the pain became unbearable.

I took this test before and after a night of conscious sleep with only my eyes closed for four hours.

And while my pain threshold was lower when I was tired (I only lasted 90 seconds), it wasn’t that impressively high even when I was well rested (I barely lasted two minutes).

So maybe I’m not as tough as I like to think – or maybe I can blame it on my Neanderthal genes.

In fact, we all have them. And now a new study led by researchers at University College London has found that people who inherited certain Neanderthal genes are much more sensitive to certain types of pain (stabbing pain rather than heat or pressure pain) than those who don’t . .

Neanderthals were a human species that lived long before our distant ancestors emerged from Africa about 70,000 years ago. At some point, our ancestors must have connected with the Neanderthals, because we all carry a small part of their DNA.

The Neanderthals became extinct about 30,000 years ago, leaving us as the only human species on earth.

But they left behind a valuable legacy in the form of genes that continue to shape our lives today.

Neanderthal DNA makes up about one percent of our genes, but when I recently sent a sample of my saliva to a DNA ancestry website, I was told that nearly 2 percent of my DNA must come from Neanderthal ancestors and that I am even more Neanderthal. than most people who tested them.

What does all this mean for us today? First, as recent research shows, it affects our response to pain. The researchers made this discovery by measuring the pain thresholds of nearly 2,000 people after testing their blood for three specific Neanderthal genes previously found to likely lead to greater sensitivity to pain. They found that people who react more strongly to sharp pain are more likely to have these genes.

Although the main reason we feel pain is to protect ourselves from harm (for example, if you accidentally put your hand on a hot surface, you move the hand away because of the pain), it is not clear why we are more sensitive is not for pain. would have been an advantage. Special advantage for Neanderthals or why these genes have also been preserved in modern humans.

However, this spoils the popular image of Neanderthals as callous animals. In addition to pain sensitivity, Neanderthals also passed on genes that affect the shape of our nose (researchers say this leads to a “longer nose”, but don’t say what that means); the thickness of our lips; and even the curvature of our heads. More importantly, there is evidence that a particular Neanderthal gene increases a woman’s chance of giving birth to a healthy baby.

This conclusion was reached by scientists from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, who analyzed the blood of more than 244,000 women and found that almost one in three inherited increased sensitivity to the hormone progesterone from Neanderthals.

Progesterone is a hormone that plays an important role during pregnancy and binds to receptors throughout the body.

That’s not all. Recent research shows that genes inherited from Neanderthals help strengthen our immune systems and protect us from deadly viruses, including, surprisingly, Covid-19.

The study from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan (published in the journal PNAS in February 2021) found that genes inherited from Neanderthals reduce the risk of becoming seriously ill if infected with Covid-19 by approx. 20 percent reduced.

These protective genes, present in half of us, produce enzymes that attack and destroy viruses. The fact that they are present in so many of us suggests that they perform an important job.

It is remarkable that another species continues to protect and support us long after it has disappeared from the earth.

Can eating onions make me stop craving chocolate chip cookies?

We know that high-fiber foods are good for our gut, but a new study shows that eating certain types of fiber also changes our brain, reducing the need for sugary treats.

As someone who struggles to say no to a chocolate chip cookie, the results piqued my interest.

This fascinating study was conducted by scientists at the Leipzig University Hospital in Germany, who scanned the brains of 59 overweight middle-aged people while they were shown images of food, including sweets; They were also asked to rate each treat at the same time.

For the next two weeks, they drank a drink rich in inulin (a type of fiber found in onions).

For the next two weeks, they consumed a drink rich in inulin (a type of fiber found in onions, wheat and green bananas) or a placebo. They then went back to the lab to have their brains scanned again while looking at the same images.

Surprisingly, the brain scans showed that the inulin was effective in reducing activity in reward areas of the brain; Volunteers who consumed it also reported fewer food cravings. These changes in the brain were accompanied by changes in the intestinal bacteria of the inulin group, with a significant increase in bifidobacteria; This is thought to trigger the release of GLP-1, another chemical in the gut.

This is the same chemical that is the target of the new “wonder drugs” for weight loss that are causing a lot of buzz right now.

The researchers are now conducting a six-month follow-up study to find out what influence inulin has on people’s eating behavior and weight.

Thanks to 3D Printer, you can “print” anything. from shoes to weapons.

Scientists at Oxford Even the university shown that it can be done new brain tissue, with “Bio-ink” made from cells create a suitable one form. The idea is this In the future, surgeons may be able to do this Use this approach patching people’s brains together damaged by trauma, stroke or even cancer