Medical Notes: A New Form Of Evolution, Why Winter Is The Best Season For Your Diet, And The ‘Milk Bond’ Between Mother And Baby

We may have discovered a new form of evolution.

Scientists studied how insects coped with hurricane harvey in 2017 for a paper published in Nature Ecology And Evolution. They noticed that many bugs went through a type of evolution called ‘Spatial sorting’. It changes the likelihood of which specific traits are passed on, like with natural selection. But instead of taking thousands of years, the change occurred almost instantaneously. Since it’s often triggered by major natural disasters, scientists think we’ll be seeing more of this evolution in the near future.

Is winter the best season for our health?

A mouse study reveals that these shorter days may have a positive effect on metabolism. The mice that were exposed to winter-light hours experienced less weight gain and had a better eating schedule to support metabolic health. The work, which is published in Cell Metabolism, can’t be accurately translated to humans, but researchers hope this study opens the door to figuring out how seasons affect our hunger pathways.

Has education has become an afterthought for kids?

The U.S. Department of Education has reported that chronic absenteeism in schools was at an all-time high after the pandemic. Two-thirds of K through 12 students were enrolled in education programs with high levels of chronic absence – meaning that one in five kids missed nearly four weeks of classes. While the numbers are slowly trending back down, the data is still much higher than pre-pandemic absenteeism. These absences put a greater stress on teachers and make learning much more difficult.

Breast milk is triggered by a baby’s whine.

Research in Nature finds that a newborn’s cry tells the mother’s brain to release oxytocin – a chemical that controls the flow of breast milk. This flood of hormones lasts for a few minutes, allowing enough time for a mother to feed her child. Without this process, there could be a delay in milk production which leads to a frustrated baby and mom.

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