hungry Archives - usatoday24

We are discovering how the brain “hacks” us to make us hungry. And it is a key step in the race towards losing weight.

November 22, 2025 by usatoday24

Right now, treatments to lose weight are the order of the day, with a clear protagonist like Ozempic. The problem is that beyond the aesthetic effects that are achieved, there are many doubts about both the side effects as well as all the effects it has on the body. But little by little science you understand much better how they achieve their effectwhich seems like a real miracle for many. What we knew. In general, these treatments They are ‘copies’ of GLP-1 which is a hormone that we produce normally in our body and makes us have the feeling of satiety. The moment we increase it exogenously we have a greater feeling of satiety that allows patients to lose weight (although with a risk of bouncing when treatment is stopped). But beyond this effect, the action it could have directly on the brain was something that had only been explored in animals. Now, a new study published in Nature has crossed this frontier thanks to Casey Halpern’s team, which has taken advantage of a “unique opportunity” to observe, for the first time in humans, the impact of Mounjaro (tirzepatide) directly into the reward center of the brain. Why it is important. The discovery of how the brain can ‘hack’ our body to eat much less opens many doors for us in the field of pharmacology to be able to continue working on definitive treatment. against obesitybecause we are seeing that it is something in high demand by many people who find it necessary to have this help (although it is not a miracle) to be able to reduce their weight. And we even see how in the United States purchasing is becoming more and more accessible. And we say that it is a miracle, because Ozempic or Mounjaro does part of the work, but we must not leave aside the change in eating habits to adjust the diet and be able to maintain it after stopping the treatment. The problem is that there are people who after stopping the treatment continue eating normally, and logically they see that there was no miracle involved. How it was done. The study focused on a 60-year-old woman with treatment-resistant obesity and type 2 diabetes. This patient was already taking Mounjaro for diabetes, and coincidentally, she was participating in another trial to treat dysregulated eating. This coincidence allowed the researchers to do something unprecedented: use the electrodes, already implanted in its nucleus accumbens (NAc)for hear brain activity while the drug took effect. And this brain nucleus is really important as it is the center of pleasure in humans and reward, that is, it is the point that can be modulated to restrict food consumption. The sign of craving. Those cravings we have for eating a little chocolate, a greasy pizza or a hamburger are something we all have because it is what gives us pleasure. In this case it was seen that the signal changed over the months, specifically the delta-theta frequency band. In the first months of treatments with Mounjaro, the patient had no desire for food in that sense of craving. Something that corresponded to a null signal in this nucleus, so it could be said that the medication was silencing this ‘noise’ that is generated in the pleasure center. The problem is that in the fifth to seventh months, despite being on the maximum dose of medication, the patient again had severe concern about food. And here again the signal in the nucleus had spiked to match that of those people who had no treatment. An advantage for the future. The most important finding here is that the change in the brain preceded the behavior. That is, before having a relapse this signal was increasing as if it were a warning signal. That is, a future where a sensor can detect this brain signature and alert the patient or doctor that the effectiveness of the drug is decreasing, before that the person will feel the cravings again in an uncontrolled way. Much ahead. This is a study with a single person, and it has many limitations and its conclusions logically cannot condition the clinical activity of the use of these medications. What it is useful for (and a lot) is to understand that the brain has a lot to do with this weight loss as if it were a real button to control eating habits. Perhaps silencing this brain nucleus in a very specific and sustained way may be the ‘holy grail’ that weight loss science seeks to control these cravings that can ruin a diet imposed by specialists. Although there is still a lot to investigate and it is only a first door for other medications that can complement Ozempic or Mounjaro, which has given great results. Images | Shawn Day Victoria Shes In Xataka | This is the great hope of the competition to replace Ozempic. Your weapon: banish needles with a pill

It’s not that there are hungry bears, it’s who is left to face them

November 6, 2025 by usatoday24

In 1976, the Government of Japan registered 500,000 licenses first level hunting. By 2012, the licenses did not arrive at 100.00. These data did not have much importance in the nation’s newspapers until someone noticed. The bears have taken over “rural Japan”, they are hungry and have no resources to contain them. In the background, a national demographic crisis, and another at an international level that have turned the animal into the number one danger. First they were emergency huntsnow it is directly the army. A sinlife. Japan is experiencing the biggest rebound of bear attacks recorded since data exists, with more than a hundred injured and at least twelve people dead since the spring, along with more than 20,000 sightings reported in the first half of the fiscal year alone. The meetings already are not restricted to mountainous areas: the animals appear in gardens, stations, schools, supermarkets and thermal complexes, which has generated a feeling of constant danger in regions that traditionally associated autumn with hiking, local festivals and enjoying the autumn landscape. Bears everywhere. The density of sightings is concentrated in the north, especially in Akita and Iwatebut cases have also been confirmed nearby from Tokyo and Osakaa clear indicator of the loss of ecological boundaries that separated the forest from the urban. The result is that a season that used to symbolize serenity, hiking and foliage viewing has become a period continuous alertwith cancellations of marathons, school walks and tourist events, and with hikers changing destinations, traveling in groups and equipping themselves with bells, radios and repellent sprays. Depopulation, aging and warming. He increase in attacks It is not a casual or strictly natural phenomenon: it is the accumulated consequence of decades of rural depopulation, aging community and environmental alterations. In large areas of the north, entire towns and neighborhoods have disappeared emptying and agingdrastically reducing the human presence that previously deterred bears from approaching. The figure of the local hunter, key to managing fauna, is has become scarcewith hunting associations composed mainly by elderly men that they can no longer intervene quickly enough. At the same time, the reduction of acorn and beechnut cropslinked to climate change, has decreased the food available in the woods, driving bears into abandoned fields and home orchards, where they find unguarded persimmons, chestnuts, and apple trees. Extra ball. In many villages, the ancient satoyama landscapes (the buffer strips between forest and crops) have been abandoned, erasing gradients that previously marked clear boundaries between the wild and the human. This spatial and ecological convergence has made the encounter with bears stop being a contingency and become an something statistically probable in certain areas. The army warms up. The seriousness of the situation has forced the central government to intervene, deploying troops in Akita to support local authorities who admit they are overwhelmed. However, the military They do not have authorization to kill animals: their role is restricted to installing traps, transporting authorized hunters and helping to remove carcasses, while the lethal component falls on a network of hunters whose capacity is already insufficient. This model highlights a growing contradiction: Self-defense forces, already limited in personnel, must address a prolonged civil emergency in parallel to their defense mission. As we countthe government has started preparing emergency measures that include relax the rules hunting in urban areas, hire new shooters, reinforce monitoring and use drones with deterrent sounds, but these actions require time, interprefectural coordination and specialized training. The feeling of citizen vulnerability persists because the problem does not depend only on individual captures, but on the restoration of a territorial balance that has been eroded for decades. Social and psychological impact. Plus: the increase in attacks has modified the daily routines in affected regions. Parents accompany their children to school, residents avoid going out after dark, farmers work in fear, and hikers reconsider activities that were previously seen as an essential part of seasonal well-being. Surveys show that more than 75% of hikers now feel anxious about the possibility of encounters with bears, and more than half have changed or canceled plans. The feeling of insecurity has even crossed cultural identity Japanese autumnassociated with contemplation, gastronomy and a slow pace. This emotional transition from enjoyment to caution reflects that the problem is not only one of fauna, but of social structure: when the territories they lose populationservices, surveillance and organized community, also lose their capacity to absorb and manage natural risks. Crisis and bears. The crisis of bear attacks in Japan it is not an exceptional episode but the visible manifestation of a deep dynamic where depopulation, aging, ecological transformation and weakening of rural management converge on a new vulnerability. While bears search for food and territory, humans they withdraw from spaces who previously maintained a controlled cohabitation relationship. The answer cannot limit yourself to hunting more or install more traps: It will require rethinking the revitalization of rural environments, restoring satoyama barriers, training new cohorts of managers and strengthening community capacity. The immediate future will bring a temporary truce with hibernation, but the trend indicates that spring and next fall they will stress again this border. Seen this way, the question that arises is not only how to protect the population, but how to reconstruct a territorial balance that allows the human and the wild to continue coexisting without fear replacing daily life. Image | Animals, US Department of Defense Current Photos, jasohill In Xataka | Faced with the largest flood of wild bears in memory, Japan has taken a measure: emergency hunts In Xataka | Wolf hunting throughout Spain depended on a red button that changes its status. And Europe has decided to press it

The North Koreans are hungry, so they have started hunting tigers. It’s just the tip of the iceberg

October 12, 2025 by usatoday24

North Korea It is a unique country. so unique as airtight and, therefore, fascinating. Know What is an ordinary day in Pyongyang like?the capital, is tremendously complicated. On the one hand, we have the official speech of prosperity and normality. On the other hand, the stories from people who have been within its borders. But sometimes there are accidents and information is leaked, such as the systematic hunting of any animal that weighs more than 500 grams in order to survive another day. And the problem is so brutal that there are already those who point to a strong risk of “defaunation” of North Korea. In short. Joshua Elves-Powell is a researcher who, a few weeks ago, presented a study which analyzed North Korea’s wildlife trade. Obviously, obtaining first-hand information in the country seemed complicated, but Powell had an ace up his sleeve: the testimonies of 42 North Korean defectors. During 2021 and 2022, participants spoke in both South Korea and the United Kingdom and their testimony was devastating: North Korea has been hunting animals for decades to trade with them… and to eat them. In a serious study, these sources should have a first and last name, but due to the unique conditions of this studyit must be noted that the research was reviewed by the UCL Research Ethics Committee. The sample was large: all were over 18 years old and had left the country between 1950 and 2020. black market. Some context. In the 1990s, North Korea’s economy collapsed. In a period of famine, people do whatever it takes to survive, and the humanitarian crisis transformed the country’s relationship with its wildlife. According to testimonies, professional hunters, but also soldiers, black market regulars and wildlife consumers, set out to hunt animals like tigers and other species. The objective was not only to eat them (that too), but to sell them. One of the participants commented that he had been involved in the illegal trade of tiger bones from the Pyongyang Zoo in 2020 and had been able to obtain bones from professional hunters between 2014 and 2020. The hunted is not only sold on the local black market, but also in countries such as Chona or Russia. This clearly violates international conservation obligations and is supported by the seizure of products from time to time, such as the shipment of more than 100 bottles of tiger bone wine at the border between the two countries. Goals. What do they hunt? The research shows that virtually all native mammals weighing more than 500 grams are a viable target. Apart from Siberian tigers (of which part of their hunting is mentioned for food) and Amur leopards (food too), found in a tremendously sensitive moment Due to their scarcity, the prey are the following: Deer: for their meat and pieces such as antlers. Wild boars: for their meat. Asian black bears: get meat, bile, paws and skin. Asian badgers: to create medicinal oil. Porcupines: for their quills. Otters: for fur and trade. Red fox: skin. Gray wolf: fur. Raccoon: for its meat and for trafficking. Defaunation. This hunting is not usually done with firearms, but with an extensive network of traps that add a problem to the list: being an indiscriminate capture, non-target species fall, such as the Bengal cat (Prionailurus bengalensis). This massive hunt is causing what they have qualified as a “defaunation” process that implies that a scenario is occurring in North Korean forests in which there is no longer any fauna. It is something that affects both North Korea and the neighboring areas of China, Russia and South Korea. The Amur Lepartum And the State? in the garlicaccording to these informants. The problem is that we are talking about a market to, above all, create products focused on traditional medicine. For example, deer antlers are the essential ingredient for producing ointments with healing properties and Asian badger oil is used to treat skin conditions. In fact, there are hunters authorized by the State who must present pieces as a tribute and it is ensured that the country itself raises certain animals (such as bears for their bile) to obtain resources that are export to neighboring markets. They do so in facilities that operate under a façade of legality, but supposedly feeding the black market. Someone do something. Powell’s study presented the information and those defectors allowed us to know that side of North Korea. But of course, doing something is complex. Animal organizations consider that the country is a “black hole” for the recovery of fauna because there are no efforts to protect biodiversity. They denounce that it is a market that violates efforts to recover endangered species and, in addition, is a risk to public health. They call for international pressure, using these refugee testimonies as evidence, and specifically allude to China, asking to tighten monitoring of illegal imports. Finally, there is a call for North Korea to join the CITESthe treaty that regulates international trade in endangered species. And this, unfortunately, sounds quite complicated. Images | Uwe Brodrecht, Ltshears In Xataka | This rocket-shaped skyscraper is the “worst building in the world.” And it’s in North Korea, obviously.

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