A fascinating deep dive into the discovery, use and implications of a revolutionary new treatment
Few aspects of being human have generated more judgment, scorn and condemnation than a person’s size, shape and weight – particularly if you happen to be female. As late as 2022, the Times’s columnist Matthew Parris published a column headlined “Fat shaming is the only way to beat the obesity crisis” in which he attributed Britain’s “losing battle with fat” to society’s failure to goad and stigmatise the overweight into finally, shamefacedly, eating less. The tendency to equate excess weight with poor character (and thinness with grit and self-control) treats obesity as a moral as well as physical failing – less a disease than a lifestyle choice.
One of the great strengths of Reuters journalist Aimee Donnellan’s first book is its insistence on framing the discovery of the new weight-loss drugs within the fraught social and cultural context of beauty norms, body image and health. For those who need them, weekly injections of Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro can be revolutionary. Yet for every person with diabetes or obesity taking the drugs to improve their health, others – neither obese nor diabetic – are obtaining them to get “beach-body” ready, fit into smaller dresses, or attain the slender aesthetic social media demands of them. Small wonder some commentators have likened the injections to “an eating disorder in a pen”.
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© Photograph: Alones Creative/Getty Images
© Photograph: Alones Creative/Getty Images
© Photograph: Alones Creative/Getty Images
Four astronauts undock from International Space Station, with the affected crewmember in a stable condition, says space agency
Four crew members have left the International Space Station (ISS) and are heading back to Earth after a medical issue prompted their mission to be cut a month short in Nasa’s first medical evacuation.
A video feed from Nasa showed American astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui undocking from the ISS at 2220 GMT on Wednesday, after five months in space.
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© Photograph: dima_zel/Getty Images/iStockphoto
© Photograph: dima_zel/Getty Images/iStockphoto
© Photograph: dima_zel/Getty Images/iStockphoto
© Arin Yoon for The New York Times
Tests showed horses that smelled body odour from people watching scary films startled more easily
Horses can smell fear, or at least whether you have scared yourself witless watching a horror movie, according to researchers who say the effect has consequences for riders, trainers and others who work with the animals.
In a series of tests, horses that smelled body odour from people watching scary films startled more easily, had higher heart rates and approached their handlers less often than when the odour came from people watching more joyful scenes.
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© Photograph: Olivia Bell Photography/Getty Images
© Photograph: Olivia Bell Photography/Getty Images
© Photograph: Olivia Bell Photography/Getty Images
Decoded genome of meat in pup’s stomach helps scientists build picture of what caused extinction of species
Researchers have shed light on the final centuries of the woolly rhinoceros after studying a hairy lump of meat from the stomach of an ancient wolf cub that became mummified in the Siberian permafrost.
The beautifully preserved remains of a two-month-old female wolf cub were discovered in 2011 near the village of Tumat in northeastern Siberia. The animal is thought to have died 14,400 years ago when a landslide collapsed its den, trapping the cub and others inside.
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© Photograph: aleks1949/Getty Images/iStockphoto
© Photograph: aleks1949/Getty Images/iStockphoto
© Photograph: aleks1949/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Game Science has just released the January 14th Update, also known as Patch 1.0.21.23831, for Black Myth: Wukong. According to the devs, this patch is 2GB in size. So, let’s see what it brings to the table, shall we? The January 14th Patch fixes a problem where the game ran worse than it should because … Continue reading Black Myth: Wukong January 14th Update Released & Detailed →
The post Black Myth: Wukong January 14th Update Released & Detailed appeared first on DSOGaming.
Find marks first systematically identified burial site associated with plague burials in Europe, scientists say
© Rainer Weiss via Eurekalert
Scientists say the findings prove an ‘unmistakable trend’ for a hotter climate
© PA Archive
Participant’s Parkinson’s score dropped to value resembling that of healthy person, researchers say
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