A full moon is appearing—and it will have a big impact on animals, especially those in the ocean.

Recent studies show that many types of animals have biological clocks finely tuned to the cycles of the moon, which drives interesting and sometimes strange patterns of behavior.

Besides discovering hidden aspects of animal life, the research also has intention of better understanding the circadian clocks(生物钟)present in all animals, including humans.

The first circadian clocks evolved in the oceans, so studying them in ocean animals can tell us a lot about how they evolved and how they work and interact with each other, explains Kim Last, a researcher at the Scottish Association for Marine Science.

Oysters(牡蛎), which open their shells to eat and spawn, also have a lunar rhythm, a new study shows.

In a recent experiment, French researchers carefully monitored how widely a dozen oysters opened their shells during a 3.5-month period. The team used a high-tech device that quantified the valve opening every two seconds, as described in a paper published in the journal Biology Letters.

They found that two types of oysters in Arcachon Bay in southwestern France were significantly more open during new moons and more closed when the moon was full. In addition, the oysters could tell the difference between the first quarter moon and the third quarter moon, and were significantly more open (by nearly 20 percent) at the latter.

It’s unknown why the oysters do this, though it could be due to more algae(海藻) or other food being available during the new moon and as the year progresses, says study leader Damien Tran, a researcher at the University of Bordeaux.

The lunar cycle could influence food availability by its impact on the tides and thus the ocean’s currents. When the moon is full or new, it is directly in line with Earth and the sun, forcing a strong pull on the ocean and thus causing more pronounced tides, explains David Wilcockson, a ocean biologist at Aberystwyth University in Wales who wasn’t part of the study.

A new study suggests that turning away from compassion (同情) in the name of safety may not protect us as we hope. Shutting off our compassionate response may threaten our mental health, the research team found. “This research shows the harmful effect of controlling our natural ability to connect with others,” says Leah Weiss, a founding member of Stanford University’s compassion cultivation training program.

To explore how attitudes toward compassion were affecting people’s well-being, University of Coimbra psychologist Marcela Matos and her team employed over 4000 people from 21 countries. All of the participants completed an online survey in spring 2022 that asked them to describe what they think of compassion, how their psychological state is and how strong their social connections are.

When the team analyzed the survey responses, they found that participants who expressed a fear of showing compassion for themselves or others were likely to feel more depressed, anxious, and stressed out. People with a fear of compassion also reported feeling less connected to others.

Marcela’s findings are consistent with earlier research showing the damaging effects of isolation and withdrawal on mental health. “Social isolation is associated with not just loneliness, anxiety, and depression, but also an increased risk of high blood pressure and cognitive decline,” says Australian psychologist Hugh Mackay, author of The Kindness Revolution.

On the other side, people who choose compassion during stressful situations seem to have a more durable sense of well-being. Training programs that promote people’s compassionate response appear to reduce their fear of compassion, based on results from another of Marcela’s studies.

Once people realize that compassion can benefit them in tough times as much as it benefits others, they’d be motivated to pull out of an isolation situation. “We have natural desire for social connection, community, kindness and compassion, because those are the pathways to social harmony and cooperation,” Mackay says. “If you can find the resources to address the needs of other people, your own anxieties tend to melt away.” Thus, it’s better to show sympathy.

IQ is set at around 20 years old and later effort will not improve it much, recent research finds. The complexity of people’s jobs, higher education, socializing and reading all probably have little effect on cognitive (认知的) ability.

Naturally, these activities have many other benefits, but little influence on IQ. However, education is particularly important at an early age when the brain is still developing. By early adulthood, though, most people’s IQ has settled down.

While some studies have suggested that cognitive activities in later life can improve IQ, Professor William Kremen, the study’s first author, thinks otherwise, “The findings suggest that the impact of education, occupational complexity and participation in cognitive activities on later life cognitive function likely reflects the opposite. In other words, they are largely the results of young adult intellectual (智力的) capacity.”

The study included 1,009 men now in their 50s and 60s whose IQ was assessed when they were around 20-years-old. They were given tests of abstract reasoning, verbal fluency and memory, along with other cognitive measures.

The results showed that most of the difference between the men’s IQs in mid-life was explained by the difference between them at around 20-years-old. In comparison, the complexity of the job they had, the intellectual activities they engaged in, and their education in the meantime hardly had any effect on their IQ. Brain scans also showed that IQ at age 20 was associated with the surface area of the cerebral cortex, which is the brain’s gray matter, the part that performs the higher functions of thinking, perceiving and language.

Most of the benefits of education for IQ likely happen before young adulthood, said Professor Kremen. “Our findings suggest we should look at this from a lifetime perspective. Improving cognitive reserve and reducing later life cognitive decline may really need to begin with more access to quality childhood and adolescent education.”