Getting active in midlife could be as good for you as starting young when it comes to reducing the risk of an early death, researchers have suggested. But experts say the study also shows that the benefits fade once exercise declines.

“If you maintain an active lifestyle or participate in some sort of exercise from youth to middle age, you can reduce your risk for dying,” said Dr. Pedro Saint-Maurice, the lead author of the research. “If you are not active and you get to your 40s - 50s and you decide to become active, you can still enjoy a lot of those benefits.”

The study was based on data from more than 300,000 Americans aged 50 - 71 who undertook a questionnaire(问卷) in the late-1990s. They were asked to recall the extent of their moderate to vigorous leisure exercise at different stages of their life. Researchers then used national records to track who died in the years up to the end of 2016. After taking into account factors including age, sex, smoking and diet, the team found that those who were exercising into middle age had a lower risk of death than those who had never carried out any leisure exercise. However, when the team looked at different patterns in the way people were active over their life, it found a surprise.

Men and women who started exercising at the age of 40 - 50 reduced their risk of death from any cause by about 35%. The benefit was similar to that seen for people who reached and maintained similar activity from their teens or 20s onwards.

However, the study found that the protective effect of exercise did not last forever. People whose levels of leisure exercise decreased by middle age had no difference in the risk of an early death to those who had always been couch potatoes. “If you have been active and you slowly decrease your exercise participation as you age, you lose a lot of the benefits that we know are associated with exercise,” Saint - Maurice said.

But the study has limitations, including that it is based on individuals recalling how active they were many years before. What’s more, the research looked only at death records, not other aspects of health such as levels of sickness and disease. Nonetheless, he said, the message was positive. “This adds to the growing body of evidence about the importance of physical activity and exercise across he life course, and indicates that it is never too late to start.”

● Stocky, slow-moving whale, rarely grows beyond 15 metres in length

● Flippers are a third of body length; variable dorsal fin size and shape; saw-toothed trailing edge on flukes, often raised when diving

● Bumpy tubercles on top of head

● Body colour is dark brown to black; often extensive white on flippers and underside of body and flukes; such patterns enable individual recognition

● Bushy blow, occasionally V-shaped

● 270-400 olive baleen plates

Humpback whales belong to the rorqual (groove-throated) family, which includes fin, sei, Bryde’s, minke and blue whales. The big family migrate between winter tropical breeding areas (North West Shelf, Great Barrier Reef, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiii, Tonga) and summer Antarctic feeding areas. Once common in New Zealand waters, humpbacks are now rarely seen and may migrate further offshore. Males compete for mates either by physical fight or by song. Females give birth to their young every two to three years; some non-breeding females probably remain in the southern waters during winter. Young humpback whales return to their area of birth but in later life some wander between breeding areas. Humpbacks eat small shrimps and other schooling prey, such as fish, forming small, cooperative groups of two to three individuals to feed.

Similar species: Easily identifiable due to a ‘hump’ back when submerging, but at a distance may be confused with other species that raise their flukes when diving, such as sperm, right and blue whales.

Protection status: Recovering well from past whaling and now numerous in some former migration and aggregation areas, rarely seen in others.

What exactly is intelligence? There aren’t any easy answers. Despite the progress that has been made in genetics and psychology, human intelligence has remained one of the most controversial areas of modern science, until now, that is, for the discovery of a gene(基因) linked to intelligence has made the experts think again.

Robert Plomin of the Institute of Psychiatry in London and his colleagues in the US have been looking into genetic make-up. From their research, they have discovered that a slightly different gene is more common in those with a high IQ. Plomin analyzed DNA from two groups of 51 children aged between 6 and 15. What he found was that the first group had an IQ of 136, putting them in the top 5% of the population, while the other group had an average IQ of 103. An analysis of their genes showed that 32% of children in the higher group had the gene in question, while only 16% in the second group did. However, there is a lot more research to be done, and Plomin himself is cautious at this early stage. He suggests that there are probably many genes that contribute to intelligence, rather than just one.

Several studies have shown a strong link between IQ and career success, although some psychologists remain unconvinced about this. Professor Michael Rowe, who has written a book called Genius Explained, is one of these. “The people with the highest IQs are not usually the ones who do best in their careers.”

Many psychologists now believe that when it comes to intelligence, IQ isn’t everything. Many alternative views have been put forward recently. One example is the idea of multiple intelligences, which was developed in the 1980s by Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner. This offers a much broader view than the IQ theory, including creativity and communication skills as relevant factors(因素) in intelligence.

Tony Buzan, brain expert and author of Master your Memory, is enthusiastic about this belief, arguing that true geniuses(天才) do indeed appear to combine high levels of each type of intelligence. He lists Alexander the Great, Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein as examples. At the same time, Buzan believes that everyone can develop their intelligence, only if they take the trouble to exercise their brain. Perhaps there’s hope for us all!