Scientists finally understand hot flashes—and how to stop them

Thursday, December 8, 2022

In today’s newsletter, we discover an emerging new treatment for hot flashes, explore diets across the U.S. that may unlock longer lives, see photos of women as they wish to be seen … and uncover a lost Arctic world revealed by 2-million-year-old DNA.

ILLUSTRATION VIA MY BOX, ALAMY

Your body feels like it has been shoved into an oven.

But it hasn’t. It’s not even warmer. This has been a central riddle of “hot flashes,” reported by up to 80 percent of women during menopause. Now researchers have figured out the neurons in the brain’s hypothalamus (above, in brown) that create the sensation—and have developed a non-hormonal drug to block them.

“In the past decade, we were finally able to put the puzzle pieces together,” says Genevieve Neal-Perry, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at UNC’s School of Medicine.

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STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

VIDEO BY JASON GULLEY

Graceful manatees have come back in Florida Graphic: All about these gentle grazers (A sea cow in Crystal River, Florida.)

Healthy, life-extending ‘blue zone’ diets flourish in the United States

What archaeology tells us about the real Jesus

Why does COVID cause brain fog? We now have answers

2-million-year-old DNA reveals a lost Arctic world

There may be life on Mars after all

This wonder of the ancient world lasted 16 centuries. What the heck was it?

Images: How women want to be seen

What’s the ‘greenest’ plant milk?

Churchill’s mistake: London’s deadly Great Smog opened the world’s eyes to air pollution

New tech targets hard-to-get human cancers

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN MOORE, GETTY IMAGES

That’s not a train: That multicolored strip on the U.S.-Mexico border, running through the image above, is a makeshift wall ordered by Arizona’s governor. The unapproved, politically motivated construction—actually, just a line of empty shipping containers with barbed wire on top—is messing up one of the most environmentally diverse and sensitive parts of the U.S. Southwest, damaging Forest Service land and blocking critical wildlife movement. “These animals need to be able to move to survive,” conservation biologist Emily Burns tells Nat Geo.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY RENA EFFENDI, @RENAEFFENDIPHOTO

Lunch in peace: The Turkish city of Mardin shares an important heritage with Aleppo and Mosul, says photographer and Nat Geo Explorer Rena Effendi. All three contain a tapestry of Syriac, Arab, Turkish, and Kurdish cultures—but now only Mardin remains undamaged by brutal modern wars. Mardin, dating back to Mesopotamian times, “stands as witness to this important historic and multicultural heritage,” says Effendi. (Above, a chef and her family eat traditional icli kofte, Turkish stuffed meatballs, in Mardin.)

A HIDDEN HISTORY

LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY SYLVAIN CHERKAOUI, PANOS PICTURES/REDUX

The Rolls-Royce of sheep: Few things in Senegal signal wealth and luxury quite like a Ladoum sheep. They can weigh up to 400 pounds and sell for more than $80,000. Those with the right shaped muzzle, horns, and testicles even compete in annual, televised beauty pageants—some with big cash prizes. Photographer Sylvain Cherkaoui documented the prized pets and their proud handlers (like Assane Dieye, above).

COUNTING $HEEP

Today’s soundtrack: ‘Worthy is the Lamb,’ by Ntokozo Mbambo

This newsletter was curated and edited by David Beard, Mallory Benedict, Sydney Combs, and Jen Tse. Do you have an idea or a link for the newsletter? Let us know at david.beard@natgeo.com.

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The Verse of the Day

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RJ Hamster

Scientists finally understand hot flashes—and how to stop them

Scientists finally understand hot flashes—and how to stop them

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