THE WASHINGTON POST – Play during both childhood and adulthood is important for the healthy functioning of humans and other species, but why we play – the brain circuitry behind this behaviour – is poorly understood.

A new study in Neuron has identified groups of cells in the rat brain that may provide clues to the brain structures and their connections that are essential for play.

Understanding the neurological basis of positive behaviours such as play “may assist in developing targeted interventions to help people, especially children, struggling with the absence or dysregulation of such states due to underlying medical conditions or environmental circumstances,” said graduate student Natalie Gloveli at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin and lead author of the study.

The work also confirms that play is deeply ingrained in the brain, “reinforcing the potential value of play being used therapeutically,” said behavioural neuroscientist Sergio Pellis at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, who was not involved in the study.

Researchers have used different words to describe play. It can be active, intrinsic, meaningful and voluntary, but it can also include rules and negotiation.

Play can take different forms, some social and others more solitary. Rough-and-tumble play between children or pets is an example of social play whereas some card games, kicking around a soccer ball and painting are examples of solo play.

A childhood filled with play has been closely tied to healthy brain development as well as better social-emotional and cognitive skills. Play in adulthood also has a range of benefits, including stress relief and increased creativity.

Without play, “you don’t have the same optimism, resiliency and well being”, said psychiatrist Stuart Brown, who began researching the importance of human play nearly 60 years ago, who was not involved in the study.

Playful behaviour occurs in several animals, Pellis said. “It’s very common in mammals, not quite as common in birds, and then you see it sporadically in other vertebrates, and then occasionally in various invertebrates,” he said.

Octopuses will play with objects in their environment and bumblebees with balls. There is “rough-and-tumble play in wasps and social spiders”, Pellis said.

There are several reasons humans and other species play, including that play may be important for the development of executive functions such as emotional control, awareness and response inhibition.

A lack of play, in contrast, has been linked to dire consequences.

Brown and others investigated why a 25-year-old man opened fire from the University of Texas clock tower observation deck in Austin and killed and injured dozens of people in 1966. They uncovered several possible contributing factors, including a childhood controlled by a “sadistic and somewhat cruel father”, which suppressed the shooter’s “natural tendency to play”, Brown said.

The investigation sparked Brown’s fascination with play. He soon received a grant to study certain inmates in Texas and learned that, similar to the shooter, the absence of play as children was a significant factor preceding homicide.

“None of the murderers I studied engaged in what I would call normal rough-and-tumble play,” Brown said. “And rough-and-tumble play and the ability to deal with hostility and still get along with your friends is a fundamental part of both animal and human experience.”

As a clinician, Brown continued to collect data on play from his patients and the patients of his colleagues, and grew increasingly convinced of its importance. He founded the National Institute for Play in 1996, a non-profit “dedicated to advancing society’s understanding and application of play”.

Brown, who a few years before had left clinical psychiatric work and begun studying play in other animals as well, saw the institute as an opportunity to break down academic silos between researchers studying play in humans versus other animals and foster the sharing of information.

Rats play, even when their cortex is removed. The cortex is a large area of the brain important for processes such as memory and language.

That motivated Gloveli and her colleagues to explore a deeper region of the brain called the periaqueductal grey (PAG), a structure involved in instinctive behaviours such as pain perception and defense.

“We assumed that play is also something that is quite instinctive,” Gloveli said.

The PAG is also involved in vocalisations – an important aspect of play. “Because play fighting can look like a form of actual fighting, it’s important to have vocalisations,” Gloveli said. “It’s a way of communicating, ‘we’re all on the same page’.”

Rats enjoy play and being tickled by the researchers who study them. “They’re vocalising a lot during the tickling,” the rat version of laughter, Gloveli said. “And they jump around when they’re being tickled. They look for your hand, they chase your hand.”

The researchers tickled rats on their backs and bellies, and had them chase after a researcher’s gloved hand. During play, they monitored rat vocalisations to ensure that the rats were having fun.

The team recorded neural activity from the PAG of young, playful rats and found a significant increase in cell activity during tickling and play. To confirm the importance of the PAG, they used drugs that block PAG activity. With the PAG blocked, rat play decreased, as did their response to being tickled.

Next, the team homed in on distinct regions of cells within the PAG that were more active during play and tickling and showed that blocking activity in those cells interfered with ticklishness and play.

They also showed that, under stressful conditions where the rat was no longer playing or vocalising, cell activity decreased.

“The really surprising thing about this paper is that the PAG is not only involved in producing the behaviour that’s used in play, but it actually seems to be involved in the motivation to engage in play,” Pellis said.

Data showed that the PAG is involved in interactions between species – humans and rats – as well as in social play between rats, which suggests “that the PAG is important in regulating social play in general”, he said.

Gloveli hopes to look at the PAG in other animals and begin connecting the still elusive brain circuitry that underlies play.

If you’re looking to add more play into your life or the lives of others, Pellis and Brown have some suggestions:

– For kids, “Free play with peers is really important,” Pellis said – something that’s happening less and less. Ideally, all schools would provide time for students to play; if not, he said, caregivers should look for opportunities for kids to play.

“And going off and playing an organised sport is not the same as playing freely with your friends,” he said. With free play, “you have to negotiate: What are we going to play? How are we going to play? What are the rules we’re going to follow? What happens if one of us breaks the rules? So all these executive functions are engaging.”

– “With adults, I think allowing more space for playful banter is very important in the workplace, because that’s a way of being able to test the waters,” Pellis said.

– If you’re feeling stuck trying to figure out how to play more or what that would even look like, Brown said, consider, “What is it that gave you a sense of gleefulness when you were a child? What is it that now takes you out of the sense of time and gives you a better feeling about the world?” It’s not the same for everybody, he said, so find something that personally gives you a sense of freedom and joyfulness.

PARIS (AFP) – Most gardeners know that earthworms help keep soils healthy, now scientists have assessed just how important their underground activities are to global food production – and how to protect them.

In research published on Tuesday scientists found that earthworms may be to thank for more than six percent of global grain yields every year, because of their crucial role in soil ecosystems.

Worms help to decompose dead plant material, releasing nutrients plants need to grow, and their tunnelling helps plant root growth among other benefits. Evidence suggested they also help plants protect themselves against common soil pathogens by stimulating their defences.

But they are threatened by today’s intensive and chemical-heavy agricultural techniques, scientists said.

Researchers writing in the journal Nature Communications analysed maps of earthworm populations, soil properties, crop yields and previous studies of plant productivity to estimate the creature’s impact on the global production of key crops.

“Contribution” was defined as the percentage of the yield made possible thanks to earthworms. They found earthworms may contribute to around 6.5 per cent of the world’s annual grain production, including dietary staples such as wheat, rice, maize and barley.

“Their contribution may even be larger,” said associate professor Steven Fonte at Colorado State University in the United States who co-authored the study.

This is because earthworm populations “are likely underestimated in many places, especially in the tropics, due to a lack of research and funding in the global south”, he told AFP.

Earthworms also contributed to 2.3 per cent of global production of legumes, foods that include peas, lentils, chickpeas, soyabeans and alfalfa.

The annual total amounted to more than 140 million metric tonnes, the study estimated.

The authors said their findings represent one of the first attempts to quantify the contribution of a beneficial soil organism to global agricultural production.

They acknowledged a strong sampling bias when estimating earthworm populations because most of the data points were available in Europe and North America. Even so, they found that earthworm contribution is especially high in the global south, contributing about 10 per cent of total grain production in sub-Saharan Africa and roughly eight per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean, the researchers found.

They attributed this to soils there generally having higher acid and clay content and being less exposed to fertiliser, increasing the role earthworms play in plant growth.

In Europe and East/Southeast Asia, more than seven percent of grain production was attributed to their activity thanks to their higher population levels and soil acidity.

Smaller earthworm populations, more widespread use of inorganic fertiliser and other soil properties were likely to have lessened their impact in other regions.

Agricultural and environment policies should support earthworm populations and soil biodiversity to help make the sector become more sustainable, the scientists suggested.

Measures could include reducing tillage, cutting the use of toxic pesticides, and increasing the application of worm food sources like manure and compost, said Fonte.

“Soils are estimated to contain approximately half of all biodiversity on the planet and are incredibly important for biodiversity conservation efforts,” he said.

ANN/CHINA DAILY – Chef Li Zhanxu originally intended to prolong her stay in Europe, but due to the impact of COVID-19, she decided to return to Beijing, much to the pleasure of the city’s food enthusiasts.

At Qu Lang Yuan, a charming restaurant nestled in a courtyard within a traditional Beijing hutong, patrons are savouring the delights of the summer menu.

Among the standout dishes is the sea cucumber creation that has been capturing the hearts of guests. As it graces the table, the sea’s essence envelops the senses, offering a dining experience akin to a coastal getaway.

The sea cucumber, which is marinated sous vide (cooked in a sealed bag) and filled with Gillardeau oyster sauce, has a rich and satisfying taste. The marine delight is thoughtfully paired with seaweed and sago crisps, creating a harmonious interplay of textures and a well-balanced mouthfeel.

It is served on a bed of barnacle shells nestled in a saggar – a boxlike ceramic container normally used to protect objects being fired in kilns.

The outer surfaces of the containers are covered in moss.

The growth developed over time as the containers lost their use after the ceramics were fired, and were subsequently buried.

Food writer Jocelyn Chen enjoyed the dish conceived by executive chef Li Zhanxu at Qu Lang Yuan, very much.

“Traditional cooking methods may involve braising or stewing, but Li prefers to present the delicious taste of sea cucumbers in an innovative way, challenging traditional cooking techniques,” Chen said.

She said the sea cucumber dish showcases Li’s cooking philosophy, which is rooted in Chinese ingredients and culinary culture, while also incorporating the essence of Western cuisine, injecting a fresh vitality and creativity into the ingredients.

“The cooking philosophy of both chef Li and Qu Lang Yuan is not just about deconstructing tradition, but also about constantly refreshing her skills through breakthroughs,” Chen added.

“Chef Li is friendly and pleasant, like ‘the girl next door’, but her inner self is unassuming, straightforward, and resilient.”

At the age of 27, Li stood out as a rising star on Beijing’s culinary scene, and is known for her innovative, creative approach to dishes. Despite her youth, she boasted nearly eight years of experience.

In 2015, after graduating from high school, Li traveled to Angers in France with the intention of pursuing a diploma in fashion design. However, with no prior experience of cooking, she soon realised that she had to learn how to make Chinese food if she wanted to enjoy it there.

“I found it amazing that when cooking, I can control and design the whole process,” she said. “I was satisfied with the dishes I made and my friends all liked them.”

Over time, Li’s interest in cooking grew, leading her to enroll in a one-year French cuisine course.

She fondly recalled the comprehensive training that taught her fundamental skills from scratch, and which provided a strong foundation for her culinary journey. “They teach you how to create a full menu including dishes and dessert,” she explained.

After the one-year training, Li continued to study culinary arts and management at the Institut Paul Bocuse, where she threw herself into constant learning in class, and practiced her skills by working in different restaurants.

Besides cooking, she also learnethow to run a restaurant, including accounting, law and research, as well as how to create a logo for a restaurant and how to design the layout of a kitchen.

Her studies allowed her to accumulate a wealth of internship experience, mostly at Michelin-starred restaurants, and exposed her to a variety of ideas and methods related to running a kitchen and a restaurant.

She began her culinary journey in Lyon under the mentorship of Christophe Roure, who ran a two-star Michelin restaurant renowned for its fusion of Japanese and French cuisine. This experience gave her a profound appreciation for the cooking styles of different cultures.

Later, Li moved to Paris and snagged a spot at Alain Ducasse’s then three-starred Michelin restaurant at the Hotel Plaza Athenee, which was renowned for its focus on seafood and grains.

To secure the coveted role, Li meticulously prepared for her interview, leaving no detail of the restaurant unexplored.

But receiving the job offer was just the beginning. Working at one of the world’s top restaurants demanded the highest level of expertise, and she reminisces about the rigorous demands placed on her. Her days were long, often extending from 8am to 1am during which she tirelessly tackled kitchen tasks.

“At first, I couldn’t understand the French names of the dishes, as many of the ingredients were niche and weren’t found in regular markets, but were grown in their garden,” Li said.

One daily challenge involved preparing sauces for every item on the menu, with ingredients requiring precise cutting and hand-grinding before being turned into sauces.

The intense daily grind did not extinguish her passion. On the contrary, her resilience spurred her to challenge herself even more.

Even when it came to routine tasks as mundane as peeling quail eggs, if it took her 35 minutes to peel 80 eggs one day, the following day she quietly resolved to do better.

The hard work paid off and the experience provided Li with invaluable insights into the intricacies of operating and managing a fine dining establishment, further testing her skills.

She gained a score of 18 out of 20 from her experience at Ducasse, distinguishing herself as one of the top interns at the school and her journey was captured in a documentary by French television channel TF1.

Li also worked at Oka, a one-starred restaurant helmed by Brazilian chef Raphael Rego. This experience gave Li the opportunity to engage with diners.

Over the course of several internship experiences, Li was one of the few women in the kitchen. Despite the demands of the job, her strong will enabled her to excel at each new position, and she demonstrated a rapid ability to master the required skills.

“My experience was to always be diligent in the kitchen,” she said.

In 2021, after living in France for six years, Li decided to return to China. Although she had initially planned to extend her stay in France, COVID-19 caused her to reconsider.

After a short break, she found her first job as the dessert chef at Qu Lang Yuan. Li remembered that her first visit to the restaurant had been in 2017, when she went for afternoon tea and was impressed by its environment.

She made desserts for a year, earning the praise of diners and then last year; was made executive chef and given responsibility for the overall running of the restaurant.

Li never expected her first executive chef position would happen this soon. “You don’t need to plan your next step, as long as you give your best, there will be rewards,” she said.

On July 1 last year, when her first set menu was launched, Li felt a bit nervous, and carefully observed the reaction of diners and later checked their views at online platforms of review and rating.

Determination constantly propels her to refine and elevate herself. This summer, after four rounds of creating and launching new menus, Li finds herself better adapted to the job and is improving with each new menu.

Besides taking control of the kitchen, she is managing a team of around 20, looking after every detail, even down to the choice of soap in the restaurant’s bathroom.

She also engaged in quarterly collaborations with different artistes, pushing the boundaries and transforming the restaurant into an exhibition space featuring displays of traditional objects.

The fusion of food, paintings and decorative ware elevated and enriched the overall experience, she said.

Li likes permutations and combinations, and finds joy in the art of harmonising different ingredients. She said the process is much like crafting a fragrance, an act of continual creation that must avoid copying others and, most importantly, repeating oneself. – Li Yingxue

BANGKOK (AFP) – Less than a year after it was announced, a USD20-billion bet to wean Indonesia off coal is mired in controversies over financing and the construction of new plants to power industry.

The Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) for Indonesia was unveiled last November, as the country hosted the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

It follows a model first trialled in South Africa, and subsequently announced for Vietnam and Senegal, with rich countries pledging funds for the developing world’s energy transition.

The basic premise is simple: public and private financing of up to USD20 billion, in exchange for Indonesia peaking power sector emissions by 2030 and reaching net-zero power sector emissions by 2050.

That brings forward Jakarta’s previous pledges and would see one of the world’s top coal exporters and coal power generators weaning itself from the polluting fossil fuel.

But after the initial fanfare has come the much tougher business of plotting a path to those goals.

In August, Jakarta postponed the release of its JETP roadmap, in part over problems calculating its expected emissions.

Indonesia’s JETP assumes the power sector was on track to emit 357 million tonnes of carbon by 2030, and will now limit that to a peak of 290 million tonnes.

But those figures failed to account for a number of new “captive” coal plants, which power factories rather than feeding into the grid.

So, “the question arises: can the target of 290 million tonnes still be achieved,” asked Executive Director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) Fabby Tumiwa.

“And is the commitment of USD20 billion… adequate to achieve that target?”

The JETP secretariat did not respond to a request for comment.

Jakarta is reportedly also unhappy about the deal’s proposed mix of financing, worried it will be offered mostly market-rate loans that saddle it with debt.

“Indonesia is hoping for a larger share of grants,” said energy policy associate at the International Institute for Sustainable Development Anissa Suharsono.

She pointed to a Bloomberg report suggesting Indonesia could expect just USD289 million in grants, with half earmarked for technical assistance.

“That is, in my view, outrageous. If it’s meant to be a climate fund to encourage a developing country to faster transition, then this is not the way to do it,” Suharsono told AFP.

The scale of the funding is another sticking point.

The JETP is not intended to cover all transition costs, with backers saying it should encourage other investors.

But estimates for the cost of achieving Indonesia’s pledged goals are upwards of USD100 billion, Tumiwa said, and that figure could be higher given the emissions miscalculation.

Even if an agreement on the financing mix can be hammered out, there are other stumbling blocks.

Indonesia, which generates over 60 per cent of its power from coal, has many more coal plants than South Africa – one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases, and they are much younger.

That makes them more expensive to retire, with many more years of potential returns on investment to compensate when shuttering them.

Solar and wind power account for less than one percent each of Indonesia’s current power mix, and the archipelago’s grid is both decentralised and needs upgrading to handle the intermittent nature of renewable energy.

The appetite for financing those upgrades may be low because state-owned Perusahaan Listrik Negara, commonly known by its acronym PLN, has a monopoly on the power sector, added Suharsono.

“Who’s going to invest money in a grid that is going to belong to someone else?”

Experts also warn Indonesia needs to prepare for the economic impact of shifting from coal, an industry that directly employs around 250,000 people, according to IESR.

“The coal regions like in Kalimantan and south Sumatra, they are very reliant on the income from coal extractions and economic activities created from these coal extractions,” said climate and energy senior analyst at the Indonesia World Resources Institute Rezky Khairun Zain.

“The government needs to set up capacity building not only for the workers but also the (local) governments, for them to find another way to increase the income not from the coal activities,” he told AFP.

For all the challenges, Tumiwa believes the programme is the best option on the table.

ANN/CHINA DAILY – Examining the thriving charity store trend in a city where individuals are increasingly motivated to make a positive impact, Yu Ran provides insights.

Over the last 20 years, Shanghai has experienced remarkable growth and transformation in its philanthropic landscape, underscored by the proliferation of charity shops throughout the urban landscape.

Charity stores are a relatively new concept in China. Shanghai’s first charity store, the Zhenning Road Charity Store in Jing’an district, was opened only 20 years ago.

However, over the past decade, an impressive 173 new charity stores have been established within the city. Consequently, there is now a grand total of 232 stores in operation.

Over the years, Shanghai has been refining its regulatory and policy measures, and issuing documents, such as the selection and recommendation regulations for the city’s charity awards, and the management measures for special funds for Shanghai foundations to provide support for the charity sector.

Local authorities have also said that they will continue to enhance regulatory policies in the field of charity and provide high-quality development support for Shanghai’s charities.

Charity stores fall under two operational models. The first involves individuals from the neighbourhood’s administrative system working as store staff, who are managed by a neighbourhood non-governmental organisation. The second involves using social organisations to manage and operate the stores.

The eight charity stores in the Pudong New Area that are run by the Shanghai Shanxing Public Welfare Service Center are an example of the first operational model.

“The model of a charity store is different from that of traditional retail stores. Our goal is to transform the atmosphere of the store into a place where everyone can come in. We want to use a retail approach with a focus on service to let more residents know that our products have more advantages and are of better quality,” said Du Lei, who works at the Shanxing Public Welfare Service Centre in Shanghai.

Not all stores managed by the centre are run the same way. The Lujiazui Street Charity Store primarily focuses on retail and charitable activities, including setting up street stalls every month to sell affordable fruits and vegetables, and providing home delivery services for the elderly.

These efforts are aimed at making more residents in the vicinity aware of the operational model of the charity supermarket and to highlight the convenience it affords.

On the other hand, a charity store on Weifang West Road mainly provides discounted goods to underprivileged and elderly groups.

“We will adjust the product categories based on the varying needs of the surrounding community residents and collaborate with a variety of partners. Our primary focus will be on the community, and we will differentiate ourselves through the services,” said Du.

A TRENDIER KIND

Generally, stores run under the first model are more low-key in nature.

Those managed using the second are deemed to be more popular with the general public.

“We are pleased to see that social organisations and other social forces have independently established charity stores which offer a wider range of goods, serve a more diverse range of beneficiaries and have a broader market appeal, compared to traditional charity stores,” said director of the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau Zhu Qinhao.

Among the most popular of the stores run by social organisations is the Buy42 Charity Store on Jiangning Road in Jing’an district.

Featuring a design that is reminiscent of a grocery shop, the store has been a major hit with young consumers, many of whom flock to the place to take photos that they can post on social media.

Filled with a wide range of goods, including colourful and fashionable socks, kitchenware, clothing and even vintage books, the shop is just one of the 42 that social enterprise Buy42 operates in Shanghai.

“We hope to use the down-to-earth vibe of a grocery store to promote charity stores and help them flourish within communities,” said chief executive officer of the social enterprise Jiang Shujie.

“Our intention is to bring the concept of charity stores, which are commonly found abroad, to China so that we can promote eco-friendly consumption and help people understand that our lives can be just as fulfilling without the excessive consumption of resources.”

Last year, the organisation received 259,469 items worth around CNY6.8 million (USD932,766) – an 8.18-per-cent increase in donated value compared to the previous year – from 84 companies.

Notably, there was a 54.44-per-cent increase in the value of donated personal goods that were unused, a sign that the public is getting increasingly involved in the business of doing good for others.

SOCIAL RESONANCE

Ye Yu is among the many who have come forward to donate.

In 2020, the 46-year-old donated an unworn Chinese-style top to the store.

After seeing someone purchase the item, Ye said she felt a sense of fulfillment that has since made her a regular donor and buyer at the store.

“My first impression was that the store is unlike other retail shops. Here, the products, employees and volunteers have stories behind them,” said Ye.

“I used to understand charity as being kind and compassionate to others. But Buy42 has helped me realise that charity can empower every individual, every action and every item to make a positive influence on others,” she added.

According to Jiang, many locals used to view charity stores as nothing more than just secondhand goods outlets.

Those who frequent the stores run by the social enterprise, however, will know that this is not the case.

Besides paying for operational costs, the money raised from selling the donated goods is also used to hire staff from disadvantaged groups and organise charity events.

For example, the manager of the Jiangning Road store has a hearing impairment while the manager of the Gonghe New Road store is an individual with special needs.

The events that the social enterprise regularly organises include activities that allow children to learn about the importance of environmental sustainability, as well as initiatives aimed at helping individuals with disabilities learn new skills and become integrated into society.

It also assists charitable organisations in selling donated items that the latter have no use for. For instance, the cutlery they sell in their store was a donation received by a school for impoverished children.

For items that are particularly challenging to sell, Jiang’s team organises art workshops where people can get creative and turn ordinary items into works of art.

“I hope that our enterprise can become a century-old charity store in China and touch the hearts of many more people with its philanthropic mission,” Jiang said. – Yu Ran