By age 40, nearly every person with Down syndrome has the same brain protein deposits that mark the beginning of Alzheimer's disease. The extra chromosome they are born with carries the APP gene, which produces the precursor to amyloid (the protein that clumps into Alzheimer's plaques). Three copies of that gene instead of two means 50% more output from birth. By their 60s, roughly half have developed clinical dementia.
For the 7 million people worldwide who have Down syndrome, there are zero treatments addressing the genetic root cause. Life expectancy jumped from 25 to 60 years since 1983, but that came entirely from better management of secondary conditions. Nobody has ever touched the source.
In February 2025, a team at Mie University in Japan, led by Ryotaro Hashizume, published the first successful physical deletion of the extra chromosome 21 from Down syndrome cell lines. The core challenge: three copies of chromosome 21 look nearly identical, so standard CRISPR (a gene-editing tool that uses molecular scissors to cut DNA) cannot tell them apart. The team genetically fingerprinted each copy, identified which was safest to remove, then designed precision cuts targeting only that one. Chromosome removal rates hit 30.6% in stem cells and 13.9% in skin cells. No accidental extra chromosomes appeared in treated cells.
Neurologists at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston published a second study in April 2026, using a completely different approach. Instead of deleting the chromosome, they silenced it. The body already has a natural silencing mechanism: in biological females, one of the two X chromosomes gets switched off at birth by a gene called XIST. The Harvard team used modified CRISPR to insert XIST into the extra chromosome 21, telling it to go quiet. Standard CRISPR inserts large genes at under 2% success rate. Their modified version hit 20-40%, a roughly 30-fold improvement. Lead researcher Volney Sheen said that 30% "is high enough efficiency that you would get a clinically appropriate response." Both studies remain at the cell stage, with animal testing and human trials still ahead.
The urgency behind both labs: chromosome 21 does not just cause Down syndrome. That same APP gene is the best-known genetic trigger of early-onset Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's affects 55 million people globally. Anything either team learns about silencing or removing that chromosome matters far beyond the 7 million people with Down syndrome.
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说下李笑来的新书《The Half Second》
终于看完了!
我觉得这对于每一个希望进步,希望做好投资,学好英语,处理好家庭关系的人来讲,都是可以参考的,一个至关重要的操作系统。
英文好的可以直接看原本,英文不好可以给你们的 AI 辅助阅读,一定会有很大收获!
实际上人真正的自我,不是你想清楚以后说自己是谁,而是事情发生后半秒钟内,你身体自动做出的第一反应是什么。
比如伴侣语气不好,你第一反应是反击还是看着对方?孩子打翻牛奶,你第一反应是皱眉还是放松?投资的标的突然下跌,你第一反应是理性分析是否应该止损,还是逃避撞死?
这就是“理性完全启动前,身体已经开始反应的窗口”。
笑来老师给了我们一个很恐怖的结论:这个窗口,半秒钟,就是人的真实操作系统。
大部分时候,我们以为自己活在理性里,其实大部分时候活在预装反应里。我们被我们的预装反应,给劫持了,但是却不自知。
所以我们为什么靠意志力很难对抗自己的缺点,因为意志力来得晚了半秒,神经已经指导身体把事情给做了。
意志力属于清醒意识,清醒意识要思考、评估、判断;但坏习惯的第一反应已经先动了。
等你意识到我不该这样时,手已经摸向手机、嘴已经准备反击、交易按钮已经快按下去了。
所以这本书讲的就是追根溯源的告诉我们:这些第一反应是怎么被安装进去的,
当然,只给事实不给解决方案就是刷流氓,所以笑来老师,给了一个方法,让我们可以去重新编辑它们,更好的服务于我们。
也就是最核心的再聊一个技能叫:self talk
1️⃣ self talk 有一整套操作系统的,
书里提出一个工作模型,叫 frequency counter,可以理解成“大脑的熟悉度计数器”。
它的逻辑很简单:大脑的快速系统不总是判断真假,它经常只判断熟不熟。
所以笑来老师提到,既然大脑可以这样玩,那么可以通过自己的声音重新安装反应,也就是他一直提到的,可以劫持自己的大脑!
这就是 self talk 的真正位置。去把一个本来一直被外界使用的机制,夺回来自己用。
2️⃣改变是改身份枢纽;
改变不是改行为,而是改身份枢纽,这也是书的核心,告诉你为什么,再告诉你怎么做。
self talk 并不是让你不停对自己说积极的话,但是身体不知道如何行动,搞所谓的精神胜利法那一套,
他是告诉我们第一反应有结构。一个第一反应通常包括三个东西:身份、情境、动作。
比如笑来老师提到的他抽烟这件事:
身份:我是抽烟的人。
情境:饭后、写作间隙、焦虑时、朋友递烟时。
动作:点一根。
如果你只改动作,就会很累。因为你要在无数个情境里分别抵抗:饭后不能抽、写作不能抽、压力大不能抽、朋友递烟不能抽。情境太多,你挡不住。
但如果你改身份,比如你告诉自己:Iam a preson who never smokes,这个身份一旦装进去,它会影响很多情境下的动作。书里称 identity 是 hub,也就是枢纽。编辑身份,比一个一个对抗行为更有效。
3️⃣有效咒语的核心是 Action,不是 Mood
所以你需要给自己设置脚本,笑来老师提到ARISE。
它包括五个维度:
A:Action,动作。
R:Reason,理由。
I:Identity,身份。
S:Situation,情境。
E:Emotion,情绪/感受内容。
所以脚本的核心是 Action:必须是身体能执行、外人能观察、半秒内能启动的动作;
这就是为什么:
我很冷静不如我深呼吸三次再回答。
我不焦虑不如账单来了,我 60 秒内打开它。
我不冲动交易不如价格波动时,我完整一天不操作。
我要更爱孩子不如孩子说话时,我看着他的眼睛再回答。
所以你看,核心是不要给大脑下达状态命令,要给身体下达明确动作命令。
基于此 “我不焦虑”“我保持冷静”这种是愿望,不是动作,我们要给自己设置动作,而不是愿望。
比如学英语,真正关键不是每天 talk to myself “多背单词”,而是让英语进入你的自我对话系统,告诉大脑你是帅哥什么样的人,给自己安装一个能骗过自己神经的小系统。
可以和自己对话:
I am a person who thinks in English because it is essential to my life, and I would be very happy to learn English well!
When I talk to myself, I say the next sentence in English. My own voice makes English familiar.
4️⃣大声说出来!
最关键是笑来老师的意思,是你必须说出来,而不是在心里想,你需要调动你的肌肉,大声说出这些话,是把“我要改变”从观念层,降落到身体层。
这本书的核心机制叫 frequency counter,可以理解为“大脑的熟悉度计数器”。
它不总是判断真假,而是判断熟不熟。重复越多,越熟悉;越熟悉,越容易在半秒钟里自动冒出来。
大声说的作用,就是让每一次重复更“重”。
心里想一次,可能只是轻轻划过。
说出来一次,是语义、动作、声音、听觉、身份一起叠加。
它更像一次高质量计数。
就像你刷短视频,为什么画面、声音、音乐、字幕一起上更容易洗脑?因为它不是单通道刺激,而是多通道刺激。
self talk 大声说出来,就是你主动用多通道刺激,反过来洗自己。