An international collaboration of conservation, environment, and human development experts and practitioners led by the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report Office (UNDP-HDRO) proposes a new way for countries to measure and improve their relationships with nature and each other.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Capital Medical University performed an integrated multi-omics study to compare the effects of acute versus long-term exercise in healthy men. Acute exercise led to temporary responses, while repeated exercise caused adaptive changes, particularly reducing cellular senescence and inflammation and boosting betaine metabolism. The increase in betaine due to exercise, partly through renal biosynthesis, has anti-aging effects and improves age-related health decline in mice. Betaine binds to and inhibits TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1), slowing the aging process. These results provide a comprehensive understanding of the molecular benefits of exercise and identify betaine as a potential exercise mimetic for promoting healthy aging.