是什麼導致了 AWS 服務中斷？它又為何會導致網路崩潰？

Recently Google News on-line picked up the following:

What caused the AWS outage - and why did it make the internet fall apart?

BBC - Zoe Kleinman

 21 October 2025

Amazon Web Services (AWS) had a bad day.

That's how the boss of another big US tech firm Cloudflare put it – probably feeling very relieved that Monday's outage, hitting over 1,000 companies and affecting millions of internet users, had nothing to do with him.

The places hit by the outage vary significantly. It took out major social media platforms like Snapchat and Reddit, banks like Lloyds and Halifax, and games like Roblox and Fortnite.

AWS is a US giant with a large global footprint, having positioned itself as the backbone of the internet.

It provides tools and computers which enable around a third of the internet to work, it offers storage space and database management, it saves firms from having to maintain their own costly set-ups, and it also connects traffic to those platforms.

That's how it sells its services: let us look after your business's computing needs for you.

But on Monday, something very mundane went very wrong: a common kind of outage known as a Domain Name System (DNS) error.

People who work in the tech industry will be rolling their eyes right now.

This common error can cause a lot of havoc.

"It's always DNS!" is something I hear a lot.

When someone taps an app or clicks a link, their device is essentially sending a request to be connected to that service.

DNS is supposed to act like a map, and on Monday, AWS lost its bearings – platforms like Snapchat, Canva and HMRC were all still there but it couldn't see where they were to direct traffic to them.

Why did it have such an impact?

These errors happen for a number of reasons.

Usually it's a maintenance issue or a server failure. Sometimes that's human error, someone misconfiguring something somewhere, or in extreme cases a cyber attack - although there's no evidence of this so far.

AWS said it occurred at its vast data centre plant in northern Virginia, its oldest and biggest site.

A chorus of experts said it was a textbook illustration of the risks of putting all of your eggs in one basket in terms of a service provider - AWS is a giant and millions of businesses rely on it.

And they are right, but the issue is there aren't many alternatives at the sheer scale provided by AWS.

There are only two main contenders in fact, and they're both other US giants: Microsoft's Azure and Google's Cloud Platform.

Smaller rivals include IBM and the Chinese firm Alibaba. The parent company of the supermarket Lidl launched a European rival called Stackit last year, in direct competition with Amazon.

But AWS remains the dominant player by some margin.

Some argue the UK and Europe urgently needs to build up its own infrastructure and be less reliant on the US for cloud services – while others say it's too late.

Someone working in government once told me an MP informally proposed creating a UK version of AWS.

"But what's the point?" came the reply. "We already have AWS, over there."

Perhaps incidents like Monday's massive outage highlight why it's not quite that simple.

Translation

是什麼導致了 AWS 服務中斷？它又為何會導致網路崩潰？

亞馬遜網路服務 (AWS) 度過了糟糕的一天。

這是另一家美國大型科技公司 Cloudflare 的老闆所說的- 他可能覺得週一的中斷與他無關而可讓他鬆一口氣，這場中斷影響了 1000 多家公司和數百萬互聯網用戶的服務。

此次服務中斷影響的地區差異很大。 Snapchat 和 Reddit 等主要社交媒體平台、勞埃德銀行和哈利法克斯銀行等銀行，以及 Roblox 和 Fortnite 等遊戲都受到了影響。

AWS 是一家業務遍布全球的美國巨頭，將自己定位為網路的骨幹。

它提供的工具和電腦使大約三分之一的互聯網能夠運行，它提供儲存空間和資料庫管理，它使個別公司無需保有自己的昂貴系統設備，並連接交流量到這些平台。

這就是AWS的宣傳語：讓我們來滿足您企業的運算需求。

然而就在周一，一個非常普通的事情変得非常嚴重：一個常見的中斷，即網域名稱系統 (DNS) 錯誤。

科技業的從業人員現在肯定會翻白眼。

這種常見的錯誤可能會造成很大的破壞。

「總是DNS！」是我常聽到的。

當有人點擊某個應用程式或連結時，他們的裝置實際上是在發送連接到該服務的請求。

DNS應該像地圖一樣運行，但在周一，AWS失去了方向 - Snapchat、Canva和HMRC等平台仍然在線，但卻無法確定平台的位置，以便將交流引導到它們。

為什麼會造成這麼大的影響？

這些錯誤發生的原因有很多。

通常是維修問題或伺服器故障。有時，這是人為錯誤，可能是某人在某個地方配置錯誤，或者在極端情況下是網路攻擊 - 儘管目前還沒有證據證明這一點。

AWS 表示，這事件發生在其位於維吉尼亞州北部的大型數據中心廠房，這是其歷史最悠久、規模最大的廠房。

許多專家表示，這是教科書的範例，充分說明了在選擇服務提供者時把所有的雞蛋放在同一個籃子裡的風險 - AWS 是一家巨頭，有數百萬企業依賴它。

他們說得對，但問題在於，像 AWS 這樣規模龐大的雲端服務供應商，幾乎沒有其他替代方案。

事實上，只有兩家主要的競爭對手，而且都是美國其他巨頭：微軟的 Azure 和Google的雲端平台。

規模較小的競爭對手包括 IBM 和中國公司阿里巴巴。超市 Lidl 的母公司去年推出了一個名為 Stackit 的歐洲競爭對手，與亞馬遜直接競爭。

但 AWS 仍以一定優勢佔據主導地位。

有些人認為，英國和歐洲迫切需要建立自己的基礎設施，減少對美國雲端服務的依賴 - 而有些人則認為這為時已晚。

一位政府工作人員曾告訴我，一位議員非正式地提議創建一個英國版的AWS。

對方回答:「但這有什麼意義呢？」; 「我們已經有AWS了, 在那邊」。

或許，像週一的大規模大規模停運事件凸顯了事情並非如此簡單。

So, AWS’s Monday outage has hit over 1,000 companies and affecting millions of internet users. AWS is a US cloud services giant, and outside the US, some people have argued that the UK and Europe urgently need to build up its own infrastructure and be less reliant on the US for cloud services. Apparently, the demand for internet service is growing  and its security and reliability is a major concern to many people.

富裕的美國人正在消費，而貧窮的人卻在苦苦掙扎。 (3/3)

 Recently the New York Times reported the following:

Wealthy Americans Are Spending. People With Less Are Struggling. (3/3)

Data show a resilient economy. But that largely reflects spending by the rich, while others pull back amid high prices and a weakening labor market.

By Ben Casselman and Colby Smith

Oct. 19, 2025

(continue)

The divergence creates two sources of fragility, warned Dhiren Patki, an author of the Boston Fed study. With so much riding on high earners, the economy could suffer if stock prices fall or some other shock leads them to pare their spending. And lower-income households are already stressed financially, leaving them vulnerable if the labor market weakens further.

The bifurcated picture is a challenge for policymakers at the Federal Reserve. Strong consumer demand could keep pressure on prices while tariffs are fueling concerns about inflation. But if the central bank keeps interest rates high to fight inflation, cracks forming in the labor market could widen.

The unemployment rate has crept higher in recent months but remains relatively low at 4.3 percent in August — the most recent data available because the federal government shutdown delayed the release of September figures. Hiring has slowed drastically in recent months, but companies, for the most part, are holding on to workers.

If companies begin making widespread cuts, the consumer picture could darken quickly, warned Michelle Meyer, chief economist at Mastercard.

“If we actually see an increase in firing rates, if you see an increase in the unemployment rate, if you see wages really start to slow in a meaningful way, then I think that even if household balance sheets are still supported, the story line changes very rapidly,” she said.

For people who are out of work, finding a job has already gotten far more difficult. Nearly two million Americans are considered long-term unemployed, the highest since the pandemic. And joblessness has risen sharply for Black workers, recent graduates and other groups that are often the first to feel the effects of a weakening labor market.

This month, dozens of job seekers packed into a nondescript conference room in the Pilsen neighborhood for a career fair hosted by the National Able Network, a work force development nonprofit based in Chicago.

Some of the attendees had jobs but wanted better opportunities — or were looking for a backup plan amid layoff rumors. Some were recent graduates looking for a foot in the door.

But most had lost jobs, in many cases months or even years before. A social worker laid off when the suicide hotline she worked for lost government funding. A public relations expert who moved back home to Chicago to advance her career, then fell victim to a corporate downsizing. An information-technology specialist who lost a job at Chicago Public Schools more than a year ago and hasn’t worked since.

When Joycelyn Saunders lost her job at a financial services firm in December 2023, she expected to find a new role relatively quickly. She had a bachelor’s degree and years of experience, and had never been out of work for long.

Nearly two years later, Ms. Saunders, 40, showed up to the career fair still looking for a job. She has earned certifications in data analysis, which had seemed like a growth area, but companies are cutting jobs — and those that are hiring are looking for people with experience in that field. She is driving for Uber while applying for jobs — and buying little but food and gas for her car.

“I am just making ends meet, and that’s it,” she said. “I’m not able to save. I’m not able to pay down things on my credit.”

But what about data showing that the economy is still good? That might be true for the people she drops off at downtown hotels, Ms. Saunders said, but not for the people struggling to pay their bills.

“Good for who?” she said. “Listen to the people and what they are saying about what’s happening right now. Even middle-class families are suffering.”

Translation

富裕的美國人正在消費，而貧窮的人卻在苦苦掙扎。 (3/3)

(繼續)

波士頓聯邦儲備銀行研究報告的作者Dhiren Patki警告說，這種差異造成了兩方面的脆弱性。由於高收入者承擔瞭如此多的負擔，如果股價下跌或其他衝擊導致他們削減支出，經濟可能會受到影響。而低收入家庭已經面臨經濟壓力，如果勞動市場進一步疲軟，他們將更加脆弱。

這種分化的局面對聯準會的政策制定者來說是一個挑戰。強勁的消費需求可能會繼續給物價帶來壓力，而關稅則加劇了人們對通膨的擔憂。但如果央行維持高利率以對抗通膨，勞動市場的裂痕可能會進一步擴大。

近幾個月來，失業率略有上升，但8月的失業率仍維持在4.3%的相對低位 - 這是由於聯邦政府關門推遲了9月數據的發佈，所以這是目前可獲得的最新數據。近幾個月來，招募速度大幅放緩，但大多數企業仍在留住員工。

萬事達卡首席經濟學家Michelle Meyer警告稱，如果企業開始大規模裁員，消費者前景可能會迅速惡化。

她說:“如果我們真的看到解僱率上升，如果看到失業率上升，如果看到工資增長真的開始大幅放緩，那麼我認為，即使家庭資產負債表仍然支撐着，情況也會迅速發生變化。”

對於失業的人來說，找工作已經變得更加困難。近200萬美國人被視為長期失業者，這是自疫情爆發以來的最高水準。黑人工人、應屆畢業生和其他族群的失業率急劇上升，他們往往最先感受到勞動市場疲軟的影響。

本月，數十名求職者擠滿了Pilsen社區一個不起眼的會議室，參加由總部位於芝加哥的勞動力發展非營利組織National Able Network主辦的招聘會。

有些與會者已經有工作，但想要更好的機會 - 或者在裁員傳聞不斷之際尋找後備方案。有些是剛畢業的學生，正在尋找一個入行的機會。

但大多數人是失業的，很多時候是幾個月甚至幾年前的事了。一位社工因她工作的自殺熱線失去政府資助而被解僱。一位公關專家為了職涯發展搬回芝加哥老家，卻又成為公司裁員的犧牲品。一位資訊科技專家一年多前在芝加哥公立學校失業，從此再也沒有工作過。

Joycelyn Saunders在2023年12月失去了在一家金融服務公司的工作，她原本以為能相對較快地找到新工作。她擁有學士學位和多年的工作經驗，從未長時間失業。

近兩年之後，40歲的Saunders女士來到招聘會，仍在尋找工作。她已經獲得了數據分析的認證，這似乎是一個有巨大成長潛力的領域，但公司正在裁員 - 而那些正在招募的公司正在尋找擁有該領域經驗的人才。她在找工作期間一邊為 Uber 開車 - 她除了食物和為車入油外，幾乎不怎麼花錢。

她說:「我只能勉強維持收支平衡，僅此如已」 ;「我無法儲存。我無法償還信用卡欠款」。

但有什麼數據顯示經濟依然良好呢？Saunders女士說，對於那些被她送到市中心酒店的客人來說，這可能沒錯，但對於那些難以支付帳單的人來說，情況並非如此。

她說:「對誰有好處？」; 「聽聽民眾的聲音，聽聽他們對當前情況的看法。即使是中產階級家庭也在熬煎」。

              So, while the divide between rich and poor is hardly new in the US, it has become more pronounced in recent months. Wealthier Americans, buoyed by a stock market that keeps setting records, have continued to spend freely. Lower-income households are stung by persistent inflation and navigating a labor market that is losing momentum and they are struggling.  The top 10 percent of U.S. households now account for nearly half of all spending. Apparently, employment rate has slowed drastically in recent months, but most companies are holding on to workers. If companies begin making widespread cuts, the consumer picture could worsen quickly.

富裕的美國人正在消費，而貧窮的人則在苦苦掙扎。 (2/3)

Recently the New York Times reported the following:

Wealthy Americans Are Spending. People With Less Are Struggling. (2/3)

Data show a resilient economy. But that largely reflects spending by the rich, while others pull back amid high prices and a weakening labor market.

By Ben Casselman and Colby Smith

Oct. 19, 2025

(continue)

Reversal of Fortune

Inequality narrowed by many measures during the pandemic, when trillions of dollars in government aid flowed to households and businesses, and many companies provided extra pay to employees who could not work from home. When the economy began to reopen, intense competition for workers led to rapid wage growth, particularly in low-paying sectors where demand for labor far outstripped supply.

But as the labor market has cooled, low-wage workers have lost much of that leverage. Hourly wages are rising most slowly for the lowest-paid workers, reversing the pandemic trend, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

Slower wage growth, combined with persistent inflation, is straining many families’ finances. Americans are increasingly relying on credit cards and other forms of borrowing to pay their bills, and more are falling behind on car loans and credit card payments.

Those strains have not resulted in widespread defaults, bankruptcies or foreclosures. But high debt balances mean that even people who are keeping up with payments have little room to borrow more if their costs rise or their incomes fall. And data on spending from Numerator, a consumer research firm, shows that lower-income households have cut back on discretionary purchases, leaving them little buffer.

“People are still consuming the basics, but they’re cutting back on all this extra stuff they were able to do coming out of the pandemic,” said Leo Feler, chief economist at Numerator. “It’s just more precarious because if we’ve already trimmed all the fat, the only thing left to trim are the essentials.”

Pressure on lower-income families was building long before President Trump returned to office. But some of the administration’s policies have worsened the challenges, particularly in certain communities.

Farmers have been hard hit by Mr. Trump’s trade war with China. Cuts to the federal work force have taken a toll in Northern Virginia and other parts of the country that depend heavily on government employment — effects aggravated by the government shutdown. And immigration raids are weighing on industries that rely on foreign-born workers and on the businesses that count them as customers.

In Pilsen, a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago, the normally bustling streets have been quiet in recent weeks amid increased immigration enforcement. Lawn signs in Spanish remind residents of their legal rights. Local businesses say they are seeing fewer customers. Dr. Figueroa said her food pantry was getting more requests to have groceries delivered because families were afraid to venture out.

“There’s a lot of need,” she said. “I’m always trying to think, What’s the next emergency?”

Sources of Fragility

The hardship in Pilsen and other communities has been largely hidden in the macroeconomic data, however. Consumer spending continues to outpace inflation. Household debt levels have risen but are manageable relative to Americans’ incomes. Broad measures like gross domestic product point to an economy that has slowed but remains fundamentally healthy, surprising many forecasters.

But that resilience increasingly rests on a relative handful of well-off households. Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston recently found that growth in consumer spending since 2022 “has been propelled by the highest-income consumers.”

“By contrast,” the researchers noted, “spending growth for low-income consumers has been much weaker.”

(to be continued)

Translation

富裕的美國人正在消費，而收入較低的人則在苦苦掙扎。 (2/3)

數據顯示經濟表現強勁。但這主要反映了富人的支出，而其他人則在高物價和勞動市場疲軟的背景下縮減支出。

(繼續)

命運逆轉

疫情期間，數兆美元的政府援助流入家庭和企業，許多公司為無法在家工作的員工提供額外工資，從多個方面來看，不平等現象縮小。經濟重啟後，激烈的勞動力競爭導致薪資快速成長，尤其是在勞動力需求遠超過供應的低薪產業。

但隨著勞動市場降溫，低薪工人失去了大部分優勢。根據亞特蘭大聯邦儲備銀行的數據，最低薪資工人的時薪成長最慢，扭轉了疫情帶來的趨勢。

薪資成長放緩，加上持續的通貨膨脹，正在給許多家庭的財務狀況帶來壓力。美國人越來越依賴信用卡和其他形式的借貸來支付帳單，越來越多的人拖欠汽車貸款和信用卡還款。

這些壓力並未導致普遍的違約、破產或喪失抵押品贖回權。但高額債務餘額意味著，即使那些能夠按時還款的人，一旦價格上升或收入下降，幾乎沒有空間再借更多錢。消費者研究公司 Numerator 的支出數據顯示，低收入家庭已經削減了可自由支配的購買，留下很小的緩衝空間。

Numerator 首席經濟學家 Leo Feler 表示: 「人們仍在消費基本生活必需品，但他們正在削減疫情後能夠購買的所有額外物品」; 「情況變得更加不穩定，因為如果我們已經削減了所有不必要的開支，那麼唯一剩下可削減的就是必需品」。

早在特朗普總統重返總統職位之前，低收入家庭面臨的壓力就已日漸增大。但政府的一些政策加劇了這些挑戰，尤其是在某些社區。

特朗普與中國的貿易戰給農民帶來了沉重打擊。聯邦政府裁員對北維吉尼亞州和其他嚴重依賴政府就業的地區造成了沉重打擊 - 政府關門更是加劇了這種影響。突擊移民也給依賴外國出生工人的行業以及將他們視為客戶的企業帶來了壓力。

在芝加哥西區以西班牙裔為主的Pilsen社區，由於移民執法力度加大，過去熙熙攘攘的街道在最近幾週變得冷清起來。草坪上掛著西班牙文的標牌，提醒居民他們的合法權利。當地商家表示，顧客越來越少。Figueroa医生說，她的食品儲藏室接到的食品雜貨配送請求越來越多，因為家庭成員不敢出門。

她說:「需求很大」;「我總是在想，下一個緊急情況是什麼？」

脆弱性的根源

然而，Pilsen和其他社區的困境在很大程度上被宏觀經濟數據所掩蓋。消費支出持續超過通膨。家庭債務水準上升，但相對於美國人的收入而言尚在可控範圍內。國內生產毛額等整體指標顯示，經濟成長放緩，但基本面依然健康，令許多預測者感到意外。

但這種韌性越來越依賴少數富裕家庭。波士頓聯邦儲備銀行的經濟學家最近發現，自2022年以來，消費支出的成長「主要由高收入消費者推動」。

研究人員指出，“相比之下，低收入消費者的支出增長則要疲軟得多。”

（待續）

富裕的美國人正在消費，而貧窮的人卻在苦苦掙扎。 (1/3)

Recently the New York Times reported the following:

Wealthy Americans Are Spending. People With Less Are Struggling. (1/3)

Data show a resilient economy. But that largely reflects spending by the rich, while others pull back amid high prices and a weakening labor market.

By Ben Casselman and Colby Smith

Oct. 19, 2025

By the time the Pilsen Food Pantry opened on a recent morning, Ulysses Moreno had been there for two hours — with a line of people behind him that snaked around the corner.

“This is a lifeline for me,” said Mr. Moreno, 39. He had lost his construction job a few days earlier, and with three teenagers at home, he wanted to make sure he could stock up. “Our food budget doesn’t stretch as far as it used to.”

A few miles away, on Chicago’s glitzy Magnificent Mile, luxury hotels are bustling. Jewelry stores and designer boutiques do brisk business. The restaurants are packed with diners sipping $20 cocktails while they wait for tables.

To Evelyn Figueroa, a family physician who founded and runs the Pilsen pantry, the dichotomy is striking.

“For people like me, who are homeowners, who are employed, the economy is great,” she said. “How is the economy? It depends who you’re looking at.”

The divide between rich and poor is hardly new, in Chicago or the rest of the country. But it has become more pronounced in recent months. Wealthier Americans, buoyed by a stock market that keeps setting records, have continued to spend freely. Lower-income households — stung by persistent inflation and navigating a labor market that is losing momentum — are pulling back.

The top 10 percent of U.S. households now account for nearly half of all spending, Moody’s Analytics recently estimated, the highest share since the late 1980s. Consumer sentiment has climbed among high earners but steadily fallen for other groups.

“This isn’t just an inequality story — it’s a macroeconomic story,” said Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive policy group. “As the wealthy continue to consume, that’s masking more and more insecurity and instability in the economy under the hood.”

The split is evident across industries. Well-to-do fliers are snapping up pricey seats in first and business class, as airlines struggle to fill the cheaper seats at the back of the plane. Credit card companies are competing to offer ever-more-expensive cards to high earners who are happy to pay the annual fees in return for exclusive perks — while lower-income households are struggling to make minimum payments on their debts.

Even executives at companies that project mass-market appeal are seeing the trend — and in some cases worrying about its implications.

“Visits across the industry by low-income consumers once again declined by double digits versus the prior year period,” Christopher J. Kempczinski, chief executive of McDonald’s, said on a recent earnings call. “This bifurcated consumer base is why we remain cautious about the overall near-term health of the U.S. consumer.”

(to be continued)

Translation

富裕的美國人正在消費，而貧窮的人卻在苦苦掙扎。 (1/3)

數據顯示經濟依然強勁。但這主要反映的是富人的消費，而其他人則在物價高企和勞動市場疲軟的情況下縮減了開支。

最近一個早晨，Pilsen食品救濟站開門時，Ulysses Moreno已經在那裡等了兩個小時 - 他身後排起了長隊，蜿蜒繞過了街角。

39歲的Moreno先生說:「這對我來說是救命稻草」。幾天前他失去了建築工作，家裡還有三個十幾歲的孩子，他想確保自己能儲備一些食物。 「我們的伙食預算不像以前那麼寬裕了」。

幾英里外，在芝加哥繁華的 “壯麗大道”上，豪華酒店熙熙攘攘，珠寶店和設計師精品店生意興隆。餐廳裡擠滿了人，他們一邊啜飲著20美元一杯的雞尾酒，一邊等位。

對於Pilsen食品店的創始人兼經營者、家庭醫生Evelyn Figueroa來說，這種鮮明的對比令人震驚。

她說: 「對於像我這樣有房有工作的人來說，經濟形勢一片大好」; 「經濟到底怎麼樣？這取決於你看的是誰」。

無論是在芝加哥還是美國其他地區，貧富差距由來已久。但近幾個月來，這種差距變得更加明顯。受股市不斷創紀錄的鼓舞，富裕的美國人繼續大灑金錢。而低收入家庭, 則因受到持續通膨的衝擊，並面臨勞動市場失去動力而不得不縮減開支。

穆迪分析公司最近估計，美國收入最高的10%家庭的消費支出佔總支出的近一半，這是自1980年代末以來的最高比例。高收入者的消費信心上升，但其他族群的消費信心卻持續下降。

進步政策團體「基層合作組織」（Groundwork Collaborative）的執行董事Lindsay Owens說道:「這不僅僅是一個關於不平等的故事，更是一個宏觀經濟的故事」;「隨著富人不斷消費，經濟體系內部日益加劇的不安全感和不穩定性正在被掩蓋」。

這種分化在各行各業都顯而易見。富裕的乘客搶購頭等艙和商務艙的高價機票，而航空公司卻難以填滿飛機後艙的廉價座位。信用卡公司競相推出價格越來越高的信用卡，吸引那些樂於支付年費以換取專屬特權的富豪 - 與此同時，低收入家庭卻在為償還債務的最低還款額而苦苦掙扎。

即使是那些標榜面向大眾市場的公司的管理人員也看到了這一趨勢 - 在某些情況下，他們甚至開始擔憂後果。

麥當勞執行長Christopher J. Kempczinski 在最近的財報電話會議上表示： “與去年同期相比，整個行業低收入消費者的到訪量再次下降了兩位數” ; “這種消費者群體的分化，使得我們對美國消費者近期的整體消費健康狀況保持謹慎。”

（待續）

手是如何進化的？答案就在你的背後。 (2/2)

Recently the New York Times picked up the following:

How Did Hands Evolve? The Answer Is Behind You. (2/2)

The evolutionary blueprint for hands was borrowed in part from a much older genetic plan for our nether regions, a new study suggests.

By Carl Zimmer – Origins

17 Sept. 2025

(continue)

Dr. Hintermann, who took over the project while working in the Geneva lab, grew zebrafish embryos from which she had removed the 5DOM locks, using CRISPR. If the locks were important in the development of fish fins, then deleting them might reveal how.

To her surprise, deleting 5DOM had little effect on the developing fins. But it disrupted a region on the underside of the zebrafish’s tail, where there are two openings: the anus, and a hole for the bladder and for sexual organs.

This surprise prompted the researchers to take a closer look at the same region in mouse embryos. Here they got a second surprise: 5DOM unlocks the genes that built that region in mammals, too.

These and other experiments led the scientists to a new hypothesis for the evolution of fingers and toes. The story starts a half-billion years ago, with the earliest, simplest fish. Their bodies were little more than heads connected to long-ribbon-like bodies; they swallowed food, which made its way down a long digestive tract until the remnants escaped through the anus. A nearby opening was used for sex, and the release of urine.

The embryos of this protofish unlocked different genes to create the different parts of its body. At the far end, 5DOM unlocked the genes for the anus as well as the opening for its urethra and sexual organs.

That genetic recipe hasn’t changed in a half-billion years. That’s why 5DOM still controls the development of that region in both zebrafish and mice — and us.

But about 360 million years ago, the scientists propose, 5DOM underwent an evolutionary change. Now it could build not only our nether regions but our fingers and toes, too.

M. Brent Hawkins, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard and an author of the study, compared the recycling of 5DOM to songs being recycled by musicians. “It’s like Jay-Z being inspired by old show tunes and sampling ‘It’s the Hard Knock Life,’” he said.

Hands and nether parts might seem to have little in common, but there are some key similarities. For one thing, both are extremities: In early fish, 5DOM unlocked genes that determined the anatomy at the far end of the body. In a developing limb, the fingers and toes develop at the far end, too.

But Neil Shubin, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Chicago and another author of the study, said that the precise evolutionary changes that had given 5DOM its new job remain a mystery.

“It caught us off guard,” he said. “We have some homework to do to figure out how it happened.”

Translation

手是如何進化的？答案就在你的背後。 (2/2)

一項新研究表明，手的演化藍圖部分借鑒了我們更古老的生殖器官的基因排序藍圖。

（繼續）

在日內瓦實驗室工作期間接手該計畫的欣特曼博士利用CRISPR技術，對斑馬魚胚胎進行了改造，並移除了其中的5DOM鎖。如果這些鎖在魚鰭發育中起著重要作用，那麼刪除它們或許能揭示其作用機制。

令她驚訝的是，刪除5DOM對魚鰭的發育幾乎沒有影響。但它破壞了斑馬魚尾部腹側的一個區域，該區域有兩個開口：肛門，以及膀胱和性器官的開口。

這項意外發現促使研究人員對小鼠胚胎的同一區域進行了更深入的研究。他們在這裡得到了第二個驚喜：5DOM 也能把哺乳動物中建構該區域的基因解鎖。

這些實驗以及其他實驗使科學家提出了關於手指和腳趾進化的新假說。故事始於五億年前，最早、最簡單的魚類。它們的身體幾乎只有頭部和長帶狀的身體；它們吞食食物，食物沿著長長的消化道向下移動，最終殘餘物從肛門排出。在附近的開口用於交配和排尿。

這種原始魚的胚胎活化了不同的基因，從而形成了身體的不同部位。在末端，5DOM 解鎖了肛門以及尿道和性器官開口的基因。

這套基因序列在五億年間從未改變。這就是為什麼 5DOM 至今仍然控制著斑馬魚、老鼠以及我們人類該區域的發育。

但科學家推測，大約3.6億年前，5DOM發生了演化上的改變。如今，它不僅能建造我們的生殖器官，還能建造我們的手指和腳趾。

哈佛大學進化生物學家、該研究的作者之一M. Brent Hawkins 將5DOM的循環利用比喻為音樂家對歌曲的循環利用。 他說:「這就像Jay-Z從老歌舞劇中汲取靈感，並採樣了《It's the Hard Knock Life》這首歌一樣」。

手和生殖器官看似沒什麼共同之處，但其實卻有一些關鍵的相似之處。首先，它們都是肢體末端：在早期魚類中，5DOM解鎖了決定身體末端解剖結構的基因。在發育中的肢體中，手指和腳趾也是在末端發育的。

但芝加哥大學演化生物學家、這個研究的另一位作者Neil Shubin表示，究竟是什麼演化改變賦予了5DOM新的工作，至今仍是個謎。

他說:“這讓我們措手不及”; “我們有功課去做, 要好好調查一下事情是怎麼發生的。”

So, millions of years ago, our fishy ancestors moved from water to land. Along the way, their fins turned into feet, with toes. And hundreds of millions of years later, the front pair evolved into hands. Now the precise DNA-editing technology has enabled scientists to reconstruct this ancient evolutionary change. It turns out that hands and feet were not the products of new genes doing new things. Rather, through natural selection, pieces of old genetic recipes for ancient body parts were cobbled together into new combinations. The researchers find that 5DOM is responsible to unlock the genes for the anus as well as the opening for its urethra and sexual organs. Apparently, it is an interesting discovery that may help us to know how and where we come from.

手是如何進化的？答案就在你的背後。 （1/2）

Recently the New York Times reported the following:

How Did Hands Evolve? The Answer Is Behind You. (1/2)

The evolutionary blueprint for hands was borrowed in part from a much older genetic plan for our nether regions, a new study suggests.

 By Carl Zimmer – Origins

17 Sept. 2025

About 360 million years ago, our fishy ancestors moved from water to land. Along the way, their fins turned into feet, with toes. And hundreds of millions of years later, the front pair evolved into hands.

To understand this profound evolutionary transformation, scientists have spent decades studying the fossils of extinct fish that sported limb-like fins. They have also compared the embryos of modern-day fish and land vertebrates to understand how their fins and limbs develop.

Now the precise DNA-editing technology known as CRISPR is letting scientists reconstruct this ancient evolutionary change in molecular detail. It turns out that hands and feet were not the products of new genes doing new things. Rather, through natural selection, pieces of old genetic recipes for ancient body parts were cobbled together into new combinations.

“It’s much easier than if you had to build from scratch,” said Aurélie Hintermann, a postdoctoral researcher at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, in Kansas City, Mo.

On Wednesday, Dr. Hintermann and her colleagues showed just how old some of those pieces were: The recipe for building hands was borrowed in part from the one for our nether regions.

Dr. Hintermann and her colleagues carried out their study by tracing the activity of genes in developing embryos. An embryo begins as a fertilized egg with a single set of genes; it then divides into new cells, each of which inherits those same genes. But along the way, the cells turn these genes on and off in different patterns, enabling them to become particular tissues and organs. The cells also send out molecules that trigger neighbors to change their own genetic melody.

Those signaling molecules switch genes on by grabbing DNA at a precise location, like a key turning in a lock. Many genes need several keys to open locks before they can become active.

Scientists have identified some of the locks that enable embryos of humans and other species to grow limbs. In 2011, Denis Duboule, a biologist at the University of Geneva, and his colleagues discovered a half-dozen molecular locks sitting side-by-side along a stretch of DNA called 5DOM. When 5DOM was snipped out of a mouse embryo’s DNA, the embryo grew legs but failed to grow feet.

Dr. Duboule and his colleagues wondered how this crucial set of locks evolved. Did it arise when our ancestors first came ashore and evolved limbs? Or did it exist earlier, in our finned ancestors?

To tackle that question, Christopher Bolt, then a graduate student in Dr. Duboule’s lab, searched through the genome of the zebrafish. He discovered that it, too, had 5DOM.

Zebrafish and mammals share an ancient common ancestor that lived more than 400 million years ago. The Geneva team’s discovery suggested that this primordial ancestor already had 5DOM. And if it was still intact in zebrafish, it must be doing something in their embryos. “It could not be there by chance,” Dr. Hintermann said.

(to be continued)

Translation

手是如何進化的？答案就在你的背後。 （1/2）

一項新研究表明，手的演化藍圖部分借鑒了我們更古老的生殖器官的基因排序藍圖。

大約3.6億年前，我們的魚類祖先從水中遷移到陸地。在此過程中，它們的鰭演化成有腳趾的腳了。數億年後，一對前鰭演變成手了。

為了理解這深刻的演化轉變，科學家花費數十年研究已滅絕魚類的化石，這些魚類都擁有類似肢體的鰭。他們也比較了現代魚類和陸生脊椎動物的胚胎，以了解它們的鰭和肢體是如何發展的。

如今，一種名為CRISPR的精準DNA編輯技術讓科學家能夠從分子層面重建這古老的演化變化。結果表明，手和腳並非由新的基因執行新的功能而產生的。相反，透過自然選擇，令構成遠古身體部位的古老基因排序被拼湊成新的組合。

密蘇裡州堪薩斯城斯托爾斯醫學研究所的博士後研究員Aurélie Hintermann說:「這比從零開始建造要容易得多」。

週三，Hintermann博士和她的同事們展示了其中一些基因篇排的古老程度：構建手部的基因譜部分借鑒自我們生殖器官的基因排序。

Hintermann博士和她的同事們透過追蹤發育中胚胎的基因活動來進行這項研究。胚胎最初是一個受精卵，擁有一套基因組；然後它分裂成新的細胞，每個細胞都繼承了相同的基因。但在此過程中，細胞會以不同的模式開啟和關閉這些基因，使它們能夠發育成特定的組織和器官。細胞也會釋放一些分子，觸發鄰近細胞改變自身的基因表現特徵或特性。

這些訊號分子透過在一特定位置抓住DNA來激活基因，就像鑰匙轉動鎖一樣。許多基因需要多把「鑰匙」才能打開「鎖」並被啟動。

科學家已經辨識出一些能夠使人類和其他物種的胚胎長出四肢的「鎖」。 2011年，日內瓦大學的生物學家Denis Duboule和他的同事在一段名為5DOM的DNA序列上發現了六個並排排列的分子「鎖」。當從小鼠胚胎的DNA中切除5DOM時，胚胎長出了腿，但沒有長出腳。

Duboule博士和他的同事想知道這組關鍵的「鎖」是如何演化而來的。它是在我們祖先首次登陸並進化出四肢時出現的嗎？還是更早存在於我們有鰭的祖先身上？

為了解答這個問題，當時在Duboule博士實驗室攻讀研究生的Christopher Bolt對斑馬魚的基因組進行了研究。他發現斑馬魚也擁有5DOM。

斑馬魚和哺乳動物擁有一個共同的古代祖先，生活在4億多年前。日內瓦團隊的發現表明，這個遠古祖先已經擁有5DOM基因。如果斑馬魚體內仍保留著5DOM基因，那麼它必然在斑馬魚胚胎發育過程中發揮某種作用。Hintermann博士說: 「它不可能是偶然存在的」。

（待續）

China's September New Car Sales Increased 14.9% Compared to the Same Month Last Year, Driven by Strong Sales of EVs etc.

Recently NHK News On-line reported the following:

中国 9月の新車販売台数 去年同月比14.9％増 EVなど販売好調

2025年10月14日午後5時18分

中国の9月の輸出を含めた新車の販売台数は、EV＝電気自動車などの「新エネルギー車」の販売が好調だったことなどから、去年の同じ月と比べて14.9％増えました。ただ、国内市場では値下げ競争の激化によって自動車メーカーの経営環境が厳しさを増していて、今後、販売動向にどう影響するかが焦点となります。

中国の自動車メーカーなどでつくる「自動車工業協会」によりますと9月の新車の販売台数は輸出を含めて322万6000台で、去年の同じ月と比べて14.9％増えました。

これは、政府が推し進める自動車の買い替え促進策の効果で、EVなどの「新エネルギー車」の販売が去年の同じ月と比べて24.6％増えたためで、販売台数に占める新エネルギー車の割合は、49.7％となりました。

また、全体の輸出台数は65万2000台となり、去年の同じ月と比べて21％増えました。

ただ、中国の国内市場では、値下げ競争の激化によって自動車メーカーの経営環境が厳しさを増していて、今後、販売動向にどう影響するかが焦点となります。

Translation

China's September New Car Sales Increased 14.9% Compared to the Same Month Last Year, Driven by Strong Sales of EVs etc.

China's September new car sales, including exports, increased 14.9% compared to the same month last year, driven by strong sales of "new energy vehicles" such as electric vehicles (EVs). However, intensifying price-cutting competition in the domestic market was creating an increasingly challenging business environment for automakers, and future sales trends would be a focus of attention.

According to the China Automobile Manufacturers Association, which represented China's automakers etc., new car sales in September, including exports, totaled 3,226,000 units, up 14.9% compared to the same month last year.

This was due to the government's car replacement promotion measures, which led to a 24.6% increase in sales of "new energy vehicles" such as EVs compared to the same month last year, bringing the proportion of new energy vehicles to 49.7% of total sales.

Additionally, total exports totaled 652,000 units, up 21% compared to the same month last year.

However, in China's domestic market, the business environment for automakers was becoming increasingly tough due to intensifying price-cutting competition, from now on the focus would be on how this could affect sales trends.

So, China's September new car sales have increased 14.9% compared to the same month last year, driven by strong sales of "new energy vehicles" such as electric vehicles (EVs). Yet the business environment for automakers is becoming tough due to intensifying price-cutting competition. Apparently, an increase in sales does not mean an increase in profit although it can create more  employment opportunity for the people.