4億年前陸地上最大的生物體，科學家至今無法解釋

Recently CNN.com reported the following:

The largest life-form on land 400 million years ago was one that scientists can’t explain

CNN - By Katie Hunt

Updated Feb 5, 2026

Some 400 million years ago, long before dinosaurs or even trees had evolved, an enigmatic organism towered over the landscape like a prehistoric monolith.

Now, new research makes the case that the ancient life form is not a plant, animal or fungi and instead may be a completely unknown form of multicellular life.

“What we can say, based on all of those new analyses, is that it’s so different from any modern group we have,” said Corentin Loron, a palaeontologist at Edinburgh University and a co-lead author of the research, which published in the journal Science Advances last month.

First identified 160 years ago, the fossils — known as Prototaxites — measure up to 30 feet (around 9 meters) tall and have long defied easy classification.

In the 19th century, scientists initially thought Prototaxites was the rotten trunk of a conifer. Subsequent study, however, revealed it was composed of interwoven tubes, rather than the block-like cells that make up plant tissue.

Other scientists argued that it was a lichen-like mass, a symbiotic association between a fungus and algae. In recent years, some researchers thought the organism more closely resembled a fungus, in part because it didn’t appear to produce energy through photosynthesis.

The new research focused on three Prototaxites fossils unearthed in the Rhynie chert, a prehistoric land ecosystem near Aberdeen, Scotland. The Rhynie chert is home to the best-preserved examples of the earliest plants, fungi and fauna that colonized land 400 million years ago, during a period known as the early Devonian. The site was once an ancient hot spring like Yellowstone.

The exceptional preservation of the fossils embedded in the rock at the Rhynie chert allows scientists, with the right tools, to detect the chemical signatures of long-vanished molecules, known as fossilization products.

“We are able to still have signatures that inform us about the original composition of those fossils, meaning it’s not overcooked, it’s not overly transformed by the geology,” Loron explained.

Unanswered questions

The new analysis by Loron and his colleagues suggests that the biomarkers in Prototaxites fossils were chemically distinct from those of fossilized fungi found at the site and preserved in similar conditions. Fungi fossils preserved in the chert contained compounds from the breakdown of chitin and glucan, key structural molecules in fungi. Prototaxites, however, lacked these biomarkers.

“If Prototaxites was fungi, we would have expected it to follow the same trend as the fungi because they are next to each other in the same burial conditions,” Loron said.

Other structural features — such as a complex branching pattern within dark spherical spots in the fossil that could have carried out a gas, nutrient, water, or served another exchange function — were distinct from all known fungi, whether living or extinct, the researchers noted in the study. Based on these results, it is too early to shoehorn Prototaxites into a specific category, according to the team.

Different species of Prototaxites might have varied in size, but the largest would have really towered over the landscape at a time when plants were less than 1 meter tall, said Kevin Boyce, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Stanford University. His work on Prototaxites fossils has shown that the ancient organisms didn’t use photosynthesis to produce energy from light like plants, but likely consumed carbon sources in the environment — just as some living fungi live off decomposing organic matter.

“People have compared it to specific fungi or algae in the past, and they were doing their best with the information they had at the time, but we now have a much better handle on the overall tree of life and Prototaxites is too old for those comparisons to be valid,” Boyce, who wasn’t involved in the study, said in an email.

“You can compare it to mushrooms, but mushrooms just aren’t that old,” he added. “That doesn’t mean Prototaxites is or isn’t a fungus (or anything else), just that its form would have evolved independently from the mushrooms and other complex multicellular examples amongst fungi that we have now.”

Marc-André Selosse, a professor at the Natural History Museum in Paris, said the authors of the new study conducted “wonderful analyses” but noted the research only examined one of 25 known species of Prototaxites. Selosse, who also didn’t take part in the work, said he thought it was still possible that the organism functioned in a lichen-like way.

“The sampling is not encompassing the diversity of Prototaxites species,” Selosse said. “So for me, it doesn’t make it as a finished story.”

Loron said there is still much that is unknown about Prototaxites. For example, it’s not clear how Prototaxites were anchored to the ground or whether the organism, which is thought to have grown slowly, was upright for its whole lifespan. His team is planning follow-up studies on fossilized tubular organisms similar to Prototaxites to further the research.

“Sometimes it’s scary to not know what something is, but it’s also scientifically exciting,” Loron said.

Translation

4億年前陸地上最大的生物體，科學家至今無法解釋

大約4億年前，遠在恐龍甚至樹木出現之前，一種神秘的生物體如同史前巨石般聳立於大地之上。

如今，一項新的研究表明，這種古代生物體並非植物、動物或真菌，可能是一種完全未知的多細胞生物。

愛丁堡大學古生物學家、該研究的共同第一作者Corentin Loron說道:「基於所有這些新的分析，我們可以說，它與我們已知的任何現代生物類群都截然不同」。這項研究已於上月發表在《科學進展》（Science Advances）雜誌上。

這些化石－被稱為原杉菌（Prototaxites）- 在160年前首次被發現，它們高達30英尺（約9公尺），長期以來一直難以被歸類。

19世紀，科學家最初認為原杉菌（Prototaxites）是針葉樹腐爛的樹幹。然而，隨後的研究表明，它是由交織的管子組成，而不是構成植物組織的塊狀細胞。

另一些科學家則認為它是一種類似地衣的團塊，是真菌和藻類之間的共生體。近年來，一些研究人員認為這種生物更接近真菌，部分原因是它似乎不會透過光合作用產生能量。

這項新研究聚焦於蘇格蘭Aberdeen附近, 稱為瑞尼燧石層（Rhynie chert）的近史前陸地生態系中出土的三塊原杉菌化石。瑞尼燧石層保存著4億年前稱為Devonian（泥盆紀）最早期興盛的植物、真菌和動物群的最佳化石標本。該遺址曾像黃石公園一樣，是個古老的溫泉。

瑞尼燧石層中化石保存得異常完好，這使得科學家能夠借助合適的工具，探測到早已消失的分子（即化石化產物）的化學特徵。

Loron解釋道: 「我們仍然能夠獲得這些特徵，它們可以告訴我們這些化石的原始成分，這意味著它們沒有被過度熱化，也沒有被地質作用過度改變」。

未解之謎

Loron及其同事的最新分析表明，原杉菌化石中的生物標記與在同一地點發現的、保存條件相似的真菌化石的生物標記在化學成分上截然不同。保存在燧石中的真菌化石含有甲殼質和葡聚糖分解產生的化合物，而甲殼質和葡聚糖是真菌的關鍵結構分子。然而，原杉菌化石卻缺乏這些生物標記。

Loron說: 「如果原杉菌是真菌，我們原本預期它會與真菌的生物標記呈現相同的趨勢，因為它們彼此相鄰，且處於相同的埋藏條件下」。

研究人員在研究中指出，其他結構特徵 - 例如化石中深色球狀斑點內複雜的枝狀結構，這些結構可能負責氣體、營養物質、水分的輸送，或發揮其他交換功能 - 與所有已知的真菌（無論現存或已滅絕）都截然不同。研究團隊認為，基於這些結果，現在就將原杉菌（Prototaxites）歸入某個特定類別還為時過早。

史丹佛大學地球與行星科學教授Kevin Boyce表示，不同種類的原杉菌體型可能有所差異，但最大的原杉菌出現在一般植物高度不足1米的時代，無疑會成為地貌上的龐然大物。他對原杉菌化石造出的研究表明，這些遠古生物不像植物那樣利用光合作用從光中獲取能量，而是可能像某些現存真菌以分解有機物為生一樣，從環境中吸收碳源為生。

並未參與這項研究的Boyce 在一封電子郵件中寫道:「過去人們曾將它與特定的真菌或藻類進行比較，他們當時也只是盡力利用已有的信息進行分析。但現在我們對整個生命之樹有了更深入的了解，而原杉菌的出現時間太早了，當時的比較已經不再有效了」。

他補充道:“你可以把它和蘑菇比較，但蘑菇的出現時間並沒有那麼早”，“這並不意味著原杉菌是或不是真菌（或其他任何生物），只是說它們與我們現在所知的蘑菇和其他複雜的多細胞真菌是獨立地去演化的產物。”

巴黎自然歷史博物館的教授Marc-André Selosse表示，這項新研究的作者進行了“精彩的分析”，但他指出，這項研究只考察了已知的25種原杉菌中的一種。Selosse也未參與這項研究，但他表示，他認為這種生物體仍然有可能以類似地衣的方式運作。

Selosse說: “目前的採樣並未涵蓋原杉菌物種的全部” ， “所以對我來說，這還不足以說已寫出了一個完整的故事。”

Loron表示，關於原杉菌，我們仍然有很多未知之處。例如，目前尚不清楚原杉菌是如何固定在地面上的，也不清楚這種被認為生長緩慢的生物是否終生保持直立。他的團隊計劃對與原杉菌類似的管狀化石生物進行後續研究，以推進相關調查。

Loron說: 「有時候，不知道某些東西是什麼會讓人感到害怕，但從科學角度來說，這也令人興奮的」。

So, some 400 million years ago, long before dinosaurs or even trees had evolved, an enigmatic organism called Prototaxites towered over the landscape like a prehistoric monolith. Now, new research makes the case that this ancient life form is not a plant, animal or fungi and instead may be a completely unknown form of multicellular life. There is still much that is unknown about Prototaxites. Apparently, further the research is needed in order to know more about this organism.

Note:

1.Prototaxites (原杉菌) is an extinct genus of large macroscopic eukaryote dating from the Late Silurian until the Late Devonian periods. Prototaxites formed large trunk-like structures up to 1 metre (3 ft) wide, reaching 8 metres (26 ft) in height, made up of tiny interwoven tubules around 50 micrometres (0.0020 in) in diameter, making it by far the largest land-dwelling organism of its time. The taxonomy of Prototaxites has long been the subject of debate. (Wikipedia)

2. Rhynie chert (瑞尼燧石層) refers to a type of fossil-rich silica rock that originates from the Early Devonian period. It is significant in paleontology for preserving some of the oldest known land plants and their associated organisms. (ChatGPT)

3. The Devonian (泥盆紀) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era during the Phanerozoic eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian period at 419.62 million years ago, to the beginning of the succeeding Carboniferous period. It is named after Devon, South West England, where rocks from this period were first studied. (Wikipedia)

長壽的秘訣？科學家稱，或許就藏在基因裡

Recently The Guardian has reported the following:

The secret to long life? It could be in the genes after all, say scientists

New study into ‘heritability’ shows that 50% of the variation in human lifespan could be down to genetics

The Guardian - Nicola Davis Science correspondent

Thu 29 Jan 2026 19.00 GMT

Some people who live to a great age put it down to an evening tot of whisky, others to staying out of trouble. Now scientists think they may have unlocked a key secret to long life – quite simply, genetics.

Writing in the journal Science, the researchers described how previous studies that had attempted to unpick the genetic component of human lifespan had not taken into account that some lives were cut short by accidents, murders, infectious diseases or other factors arising outside the body. Such “extrinsic mortality” increases with age, as people often become more frail.

Prof Uri Alon and colleagues at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel say the true genetic contribution to the variation in human lifespan has been masked.

The team looked at “heritability”, the proportion of change in a characteristic such as height, body weight or lifespan within a population that can be attributed to genetics rather than environmental factors. Previous studies for human lifespan have thrown up a wide range of values – with heritability ranging from 6% of the variation to 33%.

But Alon, who co-authored the research, and his colleagues said such figures were underestimates. “I hope this will inspire researchers to make a deep search for the genes that impact lifespan,” Alon said. “These genes will tell us the mechanisms that govern our internal clocks.

“These can one day be turned into therapy to slow down the rate of ageing and in that way slow down all age-related disease at once.”

The team created a mathematical model that takes into account extrinsic mortality and the impact of biological ageing, and calibrated it using correlations of lifespan from historical datasets of thousands of pairs of twins in Denmark and Sweden.

They removed the impact of extrinsic mortality to reveal the signal from biological ageing, which is caused by genetics. The results suggest about 50% of the variation in human lifespan is due to genetics – a figure the researchers said was on a par with that seen in wild mice in the laboratory.

The other 50% of variation in human lifespan, they said, was probably explained by factors such as random biological effects and environmental influences.

“That’s where we would expect to find all the usual suspects – lifestyle, diet, exercise, social relations, environment, and more,” said Ben Shenhar, who co-authored the research, adding that lifestyle and environment were likely to become more important as we age.

The team tested their results using data from a US study of siblings of centenarians, and found a heritability of lifespan of about 50%.

Further testing using another Swedish dataset revealed that as extrinsic mortality fell from the start of the 20th century – likely due to factors such as improvements in public health – the estimated genetic contribution to lifespan rose, supporting the idea that extrinsic mortality was a key factor when looking at heritability. The team also found the heritability of lifespan varied depending on the cause of death, such as cancer or dementia, and age.

Shenhar added that day-to-day experience showed genetics played an important role in longevity. “Around 20% of centenarians, for example, reach age 100 without any serious debilitating illnesses,” he said, adding that could suggest their genes had a protective effect. “Studies have been conducted to identify these protective genes, and many have been found, but surely there are many still left to discover,” he said.

While the new study does not take into account the influence that genes can have on the immune system, Prof Richard Faragher of the University of Brighton said the research suggested humans did not seem to be an outlier when it came to the heritability of lifespan.

“And that’s useful because it means humans look quite like a species that we study ageing in, [and] gives you a certain amount of confidence that interventions that will work in mice will carry over into humans,” he said.

Translation

長壽的秘訣？科學家稱，或許就藏在基因裡

一項關於「遺傳性」的新研究表明，人類壽命差異的50%可能源自於基因

有些長壽者將長壽歸功於睡前小酌一杯威士忌，有些人則認為長壽的秘訣在於遠離麻煩。如今，科學家認為他們可能已經揭開了長壽的關鍵秘密 - 其實很簡單，就是基因。

研究人員在《科學》雜誌上撰文指出，以往試圖揭示人類壽命遺傳因素的研究忽略了這樣一個事實：有些人因意外事故、謀殺、傳染病或其他體外因素而英年早逝。這種「外在死亡率」會隨著年齡的增長而增加，因為人們往往會趨向更加脆弱。

以色列Weizmann科學研究所的Uri Alon教授及其同事表示，真正的遺傳因素對人類壽命差異的貢獻一直被掩蓋。

該團隊研究了“遺傳性”，即在人群中，身高、體重或壽命等特徵變化中可歸咎於遺傳而非環境因素的比例。以往關於人類壽命的研究得出了各種各樣的數值 - 遺傳性佔變異因素的比例從6%到33%不等。

但作為研究的共同作者之一，Alon教授及其同事表示，這些數字被低估了。 Alon教授說: 「我希望這項研究能激勵研究人員深入探索影響壽命的基因」; 「這些基因將揭示控制我們生理時鐘的機制」。

“這些機制或許有一天能夠轉化為治療方法，從而減緩衰老速度，進而減緩所有與年齡相關的疾病。”

研究團隊創建了一個數學模型，該模型考慮了外在死亡和生物老化的影響，並使用來自丹麥和瑞典數千對雙胞胎的歷史數據, 利用期相關性對其進行校準。

他們剔除了外在死亡的影響，從而揭示了由遺傳因素導致的生物老化訊號。結果表明，人類壽命差異的約50%是由遺傳因素造成的 - 研究人員表示，這一比例與實驗室中觀察野生小鼠的結果一致。

他們表示，人類壽命差異的另外50%可能由隨機生物效應和環境影響等因素解釋。

該研究的合著者Ben Shenhar說道:「我們預計會在這裡找到所有常見的可疑因素 - 生活方式、飲食、運動、社會關係、環境等等」，並補充說，隨著年齡的增長，生活方式和環境可能會變得更加重要。

研究團隊利用美國一項針對百歲老人兄弟姊妹的研究數據檢驗了他們的結果，發現因遺傳而長壽約為佔 50%。

使用另一個瑞典數據集進行的進一步測試顯示，自 20 世紀初以來，外在死亡率有所下降。（這很可能是由於公共衛生水平的提高等因素），遺傳因素對壽命的貢獻估計值上升，這支持了外源性死亡率是影響遺傳因素的關鍵。研究團隊也發現，壽命的遺傳性會因死亡原因（如癌症或失智症）和年齡而異。

Shenhar補充說，日常經驗表明，遺傳在長壽中扮演著重要角色。 他說道:「例如，大約20%的百歲老人活到100歲時沒有任何嚴重的衰弱性疾病」，並補充說這可能表明他們的基因具有保護作用。他又說: 「一些研究來識別這些保護性基因已經開展，並且已經發現了很多，但肯定還有許多基因有待發現」。

雖然這項新研究沒有考慮基因對免疫系統的影響，布萊頓大學的Richard Faragher教授表示，這項研究表明，就壽命的遺傳性而言，人類似乎並非特例。

他說:「這很有用，因為它意味著人類與我們研究衰老的物種非常相似，[並且]讓我們有理由相信，在小鼠身上有效的干預措施也能在人類身上得到應用」。

So, now scientists think that a key secret to long life is genetics. Researchers described how previous studies that attempted to unpick the genetic component of human lifespan had not taken into account that some lives were cut short by accidents, murders, infectious diseases or other factors arising outside the body and thus underestimated the impact of heritability. Apparently, this is an interesting finding that may help our research to extend our lifespan in the future.

Mandatory allergy labeling: "Cashew nuts" to be newly added

 Recently NHK News on-line reported the following:

アレルギーの表示義務 新たに「カシューナッツ」追加へ

2026年2月6日午後4時30分

消費者庁

アレルギーを引き起こすおそれのある食品として、表示を義務づける特定原材料に新たに「カシューナッツ」を追加する案が、国の消費者委員会の専門部会で了承されました。4月から「カシューナッツ」を使用した加工食品は、表示が義務化される見通しです。

国の食品表示制度では、アレルギーを引き起こすおそれのある食品について、現在卵や小麦など8品目が特定原材料として表示を義務づけられ、大豆やいくらなど20品目が表示を推奨されています。

このうちカシューナッツは表示が推奨されている20品目のうちの一つですが、消費者庁が2023年に行った食物アレルギーの健康被害の実態調査で、症例数が279件にのぼり、大幅に増加していることが明らかになったということです。

中には「意識がなくなる」などの重い症例も37件報告されています。

このため消費者庁は、カシューナッツの表示を義務化する食品表示基準の改正案をまとめ、6日開かれた国の消費者委員会の食品表示部会で了承されました。

あわせて「ピスタチオ」についても、表示を推奨する品目に新たに追加するとしています。

消費者庁では今後、消費者委員会の正式な答申を経て基準の改正を行うことにしていて、ことし4月から「カシューナッツ」を使用した加工食品は、原材料への表示が義務づけられる見通しです。

Translation

Mandatory allergy labeling: "Cashew nuts" to be newly added

Consumer Affairs Agency

A proposal to add "cashew nuts" to the list of specified ingredients that might cause allergies and require labeling had been approved by a specialist committee of the National Consumer Affairs Commission. Starting from April, for processed foods containing cashew nuts labeling would become mandatory.

Under the national food labeling system, eight items, including eggs and wheat, were currently required to be labeled as specified ingredients for foods that might cause allergies, and 20 items, including soybeans and salmon roe, were recommended for labeling.

Cashew nuts were one of the 20 recommended items, and a 2023 survey on food allergy health damage conducted by the Consumer Affairs Agency revealed a significant increase in the number of cases that had reached 279.

Among them, 37 severe cases including loss of consciousness, had been reported.

In response to this, the Consumer Affairs Agency compiled a proposed revision to the food labeling standards, which would mandate the labeling of cashew nuts, and it was approved at a meeting of the Food Labeling Committee of the Consumer Commission held on the 6th.

Pistachios could also be added to the list of items for which labeling was recommended.

The Consumer Affairs Agency would revise the standards following a formal report from the Consumer Affairs Commission. From April of this year, it was expected that processed foods using cashew nuts could be required to label their ingredients.

So, a proposal to add "cashew nuts" to the list of specified ingredients that may cause allergies and require labeling has been approved. Meanwhile, Pistachios will also be added to the list of items for which labeling is recommended. Apparently, Japan is more careful about food allergies than many other countries.

中國將於2027年起禁止汽車使用隱藏式門把手

Recently the Google News on-line picked up the following:

China to ban hidden door handles on cars starting 2027

By The Associated Press - Chan Ho-him, The Associated Press

Published: February 03, 2026 at 7:24AM EST

HONG KONG — China will ban hidden door handles on cars, commonly used on Tesla’s electric vehicles and many other EV models, starting next year.

All car doors must include a mechanical release function for handles, except for the tailgate, according to details released by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Monday.

Officials said the policy aims to address safety concerns after fatal EV accidents where electronic doors reportedly failed to operate and trapped passengers inside vehicles.

The new requirement will take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. For car models that were already approved, carmakers will have until Jan. 1, 2029, to make design changes to match the regulations.

Vehicles including Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3, BMW’s iX3, and other models by many Chinese brands feature retractable car door handles that could be subject to the new rules.

Chris Liu, a Shanghai-based senior analyst at technology research and advisory group Omdia, said the global impact of China’s new rules could be substantial and other jurisdictions may follow suit on retractable door handles. Carmakers will be facing potentially costly redesigns or retrofits.

“China is the first major automotive market to explicitly ban electrical pop-out and press-to-release hidden door handles,” he said. “While other regions have flagged safety concerns, China is the first to formalize this into a national safety standard.”

It’s likely that regulators in Europe and elsewhere will reference or align with China’s approach, Liu said. The new requirements would impact premium EVs more as retractable door handles “are treated as a design and aerodynamic statement,” he added.

A draft of the proposed rules was published by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in September for public comment.

Last year, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into cases where Tesla’s electronic door handles reportedly failed to work.

Translation

中國將於2027年起禁止汽車使用隱藏式門把手

香港 — 中國將於明年起禁止汽車使用隱藏式門把手，這種門把手常見於特斯拉電動車和其他許多電動車車型。

根據中國工業和資訊化部周一公佈的細節，除後行李箱門外，所有車門都必須配備機械式開啟裝置。

官員表示，這項政策旨在解決先前發生的電動車致命事故引發的安全隱患，據報道，這些事故中，電子門失靈導致乘客被困在車內。

新規將於2027年1月1日生效。對於已核准的車型，汽車製造商可在2029年1月1日前進行設計修改，以符合新規。

包括特斯拉Model Y和Model 3、BMWiX3以及眾多中國品牌車型在內的多款汽車都配備了可伸縮門把手，這些門把手可能受到新規的約束。

上海科技研究顧問公司Omdia的高級分析師Chris Liu表示，中國新規的全球影響可能相當巨大，其他地區也可能效仿，對可伸縮門把手進行限制。汽車製造商將面臨成本高昂的重新設計或改裝。

他表示：“中國是首個明確禁止電動彈出式和按壓式隱藏門把手的主要汽車市場”; “雖然其他地區也曾提出過安全隱患，但中國是第一個將其正式納入國家安全標準的國家。”

Liu認為，歐洲和其他地區的監管機構很可能會參考或效法中國的做法。他還補充道，由於可伸縮門把手 “被視為設計和空氣動力學的陳述展示” ，因此新規對高端電動車的影響更大。

中國工業和資訊化部於9月發佈了擬議規則的草案，徵求公眾意見。

去年，美國國家公路交通安全管理局對特斯拉電子門把手據稱失靈的案件展開了調查。

So, China will ban hidden door handles on cars that is commonly used on electric vehicles starting next year. It’s likely that regulators in Europe and elsewhere will align with China’s approach. Apparently, for safety reasons, all electric cars should do this.

    

關稅的影響：特朗普的貿易實驗一年後（2/2）

Recently the New York Times reported the following:

The Effects of Tariffs, One Year Into Trump’s Trade Experiment (2/2)

Five charts show the impact on the economy after a year of sweeping trade changes by the Trump administration.

By Ana Swanson - Ana Swanson covers international trade and reports from Washington.

Feb. 2, 2026

Updated 11:34 a.m. ET

(continue)

Mixed results for the factory sector

One goal Mr. Trump hasn’t accomplished is helping factory workers. Despite the tariffs, the manufacturing sector continued to shed jobs last year.

Many of Mr. Trump’s supporters argue that it will take time for factories to be built and this trend to be reversed. They have pointed to recent gains in industrial production and capital expenditure to suggest that the country is on the verge of a manufacturing boom because of tariffs.

But there are reasons to be skeptical. Much of the upturn in industrial production is attributable to growth in the aerospace and electronics sectors, which are among the least burdened by tariffs. For makers of cars and car parts, which have been subject to hefty tariffs, production fell last year. Some manufactures say tariffs are harming them by increasing the cost of the metal and machinery they need to run their factories.

And while spending on the construction of new factories is much higher than before the pandemic, it’s down from the end of the Biden administration, when grants to semiconductor and battery factories were encouraging construction.

There are forces other than tariffs that may be helping industries, like a boom in A.I. data center construction and new tax policies that allow companies to write off the cost of new equipment.

Tariffs have pushed up prices

Unsurprisingly, tariffs pushed up the prices of imported goods last year. Economic tracking shows that prices began climbing particularly after Mr. Trump announced sweeping global tariffs in April, reversing a trend of falling prices in previous months.

The price effects from tariffs have, however, been somewhat smaller than many originally anticipated, partly because companies have been hesitant to raise prices for fear of losing customers.

The picture for U.S. inflation has also improved, partly because of a gradual cool-down for inflation in services. But economists say it would look better without tariffs: By one estimate, the Consumer Price Index in August, which was 2.9 percent, would have been 2.2 percent without tariffs.

Beyond the economic data, many Americans remain concerned about high prices, and they have turned more skeptical of Mr. Trump’s handling of the economy, which has traditionally been a strength for him.

A poll from The New York Times and Siena University in January found that 54 percent of voters oppose Mr. Trump’s tariffs, and 51 percent said the president’s policies had made life less affordable for them.

Translation

關稅的影響：特朗普的貿易實驗一年後（2/2）

（繼續）

製造業喜憂參半

特朗普先生未能實現的目標之一是幫助工廠工人。儘管徵收了關稅，製造業去年仍在持續裁員。

特朗普先生的許多支持者認為，工廠的建設和這種趨勢的扭轉需要時間。他們指出，近期工業生產和資本支出的成長表明，由於關稅，美國即將迎來製造業繁榮。

但我們有理由對此持懷疑態度。工業生產的成長主要歸功於航空航太和電子產業的蓬勃發展，這兩個產業受關稅影響最小。而汽車及零件製造商由於受到高關稅的影響，去年的產量有所下降。一些製造商表示，關稅推高了工廠運作所需的金屬和機械設備的成本，損害了他們的利益。

雖然新廠的建設支出遠高於疫情前水平，但仍低於拜登政府末期的水平。當時，政府對半導體和電池工廠的補貼政策刺激了工廠建設。

除了關稅之外，還有其他因素可能也在推動產業發展，例如人工智能數據庫建設的蓬勃發展以及允許企業抵消新設備成本的新稅收政策。

關稅推高了價格

不出所料，關稅推高了去年進口商品的價格。經濟追蹤數據顯示，尤其是在特朗普總統4月宣佈在全球全面徵收關稅之後，價格開始攀升，扭轉了此前幾個月價格下跌的趨勢。

然而，關稅對價格的影響比許多人最初預期的要小一些，部分原因是企業擔心失去客戶而遲遲不願漲價。

美國通膨情勢也有所改善，部分原因是服務業通膨逐漸降溫。但經濟學家表示，如果沒有關稅，情況會更好：據估計，8月的消費者物價指數為2.9%，如果沒有關稅，則應為2.2%。

除了經濟數據之外，許多美國人仍然對高物價感到擔憂，並且對特朗普先生的經濟政策越來越持懷疑態度，而經濟政策歷來是他的強項。

《紐約時報》和錫耶納(Siena)大學1月的一項民調顯示，54%的選民反對特朗普先生的關稅政策，51%的選民表示總統的政策讓他們的生活更加難以負擔。

So, over the past year, President Trump carried out what was essentially a grand experiment with the U.S. economy by raising tariffs. The new surcharges have had a significant impact. They have caused businesses to speed up, delay and cancel purchases, or find new countries to source products from. They have raised a significant amount of revenue for the government, much of it from American businesses. And they have caused the U.S. trade deficit to shrink and prices of American goods to rise. At this moment, many Americans remain concerned about high prices and they are still skeptical of Mr. Trump’s handling of the economy.

關稅的影響：特朗普的貿易實驗一年後（1/2）

Recently the New York Times reported the following:

The Effects of Tariffs, One Year Into Trump’s Trade Experiment (1/2)

Five charts show the impact on the economy after a year of sweeping trade changes by the Trump administration.

By Ana Swanson - Ana Swanson covers international trade and reports from Washington.

Feb. 2, 2026

Updated 11:34 a.m. ET

Over the past year, President Trump carried out what was essentially a grand experiment with the U.S. economy, by raising tariffs to levels not seen in a century. It was an exercise that pitted Mr. Trump, a longtime proponent of tariffs, against business owners who paid the levies and mainstream economists who criticized the plan.

America imports trillions of dollars of foreign goods each year, and tariffs are a tax on those purchases. Over the past year, Mr. Trump raised average U.S. tariffs to about 17 percent, the highest level since 1932, in the wake of the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. Mr. Trump’s stated aim was to reinvigorate American industry and bring jobs back to the United States.

These new surcharges have had a significant impact. They have caused businesses to speed up, delay and cancel purchases, or find new countries to source products from. They have raised a significant amount of revenue for the government, much of it from American businesses. And they have caused the U.S. trade deficit to shrink and prices of American goods to rise. At the same time, they have not yet been the panacea for the factory sector that Mr. Trump had promised.

Here are some of the effects.

Skyrocketing revenue

One of the most tangible effects of Mr. Trump’s trade policy has been a drastic increase in the revenue the government takes in from tariffs. The United States collected an estimated $287 billion in customs duties, taxes and fees last year, nearly triple the amount in 2024.

This amount is still small compared with the more than $2 trillion earned annually from income taxes, but it gives the government a significant new source of money for its spending, whether that’s funding the military or Social Security, or paying interest on the U.S. debt.

There’s an important caveat, however. This money was paid to the government by so-called “importers of record,” most of which are American companies.

While the Trump administration has said that foreign firms will end up paying the tariffs, most economists believe that American businesses and consumers bear most of the burden.

A shrinking trade deficit

Mr. Trump has also sought to decrease the trade deficit, which is the gap between what the United States buys versus what it sells overseas. In recent months, he has succeeded. The trade deficit has fallen significantly, hitting its lowest level since 2009 in October, though it rebounded in November.

The president and his supporters see the trade deficit as a sign of economic weakness, though not all economists agree. While the trade deficit has fallen a lot in recent months, it had surged earlier in the year as Mr. Trump came into office and businesses rushed to bring goods into the country ahead of the tariffs. From January to November, the trade deficit is still up 4.1 percent from the previous year. The question now for economists is where the trade deficit will go from here.

(to be continued)

Translation

關稅的影響：特朗普的貿易實驗一年後（1/2）

五張圖表展示了特朗普政府推行全面貿易改革一年後對經濟的影響

過去一年，特朗普總統對美國經濟進行了一項堪稱「大實驗」的舉措，將關稅提高到百年未見的水平。這項舉措使長期以來支持關稅的特朗普與繳納關稅的企業擁有者, 以及批評該計劃的主流經濟學家之間產生了衝突。

美國每年進口數兆美元的外國商品，而關稅正是對這些商品徵收的一種稅。過去一年，特朗普先生將美國平均關稅提高至約17%，這是自1932年以來的最高水平，而1932年的關稅水平, 是1930年《斯穆特-霍利關稅法》(Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act) 頒佈之後出台。特朗普先生公開表示，他的目標是重振美國產業，並將就業機會帶回美國。

這些新的附加稅產生了顯著影響。它們迫使企業加快採購速度、延遲採購、取消採購，或尋找新的產品來源國。它們為政府帶來了可觀的收入，其中大部分來自美國企業。它們也導至美國貿易逆差縮小，美國商品價格上漲。同時，它們亦未像特朗普先生承諾那樣成為對製造業的靈丹妙藥。

以下是一些影響：

收入飆升

特朗普先生貿易政策最顯著的影響之一是政府從關稅中獲得的收入大幅增加。去年，美國徵收的關稅、稅金和費用估計為2,870億美元，幾乎是2024年金額的三倍。

這筆金額相比每年超過2兆美元的薪俸稅收入仍然很小，但它為政府提供了一筆可觀的新資金來源，用於各種支出，無論是軍事費用、社會保障，還是支付美國國債利息。

然而，需要注意的是，這筆錢是由所謂在「登記冊的進口商」支付給政府的，其中大部分是美國公司。

儘管特朗普政府聲稱最終將由外國公司承擔關稅，但大多數經濟學家認為，美國企業和消費者才是主要負擔。

貿易逆差縮小

特朗普先生也致力於縮小貿易逆差，也就是美國進口額與出口額之間的差額。近幾個月來，他取得了成功。貿易逆差顯著下降，10月份達到2009年以來的最低水平，儘管11月份有所反彈。

總統及其支持者將貿易逆差視為經濟疲軟的標誌，但並非所有經濟學家都認同這一觀點。儘管貿易逆差在近幾個月來大幅下降，但今年早些時候，隨著特朗普上任，企業爭相在關稅生效前將商品運入美國，貿易逆差曾大幅飆升。 1月至11月，貿易逆差仍較上年同期成長4.1%。現在經濟學家面臨的問題是，貿易逆差的未來走向是如何。

（待續）

巴拿馬廢除香港公司的運河港口營運合約 (2/2)

Recently Google News on-line picked up the following:

Panama voids Hong Kong-based firm's canal port contracts (2/2)

BBC - By Amy Walker and Suranjana Tewari, Asia business correspondent

31 Jan 2026

(continue)

In response, PPC said the new ruling lacks legal basis, and "jeopardises not only PPC and its contract, but also the well-being and stability of thousands of Panamanian families who depend directly and indirectly on port activity".

Its statement added that it had invested more than $1.8bn (£1.3bn) in infrastructure and technology since it began operating the ports in 1997.

Mulino said ports in the country will continue to operate without disruption despite the ruling.

APM Terminals Panama, a subsidiary of Danish shipping company Maersk, will temporarily manage the Balbao and Cristóbal sites.

The company told the BBC in a statement that it "aims to mitigate any risks that could impact essential services for regional and global trade".

On Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said that the country would take "all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies".

Hong Kong's government also said it firmly rejected the ruling.

The Panamanian court's decision could disrupt plans by CK Hutchison to sell its interests in ports worldwide to a consortium led by US investment firm BlackRock and shipping group MSC under a deal worth $22.8bn.

Both firms have been contacted for comment by the BBC.

The sale was widely seen as an attempt by CK Hutchison to reduce political risk in sensitive locations while raising money from valuable assets.

Trump had previously hailed the plans, which would place key assets under majority US ownership, while the Chinese government had criticised them for not being in the national interest.

Markets reacted quickly to the court decision.

CK Hutchison's shares fell 4.6% in Hong Kong trading, pushing down the Hang Seng Index down by more than 2% - a sign of both the company's importance to the market and growing investor concern about political risk.

Up to 14,000 ships use the 51-mile (82km) Panama Canal each year as a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific.

The waterway, which handles about 5% of global maritime trade volume, is operated by the Panama Canal Authority, an agency of the Panamanian government.

From October 2023 to September 2024, China accounted for 21.4% of the cargo volume transiting the canal, making it the second-largest user after the US.

Translation

巴拿馬廢除香港公司的運河港口營運合約(2/2)

（繼續）

 PPC 回應稱新裁決缺乏法律依據，「不僅危及 PPC 及其合同，也危及數千個直接或間接依賴港口活動的巴拿馬家庭的福祉和穩定」。

該公司在聲明中補充說，自 1997 年開始運營這些港口以來，已在基礎設施和技術方面投資超過 18 億美元（13 億英鎊）。

Mulino表示，儘管有此裁決，巴拿馬的港口仍將繼續正常運營，不會受到影響。

丹麥航運公司馬士基的子公司 APM Terminals Panama 將暫時管理Balbao港和Cristóbal港。

該公司在給 BBC 的聲明中表示，「這旨在降低任何可能影響區域和全球貿易基本服務的風險」。

週五，中國外交部發言人郭家琨表示，中國將採取「一切必要措施，堅決維護中國企業的合法權益」。

香港特區政府也表示堅決反對這項裁決。

巴拿馬法院的裁決可能會擾亂長江和記實業有限公司（CK Hutchison）將其在全球港口的權益出售給由美國投資公司貝萊德（BlackRock）和航運集團MSC牽頭的財團的計劃，該交易價值228億美元。

BBC已聯繫這兩家公司徵求評論。

此次出售被廣泛視為長江和記實業有限公司試圖降低敏感地區的政治風險，同時從其寶貴資產中籌集資金。

特朗普先前曾對該計劃表示讚賞，該計劃將使關鍵資產由美國控股，而中國政府則批評該計劃不符合其國家利益。

市場對法院的裁決迅速做出反應。

長江和記實業的股票在香港交易中下跌4.6%，拖累恆生指數下跌超過2%，這不僅顯示該公司對市場的重要性，也反映出投資人對政治風險日益增長的擔憂。

每年有多達14,000艘船舶使用全長82公里（51英里）的巴拿馬運河作為連接大西洋和太平洋的捷徑。

這條水道承擔著全球約5%的海運貿易量，由巴拿馬運河管理局運營，該機構是巴拿馬政府的下屬機構。

從2023年10月到2024年9月，中國佔巴拿馬運河貨運量的21.4%，是僅次於美國的第二大用戶。

So, after China interferes with a Hong Kong company the CK Hutchison’s decision to sell its interests in ports on the Panama Canal, Panama's Supreme Court annuls CK Hutchison’s contract signed years ago that allows this company to operate container ports. The Chinese government criticizes this court’s decision. Apparently, Beijing's tighter political control over Hong Kong in recent years and its potential involvements in the operation of private companies have changed how Hong Kong companies are perceived internationally: business transactions become more political.

巴拿馬廢除香港公司的運河港口營運合約（1/2）

Recently Google News on-line picked up the following:

Panama voids Hong Kong-based firm's canal port contracts (1/2)

BBC - By Amy Walker and Suranjana Tewari, Asia business correspondents

31 Jan 2026

Panama's Supreme Court has annulled contracts allowing a Hong Kong-based company to operate container ports on the Panama Canal.

The ruling comes a year after US President Donald Trump claimed China was "operating the Panama Canal" - the main shipping link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans - in his inaugural speech.

CK Hutchison Holding, through its subsidiary the Panama Ports Company (PPC), has operated two of the five ports since the 1990s. It had previously agreed to sell them to a group led by a US investment firm under a wider deal.

The court found that laws allowing the firm to operate the ports were "unconstitutional", but PPC said the ruling "lacks legal basis".

Trump has made repeated claims that the Central American canal is under Chinese control.

During his address last January, he said: "China is operating the Panama Canal and we didn't give it to China. We gave it to Panama and we're taking it back."

The following month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also demanded that Panama make "immediate changes" to what he called the "influence and control" of China over the canal.

Panama has previously rejected the US government's claims and President Jose Raul Mulino has said the canal "is and will remain" in his country's hands.

There is no public evidence to suggest China exercises control over the canal, though Chinese companies have a significant presence there.

CK Hutchison, founded by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, is not owned by the Chinese government.

But Beijing's tighter political control over Hong Kong in recent years has changed how the company is viewed internationally. Its global assets - which include ports and logistics hubs - are now often seen through the lens of wider concerns about China's influence.

Against a backdrop of rivalry between the US and China over global trade routes, as well as the Trump administration's focus on US dominance over the western hemisphere, the ruling on Thursday is likely to be seen as a victory for Washington.

Panama's Supreme Court said in a statement published on its website that, after "extensive deliberation", it had found that laws that underpin a concession contract between the state and PPC at the ports of Balbao and Cristóbal were unconstitutional.

(to be continued)

Translation

巴拿馬廢除香港公司的運河港口營運合約（1/2）

巴拿馬最高法院宣佈，廢除了允許一家總部位於香港的公司在巴拿馬運河上經營貨櫃港口的合約。

這項裁決是在美國總統特朗普 - 在他的就職演說中 - 聲稱中國「操控巴拿馬運河」一年後作出的 - 這運河連接大西洋和太平洋的主要航運通道。

長江和記實業有限公司(CK Hutchison Holding)透過其子公司巴拿馬港口公司（PPC）自1990年代以來一直經營五個港口中的兩個。此前，該公司已同意根據一項更廣泛的交易，將這兩個港口出售給一個由美國投資公司主導的財團。

法院裁定，允許巴拿馬港口公司運營這些港口的法律“違憲”，但該公司表示，裁決“缺乏法律依據”。

特朗普曾多次聲稱中美洲運河受中國控制。

他在去年一月的一次演講中表示：“中國正在運營巴拿馬運河，我們沒有把它交給中國。我們把它交給了巴拿馬，現在我們要收回它。”

在之後的一個月，美國國務卿盧比奧也要求巴拿馬  “立即改變” 他所謂的中國對運河的 “影響和控制”。

巴拿馬先前已駁斥了美國政府的說法，總統Jose Raul Mulino也表示，運河「現在和將來」都掌握在巴拿馬手中。

雖然中國企業在巴拿馬有引人注目的存在，但目前尚無公開證據顯示中國對運河行使控制權。

長江和記實業有限公司是由香港億萬富翁李嘉誠創立，並非中國政府所有。

但近年來北京對香港加強的政治管控改變了國際社會對該公司的看法。這有限公的全球資產 - 包括港口和物流樞紐 - 如今常常被置於對中國影響力日益增長的擔憂的背景下進行審視。

在美中兩國圍繞全球貿易路線競爭，以及特朗普政府著力維護美國在西半球主導地位的背景下，週四的裁決很可能被視為華盛頓的勝利。

巴拿馬最高法院在其網站上發表聲明稱，經過“廣泛審議”，法院認定，國家與 PPC 簽訂有關Balbao港和Cristóbal港的特許經營合約所依據的法律是違憲。

（待續）

俄羅斯利用星鏈系統提升其攻擊無人機的飛行距離

Recently CNN.com reported the following:

Russia is using Starlink to make its killer drones fly farther

CNN- By Ivana Kottasová, Daria Tarasova-Markina

Updated Jan 29, 2026

Russia has been mounting Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite systems on its attack drones to strike deeper into Ukraine, extending their potential flight range to well inside NATO territory, analysts and Ukrainian officials have said.

Ukraine has collected evidence of “hundreds” of attacks by Russian drones equipped with Starlink terminals, Serhii Beskrestnov, a military tech expert and adviser to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, said on Thursday.

“(Attacks) not on military targets, but on peaceful rear and frontline cities. Including residential buildings. In fact, this is terrorism using modern peaceful communication technologies,” he said.

Adding Starlink allows Moscow to bypass Ukraine’s electronic defenses that disable drones by jamming GPS and radio signals.

Russia has previously got around these signal blockers by using drones controlled by fiber optic cables. But while these cannot be disabled electronically, their range is limited by the length of the cable.

Starlink-equipped drones have a longer range than radio and cable-guided drones and cannot be jammed. The superfast connection also makes it possible to control them in real-time from inside Russia, allowing them to be much more precise.

CNN has asked Starlink for comment, but received no answer. Under US sanctions, Starlink cannot be sold or used in Russia.

While other Russian drones and missiles can cover longer distances, they are a lot more expensive, larger and easier to detect and take down. A simpler drone equipped with a Starlink Mini, which costs between $250 and $500, can be much cheaper and as effective as the more advanced models that cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Beskrestnov, better known in the drone tech circles under his moniker Flash, shared a photograph of a BM-35 drone strike in Dnipro, saying that the Starlink-equipped drone can fly a distance of up to 500 kilometers (310 miles).

He said it was also likely that the deadly strike on a civilian train in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday was conducted with a Shahed drone equipped with a mesh radio modem or possibly a Starlink, given it was able to get through electronic defenses and was guided by its pilot to strike the middle of a moving train.

Earlier this month, Flash told the Ukrainian Public Broadcaster Suspilne that a swarm of Starlink-equipped Molniya drones was recently used to hit Ukrainian energy facilities in the Chernihiv region. The Molniya drones are very simple and cheap machines made with plywood, capable of flying dozens of miles.

He said that one in every three of the drones managed to hit its target because of the Starlink technology. “It is impossible to suppress (them) with electronic warfare. It can only be physically shot down if an anti-aircraft drone sees it and shoots it down,” he said.

He said on Thursday that more Starlink-equipped Molniya drones were used overnight near Pavlohrad some 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the front lines.

Bypassing jammers

Ukraine’s recently appointed Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who was previously in charge of drone development and procurement as the minister for science, tech and digital transformation, said that Ukraine needs to respond “very quickly” to the Starlink development.

“The enemy is constantly improving its drones and attack tactics to achieve its goals. Every day, a new risk emerges,” he said, adding that Russia launched over 6,000 drones in the past month alone. That is slightly more than in December and November, but more than twice the number recorded at the same time last year.

Fedorov said on Thursday that the ministry has contacted SpaceX, Musk’s company that owns Starlink, with proposals on how to stop Russia from using the technology.

He said he was grateful to “SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and Elon Musk personally for their quick response and for starting to work on resolving the situation.

Ukraine has become heavily reliant on Starlink since the beginning the war. The system is used by the military to communicate and operate drones, by the government as well as many civilians, businesses and public institutions including hospitals and schools.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based conflict monitor, said that based on the reported 500-kilometer range “most of Ukraine, all of Moldova, and parts of Poland, Romania, and Lithuania” are in range of the Starlink-equipped BM-35 drones if launched from Russia or occupied Ukraine.

Ukraine’s sanctions commissioner Vladyslav Vlasiuk said earlier this week that the growing use of Starlink by Russia shows that the sanctions pressure Ukraine’s allies put on Russia is “insufficient.”

CNN has previously reported on Russian troops bypassing the sanctions by buying Starlink systems in third countries and then using them along the frontlines. At that time, Starlink said that it would deactivate any terminal found to be used by a sanctioned or unauthorized party.

Musk himself did respond to criticism of his technology being used by Russia earlier this week when he was asked by Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski on X why he doesn’t “stop the Russians from using Starlinks to target Ukrainian cities.”

Musk responded by calling Sikorski a “drooling imbecile” and saying Starlink was “the backbone of Ukraine military communications.” He did not address the question of Russia using the system.

Translation

俄羅斯利用星鏈系統提升其攻擊無人機的飛行距離

分析家和烏克蘭官員表示，俄羅斯一直在攻擊無人機上安裝馬斯克的星鏈衛星系統，以更深入打擊烏克蘭境內目標，及將其潛在飛行範圍擴展至北約領土內部。

軍事技術專家兼烏克蘭國防部顧問Serhii Beskrestnov週四表示，烏克蘭已收集到「數百個」俄羅斯無人機使用星鏈終端發動攻擊的證據。

他說:「（攻擊）並非針對軍事目標，而是針對和平的後方和前線城市，包括居民樓。事實上，這是利用現代和平通訊技術實施恐怖主義」。

加裝星鏈系統使莫斯科能夠繞過烏克蘭的電子防禦系統，該系統透過幹擾GPS和無線電訊號來使無人機失效。

俄羅斯先前曾利用光纖控制的無人機繞過這些訊號屏蔽裝置。雖然這些無人機不受電子干擾而失效，但其飛行距離是受制於光纖長度。

配備星鏈系統的無人機比無線電和光纖控制的無人機飛行距離更遠，且不受幹擾。超高速連接也使得在俄羅斯境內可進行實時控制，亦大大提高其飛行精確度。

CNN已就此事向星鏈公司尋求置評，但未收到回應。在美國制裁之下，星鏈系統是不得在俄羅斯境內銷售或使用。

雖然其他俄羅斯無人機和飛彈可飛行更遠距離，但它們價格更高、體積更大，也更容易被偵測和擊落。配備星鏈迷你版（Starlink Mini）的簡易無人機售價在250至500美元之間，價格遠低於售價數萬美元的先進型號，且性能同樣出色。

Beskrestnov在無人機技術圈內以綽號「閃電」（Flash）更為人所知, 他分享了一張BM-35無人機在Dnipro發動襲擊的照片，並稱這款配備星鏈（Starlink）系統的無人機飛行距離可達500公里（310英里）。

他還表示，週二發生在烏克蘭東部一列民用列車上的致命襲擊很可能也是由一架配備網狀無線電數據機或或可能是星鏈系統的“沙赫德”（Shahed）無人機實施的，因為該無人機能夠突破電子防禦系統，並在飛行員的引導下擊中了行駛中的列車中部。

本月初，「閃電」告訴烏克蘭公共廣播公司Suspilne，說最近有一群配備星鏈系統的Molniya無人機襲擊了切爾尼戈夫地區的烏克蘭能源設施。 Molniya無人機是一種非常簡單且廉價的機器，由膠合板製成，能夠飛行數十英里。

他表示，由於星鏈技術的應用，每三架無人機中就有一架成功擊中了目標。 他說:「用電子戰手段壓制（它們）是不可能的。只有當防空無人機能夠看到它並向它射擊，才能夠實在地將其擊落」。

他週四表示，在距離前線約50公里（31英里）的Pavlohrad附近，夜間又有更多配備星鏈系統的Molniya無人機被投入使用。

繞過幹擾器

烏克蘭新任國防部長Mykhailo Fedorov（此前曾擔任科技和數位轉型部長，負責無人機研發和採購）表示，烏克蘭需要「迅速」應對星鏈系統的發展。

他說:「敵人不斷改進其無人機和攻擊戰術以實現其目標。每天都會出現新的風險」，並補充說，僅上個月俄羅斯就發射了6000多架無人機。這比11月和12月略多，但比去年同期記錄的數量多出兩倍多。

Fedorov週四表示，烏克蘭國防部已與馬斯克旗下的SpaceX公司（該公司擁有星鏈計劃）聯繫，提出了阻止俄羅斯使用該技術的方案。

他表示，他非常感謝SpaceX總裁Gwynne Shotwell和馬斯克本人迅速做出反應，並著手解決問題。

自戰爭爆發以來，烏克蘭對星鏈的依賴程度日益加深。軍方、政府以及眾多民眾、企業和公共機構包括醫院和學校、 都使用該系統進行通訊和操控無人機。

總部位於美國的衝突監測機構－戰爭研究所（ISW）表示，根據星鏈500公里的有效範圍，如果配備星鏈的BM-35無人機從俄羅斯或被佔領的烏克蘭境內發射，那麼「烏克蘭大部分地區、Moldova全境以及部分波蘭、羅馬尼亞和立陶宛的地區」都在其有效範圍內。

烏克蘭制裁專員Vladyslav Vlasiuk本週稍早表示，俄羅斯對星鏈的使用日益增加表明，烏克蘭盟友對俄羅斯施加的制裁壓力「不足」。

CNN先前曾報道，俄羅斯軍隊透過在第三國購買星鏈系統並將其部署到前線來規避制裁。當時，星鏈公司表示，將會令任何被發現由受制裁或未經授權方使用的終端裝置失效。

本週早些時候，馬斯克本人確實回應了俄羅斯使用其技術的批評。當時，波蘭副總理兼外交部長Radosław Sikorski在 X 平台問他，為什麼他不「阻止俄羅斯人使用星鏈攻擊烏克蘭城市」。

馬斯克回應稱Sikorski是“流著口水的白痴”，並表示星鍊是“烏克蘭軍事通信的支柱”。但他並未回應俄羅斯使用該系統的問題。

So, Russia has been mounting Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite systems on its attack drones to strike deeper into Ukraine. CNN has previously reported on Russian troops bypassing the sanctions by buying Starlink systems in third countries and then using them along the frontlines. At that time, Starlink said that it would deactivate any terminal found to be used by a sanctioned or unauthorized party. Apparently,  Starlink is important in conducting drone attacks.

43萬年前的木製工具是迄今為止發現的最古老工具

Recently the New York Times reported the following:

430,000-Year-Old Wooden Tools Are the Oldest Ever Found

The finding, along with the discovery of a 500,000-year-old hammer made of bone, indicates that our human ancestors were making tools even earlier than archaeologists thought.

The NYT - By Franz Lidz

Jan. 26, 2026

Early hominins in Europe were creating tools from raw materials hundreds of thousands of years before Homo sapiens arrived there, two new studies indicate, pushing back the established time for such activity. The evidence includes a 500,000-year-old hammer made of elephant or mammoth bone, excavated in southern England, and 430,000-year-old wooden tools found in southern Greece — the earliest wooden tools on record.

The findings suggest that early humans possessed sophisticated technological skills, the researchers said. Katerina Harvati, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Tübingen in Germany and a lead author of the wooden-tool paper, which was published on Monday in the journal PNAS, said the discoveries provided insight into the prehistoric origins of human intelligence.

Silvia Bello, a paleoanthropologist at London’s Natural History Museum and an author on the elephant-bone study, which was published last week in Science Advances, concurred.

The artifacts in both studies, recovered from coal-mine sites, were probably produced by early Neanderthals or a preceding species, Homo heidelbergensis. Homo sapiens emerged in Africa more than 300,000 years ago, and the oldest evidence of them in Europe is a 210,000-year-old fossil unearthed in Greece. By the time Homo sapiens established themselves in Britain 40,000 years ago, other hominins had already lived there for nearly a million years.

Sticks and stones

Because archaeology is in a perpetual state of rewriting its own history, the oldest record of any development is often temporary. The oldest known evidence of early humans intentionally crafting wood for structural purposes was found in 2019 at Kalambo Falls in Zambia and dates back 476,000 years. It consists of two carved, interlocking bushwillow logs that seem to have formed part of a dwelling or platform. “Organic artifacts, especially those derived from plants, are a lot more fragile and harder to find than those made from stone,” Dr. Havarti said.

The relics in the new wooden-tools paper were excavated from a deep layer at the Marathousa 1 site, a former lakeshore mine in the Megalopolis basin in Greece. They date back to the Middle Pleistocene age, which lasted from roughly 478,000 to 424,000 years ago. At the site, archaeologists discovered the partial skeleton of a straight-tusked elephant; the remains of turtles, birds, rodents and hippopotamuses; and stone tools used for butchering. Among the dozens of wood fragments embedded in the debris, two — a worked alder shard for digging and a carved poplar or willow twig — had been used as tools.

“We found marks from chopping and carving on both objects, clear signs that humans had shaped them,” said Annemieke Milks, an archaeologist at the University of Reading in England and a lead author of the study, who conducted microscopic analysis and CT scans of the items.

The digging stick was found among the elephant bones. Might it have been used to chop and carve meat from the carrion?

“I’ve never tried to cut up an elephant carcass, so I don’t know,” Dr. Havarti said. “I assume it’s not so easy, but I mean, I guess it’s possible.”

Elephantine tools

There is no older or more comprehensive assemblage of carved, sharpened elephant-bone tools than the collection uncovered over the last decade in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, which dates back 1.5 million years. Previously, European elephant-bone tools were thought to be limited to the warmer south and to have appeared within the last 450,000 years. But a hammer made of elephant or mammoth bone, discovered at the Boxgrove site in West Sussex in England during the 1990s and only recently identified, overturns that assumption.

The setting is rich in flint, bone and antler fossils, but this was the first tool of elephantine bone discovered there. Deformities on its surface indicate that it was created and used while fresh, leaving researchers to speculate on whether the ancient elephant was hunted or scavenged.

Dr. Bello said the tool, four inches long and triangular, was used for knapping, the process of breaking off flakes from a stone to create tools like hand axes. Researchers found distinctive notches and marks on the bone fragment. “The hammer has been struck against stone, repeatedly,” Dr. Bello said. “The small pieces of flint found embedded in the bone confirm that it was used for this specialized purpose.”

Citing the maxim that an absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, Dr. Bello suggested that the apparent scarcity of early tools resulted from poor preservation or difficulties in identification. Thomas Terberger, an expert in ancient artifact analysis at the Lower Saxony State Office for Cultural Heritage in Hannover, Germany, agreed. “Further proof may be found in as-yet undiscovered sites or existing museum collections,” he said.

Dr. Terberger noted that the new studies highlighted the diversity of raw materials that prehistoric people used for toolmaking. “Flint was more common, but bone and wood were probably more valuable for our ancient ancestors,” he said. “Imagine how many tools you can make from a single large bone of an elephant.”

Translation

43萬年前的木製工具是迄今為止發現的最古老工具

這項發現，連同先前發現的一把50萬年前的骨錘，顯示我們人類的祖先製造工具的時間比考古學家之前認為的還要早。

兩項新的研究表明，歐洲早期人類在智人到達歐洲之前數十萬年就已經開始利用原材料製造工具，這推翻了先前關於早期人類製造工具活動的既定時間。證據包括在英格蘭南部出土的一把50萬年前的象骨或猛獁象骨錘，以及在希臘南部發現的43萬年前的木製工具 - 這是迄今為止記錄在案的最早的木製工具。

研究人員表示，這些發現顯示早期人類擁有精湛的技術。德國圖賓根大學的古人類學家Katerina Harvati是在星期一在《美國國家科學院院刊》（PNAS）發的木製工具論文的主要作者之一。她表示，這些發現為了解人類智力的史前起源提供了新的視角。

倫敦自然史博物館的古人類學家Silvia Bello也同意這一點。她也是上週發表在《科學進展》（Science Advances）上的象骨研究的作者之一。

這兩項研究中的文物均出土於煤礦遺址，很可能是由早期尼安德特人或其更早的物種－海德堡人（Homo heidelbergensis）製造的。智人（Homo sapiens）於30多萬年前在非洲出現，而歐洲最古老的智人證據是一塊在希臘出土的、距今21萬年的化石。當智人在4萬年前定居英國時，其他人屬物種已經在那裡生活了近百萬年。

木棍與石頭

由於考古學處於不斷改寫自身歷史的狀態，任何發展最古老的記錄往往都是暫時的。已知最早的人類有意製作木材用於建築用途的證據於2019年在Zambia的Kalambo瀑布被發現，距今已有47. 6萬年歷史。它由兩根雕刻過的、交錯的柳條組成，似乎曾經是住所或平台的一部分。Havarti博士說: 「有機物，尤其是植物製品，比石製品脆弱得多和更難找到」。

這篇關於木製工具的新論文中的文物是從希臘Megalopolis盆地Marathousa 1號遺址的深層地層中挖掘出來的，該遺址曾是一處湖岸礦場。這些文物可以追溯到中更新世時期，大約從47.8萬年前到42.4萬年前。在遺址中，考古學家發現了部分直齒象的骨骼；龜、鳥、囓齒動物和河馬的遺骸；以及用於屠宰的石器。在散落在廢墟中的數十塊木片中，有兩塊曾被用作工具 - 一塊是用於挖掘的加工過的榿木碎片，另一塊是雕刻過的白楊或柳樹枝。

英國雷丁大學的考古學家Annemieke Milks說:「我們在這兩件物品上都發現了砍伐和雕刻的痕跡，這清楚地表明它們曾被人類加工過」。她是這項研究的主要作者之一，負責對這些物品進行顯微分析和CT掃描。

挖掘棒是在象骨堆中發現的。它是否曾被用來從死肉上剁肉剔骨？

Havarti博士說: 「我從未嘗試過切割象屍，所以我不清楚」; 「我猜這並不容易，但我的意思是，我想這並非不可能」。

象骨工具

 在過去十年間於坦尚尼亞Olduvai峽谷發現的象骨雕刻工具堆，是迄今為止發現的最古老、最全面的有雕刻、被磨尖的象骨工具，其歷史可追溯至150萬年前。此前，人們認為歐洲的象骨工具僅限出現於氣候溫暖的南方地區，且在距今45萬年之內。然而，1990年代在英國西薩塞克斯郡Boxgrove遺址發現，直到最近才被鑑定的一件由象骨或猛獁象骨造成的錘，顛覆了這個認知。

該遺址富含燧石、骨骼和鹿角化石，但這件象骨錘是首次在此發現。錘體表面的變形表明它是在新鮮狀態下製成和使用的，這讓研究人員不禁推測，這頭古代大像是被獵殺還是被拾荒得來的。

Bello博士說，這件長約四吋、呈三角形的工具用於分割敲打，也就是從石頭上敲下薄片來製作手斧等工具的過程。研究人員在骨片上發現了獨特的凹槽和痕跡。Bello博士說: “這把錘子曾反覆敲擊石頭” ， “骨頭裡嵌著的小塊燧石證實了它曾被用於這種特殊用途。”

Bello博士引用「沒有證據並不代表不存在」的格言，認為早期工具的稀少可能是由於保存狀況不佳或鑑定困難造成的。德國漢諾威Lower Saxony State文化遺產辦公室的古代文物分析專家Thomas Terberger對此表示贊同。他說： “或許在尚未發現的遺址，或在現有的博物館藏品中可能找到更多證據。”

Terberger 博士指出，這些新研究凸顯了史前人類用於製造工具的原料的多樣性。 他說:「燧石雖然比較常見，但骨頭和木頭對我們的古代祖先來說可能更有價值」; 「想想看，用一根巨大的象骨可以製作出多少種工具啊！」。

So, early hominins in Europe were creating tools from raw materials hundreds of thousands of years before Homo sapiens arrived there. The new evidence includes a 500,000-year-old hammer made of elephant or mammoth bone, excavated in southern England, and 430,000-year-old wooden tools found in southern Greece. These findings suggest that early humans possessed sophisticated technological skills. Probably, further proof may be found in as-yet undiscovered sites or existing museum collections. Apparently, this is a great story in understanding our pre-modern history.