Editor's Note:

Caravaggio. Wonders of the Italian Baroque, the final exhibition of the year at Museum of Art Pudong, will open to the public on December 12, 2023. With over 60 authentic works on show, including six iconic masterpieces by Caravaggio and others by over 40 Baroque artists, the exhibition presents a fantastically holistic picture of Baroque art. (Photos: Chen Xia/GT)

The venues for the Hangzhou Asian Games and Para Games have been bustling with activity again as local people have been enjoying the rich legacies of the Asian multi-sport showpiece. 

Since the preparations for the Asian Games, Hangzhou has set the goals of not only hosting a successful event but also building a city for international events and allowing its citizens to benefit from the legacies now that the Games have finished.

Following large-scale sports events, the reuse of stadiums and facilities has always been a challenging issue confronting host cities worldwide. One probable solution is to repurpose the idle venues, focusing on enhancing people's livelihoods by providing mass fitness services that are accessible to individuals of all ages. 

But Hangzhou has come up with a hybrid solution that connects people's welfare with the sustainable development of the city. 

Actually, before the Games, Hangzhou experimented with opening the venues to the public, making it the first city in China to open venues before an international multi-sports event. 

After the Games, Hangzhou has fulfilled its commitment by introducing a hybrid model that combines mass fitness, youth training bases, and the hosting of large-scale professional sports events.

Focused on repurposing the venues, the hybrid model aims at opening the facilities to the public while continuing to host domestic and international events to boost the reputation of the city. 

It was confirmed on Friday that six elite teams will compete in the 2023 Volleyball Women's Club World Championship from December 13 to 17 in Hangzhou's Huanglong Sports Center, which hosted gymnastics events during the Asian Games. 

Meanwhile, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) has confirmed that the World Tour Finals 2023 to 2026 will be staged in Hangzhou. 

This year's event will be held from December 13 to 17. The finals are the highest-level event in the tour series. 

Only the top eight players in each individual event's annual world rankings are eligible to participate at these competitions.

Hangzhou has signed memorandums of cooperation with the International Canoe Federation, the International Hockey Federation, and the International Equestrian Federation. 

In addition to the badminton finals, the inaugural International Super Cup of Canoe and Kayak will be held in Hangzhou in October 2024. 

Hangzhou will also bid to host top international events such as the 2024 Global E-Sports Games, the 2024 World Archery World Cup, and the 2025 International Shooting Federation World Cup.

Among the 56 competition venues of the Asian (and Para) Games, 19 will be open to the public to promote mass fitness, 21 will be managed by third-party companies and will be made accessible at rates lower than prevailing local market prices, eight will be turned into training bases for professional teams and eight university venues will be used for educational purposes, according to the organizing committee of the Hangzhou Games. 

Mao Genhong, chief spokesperson of the Hangzhou Asian Games, told the Global Times that the Games have yielded dividends in three aspects for Hangzhou. 

First, the venues and facilities give people better access to exercise. The per capita sports area increased from 1.8 square meters to 2.71 square meters over the past eight years. Second, the Games helped upgrade Hangzhou's infrastructure and the Para Games promoted the construction of barrier-free facilities and volunteerism. 

Last, the Games drove the development of local sports. For example, the Tonglu Equestrian Center has laid a foundation for the future development of the industry, said Mao.

Chen Weiqiang, vice mayor of Hangzhou, said the venues will serve the city and its people after the Games. 

"The landmark venues will host international events and large-scale activities, showing the image of Hangzhou as an open and inclusive modern city and leaving the legacy of the Asian Games to the city and its citizens," Chen said. 

Looking like a silkworm cocoon, the Shaoxing Keqiao Yangshan Sport Climbing Centre emerged from a deserted quarry and served as a sport climbing venue during the Games. The center will be transformed into a rock climbing park featuring competitions, training, workshops, research and tourism.

Chun'an Jieshou Sports Centre, whose road cycling courses run along the Qiandao Lake and impressed riders with its expanse of clear water and verdure, will become part of a water resort that will hold road cycling, mountain biking, bicycle motocross and triathlon training and competitions.

Editor's Note:

Henry Kissinger, the eminent diplomat and strategist, played a pivotal role in shaping China-US relations as he spearheaded the historic normalization process between the two countries, fostering dialogue and paving the way for diplomatic engagement that continues to shape the global landscape today. To this day today, the centenarian continues to advocate for cooperation and peace, lending his voice to global issues and emphasizing the importance of collaborative solutions that transcend borders. What legacy did Kissinger wish to leave behind? What are the differences between Kissinger and current US diplomats? Will there be another Kissinger in the US? Global Times reporters Xie Wenting and Bai Yunyi (GT) spoke with Prof. Thomas A. Schwartz, a renowned academician and author of Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography, on these and other issues of importance.

GT: What initially inspired you to write a biography about Henry Kissinger? During your interaction with him, what about him impressed you most? 

Schwartz: Back then, a publisher in the US approached me about the idea of writing a biography of someone whose life experience and work could tell the story of American foreign relations in the 20th century. He asked me to suggest someone. And the person that came to mind was Henry Kissinger. Henry Kissinger has had an extraordinarily long career by any stretch of the imagination. He first came to notice in the US in the 1950s. He was then already writing books on major questions. Being a German Jew who was expelled from Germany, he later returned and actively engaged with the country during the war, even serving as a US soldier at that time. His experience captures something of the US' own role in the world, particularly both in Europe and then in Asia as well. I thought that his biography would be a way to teach my students about the US' role in world affairs.

I had the chance to meet with him to discuss the book. He was very witty, and has a very good sense of humor. He could also be very combative if you ask him questions. And if he doesn't agree with the premise of your question, he'd go right back at you. Even at this age, he is extraordinarily sharp and aware of issues. So it was a very impressive meeting.

It was not that easy because he did not want to talk about some issues. We ended up probably having a very good discussion about soccer, which is one of Kissinger's passions. But we also talked about US foreign policy and I found him very impressive. And it certainly was fun to meet him and to see someone who is as brilliant and interesting as he is.

GT: Henry Kissinger has made great efforts to push forward the normalization of China-US relations. Is there still room for the restoration of China-US relations, both in US political circles and among the general public, despite the current low point in bilateral relations?

Schwartz: Not only do I believe it is necessary, but I believe it is absolutely essential that space be found. Kissinger wrote a famous book called On China, and in that book, he quoted a German philosopher who said that peace would come, either because people became more insightful and rational and realized peace was necessary, or because there was so much destruction and war, peace was the only choice.

I think in a way, the US and China have to find a workable relationship. They are two powerful nations and a conflict or war is both so unthinkable and terrible.

Right now, relations are very bad, but I believe that both countries are unlike in the Cold War era when the Soviet Union and the US were distinctly separate. They did not engage in significant trade, investment, or international visits. Their peoples had little knowledge of each other. The US and China have been very intertwined economically and in political developments over the last 30 years. They have a lot of linkages and connections. So there has to be an effort to overcome some of the differences between the two countries or at least recognition that those differences can be managed and that they are not reasons for direct conflict.

In that sense, what Kissinger talked about and what he hoped for with China is, clearly, that relations need to be restored.

GT: As a historian, how do you predict the development of China-US relations in the coming decades? How do you evaluate the possibility of a war or a military conflict between the two countries?

Schwartz: Certainly, there is the possibility of conflict because the US and China have very different underpinnings in their governmental apparatus. They have very different philosophical notions. Both countries, in a way, consider themselves exceptional. This is something Kissinger said in his book On China, that both countries have a view of themselves as exceptional civilizations. The US has seen itself as a model for the world and has tried to export its system of government and society. China has seen itself as a superior civilization that, in many respects, should be a model for the world as well.

But the basic fact that both see themselves that way does not automatically mean they have to come into conflict. I do think there are some very difficult issues between the two countries, particularly on the Taiwan question and human rights and other issues.

But I think almost all of them could be resolved without conflict. I think an intelligent understanding and a perpetuation of dialogue are crucial. When Kissinger was in office, he began the process of setting up consultations with Chinese leaders. The great thing about Kissinger over the course of his 50 years of his involvement with China was that he was an intermediary between China and the US government. He has carried messages to Chinese leaders from the US and carried them back to American presidents. We need more figures who are in that realm of communicating between the two countries. And we need to have a whole range of institutional dialogues between government, military, and economic officials, so that there is a constant understanding.

But I would agree that as a historian, I could also predict a war, because countries that are powerful often do come into conflict. But I think given the nature of modern weapons and the types of things that can happen to societies in warfare, we have to do everything in our power to avoid such conflict.

GT: What do you think the biggest difference between American diplomats today and Henry Kissinger is?

Schwartz: I think the difference today is a lot of our diplomats have relatively little sense of the broader range of history. Kissinger had a sense from history that terrible things can happen. And I think American diplomats today sometimes don't recognize the degree of danger that can come from careless diplomacy.

In this sense, Kissinger always had a sense that you needed to be extraordinarily careful in undertaking diplomatic tests, and that you should not treat disputes between nations lightly. There is a tendency to think of short-term advantages instead of long-term interests. I think Kissinger had a broader and a longer term sense, partly because he was thinking as a historian, or as someone who has a vision of a longer period.

GT: How did Henry Kissinger's ideas and strategies continue to shape subsequent US administrations in their policies toward China?

Schwartz: The interesting thing is that even though Kissinger left office in 1977, he continued to be a very influential figure. And his ties to China made him an intermediary so that he played a role in the normalization of relations under then president Carter. 

When Ronald Reagan came into office, Reagan had been a traditional backer of Taiwan. And Kissinger convinced Reagan, and I think he also convinced the people around Reagan that the US had to accept the one-China policy of the Shanghai Communiqué and that it needed to understand the importance that China had now in American diplomacy.

Kissinger was very instrumental in the fact that the first Communist country that Ronald Reagan visited was China in 1984. He went to China before he went to the Soviet Union. Kissinger has been a sort of intermediary all the way through. He encouraged the US and China to carry out high-level dialogues to understand each other as effectively as they can. I don't think in recent years, that has been the case. What we probably need now are diplomats of a similar type to carry out this policy now. But Kissinger influenced US policy toward China all the way through the Obama administration.

GT: How do you evaluate the lasting influence of Henry Kissinger on the Biden administration? To what extent have his opinions been heard and heeded by this administration?

Schwartz: Obviously, Kissinger has a certain influence. The fact that his opinion is out there is something that political leaders look to, but you're quite right whether they listen to him or not is not always there. I think former president Trump, for example, talked to Kissinger, but did not necessarily listen to him on China. It is the case that there are often other influences, both political and otherwise, affecting things.

I think the legacy of Henry Kissinger is the idea that it is vitally important that the US and China cooperate and compete together, that they understand that they will not always be on the same page, but they also recognize their responsibility as great powers toward maintaining the stability of the global order and maintaining the peace.

In that sense, Kissinger, for example, was very encouraged by China's efforts to bring peace in Europe now, between Russia and Ukraine. So Kissinger was encouraging China to undertake initiatives in that realm. That is the type of influence that he still has, that he is encouraging the idea that the US and China should work together to try to bring peace and stability.

GT: What experience and insights from Henry Kissinger should the current US administration learn from?

Schwartz: I believe they can draw from Kissinger's experience the idea of the importance of consultation, dialogue, and maintaining open communication through constant interaction. Additionally, it is crucial for the US to clearly recognize China as a great power. Furthermore, the US should be direct with China regarding the issues it cares about. That would be the legacy or what the Biden administration could learn. 

To a certain extent, the fact that Secretary of State Antony Blinken went to China just recently to meet with Chinese leaders indicates the influence of Kissinger in encouraging the Biden administration to try to improve relations.

That's sometimes difficult with the current political situation. But I think there is an effort on the part of the Biden administration now to reopen some of the channels that have been closed off with China. That's something that I think Kissinger certainly encouraged.

GT: Did you talk about the prospect of a war or a military conflict between the US and China with Henry Kissinger? What's his take on it?

Schwartz: Henry Kissinger has said that China and the US are in the foothills of a possible conflict. And I think by saying this, he means that because relations have deteriorated, there is a danger of there being a misunderstanding.

Kissinger sees a parallel between the situation of the US and China now with the situation of the Great Britain and Germany before WWI. The two countries, Great Britain and Germany, before WWI, were very much linked economically. They did a lot of trade with each other. There was a lot of contact between the two, but they misunderstood each other. The British thought the Germans were out to dominate Europe. The Germans were convinced that the British were trying to prevent them from being recognized as a great power. And they managed to feed this misunderstanding until they went to war. I think Kissinger worries that the US has decided that China is its number one enemy, and China has decided the US is its enemy. This is a dangerous situation. 

So I think his feelings are that the two countries have to work to take away this enemy image and recognize that they can be both cooperative and competitive. There doesn't need to be a new cold war; there doesn't need to be a real conflict between them, and they can negotiate their interests.

While he tends toward being pessimistic in the sense that he does fear these things, he also insists and argues that the two countries can overcome this if there is a will on both sides to do so.

GT: Some people said that troubled times call for another Henry Kissinger. Do you think there will be another Kissinger who knows China well and advocates for cooperation in the US?

Schwartz: I don't think there will be another Henry Kissinger. I think what there needs to be is a lot of people similar to Kissinger. There needs to be a lot of Americans and a lot of Chinese people who have an understanding of and appreciation for each other's history and culture, and that are communicating with each other. I think the role of Kissinger is not going to be repeated. Kissinger was a unique figure in a particularly unique time. What is really needed is the type of understanding of China that he brought into US governance and that needs to be more widely disseminated within the US government so that there are more people in our military, our intelligence community, and our diplomatic community who appreciate and understand the issues between the US and China. Hopefully, on the Chinese side, there are also people who appreciate, understand, and recognize some of the issues from the US side.

But honestly, I don't think there's another Kissinger in line in any real sense. I don't think that's likely in the American political system these days. Kissinger really was in a very unique time and circumstance.

GT: Do you believe that the current social environment in the US is conductive to producing more diplomats similar to Henry Kissinger, given the highly tense relationship between China and the US?

Schwartz: I think it's difficult. But when I teach students at the Vanderbilt University and deal with students from other schools, I know that among American young people, there is recognition that the world is changing and that the US needs intelligent diplomats who can recognize these problems and negotiate with other countries. I'm not pessimistic on that ground. I think it's possible.

The real difficulty, I see, is in our broader political environment, to allow such people to have that influence. I think your question certainly pointed at the issue that our political environment is now so polarized and negative, and it's hard for people with constructive ideas about diplomacy and peace to be in positions of power. It tends to reward demagogues and people who are exaggerating or harboring an enemy image for their political purposes.

But I do think there are people available. I'm hoping that the political environment will get better, perhaps after the next election. I think it is possible that we will get better. But I do understand the idea that it might not go that way, and this is one of the dangers we face.

GT: What is the legacy that Henry Kissinger personally wants to pass down to future generations?

Schwartz: What I think he personally wants to pass down is he wants to convince Americans of the importance of promoting and encouraging a stable world environment and the importance of understanding the complexity of international relations, and not to see international relations in black and white terms. He advocates for recognizing a greater complexity and striving for a type of stability and order in the world, as well as recognizing our responsibility to promote stability and order and good relations with other countries.

In that sense, it is important to get out of our own internal problems and environment and to see a broader vision. I think Kissinger hopes that Americans will have a broader historical vision of world stability and a broader understanding of other countries. I think he would like that to be his legacy: A better understanding of the world and of other countries, and of the need for effective diplomacy to maintain peace.

I think sometimes he worries that Americans are not interested enough in foreign policy and diplomacy. They're too concerned with their own problems. And for that reason, they're not going to be effective in dealing with other nations and in promoting a peaceful world order. I think he would like his legacy to be one of encouraging Americans to work for world order and peace.

"The International Cultural Festival facilitates cross-cultural exchanges and mutual understanding among young people from different countries, allowing them to explore core values in different cultural contexts," Georgian Ambassador to China Archil Kalandia said at the opening ceremony of 2023 Peking University International Culture Festival. 

The festival successfully kicked off on October 21 in Beijing, titled "Meet the World at PKU," and included participation from students from more than 100 countries and regions. Ambassadors from Jordan, Venezuela, Grenada, Cuba, Thailand, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Mexico also attended the opening ceremony.

Ambassador Kalandia expressed a belief that cooperation in the field of higher education is an important direction to promote international exchanges and cooperation. He encouraged teachers and students from the two countries to participate in a variety of international exchange programs to promote mutual exchanges and mutual understanding, and hoped that Peking University would play a more active role in strengthening educational cooperation between the two countries.

This year's festival featured a number of activities, including a themed garden tour, an international food festival at the world food court, and a chess tour of Yanyuan in Peking University. 

Among them, the "Meet the World at PKU" theme garden set up more than 50 booths covering 47 countries and regions from five continents. At the booths, international students from different countries elaborately displayed their unique histories and cultures, allowing teachers and students to appreciate the social customs of different countries. 

Launched in 2004, the Peking University International Culture Festival will hold a series of activities from October to December, such as a singing contest to feature the top 10 singers among international students, international youth speeches, the Chinese speech contest for international students, a movie view party, and a photography exhibition.

The 10th China-European Union High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue will be held on Monday in Beijing. As the highest-level dialogue mechanism in the field of trade and economic cooperation between China and the EU and one of the "three pillars" of China-EU relations, the Dialogue has always been the main channel for the two sides to resolve misunderstandings and differences through the promotion of economic and trade cooperation. The Dialogue resumed offline for the first time in three years is a positive signal for the improvement of China-EU relations.

For both China and Europe, this year's Dialogue is different from the previous nine ones. At present, the two sides are obviously facing a greater number of issues, disputes, disruptions and challenges in the field of economic and trade cooperation compared to the past, while the total volume of trade between China and Europe has reached more than 800 billion euros ($853 billion), a new high that involves huge interests. This highlights the urgency for China and Europe to meet halfway and address these problems. Some already existing and newly emerged problems during the COVID-19 pandemic will also be discussed during the 10th China-European Union High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue.

The dispute and division points between China and Europe on economic and trade issues are obvious. Executive Vice President of the European Commission and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, who came to China to co-chair the Dialogue, talked about the main concern of the European side during his visit to China in the past two days, which is the "very unbalanced" trade with China. Last year, the trade deficit between the two sides reached nearly 400 billion euros, and EU Ambassador to China Jorge Toledo called it "the highest in the history of mankind" with exaggeration.

It is well-known that the causes of the trade deficit are very complex. China is not willing to see the trade deficit grow too huge and has always hoped that the two sides will work together to push for a trade balance. In this way, the bilateral trade can be more sustainable. However, the European side simply attributes this to China's "trade barriers," which is completely untrue and unhelpful in solving the problem.

From the perspective of the Chinese side, what we see is completely different from the European side. The EU has been talking about "de-risking" on various occasions for a long time, and officially launched the European Economic Security Strategy in June this year, which is essentially a systematic "de-risking" strategy. Whether it is the recent announcement by the EU to launch an anti-subsidy investigation against Chinese electric vehicles, or the statement in June claiming that Chinese 5G suppliers Huawei and ZTE pose "materially higher risks than other 5G suppliers" and threatening to take corresponding measures, as well as the successively introduced European Chips Act, Foreign Subsidies Regulation, and EU's draft Critical Raw Materials Act, etc., all these acts are examples of trade protectionism. In other words, the European side has labeled acts and policies of trade protectionism as "de-risking," and the two can be considered equivalent in practice.

The European side has repeatedly assured the Chinese side that "de-risking" does not mean "decoupling." We believe that they are sincere in saying this. However, we cannot accept and strongly oppose the use of trade protectionism to "de-risk." The EU has always been an advocate of globalization and free trade. In the face of global changes, it needs to take practical actions to prove that it has not changed and learned from the mistakes made by Donald Trump.

It needs to be emphasized that having differences is completely normal, which also reflects the necessity of high-level dialogue between China and Europe on economic and trade issues. The key is to prevent the escalation and deterioration of these differences into conflicts and confrontations. Dialogue requires sincerity and the genuine expression of each party's positions and interests. More importantly, it is essential to seek common ground and solutions to resolve differences and problems based on this foundation. If dialogue only sees participants talk past each other, it loses its main significance. As some European individuals have pointed out, the worst thing for China and Europe in the current situation is to stop talking to each other and enter into a logic of group confrontation.

In terms of China-Europe economic and trade issues, the frontline enterprises from both China and Europe that are involved should have the most say. Some in-depth investigations by Western media have found that while European imports from China have declined, investment by European companies in China has increased. It is obvious that European companies have the most first-hand experience with whether the Chinese market is open or not. However, we have noticed that when making major economic and trade decisions regarding China, the EU is increasingly disregarding the opinions and interests of European companies. In this Dialogue, we hope that the EU could fully consider the feelings of European companies, break free from the constraints of general securitization and politicization, and resolve each other's concerns through dialogue and consultation. This is one of the most valuable experiences in the development of China-Europe relations and should not be overlooked in the current situation.

More Macao youths have been inspired by China's outstanding space achievements in recent years and have thus developed stronger confidence and determination to integrate into the nation's development, Chen Jimin, under secretary general of the China Space Foundation and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Friday.

This is the first time Chen has attended the annual session of the CPPCC as a political advisor. She has been committed to the popularization of space knowledge for teenagers since 2003.

"By taking them to various satellite launch centers and exhibitions, the kids have not only learned more about China's space achievements but more importantly, the spirit of perseverance, innovation and selfless dedication," she said.

These activities have strengthened their sense of national identity, and boosted their confidence and determination to integrate into the country's development, Chen noted.

"They used to believe that Macao, which lags behind in technology and education, has nothing to do with core technologies such as going into space. But now the youths of Macao have regained faith to devote themselves to scientific research field and take part in these national programs," Chen said.

In 2019, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Macao's return to China, the China National Space Administration and the Macao SAR government jointly released the research and development of the SAR's first scientific satellite.

The satellite, Aoke-1, is expected to be launched this year. It will be used for precise measurement of magnetic fields, the advisor said.

What's more, Macao will be involved as China starts the selection process for the fourth batch of astronauts to join later manned space missions.

The greater involvement in China's grand space development course is attracting more talent from Macao to join the aerospace industry as well as other related technology industries. They are looking forward to entering China's "space home" in the near future, Chen added.

China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment is organizing the 2023 annual marine radiation environment monitoring in China's jurisdictional waters following Japan’s nuclear-contaminated water dumping plan

A stealth virus, most often borne on the wings of a ubiquitous predator, is spreading across the Americas. Zika virus is the latest of several that are carried by mosquitoes. But Zika isn’t a new foe. Discovered in Uganda in 1947 in a rhesus monkey (during an infectious-disease study), the virus was found in humans a decade later in Nigeria.
Zika has existed in Africa and Asia since the 1950s without raising the kind of alarm seen today, perhaps because of a built-up immunity there. But in the Americas, Zika appears to have found a more vulnerable population. Two rare conditions — a birth defect (microcephaly) and Guillain-Barré syndrome — are undeniably on the rise. Whether Zika is to blame isn’t yet a sure thing. But concern is rising. “The more we learn, the worse it gets,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said at a March 10 news briefing.

To combat further spread, scientists will need to delve deep into the biology of two opportunists: the virus itself and the mosquito. In the meantime, efforts to limit exposure to mosquitoes are under way. And preemptive attempts to protect future victims include travel advisories, especially for pregnant women, and warnings about unprotected sex (a transmission path in some cases). Human safety trials for a vaccine to jump-start immunity could begin later this year; larger efficacy trials may be a year and a half away.

Mapping Zika: 1947 to 2016

Since its discovery in 1947, Zika virus has traveled the globe, spreading across Africa, Asia and now the Americas. By 2002, scientists had isolated more than 600 strains of the virus — only 10 of which were found in humans. However, Zika’s early history remains sketchy, partly because most evidence of its spread comes from blood serum surveys that flagged active antibodies in people. But Zika is a flavivirus like dengue and yellow fever, and exposure to one virus can give you active antibodies against another. That’s good for the patient but not so good for tracking the disease. Today, the World Health Organization confirms cases by testing for Zika virus RNA. — Helen Thompson

Explore Zika’s spread in the interactive map below. Hover or tap on a country get more details about the virus’ history there. To switch between selecting by country and selecting by year, click the reset button below the map.
A version of this story and map appear in the April 2, 2016 issue with the headline, “In search of answers on Zika.”

Interviewing for a new job is filled with uncertainty, and that uncertainty fuels stress. There’s the uncertainty associated with preparing for the interview — what questions will they ask me? What should I put in my portfolio? And then there’s the ambiguity when you’re left to stew. Did I get the job? Or did someone else?

Scientists have recently shown that these two types of uncertainty — the kind we can prepare for, and the kind we’re just stuck with — are not created equal. The uncertainty we can’t do anything about is more stressful than the one we can. The results help show exactly what in our lives freaks us out — and why. But the findings also show a positive side to the stress we feel when not knowing what’s ahead — the closer our stress levels reflect the real ambiguity in the world, the better we perform in it.

“There is a bias in the public perception” against stress, says Claus Lamm, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Vienna in Austria. But stress “prepares us to deal with environmental challenges,” he notes, preparing us to fight or flee, and it keeps us paying attention to our surroundings.

For decades, scientists have been trying to figure out just what makes us stressed and why. It turns out that unpredictability is a great stressor. Studies in the 1960s and 1970s showed that rats and humans who can’t predict a negative effect (such as a small shock) end up more frazzled than those who can predict when a zap is coming. In a 2006 study, people zapped with unpredictable electric shocks to the hand rated the pain as more unpleasant than when they knew what to expect.

What is going on in the brain when judging the uncertainty of a situation and translating it to stress? Lamm and his group recently sought the answer to answer this question by combining measures of electrical activity in the brain (via electroencephalogram) with functional magnetic resonance imaging to show blood flow patterns in 25 participants getting rounds of shocks on their hands. A visual cue told the participants what to expect — sort of. Sometimes the participant knew with 100 percent certainty that either a painful shock or nothing at all was coming. Sometimes there was only 50 percent certainty. No matter what, the shock would happen (or not) in the next 15 seconds, leaving the people in the scanner with nothing to do but wait.

During that waiting period, the brain prepares for a shock in different ways, depending on whether the jolt is certain or uncertain, Lamm and his colleagues reported last February in Human Brain Mapping. During the first two seconds, the brain is processing the visual cue. “You have an initial quick evaluation,” Lamm explains, categorizing whether the stimulus is going to be aversive and whether it is certain or uncertain. If the possibility for a zap was ambiguous, there was a quick increase in blood flow to participants’ visual processing areas. This suggests the brain is getting ready to take in more information and pay more attention — to get a better read on if that shock is really coming or not.

If the zap is definitely going to happen, the last two seconds before delivery saw increased activity in the posterior insula. The insula participates in processing someone’s current state, including pain processing and emotional awareness — “basically reading out the physiological signals of your body,” Lamm says. Pain is coming, brace yourself.
When participants weren’t sure if the shock was coming, the last two seconds of waiting were accompanied by increased brain activity in areas related to sensing the environment and maintaining attention — such as the parietal lobe, orbitofrontal cortex and angular gyrus. The brain was on high alert, continuing to look for any information that could determine when and if the pain would arrive.

But this is only one kind of stress —and one kind of uncertainty. “We know a lot about what happens if you take someone and give them a stressful experience,” says Archy de Berker, a neuroscientist at University College London. “But in a way, that approach is missing out on a whole step: What is it about the experience that makes it stressful?” Is it the ambiguity? Or is it the shock to the hand? Is it both?

But there’s also more than one kind of ambiguity to prepare for. Remember the job interview scenario: You can reduce some of the uncertainty by preparing for your interview. But once the interview has passed, you’re stuck with irreducible uncertainty — that endless wait for the call that may never come.

To separate out these two forms of uncertainty, de Berker recruited 45 participants for a different hand-shock experiment. For each trial, the participant was presented with one of two rocks and asked if there was a snake under it. At first, the snake might be under rock “A” 100 percent of the time. Then it might change, and the snake might be under rock “A” only 60 percent of the time, spending the rest of the time under rock “B.” For some trials, the participant could easily learn to predict where the snake would be, while for others the rock-turner was always uncertain. But one thing remained certain: If they saw the snake, they’d get a shock, even if they predicted the outcome correctly.

As the participants played this painful game, de Berker and his colleagues monitored their skin conductance and pupil size — measures of physical stress. They also asked the participants how stressed out they felt.

The amount of ambiguity the participants had about whether the snake was under the rock was associated with their stress. If they could easily predict when the shock would come, reducing their uncertainty, they shocks were easier to take. But if the outcome remained difficult to predict — if no amount of learning was going to help — the participants were much more stressed out.

But if the participants had a good feel for just how uncertain the odds were — if their measures of stress tracked well with the amount of ambiguity — they ended up with an unexpected benefit: They performed better on the rock and snake task (though they still got shocked for their pains). The scientists published their results March 29 in Nature Communications.

The study “reveals more quantitatively how stress (both self-reported and measured with physiological arousal) is driven by… ‘irreducible uncertainty,’ uncertainty about the state of the world that we can’t control,” says Ross Otto, a neuroscientist at New York University. It’s that irreducible uncertainty — the fact that the job applicant just doesn’t know if he’s got the job until the call comes through, and there’s nothing he can do about it — that really gets to us.

But the part of the stress we can control represents the positive side of an unpleasant feeling. “We always tend to think of stress as a negative effect, you don’t want to be stressed,” Lamm says. “But in the end, if you’re not stressed you will not perform. You need a certain level of arousal to meet challenges.”