Quicker and faster 3-D printers have allowed not just amazing objects to be created, but have started to affect how doctors treat patients.
We've put together a list of some of the most amazingmedical break throughs made possible with 3-D printing.
Life-Saving Airway
In 2013, doctors created a new airway for kaiba Gionfriddo, aboy born with an airway that kept collapsing (萎陷). To save his life doctors printed tiny tubes to join together in different shapes and sizes until one finally worked for Kaiba. It was placed in Kaiba's bronchus (支气管) so that it no longer collapsed. Even more remarkably, once the plant was placed it couldstay there. It's designed to eventually be absorbed into the body.
New “Bionic” Hands
One of the most remarkable ways 3-D printing is now being used is as a way to create prosthetics (假肢). A boy born without an arm named Alex was able to get a new“bionic”hand thanks to it. Last year a college student spent 8 weeks coming up with a special prosthetic design that only cost a few hundred dollars in materials. He said he wanted to create a prosthetic far cheaper than other choices that can run tens of thousands of dollars.
A practice Heart
In Seattle, doctors have been able to use 3-D printing technology to“practice”risky operations so that they will face fewer surprises in the operating room. Kami Sutton was born with her heart“in the wrong place”. For a recent operation her doctor was able to take many scans of Sutton's heart and print out a model. “Kami's heart is truly one-of-a-kind,”Dr. Stephan Seslar, a heart disease specialist said. “Operating on her without understanding the structure of her heart better could be very dangerous.”
A New Skull
A U.K. man was able to have part of his skull rebuilt thanks toa 3-D printer. Stephen Power broke his cheek bones in a crash. To help Powerh is doctors instead created 3-D bones all carefully printed in the shape of his face. “This is really the first time we've taken it to this stage, where everything has been planned and modeled in advance — and worked sweetly,”said Adrian Sugar, a doctor.
Here is an astonishing and significant fact: Mental work alone can't make us tire. It sounds absurd. But a years ago, scientists tried to find out how long the human brain could labor without reaching a stage of fatigue (疲劳). To the amazement of these scientists, they discovered that blood passing through the brain, when it is active, shows no fatigue at all! If we took a drop of blood from a day laborer, we would find it full of fatigue toxins(毒素) and fatigue products. But if we took blood from the brain of an Albert Einstein, it would show no fatigue toxins at the end of the day.
So far as the brain is concerned, it can work as well and swiftly at the end of eight or even twelve hours of effort as at the beginning. The brain is totally tireless. So what makes us tired?
Some scientists declare that most of our fatigue comes from our mental and emotional(情绪的) attitudes. One of England's most outstanding scientists, J.A. Hadfield, says, “The greater part of the fatigue from which we suffer is of mental origin. In fact, fatigue of purely physical origin is rare.” Dr. Brill, a famous American scientist, goes even further. He declares, “One hundred percent of the fatigue of sitting worker in good health is due to emotional problems.”
What kinds of emotions make sitting workers tired? Joy? Satisfaction? No! A feeling of being bored, anger, anxiety, tenseness, worry, a feeling of not being appreciated—those are the emotions that tire sitting workers. Hard work by itself seldom causes fatigue. We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body.
Make A Difference Day is the largest national day of community service in the USA, which takes place on the fourth Saturday of October.
Who takes part in Make A Difference Day?
Anyone! Young and old, individuals and groups, anyone can carry out a volunteer project that helps others. It might be as ambitious as collecting truckloads of clothing for the homeless, or as personal as spending an afternoon helping an elderly neighbor or relative. USA WEEKEND covers volunteers and their projects in articles and photos.
How do I get started?
Look around your community. Are people hungry, homeless or ill? Are parks or schools dirty or neglected? No matter where you live, there's a need nearby. And on Make A Difference Day, millions of Americans are expected to roll up their sleeves to help others. You can act alone or enlist your friends, family and co-workers. You can also call the Make A Difference Day Hot Line, 1-800-416-3824, for information. Or use the ideas on this website for inspiration.
What do I do after I've selected a project?
Tell others what you're doing and enlist help. Several weeks before the day, tell us about your plans in the Make A Difference DAYtaBANK, a national listing of local projects that will be viewed by interested volunteers, other people looking for good project ideas and news media looking for good stories to tell. It will only take a few minutes to post your plans in the DAYtaBANK hosted by HandsOn Network.
Do it!
Carry out your plans to help others on Make A Difference Day. Be sure to take lots of pictures and share them on the Make A Difference Day Photo Album.
In today's households where both parent go to work and kids have busy schedules with school homework and many afternoon activities, finding time for a gathering at the table seems all but impossible. Yet, studies have shown time and again that eating together has multiple benefits for family members, especially children.
According to reports issued by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University(CASA), children who eat more with their family are at lower risk of developing poor eating habits, weight problems or alcohol dependencies. They tend to perform better academically than those who frequently eat alone. Family meals came into American life in the mid-20th century. In the 60's and 70's, social, economic and technological changes quickly dissolved the short-lived way of family meals. Restaurant visits, take-out and TV dinners have since become the norm.
There are indicators, however, that the old customs are coming back. According to the latest CASA reports, 59% of surveyed families said they ate diner together at least five times a week, a significant increase from 47% in 1998. Whatever drives this trend, it is a development that should be welcomed.
Eating together as a family is not just about food and nutrition. It is about teaching them how to become members of their society and culture. Food as become so easily and cheaply available that we no longer appreciate its significance. We have to rediscover its importance and its value. Sharing a meal with loved ones should be considered a special event, which can almost take on the form of a ceremony, as it was practiced by our ancestors for whom finding food was a constant struggle.
Of course, there is no guarantee that the simple act of eating at home surrounded by family may make children more virtuous or socially more responsible. But it can lay the groundwork for a lot of things that point them in the right direction.
As Internet users become more dependent on the Internet to store information, are people remember less? If you know your computer will save information, why store it in your own personal memory, your brain? Experts are wondering if the Internet is changing what we remember and how.
In a recent study, Professor Betsy Sparrow conducted some experiments. She and her research team wanted to know the Internet is changing memory. In the first experiment, they gave people 40 unimportant facts to type into a computer. The first group of people understood that the computer would save the information. The second group understood that the computer would not save it. Later, the second group remembered the information better. People in the first group knew they could find the information again, so they did not try to remember it.
In another experiment, the researchers gave people facts to remember, and told them where to find the information an the Internet. The information was in a specific computer folder (文件夹). Surprisingly, people later remember the folder location (位置) better than the facts. When people use the Internet, they do not remember the information. Rather, they remember how to find it. This is called “transactive memory (交互记忆)”
According to Sparrow, we are not becoming people with poor memories as a result of the Internet. Instead, computer users are developing stronger transactive memories; that is, people are learning how to organize huge quantities of information so that they are able to access it at a later date. This doesn’t mean we are becoming either more or less intelligent, but there is no doubt that the way we use memory is changing.
Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman
This novel tells the story of Shawn McDaniel,a 14-year-old boy with brain disease.He is highly intelligent,yet unable to move his muscles anti communicate.Through his first-person description,he remains positive about his life, even when people treat him like his brain is damaged.This short novel forces young readers to think about the assumptions they make about people with disabilities,and also addresses euthanasia(安乐死)and quality of life as relevant social problems.
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
Frank McCourt's New York Times bestselling memoir(回忆录)tells the story of his life growing up as an extremely poor child in Ireland and how he overcame those circumstances.He wrote the story to inspire young readers to make the most of what they have,and call on them to continue trying and overcome any difficulties they may face.
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch & Jeffrey Zazlow
In 2006,when he was only 45 years old,Randy Pausch suffered from cancer and learned he had only three to six months to live.Inspired by a professor's inspirational lecture,Pausch co-authored a book named The Last Lecture with Jeffrey Zazlow within a few short months.In spite of his disease,the book,is surprisingly encouraging.It encourages young readers to focus on what's truly important in life.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
This story has become a classic clue to its honest look at the everyday lives of teenagers.Through the eyes of the 15-year-old writer,Charlie,the novel details the daily trails that many teenagers face,but it also deals with social problems like drug abuse.It also focuses on the roles that friendship,family and love play in helping us get through difficult times.
Grandparents Answer a Call
As a third generation native of Brownsville, Texas, Mildred Garza never planned to move away. Even when her daughter and son asked her to move to San Antonio to help their children, she politely refused. Only after a year of friendly discussion did Ms Garza finally say yes. That was four years ago. Today all three generations regard the move as a success, giving them a closer relationship than they would have had in separate cities.
No statistics show the number of grandparents like Garza who are moving closer to the children and grandchildren. Yet there is evidence suggesting that the trend(趋势)is growing. Even President Obama's mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, has agreed to leave Chicago and into the White House to help care for her granddaughters. According to a study grandparents com., 83 percent of the people said Mrs. Robinson's decision will influence the grandparents in the American family. Two-thirds believe more families will follow the example of Obama's family.
“In the 1960s, we were all a little wild and couldn't get away from home far enough or fast enough to prove we could do it on our own,” says Christine Crosby, publisher of Grand a magazine for grandparents. “We now realize how important family is and how important it is to be near them, especially when you're raising children.”
Moving is not for everyone. Almost every grandparent wants to be with his or her grandchildren and is willing to make sacrifices, but sometimes it is wiser to say no and visit frequently instead. Having your grandchildren far away is hard, especially knowing your adult child is struggling, but giving up the life you know may be harder.
For centuries people have hunted animals for food and pleasure.The invention of the gun made it so easy for humans to hunt that some animals were lolled by the thousands and even became extinct(绝种的).This brings up some serious problems since breaks in the food chain upset the balance of nature.
Large animals like tigers are being killed by the hundreds every year in India.The Royal Bengal tiger is the only type that exists in India and their number is greatly reduced every year because of poaching(偷猎).The present number is about 2,000, all of which live in tiger reserves.Two hundred years ago the population was 23,000 or more.
During the British rule of India,many of the so-called English gentlemen killed tigers for pleasure and to show their bravery.This seems stupid because killing an innocent(无辜的)creature with a gun is not a brave deed.
Today the tiger skin is very popular.Rich people and fashion designers have no idea what they are doing. Competition between the rich to show off makes them blind to the serious effects.People persuade villagers to kill tigers to get money,and they do it because they are poor and need to feed their families.We must educate them,and the government should give them proper jobs to help solve this problem.
The people to blame are those who buy animal products like ivories,furs,tiger bones for medicine and handbags made of animal skins.They must be put behind bars to stop this kind of trade.The earth is home for everyone on it. The trees,animals,birds,and fish of all kinds belong here as much as we do.Only we have the power to change their fate.
“There's a mother in PICU (儿童重症监护病房) who wants to talk about a kit she received.” the nurse told me. “Something about it made her cry.”
I've been a child-life specialist at the Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital since 2000. I help families understand diagnoses and treatment plans and manage the ups and downs that come with caring for a sick child. Tough talks with parents are part of the job, it still makes me feel nervous.
The kits the nurse was talking about were something I had recently introduced to the hospital: Comfort Kits from Guideposts. They were supposed to make a child's experience here easier, not upsetting.
When I came across the kits at a conference, I fell in love with them. A treasure box of items designed not only to entertain kids, but to comfort and inspire them. There's a coloring book, a stress ball, a CD of relaxing music, a hairy star named Sparkle, a journal and much more. I really believed these kits would help kids. I wished I hadn't been mistaken.
At the patient's room in PICU I saw a little girl, sleeping soundly, surrounded by tubes and machines. My eyes met her mother's. The kit was open on her lap and tears were running down her cheeks.
“I'm Shannon. I manage the Child Life Department.” I said. “I'm sorry if the kit upset you. It's a new item…”
The mother shook her head. “This has been one of the worst days of my life. I felt so scared and alone. Then I was handed this box. I know it's for my daughter, but it's just the comfort I needed. I wanted to say thank you.”
With that I knew Comfort Kits belonged here. We've been using them for almost three years now. Each child who's admitted to the hospital receives one. Every day I see kids coloring, journaling, playing with Sparkle.
But as this mom showed me Comfort Kits aren't just for kids. The hope they bring, which can be in short supply in hospitals sometimes, is felt by the whole family.
Recently, many e-commerce platforms, including Didi Taxi, Ctrip, Fliggy, JD ad Taobao, have been uncovered that they are cheating their frequent customers. Their ways are pretty clever. When there are new users or conservative old users, they will give a quite appealing price to attract them into registering and buying goods. However, their big data is not that friendly to the stable users and frequent visitors. The system always offers them higher price for the same products or service. How does this happen? According to the data analysis, the system knows clearly that although they feel the price is high, they will finally pay the bill. By collecting and analyzing users' profiles, buying habits and other information, big data recommends the same products to different users with different prices.
Companies also try other ways to make money, making online consumption far more worrying. For example, video websites always offer 120 seconds' advertisements, which drives people crazy. And even if you pay for the membership to get rid of the ads, you have to “enjoy” 15-second “private” ads. By broadcasting them, companies make huge profits — second to the membership fees. Also, owning 100Mbps network, you still put up with the slow speed when you are downloading a song. You have no choice but to become a VIP when you seek high quality services. Users seem to be lambs(羊羔) among wolves. Even though they say,” Since you have money, I'll charge you more”, we can't do anything about it.
It pains us that we haven't figured out a way to deal with the problem. The only thing we can do is replacing our iPhones with Android phones if we want to buy a membership card, and applying for new accounts if we want cheaper hotels. Not finding a way to fight back, we can't do anything but accept them passively.
In 2012 my wife and I decided to open our bookstore in spite of unfavorable situations. The challenges facing small bookstores were-and remain-significant. Apart from the obvious rise in online selling, the increase in the popularity of e-books has negatively affected independent providers.
The question is why a new, small-scale(小规模的)provide would voluntarily enter such a challenging market? From a personal view, our reasoning was sound: we wanted to share our love of great books and reading for pleasure with as many like-minded people as possible.
Having done our homework, one thing became clear. In order for us to succeed, we would have to offer something that none of our larger competitors already provided. And so we started the Willoughby Book Club. We set up our website in the summer of 2012, and we haven't looked back.
The idea of service is simple. We offer a range of book subscription gift packages, available in three-month, six-month and 12-month options. Our customers choose a package, tell us a little about the person they're buying it for, and we use this information to send the receiver a hand-picked, gift-wrapped book once a month. We also recently decided to give one new book to Book Aid International for every gift subscription sold. These books are sent out to sub-Saharan Africa, supporting the educational work there. Within four months of starting out, we won the Young Bookseller of the Year Award at the 2013 Bookseller awards.
Our brief journey from new booksellers to award receivers has been challenging and rewarding. The biggest thing we've learned is that, despite the pressures facing independent providers, there is a place for them in the UK market. It's just a question of finding it.
TED is a non-profit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. Since then it has stepped into more and more fields. It includes two annual ( 年度的) conferences-the TED Conference on the North American West Coast each spring, and the TED Global Conference in Edinburgh UK each summer, which bring together the world's most excellent thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives ( in 18 minutes or less).
On ted.com, we make the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free. More than 1, 200 TED talks are now available,' with more added each week, which cover almost all topics from science to business to global issues- in more than 110 languages. They really help share ideas in communities around the world.
We believe in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and eventually, the world. So we' re building here a clearinghouse (信息交流中心 ) that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. Have an idea? We want to hear from you.
Today, TED is best thought of as a global community. It's a community welcoming people from every field and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world.
Want to follow TED? Here are the ways to connect:
Get TED news and conference coverage ( 新闻报道) on the TED Blog.
Follow TED on Twitter:
@TED News for all TED news and information
@TED Talks for daily TED Talk release only
See photos from TED events on Flicker.
When hospital staff are in full scrubs (手术衣), their faces are almost completely covered by their caps and face masks, and we can only see their eyes and eyebrows. In order to solve the problem, a doctor in Sydney, Australia, called Rob Hackett launched a campaign named "Theatre (手术室) Cap Challenge"-encourage hospital staffs to write their' names and roles on their caps. At first, his colleagues didn't take it seriously. However, with time going on, it has been adopted around the world with studies from the US and UK reporting how this simple idea can decrease human errors in healthcare.
"I went to a theatre where there were about 20 doctors and nurses in the room," Dr. Rob Hackett said. "I struggled to even ask to be passed some gloves because the person I was pointing to thought I was pointing to the person behind them, because I don't know their names." said Rob. As we all know, doctors are a stressful profession. When faced with life and death, they need to save the patient's life for a second. At the moment, effective communications are important.
"The 'Theatre Cap Challenge' is in response to concerns about how easily avoidable mistakes and poor communication are contributing to rising harmful events for our patients." said Rob. "We need to develop systems which reduce mistakes and misunderstanding without causing harm. For this to happen, we need to let everyone know we're human." he added On the other hand, from the patients' viewpoint, caps with names on them can make patients more unworried. When everyone appears the same, it is extremely difficult to distinguish who is who. Knowing them relaxed.
Preparing Cities for Robot Cars
The possibility of self-driving robot cars has often seemed like a futurist's dream, years away from materializing in the real world. Well, the future is apparently now. The California Department of Motor Vehicles began giving permits in April for companies to test truly self-driving cars on public roads. The state also cleared the way for companies to sell or rent out self-driving cars, and for companies to operate driverless taxi services. California, it should be noted, isn't leading the way here. Companies have been testing their vehicles in cities across the country. It's hard to predict when driverless cars will be everywhere on our roads. But however long it takes, the technology has the potential to change our transportation systems and our cities, for better or for worse, depending on how the transformation is regulated.
While much of the debate so far has been focused on the safety of driverless cars (and rightfully so), policymakers also should be talking about how self-driving vehicles can help reduce traffic jams, cut emissions (排放) and offer more convenient, affordable mobility options. The arrival of driverless vehicles is a chance to make sure that those vehicles are environmentally friendly and more shared.
Do we want to copy—or even worsen—the traffic of today with driverless cars? Imagine a future where most adults own individual self-driving vehicles. They tolerate long, slow journeys to and from work on packed highways because they can work, entertain themselves or sleep on the ride, which encourages urban spread. They take their driverless car to an appointment and set the empty vehicle to circle the building to avoid paying for parking. Instead of walking a few blocks to pick up a child or the dry cleaning, they send the self-driving minibus. The convenience even leads fewer people to take public transport—an unwelcome side effect researchers have already found in ride-hailing (叫车) services.
A study from the University of California at Davis suggested that replacing petrol-powered private cars worldwide with electric, self-driving and shared systems could reduce carbon emissions from transportation 80% and cut the cost of transportation infrastructure (基础设施) and operations 40% by 2050. Fewer emissions and cheaper travel sound pretty appealing. The first commercially available driverless cars will almost certainly be fielded by ride-hailing services, considering the cost of self-driving technology as well as liability and maintenance issues (责任与维护问题). But driverless car ownership could increase as the prices drop and more people become comfortable with the technology.
Policymakers should start thinking now about how to make sure the appearance of driverless vehicles doesn't extend the worst aspects of the car-controlled transportation system we have today. The coming technological advancement presents a chance for cities and states to develop transportation systems designed to move more people, and more affordably. The car of the future is coming. We just have to plan for it.
Many filmgoers went to the cinema to watch the romantic comedy See You Tomorrow just for the name of its producer, Wong Kar-wai. But many found themselves disappointed in the end, because there was no typical high-end Wong hit. It seems that the film's star Tony Leung didn't live up to fans, high expectations, either.
In this comedy, Leung plays as the owner of the bar See You Tomorrow, and is known as the perfect "ferryman", someone who helps broken-hearted people whose romantic relationships fail. He and his partner Guan Chun receive the offer of Xiao Yu to help cheer up her childhood idol Ma Li after hissinging career collapses.
"I'm a person who can't see my own tomorrow, but I hope everyone else has a future," the film's narrator says. "The safest distance between each other is 122 centimetres. You pull out all the stops to shorten this distance when you are with a loved one".
Although it may not be a traditional" Wong Kar-wai and Tony Leung" style, See You Tomorrow deserves the scoring of a qualified comedy, which makes audiences laugh and also provokes thoughts. Some consider the exaggerated performances in the film embarrassing, but humour is just one step away from embarrassment. Different people have different standards.
So is See You Tomorrow a good film to watch? This depends on you, but those who go with an open mind won't be disappointed.
It seems we can't get off the planet fast enough. Two thirds of NASA's money is spent on manned space exploration, and that number will grow with the USA's decision to send a man to Mars in 2037. We've seen all there is to see on Earth, right? Wrong. The final place is here, under the surface of the sea.
Heading down into the ocean, human limits are quickly reached. At 200 metres, the water is as black as a moonless night. Most nuclear submarines (核潜艇) would implode (内爆) before they reach 1 km down. At 3 km—still less than the average depth of the ocean—there's a good chance that you'll discover a new species. The deepestdiving whales go no further. At the very bottom, about 11 km down, lies the Challenger Deep, the deepest part of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. Eighteen humans have walked on the Moon, but only three have seen the Deep with their own eyes.
Yet things live down there. Big things. A very loud sound was once heard and scientists suggested that it was produced by an animal bigger than a blue whale, the largest creature known on the planet.
In the late 1990s, deepwater submarine was dropped in the Southern Ocean, and passing 4,000 metres, it discovered something huge passing under it. Surprised? Don't be. The ocean covers 70% of the planet's surface and we've studied less than 5% of it. We know more about the dark side of the Moon than about the bottom of the sea.
One reason that we explore space is to find evidence of other life forms. The search for life outside of Earth is important, but robots can look under the dry rocks of Mars better than humans. They're absolutely important for doing ocean research too, but they can't look under the sea. The cost of exploration is rising, but the results would benefit all our lives. Understanding the oceans will help us find new sources of food, drugs and energy.
Perhaps now it's time to begin a new period of sea exploration. Manned exploration of space is science fiction (科幻小说). The adventure of the deep sea is science fact.
In my mind, there is a moving story about a skinny young boy who loved football with all his heart.
Practice after practice, he eagerly gave everything he had. Being half the size of the other boys, he got absolutely nowhere. Despite his hard training at all the games, this hopeful athlete sat on the bench and hardly ever played.
This teenager lived alone with his father, and the relationship between the two of them was very special. Even though the son was always on the bench, his father was always in the stands cheering. He never missed a game. This young man was still the smallest of the class when he entered high school. But his father continued to encourage him.
The young man loved football and was determined to try his best at every practice, and perhaps he'd get to play when he became a senior. All through high school he never missed a practice nor a game but remained a benchwarmer. Besides, his faithful father was always in the stands, always with words of encouragement for him. When the young man went to college, he decided to try out for the football team as a “walk—on”. Everyone firmly believed that he could never make the cut, but he did.
The news that he had survived the cut thrilled him so much that he rushed to the nearest phone and called his father. His father shared his excitement and was sent season tickets for all the college games. This persistent young athlete never missed practice during his four years at college, but actually he never got the real chance to play in a game.
It was at the end of his senior football season that the coach met him with a telegram. The young man read the telegram and he became totally silent. Swallowing hard, he mumbled to the coach, “My father died this morning. Is it all right if I miss practice today?” The coach put his arm gently around his should and said, “Take the rest of the week off, son. And don't even plan to come back to the game on Saturday.”
Saturday arrived, and the game was not going well. In the third quarter, when the team was ten points behind, a silent young man quietly slipped into the empty locker room and put on his football gear. As he ran onto the sidelines (边线), the coach and his players were surprised to see their faithful teammate back so soon. “Coach, please let me play. I've just got to play today,” said the young man.
The coach pretended not to hear him. There was no way he wanted his worst player in this close play—off game. But the young man insisted, and finally feeling sorry for the kid, the coach gave in. “All right,” he said. “You can go in. '' Before long, the coach, the players and everyone in the stands could not believe their eyes. This little unknown, who had never played before, was doing everything right. The opposing team could not stop him. He ran, passed, blocked, and tackled like a star. His team began to succeed. The score was soon tied. In the closing seconds of the game, this kid got a pass and ran all the way for the winning touchdown.
Finally, after the stands had emptied, the coach noticed that this young man was sitting quietly in the corner all alone. The coach came to him and said, “Kid, you were unbelievably fantastic! Tell me what got into you? How did you do it?”
He looked at the coach, tears in his eyes, and said “Well, you knew my dad had died, but did you know that my dad was blind?” The young man swallowed hard and forced a smile, “Dad came to all my games, but today was the first time he could see me play, and I wanted to show him I could make it!”
World's best scuba diving destinations
If you are planning to go on a scuba diving vacation in the near future, here is a list of some of the best destinations in the world that you can consider.
The Red Sea, Egypt
One dive underneath the surface of the Egyptian Red Sea, and all you can see is a huge variety of marine life all around you. This is one of the richest marine ecosystems in the world. You can experience a fantastic swim with the dolphins and sharks. And a variety of colorful coral and sponges(海绵动物)in the reefs look absolutely astonishing.
Bali Island, Indonesia
Considered to be the “Jewel of Indonesia”, Bali Island is undoubtedly one of the most unusual holiday destinations in the world. And that is certainly true when it comes to a scuba diving vacation as well. The most popular underwater attraction for the divers gathering here is Mola mola, the world's heaviest-known bony fish. Bali Island is known for some of the world's best scuba diving instructors and diving spots.
Half Moon Caye, Belize
If you are looking forward to doing a wall dive, then the Half Moon Caye is the perfect place for you. Once you begin diving downwards, you will be excited by seeing the variety of marine life. There are numerous tunnels filled with a variety of sponges and monster groupers. The most noticeable sightings are those of eagle rays, loggerhead turtles, barracudas and the rosy razor fish.
China Science Daily announced Thursday that it has used software to automatically generate news stories about the latest discoveries from the world's leading science journals.The robot science reporter,called "Xiaoke",was co-created by the newspaper and researchers from Peking University in about half a year.
It is the latest case of Chinese news organizations using computer technology to create the content.According to its inventors,Xiaoke has generated over 200 stories based on the English abstract of papers published in journals such as Science , Nature , Cell and The New England Journal of Medicine.
Before publication,the automatically generated articles will go through a review process.A group of scientists and the newspaper's editors will check the content or give supplementary(补充的) information.
Zhang Mingwei,head of the program and vice editor-in-chief of the newspaper,said inventors would make Xiaoke a "cross-linguistic(跨语言的) academic secretary" to help Chinese scientists overcome language barriers and have easy and quick access to the latest scientific advances in English-language publications.Lead researcher Wan Xiaojun of Peking University,in charge of the system's design and technology,stressed that the content generation tool could do far more than translation.According to Wan,Xiaoke is good at selecting complex words and sentences,which can help turn articles full of confusing technical terms into easy and readable news reports.
The readers of the robot reporter are not limited to professionals and they also include the general public,the inventors said.Science reporting is important in spreading information about discoveries and in popularizing knowledge to people.
More than 11,000 scientists are warning that the Earth, in their words, "clearly and decidedly faces a climate emergency". The scientists represent diverse fields of study and come from countries around the world. They approved a report that appeared in the publication BioScience. The new report, titled "World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency", warned that the world will face "untold human suffering" if it does not make deep and lasting shifts in human activity that influences climate change.
This is the first time a large group of scientists have jointly used the word "emergency" when talking about climate change. "Despite 40 years of global climate negotiations… we have generally conducted business as usual and have largely failed to address this predicament," the report said. "The climate crisis has arrived and is accelerating faster than most scientists expected."
The report identified six areas that the world needs to deal with immediately. The scientists appealed to nations to use energy more efficiently and cut their use of fossil(化石) fuels. They suggested that lawmakers approve taxes on the burning of carbon-based fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas. The scientists expressed support for women's rights and "making family planning services available to all people". They said this would help to reduce sudden or unexpected changes in the size of the world population. The report urged people to move toward more of a plant-based diet. Other areas of concern included preventing the destruction of forests and permanent loss of some plant and animal species. The report noted that the public would most likely require politicians to approve lasting policy changes.
The scientists added, "We believe that prospects(前景) will be the greatest if decision makers and all of humanity promptly respond to this warning and declaration of a climate emergency, and act to sustain life on the planet Earth, our only home."