【推荐1】Two years ago, I decided to study at the University of St. Edwards in the city of Austin, Texas. When I was on my research to find the perfect place to study in, I considered many aspects: a safe place, a city where there were companies devoted to marketing or technology, a place where speaking Spanish and English was an advantage and a school where I could learn about digital strategies (数字策略). After comparing and evaluating many cities and universities. I finally decided on Austin.

Since I arrived in Austin, Texas. I had been living inside the university where I had a private room and shared common areas with more students. University life was not very different from the life in Mexico and classes were semblable and the way of socializing too. However, in the United States, the classes were more practical and teachers encouraged you to be self-responsible and complete your tasks.

The classes that I was taking were related to social media, digital marketing and advertising. I was very excited to be able to study technology-related courses.

What I liked most about the experience was being able to live with students from many places, which allowed me to learn from other cultures and to share mine with other students. Also, international student services usually organized events and tours that helped me to get to know the city and the school.

I certainly think that studying abroad is a beneficial experience. It makes us capable of understanding cultural differences and accepting diversity. Personally, I would suggest that you first determine what your goals are by going abroad, research the opportunities and lifestyle, evaluate your universities, and finally decide on the one where you feel more comfortable, connecting with your values and way of seeing life.

【推荐1】There’s no single known cause for autism (自闭症), but researchers now point the finger at higher lithium (锂) levels in drinking water. Their new study found that pregnant women in Denmark whose household tap water had higher levels of lithium were more likely to have kids with autism, compared to pregnant women living in areas where tap water had lower levels of this element.

“Maternal prenatal (妊娠期) exposure to lithium from naturally occurring drinking water sources in Denmark was associated with an increased autism spectrum disorder risk in the offspring,” said study author Dr. Beate Ritz, a professor of neurology. “This suggests a potential fetal neurotoxicity (神经毒性) of lithium exposure from drinking water that needs to be further investigated.”

For this latest study, researchers analyzed lithium levels from about half of the country’s water supply. When the investigators compared children with autism to those without this developmental disorder, they found that when lithium levels increased, so did the risk of autism.

Kids born to moms who lived in areas with the highest lithium levels in the water were 46% more likely to be diagnosed with autism than those born in areas with the lowest amount of lithium in drinking water, the study showed. Lithium levels increased the risk for all types of autism in this study.

Lithium leaches into drinking water from soil and rocks, but these levels could rise in the future from waste in lithium batteries. While more research is needed to confirm this association, Ritz suggested using filtered water and testing it for lithium levels while pregnant. Bottled water isn’t necessarily the answer. “A lot of bottled water is not tested either,” she said. “Some bottled water is just filled up from regular drinking water sources.”

Dr. Max Wiznitzer, director of the Rainbow Autism Center, urged caution before jumping to conclusions, though. “It’s an interesting association, but causation is definitely not proven,” Wiznitzer told CNN. “We have to see if there’s a workable and biologically plausible (似乎合理的) mechanism by which a small amount of lithium in the water supply can somehow do this, yet pharmacologic (药理学) dosing of lithium in women with bipolar disorder has not been reported to be causing increased risk of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).”

【推荐2】All living things need energy to move and grow. Energy can come in many different forms.     1     While energy cannot be created nor destroyed, it can be converted (转换) between different forms.

Where do plants get their energy? They get their energy from the sun. Plants absorb sunlight with their leaves.     2     This chemical process is called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis means, “making out of light.” The energy from the sun, light energy, is converted into chemical energy through photosynthesis.

Plants are called producers because they produce their own food. Producers form the base of every food chain in an ecosystem. Plants are eaten by animals, which are eaten by larger animals. For example, a plant takes in energy from the sun and turns it into plant food.     3     Then, a human eats the rabbit. The energy the human gets from the food was originally energy from the sun!

The food humans eat provides us with energy. When we chew and digest food, a chemical reaction takes place.     4     We require energy from food for basic functions, like moving and breathing. Energy from food also helps our body repair itself and stay warm.

    5     Whole foods (天然食品), like kale, contain lots of important nutrients, such as calcium (钙) and potassium (钾). Sugary foods, like candy, do not contain as many nutrients. Whole foods can provide us with enough energy over long periods of time. So are you more energized throughout the day?

【推荐3】A study has found that when people burn extra calories by working out, the body starts to compensate by reducing the amount of energy spent on functions to stay alive, such as sleeping or digestion. About a quarter of the calories burnt during a workout are then budgeted for later on, meaning that overall the total number of calories burnt is less than expected. For overweight people, it is estimated that about half of calories burnt during periods of higher activity were later compensated for.

Researchers at the University of Roehampton found that the calories the body burns to keep ticking over decrease by 28 per cent during periods when daily exercise levels are consistently high. This means the more we exercise over the long-term, the less calories our bodies bum for the most rudimentary activities. The results show that only 54 per cent of the calories used by exercise or activity among people who have the highest body mass actually translated into calories burnt at the end of the day, due to their bodies reducing the energy spent on the most basic of functions. In contrast,70 percent of calories burnt during activity by those with the lowest body mass translated into more calories burnt at the end of the day.

Professor Lewis Halsey, of the department of life sciences, said: “Around the world, national guidelines tend to recommend a 500—600 calorie deficit through exercising and dieting to lose weight. However, they do not take into account the reduction of calories being burnt in the most basic of human functions as the body compensates for the calories burnt on the exercise as shown in our research, and the variation in this compensation between people with different levels of body fat.”

In this study they found no differences between men and women in the energy lost during activity. But since the research shows overweight people who exercise burn significantly fewer calories on day-to-day functions, there is a need for greater personalisation of exercise plans depending upon body mass.

【推荐1】As you’re drafting your New Year’s resolutions, you may think that it takes 21 days of repeating an action for that action to become a habit. So, you set out to go to the gym for 21 days, thinking that by day 22 heading to the gym will feel automatic — maybe even fun.

However, that 21-day estimate isn’t true. A habit expert Wendy Wood found that this falsehood came from a self-help book in the 1960s and actually described how long it takes to get used to your new appearance after plastic surgery. It’s important to note that getting used to something is not the same thing as forming a habit, and perhaps the two concepts got confused along the way, giving rise to the term today.

To figure out how long it actually takes to form a habit, Phillippa Lally, and her team did a series of research.

They recruited 96 people and asked each person to choose one new habit and report each day on whether or not they did the behavior and how automatic the behavior felt. Some people chose simple habits like “drinking a bottle of water with lunch.” Others chose more difficult tasks like “running for 15 minutes before dinner.” At the end of 12 weeks, the researchers analyzed the data to determine how long it took each person to go from starting a new behavior to automatically doing it.

The study found that it takes more than 2 months before a new behavior becomes automatic — 66 days to be exact. And if you want to set your expectations appropriately, the truth is that it will probably take you anywhere from two months to eight months to build a new behavior into your life. Interestingly, the researchers also found that “missing one opportunity to perform the behavior did not affect the habit formation process.” That is to say, it doesn’t matter if you mess up every now and then. Building better habits is not an all-or-nothing process.

So, for those who wish to form certain habits, persistence is king. To form a good habit, we need to pay more energy and effort.

【推荐2】People like to celebrate when they move into a new home. Maybe it’ s the first flat someone has owned, a couple’ s first home since getting married or maybe a growing family has moved to a bigger house. For whatever reason, the home is new. It represents a change and an exciting new beginning, with walls to paint, rooms to decorate and neighbors to meet. And what better way to meet people than to throw a party?

Parties to celebrate moving into a new home are called “house-warming” or “flat-warming” parties. If you think about it, they are appropriate names because an empty house with no people or furniture in it is a cold shell of a place. A house full of people, on the other hand, often requires some open windows or air conditioning to keep from getting too hot.

So what are house-warming parties like? Usually, the hosts invite their new neighbors as well as their friends. They usually provide some food and drinks and guests usually bring house-warming gifts. The gift might be something for the house，like a plant, or something for the guests to share, like a bottle of wine. There may be a dress code or theme. For example, if it is a “Hat Party”, people will wear unusual or funny hats. This helps break the ice by making people laugh. This makes it easier to meet new people and creates a fun and cheerful atmosphere.

There’ s an old saying that home is where the heart is. When people throw a house-warming party,they’ re opening their hearts as well as their homes to the people around them. So if you’ re ever invited by new neighbors to a house-warming, go! Then invite them to your home another time. Your home might already be warm, but new friends are the surest way to warm your heart.