Koch’s Favorite Fitness Apps

People spent money on gym memberships. But according to fitness and tech reporter Peter Koch, 67 percent of them never went. It may be wise then to try a fitness app, many of which are more cost-effective than going to a health club.

Aaptiv

Aaptiv allows users to choose from a variety of different workouts, including stretching classes, yoga classes，boxing and weightlifting, according to Koch. It also provides guided audio(音频) workouts, so there’s no reason to look at a phone screen, he says.

Nike + Run Club

Nike + Run Club doesn’t just track and log your runs with a GPS, Koch says, it also provides audio— guided runs. “I’m a runner myself since high school, and the one thing I see among inexperienced runners is that they tend to go out and run roughly the same distance at roughly the same pace every time,” Koch says. “It’s easy to understand why their fitness might plateau or they might lose interest over time.”

Fitbod

“What’s really interesting about Fitbod is that it uses AI, or artificial intelligence,” explains Koch. “Every time you hit the weights,” he says, “it’s not only guiding you step by step through each exercise—including the weight, number of sets and reps— but it also takes your performance from that day and uses it to adjust your plan going forward for upcoming sessions.”

Keelo

Keelo is considered a smart program, meaning the app adjusts according to users’ progress. The app centers on high-intensity interval training, looks at users’ exercise history and adjust each workout accordingly, says Koch. “That’s a huge aspect of these newer training apps,” he says. “They use this artificial intelligence.”

Tash was waiting in line at the supermarket when she noticed the young mum in front of her struggling to pay her bill. Tash knew it was only a matter of time before the woman’s young child became fussy (难缠的), and she felt for the mum, who appeared upset and embarrassed.

Having been in a similar position in the past, Tash didn’t hesitate to jump in and pay for her shopping. Her reasoning was simple: “Pay it forward.” “It was just really nice to help her out,” Tash says. “It was only $ 50 or something like that, it wasn’t a huge amount. But afterwards, the woman gave me a hug and had tears in her eyes... and I got a bit emotional as well.”

“In today’s day and age, with what we’re all going through, just to get that feeling of, ‘Oh wow, there is good out there’... it’s nice to hear there is a bit of humanity,” Tash says.

People start to help others by doing things for other people. But you don’t have to break the bank, or even open your wallet, to give paying it forward a go. Psychologist Dr Lishman says offering compliments or praise to strangers, or hand-making items or food for those in need, can serve the same purpose. Alternatively, donating clothes or books to a charity or mentoring (指导) a student can also be considered ways to get involved. All you need is to set out with the intention of helping someone you don’t know, without any expectation of reward, acknowledgement or payback.

That can lead to an increased sense of connection and a rise in feel— good hormones, which floods us with positive emotions. Knowing that our good deeds can make a “massive difference” to someone else’s mental health and mood can also boost our own wellbeing.

Topher White spends a lot of time walking in the forest and thinking about how quickly we’re losing it. He is making an effort to stop global deforestation (滥伐). Founder of the San Francisco— based Nonprofit Rainforest Connection, White has developed a simple but ingenious strategy: using old cell phones to listen for the sound of destruction.

Forests are disappearing worldwide and fast, which not only harms wildlife, including many species that live nowhere else, but also contributes to climate change. “I didn’t know any of this stuff when I started,” says White, who began his journey in 2011, when he traveled to Indonesian Borneo to help decreasing gibbons (长臂猿).

Between 50 and 90 percent of the logging (采伐) that happens in the world’s rain forests is illegal, according to White, yet detecting that activity can be tough. So he has developed a system in which he uses a cell phone staying charged by solar cells and an extra microphone. From there, the device can detect the sounds of chainsaws (电锯) nearly a mile away.

Because it’s unfeasible to have people listening to the devices all the time, he added some “old-school data analysis,” so that the cell phone’s computers can distinguish a chainsaw’s sound from others in the forest. This way, his device can automatically detect logging activity and send a text alert to authorities who can determine if it’s illegal and then stop it.

So far, his monitoring system has been used in Cameroon, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil and will soon be deployed in Bolivia. It’s not just about listening for logging. Also, it can pick out the sounds of specific birds, which is why White sees the forest recordings as a potential science tool. He is urging biologists and ecologists to use his monitoring system anywhere, whether it’s a remote forest or a park in London. “The more we learn about these places,” he says, “the easier it will be to protect them.”

Life Skills Start in the Home

I started my kids on household chores young because I refuse to send any of them into the world without being able to provide the most basic care for themselves. We started small such as teaching them how to crack an egg or load the washing machine. We made a game: of it and let it get messy.     16    , the kids were able to eventually get comfortable with the chore, gain competence and then finally achieve confidence.

If there is unwillingness or lack of enthusiasm,     17    . Consistency and patience is the key. Keep at it. Years into this experiment, my 13-year-old son can cook a basic meal and is in charge of cooking on Sunday nights. That means planning, shopping and meal preparation. My 15-year-old daughter has her own night Saturday with the same responsibilities. She also does a lot of car maintenance with me.     18    

Jessica Lahey, author of “The Gift of Failure,” advocates that we teach our kids autonomy so they will be more motivated to engage in the business of their lives and learn how to be competent. In order to do this, we give our kids clear expectations and     19    . This allow our kids to take ownership of the task, and they learn to solve problems and deal with failure.

Yes, we have had some magnificent disasters in this house. Each one was a moment where we could come together as a family, figure out the solution and deal with the consequences.

    20    , so they are better prepared for adulthood. It not only gives them responsibilities around the house but it can be a great bonding activity for the whole family.

There were few areas of science which Robert Hooke’ didn’t risk trying. This 17th century scientist was ________ for contributing to our knowledge of everything from mathematics and mechanics to biology and astronomy.

Robert Hooke began his series of interests as a keen ________. He lived with his parents until the age of 13. Being a sickly child, he was a latecomer to ________. Instead of attending school, he spent much of his childhood drawing. But his lack of an early education didn’t ________ Hooke realizing his genius. It was his later entrance to Westminster School that would ________ him down a scientific path. Here he discovered that his talents lay beyond ________, particularly in mathematics, mechanics and languages.

Hooke’s ________ scientific interests helped set the society in motion during its early years. Many people are ________ of Hooke’s work in microscopy, but in 1653, at the age of 18, Hooke ________ Christ Church College at Oxford, where he spent much time building telescopes. Shortly after in 1660, he discovered a physical law that would later be ________ after him: Hooke’s law. Hooke is best known for discovering and ________ the living cell. He became the first to examine different fossil types with a microscope and he ________ how mosquitoes suck blood.

After the Great Fire of London in 1666, Hooke was given the opportunity to try his ________ at architecture to design a monument and decided to ________ some practicality to the aesthetic (美学). ________ this 60-metre-tall structure, Hooke built an underground ________ where he could conduct science experiments, while the central passage was built to ________ a large telescope.

Since his death in 1703, scientists continue to be ________ and benefit from Hooke’s findings. As he quotes in his book Micrographia, “By the means of ________, there is nothing so far distant but maybe represented to our view; and by the help of microscopes, there is nothing so ________ as to escape our inquiry.”

Wu Mengchao,     41     ( know) as the father of Chinese hepatobiliary (肝胆外科) surgery, died on May 22 aged 99. The academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences had established     42     unique system of liver surgery in China and devoted     43     (he) to saving people’s lives for nearly eight decades. He continued working into his 90s，seeing patients and     44     (perform) more than 16,000 operations.

In 1927, Wu and his mother went to join his father in Malaysia before     45     (success) returning to China in 1940. In July 1949 he graduated from the School of Medicine of Tongji University. In 1956 he joined the army after he     46     (admit) to the Communist Party of China. In addition to saving lives, he treated every patient well. In order to save medical expenses for the patients, he always insisted     47     stitching (缝合) wound with a needle and thread, instead of using an automatic sewing machine.

Thanks to his     48     (contribute) and professional ethics, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991. In 2006, he was presented the National Science and Technology Award. But he donated the 6 million yuan award to talent cultivation and rewards.

“    49     I value is not miracles, but saving lives. Doctors should use their sense of responsibility     50     (help) patients overcome difficulties one by one,” Wu said.

In China, there is a long history to fly a kite in the spring while usually the weather and wind are so suitable for this leisure.