When first-time visitors imagine California, one of the first things that come to mind is likely the beach. California offers hundreds of beaches to choose from. To help visitors decide which coast to travel to, we have listed four beach towns California offers.

Laguna

One glance at Laguna Beach can leave the viewers amazed at its beauty. Yet there is more to it than its good looks. Laguna features more than 100 art galleries and studios, which won’t let viewers down. Summer is Laguna’s peak travel season when the majority of its yearly festivals take place. Winter will likely bring discounts, but you won’t be able to swim at the beach.

Monterey

What Monterey lacks in swimmable shorelines it makes up for in breathtaking scenery. Monterey State beach is an underrated attraction, offering 4 miles of quiet beach, where you’ll find relatively few beachgoers. Monterey’s central California location subjects it to mild temperatures during the winter, making Monterey an attractive destination year-round.

Pismo

This small beach town offers little to do other than beach activities, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It offers outdoor activities throughout the year, including surfing, kayaking, surf fishing and swimming. Don’t forget to see butterflies at Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove if you’re in town between late October and late February. The best time to visit is during the fall, which offers warm temperatures.

Pfeiffer

As an ideal place for photographers, Pfeiffer Beach impresses with its awesome surrounding cliffs and collection of rock formations. Keep in mind, though, that the beach is not safe for swimming due to its strong currents and underlying rocks. The best time to visit is from September through November when the summer tourists have returned home.

Jose Alberto Gutierrez’s life would never be the same again after finding a copy of Anna Karenina in the trash (垃圾) 20 years ago. It happened while he was driving his garbage truck through wealthier neighbourhoods and seeing books abandoned by the rich. It ignited his desire to start rescuing books from the trash. Eventually, he turned his book collection into a community library.

In Colombia’s capital city of Bogota, libraries tend to be far away from poorer communities. The option of buying new books is non-existent for poor families and having access to a library of books is a luxury. Gutierrez grew up poor, and his family could not afford to educate him beyond primary school. Nevertheless, his mother was a passionate reader and read stories to him every night. Her love for books left a deep impression on Gutierrez, who never let a lack of formal education stop him.

Today, his community library, “The Strength of Words”, occupies most of his home and is piled from floor to ceiling with fiction and non-fiction titles. Everything from school textbooks to storybooks can be found in his collection of over 20,000 books!

The Strength of Words library is open every weekend, and children in Gutierrez’s neighbourhood are allowed to look through the book collection. Adults are also welcome to expand their vision and develop new skills for a better life.

Today, the Gutierrez family doesn’t merely want to start libraries in neighbourhoods. They want to create more safe spaces for school children to spend their time reading. This is important for kids living in Bogota where many young people waste time in the streets.

Gutierrez’s journey to give treasure back to his local community is an amazing example of how every one of us can improve the lives of those around us by identifying needs, investing time and finding a simple solution. How might we take a leaf out of Gutierrez’s book?

A new gene editing procedure may provide doctors with a potential cure for both anxiety and alcohol use disorders. Researchers say the treatment acts like a “factory reset” for the patient’s brain.

Previous studies by the same team found that too much drinking during adolescence changes a person’s brain chemistry in the region of the Arc gene, by decreasing Arc expression in the amygdala (杏仁核) affecting how people process emotions. When that occurs, it makes someone more likely to suffer from mental health issues and use alcohol too much during adulthood.

The new study focused on reprogramming such changes to the brain at a genetic level. “It provides evidence that gene editing is a potential antidote(解毒剂) to these effects, offering a kind of factory reset for the brain, if you will,” says Subhash Pandey, study senior author.

Using the gene-editing tool CRISPR-dCas9, the team controlled the acetylation (乙酰化) and methylation (甲基化) processes in the Arc gene of lab rats. These two processes play key roles in whether a gene is more or less likely to be activated within the person or animal. To start, researchers studied adult rats exposed to alcohol when younger. The team measured anxiety levels using behavioral exams and tracked the rats’ addiction to alcohol by giving them two bottles to choose from—one with water and the other alcohol. When CRISPR promoted acetylation, rats’ Arc gene expression normalized. This also decreased anxiety and lowered the animals’ alcohol consumption. In their next experiment, study authors examined some rats without exposure to alcohol when younger. They found that promoting methylation caused Arc expression to decrease, leading to an increase in anxiety and drinking.

“This study not only helps us better understand what happens in brain developing when adolescents are exposed to alcohol but more importantly, gives us hope that one day we will have effective treatments for anxiety and alcohol use disorder,” Pandey reports.

The arts are an expression or application of human creativity and imagination. They help with young people’s development. Therefore, it’s important that all young people be exposed to the arts. They allow them to realize their potential through different forms of the arts at a young age and encourage self-expression and creativity.

Often, youths don’t realize their potential due to the lack of exposure. If they aren’t exposed to the arts, they wouldn’t even know they may have the talent or potential. If it’s discovered at an early age, they can gradually use their potential through higher education in the arts. Some might even choose to pursue it as a hobby or an occupation in the long run. I started learning to play the piano at five and now, at 15, I have realized my interest and passion in piano which would have been unknown without exposure to it.

Besides, youths can express themselves through exposure to the arts. Facing stress from school or their personal lives, they can find a new channel through artistic expressions such as dance or painting. Some who find it hard to express themselves might choose to bottle it up, leading to many psychological problems such as depression.

The arts also boost creativity. They let youths enhance their problem-solving skills by thinking out of the box. Researchers have found people tend to do something creative after engaging in the arts.

However, some critics may argue the arts will distract youths from studies. This has proven incorrect. A study in 2010 found that greater exposure to the arts led to higher graduation rates and test scores.

In conclusion, the exposure of the arts to youths is important as it helps them recognize their capability in the arts and express their feelings and imagination. We can do so by being exposed to the arts and being more willing to learn something new. This gives us endless opportunities to acquire new skills and become a better version of ourselves.