A botanical garden is a natural space dedicated to the preservation and exhibition of a large range of plant species for education or scientific purposes, apart from offering beautiful scenery. Here are four botanical gardens and be sure to add them to your must-visit list.

San Francisco Botanical Garden

The garden in the Golden Gate Park is 55 acres in size and home to nearly 9, 000 plant varieties from around the world. It contains several smaller gardens that mimic environments from around the globe. It mission is to connect people to plants and instill a deep understanding of the need for environmental conservation

Hawaii Tropical Botanic Garden

It is located on Hawaii’s big island with its entire conservation area of over 100 acres and over 2, 500 plant varieties. The garden provides guided tours and plenty of resources for   educators to help their students learn about the planet. It also works with the University of Hawaii to serve as a research centre for biodiversity.

Desert Botanical Garden

Located in Phoenix, Arizona, it is a magnificent place full of cacti, succulents, and other desert plant. With 140 acres and 50. 000 different plants in its unique botanical garden, visitors can learn about what organisms thrive in one of the hottest and driest parts of the world—the Sonoran Desert.

Huntington

Located in San Marino, California, it is a research institution that includes about 120 acres of landscaped gardens that showcase plants from all over the world. It has a conservation program that maintains a seed bank and tissue culture lab. This way, it can help protect any endangered species, variety, or breed.

People are often surprised by my fear of blood and needles. Working in a public health unit, I probably have more daily interaction with syringes (注射器) than the average person. But the   truth is, having my blood drawn scares me.

When I was 9, I had an extremely high temperature. A nurse rudely stuck the needle into my arm causing a sharp pain. I avoided having blood taken from my body for the next years. A few months before I turned 30, my doctor ordered a blood test as part of my physical exam. I panicked. Sensing my fear, she gently suggested I see a psychiatrist (精神科医生). “Dr. M   helped my other patients with the same fear, ”she said.

When Dr. M called to set up an appointment, I hesitated. Talking about personal problems to a medical licensed stranger was uncommon in my family.   “A psychiatrist?” Mother asked   “He’ll just put you on drugs. Can’t you get over this yourself? I almost listened. But I went to Dr. M’s clinic finally. “Phobias(恐惧症) are pretty easy to treat, ”he said. I wasn’t convinced of his words, but was running out of options

We started with basic exposure treatment. I watched videos of blood being drawn every day. As I started to feel more at ease with needles, Dr. M suggested drawing blood. As he gently pressed the needle into my flesh I felt dizzy and breathed deeply. After a few minutes, I looked   at the needle. It wasn’t so bad. I didn’t pass out. “You’re doing well, ” Dr. M said.

I still find it unpleasant getting blood drawn, but thanks to several months of treatment, I'm less scared. I hate to admit it but Dr. M is right—phobias can be treated. Sometimes, we have to leave our comfort zone and face our fears. And this can lead to freedom in the end.

Do you ever talk to yourself? Although it’s not always a conscious habit, most of us practice self-talk on a daily basis.

Research shows that self-talk can increase productivity, motivation and confidence, and even help manage feelings. “There is solid evidence that self-talk strategies improve learning and performance,” according to sport psychologist Antonis Hatzigeorgiadis, who studies the phenomenon of self-talk.

He explains that there are generally three reasons why we practice self-talk: to instruct, to motivate or to evaluate. Instructional self-talk happens when we need to guide ourselves through a specific task, such as learning a new skill. Motivational self-talk usually is used when we want to prepare ourselves for something challenging; it can help to increase confidence. Evaluative self-talk mostly is related to past events or actions.

Hatzigeorgiadis stresses that if we want to use such self-talk to good advantage, it needs to be short, precise and, most of all, consistent. Of course, self-talk also can be ineffective and even detrimental if it’s not done right.

“It is a matter of personal preference or what works for each person; but generally, it is advised that self-talk be positively rather than negatively phrased and focus on what you should do rather than on what you should avoid,” Hatzigeorgiadis says. So, for example, it would be better to say “stay cool” instead of “don’t get upset”. Although both instructions convey the same meaning, you should use positive words rather than negative ones. In this way you can avoid ill results.

Another thing that can make a difference when practicing self-talk is the way you address yourself. According to the research published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, using “you” rather than “I” when talking to yourself tends to be more effective. The researchers explain that when you think of yourself as another person, it allows you to give more objective and useful feedback (反馈).

Spring is in the air. Birds are singing and beginning to build their nests. It happens every year like clockwork. But by comparing recent observations with century-old eggs preserved in museum collections, scientists involved in the study were able to determine that about a third of the bird species are nesting and laying eggs nearly a month earlier than they did a hundred years ago. And as far as the researchers can tell climate change is responsible.

“Egg collections are such a fascinating to for us to learn about bird ecology over time,” says John Bates, director of the Field Museum. The eggs, with the contents removed, are stored in small boxes and accompanied by labels, saying what kind of bird they belong to, where they're from, and precisely when they were collected

Fidino, an ecologist at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, built a model for studying the historical and modern data about the egg collections. He found a surprising result: among the 72 bird species studied, about a third are nesting and laying their first eggs 25. 1 days earlier than they did a century ago.

Given that the climate crisis has dramatically affected so many aspects of biology, the researchers looked to rising temperatures as a potential explanation for the earlier nesting and laying. The changes in temperature are seemingly small but lead to different plants blooming and insects emerging—things that could affect the food available for birds. So birds have to move their egg-laying dates to adapt.

In addition to serving as a warning about climate change, Bates believes the study highlights the importance of museum collections, particularly egg collections. “They’re heavy with data about the past, and they can help us answer important questions about our world today,” he said.