On March 15, 2022, Francis Kéré became the first African architect to win the Pritzker Prize, the most important award in the architecture discipline. “Can you imagine?” he exclaimed. “I was born in a little village where there was no school in Burkina Faso. And my father wanted me to learn how to read and write very simply because I could then translate or read him his letters.”

Francis was the first of his community to attend school. As there were no educational facilities in the area, at age 7 he went to live with his uncle in the nearest town. Thanks to two scholarships offered by German institutions, he was able to start studying carpentry (木匠) in 1985 and, ten years later, to start studying architecture. Although he began studying architecture at the age of 30, Francis’ career path is particularly fast. He built his first building, Gando Primary School, when he was still in college. In this project, Francis understands that his design is the result of combining basic needs, limited budgets and convincing communities to work as a team, of course, without sacrificing the beauty of architecture.

Impoverished countries (贫困国家) do not have enough influence to shape and deliver their own culture or brand to the world, but are left in the charge of what developed nations understand. For this reason Francis is aware that “The West knows how to present its culture. Everybody is dominated by the images produced in the West and, therefore, his challenge is to create a local architectural language, one of the many that African architecture can coin (创造), without falling into the stereotype of the impoverished village or violent slums (贫民窟) at polluted outskirts. ”

The first black winner of the Pritzken Prize has already receive numerous honors in his field, including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and the Thomas Jefferson Medal. “Francis Kéré is pioneering architecture—sustainable to the earth and its inhabitants—in lands of extreme scarcity (缺乏),” said committee chair, Tom Pritzker, in a statement. “He is equally architect and servant, improving upon the lives and experiences of countless citizens in a region of the word that is at times forgotten. Through building that show beauty, modesty, boldness and invention, and by the integrity (完整性) of his architecture, Kéré gracefully upholds (维护) the mission of this prize.” The Pritzker jury (评审团), by awarding him, also rewarded a way of practicing architecture that happens in different latitudes (纬度) of the word: The adaptation of local techniques as an effective response to the climate crisis and the scarcity of resources.

A first look may make you think it is a seesaw. But people of the Yi ethnic group will tell you it’s completely different and it can be used for a competitive sport.

“Damoqiu is a traditional sport and celebration during festivals,” said Li Jingming, an inheritor of damoqiu. “I started playing at the age of 5 years old.”

Li said that the seesaw-like equipment for damoqiu is made up of two poles. One stands up on the ground with a height of 1.5 meters and the other 5-meter pole with a small hole in the middle lies horizontally on it, connecting with it through the small hole. When playing, one or two performers sit or crawl on each side of the horizontal pole. They need to use their strength from their belly or legs to keep balance on the pole while doing different postures. Due to its complexity, damoqiu was listed in 2016 as an intangible cultural heritage in Longlin county, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

“Many people simply play damoqiu for fun,” said 61-year -old Li. “Yet, taking it as a professional sport is more a game of bravery.”

According to Li, since the horizontal pole only hangs on the standing pole, it’s always spinning, making it hard for performers to keep balance. “If you’re lacking in strength, it’s easy to tilt and you may even slip down from the pole. Sometimes, it’s even dangerous,” added Li.

Damoqiu as a professional sport also requires great effort and patience.

Li recalled that training for a new posture sometimes requires several days. “Repetition is part of our daily routine. Though it’s dull, it requires our effort to keep the tradition alive.” Li said.

As more and more young people leave villages to earn money in the big cities, they have less time to train on the pole and develop new postures. “It’s a pity that damoqiu is disappearing from the competitive stage now.” said Li, adding that he has only had five disciples in training for many years.

To make damoqiu accessible to more people, Li not only teaches it in schools voluntarily, but also performs in many competitions to show the sport’s charm to audiences.

The American space agency NASA says a spacecraft has entered the sun’s outermost atmosphere for the first time. Scientists announced that Parker Solar Probe traveled through the solar atmosphere’s outer edge, known as the corona (日冕). They described the entry as a successful touch on the sun.

Unlike Earth, the sun does not have a solid surface. Instead, it is a superheated ball of material held together by gravity and magnetic (磁的) forces. The temperature of the corona is so high that the sun’s gravity cannot hold on to it and some solar material escapes from it and goes into space, which causes the solar wind. The solar wind is the flow of charged pieces, known as plasma.

Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018 which mainly studied the solar wind. The sun is actually a magnetic variable star with solar activity happening nearly periodically. Scientists said being able to study the solar wind and the corona close up could help them better understand “the way the activity causes changes to the planet we live on”.

“We can actually see the spacecraft flying through the coronal structure during a total solar eclipse (日全食),” Nour Raouafi, the project scientist, said, adding that it took them a few months to examine information from the spacecraft and to confirm the result and that the evidence used included data on magnetic fields and the solar wind, as well as images. Scientists reported Parker Solar Probe successfully went in and out of the corona at least three times.

The Parker team said early data also suggested the spacecraft may have entered the corona during its ninth close approach in August, but a further study is needed to make a confirmation. The spacecraft is expected to keep getting closer to the sun and diving deeper into the corona until its final orbit, planned for 2025.