Shortly after my fourth birthday, my parents and I arrived from China in Sydney, Australia. It was 1991 and my mother had left behind everything she knew-family, friends and career.

Yet within two years, my parents’ marriage had broken down. After one particularly unpleasant fight, my mother left my father, taking me with her. With no family or friends, and in a country where she couldn’t even communicate, she took me to Chinatown, the only area of Sydney she was familiar with. That night she laid me on a bench in Dixon Street, packing suitcases around us for security. I will never forget the despair in her face that night.

At around 4 am, a group of four young Chinese men noisily exited a club nearby. I remember them falling silent as they saw us. They approached and asked my mother why she was sleeping on the streets with such a young child. My mum burst into tears as she told them our story. Without hesitating, they bundled me up, took our suitcases, and drove us to their students housing.

In the weeks that followed, the men looked after us with a youthful enthusiasm. Being poor students living on their own for the first time, they simply knew how to cook in a clumsy way. However, they insisted that a child should have homemade meals. They quickly adjusted their lives around us, buying fresh food, cooking, teasing me to make me laugh, and advising my mum on how to sort out her life.

Eventually, Mum reconciled (和解) with Dad and we moved back in with him, although they continued to split and make up several times.

Gradually we lost touch with the men as we all moved on. But at every milestone of my life-graduations, entering university, getting a good job-I never forget that all of this was made possible because 22 years ago, a group of complete strangers took us in and shared everything they had to save us from life on the street.

Smartphones have been blamed for everything from taking drivers’ attention from driving to keeping people on the sofa scrolling (滚屏) videos. But the smartphone that seems to be everywhere could just as easily increase physical activity if it pushes its owner’s buttons in the right way.

New research shows that making social connections through activity-tracking apps gets people to move more. And a separate study on this summer’s “Pokemon Go” phenomenon shows that the smartphone game got players to take thousands more steps than usual. Together, the studies show the potential for smartphones to push a range of people to be more active.

People who linked with friends on the activity-tracking app increase their steps by 400 a day on average over the next week, compared with people who made no social connections, according to Tim Althoff and two other computer scientists at Stanford University. The effect of social connections declined, but remained significant for five months before the numbers fell back even with users who made no connections.

Such insights show the promise of smartphones and games to help with one of the most stubborn public health problems-that even people who want to be active have trouble staying active.

An NBA videogame, for example, gives players extra powers in the game if they reach a step goal in real life. The app “Zomies, Run!” uses audio stories to push people to run more or run faster.

Still, there is room for growth: Only about 4% of all health apps use “gamification,” such as point-scoring or competition, according to a study published in October in BMJ Open. “Gamification is actually quite closely linked with behavior change techniques,” says Dr. Elizabeth Ann Edwards, the study’s lead author and a doctor and researcher at Queen Mary University of London.

With more large solar farms being developed in the sunny southwestern United States, researchers and conservationists alike are beginning to notice surprising environmental effects. While solar energy is known for its positive environmental impacts, officials at the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory have come to recognize one of its significant downsides: Some specks of birds that live close to large solar plants (太阳能板) are dying off, including endangered birds.

A recent federal investigation recovered 233 birds that had been killed as a direct result of solar plants. Researchers believe that some of the affected birds have mistaken the large, reflective areas of the solar panels for bodies of water. This is a phenomenon referred to by scientists as “lake effect.” The birds are drawn to what they assume to be water. They aim for the area and slam into the panels with great force. It is thought that the insects that birds cat fall victim to “lake effect” as well, leading the birds into the panels.

Researchers figure that between 1,000 and 28,000 birds are killed as a result of harvesting solar energy. The number of birds affected by wind farming is much greater, ranging from 140,000 to 328,000. Coal-fired electricity has the largest negative effect on birds, killing nearly 8 million a year. These numbers make solar farming seem like the best option. However, conservationists are quick to point out that areas where solar is expected to boom between 2015 and 2020 are home to some of the rarest birds in the United States. This could put specific bird species at risk of extinction.

There exists a state order in California that 20 percent of all electricity of all energy sold should be renewable by the year 2017. This has been one driving force behind the rapid development of huge solar farms. The industry, which is expected to boom as a result of this change to renewable energy, is facing newly filed lawsuits (起诉) by conservationist groups. These lawsuits could slow down the approval process for the planned solar development across the Southwest.

What Is Fear?

Fear is a basic feeling arising when we feel threatened, and can have physical symptoms such as sweaty hands and an increased heart rate.     11    

Fear tells us we are moving towards the edge of our comfort zone. We are doing something unfamiliar and learning new skills. This means we are growing, and growth means that once we go beyond the uncomfortable bit, we will be stronger, better and brighter than before!     12    

In most cases, the thing we fear is never as bad as we think it will be. When we are trying to make a decision to do something new, we lack the perspective to see further than the familiar range.     13     No. If you look back on some of the scary things you’ve had to do in the past, you would now say. “What was so scary about this?!”

Fear can teach us so much about our personal powers. There is no other feeling like the victory you feel that makes you realize you won.     14     Who cares? You made the leap! This will build your confidence! Think of your yoga practice. We CAN stand on our hands, even though we sometimes doubted it. And it will make us realize that we are so strong!

    15     We can welcome it; we can cope with it and proceed in spite of it. The best decisions in life are rarely the easiest ones. Or rather, they may seem easy, but often come with fear. To quit your job is not easy, but if you know it’s the right thing to do, you know what you need to do. Following your heart will not come without fear, but it will come with big rewards.