Disasters almost always arrive unexpectedly. But there are apps to help people prepare for disasters. Some apps alarm users when a disaster has taken place. Other disaster apps can be used when people need rescue or other help.

The   free   SirenGPS   Mobile   app   connects   users   to   emergency   services.   The   app   will   let emergency workers know where the person in need is. The app works over cell networks. But it also works on Wi-Fi if cell networks are down after an emergency. Users can create a personal health report on the app to share with emergency services. This will provide information important to treatment decisions.

Guardly is an app that can help keep people safer in places such as businesses and universities. This app permits workers and students to report about unsafe conditions. Reports can be made to an organization’s own security division as well as to government emergency services. The reporter’s location can be sent with the report so security or emergency services help can arrive more quickly. The app is free, but Guardly charges for its services.

The Life360 app provides a service to keep loved ones connected. Users can set up a network of people to share their location, chat, and get a warning when they are near someone in their network. The app helps users communicate when they are in a disaster. The location share function can be forbidden when desired. The Life360 app is free, with some services available for a fee.

When a person is in a dangerous situation, the Red Panic Button app might help. This app can send a text message or email to chosen contacts providing the user’s location. You can also add a voice or video message or photo to your text and email. Red Panic Button is free, but extra functions are available for a fee.

I believe in the power of the unknown. I believe that a sense of the unknown pushes us forward in all of our creative activities, from science to art.

When I was a child, after bedtime I would often go to the window and stare at the stars. I had so many questions. How far away were those tiny points of light? Did space go on forever and ever, or was there some edge? And if so, what lay beyond the edge?

Another of my childhood questions: Did time go on forever? I looked at pictures of my parents and tried to imagine their parents, and so on, back through the generations. Does time go on forever? Or is there some beginning of time?

When I grew up, I became a professional astrophysicist. Although I never answered any of these questions, they continued to challenge me, to haunt me, to drive me in my scientific research, and to cause me to live on tuna fish and no sleep for days at a time while I was crazy about a science problem. These same questions, and questions like them, challenge and haunt the leading scientists of today.

Einstein once wrote that “the most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the beginning of true art and true science.” What did Einstein mean by “the mysterious?” I don’t think he meant that science is full of unpredictable or unknowable or supernatural forces. I think that he meant a sense of awe, a sense that there are things larger than us, that we do not have all the answers at this moment, and that we can stand right at the boundary between known and unknown.

Scientists are happy, of course, when they find answers to questions. But scientists are also happy when they become stuck, when they discover interesting questions that they cannot answer. That is when their imaginations and creativity are set on fire. That is when the greatest progress occurs.

According to scientists, a study of more than 50 plants and animals suggests their ability to adapt to changes in rainfall and temperature will be vastly outpaced by future climate change.

Amphibians, reptiles and plants are harmed more easily in particular, according to US researchers. And tropical (热带的) species are at higher risk than those in temperate zones. Some animals might be able to move geographically to deal with rising temperatures, but others live in remote areas where they cannot move, such as in nature reserves or on mountains or islands.

Ecologists analyzed how quickly species had changed their climatic niches (the conditions where they can survive) over time, and how these rates compared with that of global warming. They analyzed populations of plants and animals, including insects, amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles. Rates of change in climatic niches were much slower than rates of projected climate change, by more than 200,000 fold for temperature on average, they said.

“Overall, our results show that rates of climatic niche change among populations of plants and animals are remarkably slower than projected rates of future climate change,” said Tereza Jezkova and John Wiens, of the University of Arizona.

Mammals might be better placed to survive than amphibians and reptiles, because they had the ability to regulate their own body temperatures, said Dr. Wiens. Besides, while some species might be able to move to higher latitudes (纬度) to survive, “for a lot of organisms, that is not an option.” “It’s a double danger of climate change and habitat destruction,” he added.

From the first days of nursery school to the first days of college, parents and children are faced with feelings brought about by separation. Children of all ages may experience some anxiety about managing on their own. Young children are still struggling to control their impulses (冲动) and may need a parent’s presence to feel secure. Older children leaving home may experience their own anxiety about managing on their own due to homesickness.

Children’s protests (抗议) about parents leaving them in a new situation often take the form of crying, which causes parents’ considerable concern. Generally, children’s protesting behavior around separation gets the most attention. At times, a different point of view may arise between parents and teachers about the best way to handle the situation. Teachers may think a child will be fine if the parent just leaves, while a parent may see the child as needing her presence. These roles are sometimes interchanged.

Although it is the apparent upsets that get the most attention, when observing pre-school groups one can see the various ways children deal with the feelings aroused by separation. Some children deal with the situation by removing themselves from the group. In a recent observation, a little girl removed herself from the activity but continued to watch carefully everything that was going on.

In another group, a more obvious separation scene took place. The mother seemed clearly prepared to stay while the boy joined the group on his own. He seemed most competent until his mother suddenly decided to leave. At that point the child broke down completely, crying pitifully - different from the formerly competent boy.

In situations like this one, mothers always wonder why their own child is not able to master separating from them as other children do. But the real point here is that separation is a developmental step which children deal with in different ways. When children don’t openly cry and protest, it doesn’t mean they are not struggling to master the same feelings, each in his or her own way. It just means they express their feelings in a different way.