【推荐1】The Domestication（驯化）of Cats

For centuries, the common view of how domestication had occurred was that prehistoric people, realizing how useful it would be to have animals kept for food, began catching wild animals and breeding（繁殖）them. Over time, by allowing only animals with “tame”（驯养）characteristics to produce their babies, human beings created animals that were less wild and more dependent upon people. Eventually this process led to the domestic farm animals and pets that we know today, having lost their ancient survival skills and natural abilities.

Recent research suggests that this view of domestication is incomplete. Prehistoric human beings did catch and breed useful wild animals, but specialists in animal behavior now think that domestication was not simply something people did to animals—the animals played an active part in the process. Wolves and wild horses, for example, may have taken the first steps in their own domestication by hanging around human settlements, feeding on people’s crops and getting used to human activity. The animals which were not too nervous or fearful to live near people produced their babies that also tolerated humans, making it easier for people to catch and breed them.

In this version, people succeededin domesticating only animals that had already adapted easily to life around humans. Domestication required an animal that was willing to become domestic. The process was more like adancewith partners than a victory of humans over animals.

At first glance, the laming of cats seems to fit nicely into this new story of domestication. A traditional theory says that after prehistoric people in Egypt invented agriculture and started farming, rats and mice gathered to feast on their stored grain. Wildcats, in turn, gathered at the same places to hunt and eat the rats and mice. Over time, cats got used to people and people got used to cats. Some studies of wildcats, however, seem to call this theory into question. Wildcats don’t share hunting and feeding areas, and they don’t live close to people. Experts do not know whether wildcats were partners in their own domestication. They do know that long after people had acquired domestic dogs, sheep and horses, they somehow acquired domestic cats. Gradually they produced animals with increasingly tame qualities.

【推荐2】The sixth mass extinction of life on the Earth is unfolding more quickly than feared, scientists have warned. More than 30 percent of animals with a backbone — fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals — are declining in both range and population, according to the first comprehensive analysis of these trends.

Around a decade ago, experts feared that a new range wipeout of species was appearing. Today, most agree that it is underway — but the new study suggests that the die-out is already growing fast.

The loss of biodiversity has recently accelerated. Several species of mammals that were relatively safe one or two decades ago are now endangered, including cheetahs, lions and giraffes, the study showed.

There is no mystery as to why: our own ever-expanding species — which has more than doubled in number since 1960 to 7.4 billion — is eating, crowding and polluting its planetary cohabitants out of existence. By comparison, there are as few as 20,000 lions left in the wild, less than 7,000 cheetahs, 500 to 1,000 giant pandas.

The main drivers of wildlife decline are habitat loss, over-consumption, pollution, other species, disease, as well as hunting in the case of tigers, elephants, rhinos and other large animals prized for their body parts.

Climate change is thought to become a major threat in the coming decades, with some animals — most famously polar bears — already in decline due to rising temperatures and changing weather patterns.

● Stocky, slow-moving whale, rarely grows beyond 15 metres in length

● Flippers are a third of body length; variable dorsal fin size and shape; saw-toothed trailing edge on flukes, often raised when diving

● Bumpy tubercles on top of head

● Body colour is dark brown to black; often extensive white on flippers and underside of body and flukes; such patterns enable individual recognition

● Bushy blow, occasionally V-shaped

● 270-400 olive baleen plates

Humpback whales belong to the rorqual (groove-throated) family, which includes fin, sei, Bryde’s, minke and blue whales. The big family migrate between winter tropical breeding areas (North West Shelf, Great Barrier Reef, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiii, Tonga) and summer Antarctic feeding areas. Once common in New Zealand waters, humpbacks are now rarely seen and may migrate further offshore. Males compete for mates either by physical fight or by song. Females give birth to their young every two to three years; some non-breeding females probably remain in the southern waters during winter. Young humpback whales return to their area of birth but in later life some wander between breeding areas. Humpbacks eat small shrimps and other schooling prey, such as fish, forming small, cooperative groups of two to three individuals to feed.

Similar species: Easily identifiable due to a ‘hump’ back when submerging, but at a distance may be confused with other species that raise their flukes when diving, such as sperm, right and blue whales.

Protection status: Recovering well from past whaling and now numerous in some former migration and aggregation areas, rarely seen in others.

【推荐2】Have you ever heard of a bug（虫子）called the cicada（蝉）?Well,a special kind of these bugs live underground in the US for most of their lives.They have an interesting bio-clock.    1    

Every 17 years,billions of the noisy Brood V cicadas will swarm（涌现）to northeastern parts of the US, including New York,Ohio and Pennsylvania.    2    But there are usually a lot less of them compared to the Brood V cicadas.

    3    According to Discovery News,these bugs started their lives in 1999.And as their 17-year life cycle comes to an end,they go above ground when their underground homes get warmer—64 degrees Fahrenheit (about 18℃) to be exact.Then the females will lay hundreds of eggs in trees.    4    The baby cicadas will go underground,and the 17-year cycle will start over again.

While they can be kind of annoying,these bugs don't harm humans.    5    That sound is the male cicadas attracting the female cicadas.Besides,a large amount of laid eggs can sometimes harm small trees and bushes because there are so many of the 17-year cicadas.However,after this summer,these bugs will mostly mind their own business until 2033.

【推荐1】What exactly is intelligence? There aren’t any easy answers. Despite the progress that has been made in genetics and psychology, human intelligence has remained one of the most controversial areas of modern science, until now, that is, for the discovery of a gene(基因) linked to intelligence has made the experts think again.

Robert Plomin of the Institute of Psychiatry in London and his colleagues in the US have been looking into genetic make-up. From their research, they have discovered that a slightly different gene is more common in those with a high IQ. Plomin analyzed DNA from two groups of 51 children aged between 6 and 15. What he found was that the first group had an IQ of 136, putting them in the top 5% of the population, while the other group had an average IQ of 103. An analysis of their genes showed that 32% of children in the higher group had the gene in question, while only 16% in the second group did. However, there is a lot more research to be done, and Plomin himself is cautious at this early stage. He suggests that there are probably many genes that contribute to intelligence, rather than just one.

Several studies have shown a strong link between IQ and career success, although some psychologists remain unconvinced about this. Professor Michael Rowe, who has written a book called Genius Explained, is one of these. “The people with the highest IQs are not usually the ones who do best in their careers.”

Many psychologists now believe that when it comes to intelligence, IQ isn’t everything. Many alternative views have been put forward recently. One example is the idea of multiple intelligences, which was developed in the 1980s by Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner. This offers a much broader view than the IQ theory, including creativity and communication skills as relevant factors(因素) in intelligence.

Tony Buzan, brain expert and author of Master your Memory, is enthusiastic about this belief, arguing that true geniuses(天才) do indeed appear to combine high levels of each type of intelligence. He lists Alexander the Great, Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein as examples. At the same time, Buzan believes that everyone can develop their intelligence, only if they take the trouble to exercise their brain. Perhaps there’s hope for us all!

【推荐2】Is Your Diet Destroying the Environment?

A vegetarian diet is often praised for its health benefits. Studies have shown that vegetarians usually have lower levels of heart disease and a lower risk of diabetes than people who eat meat. What most people are less aware of, however, are the effects that a vegetarian diet can have on the environment.

Researchers from the Union of Concerned Scientists in the US recently studied how consumer behavior affects the environment. The study showed that meat consumption is one of the main ways that humans can damage the environment, second only to the use of motor vehicle.

Then,how can eating meat have a negative effect on the environment? For a start, all farm animals such as cows, pigs, and sheep give off methane(沼气)gas by expelling(排出)wind from their bodies. One cow can produce up to 60 liters of methane each day. Methane gas is the second most common greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. Many environmental experts now believe that it is more responsible for global warming than carbon dioxide. It is estimated that 25% of all methane released into the atmosphere comes from farm animals.

Another way that meat production affects the environment is through the use of water and land. 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of beef, whereas 20 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of wheat. One acre of farmland used for crop production can produce 40,000 pounds of potatoes, 30,000 pounds of carrots, or 50,000 pounds of tomatoes.

Many people now see the benefits of switching to a vegetarian diet, not just for health reasons, but also because it plays a vital role in protecting the environment. However, some nutritionists advise against switching to a totally strict vegetarian, or vegan diet. They believe a vegan diet, which excludes all products from animal sources, such as cheese, eggs, and milk, can be short of many necessary vitamins and minerals our bodies need.

Today, many people know it’s important to take better care of their bodies and to use the earth’s resources more efficiently. As this understanding spreads, more people may realize that to help the environment and for the human race to survive, more of us will need to become vegetarians.

【推荐3】Implanted (植入的) devices, such as heart pacemakers, are a valuable part of modern medicine. Their use, however, is limited by the need to renew their batteries and this is a particular problem for those inside the wearer’s head. Therefore, a way to power such implants without replacing their batteries at all would thus be welcome. And Dr Hyuck Choo and his colleagues think they have one. They plan to collect the necessary energy from the vibrations(震动) that occur when someone is talking.

DrChoo’s power plants are small sheets of lead zirconate titanate, a material that produces electricity when it vibrates. He knew that sheets of the size he chose have a resonance (共振) at around 690Hz. This is well above the normal range of the human voice. Using larger sheets would lower the resonance frequency. So he sought to lower a sheet's resonance frequency without increasing its area by caring a special shape out of it. And it worked!

When Dr Choo and his colleagues tested the carved sheets by exposing them to a range of frequencies and monitoring the amount of electricity generated, they found that the voltage was between 100Hz and 120Hz (approximately the common frequencies of adult male vices), and also between 200Hz and 250Hz (the female voice s common frequencies). And, although the amount of power produced is not huge, it seems adequate for the task.

As Dr Choo reported at a conference on January 26, he and his team were able to harvest a tenth of a mill watt per square centimetre of lead zirconate titanate from the voice of a man talking at 70 decibels (分贝), which is normal speaking volume, and tents from someone shouting at 100 decibels Implants usually require a tenth of a mill watt or less to function so this suggests a practical device might be within reach-especially as the vibrations produced by the voice travel efficiently up through the skull, meaning the generator could be put into an implant.

【推荐1】“I’ve never met a human worth cloning,” says cloning expert Mark Westhusin from his lab at Texas A&M University. “It’s a stupid endeavor.” That’s an interesting choice of adjective, coming from a man who has spent millions of dollars trying to clone as 13-year-old dog named Missy. So far, he and his team have not succeed, though they have cloned two cows and expect to clone a cat soon. They just might succeed in cloning Missy this spring — or perhaps not for another five years. It seems the reproductive system of man’s best friend is one of the mysteries of modern science.

Westhusin’s experience with cloning animals leaves him upset by all this talk of human cloning. In three years of work on the Missy project, he and the A&M team has failed over and over again. The wastage of eggs and the many fetuses(胎) may be acceptable when you’re dealing with cats or bulls, he argues, but not with humans. “Cloning is incredibly inefficient, and also dangerous,” he says.

Even so, dog cloning is a commercial opportunity, with a nice research payoff. Ever since Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1997, Westhusin’s phone has been ringing with people calling in hopes of duplicating their cats and dogs, cattle and horses. “A lot of people want to clone pets, especially if the price is right,” says Westhusin. Cost is no obstacle for Missy’s mysterious billionaire owner; he’s put up $3.7 million so far to fund A&M’s research.

Contrary to some media reports, Missy is not dead. The owner wants a twin to carry on Missy’s fine qualities after she does die. The prototype is, by all accounts, athletic, good-natured and super-smart. Missy’s master does not expect an exact copy of her. He knows her clone may not have her temperament. In a statement of purpose, Missy’s owner and the A&M team say they are “both looking forward to studying the ways that her clones differ from Missy.”

Besides cloning a great dog, the project may contribute insight into the old question of nature vs. nurture. It could also lead to the cloning of special rescue dogs and many endangered animals.

However, Westhusin is cautious about his work. He knows that even if he gets a dog pregnant, the offspring, should they survive, will face the problems shown at birth by other cloned animals: abnormalities like immature lungs and heart and weight problems. “Why would you ever want to clone humans,” Westhusin asks, “when we’re not even close to getting it worked out in animals yet?”

【推荐2】Terrible working conditions have a long tradition. Early industry was marked by its dirty, dangerous factories. In the early 20th century workers were forced into dull, repetitive tasks by the needs of the production line. However, in a service-based economy, it makes sense that focusing on worker morale might be a much more fruitful approach.

Proving this is more difficult. But that is the aim of a new study targeting workers at British Telecom. Three academics---Clement of Erasmus University, Rotterdam, of Oxford and George Ward of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology---surveyed 1,800 sales workers at 11 British call centres. All each employee had to do was click on a simple emoji each week to indicate their level of happiness. Those workers were charged with selling customers broadband, telephone and television deals. In total the authors collected adequate responses from 1,161 people over a six-month period.

The results were striking. Workers made 13% more sales in weeks when they were happy than when they were unhappy. This was not because they were working longer hours; in happy weeks, they made more calls per hour and were more efficient at turning those calls into sales. The tricky part, however, is determining the direction of causation(因果关系).Workers may be happier when they are selling more because they expect a bigger bonus.

The academics tried a clever way to get round this causation problem by examining a very British issue---the weather. Workers turned out to be less happy on days when the weather in their local area was bad and this unhappiness converted into lower sales. Since they were making national calls, not local ones, it is unlikely that customer unhappiness with the weather was driving the sales numbers. So it was worker mood driving sales, not the other way round.

Even if this reasoning proves to be correct, businesses may not find it of comfort. The academics point out that "what we are not able to do is making an official decision as to whether investing in improving employee happiness makes good business sense". It is possible that the costs of such investment might outweigh any gains in productivity.

More research is clearly needed. But there is evidence that happier workers are good news for shareholders(持股人), as well as productivity. Analysts found the firms where workers gave the best reviews easily outperformed those where employees gave a thumbs down.

【推荐3】“Birds” and “airports” are two words that, paired together，don’t normally paint the most harmonious picture. So it really raises some eyebrows when China announces plans to build an airport that is for birds.

Described as the world’s first-ever bird airport, the proposed Lingang Bird Sanctuary(保护区）in the northern coastal city of Tianjin is, of course,not an actual airport. Rather，it's a wetland preserve specifically designed to accommodate hundreds-even thousands-of daily takeoffs and landings by birds traveling along the East Asian-Australian Flyway. Over 50 species of migratory (迁徙的）water birds，some endangered, will stop and feed at the protected sanctuary before continuing their long journey along the flyway.

Located on a former landfill site，the 150-acre airport is also open to human travelers.(Half a million visitors are expected annually.) However，instead of duty-free shopping，the main attraction for non-egg-laying creatures at Tianjin’s newest airport will be a green-roofed education and research center, a series of raised “observation platforms” and a network of scenic walking and cycling paths totaling over 4 miles.

“The proposed Bird Airport will be a globally significant sanctuary for endangered migratory bird species, while providing new green lungs for the city of Tianjin.” Adrian McGregor of an Australian landscape architecture firm explained of the design. Frequently blanketed in smog so thick that it has shut down real airports, Tianjin is a city---China’s fourth most populous----that would certainly benefit from a new pair of healthy green lungs•