【推荐1】It is not uncommon for people to say they have no sense of direction. The sense of direction represents the ability to find one’s way. In other words, it is about getting from point A to point B without a hitch. The journey begins with determining the initial position using landmarks in the environment. It’s really about choosing a route and following it. It is also a question of testing that this same route is the correct one, with the mental representation of space or the help of tools such as maps. Finally, the ability to identify the point of arrival is obviously very important.

In a study published in 2009, scientist Giuseppe Iaria, a scientist of the University of Calgary (Canada), who specializes cognitive neural (认知神经) networks indicated that people lacking a sense of direction have a special condition: Developmental Topographical Disorientation (DTD).

The sense of direction requires large neural networks for proper functioning, according to the expert. However, the fact is that a majority of people are unable to put a map in their head while on the move. In her book Mind in Motion (2019), Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University (USA) Barbara Tversky explains how most people do it.

She introduces a combination of methods. It’s a mix of turn-by-turn directions, bird’s-eye views and general information in the form of maps. However, it should be noted that most medium-complexity navigation (导航) directions depend in part on the ability of people to understand the perspective of a map. In other words, people without a sense of direction follow a route in pieces. Thus, they have no expanded understanding for space and navigate their environment without any mental map of their destinations.

However, there is a solution, namely to guide the person through a series of short routes.

【推荐3】We all sometimes behave in ways that seem to conflict with our goals and intentions. One person might wish to spend more time with family but instead find themselves mindlessly browsing social media. Another may repeatedly ignore their alarm and miss their morning workout. If we only had more willpower, the conventional wisdom goes, we could eat healthier, exercise regularly, and spend more time with loved ones. However, in Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will, scientist Robert Sapolsky argues that such choices are actually determined by factors beyond our control.

Sapolsky demonstrates in his book how various factors influence our intentions and actions. He describes scientific evidence that those influences may occur minutes, hours, or days before our actions; some may even begin years earlier. For example, people raised in a collectivist culture tend to avoid obstacles (障碍) when walking whereas those raised in independent cultures will remove the obstacles.

In particular, Sapolsky argues against the claim that “luck” evens (均等) out over time, with fortune and misfortune striking most people in equal measure, an idea favored by others. Instead, he provides convincing examples that many who are born “unlucky” have little chance of getting ahead.

Although Sapolsky is careful not to confuse determinism with the inability to affect change in the world, his unclear attitude toward how determinism might coexist with free will is one of the book’s weak points. Nonetheless, this book is worth reading. Better yet, pair it with Kevin Mitchell’s book Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will, which makes the opposite argument, and then, decide for yourself whether you had a choice to do so or it was all predetermined.

【推荐1】It was Lefteris Arapakis’s first expedition on a fishing boat, and he didn’t expect what the nets would pull up. There were scorpionfish, red mullet and sea bream. But there was also a bright red can of Coke.

Arapakis, whose family had plied (定期往来) the waters near Athens for five generations, pulled the can out of the net and turned it over to look at the sell-by date stamped on the bottom —1987, seven years older than him. It had been in the Mediterranean for almost three decades.

Every day, the fishing boat — and thousands just like it on the crystalline Mediterranean — caught old bottles, plastic foam, flip-flops and other detritus (碎屑) in its nets. And every day, its crew tossed everything back into the undulating waters, only hauling back what would bring cash.

So Arapakis, now 28, had an idea: he would try to convince the fishing industry to treat plastic as a catch. In 2016, he launched a nonprofit focused on sea cleanup and fishing education called Enaleia, a play on Greek words that calls to mind sustainable fishing. Once the fishers brought the plastic ashore, he would recycle it and pay them for their trouble. Six years into the project, he has signed up more than half of Greece’s large-scale fishing fleet — hundreds of ships — to pull in the plastic they gather as they spy the Mediterranean. He plans to keep expanding globally.

This year, after Arapakis spread his efforts across Greece and much of Italy, he expects to gather nearly 200 tons of plastic — enough to fill a football field five feet high with tiny pieces of plastic. That’s more than 7,500 pounds of plastic every week. And others have taken notice: the United Nations Environment Program named him a Young Champion of the Earth in 2020 — its highest environmental honor for people under 30.

“If we hadn’t taken action, we would have had that plastic floating around the Mediterranean forever,” Arapakis said. At the beginning, convincing fishermen to join was painstaking work, requiring a lot of face time in unfamiliar villages. It wasn’t easy: The industry doesn’t always cotton to environmentalists, since many fishermen think the global plastics activists want to take away their livelihoods.

【推荐3】How do consumers access, buy and use their favorite products and services? The answer to the seemingly simple question is changing. Traditionally, people often see ownership as the most desirable way to have access to products. However, an increasing number of consumers are paying to temporarily access or share products and services rather than buy or own them Customer behavior towards many goods and services changes from ownership to sharing. This transformation of people’s consumption, habits has made sharing economy grow and it seems that some individuals and companies have already benefited from this trend.

Growth in sharing systems bas particularly been fueled by the Internet with the rise of social media systems. Anyone can be part of the sharing economy. It is reported that of the 44 percent of U.S. adults who are familiar with the sharing economy, 86 percent say it makes life more affordable, 83 percent say it makes life more convenient and efficient, and 78 percent say it builds a stronger community. The central idea of group consumption is simple: Obtain value which remains in goods or services that are not entirely used by their owners.

A recent survey from Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the largest professional service firm in the world, shows this so-called “sharing economy” is growing faster than ever. Although we are not sure about the current size of this market, by 2025, according to Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the sharing economy could represent $335 billion in profit worldwide. Nowadays, well-known examples of successful corporations built on group consumption systems include Airbnb, a San Francisco-based online accommodations marketplace, and Zipcar, a car sharing brand that is now part of the vehicle rental service company.

The speed of its growth suggests that the sharing economy might represent a serious threat to established industries, due to fewer purchases in conventional markets. For consumers, it seems to bold the advantage to unite cost reduction, benefit expansion, convenience and environmental consciousness in one type of consumption. Companies therefore should understand the new situation and manage their operating system in order to adapt to current and future business models to provide new sources of profits within this growing area of the sharing economy.

【推荐3】Starting March 1, 2020, people in Luxembourg no longer have to pay to ride public transportation. The country has made all of its trains, buses, and trams(电车) free to ride.

Luxembourg is the first country to give riders a free pass. Luxembourg only has about 600, 000 people. But the country has a big traffic problem. Around 200, 000 people come into Luxembourg from the countries around it every day for work. The problem is worst in the capital, Luxembourg City. Only 110, 000 people live there, but about 400, 000 more come to work there every day. During rush hours, some trips that should normally take 30 minutes can take an hour or longer.

The government of Luxembourg hopes that by making transportation free, many more people will start taking buses, trains, and trams instead of driving. This would cut down on traffic. And they hope this will help Luxembourg pollute less, too. The government also wants to make it easier for poor people to get around. Before the free system, a single ride cost about 2, and a yearly pass cost 440. The new law only affects regular seating. Riders who want to go first class must still pay.

Some people doubt the measure. People in Luxembourg really like their cars. The country has 662 cars for every 1, 000 people, while the average in the European Union is just 468 cars for 1, 000 people. Some people believe that the country's transportation system simply isn't ready for huge numbers of new riders. What they are concerning is that without more money coming in from riders, it could be difficult for the country to improve its system. However, the government's plans call for spending 3.9 billion between 2018 and 2028 to improve its train system. The country also plans to make its bus system better, and make it easier for people from other countries to park their cars and catch a ride into the country.

【推荐1】What do you think of 80s pop music? Do the names George Michael, Madonna and Michael Jackson sound familiar? Well, these are just some of the names that were well-known in the music scene of the 80s and early 90s. The 80s pop music scene was an important step to the popularity (普及) of present-day music. A new wave in the music scene was introduced, which made such music styles as punk rock, rap music and the MTV popular. Although it was an end to the old 60s and 70s styles, it was also the beginning of something big. The popularity of music videos meant that artists now replaced their guitar-based music with visual displays. A new wave of artists came on the scene and the entire industry developed quickly.

The most famous 80s pop music video is Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Introduced in 1982, few people can forget the video not only because of its never-be-foreseen images, but also because of the popularity it received. Think of how 80s pop music changed the lives of people who grew up in the 80s. Ask a young man today to tell you the names of the “New Kids on the Block” and he will start talking about the neighbor kids who just moved in. These are not the answers you might have heard in the 80s. Though today’s young men do not recognize how cool 80s pop music was, most people will always remember it for what it was and these are happy memories they will always love.

Some of the 80s pop music legends (传奇人物) include Madonna, U2, AeroSmith and of course the King of Pop Michael Jackson. Let’s not forget Prince, Tina Turner, Phil Collins and Motown’s Lionel Ritchie. Some of these musicians played music that has stood the test of time. Undoubtedly, the 80s pop music scene will live on for many more years to come.