【推荐1】A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

If you answered 10 cents, you’re not alone — most people give the same answer (the correct answer is 5 cents). It’s an example of how we often rely on intuitive responses — answers we feel are true. People give answers that pop into their mind, says cognitive scientist Steven Sloman. We don’t spend much time “reflecting and checking whether the answer is right or wrong.”

The bat and ball question helps explain why we often believe in fake news. It is part of human nature. But “the trick with fake news is to know to verify” — in other words, to stop and question what you know.

In one experiment, Sloman and a colleague invented a discovery called helium rain. They told a group of volunteers about it, but admitted they could not fully explain what it was. They then asked the volunteers to rate their own understanding of helium rain. Most volunteers rated themselves 1 out of 7, meaning they did not understand the concept.

The researchers then told another group of volunteers about the discovery. This time, they said that scientists could fully explain how it works. When asked to rate their understanding, the volunteers gave an average answer of 2. The scientists’ confidence gave the volunteers an increased sense of their own understanding, Sloman says.

According to Sloman, knowledge spreads like a contagion (传染病). “If everyone around you is saying they understand why a politician is dishonest,” Sloman says, “then you’re going to start thinking that you understand, too.”

Another explanation for the spread of fake news is “motivated reasoning”. We are naturally more likely to believe things that confirm our existing opinions. If you already have a negative opinion about someone, you’re more likely to trust damaging stories about them.

So, in a world where misleading information is common, training people to care about fact-checking is important, especially in online communities. Think of the stories that are shared on social media every day. Probably these fit in with your own worldview — but perhaps not all of them are true.

“Develop a norm (行为标准) in your community that says, ‘We should check things and not just take them at face value,’” Sloman says “Verify before you believe.”

【推荐3】A study has shown that severe stress lasting weeks or months can damage cell communications in the brain’s memory areas. Recently, researchers from University of California, Irvine, have provided the first evidence that short-term stress lasting for a few hours has the same effect.

“Stress does exist in our lives and cannot be avoided,” said Dr. Baram, leader of the UC Irvine School. “Our findings can play an important role in the present development of medicine that might prevent these undesirable effects and offer understanding of why some people are forgetful or have difficulty keeping the memories.”

In their study, Baram and her UC Irvine colleagues identified a novel process in which stress caused these effects. They found that, severe stress activated(激活) Corticotropin Releasing Hormones(CRH), which prevented the brain from keeping memory.

Memory takes place at synapses, where there are connections through which brain cells communicate. These synapses lie on dendritic spines(神经元). In rat and mouse studies, Baram’s group saw that the release(释放) of CRH in the brain’s primary memory center led to the rapid breakup of these dendritic spines, which in turn limited the ability of synapses to collect and store memories.

In addition, the researchers reproduced the effects of stress on dendritic spines by keeping low levels of CRH, and watching how the spines ruptured over minutes. “Fortunately, once we removed the CRH, the spines seemed to grow back again, ” Baram said. “And this study can play a role in the creation of treatments to address stress-related memory loss.”

【推荐1】Ford is turning McDonald’s coffee waste into headlights

Ford is recently including coffee chaff (谷壳) that comes off during the roasting process—into the plastic headlights housing (大灯外壳) used in some cars. It has asked McDonald’s, which doesn’t roast its own coffee, to connect it with suppliers.

In recent years, as consumers feel more concern for plastic pollution and carbon emissions, companies have made full commitments to reduce their influences on the environment. They’ve also been developing new, sustainable materials to build consumer products.

Traditionally, Ford uses plastic and talc(滑石粉) to make its headlights housing. The coffee version is more sustainable because it’s lighter and doesn’t use the talc which, as a mineral, isn’t renewable. Coffee chaff, on the other hand, is widely available, and much of it goes to waste. Eventually, Ford hopes to use the material for more parts.

Ford decided to work with coffee chaff a few years ago. But it’s been experimenting with organic materials for over a decade. The auto company has been using soy-based foam(泡沫) in its cushions since 2011. It also uses waste from wheat, coconut, tomato and other plants in its cars in order to help meet some of its sustainability goals, which include using more renewable materials. Once the Ford team figured out how coffee chaff could be used to build car parts, it reached out to McDonald’s because of the restaurant chain ‘s scale and its sustainability goals. Like Ford, McDonald’s also wants to bring renewable and recycled materials into its products. The partnership between Ford and McDonald’s is an example of how brands with different projects can work together.

“We’ve conventionally thought of cooperation as within the food industry,” said Lan Olson, senior director of Global Sustainability at McDonald’s. “The Ford partnership can help McDonald’s see what kind of larger impacts are possible when it works with a company in another field. This is just scratching(划开) the surface of trying to understand what’s possible,” Olson said.

【推荐3】Scientists say they have developed a system that uses machine learning to know when and where lightning will strike. Researchers report the system is able to tell that lightning strikes up to 30 minutes before they happen within a 30-kilometer area.

Lightning is a strong burst of electricity in the atmosphere. Since it carries an extremely powerful electrical charge(电荷), it can be destructive and deadly. European researchers have estimated that between 6,000 and 24,000 people are killed by lightning worldwide each year. For this reason, climate scientists have long sought to develop methods to predict lightning.

The system tested in the experiments uses a combination of data from weather stations and machine learning methods. The researchers developed a prediction model that was trained to recognize weather conditions that were likely to cause lightning.

The model was created with data collected over a 12-year period from 12 Swiss weather stations in cities and mountain areas. The data, related to four main surface conditions: air pressure, air temperature, relative humidity and wind speed, was placed into a unique machine learning algorithm(算法), which compared it to records of lightning strikes. Researchers say the algorithm was then able to learn the conditions under which lightning happens.

The researchers test-ran the system several times. They found that the system made predictions that proved correct almost 80 percent of the time. “It can now be used anywhere,” the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology said in a statement.

The researchers plan to keep developing the technology in partnership with a European effort that aims to create a lightning protection program. The effort is called the European Laser Lightning Rod project. Scientists working on the project are experimenting with a laser technology that could someday control lightning activity, taking lightning charges from clouds to the ground. They hope that such technology can one day be used as protection against lightning strikes. Possible uses could be at stations, airports or places where large crowds gather.

【推荐1】The practice of students endlessly copying letters and sentences from a blackboard is a thing of the past. With the coming of new technologies like computers and smartphone, writing by hand has become something of nostalgic (怀旧的）skill. However，while today’s educators are using more and more technology in their teaching, many believe basic handwriting skills are still necessary for students to be successful---both in school and in life.

Virginia Berninger, professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, says it’s important to continue teaching handwriting and help children acquire the skill of writing by hand.

Berninger and her colleagues conducted a study that looked at the ability of students to complete various writing tasks---both on a computer and by hand. The study, published in 2009, found that when writing with a pen and paper, participants wrote longer essays and more complete sentences and had a faster word production rate.

In a more recent study, Berninger looked at what role spelling plays in a student’s writing skills and found that how well children spell is tied to know well they can write. “Spelling makes some of the thinking parts of the brain active which helps us access our vocabulary, word meaning and concepts. It is allowing our written language to connect with ideas.” Berninger said.

Spelling helps students translate ideas into words in their mind first and then to transcribe(转换）“those words in the mind written symbols on paper or keyboard and screen,” the study said. Seeing the words in the “mind’s eye” helps children not only to turn their ideas into words, says Berninger, but also to spot spelling mistakes when they write the words down and to correct then over time.

“In our computer age, some people believe that we don’t have to teach spelling because we have spell checks,” she said. “But until a child functional spelling ability of about a fifth grade level, they won't have knowledge to choose the correct spelling among the options given by the computer.”

【推荐2】While sleep patterns vary widely among animal classes and species, there are a few general rules of thumb (经验法则). Sleep serves important evolutionary functions for all animals, but sleep patterns and positions are based in large part on available food supply and defense mechanism.

Sleep patterns in animals have evolved over time—animals that sleep and get attacked by predators（捕食者）are less likely to pass on their genes, so animals have developed ways to protect themselves during sleep. For instance, otters（水獭）sleep holding hands, or cover themselves in seaweed to protect their young and stay afloat while asleep. Likewise, cows and sheep sleep in a group—there is safety in numbers.

Evolutionary biologists consider that predation and fear of predators have influenced the development of sleep patterns across species. Animals that eat meat tend to sleep more than animals that eat plants. Cathemeral（间歇性）species like lions sleep in short spells during both the day and night so as to enable them to seize food when it becomes available.

In general, animals sleep according to what they eat—animals that eat food with lower calories sleep less than others. This may explain why plant eaters need to spend more time awake, to ensure they get enough food and energy. For example, plant eaters like giraffes and elephants sleep 30 minutes to just a few hours per day respectively. However, there are exceptions to this rule, like the koala. Their euealyptus（桉树）-based diet doesn’t give them much energy, but they sleep for 15 hours per day, and slit the rest of their time eating and resting.

A note about the studies referenced in this article: because most animal sleep studies are performed using EEG tests, they are typically performed on animals in zoos and research facilities. As a result, they may not accurately reflect their natural sleep habits in the wild, given the stresses of a zoo environment and consistent availability of food.

【推荐3】Commuters of the future could get some relief from congested roads especially the peak-hour traffic if Uber’s plans for flying taxis work out.

The battery-powered aircraft looks like a cross between a small plane and a helicopter, with fixed wings and rotors (旋转器). It was presented at an international technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal.

Catering for the need of shorter city travel time, the vehicle is intended to soar over traffic congestion. Uber hopes it will eventually become a form of convenient mass transport and cost commuters aboard less than using their own car, though initially it will be more expensive than that, Uber’s Chief Product Officer Jeff Holden said.

The scheme still faces plenty of challenges, including certification of the new vehicle by authorities, pilot training and constructing urban air traffic management systems that prevent collisions.

Holden declared that Uber is joining NASA’s project to expand air traffic systems, which scores of other companies already belong to.

He told The Associated Press in an interview that he has no dollar figure for the total investment. He said Uber is putting some of its own money into the project, developing software, while other investors are also involved, such as aircraft manufacturers that are developing the vehicle and real estate companies that are providing so-called “skyports” where people will catch their airborne taxi.

Uber is making a bid to reform and polish up its image which has been damaged by certain negative news. Holden said those episodes did not slow development of the flying taxi project of the great company that is in transition.

【推荐1】Diseases spread in many ways. An infected person can cough or sneeze on someone nearby, or they can spread germs through a handshake. But sometimes we pick up germs indirectly. A sick person might leave behind bacteria or viruses when they touch a door handle, for example. But what if those surfaces could clean themselves?

Two teenagers from Hong Kong asked themselves the same question. Now they’ve developed a door handle that can kill germs on contact.

The idea is simple. Every time the door is opened, the movement creates power that starts a germ-killing reaction on the handle. In lab tests, their system killed about 99.8 percent of the germs that they spread onto lab dishes covered with their material.

Research by others has shown that door handles in public areas are often home to lots of bacteria and viruses, notes 17-year-old Sum Ming (“Simon”)Wong. He and his schoolmate Kin Pong (Michael) Li, 18, wanted to design a covering for door handles that would kill germs.

After doing some research, they learned that a mineral called titanium dioxide (二氧化钛)is known to kill bacteria. It’s already used in many products, from paints to desserts. To make their covering, the teenagers made the mineral into a very fine powder.

Titanium dioxide kills bacteria best when lit by ultraviolet (紫外线的) light, says Simon. UV light is found in sunlight. But UV light does not naturally shine on indoor handles or any used at night, so the teenagers light their door handle from within.

To make sure the light reaches the coated surface, the teenagers made their door handle out of clear glass. Each end fits into a bracket (托架). Inside one of the brackets is a strong light-emitting diode (LED). From it comes UV light.

And here’s the interesting part: The power that makes the UV light shine comes from opening and closing the door. The power from the door is then carried by wire to the LED inside the door handle.

The door handle system, Michael and Simon say, might cost no more than about $13 (about 81 yuan) to build.

【推荐2】You know you have to read "between the lines" to get the most out of anything. I want to persuade you to do something equally important in the course of your reading. I want to persuade you to “write between the lines." Unless you do, you are not likely to do the most efficient kind of reading.

I insist, quite bluntly, that marking up a book is not an act of damage but of love.

There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is the property right you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for clothes and furniture. But this act of purchase is only the first step to possession. Full ownership comes only when you have made it a part of yourself and the best way to make yourself a part of it is by writing in it. I am arguing that books must be absorbed in your bloodstream to do you any good.

Why is marking up a book necessary to reading? First, it keeps you awake. (And I don't mean only conscious; I mean wide awake.) In the second place, reading, if it is active, is thinking and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written. The marked book is usually the thought-through book. Finally, writing helps you remember the thoughts you had, or the thoughts the author expressed.

But, you may ask, why is writing necessary? Well, the physical act of writing, with your own hand, brings words and sentences more sharply before your mind and preserves them better in your memory. To set down your reaction to important words and sentences you have read, and the questions they have raised in your mind, is to preserve those reactions and sharpen those questions.

If reading is to accomplish anything more than passing time, it must be active. You can't let your eyes glide across the lines in a book and come up with an understanding of what you have read. The books you read for pleasure can be read in a state of relaxation, and nothing is lost. An ordinary piece of light fiction, like "Gone with the Wind," doesn't require the most active kind of reading, and you don't absorb the ideas of John Dewey the way you absorb the story of David Copperfield.

You may also say that this business of marking books is going to slow up your reading. It probably will. That's one of the reasons for doing it. Most of us have been taken in by the notion that speed of reading is a measure of our intelligence. There is no such things as the right speed for intelligent reading. Some things should be read quickly and effortlessly, and some should be read slowly and even laboriously. The sign of intelligence in reading is the ability to read different things differently according to their worth. In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through you — how many you can make your own. A few friends are better than a thousand acquaintances. If this be your aim, as it should be, you will not be impatient if it takes more time and effort to read a great book than it does a newspaper.

【推荐3】Would it surprise you to learn that, like animals, trees communicate with each other and pass on their wealth to the next generation?

Professor Simard form University of British Columbia explains how trees are much more complex than most of us ever imagined. Although Charles Darwin thought that trees are competing for survival of the fittest, Simard shows just how wrong he was. As far as Simard is concerned, actually the opposite is true: trees survive through their co-operation, passing around necessary nutrition “depending on who needs it”.

Nitrogen (氮) and carbon are shared through miles of underground fungi (真菌) networks, making sure that all trees in the forest ecological system give and receive just the right amount to keep them all healthy. This hidden system works in a very similar way to the networks of neurons (神经元) in our brains, and when one tree is destroyed, it affects all.

Simard talks about “mother trees”, usually the largest and oldest plants on which all other trees depend. She explains how moribund trees pass on the wealth to the next generation, transporting important minerals to young trees so they may continue to grow. When humans cut down “mother trees” with no awareness of these highly complex “tree societies” or the networks on which they feed, we are reducing the chances of survival for the entire forest.

“We didn’t take any notice of it” Simard says sadly. “Trees move nutrition into the young trees before they die, but we never give them chance.” If we could put across the message to the forestry industry, we could make a huge difference towards our environmental protection efforts for the future.