【推荐2】Aeronautics (航空学) specialists from the University of South Australia spent months studying the dragonfly’s flight, creating 3D models from digital images, to build a winged drone (无人机). Study leader Javaan Chahl believes that winged drones based on the dragonfly’s shape and movement will simply be more flexible and energy efficient.

Chahl’s team used a special photography technique to classify the wing shapes of 75 different dragonfly species from museum collections. Their wings are long, light and hard. Plus, their long bodies give them excellent stability and balance, making it possible for winged drones to deliver awkward loads and undertake long observation missions.

Investigating the way that dragonflies remain stable during flight actually reveals the techniques they use to get themselves out of tricky situations. Dragonflies are found to be able to perform upside-down backflips to regain balance and normal flight, when they find themselves upside down mid-air. This special skill can even be performed while dragonflies are unconscious, meaning it is a passive stability mechanism similar in concept to planes that are designed to glide to safety with their engines turned off. Engineers are looking to copy dragonfly wings to create safer drones that can right themselves.

Of course, not all attempts to build dragonfly-like drones are successful. TechJet’s air vehicle was supposed to operate as an aerial camera, observation and security drone, but it failed before production got underway. Similarly, Insectothopter, an American dragonfly spy drone built in the 1970 s was deserted.

Yet the principles behind winged drones are solid. In fact, NASA has settled on a nuclear-powered autonomous craft called Dragonfly to explore the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan in 2034. NASA’s project is actually an air vehicle, rather than a winged drone, but engineers are still convinced they can crack the code of nature’s most gifted flying insect and revolutionize unmanned flight along the way.

【推荐3】Free energy is everywhere around us. There are many ways to make and collect energy from various sources like sun, wind and water. People also realize that everyday stuff can be a source of energy too. For example, riding a bike, running or just walking, etc. We simply have to change our way of thinking if we want to change the world.

So comes the idea of solar roadways. Are they the road of future? Why use roads just for driving and collecting tolls (过路费)? Why don’t we use them for collecting energy?

The US Department of Transportation recently awarded $100,000 to Solar Roadways to build the first ever Solar Road Panel. So how do these future roads work?

The Solar Road Panels will contain embedded (嵌入的) LEDs which “paint” the road lines from beneath to provide safer nighttime driving as well as to give drivers instant instructions such as detour (绕行) ahead. The road will be able to sense wildlife on the road and can warn drivers to “slow down”. There will also be embedded heating elements in the surface to prevent snow and ice buildup, providing safer winter driving.

Replacing asphalt (沥青) roads and parking lots with Solar Roadway Panels will be a major step toward stopping climate change. Fully electric vehicles will be able to recharge along the roadway and in parking lots, finally making electric cars practical for long trips.

We just can’t wait to see more of these roads all over the world in the near future.

【推荐1】Running after fireflies （萤火虫）on a warm summer night might become a rare childhood memory if humans don't take action. There are over 2,000 different firefly species around the world, but their populations are decreasing due to artificial light pollution, pesticides （杀虫剂）and smaller habitat size.

A team of Tufts University-led researchers surveyed scientists and conservationists about the threats to firefly populations around the world. According to the study, one of the main threats to fireflies in East Asia and South America is artificial light. Fireflies light up to attract mates, but they can easily mistake human-made lights as potential partners. Adult fireflies typically live only a few days, which doesn't give them long to find a mate.

Humans' destroying the insects' natural habitats creates another threat. During their larval phase （幼虫期），Malaysian fireflies live in riverside bushes that are often pulled out for human-made fish farms. In Europe, Lampyris fireflies are finding less food to eat due to the growing urbanization of what were once woods and farmlands. In Malaysia, adult pteroptyx fireflies that usually prefer to mate in specific trees next to rivers have to find new mating areas because the trees are being knocked down for farmhouses.

The study also looked at the effects of climate change, tourism, invasive （侵入的）species and water pollution. On a positive note, while fireflies around the world seem to be suffering from the previously mentioned issues, Big Dipper fireflies living in the US happen to be booming. "Those guys can survive pretty much anywhere,said Sara Lewis, a biologist from Tufts University.

The study urges countries where firefly populations are dwindling to take measures to preserve suitable habitats, lessen light pollution, reduce use of pesticides and develop better guidelines for tourism around known firefly areas.

【推荐3】“In only six days I lost seven pounds of weight.”

“Two full inches in the first three days!”

These are the kinds of statements used in magazine，newspaper, radio and television ads, promising new shapes and new looks to those who buy the medicine or the device. The promoters of products say they can shape the legs, slim the face, smooth wrinkles, or in some other way to add to beauty or desirability.

Often such products are nothing more than money-making things for their promoters. The results they produce are questionable, and some are dangerous to health.

To understand how these products can be legally promoted to the public, it is necessary to understand something of the laws covering their regulation. If the product is a drug, FDA(Food and Drug Administration)can require proof under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that is safe and effective before it is put on the market. But if the product is a device, FDA has no authority to require premarketing proof of safety or effectiveness. If a product already on the market is a danger to health, FDA can request the producer or distributor to remove it from the market voluntarily, or it can take legal action, including seizure(查封)of the product.

One notable case a few years ago involved an electrical device called the Relaxacisor, which had been sold for reducing the waistline. The Relaxacisor produced electrical shocks to the body through contact pads. FDA took legal action against the distributor to stop the sale of the device on the grounds that it was dangerous to health and life.

Obviously, most of the devices on the market have never been the subject of court proceedings(法律诉讼)，and new devices appear continually. Before buying, it is up to the consumer to judge the safety or effectiveness of such items.

【推荐1】Shortly before Christmas last year, one of Brazilian pianists Joao Carlos Martins invited his friends to a bar near his home. He wanted to show them the best gift he had received: a new pair of gloves. They are not just any gloves, however. The special bionic devices let the 79-year-old pianist play with both hands for the first time in more than 20 years.

By his retirement last March, Martins had received 24 medical operations to try to reduce pain caused by a disease and from a series of accidents. Before the gloves, which were especially developed for him, Martins could only play songs slowly with his thumbs and, sometimes, his pointer fingers.

However, one designer believed Martins’ retirement had come too early. The designer, Ubirata Bizarro Costa, created special bionic gloves for Martins’ hands. The gloves help move his fingers up after they press on the piano keys. Costa said he created early models based on images of Martins’ hands, but he said those models were not good. He then decided to tell Martins about his work. Costa and Martins then spent several months testing different models. Finally, the perfect model came in December, and cost only $125.

These days, Martins never takes off his new gloves, even when he goes to sleep. Martins said, “I have received more than 100 devices in the last 50 years. None of those devices worked well or long enough, but these gloves do. ”

The new gloves have given Martins a new goal. He hopes to play the piano at New York’s Carnegie Hall in October. He is already set to conduct a concert celebrating the 60th anniversary of his first appearance there.

【推荐2】Good evening, everyone. As we celebrate International Dog Day, I want to focus on a specific type of dog that is perhaps the most misunderstood breed in the world—the pit bull. It makes me unhappy that public opinion about pit bulls is that they are extremely dangerous. If a pit bull is that meaning, that’s only as a result of being taught to fight other dogs to the death in dogfights. The truth is that a pit bull is very faithful and loving.

A pit bull is a cross between a terrier and a bulldog. That’s why their coloring can be different from one dog to the next. Pit bulls all have short fur. They came over to the U.S. from Britain with their immigrant farming families. Pit bulls guarded the cows, sheep and family from thieves. They were beloved members of the family because they were so faithful and loving. They were also very strong, especially their jaws.

Unfortunately, bad men turned a good thing into a bad thing. Since these dogs would do anything to please their masters, it was easy for these men to teach the dogs to be killers. Dogs fought other dogs in fenced “pits”. Dog fighting became illegal in the U.S. in 1875, but it still goes on. Today, pit bulls continue to be farm dogs, but they are also trained as police dogs, search dogs and of course they make great pets!

I have a pit bull myself. Piper is the friendliest dog you’ll ever meet. He sleeps next to me at night. Even though he is an adult dog now, he still acts like a puppy sometimes. He would never bite me or anyone else! With proper and loving training, pit bulls are the best pets ever!

【推荐3】Hello! Wait! Don’t run away. Yes, I know I am a cockroach (螳螂). So, what’s wrong with that?

You are speaking to the most successful species on the planet, you know! We’ve been around for 350 million years! Dinosaurs, gone. Trilobites, gone. Dodos, gone. But WE’RE STILL HERE.

So what’s the secret of our success? Be small! Run fast! Eat anything! Lay lots of eggs!

Sure, we’ve had plenty of enemies. If you’re small and full of protein, everything wants to eat you. Fish! Reptiles! Mammals! And don’t even talk to me about birds.

So what did we do? We got quick. We learned to hide. Today's thin, small turbo roach can squeeze so flat, and we can fit through a gap no bigger than a coin.

Over the last 350 million years, we've had plenty of time to perfect our amazing design. And we never skip a meal! What do we eat? What have you got? Rotting leaves, garbage, paper...Do you like dead things? They are my cup of tea! Just don’t offer me a cucumber. Disgust!

Ice ages came and went. Dinosaurs went extinct. Then the mammoths (猛犸象). But roaches, we just kept going. Once humans came along, roaches went everywhere humans went. In ships, on planes, in camel packs across the desert. Roach road trip! We even tagged along to space! That’s Uncle Anton. He hid on board the Apollo XII capsule — he was so mad when they just came right back to earth.

You can’t have too many roaches. Now there are 4,000 species of us. I hope you get to meet them all someday.

【推荐1】Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mum, you must come and see the daffodils （水仙花）before they are over.” I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Lake Arrowhead. “I will go next Tuesday,” I promised, a little unwillingly, on her third call.

The next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, “Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is indiscernible in the cloud and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see!”

My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this weather all the time, Mum. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that read “Daffodil Garden”.

We got out of the car and each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most beautiful sight! There were five acres of flowers! “But who has done this?” I asked Carolyn. “It’s just one woman,” Carolyn answered. “That’s her home,” Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio（平台）, we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking” was the headline.

The first answer was a simple one. “50,000 bulbs（鳞茎）,” it read. The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman.” The third answer was, “Began in 1958.”

I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than fifty years before, had begun -- one bulb at a time -- to bring the beauty and joy to the mountain top.

【推荐3】It is the ideal way for traveler to ensure they wake up with the perfect view — a portable Eco-capsule that can be set up anywhere in the world. The egg-shaped pod (独立舱) ensures travelers can camp in the most extreme corners with all the luxury of a hotel room.

Looking like something in a sci-fi movie, the pod is equipped with solar panels, which guarantee solar energy as its power. In this way the tiny home can let you live comfortably wherever you travel. It even has its own shower and toilet, sleeping area for two, and a small kitchen. The 3,306 ib pods can be transported in a sea-container, meaning the possibilities are endless.

Bratislava-based Nice Architects are behind the extraordinary Eco-capsules and said they initially designed them for people who stay in the nature for a long time. However, it quickly became apparent that they could be opened up to the wider public and even used in urban areas to fight against high rent and placed on roofs for studio space or living quarters. The Eco-capsule can serve as a cottage, a pop-up hotel or even as a charging station for electric cars.

The Eco-capsules could even be quickly imported for housing for emergency teams who have been quickly arranged to help with natural disasters. Described by the website as a "Swiss Army knife" — it packs everything you need, the self-contained unit can sustain long periods of time without external resources.

The 86 sqft pods are able to sleep two people for up to year and for those worried about a cold night’s sleep, the Eco-capsule has a thick layer which significantly reduce heat loss.

The pod is designed to cope with extreme weather conditions due to its innovative (创新的) design and materials used. No wonder the Nice Architects are so confident about its future and the producers are receiving heavy orders.