【推荐2】After a day’s labor, Andreas Fichtner and his colleagues have spliced (绞接) together three segments of fibers, creating a 12.5-kilometer-long fiber-optic (光学的) cable. It will stay buried in the snow to spy on the activity of Grfmsvotn, a dangerous, glacier-covered volcano.

Fichtner, a geophysicist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, in Zurich, is one of the researchers using fiber optics to take the pulse of our planet. Much of their work is done in remote places, from the tops of volcanoes to the bottoms of seas, where traditional monitoring is too costly or difficult.

The technique used by Fichtner’s team is called distributed acoustic sensing, or DAS. “It’s almost like radar in the fiber,” says the physicist Giuseppe Marra of the United Kingdom’s National Physical Laboratory, in Teddington. While radar uses reflected radio waves to locate objects, DAS uses reflected light to detect events as varied as earthquake activity and moving traffic, and to determine where they occurred. Inside the cables are optical fibers. DAS involves shooting quick pulses of laser light down the fiber and detecting bits of light that scatter back to the laser source due to disturbances in the environment. When the earth’s surface vibrates and shifts, it pulls the cables, so a detector can identify these small changes.

The New York Times points out that although wireless and satellite technology are booming, good old-fashioned cables are still the most efficient way to send information across oceans. Repurposing cables could give scientists the ability to monitor high-risk zones that were previously hard to reach. They could help detect earthquakes and tsunamis a few seconds earlier than traditional warning systems.

In addition, fiber-optic cables could also help solve some of the biggest challenges for humans. In the recent years, scientists have started to use them to measure ocean waves and access fault (断层) information. It is believed that fiber-optic cables will serve to benefit us greatly in the future.

【推荐3】For 30 years, Alaska's northern fur seal population has not increased. But the ocean mammals are appearing in growing numbers in one unlikely place-a small island that forms the tip of an active undersea volcano. Bogoslof Island is distant and unpopulated. It sits in the eastern Bering Sea. Openings on the ground there release mud, steam and sulfurous gases, but northern fur seals find the island to be a good place for giving birth and raising their young.

It is unclear why the seals have chosen to live on an active volcanic island instead of other unpopulated islands in the area. "The surface is covered with these big blocks, some as big as 10 meters in length, which were exploded out of the vent,” said Chris Waythomas, a U.S. Geological Survey research scientist.

Northern fur seals get their name from their extremely thick fur; they have about 60,000 hairs per square centimeter. When Russian Emperor Alexander II needed money and decided to sell Alaska to the United States in 1867, fur was one of the future state's known valuables.

Most of the world's northern fur seals live in the eastern Bering Sea area. They live in the ocean from November to June and return to land in summer, when they breed and nurse pups. Between 1950 and 1988, the northern fur seal population dropped from 2.1 million to 1.1 million. Scientists do not know why they have not made a comeback. Northern fur seals were first seen on Bogoslof in 1980. NOAA researchers have since carried out periodic studies of the population.

Volcanic activity on Bogoslof has remained mostly stable. But Gelatt's crew chose not to camp there during their week-long visit in August. They feared an explosion could shoot up huge rocks. Instead, they made day trips from a secured boat. The crew counted the number of seals and examined whether images taken from above by an unpiloted aircraft could be used in future counts.

【推荐1】Academic demands are a key source of stress for college students. Unlike in high school, students in college are expected to manage their workload without much guidance from teachers, and it’s easy to feel lost in a class with several hundred peers. Our research suggests that, on average, stress goes up as academic demands go up, peaking ahead of final exams and then falling again.

It can be comforting to know that academic stress is a shared experience. It may also help to know that temporary increases in stress can benefit students under some circumstances. Our longer-term research across four years found that students earned higher grades in semesters when they experienced bout of (一阵) negative moods. A rise in negative moods one semester may reflect that extra effort was needed to meet academic challenges. The important reminder here is that we only observed this effect for students who were typically happy overall, showing the importance of maintaining good emotional balance.

Some students can’t adapt themselves to the life without support and care from their families. For example, international students who live further away from their families may feel homesick stronger. Maintaining friendships and balancing social demands with academics is another key source of stress for college students. In college, the relationship between students and teachers can be totally different from in high schools. It is hard for some students to be involved in college class.

What distinguished the students who reported less stressed and more satisfaction across the year, including during their job search, was their outlook. Despite plans not working out exactly as hoped, recent graduates with greater well-being were able to increase effort and keep moving forward through challenges. These graduates were also moving forward with a sense of purpose, or a general sense that they were on a meaningful path, and optimism about the path they were on, expecting good things to happen in the future.

Additionally, their expectations about how and when their goals would be achieved were flexible, and they were open to new or unexpected opportunities. Finally, recent graduates with greater well-being also had more supportive social networks that they could rely on for advice, comfort, and help along the way.

【推荐3】You might think that college is just a continuation of high school, but it’s not.     1    . And college can change you and shape you in ways that you might not imagine.

Become more independent

    2    . But you’re not entirely on your own. College offers students many kinds of help to make this transition, such as giving guidance and academic advice as well as counseling(咨询) and other support.

Explore your options

One of the great things about being able to choose your own courses is that you get the opportunity to explore. You can try classes in a lot of different subjects.     3    . You may choose to begin training for a career right away. Or you may pick a major after taking some time to check out your options. College offers classes and majors in subjects you’ve studied in high school—plus many more that you haven’t.

Explore outside the classroom

    4    . A campus is its own world, and students have the chance to experience a wide range of activities. They can publish newspapers, play sports or volunteer to improve their communities.

    5    

Thanks to all the knowledge。skills and experience you’ll gain in college, you’ll be able to adapt to a greater variety of jobs and careers. Statistics show that a college diploma(毕业文凭) can help you get a job more easily, keep a job and achieve your dream.