【推荐1】“All puppies are cute,” explains Clive Wynne, the head of Arizona State University’s canine-science laboratory. “But not all puppies are equally cute." Indeed, recent research indicates that peak puppy cuteness serves   important purposes and might play an important role in binding dog and owner together.

In a study，Wynne and his colleagues sought to pin down, scientifically, the timeline of puppy cuteness. Their finding was: People consistently considered dogs most attractive when they were six to eight weeks old. This age, Wynne says, is an important developmental period: Mother dogs stop nursing their young around the eighth week, after which puppies rely on humans for survival. Peak cuteness, then, is no accident.

Humans seem to be especially vulnerable (脆弱的) to cute things. Research dating back to the 1940s shows that almost any creature with babylike features — large eyes, a bulging forehead, short limbs — is able to draw our liking. But puppy cuteness is uniquely human-directed. Other research makes clear just why dogs seek to command our attention. Oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, has been found to suddenly increase in dogs and their owners after they look in each other’s eyes. In other words, the more dogs get us to look at them, the more tightly bonded (联系) to them we grow.

Born blind and basically deaf, puppies aren’t interactive (互动的) in their first weeks of life, and Wynne notes that many people find animals in this stage alien and unattractive. A recent study focused on humans showed that, similar to six-week-old puppies, six-month-old babies are seen as significantly cuter than newborns, which inspires a flood of social interactions, such as petting, playing, and baby-talking. These acts are developmentally fundamental to both babies and puppies.

【推荐2】Scientists have recreated a 1985 study of birds in Peru that shows climate change is pushing them from their natural environment. Thirty years ago, researchers studied over 400 kinds of birds living on a mountainside in Peru. In 2017, researchers looked again at the bird populations. They found that almost all had moved to higher places in the mountain. Almost all had decreased in size. And, the scientists say at least eight bird groups that started at the higher elevations (高地) had died out completely.

The researchers say the birds might have moved up the mountain because of temperature changes. Or changes to food sources may have forced them to go higher. The findings were published in a science journal. The 1985 research has documented birds and other animals moving up in elevation (高地) in reaction to warming temperatures. Mark Urban, a biologist at a university, said this recent study was the first to prove that rising temperatures and moving to avoid them can lead to extinction.

In 2016, Fitzpatrick, director and a co-writer of the study passed his notes, photos and other records to Benjamin Freeman. Freeman has been researching tropical birds for more than 10 years. He set out in August and September of 2017 to copy Fitzpatrick’s study. His team used the same methods, searching the same places in the same time of year.

Freeman’s team wanted to see how things had changed for the bird groups since 1985. The average temperatures on the mountain had risen 0.42 degrees Celsius. His team placed 20 sound recording devices on the mountain to record the sounds of birds that might not easily be seen.

Freeman said that the birds moved an average of 98 meters further up the mountain. He believes that temperature is the main cause of the birds’ movement. Fitzpatrick noted that birds used to living in areas with little temperature change may be especially at risk because of climate change. He said, “We should expect that what’s happening on this mountain top is happening more generally in the Andes, and other tropical mountain ranges.”

【推荐3】Archaeologists used DNA taken from a broken clay pipe stem found in Maryland to build a picture of an enslaved woman who died around 200 years ago and had origins in modern-day Sierra Leone. One researcher called the work “a mind-blower.”

“In this particular context, and from that time period, I think it's a first,” team member Hannes Schroeder told The Washington Post. “To be able to get DNA from an object like a pipe stem is quite exciting. Also it is exciting for descendant(后裔) communities... Through this technology, they're able to make a connection not only to the site but potentially back to Africa.”

The pipe stem was found at the Belvoir plantation in Crownsville, Maryland, where enslaved people lived until 1864 and where a likely slave cemetery was recently found. DNA taken from the pipe linked back to a woman either directly from or descended from the Mende people, who lived in west Africa, in an area now part of Sierra.

Julie Schablitsky, the chief archaeologist with the Maryland state highway administration, told The Post the discovery, based on saliva(唾液) absorbed into the clay pipe, was a “mind-blower”. She also said records show the existence of a slave trade route Sierra Leone to Annapolis, plied(定期往来) by British and American ships. "As soon as people stepped on those slave ships in Africa," she said, “whether they were from Benin or whether they were from Sierra Leone, wherever they were from, that identity was lost. Their humanity is stripped from. Who they are as a people has gone.”

The new analysis is part of ongoing research around Belvoir that has given descendants of the people enslaved there new insight into the lives of their ancestors. Speaking to The Post, Nancy Daniels, a genealogist from Laurel, Maryland, who thinks she is a descendant of enslaved families from Belvoir but was not linked to the research on the pipe, called the discovery “overwhelming.” “I'm sitting here about ready to cry,” she said. “I'm sorry. I'm so happy ... Thank God for the DNA.”

This year, events and ceremonies are being held to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved people in America, at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. Slavery was effectively abandoned in the US on 1 January 1863, with the issue by Abraham Lincoln of the Emancipation Proclamation. It formally ended in December 1865, after the civil war, with the approval of the 13th amendment(修正案).

【推荐1】Guess what former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and United States president Donald Trump’s granddaughter, Arabella Kushner, have in common? They both study Chinese as a second language.

Although Chinese is known as one of the hardest languages to learn, a lot of people from different backgrounds are studying it with hopes of big benefits.

Nov 2 saw more than 120 people, coming from 105 countries, compete in the finals of the 12th “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for foreign secondary school students. Held in Zhengzhou, Henan province, the finals was mainly made up of speech contests and talent shows. The contestants also visited the Shaolin Temple, Longmen Grottoes and other historical sites in Henan.

While reasons for learning Chinese were different, a common one was interest in the country’s rich culture and rapid development.

Raissa, 17, from the Union of the Comoros, developed a strong emotional connection with China after her grandmother was cured by doctors of the Chinese medical team in Africa three years ago. This led her to learn Chinese at a local Confucius Institute.

Fascinated by Chinese culture, the competitor has taken part in activities on traditional Chinese medicine and folk arts during her first trip to China. “My dream is to study medicine in China so that I could cure patients like the Chinese doctors did,” she said.

For Fekete Marcell Zoltan, 17, from the Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual School, studying Chinese may secure him a future job as a Hungarian diplomat(外交官) to China. “After graduation from high school, I would like to further my studies in China,” he said.

Robert Davis, director of the Chinese-language program in Chicago’s public school system, may give you a hint. “Chinese isn’t the new French. It’s the new English, which is widely used all over the world.”   he told CGTN.

【推荐2】A new study suggests some language learning can take place during sleep. Researchers from Switzerland’s University of Bern say they discovered people were able to learn new language words during deep levels of sleep.

Much of the earlier research found that memories made when awake were strengthened during sleep. This supported the idea that information learned while awake is replayed and deeply embedded in the sleeping brain.

The researchers theorized that, if replay during sleep improves the storage of learned information while awake, the processing and storage of new information should also be possible during sleep.

They carried out experiments on a group of young German-speaking men and women, which centered on periods of deep sleep called “up-states”. They identified these slow-wave peaks as the best moments for sleep-learning.

The researchers observed individuals in a controlled environment during brief periods of sleep. Brain activity was recorded as pairs of words were played for the study subjects. One word in the pair was a real German word. The other was a made-up foreign word. For later identification purposes, the German words chosen were things clearly larger or smaller than a shoebox.

Each word pair was played four times, with the order of the words changed each time. The word pairs were played at a rhythm that is similar to actual brain activity during deep sleep. The goal was to create a lasting memory link between the false word and the German word that individuals could identify while awake.

When the subjects woke, they were presented with the false language words—both by sight and sound. They were then asked to guess whether the false word played during sleep represented an object smaller or larger than a shoebox. Results of the study found that a majority of subjects gave more correct answers about the sleep-learned words than would be expected if they had only guessed at random.

The researchers said they measured increased signals affecting a part of the brain known as the hippocampus. This brain structure is very important for building relational memory during non-sleep periods. The researchers also said memory was best for word pairs presented during slow-wave peaks during sleep.

The study suggests that memory formation in sleep appears to be caused by the same brain structures that support vocabulary learning while awake. The researchers say more studies are needed to support their findings. However, the experiments do provide new evidence that memories can be formed and vocabulary learning can take place in both conscious and unconscious states.

【推荐3】New Year’s resolutions(决心) have been around long enough that we all tend to stick to the same ones—hit the gym, lay off the candy, read more books, call your mother—regardless of whether we follow through with our intentions.

While January 1st seems like the perfect time to have a new start again, exactly when people developed that mindset(思维模式) isn’t common knowledge. It turns out that the modern belief of a New Year’s resolution isn’t as old as you thought. According to many historians, the ancient Babylonians were the first group of people to make New Year’s resolutions. However, instead of making a commitment to self improvement, they made a commitment to the gods to pay their debts and return any objects they had borrowed.

An ancient Roman tradition from 46 B. C, bears even more likeness to modern resolutions. Emperor Julius Caesar declared January the month of Janus. Romans believed Janus looked backwards into the previous year and ahead into the future. In his honor, they made sacrifices to the god and promises of good behavior for the coming year.

But the modern New Year’s resolution didn’t fully form until centuries later. The practice was common enough by the early 1800s. An article in 1802 states, “Statesmen have sworn to have no other object in view than the good of their country. The physicians have determined to advise the use of medicine no more than is necessary, and to he very reasonable in their fees.”

The first time “New Year’s resolution” appeared as a phrase was in the January 1st issue of a Boston newspaper in 1813. “I believe there are a lot of people,” the article goes, “with a serious determination of beginning the New Year with new resolutions and new behavior, and with the full belief that they shall accept punishment for all their former faults and wipe them away.

So as you make (and possibly fail at) your New year’s resolutions, know that you’re in good company.

【推荐1】Two musicians from Germany are using robotic equipment to add sounds to their performances. The two-man band performs with a robot that can play several musical instruments at the same time. The robot can sound like a guitar, keyboard, drum or other instruments. When performing, members of the band provide many of the sounds, but others are controlled by a computer. Once connected to wires and set up, instruments can play on their own.

One of the instruments was created from a long, self-turning wooden stick that sits on top of a microphone stand（支架）.The stick contains long strings. They are tied on each end. The strings are connected to a small wooden ball. As the stick tums, the ball hits a block on the floor, creating a sound. The two-man band, called Joasihno, recently performed at the South by Southwest Conference and Music Festival in Austin, Texas. They describe their electronic sounds as “psychedelic（迷幻的）machine” music. “Actually, we call it a psychedelic robot group, ”said Cico Beck, one of the creators of the group.

The group’s other member, Nico Siereg, says playing in an experimental band with robots is not the same as playing in a traditional one. “It’s a little bit different because you also have in mind that there are machines playing around you,   but there’s no reaction from them, ” he said. But Siereg said that in some ways, the robots actually help him improve his performance. Since the self-playing instruments are programmed, he sometimes feels freer to focus on what he is playing, and at times to even play without preparation.

The musician says he can imagine similar technology having a greater influence on many different kinds of music in the future. “Technology is like a very important tool and it’s very often a very important part of inspiration, ” he said. But he also expressed hope that "real music won’t die.

In addition to performing recently in Texas, Joashihno has been busy putting on shows in Europe and in Canada. The band hopes its high-tech music “experiment” will keep reaching new people and pleasing the ears of its fans.

【推荐2】The 1953 painting"Goyita"by Rafael features his mother with a red scarf on her head,a determined look on her face,and heavy expression lines,a portrait(画像）of a working-class woman that broke from traditional ones of the time that focused largely on wealthy men.

“Goyita"is one of more than 350 paintings from Puerto Rico that Google Arts&Culture digitized(数字化）for the first time with help from"Hamilton"creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who started the online exhibition that features works from four Puerto Rican art institutions.

The aim is to expose the world to Puerto Rican art,preserve it,and help museums in the U.S.that are struggling to exhibit paintings because of limited space and budget cuts.

Puerto Rico's artwork joins Google's current online exhibitions and stories from around the world.As part of the project,Google brought its so-called"art camera"for the first time to Puerto Rico.The camera has an extremely high resolution(分辨率）thanks to a 400 millimeter zoom(镜头）that uncovers details invisible to the human eye,including brush strokes(笔法）。It also allowed those at the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture to find the signature of a pioneering female artist.

The camera took thousands of pictures to digitize 48 pieces of Puerto Rican art as it went inches by inches to cover an entire painting,a job that took 30 minutes to several hours depending on the size of the artwork,said Simon Delacroix,U.S.lead for Google Arts&Culture.

As Mr.Delacroix showed the power of the zoom on a painting called"El Gobernador Don Miguel Antonio de Ustariz",a collective"Wow"escaped from the audience attending the project at the Museum of Puerto Rico.The crowd could appreciate details in the background including someone that appears to be laughing from a balcony.

Google Arts&Culture already allows users to explore more than 2,000 museums and historic sites including Nelson Mandela 's prison cell.In total,it offers more than 6 million photos,videos,and other documents.

【推荐3】Back in freshman year，I found myself wondering whether it should really be called “volunteering” if students only do it because they have to.

I ended up volunteering at Weyrich Health Center，helping elderly patients with daily tasks. The more I did these tasks，the more disconnected I felt from the seniors. Though I felt bad for them，I did not want to interact with them.

Then one rainy day，I met Colonel Hemsworth. He invited me to his table and asked for some company. I regarded this as another boring task. However，when I listened to his stories，I learned that he was a brilliant war veteran(老兵)，and I found his tales interesting.

After my brief talk with the Colonel，I realized that I shared common characters with all the seniors. I_felt_like_an_oxygen_molecule(分子)－ready_to_form_a_relationship－rather_than_an_isolated_gas.

I met with many learned senior citizens who shared their experiences and wisdom. No longer did I walk aimlessly down the hallways. I found myself enjoying talking with these people as I learned their histories. Why hadn't I realized sooner that volunteer work could enlighten me?

Some people argue that volunteering and working for change does not help. However，they fail to realize that the world is constantly changing and humans must adapt. My experience at Weyrich Health Center has taught me that refusing to change one's views and accept new ones leads to short－term goals that finally disappear. Communication with others is an important part of life. Volunteering is not just a requirement or a way to improve your resume，it is a time for service and personal growth.

Now I enjoy volunteering my time surrounded by seniors who bring history alive for me. By communicating with them，I have developed into a more dynamic person.