【推荐2】Russia has announced that it is developing a specialized washing machine for astronauts to use in space. The announcement came from a missile, spaceship and space station manufacturer RKK.

Normal washing machines require gravity to function, not to mention significant amounts of water that has to be stored somewhere and increases weight — they are not suitable for space missions (任务). This means that astronauts cannot wash their clothes and either have to pack enough for their whole trip or rely on costly resupply missions and throw used items into space.

Crewmembers taking part in long-term missions on the International Space Station (ISS) often end up wearing the same garments for several continuous days and just change into new ones when they get dirty. Aside from this issue, wearing dirty clothes can be uncomfortable for the astronauts and could also provide perfect conditions for dangerous bacteria to grow and spread.

RKK has previously outlined plans for a space washing machine in a Russian space industry journal paper published in 2017. In the paper, the authors estimated (估计) that 1,450 pounds of clothes are surprisingly transported to the ISS every year to cover the requirements of just three astronauts. And this quantity could increase to three tons for a two-year voyage to Mars involving six crewmembers and could increase the costs and complexity of a mission.

The Russian scientists said that, instead of water, the washing machine would use the carbon dioxide produced by the astronauts’ breathing in the spaceship. Special technology would then turn the gas into a liquid under high pressure in order to clean the clothes.

The Russian designs are not the first proposals for a space washing machine. NASA has previously made a model of a low-power, low-water washing device (设备) which was designed to work in the microgravity of low-Earth orbit or that of the moon or Mars.

【推荐3】Completely avoiding the problem of supply shortages of things like hand sanitizer (消毒剂), a robot has been developed to kill viruses, bacteria, and other harmful germs from hospital floors and other surfaces. Sweetly named Robot Violet, it is proven to kill viruses—and can sanitize an entire hospital room in half the time it would take to do the same task using conventional “deep cleaning” approaches.

The long tube-like light looks like one you might see in a factory, but it floats around the room. Violet’s powers come from ultraviolet (紫外线的) rays shot at very short wavelengths. These break down the DNA in germs and stop them from being able to reproduce and can arrest the spread of germs, ideally including COVID-19, though they are still waiting for test results for the virus to see if the robot can officially be relied upon to remove it.

Many surfaces of various hospital equipment need to be washed by hand. Inventor Connor says his robot would greatly improve this cleaning process, allowing hospitals that are packed with patients to clean rooms and equipment without any human being present. “This system could reduce dependency on the use of chemical-based solutions, which may be effective but requires rooms to be emptied for several hours during sanitization, making them impractical for many parts of the hospital,” Connor said.

Ultraviolet rays are damaging to humans, so they cannot be used to sanitize hands or other areas of skin. To avoid unnecessary harm, an AI system automatically shuts off ultraviolet light if it finds that someone has moved in front of it. The team hopes to produce 50 units in the coming weeks—with their first robot possibly ready for duty by Easter.

If COVID-19 spreads like wildfire, hospitals will need all the innovations like this to prevent it. “We are very happy with the progress we are making,” Connor added.

【推荐1】For the soldiers, the true technological hero may be the body armor (盔甲).

Capable of stopping most bullets, the body armor worn by all of the troops is being trusted for saving many lives. Soldiers shot at close range are walking away with no more than broken ribs (肋骨).

While the newest smart bombs get more attention, improvements in soldiers’ armor are improving safety on the battlefield. The new body armor in particular, may help reduce deaths in the firefights.

In addition to the lighter and more protective body armor, soldiers now wear more comfortable, stronger helmets.

“Everything they have is much better,” says Robert Kinney, director of individual protection at the Army’s Soldier Center in Natick, Mass. “It means an increase in their quality of life.”

The new equipment is a result of years of research and development at the lab.

The new body armor, named “the interceptor”, is similar to but stronger than ones worn by the police. It can also protect the neck. Two other plates are put into it and cover vital organs. As a result, far fewer deaths arrive at military hospitals with abdomen (腹部) or, chest wounds, says Air Force Maj. Mark Ervin, a surgeon at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. “That’s remarkable,” Maj. Ervin says.

Altogether it weighs 16 pounds, one-third lighter than the previous armor that protects only against shrapnel (弹片) but couldn’t stop bullets. The lighter weight is a welcome improvement for soldiers already carrying 100 to 120 pounds of gear.

Soldiers’ helmets have also been improved since the first Gulf War. They also offer more protection. They are capable of stopping handgun or small machine gun rounds, but not high-powered shots.

【推荐1】McCormick Place in Chicago, the largest convention center (会议中心) in North America, is covered in glass that is enjoyable for humans but deadly for birds. On Oct. 5, over 1,000 migrating birds died from colliding with (相撞) its glass walls in a single day.

One key reason for the accident is the glass. During the day, birds fly toward glass as it reflects a perfect image of the sky and nearby trees. As night falls, the bright light from glass buildings attracts birds who fly according to the location of the moon and stars. The collision happened on the night of Oct. 5, when the lights in the building were on for an event.

After colliding with a building, many birds will die on the spot from a broken skull. Others may continue to fly for some distance, but they rarely survive for more than a few hours, as Brendon Samuels, who researches bird window collisions at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, told The Guardian.

Every year, nearly one billion birds collide with glass in the US, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. In China, bird collisions are not uncommon, either. In the autumn of 2022 and spring of 2023, the National Anti-bird Collisions Action Alliance reported a total of 190 cases of bird collisions, which included several types of birds listed as second-class protected wildlife.

These tragedies could have been avoided if appropriate measures had been taken. Many places around the world have already put forward bird-related guidelines on building design. These include reducing the use of glass in building walls and applying bird-friendly materials and visual markers to the buildings’ walls. Turning off lights at night during migration seasons can also significantly help reduce bird collisions. Alongside guidelines on bird-friendly building design, people can also do their bit to help birds by putting stickers on glass windows in their homes and closing the curtains at night.

【推荐1】We know that cigarette smoking kills. So, producers made electronic cigarettes as a safer smoking choice — safer than tobacco. Although e-cigarettes contain the drug nicotine like cigarettes, they do not use tobacco and you do not light them. They are powered by battery.

However, if e-cigarettes are so safe, why has the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC) seen an increase in telephone calls about e-cigarette poisonings?

The answer is children. Most of the calls are from people worried about children who have played with the devices. In the period of one month this year, the Center said 215 people called the Center with e-cigarette concerns. More than half of these calls were for children aged five and younger. The devices had made them sick.

Tim McAfee is director of the Center's Office on Smoking and Health. He says the problem is regulation, meaning, the U. S. federal government does not control e-cigarettes even though they contain liquid nicotine. Mr. McAfee adds that liquid nicotine is a well-known danger. Mr. McAfee explains that nicotine poisoning happens when it gets into the skin, gets into the eyes or is swallowed. It can cause stomach pain or a sense of unbalance. And too much nicotine can kill.

Tim McAfee says e-cigarettes do not create the level of risk to people that tobacco products do. He notes that almost 500,000 Americans die each year from cigarettes. “So, cigarettes are the winner in that contest.” E-cigarettes do not contain hundreds of harmful chemicals that are found in real cigarettes. So, the U. S. Surgeon General Boris D. Lushniak has suggested that e-cigarettes may be a useful tool for adults trying to end their tobacco use.

But McAfee worries that teenagers may think electronic cigarettes are harmless. They could become addicted to the nicotine and then start smoking real cigarettes. In other words, he fears that for young people fake e-cigarettes could be a “gateway” to the real thing.

【推荐2】On his first day as an airport official tasked with COVID-19 prevention and control, Wu Ge was assigned to prepare a waiting area at Pu dong International Airport specifically for transit passengers.

The task would have been challenging for most people, but Wu took it and quickly distributed tasks to his colleagues. Together, they cleaned and disinfected the area, set zones for checking people's temperatures and filling out forms. It wasn't until the first passenger stepped into the waiting area that Wu finally took a break from his work.

Born in southwestern China's Chongqing, the 46-year-old began working at Pu dong International Airport in 2007 and is currently an official leading more than 300 staff members of the Shanghai airport authority's security check and protection department.

As the nation's busiest airport for overseas travelers. Shanghai Pu dong International Airport is currently battling the COVID-19 with closed-loop management. During this critical period, Wu and his colleagues have been assigned to a special task force in charge of separating overseas travelers into various categories, sending passengers to quarantine spots and safeguarding passengers during transfers.

"This job requires care, responsibility and hard work. Our teammates have sweat all over their bodies as they have to wear N95 face-masks and protective suits all the time. Each of us walks at least 30,000 steps every day. Sometimes we even hit 60,000 steps," he says.

Wu's work as the group leader is nonstop. Breakfast is sometimes the only meal he has in a day. Wu says he tries his best to reduce waiting time for passengers. He has also arranged for hot water and biscuits to be made available for passengers around the clock.

【推荐3】O'Plerou Grebet is a 22-year-old graphic design student in Côte d'Ivoire, Africa. Everywhere he looks, he sees signs of Western influence — from the glass skyscrapers and malls lining the streets in his home city to the way his fellows speak and dress. “We are living like we’re Western people,” he says. That even applies to the keyboard culture — when his friends text using the messaging apps, they especially love to use the “tears of joy” face emoji (表情符号). So he used his design skills to create digital stickers that show what he thinks is missing: symbols of history, life and culture in Côte d'Ivoire and neighboring countries.

In 2018, he released a free pack of over 360 stickers in a mobile app called "Zouzoukwa”, which means "image" in the local Bété language. Available on Android and iOS, it now has over 120,000 downloads. It's more impressive than other emoji apps, with the feature of connecting to the realities of Africans using it. “ It would make their jokes even livelier,” says Grebet. The stickers include traditional masks, African instruments like the djembe drum and people dressed in a variety of prints and clothing that can reflect local tradition.

Some of his favorite designs are a series of facial expressions commonly used in his area, but not available as standardized emojis. There’s a woman with lips pursed, giving some serious side-eye—a sign you can use when your friend keeps you waiting long for no reason. It's common in Côte d'Ivoire and also translates across cultures, Grebet says.

The next step, Grebet says, is to try and get some of his designs into the official emoji set, where they’d reach more than 2 billion people worldwide, as usable ones on smartphones everywhere. Grebet also plans to keep traveling and expanding his experiences and his sticker pack. His designs so far are drawn from his experience and research into a few African countries.