Robotic Exoskeletons
Thanks to robotic exoskeletons, victims of spinal cord（脊髓）injury have a new reason to hope. Robotic exoskeletons, consisting of metal legs, motors, batteries, wiring, a controller and a set of strips work together like the user’s bones, muscles and nerves-outside the body. Fastened into an exoskeleton and supported by sticks, users can direct the machinery to take them where they want to go.
In addition to partly restoring mobility, robotic exoskeletons offer the significant mental and physical health benefits of standing up and moving. Just being able to get up from a wheelchair gives patients a more natural, positive view of the world. It also helps relieve pressure on patients’ skin and reduces the danger of pressure sores. Standing upright strengthens a disabled person’s muscles and bones, improves heart health，and reduces certain other health complications（并发症）. And it may actually result in partial nerve repair, something that can only happen when a patient is able to move.
As promising as this technology is, however, it is no simple cure-all for paralysis（瘫痪）or its complications. The motion is not accurate compared with natural walking, and exoskeletons are not easy to use, especially on surfaces that are not smooth. They are very expensive, costing about US$100000. Health insurance plans and government programs may not cover the cost of buying one.
Nevertheless, robotic exoskeletons，and access to them, will continue to improve. As with much modern technology, robotic exoskeletons will likely become more capable and easy to use, even as their cost goes down. Governments and insurers may increasingly see that the health benefits of these walking machines outweigh the costs, making it easier to fund them. Perhaps the day will come when nearly everyone paralyzed by spinal cord injury will be able to “walk” again.
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Our science teacher always enjoys giving out challenging assignments to our Grade 10 science class. Unlike other teachers who hand out page upon page of textbook questions, Mr. Hussey seems to prefer having the students learn science through a more hands-on, do-it-yourself approach.
“Today, ”said Mr. Hussey, “everyone will be making an icebox!”As we sat in awe, trying to imagine what kind of device he was referring to, Mr. Hussey handed out the project instructions. In groups of two, we would design a storage (贮藏) device that was capable of keeping its contents at a constant temperature for a certain period of time, regardless of the outside temperature. The competition was quite straightforward：every contestant would receive a cube (立方体) of ice. The team that had the biggest piece left the next day would win!
As always, I partnered with my best friend, Vlad. That afternoon we went straight to the library. After an intense discussion, we agreed on the basic idea of having the ice cube inside a box, which would be put inside another bigger box. Between the two boxes would be the heat insulator (绝缘体).
The first test of the icebox was extremely disappointing. Since this was our first experiment, we both wanted good results to build our confidence. Before I went to bed that night, I carefully picked out a huge block of ice from our refrigerator and placed it inside the icebox. When I woke up the next morning and looked into the icebox, there wasn’t even a bit of ice left. Reflecting on this failure, we were determined to find a better insulating material. Then we tried the same experiment again. This time, we made it. There was 70 percent of the ice left.
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The day of the competition came very fast.
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The next day, everybody rushed towards these works of art.
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7 December is International Civil Aviation Day. Of course, we immediately think of the Wright brothers, the great pioneers who invented and put the first airplane into the sky.
The more you study the efforts the brothers made, the more you admire them. These were men who had a dream—to do what only the birds had been able to do. For thousands of years it had only been a dream and a mad one, too. It’s mad because it seemed against nature and mad also because of the dangers involved. But the Wrights flew up to 100 times a year. It was the process of trial and error that led to them producing a machine that could actually carry people through the air safely.
They were brave men. They showed courage, without which human beings would never have made any progress. A Wright brothers expert, David McCullough, gave an example of their courage. He noted that the brothers never flew together. Why? “If one got killed, the other would still be alive to carry on with the mission (使命)，” he wrote in his book The Wright Brothers.
Determination was all that they had in the beginning. They weren’t from fancy, rich backgrounds. No business or university sponsored (资助) their efforts. They had to do everything themselves. They put their lives on the line every time they climbed into the pilot’s seat.
The philosopher Aristotle had something to say about courage. He said that it is “the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees (保证) all the others”. Surely the story of the Wright brothers backs up these words. Courage is also part of the American belief that anything is possible if you put your whole heart and soul into it. The Wright brothers certainly had a cando attitude, and they taught us one great lesson: We need ambition and courage if we want to see our plans through to the end.
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Technology is forever changing the way we get our news. Many people now get a lot of their news on electronic devices, instead of traditional media, such as newspapers, television or radio. An increasing number of people also report turning to social media for information
Now, there is a new technology that could greatly change the way we get the news: computer-created news readers. Recently, China launched what it called the worlds first artificial intelligence, or Al news presenters.
The news readers, supported by machine learning technology, are based on two real-life Chinese newsmen. One is able to present newscasts in English, the other, in Mandarin Chinese Report said machine learning was used to examine video images and sounds of the two newsmen. Similar technology has been used to create video products known as “deepfake” videos. "A deepfake a video that looks real, but was electronically changed. Such videos can make people appear to say things they never said
It's said that the Al presenters will be a great improvement to the news team because they "can work 24 hours a day" on its website and on social media. One of the presenters even promised to work tirelessly" to keep people informed. Some machine learning experts said the system showed off Chinas latest progress in voice recognition, text-to-speech technology and data analysis
Others wondered about the effects robots might have on employment and workers. Some people argued that only low-level jobs requiring heavy labor will be easily replaced by robots. Others praised the technology as a way for companies to make money from low-cost labor machines. Some businesses have experimented with similar technology for possible use in news operations.
Britain’s BBC recently released a video that used machine learning to make it look like one of its news readers speaking different languages. The London-based company that developed the system says its goal is to "remove the language barrier" for many different kinds of video across the internet. Also, Amazon's working on Alexa smart speaker system to create a special news reader voice. Amazon is reportedly preparing to launch Alexas news reader voice in the near future
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