【推荐2】Zhang Ying, 23, could have been a news host after four years studying broadcasting and talk show hosting at the university. So could Du Xintong. Instead of just becoming talking heads on TV, they decided to use their knowledge to help millions of children with speech disorder to find their own voices. They co-founded Voice Changer，which offers language rehabilitation（复原）for teenagers in China through online and in-person service platforms.

According to Zhang, each child needs to finish at least one three-month course, which consists of three 40-minute sessions a week. The length of the overall training program is dependent on each child's condition upon their evaluation.

“When we are teaching in-person courses, the parents cannot accompany their children. The children may feel a bit nervous in a strange environment, but they soon get used to it and start to enjoy the training,” she says.

They also launched a mini program on WeChat that provides online services for families of children with speech disorders-parents can upload their child's information and recordings to the self-testing tool and get a report. As well as online speech therapy（治疗），there are also online courses for parents，including guidance for speech therapy at home.

“We insist that parents should accompany their children when taking online courses as they need to play the role of both teaching assistant and desk mate,” she says.

There are only 10. 000 speech therapists in China, many of whom are not full-time. Unlike common volunteer work, to be a speech therapist volunteer, complex training is required before services can be offered.

“Speech therapy is a complex subject which requires knowledge, including training in education, psychology, linguistics and so on,” Zhang says, adding that their team has developed a training system for the volunteers to grow into professional speech therapists. They prefer to employ college students majoring in related subjects. such as broadcasting, linguistics, Chinese languages and literature or special education.

【推荐2】Scientists have known for many years that houseplants benefit people’s well-being. Now researchers have found a way to make plants even better for human health. Using a method called genetic modification(基因编辑), they raised plants that reduce indoor air pollution. GM means changing a plant or animal by fixing its DNA, including adding DNA from another species(物种).

Indoor air pollution is produced by cleaning products, cooking, and dust, among other things, and it can be bad for people’s health. In 1989, research done by NASA found that houseplants could clean the air in a home. Later studies, however, showed that plants actually made too small a difference to help much. Since then, scientists have been experimenting with the DNA of certain houseplants to try to create one that will reduce more air pollution.

In 2018, scientists from the University of Washington decided to adapt a houseplant called pothos, or devil’s ivy, which is popular and easy to care for. The team added new DNA based on a chemical found in a rabbit’s liver. In the animal, the chemical breaks down harmful matter. The team found that the new DNA made the plant better at taking in pollution.

More recently, a company called Neoplants added more DNA, from two types of bacteria(细菌). As the devil’s ivy grow, the team studied it carefully. Tests suggested that it was up to 30 times better at taking in pollution than the non-GM plants that NASA tested back in 1989. The company is also planning to add bacteria to the soil that comes with the plant, which could help break down even more polluting gases.

There is more work to be done, but the team at Neoplants plans to use this technology in other types of houseplants. If all goes well, the company hopes people in the US will be able to decorate their homes with pollution-busting plants by next year. Another company, Origen Air, sells a plant-based system that cleans the air in businesses and homes. It has already appeared on the market in Canada.

【推荐3】As the world struggles to deal with climate change, some companies are working to capture(捕捉) polluting carbon dioxide(CO₂) from the air.

The heavy use of fossil fuels(化石燃料) over the last 150 years has released massive amounts of greenhouse gases, like CO₂, which have caused the Earth to warm up.

Scientists say large amounts of CO₂must be removed from the atmosphere and stored. Plants and trees do this naturally. But there’s so much CO₂in the atmosphere that just planting trees and protecting forests won’t solve the problem. And, when plants and trees die, the carbon they’ve stored gets released again. That means humans need to come up with ways of removing carbon from the air and storing it. This is called Direct Air Capture(DAC).

A company called Heirloom has just opened the first DAC plant in the United States. Heirloom’s process uses limestone, a common rock, to capture CO₂. The company heats up the limestone to separate out the CO₂, which is then locked away in concrete. Heirloom uses renewable electricity to produce the heat, so the process, though expensive, doesn’t produce more CO₂. The new plant can remove 1, 000 tons of CO₂a year. That’s a tiny amount compared to how much carbon needs to be removed from the atmosphere. But the company says it hopes to remove a billion tons per year by 2035. Graphyte, another US company working on DAC, collects unwanted plants and wood products and dries them completely so they can’t break down. Graphyte then smashes them into small bricks and buries them deep underground.

Not everyone is excited about carbon removal. Some experts worry that it will take too long for DAC technology to become powerful enough to make a difference. Others worry that focusing on removing carbon could take attention away from more important climate actions, like switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

【推荐1】A concern raised by some motorists is that, on urban roads without bicycle lanes, cyclists will slow down motorized vehicles and therefore create congestion(拥堵). Researchers evaluated speeds on six roads in Portland at different times of day, including peak traffic hours. They did a detailed comparative analysis of the travel speeds of passenger cars on lower volume urban roads without bicycle lanes, and found that a 1 mph differential in speed caused by the presence of a cyclist would not cause congestion.

The study also found that cyclists riding on a downhill road, and therefore traveling faster, were less likely to be overtaken by motorists. In a Forbes article on the research. "Cyclists Don't Cause Congestion: ‘Must Get In Front’ Maneuvers By Motorists Pointless," Figliozzi agreed that this has possible suggestions for e-bike riders, who can often travel at faster average speeds than cyclists on standard bicycles. "Those on e-bikes are not as affected by uphills, and have better travel performance regarding speed and acceleration. In a low volume and low-speed street, motorists are less likely to overtake e-bikes because the speed differential is smaller or maybe zero,” Figliozzi told Forbes.

"The hope is that our study discourages policymakers from throwing out shared roadways as a practical option because of the viewpoint that bicyclists will slow down the mobility and speed of drivers," Schaefer, another researcher shared. "While the preference is to separate modes through separated, protected bike lanes — that's not always possible in every urban setting. ‘Bike boulevards’, or ‘Neighborhood greenways’ as we call them here in Portland, are great alternatives on low-volume, low-speed roads to build out a safe, well-connected bicycle network.”

Due to limitations regarding similarities among some site characteristics, this study is currently being expanded to include a large number of sites displaying a more diverse range of functional classifications, roadway markings, speed limits, roadway grades, and traffic volumes and compositions. Additionally, the new study will explore how oncoming traffic speed and volume may affect opportunities for overtaking bicycles, and the underlying connection to passenger car speeds on roads without bicycle lanes.

【推荐3】Americans do not believe their personal information is safe online, suggests findings from a new poll (民意调查). They are also not satisfied with the federal government’s efforts to protect such information.

The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and Meri Talk did the polling. It found that 64 percent of Americans say their social media activity is not secure. About as many have the same safety concerns about online information that shares their physical location. Half of Americans also believe their private text messages are not secure.

They are not just concerned. They want the federal government to do something about it. Almost 75 percent of Americans say they support creating laws for how companies can collect, use and share personal data.

A majority of those who took part in the poll said they have more trust in private companies than the federal government to address security and privacy issues. This comes even after years of hacks (黑客) of U. S. corporations that shared the personal information of millions of people around the world.

The poll answers showed that about 71 percent of Americans believe that individuals’ data privacy should be treated as a national security issue. But only 23 percent are satisfied with the federal government’s current efforts.

The law follows similar measures passed in California and Virginia, and gives people the right to find and delete personal information. Colorado’s law also permits people to choose out of having their data tracked and sold. Facebook and other companies opposed the bill.

The poll showed that protecting personal information online is “an area where people do see a direct role in government,” Benz said.