【推荐1】It took me a moment to realize what had happened. Three days had passed and Rita seemed to get weaker and weaker. The rain had stopped. However, the sky was still cloudy, and it was so dark that I couldn’t see the buildings even across the road. I took a pressure reading from the weather station: 947mb, which let me know exactly where I was—in the eye of the storm.

There were rains and winds still, but not oppressive (难以忍受的)anymore. There was still no power, hot water or food. Besides, I didn’t sleep well for all these days, but I felt more relaxed since the weather report said Rita was leaving. What’s more, I was luckier than those people who had lost their homes or even worse, lost their lives because of Rita.

As I travelled further to the west, going after the storm, the damage along the way became less severe. I arrived in Houston after a tricky journey with my fuel supplies almost all gone. However, I came across another storm chaser (追逐者) who had 45 gallons of petrol. He helped me and we shared our working experience these days. With a complete stroke of luck I found a run-down hotel that allowed me to have a room overnight before the midnight. Although there was no running water, no power and no air conditioning, I curled up into a corner and fell asleep quickly.

I woke up the next morning, and what a change! The sky was blue and cars were moving around. Sirens could be heard as convoys (护航队) of emergency managements started to head west towards where I had come from. "The storm had stopped and I could go home. I gave all my remaining supplies to other people at the hotel and headed towards the airport. Houston Airport was not damaged, so I took my flight and drank my first hot drink in four days.

All in all, when I came back home, I was proud that I finally made it again to follow and record the storm and I really learned a lot these days. Although it’s dangerous, I love my job as not many people would go into the eye of an intense storm.

【推荐2】It is well-known that earthquake is one of the most serious natural disasters. Because of its sudden nature, the traditional earthquake prediction method is often difficult to predict it accurately, and has always been a difficult problem in the field of earth science. Recently, artificial intelligence is showing promise in earthquake prediction, challenging the long-held belief that it is impossible. Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, have developed an AI algorithm (算法) that correctly predicted 70% of earthquakes a week in advance during a trial in China and provided accurate strength calculations (强度计算) for the predicted earthquakes.

The research team believes their method succeeded because they used a relatively simple machine learning approach. The AI was provided with a set of statistical features based on the team’s knowledge of earthquake physics (地震物理学), and then instructed to train itself using a five-year database of earthquake recordings. Once trained, the Al provided its prediction by listening for signs of incoming earthquakes within the background sounds in the Earth.

This work is clearly a milestone in research for AI-driven earthquake prediction. “You don’t see earthquakes coming,” explains Alexandros Savvaidis, a senior research scientist who leads the Texas Seismological Network Program (TexNet). “It’s a matter of milliseconds, and the only thing you can control is how prepared you are. Even with the 70% accuracy, that’s a huge result and could help minimize economic and human losses and possibly improve earthquake preparation worldwide.”

While it is unknown whether the same approach will work at other locations, the researchers are confident that their AI algorithm could produce more accurate predictions if used in areas with reliable earthquake tracking networks. The next step is to test artificial intelligence in Texas, since UT’s Bureau TexNet has locations and over six years worth of continuous records, making it an ideal location in 300 earthquakes for these purposes.

Eventually, the authors hope to combine the system with physics-based models. This strategy could prove especially important where data is poor or lacking. “That may be a long way off, but many advances such as this one, are what moves science forward,” says Scott Tinker, the bureau’s director.

【推荐3】Stages of a Hurricane: Simple Storms Grow Into Giants

A storm progresses through four different stages before it is actually considered a hurricane. First is a tropical (热带的) disturbance, which has thunderstorms and rotating (旋转的) winds. Next is a tropical depression (低气压), which is similar to a tropical disturbance, but has winds between 23 and 39 miles per hour. A tropical storm is the next level, which has stronger wind speeds between 40 and 73 miles per hour.     1    The wind picks up energy from the warm surface ocean water.

As a hurricane crosses over land, it begins to become weaker and reduce in strength.     2    

At this point, a hurricane can still cause a lot of damage because of high winds, rain, and flooding, but unless it makes its way back over the open ocean, it is downgraded from a hurricane back to a tropical storm.

What’s Your Name, Hurricane?

Hurricanes and tropical storms are given names to help people recognize them.     3     Before 1953, hurricanes were not given official names. From 1953 through 1978, hurricanes were only female names like Isabel, Camille, Claudette, and Wilma. Beginning in 1979, hurricanes were given the names of both women and men.     4     For example, in 2010, storms were named as follows: Alex (male), Bonnie (female), Colin (male), Danielle (female), Earl (male) and so on.

There are six different lists of names that change.     5     The only way that a new name is added is adopted when a hurricane has been particularly deadly or costly and the name is retired, then replaced with a new one.

【推荐2】Wheat is a main source of food for people across the planet, accounting for a fifth of the calories consumed globally. But as a result of climate change, scientists believe most parts of the world where the crop is grown will be hit by water shortages by the end of the century. And the US could be among the countries worst affected, the authors of the research published in the journal Science Advances told Newsweek.

If climate change isn't dealt with, by the year 2100, 60 percent of areas that grow wheat will be hit by water scarcity — up from the current level of 15 percent, according to the international team of scientists.

Co-authors Miroslav Trnka and Song Feng told Newsweek that in their previous research, they had shown climate change may cause soil to become less moist (湿润的) across most mainland US states, including those where wheat is grown. As a result, the US could be “one of the top most affected wheat producers” in terms of the increase in areas affected by severe droughts, they said in a joint statement.

Worryingly, existing research has predicted a 4.0 to 6.5 percent drop in global wheat production per 1 degree Celsius of warming if climate change isn't eased. And it's unlikely that wheat can be replaced if water becomes scarce, as it's not as thirsty as other crops and can do without water for a relatively long period of time.

“If multiple regions are affected by drought at the same time, it might be difficult to meet the demand even if the trade routes stay open and are not restricted by governmental measures,” warned Feng. However, he said, “Studies show that if we continuously improve the sustainability and technologies in the coming decades and allow for international trade, we may overcome the negative impacts of climate change.”

【推荐3】Take a good look at the American burying beetle(甲虫)once found in 35 states;the insect is assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as critically endangered. Like the tiger,the American burying beetle has orange and black stripes(条纹);like the tiger,the beetle is declining in number. The tiger is an instantly recognizable symbol of species preservation, but most people aren’t familiar with the beetle.

This difference is an example of the domination of the so-called celebrity species - the fascinating creatures that nonprofits and government agencies use to raise public interest in conservation. Most nonprofit funds for animal protection go to species such as apes, elephants, big cats, rhinoceroses, and giant pandas. Tigers are often rated the most popular animal - and India,home to the majority of these big cats, spent more than 49 million on tiger conservation alone in 2019.Meanwhile, many lesser known species of fish, reptiles, amphibians, and birds weaken in namelessness. Worldwide, more than 35,500 plant and animal species are on the edge of disappearing forever.

This leaves us with a tough situation. Conservation is underfunded, so how do we decide which species to save?

One potential solution,the debatable idea of conservation triage(检伤分类),holds that experts need to quickly decide which species can be saved while realizing that others can’t be saved.Conservationists have developed analytical tools to approach the question in a less emotional, more practical way.Fish and Wildlife Service now uses this knapsack(背包)method - inspired by a hiker’s need to fit the most valuable items into a small space - to get the “most bang for their buck”in saving species. The method calculates the most efficient conservation strategies using factors such as costs to recover a species and its likelihood of going extinct.

【推荐1】Reading Art: Art for Book Lovers is a celebration of an everyday object—the book, represented here in almost three hundred artworks from museums around the world. The image of the reader appears throughout history, in art made long before books as we now know them came into being. In artists’ representations of books and reading, we see moments of shared humanity that go beyond culture and time.

In this “book of books,” artworks are selected and arranged in a way that emphasizes these connections between different eras and cultures. We see scenes of children learning to read at home or at school, with the book as a focus for relations between the generations. Adults are portrayed (描绘) alone in many settings and poses—absorbed in a volume, deep in thought or lost in a moment of leisure. These scenes may have been painted hundreds of years ago, but they record moments we can all relate to.

Books themselves may be used symbolically in paintings to demonstrate the intellect (才智), wealth or faith of the subject. Before the wide use of the printing press, books were treasured objects and could be works of art in their own right. More recently, as books have become inexpensive or even throwaway, artists have used them as the raw material for artworks — transforming covers, pages or even complete volumes into paintings and sculptures.

Continued developments in communication technologies were once believed to make the printed page outdated. From a 21st-century point of view, the printed book is certainly ancient, but it remains as interactive as any battery-powered e-reader. To serve its function, a book must be activated by a user: the cover opened, the pages parted, the contents reviewed, perhaps notes written down or words underlined. And in contrast to our increasingly networked lives where the information we consume is monitored and tracked, a printed book still offers the chance of a wholly private, “off-line” activity.

【推荐2】Some of the world’s biggest companies — Apple, Amazon, Facebook — didn’t exist 30 years ago. So what firms are we working for in 2050? That’ s a question put forward by historian Yuval Noah Harari in his new book “21 Lessons for the 21st Century”.

He argues that because technology is changing so fast, it’ s one of the first times in human history when we don’t know what jobs will look like in the coming three decades. “So the best bet is to focus on emotional intelligence (EQ),” he said. “Information is the last thing the kids need. They have too much of it.”

In this book, he focuses on the various challenges facing us today. As he writes in the book’ s introduction: “What are today’s greatest challenges? What should we pay attention to? What should we teach our kids?” One area where these questions crop up is artificial intelligence (AI). Harari believes that AI will completely affect the job market for the next generation of workers.

His first two books — “Sapiens” and “Homo Deus” — became international bestsellers, selling more than 12 million copies worldwide. They were praised by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Barack Obama and Bill Gates. Harari’ s books, about the past and future of humanity, attract a great number of fans. Fellow Israeli, actress Natalie Portman, is a fan. So is American R&B star Janelle Monae.

As for Bill Gates, he might be Harari’s biggest fan. So when the New York Times asked him to review Harari’ s latest books, he jumped at the opportunity. “All the three books wrestle with some version of the same question: What will give our lives meaning in the decades and centuries ahead?” Gates wrote in his review. “So far, human history has been driven by a desire to live longer, healthier, happier lives. If science is eventually able to give that dream to most people, and large numbers of people no longer need to work, what reason will we have to get up in the morning?”