【推荐2】Where do you find beauty? Fashion magazine? Music videos? One American photographer is finding beauty in unexpected places. Rick Guidotti put aside his career as a fashion photographer to turn his lens to people living with genetic, physical and behavioral differences.

He says what changed his belief of beauty was a chance encounter with an albino (白化病) girl. “I was just tired of people telling me who was beautiful. Every season that face would change but I was always told who was beautiful. And as an artist, I don’t see beauty just on covers on magazines. I see it everywhere. So that was my initial intention — that opened my eyes a little wider and wider.”

He has created Positive Exposure, a non-for-profit organization that uses photography and video to transform public beliefs and promote a world where differences are celebrated. A new documentary On Beauty features him and his work. The cast and crew recently hosted a screening at Georgetown University in Washington.

One of the women featured in the film is Jayne Waithera. She said, “I never had self-worth. I never liked to speak about my condition. I never thought I was beautiful because nobody said that to me, but my meeting with him was my great moment. I remember that particular day he took my picture and I felt so godlike. I felt there’s somebody who really loves me and sees me for who I am and who sees me more than my condition. These pictures are gorgeous.”

Rick Guidotti and the film’s producer are travelling from city to city to promote On Beauty. They say their tour is not about money, it’s about the message: “As we travel from community to community we’re taking photographs. We’re empowering (授权) individuals with a powerful sense of who they are. They’re seeing beauty in their reflection. We’re also empowering their families and they in turn are empowering their communities as well. All is based on the philosophy of change—how you see, how you change.”

【推荐3】Japanese officials say they are pleased with the quality of the asteroid (小行星) material collected by a spacecraft and returned to Earth.

Last week, officials from Japan described the samples (样品), which were collected from the Ryugu asteroid in July 2019. Ryugu sits more than 300 million kilometers from Earth. Japan's unpiloted Hayabusa2 spacecraft removed the material after making a hole into the asteroid.

The space agency said the July 2019 task aimed to collect samples from below the surface of Ryugu. During an earlier operation in February 2019, Hayabusa2 collected material from a different part of the asteroid. The second collection effort resulted in sample pieces as big as 1 centimeter. The black material looked similar to charcoal and was very hard. It did not break apart when picked up or poured into another container.

Earlier this month, space officials described the samples Hayabusa2 removed on its first mission as smaller, sandy pieces. They were collected from the surface of Ryugu. Hayabusa2 was launched in December 2014 and arrived near Ryugu in June 2018. The Japanese space mission aims to use the samples to learn more about how our solar system formed.

To get the second set of samples in July, Hayabusa2 used an impactor to knock the asteroid's surface. The aim was to collect material unaffected by space radiation or other environmental conditions. The size differences suggest different hardness of the bedrock of the asteroid. One possibility is that the place of the second touchdown was a hard bedrock and larger particles broke and entered the container.

Hayabusa2 is now on another mission to a smaller asteroid, called 1998KY26. The Japanese government expects the aircraft to take 11 years to reach that asteroid. Hayabusa2's new task aims to study possible ways to prevent large stones from hitting Earth.

【推荐2】After watching her father struggle with weakness, pain and other issues for years before being diagnosed(诊断) with two serious illnesses, Muriel Metko knew she wanted a career in medicine. "I want to help patients like my father, to find better diagnostic tools and treatment plans," says Metko," I was passionate about pursuing studies in biology in preparation for medical school and UW-Eau Claire was the perfect place to do that."

When Metko was still a second-year college student, Dr. James Phillips, professor of chemistry, asked her to join his research team. She enjoyed it so much that when the first project ended, she joined Dr. Jennifer Dahl's chemistry lab. As a student researcher, Metko has presented research at a national conference, and is working with Dahl and her partner on a paper for publication, things she never imagined doing before.

"As a freshman, I had my eyes set strictly on getting my M.D., but after doing research with Dr. James, I knew it was something I wanted to continue with," Metko says. "I wouldn't have decided to pursue an M.D.-PhD. If Dr. James hadn't recruited(录用)me."

Through her on-campus research, Metko learned useful technical skills, as well as skills like problem-solving and perseverance(毅力), which are critical to be successful in the medical and research fields.

Last summer, Metko was selected to participate in the Undergraduate Research Employment Program(UREP)at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesotu. And her summer research project was recently in the journal STEM CELLS Traditional Medicine. Working at such a famous institution impressed her. Inspired by watching clinicians and researchers cooperate to develop the best diagnostic tools and treatment plans for patients. Metko will join Mayo Clinic's Graduate Research Employment Program(UREP)after graduation, and then attend graduate school to earn her M.D.-PhD, which can enable her to practice medicine and engage in research.

With a degree from UW-Eau Claire, Metko is confident she can achieve her goals.

【推荐3】As a teenager in the 1990s, Melissa Blake was interested in fashion. Unfortunately, fashion wasn’t much interested in her. Blake, who has a genetic bone and muscle disorder and stands a little under 4 feet tall, couldn’t find jeans or dresses in her size. Paging through magazines, she didn’t see a single person like her. “That would have been a game changer for me,” says Blake, who had 26 surgeries before age 17 to treat her Freeman-Sheldon syndrome.

So far, Blake, 39, has spent her adult life trying to make up for that. She is a disability-rights activist as well as a freelance (自由职业的) writer whose works have appeared in The New York Times and Clamour, but she gained a national following in 2019 after clapping back at people who made ugly comments about her online.

Blake posted a new selfie (自拍)every day. “Some selfies were serious, like the ones where I talked about disabilities or, how I was feeling on not-so-good days. Some were fun and silly, but each was a celebration, and each carried a message. However, some people said that I should be banned from posting photos of myself because I’m too ugly. I feel like every time I post a selfie or share something about my life as a disabled woman, it is a representation to fight that,” Blake told WBUR.

Her fans went wild, calling Blake a goddess and a powerful woman. Among her fans is Mindy Scheier, the founder and CEO of Runway of Dreams, which displays fashion for people with disabilities. Last fall, Scheier asked Blake to be one of the event’s 24 models because of her support of the welfare of the disabled.

“It was a little scary,” Blake says of modeling. But she’s glad she took the challenge. “When disabled people are included, it sends a message that we should get a seat at the table in all aspects of life.”