【推荐2】Two musicians from Germany are using robotic equipment to add sounds to their performances. The two-man band performs with a robot that can play several musical instruments at the same time. The robot can sound like a guitar, keyboard, drum or other instruments. When performing, members of the band provide many of the sounds, but others are controlled by a computer. Once connected to wires and set up, instruments can play on their own.

One of the instruments was created from a long, self-turning wooden stick that sits on top of a microphone stand（支架）.The stick contains long strings. They are tied on each end. The strings are connected to a small wooden ball. As the stick tums, the ball hits a block on the floor, creating a sound. The two-man band, called Joasihno, recently performed at the South by Southwest Conference and Music Festival in Austin, Texas. They describe their electronic sounds as “psychedelic（迷幻的）machine” music. “Actually, we call it a psychedelic robot group, ”said Cico Beck, one of the creators of the group.

The group’s other member, Nico Siereg, says playing in an experimental band with robots is not the same as playing in a traditional one. “It’s a little bit different because you also have in mind that there are machines playing around you,   but there’s no reaction from them, ” he said. But Siereg said that in some ways, the robots actually help him improve his performance. Since the self-playing instruments are programmed, he sometimes feels freer to focus on what he is playing, and at times to even play without preparation.

The musician says he can imagine similar technology having a greater influence on many different kinds of music in the future. “Technology is like a very important tool and it’s very often a very important part of inspiration, ” he said. But he also expressed hope that "real music won’t die.

In addition to performing recently in Texas, Joashihno has been busy putting on shows in Europe and in Canada. The band hopes its high-tech music “experiment” will keep reaching new people and pleasing the ears of its fans.

【推荐3】Recently, Google researchers published a paper describing results from an artificial intelligence(AI) tool, called MusicLM, built to create music. It is not the first AI music tool to launch. But the examples Google provides demonstrate musical creative ability based on a limited set of descriptive words. AI shows how complex computer systems have been trained to behave in human-like ways. Google engineers explain the MusicLM system this way.

First, a user comes up with a word or words that describe the kind of music they want the tool to create. For example, a user could enter this short phrase into the system: “a continuous calming violin backed by a soft guitar sound.”The descriptions entered can include different music styles, instruments or other existing sounds. Several different music examples produced by MusicLM were published online. Some of the generated music came from just one-or-two-word descriptions,such as “jazz”, or “techno”. The system created other examples from more detailed descriptions containing whole sentences. In the resulting recording, the music seems to keep very close to the description. The team said that the more detailed the description is, the better the system can attempt to produce it.

In addition to generating new music from written descriptions, the team said the system can also create examples based on a person’s own singing, whistling or playing an instrument. The researchers said the tool “produces high-quality music...over several minutes, while being faithful to the text conditioning signal”.

Although MusicLM hasn’t been released for public use, Google announced it was releasing a “high-quality dataset” of more than 5,500 music-writing pairs prepared by professional musicians called MusicCaps. The researchers took that step to assist in the development of other AI music generators.

The MusicLM researchers said they believe they have designed a new tool to help anyone quickly and easily create high-quality music selections. However, the team said it also recognizes some risks linked to the machine learning process.

【推荐3】Randy Kraus was disabled. His left side was useless. He'd been a police officer before, and he was strong and able. Now, he felt he could do nothing.

His trouble started with Parkinson's disease, but it didn't end there. In July, 2002, the 60-year-old Kraus went into the hospital for an operation on his brain to control the shaking. But during the operation，he had a stroke. He was paralyzed. The doctor said, “You may never walk again and you might not even be able to talk.”

Kraus found that he couldn't lift a fork or take a drink by himself. Physical treatment was so painful and slow. What did he have to live for? So Kraus held the gun against his head. Feeling the cold metal on his skin, he began to consider the pain he would cause for his wife, daughters and grandchildren. He didn't pull the trigger (扳机)．

Andrew Garud, his exercise physiologist, told him, “You are where you are. The pace would be slow；the pain would be real. But as long as you are alive, you will have the ability to get better.”

After three months of working with Garud, Kraus wanted to see if he could stand.

He could. Then he took three steps, sat down and cried like a baby.

One step, as they say, led to another. Next he managed a short walk along the edge of a boxing ring (拳击台) in the health club. It was the hardest fight of Kraus's life. People at the gym cheered him on. Garud kept saying he could do more. Now, Kraus can brush his teeth，shave himself and get around the house with a walker. Only the disabled can fully understand little success.

【推荐1】There is a lot to learn about the creations of Beatrix Potter — not only is she the author and illustrator of one of the world’s most famous children’s books, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, but also a pioneering conservationist with the spirit of a scientist.

“Potter grew up as the daughter of a wealthy Victorian family, but along with her brother who filled an entire floor of their large house in London with all sorts of animals,” said Anne Lundin, a retired professor for the UW-Madison School of Library and Information Studies.

“As an adult, she was a frustrated botanical illustrator and scientist. That field was not open to her because she was female,” Lundin said. Potter was urged to turn the charming illustrations and stories she wrote in letters to children into books. She wrote 23 books in all — a body of work that has inspired plays, ballets, films and an astonishing amount of merchandise.

“The Tale of Peter Rabbit is probably the most famous children’s book in the world, which was published in 1902 and has really stood the test of time. It’s been translated into 36 languages. The parents and grandparents will share it with the next generation,” said Lundin.

Potter also made a mark on the world through her land conservation. “In many ways, she was like Peter Rabbit, venturing into a world of adventure and risk. She withdrew from London as soon as she started making some money on her books to the Lake District and became an extremely important farmer and conservationist. She preserved and passed on 15 farms and over 4,000 acres, which were given back to the country as gifts in the 20th century,” said Lundin.

Even though she was born 150 years ago, she was amazingly modern — her embracing of the natural world, commented Jennifer Blatchley Smith, an artistic director of the show Peter Rabbit Tales to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Potter’s birth.

【推荐2】Many people criticize today’s newspapers as sensationalist, satisfying the public’s abnormal curiosity. But journalism a century ago was just as notorious (臭名昭著). Publishers at that time routinely competed with each other for wild stories that could draw in the most readers. Meanwhile, it was an ideal atmosphere for a courageous reporter like Nellie Bly to spring into fame.

Bly, whose name was Elizabeth Corcoran, had to work to make her way in the world. Different from many women of the time, however, she refused to let the working world scare her away. Her first big opportunity as a reporter came in 1885 after she wrote an angry letter denouncing the Pittsburgh Dispatch for an article it had run criticizing women forced to work outside the home. The interested and excited editor hired Bly for her “spirit,” and soon she was investigating the situations of female factory workers. Bly cared less about their jobs than their lives after work -their amusements, their motivations, their fears and ambitions. She produced an article totally different from what other reporters of the time were writing: personal, thoughtful, meaningful.

By 1887 Bly had a job with the New York World, one of the leader papers of the day. She quickly became famous for undercover stories about women in a mental hospital. Soon she had investigated life as a maid, a chorus girl, and even a street girl. In her best-known brave deeds, in 1890, Bly beat the famous “around the world in 80 days” trip Jules Verne had described in his novel. Traveling by steamship, train, even ricksha, Bly reported from each stop. A spellbound nation hung on every word. Only 25, Bly had become internationally famous.