【推荐2】In our daily lives, we spend a lot more time typing on a keyboard than writing with pencil and pen, so does handwriting still offer anything useful?

Researchers tasked 42 adult volunteers with learning the Arabic letters from beginning: Some through writing it out on paper, some through typing it out on a keyboard, and some through watching and responding to video instructions. Those in the handwriting group not only learned the unfamiliar letters more quickly, but they were also better able to apply their new knowledge in other areas—by using the letters to make new words and to recognize words they hadn’t seen before, for example.

The real question is: Are there other benefits to handwriting that have to do with reading and spelling and understanding?

While writing, typing, and visual learning were effective at teaching participants to recognize Arabic letters—learners made very few mistakes after six exercise sessions—on average, the writing group needed fewer sessions to get to a good standard.

Researchers then tested the groups to see how the learning could be generalized. In every follow-up test, using skills they hadn’t been trained on, the writing group performed the best: naming letters, writing letters, spelling words, and reading words.

While 42 people isn’t a huge sample size for a study of this type, the trends reported by the study indicate that pen and paper still have an important role to play in learning, even as digital formats (格式) have come to control our communications. And although adults were used in this particular experiment, the researchers say their findings should have relevance to children too. Several previous studies have also highlighted the advantages of copying as an aid to learning.

Today pupils in schools spend far less time than they used to on handwriting skills and practice, for obvious reasons—but based on what this study shows, it wouldn’t be wise to put away the pens and pencils permanently. Because with writing, you’re getting a stronger representation in your mind that lets you support other types of tasks that don’t in any way involve handwriting.

【推荐1】Plants do not suffer in silence when thirsty or stressed, according to a new study published today in Cell.

Plants that need water or have recently had their branches cut produce up to roughly 35 sounds per hour, the authors found. But well-watered and uncut plants are much quieter, making only about one sound per hour.

The reason why you have probably never heard a thirsty plant make noises is that the sounds are so high-pitched that very few humans could hear them. Some animals, however, probably can. Bats, mice and moths could possibly live in a world filled with the sounds of plants, and previous work by the same team has found that plants respond to sounds made by animals, too.

To overhear plants, Lilach Hadany at Tel-Aviv University in Israel   and her colleagues placed tobacco and tomato plants in small boxes provided with microphones. The microphones picked up any noises made by the plants, even if the researchers couldn’t hear them. The noises were particularly obvious for plants that were stressed by a lack of water or recent cutting.

Plants do not have vocal cords (声带) or lungs. Hadany says the current theory for how plants make noises centers on their xylem (木质部) that transport water and nutrients from their roots to their branches and leaves. Water in the xylem is held together by surface tension, just like water moving through a drinking straw. If an air bubble (气泡) forms or breaks in the xylem, it might make a little popping noise; bubble formation is more likely during dry seasons. But the exact system requires further study, Hadany says.

The team produced a machine-learning model to check whether a plant had been cut or was water-stressed from the sounds it made, with about 70% accuracy. This result suggests a possible role for the audio monitoring of plants in farming and gardening.

To test the practicality of this approach, the team tried recording plants in a greenhouse. Pilot studies by the authors suggest that tomato and tobacco plants are not exception. Wheat, corn and wine grapes also make noises when they are thirsty.

【推荐3】Narcissism (自恋) has been something of a mystery to psychologists. With narcissists things tend to be extreme: the good is really good, and the bad is really bad. Expert Keith Campbell compares communicating with narcissists to eating chocolate cakes: “When I at chocolate cakes, 20 minutes later I’m under my desk wanting to die. When I eat vegetables, in 20 minutes I feel good. But given the choice I always eat the cake.”

Some narcissists have great confidence in themselves, and also have the emotional intelligence — the ability to read people and to act accordingly — to develop lasting bonds. Having both, such a person could be a presidential candidate. Other people lack attraction, self-confidence and the skill necessary to make friends. These individuals may have no narcissism. But they lack emotional intelligence as well.

Psychologists from the UK and the US conducted a three-month experiment to analyze the attraction of different groups to their friends. Worst off at the end of three months were students who scored low in narcissism and also low in emotional intelligence. Those who scored high on narcissism and low on emotional intelligence had a large initial following, even if their poor social skills slowed the coming in of new friends over three months. During the three months, the popularity of these narcissists matches that of individuals with low narcissism but high emotional intelligence. This somewhat surprised psychologists. Starting from nothing, the emotionally intelligent earn their friends by doing the hard emotional work of friendship, and invest deeply to sustain those friends. Their following grows when friends of friends join their admiration society.

Psychologists conclude that making and keeping friends is a better strategy for long-term popularity. But whether we attract our friends with self-confidence or win their loyalty (忠诚) with caring and sharing, we will get the friends and followings we deserve.