【推荐1】Since 2001, robotic tools have revolutionized (彻底改变) the practice of surgery. They have greatly reduced the stress and physical demands normally placed on surgeons and have made certain procedures possible.

One example is telesurgery. Telesurgery, or remote surgery, is the use of technology that allows a surgeon to perform a procedure on a patient who is not in the same physical location. Normally, telesurgery relies on a wired connection due to concerns of harming the patient should a wireless connection drop during surgery, but China has made several advancements in wireless telesurgery based on 5G technology.

China achieved the first 5G-based remote operation in March 2019 involving a brain surgery procedure between a surgeon in Sanya and a patient in Beijing, a distance totaling nearly 3,000 kilometers, reported CGTN. More recently, a team of surgeons successfully completed remote micron-level (微米级别) eye surgery on rabbits located in a different city, reported China Daily. The rabbits were at the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, whereas the surgical team who operated on them via a 5G robot were at the Hainan Eye Hospital in Haikou, Hainan province. “If everything goes well, 5G remote micron ophthalmic (眼科的) surgery will be available to humans within half a year,” said Professor Lin Haotian, whose team led this trial.

Looking to the future, people hope that remote surgery could be regularly used to help injured soldiers on the battlefield while keeping surgeons at a safe distance. Some even believe that robotic systems, combined with AI, could one day surpass human surgeons.

Smart medical care has made breakthroughs during the past years at home and abroad. The booming (飞速发展的) online medical service meets the needs of the people and helps improve the medical treatment process.

【推荐2】Scientific research depends on far-sighted people who can think outside the box. Such research is key to our understanding of the universe, the development of physical science, and our ability to enjoy world-changing technology products.

One such far-sighted people is John B. Goodenough, now 97, who developed the lithium-ion battery (锂离子电池) in the 1970s. Now, decades after his important breakthrough, Goodenough enters history as the winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry of 2019. He shares the award with Akira Yoshino, 71, and M Stanley Whittingham, 77, who co-created the battery with Goodenough at the University of Oxford.

“Through their work, they have created the right conditions for wireless and fossil fuel-free society, and brought the greatest benefit to humankind,” said the Nobel Foundation.

Yet despite this rechargeable battery benefiting billions of people around the world every day, we too often take science for granted.

Indeed, the Nobel Committee - and even Goodenough himself - hadn’t seemed to appreciate the impact his research would have on future generation. “At the time we developed the battery, it was just something to do,” Goodenough told the Times Newspaper earlier this year. “I didn’t know what electrical engineers would do with the battery. I really didn’t anticipate cellphones, camera and everything else.”

As many have agreed - and Goodenough shows - the science of today is the technology of tomorrow. Goodenough’s invention is evidence of imagination being put to work for the greater good. For that, his research is good enough at last.

【推荐1】Garden recycling is a great way to help the environment while saving money and sparking (激发) the imagination. There are several ways to recycle in the garden; for instance, by creating unique garden art from everyday items.     1     However, in keeping with greener living, garden recycling has recently become more popular.

There are several benefits to garden recycling, the most common of which is saving the environment. Reusing everyday items helps keep trash out of landfills (垃圾填埋场). Recycling materials in the garden is also less expensive and with creativity, making every garden unique. From simple household items to junkyard castaways or antiques, would-be art pieces are all around us. In order to ensure items for garden recycling harmonize within their new setting, it helps to consider how each fits into the surroundings beforehand.     2    

One of the most popular ways to garden recycle is by reusing old objects as garden art. Nearly any object has potential for transformation into the garden or elsewhere.     3     From various metal objects like bed frames, bicycles and gates to aluminum washtubs and tire rims, there is potential for sculptures, trellises, flower containers and other interesting focal points.

There’s a place for everything in the garden. Fountains, ponds, and other water features can be made easily from found objects.     4     Turn an old mailbox into a birdhouse. Transform a slightly chipped flowerpot into a frog shelter. Create birdbaths from dishes. Just about anything imaginable can be transformed into a container by simply adding drainage (排水) holes. From tubs, baskets, boots, and even toys, when it comes to garden recycling, the possibilities are endless.

【推荐2】4 sustainability tips for Earth Day

On this Earth Day, sea turtles are thriving on Florida beaches and the air in Los Angeles is cleaner than ever before. But these events are the result of the coronavirus pandemic, when there are fewer cars on the road, planes in the sky, and factories at full production. With most people at home, nature is prospering. Few believe these improvements will continue when people are able to head to the office again.     1    .

Help the environment while eating healthier.     2    . Using ingredients that have a much smaller environmental impact compared to using animal products. While you're in the kitchen, instead of throwing away your bits of onion, celery, and garlic, scoop up the scraps and try re-growing them for your own garden.

Time for spring recycling. A lot of people are using their extra time at home to remove their clothes they'll never wear again and birthday cards from a decade ago. Instead of throwing it all away, there are several companies and nonprofits that will accept these items, turning them into new products or recyclable materials. The Crayon Initiative takes discarded crayons, melts them down, and remanufactures them, with the new crayons then sent to children's hospitals.     3    .

    4    . Here's a smaller decision that can make a difference: When recycling a bottle, make sure you first take off the bottle cap and throw it in the trash. Also, when cafes are back open again, choose a reusable thermos or enjoy your drink in one of their mugs because paper to-go coffee cups are lined with a plastic film that can't be recycled.

Properly dispose of prescription drugs. In order to keep the no-longer- necessary prescription drugs away from kids or anyone else who shouldn't get into them, some people flush them down the toilet.     5    . Most communities have a safe place to dispose of old and unused prescriptions, with pharmacies and hospitals often accepting the drugs.

【推荐1】An 85-year-old primary school constructed in 1935 in Shanghai has been lifted off the ground completely and relocated using new technology called the “walking machine”. The project marks the first time this “walking machine” method has been used in Shanghai to relocate a historic building.

Urbanization (都市化) has continued to significantly threaten architectural heritage. In the capital Beijing, for instance, more than 1,000 acres of its historic hutongs and traditional courtyard homes were destroyed between 1990 and 2010.

In the early 2000s, due to the critics’ protest against the loss of old neighborhoods, cities including Nanjing and Beijing drew up long-term plans to preserve what was left of their historic sites, with protections introduced to safeguard buildings and set limits to developers. These protection efforts have taken different forms. In Beijing, a near-ruined building was transformed into a restaurant and gallery, while in Nanjing, a cinema from the 1930s was restored to its original form, with some parts of it changed for modern use. In 2019, Shanghai welcomed Tank Shanghai, an arts center built in renovated (重修) oil tanks.

“Relocation is not the first choice, but better than destroying them,” said Lan, the Shanghai primary school’s project supervisor. He also added, “Building relocation is a workable option. The central government is putting more emphasis on the protection of historic buildings. I’m happy to see that progress in recent years.”

Shanghai has been generally acknowledged as China’s most active city when it comes to heritage preservation. The survival of a number of 1930s buildings and 19th-century stone gatehouses has offered distinct examples of how to give old buildings new life.

“We have to preserve the historic building no matter what,” Lan said. “The relocation has challenges, but in general, it is cheaper than destroying and then rebuilding something in a new location.”

【推荐3】Next time your plane lands, listen to the sound of the tyres hitting the ground. The reason the tyres don’t explode is because they are made of natural rubber. The tyres of cars, motorbikes and trucks are also often made of the same stuff.

Natural rubber comes from trees, Workers cut the trunks of the trees and collect a white liquid called latex. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, huge numbers of rubber trees were planted in countries including Malaysia, Burma and Brazil. More than a century ago, scientists discovered how to make man-made rubber, but natural rubber is much stronger and can last much longer. Nearly half the rubber which is produced each year is natural rubber and there is always a need for more.

Rubber trees are not easy to grow. They are affected by changes in temperature, to much or not enough rain, high winds and disease. Some trees survive while others die and it’s all down to their genes. Two British organizations, the Tun Abdul Razak Research Center (TARRC) and The Genome Analysis Center (TGAC), have been working together to look at rubber trees. This is the genes fit together in very long chains of DNA. The genome for a plant such as a rubber tree or animal needs to grow. The genome contains all the information the plant or animal needs to grow. The genome for a plant such as a rubber tree is smaller than a human genome but it is still very long, which is why it has been so difficult to find. As Ewan Mollison of TARRC says, the work has been like putting a picture puzzle together where all the pieces show blue sea and blue sky.

Now scientists can use the rubber tree genome to produce stronger trees. By understanding the genome, they can change the DNA in rubber trees in useful ways. They can also do it much faster than before. In the future, it will be possible to grow trees which survive climate change and disease.