【推荐1】Some of the world’s most talented musicians have played concerts at Lincoln Center. On September 10, the center hosted a unique class of star musicians: kids and teens. The young players are part of the World Peace Orchestra, or WPO. The group held its first Music for Peace concert in New York City, with 134 students from more than 60 countries taking part. Musicians were chosen from all over the world.

The World Peace Orchestra began in 2013. The nonprofit group brings kids together using the common language of music. To be considered for the orchestra, students first had to be recommended by their teachers and then audition online for a group of judges. Once chosen, professional musicians and teachers then worked with the players to improve their skills.

Some of the young musicians played classical instruments, such as violins and flutes. Others played instruments unique to their home country. For example, Amold Mugo, 16, from Kenya, played an instrument called the djembe. The drum is originally from West Africa. Mugo said he was shocked when he learned he was chosen for the orchestra. “I can’t express how I felt. I was rolling on the floor. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he said.

Adomas Hendrixson, 13, from Lithuania, played piano for the WPO. Before the New York City performance, Hendrixson talked about what he hoped to take away from the event. “Fun and joy-- people smiling and clapping,” he said.“This is one of the only times in your life this could happen and I'm very excited.”

Mugo says his favorite part of the WPO is making new friends from around the world. “I hope when I go home, I just take a little bit of every friend that I made here-- Brazil, Portugal, Queens,” Mugo said, “I hope that I take part of their culture home with me so I understand them more.”

【推荐2】Life expectancy (寿命) in Africa rose by nearly 10 years in the first two decades of this century, according to the World Health Organization. “This rise is greater than in any other region of the world during the same period,” the WHO said.

In the year 2019, the average African could expect to live to be 56. However, that is still well below the global average of 64 years. WHO official Lindiwe Makubalo warned the life expectancy gains could easily be lost unless countries strengthen and make greater investments in the development of health care systems.

Makubalo said Africa has made a good start over the past two decades. On average, she said, access to essential services like basic health care improved to 46% in 2019 compared with 24% in 2000. “Other factors include improvements in reproductive, newborn and child health care, as well as advances in fighting infectious (传染的) diseases, such as TB, malaria and HIV.”

While progress has been made in preventing and treating infectious diseases, the report found health services for non-infectious diseases are lagging. It says the great rise in diabetes, cancer and other non-infectious diseases could jeopardize (危害) health gains if those conditions continue to be ignored.

The report says the COVID-19 outbreak has brought about greater damages to essential health services in Africa compared to other regions of the world, which might affect healthy life expectancy.

“It is important that significant improvements are made in health services, and governments ensure quality, equal and accessible services for all,” Makubalo said.

According to the report, some progress has been made in achieving universal health coverage, but it is far from enough. Health officials say one of the key measures to improve access to health services is for governments to increase their public health budgets. That, they say, would reduce the huge out-of-pocket expenses by families that are pushing millions of people into poverty.

【推荐3】Effective monitoring of endangered species is key to their survival. Studying the movement, range and habits of wild animals is essential in order to ensure their habitat remains free from poachers (偷猎者) and development. Traditional methods of monitoring wild animals, especially large ones, include radio-tagging. To do this, individual animals must at first be captured so that collars or tags can be fitted.

One organisation that adopted this technique was WildTrack. In the late 1990s, the team was using radio-collars to monitor black rhino in Namibia. However, the team soon realised that the chemicals used to immobilize the rhino in order to fit the collars had a negative impact on female fertility. Not only that but a large proportion of the radio-collars failed within the first 6 months and had to be replaced. Moreover, as animals grew, the collars would tighten, irritating or even hurting the animal. The method was not only expensive, but it was also counterproductive, as it changed the rhino’s behaviour, thus invalidating (使失效) the data collected. At the same time, the team was working alongside local trackers. Animal tracking is one of the oldest human skills, and these experts had years of experience in identifying individual animals by their footprints. They could effectively create a true picture of individual rhinos’ activities without the use of any invasive techniques. Consequently, the team were interested to know whether the trackers’ knowledge could be successfully translated into an effective, computerised technique for monitoring animal movement.

Within each species, each individual has its own unique foot characteristics, in the same way that humans have fingerprints. Thus, if an animal is sighted and identified just once, and the characteristics of its footprints properly photographed and measured, its footprint can be recognised whenever it is sighted again. If done repeatedly, conservationists can draw up a database of all, or at least a significant proportion of the individuals within the population. After that conservationists can use it to identify an animal and its movements by its print. The data gathered can be used for a range of purposes, for example to monitor biodiversity. WildTrack is currently using footprint identification technology in Greece to study the potential effect of a large highway construction through brown bear habitat.

Identifying an animal from its footprint is not without its challenges, however, as each time the individual places its foot on the ground, it leaves a slightly different track, according to the type of ground it is walking on, moisture levels and the way it is moving. In order to account for these variations, it is necessary to collect several tracks from each individual, including impressions from all four feet, on a range of surfaces.