【推荐1】Learning New Vocabulary during Deep Sleep

Sleeping time is sometimes considered unproductive time. This raises the question whether the time spent asleep could be used more productively, e.g. for learning a new language? Up-to-now sleep research focused on the stabilization and strengthening of memories that had been formed during wakefulness. However, learning during sleep has rarely been examined. There is enough evidence for wake-learned information undergoing a revision by replay in the sleeping brain. The replay during sleep strengthens the still weak memory and leaves the newly acquired information in the pre-existing store of knowledge.

If re-play during sleep improves the storage of wake-learned information, then first-play, i.e. the initial processing of new information, should also be possible during sleep.

The research group of Katharina Henke examined whether a sleeping person is able to form new semantic（语义的）associations between played foreign words and translation words during the brain cells’ active states, the so-called “Up-states.” It turned out to be that what they thought was reasonable. When we reach deep sleep stages, our brain cells progressively coordinate their activity. During deep sleep, the brain cells are commonly active for a brief period of time before they jointly enter into a state of brief inactivity. The active state is called “Up-state” and the inactive state “Down-state”. The two states alternate（交替）about every half-second.

New evidence for sleep-learning challenges current theories of sleep and theories of memory. The concept of sleep that we are separated from the physical environment is no longer reasonable. "It’s false that complex learning be impossible during deep sleep," says Simon Ruch, co-first-author. "In how far and with what consequences deep sleep can be applied for the acquisition of new information will be a topic of research in upcoming years," says Katharina Henke.

The research group of Katharina Henke is part of the Interfaculty Research Cooperation (IRC). Thirteen research groups in medicine, biology and psychology are part of the IRC. The aim of these research groups is to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms（原理）involved in sleep and consciousness.

【推荐2】If you have ever found yourself looking for your keys, misplacing your cell phone or wanting to keep track of your bicycle or car, then the TrackR, a device (装置) that works with your smartphone created by a California­based company, is for you! At $29.95 each, not like the expensive GPS systems, or with TrackR Pack purchase deals, you can’t afford not to have one!

Install (安装) the free TrackR app on your smartphone.Connect the app to your device and then you are ready to go! Simply attach the TrackR to whatever you don’t want to lose.The entire process of setting it up only takes 5 minutes or less.

If you have the hard TrackR, you can just hide it under your car’s floor mat, in the trunk or somewhere it won’t be found if your car gets stolen.If you forget where you parked your car, take out your smartphone and open the TrackR app.Tap on the “lost item” icon on the screen and the app will tell you exactly where it is.

You can also attach it to your pet.Put it on their collar, and the problem of searching for them as they run off to nearby places will be over! Attach it to your keys and wallet, and never waste a minute searching the whole house for it.The affordable TrackR even comes with a double­sided adhesive (黏合剂) so you can stick it to your laptop or under your bike seat.Track down and punish the thieves who steal your expensive things!

The convenience and the ability to find actually any object means that the TrackR is one of the most useful articles that you’ll find for any price.However, the best thing it can give is peace of mind, and it doesn’t get any better than that.

【推荐3】In the near future, we may be using our eyes to operate our smartphones and tablets, even when it comes to playing popular games like Fruit Ninja.

The Gaze Group has been developing eye controlled computer technology for nearly 20 years. But those devices have been firstly designed to help those with disabilities, and are very expensive.

“After a while, we figured out that probably the best way is to go for a mass market way,” says Gaze’s Sune Alstrup Johansen, “where everybody would have this available.”

Johansen and some of his colleagues have formed a new company, the Eye Tribe, which is hoping to develop the technology on a mass commercial level.

The technology works with the help of the computing device toward the user’s face. After making sure of the user’s eye movements, the technology is then able to easily find where a person’s eyes are moving, and then allow the eyes to control a cursor(光标).

“Our software can then determine the location of the eyes and know where you’re looking on the screen to make sure what you’re looking at,” reads an explanation on the Eye Tribe site.

There has been a gradual change toward hands free technology in recent years, particularly in the gaming world. Recently Xbox released the Kinect device, which lets users control their Xbox and play certain games using only their hands, legs and voices. But still, most of these devices have been more of a gimmick than a practical way to use one’s hands to control a mobile device. Johansen said a replaceable filter(滤光器) would be a cheap, convenient way for most consumers.

And even as companies like The Eye Tribe work to create such a product for the average user, making the eye controlled technology more accessible and less expensive will have similar benefits for physically disabled users.

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【推荐1】People do not like being separated from their mobile phones, even while enjoying a restful holiday at the beach. However, the phone battery (电池) may become exhausted completely. If that happens, they have no choice but to connect the phone to the power supply. But it’s impossible to get the battery charged (充电) at the beach. What’s worse, the hot sun is shining right overhead, and the water in the bottle is sure to reach a very high temperature.

Antoine Sayah, a university student from Lebanon, developed a special beach mat called the Beachill. It looks similar to the ordinary beach mat and will cause back pain as well. However, the device can recharge any mobile phone. It is designed to be water resistant (防水的) and has a 5-watt solar panel, which provides power continuously. The mat also has the refrigeration equipment that can help keep drinks cool, just like the refrigerator.

Antoine Sayah began selling the Beachill on the Internet for $150. He says he has been surprised at the reaction worldwide. “I have got orders for the device from Brazil, Toronto, all over Europe, especially France, America, from all continents.” The Beachill is also gaining popularity in other places, like swimming pools and boats.

Some people like the mat because it is lightweight and easy-to-carry. Rita Mathieu bought one of the Beachills. “When I am on the beach, I used to look around for a charger and never managed to find any and the water never stays cool,” she says. “So this kind of beach mat is wonderful and has everything in it, even a pocket where I can put a book. Thanks to it, I can surf the Internet and keep in touch with friends at any time at the beach.”

【推荐2】The year 2117 will be an eventful one for art. In May of that year in Berlin, the philosopher-artist Jonathon Keats’ “century cameras”— cameras with a 100-year-long exposure (曝光)time—will be brought back from hiding places around the city to have their results developed and exhibited. Six months after that, the Future Library in Oslo, Norway, will open its doors for the first time, presenting 100 books printed on the wood of trees planted in the distant past of 2017.

As Katie Paterson, the creator of the Future Library, puts it: “Future Library is an artwork for future generations.” These projects, more than a century in the making, are part of a new wave of slow art intended to push viewers and Participants to think beyond their own lifetimes. They aim to challenge today’s short-term thinking and the brief attention spans of modern consumers, forcing people into considering works more deliberately. In their way, too, they are fighting against modern culture—not just regarding money, but also the way in which artistic worth is measured by attention.

In a similar fashion, every April on Slow Art Day, visitors are encouraged to stare at five works of art for 10 minutes at a time—a tough task for the average museum visitor, who typically spends less than30seconds on each piece of art.

Like the Future Library, the century cameras are very much a project for cities, since it’s in cities that time runs fastest and the pace of life is fastest. “Since I started living in a city, I’ve somehow been quite disconnected,” Anne Beate Hovind, the Future Library project manager, who described how working on the library drew her back to the Pace of life she knew when she was growing up on a farm in her youth, told The Atlantic magazine.