【推荐1】Five years ago,Abhay and a group of his Grade10 classmates at Seaquam Secondary School in British Columbia, Canada, made their first video call to the Arctic. On the other end of the line was Abhay’s 23-year-old brother, Sukhmeet, a volunteer teaching assistant and his class at East Three Secondary in Inuvik ,North-West Territories.

The conversation started with typical teen small talk. But as the teens grew more comfortable, the chat turned serious. Students in Inuvik detailed the legacy or problem of residential schools for native students on their families, including stories of social problems and alcohol abuse. Seaquam kids shared how they felt helpless to do anything about the thrcat posed by the climate crisis.

After both groups said their goodbyes, the brothers had an idea: what if the conversation, meant to expand the students’ perspectives about life outside their hometowns, didn’t have to end? Students, they figured, could continue to benefit from bridging geographical and cultural differences. They called their organization Break The Divide. Today, it facilitates conversations and coordinates community action between youth all over the world.“It all starts with empathy,”Abhay says.

The students at Seaquam used social media to spread the word about their mission to create eye-opening conversations,and Break The Divide helped them to start their own chapters, providing resources. Individual chapters are encouraged to connect with each other based on common big-topic interests, such as mental health, truth and reconciliation actions,and climate change.There are now over two dozen Break The Divide chapters located across Canada as well as at schools in China, Cambodia, South Africa and Bolivia.

Hundreds of conversations later, the brothers are still optimistic that the core principle of Break The Divide empathy can play a central role in how youth tackle the issues that matter most to them. “I hope that we can be part of creating a world where we are all listening to each other,” says Abhay. “Listening with an intent to learn and to change.”

【推荐1】Natural Disasters Require Special Building Design

Natural disasters happen everywhere in the world. Many cause property damage and loss of life. But researchers say the severity (严重性) of their effects can be reduced if people take steps to prepare.

A new exhibit teaches what governments and individuals can do to lessen the effects. Chrysanthe Broikos organized the exhibit at the National Building Museum. She says large buildings and other structures can survive strong earthquakes if they are built with some level of flexibility. In other words, they need to be able to bend and move as the earth shakes.

“We need to let buildings move and we can actually understand where they might fail, and then go in and design buildings with that in mind.”

One building design is called a “special moment frame”. It enables movement at points where large load-bearing supports join each other. Rubber-based foundation blocks let buildings move, while huge shock absorbers (缓冲器) help to limit the shaking.

The museum exhibit has a model of a wind wall. The model shows how some roofs or tops of buildings are more likely to be destroyed than others because of the strong winds of hurricanes. Chrysanthe Broikos says tests show that a reasonable angled roof is best able to withstand wind storms. In areas with powerful winds, researchers have strongly urged the creation of at least one “safe room”. This is a place where building occupants can spend the most dangerous part of the storm.

Another concern is how to deal with storms and flooding. Some coastal communities in the U.S. have made artificial reefs from oysters (牡蛎) shells instead of rocks. The builders use shells collected from restaurants to create the barriers. Chrysanthe Broikos also suggests setting aside land along the coast for parks instead of housing. She says this is more natural and keeps valuable property away from danger.

As for forest fires, researchers now suggest clearing an area about 60 meters wide around a single-family house.

“What that means is trying to keep that area free of material that easily burns.”

【推荐2】Readers can explore the wonders of nature with Big Tree. The book was written by famous author and illustrator (插画家) Brian Selznick. It is filled with detailed black-and-white illustrations, which took years to complete.

The story introduces Merwin and Louise, two tiny Sycamore seeds (梧桐树种子) who began life during the time when dinosaurs (恐龙) travelled around the Earth. After they fell from their mother tree, they started a dangerous 147-million-year adventure to the modern day.

After reading it, I met with the famous author and illustrator at his home in La Jolla, California. Selznick explained the lessons that nature offers about helping our planet and each other. “All of us can do something to help the real seed,” Selznick said. “No matter how small you feel, there’s always something you can do.”

As for his main goal when writing Big Tree, Selznick said, “Readers feel like they are learning about interesting stories when they read Big Tree, but actually and secretly, they are learning about real science. That’s why I wrote Big Tree.”

In order to write Big Tree, Selznick went to the New York Botanical Garden, where he talked to a wonderful park manager. She walked him through the forest and talked about the way leaves work, the way trees grow and the way trees experience time.

Selznick said he learned a lot while creating Big Tree. “The manager thinks that forests are really communities. It really surprised me,” he said. “We live in communities, and when we run into trouble or danger, we communicate with each other to find solutions. Trees are doing the same thing. We’re all part of a community. And that, to me, was a really important part of Big Tree.”

【推荐3】In patients with metabolic(新陈代谢的) diseases, elevated(升高的) fat levels in the blood create stress in muscle cells-a reaction to changes outside the cells that could damage their structure and function. Researchers have discovered that these stressed-out cells could give off a kind of signal.

The signals, known as ceramides(神经酰胺), may have a protective benefit in the short term because they are part of a mechanism(机制) designed to reduce stress in the cells. But in metabolic diseases, which are long-term conditions, the signals can kill the cells, make symptoms severer, and worsen the illness.

Increased fat in the blood has long been known to damage tissues and organs, contributing to the development of cardiovascular(心血管的) and metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes(糖尿病). The condition can be caused by obesity(肥胖), rates of which have increased greatly worldwide since 1975. In 2016, there were more than 650 million adults aged 18 and above with obesity.

Rescarch supervisor Lee Roberts said, “Our discovery may form the basis of new approaches to preventing the development of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, such as diabetes in overweight people with elevated blood fat.”

In the lab, the team copied the blood fat levels observed in humans with metabolic diseases by exposing certain muscle cells to a fatty acid. The cells began to pass on the ceramide signal. When these cells were mixed with others that had not been previously exposed to fat, the researchers found that they communicated with each other, transporting the signal in packages called extracellular vesicles. The experiment was reproduced in human volunteers with metabolic diseases and got comparable results.

Professor Roberts said, “The research gives us a novel perspective on how stress develops in the cells of individuals with obesity, and provides new ways to consider when we’re trying to develop new treatments for metabolic diseases. With obesity becoming an increasingly widespread disease, the burden of associated chronic(慢性的) diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, necessitates new treatments. We hope the results of our research open a new avenue for research to help address this growing concern.”