【推荐1】In September 2017, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, killing 3,000 people and affecting normal life for months. The storm first arrived on a small island off the main island’s eastern coast called Cayo Santiago, which is home to some 1,500 rhesus macaques (恒河猴). To everyone’s surprise, nearly all the monkeys survived the storm. The monkeys reacted by changing their social order, it turned out.

After the storm, the observers noticed that the monkeys seemed to become more tolerant. Were they really more tolerant of one another? To find out, the new paper compares two behaviors during the three years before the storm and for one year afterward.

The team assumed that the monkeys would strengthen existing bonds, but that is not what happened. “We saw active building of relationships with individuals that they didn’t really interact with before.” says Michael Platt.

That probably came largely from the need for shade, which had become a limited resource after the hurricane. “What types of social relationships are going to be most helpful if what you need is relief from the Caribbean sun?” says behavioral ecologist Lauren Brent. “The best solution might be to expand areas, make some new connections, and make sure you’ve always got some shade available. Imagine walking into a crowded bar and trying to find a seat at a table: the more people you know, the more likely you are to be able to sit down.”

When humans face natural disasters, we often behave as the macaques did, coming together as a community and reaching out to help strangers. “Unfortunately, those have largely been limited by the social distancing restrictions necessitated by COVID 19”, Platt says. Instead, during COVID-19, we have had to do the opposite of what the monkeys did.

This paper is only the team’s first study on the macaques after Hurricane Maria. “It’s going to be really exciting, as we dig into all of this biological data that we have,” Platt says. “We’re going to be able to lean things from these monkeys that we have not been able to learn from humans or from any other animal.”

【推荐3】An old saw has it that there is nothing new under the sun. But it may still come as a surprise that human beings aren’t alone in having invented vaccination (疫苗接种). Work published by Gyan Harwood of the University of Illinois confirms that honeybees got there first. It also suggests they run the vaccination programmes like humans.

One discovery in 2015 is that queen bees vaccinate their eggs by transferring into them antigens (抗原) which start the development of a protective immune response. But that observation raises the question of how the queen receives her antigen supply in the first place, for she lives only on royal jelly (蜂王浆) produced by worker bees who act as nurses to baby bees. Dr. Harwood therefore wondered if the nurses obtain the antigens while eating nectar (花蜜) .

To test this idea, he cooperated with Heli Salmela. Together, they collected about 150 nurse bees and divided them among six queenless hives (蜂巢) with baby bees to look after. Instead of nectar, they fed the nurses on sugar-water, and for three of the hives they mixed the sugar-water with a bacterium that causes a hive-killing disease.

In this case, to stop such an infection happening, Dr Harwood and Dr Salmela heat-treated   the bacteria to kill them in advance. They also labeled the dead bacteria with a fluorescent dye (荧光染料) to make them easy to track. And, the result showed that pathogens (病原体) were getting into royal jelly produced by those nurse bees.

All told that nurse bees are indeed, through their royal jelly, passing antigens on to the queen, and then to the eggs. Meanwhile, after they hatch, the eggs receive antigens from the nurses as well, thus being vaccinated twice.

【推荐1】Last year, Americans spent more than $22 billion on chocolate. But the tasty treat comes at a far greater cost than this.

That’s because farmers often cut down trees in the rainforest when they need more land to plant cacao trees. This contributes to climate (气候) change. In turn, climate change hurts cacao crops (产量). This puts chocolate at risk. But experts are developing solutions to ensure its future.

Chocolate comes mainly from the Cocoa Belt, a narrow piece of land along the equator. In the Cocoa Belt, it is hot and rainy. The conditions are perfect for growing cacao. But in recent years, climate change has a bad influence on the weather in the Cocoa Belt. As a result, cacao trees produce fewer beans. Climate change has also led to the spread of disease that harms trees.

In 2013, researchers studied the changing conditions in the Cocoa Belt. They said that by2050, it will be harder to grow cacao in 90% of places where it is now planted. But Christian Bunn of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture says chocolate won’t disappear anytime soon. Plans to protect it are already taking shape.

One solution to the problem is cross-breeding (杂交). Scientists have developed new cacao trees that stand up to disease. Some even produce more cacao.

Weather stations will also help. Groups are building them in Africa. Around 70% of cacao is grown there. Information from the stations will help farmers know when to plant trees. “Years back, farmers would follow farming rules that go with the seasons,” Bunn said. “Those rules don't always apply anymore.”

These fixes could help farmers grow more cacao on less land. That could help end the push to clear rainforest. That’s good for chocolate, and a sweet deal for the planet. “Everything has a side effect,” Bunn said. “We have to be smarter about our food.”

【推荐2】A 12-year-old Sioux Falls girl is using her talent as an artist and enthusiasm to help animals and raise awareness of the troubles of endangered species on the planet.

Bria Neff’s enthusiasm developed when, as an eight-year old, she entered and won an art competition held by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). During the art competition, Bria learned of the more than 3,000 endangered species around the world. “I was so upset I told my mom I wanted to do something about it,” Bria said. She decided to create paintings of the endangered animals, sell the artwork and donate (捐赠) money to organizations that work to conserve those species. In the last three years she has devoted more than 500 hours to the a task: painting, researching, educating and raising awareness of endangered animals. Her mother, Amity Neff, said, “I don’t know if she really relies what she has accomplished. I told her people are paying attention.”

Bria found Faces of the Endangered to protect endangered species through the sale of her artwork. She has sold over 250 paintings of endangered animals to people around the world and has donated more than $34,000 to animal conservation groups. Beneficiaries include the Jane Goodall Institute, the IFAW, and the Wolf Conservation Center in New York. Bria has also published two educational coloring books, including one for the Great Plains Zoo near her home; donations help fund the care of the zoo’s endangered species. She uses her website and Facebook page to stress the challenges facing endangered animals, inspiring followers in 48 countries.

“I hope my paintings can give endangered animals a face so they don’t disappear,” says Bria. “And I hope I can inspire kids like me to believe they can do great things.”

【推荐2】The Comfortable Kitchen: 105 Laid-Back. Healthy.and Wholesome Recipes

Here are healthy meals the whole family can enjoy, night after night.

What does comfort mean in The Comfortable Kitchen? For Alex Snodgrass. New York Times bestselling author of The Defined Dish , bringing her family around the table to share a home-cooked meal is a favorite way to show love Her recipes are designed to bring joy into that display of affection. from your own comfort cooking to your loved ones' delight at the delicious flavors, to knowing that you're caring for your family's nutrition with each bite.

There are plenty of recipes with simple, flexible ingredients for a meal when desired- perfect for people who are enjoying their " food freedom" stage of their health journey. And for those who have diet restrictions, Alex clearly marks each recipe as gluten-free(无麸质), dairy-free and grain-free,as appropriate.

Alex brings back the joy of being in the kitchen for those at all levels of cooking skills and provides food for every occasion. with soups, salads, pasta, vegetarian and non-vegetarian, ranging from one pot meals to not-so-junky junk food-and even cocktails and desserts with recipes including:

▲Cajun Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

▲Green Curry Poached Halibut with Herbs

▲Texas Style Brisket Tacos

▲Herby Green Olive Pasta with Feta

▲Sheet Pan Honey-Sesame Cauliflower

▲Clayton's Margarita

▲7-lngredient Almond Butter Cookies

With 105 approachable and nutritious recipes for real, busy life, The Comfortable Kitchen is a must-have cookbook for everyone who cares about what they eat and what they make.