【推荐2】If you are in Dubai you may notice a robot police officer sharing the street with you. Your first thought might be, “Have I walked into a movie set？”

The answer is no. That robot is Dubai's newest police officer. The robot has a touch screen instead of a gun. The robot will be employed mostly at shopping centers and other places popular with visitors.

The robot's face has eyes but no mouth or nose. It stands 165 centimeters tall and weighs 100 kilograms. If the robot works well, Dubai says 25 percent of its police force could be robots by 2030. The robot cop(巡警) was officially presented at Dubai's Gulf Information and Security Expo and Conference in May.

The police hope the robot will make life easier for the people of Dubai. Khalid Al Razooqi is Director General of Smart Services at the Dubai Police. He said the robot can help the public every day, and that “it won't ask for any sick leave”.

The robot cannot make arrests (逮捕). But it can recognize faces and compare them to photographs on a criminal database. It can also sense emotions. People can use the robot's touch screen to do things like reporting a crime, paying fines and reporting lost or found things. They can also ask how to get somewhere. The robot can greet and shake hands with people. So far, the robot can speak Arabic and English. It soon will learn other languages such as Russian, Chinese, French and Spanish. In addition to having a touch screen, the robot has a camera that can live stream video to a police command center.

Dubai has plans to add other kinds of robots to its police force. Within two years, the city plans to use a three­meter­tall robot that can run up to 80 kilometers an hour. The Dubai government says the machine would be the world's largest robot. A human police officer will be able to sit inside and control the robot. It will be able to lift heavy objects.

The city also plans to use an egg­shaped robot to control parking areas and give tickets to people who break traffic laws.

【推荐3】American Grace Brown is keeping busy during her first year of high school. She studies all the required subjects, such as English, history and mathematics, as well as taking classes in Latin. She also sings in a music group and plays the piano. The school day lasts from about eight o'clock in the morning to three in the afternoon. But because of her many activities, she has no time for a class in physical education, or PE.

So Grace is getting school credit for virtual PE. She wears a fitness tracker called Fitbit that the high school provided. She wears the Fitbit on her arm while doing exercises lasting 30 minutes or longer three times a week. Her computer has a software program that records her activity which she can present for credit.

A PE teacher may not be guiding the Fitbit-wearing students in person. But teachers do lead students’ work by setting goals such as fat burn, using the technology as their eyes and ears. “We certainly exercise more in online PE,” Brown said. “There’s a lot of standing around in regular PE. Online, I do much harder workouts.”

Grace’s mother, Rhonda Brown, remembers how hard PE class and softball games were for her because of blindness in one eye. She would like to see Fairfax County give students permission to avoid PE if they play school sports.

“We’re so stuck in the traditional classroom setting. These kids are burning 2,000 calories (卡路里) during a practice and more at every game.” Rhonda said. “I wish the schools would catch up with the times.”

It is not clear how many schools are supporting the trend. Technology and the collection of any student data always raise the problem of student privacy concerns. “There is a difference between physical activity and physical education,” said Chris Hersl. Physical activity is great for the body. We want everybody to move, but physical education is a class where students are taught how to move their body and the social context in which to do that.”

【推荐2】More than half of the birds in Washington are at risk of extinction because of climate change. That's according to a new national report from the Audubon Society, which gives detailed analysis of climate effects on about 600 species of North American birds.

It's based on more than 140 million observations of birds across the US, Mexico and Canada. Audubon scientists looked at the likely effects of sea-level rise, urbanization, drought, extreme spring heat, increased fires, heavy rain and other factors.

But it doesn't just spell out a doomsday scenario (世界末日).Instead, it offers a range of effects and warming, depending on how much carbon humans add to the atmosphere.

"It is truly an existential threat (威胁), not only to birds but to people,” said Doug Santoni, board chair of Audubon Washington, who looked into the report as soon as it came out.

Santoni says he was struck to see the vulnerability (脆弱)of a common “ backyard bird" , the dark-eyed junco. It's one that many first-time birders become familiar with as they learn how to identify species based on their markings and other traits. Currently in Washington, you can count on juncos to show up at your feeder, year round. Extreme spring heat, increased fires and heavy rain are the kinds of changes that will force birds like these north, or kill them off if they fail to adapt.

Trina Bayard, director of bird conservation at Audubon’s Washington chapter, says, "It's certainly a very serious warning report," but adds that there’s still hope. “If we can stabilize current temperatures and decrease our emissions (排放), we can really reduce the effects to these birds …that's very motivating. ”

【推荐3】“One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.” That’s a common expression, but the next time you throw something away, think about a twist on the old saying. What if your trash could become your own treasure? Many creative, thrifty, and environmentally minded people have come up with a way to make that happen. It’s called upcycling. Our world would be a better place if everyone would begin upcycling.

Upcycling is the practice of taking an unwanted item and turning it into something useful. For example, how about that pair of jeans with a hole in one knee? It could become a new pillow for your bedroom.

Upcycling is not the same as recycling. Upcycling is actually much better for the environment. Recycling takes an item made of glass, paper, metal, or plastic, breaks it down to its base material, and then uses that material to make another product. This requires a great deal of energy. On the other hand, when you choose to upcycle, the only energy you use is your own. And upcycling not only reduces the amount of trash that goes into our landfills, but it also protects natural resources, such as oil and gas. Recycling is good for the environment, but upcycling is even better.

Upcycling also makes a family’s budget stretch further. Of course, the idea of reusing items to save money is not new. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, many families lived on a tight budget. People had to use what they already had in order to meet their needs.

As responsible citizens, we should all be concerned with protecting our environment and budgeting our resources. Upcycling is a fun and creative way to help. The next time you go to toss something into the trash can, stop and think about what it could become. Chances are, there’s a brand-new item in your hand just waiting to be upcycled.

【推荐1】Digital technology—email and smart phones especially—have vastly improved workers' ability to be productive outside of a traditional office. Even so, most white-collar work still happens in an office. One reason is that, according to findings of a new survey of office workers conducted by Wakefield Research for the IT company Citrix, most bosses are doubtful about remote working. Half of the workers say their boss doesn't accept it, and only 35 percent say it's tolerated.

Skeptical bosses will likely have their doubts reinforced by the same survey, which shows that 43 percent of workers say they've watched TV or a movie while “working” remotely, while 35 percent have done housework, and 28 percent have cooked dinner.

It is true, however, that working at home makes people much more efficient, because it allows workers to take care of annoying housework while still getting their jobs done. It's much faster, for example, to shop for groceries at a quarter to three than to stand in line during the after-work rush.

The fact that such practices remain officially unaccepted reflects how far we haven't come as a society from the days when we expected every full-time worker to be supported by a full-time homemaker.

More broadly the Wakefield survey suggests that employers may be missing a low-cost way to give workers something of value. Sixty-four percent of those survey participants who haven't worked remotely would rather give up some bonus in order to get even one day a week working from home. Under such circumstances, smart firms need to find ways to let their employees have enough flexibility to manage their time efficiently.

【推荐2】Music is not just a set of sounds and rhythms. Its influence on the brain is much deeper than any other human experience. Keep on reading to know all those amazing powers of music.

A recent study suggests that preterm(早产的) babies appear to experience less pain and feed more when listening to music. Experts led by Dr. Manoj Kumar of the University of Alberta, Canada, found that music had a beneficial effect on reducing pain for preterm babies experiencing painful medical tests. It also appeared to benefit full-term babies during operations.

Many people experiencing brain damage have speech and movement-related problems. Music can help recover from brain injuries. As a different and effective treatment, doctors often advise such patients to listen to good music to improve the parts of the brain responsible for these two functions. When people with neurological(神经系统的) disorders hear a musical beat, it helps them to regain a balanced walk.

Though music cannot make deafness disappear, it really can stave off the loss of hearing. There was an experiment involving 163 people where 74 were musicians. Participants were asked to pass some listening tests. Musicians heard the sounds better than non-musicians, and this difference gets clearer with age. This means that a 70-year-old musician hears better than a 50-year-old non-musician, even in a noisy environment.

Besides, music mends a broken heart. It is not about a thrown-away love, but about a heart attack. The matter is that music can help people recover from a heart attack or heart operation by reducing blood pressure, slowing down the heartbeat rate, and reducing anxiety. Listening to the quality music produces positive emotions, improves the movement of blood, and expands blood vessels, thus, promoting quick recovery of the whole cardiovascular(心血管的) system.