【推荐2】On paper, Joyxee Island sounds like an attractive vacation accommodation. Located in Isla Mujeres Bay, a short distance from the Mexican Caribbean hot spot of Cancun, this private island features swimming ponds, Internet access, a fully functioning bathroom, a rainwater collection system, private beach space, solar power, a three-story home and a total area of 750 square meters.

The island, owned by British artist Richart Sowa, isn’t an island at all, at least not in the typical sense. Joyxee is floating (漂浮) on a man-made base of about 150,000 air-filled bottles held inside large nets. This floating bottom layer is covered with sand and soil. The roots from the island’s mangrove (红树林植物) forest have grown through these nets, providing natural structural strength. Creating this island has been a long process. Joyxee began as a small raft, but has grown into a space that’s large enough to allow Sowa to live a mostly self-sufficient lifestyle.

Joyxee is not Sowa’s first try at a plastic-bottle island. Sowa built Spiral Island on Mexico’s Caribbean coast in the late 1990s. Spiral did not survive Hurricane Emily, though, which struck the Caribbean in 2005. Fortunately, some of the bottle-filled nets were preserved. Sowa used these re-recycled bottles to start Joyxee with the help of local environmentalists who wanted to support his eco-island idea. He decided to place it inside a lagoon (濒海湖) in Isla Mujeres Bay to protect Joyxee from suffering the same misfortune as Spiral Island.

While the media have covered the island as a novelty, Sowa’s statements on his website show that he thinks that his island constructions could be the start of something bigger. “Environmentally, the island is an example of a wind-, solar- and wave-powered living space. Furthermore, the mangroves can clean the air by absorbing CO₂. And because such islands are floating, they would not be affected by rising sea levels, flooding or other disasters.” Sowa welcomes guests to Joyxee and also offers tours. For tours, including a return trip to the shore, he requests a “donation of S5 or more.”

【推荐1】Over the past 50 years, robots have become a normal part of our everyday lives. They build cars in factories, clean up dirt in the house and dismantle bombs in war zones. However, some inventors are creating a future where robots not only do our boring and dangerous jobs but also become a part of our families.

In 2019, a Japanese robotics company introduced LOVOT, a robot that weighs as much as a baby and looks like a mix between a penguin (企鹅) and a bear. Although LOVOT can’t build a car, it can build a relationship with its owner and provide love, companionship and happiness. In fact, LOVOT is just one of the latest robots meant to help people who are suffering from mental problems such as loneliness and dementia (痴呆).

LOVOT has a system of sensors that allows it to move freely around a room and respond to things. For example, they will fall asleep when it’s held. Also, when LOVOT needs a hug, it will find its owner in the house and wait until it is picked up.

All over the world, robots like LOVOT are being used for “robot-assisted therapy (疗法).” For example, when a robot baby seal named PARO was given to an elderly Australian patient with dementia, the patient spoke for the first time since arriving at the nursing home. In New Zealand, when dementia patients were given the chance to play with PARO or a real dog, they chose to play with PARO. And in a Japanese elderly home, PARO reduced the stress levels of the elderly.

Robots like LOVOT and PARO are being developed at the perfect time. Many countries have “aging societies”, resulting in more people who not only need assistance with things like getting dressed and cooking meals but also friendship and love. Also, according to a research in Japan, 40 percent of all people in that country will be living alone by 2040, meaning loneliness among younger populations may also increase. However, if LOVOT and PARO can give us all the love and affection we get from pets without any of the mess or regular care, we might not be so lonely after all.

【推荐2】Ten years ago, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan struck off the country’s eastern coast. The 9.0-magnitude quake and the tsunami it caused damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Then followed the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

The disaster struck at a time of untested optimism surrounding nuclear-energy technologies and the part they might have been able to play in achieving a low-carbon future. It led to fresh concerns over the vulnerabilities of nuclear infrastructures, and the fallibility (易错性) of humans in operating such complex systems.

Many experts have cast nuclear power as an inevitable choice if the planet is to limit global warming. But, given the environmental and social concerns, others are more cautious, or remain opposed.

In our view, two crucial questions concerning the future of nuclear energy need to be asked. First, can and will the sector ever overcome public disapproval? Second, do its benefits outweigh risks and costs to people and the environment? To move forward, the nuclear industry must confront these questions.

Today, around 50 nuclear-power reactors are being constructed across 16 countries. China leads, with 16 plants under way, followed by India and South Korea. According to the World Nuclear Industry Status Report, as of the end of February 2021, 414 nuclear-powered reactors were running in 32 countries, contributing 10.3% of the world’s supply of electricity. Overall, nuclear energy is ticking along but struggling.

Much of the support for nuclear energy has focused almost entirely on its techno-economic characteristics, which has downplayed the unresolved moral and ethical concerns surrounding its usage. Supporters often fail to consider inequalities in how the benefits and risks of nuclear technologies are distributed on the local, regional and global scale.

Nearly three-quarters of all uranium (铀) production globally, for instance, comes from mines that are in or near local communities, for example in the United States and Australia. These mines, left untreated after use, have poisoned lands and people. Nuclear waste is similarly trapped in equity concerns, given that long- term repositories (贮存处) will probably be sited far from communities that have benefited from the production of nuclear electricity. The nuclear industry often presents the problem of waste storage as having known technical solutions. The reality of exactly where it should go, and how, is still highly debated.

【推荐3】There was a time not long ago when new science Ph.D.s in the United States were expected to pursue a career path in academia (学术界). But today, most graduates end up working outside academia, not only in industry but also in careers such as science policy, communications, and patent law. Partly this is a result of how bleak the academic job market is, but there’s also a rising awareness of career options that Ph.D. scientists haven’t trained for directly—but for which they have useful knowledge, skills, and experience. Still, there’s a huge disconnect between the way we currently train scientists and the actual employment opportunities available for them, and an urgent need for dramatic improvements in training programs to help close the gap. One critical step that could help to drive change would be to require Ph.D. students and postdoctoral scientists to follow an individual development plan (IDP).

In 2002, the U.S. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology recommended that every postdoctoral researcher put together an IDP in consultation with an adviser. Since then, several academic institutions have begun to require IDPs for postdocs. And in June, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Biomedical Research Workforce Working Group recommended that the NIH require IDPs for the approximately 32,000 postdoctoral researchers they support. Other funding agencies, public and private, are moving in a similar direction.

IDPs have long been used by government agencies and the private sector to achieve specific goals for the employee and the organization. The aim is to ensure that employees have an explicit tool to help them understand their own abilities and aspirations, determine career possibilities, and set (usually short-term) goals. In science, graduate students and new Ph.D. scientists can use an IDP to identify and navigate an effective career path.

A free Web application for this purpose, called myIDP, has become available this week. It’s designed to guide early-career scientists through a confidential, rigorous process of introspection（内省）to create a customized career plan. Guided by expert knowledge from a panel of science-focused career advisers, each trainee’s self-assessment is used to rank a set of career trajectories（轨迹）. After the user has identified a long-term career goal, myIDP walks her or him through the process of setting short-term goals directed toward accumulating new skills and experiences important for that career choice.

Although surveys reveal the IDP process to be useful, trainees report a need for additional resources to help them identify a long-term career path and complete an IDP. Thus, myIDP will be most effective when it’s embedded in larger career-development efforts. For example, universities could incorporate IDPs into their graduate curricula to help students discuss, plan, prepare for, and achieve their long-term career goals.