【推荐3】Most people are aware that our climate is changing and recognize that global warming is an obvious truth. Scientists around the world are now largely in agreement that we need to change our ways quickly if we’re to avoid an incoming climate disaster and cut down the damage we’ve done to our planet.

Human activity has caused the greatest increase in temperature. While global temperature waves in the past have often been caused by natural events, since 1950 humans have been to blame for a warming world. Through burning fossil fuels, increasing farming and agriculture and destroying forests, we have increased emissions(排放). Our thirst for power and resources seems unending and we will only slow down the damaging changes we’ve made if we take action quickly.

We all have a part to play in reducing consumption (消耗). Even seemingly small acts like auditing your company’s tap water use and wastage(损耗) could, when taken as a whole, make a huge difference to the pressures we are all putting on our planet.

Temperatures have risen by around a degree over the last 100 years: a one-degree increase in temperature might not sound like a lot but, in climatic terms, it’s a huge milestone. In the Paris Agreement of 2015, 196 nations around the world committed to controlling global temperature increases to below two degrees-and closer to 1.5 degrees. Mass extinction is another unwanted challenge facing us through a changing climate. More sadly, scientists now warn that if the situation doesn’t improve, we may well lose between 30 % and 50 % of the total species currently on Earth.

Climate change is a real and present danger facing the world. If we stand together and make small differences to our lifestyles and habits, we still have time to repair the damage we’ve done to our planet.

【推荐3】All insects have bodies that are split into three parts, with six legs. They also have two antennae which help them feel the world around them. Most insects can fly, and since they are so small, they can live almost anywhere.

You may not always see them, but when you go outside, you probably hear insects, especially in summer. Grasshoppers make noise by rubbing their legs against their wings. Crickets do the same, creating music in order to call other crickets or to attract females. Cricket fighting became popular in China during the Ming Dynasty.       1    Cicadas, meanwhile, are the loudest insects, though their “song” is actually made by the way they vibrate their bodies.

Perhaps the most interesting insect is the butterfly. Butterflies are born from eggs as caterpillars. As caterpillars they have many small legs, a long body and survive on a diet of leaves. Once they are fully grown, caterpillars stop eating and find a safe place, usually the bottom of a leaf to make a cocoon.     2    

Many insects have amazing strength. Ants are well known for building, and they can lift 50 times their own weight—imagine if you had to lift 50 of your friends at the same time!     3    We may think that they are dirty and horrible, but they can live for a month without food, survive by eating almost anything, and hold their breath for 45 minutes.

Though insects are interesting, most people get upset when they come across them in everyday life.     4    Most mosquitoes have 47 teeth, and their bites can be really uncomfortable. Bees may die after stinging you, but that does not make their sting any less painful.

【推荐1】Scientists say baby sharks are at risk of being born smaller and without the energy they need to survive because of warming oceans from climate change. Scientists studied epaulette sharks, which live off Australia and New Guinea. They found warmer conditions sped up the sharks' growing process, which meant the sharks were born earlier.

John Mandelman, chief scientist of the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life said the findings could be used in the study of other sharks.

Mandelman said it is widely believed that epaulette sharks are "hardy," or able to survive difficult conditions. "What it means is that this species is more vulnerable than we thought, and this could be true of other sharks," he added.

The scientists studied 27 sharks using the New England Aquarium's reproduction program. Some were raised in average summer water temperatures. Others were raised in higher temperatures. They found the sharks raised in warmer temperatures weighed much less than those raised in average temperatures.

One study this year found that worldwide numbers of oceanic sharks and rays dropped more than 70 percent between 1970 and 2018. Overfishing is a main concern, while climate change and pollution also threaten sharks.

Carolyn Wheeler, a doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts Boston and the author of the epaulette shark study, said while all the sharks survived, those raised in warmer temperatures were not strong enough to survive for long in the wild. She added that if the sharks are born smaller than usual "they are probably going to have to start looking for food sooner — and they're going to have less time to adjust to their surroundings."

Mariah Pfleger, an ocean scientist said the study should serve as a warning to ocean governing agencies that careful supervision is needed to prevent the loss of more sharks." This study further shows that sharks will not be immune to a warming ocean," Pfleger added.

【推荐2】It has been a hard year for the farmers in Michigan and more attention needs to be paid to their emotional well-being, according to a report written by Jim Zook, director of the Michigan Corn Growers Association.

“Nobody has seen a year that has dealt with so many challenges that we have seen with the weather, the markets, the trade and the politics. All of them together have become a storm,” said Zook.

The farmers have been struggling this year because of volatile (易变的) weather and markets. According to Zook, some corn growers will not be able to go on for another year. He said the Michigan Corn Growers Association was putting together programs to provide emotional support for the farmers. “The biggest thing is that we just want to make sure that the farmers in Michigan will work together through this difficult time,” said Zook.

Zook said planting was delayed in the spring because of the cold and wet weather. “We didn’t get as many acres (英亩) planted as what we had hoped,” said Zook. “And so there were a number of acres that kept idle this year.” Zook said he was hopeful that the snow would melt. If it did, he said the farmers would still be able to harvest the corn. But he said if the snow melted, they then would need low temperatures to freeze the ground so the ground could support the weight of heavy harvesting equipment for the corn.

“The challenge will appear in soybean (大豆) harvest because they are lower to the ground,” said Zook. “And if that snow is up on the bean, they won’t be able to get them.”

【推荐3】A study by a team of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) psychologists has found a link between extraverts (外向的人) and their word choices. The finding highlights the need for stronger linguistic indicators to be developed for use in online personality prediction tools, which are being rapidly adopted by companies to improve digital marketing strategies.

Today, marketing companies use predictive algorithms (算法) to help them forecast what consumers want based on their online behaviors. For example, an extravert consumer might be attracted to marketing messages that match their personality, and retail brands could then choose to target such consumers by using more extraverted and creative language to advertise their products. However, personality prediction tools available today that are used by marketing firms are not entirely accurate due to a lack of theoretically sound designs. This may lead to a weakness affecting the performance of the machine learning algorithms. This begs the question—how should we create robust and accurate personality predictions?

The study found a correlation between extraverts and their tendency to use certain categories of words. The results showed a small strength of relationship between extraversion and the use of “positive emotion words” and “social process words.”

Positive emotion words are defined as words that describe a pleasant emotional state, such as “love”, ”happy”, or “blessed”, or that indicate positivity or optimism, such as “beautiful” or “nice”. Social process words include words containing personal pronouns except “I”, and words showing social intentions, such as “meet”, “share” and “talk”.

Moving forward, the NTU research team will investigate the relationship between extraversion and other word categories. They hope their work will provide clarity on the types of words that can help guide the development of more accurate machine learning tools for personality prediction.