【推荐2】At first glance, l5-year-old Kenan Pala seems like a typical high school student. He runs cross-country and plays video games with his friends. But he founded Kids4Community, a San Diego-based nonprofit organization that offers volunteer projects and encourages kids to participate, when he was just 12 years old.

The idea for Kids4Community came out of his family’s experience. Pala’s parents came to the US from Turkey in 1998 and founded Confirm BioSciences, a company that produces and delivers drug-testing kits. Their journey was filled with hardship, but the kindness of others, in the forms of both emotional and financial support, left an unforgettable mark.

“We started with very little money in our journey here, but we got so much help along the way and we’ve always felt very grateful,” said Zeynep Ilgaz, Pala’s mother. “If it wasn’t for the help we got along the way, we would not be here today where we are.” The Palas wanted to instill (灌输) this lesson in their children, so they encouraged them to give back to the community. Pala said, “My parents really wanted me to understand how lucky I was to have the life I had and they did that in having me give back while I was growing up.”

Pala’s organization aims to boost young people’s involvement in community efforts because many organizations don’t let children volunteer. Now， Kids4Community regularly organizes initiatives (新方案) to help people who are homeless, including the dinner service at homeless shelters and this year’ s Christmas gift bag drive. In addition to meeting physical needs, the initiatives are designed to give people a sense of dignity and hope.

【推荐1】Scientists have identified two minerals never before seen on Earth in a meteorite (陨石) weighing 15.2 metric tons. The minerals came from a 70-gram slice of the meteorite, which was discovered in Somalia in 2020, according to a news release from the University of Alberta.

Chris Herd, the curator (馆长) of the university’s meteorite collection, received samples of the space rock so he could classify it. As he was examining them, something unusual caught his eye—some parts of the samples weren’t identifiable by a microscope. He then turned to Andrew Locock, head of the university’s Electron Microprobe Laboratory, since Locock has experience of describing new minerals.

“The very first day he did some analyses, and he found two new minerals in there,” Herd said in a statement. “That’s extraordinary. Most of the time it takes a lot more work than that to say there’s a new mineral.”

One mineral’s name: elaliite, comes from the space object itself, which is called the “EI Ali” meteorite since it was found near the, town of EI Ali in central Somalia. Herd named the second one elkinstantonite after Lindy Elkins-Tanton, an outstanding professor in that university’s School of Earth and Space Exploration and the principal investigator of NASA’s upcoming Psyche mission. “Lindy has done a lot of work on how the cores of planets form,” Herd said. “It makes sense to name a mineral after her.”

Locock’s work went perfectly smooth for a reason. Similar minerals had been synthetically (合成地) created before, and therefore, he was able to match the composition of the newly discovered minerals with their human-made counterparts, according to the University of Alberta release. “It’s just accidental that a researcher will find a mineral in a meteorite that hasn’t been known before, and then that the same compound (化合物) has been created previously by materials scientists,” said Alan Rubin,a meteorite researcher.

Meanwhile, the researchers are still analyzing the minerals to find out what the conditions were in the meteorite when the space rock formed.

【推荐2】Pleasanton Partnerships in Education Foundation (PPIE) was started in 1987 to raise money by organizing running events for local schools. Based in Pleasanton, California, a suburb of San Francisco, the non-profit organization recently hosted a family-focused fitness event for the community. “Our event helps to bring the community together,” said Mindy Louie, events and outreach manager for PPIE. “We have more than 3,000 participants, hard-working volunteers and viewers.”

This year’s fitness event took place on April 30 at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. It featured races of two miles, five kilometers and ten kilometers. A new Kids Challenge consisted of a quarter-mile run to encourage younger children to participate. When asked to describe the run, 11-year-old Jeremy Louie said, “Fun, exciting and enjoyable.” Jeremy added that he was happy to help support his school.

PPIE supports all 15 schools in the Pleasanton Unified School District, which include more than 14, 500 students and 800 teachers and staff. The nonprofit organization tries to fund programs affected by budget cuts, while encouraging fitness and athleticism. To date, the PPIE has raised over $1 million for the school district.

A local runners’ group called the BURN Youth Development (B. Y. D.) participated in the fundraising. The B.Y.D. has since grown to more than 100 youth members, 30 of whom ran in April’s PPIE event. Jerry Wu, the group’s founder and lead coach, explained that the B.Y.D. was born to keep kids running. “Watching them running strongly and happily makes me smile every time,” Jerry said.

Jerry encourages teamwork and teaches the students valuable running techniques. As a B.Y.D. member, Ollie Gu, an eighth grader, was one of the top finishers in the ten-kilometer run. He completed the race in 40 minutes and 46 seconds and won first place in the 12-to-15 year-old age group. “The race was extremely rewarding,” Ollie said. “I’m looking forward to it next year.”

【推荐3】In February, news broke that Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff had taken a “digital detox(脱瘾)”: 10 tech-free days at a French Polynesian resort. For a small group of people, taking a step back from devices is an achievable dream, but for most, it’s an impossibility, especially.

A digital detox requires dismissing technology almost entirely: taking a break from screens, social media and video conferences for multiple days. The goals—reducing stress or anxiety, and reconnecting with the physical world—are well-intentioned. However, experts say a digital detox isn’t practical anymore for most people.

“Technology is very much a part of us now. We bank with an app, read restaurant menus on phones and even sweat with exercise instructors through a screen,” says Seattle-based consultant Emily Cherkin, who specialises in screen-time management. “It’s so embedded(嵌入式的) in our lives, we’re setting ourselves up for failure if we’re going to go phone-free for a week.”

As people become increasingly interdependent on technology, doing a digital detox no longer seems like a reasonable goal. But there may be a more realistic solution that will lessen our tech obsession(着迷), without forcing us to totally disconnect.

Rather than cutting out technology altogether, practice digital mindfulness. Make sure the use of technology is purposeful. Instead of a full detox, digital mindfulness may be more practical for some people: less worry about cutting tech out entirely, and more focus on being intentional with its use.

The goal shouldn’t be to cut off technology or to put a full stop. People still need to send an email, but can do so without getting distracted by the various online contents.

This approach is called “grey detoxing”—you’re not totally immersed(沉浸的) or totally cut off from technology. Instead of causing ourselves more anxiety by attempting to live without our phones for a week, we can approach unavoidable screen time in a way that feels right for our individual lives.

【推荐3】Volunteers make a significant difference in the lives of others. Often, they perform with the intention of helping those in need.     1     Certain activities can have therapeutic (治疗的) effects. From lowering stress to increasing self-confidence, volunteering offers many health benefits.

    2     Volunteers perform important roles in their duties. They serve as greeters providing patient room information and directions and as Critical Care waiting room attendants. Outside of a healthcare setting, volunteers improve our beaches, parks, and other public services. Volunteers’ work is necessary to everyday processes, providing them with a sense of purpose.

Volunteering helps you meet others and develop new relationships. One of the best ways to make new friends and strengthen existing relationships is to take part in a shared activity.     3     Spending your time working as a volunteer also helps you expand your network and practice social skills with others.

Volunteering helps you develop a feeling of gratitude. This social emotion isn’t always the easiest to express due to inherent vulnerability (固有的脆弱性), but it can strengthen relationships with those closest to you. Volunteering allows you to take a step back to look at the bigger picture, which can help you realize never take life for granted and always be appreciative of what you have.     4    

Volunteering may reduce stress levels.     5     By enjoying time spent in service to others, you will feel a sense of meaning and appreciation, both given and received, which can have a stress-reducing effect.