【推荐1】A new study by Chinese researchers has found differences in the brain activities of men and women addicted to Internet gaming.

The study says addicted men have lower impulse control compared with women, indicating that men are more likely to become addicted to Internet gaming.

Researchers from Renji Hospital, which is connected with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, recruited 105 Chinese participants for the study, which had two groups — one with 32 men and 23 women addicted to gaming, and the other with 30 men and 20 women who were not addicted.

They completed a questionnaire on gaming addiction, and reported their gaming history and number of hours playing per week. Researchers also talked with their family to collect the information.

Through FMRI scanning (功能性磁共振成像扫描), researchers found that men addicted to gaming had lower brain activities in the brain regions associated with impulse control than non-addicted men. The lower the activity levels, the poorer the impulse control. Addicted women, however, showed no differences compared with the healthy female group.

Researchers also studied the functional connectivity between brain regions, which were lower in men with addiction than in non-addicted men, but showed no differences in the female groups.

“Although there are some limitations, the findings suggest that activity levels displayed in the brain regions could be biomarkers to evaluate the behavioural inhibitions of gaming-addicted men,” they said.

Gaming disorder was listed as a mental disorder by the World Health Organization earlier this year. People with the disorder have impaired control over gaming and give it increased priority in their lives — to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other life interests and daily activities.

【推荐2】Children love playing outdoors. They usually get muddy, with no regard for the colour of their clothing. “Don’t get dirty!” was once a constant family warning, as parents watched their children ruin their best clothes. They were happy running through farmer’s fields or climbing trees.     1    

According to the experts, parents don’t have to concern too much about it. Recent research shows that the dirt outside can develop resistance to a range of illnesses. Certain natural materials, such as mud, contain surprisingly powerful microorganisms (微生物群) whose positive impact on children’s health we are only beginning to fully understand.     2    .

Many of the psychological benefits of outdoor play are established as well. Our brains evolved in beautiful landscapes, and the way we perceive the world is particularly suited to wild outdoor spaces. This means that natural scenes provide the perfect level of stimulation (刺激).     3     One study found that children with ADHD (注意力缺陷多动症) were better able to concentrate following a 20-minute walk in the park. Being close to grass and trees seemed to have a beneficial effect on their minds.

Outdoor play can also offer valuable learning experiences.     4    . Thus they gradually understand the external environment and the internal connections of things in different ways. If children play with others, they can develop effective strategies to promote communication and socialization.

Today, with the attraction of video games and social media, contact with nature is rarer than in the past. More and more parents begin to recognize the importance of outdoor play.     5     They believe that not only does it make children emotionally happy but it also has a powerful effect on their wellbeing.

【推荐1】On Tuesday, Apple's CEO Tim Cook announced the Apple Watch. The new smart device, which is worn on the wrist, just like a normal watch, can do all the things a cell phone does--and more.

At $349, the Apple Watch is expensive. Some experts doubt that they will become as successful as smartphones. It does seem likely, though, that the device will open yet another door in personal computing. The watch is the smartest computer yet. It taps you on the wrist whenever a new message comes in. It prepares answers to questions you receive from friends. It reminds you where you parked your car. It tracks your health. It even allows you to send your heartbeat to others.

When it goes on sale early next year, it will be Apple's first item in a new category of technology--wearable computers. If the Apple Watch becomes popular, it will change the way the world interacts with computers. People may depend on the smart jewelry even more than they already depend on their phones. "It might not only be a game changer for Apple, but for the entire industry." says technology expert Daniel Ives. "A lot of major technology players around the globe are taking notes on what Apple is trying to do here."

The Apple watch is specially designed for a smaller device. An entire computer fits onto a single chip(芯片). Users will be able to scroll(滚屏)just like they would do on an iPhone. It will have a built-in speaker for alarms that users can both hear and feel. Pressing the side button brings up contacts so you can communicate with people quickly and easily. Apple Watch also introduces health and fitness apps that can help people lead healthier lives. The built- in heart rate sensor (传感器) and GPS will track calories burned and workouts.

According to Matt Vella, a writer for TIME magazine, the watch is the most exciting device since the iPad. After actually trying the watch, he says, “It sits on the wrist very naturally. You could easily forget you are wearing the Apple Watch, and you will."

【推荐2】Inspired by the effortless way humans handle objects without seeing them, a team led by engineers at the University of California San Diego has developed a new approach that enables a robotic hand to rotate (旋转) objects alone through touch, without relying on vision.

Using their technique, the researchers built a robotic hand that can smoothly rotate a wide variety of objects, such as small toys, cans, and even fruits and vegetables, without damaging them. The robotic hand performed these tasks using only information based on touch. The work could aid in the development of robots that can manipulate objects in the dark. To build their system, the researchers attached 16 touch sensors to the palm (掌心) and fingers of a four-fingered robotic hand. Each sensor costs about $12 and serves a simple function: detect whether an object is touching it or not.

What makes this approach unique is that it relies on many low-cost touch sensors that use simple, binary (二进制的) signals — touch or no touch — to perform robotic in-hand rotation. These sensors are spread over a large area of the robotic hand. This contrasts with a variety of other approaches that rely on a few high-cost touch sensors attached to a small area of the robotic hand,primarily at the fingertips.

The researchers then tested their system on the real-life robotic hand with objects that the system has not yet encountered. The robotic hand was able to rotate a variety of objects without losing its hold. The objects included a tomato,pepper,a can of peanut butter and a toy rubber duck,which was the most challenging object due to its shape.

Wang and his team are now working on extending their approach to more complex operation tasks. They are currently developing techniques to enable robotic hands to throw and catch, for example. “If we can give robots this skill, that will open the door to the kinds of tasks they can perform,” said Wang.

【推荐3】A 23-year-old British woman has invented a product she hopes will one day replace single-use plastic.

The new product is made by combining fishing waste and algae (水藻).It could be used to replace plastic bags or containers that people use once and throw away. Lucy Hughes created the material, called MarinaTex, for her final year project at the University.

MarinaTex is edible, to put it in another way, it can be tasted without danger. Hughes says it is also strong and stable. But unlike plastic, MarinaTex biodegrades (生物降解)in four to six weeks under normal conditions and does not pollute the soil. The inventor said she is concerned about the growing amounts of plastics in ocean waters. She noted one report that there would be more plastic than fish in the world's oceans by the year 2050. The United Nations estimates that 100 million tons of plastic waste has already been left in the oceans. Hughes also was investigating ways to reduce the amount of waste from the fishing industry. The industry produces an estimated 50 million tons of waste worldwide each year, UN officials say.

Examining fish parts left over from processing helped to give her the idea for a material that was useful and did no harm to the environment. “Why do we need to have hundreds of man-made polymers (聚合体)when nature has so many already available?" she asked. After months of testing, Hughes produced a strong, flexible sheet that forms at temperatures below 100 degrees Celsius. Inventor James Dyson said that MarinaTex is “stronger, safer and much more sustainable (可持续的)”than plastic. It is also easier to break down. Hughes will receive about $ 41,000 prize money as the first place winner of the James Dyson Award. She plans to use the money to further develop the product and ways to mass produce it. "Further research and development will ensure that MarinaTex evolves further, and becomes part of a global answer to the abundance of single use plastic waste," Dyson said.

【推荐2】You get anxious if there’s no wi-fi in the hotel or mobile phone signal up the mountain. You feel upset if your phone is getting low on power and you secretly worry things will go wrong at work if you’re not there. All these can be called “always on” stress caused by smart phone addiction.

For some people, smart phones have liberated them from the nine-to-five work. Flexible working has given them more autonomy (自主权) in their working lives and enabled them to spend more time with their friends and families. For many others though, smartphones have become tyrants in their pockets, never allowing them to turn them off, relax and recharge their batteries.

Pittsburgh-based developer Kevin Holesh was worried about how much be was ignoring his family and friends in favor of his iPhone. So he developed an app — Moment — to monitor his usage. The app enables users to see how much time they’re spending on the device and set up warnings if the usage limits are broken. “Moment’s goal is to promote balance in your life,” his website explains. “Some time on your phone, some time off it enjoying your loving family and friends around you.”

Dr. Christine Grant, an occupational psychologist at Coventry University, said, “The effects of this ‘always on’ culture are that your mind is never resting, and you’re not giving your body time to recover, so you’re always stressed. And the more tired and stressed we get, the more mistakes we make. Physical and mental health can suffer.”

And as the number of connected smart phones is increasing, so is the amount of data. This is leading to a sort of decision paralysis (瘫痪) and is creating more stress in the workplace because people have to receive a broader range of data and communications which are often difficult to manage. “It actually makes it more difficult to make decisions and many do less because they’re controlled by it all and feel they can never escape the office,” said Dr. Christine Grant.