【推荐1】A new study has found that safety equipment could prevent more than 40 percent of crashes in which tractor-trailers rear-end (追尾) other vehicles.The survey also found that when the rear-end crashes happened, safety systems were able to cut speeds by over 50 percent, resulting in fewer injuries and less damage.

The survey was a project of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group supported by companies that insure owners of motor vehicles. The institute’s Eric Teoh did the study. He examined crash records from 62 trucking companies that operate tractor-trailers or other large trucks. He found about 2000 crashes. Those accidents involved vehicles that travelled more than 3.2 billion kilometers from 2017 to 2019.

The safety systems use cameras, radar and other sensors to watch the roadway. Some are designed to warn drivers of dangers, while more complex systems will stop the trucks.

Trucks with crash warning systems reduced rear crashes by 44 percent, while automatic emergency braking systems cut rear crashes by 41 percent, the study found. The institute called on the federal government to require such systems on new large trucks. It noted that many truck operators are already adding emergency braking on their own. The study found that trucks equipped with a crash warning system had 22 percent fewer crashes than those without the technology. Trucks with emergency braking system had 12 percent fewer crashes.

Teoh said the findings could be valuable for trucking companies and drivers who are considering whether to get safety devices on their next vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement it is nearly finished with its own study on driver assist technology on heavy vehicles. It has been urging the voluntary use of systems such as emergency braking.

In the United States, there are currently no requirements for either system. In Europe, automatic emergency braking with forward collision warning has been required by the European Union on most new large trucks since late 2013, the institute said.

【推荐2】London-based artist Sarah Ezekiel has won international recognition for her vivid inspiring pictures. But her work is all the more remarkable for the fact that she has a medical condition that has left her unable to move her arms.

Ezekiel’s pictures are painstakingly produced, using the movement of her eyes and specialized technology that relays those movements to a computer.

The eye-tracking technology gives Ezekiel a platform for artistic expression. Otherwise, she would be stopped by a rare disease—amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Ezekiel showed no signs of the condition until 2000 when she noticed some weakness in her left arm. Within months, she was diagnosed (诊断) with ALS. She describes her first five years living with ALS as a “dark wilderness” and “very lonely”. Today, she can neither speak nor move but says “technology has made my life worth living”.

Ezekiel uses a system made by Tobii Dynavox, a company specializing in: “Eye Gaze” devices to help people with medical conditions communicate. Its technology uses projectors, cameras and algorithms (算法) to track the tiny movements of the user’s eyes and control a cursor (光标) on a screen.

Ezekiel, who studied art when she was young, began painting using the Eye Gaze device in 2012. Although her work has been exhibited across the UK, Ezekiel says she’s still learning and that there are always new techniques to explore. Computer-based art has a history dating back to the 1950s. Over time, algorithm-based shapes made way for software that allowed greater skills, and the computer screen became a digital cloth for painting.

“The strange thing is that my style hasn’t changed,” Ezekiel says of her work. “My Eye Gaze work is similar to the work I did with my hands before.”

“Being an artist by means of technology has totally improved my outlook on life and opened up many other possibilities for me,” says Ezekiel. “I couldn’t create for years and it’s fantastic that technology has made it possible again.”

【推荐3】The Meaning and Power of Smell

Research into smell has never ended and in fact, there are so many interesting findings with regard to this sensation. Everyone knows that smell can cause strong emotional responses. In a survey, people were asked to report how they feel about a particular smell. Commonly, a smell connected with a good experience can please us, while an odour (气味) bonded with a bad memory may disgust us.     1     Such associations can be so powerful that odours generally labeled unpleasant become agreeable, and those generally considered sweet become disagreeable for particular individuals.

    2     One respondent believes there is no true emotional bonding without smelling a loved one. Infants recognize their mothers’ odours soon after birth. Individuals were able to distinguish by the smell of clothing worn by their partners from similar clothing worn by other people.

Despite its importance to our emotional and sensory lives, smell is probably the most undervalued sense. While our olfactory (嗅觉的) powers are not as fine as those of certain animals, they are remarkably sensitive.     3    

Odours, unlike colours, can’t be named in many languages because the specific vocabulary simply doesn’t exist. “It smells like..., we have to say when describing an odour, struggling to express our olfactory experience.     4    

    5     Smells considered offensive in some cultures may be acceptable in others. Therefore, our sense of smell is a means of interacting with the world. The study of the cultural history of smell is indeed an investigation into the essence of human culture.