【推荐1】Nowadays, bikes are getting smarter. Although it may seem confusing to mess with the simplicity of a bicycle, e-bikes are actually the perfect fit for a variety of circumstances, including living in a hilly area, looking for a greener transportation alternative or just to make riding a bike more fun. Here are four typical models of e-bikes.

Not interested in breaking the bank? Try Schwinn’s Monroe 250. It’s an urban rider with a single speed and is great for zipping across town or around campus. It lasts up to 50 miles and requires a five-hour battery charge from zero. Plug it in before bed, and you’re golden in the morning.

Specialized’s entry-level Turbo Vado 2.0 comes equipped with a customized touchscreen smart computer. With it, you can control the assist mode and connect through Bluetooth to the Specialized Mission Control app.

The app lets you map out your ride, and then the motor will adjust to that specific distance so you never have to worry about the battery dying mid-route. It also offers direction and diagnostics and stores your ride history and personal preferences.

For those who want a does-it-all option, the Cannondale Quick Neo is your best bet. It was designed for people who lead active lifestyles but may not be “cyclists”.

The Quick Neo has three assist modes — eco, normal and high — and the battery lasts up to 70 miles before it needs a four-hour recharge. It also has front suspension, so it’ll handle bumps, pot-holes and even dirt paths well, and its brakes make it easier to stop if the weather gets wet.

If you live in a big city and owning a car is not an option, then the Super Commuter+ could be for you. It’s expensive, but less expensive than most cars when you allow for the amount of money you spend on gas, maintenance, insurance, parking or public transportation, an e-bike is a more economical choice for urban citizens looking for a new way to get around.

With four assist modes, it can go up to 28 mph and as far as 120 miles on a battery that takes just three to five hours to charge, so it’s basically like the Ferrari of e-bikes.

【推荐3】Robotics/Artificial Intelligence (AI) Competitions for High School Students

Robotics and AI competitions are a great way for high schoolers to dive into modern technologies. Here are four of them.

MATE ROV Competition

Location: Houston, Texas

Awards: VR headsets

Competition Date: March to June

MATE ROV Competition challenges students to design and build remotely operated vehicles, and its purpose is to see who can design a vehicle that will help monitor ocean health, provide clean energy, or just help keep our oceans healthy for the future.

RoboRave

Location: Lorrach, Germany

Awards: Small cash prizes

Competition Date: November

RoboRave is a robotics competition that welcomes participants to compete in various challenges like firefighting. The competition’s unique aspect lies in its international reach, bringing together enthusiasts from around the world to celebrate robotics education and hands-on learning.

Agorize AI Challenge

Location: Virtual for initial phases, then in Paris, France for the final award ceremony

Awards: A trip to the destination of your choice, iPad, Apple TV

Competition Date: September

In this project, you can work in teams of 2-5 people to present an idea for how we can use AI-technologies to impact a specific field, like marketing, healthcare, etc. You’ll send in your initial application in a 3-5 slides presentation, and if your team makes it pass this phase, you’ll have the opportunity to include more information about your product features.

OpenCV AI Competition

Location: Online

Awards: Certificates, cash, free courses

Competition Date: December

In your project, you can either work individually or in teams of three using computer vision technologies. OpenCV AI Competition suggests project ideas related to robotics, agriculture or education, but you’re not limited to these areas.

【推荐1】A lot of your childhood was probably spent in an ordinary classroom with old desks and chairs. That's because you went to an average school. So whether you loved your school or wished you went to one of the following now, you'll never think of schooling the same way again.

Train Platforms as School Rooms

Now, most children have to take a bus or train to school. However, they don't usually stop on the platform and learn maths. In Orissa, India, in order to try to lower the chances of children quitting school, one woman decided that she would bring the school to the kids and it certainly worked!

Floating School

Each year in summer, the rivers in Bangladesh flood. And kids are left without a way to school. However, one clever town decided to have lessons on 100 boats instead as well as health care centre and homes. With the internet access, computers and a library it's a pretty high tech school!

Elf School

In Iceland there are a lot of stories about elves. According to the school there are different types of elves that have a variety of uses. The school generally trains people in the practice of elves in the hope they can somehow help the government. The Icelandic police have been known to ask for an elf's help when meeting trouble.

Real Life Clown School

The Ringling Brothers set up a number of courses and schools around the United States to teach the students the art of clowning around. Imagine wearing a bright red nose while kids are laughing around you for a balloon animal.

【推荐3】Approaching 96, at an age when most are lonely and in poor health, Olga Murray, full of energy, has been eagerly planning a trip to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, while keeping in touch with hundreds of friends around the world. How can she be in such good shape? You may wonder. Is it her good genes? (Her mother lived to 98.) Her daily salads and three-times-a-week workouts? Or might it have something to do with the retired lawyer's second career as founder of a nonprofit organization?

Scientists increasingly are finding that the answer — call it living with purpose, finding meaning in life or just engaging with something larger than yourself — can be a particularly healthy pursuit. Living with a sense of purpose can improve the quality of those final years. Murray offers a vivid example of how to create a sense of meaning.

Murray's story began in 1984, after she had worked 37 years as a lawyer and was starting to think about retirement (退休). At 59, while traveling in Nepal, Murray found herself amazed by the children there.“They were poor beyond anything I had ever experienced,”she recalled in a self-published memoir (自传) years later.“Yet they were the most joyful little kids anywhere on earth.”She wanted to devote the rest of her life to helping educate Nepalese children.

Returning to Nepal the next year, she met Allan Aistrope, then a volunteer English teacher at the country's only orphanage (孤儿院). The two combined forces, beginning with organizing college scholarships for four of the orphans. After another five years, they had launched the Nepal Youth Foundation (NYF), which by then was supporting several hundred scholarship students and raising 60 homeless children. In 1994, the two hired Som Paneru, a former scholarship student, as executive director. Murray has taken several steps to make sure the NYF will survive after the unavoidable loss of her presence. She ceded (转让) the presidency to Paneru in 2012. Now, she is busy as usual, leading lots of fundraising campaigns (筹款活动).