【推荐1】It might seem that a fish needs a car because fishes actually make pretty good drivers, according to a new experiment.

Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva, Israel taught six goldfish to drive a motorized water tank. Whenever the fish swam near one of the tank’s walls, facing outward, the vehicle moved in that direction. That these fish could move on land gave the researchers the conclusion that fishes’ understanding of space and direction is not limited to their natural environment.

The goldfish were educated on how to drive during about a dozen 30-minute lessons. The researchers trained each fish to drive from the center of a small room to a pink board on one wall by giving the fish a treat whenever it reached the wall. The fish was equipped with a camera that continually tracked the fish driver’s position inside the tank.

In the experiment, during their first lessons, the fish averaged about 2.5 successful trips to the target. During their final lessons, they averaged about 17.5 successful trips. Finally, the animals also took faster, more direct routes to their goal.

In further experiments, the goldfish were still able to reach the pink board when starting from random positions around the room, rather than the center. This finding confirmed that the fish had not merely memorized a set of movements to reach their reward, but were planning routes toward their prize each time. When the researchers tried to hoax the goldfish by placing boards of different colors on the other walls or moving the pink board to the other side of the room, the fish were not fooled, and navigated to the pink board.

Behavioral neuroscientist Kelly Lambert was “not completely surprised” by the driving abilities of the fish. In her research at the University of Richmond in Virginia, Lambert has taught rats to drive toy cars. “But teaching goldfish to navigate such unfamiliar land takes animal driving experiments to the next level,” Lambert said. “I love the fish out-of-water idea. When it comes to testing the limits of animal navigation, it’s important to diversify and expand our tasks and our species.”

【推荐3】The narwhal is a mysterious resident of the remote Arctic. The species, a relatively small whale is known for growing a spiral tusk （螺旋长牙）that resembles the historical description of a unicorn's horn.

Experts have long speculated why narwhals have this strange long tooth. Some think that the tusk is a tool for survival, as they could possibly use it to break up ice or spear fish for meals. However, the vast majority of female narwhals don't have tusks, and females tend to live longer than males. Most scientists now think the tusk provides no advantage for survival, but rather acts as a sex characteristic and determines the social rank. But the tusk may also have another purpose. A 2014 study found the narwhal's tusk is full of sensitive nerve endings that allow the whale to detect changes in the environment, such as changes in temperature and salinity. The finding suggests that the tusk might also be a sensory organ.

Narwhals are an important subsistence resource （生存资源）for high Arctic communities. They provide the humans with high-calorie fat, protein and nutrients, vital and hard to come by in the harsh northern winters. Narwhal tusks were carved into artworks and sold to support families with few job opportunities.

Narwhal tusk is protected now. But similar to all other Arctic wildlife, narwhals are likely to struggle in the face of climate change. Warm temperatures in the Arctic have caused sea ice to disappear at an alarming rate. New shipping channels have become accessible, threatening narwhals and other marine mammals. Researches suggest that narwhals are the most vulnerable （易受伤害的）marine mammals to human activities in the Arctic because these isolated creatures are highly sensitive to ship activities. Their response to changing conditions near the pole could provide insight into larger changes in Earth's future.

【推荐3】Stereotypes (刻板印象) are widely held but very general, simplified opinions about other people. Many of us start to use stereotypes at school — the cool kids or the hot kids — we know all the different ones by heart.

Looks, clothes, personal traits (特征) and interests are all aspects which, on the surface of it, make us different from our contemporaries. Students pounce on these in order to categorise others. “When you’re a social animal, you need to understand who is a member of your pack, and who is a member of a different pack,” says psychology professor, John Dovidio.

A girl dressed all in black may seem a bit depressed. But perhaps, deep down inside, she just likes black and is actually cheerful. She has the same interests as you — (the “cool kid”) — but she just dresses differently. The problem of typecasting is that it involves using labels which are merely shells (外表) containing assumptions. It makes one wonder why people see only a narrow view of a complicated human being.

According to Dovidio, even if we think we don’t stereotype others, we do. “We categorise immediately and without thinking,” says Dovidio. “And we stereotype others not just on their appearance, how they dress or act, but — wrongly — on their race and sex too.”

Student stereotypes may have special meanings, as teens are in the process of forming their own identity and figuring out who they feel most comfortable with. To some extent, stereotyping offers a sense of order, direction and connection to the close friends they make over time. But it’s too simple to make assumptions that “they” — teenagers in other groups — are alike or different from “us”. It’s easy to throw a group of people into a bucket (水桶) and judge them as a whole; it’s much more difficult to look at each person as an individual. On the other hand, Jim, another high school student, says “by labelling people we’re actually highlighting similarities not differences. If we didn’t stereotype, it would make many things today impossible. Think of marketing studies focused on specific audiences, or clubs for people with similar interests or hobbies.”

【推荐1】New Monterey Bay Aquarium-led research shows extremely warm ocean temperatures driven by climate change are the new normal. The study, published today by PLOS Climate, establishes that more than half of the ocean surface has exceeded(超过)a historical heat extreme limit on a regular basis since 2014.

And it is these heat extremes, researchers say, that increase the risk of breakdown of marine ecosystems(海洋生态系统), including coral reefs, seagrass meadows, and kelp forests—changing their structure and function, and threatening their capacity to continue to provide life-supporting services to human communities.

Researchers conducted the study by mapping 150 years of sea surface temperatures to determine a fixed historical benchmark (基准)for marine heat extremes. The scientists then looked at how often and how much of the ocean went beyond this point. The first year in which more than half of the ocean experienced heat extremes was 2014. The trend sustained in following years, reaching 57 percent of the ocean in 2019, the last year measured in the study. Using this benchmark, just two percent of the ocean’s surface was experiencing extremely warm temperatures at the end of the 19th century.

“These great changes we’ve recorded in the ocean are yet another piece of evidence that should be a wake-up call to act on climate change, ” said Dr. Kyle Van Houtan, who headed the research team. “We are experiencing it now and it is speeding up. Today, the majority of the ocean's surface has warmed to temperatures that only a century ago occurred as rare, once-in-50-year extreme warming events, and it indicates that we need to greatly reduce emissions(排放)from the burning of fossil fuels, which are the driver of climate change. ”

【推荐3】If exercise seems like a great idea but you can never keep up a routine, it’s worth thinking about your exercise “mindset” — defined by psychologists as attitudes that shape our behaviour and reality. Research evidence is mounting that identifying some of our most habitual beliefs and replacing them with more adaptive ones can revive our ability to keep ourselves healthy.

“Whether they’re true or not, mindsets have an effect,” says Dr. Alia Crum. “They change what we pay attention to, what we’re motivated to do, how we feel emotionally about what we’re doing and what we decide to prioritize (优先处理).” For instance, maybe you’ve tried to shame or scare yourself into going to the gym by reconsidering the health risks of not moving. Or perhaps you’ve aimed to get active by thinking of the long-term positive aspects of exercise: exercising regularly is 1.5 times more effective than taking medicine in easing depression, stress and anxiety.

In contrast, thinking about exercise in all-or-nothing terms — “I need at least 30 minutes or there’s no point” — is the enemy of consistency. You want to use the mindset that “any and all movement is worth it, and everything counts,” says Dr. Michelle Segar, a researcher at the University of Michigan. Even a quick walk in the middle of a busy day is good for your well-being. If that doesn’t agree with your perfectionist tendencies (倾向), consider whether those tendencies have worked for you. Though strict standards may help some people, for many others they backfire, creating a cycle of failure.

Besides bringing flexibility (灵活性) to how you view your movement, changing your “why” for getting active can also help keep up motivation. Rather than seeing workouts as a way to lose weight, it can help to focus on more immediately pleasant reasons to do it, like clearing your mind or feeling less stressed.

Regarding the process of exercise as something that’s attractive makes a difference. The key is to focus on the pleasure that exercise can bring, and then pick an activity that is actually rewarding.