【推荐2】The burning of coal may be falling out of favor as a means of generating heat and electricity, but that doesn’t mean it no longer has valuable uses. The team of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is using coal for a new economy.

The project is led by Associate Professor Andrea Fratalocchi. While reading about challenges of ending the use of coal in power generation, Fratalocchi was struck by a novel possible use for coal. “Why don’t we use coal for seawater desalination(脱盐)?” Fratalocchi recalls, still excited. Capable of taking in sunlight, the black mineral adds to the list of substances in dark colors serving the purpose, which the team is on a long-standing hunt for.

Fratalocchi and his team began to explore the use of a material known as carbonized compressed powder(压缩粉末), also CCP, which is created by breaking coal into powder, and then pressing that powder back into a solid that has more tiny holes—it can also be made into a desired shape. The team combined CCP with natural cotton fibers, producing a block which was then placed within a seawater-containing container, with its bottom touching water surface. While sunlight heated the black surface of the block, the inside fibers helped water flow in and through the block from the bottom. When that liquid water reached the hot surface, it turned into steam which rose and condensed(冷凝) on the inside of a specially shaped cover. That condensation then flew down the cover and was collected as fresh, drinkable water. The seawater’s salt content remained behind within the CCP. A simple wash was enough to remove most of it, so the material could be reused multiple times.

KAUST has partnered with the Dutch start-up PERA Complexity to promote the technology. The material will see its first use in a pilot plant in Brazil. “CCP is abundant in nature and reasonable to use, besides being lightweight and highly changeable,” says team member Marcella Bonifazi. “The device’s desalination rate per unit of raw material is two to three times higher than that of any other solar desalination system, but it produces fresh water at around one-third the expense of current state-of-the-art technologies.”

【推荐3】A new study published in the journal Reading and Writing shows that reading is closely related to language skills. The piece was written by Sandra Martin, professor of education, and PhD student Stephanie Kozak. They found that people who enjoyed reading fiction for leisure and who saw themselves as readers scored higher on language tests, while those who read to access specific information scored more poorly on the same tests.

Martin and Kozak used a scale called the Predictors of Leisure Reading (PoLR) to investigate reading behavior. They then examined how well the PoLR predicted the language skills of 200 undergraduate students. The researchers note that the age range of the subjects in the study is of key interest. In early adulthood, reading becomes self-directed rather than compelled by others, which means people can choose to read any book they like. So this is a key time for developing one’s own reading habits. But there is a general lack of research on this population, with most existing research mainly focusing on children.

The researchers administered (执行) a series of measures. First, the participants completed the 48-question PoLR scale measuring various reading factors, including motivations, obstacles, attitudes and interests. They were then given language tests similar to those found in the SAT and a measure of reading habits called the Author Recognition Test. This test asks participants to select the names of real fiction and non-fiction authors they are familiar with from a long list of real and fake names. Scores on this test are related to both actual reading behavior and verbal abilities: those who scored higher read more and have better verbal abilities than those who scored lower.

After analyzing the data, the researchers concluded that reading enjoyment, positive attitudes and deeply established interests predicted better verbal abilities and that they were more strongly associated with exposure to fiction than non-fiction.

The many benefits of reading have long been established. Besides having better verbal abilities, lifelong readers are known to be more understanding of others, to attain higher socioeconomic status and even to live longer, healthier lives than non-readers. The findings of the study can give teachers and parents some enlightenment (启发). They can promote a love of reading by letting young people read what they want, without guilt or shame.

【推荐1】Listed below are the stories of women you may not know about, but definitely should.

Hedy Lamarr starred in many films. But her film career is far from her only noteworthy achievement; she was also a brilliant inventor. In 1942, she and composer George Antheil received a patent（专利）for a device that could change radio signal frequencies. The purpose of the technology was to keep military enemies from figuring out messages. But it did more than that - it laid a foundation for the wireless technology we use today.

Today, children can happily explain how a caterpillar（毛虫） turns into a butterfly. But there was a time when no one knew this. Until the 1670s, scientists thought that caterpillars and butterflies were two totally different creatures. Thanks to Maria, we know the truth about these beautiful winged insects. Fascinated by insects, she began collecting, studying and drawing them as a child. It was through her study of caterpillars that she discovered the truth about their life cycles. She published two volumes of naturalist research, which provide major contributions to the field of entomology（昆虫学）.

Ada Lovelace, the daughter of celebrated British poet Lord Byron, wasn’t a poet herself but the world’s first computer programmer. We think of computers as a recent invention, but people were toying with the idea of “computing machines” in the mid – 19th century when Lovelace was alive. Lovelace’s mathematical genius was apparent at a young age and caught the attention of Cambridge professor Charles Babbage, who was working to design early computing machines that would be able to quickly solve math problems. Lovelace wrote some suggestions as to how to program the machines to work out numbers.

In addition to designing this early computer program, she was also the first to surest that these computers might be able to do more than compute. She imagined them doing almost everything, from producing images to composing music.

A joke spread online during the epidemic (疫情) that “No one should go out until Zhong Nanshan said you can,” which reflects Chinese people’s trust in him.

The trust has existed for 17 years, going back to when Zhong told the public about the facts on the SARS virus, pointing out that the epidemic was far from being controlled as there was still no clue about the cause of and treatment to the disease.

17 years later, he stood between the epidemic and the public, once again.

As a professional expert in medicine, he once said his words might embarrass his colleagues, but he had to tell the truth. “I think patients’ lives are the most important thing.”

Zhong said his father had told him to speak the truth ever since he was a child.

In the backdrop of great fame and high reputation, he said that “I am nothing but a medical worker.”

Wuhan has gripped the hearts of people throughout the country since the outbreak the virus. Zhong said with a hoarse voice that “with the help of the entire country, Wuhan can survive this difficult time as it is a heroic city.”

He has expressed sympathy to the medical workers fighting on the frontline of epidemic control.

【推荐1】Since the beginning of the summer in 2022, China has been burning hot under the worst heatwave in decades. A number of people in Zhejiang, Henan, Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces were diagnosed with thermoplegia (热射病), the most severe form of heatstroke, and some even died of this disease.

In a warming world, the risks of heatwaves are increasing. According to a study, the number of deaths caused by heatwaves in China has increased rapidly since 1979, from about 4000 persons per year in the 1980s to nearly 16000 persons per year in the 2010s.

“Over the past four decades, the main drivers of the large increase in heatwave-related deaths in China are the rapid increase in the frequency of heatwaves, followed by population growth, population aging, and rising baseline mortality (基线死亡率),” said Prof. Huang Cunrui, a researcher from Tsinghua University.

High temperatures would accelerate the loss in soil moisture (水分) and hurt the growth of corn, cotton, trees and fruits. What’s more, each additional degree of warming will increase crop losses to insects by 10-25 percent, threatening food security for billions of people. China has witnessed a range of extreme weather events, including heavy rainfall, flooding, tornadoes and record heatwaves this year.

Experts say that while extreme summer heat is not entirely new, these sorts of occurrences could be something that becomes a standard part of life, requiring people to start learning how to cope with heatwaves that may continue for the rest of summer and well into the future.

Remember that even healthy, young athletes can be harmed by extreme heat, so every activity, indoors or outdoors, should be evaluated when extreme heat hits. We are supposed to stay safe during extreme heat events, such as drinking plenty of water, looking for shade or remaining in shade when outside, and avoiding cooking large meals that can add heat to your indoor environment.