【推荐1】The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides a year into 24 solar terms (节气). The Spring Equinox (春分), as the fourth term of the year, starts on March 20 and ends on April 3 this year. Here are things you may not know about the Spring Equinox.

Swallows flying north

The ancient Chinese people divided the fifteen days of the Spring Equinox into three “hou’s”, or five-day parts. As the old saying goes, swallows fly back to the North in the first hou; thunder cracks the sky in the second hou; lightning occurs frequently in the third hou. It vividly reveals the climate feature during the Spring Equinox.

Egg-standing games

Standing an egg upright is a popular game across the country during the Spring Equinox. It is an old custom that dates back to 4,000 years ago. It is believed that if someone can make the egg stand, he will have good luck in the future.

Flying kites

The Spring Equinox is a good time to fly kites. In ancient times, people did not have good medical resources. To pray for health, they wrote their medical issues on a paper kite. When the kite was in the air, people would cut off the string to let the paper kite float away, symbolizing the flying away of diseases.

Eating spring vegetables

Eating spring vegetables during the Spring Equinox is a commonly practiced custom in many regions of China. Spring vegetables refer to seasonal vegetables that differ from place to place. The ancient teachings in the Chinese classic, Huangdi Neijing, suggest that people eat seasonal foods to help preserve health and bring good luck.

【推荐2】What’s really green?

Most of us are aware that we must protect the environment. But recently, some “green truths” have turned out only half true, or even completely false. Here are some common ones.

Paper shopping bags are better than plastic ones.

Plastic bags cause litter, bring dangers to wild animals and take long to break down. So people think paper bags are better. However, making a paper bag uses four times as much energy as making a plastic bag and three times the amount of water, besides producing more greenhouse gases.

Actually, neither are environment-friendly. So, take a reusable bag with you when shopping.

Running your car air conditioning burns more gas.

Running your car air conditioning (A/C) will affect your gas mileage, costing you more money and producing more pollution. However, if you want to save gas by turning off the A/C and rolling down your windows, you have to drive at low speed. At high speed, the aerodynamic drag (空气阻力) caused by open windows will actually cost you more gas. It does help save some gas if you turn off your A/C a few minutes before arriving at your destination.

It’s better to take a shower than a bath.

It depends on your shower time and size of your bath. If you spend over eight minutes in a shower, you’ll use as much water as in a bath. Therefore, the key is to keep your shower time as short as possible.

When you turn off a device, it stops using power.

When we turn off a device like television, it goes into stand-by mode. However, devices in this mode still use power. To ensure your device is truly off, just remove the plug (插头).

【推荐3】The lack of clues left behind by ancient Americans has made it difficult for researchers to determine precisely when humans first arrived on the continent. However, it has always been believed to be about 13,000 years ago. Now, evidence from the Chiquihuite Cave in Zacatecas, Central Mexico, seems to suggest that prehistoric humans may have been living in North America as early as 30,000 years ago.

Dr. Ciprian Ardelean, of the Autonomous University of Zacatecas who led the groundbreaking research, first became aware of the cave in May 2010.Getting to the cave located 2,750 meters above sea level required a 45-minute truck ride to the base and an uphill climb over a rough terrain (地形). However, Dr. Ardelean and his team found enough clues to make the difficult journey three additional times—in 2012, 2016, and 2017.

The archeologists’ efforts revealed many artifacts (文物) including over 1,900 stone tools from multiple layers of the cave. The scientists found that most of the tools were between 16,000 and 13,000 years old. However, 239 artifacts unearthed from the deepest layer of the cave dated back an astonishing 30,000 years!

While the genetic material gained in the cave was only plant and animal DNA, the team did find evidence of sulfur, potassium and zinc elements that could indicate human activities such as killing animals. Dr. Ardelean says the absence of human DNA confirms that the early people visited the cave for short periods of time.

The researchers are unsure of the ancient humans’ origins or the path they took to get to America. They guess the groups were tribes who moved from place to place and went extinct at some point during their migrations. Dr. Ardelean says, “We don’t know who they were, where they came from or where they went. They’re a complete enigma. We falsely assume that the native populations in the Americas today are direct descendants (后代) from the earliest Americans, but now we don’t think that is the case.”

Archeologist Loren Davis, from Oregon State University, is unsure that the artifacts recovered are tools. The researcher says, “If it’s true that people were in Zacatecas 32,000 years ago, that changes everything—it more than doubles the time people have been in the Americas. I’m not going to say it’s impossible, but if all they found are broken rocks without any hard evidence, it’s natural for people to challenge the conclusion.”

【推荐1】If you think backyard and roof-top beehives (蜂箱) are helping save the bees, think again, experts say.

A recent study conducted in Montreal found that places with the largest increase in honeybees kept by humans had the fewest wild bee species—with small bees, which are only able to fly shorter distances to find food, appearing to be especially at risk.

“The honeybee has been promoted as the symbol of helping the environment and the variety of living species on the earth, and really it’s not that,” says Gail MacInnis, a researcher at Concordia University. “You would never start keeping chickens to help save wild bird species.”

“Honeybees are among the most common insects in the world, but they aren’t native to many of the places where they are found,” says Sheila Colla, a professor at York University. “Honeybees are very successful invaders (入侵者),” Colla says. These bees can fly long distances and are able to effectively communicate with one another through dance language. Introducing honeybee hives to an area can be a problem for local wild bees, which often end up competing for the same food sources.

Should we stop keeping bees in the cities then? Colla gives us an answer in some way. “There is room for it in cities. It’s just right now we’re not managing it very responsibly in certain places,” she says. It is suggested that cities and towns that allow beekeeping should have caps on the number of hives and require people to register their bee hives. Beekeepers also need to understand the responsibility they’re taking on.

【推荐2】Most of the time, this column focuses on a novel or a short story. This month is a little different. For starters, it isn't a work of fiction. Instead, How to Lie with Statistics is a simple little book that teaches readers to tell the difference between good and bad statistics.

At the heart of the book is a problem. At their best, statistics provide a powerful way to strengthen an argument or point of view. Unfortunately, statistics are also both easily misunderstood and readily manipulated. That is a problem because many people are not well-equipped to understand when numbers are being used to manipulate them. The easiest way to solve this problem is to give people the ability to understand statistics.

How to Lie with Statistics seeks to do just that. Often used as a textbook for math classes, it is surprisingly easy to read and understand. It's also very useful. Each of the book's ten chapters focuses on one way statistics are commonly misused.

How to Lie with Statistics has a light and fun tone. It teaches both simple explanations and fun examples. It is a short 144 pages and includes a lot of cartoon illustrations. Written in1954, the book quickly became a classic. Despite its age, the ideas presented are practical, and the examples remain easy to follow. That said, some of the examples, especially those that use dates and money, seem dated to modern eyes.

Readers should also be aware that this book isn't really a textbook. While the book outlines important ideas about statistics, it doesn't actually teach you math. The author, Darrel Huff, wasn't a mathematician. Rather, he was a journalist. The book shows that by informing readers, but not exploring topics too deeply.

Nevertheless, the book is a wonderful resource for readers. Traditionally, it has been used as an extra text for students from many different subjects. It also provides a handy introduction to interdisciplinary studies. However, the book will prove useful for any-one who wants to develop their critical thinking.