【推荐1】Bumblebees(大黄蜂) are clever: when pollen(花粉) is short and plants near the nest are not yet flowering, they have learned to force them to bloom. Research published on Thursday in Science shows that the insects puncture the plants’ leaves, which causes them to flower about 30 days earlier than they otherwise would. How the technique developed and why the plants react by blooming remain unclear.

Consuelo De Moraes, a chemical ecologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, says she and her teammates were observing one kind of bumblebee in an unrelated experiment when they noticed the insects were damaging plant leaves and wondered why. “At first we thought they might be feeding on the plants,” she says. And because previous research had shown stress could cause plants to flower, they also wondered whether the bees might be creating blooms on purpose.

To find out, the team placed bumblebees together with tomato plants in cages. The bees soon cut several holes in the leaves of each plant. As a test, the researchers tried to copy the bumblebee damage in additional plants with a knife. Both sets of plants with injured leaves bloomed faster, but the ones punctured by the bees flowered weeks earlier, suggesting that chemicals in the insects’ saliva(唾液) may be involved as well.

Next, the researchers moved out of the laboratory to see whether bumblebees would continue to damage nonflowering plants near their nest even if blooming plants were available farther away. They did so. The findings suggest the bees’ behavior is an adaptation that improves food-hunting efficiency(效率).

In the future, scientists could test how the behavior may have developed and how widespread it is among other wild bumblebees, as well as what is happening in plants after a bee bite. Understanding those questions could help us better face the climate change.

【推荐1】Once I told someone I wanted to get a master’s degree of fine arts in creative writing and they told me it was the second-to-worst post-graduation plan they’d ever heard from a student. Arts degrees—especially fine arts degrees, which usually come in the form of music, studio art, creative writing and theater—have been, over the years, labeled useless.

It’s true that for the most part, STEM degrees lead to higher paying jobs than liberal and fine arts degrees, and it’s understandable why young people care about a higher starting salary and financial security. Student loan debt is playing a role in the physical and mental stress of young people.

And while STEM majors usually have starting salaries that are $20,000 higher than those of liberal arts majors, by the time people reach the age of 40, the salaries between those who majored in the liberal arts and those who majored in STEM are virtually the same. For example, women who major in STEM earned nearly 50% more than social science and history majors at ages 23-25, but only 10% more by ages 38-40, a New York Times analysis reported. So even in terms of salary, which doesn’t solely determine whether or not a degree is useful, liberal arts degrees aren’t all that far behind STEM.

It seems too that since people nowadays are going to have to work longer, it’s more important than ever that we actually like and care about what we’re doing. Pursuing something enjoyable, or else a passion, is continuously found to be a key factor in maintaining healthy relationships, mental health, physical health and energy. In other words, not useless.

Art is also a method of communication. It allows people from different backgrounds, from different walks of life to communicate with each other. In a world where borders and division seem to be all over the place, we need art more than ever. We need liberal arts majors. And more than anything, we need to be able to pursue what we love with confidence, and we need to not get caught up in the ”usefulness“ of what we love.

And just because someone’s primary job isn’t in their field of study—a writer who teaches high school for example—doesn’t make the degree useless. It just means that their way of finding a stable income is different. The same goes for artists who have to work multiple jobs to support themselves. They might have to find other means of supporting themselves and their artistry. It might be copy editing or it might be tutoring,

So I am going to graduate school, and I am going to graduate school for writing. I might be paying rent by way of overnight restaurant shifts—there’s so much I’m not sure of. But one thing I am sure of is this—I would rather be a writer working two jobs to pay my bills than be no writer at all.

【推荐3】Today when it comes to the use of digital(数码的) technology, girls have less basic education, leaving them far behind boys. And because the world is more digital. those who lack(缺少) basic internet skills will find it more difficult to take part in the formal economy(经济), to get a quality education, and to have their voices heard.

Since 2013 the global gender gap(性别差异) in male and female about the Internet has actually increased from 11 to 12 percent. Worse yet, women and girls living in the poorest countries are 31 percent less likely than men and boys to surf the Internet. In developing countries, some 200 million fewer women than men own a mobile phone, the most common means of surfing the internet there. This digital divide is increasing. and if it continues at the present pace, it is predicted that over 75 percent of women and girls will lack internet access (进入) and digital skills.

There are many causes of the digital gender gap. They include girls’ exclusion (排斥) from basic education, from specific technology education and high costs of mobile phones and internet access.

Indeed, one of the so-called reasons why girls may be discouraged from learning how to access and use digital technology is also a groundless(毫无根据的) one: that girls are simply not good at using technology.

Without the help of the government, most of the benefits of technological change will be enjoyed only by men, making gender inequality even more serious.

【推荐1】There is a day every year that most people look forward to because of a cake, balloons, presents and sometimes a party. Yes, this is your birthday. A "birthday" is described as the name given to the date of the annual event of a person's birth. It is a global tradition for people to celebrate this specific day.

In the beginning, people did not have birthday celebrations, because people did not keep very good birth records. They weren't even sure what year they were born. And when people started to celebrate the birthday, there was no tradition of bringing gifts, and guests attending the birthday celebrations would bring good wishes for the birthday person. However, if a guest did bring gifts it was considered to be a good sign for the person of honor. Later, flowers became quite popular as birthday gifts.

Nowadays, different cultures have their own birthday celebrations. In Chinese culture, elders and family members gather around the one-year-old child and bring toys such as books, dolls and coins. It is believed that the child's future career will depend on the object that he or she picks. The Chinese consider a child a year old at birth. In Japan, people's 3rd, 5th, and 7th birthdays are the most important, because they will get to participate in the annual "Seven-Five-Three” festival. Participants usually visit shrines (神殿)to show thanks for their health and strength.

Some in Britain still practice an ancient way of celebrating birthdays by placing thimbles (顶针)and coins in the cake. The person who will get the coin will be wealthy and the one who gets the thimble will never marry. Ireland has a funny way of celebrating birthdays. It is believed that it is for good luck that a child is lifted upside down and gets “bumped”(撞击)on the floor! These bumps will depend how old the child is. An extra bump is also added for good luck

【推荐3】The Land Under the Sea

Ten thousand years ago, as the last ice age ended, sea levels around the world were far lower than they are today. Much of the land under both the North Sea to the east of Britain and the English Channel which now separates France and Britain was part of a huge region of forests and grassy plains. Then the climate gradually became warmer and the water trapped in large masses of ice was released.

Now the development of advanced sonar (声呐) technology, known as bathymetry, is making it possible to study this flooded landscape in extraordinary detail. A special echo (回声) sounder is fixed to the bottom of a survey ship and it makes wide sweeps across the seabed. While previous technology has only been able to produce two-dimensional images, bathymetry can now use computers, satellite-positioning equipment and special software to create accurate and remarkably detailed maps. For the first time, an ancient riverbed jumps out of the three-dimensional image. The site of pre-historic settlements can now be pinpointed.

According to expert Linda Andrews, this technological development is of huge significance. “We now have the ability to map the seabed as accurately as we can map dry land,” she says.

Once bathymetric techniques have identified sites where people might have built their homes and villages, divers can be sent down to investigate further. Robot submarines (潜艇) can also be used, and researchers hope they will find stone tools and wood from houses as proof of human activity. The idea shared by many people in Britain of their country as a natural island kingdom will be challenged by the findings: Britain has been inhabited for about 500,000 years and much of this time it has been linked on and off to continental Europe. It remains to be seen how far this new awareness is taken on board, however.

In fact, the use of bathymetry will not be limited to the study of lost landscapes and ancient settlements. It will also be vital in finding ships that have been destroyed in accidents. In addition, commercial applications are a real possibility. Aggregates (骨材) for the construction industry are becoming increasingly expensive, and bathymetry can be used to identify suitable sites for digging for this material. Mapping the seabed will also identify places where rare plants and shellfish are living. Digging at such sites should be prevented, either to work for a profit or to make deeper waterways for massive container ships.