【推荐1】Scientists from the University of Tsukuba designed a text message mediation(调节) robot that can help users control their anger when receiving upsetting news. This device may help improve social interactions as we move towards a world with increasingly digital communications.

While a quick text message apology is a fast and easy way for friends to let us know they are going to be late for a planned meeting, it is often missing the human factor that will accompany an explanation face to face, or even over the phone. It is likely to be more upsetting when we are not able to notice the emotional weight behind our friends’ regret at making us wait.

Now, researchers at the University of Tsukuba have built a robot that they called OMOY, which was equipped with a movable weight driven by mechanical parts inside its body. By shifting the internal weight, the robot could express simulated emotions(模拟情绪). The robot was designed as a mediator for reading text messages. A text with unwelcome or frustrating news could be followed by a suggestion by OMOY. The robot tries to make the user not get upset, or even expresses sympathy for the user.

“With the medium of written digital communication, the lack of social feedback shift focus from the sender and onto the content of the message itself,” author Professor Fumihide Tanaka says. The mediator robot was designed so that it can control the user’s anger and other negative motivations.

The researchers tested 94 people with a message like “I’m sorry, I am late. The appointment slipped my mind. Can you wait another hour?” The team found that OMOY was able to reduce negative emotions. “The mediation robot can relay(播放) a frustrating message followed by giving its own opinion. When this speech is accompanied by the appropriate weight shifts, we saw that the user would feel the ‘intention’ of the robot to help them calm down,” Professor Tanaka says.

【推荐2】On July 1, Shanghai began a garbage-sorting program by law. Under the new regulations, households and companies must classify their wastes into four categories and dump them in appointed places at certain times. Those who won't obey them can lead to fines. Companies and communities that don't obey risk having their credit rating lowered.

The strict practice became the talk of the city's more than 24 million residents, who criticized the program's inflexibility and confusing waste categorization. Gratefully, China's tech companies are here to help.

For instance, China's biggest internet companies responded with new search features that help people identify which wastes are "wet" (used as fertilizer), "dry", "toxic", or "recyclable". Not even the most environmentally conscious person can get all the answers right. Like, which bin does the newspaper you just used to pick up dog waste belong to? Simply open up a mini app on WeChat, Baidu or Alipay and enter the keyword. The tech firms will give you the answer and why.

Alipay, Alibaba's electronics payment platform, claims its garbage-sorting mini app added one million users in just three days. The app has so far classified more than 4,000 types of rubbish. Its database is still growing, and soon it will save people from typing by using image recognition to classify trash when they snap a photo of it. Tmall Genie can already answer the question "What kind of trash is a wet wipe?" and more.

If people are too busy or lazy to hit the collection schedule, well, companies are offering valet trash service at the doorstep. A third-party developer helped Alipay build a recycling mini app and is now collecting garbage from 8,000 apartment complexes (小区)across 11 cities. Till now, two million people have sold recyclable material through its platform.

Some residential complexes in Shanghai began using QR codes to trace the origin of garbage, Xinhua reported. Each household is asked to attach a unique QR code to their trash bags, which will be scanned for sources and classification when they arrive at the waste management station. This way, regulators in the region know exactly which family has produced the trash 一 although the city's current garbage regulations do not require real-name tracking ——and those who correctly categorized receive a small reward.

【推荐3】It's good to share, right? Growing up as kids we are told to share our toys and not be selfish. We also live in an age where discussing our feelings is encouraged. But when does it all become too much? With new crazes trending all the time, such as dance challenges and wearing a pillow as a dress, the question is: when can sharing become over—sharing on social media?

What is over—sharing? The term has become associated with social media, but it isn't exclusive to this platform. Imagine you head to a party and you meet someone. within five minutes they have divulged intimate details about their life. While some of us may try to escape these people, according to marriage therapist Carolyn Cole, this form of over—sharing could come from a strong desire to connect with someone. But how does this translate to social media?

Dr Christopher Hand, a lecturer in cyber psychology, says the more details people disclose, the less sympathy we express when things go wrong. This could be due to a belief that the more we share them, the more we attract our own negative experiences. It seems that sad fishing, the idea of searching for sympathy by over—sharing, is generally perceived as negative rather than the cry for help it could actually be.

However, Dr Hand's research also seems to suggest that the more we post on a platform, the more socially attractive we become — provided that the posts we bang out are positive. Even back in 2015, Gwendolyn Seidman PhD, said that we should avoid whining and being negative online. We should also steer clear of showing off bragging or flexing, as it's now known especially about our love lives. It makes sense—if your date is going "that well", would you really have time to share a photo with text?

So, how can you know if you are over—sharing? Well, why not ask your friends in real life. They would probably be more than happy to tell you if your posts about your breakfast or your gripes about your lack of money really are too much.