【推荐2】So many things can keep you from seeing your loved ones in person. Fortunately, the people we miss are often only a phone call or text message away. But if you prefer typed out messages to verbal ones, you may want to reconsider.     1    

A new study found that communication interactions that included voice, like a phone call, created stronger social bonds than communication through typing, like text messaging or email.

    2     In one, they asked 200 people to make predictions about what it would be like to reconnect with an old friend by email or by phone. And then they assigned people at random to do one or the other.    3    

“People reported they did form a significantly stronger bond with their old friend on the phone than email, and they did not feel more awkward,” study co-author Amit Kumar, an assistant professor of marketing at the McCombs School of Business, said in a statement.

In another experiment, the researchers had strangers connect by either texting, talking over video chat, or talking using only audio. They found that both forms of voice communication—whether video or audio only—made the strangers feel significantly more connected than when they communicated via text.

Sabrina Romanoff, a Harvard trained clinical psychologist, says people tend to text or email instead of calling because of convenience,    4    Romanoff says that in reality, texting can make it hard to determine the true meaning behind a conversation.     5     .“Each party is present, and therefore, able to understand the meaning behind the content without ruminating on the endless possible meanings behind words and punctuation.”

【推荐1】A US government study has found that facial recognition technology is getting better at identifying people wearing masks. The study is part of an ongoing research by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The agency has examined the effectiveness of more than 150 facial recognition systems on people wearing face coverings . The systems are powered by machine learning algorithms (算法).

The first results of the study were announced in July, as health officials across the world urged people to wear masks to limit the spread of COVID-19. New findings were released this week . Police agencies have long used facial recognition technology to search for and help catch criminals. It can also be used to unlock phones or other electronic devices. Some robots use facial recognition technology to recognize the people they are communicating with. However, the wide use of masks in public has created major difficulties for such systems.

The study looked at facial recognition systems already in use before the pandemic. It also looked at systems specially developed to work on masked faces. The NIST said it processed a total of 6. 2 million images for the experiment People in the images were not actually wearing masks. So, the researchers digitally added different mask shapes to faces in the pictures for use in the study. In some cases, up to 70 percent of a person’s face was covered in the images. Overall, the research shows the top-performing facial recognition systems fail to correctly identify unmasked individuals about 0. 3 percent of the time and the failure rate rose to about 5 percent with masked images. Many of the lower performing algorithms, however, had much higher error rates with masked images — as high as 20 to 50 percent.

In the latest findings, researchers included results from 65 new facial recognition systems that have been developed since the start of the pandemic. “Some of these systems performed “significantly better” than the earlier ones，” Mei Ngan, a lead researcher on the project, said in a statement. The study also found round-shaped masks — which cover only the mouth and nose — led to fewer errors than wider ones that stretch across the cheeks. The new study also ran tests to see whether different colored masks would affect error rates. The team used red, white, black and light blue. The research findings suggested that generally, the red and black masks led to higher failure rates than the other colors.

【推荐2】Is it amazing to note that the Internet is still such a new device, and yet it is one of the fastest and most powerful media tools.     1     On the Internet, a big online company be run by only two guys in their garage. So it is reasonable that people shopping online would be a little doubtful about the security levels.

    2     They work hard to make people feel safe when shopping online.

Credit card companies, too, quickly see the potential for online shopping.     3     If you ever have a problem with your online credit purchases, many credit card companies will happily refund (退款) your money and then set their claws on the company that wronged you. Now that’s the buying power!

    4     No lining up, for one. No annoying mall shopping carts with broken wheels and kids crying because their parents won’t get them what they want.

When shopping online, consumers can sit down, have a coffee, and wear their slippers, not having to worry about their hair or parking, and just clicking through. Comparison shopping couldn’t be any easier. And express companies (快递公司) contribute to it a lot.    5     No wonder so many companies are shaking their heads at traditional advertising and instead looking to the virtual world to attract online shoppers.

【推荐2】Growing up in a small village in southern Ghana, Osci Boateng watched many of his family members and neighbors struggle to access basic health care. In many regions of the country, it can take hours to get to the nearest hospital. Boateng said many people lost their lives due to preventable or treatable diseases. His grandmother and aunt were among them.

Feeling an urgent call to help, Boateng decided he would make it his life’s mission to bring health care to remote communities in Ghana where education and preventative health care were lacking.

Boateng wanted to find a way to remove these barriers to health care access and education. He started his nonprofit organization, OKB Hope Foundation. In 2021, he converted (转变) a van (面包车) into a mobile doctor’s office and started bringing health care directly to those in need. A few times a week, the mobile clinic and medical team travel long distances to remote communities and provide free routine medical care.

On each trip, Boateng’s team consists of a nurse, a physician assistant, a doctor, and an operation assistant. In the van, they can run basic labs like bloodwork and urinalysis (尿液分析) as well as provide medicine. “It’s like a one-stop shop for people, ” said Boateng, adding that most of the people they see have one health issue or another. Since its launch, the Hope Health Van has served more than 4,000 Ghanaians across more than 45 rural communities who otherwise don’t have easily accessible medical care, according to Boateng.

Boateng has gone all in on his OKB Hope Foundation, recently quitting his job to dedicate his time to bringing health care to his home country. But for him, the sacrifices (牺牲) are well worth. “Words cannot describe the feeling that you provide care for someone who otherwise wouldn’t be alive if your mobile health van wasn’t there.” He has big plans for the future. He hopes to expand them to provide more consistent and high-quality medical care not only to those living in remote areas of Ghana but those in other countries.

【推荐3】If you have never heard of pawpaw, you are not alone. Most Americans do not know of the fruit, although it is native to the United States. Once, however, it was one of the most popular fruits in North America. Happily, those who love the pawpaw are trying to return it to its former position in American foods.

The pawpaw is a kind of fruit that grows on trees found all over the eastern United States. It is similar in size to a typical mango. It has a dull green-colored skin, and a soft, almost creamy orange inside. Most people agree that the pawpaw tastes like a combination of bananas, apricots (杏）and mangos. Most people are very surprised by its sweet taste. The fruit has a very short harvest season to three weeks in September and October.

The pawpaw has sold commercially (商品化地).The fruit requires a very special environment—low, wet areas that sometimes flood. In addition, the fruit is good to eat for only two to three days after harvesting. This makes it hard to sell anywhere distant from the pawpaw trees.

Planters are again growing pawpaw trees and harvesting the fruit In several states farmers have organized pawpaw festivals to reintroduce the food to people.

Farmers are trying to grow different kinds of pawpaws that will be easier to ship and sell commercially.   Donna and Jim Davis are pawpaw fanners in Westminster, Maryland. They told National Public that they purchased their pawpaw trees in the 1990s and now sell the fruit at farmer markets and online.

So, who knows? Maybe the pawpaw will up soon at a market near you.