【推荐1】Sperm whales (抹香鲸) living in the Eastern Mediterranean numbered not more than 200-300 individuals during the past decade. Alarming results from the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute, conducting systematic observations since 1998, indicate that the population might have been halved to only 100-150 whales. The main threat to this population is the more than 30,000 ships that annually cross their habitat at high speed and the risk of collision with them.

International and regional agreements force Greece to take action to protect the sperm whales, including their habitat, the Hellenic Trench. The pilot system SAvEWhales, which was developed by a team of Greek researchers, contributes to this direction.

SAvEWhales records the clicking sounds of the sperm whales, processes them and sends the data to a land-based analysis center where computer models are used to detect, precisely locate the animals, and finally forward the localization fixes (定位) to nearby ships, all in real time. Specifically developed software combines localization results with shipping information from Marine Traffic, a leading ship tracking service provider, to assess collision risk. If a ship is on a collision course with a whale, its captain can be warned well in advance, so that the ship slows down and/or changes course in time to prevent the collision.

Despite its promise, it may be some time before SAvEWhales, or something like it, can be in permanent use. So far, Emmanuel Skarsoulis, research director of Greece’s Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, and his teammates have already identified a few barriers. These include analytical challenges, such as the difficulty of differentiating individual whales when a group is traveling together. Besides, SAVEWhales can’t pick up the location of singing whales like the Mediterranean fin whale which is also endangered.

Still, passive whale detection is relatively inexpensive and can protect at least one of the endangered whale species in the Hellenic Trench.

【推荐3】With the help of a new mobile application called Farm Assistant, developed by Wu Zeyin, farmers in Botswana can make their work much easier.

Wu, an 11-year-old pupil from Hubei province, moved to Botswana with his family seven years ago. During the past years living in the country, he found that the quantity of fruit and vegetables sold at local supermarkets was very limited, and the quality was poor. Some vegetables weren’t ripe, such as small carrots and green tomatoes, and they were quite expensive.

Tropical savanna(草原)and desert climates are typical in most parts of the country, making it difficult to grow common crops. Drought-tolerant species of corn, sorghum and beans are also uncommon. For a long time, Botswana had to import many grains, fruits and vegetables from neighbouring countries, such as South Africa, to meet the needs of its people.

Botswana has made a series of cooperative arrangements with China to get rid of food shortages. In July last year, a pilot project to grow China’s water-saving and drought-tolerant rice was successfully undertaken in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, which brought Wu some new ideas on local agriculture.

“At that time, I was preparing for the first Youth Artificial Intelligence and Future Media Global Innovation Challenge,” he said, “When I got the news, I gave up my first plan of developing a personal time management app, and decided to develop an app for agriculture.”

The app supports eight crops commonly grown locally, including tomatoes, potatoes, onions, corn, carrots, cabbage, eggplant and radishes. Farmers who use the application can click on the pare to see its watering needs, opening time, seed price, selling price and production. After planting the seeds, farmers click the timer to start, and the application reminds them what to do at each stage.

When asked why he wanted to help local farmers here, Wu quotes an old saying in China: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

【推荐1】The art you choose to display in your home tells a story. It represents who you are and what you care about most. “After all, if there’s any place in this world that you can be the main characters of your story, it is at home,” says independent curator(独立策展人)and author Kimberly Drew.

When talking about how to find and choose an artwork for the home, Drew isn’t so interested in what constitutes “art”. Instead, he thinks the important question is: “What kind of stories do you want to tell for yourself in your home space?”

The first thing to realize is that art is all around us in the everyday objects we keep, from ticket stubs(票根)to T-shirts. If it means something to you, it can be art. Go through that box of treasures and see what brings back beautiful memories. Then think about how you might display them.

Next, let the art speak to you and your space. Social media, magazines, and television shows have endless advice on how to get a perfect home. While they’re good for inspiration, there can also be a downside: They can push us to create the “ideal” home for external approval. Recognize that your taste is unique to you and your space-no one can dictate(支配)what you’re drawn to. Remember that art in your home is about and for you. You deserve all the beauty and joy it brings.

Buying art can sound intimidating(令你生畏的), but it’s like buying anything else. Think about your budget and who you want to support. See if there are auctions that are attached to social issues you care about, or the artists whose work is benefiting an organization you support. You can also ask the artists directly, find out where they are showing next, email them or follow them and interact respectfully on social media.

Where you put the artwork in the home is up to you! But there are a few things you can do to keep the artwork safe. Try not to hang anything where the humidity(湿气)levels are high, like the bathroom or above the stove, as steam can damage the artwork. If you’re hanging a piece of art in a sunny room, make sure you think about how you’ll protect the piece from direct light, which can fade the work over time. And make sure the hanging device you use is graded to support the weight of the piece.

【推荐3】Antarctica is the most distant part of the world, but it is a center of scientific discovery and environmental change.

Early explorers were attracted there by the secret of Terra Australis. Others sought money from catching whales. Still others wanted to understand Earth’s pole in order to better sail the seas. I am a geologist (地质学家) who studies the timing and extent of past ice ages. I’ve been very lucky to conduct five season of research there under the protection of the Antarctic Treaty (条约), an international agreement that encourages scientific cooperation (合作) and environmental protection.

Antarctica is the only continent that was actually discovered, because it has no native human population. British explorer Sir James Cook sailed around the continent in 1772-1775, but saw only some outlying islands (离岛). Cook said that if there were any land, it would be “never to give way to the warmth of the sun.” But Cook also reported that Antarctic waters were rich with wildlife.

Today parts of the West Antarctica Ice Sheet are particularly close to collapse (坍塌). Recent research show sea level could rise by 1 meter by 2100 and 15 meters by 2500 if the greenhouse effect continues and the ice sheet experiences a rapid collapse, as it has in the past. Despite the environmental disaster in Antarctica, the continent also shows that nations can cooperate to find solutions. “I believe the Antarctic Treaty System is the world’s most important example of peaceful and scientific international cooperation. Thanks to it, 10% of Earth’s land surface is protected for wildlife.”

Yet in these bad environments, life finds a way to survive—showing that there are solutions to even the most difficult challenges. If Antarctica has taught me anything in 200 years, it’s that we can work together to deal with problems. As Ernest Shackleton once said, “Difficulties are just things to solve, after all.”