【推荐2】Why Should We Take a Shower?

Bath or shower? How do you prefer to keep yourself clean? Whatever your daily ablutions, we know it’s important to have good personal hygiene.     1    A shower can bring you certain other benefits, but how often should we wash ourselves under a watery spray?

Although you might think taking a daily shower should be part of your cleaning ritual, there’s no hard and fast rule, although dermatologists(皮肤科医生)agree that as a society, we shower too often.     2    It can waste water as well. However, if you have a fitness regime that causes you to sweat, a more regular sprinkle of water is recommended to stop you ponging(散发难闻的气味)!

How often you shower is, of course, a personal choice. There’s nothing better than a hot, soapy scrub under the shower, and this doesn’t just have to be to clean yourself. Some people enjoy a shower to help them relax, warm up or soothe any aches and pains. It’s also a good opportunity to wash your hair at the same time.     3    

    4    This might be a necessity if your boiler has broken, but some people choose this option because it has many health benefits, some experts claim. There is increasing evidence that braving an icy shower in the morning could keep illness at bay and may even help your brain stay sharp. A podcast called Just One Thing with Michael Mosley, found the shock of being doused(泼, 溅)with cold water could have a positive impact on your body and brain.

The thought of a cold shower might not make you jump out of bed in the morning, but whatever the temperature, a splash of water will wake you up and make you feel and smell great!

【推荐3】Scientists found statistical equality between boys ‘and girls’ brains when it comes to learning math. Jessica Cantlon, author of the study and professor of developmental neuroscience(神经科学) at Carnegie Mellon University, told NPR that when it comes to learning math, boys and girls are “indistinguishable.”

Boys and girls experience learning math in the same way, the new study found, debunking the age-old thought that-males are superior to females in the subject.

The study published Friday in the journal Science of Learning discovered that young boys and girls use the same networks in the brain to solve math problems. “While some have thought that boys are biologically likely to be better in math, there was little evidence to support those claims, “researchers said in the study. Some earlier studies have shown gender differences, but “it is impossible to separate intrinsic(本质的), biological differences from sociocultural influences.”

For the study published Friday, researchers analyzed 104 kids between 3 and 10years old while they performed some tests connected with mental processes of understanding and watched videos of math lessons in an MRI scanner. In a first for such a study, scientists used neuroimaging(神经成像) to capture images of kids ‘brains to evaluate the differences between males and females.

Testing revealed that girls’ and boys’ brains function similarly during mathematical processing. “Additionally, there was no evidence of gender differences in neural responses to mathematics content, neural responses during educational video viewing, or rates of neural development for mathematical processing in early childhood.”

Furthermore, scientists “found statistical equality between boys and girls throughout the brain. “This led the researchers to conclude that “gender differences in the field of science in adults don’t develop from intrinsic differences in children’s brains but likely from a complex environmental origin.”

【推荐1】With a new technique, scientists have figured out how to create power from thin air. They have designed a tiny device that generates electricity from the air’s humidity (湿气) and it can be made from nearly any material, scientists reported in the journal Advanced Materials.

The invention involves two electrodes (电极) and a thin layer of material, which must be covered with tiny holes less than 100 nanometers (纳米) in diameter. As water molecules pass through the device, they knock against the tiny holes’ edges, creating an electric charge imbalance between the layers.

The whole process is just like the way clouds make electricity, like lightning. “The air contains a large amount of electricity,” says Jun Yao, assistant professor in the College of Engineering at UMass Amberst. “Think of a cloud, or rather a mass of water drops, each of which contains a charge. And when conditions are right, the cloud can produce lightning. What we’ve done is to create a human-built, small-scale cloud.”

Scientists have previously tried using humidity to generate electricity, but their attempts have often only worked for a short time or relied on expensive materials. But now, the new study shows that any material works, such as wood or silicon, as long as it is covered with the ultra-small holes. This finding makes producing the device much more practical.

Currently, the fingernail-sized device can only create a very small amount of continuous electricity. But the researchers hope it can someday become a practical, sustainable source of power. “The entire Earth is covered with a thick layer of humidity,” Yao said. “It’s a huge source of clean energy. This is just the beginning in making use of that.” Next, the researchers want to try laying more devices on top of each layer of the thin materials to produce more energy.

【推荐3】Researchers at Ohio State University report that they have been able to recover the sense of a research participant’s hand with a severe spinal cord injury using a brain-computer interface (BCI) system. The technology applies neural signals to the participant, resulting in greatly improved motor function.

The participant in this study is Ian Burkhart, a 28-year-old man who suffered a spinal cord injury during a diving accident in 2010. Since 2014, Burkhart has been working with researchers on a project that aims to recover the function of his right arm. The system they have developed works through a system of electrodes on his skin and a small computer chip inserted into his motor cortex (the brain area that influences motor movements). This setup, which uses wires to route movement signals from the brain to the muscles, bypassing his spinal cord injury, gives Burkhart enough control over his right arm and hand to lift a coffee cup, pick up a credit card, and play Guitar Hero.

The advances in the BCI system led to important improvements. They enable Burkhart to reliably recognize something by touch alone. The system is also the first BCI that allows for recovery of movement and touch at once, and this ability to experience increased touch during movement gives him a greater sense of control and lets him do things more quickly. Finally, these improvements allow the BCI system to sense how much pressure to use when it is handling an object or picking something up.

The researchers are working on creating a next-generation sleeve containing the required electrodes and sensors that could be easily put on and taken off. They also want to improve the system that can be controlled with a tablet rather than a computer, making it smaller and much easier to carry around.

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is now a hot blooded carnival for fans around the world for 28 days. It’s the first World Cup held by a country that has not participated in the World Cup before, and also the first time to be held in a Middle Eastern country.

First let’s talk about its mascot, La’eeb, shaped like a walking headscarf, is an avatar (化身) with no fixed shape. This Arabic word means a highly skilled player. The mascot wears a rope and is soft, whose body can make various and difficult movements at will-it gives fans full imagination. The design of the mascot is very novel and this playful image is loved by many fans. Its facial expression is full of determination with an inspirational, upward and positive attitude, just like a strong-willed athlete who never gets discouraged in the face of difficulties.

Considering the high temperature of about 50 degrees in Qatar in summer will affect the athletes’ competitive status, this World Cup is the first time to be held in the northern hemisphere in winter. To successfully hold this World Cup, Qatar has invested heavily in the construction of venues and supporting transportation, communication, accommodation, even with over 1,000 luxurious Bedouin-style tents in the desert, etc. Service facilities, with a total investment of 220bn US dollars, make it the most expensive World Cup game at present.

This World Cup will even be the very first carbon-neutral tournament, and the organizer has prepared a total of 8 stadiums, all built to be energy efficient. One of our favorites is Stadium 974， the first fully demountable (可拆卸的) stadium, built using 974 shipping containers, whose number also happens to be Qatar’s country code. The opening game and the final match will be held in the same stadium-Lusail Stadium. Moreover, thanks to Qatar’s efficient public transportation, football fans will need just under one hour of traveling time between stadiums. So if you want to, you can watch more than two games in one day and experience the World Cup like never before.

And the World Cup finale will take place on December the 18th, also Qatar’s National Day. So expect fireworks all around. And let’s have a blast together!