【推荐2】When I arrive at Falconwood Bee Farm, Kant Kaye in already deep into checking hive (蜂箱) boxes, unaware of my presence. I overhear her chatting with the bees, their soft hum (嗡嗡声) filling the air between words of encouragement and negotiation.

Kaye was born with extreme deafness. While Kaye is able to hear with the assistance of hearing aids she usually removes them when she’s working. “Sounds aren’t natural to me,” she explains, “I just love the peace and quiet. When I’m with the bees, I don’t need to hear, I can focus better when I’m not constantly disturbed.”

Equipped with only her hood (头巾), hive tool, and smoker, Kaye moves at a steady and calculated pace. I’m overdressed, having borrowed a full protective suit for the occasion. She instructs me to remove the gloves I brought and tells me where to stand so as to avoid stressing out the bees. Kaye’s gentle, careful style makes me feel at ease around her insects. The more time we spend together, the more I come to appreciate Kaye’s passion for bees, as well as the ways that being hard of hearing has influenced her unique approach to the craft.

In her practice, she emphasizes natural beekeeping techniques that employ minimal chemical interventions. And she’s able to get all the information she needs to tend to the hives by relying on her other senses. Perhaps above all else, what makes Kaye an exceptional beekeeper is almost philosophical. Excelling at her job has everything to do with adaptation, managing the countless variables that arise on any given day. Is there too much rain? Too little? When will the flowers bloom? Will they produce enough honey? She responds accordingly, making sure not to disturb the bees’ rhythm and balance.

“There is a spiritual side to beekeeping,” she said. “You can’t fully control them, like with anything in nature, really. Some years you get a great honey season. Some years are horrible and you lose 50 percent of your hive. There’s a lot of heartbreak but a lot of joy, too, in just working outside with these creatures—a living super organism.”

【推荐3】Rainforests are a very important part of our planet, giving us oxygen, absorbing carbon dioxide and giving a home to 50% of the animal and plant species of the planet. Not to mention the medicines and cures that are made from the plants that grow there.     1     .

What is deforestation? Deforestation is the name given to the damage toe rainforests. This is being done by burning them down, cutting down the trees or flooding the areas.     2     It’s reported that an area, the size of one football pitch (足球场), is being destroyed every minute! If this carries on at this speed, it will take less than a hundred years to destroy all the rainforests on Earth.

    3     People clear the rainforests to make space for producing food, including cattle to be farmed for cheap beef and also growing large crops, such as soya beans. In addition, other causes of deforestation, which are also related to making money, include cutting down and using the wood from the forest, building roads for mining metals, gold or diamonds and something like that.

How can they be saved?     4     Also, you could think about the reasons why the forests are being destroyed and how you could help. For example, the cheap beef farmed in the areas that used to be rainforest land is often used in fast food chains.     5     You could also check on your supermarket food labels-is it farmed in an area where deforestation is taking place? Besides, you could use rainforest-friendly wood which is not a product of deforestation.

【推荐1】Recently, a design student has developed an auto-mini robot — “A” seedbot that can search through vast deserts, sowing seeds when it finds a suitable area to plant a tree.

The “A” seedbot, created by Mazyar Etehadi from the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation, could be a new and creative way to transform deserts into greenery. “Planting trees in the desert area can keep the sand and protect the environment,” said Etehadi. It was launched at the Global Grad Show (GGS), an event that has designers come together to showcase innovations that could solve today’s environmental issues.

In an area where high temperatures are limiting to life, the importance of growing plants is crucial. Just eight inches long, the tiny robot is equipped with its own solar panels (太阳能板), allowing it to charge during the day and continue working through the night. It can operate all on its own, using its 3D-printed legs to search for viable spots to plant a seed. In doing so, designers seek to understand how roots work and also to design sensors that might monitor soil pollution, prospect for minerals and look for water.

The robot has a distance sensor that it uses to send reports back to its controller. The only time human needs to step in is to refill the robot with more seeds. “I think it was an easy solution to come up with, but no one had made it, and here comes my idea! It means a lot to the people who have been fighting against the deserts for generations,” said Etehadi. Going forward, he hopes his idea can be adopted by the government, the farming industry, and private individuals as a more efficient way to grow plants.

【推荐1】Chances are that you’ve seen a movie or played a video game that contains a cyborg（半人半机器的生物）. These half-man-half-machine beings have been a vision of many creative writers. But it seems that some people can’t wait for the future to arrive.

At the Body Hacking Conference in 2017, held in Texas, US, hundreds of science fiction fans from all over the world gathered to show off their body hacks. Rob Spence, 45, had his right eye removed after an accident. Soon after, he decided he wanted to replace it with something more interesting. The minute I learned that I was losing my eye, I began researching how I could turn it into a camera, he told Wired.

This is an extreme example, and body hacking doesn’t always take things so far. For example, around the world, many people are choosing to get NFC chips implanted in their hands. This is the same technology as used in smartphones, and it allows users to pay for things or even unlock their cars just by using their fingertips. The chip is the same size as a grain of rice and can be fixed and removed easily without much pain.

Hannes Sjoblad, founder of a Swedish body hacking group, believes that these implants are just the natural next step for smart technology that is already in wide use, such as smartwatches.

We are updating our bodies with technology on a large scale already with wearables. But all of the wearables we wear today will be implantable in 5 to 10 years, he told Business Insider.

Sjoblad believes that such implants will become a regular part of our lives. Indeed, his group was asked to put chips in the hands of employees at a company in Sweden, allowing them to do things like opening doors, paying for lunch, and using the copy machine in the office.

Who wants to carry a clumsy smartphone or smartwatch when people can have it in the finger-nail? he said.

【推荐2】As birth order is clearly one of the many factors that affect development, we should pay much attention to it. Big brothers and sisters usually develop leadership early in life, mainly because of the responsibilities for younger children given to them by their parents. The danger, experts on family and child psychology report, is that if the older child takes that role to an extreme, he or she can become an overbearing adult.

Studies of nearly 300 people have found that firstborns are usually the most strongly motivated toward achievement. This is mainly the result of parental expectations. Research also suggests that firstborn children generally become more conservative than other children because they receive most of the parental orders and rules. Used to caring for others, they are more likely to move toward such leadership professions as teaching and politics. Less social and flexible because they become accustomed in the very early years to acting alone, they may have difficulty making close friends.

By contrast, the researchers say later children are more likely to be more relaxed and sociable than the eldest child because their parents are more relaxed. However, later children are often less ambitious and may be uncomfortable making decisions for others, and will seek work that fits their needs. This may help explain why younger children tend to favor the creative fields such as music, art, and writing. Later children may make good sellers because persuasion may have been the only tool they had to deal with older children. Younger children tend to remain forever “the baby” enjoyable to be around, but at times too dependent on others.

【推荐3】From a young age, many of us learn the benefits of being an extrovert —those individuals who always seem to be the life and soul of the party, often outspoken and able to express their opinions fluently. However, not all of us are wired that way —so is being an extrovert really better?

While thinking of an extrovert, we imagine a character who is determined, approachable, cheerful and charming. We are taught to admire these personalities early on. Kids are often encouraged to interact, play and communicate with other children. It seems at times as though children are made to have a more outgoing lifestyle, with some people becoming false extroverts introverts who copy extrovert behavior. While externally they may seem to enjoy the company of others, or being in the center of public attention, they can still become over—extended in intense social situations.

So, while the positive aspects of being an extrovert are plain to see, what are the benefits of introversion? Although extroverts depend on social interaction, introverts are more comfortable with levels of isolation. According to Dr Berit, a college professor, extreme isolation such as times like the lockdown, does not affect introverts as much as extroverts. Lack of social contact, something extroverts rely on, can lead to depression, loneliness, and even death.

But it’s not just in an extreme situation that an introvert shines through. These people seem to have more time for deep thought and thus can become more balanced. They also tend to be good listeners and think before they speak, meaning they could become great friends. Finally, introverts are often fantastic observers, as sitting out of the focus can give them more time to watch the behavior of others.

So, whatever your personality, either introvert or extrovert, there are clear advantages to being either, and if you meet an introvert, you might just end up with an amazing friend.