【推荐2】A Europe-wide study has found that the drying out of soils across the continent as the planet heats up is leading to the deaths of more and more trees. “European forests are suffering,” says Jan-Peter George at Tartu Observatory in Estonia. “It needs to be made clear to everyone in Europe, whether you are in the north or the south, that this will become a huge problem.”

There is already growing data showing that the lack of underground water due to climate change is killing off more trees in Europe. But most previous studies have focused on particular areas or been based on satellite (卫星) surveys, where it is hard to know whether a tree has died or been cut down.

George and his team have instead studied about 3 million on-the-ground observations made as part of a program called ICP Forests, which was set up in the 1980s. Using this data set meant the team can manage not to include tree deaths due to being cut down.

The researchers found that annual mortality rates (死亡率) are rising for all tree species. Norway spruce (挪威云杉) has been hardest hit, with mortality rates 60 percent higher on average between 2010 and 2020 than between 1995 and 2009. For Scots pine, rates are up 40 percent, European beech 36 percent, and oak 3.5 percent. What’s more, for all species and regions, annual mortality rates have been positive since 2012. A positive annual mortality rate means that more trees are dying than usual, compared with the long-term average. “This could mean that European forests reached an extremely important point in 2012,” says George.

A lack of water due to global warming is far from the only threat (威胁) to Europe’s trees. Diseases have been damaging most trees in Europe. Wood harvesting has also increased by 50 percent since 2016.

【推荐3】Volcanoes in Indonesia

“The hardest bit of the job is having enough sleep,” admits Martanto, a 29-year-old geophysicist at the monitoring centre for Agung, a volcano in Bali which started erupting(爆发) on November 25th. For the past two weeks he and half a dozen others have relocated from Bandung, in West Java, to keep watch on Agung every hour of the day, occasionally in continuous 32-hour shifts.

    1     It was home to both the biggest eruption of modern times, that of Tambora in 1815, and the second-biggest, of Krakatoa in 1883. Agung’s previous eruption, in 1963, was the most explosive of the 20th century in Indonesia. Gas, rock and ash were ejected to a height of 25km above the crater(火山口). More than 1, 000 people died. “Previous eruptions, in 1843 and 1710-11, were similarly destructive”, says Devy Kamil Syahbana of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre(PVMBG) in Bandung.

    2     The first, of which there are 69, are active volcanoes which have erupted at least once since 1600. The second are active but have not erupted since 1600. The third are potentially active openings in the earth’s crust, such as fumaroles. The first type, of which Agung is one, are monitored 24 hours a day by an observer in a station nearby, from which they can see the peak. They then feedback information to the main centre in Bandung.

Eruptions, in short, are hard to predict with precision. Sinabung, on the island of Sumatra, erupted suddenly in 2010 and then again in 2013 and 2016.     3     As a result, PVMBG had not been monitoring it, and those living nearby were not prepared to evacuate. It is still erupting; thousands of people have had to be permanently relocated.

Even when volcanoes are known to be active, and there are enough monitoring data, it is not easy to judge how destructive an eruption might be.     4     Call for an evacuation too early, and people might decide the risk is overblown and return to their homes.

【推荐1】There is a phenomenon education experts call “summer melt”. High school students graduate with the best of intentions to go to college, even committing to a school, but then life happens: jobs, family, and fear all get in the way.

Over the pandemic (疫情), the register at four-year colleges remained stable for Lancaster students, opposite to national trends. But the register at two-year colleges fell by nearly half, suggesting that students who would otherwise pursue community college were rethinking their plans. Community colleges were slower than universities to return to in-person instruction. Financial insecurity over the course of the pandemic also likely played a role in the phenomenon, as families struggled with their ability to pay for college. This summer a new factor is likely to be on the table for low-income students: the attraction of high-paying jobs.

Brahmin Ntege, who graduated from McCaskey in the spring, was working in a factory this summer producing battery wires and cables full-time. The son of an immigrant from central Africa, he was accepted to several colleges, including Pennsylvania State and Temple universities, and plans to attend Millersville University, a public college just outside Lancaster. Some of his friends, Ntege said, have different plans. They want to go to college, but have decided to work for now to save up money — something he said wouldn’t sway him and he would go to college, earn a degree and start making more money so that he wouldn’t have to do the 9-to-5 job which might kill his body.

For colleges and universities, it’s in their best interest to try to prevent “summer melt”. That’s especially important as the register has declined by nearly 10 percent over the course of the pandemic, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Every student, no matter whether they intend to go to college or not, needs to have access to quality advising to help them sort through possible plans, preferably from someone who already knows them. If all the students had that kind of support, they’ll be better off, whether they choose to go to college or not.

【推荐2】If you want to make sure that you understand this story as fully as possible, you might consider printing the article and reading it on paper. That is one of the findings of a recent study of research done on the differences between paper and screen reading.

Virginia Clinton carried out the research examination. Clinton looked at 33 past studies done between 2008 and 2018 that examined paper versus screen reading. Her examination found that reading from paper generally led to better understanding and improved a person’s performance on tests connected to the reading material. And, she found no major differences in reading speed between the two. Such differences were notable only when the reading materials were expository texts — or explanatory and based on facts. Clinton said she found no major difference when it came to narrative, fictional texts.

Clinton also found that paper readers usually have a higher recognition of how well they have understood a text than screen readers. This skill is called metacognition. The word “cognition” means the mental action of increasing knowledge and understanding. “Metacognition” simply means thinking about one’s own thinking.

Clinton said, “We think that we’re reading the story or the book better than we actually are. We think we understand what we are reading better than how we are actually reading.” Yet, this inflated（夸大的）sense of understanding, or over-confidence, is especially common among screen readers.

Clinton said there are many possible reasons for such findings. Over-confidence of screen readers, for example, could be the result of a less focused mind. Clinton said, “If you are enjoying the reading, you’re going to be more concentrated. You’re going to be paying better attention. Preferences are a key issue here.”

Several studies have found that people often think of paper materials as more important and serious. “If you are reading from paper, your mind thinks, ‘This is something important. I need to pay attention to it’,” Clinton said. Readers might connect computer screens with fun, less serious activities — such as checking social media or watching Netflix. That, Clinton said, could explain why most studies find no major difference in screen and paper among narrative, fictional reading materials. Clinton described this kind of reading as “enjoyment reading”.

Although her findings may support paper reading over screen reading, Clinton points to new and developing tools that can be used to improve a screen reader’s understanding and focus. “For example, when you’re reading off of a screen it can be programmed that you have to answer questions and get them right before you can continue. Paper can’t make you do that.”