【推荐1】Cool Inventions

For Light Sleepers

Millions of people have trouble falling asleep each night, which is why LightSleeper was created.

Developed in the United Kingdom, LightSleeper’s makers say it can help a person fall asleep and also help a person fall back to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night.

LightSleeper works by projecting (投射) a light onto the ceiling while the person is lying down. The idea is to watch the light, because the light moving in a circle has a relaxing effect.

One of the advantages of the product is that it won’t disturb other people in the room. The product can be easily moved and will switch itself off after 30 minutes to save power.

Stop the Snoring (打鼾)

Here’s a new product designed to slow down the frequency and level of your snoring. The Snore Stopper has a sensitive instrument that will detect when you’re snoring. Once it does that, it will send a very mild electronic signal to your wrist. This consequently changes your sleeping position to stop you from snoring. The Snore Stopper won’t cause any damage to your body.

Get Your True Colors

Photoshop features a pen that will copy the color settings of what you are monitoring on screen to use as a color in your program. Now an offline product allows you to pick a color when not using the computer software.

The Color Picker is a concept pen. After placing the pen against an object, the user just presses the scan button. Color sensors (感应器) inside the pen send information to a box, which then mixes red, green and blue to produce the desired ink color.

Keep It Fresh

More high technology products are showing up in the kitchen. A new Bagel dome   (圆顶形物)   advertises that it will keep your baked goods fresher for longer periods of time. The product, which is able to remove air, works for bread rolls, cakes and other perishables. To use it, you just push a button at the top.

【推荐2】What will astronauts wear in the future? A brand-new spacesuit is developing. Called the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EEMU), the spacesuit protects astronauts from the tough environment of the moon surface, which is quite different from that astronauts have been exploring for the past few decades in low Earth orbit.

Progress on the suit has been disappointing. “The EEMU represents the first new spacesuit that NASA has developed in over 40 years,” George Nield, previously the associate administrator for commercial space transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration, said, “Now, it looks like things are on schedule.”

Nield outlined the agency’s plan to build five EEMU suits in the initial (最初的) group. One for design tests is almost done and should be completed in December. A second will be built for qualification tests and a third will be tested in orbit on the International Space Station. The final two suits of the set will walk on the moon in 2024 on a mission called Artemis 3.

In addition to the main spacesuits, each astronaut will also require an internal cooling garment, and NASA has now completed the first prototype (原型) of that undergarment, according to Nield. And the agency also needs to upgrade the backpack-like Portable Life Support System astronauts carry to stay alive.

Meanwhile, NASA got a sense of how the new suit will perform on the moon by testing the design underwater. Underwater, astronauts can get a feel for moving around in a spacesuit and using the tools they will operate during a spacewalk. Lately, NASA has been using the pool to study movements like collecting moon rock and dust and planting a flag in the moon surface.

【推荐1】From self-driving cars to carebots for elderly people, rapid advances in technology have long represented a potential treat to many jobs normally performed by people.

But experts now believe that almost 50 percent of occupations existing today will be completely unnecessary by 2025 as artificial intelligence continues to transform businesses. This could put some people’s livelihoods at risk.

“Experts predict that 50 percent of occupations today will no longer exist by 2025 as people will take up more creative professions,”said Martin Chen, Chief Operating Officer of Genesis.“This means that jobs will develop and so will real estate development.”

Workspaces with rows of desks will become completely extra, not because they are not fit for purpose, but simply because that purpose no longer exists, according to the report.“The next fifteen years will see a revolution in how we work, and a corresponding revolution will necessarily take place on how we plan and think about workplaces,”said Peter Andrew, Director of Workplace Strategy for GBRE Asia Pacific.

A growing proportion of jobs in the future will require creativity intelligence, social skills and the ability to apply artificial intelligence.“And for most people that will be a route to happiness and fulfillment,”the report states.

Data in the US suggests that technology already destroys more jobs than it creates, as GDP has been able grow faster than employment since 2000. A 2014 report by Pew Research found 52 percent of experts in artificial and robotics were optimistic about the future and believed there would still be enough jobs in the next few decades.

The optimists imagined “a future in which robots and digital agents do not replace more jobs than they create,”Microsoft’s Jonathan Grudin told researchers that: “Technology will continue to break up jobs, but more jobs seem likely to be created. Although there have always been unemployment people, when we reached a few billion people there were billions of jobs. There is no shortage of things that need to be done and that will not change.”

【推荐2】One reason why robots will never fully measure up to people is that they lack human-like social skills. But researchers are experimenting with new methods to give robots social skills to better interact with humans.

The experiment was carried out by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The team developed a machine learning system for self-driving vehicles that is designed to learn the social characteristics (特征) of other drivers. The researchers studied driving situations to learn how other drivers on the road were likely to behave. Since not all human drivers act the same way, the data was meant to teach the driverless car to elude dangerous situations.

The researchers say the technology uses tools borrowed from the field of social psychology (心理学). In this experiment, scientists created a system that attempted to decide whether a person’s driving style is more selfish or selfless. In road tests, self-driving vehicles equipped with the system improved their ability to predict what other drivers would do by up to 25 percent.

In one test, the self-driving car was observed making a left-hand turn. The study found the system could cause the vehicle to wait before making the turn if it predicted the oncoming drivers acted selfishly and might be unsafe. But when the oncoming vehicles were judged to be selfless, the self-driving car could make the turn without delay (延迟) because it saw less risk of unsafe behavior.

The MIT team plans to expand its research model to include other things that a self-driving vehicle might need to deal with. These include predictions about people walking around traffic, as well as bicycles and other things found in driving environments. The researchers believe the technology could also be used in vehicles with human drivers. It could act as a warming system against other drivers judged to be behaving badly.

【推荐3】When you watch programs about monkeys on TV, do you have face blindness? Have you ever wondered how the scientists know who is who when they study monkeys’ behavior?

In the past, scientists had to make special signs on each of the animals. But in the future, they may have much easier way to identify (辨认) them thanks to facial recognition (面部识别) technology.

A research team from China’s Northwest University is using facial recognition technology to identify thousands of snub-nosed monkeys (金丝猴) that live on Qinling Mountain in Shanxi Province.

Similar to human facial recognition, the technology creates a system that includes every monkey’s facial picture, Xinhua reported.

“When the system is fully developed, we can connect it with cameras set up in the mountains. The system will recognize the monkeys, name them and study their behavior,” said Zhang He, a member of the research team.

“We used mobile phones and cameras with’ the monkeys in tests and stayed about 3 to 10 meters away from them,” he added. “There is no need to disturb the monkeys.”

Compared with humans, facial recognition technology for monkeys is more difficult because of their hairy faces. The color of their hair makes them easy to hide in their environment. These are the reasons that make it harder for computers to identify them.

“Monkeys do not work with researchers in the same way humans do. It is difficult, to take high-quality (高质量的) pictures and videos of them, which are needed to improve the system,” said Li Baoguo, leader of the research team.

There are about 4,000 snub-nosed monkeys living on Qinling Mountain now. The team plans to successfully identify every monkey that lives there.

【推荐1】Can you imagine a world without music? Studies show that public schools across the country are cutting back on music classes to save money. Worse, some schools have never had music classes to begin with. But without them, students’ academic(学业的) growth and emotional health could suffer. In fact, music classes are necessary for all students in schools.

A recent study by Brown University has shown that students who had music classes were better in math and reading skills than those without having music classes. Another study by The College Board found that students taking music and art classes got higher points. Students’ academic success seems to depend on taking part in music education.

Music programs in public schools also help to add to a student’s sense of pride and self-confidence. Teens today have too many learning tasks. Besides, they have family problems, self-confidence problems, relationship troubles, and choices about drugs and alcohol. All of these can stop academic success, but music education can help. Students who took part in school music programs were less likely to turn to drugs. Music programs encourage students to work together to produce an excellent performance.

Music crosses language, class cultural and political boundaries(界限). Music allows students from different countries to connect. For example, at a school talent show, a new Japanese student played a piano duet(二重奏) with an American classmate. Although they could not communicate verbally, they were able to read the music in order to play the duet. Two students from different cultures worked as a team with self-confidence and a common purpose through music.

The gift of music is priceless. We need to be sure of having necessary music classes for all students. The world is losing its music, and putting music into schools is the first step to get it back.

【推荐3】They go up and they go down. They take people from one floor of a building to the exact same spot on another floor. A new technology will break elevators free from their vertical (垂直的) prisons, allowing them to move side to side, at an angle (角度), even go outside into a city. German company Thyssenkrupp has developed a new kind of elevator that uses maglev (磁悬浮) technology to move elevator cabins. Called Multi, these elevators are no longer limited to a single vertical path.

A funny thing happens when elevators can go anywhere. Tall buildings, which are designed to work around elevators, can start taking on different shapes. They can go wide, add towers or go in unusual directions, and make room for green spaces that otherwise would have been an inconvenience. A single elevator can run from the east side of the first floor to the far west side of the 30th, no transferring or walking necessary. It gets even more interesting when an elevator leaves the building. Patrick Bass, Thyssenkrupp’s North America CEO, has worked in the elevator industry for 26 years. He thinks these elevators will create new transportation networks to support the cities of the future. As more people go into cities, there’s a renewed interest in creating energy efficient spaces. Moving people around quickly is a huge part of that.

He imagines Multi working perfectly with other Thyssenkrupp technology like the Accel moving walkway. Accel, which also uses maglev technology, speeds up after you step on and can go twice the speed of a regular moving walkway. It was the first use of maglev technology outside of a train. The Accel is already in use in some cities now.

【推荐1】ChatGPT, designed by OpenAI to carry on conversations just like humans, has become a viral excitement. The AI-powered tool went from zero to a million users in just five days! Its ability to provide in-depth answers to users' questions has even drawn the attention of distinguished technology companies.

The intelligent robot understands what the user says or types and then responds in a way that makes sense. Its vast body of knowledge has been gathered from the Internet and archived (存档的) books. It is further trained by humans. This makes ChatGPT a useful tool for researching almost any topic.

"We have a lot of information on the Internet, but you normally have to Google it, then read it and then do something with it," says Ricardo, chief science officer and co-founder of AI company Erudit. "Now you'll have this resource that can process the whole Internet and all of the information it contains for you to answer your questions."

However, ChatGPT cannot think on its own. It depends on the information that it has been trained on. As a result, the AI tool works well for things that have accurate data available. However, when unsure, ChatGPT can get creative and incorrect responses can flow out. OpenAI cautions users to check the information no matter how logical it sounds. Also, ChatGPT has only been trained with information till 2022. Hence, it cannot be relied upon for anything that happened after that.

Experts believe ChatGPT has limitless potential to solve real-world problems. It can translate long texts into different languages, create content on almost any topic, and even summarize books.

However, ChatGPT has received mixed reactions from educators. Some believe it could serve as a valuable tool to help build literacy skills in the classroom. It could also be used to teach students difficult science or math concepts. But other educators think ChatGPT will encourage students to cheat. They fear this will prevent them from building critical thinking and problem-solving skills. As a result, many districts are starting to ban its use in schools.