【推荐1】The arts are an expression or application of human creativity and imagination. They help with young people’s development. Therefore, it’s important that all young people be exposed to the arts. They allow them to realize their potential through different forms of the arts at a young age and encourage self-expression and creativity.

Often, youths don’t realize their potential due to the lack of exposure. If they aren’t exposed to the arts, they wouldn’t even know they may have the talent or potential. If it’s discovered at an early age, they can gradually use their potential through higher education in the arts. Some might even choose to pursue it as a hobby or an occupation in the long run. I started learning to play the piano at five and now, at 15, I have realized my interest and passion in piano which would have been unknown without exposure to it.

Besides, youths can express themselves through exposure to the arts. Facing stress from school or their personal lives, they can find a new channel through artistic expressions such as dance or painting. Some who find it hard to express themselves might choose to bottle it up, leading to many psychological problems such as depression.

The arts also boost creativity. They let youths enhance their problem-solving skills by thinking out of the box. Researchers have found people tend to do something creative after engaging in the arts.

However, some critics may argue the arts will distract youths from studies. This has proven incorrect. A study in 2010 found that greater exposure to the arts led to higher graduation rates and test scores.

In conclusion, the exposure of the arts to youths is important as it helps them recognize their capability in the arts and express their feelings and imagination. We can do so by being exposed to the arts and being more willing to learn something new. This gives us endless opportunities to acquire new skills and become a better version of ourselves.

【推荐2】Also known as Adlerian psychology, individual psychology offers a refreshing perspective and insights into interpersonal relationships, fear and trauma (精神创伤). It is a theory of human behavior that focuses on the basic need of belonging and the importance of engaging in constructive actions. The Courage to Be Disliked, using the theories of Alfred Adler, follows a dialogue between a philosopher or a teacher and a young man. The philosopher helps his student to understand how each of us is able to determine the direction of our own life, free from the past trauma and the expectations of others.

Alfred Adler believes that our past trauma don’t define our future. Instead, we choose how trauma affect our present or future lives. We do not suffer from the shock of our experiences—the so-called trauma—but instead, and we make whatever suits our purposes out of them. We are not determined by our experiences, but the meaning we give them is self-determining.

In other words, he claims that one doesn’t suffer from the shock of their experiences (the trauma), but that we feel that way because that was our goal in the first place. Adler conveys an example of a person that doesn’t want to step out of his house due to anxiety and fear filling him up every time he steps outside. The philosopher asserts that the person creates fear and anxiety so that he stays inside.

Why? Because possibly he’ll have to face the uncertainty of being out there, facing the mass. Possibly, the man believes that he’s so average that nobody will like him. So, it’s better to stay home and not risk feeling unwanted emotions.

In the Adlerian worldview, the past doesn’t matter. You don’t think about past causes; you think about present goals. You choose an emotion or behavior to achieve a present goal.

【推荐3】From airplanes to apartments, most spaces are now designed with sound-absorbing materials that help decrease various sounds of everyday life. But most of the sound-absorbing materials that can cancel out human voices, traffic noise and music are made from plastic foams (泡沫) that aren’t easily recycled or degraded. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering have created a biodegradable film (薄膜) obtained from seaweed, which effectively absorbs sounds in this range.

Controlling and optimizing the way sound moves throughout a room is the key to creating functional spaces. Foam sound-absorbing panels are a common solution, and they come in a variety of materials and thicknesses tailored to specific sound requirements. Most of these foams, however, are made from a type of plastic material and other chemical substances that are obtained from natural oil or petrol. To avoid petrochemicals, researchers have explored more renewable sources and biodegradable sound-absorbing alternatives. But many current options are made from plant fibers that don’t effectively decrease noises in the most useful range of sound frequencies, or they are too thick or difficult to produce. So, Chindam’s team wanted to develop a biodegradable material from a plant, which would be simple to produce and could absorb a range of sounds.

The team created films of agar (琼脂), a material that comes from seaweed, along with other additives developed from plants and varied the thickness of the films. After running the materials through a battery of tests, the researchers measured how well the films reduced sound across a range of frequencies. To do this, the team created a sound tube in which a speaker is placed at one end, and the test film is fitted over the other end. Microphones in the middle of the tube measured the amount of sound sent by the speaker and the amount of sound reflected off the film. These experiments showed that the films with many small holes made with the highest concentrations of agar had the greatest sound-absorbing qualities and performed similarly to traditional sound-absorbing foams. The researchers plan to explore ways to change the agar films to give them other desirable properties, such as flame resistance, and will explore other biologically obtained film materials.