【推荐1】Scientists are poor forecasters of the future. But two trends can be confidently predicted. First, the world will get more crowded. There’ll be more than 9 billion people by 2050. Second, the world will get warmer and some governments won’t prioritise the long-term measures needed to deal with climate change, even though science offers us a roadmap to a low-carbon future.

That’s why we should be promoters of new technology—without it the world can’t provide the food and sustainable energy needed for an expanding population. But we should also be cautious, as new technologies, such as AI, may be hard to control.

AI will undoubtedly become more intrusive in the future. Records of our movements, health and financial transactions will be stored in the cloud. The data may be used for justifiable reasons, such as protein folding and drug development, or to warn us of initial health risks, but its availability to Internet companies is already shifting the balance of power from governments to global-scale corporations.

Actually, it’s beyond Earth that AI has the most enormous potential. Humans may have established bases beyond Earth by the year 2100．But don’t ever expect mass emigration (移民) from Earth. It’s a false belief that space offers an escape from our problems. Dealing with climate change on Earth is a piece of cake compared to terraforming Mars.

Nevertheless, we should cheer on these brave human space adventurers. They’ll be ill-adapted to a Martian habitat, so they’ll have a super motive to redesign themselves. It’s they, not those of us adapted to life on Earth, who will pioneer the post-human era (时代).

If post-humans make the shift from flesh and blood to fully artificial intelligences, they won’t need an atmosphere of even gravity, so it’s in deep space — not even on Mars that non biological “brains” may develop powers that we can’t imagine. They may end up being mentally different from us. AI could jump-start a huge emigration and thus even more complex intelligence spreads through the universe.

But let’s re focus from the science fiction of the far future. closer to the here and now. This century is special. It’s the first, in Earth’s 4.5-billion-year history where one species-ours—holds the planet’s future in its hands. Our intelligence could initiate billions of years of post-human evolution (演化), even more amazing than that which led to us. On the other hand, humans could cause biological, environmental or cyber catastrophes that foreclose all this potential.

If science is to save us, we need to think globally, sensibly and long-term—empowered by science, but guided by values that science alone can’t provide.

【推荐2】Telescopes（望远镜）have come a long way since the first ones were invented early in the 17th century.Traditional telescopes allow astronomers to view objects in space thanks to the visible（看得见的）light those objects emit（发出）, or reflect.However, for modern telescopes, any Electromagnetic（电磁的）radiation will be enough for the purpose of viewing objects in space.Extremely hot objects, such as stars, emit not only visible light but also high-energy gamma radiation.Specialized telescopes—such as NASA's space-based Chandra X-ray Observatory—are built to detect such radiation.Cold objects—like comets and asteroids—emit low-energy radiation, which is invisible to the naked eye.Much of the universe is even colder.The clouds of dust and gas of which stars are made are only slightly warmer than absolute zero—the temperature at which atoms stop moving.To catch images of cold objects, astronomers use radio telescopes.

A radio telescope is a device that typically uses a large dish antenna（抛物面天线）to collect the low-energy radiation emitted by objects in space.However, it was quite challenging to get a clear image of those objects using ground-based antennas.The reason is that low-energy radiation is absorbed and distorted by water vapor（水蒸气）in the Earth's atmosphere.The signal that a dish antenna on the ground finally receives is therefore weak.

The signal can be strengthened by positioning the antenna on a site with very dry air.It can be made even stronger by arranging several antennas in an array, combining their signals so that they function together as a single, more powerful telescope.And if the antennas are portable, the distance between them can be adjusted to change the sensitivity of the telescope.Placed far apart, they can focus on a small goal, such as a planet.Grouping the antennas closer together can be useful for catching images of an object as large as a galaxy.

Atacama Large Millimeter Array（ALMA）, a large array of antennas, was officially opened in March 2013.Since the official opening of ALMA, there has been a steady stream of discoveries of great interest to astronomers.In July 2013, the telescope's high-quality images provided clues that may help answer a question that has long puzzled astronomers.ALMA is also helping researchers understand how planets are born, by providing the first-ever images of the planet-forming process.These observations are just the beginning.In the future, ALMA will show us even finer details of galaxies and star systems.

【推荐3】A concrete bookstore under construction in Wisdom Bay innovation(创新)park in Shanghai will be the first 3D-printed bookstore in China, and it is due to open to the public at the end of January, 2021.

"The bookstore was printed on-site in three weeks," said He Yuting, who is responsible for this project, from Tsinghua University School of Architecture in Beijing. The printing work has finished and the bookstore will now be decorated. "Compared with simple works such as a 3D-printed flower pot, the bookstore is an innovative attempt in the architectural field, as 3D-printed architecture is cheaper than conventional construction techniques and saves time," he said. "What makes this bookstore so unique is that we used fiber concrete to resist compression(压缩)," he added, noting that the floor also has a heating system.

The 3D-printed bookstore is as safe as traditional concrete construction based on experimental data in terms of structure and earthquake resistance. With a floor area of about 30 square meters, the 3D-printed bookstore can accommodate 15 people inside at a time. The construction is composed of three parts—the main outer round wall, the roof, and the other part of the outside wall. The outer round wall was printed in situ(原地), and the other two parts were printed separately.

So far, different teams in France, Switzerland and Russia all have done similar research on 3D-printed concrete technology, but China's research and achievements in this field are among the best in the world, according to He Yuting.

In Wisdom Bay innovation park, there is also a 26.3-meter-long and 3.6-meter-wide 3D-printed bridge, the world's largest 3D-printed concrete bridge for walkers. "3D technology is being more widely used in medicine and autos as well as architecture and construction," Zhu Li, manager of Wisdom Bay innovation park and also a 3D tech expert, told the Global Times. "This new technology will be bound to benefit us in the future."

【推荐1】After the birth of her second child in 2019, Keet was motivated to make changes by the thought of what kind of world her children were going to have. “I was totally awake in the middle of the night having climate anxiety,” she said. “I just brought this person into the world—what does her future look like? What does my son’s future look like?”

Keet started the seeds of Planetarian Life based on her experiences doing Meatless Monday, but with fewer restrictions and a larger sense of purpose. “There’s vegetarianism(素食主义), but these things don’t describe my why,” she said. “I’m eating this way for the planet.”

That’s the most basic definition of who a planetarian is, according to Keet: someone who is changing the way they eat and live for the good of the Earth.

With Planetarian Life, Keet decided to take a small-steps approach. Instead of cutting out meat entirely or working with unfamiliar ingredients, planetarian eating works around making small replacements in your usual meals on your own schedule and to your own preferred tastes.

This can be as simple as using chickpeas instead of rotisserie chicken to make chickpea “chicken” salad or cooking a big batch of quinoa to keep on hand for quick skillet vegetable bowls throughout the week.

Like compound interest, the minor changes made to familiar meals add up to a bigger lifestyle change over time—and they are easier to stick with than drastic cuts. Because no foods are banned from the planetarian way of eating, it’s up to every individual to take it as far as they want to go.

【推荐3】Earth Day: Kid Heroes for the Planet

On April 22, we celebrate Earth Day. On that day, people around the world work to help our planet. But many people, including kids, protect the Earth all year long Read about five inspiring kid heroes for the planet.

Saving the Frogs

Justin Sather is from Los Angeles, California. He has always loved frogs. When Justin was 5, he learned that their habitats (栖息地) were in danger. Justin started a group called For the Love of Frogs. He sold toy frogs to raise money to help them. Up till now, he has raised more than $20, 000 to support frog protection.

Growing Right

Aadya Joshi lives in Mumbai, India. When she was 15, she turned a junk lot in her neighborhood into a garden. She used native plants. Joshi said native plants attract native insects and animals. Now, she’s the leader of the organization The Right Green. She founded it to educate people about growing native plants and maintaining healthy ecosystems. Joshi also created a database of more than 2,000 plants in India. Joshi’s database is a resource where people can learn which kinds of plants are native to their area.

Cleaning Up

Jeremy Muchilwa, 13, and Michelle Muchilwa, 15, are siblings. They live in Kenya In June 2020, they participated in the Ocean Heroes Bootcamp. This inspired them to fight plastic pollution. They decided to create a campaign to pick up plastic waste in nearby Lake Victoria. Also, they worked with a research institute to find new ways to draw attention to plastic waste.

Creating Energy

Eleven-year-old Xavier Iglesias is from Florida. One day, Xavier was playing with a friend on an Astroturf field (人造草坪). He noticed the field was much hotter than real grass. It inspired him to invent SoleX Turf, which uses the heat from Astroturf to make electricity. Xavier said his invention creates electricity in a way that’s less harmful to the environment.

【推荐3】Recently, some scientists have created a new type of rice that not only has a meaty pink color but is also packed with beef protein (蛋白质) and fat cells (细胞). 

Rice is already one of the most nutritious foods available in nature, but thanks to some scientific ‘magic’, it could soon become an available, sustainable alternative to meat. The researchers managed to create a type of rice laced (添加) with beef protein and fat cells. The new pink rice has 8 percent more protein and 7 percent more fat than regular rice, and while it doesn’t yet taste like beef, it does carry a “unique smell, including a slight taste which is characteristic of meat”. Hopefully, this new pink rice could one day become a complete meal by itself, ensuring a rich, sustainable food supply for the whole world and reducing the food shortage stress in the world.

“Imagine obtaining all the nutrients we need from cell-cultured protein rice,” said Park So-hyeon, co-author of the study. “Rice already has a high nutrient level, but adding protein and fat from animals can further improve it.” 

The rice is firmer and crisper than natural grains, and when cooked they remain their traditional appearance. While the rice doesn’t really taste like beef yet, it “offers a pleasant and new flavor experience,” and pairs well with a variety of dishes.

For their first experiments, scientists used cells from hanwoo cattle killed at the local butchery, but in the future, they plan to use sustainable supplies of cells that can be maintained in the lab. They are also exploring the possibility of lacing the rice with other types of meat or fish, in order to meet different tastes. For now, the percentage of protein in the new rice is still relatively low. To actually replace meat, researchers would need to increase protein content significantly.