【推荐1】Farming is destroying the planet, but there could be a much more environmentally friendly way to feed ourselves: using renewable energy to turn carbon dioxide into food. “This is becoming a reality,” says Pasi Vainikka at Solar Foods, a company that is building the first commercial-scale factory that will be able to make food directly from CO2.

There can be no doubt that immediate attention to find greener ways to grow food is required. Conventional agriculture, including organic farming, causes damage to the environment in many ways. It requires a lot of land, leading to habitat loss and deforestation. It is also the source of a third of all greenhouse gas emissions and releases other pollutants. It isn’t very efficient, either. Crops typically transform less than 1 percent of light energy into usable biomass (生物量).

Instead, Solar Foods plans to avoid photosynthesis (光合作用) altogether, and grow bacteria that use hydrogen as their source of energy. At the factory, renewable electricity will be used to split water to produce hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen will be added to large containers, where the bacteria grow, along with CO2 and ammonia (氨气). The end result will be a yellow powder called Solein.

Solein is made of bacterial cells and is up to 70 percent protein. It can be used as an ingredient in all kinds of foods. “We are aiming at replacing animal-sourced proteins, which we think have the highest environmental impact,” says Vainikka.

Compared with plant crops, Solein will use 100 times less water per kilogram of protein produced, 20 times less land and emit a fifth as much CO2, according to Solar Foods. There are other benefits, too: factories could be situated anywhere in the world and production won’t be affected by weather conditions.

“With Solar Foods and other companies scaling up their systems, this is truly beginning a new era of agriculture,” says Dorian Leger at Connectomix Bio in Germany. “I think these trends are exciting and will help bend the carbon curve as well as lead to improved global food supply security.”

【推荐2】We often hear about the importance of cultural heritage. But what is cultural heritage?

Cultural heritage doesn’t consist of money or property(财产), but of cultures, values and traditions. Cultural heritage means a shared connection, our belonging to a community. It represents our history and our identity; our connection with the past, our present, and the future.

Cultural heritage is also the result of a selection process: a process of remembering and forgetting that characterizes every human society constantly engaged in choosing—for both cultural and political reasons—what is worthy of being protected for future generations and what is not.

All peoples make their contribution to the culture of the world. That’s why it’s important to respect and safeguard all cultural heritage, through national laws and international agreements. Illegal trade of cultural objects, plundering other countries’ cultural heritage in war, and destruction of historical buildings and monuments cause irreparable damage to the cultural heritage of a country. UNESCO, founded in 1954, has adopted international agreements on the protection of cultural heritage, to promote intercultural understanding while stressing the importance of international cooperation.

The protection of cultural property is an old problem. One of the most common issues in protecting cultural heritage is the difficult relationship between the interests of the individual and the community.

Ancient Romans established that a work of art could be considered part of the heritage of the whole community, even if privately owned. For example, sculptures decorating the face of a private building were recognized as having a common value and couldn’t be removed, since they stood in a public site, where they could be seen by all citizens.

Cultural heritage passed down to us from our parents must be protected for the benefit of all. In an era of globalization, cultural heritage helps us remember our culture, and its understanding develops respect for each other and increases dialogues between different cultures.

【推荐1】A new scientific study has shown that humans are taking in micro-plastics, which were between 50 and 500 micrometres wide. Up to nine different types of micro-plastics were found in people’s digestive(消化的)system, and the most commonly types of micro-plastics were polypropylene(PP) and polyethylene terephthalate(PET).

Dr Philip Schwabi from the Medical University of Vienna said, “The smallest micro-plastics are capable of entering the blood stream, and may even reach the liver(肝). More research is needed to understand what this means for human health.”

Stephanie Wright, a researcher at King’s College London, said that it was likely that larger micro-plastics mostly passed through the digestive system, but that smaller ones could cross the gut wall(肠壁)and enter other organs. She added, “What may be of greater concern for larger micro-plastics is whether any chemical pollutants are left behind during gut passage and gradually increase in organs.”

Other scientists are calling for further studies on the potential effect of micro-plastics in the human food chain. The Irish News reports that up to 5% of micro-plastics end up in the sea, where they are consumed by sea animals and move up the food chain. The Belfast-based newspaper notes that food is also likely to be polluted with plastics as a result of processing or packaging.

The new study results come as little surprise to many experts. Alistair Boxall, a professor at the University of York, said that he was not particularly worried by these findings. “Micro-plastics have been found in tap water, bottled water, fish, even beer,” he explained. “We will also be exposed to micro-plastics from house dust, food packaging materials and the use of plastic bottles. It’s unavoidable that some of these things will get into our lungs and digestive systems.”

【推荐2】“It’s incredible. I never thought my dream would come true so soon,” Chinese ballet dancer Chun Wai Chan recalled the scene when he got the news in May that he was promoted to the principal dancer with New York City Ballet (NYCB), the company’s first Chinese and fourth Asian principal dancer in 74 years.

Born in Huizhou City, South China’s Guangdong Province in 1992, Chan has become attached to dance since childhood. However, his parents preferred him to be a doctor or a lawyer in the future. The uncompromising boy then wrote a seven-page letter to his parents describing his determination to study dance.

Thanks to the sincere letter, Chan finally gained the support of his family, and at the age of 12, he was admitted to Guangzhou Arts School, marking the start of his dream-seeking journey. Chan’s first turning point in life came at the age of 18, when he was a finalist in the 2010 Prix de Lausanne, which earned him a full scholarship to study with Houston Ballet’s second company, Houston Ballet II. Two years later, Chan joined Houston Ballet and became a principal in 2017. There, he gained a reputation as a confident and sensitive performer. In 2020, he appeared as a contestant on the Chinese television show Dance Smash on Hunan Satellite TV, which gained him a large following.

Chan returned to New York last year, and was finally promoted to the principal dancer with the NYCB in May this year. He attributes his success to his passion, hard work, concentration, perseverance and the pursuit of excellence.

In China, Chan’s success has become a source of pride. News of his promotion to principal dancer was widely circulated, and he has been featured repeatedly in the Chinese media, under headlines like “The Ballet Knight” and “After Dance Smash, he conquered New York.”

After performances, audience members sometimes tell Chan that they have never seen Asian dancers in leading roles. He has been moved to hear young dancers of color say his example has given them hope for their own careers. “I used to think I danced just for myself,” he said. “Now I’m dancing for my family, for the audience, for the whole dance community.”

【推荐3】Paisley is a distinctive pattern used to decorate fabrics and make countless clothes lively. This pattern also has a uniquely rich history dating back hundreds of years, spreading across multiple continents.

Paisley's most obvious feature is the large swooshing (涡旋) shapes called boteh. Many experts believe the shape is actually an artistically designed tree, which was a powerful religious symbol in India for thousands of years. Besides, the pattern could also represent flowers, the sun, a phoenix, or even an eagle. The exact meaning is lost to history, even though the pattern lives on.

The pattern eventually made its way to the Western world in the 18th and 19th centuries, when it became the height of fashion for the time. Silk scarves bearing the pattern could be as expensive as a small house. Owing to its popularity, especially in Great Britain, it was quickly duplicated and mass-produced. One of the major manufacturing centers of the pattern was Paisley. Scotland, which is how the pattern got its English name.

In the early 20th century, the popularity of the pattern faded for a time. Eventually, it exploded back onto the fashion scene with the help of a surprising force: rock 'n' roll. It started in the 1960s with the Beatles, who not only wore paisley but used patterns in colorful artwork. Other rock legends like the Rolling Stones, Janice Joplin, and David Bowie kept the trend going well into the 1970s. Paisley was suddenly cool and glamorous again, at least temporarily.

Since then, however, the popularity of the pattern has slowly declined. It still pops up on fashion runways and as a colorful accessory (配饰) for some clothes, but paisley is just one of many elegant patterns. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean it won't make a comeback again.