【推荐1】Brain aneurysms (脑动脉瘤) affect about one in every 50 Americans and can lead to serious medical emergencies, including stroke, brain damage and death if they burst. Existing treatment options are limited and often invasive(扩散), and surgical outcomes can vary widely from person to person.

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have become the first team to produce a living, bioprinted aneurysm outside of the human body, perform a medical procedure on it and observe it respond and heal as it would in an actual human brain.

“While there are a lot of promising treatment options, some still have a long way to go,” said Moya, the project’s principal investigator. One common treatment is “clipping”-attaching a metal clip to the base of the aneurysm to redirect blood flow away and keep it from bursting. The procedure is highly invasive, requiring surgeons to open up the skull and expose the brain. A more common and less invasive treatment is the metal coiling (缠绕) approach. The downside to “coiling” is that success is highly dependent on a variety of factors, including the geometry of the patient’s blood vessels, which differ from one person to the next, researchers said.

Animal models aren't necessarily the best way to try out these options, as they lack direct observation of treatment effects and have uncontrollable aneurysm geometries. Unlike animal models, LLNL’s platform allows scientists to directly measure the liquid.

To take some of the guesswork out of aneurysm treatments, Hynes, the original principal investigator, realized researchers would need a way to validate more predictive 3D models that take patient geometry into account by bioprinting with human cells.

By combining the 3D-printed platform with computational models, researchers said they've developed a potential tool for surgeons to pre-select the best coil types, and perform “testruns” of procedures before attempting them on the human patient “What’s exciting is that this platform copies the actual blood vessels and also is strong enough to handle a coiling procedure. This makes it ideal to be used as a training platform for surgeons.” Moya said.

In addition to a testbed for surgical training, researchers said the platform has potential for improving the understanding of basic biology and the post-surgery healing response. While early results are promising, the researchers cautioned there's a long way to go before the platform sees application in the clinical environment.

【推荐2】Reflexology is a natural treatment dating back to ancient times. It is based on the idea that there are zones, or areas, in the feet and hands that are related to other parts and systems of the body. For example, the tips of the toes and fingers are related to the head and neck, and the ball of the foot is related to the heart and chest. A reflexologist applies pressure to specific areas in a patient’s feet and hands to relieve symptoms or pain in other related areas.

This type of treatment does not cure or diagnose specific health problems, and it does not involve any medicine or drugs. Yet many patients find that it successfully relieves symptoms of stress and disease. Reflexology is effective for pain, headaches, and sleeping difficulties, among other ilnesses. Applying pressure to the feet and hands relieves tension, improves blood circulation, and relaxes muscles. It promotes the natural, healthy functions and well-being of the entire body. Reflexology is often used along with other types of treatments, including conventional medicine.

This gentle therapy is safe and simple. A reflexologist’s only tools are his or her hands. Pressure is strong, but not uncomfortable. It’s not uncommon for patients to fall asleep during treatments.

A typical treatment session lasts one hour. Treatment is usually focused on the feet for most of the session. A patient is asked to remove his or her shoes and socks, to sit in a comfortable reclining chair, and then to relax as the reflexologist warms the patient’s feet with his or her hands and applies pressure to the appropriate parts of the foot. The last ten minutes of the session are dedicated to the hands.

After relieving specific problems, many patients continue a regular program of treatment to maintain good health. Some reflexologists suggest building at least a five- minute reflexology session into every day for long-term relief of stress and pain.

【推荐1】I am an art-on-the-cart teacher for now. My 8th-grade boys don’t open doors for me. The girls do, however. So do the Gth,7th, and 9th-grade boys, but not those 8th-grade boys. It’s a strange phenomenon that I’m sure is explained by science somewhere. But when I’m walking through campus with my rolling cart filled to the brim (边沿), my hands full, my backpack on,and the wind blowing the door, it’s hard to pull it open for me. The boys just go on through without stopping to offer help. What these boys need is some empathy (同理心)! Looking at art can help with that.

Last semester in a photography unit for my 8th-graders, I brought out the “I am”character poem activity from my pack of printable worksheets to study the work of Dorothea Lange, the mastermind behind the Migrant Mother and other powerful photographs from the Great Depression.

As an art teacher, it is important for me to give my students experience connecting with works of art, which includes connecting with the characters and people in the artworks. Dorothea Lange was a photographer hired by the Resettlement Administration and the Farm Security Administration to document the lives of migrant workers, and displaced families. Because her photographs were government-funded, they were offered for free to newspapers across the country, and her photographs were seen nationwide.

She had a masterful way of capturing emotion in her subjects, so her photographs are an excellent way for students to practice empathy while also connecting with the art, the past,and the people in the photograph.

Once we finished with all of the group presentations, I asked what all of the photographs had in common and what we can learn about the photographer based on all of these photographs. This launched us into a lesson on Dorothea Lange, art during the Great Depression,and a debate over whether or not the camera has the ability to capture the essence (精髓) of a person.

【推荐2】Even before she lost her teeth, I thought my mother, Clara, was funny looking. Mother had a long nose. My nose was also too long. At 16, I announced that I wanted to have it “done”. For many years I was delighted with my new look.

While in her 40s, Mother lost most of her teeth to an ongoing infection. Over time, her jaw shrank and her face collapsed around it, When she heard one of her co-workers whisper that she “looked about 95 year old” she shrugged it off. I was determined that no co-worker, or anybody else, was ever going to say such things to me.

Twenty-five years ago, I had a facelift. Better yet, modern dentistry allowed me to keep most of my teeth. But my hands became Mother’s hands. My tightened face bore the hint of an all-too-familiar network of fine wrinkles. Considering the advances in skin care, I could have had my problems filled. But year after year I hesitated. Mother had grown weak, then ill and then died in 1986.

It wasn’t until recently, years after the long loneliness that follows the loss of any parent that I realized why I’d left my aging face alone. In the mirror, an 80-year-old woman stared back at me with her skin, far more lined than that of my friends. Despite years of anxiety and plastic surgery, I looked a lot like the woman who once told me that life is about inner strengths, not appearances, and who turned out to be right.

I wonder now why I ever wanted to eradicate (根除) Mother from my reflection. Who would have imagined how comforted I’d feel these days, knowing I have only to look into the mirror to call up that much-loved woman?

【推荐3】Growing up on a farm in Virginia during racial segregation (种族隔离) , West knew education would be her means of escape. But she didn’t know her quiet work would change lives around the world.

Gladys West knew from a young age that she didn’t want to be a farmer. But the mathematician, born in 1930 in a county, still had to help harvest crops on her family’s small farm. The hard work started before daybreak and lasted well into the blistering heat of the afternoon. She hated the dirt but, while she worked, she kept her mind on the building behind the trees at the end of the farm. It was her school, and even then she knew it would be her ticket to freedom. “I was gonna get an education and I was going to get out of there. I wasn’t going to be stuck there all my life,” West, 89, says firmly.

Gladys West began her career as a mathematician in 1956 in a lab where there were only three other black employees when she joined. She was widely admired for her ability to solve complex mathematical problems by hand. She eventually went on to program computers to solve the equations (等式) for her. Her first major project was to determine the movements of Neptune and Pluto in relation to each other. In 1978, Gladys became the Project Manager of SeaSat, an surveillance (监控) satellite designed to provide data on oceanographic features and conditions. The project was among the first to show that satellites can be used to observe oceanographic data. By programming a computer to account for tides, gravity, and other factors, Gladys and her team created a program to precisely calculate the orbit of satellites. Her work on this project made it possible to develop a geoid, which is a model of the shape of the Earth. The model and its later updates led to her developing the GPS system, which can make accurate calculations in any location on Earth.

Finally in 2018, through her tireless efforts, Gladys West received formal recognition for her work on the GPS. Her name also got featured on the BBC’s 100 Women of 2018, which honored inspiring women from around the globe.