【推荐1】It appears that language can have a fascinating effect on the way we think about time and space. A growing number of experts believe language can influence how we think just as our thoughts and culture can shape how language develops.

Cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky, one of the pioneers of research into how language manipulates our thoughts, has shown that English speakers typically view time as a horizontal (平的) line. They tend to view time as travelling from left to right, most likely in line with how you are reading the text on this page.

Languages also encode (编码) time in their grammar. In English, the future is one of three simple tenses, along with the past and the present — we say “it rained”, “it rains” and “it will rain”. But in German, you can say Morgen regnet, which means “it rains tomorrow” — you don’t need to build the future into the grammar.

But does this affect how we think? In 2013, Keith Chen, a behavioral economist at the University of California, set out to test whether people who speak languages that are “futureless” might feel closer to the future than those who speak other languages. For example, German, Chinese, and Japanese have no linguistic barrier between the present and the future, while “futured languages” , such as English, French, Italian and Spanish, encourage speakers to view the future as something separate from the present.

He discovered that speakers of futureless languages were more likely to engage in future-focused activities. They were 31% more likely to have put money into savings in any given year and had gained 39% more wealth by retirement. They were also 24% less likely to smoke and 29% more likely to be physically active.

It is becoming increasingly clear that language is influencing how we think about the world around us, which is not to say that any one language is “better” than another. But being aware of how languages differ can help you think, navigate and communicate better. And while being multilingual (多语的) won’t necessarily make you a genius, we all can gain a more flexible understanding of the world by learning a new language.

【推荐3】Did you know that all human beings have a “comfort zone” regulating the distance they stand from someone when they talk? This distance varies in interesting ways among people of different cultures.

Greeks, some of the Eastern Mediterranean, and many of those from South America normally stand quite close together when they talk, often moving their faces even closer as they warm up in a conversation. North Americans find this awkward and often back away a few inches. Studies have found that they tend to feel most comfortable at about 12 inches apart. In much of Asia and Africa, there’s even more space between two speakers in conversation. This greater space subtly lends an air of dignity and respect. This matter of space is nearly always unconscious, but it is interesting to observe.

This difference applies also to the closeness with which people sit together, the extent to which they lean over one another in conversation, how they move as they argue or make an emphatic (强调的) point. In the United States, for example, people try to keep their bodies apart even in a crowded elevator; in Paris they take it as it comes!

Although North Americans have a relatively wide “comfort zone” for talking, they communicate a great deal with their hands—not only with gesture but also with touch. They put a sympathetic hand on a person’s shoulder to demonstrate warmth of feeling or an arm around him in sympathy; they pat an arm in reassurance or stroke a child’s head in fondness; they readily take someone’s arm to help him across a street or direct him along an unfamiliar route. To many people –especially those from Asia or the Muslim countries—such bodily contact is unwelcome, especially if done with the left hand. The left hand carries no special significance in the United States. Many Americans are simple left-handed and use that hand more.

【推荐2】Heavy traffic doesn’t stop big mammals like bears from crossing highways—not does it keep smaller creatures from being squished (压扁) by cars. In just two years along one highway in Utah, more than 100 animals were killed in traffic accidents. In the United States, there are 21 endangered species whose survival is threatened by traffic accidents.

However, there’s one solution that’s been effective in decreasing crashes between cars and animals crossing the road: wildlife under-and-overpasses. Looking much like a regular overpass for cars, but decorated with native plants, they aren’t particularly noticeable unless you know what you’re looking for. The drivers may not be able to see the undercrossings, which pass beneath highways to assist shyer and smaller animals. But they’re helping countless species, from gold monkeys in Brazil to water voles in London.

Washington State is one of the latest to join in. Construction on its first wildlife bridge began in 2015 over Interstate 90 (I-90), which runs from Seattle to Boston. Though it’s just a bare set of arches now, with native plants to be planted next year, deer and wolves are already using it. Along with six underpasses built since 2013, these crossings are the first set. These passes will allow black bears and mountain lions to pass through what was once an impenetrable road.

These wildlife crossings aren’t just about saving individual animals—they’re about species survival, too. I-90 is an economically important east-west lifeline in the state. But many of the animals mostly want to move from north to south. Those animals on the south of the highway also got trapped in an island. Inbreeding became a problem. Localized extinction happens if they don’t have genetic (基因的) variability. The Snoqualmie overpass helps reconnect these isolated populations. I-90’s underpasses are quite important in connecting waterways and species.

【推荐2】Microplastics (微塑料) pollute drinking water. Data now suggest all of us have microplastics in our bodies. Some plastics are harmful.

Menake Piyasena, a professor at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and his team worked on a new process. In the past, Piyasena used ultrasound (超声波) to separate microbes and other cells from water. He recalls thinking: “What if we can use the same method to concentrate on microplastics?”

The researchers send polluted water down a tube. The tube’s water flows past a transducer, which turns electrical energy into sound energy. It makes ultrasound waves that travel from one side of the tube to the other. When they hit microplastics, these waves exert（施加）a force on the plastic bits.

What happens next depends on the size of those plastic bits. Ones less than about 180micrometers across will move to the center of the flow. Larger ones will interact with each other and create an additional force. This sends those larger ones toward the other end of flowing water.

The ultrasound treatment removed about four in every five plastic bits from the water. It took about 90 minutes to clean one liter. It cost only about 10 cents to do that. “We think our approach will be cost-effective and simple,” Piyasena says.

“Microplastics are a problem worldwide,” says a research chemist Souhail Al-Abed, who works for the US Environmental Protection Agency. In his opinion, this tech is not yet ready to be rolled out for widespread use. “I’d like to express praise for Piyasena’s team that are conducting this research,” Al-Abed adds. “Research does not have all the answers on day 1 or day 2 or day 100. But continuing work by these researchers may find a good solution for the future.”