【推荐2】This is the time of year when many gardeners are harvesting tomatoes. Gardening expert Jessica Damiano recently reported about the many pictures of strangely shaped tomatoes sent to her from fans of her gardening advice.     1    . The good news, Damiano said, is that there is nothing wrong with the strangely shaped fruits.     2    . Their unusual appearance does not affect their taste or nutritional value.

    3     If you have ever cut open a tomato, you know they are divided into internal (内部的) parts, called locules (小室). Most tomatoes have about four or five locules; other kinds of the fruit, like cherry tomatoes, contain two or three. But when a plant experiences extreme (极端的) temperature, cell division in the developing fruit can go off track. Temperatures over 32℃ during the day and 27℃ overnight can lead the tomato to form an extra locule. But there is not enough room inside a tomato for the extra part, so it grows on the outside of the fruit.

Not every tomato on an affected plant will be deformed (改变形状), however. What are the possibilities? Under the right conditions (temperatures that are too hot or even too cold), this could affect one or two tomatoes per plant, depending on where they are in the development process and what the (weather) conditions are, said Timothy McDermott, a professor at Ohio State University. The possibility of one of your tomatoes developing a locule oddity (怪异) is about one in a thousand, McDermott said.     4     But, Damiano noted, heirloom (原种) kinds seem more likely to have this genetic mutation (基因变异) than hybrids.

And, when harvesting your crop, remember:     5    

【推荐3】The huge billboard at the side of the highway is no joke; transporting firewood in certain areas is a crime, punishable by a four-thousand-dollar fine. The reason? Emerald Ash Borer disease, or EAB disease, a new addition to the long list of dangerous foreign pest infestations（虫害）on American soil. It was in 2002 when the Emerald Ash Borer beetle（甲虫）was first discovered in Michigan. Not long after, the pest was found in Ohio. Originally from Asia, this green beetle probably found its way to North America through a wooden box made of ash wood and immediately settled into a local ash tree. In little time, the species managed to kill millions of ash trees.

To date, much work is underway to stop ash trees ending up in the same group as elm and chestnut trees, which are all dying out in many areas. Ash Borer Infestations are particularly troublesome because they are difficult to identify until the ash tree is heavily infested. In addition, other ash trees in the area surrounding the source will probably also be infested, making control a hard task.

Researchers are working on many issues related to the control and removal of this harmful beetle. For example, it has been discovered that Asian ash trees are not destroyed by this native borer. It may be that, Asian ash trees have developed genes（基因）to protect them from the insect; therein, perhaps, lies the secret to controlling this pest. Insecticide（杀虫剂）treatment is also being explored on several fronts. Research is underway to determine which insecticides are proving to be the most successful. The proper application of the insecticides is being debated.

However, all possible solutions require a great deal of study and research. In the meantime, careful steps must be taken. Methodical identification of infested trees is taking place. Identified trees are being cut down and destroyed to get rid of the beetle colonies（群）. In the end, this puts a huge drain（消耗）on city budgets, as tree removal can be extremely expensive.

Even though it will be expensive to deal with this problem in the short term, the costs of doing nothing could be far higher, since we could lose an entire species of tree.

【推荐1】Nature has inspired many of the most fascination designs around us, including those in architecture. From Barcelona’s forest-like Sagrada Familia to the modern style of Beijing’s Water Cube, nature is presented in various architectural designs. Today, architects continue to explore ways to capture the beauty of natural forms, to mimic (模仿) the way nature works or even to make natural organisms part of a building.

ArtScience Museum was designed to show the connection between nature and the modern city environment in which it sits. Shaped to resemble a lotus flower, it appears to float above the waterfront promenade and the water that surrounds it. Its roof collects rainwater and channels it 35 metres down to a waterfall in the centre of the space. The water is then recycled through the building’s plumbing system. Visitors are often amazed to find themselves in an urban building that so truly captures the beauty of natural forms.

Harare’s Eastgate Centre is a superb example of biomimicry (生物仿生). To use biomimicry is to create structures based on natural forms and processes. Zimbabwean architect Mick Pearce was inspired to create the Centre while watching a nature documentary in which termites (白蚁) were constructing their nests. The insects built mounds covered in little holes designed to allow air to move freely in and out of the mounds. In a similar way, the Eastgate Centre has a “skin” covered in holes. During the day, warm air is drawn into the building through the holes, cooling as it reaches the middle of the building. At night, the heat absorbed by the wall during the day warms the cool air, creating a comfortable temperature inside. The design reduces the need for traditional air conditioning and heating systems, so the building uses less energy and costs less to run.

The world’s first algae-powered building is in Hamburg, Germany. The surface of the apartment building is covered in panels that contain algae. The algae are fed with liquid nutrients and carbon dioxide to encourage them to grow. In bright sunshine, they grow faster and proved shade. The panels also capture heat from the sun and convert it into energy that powers the building. And that’s not all—the algae inside the panels can be harvested and used to produce fuel. The building therefore not only responds to its environment and uses less energy, but also reduces damage to the environment by generating its own renewable energy.

【推荐2】Maj Rundlof remembers the moment she changed her mind about neonicotinoids—the world’s most widely used pesticides (杀虫剂). In December 2013, in her office at Lund University in Sweden, she and postdoc Georg Andersson were looking at data from their latest study. It was designed to test what would happen to bees if they fed on crops treated with neonicotinoids. “I didn’t expect to see any effect at all, to be honest,” says Rundlof.

Hives of honeybees weren’t greatly affected by the chemicals in crops, the study suggested. But the data on bumblebees told a different story. Bumblebee colonies that hadn’t fed on the treated crops looked normal: they were packing on weight to survive the winter. But in the colonies exposed to neonicotinoids, the growth chart was a flat line.

When the Swedish study was published in April 2015, it made headlines around the world. It was the first to show that neonicotinoids—known as neonics—could harm bees in a real-world farming situation. Bee populations are declining in many parts of the globe, a worrying sign for the crops and wild plants that rely on these bees for their survival. Parasites (寄生虫), disease and shrinking food resources are all prime suspects. But a link to neonics has become a major flashpoint.

Even before Rundlof’s results were revealed, the European Union had placed heavy restrictions on three most widely used neonics in flowering crops—plants that might be attractive to bees—among rising concerns that the chemicals might harm pollinators (传粉者). But farmers, the agrochemical industry and some scientists pointed out that these were based on limited evidence, gathered mostly from lab tests.

Since Rundlof’s paper, studies showing real-world evidence of harm from pesticides in the field have been mounting—and environmental organizations have demanded wide-ranging bans. Regulatory agencies will soon decide what to do about neonics, which have a global market worth more than US 1.5 billion per year.This month, the EU’s European Food Safety Authority is due to complete a reevaluation of evidence for restricting neonics; the EU will then need to decide what action to take. France has passed a law that would ban neonics in 2018.

But industry groups and some scientists say the evidence still isn’t conclusive. The picture is complicated: some studies show harm to some bees in some circumstances, while others find no harm. The results seem to be affected by many factors, including the species of bee and the kinds of crops involved. Scientists working on the question say any new study is instantly picked at by advocates on both sides. Even the results of the largest study on the matter, funded by the agrochemical industry, failed to produce a consensus. It’s likely that political or regulatory decisions will settle the matter before opposing parties agree.

【推荐3】Quantum mechanics (量子力学) is a branch of science that studies the smallest particles (粒子) in the universe, like atoms (原子) and even smaller things. It might sound super complex, but let’s break it down in simple language.

Imagine you have a small particle, like an atom. In the world of quantum mechanics, these particles don’t behave like the things we see in our everyday lives, like balls or cars. Instead, they act kind of like waves and particles at the same time, which is really strange!

One of the most famous ideas in quantum mechanics is the “Uncertainty Principle”, raised by physicist Werner Heisenberg. This principle says that we can’t precisely know both the position and the speed of a particle at the same time. It’s not because our measuring tools are bad; it’s because the particles themselves are naturally uncertain.

Another weird thing about quantum mechanics is something called “Entanglement.” Imagine you have two particles that are connected in a special way. If you change one of them, the other instantly changes, no matter how far apart they are. It’s like they’re talking to each other faster than the speed of light, which goes against what we know from everyday experiences.

Quantum mechanics also deals with probabilities. Instead of saying, “This particle will be here at this exact time,” scientists say, “There’s a certain chance it’ll be here, and a certain chance it won’t.” It’s like predicting the weather, but on a super small scale.

In a nutshell, quantum mechanics is a strange and fascinating world where particles act both like waves and particles, where you can’t know everything about a particle at once, and where particles can be mysteriously connected no matter how far apart they are. It’s a mind-boggling field that challenges our understanding of how the universe works, and even though it’s tough to grasp, it’s an essential part of modern physics.