【推荐1】Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev say that the popular dieting strategy of serving food on smaller plates does not necessarily trick us into eating less.

“Plate size doesn’t matter as much as we think it does,” says Dr. Tzvi Ganel, head of the study in a media release. “Even if you’re hungry and haven’t eaten, or are trying to cut back on portions (份), a serving looks similar whether it fills a smaller plate or is surrounded by empty space on a larger one.”

Some dieters may try eating off of smaller plates, hoping that they will feel full because the serving size appears larger on the smaller plate. This strategy is based on the classic Delbouef illusion (错觉), which found that people seeing a black circle inside a larger circle perceived the circle to be smaller than when the same sized black circle was placed inside a smaller circle.

Researchers determined that hunger seems to help with visual perception of food portions. In the experiment, participants who had eaten recently had a difficult time estimating pizza portions that were placed on larger versus smaller trays. But participants who had not eaten for at least three hours were better able to estimate portion sizes correctly.

The authors remind that their results only applied to food sizes. Both groups of participants performed about the same when asked to compare sizes of black circles and hubcaps (轮毂) placed inside different sized circles. Study authors say the results suggest that hunger strengthens our ability to analyze and process what we are seeing.

“Over the last decade, restaurants and other food businesses have been using progressively smaller dishes to adapt to the perceptual bias (偏差) that it will reduce food consumption,” says Ganel. “This study debunks that view. When people are hungry, especially when dieting, they are less likely to be fooled by the plate size, more likely to realize they are eating less and more ready to overeating later.”

So don’t kid yourself. Put away the Barbie plates and give it three hours. Then grab that giant plate and dig in. Your eyes will choose the right size.

【推荐3】How much water does the average adult need to drink every day? “Eight 8-ounce glasses” is common advice, but any truly serious answer to the how-much question will begin with some version of it depends.”

Researchers have long known that a region called SFO in the brain monitors the concentration (浓度) of water and salts in blood and triggers the urge to drink. But they failed to fully explain how we experience thirst. For example, when we gulp a drink, we feel almost instantly satisfied, and yet it takes 10 to 15 minutes for a liquid to enter our bloodstream. Recently neuroscientists have gained other remarkable insights into how thirst is monitored in the body and controlled in the brain.

In a series of elegant experiments with mice, Zimmerman, a neuroscientist, and his associates measured the activity of neurons (神经元) in the SFO. “We saw that their activity changed very fast when the mouse drank water or drank saltwater and when it ate food,” he says. The researchers showed that signals gathered at the SFO from several places. “You get a signal from the blood that tells your current state of hydration (水平衡), a signal from the mouth that tells you how much fluid you drank, and a signal from the gut that tells you what was consumed — was it water, was it something else?” The SFO neurons, he explains, “add these signals together” and then transmit the urge to drink or stop drinking.

The big takeaway of Zimmerman’s work is that for the most part you can trust your thirst system to tell you when you need to drink. But there are exceptions. Because the system’s sensitivity may decline with age. People with certain health conditions, including kidney stones and diarrhea, also need extra water.

Other parts of the brain — the ones used in planning — should help with hydration on hot days and when exercising. Thirsty or not, Zimmerman says, he drinks water before going for a run: “My thirst neurons don’t know I’m about to run 10 miles.”

【推荐1】What would it be like to live on the moon? Students in the 2021 Future City Competition were challenged to find out. Nine middle school students from AI-Hadi School of Accelerative Learning in Huston, Texas, America took home the prize in the competition.

Middle school teams from the United States, Canada, Nigeria and China joined in the 29^th yearly competition. The students used their STEM (science, technology, math and engineering) skills to create a city on the Moon.

The minerals and other resources(矿物质和其他资源) from the Moon helped the team design solutions to the problems humans might face on the planet, including providing enough water, as well as gases(气体) that are necessary for people, animals and plants to live. When asked if they’d like to live in their city on the Moon in the future, the students showed great excitement and interest in the possible moving from the planet Earth.

One winning student Sukaina Salim said, “One of our members had to leave the project because of his bad health. What was worse, COVID-19 created several difficulties for us. But we always encouraged each other to keep trying to achieve our common goals. It was a hard but great experience.”

Team teacher Syeda Batool encouraged the students and offered practical advice for their project.

“The most important thing we learned from our teachers was how to work together to do our job well,” said Mohammad Hani Mirza, who is a seventh grader. “That’s one thing we were missing because we all came from different backgrounds with different ideas, and we worked together to create a beautiful city.”

The winners were given a chance to go on an all-term trip to U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, and $7,500 for their school’s STEM program.

【推荐2】On February 21, 78 medical students took part in the final MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) exam at the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College in India. One of them, however, was more desperate to pass than the rest. Apparently, the unnamed medical student had been admitted 11 years ago, but had failed the final exam multiple times over the last few years, and this was his final chance to pass. To increase his chance, the man apparently turned to cheating, getting a Bluetooth device implanted in his ear through a surgery. Indian students have made international news headlines for their cheating methods before, but this latest story definitely takes the cake, so much so that it’s hard to believe.

Before the exam officials found a phone hidden in the inside pocket of his trousers connected to the Bluetooth device. Officials searched for the Bluetooth attachment but could not find it until the student admitted under questioning that he had paid an ear, nose and throat doctor to implant the skin-coloured device.

Cheating is rife in India’s highly competitive medical school exams and authorities have in recent years struggled to stop pupils using advanced methods of cheating to pass.

Having a Bluetooth device fitted under the skin sounds both painful and impractical, as the implant would have had to include both a battery and a sealed enclosure. As the folks at Hackaday suggest, it was likely not a Bluetooth receiver, but a bone conduction hearing aid attached to a bone that sends the resulting sound to the receptors of the inner ear via the bone itself.

However, Dr. Anand Rai, a whistle blower in a large-scale entrance exam cheating operation claimed that Bluetooth device implantation was easy to do and had been used in India as far back as 2013.

“It is very easy to get Bluetooth fitted in the ears. It is attached to the ear temporarily and can be removed. Such a technique was used by an accused test-taker in the large-scale entrance exam to clear his medical exam eight years ago,” Dr. Rai said.

【推荐3】Tugce Seren Gul’s aunt and grandmother were killed in Antakya in Turkey’s southeast. Every night, she waits until 4： 17 a. m. in the morning, the exact time that the disaster hit, to try to go to sleep. “I keep thinking another disaster will strike at that time and just wait for it to pass,” said the 28-year-old Gul.

Experts fear children will be hardest hit. The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said many of the more than 5. 4 million children who live across the area affected by the earthquake were at risk of developing anxiety, depression and other disorders.

“We know how important learning and routine are for children and their recovery,UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Afshan Khan said after a visit to Turkey. “They need to be able to resume their education, and they urgently need psychological support to help deal with the trauma they have experienced.

Psychologist and professor at MEF University, Ayse Bilge Selcuk, said, “As rising poverty and the COVID-19 pandemic have hurt the country, the stress is chronic, meaning that the tension continues over time.” “For this nation to get back on its feet, we need to find that strength within us and that starts with our psychologyshe added. Anxiety, helplessness and depression are likely to be common and young people could feel anger. ” Rebuilding efforts should include mental health,“ Selcuk said. She urged the government to provide money for training psychologists to be sent to the earthquake areas to stay there. “We shouldn’t withdraw our attention three months later, ”she said.