【推荐1】If there is one thing I'm sure about, it is that in a hundred years from now we will still be reading newspapers. It is not that newspapers are a necessity. Even now some people get most of their news from television or radio. Many buy a paper only on Saturday or Sunday. But for most people, a newspaper has become a habit passed down from generation to generation.

The nature of what is news may change. What basically makes news is what affects our lives-and the big political stories, the coverage of the wars, earthquakes and other disasters, will continue much the same. I think there will be more coverage of scientific research, though. It's already happening in areas that may directly affect our lives, like genetic engineering. In the future, I think there will be more coverage of scientific explanations of why we feel as we do-as we develop a better understanding of how the brain operates and what our feelings really are.

It's quite possible that in the next century, newspapers will be transmitted electronically from the Fleet Street and printed out in our own home. In fact, I'm pretty sure that is how it will happen in the future. You will probably be able to choose from a menu, making up your own newspaper by picking out the things you want to read-say, sport and international news.

I think people have got it wrong when they talk about competition between the different media. They actually feed off each other. Some people once foresee that television would kill off newspapers, but that hasn't happened. What is read on the printed page lasts longer than pictures on a screen or sound lost in the air. And as for the Internet, it's never really pleasant to read something just on a screen.

【推荐3】US cosmologist (宇宙学家) Carl Sagan once said: “Across the sea of space, the stars are other suns.”

For centuries, human beings have dreamed of traveling into space, orbiting (围绕......运行) our little blue planet, and appreciating incredible views of sunrises and sunsets. And soon, it seems that our dream will finally come true, as US startup Orion Span announced on April 6 that it planned to launch the first hotel in space in 2021. It will be ready to welcome guests the following year.

The space hotel, Aurora Station, will orbit 320 kilometers above Earth, circling it every 90 minutes. It’s capable of housing two crew members and four guests. The crew members will likely be former NASA astronauts who worked on the International Space Station. However, there’s a catch: Each guest must pay at least $9.5 million (60 million yuan) for a 12-day stay at the hotel.

Once aboard the Aurora Station, guests will find many exciting things to do. According to Orion Span, guests can enjoy the excitement of zero-gravity as they fly throughout the space hotel. They can watch 16 sunrises and sunsets every day and view the northern and southern auroras (极光) through the many windows. They can take part in research experiments like growing food, and even take it home as a souvenir. And they can stay in touch with their families and friends via a high-speed internet connection.

But most importantly, the trip will offer a real sense of what it’s like to live in space. “The premise (前提) of Aurora Station is for guests to live, feel, and [breathe] what it’s like to be an astronaut,” Frank Bunger, founder of Orion Span, told the Robb Report. “The food and drinks are freeze-dried products. It’s not going to be five-star dining … Fire and gas don’t work the same way in space as they do on Earth.”

To better prepare guests for space travel, the company will require a health screening and provide a three-month training program that helps guests understand basic spaceflight, orbital mechanics (轨道力学) and life in the pressurized environment of space.

Some may have doubts about the project, but the company even has plans to turn part of Aurora Station into private apartments. “Future Aurora owners can live in, visit, or sublease (转租) their space [apartment],” Bunger said in a news release. “This is an exciting frontier (待开发的领域) and Orion Span is proud to pave the way.”

【推荐3】Those extra pounds should be avoided at all costs, right? Actually, while being overweight isn’t generally good for our health, not all fat is created equal — some may even be beneficial.

There are two major kinds of body fat. White fat, the most abundant type, is what you feel when you squeeze your midsection. Brown fat, found mainly in the neck region, burns energy rather than storing it the way white fat does. Brown fat may also help avoid diabetes. According to a study in Cell Metabolism, individuals with higher amounts of brown fat had smaller changes in blood sugar and thus a reduced risk of developing diabetes. Infants have high levels of brown fat, which helps regulate their body temperature. Sadly, we lose it as we age, and adults have only small amounts.

Adults can increase brown fat by exposing themselves to cold temperatures. In a recent study, people who slept in a mildly cold room (about 66 degrees F) increased the amount and activity of their brown fat by up to 40 percent. Sleeping in mild warmth (81 degrees F), however, decreased their amount of brown fat. Cold showers don’t seem to affect it.

Brown fat does have its drawbacks. Radiologists don’t like it, because the heat it causes makes it harder for body scans to detect activities in patients. Although there’s no firm evidence that any specific foods or nutrients can activate brown fat, radiologists routinely recommend that patients eat a high-fat, low-carb diet before scans on the grounds that this reduces brown fat activation.

Just as brown fat isn’t perfect, neither is white fat all bad. Even though people tend to hate it, white fat delivers important health benefits. It protects our vital organs, helps keep us warm, and stores calories for later use, keeping us from starving when food is scarce.

White fat can sometimes be turned into brown — it’s then called beige or brite (“brown in white”) fat. Like brown fat, beige fat burns energy and can thus help fight against obesity. Scientists are still trying to figure out how the change happens; one study points to a hormone called irisin, which our muscles produce when we exercise.

Fat cells’ sensitivity to temperature changes means there’s more than one way we can get rid of unwanted fat. Cooling treatments, for instance, freeze fat cells to death. The body removes these damaged cells over several months.