【推荐1】"Robots help people by making their lives easier, safer, and more fun," says engineer Omar Abdelwahed. Lately, engineers have been developing new kinds of humanoid robots. These high-tech machines are designed to lend a hand everywhere from hotels to disaster areas.

A robot named Petter has been on the job at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. When guests have questions or need directions, they can ask Petter. They can also use the robot's touch screen to find the information they need. Petter is able to talk with guests and entertain them with stories too. It can even tell what kind of mood they are in. "Petter provides our guests with information in an exciting and new way," says the hotel manager Donald Bowman.

For a kid, being in the hospital can be boring and even scary. But a small robot called NAO is helping to make hospital stays easier. It was designed to keep people company.

A Tennessee doctor named Phil Parker bought a NAO robot three years ago. He programmed it to talk to and play with young patients. He brought it to hospitals to help sick kids. When kids get medical tests, NAO explains what is going on. The robot also reads to kids and plays games with them like rock, paper, scissors. "The robot has got many kids to smile since they were in the hospital," Parker says.

Other robots are being developed to help in places where it's hard or risky for people to go. Engineers in Japan are building a robot called E2-DR to go into those dangerous areas, searching for and rescuing the people who are trapped or injured.

【推荐2】On Tuesday, the Amazon Company introduced Amazon One, which connects your palm(手掌) print to a stored credit card so you can place your hand above a sensor to enter and leave easily after buying at checkout-free Amazon(AMZN) Go stores.

Dilip Kumar, Amazon’s vice president told CNN Business that Amazon One had been used since long before the COVID-19. But the timing could be a positive for Amazon: Customers may find such payment convenient, and businesses also find it hopeful.

Yet the use of the Amazon One could raise eyebrows, too. Amazon has once come under fire from people who care about its facial-recognition software. When it comes to Amazon One data, Kumar said all palm pictures are coded and Amazon stores them online.

“I encourage people to try it, see how they like the experience,” Kumar said. You can hold your palm above an Amazon One scanner to enter the store. Then, anything you take will be automatically (自动地) charged to the credit card connected to their palm. Amazon One will make shopping faster and more convenient. Before trying it, users must place a credit card in an Amazon One device and hold a palm above it, facing down, so it can be scanned. The camera in it takes many pictures of the fine lines of the palm, and catches some details, which can’t be seen in typical photographs.

Amazon One now can be bought at two of the Amazon Go stores in Seattle, at 7th Avenue and Blanchard Street, and in the South Lake Union neighborhood.

【推荐1】Games and Hobbies

There are websites for nearly every game and hobby out there.

Young book lovers will enjoy TeenReads. The website features reviews of new and popular books for teenagers, along with surveys, contests and places to discuss favorite books. Teens can also work their way through the “ultimate (最终的)” reading list on the site.

Fans of entertainment channel TeenNick will find information on the latest shows, as well as games, videos and quizzes. While the site offers updates (最新信息) on TeenNick shows, it also features stories just for teens, offering suggestions on how to survive high school or giving back to school ideas.

The InSite is designed for teens who have an interest in improving the world. Teens can learn about social justice, how to build a positive self-image and how to help the planet. They can also submit artwork and writing or discuss how to make the world a better place.

ChallengeYou is a computer game design website. Teens can design games on the site or play games designed by other kids and teens. They can share their games with friends or take part in weekly game-building contests. There is also a chat room and a forum (论坛) where site users can discuss game building or arrange to play together.

【推荐2】I travel a lot, and I find out different styles(风格)of directing the way every time I ask “How can I get to the post office?”

Foreign tourists are often puzzled in Japan because most streets there don’t have names; in Japan, people use landmarks (地标) in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will answer the travellers, “Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. You are seeing that the post office is across from the bus stop.”

In the countryside of the American Midwest, there are not usually many landmarks. There are no mountains, so the land is very flat. In many places there are no towns or buildings within miles. Instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. In Kansas or Iowa, for example, people will say, “Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile. ”

People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map；they measure (测量) distance in time, not miles. “How far away is the post office?” you ask, “Oh,” they answer, “it’s about five minutes from here.” You say, “Yes, but how many miles away is it?” They don’t know.

It’s true that a person doesn’t know the answer to your question sometimes. What happens in such a situation? A New Yorker might say, “Sorry, I have no idea. ” But in Yucatan, Mexico, no one answers “I don’t know”. People in Yucatan believe that “I don’t know” is impolite. They usually give an answer, often a wrong one. A tourist can get lost in Yucatan!

【推荐3】Scientists near San Francisco work to identify a type of endangered fish using a tool that was originally made for treating cancer.

Currently, CRISPR is used to change the genetic material in specific cells. By changing the structure of immune cells, it helps recognize and fight cancer. The same technology is now used in a special machine called Sherlock, which, of course, is named after the famous investigator Sherlock Holmes. They do not, however, use Sherlock to change fish cells. Instead, the ocean researchers catch the fish, collect a small amount of mucus(粘液) and then test the cells to find the genetic makeup of the fish. It can be done in about 30 minutes. In the past, the researchers would have to wait weeks or months to get test results.

The researchers have found that the technology is extremely helpful when looking at different species of Chinook salmons, because they look nearly the same. However, some of them are endangered, and the scientists need to keep track of them.

In the past, the scientists would catch the Chinook salmon and measure them to tell them apart. “It’s not very accurate,” said Andrea Schreier, an associate professor at the University of California in Davis. Now she is working on the salmon. Schreier said when they catch the fish, the Sherlock machine can quickly tell them if they have one of the special salmons. It’s important because it allows the scientists to do things that will help the endangered salmon live longer. For example, they can catch them in lakes far away from the coast and take them by truck to the San Francisco Bay. In the past, the fish might have tried to make it to the Bay by swimming in rivers. However, due to climate change, the river water is sometimes too warm for the fish to make the trip safely.

Schreier said she feels good about the project because she likes being able to assist with conservation. “I really want to work to maintain our ecosystems and our native populations, given the pressures humans place on them through our different activities.”