【推荐1】With about 100,000 new cases diagnosed (诊断) annually, skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the US.     1     It’s estimated that over $8 billion is spent annually to fight the disease. Now, scientists may have some help from 14-year-old Heman Bekele. The ninth grader from Annandale, Virginia, has created a cheap bar of soap that could potentially help fight skin cancer. His invention won him the title of “America’s Top Young Scientist” at the 3M Young Scientist Challenge on October 10, 2023.

    2     However, a bar of soap is just so simple, so affordable, so accessible in comparison to these modern new skin cancer treatments. As an immigrant from Ethiopia at four, he recalls seeing the locals constantly working under the hot sun. Since most skin cancers result from too much exposure to the sun’s rays, Bekele wondered if he could find an affordable way to fight the disease. He came up with the idea of making soap.     3    

“I have always been interested in biology and technology, and this challenge gave me the perfect platform to showcase my ideas,” Bekele said.

Shripriya, a ninth grader from California, won the second prize for her invention “EasyBZ”. This sticker-like patch can be used to administer medicine without pills or needles.     4     The seventh grader created a glove that can detect epileptic seizures (癫痫发作) with common hand movements.

    5     It invites students from grades 5 through 8 to find a unique solution to an everyday problem. The three winners will be awarded the title of “America’s Top Young Scientists”. The first place winner receives a $25,000 prize. The second and third place winners each receive a $2,000 prize.

【推荐2】There are more than 10 million people in the world who are unable to speak and they depend on computerized equipment to provide their voices. But because there are so few recorded voices for them, the same voice used by the physicist and writer Stephen Hawking is used by little children.

When speech scientist Rupal Patel was at a meeting and saw a young girl talking to a grown man and both were using the same computer voice, she knew something had to be done. So Patel worked to create custom (定制的) voices for custom people. To start the process, a voice donor (捐赠者) records a series of short stories and sentences. They don’t record every single word a person might say, but they typically cover all the different combinations of sounds that happen in language.

The process might take between five and seven hours, but it doesn’t have to be done all at once and it can be done in the donor’s home. The voice donor can start, stop and pick up whenever it’s convenient. They’re encouraged to record from the same place each time so the sound is continuous. Those recordings are then divided into little pieces of speech to be kept in a database (数据库). The person who will receive the voice also records a few special sounds. Patel’s team then searches the voice database for a perfect voice match. Finally, that donated voice is joined with the receiver’s sounds, which makes a custom voice.

So far, more than 14,000 speakers from 120 countries have contributed to what the company, VocaliD, calls “The Human Voicebank”. People who want to donate can record from anywhere they have a computer or phone, sharing their voice with anyone who needs it or even banking it for themselves. “English speakers from English-speaking countries share their voice as part of our Human Voicebank because they want to help bring speech to the speechless,” VocaliD spokesperson Elisabeth Nuboer said. “We have voice donors all over the world, ranging in age from 6 to 91 and welcome everyone and all your wonderful voice.”

【推荐1】“You should get a cat,” my therapist said. “A cat?” I couldn’t even look after myself. I took a deep breath and carefully considered the idea of welcoming a feline (猫科的) friend into my life. This seemed like too easy a fix for the fact that I couldn’t leave the house without bursting into tears.

Adopting an animal during the height of the pandemic was far from easy. When my partner and I found Cinnamon, her adoption profile made her out as the perfect kitten. We filled out the paperwork and had a few weeks to prepare for her arrival.

When she came home, it became increasingly obvious that Cinnamon didn’t understand “no”, “stop it” or “don’t do that”. She was the worst cat I’ve ever owned. I was beginning to doubt my therapist’s advice.

She used our bed as a litter box (猫砂盆), and after visiting our vet，she concluded that Cinnamon just wanted our attention. She fought tooth and nail to get a bite of our meals. She’d fearlessly lick (舔) sharp knives when left unattended for a split second, and eat anything that fell on the floor. Cinnamon stole my heart with her bravery and kept me busier than I’d expected.

We decided to start taking her for walks. I could barely leave the house before, but my heart couldn’t say no to Cinnamon. Cinnamon showed me what bravery looked like. She didn’t stop to consider every possible outcome of a situation; she simply went for it. If there was a dog at a park, she would run toward it. She jumped without knowing where she would land. She loved adventure. I found myself mirroring her behavior after a while, jumping out of bed without a second thought. I began to find the motivation to get out of bed in the morning.

Cinnamon unfortunately passed away after a medical accident, leaving a cat-sized hole in my heart the day she left us at only six month old. I’m no stranger to sadness or grief, but losing my pet so suddenly was the most confusing emotional experience I’ve had to date. She was supposed to help me through more of my life than the three short months we had her. She no longer wakes me up at 5 am begging for breakfast, but she’s still the reason I get up every morning.

Our time is often cut unpredictably, unmistakably short. It would be a shame to live life being anything less than brave and adventurous.

【推荐2】Ever since he was a young boy growing up in Rosario, Argentina, Lionel Messi always dreamed of becoming a World Cup champion. Now, he has achieved this.

On Dec 18, Argentina defeated France in the final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar by winning 4-2 in penalties (点球大战) following a 3-3 tie after extra time. Among the seven goals, Messi scored three times.

This victory has helped Argentina win another World Cup after their last win in 1986. Meanwhile, to some extent, it also ended the shadow of Argentina soccer legend Diego Maradona over Messi.

For a long time, Messi has been compared with Maradona. With excellent skills and great accomplishments, these two players are both considered the greatest players in their era. Maradona succeeded in helping his team lift the trophy (奖杯) in the World Cup. Yet, Messi hadn’t before.

Messi has won many honors, as a seven-time Ballon d’Or winner, a ten-time La Liga champion and a four-time UEFA Champions League winner. While he led the Argentina team to take part in World Cup four times before, his team’s best result was just runner-up, namely the second place in the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

Many Argentine fans felt disappointed and even doubted him. However, Messi did not give up, for him, there is no eternal glory in the football world, and adversity (逆境) still exists everywhere. “I’m not a superstar,” Messi said. “I just hope to play better, and better. So please don’t believe that I can perform miracles, instead, believe that I am not afraid of difficulties and adversity.”

Now, all rumors and disappointment are gone. With his perseverance and skills, the Argentina superstar brought World Cup glory to his country again. Winning in the last World Cup in his career also serves as the perfect storybook ending to the 35-year-old legend.

【推荐1】“What if we treat the ocean as if our lives depend on it? Or, what if we don’t?” World-famous marine biologist Sylvia Earle poses her famous “what if” questions to inspire people to reflect on how they can help save the ocean. In 1998, Time magazine named Earle its first “Hero for the Planet.”

Earle’s move to Florida’s west coast at age 12 is what started a lifelong passion. She says, “That’s where I first fell in love with the ocean.” In 1953, using newly developed equipment, the young scientist became one of the first in her field to scuba dive (水肺潜水). Her first long-term exposure to the ocean depths came in 1970 when she led an all-female research team to study the ocean. They lived under the sea in a submersible (潜水器) for two weeks. When they returned to the surface, world-wide cheer and praise were waiting, especially for Dr. Earle.

Sylvia Earle’s career includes many firsts. In 1979 she became the first woman to walk the ocean floor 381 meters below the surface. In 1990, she became the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Through the years, Earle has spent roughly 7,500 hours underwater. During that time, she has become increasingly alarmed by the significant changes she has observed.

The famous scientist fears that the ocean is dying. Climate change, overfishing, the dumping of trash and chemicals and oil spills are just some of the many causes. In order to tackle the problem, Earle formed Mission Blue in 2009. This organization promotes the legal protection and conservation of the world’s oceans. Her plan is to develop “Hope Spots,” protected areas large enough to reverse (逆转) damage and restore the ocean.