【推荐1】As Internet users become more dependent on the Internet to store information, are people remembering less? If you know your computer will save information, why store it in your own personal memory, your brain? Experts are wondering if the Internet is changing what we remember and how.

In a recent study, Professor Betsy Sparrow conducted some experiments. She and her research team wanted to know whether the Internet is changing memory. In the first experiment, they gave people 40 unimportant facts to type into a computer. The first group of people understood that the computer would save the information. The second group understood that the computer would not save it. Later, the second group remembered the information better. People in the first group knew they could find the information again, so they did not try to remember it.

In another experiment, the researchers gave people facts to remember, and told them where to find the information on the Internet. The information was in a specific computer folder(文件夹). Surprisingly, people later remember the folder location better than the facts. When people use the Internet, they do not remember the information. Rather, they remember how to find it. This is called “transactive memory(交互记忆)”.

According to Sparrow, we are not becoming people with poor memories as a result of the Internet. Instead, computer users are developing stronger transactive memories; that is, people are learning how to organize huge quantities of information so that they are able to access it at a later date. This doesn’t mean we are becoming either more or less intelligent, but there is no doubt that the way we use memory is changing.

【推荐2】Recently some American scientists have given a useful sincere piece of advice to people in industrialized nations that they would be much healthier if they ate more of the same kind of food eaten by humans living more than 10,000 years ago.

The scientists say that the human body has changed very little since humans first appeared on the earth, but the way we live has changed greatly. Our body has not been able to deal with these changes in life style and this has led to new kinds of sicknesses. These new sicknesses were not known in ancient times, so they are called “diseases of civilization”. Many cancers and diseases of the blood system, including heart attacks and strokes (中风) are examples of such diseases.

Scientists noted that people in both the Old Stone Age and the New Stone Age enjoyed very little alcohol (酒精) or tobacco (烟草), probably none. Ancient people also got a great deal of physical exercise, but a change in food is one of the main differences between life in ancient times and that of today.

Stone-age people hunted wild animals for their meat, which had much less fat than domestic or tame ones (家畜). They also ate a lot of fresh wild vegetables and fruits. They didn’t have milk or any other dairy products, and they made very little use of grains. But today, we eat a large amount of these. We eat six times more salt than our remote ancestors (祖先). We eat more sugar. We eat twice as much fat but only one third as much protein (蛋白质) and much less vitamin C.

People today probably do not want to live the way people thousands of years ago did, but scientists say that we would be much healthier if we ate much the same way as remote ancestors did, cutting the amount of fatty, salty and sweet food.

【推荐2】As workers return to the office, friends meet up and religious services move from online to in person, people are wondering whether they should shake hands or not.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first began, an event planning business in Kansas City began selling “I Shake Hands” stickers(标签). The words were meant to make social situations easier.

“We didn’t want the sticker to say ‘We Don’t Shake Hands’ because that is kind of off-putting(令人气恼的),” said John DeLeon, vice president of operations. DeLeon added that those who did not want to shake hands with others could simply choose not to wear a sticker.

The handshake has been around for centuries. A widely held belief is that it started as a way to show that a person was offering peace and not holding a hidden weapon. But hands have germs(细菌).

Dr. Anthony Fauci is America’s leading infectious disease expert. Last year, he warned, “I don’t think we should ever shake hands again, to be honest with you.”

Dr. Amesh Adalja, another infectious disease expert, does not agree. He thinks people are overthinking the question of whether to shake hands or not. The answer, he says, is simple.

“If you are worried about COVID-l9, the best way to make handshakes safe is to be fully vaccinated (接种疫苗),” Dr. Adalja said.

Diane Gottsman is a national etiquette expert. Etiquette means the rules that make up the correct way to behave in society. Gottsman does not think the handshake will go away because of the pandemic. But she said people should take things slowly. “Don’t be the first to extend your hand, even if you are comfortable,” Gottsman said.

Business Law Southwest advises businesses in New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. At the beginning of the pandemic, it offered to help create new workplace rules—such as a no-handshake policy. But there was not enough interest, said Kristy Donahue, a company spokeswoman. “At the end of the day,” Donahue said, “people long for human interaction and human touch.”