【推荐1】Rome wasn't built in a day. And neither was the Roman subway system. Underground work is slow going, because construction workers often meet with frescoes(壁画) and other valuable stone foundations thousands of years ago. And a few years ago, they found the wooden foundations of a luxurious porch from a Roman building.

So local archaeologists called in Mauro Bernabei of the National Research Council of Italy. He's a dendrochronologist: someone who analyzes tree rings, which give age and environmental information.

"We have to study wood because it's full, really full, of information!" Bernabei and his team found that the wooden planks were oak(橡木). But the wood's origin was harder to determine. So they compared the tree rings in the oak floor to those available in libraries of tree rings that contain timber from all over Europe. And they found a match for the Roman wood—from the Jura region of eastern France, more than 600 miles away.

The researchers also determined that it was used in about 40 to 60 B.C. And some came from trees already up to 300 years old when they were cut down. The details are in the journal PLOS ONE.

The discovery is the first clear evidence of oak from north of the Alps being used to build ancient Rome. And it's a reminder that the Romans had a complex trading network. These trees, for example, likely floated down two rivers, across the Mediterranean and up another river to Rome.

Bernabei says Roman archaeologists usually destroy ancient wood—it's not as valuable as jewelry and vases and frescos. But he's hoping this study might change their minds."Save the wood, yes! And call me,if you don't want to save—please, call me!"He says.

【推荐2】The Sanxingdui Museum in southwest China’s Sichuan Province enjoyed huge popularity during the three-day Qingming Festival holidays by receiving nearly 20,000 visitors on the peak day after the new archaeological discoveries brought international attention.

According to media reports, the museum saw over 15,000 visitors on Saturday — the first day of the Qingming Festival, breaking its record for daily visitors. And on the next day, more visitors swarmed (蜂拥) into the museum, the number exceeding 19,800. To cope with the mighty flow of people, on Sunday afternoon, the official Weibo account of the Sanxingdui Museum released the message to remind visitors to avoid rush hours or reschedule their visiting time.

The Sanxingdui Museum showcases various kinds of precious cultural relics unearthed at the site, such as the 2.62-meter-tall standing statue, 1.38-meter-wide bronze mask, and 3.95-meter-high bronze tree. Earlier on March 20, Chinese archaeologists announced some new major discoveries made during the 37th excavation (挖掘) since the last excavation 35 years ago. The ruins were first discovered in the late 1920s and first excavated in 1934. More than 500 important cultural relics have been unearthed in the six newly-found pits. Since the new discoveries were known to the public, the number of people visiting the Sanxingdui Museum has increased sharply.

The museum says although they are open as usual, the newly-found pits have not opened to the public yet and the newly-excavated cultural relics are still under repair and cannot meet the public currently. But a hall for cultural relic conservation and restoration will be in pilot operation in April and officially open on May 18. Visitors to it can see how the relics are restored, according to Zhu Yarong, vice director of the Sanxingdui Museum.

Dating back about 3,000 years, the Sanxingdui Ruins have shed light on the ancient Shu civilization and cultural origins of the Chinese nation, and have been regarded as one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the 20th century.

【推荐1】Small talk has a reputation for being uninteresting, and for good reason. Pointing out the fact that it’s raining seems as ridiculous as pointing out the fact that you have a head — you’re fully aware of both things, and don’t require an outsider to confirm them. But despite being evident and often painfully dull, small talk has an important role to fulfill, enabling us to leap over a number of social obstacles towards improved, meaningful interaction.

Humans can be sensitive souls. We each have our boundaries and lists of potential upsets, which when broken, cause us to either gently back away to an alternative position in the room, or become annoyed at the person. Small talk is first a way to test the waters with an unfamiliar person, so that you may better understand their personality. When finding yourself positioned closely to a person who you know little about, it’s much safer to point out the rainy sky than to share your political views on a sensitive topic. Until you know the person better, heavier topics should probably be kept under wraps, so you won’t find yourself on the receiving end of a cold stare.

Though insignificant, small talk still has great power. When talking with fellow humans, much of our soul is exposed through non-verbal communication. A response to “how was your weekend” can uncover much about the person’s character. The length of their response might indicate their level of self-confidence; the tone of speaking might show how agreeable a person is; their slightly lowered head, as if protecting themselves from attack, is a possible sign of a regrettable history of bullying.

As more of a person’s character is revealed, we have the insight needed to determine whether to put forward more significant topics — the things that we actually want to talk about. Conversation is a great educator, and deep conversations establish lasting bonds with our fellow humans, forming precious friendships that paint our lives with vivid colors. Such friendships begin with small talk.

【推荐2】Canada’s western provinces are being hit hard by wildfires. Alberta has been hit especially hard. Heavy smoke from the fires has spread far beyond the region.

Alberta has been fighting wildfires for several weeks. Nearby British Columbia and Saskatchewan have also been seriously hit by wildfires. So far, the wildfires in Alberta have burned 8,420 square kilometers of land. Currently, 77 wildfires are still burning in Alberta, and 23 of the fires are considered out of control. That’s better than last week. In British Columbia, 89 fires are burning, and 22 are out of control. In British Columbia, about 1,350 square kilometers of land have been burned. Around 2,500 fire fighters have been working to bring the fires under control.

In Alberta, the wildfires have made over 29,000 people homeless. People have also been forced to evacuate in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. The fires have created so much smoke that it can be seen from space. The air quality across northwest Canada has been described as Very High Risk. The smoke is even affecting the air quality in several states in the United States. The wildfires have also caused problems for a number of oil and gas companies in Canada. Alberta is famous for producing oil and gas. Many oil companies have been forced to shut down.

Wildfires aren’t unusual in western Canada. But generally, the wildfire season begins later in the year. The early fires this year have been made much worse by extremely hot and dry weather. For most of May, a high-pressure weather system has been bringing record temperatures to the area. Many locations in Alberta have never seen higher temperatures than they have this year. The high temperature in Alberta on Sunday was 32.8℃.

【推荐3】A recent study has showed that a wearable soft robot, named Reliebo, can improve the experience of patients in medical treatments, such as injections (注射) and other unpleasant treatments. The goal of the robot is to help ease pain and defend people against anxiety. The study, led by researchers at the University of Tsukuba, was inspired in part by the numerous needles people had to put up with while being vaccinated. Some people felt an intense di like for these needs, which led to fewer people getting vaccinated.

The robot is soft and covered in fur. It contains small airbags internally that inflate(膨胀) in response to hand movement. Participants in the study who wore the robot while subjected to a medium heat stimulation, experienced less pain in the test than those who did not wear the robot.

The research team checked the effectiveness of the wearable robot while being handled by participants under certain conditions, based on the clenching (紧握) of the hand. The team placed painful heat stimulation on the other arm that was not holding the robot. They then measured cortisol (皮质醇) levels from the participants’ saliva samples, suggesting levels of stress hormones. The pain felt by the patients was given specific ratings and was also recorded using an assessment table. The people in the study were given a survey test to assess their fear of injections before and after the experiment with the wearable robot was completed.

The study proved that a wearable-informed robot may serve as a prospective tool to ease the experience of patients who were receiving injections. The research team hopes to use this study to advance the robot for use during painful situations, such as getting medical shots or similar conditions.