【推荐1】Chimpanzees (黑猩猩) enjoy watching movies together, scientists have discovered, in research that suggests social bonding through shared experience has deep evolutionary roots.

It is widely known that humans can bond over group activities such as watching a movie or playing board games. But it has been unclear whether the underlying psychology behind this effect is present in other species.

In the research, chimpanzees were placed in pairs and shown a short video. The researchers then measured how long it took them to approach their partners, how close they got and how long they remained in proximity (靠近) — two measures of social bonding.

Chimpanzees who had viewed the video with either another of their own species or a human approached their partner faster or spent longer in proximity to them, compared with those who had watched the video on their own, the scientists found.

The finding indicates that social bonding created by shared experience may have deeper evolutionary roots than previously thought.

“Animals can stand together and watch a waterfall, but they don’t seem to seek out those kinds of experiences,” said Wolf, an author on the study. “So for a long time we thought they weren’t capable of processing that way or they weren’t feeling any psychological consequences from doing so.”

“It’s exciting that at least some parts of the psychology that we need to connect through shared experiences may actually have a slightly older evolutionary history than previously suspected.”

The animals were tracked for only three minutes after they had watched the film, so it is not clear whether shared experiences strengthen social bonds in the long term. The research used animals in captivity (圈养), and scientists said it was not known whether the same effects would be observed in the wild.

【推荐2】While staring out of the window during a flight, not everyone will think carefully about the question why airplanes have rounded windows rather than square ones.

Over the years, aerospace engineering has made huge steps in airplane technology, meaning planes can carry more passengers and go faster. The planes have also changed shape to increase safety—including the windows. As commercial air travel took off in the mid－20th century, airline companies began to fly at higher altitudes to lower their cost—the air density(密度) is lower up there, creating less drag(阻力)for airplanes. However, higher altitudes came with problems, like the fact human beings can’t really survive at 30，000 feet. To make that possible, the cabin was changed to a cylindrical(圆柱体) shape to support the pressure inside. But at first, plane builders left in the standard square windows and this expansion meant disaster. The de__Havilland__Comet came into fashion in the 1950s. With a closed cabin, it was able to go higher and faster than other aircraft.

However, where there’s a corner, there’s a weak spot. Windows, having four corners, have four potential weak spots, making them likely to crash under stress—such as air pressure. By curving the window, the stress that would eventually break the window corner is distributed and the chance of it breaking is reduced. Rounded shapes are also stronger and resist deformation(变形), and can thus survive the extreme differences in pressure between the inside and outside of the aircraft.

Fortunately, designers figured out the lack of design pretty quick. Now we have nice, rounded airplane windows that can resist the pressure of traveling altitude. It gives being able to gaze out of your window to the world from 35，000 feet a whole new outlook, doesn’t it?

【推荐3】Flies are buzzing. Most people think they are dirty and annoying. But in Bryan Lessard's eyes，flies are beautiful insects with great abilities.

Lessard is a researcher at Australia's CSIRO. He is an expert on flies. According to Lessard，more than 159，000 types of flies have been found around the world. The number forms 10﹣15 percent of all the known animals on Earth!

Shocked？The truth is that you can never get away from flies，Lessard says. If you are a chocolate lover，you really should thank flies. Because there would be no chocolate without them!

A tiny kind of fly is the only known pollinator （授粉者） of the flower of the cocoa plant. These special flies are native to countries that are rich in cocoa，such as Brazil and Ecuador. They play a great role in the world's big sales of chocolates. Flies，as well as some other insects，also pollinate Australia's tea trees. Flies are a huge driver of the economy，but we take them for granted.

Flies can also be useful in other cool ways. Take black soldier flies for example. Scientists in Australia，India and US are turning black soldier fly larvae （幼虫） into a nutritious feed for livestock（家畜）. The larvae are 45 percent protein. They find that chickens fed on the larvae grow larger，and don't experience any harmful side effects. As well as that，Chinese researchers from Wuhan's Huazhong Agricultural University have made oil from the black soldier fly larvae and turned the liquid into a form of biodiesel （生物柴油）. So someday our cars could be powered by flies!

【推荐2】Baggy has become the first dog in the UK — and potentially the world — to join the fight against air pollution by recording pollutant levels near the ground.

Baggy wears a pollution monitor on her collar so she can take data measurements close to the ground. Her monitor has shown that air pollution levels are higher closer to ground level, which has helped highlight concerns that babies and young kids may be at higher risk of developing lung problems.

Conventional air pollution monitors are normally fixed on lampposts (路灯柱) at about nine feet in the air. However, since Baggy stands at about the same height as a child in a pushchair (婴儿车), she frequently records pollution levels which are much higher than the data gathered by the Environment Agency.

The doggy data research was the idea of Baggy’s 13-year-old owner Tom Hunt and his dad Matt. The English youngster noticed that pollution levels are around two-thirds higher close to the ground than they are in the air at the height where they are recorded by the agency. Tom has since reported the shocking findings to the government in an attempt to emphasize that babies are at higher risk of developing asthma (哮喘).

Matt Hunt said he was “very proud” of his son because “when the boy gets an idea, he keeps his head down and gets on with it, and he really does want to do some good and stop young kids from getting asthma.”

“Tom built up a passion for environmental protection at a very early age,” Matt added. “He became very interested in gadgets (小装置). About one year ago, he got this new piece of tech which is like a test tube. One Sunday afternoon, we went out to do some monitoring, and he said, ‘why don’t we put it on Baggy’s collar and let her monitor the pollution?’ So we did it.”

Tom said, “Most of the time, Baggy is just like any other dog. But for the rest of the time she is a super dog, and we are all really proud of her.”