【推荐2】Bangladesh has a large population. The nation depends on rice as its main food. Growing rice requires a lot of water and energy, especially during the dry season from January to June when farmers mostly rely on groundwater. This results in serious reduction of groundwater as well as greenhouse gas emissions(排放).

Researchers from the University of Washington and Bangladesh’s Ministry of Agriculture have developed a system called Integrated Rice Advisory System (IRAS), which uses satellite data from NASA and its partners to give farmers important information.

IRAS works by combining satellite data on water use, rainfall, and weather forecasts with crop water demand(需求)characteristics to produce location-specific suggestions for farmers. The suggestions tell farmers how much water they have, how much they are using, and how much they need for their crops. They also warn farmers if they have over-or under-watered their fields.

The IRAS team states that the system will help reduce agricultural water waste by about 30 percent, cut fuel use by 45 percent, save S115 million yearly, and lower carbon emissions by 300,000 tons per year.

IRAS is an example of how global cooperation and the sharing of important data among nations can help improve food security, water management, and environmental protection around the world. “In addition to being affordable and convenient for farmers, the method can help the world become more water-efficient and energy-efficient in growing food,” said Faisal Hossain, leader of IRAS.

The IRAS team completed its first nationwide effort in June 2023, after working with staff from Bangladesh’s Department of Agricultural Extension and Agro-Meteorological Information Service to set up the system. Faisal Hossain and his colleagues hope to broaden the reach of IRAS in the future, and apply it to other crops that demand large amounts of water, like sugar cane. “We believe that this affordable tool will be applied to any area where we know what crop is being grown and what their crop water demand characteristics are,” he said.

【推荐3】Personalized medicine changes conventional medicine which typically offers blanket recommendations and offers treatments designed to help more people than they bam but that might not work for you. The approach recognizes that we each possess unique characteristics, and they have an out size impact on our health.

Around the world, researchers are creating precision tools unimaginable just a decade ago: superfast DNA sequencing(排序); tissue engineering, cell reprogramming, gene editing, and more. The science and technology soon will make it possible to predict your risk of cancer, heart disease, and countless other illnesses years before you get sick. The work also offers prospects for changing genes in removing some diseases.

Last spring, researchers at the National Cancer Institute reported the dramatic recovery of a woman with breast cancer, Judy Perkins. The team, led by Steven Rosenberg, an immune(免疫的) treatment pioneer, had sequenced her cancer cells’ DNA to analyze the sudden change. The team also removed a sampling of immune cells and tested them to see which ones recognized her cancer cells' genetic faults. The scientists reproduced the winning immune cells by the billions and put them into Perkins to attack her cancer cells. More than two y cars later. Perkins, a retired engineer from Florida, shows no signs of cancer.

Thirty years ago, scientists thought that it would be impossible to understand our genetic rules and sequence the 3.2 billion pairs of different elements in our DNA. “It was like you were talking fairytales,” Kurzrock said. “The conventional wisdom was that it would never happen. Never And then in 2003, never was over.”

It took the Human Gene Project 13 years, roughly one billion dollars, and scientists from six countries to sequence one gene complex. Today sequencing costs about a thousand dollars. The latest machines can produce the results in a day. The technology, combined with advanced cell analysis, clarifies the astonishing biochemical variations that make every human body unique.

【推荐1】Imagine ordering something online. Then, imagine that item being delivered in just a few minutes by a drone. Believe it or not, this may be probable in the near future. Drones have been used by militaries since the 1970s. They refer to them as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. However, over the last two decades, drone technology has advanced rapidly and is increasingly available to the public. In fact, drones have already started doing work in many different industries. But is this going to be a good thing or a bad thing?

On the plus side, drones can do many things faster and more efficiently than people. For example, during an emergency, drones can quickly locate injured people by using special cameras. They can also distribute food, water, and medical supplies to people in hard-to-reach or dangerous places.

Drones are not just flying vehicles. Some travel on land and sea, and some even work on farms! Selfdriving tractors are being developed to help out farmers, and flying drones may soon be used to spread seeds. As for the sea, an autonomous sailboat was recently launched to collect data about the ocean and atmosphere.

Drones can truly help people in many ways. They are starting to be used in a wide variety of applications, from healthcare to mining. Even though drones can be very useful, some people believe drones also have some major problems that should be taken into consideration.

One of the biggest concerns about drones is privacy. What if a drone enters your house and takes a look around? Depending on local regulations, there may not be laws preventing drones from doing this. Drone technology is changing so quickly that it’s hard for governments to keep up!

Drones are often used to fly around and collect data. This data is then uploaded to the cloud. Unfortunately, hackers are sometimes able to steal the data when it is being uploaded. Flying drones can also pose a danger to aircraft. Many airports have reported close calls with drones.

Drones are not perfect. In the wrong hands, they can be used for criminal purposes, and even as weapons! However, most people think the positives of drone technology outweigh the negatives. Thus, it is likely that you will be seeing more and more drones in the near future. What is your opinion on drones? Do you think they are worth having around?

【推荐3】Nearly half of us make New Year’s resolutions, but less than ten percent of us actually keep them. This can be due to lack of motivation or loss of interest, but it’s time for us to figure out ways to finish what we’ve started.     1                 

Lack of honesty

Are you truly devoted to running a marathon, losing weight, or whatever else you are promising to do? Be honest with yourself. We often find ourselves committing to things because we think we should.     2     You will only be disappointed in yourself. Make resolutions you actually want to achieve and are going to put a plan of action towards.

    3                

While you may have the best intentions with your resolution, you could be putting unnecessary pressure on yourself. Rather than associating the New Year with resolutions or changes you need to make, consider it a time for reflection on things you wish to work on throughout the year.     4              

If your goal was to send out ten resumes (简历) for a new job and you only sent out five, don’t beat yourself up for it. Rather, congratulate and reward yourself for making the effort toward your goal. That will give you the energy to continue working towards your initial (最初的) goal.

Giving up too easily

Whether you get discouraged or simply lose interest, giving up too easily is a big resolution breaker. Many people make their resolutions believing they can accomplish them.     5     To avoid this issue, try to set a standard for comparing throughout the year. By doing so, you can keep yourself on track throughout the year.

【推荐2】Earlier this month, British supermarket chain Morrisons announced that it would be removing “use by” dates on most of its milk. The idea behind this is to discourage people from throwing milk away based on a date, rather than sniffing (闻) and looking at it to determine whether it’s still safe for consumption.

The fact is that significant amounts of food get wasted every year by people blindly following expiration dates, rather than their senses. What makes matters worse is that most dates don’t mean much, anyway. They’re assigned somewhat randomly by food manufacturers that are not held to any regulatory standards for what determines a safe date nor what expertise (专门知识) is required to make such a judgment call—so it makes sense that they’d be too cautious.

What I find amusing, however, is that many people seem to be horrified by this approaching absence of “use by” dates.

In fact, I never look at expiration dates when I shop. To me, it’s as if they don’t exist. To be clear, I am not an absent-minded shopper. I pay close attention to both packaging and price. Despite having a full cart at checkout, I could tell you the exact price of every item in it. Any time I see a clearance rack (清仓货架) at the store, that’s usually where I go first because it’s exactly the stuff I want to buy—the cheaper, the better! If there’s any heavily discounted product that I’d normally use, I will certainly take it. Often, I’ll mentally adjust my weekly menu plan on the spot, based on what I find.

The handful of times I have looked at expiration dates have been for short-lived items like prepackaged salad greens. What I’ve found, however, is that the dates mean little. Even a package that claims to be fresh can still have rotten yellow leaves at the bottom, which turns me off. Therefore, the expiration date means next to nothing, but my visual assessment, combined with my intention for when I plan to eat it, is far more useful.

Food is your friend. Food is not out to kill you!

【推荐3】We can probably all agree that it is good to be kind, moral (道德的) to be kind, nice to be kind, but does it lead to success in life? After all, isn’t kindness about putting other people’s interests first? Doesn’t it require self-sacrifice?

Yet consider these well-known people: James Timpson, boss of the Timpson chain of shoe repairers; Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand. These two are clearly “winners” in their fields, and yet both put kindness at the heart of their strategies for success. What they have found is that taking a more compassionate (同情心) and apparently “softer” approach to business, politics and sports management brings positive results, not just for the benefit of people who work for them, but for their own benefit. The traditional idea that you have to be cruel, driven and focused on number one if you want to achieve success is being discredited (不足为信的).

It’s notable (值得注意的)that in the field of business research, kind leadership is more often referred to as “ethical” (有道德的) leadership, maybe because it sounds less soft. But whatever you decided to call it, studies have shown that it can result in a more positive atmosphere at work and that employees perform better too. There’s evidence that even small acts of kindness and cooperation by anyone can make a difference in a workplace. An example might be getting the printer mended, rather than leaving it broken for the next person to find, or watering the plants in the office. These actions aren’t required as part of the job, but if we carry them out, the working environment is a little better for everyone.

Of course, there are still plenty of examples of people who do well in life, but they are self-centered and unkind to others. But the point is that despite what we might see, you don’t have to be hard-nosed (不讲情面的) to get on in business or other highly competitive walks of life. You can’t be a winner simply through being kind of course — you need motivation, dedication and skills too — but there’s more and more evidence that showing some kindness as you pursue your goal is no barrier (障碍) to success.