【推荐1】What would happen if you replace all drinks with water?

We all know what harmful drinks can cause： obesity, heart problems, stomach pain, skin diseases, caries. This list sounds so scary.     1    What would happen with our bodies then?

Chris Bailey, a popular blogger and lecturer, carried out a month-long research about this topic. His conclusion is really impressive and surprising!

You lose weight faster.

Yes, you do! No special diet is required! You replace all drinks with water for 9 days, and you'll lose as equal amount of calories as when jogging for eight kilometers a day!     2    

You speed up your metabolism.

Drinking just 17 fluid ounces (盎司) of water in the morning increases your metabolism (新陈代谢) by 24 percent.     3    And you'll see the impressive result very soon.

Your brain works better.

Did you know your brain is 75 to 85 percent water? Nothing else, just water! So by drinking, you feel it, which helps you concentrate. Drink water to work more efficiently, cope with all daily tasks quickly, and stay energized even late in the evening! Doesn't this sound like a dream?

You eat less.

Sometimes we confuse hunger with thirst.     4    Try it out to drink some water next time you feel hungry. It really works.

Your body releases toxins faster.

Water washes out harmful substances, clearing, moistening your skin and preventing aging. Want to look young and fresh as long as possible? Drink a glass of water right now.

    5    

Five glasses of water a day lower the risk of a heart attack by 41 percent! And there are similar effects on other diseases like bladder conditions, bowel cancer…Want to avoid wasting money on doctors? Just drink more water!

You save a lot of money

How much money do you spend on coffee and juices per week? Well. I don't want to say how much I do because my spending is massive. The price of water is much lower than that of other drinks Think about it!

【推荐3】The first mouthful of “cultivated” meat is both remarkable and dull. In a homely kitchen at the California headquarters of Eat Just, a startup, a-card-sized slice of meat, served with a sweet-potato puree, mushrooms and some pickled peppers, has been grilled. The meal is remarkable because the meat was grown in a lab. It is ordinary because the texture, taste, look and smell of the meat is almost identical to that of chicken.

Broadly speaking, there are two ways to make cultivated meat. One option is to put the cells in a stainless-steel tank, called a “bioreactor,” which is filled with a nutrient-rich liquid that is often from cow embryos (胚胎). The cells multiply, and after a month or so a meaty slurry can be harvested and turned into minced-meat products such as chicken nuggets (鸡块).The alternative is to place the cells on a frame. That encourages them to grow into a certain shape, and is used to create more fibrous meat, such as steaks.

The cultivated-meat business hopes that this experience will become more common. In June, Eat Just and Upside Foods, became the first two companies to win regulatory approval to sell cultivated meat in America. A handful of firms already do so in Singapore. In total, around 160 firms are trying to bring cultivated meats to market.

But doing so will be challenging. In America, diners without the benefit of a press card can find cultivated meat in just two restaurants. Years ago the industry was bullish. McKinsey guessed it might grow to $25 billion worldwide by the end of the decade. But that hope is fading. Most companies are now more focused on producing hybrid meats, which combine cultivated animal protein with protein from plants such as soya or wheat because of stubbornly high costs and troubles with mass production.

In some rich countries, plenty of people say they want to reduce their consumption, ether for ethical reasons or environmental ones. Lab-grown meat may, for some consumers, be less ethically worrisome than eating animals. And the early success of plant-based meat alternatives gave investors hope. Earlier this year, Vow Food, an Australian start-up, created a “mammoth meatball”, mixing ancient DNA recovered from frozen mammoth remains with that of modern-day elephants.

【推荐1】There is no escaping our evolution into a cashless society. The idea that all transactions (交易) can be completed digitally is becoming more realistic day by day.     1    As it is, people increasingly demand low-touch or contactless payments with growing concerns over the spread of viruses and diseases. A cashless society would give rise to a new era for financial deals. The key benefits would include lower crime rates, easier foreign transactions, and reduced risks and costs. The idea of a cashless society appears very common in our society.    2    

Economic inequality and inclusivity (包容性) are fundamental issues still present worldwide.    3     The unbanked and poor could face significant challenges with digital modes of payment. In fact, most of the unbanked view the cashless movement as an unfair act against those without bank accounts.

For a cashless society, there needs to be an understanding and acceptance by governments and payment providers of the financial inclusion issues currently in existence.    4     There are also the elderly and the disabled who face their own challenges with rapid digitalization and technological advancement. There are still parts of society that lack trust in digital payments or have barriers to accessing mobile phones and the Internet.

    5     It is also about to launch a national digital currency (货币), the world’s first. Nearly everything can be transacted by digital means here. As we prepare for the consequence of COVID-19, and use the model set by China, other countries need to take it upon themselves to provide a harmonious, effective, and cashless society — one that does not leave anyone behind.

【推荐1】It seems like everything nowadays is a smart device. Smart toasters. Smart dog collars. Smart homes. In the age of smart (智能), there is nothing more intelligent or more innovative than the devices being produced by the wearables industry. Wearable devices help collect and analyze real-time personal data that informs us on everything from our health to our workouts. They’ve become extremely popular tools to help us stay informed and in touch with ourselves to the point that almost a quarter of people in the U.S. now sport a wearable device.

What exactly is a wearable? Wearables are electronic devices that are worn on a person — usually close to the skin — in order to accurately relay important medical, biological and exercise data to a database.

In addition to smart watches, VR and AR technology, smart jackets and a wide variety of other gadgets (小器具) are leading us towards a better-connected lifestyle. Each device’s main job is to collect millions of data points that range from how many steps you take to your heart rate.

The healthcare industry is probably seeing the biggest benefit from wearable technology. Patients who wear these smart devices can measure information ranging from body temperature to blood pressure, which is then relayed to their medical team in real-time. If something looks off, doctors have a quicker way to accurately diagnose and treat a patient. The entire treatment process is now quicker thanks to the data collected by a wearable device because doctors no longer have to run some tests to determine an illness or disease.

Having all of this health data in real-time is, of course, helping the sports and fitness industries push the boundaries of training. Professional athletes from all over the world maximize their training regimes thanks to the biometric data captured through wearable technology.

Wearable technology is the key to answering these questions and unlocking the potential of world-class athletes.

The advancement of wearables has been a welcomed tool for the insurance, healthcare and sports industries for a number of reasons. From encouraging healthier habits to optimizing (优化) physical performance, industries have got numerous rewards that come with wearable tech.

【推荐2】The invention of the 1D barcodes revolutionized supermarkets and general market management. But shortly after their introduction, their disadvantages were clear. There was an instant demand to be able to encode (编码) more than 20 alphanumeric characters (字符) that the traditional barcodes could hold.

Denso Wave, a Japanese company, at the time, was in the business of manufacturing 1D barcode scanners. Listening to feedback from users of the 1D barcode scanners they were selling, they put together a development team to come up with a solution.

One of the key targets was to ensure that no matter what barcode they designed, it can be scanned very fast. It took the team nearly 18 months, and eventually they came up with a barcode that could hold up to 7,000 alphanumerical characters and could be scanned up to 10 times faster than any other code at the time. In 1994, the QR Code was born.

The QR Code quickly spread outside of Japan and were approved for many standards globally. But that wasn’t the end of the development of the QR Code. After all, nothing is perfect at its beginning and people soon began to present more requirements to Denso Wave. The variations (变体) of the QR Code were soon developed.

One of the biggest reasons why the QR Code has been able to be used widely is that Denso Wave made the decision to make the QR Code publicly available. This means anyone can use it without paying any fees. Denso Wave do hold a patent for the QR Code, but have declared that they have no intention to exercise it.

It wasn’t until 2002 that the first smartphones came to market with the QR Code scanner, and this really accelerated the technology. Once widespread on phones, almost anyone can read these codes and doesn’t require expensive hardware to do so. It is believed that Nokia is the first to bring this technology to a mobile device.

【推荐3】

Chile (智利) is famous for its many attractions, including Torres del Paine National Park and Easter Island . If you’re planning a visit, be sure to add “Mano del Desierto” or “Hand of the Desert”to your must-see list.

Standing 11 meters tall and made of iron and cement (混凝土), this sculpture (雕像) of a hand emerges (出现) from the sand in the Atacama Desert , which is known as the driest desert in the world outside of polar regions. The sculpture was created by Mario Irarr á zabal in the early 1980s and was financed by a local nonprofit organization called Corporaci ó n Pro Antofagasta. The sculpture is not only famous for its size and design but also for the message it expresses. Many people believe that the hand represents the weakness and helplessness of human beings, as well as their strength and determination to overcome hardships.

If you’re interested in visiting the Hand of the Desert, take Route 26 or 28 from Antofagasta, a port city in northern Chile. The sculpture is located between mile markers 1309 and 1310. The desert’s flatness (平坦) makes it easy to spot the sculpture from far away. But some people mistake it for a mirage (海市蜃楼) caused by tiredness from driving a long way to the sculpture.

Visitors should take precautions (预防措施) before leaving , such as filling their gas tanks , taking plenty of water, and wearing sunscreen. They should also avoid driving too quickly, as many car accidents happen in the desert each year.

For those who are worried about driving alone, working with an agency (机构) like Plan South America is a good option. The founder of the agency, Harry Hastings, said that he always tries to join a visit to the sculpture with guests traveling to the desert.