【推荐2】Cerebral palsy(脑瘫)is the most common motor disability in children. The condition,which affects about 1 in 345 children, can make daily activities like walking, eating, or even lifting a cup difficult. A team of researchers from the University of California, Riverside (UCR) hopes to reduce the daily struggles with robotic clothing that will allow kids with cerebral palsy to better control their arm movements.

Wearable robotic units to help people with mobility issues have been around for many years. However, they are rigid and uncomfortable to wear. The UCR team plans to use light-weight materials to create a robotic sleeve that is cheap, durable, and, most importantly, comfortable to wear on a daily basis.

“Hard materials don’t interact well with humans,” said Jonathan Realmuto, UCR assistant professor of mechanical engineering and project lead. “What we’re going for by using materials like nylon and elastic are essentially robotic clothing.”

The scientists envision the robotic sleeves to have sealed areas that can be inflated. When filled with air,they would become temporarily rigid and provide the force needed for movement. The clothing will be fitted with sensors to detect small muscle contractions and anticipate what the wearer wants to do. The inflated bladders(气囊) will then help move the arm to complete the intended action.

“If we can help kids brush their own teeth, pour water or open doors, actions that others take for granted, it’s a huge win for them,” Realmuto said. “And it’s also a huge win for their families and caretakers.”

The UCR engineers are not the only ones working on soft robotic clothing to help those with motor disabilities. San Francisco-based startup CIONIC is on a similar mission. The company’s first product, the CIONIC Neural Sleeve, is designed to improve mobility for people with conditions like cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and stroke. Jeremiah Robison, the founder of CIONIC, was inspired to develop the product after seeing his daughter struggle with cerebral palsy.

【推荐1】It was a warm evening in August in 1995. Robert Blocker was driving to Yale University after being appointed as the university’s Dean (院长) of Music. He didn’t expect to see many people, but a couple of students met him and showed him around.

“When I looked at the history of the university and how people are devoted to the school’s art programs, I was honored by the chance to work there. I could not wait for the next day to start my job. And that excitement never changed because every day was different. My job as dean was not scheduled. I walked around the campus and students talked to me. I went to rehearsals (排演) by the students and teachers and got inspired by them,” he adds.

After nearly three decades as the Dean of Music at Yale, the 77-year-old retired from the position on Aug 31. Also an expert pianist, he remains a professor of piano at the music school, as well as professor of leadership strategies at Yale School of Management. Among his countless contributions as dean, Blocker developed long-term relationships with fellow musicians in China. He once toured cities, including Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hangzhou, giving lectures to the youngsters.

“China is a very special place for me. I am very happy to be back after the pandemic (疫情) to meet my friends and colleagues,” Blocker says, adding that he is particularly excited about being with young students.

Yang Suxian, director of the Shenzhen Piano Music Festival, says, “He has been very supportive and has participated in the Shenzhen Piano Music Festival for years, even during the pandemic.”

Blocker’s vision of a more hopeful world is reflected in his belief that music bridges the understanding between people.

“Music brings hope. People may speak different languages and have different ideas but music speaks to each other’s heart, and that’s why we keep this work going on and why the work never ends,” he says, “Our job is to let music heal the world by allowing us to understand and find a common place in our hearts.”

【推荐2】If dropping two studio albums within five months in 2020 wasn't enough of a surprise, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is now serving her fans a third one. Fearless (Taylor's Version), released on April 9th, is a remake of her 2008 country album Fearless, which follows in the wake of the singer's contract battle with her former label Big Machines back in 2019. Upon its release, the album sold 205,000 digital copies in China in less than five minutes and instantly topped the charts on Chinese song streaming platforms, including QQ Music and NetEase Music.

The re-recorded Fearless, a composition of 19 tracks from the songwriter's original album and 6 additional “From the Vault" songs, represents a retrieval of her past memories and love stories. The same brisk (轻快的)and bright lyrics and melodies are presented in a mellower (醇 美的)and warmer voice and have received tons of praise and celebration among Chinese Swifties-the nickname for Taylor's fans in the country.

“A break with the past to start all over again-that needs good faith and a strong heart,” read one comment on Tencent's QQ Music. “So dulcet and ear-catching. If you missed the 19-year-old Taylor, the 31-year-old Taylor will guide you to begin again,” a fan declared boisterously in NetEase Music's comments section.

Taylor Swift has now taken the crown as the best-selling artist of all time on major Chinese music streaming platforms, with her studio recordings earning more than a combined 159 million RMB ($24.3 million) as of April 14, outselling many famous Chinese singers including Jay Chou, Lay Zhang, and Li Yuchun.

The American singer's huge success in China is derived from her never — go — out — of — style artistry and inexhaustible creativity, while also being a product of her enormous fan base, which has succeeded with China's booming music industry. Taylor boasts about 10 million followers on China's Weibo, a microblogging platform, and has more than 9.3 million and 4.9 million followers on QQ Music and NetEase Music, respectively. Apart from their frequent trending on social media platforms, her songs have also repeatedly appeared in music competition shows and in the promos （预告片）for popular films, such as Detective Chinatown, a Chinese comedy-mystery series.

【推荐1】Some businesses are working on technology to determine customer satisfaction through facial expressions. But facial expressions might not be reliable indicators of emotion, research indicates.    1    

“Some claim they can detect whether someone is guilty of a crime or not, or whether a student is paying attention in class, or whether a customer is satisfied after buying something,” Professor Aleix Martinez said. “What our research showed is that those claims are completely ridiculous.    2    ”

The danger, Martinez said, lies in the possibility of missing the real emotion in another person, and then making decisions about that person’s future or abilities. For example, a teacher might expect a student to smile if the student is paying attention.    3    It would be wrong for the teacher to judge that student because of the student’s facial expressions.

The research team concluded that it takes more than expressions to correctly detect emotion.

Facial color can help provide clues. “When you experience emotion, your brain gives out hormones (激素)that change the blood flow and the face changes color,” Martinez said.

Context plays a key role as well. In one experiment, Martinez showed participants a picture cut to display just a man’s face. The man’s mouth is open in a scream; his face is bright red. Martinez said, “    4    But when participants saw the whole image, they saw that it was a soccer player who was celebrating a goal.”

    5    “In the U.S., we tend to smile a lot,” Martinez said. “But in other cultures, if you walked around the supermarket smiling at everyone, you might get a slap on your face.”

【推荐3】Would you rather be an impressive employee in an ordinary firm, or land a role at the most well-known company in your industry?

The answer to that question might seem highly personal, based on factors like whether or not you are a competitive person and how much you enjoy a challenge. In fact, there’s another strong factor at play: People from different cultures react very differently to that question. The psychologists from the University of Michigan asked people theoretical questions about the decisions they take. Specifically, the researchers compared people with East Asian backgrounds and European American backgrounds. They found that Americans are much more likely to favor being a big fish in a small pond. East Asians, and specifically Chinese people, are much more likely than Americans to lean towards being a smaller fish in a bigger pond.

Researchers first asked 270 students at a large American university whether they would rather be a “big fish in a small pond” or the opposite. Of the students with East Asian American backgrounds, three quarters said they’d rather be a small fish, compared with just under 60% of students with European American backgrounds who said the same.

The researchers then compared American and Chinese adults. They asked the participants whether they would rather attend a top university but perform below average, and whether they would rather work for a top global company but do less well in comparison to their peers. Over half the Chinese adults chose the famous university, compared with just a third of Americans. In the case of the firms, well over half of people from both groups chose to do better at a less well-known firm, but Chinese people were still more likely to choose being a “small fish” than were Americans.

The final experiment sought to discover how American and Chinese people made judgments about whether they were succeeding. They found that Chinese people were more likely to compare their performance to the performance of people in other groups. Americans, meanwhile, were more likely to compare themselves to people within the same group, to judge whether or not they were doing well.

In East Asian cultures, it’s “not enough that you know you’re doing well in your school,” said Kaidi Wu, a PhD student in psychology who led the research. “It is much more important that other people — an outsider, a family relative, a future employer who has five seconds to glance through your resume — also recognize your academic excellence.”

America is the opposite: “Think about how many times themes like ‘You are your own person’ or ‘Stop worrying about what other people think’ course through song lyrics and self-help books,” Wu said, concluding: “The choices we make are the products of our culture.”