【推荐1】Only shock prevented the tears from streaming down my face. My cells were dead. After being accepted into the competitive Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program (SIMR), and spending approximately 170 hours of the past month studying human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) (人胚胎干细胞), I was back to square on — with only one month of my internship(实习) left . How in the world was I going to make up for lost time?

As I asked myself the question, I thought back to exactly how I had spent those 170 hours working to develop the stem cells. I started my internship a little overwhelmed by the complex equipment in the lab. After I familiarized myself with the equipment, I began to find the function of PRDMI — a gene thought to control replication (复制) in hESCs. First, though, I needed to make a growth medium (培养基) for the hESCs. I painstakingly measured to the ten millionth of a liter, testing the accuracy of each measurement multiple times before finally putting it into the medium solution. After I plated the hESCs on my new medium, I waited with bated breath for the results.

To my joy, two days later, my cells were growing very well and even outgrowing their new home. I successfully created hundreds of stable hESCs. Everything seemed to be going so well. But now....

“Nancy, I know taking the news the first time can be hard, but keep in mind, you probably didn't do anything wrong. You know how sensitive they are. This sort of thing is common when working with stem cells,” the program director said gently.

“I know,” I said. “I’m ready to try again.”

Thomas Edison said. “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.

【推荐1】The hand-drawn posters kept catching Aviram Cohen’s eye as he walked around his neighborhood in Queens, N.Y. They were colorful advertisements with a distinct style. Cohen, who builds exhibitions in museums and galleries, was eager to uncover who was behind the posters. It wasn’t easy.

“I found them by going from restaurant to restaurant until there was someone that had their phone number,” Cohen, 42, said, adding that he was hoping to ask them to create a sign for his wife’s yoga and Pilates studio in Jackson Heights.

When the artists, Carlos and Miguel Cevallos, met him at his wife’s studio that day in 2018, Cohen was shocked to see two brothers in their 80s, who for decades have spent their days in their shared Manhattan apartment making advertising posters by hand. They had long been relying on word of mouth to attract new clients. Then Cohen suggested they get on social media to preserve their work. “It should be documented so it doesn’t disappear,” Cohen said. Cohen offered to create an Instagram account for the brothers. They were on board with the idea.

The brothers, along with their older brother, Victor, opened a sign shop in Bogota in 1966. Victor taught his younger brothers all he knew about art. After Victor moved to New York in 1969, his brothers eventually followed him. Carlos came first in 1974 and produced posters with Victor in a small art studio in Times Square, and later in Queens. In 2005, Miguel moved to New York. After Victor’s death in 2012, Miguel and Carlos carried on their brother’s legacy(遗产)by continuing to make custom posters. Miguel outlines the letters and images, and Carlos is the colorist.

Recently, the brothers have received requests from potential clients across the United States, as well as internationally. The two have no plans to part with their pens and paintbrushes anytime soon. They intend to make art indefinitely.

【推荐2】Brian Taylor had a successful pet grooming (宠物美容) business in New York City. “COVID-19 brought my business to a screeching halt (突然停止),” says Brian. “I had to let all my employees go. That really affected me. So as I was rebuilding my business, I felt the need to give back. I kept thinking about the restaurant industry and what they have done. Even though they were suffering themselves, they started offering meals to the people who were saving lives,” Brian continues.

“That’s when I started the Pandemic Pup Relief Fund. The idea was, whatever money a pet parent would donate would go toward free grooming for someone who couldn’t afford to have their pups done. In one month, I raised over $2,000,” Brian says.

“The satisfaction of giving help made me want to do more,” shares Brian. “I got the idea of doing a Pandemic Pup Relief Tour and put it out over social media to see if there was any interest from my colleagues to give free grooming to dogs in need. Soon, 55 professional groomers signed up to participate.” In addition, a GoFundMe account was set up and over $27,000 was raised for this amazing project.

Brian drove to each city and hosted a grooming event at a local groomer’s salon. Many of the volunteers lived within 50 miles of the locations where they signed up to help, but some came from much farther. At the NYC stop, the Diva Dogg Grooming team of eight traveled from Rhode Island. Candice of Kandi Kutz House Calls, along with a team of four, traveled from Indiana to volunteer. Some groomers from Washington, D.C. offered to travel to Wilmington, North Carolina to lend a hand at that location as well.

The first Pandemic Pup Relief Tour is now over, but it will have a lasting impact on every community they helped, and has laid the groundwork for future projects. “I think I made it fun for groomers to give back,” says Brian. “They got to connect with other groomers and learn different skill sets, as well as helping others — what could be better than that?”

【推荐3】My family didn’t talk much shout my grandfather when I was growing up. He had been a doctor in the British Army and served in the First World War. While many families had relatives in the British Army who fought on the front, it wasn’t something you need to talk about with pride. It’s only as an adult then that I have started to look deeper into my grandfather’s life.

After graduating from medical school in 1906,my grandfather worked as a resident surgeon at the Waterford Hospital for 12 month before joining the Royal Army Medical Corps and starting his first tour of India.

Over the next several years,he served in Rawalpindi,Ferozepore,Multan,Rangoon and Mandalay.

The First World War began on July 28,1914 and two weeks later, my grandfather was on active service in France and Belgium．He was captured(俘获)at Landrecies on October 18,1914 and was kept in prison at Sennelager Prisoner of War Camp in Germany. Following his release on June 26,1915,he returned to London.________A month later he was back on active service,first with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in Malta,then Gallipoli and then back to France and Belgium25where he served as the officer commanding No. 44 Field Ambulance until near the war’s end in November 1918.

While his army records afford us a timeline on his service, they don’t show much about his experiences on the battlefield. Thankfully; the surviving sketch (素描) of him at the Battle of the Somme and the accompanying caption (说明文字) by the artist Muirhead Bone help to fill in the gaps.The original,entitled“Waiting for the Wounded”, is housed in the Imperial War Museum,London.

When I was a child, a copy of this sketch hung in my parents’ bedroom, but I didn’t know its importance. Now, as I try to know better about my grandfather, it takes on new significance for me.