【推荐1】I stood behind the curtain, my hands shaking. As I listened to the crowd laugh at the host's jokes, I thought about why I believed I could do that. Two months earlier, I had signed up for improv（即兴表演）classes at a local theater, along with four other graduate students.

When I first heard about the improv classes, I was torn. I feared getting on stage and performing in front of strangers. However, I knew I wanted to work as a science communicator after finishing my Ph.D., so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to improve my communication ability and gain confidence thinking on my feet.

During our first class, we learned the key concept of improv: “yes, and”. If someone says that rhinos are librarians, for example, then rhinos are librarians. We don't question the logic; we say “yes” and continue with the scene as if nothing is wrong. To do this effectively, we have to avoid second-guessing ourselves. Sometimes scenes go in unexpected directions. The best improv happens when performers stay open to different possibilities. Over time, I started to enjoy our classes. I also became better at listening and communicating clearly in the moment.

That training came in handy 6 months ago, when I was giving a seminar about my science research. An audience member surprised me with a question that didn't grow out of the information I had presented. Instead of getting perplexed, I used that approach, and it helped me find an appropriate answer.

Last year, I used that approach when dealing with confusing data. Instead of getting discouraged, I kept exploring the data and ended up identifying a new type of cell — one that wasn't behaving as expected. If I hadn't stayed open to the possibility that the results were real, I would have missed out on the most exciting finding of my Ph.D. program so far.

【推荐2】Marigi worked deep in a forest in Nigeria, a country on the western coast of Africa. He is a logger who cuts down trees using a knife. The forest where he worked is in the Ondo State in Southwest Nigeria. But many trees in that forest have been lost to too much logging.

The 61-year-old father of two said that he could cut down over 15 trees anywhere in the forest,but he would be lucky to find only two now.“During the time of my father, we had big trees but sadly what we have now are just small trees and we don’t even allow them to grow tall enough before we cut them,” Marigi said.

After cutting down the trees, Marigi puts markers on them to let other loggers know that he is the owner. The cut-down trees, or logs, are then transported(运输)by waterways and rivers to Nigeria’s biggest city, Lagos.

Trees in Nigeria are cut down to open land for farming or to feed the energy need of a growing population. From 2001 to 2021, Nigeria has lost 1. 14 million hectares of tree cover.

Months after cutting down the trees, Marigi returned to the forest to tie his 40 logs together so they could be transported. With other loggers, he paid for a boat to pull the logs through waterways from Ondo State to Lagos.

They built simple houses on top of the logs to help protect themselves from the weather. Food was shared and they sang traditional songs to cheer themselves up. They did not sleep at night to make sure that the logs would not get away from the boat. The boat stopped at several places to pickup more loggers and their logs. A single boat can transport thousands of such logs.

Marigi’s trip ended in Lagos where logs from Ondo State and other parts of the country came together. The logs were then cut and sold to users.

【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.