【推荐1】People in Paris, France are growing concerned about a problem that has worried people for centuries: bedbugs, which are small, flat insects that live in beds and other places.

With more and more reports of bedbugs being found, the French government is worried about the problem. Millions of people will be traveling to Paris this summer for the 2024 Olympics. France doesn’t want the country to leave a bad impression by letting its visitors get bitten by bedbugs. No one likes bedbugs, but it’s important to remember that they can be upsetting and leave itchy bites behind, but they do not spread diseases. They’ve been around for thousands of years, and even found in old Egyptian tombs.

After World War II, people began using dangerous chemicals to kill them, which caused bedbugs and many other pests to become much less common. But in the past 20 or 30 years, bedbugs have become common again. For one thing, now many bedbugs aren’t affected by most of the chemicals that used to kill them. Some people think that the bedbugs that are left may be ones that the chemicals don’t work on. For another, people are traveling more these days. Bedbugs can hide in tiny spaces, including inside suitcases. When people bring their suitcases to new places, bedbugs can spread to new areas — or from those areas back home.

In France, bedbugs are a long-standing problem. Jean-Michel Berenger, a scientist who studies insects in Marseille, says, “Every late summer we see a big increase in bedbugs.” That’s mainly from people returning after traveling. And now, in addition to reports of bedbugs in hotels and apartments, there’re also reports of them being found in other places: on seats at movie theaters, on long-distance trains, on the Paris subway, and at the country’s busiest airport. French officials are making sure Paris’ apartments, along with hotels and other places where tourists stay, are safe and clean.

【推荐1】China’s second female astronaut to enter space delivered a lecture to more than 60 million students across the country on Thursday, while aboard the Tiangong-1 space module (舱) 340 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, in the first attempt at this kind of lecture by a Chinese astronaut.

Wang Yaping, one of the three crew members in the Shenzhou-X class spacecraft, delivered the lecture through a 40-minute live video broadcast, nine days after the successful spacecraft launch.

Assisted by the other two astronauts Nie Haisheng and Zhang Xiaoguang, Wang showed students how movement occurs in a zero-gravity environment through a series of physics experiments to help students understand basic physics concepts. Observers say the creative lecture is not only good for science and patriotic W1 education of the younger generation but also shows national confidence in China’s maturing (成熟) W2 space technologies.

Via the video feed system, the three astronauts interacted with some 300 curious students in Beijing on Thursday after the lecture, who raised questions about their daily life in the space module.

“I’m extremely excited to see the magical effects of the experiments. I feel like I’m close to space while watching the live broadcast,” a primary school student in Beijing told the Global Times after the lecture. The lecture became one of the most popular topics on Weibo Thursday, with some Web users saying this visually W3 impressive method of education has made them interested in space science.

The lecture also drew international attention. After the lecture, Wang replied to a letter of greeting from Barbara Morgan, a female US astronaut who participated in a space teaching program in 2007. “We would like to join the effort, as you have done, to bring science-loving youth around the world closer to their dreams of exploring the universe,” Wang said in the reply, Xinhua reported.

【推荐2】Student Drought Bits Smaller Universities

As Loyola University New Orleans is getting ready for fall classes next month, the 101-year-old university faces a crisis:     1     ‘It was a pretty big hit,’ said Mare K. Manganaro, vice president for academic affairs.

Now, along with preparing for fall courses, Loyola officials are worried about how to plug a S9.5 million shortfall in the school’s S163 million annual budget, the result of 221 fewer freshmen than expected.

Since last May, the 5,000-student private college has imposed a hiring freeze, reduced faculty hours, hired outside firms to revamp its marketing and financial aid，and is setting up early-retirement packages for some faculty. If that isn’t sufficient to fill the gap, the school may tap its S275 million endowment.     2    .

Many in higher education believe this might be a trend for smaller colleges. After decades of growth, college enrollment nationally dropped 2.3% this spring, compared with spring 2012 according to a report released by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.     3     The number of U.S. high-school graduates peaked at 3.4 million in 2010-2011 and is projected to fall to 3.2 million by 2013-14, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.

Loyola has set up numerous committees to figure out what went wrong and make sure it doesn't happen again. School officials were shocked this year by the low fall turnout. The vice president for enrollment management resigned abruptly in June. Loyola officials believe a reason for the decline was a reduction in financial aid it offered to the incoming class off its $35,504 tuition, from an average discount of 58% last year to about 55% this fall.

“    4    . I think the market answered back on that” said Mr. Manganaro.

【推荐1】A woman eight months pregnant covered head to toe with skin damage. Small children suffering with fevers and painful sores. A father asking for money to buy medicine for his affected five-year-old son after he’d buried two other small children infected with monkeypox.

Monkeypox, a smallpox-related viral disease with two known variants (变种), was named in 1958 after it was identified in a group of research monkeys in a laboratory in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Clade II, also known as the West African variant, is mild. Meanwhile, another variant — ten times deadlier — exists in Central Africa. The Africa Centers for Disease Control reports that the majority of the 3,500 suspected Clade I (or Congo Basin strain) cases this year, including more than 120 deaths, are in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Nigeria, where the Clade II outbreak began, has had about 700 suspected cases, with fewer than 10 deaths. Health experts from National Geographic referred to the steady rise of the Clade I variant in Central Africa, saying countries should be concerned about its threat to global communities and take stronger action to prevent it and other animal-borne diseases from bursting around the world.

“If the West African variant can spread to Europe, America, and other parts of the world, the more harmful and pathogenic (致病的) Congo Basin variant can also go there,” says infectious disease expert Dimie Ogoina at Niger Delta University, in the southern part of Nigeria. “International health organizations must be thoughtful to help address monkeypox and other diseases in Africa. Because if we don’t do this, it will come back to haunt us.”

Some disease experts say we missed an important opportunity to stop the outbreak before it took off. “Monkeypox should be considered a canary (金丝雀) in the coal mine, so that we should do much better disease surveillance (监管) in high-risk populations,” says Anne Rimoin, an infectious disease researcher. “The hardest and most expensive places to do this are in rural, remote parts of Africa,” she says. “But with growing human populations, mobility, and trade, these viruses can just as easily land on our doorstep.” Rimoin says, “Monkeypox cases have continued to increase over the past 12 years in the DRC, as well as other countries in Central and West Africa.” If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything,” she says, “it’s that an infection anywhere is potential for an infection everywhere.”

【推荐2】Do you want to see majestic lions roaring, rare rhinos running and colorful birds flying? You’ll find this incredible display of nature in the Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley.

First stop

Fly into Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. This great city is known for its fashion markets and beautiful art. And be sure to pick up some rich Kenyan coffee while you’re there! Then head for the countryside.

Plan your trip

The largest of the three lakes in the system, Lake Nakuru, is less than 175 kilometers from Nairobi. But Lakes Bogoria and Elementaita are equally worth a visit. You can stay at one of several choices of luxurious cabins in the valley. And if you sign up for a trip, be sure to put flamingos, the white and pink birds, at the top of your list.

Paradise

The Kenya Lake System is shallow and alkaline (碱性的). That means it supports vegetation such as green algae, a food source for many waterfowl. Hundreds of species of birds flourish here, using this area as a major breeding and nesting ground. Water buffalo, leopards, monkeys and the endangered Rothschild giraffe also make this area their home.

Other sights

Wildlife isn’t the only natural wonder in the Great Rift Valley. The valley marks a place where the earth is divided far below the surface. This rock separation below ground leads to noticeable features above ground. Walking around Lake Bogoria especially, you will see steam rising from hot springs.

Other activities include golfing, horseback riding and hiking. The fun doesn’t stop when the sun goes down, either. The river valley is far from city lights, so many visitors gaze at the stars shining above.

If you are ready for a wildlife experience, don’t hesitate!

【推荐3】Giant pandas are among the most lovable animals alive today. Unlike their relatives, such as the polar bear, pandas don’t eat meat but survive on a diet of only bamboo. So why and how have pandas abandoned their taste for meat to pick up a vegetarian diet?

Pandas today don’t eat meat. However, they’ve kept much of their meat-eating adaptations from times past. Their digestive systems have not changed much from their meat-eating days. Out of the huge 12.5 kg of bamboo they eat in a single day, only about 17% of it is digested. To survive, pandas eat large amounts of bamboo while having a low-metabolic (新陈代谢的)，lazy lifestyle to make up for the poor energy return.

The giant panda’s shift to a vegetarian diet is in line with the inactivation of a specific gene-Taslrl, which provides them with the ability to taste certain amino acids (氨基酸) abundant in meat. Its inactivation in pandas would lead to their dietary change.

Pandas have evolved to a great degree to cope with their relatively recent bamboo-eating lifestyle. Pandas must seize long and thin pieces of bamboo shoots. To assist with this, they have developed a long “fake-thumb” (伪拇指). So giant pandas have six fingers in each paw which provides better support for them to seize object such as bamboo in one paw quickly. Researchers have found that the surface of the panda’s tongue is different. While other bears and many meat-eating animals have smooth tongues, pandas have evolved tiny projections on the surface of their tongues that serve to file down food. This is especially useful for pandas as they remove the outer cover of bamboo.

Time will tell if pandas will adapt and survive, go back to eating meat, or disappear in the wild. Whatever the future holds, we can be grateful that, for the time being, we get to share our planet with these adorable animals.