【推荐3】A 23-year-old British woman has invented a product that she hopes will one day take the place of single-use plastic.

The new product is made by combining fishing waste and algae (藻类). It could be used to replace plastic bags or containers that people use once and throw away. Lucy Hughes created the material, called MarinaTex, for her final year project at the University.

MarinaTex is edible. To put it another way, it can be tasted without danger. Hughes says it also is strong and stable. But unlike plastic, MarinaTex breaks down in four to six weeks under normal conditions and does not pollute the soil. The inventor said she is concerned about the growing amount of plastic in ocean waters. She noted one report that there would be more plastic than fish in the world’s ocean by the year 2050. The United Nations estimates that 100 million tons of plastic waste has already been left in the oceans. Hughes also was investigating ways to reduce the amount of waste from the fishing industry. The industry produces an estimated 50 million tons of waste worldwide each year, U.N. officials say.

Examining fish parts left over from processing helped to give her the idea for a material that was useful and did not harm the environment. “Why do we need to have hundreds of man-made polymers (聚合体) when nature has so many already available?” she asked. After months of testing, Hughes produced a strong, flexible sheet that forms at temperatures below 100 degrees Celsius. Inventor James Dyson said that MarinaTex is “stronger, safer and much more sustainable” than plastic. It is also easier to break down. Hughes will receive about $41, 000 in prize money as the first-place winner of the James Dyson Award. She plans to use the money to better develop the product and ways to mass-produce it. “Further research and development will insure that MarinaTex evolves further, and becomes part of a global answer to the abundance of single-use plastic waste,” Dyson said.

【推荐1】Listed below are some of the classic local hiking challenges. Most of these hikes are along the Long Trail (路径),the oldest long-distance hiking trail in the United States: initiated in 1910.

Perfect for kids.Popular! Park at the lop of Lincoln Gap and head south on the long Trail. Views over Addison County to Lake Champlain and the Adirondack range. About an hour round trip, plus the time you spend enjoying the view.

A local's favorite with fantastic views.Start from the App Gap and head South on the long Trail up steep Stark's Wall all and follow the Long Trail to the Stark's Nest Shelter at the top of the Single Chair. Or start from the Mad River Glen ski area and hike the service roads up to the same spot. About 3 hours round trip.

This most challenging 7.4 miles round trip hike takes you above the trees to Vermont's highest undeveloped peak. Spectacular views and an unparalleled feeling of accomplishment. Budget 5 hours. About a 40 minutes drive from the Mad River Valley to railhead either in Duxbury or in Huntington.

This is a 4-hour hike if you are a normal human being and the views are spectacular. Mt.Abr is one of Vermont's 5 peaks over 4000’, with 360° panoramic views. Part of the Monroe Skyline Park at Lincoln Gap and head North on the Long Trail. If you hike in the summer, hike down Upper Jester and ride the Super Bravo chair to Sugarbush base area.

These hikes are challenging: do not underestimate the journey. Be prepared. Always bring a good, printed trail map; Map Adventures is the best (at The Tempest Bookshop or local gear shops). Trail markers are not always visible and estimated hiking time is based on fit individuals. Always wear hiking shoes, carry a backpack with more water than you think you will need, some calorie-rich foods, and a flashlight; bring an extra layer for warmth or rain. Sunscreen might be a good idea depending on the season.

【推荐2】Japanese fans who watched their national team be defeated by the Ivory Coast on Saturday showed it is possible to lose graciously (优雅地), when they stayed behind after the match to help clean up.

Despite seeing Japan's Blue Samurais lose 2-1 against the Ivory Coast' s national team at the Arena Perambuco in Recife, the Japanese audience armed with plastic bags searched their side of the stadium and gathered up dropped litter. While gathering waste after a sporting event is customary in Japan, the audience' s actions came as a shock to football fans from other countries.

This isn't the first time the Japanese have taken trash outside the stadium. The 1998 FIFA World Cup held in France was the first ever World Cup that Japan had qualified for. After their first group game against Argentina, the Japanese fans gave the world a lesson in politeness and respect by actually cleaning the football stadium seats. They picked up all the trash around them whether it was theirs or not. They then walked out and threw the trash in the garbage cans before leaving.

The all-around cleanliness of Japanese large cities comes as a culture shock to people coming from other big cities in the world. This tidiness is not due to millions of dollars spent on street cleaners and "Let's clean-up our city" campaigns. It's not due to effective public works or community service. It's due to one simple thing: They don't throw their rubbish on the floor. This unique and rare concept allows for both huge cities and the countryside to stay neat and tidy.

To reinforce this behavior, the common signs in Japan ask people to take their litter home with them. Then, to reinforce the sign, hey usually have no garbage cans in the parks. So when faced with the choice of throwing their garbage on the ground or keeping it with them, they keep it. They don’t need a “Don't Litter” or Keep Japan beautiful” sign. They have been doing it their whole lives and are used to taking their garbage with them.

【推荐1】Nine years ago, when the closest and largest full moon fell on March 19, 2011, many people used the term, “supermoon”, which we had never heard before. In 2012, we heard this term again to describe the year’s closest full moon on May 6, 2012. Supermoons also appeared in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019.

What does “supermoon” mean exactly? And how special was the March 19, 2011 supermoon?

The word “supermoon” didn’t come from astronomy. Instead, it came from astrology (占星学). In 1979, astrologer Richard Nolle defined it as a new or full moon which occurs at or near its closest point to the earth in its orbit. In short, the earth, moon and sun are all in a line, with the moon at its nearest point to the earth.

And the full moon of March 19, 2011 was the largest moon of that year. This “supermoon” was at perigee (近地点)—its closest point to the earth in its orbit. It was bigger and brighter than other full moons of 2011. Astronomers call this sort of close full moon a perigee full moon.

That doesn’t sound very special, does it? In fact, the March 2011 full moon lined up much closer to perigee than Nolle’s original definition. But were you able to notice with your eyes alone that this full moon was bigger or brighter than usual? Astronomers said no. But it was fun to stand outside under this full moon and know that the moon was closer than ever.

In 2019, there were three supermoons. The first supermoon of 2019 was the Super Blood Wolf Moon on January 21, which occurred with a total lunar eclipse (月全食) at the same time, also known as a “blood moon”. The second supermoon of 2019 was on February 19, also called the Snow Moon, which was the closest full moon of the year. The third and final supermoon of 2019, known by Native Americans as the Worm Moon, occurred on March 21. It fell on the day of the vernal equinox (春分), which signals the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

【推荐2】We have long known that, for particular skills, people tend to rate themselves incorrectly. In a famous study in 1981, researchers asked people to rate their driving ability. More than 90 percent considered themselves above average. Of course, some people who think they are above average drivers really are. But the 90 percent statistic shows that many people inflate how they compare with others. In fact, only 50 percent of people can rate above average.

So when are people likely to be overconfident in how they rank? And when are they underconfident? Spencer Greenberg of Clear Thinking and his team conducted a study and asked people where they ranked on 100 skills.

For each skill, participants were asked how they thought they compared with others on the platform who shared their age and gender (性别), and lived in their area. If, on average, people thought they could outperform more than 50 percent of others at the task, that suggests systematic overconfidence. If, however, people thought they would outperform less than 50 percent, that's evidence of underconfidence.

There was great variation in how people assessed their relative skills at a task. On average, people rated themselves better than 75 percent of others in their ability to use a computer, for example. But people rated themselves better than only 32 percent of others in their ability to knit (编织) a sweater.

Next, the researchers found that people tend to be overconfident when it comes to tasks that are viewed as easy and underconfident when it comes to tasks that are viewed as hard. People overestimate (高估) how they compare with others in cutting up vegetables but underestimate where they rank in their ability to recite the alphabet backward.

Also, the more experienced people are at a task, the more people tend to be overconfident. People tend to be overconfident in their skill at frying an egg, which most people have done multiple times, and underconfident in their ability to paint a portrait (画像), which most people have rarely tried.

【推荐3】About 60,000 Pacific Islanders worked as indentured labourers (签订契约的劳工）on Queensland’s sugar cane（甘蔗）fields between 1863 and 1903.They were mainly males, aged 9 to 30, transported to Australia by ship.Some came freely, wanting the new life promised to them, some were tricked, and some were kidnapped（绑架）.

The practice of kidnapping people for labour was called “blackbirding”.“Blackbird” was a term used instead of slave, because slavery was actually illegal.Britain had passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833 and as a British colony (殖民地）,Queensland had to follow the Act It is said that a third of Pacific Islanders who worked as indentured labourers were either kidnapped or tricked into coming to Australia.Indentured labour was really just another name for slavery.

Indentured labourers had to work for a required period of time,usually three years,to pay back their passage to Australia and then they could earn money as free labourers.It was hard, dirty work in the Queensland countryside.Most indentured labourers were badly treated, many returning to their homelands as soon as their indentured period was finished.A small number married into local communities and stayed.Free labourers were also badly treated on the cane fields, working for low pay and living in very poor conditions.

Then the Australian Government’s White Australia Policy forced Pacific Islanders to leave Australia.Even people who were born in Australia to Pacific Islander parents were driven out of the country due to their colour.If they didn’t leave voluntarily, they were rounded up and driven away forcibly between 1906 and 1908.This practice destroyed many families.Some of the people had lived in Australia most, if not all, of their lives.Only a few who had married Australians were allowed to stay.A few managed to hide and avoid being driven away.