【推荐1】The term “social distancing” is all over the news, but what does it really mean? Social distancing refers to staying a specific distance away from other people to help prevent illnesses from spreading.     1     With all the misinformation online, take a few minutes to review how to social distance and learn why it’s important to help stop COVID-19.

● Stay 6 ft (1.8 m), or your government’s recommended distance, away from other people. COVID-19 typically spreads through droplets, like sneezes or coughs, which are typically found in public spaces.    2     That’s why social distancing is so important.

● Call or video chat with loved ones instead of visiting. Get in touch with a friend or family member and see if they’d like to chat. If a phone call isn’t cutting it for you, see if they’d be interested in video chatting. While there’s no real replacement for in-person social gatherings, virtual hang-outs can help you stay connected.    3    

● Stay away from crowded areas.    4     If you choose to visit a public space, check that it is practicing safe social distancing measures, so you can stay safe during your visit.

●     5     COVID-19 is exhausting both emotionally and mentally, and there’s no reason for you to cook meals every single day. It’s great to support your local restaurants — just do it safely by ordering delivery through the restaurant or a third-party delivery service.

【推荐3】Are you consciously designing your life? Do you really understand what that means and how to do it? This matters because when online marketers are selling their services or products, they’ll give you the time and financial freedom.    1    It is important for you to understand what designing your life actually looks like and how to do it effectively.

Get clear on what you want. At the core of designing your life is the question of what you actually want and what will help you wake up excited to live every day.    2    

Create a plan. Think about your life like a beautiful work of architecture. A bunch of builders didn’t just walk out there one day and start throwing things together in the hope that something nice would turn out.    3    And they did it long before they ever even broke ground on building it.

Be flexible and open-minded. Even when there is a plan in place, those who live the most fulfilled and joyful lives are those who are flexible and open-minded to change and new opportunities.    4    It is that fluid(流动的)nature of life that brings uncertainty and adventure into the picture. Therefore, the plans you make today may no longer be relevant tomorrow.

    5    We live in a society where “busy” is celebrated. The problem is that when busy becomes your way of living, the things you care most about have a way of getting buried under others. That’s why the art of learning to say “no” more often is necessary if you want to start designing your life. One truth about life is that you can’t do two things at once—at least not effectively.

【推荐1】A robot the size of a large bulldozer (推土机) moves along the bottom of the deep sea. It eats metallic (含金属的) rock and soft mud. The stuff travels up a long pipe to a ship, where workers and machinery separate out the rock and throw the mud back into the ocean. This is a mining operation. The rock contains a mixture of metals, including ones called rare earth metals. People use these materials to make batteries and electronics like computers and phones.

Deep-sea mining hasn’t happened yet. But it probably will occur within the next decade. No country owns any part of the deep sea. So an organization called the International Seabed Authority (ISA) decides who is allowed to mine there. The ISA has allowed 29 organizations to explore the deep sea and make plans for mining. One company plans to begin mining in the year 2027.

Scientists and environmentalists, though, warn that mining could destroy deep-sea ecosystem. In 1989, ecologist Hjalmar Thiel carried out a test. His team searched the seafloor of the Pacific Ocean, in a spot with lots of the metallic rocks that miners want. They didn’t actually collect any of the rocks. But they disturbed the mud, just as a mining operation would. The plume (飘升之物) of mud fell back down over the ocean floor burying creatures living there. As of 2015, the area they disturbed had not recovered. Signs of the search are still there. Sponges (海绵动物), corals, and other animals have not moved back in. That means mining could have harmful, long-lasting consequences for deep ocean life. Scientists want to understand the deep sea better before disturbing it.

Leaving the deep sea alone sounds great, but people need those metals. “Mines on land are soon going to run out,” geologist Steven Scott of the University of Toronto told Smithsonian Magazine, “Every electronic device in the world has rare earth metals in it…we need raw resources.” New energy technologies including solar and wind power and electric cars, rely on these metals as well. We may need to mine them from the sea in order to switch to greener energy sources.

【推荐3】Every living thing has DNA that can be used to identify it. They leave bits of DNA behind them wherever they go. DNA left behind like this is called “environmental” DNA, or eDNA. Scientists can use it to tell what kinds of animals are in a certain place.

Testing eDNA isn’t a new idea. Most of the time, scientists used to look for eDNA in water. Now, there are two teams of scientists who have come up with a new way of identifying animals in an area by testing eDNA in the air.

Both teams chose to test in zoos because there were rare animals not naturally found in the area. One team collected samples from different locations at Denmark’s Copenhagen Zoo, and the other team did it at Hamerton Zoo Park in the UK.

Basically, both teams used vacuums and fans to collect tiny bits of eDNA in the air. After collecting samples, they went back to the laboratory and compared their samples with examples of DNA from different animals. Therefore, the scientists were able to identify many different animals at the zoos.

Both teams have tracked different animals, even endangered ones without interfering with them in this new way. They are so excited about their new way that they combine their results of the test and publish a paper together in order to invite more scientists to join them.

However, it’s still unknown that whether this new way will work out fine or not in the wild nature. If scientists know where the wild animals live, they can do a better job of protecting them.

So the next step is to figure out how to take this new method into nature.

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【推荐1】Electronic waste, also known as e-waste, consists of a discarded phones, printers, TVs, electric toothbrushes and many other electronic goods no longer in use.

A shocking 53. 6 million tons of electronic waste was generated worldwide in 2019 — less than a fifth of which was recycled, according to UN's Global E-waste Monitor 2020 report.

Of the total e-waste last year, Asia contributed the biggest amount — 46.4 per cent — followed by the Americas(24.4 percent), Europe (22.3 percent), Africa (5.4 percent) and Oceania (1.3 percent).

The combined heap of e-waste for 2019 averaged 7. 3 kg for every man, woman and child on Earth. The UK averaged the second-biggest in the world, at 23.9 kg, behind Norway, which averaged 26kg.

The report also reveals that just 17.4 percent of the e-waste was properly collected and recycled. E-waste is a health and environmental hazard (危害), containing hazardous substances such as mercury, which damages the human brain.

After a device is discarded and e-waste is warmed up, toxic chemicals are released into the air, damaging the atmosphere. E-waste in landfills can also seep (渗透) toxic materials into groundwater, affecting animals and plants.

Gold, silver, copper, and other high-value materials were collectively valued at $57 billion. However, they were mostly dumped or burned rather than being collected for treatment and reuse. In countries with developing markets, an increasing number of household electronics like refrigerators, air conditioners, and lamps are now being bought, leading to the rapid increase in e-waste. A global obsession with smart phones, which tend to be replaced by an updated model after a year, also helps build e-waste piles.

It's not that countries don't have policies to fight e-waste since 2014, the number of countries that have adopted a national e-waste policy has increased from 61 to 78, the report says. But advances are slow, enforcement (执行) is poor, and policies fail to encourage the collection and proper management of e-waste. The lack of effective policies around the world needs to be addressed (解决) as soon as possible.