【推荐1】Feeling controlled by your to-do list can certainly make you unhappy, but new research suggests that more free time might not be the magic elixir (灵丹妙药) many of us dream it could be.

In a new study shown last week, researchers analyzed data from two major surveys about how Americans spend their time. Together, the surveys included more than 35,000 respondents (受访者). The researchers found that people with more free time generally had higher levels of subjective well-being—but only up to a point.

People who had up to two hours of free time a day generally reported they felt better than those who’d had less time. But people who had five or more hours of free time a day generally said they felt worse.

So finally the free-time “sweet spot” might be two to three hours per day, the findings suggest. “While too little time is bad, having more time is not always better,” said Marissa Sharif, lead author of the paper.

Of course, most people know that being too busy can cause stress. But the new study is not the first to question whether more free time will actually make people as happy as they believe it will. Part of “sweet spot” has to do with how people spend the free time. Researchers conducted several smaller online experiments. In one they asked participants to imagine having 3.5 to 7 free hours per day. They were asked to imagine spending that time doing “productive” things (like exercising) or to imagine doing “unproductive” activities (like watching TV).

Study participants believed their well-being would suffer if they had a lot of free time during the day—but only if they used it unproductively. Though that experiment was hypothetical (假设的), which is one limitation of the new research, it’s certainly in line with other research showing that being in a state of “flow” can be good for people’s mental health.

In other words, how people use their free time matters, Sharif said. Of course, what feels “productive” is up to you.

【推荐3】Developing healthy eating habits starts from childhood，therefore it is important for parents to teach and provide children with a healthy diet．DPHSS administrator of the Bureau of Nutrition Services，Charlie Morris told KUAM News，"A healthy diet for a child consists of a lot of fruits and vegetables in the diet limiting the amount of simple sugars in the diet and high fat food and highly processed(加工的) food．"

This means staying away as much as possible from food such as chips，cookies，candies and sugary drinks，as all children need to have meals which involve a well-balanced diet．Community nutritionist(营养学家) Thelma Romoso said，"The fruit，the vegetable，the grain，the protein，and also the milk，the diary product，so for the fruits it's easy for a mother to go into the two plus three concept of fruits and vegetables or five a day．"

This concept means that there are at least two servings of fruits a day，three servings of vegetables a day which can be served for lunch and dinner．As for protein parents can make a variety of dishes from chicken，beef，fish or even dried beans to make sure the child gets three servings a day．

Morris said that the child's hunger level controls how much is eaten and the parent controls what and when the meal is offered，saying，"Mom needs to ensure that the food offered is good food for the child to eat and throughout the day depending on how active they are，snacks（零食） are not a bad thing，so the mom should offer good kinds of snacks．"

When it comes to preparing your child's lunch and snacks for school，make sure to keep in mind that the food you provide should not only be a source of energy but also be nutritionally beneficial such as fresh fruits，and whole grain bread．But parents must be sure to remember that a good nutritional diet must be balanced with physical activity，namely it is important that children get outside and run around and play and get activity in addition to eating a good diet．

【推荐1】A Japanese school near Tokyo is conducting a pilot program allowing sick students to attend classes using a robotic avatar (替身)called Ori Hime and developed by Ory Laboratory. The program is being conducted at the Tomobe-Higashi special support school in Kasama, a city 60 miles north of Tokyo.

The Ori Hime robot is a small bust-sized robot designed to be placed on a counter top or desk. It has two flap-like arms and a camera mounted in its head, all of which can be controlled remotely via a touchscreen tablet interface.

Since October 31, sick students at Tomobe-Higashi school have each been assigned their own Ori Hime stand in, which is placed on their desk, giving them a live feed of the classroom through the head-mounted camera . Remote students will be able to speak into a mic and the Ori Hime will broadcast their voice through built-in speakers.

Students will also be able to rotate the robots head to look at different areas of the class room, as well as command it to perform simple emotive gestures like waving, pointing, and clapping.

“It's fun to turn the robot in directions I want to look in,” Kanae Sudo, an eleven-year-old student who's used the Ori Hime to attend a science fair from a nearby hospital room, told the Asahi Shimbun.

School administrators had previously allowed remote study with stationary (固定的)camera feed, but the ability to directly control the view and make the robot gesture has greatly improved the results according to school administrators .

“The robot can easily be operated, and students feel like they are actually attending class,” assistant principal Noboru Tachi said.

【推荐2】Language is always changing. In a society where life continues year after year with few changes, the language does not change, either. The earliest known languages had difficult grammar but a small, limited vocabulary. Over the century, the grammar changed, and the vocabulary grew. For example, the English and Spanish people who came to America during the sixteenth century gave names to all new plants and animals they found. In this way, hundreds of new words were introduced into English and Spanish vocabularies. Today life is changing very fast, and language is changing fast too.

There are several major language families in the world. Some scientists say there are nine main families, but other scientists divide them differently. The languages in each family are connected, and scientists think that they came from the same parent language. About 3 percent of the people in the world speak languages that are not in these major families.

【推荐3】We love the sea. We swim into it, live near it, build beside it, and even imagine living under the sea. But we’re terrified of it, too. For much of our history, we have turned to “hard engineering” to control the marine environment and manage its influence on us. We build dams, sea walls and channels. But all these efforts seem to fail. The sea has a habit of taking back its own. And we suffer.

Johnston, a marine ecologist, is advocating for “blue engineering” — the marine version of the “green engineering” movement on land that has seen nations like Singapore building the walls and roofs of the concrete jungle with plant life.

We are expanding further into the marine environment. This practice does harm to marine ecosystems. We’re loving the sea to death, but we’ve not been thinking about design of structures （建筑物） with respect to ecology. Some coastal structures create shade, which reduces the growth of seaweed. Bright lights at night contuse species such as turtles. That’s why blue engineering comes in.

Throughout the world people are starting to turn things around. Researchers with the World Harbour Project are creating tiles （瓦片） similar to the natural structures found on rocky shores with 3D printing technology. These make more attractive homes for marine creatures. Researchers are also actively seeding these tiles with local seaweeds and creatures such as the Sydney rock oyster, which is particularly good at improving water quality. Twelve harbors around the world are taking part in this marine tile experiment, each working with their own unique marine life.

It’s a far cry from the days when huge number of old tyres were thrown, into the sea to build “artificial reef”（人工礁石）. Those clumsy early attempts are now costing millions to remove, showing just how far we have yet to go in understanding how best to co-habit with the underwater world.