【推荐1】Robert Sansone, the winner of the 2022 George D. Yancopoulos Innovator Award, is a natural born engineer. From robotic hands to high-speed running boots, Sansone has worked on at least sixty engineering projects to date in his spare time. And he’s only 17 years old.

A couple years ago, Sansone came across a video about the advantages and disadvantages of electric cars. It explains that most electric car engines use rare-earth elements, which are costly, both financially and environmentally. In fact, 1kg of the rare-earth materials in question can cost up to several hundred dollars. With that sustainability issue, he wanted to solve it, so he tried and designed a different motor (发动机). His new motor, on the other hand, uses copper, which costs around $8 for 1kg.

The highschooler had heard of a type of electric motor — the Synchronous Reluctance Motor (SRM同步磁阻电动机) — that doesn’t use these rare-earth materials. This kind of motor is currently used for pumps and fans, but it isn’t powerful enough by itself to be used in an electric vehicle. So, Sansone started brainstorming ways he could improve its performance.

For over a year Sansone worked on the motor. It needed to be more efficient and have more rotational (旋转) force. The new motor was made from 3-D printed plastic, copper wires and a steel rotor and tested using a variety of meters to measure power. Sansone is now working on version 16 of his motor, which he plans to build out of stronger materials so he can test it at higher revolutions per minute.

As a rising senior, Sansone has dreamed of attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His winnings from competitions will go toward college tuition. If his motor continues to perform with high speed and efficiency, he says he’ll move forward and cooperate with car companies. He hopes that one day his motor will be the design of choice for electric vehicles.

【推荐2】In Japan, there is now a cafe that uses robots to attend to its guests. But that’s not the incredible part! Behind these robot servers are “pilots”, people with disabilities, who control them remotely.

Opened up in 2018, this café was initially meant to operate for just two weeks while its creators raised money for the future of this project. Later, encouraged by all the positive feedback from customers and employees, Ory Laboratory, the company behind this project, decided to open a permanent outpost. This is how, in June 2021, the “Avatar Robot Café DAWN ver. β” opened in Nihonbashi, Tokyo.

The pilots behind the robots are often severely disabled, with conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ALS). They can control the robots from wherever they are, be they at home or in hospitals where they may be bedridden or in a wheelchair.

The robots are about four feet tall. Their 14-joint motors allow them to do things like carrying trays and picking up plates and cups. Consequently, they are able to welcome diners, take orders, deliver food and drinks, and even clear tables like regular waitstaff. To enable communication between the pilots and the guests, the robots also have a built-in camera, a microphone, and speakers. Finally, as if these features weren’t already quite impressive, the robots can be controlled through eye movements as well. This then allow seven immobilized people to work at this café.

Undoubtedly, people with severe disabilities are often restricted in their movements. This then poses a huge hurdle in their abilities to be employed or participate in the world. At the same time, other people might find it difficult to commute to work due to responsibilities such as childcare. For all such individuals, Ory Laboratory hopes that their robots can provide novel means of social participation. This way, their robots can give a brand-new meaning to remote working.

【推荐3】Hands-on basketball

The boy was only nine years old when he designed a “hands-on basketball”. Chris Haas had the idea when he saw his friends miss lots of baskets. His basketball has painted hands on it. The hands show you where to put your hands when you throw the ball. Today people use his invention around the world.

Wristies

At age 10, Kathryn Gregory was playing outside one day in the cold. Her wrists (手腕) began to hurt from the cold so she decided to find a way to keep both her hands and wrists warm during the winter. In 1994, she invented Wristies: fuzzy sleeves (毛绒袖子) that can be worn underneath gloves to protect your wrists from the cold. She worked with her mom to get the idea off the ground and now the product is sold worldwide.

Makin’ Bacon

Abbey Fleck was 8 years old when she noticed how much time her parents spent soaking up bacon fat (吸干培根油脂) after cooking. She realized that it might be easier to hang bacon while it cooks. That way you wouldn’t need paper towels and it would even make the bacon healthier. She then worked with her father to design a dish that hangs bacon while it cooks. Now people can see her invention in many supermarkets.

Braille

Louis Braille had an accident when he was three. The accident left him blind. At that time, it was hard for blind children to read. They had to touch raised letters. But it was difficult to tell a Q from an O, an R from a B, and so on. When he was fifteen, Louis invented an alphabet (字母表) that used raised dots. The Braille alphabet was a big success!

【推荐1】My friend Lisa has a clothes store. She asks me to come and see. So I go to her store one day.

It’s a small but nice store. Good clothes are everywhere. I see T-shirts, shorts and skirts. All of them are at great sale.

A woman and her son come in. The woman wants to buy a T-shirt for her son. “My son likes black,” says the woman. Lisa finds a black T-shirt for the boy. The boy likes it very much. The woman asks, “How much is it?” “Only $10.” says Lisa. “Oh, it’s really cheap!” Then the woman buys the T-shirt happily.

Another woman comes. She is a teacher. She wants to buy thirty skirts for her students. She needs ten black, eight yellow, seven green and five white ones. Lisa sells the thirty skirts at a great sale. One skirt is only $18.

I help Lisa sell some clothes too. It’s a really great day.

【推荐2】Modern humans have only been around for some 300,000 years. That's just a flash in earth history. Still, we've left our mark on the planet, We've changed Earth's terrain（地形）and its chemistry. We've also affected the diversity, abundance and biomass（生物量）of many other species.

For example, between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago, half of Earth's large mammal（哺乳动物）species died out. Human activities, such as hunting or destroying habitats, seem to have largely driven that extinction. That's what a 2014 study concluded, at least. It is estimated that over humanity's history, 90 percent of animal biomass has disappeared.

The plant kingdom has taken a similar hit. Its mass has declined by half since humans began wandering the planet. Today, 43 percent of Earth's trees grow in the tropics. But human-caused climate change has been warming the high latitudes faster than the rest of the planet. As a result, more plants can move in and grow there. However, climate change and the cutting down of greenery at tropical sites have made some of those sites drier. So even if more land is warm enough to support trees, the total biomass of trees will fall.

By 2050,earth may host 9.7 billion people. Our human biomass by then still won't outweigh bacteria. But the balance of animals and plants may continue to shift so that we'll have even more livestock and crops and even less wildlife. This means the variety of life on Earth will decline. And that can be bad for the health of habitats.

Biomass studies such as these are one way to project what the future may look like, and how quickly major changes in species or ecosystems may occur. They also help us understand the role people are playing in these changes. That could help us learn what organisms（big or small）most need protecting.

【推荐3】Fiona Kolbinger, a 24-year-old cancer researcher From Germany with little experience in competitive cycling, took the world by surprise when she became the first female to win the Transcontinental Race this year. She surpassed 225 men and 39 women to finish about 2,485 miles’ race from Bulgaria to France in 10 days, two hours, and 48 minutes.

“When I was coming into the race, I never thought I could win the whole race,” Kolbinger said. While the cyclist’s unexpected victory shocked people worldwide, she’s unimpressed. Despite resting an average(平均) of just four hours a night throughout the ten-day period, Kolbinger says, “I think I could have gone harder. I could have slept less.”

Now in its seventh year, the Transcontinental Race was founded by the late British ultra-cyclist Mike Hall. The race requires not only racers’ biking skills and endurance(耐力), but also their route planning and time management skills. “Riders plan, research and lead their own course and choose when, where and if to rest,” the Transcontinental Race’s website explains. “They’ll take only what they can carry and eat only what they can find.”

Unlike other cycling competitions where the routes are carefully laid out, the Transcontinental Race requires riders to make a map of their own course. The only requirement is to check in at four stops, located at different points along the way. To make sure all competitors experience some of the same challenges, each checkpoint is followed by strict terrain(地形).

The event’s difficulty has meant previous winners have all been experienced ultra-cyclists. Given that this was Kolbinger’s first try at endurance racing, her victory shocked many. However, it didn’t surprise Björn Lenhard, who trained with her for the race in Dresden, Germany. The ultra-cyclist said, “Fiona is so strong. What’s more, she’s a complete rider. Yes, you need to be strong, but in this race, you have to be able to think, to plan, to fix your bike if you have to.”