3 . Smartphones are getting boring. The new models are either a bit faster or have better cameras, but they are basically no different from the ones already in our pockets. This is why scientists are hoping, and working for something new, something that will change our lives just as greatly as smartphones do. At the moment, the next invention might be smart glasses.

Just imagine. Instead of having to pick up your phone and look at the screen, all of the information you need simply appears just in front of you, in your glasses. Satellite navigation (导航) directions would appear right there on the road. And your smart glasses could guide you to the right shelf in the supermarket!

Smart glasses could also be used in industry. They could show engineers the instructions they need to fix things more quickly. A doctor could carry out a difficult operation, guided in real time by someone on the other side of the world.

This may sound impossible. But most of the technologies to invent them are already there. For example, one key technology is called AR, which can make digital 3D objects appear as if they are part of the real world. We’ve used it a lot on our video calls. Similarly, huge progress has been made in spatial audio. This is when a sound is made to give it a sense of place, like what you hear in an empty room. Some high-end earphones can already do that. Future glasses will of course need to recognize (识别) your voice to do tasks. This technology has been widely used in our daily life.

So, why aren’t we all wearing smart glasses yet? So far, no one has invented a good way to send images (映像) of our world onto glasses. However, with the rapid development of technology, smart glasses could arrive much sooner than we think.

5 . If you look around the room you are in right now, you’ll probably notice a number of electronics. But can you imagine if they all had to be joined together by wires (电线)? Picture the wire snaking along the floor, for example, from your smartphone to your speaker, or connecting your game controller to the computer screen, meaning you could never sit more than a couple of meters away from it. A world of electronics connected by wires wouldn’t just be untidy, but a possible danger, too. That’s where Bluetooth comes in. We’ve all heard of it — but what exactly is it?

Bluetooth is a method of short-distance (短距离) wireless communication between electronics that makes use of the power of radio waves. The idea was first thought of by Dr. Janp Haartsen at Swedish mobile company Ericsson in 1994. Things really stepped up in September 1998 when the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) was set up to develop and spread the technology. Bluetooth 1.0 came out in 1999, and a year later it began to be used in mobile phones and desktop computers. Now Bluetooth has become an increasingly popular way of solving the problem of more and more electronics needing to be connected. without having to connect everything together with wires.

But if you look at the remote control (温控器) you use to choose the program on TV, you might rightly ask yourself why Bluetooth was such a big deal. After all, connecting objects with infrared signals (红外信号) which can’t be seen had been done before. The problem with remote controls is that they need to keep what is called “line of sight”. If something is standing between the remote control and receiver, it won’t work. Because Bluetooth uses radio waves, the things standing in the way are no longer a problem.

Since its creation in the late 1990s, the technology has become more and more improved and widely used, with the 4 billionth Bluetooth objects shipped in 2020.

6 . Scientists are looking for ways that we can effectively use the light and heat from the sun. One idea that has caught their imagination is solar roads. They are expected to produce clean and renewable energy.

With solar panels on the surfaces, solar roads cost more than traditional roads. However, besides the functions of traditional roods, they have the panels to receive sunlight and change it into the energy to supply power to homes, factories and street lighting. There are four layers in a solar panel:

•Base layer: It is made of insulation material and forms a good grip with the road below this layer.

•Middle layer: This is the most important layer. It holds all kinds of power lines connecting all the solar parts in the panel, like LED lights and the heating system.

•Top layer: This layer is super-strong glass. It allows the panel to hold the weight of the heaviest vehicles.

•Capping: This is the topmost layer used to offer extra protection to the solar parts in the panel. The layer must be rough enough to provide the traction for the safety of vehicles.

With the smart design, solar roads can successfully charge the vehicles on them. And the roads have inbuilt LED lights to replace the traditional rood signs and lines, which are usually painted and harmful to humans. What’s more, the heating systems in the solar roads can take care of the snow and ice on the roads for drivers.

Test solar roads have been built in several countries (France, China, USA, etc.) since 2014. The first word solar road project, Metrics of Watt Way in France, was set up by a French company called Construction Colas. It was an example of low effectiveness. In the first year, it had been expected to produce around 767 kWh of energy a day, but it only produced 409 kWh. Even so, the production could increase with design improvements. Of course, more time is needed before this technology is put into use.

Solar roads may not be widely used in the near future, but they are indeed great for an environment-friendly and energy-saving world.

7 . “Motasharefon bema’ refatek!” is often heard in Arabs’ daily talks. This greeting in the language Arabic means “Nice to meet you!” You may find Arabic difficult to understand, but the following facts can offer you some basics.

Arabic is s language of over twenty countries across the Middle East and North Africa, It’s also one of the six official languages of the UN. Now about 400 million people worldwide speak Arabic.

Arabic has different varieties. One of them is Modern Standard Arabic. It is taught at schools in all Arabic-speaking countries and used formally over media. Colloquial Arabic is another variety which people in the Arab world usually use in their everyday life.

Arabic is written from right to left in a beautiful and flowing script. Written Arabic is formed from eighteen different curves with dots () above or below. The curve () with one dot below is pronounced /b/, two on top is /t/, and three on top is /th/, while the curve () with two dots below is pronounced /y/.

A main feature of Arable is the throe letter root system. Almost every Arabic word is based on a root of three letters. If you take a root and add other letters to it, you can create many words related to the meaning of that root. For example, “k-t-b” is a common root in Arabic. Some words from that root are kitaab (“book”) and maktaba (“library”).

There are more facts about Arabic for you to explore. You’ll find that learning about it helps open up door to a different culture and provides a new way of thinking about the world.

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8 . Good photographers are like reporters. They record people’s lives with cameras. They are also like artists or writers. Their photos can make people think or feel something.

10 . The James Webb Space Telescope was launched on December 25, 2021. It’s a space telescope developed by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Agency. Named after James E.Webb, who created Apollo program, this telescope is a replacement for the Hubble Space Telescope, which headed to space in 1990.

Webb is different from Hubble in some ways. It can see infrared light which makes it possible to look through clouds of gas and dust in the universe and explore the very distant galaxies.With a 6.5-meter-wide golden mirror, it can collect more than six times as much light as the Hubble mirror, so it can see tiny objects more clearly. To “see” faint galaxies in infrared light, Webb needs to be extremely cold, or it would only see its own infrared light. Made of a thin plastic, the heat shield is five layers thick, and it keeps the mirror at minus 234°C. Besides, Hubble moves only about 550 km above Earth while Webb orbits the sun, 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth. This lets Webb stay in line with Earth, allowing the moon to protect it from the light and heat of the sun and Earth.

As the most powerful telescope ever made, Webb is a giant step forward in human space exploration. With it, scientists can observe the very distant galaxies to see how the first galaxies forming out of the darkness. By comparing the earliest galaxies with today’s, they may understand how galaxies have changed over time. It’s also possible for them to study the atmospheres of the faraway planets and search for possible signs of life. Above all, seeing through and into clouds of dust also allows them to find out where stars and planetary systems are being born. This is the primary goal of Webb.

Webb is scheduled to work in space for between five and ten years, so it has enough time to send back fascinating data and images and give us a big surprise.