In space, it’s impossible to go outside a spacecraft without wearing a spacesuit. Temperatures in the sunlight can reach 120℃. Without a spacesuit your blood would boil and your body would break open. And you`d be exposed to dangerous radiation from the Sun. In the shade, with temperatures falling to-100℃, you would freeze to death. And one other small thing—there’s no oxygen, so you wouldn’t be able to breathe.

A spacesuit is made of lots of different layers, all protecting the astronaut from the dangers of walking in space. The outer layers connect together so that all of the astronaut’s body is covered. On the astronauts chest is the Hard Upper Torso piece, or HUT. All the controls for the spacesuit are on the HUT.

Air and water tubes connect the HUT to a backpack that the astronaut wears. The backpack holds oxygen and water and provides electricity for the suit. A fan moves the oxygen through the suit so the astronaut can breathe. And the water flows through a special piece of clothing that is worn under the suit—the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment. It is full of tubes. Water flows through them to keep the astronaut cool during a spacewalk.

The backpack also has a radio in it. This radio is connected to a cap on the astronaut’s head under the large helmet. This allows the astronaut to talk with the others in the spacecraft, and with people on the Earth.

Altogether, a spacesuit has fourteen layers. One garment is rather surprising. Some spacewalks can last for six or eight hours. There are no toilets out there, so a very important part of the spacesuit is a diaper!

2 . In most cities you go to, you will see walls outside covered with paintings of names and pictures. This is called graffiti. Some people like these paintings, but others do not. People who like them see this graffiti as art, but others believe it makes cities look terrible and that the people who do it should be arrested.

These days in the UK there are still lots of places where you can paint graffiti because most people like graffiti that has a lot of beautiful colors.

▲ ? There are examples of very old graffiti from Greek and Roman cultures. However, modern graffiti started in New York in the early 1970s. It came from parts of the city and the people who wrote it were often teenagers. Graffiti is still part of the city culture in many places in the world today.

Banksy is an England-based graffiti artist. His art is admired around the world. His paintings usually have a political message. Although Banksy has become very famous, nobody knows who he really is. Banksy’s art is so popular that people sometimes try to steal it so that they can sell it at a high price. This makes Banksy angry because the messages in his art are against the idea of money.

In some cities, tourists can take graffiti tours. One of these cities is Bogota in Colombia. There is a lot of beautiful graffiti in Bogota and much of it shows the history of the country or has a political message. You can also see parts of the city tourists do not usually go to. The tour is very popular and is also free. However, they ask you to donate some money if you like the tour. They use this money to help poor Colombian artists.

3 . One midsummer day, biologist Andrew Parker knelt in the baking sand of an Australian desert and gently placed the right back leg of a small lizard into a dish of water. The small lizard that has learned to survive in the extreme heat—has a secret that attracted Parker. “Look!” he shouted. “Its back is completely drenched!” In less than a minute, water from the dish had traveled up the lizard’s leg, across its skin, and into its mouth. It was drinking through its foot. The lizard can also do this when standing on wet sand. Parker had come here to solve the riddle of how it does this, with a specific purpose in mind: to make an object to help people collect water in the desert.

Parker is a leading scientist in the field of biomimetics*—applying designs from nature to solve problems in engineering, materials science, medicine, and other fields. His studies of the body coverings of butterflies and beetles have led to brighter screens for cell phones.

The work of Parker is only one part of a growing global biomimetics movement. Scientists around the world are trving to copy a wide variety of nature’s design secrets. In the United States, researchers are looking at the shape of humpback whale fins to help wind turbines* produce more electric energy. The shape of the body of a certain fish has inspired* designers at Mercedes—Benz to develop a more efficient car design. By analyzing how termites — a kind of insect keep their large mounds’ at the right temperature and humidity, architects in Zimbabwe have built more comfortable buildings. And in Japan, medical researchers have developed a painless needle that is similar in shape to the proboscis* of a mosquito.

Perhaps, one of the most useful applications of biomimetics is the robot. Professor Ronald Fearing is creating a tiny robot fly that can be used in surveillance or rescue operations. Although it will be years before his robot fly can perform anything like an actual fly. Fearing is confident that over time he will close the gap between nature and human engineering.

Nowadays, the gap with nature is gradually closing. Researchers are using more powerful microscopes, high-speed computers and other new technologies to learn more from nature. A growing number of biomimetic materials are being produced. And although the field of biomimetics has vet to become a successful commercial industry, it has already developed into a powerful tool for understanding nature’s secret.

4 . Shipping containers are gaining popularity as a replacement for traditional houses. People can get these 20- or 40-foot steel containers with only several hundred US dollars every piece, and it’s not surprising that some industry professionals and even city planners consider them the future of home building. Here are details of some amazing homes made out of shipping containers.

London Container City (I and II)

London Container City first appeared in the heart of the docklands in 2001. It took just five months to complete the original 12 work studios. Shortly after that, a fourth floor of studios and living apartments were built on top of these. The first container city was so successful that another—Container City II—was added to it.

Los Angeles Redondo Beach house

With its modern lines and attractive spaces, the award—winning Redondo Beach House is an excellent beachside showpiece built from eight recycled steel shipping containers, along with some traditional building materials. According to the architects, the modified containers are very strong and can hardly be destroyed.

Amsterdam Keetwonen

Amsterdam’s large Keetwonen complex provides houses for 1,000 students and it is the largest container city in the world. The housing project is a great success and the units are quiet and comfortable. Each student enjoys a bathroom, kitchen and separate sleeping and studying quarters. The complex even has central heating and high-speed internet as well as areas for parking bikes.

Mexico M2ATK Container House

M2ATK designed this simple house with three containers for an artist. There are great paintings on the walls. It’s fully equipped with heating and cooling, a kitchen and bathroom. On the bottom floor are “public spaces” such as the kitchen and living room. The second floor is the bedroom, and the top floor is a studio space in which to work, read and “let fly the imagination”.

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Utopia is a perfect place. It is a place without war, hunger, poverty, or crime. All of the people are equal in Utopia, and the laws are all fair.

Utopia is not a new place. Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher, described a perfect society in his famous dialogue The Republic. In Plato’s Republic, every person had a Zplace in the society. In 1516, Sir Thomas More wrote about an island in the Pacific Ocean where everything was perfect. He named the island “Utopia.” In 1872, Samuel Butler wrote a novel about a perfect country.

Many people came to the New World to find Utopia. Rapp, a German farmer came to the United States in 1804 to start a Utopian community. In 1815, Rapp and his followers bought land for their community in Harmony, and they made the things they needed with machines. In 1824, they sold the community to Owen, who started the Utopian community of New Harmony there. In New Harmony, everything belonged to everyone and men and women were equal, but New Harmony lasted only two years. Then Francis Wright began Nashoba, a community where white people and black people could live and work together. Nashoba lasted from 1825 to 1830. A group of intellectuals founded Brook Farm, a Utopian farming community, in 1841. However, they did not have many farming skills, so the farm closed in 1847.

Utopia is a perfect place. There is no money in Utopia because people do not need money. They do not have personal possessions because everything belongs to everyone, but it is not a real place. Most “real” Utopias last only a short time. This is because everyone wants to live in Utopia, but no one knows how to make it work. As a result, when we say something is “Utopian” today, we mean that it is a good idea, but it is not realistic.

7 . No other planet has captivated our imaginations quite like Mars. Changing from a landscape similar to that of Earth to a red wasteland, Mars seems to hold many questions waiting for answers. With countless possibilities, countries around the world are sending spacecrafts to it.

And one of the most ambitious spacecrafts launched yet is China’s Tianwen-1. Tianwen-1, a Mars spacecraft named after a poem titled the Quest for Heavenly Truth by ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan, was launched by China on July 23, 2020. The reason why this spacecraft is regarded as ambitious is that it consists of an orbiter, a lander and a rover and is going to achieve these missions in one go. However, realizing all three missions on a first-attempt is a fear that hasn’t been achieved by any country before.

Let’s start with Tianwen-1’s first mission, entering the orbit of Mars. The orbiter will not only be used as the vessel for the lander and rover to enter the orbit of Mars, but it will also be responsible for taking pictures and analyzing the surface of Mars. Equipped with many scientific instruments, the orbiter will study Martian soil, geological structure, environment and atmosphere.

Once the orbiter manages to enter the orbit around Mars, it will release the lander and rover system. To successfully land on Mars, the lander needs to decelerate from its release in the Martian atmosphere, or it will be damaged because of the high speed. NASA scientists once referred to a Mars landing as “the six minutes of terrors”, because the Martian atmosphere creates heat to any object that hopes to land on the surface. Ideally, when the lander touches the ground, it will release a 240-kilogram rover. The rover, with an expected lifespan of at least 90 Martian days, will conduct various kinds of scientific exploration on Mars.

The exploration of Mars is in its early stages. But hopefully, Tianwen-1, which also marked China’s first step in planetary exploration of the solar system, will help to provide answers to longtime questions from scientists and provide insight into mysteries of the Red Planet.

8 . Chinese paintings serve as a symbol of China, which come in different types such as figure, landscape, bird-and-flower painting. Traditional Chinese painting is usually done using a brush with black ink, mostly on paper or silk. The finished work can be put up on the wall. Traditional painting has also been done on walls, china, etc.

The goal of the traditional Chinese painter is interesting: to pursue not only the outer appearance of a subject but its inner theme as well—its energy, life force and spirit. To achieve his goal, the Chinese painter more often refused the appearance of color in its painting, as the color is seen as distraction. Instead, he preferred lines.

However, Chinese paintings come in varied styles. Some are made in Line drawing, using inked lines to draw the outline of objects. Some are made in ink and wash, using a brush, dipped into ink with more or less water, to spread the ink across the paper. It felt like painters brush the paper with great strength. Some are made in liberal style, using free and simple lines to show the spirit of the objects. Others are made in gong-bi, using every detail to appear much more decorative and real. Painters will make it “as detailed as it can be”.

To appreciate Chinese paintings, people usually have to go to special occasions. Paintings are usually placed in good condition out of reach by hand. Collectors who choose to display their works continuously should stop the sunlight from reaching on the paintings. Man-made low light and conditions that are neither too dry nor too wet are the best for keeping a traditional Chinese painting in good shape.

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10 . What do Helen, Bob and Alice talk about? Let’s have a look!

Eleven-year-old Helen

There are many colors, like white, blue, orange and red. But my favourite colour is green. Green is the colour of life. Green is good for eyes, too.

Twelve-year-old Bob

My jacket, quilt and cup are blue. Blue is the colour of the sky. When the sky is blue, we are happy to have a nice day. Blue is also the colour of the sea. I like swimming in the sea. It’s my favourite sport. What colour do I like? Do you know now?

Nine-year-old Alice

I love white best. White is the colour of snow. After a snow, everything is white. I think it’s a clean colour. I can play with snowballs with my friends.

Now can you tell me what colour you like?