1 . Demanding days seem designed to test our self-control. We all need to rely on willpower to avoid short-term temptations and override unwanted thoughts or impulses (冲动). The prevailing psychological theory proposed that willpower resembled a kind of battery. With each exercise of self-control, you exhausted this resource. Without a chance to recharge, that resource ran low, making it harder to maintain self-control. This process was known as “ego depletion”.

In 2010, however, psychologist Veronika Job published a study that questioned the foundations of “ego depletion” theory, with some interesting evidence that ego depletion depended on people’s underlying beliefs. In the study, Job divided participants into two categories: those with a “limited” view of willpower and those with a “non-limited” view of willpower, based on a prior questionnaire. She then gave the participants some standard laboratory tests examining mental focus, which was considered to depend on the reserves of willpower. The study found that people with a limited mindset tended to perform exactly as ego depletion theory would predict but the non-limited individuals did not, which indicated that people’s beliefs about willpower could be self-fulfilling prophecies (预言). Those who believed willpower was easily depleted saw their self-control decrease, while those who believed in “mental stamina (耐力)” experienced no ego depletion.

Subsequent debates about the reliability of the laboratory tests of ego depletion emerged, but Job’s work demonstrated that mindset significantly impacted real-life outcomes. Her follow-up study revealed that after completing demanding tasks, most participants recovered to some degree overnight, but those with non-limited mindsets actually experienced an increase in their productivity the following day, as if energized by the extra pressure.

If you already have a non-limited mindset about willpower, these findings might be a cause for self-satisfaction. For those with limited mindsets, hope is not lost. Learning about this science can help shift beliefs. Sharing this knowledge with others can further consolidate this shift. Moreover, recollecting times of engaging in taxing yet enjoyable tasks naturally shifts people’s beliefs toward non-limited mindsets, as they see proof of their own men tal stamina. To provide yourself with further evidence, you can conduct small self-control tests. As you realize your willpower’s growth, you’ll find resisting temptations and distractions easier.

While immediate miracles aren’t guaranteed, perseverance will lead to a changed mindset and increased self-control, propelling actions toward personal goals.

2 . I was born missing my left arm. In 1986, at 18 months, I was fitted with a prosthetic (义肢) device, a decision made by my parents and doctors so that I would develop “normally”.

I spent my entire childhood and adolescence trying to fit in. I did just about anything to ease the pains of the stares and pointing fingers from my classmates. By the time I was 8, I had no self-confidence, and the hand I was wearing was making it harder for me to fit in. So I decided I was better off without one. I didn’t need anyone to fix me.

To prove that I wasn’t limited by my disability, I developed a love for all sports, in particular swimming. I was selected to my first Australian women’s swimming team at age 13 and successfully represented my country for eight years. I realized I’d made a name for myself because of my disability.

I taught myself how to be comfortable in a society filled with insecurities. So when I was first contacted in 2021 by Covvi, a company trying to create the world’s most advanced bionic (仿生的) hand, I was a bit surprised. They asked me to trial the hand and, if possible, to become a patient advocate. Initially, I said no. Then, curiosity got the better of me.

While I was busy advocating for disability rights, a new generation of leaders, like Amy Purdy and Nick Vujicic, used the power of technology and social media to display wheelchairs or artificial limbs without explanation. People feared disability less. Society was beginning to see a person first, and their disability second.

Viewing disability through a social lens also meant acknowledging that a person is more disabled by their environment and the discrimination of others than by their actual disability. As those conversations shifted, I realized that there was an opportunity to use technology to steer the narrative for future generations. In July 2022, I decided to trial the hand.

The role of patient advocate is an enormous privilege. Through sharing my journey, I’m able to reach thousands of other people who would benefit from its extraordinary capabilities. That’s why I wear a bionic hand—not because I’m broken, but because I have an opportunity to enhance the human capabilities that already exist.

3 .

#1 Author: Leisa Sharpe Price: £ 14.99 Release: Jun. 13, 2023	How Does Chocolate Taste On Everest This isn’t your typical children’s book nor is it a night-time read: it’s an action-packed adventure around the world. Young adventurers will step into the footprints of the greatest explorers, using their senses as their guides. This book immerses its young readers in life in the world’s most fascinating habitats, countries and continents, as well as those on other planets.
#2 Author: Z Kids Price: £ 9.99 Release: Sep.25, 2023	The Ultimate Riddle Game For Kids For readers between the ages of 9 and 12, this fun riddle book combines logic challenges, competitive contests and brain training. The first section consists of short, snappy riddles, the maths section requires mental arithmetic (算术), and for the stories section you will need to discover all the possible hidden meanings. But try not to cheat. The book is much more rewarding as the sections get more challenging. When you begin to understand the best way to approach each riddle type, your confidence, resilience and score are likely to grow.
#3 Author: Kim Zachman Price: £ 12.99 Release: Dec. 15, 2023	There’s No Cream In Cream Soda The only drink humans need is water, but the beverage industry is growing larger every year. This book explores the history of the invention of drinks, beginning thousands of years ago, when humans first added natural flavourings to their water as it boiled over the fire. Its humorous and conversational narrative means that you don’t know what will come next. Ranging from core scientific processes to the unlikely origin stories of some sodas, this book is sure to have a story to fascinate every kid.

4 . On a sunny afternoon, Anthony Perry stepped off the train at Chicago’s 69th Street station. The 20-year-old, who worked nights in a grocery store, was on his way to see his ________.

On the platform, something unthinkable happened: a man fell over the edge and onto the electrified train tracks! As Perry and other horrified passengers watched, he shook uncontrollably as the ________ moved through his body.

“Help him!” someone cried. “Please, someone!”

Perry couldn’t just stand there and ________. He sat at the edge of the platform and eased himself down. ________ all rails between the man and him were electrified, he quickly leaped towards the victim, using a high-knee technique from his high school football days.

Perry soon reached down and grasped the victim’s wrist. ________, he felt a powerful electric shock shoot through his body. Perry jumped back. He reached down a second time, and was shocked again. But the third time he seized the man’s wrist and forearm, and managed to move the guy’s body away from the ________.

“Give him chest compressions!” yelled an old lady on the platform.

Perry was no expert, but for a few moments he worked on the man’s heart until the victim regained ________. Then, first-aiders arrived. Perry let the professionals ________. Heart still racing from the electric shocks, he climbed back up onto the platform, grabbed his things and continued on to his grandfather’s.

The evening news reported the incident, ________ an unnamed hero with saving the victim’s life. To many, Perry’s ________ deeds demonstrated the power of choosing compassion over personal safety.

7 . The question of how trucking capacity is growing or declining is common in industry, but the reality is that demand fluctuations are far more important to monitor as they swing much more violently.

Since December of 2018, the total tractor count from for-hire fleets (non-private) has grown 18%, according to the FMCSA, but has never shown a monthly change of over 2%. By contrast, the Outbound Tender Volume Index (OTVI), a measure of total truckload demand, has grown 12% over the same period, but monthly fluctuations topped 20% at times.

Even before the pandemic, the OTVI had 5-7% monthly swings in demand. Given the OTVI measures total tenders and is not a pure proxy (指标) for shipments, it is reflective of how fast demand-side conditions change in trucking.

The point is that capacity shifts are slow and stable, while demand changes much more rapidly and is very unpredictable over time. This is the consummate struggle of supply chains and transportation companies across the globe — how much infrastructure (capacity) is needed to be able to flex up but not have too much overhead when demand softens?

The process of ordering and seating a truck takes close to a year. That truck can haul roughly seven 500-mile loads per week, or 360 loads per year. This only occurs if shipping patterns are consistent and drivers are readily available, and neither are true. So it isn’t a pure question of how much capacity is available in aggregate, but are those trucks available in the right places at the right times in general? This metric is extremely difficult to attain.

Since demand is uneven and spread unevenly throughout the country, trucks and drivers need to exceed the number of shipments available. So even if capacity grows by 1%, it just increases the chances that loads will be covered marginally.

Probably more important than any of the previous points is that there are already measures of the relationship between supply and demand in trucking. Tender rejection rates (OTRI) and spot rates (NTI) measure when capacity is meeting demand in the contract and spot markets, respectively.   

There is little use for knowing how much capacity is available in the for-hire freight market other than being interesting. But there is exceptional value in knowing how well capacity and demand are lining up and in what direction they are trending. Since December 2021 tender rejection rates have fallen from over 20% to under 4%, while spot rates are down 27%.

Demand-side indicators are probably the most crucial to getting the earliest signs of market shifts, while rejection rates and spot rates answer the two most important questions that companies want answered: Can I get a truck and how much will it cost me?

9 . Golf has a length problem. The farther players drive the ball, the longer holes need to be, so that skills like iron play and putting (打球入洞) remain important. But the longer courses are, the more they cost to maintain and the worse their environmental impact. They also become more daunting for recreational golfers, who keep them in business.

In 2004, golf’s regulators introduced limits on the size of clubs (球杆), hoping to slow the trend of ever-longer drives. Nonetheless, the inflation has continued quickly. On November 15th a famous record tumbled (下跌): someone completed the Masters Tournament in fewer than 270 strokes, the mark Tiger Woods set when he won his first major title in 1997. The new low of 268 belongs to Dustin Johnson, who has averaged more than 300 yards a pop throughout his career. He achieved the feat even though the Augusta National course is 8% longer than in 1997.

How have golfers continued to blast the ball farther than ever? The PGA Tour publishes ball-tracking statistics, which suggest that, although better equipment may have helped, players’ recent gains stem largely from their technique — and even bigger improvements now appear inevitable.

The data come from ShotLink, a system that tracks how fast a golfer swings (“clubhead speed”), his ball’s trajectory (“launch angle”) and its rotation speed (“spin rate”). A statistical model using these metrics was built to predict driving distances. Together, the three factors explained 70% of the differences between players’ distances, and almost all of the increase in length over time.

The model’s lessons are intuitive. To thump the ball as far as possible, one should maximise clubhead speed and launch angle while minimising spin. However, most players face a trade-off between these goals. Harder impacts usually mean flatter trajectories.

One golfer, however, has escaped this constraint. Bryson DeChambeau, a physics graduate with oddly designed club, is nicknamed the “Mad Scientist”. He gained 18kg of weight while the PGA Tour was suspended. This has allowed him to swing faster than anyone else. But he has also managed to smash the ball with a high launch angle — an unprecedented combination that might owe something to his unusually stiff wrists and robotic technique. Using both his brains and his brawn, Mr DeChambeau is now hitting 15 yards farther than his closest competitors do.

Mark Broadie, a golf statistician, reckons that other professionals will try to beef up. But golf history is full of players who lost their edge after making small changes to their swings. And time may yet show that the risks of Mr DeChambeau’s bombs-away approach offset some of the rewards. He strayed into the rough (球场长草区) often at the Masters.

Nonetheless, the Mad Scientist’s breakthrough is bad news for course designers. They will probably have to keep fiddling with their fairways on the golf courses for years to come.

10 . She spent over two decades working her way up in the science industry, either as a chemist in a lab or in a management role. Now Berkeley Middle School teacher Mrs. Amy Adams is employing her science skills in a different environment. She decided to mix things up a bit and came up with a winning formula to help make a difference in the classroom. Mrs. Amy Adams is our Cool School teacher of the week.

She took a couple of years off after having children. While volunteering at her kids’ school, she was fascinated by education. Adams says, “This is where I am supposed to be. I loved my job and the people I worked with, but I just kept feeling unsettled, so finally, I channeled my energy into something meaningful.”

Adams says she stepped out on faith, and the rest is history, well actually it’s science. She’s now in year six of teaching seventh-grade science at BMS. “This is my alma mater. I walked the halls of Berkeley Middle. So it is with all four of my children. My youngest is walking the halls now. It just feels like home,” Adams said.

Adams describes her teaching style as interactive. She says, “I want them to have a voice and learn critical thinking, so we feature colorful activities. Whether it’s note-taking, worksheets, doing DNA extractions on a strawberry or dissecting frogs, the process is always interactive. By doing so, I intend to cultivate a culture of learning and arouse their interest in science.”

LaTanya Butler, principal at BMS says, “She was in the science industry, so she can relate the concepts she teaches to real life, which is one of the great attributes to have in a teacher.”

Butler says Mrs. Adams also pushed to add an additional day to her work week. “I’ve had to open the building at her request so she can work on Saturdays. That’s just the attitude she adopts, to go over and beyond for our students here. I just appreciate Mrs. Adams for hearing the call to switch to education. If I could clone Mrs. Adams fifty more times, not only Berkeley Middle but schools in general would benefit from that spirit of dedication.”

When asked if she misses working in the industry, Mrs. Adams says, “I’ll tell you I work harder now than I ever did, that I’m more tired now than I ever was, but I absolutely love what I do, and I feel like what I’m doing makes a difference. I can’t imagine not being here.”