1 . Many studies have shown that when people read on-screen, they don’t understand what they’ve read as well as when they read in print. For example, researchers in Spain and Israel took a close look at 54 studies comparing digital and print reading. Their 2018 study involved more than 171,000 readers. Comprehension, they found, was better overall when people read print rather than digital texts.

Maryanne Wolf, who works at the University of California, Los Angeles explained that reading is not natural. We learn to talk by listening to those around us. It’s pretty automatic. But learning to read takes real work because the brain has no special network of cells just for reading.

To understand text, the brain borrows networks that evolved (进化) to do other things. For example, the part that evolved to recognize faces is called into action to recognize letters. This is similar to how you might adapt a tool for some new use. For example, a coat hanger is great for putting your clothes in the closet (衣柜). But if a blueberry rolls under the refrigerator, you might straighten out the coat hanger and use it to reach under the refrigerator and pull out the fruit. As a result, the brain might slip into skim (浏览) mode when you’re reading on a screen. It may switch to deep-reading mode when you turn to print.

Your reading doesn’t just depend on the device, however. It also depends on what you assume about the text. Baron, who is a scientist studying language and reading,calls this mindset. She says one way mindset works is in anticipating how easy or hard we expect the reading to be. If we think it will be easy, we might not put in much effort. Much of what we read on-screen tends to be text messages and social media posts. They’re usually easy to understand. So, when people read on-screen, they read faster. When reading fast, we may not absorb all the ideas as well.

So if you really need to learn something, you’re probably better off with print.

2 . Some under-30 travelers prefer to get around with people their own age. If that’s you, you’re in the right place! Follow us to South America and cover all of the highlights.

Start   Lima, Peru

Finish   Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Destinations   Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Peru

Group size   Min 1, Max 16

Why you’ll love this trip

·Wander in the Amazon jungle at night. Float (漂浮) down the river, keeping an eye out for the frightening eyes of jaguars and caimans.

·Tour the floating islands of Uros on Lake Titicaca. Spend the night under the stars in a traditional island village.

·Whether you trek (跋涉) the classic Inca Trail, the Inca Quarry Trail or take the scenic train route to Machu Picchu, trust us, this is going to be one of the highlights of your life.

·Don’t worry. We won’t occupy all of your time. You’ll have plenty of opportunity to bounce around Cusco, digging deep into the pockets of Inca history.

·Go to the strangely wonderful La Paz, from the wines of the Witches’ Market to the tasty treats of Mercado Lanza.

·Ever dreamt of walking on water? Now’s your chance. The sprawling salt lakes of Bolivia serve up special photo opportunities.

·The Iguazu Falls is on the border between Argentina and Brazil, and you’ll be able to see it from both sides.

·Rio de Janeiro is a great place to end the trip. Party down with the locals and experience a culture at the beating heart of Brazil.

3 . Exhausted, Jia Ling ate five packs of chocolate cookies alone at night by her bed after wrapping up filming for her new film YOLO that day. “Recalling that moment, I felt so great, like a tired soldier claiming the spoils of war,” she said.

By then, she had lost an incredible 50 kilograms, and her entire image had changed. The chubby (胖乎乎的), round and cute comedian Jia Ling was gone, replaced by a cool, muscular warrior.

Audiences were shocked by her appearance on Chinese New Year’s Day, Feb.10, when the film was first released. Jia had kept everything so secretive, avoiding public appearances for a year, that her new look was only revealed when she appeared on the big screen. Conversations about her high-intensity weight loss training, along with her courage and determination, have become trending topics across China, propelling the film’s box office earnings.

YOLO, which stands for “you only live once,” is the theme Jia aims to tell in her new film. The story follows an overweight, depressed woman who becomes isolated from society. However, after meeting a boxing coach and taking up the sport, she begins to regain her passion and finds her way in life. The filming was divided into five stages. Jia had to gain 20 kilograms at first for the role, moving on to the final stage when she lost a significant amount of weight and became muscular. This method mirrors what some Hollywood stars, such as Christian Bale, have done, but Jia’s effort is jaw-dropping and takes it to an even more extreme level.

Yet, the film’s core goes beyond physical transformation. “This film is not about weight loss, nor is it much about boxing. It’s a film that tells the story of how a kind person finds her true self and learns to love herself,” Jia said.

5 . Roads and railways have made it easy for people to travel around the UK, but have had the precisely opposite effect for insects. Alongside housing developments, transport infrastructure (基础设施) has separated insect habitats, leaving many pollinators (传粉昆虫) stuck on decreasing islands of biodiversity.

A new conservation project aims to address that by creating a network of wildflower superhighways across the UK. The B-Lines network aims to join the dots between meadow habitats, enabling pollinators and other wildlife to move freely between them. Ten years in the making, the B-Lines initiative was launched by the insect charity Buglife on Tuesday and has already generated interest from unexpected quarters. “After the launch, some house builders rang up asking how they could include the network into house building, so it could have a really positive effect,” said Buglife’s Paul Hetherington.

Buglife has spent the last decade mapping potential routes for the insect superhighway. Hetherington said the proposed highway could give the UK’s weak insects a boost and a route out of habitats that become too hot due to the climate crisis and it can make a huge difference in easing declines. “The things that have really hammered pollinators are habitat loss, loss of connectivity of habitat, climate change and pesticides—this deals with everything except pesticides,” said Hetherington.

The B-lines network is not just a concept. Pilot sections have already been completed, including the South Wales B-Lines near Cardiff. “Since that was done, there have been recordings of one of our rarest bees in Cardiff town centre, which shows this connectivity can work,” said Hetherington. And in Norwich, Buglife has been working with Network Rail to plant wildflowers along the track. Anyone living along the proposed route can get involved in the project. All they need to do is let their lawns grow, or even just create a small herb garden, which Hetherington likened to creating a “motorway service station for bees”.

6 . Sewing is an art. It is one that takes patience, time, and true talent. Julia,a woman from Chicago, is the definition of a talented tailor.

Julia’s inspiration for her designs comes from her grandma’s sketches (草图) from the 1940s. Julia’s grandma went to fashion school in her late teens and dropped out but she kept many of her sketches. Grandma showed Julia the designs she made back in fashion school, and Julia’s mind was blown.

When Grandma expressed her regret for not having the opportunity to see her sketches come to life, Julia decided not to have Grandma wait to witness it.

After sewing her grandma’s designs, Julia has been posting the final products on social media one by one, which has made popular. One of the most excellent designs she made was a beautiful gold cocktail dress, which took Julia about two months to finish.

Julia taught herself how to sew and has no professional training. Every month or so Julia continues to make her grandma’s designs a reality. Julia says,“She was very happy. I think she loves getting to connect with me and have something to do because she’s at a stage in life where, you know, many people don’t have many things to do. I think she is really proud and excited that I have completed it.”

From the social media, Julia has even gotten offers from people willing to buy her dresses, Julia is very pleased, but she claims since she isn’t an expert, she doesn’t feel comfortable selling them. However, seeing Julia teach herself how to sew with social media videos and design these dresses is giving her viewers the confidence to attempt something of their own!

7 . To tackle the problem of tiny plastics polluting waterways, chemists in the Czech Republic are thinking small. Their brainchild is a new microrobot which is no bigger than the tip of a sharpened pencil. When sunlight hits them, they produce chemical reactions that push them through water in a specific direction. When they find a piece of plastic, they stick to it and start to break it down.

Chemist Martin Pumera at the Czech University led the project. A decade ago, he chose to focus on the problem posed by microplastics. They’re everywhere—from the bottom of the ocean to air blowing onto ice atop mountains. They’ve turned up in drinking water. Some studies estimate that billions of pieces of plastic end up in the world’s waters. The plastic has many sources, from shopping bags to washing and cleaning wipes.

In lab experiments, the star-shaped swimmers stuck onto each of four different types of plastic. And after a week exposed to light, the robots had reduced the weight of the plastics. It wasn’t much—only by percent. But that was an indication that they were breaking the plastic down. They also caused the surface of the plastic to change from smooth to rough. That’s another sign that the robots were degrading (分解) it. The new study is a proof of concept type. That means it shows something can be done successfully.

In fact, Pumera says they still have a long way to go. There are many types of plastics. And even these microrobots are unlikely to succeed in degrading them all. The researchers also have not yet shown how safe this system is for the environment, although Pumera says that’s their next goal. The first real-world test will be in a wastewater-treatment plant. “Indeed,” says one researcher. “We’ll need a lot of testing to show that they’re safe in open waterways, such as at sea.”

8 . Amazing Train Journeys

The Beijing to Lhasa Express, China

Departs daily; Distance—2,330 miles; Duration—40 hours

Linking the royal wonders of Beijing with the dreamlike palaces of Lhasa, the Z21 train travels from the modernity of urban China to a once-remote land. Running westward, the train climbs nearly 16,400 ft (5,000 m) on its journey to the roof of the world: the Tibetan Plateau.

London to Fort William on the Caledonian Sleeper, UK

Departs daily; Distance—509 miles; Duration—13 hours 30 minutes

This overnight train journey is filled with the romance of rail travel. It’s just a pity that the whole experience—from dining-car chatting and light beer, to being carried into a la-la land by the rhythm of the rails and waking to bedside views of towering peaks—feels like it’s over in a flash. Though it may be short, the Caledonian is surely Britain’s best train ride.

Tazara Railway, Tanzania and Zambia

Departs twice a week; Distance—1,160 miles; Duration—46 hours

Few trains offer the chance of spotting big game from your seat, but the Tazara Railway does exactly that. For many, the highlight is neither the scenery nor the wildlife, though; it’s the chance to spend two days watching everyday life out of the window, and enjoying the crowds and chaos when the train pulls to a stop.

Perurail’s Lake Titicaca Railway, Peru

Departs twice a week; Distance—241 miles; Duration—10 hours

Traveling across the Altiplano, from the shores of Lake Titicaca to the beating heart of the Inca capital, the railway from Puno to Cuzco cuts a picturesque path through the snow-dusted peaks and fantastic valleys of the Andes. Passengers can enjoy the landscape from an open-air observatory car, as they travel through remote towns and villages.

9 . Want to reduce your carbon, footprint? Here are the best sustainable choices for carrying your luggage(行李).

Paravel Aviator Grand $ 425

The Paravel Aviator Grand combines recycled fabric with recycled metal parts, including zippers(拉锁)and a handle that can be used as long as you do. The fabric lining is made from recycled and single-use plastic bottles. Its producer Paravel has up-cycled 3.1 million plastic bottles and planted 70,000 trees. A five-year after service,covering wear and tear, ensures you’ll get a lot of use from the Paravel Aviator Grand.

Dakine Terminal Spinner $220

With a 40-liter capacity, the Dakine Terminal Spinner is not only roomy but also lasting, with waterproof polyester(聚酯纤维)made from recycled plastic water bottles. The roomy outer pocket is padded for laptops up to 17 inches. It’s even got a cup rest—a place to set your coffee when you’re standing still.

Peak Design Travel Backpack $483

The Peak Design Travel Backpack expands to 45 liters. It has both internal and external pockets, with quick-access pockets for frequently-used small items. Made from lightweight polyester, this travel backpack is weatherproof. The bottom liner provides even more protection and a thicker fabric, so you don’t have to worry about setting your bag down on a wet surface, The Peak Design Travel Backpack is also Fair Trade certified and carbon neutral.

Solgaard Check-in Closet $355

The Solgaard Check-in Closet is designed with five inner shelves, so you interact with its contents with the bag standing up. It can handle more than enough for a week of travelling. Despite its size, the Solgaard Check-in Closet is also easy to roll around, thanks to smooth 360-degree wheels. Built from a polycarbonate shell made from recycled plastic bottles, the Solgaard Check-in Closet is lasting enough and has a 10-yearafter service.