1 . 4 Really Strange Beaches

Sandy stretches of gray, brown or even white are the world’s norm. Even rocky beaches or those with sheer cliffs barring passage for everyone save the bravest adventurers are not rare. These unique beaches are some of the best treats nature has to offer.

Papakolea Beach, Hawaii, USA

Papakōlea Beach is a green sand beach located near South Point, in the Ka’ū district of the island of Hawai ’i. One of only two green sand beaches in the World, the other being in Galapagos Islands.

Papakōlea Beach is associated with the southwest rift (裂谷) of Mauna Loa. Since its last eruption, the cinder cone has partially collapsed and been partially swallowed by the ocean.

San Alfonso del Mar Beach, Chile

This beach is located between the largest artificial pool. San Alfonso del Mar Beach is an essential part of the luxurious resort of the same name.

It seems a strange spot for the world’s largest swimming pool. But the pool’s remarkable spaciousness (宽敞) complements the ocean beyond rather effortlessly, and jumping in the pool’s 79℉(26℃) water is a much more attractive prospect than venturing into the 63℉(17℃) seawater nearby.

Maho Beach, Sint Maarten

Maho Beach is a beach on the Dutch side of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, in the country of Sint Maarten. It is famous for the Princess Juliana International Airport next to the beach.

Arriving aircraft must touch down as close as possible to the beginning of Runway 10 due to the short runway length of 380 metres, resulting in aircraft on their final approach flying over the beach at minimal altitude.

Ocean Dome, Japan

This is an artificial beach constructed in the Seagaia re son along the coastal highway outside the city of Myazaki in Japan it has a fully controlled indoor climate throughout the year.

The Ocean Dome, which was a popular part of the Sheraton Seagaia Resort, measures 300 meters in length and 100 meters in width.

2 . Some of our planet’s power pollinators (传粉昆虫) may have originated tens of millions of years earlier than scientists once believed. In a study published July 27 in the journal Current Biology, a team of researchers traced bee family back over 120 million years to the ancient supercontinent Gondwana (冈瓦纳大陆). While looking deeper into bee history, the team found evidence that bees originated earlier, diversified faster, and spread wider than previously suspected, putting together pieces of a puzzle on the origin of these pollinators.

In the study, an international team of scientists would be in sequence and compared genes from over 200 bee species. They then compared these bees with the traits from 185 different bee fossils and extinct fossils to develop an evolutionary history and genealogical model for how bees have historically been spread around the world. The team was able to analyze hundreds of thousands of genes at a time to make sure that the relationships they inferred were correct.

“This is the first time we have broad genome-scale data for all seven bee families,” study co-author and Washington State University entomologist Elizabeth Murray confidently said in a statement. Earlier studies established that the first bees potentially evolved from wasps (黄蜂), transitioning from predators up to collectors of pollen and nectar (花蜜). According to this study, bees arose in the dry regions of western Gondwana during the early Cretaceous period, between 145 million years ago to 100.5 million years ago.

“There’s been a long-time puzzle about the origin of bees,” study co-author and Washington State University entomologist Silas Bossert said in a statement. “For the first time, we have statistical evidence that bees originated on Gondwana. We now know that bees are originally southern hemisphere insects.” The team found evidence that as new continents formed, the bees moved northward. They continued to diversify and spread in parallel partnership with flowering plants called angiosperms. The bees later moved into India and Australia and all major bee families appear to have split off from one another before the beginning of the Tertiary period (65million years ago).

3 . Chris Kyle is an entrepreneur(企业家), so he’s always looking for ways to support his fellow small business owners. Chris says he feels fortunate that his work allows him to spend a lot of time at home, so he can be fully present for each stage of his daughter Ava’s life. He was skeptical when his wife purchased Ava a toy kitchen set, but his daughter adores it and has now become a “small business owner” in her very own living room!

“When my wife made the purchase, I was hesitant about spending a few hundred dollars on it,” Chris explained. “It has been worth every penny. Ava is the star of her own little world when she is ready to play.” Chris paid a visit to his daughter’s at-home restaurant and shared his frank but funny “review” on his Instagram page. “So I tried to support another Black Owned Business for lunch today,” he wrote. “It’s called Ava’s Kitchen, just opened the end of April. It’s a very clean kitchenware, but let me tell you about this owner.”

“First of all, I asked why there are balloons on my chair, and it’s not my birthday?” Chris continued. “She said those are Mommy’s.” But Chris didn’t stop there. In addition to the questionable choice of balloons as a decoration, he said the service at Ava’s Kitchen was not exactly putting the establishment anywhere near the Zagat scale. “I have been waiting on my order to get done for 45minutes, and I’m the only customer here,” wrote Chris. “She was making good progress at first, then she stopped for 20 minutes to go to watch Paw Patrol. Overall the customer service could be better, but the cook is lovely. So I’ll give her another chance.”

Chris and Ava are thrilled that their post went viral. I’m glad to see our post shine bright in the lives or people around the world, said the proud dad.

4 . Sometimes science advances at a snail’s pace, but in this case that’s a good thing: researchers have created a soft material that combines polymers with liquid metal, demonstrated in a snail-like robot. Developers say this electrically conductive gel(凝胶) could be used to make self-healing electronic circuits and biological monitors for measuring heart and muscle activity-and maybe even lead to robot nervous systems.

The complex substance can stretch and is soft like living tissue. If it breaks or tears, the edges can be touched together, and the material’s molecular bonds quickly re-form without any additional heat or chemical treatment. And crucially its developers say, it is the first such material that also conducts electricity.

These abilities could lead to wire-free medical monitors as well as fully soft robots. “For my research, one thing that’s really big is, ‘How do you put multiple functions into a single material?’” says Lillian Chin, who develops soft robotic components as part of her own research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Existing soft-bodied robots, she says, often require at least some rigid metals and silicon(硅)components. But soft, flexible living tissues can perform multiple tasks; muscles, Chin notes, both move our bodies and provide electrical feedback about that movement to our brains.

For a recent study in Nature Electronics, the researchers used their new material to connect motors to power sources in two basic machines: a snail-like soft robot and a toy car. The material’s self-healing ability helped these simple circuits(电路) be easily reequipped. For example, the team cut the car’s power-carrying gel “wires” and shifted their connections to power both movement and a small light fixed in the bottom.

5 . Seven-year-old Everett Botwright is a bright, imaginative kid. Like many children on the autism spectrum (自闭症), he also _________ with the smell and taste of many foods. So when the boy showed great interest in Star Wars Kraft Dinner, his parents were _________. “It was amazing,” father Reed Botwright says. “My wife cried. She hadn’t seen him _________ in, not to mention addicted to a new _________ in a long time.”

There was only one _________ . After buying all the _________ they could find in their hometown of Nanaimo, B. C., the family _________ needed more. In February, Botwright _________ a request on Facebook, asking for _________ tracking down the limited-edition pasta.

The __________ went viral. Thousands shared Botwright’s post on __________ media, including Star Trek legend William Shatner. Star Wars Kraft Dinner __________ from across North America. “People have reached out and many thanked us for __________ our struggle,” Botwright says.

Kraft Heinz Canada donated $10,000 to autism charities, __________ 144 boxes to the Botwrights and even asked Everett to select the __________ Kraft Dinner shape. On his birthday, March 7, he __________ the Minions (小黄人). Nanaimo’s Real Canadian Superstore donated 411 packages, and a class of Ouebec teens sent a shipment; __________ boxes came from as far away as Florida.

The __________ number: over 800 boxes, and Botwright says, “We’re still counting.” Everett is __________ thank-you cards for every donor, and Botwright says the outpouring has taught his four kids, ages three to eight, a lesson: “There is __________ in the world.”

6 . Dublin is one of Europe’s smaller capital cities, but it has an outsized number of places to see. Here’s a decent sampling of the great attractions that await when you come to Dublin to play.

National Gallery of Ireland

Ireland is a country known for its literary contributions, but don’t overlook its contributions to the artistic world. It houses a number of works by Rembrandt, Goya and Monet. The collection’s 15,000 Irish and European works date from the 13th to mid-20th centuries and include paintings, prints and national portraits (肖像). Particularly prized is the Yeats Collection, consisting of works and other materials related to Irish painter Jack B. Yeats, brother of poet and playwright W. B. Yeats.

Ha’penny Bridge

This modest cast-iron bridge over the River Liffey has become the symbol of Dublin, with its wonderful design and old-fashioned lampposts. Before it became a tourist attraction,

Ha’Penny Bridge was a welcome addition for local people. Before its construction, most of them had to ferry (摆渡) across the river. When it was built in 1816, Ha’penny Bridge was the first iron bridge across the Liffey.

Dublin Castle

You’re in Europe. It’s hard to resist a good castle. And you have one right in the heart of Dublin. And like all good castles, it has a storied history—from its start in the 1200s on the site of a Viking settlement to 1922, when it was handed over to the new Irish government after independence from the United Kingdom. A fire in 1684 damaged a good bit of the castle, and in reconstruction, parts of it took on the look of a Georgian palace, making for an interesting mix of styles today.

St. Stephen’s Green

As a treasured part of the city for centuries, the park, which is in the heart of Dublin, has important sculptures of major figures in Irish history and well-maintained Victorian grounds in the center. A variety of trees line the perimeter (周边) to help block city noise, and it’s a haven for birds as well as people.

8 . “But I want that blue car!”

The blue car didn’t make it through our checkout line. The tears_________up and streamed down this four-year-old face. I was overwhelmed with_________by the noisy scene we created. I wanted more than anything to_________this screaming child and charge out of there, child under my arm, marching him straight out of the_________and into the car. But I couldn’t do that.

A car accident in my teens left me paralysed (瘫痪) from the chest down. From sixteen on I was_________to create a life with my wheelchair. I relied heavily on my stubbornness and will to do things _________I even accomplished more than I would have done in my long-lost _________world.

It wasn’t until having children that my abandon to independence was forced to_________reasonable and cautious behavior. It was no longer just me that had to own up to the _________of my actions. So like any good Darwinian, I have forced myself to__________.

Kneeling down, I tried my hardest to__________that we were buying groceries and not race cars, but __________.Whether you are Mother Teresa or Judge Judy, sometimes you will not__________a four-year-old over. The kicking and screaming __________with the growing line of shoppers behind.

Becoming a__________, who uses a wheelchair comes with its bumps and bruises(磕磕碰碰) .__________, I’ve learned how to navigate with love and adaptation and be a great__________ to my children.

So, I tried again with a smile. I touched my now __________child’s forehead, from all of the rage and exhaustion of the moment. His wet eyes looked at me like I was the__________person on the planet. But his outburst stopped. And, I__________to get him out the store doors and into his car seat.

9 . Ask any business leader what big challenges they face and it’s likely that skills and labor shortages will be high on their list. They’re concerned about how to develop the skills they need for the jobs of tomorrow. According to the World Economic Forum’s latest Future of Jobs Report 2023, organizations across all industries identify skills gaps and an inability to attract talent as the key barriers preventing industry transformation.

There’s a potential solution to all of this: a “skills-first” approach. The new report, Putting Skills First: A Framework for Action, launched during the World Economic Forum’s Growth Summit, finds that switching to a skills-first mindset can directly benefit over 100 million people globally who’re currently under-utilizing their existing skills, because they’re under-employed in their current job or because they’re unemployed. The analysis, which covers 18 economies, finds workforce under-utilization ranges from 4% of the working population in Thailand, to 7% in the US, 13% in France, 27% in Brazil and 43% in South Africa.

A skills-first approach focuses on a person’s skills and competencies rather than on their qualifications or job history, so that what someone can do becomes far more important than which university they went to. Crucially, this focus on skills continues long after the worker has been hired, with an emphasis on continually developing their abilities right through their career.

Making skills a priority is fairly advantageous. For businesses, taking a skills-first approach dramatically increases the potential pool of talent from which they can draw on. For individuals, it provides access to good jobs that offer skills building, career progression and higher earning potential which they’d otherwise have been excluded from without the right qualifications.

Delivering such ground-breaking change requires more than simply the involvement of HR teams. It’ll require the commitment of CEOs and policy-makers at the highest level to drive it through. So far a company in UK has introduced a range of degree apprenticeship (学徒制) programs which enable applicants without a degree to gain one while working at the firm. The organization is also developing new career paths to ensure it has the right skills to meet the changing needs of the economy.

10 . Here are some musicals on Broadway.

When Marty McFly finds himself transported back to 1955 in a time machine built by the eccentric scientist Doc Brown, he accidentally changes the course of history. Now he’s in a race against time to fix the present, escape the past and send himself back to the future. It’s recommended for ages 6 and up.

At a group counseling center in Columbus, Ohio, seven autistic(患孤独症的) young adults prepare for a spring formal dance—a rite of passage that breaks open their routines and sets off heartbreaking encounters with love, stress, excitement, and independence. It is a story about people standing at the turning point of the next phase of their lives, facing their hopes and fears, ready to make a very big first move and dance. It’s based on the award-winning documentary.

Outside of D.C., Phyllis is supervising her teenage children, Carl and Martha, as they move into a new apartment. Phyllis has strong ideas about what her children need to do and how to succeed, and troubles the child faces when finding their own path. Combining flares of imaginative theatricality, surreal farce, and deep tenderness, this beautiful rollercoaster ride reveals timeless truths of love, family, and forgiveness.

Sam doesn’t get out at all, opting instead for the safety of his house in the company of his many things. But when a notice from the government arrives alerting Sam that he must cleanup hi property or face eviction(驱逐), he’s forced to deal with what’s trash, what’s treasure, and whether we can ever know the difference between the two.