2 . If you’ve always wanted to grow your own fruits and vegetables but could never quite make the time for it-technology is here to help you.

At first glance, technology and farming don’t go hand in hand, but that’s old school thinking. In this day and age, technology and farming are a perfect match. With cheap sensors (传感器), simple phone apps, and available equipment, you can build your very own farming robot.

Give it power, water, and Wi-Fi, and it will take care of the rest. FarmBot can plant water, weed, and monitor the soil and plants with an array of sensors. All you need to do(is harvest the produce once it’s done.

FarmBot is an open-source robot developed by a company. It runs on tracks, and uses game-like open-source software. Everything is customizable (可定制的) and adaptable. You design your land and drop plants onto a virtual map of your land, The seeds are spaced automatically, and you can apply different growing plans. It can be controlled by a phone, tablet, or computer.

FarmBot is an example of precision farming-a series of tools and techniques that enable farmers to optimize (充分利用) their resources and increase harvest, while also (being more sustainable. For instance, a soil humidity sensor lets you know when it’s time to water the plants, or a nutrient detector lets you know which areas (if any) need anymore nutrients.

Back in the day, precision farming would require heavy and expensive equipment. But recently, the miniaturization (小型化) of sensors, together with the use of smartphones; Internet, and apps, has made it much more accessible, FarmBot is taking that idea and applying it-no green thumb (特殊园艺才能) required.

5 . Children’s Sci-fi Art Predicts Extraordinary Future

More than 80 sci-fi artworks are on display at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, showing a beautiful yet puzzling future. The “Brave New Sci-Fi World” exhibition features paintings and art installations (设备) by students from Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing and other cities. They imagine the future as a world where robots and human beings co-exist.

Ru Chen, from Shanghai New Putuo Primary School, has pictured a robot chameleon (变色龙) to be used in outer space to aid in the search and rescue of human beings in case of danger.

Li Jiaqi from Guangzhou Dongfeng East Road Primary School has painted a city where advanced technologies are everywhere, and even the city itself turns into a large robot.

Huang Yanrui from Beijing Shijingshan Gucheng No. 2 Primary School imagines his rubber, pencil box and such stationery (文具) becoming conscious robots, and beginning to design future human beings.

Wang Zhihan, from Shanghai Shangde Experimental School and her schoolmates, stick electronic components on stone faces as a metaphor (隐喻) for the increasingly unclear boundaries between the reality and virtual world. “We hope to remind people never lose yourself in a world with advanced technologies,” she said.

The exhibition will last till November 4.

Opening hours:

Tuesdays-Sundays 9: 00- 17: 15; legal holidays 8: 45- 18: 30.

Transportation Guide:

Metro: Metro Line 2: Shanghai Science and Technology Museum Station.

Metro Line 4, Metro Line 6 and Metro Line 9: change to Metro Line 2 at the Century Avenue Station.

Bus Routes: Bus 184, 640, 794, 983, 984, 987, 1023, 640 inter-zonal bus will take you there.

7 . Many people love online shopping. It’s the fastest way to buy the latest trends for food, clothes and games. But a life of convenience is not possible, however, without the combined efforts of the country’s massagers. Zhang Yu, a deliveryman in Wuhan, is one of them. For him, working is not only a means for survival, but also a chance for him to serve others.

After serving in the army for a few years, Zhang joined the SF Express Tangjiadun station in Wuhan in 2019. When Zhang distributes packages, he often carefully records the daily habits of the recipients. For example, he knows which clients have babies and need a longer afternoon rest, the households with only seniors, and the time that the office workers are available. He considers all of these factors when arranging for deliveries.

But what has put Zhang into the spotlight is his heroic acts, which led to him winning the China Youth May Fourth Medal in 2022. In December 2021, Zhang encountered a fire in a residential building while on his way to collect some deliveries. After squeezing into the crowd, Zhang found two adults and a crying child standing helplessly on a third-floor balcony, waiting desperately for rescue. At that moment, Zhang called on his military experience to climb up to the second floor. From there, he was able to save the family, bringing each member of the family down one by one.

When onlookers cheered for him, he simply rode off on his motorbike without any word. It was only after the video of his good deed went viral on Douyin that people knew it was Zhang Yu. Many people have since called him a hero. But talking about the event, Zhang simply said, “I’m not a hero. I just did what a kind man would do.”

8 . Chinese fancy knots (中国结), also called Chinese knots, are very important in Chinese culture. They began as a form of traditional art in the Tang and Song Dynasties (朝代) in China, and became popular in the Ming Dynasty. Long ago, they found their way to Japan and other Southeast Asian countries, and were well received there. Now they are regarded as one of the symbols of Chinese culture.

As for the name itself, it is surely meaningful. The Chinese word for “knot”, jie, means “connection”. And the pronunciation of the Chinese word jie is very close to that of ji, “good luck”. As a result, Chinese knots are used as a way to express people’s strong wishes for marvellous things like happiness, love and good luck.

The knots are used widely in everyday life. They come in different sizes. Small ones are connected to jewellery (珠宝), clothes and gifts in order to draw people’s attention, while large ones are used to make a living room or study more beautiful. Whether large or small, they are named after their shapes and usages. For example, Double Coin Knots are called Shuangqian Jie because they are in the shape of two ancient Chinese coins, meaning “good things come in pairs”. Besides, Chinese knots are famous for their bright colors. Different colors have different traditional cultural meanings. Red means good luck and happiness, green means health, and yellow means wealth.

All in all, the famous Chinese fancy knots fully show the Chinese culture. These brightly colored knots with their endless chains (链条) of knots mean that life on earth will continue forever.

9 . With new advances in AI and autonomous driverless cars and trains, it makes sense that this mode of transportation could be expanded to buses, too. Now a full-sized autonomous bus service is up and running in Scotland. The buses began running in May, 2023, and are carrying passengers between Ferrytoll Park and the Edinburgh Park train and tram exchange. This 14-mile route is the first of its kind in the UK.

The autonomous buses are being operated by Stagecoach, the largest coach operator in the UK. While the buses are autonomous, fully self-driving vehicles are not currently permitted in the UK so a driver has to be onboard at all times.

The vehicles are required to have a safety driver to monitor the technology and a bus captain that will help passengers board and purchase tickets. The driver can take control in case of an emergency situation. And the vehicles use sensors to travel on specific routes and can reach the top speed of 50 miles per hour.

It took almost 10 years of research and development to reach this milestone, which is considered the first full-size use of autonomous buses in Europe. Scottish transport minister, Kevin Stewart, said in a press release, “It’s really exciting to see the innovative and ambitious CAVForth project take to the roads after all the hard work of the partner organizations involved in bringing this world first to Scotland.” This project was one of six to receive funding from a joint UK government and industries undertaking to speed up the commercialization of self-driving technology, reported The Guardian. The government hopes the autonomous buses will be faster and more reliable to use than conventional buses since 88% of road accidents are caused by drivers’ errors.

Other countries in Europe are exploring using driverless buses. There have already been short trials in several cities in Italy, Finland and France and there’re plans for driverless electric minibuses to be introduced in Switzerland, Germany and Norway. An autonomous bus may be just around the corner in a city near you.

10 . When micro-plastics end up in farm fields, the pollution can damage plant growth. But two young researchers now report that combining fungi (真菌) with certain farm wastes can partly overcome that problem.

May Shin, 20, and Jiwon Choi, 18, met in a research design class at the Fryeburg Academy, a high school in Maine. May had desired to explore how micro-plastics might affect the ecosystem. Jiwon was crazy about plants and fungi. The young scientists cooperated to test how long-lived plastics might affect farm crops.

Scientists have shown certain fungi can aid root growth and a plant’s nutrient uptake. Those organisms are named arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Certain farm wastes, like straw, can provide nutrients to plants and help stabilize their roots. Such wastes are also known as mushroom substrate (基质) and people often grow mushrooms in them.

May and Jiwon planted over 2,000 scallion (大葱) seeds in pots of soil. Half the seeds got soil polluted with micro-plastics. The rest grew in plastic-free soil. The plants then were further divided into four groups. The young scientists added AMF to the soil in one group. Another group had a top layer of mushroom substrate. A third group got both treatments. The last group got none. For three weeks, the pair tracked how many scallions sprouted (发芽) in each group and measured the plants’ height once each week.

About twice as many scallions sprouted in clean soil compared to that containing plastic bits. But among plants surviving in the polluted soil, a combination of AMF and mushroom substrate helped them out. Those getting both treatments grew 5.4 centimeters per week. That was faster than either of the treatments alone or those getting none.

Jiwon and May then looked at the plant roots with a microscope. Where AMF had been added, it grew into those roots. That increased the scallion roots’ surface area, May said, which should promote their uptake of nutrients. So “I see this project as coming up with a sustainable solution for plant growth in polluted soils,” said May.