1 . The London Book Fair

The London Book Fair will take place 18 — 20 June, 2023, Olympia London.

Our Children’s & Young Adult section traditionally welcomes the leading names in the field to exhibit. These companies enjoy noisy passageways full of visitors and benefit from the opportunity to increase brand awareness. However, any children under 16 are not allowed to be at The London Book Fair.

Author HQ, which consists of a theatre and networking area, is one of our most popular features, attracting great interest from the self-publishing community. Meanwhile, our Author of the Day programme helps bring writers face-to-face with bestselling authors who will share their journey to publication during a special series of talks at the fair.

All the new ways to treat content are found in the Tech area at LBF, located in the National Gallery of Olympia. Whether it is an app, game, mobile development or enhanced eBook — or a development not yet launched — the Tech area is its home. To keep the creativity flowing, there is a dedicated Buzz Bar in the heart of the Tech area for those all-important networking meetings.

BA Members attend the fair for FREE and receive a number of key benefits, making the fair a more accessible, cost-effective and highly relevant event for booksellers. Simply click here to find out more about becoming a BA member and take advantage of this offer.

If you have any further difficulties, please contact our Customer Services team who will be happy to help.

2 . Whether we are sitting down or standing up, still or moving, body posture influences our mood. Several studies have shown this link between physical posture and mood. Others have shown a relationship between our mood and our cognitive (认知的) performance, including memory, reasoning, learning, and the speed of reaction and processing of information.

So a logical question arises. Can body posture influence our cognitive performance?

Previously, a New Zealand team (University of Auckland) carried out an experiment on posture when we walk, especially in the street. The team had found a very clear influence of our posture on our mood and confidence. It appears that walking with a hunched back, bowed head and motionless arms have a negative influence on our mental state.

Indeed, the researchers found that the simple act of straightening up, standing up straight, with your head held high, and gazing forward gives us a serious boost of confidence. Not only does our spontaneous posture have a psychological effect, but by correcting it, it is possible to bring about improvement in the long term.

In this other study, this time carried out by an Austrian team (Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen-Nuremberg), researchers observed the same phenomenon, this time in a sitting position. Young adults were invited to participate in tests presented as intended to assess their ability to concentrate. In fact, the researchers had them sit in different postures — from upright to very slumped (消沉) — in order to note their influences on mood and cognition.

A first observation indicates that “sitting upright” is associated with a better overall mood. It is also found to have a positive influence on the speed of processing information and completing tasks, although the test pass rate does not vary significantly with posture.

Finally, and surprisingly enough, blood pressure is a little more favorable in an upright position. To further complete the list of benefits of sitting upright, we will add that it is widely recommended for protecting the back in case of work that requires sitting for a long time.

3 . TAMPA, Fla,—At USF, 21-year-old Alexander Mercier of Odessa, majored in mathematics and microbiology, which leads him to start important research that may make him the school’s first Rhodes Scholar.

“I would say I am stubborn,” explained Mercier, who could hear as early as Saturday if he gets the honor. He says the honor is due to more than just brains. Instead, it was determination that made him an accomplished pianist. He says his biggest natural talent was drawing and he also has a love of art. But it was math that attracted him and he wouldn’t let go. He was studying how math may help control the spread of diseases.

“I would sleep on the couch next to the computer,” he said. “I saw a gap in epidemiological (流行病学的) research in the study of how diseases spread. I didn’t know at the time that it would become one of the most important topics in the world.”

While his work is timely and important, there’s lots of competition. Eleven other finalists from this region of the country are also vying for the honor. They attend schools like MIT, Stanford and the University of Chicago.

Mercier owes it to his school that he can have as good a chance as any of the others and he feels that USF has prepared him well. If he doesn’t win the honor and get to study expense-free at Oxford, he says he’ll have many options. “I will continue to do the work that I enjoy and that I think will benefit people,” he said.

Some are surprised that USF hasn’t had a previous Rhodes Scholar. However, many schools haven’t had one. Only 32 are selected each year from across the nation. USF has only been in existence since 1956. By contrast, the first classes at Oxford were held in 1096.

4 . On Monday morning around 9:30 a. m, 28-year-old Ben Delahunty’s hiking partner put in a call to report that his friend was _______ under a large stone in the area of Lake Viviane in Washington.

He said his friend’s wrist was stuck by the stone and it was also _______ his legs, but they were not able to immediately move the boulder as it was _______ the size of a refrigerator. They initially felt really _______ on the large stone-but all of a sudden it started to _______ and he ended up underneath it.

The rescue proved _______ for officials. They were nearly on a cliff (悬) side and the stone was also being held in place by a tree. The scene presented a unique challenge of getting _______ capable of moving the stone as well as rescuers on the scene _______ .

The State Emergency Management requested a helicopter to help. Additionally, local fire departments were also _______ . The crews immediately found this rescue had more challenges. The officials needed ropes to safely ________ the hiker’s location as there was a risk of falling while ________ the stone.

However, due to challenging ________ conditions, including heavy winds, the first attempt to lift him into the helicopter was ________ . At 4:45 p. m. there was enough of a ________ in the weather to allow them to attempt another operation. ________ , they were successful and transported Mr. Delahunty to the hospital.

5 . A giant sunfish, about nine feet long, was caught on camera by kayakers off the coast of California. Ocean sunfish and southern sunfish are the world’s biggest bony fish, and they are both found in the Pacific Ocean. Adult ocean sunfish may reach more than 4,000 pounds, which is the same weight as an adult male rhinoceros (犀牛).

During a trip off the coast of Laguna Shore on December 2, Rich German and his friend Matthew Wheaton came across the massive sunfish just a few hundred yards from the beach. They then dialed 911. According to German, who talked to the media, this was the biggest sunfish that any of them had ever encountered.

Sunfish are a genuinely global species that can be found all over the world, but they spend their whole lives in the open ocean. Therefore, encounters like these are few and far between.

German captured images and footage of the sunfish. An underwater close-up shot of a sunfish as it wanders past the camera is included in one of the short films. “It was a one-of-a-kind and really interesting event,” German said of the most recent encounter, which he described as “another indication of why we need to conserve the ocean and the incredible creatures that call it home.”

Beyond its particular shape without the caudal fin (尾鳍), the species also surprises us with its impressive size, up to 3.10 meters long, which allows it to have few natural enemies. However, as a great lover of jellyfish (水母), its greed for food often leads it to confuse plastic bags with its favorite dish, making seawater pollution one of its main threats alongside overfishing.

Behind its impressive size, the sunfish is a harmless swimmer who today faces many threats. The sharp decline observed among its populations is due not to other sea animals of which it would be the food but to human activities which participate in destroying its habitat.