2 . Astronauts traveling in space meet forms of radiation(辐射)that are uncommon on Earth. Some of this radiation has been shown to be harmful to human health. It is linked to cancers and heart problems. Yet a new American study suggests the radiation does not shorten astronauts' lives.

Researchers studied nearly 60 years of health records and other data about male astronauts from the United States. They then compared this data with information about a group of men who are in good health, richer than most Americans and receive good health care-professional athletes. The study found that neither group has higher rates of dying at a young age. In fact, both groups generally live longer than other Americans.

Astronauts are usually well-educated, earn more money and are in better physical conditions than the average Americans Some earlier research has linked being an astronaut to a lower risk of early death, the researchers noted. The findings were reported in the medical journal Occupational&Environmental Medicine.

Much of the existing research on mortality rates(死亡率) in astronauts has not yet explored the mental and physical demands of this job. There also has not been a lot of research on whether astronauts show what is known as the "healthy worker effect". This effect leads people with employment of any kind to have fewer medical problems than people who are unable to work, said Robert Reynolds.

Reynolds said, "The challenge has always been to understand if astronauts are as healthy as they would be had they been otherwise comparably employed but had never gone to space at all. To do this, we need to find a group that is comparable on several important factors."

3 . As 17-year-old Norwood drove through St. Petersburg, Florida, last February, the laughter and chatter from the four teenage girls inside her car quickly gave way to sharp cries. A car behind heavily hit them, sending their black car into a tree five meters away. As smoke rose from the other car, a bystander (旁观者) shouted, “It’s about to blow up! Get out!”

Terrified but not hurt, she got out through the window. Along with two of her friends, who’d also managed to free themselves, she ran for her life. But halfway down the street, she realized that her best friend, Simmons, wasn’t with them. Norwood ran back and found Simmons stuck in the back seat. “She wasn’t moving,” Norwood told Inside Edition. She threw open the back door and pulled her friend out, trying to avoid the broken glass.

She dragged Simmons to safety and placed her on the ground. “I put my head against her chest. No sign of life. That’s when I started CPR (心肺复苏术).” Norwood, who longed to have a career in medicine, had passed the national CPR test just the day before.

Looking down at her dying friend, Norwood knew she had only a little time to practice what she’d learned. She started pumping Simmons’s chest and breathing into her friend’s mouth. No response. She tried again and again. Slowly, Simmons began coughing and opening her mouth for air. The CPR worked! Soon, doctors arrived and rushed Simmons to the hospital. And then she heard how her best friend had saved her life. “I wasn’t shocked,” Simmons told CNN. “She will always help any way she can.”

7 . Children’s heavy digital media use is associated with a risk of being overweight later in adolescence. A recent study shows that six hours of leisure-time physical activity per week at the age of 11 reduces the risk of being overweight at 14 years of age associated with heavy use of digital media.

Obesity (肥胖) in children and adolescents is one of the most significant health-related challenges globally. A study carried out by the Folkhalsan Research Center investigated whether a link exists between the digital media use of Finnish school-age children and the risk of being overweight later in adolescence. In addition, the study looked into whether children’s physical activity has an effect on this potential link.

The study involved 4,661 children who reported how much time they spent on sedentary (久坐的) digital media use and physical activity outside school hours. The study indicated that heavy use of digital media at 11 years of age was associated with a heightened risk of being overweight at 14 years of age in children who reported taking part in under six hours per week of physical activity in their leisure time. In children who reported being physically active for six or more hours per week, such a link was not observed.

The study also took into account other factors potentially impacting obesity, such as childhood eating habits and the amount of sleep, as well as the amount of digital media use and physical activity in adolescence. In spite of the confounding (混杂的) factors, the protective role of childhood physical activity in the connection between digital media use in childhood and being overweight later in life was successfully confirmed.

“The effect of physical activity on the association between digital media use and being overweight has not been further investigated in follow-up studies so far,” says Postdoctoral Researcher Elina Engberg. “In this study, the amount of physical activity and use of digital media was reported by the children themselves, and the level of their activity was not surveyed, so there is a need for further studies.”

9 . Approaching 96, at an age when most are lonely and in poor health, Olga Murray, full of energy, has been eagerly planning a trip to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, while keeping in contact with hundreds of friends around the world. How can she be in such good shape? Is it her good genes? (Her mother lived to 98.) Her daily salads and three-times-a-week workouts? Or might it have something to do with the retired lawyer’s second career as founder of a nonprofit organization?

Scientists increasingly are finding that the answer—call it living with purpose, finding meaning in life or just engaging with something larger than yourself—can be a particularly healthy pursuit. Living with a sense of purpose can improve the quality of those final years. Murray offers a vivid example of how to create a sense of meaning.

Murray’s story began in 1984, after she had worked 37 years as a lawyer and was starting to think about retirement(退休). At 59, while traveling in Nepal, Murray found herself amazed by the children there. “They were poor beyond anything I had ever experienced,” she recalled in a self-published memoir(自传)years later. “Yet they were the most joyful little kids anywhere on earth.” She wanted to put the rest of her life into helping educate Nepalese children.

Returning to Nepal the next year, she met Allan Aistrope, then a volunteer English teacher at the country’s only orphanage(孤儿院). The two combined forces, beginning with organizing college scholarships for four of the orphans. After another five years, they had launched the Nepal Youth Foundation(NYF), which by then was supporting several hundred scholarship students and raising 60 homeless children. In 1994, the two hired Som Paneru, a former scholarship student, as executive director. Murray has taken several steps to make sure the NYF will survive after the unavoidable loss of her presence. She handed over the presidency to Paneru in 2012. Now, she is busy as usual, leading lots of fundraising campaigns.

10 . At the foot of the Tianmu Mountain in Zhejiang, a homestay (民宿) is attracting travelers from far and wide, which has won architectural medal at the 2021 German iF Design Awards.

The owners of the homestay are a couple in their late 30s who decided to return to their hometown three years ago. Li Xiumei used to be in charge of a division at a company in Hangzhou, and her husband was a sales director. It was an ordinary situation where Li’s husband was on business trips a lot and Li still worked on weekends. City life sometimes is not easy.

In 2018, they quit jobs and went back to Dongtianmu village, which lies in a forest of bamboo. The first time they drove into the village was one late afternoon. The cooking smoke was rising from the foot of the mountain, which gave them a very different feeling from the city.

The homestay was built beside her husband’s old countryside house. The old house is preserved (保留), while a brand-new building was built on its side and the whole site is made up of four courtyards. It has been updated to have a hall, a tea room, a kitchen, a dining room. Japanese cherry trees are planted in the east courtyard. A swimming pool is placed in the west courtyard, with a bar located on one side.

Li and her husband love gardening and music, and their new home gives them enough space to continue their interests and relax in the heart of nature. Li wants to share the quiet country life, so she makes her new home a homestay. In 2019, the homestay became an online hit after guests shared their experiences on social media. “The longer I stay here, the more I feel it was the right choice to come back, and this is more meaningful than making money,” Li says.