2 . Advances in AI and machine learning have sparked interest from governments that would like to use these tools for patrolling (巡查) purposefully before hand to prevent crime. However, early efforts at crime prediction have been controversial, because they do not allow for systematic biases (偏见) in police enforcement and its complex relationship with crime and society.

University of Chicago (UC) data and social scientists have developed a new algorithm (算法) that forecasts crime by learning patterns in time and geographic locations from public data on violent and property crimes. It has demonstrated success at predicting future crimes one week in advance with approximately 90% accuracy.

The new tool was tested and validated using historical data from the City of Chicago around two broad categories of reported events: violent crimes and property crimes.

The new model isolates crime by looking at the time and spatial coordinates (坐标) of separate events and detecting patterns to predict future events. It divides the city into spatial sections roughly 1,000 feet across and predicts crime within these areas instead of relying on traditional neighborhood or political boundaries, which are also subject to bias. The model performed just as well with data from seven other US cities.

Ishanu Chattopadhyay, senior author of the study, is careful to note that the tool’s accuracy does not mean that it should be used to direct law enforcement, with police departments using it to flock to neighborhoods ahead of time to stop crime. Instead, it should be added to a toolbox of urban policies and policing strategies to address crime.

“We created a digital twin of urban environments. If you feed it data from what happened in the past, it will tell you what’s going to happen in future. It’s not magical; there are limitations, but we tested it and it works well,” Chattopadhyay said. “Now you can use this as a model tool to see what happens if crime goes up in one area, or there is increased enforcement in another area. If you apply all these different data, you can see how the system evolves in response.”

3 . In an increasingly globalized business world, companies demand Human Resources (HR) leaders who can overcome cultural barriers to achieve key goals. This year, students in the Master of Human Resources and Industrial Relations (MHRIR) Program will get hands-on experience leading multicultural teams as they work together with peers (同辈) from all corners of the globe.

“Our students get firsthand experience on global teams, which helps them understand the challenges and the opportunities they will face in the business world,” said MHRIR Program Director Stacy Hove.

Elishka Correa joined the program to explore how HR leaders can help businesses grow quickly in the global marketplace. “Companies appreciate diversity — not only in terms of products and markets, but the people they hire — so that they can expand their business and reach customers in different parts of the world,” she said. “When I go into an organization, I’m not only going to work with Indians or Americans, it’s going to be a mix of people. That trend is beginning to grow, so I think it’s very important to appreciate people from different backgrounds.”

As they progress through the program, the students are discovering unexpected challenges as they work on projects in diverse teams. Each contributor brings a different approach to solving problems, communicating, and challenging one another’s opinions.

Devin Roll, a student from North Dakota, appreciating the unique views his classmates share, said, “The benefits of having cross-cultural experiences go far beyond the classroom. Diverse teams and companies outperform their competitors, and HR leaders act as a vital partner in acquiring and maintaining diversity in the workforce.”

Many of the international students in the program said they would return to their home countries after graduation and bring along connections to their classmates, who would build careers (职业) in countries around the world. They hope to stay in touch, and share their expert knowledge.

4 . A gene variant (变体) that causes the “alcohol flush (脸红)” reaction increases the risk of heart disease by causing inflammation of blood vessels (脉管), especially in drinkers. Around 8 percent of the world’s populations has a gene variant called ALDH2*2 that impairs the body’s ability to break down alcohol and causes unpleasant symptoms such as flushing soon after people drink. Now, researchers have shown why this change also raises the risk of heart disease.

“We are trying to understand why ALDH2*2 is associated with a higher risk of coronary arte (冠状动脉) disease at a cellular (细胞的) level,” says Hongchao Guo at Stanford University in California.

The ALDH2*2 gene encodes one version of the enzyme (酵素) alcohol dehydrogenase (脱氢酶), which breaks down the toxic acetaldehydes (乙醛) produced when alcohol is metabolized (代谢), and also mops up other harmful substances known as free radicals.

The gene variant also impairs the growth of new blood vessels. “That means that when there is a heart attack, when there is a need of blood vessel growth, carriers have less ability to generate new blood vessels,” says Guo.

The team found that an existing diabetes (糖尿病) drug called empagliflozin may reduce these harmful effects in people with ALDH2*2 who drink a lot of alcohol. But for Wu, the take-home message is clear. “If you’re missing this enzyme, try not to drink,” he says. “If you drink consistently, you are at much higher risk of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and cancer.”

Given its many negative consequences, there has been debate about why this change spread and became common, today being found in more than a third of people of cast Asian origin.

“My only explanation is that if you are missing this enzyme, you tend to drink less and there’s therefore less chance of you becoming alcoholic,” says Wu.

5 . A tree has roots (根). People have roots too. If you get to the root of a problem, you will solve it. It’s the same thing with words. Dig deeply into a big, unfamiliar word and you will understand where it came from.

As readers, especially those reading in a second language, we need to deal with the text as if we were detectives (侦探) looking for information to unlock (解开……秘密) the unknown. Like any good detective arriving on the crime scene, the first thing to do when meeting a new and difficult word is to judge the situation, to look at everything that is known and see if it helps us to understand what it means.

As you know, prefixes (前缀) and suffixes (后缀) can be added to the beginning or end of words to change the meaning. Know them, and you will have the word building power. But root words are the key (关键). Take time to learn a few of these, put them in your memory, and you will become a master word detective.

Let’s look at one common root word used in English. “Alter” from the Latin(拉丁语的) word means “other”. When you meet this root word, you know that the bigger word has something to do with “other”. Examine the word “alternate”. Can you find the Latin root in it?

• If you and your friend like to eat out, first you pay and the other pays the next time. You are alternating paying.   

• If you go to the movies on alternate Saturdays, you go on one Saturday, but not the other Saturday.

• If you have no alternative, you have no other choice.

Learn as many root words as possible in the language you are studying. Then use your “rooting for words” skills. Like any new skill, practice and hard work are always paid back.

A．	B．
C．	D．

7 . Eight scientists were awarded the 2023 Future Science Prize, also called “China’s Nobel Prize”, the first Chinese non-governmental science award jointly initiated by groups of scientists and entrepreneurs (企业家). Since the establishment in 2016, a total of 35 scientists have been awarded the Future Science Prize so far.

Chai Jijie and Zhou Jianmin received the Future Science Prize in life sciences for the discovery of resistosomes (抗原小体) and explanations of their molecular structures and functions in plant immune responses against pathogens (病原体). Understanding of resistosome functions will lead to better methods for controlling plant disease and therefore have enormous importance for global food security.

Chai said that he felt extremely honored, excited and happy via a video call at the press conference. He emphasized that this recognition was not only for himself but also for the team’s years of hard work. “My cooperation with Professor Zhou has lasted for nearly 20 years. Our partnership has been productive and enjoyable, and I believe our cooperation will carry on,” he said.

During the video call, Zhou remarked that the Future Science Prize is grounded in the national context. It is heartening to see that the prize places greater emphasis on supporting agriculture.

Zhao Zhongxian and Chen Xianhui received the Future Science Prize in physical sciences for their influential breakthroughs in the discovery of high-temperature superconducting materials and systematic advancements in elevating the transition temperature. Notably, both Zhao and Chen conducted systematic studies to show the underlying physical mechanisms of high Tc materials, positioning themselves at the forefront of superconductor research for several years.

He Kaiming, Sun Jian, Ren Shaoqing, Zhang Xiangyu received the Future Science Prize in mathematics and computer science, for their extraordinary contributions to artificial intelligence by introducing deep residual learning (深度残差学习).

The 2023 Future Science Prize Week and the Award Ceremony were held in Hong Kong from October 14 to 17.

10 . Does a happy person live longer? Many studies have convinced us that happiness brings good health, which has resulted in an increasing demand for speakers and products encouraging positive thinking. However, being happy does not promise that one is going to be healthy. There are other factors that influence one’s health and long life such as a person’s genes or even a person’s socio-economic condition.

Some research even suggests that positive thinking can be dangerous. Positive thinking, when taken to the extreme, can cause a person to be separated from reality. For example, a person who thinks that staying happy and positive can help him recover from an illness like cancer but later fails to recover from it, may blame himself for not being happy. In this case, positive thinking may potentially make the victim disregard other factors. Sometimes the pursuit of happiness is even associated with serious mental health problems such as depression.

All types of happiness are not good for us either. For example, pride, a pleasant feeling, can sometimes rob us of the ability to empathize with others or understand another’s viewpoint. This anti-social behavior can cause people around us to turn away from us, and this could, in turn, make us feel lonely and do harm to our mental and even physical health.

Moreover, unpleasant feelings can be beneficial to a person’s well-being. Researchers believe that unpleasant feelings can help us make sense of our challenges and experiences in a way that supports psychological well-being. For example, if I have behaved badly towards my good friend, the feelings of guilt and sadness might motivate me to apologize and ask for forgiveness. The rebuilding of a broken relationship can be a lift to one’s mental well-being.

In trying to experience happiness, we should remember that seeking for happiness as an end in itself can be self-defeating, and does not necessarily lead to better health. After all, one will surely experience setbacks and conflicts in life. Instead, learning to cope with negative emotions with a realistic positive attitude is key to a person’s good health.