3 . It’s mid-afternoon. You’re full from lunch. The day is warm. You’re starting to feel sleepy. Should you give in to the comfort of a nap (打盹)? In point of advantage, it is worth it. Though there is some disagreement as to whether napping benefits everyone, research suggests naps can boost at least some people’s mental process of understanding in the short term.

Several studies find that a well-timed nap can provide a short-term boost in brainpower. For example, scientists reviewed past research that focused on healthy participants with regular sleep cycles. That review, published in 2009 in the Journal of Sleep Research, shows that napping improves factors ranging from reaction time to alertness (警觉) to memory performance.

“A brief nap can also inspire people with creativity,” a 2021 study in Science Advances found. In that research, participants were given math problems that could be solved with an easy short cut that they weren’t told about. Some participants were encouraged to take a brief nap before tackling the problems. The researchers found those who napped-and spent even just 30 seconds in the first, lightest phase of sleep — were 2.7 times more likely to figure out the short cut than those who stayed awake. But entering a deeper sleep phase had a negative effect on this creative insight. In other words, there may be a “sweet spot” of mental relaxation that clears the way for moments of inspiration.

“Timing your naps right can reduce sleep inertia (睡眠惯性),” says Natalie Dautovich, a psychologist at Virginia Commonwealth University. “A 20-minute nap is recharging and 60 to 90 minutes of sleep can be even more restorative. The nap to avoid is the one lasting more than 20 minutes and less than 60 minutes, which is most likely to lead to sleep inertia.”

“The short-term benefits of naps are well established, but pinning down the relationship between naps and any specific health outcomes, long-term effects of napping, is not always simple. For example, greater daytime sleepiness is symptomatic of many health conditions, and therefore napping may not necessarily be the cause of these conditions but rather a consequence,” says Victoria Garfield, a professor of University College London.

4 . As cultural symbols go, the American car is quite young. The Model T Ford was built at the Piquette Plant in Michigan a century ago, with the first rolling off the assembly line (装配线) on September 27, 1908. Only eleven cars were produced the next month. But eventually Henry Ford would build fifteen million of them.

Modern America was born on the road, behind a wheel. The car shaped some of the most lasting aspects of American culture: the roadside diner, the billboard, the motel, even the hamburger. For most of the last century, the car represented what it meant to be American—going forward at high speed to find new worlds. The road novel, the road movie, these are the most typical American ideas, born of abundant petrol, cheap cars and a never-ending interstate highway system, the largest public works project in history.

In 1928 Herbert Hoover imagined an America with “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.” Since then, this society has moved onward, never looking back, as the car transformed America from a farm-based society into an industrial

The cars that drove the American Dream have helped to create a global ecological disaster. In America the demand for oil has grown by 22 percent since 1990.

The problems of excessive (过度的) energy consumption, climate change and population growth have been described in a book by the American writer Thomas L. Friedman. He fears the worst, but hopes for the best.

Friedman points out that the green economy (经济) is a chance to keep American strength. “The ability to design, build and export green technologies for producing clean water, clean air and healthy and abundant food is going to be the currency of power in the new century.”

5 . Marian Bechtel sits at West Palm Beach’s Bar Louie counter by herself, quietly reading her e-book as she waits for her salad. What is she reading? None of your business! Lunch is Bechtel’s “me” time. And like more Americans, she’s not alone.

A new report found 46 percent of meals are eaten alone in America. More than half (53 percent) have breakfast alone and nearly half(46 percent) have lunch by themselves. Only at dinnertime are we eating together anymore, 74 percent, according to statistics from the report.

“I prefer to go out and be out. Alone, but together, you know?” Bechtel said, looking up from her book. Bechtel, who works in downtown West Palm Beach, has lunch with coworkers sometimes, but like many of us, too often works through lunch at her desk. A lunchtime escape allows her to keep a boss from tapping her on the shoulder. She returns to work feeling energized. “Today, I just wanted some time to myself,” she said.

Just two seats over, Andrew Mazoleny, a local videographer, is finishing his lunch at the bar. He likes that he can sit and check his phone in peace or chat up the barkeeper with whom he’s on a first-name basis if he wants to have a little interaction (交流). “I reflect on how my day’s gone and think about the rest of the week,” he said. “It’s a chance for self-reflection. You return to work recharged and with a plan.”

That freedom to choose is one reason more people like to eat alone. There was a time when people may have felt awkward about asking for a table for one, but those days are over. Now, we have our smartphones to keep us company at the table. “It doesn’t feel as alone as it may have before all the advances in technology,” said Laurie Demeritt, whose company provided the statistics for the report.

6 . Money with no strings attached. It’s not something you see every day. But at Union Station in Los Angeles last month, a board went up with dollar bills attached to it with pins and a sign that read, “Give What You Can, Take What You Need.”

People quickly caught on. And while many took dollars, many others pinned their own cash to the board. “People of all ages, races, and socio-economic (社会经济的) backgrounds gave and took,” said Tyler Bridges of The Toolbox, which created the project. “We even had a bride in her wedding dress come up to the board and take a few dollars.” Most of the bills on the board were singles, but a few people left fives, tens and even twenties. The video clip (片段) shows one man who had found a $ 20 bill pinning it to the board.

“What I can say for the folks that gave the most, is that they were full of smiles,” Bridges said. “There’s a certain feeling that giving can do for you and that was apparent in those that gave the most.” Most people who took dollars took only a few, but Bridges said a very small number took as much as they could.

While the clip might look like part of a new ad campaign, Bridges said the only goal was to show generosity and sympathy. He added that he hopes people in other cities might try similar projects and post their own videos on the Internet.

“After all, everyone has bad days and good days,” he said. “Some days you need a helping hand and some days you can be the one giving the helping hand.”

7 . New research links outdoor air pollution — even at levels considered safe — to an increased risk of diabetes (糖尿病) globally, according to a study from the VA St. Louis Health Care System. The findings raise the possibility that reducing pollution may lead to a drop in diabetes cases in heavily polluted countries such as India and less polluted ones such as the United States.

Diabetes is one of the fastest growing diseases, affecting more than 500 million people worldwide. The main drivers of diabetes include eating an unhealthy diet, having a sedentary lifestyle and obesity, but the new research indicates the extent to which outdoor air pollution plays a role.

“Our research shows a significant link between air pollution and diabetes globally,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, the study’s senior author and an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington. “We found an increased risk, even at low levels of air pollution currently considered safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). This is important because many industry lobbying (游说) groups argue that current levels are too stringent and should be relaxed. Evidence shows that current levels are still not sufficiently safe and need to be tightened.”

While growing evidence has suggested a link between air pollution and diabetes, researchers have not attempted to quantify that burden until now. “Over the past two decades, there have been bits of research about diabetes and pollution,” said Al-Aly. “We wanted to thread together the pieces for a broader, more solid understanding.”

The researchers also found that the overall risk of pollution-related diabetes tilted (倾斜) more toward lower-income countries such as India that lack the resources for environmental mitigation systems and clean-air policies. For instance, poverty-stricken countries facing a higher diabetes-pollution risk include Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea and Guyana, while richer countries such as France, Finland and Iceland experience a lower risk. The US experiences a medium risk of pollution-related diabetes.

8 . Not all fat is created equal. The fat most people picture is known as white fat, since it looks white or white-yellow when you see it under the skin. But you’re also born with brown fat, which, unsurprisingly, looks brown.

Brown fat — found in the neck and shoulders of newborns — is metabolically (新陈代谢地) efficient, in that it burns lots of calories, which serves the purpose of keeping you warm (important for newborns). We lose most of our brown fat as we age. By age six, we have less than five percent of the brown fat we were born with; the fat we gain over time is almost all white fat. One of the major causes of shortened lifetime and illnesses like type 2 diabetes and many cancers is the increasing level of white fat. So scientists have long tried to find ways to activate that fat or turn white fat into brown fat.

However, one roadblock to using brown fat is that all the good stuff that brown fat does has to be programmed into the previously white fat, but that has proved doable. A group in Delaware has activated brown fat in a few women with an already approved medication. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) have put white fat in test tubes and turned it into brown fat. They then injected the brown fat into fat sheep. As hoped, the sheep with more brown fat got thin and lost their metabolic syndrome and diabetes.

The timetable for this game-changing ability to turn white fat to brown fat is predicted to be less than five years away after human studies start. If scientists find a way to replace white fat with brown fat, it will likely mitigate risks of diseases like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and brain disorder greatly and provide increased energy levels. That is, you become operationally younger. Bring it on!

9 . Have you ever put off a project until the last minute even though you knew it would only take a few hours to complete? Studies suggest that when given a task, we think of how much time is available to complete the task instead of how much time we actually need. This mindset, or Parkinson’s Law as psychologists put it, results in wasted time and inefficient workflows.

One reason why this phenomenon happens lies in how people tend to approach tasks. By focusing on how much time we have to do something, we assume that the task will require that much time. Parkinson’s Law isn’t a magic formula (公式) or a fixed rule. But it is an observation you can use to help you become more productive. Let’s look at a few ways you can apply Parkinson’s Law to your life, get your to-do list checked off quicker, and spend less of the workday filling in time just to look busy.

As you get started, make a list of your tasks, and determine the amount of time it takes to complete them. If you can give yourself half that time to complete each task, you can avoid falling into the procrastination (拖延) trap.

Get better at judging time. Some tasks may be accurate to begin with, and some may be inflated if you are not used to using Parkinson’s Law. A timer is going to be very useful when you start doing this.

Avoid setting arbitrary deadlines and instead think about how long a task will realistically take to complete. While this might not be clear, consider past experiences as a guide.

While Parkinson’s Law is a phenomenon that can lead to wasted time and incompetence, it doesn’t have to be a problem if you’re aware of it. Using some of the strategies above, you can avoid falling victim to Parkinson’s Law and make the most of your time.