1 . What is talent? Are you born with it? Or does it seem to develop over time? Before I start, I’d like to say that one thing everyone agrees on is that the most skilled musicians have worked hard to get there.

While it’s true that a few of us had enough “talent” to avoid extra practice to do just as well as those who did, those who worked hard easily beat us. It is, in fact, very likely that if some of us “talented ones” had actually been practicing and improving our skill, we would have achieved a whole different level.

Another aspect of talent seems to be heart and passion (酷爱). The people I see who are the most talented musicians are crazy about music. They eat, breathe, and live music and they make an extraordinary effort to make it part of their lives. As Remus Badea said, desire for the musician-to-be is significant for them to be successful. This desire is easily found in those considered to be talented. When you want and love something so bad, it drives you and your entire character can be shaped around it. Such determined passion seems to produce incredible skill and talent.

The third aspect (方面) of talent is having talent around you. When surrounded by talented musicians, it only seems natural that you start to catch up to their level Take a look at almost any group of musicians in history. The more talented people in the group the more talented the group is as a whole. A great example of this is the relationship between audio producer and artist. The artist turns up to the studio with their song, and as they work through recording it, the audio producer will often suggest various changes to the song to make it better.

2 . The use of AI (artificial intelligence) is becoming more common in many branches of industry and online shopping. Traditional lines of work, such as goods transport and driving, are developing in a similar direction although mainly out of public view. Scientists at the University of Göttingen have now investigated how efficient (高效的) the use of AI can be in the commercial management of trucks.

“Digital applications—as well as machine leaning, a kind of AI—are increasingly applied to operations and courses in the transport area,” explains Professor Matthias Klumpp from the Faculty of Economics. “The question in the commercial area, however, is whether or not this contributes to achieving goals.”

To answer this question, the researchers compared the work efficiency of truck drivers with their main use of AI applications. Looking at trade delivery by truck, they studied three groups: the first drove completely following human decision-making models; the second used a combination of human and machine; and the third depended completely on fully automated decisions.

The researchers found that an intelligent combination of human work and decision-making abilities with AI applications promises the highest transport and driving efficiency. “On average, the second group achieved the most efficient transport trips, with the fewest interventions (干预) and off-course from the best path.” one researcher said, “Clearly, neither a completely human decision-making structure nor a fully automated driving system can promise to meet current goods transport requirements.” The scientists therefore summarized that despite the progress of AI in the field of transportation by truck, human experience and decision-making abilities will still be necessary in the longer term. However, the challenge is that a wide range of training and qualification (资格) needs will come along by working with Al applications, especially for simple goods transport activities.

4 . Where do you usually put your toothbrush?   Do you keep it in the bathroom? How’s your toothbrush looking these days? Even if you can’t see it with a naked eye, experts say it may be saturated(使饱和)with millions of toilet germs!

Dr. Charles Oerba, a germ expert, is a microbiology professor at the University of Arizona. He says there are approximately 3 million bacteria per square inch in most toilet bowls, and every time you flush it without closing the lid, those millions of bacteria droplets spray into the air as far as twenty feet away and dirty everything in their path. And a common victim is your poor toothbrush, usually, left out on the bathroom sink, right?

So, what do we do? Dr. Gerba says it’s easy. Close the toilet lid before you flush—that’ll greatly cut down the germs, which will otherwise float in the air. And wash your toothbrush every few days in mouthwash or peroxide to get rid of any germs hiding in it. You can even put it through the dishwasher to sanitize(消毒)it. And always store your toothbrush in a closed cabinet.

Here’s one more tip from Dr. Gerba, who says our kitchen sink is probably dirtier than our toilet. “If an alien came from space and studied the bacterial counts, he probably would conclude he should wash his hands in your toilet and go to the bathroom in your sink.” He says that’s because the kitchen sink is a great place where E. coli(大肠杆菌)to live and grow since it’s wet and damp. Bacteria feed on the food that people put down the drain or—that’s left on dishes in the sink. To reset your sink’s bacteria count back to zero, you’d better regularly wash it with hot water and sanitize your sink with special chemicals. In fact, you may want to do it every day or before preparing dinner.

6 . Robots have rolled into retail(零售), from free-moving machines in Giant Foods Stores to autonomous shelf-scanners in Walmart. They free up workers from routine tasks, but that's only the beginning.

The real benefit of retail robots is the opportunity to capture more data about the products on the shelves and customer buying patterns, which can increase efficiency and accuracy in stock management. The key is using retail robots as data-collectors within an internet-of-things (IoT), which creates an intelligent digital ecosystem by combining a complex network of connected devices, objects, and sensors gathering data. With robots in stores, retailers already have the beginnings of IoT solution. For example, Auchan Retail Portugal is launching autonomous shelf-monitoring technology in its supermarkets. As the robots move around the stores, they capture photos of every shelf, which are then put into digital form and turned into analysis about out-of-stock goods.

Such detailed data is incredibly valuable in retail. For traditional retailers, however, merely tracking what consumers purchase does not paint the entire picture. The real competitive advantage for retailers comes in knowing what they couldn't purchase but wanted to. That's where robots come in.

In the not-too-distant future, robots may be able to do more than those. Consider a retail robot scanning grocery store and detecting that supplies of sugar-free peanut butter are decreasing at twice the rate of regular peanut butter. That real-time discovery then activates an automated(自动的) order for more sugar-free peanut butter to be sent to a specific store.

As product cycles speed up, retailers will need to become even faster in identifying micro-trends in consumer behavior to produce, distribute, and supply the goods and services that customers want right now. The key to it may be a robot walking around freely, bringing data from the consumer into the data management system in the cloud.

7 . Chimps use loud calls and gestures to make their feelings known but until now, the exact meaning for individual movements has remained a mystery. Now researchers believe they have translated the key gestures used in the chimp community and identified their intentions for the first time.

From 4,351 gestures, experts were able to identify 66 that are used for 19 specific message meanings, including showing a foot to tell a child they can climb on their back. The researchers were able to narrow down these 66 gestures to 36 that are used intentionally to achieve 15 purposes. The translations were made by Dr Catherine Hobaiter and her colleagues at St Andrews University in Scotland.

Dr Hobaiter used behavior sampling and filmed all recorded cases of gestural communication. Other gestures include stomping their feet to ask another chimp to stop what they are doing, and slapping objects together to ask another to follow them. Of the 19 meanings,17 encouraged interactions to start, or to develop, such as “move closer,” and “change play”. Some of the gestures were found to have more than one meaning. and only 10 of the 66 gestures were used for only a single meaning.

Researchers collected a total of 471 video clips from two social groups of chimps at a shelter near Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. As well as identifying what the gesture means, they also discovered the technique needed to increase the chances of success.

“Human children use gestures to communicate before they produce their first words, and their earliest gestures typically appear around 10 months of age,” explained the researchers. “In great apes, there is good evidence that language-trained individuals are capable of acquiring and understanding signals, but this is far less clear in their natural communication. ”

8 . Nextdoor，an online social network for neighbors，says it has attracted $60 million from early backers of technology giants，Google，Amazon and Facebook.

The new investment，1ed by venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and investment firm Tiger Global Management，values Nextdoor at more than $500 million，said a person familiar with the matter.

Nextdoor members make Facebook-style postings，giving or seeking recommendations for services such as babysitters and yard maintenance or local retailers and restaurants. They also post about community issues such as parking，crime and safety，or items for sale or loan.

The investment sum emphasizes the appeal of businesses that can tap into the growing use of mobile devices，as well as social networking. Perhaps the best current example is Twitter，which is preparing for an initial public offering that values the company at up to about $11 billion.

“We’re all spending more time with our screens，more engaged，but I think data shows we’re less connected，”said John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins，mentioning his own experience of knowing few of his neighbors. Nextdoor，with its ability to introduce neighbors to each other，helps people regain the sense of connection，he said.

Early next year，Nextdoor plans to expand to Canada，followed by Great Britain，Australia，and South Africa，chief executive Nirav Tolia said. While Nextdoor has not yet have made any profit after two years of operations，Tolia said he is not worried.

“If we look at the great companies at this stage，none of them started to monetize this early in their evolution. ”Tolia said. “It’s all about getting the product right. ”Eventually，Nextdoor plans to tap into local advertising，he said.

Nextdoor is currently used in 22，527 neighborhoods across the United States，up from 5，694 a year ago. Including the latest funding round，it has raised just over $100 million.

9 . Understanding the link between a clean environment and human life is not a new concept. In fact, it was noticed as early as ancient Rome. Today we see how green living has infiluenced our everyday lives. There is a growing community of people who embrace a zero waste lifestyle and make changes to the way they live to reduce their carbon footprint.

Living a zero waste lifestyle means doing one’s best to achieve the aim of not sending anything to a landfill. People who adopt this lifestyle ultimately cut down on their waste by reducing what they need and want. They reuse what they own, sending few things to be recycled.

Many people who adopt the zero waste lifestyle claim to be frustrated by the many harmful chemical substances found in beauty and cleaning products. They also find the uses of disposable items and excessive packaging. For example, how many times have we had to peel away layers of plastic wrap and cardboard before finally taking out the item which we had bought? Instead of buying pre-packed food and goods, those who identify with the zero waste philosophy tend to shop in stores that allow them to make purchases and bring their own cloth bags and glass jars to store their purchases.

Many people may have the misconception that it is easier to live a zero waste lifestyle in the West. Nevertheless, Malaysian environmental journalist, Ms. Aurora Tin, has proven that a zero waste lifestyle is possible even in the Asian context. Instead of going to the supermarket to buy pre-packaged foods, Ms. Tin now visits the wet market and brings her own bags for vegetables. She has even stopped using store-bought toothpaste and makes her own toothpaste from coconut oil and baking soda. This lifestyle may be too big a change for the average person, but we could follow her suit to make gradual changes to our own lives.