1 . You might have heard about how honey bees are doing poorly these days. It’s different, though, from the situation many of the world’s vulnerable (脆弱的) animals find themselves in. We want them to live their lives and grow stronger, but are we willing to change our lifestyles to make it happen? The decrease in honey bees is a bit different, because if honey bees can’t live well, neither can people and, eventually people won’t eat as a result.

As happened in 2017, U.S. beekeepers lost 40 percent of their bees because of a disease. It’s really about the earnings of beekeepers and the reduced amount of bees. But it doesn’t stop there. Honey bees go around doing pollination (授粉). And do you know what need to be pollinated? That’s our crops. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates bees pollinate about $15 billion worth of apples and peaches each year in the United States alone.

So, we 21st-century humans not only take notice, but also start trying to fix the problem. It’s infeasible that we give every bee the treatment. We can’t imagine how huge the task is and how hard we carry on it! The most promising immediate solution seems to prevent the disease. That’s where the bee vaccine (疫苗) comes.

Scientists have long thought immunizing (使免疫) bees will be unworkable, but a 2015 study discovered that bees transfer immunity to their babies through protein. Vaccinating a bee won’t help that bee, but if you vaccinate the queen of bees, she can pass her immunity on to her later generations through her eggs.

The new vaccine will treat for American foulbrood (AFB), a serious disease that quickly destroys bees. It’s in the testing phases and most likely headed for bee boxes near you. And don’t worry, it doesn’t require a tiny doctor’s chair and needle to deliver the vaccine—the queen bee can drink the medicine in a little sugar water and pass it along to her later generations.

2 . Experts are warning about the risks of extremely picky(挑剔的)eating after a teenager living on a diet of chips and crisps developed lasting sight loss. Eye doctors in Bristol cared for the 17-year-old after his sight had gone to the point of blindness. Tests showed he had serious vitamin deficiency(缺乏). Dr. Denize Atan, who treated him at the hospital, said, “His diet was basically a portion of chips from the local fish and chip shop every day. He also used to snack on crisps and sometimes white bread and ham, and not really any fruit and vegetables.”

The teenager saw his doctor at the age of 14 because he had been feeling tired and unwell. At that time he suffered from vitamin B12 deficiency, but he did not stick with the treatment or improve his poor diet. Three years later, he was taken to the Bristol Eye Hospital because of progressive sight loss.

He was not overweight or underweight, but he had lost minerals from his bones, which was really quite shocking for a boy of his age. In terms of his sight loss, he met the standards of being blind. “He had blind spots right in the middle of his sight,” said Dr Denize Atan, “That means he can’t drive and would find it really arduous to read, watch TV or recognize faces.”

Dr Denize Atan said that parents should learn about the harm that can be caused by picky eating, and turn to experts for help. For those who are concerned , she advised, “It’s best not to be anxious about picky eating , and instead calmly introduce one or two new foods with every meal.” She said multivitamin tablets can supplement(补充) a diet, but cannot take the place of eating healthily. “It’s much better to take in vitamins through a varied and balanced diet,” she said, adding that too many certain vitamins , including vitamin A, can be harmful ,“so you don’t want to overdo it.”

3 . Avi Loeb, a scientist, believes that we are not alone in the universe. The belief fits with Loeb’s alien (外星的) spaceship theory that at least one alien spaceship might be flying over the orbit (轨道) of Jupiter, which won the international attention last year.

Astronomers in Hawaii found the first known interstellar (星际的) object in late 2017. It was a bit of light moving so fast past the sun that it could only have come from another star. Almost every astronomer on the planet was trying to figure out how the object, called “Oumuamua” got to our far-away, part of the Milky way galaxy. “One possibility is that ‘Oumuamua’ is debris (碎片) from an advanced technological equipment,” Loeb said. “Technology comes from another solar system just showed up at our door.”

“‘Oumuamua’ is not an alien spaceship,” Paul Sutter, another scientist wrote. He suggested Loeb was seeking publicity. Most scientists think “Oumuamua” is some sort of rock. They think it could be an icy wandering comet.

Loeb says that “Oumuamua’s” behavior, means it can’t be a block of rock shaped like a long photo. He thinks it's more likely an object that’s very long and thin, perhaps like a long pancake or a ship’s sail. Loeb says that if someone shows him evidence that contradicts his beliefs, he will immediately give in.

Loeb believes himself a truth-teller and risk- taker in an age of very safe, too-quiet scientists. “The worst thing that can happen to me is that I would be relieved of my management duties, and that would give me even more time to focus on science,” Loeb says. He said he wouldn’t mind giving up all the titles he had and returning to the Israeli farming village where he grew up.

4 . Think of Japan in the spring and the image that comes to mind is likely the country’s famous cherry blossoms, also known as “Sakura” — white and pink flowers, blooming across cities and mountains.

The flowers, which experience a “peak bloom” that only lasts a few days, have been loved in Japan for more than a thousand years. Crowds celebrate with viewing parties, flocking to the most popular locations to take photos and have picnics underneath the branches.

But this year, cherry blossom season has come and gone in the blink of an eye, in one of the earliest blooms on record. Scientists warn it’s a symptom of the larger climate crisis threatening ecosystems everywhere.

Yasuyuki Aono, a researcher at Osaka Prefecture University, has gathered records from Kyoto back to 812 AD from historical documents and diaries. In the central city of Kyoto, cherry blossoms peaked on March 26, the earliest in more than 1,200 years, Aono said. And in the capital Tokyo, cherry blossoms reached full bloom on March 22, the second-earliest date on record.

The peak bloom dates shift every year, depending on numerous factors including weather and rainfall, but have shown a general trend of moving earlier and earlier. In Kyoto, the peak date stayed around mid-April for centuries, but began moving into early April during the 1800s. The date has only dipped into late March a handful of times in recorded history.

“Sakura blooms are very temperature sensitive,” said Aono. “Flowering and full bloom could be earlier or later depending on the temperature alone,” he said. “The temperature was low in the 1820s, but it has risen by about 3.5 degrees Celsius to this day.”

This year’s seasons in particular influenced the blossom dates, he added. The winter was very cold, but the spring came fast and unusually warm.

6 . My work started in 2003 at my local animal shelter’s Adoption Department. It seems like such a long time ago. In the 13 years that have passed, more than 50,000 animals have passed the doors of the shelter. Most of them, I do not remember. But occasionally there are animals who stand out. Tabby was one such animal.

Tabby was one of the many homeless dogs. What’s more, she was blind and deaf. Tabby’s chances at adoption seemed remote at best. But one day a woman named Loretta came to the shelter. Her son, Gary, who suffered from epilepsy (癫痫) had seen Tabby’s picture on the shelter’s website. They were interested in meeting her! Most boys would want a puppy, a dog who could grow with him and run through grassy fields on summer days. Tabby would never be able to do that. But as they say, "love is blind". After meeting her, they decided to adopt Tabby!

If Tabby’s story had simply ended with her successful adoption, it would still have been something very special indeed but it was what happened after her adoption that some might label as "magical" or perhaps even miraculous. As Gary and Tabby did everything together, they became so "in tune" with one another that Tabby began to telegraph Gary’s seizures (疾病发作) before they occurred, giving his family a warning that one was about to strike. What’s more, Gary seemed to be having fewer and fewer seizures since Tabby’s arrival.

How could it be? There are some things that happen in this world that challenge all logic and understanding. Sometimes, the best that we can do is to accept a miraculous thing, which we didn’t attempt to explain. Because when you try to explain it, you lose the beauty and wonder of it all.

7 . There are many interesting science experiments out there for young kids. You can surprise your friends and teachers with them. All you have to do is to put a little effort into it and you should have no problem coming up with an interesting science experiment. One such experiment is to show your friends and teachers that you can make mothballs (樟脑丸) dance!

If you want to do it, first, be sure that you have got all the necessary science kits for your science experiment.

What you need for this experiment is a glass filled half full with water. Add a little bit of vinegar (醋)   to your glass of water, about 1/3 or 1/4 of a cup (60 ml), and one teaspoon (10 ml) of baking soda, and then carefully stir the mixture. Drop a few mothballs into the glass and have your audience watch. As long as the surfaces of the mothballs become fairly rough, they should begin to bounce up and down in the glass.

You can also do a similar experiment with raisins (葡萄干) and pop, such as Coca Cola. In this experiment, all you have to do is to fill a glass with Coca Cola and drop a few raisins into it. The raisins should begin to bounce up and down in the glass of Coca Cola. You can also replace the raisins with mothballs and you should get the same effect in the Coca Cola. This project works because the irregular surfaces of the mothballs and the raisins hold some CO₂ bubbles (气泡) , causing them to bounce up and down in a dancing motion.

10 . Chinese audiences on average spent more time watching entertainment content online in this uncommon year when the battle against COVID-19 is still being fought.

An average consumer has spent 133.9 minutes each day watching TV dramas, a 10 percent increase compared to last year, according to the report. Interestingly, TV romantic dramas make up 36 percent of all 131 new television series this year, ranking the first.

In the overseas market, Chinese dramas are seeing a rise in popularity, such as hit costume dramas Three Lives Three Worlds, The Pillow Book, and The Romance of Tiger and Rose. The report shows that subscribers (订阅者) of WeTV, the overseas version of Tencent Video in more than 110 countries and regions, have risen 175 percent over last year, with time spent watching these programs up 300 percent year-on-year.

Shows with strong female roles are more popular, like the hit series Nothing but Thirty, I Will Find You a Better Home and A Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower, the report said. It also found that a quality trailer (预告片) played an important role in drawing an audience, as about 90 percent of consumers pick their choices from trailers.

As a result of the six-month shutting down of Chinese cinemas, a number of people have chosen watching films online.

Through Nov. 30, a total of 15 online films have earned more than 10 million yuan, propelling the annual box office income on Tencent Video to nearly 500 million yuan this year. While TV series are almost "dominated" by female audiences, men are favored online movies more. Nearly 70 percent of online film viewers are men, whose favorite themes center on fantasy, comedy and adventure.