2 . Imagine a world where you move around in front of a personal computer in your own sound space. You listen to your favorite songs, play loud computer games or watch a movie—all without other people hearing the sound. That is the possibility presented by “sound beaming,” a new technology from Noveto Systems, an Israeli company.

On Friday, the company presented a desktop device that sends sound directly to a listener without the need for headphones or a special receiver. Noveto Systems gave The Associated Press (AP) a chance to test its Sound Beamer 1.0 before its debut. The AP’s Louise Dixon writes that listening to the device is like something from a science fiction movie. The sound seems so close it feels like it is inside your ears while also in front, above and behind them.

Noveto expects the device will have many uses. Office workers could listen to music or conference calls without others hearing. People could play a game, a movie or music without waking up others in the same room. Because the device does not use headphones, it is possible to hear other sounds in the room clearly.

The device uses a 3-D technology that finds and follows the ear position of the listener. It sends ultrasonic waves to create sound pockets by the user’s ears. Sound can be heard in stereo or 3-D. The 3-D method creates sound on all sides of the listener The demo version of the device included nature videos of birds on a lake, bees flying and a quiet waterway. By changing a setting, the sound can follow a listener around when they move their head. It also is possible to move out sound beam’s path and hear nothing at all.

While the idea of sound beaming is not new, Noveto was the first to launch the technology. Its chief executive officer Christophe Ramstein said a smaller version of the device will be ready for release to consumers next year.

5 . Honeybees can’t swim, and when their wings are wet, they can’t fly, either. But Chris Roh and other researchers at the California Institute of Technology found that when bees drop into bodies of water, they can use their wings to produce little waves and slide toward land-like surfers who create and then ride their own waves.

As with many scientific advances-Isaac Newton’s apple or Benjamin Franklin’s lightning bolt-Dr. Roh’s experiment began with a walk. Passing Caltech’s Millikan Pond in 2016, he observed a bee on the water’s surface producing waves. He wondered how an insect known for flight could push itself through water.

Dr. Roh and his co-worker, Morteza Gharib, used butterfly nets to collect local Pasadena honeybees and observed their surf-like movements. The researchers used a wire to restrict each bee’s bodily movement, allowing close examination of their wings. They found that the bee bends its wings at a 30-degree angle, pulling up water and producing a forward force. Bees get trapped on the surface because water is roughly three times heavier than air. But that weight helps to push the bee forward when its wings move quickly up and down. It’s a tough exercise for the bees, which the researchers guess could handle about 10 minutes of the activity.

The researchers said the surf-like movement hasn’t been documented in other insects and most semiaquatic insects use their legs for propulsion, which is known as water-walking. It may have evolved in bees, they-predicted.

Dr. Roh and Dr. Gharib have imagined many practical applications for bees’ surfing. One plan is to use their observations to design robots able to travel across sky and sea. “This could be useful for search and rescues, or for getting samples of the surface of the ocean, if you can’t send a boat or helicopter,” Dr. Gharib said.

6 . It was the first time I watched him carefully. Before this, Jack had just been the friendly young man assigned by the hotel to help me on trips into the wildlife park nearby. But then he caught my attention by asking me to shut up.

"It's just a garden spider, don't scream(尖叫)！ " he said, looking at the small thing with more love than I could find in others. I had indeed screamed, but a spider was on my clothes, and we were in the jeep in the middle of the wildlife park.

I wanted him to pick the thing up and throw it out of the jeep right at that moment. However, he did something quite else. He gently let the spider onto his own knee and drove on, as if nothing had happened. I sat there staring at the spider for any sudden movement --- if a tiger had walked by then, I would not have even looked at it.

I was frightened that the man was completely OK with a spider on his knee. About 15 minutes later, he pushed his knee forward to the dashboard (仪表盘)and the spider immediately climbed off his knee and onto the jeep. "The poor thing had been trying to get off me, " he said. " I only sensed that it was trying to reach the dashboard, so I helped him.

I wondered then about this man, who thought about the spider with such kindness. . Where and when did I lose my love towards the unfamiliar? Now, when faced with a row of ants in my way, my first thought is no longer to attack them. I just skip over them and we both carry on. The ants were already wise, but thanks to Jack, I learned to live with the not so beautiful bits of nature.

7 . A reader wrote in to say that she was feeling lonely at recess because her best friend wasn't around. Here's our advice to her — and to all kids who feel lonely sometimes.

It's hard when a best friend isn't around — maybe because she moved to a different school or a different class, or maybe she's just homesick for the day. You may feel lonely at recess or lunchtime. You want to have new friends, but how do you make them? Maybe it seems like everybody else already has their friends. But there's always room for more friends.

Start by looking around your classroom — think about which kids you'd like to play with at recess. Look for chances to say hi to them, smile, and be friendly. Invite someone to play with you or say “Do you want to sit here？” in the lunchroom. When you're at recess, walk over to kids you want to play with, act friendly, and say “Hi, can I play, too?” or just join in.

If you have trouble doing this or if you're feeling shy，ask your teacher to help you make new friends. Teachers are usually pretty good at matching up friends. The best way to make friends is to be a friend. Be kind, be friendly, share, say positive things, offer to help — and pretty soon, you'll have one, or two, or even more new friends.

8 . Jack was born without eyes. He was very lucky as he grew up having other kittens(young cats) to socialize with, and was used to people from the moment he was born. However, when it came time to find the kittens homes, no one knew where Jack would end up.

That's when I got an email from my friend. All she asked was “Do you still want one of the kittens? There's one here with no eyes and no one would like to take him.” Without thinking, I told her that I did want the kitten.

When we first brought him home, Jack stayed mostly in my room. After about a day he had no issues running around and climbing on everything. At times he gets lost in the house, he'll stop. But we just call him and talk to him and it isn't long before he finds his way back to us.

A few weeks after getting Jack, we got a new farm cat named Bear. Jack and Bear have   become best friends. It doesn't matter that he can't see. He always knows when Bear is around. He'll run across the yard straight to Bear and wrap his front legs around his neck in a big hug. They run after each other around and wrestle. They'll lie down in the grass together when tired.

Jack is truly an inspiration. I've owned lots of kittens in my life, but Jack is the happiest and most playful. He doesn't feel sorry for himself. He doesn't need pity. I think Jean, owner of Gumbo, another eyeless cat, said it best when she told me that cats don't have disabilities, they have adaptability.

9 . Baby giraffes inherit(经遗传获得) aspects of their mothers’ patterning—which could give them a survival advantage if good camouflage(保护色) runs in the family. Just like humans have unique sets of fingerprints, every giraffe has a unique set of spots.

Derek Lee is a wildlife biologist and population ecologist at Penn State, and with the Wild Nature Institute, a research consulting group.He and his colleagues have been tracking giraffes for seven years, throughout 1,500 square miles in Tanzania.

Now, they’ve used image analysis software to study the spots of mothers and their babies.And they found that baby giraffes inherit at least some particular elements of their patterning from their mothers, like how circular the spots are. They also found that baby giraffes with larger spots have better chance to survive their first months, because the spots are more like the dappled(斑驳的) sunlight in the bushes where baby giraffes like to hide from hungry lions and hyenas (wild animals like dogs).

The results—and a lot of giraffe patterns—are recorded and explained in the journal PeerJ.[Lee et al., Seeing spots：quantifying mother­offspring similarity and assessing fitness consequences of coat pattern traits in a wild population of giraffes(Giraffa camelopardalis)]

It’s perhaps not surprising that a physical characteristic that protects an individual from being eaten passes the test of Darwinian natural selection—and get passed along to later generations.“The fact that these things are inheritable and they do affect survival of baby animals makes us feel like evolution is embodied exactly by these spot features.” So if a mom’s camouflage is good, her babies, too, might have the spots that keep them safer.

10 . After eight puppies (幼犬) were abandoned on the side of the road in Texas，an animal shelter came to the rescue and brought them all the way from Brownwood，Texas to Wintersville，Ohio. Their journey was，by no means，a simple one.

The puppies were first found fighting for their lives in a muddy channel. They were extremely weak and dehydrated (脱水) after being forced to protect themselves in the burning Texas sun. Once the puppies were discovered，their journey was far from over. They were immediately brought to what is known as a “high kill” shelter，and after only a few hours，were scheduled for euthanasia. Things weren’t looking good for the pups. Luckily，they were rescued once more.

“There’s a group that specifically goes around to these high kill shelters and rescues the animals that are scheduled for euthanasia，” said Brandi Damewood，the JCHS Community Outreach Manager. “These guys were rescued by the Corrine T.   Smith Animal Center. ”

The puppies would eventually end up under the care of the Jefferson County Humane Society. This is because no­kill shelters and rescue organizations often work together to aid in urgent cases. An incredible network of shelters helping other shelters enables these miracle workers to save so many pets in danger of being put down prematurely.

“We have had a lot of other rescue groups come in and they help us get some of our animals adopted out like when we’ re too full or things of that nature，so we kind of help each other out，and so this was a favor to help this particular shelter，”said Damewood.

The JCHS has appropriately titled the puppies’ journey “the freedom ride”.   The 20­leg trip required 16 different volunteers to drive a total of 1,300 miles. But it was all worth it to save these adorable pups!

“We have a board member，Michelle Zdybicki，who is very active and involved in these transport groups，” said Damewood. “They would meet at specified stops，and then the puppies would be transferred to the next driver for the next leg of the journey. ”

Since arriving in Ohio，the puppies have been vaccinated and are hoping to find forever homes in the near future.