1 . Art museums are full of centuries-old paintings with details of plants that today give us clues about evolution and breeding.

Exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, The Harvesters created in 1565 shows farmers cutting wheat nearly as tall as they are. “Nowadays, if you walk through a wheat field, you basically see that w heat is about knee height. The short wheat is essentially a consequence of breeding from the second half of the 20th century,” said biologist Ive De Smet.

According to De Smet, wheat is just one example of how historical artworks can allow us to track the transformation of crops over time. He has teamed up with art historian David Vergau wen to seek similar kinds of artworks around the world.

As friends since childhood, their interest in plants in artworks began with a visit to a museum in Russia, where they noticed an old-looking watermelon in an early-7th-century painting. A watermelon is usually believed to be red on the inside. However, that one appeared to be pale and white. De Smet assured the painter had done a poor job. But Verguawen had a different idea. “This is one of the best painters ever in that era. So, if he painted it like that, that’s the way it must have looked like.”

Other paintings revealed that there were both red and white watermelons grown in the 17th century. The chemical compound that makes watermelons red is lycopene (番茄红素). “There must have been some sort of mutation (突变) preventing the accumulation of that color. Now, with all the genetic knowledge that we have of various plant species, we can look in more de tail at how something comes about.”

De Smet and Verguawen hope to create an online research database of historical plant artworks. They call for contributions of art enthusiasts around the world via the social media. But they caution, the source paintings need to be realistic. “If you’re going to use, for example, Picasso’s paintings to try and understand what a pear looked like in the early 20th century, you might be misled.” Instead, such an attempt could be fruitless.

Covering vast distance and     1     astonishing variety of landscapes, the Silk Road was a network of ancient trade routes,     2     (extend) from East Asia to the Mediterranean. A key section of the extensive Silk Road network is the Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor,     3     stretches over a distance of around 5,000 kilometres and covers a total of 8,700 kilometres of trade routes.

The Silk Road began to develop in the 2nd century BCE. Zhang Qian, an ambassador assigned by the emperor,     4     (journey) from Chang’an to Central Asia. Several routes     5     (seek) by Zhang Qian to build bridges between the major powers of the time with the routes network reaching as far as the Roman Empire. The network expanded     6     (gradual) and remained in use until the 16th century. The routes were alive with strings of camels carrying     7     (load) of goods. In addition to trade exchange, the network served     8    a bridge for cultural exchange.

These amazingly long routes connected Eastern and Western civilizations, which achieved a     9     (share) development. The addition of the Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor to the UNESCO World Heritage List is a milestone in     10     (recognize) of the Silk Road as a crucial part of humanity’s common heritage.

5 . A lot of manufactured glass today made from sand and sodium carbonate (碳酸钠) can be reused or melted down and recycled into new items, but it doesn’t break down in the environment and will sit in landfills for thousands of years. A team of Chinese scientists aimed to deal with this environmental concern by developing an eco-conscious alternative.

In a study published recently in the journal Science Advances, a team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Process Engineering describe how they engineered biodegradable glass made from amino acids (氨基酸). That glass would have a smaller impact on the environment and can break down in a few weeks or in several months.

In a test, glass beads (珠) made out of amino acids were placed under the skin of mice, and the breakdown of the beads and the skin healing process were observed for 30 days. A diagram from the study shows how the mice’s bodies broke down the beads. In that month, the glass implant degraded beneath the skin, the wound site healed, and fur grew back. “Throughout the experimental period, no mice exhibited any pain-related behavior that may have been caused by the glass implantation, and none of them experienced obvious weight loss,” the researchers wrote in their paper.

Although amino acids do degrade over time in the environment, this biodegradable glass is not as durable as traditional glass, because amino acids can break down quickly in heat. In order to overcome this hurdle, the researchers chemically modified the amino acids using the heating-cooling procedure applied in glass manufacturing. This is when materials for the glass are heated to become soft and then rapidly cooled so as to make the glass tougher.

“It’s important to point out that this biodegradable glass is currently in the lab stage, and far from large-scale commercialization,” emphasized Yan Xuehai, a professor involved in the study, in a press release.

6 . Lonely Planet’s Top Places to Go in 2024

Are you looking for inspiration for your next travel destination? Lonely Planet has published its yearly list of top places to go. Whether you’re looking for adventure, culture, or value, there’s something for every type of traveler. Let’s explore the. top picks for travel destinations in 2024.

Top City: Nairobi

Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, was chosen for its unique music and dance culture, and impressive local restaurants. Nairobi National Park, just a short drive out of the city’s central business district, is a must-see, where visitors can see over-400 species wandering the open grass plains while skyscrapers twinkle on the horizon.

Top Country: Mongolia

Mongolia is loved for its wide-open spaces, adventure activities, and unique food. The Mongolian government has announced 2023 through. 2025: as: the “Years to Visit Mongolia“, easing entry conditions for international travelers and improving public facilities, including a new $ 650 million airport.

Top Sustainable Travel Destination: Spain

The publisher also recommended Spain for the country’s efforts to expand renewable energy, to develop off-season travel, and to bring tourism to new destinations, such as the port city of Valencia, easing pressures on hot spots such as Barcelona.   

Top Best-Value Location: The American Midwest

The American Midwest, including the cities of Chicago and Detroit, is also on the list, as it offers a high-quality travel experience at a reasonable cost. Visitors can enjoy excellent services and facilities. such as old warehouses transformed into art studios, new eco-design hotels, and Michelin-starred restaurants, without having to spend too much money.

Top Beach Destination: Donegal

Donegal Ireland’s most northwestern county, has the country’s longest coastline and over 100 beaches, where visitors can enjoy the highest sea cliffs in Europe and miles of beautiful coastal hiking trails.

The well-known novel Little Prince     1    (write) by French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in New York during World War II, and now 30 pages of the manuscript (手稿) are     2     display at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. The manuscript sits alongside hundreds of other items that celebrate the author’s life and work. They include watercolors,     3    (drawing), photographs, poems, newspapers and letters.

Born in the French city of Lyon in 1900, Saint-Exupéry was a writer, pilot and journalist     4     joined the French air force. He finished writing the novel in the United States, which was published in New York in 1943 in both English and French.

    5     simple story, which sells well worldwide, is about a child who     6    (travel) the universe gaining wisdom. Since its publication, it has been translated into nearly 500 languages, making it one of the most translated works in the world.     7     , Saint-Exupéry did not live to see that reach. He went     8    (miss) while flying a mission in 1944 and was reported dead in 1945.

Saint-Exupéry wrote and drew on     9    (extreme) thin paper, which made the task of transporting the pages of the manuscript even more challenging.     10    (ensure) safe transportation, the pages were carefully framed(镶框) by the Morgan Library and Museum in New York.

Work Out and Keep Healthy

9 . With 11 foreign languages under her belt, 68-year-old villager-turned tour guide Xu Xiuzhen has become a celebrity in the town of Yangshuo.

Xu was born in a poor family at the base of Moon Hill. In the late 1970s, Yangshuo became one of the country’s first tourist destinations to welcome foreign visitors after China’s reform and opening up in 1978. “I began to see more foreign faces near Mt. Moon, and locals who spoke some English sold more bottled water than me,” said Xu. “No English, no money.” With the influx of foreign guests in Yangshuo, a large number of villagers sought opportunities to learn English given the booming tourism market. Xu eagerly joined the craze. At that time, she made a living on farming and occasionally sold bottled water to tourists near Mt. Moon.

Over the past 16 years, Xu never stops learning and has taught herself 11 foreign languages, including English, Spanish, Japanese and Korean. But the polyglot farmer’s success has been hard-won. She started learning simple English phrases 16 years ago. “I used Pinyin to memorize the pronunciation of English words, but my strong southern accent made it quite difficult to understand,” said Xu. So, “I turned to foreign visitors for help, and I always appreciate their feedback because they have helped me correct my word choices and pronunciation.”

Not content to simply serve as a tour guide, she now owns a popular restaurant and operates a reputable hotel. Huang Yongzhong, director of Yangshuo’s tourism bureau, said Xu’s success has encouraged many farmers to follow suit. He added that the government supports local tour guides by providing frequent training on the laws and regulations of the tourism industry. Farmers in Yangshuo are passionate, sincere and hard-working, and this spirit will lead to more success stories like that of her, he said.