1 . Artificial cloud technology could soon be used in the fight against environmental damage. Researchers in Australia have used machines to spray salt water into the air, and noted that the reflective qualities of these artificial clouds helped protect the Great Barrier Reef from sun bleaching (漂白).

The so-called cloud brightening project works by thickening existing clouds and reducing sunlight exposure to protect the reef. No artificial chemicals make it into the clouds in the sky. When water droplets steam, they leave only small salt crystals that float up into the atmosphere. This provides a larger surface area for water vapor to be liquids around them, forming thicker clouds.

The past two years have seen uncommon forest fires and droughts triggered by the climate change emergency, meaning that widespread use of this technique may become more commonplace if carbon emissions are not checked.

Drones, unmanned flying vehicles, have also entered the cloud controlling picture, used in the United Arab Emirates, a country desperately in need of more rainfall, to deliver electrical shocks to clouds in order to facilitate rainfall. Zapping (击打) clouds to produce a positive or negative charge within clouds can cause water droplets to form together. The greater the charge, the larger the droplets, which is vital for ensuring that as much rain as possible reaches the surface before steam gives off all the hard-won moisture (水分).

Even if one waves aside climate change, global waterfall shortages are still an increasing concern, given the planet’s booming population. More people means more mouths to feed, and the demand for water in agriculture for animals and crops further increases urgency for cloud controlling technology. An increase in rain also leads to positive economic growth in many countries, as large harvests stabilize financial systems and living standards in all climates.

Increasingly, scientists are looking to our skies in providing solutions to protect our environment. Cloud controlling technologies have promise. However, for this field of science to become practical economically, more research needs to be done in making this process a practicable option in protecting our environment.

5 . Cimabue, the greatest painter of a Middle Ages in Italy, was surprised one day after his lunch break to discover that a fly had seated itself under the nose of a character that he had been working on. He swatted (重拍) at the fly, but it did not move. He reached out to touch the insect, only to find it was only wet paint. Turning around, he saw that his apprentice (学徒), Giotto, was laughing. Giotto had painted the fly when Cimabue was away, and it looked so real that Cimabue had been completely fooled.

Giotto di Bondone was born into a poor family in a village. Legend has it that one day, when Cimabue was wandering around the countryside, he spotted a young shepherd boy drawing pictures of his sheep, which were so vivid that Cimabue immediately asked him to come to Florence and learn how to paint. That was how Giotto’s story began in Florence, where the young student flourished under Cimabue s instruction and soon surpassed his master in skill.

At that time, people in paintings didn’t look real, and the symbolism of art was difficult for viewers to connect with it. Innovation (创新) was not stressed, so art had remained the same for hundreds of years.

However, Giotto thought art should be something more connected with people in a more realistic way. His masterpieces included the forty major frescoes (壁画) for the Arena Chapel. Adopting many techniques that were uncommon then, he painted people the way he saw them, instead of the overly tall and boxy people that other artists painted. He created three-dimensional space by using perspective, something that had not been done since Roman times.

In addition to painting, Giotto wrote poetry and drew architectural plans. When Giotto was in his sixties, he painted the Ognissanti Madomma, another famous work of art. He continued working until the age of seventy. The ideas Giotto brought to painting throughout his life revolutionized the art world and made him one of the greatest painters ever.

6 . We’ ve tested hundreds of mom- approved products that happen to make perfect Mother’ s Day gifts. Here are our recommendations.

Babbel

If your mom has always wanted to learn a new language, give her the gift of gab with Babbel.

Each online course will be personalized by her interests and molded into bite- -sized lessons so she can easily learn at her own pace. It’s a great budget-friendly option for diving into a new language. We tested it and found it to be a fun and effective language learning tool.

Thermo Works Thermapen Mk4

When it comes to the best digital meat thermometers, it doesn’t get better than Thermo-Works. We highly recommend the Thermapen ONE, which was the fastest and most accurate thermometer we tested and would have been our top pick if it wasn’t so expensive. But it’s waterproof, precise and fast-acting.

A Bouqs Subscription

Fresh flowers at Mom’ s doorstep will always be appreciated, especially on Mother’ s Day. This year, instead of just one bouquet, gift her a subscription to Bouqs. You can change the frequency of the delivery along with the type of blooms she receives- roses one month, sunflowers the next. She may adorably text you a picture of her bouquet every month it arrives and remind you to maintain the subscription. Go ahead and switch it up to keep Mom on her toes.

A Personalized Collage(拼贴画)

There are few gifts better than personalized ones, especially when it comes to the mom who pretty much already has everything. With services like Minted, you can upload your own photos for a collage and watch your beautiful creation come to life. Customize the frame and color theme to best match mom’s style and watch her fall in love with her new heartfelt gift.

8 . We Are Cyborgs

RoboCop, the Bionic Woman, Darth Vader—what do these characters have in common? They are all cyborgs—humans who are made more powerful by advanced technology. You might think that cyborgs exist only in fiction, or are a possibility only in the distant future. But cyborg technology already exists.

The word “cyborg” was first used in 1960 and defined as an organism(有机体) “to which external parts have been added for the purpose of adapting to new environments”. According to this definition, an astronaut in a spacesuit is an example of cyborg, as the spacesuit helps the astronaut adapt to a new environment—space. More recently, the word has evolved(进化)to refer to human beings who have mechanical body parts that make them more than human.

Although super-humans like RoboCop are not yet a reality, advances in real-life cyborg technology allow some people to compensate(弥补)for abilities they have lost, and give other people new and unusual abilities. An example is filmmaker Rob Spence and his bionic eye. Spence injured one of his eyes in an accident. A camera was implanted(移植)in his prosthetic eye. The eye is not connected to his brain or optic nerve(视神经), but it can record what he sees. Spence has used his camera eye to record interviews for a documentary about people with bionic body parts.

Some types of cyborg technology replace a lost ability by connecting directly to a person’s nerves. Michael Chorost completely and suddenly lost his ability to hear in July of 2001. Two months later, doctors placed a cochlear(耳蜗)implant, a kind of computer, inside his skull. This type of implant connects to auditory nerves and allows a deaf person to hear again. Around the world, over 300,000 people have now been fitted with cochlear implants.

These examples of cyborg technology have enabled people to enhance or change their abilities and improve their lives. But does everyone want to use cyborg technology? It might be too late to decide. Cyborg scientist Amber Case argues that most of us are already cyborgs. Anyone who uses a computer or a smartphone, Case claims, is a cyborg. Consider the data that you have in your smartphone. It keeps information for you so you don’t have to remember it: notes, phone numbers, email addresses, messages. It also allows you to communicate with friends and family via telephone, text messages, email, and social networks.

The potential benefits of cyborg technology are evident, but can this new technology be harmful, too? Could we become too dependent on cyborg technology—and become less than human? These still remain questions.

9 . Lewis B. Smedes once said, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” For years Tom Anderson’s life was withered up (枯萎) by the memory of his ________in an adventure that ________ the death of one of his classmates. He and his wife________ after six years of marriage. Then the news about Tom changed. His wife Betty came back; he ________a fine position.

One day he told me what had changed his life, “I used to think nothing could ________what I had done. The thought of my ________would stop me in the middle of a smile. It put a ________between my wife and me. Then I had an ________visit from the person I dreaded (恐惧) most to see—the mother of the college classmate who died. ‘Unless you forgive, you cannot love.’ She said, ‘And without love, life has no ________.’ She paused, and then said________. ‘You are the one person who hasn’t forgiven Tom Anderson.’ I found there in her eyes ________ to be the person I might have been if her boy had lived. For the first time in my life I felt ________ to love and be loved.”

Forgiveness is truly the________grace (慈悲), through which we gain the freedom to learn from experience. But forgiving our shortcomings doesn’t mean ________ that they exist. On the contrary, it means facing them ________.