5 . People often call music a universal language, but do certain songs really cause the same mental images in our minds? Scientists at Princeton find that while music absolutely can stimulate(激发)similar mental experiences, the results also strongly suggest culture is a major factor.

A total of 622 people took part in the study. All of the volunteers came from one of three locations: two suburban college towns in the US (one in Arkansas and the other in Michigan), or the rural Chinese village of Dimen. It’s worth noting that the main language in Dimen is Dong, a tonal language unrelated to the official language of China. Locals there have little contact with Western media or culture at all. All participants listened to the exact same 32 “musical stimuli”— which were 60-second cuts of instrumental music. Half of these pieces came from Western music while the rest came from Chinese music.

After hearing, researchers asked the groups about the images they saw in their heads while listening. Incredibly, people from Arkansas and Michigan often described very similar stories, even using the exact same words frequently. Dimen listeners, on the other hand, envisioned stories that were similar to each other but quite different from the American listeners. More specifically, one track led t o Americans seeing a cowboy in the hot desert surveying an empty town. Meanwhile, Chinese participants imagined a man in ancient times reflecting on the loss of a loved one.

“There’s something about the results that’s really surprising, especially because people encounter music in 2022 often in a solitary way, over headphones. But it turns out, it’s still a shared experience, almost like a shred dream, although not universally shared, ”says Elizabeth Margulis, the study author.

The results paint a more complex picture of music’s power. Music can generate remarkably similar stories in listeners’ minds, but it depends on a common set of cultural experiences. So while we imagine music can bring people together, the opposite can also be true-it can distinguish between sets of people with a different background or culture.

7 . Daniel Brush, an astonishing worker in gold, jewels and steel died on November 2022, aged 75. Students from a jewellery school once came to Brush’s studio, a loft in mid-Manhattan, awed to be meeting a figure who, to them, was a worker of miracles.

For 45 years in that loft, he had pursued his calling. His wife Olivia was the only company. He produced hundreds of objects of all sorts, most of them exquisite and many astonishingly small. Rather than use electricity, he laboured alone in a forest of antique machines and when tools frustrated him he made his own, displaying them in cupboards as art in themselves.

Above all else, he worked in gold. His obsession took fire when at 13 he saw an Etruscan gold bowl in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The ancient technique of applying gold beads as fine as sand-grains to a curved gold surface without solder (焊接), was stunning, but so was the lightness of spirit.

He resolved then that he would make such a bowl, and gold became the study of his life. Simply to watch it melt, turn to red-hot and white-hot, then glow purple, was magical. To hold pure gold grain and let it move slowly through his fingers restored his calm of spirit. His chief motivation, he said, was to understand the material and, through that, himself. He wondered why his heart had beaten so fast in the museum that day. Gold in particular had a message for him. His contact with this glorious metal might focus all his attention and help him to hear it.

He developed delicate craftsmanship, with each object virtually a museum piece. For Daniel Brush, he loved the idea that one might take a piece made by Brush out of a pocket, let its beauty pass from mind to mind, and smile. That too was what its maker was after.

8 . Marvelous Scenic Walks Near London

There are plenty of walking routes in London. If you fancy something a bit more rural, then the green and pleasant land has plenty to offer.

If you’re in the mood for a gentle rural walk, the Thames Path is far from boring. The 5-mile footpath follows the curve of the river, winding past wildflower meadows (草地).

Post-walk pub: Pangbourne’s seventeenth-century pub The Swan serves high-end dishes. Bag a table on the riverside or keep toasty by one of its open fires.

To admire this spots rural views, first you’ve got to jump across 17 stepping stones and climb 272 steps to the top of Box Hill, where the path begins. The total distance is 6.8 miles.

Post-walk pub: The cavernous Tree on Box Hill has an attractive menu and huge beer garden, or sample a glass of Juniper Hill at Denbies Winerie.

If you’ve already done the classic Seven Sisters clifftop walk or can’t face all those hills, this is a long but lovely alternative. The route covering 14.3 miles snakes along a ridge and a river valley.

Post-walk pub: There are always 10 real beers at the old-school pub The Wellington.

Chess Valley in the Chiltern Hills isn’t home to any chess masters, but it used to produce a kind of water plant. This walk of 4.9 miles follows the river, winding through rolling meadows and woods.

Post-walk pub: The George & Dragon is a simple old coaching pub on the High Street with a log fire, real beers and giant burgers.