1 . For companies around the world and across industries, sustainability(可持续发展) has rapidly gone from a nice-to-have to a must-have. Some famous companies have announced ambitious plans to remove single-use plastics, reduce carbon release and otherwise shrink their environmental footprint in various ways.

Newlight Technologies hopes to speed up that process. The company has spent more than a decade developing a material called AirCarbon, which functions exactly like plastic but is completely biodegradable(可生物降解的). Newlight developed the material using microorganisms found in the ocean that feed on methane and carbon dioxide-two-greenhouse gases among the biggest contributors to climate change. The organisms turn those gases into a natural polymer(聚合物) that can be shaped just like plastic.

“We call that AirCarbon because it's air and carbon that can mix with and become part of water,” CEO Mark Herrema said. “We have this pure white powder that we can then melt and form in all kinds of parts and pieces.” The company's new production facility is filled with large saltwater tanks that recreate ocean conditions, allowing the organisms to make the polymer from which AirCarbon can be obtained.

Newlight recently began rolling out its first set of products made from the material, launching two-brands. Its foodware brand, Restore, sells biodegradable straws, knives, forks and spoons, while its fashion brand Covalent sells handbags, wallets and sunglasses. And because the process of developing AirCarbon uses gases from the atmosphere, the products are carbon negative, meaning they take out more pollutants than they produce. Newlight has received carbon negative certifications from several organizations for its products.

Newlight’s current products are costlier than some traditional products available on the market, since the company has just one facility, which makes it hard to keep prices down. At present, Newlight’s AirCarbon products can remove 100 million pounds of carbon dioxide per year. But Herrema's goal is to build more facilities as quickly as possible and eventually increase that number to 20 billion pounds, which he says is how much plastic ends up in the ocean each year.

2 . Do you need a human to create a beautiful perfume? That’s the question being asked as artificial intelligence(AI) starts to enter the perfume industry. Companies are increasingly turning to technology in order to create more best-selling, unique perfumes that can be produced in just minutes.

Last year, Swiss-based perfume developer Givaudan launched Carto, an AI-powered tool to help perfumers. Using a touch screen, the perfumers can choose one from 1,500 ingredients and put it in a bottle without touching them and pull together different perfumes using data from the brands vast library of perfume formulas. A small robot immediately processes the fragrances into perfumes, making it easier for perfumers to test their new perfumes.

One benefit of Carto is that with it, perfume samples are created instantly, giving them a competitive advantage. “We can adjust the perfume almost live with the customer,” says Cal ice Becker, vice president perfumer and director of the Givaudan Perfumery School. “It is a big plus not just because we gain time but there's more closeness when we connect in front of the tool.”

German perfume house Symrise has gone one step further and teamed up with IBM Research to create an AI system called Philyra, which actually studies the perfume formulas and customer data to produce new perfumes. Like Carto, Philyra can’t actually smell anything. Claire Viola, vice president of digital strategy fragrance at Symrise, is the first to agree it hasn't been without weakness. If s machine-learning and sometimes the results are wrongs she says. “You have to qualify every new material, so it understands the difference between different perfumes, for example.”

Margaux Caron, global beauty analyst for colour cosmetics and perfumes at believes artificial intelligence is a powerful tool to create perfumes. “Technology and science are sometimes pictured and considered cold, but the perfume category is displaying a warm, emotional, human approach to it. The partnership between AI and perfumers is anchored in this philosophy,” she said.

5 . The Best Books to Give as Graduation Gifts

Any recent graduate will enjoy reading through these books that make excellent graduation gifts．

This Is Water by David Foster Wallace

Perfect for：All grads．Here’s why：David Foster Wallace only delivered one graduation address in his career，and his message was so lasting that the entire speech was published in hardcover．What’s unique about Wallace’s words：Though he warns graduates of the ordinariness of day-to-day adult life，he reminds them that their newly acquired skills can help them maintain awareness and sympathy as they move forward for success．       

Bounce by Matthew Syed

Perfect for：Both artists and athletes．Here’s why：In this optimistic guide to success，the United Kingdom table tennis champion Syed combines detailed research with his own experiences to backhand the general perception that talent is merely based on genetics(基因)．In studying the achievements of great artists，composers，and athletes，Syed finds they have one thing in common：hours，and hours，and hours of practice—about 10，000 hours each．

Leave Your Mark by Aliza Licht

Perfect for：The ambitious recent-grad trying to figure out how to make it．Here’s why：This is not just a career advice book，but a whole instructor in novel form．Famous fashion communications executive(总监)Aliza Licht shares her secrets for successful personal branding(品牌)and how to do well as someone just starting their career．It’s just like meeting someone for coffee and career advice but in written form．     

Rising Strong by Brené Brown

Perfect for：People looking for ways to handle rejection better．Here’s why：Rejection is part of life，but it takes time to learn how to handle it．In this advice—filled book，Brené Brown teaches readers how to make the most out of rejections and failures that unavoidably happen．Reading it will make you view rejection emails in a new light．

6 . When I was kid, I’d often come downstairs for breakfast and find my grandmother in the kitchen talking to herself, often going over what she was going to do that day. I thought it was the strangest thing.     1    

Back then, I thought healthy people didn’t talk aloud when nobody else was around, did they?     2     It is a healthy, widespread behavior among children and adults. Research suggests the practice is most beneficial when it combines thought and action. Talking to yourself, when employed in the proper context, can even energize you mentally. Encouragement helps a person gain self-confidence and self-esteem, which contribute to success.

A study published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise had 72 tennis players take part in five rounds of play: one baseline assessment, three training sessions, and a final round.     3    . Though both groups followed the same training program, only the experimental one was asked to practice self-talk. By the final assessment, the experimental group showed heightened self-confidence and reduced anxiety. The self-talkers also improved their game.

    4     An in-depth analysis looked at the validity of the self talk strategy for improving athletic achievements. Totaling 32 sport studies and 62 effect sizes, it showed a positive, though moderate, effect size.

    5     As Dr. Julia Harper, an occupational therapist said, “If we’re talking to ourselves negatively, research suggests that we’ll more likely guide ourselves to a negative outcome. However, when self-talk is neutral - as in a statement like ‘What do need to do?’ or positive, such as ‘I can get this done,’ then the outcome is much more effective.”

Chinese archaeologists(考古学家)announced Saturday that six “sacrificial pits”,     1     (date) back 3200 to 4000 years, were newly discovered in Sanxingdui Ruins site in Guanghan, southwest China's Sichuan province.

Sanxingdui went viral among netizens again and some     2     (be) even eager for some hands-on experiences.

Therefore, Archaeological blind boxes rolled out by several museums in China were trending on a major online shopping platform, with     3     (buy) saying that it allowed them to “experience the joys of digging cultural relics     4     an archaeologist.”

Henan Museum integrated the blind box concept with cultural relics, and hid “miniature cultural relics” such as bronze and china in the soil. Using a Luoyang shovel(铁铲),and a brush     5     (sweep) away the dirt, and digging a blind box, you can harvest a piece of bronzeware from the Shang Dynasty     6     a china bottle from the Song Dynasty.

The idea has proved     7     (wild) popular with many young people. Most of the blind boxes     8     (sell) out as soon as they are restocked. Those who were lucky enough to place an order shared     9     (they) experience of digging the blind box online. One said, “Wearing gloves, I feel like     10     archaeologist !”

9 . Wouldn’t it be great if you could correct your eyesight, especially nearsightedness, and reduce your dependence on glasses and needn’t have eye surgery? The solution is called orthokeratology, or ortho-k (角膜塑形镜).

What is ortho-k?

Orthokeratology( ortho- k)is the fitting of specially designed contact lenses (隐形眼镜) that you wear overnight while you are asleep, the lenses gently reshape the front surface of your cornea (角膜) so you can see clearly the following day after you remove the lenses when you wake up.

How long does the ortho-k effect last?

You should be able to see acceptably well without glasses or contact lenses for a day or two, sometimes longer. For best results, one should wear the ortho- k lenses every might.

Who are good candidates for ortho-k?

Most people with mild to average nearsightedness are good candidates for ortho-k. Because the cornmeal reshaping effect is temporary, little risk is involved, and you can discontinue wearing the lenses at any time. Children and young adults who want to be gases-free but are too young for eye surgery or are afraid of taking the surgery often are good candidates for ortho-k. People who participate in contact sports or work in dusty environments that can have problems for contact lens wear also can be good candidates.

How much does ortho-k cost?

Costs also can vary based on the region of the country and the type of practice where you have the procedure performed. Ortho-k prices in the US generally range from $1, 000 to $2, 000 But particularly difficult cases of ortho-k can cost as much as $4.000.

There are additional costs for lens care solutions and following up exams, which can total about $300 to $ 500 per year.

Finally, keep in mind that, as with all contact lenses, there are some possible side effects of wearing ortho-k lenses. Ask your eye doctor for details.

10 . Children's average daily time spent watching television or using mobile device increased from 53 minutes at 12 months old to more than 150 minutes at 3 years old, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. Children aged 7 were more likely to spend the highest amount of screen time if they had been in bad home-based childcare or were born to first-time mothers.

“Our results indicate that screen habits begin early,” said Edwina Yeung, an investigator in National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), “This finding suggests that interventions to reduce screen time could have a better chance of success if introduced early.”

In the research, mothers of 4,000 children responded to questions on their kids' media habits when they were 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 months of age.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends avoiding digital media exposure for children under 18 months of age, introducing children 18 to 24 months of age to screen media slowly, and limiting screen time to an hour a day for children from 2 to 5 years of age. In the current study, researchers found that 87% of the children had screen time exceeding these recommendations. However, while screen time increased throughout infancy, after 8 years of age, screen time fell to under 1. 5 hours per day. The researchers believe this decrease relates to time consumed by school-related activities.

The study authors classified the children into two groups based on how much their aver- age daily screen time increased from age 1 to age 3. The first group, 73% of the total, had the lower increase, from an average of nearly 51 minutes a day to nearly an hour and 47 minutes a day. The second group, 27% of the total, had the higher increase, from nearly 37 minutes of screen time a day to about 4 hours a day. Higher levels of parental education were associated with the lower odds of inclusion in the second group.