1 . Chinese astronauts have successfully grown rice seedlings(幼苗)aboard the Tiangong space station and this experiment may offer key insights into how astronauts can grow food to support long—term space missions, experts said on Monday. This experiment is the first to produce the complete life cycle of the plant, which begins with a seed and ends with a mature plant producing new seeds.

The breakthrough was conducted in the Wentian space laboratory, which was launched into orbit on July 24, 2022. Three astronauts were conducting the experiment smoothly and testing the plants according to the plan.

“The rice seedlings are growing very well,” said Zheng Huiqiong, a researcher of the task, adding that the experiment also contained seedlings of a small flowering plant often used by scientists to study mutations(变异). “The astronauts will keep monitoring the plants, and if it is successful, they will collect the newly produced seeds and bring them back to Earth for further studies,” she noted

The flowering stage is crucial for plant reproductive development. “We want to investigate how microgravity can affect the plant flowering time and whether it is possible to use the microgravity environment to control the related process,” she said.

Since the 1980s, China has been taking seeds of rice and other crops to space to help them mutate and produce higher yields once they were planted on Earth. But growing rice in orbit is a different challenge due to the tough conditions of space such as microgravity and lack of air.   

Rice has been a main food for astronauts since the early days of space exploration. Freeze—dried chicken and rice was the menu for the Apollo 11 mission, which carried the first humans to land on the moon in July 1969.

“But if we want to land on and explore Mars, bringing food from Earth is not enough to provide for the astronauts’ long journey and mission in space. We have to find a food source for long term space explorations,” Zheng added.

2 . Death is a part of life and it’s natural to grieve (悲伤) when an animal you love dies. Grieving is the emotional response to death.     1    

A pet is part of the family, so when they die it can be very difficult and upsetting for everyone who love them. It’s OK to feel sad, angry, numb or to feel hard to believe they’re no longer alive. You may have lots of feelings but there’s no right way to feel or to grieve. As people are all different, the length of time it takes for you to feel less sad may not be the same as for someone else.     2     Dipti Solanki, who helps people with their grief, says, “Your feelings matter and are normal after you lose a pet. They can feel really big and overwhelming.”

    3     Solanki says, “It’s really important that you talk about feeling sad, afraid or if you have any questions, because once you do you will start to feel calmer and less alone.     4    ” Talking about your pet helps to keep their memory alive as you remember the time you spent together. It also lets other people know that you want to talk about your pet.

Remembering the funny things your pet did and the happy times you shared can be of great help.     5    . Print out photos of your pet and frame them or make them into a collage (拼贴画) to display. You can draw or paint a picture of them. Or write a story about something you did together or how they made you feel.

4 . It is a well-known fact that plastic bottles, which take hundreds of years to rot, are harmful to our environment. However, efforts by environmentalists to encourage consumers to switch to alternatives, like water fountains or reusable bottles, have not been very effective. The U.S. alone uses over 50 million plastic bottles annually, 80% of which end up in landfills.

To try to stop that, Rodrigo García González, Pierre Paslier and Guillaume Couche from the Imperial College London have been working on a revolutionary solution — water wrapped inside an eatable container made mostly from seaweed. All the customer has to do to relieve his/her thirst is pop the entire drop into the mouth.

The inventors, who have been working on the Ooho bubble since 2014, use a simple two-step cooking process called spherification (球化) to create the delicate container. They begin by dipping a frozen ball of water or juice into a chemical solution (溶液). This helps form a layer around the liquid. The ball is then absorbed in a solution made from seaweed extract. This creates a second layer, helping strengthen the structure so that the water or juice does not leak. In addition to saving our environment, the biodegradable (可降解的) packaging costs just two cents each, making it cheaper to produce than plastic.

After three years of perfecting the design, the inventors, who recently raised over 1 million USD from a financial activity, are ready to bring the Ooho bubble to local market. However, there are a few challenges that still need to be overcome before the product’s launch. In addition to getting accustomed to the taste of the covering, each eatable container contains just a mouthful of water, requiring consumers to drink multiple bubbles to relieve their thirst. There is also the issue of finding an eco-friendly packaging to transport the bubbles so that they remain clean and do not burst. Hopefully, the inventors will find ways to handle the issues so that we can reduce, or perhaps even remove, plastic bottles.

9 . Thor Vikstrom bought his island in the 1960s for $5,000. His goal was to protect and preserve its 7 acres. He could see the island, Ile Ronde, across a narrow river from his home near Montreal. He and his family explored it often — at one point they even built a cable ferry across. But the rules were clear: Leave the environment as untouched as possible.

“My dad would get mad at us because we left a Coke bottle on the island,” son Hans Vikstrom told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

Over the years the surrounding area became built-up and expensive. Developers came calling,offering increasingly high bids for lle Ronde. Mr. Vikström rebuffed them all, saying nature was more valuable than money in his pocket. In December he donated the island to the Nature Conservancy of Canada so the urban area would have a guaranteed spot of green.

In the spring, flocks of wood ducks and other waterfowl land near the island and raise chicks in its cover, Mr. Vikström said when announcing his gift. Turtles sun themselves on the shore. The forests are full of shagbark hickories, an impressive tree whose bark appears to be falling off like old clothes. Moreover, the Ile Ronde is also home to a unique tree species called the shagbark hickory, as well as to a number of migratory birds and other game bird species such as the gadwall,widgeon, and wood ducks.

According to project manager for the Montreal Greenbelt at the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Annie Ferland, “The Vikström family has taken great care of it, and with this very meaningful act we are protecting the natural diversity of this unique habitat for the benefit of the animal and plant species that live there, but also for future generations.”

10 . Chimps design and use tools. That is well-known. But is it possible that they also use medicines to treat their own and others’ injuries? A new report suggests they do.

Since 2005, researchers have been studying a community of 45 chimps in the Loango National Parkin Gabon, on the west coast of Africa. Over a period of 15 months, from November 2019 to February2021, the researchers saw 76 open wounds on 22 different chimps. In 19 instances they watched a chimp performing what looked like self-treatment of the wound using an insect as a salve.

The procedure was similar each time. First, the chimps caught a flying insect; then they immobilized it by squeezing it between their lips. They placed the insect on the wound, moving it around with their fingertips. Finally, they took the insect out, using either their mouths or their fingers. Often, they put the insect in the wound and took it out several times.

Aaron Sandel, an anthropologist at the University of Texas, Austin, found the work valuable, but at the same time expressed some doubts. “They don’t offer an alternative explanation for the behavior, and they make no connection to what insect it might be,” he said. “The jump to a potential medical function? That’s a stretch at this point.”

In some forms of ape social behavior, it is clear that there is an exchange of value. For example, grooming another chimp provides relief from parasites for the groomed animal, but also an insect snack for the groomer. But in the instances she observed, Dr. Pika said, the chimp gets nothing practical in return. To her, this shows the apes are engaging in an act that increases "the welfare of another being,” and teaches us more about the primates’ social relationships.