1 . Remember boiling tap water for drinking? Who has the time now? Instead, bottled water is everywhere, in offices, airplanes, stores, homes and restaurants. But what’s in that bottle? Beautiful names and labels depicting romantic scenes have convinced us that the liquid is the purest drink around. But given the lack of labeling requirements for bottled water, how much do consumers really know about what’s in the bottle? “The public should not assume that water purchased in a bottle, is better regulated purer, or safer than most tap water. Water utilities are required to tell the public more about the tap water than bottled water companies are,” says Mae Wu, a bottled water (expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a nonprofit organization in the US devoted to protecting health and the environment. Sure, some bottled water comes from sparkling springs and other, sources. But in the US, alone, more than 25 percent of it comes from a municipal (市政的) supply. The water is treated, purified and sold to us, often at a thousand fold increase in price. Most people are surprised to learn that they are drinking glorified tap water, but bottlers aren’t required to list the source on the label.

According to the Asian Bottled Water Association, water from municipal supply does not have to state on its label that it is from a community water system. However, there are some brands like Nestle Pure Life that indicate whether the water comes from public, private or deep well sources. Advertising can be misleading at best and deceptive at worst. In a recent case, a food and drink manufacturer boasted in a TV commercial that its mineral water came from a “high-quality water source” but it turned out that, that was no more than plain tap water.

The potential health risks are important to understand, but bottled water also affects the health of the planet. While we struggle to, cut down on our consumption of fossil fuels, bottled water increases it. Virgin petroleum (石油) is used to make PET, and the more bottles we use, the more virgin petroleum will be needed to create new bottles. Fossil fuels are burned to fill the bottles and distribute them. Some brands of water come from islands and countries thousands of kilometers away, and shipping bottles can cause carbon pollution to spill into the water and spew into the air.

2 . Rice now has its own big data platform, claimed a conference in early April. Led by the China National Rice Research Institute, the platform records data throughout every stage of rice production, including collection, storage, and analysis. It will also regularly publish reports to improve the service of rice production, providing convenience to farmers. Apart from big data, other technology is aiding agriculture in China in recent years.

Flying above

Drones (无人机) play an important role in farming this spring. “Using drones to spread the nutrient solution (营养液) is a lot safer than doing it manually (手动地),” Shi Zhenhai, a farmer in Henan who is responsible for about 119 hectares of wheat fields said. Shi added that the flying machines greatly improved efficiency. The more advanced drones that the farmer bought recently can be filled with 50 liters of liquid, which can be used to cover about 3.4 hectare farmland. With four drones working at the same time, it only takes three hours to finish spreading the solution over all of Shi’s land.

Monitoring on their own

A smart glass greenhouse used to grow tomatoes features more than 120 patented technologies. Located in Shandong, the demonstration base covers’ about 80, 000 square meters but requires very few workers.

Sensors collect information about the plants, such as the humidity (湿度) of the environment, the condition of sunlight and heat, and whether the room is ventilated (通风) enough. It is then uploaded to a platform to be analyzed. The correct levels of water and fertilizer are supplied to crops by the automatic irrigation system, Robots and other devices are used to pick and transport tomatoes.

With facilities to store heat, the structure does not use huge amounts of energy in winter, unlike traditional greenhouses. “Growing crops in a controlled environment enables farmers to produce high-quality plants, maintain high food safety standards, and avoid the use of pesticides,” Wang Haiguang at the operations office of the greenhouse said.

3 . Ecuadorian writer Veronica Bonilla has received the Special Book Award for 2021, the highest recognition by China for a foreign writer.

At an emotional ceremony held Monday at the Chinese embassy in Ecuador, Bonilla received a golden statuette for her outstanding contribution to promoting Chinese culture.

“I feel-happy, honored and pleased to be the first Ecuadorian to receive this award and also to be the first Latin American to receive it. It is a very important thing. It fills me with pride and happiness,” said Bonilla, visibly moved.

“I am writing about China, a country that I fell in love with when I had the opportunity to get to know it because I want the children of the world to get to know China,” Bonilla said, adding that all the work and effort she has put into her work pays off.

The China Special Book Award has been awarded since 2005 to foreign translators, writers and publishers who have made significant contribution to promoting Chinese culture in the world.

Monday’s ceremony in Quito was attended by Chinese Ambassador to Ecuador Chen Guoyou, and Acting Ecuadorian Vice Foreign Minister Augusto Saa.

Saa said that Bonilla’s work is an example of the value of culture as’ a means of union between peoples. “Our countries have managed to develop an active cultural diplomacy and a powerful soft power tool that has contributed to mutual understanding.”

In congratulation, Chinese Ambassador Chen Guoyou said that Bonilla received the well-deserved award thanks to her long-term dedication to promoting Chinese culture to Ecuadorian children.

“Recent years have witnessed the growing dynamism in the cultural exchange between the two nations through contacts in culture, science, technology, sports, education, among others,” Chen said, noting that relations between China and Ecuador are at the best moment in history.

The Ecuadorian writer has so far translated three of her 83 books into Chinese.

5 . A Trip to Northern Spain

DAY 1: Begin the day from Bilbao with a visit to the Guggenheim Museum where you can view European modern art. Afterwards, move onto Laguardia to visit the old city and a wine shop for a tasting. Finally continue on to Burgos to visit the Museo de la Evolucion Humana before returning to Bilbao for an evening meal together.

DAY 2: Move from Bilbao to Santander to visit the Prehistory and Archaeology Museum of Cantabria. Then enjoy a visit to the caves (洞穴) of Las Monedas and El Castillo. El Castillo has many cave paintings with a history of more than 40, 000 years old. Finally continue on to Santillana del Mar to enjoy dinner together.

DAY3: This morning, you’ll visit the old town of Santillana with many historic buildings which provide a fascinating background for exploring this town. Then you’ll visit the Cave of Altamira, where some of the cave paintings were damaged by a large number of visitors. Then you’re free before an evening meal together.

DAY 4: In the morning, you’ll visit the Cave of EI Pindal, which has 12 prehistoric paintings, some more than 33, 000 years old. Then head to the Cave of EI Buxu. Due to the size of the cave, only several people are allowed in at a time. Later in the afternoon move to Oviedo and visit the Gothic Cathedral before enjoying dinner.

9 . Friday night lights are good for the game, but they may be bad for biodiversity.

According to a study published Friday in the journal Animal Conservation, bright stadium lighting could affect the feeding habits of bats. Insects swarm (涌往) to these lights in large numbers, creating a competitive advantage for bat species who aren’t afraid of humans and human structures. This could impact local ecosystems and reduce biodiversity.

For most humans, there simply isn’t enough daylight hours—we have been developing new ways to light the night since we first controlled and used fire. But researchers say our need for continuous visibility can have serious consequences for neighboring species.

Light pollution has been linked to some ecosystem damage. Baby turtles, for example, naturally use the light of the moon to travel towards the open ocean. But constant and poorly designed artificial lighting can affect their sense of direction, obviously disturbing their life cycles.

“Increasing light pollution is a major feature of global change that’s caused by humans, and it is a potential threat to biodiversity,” co-author M. Corrie Schoeman said in a press release.

Dr Schoeman, a professor of biology at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, conducted field experiments to determine how stadium lighting affected bat behaviors. He found that “urban exploiter” bats were drawn to hunt near bright lights, while “urban avoider” bats were not. Exploiter species are able to take advantage of human resources, such as artificial light. Avoider species, by comparison, tend to avoid humans and human structures.

But it’s hardly survival of the fittest. This man-made, ecological scale-tipping could result in the decline or loss of avoider species. And that, in turn, could threaten the balance of local ecosystems.

Luckily, light pollution is considered an “easy fix” compared to other forms of pollution. Smart lighting design— hooded (带罩的) streetlamps，motion-sensitive residential lights (触控住宅用灯), and better controls to remove unnecessary brightness—can obviously reduce light pollution. As for stadium lights, earlier games could do a lot of good, both for bats and for our ecosystems as a whole.