2 . I used to tell my children that they were smart, because I was impressed by their rapid growth. I remember clearly watching my daughter figure out how to build a Lego house that would stand up on its own, and thinking: Look at this tiny architectural genius.

But decades of research now suggest that we should not tell our children they’re “smart” when they do impressive things. When I first heard it, I felt instinctively annoyed. But after I dug into the research, I was persuaded. It all goes back to something called “growth” mindset (心态), a term developed and popularized by Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford. Professor Dweck believes that we can change our abilities through effort and strategy. The alternative to a growth mindset is a “fixed” mindset — the idea that our abilities are inborn and can’t be changed. When we praise our children for being “smart,” based on victories like doing well on a test, we’re unconsciously encouraging them to believe that if they do poorly or make mistakes, they’re not smart.

It’s not just what we say that matters, but how we tolerate our children’s failures. A 2016 study by Dweck showed that parents’ “failure mind-sets” affect their children more than their views on intelligence. In other words, if parents think that failure is shameful, their children are more likely to be afraid of making mistakes. The study concludes that everyone is actually a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets, continually evolving with experience. Whatever we say or don’t say to our kids, the key is to get them more comfortable with failures big or small.

It’s helpful for kids to understand that you make mistakes and learn how they happen. When you chat with them, you can describe what you learned, or how you strategized a solution. “You don’t have to deny you have negative emotional reactions,” Dweck said. “We, as a society, don’t do that enough because we feel embarrassed when we make mistakes.” But if we discuss our missteps more and explain how we overcame them, our children can learn to do the same.

4 . Pigeons have a bad reputation. Maybe these birds’ familiarity makes them an easy target: They are common residents of every continent, save Antarctica. Some people think pigeons are dirty or diseased, as they spend chunks of their days pecking at trash. Others might ignore them entirely, or perhaps go so far as to call them “rats with wings.” But Rosemary Mosco, a science writer, cartoonist, and naturalist, believes these creatures deserve more respect. “We’ve gotten them super wrong,” she says.

In Mosco’s latest book, A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching, she shares her positive views of the species that fell from grace. Once highly valued for their meat, and way finding abilities, pigeons are now largely rejected by human society. But Mosco, a lifelong city-dweller, has always found them fascinating. “If you do watch them, you’re just entranced,” she says. Her travel-sized book details pigeons’ coloration, field marks, and anatomy (解剖结构). But it’s more than a field guide. It’s also an informative account of pigeon history, biology, and behavior, complete with Mosco’s delightful illustrations.

Because pigeons’ fates are so connected with our own, pigeon history closely mirrors ours. Pigeons were distributed across the globe due to centuries of European exploration and colonization. In North America colonists hunted the native Passenger Pigeon for meat and destroyed its native forest habitat, driving it to extinction. Wherever humans domesticated pigeons, some escaped and went wild. Today’s city pigeons are descended from those birds.

Mosco says she’s met more birders who like pigeons than those who hate them. Birders, with well-developed observation skills, can understand pigeons’ entertaining behavior, she says. Plus, if pigeons aren’t enough of a draw on their own, there could be predators, such as hawks or falcons, nearby.

She wants all her readers to be kind to pigeons. But she also hopes that some will follow their pigeon fancy and become hooked on birding. “It’s my secret plot,” she says. After reading her book, you may agree with her that pigeons are as worthy a spark bird as any other.

5 . Fireworks shows are increasingly criticized for their negative environmental impact — they are noisy, polluting, and wasteful. Concerns are regularly raised around their impact on sensitive wildlife populations and the increased risk of wildfires.

These and other factors have led many people to consider replacing fireworks displays with alternatives — and drone (无人机) light shows are perfectly positioned to fill the gap.

Drone light shows are performed by illuminated groups of drones that arrange themselves into various aerial formations. Almost any image can be recreated in the sky by a computer program that turns graphics into flight commands and communicates them to the drones.

However, creating a system that can be flown safely and repeatedly requires a lot of clever engineering work. The flight crew uses a detailed dashboard display on the ground station to prepare drones for flight and continuously monitor status. The drones themselves carry multiple radios operating simultaneously, away from busy WiFi frequencies, to ensure communications are maintained even in busy and noisy radio environments.

Shows are flown by certified pilots. Prior to every show, checklists are used to make sure everything is in order: drones are fully operational, batteries are charged, and the flight area is clear. Once these checks are complete, the pilot presses GO and the drones take off on their mission!

Regardless, the transition from fireworks to drones will happen gradually. A number of factors have limited the uptake of drone shows:

•High cost

•Need for regulatory approval

•Expensive and limited insurance options

•Labor intensive operations

•Lack of efficient show design tools

•Safety requirement

6 . The maker of ChatGPT recently announced its next move into generative artificial intelligence. San Francisco-based OpenAI’s new text-to-video generator, called Sora, is a tool that instantly makes short videos based on written commands, called prompts.

Sora is not the first of its kind. Google, Meta and Runway ML are among the other companies to have developed similar technology. But the high quality of videos displayed by OpenAI — some released after CEO Sam Altman asked social media users to send in ideas for written prompts-surprised observers.

A photographer from New Hampshire posted one suggestion, or prompt, on X. The prompt gave details about a kind of food to be cooked, gnocchi (意大利团子), as well as the setting — an old Italian country kitchen. The prompt said: “An instructional cooking session for homemade gnocchi, hosted by a grandmother — a social media influencer, set in a rustic (土气的) Tuscan country kitchen.” Altman answered a short time later with a realistic video that showed what the prompt described.

The tool is not yet publicly available. OpenAI has given limited information about how it was built. The company also has not stated what imagery and video sources were used to train Sora. At the same time, the video results led to fears about the possible ethical and societal effects.

The New York Times and some writers have taken legal actions against OpenAI for its use of copyrighted works of writing to train ChatGPT. And OpenAI pays a fee to The Associated Press, the source of this report, to license its text news archive (档案) . OpenAI said in a blog post that it is communicating with artists, policymakers and others before releasing the new tool to the public.

The company added that it is working with “red teamers” — people who try to find problems and give helpful suggestions — to develop Sora. “We are working with red teamers-express in areas like misinformation, hateful content, and bias — who will be adversarially testing the model,” the company said. “We’re also building tools to help detect misleading content such as a detection classifier that can tell when a video was generated by Sora.”

7 . Books That Celebrate Diverse Holidays and Traditions

It’s important to remember there are a diverse set of holidays available to explore. Below are a few books that help introduce children to different holiday cultures and traditions.

Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto, illustrated by Ed Martinez

While helping her mother with Christmas celebration, Maria is tempted to try on her mother’s diamond ring. After getting caught up in the joy of the holiday and playing with her cousins, Maria realizes the ring is missing! That’s when she and her cousins come up with a plan to eat all of the tamales, in hopes of finding the ring.

Together for Kwanzaa by Juwanda G. Ford, illustrated by Shelly Hehenberger

This is a story about a little girl named Kayla who wants to see her older brother Khari come home so they can celebrate Kwanzaa together as a family. Khari is stuck at college when a snowstorm hits and his car breaks down. Will he make it home in time for Kwanzaa?

A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman

This book is a funny, nostalgic tale of Christmas Eve afternoon through Christmas night in Wales, and is full of unique imagery and poetic prose. It will arouse a sense of familiarity for some young readers while introducing them to different aspects of Christmas traditions.

We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Frane Lessac

The word otsaliheliga is used by members of the Cherokee Nation to express gratitude. This is an amazing story that describes a journey through the seasons with a modern-day Cherokee family. Cherokee history and traditions are also woven into the story in a very kid-friendly way.

8 . Isabella Springmuhl Tejada is one of the first professional fashion designers with Down Syndrome (唐氏综合征).

Her path to success wasn’t ________.Although she showed her________.for design in childhood, when she would spend hours designing paper dresses for her dolls, she was________from several fashion schools due to her disease. She had no________but to seek other ways. She________for a sewing course, where she was________to sew clothing for finger-sized traditional Guatemalan (危地马拉的) dolls, which she________happily. Meanwhile, she also made a(n)________in designing dolls, creating some life-sized dolls and dressing them in the colorful traditional embroidered jackets she’s now famous for.

This design experience helped Tejada develop her own design style,________traditional Guatemalan patterns, colors, and materials in her culture. She also created her own brand Down To Xjabelle,________for people with Down Syndrome, knowing how difficult it was for people like her to find________! clothes. The new brand ________right away, making it all the way to London Fashion Week, proving fashion can________all barriers and borders.

And the ________designer talks about her plans for the future as well, “I want to export my brand all over the world and________that people with Down Syndrome can do what they set out to do.”

9 . While socializing comes naturally for some, it can be a struggle for others. Shyness is a normal, common personality trait (特征).     1    . If you’re often hesitant to engage in social situations, you may interact with those around you in a more comfortable way. We outline four strategies for overcoming shyness in life.

You may have been shy most of your life.     2    . Working through shyness and developing increased confidence may seem like a discouraging task for you, but viewing the journey as an exciting adventure to parts unknown can be exciting and, in turn, may boost your self-esteem.

    3    . Talking to yourself in a negative way when describing yourself can damage your self-confidence. Consider replacing phrases like “I am shy” with “I am learning to be more comfortable” in social situations. This can go a long way toward moving from shyness to confidence.

Mindfulness involves drawing your attention to the present and being aware of your thoughts, feelings, and surroundings.     4    . In one study, participants in a mindfulness program experienced an improved view of their self-worth.

Getting started can be the hardest part of learning how to be more social for those who are shy.     5    . You can start out small. Try chatting with the teller at the bank or the person ahead of you in the checkout line. This can help you build confidence and work your way up to more difficult challenges.

10 . Volunteer at the EcoTarium! We simply could not offer the programs and special events that make the EcoTarium a unique resource to our community without our diverse and dedicated corps of volunteers. To be considered for a more specific position, look through the volunteer listings below, and submit an application.

Our zoo ambassador volunteers will assist the Zoology Department to connect with guests through engaging educational experiences about our animal residents. We are looking for volunteers who are passionate about animals and excited to interact with guests of all ages. Volunteers may also complete behavioral studies on numerous animals within the care of the EcoTarium to help enhance the welfare for our animals!

Animal care volunteers will aid in all areas of husbandry (农牧业), including feeding, cleaning, record keeping, training animals, and behavioral observations. They will work with a variety of animals under our care, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects. The position is physically demanding and requires working in all weather conditions.

Through conversations and hands-on activities, education program volunteers help visitors make meaningful connections to our exhibits, encourage curiosity and scientific inquiry, and challenge visitors to dive deeper into the concepts explored at our museum.

The EcoTarium seeks volunteers who are interested in making a contribution to science by uncovering lost specimens (标本) in the EcoTarium collection! Photograph, measure, and take notes on birds, eggs, seashells, or pressed flowers. This is an excellent position for a high school or college student considering a career in biology or lab science. It is also appropriate for citizen scientists of any age. It offers an opportunity to see examples of rare or extinct plants and animals.