1 . For Kurt Gray, a social psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, conducting experiments comes with certain problems. Before starting any study, his lab must get ethical(伦理的)approval from an institutional review board, which can take weeks or months. Then his team has to hire online participants—easier than bringing people into the lab, but Gray says the online subjects are often lazy. Then the researchers spend hours cleaning the data. But earlier this year, Gray accidentally saw an alternative way to do things.

He was working with computer scientists at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence to see whether they could develop an AI system that made moral judgments like humans. But first they figured they’d see if a system from the startup Open AI could already do the job. The team asked GPT-3. 5, which produces human-like text, to judge the ethics of 464 scenarios(情境), previously evaluated by human subjects. It turned out that the system’s answers were nearly the same as human responses.

“This is crazy,” Gray says. “If you can just ask GPT to make these judgments, why don’t you just ask GPT instead of asking people?” The results were published this month in Trends in Cognitive Science.

Now, researchers are considering AI’s ability to act as human subjects in fields such as psychology, political science, economics, and market research. No one is yet suggesting that chatbots can completely replace humans in behavioral studies. But they may act as convenient stand-ins(替代者) in pilot studies and for designing experiments, saving time and money. Language models might also help with experiments that would be too impractical, or even dangerous to run with people. “It’s a really interesting time,” says Ayelet Israeli, a marketing professor at Harvard Business School who believes the models’ impact on behavioral research could amount to a “revolution”. “Some of these results are just astonishing.”

2 . Seafloor cables (光缆) carry over 95% of all digital data traffic worldwide, including financial trading information and social media communications. However, how the Earth’s changing climate could impact this vast undersea network has been relatively understudied until now.

In a new study published in Earth-Science Reviews, an international team of researchers led by the UK’s National Oceanography Centre(NOC) worked to illuminate this problem by assessing how and where future climate change is likely to impact subsea cables.

By analyzing published datasets, the researchers identified regional climate change “hotspots” where threats to subsea cables may become more intense. These include areas in the western Pacific where changes to tropical cyclone (热带气旋) intensity and frequency have already increased cable damage.

“In our paper, we conducted the first comprehensive assessment of a range of climate-related threats to seafloor cables across the globe and their landing stations,” says study co-author Thomas Wahl. “Our analysis clearly stresses the need to carefully plan cable routes and landing station locations factoring in a range of local threats and how those are affected by climate change.”

When we look at Florida, there are at least 21 subsea telecommunications cables that connect to the Florida coastline, North and South America and the Caribbean, meaning that there will be a breakdown in communications worldwide if a cable is damaged, the researchers say.

However, the study identifies the importance of assessing changing conditions, particularly where multiple cable systems share a landing point, as they may be affected by combinations of threats that affect the low-lying Florida coastline, such as sea level rise, and changes in storm activity. “Our reliance on cables that are no wider than a garden hose (软管) is a surprise to many, who regard satellites as the main means of communication,” says lead author Mike Clare, a researcher with NOC. “But satellites simply don’t have the bandwidth to support modern digital systems. The ‘cloud’ is not in the sky—it is under the sea.”

3 . Many visual artists have a signature style, as unique and identifiable as a fingerprint. For Amoako Boafo, who often paints with his fingers, this seems doubly true. His distinctive paint strokes (笔画) combine the complex skin tones of his chosen subjects, many of whom are, like himself, Africans with global life experiences.

Boafo, whose first solo museum exhibition runs at the Seattle Art Museum, was born and raised in Accra, Ghana, and moved to Vienna, Austria, in 2014, where he ran into difficulties, with gallerists unwilling to show his works due to his focus on Black figures. He continued making an effort to create self-portraits (自画像) and people he knew or admired-African people and Black people who have African ancestry, painting a community of sorts during a time of hardship. He also developed his standout approach to figurative painting, which combines areas of bright and noticeable color with his soft and deep fingerpainting.

He began posting his art online and caught the attention of artists like Kehinde Wiley, the celebrated American artist. The word started to spread.

Boafo is now a global art star, with numerous shows at galleries and art fairs, working with fashion house Dior, and several paintings selling for over a million dollars. In 2021, with three of his paintings being launched into space by Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ Kent-based spaceflight company, you might even say Boafo has rocketed to success.

And yet a recent phone conversation with the artist from his studio in Accra, which is once again his home base, revealed a well-mannered person who appreciated his success while pointing out all of the luck and preparation that led to it. Seeing so many of his paintings -created from 2016 to 2022-gathered together in an exhibition has helped him remember that “I did not ‘just happen. ‘I did not expect this success but I was hopeful and ready for it.”

6 . When it comes to making a good impression, you can say all the right things. But it won’t be helpful until they are accompanied with the right body language.

    1    . Weak handshakes can make you seem anything but confident. Your handshake should be firm but not too tight, because you won’ t impress anyone by giving them a painful hand.

Pay attention to how much you’re blinking (眨眼).     2    . If you find yourself blinking a lot, try to slow it down.

Maintain a proper amount of eye contact. By maintaining eye contact with the persons you’re talking to — or meeting for the first time — you’re letting them know that you’re paying attention to what they are saying. Eye contact is good.     3    .

Keep your hands quiet. When you are nervous, it’s common for you to keep touching things with your hands.     4    . They can make you seem anxious or unsure of yourself.

Talk with your hands, if it’s appropriate! If you’re enthusiastic about something you re speaking about, feel free to gesture. Just don’t overdo it.

Widen your stance. If you want to appear confident when you’re meeting someone, stand your ground! If you keep your feet close together, or crossed, you re more likely to be considered nervous or insecure.     5    . It will show everyone around you that you feel sure of yourself.

9 . Famous People Who Begin With Difficulties

Oprah Winfrey

Probably having one of the most famous success stories, Oprah was born into a poor family in Mississippi, raised by a single mother living on welfare. She was physically, and mentally abused during her childhood. Despite her initial struggles as a young girl, she turned herself into one of the most successful talk show hosts of our time.

Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey has been the star of some of the most successful movies of all time. But Carrey grew up extremely poor in Canada. When he was a teenager, his family took security jobs in a factory to help pay the bills. And during his first stand-up comedy performance, he was booed off （喝倒彩） the stage. Not shortly after, he made it big on In Living Color and then went on to star in Dumb & Dumber, The Mask, and Ace Ventura in the same year!

James Dyson

If you thought Thomas Edison’s failures were bad, let me introduce you to James Dyson, the famous inventor of the Dyson vacuums （真空吸尘器） you see all over the television. Dyson developed over 5,000 failed prototypes （原型） before finding the bagless vacuum brand. Not only that, he put his entire savings account into his prototypes over fifteen years! Luckily, the bagless vacuum worked.

Stephen King

Before Stephen King became known as a great living writer—having written over 60 novels, many of which have been adapted for film and television—King was rejected over and over again. In his memoir, On Writing, King describes how he used to post his rejection letters on the wall for inspiration. His first novel, Carrie, was rejected 30 times.

10 . There are experts that say the best years come in the second half of life. Although there are no guarantees, there are simple things you can do today to help you benefit from the blessings that arrive with gray hair and reading glasses.

●Reduce stress.     1    . Too much or long-term stress, however, can have a negative effect on your health. While no one has a stress-free life, there are steps you can take to manage your response to stress, from scheduling regular time for meditation (冥想) and prayer to stepping outside to enjoy nature when you need a break.

●Eat better. You don’t have to adopt some crazy diet or give up all sweets.     2    . You can also eat more whole foods. A whole food is an ingredient (原料) in its natural state, one that comes in its own wrapper. While it’s even better to eat cuisine that is organic, locally grown or pesticide-free, start by shopping for groceries that require no packaging.

●    3    . When you feel good, it’s attractive to avoid going to the doctor. No matter how you feel, though, it’s a good idea to visit your doctor for an annual check-up.    4    . Depending on your age and family history, the doctor may recommend certain tests or screenings. Your doctor may also do blood tests to check your cholesterol or screen for hormonal imbalances. Each of these tests can help identify any potential problems.

●Keep moving. Exercise lowers blood pressure, controls our weight, strengthens our bones and muscles, reduces our risk for cancers, and improves our mood. Some research also says it has the power to keep us young. Physical activity can improve flexibility, strength, and balance. You don’t have to take up running marathons.    5    .