1 . It’s breathtaking to watch the delicate spring wildflowers come out from their blanket of leaves, bloom, develop and disperse (传播) fruit, all in a matter of a few short days or weeks.

Although they look fragile, these are tough little plants, each focusing its efforts on spreading its species. They have evolved to have a wide range of flower structures and colors, some with fragrances, attracting many different insect species to assist them in pollination (授粉).

There is one strategy (策略) that a surprising number of spring blooming native plants have evolved in common: seed dispersal by ants. As many as thirty percent of the spring flowering plant species in the forests of eastern North America have evolved to take advantage of this situation to benefit themselves. These species have evolved to provide food attached to their seeds to encourage ants to disperse those seeds. This food, called an elaiosome, is a specialized fat body whose chemical composition more closely matches that of the insects that ants prefer than it does that of a seed.

When a fruit opens to disperse its seeds, the elaiosomes are an instant attraction for ants. They take the seed with its attached elaiosome back to their nests for consumption there, but they just eat the elaiosome, their preferred food, and dispose of the seed on their trash pile. This tends to be an environment that is rich in nutrients, and will benefit the growth of the new plant. Just to make sure the ants don’t eat the seeds in addition to the elaiosome, some plant species have hard seed coatings that ants can’t really bite through.

This evolutionary adaptation is somewhat similar to the strategy of plants that have evolved to surround their seeds with fleshy fruits to attract birds to assist them with seed dispersal. Given the fact that there are fewer birds available in early spring to help with seed dispersal, it makes sense that the early blooming plants evolved to partner instead with the ants for this service.

Did you ever wonder how your Spring Beauty managed to pop up in new locations in your lawn or garden? Thank an ant!

2 . DerlinNewey, an 89-year-old man from Weber County, Utah, has already reached an impressive age, but his Social Security checks aren’t covering his expenses. He works for a local Papa John’s as a delivery man, and despite being forced to work at his advanced age, he hasn’t let that affect his attitude — something the Valdez family recognized and honored.

Fans of pizza, the Valdezes order Papa John’s quite often. And when they do, they specifically request Newey, who always shows up with his signature greeting: “Hello, are you looking for some pizza?” The Valdezes, who have over 60,000 followers on TikTok, have featured Newey in the past, and their viewers have fallen in love with the elderly gentleman. “Everybody loves him,” Dad Carlos Valdez said.

The family has grown so fond of him that they decided to do something wonderful for the man. After they started a fundraiser for Newey, it wasn’t long before generous donors had given to the tune of $12,000 — a sizable amount by any standard, but especially so for someone in Newey’s shoes. “Collectively as a community, we all came together, and we were able to raise $12,000 for this amazing person,” CarlosValdez explained. “Somebody at that age should not be working that much.”

All that was left was to surprise Newey in his own home, making a special delivery to their special delivery man. “Good morning, dude! How are you doing?” CarlosValdez greeted Newey. The “TikTok famous” delivery man thought he was going to bring him a shirt with his signature saying (which he did), but he got far more than he had expected when CarlosValdez handed him a fat envelope stuffed with cash.

Newey didn’t even know what TikTok was, asking “Is that an online group you communicate with each other through the telephone?” “This couldn’t have gone any better,” CarlosValdez said. “He needed this. I’m just glad we could help him. We just need to treat people with kindness and respect the way he does. He stole our hearts.”

4 . Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden

Hidden amongst the shops and cafes of colorful Chinatown at 578 Carrall Street, the walled Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden is a little oasis(乐土) in the city of Vancouver, BC. Popular with locals looking for a quiet walk, tourists looking for an interesting attraction, and film crews searching for locations that look like China, the Chinese Garden is top of most people’s lists for a shot of nature in the heart of the city. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park is a public garden that features a lily pond, pagoda(佛塔) and winding pathways — it’s open to the public during daylight hours and has no admission fee. The museum part of the park has an admission fee of $12 from October to April ($14 from May to September) and is open daily, apart from Mondays and Fridays from November 1 to April 30. Explore independently or take one of the 45-minute guided tours that are included in your admission fee to find out more about symbolism in the garden.

Entrance to the garden is at 578 Carrall Street — the public entrance is via the gate in the courtyard and the museum entrance is through the door next to it. Chinatown is within walking distance of most downtown hotels and is served by TransLink buses and the SkyTrain system, which stops at the nearby Chinatown-Stadium station.

Educational events run throughout the year and the garden hosts musical events, art exhibits and author talks, as well as festivals, Halloween celebrations and special one-off concerts. Traditional tea service, and calligraphy(书法) workshops take place all year round, but the garden’s biggest celebration comes during the Chinese Lunar New Year in February. Lanterns light up the garden for three weekends of fun, when the garden is magically transformed for this traditional Chinese festival.

5 . When my experiments didn’t produce the exciting results they were supposed to, I thought I just needed to work more, for the idea that I would be ______ if I worked hard enough was deeply rooted in me. It was late in the evening. A postdoc (博士后) ______my suffering and gently asked how I was doing. I told him about my ______ with the experiment. He said, “I think it’s time to go home and get some sleep. Taking a break is also hard work, you know?”

Those comments planted the seed of a new ______. Previously, when my friends questioned whether the “always working” view that is _______among academics was normal or healthy, I had __their concerns. Now, I ____ that they were on to something. I started to go __ on myself, trying to make being in the lab from early morning to late evening the exception rather than the ______. Pushing back against the______that long working hours are the ______of a good researcher was hard, and I ______ back into my old routine more than once. In the back of my head I still felt __ for not working “enough”. I hadn’t_______ understood what the postdoc was trying to ______ to me.

During my Ph.D., the penny _____ the rest of the way. One day, my adviser said, “We need to work smarter, not harder.” The conversation helped me ____ it —that novel ideas do not come from a mind constantly under _______. My best ideas almost always come after I allow my mind to_______—whether that’s playing video games with my brother or cooking a nice dinner. Part of working smarter, I realized, can be taking a _____.