1 . Proper questioning has become a lost art. The curious four-year-old asks a lot of questions-incessant streams of “Why?” and “Why not?“ might sound familiar-but as we grow older, our questioning decreases. In a recent survey of more than 200 of our clients, we found that those with children estimated that 70-80% of their kids’ dialogues with others were comprised of questions. But those same clients said that only 15-25% of their own interactions consisted of questions. Why the drop of?

Think back to your time growing up and in school. Chances are you received the most recognition or reward when you got the correct answers. Later in life, that motivator continues. At work, we often reward those who answer questions, not those who ask them. Questioning conventional wisdom can even lead to being distanced, or considered a threat.

Because expectations for decision-making have gone from ”get it done soon“ to ”get it done now“ to ”it should have been done yesterday, “ we tend to jump to conclusions instead of asking more questions. And the unfortunate side effect of not asking enough questions is poor decision-making. That’s why it’s vital that we slow down and take the time to ask more and better questions. At best, we’ll arrive at better conclusions. At worst we’ll avoid a lot of rework later on.

Aside from not speaking up enough, many professionals don’t think about how different types of questions can lead to different outcomes. We should lead a conversation by asking the right kinds of questions, based on the problem we’re trying to solve. In some cases, we’ll want to expand our view of the problem rather than keeping it narrowly focused. In others, we may want to challenge basic assumptions or confirm our understanding in order to feel more confident in our conclusions. Therefore, asking the right kinds of questions is what counts in achieving a goal.

5 . Highly emotional music causes networks in the brain to release dopamine. This brain chemical plays a role in feelings of pleasure. It also turns on the brain’s motor network that makes us want to move. That physical response to a strong beat can be used to help people with brain-related disorders, research has shown. It aids their ability to time their body’s movements, which can help them with speech issues or trouble moving around.

Olivia Brancatisano, a researcher at Bond University in Robina, Australia, studies music and aging. She found that music can offer a number of benefits, from movement and emotion to communication and thinking. That led her to find music-based therapies (治疗) that might aid people who struggle in these areas.

Older people who have dementia (痴呆) may struggle to remember things. But they did better on mental (精神的) tasks while listening to music they knew and enjoyed. The selected music had to be highly emotional and personal, Brancatisano notes, Listening brought back memories and improved their attention. Since then, she has developed the Music Mind and Movement program for people with dementia.

Music helps young people, too. International students in Australia took part in a recent study at the University of Queensland in St, Lucia. Students may often feel lonely while far from home. Those in the Tuned In program, however, learned to better manage their anxiety using music. They also got better at identifying their emotions. That helped them take action when they were struggling.

The benefits of music seem to cover people of all ages. “We use it to meet basic human needs and to improve our emotional states,” says Brancatisano, “Now, more than ever, we have the ability to engage in music in a variety of ways. We can use it as a tool in everyday life to energize and comfort us.”

7 . 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.

9 . 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.

10 . 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