1 . Trees are magicians with carbon, pulling it out of the air at remarkable rates to store it in their bodies. They are so good at removing this greenhouse gas that “planting trees” is often synonymous with doing environmental good.

And lots of people are planting trees. The number of tree-planting organizations has grown by almost 300 percent in the past 30 years, according to a 2021 paper in the journal Biological Conservation. But while tree planting can capture a great amount of carbon, it is hardly a silver bullet for the climate crisis — express estimate that even if we maximized our available lands for trees, this alone would not be enough to counteract carbon emissions caused by humans. Plus, many plantations grow the same few species in monocultures, which can hurt local biodiversity.

The minority of tree plantations are set up with carbon capture solely, or even primarily in mind, says Jacob Bukoski, a forestry scientist at Oregon State University. Most trees are planted with the goal of harvesting timber or wood pulp (木浆) for paper. Tree-planting organizations are more likely to create plantations for commercial reasons, the authors of the 2021 paper also note, rather than for biodiversity or carbon capture.

In forestry, there’s a saying that you have to plant “the right tree in the right place, for the right reason.” But when many tree plantations are established for commercial purposes, the tree that is planted is often not the “right” tree, says Jesús Aguirre-Gutiérrez, an ecologist at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford.

In a paper published recently in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Aguirre-Gutiérrez and colleagues argue that focusing on the goal of carbon removal by natural process causes organizations to ignore the importance of restoring balanced ecosystems. The result is a collection of trees that do not support local organisms or promote biodiversity in the way native plant species would have. These problems deserve particular notice in tropical areas where land is vast, and conditions such as stable temperatures and high humidity promote tree growth, as ignoring them while planting trees is damaging. When plantations increased the woody cover of the Brazilian savannah by 40 percent, this “resulted in an about 30 percent reduction in the diversity of plants and ants,” Aguirre-Gutiérrez and his co-authors write in the new paper.

Aguirre-Gutiérrez doesn’t want to discourage people from growing more trees, he says. Rather, we need a better way to protect the natural ecosystems and species there, like encouraging the restoration of native forest tree species. Local plants will be “better adapted to the conditions” in these environments, he says, which means they, and nearby species, are more likely to thrive. “If we go in that direction, that will bring us the added value of capturing carbon, but also this sustainability.”

2 . We’ve all been there: You get a small appliance that seems like a good and useful product at the time, but it ends up sitting in a cupboard and never gets used after the initial excitement wears off. But now there’s a new gadget for the kitchen that promises to be much more than a one-task wonder. Meet the Thermomix TM6.

Simply put, Thermomix is a kitchen appliance that looks like a giant food processor or blender. While Thermomix may look similar to other appliances, it’s nothing like them: the Thermomix TM6 has the ability to connect to thousands of online recipes using Wi-Fi and the Cookidoo app or website, and it will guide you through cooking them, measuring ingredients, and performing all the chopping, prep, and even the cooking in this one device. In all, the Thermomix TM6 is able to handle 20 different kitchen appliance functions.

Anyone who’s familiar with Thermomix may wonder what’s new on the TM6 version, over the previousTM5. The upgraded TM6 has Wi-Fi connectivity (the previous version needed recipe “chips” installed), and a larger color screen, plus it now boasts a higher heat option and longer runtime.

Despite the somewhat overwhelming array of functions, the Thermomix is easy to use. Just choose a recipe, and the bot walks you through what to do; it handles the order of tasks, timing, all the measuring, stirring, speed, heat levels, and fine-tuning. You just add ingredients and follow its instructions.

The new Thermomix TM6 is a capable, helpful kitchen device. Despite its larger footprint, it can actually replace a lot of small appliances and automate many kitchen and cooking chores. Plus, you can use it to cook a dish or a full meal, and not have to worry about overcooking something because it’s programmed to make everything with the touch of a chef.

On the downside, it’s quite expensive (ringing in at $1,499), but when you realize it can replace literally half a dozen other appliances (or prevent you from needing to buy them in the first place), it seems like it can more than pay for itself quickly. Thermomix TM6 is available from Thermomix’s website.

4 . ①The world’s heaviest snake has been hiding a big secret.

② According to a study published today in the open-access journal MDPI Diversity, the animal known as the green anaconda, or Eunectes murinus, is actually two genetically distinct species, despite each species looking so similar that even experts can’t tell them apart.

③“Genetically, the differences are massive,” says Bryan Fry, a National Geographic Explorer, biologist at the University of Queensland in Australia, and coauthor of the new study. “They’re five-and-a-half percent different, genetically. Now, to put that into context, we’re about two percent different from chimps,” he says.

④ To make the shocking discovery, Fry and his coauthors collected blood and tissue samples from green anacondas in Ecuador, Venezuela, and Brazil.The study authors also examined each animal closely to count scales and look for other physical traits that could signal an evolutionary difference. After running the genetic data, they found a clear divide between anacondas sampled in the northern part of the range as opposed to those in the south. And based on those findings, they propose renaming the snakes found in the north as the northern green anaconda (Eunectes akayima), while E. murinus will continue to refer to southern green anacondas.

⑤Fry says his jaw dropped when the analyses completed. “I didn’t expect that level of difference,” he says. “It’s just mind-blowing. We were all of us very much doing happy dances.”

⑥While it may seem like splitting hairs to re-classify two populations of snakes that look identical to one another, Fry emphasizes how important such delineations can be for understanding the threats posed to these creatures. Right now, the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the green anaconda as a species of least concern when it comes to extinction risk, but this classification is based, in part, on how widely distributed a species is. “It’s important, because the newly described northern green anaconda has a much smaller range than the southern, and so that means it’s much more vulnerable,” says Fry.

⑦Working with giant snakes isn’t easy. The fact that anacondas are massive, powerful predators is just one reason the animals haven’t been more closely studied. However, more work of this kind may be needed to understand how the northern and southern green anacondas started separate evolutionary tracks. After all, the two species appear to coexist in French Guiana, even as close as being found on opposite riverbanks, says Fry. And yet, there’s no evidence of interbreeding in their genetics.

5 . Talking therapies for anxiety and depression

· You can access talking therapies for free on the National Health Service (NHS) in UK.

· You can refer yourself directly to a talking therapies service without recommendation.

· Help is available in person, by video, over the phone or as an online course.

You do not need to have a diagnosed mental health problem first. Getting support as soon as you start having difficulties can help to reduce their impact.

You may be:

· feeling anxious

· feeling low and hopeless

· having panic attacks

· finding it hard to cope with work, life or relationships

· struggling with flashbacks and nightmares about things from your past

· feeling stressed

Other things that talking therapies can help with include:

· worrying a lot

· excessive thoughts or behaviours

· fear social situations

· being afraid of things, such as spiders, flying or heights

There are a range of evidence-based talking therapies. Which therapy you are offered depends on which one has been shown to be most helpful for your symptoms.

Examples of talking therapies include:

· guided self-help-where a therapist coaches you as you work through a self-help course in your own time, either using a workbook or an online course

· cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)-based on the idea that thoughts, feelings, what we do, and how our bodies feel physically, are all connected. CBT helps you notice and challenge thoughts or behaviours to help you feel better.

· interpersonal therapy (IPT) or dynamic interpersonal therapy (DIT)-therapies that look at the link between your depression and your relationships

Talking therapies can also help if you have mental health problems resulting from other conditions, such as diabetes (糖尿病), cancer, long-term pain.

Talking therapies are oftered in different ways, including:

· using a self-help workbook with the support of a therapist

· as an online course

· one-to-one sessions either in person, over the phone or as a video consultation

· in a group

6 . It is certainly difficult to make money. But should money be difficult to give away? In The Gilded Age, industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller worried about waste and misuse; Carnegie wrote in 1889 that $950 of every $1,000 that went to charity was “unwisely spent”.     1     Donors ran lengthy application processes, provided funds and fulfilled painstaking reporting requirements. In 2006 The Economist called it “philanthrocapitalism (慈善资本主义)”.

    2     The 400 richest Americans have given away just 6% of their combined fortunes, according to Forbes. At the last count in 2022, almost $1.2 trn was sitting in American private foundations and $230bn in donor-advised funds, a sort of savings account for donors. Plenty of money is being marked for charity. But it is not getting to worthy causes fast enough.

Fortunately, a new generation of donors is once again shaking up the world of big philanthropy (慈善事业). Leading the mission is MacKenzie Scott, who simplified the process of giving and is donating billions of dollars a year with few conditions. This “no-strings giving” is changing mega-donors’ long-held assumptions.     3    

One is the recognition that philanthropists do not have to do everything themselves.     4     An upside of a decades-long trend for businesslike philanthropy is that armies of consultants have emerged to help donors draw up a strategy and conduct due diligence on potential recipients. Donors can team up and share the work, too.

Another lesson from the no-strings crowd is that philanthropists can trust recipients to put money to good use once the proper due diligence is in place. That means analyzing a nonprofit organization’s annual reports and interviewing its leaders and other funders.

7 . Adapted from Shanghai writer Jin Yucheng’s Mao Dun Literature Prize winning novel, Fan Hua (Blossoms), the series — which primarily takes place between 1993 and 1994 — follows the jouney of Ah Bao, an ambitious everyman who takes every chance and rises to become a legendary figure in the city’s most upper-class commercial circles. Aside from emphasizing his ability to seize opportunities in the stock and foreign trade markets, the plot also follows his delicate, and romance-like relationships with three women.

The enthusiasm the drama has stirred up has led to tourists flooding to the show’s locations, such as the Fairmont Peace Hotel, which is where he rents a luxurious room to do business, and Huanghe Road, which was lined with the most high-end restaurants in the 1990s. Other examples include fans waiting in long queues outside restaurants to order a plate of fried pork chops with rice cakes, a traditional Shanghai dish that Boss Bao always orders. The drama’s popularity even extends to its soundtrack. Steal One’s Heart, a song used to set the heartbreaking atmosphere in a particular scene gains newfound popularity.

Considered by some critics as a love letter from the director to Shanghai, the city shot through the lens arouses a feeling that is both familiar and fresh. While showing landmarks like the Bund and the Oriental Pearl Tower, the drama also presents Shanghai’s cityscape in a brighter and warmer manner, as if the city has been polished by the memory of someone who loves it deeply.

Buxiang, a phrase that means “keeping silent” and which represents the concept of keeping a low profile in the Shanghai dialect, is one of the most frequently heard phrases in the drama. However, the show’s popularity has caused the phrase to become a hit, as some fans on major review sites like Douban, where the drama has received a rating of 8.5 out of 10, have commented.

8 . The ancient Egyptians thought so little of the brain that when a king died, they removed the brain from his body and threw it away. The Egyptians assumed, like many people before and after them, that consciousness — your mind and your thoughts existed in the heart.

Now we know that the mind is a product of the brain, but how exactly does this 1.5-kilo piece of matter create a mind that allows you to think about yourself, experience happiness and anger, or remember events that happened 20 minutes or 20 years ago? This isn’t a new question. Today, however, powerful new techniques for visualizing the sources of thought, emotion, behavior, and memory are transforming the way we understand the brain and the mind it creates.

Have you ever stopped and thought, “What’s wrong with me today? I just don’t feel like myself”? Perhaps you were more tired or worried than usual — but somehow, you knew that something was different about you. This self-awareness - the ability to think about yourself and how you’re feeling-is an important part of being human.

This part of of your mind has its origins in the prefrontal cortex — a region of your brain just behind your forehead that extends to about your ears. Before this area began to function (around age two), you didn’t understand that you were a separate individual with your own identity. As this part of your brain developed, you became more aware of yourself and your thoughts and feelings.

Though humans may share certain emotions and recognize them in others, we don’t all have the same emotional response to every situation. In fact, most emotional responses are learned and stored in our memories. The smell of freshly cut grass, for example, will generate happy feelings in someone who spent enjoyable childhood summers in the countryside, but not in someone who was forced to work long hours on a farm. Once an emotional association like this is made, it is very difficult to reverse it. “Emotion is the least flexible part of the brain,” says psychologist Paul Ekman. But we can learn to control our emotions by becoming consciously aware of their underlying causes and by not reacting automatically to things in our environment.

For centuries, people have studied the brain, but it is only in recent years that we have really started to learn how it works. Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go before we understand our mind’s many complexities.

9 . Monarch Butterflies Listed as Endangered

The monarch butterfly, known for its legendary migration from Mexico to Canada, is now at great risk of extinction. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the population of this orange-and-black insect has shrunk between 23% and 72% over the past 10 years. IUCN has labeled it as being endangered after having added it to its Red List of Threatened Species.

    1    . In order to make space for agriculture and urban development, people have been illegally cutting down trees. As a result, the massive forested areas that had previously sheltered the butterflies during winter have now been destroyed.

Another factor at play is the use of herbicides (除草剂) in agricultural fields.     2    . Just before leaving their overwintering grounds, females lay eggs on milkweed plants. But now milkweed is disappearing, and monarch caterpillars are losing their host plants.

Climate change has also taken a heavy toll on the species.     3    . What’s worse, severe weather conditions such as hurricanes and storms are proving to be disastrous for the already vulnerable butterflies.

Monarch experts are calling for the public’s help in the fight to save the species. “Few species inspire the awe and wonder that the migratory monarch butterfly commands,” said Dr. Sean T. O’Brien, President and CEO of Nature Serve. “While efforts to protect this species are encouraging, much is still needed to ensure its long-term survival.”

What can be done to case the problem? A middle-of-the-road solution is gaining ground. Scientists recommend promoting the growth of native milkweed and nectar flowers. Monarch butterflies are a common backyard insect in America, so everyone can contribute their share.   —     4    . They can also plant flowers for monarchs. — Those flowers will provide nectar for monarchs when they bloom.