1 . San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum’s Imagination area encourages creativity, language development, emotional skills, and artistic expression. Get into the rhythm with percussion instruments or become a storyteller in the Puppet Theater.

Explore San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum’s new Money Sense exhibit supported by PNC Foundation! Step into the world of financing and banking to introduce your little one to mathematics and finances!

The Puppet Theater is the ideal place for children to develop speaking and listening skills. Communicating with puppets gives children the confidence to express their ideas and feelings through the roles they take on. Parents let their kids take the lead and showcase their creation.

Thank you to Imagination area supporters: The Stanford Family, Price Philanthropies Foundation, The Linden Root Dickenson Foundation, KPBS, and the Jordan Ressler Charitable Fund.

320 North Broadway, Escondido, CA 92025

Monday: CLOSED

Tuesday — Saturday: 9:30 am — 4:30 pm

Sunday: 12:30 pm — 4:30 pm

Members (and children under the age of one): Free

Children & Adults: $11.50 per person

Group Rate (10 or more people): $10.00 per person. Must book ahead.

2 . Luisa Yu, a 79-year-old woman from Miami, dreamed about traveling as a young girl. Now she completed visiting every UN nation in the world, all 193, in November 2023.

“When I went to the movies, I saw this beautiful background about the scenery, the nature, the rivers, the mountains, and that fascinated me,” Yu said. “That’s why I always thought someday I will go to these places and travel.

At 23, as an exchange student studying medical technologies in the US, Yu decided that she wanted to visit all of the countries in the world, but visa restrictions didn’t allow her to travel outside of the country. She decided to explore the US via Greyhound buses. She saved her vacation time from working at Miami, Florida hospitals and was able to take long trips across the US. There are only two states that Yu has yet to visit — Kentucky and Oklahoma.

It took Yu 15 years to get her green card that would allow her to travel internationally and there were times that she worked three jobs to save money to travel. The Miami resident eventually took a part-time job as a travel agent, which gave her many more opportunities to travel to new places around the globe.

In the past 50 years, Yu has been visiting countries across the world, even some that are very tough to get into. She has tried several kinds of meat when she visited North Korea, explored the beaches of Somalia, and even skydived in Dubai when she was 73.

Yu’s advice to people who are fond of traveling is to just do it. She said, “Don’t wait for anybody. If I keep on waiting, it will never happen, because the opportunity sometimes comes only once.”

5 . At 102 years old, Jack Hemmings, a former Royal Air Forces pilot, is believed to be the oldest pilot to fly a Spitfire, a World War II plane. His 20-minute flight, from an airfield in southern England, was to raise money for a charity he co-founded nearly 80 years ago.

The flight on Monday was the first time he flew a Spitfire. Speaking at the Biggin Hill airfield before his flight, Mr Hemmings said when offered a flight he seized it with both hands and could hardly wait to try it.

Following the flight, Jack Hemmings remarked that it was absolutely delightful being back behind the controls, though the ride was very shaky. “To be honest, I felt a bit out of practice. Not surprising I am not as sharp as before.” he said.

Hemmings was raising funds for Mission Aviation Fellowship, a humanitarian air service he helped launch after WWII alongside D-Day veteran (老兵) Stuart King. The organization has since grown into a Christian organization that uses planes to deliver relief, medicine and emergency supplies to countries in need. The flight marked 80 years since the D-Day landings and honored King, who died in 2020.

Hemmings previously performed aerobatic (特技飞行) on his 100th birthday and raised more than $50,000 for the charity.

Barry Hughes, a pilot who accompanied Hemmings in the aircraft, said the veteran had a natural touch. “He didn’t need any instruction really. He just took control, flew us around, and made some turnings and basic actions,” Hughes said. “I think he really enjoyed every single moment of the flight.”

6 . Why Be Kind?

We all know that being kind is something that’s good to do for others, right?     1    . It turns out that being kind is good for everyone!

Scientists have learned that when a person does something nice for others, it can make the helper feel happier. It can also boost their well-being, which includes their sense of purpose and how satisfied they feel in their life. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a small act of kindness, such as sharing a snack, or a larger one, such as helping with a project.     2    . Even seeing someone else perform a kind act or remembering a kind act can give someone a boost of joy.

    3    . This can include lowering our blood pressure and boosting our immune system, which helps keep us from getting sick.

While all acts of kindness are good, we feel the benefits most deeply when we help others in person and connect with them, human to human. We feel joy and satisfaction when we work hard and use our talents to help others, especially when we can sense their appreciation. And when we work with others to do kind things, we feel a sense of belonging and take pride in the work we did together.     4    .

We have many ways to be kind.     5    . When children see us engaging in these thoughtful and caring activities, they learn the importance of helping others in their community. This not only impacts those we help directly but also inspires our young ones to carry forward the legacy of kindness.

7 . Thanks to artificial intelligence, education is more accessible and efficient than ever. To give you an overview of the industry, we round up some AI technology applied in education.

Duolingo

Duolingo provides listening, reading and speaking exercises in dozens of global languages, all the while providing aspects of gamification to keep users coming back. By applying AI, Duolingo’s lessons are paced and leveled specifically for each student according to their performance. It also uses data and machine learning to make course improvements, taking into consideration the differences of various languages.

Amira Learning

Amira Learning is a virtual learning application created to accelerate young students’ reading comprehension. Using AI technology, Amira has students read stories aloud and can assess oral reading fluency as well as identify areas for improvement. For teachers and parents, Amira also provides services such as student progress reports and dyslexia (阅读障碍) risk screening.

Blippar

Blippar’s products combine computer vision intelligence technology and augmented reality to enhance the way students learn in the classroom. The interactive materials bring subjects like geography, biology and physics to a visual space. For example, instead of reading about a volcanic eruption, the system shows students a virtual 3D model of the eruption process.

Nuance

Nuance makes speech-to-text software used by students and faculty to transcribe (转成) up to 160 words per minute. The technology is especially helpful for students who struggle with writing or have limited mobility. It also enhances spelling ability and word identification. Instructors use the software to dictate lectures for later use or quicken repetitive tasks like document and email creation.

8 . This past summer in the Arctic was the warmest since 1900, contributing to disasters across the wider region, recorded in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual Arctic Report Card. The Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the global average as a result of human-caused climate change, driven primarily by burning fossil fuels. Researchers say changes in the Arctic can directly influence worldwide changes across ecosystems, from sea-level rise and new weather patterns, to altered wildlife migrations.

Another surprise in this year’s report card is salmon, the key to many of the region’s ecosystems, economies, and cultures. In western Alaska, chinook and chum salmon hit record low levels this year, but sockeye (红鲑鱼) salmon in Bristol Bay hit record highs. The abundance of sockeye had an unexpected downside for commercial fishermen —a price crash. “There’re so many salmon, and they can barely make a profit,” Thoman said. It’s unclear exactly why the salmon species are responding differently to climate change, but researchers say it’s likely linked to changing conditions in both the ocean and freshwater ecosystems central to the salmon life-cycle.

In order to address the issue, researchers started constantly monitoring these ecological changes across the Arctic, and the response of wildlife, founding a program aiming to draw upon the expertise of the region’s local residents: the Alaska Arctic Observatory and Knowledge Hub (AAOKH). The group works with a network of coastal local observers to document long-term environmental change and impacts in northern Alaska. Roberta Tuurraq Glenn-Borade, a community contact for AAOKH, said local observers often provide context beyond simple data collection that can better scientists’ understanding of the environmental factors driving animal behavior—like how shifting winds and sea-ice drew a surprising number of ringed seals and polar bears to Utqiaġvik in January.

Roberta expressed optimism that AAOKH can help communities adapt to the altered environment.

9 . Have you ever felt numb, overwhelmed, or excessively anxious after seeing the flooding of suffering shown on the news, Internet, and social media? I know I have — and I recently learned that this feeling has a name: compassion fatigue (疲劳).

For decades, researchers have studied compassion fatigue among health care workers, therapists, social workers, vets, and other people who are frequently exposed to other people’s trauma at work. Over time, they can develop emotional exhaustion or even PTSD-like (类创伤后应激障碍) symptoms—including difficulty sleeping, anxiety, and feeling triggered by troubling stories or memories—as a result of immersing themselves in the problems of others, studies show.

While compassion fatigue hasn’t been widely studied among the general population, experts agreed that it can affect anyone, even those who are witnessing trauma from afar. That means almost everyone is at risk these days, because of ongoing conflicts even wars between countries, frequent gun violence, and other difficult world events that are all over the news and social media. Triggers (诱因) vary from person to person, experts say, so there’s no way to know for sure what will cause compassion fatigue. If you are reacting more strongly than usual to difficult situations—perhaps by yelling at others or growing angry when you’re usually level, you may be experiencing compassion fatigue.

To protect yourself from compassion fatigue, the experts recommended taking purposeful breaks from the news to focus on personal wellnes — such as by spending time outdoors and with loved ones — and finding ways to give back to your community and remember the good in humanity.

10 . Self-learning can help you develop important skills and gain valuable knowledge. Understanding strategies for self-learning is important. They can help you study new concepts with ease.     1    .

Determine your learning style. People often prefer to learn new information or a new skill using varied approaches.     2     by exploring different learning styles and understanding your own learning process.

Find a purpose. Determine what you want to learn about and why you want to be a self-learner.     3    . Then, consider reflecting on how it might affect your life right now and how you might plan to use it in the future. For instance, if you plan to learn fiction writing, you can decide whether you’re interested in seeking a publishing career or maintaining it as a hobby.

    4    . This can help you focus your efforts. It may be helpful to choose specific options, so you can optimize (优化) the steps of your self-learning process. For example, if you’re practicing a programming language like HTML, you can make a goal to design your own website with certain functions using the knowledge you’ve learned.

Determine a schedule. To create an effective plan, it may be helpful to create an agenda for your self-learning sessions.     5     and estimate how long each task might take to complete. Depending on your preferences, you can plan your sessions using a physical notebook, an informal to-do list or spreadsheet software.