1 . Costa Rica is full of unique animals found nowhere else on Earth. And you could help nurse some of these injured forest animals back to health while you live and volunteer in Costa Rica for up to 10 weeks!

On this all-inclusive volunteer trip, not only do you get to live and volunteer with a trusted wildlife rehabilitation organization in Costa Rica. When you go with Global, you get:

Pre-Departure Guide — Our in-depth pre-departure guide will have all the information you need about your trip & destination, at your fingertips.

Dedicated Trip Coordinator (协调员) — Hand-picked from an experienced team who’ve been there, done that and ready to guide you through your entire journey.

Accommodation & Meals—Relax in your shared dormitory accommodation on-site, with free Wi-Fi and a community atmosphere, and enjoy nutritious Costa Rican cuisine.

Certificate of Completion—In recognition of your hard work and commitment throughout the experience, and it goes very well with your future CV (简历).

Can you picture it? You spend your days doing various tasks around the conservation area. Anything from repairing enclosures, feeding the animals, maintaining gardens, or taking photos of the animals.

For most people, getting to see one of these animals is a bucket-list experience. Especially if they get to interact and help with the recovery of these injured forest animals. Seeing a cute sloth pick its way through the canopy is one thing. But interacting with a sloth every day, and watching it make progress as it heals from its injuries, is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

3 . A new study involving nearly 50,000 people from four continents offers new insights into identifying the quantity of daily walking steps that will best improve adults’ health and longevity (长寿), and whether the ideal number of steps differs across people of different ages. The study represents an effort to develop an evidence-based public health message about the benefits of physical activity. The often-repeated 10,000-step-a-day saying grew out of a decades-old marketing activity for a Japanese pedometer, an instrument measuring how far you walk, with no science to back it up.

Led by physical activity professor Amanda Paluch, an international group of scientists conducted an experiment among adults aged 18 and older. They grouped the nearly 50,000 participants into four comparative groups according to average steps per day. The lowest step group averaged 3,500 steps; the second, 5,800; the third, 7,800; and the fourth, 10,900 steps per day. Among the three higher active groups, there was a 40 — 53% lower risk of death compared to the lowest step group.

More specifically, for adults 60 and older, the risk of early death leveled off at about 6,000 — 8,000 steps per day, meaning that more steps than that provided no additional benefit for longevity, while for adults younger than 60, about 8,000 — 10,000 steps per day.

“So, what we saw was this continuing reduction in risk as the number of steps increases until it levels off. Interestingly, the study found little explicit association with walking speed, Paluch says.

The new study supports and expands findings from another study led by Paluch before which found that walking at least 7,000 steps a day reduced middle-aged people’s risk of early death, “There’s a lot of evidence suggesting that moving even a little more is beneficial particularly for those who are doing very little activity,” Paluch says. “More steps per day are better for your health.”

4 . Levon Biss was looking at insects from his garden through an expensive microscope he bought for his son. For fun, they unintentionally placed an insect under the lens (镜头). “It is amazingly beautiful!” they both screamed.

The father had been making a career taking photos for ads. But that experience gave him a new direction. Around the world, insect populations are in decline because of habitat loss and climate change. Biss thought that if people could see what he saw through his son’s microscope. they would care more about protecting insects.

So Biss turned to macrophotography: taking close-up pictures of small things, like flowers or insects. His work has attracted attention not just for its unusual beauty but also raises awareness about the need for conservation.

In 2016, Biss showed his first insect project, Microsculpture. The term refers to the features of an insect’s exoskeleton (外骨骼), which develops over time as it adapts to its environment.

Biss’s pictures exhibit the insects in all their microscopic details. Then he blows up the images until the insects become larger than life, some of them as tall as eight feet, namely nearly 2.5 meters. But each image takes weeks to make. He uses a digital camera with a microscope lens. The camera is fixed on a computerized track, which allows Biss to take a shot, then move the camera by seven microns — a distance equals to about 1/10 the thickness of a human hair — for the next shot. In the end, Biss might take 10,000 shots of an insect. A computer combines these small pictures into a single image.

Biss’ s latest exhibition is Extinct and Endangered at the American Museum of Natural History. He selected insects that were extinct or endangered, hoping his photos would serve as a better purpose. “I communicate visually,” he says, “The way I work is through pictures. But I think it’s my duty to shake things up and get people to pay attention.”

5 . Perhaps you’ve stopped doing what you want because you’re afraid of what others think of you. You feel that you must do what they expect and that you must meet their expectations, otherwise you’ll lose their approval. If this is the case, it’s time to start working on your self-esteem (自尊).     1    .

Think about yourself, about what you really like and are interested in. You must lead your life independently. You must do what you want without being affected by what others think.     2    , because you’ve always done everything to gain the approval of others. You need to get out of that zone, move to new places, and explore your full potential.

By surrounding yourself with people who think like you, you’ll realize that you don’t feel judged. Then, you’ll start doing what you really want.     3    . Your new friends will integrate into your life and you’ll also keep your genuine friends. On the other hand, those who are always ready to see the negative and question what you’re trying to do will gradually fade away.

To overcome your fear of what others think and of their non-approval, you should start talking about your plans.     4    . By talking to them, you’ll be able to organize your plans and ideas. You’ll feel confident in yourself and you’ll be able to go on your new path without any fear.

    5    . You’ll find barriers along your way. However, you must trust in yourself and seek the necessary strength to move forward. People in your environment often don’t understand what you do no matter how much you explain it, so ignore them.

7 . As the U. K. and nations across the world mourn (哀悼) the death of Queen Elizabeth II, several aspects of the queen’s 70-year reign have been resurfacing over the past few days. From her personal life to her colonial legacy to her beloved dog — many are attracted by the life of the monarch (君主) . According to some experts, part of people’s attention towards the Royal Family not only comes from their respect for the queen but also from the trend of celebrity worshipping (名人崇拜) .

The idea of the British Royal Family taps into a collective desire for something that seems extraordinary, as opposed to the banality (平庸) of one’s own life, Cheryl Thompson, an assistant professor at the School of Performance at Toronto Metropolitan University, told Global News.

Thompson said the fairytaleish aspect of the British Royal Family is what attracts people, adding that many are attracted by their luxury weddings, seemingly perfect lives and the media attention that follows. “People have grown up hearing about fairy tales with princes and kings and queens,” she said. “So, you would imagine the castle has to be amazing compared to the two-bedroom apartment that you live in with your family … that whole idea of having servants upstairs, the luxuriousness of the dinner table — just brings all of that back into people’s imagination.”

Cele Otnes, head of the Department of Business Administration at the University of Illinois, said the Royal Family is “a complex brand” that is different from what one would normally associate with celebrities.

“They are a global brand that people love all over the world”, explained Otnes.

“They’re luxury”, she said. People far and wide are “very interested in the drama and the tension that happens in the Royal Family.”

“I think another one of the reasons the queen was so popular is that although everyone knew she was extremely wealthy, she didn’t show off her wealth.”

9 . Most of us look forward to the weekend as a time to relax, connect with friends and family. But as the weekend comes to an end, many of us are missing out on Sunday Funday and instead experiencing a sense of anxiety. Experts have named this worry the “Sunday scaries.”    1    . Here’s how experts say you can overcome your end-of-weekend anxiety.

Organize your Sunday

Organizing can be a best friend when feeling the Sunday scaries.     2    . You might still get a sense of fear, but that feeling will disappear when you’re doing something that makes you feel good.

    3    

When organizing your Sunday, try not to arrange too many chores (杂事). If you’re feeling more stress in general, it’s important to make space for relaxing activities. And there’s no right way to relax. Maybe a mid-afternoon shower or bath, maybe an attractive movie or show.

Find out your anxiety sources

    4     . Is it a deadline, meeting or presentation? Even if there’s not a single reason behind your Sunday anxiety, experts recommend creating many to-do lists to make it all easier to control. One list for tasks that need to be completed immediately, another for tasks that are less urgent, and a final list for tasks that you’d like to complete at some point.

Create some excitement for the week ahead

Having something to look forward to gives you something to think about that’s enjoyable, rather than only focusing on the fear you feel. Instead of focusing on the awful things you expect from the week, build excitement over a coffee with a good friend.     5    .

10 . William Dunn is the founder of Take a Kid Fishing, a nonprofit (非营利的) organization in Lakeland, Florida, which teaches poor and fatherless kids through the sport of fishing.

A dozen years ago, inspired by his six-year-old fatherless neighbor, Camran, who got angry and shouted at his mom, William asked Camran’s mom for permission to take Camran fishing. Camran was “hooked” from that first trip. The two fished together several times a week, and William saw positive changes in Camran’s behavior. “That’s when I realized that I had the duty to help fatherless kids,” he says.

On weekends, William and a few other volunteers take 20 to 25 kids out fishing on a rental boat, which was supported by the captain of the Double Eagle. Many have never been fishing or even on a boat, so William —or Big Will, as the kids call him —starts by teaching the basic skills. Then come the life lessons that fishing offers: patience, team work and the simple joy of relaxing in the outdoors. Take a Kid Fishing has taken more than 600 fishing trips with almost 2,000 kids who don’t have a father in their lives.

He wants to share his love of fishing with kids who don’t have a father to take them. “I just want to show them that I care about them, that I’m there for them,” he says. Because many kids go on many trips, William is able to build relationships with them. He and Camran, now 20, still regularly fish together, and Camran sees Big Will as a father figure.

Take a Kid Fishing has a huge impact, but it started because William wanted to help one kid. Do you know a child who might benefit from your friendship? Introduce them to fishing or another hobby you enjoy. You can make a great difference to their life.