1 . When it comes to architectural accomplishments, humans like to think they stand at the top. That is to underestimate the astonishing achievement s of social insects; for example, white ants raise skyscraping nests. The true master builders of the insect world, however, are the hundreds of species of stingless bees.

In a new study, Ms. Di Pietro and her colleagues observed over 400 colonies of the stingless bee species in a large bee house in Brazil in 2022 and 2023. Around 95% of the colonies exhibited honeycombs (a structure made by bees) built up in horizontal layers (水平分层), like tiered wedding cakes, while the rest adopted a spiral (螺旋的) structure.

Since the stingless bee shows a strong preference for a horizontal-layer honeycomb structure, it’s surprising that spiral honeycombs occur. The team confirmed that there was no difference in the average cell-building rate between the two styles, and therefore no efficiency advantage.

In order to rule out a genetic explanation for the different styles, the researchers transplanted workers from colonies that built in one tradition to colonies that built in the other, having first emptied the host structures of their native adults. The imported workers soon switched to the local style, which was then continued by the colony’s young insects as they eventually matured into workers.

Dr. Tom Wenseleers guessed that the bees may switch styles as a way of coping with the build-up of small construction errors made by their fore-runners. Such a process, in which multiple organisms indirectly affect each other’s behavior through the traces they leave in their environment, is known as stigmergy (共识主动性). The researchers later introduced a sign of spirals to the otherwise perfect horizontal-layer honeycombs, and found that it did indeed cause the bees to switch to building spirals.

These results suggest that stingless bees can pass on different building traditions across generations and individuals needn’t be instructed by their peers. “The findings are the clearest demonstration of cultural differences naturally appearing in insects. Insect culture would once have been thought impossible,” says behavioral biologist Andrew Whiten, who wasn’t involved in the research. “Less than a century ago, culture was thought to be uniquely human.”

If you love eating and drinking for free and are looking to make some money, there’s a job that suits you. A new type of service allows people to hire(雇佣) others to enjoy their favorite   foods.

Chinese media recently reported on an increasingly popular service that people can go online and hire others to enjoy certain foods and drinks, and ask them to provide video evidence of them eating or drinking the said treats. People should pay from two to nine yuan for the service besides the cost of the food.

Pearl milk tea(珍珠奶茶) is a particularly popular service, as the chewy (耐嚼的) balls and tea drink is so popular these days. There are also some people who want to pay the one who wants to eat fried chicken or hot pot for them. The trend(趋势) has spread to other areas such as selling videos of pet owners feeding their animals and people watching TV series for others. One person in Harbin even offered to sell photos of buyers’ names written in the heavy snow.

So why would anyone pay a total stranger a treat rather than enjoy it themselves? Well, clearly, the online service is so cheap that some people simply do it because of boredom. Some sellers explained that most customers buy their service because they’re hungry at night while they’re on a diet. Eating and drinking by others may help customers reduce the desire(欲望) and avoid high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and other health problems, sellers said. While others get satisfaction in watching others enjoy their favorite treats.

This service has garnered a lot of attention on social media. Although it’s not exactly a get-rich-quickly job, there are quite a lot of people willing to do it for the free treats alone. Some people describing it as their dream job.

3 . In-flight announcements can be crucial in providing important information.     1     But beyond the “necessities”, are passengers being flooded with too many announcements?

Imagine boarding an aircraft late in the evening or during the early hours of the day, eager to get some sleep. After forcing yourself to stay awake for the safety briefing, you fall fast asleep.     2     It’s the captain making an announcement. She’s telling you her name, her first officer’s name, the name of every flight attendant, and of course, the cruising speed and altitude. Was this really necessary and was it worth being woken up for?

    3     It’s anyone deep into a film or two passengers trying to talk to each other. In fact, in-flight announcements automatically pause television shows and movies—sometimes coming through your headphones far louder than the volume of whatever you were watching.

Which announcements are necessary? There are many in-flight announcements that are absolutely necessary. Anything to do with safety and security is, of course, essential. Anything to do with delays and scheduling is also important to know.     4     I think most people care about those as well.

However, anything beyond these is questionable. Of course, the additional announcements are meant to better connect passengers to the flight crew, the airline, and the overall experience of flying.     5     But in my opinion, this comes at the cost of the overall flight experience.

So from my point of view, in-flight announcements have gotten out of control and need to be controlled.

4 . Human beings need interpersonal connection. But, in fact, learning how to let go of that pressure to be accompanied has unique upsides. Time alone allows you to reconnect with your own intentions.     1    

Start small. Figure out what you’d be most comfortable doing, whether it’s sitting at a local restaurant for dinner, or hitting up the bar, and do that.     2    

Bring a book or a journal.     3     When feeling you’re so alone and stressed in a cafe, you have an activity to engage in. Plus, the act of reading or journaling can direct your attention and help you tackle and calm such feelings.

Set your phone aside. Looking through social media or texting instantly takes your mind out of the present moment. Even if you’re not directly interacting with people while on your phone, you’re probably interacting with their thoughts or inputs.     4     This way you can let your body down-regulate and reset.

Do an activity you love. You can sign. up for an art class or workout program or volunteer group without anyone else you know.     5     And part of the full-circle joy of doing things completely for yourself is that it also brings you opportunities to meet new people, and form new, beautiful connections.

5 . The Let’s Activity Campaign

The Let’s Activity campaign aimed at preserving rivers is coming. You will board at Castle Wharf, Nottingham, England. Offer to join us now.

Arrive 15 minutes before the schedule time to ensure we can get started in a timely manner. The sessions are designed for adults and children of all ages to enjoy a new experience. Parents or guardians should book tickets in advance to participate in the campaign.

This campaign is free for all participants who are also not paid. However, if you fail to cancel and simply don’t show up on the day, you must pay the standard £20 administration fee, chargeable for each ticket booked.

Therefore, if your circumstances do suddenly change and you are no longer able to attend, you must cancel using one of these three mechanisms:

1. The preferred method is via the ticket booking system. You can find the link on your ticket.

2. You can also click here to send an email to us, and know more about details of the date, time, venue and participants in your email message. Don’t email if within less than 48 hours of the campaign. Instead, you’d better use option 1 above or option 3 below.

3. In case of an unforeseen emergency within 48 hours of the campaign, telephone the staff member, which we hope won’t happen.

As part of our work, the Let’s Activity campaign is a waterway charity to help everyone get out, get active and make their lives better by learning to boat. You can now support the work our teams do with families, and make a donation on our website for the environmental protection.

6 . For most of us, it's pretty easy to stand up for someone else.     1    . So how do you go from being everyone else' s advocate to learning how to stand up for yourself? These steps come from 16 years of coaching my clients.

·Define your boundaries

The definition of a boundary is a line that marks the limits of an area; it's both a line of containment (keeping you in) and a line of protection (keeping others out). Boundaries are not complaints, threats or demands.     2    . They are your rules for who,what,how and why you feel comfortable being close to someone else, helping others know who you are and how to interact with you.

    3    

The next time someone asks you for a favor, consider if you can afford to say yes. What I mean by this is, think about what this “yes” will cost you in terms of finances, energy, health and time. Do you have an excess of these resources that you can give after you've already cared for yourself?

·Stop people-pleasing

People-pleasing is often motivated by fear. It's easy to fall into the habit because you tend to get praised for it. People-pleasing pleases people. But its effects over a long period of time can be disastrous.     4    

·Ask for what you want

It's not easy to figure out what you want. But the more time you spend getting clear on your own

10 . You really can make free phone calls using the Internet.

Google Meet

Google Meet is an app-to-app calling service that works across desktop and mobile platforms. Video meetings are encrypted (加密), it also supports audio calls, and you can form massive group calls with up to 100 people. What’s more appealing is that Google Meet display s real-time captions (字幕) as the other person is speaking.

Signal

Signal lets you send and receive texts, make voice and video calls (including group calls), and share your location and files. It was developed with a focus on privacy and security; it uses end-to-end encryption to protect your messages and calls, so only you and the recipient can see or hear what you’re exchanging.

Google Voice

Google Voice is one of the best ways to make a call over the Internet. You get a real phone number, so you can make free calls to an actual phone number. Free calls you make with Google Voice must be to numbers in the United States or Canada, and they’re limited to three hours. However, you can continue to make a free call to the same number over and over again.

WhatsApp

Meta-owned WhatsApp is a popular texting app with hundreds of millions of users. However, you can also call your WhatsApp friends right from the app using only your Internet connection. You just need to confirm your phone number to get started. Once you’re using the app, you can start a new conversation to clearly see which of your contacts are also using WhatsApp, and then you can call them for free no matter where in the world they’re located. Group calls can include as many as 32 people.