1 . You are what you eat and what you eat may be encoded (编码) in your DNA. Studies have indicated that your genes play a role in determining the foods you find delicious or disgusting. But exactly how big a role they play has been difficult to figure out. “Everything has a genetic component even if it’s small,” says Joanne Cole, a geneticist at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “We know that there is some genetic contribution to why we eat the foods we eat . Can we take the next step and actually locate the regions in the genome (基因)?”

New research led by Cole has gotten a step closer. Through a large-scale genomics analysis, her team has identified 481 genome regions that were directly linked to dietary patterns (模式) and food preferences. The findings, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, were presented last month at the American Society for Nutrition’s annual conference.

The team based the new study on a 2020 Nature Communications study. This previous study, conducted by Cole and her colleagues used data from the U. K. Biobank, a public database of the genetic and health information of 500,000 participants. By scanning genomes, the new analysis was able to identify 194 regions associated with dietary patterns and 287 linked to specific foods such as fruit, cheese, fish, tea and alcohol. Further understanding how genetics impact how we eat could reveal differences in nutritional needs or disease risks.

“One of the problems with a lot of these genomics studies is that they’re very small. They don’t have enough people to really be able to identify genes in ways that are credible (可靠的). This study had a huge group of people, so it’s really powerful.” says Monica Dus, a geneticist at the University of Michigan. “The other thing that I thought was really great is that there are so many different features that they’re measuring related to diet including cholesterol (胆固醇), the body and socioeconomic backgrounds.” As the research advances, Dus says, such genome analysis could potentially assist health care providers and even policymakers to address larger issues that affect food access and health.

It’s definitely true that it may contribute to making sure there aren’t food deserts-areas which have limited access to fresh, healthy and affordable food or to making sure that there’s a higher minimum wage so that everyone can afford to eat, although the journey ahead remains lengthy and challenging.

2 . Adaptation and innovation (创新) of traditional opera has been an important trend in Chinese opera circle in recent years. In order to attract young audience of new generation and catch up with the time, traditional opera circle makes efforts to create new works. In recent years, traditional opera has come across the change of time and society. It gradually lost the main elderly audience and was not attractive for the young.

In order to find new opportunities, using modern sound, light and digital stage effects, China’s traditional Peking Opera, also known as jingju, is appealing to young people in a fashionable and innovative way, as the classic art faces an aging audience.

The centuries-old Tianleyuan Theater in Beijing has introduced fashionable performances of Peking Opera. The opera combines instrumental music, vocal performance, mime (哑剧表演), dance and acrobatics (杂技).

Tianleyuan has a jingju art experience section and fashionable performances. It has attracted more than 2,000 audience members, mostly young people, according to theater staff.

“Good art should keep pace with the times, so does jingju,” said Zhang Zishang, a22-year-old performer of The Drunken Beauty, one of the classic jing ju plays performed in the theater. “I feel today’s performance is very special,” Zhang added. She was born into a family of jingju performers and has had 10 years of stage experience. “Innovation is good, but we must also carry on the basic elements of jingju,” another young performer Deng said.

According to Deng, innovation is perhaps the best way for jingju to deal with the problem of an aging audience. The theatre has made successful attempts to combine jingju with local opera forms such as ballet when organizing performances abroad. “Innovation can help traditional arts go further. We are happy to see many young faces, and some of them even come twice to experience the ‘new’ art,” she added.

3 . Magazines make great reading materials for kids. Libraries often have a large selection of periodicals (期刊) for every age group and reading level, and for many areas of interest. And some magazines may even have issues going back years and even decades! Below is a list of some of them!

It is about finding the bright side of life as a military kid! Inside each quarterly issue, your child will encounter inspiring stories, articles, and photographs! (8 to 16 years)

With articles, folk tales, and hands-on projects, Faces magazine takes young readers around the world for an honest and objective view of how children in other regions live. (9 to 14 years)

Make magazine publishes tested projects, skill-building tutorials, in-depth reviews and inspirational stories, accessible by all ages and skill ranges. (9 to 18 years)

Brio magazine for teen girls has a fresh new look that includes more pages filled with inspiring profiles, cultural insights, health & beauty tips, faith-filled features and added fun! (13 to 18 years)

Please note: Though all the magazines on this list are written for children, some issues may contain content that you may feel inappropriate for your child. As always, please review all reading materials before giving them to your child to read.

4 . A team of students, known as Solar Team Eindhoven, in the Netherlands has designed and built a powerful car that’s completely powered by the sun.

Students at Eindhoven University of Technology have been working on solar-powered (太阳能) cars for years. The car they’ve built is called Stella Terra, the first solar-powered car that can travel off-road for long distances. They designed the entire car. On top were the solar panels (电池板). Most solar panels are only about 20％ efficient. That means they waste about 80% of the sunlight they get. But the Stella Terra’s solar panels are 97% efficient. They waste far less sunlight than even the best solar panels you can buy.

Like most electric cars, the Stella Terra stores energy in a battery (电池). Thanks to its powerful solar panels and its battery, when it’s sunny, the car can run for 710 kilometers a day. Stella Terra has a top speed of 145 kph. The car weighs just 1,200 kilograms. That’s about two-thirds the weight of a typical car.

The team recently took the car on its biggest test-1,000-kilometer test drive across Morocco. The car had to travel through forests as well as dry river-beds. It had to drive across desert sand and up steep mountain areas. It succeeded in doing all of this-and all without ever stopping at a charging station.

The team is very proud of their car, but they won’t be upset if car companies start to copy their ideas. In fact, they hope that the Stella Terra will help inspire car companies to work on similar projects. But despite their success, the students think it will take 5 to 10 years before car companies are able to build a similar car and that it needs much money.

6 . Adding to the achievements of a remarkable year, Taylor Swift has been named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2023.

Already a superstar before 2023, Swift’s career has reached new heights thanks to the beginning of her Eras Tour that brought her 3.5-hour performance to 66 shows in 23 cities across North America, Argentina and Brazil. Promoted by her tour, Swift has been named the most-streamed female artist in the history of Spotify and Apple Music. According to Billboard, the tour made about $900 million (about 6.4 billion yuan) in 2023. In addition, the tour’s movie Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour became the biggest concert movie of all time, taking more than $250

As she was declare a billionaire by Bloomberg in November, a hidden “Taylor Swift economy” also promoted sales for business owners across the US. From soaps to a cruise inspired by her different “eras”, interest in Swift-related products went way up.

Apart from her financial contributions, Swift made a significant cultural impact by taking back control of her music. In 2019, her old record label, Big Machine, sold the master tapes of her first six albums (专辑) to Scoot er Braun. The sale meant that she didn’t have the rights to the albums. In response to this, Swift began re-recording her first six albums, tagging (加标签于) them “Taylor’s Version”. This move stressed her belief that artists deserve to own their work. “It’s all in how you deal with loss,” she told Time. “I respond to extreme pain by resisting.”

Heading into 2024, Swift will start the Eras Tour again in Japan and Australia. As USA Today noted, “Her current top has been a long time coming, but it may also be just beginning.”

7 . Cathy Brennan calmly paddled her bright yellow kayak (皮艇) down the Potomac River, continuing her voyage, the latest of her solo trips on major waterways. It was tough, but it allowed Brennan to let go of everything else, empty her brain of the everyday chores and focus on the now. “I’m in the moment, looking at the waves.” said Brennan.

The journey is a minimalist style: sleeping bag, small tent, rain jacket, change of clothes, first aid kit, apples and cheese sticks. When she’s thirsty, she scoops water from the rivers and pumps it through a filter. “I always drink the river,” she says. Brennan loves being on the rivers, seeing the bald eagles above, deer on the banks and a fascinating array of bugs and insects that never find their way into homes.

However, every few days Brennan will find a hotel for the night where she can get a shower and eat a cheeseburger. She’ll also check in with her husband John, who has helped her select the river and research the trips at their home. “He’s my virtual Sherpa (夏尔巴人) with benefits,” Brennan says, laughing. She has a phone with her but rarely calls or texts anyone. Her children usually keep track of her via the transponder that sends them her location every 10minutes or so.

Brennan knows that solo kayaking is not for everyone and she’s not reckless. Brennan grew up on a lake and was a strong swimmer and boater from an early age. When going through rough rapids, she watches the weather carefully. She is cautious about where she camps and who is around her. She has packed up her gear and headed back out on the river when she has felt unsafe.

Surely, she is alone on these journeys but she isn’t lonely. She suggested that we all need some disconnection from the wired world to find the wider world around us.

9 . By now we all know the importance of drinking enough water throughout the day, but there is such a thing as too much. Earlier this summer, a 35-year-old Indiana woman, died from water toxicity (毒性作用) after drinking too much water in a short period of time, according to a local news report.

While drinking enough water is important, overdoing it can lead to low levels of sodium (钠) in the blood, which can be life-threatening, according to Julia Zumpano, an expert at Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Human Nutrition.

Exactly how much is enough for our body depends on a variety of factors, including our weight, age, location and overall health. People in poor health, or active people such as athletes, are at risk of water toxicity, as they tend to drink large amounts of water and lose sodium through their sweat. So are women and children because of their smaller body size.

While the gold standard for many years has been eight glasses of 8 ounces (盎司) of water per day, the National Academy of Medicine suggests enough water intake is about 125 ounces for men and about 91 ounces for women. And it recommends not drinking more than 48 ounces of water per hour. This includes total water from fruits, vegetables and other drinks besides water.

If you struggle with getting enough water per day, you can try water bottles to help track your water intake. Eating fruits and vegetables can also increase our water intake. You could experiment with adding flavor to improve the taste of your water.

“Most people had better keep drinking water throughout the day, but larger amounts may be needed in the heat for an extended period of time or during exercise. If you are thirsty for water — listen to your body. But don’t overdo it,” says Zumpano.

10 . Phil White has just returned from an 18000-mile, around-the-world bicycle trip. White had two reasons for making this epic journey. First of all, he wanted to use the trip to raise money for charity, which he did. He raised £70,000 for the British charity, Oxfam. White's second reason for making the trip was to break the world record and become the fastest person to cycle around the world. He is still waiting to find out if he has broken the record or not.

White set off from Trafalgar Square, in London, on 19th June 2004 and was back 299 days later. He spent more than 1,300 hours in the saddle (车座) and destroyed four sets of tyres and three bike chains. He had the adventure of his life crossing Europe, the Middle East, India, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Americas. Amazingly, he did all of this with absolutely no support team. No jeep carrying food, water and medicine. No doctor. Nothing! Just a bike and a very, very long road.

The journey was lonely and desperate at times. He also had to fight his way across deserts, through jungles and over mountains. He cycled through heavy rains and temperatures of up to 45 degrees, all to help people in need. There were other dangers along the road. In Iran, he was chased by armed robbers and was lucky to escape with his life and the little money he had. The worst thing that happened to him was having to cycle into a headwind on a road that crosses the south of Australia. For 1,000 kilometres he battled against the wind that was constantly pushing him. This part of the trip was slow, hard work and depressing, but he made it in the end.

Now Mr. White is back and intends to write a book about his adventures.