1 . On many travelers’ lists of things to do before they die, you’ll find “See the northern lights” written down. Rightfully so these lights are one of nature’s most jaw-dropping views.

In Sweden, the northern lights usually appear from late March or early April. Your best chance of catching a glimpse of them is on cold winter nights when the sky is clear, dark with little to no moonlight, and cloudless. You need to be away from city lights and go to the countryside. For those willing to brave the cold on winter nights, here are some of the best locations.

Abisko National Park

Abisko Natinal Park is a main location. The scientifically confirmed “blue hole”, a piece of sky over the Tornetrask lake that usually remains clear despite cloudy weather nearby, gives Abisko its own microclimate (局部地区气候), which is suitable for catching the lights.

Jukkasjarvi

The village of Jukkasjarvi only has about 550 people. But don’t let the small population size fool you: Jukkasjarvi owns the world’s first ice hotel and is one of the best places to view the northern lights. The ice hotel organizes guided tours for guests to the Esrange Space Center. There you can eat at a camp outside and see the Arctic winter sky for aurora borealis (北极光). Or why not try to get closer to the northern lights and watch them through an aeroplane window? The ice hotel arranges flights for the amazing northern lights experience.

Gallivare

You can drive a snowmobile to the mountain top in Gallivare for a private light show, or head a few kilometers to nearby villages to watch those lights shining across the dark winter sky. But remember if you do get the chance to see the northern lights in person, never whistle to them. According to ancient Sumi fairy, it brings you bad luck.

2 . As we close out the final days of this year, treat yourself to a deliciously distracting new book —a book that you can dip into and out of throughout the holidays. Read up, rest up, and enjoy yourself.

A must-have guide for yoga-loving mamas, Yoga for Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond offers helpful relaxation techniques and breathing exercises that are tailored to each pregnant woman. The book also lays out valuable techniques for labor and staying in touch with your body as it continuously changes.

We could all use a little more peace in our lives. Uniquely suited for children and parents to do together, the 40 mindfulness exercises recommended here —from pausing to fully enjoy a tasty sandwich to taking chalk walk together—will not only teach children calm and gratitude, but also bring grown-ups and their littles closer together.

Frankie Elkin is a recovering alcoholic who devotes her time to solving cold cases, especially those involving people of color. A new investigation brings her to Boston, searching for a Haitian teenager who disappeared months ago. But as Frankie starts asking questions, someone else will stop at nothing to keep the answers hidden.

Lauren Redniss’ Oak Flat tells the story of the land near the San Carlos Apache Reservation through an Apache family fighting to protect the land which the U. S. government and two world-power mining enterprises are attempting to seize and destroy for its copper resources. Visually striking and deeply reported, Oak Flat tells a larger story of endless westward expansion and native resistance.

4 . Imagine you found a wallet containing a stranger’s contact details but no cash. Would you return it to its owner? Now imagine the same wallet contained a few banknotes. Would that change your response? Does it depend on the amount of money? And how do you think other people would react?

Honesty makes the world go round. Without people trusting in one another, society would fall apart. Honesty is therefore studied academically. Most work in the area, though, takes place under controlled conditions in labs, often featuring well-off and well-educated Westerners as its subjects. By contrast Alain Cohn of the University of Michigan and his colleagues have taken such behavioral economics around the world, covering 40 countries, 355 cities and more than 17,000 people.

As the team report this week in Science, Dr Cohn’s research assistants entered public buildings. They handed in a wallet to the receptionist, saying they had found it on the street outside. Each wallet contains contact details. Importantly, some wallets also included $13.45, while others not. Then, the team simply waited to see who would return the wallet.

In 38 of the 40 countries, the wallets with money were returned more often than those without (51% vs 40%). In addition, wallets containing a larger sum of money ($94.15) were even more likely (by about another 10%) to be returned than those with less.

With greater temptation (诱惑), then, comes greater honesty — at least when it comes to lost wallets. Interestingly, though, such honesty is not reflected in people’s expectations of others. When surveyed, most of 299 volunteers predicted that the more money in a wallet, the less likely it would be returned.

A certain doubt about the motives of others is probably good for survival. But the warm inner thought of “doing the right thing” is also a powerful motivation. How this altruism developed is much debated — particularly when it extends, as in Dr Cohn’s experiments, to strangers whom the altruist has no expectation of ever meeting. Be that as it may, as this study shows, such altruism is real and universal.

5 . The International Consumer Electronics Show CES is known as the place where many companies across the globe show their latest technology offerings. Here is a look at some of the top products presented at CES 2023.

Electronics maker AirSelfie launched its latest self-flying camera designed to take “selfie” pictures. The new device, called Air Pix, is a small, light camera that flies through the air and takes high-quality photographs and videos. A video on the company’s website explains that Air Pix can fly, frame and take pictures all by itself before landing back on the user’s hand.

Robot maker Labrador announced the launch of its Retriever robot. The small, self-driving machine is designed to hold things and, as its name suggests, also retrieve (取回) things. The robot can be controlled by voice commands or from an app on a phone. It can also be programmed based on an exact map of a user’s home. The company says the Retriever is designed “to serve as an extra pair of hands and lighten the load of everyday tasks in the home.”

American-based farm equipment producer John Deere presented a fully self-driving tractor. The company says the vehicle is equipped with six different cameras and a series of sensors to guide the tractor through the fields. Farmers can control the vehicle and see the tractor’s progress in real time through a mobile device. John Deere says the concept is to help farmers do more work with fewer tools and other people.

6 . If you’ve been on the job hunt in the past few years, you’ve probably had to do at least one phone interview. Phone interviews are becoming increasingly popular as the method employers use to select the candidates they want to speak to in person.     1    .

    2     On the one hand, the interviewer can’t see you, so you don’t have to worry about how to dress, how to sit, or even making eye contact. On the other hand, you can’t use any of those strategies to impress your interviewer; they form their opinion of you based only on what you say and how you sound.

Luckily, this incredibly simple tip might be just what you need to gain an edge.     3     If you’re wondering how your smile could possibly affect the opinion of a person who can’t see it, you’d be surprised.     4     It makes you “sound happier, lighter, more accessible and much friendlier” according to career blogger Coach Joan. You’ll sound more energetic and interested right from the start, and the person on the other end of the line will immediately feel more at ease with you.

Joan suggests standing by a mirror during the interview to make sure you’re smiling the entire time. Even if you feel it silly at first, you’ll quickly get used to it, and your smile will probably help ease your nerves, too! Plus, using a mirror during a phone interview is great practice for an in-person one, since you can’t exactly look in the mirror during one of those!     5    

8 . First impressions can set a lasting tone, but there is often something doubtful. Psychologists have documented a phenomenon known as the liking gap, by which two people meeting for the first time routinely underestimate how much their counterparts (对应方) like them. A new study finds that the liking gap occurs in group settings too and hinders how well groups function.

In one experiment, the researchers divided 159 participants into groups of three and asked them to have a conversation. They then surveyed the participants individually about how much they liked each of their partners, how much they thought each partner liked them, and how much they thought their partners liked each other. On average, people liked their partners more than they believed their partners liked them, and thought themselves to be the least liked in the group.

In a subsequent experiment, the researchers asked similar questions of engineering students who had worked together in design competitions for varying lengths of time. Here, too, people tended to underestimate the degree to which they were liked, regardless of how long they had known their teammates — and their dim views of their own likability reduced their willingness to ask others for help, give honest feedback, and work together in the future.

A final experiment involving a broad sample of workers showed that the misperceptions (误解) were strongest among teammates and that they decreased team effectiveness and job satisfaction. It also found a possible explanation for the liking gap: People tend to focus on positive thoughts when reflecting on how much they like someone else (“I’m happy that she got a promotion”) but fall victim to more negative ones when considering how others view them (“I got a promotion, so she might be green with envy”).

Managers should think carefully not just about how teammates regard one another but about how team members think they themselves are regarded, the researchers say; correcting misperceptions could boost team satisfaction and performance. “If only people knew how positively their teammates actually felt about them, they might communicate better, feel more included on their teams, and be happier overall with their jobs,” they write.