Is It Bad to Sleep With Wet Hair?
If you shower before bed, you’ve probably wondered whether sleeping with damp hair is a problem. Maybe you’ve heard it could make you sick, or that it can damage your hair. What’s the truth?
Let’s address the “it can make you sick” myth first. This idea seems to fit into the old bit of folklore that getting yourself chilled and wet will cause you to come down with a cold. However, it was long ago disproved. It’s true that you’re much more likely to catch a common cold during the winter months. But this has to do with viruses.
Another wet-hair rumor is the idea that harmful things will colonize your pillow. Some research has shown that pillows can harbor allergy-causing mircoorganisms. They tend to do well in damp environments. Scientifically, there’s no evidence that people who sleep with wet hair experience more allergy symptoms. But if you wake up with a stuffy nose, itchy or watery eyes, breathing problems or other allergy symptoms, you should wash your pillow cases in hot water at least once a week.
When it comes to the health of your hair, generally, it’s thought that sleeping with hair wet may damage your hair, leading to breakages and a loss of shine. But it’s worth noting that almost anything you do to your hair - from brushing and blow — drying it to coloring it or exposing it to the sun — can damage it. Using conditioner can help restore it.
There may be some mild risks associated with going to bed with wet hair. But of all the health concerns you could worry about, this one shouldn’t keep you up at night.
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Thinking small, being engaging, and having a sense of humor don’t hurt. Those are a few of the traits of successful science crowdfunding efforts that emerge from a recent study that examined nearly 400 campaigns. But having a large network and some promotional skills may be more crucial.
Crowdfunding, raising money for a project through online appeals, has taken off in recent years for everything from making movies to producing water-saving gadgets. Scientists have tried to tap Internet donors, too, with mixed success. Some raised more than twice their goals, but others have fallen short of reaching even modest targets.
To determine what separates science crowdfunding triumphs from failures, a team led by science communications scholar Mike Schafer of the University of Zurich examined the content of the webpages for 371 recent campaigns.
Four traits stood out for those that achieved their goals, the researchers report in Public Understanding of Science. For one, they use a crowdfunding platform that specializes in raising money for science, and not just any kind of project. Although sites like Kickstarter take all comers, platforms such as Experiment.com and Petridish.org only present scientific projects. For another, they present the project with a funny video because good visuals and a sense of humor improved success. Most of them engage with potential donors, since projects that answered questions from interested donors fared better. And they target a small amount of money. The projects included in the study raised $4000 on average, with 30% receiving less than $1000. The more money a project sought, the lower the chance it reached its goal, the researchers found.
Crowdfunding can be part of researchers’ efforts to reach the public, and people give because “they feel a connection to the person” who is doing the fundraising — not necessarily to the science.
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Obstacles to the correct decision
Life is full of choices, some inconsequential, some really significant. But sometimes it can be hard to make the correct one. What are the obstacles that stand between us and a good outcome?
Some of us just find it hard to decide. Alice Boyes, writing for Harvard Business Review, tells us this can be connected to perfectionism, where people attempt to find a perfect solution to any problem and are unable to move forward when they can’t find one. It might seem that being indecisive would stop us making the right decision, but in fact it could actually help us make the correct ones.
Susan Krauss in Psychology Today reminds us that people often make bad decisions because they base them on preconceptions rather than the context in which things happen. She highlights a paper by researcher Iris Schneider which finds that indecisive people are more likely to look at different perspectives and use them to come to a better decision. So, it could be that a more significant barrier to making the best choice is our cognitive biases.
David Robson tells us that intelligence can sometimes stop people making the right decision. People sometimes use intelligence to invent justifications for irrational beliefs. He believes that humility is key to making a good decision. People who can accept that they might be wrong are more likely to consider different viewpoints. He is backed up on this by Jeff Bezos. Tech CEO Jason Fried recalls the Amazon founder saying how the people who were right a lot of the time were the people who often changed their minds.
So, maybe rather than indecision, it might be intelligence and decisiveness, backed up by our biases that actually stop us making good choices while humility and indecisiveness could help us pick the best option.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The Booming of Mobile Payment
People in China are now increasingly paying with their cell phones. According to the statistics, Chinese spent $5.5 trillion through mobile payment platforms last year, about 50 times the amount in America.
Mobile payment apps, Alipay and WeChat Pay, which belong to the country’s leading social messaging platforms together hold 90 percent of the market, leaving Apple Pay struggling make inroads (进军市场).
I have recently spent a day in Hangzhou, home to Alibaba, to see how easy to was to go cashless, and I found it somewhat ahead of other cities, including Beijing. I rode buses and subways, which all accept Alipay. I visited a major Buddhist temple, where visitors can make donations with their phones. I even listened to the sad tunes of a woman performing music in the street for change — for a scan of a QR code placed beside the change box to the exact.
Mobile Payments greatly improve transactional (交易的) efficiency. When doing business, people don’t have to worry about getting fake money, or having to carry change.
All this is a rapid and somewhat surprising development in a country where, a couple of decades ago, it wasn’t even clear that credit cards were going to catch on.
The platforms also came up with a technical fix; by using the cellular networks smartphones use, they bypassed the often-unreliable data networks used by credit card payment terminals. As a result, after several years of growth, credit card use in China began to decline around 2008.
Mobile payments have also addressed a deeper problem: a general lack of trust in Chinese society. “When we created Alipay in 2003, we did it to resolver the issue of trust among people. And by resolving the issue of trust, we’ve also resolved the issue of payment,” says the manager of Ant Financial, a company in cooperation with Alibaba.
Ant Financial’s subsidiaries (子公司) include Sesame Credit, which rates people’s credit based on their online shopping and payment records. It also runs Mybank, an online bank which extends commercial loans to qualified borrowers Ant-Financial’s vision is that when Chinese people have credit, they will have wealth.
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It is from your parents that you first learn language. This learning involves much more time than mere accent (重音) and vocabulary. You are taught that often you must concern yourself with other people’s feelings and needs instead of your own. You learn to say “I’m sorry” even in a situation when you clearly are not wrong, or to say, “That was a delicious lunch” when you thought it was just the opposite. You learn that different clothing and behaviour are appropriate at the public swimming pool, at the family dinner table, and at other places.
Parents also teach their children social skills. In learning to get along with other people, for example, you are taught when to say “Please” and “Thank you”. Some children are taught that language can be a pleasure itself, in the form of jokes, poems, and stories. Some children are taught that in our society it usually is more acceptable to use verbal rather than physical means to get what one wants. For example, most people say “Excuse me” instead of simply pushing through a crowd.
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Visitors to the UK, even from other English-speaking countries, often find it surprising (or funny) how many different ways Britons have invented to say “Thank you”. Here are some of the most common words and phrases you’ll hear people use.
You’re likely to hear the shortened version “Thanks” more than you hear people say “Thank you”. It’s often combined with something else, like “Many thanks” or “Thanks so much”. Also, people tend to add a friendly term for the person they are talking to on the end, like “mate”. For example, “Thanks, Mate!”
In other parts of the English-speaking world, “cheers” is what you say when you clink glasses of alcohol drink together, but it’s also one of the most popular colloquial ways of saying “Thank you” in England. Again, you’ re likely to hear people say “Cheers, Mate!”
“Nice one” is something people often say if someone does them a favour, finds something for them or gives them an unexpected gift. Usually it’s followed by another way of saying “Thank you”. For example, “Nice one, thanks!” or “Nice one! Cheers, Mate.”
In casual speech, people often add “I appreciate it” onto a “Thank you”, for example, “Cheers for helping me move that piano. I really appreciate it”. You also see “appreciated” used in formal speech or writing as a way of expressing thanks. For example, “Your donations to the fundraiser were much appreciated.”
People often say “You shouldn’t have!” when someone has bought them a present or done something nice for them as a surprise. It doesn’t mean you really think the other person shouldn’t have bought you the present. What it really means is “This is so generous. I wasn’t expecting such a nice present.” or even “I’m not sure I deserve it.” For example, “What a beautiful necklace! You shouldn’t have!”
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Fifteen years ago, I took a summer vacation in Lecce in southern Italy. After climbing up a hill for a panoramic(全景的)view of the blue sea, white buildings and green olive trees, I paused to catch my breath and then positioned myself to take the best photo of this panorama.
Unfortunately, just as I took out my camera, a woman approached from behind, and planted herself right in front of my view. Like me, this woman was here to stop, sigh and appreciate the view.
Patient as I was, after about 15 minutes, I grew frustrated. Was it too much to ask her to move so I could take just one picture of the landscape? Sure, I could have asked her, but something prevented me from doing so. She seemed so content in her observation. I didn’t want to mess with that.
Another 15 minutes passed. The woman was still there. I decided to take the photo anyway. And now when I look at it, I think her presence in the photo is what makes the image interesting. The landscape, beautiful on its own, somehow comes to life and breathes because this woman is engaging with it.
This photo, with the unique beauty that unfolded before me and that woman who ”ruined" it, now hangs on a wall in my bedroom.
Perhaps we all live in each other’s spaces. Perhaps this is what photos are for: to remind us that we all appreciate beauty, that we all share a common desire for pleasure, for connection, for something that is greater than us.
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Helping your teens adjust to their new high school
Switching peer groups, adjusting to a new academic schedule, and leaving behind old friends can be very hard for adolescents. Use these strategies to help your teen adjust to a new school.
Keep a positive attitude
The adjustment period begins before your teen ever steps foot into the new school. Offer a balanced outlook by acknowledging the challenges of moving, but also recognizing that a new school may offer exciting new opportunities. Point out the new opportunities that’ll be available.
Avoid saying things like, “Oh, you’ll make new friends right away, so don’t worry about it,” or “It’s not a big deal. I used to change schools all the time.” Instead, say things like, “I understand you’re worried about how to stay in touch with your old friends.”
Listen to your teen’s concerns
Acknowledge that change can be hard. Comfort your teen by saying you know it will be hard for him/her to leave his/her school and friends.
Your teen might not express their feelings with words but you might see some changes in their behaviour that indicate they are stressed out about the move. Keep asking questions about their biggest concerns. Are they worried about new teachers? Do they doubt their ability to make the basketball team?
Learn about the new school ahead of time
Carry out as much research as possible about the new school before your teen starts attending. Get your teen involved in finding out about the size of the school, the types of classes offered, and extra-curricular opportunities etc. Most schools have websites that offer a wealth of information.
Talking to a guidance counsellor or coach ahead of time can also be helpful. If possible, arrange for your teen to have a tour of the school too.
If at all possible, help your teen meet some students from the new school before the first day. Seeing a familiar face or two when they are the “new kids” can go a long way towards helping them settle in.
Life is full of changes. Someday, your teen will likely need to adjust to a new job, a new home, a new boss, and living with a partner. So changing schools can be a good practice for embracing changes.
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Online Learning
What makes teaching online unique is that it uses the Internet, especially the World Wide Web, as the primary means of communication. Thus, when you teach online, you don’t have to be someplace to teach. You don’t have to lug your briefcase full of papers or your laptop to a classroom, stand at a lectern, scribble on a chalkboard, or grade papers in a stuffy room while your students are taking a test. You don’t even have to sit in your office waiting for students to show up for conferences. You can hold “office hours” on weekends or at night after dinner.
You can do all this while living in a small town in Wyoming or a big city like Bangkok, even if you’re working for a college whose administrative offices are located in Florida or Dubai. You can attend an important conference in Hawaii on the same day that you teach your class in New Jersey, logging on from your laptop via the local cafe’s wireless hot spot or your hotel room’s high-speed network.
Online learning offers more freedom for students as well. They can search for courses using the Web, scouring their institution or even the world for programmes, classes and instructors that fit their needs. Having found an appropriate course, they can enroll and register, shop for their books, read articles, listen to lectures, submit their homework assignments, confer with their instructors, and receive their final grades — all online. They can assemble in virtual classrooms, joining other students from diverse geographical locales, forging bond and friendships not possible in conventional classrooms, which are usually limited to students from a specific geographical area.
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When you think of the Arctic (北极), you imagine an icy land of pure white snow. Others imagine it as the last really clean place left on Earth. We have polluted the deepest oceans with plastic trash, and now, CNN says, “It’s the Arctic’s turn”
German scientists have recently found micro plastics (微塑料) in Arctic snow, the Associated Press reported. Micro plastic are pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters. Sadly, the scientists found 1,800 pieces of micro plastic per liter of snow.
How is plastic pollution reaching the Arctic? According to scientists, “It’s readily apparent (显然的) that the majority of the micro plastics in the snow comes from the air.” they fall off of plastic objects and are moved by the wind, just like dust. They mix with ice in the air and fall to the ground as snow. Finding these plastics in Arctic snow means that we may breathe them in. An even higher amount of micro plastic was found in the snow around cities.
The high concentrations (浓度) found in snow samples (样本) suggest micro plastics, which contain rubber or chemical used in synthetic fabrics (合成纤维), may cause significant air pollution.
Are they bad for us? Scientists cannot answer this question for now, according to the World Health Organization. We do know that our bodies cannot take in “large” pieces of micro plastics. However, if the plastics are small enough, they can find ways into our bodies and stay there for a long time, which can be bad for our health. What’s more, earlier studies have shown that micro plastics may contributes to lung cancer risk, heightening the need to further assess (评估) the risks of taking them in, the study said.
Micro plastics have also been found in rivers and oceans around the world. Previous research has found that they flow long distances and into tour oceans, damaging ecosystems (生态系统) along the way. They start in our wastewater when we wash clothes with plastic fibers. The waste water then flows into rivers and out to sea, where they are eaten by sea animals. If people then eat these animals, it means that we’re eating the plastic as well.
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