1 . Not all waste has to go to waste. Most of the world’s 2.22 billion tons of annual trash ends up in landfills or open dumps. Veena Sahajwalla, a materials scientist and engineer at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, has created a solution to our massive trash problem: waste microfactories. These little trash processors— some as small as 500 square feet — house a series of machines that recycle waste and transform it into new materials with thermal technology. The new all-in-one approach could leave our current recycling processes in the dust.

Sahajwalla launched the world’s first waste microfactory targeting electronic waste, or e-waste, in 2018 in Sydney. A second one began recycling plastics in 2019. Now, her lab group is working with university and industry partners to commercialize their patented Microfactory technology. “The small scale of the machines will make it easier for them to one day operate on renewable energy, unlike most large manufacturing plants. The approach will also allow cities to recycle waste into new products on location, avoiding the long, often international, high-emission journeys between recycling processors and manufacturing plants. With a microfactory, gone are the days of needing separate facilities to collect and store materials, extract elements and produce new products,” says Sahajwalla.

Traditionally, recycling plants break down materials for reuse in similar products — like melting down plastic to make more plastic things. Sahajwalla’s invention evolves this idea by taking materials from an old product and creating something different. “The kids don’t look like the parents,” she says. For example, the microfactories can break down old smartphones and computer monitors and extract silica (from the glass) and carbon (from the plastic casing), and then combine them into silicon carbide nanowires. This generates a common ceramic material with many industrial uses. Sahajwalla refers to this process as “the fourth R” adding “re-form” to the common phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle”.

In 2019, just 17.4 percent of e-waste was recycled, so the ability to re-form offers a crucial new development in the challenge of recycling complex electronic devices. “We can do so much more with materials,” says Sahajwalla. “Traditional recycling has not worked for every recycling challenge.” She and her team are already working to install the next waste microfactory in the Australian town of Cootamundra by early 2021, with the goal of expanding around the country over the next few years.

8 . Parents often tell kids that playing video games will harm their brains. But last June a study found the opposite — certain video games can give your brain help. Researchers from the University of Montreal, in Canada, asked a group of people to play Super Mario 64 for 90 hours over the course of about 10 weeks. They found that those people experienced growth in the part of the brain that is responsible for memory.

But many people think that there’s nothing good about looking at a screen for hours at a time. They say that playing sports, reading, and doing other activities can give you the same benefits that playing video games does. Plus, some video games can be harmful. The study from the University of Montreal also found that playing shooter games like Call of Duty has a different influence from playing Super Mario 64 — it causes the area of the brain that’s responsible for memory to shrink.

Here’s what two of our readers think.

Playing video games can be beneficial because it requires skills like problem-solving, strategic thinking, and sometimes teamwork. A study by researchers at the University of Glasgow, in Scotland, found that playing video games improves your communication skills and ability to find ways to solves problems. Video games can also help you become more creative. For example, Minecraft requires you to think outside the box and build things with materials you never even knew existed. Yo can build your dream house! Some schools are even using Minecraft to teach topics like math and computer science.

—Mackenzle Reldy, Nebraska

Playing video games takes time away from other more important things. I used to spend a lot of time playing them. Sometimes that kept me from doing things I needed to do, like studying my spelling words. Playing video games can also be bad for your health. Last year, researchers studied kids and teens in Canada who play video games. They found a connection between playing video games for hours before going to bed and being overweight.

—Devin Lewis, Arizona

9 . At the start, one gets the impression of being in a normal museum where you walk from room to room and look at things like paintings. The Museum of Broken Relationships, however, offers its visitors a chance to see a special part of people’s lives: both women and men from all over the world have sent in their personal belongings which they connect with past and broken relationships.

There is a surprisingly large number of things in the little museum that is set in the beautiful old town of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. The things have been placed in different rooms, representing different kinds of break-ups. Some relationships lasted for a long time while others were only short ones.

A woman from the Philippines sent a newspaper from NYC where she and her boyfriend had been building up their careers. The newspaper stands for the hard work of becoming successful together; within a few years though, the couple took different roads in life.

As you walk through the museum you will laugh your head off one minute and find yourself reduced to tears during another. This might happen in the room of unintended break-ups, that is , relationships that fell apart because one partner died.

Poems and letters, or broken glass are common symbols for the end of a pleasant, but sometimes difficult time. People also sent wedding dresses, photos and things that helped them escape a relationship for good, like a bicycle or trainers.

This museum might not teach you anything about art, history or technology, but it shows a very humane side of life. Each story tell us that life will go on after a break-up. It might not be easy for a while but you will learn from your experience and grow stronger again.

Having visited a lot of “normal” museums, the Museum of Broken Relationships is a good second choice and a creative way of making people think about their lives.

10 . In the South Atlantic Ocean, there is an island called Tristan da Cunha, which is a six day boat ride from the nearest town Cape Town in South Africa. There’s no airport on Tristan. Every month or so, a boat will bring visitors but not many. The boat will also bring mail and supplies. You can only see about 270 people, 300 cows, 500 sheep, and a whole lot of penguins there.

The British tried to build a military base there in 1816. They gave up after a year. But a soldier and his family talked a few people into staying. Those people slowly built a community. Few trees grow on the island. So they found wood that washed ashore. They used it to build homes and boats. For food, they raised cows, sheep and pigs. They fished and planted potatoes. They promised to share everything they had. Sometimes ships brought supplies to Tristan. But for many years, no one there used money. Instead, people on the island traded potatoes for supplies. It cost five potatoes to send a piece of mail.

Today, nearly everyone on Tristan is a farmer. The island’s main industry is fishing. It has a single factory that cans fish.

Several times, bad luck has nearly destroyed the town on Tristan. In 1885, men died in a boat accident. That left 13 women and only 4 adult men on the island. Still, everyone stayed. In 1961, a bigger disaster stuck. The town was destroyed by a volcanic eruption. All 290 people on the island moved to England. But soon, nearly all of them moved back to the island and rebuilt their town.

What’s so special about life on this lonely island? For islanders like Harold Green, that’s an easy question to answer. Green has lived on Tristan his whole life. He left when the volcano erupted. But England was too loud and too crowded for him. He came back because the island is peaceful.