1 . 17-year-old Arul Mathur has developed a new fire extinguisher（灭火器）to help put out wildfires near houses. The fire extinguisher is called the Fire Activated Canister Extinguisher（FACE）.

Over the past three years, there have been almost 7,500,000 acres of wildfires in California alone, which demolish nearly 50,000 buildings. This has caused many local people to become homeless. Arul grew up in New Jersey where wildfires were hardly heard of. After moving to California in 2012, he began to hear about wildfires. In the summer of 2019, a wildfire threatened his family to leave their home. Upon questioning himself on the reason behind the spread of wildfires, Arul realized the fact. By the time firefighters get the notice of a wildfire, the wildfire has already grown out of control.

FACE can help stop wildfires before they burn houses. It puts out wildfires by itself after sensing extreme heat without humans. It can stand the extreme condition which is a high-temperature environment. Moreover, it has a bracket（支架）that allows it to be placed in a variety of high-risk areas. Unlike traditional fire extinguishers, FACE has a mixture of water and an environmentally-friendly fire retardant（阻燃剂）within it.

Arul said, "I think that by owning FACE, people no longer have to rely on the fire department to save their houses." Firefighters could focus on controlling the fire, while people could protect their homes. He is now running a pilot test with some of his friends from the media platform Kickstarter. He said, "In general, FACE has been very well-received through the media platform."

Arul has great interest in fire safety and prevention and actively searches for ways to spread awareness. He loves to explore advances in technology and he is happy to give communities some advice on fire prevention. Arul is now planning to develop larger units for specific use in forest applications. He said, "Humans have seen great progress in technology. Now, we need to use present technology to develop more environmentally-friendly solutions for fire prevention.”

2 . Lonely? You’re hardly alone. That’s the finding of a new study. And that appears throughout industrial nations across the globe. The study linked rising loneliness to a greater use of smartphones and the internet over the same years.

Jean Twenge, a psychologist, took part in the study. Her team has found that since 2012, US teens have been spending less time together face-to-face.

“Smartphones can help keep us connected with friends,” says Twenge. “But they can also make people feel excluded (隔离).” Girls, especially, may feel this way. One reason may be that they like to post more photos and selfies (自拍) than boys. Studies have shown that if those images don’t get a lot of “likes”, it can affect a teen’s mental health.

And there’s “phubbing” a mixture of “phone” and “snubbing (冷落)”. It’s that moment in which a friend or family member takes out a phone and keeps looking at it, paying no attention to everybody else, including you. Phubbing is one way technology can affect you, even when you’re not the one using it.

The new study pulled its data from a survey. Some 1 million 15- and 16-year-old students from 37 countries took this survey in 2000, 2003, 2012, 2015 and 2018. Its questions mostly dealt with education. But they also included six statements about loneliness, such as “I feel awkward and out of place in my school”. Students could strongly disagree, disagree, agree or strongly agree with each statement.

If technology causes loneliness, should we stop using it? “No, not at all,” argues Twenge. “Everybody of all ages is trying to figure out how we can best use these technologies and stay mentally healthy.” Her advice is to “use your smartphone for what it’s good for. Then put it away.” That includes putting it away overnight—ideally in another room.