1 . In January, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta, appeared at a hearing to answer questions about how social media potentially harms children. Zuckerberg opened by saying: “The existing body of scientific work has not shown a causal link (关联) between using social media and young people having worse mental health.”

But many social scientists would disagree with that statement. In recent years, studies have started to show a causal link between teen social media use and reduced well-being. One of the most cited studies into this link focused on Facebook.

Researchers tried to discover whether the platform’s introduction across college campuses in the mid-2000s increased symptoms (症状) related to mental health problems. The answer was a clear yes, says Alexey Makarin, a coauthor of the study. “There is still a lot to be explored,” Makarin says, “but to say there is no causal evidence that social media causes mental health issues, and I definitely object to that.”

The concern and the studies come from data showing that social media use in teens aged 13 to 17 is now very common. Two-thirds of teens report using TikTok, and some 60 percent of teens report using Instagram or Snapchat, a 2022 survey found. Another survey showed that girls, on average, spend around 3. 4 hours per day on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, compared with about 2.1 hours among boys. At the same time, more teens are showing signs of depression than ever, especially girls.

As more studies show a strong link between these phenomena, researchers are starting to move their attention to possible solutions. Why does social media use seem to bring about mental health problems? Why do those effects unevenly exist among different groups, such as girls or young adults? And can the good points of social media be teased out (梳理) from the bad points to provide more targeted guidance to teens, their caregivers and policymakers?

2 . As the movie Nomadland revealed to the world, ever since the 2008 financial collapse, people have mowed into vehicles as a way of surviving the high cost of living. The pandemic also fuelled an increase in the nomadic (流浪的) lifestyle.

In 2020, my co-researcher Scott Rankin and I looked at how people who live in vehicles balance work and life. This year, I continued my research to better understand why people live this way.

People of all ages and genders take part in van (面包车) living. The average age of van dwellers (居住者) was 42. After asking respondents to rank the reasons why they chose to live in a vehicle, ranked from top to bottom are: 1) freedom, 2) low cost of living, 3) adventure, 4) connection to nature,5) minimalism, 6) avoiding undesirable weather,7)starting a new life, 8)pursuing work in different places, 9) working remotely, 10) to be on their own, 11) to join a partner, 12) to leave a partner.

Above all else, vehicle dwellers sought to be free. Whether they were a re tire n in a $100,000 Mercedes van, or young Canadians working from a $5 ,000 van, respondents wanted to be able to move their home to any place that was best for them. For others, living in a vehicle minimized their costs, allowing them to work less or make the most of their income without paying rent.

As it turns out, van living is not a fad. While many respondents were new to van living, on average, respondents indicated they had been living in a vehicle for an average of 2.5 years. Seventy-eight per cent of respondents permanently lived in a vehicle.

As the housing crisis deepens, we may see more people consider van living as a means of surviving the high cost of living. It will be up to the government to accept this alternative living arrangement, and consider having parking and facilities to support those who choose to live this way.

3 . The big French pet care company AgroBiothers Laboratoire will no longer sell very small containers for raising fish.

The company has a 27 percent share of the French market for products used by people who raise animals at home. But it said it would no longer sell any fishbowls that hold less than 15 liters of water. They will only offer four-sided ones.

The company said it was animal abuse (虐待) to put fish in small bowls without added oxygen and filtration. Filtration is the process of removing small waste from the water with a device.

AgroBiothers chief Matthieu Lambeaux recently used the term “impulse”—meaning a sudden strong desire to do something—to describe why many adults buy goldfish. “People buy a goldfish for their kids on impulse, but if they knew what torture it is, they would not do it. Turning round and round in a small bowl drives fish crazy and kills them quickly,” Lambeaux added.

Goldfish can live up to 30 years and grow to about 25 cm in large aquariums (养鱼缸) or outdoor ponds. But in very small bowls they often die within weeks or months. Lambeaux said goldfish are social animals that need other fish, lots of space and clean water. He added that having an aquarium requires some special equipment and knowledge.

Germany and several other European countries have long banned (禁止) fishbowls, but France has no laws on the problem.

Lambeaux explained the company’s decision further by saying, “We cannot educate all our customers by explaining that keeping fish in a bowl is terrible. We consider that it is our responsibility to no longer give customers that choice.”

“There is demand for fishbowls,” he said, “but the reality is that what we offer children is the possibility of seeing goldfish die slowly.”

4 . Online thrift (节俭) store thredUP has released its tenth annual Resale Report. The study, which assesses trends in the secondhand clothing industry, has an obviously positive tone. Resale is booming in the United States, as well as globally, and the secondhand market in the US is expected to more than double by 2026, reaching an impressive valuation of $82 billion.

This is serious growth that indicates a real shift in the way people approach shopping for clothes. For most, it’s a way to save money in an inflationary (通货膨胀) economy. Forty-four percent of shoppers say they’re cutting back on buying clothing-more than any category apart from restaurants. Some say secondhand is enabling them to keep enjoying the brands they love.

When choosing what to buy, people are increasingly careful about what can be resold. More than one-fifth of Gen Z (网络新生代) shoppers said they’ll pay more for an item that they know they can resell, and 36% of Gen Z shoppers stock and clear their closets at the same monthly or weekly rate. More than half resold clothing last year. As resale becomes more accessible thanks to mobile technology and online platforms, increasing numbers of customers are keen to turn over their closets, which fuels the industry and keeps the market full of fresh finds, bringing people back for more.

Secondhand helps to relieve people’s climate-related concerns. Thrifting is far better for the environment than buying new. As thredUP reported in 2021,buying used reduces an item’s carbon footprint by 82%. Choosing used over new displaces 17.4 pounds of CO2 emissions. It requires far less water and energy to produce, and it spares that item from going to landfill, where it will break down and give off methane, a greenhouse gas more powerful than CO2.

It’s great to hear such positive news. Thrifting is a no-brainer, when you stop to think about it-well-made and good-looking fashion that helps the planet while saving us money. The more mainstream it can get, the better off we’ll all be.

6 . During a ransomware (勒索软件) attack, attackers enter a target’s computer system and encrypt (加密) its data. They then demand a payment before they will free the system. Ransomware is a collective problem, and solving it will require joint action from companies, the U.S. government and international partners.

In 2020 the Federal Bureau of Investigation received more than 2,400 reports of ransomware attacks, which cost victims at least $29 million. The numbers underestimate the total impact of ransomware because not all organizations are willing to report it when they fall victim to this kind of crime. Even these limited statistics, however, show the increasing fearlessness of ransomware attackers: the number of attacks in 2020 increased by 20 percent compared with that of the previous year, and the amount of money paid out more than tripled.

As long as victims keep paying, attackers will keep profiting from this type of attack. But cybersecurity experts are divided on whether the government should prohibit the paying of ransoms. Such a ban would discourage attackers, but it would also place some organizations in a moral dilemma. For, say, a hospital, unlocking the computer systems as quickly as possible could be a matter of life and death for patients, and the fastest option may be to pay up.

Other solutions are more straightforward and involve pushing organizations to protect themselves better. Cybersecurity defenses make it harder for attackers to access systems. Segmenting (分割) one’s network means that breaking through to one part of the system does not make all data immediately available. And regular backups allow a company to function even if its original data are encrypted.

All these measures, however, require resources that not all organizations have access to. Meanwhile, ransomware people are adopting increasingly advanced techniques. Some work for weeks to gain entry to a company’s network and then enter their system, finding the most vital data to hold hostage (人质). Some groups deliberately compromise an organization’s data backups.

Others sell instructions and software to help other attackers launch their own attacks. As a result, security personnel must engage in a constant game of cat and mouse.

7 . Gender (性别) equality at work benefits everyone and the way to get there faster is to empower men as allies (同盟) in the fight.

The difference between women’s and men’s earnings is on average 18 cents per dollar earned, and even more than that for women of color. After years in which women have formed about half of the college-educated work force, this significant unchanging pay gap and the lack of representation of women in the upper ranks of senior management are troubling. In fact, only a surprisingly tiny 7.8 percent of CEOs at S&P 500 companies were female at the close of 2020. Why is it taking so long to break the well-known glass ceiling once and for all?

At an individual level, men who are unwilling to work closely with women can of course have a damaging effect on the careers of their female colleagues. But men who are indifferent about gender equality and also without necessarily meaning to prevent women’s advancement.

However, men have never been entirely absent from the struggle to expand economic access and professional opportunity for women. In 1984 the Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives and another two officials-all men-spoke out in favor of naming a woman to the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, and eventually, they made Geraldine Ferraro the vice president, the first woman ever to run on a major party ticket. Ferraro’s access to an important leadership role was the product not only of decades of activism and protest by women but also of powerful men’s endorsement of those demands, a practice that continues to be important today. In 2020, Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Biden made a promise to select a woman as his vice-presidential nominee (候选人) and ultimately shared electoral victory with running mate Kamala Harris, the first woman and first person of color to be elected vice-president.

Men’s voices are important. When men speak up against gender discrimination, they not only become obvious as allies who can be counted on to support industry or company rules to advance equality, but they also improve awareness and acceptance of gender inequality as a shared problem, not a special interest.

9 . A new study suggests that science role-playing may help tighten the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and math(STEM)education and careers for women simply by improving their identity as scientists.

Frustrated by the gender gap in STEM, in which some fields employ at least three times more men than women, Cornell graduate student Reut Shachnai wanted to do something about it. Reut said the idea to help foster young girls’ interest in science came to her during a lecture in a class she was taking on Psychology of Imagination.

Reut designed an experiment to test if assuming the role of a successful scientist would improve girls’ persistence in a “sink or float” science game. The game itself was simple yet challenging: a computer screen projected a slide with an object in the center above a pool of water. Kids then had to predict whether the object would sink or float.

She studied 240 four -to -seven -year -olds, because this is around the time kids first develop their sense of identity and capabilities. They were divided into two groups. Children in the “story” group learned about the successes and struggles of a gender -matched scientist before playing the game. Boys heard about Isaac Newton and girls were told about Marie Curie. Children in the “pretend” group were told to assume the identity of the scientist they just learned about.

All kids played at least one round of the game. No matter what group they were in, girls got the answers right just as often as boys -nearly 70% of the time. Boys, however, didn’t really benefit from the stories or make-believe. Besides, girls pretending to be Dr. Marie persisted twice as long at the sink-or-float game, playing just as much as the boys did.

Reut’s teacher Tamar Kushnir said, “Rather than merely hearing about role models, children may benefit from actively performing the type of actions they see role models perform. In other words, taking a few steps in the role model’s shoes, instead of merely observing her walk.”