1 .

Panda Ya Ya returns home

Ya Ya the giant panda has just arrived in Shanghai, east China on Thursday after 20 years of stay at the Memphis Zoo in the U.S. The flight was around 15.5 hours. Both Chinese and American vets are with Ya Ya.

Ya Ya was born at Beijing Zoo on August 3, 2000. She arrived at Memphis Zoo in April, 2003. Ya Ya has become a bridge of friendship between Chinese and foreign people. She will spend a month in Shanghai before returning to her birthplace, Beijing Zoo.

We do hope all pandas that are in foreign countries can be healthy and happy.

Did you know…?

Baby pandas are born pink and measure about 15cm-that’s about the size of a pencil

Giant pandas spend up to 12 hours a day eating bamboo.

Pandas live for about 20 years in the wild, but in the zoos they can live for up to 35 years.

4 . If you walk around Huntington Beach, California, you may spot a woman holding five leashes (绳套) with one hand and pulling a wagon (马车) with the other. A closer look will show she has seven dogs with her—and none of them are walking on all four legs. Her name is Debbie Pearl,and all of her dogs have disabilities and use wheelchairs or prosthetic limbs (义肢).

There is no doubt Pearl is a dog lover—she trains them for movies and said she has always had “quite a few” of her own dogs at home. In 2005, she created a nonprofit called Dream Fetchers, which helps rescue dogs from the streets. As part of the organization’s mission, members of Pearl’s personal pack work as therapy(治疗)dogs.

About nine years ago,she adopted her first dog with a disability, Fast Eddie. He had a spinal injury and was left on the street. Now, he runs around using a wheelchair.

“Eddie was definitely my inspiration for adopting other disabled dogs,” Pearl said. “He was so full of life.He never let anything slow him down. I mean, he truly was unstoppable.” About once a week, she gathers up her crew and takes them to hospitals, schools or the Easter Seals—a nonprofit that helps adults with disabilities.

“I look for dogs that have been through traumatic (创伤的) events, but they have this amazing gift of forgiveness,” Pearl said. “And that’s a powerful thing for a lot of people, because they can see the courage, the resilience (韧性) that these dogs have. And all of mine have been through the worst—and they’ve come out shining.”

She says all her dogs are here because they’ve gotten a second chance at life. And for other survivors of abuse, or those with disabilities, that can be a powerful thing to see.

5 . Veery, a small songbird only weighing about 30 grams, will migrate thousands of miles south —from North America, across the ocean, to South America in summer. No doubt it’s a perilous journey. Some of those birds may never make it if a hurricane(飓风) happens.

But a study published in the journal Scientific Reports in 2018 showed that when the veeries begin to leave the north is closely related to the coming of the Atlantic hurricane season. The little birds try not to be destroyed by the possible hurricanes. “During bad years, the birds would shorten their breeding (繁殖) season in the north and head down to South America earlier than usual. In this way, most of the birds survived. It makes sense that they have figured it out somehow.” says Christopher Heckscher, an ecologist at Delaware State University.

Exactly, how the veeries “predict” hurricane seasons may partly result from small changes in climate like El Niio (厄尔尼诺) events. During El Niio years, the ocean water is warmer than average, and produces winds that more effectively weaken hurricanes, bringing down the number of hurricanes. The little birds are usually smart enough to sense this and make a wise decision to migrate. With these changes, rainfall in veery habitat (栖息地) may differ. When more rain falls, more fruit could be available. This change in diet may help the veery return to North America in a better shape and also enjoy a longer breeding season back home.

Heckscher says although it’s too early to determine what the birds are predicting for future Atlantic hurricane seasons, veeries have been just as good, and in one case better than meteorological (气象) models in predicting hurricanes.

6 . Whether exploring distant universe or dashing about a fantasy world, virtual reality has immersed humans in extraordinary places. Now, it seems, mice will be able to join us.

Researchers have developed a pair of virtual reality “goggles” that can bring the mice into various situations, from navigating mazes (导航迷宫) to experiencing the threat of natural enemies.

With a pair of lenses (镜片) and screens mounted on stands either side of a mouse’s head, the recently updated version of “goggles” provides each eye of mice with a 180-degreefield of view. The researchers placed the animals on a treadmill (跑步机) in front of a large screen displaying a digital scene, with their heads fixed to monitor the brain activities. This not only allows mice to see the virtual environment in 3D and gets rid of visual clues of the lab, but offers a way to present virtual images from above —for example, of a hovering hawk. This stimulation causes mice to freeze or flee the same as they react in real environment to survive a hungry bird attack in the wild. When the mice froze, activity from neurons (神经元) in their brains involved in navigation suggested they were in a different location from where they actually were. “It was as if they were thinking about where they would rather be — a safe, covered location up ahead.” Dombeck said, adding such results might help explain how imagination arises in the brain.

The team are also working to identify neurons involved in forming memories when mice navigate a maze, as well as which connections between them are improved to form memories. Answering these questions will help us understand how our brains know where we are in the world around us, how we form memories of those experiences, and ultimately how those memories are degraded in neurodegenerative diseases.

7 . Humans and horses have enjoyed strong working relationships for nearly 10,000 years. Can these age-old relationships teach us something about building robots? Researchers at the University of Florida carried out research and said yes. “As we work to improve how humans communicate with robots, I thought why not learn from our partnership with horses to help solve the problem of natural interaction (互动) between humans and robots?” said Eakta Jain, an associate professor of computer and information science and engineering.

Looking at our history with animals to help shape our future with robots is nothing new. But Jain and her colleagues are the first to bring together engineering and robot researchers and horse experts and trainers to do on-the ground field studies with the animals.

Jain first reached out to Joel McQuagge, who managed the UF Horse Teaching Unit. He provided Jain with full access, so Jain spent months observing classes. She interviewed and observed horse experts, including horse trainers and owners. Jain’s notes resulted in findings and design ideas that can be applied by robot designers.

“Some of the findings are easy to visualize (可视化), while others are not very specific,” Jain said. “For example, we learned that a horse speaks with its body. You can see its ears pointing to where something caught its attention. We could build similar types of expressions without speech in our robots, like ears that point to something visual in the car when there’s a person walking on that side of the street.”

A groundbreaking finding is the sense of respect. When a trainer works with a horse, he looks for signs of respect from the horse for its human partner. “We don’t typically think about respect in the situation of human-robot interaction,” Jain says. “Can we design behaviors similar to what the horse uses? Will that make the human more willing to work with the robot?”

8 . An experiment published in iScience provides evidence that octopuses (章鱼) feel pain like humans do.

During the experiment, Crook, who comes from San Francisco State University, placed an octopus between two rooms with different lines and spots on the walls, and then observed where she preferred to stay. The next day, in another part of the lab, Crook put acetic acid into one of the octopus’s arms. She says doing so is like pouring lemon juice on a paper cut. When the animal awoke with an aching arm, Crook kept her in the room she had preferred before. The researcher removed the octopus 20 minutes later and used lidocaine to numb (使麻木) her arm. Crook then placed her in the room she had not liked as much at first. After another 20 minutes, Crook returned her to her home container.

Finally, about five hours later, Crook brought the octopus back to the rooms and gave her an alternative: return to the originally preferred room, where she was kept with an aching arm, or go to the one she had not liked as much but where she was numb. Crook ran the experiment with seven octopuses. They all chose to go to the non-preferred room. As a control, Crook put salt water into seven other octopuses. Unlike the experimental group, those octopuses returned to their originally preferred room.

It turned out the octopuses related the room they had once liked better to the ache they felt the last time they were there. Then they compared that experience with their typical pain-free state and decided that how they usually felt was better. Using that information, the octopuses chose to go to the non-preferred room. “There’s a lot of brain processing that has to happen,” Crook says.

Crook’s study suggests that there should be more focus on the welfare of octopuses. Due to people’s ignorance, animals like octopuses are not properly protected in both research and industry in the U.S. Luckily, Crook’s findings, giving us more insights into them, have led to increased protection for octopuses.

9 . Home away from home — pet boarding facilities in and around Rochester

BEAR CREEK KENNELS（犬舍）

507-287-0045/507-289-2470

Bear Creek Kennels offers boarding and day care for dogs of all ages.

It has both indoor and outdoor fenced areas. Dogs are encouraged to interact throughout the day, spending minimal time in kennels.

COST: $24 per night

DROP-OFF/PICK-UP TIMES:

Mon.-Fri.,（7 a. m.-6 p. m.）; Sat.,（8 a. m.-5 p. m.）; Sun.,（3-5 p. m.）

BOB’S ANIMAL FRIENDS

507-280-9572/507-280-9577

Bob’s Animal Friends wants your dogs to feel right at home, so much so that it offers a “Sleep Buddy” add-on for $10 per night. A caretaker will stay overnight with your dog, meaning extra care time and sleeping on the so fa instead of in his or her kennel.

COST: $25 per night（basic）

DROP-OFF/PICK-UP TIMES:

Mon.-Fri.,（6: 30 a. m.-7 p. m.）; Sat.,（7-8 a. m. and 5-6 p. m.）; Sun.,（5-6 p. m.）

K-9 KENNELS INC.

507-226-5384/507-226-5388

K-9 Kennels Inc. features 10 indoor/outdoor kennels for dogs and a boarding area for cats. Indoor areas feature windows for natural light and doggy doors for them to go outside at will. Besides, a 5,000-square-foot outdoor play area is fully fenced.

COST: Dogs 18pernight. Cats15 per night

DROP-OFF/PICK-UP TIMES:

Mon.-Sat.,（6: 30 a. m.-8 p. m.）; Sun.,（1-8 p. m.）

10 . I was talking to my friend Sandy about our children. Sandy had recently moved into the neighborhood with her four kids: Jane, Joe, Christopher, and her youngest, eighteen-month-old Kim. She seemed happy to have kids nearby, until she saw our dog, Sam.

Sam, our shiny black dog, loved to play with the kids and protect them. But Sandy had a fear of dogs, and she started to back away as Sam approached. I grabbed Sam’s collar and made him sit, trying to ease Sandy’s discomfort.

Sandy mentioned that she needed to get her kids ready to go to their grandmother’s house. Just then, her door opened and her kids rushed out. Sandy shouted at them to stay away from Sam.

The kids huddled (蜷缩) around their mom, looking at Sam cautiously (谨慎地). Emma, my daughter showed the kids how to approach a dog slowly and properly. The kids were won over by Sam’s friendly nature, but I knew it would take some time for Sandy to change her viewpoint.

After that incident, we made sure that Sam didn’t go near our neighbors without me present. One day, when the kids were playing across the street. I noticed the eighteen-month-old baby heading towards a small hill. I saw a car approaching and shouted to everyone to watch the baby. Without hesitation, Sam rushed out the door and ran across the street towards the baby. He ran to the boy in time to gently push the baby away from the oncoming car. The kids cheered, completely unaware of the danger. They thought Sam had come to play.

Within a year, Sam had made friends with all the neighbors. Even Sandy started to warm up to Sam and would occasionally come over to give him a hug.