1 . The new reported by Coltura offers one of the most detailed pictures yet of Americans’ driving habits and gasoline consumption.

The study analyzed GPS data from millions of vehicles and Census Bureau surveys. It builds on earlier reports the group has issued, including a detailed study of high-mileage drivers in California. Here are some of the findings: around 21 million Americans account for 35 percent of the nation’s gasoline use from private light-duty vehicles; that’s cars, pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles, vans and minivans. That’s more gasoline than is burned each year in Brazil, Canada and Russai combined. These drivers are more likely to live in rural areas and small towns, drive an average of 116 miles per weekday and own vehicles that are larger and less fuel-efficient.

“If we want electric vehicles to have the greatest impact, we need to get the highest-mileage drivers behind the wheel,” said John Helveston, an assistant professor of engineering at The George Washington University. Helveston is an author of a recent study finding that electric vehicles were driven less than gasoline cars. Recently , lawmakers in California, Maryland, Vermont and Washington have proposed policies to encourage high-mileage drivers to go electric. “We are at the point where we need to start targeting our electric vehicle policies toward the people who are harder to reach” said Phil Ting.

In its latest climate action plan, the state of Maryland proposed an electric vehicle rebate worth up to $5,000 for people who drive long distance. The program, which is not finalized, would require applicants to trade in their older cars and show that they previously had used at least 800 gallons of gasoline per year. Burlington Electric Department, a Vermont utility, will soon test an incentive worth up to $500 aimed at helping high-mileage drivers go electric. It the program works, it could be expanded.

2 . Georgianna McKenny’s award-winning podcast (播客) begins with a blaring alarm. It’s an alarm clock, waking her 17-year-old cousin, Mariah. Back in January, living in Jackson meant waking up without access to clean water. No showers, no drinkable water out of the tap, and, for a few days, no school.

Georgianna is the newly-announced high-school winner of NPR’s fifth-annual Student Podcast Challenge. In a year with more than 3,300 entries from middle and high schoolers in 48 states, her winning entry tells the story of the toll that Jackson’s water crisis has taken on the city’s students.

Georgianna struggled, at first, to settle on a subject. Then she mentioned the water crisis, which has troubled Jackson for years, while texting with a friend from another state. “She lives in Georgia,” Georgianna remembers. “I texted her, and she was like, ‘What is that?’ Like, she didn’t know about it. I was really shocked.”

Once she settled on the Jackson water crisis, and specifically, on her cousin Mariah’s experience of it, Georgianna had something just as powerful as experience. She had purpose. “No water comes from the tap.” Georgianna’s podcast is about a few tough days in January, when low water pressure across the city hit families and schools hard.

“Something so simple as using the bathroom has become difficult,” Georgianna says. “They ended up shutting down some of the bathrooms because the toilets could no longer be flushed (冲洗),” says Mariah. The school administrator told Georgianna, the water problems even affected what students were given to eat. If there was enough water，the cafeteria could prepare full, hot meals. If not-sack lunches. Mariah, Georgianna’s cousin, was not a fan. “Imagine getting turkey and ham-and-cheese sandwiches for seven days straight. It felt like we were in prison.

NPR judges loved Georgianna’s entry because she took on a major story in her community, conducted in-depth interviews and made excellent use of sound. Now, in winning NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge, Georgianna Mc Kenny is getting exactly what she wanted: A platform to sound the alarm on behalf of the kids of Jackson.

4 . Will we ever be free from the constant stream of notifications(通知)? The headache caused by your phone beeping and vibrating 24/7? Being contactable whenever and wherever you are?

Don’t get me wrong, I’d find it really difficult to be sociable without social media. It would be extremely hard to keep in contact with friends and family, especially if they live far away. Organising meet-ups would be a nightmare–imagine having to set a date in writing or in person, weeks in advance. What would happen if you were running late? You wouldn’t even be able to ping your friends a text to let them know. Events on Facebook and WhatsApp group messages have made organising everything so easy. They’ve enabled spontaneity–if it’s a sunny day, why not go for a picnic in the park?

But I find social media stressful. If you’re not checking your phone at least every half an hour, you might miss out on something important or fun. If you don’t message that friend you haven’t seen in a while, they might think you’ve forgotten about them. If you don’t remember to shower your bestie with ugly selfies, you might not keep up that Snapchat streak!

If you’re meant to be doing homework, can you resist the temptation to check why your phone is flashing? If you have friends round and there’s a lull in conversation, are you tempted to tap out a quick reply to your friend on the other end of the internet rather than playing a game with your friends on the sofa next to you?

In the 21st century contact is quicker and easier, but that doesn’t mean we have more free time.The ability to send a quick message to one friend means we have time to send one to five others, and before you know it you’re having five conversations at once. How can you really concentrate on any of them? And if your Twitter or Instagram feed is buzzing, why bother going outside to kick a football about or signing up for music lessons? You’re entertained enough–you just never have time to relax, let off steam, enjoy the world. Try leaving your phone at home and doing something productive, maybe even alone, today–you might feel all the better for it.

7 . Water shortage is occurring in some of the US’ biggest freshwater reserves and it is also evident in other parts of the planet, according to a research study published in the journal Nature last month.

The research study was conducted by Xander Huggins, a PhD candidate at the University of Victoria and his fellow researchers.

The Earth has less than 3% freshwater with only 1% is accessible to the growing human population. Both natural freshwater reserves and freshwater in reservoirs may be at risk if their amount continues to drop and the population continues to increase. In 2021, there are approximately 7.9 billion people by January 31, according to the United States Census Bureau. The research study found 34 trends in terrestrial (地面上的) water reserves observed by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment ( GRACE ) satellites from 2002 to 2016. These trends were acquired when the researchers examined 1,024 basins across the world with the goal of understanding how water availability couples with social processes in the community.

According to Huggins, the main factor they studied were freshwater stress, which is related to the amount of H₂O that naturally leaves the watershed or basin per year. The higher the stress or exit of water from the basin means that there will be less water available for ecosystems and for people’s demands, Huggins explains. The significance of the study can be of interest not only to water specialists and water conservators but also to government policy-makers. Huggins stated that after mapping the most high-risk freshwater sources and creating a framework to identify hotspot basins, policy makers will be able to prioritize a specific location.

Huggins shows that while the US score highly in terms of social adaptiveness based on the study’s freshwater stress factor, the country has many freshwater concerns that goes be-yond between freshwater stress and freshwater storage. The states of Illinois and Ohio have the highest levels of lead (铅) pipes carrying water from freshwater basins to residential households. Meanwhile in Colorado, an estimate from the Colorado Water Center predicts there will be a 20% to 30% less water of the Colorado River Basin by 2050.

8 . Half of all Australian teens now spend more time, or as much time, online with their friends rather than seeing them in person. This is despite the fact that one third of boy’s and 42 per cent of girls say social media makes hard times even more tough. Teenagers who went from using social media weekly to daily had a higher risk of depression and anxiety, the researchers found. New research from the Australian Institute of Family Studies has renewed concerns about the impact of screen time on teenagers’ mental health.

The findings showed 46 per cent of 16-year-olds and 36 per cent of 14-year-olds spent the same time contacting friends via Snapchat, video gaming, Instagram or TikTok as seeing then face-to-face. The findings also showed 7 per cent of 16-year-olds and 5 per cent of 14-ycar-olds mainly interacted with friends electronically. The highest percentage of children who communicated with friends mostly via social media were 16-year-olds with autism (自闭症), the researchers found. The study, which has followed 10,000 children since 2004, surveyed 14 and 15-year-olds and 16 and 17-year-olds about the time they spent online.

Australian Institute of Family Studies researcher Pilar Rioseco said, “The platforms young people are using to commune have changed significantly and digital devices such as mobile phones have become more readily available to adolescents.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way that many young people connect, with many having to rely heavily on digital technologies to keep in touch with friends and family.” Dr Rioseco also found that a quarter of teens were victims of cyber-bullying, including threats and name calling. A quarter of those with autism said being online made it easier to be themselves and almost half said being online helped them feel better during difficult times.

Dr Rioseco said online connection “appears to have benefits for some young people in terms of helping social connection and providing support during difficult times” . “Providing young people with the skills to communicate safely online and deal with cyber-bullying is critical,” she added.

Every Saturday, 73-year-old Zhao Guihua takes a special course. In a classroom located in a residential community in the city of Hefei, Anhui, Zhao and her classmates, all seniors, most     1    (wear) reading glasses, learn how to shop on their smartphones.

“We offer a course     2     teaches seniors how to use their smartphones to scan(扫描)health-tracking QR codes(二维码), buy things online, register for hospital visits, and shoot short films,” said Liu Li, who is the     3    (found) of the e-course.

Liu has been providing services for the elderly for 10     4     (year). After learning that many old people don't know about the use of digital devices(设备) in their daily lives, she     5     (start) the smartphone course in August last year to help them cross the digital divide.

Official data show that by the end of 2019, some 150 million seniors at or above the age of 60 in China hadn't had the opportunity     6    (use) the Internet.

“During COVID-19, scanning a health-tracking QR code     7     (need) when we go to a supermarket or take a bus,” said 63-vear-old learner Liu Shaomin.

Instructor Huang Zhen said the course started with the basics of smartphones and that the learners were all crazy about it. Over several months. The number of learners grew rapidly, with ages ranging     8     60 to 90.

“Now I can read news, buy train tickets and book tickets for tourist attractions on my smartphone,” Zhao said     9     (proud). “Scanning health tracking QR codes is now     10     piece of cake for me.”

10 . Over the past two weeks, I've lost my passport, barked at a neighbor and published a picture of myself wearing a kid's superhero costume. Forgetfulness, anger and poor decision-making are all signs of sleep shortage.

And I'm not alone.

“I average around six hours a night,” admits Paul, who's lived in Shanghai for three years. “But how much of that is deep sleep, I don't know.”

Lisa works in a hotel. “I struggle to switch off,” she says, “a glass of red wine with dinner helps.”

March 21 is the World Sleep Day, an annual event in celebration of slumber, or sleep. When sleep problems become a global epidemic, it's time to ask: “Am I getting enough?”

The lack of sleep throughout industrialized nations is damaging our health, wellness and safety. We're dog-tired, the impact of which is enough to keep anyone up at night.

A global experiment is performed on 1.6 billion people across 70 countries twice a year: daylight savings. When one hour of sleep is lost in spring, there's a 24 percent increase in heart attacks, and in autumn, when the hour is regained, a 21 percent reduction.

Good sleep increases concentration, attention and decision-making. Creativity goes up, and our ability to find novel solutions to complex problems is hugely improved. Sleep reduces mood swings and stress levels. We drink less alcohol and make better food choices when rested.

Take sleep seriously. It's not a luxury, but a biological necessity. It's our life-support system and let it be our superpower.