1 . Depending on your view, the recorder (竖笛) is an instrument of “incredible functions” or a tool of annoyance that has bothered primary schools for too many generations. But now, it faces extinction, with one of the UK’s top music schools reporting an 80% decline in the number of young people playing it in the last 10 years.

The instrument’s future is so imperilled that the European Recorder Teachers Association is trying to bring it back to life again so it does not go the way of the lute. The ERTA argues that if the recorder was good enough for the Beatles, it has a place in modern music today. Tom Redmond, the principal of Chetham’s school of music in Manchester, said only three of its pupils practised the recorder, compared with 15 a decade ago. “More pupils were taking up the piano or other instruments,” said Redmond. “The ones that became really popular are the ones students spend more time playing alone. With the instruments being more socially or orchestral based, there has been a decline.”

Redmond also said that this problem extended “beyond the recorder itself” and was a mirror of the future of music. “Like removing any plant or animal from an ecosystem, removing the recorder has a huge ripple effect (连锁反应) beyond just the instrument. You need these instruments to create the inspiration for music, and without that, there is less excitement for it and to learn music,” he said. Chris Orton, a recorder tutor and chair of the ERTA, is leading the fight against the instrument’s extinction. He said, “The recorder is increasingly overlooked by students, and yet it has a rich history and incredible attractions. As well as making beautiful sounds, it’s an accessible instrument in that it is low-cost compared to other woodwind instruments, and it’s light and easy to carry.”

4 . Children with strong family connections are associated with a high likelihood of flourishing in life, a study found. “What is different about this study is that it shows that family connection is associated with thriving and not just surviving or avoiding harm,” said lead study author Dr. Robert Whitaker.

Researchers surveyed over 37,000 children in 26 countries. In the study, family connection was determined by a mean score of five categories: care, support, safety, respect, and participation. Flourishing was determined by a mean score of six categories: self-acceptance, purpose in life, positive relations with others, personal growth, environmental mastery and autonomy. The essence of family connection is children feeling that they are accepted and cared for at home, which allows them to learn what their strengths and weaknesses are in a safe environment as they are building their identity,Whitaker said.

Children with the greatest level of family connection were over 49% more likely to flourish compared with those with the lowest level of family connection, according to the study. The highest scores in both family connection and flourishing came from children who said they lived with both parents, had enough food or never had their family worrying about finances. Researchers then controlled the data for families’ poverty levels to remove the effect they might have had on the numbers. After controlling the data, the strength of family connection still impacted how much children flourished.

According to Whitaker, adults have a very powerful influence on the emotional climate in the home, so it’s important to create a space where children feel seen and heard. A great opportunity to strengthen family bonds is around the dinner table. Adults should create an environment where children feel comfortable speaking freely. While they are talking,grown-ups should show that they have a genuine interest in what their children are saying. Silence is also another powerful form of communication, Whitaker said. Children and parents spending time together in silence or even doing chores can create a connection.

5 . Obese people experience discrimination (歧视) in many parts of their lives, and the workplace is no exception. Studies have long shown that obese workers, defined as those with a body-mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, earn significantly less than their slimmer co-workers.

Yet the costs of weight discrimination may be even greater than previously thought. “The overwhelming evidence,” wrote the Institute for employment Studies, “is that it is only women living with obesity who experience the obesity wage penalty (薪资损失).” They were expressing a view that is widely aired in academic papers. To test it, The Economist has analyzed data concerning 23,000 workers from the American Time Use Survey, conducted by the Bureau of Labour Statistics. Our number-processing suggests that, in fact, being obese hurts the earnings of both women and men.

The data we analyzed cover men and women aged between 25 and 54 and in full-time employment. At a general level, it is true that men’s BMIs are unrelated to their wages. But that changes for men with university degrees. For them, obesity is associated with a wage penalty of nearly 8%, even after accounting for the separate effects of age, race, graduate education and marital status.

The conclusion — that well-educated workers in particular are penalized for their weight — holds for both sexes. Moreover, the higher your level of education, the greater the penalty. We found that obese men with a Bachelor’s degree (学士学位) earn 5% less than their thinner colleagues, while those with a Master’s degree earn 14% less. Obese women, it is true, still have it worse: for them, the equivalent figures are 12% and 19%, respectively (分别地).

Your line of work makes a difference, too. When we dealt with the numbers for individual occupations and industries, we found the greatest differences in high-skilled jobs. Obese workers in health care, for example, make 11% less than their slimmer colleagues; those in management roles make roughly 9% less, on average. In sectors such as construction and agriculture, meanwhile, obesity is actually associated with higher wages.

These results suggest that the total costs of wage discrimination borne by overweight workers in America are greater than expected. Now, it’s time for our governments to take it seriously.

8 . Why do we find ugly-cute animals so attractive? And what makes odd-looking creatures so cute?

Evolution (进化) plays a role. According to Austrian zoologist Erin Fekete, human attraction to childish features, such as big eyes, large heads and soft bodies, is an evolutionary adaptation that helps ensure that adults care for the young, assuring the survival of their species. Odd-looking animals such as blobfish, pugs, aye-ayes and bulldogs all share these childish qualities that cause a loving response among humans and a nature to raise and protect. And these childish characteristics increase a person’s “protective behavior, attention and willingness” to care for the individual and reduce the “possibility of aggression towards a child”, says Cyril Drouet, a researcher.

Ugly-cute animals often have other value— some, like the blobfish, live in extreme environments that they have adapted to in remarkable ways. Scientists are keen to study these animals to understand whether their biology might provide fresh ideas that could lead to treatments for human health conditions such as cancer and heart disease.

But while many ugly creatures are strongly adapted to their life in the wild and can provide numerous benefits to the ecosystems they live in, they often still don’t get as much attention as more traditionally cute and beautiful animals, which leads to many of the ugly-cute species being ignored in terms of research.

There are other culture-led factors that also cause our attraction for ugly-cute animals. “The ugly-cute thing is very fashionable.” says Rowena Packer, a lecturer of animal behavior. “This is partly caused by social media, with many social media influencers showing off pet pugs and French bulldogs on Instagram.” she says.

But there are some serious worries around this trend. Veterinarians (兽医) are calling on people not to keep a flat-faced dog, because they suffer from serious health problems. Pugs and French bulldogs which have been selectively kept experience breathing difficulties, repeated skin problems and eye diseases. So while childish features such as big eyes may make us smile, we might want to reconsider our attraction for “ugly-cute” pets.