Sadness is a natural part of the human experience. Clinical depression, however, is an entirely different matter, and much more serious. Clinical depression, sometimes called major depression, is a biologically based brain disorder that affects one’s thoughts, feelings, behavior and physical health. When people complain that they feel terrible, have no interest or take no pleasure in things, have trouble sleeping, lack energy, have a poor appetite, or cannot concentrate, there definitely is a possibility that the person is clinically depressed.

Depression in its many forms affects more than 6.5 million of the 35 million Americans who are 65 years or older. Most old people with depression have suffered from episodes of the illness through much of their lives. But some have a first onset late in their lives — it may happen to those in their eighties and nineties. Depression in older people is closely associated with dependency and disability and causes great suffering for the individual and the family.

Many old people and their families don't recognize the symptoms of depression, aren't aware that it is a medical condition, and don't know how it is treated. Others may mistake the symptoms of depression as signs of dementia (痴呆). Meanwhile, many old people think that depression is a character flaw, so they blame themselves for their illness and are too ashamed to seek help. Others worry that treatment would be too costly.

Old people with depression rarely try to get treatment for the illness. Unrecognized and untreated depression has fatal consequences in terms of both suicide and non-suicide mortality (自杀或非自杀造成的死亡). The highest rate of suicide in the U.S. is among old white men. Depression is the single most significant risk factor for suicide in that population. Tragically, many of those people who go on to commit suicide have reached out for help — 20 percent see a doctor the day they die, 40 percent the week they die and 70 percent in the month they die. Yet depression is frequently missed.

Microplastics in Water — a Wake-up Call for All of Us

Today researchers announced that they have found tiny pieces of plastic in water samples from around the world. These pieces are called microplastics and are so small that they are invisible to the naked eye and are very difficult to remove from the water. When in the water, they are swallowed by fish and other animals and then enter the food chain.

Even more concerning is the fact that the plastic has also been found in drinking water across the world. This means that we are drinking plastic every day. Scientists do not know what level of harm this will cause us in the future.

Microplastics come from a number of different sources, in particular from washing and drying synthetic (non-natural) clothing and from cosmetics and cleaning products, such as toothpaste and face washes. Microplastics are even found in the air outside and at our homes.

Almost every country across the world agrees that we cannot continue using so much plastic in our lives. We need to find a solution to remove microplastics from our oceans. We also need to introduce new taxes and other means to encourage companies to choose environment-friendly ingredients and recyclable packaging for their products.

We need to take personal responsibility, too. We all have the freedom to choose how we spend our money and what kids of business and products we support. Let’s work together to protect our environment, both now and for the future.

Remember: Reduce — Reuse — Recycle. (244 words)

How to Be a Better Boss

Workplaces have changed dramatically over the past few years. Teams have become more isolated owing to remote work. Technology has brought great benefits but also constant interruptions, from endless Zoom calls to message flows on Slack. With each shift, the job of the manager has become harder. Many report feeling burnt-out, overloaded and confused.

Yet in real life everyone suffers when management is bad and benefits when it is good Research based on a long-running survey of management techniques has found that well-managed firms tend to be more productive, export more and spend more on research and development.

So the prize for better management is big. But how to obtain it? Read enough management books and you might conclude that managers need to change their personality thoroughly, becoming either Machiavelli’s prince or a Marvel superhero. However, study successful managers, and more practical lessons can be drawn.

One is to be clear about a firm’s processes. Managers should make clear the purpose of a team, what a meeting should achieve and who will take a decision. Meeting agendas at GSK, a British drugs firm, clearly say whether an item is for awareness, to gather participants’ input or intended to make a decision. Such clarity means that everyone knows what they are doing, and why.

Management isn’t all about piling up tasks, meetings or processes. A second lesson is that managers can add value by deleting. Sparing workers from pointless meetings, emails and projects frees them to concentrate on the work that fattens the bottom line. At the start of the year, Shopify, an e-commerce firm, deleted 12,000 repeated meetings from its employees’ calendars. The useful ones were eventually added back. But the firm says that meetings are down by 14% since the mass deletion while productivity has gone up by a similar amount.

Will Plant-based Protein Continue to be an Appetizer in Food World?

A good vegan milk needs to look like milk and taste like milk, whether it’s a fatty version, preferred by bakers, or a skimmed one, favored by the health-conscious. For years, manufacturers of plant-based protein have had trouble hacking this delicate imitation game and it seems that they are winning back a bit. The global revenues (收益) from alternative proteins could reach $290 billion by 2035 and that is a cautious estimate. However, can it last?

Unlike those early products, which were neither terribly tasty nor particularly nutritious, cleaver (剁肉刀) processing improves textures, additives boost taste and a pinch of specially engineered peas and beans adds nutrient in the latest products. Still, ultra-processed substitutes seldom match animal proteins in nutritional value. Animal products, including milk, are better for children’s bone development, though lab- grown versions of meat or dairy are becoming more nutritious. Meanwhile, green-minded consumers are realizing that plant-based does not necessarily mean sustainable in that it still takes a lot to obtain raw materials. Farming almonds (杏仁) to make a milk-like drink, for example, uses huge quantities of water.

Plant-based proteins are also a tough sell in giant markets like India, where diets are already rich in plants and vegetables, or Nigera, where meat-eating is a sign of wealth. That limits their global appeal.

All these suggests that alternative proteins have far to go to replace the animal kind. The limitations may be weighing on the firms involved. Oatly’s market value has fallen by about 80% since its listing, partly because of production difficulties. That of Beyond Meat, whose burgers feature in McDonald’s latest menu, is down by 90% from its peak. Plant-based foods may no longer be only an appetizer in diets, but their maker remain one in food business.