British Museum

When the British Museum opened in 1759 it was the first of its kind in the world: the only national museum open to the public. It was – and still is – free to visit. The displays are organised by location and time period: Ancient Iran, Greece, China from 5000 BC onwards, Roman Britain and so on. Overwhelmed? Follow a free eye-opener tour on your smart phone or book onto the Around the World in 90 Minutes guided tour.

National Gallery

You can’t miss this artistic institution in Trafalgar Square. There you can see some of the world’s finest works of art for free. Founded in 1824 to display a collection of just 36 paintings, today the National Gallery is home to over 2,000 works from artists such as da Vinci, van Gogh and Picasso. The National Gallery hosts free after-work events for adults. So if you want to learn more about these famous artworks over a glass of wine, come along.

Science Museum

One of London's favorite hands-on museums, the Science Museum features seven floors of entertaining and educational exhibits, including the Apollo 10 Spaceship! If you're going with little ones, head to Pattern Pod or The Garden, where children can directly explore basic scientific principles with sound and water.

Cartoon Museum

This highly entertaining London tourist attraction covers the history and development of British cartoon from the 18th century to the present day. See how artists portrayed important events and the great and good over the centuries. It’s great value at only ₤7.00 for entry.

Having spring around makes you feel different after such a long winter journey. The power of sunshine brings us a lot of comfort, optimism, self-confidence and of course a smile. Imagine how great it will be if we are so positive all year round!

Living like this is possible if you really think about it. In order to exist in such a state of happiness, we must have sunshine radiating from within ourselves, shining from our hearts, minds and souls. Actually, that’s your choice, and if you think that way then your own life will reflect that attitude of yours!

In order to make “sunshine” or rather, “light” part of our being, it is so important that you watch your thoughts, your words and your actions so that you will accept what you really feel you’d like to create in your own life. Watch your thoughts and really become aware of how many negative thoughts pass through your mind about yourself and other people around you. Watch to see how often you gossip about other people, which is actually often attached with feelings of jealousy and insecurity about yourself.

You are also supposed to take a close look at your “intention”. How many of you do something for another person without expecting to receive something in return? It might not even have to be a material or physical thing you expect; expecting to be recognized for what you have done is enough to create conditions on your attention. Think about it!

Putting all of these together, it seems that most of us are creating monsters inside us just by simply talking, thinking and not putting our heart out with the right intention towards helping someone else. If you take all your negative attitudes in one hand and measure your need to feel “sunshine” in the other, you will see how both these elements really contradict each other.

Be brave and break your patterns and your habits this spring, and by doing so, you will allow the true sunshine to take place by radiating out from your heart and into your life and the lives of the people around you!

Could looking through trees be the view to a greener future? Trees replacing the clear glass in your windows is not a work of science fiction. It's happening now.

Forest Products Laboratory researcher Junyong Zhu together with colleagues from the University of Maryland and University of Colorado has developed a transparent wood material that may be the window of tomorrow. Researchers found that transparent wood has the potential to outperform glass currently used in construction in nearly every way.

While glass is the most common material used in window construction, it comes with quite a few bad consequences. Heat easily transfers through glass and amounts to higher energy bills when it escapes during cold weather and pours in when it's warm. Glass production used for construction also comes with a heavy carbon footprint. Manufacturing emissions alone are approximately 25,000 metric tons per year, without considering the heavy footprint of transporting the glass.

The innovation was developed using wood from the balsa tree, which is native to South and Central America. The team treated balsa wood to an oxidizing bath, where the wood is kept in a bleach solution at room temperature to remove the light-absorbing substance from the structure. The wood is then penetrated （注入）with a synthetic polymer called polyvinyl alcohol （PVA）, creating a product that is virtually transparent. So the transparent wood is created, which is far more durable and lighter than glass.

Switching to transparent wood could prove to be cost efficient as well. It is approximately five times more thermally efficient than glass, cutting energy costs. It is made from a sustainable, renewable resource with low carbon emissions.

With all of these potential benefits for consumers, manufacturing and the environment, the case for transparent wood couldn't be clearer.

There are some 7,000 languages spoken worldwide, each unique, using different sounds, vocabularies and structures. Charles the Great said: “To have a second language is to have a second soul.” This begs the question: Does the language we speak shape who we are? As it turns out, yes.

In societies such as the United States or Western Europe, self-expression and language precision are valued. Asian cultures, on the other hand, prefer an indirect form of communication. Words like “perhaps” and “maybe” are used more than “yes” or “no”. Americanism takes an informal approach to communication. Therefore, it’s OK to refer to a stranger or the boss as “you”. However, the Thai language has 12 forms of the same pronoun, choosing one depends on status. In this way, languages are essential in leading any culture, be that our own or otherwise.

People who speak different languages notice different things, depending on the constructs of their mother tongue. Take an accident. In English, it’s OK to say: “She broke the glass.” But in a language like Spanish, you’d probably go with: “The glass broke.” The same incident produces two different responses. English speakers will remember who’s at fault, because their language asks them to, while Spanish speakers are more likely to remember it was an accident. This has real consequences, especially when it comes to crime and punishment.

Professor Jim Cummins has written extensively on mother tongues. For Cummins, the stronger our home language, the easier it is for us to learn others. Of course, research also shows that being bilingual gives people many advantages in life. Linguist Julien Leyre writes that learning another language develops our ability to “understand the mental world of another person, based on the language they use, and how that world is different from our own.”

Our mother tongue is central to how we think, what we know and who we are. Like us, languages are living things that change over time and must be cared for to survive. By doing so, we protect not just the linguistic structures or vocabularies we use, but the culture, knowledge and power behind them.