It's 5:00 in the morning when the alarm(闹钟)rings in my ears. I roll out of bed and walk blindly through the dark into the bathroom. I turn on the light and put on my glasses. The house is still as I walk downstairs while my husband and three kids sleep peacefully. Usually I go for a long run, but today I choose my favorite exercise DVD, Insanity. Sweat pours down my face and into my eyes. My heart races as I force my body to finish each movement. As I near the end of the exercise, I feel extremely tired, but a smile is on my face. It's not a smile because the DVD is over, but a smile of success from pushing my body to its extreme limit.

    Some people enjoy shopping, smoking, food, work, or even chocolate. But I need exercise to get through each day. Some shake heads when they see me run through the town. Others get hurt when I refuse to try just one bite of their grandmother's chocolate cake. They raise their eyebrows, surprised by my ＂no thank you＂, or by my choice to have a salad. Over the years, I have learned it's okay to just say ＂no＂. I shouldn't feel sorry for refusing food that I don't want to eat.

    So what drives me to roll out of bed at 5:00 a.m.? What gives me the reason to just say no to ice cream? Commitment. A commitment to change my life with a way that reduces daily anxiety, increases self-confidence and energy, extends life and above all improves my body shape. This is the point where a smile appears on my face as I look at myself in the mirror or try on my favorite pair of jeans that now fit just right. It's through commitment and sweat that I can make a difference within myself inside and out.

    The Mokoko tribe (部落) lived on the wrong side of the island of two faces. The two sides, separated by a great cliff (悬崖), were like night and day. The good side was watered by rivers and was filled with trees and abundant food, while on the wrong side there was hardly any water or plants, and wild beasts crowded together. The Mokoko had the misfortune of having always lived there, with no way to cross to the other side. Their life was hard and they lived in permanent terror of the beasts.

    Along the edge of the cliff separating the two sides, a skinny but strong tree grew, with which they could build two poles. There was no doubt that the tribe would choose the great chief and doctor to use the poles. But when the two of them were given their chance to make the jump, they didn't dare to. They thought that the pole could break or it would not be long enough. They put so much energy into these thoughts that they gave in.

    But into that tribe were born Nam and Ariki, a pair of young hearts. One day, they decided to take up the poles. Nobody stopped them, but everyone did try to discourage them, trying to present how dangerous the jumping was, using a thousand explanations.

    "And what if what they say is true?" wondered the young Naru.

    "Don't worry. I am a bit scared too, but it doesn't look so difficult," replied Ariki, ever determined.

    "But if it goes wrong, it will be a terrible end," continued Naru, undecided.

    "Perhaps the jump will go badly. But staying forever on this side of the island surely won't work out well either."

    "You're right. Let's do it tomorrow."

    And on the next day, Naru and Ariki jumped to the good side of the island. When taking up the poles, while feeling their desire, the fear hardly allowed them to breathe. And while flying through the air, helpless and without support, they felt that something must have gone wrong and death awaited them. But when they landed on the other side, they thought the jump really hadn't been so bad after all.

    Getting stitched(缝合)up by Dr. Robot may one day be reality. Scientists have created a robotic system which did just that in living animals without a real doctor pulling the strings. Much like engineers are designing self-driving cars, the medical research is part of a move toward autonomous surgical robots, removing the surgeon's hands from certain tasks that a machine might perform all by itself.

    Doctors wouldn't leave the bedside they're supposed to watch, plus they'd handle the rest of the surgery. In small tests using pigs, the robotic arm performed at least as well, and in some cases a bit better, as some competing surgeons in stitching together intestinal(肠的)tissue. “The purpose wasn't to replace surgeons,” said Dr. Kim who led the project. “If you have all intelligent tool that works with a surgeon, can it improve the outcome? That's what we have done.”

    If you've heard about machines like the popular Da Vinci system, you might think robots already are operating. Not really. Today many hospitals offer robot-assisted surgery, where surgeons use the machinery as tools that they control by hand, typically,to operate through tiny openings in the body. But robot-assisted surgery has been controversial, as some studies have shown it can bring higher costs without better outcomes.

    Kim's team at Children's Sheikh Zayed Institute invented the new STAR system—it stands for Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot—works sort of like a programmable sewing machine. They added sensors to help guide each stitch and tell how tightly to pull. But the approach wasn't perfect. In the living animals, the robot took much longer and made a few stitching mistakes while the surgeon sewing by hand made none. Kim said the robot can be sped up. Fie hopes to begin human studies in two or three years.

    A couple of weeks ago, my oldest son, 9-year-old Hayden, came home from school and told me about his friend Katie's blog. Then he asked, "Can I start my own blog?" I thought it was a great way for him to learn new things. So I asked, "What would you want to write about?" Then we had a chat about a few choices. Eventually, Hayden decided on a particular animal species so that he could help other school kids learn about them.

    That Friday night, we set up a blog for him and Hayden's Animal Facts was born. He has posted four times so far. As we talked about starting a blog, I thought about some problems of a child blogging. Here are a few of the considerations that I had.

    Blogging isn't a popularity contest. At first, Hayden cared too much about how many views he had. After a couple of discussions, he now realizes that it's more important to come up with helpful contents for those who want to learn more about animals.

    Online security. I'm concerned about online security, so I make sure that there isn't too much personal information about him.

    The value of persistence (坚持). In so many ways, blogging is like a marathon. Keeping blogging teaches him the value of persistence.

    Writing and spelling skills. Much to my surprise, Hayden is terrible at spelling. However, he loves writing, has a great imagination and is always working on little books, so hopefully the process of blogging will help him with his writing and spelling skills.

Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy recently declared children's mental health is a national crisis. 

In December 2021, Dr. Murthy issued a report to highlight the additional pressures the economic depression had put on the country's youth, and the urgent need to address this. The impact of this crisis is far-reaching, and new research shows that it's affecting parents' well-being, plus their ability to succeed at work and provide for their families. 

"On Our Sleeves, a national movement that aims to break shame around children's mental health, surveyed more than 3,000 working parents across the US and found that 8 in 10 parents have been very concerned about their child's mental health and development or behavior in the past two years. Children's mental health concerns have been hiding in plain sight for many years, surrounded by confusion and shame," says Marti Bledsoe Post, the director of On Our Sleeves. 

The survey found that 53% of working parents have missed work at least once per month to deal with their children's mental health. And 71% of parents said issues with their child's mental or emotional well-being made the stresses of work much more difficult to cope with. 

"Employers need to know that many of their employees are struggling and it is impinging their work as a result," says Marti. "Our mission with On Our Sleeves is to provide every family in America access to free, evidence-based educational resources. We see this study as incredibly important in starting the conversation and providing solutions for working families."

As Marti points out, for some parents, taking a child to weekly therapy (心理治疗) appointments and attending meetings at school consume a lot of time. These parents should be helped.

It's 1:30 am in Kenya's populated north, and 50 people are lying on their backs on the shore of a dried-up river, staring up at the night sky. These stargazers have travelled 250 miles to Samburu to witness the Perseid meteor shower(英仙座流星雨). They are not disappointed: Every few minutes, arrows of light shoot across the sky like silent fireworks.

The Star Safari is organised by a Kenyan astronomer, Susan Murabana, who has brought a 50 kg,170 cm-long telescope to allow the group to view Mars and deep-sky objects. But here in Samburu, where light pollution is minimal, the Perseid meteors—visible with the naked eye (裸眼)—steal the show.

Every two months, Murabana and her husband load their telescope on to the roof of their 4×4 and set off to rural communities, where they give up to 300 children a chance to view the planets and learn about constellations (星座) and the basics of astrophysics. They primarily targets schools in remote areas because of her mission to give girls an opportunity that she wishes had been available to her.

"When I started this work, I didn't see people who looked like me. I was a lone ranger and I wanted to change that." says Murabana.

"There is a common misconception in Kenya that astronomy in general is hard, boring, and only for boys," she adds. "I'd like to teach young girls that astronomy is neither of these things and that they, too, can become astronomers," says Murabana.

Murabana's passion for astronomy began in her early 20s when her uncle invited her to join a similar outreach session organized by the Cosmos Education. "That was a gamechanger. If an outreach group had come to me when I was a young teenager, my attitude towards a career in astronomy would have been positive. I ended up studying sociology and economics, but maybe I would have desired to be an astronomer," she says.

Inspired by the Cosmos Education, Murabana completed an online master's degree in astronomy with the James Cook University in 201l and set up her own outreach programme. She looked to Dr Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space, as a role model. "I hope that one day, through this work, I will spark a chain reaction that leads to the first African woman in space."