Last week I took a journey deep into space, to the end of the solar system, and was pulled into a black hole. Then I took a trip to Brazil and experienced surviving an airplane crash in the jungle. After that, I joined some divers and went to the bottom of the ocean to see strange blind creatures that have never seen sunlight. For a break, I took part in some car racing and then skied down some of the most difficult mountains in the world. I ended my travels by meeting face to face with a dinosaur, the terrible T-Rex, and survived the experience!

    I did all this in one great day at Futuroscope. Opened in 1987, Futuroscope is one of the largest space age parks in the world. This science and technology-based theme park in France uses the most advanced technology. Its 3-D cinemas and giant movie screens provide brand new experiences of the earth and beyond. Visitors can get close to parts of the world they have never experienced, going to the bottom of the ocean, flying through the jungle or visiting the edges of the solar system. The amazing, up-to-date information together with many opportunities for hands-on learning makes the world come to life in a completely new way for visitors. Learning centers throughout the park let visitors try their own scientific experiments, as well as learn more about space travel, the undersea world and much more.

    I bought tickets for myself and my friends at the park's entrance, but tickets are also available online. Futuroscope is not only for indiviudals, but is also the perfect mix of fun and learning for class outings. Classes or other large groups that let Futuroscope know their plans in advance can get the group admission rate. For anyone coming from out of town, Futuroscope has many excellent hotels, most of which provide a shuttle service to the park. If driving, Futuroscope is within easy reach of the freeway. Plan your trip well before starting, since Futuroscope has so many shows, activities and great souvenir shops that it is difficult to see them all. Come ready to walk a lot—be sure to wear some comfortable sneakers or other walking shoes!

    In a class this past December,after I wrote some directions on the board for students about their final examination,one young woman quickly took a picture of the board using her smart phone.When I looked in her direction,she apologized:"Sorry.Was it wrong to take a picture?"

    “I can't read my own handwriting,”the young woman explained."It's best if I take a picture of your writing so I can understand the notes."

    That remark started a class-wide conversation about taking a picture instead of taking notes.For those in the photo-taking camp,motivations extended beyond their inability to comprehend their own handwriting.Some took pictures of notes because they knew their phone was a safe place to store material.They might lose paper,but they wouldn't lose their phones.Some took photos because they wanted to record exactly the manner in which I had noted information on the board.Others told me that during class they liked to listen to the discussion attentively.

    Yet the use of cameras as note takers,though it may be convenient,does raise significant questions for the classroom.Is a picture an effective replacement for the process of note-taking?

    Instructors encourage students to take notes because the act of doing so is more than merely recording necessary information—it helps prepare the way for understanding.Encouraging students to take notes may be an old-fashioned instructional method,but that a method has a long history doesn't mean it's out of date.Writing things down engages a student's brain in listening,visual,and kinesthetic learning—a view supported by a longstanding research.The act of writing down information enables a person to begin committing it to memory,and to process and combine it,establishing the building blocks of learning new concepts.

    Taking a picture does indeed record the information,but it deletes some of the necessary mental engagement that taking notes employs.So can the two be equally effective?

    I'm not sure how to measure the effectiveness of either method.For now,I allow students to take notes however they see fit—handwritten or photographed—because I figure that some notes,no matter the method of note-taking, are better than none.

    A new collection of photos brings an unsuccessful Antarctic voyage back to life. Frank Hurley's pictures would be outstanding — undoubtedly first-rate photo-journalism — if they had been made last week. In fact, they were shot from 1914 through 1916, most of them after a disastrous ship wreck (海滩) by a cameraman who had no reasonable expectation of survival Many of the images were stored in an ice chest under freezing water, in the damaged wooden ship.

    The ship was the Endurance a small tight Norwegian-built three-master that was intended to take Sir Ermest Shackleton and a small crew of seamen and scientists, 27 men in all, to the southernmost shore of Antarctica's Weddell Sm. From that point Shackleton wanted to force a passage by dog sled across the continent. The journey was intended to achieve more than what Captain Robert Falcon Scott had done. Captain Scott had reached the South Pole early in 1912 but had died with his four companions on the march back.

    As writer Caroline Alexander makes clear in her forceful and well-researched story The Endurance、adventuring was then a thoroughly commercial effort Scott's last journey, completed as he lay in a tent dying of cold and hunger, caught the world's imagination, and a film made in his honor drew crowds Shackleton, a onetime British merchant-navy officer who had got to within 100 miles of the South Pole in 1908,started a business before his 1914 voyage to make money from movie and still photography. Frank Hurley，a confident and gifted Australian photographer who knew the Antarctic, was hired to make the images most of which have never before been published.

    Can you imagine being paid millions for playing in a sports team? That you were able to fill stadiums with people coming to see you play? That you could attract fans crazily like a superstar? ESports have made all that possible and more. The fever for video games has had a great influence on the sports industry.

    To what degree ESports, or electronic sports can be considered a sport remains a question. If we stick to the meaning in the dictionary, sport is understood to be any physical activity, whether a game or competition, that requires training and following rules. A second meaning is: all kinds of physical activities are done for health or for fun.

    Spending hours and hours in front of a computer or with a mobile phone in hand playing video games is not a physical activity. But when the voices that defend it belong to famous athletes, and when the International Olympic Committee itself is, seriously thinking about the possibility of introducing eSports in the 2020 Olympic Games, it is at least worth considering the argument.

    It is clear that eSports has had a big influence on the sports industry and its fans are increasing all the time. Athletes, sports teams, sponsors （赞助商） inside and outside the sport, and the media support the industry greatly, which attracts and satisfies the young generation. Professional video game competitions have made nearly $900 million over the past three years thanks to sponsorship and advertising. The industry is expected to make over $1.1 billion and reach 215 million users in 2019, according to a study by the consultant Newzoo.

    The big players in the eSports leagues have turned their ‘hobby' into a profession which offers a chance to gain fame or become famous. Those guys who distance themselves from the world, shutting themselves up for up to 12 hours a day in a dark room to connect with people from all over the planet through a video game, now fill large stadiums and compete for prizes that are over one million dollars. They are the envy of half the planet!

    As a famous NBA superstar, Shaquille O'Neal says “the fans themselves are the ones who opened my eyes. ESports are a great business chance and the industry cannot be left out.”

    While millions of dollars are paid around the world for these new idols, we can continue to argue whether they are sports or not. If only for fun…

Round and Round They Go

Space is becoming more crowded. On December 3, a Falcon 9 rocket made by SpaceX thundered into the sky. On board were 64 small satellites, more than any American company had launched before in one go. They have a variety of uses, from space-based- radar to the monitoring of radio-frequency- emissions.

These objects are part of the latest breed of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites. This launch is just taste of what is planned. SpaceX and OneWeb, a communications firm, plan to launch satellites in their thousands, not hundreds. The pair are set to double the total number of satellites in orbit by 2027.

That promises to change things dramatically on Earth. LEO satellites can bring internet connectivity to places where it is still unavailable or unaffordable. This will also be a lasting source of new demand for the space economy. Morgan Stanley, a bank, projects that the space industry will grow from $350 billion in 2016 to more than $1. I trillion by 2040. New internet satellites will account for a half this increase.

For that to happen, however, three worries must be overcome. Debris(碎片)is the most familiar concern. As long ago as 1978, Donald Kessler, a scientist at NASA, proposed situation in which, when enough satellites were packed into low-Earth orbits, any collision could cause a chain reaction which would eventually destroy all space craft in its orbital plane(平面). The syndrome which bears Mr. Kessler's name weighs heavily on the minds of executives at the new satellite firms. Debris could cause entire tracts(广阔的一片) of space to be unusable for decades.

Solutions exist. One is to grab malfunction satellites and pull them down into Earth's atmosphere. Another is to monitor space more intensively for debris; a US Air Force programme called Space Fence is due to start in 2019. But technology is only part of the answer. Rules are needed to govern the safe disposal(清除) of old satellites from low-Earth orbit. The United States' Federal Communications Commission is revising its regulations with this in mind. Other countries should follow suit.

Cyber-security is a second, long-standing worry. Hackers could take control of a satellite and seal intellectual property, redirect data flows or cause a collision. The satellite industry has been slow to respond to such concerns. But as more of the world's population comes to rely on the infrastructure of space for access to the internet, the need for action intensifies.

The third issue follows from the first two. If a simple mistake or a cyber-attack can cause a chain reaction which wipes out hundreds of billions of dollars of investment, who is liable? Underwriters(保险商) are studying the plans of firms that wish to operate large numbers of satellites. But there is a long way to go before the risks are well understood, let alone priced.

As space becomes more commercialized mind-bending prospects open up: packages moved across the planet in minutes by rocket rather than by plane, equipment sent to other small planets, passengers launched into orbit and beyond. All that and more may come, one day. But such activities would raise the same questions as LEO satellites do. They must be answered before the space economy can truly develop.

Pet and animal-related apps are creating cybersecurity risks to their owners, new research has shown. While being able to keep track of your cat and dog may be an attractive benefit to many pet owners as it can provide peace of mind, allowing a third party to track your movements may be much less attractive.

Computer scientists at Newcastle University and Royal Holloway, University of London have exposed multiple security and privacy issues by evaluating 40 popular Android apps for pets. The results show that several of these apps are putting their users at risk by exposing their login or location details.

Password vulnerability(漏洞) was one of the areas exposed by the team. They identified three applications that had the user's login details visible in plain text within non-secure HTTP traffic. This means that anyone is able to observe the internet traffic of someone using one of these apps and will be able to find out their login information. In addition to login information, two of the apps also showed user details, such as their location that may enable someone to gain access to their devices and risk a cyber-attack.

Another area of concern identified in the study was the use of trackers. All but four of the applications were found to feature some form of tracking software. A tracker gathers information on the person using the application, on how they use it, or on the smartphone being used.

Scott Harper is a PhD student at Newcastle University's School of Computing and the lead author of the study. He said, "Pet tech such as smart collars and GPS trackers for your cat or dog, is a rapidly growing industry and it brings with it new security, privacy, and safety risks to the pet owners. We would urge anyone using these apps to take the time to ensure they are using a unique password, check the settings and ensure that they consider how much data they are sharing or willing to share."