You don't have to be a superhero to help the environment. Even small, simple actions can add up to big change. People around the world will celebrate Earth Day on April 22. But anyone – including kids – can work to help the earth at any time. TFK (Time for Kids) talked to a few kids about how they are protecting the planet. Let them inspire you!

    Mari, 10, lives in Flint, Michigan, where people have been without clean drinking water since 2014. That is when the water became polluted with lead（铅）. Children in Flint have suffered from health problems due to lead poisoning. Mari has worked hard to spread awareness of Flint's water crisis by organizing fundraisers and other events.

    At age 3, Ryan went with his dad to recycling center near his home, in Orange County, California. The next day, Ryan began collecting recyclables from neighbors. Soon, Ryan's Recycling Company was born. “Recycling keeps bottles and cans out of the ocean,” Ryan, now 8, told TFK, “so animals don't get sick from them and die.” So far, Ryan has helped customers recycle 320,000 bottles and cans. He has also donated nearly $6,000 to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center.

    Joris, 11, has always loved cheetahs. When he learned that the big cats might disappear in his lifetime, he set out to help protect them. Joris began raising money. So far, Joris has raised more than $14,000. The money goes to a wildlife sanctuary（避难所）in Namibia, a country in Africa. This helps prevent the animals from being killed. Jorin has spent three summers volunteering at the sanctuary.

    Most people looking for ways to quit smoking worry about weight gain, and with good reason. Smokers who quit tend to pack on an average of 5 pounds after they stop smoking cigarettes. A new study, published by the journal Science, explains why this happens.

    The new research explains that nicotine appears to combine with appetite-regulating neurons (调节食欲的神经元) in the brain, besides the receptors (感受器) that bring about addiction. These neurons help regulate how much food gets consumed, but under the influence of nicotine, they lose their self-control. This is why when smokers quit, they tend to eat more and gain weight.

    The researchers believe that their discovery will lead to the development of drugs that aim at nicotine receptors on brain cells that control appetite. In the future, weight gain may no longer be a reason for smokers to delay the decision to kick the habit, but that's no reason to wait. Nicotine-replacement treatment, while not for everyone, can help. Here are a few more ways to quit smoking and stay slim.

    Drink water. To improve metabolic (新陈代谢的) rates, make half of those glasses ice water. Juice can be too high in calories, something you'll want to keep an eye on your journey toward being a slimmer non-smoker. Plan your snacks. Healthy snacks help keep your metabolism working, so you continue to burn calories while stopping wild hunger pain, or fake hunger.

    Keep moving. Exercise kills two birds with one stone. It helps you burn calories and prevents you from eating when you're not truly hungry. It's also a feel-good stress reliever (缓解物). Focus on your fitness and how being healthy makes you feel. Make exercise a goal and think of quitting as your reward for being physically fit.

    Fireworks are exciting, but also hard to control. The Chinese artist Cai Guoqiang, though, has developed a way to harness the visual and physical power of fireworks to make art He recently used them to create a burning sculpture that stretched high into the sky. Guoqiang fittingly named the work Sky Ladder.

    Guoqiang built Sky Ladder by making a frame out of metal. He coated the frame with gunpowder, the main chemical material in fireworks.

    The artist tried one end of the frame to the ground and attached a large weather balloon to the other end. The balloon was filled with helium — a gas that is lighter than air. When released, the balloon floated upward, pulling the top of the ladder 500 meters into the sky. That's higher than the top of the Empire State Building.

    Guoqiang set fire to the bottom of the ladder, and the crackling（啪啪作响） flames raced skyward up the frame. The sculpture burned for two-and-a-half minutes before its flames began to die out from the bottom up.

    Dealing with explosive (炸药）is challenging, and conditions had to be perfect for Guoqiang to achieve his desired effect. He first attempted Sky Ladder in 1994, but bad weather prevented him from successfully completing the work. Guoqiang put Sky Ladder aside so that he could work on other projects, perhaps most famously the fireworks display that opened the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

    Finally, after two more failed attempts, Guoqiang successfully sent his flaming ladder skyward last year. He presented Sky Ladder in his hometown, a quiet fishing village near Huiyu Island, Quanzhou. He offered the work as a gift to his 100-year-old grandmother, other family members, his friends and his town.

    “Behind Sky Ladder lies a clear childhood dream of mine, "Guoqiang explains. “Despite all life's twists and turns, I have always been determined to realize it. The ladder rose toward the morning sun, carrying hope. For me, this not only means a return, but also the start of a new journey."

    We may think we're a culture that gets rid of our worn technology at the first sight of something shiny and new, but a new study shows that we keep using our old devices (装置)well after they go out of style. That's bad news for the environment—and our wallets—as these outdated devices consume much more energy than the newer ones that do the same things.

    To figure out how much power these devices are using, Callie Babbitt and her colleagues at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York tracked the environmental costs for each product throughout its life—from when its minerals are mined to when we stop using the device. This method provided a readout for how home energy use has evolved since the early 1990s.Devices were grouped by generation. Desktop computers, basic mobile phones, and box-set TVs defined 1992.Digital cameras arrived on the scene in 1997.And MP3 players, smart phones, and LCD TVs entered homes in 2002, before tablets and e-readers showed up in 2007.

    As we accumulated more devices, however, we didn't throw out our old ones.“The living-room television is replaced and gets planted in the kids' room, and suddenly one day, you have a TV in every room of the house,” said one researcher. The average number of electronic devices rose from four per household in 1992 to 13 in 2007.We're not just keeping these old devices—we continue to use them. According to the analysis of Babbitt's team, old desktop monitors and box TVs with cathode ray tubes are the worst devices with their energy consumption and contribution to greenhouse gas emissions (排放)more than doubling during the 1992 to 2007 window.

    So what's the solution (解决方案)?The team's data only went up to 2007,but the researchers also explored what would happen if consumers replaced old products with new electronics that serve more than one function, such as a tablet for word processing and TV viewing. They found that more on-demand entertainment viewing on tablets instead of TVs and desktop computers could cut energy consumption by 44%.

    Photos of the moon are beautiful if taken well, but it can be very hard to get a picture of the moon that doesn't look blurry! In order to take a perfect picture of the moon, apart from a high­quality camera, the associated equipment and the skills to set up your camera, you also need to pick a proper time and a good place.

    Choose your favorite moon phase. The moon can be photographed in any phase except the new moon, which is not visible to Earth. The first quarter, half, and third quarter phases provide high contrast that allows you to see the craters(坑) in greater detail, while the full moon is a dramatic choice for a skyscraper. What phase you choose is up to your personal preference, but it's best to have a phase chosen before going out to photograph the moon.

    Learn when the moon rises and sets. When the moon sets or rises, it is closer to the horizon, making it appear larger and closer. This makes it much easier to photograph! Check an almanac(年历) or a weather app for moon rising and setting times in your area.

    Pick a clear night. Clouds, fog, and air pollution will blur your photographs. Check a weather app or watch the weather forecast before leaving for your session and while photographing. A clear night with low smog content and no rain is best for moon photography.

    Choose a location away from direct light sources. The moon appears bright because it reflects the light of the sun, and additional light from streetlights, homes, and cars can make the moon appear duller and blurrier in pictures. It is fine if there is light in the distance, but be sure that you are not photographing close to another light source.

    Samuel Morse was born in Massachusetts USA. He started off his career as an inventor after being a painter and sculptor (雕塑家). He even earned a gold medal from the famous Adelphi Society of Arts for his first effort in sculpture, the "Dying Hercules". He became the first president of the National Academy of Design, and was made Professor of the Arts of Design in the University of the City of New York.

    Yet, this painter turned to inventing to make his fortune during a sea voyage. On this journey, Samuel Morse heard about many attempts to create usable telegraphs. He was fascinated by this problem and began to study books on physics for two years to gain more scientific knowledge. He realized that pulses (脉冲) of electrical current could carry information over wires.

    Thus the world's first working model of a telegraph was born. His signaling device was quite simple. It consisted of a transmitter (containing a battery and a key), a small buzzer (蜂鸣器) as a receiver and a pair of wires connecting the two. Samuel Morse improved it by adding a switch and a second buzzer to allow transmission (传播) in the opposite direction as well.

    On May 24, 1844 Samuel Morse sent the first electronic message between Baltimore and Washington, "Look what God has enabled us to build, and benefit by."

    Seventeen years later, the two coasts of the United States were linked by telegraph. The telegraph continued to enjoy the position of being the fastest and most reliable means of communication for almost 140 years since its invention.