My friend BJ Gallagher told me a great story recently, about her own experience with resentment (愤恨). She once worked as the training manager for a large newspaper, where she found the corporate culture extremely frustrating. The company was a hundred years old and their past success ha d blinded them to the need for change. Finally, after butting heads with several senior executives (主管) many times, she left the company. But she found that she hadn't left her resentment, frustration, and anger behind when she resigned.

    “I finally decided to write about my experiences and my feelings at the newspaper. I wanted to be rid of that company and those people, once and for all. So I wrote and I wrote. It wasn't just a story that poured out; it was a whole book! We called it A peacock in the Land of Penguins. I was the peacock and those newspaper executives were the penguins.”

    “It took me several more years to finally get over my negative emotions. Through a lot of soul-searching and reflection, I finally was able to let go of my resentment. I came to see that there was nothing personal in the way they treated me, and they were good people doing what they thought best for the company. I was the one who had made it personal. I thought they were making my life miserable on purpose.”

    “Finally, the time came when I decided to make amends (弥补) for the sharp, angry things I had said about the company. I invited my former boss to dinner and made my apology. It was a great healing process for me. I finally felt free of the resentment that had been eating me up.”

    “What was the final outcome?” I asked her.

    “Gratitude,” she replied. “Not only wasn't I resentful any more, I was grateful to the company. If I hadn't had those painful experiences, I would never have written a book. And the book became hugely successful – now published in 21 languages; it transformed my business.”

    After twenty-third hour at night, the house was quiet. I didn't go to bed. Under the strong light, I looked sadly before me at a huge pile of that troublesome thing they call “books”.

    I would have my important examination the next day. “When can I go to bed?” I asked myself. I didn't answer, in fact I dared not.

    As soon as the clock struck twelve, I suddenly heard and couldn't help crying “Oh, dear! Many more books to read before I can go to bed!” We students are the most wretched creatures in the world. Dad does not agree with me on this. He didn't have to work so hard when he was a boy.

    When the clock struck one, I felt I was hopeless now. I forgot all I had learned. I was too tired to go on. I did the only thing I could. I prayed, “Oh, God, please help me pass the exam tomorrow. I do promise to work hard afterwards, Amen.” My eyes were so heavy that I could hardly open them a few minutes later, with my head on the desk, I fell asleep.

    With only about 1,000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone the animal and save the endangered species. That's a move similar to what Texas A & M University researchers have been undertaking for the past five years in a project called "Noah's Ark".

    Noah's Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos (胚胎), semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A & M's College of Veterinary Medicine, says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.

    It is estimated that as many as 2,000 species of mammals, birds, reptiles will become extinct in over 100 years. The panda, native only to China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.

    This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal. The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.

    "The nuclear transfer (核子移植) of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available panda eggs could be a major problem," Kraemer believes. "They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy. It takes a long time and it's difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort," adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Project at Texas A & M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.

    "They are trying to do something that's never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah's Ark. We're both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly appreciate their effort and there's a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It's a research that is very much needed."

    Dr. Michael Prager, a leading Botox expert, said that a growing number of women are developing something called "computer face". He also mentioned that professionals who worked long hours in front of a screen were ending up with saggy jowls(颚骨下垂),"turkey neck" and deep-set wrinkles(皱纹)on their forehead and around their eyes.

    The Botox expert said that, of all his clients, office workers were most likely to show premature (过早的)signs of aging. " If you are one of the unfortunate people who frown(皱眉)while you are concentrating on the screen then, over time, you will inevitably(不可避免地)end up with frown lines.'' Dr. Prager said. "What is perhaps more surprising is the number of women with saggy jowls because they are sitting in one position for so long. If you spend most of the time looking down then the neck muscles shorten and go saggy, eventually giving you a second neck."

    Dr. Prager, who has a practice near Harley Street in London, said he encourages his clients to put a mirror next to their computer so they can see if they are frowning at the screen. "When people are stressed or thinking hard about something, then they will often put on a grumpy(脾气暴躁的)face' without even knowing what they are doing. When my clients put a mirror next to their desk, they are often shocked by the angry, frowning face which stares back at them."

    He said, "The women I am seeing at the moment have only been using computers at work for the last decade or so. But women in their 20s have grown up with them and use them for every single task. I think the problem is going to become much, much worse. In another ten years, they could be looking quite awful."

    Dr. Prager said there were several simple steps which could avoid "computer face" such as regular screen breaks and stretching the neck muscles. And, of course, there was always Botox(肉毒杆菌). He said that, after a couple of sessions of Botox, the habit of "grumpy face" could be broken.

    Studying the DNA of 300 mice has flagged up genes which have been linked to hereditary (遗传的) sight loss for the first time. Researchers say because mice's genes are so similar to humans', their findings could lead to the treatment of more genetic diseases.

    Scientists at the University of California, Davis studied information from a data bank of mice's genetic material. They found 347 genes linked to eye problems, with just 86 of them having been studied in the past.

    Only around 50 to 75 percent of hereditary eye diseases in human can be explained with present science. The researchers believe these hundreds of new genes found in mice could be a key to explaining-and therefore being able to treat the other 25-50 percent.

    "This is extremely valuable for people with hereditary eye disease," said researcher Professor Ala Moshiri. "All researchers are going to start using these data. In the past, we knew the problem was there but we didn't know where to look. Now eye centers can call back patients and screen them for these new genes. We expected that more and more of these genetic diseases will be treatable." Also, the fact is that more than 60 percent of eye problems at birth are ones resulting from the baby's parents!

    Thanks to data from the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC), which is trying to work out what every single gene in a mouse is responsible for, with the aim of translating it to humans, scientists are moving closer to figuring out all genetic causes of blindness. To do this, scientists separate a single gene from other ones at a time and then observe what effect it has on the mouse for a long time. This has so far been done more than 7,000 times and has achieved great success. Researchers are now working alongside eye care centers in Texas and Iowa in order to compare the mice's genes to those of patients.

    Milton Hershey was born near the small village of Derry Church, Pennsylvania, in 1857. He only attended school through the fourth grade; at that point, he was apprenticed(做学徒) to a printer in a nearby town. After a while, he left the printing business and was apprenticed to a Lancaster, Pennsylvania candy maker. And at the age of eighteen, he opened his own candy store in Philadelphia. In spite of his talents as a candy maker, the shop failed after six years.

    After the failure of his Philadelphia store, Milton headed for Denver, where he learned the art of making caramels(焦糖). Then in Denver, Milton once again attempted to open his own candy-making businesses, in Chicago, New Orleans, and New York City. Finally, in 1886, he went to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he raised the money necessary to try again. This company— the Lancaster Caramel Company—established Milton's reputation as a master candy maker.

    In 1893, Milton attended the Chicago International Exposition, where he saw a display of German chocolate-making implements. Fascinated by the equipment, he purchased it for his Lancaster candy factory and began producing chocolate, which he used for coating his caramels. By the next year, production had grown to include cocoa, sweet chocolate, and baking chocolate. The Hershey Chocolate company was born in 1894 as a subsidiary(子公司) of the Lancaster Caramel Company. Six years later, Milton sold the caramel company, but reserved the rights, and the equipment, to make chocolate. He believed that a large market of chocolate consumers was waiting for someone to produce reasonably priced candy. He was right.

    Milton Hershey returned to the village where he had been born, in the heart of dairy country, and opened his chocolate manufacturing plant. With access to all the fresh milk he needed, he began producing the finest milk chocolate. The plant that opened in a small Pennsylvania village in 1905 is today the largest chocolate factory in the world. The sweets created at this facility are favorites around the world.

    The area where the factory is located is now known as Hershey, Pennsylvania. Within the first decades of its existence, the town of Hershey thrived, as did the chocolate business. A bank, a school, churches, a department store, even a park and a trolley system all appeared in short order; the town soon even had a zoo. Today, a visit to the area reveals the Hershey Medical Center, Milton Hershey School, and Hershey's Chocolate World—a theme park where visitors are greeted by a giant Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. All of these things— and a huge number of happy chocolate lovers—were made possible because a caramel maker visited the Chicago Exposition of 1893!