Dubai(迪拜)is one of the economically richest places in the world. With its numerous malls, hotels, and beautiful beaches, Dubai has always been a popular holiday destination. This city was visited by around 5 million tourists each year. The government wanted to increase this number to 15 million. However, Dubai has only 45 miles of coastline, which is nowhere enough for so many people. To solve this problem, an island that looked like a palm tree was built in 2006, and named the Palm Jumeirah.

    The plan for the island was extraordinary. It was to host several hotels, shopping malls, restaurants, and homes. Although the initial plan was to build the island from concrete(水泥), a decision was taken to create it from sand and gravel(砾石), so as to give it a natural look.

    To make sure that this project was a success, the best engineers from across the world were employed. Engineers from Holland formed the majority in this group. To begin with, the engineers calculated the strength of storms at sea, and also the expected amount of rise in water levels due to global warming. And then they found that, the proposed location for the island was neither very wide nor deep.

    One of the difficulties the engineers came across was to put sand on the sea bed to create the breakwater(防浪堤).Finding the right sand for the project was also a daunting task, as the sand from Dubai's deserts was too fine. Instead, sand from the sea was used, as it was coarser(粗糙). Once the breakwater was built, construction of the island began.

    The Palm Island are really impressive in terms of engineering. However, these projects are so large that they may have changed the ecology of the region. Also, an immense amount of money and resources go into maintaining the islands, which is a major concern at the moment. Only time will tell if building the Palm Islands was actually a good decision.

    A team of international scientists is due to set off for the world's biggest iceberg in a mission aiming to answer fundamental questions about the impact of climate change in the polar regions. The scientists, led by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), are trying to reach a newly revealed ecosystem that had been hidden for 120,000 years below the Larsen C ice shelf.

    Last year, part of the Larsen C ice shelf calved (崩解) away, forming a huge iceberg-A68—which is four times bigger than London, and revealing life beneath for the first time. Now scientists say it is a race against time to explore these new ecosystems before they are transformed to the light. Marine biologist Dr Katrin Linse from the BAS is leading the mission.

    "The calving of A68 provides us with a unique opportunity to study marine life as it responds to a huge environment change," she said. "It is important that we get there quickly before the undersea environment changes as sunlight enters the water."

    Professor David Vaughan, science director at the BAs, said, "We need to be bold (大胆的) on this one. Larsen C is a long way south and there's lots of sea ice in the area, but this is important science, so we will try our best to get the team where they need to be. He said climate change had already affected the sea around Antarctica and is warming some coastal waters. "Future warming may make some habitats warm. Where these habitats support unique species that are adapted to love the cold and not the warm, those species are going to either move or die."

    There is growing concern about the possible impact of climate change in the Antarctic. Earlier this month, a report revealed that melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are speeding up the already fast pace of the sea level rise. The research, published by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, said, "At the current rate, the world's ocean will be, on average, at least 60cm higher by the end of the century." However, it found that the process is accelerating, and more than three quarters of the acceleration since 1993 is due to melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, the study shows.

    After photographer Monni Must's daughter Miya died, the sad mother adopted her black dog, Billy Bean. As Billy became increasingly weak, the thought of its dying was just more than Must could handle. So she decided to clone the dog. “I feared everyone was going to forget Miya," she said, "and my other daughters thought I had completely lost my mind."

    Billy's cells were shipped to ViaGen Pets, a Texas company that provides the cloning service. With more than $50,000, Must picked up a new puppy. "The dog has a real soul and is everything my daughter was—fun, social and kind," she said. "I feel that I still have that touchable connection and not just a spiritual connection.”

    Cloning animals is hardly new. But the recent news that singer Barbra Streisand had cloned her dog grabbed international headlines. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals(PETA) president Ingrid Newkirk issued a statement saying she would love to talk her out of cloning, noting that millions of wonderful dogs are getting old in animal shelters every year or dying in terrifying ways when abandoned.

    Normally, a doctor takes a tissue biopsy(组织活检), a piece of skin and muscle about the size of a pencil eraser, from the dog. The next step is to take an egg cell from a donor dog, remove the egg's nucleus, and insert DNA from the pet to be cloned. When an embryo(胚胎)develops, it is transplanted in the body of a mother dog.

    In the basic cloning procedure, scientists take an entire adult cell and put it into an egg that's been relieved of its own DNA. The resulting embryo is a clone. However, in many animals, only one in 100 cloned embryos ever leads to a live birth. Some embryos die in the IVF dish or in the mothers bodies. Of those that are born, a few suffer from abnormalities and quickly die. Besides, pet cloning doesn't mean copying everything of your beloved pets.

Discover Nature Schools programs

Becoming Bears (Kindergarten-2 grade)

    By becoming baby bears, children learn from their "parent" to survive the seasons. Kids will find safety in the spring and learn kinds of food bears eat during the summer, and then create a cave for winter hibernation(冬眠). After learning the skills needed to survive, students will go out of the cave as an independent black bear able to care for themselves. (1.5-2 hours)

Whose Clues? (3-5 grade)

    Kids will discover how plants and animals use their special structures to survive. Through outdoor study of plants and animals, kids will recognize their special structures and learn how they enable species to eat, avoid their enemies and survive. Using what they have learned, kids will choose one species and tell how they survive in their living places. (3-4 hours)

Winged Wonders (3-5 grade)

    Birds add color and sound to our world and play an important ecological (生态的) role. Students will learn the basics of birds, understand the role birds play in food chains and go bird watching using field guides and telescopes. Students will do hands-on activities. Students will use tools to build bird feeders, allowing them to attract birds at home.(3-4 hours)

Exploring Your Watershed (6-8 grade)

    We all depend on clean water. Examining how our actions shape the waterways around us. Go on a hike to see first-hand some of the challenging water quality problems in a city. Students will test the water quality to determine the health of an ecosystem.

● Each program is taught for a class with at least 10 students.

● All programs include plenty of time outdoors. So please prepare proper clothing, sunscreen and insect killers for children.

● To take part in a program, please email dcprograms@mdc.mo.gov.

    Camper Lunch Program

    We are pleased to offer the Camper Lunch Program for full-day campers or campers participating in both morning and afternoon half-day camps.

    Lunch at the Overlake School

    At the Overlake School in Redmond, you can sign up for lunch at the time of registration. Lunch is provided by the school cafeteria including a hot main dish and a salad bar option. Limited diet restrictions can be accommodated in advance. All orders or cancellations must be made by 4:00 pm on Wednesday.

    $ 40 for 5-day camp week

    $ 32 for 4-day camp week

    Lunch at View Seattle

    Two weeks before your camp start date, you will receive a link in your confirmation email to choose your preference between the regular and vegetarian(素的)lunch menus. Besides, camper with allergies or sensitivities are encouraged to bring their own lunch.

    $ 40 for 5-day camp week

    $ 38 for 4-day camp week

    Lunch at St. Thomas School

    At St. Thomas School, lunch and snacks are provided by SAGE Dining. Lunch includes a hot main dish, a salad bar and sandwich options. Campers also receive two snacks per day.

    $ 50 for 5-day camp week

    $45 for 4-day camp week

    Lunch at Pacific Science Center

    At Pacific Science Center, you can sign up at the time of registration. Lunch is provided by our very own Pacific Science Center Cafe. Every day, standard and vegetarian lunch menus are available and come with a water bottle and two snacks. All orders or cancellations must be made by 4:00 pm on Wednesday.

    $ 45 for 5-day camp week

    $ 36 for 4-day camp week

If a president, a philosopher, and one of the best-selling writers credited the same secret for their success, would you try to follow it too? What if the secret was something you already knew how to do? In fact, you probably do it every day. Here's what Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: "It is only ideas gained from walking that have any worth. " Thomas Jefferson: "Walking is the best possible exercise. " Charles Dickens: "If I could not walk far and fast, I think I should just explode and die. "

Researchers have found quite a lot of connections between walking and producing ideas. A Stanford University study found that participants were 81 percent more creative when walking as opposed to sitting. According to the study, walking outside-compared with on a treadmill (跑步机)-produces the most novel and highest-quality ideas.

The movement aspect of walking is obviously key. Our creative thinking is triggered (触发)by physical movement, which is exactly why walking-with your dog, a friend, or alone-feeds creative thinking.

The scenery is almost as important as the sweat. Breaking your routine with a walk can be a catalyst for fresh understanding of problems or projects. Just by going outside, you are stepping out of your familiar surroundings and your comfort zone, which is necessary if you want to open your mind to new possibilities. You can walk through a tree-filled neighborhood. You can walk through a park and observe people joking or birds singing. Being inside, you're more likely to be lifeless, which means you don't have enough energy to wonder or create.

So instead of setting a fitness goal, why not set a creativity goal that starts with walking? Involve yourself more closely in your surroundings. Tum off your phone and give yourself the chance to be present in the world, to hear conversations and natural sounds, and to notice the way people move and the way the sun reflects in puddle (小水坑).