Throughout the history of the arts, the nature of creativity has remained constant to artists. No matter what objects they select, artists are to bring forth new forces and forms that cause change—to find poetry where no one has ever seen or experienced it before.

    Landscape is another unchanging element (元素) of art. It can be found from ancient times through the 17th­century Dutch painters to the 19th­century romanticists (浪漫主义艺术家 ) and impressionists. In the 1970s Alfred Leslie, one of the new American realists, continued this practice. Leslie sought out the same place where Thomas Cole, a romanticist, had produced paintings of the same scene a century and a half before. Unlike Cole who insists on a feeling of loneliness and the idea of finding peace in nature, Leslie paints what he actually sees. In his paintings, there is no particular change in emotions and he includes ordinary things like the highway in the background. He also takes advantage of the latest developments of color photography to help both the eyes and the memory when he improves his painting back in his workroom.

Besides, all art begs the age­old question: What is real? Each generation of artists has shown their understanding of reality in one form or another. The impressionists saw reality in brief emotional effects, the realists in everyday subjects and in forest scenes, and the Cro­Magnon cave people in their naturalistic drawings of the animals in the ancient forests. To sum up, understanding reality is a necessary struggle for artists of all periods.

    Over thousands of years the function of the arts has remained relatively constant. Past or present, Eastern or Western, the arts are a basic part of our immediate experience. Many and different are the faces of art, and together they express the basic need and hope of human beings.

    By now, we are all aware that social media has had a powerful influence on our culture, in business, on the world at large. Social media websites revolutionized the way people communicate and socialize on the Web. However, besides seeing your friends' new baby on Facebook, or reading about Justin Bieber's latest conflict with the law on Twitter, what are some of the real influences?

    Social networks offer the opportunity for people to reconnect with their old friends and acquaintances, make new friends, share ideas and pictures, and many other activities. Users can keep pace with the latest global and local developments, and take part in campaigns and activities of their choice. Professionals use social media sites like Linkedln to improve their career and business development. Students can work together with their peers to improve their academic and communication skills.

    Unfortunately, there are a few downsides too to social networking. If you are not careful, immoral people can target you for cyber bullying(网络欺凌) and disturbance on social sites. School children, young girls, and women can fall victim to online attacks which can create tension and suffering. If you are a victim of cyber bullying, do not take it lying down, but try to take appropriate legal action against the attacker.

    Many companies have blocked social networks as addicted employees can distract (分心)themselves on such sites, instead of focusing on work. In fact, studies show that British companies have lost billions of dollars per year in productivity because of social media addiction among employees.

    Also, what you carelessly post on the Net can come back to trouble you. Leaking personal information on social sites can make users easily harmed to crimes like identity theft, stalking(尾随犯罪), etc. Many companies perform a background check on the Web before hiring an employee.  If a potential employee has posted something embarrassing on social media, it can greatly affect their chances of getting the job. The same holds true for our relationships too, as our loved ones and friends may get to know if we post something undesirable on social networks.

    Social media has its advantages and drawbacks as each coin has two sides. It is up to each user to use social sites wisely to improve their professional and social life, and exercise caution to ensure they do not fall victim to online dangers.

    Ammie Reddick from East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, was only 18 months old when she had the accident that had scarred(留下创伤）her for life. The curious child reached up to grab the wire of a hot kettle in the family kitchen and poured boiling water over her tiny infant frame.

    Her mother Ruby turned round and, seeing Ammie horribly burnt, called an ambulance which rushed her daughter to a nearby hospital. Twenty percent of Ammie's body had been burned and all of her burns were third-degree. There, using tissue（组织）taken from unburned areas of Ammie's body, doctors performed complex skin transplants(移植）to close her wounds and control her injuries, an operation that took about six hours. Over the next 16 years, Ammie underwent 12 more operations to repair her body.

    When she started school at Maxwelton Primary at age 4, other pupils made cruel comments or simply wouldn't play with her. "I was the only burned child in the street, the class and the school,” she recalled, “some children refused to become friends because of that.”

    Today, aged 17, Ammie can only ever remember being a burned person with scars; pain is a permanent part of her body. She still has to have two further skin transplants. Yet she is a confident, outgoing teenager who offers inspiration and hope to other young burns victims.

    She is a member of the Scottish Burned Children's Club, a charity set up last year. This month, Ammie will be joining the younger children at the Graffham Water Center in Cambridge shire for the charity's first summer camp. “ I will show them how to get rid of unkind stares from others,” she says. Ammie loves wearing fashionable sleeveless tops, and she plans to show the youngsters at the summer camp that they can too.“ I do not go to great lengths to hide my burns scars,” she says, “ Igave up wondering how other people would react years ago.”

    British scientists have discovered the willow trees planted at an angle could increase sugars for biofuel production.

    Willow is a fast-growing species. It is already used to produce fuels for the renewable heating and power market. In future it could also help to produce biofuel to power vehicles. It has been known that when willows growing in the wild are blown sideways, they tend to produce more sugars. But for a while it has not been known why this happens.

    Researchers at Imperial College London, led by Dr Nicholas Brereton and Dr Michael Ray of the Department of Life Sciences, have now solved the mystery. When the tree is blown sideways, its genes (基因) produce large numbers of sugar molecules (分子) to straighten the tree upwards.

    “This is an important breakthrough. Our study now shows that natural genetic changes are related to these differences. And this could well be the key to unlocking the future for green energy from willow,” said Dr Brereton.

    The research was carried out under lab conditions. The willows were grown at an angle of 45 degrees. They were compared to willows which grow naturally straight upwards. The team then looked for the same effect among the willows growing on the Isle of Orkney where strong winds cause the trees to bend at extreme angles. They discovered that the Orkney trees produce five times the amount of sugars found in willows grown in sheltered conditions.

    Willow is widely planted across the UK. The results show that biofuel crops such as willows could be grown in climatically changeable conditions where chances of growing food crops are limited.

    The study is published in Biotechnology for Biofuels.

    Do you want to help others in Canada or out of the country? Here are some non-profit organizations in Calgary, Canada, through which you can do something for others.

    Calgary Reads

    Calgary Reads helps struggling readers in Grade One and Two twice a week. Trained adult volunteers carry out one-to-one reading teaching in the children's school during school hours. Volunteers are trained to use a proven effective lesson framework. Time is spent coaching readers while providing a strong role model in each child's life.

    Address: 105, 12th Ave SE | Calgary, AB | T2G 2H8

    Telephone: 1 403 777-8254

    Ukrainian Mission Canada

    This organization helps children in need in Ukraine, a country in eastern Europe. You can donate money or things to help one of the children in need.

    Address: 3806 44 Ave NE | Calgary, Alberta | T1Y5V8

    Telephone: 1 403 451-6991

    Calgary Doula Association

    This organization is formed to provide information about services related to birth and child care for the general public and worried professionals. Monthly meetings provide a networking opportunity and exchange of information for individuals interested in birth and child care, couples who are to be parents, and health care providers.

    Address: 124 Crest haven Place SW I Calgary, ABI T3B 5W4

    Telephone: 1 403 750-2033

    Rainbow Society of Alberta

    Rainbow Society of Alberta helps to fulfill wishes of Alberta children with long-term or life-threatening illnesses. Founded in Winnipeg in 1983, Rainbow Society was the first children's organization of its kind in Canada. Its Alberta chapter(分部) was created in 1986 by a handful of caring volunteers who saw need to bring such a strong support system to children in Alberta.

    Address: PO Box 1153, Station M I Calgary, AB

    Telephone: 1 403 252-3891

    A new study has found the amount of antibiotics(抗生素)given to farm animals is expected to increase by two-thirds over the next 15 years. Researchers are linking the growing dependence on the drugs to the increasing need for meat, milk and eggs. However, the drugs could quicken the development of antibiotic-resistant infections(感染). Such infections are already a major public, health concern in the United States.

    The World Health Organization notes when people stop living in poverty(贫困), the first thing they want to do is eat better, rather than earn more money. For most people, that means their diet should contain more meat. With the rapid development of Asia, people there are eating nearly four times as much meat, milk and other milk products as they did 50 year ago.

    To meet the need, farmers have put many animals into smaller spaces. As the animals are crowded together, the easiest way to deal with some of the problems of crowding is to give them antibiotics. It's clear that antibiotics help animals stay healthy in a crowded environment and grow faster. But bacteria can develop resistance to the drugs gradually.

    Nowadays, doctors find antibiotics that once worked against the infections no longer work. The bacteria have learned ways to fight against the drugs. The heavy use of antibiotics in animals is responsible for the growth of antibiotic resistance worldwide. In the United States, at least two million people get drug-resistant infections each year and at least 23,000 die from an infection.

    Europe has banned the use of antibiotics to increase animal growth. And the United States is hoping to persuade farmers to stop using antibiotics for that purpose.