Most people know precious gemstones (宝石) by their appearances. An emerald flashes deep green, a ruby seems to hold a red fire inside, and a diamond shines like a star. It's more difficult to tell where the gem was mined, since a diamond from Australia or Arkansas may appear the same to one from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, recently, a team of scientists has found a way to identify a gemstone's origin.

    Beneath the surface of a gemstone, on the tiny level of atoms and molecules（分子）, lie clues (线索) to its origin. At this year's meeting of the Geological Society of America in Minneapolis, Catherine McManus reported on a technique that uses lasers (激光) to clarify these clues and identify a stone's homeland. McManus directs scientific research at Materialytics, in Killeen, Texas. The company is developing the technique. “With enough data, we could identify which country, which mining place, even the individual mine a gemstone comes from,” McManus told Science News.

    Some gemstones, including many diamonds, come from war-torn countries. Sales of those “blood minerals” may encourage violent civil wars where innocent people are injured or killed. In an effort to reduce the trade in blood minerals, the U.S. government passed law in July 2010 that requires companies that sell gemstones to determine the origins of their stones.

    To figure out where gemstones come from, McManus and her team focus a powerful laser on a small sample of the gemstone. The technique is called laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Just as heat can turn ice into water or water into steam, energy from the laser changes the state of matter of the stone. The laser changes a miniscule part of the gemstone into plasma, a gas state of matter in which tiny particles（微粒）called electrons separate from atoms.

    The plasma, which is superhot, produces a light pattern. (The science of analyzing this kind of light pattern is called spectroscopy.) Different elements produce different patterns, but McManus and her team say that gemstones from the same area produce similar patterns. Materialytics has already collected patterns from thousands of gemstones, including more than 200 from diamonds. They can compare the light pattern from an unknown gemstone to patterns they do know and look for a match. The light pattern acts like a signature, telling the researchers the origin of the gemstone.

    In a small test, the laser technique correctly identified the origins of 95 out of every 100 diamonds. For gemstones like emeralds and rubies, the technique proved successful for 98 out of every 100 stones. The scientists need to collect and analyze more samples, including those from war-torn countries, before the tool is ready for commercial use.

    Scientists like Barbara Dutrow, a mineralogist from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, find the technique exciting. “This is a basic new tool that could provide a better fingerprint of a material from a particular locality,” she told Science News.

    Lots of people buy books and products from Amazon, an online seller. They offer and pay over the Internet and the books are shipped through the mail or a delivery service like FedEx.

    One day, people could get their Amazon deliveries from an “unmanned aerial vehicle”—a timely vehicle that looks like a toy helicopter. And instead of waiting days to get the parcel, it could be at the buyer's home in half an hour or less. The company is working on a fleet of tiny vehicles they call “Prime Air”. The vehicles are also known as “octocopters”. On their website, Amazon says, “One day, Prime Air Vehicles will be as normal as seeing a mail trucks on the road today.”

    The U.S.'s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working on safety regulations for unmanned flying vehicles like the Prime Air copters. Those regulations will make sure the copters are able to fly safely where they need to go. Once the FAA has put its rules in place, which could be as early as 2016, Amazon will be ready with its fleet of tiny flyers. The process could take as many as five years.

    The new delivery service would likely be available only in the United States, at first. The copters the company is testing now can handle packages up to five pounds (2.3kg) and they have a range of 10 miles (16 kilometers).

    Other companies are also looking at using unmanned flying vehicles to deliver their products. For instance, Domino's Pizza in the U.K. released a video showing a “DomiCopter”, delivering a pizza. That video may have been a publicity stunt（噱头）. In any case, just like Prime Air's octocopters, the DomiCopters don't have clearance（许可）to take off just yet.

    Energy goes from one plant or animal to another. A food chain shows how this energy moves. Each time an animal gets eaten, its energy is passed onto the animal that eats it. The food chain is very important because it keeps the balance of nature. If one part of the food chain disappears, it can affect all the other plants and animals. Any threat to the food chain is a threat to the environment's biodiversit(生物多样性). The food chain helps keep animal populations in balance. However, if something happens to increase or decrease one of the links in the food chain, that balance is broken. If one animal becomes endangered, it puts all the animals above it at risk.

    Some of the threats are natural, such as wildfires, hurricanes, tornados, floods and so on. But the biggest threats to the food chain come from you and me. These threats include overhunting, overfishing, logging, farming, development, pollution, etc. The food chain is endangered anywhere humans have had an effect on the natural environment.

    A recent study shows that the overfishing of large sharks is damaging the food chain along the US Atlantic coast. Canadian and American scientists say sharks are being killed in great numbers for their meat and fins(鳍). Now, not enough sharks are around to eat the cownose(牛鼻) ray. The ray's population has increased and they have eaten up the shellfish to the point where it has hurt commercial(商业的) fishing.

    Many of us disturb the natural environment in our own backyards. It's up to us to take care of the environment and try not to disrupt the natural food chain. If we don't act responsibly, animals will start disappearing.

International Kids Club in Switzerland

    Lovell Camps Kids Club

    Lovell Camp runs a daily Kids Club. It is an English language Montessori style club. Kids Club is open from December through March and in July and August. Children will have a wonderful and safe learning experience which includes language activities, cooking, arts and crafts (手工)， citizenship, songs, dance, etc. Learning outside the classroom plays an essential role at Lovell Camp, enabling children to experience the outdoors. So if you are a parent looking for information about what our club can offer your children, then you will find all the information you need right here.

    Admission

    Lovell Camp Kids Club is for pre-school children between 2 and 5 years old. Lovell Camp provides Kids Club sessions for a period of one or more weeks, half or full day reservations and optional daily skiing lessons during the winter season.

What Transportation to take?

    Our club works closely with the Flight Centre, a highly reputable company able to offer great deals on international flights. They will work with your family to find the best flight route for your children and advise on arrangements for your children. Your children will be met by a club counselor(辅导顾问) upon arrival to Switzerland.

What's Included?

    Fees include healthy snacks, school supplies, equipment and hikes. The skiing option fees include transportation to and from the ski hill, professional ski instructions, ski pass, ski snack.

    Fees do not include : ski rentals and equipment, camp T-shirt and long-sleeved shirts, baseball hats, transportation to and from Kids Club to home, medical insurance.

What Do You Do Next?

    The first thing you need to do is register your interest online by clicking in the register button, or call our office at 01383-435-991.

    Have you ever lost your car on a parking lot? You don't have a clue where your car is after shopping. Then you start walking around clicking on your car keys so the alarm goes off. It can be annoying, especially on a hot sunny day.

    No, you needn't install (安装) an expensive GPS system to keep track of your car. That's too expensive. You would need to pay a monthly fee to use it.

    But is there a way to track your vehicle without spending a fortune? Yes, now there is! A California-based company has created a tiny device that works with your smartphone, which could be exactly what you're looking for!

    What is it?

    It's called TrackR. It is a state-of-the-art tracking device the size of a coin. It's changing the way we keep track of the important things in our lives.

    How does it work?

    It's easy! Install the free TrackR app on your smartphone, connect the app to your device and you're ready to go! Simply attach TrackR to whatever you want to keep an eye on. The entire process of setting it up only takes 5 minutes or less.

    You can attach it to your keys, briefcase, wallet, your latest tech gadgets and anything else you don't want to lose. Then use the TrackR app to locate your missing item in seconds.

    If you forget where you have parked your car, pull out your smartphone and open the TrackR app. Tap on the “find device” button on the screen and the app will tell you the exact spot of the last known location of the TrackR.

    What else can I do with TrackR?

    The device is small and unnoticeable enough that you can attach it to your pet. Put it on their collar, and the issue of searching for them when they run away to nearby places will be over! You'll never waste a minute searching the whole house for it.

    TrackR even comes with a double-sided glue (胶水) so you can stick it to your laptop or under your bike seat. Track down and punish the thieves who steal your expensive things!

    How much does it cost?

    You're probably thinking that this device is very expensive. False! TrackR only costs $29! That's a small price to pay for peace of mind, isn't it?

    Where can I buy one?

    You can buy it directly from the company's website by clicking here https: //buy. thetrackr. co/gu/special- offers/15/.

    I stopped to watch my little girl busy playing in her room. In one hand was a plastic phone; in the other a toy. I listened as she was speaking to her make-believe little friend and I'll never forget the words she said, even though it was imagined.

    She said, "Suzie's in the corner because she's not been very good. She didn't listen to a word I said or do the things she should." In the corner I saw her baby doll well dressed. It was obvious that she'd been put there to sit alone and think.

    My daughter continued her "conversation", as I sat down on the floor. She said, "I'm all fed up and I just don't know what to do with her any more. She cries whenever I have to work and wants to play games too. She tries to help me with the dishes, but her arms just cannot reach... And she doesn't know how to fold towels. I don't have the time to teach. I have a lot of work to do and a big house to keep clean. I don't have the time to sit and play - don't you know what I mean?"

    And that day I thought a lot about making some changes in my life, after listening to her innocent words cut me like a knife. I hadn't been paying enough attention to what I hold most dear. I'd been caught up in responsibilities that increased throughout the years.

    But now my attitude has changed because in my heart I realize that I've seen the world in a different light through my little darling's eyes. So let the cobwebs (蜘蛛网) cut the corners and the dust bunny rabbit rule the floor. I'm not going to worry about keeping up with them any more.

    I'm going to fill the house with memories of a child and her mother, for we have only one childhood and we will never get another.