A killer whale(虎鲸) that can copy words such as “hello” and “bye-bye” is thought to be the first of its kind to copy human speech.

    The female killer whale learned to “speak” some human words by copying a trainer at a park in France. The animal's ability includes speaking the name “Amy” and “one, two, three”.

    Whales and dolphins are among the few animals except humans that can learn to produce a sound just by hearing it. “It is not often seen,” said Dr Josep Call, a co-researcher on the study. “Humans are good at it…Interestingly, the animals that can do best are marine mammals(海洋哺乳动物).” The researchers start to find out whether killer whales could learn new words by copying others. They studied a female named Wikie at Marineland Aquarium in Antibes, France. She was taught to speak human words.

    Dr Jose Abramson, a co-researcher on the study, said basic “conversations” with Wikie may one day be possible. He said,” It has been done before with a famous grey parrot and dolphins using American sign language(手势语).” However, he said they have to be careful about introducing human ideas on animals, as there is more to learn by trying to understand the natural way each kind communicates in its own environment. Wikie made sounds in water, which may be quite different.

    Dr Alex Thornton, senior speaker at the University of Exeter, said they still don't fully understand why some animals learn to copy. Some animals copy sounds to attract possible partners, while others copy sounds to become a member of a group. “Some whales, for example, learn their calls from one another to mark them out as members of their social group,” said Dr Thornton, who doesn't join in the research.

    Imagine a town with crosswalks but no pedestrians, cars and trucks but no drivers. Welcome to Mcity, a fake “city” built by researchers who are testing out the driverless cars of the future.

    The controlled test environment, which opened today (July 20, 2015) at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, covers 32 acres (the size of about 24 football fields) and contains all the trappings of a real suburb or small city. There is an entire network of roads lined with sidewalks, streetlights, stop signs and traffic signals. There's even a “downtown” area complete with fake buildings and outdoor dining areas.

    The idea behind Mcity is simple: test out new driverless car innovations in a human-free environment before these technologies are unleashed in the real world.

    "Mcity is a safe, controlled, and realistic environment where we are going to figure out how the incredible potential of connected and automated vehicles can be realized quickly, efficiently and safely," Peter Sweatman, director of the Mobility Transformation Center at U-M, said in a statement.

    The roads of Mcity are built to stand up to “rigorous, repeatable” testing, according to MTC officials. While Mcity drivers don't have to compete with real pedestrians, there will be one mechanical foot-traveler (a robot-like machine named Sebastian) that steps out into traffic to see whether the automated cars can hit the brakes in time. The fake city also features a traffic circle, a bridge, a tunnel, some unpaved roads, and even a four-lane highway with entrance and exit ramps, according to a report by Bloomberg Business.

    In addition to evaluating fully automated, or driverless cars, the researchers also hope to test out so-called connected vehicles within Mcity's limits. Connected cars can either communicate with one another (vehicle-to-vehicle control, or V2V) or with pieces of equipment, such as traffic lights, that are located near roadways (vehicle-to-infrastructure control, or V2I).

    Even the smallest details of Mcity have been planned out in advance to copy the conditions that connected and automated vehicles could face in the real world. For example, there are street signs covered up with graffiti, and faded yellow and white lane markings line the streets.

    Mcity is just one part of a much larger project that MTC and its partner organizations are establishing in an effort to get a whole fleet of connected and driverless cars on the road in Ann Arbor by 2021. In addition to the fake city, MTC is also continuing to launch connected and semi-autonomous(半自动) cars on real roadways. Eventually, the University of Michigan and the Michigan Department of Transportation said they hope to put 20,000 connected cars on the roads of southern Michigan.

Both humans and animals have enemies. It is easy for us to know the difference between our friends and our enemies. But can other animals do the same? Elephants can! They can use their sense of vision and smell to tell the difference between people who mean a threat and those who do not. In Kenya, researchers find that elephants react differently to clothing worn by men of the Maasai and Kamba ethnic groups. Young Maasai men hunt animals and thus mean a threat to elephants; Kamba men are mainly farmers and are not a danger to elephants.

In an experiment conducted by animal scientists, elephants were first presented with clean clothing or clothing that had been worn for five days by either a Maasai or a Kamba man. When the elephants noticed the smell of clothing worn by a Maasai man, they moved away from the smell faster and took longer to relax than when they noticed the smells of either clean clothing or clothing worn by a Kamba man.

Clothing color also plays a role. In the same study, when the elephants saw red clothing not worn before, they reacted angrily, as red is typically worn by Maasai men. Rather than running away as they did with the smell, the elephants acted angrily toward the red clothing.

The researchers believe that the elephants' emotional reactions are due to their different senses of smell and sight. Smelling a possible danger means that a threat is nearby and the best thing to do is run away and hide. Seeing a potential threat without its smell means that risk is low. Therefore, instead of showing fear and running away, the elephants express their anger and become aggressive.

    The National Beekeeping Centre Wales is a free attraction in the countryside that teaches children about the importance of honeybees – with the chance to try lots of local honeys.

    This friendly visitor centre is a supporter of Welsh honeybees, which are increasingly under threat from climate change and loss of wildflower meadows (草地). It raises visitors' awareness of environmental issues and shows the 4,000-year history of beekeeping and honey-making, from the ancient Egyptians to the Romans. A Hive (蜂巢) Aid scheme lets you adopt a beehive(from £50 per person), and regular courses (from £60 per person) train new generations of beekeepers.

    Fun fact

    Bees pollinate (授粉) about a third of everything we eat and play an important role in sustaining (维持) our ecosystems. In economic terms, honeybee pollination could be worth up to £200m to the UK alone.

What about lunch?

    Next door is the Furnace Tearoom, part of the Bodnant Welsh Food Centre, which serves light bites – wraps (卷饼), fruit salads (£7) and coffee. And the nearby Pavilion Restaurant at the National Trust's Bodnant Garden has cooked food, including baked potatoes (£5) and daily specials such as local casseroles (焙盘) with bread rolls (£6), plus coffee and cakes.

    Exit through the gift shop

    There is a range of bee-themed gifts in our gift shop, including bee toys (£2), wooden honey candy (£2) and a selection of honeys all made by Welsh producers (£5). The bestselling Bodnant honey (£8) goes fast.

Getting here

    We are located just off the A470 on the Bodnant Estate in the Conwy Valley, and 10 minutes from the A55 north Wales coast road. Follow the brown signs just after Bodnant Gardens.

    Value for money

    Visits and activities for kids are free, though donations are welcome. Taster days (from £60) and the weekend beekeeping course (£80 per person) are held at Abergwyngregyn village, 10 miles west down the A55.

    Opening hours

    The Visitor Centre opens daily from 10 am-4 pm but it is volunteer-run, so phone ahead to check. Expect lots of fun activities around the annual Conwy Honey Fair.

    One of the features of a successful business is its ability to employ creativity to constantly push into new territory. Without growth and innovation, businesses eventually fade away. Those with staying power, however, have mastered an often-overlooked factor that allows them to focus on the future clearly: empathy (共情). While that may surprise many, I am certain that the ability to connect with and relate to others—empathy in its purest form—is the force that moves businesses forward.

    Though the concept of empathy might go against the modern concept of a traditional workplace competitive, the reality is that for business leaders to experience success, they need to not just see or hear the activity around them, but also relate to the people they serve.

    Some may think they want the results from doggedly (顽强地) pursuing their goals without much thought for other people. This attitude works for some, but at some point often sooner rather than later everyone needs to rely on their relationships and established personal and professional connections. These relationships are the product of taking an honest and dedicated interest in others and their businesses. Successful people do not operate alone; each of us needs the support of others to achieve positive results that push us toward our goals. True empathy combines understanding both the emotional and the logical rationale (根据) that goes into every decision.

    Effectively understanding empathy involves viewing it as each person's connection to the people and marketplace that surround them. A biological principle known as co-evolution explains that the adaptation of an organism is caused by the change of a related object. Similarly, businesses and their leaders participate in co-evolution-type relationships. Business success depends on empathetic leaders who are able to adapt, build on the strengths around them, and relate to their environment. When businesses fail, it is often because leaders have stopped focusing on understanding their environment and instead stay separated in their own operations. Successful business leaders are receptive to disturbance and aware of what is going on in their organizations both internally and externally.

    To develop an effective workforce, we must be willing to give in and meet people where they are. This can be frustrating and uncomfortable, particularly when you feel like your position makes more sense or offers a better solution. A critical part of developing empathy, however, is learning to understand, respect and implement another individual's point of view rather than forcing your own.

    When you are sitting in the car, do you ever notice the drivers looking over their shoulders or side to side in the car? Well, they are doing this to check their blind spots! Blind spots make driving extremely difficult and increase the potential for car accidents.

    Fourteen-year-old Alaina Gassier from Pennsylvania noticed her mother struggling with blind spots while driving their family car. So she came up with an ingenious solution that won the first place and $ 25,000 in the Broadcom Masters Competition.

    Blind spots are the areas around the car that cannot be directly observed by the driver. There are two kinds of blind spots-on the back of the car that cannot be seen with mirrors, and blind spots at the front of the car as well.

    When a driver is changing lanes, he has to look over his shoulder through the side windows to make sure that there is no vehicle in the blind spot. This invisible area is big enough to hide a car!

    The other blind spot is created in the front by the A-pillar(柱子)-the material on either side on the windshield(挡风玻璃)that holds the glass and forms the frame of the car. In some cars, this pillar can be quite thick. Usually, people or cyclists can be hidden by this pillar.

    Alaina's design was to get rid of the blind spot created by the front A-pillar of the car, the one that helps hold up the windshield.

    She put a camera on the outside passenger side of the car which then sent the photos to a projector above the driver's head. Then, she covered the inside of the pillar in a reflective fabric onto which the image was projected. Basically, her device made the pillar "see through" and removed the blind spot on that side of the car.

    Alaina's solution is very creative and could be improved by using LCD displays that will make it easier to see during day time as well.