In the frozen continent of Antarctica scientists fear an alien invasion — not from outer space, but carried in people's pockets and bags.

    Seeds and plants accidentally brought to Antarctica by tourists and scientists may introduce alien plant species which could threaten the survival of native plants in the finely balanced ecosystem.

    “The people that were carrying the most had lots and lots of seeds. They really were real threats,” said Dana Bergstrom, from the Australian Antarctic Division.

    “When we take things in through hitchhiking（搭车旅行） then we get species which are competitive. The plants and animals there are not necessarily competitive, so we'd start losing various precious biodiversity（生物多样性） on the (Antarctic) continent”, Bergstrom told Reuters.

    Amongst the alien species discovered were the Iceland Poppy, and Annual Winter Grass — all from cold climates and capable of growing in Antarctica.

    The Antarctic Peninsula, where most tourists travel, is now considered a “hot spot” on the frozen continent and the warmer the climate, the easier for seeds to grow. “The peninsula(半岛) is warming at some of the greatest rates on the planet,” said Bergstrom.

    The study, the first continent-wide assessment of invasive species in Antarctica, surveyed about 1,000 passengers during 2007-2008, the first year of the International Polar Year, an international effort to research the polar areas.

    Bergstrom said the one alien seed that had gained a foothold is Annual Winter Grass. It is a strong weed in the sub-Antarctic and is on the Antarctic island of King George. It has also made its way to the tail part of the Antarctic continent.

    Sonya and her family have been homeless since she was 3 years old. Over the years, they have moved more than 15times to different shelters around New York City. Moving around was hard on Sonya。At school, Sonya hid her homeless from teachers and other students. She didn't want to be treated differently from other kids.

    In sixth grade, Sonya discovered a way to deal with some of her stress. She began studying dance at her middle school. “IT was a way for me to express myself, instead of just holding everything in,”she explains. Soon, Sonya auditioned（试演）for a summer dance camp run by Alvin Alley, a famous dance company. She was accepted. “I was excited,”says Sonya.

    Dancing became an even more important part of Sonya's life in high school. But things were not going well for Sonya at school. Each time her family moved to a new shelter, Sonya often took care of her younger sisters and brothers. She helped them get ready in the morning and took them to school. They would be on time, but Sonya would be late.

    Worrying about her family kept Sonya from thinking about her own future. That changed the summer after 11^th grade. Sonya learned she would have to go to summer school to graduate. She became determined to succeed, no matter what. “It was a wake-up call,”she says.“I had to focus on school and on myself.”

    Sonya made up the work that she had missed, and finally graduated from high school. No one in her family had gone to college before. But in September 2015, Sonya enrolled in the State University of New York at Potsdam. She plans to become a doctor for kids and to teach dance to children who have disabilities.

    It's Friday morning in the year 2050, and you're running late. You got carried away watching the music video that is playing in the corner of your bathroom mirror while you were brushing your teeth. How will you get to your office at Mega Giga Industries on time?

    A quick check of your Internet-connected refrigerator tells you your train is a bit behind schedule, too. So you decide to drive your environmentally hydrogen fuel（环保氢燃料）car instead-or rather, let your car drive you. It's programmed to know the way and it will get you there without getting lost.

    Settling into your office chair, which changes color to match what you're wearing, you pick up yesterday morning's newspaper. Printed on reusable electronic paper, it rewrites itself. Now it's time for your big meeting. Uh-oh! You've left your handwritten notes at home. No problem. The smartpen you used has stored an electronic copy of what you wrote.

    Your wristwatch videophone（可视电话）suddenly rings. Your best friend's face pops up on the screen asking what you're doing this weekend. Will you play virtual soccer with the U.S. Olympic team? No, no. Your friend says, so you have to take the new elevator (made of microscopic fibers many times stronger than steel) 60000 miles into space.

    Could this scene really take place in just a couple of decades? The researchers who are now developing all these things think so. These high-tech products（高科技产品）may be as common in 20 years as cell phones today.

    Unlike modern animal scientists, dinosaur scientists cannot sit on a hillside and use telescopes to watch dinosaurs in order to know how they lived and whether they were good parents. Instead, they have to search hard for information from dinosaurs' fossils(恐龙化石) because dinosaurs died out millions of years ago.

    It's very difficult for the scientists to reach an agreement because different results can be got from the same fossils. Many fossils of the same kind of dinosaurs have been dug out from one place. They might have formed when an entire group of dinosaurs got stuck(陷入)all at once. Or they might have been the result of dinosaurs getting stuck one after another over a course of a few centuries. Thus we can say that dinosaurs might have in the first case lived in big groups and in the second lived alone.

    Though there are two different results, dinosaur scientists now generally agree that at least some kinds of dinosaurs lived in big groups. “That's pretty much settled at this point.” Says Paul Sereno. A kind of dinosaurs called Sauropods left behind tracks in the western United States that appear to run north and south, suggesting that they even moved long distances together.

    As to whether dinosaurs cared for their young, dinosaur scientists have turned to the closest living relatives of dinosaurs, birds and crocodiles for possible models. Birds give a lot of care to their young, while crocodiles just help their young to the water. The discovered fossils of dinosaurs sitting on their eggs and staying with their young suggest the parents were taking care of their babies, but we still cannot say that all dinosaurs did the same.

    There is still a long way to go before the above questions could be answered. Dinosaur scientists will have to find more proof to reach an agreement.

    We work with Cambridge County Council's Participation Team to create opportunities for young people to visit the University and learn more about it. The following events are scheduled for the 2019/2020 academic year.

    SuperStar workshops

    12 engaging workshops are planned for young people aged 7 to 11. These half﹣day visits will be held throughout the year, at times when young people are not at school. If participants complete 8 of the 12 workshops, they will be awarded the nationally recognized SuperStar Crest Award.

    Please note, workshops will only run if we have a sufficient number of attendees (usually around 3+ participants).

    Explore University Days

    Explore University Days are for young people aged 12﹣15. Participants visit the University for two days and engage with a range of university﹣related workshops, and other fun activities.

    Previous participants have engaged with the following:

    Visited the Sports Centre

    Took part in a Neuroscience workshop

    Enjoyed a two-course meal at a University College

    Dates will be confirmed in early December 2019, and a schedule for event will follow in the New Year.

    Events for post-16 students

    If you are studying for your post-16 qualifications and are considering applying for Cambridge or would like to find out more about a specific subject, the following events might be for you:

    University and College Open Days

    Subject Masterclasses

    Cambridge Science Festival

    At the age of 14, James Harrison had a major chest operation and he required 13 units (3.4 gallons) of blood afterwards. The blood donations saved his life, and he decided that once he turned 18, he would begin donating blood as regularly as he could.

    More than 60 years and almost 1,200 donations later, Harrison, whose blood contains an antibody (抗体) that has saved the lives of 2.4 million babies from miscarriages (流产), retired as a blood donor on May 11. Harrison's blood is valuable because he naturally produces Rh-negative blood, which contains Rh-positive antibodies. His blood has been used to create anti-D in Australia since 1967.

    "Every bottle of Anti-D ever made in Australia has James in it," Robyn Barlow, the Rh program director told the Sydney Morning Herald. "It's an amazing thing. He has saved millions of babies. I cry just thinking about it." Since then, Harrison has donated between 500 and 800 milliliters of blood almost every week. He's made 1,162 donations from his right arm and 10 from his left.

    "I'd keep going if they let me," Harrison told the Herald. His doctors said it was time to stop the donations — and they certainly don't take them lightly. They had already extended the age limit for blood donations for him, and they're cutting him off now to protect his health. He made his final donation surrounded by some of the mothers and babies who his blood helped save.

    Harrison's retirement is a blow to the Rh treatment program in Australia. Only 160 donors support the program, and finding new donors has proven to be difficult. But Harrison's retirement from giving blood doesn't mean he's completely out of the game. Scientists are collecting and cataloging his DNA to create a library of antibodies and white blood cells that could be the future of the anti-D program in Australia.