For a year and half, kids sent hurtful messages like “You are ugly.” or “Why are you still alive?” to Rebecca Sedwick. In 2013, Rebecca, then 12, couldn't stand it anymore. She took her own life near her home in Florida. Soon afterward, Trisha Prabhu read about the story. “I was surprised and heart-broken,” said Trisha, now 15, who is from Naperville, Illinois, “I know that I had to do something to stop this from ever happening again.”

    Trisha did some research. Studies show that one fourth to half of all teens in the US have been cyberbullied (网络欺凌). Experts say that if you are ever bullied online, you should tell a trusted adult. Tell the cyberbully to stop, and prevent him or her from contacting you again. Print and save messages to share with the police. This is good advice, agrees Trisha. But these methods all take place after the bullying has already happened. Trisha had a different idea. Why not teach cyberbullies to stop before they post these messages?

    Trisha's research won awards, including a prize in the Google Science Fair. Then, Tresah built the ReThink app (应用软件). It is programmed to recognize words or phrases that could be hurtful. When that happens, different warning messages come out. “Don't say things that you may regret later!” says one message. Others ask, “Are you sure you want to say this?” and “Are these words really yours?”

    Now Trisha is working on a version(版本) of ReThink for computers. “I am a big dreamer,” she says. “I want to stop cyberbullying before the hurt is done.”

    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.

    With about 100,000 sea animals being choked or injured by plastic every year, the danger produced by the billions of pieces of plastics in our oceans is well-known. However,    given that most of the micro-plastics measure less than 0.5mm, collecting them is a challenge.

    Now, some Dutch environmentalists have created a floating park to catch plastic waste before it reaches the open seas and breaks down. The large floating park is the result of a five-year effort of the Wageningen University and Research, WHIM Architecture, and etc. The team's leader said, "We began by developing a 'plastic fisher(渔船). Fitted with two folding arms with extension of several feet into the water, it uses a net to catch bottles, and any other garbage that floats past."

    The portable equipment took a year and a half to be perfect. It was then placed at the edge of the harbor to collect the urban garbage accumulated in the Meuse, a major European river, which rises in France and passes through Belgium and the Netherlands before it goes into the North Sea. Since Rotterdam's NieuweWaterweg canal links the river the North Sea, it's the ideal place to catch the "fresh" plastic waste before it disappears into the open waters and breaks down.

    The waste collected by the "plastic fisher" was then made into some hexagonal (六边的) floats which were connected to create the floating park. Some of the blocks are open to visitors, while others house various types of plants and even trees for nesting birds. The underside of the floats provides a suitable environment for sea creatures like fish. The environmentalists say the blocks can also be used to build sports areas and public walkways.

    The floating park has achieved great success. The team has launched a similar project in Indonesia to deal with local pollution. They worked with the local government and colleges which have given great support. And the team wants to spread their idea to some other places. When more and more people have better understanding of the project, more countries worldwide will know the advantages of the project and try similar outstanding approaches.

    A recent documentary produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has caused a stir in China and in the UK.

    The documentary, titled Are Our Kids Tough Enough? focuses on five Chinese teachers who are sent to teach 50 UK teens at a school in Hampshire.

    The teachers instruct the students for a month. The pupils are then tested, and the results are compared to the ones of those who have continued in the regular UK education system. The idea is to see if the Chinese method improves academic performance.

    The Chinese teachers use their own teaching methods but receive strong resistance from the students. A clip from the documentary online shows some problems, with Chinese teachers calling their students lazy and lacking in discipline, while the students say the high pressure and harsh teachers are driving them crazy.

    This has aroused a new debate in both China and the UK, with some arguing the teenagers need more regulation and discipline. Others say Chinese methods encourage rote learning (死记硬背) instead of independent thinking. For instance, Chinese language teachers should do more than pass on knowledge about words and characters. They should inspire students, helping them feel the sentiment from Chinese literature. This is a higher level of teaching.

    Yang Dongping, dean of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, says, "The Chinese teaching methods are designed to strictly train the majority. Foreign teaching methods, however, are more natural and relaxing, and designed to inspire students' interest in learning. Education methods are based on culture. That is why a successful education method in one place may not work that well when simply 'transplanted' into another place."

    Yang Dongping says, "The documentary does reflect some problems rooted in traditional Chinese teaching methods. Nobel prize winner, Yang Zhenning, gave a very fair comment on this issue. He said the Chinese-style education method works for most ordinary qualified students effectively, helping them reach high standards. However, it may weaken the training for high-potential outstanding students."

Five trends to watch in the coming year

The number 21 is connected with luck, risk, taking chances and rolling the dice, all of which seem strangely appropriate for a year of unusual uncertainty. As 2021 approaches, here are some trends to watch in the year ahead.

⒈ Fights over vaccines

As the first vaccines become available in quantity, the focus will shit from the heroic effort of developing them to the equally difficult task of distributing them. Vaccine negotiations will accompany fights within and between countries over who should get them and when.

⒉ A mixed economic recovery

As economies bounce back from the pandemic, the recovery will be inconsistent, as local outbreaks and restrictions come and go — and governments turn from keeping companies on life-support to helping workers who have lost their jobs.

⒊ A less footloose world

Tourism will shrink and change shape, with more emphasis on domestic travel. Airlines, hotel chains and aircraft producers will struggle, as will universities that rely heavily on foreign students.

⒋ An opportunity on climate change

One positive side to the crisis is the chance to take action on climate change, as governments invest in green recovery plans to create jobs and cut emissions. How ambitious will countries' reduction promises be at the UN climate conference, delayed from 2020?

⒌ The year of déjà vu

That is just one example of how the coming year may feel, in many respects, like a second take on 2020, as events including the Olympics, the Dubai Expo and many other political, sporting and commercial gatherings do their best to open a year later than planned.