Did you know that the color of uniforms can influence the performance of an athlete? It may sound strange, but a study suggests this might be true.

    Two British scientists studied the results of four sports in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games where the athletes had been given either a red or a blue uniform. They discovered that when there was a big difference in the score, color had no influence on the result. But if it was a close match, the athlete in a red uniform was more likely to win. Then they looked at the uniforms of the soccer teams at the Euro 2004 tournament. Again, teams wearing red won more games.

    The two scientists got their idea from earlier studies of wild animals. It had been discovered that when a male show red on its body, it sends a signal of its power and strength. For example, in many kinds of monkey, the more the male shows off its red scare, the more females it can attract

    Based on this fact, the British scientists thought that the idea might work for humans, too. According to them, when an athlete sees a competitor in a red uniform, he gets a feeling that his competitor could be stronger than him. And that kind of feeling may have a bad influence on the player's performance in the actual game.

    Although the idea is Interesting, most people don't accept that color signals in the animals world can really be useful to humans in sports. They think that it is unreasonable to develop an Idea based on such a small number of examples. Much more research has to be done to prove the influence of uniform colors on the performance of athletes.

    I came to study in the United States a year ago .Yet I did not know the real American society until I was injured in a car accident because after the accident I had to see a doctor and go to court.

    After the accident, my roommate called a doctor for me. I was very grateful and determined to repay him one day. But the next day, he asked me to pay him $200 for what he had done. I was astonished. He had good reason to charge me, he said. And if I wanted to collect money from the person who was responsible for my injury, I'd have to have a good lawyer. And only a good doctor can help me get a good lawyer .Now that he had helped me find a good doctor, it was only fair that I should pay him.

    But every day I went to see the doctor, I had to wait about 50 minutes. He would see two or three patients at the same time, and often stop treating one so as to see another. Yet he charged me $115 each time .The final examination report consisted of ten lines, and it cost me $215.

    My lawyer was all smiles the first time we met. But after that he avoided seeing me at all. He knew very well the other party was responsible for the accident, yet he hardly did anything. He simply waited to collect his money. He was so irresponsible that I decided to dismiss him. And he made me pay him $770.

    Now I had to act as my own lawyer. Due to my inexperience, I told the insurance company the date I was leaving America. Knowing that, they played for time...and I left without getting a cent.

    Plastic is easy, convenient, cheap and long-lasting, but it does great harm to the environment.

    Since plastic entered mass production, 8 billion tons have been produced – and we aren't very good at recycling. By 2015, 6,945 tons of plastic waste had formed, with around 9 percent of it getting recycled. About 79 percent of it ends up in landfills or around the environment, including the ocean. We may end up drowning in plastic before long.

    Chemists at Colorado State University have found a polymer（聚酯）that has many of the qualities of plastics – it's light, strong, durable and heat-resistant – but that can be changed back to its original small-molecule（分子）state for complete recycling. Even after being recycled, the polymer can be turned back into its plastic-like state, and this can be done quickly and cheaply.

    This new polymer has all the good qualities of plastics, yet it is relatively easy to make and to recycle. Making it requires room temperature conditions, a short reaction time to bond the monomer（单体）into polymers and only a small amount of the catalyst（催化剂）remains in the end product. It has a high molecular weight, stands up to heat and generally behaves like plastic. Recycling it requires similarly little effort. Mild lab conditions are required and so is a catalyst. Once applied, the polymers are once again monomers in a matter of minutes and can be used to create another product.

    But don't get too excited about this just yet. Scientists stressed that the polymer isn't ready for mass products just yet. There's still plenty of development to do, including making it more economical to produce and recycle.

    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.

    Many years ago, my dad was facing a serious heart condition. He was unable to do a steady job. He fell suddenly ill and had to be admitted to the hospital.

    He wanted to do something to keep himself busy, so he decided to volunteer at the local children's hospital. My dad loved kids. It was the perfect job for him. He ended up working with the seriously ill children. He would talk, play, and do arts with them.

    One of his kids was a girl with a rare disease that paralyzed (瘫痪) her from the neck down. She couldn't do anything, and she was very depressed. My dad decided to try to help her. He started visiting her in her room, bringing paints, brushes and paper. He stood the paper up, put the paintbrush in his mouth and began to paint. He didn't use his hands at all. All the while he would tell her, "See, you can do anything you set your mind to." At the end of the day, she began to paint using her mouth, and she and my dad became friends. Soon after, the little girl was sent home because the doctors felt there was nothing else they could do for her. My dad also left the children's hospital for a little while because he became ill. Some time later after my dad had recovered and returned to work, in came the little girl who had been paralyzed and only this time she was walking. She ran straight over to my dad and hugged him really tight. She gave him a picture she had done using her hands. At the bottom it read: "Thank you for helping me walk."

    My dad would cry every time he told us this story and so would we. He would say sometimes love is more powerful than doctor, and my dad—who died just a few months after the little girl gave the picture—loved every single child in that hospital.

The ancient Egyptians were known for their carefully record-keeping, documenting prayers, declarations, and taxes. This extensive writing has now been linked to physical marks on the bones of the kingdom's scribes, as revealed in a new study published in Scientific Reports.

The study focused on the bones of 69 adult men buried between 2,700 and 2,180 B.C. at Abusir. The researchers identified 30 of these individuals as either professional scribes or high-status officials who needed language skills for their work. These scribes exhibited specific physical characteristics related to their occupation. Many had osteoarthritis in their right collar bone, shoulder, and thumb, likely due to the repetitive movements involved in writing. Their ankle and leg bones were flat from sitting cross-legged for extended periods, and they also showed signs of spinal(脊柱) osteoarthritis, possibly from looking up to listen and then bending over to write on papers.

An fascinating finding was the prevalence of jaw joint issues among the scribes, which 

the researchers speculate might be associated with chewing on reed(芦苇) pens. The ink for these pens was typically black from soot(烟灰) or red from iron for important documents.

However, not all scholars are convinced by the study's conclusions. Cynthia Wilczak and Danny Wescott, who were not involved in the research, argue that more evidence is necessary. Only six of the 30 bones were confirmed to be scribes based on their titles, while the rest were identified based on their tomb locations and social status. Additionally, there is no dental evidence to support the theory that the scribes chewed on pens.

Despite these criticisms, Brukner Havelková and her team aim to expand their research by examining scribe remains from other locations to confirm their findings. While this study is just the beginning, it offers a unique perspective into the lives of ancient Egyptian scribes and the physical cost their work demanded.