Do you notice music playing there when you go somewhere? Today most stores, stations restaurants and other places play music. You might even hear music in an office or on a farm.

Scientists believe that music changes the way people behave. They think that Western classical music makes people feel rich. When a restaurant plays classical music, people spend more money on food and drinks. When the restaurant plays modern music, people spend less money. Without music, people spend even less.

Scientists also believe that loud, fast music makes people eat faster. In fact, people eat their food faster when the music gets faster. Some restaurants play fast music during their busy hours. This gets people to eat faster and leave more quickly. Restaurants can make more money this way.

Some scientists think that music makes people think and learn better. They say that music helps students be more active. It is true that people learn better when they are relaxed. And listening to music can help people relax.

    Next time you hear music somewhere, be careful. It might change the way you do things.

    There is a popular belief that goldfish only have a three-second memory. But a 15-year-old schoolboy from Adelaide has just finished an experiment（实验）to tell us that it is not true. He shows everybody that the goldfish is smarter than we think.

    “I don't believe that they had a three-second memory because animals need their memory, so they build up over time a knowledge of where the food is,” said Roy Stokes, a student at the Australian Science and Mathematics School.

    He did the experiment in small tank（鱼缸）of goldfish. “I decided to get a bit of red Logo and just feed them next to that. Every day I'd put it in and spread food around it.” He said.

    “At first they were a bit scared of it, but by the end of the three weeks, they were actually almost coming before I put the food in.”

    After leaving the fish alone for a week, Rory placed the red Logo block in the tank again.

    “They remembered perfectly well,” he said.

    “They actually had a time faster than the average of the three feeds before I left.”

    The goldfish showed that not only could they store information, they also had the ability to get it back as a later date.

    Culum Brown, a research fellow at Sydney's Macquarie University, has studied fish behavior for more than ten years.

    He says his studies of Australian native fish show fish were intelligent creatures that know how to avoid enemies and catch food like any other animal.

    “The thing that I really liked about Rory's experiment is he not only got that classical conditioning going but the fact that he could get them next just to that specific coloured market. I thought it was really good.” He said.

    Have you ever imagined going to other countries without your paper Passport? That will soon come true. And your paper passport will become history. You may use their new kind of passport

    It's reported that Australia will be the first country to use the cloud passport. With the cloud passport, you don't have to take a paper passport with you all the time. The cloud passport will have your name, photos and other information. And if you go to other countries, you can just check the information on the computer.

    When you take a paper passport with you, you might lose it. But with the cloud passport, you don't have to worry about that.

    Do you think the cloud passport is a great idea? Perhaps you will have it in the future, too.

    It's hard to turn down a tasty banana. They taste good and you don't have to wash them before eating them. However, British scientists say that the fruit may disappear by 2050.

    One reason for this is climate(气候) change. Scientists at the University of Exeter collected data(数据) from 27 countries and regions that produce 86 percent of the world's bananas. They found that climate change has improved growing conditions in 21 of these countries. In the past 60 years, the average yield(平均产量) has reached 1.37 tons of bananas per hectare(公顷).

    However, if temperatures keep rising, this advantage will disappear. Ten of the countries, including India, the world's biggest producer of bananas, will produce fewer bananas. By 2050, the fruit may die out.

    Shouldn't bananas grow more easily if it's hotter outside? In fact, the perfect temperature range for growing bananas is between 24 and 32 C. If temperatures get too high, they will stop growing.

    Diseases are another danger to bananas. Unlike other crops, the bananas we grow come from shoot cuttings(茎段) rather than seeds. This means that all banana plants have the same genotype(基因型). In other words, if a disease is able to kill one plant, it could kill them all.

    One serious disease is called Panama. Caused by fungus(真菌) in the soil, it spreads easily. It has spread across South Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Australia. If one banana plantation(种植园) suffers from the disease, it will take 30 years until it is able to grow bananas again. Scientists have yet to find a cure for this disease.

The Vine That Ate the South

    Kudzu is a fast-growing vine(蔓生植物) that covers a large area in the southern United States. It is so common that one might think it is a native plant, but it is not. Kudzu was brought to the United States from Japan in 1876. Many Americans thought it was beautiful, and they began to plant it. They didn't know it could grow up to a foot a day during the summer months. Nor did they know it would grow up and over anything in its path.

    In Japan, kudzu experienced cold winters and a short growing season. But in the United States, it has a very long growing season with warm and wet southern weather. It is fine weather for the vine to grow fast.

    In the 1920s, people used the vine to feed farm animals. Ten years later, the government supported to plant kudzu because it kept soil from washing away. However, by the 1950s, the government no longer wanted people to plant the vine. Twenty years after that, the government said it was a harmful plant.

    The vine grows up trees and buildings, making some beautiful shapes. However, trees die after kudzu covers them because they cannot get enough light. Scientists are looking for ways to kill the vine. They used poisons(毒药) to kill the vine. However, some of the poisons made it grow even better. Scientists also find it difficult to dig up Kudzu. The plant is really tough.

    Because kudzu is so hard to kill, some people are making the best of it. So they try to find different uses for the vine. They find the vine can be used to make paper and baskets, it can be used to feed the goats, and it can even be eaten by people. Scientists are studying it in the hope that the vine can be used as a medicine. At the very least, kudzu serves as an example of the unexpected results that can come from non-native plants.

    Owls live in almost every country in the world. Most owls don't sleep at night. When they fly, you can't hear them. They are very quiet. Owls are good at hunting（捕猎）. They eat a lot of things such as mice, snakes, small birds and even fish. Owls have very good hearing. That helps them to hunt well in dark places. Their eyes are special. Both of their eyes face front. They can see very far away. There are facial disks(面盘) around their eyes. These facial disks can help with their hearing. Owls can turn their heads 270°. That helps them see what's going on all around them.

    Maybe because owls look a little different and have special life habits. There are a lot of stories about them. Some cultures believe that owls are very clever and some cultures think owls may bring bad luck to people. In fact, owls are really good friends of people. They eat lots of mice every year. That helps save a lot of food for people. But the number of owls in the world is becoming smaller and smaller because of people's activities. Now owls are protected by law(法律) in many places of the world. For example, in some places, people can't keep an owl as a pet at home.