The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has welcomed home two paintings by the Dutch master, more than 14 years after they were ripped (抢) off the museum's wall in a nighttime theft. Museum director Axel Rueger called their return “one of the most special days in the history of the museum.”

    The paintings were discovered last year by Italian police while they were searching suspected Italian criminals' farmhouse near Naples for evidence of drug dealing. The two paintings were wrapped in cotton sheets. They were stuffed in a box and hidden behind a wall in a toilet when they were found.

    The paintings were considered among the artworks most searched for in the world. After years in darkness, they can now shine again. They are back on display at the museum before being taken to the conservation studio for repair. Fortunately, they suffered remarkably little damage as thieves who had climbed up a ladder and broken a window to get into the museum in 2004 rip them out of their frames.

    “It is not only a surprise that the works have been recovered but it's even more surprising they are in relatively unharmed condition,” Rueger said.

    The museum director was on vacation when the call came last year from Italian authorities who believed they had recovered the paintings. He didn't celebrate right away. He'd had calls like this before.

    “I was hopeful but also a little hesitant. Over these years, we had so many occasions when people phoned us, contacted us, claiming that they knew something about the whereabouts (下落) of the works and each time it was false, the trace went cold,” he said. “So...the way has been till of disappointment.” But museum experts sent to Italy to check the authenticity(真实性) of the works quickly turned Rueger's doubts into delight.

    Rueger said the paintings are now back permanently at the museum, which is home to dozens of works by Van Gogh. “I'm very confident that everything is safe in the museum from now on,” he said.

    The Healthy Habits Survey shows that only about one third of American seniors have correct habits. Here are some findings and expert advice.

    ⒈How many times did you brush your teeth yesterday?

    Finding: A full 3% of seniors brush their teeth only once a day

    Step: Remove the 300 types of bacteria in your mouth each morning with a battery-operated toothbrush. Brush gently for 2 minutes at least twice a day.

    ⒉How many times did you wash your hands or bathe yesterday?

    Finding: Seniors, on average, bathe fewer than 3 days a week. And nearly 30% wash their hands only 4 times a day—half of the number doctors recommend.

    Step: We touch our faces around 3,000 times a day—often inviting germs（病菌）to enter our mouth, nose, and eyes. Use toilet paper to avoid touching the door handle. And, most importantly, wash your hands often with hot running water and soap for 20 seconds.

    ⒊How often do you think about fighting germs?

    Finding: Seniors are not fighting germs as well as they should.

    Step: Be aware of germs. Do you know it is not your toilet but your kitchen sponge（海绵）that can carry more germs than anything else? To kill these germs, keep your sponge in the microwave for 10 seconds.

    One of the greatest contributions（投稿）to the first Oxford English Dictionary was also one of its most unusual. In 1879, Oxford University in England asked Prof. James Murray to serve as editor for what was to be the most ambitious dictionary in the history of the English language. It would include every English word possible and would give not only the definition but also the history of the word and quotations (引文) showing how it was used.

    This was a huge task. So Murray had to find volunteers from Britain, the United States, and the British colonies to search every newspaper, magazine, and book ever written in English. Hundreds of volunteers responded, including William Chester Minor. Dr. Minor was an American Surgeon（外科医生）who had served in the Civil War and was now living in England. He gave his address as “Broadmoor, Crowthorne, Berkshire,” 50 miles from Oxford.

    Minor joined the army of volunteers sending words and quotations to Murray. Over the next years, he became one of the staff's most valued contributors.

    But he was also a mystery. In spite of many invitations, he would always refuse to visit Oxford. So in 1897, Murray finally decided to travel to Crowthorne himself. When he arrived, he found Minor locked in a book-lined cell（囚室）at the Broadmoor Asylum（精神病院）for the Criminally insane.

    Murray and Minor became friends, sharing their love of words. Minor continued contributing to the dictionary, sending in more than 10,000 submissions in 20 years. Murray continued to visit Minor regularly, sometimes taking walks with him around the asylum grounds.

    In 1910, Minor left Broadmoor for an asylum in his native America. Murray was at the port to wave goodbye to his remarkable friend.

    Minor died in 1920, seven years before the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was completed. The 12 volumes defined 414,825 words, and thousands of them were contributions from a very scholarly and devoted asylum patient.

    With only about 1,000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone (克隆) the animal and save the endangered species (物种). That's a move similar to what a Texas A & M University researchers have been undertaking for the past five years in a project called "Noah's Ark".

    Noah's Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos(胚胎), semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A& M's College of Veterinary Medicine, says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.

    It is estimated that as many as 2,000 species of mammals, birds reptiles will become extinct in over 100 years. The panda, native only to China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.

    This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.

    The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.

    "The nuclear transfer (核子移植) of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available (capable of being used) panda eggs could be a major problem," Kraemer believes. "They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy (having a baby). It takes a long time and ifs difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort, adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Project at Texas A& M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.

    "They are trying to do something that's never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah's Ark. We're both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly appreciate their effort and there's a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It's a research that is very much needed."

    Although English is not as old as Chinese, it is spoken by many people around the world every day. English speakers are always creating (创造) new words, and we are often able to know where most words come from.

    Sometimes no one may really know where a word comes from. Did you ever think about why hamburgers are called hamburgers, especially when they are not made with ham? About a hundred years ago, some men went to America from Europe. They came from a big city in Germany called Hamburg. They didn't speak good English, but they ate good food. When some Americans saw them eating a round piece of beef, they asked the Germans what is was. The Germans didn't understand the question and answered, “We come from Hamburg.” One of these Americans owned a restaurant. He had an idea. He cooked some round pieces of bread and started selling them. Such bread came to be called “hamburgers”. Today, “hamburgers” are sold in many countries around the world.

    Whether this story is true or not, it certainly is interesting. Knowing why any word has a certain meaning is interesting, too. This reason, for most English words, can be found in any large English dictionary.

    Depression and suicidal thoughts have doubled in young Americans, according to a new study from the American Psychological Association.

    Likely triggers? Cell phones and social media.

    "More US adolescents and young adults in the late 2010s, vs the mid-2000s, experienced serious psychological distress, major depression and more attempted suicide (自杀)", says lead researcher Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University. "These trends are weak or non-existent among adults 26 years and over, suggesting a generational shift in mood disorders instead of an overall increase across all ages."

    Twenge believes this trend is partially due to the explosion of digital culture over the past decade, which may have twisted modes of social interaction enough to affect mood disorders.

    The study analyzed data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which tracked drug and alcohol use and mental health issues in more than 200,000 youths aged 12 to 17 from 2005 to 2017 and almost 400,000 adults from 2008 to 2017.

    Major depression in the last 12 months increased by 52 percent in kids from 2005 to 2017 and 63 percent in young adults aged 18 to 25 from 2009 to 2017. There was also a 71 percent jump in young adults experiencing serious psychological distress in the previous 30 days from 2008 to 2017.

    So what's so different now? Twenge says research shows young people just aren't getting as much shuteye as they did in previous generations.

    Whereas older Americans might have established more stability in their lives, sleep-disrupting social stressors are likely at their peak for teens and young adults in this digital era, she says. Older adults are also less likely to let devices interfere (干预) with sleep.

    These results suggest a need for more research to understand how digital communication versus face-to-face social interaction influences mood disorders and to develop specialized interventions for younger age groups.

    Her suggestion? Put your phone down at least an hour before bedtime.