“One thing I enjoy about my job is that I can work on something that is actually active,” says Game McGimsey, an American volcanologist(火山学家). Part of his job includes keeping an eye on Alaska's many active volcanoes and giving people a heads-up when a volcano might erupt(喷发).

    Like most jobs in the science, volcanology requires a lot of education. McGimsey received an undergraduate degree in geology at the University of North Carolina, then landed an internship(实习期) with a geologist at the USGS(美国地质勘探局) whose work field was about volcanoes. After earning a graduate degree at the University of Colorado, McGimsey accepted a job with the USGS and has been with the Alaska Volcano Observatory for 25 years.

    Volcanoes can influence the world in ways we might not think about. For example, on Dec.15 1989, a 747 jetliner (a large airplane) flew through a thick ash cloud produced by Mount Redoubt, an Alaskan volcano that hadn't erupted in 25 years. The ash caused all four engines to die, and the plane's electronics went dead.

    “The plane was within several thousand feet of flying into the mountains below when the pilots got a couple of engines restarted and landed safely in Anchorage,” McGimsey says. It cost nearly $80 million to repair the damage to the plane.

    Such situations show just how dangerous volcanoes can be. However, volcanologists know the risks and are prepared to protect themselves.

    McGimsey admits, “There is certainly a higher danger level in volcanology than some other jobs. We understand how serious the danger is, and we don't like taking unnecessary chances. We avoid getting too close to an erupting volcano, because it is not worth injury or death simply to get a rock or a photograph.”

    Do you often lose things? Don't worry. Now a new tool that can be connected to any object you might lose may be the way to solve your problem. The Tile, a small square connected to your iPhone or iPad by means of Bluetooth, allows you to see how close you are to your missing item, within a 50-to-150-foot range (范围). If the item goes out of your phone's 150-foot range, it can still be found on other smart phones with the same app.

    When you drive the app on your phone, it shows you, with green bars that increase or decrease, how close or far away you are from the Tile. You can also program it to make a sound when you get close to the Tile. And you can connect your phone with up to ten Tiles. And if your lost object—a dog, for example, or a stolen bike—go out of your own phone's 150-foot Bluetooth range, you can set it as a “lost item”. If any of the phones with the Tile app comes within range of your lost item, a message will be sent to your phone, telling you its position. The Tile app also has the ability to remember where it last saw your Tile, so that you can easily find where you left it.

    Since the Tiles use Bluetooth rather than GPS, they are never out of battery or needn't to be charged, and they work for one year before needing to be replaced. And the app works with all generations of iPhones and iPads.

For further information, please visit www.tile666.com.

Student Job Center

    Your next car might drive itself. After years of trials on city streets, driverless vehicles are now on the way. Last month, a driverless bus began carrying passengers through Lyon, France. Most in the automobile industry think self-driving vehicles will be on the road by 2020 or earlier.

    Driverless cars will first be huddled with human-driven cars. But the first places where they will become dominant（统治的）are highly populated urban areas. Many advanced cities are already reducing the role of human-driven cars. Driverless cars will quicken that process and will bring us enormous benefits.

    Driverless cars will reduce accidents by around 90 percent. That's big—the annual deaths on the world's roads are about 1.2 million a year. Pollution and carbon emissions will drop, because urban driverless cars will be electric.

    On the other hand, driverless cars will cause problems. Over the next 20 years, the mostly low-skilled men who now drive trucks, taxis and buses will see their jobs reduced. Traditional carmakers are especially scared. The cars of the future might be made by tech companies such as Apple, Baidu and Google. Imagine Germany, where automobile making is the largest industry.

    Dramatic changes are coming, and driverless cars could arrive by 2020. But governments have barely begun thinking about it. Only 6 percent of the biggest US cities have taken them into their long-term planning. A decade ago anyone hardly saw the Smartphone coming. Now what about the driverless cars?

    London's newest skyscraper (摩天大楼) is called the Shard and it cost about 430 million pounds to build. At a height of almost 310 metres, it is the tallest building in Europe. The Shard has completely changed the appearance of London. However, not everyone thinks that it is a change for the better.

    The Shard was designed by the famous Italian architect Renzo Piano. When he began designing the Shard for London, Piano wanted a very tall building that looked like a spire (尖顶). He wanted the glass surfaces to reflect the sky and the city. The sides of the building aren't regular. So the building has an unusual shape. It looks like a very thin, sharp piece of broken glass. And that is how the building got the name: the Shard. Piano says that the spire shape of the Shard is part of a great London tradition. The shape reminds him of the spires of the churches of London or the tall masts (桅杆) of the ships that were once on the river Thames.

    The Shard has 87 floors. At the top, there is an observatory. At the moment the building is empty, but eventually there will be a five­star hotel. There will also be top quality restaurants, apartments and offices.

    Before building work began, a lot of people didn't want the Shard though the plans were approved. Now they are still unhappy about the Shard. Some critics say that such a tall skyscraper might be good in a city like New York, but not in London. They say that the best thing about the Shard is its spire shape. But that is the only thing. There is no decoration, only flat surfaces. The Egyptians did that 4, 500 years ago. They also think the Shard is too big for London. It destroys the beauty of the city.

    Other critics don't like what the Shard seems to represent. They say that the Shard shows how London is becoming more unequal. Only very rich people can afford to buy the expensive private apartments and stay in the hotel. But the people who live near the Shard are among the poorest in London. So the Shard seems a symbol of the division in society between the very rich and the poor.

    The Shard now dominates the London skyline. It is not certain, however, that ordinary London citizens will ever accept it as a valuable addition to the city.

    I've always felt a need to be prepared for whatever situation I've found myself in.

    My mother once took me to a store when I was seven years old. She and I got to the checkout counter, and she realized she had forgotten a couple of things on her shopping list. She left me with the cart and ran off to get what she needed.

    "I'll be right back." she said.

    She was gone just a few minutes, but at that time, I had loaded all the things on the belt and everything was rung up. I was left staring at the cashier, who was staring at me. "Do you have money for me, son?" she said. "I'll need to be paid."

    I didn't realize she was just trying to please herself. So I stood there, ashamed and embarrassed.

    By the time my mom returned, I was angry. "You left me here with no money! This lady asked me for the money, and I had nothing to give her."

    Now that I'm an adult, you'll never catch me with less than $200 in my wallet. I want to be prepared in case I need it.

    I've always admired people who are over-prepared. In college, I had a classmate named Norman. One day he was giving a speech on an overhead projector(投影仪) and in the middle of his talk, the light bulb（灯泡）on the projector blew out. We would have to wait ten minutes until someone found a new projector.

    "It's Okay." he said. "There's nothing to worry about."

    We watched him walk over to his bag and pull something out. He had brought along a spare(备用) bulb for the overhead projector. Who could even think of that?

    I often told my students, "When you go into the wilderness, the only thing you can depend on is what you take with you." And essentially, the wilderness is anywhere but your home or office. So take money. Pack a light bulb. Be prepared.