Do you like spicy food?

    What's your opinion on spicy food? Some people cannot handle even the smallest amount of chili-red pepper-in their dinner while others can't get enough of it.

    Scientists have long been puzzled by why some people love chili while others loathe it. Plenty of research has been done on the subject, dating as far back as the 1970s. Previous results showed that a love of chili is related to childhood experiences, and cultural influences affect our taste buds too. But the latest study has found that a person's love of spicy food may be linked to his or her personality more than anything else, CBC News reported.

    "We have always assumed that liking drives intake-we eat what we like and we like what we eat. But no one has actually directly bothered to connect these personality traits with intake of chili peppers,"said Professor John Hayes from Pennsylvania State University, who led the study.

    But before you look at the study, you should first know that "spicy" is not a taste, unlike sour, sweet, bitter and salty. It is, in fact, a burning sensation that you feel on the surface of your tongue. This got scientists thinking that maybe a love of spicy food is brought about by people's longing for thrill, something they usually get from watching action movies or riding a roller coaster.

    In the study, 97 participants, both male and female, were asked to fill out questionnaires about certain traits of their personality, for example, whether they like new experiences or tend to avoid risks. They were then given a glass of water with capsaicin, the plant chemical that makes a chili burn, mixed into it.

    By comparing the answers to the questionnaire and what participants said they felt about the spicy water, researchers found that those who tended to enjoy action movies or take risks were about six times more likely to enjoy the spicy water.

    Interestingly, we used to believe that the reason some people can withstand spicy food is that their tongues have become less sensitive to it. However, this latest study has found otherwise. "It's not that it doesn't burn as badly, it's that you actually learn to like the burn," Hayes explained.

    The idea of turning recycled plastic bottles into clothing is not new. During the last five years, a large number of clothing companies, businesses and environmental organizations have started turning plastics into fabric to deal with plastic pollution. But there's a problem with this method. Research now shows that microfibers could be the biggest source of plastic in the sea.

    Dr. Mark Browne in Santa Barbara, California, has been studying plastic pollution and microfibers for 10 years now. He explains that every time synthetic clothes go into a washing machine, a large number of plastic fibers fall off. Most washing machines can't collect these microfibers. So every time the water gets out of a washing machine, microfibers are entering the sewers and finally end up in the sea.

    In 2011, Browne wrote a paper stating that a single piece of synthetic(合成的) clothing can produce more than 1, 900 fibers per wash. Browne collected samples from seawater and freshwater sites around the world, and used a special way to examine each sample. He discovered that every single water sample contained microfibers.

    This is bad news for a number of reasons. Plastic can cause harm to sea life when eaten. Studies have also shown that plastic can absorb other pollutants.

    Based on this evidence, it may seem surprising that companies and organizations have chosen to turn plastic waste into clothing as an environmental “solution.” Even though the science has been around for a while, Browne explains that he's had a difficult time getting companies to listen. When he asked well-known clothing companies to support Benign by Design—his research project that seeks to get clothes that have a bad effect on humans and the environment out of the market, Browne didn't get a satisfying answer. Only one women's clothing company, Eileen Fisher, offered Browne funding.

    In recent decades there has been a strong push in American education to prepare all high school students for college. As a result, fewer and fewer young people are pursuing careers as skilled tradesmen. But teens should be encouraged to consider learning a trade.
    The average cost of a bachelor's degree is $127,000 and 70 percent of students apply for some form of student loans to help cover this cost. On average, loan borrowers graduate with $37,172 in debt. The average trade school degree, on the other hand, costs only $33,000 – less than what many four-year degree holders will still owe after graduation.
    I have a friend who is a highly educated college professor. He makes a comfortable living, and of course he loves his work, but recently as we discussed his own children's future career plans, it was my friend who raised the idea of pursuing a trade school degree. He told me that every time he calls his plumber (水暖工), the plumber answers his phone from his yacht(游艇).
    Of course not every tradesman can earn a yacht-buying salary, but there are a number of skilled professionals that can earn six figures.
    It's widely believed that academics are more valuable than physical or skilled work. Fortunately, there has been an effort to change that message in recent years and to restore dignity to trade education and tradesmen. Still, that message is going to be reinforced in classrooms and at home so that all students will recognize the beauty and value of possessing a skill, of being able to make something with one's own hands, and of offering a service that makes other people's lives not only better, but in many cases, possible.

    For the past two years I have been travelling and living abroad. Home has become more of a feeling than a place. I feel at home when I am with my family in London, but I also feel at home in Italy with friends I love. Home is no longer a picture of a house with a front door and some windows. It is more complicated than that.

    This is one of the reasons that celebrating the new year has become very important for me. I do not care about "New Year's resolutions (愿望)"—living abroad has made me constantly reconsider what kind of person I want to be and how I will live my life, so I don't feel the need to plan for change: I live for change.

    New Year's Eve has become my time to reconnect with the friends that makes me feel at home. Every year we try to reunite wherever we are and remember the time when we knew each other so well that we felt like a family. It is a moment to reconnect and get to know each other again. Last year, we travelled to a cottage in Ireland where we had no internet and no neighbours. In the middle of the countryside, away from our big and constantly changing lives, we were able to become like a little family again.

    This year, we went to Barcelona. It was a very big change. We were surrounded by culture and life and joy. There were bars and parties. It was different, but one thing stayed very much the same-I felt at home again and we felt like a family again.

    A lot of people feel that New Year's Eve cannot live up to expectations. Ideas such as the "New Year's kiss" and "resolutions" create a lot of pressure for people to have a night to remember, a night that will change their lives and perhaps make the next year one worth living. I think those people are missing the point. If Christmas is about family, why can't New Year be about friends?

    It was a comfortable sunny Sunday. I was going to meet an old university friend I hadn't seen for years, and was really excited.

    My train was running a little late, but that was no big problem - I could text him to say I would be delayed. He would understand. But… where was my mobile phone? I had that familiar sinking feeling. Yes, I'd left it at home.

    No mobile phone. I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling anxious, on edge and worried when I don't have my phone with me. In fact, I know I'm not alone: two-thirds of us experience 'nomophobia' (无手机恐惧症), the fear of being out of mobile phone contact.

    That's according to a study from 2012 which surveyed 1,000 people in the UK about their relationship with mobile phones.

    It says we check our mobile phones 34 times a day, and that 18-24 year-olds, especially girls, are the most likely to suffer fear of being without their mobiles: 77% of them say they are unable to be apart from their phones for more than a few minutes.

    Do you have nomophobia?

    • You never turn your phone off

    • You frequently(频繁地) check for texts, missed calls and emails

    • You always take your phone to the bathroom with you

    • You never let the battery run out

    It's funny to think that around 20 years ago the only people with mobile phones would be businessmen carrying their large, plastic 'bricks'. Of course, these days, mobile phones are everywhere. A UN study from this year said there would be more mobile phones than people across the world by the end of 2020.

    And when there are more phones than people in the world, maybe it's time to ask who really is in charge(主管)? Are you in control of your phone, or does your phone control you?

    So, what happened with my university friend? When I arrived a few minutes late he just laughed and said: "You haven't changed at all – still always late!" And we had a great afternoon catching up, full of jokes and stories, with no desire(欲望) to check my phone.

    Not having it with me felt strangely free. Maybe I'll leave it at home on purpose next time.

    Artificial intelligence can predict when patients with a heart disorder will die, according to scientists.

    The software learned to analyze blood tests and scans of beating hearts to spot signs that the organ was about to fail. The team, from the UK's Medical Research Council, said the technology could save lives by finding patients that need more aggressive treatment. The results were published in the Journal of Radiology.

    According to the researchers, high blood pressure in the lungs damages part of the heart, and about a third of patients die within five years after being diagnosed. There are treatments: drugs, injections straight into the blood vessels, a lung transplant. But doctors need to have an idea of how long patients might have left, in order to pick the right treatment.

    The software was given scans of 256 patients' hearts, and blood test results. When this data was combined with eight years of patient health records, the artificial intelligence predicted when patients would die.

    The software could look about five years into the future. It correctly predicted those who would still be alive after one year about 80% of the time. The figure for doctors is 60%.

    The team now want to test the software works in other patients in different hospitals before assessing whether it should be made widely available to doctors. The researchers also want to use the technology in other forms of heart failure, such as cardiomyopathy, to see who might need a pacemaker or other forms of treatment.

    Dr Mike Knapton, from the British Heart Foundation, said, "This exciting use of computer software in medical practice will help doctors in the future to make sure that patients are receiving the correct treatment before the condition deteriorates and leaves them needing a lung transplant. The next step is to test this technology in more hospitals with heart disease."