Humans have launched themselves into the outer space. They've landed on the moon. They've built habitable space stations that orbit the Earth. The next giant leap for mankind is to reach another planet – specifically, Mars.

    The problem is that it's no easy task. The planet is 586 times further away from the Earth than the moon, and it'll take around 180 to 220 days to reach Mars, depending on where each planet is in its orbit. Such long periods in space have suggested many potential health problems, including hormonal changes, skin conditions, and muscle and bone deterioration (损耗).

    Here's where some furry friends come in. A wide range of animals have been in space, from fruit flies and spiders to cats, and dogs. Such experiments began as far back as the late 1940s in first tests to see if living things could withstand the extreme g-force (重力) of a rocket launch.

    Mice continue to play a very important part in space experiments, mainly because the animals make excellent test subjects. They're small, which makes them inexpensive and easy to care for. In addition, their size and short life span make it possible to do the equivalent of several human years of tests in a much shorter time. Finally, because mice are mammals, they share many common characteristics with humans in terms of genetics, biology and behavior.

    Astromice have hit the headlines recently, as a team of scientists led by Betty Nusgens, professor of biology at the University of Liege in Belgium, found that the mice suffered a 15 percent thinning of their skin after 91 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

    This experiment was part of a wider NASA mission (任务) called the Mice Drawer System (MDS). The Italian Space Agency developed the facility, which allows six mice to be housed, monitored, and automatically fed and watered aboard the ISS, among which three survived during the mission.

    The mice have participated in 20 separate experiments, to study such effects as osteoporosis (骨质疏松症), anemia (贫血) and heart health.

    Results for the 20 experiments are coming in gradually. But it's clear that mice continue to play an important role in the ongoing quest to conquer the final frontier.

    When I was about 12, I had an enemy, a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings (缺点). Wee k by week her list grew: I was very thin, I wasn't a good student, I talked too much, I was too proud, and so on. I tried to hear all this as long as I could. At last, I became very angry. I ran to my father with tears in my eyes.

    He listened to me quietly, then he asked. “Are the things she says true or not? Janet, didn't you ever wonder what you're really like ? Well, you now have that girl's opinion. Go and make a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said.”

    I did as he told me. To my great surprise, I discovered that about half the things were true. Some of them I couldn't change (like being very thin), but a good number I could—and suddenly I wanted to change. For the first time I went to a fairly clear picture of myself.

    I brought the list back to Daddy. He refused to take it. “That's just for you,” he said. “You know better than anyone else the truth about yourself. But you have to learn to listen, not just close your ears in anger and feeling hurt. When something said about you is true, you'll find it will be of help to you. Our world is full of people who think they know your duty. Don't shut your ears. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do what you know is the right thing to do.”

    Daddy's advice has returned to me at many important moments. In my life, I've never had a better piece of advice.

    I grew up in a troubled home in the 1970s, on the outskirts of downtown Orlando, Florida. Not far away, a three-story house attracted my eyes.

    It was nothing like the one I lived in with my mother, a small dark place with rules about befriending others. “Don't. Never, ever talk to anyone,” my mother said.

    One day, in sixth grade, a black-haired woman was introduced to our class: Mrs. Reese. Reese explained that she was starting Spanish Club. She invited anyone interested in learning Spanish language and culture to stay after school.

    I could not take my eyes off her bracelets(手镯) and shining rings. The bell rang, and to my shock, no one went up to Mrs. Reese. I was under strict orders to go straight home. But that day, I stayed. I asked Mrs. Reese when the club started.

    “We could begin right now if you like,” she said with a smile. I felt beautiful. That day I learned that the house of my dreams was her house. I learned how to answer questions about my age and my favorite food in Spanish. And I learned, “Do you want to come over tomorrow for cooking lessons?”

    I wanted to say “Yes”, but Mom's words held me back.

I begged my mother all summer and into fall, well after Spanish Club had dissolved. I wept at night sometimes, so worried that Mrs. Reese and her family would move away.

    At some point, I managed to wear my mother down and one Saturday afternoon. I rode out to Mrs. Reese's house.

    The details of that afternoon are marked in my mind: We had tea. She painted my toenails red. We made a garlicky picadillo. We spoke in Spanish. In Spanish, my voice was loud and romantic. This is the real me! I remember thinking.

    My mother never permitted me another visit to Mrs. Reese's house. But four decades later, I still remember that day and the life she showed me, proof of a possible future.

    The aye-aye, in the same family as people, monkeys and apes, is about 40 cm long, with a bushy tale about the same length as the body. The dark brown fur is long and woolly, giving the animal a rather shaggy(蓬松的) appearance. They are found only on Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa. It lives in the tropical forests in the east and north of Madagascar.

    The aye-aye is mostly arboreal(栖息在树上的), but is sometimes seen walking on the ground. It's active during the night, looking around in the trees for food. The aye-aye is actually the largest primate(灵长类动物) active during the night. Large eyes help the aye-aye find its way about at night. During the day, the aye-aye sleeps in a nest in a tree. Aye-ayes spend almost the whole night travelling about and feeding.

    Aye-ayes live alone. Sometimes pairs are seen, but basically little is about their lives. They don't Icap and cling to trees like primates. They move about on all four legs.They occasionally make brief cries but are silent. Worms inside dead wood form the largest part Of the aye-aye diet. The aye-aye also feeds on fruit, eggs, and bamboo shoots.

    The front feet of the aye-aye are unique. All the toes are long and thin, but the third is exceptionally long. The aye-aye taps on the tree trunk and listens for movement as searches places "'here worms might-be located. It bites at the tree to make homes. then it uses its third finger to reach inside and hook out worms, The front teeth of the aye-aye grow continuously and are worn down by its eating at bark in its search for worms.

    Aye-ayes are close to be gone or totally gone. Because of deforestation (伐木), or forest destruction, the animals have therefore been forced to eat villagers' crops, and many aye-ayes been  have been killed while doing In addition. Some people on Madagascar believe that seeing an aye-aye is a sign that someone close to them will die, so they kill the animals on sight.

    Grandparents Answer a Call

    As a third-generation native of Brownsville, Texas, Mildred Garza never planned to move away. Even when her daughter and son asked her to move to San Antonio to help with their children, she politely refused. Only after a year of friendly discussion did Ms. Garza finally say yes. That was four years ago. Today all three generations regard the move as a success, giving them a closer relationship than they would have had in separate cities.

    No statistics show the number of grandparents like Garza who are moving closer to adult children and grandchildren. Yet there is evidence (证据) suggesting that the trend (趋势) is growing. Even President Obama's mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, has agreed to leave Chicago and move into the White House to help care for her granddaughters. According to a study by grandparents.com, 83 percent of the people said Mrs. Robinson's decision will influence grandparents in the American family. Two-thirds believe more families will follow the example of Obama's family.

    “In the 1960s we were all a little wild and couldn't get away from home far enough or fast enough to prove we could do it on our own,” says Christine Crosby, publisher of Grand, a magazine for grandparents. “We now realize how important family is and how important it is to be near them, especially when you're raising children.”

    Moving is not for everyone. Almost every grandparent wants to be with his or her grandchildren and is willing to make sacrifices (牺牲), but sometimes it is wiser to say no and visit frequently instead. Having your grandchildren far away is hard, especially knowing your adult child is struggling, but giving up the life you know may be harder.

    Micro-blog is no longer simply a platform for self-expression, gossip and networking, as it is becoming an increasingly fierce battlefield for businesses wanting to promote their products and services.

    Over the last year, micro-blogging has become wildly popular in China, with some 65 million China based micro-blog accounts registered(注册登记)by the end of 2010 and the number is growing by more than 10 million each month, according to Data Center of the China Internet(DCCI).

    At present, China's largest web portal Sina claims to have 5,000 company micro-blog users, including Starbucks, Channel, and IKEA. On the micro-blog pages of the companies, visitors can not only view advertisements, but also see consumer feedback(反馈)and even commentaries on hot social issues.

    E-commerce(电子商务)expert Lu Bowang says micro-blogging has opened a whole new dimension of marketing. Through micro-blogs, companies can quickly grasp the attention of potential consumers and interact with them on a regular basis so to develop a friendly link with consumers, Lu said.

    An Internet surfer nicknamed Xiaoben posted on his micro-blog page that he enjoyed drinking Puer tea, and within 10 minutes, a micro-blogger who owned an online shop selling Puer tea recommended his shop to Xiaoben. “It is a little bit like magic. I just make a wish, and then I get a micro-blog response.”

    However, with more and more people micro-blogging to make money, experts warn that marketing via micro-blog could be a double-edged sword.

    Huang Heshui, professor from Xiamen University says micro-blogging is highly personal and private, and that too many advertising messages can annoy micro-blog users leading them to dislike certain brands.

    Further, a brand can be as easily damaged as established through micro-blogging, as consumers' negative feedback about a certain product or company can be very quickly spread in the micro-blog community, Huang added.

    The micro-blog managers should set up some rules and regulation to supervise micro-blog marketing, and at the same time, business organizations need to strengthen self-discipline(自律)and try to build up an honesty-based business culture, e-commerce expert Lu Bowang suggested.