More and more comments sections are being shut down online.

    Autumn Phillips had had enough. On Aug. 19, the executive editor of the Quad- City Times in Iowa, and Illinois, US visited her website, qctimes.com, and saw a story about a man who had been shot to death. When she got to the readers' comments sections at the end, she was shocked by what she saw. Below the story was a growing number of comments—a racist remark about democratic votes, a negative comment about police …So Phillips decided to do something she had been thinking about for a long time: she shut down the comments sections.

    Phillips was not alone in making such a move. Last week, NPR announced k too was closing its online comments sections. The decisions don't mean that the news outlets are no longer interested in what their audiences are thinking. Both stressed their eagerness to hear from readers and listeners on social networks. But both agreed that comments had deviated from their original intention. And so they had.

    In early days of digital journalism, comments were seen as a key part of this new media, a wonderful opportunity for strengthening the dialogue between news producers and their audiences. It was a welcome change, given that for long many news organizations were far too separated from their readers. Much more back and forth conversation seemed like healthy and welcome evolution. Sadly, that's not the way things turned out. Rather than a place for exchanging ideas, comments sections became the home of ugly name-calling, racism and anti-women language. Besides their poisonous quality, comments seem out of place today.

    "Since we made the announcement, I've received an outpouring of responses from our readers," she says. "I've heard from parents whose children were hurt by our online comments. I've heard from people who said they wouldn't send in letters to the editor because they were attacked so fiercely by comments, and wasn't worth it."

    Sitting on the peaceful coast of Galapagos Islands. Ecuador, watching the sun move quietly into the sea, you shouldn't forget that Charles Darwin (1809-1882) arrived here in 1835. He stayed on the islands for five weeks, observing various animals. This finally inspired (启发) his famous work, On the Origin of Species. You can certainly follow Darwin's footsteps and enjoy a trip from four to seven days to the islands. The islands are certainly a paradise (天堂) for wildlife, as there are no natural killers on the islands and the number of boats and visitors is under government control. Though you cannot walk freely as Darwin did about 200 years ago, each day is as impressive as it could be. The most well-known animal of the Galapagos is the giant tortoise(巨型海龟), which can be seen moving slowly around the highlands of Sanra Cruz, the second largest island in the archipelago(群岛). Some of these creatures are so old that they might have been seen in their youth by Darwin himself. Despite strict control over activities and timing, your stay on the Galapagos will be remembered as a chain of incomparable pictures: diving with sea lions that swim and play within inches of you; feeling small sharks touch your feet as you swim; and, most magically, seeing a whale and her baby surface with a great breath of air. Travelling between the islands and observing the wildlife that so inspired Darwin, you will feel as though you are getting a special view of an untouched world. At night you will sleep on board the ship, leaving the wildlife in complete occupation of the islands, which are as undisturbed now as they have been since the beginning of time.

    In recent years, much of the sea ice that polar bears use as a hunting platform for seal meals has melted, forcing some bears — particularly young males — farther north or onto land, where they are not as skilled at hunting. When stuck on land for months, a polar bear typically is forced to survive on its own fat reserves.

    The bears were listed earlier this year as a threatened species under the U. S. Endangered Species Act as populations have declined. Meanwhile, snow geese are booming near the western Hudson Bay, and there are in fact too many of them. Their eggs can be a good food source. The geese nest on tundra (冻原；苔原) that some bears have retreated to.

    "Over 40 years, six subadult (接近成年的) male bears were seen among snow goose nests, and four of them were sighted after the year 2000," says Robert Rockwell. "I've seen a subadult male eat goose eggs whole or press its nose against the shell, break it, and eat the contents."

    Ice is melting, on average, 0.72 days earlier each year in the region studied. Snow geese are hatching eggs about 0.16 days sooner each year, according to Rockwell and his graduate student Linda Gormezano. Current trends indicate that the arrival of polar bears will correspond to the average hatching period in 3.6 years, and egg consumption could become a viable option, which the researcher concluded in a statement released today.

    A polar bear, the largest land carnivore (食肉动物), would need to consume the eggs of 43 nests to replace the energy gained from the average day of hunting seals, but Rockwell and his colleagues figure that while many polar bears may starve in coming years, the resourceful animals just might survive disappearance.

    Polar bears survived a warm period about 125,000 years ago, when sea level was 12 to 18 feet higher than it is now and trees lived above the Arctic Circle, the scientists point out.  "They've been through the warm period before，" Rockwell said.

    The polar bears' potential movement to a diet of more eggs brought to mind a quote by Ilkoo Angutikjuak, an Inuit who lives in the Canadian province of Nunavut, in the February 2008 issue of Natural History magazine, Rockwell said. Angutikjuak said: "The animals will adapt. I've heard that because they depend on sea ice, polar bears will disappear, but I don't believe it. They are very adaptable. As the sea ice changes, polar bears might get skinnier and some might die, but I don't think they will disappear."

Harry, the first camel to arrive in Australia in 1840, was an unlucky beast. He was imported from the Canary Islands by explorer John Horrocks. On an expedition (探险), Horrocks picked up his gun in order to shoot “a beautiful bird to be added to the collection.” Perhaps Harry was an ecologist —- he lurched (突然倾斜), and the gun discharged, shooting Horrocks in the face.

    Horrocks not surprisingly died of his injuries, and his treatments ordered Harry to be shot. The first importation of a camel into Australia came to naught.

    In 1860, 24 camels arrived in Australia to be part of an expedition by explorers Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills. It was an unlucky expedition. The pair made one mistake after another, and ended up eating most of their camels, before starving to death.

    Six years later, more than 100 camels and their Afghan minders, arrived in Australia. This time it succeeded and thousands more camels followed.

    Sir Thomas Elder set up the first camel studs (种畜场) in South Australia, while others were set up in Western Australia. This time the camels bred (繁殖) like wildfire. They were used for working, rather than exploring expeditions.

    The imported Afghan cameleers were just as hardy and vital, leading camel trains across the cruel interior (腹地) of Australia, where few dared to go. The camels carried heavy packs of wool and supplies and opened up the desert areas as none had managed to do before. The train that does this crossing today is called The Ghan, in their honor.

    Motorization put these camel trains out of business, and many camels were turned loose. The camels loved Australia, and multiplied in amazing numbers. What is to be done with them?

    Not surprisingly they have become quite a tourist attraction and you can take a camel ride in the desert as the Afghan cameleers once did. But the fact is that camels create quite a problem in areas where they have taken over, as they damage local vegetation, muscle out native animals competing for food, and create chaos when they wander into settled area.

Hazel Mayfield usually cooks the Thanksgiving meal for her extended family in Houston, Texas. She usually welcomes friends and neighbors who are eager to taste her fried turkey, green bean casserole, candied yams, homemade cornbread dressing, and dirty rice-just a few of her signature dishes. Known as Sugar Mama, because her grandchildren think she's so sweet, the 91-year-old typically likes to do her own shopping for the ingredients to make her special dishes.

"My mother is the head cook of the family," said Panulette Mouton, Mayfield's daughter. "Because of her reputation, you know, there're people in and out all day and every family comes through. They want to get some of Sugar Mama's cooking, and some of them would like to learn from her how to cook the food."

But Mayfield hasn't been to the grocery store since March. And there is little about Thanksgiving in 2020 that's usual. Because of Covid-19, the deadly virus that has killed millions in the U.S. and spoiled life around the world, everything is different. Since limiting close face-to-face contact with others is the best way to reduce its spread, hundreds of thousands of American families have re-imagined the holiday with virtual celebrations and canceled or delayed travel plans. There can only be small gatherings with people in their households in response to COVID-19.

This year, Mayfield's family members, without exception, are lamenting the absence of a big gathering. They've explained to their young children and grandchildren why this year's Thanksgiving is different. Mayfield's youngest daughter, Michelle Sanders, says it's tough to help her grandchildren understand why they can't see some of their other family members and why they have to stay at home, celebrating Thanksgiving all by themselves.

"It's really hard, trying to explain to them," Sanders said. "When-you're talking to them and they want to come over, you have to tell them no. They really don't know how to be careful." Sanders added, "And, they don't understand that, being three, four, and six, you know they don't really understand that. So, it's...it's really, really hard, and heartbreaking."

Every day, as I took long walks through North Vancouver, I would think about the potential joys of a physically closer network. Wouldn't it be great to have someone who could join me at a moment's notice? How good would it be to have more non-scheduled hangs instead of ones that had to be planned weeks in advance?

This doesn't have to be just a dream. Although technology is making it easier to maintain long-distance connections nothing can replace seeing friends in person. Researchers have found that happiness spreads "like an emotional contagion (传染)", especially among those who live close together.

Friends who live in the same city could decide to move within walking distance of one another — the same neighborhood, block, or even apartment building. Doing so would likely involve a lot of effort, but the resulting community could pay emotional dividends for years. Doing so would make it easier to support one another materially and emotionally.

Moving close to your friends requires some masterminding. Cities can make doing so easier by ending single-family zoning codes and encouraging a variety of housing types in neighborhoods. But even without official policies, people can make it work on their own. Sam Unger, 32, a food scientist and a friend of mine, has created a chosen family like this in Montreal, where about 15 of her friends live within walking distance of one another. When someone moves away, they try to transfer (移交) their lease (租约) to other friends. And when pals based elsewhere in the city are looking to move, Unger will try selling them on the positives of her neighborhood and sometimes even look for housing for them. "It's funny," she told me. "The other day, I bought a fire extinguisher, and she's like, ‘Oh, well, I have one. You could just call me if you had a fire, and I'd be right over with it.'"