Night of the Living Zoo

    When: October 30th, 2016, 18:30-22:00

    Where: Lower Zoo

    Cost:

    Tickets now are on sale to FONZ (Friends of the National Zoo) members only! Not a member? Join now to get tickets at the member rate. FONZ members may purchase up to six tickets at the member price. Non-member tickets go on sale September 25th.

    General Admission: Includes live music, performance artists -including fortune tellers, fire breathers, as well as access to animal exhibits after hours, and interesting outdoor games. Also, all guests will receive free bottled water.

$ 20 FONZ members; $ 30 non-members.

    VIP Tickets: Include access to the VIP area, animal performances and private games, etc.

    $ 55 FONZ members; $ 80 non-members

    Details:

    It's back. Prepare to witness dangerous acts and amazing sights at the Zoo's annual Halloween event, Night of the Living Zoo. With live music, performance artists, and games, it's a special night of fun that you won't want to miss.

    FONZ encourages you to take public transportation and drink responsibly.

    Metro (地铁): The Zoo's Connecticut Avenue entrance is between the Red Line's Cleveland Park and Woodley Park Metro stops.

    Uber is Night of the Living Zoo's transportation partner this year! New to Uber? Sign up for $ 20 off your first ride (new users only).

    Parking: Parking at the event will be $ 22.

    Scientists have found living organisms(有机体) that could be 50,000 years old recently. The organisms were found in a hot, but beautiful cave system in Naica, Mexico. These ancient life forms can be seen only with a microscope, which proves they are probably microbes(微生物).

    Penelope Boston leads the Astrobiology Institute at NASA, the space agency of the United States. These ancient organisms are able to exist by eating minerals such as iron and manganese. If the findings are confirmed, they will show how microbes can survive in extreme conditions.

    Researchers have been studying ancient microbes for nine years. Forty different kinds of microbes and some viruses were found in the underground area this time. The genetic(基因的) structures of these organisms are different from those of their nearest relatives –viruses. That is similar to that humans are genetically different from mushrooms growing in forest. The caves in Naica are 800 kilometers deep. Before the miners began working in the caves, the area was isolated from the surface and the outside world.

    Some of the caves are as big as the large religious centers built during Europe's Middle Ages. There are crystals(晶体) covering the walls. Scientists must wear special clothing to keep cool. And the clothing keeps the crystals safe from human germs or other damage. The researchers could only work for about 20 minutes at a time before they have to go to a room that is 28 degrees Celsius to cool down.

    NASA officials would not let Boston share her findings with scientific experts until the last week's announcement. So scientists could not say much about the findings. But Norine Noonan, a biologist at the University of South Florida, said she believed them. “Why are we surprised?” Noonan asked, “As a biologist, I would say life on Earth is extremely tough and versatile.” “What's more, these organisms are not the oldest life forms on Earth. Scientists published studies about living microbes that may be 500,000 years old several years ago,” she added.

    What does it take to be a good neighbor ? Over the years I have had all kinds of neighbors.ones that were enjoyable and others that were to be avoided at all costs.

    One of the most important things in being a good neighbor is to respect a person's privacy(隐私).When someone new moves into the neighborhood it is a good idea to watch them to see how friendly you should be if you go rushing over as soon as they move in they may think you are going to be one of those neighbors that come over at all times of the day,not respecting their privacy.

    It is a good idea always to be friendly to everyone in the neighborhood.This can not only put you on good terms with them,but will also be a form of protection for your family and home.If you wave as they drive by or offer a friendly hello while they are out in their yard this shows that you respect them.If you are friendly do them they are much more likely to watch out for any wrong doings going on around your home while you are out and let you know if anything happens.

    Another way of being a good neighbor is to be helpful in times of need.If you see that they are in need of a helping hand doing something or in times of a disaster,it is good to offer your help.Even though you have never really talked to the people down the street,they are willing to take the time to help out a neighbor in need.

    In conclusion,if you respect a person's privacy,treat them kindly and be helpful when you see they are in need,you will be a great neighbor and anyone would be happy to have you next door!

    If you do not use your arms or your legs for some time, they become weak. When you start using them again, they slowly become strong again. Everybody knows that. Yet many people do not seem to know that memory works in the same way.

    When someone says that he has a good memory, he really means that he keeps his memory in practice by using it. When someone else says that his memory is poor, he really means that he does not give it enough chance to become strong.

    If a friend says that his arms and legs are weak, we know that it is his own fault. But if he tells us that he has a poor memory, many of us think that his parents are to be blamed(责备), and few of us know that it is just his own fault.

    Have you ever found that some people can't read or write but usually they have better memories? This is because they cannot read or write and they have to remember things; they cannot write them down in a little notebook. They have to remember days, names, songs and stories; so their memory is the whole time being exercised. So if you want to have a good memory, learn from the people: practice remembering.

    What is the single most effective way to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions? Go vegetarian (素食)？ Replant the Amazon? Cycle to work? None of the above. The answer is: make air-conditioners better. On one calculation, replacing refrigerants (制冷剂) damaging the atmosphere would reduce total greenhouse gases equaling 90bn tonnes of CO₂ by 2050. Making the units more energy-efficient could double that. By contrast, if half the world's population gave up meat, it would save 66bn tonnes. Replanting two-thirds of tropical forests would save 61 bn tonnes. A one-third increase in global bicycle journeys, just 2.3bn tonnes.

    Air-conditioning is one of the world's great overlooked industries. Automobiles and air-conditioners were invented at roughly the same time, and both have had a huge impact on where people live and Work. Unlike cars, though， air-conditioners have drawn little criticism for their social impact, emissions or energy efficiency. Most hot countries do not have rules to govern their energy use. There is not even a common English word for “coolth” (the opposite of warmth).

    Yet air-conditioning has done more than most things to benefit humankind. Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of Singapore, called it “perhaps one of the signal inventions of history”. It has transformed productivity in the tropics(热带地区)and helped turn southern China into the workshop of the World. In Europe, its spread has pushed down heat-related deaths to 10% since 2003, Men 70,000 people than usual, most of them elderly, died in a heatwave. For children, air-conditioned classrooms are associated with better grades at school.

    Environmentalists who call air-conditioning “a luxury we cannot afford” have half a point, however. In the next ten years, as many air-conditioners will be installed(安装)around the world as were put in between 1902(invention time)and 2005.Unless energy can be produced without carbon emissions, these extra machines will warm the world. At the moment, therefore, air-conditioners create a vicious cycle. The more the Earth warms, the more people need them. But the more there are, the warmer the world will be.

    Cutting the impact of cooling requires three things. First, air-conditioners must become much more efficient. The most energy-efficient models on the market today consume only about one-third as much electricity as average ones, Minimum energy-performance standards need to be raised raised, orintroduced in countries that lack them altogether, to push the average unit's performance closer to the standard of the best.

    Next, manufacturers should stop using damaging refrigerants. One type called hydrofluoro-carbons, is over 1,000 times worse than carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping heat in the atmosphere. An international agreement to knock out these pollutants will come into force in 2019.

    Last, more could be done to design offices, malls and even cities so they do not need as many air-conditioners in the first place. More buildings should be built with overhanging roofs or balconies for shade, or with natural ventilation (自然通风).Simply painting roofs white can help keep temperatures down. Providing indoor air-conditioned comfort need not come at the expense of an overheating world.

    Chewing gum(口香糖) has its origins in ancient times from Mayans to Greeks who would chew the resin(树脂)of certain trees for medical purposes and maybe even for freshening breath. The history of chewing gum continued as Native Americans introduced it to European settlers.

    Chewing gum hit the market after Santa Anna brought a case of chicle(糖胶树脂) from Mexico to New York. Santa Anna gave some to the part-time inventor Thomas Adams Thomas Adams changed the gum and marketed it as a candy. The invention took off and was known as Chiclets.

    In 1900 Frank Fleer coate chewing gum with sugar, and in 1906 Blibber Blubber was invented, but never made it to market. Blibber Blubber was too sticky and it was also too difficult to remove the burst bubble(破了的泡泡) from one's skin without using some special tools.

    A history of bubblegum just wouldn't be complete without mentioning the gumball machine, which popularized gum. The first gumball machine came onto the scene in 1907 and sold sugar-coated chewing gum.

    However, it wasn't until 1928 that bubblegum was created. Walter Diemer, working for Frank Fleer's gum company, discovered bubblegum by accident while experimenting in the lab during his breaks. The gum was named Dubble Bubble. Pink was the only color which could be used at the time, and Dubble Bubble has remained pink ever since.

    According to the International Chewing Gum Association,during WWII Dubble Bubble was handed out by US military members as gifts, thereby spreading its popularity among the peoples of Europe, Africa, and Asia. And in the 1930s he first bubblegum cards appeared. "the pictures changed from war heroes to Wild West figures to professional athletes."

    Bubblegum has been popular ever since, especially among children, thanks to its inventive shapes, and sugary flavors, from original bubblegum to a yardstick of fruity bubblegum.