If you are sitting, please stand up. Move your legs. Touch your toes if you can. Do anything but sit. New research shows that if you cut down on the time you spend sitting, you might live longer. Sitting less than three hours a day might extend your life by two years. Cutting television time to less than two hours a day can add one point four years to life.

    The human body is designed to move. The fact is just the opposite. Modern lifestyles and office jobs rarely give us the chance to move around. We sit while we're eating; we sit in the car; we sit while we are watching TV. And most of us sit for many hours at work. Sitting is something we do all the time. On average, Americans sit for four and a half to five hours a day. But that does not make sitting good for us.

    Though you may exercise often, that does not mean you can sit for the rest of your waking hours. We can't throw away physical activity. It is extremely important. Even if you exercise for 30 minutes a day, what goes on in the other 23 and a half hours a day is also very important.

    Changes are coming to some offices, especially in the design of desks. A “standing desk” lets people stand while they work. Another new design is called the “treadmill desk”. It is an exercise machine that lets you walk slowly in one place. Even some U.S. schools begin to experiment with desks that are part bicycle to keep children moving.

    Many companies may not buy a standing desk for everybody. However, they may get five standing desks or a treadmill desk for their employees and put them in a certain place where people can go for an hour a day to answer their emails or talk on the phone. Experts suggest some other activities: take a walk at lunchtime; walk to the offices and talk directly instead of emailing colleagues. All these activities may help you live longer.

    The American state of Colorado is considering a ban on smartphones for children younger than 13.

    A Denver-based doctor - and father - is leading the effort. Tim Farnum is the founder of a group called ‘Parents Against Underage Smartphones.' His proposal would ban sales of smartphones to children under the age of 13. It would also ban sales to anyone who wishes to buy such a device for anyone younger than 13. The measure would also require sellers of smartphones to provide proof to the state government that they have asked buyers if the phone is for anyone under 13.

    The measure now needs about 300,000 signatures in order to appear on Colorado's statewide ballot (投票权)next year. If it makes the ballot and is approved by voters, Colorado would become the first state to have such a ban.

    Tim Farnum said he decided to push for the measure after watching his own children struggle with the mental effects of always having a smartphone around. "They would get the phones and lock themselves in the room and change who they were," he told The Coloradoan newspaper.

    State Senator John Kefalas, a Democrat, said he understands the reasoning behind the proposed law. However, he told The Coloradoan that a child's smartphone usage is a "family matter" and not something the government should decide. "Ultimately, this comes down to parenting,” he said, “making sure their kids are not putting themselves at risk.”

    Last year, the AAP (the American Academy of Pediatrics) released guidelines for media use by children. The group advised parents to limit time spent watching videos to no more than one hour a day of high-quality programming until age 6. After that, it said, parents should set reasonable time limits for their children and make sure electronic devices do not take time away from sleep or exercise.

    I was born and raised in Minnesota, the USA, but as an adult I have mostly lived in Europe and Africa. I teach cross-cultural management at the International Business School near Paris. For the last 15 years, I've studied how people in different parts of the world build trust, communicate, and make decisions especially in the workplace.

    While traveling in Tokyo recently with a colleague, I gave a short talk to a group of 20 managers. At the end, I asked whether there were any questions or comments. No hands went up, so I went to sit down. My colleague whispered to me, “I think there actually were some comments, Erin. Do you mind if I fry?” I agreed, but I guessed it a waste of breath. He asked the group again. “Any comments or questions?”

    Still, no one raised a hand, but this time he looked very carefully at each person in the silent audience. Gesturing to one of them, he said, “Do you have something to add?” To my amazement, she responded “Yes, thank you.” and asked me a very interesting question. My colleague repeated this several times, looking directly at the audience and asking for more questions or comments.

After the session, I asked my colleague, “How do you know that those people had questions?” He hesitated, not sure how to explain it, and then said, “it has to do with how bright their eyes are.”

    He continued, “In Japan, we don't make as much direct eye contact as you do in the West. So when you asked if there were any comments, most people were not looking directly at you. But a few people in the group were looking right at you, and their eyes were bright. That indicates that they would be happy to have you call on them.”

    I thought to myself I would never have learned from my upbringing in Minnesota. Since then, I try to focus on understanding behavior in other cultures I encounter, and keep finding the bright eyes in the room.

The young boy saw me, or rather, he saw the car and quickly ran up to me, eager to sell his bunches of bananas and bags of peanuts. Though he appeared to be about twelve, he seemed to have already known the bitterness of life. "Bananas 300 naira. Peanuts 200 naira." He said in a low voice. I bargained him down to 200 for the fruit and nuts. When he agreed, I handed him a 500 naira bill. He didn't have change. So I told him not to worry. He said thanks and smiled a row of perfect teeth.

    When, two weeks later, I saw the boy again, I was more aware of my position in a society where it's not that uncommon to see a little boy who should be in school standing on the corner selling fruit in the burning sun. My parents had raised me to be aware of the advantage we had been afforded and the responsibility it brought to us.

I pulled over and rolled down my window. He had a bunch of bananas and a bag of peanuts ready. I waved them away. "What's up?" asked him. "I…I don't have money to buy books for school." I reached into my pocket and handed him two fresh 500 naira bills. "Will this help?" I asked. He looked around nervously before taking the money. One thousand naira was a lot of money to someone whose family probably made about 5,000 naira or less each year. "Thank you, sir." he said. "Thank you very much!"

    When driving home, I wondered if my little friend actually used the money for schoolbooks. What if he's a cheat? And then I wondered why I did it. Did I do it to make myself feel better? Was I using him? I didn't know his name or the least bit about him, nor did I think to ask.

    Over the next six months, I was busy working in a news agency in northern Nigeria. Sometime after I returned, I went out for a drive. When I was about to pull over, the boy suddenly appeared by my window with a big smile ready on his face.

"Oh, gosh! Long time."

"Are you in school now?" I asked.

    He nodded.

"That's good," I said. A silence fell as we looked at each other, and then I realized what he wanted. "Here," I held out a 500 naira bill. "Take this." He shook his head and stepped back as if hurt. "What's wrong?" I asked. "It's a gift."

He shook his head again and brought his hand from behind his back. His face shone with sweat. He dropped a bunch of bananas and a bag of peanuts in the front seat before he said, "I've been waiting to give these to you."

    Last year，I was on a plane with my friend, waiting for it to take off．The pilot's voice was heard throughout the plane “Sorry for the delay, ladies and gentlemen. Our engines don't work．We are going to jump-start them．Once we get them going, we'll get up in the air and see what happens．"

    That was all he said．"See what happens. Shouldn't we have had a better plan than that？"At that point, I could only laugh nervously. One woman started crying, “OH，no! We are going to crash!”. There are signs of desperation and anxiety, and we hadn't even taken off yet．

    The pilot even seemed unhappy．He told us one engine was working double time and his plan was to get up in the air and see what happens! Then we did．We got up in the air，and what happened？

    Nothing．We arrived in Norfolk, and no sooner had the wheels touched down than applause burst out as everyone on the airplane breathed a sigh of relief．

    All too often, people stop achieving their goals just because they don't have a guaranteed result．But success will never be guaranteed. The best thing that you can do is to just get up in the air and see what happens．

    If your aim is to build a business, then get up in the air and see what happens! Don't give yourself all the reasons why you can't．Do not wait until you have everything you need．You never will．

    If your goal is to start a friendship，say"Hello",get up in the air and see what happens! The results could be very rewarding．If your goal is to learn a new skill, get up in the air and see what happens! It might not be as difficult as you think．It could be fun!

    For many years, machines have been doing work that people once did, including some difficult jobs. Search and rescue operations in dangerous environments are often seen as the first areas that will employ high technology robots. But there is another area where they may soon take jobs traditionally held by human beings: the restaurant industry.

    Teams from around the world competed in early June at the DARPA Robotic Challenge Finals in California. A team from R. O. Korea and its robot, called DRC-Hubo, won first place in the competition. The second and third place finishers were from the United States.

    The robots were required to drive a vehicle, climb up steps and do mechanical work. Such activities are easy for humans to perform, but more difficult for machines.

    Not all of the competitors were successful. The failures showed how difficult it is to design effective walking machines.

    Recently, crowds gathered for the food machinery and technology show in Tokyo, Japan. They witnessed a robotic chef preparing food. Other machines cooked, baked tasty pastries and even made sushi.

    Akihiro Suzuki works at Yaskawa Electric, a company that develops robots. He says robots cannot do everything a human can, but they are able to work without becoming tired.

    He says robots cannot taste food, change heating levels or seasonings to get the best flavor. But he says if a food can be easily prepared, a robot can repeat the same movement to reproduce the same meal.

    One Japanese woman who saw the robots working wanted to bring them home. Masayo Mori says she would like to have a husband who could work like a robot. Suzumo Machinery demonstrated its sushi maker robot. It performs the often difficult work of wrapping the popular Japanese food. Hiroshi Monden is an official with the company. He says people all over the world now eat sushi, but there are not enough skilled workers to prepare for it. He says his machine can help anyone make sushi.