On July 1, 2017, Canada turned 150. That day, more than half a million people visited Ottawa for the country's biggest birthday celebration ever. At the same time, hundreds of parties, fireworks displays, and performances took place across Canada to mark the occasion.

    As we all know, native people like the Inuit have lived in Canada for thousands of years. About 500 years ago. French and British people started arriving there. They claimed some of the land for their countries. The two countries often fought over control of the land. The British won full control of the area in 1763. But French remains one of the official languages, along with English. Canada became fully independent of Britain in 1982.

    Over the years, it is now the second-largest country in the world. At more than 5,500 miles, its border with the US is the longest border between the two nations.

    Canadians are proud of their country. Canada even made the list of the 10 happiest countries, according to a 2017United Nations report. Located not far from the North Pole, its cold and icy north is home to about two-thirds of the world's polar bears. Its icy and snowy land also helps explain why some of its popular sports are ice hockey, skiing and curling(冰壶)

    They are also very proud of the country's history of welcoming people from around the world and of the diverse population. “It reminds us of the values that unite us—openness, and deep respect for our differences,” says Prime Minister Trudeau. “Today, and every day, let us celebrate the differences that make Canada strong, diverse and proud.”

    Recently I and other Red Cross volunteers met a group of victims from Hurricane Katrina. We were there, as mental health professionals, to offer “psychological first aid” and I was struck by the simple healing power of presence. As we walked in the gate to the shelter, we were greeted with a burst of gratitude from the first person we met. I felt appreciated, but also guilty, because I hadn't really done anything yet.

    I first realized the power of presence many years ago when a friend's mother passed away unexpectedly. I received a call saying she had just passed away. I wanted to rush down there immediately, but didn't want to intrude(打扰) on this very personal period of sadness. I was torn about what to do. Another friend with me then said, “Just go. Just be there.” I did, and I will never regret it.

    Since then, I have not hesitated to be in the presence of others. Once I sat at the bedside of a young man suffering from the pain of his AIDS-ralated dying. He was not awake, and obviously unaware of others' presence. However, the atmosphere was by no means solenm. His family, playing guitars and singing, allowed him to be present with them as though he were still fully alive.

    In my life, I am repeatedly struck by the healing power of presence. In it, none of us are truly alone. It not only is something we give to others but also changes me for the better.

    The world's first robot police officer has started working. Its name is 'RoboCop' and it went into service for the Dubai Police earlier this week. Robocop's first official duty was to greet guests at the opening of a security conference in Dubai. Apart from greeting visitors' its job was to answer questions and give directions. RoboCop has a built — in tablet for people to interact with. People can use the tablet to pay traffic fines and use other smart police services. The tablet is linked to a police station, so people can talk to human police officers. In addition, RoboCop can speak six languages, including English and Arabic. The 170 - centimetre - tall robot can also shake hands, salute people and recognize people's emotions and facial expressions.

    Dubai Police says RoboCop is the first of many robot police officers for the city. A spokesman said that by 2030, 25 per cent of the Dubai Police force will be robots. He said: “We are looking to make everything smart in Dubai Police. By 2030, we will have the first smart police station which won't require human employees.”

    “The RoboCop is the latest smart addition to the police force and has been designed to help us fight crime, keep the city safe and improve happiness levels,” He added. He also said that RoboCop would, “assist and help people in the malls or on the streets”. An official at the security conference commented that the future is here now, saying: “The age of the robots is no longer coming. It has arrived.”

    Some colors people see late at night could cause signs of clinical (临床的) depression. That was the finding of a study that builds on earlier study findings. They show that individuals who live or work in low levels of light overnight can develop clinical depression. Doctors use the word "clinical depression" to describe severe form of depression. Signs may include loss of interest or pleasure in most activities, low energy levels and thoughts of death or suicide.

    In the new study American investigators designed an experiment that exposed hamsters (仓鼠) to different colors. The researchers chose hamsters because they are nocturnal which means they sleep during the day and are active at night.

    The animals were divided into four groups. One group of hamsters was kept in the dark during their night-time period. Another group was placed in front of a blue light a third group slept in front of a white light while a fourth was put in front of a red light.

    After four weeks the researchers noted how much sugary water the hamsters drank. They found that the most depressed animals drank the least amount of water.

    Randy Nelson heads the Department of Neuroscience at Ohio State University. He says animals that slept in blue and white light appeared to be the most depressed. "What we saw is that these animals didn't show any sleep uneasiness at all but they did mess up biological clock genes and they did show depressive sign while if they were in the dim (微弱) red light they did not."

    He notes that photosensitive (感光) cells in the eyes have little to do with eyesight. He says these cells send signals to the area of the brain that controls what has been called the natural sleep-wake cycle.

    He says there's a lot of blue in white light. This explains why the blue light and white light hamsters appear to be more depressed than the hamsters seeing red light or darkness.

    Did you know that if you attach a weighed stick to the back of a chicken, it walks like a dinosaur?

    No, you did not know(or care to know) such things, but now you do! Thanks to this year's winners of the 12 Noel Prize! Now in is 251h year, the lg Nobel is the goofy younger cousin of the honored Nobel Prize. It applauds achievements in the fields of medicine, biology, physics, economies.literature.etc. Every September at Harvard University, awards are presented in 10 categories that change year to year, depending on - according to the organization - what makes the judges "laugh, then think".

    The ceremony officially begins when audience members launch paper airplanes at an assigned human target on the stage, then speakers only have 60 seconds to present their research. In previous year, the one-minute rule was imposed by a young girl - nicknamed Miss Sweetie Poo -who would go up to the platform and repeat the words: "Please stop, I'm bored." in a sharp tone until the speaker left the stage.

    Fortunately for candidates though, the Ig Informal Lectures are held afterwards on Saturday to give presenters more time to explain the crazy things they're working on.

    The research can seem more like the brainchildren of teenage boys than of respectable adults. Justin Schmidt won the physiology Ig for creating the "Sting(蛰) Pain Index," which rates the pain people fell after getting stung by insects. Smith pressed bees against 25 different parts of his body until they stung him. Five stings a day for 38 days, Smith concluded that the most painful sting locations were the nose and the upper lip. Ouch.

    As silly as they sound, not all of the Ig awards lack scientific applicability, A group of scientists from 12 different counties won in the medicine category for accurately diagnosing patients with appendicitis (阑尾炎) based on an unusual measurement: speed bumps(减速带) . They found that patients are more likely to have appendicitis if they report pain during bumpy car rides.

    All these weird experiments have just one thing in common. They're improbable. It can be tempting to assume that "improbable" implies more than that--implies bad or good, worthless or valuable, trivial or important. Something improbable can be any of those, or none of them, or all of them, in different ways. And what you don't expect can be a powerful force for not only entertaining science, but also for the boundary-pushing science we call innovation.

It was not until photographer Rita Nannini left New York that she grew fascinated by the city's subways. While living in Manhattan for some 15 years in the 1980s and early 1990s, Nannini only commuted (通勤) on the one train-given the subway system's bad reputation. But after relocating to New Jersey for several years where subway is not an option, Nannini found that absence did make the heart grow fonder — maybe even for pizza rats. During her visit back to New York, Nannini nodded, noticing improvements in the subway's facilities.

While Nannini was waiting for a train, a bench on the platform opposite caught her attention due to the ever changing faces and characters. They were people of different accents, colors and beliefs. They were from all walks of life, a diverse mix of New Yorkers all there for their own different reasons. Having learned the teenagers' popular "End of the Line" challenge — boarding trains at random and riding them until their final destination; Nannini decided to visit every first and last stop across the NY subway's lines with her beloved camera.

Nannini's "End of the Line" experience saw her traveling some 665 miles across 26 routes in New York city. She took over 8,000 photos of the final stations, as well as the communities they served. In many cases, she rode the routes two or three times over to ensure she got "the shot". "The project really shows me how important the subway is, and how sustainable it makes our lives," she said 

"It's often said that my photos show the end of the lines — the last stops," she said. "But theend of the line is indeed the start for so many people. That made me think about who the people and the communities that live at the two ends are and what it is that the subway means to them."

Nannini was proud of her set of images directly challenging the traditions of story telling, which echoed both the boredom and excitement of travel on tracks.

Nannini enjoyed taking her time, starting her challenge in 2013 and only shooting the final photos last year. Her first monograph on the terminal stops of the NY subway was released in April 2023.

"When you drive in the suburbs, you don't have those encounters," she continued. "People enter your life on the subway. That's what strikes me most on my jouney on tracks."