In colonies (群体) that range in size from a few hundred to tens of millions, they organize their lives with a clear division of labor. Even more amazing is how they achievethis level of organization. Where we use sound and sight to communicate, ants dependprimarily on pheromone (外激素), chemicals sent out by individuals and smelled or tastedby fellow members of their colony. When an ant finds food, it produces a pheromone that will lead others straight to where the food is. When an individual ant comes under attack or is dying, it sends out an alarm pheromone to warn the colony to prepare for a conflict as a defense unit.

         In fact, when it comes to the art of war, ants have no equal. They are completely fearless and will readily take on a creature much larger than themselves, attacking in large groups and overcoming their target. Such is their devotion to the common good of the colony that not only soldier ants but also worker ants will sacrifice their lives to help defeat an enemy.

         Behaving in this selfless and devoted manner, these little creatures have survived on Earth, for more than 140 million years, far longer than dinosaurs. Because they think as one, they have a collective (集体的) intelligence greater than you would expect from itsindividual parts.

Beijing

Youth choir toper form

    The youth choir of China National Symphony Orchestra will soon perform classics including the Mexican folk song, The Golden Nightingale, and the Blue Danube, adapted from awaltz by Johann Strauss II. Pianists Zhao Lin and Wang Tianyang will join in the show.

7:30 pm, Jan 23.Forbidden City Concert Hall, inside Zhongshan Park, west of Tian'anmen Square, Xicheng district. 010-6559-8285.

Orchestra recitals

    The China National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra led by conductor Lyu Jia will give two recitals, featuring works including Beethoven's Coriolanus Overture and Mozart's Symphonies No 40 & No 41 Jupiter. Cellist Wang Jian will join in the performances, playing Schumann's Cello Concerto in A minor, Op 129 andSaint-Saens' Cello Concerto No 1 in A minor, Op 33.

7:30 pm, Jan 15;2:30 pm, Jan 16. China National Center for the Performing Arts, No 2 WestChang'an Avenue, Xicheng District. 010-6655-0000.

Ballet from Paris

    Paris Opera Balletwill present two gala performances in the city. Besides highlights of classical ballet, such as Swan Lake and Manon, the program will also include modern pieces from the company's repertoire. The leading etoiles are Ludmila Paglieroand Karl Paquette.

7:15 pm, Jan 15-16.Shanghai Oriental Art Center, 425 Dingxiang Road, Pudong district.021-6854-1234.

Ensemble of swans

    Shanghai Ballet will present two performances of Swan Lake. The production choreographed by British artist Derek Deane has just completed a tour in 26 cities of the Netherlands. The spectacular production features an ensemble of 48 dancers.

7:15 pm, Jan 22-23.Shanghai Grand Theater, 300 Renmin Avenue, Huangpu district. 400-106-8686.

    The introduction of the iPad,with its touch screen technology,has allowed even very young children to take advantage of a computer.So what if all children in a school were given an iPad to use in class and take home with them?

    Anne Laure Bazin works in a school where every child,teacher and teaching assistant is given a free iPad to use in and out of lessons.For her,the main advantage of everyone having an iPad had been the improvement in communication.Documents can be emailed straight over to workmates during a meeting.Children submit their homework by email,or through the school's learning environment.Teachers now take the register（点名）using their iPad,which means that there is a record of which children are in school,and which classroom they are in.

    The use of iPad has encouraged greater sharing of resources among teacher.All communication with parents is now done by email.Working as a group in class is much easier as children can share documents.The whole class can look at one child's work by attaching（连接）the iPad to the whiteboard.If a child has forgotten the textbook,the teacher can take a photograph of the relevant（相关的）page and send it to the student in class.

    While the use of the iPad in schools has revolutionized（变革）the way children are taught ,it hasn't completely replaced more traditional methods of teaching .Worksheets are still used in class as some children prefer the contact with paper.The children all have a textbook and exercise books.In Anne Laure's school,parents feared that the iPads would replace exercise books and children would lose handwriting skills.Anne Laure says,” The teacher are not ready to let go of the traditional style of teaching.We have welcomed the iPads in so much as they help communication and widen the resources available but we are not ready to let go of paper yet.The children themselves still value their exercise books and depend on them for review.”

    As the new semester begins, millions of college students across the country are trying hard to remember how best to write a paper or, more likely, how best to delay that paper.

    Procrastination is the thief of time and a lot of students suffer form it. They can spend whole days in the library doing nothing but staring into space, eating snacks, surfing the Internet, watching videos and looking at other students sitting around them, who, most likely are doing nothing either.

    Paralyzed (使失去活力) by their habit to procrastinate, they write micro blogs about their fears, asking their online friends if they sometimes have the same issue. But this does nothing to break the spell (魔咒).

    According to a recent report, 95 percent of us procrastinate at some point and 20 percent of the world's population are always procrastinating. The figures are disappointing. Procrastinators are less wealthy, less healthy and less happy than those who don't delay. Procrastinators like to find excuses to justify their behavior, but BBC columnist Rowan Pelling says they are all wrong.

    Many procrastinators tell themselves they are perfectionists who work best under pressure. Pelling says this is non sense, as work done at the last minute is more likely to have mistakes than work done on time. The behavior of procrastinators often makes them feel ashamed, inconveniences others and annoys loved ones.

    Pelling also points out that procrastination feels particularly delinquent（过失的） in a society that thinks of speedy action as admirable, and, at times, even as a moral good.

    Fortunately, social scientists have thrown their weight behind efforts to understand this behavioral mistake and offer strategies to control it. Piers Steel, a Canadian social scientist and author of The Procrastination Equation, believes human is “designed” to procrastinate. Nevertheless, he suggests a couple of good ways to get through the task at hand.

    The effects of coffee consumption on health have long been a subject of conflict and uncertainty.Since the 1980s,some have spoken out against coffee as harmful to health,while others have welcomed coffee for its supposed benefits to health.

    According to a scientific report,mild coffee consumption,three to five cups per day,can he taken as a healthy dietary pattern,along with other healthful behaviors.The report also says that coffee consumption helps reduce the risk of heart disease and it protects against Parkinson's disease.

    According to Dr.Donald Hensrud of Mayo Clinic,high consumption of coffee has health risks.Dr.Hensrud mentions the dangers of high coffee consumption for people with a certain illness that slows the breakdown of caffeine in the body.Some studies said that drinking two or more cups of coffee daily can actually increase the risk of heart disease in these people.

    According to conclusions from a recent study led by Dr.Gregory Marcus,a doctor from the University of California San Francisco,daily moderate consumption of caffeine,less than 4 cups,is not associated with these issues.

    Until the scientific community reaches a general agreement on the effects of coffee consumption on human health,it will be up to the individual to decide whether the benefits of drinking coffee are greater than the risks.

    When informed of these possible health benefits and harms of drinking coffee,Harwood,a high school student stated,"Even though there might be some negative effects of drinking coffee,for the most part,coffee drinking sounds good for health.Not to mention I need coffee to stay awake."

    Some of the world's most famous musicians recently gathered in Paris and New Orleans to celebrate the first annual International Jazz Day. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) recently set

    April 30 as a day to raise awareness of jazz music, its significance, and its potential as a unifying voice across cultures.

    Despite the celebrations, though, in the U.S. the jazz audience continues to shrink and grow older, and the music has failed to connect with younger genera-tions. It's Jason Moran's job to help change that. As the Kennedy Center's artistic adviser for jazz, Moran hopes to widen the audience for jazz, make the music more accessible, and preserve its history and culture.

    “Jazz seems like it's not really a part of the American appetite.” Moran tells National Public Radio's reporter Neal Conan “What I'm hoping to accomplish is that my generation and younger start to reconsider and understand that jazz is not black and white anymore. It's actually color, and it's actually digital.”

    Moran says one of the problems with jazz today is that the entertainment aspect of the music has been lost. “The music can't be presented today the way it was in 1908 or 1958. It has to continue to move, because the way the world works is not the same.” says Moran.

    Last year, Moran worked on a project that arranged Fats Waller's music for a dance party. “just to kind of put it back in the mind that Waller is dance music as much as it is concert music.” says Moran. “For me, it's the recontextualization.

    In music, where does the emotion lie? Are we, as humans, gaining any insight (感悟) on how to talk about ourselves and how something as abstract as a Charlie Parker record gets us into a dialogue about our emotions and our thoughts? Sometimes we lose sight that the music has a wider context,” says Moran, “so I want to continue those dialogues. Those are the things I want to foster.”