Lockheed Martin, American space system company (空间系统公司) has found a really cool way to inspire the young minds of today to the research fields in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

    It may look like a normal yellow bus, but all the magic happens once you get inside. Meet the “Mars (火星) Experience Bus,” part of Lockheed Martin's new “Generation Beyond” national education program to get the kids joining in studying what goes on outside of our home planet. The bus offers a virtual reality (VR, 虚拟现实) experience making the teenagers feel like they are driving on Mars.

    The VR experience was developed by taking advantage of software (软件) created for today's best video games, so you can imagine the picture shown is top level. The kids do seem really excited to see the bus take a virtual trip on the red planet and search unknown places. It's certainly a great way of learning about the universe by virtual reality working on a common bus.

    The Lockheed Martin's bus will start a tour in the United States to allow kids from different parts of the country to take a ride in it. The Generation Beyond project also includes an iPhone app for iOS providing real-time information about weather reports for Mars, and there's also a free deep space course for middle school teachers and students.

    Many people are surprised when they find that the Internet was set up in the 1960s. At that time， computers were large and expensive. Computer networks didn't work well. If one computer in the network broke down， then the whole network stopped. So a few network system had to be set up. It should be good enough to be used by many different computers. If part of the network was not working， information could be sent through another part. In this way computer network system would keep on working all the time.

    At first the Internet was only used by the government， but in the early 1970s， universities， hospitals and banks were allowed to use it， too. However， computers were still very expensive and the Internet was difficult to use. By the start of 1990s， computers became cheaper and easier to use. Scientists had also developed software that made "surfing" the Internet easier.

    Today it is easy to get online and it is said that millions of people use the Internet every day. Sending e-mails is more and more popular among young people. The Internet has now become one of the most important parts of people's life.

    The evening of September 29, 2011, China launched (发射) its first space lab module Tiangong-1 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.

    President Hu Jintao praised the success of China's first space lab module Tiangong-1, and shook hands with the staff of the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center.

    Premier Wen Jiabao and He Guoqiang also shook hands with the staff at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center to congratulate on the success.

    Tiangong-1, which is plannedtoconnect with the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft later this year, will get ready for building China's first space station.

    During its two-year service life, Tiangong-1 will mainly carry on four tasks, such as experiments of autonomous rendezvous(自主交会) and connection with the Shenzhou-8, -9, and -10 spacecrafts in the coming launches, which is going to set up the country's first space lab, according to Wu Ping, spokesperson for China's National Space Administration.

    According to the plan for China's manned space program, the Shenzhou-10 will be a manned spacecraft that is going to carry a female Chinese astronaut.

    Tiangong-1 is expected to become China's first space laboratory when it connects to the above mentioned spaceships.

    Every day there is less and less space on Earth for rubbish. Yet every day we make more and more rubbish. What can we do? We can recycle some of our rubbish. Recycling means that the rubbish will be made into something that can be used again.

    Recycling helps Earth. And it saves space in rubbish dumps. Half of everything that we put into landfills could be recycled instead. In fact, most things made of paper, metal, glass and plastic can be recycled.

    Paper can be broken into small pieces and made into new paper. Steel and aluminum cans(金属雄)can be melted down(熔化)and made into new cans. The same is true of glass bottles. This can be done over and over again. Recycling doesn't take as much energy as making these things the first time. So we can use less of Earth's fuel resources.

    Plastic can be melted down, too. Then it can be formed into park benches, playgrounds and so on. Some people call plastic the "wood" of the future. Things made of plastic will last about 400 years-even if they stay outside in the weather. No wood can do that!

    Basketball, running and swimming are popular events (项目) at the Olympics. But there are also some events that are not as popular. Some are even very strange. Let's see if you have any knowledge about the following events.

	Tug-of-war     This event started in 1900 and left the Olympics in 1920. The team wins if they pull the rope past a certain point first. Interestingly, more than one team from a country can enter in this event. This makes it possible for one country to win several medals
	Rope climbing     It first appeared as an Olympic sport in 1896. The climber who spends the shortest time reaching the top is the winner. The rope used to be 15 meters long. Years later, it was shortened to 8 meters, for some reason. After 1932, there was no rope climbing in the Olympics.
	Race walking     In race walking, walkers have to win the race by walking. To make sure that they do not run, race walkers must have one foot on the ground at all times. Race walking has been an Olympic sport since 1904. Men enter in 20 kilometer and 50 kilometer races; women only race 20 kilometers.