A company in San Francisco, California, has found a way to turn used plastic bottles into women's shoes.

    Every day, millions of Americans drink water and other liquids from plastic bottles. More than 60 million of them are thrown away each day. Many of the plastic bottles end up in landfills or are burned with other waste products.

    A San Francisco start-up company called Rothy's, however, turns this plastic waste into environmentally friendly shoes. Roth Martin is the company's co-founder. He explains how they turn plastic into soft material for women's feet. They take the plastic, clean it, and break it down into small pieces. Then they press them through a device that makes soft fibers. Those fibers are then combined together. This is done by a 3D machine. It is designed to reduce waste while making the shoes. The knitted stuff and the inner part of the shoe are then attached to the shoe's outer part, called the sole (鞋底). This outer sole is also made from environmentally friendly material: responsibly sourced no-carbon rubber.

    Rothy's shoes are sold online. They are flat shoes, with either a rounded or pointed toe. They come in different colors and designs. They cost either $ 125 or $ 145 per pair, depending on the design. After American actress Gwyneth Paltrow discovered them last year, the demand for the shoes grew. Martin says there is no shortage of material to fill that demand. “We're not going to run out of water bottles any time soon. So we have a limitless supply of material, and I think that is a good sign for our future.” When the environmentally friendly shoes wear out, customers can return them at no cost to a company that uses the recycled materials to make other products.

    For now, the shoes are only available to be shipped in the United States. However, the company says it will add international shipping in the near future.

Teen Climbing Camp

    This 5-day climbing camp is suitable for teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 who have an interest in rock climbing. The climbing days are designed for beginners and those who have some basic experience in a gym or outdoors. Participants will find themselves challenged physically and mentally.

    Rock Dimensions camps are designed to be a positive and memorable experience by providing healthy communication between participants, individual goal setting, and challenges that lead to personal growth.

    Dates

    Monday, June 29-Friday, July 3

    Monday, July 27-Friday, July 31

    Locations

    Climbing Tower at Footsloggers

    Linville Gorge and Table Rock area

    Local climbing areas near Boone

    Responsibilities

    Participants will meet Rock Dimensions guides at our location each morning and at the end of each day. Rock Dimensions will provide all climbing items, including a safety rope, a helmet and climbing shoes for each participant. Participants are responsible for bringing their own lunch, water, small backpack, appropriate clothing, and personal items like sun cream, etc.

    Pre-camp planning

    Participants will receive the following information in their registration(注册) packet Medical Form, Responsibility Agreement, Clothing/Equipment List, and Directions.

    Cost

    $575/person for the 5-day camp

    $325/person for the first 3 days

    Anyone interested in participating in just the last two days of the camp should call to discuss pricing and necessary skills/experience.

    When we think someone is smart，we say they have a big brain．But are there any facts to prove that statement？

    Yes! In a new study done by Michael McDaniel, a psychologist at Virginia Commonwealth University，bigger does mean smarter. "For all ages and sex groups，"he says，"it is now very clear that intelligence has something to do with brain volume（容量）．"

    McDaniel reached his conclusion after measuring the size and volume of 26 brains with the help of some instruments. He then used standard IQ tests to measure the intelligence of the owners of these brains.

    But do IQ tests really reveal intelligence？McDaniel believes that they do，and here are other studies to backup that point of view．One study last year found that IQ is related to the amount and distribution（分布） of gray matter in the brain．The study showed that the amount of gray matter in certain places was strongly related to high IQ．The distribution of gray matter in the brain，which is different for different people，could explain why one person with a high IQ is good at math but poor at spelling，while someone else with the same IQ has just the opposite ability．

    Yet another recent study found that women have more gray matter（compared with white matter） than men！However，the study also showed that in the areas of the brain specifically（特别地） related to intelligence，men had much more gray matter，which is needed for some tasks，such as doing a math problem. Women, on the other hand, had more white matter, which is necessary for collecting information．And the point is that intelligence can be influenced in different ways．

    "On average，"McDaniel says，"smarter people learn more quickly，make fewer mistakes，and are more productive．"He believes in the use of IQ tests to examine those who want to find a job. So, be well, do good work, and…exercise that brain!

    Since many of you are planning to study at a college or university in the future, you may be curious to know what your future study will be like. This is the question I want to discuss with you today.

    First, let's talk about what your weekly timetable will look like. No matter what your major may be, you can expect to spend between four and six hours a week for each class attending lecture. Lectures are usually in very large rooms because some courses such as Introduction to Sociology or Economics often have as many as two or three hundred students, especially at large universities. In lectures, it's very important for you to take notes on what the professor says because the information in a lecture is often different from that in your textbooks. Also, you can expect to have exam questions based on the lectures. So it isn't enough to just read your textbooks; you have to attend lectures as well. In a typical week, you will also have a couple of hours of discussion for every class you take. The discussion part is a small group meeting usually with fewer than thirty students where you can ask questions about the lectures, the reading, and the homework. In large universities, graduate students called teaching assistants, usually direct discussion parts

    If your major is chemistry, or physics, or another science, you'll also have to spend several hours a week in the lab doing experiments. This means that science majors spend more time in the classroom than non-science majors do. On the other hand, people who major in subjects like literature or history usually have to read and write more than science majors do.

    A small school in rural India is gaining attention over the fact that all 300 students are ambidextrous(左右手都灵巧的). Data shows that only one percent of the global population is ambidextrous, but the ambitious founder of Veena Vandini School, in Madhya Pradesh, is aiming to change that, starting at a local level.

    A former soldier and Veena Vandini School founder VP Sharma stated that he was inspired to focus on ambidexterity training by India's first president Rajendra Prasad who was in office from 1950 to 1962. Unexpectedly, the president was ambidextrous. "I read in a magazine that Dr. Rajendra Prasad, India's first president, used to write with both hands. This inspired me to give it a try, “Mr. Sharma said.”Later when I launched my school at my native village, I tried training the students. "

    "We begin training students from standard Ⅰ and by the time they reach standard Ⅲ, they are comfortable writing with both the hands,” Sharma added. "Students of up to standard Ⅶ can write with speed and accuracy. Further, they can write two scripts at the same time, one with each hand. Students also know several languages, including Urdu."

    Every 45-minute class at Veena Vandini includes 15 minutes devoted to handwriting practice, ensuring that every student develops the ability to write with both hands. VP Sharma also believes that the skill better enables students to learn multiple languages, and has them practice writing the same words in different languages at the same time. Although it is widely believed to help increase concentration, more recent studies have found that this is false and studying to become ambidextrous can, in fact, harm cognitive development.

    A Scientific American study revealed that ambidextrous children performed worse than left- or right-handers on a range of skills, especially in math, memory, and logical reasoning. A study in northern Finland indicated that children who are ambidextrous are much likelier to develop mental health issues, including ADHD, language problems, and academic problems.

    If you feel sick or uncomfortable, you might seek out a doctor. But what to do if you don't quite know where you fit into this world and you're tired of carrying that burden alone?

    I answered strangers' questions on life puzzles at the entrance to the New York City subway at 57th and 8th. A group of strangers had stopped by because they were carrying around some deep, meaningful questions that had long gone unanswered, like "why can't I be happier in my life?"

    And then I spotted her, who would be my toughest questioner of the day. She was about 6 years old and held her mother's hand as she craned (伸长脖子) her neck to stare at us. Her mother stopped, but the girl hesitated. "It's OK," I offered. "Do you have a question?" The girl smiled at her mother, then let go of her hand to walk over towards us. She looked me dead in the eye and said: "How do I know I'm real?"

    Suddenly I was back in graduate school. Should I talk about the French philosopher Rene Descartes to prove our existence, with the phrase "I think, therefore I am?" Or, mention English philosopher G. E. Moore and his famous "here is one hand, here is the other," to prove the existence of the external world? But then the answer came to me. I remembered that the most important part of philosophy was feeding our sense of wonder. "Close your eyes," I said. She did. "Well, did you disappear?" She smiled and shook her head, then opened her eyes. "Congratulations, you're real."

    She grinned (露齿而笑) broadly and walked over to her mother, who looked back at us and smiled.