Humans have launched themselves into the outer space. They've landed on the moon. They've built habitable space stations that orbit the Earth. The next giant leap for mankind is to reach another planet – specifically, Mars.

    The problem is that it's no easy task. The planet is 586 times further away from the Earth than the moon, and it'll take around 180 to 220 days to reach Mars, depending on where each planet is in its orbit. Such long periods in space have suggested many potential health problems, including hormonal changes, skin conditions, and muscle and bone deterioration (损耗).

    Here's where some furry friends come in. A wide range of animals have been in space, from fruit flies and spiders to cats, and dogs. Such experiments began as far back as the late 1940s in first tests to see if living things could withstand the extreme g-force (重力) of a rocket launch.

    Mice continue to play a very important part in space experiments, mainly because the animals make excellent test subjects. They're small, which makes them inexpensive and easy to care for. In addition, their size and short life span make it possible to do the equivalent of several human years of tests in a much shorter time. Finally, because mice are mammals, they share many common characteristics with humans in terms of genetics, biology and behavior.

    Astromice have hit the headlines recently, as a team of scientists led by Betty Nusgens, professor of biology at the University of Liege in Belgium, found that the mice suffered a 15 percent thinning of their skin after 91 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

    This experiment was part of a wider NASA mission (任务) called the Mice Drawer System (MDS). The Italian Space Agency developed the facility, which allows six mice to be housed, monitored, and automatically fed and watered aboard the ISS, among which three survived during the mission.

    The mice have participated in 20 separate experiments, to study such effects as osteoporosis (骨质疏松症), anemia (贫血) and heart health.

    Results for the 20 experiments are coming in gradually. But it's clear that mice continue to play an important role in the ongoing quest to conquer the final frontier.

    Global warming threatens to hold back human progress, and make unachievable all UN targets to reduce poverty, according to some of the world's leading international and development groups.

    In a report published today, Oxfam, Greenpeace and other groups say rich governments must immediately address climate change to avoid even “unbearable levels” of worldwide poverty.

     “Food production, water supplies, public health and people's livelihoods are already being damaged and weakened,” the report says. “There is no approach possible. The world must meet its commitments to achieve poverty reduction and also deal with climate change, which are closely linked.”

    The report, which draws on UN predictions of the effects of climate change in poor countries over the next 50 years, says poor countries will experience more flooding, declining food production, more disease and the extinction of entire eco-systems on which many of the world's poorest people depend.

     “Climate change needs to be addressed now. The poor will bear the great consequence of it. The frontline experience of many of us working in international development indicates that communities are having to fight more extreme weather conditions.”

    Climate change will cause great damage to agriculture and water supplies and will increase diseases. “By 2025 the number of the world's population living in countries of significant water stress will almost double, to 6 billion people. Tropical (热带的) and sub-tropical areas will be hardest hit — those countries already suffering from food shortage”.

    Poor countries mostly do not need hi-tech solutions, but would most benefit from education, research and being shown how to farm better. The report says unchecked global warming, more than wars or political upheaval (政变), will displace millions of people and unsettle many countries.

    All Jalen Bailey wants is for his mom to be happy. So, the 8-year-old boy is using a hobby that brings him much joy to make enough money to buy her a house.

    Right now, they live in a small apartment in Fresno, California, because it's all they can afford, but Jalen is hoping to change that with his bakery. “I know Jalen wants me to have a bigger place, but I want the same for him,” Sharhonda Mahan, Jalen's mom, told TODAY. “He deserves a big kitchen to cook in and a backyard to run around in.”

    Jalen, who started baking at 5, opened Jalen's Bakery out of his kitchen on July 1 and has already raised $200. “I love baking because it's kind of like science,” Jalen said. “You get to put different baking materials into a bowl and make something new, which is what science is all about.”

    For now, he's delivering the baked goods locally around Fresno with the help from his mom — but he launched a GoFundMe, hoping to eventually ship nationwide. Jalen has always been a little entrepreneur(企业家), taking after his mom, a full-time nanny. In fact, he also has a photography business on the side.

    At 6, he started an annual back-to-school drive at a local homeless shelter and made bracelets to sell at school carnivals. He also took a business class in early June to learn how to start a lemonade stand, but decided to use those same skills to instead open a bakery.

    “Everyone in the family kept telling him how good he is at baking and suggested doing that instead of a lemonade stand,” Mahan said. “He agreed with them and the very next day, he was filling out an application to get his baking license.” Once he had his license, he attended his first business mixer. While networking with local bakers, he met one who offered to donate Jalen an oven, so he could bake even more cookies and banana bread.

    Unlike most other holidays, the history of April Fools' Day, sometimes called All Fools' Day, is not totally clear. The only point in time that can be agreed on as the beginning of this tradition was 1582, in France. Before that year, the New Year was celebrated for eight days, beginning on March 25th. The celebration reached the highest point on April 1st. With the reform of the calendar under Charles IX，the Gregorian calendar(公历，阳历) was introduced, and New Year's Day was moved to January 1st.

    However, because in those days communications were not as developed as they are today, many people did not receive the news for several years. Some people refused to accept the new calendar and continued to celebrate the New Year on April 1st. These backward people were considered "fools" by other people. They  were often sent on "fools" errands(徒劳无益的工作)  or were made the targets of jokes.

    This developed, over time, into a tradition of playing a trick on someone on the first day of April. The tradition eventually spread to England and Scotland in the eighteenth century. It was later introduced to the American colonies of both the Britain and France. April Fools' Day thus developed into an international fun feast, so to speak, with different nationalities specializing in their own kind of humor at the expense of their friends and families.

    Golden Gate Bridge

    Located in San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge started in the year 1933 to connect the San Francisco Peninsula with Marin County. It was finally thrown open to public traffic in 1937. It cost $25.7 million in the construction. Till the year 1957, the Golden Gate Bridge, at a length of 2,737 meters, was the longest suspension bridge in the world.

    Brooklyn Bridge

    The Brooklyn Bridge is located in Brooklyn. It is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, having been opened in the year 1883. The length of the bridge is 1,843 meters. The bridge has been featured in several Hollywood movies.

    George Washington Bridge

    Also known as the Hudson River Bridge and the Columbus Bridge, the George Washington Bridge which connects Fort Lee to Manhattan came into use in 1931 after a construction period of almost 4 years. It is a two level suspension bridge that cost about $52 million to build.

    Mackinac Bridge

    This is the third biggest suspension bridge in the world at a length of 8,038 meters. The architect of this bridge was Dr. David B. Steinman, who directed the construction of the bridge which started in the year 1954 and opened to the public in 1958. People using this bridge are charged a certain amount of money.

Navajo Bridge

    Located in Arizona, this bridge crosses the Colorado River and is almost 250 meters long. The construction of this bridge started in the year 1927, ending two years later, costing $390,000. In the 1990s, a second bridge was built which was opened to the public in 1994. The first bridge is now used only by pedestrians.

    It has been described as art by some people, but to others it's an ugly part of modern life. What is it? Graffiti (涂鸦), of course. Look around cities in the UK today and you can see graffiti on buildings, walls, doors and even on buses or trains that have stayed in one place for too long. But where modern technology creates a problem, it also finds a way to deal with it. Last week, The Weekend West was shown around the factory of a small but successful company, Hubdean.

    Hubdean's achievement is a series of special paints which are graffiti-resistant. How do they work? It couldn't be simpler. Take any graffiti-covered surface. First, a treatment called Agproclear is used. Then, using a very hot pressure jet (压力喷嘴), this treatment is taken away and the graffiti disappears at the same time. Now you have a clean wall. But before this clean wall can be painted on by graffiti lovers, a new product, Agproshield, is used. This paint has a special surface which gives it two important advantages. Firstly, spray paint (喷雾颜料) won't stick to the surface very well, and secondly, the whole surface can be cleaned very easily, just using water. Once the surface is painted, no specialist equipment is needed to keep the area clean and graffiti-free.

    Not surprisingly, Hubdean's products are used by both local governments and private companies all over the UK, and now orders are being received from around the world. This brings the company a problem, however. Can they increase production to satisfy the needs? Of course, they can build a second factory or work with a large international company to make their products. The future is looking good for Hubdean!