Bamboo (竹子) is one of nature's (自然) most surprising plants. Many people call this plant a tree, but it is a kind of grass.

       Like other kinds of grass, a bamboo plant may be cut very low to the ground, but it will grow back very quickly. A Japanese scientist reported one bamboo plant which grew 1.5 meters (4 feet) in 24 hours! Bamboo grows almost everywhere in the world except Europe. There are more than 1, 000 kinds of bamboo.

      Not all bamboo looks the same. Some bamboo plants are very thin. They may only grow to be a few centimeters wide while others may grow to more than 30 centimeters (1 foot) across. This plant also comes in different colors, from yellow to black to green.

     Bamboo has been used to make many things such as hats and kitchen tools. Because it is strong, bamboo is also used to build buildings.

     Many Asian countries have used bamboo for hundreds of years. They often use bamboo for buildings and supporting new buildings and bridges while they are being built.

      In Africa, poor farmers are taught how to find water using bamboo. These African countries need cheap way to find water because they have no money, and their crops often die from no rain and no water. Bamboo pipes help poor farmers bring water to their thirsty fields without spending a lot of money.

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    Our risk of cancer rises as we age. So it makes sense that the elderly should be routinely screened for new tumors(肿瘤)—or doesn't it?

    While such careful tracking of cancer is a good thing in general, researchers are increasingly questioning whether all of this testing is necessary for the elderly. With the percentage of people over age 65 expected to nearly double by 2050, it's important to consider the health benefits of screening and the costs of routine testing.

    In many cases, screening can lead to additional operations to remove cancer, which can cause side effects, while the cancers themselves may be slow-growing and may not cause serious health problems in patients' remaining years. But the message that everyone must screen for cancer has become so ingrained that when health care experts recommended that women under 50 and over 74 stop screening for breast cancer, it caused a strong reaction among doctors, patients and advocacy(拥护) groups.

    It's hard to uproot deeply held beliefs about cancer screening with scientific data. Certainly, there are people over age 75 who have had cancers detected by routine screening, and gained several extra years of life because of treatment. And clearly, people over age 75 who have other risk factors for cancer, such as a family history, should continue to get screened regularly. But for the remainder, the risk of cancer, while increased at the end of life, must be balanced with other factors like a remaining life expectancy.

    A recent study suggests that doctors start to make more right decisions about who will truly benefit from screening—especially considering the explosion of the elderly.

    It's not an easy guess to make, but one that makes sense for the whole patient. Dr. Otis Brawley said, "Many doctors are ordering these tests purely to protect themselves against medical disputes(纠纷). We need to think about the good use of health care and stop talking about the rationing(定量配给制) of health care."

    That means making some difficult decisions with elderly patients and going against the misguided belief that when it comes to health care, more is always better.

    Having a learning disability doesn't mean you can't learn, but you'll need some help and need to work extra hard. If you have a learning disability such as dyslexia or dyscalculia, remember that you are not slow or stupid.

    Learning disabilities can be genetic. That means they can be passed down in families through the genes. But kids today have an advantage over their parents. Learning experts now know a lot more about the brain and how learning works, and it's easier for kids to get the help they need.

    Dyslexia is a learning disability that means a kid has a lot of trouble reading and writing. Kids who have trouble with math may have dyscalculia. Other kids may have language disorders, meaning they have trouble understanding language and understanding what they read.

    It can be confusing, though. What qualifies as “trouble" enough to be diagnosed as a learning disability? Reading, doing math, and writing letters may be tough for lots of kids at first. But when those troubles don't fade away and it's really difficult to make any progress, it's possible that the kid has a learning disability.

    Finding out you have a learning disability can be upsetting. You might feel different from everyone else. But the truth is that learning disabilities are pretty common. And if your learning specialist or psychologist has figured out which one you're facing, you're on the right track. Now, you can start getting the help you need to do better in school.

    But for this special help to really work, you'll need to practice the new skills you're learning. It may take a lot of efforts every day. That can be a challenge, but you can do it soon, you'll enjoy the results of all your hard work: more fun and success at school.

    With only about 1,000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone (克隆) the animal and save the endangered species (物种). That's a move similar to what a Texas A & M University researchers have been undertaking for the past five years in a project called "Noah's Ark".

    Noah's Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos(胚胎), semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A& M's College of Veterinary Medicine, says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.

    It is estimated that as many as 2,000 species of mammals, birds reptiles will become extinct in over 100 years. The panda, native only to China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.

    This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.

    The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.

    "The nuclear transfer (核子移植) of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available (capable of being used) panda eggs could be a major problem," Kraemer believes. "They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy (having a baby). It takes a long time and ifs difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort, adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Project at Texas A& M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.

    "They are trying to do something that's never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah's Ark. We're both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly appreciate their effort and there's a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It's a research that is very much needed."

    Shark attacks not only disturb beach activities, but can affect associated tourist industries. Shark nets are a common solution to preventing shark attacks on beaches, but they cause dangers to sea ecosystems.

    Seeking a cost-effective way to monitor beach safety over large areas, we have developed a system called Shark Spotter. It combines artificial intelligence (AI), computing power, and drone (无人机) technology to identify and warn lifesavers to sharks near swimmers. The project is a cooperation between the University of Technology Sydney and The Ripper Group, which is pioneering the use of drones—called "Westpac Little Ripper Lifesavers"—in the search and rescue movement in Australia.

    SharkSpotter can detect sharks and other potential threats using real-time aerial imagery. The system analyses video from a camera attached to a drone to monitor beaches for sharks, send warnings, and conduct rescues. Developed with techniques known as "deep learning", the Shark Spotter system receives imagery from the drone camera and attempts to identify all objects in the scene. Once certain objects are detected, they are put into one of 16 categories: shark, whale, dolphin, rays, different types of boats, surfers, and swimmers.

    If a shark is detected, Shark Spotter provides both a visual sign on the computer screen and an audible warning to the operator. The operator confirms the warning and sends text messages from the Shark Spotter system to the Surf Life Savers for further action. In an emergency, the drone is equipped with a lifesaving flotation pod (漂浮仓) together with an electronic shark repellent (驱逐装置) that can be dropped into the water in cases where swimmers are in severe trouble, trapped in a rip, or if there are sharks close by.

    In January 2018, the Westpac Little Ripper Lifesavers was used to rescue two young swimmers caught in a rip at Lennox Head, NSW. The drone flew down the beach some 800 meters from the lifeguard station, and a lifesaving flotation pod was dropped from the drone. The complete rescue operation took 70 seconds.

    We believe Shark Spotter is a win-win for both marine life and beachgoers. This unique technology combines dynamic video image processing AI and advanced drone technology to creatively deal with the global challenge of ensuring safe beaches, protecting environments, and promoting tourism.

A study of 500,000 songs released in the UK between 1985 and 2015 showed that pop music had decreased in happiness and increased in sadness.

In a report published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, researchers at the University of California examined hundreds of thousands of songs and classified them by their mood. "‘Happiness' is going down, 'sadness' is going up, and at the same time, the songs are becoming more 'danceable' and more 'party-like'," co-author Natalia L. Komarova told The Associated Press.

The study found songs in 2014 like Stay With Me by Sam Smith, Whispers by Passenger and Unmissable by Gorgon City have a "low happiness" trend. However, tracks from 1984 like Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen, "Would I Lie To You?" by Eurythmics and "Freedom" by Wham had a "high happiness" trend. "The public seems to prefer happier songs, even though more and more unhappy songs are being released each year," the researchers wrote.

Apart from the emotional trends, researchers discovered that dances and pop were the most successful styles of music and that there was a "clear downward" trend, with the popularity of rock beginning in the early 2000s. "So it looks like, while the overall mood is becoming less happy, people seem to want to forget it all and dance," Komarova wrote in an email.

It was also found that the "maleness" of songs—the frequency of male singers in popular music-had decreased during the last 30 years. "Successful songs are characterised by a larger percentage of female artists compared to all songs," they wrote.

This discovery appears at a time when the conversation around sex equality in the music industry is at its height, with more male artists and songwriters.