Frigatebirds seagoing fliers with a 6-foot wingspan, can stay aloft(up in the air) for weeks at a time, a new study has found.

Since the frigatebird spends most of its life at sea, its habits outside of when it reproduces on land aren't well-known-until researchers started tracking them around the Indian Ocean. What the researchers discovered is that the bird's flying ability is unbelievable.

    Ornithologist(鸟类学家) Henri Weimerskirch put satellite tage(标签) on a couple of dozen frigatebirds. When the data started to come in, he could hardly believe how high the birds flew.

    "First, we found, 'Whoa, 1,500 meters. Excellent,' " says Weimerskirch, "And after 2,000, after 3,000, after 4,000 meters-OK, at this altitude they are in freezing conditions, especially surprising for a tropical bird."

"There is no other bird flying so high relative to the sea surface," he says. "It's the only bird that is known to intentionally enter into a cloud," Weimerskirch says. And not just any cloud—a soft, white cumulus cloud(积云). Over the ocean, these clouds tend to form in places where warm air rises from the sea surface. The birds take a ride on the current of rising air, all the way up to the top of the cloud.

    Frigatebirds have to find ways to stay aloft because they can't land on the water. Since their feathers aren't waterproof, the birds would drown in short order. They feed by harassing other birds in flight until they bring whatever fish they've swallowed back into their mouth and the frigatebird takes it.

So in between meals, frigatebirds fly higher... and higher.

    In one case, for two months-continuously aloft.

    One of the tagged birds flew 40 miles without a wing-flap. Several covered more than 300 miles a day on average, and flew continuously for weeks. They are blessed with an unusual body. No bird has a larger wing surface area compared with body weight.

    Naturally, parents praise their kids. They want to encourage their children every day. But when it comes to building self-esteem (自尊) in children, praise doesn't always have a positive effect, according to a special edition of the journal Child Development. The issue, edited by Eddie and Thomas, is focused on research into how children develop a sense of self and building your child's confidence takes different skills than you might think.

    Eddie points out that children are born without a sense of self, but it doesn't take long before some kids have a lot of confidence and may feel superior to peers, while others may carry more self-doubt and see themselves as inferior. Yet no one really understands what causes children to view themselves the way they do. Surprisingly little is known about the origins of children's self-concept,” Eddie said.

    Research has found that when kids have a warm, loving relationship with their parents, they develop higher self-esteem. However, when they are given endless praise that is inequal to their achievements, their self-esteem may drop.

    Instead of lavish praise, parents should focus on warmth to build self-esteem, researchers have found—specifically, parents should show interest in their kids' activities and share joy with them. This makes children feel noticed and valued. According to Eddie's own research, children may develop lower self-esteem when their parents give them lots of positive and overstated praises. Too much praise can make children worry about disappointing their parents, and may lead to an unhealthy attitude toward failure. Other studies suggest that parents can teach children that failure is beneficial by encouraging kids to ask themselves: “Why didn't I achieve the result I wanted, and what can I do to change the outcome in the future?”

    Additionally, it's important for parents to encourage the belief that kids can develop basic abilities through devotion and hard work. Kids who are praised for their effort instead of their ability are more likely to develop a growth mindset, which have a positive impact on their confidence.

    “The failure to play is now a serious issue and it calls for action for change,” says Sir Ken Robinson, a leading expert in education, creativity and human development. This is the driving force behind Outdoor Classroom Day—a global teacher-led campaign, supported by Dirt is Good, a company producing daily chemical products.

    Outdoor Classroom Day, taking place on 17th May and 1st November this year, will see schools around the world swap the inside for the outside and take learning into the playground and beyond to make playtime a key part of the school day. This might involve using natural objects like stones to do sums, or going on an insect hunt to encourage curiosity. By now, Outdoor Classroom Day has grown from a grassroots movement to a global campaign that is expected to benefit five million children and over 40,000 schools from all around the world in 2018.

    This is helping to change the trend that sees many schools selling up or building on their playgrounds and cutting back on playtime to make more room for academic studies, while at home children's lives are increasingly filled with organized activities intended to help them learn. Today globally 61% of parents surveyed in the Dirt is Good Qualitative Study said that children don't know how to play without using technology.

    Outdoor Classroom Day is making playing time happen, with 22% of participating schools having increased their playtime since joining the campaign. 93% of teachers surveyed saw improvements in children's creativity after playing outside, and 97% believe that time outdoors is necessary for children to reach their full potential.

    Scientific studies show that real play—the active, physical, self-directed play—is essential for children to develop key life skills that are not taught elsewhere. Few would question the value of developing creativity, leadership, resourcefulness, and curiosity.

    A “Gap Year” is a period of time when a student takes a break before going to university. It is often spent travelling or working. It can give young people useful learning experiences and new skills.

    Gap years are popular with European and Australian students, but remain less popular in America. However, in recent years, more and more American students are preparing for college by taking a gap year. The advantages of taking a gap year are as follows：

Learn about the World and Yourself

    Although you don't have to go abroad to experience gap years, most gap year students catch the chance to travel abroad. You are able to work out who you are and what you are for. The experiences of different cultures offer you interesting lessons. You can learn more about the world and get to know yourself better.

 Face Challenges and Have Fun

    A gap year is not only a time to take a vacation, but also a time to face challenges. Gap year students usually work, volunteer or take service projects. You have to learn how to get along in the real world. This process isn't always easy, but it is an important part of growing up. Only in this way can you enjoy life and have fun.

Save Money and Improve Your College Admission Chances

    There's a common thought that gap years are only for rich students, but it's not true. Actually, taking a gap year can save your money. Gap year students often take a part-time job. Besides, at the end of a gap year, students are much more likely to know what to study in college. Clear learning goals ran keep the students working hard instead of wasting time and money playing.

    Imagine an admission officer trying to admit (录取) only one between two students. Both of them are excellent and have high grades. However, one student has much practical experience or has volunteered in his vacation. Who do you think the admission officer will choose?

    More than two thirds of the world's polar bears will be wiped out by 2050, according to a shocking new study. By then, scientists say, global warming will have melted 42 percent of the Arctic sea ice. By 2100, only a very few of these important creatures will be left.

    The report has been produced by the US Geological Survey. The scientists have publicized their findings in the hope of influencing US Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, who has been asked to put polar bears on the US endangered species list.

    Polar bears depend on floating sea ice as a platform for hunting seals, which are their main food. Without enough ice, polar bears would be forced to go onto the land, where they are poorly skilled hunters, and would be unlikely to adapt to the life on the land in time. Experts say few little bears would survive and the stress could make many females unable to get pregnant.

    The team of American and Canadian scientists spent six months studying bears, on the ground, from spotter planes and in the lab, using computer models. Some team members fear the result is even worse for the bears than what their report says. They say the Arctic is warming faster than anywhere in the world and much faster than their computer had been forecasting. Satellite observations have showed that the ice has decreased to an all­time low.

    However, not everyone in the scientific community believes that global warming is happening on such an alarming scale. Another investigation has found that polar bears are still being hunted by wealthy “sportsmen” who want their skins and heads. At least ten international companies offer bear­hunting trips.

    A study showed that the experiences children have in their first few years are important. These experiences affect the development of the brain. When children receive more attention, they often have higher IQs. Babies receive information when they see, hear and feel things, which makes connections between different parts of the brain. There are a hundred trillion (万亿) connections in the brain of a three-year-old child.

    Researcher Judit Gervain tested how good newborns are at distinguishing different sound patterns. Her researchers produced images of the brains of babies as they heard different sound patterns. For example, one order was mu-ba-ba. This is the pattern "A-B-B". Another order was mu-ba-ge. This is the pattern "A-B-C". The images showed that the part of the brain responsible for speech was more active during the "A-B-B" pattern. This shows that babies can tell the difference between different patterns. They also were sensitive to where it occurred in the order.

    Gervain is excited by these findings because the order of sounds is the building block of words and grammar. "Position is key to language," she says. "If something is at the beginning or at the end, it makes a big difference: 'John caught the bear.' is very different from 'The bear caught John.' "

    Researchers led by scientist Patricia Kuhl have found that language delivered by televisions, audio books, the Internet, or smartphones－no matter how educational－doesn't appear to be enough for children's brain development. They carried out a study of nine-month-old American babies. They expected the first group who'd watched videos in Chinese to show the same kind of learning as the second group who were brought face-to-face with the same sounds. Instead they found a huge difference. The babies in the second group were able to distinguish between similar Chinese sounds as well as native listeners. But the other babies－regardless of whether they had watched the video or listened to the audio－learned nothing.