Before I studied psychology, I used to think that people would laugh when funny things occurred. While I was right about that, I discovered there are lots of other psychological factors that make people laugh other than the funny part of a joke. When someone laughs at a joke, there will usually bemore than one reason that makes him laugh—and the more reasons there are, the more powerful the joke will be.

    I was attending a stand-up comedy show in Egypt, and when the man started to make fun of pedestrians crossing streets, everyone laughed their hearts out. The main reason those people strongly laughed was that almost allof them felt angry towards pedestrians who crossed streets carelessly. The joke wasn't only funny, it also made the audience feel that they were right about being angry at those pedestrians. That is, people were laughing both because ofthe funny joke and because of the happiness experienced as a result of the psychological support they got.

    The better a joke makes a person feel, and the more it includes other psychological factors, the more the person will like it. For example, if you envy one of your friends, and someone tells a joke that is funny and, at the same time, makes your friend seem stupid, then you will probably laugh atit louder than if you weren't jealous of him.

    In short, we don't laugh only when we hear something funny; we also laugh when we experience some kind of happiness that results from the other psychological factors involved in the joke. I strongly discourage making fun of anyone or belittling someone to make someone else laugh. All Iwant to explain is that if your joke supports a person's emotions, he will certainly like it a lot.

    A new generation addiction is quickly spreading all over the world. Web holism, a twentieth century disease, affects people from different ages. They surf the net, use e-mail and speak in chat rooms. They spend many hours on the computer, and it becomes a compulsive （强迫的，强制的） habit. They cannot stop, and it affects their lives.

    Ten years ago, no one thought that using computers could become compulsive behavior that could affect the social and physical life of computer users. This obsessional behavior has affected teenagers and college students. They are likely to log on computers and spend long hours at different websites.

    They become hooked on computers and gradually their social and school life is affected by this situation. They spend all free time surfing and don't concentrate on homework, so this addiction influences their grades and success at school. Because they can find everything on the websites, they hang out there. Moreover, this addiction to websites influences their social life.

    They spend more time in front of computers than with their friends. The relation with their friends changes. The virtual life becomes more important than their real life. They have a new language that they speak in the chat rooms and it causes cultural changes in society.

    Because of the change in their behavior, they begin to keep themselves apart from the society and live with their virtual friends. They share their emotions and feelings with friends who they have never met in their life. Although they feel confident on the computer, they are not confident with real live friends they have known all their life. It is a problem for the future. This addictive behavior is beginning to affect all the world.

    While sweet treats can be hard to resist, the World Health Organization(WHO) has set new guidelines for people around the world. The guidelines, released on Wednesday, advise that both adults and children cut back on their sugar intake(摄取量) to stay healthy.

    In a statement, Francesco Branca, director of the WHO's nutrition department, said there is evidence that reducing daily sugar intake reduces the risk of being overweight and tooth decay(腐烂).

    The guidelines do not apply to the sugars in fresh fruit and vegetables or those that are naturally present in milk. According to the WHO, there is no reported evidence of negative effects of consuming those sugars. Instead, the new guidelines focus on “added” or “free” sugars. These include sugars that are added to processed foods and drinks such as candy and soft drinks.

    Added sugars are sometimes described as “ hidden” sugars because they exist in foods we might not think of as sweets, such as honey and ketchup(番茄酱). Health experts advise that consumers look at ingredients on food packages to help make better-informed decisions.

    The WHO recommends that people in the United States, Europe and other Western societies should cut their average sugar intake by about two-thirds, or down to just 10% of their overall calories. For developing countries, where dental care is less advanced, the WHO recommends that sugar intake be reduced to 5%.

    Scientist Kieran Clarke, of the University of Oxford, notes that for those people who can't shake their love for sweets, getting more exercise is a good solution. “If you get enough exercise, you can eat almost anything,” she said “But it's very hard to avoid large amounts of sugar unless all you're eating is fruit and vegetables.”

    BEIJING — China's education authority will tighten the widely criticized policy of “extra credits” for the national college entrance examination to ensure a fairer chance for all exam-takers.

    Under the policy, high school students who win awards in national Olympic competitions could get "extra credits', up to 20 points for the national college entrance exam. Students with talent in sports and students who are from ethnic groups can also benefit from this policy. The extra credits have increased these students' chances of being admitted by famous universities. Some parents were found to have helped their children fabricate(伪造)award experiences or falsify qualifications to get extra credits.

    “It has harmed education equality，” the ministry said.

    Xiong Bingqi, vice-chief of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said the policy is designed to help students who have special talents but may be weak in academic performance to have a chance to receive higher education. It will still be needed but it is time to make the rules fairer," he said.

    The ministry said it will reduce the range of competitions whose winners can get extra credits, and limit the winners, privileges.

    The new policy will apply to students who begin high school in 2011, it said.

    Chen Lei, a mother of a 10-year-old girl, said she welcomed the ministry's policy adjustment as she does not want her daughter to become an Olympic competition geek.

    But not all the Chinese parents welcomed the new policy. “It is like a thunderbolt for me. My 13-year-old son has spent so much time studying Olympic math, and participated in so many technological competitions during vacations. It is useless now,” said Dong Wen, a 43-year-old mother.

    A student said, “Many students have changed the current study plan, and they can abandon the competition. I will be interested in learning the courses which can improve my abilities.”

    Yuan Guiren, minister of education, told China Daily that the reform is an attempt to consider the overall quality of an applicant. “But the country will not stop the national college entrance  examination as it is still the most objective way to evaluate talent in China,” he said.

    Self-driving vehicles will rely on cameras, sensors and artificial intelligence（AI）to recognize and respond to road and traffic conditions, but sensing is the most effective for objects and movement in the neighborhood of the vehicle. Not everything important in a car's environment will be caught by the vehicle's camera. Another vehicle approaching at high speed on a collision （碰撞）track might not be visible until it's too late. This is why vehicle-to-vehicle communication is undergoing rapid development. Our research shows that cars will need to be able to chat and cooperate on the road, although the technical challenges are considerable.

    Applications for vehicle-to-vehicle communication range from vehicles driving together in a row, to safety messages about nearby emergency vehicles. Vehicles could alert each other to avoid collisions or share notices about passers-by and bicycles.

    From as far as several hundred metres away, vehicles could exchange messages with one another or receive information from roadside units（RSUs）about nearby incidents or dangerous road conditions through 4G network A high level of A1 seems required for such vehicles, not only to self-drive from A to B, but also to react intelligently to messages received. Vehicles will need to plan, reason, strategize and adapt in the light of information received in real time and to carry out cooperative behaviours. For example, a group of autonomous vehicles might avoid a route together because of potential risks, or a vehicle could decide to drop someone off earlier due to messages received, a foreseen crowding ahead.

    Further applications of vehicle-to-vehicle communication are still being researched, including how to perform cooperative behaviour.

    The Island Rule is one of the best explanations scientists could give to the observable phenomenon that animals and humans have evolved (演变) depending on the resources available in their habitat (栖息地). Through time, scientists have noticed through fossil (化石) records that some large animals from mainland habitats have dwarf (矮小的) versions in bland habitats.

    A report from BBC described the existence of what scientists call “hobbit island” off a small island somewhere in Indonesia. It was given such a name because fossil records of tiny, humanlike creatures have been found in the region. What they called as “hobbits” or “Homo Floresiensis”, are only as tall as one meter and arc small versions of early human species with tinier brains.

    Though scientists cannot perfectly trace the origin of the “Homo Floriensis”, they believe that they arc human relatives, but it is the “island life” that has caused them to evolve as they have. Scientists have noticed through fossil records and existing organisms (有机体) today that it seems if large animals grow small in islands while small animals grow large in larger islands.

In theory, animal and human bodies have adjusted to the available food and fresh water in their habitats. Since there is no opportunity for them to leave their island, they might as well adapt.

    New York Magazine explained that islands usually have fewer predators (捕食者) than mainland ecosystems. However, it is the lack of resources that cause the death of many animals. As a means of natural adaptation, the bodies of these animals have evolved smaller than their ancestors, making their bodies require fewer resources.

    A report from Web Ecoist listed down a few examples of animals that have shrunk significantly compared with their ancestors. Some of these include the Bali tiger as small as leopards (豹).