Lockers(储物柜)have been the symbol of American high school for decades. But walk down any hallway of the new Germantown High School in Madison County, Mississippi, and you won't spot a single locker.

    New technology such as e-books, interactive(互动的)assignments and Web-based learning is making lockers in

    American high school a thing of the past.

    Officials from schools that have listed several benefits: less noise, less delay and an increased sense of safety.

    “It's all to create an environment that's student-friendly”, said Ronnie McGehee, chief official of the Madison County School District.

    Getting rid of lockers can also cut hundreds of thousands in construction costs. Madison County saved $200,000 by not including lockers in the new high school, McGehee said.

    It is also believed that removing lockers could help prevent school violence. ”Lockers give kids a place to hide things”, said Mike Nelson, founder of a safety- training group. Nelson believes that some school shootings and other incidents could have been prevented if there had been no lockers.

    However, Andrew Booth, a 10th-grader at Gemantown High, said there are some disadvantages of not having a locker. “It can make your book bag really heavy”, he said. The 16-year-old has four textbooks “plus notebooks and a binder(活页夹)” to carry to school each day.

    He said some teachers have shelves at the back of the classroom on which students can leave their bags. Others provide an extra set of textbooks in the classroom, so students don't have to carry books from home.

    New York architect Peter Lippman said schools will have to address such concerns and find ways to give students a “sense of space” “If you are carrying books around, it does limit your flexibility in the classrooms,” he said.

Lippman said he would like to see schools starting to use the new free space to provide less structured learning opportunities for students, including gathering areas and learning centers. “If you think about a school with just rows of lockers-there's nowhere for learning opportunities in that”, he said.

    Imagine you're standing in line to buy a snack at a store. You step up to the counter and the cashier scans your food. Next, you have to pay. But instead of scanning a QR Code(二维码) with your smart phone, you just hold out your hand so the cashier can scan your fingerprint. Or, a camera scans your face, your eyes or even your ear.

    Now, this type of technology might not be far away. As technology companies move away from the traditional password, biometric (生物特征识别的) security, which includes fingerprint, face and voice ID, is becoming increasingly popular.

    In 2013, Apple introduced the iPhone 5s, one of the first smart phones with a fingerprint scanner. Since then, using one's fingerprint to unlock a phone and make mobile payments has become a commonplace, bringing convenience to our lives. And since 2016, Samsung has featured eye-scanning technology in its top smart phones, while Apple's new iphone X can even scan a user's face. But despite its popularity, experts warn that biometrics might not be as secure as we imagine." Biometrics is ideally good in practice, not so much," said John Michener, a biometrics expert.

    When introducing the new iPhone's face ID feature, Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice-president, said. "The chance that a random person in the population could look at your iPhones X and unlock it with their face is about one in a million." But it's already been done. In a video posted on a community website Reddit, two brothers showed how they were each able to unlock the same iPhone X using their own face. And they aren't even twins.

    "We may expect too much from biometrics," Anil Jain, a computer science professor at Michigan State University, told CBS News. "No security systems are perfect."

    Earlier last year, Jain found a way to trick biometric security. Using a printed copy of a thumbprint, she was able to unlock a dead person's smart phone for the police, according to a tech website Splinter. "It's good to see biometrics being used more," Jain told CBS News, "because it adds another factor for security. But using multiple security measures is the best defense."

    CLASSIC TOURS—COACH BREAK INFORMATION

    Luggage

    We ask you to keep a medium-sized suitcase per person, but a small holdall can also be taken onto the coach.

    Seats

    Requests for particular seats can be made on most coach breaks (巴士旅游) when booking, but since seats are booked on a first come, first serve basic, early booking is advisable. When bookings are made with us, you will be offered the best seats that are available on the coach at that time.

    Travel Documents

    When you have paid your deposit（订金）, we will send you all the necessary documents, so that you can receive them in good time before the coach break leaving date. Certain documents, for example, air or boat tickets, may have to be reserved and your guide will then give them to you during the break.

    Special Diets

    If you require a special diet, you must inform us at the time of booking with a copy of the diet. This will be told to the hotels on your coach break. The hotels for certain coach breaks are tourist class and they may not have the equipment to deal with special diets. Any extra costs must be paid to the hotel by yourself before leaving the hotel.

    Accommodation

    On any coach break there are only a limited number of single rooms. When a single room is available, it may be subject to an extra charge and this will be shown on the brochure page.

    Entertainment

    Some of our hotels arrange extra entertainment which could include music, dancing, films, etc. The nature and frequency of the entertainment presented is decided by the hotel and therefore not guaranteed and could be withdrawn if there is a lack of demand or insufficient numbers in the hotel.

    Why do so many Americans distrust what they read in their newspapers? The American Society of Newspaper Editors is trying to answer this painful question. The organization is deep into a long self-analysis known as the journalism credibility project.

    Sad to say, this project has turned out to be mostly low-level findings about factual errors and spelling and grammar mistakes, combined with lots of head-scratching puzzlement about what in the world those readers really want.

    But the sources of distrust go way deeper. Most journalists learn to see the world through a set of standard patterns into which they report each day's events. In other words, there is a traditional story line in the newsroom culture that provides a backbone and a ready-made narrative structure for otherwise confusing news.

    There exists a social and cultural disconnect between journalists and their readers, which helps explain why the "standard patterns" of the newsroom seem foreign to many readers. In a recent survey, questionnaires were sent to reporters in five middle-size cities around the country, plus one large metropolitan area. Then residents in these communities were phoned at random and asked the same questions.

    Replies show that compared with other Americans, journalists are more likely to live in upscale neighborhoods, have maids, own Mercedeses, and trade stocks, and they're less likely to go to church, do volunteer work, or put down roots in a community.

    Reporters tend to be part of a broadly defined social and cultural elite (精英), so their work tends to reflect the traditional values of this elite. The alarming distrust of the news media isn't rooted in inaccuracy or poor reportorial skills but in the daily conflict of world views between reporters and their readers.

    This is an explosive situation for any industry, particularly a declining one. Here is a troubled business that keeps hiring employees whose attitudes vastly annoy the customers. Then it sponsors lots of symposiums (讨论会) and a credibility project devoted to wondering why customers are annoyed and fleeing in large numbers. But it never seems to get around to noticing the cultural and class prejudices that so many former buyers are complaining about. If it did, it would open up its diversity program, now focused narrowly on race and gender, and look for reporters who differ broadly by outlook, values, education, and class.

Science camps for kids

    Destination Science Young Inventors

    Curious minds want to know and build. Experiment & discover the technology behind controls that operate inventions: touch, sound and motion sensors. Take home a robot dog that barks, eats, and sits at your command. Invent flipping friction racers, magnetic quiz games, 3D water-powered polymers and more.

Price

    Early bird price ends

    Mar 15, 2019

    Schmahl Science Physics of Motion(运动)

    The physics of motion is all about forces. Forces need to act upon an object to get it moving, or to change its motion. In the tradition of Da Vinci, Galileo and Newton, students will explore forces as they build gliders and airplanes, design submarines, build rockets, learn about light, make roller coasters and build bridges.

Price

    Early bird price ends

    Mar 15, 2019

    Mad Science

    Junior Mad Scientists explore the kingdom of the Chemical and Physical world in this crazy week of non-stop action! Kids explore our wonder lab and find eggs that don't break, ice that doesn't melt, and discover how to freeze time! Our young chemists perform impressive hands-on experiments.

Price

    Early bird price ends

    Mar 12, 2019

    What makes a person a giver or taker? The idea "give vs. take" takes shape in all interactions (互动) and relationships of our lives. We're either giving advice, making time for people, or we're on the receiving end. We keep changing between the two based on different situations on a daily basis, if not an hourly one.

    According to Adam Grant, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, most people are matchers. They make careful observations on takers and make it a point for them to pay something back. They hate to see people who act so generously towards others not receive any rewards. Actually, most matchers will try hard to promote and support givers so that they can get the good they deserve.

    Is there a gender factor (性别因素) that plays a part in this?

    A study led by Hannah Riley Bowles, a professor at Harvard University, focused on this question. She asked 200 senior managers to sit down in pairs where one person would act as the boss and the other as an employee to discuss salary promotions. Male "employees" asked for an average salary of $146k while the females asked for only $141k. But why did they not bargain as hard as the men? Simply because they were more likely to be givers.

    As a woman, I do enjoy the act of giving up my time, my knowledge, and my care and my attention to others. I don't expect anything in return, but I do tend to pull myself away when I feel like I'm being taken for granted. I also tend to get upset when I see a loved one's continuous actions of kindness go unnoticed. So, it's safe to say I'm 50% giver, 35% matcher and 15% taker.

    I do know someone, however, who is 99% giver. They're constantly devoting their time, sharing valuable insights (洞察力) and going out of their way for everyone who crosses their path. Although they're changed the lives of many people, they rarely see any of it returned. But the universe is slowly repaying them; they're now extremely successful, well known for what they do.