Anyone who has had a long-term illness knows that recovering at home can be lonely. This is can be especially true of children. They may feel isolated（孤立的）from their friends and classmates. Now, a small robot may help children who are recovering from a long-term illness in the hospital or at home. The robot takes their place at school. Through the robot, the children can hear their teachers and friends. They can also take part in classroom activities from wherever they are recovering – whether at home or from a hospital bed.

    The robot is called AV1.It is created by a company called “No Isolation”. AV1 goes to school for a child who is at home while recovering from a long-term illness. And the child's school friends must help. They carry the robot between classes and place the robot on the child's desk.

    Dolva, one co-funder （创始人）of No Isolation, explains how the robot AV1 works. She says, “the robot sits at the child's desk in the classroom and the child at home uses a tablet（平板电脑）or a phone to start it, control its movement with touch, and talk through it. So the robot becomes the eyes, the ears and the voice of the child at school.” The robot is equipped with speakers, microphones and cameras that make communicating easy. Moreover，The AVI was designed to be tough. It is water-resistant(防水) and can take a fall from a desk without damage. Inside AV1 is a small computer connected to a 4G network. AV1 is large and looks like a human for a reason. Dolva thinks this is important because the robot is expected to be a friend to the children.

    The robot just became available to the public. Hopefully AV1 will help some children feel less lonely while they are absent from class.

    The evening of September 29, 2011, China launched (发射) its first space lab module Tiangong-1 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.

    President Hu Jintao praised the success of China's first space lab module Tiangong-1, and shook hands with the staff of the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center.

    Premier Wen Jiabao and He Guoqiang also shook hands with the staff at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center to congratulate on the success.

    Tiangong-1, which is plannedtoconnect with the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft later this year, will get ready for building China's first space station.

    During its two-year service life, Tiangong-1 will mainly carry on four tasks, such as experiments of autonomous rendezvous(自主交会) and connection with the Shenzhou-8, -9, and -10 spacecrafts in the coming launches, which is going to set up the country's first space lab, according to Wu Ping, spokesperson for China's National Space Administration.

    According to the plan for China's manned space program, the Shenzhou-10 will be a manned spacecraft that is going to carry a female Chinese astronaut.

    Tiangong-1 is expected to become China's first space laboratory when it connects to the above mentioned spaceships.

    A study of sleep in sparrows suggests the relationship between sleep and the ability to learn may be more complicated (复杂) than realized．

    Niels C. Rattenborg of the University of Wisconsin—Madison wanted to find out how the sparrows were able to deal with getting so much less sleep．He and his team brought eight wild birds into a lab and watched them for one year．They invented a game to check how well the birds could learn．In the game, the sparrows had to peck (啄) three buttons (按钮) in a certain order to get a food treat．The scientists discovered that the birds' ability to learn the right button order depended on (依靠) two things, the time of year and the

amount of sleep the birds had．

    During the migration (迁徙) season, the sparrows were restless at night and got much less sleep than usual．Even so, they were able to understand how to get the food quickly as if they'd had a regular night of sleep．Outside the migration season, they found the sparrows that got less sleep than usual had much more difficulty learning how to get the food treats than birds that had a regular sleep．

    The results show that the sparrows can deal with much less sleep during the migration season than usual．If scientists can find out why, they may learn from sparrows and find ways of helping people deal with getting much less sleep．Until scientists fully understand the relationship between sleep and learning, it's better to get plenty of sleep when preparing for an exam．

    Mike Myers is a teacher at Chauncey Rose High School in Terre Haute, Indiana. Last year, he taught his students about the world's rain forests. They learned that rain forests are important because the plants and animals of the rain forests give us food, wood and medicine.

    Destruction of the world's rain forests is a severe problem. As part of a class project, Myers' students bought three acres (英亩) of rain forest in Central America. They paid $25 for each acre. The students hope that the land they bought will be protected and not destroyed.

    Last June, Myers and four of his students took a boat ride down a river. They saw alligators and crocodiles. In the middle of the week, a guide took Myers and his students into the rain forest. "The monkeys were not happy that we were in their forest. They broke small branches off the trees and threw them at us," one of the students said. "It was a great journey of exploring nature for all of us," said Myers.

    Each student close something special about Costa Rica to study involving the plants animals, food, and culture. During the last few days the group had time to do fun activation. They went whitewater rafting and horseback riding, and visited Costa Rica's active volcano.

    Myers hopes to make the trip every year with a different group of kids.

    How green are you? Do you know how to be green? We all need a healthy environment, but we produce waste every day and it is harmful to our environment. Though we are young, we can still do something to help. Here are some ideas for you.

    Reduce

    Reduce means "use less" .Don't waste things. This saves money and reduces pollution. Before we buy something new, think whether it is really necessary— or maybe the old one is still useful.

    Reuse

    Reuse means "use again" .When we buy things, make sure that they can last a long time. When something is broken, we should repair it instead of throwing it away and buying a new one. Don't use a paper cup or a paper bag. It's better to use a china(瓷) cup and a lunch box because you can use them again.

    Recycle

    Recycle means "change things into something else" .Though it takes energy to change something into something else, it's better than throwing things away or burning them.

    So please remember these three words: reduce, reuse and recycle.