In earliest times, men considered lightning to be one of the great mysteries (神秘的事物) of nature. Some ancient peoples believed that lightning and thunder were the weapons (武器) of the gods.

    In reality, lightning is a flow of electricity formed high above the earth. A single flash of lightning 1.6 kilometres long has enough electricity to light one million light bulbs (灯泡).

    The American scientist and statesman, Benjamin Franklin, was the first to show the connection between electricity and lightning in 1752. In the same year he also built the first lightning rod (避雷针). This device (装置物) protects buildings from being damaged by lightning.

    Modern science has discovered that one stroke (闪击) of lightning has a voltage (电压) of more than 15 million volts (伏特). A flash of lightning between a cloud and the earth may be as long as 13 kilometers, and travel at a speed of 30 million meters per second.

    Scientists judge that there are about 2,000 million flashes of lightning per year. Lightning hits the Empire State Building in New York City 30 to 48 times a year. In the United States alone it kills an average (平均数) of one person every day.

    The safest place to be in case of an electrical storm is in a closed car. Outside, one should go to low ground and not get under trees. Also, one should stay out of water and away from metal fences. Inside a house, people should avoid open doorways and windows and not touch wires or metal things.

    With lightning, it is better to be safe than sorry?

    As space science develops, man has learned more and more about space. Space is not only amazing but also dangerous. While working in space, spacemen are facing danger.

    Scientists have found out that radiation(辐射) is the greatest danger to spacemen in space. When spacemen are working in space, they are in danger of radiation from the sun and other stars, which is bad for their health. Some special medicine may work a little, but there's no really helpful medicine.

    Space junk is also thought a great danger to spacemen. It's reported that there are 9,000 man-made things flying in space. About 30% of these are man-made satellites(卫星),10% are spaceships, and the rest are space junk. An explosion(爆炸) in 1996 made a cloud of 300,000 fragments(碎片), each at least 4 mm in size, and even a small piece of these knocked against a spaceship window and did some damage. Scientists are working on helpful ways to do with space junk.

    Although space is really dangerous, it interests everyone on the earth. In the near future, it may become usual for people to spend a few days in a space hotel. We may even choose to leave the earth and live in space for a few years. So we should care for space and do something to help improve the space environment.

    Many objects in the universe are invisible, but they send radio waves. The radio telescope* thus appeared, and it is considered one of the greatest inventions in the twentieth century. Reber built the world's first radio telescope in 1937. Ryle and Hewish developed radio telescope systems for the location of weak radio sources, and they shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974.

    A radio telescope is usually made up of:

    One or more antennas to collect the radio waves. Most antennas are made in the shape of a dish to collect and reflect, the radio waves to the sub—reflector, in the same way as a curved mirror focuses visible light to one point.

    A receiver and amplifier to receive the radio waves from the sub—reflector, and make these weak radio waves strong enough to be recorded and turned into electronic signals. To make an amplifier sensitive enough, it is usually cooled to, very low temperatures (e. g. as low as —270℃）.

    A recorder to keep a record of the electronic signals. Most radio telescopes today keep the signals to the computer's memory disk for astronomers to analyze later.

    Radio wavelengths are much longer than those of visible light, and the radio waves from deep space are always weak. To catch Radio wavelengths are much longer than those of visible light, and the radio waves from deep space are always weak. To catch these waves, radio telescopes usually have huge antennas. The sizes of most antennas in use today are around 50 to 300 metres in diameter. The antenna of FAST in Guizhou, China, the latest and largest radio telescope in the world, is 500 metres in diameter, as large as the size of 30 football fields.

    To avoid interferences, and keep the telescopes sensitive, radio telescopes are built in places where there are no human radio waves or electronic signals. For example, FAST is 5 kilometres away from the closest village and 25 kilometres away from the nearest town.

    Radio telescopes create pictures of the sky, not in visible light, but in radio waves. This is extremely useful, because there are objects that can't be seen, objects that we wouldn't even know without radio telescopes.

    The population of the world is still going up and scientists are worried that there will not enough food for us in the middle of the century. One plant from Madagascar, the Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi, may help. It takes in carbon dioxide (二氧化碳) at night and it needs 10 times less water than food plants like rice. This means it can grow in the desert(沙漠).

    It is dangerous to eat this plant, but scientists can study two things about it: how it takes in carbon dioxide at night when other plants only do this during the day, and why it is so good at living in the desert. There will be less good land for growing food in the future because deserts are increase in size. There, growing plants will be more and more important.

    There is a possible way to take this research. To grow a desert plant to eat will be difficult, but it may be possible to use the genes(基因) from this plant and put them into food plants like beans or potatoes. And the food plants with the genes can grow in the desert. We hope the plant could be an answer to our future food.