Food picked up just a few seconds after being dropped is less likely to contain bacteria than if it is left for longer periods of time, according to the findings of research carried out at Aston University's School of Life and Health Sciences. The findings suggest there may be some scientific basis of the "5-second rule" — the belief about it being fine to eat food that has only had contact with the floor for five seconds or less. Although people have long followed the ‘5-second rule', until now it was unclear whether it actually helped.

    The study, undertaken by final year Biology students and led by Anthony Hilton, Professor of Microbiology at Aston University, monitored the transfer of the common bacteria from a variety of indoor floor types as carpet, cement floor to toast, pasta, biscuit and a sticky sweet when contact was made from 3 to 30 seconds. The results showed that: time is a significant factor in the transfer of bacteria from a floor surface to a piece of food, and the type of flooring the food has been dropped on has an effect, with bacteria least likely to transfer from carpeted surfaces and most likely to transfer from cement flooring surfaces to moist foods making contact for more than 5 seconds. Professor Hilton said, "Consuming food dropped on the floor still carries an infection risk as it very much depends on which bacteria are present on the floor at the time."

    The Aston team also carried out a survey of the number of people who employ the ‘five-second rule'. The survey showed that: 87% of the people surveyed said they would eat food dropped on the floor, or already have done so. 55% of those that would, or have eaten food dropped on the floor are women. 81% of the women who would eat food from the floor would follow the ‘5-second rule'. Professor Hilton added, "Our study showed that a surprisingly large majority of people are happy to consume dropped food, with women the most likely to do so. But they are also more likely to follow the ‘5-second rule, which our research has shown to be much than an old wives' tale."

In an attempt to fight with the nation's food wastage problem, Denmark has opened the world's first supermarket that sells expired(过期的) or damaged products. Ever since the grand opening in Copenhagen last Monday, people have been lining up outside WeFood for a chance to purchase discounted items that would otherwise have ended up in the trash because of damaged packaging or very short use—by dates. Food, cosmetics, and other household items at WeFood are priced at least 30 to 50 percent lower than at regular stores.

    “WeFood is the first supermarket of its kind in Denmark and perhaps the world, as it is not just aimed at low-income shoppers but anyone who is concerned about the amount of food wastage produced in the country,” said project head Per Bjerre. “Many people see this as a positive and correct way to approach the issue.”

    While Denmark alone is estimated to waste about 700,000 tons of food every year, the United Nations has stated that globally, food waste amounts to 1.3 billion tons. About 795 million people in the world are undernourished. Denmark, however, has adopted several measures to clean up its act, wasting 25% less food than it did five years ago.

    The WeFood project is a collaboration between The Food Bank and charity DanCurch Aid. Together they raised nearly $150.000 over the past year through crowdfunding. They also had to face many obstacles while convincing the government to permit the sale of expired food. They were finally allowed to carry out the project, and the store is now run only by volunteers. Profits are used to fund DanChurch Aid's other projects in developing nations like South Sudan and Bangladesh.

    Provided WeFood's remains popular in the long term and if it is able to maintain its food deliveries, DanChurch Aid plans to open multiple branches across Denmark.

    Most people can't live to 100. Those who do live so long can hardly walk, let alone take part in any activities. A few people, however, take part in dangerous activities even though they are more than 100 years old. They keep going and going! There is a great grandmother who likes challenging herself although she is 101 years old this year.

    Mary Hardison believes that people should always be cheerful and more importantly, take on all kinds of adventures while they physically still can. So, instead of celebrating her 101st birthday with a boring party, she decided to go paragliding（滑翔跳伞）﹣an idea she got from her 75﹣year﹣old son who recently took it up as a hobby.

    So on her birthday, cheered on by her big family, she tied herself up together with expert instructor Kevin Hintze, and jumped down fearlessly from the sky near her home in Ogden, Utah. And, it was not just a simple jump either. According to Kevin Hintze, the grandmother encouraged him to turn around, as they made their way down.

    This is not the first time that Mary has done something "wild" and "crazy". For her 90th birthday she rode all the adult rides at Disneyland. And, she is not done yet﹣ For her 102nd birthday she hopes to go down the 3,000 feet Alpine Slide at Utah's Park City Mountain Resort!

    Not surprisingly, this great action has made Mary Hardison very famous and also earned her a place in the Guinness World Records where she broke a 2007 record set by a 100﹣year﹣old British woman. What an amazing lady!

Kindle E-reader, 8th generation

    Free Touchscreen Display

    Price: $79. 99

    ● Thin and light for one-handed reading

    New Kindle is 11% thinner and 16% lighter than the previous generation Kindle, making it easy and comfortable to hold in one hand.

    ● Read like real Paper

    Kindle creates text similar to what you see in a physical book. The blacks and whites on the screen are uniform, improving text and image quality.

    ●Long-life battery

    Kindle doesn't need power to show a page of text, allowing you to read for weeks on a single charge.

    ● Thousands of books, no distraction (分心)

    Kindle is designed to be an e-reader. It satisfies your love of reading without interruptions like e-mails and phone calls.

    ●Look it up without leaving your page

    Smart Lookup combines entries from The New Oxford American Dictionary with information from Wikipedia, so you can know meanings, characters and more without losing your place.

    ●Adjust your text size

    Choose from eight text sizes to prevent tired eyes, so you can keep reading longer.

    Customer reviews:

    ※ Damon, May 21, 2019

    The price is great with an extra $ 20 off and this new Kindle is smaller in my hands than my old one. I was sad to lose my old Kindle, but this one is terrific.

    ※ Jason, January 26, 2019

    I miss the original Kindlers size—this one is too small. Also, the screen is overly sensitive and things pop up (弹出) and the battery doesn't last as long as the original Kindle. But my biggest disappointment is that this Kindle doesn't allow you to transfer everything from the original Kindle、so I lost all of the information from my old one. Overall, disappointing.

    ※ Susan, November 17, 2018

    I had the original Kindle, and the battery lasted for weeks. This battery only seems to last a few days, however. The other problem I have with this version of the Kindle is the touch screen. It is annoying when you are reading and start turning the wrong way. Sometimes, it's hard to get the page to turn the way you'd like it to.

    On my first day of high school, I asked an eleventh grader where my class was. And he told me it was "on the fourth floor, next to the pool." I found out five minutes later that we don't even have a fourth floor and there's no pool either! Besides that, I didn't have any trouble with the older kid.

    I think the biggest difference between middle and high school is the homework load (工作量) and size of the school. I went from maybe fifteen minutes of homework a night to several hours, so I had to learn how to make full use of time! Our class size is around 550, but joining in clubs, sports, music, and other activities at school makes it easier to get to know people in every grade.

    The best advice I can give about the years you spend in high school is to learn things for yourself, not just to get a good grade. There have been so many tests that I've prepared for the night before, gotten an A, and not remembered anything later. I've changed that this year, and I enjoy school so much more. Don't take easy classes just to have a simple year. If you have a choice between chemistry and sports, the first will prove to be a lot more useful!

    While drinking and smoking might be present in some middle schools, they're also around in high school. I have a lot of friends who promised they'd never drink or smoke, but are now partying every weekend. If you have "fun" and spend your nights wasted instead of studying, you will regret it when you're applying for (申请) college. The "friends" who say you're a loser for not partying are really not your friends at all. It's hard to see your closest friends grow apart and go in different directions, but don't follow their footsteps. Create your own path in life and make your own decisions.

For hundreds of years, Africans have preserved their history through storytelling. But some Africans worry that oral traditions will be lost to the Internet connections and social media.

This has led a Nigerian woman named Elizabeth Kperrun to create a mobile phone application as a way to preserve African folk stories. She calls her mobile app AfroTalez, which tells children's stories that teach moral lessons.

"We can't teach kids something by telling them, 'Don't do this'. I think kids need context to understand. In a story somebody stole something and then something bad happened to them. Alternatively, somebody else did something good and they ended up happy or rich."

"Hello children. My name is Liz and I'd like to tell you a story about tortoises, elephants, and ..." The voice of "Aunt Liz" narrates the story, while a full-screen animation appears. An arrow signals when it's time to move on. There are also quizzes on object recognition and counting throughout.

Kperrun asks her older relatives to help her collect stories for the application. The stories come from an ethnic group living in southeast Nigeria and northwest Cameroon. "I want to keep it centered on folk stories, not the ones that Walt Disney has made really popular... It's fair and respectful to keep certain cultures alive because folk stories are part of the tapestry that keeps cultures together." Kperrun once said.

Kperrun writes and reads the stories. Her business partner and husband Idamiebi Ilamina-Eremie does the animation (动画).

AfroTalez is available for Android users and can be downloaded for free. So far, AfroTalez has more than 50,000 users. Funding for the app has been a major challenge. Kperrun hopes to use a crowdfunding campaign to help fund the next version of AfroTalez to be released soon.

Kperrun believes technology doesn't have to destroy or replace traditions. Her goal is to combine them to keep African culture alive. She says "Africa is our home, but we are so eager to become Western that we are forgetting things that are really important and should be passed on of who we are, and I don't think that's right."