Feelings often run high where insects are concerned, with many people even sick when seeing them, let alone touch or swallow them. And yet insects present a huge nutritional opportunity as an increasing global population seeks more sources of food and feed.

    Insects have generally high levels of animal protein and key micronutrients with lower environmental footprints than traditional alternatives, and they can be raised on leftovers. But cultural, social and economic problems remain, reports an article published today in Nutrition Bulletin.

    “Insects present a nutritional opportunity, but it is unclear how their nutritional quality is influenced by what they are fed,” says Darja Dobermann, a researcher at the University of Nottingham. “In ideal conditions, insects have a smaller environmental impact than most traditional western forms of animal protein; less known is how to raise insect production while maintaining these environmental benefits.”

    “Studies overall show that insects could make valuable economic and nutritional contributions to the food or fed systems, but there are no clear regulations in place to bring insects into such supply systems without them turning into a more expensive version of poultry（家禽）for food,” says Dobermann.

    The article highlights how insects have been a source of food for hundreds of years in more than 100 countries with over 2,000 species that can be eaten; in central Africa, up to 50% of dietary protein has come from insects, with their market value higher than many alternative sources of animal protein.

    Insects need to be large enough to make the effort of catching them worthwhile and easy to locate, preferably in predictably large quantities. They are consumed at various life stages, as raw, fried, boiled, roasted or ground food.

    One of my all time favorite holiday destinations is the Gold Coast. With its beautiful beaches, mountain hinterland and theme parks, the variety from one location to another is fantastic! And it's also important that it's like a playground for my children.

    The Gold Coast certainly offers something for every member of our family. We all love heading down to the beach for an early morning swim or surf. The beaches feature some of the softest golden sand and pumping waves, making them ideal for surfing. Safety is important especially when I'm out with the kids, and I feel better knowing that lifeguards are continually on patrol（巡逻）. The long coast also offer the perfect setting for a leisurely walk at sunset-a favorite activity of mine.

    Then, of course, there's the bargain-hunting in the city's center. For shopping goers there are amazing shopping centers boutiques and the usual chain stores. I always pick up loads of goodies at Pacific Fair.

    The Gold Coast is popular for its theme parks-Sea World, Wamer Bros Movie World and Dream World. The seal and dolphin presentations at Sea World keep both children and adults on the edge of their seats as the sea creatures go through a series of complicated jumps, flips and rolls. It's great entertainment and an educational window to the underwater world for the kids. Our kids also enjoy meeting the characters at Movie World and watching how real movies are made.

    Night-time is equally fun, as we usually set off to find the best local restaurants and cafes. The mix of cultures and influences has given the Gold Coast a wide variety of choices, including modem Australian, Italian, Asian and seafood, although sometimes nothing beats fish and chips!

    A visit to the Gold Coast in the Sunshine State is worthwhile and fun.

    Sometimes known as “The Big Apple” or “the City That Never Sleeps”, New York is both the most populous city in the USA and a leading center of business, commerce, finance and media. The city is often referred to as “New York City”, in order to distinguish it from the state it is in. The city is part of a large metropolitan（大都市的）area, and the combined city population exceeds 18.7 million.

    New York City is made up of five boroughs（行政区）and hence another nickname of the city is “The Five Boroughs”. The five boroughs are: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island.

    There are many famous buildings and sights in New York, especially in Manhattan. These include the Empire State Building, the Flatiron Building and the United Nations Building. When you visit New York, make sure you see Central Park, Times Square, Chinatown, Little Italy and of course the Statue of Liberty. Additionally, there are many wonderful museums in New York, some truly excellent shops, some of the world's best theaters in the Broadway area, and the neighborhoods of Greenwich Village and SoHo which are well-known for the artists who reside there.

    Getting around New York City is simple—the city's subway network is one of the most comprehensive in the world, connecting all parts of Manhattan in rapid time.

    However, the best way to see New York is undoubtedly on foot. Central Park is an ideal place to start a walking tour of New York City—843 acres of shining ponds and lush greenery attract locals and tourists. And apart from offering breathtaking scenery, it is a centre for recreation. Visitors can listen to music groups, watch performers, walk along the trails and even take a romantic ride in a horse carriage.

    Eco-friendly Vauban, lied in the southwest part of Germany, has everything－tree-lined streets, perfect houses－but it's missing one urban feature of the last 100 years or so: the car. And Vauban residents(居民) don't mind one bit. Vauban doesn't ban cars entirely. Rather, it just tries to reduce the use of cars by creating “parking-free” and “car-free” living. In Vauban, parking spots are a no-no private property(私人财产). Cars can only be parked in public parking lots, so living without a car saves residents the cost of parking in the public lot. Cars also are prevented from using certain roads and must stick to strict speed limits. With these limitations, fewer than 20 percent of residents own cars. Without cars, bikes are almost religion in this small town. Kids pick them up even before they can ride one. Vauban is about much more than just using two wheels instead of four. In Vauban , residents ride bikes and even receive money from the electric company for selling electricity back to the power grid (电网系统). It's an environmentally-friendly city of the future, with organically grown food, renewable energy, and carbon-neutral homes. And now, with a population of 5,500, it's attracting attention from around the world. Can an eco-friendly city like Vauban be a model for Americans to stop their over-reliance on the cars?

    Sometimes when I watch a news report what's in the back of my mind is what isn't being reported or stressed. While this eco-friendly city is inspiring in that it shows residents getting exercise and fresh air through the majority use of bicycles, as well as good old fashioned walking, common sense would tell you that even for a place like Vauban, Germany, it owes its existence to the cars.

    Do you think that bicycles were able to transport all the construction materials that were needed to build and maintain the eco-friendly homes and businesses in Vauban? It took cars to help build this utopia. It's one of the paradoxes of life that sometimes in order to get away from relying on something like the car, you actually have to rely on that very thing at the beginning and into the foreseeable future to some degree.

    I myself haven't owned a car for more than 14 years, and mostly get around town running, walking, or using public transportation. There are times I wish I had one, since it would make many things easier, but overall I'm glad not to have to deal with the headaches of owning a car, which caused me to get rid of it in the first place. And all the walking and running has helped to keep me fit and healthy.

    To get even close to being like eco-friendly Vauban, Americans will need to absolutely change the way they live. Commuting(乘车上下班) patterns will have to change, public transportation will have to be invested in, and so on. And though ending our love affair with the car will be impossible during my lifetime, we may at least start to see more Vauban-like areas in the USA.

    We can hope that Americans will consider using their feet more to get around, cutting down on pollution, and giving themselves some more exercise.

    Tourism is often about seeking deeper emotional and personal connections with the world around us. Not all travel experiences, however, need to take place in the real world. With the evolution of virtual reality (VR) technology, tourism will increasingly become a combination of physical and virtual worlds. VR may even remove the need to travel entirely.

    But can a VR experience really equal a real world one? Many experts believe it can. Studies have shown that our brains have an inbuilt VR-like mechanism that enables us to live imagined experiences. Much of our waking life is spent thinking about either the past or the future. This is known as" mind wandering". During these events we're not paying attention to the current world around us. Instead, we're recalling memories, or creating and processing imagined futures.

    When engaged in mind wandering, our brains process these mental images using the same pathways used to receive inputs from the real world. So, the imagined past or future can create emotions and feelings similar to how we react to everyday life. VR can create these same feelings.

    While critics might argue that a virtual experience will never match reality, there are several ways VR tourism could make a positive contribution. Firstly it could help protect sensitive locations from over-tourism. In recent years famous sites such as Maya Bay in Thailand, and Cambodia's Angkor Wat Temples have had to limit the number of visitors because of their negative impact. These places are now producing their own VR experiences that will allow tourists to pass through virtual models of the sites.

    Virtual reality may also allow people back in time, to experience historical events, visit ancient cities, and even to walk among dinosaurs.

    Finally, in a world where many people suffer from stress and depression due to overwork, virtual tourism may provide a cheap and convenient way for people to take brief holidays to otherwise unreachable destinations and recharge their batteries, without ever leaving their homes.

    It sounds like science fiction but it's already happening. As virtual technology improves and as people continue to demand new and interesting experiences, expect more virtual tourism, both in combination with the real world and instead of it.

    The Healthy Habits Survey (调查) shows that only about one third of American seniors have correct habits. Here are some findings and expert advice.

    ①How many times did you brush your teeth yesterday?

    ·Finding: A full 33% of seniors brush their teeth only once a day.

    ·Step: Remove the 300 types of bacteria (细菌) in your mouth each morning with a battery-operated toothbrush. Brush gently for 2 minutes, at least twice a day.

    ②How many times did you wash your hands or bathe yesterday?

    ·Finding: Seniors, on average, bathe fewer than 3 days a week. And nearly 30% wash their hands only 4 times a day—half of the number doctors recommend.

    ·Step: We touch our faces around 3, 000 times a day—often inviting germs (病菌) to enter our mouth, nose, and eyes. Use toilet paper to avoid touching the door handle. And, most important, wash your hands often with hot running water and soap for 20 seconds.

    ③How often do you think about fighting germs?

    ·Finding: Seniors are not fighting germs as well as they should.

    ·Step: Be aware of germs. Do you know it is not your toilet but your kitchen sponge (海绵) that can carry more germs than anything else? To kill these germs, keep your sponge in the microwave for 10 seconds.