Are you shy? If you are, you are not alone. In fact, close to 50 percent of people are shy. Almost 80 percent of people feel shy at some point in their lives. These days, shyness is becoming more and more common. Now, scientists are trying to understand shyness. They have some interesting ideas about why people are shy.

Is it possible to be born shy? Many scientists say yes. They say 15 to 20 percent of babies behave shyly. These babies are a little quieter and more watchful than other babies. Interestingly, these shy babies usually have shy parents. As a result, scientists think that some shyness is genetic.

Family size might cause people to be shy as well. Scientists at Harvard University studied shy children. They found that 66 percent of them had older brothers and sisters. As a result, they became shy. At the same time, children with no brothers and sisters may be shy as well. Growing up alone, they often play by themselves. They are not able to learn the same social skills as children from big families.

You may also be shy because of where you were born. When scientists studied shyness in different countries, they found surprising differences. In Japan, most people said they were shy. But in Israel, only one of three people said so. What explains the difference? One scientist says the Japanese and Israelis have different opinions of failure. In Japan, when people do not succeed, they feel bad about themselves. They blame（责备）themselves for their failure. In Israel, the opposite is true. Israelis often blame failure on outside reasons, such as family, teachers, friends, or bad luck. In Israel, freedom of opinion and risk taking are strongly supported. This may be why Israelis worry less about failure and are less shy.

For shy people, it can be difficult to make friends, speak in class, and even get a good job. But scientists say you can get over your shyness. They suggest trying new things and practicing conversation. And don't forget—if you are shy, you are not the only one.

     With the development of the Internet, many people use it very often, including some teenagers. But many parents are worried about that their children may meet with something unhealthy online. To solve this problem, a new search engine for children named Kiddle has appeared.

     Search results are filtered, so only safe website are shown and descriptions are written in simple language. Searches with bad words are shut off, too. Kiddles uses the same color as Google in its logo and a similar design on its homepage, too— with an extra robot picture. The top three Kiddle research show safe websites and pages written specially for kids and those websites and pages are well chosen and checked by Kiddle developers. The fourth to seventh results will be safe and trusted websites that are not written for adults. They provide expert content, but are harder for kids to understand.

     Unlike on Google, most results appear along with large thumbnail pictures(缩略图) to make it easier for children to find what they are looking for. For example, when you search for “meow meow”. Google produces pages for information about a drug(毒品)，but Kiddle lists information only about cats. The company explained, “Websites which appear in Kiddle search results satisfy family–friendly requirements, as we filter websites with unhealthy content.”

    Cruises are becoming more and more popular, with around 20 million passengers per year now enjoying holidays on board luxury ( 奢侈的 ) ships. More people see a cruise as the perfect way to sit back and do nothing, and enjoy time off work. But what is the effect on the environment of this trend?

    Although it usually takes less energy for a vehicle to move through water than over land, cruise ships are often massive, with the biggest ones carrying up to 6,000 passengers. Moving such large vehicles requires huge engines which bum as much as 300,000 litres of fuel a day. One scientist has calculated that cruise ships create as much pollution as 5 million cars going over the same distance. Because they are out at sea, they also burn dirtier fuel that isn't allowed on land. Unfortunately, no government has control over the amount of air pollution out at sea. Cruises also produce huge amounts of rubbish, and cruise ships aren't usually good at recycling. Waste water from showers and toilets is usually poured directly into the sea - as much per day as from a small town. Waste food from restaurants isn't put into the sea, but still causes problems when brought back to the land.

    Cruise ships also cause difficulties in the cities where they stop. Popular destinations can get five or six ships per day, with thousands of tourists at a time. Good for restaurants? No. Restaurant owners complain that the visitors look around for a few hours and then return to their ship to eat. What's more, the crowds can put off other tourists, who complain that the streets are too busy.

    Some towns have banned (禁止) cruise ships or put a limit on the number that can stop at the same time. People who care about the environment worry that as the cruise industry continues to grow, so will the issues for our planet.

    Albert Einstein is right once again! He thought of the idea about gravitational waves years ago with his Theory of Relativity, but scientists are finally discovering that it really exists now. But what are gravitational waves, and why are they important?

    Well, gravitational waves are made by black holes and can change time in space. Black holes aren't holes but are lots of matter put together into a very small area. They are created when a star, much like our sun, explodes and leaves behind this dense* material. It doesn't shine like a star any more, and it becomes black.

    The black holes that made these waves are special. About 1.3 billion years ago, there were two black holes that kept moving closer and closer together. Finally, they hit each other and formed one big black hole. The energy is given off and created the ripples* in space. These ripples are gravitational waves. For example, imagine you throw a stone into a pool. It creates ripples that change the shape of the water. Well, that's kind of what the influence of one black hole hitting the other has in space.

    Gravitational waves are hard to explore. But thanks to the efforts of scientists, the ripples were discovered on Feb. 11th, which is the first time in human history. Einstein was excellent to know this 100 years ago before we have the technology. It can give us a new view of the universe we live in. The discovery of gravitational waves, unlike stars, galaxies and other bright objects, black holes don't produce light, so we can't see them by tools. Gravitational waves allow scientists to look at the universe not only with light, but also with gravity. "Everything else in astronomy like the eye," A scientist told The New York Times. "Finally, astronomy grew ears. We had never ears before."

    Now, we will be able to find black holes and things that are much further away from Earth, which means much more space exploration in the future. And who knows, this discovery could even lead to time travel!

    A new rubbish sorting system (垃圾分类系统) has been put into use in Fangchengyuan Community in Beijing. Local people not only sort their rubbish, but also put QR codes (二维码) on it.

    "When the rubbish is collected and the codes are scanned (扫描), I will get reward points to exchange for small gifts and even some money," one of the local people told reporters. "It's really creative and encouraging."

    This smart system has been carried out in 350 communities in Beijing. The capital of China has joined a list of cities in the country that take action to support rubbish sorting. For example, Shenzhen and Shanghai have made laws to punish people and organizations for not sorting rubbish correctly.

    China produces quite a lot of rubbish every year. Much of the rubbish is buried (填埋) in soil or burned without being sorted. Landfills (填埋场) take up a lot of land and have a risk of polluting the soil and water nearby. And burning rubbish can produce harmful gases. Through rubbish sorting, we can reduce the use of landfills and air pollution.

    What's more, rubbish sorting saves resources, which could bring economic benefits (经济利益). For example, a ton of waste paper can be reused to make about 850kg of paper, saving 17 trees and 50 percent of water. Because of their benefits, some countries have developed successfully sorting systems.

    In Australia, every family is provided with three rubbish bins—the red lid (盖子) bin for "general waste" like food and plastic bags, the yellow lid bin for "recyclable (可回收利用的) waste" like steel and glass, and the green lid bin for "green waste", such as grass and leaves. On the street, the bins are printed with pictures of the things that are allowed inside. It makes recycling quite easy.

    A few years after World War Ⅱ finished, scientists spoke with great eagerness about the use of nuclear power as a source of energy. Within twenty years, they said, nuclear would take the place of coal, gas and oil as a source of power at home and in industry. This promise has never been carried out(兑现)and there are serious doubts that it ever will be. Nuclear power plants are used to produce energy in some wealthier countries, but the cost is high.

    Although safety measures have been taken, radiation leaks have taken place and workers have been killed or affected. The problem of getting rid of the nuclear waste has proved most difficult. There is a limit to the amount of waste materials which can be buried in the ground or poured on the sea-bed. These methods may also cause more problems. Waste materials polluted by radiation may remain dangerous for 200 years or more.

    It is no surprise that scientists have now turned to the sun and the sea as sources of power. The sun shines day after day almost wastefully, providing us with energy far be yond all our needs.