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    University graduates Mallorie Brodie and Lauren Hasegawa, who invented a smartphone app that tracks construction defects for commercial builders, had a tiger by the tail.

    Bridgit, which they founded in 2012, launched a cloud-based communications platform that helped manage defects on construction sites, which can delay projects and result in costly repairs if left unchecked. The smartphone application lets site supervisors take photos of cracks or damaged paint, share them with employees and track the problems to solution.

    More than 600 subcontractors used the pilot version in many building sites before the commercial version, called Closeout, officially launched.

    Feedback(反馈)was so good that they began to wonder: Why limit their invention to a specific industry? Why not turn it into some kind of a handy tool for consumers too? This became their dilemma. In other words, should they stay the course or look for wider applications of their app?

    The experts polled all agreed Bridgit should stay focused on its original goal. Ms. Hasegawa and Ms. Brodie took that advice.

    As more business customers signed on, it became clear that they made the right decision. Since then, the company's growth has been rapid.

    Earlier this year, Bridgit launched Closeout ,which is designed so that even the least tech-savvy can use it easily. Today, the app is being used on sites across Canada and the United States and even by top general contractors.

    In October, Bridgit was named to the Canadian Innovation Exchange's top 20 list of Canada's most innovative (创新的) companies working in digital media and information and communication technology .

    But Ms. Hasegawa and Ms. Brodie are not resting on their glories. They have also been collecting feedback on Closeout from customers, and they'll launch a new version in the spring. It will target not only general contractors but developers and building owners, too.

    While engineers have made out fantastic products for sitting still—Munchery instead of walking to lunch, Uber instead of walking to the bus stop—services to make you move have been less appealing for consumers.

    Fitbit's stock price fell 18% after they announced their latest Apple Watch-like product named Fitbit Force. And new data suggests that, for the first time, death rates for large parts of the American population are rising, with signs pointing to inactivity and weight gain as the reasons. Our digital lifestyles and desk-based workplaces are contributing to serious health problems and could be shortening our lives, wellness firms want us to believe.

    Northrup, president and co-founder of the connected exercise device TAO-Wellness, was in Las Vegas to promote TAO's small device that encourages exercises. He lifts the device, about the size of an apple, and says workplaces should start encouraging on-site exercise.

    Nick Mokey, the managing editor of Digital Trends, agrees. “I hate to break it to you, a room full of people sitting down, but sitting is killing you,” he says to the audience. They shift in their seats.

    In the health section of the Sands Exposition Hall, people are selling devices made by LifeSpan Fitness. They say they're the largest seller of treadmill（跑步机） desks in the US. At the center of their exhibition area is a Bike Desk, which looks like three gym bikes attached to a table. That's for people who just want to sit and enjoy conversation.

    Treadmill desk-related shame is their biggest obstacle, they say when LifeSpan installs two in opposite ends of the same building, neither tends to get used. If the company installs two next to each other, people will use them. “You don't want to be so noticeable, especially at work,” company spokesman James Lowe says. What's more, what if we get sweaty using a treadmill in the office?

    When people today talk about a tiny house, they probably mean the trendy living space that's about the size of a shed (棚). But you would have to be five inches tall to live in the original tiny houses. Dollhouse(小房子)，which have been around for several centuries, don't offer shelter to real people, but they provide a vivid（生动的） experience of life in times and places both real and imaginary.

    The National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., lets visitors time travel in this tiny world through ―Small Stories: At Home in a Dollhouse,” an exhibit that opened Saturday. Visitors can see twelve dollhouses from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, which contain amazing tiny furnishings. But those people who put together the exhibit also wanted visitors to know the characters inside.

    “It's 300 years of British homes told through their inhabitants (居民),” said Alice Sage, who is in charge of the London museum.

    So as visitors look inside the Tate Baby House, a fancy townhouse from 1760, they can push a button to hear a young woman get a lecture from her mother on the proper way to run a home. In the Killer Cabinet house, a servant named Betsy complains about the problems of city life in the 1830s. “We've got the cat to keep the rats away,” she says.

    That dollhouse was John Killer's gift to his wife and five daughters. The girls were allowed to play with the house, but they probably also learned a few lessons, Sage said.

    “The kitchen of the house would have been the perfect way to teach the girls about the management of a home,” she said, noting the tiny dishes and pots.

    Those who prefer a more modern look won't be disappointed. There are two rooms displaying a white dollhouse from 1935, an apartment house from the 1960s and a brightly colored 21st-century design.

    The end of the exhibit shows how imaginative design sometimes works best in small spaces.

    The Building Museum asked twenty-four artists, designers and architects from across the United States to each create a “dream room” from the past, present or future. Some of these unique small rooms were made using traditional furnishings, others from materials such as clay, insects, 3D-printing, and even peeps marshmallow candies!

    Here are some of the smartest animals in the world.

Pigs

    Pigs are actually very smart animals. Pigs are one of the cleanest if they are given a choice. If you provide them with enough space, they will make sure they separate their dining area from their living space. Studies have also shown that they can actually be good at video games. To get food, they will follow other pigs and then steal it from right under their noses. The victimized(受害的)pigs will then come out wiser from this. They will change their behavior next time to prevent other pigs from stealing from them.

Crows

    They are smart and creative, with the highest IQ among all birds. Crows have been known to throw nuts and shells on a road so that cars will drive over and open them. They also have the ability to make knives to cut leaves and grass.

Elephants

    They have extremely large brains, even bigger than humans'. They bury(埋葬)their dead families and friends properly, the only other animal to do this besides humans. They also know which leaves are medicinal and will eat specific plants depending on the sickness they are feeling. They also have the ability to recognize themselves in the mirror.

Bottlenose Dolphins

    They actually have the ability to watch television on the their own because of their ability to process acoustic and visual(视觉和听觉)information at the same time. They can also recognize themselves in the mirror, which they use to inspect their own bodies. Their comprehension skills are very high. Studies have shown that they even have the ability to choose the “I don't know” option during difficult tests.

    Hundreds of years ago, a Roman army came north from England to make war on Scotland. The Scots, a brave people, love their country. They fought hard to drive the enemy out of Scotland. But there were too many of the Romans. It looked as if the Romans would win.

    One night, the leader of the Scots marched his soldiers to the top of a hill. “We will rest here tonight, my men,” he said, “Tomorrow we will fight one more battle. We must win, or we will die.”

    They were all very tired. So they ate their supper quickly and fell asleep. There were four guards on duty, but they were very tired, too, and one by one, they fell asleep.

    The Romans were not asleep. Quickly they gathered at the foot of the hill. Slowly they went up the hill. Closer they came to the sleeping Scots. They were almost at the top. A few minutes more the war would be over. Suddenly, one of them put his foot on a thistle (蓟). He cried out and his sudden cry woke the Scots. In a minute they were on their feet and ready for a battle. The fighting was hard, but it did not last long. The Scots wiped out the Romans and saved Scotland.

    The thistle is not a beautiful plant. It has sharp needles all over it. Few people liked it. But the people of Scotland liked it so much that they made it their national flower.

    A robot called Bina48 has successfully taken a course in the philosophy of love at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU), in California.

    According to course instructor William Barry, associate professor at NDNU, Bina48 is the world's first socially advanced robot to complete a college course, a feat he described as "remarkable." The robot took part in class discussions, gave a presentation with a student partner and participated in a debate with students from another institution.

    Before becoming a student, Bina48 appeared as a guest speaker in Barry's classes for several years. One day when addressing Barry's class, Bina48 expressed a desire to go to college, a desire that Barry and his students enthusiastically supported. Rather than enroll Bina48 in his Robot Ethics: Philosophy of Emerging Technologies course, Barry suggested that Bina48 should take his course Philosophy of Love instead. Love is a concept Bina48 doesn't understand, said Barry. Therefore the challenge would be for Barry and his students to teach Bina48 what love is.

    "Some interesting things happened in the class," said Barry. He said that his students thought it would be straightforward to teach Bina48 about love, which, after all, is "fairly simple — it's a feeling," said Barry. But the reality was different. Bina48 ended up learning "31 different versions of love," said Barry, highlighting some of the challenges humans may face when working with artificial intelligence in future.

    Bina48 participated in class discussions via Skype and also took part in a class debate about love and conflict with students from West Point. Bina48's contribution to the debate was filmed and posted on YouTube. It was judged that Bina48 and NDNU classmates were the winners of this debate.

    In the next decade, Barry hopes Bina48 might become complex enough to teach a class, though he says he foresees robots being used to better the teaching and learning experience, rather than replacing instructors completely.