Our brains work in complex and strange ways. There are some people who can calculate the day of the week for any given date in 40,000 years, but who cannot add two plus two. Others can perform complex classical piano pieces after hearing them once, but they cannot read or write.

    Dr. J. Langdon Down first described this condition in 1887. He called these people idiot savants. An idiot savant is a person who has significant mental injury, such as in autism (自闭症) or retardation. At the same time, the person also exhibits some extraordinary skills, which are unusual for most people. The skills of the savant may vary from being exceptionally gifted in music or in mathematics, or having a photographic memory. One of the first descriptions of a human who could calculate quickly was written in 1789 by Dr. Benjamin Rush, an American doctor. His patient, Thomas Fuller, was brought to Virginia as a slave in 1724. It took Thomas only 90 seconds to work out that a man who has lived 70 years, 17 days, and 12 hours has lived 2,210,500,800 seconds. Despite this ability, he died in 1790 without ever learning to read or write.

    Another idiot savant slave became famous as a pianist in the 1860s. Blind Tom had a vocabulary of only 100 words, but he played 5,000 musical pieces beautifully.

    In the excellent movie Rain Man, made in 1988 and available on video cassette, Dustin Hoffman plays an idiot savant who amazes his brother played by Tom Cruise, with his ability to perform complex calculations very rapidly.

Today we more clearly recognize that the idiot savant is special because of brain impairment. Yet not all brain injury leads to savant skills. Some studies have shown that people who have purposeful interruption of the left side of the brain can develop idiot savant skills. However few people wish to participate in such experiments. There are many excellent reasons for not undergoing unnecessary experimentation on one's brain. The term idiot savant is outdated and inappropriate. Virtually all savants have a high degree of intelligence and are thus not idiots.

    Can exercise during childhood protect you against memory loss many decades later? Exercise early in life seems to have lifelong benefits for the brain, in rats at least.

    “This is an animal study, but it shows that physical activity at a young age is very important—not just for physical development, but for the whole lifelong track of cognitive (认知的) development during ageing,” says Martin Wojtowicz of the University of Toronto, Canada. “In humans, it may delay the appearance of Alzheimer's symptoms (阿兹海默氏症), possibly to the point of preventing them.”

    Wojtowicz's team divided 80 young male rats into two equal groups, and placed running wheels in the cages of one group for a period of six weeks. Around four months later-when the rats had reached middle age-the team taught all the rats to connect an electric shock with being in a specific box. When placed in the box, they froze with fear.

    Two weeks later, the team tested the rats in three situations: exactly the same box in the same room, the same box with the room arranged differently, and a completely different box in a different room.

    The rats without access to a running wheel when they were young now froze the same percentage of times in each of these situations, suggesting they couldn't remember which one was dangerous. But those that had been able to run in their youth froze 40 to 50 percent less in both changed box settings.

    “The results suggest the amount of physical activity when we're young, at least for rats, has influence on brain and cognitive health-in the form of better memories-when we're older,” says Arthur Kramer of Northeastern University in Boston, who has found that, in humans, exercise promotes the growth of new brain cells.

    Orlando, the “Theme Park Capital of the world,” has enough to keep your family entertained for weeks. Four Best gives you a description of what each of these parks has to offer.

    Aquatica Orlando

    Aquatica Orlando brings the best of an aquarium(水族馆), zoo, water park and amusement park together into one experience. With 38 slides, 84,000 acres of white sand beach, you can easily spend the entire day enjoying the Florida sun with your family. Don't miss the Dolphin Plunge, a clear tube water slide that takes you through the dolphin habitat.

    LEGOLAND Florida

    LEGOLAND Florida, the largest LEGOLAND park in the world, features 50 rides, shows and attractions spread out over the Lego-strewn 150-acres. If you're traveling with younger kids, LEGOLAND makes a great choice since it's designed for kids between the ages of 3 and 12. Besides, Buddy is our walk-around character mascot(吉祥物)of the park. He's tall, yellow, friendly, and loves taking pictures with LEGOLAND Florida guests.

    Discovery Cove

    With guest access restricted to 1,300 per day, Discovery Cove feels more like a resort than a theme park. Without crowds to worry about, you'll get to enjoy up-close animal meetings with dolphins, sting rays, tropical fish and exotic birds. It's all-inclusive too, so you won't have to worry about food, towels or equipment.

    Disney's Animal Kingdom

    At the Animal Kingdom, Disney changes the concept of a zoological park to something completely new. Here you can take a ride through the wilds of Africa, complete with real animals, raft down the Amazon or ride a runaway train through Mount Everest. The park is home to about 1,500 animals representing 250 species.

    When Warren Buffett, the most successful investor, was asked about the secret to his wealth and success, he revealed that he read every day, 500 pages, to be precise. Unfortunately, if you're already working 9‒5, you might not have the time to read at all, let alone an entire book a day. But what if you could get the benefits of reading without sacrificing all of your free time? You can! With the Blinkist app, you get the key learning in minutes, not hours or days. Our experts transform these books into quick, easy-to-understand insights. Start with the 5 most-read books.

    ⒈Thirteen Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do

    by Amy Morin             12 min reading time             147k reads

    Do you struggle to get over your failures? Getting over these can have a profound influence on your everyday life. Morin shares how her most successful patients overcame these difficulties.

    ⒉How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

    by Dale Carnegie           19 min reading time            238k reads

    Ever wondered why you can't stop worrying about something? By defining the source of your stress, you can get over it once and for all. Carnegie came up with a formula that helps you handle any overthinking situation.

    ⒊How Will You Measure Your Life?

    by Clayton M. Christensen       13 min reading time        137k reads

    Are you making the right trade-offs (权衡) in life? While career achievements can be satisfying, neglecting your family and friends can be bad in the long-run — in ways you can't even imagine.

    ⒋Finding Your Element

    by Ken Robinson               13 min reading time        62.4k reads

    Everyone has a passion. If you don't know what yours is, it just means you haven't discovered it yet. Find out how you can break free of society's strict rules and find your calling in life.

    ⒌Emotional Intelligence

    by Daniel Goleman             16 min reading time        318k reads

    Did you know if your pulse rate rises above 100 bpm, you're deemed too emotional to think rationally? You probably let feelings cloud your judgment more often than you know. Goleman explains how you can avoid letting your emotions rule you and make better decisions in life.

"Someone once asked me, 'What's the tool you would want to give any student'? And I said, 'A mask and snorkel （潜水通气管） set, "' the ocean biologist Thys says in a video. And Thys explains, "Ninety-eight percent of the living space on this planet is the ocean. It's worth a view. "

Thys has devoted her career to seeing the ocean and to helping others watch the great diversity of the underwater world. A big part of what motivates her work is the chance to let people develop a sense of respect for the grandness of the ocean, and to get people to participate in efforts to protect endangered ocean ecosystems. 

Since studying ocean biology, Thys has focused her research on how sea animals live. One animal she particularly studies is the ocean sunfish. "It's so different from any other fish, "says Thys. "It looks like a mistake. Where does the tail go?" Thys adds. "The sunfish provides an entry point to understanding more about the behavior of creatures in the ocean, and about how environmental changes impact underwater ecosystems. "

Thys's work also takes her above ground, where she's looking at ways to create new connections between human populations and natural environments to help address social and environmental challenges. For instance, she's working on nature's effects on mental well-being. 

Thys's passion for her work is evident in every lecture, video, and public appearance she makes. Using the media, Thys encourages people to learn about the ocean and love it. Due to many ocean research projects and activities from the media, Thys is up to her neck in work every day. She could hardly spare plenty of time for a good rest. Thys's devotion to her work as an ocean scientist and ecological warrior is infectious. She's a role model and an inspiring guide to ocean life. 

Sugar-free cookies, sugar-free candy, and diet soda – are these better for you? After sugar became a no-no in the nutrition and wellness world, sugar-free food and drinks acted as a replacement for once beloved sweet drinks and snacks. Being claimed to be ZERO sugar means the food and drinks are healthier, better for diabetics, and help you slim down… Right? Wrong. Sugar-free products aren't better for you. In fact, they are worse. For most sugar-free products, it means that artificial sweeteners (甜味剂) are used instead of real sugar. The problem is that these sweeteners do not come from natural sources and they can do you more harm than good.

Let's get into what these artificial sweeteners actually are. Sugar-free sugar sounds wrong because there is no such thing as sugar-free sugar. Some of these sugar-free alternatives even contain sugar and the ones that have chemicals your body often does not know how to process. Most artificial sweeteners are a lot sweeter than sugar so only a small quantity of them are needed. That's why they can market sugar-free alternatives as "low-calorie" or "no-calorie". It also means that you get no nutritional value from consuming them, which is why so many sugar-free replacements are classified as "non-nutritive". These artificial sweeteners tend to hide under some names. Actually, they are 200-600 times sweeter than sugar.

When you eat sweet stuff, your body continues to desire it and, even though your body cannot metabolize (代谢) these sugar-free alternatives, your brain does not know the difference. In turn sugar-free alternatives relate to weight gain and Type-2 diabetes. Besides, artificial sweeteners also damage your gut's ability to break down sugar which impacts everything you eat. In other words, your body doesn't know how to handle artificial sweeteners because they have nothing real to process.

Here is a good rule of thumb: stay away from artificial sweeteners and look for non-sugar, natural sweeteners like stevia (甜叶菊) or date sugar. In the war against artificial sweeteners and real sugar, both lose. Satisfy your sweet tooth with natural sugar that comes from fruits and stay away from products claimed to be sugar-free.