Our sun is a star, and nine worlds (天体) move round it. Worlds like these are planets. But here are other stars, other suns, not only thousands of them, but millions of them. Do different stars have planets? We can see the planets round our own sun. But we haven't been anymore. The stars are too far away from us. Stars give out light, but the planets don't have any light of their own. So we can't see them. They are too far, and too dark. Still, we can tell that some stars have planets. While a big planet goes round, it pulls its star to one side. And sometimes we can see this. Then we know that the star has a planet. For example, Barnard's Star is a small red star. And it is the quickest star in the universe. But sometimes it moves slower, and then quicker again. We have known Bernard''s Star for many years, and now we are sure it has a planet.

    Do you look like your name? Scientists say there's a good chance you do.

This comes from a new study published in a magazine. Researchers from Israel found that our given names may have something to do with our facial (面部的) appearances.

    Lead writer Yonat Zwebner of a university, along with her team, did eight different experiments (实验) in Israel and France. The different experiments were set up to answer two main questions: whether people can correctly guess a person's name based only on a photo of a face and what is behind this matching effect.

    During the experiments, researchers asked students to look at photos of people's faces and guess each person's name from a list of four choices. They correctly guessed the right name 38 percent of the time, which was better than the 25 percent of a random (随机的) guess.

    What's more, when the faces the students looked at came from within their own country, they were able to best match the faces to the names. French students were better at matching only French names and faces while Israeli students were better at matching only Hebrew names and Israeli faces.

    Researchers believe it is possible that people change their appearances without paying attention to it, to match their names. One study especially backed up this idea, showing that a hairstyle, something that can be changed by people easily, was enough to guide others in correctly guessing their names.

    “Earlier research has shown there are cultural stereotypes (偏见) carried by names, including how someone should look. For example, people are more likely to imagine a person named Bob to have a rounder face than a person named Tim. We believe these stereotypes can, over time, influence people's facial appearances,” Zwebner said.

    The results of the experiments may even make parents think twice when choosing a name for their children.

    “If a name can influence appearance, it can influence many other things. This research opens an important direction that may suggest how parents should consider better the names for their children,” said Zwebner, who recently had a baby herself.

    “As parents, it was really difficult for us to name our 12-day-old daughter as we know the meanings of names.”

C

    Google and Toyota have worked together to create a new smart car. It can run on the road without a driver. It drives itself. The self-driving car hasn't been on sale to the public, so we don't know how much it costs. Another thing most people want to know is whether it will be safe enough to run on the road.

The self-driving car uses electricity (电) as its power, and it can't drive very quickly—the top speed would be 25 miles per hour. It is actually controlled by a computer system on the car. The system keeps on collecting information by some video cameras inside the car and a LIDAR sensor(激光达传器) on top of it. A computer processes the information and decides what to do. "The self'-driving car has only buttons (按钮) for go and stop, so it's very easy to use," an engineer of Google says. "And what's more, it will make car accidents fewer and make the world a safer place." The self-driving car has driven hundreds of thousands of miles in California, and it has only gotten into two accidents by human mistake.

    According to CNN, self-driving cars will also help to reduce the number of cars in big cities. "Self'-driving cars would be able to send you to the workplace and then pick up another person instead of stopping in a parking lot."

    Zhalong is a nature park in Heilongjiang in Northeast China. It is one of the world's most important wetlands. The area provides food and homes for wildlife. It is an ideal home for different kinds of plants, fishes and birds.

    Many birds live comfortably in Zhalong Nature Park all year round, while some only stay for a short time. There are many fish in the wetlands, and the birds can easily catch them for food. Zhalong Nature Park is an important living area for the rare red-crowned cranes. There are not many red-crowned cranes in the world. Some of them live in Zhalong.

    Some people want to change the wetlands to make more space for farms and buildings. This means that there will be less and less space for wildlife.

    More and more birds are in danger because they do not have enough living space. Many of them died. The Chinese government wants to protect these endangered birds, and they can be safe in Zhalong.

    Every year a lot of tourists go to Zhalong to watch birds. This year members of our Bird Watching Club are going to study the different kinds of birds in Zhalong and the changes in their numbers. The study will begin next month.

    We do a bird count once a year. We are now inviting the second school students to help. We need more people to help us count and do something to help the birds. Many people do not understand the importance of the wetlands. We hope this information will help them understand it and make them actively take action to protect wildlife.

    The unknown world's mystery

    The sea is the biggest unknown part of our world. It covers about seventy-one percent of the earth. There is still much to be discovered about this huge part of water. If the waters of the ocean could be removed, the sea floor with its wide valleys(峡谷), tail mountains and long rivers in the sea would be a special sight.

    Tourism under the deep blue sea

    From tourist submarines(潜艇) to underwater dining, undersea tourism is making a big splash.

    Tourists can now explore(探索) the world under the sea without ever getting wet.

    Tourist submarines

    The popularity of submarine tours has grown fast during these years. Now, submarine tours have been on in more than 20 places worldwide, including the waters around Okinawa and Taiwan's Green Island. The submarines carry nearly 2 million tourists each year. Large windows give passengers special views as the submarines explore colorful coral reefs and sunken ships. Most one-hour tours cost about $ 80.

    Underwater dining

    For a more fantastic experience, tourists can enjoy fine dining under the sea. In 2016 the Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa opened the world's first underwater restaurant, Ithaa. Tourists walk down a staircase into the restaurant, which rests 35 feet in the Indian Ocean. You can have a great ocean view. But this excellent view doesn't come cheap. The dinner costs about $ 400 per person. Be sure to book it early, too, The restaurant seats only 14 people.

    We all cry for water when we are thirsty. But do you know, in very hot, dry weather, plants also make very low sounds as if they are crying for help?

    You see, in a plant's stem there are several hundred "water pipes" that bring water from soil all the way up to the leaves. When the ground turns dry, it becomes harder and harder for plants to do this.

    In very hot days, plants have to get any water that they can get.

    Scientists Robot Winter has found out that when plants can get no water, their "water pipes" snap(发出声音). When that happens, the whole plant vibrates(颤动) a little.

    Robot knows that healthy, well-watered plants are quiet. He also knows that dry plants are many insects' favorites and they often attack(袭击) them. How do the insects know which are healthy plants and which are not? Robot thinks that the insects may hear the plants "crying" and they may come to kill them.