The National Gallery

Description:

    The National Gallery is the British national art museum built on the north side of European art ranging from 13th-century religious paintings to more modern ones by Renoir and Van Gogh. The older collections of the gallery are reached through the main entrance while the more modern works in the East Wing are most easily reached from Trafalgar Square by a ground floor entrance.

Layout:

    The modern Sainsbury Wing on the western side of the building houses 13th-to15th-century paintings, and artists include Duccio, Uccello, VanEyck, Lippi, Mantegna, Botticelli and Memling.

    The main West Wing houses 16th-century paintings, and artists include Leonardo da Vinci, Cranach, Michelangelo, Raphael, Bruegel, Bronzino, Titan and Veronest.

    The North Wing houses 17th-century paintings, and artists include Caravaggio, Rubens, Poussin, Van Dyck, Velazquez, Claude and Vermeer.

    The East Wing houses 18th-to early 20th-century paintings, and artists include Canaletto, Goya, Turner, Constable, Renoir and Van Gogh.

Opening Hours:

    The Gallery is open every day from 10am to 6pm（Fridays 10am to 9pm）and is free, but charges apply to some special exhibitions.

Getting There:

    Nearest underground stations: Charing Cross（2-minute walk）. Leicester Square（3-minute walk）,Embankment（7-minute walk）,and Piccadilly Circus（8-minute walk）.

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    Were dinosaurs (恐龙) warm-blooded or cold-blooded? According to a new study, scientists have found that they were somewhere in the middle. This new study shows that dinosaurs were very different from most of today's animals that are either warm or cold-blooded.

    “I think we were all surprised by this,” said Felisa Smith from the University of New Mexico. “The idea certainly took some getting used to.”

    A study by a team of scientists led by John M. Grady of the university studied many different kinds of dinosaurs in their research. They looked at growth rate (比率), body temperature and body size of different kinds of dinosaurs.

    How are warm-blooded animals different from cold-blooded animals? Warm-blooded animals like humans can control their body temperature. They eat a lot, and burn calories (卡路里) quickly. They have a more active lifestyle than cold-blooded animals. While cold-blooded animals such as snakes do not control their body temperature. Instead, they must use sunlight to keep warm, and they move much more slowly. Cold-blooded animals do not need to eat very much. Their bodies slow down in colder temperatures.

    Besides dinosaurs, there are other animals that are not completely warm-blooded or cold-blooded, such as great white sharks.

    I believe in the power of science fiction, not just for its capacity to transform dreams into reality, but also for its power to bond together those who share a common vision of the future. For me, that's true for my relationship with my dad. Some fathers and sons bond over sports, fishing or hunting, but my dad and I bond over Star Trek. We tried a trip to Disney World, but one of my earliest memories wasn't Mickey, but a Klingon battle cruiser(巡洋) on the screen.

    Over the years, nearly every setting and situation has become far away for my dad and me. When it's warm at night, we're not driving along some dark streets in Indiana, but going at a slow speed with stars dimly shining. Both of us are thinking of them, without needing to say a word. All these visions of other universes have together created a private universe for my dad and me.

    Gene Rodenberry, creator of Star Trek, once said, " Science fiction is a way of thinking, a way of logic that bypasses(绕过)a lot of nonsense. It allows people to look directly at important subjects. "A lifetime of science fiction has influenced more than just my relationship with my dad, but has also helped me shape my own hopes for the future. I'm now a science writer.

    Yes, science fiction has made me into a "nerd"(书呆子), and it also has been a source of joy for my family, making me an optimist while enabling me to think critically about the danger of technology. Thank those authors who have shared their visions; the world and my family are better for it. Thank my dad, who is both the best storyteller and the best man I have ever known because he helped me realize the truth of Tennyson's words," Since I dipped into the future, I saw the vision of the world, and all the wonders that would be."

    It is a live celebration of the lasting power of letter writing!

    Letters Live, which started in December 2013, was held at the Freemasons' Hall in London from March 10 to 15. The show invited various great performers who read remarkable letters that had been written around the world over the centuries.

    "Bringing letters alive through outstanding performances is one of the most powerful ways in which the joy and pain and humor and tragedy of being human can be shared," Jamie Byng, managing director of Canongate Books publishing firm, told the Nowness video channel.

    British actor Benedict Cumberbatch agreed. "Letters are windows into the love, beauty, pain and humor of their creators and receivers," he told The Guardian. "Letters Live makes us stop and imagine the lives behind the letters read and where they came from. It's a great honor to read this most ancient of communications live to an audience."

    This year, the movie Sherlock star treated the audience by playing the part of a 17-year Tom Hanks. He put on the young actor's voice when he read his letter to the Hollywood director George Roy Hill, a letter that urged Hill to "discover" him. The letter showed that two-time Oscar winner Hanks' teenage dream was not to "be a big-time Hollywood superstar" but to one day own a Porsche car and call his favorite US actor Robert Redford his nickname "Bob".

    Other famous faces at the event included Carey Mulligan, who played a fictional laundry worker, a female activist fighting for women's rights in the 2015 movie Suffragette. The British actress once again played the role of a suffragette (女权主义者), when she read a very enthusiastic letter demanding the vote for women. The suffragette sent a precious 1913 note to The Daily Telegraph newspaper.

    “Everyone seems to agree upon the necessity of putting a stop to Suffragist anger, but no one seems certain how to do so, " Mulligan read out. "There are two, and only two, ways in which this can be done. Both will be effectual. One, kill every woman in the UK. Two, give women the vote."

    The world's oceans will likely lose about one-sixth of their fish and other creatures within 100 years if climate change continues on its current path. Every degree Celsius that the world's oceans warm, their biomass is expected to drop five percent, a study found.

    The study predicts that if there is no change in the rate of worldwide greenhouse gas production, there will be a 17-percent loss of biomass by the year 2100. But, if the world reduces carbon pollution, biomass losses could be limited to only about 5 percent.

    Warming temperatures are the biggest issue. But climate change also produces oceans that are more acidic and have less oxygen. This also harms sea life. Much of the world depends on the oceans for food or work.

    The findings make sense and the possible effects of the predicted losses of animal life are huge. "Climate change has the potential to cause serious new conflicts over ocean resource use as the human population continues to grow," said scientists.

    Marine biologist Boris Worm, who helped run the study, added that the "building blocks of marine life—plankton and bacteria—may decline less heavily."

    "Those marine animals that we use directly, and care about most deeply, are predicted to suffer the most," said Worm. He works at Canada's Dalehousie University.

    Scientists had already believed climate change would likely reduce future ocean life. But past computer-based studies looked at only part of the picture or used only one model. The latest study used six different computer models to give the best picture look yet, William Cheung said.

    University of Georgia marine biologist Samantha Joye was not part of the research. But she praised the study as well researched and extremely detailed, and called it "an urgent call for action".

Most children love stories. Stories are entertaining and fun, but can they be more than just fun? Findings from a new study led by Rebecca de Leeuw, an assistant professor at the Radboud University, indicate stories in movies can also be meaningful for children. 

The researchers contacted children between 4 and 15years old after they watched the Disney film Inside Out. This film takes place mainly in the head of an 11-year-old girl, where her emotions—Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust, personified as different characters—conflict on how to help her best in her new life after her family moves. The story follows the "hero's journey" —a classical narrative（叙事的）framework, which involves a hero who goes on an adventure, overcomes challenges, and return s changed. So the research team chose this film. When making this film, the film-makers had in-depth discussions with psychologists to make the emotion animation consistent with scientific knowledge. 

The research team asked mostly open-ended questions to encourage the children to share their thoughts, including the key question: "Was there a part of the movie you had to think about?" Children looked at stills of important scenes and were invited to explain in their own words what happened. If they liked, they also rewatched scenes of the film. 

While watching, children made sense of the feelings, motives and behavior of characters in the film, using their social intelligence skills. They also further developed these skills when they were challenged in making sense of the story. Children also mentioned they appreciated seeing acts of pity, kindness, love and bravery in the film. Just like adults, they were even touched to tears by these qualities. 

One of the children in the study even expressed that Joy inspired her to never quit in her own life. The more insights children gained while watching, the more meaningful the story became for them. Altogether, stories in movies can be a quick way for children to gain life experience and wisdom.