Picture the scene: You come home after work feeling too exhausted to cook –only to find a delicious meal worthy of a Michelin-starred restaurant waiting for you. It sounds like a fantasy, but it could be about to come true thanks to a robot chef developed by British scientists.

    Those scientists have come up with a set of robotic arms so smart that they are capable of cooking meals all by themselves. The device will be sold from as early as 2017 as part of a purpose-built high-tech kitchen.

    Scientists at Moley Robotics spent almost 18 years developing the hands. According to its creators, the arms can chop, stir, whisk and baste well enough to recreate almost anything you would care to eat, whether it is a simple home-cooked supper, or a complicated creation designed by a world-class chef. The hands move a little slowly, hovering strangely above the work surface whenever they are not busy, but they imitate human movements closely enough that they can do things such as wiping a spoon on the edge of a pan to prevent drips.

    Mr Oleynik, who is leading the project, said, “All the things which are possible with the hand are possible here. There is no limitation. A lot of people want to go to Michelin-starred restaurants, but they are quite expensive and may be quite far from the home. This is an opportunity for people to enjoy very good food, and for a reasonable price. ”

    The only cuisine that is off the robot's menu at the moment is sushi, which requires extremely steady pressure and nimble（敏捷的；敏感的） fingers to make, but the team plan to conquer that as well by the time it goes on sale.

    When I was young I wanted to be a model,so when a national contest was staged,I convinced my parents to have a try.I was selected and told that I was talented and that for only $900 I could attend a weekend event which dozens of the most famous modeling agencies from around the world would attend.At 13,my hopes of fame and fortune clouded all judgment and I begged my parents to let me go.We have never been rich,but they saw my enthusiasm and agreed.

    I imagined being signed by some famous model companies.For months,any boredom or disappointment I faced was pushed aside because I knew I would soon have the chance to be a real model.I thought I would grace the covers of famous magazines!

    Of course,I wasn't signed,but what hurt the most was being told that if I grew to about 1.75metres I could be a success.I prayed for a growth spurt（冲刺）because I could not imagine giving up my dream.I made an appointment with a local modeling agency and the agent demanded $500 for classes,$500 for a photo shoot,and $300 for other expenses.My parents only agreed after hours and hours of my begging.

    The agency sent me out on a few auditions,but with every clay I didn't receive a call,I grew more depressed.The final straw came in July after I had decided to focus on commercial modeling.There was an open call in New York City.We spent hours driving and another few hours waiting,only to be told that I was too short.I was depressed.

    Years later,I realized that the trip to New York was good as it made me notice I didn't actually love modeling, just the idea of it.I wanted to be special and I was innocently determined to reach an impossible goal.The experience has made me stronger and that will help me in the future.

    Peyto Lake, Canada

    Located in Banff National Park. Canada's first national park Peyto Lake is one of the most wonderful lakes in the world. What makes it truly beautiful is its unique greenish-blue color, and placement in the Canadian Rockies. Named after trail guide Bill Peyto, this lake is located at a height of 1,860m.

    Entry Details: $9.80 adult, $8.30 senior, $4.90 youth, and $19.60 family.

    Best Time to Visit: July, August, and September

    Lake Argentino, Argentina

    Located in the Patagonian province in Argentina, the lake is truly beautiful. Surrounded by glaciers and snow-covered mountains, the lake presents visual delights like none other. With a maximum depth of 500 meters, it's the biggest freshwater lake in Argentina. The lake is famous for fishing.

    Entry Details: $15~$20, changes as per season, but entry for tourists above 70 years of age is always free.

    Best Time to Visit: December to March, and late November

    Lake Baikal, Russia

    Being the world's oldest and deepest lake, Baikal is about 395 meters long, 49 meters wide and 1,637meters deep. It holds more water than the Five Great Lakes of America combined, and is thus the largest freshwater lake globally. Located in the south Russian region of Siberia, a trip to view this lake is a trip of a lifetime!

    Entry Details: No Entrance fee here

    Best Time to Visit; March to April

    Lake Como, Italy

    Considered one of the most beautiful lakes in Europe, Lake Como has attracted tourists since Roman times. Located in Lombardy, Como is one of the deepest lakes in Europe. Surrounded by vil1as and palaces, this lake has attracted some of the wealthiest. Today, many celebrities(名人) have houses here. Here you can enjoy water sports, take a flight over the lake, or try skiing during the winters-every tourist has something he's going to like!

Entry Details: Free

    Best Time to Visit: July and September

    Stay-at-home kids are named “generation nini” in Spain. They are those adults who still live at home and are neither working nor studying. But the problem is not limited to Spain. It is a worldwide problem.

    In Italy, they are known as “bamboccioni” or big babies. There are nearly 60 percent of 18-34-year-old adults still living in their parents' home, up from almost 50 percent since 1983. Once kept there by the love for their mama's home-cooked food, the economic crisis(经济危机)has seen a rise in adults left unable to hold down a steady job or afford a home of their own. Last year, an Italian government minister admitted that his mother washed his clothes and made the bed for him until he was 30. He demanded a law forcing young Italians to leave their parents' home at 18 to stop them becoming hopelessly dependent on their parents.

In the UK, the government has made the term NEETS—not in employment, education or training for these children. In England alone the percent of NEETS aged 19-24 surged to 18.8 percent of the age group-in the last quarter of 2010, up 1.4 percent on the same period a year before. The number of British men in their 20s living with their parents has risen from 59 percent to 80 percent in the past 15 years, while the number of women has risen from 41percent to 50 percent. The average age of the first-time house buyers is now 38.

    In the US, the problem is known as the “full nest syndrome(综合症)”. Adults there are left struggling to support adult children who have stayed at home with student debts and facing few job opportunities in a weak economy. A recent study showed almost a third of American adults aged 34 and under are living with their parents

    The Ig Nobel Prizes praise research that makes you laugh and then think. The winners are allowed to make a one-minute speech with time kept by an eight-year-old! Every year, in Harvard's Sanders Theatre, people watch the winners step forward to accept their prizes. These are physically handed out by real Nobel laureates (获得者). Let's have a look at some of them.

    The Empty Bladder (膀胱) Experiment

    Four researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology found that animals above 3 kg empty their bladders in about 21 seconds. What is the purpose of this study? The researchers hope this will help solve urinary (泌尿的) problems in animals.

    The Science of Eggs

    A team of Australian scientists managed to get hard-boiled egg whites to become raw again. While it sounds silly, this research could have a serious influence on cancer (癌症) research.

    The Fascination with Animals

    Charles Foster and Thomas Thwaites from the UK shared the 2016 Ig Nobel Prize in Biology. Thomas chose to live like a goat and wrote about his experience in "GoatMan: How I Took a Holiday from Being Human". Charles, on the other hand, spent some time in the wild, trying out the lives of many animals. He felt it gave him a chance to explore the world around us with more of our senses.

    Colors & Horseflies

    A team from Hungary, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland won the 2016 Ig Nobel Prize in Physics. They studied why horseflies have less interest in white-haired horses. The team used handmade horses covered in glue. They found that dark colors attracted more flies because of how sunlight reflected (反射) off them. To the food searchers, it was a sign of food. This finding could explain the white coats of zebras too.

Nick Torrance, a junior in high school, suffers from muscular dystrophy, and attends school in a specialized wheelchair. The muscle disease prevents him from accomplishing many everyday tasks, such as carrying his books and putting things away in his locker. So he had a fellow student assigned to help him. But Amy Smith, the school's occupational therapist, thought that being able to do something simple like opening his locker on his own would be empowering.

Amy initially thought they would be able to buy a device to help. But searching online turned up nothing that could meet their needs—everything needed a keycode or some other physical action, things her disabled student couldn't do. After the outside search for a method came up short, she looked within the school itself for an answer. Amy turned to the school's robotics instructor.

The instructor, in turn, suggested that two of his most capable students take on the project: Micah Stuhldreher and Wyatt Smrcka. They took first place in a national robotics competition, so they were a natural choice to tackle the locker door problem with a robotics solution. Micah and Wyatt wasted no time getting down to work and for an hour each school day, the boys brainstormed, built, and rebuilt various versions of the device until they landed on the perfect solution one year later.

Like in any device development, it took a lot of trial and error for Micah and Wyatt to make something that would work for their target audience. For example, they initially built a locker-opening button, but Nick wasn't strong enough to push it, so they replaced it with a sensor.

Now, between classes Nick steers his electric wheelchair to his locker and waves his hand over a sensor on the arm of the wheelchair. A few seconds later, the locker door swings open. Another wave closes the door. Nick can make it with ease—it may be a small thing, but it gives him a sense of independence.