When I was watching a sports event yesterday, I met with an amazing sight. It was not a gold medal, or a world record broken, but a show of pure courage and determination.

    The event was swimming. I watched a man dive off the blocks and knew right away that something was wrong. I'm not an expert swimmer, but I can tell a good dive from a poor one, and this was not exactly medal quality. When he resurfaced, it was evident that the man was not out for gold — his arms were waving in an attempt at freestyle.

    I heard the crowd begin to laugh at this poor man who was clearly having a hard time. Finally he made his turn to start back. It was pitiful. He made a few desperate strokes (划水) and you could tell he was worn out. But in those few awkward strokes, the crowd changed. No longer were they laughing, but beginning to cheer. Some even began to stand and yell things like, "Come on, you can do it!" He did. The crowd went wild.

    Just a short year ago, he had never even swum, let alone race. His country had been invited to take part in the event. Even though he recorded the slowest time, this man gave more heart than any of the other competitors—a man that gave his all, knowing that he had no chance but to compete because of the spirit of the games.

    Elizabeth Blackwell was born in England in 1821, and moved to New York City when she was ten years old. One day she decided that she wanted to become a doctor. That was nearly impossible for a woman in the middle of the nineteenth century. After writing many letters asking for admission(录取) to medical schools, she was finally accepted by a doctor in Philadelphia. She was so determined that she taught school and gave music lessons to get money for the cost of schooling.

    In 1849, after graduation from medical school, she decided to further her education in Paris. She wanted to be a surgeon(外科医师) , but a serious eye problem forced her to give up the idea.

    Upon returning to the United States, she found it difficult to start her own practice because she was a woman. By 1857 Elizabeth and her sister, also a doctor, along with another woman doctor, managed to open a new hospital, the first for women and children. Besides being the first woman physician and founding her own hospital , she also set up the first medical school for women.

    Last week, Donna Strickland was awarded the 2018 Nobel prize for physics jointly with Arthur Ashkin and Gérard Mourou. It's the first time in 55 years that a woman has won this famous prize, but why has it taken so long? We look at five other pioneering female physicists — past and present — who actually deserve the prize.

    Jocelyn Bell Burnell

    Perhaps the most famous snub(冷落): then student Bell discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967, when she was a PhD student at Cambridge. The Nobel prize that recognised this landmark discovery in 1974, however, went to her male supervisor, Antony Hewish. Recently awarded a £2.3m Breakthrough Prize, which she gave away to help under-represented students, she joked to the Guardian: "I feel I've done very well out of not getting a Nobel prize."

    Lene Hau

    Hau is best known for leading the research team at Harvard University in 1999 that managed to slow a beam of light, before managing to stop it completely in 2001. Often topping Nobel prize prediction lists, could 2019 be Hau's year?

    Vera Rubin

    Rubin discovered dark matter in the 1980s, opening up a new field of astronomy. She died in 2016, without recognition from the committee.

    Chien-Shiung Wu

    Wu's "Wu experiment" helped disprove the "law of conservation of parity". Her experimental work was helpful but never honoured, and instead, her male colleagues won the 1957 Nobel prize for their theoretical work behind the study.

    Lise Meitner

    Meitner led groundbreaking work on the discovery of nuclear fission. However, the discovery was acknowledged by the 1944 Nobel prize for chemistry, which was won by her male co-lead, Otto Hahn.

    The University of Tokyo has eight museums covering various fields such as medicine, agriculture and art. Click the names of the museums below to read brief introductions about their histories and exhibits.

    The University Museum

    Having accumulated over three million academic materials for its collection since the University of Tokyo was founded in 1877, the University Museum is the largest museum of its kind in Japan. From the time of its reorganization into an independent entity in May 1996, the Museum has held exhibitions over 60 times.

    The Museum of Health and Medicine

    The Museum of Health and Medicine seeks to provide information about health and medicine to the general public and advance education for students studying medicine. The Museum features both a permanent and a temporary exhibition space and a temporary exhibition space, with the latter focusing on topics related to medical care and the study of medicine.

    The Agricultural Museum

    The Agricultural Museum displays materials from the collection of the University's Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Science, Notable items on display include the documents and portraits of scientists affiliated (隶属的)with the University, internal organs of Japan's famous dog Hachiko, and drawings illustrating German agriculture and the varieties of Japanese cows.

    The Farm Museum

    The Farm Museum opened in 2007 within a renovated dairy bam. The bam was built in 1934 as part of the moving of the University of Tokyo's farm from Komaba to Tanashi, an area in Western Tokyo. The Museum features both permanent and temporary exhibitions. Permanent exhibitions include European farming equipment used on the Komaba Farm, tools for agricultural experiments, agricultural machinery, American tractors and drawings illustrating German agriculture.

    From Antigua to Zanzibar, these spots promise an incredible trip for 2019.

    Antigua, Guatemala

    "Antigua is worth every penny, but that doesn't mean you'll have to empty your wallet," says Hudson. There are plenty of budget-conscious activities. It won't cost you a coin to visit Santo Domingo del Cerro, an outdoor sculpture park. Wanting something sweet? Head to ChocoMuseo. Admission is free and so are the samples!

    Odessa, Ukraine

    Odessa is having a bit of a tourism boom nationwide-not that we're surprised, given its sandy beaches and pastel-colored buildings-but it's still fairly under the order for international audiences. You can also count on this port city for affordable fun. Tickets to the Odessa Opera House start at a mere $ 2!

    Bogotá, Colombia

    "Travelers on budget will find Colombia's vast capital, far more of a bargain and every bit as fascinating," says Hudson. "It's free to visit Museo de Oro and on Sundays many of the big roads are closed to accommodate food carts, street entertainers, and pedestrians."

    Zanzibar

    Zanzibar attracts vacationers with its white sand beaches, greenish-blue tides, colorful coral reefs, and oceanfront seaside. Of course, wandering in historic Stone Town is pretty appealing too. Either way, you needn't spend a penny in this amazing place. It's also worth noting that Jozani Forest is the only place in the world you can see endangered red colobus monkeys.

Two women going on a journey to green their city is the best way to describe the founders of Utility, Portland's low-waste and reuse company. It started in January 2019 and opened its first retail shop in April. Its founders, Rebecca Rottman and Nadine Appenbrink, are deeply committed to sustainability and supporters of zero waste.

They started Utility as a second job for both and as a personal journey, looking for clean products that didn't come in plastic. Their goal is to reduce the amount of single-use plastics by allowing people to bring their own reusable containers when they buy environmental friendly home and personal care items.

Every week the women teamed up with local stores to sell their goods and to refill products for returning customers. Now they are operating only online for pickup or local delivery in the Portland area. It is really easy, the company said. Just shop online and choose a container. Then select pickup or delivery. The products include all-natural dish bar soap and a wide variety of plastic-free kitchen tools.

While not completely zero waste, Utility is striving to get extremely close. Appenbrink said, "We are all on a journey. And we want to be as approachable as possible. Utility is to raise awareness about this lifestyle." They are focused on careful growth because Utility will never ship products because of the carbon footprint involved in shipping.

There are zero waste stores in other communities, like Clean Kilo in Birmingham UK, but they are real brick and mortar (实体的) buildings. Utility's concept is so simple that it can be followed almost anywhere. Zero waste markets are the way to the circular economy that is needed to stop plastic waste, reduce our carbon footprint and have a sustainable future.