In colonies (群体) that range in size from a few hundred to tens of millions, they organize their lives with a clear division of labor. Even more amazing is how they achievethis level of organization. Where we use sound and sight to communicate, ants dependprimarily on pheromone (外激素), chemicals sent out by individuals and smelled or tastedby fellow members of their colony. When an ant finds food, it produces a pheromone that will lead others straight to where the food is. When an individual ant comes under attack or is dying, it sends out an alarm pheromone to warn the colony to prepare for a conflict as a defense unit.

         In fact, when it comes to the art of war, ants have no equal. They are completely fearless and will readily take on a creature much larger than themselves, attacking in large groups and overcoming their target. Such is their devotion to the common good of the colony that not only soldier ants but also worker ants will sacrifice their lives to help defeat an enemy.

         Behaving in this selfless and devoted manner, these little creatures have survived on Earth, for more than 140 million years, far longer than dinosaurs. Because they think as one, they have a collective (集体的) intelligence greater than you would expect from itsindividual parts.

    Everyone takes drugs. Sometimes a drug might be called a herb but the effect is the same. Drugs and herbs can make life better for they are used to improve health. From the simplest headache to a cure for cancer, people believe that certain drugs can help them. But there is danger if the drugs are not used in a proper way.

    American teenagers sometimes use certain drugs to feel good. They call this “getting high”. The problem is that once a young man or a young woman has the feeling of “getting high”, they want to do it often. If school is boring or too hard, students might get depressed and a drug or herb might help them feel better. If the student takes too much of a drug, the body may change in a wrong way such as a confused mind, poor sight, a headache, and an uncomfortable stomach.

    Schools now have D．A．R．E．program which means Drug Abuse Resistance Education. This program was started so that young students from age 10 to 18 might understand how a drug affects their bodies. The main point of the program is education. Once a student understands certain drugs can cause ill health，he will know he should not use them.

    Education is the key to good nutrition as well. If a student eats correctly, he or she will be full of energy which leads to good study habits and good grades. Poor nutrition may cause the need for more sleep and poor concentration. Proper food is similar to the proper use of drugs. Both allow a healthy body to grow while misuse of them prevents a person from developing normally.

    I set out to change the lives of those who need help by joining my school's newly formed Free The Children Club. Through the determination of friends, the group has grown bigger and stronger each year. Over the past two years my friend, Alex Auclair, and I have become the leaders of the club.

    Already, after only two years of fundraising, we have accumulated over three thousand dollars and almost two thousand food items through various fundraising efforts. For example, each year a 24-hour famine (饥饿) is planned resulting in absolutely no consumption (消耗) of food. By taking part in these activities, we put ourselves in the shoes of someone living in poverty.

      No money raised goes to waste. At the end of each school year, the group takes a vote to determine where our funds will be spent and donated. Last year, we bought enough desks, chairs, supplies and textbooks for every student in a Kenyan school. This year, we plan to spend our earning helping out families in Sierra Leone.

    Poverty is a worldwide issue affecting the lives of people in not only developing countries, but also first-world countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan. Living in poverty can result in hunger, many forms of disease, lack of education, and for millions, death. It does not have to be this way. You too can form a club like the Free The Children Club or you can participate in events outside of school. Get your friends, family, even your community involved in fundraising. Do what you can to change the world.

    Have you eaten too much over the holidays? You should try fidgeting for a while. Those around you might not like it, but scratching (moving your nails (指甲) against a part of your body) and twitching (moving suddenly and quickly when you don't want to) is an important way of burning up calories (卡路里).

    American researchers have found that some people's squirming (continuously turn your body when nervous) and wigging (move in small movements, especially from side to side) equals (等于) several miles of slow running each day.

    The scientists, based at the National Institute of Health's laboratory in Phenix, Arizona, are studying why some people get fat and other stay slim.

    In one study 177 people each spent 24 hours in a room in the institute where the amount (量) of energy is measured by their oxygen and carbon dioxide (二氧化碳) levels. By the end of the day, some people had burned up 800 calories in toe-tapping, (moving the front part of your foot up and down) finger-drumming (hitting your fingers continuously and lightly against something hard) and other nervous habits. However, others had burned up only 100 calories.

    The researchers found that slim（苗条的）women fidget more than fat women, but there was no significant difference in men. Heavy people burn up more energy when they fidget than do thin people.

    Some of Australian cyclists have used "GPS art" to turn a 202 km (125 mile) ride into the outline (轮廓) of a goat, which interests many people greatly.

    The four men marked their route on an app before using it track their journey around Perth. When uploaded to the computer, it was shown as a picture. Cyclist Ben Jones said the group settled on a goat because it was an easy animal to draw. He said the ride lasted more than six hours, with the four men stopping only for food, and flat tyres. "Except for riding 202km,' it's relatively simple," Mr. Jones told the BBC. "You mainly mark your route on the app and it plans directions out."

    GPS art has also been widely used by runners and other cyclists when they travel out. Mr. Jones said his group wanted to shake up their normal weekend ride. "We all ride 10, 000km to 15, 000km a year," he said. "Mostly we just ride together as mates and have a good time—that's what this was about."

    The group received much attention after posting their map to social media this week. Others described Mr. Jones as a goat guy in an interview on Australian television. For their next piece of GPS art, the group plans to draw a local animal such as the koala. "Certainly, there'll be something coming, for we are making our decisions to put more and more plans into practice. I'm sure of that," Mr. Jones said.

An Edinburgh inventor has created a fully biodegradable bottle that is made from paper and a secret combination of plant materials, and it could help save the planet's oceans from plastic pollution and can also be eaten by sea creatures.

The Edinburgh-based Durham University chemistry graduate James Longcroft started a non-profit bottled water company two years ago. He wanted to put all his profits into a charity that provided clean drinking water to countries in Africa.

However, after concerns about the environmental impact of plastic bottles, Mr. Longcroft decided the Edinburgh and London-based company, Choose Water, should go plastic-free. So he came up with a new type of water bottle—a waterproof paper bottle.

"The outside is made from recycled paper, but the inside has to be waterproof, and provides strength so the bottle would keep its structure, and keep the water fresh," Mr. Longcroft said.

When the bottle is thrown in the ocean the degrading process begins within hours leaving the bottle totally degraded (分解)within weeks. The steel cap breaks down within a year.

Mr. Longcroft now believes these novel bottles could revolutionise the industry and says the cost of producing the bottle is around 5 pence more than one made from single-use plastic.

"The main difficulty we face is breaking into a saturated (饱和的)market and competing with an old industry," he said. "Changing an industry will be a big uphill battle, but with the support from the public, we will change the way we look at bottled water."

Researchers warn that eight million tonnes of plastics currently find their way into the ocean every year which will stay in the environment for centuries.

"We really want to get our bottles on shelves and into people's hands as soon as possible—if we can stop even one plastic bottle ending up in the environment it will be worth it," said Mr Longcroft.