Climbing Without Ropes

    The popular image of the mountain climber is of a person carefully climbing a steep cliff with a network of safety ropes, but it is not the only kind. Many climbers now enjoy bouldering. It's more accessible and better for the environment.

    Here is an example of a climber addressing a bouldering problem.

    Figure 1: The climber has two routes she could take, one to the left and one to the right. The left one appears easier because it has a jug within easy reach, but look what happens if she chooses that direction. She gets stuck on the rock and has to go back down. Sometimes that is even more difficult than going up.

    Figure 2: The climber takes the one to the right this time. Using a foothold and placing her right hand in a crimp, she is able to lift herself up and locate other handholds. After only a few moves, she is able to throw her leg over the top of the boulder and pull herself up.

    TED is a non-profit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. Since then it has stepped into more and more fields. It includes two annual ( 年度的) conferences-the TED Conference on the North American West Coast each spring, and the TED Global Conference in Edinburgh UK each summer, which bring together the world's most excellent thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives ( in 18 minutes or less).

    On ted.com, we make the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free. More than 1, 200 TED talks are now available,' with more added each week, which cover almost all topics from science to business to global issues- in more than 110 languages. They really help share ideas in communities around the world.

    We believe in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and eventually, the world. So we' re building here a clearinghouse (信息交流中心 ) that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. Have an idea? We want to hear from you.

    Today, TED is best thought of as a global community. It's a community welcoming people from every field and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world.

    Want to follow TED? Here are the ways to connect:

    Get TED news and conference coverage ( 新闻报道) on the TED Blog.

    Follow TED on Twitter:

    @TED News for all TED news and information

    @TED Talks for daily TED Talk release only

    See photos from TED events on Flicker.

5 books I loved in 2018

By Bill Gates

    A great read is the perfect gift and I think everyone could use a few more books in their lives. My book list covers various topics, including an autobiography on learning throughout a life, a deep search on autonomous weapons (武器), a thriller about the fall of a once­promising company and a guide about meditation (冥想)­there's something for everyone.

    The Head space Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness, by Andy Puddicombe. The book starts with Puddicombe's personal journey from a university student to a Buddhist monk and then becomes an entertaining explainer on how to meditate. If you're thinking about trying mindfulness, this is the perfect introduction.

    Army of None, by Paul Scharre. It's an extremely complicated topic, but Scharre offers clear explanations and presents both the advantages and disadvantages of machine­driven warfare. His fluency with the subject should come as no surprise: he's an ex­soldier who helped draw up the U.S. government's policy on autonomous weapons.

    Bad Blood, by John Carreyrou. Carreyrou gives you the definitive insider's look at the rise and fall of a company. I found myself unable to put it down once I started. This book has everything: magazine cover stories, ruined family relationships, and the failure of a company once valued at nearly $10 billion.

    21 Lessons for the 21st Century, by Yuval Noah Harari. I'm a big fan of everything Harari has written, and his latest is no exception. If 2018 has left you stressed out by the state of the world, 21 Lessons offers a helpful framework for processing the news and thinking about the challenges we face.

    Educated, by Tara West over. Tara never went to school or visited a doctor until she left home at 17. I loved this life story of a young woman whose thirst for learning was so strong that she ended up getting a P.h.D. from Cambridge University.

    Wong Fuk-wing, a Hong Kong volunteer at an orphanage (孤儿院) in Yushu, was killed in the earthquake when he was trying to save others on April 14, 2010.

    Wong managed to run safely out of the building with some children when the first quake happened at 7:50 am on April 14, but he went back inside to rescue three other children and three teachers inside, although he knew the danger of aftershocks (余震).

    At 10 am, all the children and one of the teachers were saved. However, Wong was buried under the fallen building and died. The other two teachers were still waiting to be rescued.

    46-year-old Wong was a truck driver, who often said he could only give his efforts to charity instead of money, as he did not earn a lot. His tragic (悲剧的) end touched the hearts of many people both in Hong Kong and on the mainland.

    Wong began volunteering in 2002. In 2003, Wong was told by the doctor he got serious illness, which gave him a great blow. However, the illness did not deter the warm-hearted man. When the earthquake struck Wenchuan in Sichuan Province in 2008, Wong rushed to the disaster area of Shifang to offer his help though his family did not want him to go.

    In fact, Qinghai is a place Wong had often visited since 2006. As a volunteer, he gave out medicine and clothing to the orphanage there. No one could expect that Wong would die helping others.

    Hong Kong Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen said he had "the highest respect" for the hero who gave his life for others. "What he did has shown the Hong Kong spirit." The citizens of Hong Kong called him "the pride of Hong Kong's people" and people on the mainland have also praised him as "a true hero".

    A population of the world's most aggressive mosquito species was almost completely wiped out by an experiment on two islands in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, according to a study published.

    The experiment successfully reduced the female Asian Tiger Mosquito population — the main source of bites and disease spread — by up to 94%, reducing the number of reported human bites by 97%.

    One of the Chinese study's researchers, Xi Zhiyong, a professor at Michigan State University, has been a longtime pioneer in this field of study. Running a mosquito factory in southern China, he previously attempted to use sterilized male mosquitoes to mate with unaltered females which developed normally. In the new study, published by the International Journal of Science, Xi and his colleagues attempted to cut mosquito numbers even further by limiting both males and females' ability to reproduce. The results were so successful that they nearly killed the entire female mosquito population on the two islands.

    It isn't the first attempt by researchers to reduce mosquito populations across the world. In 2018, scientists from the Imperial College of London used gene-editing tools to make female mosquitoes sterile, while males developed normally and continued spreading the genetic mutation (突变).Experts said the Asian Tiger Mosquitoes are particularly hard to kill using traditional population control methods, such as pesticides (杀虫剂) and removing stagnant (不流动的) water where the insects lay their eggs.

    Mosquitoes create grave threats to human health beyond just bites. The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the insects as "one of the deadliest animals in the world," due to their ability to rapidly spread deadly diseases such as dengue fever and malaria. There is currently no effective vaccine or treatment for most mosquito-spread diseases, leaving controlling the insects' populations one of the most effective control methods, according to the International Journal of Science. “A new tool like what's being described in this paper is very much needed” said Stephen Dobson, a professor of medical insectology at University of Kentucky.

I first came across the concept of pay­what­you­can cafés last summer in Boone, N. C. , where I ate at F. A. R. M (Feed All Regardless of Means) Café. You can volunteer to earn your meal, pay the suggested price ($10) or less, or you can overpay—paying it forward for a future customer's meal. My only regret after eating there was not having a chance to give my time. So as soon as Healthy World Café opened in York in April, I signed up for a volunteer shift(轮班).

F. A. R. M and Healthy World are part of a growing trend of community cafés. In 2003, Denise Cerreta opened the first in Salt Lake City. Cerreta now runs the One World Everybody Eats Foundation, helping others copy her pay­what­you­can model.

"I think the community café is truly a hand up, not a handout," Cerreta said. She acknowledged that soup kitchens(施粥所) have a place in society, but people typically don't feel good about going there.

"One of the values of the community café is that we have another approach," she said. "Everyone eats here, no one needs to know whether you volunteered, overpaid or underpaid. "

The successful cafés not only address hunger and food insecurity but also become necessary parts of their neighborhood—whether it's a place to learn skills or hear live music. Some teach cooking to seniors; some offer free used books. Eating or working there is a reminder that we are all in this world together.

My 10 am～1pm shift at World Healthy Café began with the café manager—one of the two paid staff members. Our volunteer crew wasn't the most orderly, but we managed to prepare and serve meals with a lot of laughs in between. At the end of my shift, I ordered my earned meal at the counter, together with other volunteers. After lunch, I walked out the door, with a handful of new friends, music in my head and a satisfied belly and heart.