Most people who fly on passenger planes in the United States do not lose their luggage. Even if the luggage is lost, usually it is only delayed. Most “lost” luggage is found in a few days. Airlines search for the owners of unclaimed(未认领的) bags for up to three months. But when the owners cannot be found or the bags are not claimed, they are sold to a store in the small city of Scottsboro, in the southern state of Alabama.

    About one-half of one percent of all luggage passing through US airports is unclaimed. Many of the missing bags, and what is in them, are sold at the Unclaimed Baggage Center. Seven thousand items arrive at the store every day. Tom Barnes, who was shopping at the store said, “I can go into any of the large shopping centers, like the international malls. I can walk through there for an hour and come out with three items. But I come into this store, and then I come out with my car full of stuff.”

    Brenda Cantrell, who works at the store, said, “The Unclaimed Baggage Center is the only store in America that buys and resells unclaimed baggage from the airline industry. You would be surprised at all the jackets, eyeglasses, neck pillows, blankets, laptops, Kindles, iPads, and you know, all kinds of expensive electronics.”

    The store says it once sold a container for flowers for $80 that was found to be worth $18,000. And it says a painting it sold for $25 was later found to be worth $25,000.

    The store buys the luggage from the airlines. It does not examine the things inside them before buying them. Only about half of the items in the bags are suitable for sale at the store.

    Some people say it is not fair to the owners of the lost passage to sell their goods. Customer Daniel Martin is not one of them, saying, “I feel the airport may try to find the people that lose the things. If they've tried and they can't get a hold of them, it's better than throwing them away or just letting them rot in a warehouse somewhere.”

    Language Learning and Immersion programs Worldwide for Teens

    Language skills and inside knowledge about other cultures through immersion are becoming more and more important in the globalized world.

    Accademia Europea di Firenze

    The Accademia Europea di Firenze is one of the main Italian language, culture, and music school in Italy. Our method allows students to learn and practice Italian language through their subjects of greatest interest, whether art, music, or culture.

    Dates: Starts every Monday the year round except on holidays

    Contact: Isabel Berger, Accademia Europea di Firenze, Via Cavour,37.50129

    Website: www.italianlanguageflorence.com

    Spanish Immersion Programs for Teens in Costa Rica & Peru

    Take your Spanish to the next level while experiencing Costa Rica's breathtaking biodiversity (生物多样化) or the cultural tapestry (织棉) of Peru. GLA integrates (使融入) Spanish language learning into many aspects of the program, providing students opportunities to take away more of the culture, and also leave more behind.

    Dates: Summer (June, July, August); spring break

    Contact: Global Leadership Adventures, 10509 San Diego Mission Road, Suite A, San Diego, CA 92108

    Website: www.experiencegla.com

    Homestay French Summer School Program in Cannes, France

    If you are looking to learn French, then there is no better option than a language homestay learning program in France. Live like a local with a French family, learn French and culture, have fun, make new friends, and get a head start on your academic (学院的) /university year !

    Dates: Summer (June, July, August)

    Contact: Passeport pour les langues—French Summer Classes

    Website: www.frenchsummerclasses.com

    Mandarin & Cultural Immersion Programs for Teens in China

    Take your Mandarin to the next level while experiencing China's two worlds: one rural and traditional, the other fast-paced and urban. GLA weaves Chinese cultural immersion with language learning and adventure to provide students with a deeper, more meaningful experience.

Dates: Summer (June, July, August)

    Contact: Global Leadership Adventures, 10509 San Diego Mission Road, Suite A, San Diego, CA 92108

    Website: www.experiencegla.com

    Hiring a self-drive car really adds to the enjoyment of your holiday. There are so many places of interest to visit. And if you enjoy seeing more than just the city centre, there's no better way to explore than by car.

    Conditions of Hire

    ⒈The shortest rental period at these especially low prices is three days. For prices and for periods of one or two days you only see our representative at the hotel.

    ⒉Car hire must be booked six weeks or more before arrival in London to guarantee a car. But if you have been unable to make a booking in advance, please see our representative at the hotel who may still be ab le to help you.

    ⒊The car types on the sheet are examples of the types of cars in each price range, but a particular car cannot be guaranteed.

    ⒋Upon delivery the driver(s) will be asked to sign the car hire company's Conditions of Hire.

    ⒌If you decide to hire a car, just fill in the Booking Form and return it to us. A booking fee of ￡12 as part of the car hire cost is required.

    ⒍Should you be forced to cancel your car hire booking after payment in full (two weeks before date of hire), a cancellation charge of ￡12 will be made.

    Monkeys seem to have a way with numbers.

    A team of researchers trained three Rhesus monkeys to associate 26 clearly different symbols consisting of numbers and selective letters with 0-25 drops of water or juice as a reward. The researchers then tested how the monkeys combined—or added—the symbols to get the reward.

    Here's how Harvard Medical School scientist Margaret Livingstone, who led the team, described the experiment: In their cages the monkeys were provided with touch screens. On one part of the screen, a symbol would appear, and on the other side two symbols inside a circle were shown. For example, the number 7 would flash on one side of the screen and the other end would have 9 and 8. If the monkeys touched the left side of the screen they would be rewarded with seven drops of water or juice; if they went for the circle, they would be rewarded with the sum of the numbers—17 in this example.

    After running hundreds of tests, the researchers noted that the monkeys would go for the higher values more than half the time, indicating that they were performing a calculation, not just memorizing the value of each combination.

    When the team examined the results of the experiment more closely, they noticed that the monkeys tended to underestimate（低估）a sum compared with a single symbol when the two were close in value—sometimes choosing, for example, a 13 over the sum of 8 and 6. The underestimation was systematic: When adding two numbers, the monkeys always paid attention to the larger of the two, and then added only a fraction（小部分）of the smaller number to it.

    "This indicates that there is a certain way quantity is represented in their brains, "Dr. Livingstone says. "But in this experiment what they're doing is paying more attention to the big number than the little one.”

Hair Loss (Alopecia)

    Information about male pattern baldness(秃顶) causes, triggers and treatment in the UK.

    In contrary to popular belief, hair loss­or alopecia­can start at any age. While it is associated with mature males, and statistics show it does mainly affect men above 40, the reality is you can notice symptoms in your 30s, or even 20s and teen years.  The NHS statistics state that 25% of men start losing their hair by the time they reach 30. The most common form of hair loss is male pattern baldness­also known as androgenic alopecia­that affects more than half of men around the world.

    One option many men seek is treatment to avoid further hair loss, especially early on in the process. With treatments, such as Propecia, that specifically target male pattern baldness, it is possible to stop hair loss completely and even encourage fresh new hair growth.

    What is alopecia?

    Alopecia is the medical term for hair loss. Most commonly affecting males, hair loss in men is caused by an increased sensitivity to the male sex hormones (androgens). The type of alopecia you have (as well as hereditary and external factors) can influence levels of hair loss. The most common type of hair loss (alopecia) is male and female pattern baldness. Other types include：

    * Alopecia areata (patches of baldness, usually on the scalp)

    * Scarring alopecia (hair loss directly affecting the hair follicles)

    * Telogen effluvium (hair thinning over a larger area on the top of the head, rather than bald patches)

    * Anagen effluvium(most commonly caused by cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy)

D

With the completion of the Human Genome（基因组）Project more than 20 years ago, and the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA enjoying its 70th birthday last year, you might assume that we know how life works. Think again!

Evolution has a 4bn-year head start on us. However, several aspects of the standard picture of how life works-the idea of the genome as a blueprint, of genes as instructions for building an organism, of proteins as precisely tailored molecular（分子）machines and more-have wildly reduced the complexity of life. 

In the excellent book How Life Works, Philip Ball explorers the new biology, revealing life to be a far richer, more delicate affair than we have understood. Ball explains that life is a system of many levels-genes, proteins, cells, tissues, and body modules-each with its own rules and principles, so there is no unique place to look for an answer to it. 

Also, How Life Works is a much more appealing title than the overused question of "What is life?". We should be less concerned with what a thing is, and rather more focused on what a thing does. Defining a living thing implies an unchangeable ideal type, but this will run counter to the Darwinian principle that living things are four-dimensional, ever changing in time as well as space.

But it's an idea that is deeply rooted within our culture. Ball points out that we rely on metaphors（比喻）to explain and explore the complexities of life, but none suffice. We are taught that cells are machines, though no machine we have invented behaves like the simplest cell; that DNA is a code or a blueprint, though it is neither; that the brain is a computer, though no computer behaves like a brain at all.

Ball is a terrific writer, pumping out books on incredibly diverse subjects. There's a wealth of well-researched information in here, and some details that are a bit chewy for the lay reader. But the book serves as an essential introduction on our never-ending quest to understand life.