More than loo genes are related with increased risk of developing schizophrenia（精神分裂症）,bipolar disorder （躁郁症）and alcoholism（酗酒）,confirms a large study published in the recent issue of the British scientific journal Nature.

    The world's largest study into the genetic basis of mental illnesses was led by researchers from British universities,including University College London (UCL),Cardiff University and King's College London (KCL).

    Researchers believe that they are now much closer than before to understanding the complex biological causes, which make some people being at high risk of developing mental illnesses.They also believe that these findings could lead to new treatments.

    The researchers analyzed the DNA of about 37,000 patients with schizophrenia,bipolar disorder or alcoholism, and compared the smallest genetic changes to those found in about 113,000 healthy people.They then identified about 128 independent genetic variants（变体）at 108 locations on the human chromosomes（染色体）that contribute significantly to developing schizophrenia—83 of these sites have never before been linked to the illness,according to scientists.

    For example,people with the variant of the GRM3 gene,thought to be important in brain signaling,are around 2 to 3 times more likely to develop schizophrenia or alcohol dependence.The variant,which is found in approximately one in every 200 people,is also associated with a three times risk of developing bipolar disorder.

    "We could be looking at the next big drug target for treating mental illness,"Professor David Curtis from UCL, co-author of the paper,said."The work opens up new ways to prevent and treat mental illnesses by revealing the mechanisms involved in their development."

    The yearly Academy Awards ceremony was once a private affair. Now, because of television, it is very much a public affair. Hundreds of people gather in Hoolywood to see the Oscars presented to outstanding actors, and others involved（参与） in the motion picture industry. Millions more watch on the television.

    It all began on May 16, 1929, when 270 men and women sat down to dinner at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. There was no secret about the winners. The names of the winners had been known for months. Janet Gaynor, for example had won as Best Actress. Douglas Fairbanks presented her with the famous gold statue（塑像）. The little statue was not then called Oscar. Like a new actor, Oscar was unknown. About six years later, it somehow got that renowned name. A number of explanations have been offered for its origin(由来), but nobody knows the true story for certain.

    Nowadays the result of the Oscar voting are kept secret. Only two people know the winners before the names are announced at the ceremony. The counting of votes is not done by one group of people but by different groups. Nobody except two members of an accounting company sees the final results.

    The information is not kept in open files. Winners' names are placed in closed envelopes. The accountants each carry a complete set of envelopes to the ceremony. One set is simply a spare to be used in case something happens to the other one.

    There is no better way to enjoy Scottish traditions than going fishing and tasting a little whisky(威士忌) at a quiet place like the Inverlochy Castle. When Queen Victoria visited there in 1873 she wrote in her diary, "I never saw a lovelier spot," And she didn't even go fishing.

    Scotland is not easily defined. In certain moments, this quiet land of lakes and grass mountains changes before your very eyes. When evening gently sweeps the hillside into orange, the rivers, teeming with fish, can turn into streams of gold. As you settle down with just a person and a basket on the bank of River Orchy, near the Inverlochy Castle, any frustration will float away as gently as the circling water. It's just you and purple, pink, white flowers, a perfect harmony. If you are a new comer to fishing, learning the basics from a fishing guide may leave you with a lifetime's fun. For many, fishing is more than a sport; it is an art.

    Scotland offers interesting place where you can rest after a long day's fishing. Set against a wild mountain and hidden behind woodland, the beautiful Inverlochy Castle Hotel below the Nevis is a perfect place to see the beauty of Scotland's mountains. Ben Nevis is the highest of mountains, and reaching its 1342-metre top is a challenge. But it's not just what goes up that matters; what comes down is unique. More than 900 metres high, on the mountain's north face, lies an all-important source of pure water. Its name comes from the Gaelic language "usqueb" or "water of life"; and it is the single most important ingredient(原料) in Scotland's best known whisky.

    When men and women take personality tests, some of the old Mars-Venus stereotypes(定式)keep reappearing. On average, women are more cooperative, kind, cautious and emotionally enthusiastic. Men tend to be more competitive, confident, rude and emotionally flat. Clear differences appear in early childhood and never disappear.

    What's not clear is the origin of these differences. Evolutionary psychologists think that these are natural features from ancient hunters and gatherers. Another school of psychologists argues that both sexes' personalities have been shaped by traditional social roles, and that personality differences will shrink as women spend less time taking care of children and more time in jobs outside the home.

    To test these hypotheses(假设), a series of research teams have repeatedly analyzed personality tests taken by men and women in more than 60 countries around the world. For evolutionary psychologists, the bad news is that the size of the gender gap in personality varies among cultures. For social-role psychologists, the bad news is that the change is going in the wrong direction. It looks as if personality differences between men and women are smaller in traditional cultures like India's or Zimbabwe's than in the Netherlands or the United States. A husband and a stay-at-home wife in a patriarchal(男权的)Botswanan clan(部族)seem to be more alike than a working couple in Denmark or France. The more Venus and Mars have equal rights and similar jobs, the more their personalities seem to separate.

    These findings are so unbelievable that some researchers have argued they must be due to cross-cultural problems with the personality tests. But according to new data from 40.000 men and women on six continents, David P. Schmitt and his colleagues conclude that the trends are real. Dr. Schmitt, a psychologist at Bradley University in Illinois and the director of the International Sexuality Description Project, suggests that as wealthy modern societies level(使平等)the barriers between women and men, some ancient internal differences are being developed.

    The biggest changes recorded by the researchers involve the personalities of men, not women.

    Men in traditional agricultural societies and poorer countries seem more cautious and anxious, less confident and less competitive than men in the most progressive and rich countries of Europe and North America.

    To explain these differences, Dr. Schmitt and his partners from Austria and Estonia point to the hardships of life in poorer countries. They note that in some other species, environmental stress tends to extremely affect the larger sex. And, they say, there are examples of stress decreasing biological sex differences in humans.

    The problem of robocalls has gotten so bad that many people now refuse to pick up calls from numbers they don't know. By next year, half of the calls we receive will be scams(欺诈). We are finally waking up to the severity of the problem by supporting and developing a group of tools, apps and approaches intended to prevent scammers from getting through. Unfortunately, it's too little, too late. By the time these "solutions"(解决方案) become widely available, scammers will have moved onto cleverer means. In the near future, it's not just going to be the number you see on your screen that will be in doubt. Soon you will also question whether the voice you're hearing is actually real.

    That's because there are a number of powerful voice manipulation(处理) and automation technologies that are about to become widely available for anyone to use. At this year's I/O Conference, a company showed a new voice technology able to produce such a convincing human-sounding voice that it was able to speak to a receptionist and book a reservation without detection.

    These developments are likely to make our current problems with robocalls much worse. The reason that robocalls are a headache has less to do with amount than precision. A decade of data breaches(数据侵入) of personal information has led to a situation where scammers can easily learn your mother's name, and far more. Armed with this knowledge, they're able to carry out individually targeted campaigns to cheat people. This means, for example, that a scammer could call you from what looks to be a familiar number and talk to you using a voice that sounds exactly like your bank teller's, tricking you into "confirming" your address, mother's name, and card number. Scammers follow money, so companies will be the worst hit. A lot of business is still done over the phone, and much of it is based on trust and existing relationships. Voice manipulation technologies may weaken that gradually.

    We need to deal with the insecure nature of our telecom networks. Phone carriers and consumers need to work together to find ways of determining and communicating what is real. That might mean either developing a uniform way to mark videos and images, showing when and who they were made by, or abandoning phone calls altogether and moving towards data-based communications—using apps like FaceTime or WhatsApp, which can be tied to your identity.

    Credibility is hard to earn but easy to lose, and the problem is only going to get harder from here on out.

Imagine a school where students are taught by the best teachers in every subject, regardless of location. Imagine a school where students could go on safe field trips to the Amazon rainforest or Everest base camp. Well, such schools are already being built: in virtual(虚拟的)reality. 

Last year, Optima Academy Online, an all-virtual school, delivered courses that aim to improve the hearts and train the minds of young people. These courses are of different levels, attracting 170 full-time students from all over Florida. In the progress of home-schooling, students use headsets for about three hours a day for formal lessons and then do course work independently with digital check-ins. 

Future versions(版本)of VR will doubtless be widely used in education, but the only questions are: for what purpose and at what speed? There are enough reasons to doubt whether VR schools represent the future of education. Sticking a child in their bedroom with a heavy VR headset fastened to their face and no physical social interaction with other kids will fill many of them and their parents with horror. 

A recent report concluded that digital education could significantly improve the quality and equality of schooling systems. But if managed poorly, it could have the opposite effect, turning a digital divide into an educational one. There is growing evidence to suggest that is happening. In Mexico, only 24 percent of 15-year-old students in poor schools have access(使用)to a home computer for schoolwork compared with 87 percent in rich ones. 

Used properly, technology can be great for enabling self-motivated students to access learning resources and connect with fellow students and teachers all over the world, says Beeban Kidron, a member of the UK's Digital Futures Commission. The trouble is that Edtech is too often seen as a shiny new toy that will solve all problems and save money rather than being viewed as a different way to learn, she adds.