Many teens in high school want to try out for sports. A lot of them try out because they think it will make them popular or get them more dates. While this may seem like a silly reason, there are lots of other benefits to sports that your children may fail to notice.

    With TV, movies, computers and video games becoming more and more popular, it has become so much easier for teens to be by themselves rather than going out with friends. Kids used to go hang out at the mall or drive around town; now they just sit at home. Getting your teens into a sport gives them a chance to go out and spend time with other people socially. While they may not find a new best friend, they will learn how to communicate with one another and work as a team and they'll find something useful later in life.

    More and more kids are becoming overweight. Joining a team sport will help teens get out and get some exercise without feeling pressured to lose weight or get in shape. What's more, if your teens see that their physical condition is causing them to under-perform, they may be encouraged to do other activities to get healthy. By the time your children reach their teenager year, part of good parenting will be providing them with direction and encouragement and continuing to help them develop a healthy style of living.

    These days, it's becoming harder to show your teenagers that you love and support them. A great way to do this is by showing up to their game, helping them practice, and helping with team fundraisers. These are also great ways to spend time with your kids and talk to them.

    You may think “but my teen isn't good enough to make their school team”. There are plenty of other places besides school to play team sports. You can always check out “for-fun” teams. You could look into more unknown sports that you may not have thought of, did you know that bowling is a NCAA team sports If you do a little research, you're sure to find something your teen will enjoy.

    Team sports are a great way for teens to get out of the house, get moving, make friends, and even get a scholarship to college. So why not talk to them about getting into sports today

    Bad news sells. If it bleeds, it leads. No news is good news, and good news is no news. Those are the classic rules for the evening broadcasts and the morning papers. But now that information is being spread and monitored(监控) in different ways, researchers are discovering new rules. By tracking people's e-mails and online posts, scientists have found that good news can spread faster and farther than disasters and sob stories.

    “The 'if it bleeds' rule works for mass media,” says Jonah Berger, a scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. “They want your eyeballs and don't care how you're feeling. But when you share a story with your friends, you care a lot more how they react. You don't want them to think of you as a Debbie Downer.”

    Researchers analyzing word-of-mouth communication—e-mails, Web posts and reviews, face-to-face conversations—found that it tended to be more positive than negative, but that didn't necessarily mean people preferred positive news. Was positive news shared more often simply because people experienced more good things than bad things? To test for that possibility, Dr. Berger looked at how people spread a particular set of news stories: thousands of articles on The New York Times' website. He and a Penn colleague analyzed the “most e-mailed” list for six months. One of his first findings was that articles in the science section were much more likely to make the list than non-science articles. He found that science amazed Times' readers and made them want to share this positive feeling with others.

    Readers also tended to share articles that were exciting or funny, or that inspired negative feelings like anger or anxiety, but not articles that left them merely sad. They needed to be aroused(激发) one way or the other, and they preferred good news to bad. The more positive an article, the more likely it was to be shared, as Dr. Berger explains in his new book, “Contagious: Why Things Catch On.”

    Dear Student of Star Middle School:

    As your student council president, I am writing to ask for your support to start the Count-Your-Steps walking program. Mr. Stewart Thomas, a parent of two students at Star Middle School, firstly came up with the idea. Mr. Thomas is a fan of walking and wants to encourage others to appreciate the activity. He shared his idea with our principal, Ms. Howser, who immediately agreed that we should try it.

    Ms. Howser contacted the other middle schools in the district, and all the teachers eagerly adopted the program. Now a team of Count-Your-Steps organizers made up of representatives from the middle schools, has established the program's goal: to increase awareness of the benefits of walking. Organizers want middle school students to accept this challenge and make walking one of their daily activities.

    The program has clear guidelines. Interested participants must only commit to recording the number of steps taken daily. Ms. Earley, the assistant principal, will give each of us a log for recording our steps and a pedometer, which is a small, digital tool used to count the steps of the person wearing it. All participants need to do each day is to wear the pedometer, walk as much as possible, and then record the number of steps in our logs. Clearly, the process is simple and convenient.

    While the benefits of walking are multiple, this challenge offers all who participate the opportunity to work together, achieve success, and make positive changes. Remember that the other schools in the district are signed up for the Count-Your-Steps too, and each one will try to take more steps than our school. I hope many will agree to this challenge and show everyone the Star Middle School Cougar Spirit.

    Please take into careful consideration this valuable and well-planned program, and then sign up today! In the words of Mr. Thomas, “Together we can enjoy the advantages of walking.”

    Sincerely,

    Cora Jeffries

    Gorillas(大猩猩) are on the edge of extinction. They are calling on YOU to donate your phone today!

    You can now help save gorillas in Africa simply by donating your mobile phone! Coltan is a metallic ore(金属矿石) that is mined both in and out of Africa and can be found within many electronic devices such as mobile phones. The mining of coltan within the Congo River Basin is contributing to forest loss there, and is speeding up the loss of mountain gorillas at a shockingly fast rate. While efforts are being made to deal with this issue, the mining of coltan within gorilla habitat continues. It is very difficult to know which phones contain coltan mined from Africa; however, every phone can help save gorillas when donated to They're Calling on You.

    By donating your phone through the They're Calling You mobile phone recycling program you are:

    Preventing your phone from going to the landfill.

    Helping Melbourne Zoo raise money to support the Jane Good all Institutes monkey conservation work in Africa through the sale of refurbished(翻新)phones.

    Lessening the demand for coltan mining.

    To support the They're Calling You mobile phone recycling program you can:

    ⒈Visit Melbourne Zoo to collect a postage paid recycling bag, and post your mobile phone to the Aussie Recycling Program. Your phone will be resold to poor community groups.

    ⒉Register your support simply by emailing the registration form to zvfoundation@zoo.org.au or fax it to (03)9285-9377.

    Schools can get involved too! Please contact Kate McCabe at Melbourne Zoo by email or phone(03)9285-9471 Discuss adding this program to your course while inspiring students to take action for wildlife.

    For further information please contact: Rachel Lowry

    Ph:(03)9285-9377

    Mob: 0488-504-490

    Fax:(03)9285-9340

    Next time your mobile rings, let that be a reminder that “they're calling on you”!

    Japanese technology giant Toshiba has built a huge "clean" factory farm where it is growing various types of lettuce (莴苣) leaves without sunlight or soil for sale in its new healthcare business.

    Located in a disused 21,000­square­foot electronics factory in Yokosuka, Toshiba announces to have created a perfect "bacteria­free" environment where it will grow three million bags of lettuce a year.

    Completely cut off from conditions outside the temperature controlled tank, lettuce inspectors wear full body suits while making notes on the quality and growth of the leaves on their iPads in order to prevent the air around the plants becoming contaminated.

    Each plant is given man­made lighting to trick it into believing it is exposed to sunlight, while vitamin and nutrients are put directly into its roots, meaning the lettuce does not need soil.

    Toshiba's new high­tech farm may produce the world's highest quality lettuce. The final product will be free of any form of bacteria or insect life before being placed into sealed (密封的) bags, which should ensure the product has a longer shelf life than other lettuces.

    The gardening technique aims to have a bacteria amount of no more than 1/1000th­much lower than that found in normal gardening soil.

    Toshiba aims to harvest three million bags of leaf lettuce, baby leaf greens, cabbages and other kinds of vegetables every year­with each bag likely to cost people £1.

    The most important thing in organic vegetables, the lettuce requires no pesticides (杀虫剂) but is expected to have a similar shelf to plants that have been heavily treated with chemicals.

    The lettuce factory is no marketing trick by Toshiba, however. Instead it represents the company's latest attempt to expand its technology­led business.

    There are already plans for the technology giant to build similar factories around the world over the coming years and it will also be selling the high tech equipment that allows factories to produce similar products of exceptionally high quality.

    City trees grow faster and die younger than trees in rural forestry, a new study finds. Over their lifetimes, then, urban trees will likely absorb less CO₂ from the air thah forest trees.

    As we all know, the earth would be freezing or burning hot without CO₂. However, CO₂ is a greenhouse gas, meaning it traps energy from the sun as/heat. That makes temperatures near the ground rise. Human activities, especially the widespread burning-of fossil(化石)fuels, have been sending extra greenhouse gases into the air. This has led to a rise in average temperatures across the globe.

    Studies had shown forests readily absorb CO₂, but there hadn't been much data on whether city trees grow, die and absorb CO₂ at the same rate as forest trees do. So some researchers decided to find out.

    To figure out how quickly trees were growing, researchers tracked their diameters (the width of their trunks) between 2005 and 2014. A tree's diameter increases as it grows, just as a person's waist size increases as they gain weight. About half the weight of a tree is carbon, research has shown. Most of the rest is water. Over the nine years' tracking, the researchers found city trees absorbed four times as much carbon from the air as forest trees. However, they were twice as likely to die. So over the lifetime of each type of tree, forest trees actually absorbed more CO₂.

    City trees grew faster because they had less competition for light from their neighbors. In a forest, trees tend to grow close together, shading their neighbors. Street trees also benefit from higher levels of nitrogen (氮)in rainwater. Nitrogen helps plants grow. Waste gases from gas-burning cars also contain nitrogen, thus enriching city air with nitrogen. Later, rainwater may wash much of it to the ground. Some street trees may also have better access to water than trees in the country because the underground water pipes can leak.