A new study, which was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that heavy use of platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat was associated with feelings of being separated from society among young adults—basically the opposite of what we are led to believe.

    Study co-author Brian Primack and his team surveyed 1,787 U. S. adults aged 19 to 32 and asked them about their usage of 11 social media platforms. They also asked participants questions related to social isolation, such as how often they felt left out. The participants who reported spending the most time on social media—over two hours a day—had twice the odds of perceived（感知到的）social isolation than those who said they spent a half-hour per day or less on the same sites.

    According to Tom Kersting, psychotherapist and author of Disconnected, the key to understanding these results lies in our understanding of “connections.” “Humans are social —emotional beings, meaning that it is in our DNA to be connected, face-to-face, with other humans,” he told Reader's Digest. “Although people think being on social media all the time makes them 'connected' to others, they are actually 'disconnected,' because the more time one spends behind a screen, the less time one spend face-to-face.”

    “Part of the issue of loneliness is that the majority of people who use social media aren't just posting, they are also viewing,” Kersting continued. “They are spending a lot of time looking at everyone else's posts, where they are and what they are doing. The constant exposure to everyone else's 'perfect' life experiences causes feelings of being left out.”

    So what's the answer? It's simple, says Kersting. “The solution to this is resisting the temptation to look at everyone else's life. Just focus on your own life, where you're going, what you are grateful for, and what you want to accomplish in this world.”

    Below is a selection from a popular science book.

    If blood is red, why are veins（静脉）blue?

    Actually, veins are not blue at all. They are more of a clear, yellowish colour. Although blood looks red when it's outside the body, when it's sitting in a vein near the surface of the skin, it's more of a dark reddish purple colour. At the right depth, these blood-filled veins reflect less and light than the surrounding skin, making them look blue by comparison.

    Which works harder, your heart or your brain?

    That kind of depends on whether you are busy thinking or busy exercising. Your heart works up to three times harder during exercise, and shifts enough blood over a lifetime to fill a supertanker. But, in the long run, your brain probably tips it, because even when you're sitting still your brain is using twice as much energy as your heart, and it takes four to five times as much blood to feed it.

    Do old people shrink as they age?

    Yes and no. Many people do get shorter as they age. But, when they do, it isn't because they're shrinking all over. They simply lose height as their spine（脊柱）becomes shorter and more curved due to disuse and the effects of gravity（重力）. Many (but not all) men and women do lose height as they get older. Men lose an average of 3-4 cm in height as they age, while women may lose 5 cm or more. If you live to be 200 years old, would you keep shrinking till you were, like 60 cm tall, like a little boy again? No, because old people don't really shrink! It is not that they are growing backwards – their legs, arms and backbones getting shorter. When they do get shorter, it's because the spine has shortened a little. Or, more often, become more bait and curved.

    Why does spinning make you dizzy（眩晕的）?

    Because your brain gets confused between what you're seeing and what you're feeling. The brain senses that you're spinning using special gravity-and-motion-sensing organs in your inner ear, which work together with your eyes to keep your vision and balance stable. But when you suddenly stop spinning the system goes out of control, and your brain thinks you're moving while you're not!

    Where do feelings and emotions come from?

    Mostly from an ancient part of the brain called the limbic system. All mammals have this brain area – from mice to dogs, cats, and humans. So all mammals feel basic emotions like fear, pain and pleasure. But since human feelings also involve other. Newer bits of the brain, we feel more complex emotions than any other animal on the planet.

    If exercise wears you out, how can it be good for you?

    Because our bodies adapt to everything we do to them. And as far as your body is concerned, it's use it, or lose it”! It's not that exercise makes you healthy; it's more that a lack of exercise leaves your body weak and easily affected by disease.

    When Peng Liyuan stepped off the plane in Moscow, the whole world wanted to know who dressed the elegant first lady. The reporter released the secret—Ma Ke.

    Peng Liyuan has been wearing Ma Ke's designs for more than a decade, a fact that was only highlighted recently when she was on her first state visit, accompanying her husband President Xi Jinping. The elegant and attractive Peng, formerly a popular singer, has been compared with the US' first lady Michelle Obama and France's Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, since stepping off the airplane in Moscow on March 22. Suddenly, everyone was curious to know more about the first lady's wardrobe.

    Even so, Ma prefers a low-key approach. "If you eat a tasty egg why would you want to see the hen?" she says of all the media attention.

    Ma's relationship with Peng began 10 years ago after a concert in Guangzhou when a reporter told Peng she knew the designer behind the label Exception de Mixmind. Peng asked for an introduction because she was a fan of Ma's designs and had been wearing them for years.

    The two naturally became friends. Ma says: "The painting reflects the painter, and clothes reflect both the designer and the wearer. Someone desires fame and wealth, or love and sympathy; what you have in your heart is reflected in the design. Those who don't share my philosophy won't buy my clothes. Peng is a caring person, devoted to charity and environmental protection, which is exactly what I'm doing now."

    However, regardless of the brand, Peng's support of Chinese labels has surprised millions of Chinese who favor foreign fashion brands.

    "Instead she presented a vision of Chinese fashion, desiring to bring Chinese designers to the world stage," says a western designer.

    The first lady's double-breasted coat and her black leather handbag aren't available at any of Exception's shops, though Exception's physical stores do have seen a rising number of visitors.

    The ocean bottom, a region nearly 2.5 times greater than the total land area of the earth, is even today largely unexplored. Until about a century ago, the deep ocean floor was completely inaccessible and hidden beneath waters averaging over 3,600 meters deep. Totally without light and in the case of intense pressures hundreds of times greater than at the earth's surface, the deep-ocean bottom is a strange environment to humans, in some way, as fighting and remote as the outer space.

Although researchers have taken samples of deep-ocean rocks for over a century, the first detailed global study of the ocean bottom did not actually start until 1969, with the beginning of the National Science Foundation's Deep Sea Drilling Project(DSDP). Using techniques first developed for the offshore oil and gas industry, the DSDP's drill ship, the Glomar Challenger, was able to maintain a steady position on the ocean's surface and drill very deep waters, taking samples of rocks from the ocean floor.

    The Glomar Challenger completed 96 voyages in a 15-year research program that ended in November 1983. During this time, it sailed 600,000 kilometers and took almost 20,000 samples of rocks around the world. Those samples have allowed geologists to reconstruct what the planet looked like hundreds of millions of years ago and to make out what it will probably look like millions of years in the future. Today, largely on the strength of evidence gathered during the Glomar Challenger's voyages, nearly all earth scientists agree on the theories of plate tectonics (构造学) and continental drift that explain many of the geological processes.

    The sample of rocks drilled by the Glomar Challenger has also provided a climatic record stretching back hundreds of millions of years. The information of past climatic change can be used to predict the future climate.

    Welcome to Hawks Cay Resort

    Centrally lying between Miami and key west, Hawks Cay Resort offers the perfect union of solitude and convenience. Here you can enjoy the best qualities of the Caribbean-clear green waters, endless sunshine, excellent fishing and diving chances, and fresh seafood.

    THE MIDDLE OF EVERYTHING

    Hanks Cay lies in the middle of the Florida Keys on the quiet island of Duck Key. The resort is just over an hour's drive from Key West attractions, and only minutes from the village of Marathon where you'll find the Seven-Mile Bridge, the Marathon Turtle Hospital, shopping changes and more.

    GETTING TO HAWKS CAY RESORT

    By Land

    Drive the Overseas Highway, awarded one of America's most scenic roads, as you travel across historic fishing bridges, and admire the blue and green water of the Atlantic Ocean and Florida Bay. Hawks Cay centrally lies only 90 miles by car from Miami and 130 miles from Fort Lauderdale. Cars can be rented from Marathon Airport, lying just a few miles from the resort.

    By Air

    Daily flights are offered into nearby Miami, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood and Key West International airports. Hawks Cay is proud to partner with the Marathon Jet Center, lying just 9 miles from the resort, offering lights and private jet service.

    Fly direct to Marathon International Airport from Fort Lauderdle, Miami, Marco Island and Naples for as low as $222 per person one way. Flight time is approximately 38 minutes.

    By Sea

    Hawks Cay can easily be reached via the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico. Hawks Cay's full-service marina features fees for ships up to 110 feet, and all the boating and fishing supplies you'll need during your stay in the beautiful Florida Keys.

    You've heard of the fat suit and the pregnancy suit; now meet AGNES—the old person suit.

    AGNES stands for "Age Gain Now Empathy(换位体验)System" and was designed by researchers at MIT's AgeLab to let you know what it feels like—physically—to be 75 years old. "The business of old age demands new tools," said Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab. "While focus groups and observations and surveys can help you understand what the older consumer needs and wants, young marketers never get that ‘Ah ha!' moment of having difficulty opening a jar, or getting in and out of a car. That's what AGNES provides. "

    Coughlin and his team carefully adjusted the suit to make the wearer just as uncomfortable as an old person who has spent a lifetime eating poorly and not doing much exercise. Special shoes provide a feeling of imbalance, while braces on the knees and elbows limit joint mobility. Gloves give the feeling of decreased strength and mobility in the hands and wrists, and earplugs make it difficult to hear high-pitched sounds and soft tones. A helmet with straps(带)attached to it presses the spine(脊柱).

    VAGNES has been used most recently by a group of students working on a design of an updated walker. By wearing the suit they could see for themselves what design and materials would make the most sense for a physically limited older person. Coughlin said the suit has also been used by clothing companies, car companies and retail goods companies to help them understand the limitations of an older consumer. An unexpected benefit they've found with AGNES is that it has become a powerful tool to get younger people to invest in their long-term health.