The number of giraffes is becoming smaller across Africa, according to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation. The total population has dropped by 40 percent in the last 15 years. Surprisingly, even scientists haven't given much attention to giraffes. We are learning more about their ecology, but what we know is still way behind what we know about other species. "It's a silent extinction," said Dr. Julian Hennessy, a wildlife scientist.

    "The main reason for the smaller number of giraffes is their loss of living places," said Hennessy, "as an increasing part of land is used for farming. But hunting also has a big influence." You might wonder why hunters would focus on giraffes. First of all, once a giraffe is brought down, there is lots of meat with a small amount of effort. Besides, there is another thing encouraging the hunting. In Tanzania, Hennessy says, the latest word on the street is that eating giraffe meat could cure AIDS. Fresh giraffe heads and bones can be sold at prices of up to $140 per piece.

    Another widespread misconception about giraffes is that they are everywhere. Look at kids' books which are full of giraffes. They are always in zoo collections. They can be seen easily, so you don't think we have to worry about them. But the truth is that they are in danger of extinction. There is a lack of right and true data.

    Hennessy and other researchers are now pulling together the data needed to improve the situation of the entire giraffe species and all nine subspecies (亚种). The information will be used to change the giraffe's listing on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, which now lists the species as of "least concern" but two subspecies as "endangered". "It's a lot of work to gather the necessary information," Hennessy says. "And several other giraffe subspecies will be recommended for endangered listings next year or the year after." He hopes that the world will finally start to take notice of how endangered these beloved animals have become.

Eight Things That Lead to Success

    "What leads to success?" This may be a question asked by those who want to make something of their life. For seven years, Richard. John made 500 interviews. Here he wants to tell you what really leads to success.

    And the first thing is passion.

    Freeman Thomas says, "I'm driven by my passion." TED-sters do it for love; they don't do it for money. Carol Coletta says, "I would pay someone to do what I do." {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Work

    Rupert Murdoch said to me, "It's all hard work. Nothing comes easily. But I have a lot of fun." Did he say fun? Rupert? Yes! {#blank#}2{#/blank#} I figure, they're not workaholics. They're workafrolics（醉心工作者）.

    Good!

    Alex Garden says, "To be successful put your nose down in something and get damn good at it"

    There's no magic; it's practice, practice, practice.

    And it's focus.

    Norman Jewison said to me, "I think it all has to do with focusing yourself on one thing."

    And push!

    David Gallo says, "Push yourself. Physically, mentally, you've got to push, push, push. You gotta push through shyness and self-doubt." Goldie Hawn says, "I always had self-doubts. I wasn't good enough; I wasn't smart enough. I didn't think

    I'd make it." {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (Laughter) Frank Gehry said to me," My mother pushed me."

    Serve!

    Sherwin Nuland says, "It was a privilege to serve as a doctor."{#blank#}4{#/blank#} And the first thing I say to them is: "OK, well you can't serve yourself; you gotta serve others something of value. Because that's the way people really get rich."

    Ideas!

    TE D-ster Bill Gates says, "I had an idea: founding the first microcomputer software company." I'd say it was a pretty good idea. And there's no magic to creativity in coming up with ideas- it's just doing some very simple things. And I give lots of evidence.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Joe Kraus says, "Persistence is the number one reason for our success." You got to persist through failure. You got to persist through CRAP! Which of course means "Criticism, Rejection, Assholes and Pressure." (Laughter)

A. So why don't I ask them what helped them succeed, and pass it on to kids?

B. And the interesting thing is: If you do it for love, the money comes anyway.

C. Now a lot of kids tell they want to be millionaires.

D. LED-sters do have fun working. And they work hard.

E. Persist!

F. Investing their money in pursuing a future lifestyle rather than in an academic conquest.

G. Now it's not always easy to push yourself, and that's why they invented mothers.

    According to a recent study published in Journal of Consumer Research, many people believe that healthy food must be more expensive than unhealthy food. In fact, the study's researchers found that a high price tag will even convince consumers that a certain food is healthful.

    According to Rebecca Reczek, coauthor of the study, the purpose of the study was to examine a popular belief. Sometimes the belief can be true: Organic produce and wild caught seafood typically cost more money. But other times, the nutritional value of food ranks all the same.

    In one experiment, Reczek's team gave a group of participants a new food product called "granola bites". Some participants were told the product was very healthy. Other participants were told the bites had little nutritional value. Participants who were told the granola bites were good for them rated the snack as more expensive than the participants who thought the bites were unhealthy.

    In another experiment, participants were given a health food bar labeled as "the healthiest protein bar on the planet". Some participants were told the bar cost just D|S0.99, others were told the bar was D|S4. And here's what happened: The people who were given the "cheaper" bar needed to read a lot more reviews about the product when it was priced at a lower price point in order to trust that it was healthy.

    The idea that we all believe healthy food needs to be more expensive works against us. All food companies need to do is push up the price to convince us.

But Reczek said, "When we shop, we don't have to be led astray. We can compare nutrition labels and we can do research before we go to the grocery store. We can use facts rather than our intuition (直觉)"．

    A new Magic Bench designed by Disney Research lets you interact (互动) with lovely animated (动画的) character—and no special glasses or earphones are required. Instead, the complete environment-the seat, the sitter and the cartoon characters-is mirrored on a screen opposite the bench making it possible for others to watch the scene unfold.

    How does the illusion work? A camera and sensor catch images and gather depth information about physical objects the bench and the person. And then computer translates them into the 3D animations. Meanwhile sensors of touch built into the bench deliver shaking that is happening at the same time and speed to animated actions on the screen, creating the illusion that the animated figures are occupying real-world space next to the user.

    "Our goal for this project was: hear a character coming, see them enter the space, and feel them sit next to you," said Moshe Mahler, principal digital artist at Disney Research. Unlike the traditional mobile technology, one of whose limitations is that only a single user can see its illusion, the Magic Bench allows groups of people to gather in a single environment and collectively participate in an augmented—reality (扩充实境) experience, all at the same time.

    In a video show, a small cartoon donkey runs into view and kicks the bench, causing sharp sound and making the seated person jump in surprise. Another test shows two people on the bench, reacting as they feel an animated rabbit skip up beside them and jump up and down. When a user passes his hand over the rabbit, a shadow moves across its head, as though it were occupying the same physical space as the person next to it.

    For the first time, China's South Pole researchers can eat fresh vegetables grown regularly, according to Wang Zheng, the grower, who came home last month after a 400-day mission in Antarctica.

    "Growing vegetables in Antarctica reminded me of The Martian, a sci-fi movie about an astronaut who survives alone on Mars by eating potatoes he grows there," Wang said on Friday. "I totally understand the main character of the movie, I understand how he feels when he watches a small green plant grow in a fragile man-made environment,'' said the 40-year-old doctor. But he admitted that the conditions he faced in the Antarctic were much better than those in the film.

    Wang said the growth chamber(生长室) at the Zhongshan Station, had only a low yield when it was established in 2013. The amount was too small to make it possible for researchers to have vegetable dishes. To increase the yield, he reduced the number of vegetable varieties and focused on only some fast-growing ones, which makes the output stable. As a result, during much of his stay there, at least one vegetable dish, such as cucumbers, lettuce or cabbage, was served at every meal for a group of 18 researchers.

    Wang, an orthopedist, said he knew nothing about botany or farming before he arrived at the station in December, 2014. "I was given this job probably because my office is next to the growth chamber, and as a doctor, I had more spare time than others," Wang said. He considered many factors, such as light, temperature and humidity. Light music is played in the 16-square - meter greenhouse around the clock. "Mild music is good for vegetable growth," he said. "We also played Buddhist music, which has soft melody."

    "Growers before me did very good work. My job was to maintain the chamber and keep everything working." Before the  harvest, researchers had a very limited vegetable supply—mostly potatoes and cabbage, which taste awful after months of storage. "Because of our success in growing vegetables, we can have fresh vegetables every day," he said. "The Russian station is no more than one kilometer away from ours. We even had enough vegetables to invite our Russian colleagues for dinner."

    Everyone knows that if a dog's ears are up and its tail is wagging vigorously, it is definitely pleased to see you, but now scientists using a robot have found that the way dogs use their tails is more complicated than we thought, and that dogs which wag them to the left may he more friendly. The animal psychologists discovered that when real dogs approached a life-sized robot dog, they were less cautious about it when it was wagging its tail to the left, while if it was wagging its tail to the right, far fewer dogs approached it in a confident manner.

    In the first experiments, 56 percent of the animals approached the model without hesitation when the tail was wagged to the left, while only 21 percent did so in the other situation. When the researchers excluded (排除) owners from being present, the result were: 31 percent of the dogs approached continuously when the tail was wagging to the left, while only 18 percent did so when it was on the right.

    Animal psychologist Roger Mugford said it added to the growing evidence that does were even more complicated communicators than the animals more closely related to man such as monkeys. He said, "We know that dogs, in a sense, have languages, but it is more complicated because it is not just them wagging their tails, but also giving out chemical displays."

    He adds, "The research confirms earlier studies suggesting that dogs, like humans, had a left-side preference. If you are going to present a signal to a dog, it is sensible to put it on your left-hand side because that is where dogs, unlike most other animals, tend to look. It is another example of the similarity between dogs and humans. They are a lot more human than we give them credit for."