“Can I hug you?” community nurse Joyce Jebambula asks with a smile as she welcomes me back to her village. “Of course,” I say as I put my arms around her. It's an unbelievable moment. Just at the height of the outbreak more than a year ago, there was an “avoid body contact” rule here. It's now been removed.

    One of the most challenging parts of reporting this outbreak over the past 18 months is that I haven't been able to touch anyone in the worst-affected countries. When Ebola(埃博拉病毒) survivors described in tears describing losing their families, I had to almost sit on my hands to avoid reaching out to comfort them.

    The outbreak was declared over in Sierra Leone on 7 November. I returned for the celebrations. But despite reaching this long-awaited milestone, all is not well.

    Ibrahim Koroma, 21, clings to (紧紧抓住) his survivor's certificate (证明) outside the home. All 17 of his family are now dead. The certificate is one of his most prized possessions. "He does not pose any risk to the community" it reads.

    Ibrahim tells me how his landlord has allowed him to stay in one of the rooms of his former family home until the end of the year. He says he doesn't know what he'll do after that. He does some part-time work, relying heavily on help from neighbors. His two little sisters and little brother died in the very room where he now sleeps. He says he often lies awake thinking about them, feeling very bad.

    The Ebola outbreak in West Africa was the worst on record. In past outbreaks there had only been a few hundred deaths and a few hundred survivors. It was thought Ebola could live for only three months. But research has now shown it can linger for at least nine months. Scientists are still trying to find how long it could be infectious.

    A bright yellow “M” tells you that it's a McDonald's restaurant; we also associate the cheerful theme tune “I'm Lovin' It” with the famous US fast food.

A brand's music has a similar effect on its customers as its logo. “It appeals directly to the heart, where consumers' decisions are really made,” wrote Marketing Week.

This is probably why companies from around the world have recently focused more on building a “sonic (声音的) identity”.

    An example is the software company Tencent QQ. Since 2014, this Chinese company has been trying to trademark (申请商标权) its “Di-Di-Di-Di-Di-Di” notification sound. The trademark was finally approved on Nov 15, which means that Tencent's “Di-Di-Di-Di-Di-Di” notification sound is now protected by law and can only be used by QQ.

    Sound and music can also help tell stories. In Game of Thrones (《权力的游戏》) there are so many characters that it is difficult to memorize them all. So, they wrote melodies (旋律) specific to each family. The result is that characters do not only look familiar, but sound familiar too.

    “I think a huge reason why sound inspires action is that, on an unconscious level, we are always listening,” Lauren Nagel, executive creative director at Pandora Media, told GeoMarketing. “You can close your eyes, but you can't shut your ears.”

    It is well known that male humpback whales(座头鲸)are skilled singers. Their songs are thought to attract females in high frequency sounds while to compete with other males in low frequency sounds. Research led by the Wildlife Conservation Society has now made a new discovery.

    The study looked at the songs of two humpback whale populations, based on sound recordings collected from 2013 to 2018. One group was based in the South Atlantic, off the coast of Gabon, and the other in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar.  Analysis of the recordings showed that the two groups picked up musical ideas from each other and borrowed phrases and themes into their latest song. This suggested that the males from the two groups came into contact with each other over the five years and shared songs.

    To uncover this musical cooperation, researchers recorded the songs and transcribe them into more than 1,500 individual sounds and patterns, or song units.  They found that the units were composed into larger phrases, which were then repeated to form themes. These themes were sung for hours at a time, or even days. By 2018, both populations have been singing largely the same songs.

    "This similarity in the songs shows that these two populations come into closer contact than other southern populations, explains Dr Melinda Rekdahl, leading author of the study. As well as being an interesting phenomenon, she explains that those songs allow even greater insight into the workings of the humpback whale populations.

    Sydney Airport International Terminal-Arrivals Area

    SPECIALTY RETAIL

    Newslink: Two separate Newslink stores cater to all your reading needs including newspapers, magazines and the latest bestsellers.

    Downtown Duty Free: Make sure you shop at Downtown Duty Free for great savings on a range of items including perfume, alcohol, skincare and cigarettes. It's your last chance before customs.

    Beach Culture: A must for those who go into the Latest in beach clothing. Top surf, street and fashion labels including Mambo, Stussy and Quicksilver, including children's sizes.

    DINING

    Blue Sky Care: Speedy service leaves you time to keep an eye on the arrivals gate. Morning pastries, fresh juice, breakfast rolls and coffee while you wait.

    McDonald's: hamburgers, fries, drinks, muffins and shakes—all your family favorites. Breakfast served until 10:30 a. m.

    SERVICES

    ATM: ATMs are conveniently located throughout Arrival and Departures. Dollars, pounds, francs and RMB are all available.

    Vodafone Rentals: This communication center offers the very latest technology for mobile phone rentals, sales and servicing.

Social media is a great resource for you to find and share inspiration for your classroom on a daily basis. You will be able to find neat activities, fun games and creative crafts (手艺) to include in your teaching plans. Give them a try and they will be able to take your teaching style to the next level.

Teach Like You Mean It

Teach Like You Mean It posts tons of ideas for you to make your classroom feel more like home. It posts exciting ways that can make your classroom a fun place for your students to stay. It will show you quick DIYs with short videos and pictures.

Technically Its Kinder

Technically Its Kinder has so many great ideas for you to use in your kindergarten (幼儿园) classrooms. It posts tons of activities and games on a regular basis. It also provides ways to include technology in your lesson plans, which will help your students feel more comfortable with technology. 

Madly Learning

Madly Learning was created by Patti, who is a teacher and blogger. She shares very helpful videos where she shows you different DIYs that will help you come up with new things to add to your classroom. She also shares stories and pictures from her personal experiences as a teacher and mom as well.

Teachers Pay Teachers

Teachers Pay Teachers is a website where teachers can sell teaching products to other teachers. And they also have an Instagram account. You will be able to get inspiration for your classroom from other teachers. They share quotes, crafts, classroom ideas and so much more.

It's 1:30 am in Kenya's populated north, and 50 people are lying on their backs on the shore of a dried-up river, staring up at the night sky. These stargazers have travelled 250 miles to Samburu to witness the Perseid meteor shower(英仙座流星雨). They are not disappointed: Every few minutes, arrows of light shoot across the sky like silent fireworks.

The Star Safari is organised by a Kenyan astronomer, Susan Murabana, who has brought a 50 kg,170 cm-long telescope to allow the group to view Mars and deep-sky objects. But here in Samburu, where light pollution is minimal, the Perseid meteors—visible with the naked eye (裸眼)—steal the show.

Every two months, Murabana and her husband load their telescope on to the roof of their 4×4 and set off to rural communities, where they give up to 300 children a chance to view the planets and learn about constellations (星座) and the basics of astrophysics. They primarily targets schools in remote areas because of her mission to give girls an opportunity that she wishes had been available to her.

"When I started this work, I didn't see people who looked like me. I was a lone ranger and I wanted to change that." says Murabana.

"There is a common misconception in Kenya that astronomy in general is hard, boring, and only for boys," she adds. "I'd like to teach young girls that astronomy is neither of these things and that they, too, can become astronomers," says Murabana.

Murabana's passion for astronomy began in her early 20s when her uncle invited her to join a similar outreach session organized by the Cosmos Education. "That was a gamechanger. If an outreach group had come to me when I was a young teenager, my attitude towards a career in astronomy would have been positive. I ended up studying sociology and economics, but maybe I would have desired to be an astronomer," she says.

Inspired by the Cosmos Education, Murabana completed an online master's degree in astronomy with the James Cook University in 201l and set up her own outreach programme. She looked to Dr Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space, as a role model. "I hope that one day, through this work, I will spark a chain reaction that leads to the first African woman in space."